Mangini Is Criticized, but Jets Players Pledge Support

Abstract: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — That look of contained bewilderment shined out of Eric Mangini ’s pale blue eyes again Sunday. It was there on the sideline in Seattle under his crooked knit cap last week, as he watched in astonishment as the Jets fell to the 3-11 Seahawks. Two weeks before that, during an earlier chapter of the Jets’ collapse, Mangini had his quiet look of amazement in a loss at San Francisco, too. And Sunday, after the Jets lost to the Miami Dolphins , 24-17, and were eliminated from playoff contention, Mangini stood in front of a room full of notebooks, cameras and tape recorders, peering out from under a black cap. Eyes wide, he spoke softly and hoarsely. “You wish there was just one thing that you could look to and say, That’s the issue,” he said, searching for something to pin his team’s latest failure on. But in its aftermath, many of the Jets’ disgruntled fans will say Mangini is the issue. After three of the four seasons in his contract, Mangini has a record of 23-26. And during the team’s 1-4 slide into ignominy at the end of this season, he has made his share of decisions that have been questioned — going for it on fourth down in Seattle when many felt the Jets should have punted, or punting on fourth down when the Jets might have gone for it in San Francisco. The speculation surrounding his job security started long before Sunday. In one news conference last week, Mangini was even asked whether the rumors prevented him from focusing on Christmas with his family. And in a radio interview this week on WFAN, the former Jets star Joe Klecko called for his firing. “I think he’s lost them,” Klecko said, referring to the players. “I don’t think he’s done a good job with them.” The NFL Network reported Sunday that there had been discussions within the organization last week about how to handle Mangini’s future. The Jets, the NFL Network reported, even considered offering Mangini a one-year extension — it is rare for a team to let a coach simply work through the last year of a contract without any plans beyond it — but it never came. Mangini has been criticized for a lack of emotion in his coaching style, something that none of his players seemed to have a problem with. Fullback Tony Richardson said he had never seen Mangini show frustration. He does not storm around the practice fields, spew invective or flip over water coolers. “What’s the point of throwing something?” Richardson said. “We’re talking about grown men and guys who are paid to do a job.” It is a job that Mangini is convinced will still be his next season. When asked whether he thought he would return, he responded crisply, “Yeah, I do,” his shortest answer of the news conference. In the sagging locker room, the Jets players rallied behind Mangini. “I don’t think he should shoulder a lot of the blame for the way this season has went,” wide receiver Laveranues Coles said. “Blame everybody.” Nose tackle Kris Jenkins bristled when Mangini’s future became a question. “I’ll never have anything bad to say about him,” he said. “You’ve got to understand this: This man has a position where, not only does he have to deal with the coaching staff, he has to deal with 53 egos every single day. He has to scout every single day. I don’t care what anybody says.”

Mangini Eric
New York Jets
Coaches and Managers
Football
Miami Dolphins


Treasury Auctions Set for the Week of July 6

Abstract: The Treasury’s schedule of financing this week includes Monday’s auction of new three- and six-month bills and an auction of four-week bills on Tuesday. At the close of the New York cash market on Friday, the rate on the outstanding three-month bill was 0.01 percent. The rate on the six-month issue was 0.10 percent, and the rate on the four-week issue was 0.01 percent. The following tax-exempt fixed-income issues are scheduled for pricing this week: MONDAY Florida Department of Transportation, $300 million of debt securities. Competitive. TUESDAY Tampa, Fla., $88.9 million of water and sewer systems revenue bonds. Competitive. WEDNESDAY Central Florida Expressway Authority, $193.7 million of revenue bonds. Competitive. Clark County, Nev., Water Reclamation District, $97.8 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive. Hillsborough County, Fla. $140.1 million of revenue bonds. Competitive. Metropolitan Council, Minn., $100 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive. San Francisco, $110.7 million of certificates of participation. Competitive. Willmar, Minn., Independent School District, $50 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive. ONE DAY DURING THE WEEK Austin, Tex., $289.5 million of water and wastewater system revenue refinancing bonds. J. P. Morgan Securities. Brownsburg 1999 School Building Corporation, Ind., $74.2 million of mortgage bonds. George K. Baum. California Educational Facilities Authority, $130 million of Chapman University revenue bonds. Wells Fargo Securities. Cleveland, $69 million of various purpose general obligation bonds. Stifel Nicolaus. Dallas Independent School District, $75 million of multimodal limited maintenance tax notes. Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Douglas County School District 0066 (Westside Community Schools), Neb., $57 million of general obligation bonds. RBC Capital Markets. Florida State University Financial Assistance, $79.2 million of facilities improvement revenue bonds. Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Hartford, Conn., $77.5 million of general obligation bonds. Stifel Nicolaus. Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, $400 million of revenue bonds. Bank of America. Kennewick, Wash., School District, $80 million of debt securities. Davidson Securities. LifeBridge Health, Md., $200 million of hospital revenue bonds. Bank of America. Manteca Unified School District, Calif., $60 million of general obligation bonds. Stifel Nicolaus. Moon Area School District, Pa., $62 million of general obligation bonds. Boenning & Scattergood. Murrieta Valley, Calif., Unified School District, $76 million of general obligation refinancing bonds. Stifel Nicolaus. North Carolina Municipal Power Agency No. 1, $463.1 million of refinancing debt securities. Morgan Stanley. Oregon Health and Science University, $100 million of revenue bonds. Barclays Capital. Rhode Island Clean Water Finance Agency, $56.3 million of water pollution control revolving bonds. Morgan Stanley. Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation, $74.5 million of home opportunity bonds. Morgan Stanley. South Carolina Jobs-Economic Development Authority, $65.7 million of Furman University economic development and revenue refinancing bonds. Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Unified School District No. 266 (Maize), Kan., $73.2 million of general obligation refinancing and improvement bonds. George K. Baum. Vernon, Calif., $110 million of electric system revenue bonds. J. P. Morgan Securities.

Tax Credits Tax Deductions Tax Exemptions


Nearly Absent in the Campaign: Climate Change

Abstract: WASHINGTON — For all their disputes, President Obama and Mitt Romney agree that the world is warming and that humans are at least partly to blame. It remains wholly unclear what either of them plans to do about it. Even after a year of record-smashing temperatures, drought and Arctic ice melt, none of the moderators of the four general-election debates asked about climate change , nor did either of the candidates broach the topic. Throughout the campaign, Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney have seemed most intent on trying to outdo each other as lovers of coal , oil and natural gas — the very fuels most responsible for rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Mr. Obama has supported broad climate change legislation , financed extensive clean energy projects and pushed new regulations to reduce global warming emissions from cars and power plants. But neither he nor Mr. Romney has laid out during the campaign a legislative or regulatory program to address the fundamental questions arising from one of the most vexing economic, environmental, political and humanitarian issues to face the planet. Should the United States cut its greenhouse gas emissions, and, if so, how far and how fast? Should fossil fuels be more heavily taxed? Should any form of clean energy be subsidized, and for how long? Should the United States lead international mitigation efforts? Should the nation pour billions of new dollars into basic energy research? Is the climate system so fraught with uncertainty that the rational response is to do nothing? Many scientists and policy experts say the lack of a serious discussion of climate change in the presidential contest represents a lost opportunity to engage the public and to signal to the rest of the world American intentions for dealing with what is, by definition, a global problem that requires global cooperation. “On climate change, the political discourse here is massively out of step with the rest of the world, but also with the citizens of this country,” said Andrew Steer , the president of the World Resources Institute and a former special envoy for climate change at the World Bank . “ Polls show very clearly that two-thirds of Americans think this is a real problem and needs to be addressed.” Mr. Steer noted that climate change was no longer a partisan issue in Europe and that China , Japan , Australia and South Korea had taken significant steps to reduce emissions and invest heavily in clean energy technology. “The real question in this country,” said Mr. Steer, a British citizen, “is why politicians don’t see it as in their interest to discuss it.” The list of reasons is long. Any serious effort to address climate change will require a transformation of the nation’s system for producing and consuming energy and will, at least in the medium term, mean higher prices for fuel and electricity. Powerful incumbent industries — coal, oil, utilities — are threatened by such changes and have mounted a well-financed long-term campaign to sow doubt about climate change. The Koch brothers and others in the oil industry have underwritten advertising campaigns and grass-roots efforts to support like-minded candidates. And the Republican Party has essentially declared climate change a nonproblem. The two most effective ways of reducing global warming pollution — taxing it or regulating it — are politically toxic in a year when economic problems are paramount. After a bill died in the Senate in 2010, Mr. Obama abandoned his support for cap and trade , a market-based method to limit greenhouse gas emissions, and he has given little hint of what regulatory policies he intends to pursue if he wins a second term. Aides said that he would not propose a carbon tax or other energy tax, but that he would consider supporting one as part of a larger budget and spending deal. As governor of Massachusetts , Mr. Romney considered joining a regional cap-and-trade system , then abandoned it because of uncertainty over costs. He has opposed Mr. Obama’s steps to regulate emissions from power plants and vehicles. He has said he would reverse Mr. Obama’s air quality regulations and would renegotiate the auto efficiency standard of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 that automakers agreed to this year. The struggling economy has made it difficult for emerging clean energy companies to get the capital they need to reach commercial scale and compete with producers of traditional energy sources. Government programs to provide that seed money are highly controversial, as the fight over tax breaks for wind power companies and the recent failures of the solar panel maker Solyndra and the advanced battery manufacturer A123 Systems showed. The Obama administration provided $90 billion in new financing from the 2009 stimulus for clean energy projects, but most of that money is gone. Though there is little doubt that the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation have altered the earth’s climate, some uncertainty remains about whether and when such changes will become unmanageable. Huge technological challenges persist in transforming the energy generation system. Both Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney refer to “clean coal,” shorthand for capturing the carbon dioxide emissions from coal-burning power plants, but the technology is still in its infancy. International efforts to address climate change, which showed great promise when Mr. Obama took office, have sputtered in recent years because of fears that limiting carbon emissions means limiting economic growth. There is also considerable resistance to any plan that would require the United States and other wealthy countries to take stronger measures than those demanded of China, India and other fast-growing economies that are responsible for the bulk of the growth in global emissions. Mr. Romney’s chief domestic policy adviser, Oren Cass, said the nation should not take unilateral steps. “What it is going to do is hurt our economy very seriously, and it’s going to drive a lot of industrial activity from the United States to countries that are, frankly, much less efficient in their use of energy,” he said at an energy debate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this month. Mr. Cass said Mr. Romney’s answer was not to tax emissions, impose new regulations or subsidize clean energy ventures. His answer is technological innovation by private industry, without government’s thumb on the scale. “Governor Romney’s view is that the private sector can do the best job, that basic research funding is the appropriate role for government and that more aggressive subsidization and investment by the government can, in fact, have a counterproductive effect on innovation in the private sector,” Mr. Cass said. Mr. Obama occasionally mentions climate change on the campaign trail, but he generally raises the issue to present a contrast with Mr. Romney. Last week in Iowa , for example, Mr. Obama expressed support for wind power projects and federal tax breaks for them, which Mr. Romney opposes. He then reprised an applause line from his convention speech. “His plan would end tax credits for wind energy producers,” Mr. Obama said. “My plan will keep these investments, and we’ll keep reducing the carbon pollution that’s also heating the planet, because climate change isn’t a hoax. The droughts we’ve seen, the floods, the wildfires, those aren’t a joke. They’re a threat to our children’s future. And we can do something about it.” Joseph E. Aldy , a former top Obama adviser on climate and energy who is now at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, said that a centerpiece of Mr. Obama’s approach to climate change was his clean energy standard, a proposal to produce as much as 80 percent of the nation’s electricity using clean sources by 2035. About 30 states now have such a standard — Texas under Gov. George W. Bush was among the first to adopt one — requiring varying amounts of power to come from wind, solar, nuclear, hydro and other nonpolluting sources. Mr. Aldy said these plans would spur innovation and provide a consistent market for renewable energy, which today is not competitive with fossil fuels in most parts of the country. They also would avoid taxes and direct regulation, he said, although they would be easy to abandon if energy prices rose as a result and voters became disenchanted. Christiana Figueres , the United Nations ’ top climate change diplomat, expressed dismay and frustration with the political conversation in the United States. “No matter who is elected on Nov. 6, whether they agree on climate or not, it doesn’t change the science,” she said at a forum in New York in September. “The challenge for any administration that comes in is to take a serious look not only at the cost of climate change for everyone else on the planet, but the cost to this country. And they have to ask themselves, ‘What is the cost of not doing enough?’ ”

Climate Change Global Warming
2012 Presidential Election
Barack Obama
Mitt Romney


Real Estate Fever Spreads in Cuba

Abstract: HAVANA — As fixer- uppers go, Carmen Martínez’s derelict shotgun house is no cakewalk. The living-room roof collapsed 15 years ago, and the porch soon followed suit, leaving two teetering columns with nothing to hold up. The bathroom is a squalid privy, and the kitchen consists of a sink with no taps and two oil drums full of water. But roofs — even half-missing ones — are a hot commodity these days in Havana, which has been swept by a bout of real estate fever . So Yoél Bacallao, a 35-year-old entrepreneur, offered to repair Ms. Martínez’s dilapidated house for free on one condition: that she let him build an apartment of his own on top of it. “It was as if a ray of light had come down from the sky,” said Ms. Martínez, 41, who would hang laundry in the roofless living room and sweep furiously during rainstorms to keep the rest of the house from flooding. “I have been watching this house fall apart around me for years.” All over the capital and in many provincial towns, Cubans are beginning to inject money into the island’s ragged real estate, spurred by government measures to stimulate construction and a new law that allows them to trade property for the first time in 50 years. The measures are President Raúl Castro ’s biggest maneuver yet as he strives to get capital flowing on the island, encourage private enterprise and take pressure off the economically crippled state. For decades, the government banned real estate sales and kept a jealous grip on construction. Materials were scarce, red tape endless and inspectors meddlesome. Black marketeers would deliver cinder blocks by cover of darkness, and purchasing a bag of sand was a furtive process akin to buying drugs. But during the past two months the state has reduced paperwork, stocked construction stores, legalized private contractors and begun offering homeowners subsidies and credits. On many streets, the chip of hammers and gritty slosh of cement mixing rises above the sparse traffic as Cubans paint facades, build extensions or gut old houses. Still, it is generally small-scale stuff: Mr. Bacallao, who has savings from his business repairing mobile phones, expects to spend about $10,000 on his project. “Before, you had to sneak a bag of cement here, a bag of cement there,” he said. Mr. Bacallao, who rents a tiny apartment with his girlfriend, built a rooftop house three years ago, but the state confiscated it because he could not explain how he came by the materials. If this house works out, he will move his daughters to Havana from the provinces. “Now I can explain where I got the materials,” he said. “I can explain where I got the money. No problem.” Behind scruffy porticos and walls of bougainvillea, the wheels of the property trade are turning. Unofficial brokers — who are still outlawed in Cuba — say they have never been so busy, trawling the streets and the Internet for leads and fielding calls from prospective buyers. Cubisima , an online classified service, said the number of hits on its real estate page tripled to an average of 900 per day after the new property law took effect on Nov. 10. The law allows Cubans to buy and sell their houses, and even own a second home outside the cities, though it still bars most foreigners from buying. It is a crude market, where househunters rely on word of mouth and prices are based as much on excitement as on any clear sense of property values, according to interviews with homeowners, brokers and experts. Buyers, who at the top end are mainly Cuban émigrés and Cubans married to foreigners, often declare a fraction of what they pay, and money sometimes changes hands overseas, suggesting that the government’s hope of reaping significant tax revenues may be at least partly thwarted. On a recent day, a stylish flight attendant showed a viewer around the pretty three-bedroom home she hopes will fetch $150,000; a mile away, an elderly widow held out for an offer of $500,000 for her big, unkempt 1950s house — to be deposited in Spain , please. Many sellers plan to downsize, so they can live better or leave. Victoria Pérez, a retired doctor, put her spacious house and two-bedroom annex on sale last month for $80,000. She hopes to buy something smaller and put aside about $20,000 to live on and visit her daughter in the United States . “To earn $20,000 would take 20 years,” she said. “This opens up a whole world of opportunities.” Statistics are few, and brokers admit that the curious outnumber the serious. The National Housing Institute processed just 364 sales in the three weeks after the new law took effect. “Prices are very inflated,” complained a Cuban-Canadian who was viewing a mint-colored four-bedroom house priced at $240,000 one recent afternoon. He said he would watch the market for a month or two to see how things shook out. Steep price tags notwithstanding, experts and brokers say there are signs that the better-off are starting to migrate to areas like Miramar, Havana’s embassy district, and build vacation homes on the coast. “There is definitely a rearrangement going on,” said Carlos García Pleyan, a sociologist who worked for decades for the Cuban government’s urban planning department. Other than Cuban émigrés, he said, the gentrifiers were “the winners of the Cuba of recent years.” “People who have made money legally, and people who have made money illegally,” he said. “Businesspeople, maybe a restaurant owner, maybe someone who owns taxis, maybe someone who has made money through corruption.” “We shouldn’t be worrying so much about how people rearrange themselves,” he added. “We should be asking ourselves how such large social inequalities have happened.” While the new market dynamics helped Ms. Martínez, some worry they will do little to solve the housing problems faced by many Cubans, whose wallets would not stretch even to buy a $3,000 one-bedroom apartment. “It’s all very well for those who have money or who have a relative abroad; but if not, forget it,” said Luis Martínez, a construction worker (who is not related to Carmen). “My son is 18. The only way he’ll ever leave home is if he marries a girl who has a house.” If anyone needed a reminder of Cuba’s critical housing problem, they got one in January, when a building collapsed in central Havana, killing four people. Miguel Coyula, an architect who specializes in urban planning, said an average of three buildings collapsed in Havana each day, victims of neglect, overcrowding and improvised construction. Well over 100,000 people are waiting to move to government hostels. Mr. Pleyan estimated that it would cost about $3.6 billion to build the 600,000 houses Cuba needs, according to the government. Independent estimates are more than double that. The creation of construction and housing cooperatives is one step being discussed: such arrangements would reduce building costs and allow groups of individuals to build, say, a small apartment block. But Mr. Pleyan said Cuba would also have to open wider to foreign investment and look for models that would balance public interests and private profit, by, for example, encouraging developers to build local infrastructure. Such projects will not happen quickly — if at all — and Ms. Martínez feels lucky that she salvaged her home before she and her family had to abandon it. Once the roof is on, she said, she would like to get running water in her kitchen, replace the toilet and finish building a bedroom for her teenage son. “I need taps, doors, windows, tiles; everything needs fixing,” she said, looking at the stained walls and rotten shutters of her bedroom. “Little by little,” she added. “Little by little.”

Real Estate and Housing
Politics
Raul Castro
Real estate broker
Roof


Usually on Attack, U.S. Attorney in Newark Finds Himself on the Defensive

Abstract: In the six years that he has been the United States attorney for New Jersey, Christopher J. Christie has investigated freeholders and governors, party hacks and United States senators, winning indictments against Republicans and Democrats alike and obtaining convictions or guilty pleas against more than 125 public officials without losing a case. But today Mr. Christie finds himself challenged over the way he has conducted business. He recently drew the attention of the Justice Department’s criminal division and Congress after awarding tens of millions of dollars in no-bid contracts to his friends and political allies. In the coming months, he may face more scrutiny if the Government Accountability Office, as requested, investigates one of those contracts, worth at least $28 million, awarded to his previous boss, John Ashcroft, the former United States attorney general, to monitor a medical-prosthetics company after it acknowledged defrauding consumers. Mr. Ashcroft has been asked to testify later this month before a House subcommittee that is looking into the proliferation of the kind of contracts he received to monitor settlements of corporate-fraud cases. The attention comes at an inopportune time for Mr. Christie, who most political leaders in New Jersey believe plans to run for governor next year. So far, Mr. Christie, 45, has not said what he plans to do when he leaves office. He will almost certainly be replaced by President Bush’s successor. But there is a growing chorus of critics who say that he has resorted to the same kind of cronyism and bullying tactics for which he has excoriated others. Many defense lawyers say that Mr. Christie is so protective of his image that he has pressured legal adversaries who publicly criticize him, and he has been accused of banning a lawyer from even entering the United States attorney’s offices in Newark. Democrats complain that his office tried to tarnish candidates facing election and intimidate state lawmakers before they cast crucial votes. Mr. Christie declined several requests to be interviewed for this article, but he has insisted that Mr. Ashcroft’s contract was based on merit rather than political loyalty or the hope that Mr. Ashcroft might one day repay the favor as a political fund-raiser. But even those who acknowledge Mr. Christie’s record of success say that by blurring the line between his prosecutorial duties and political associations, he may have cast a shadow over his accomplishments. Democrats and Republicans alike were surprised when he presided over the swearing-in on Jan. 1 of Republican City Council members at Parsippany Town Hall, where his agents have subpoenaed municipal officials — most of them Democrats — in a corruption investigation. It is a rarity for a United States attorney to take that role, usually performed by a judge or a county clerk. And many state lawmakers resented the criticism Mr. Christie directed at them last spring when one of his former assistants, Stuart J. Rabner, was seeking confirmation as chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court at the same time that Mr. Christie’s office was investigating the Legislature. He castigated legislators for allowing one senator to question the nomination. He was equally critical of Gov. Jon S. Corzine for not springing to Mr. Rabner’s defense, even though it was the governor who nominated him — and whom he had served as chief counsel and attorney general. Fearing Retribution Then there are the defense lawyers — including some of the most prominent ones in the state — who say that although Mr. Christie is quick to speak out on issues, political or otherwise, he bristles when criticism is directed at him. Many of them declined to be interviewed for this article out of concern that Mr. Christie’s office might take a harder line against their clients. One lawyer, Gina Mendola Longarzo, defended a man charged with terrorism for aiming a laser pointer at a jet plane as it flew over his backyard. After she was quoted in a newspaper article criticizing Mr. Christie, she said, his aides told her that she was no longer permitted to enter the prosecutors’ offices. “It’s not a good idea to butt heads with him publicly,” said Ms. Longarzo, whose partner ultimately negotiated a plea agreement in the case. “You have to worry that your clients will get a raw deal because you hurt his feelings by giving him negative press coverage.” A spokesman for Mr. Christie denied that she was banned from the office. In 2002, when Mr. Christie’s office won an indictment against the Essex County executive, James Treffinger, a popular Republican, he was not permitted to surrender like most elected officials who find themselves in similar circumstances. Instead, Mr. Treffinger, who was about to begin a campaign for the United States Senate, was arrested and spent more than six hours in handcuffs and leg shackles. Mr. Christie’s aides said that the decisions on how to arrest and detain Mr. Treffinger were made by the United States Marshal’s Service out of concern that Mr. Treffinger might have access to a gun. But politicians and lawyers involved in the corruption case say that they knew that an informant had secretly recorded Mr. Treffinger making a vulgar derogatory comment about Mr. Christie’s hulking frame, and some former Treffinger aides contend that his harsh treatment was a payback. Whether Mr. Christie’s tactics will haunt him if he seeks elective office is uncertain. “He’s done a great job as U.S. attorney and certainly has every right to use that record to run for higher office if he chooses,” said Edward H. Stier, a former federal prosecutor. “But the danger with these things is if people think you are using the power of your law enforcement position for personal reasons, you lose credibility.” Early Opposition The lofty stature enjoyed by Mr. Christie — who began his job surrounded by doubts because of a background as a Republican campaign aide and fund-raiser and his lack of courtroom experience — is a testament to his resourcefulness and political savvy. Indeed, a New Jersey federal bar group tried to block the appointment of Mr. Christie, who was born and raised in New Jersey, because he had no trial, criminal law or investigative experience. A graduate of the University of Delaware and Seton Hall Law School, he had specialized in corporate securities and elections law. Democrats were also wary of Mr. Christie’s extensive background as a Republican campaigner and fund-raiser; he served one term as a Morris County freeholder, and worked on the campaigns of President George H. W. Bush. Then in 2000 he was a top-tier fund-raiser for George W. Bush, who appointed him United States attorney. But Mr. Christie silenced some skeptics by producing impressive results and disarmed others with his Jersey-guy personality. He reorganized the office into smaller units that were easier to supervise and pushed his assistants to produce. But nothing in Mr. Christie’s tenure compares with his success in battling corruption among some of the state’s most powerful figures and institutions. Sharpe James, the former mayor of Newark and a towering figure in New Jersey politics over the last 20 years, is awaiting trial on federal corruption charges, as is Wayne Bryant, a former state senator from Camden County, who was chairman of the powerful budget committee. Former Gov. James E. McGreevey was the subject of an inquiry that never led to charges — though he was referred to prominently in the indictment of a donor who pleaded guilty to extorting campaign contributions. Mr. McGreevey’s top fund-raiser, Charles Kushner, and a longtime political mentor, John Lynch, a former Senate president, were sent to prison on federal charges. Democrats have complained that Mr. Christie’s conquests include only a token number of Republicans, though legal experts said it was not surprising that Democrats would be involved in the majority of investigations since they control much of the state. “There was never even the slightest suggestion that partisan politics play any role whatsoever in who we investigated or how we made cases,” said Scott Resnik, who worked in the public corruption unit under Mr. Christie. “If there had been, the career prosecutors in that office would have been resigning every day.” Still, Mr. Christie’s timing and motivations have been questioned. Last year, in a highly unusual maneuver, his office subpoenaed the state’s Democratic legislative leaders in an investigation of pork-barrel items included in the state budget. Democrats grumbled that his review of the practice, common among both parties, went only as far back as 2004, when their party captured control of the State House. Mr. Christie’s office was also criticized after it began an investigation of Senator Robert Menendez in September 2006, two months before the election in which Mr. Menendez was seeking a full term. His aides have insisted that they opened the case in response to an article that appeared in The Record of Hackensack, saying that while Mr. Menendez was a United States representative he leased a building he owned to a social service agency that he had helped obtain federal financing. As it turned out, Mr. Menendez had cleared the arrangement with a lawyer for the Congressional ethics office, a step that had been reported previously by New Jersey newspapers. A Defamation Case Mr. Christie’s critics say he well knows the political damage a candidate can suffer from even the specter of an investigation. When he ran for freeholder in the mid-1990s, he was sued for defamation for falsely accusing a political opponent of being the target of a criminal inquiry. Mr. Christie ultimately offered a public apology as part of a settlement. “Chris Christie acts as judge, jury and executioner when his office leaks information about an investigation involving someone running for office,” said Julie Roginsky, a Democratic strategist. “He knows, better than anyone else, that it’s almost impossible for candidates to defend themselves from those kind of charges during a campaign.” For all the laurels that Mr. Christie has earned for vigorously prosecuting corruption, the area that has brought him a spate of negative publicity involves his role in deferred-prosecution agreements, which are legal settlements that allow corporations and public entities to avoid criminal charges by agreeing to pay damages and be overseen by an appointed monitor. Hospital Fraud His office negotiated one such arrangement with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, which was rife with Medicaid fraud, patronage and financial abuses. Under the monitor he appointed, the school reformed many of its bookkeeping procedures and ended its practice of awarding no-bid contracts. Yet one of the biggest no-bid contracts to come out of the investigation was for the monitor itself: Mr. Christie appointed the law firm of John Inglesino, a Republican who served as a Morris County freeholder from 2001 to 2007, and Herbert Stern, a former United States attorney, whom he has described as a mentor. Mr. Christie was also a freeholder, from 1995 to 1997. Their firm ultimately billed the state for more than $10 million. One deferred-prosecution agreement, in a 2005 case involving the drug manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb, required the company to endow a chair in business ethics at Seton Hall University, Mr. Christie’s alma mater. Mr. Christie has sought to defuse the issue by saying that in future cases he would use the procedures practiced by other United States attorneys : giving the company a list of three candidates and allowing defense lawyers to choose. The Justice Department said that it had reviewed the way deferred-prosecution agreements were administered, and was not investigating Mr. Christie’s contract with Mr. Ashcroft. Congressional Democrats are taking a harder line. Representative Frank Pallone, a Democrat who has been critical of Mr. Christie, proposed legislation that would strip prosecutors of the power to appoint monitors, saying in an open letter to Mr. Christie that the current system “invites the very sort of favoritism, political interference, and back-room dealing that your office has been so successful in combating.” Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has called for the Government Accountability Office to investigate the contract, and has suggested that he may hold public hearings. Mr. Christie’s allies say they have little doubt that such hearings would confirm Mr. Christie’s contention that he chose the best candidates available. “Chris has ridden out storms before” Bill Palatucci, a close friend and former law partner, said last week. “After everything is said and done, people will see that he has done the right thing, and he’s done a phenomenal job.”

Ethics
Suits and Litigation
Christie Christopher J
Justice Department


Deaths and Injuries in Greyhound Bus Accident

Abstract: Several people were reported killed and many were injured when a Greyhound bus heading from New York City to Montreal drove off an Interstate highway last night and rolled over about one hour south of the Canadian border, Greyhound officials and the New York State police said. Five people may have died, according to preliminary reports from the scene, said Trooper Ryan Bentley of the Westport barracks. The medical examiner was needed to give an official count, Trooper Bentley said. The bus had 52 passengers on board in addition to the driver, said Kim Plaskett, a spokeswoman for Greyhound. It left the Port Authority terminal in Manhattan about 1 p.m. and made scheduled stops in Albany and Saratoga Springs. The crash occurred near Elizabethtown about 6:45 p.m., about 110 miles north of Albany on Interstate 87, the Adirondack Northway, between Exits 30 and 31 The next scheduled stop would have been Plattsburgh. Injured passengers were taken to hospitals in Elizabethtown, Glens Falls, Plattsburgh and Ticonderoga. More than 30 passengers, including at least three children, were taken to Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital Medical Center in Plattsburgh, according to Mike Hildebran, a spokesman for the hospital. The hospital put itself in disaster mode, summoning off-duty medical personnel. About half of those passengers were expected to be treated and released, Several had cuts, bruises, internal injuries and fractures, essentially “what you would expect from a rollover bus accident,” Mr. Hildebran said. “Actually it is surprising that it’s not worse than it is.” The passengers who were not seriously injured still had problems continuing on their journey to the Canadian border. “For those that are being discharged, all of their belongings were on the bus, including, for many of them, their passports,” Mr. Hildebran said. “They are hung up here. We are working with Greyhound to accommodate them.” Late last night, rescue workers were still trying to remove passengers from the bus, which had flipped upside down. Passengers were still arriving at the Plattsburgh hospital around midnight. Greyhound set up an information hotline at 1-800-972-4583.

Accidents and Safety
Death and Dying
Automobiles


Iran: Another Nuclear Official to Be Replaced

Abstract: Iran’s longtime ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency will leave in September, news agencies reported Wednesday, making him the third senior Iranian nuclear official to be replaced under the new administration of President Hassan Rouhani. The ambassador, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, frequently criticized the agency, the nuclear monitoring arm of the United Nations, as well as what he views as Western bias against Iran. Mr. Rouhani, who took office this month, has vowed to pursue a more flexible approach toward resolving the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, which many countries suspect is aimed at giving it the capability to produce nuclear weapons, despite Iranian denials. Last Friday Mr. Rouhani replaced the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, which runs the country’s nuclear facilities. On Tuesday state news media signaled that negotiations over the nuclear program would now be handled by Mr. Rouhani’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, an American-educated diplomat.

Iran
International Atomic Energy Agency
Appointments and Executive Changes
Hassan Rouhani
Nuclear weapon
Ali Asghar Soltanieh


UConn Rolls, but a Starter Is Severely Injured

Abstract: The mood was somber despite Connecticut’s easy victory. Tina Charles had 23 points and 10 rebounds, and Ketia Swanier added 15 points Monday night in No. 2 UConn ’s 97-39 victory against visiting South Carolina. However, Connecticut lost the starting forward Kalana Greene with what team officials called a severe knee injury. Greene, the Huskies’ best defensive player, was hurt while driving to the right side of the lane for a layup with 2 minutes 44 seconds left in the first half and UConn leading by 35-18. She planted for the shot and her right knee slid out from under her as she collided with South Carolina’s Demetress Adams. Greene remained on the floor for several minutes in pain, and had to be helped from the floor. She was taken to a local hospital for a magnetic resonance imaging test. “I didn’t really think she was hurt or realize it until she wouldn’t get up and she was grabbing her knee,” Swanier said. “It didn’t really hit home until after the game.” Connecticut Coach Geno Auriemma said it was clear to doctors that there was significant ligament damage. Greene, who is from St. Stephen, S.C., already had 6 points and 4 rebounds against the Gamecocks (7-3), who had recruited her heavily. UConn is 8-0 for the 11th time since the 1994-95 season. U.N.C. 82, COASTAL CAROLINA 58 LaToya Pringle had a season-high 20 points to lead No. 3 North Carolina (11-1) at Coastal Carolina (7-3). GEORGIA 102, MERCER 45 Tasha Humphrey scored 20 points as No. 7 Georgia (10-0) routed visiting Mercer (3-7). Men DUKE 111, ALBANY 70 DeMarcus Nelson scored 23 points as No. 6 Duke defeated visiting Albany (5-5) and improved to 10-0 for the sixth time in eight seasons. in other games No. 10 Marquette (8-1) led by only 11 at the half but defeated visiting Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne (4-6), 80-56. ... The freshman Austin Daye scored 18 points to lead No. 18 Gonzaga (9-2) to a 77-57 victory against visiting Northern Colorado (5-4). ... No. 22 Miami (10-0), energized by its first top 25 ranking since the 2001-2 season, defeated visiting Stetson (2-8), 89-53. HANSBROUGH LISTED AS PROBABLE The North Carolina all-American Tyler Hansbrough is listed as probable for the Tar Heels’ next game after suffering a concussion in Sunday night’s victory against Rutgers.

Basketball
College Athletics
University of Connecticut


A.M.D. Plans to Cut Back on Spending and Hiring

Abstract: Advanced Micro Devices , which makes computer processors, said yesterday that a sharp decline in revenue was prompting it to make cutbacks in hiring and spending in order to reduce operating costs. A.M.D. surprised Wall Street analysts yesterday by announcing that it expected to report revenue in the first quarter of $1.23 billion, far below what analysts had forecast. In making the revision, A.M.D. cited lower selling prices for its computer processors and “significantly lower unit sales.” The announcement raised questions of whether the slowdown was a result of A.M.D.’s battles for market share with the industry leader, Intel, or whether it was an early signal of a slowdown of sales of PCs and servers for corporate data centers. A.M.D. had said in January that it expected to report revenue of about $1.67 billion in the first quarter, but in March it warned analysts that revenue would be lower. The consensus among Wall Street analysts was $1.53 billion. The company’s latest projection is 20 percent below that. “It’s a big drop,” an analyst with A. G. Edwards, David Wong, said, “But I don’t think it necessarily reflects on the end market.” Other analysts also saw no unexpected slowdown in consumer PCs sales, although sales of computer equipment to corporations have continued to be weak. It might suggest, Mr. Wong said, that A.M.D. was losing market share to Intel. A.M.D. had gained market share last year, garnering as much as 25 percent at the end of 2006. But as it was doing so, its average selling price fell to $75 at the end of the year from $99 at the beginning. Intel’s average selling price fell, but at a far lower rate, to $130 from $137. Intel revamped its product line in 2006 and sold more of its higher-priced chips to makers of servers. Intel has not cut its list prices, analysts said, while A.M.D. has cut its list prices several times in the last 12 months. Dean McCarron, who tracks the PC semiconductor market for Mercury Research of Cave Creek, Ariz., said that A.M.D.’s problem might stem from the way it shifted much of its production to large PC makers like Dell in 2006. Demand slowed from the big makers, he said, and as A.M.D. tried to move the excess inventory to other smaller makers, it discovered those customers were buying from Intel. “Demand that existed at the beginning of the first quarter didn’t exist at the end,” Mr. McCarron said. The shift in consumer preference to notebook PCs from desktop models may have also played a role — A.M.D. is not as strong in products made for notebooks. A.M.D.’s plans to reduce its costs suggested to analysts that the company was acknowledging that the sharp decline in prices was going to continue. A.M.D. said it would reduce 2007 capital spending by about $500 million from $2.5 billion. It said the cutback would not affect its production plans for 2007. News of the overhaul sent A.M.D. stock up 49 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $13.35. Intel shares rose 52 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $20.10. The revenue shortfall also had Wall Street analysts adjusting their estimates of the company’s first-quarter loss. Mr. Wong, for example, said that the company would report a loss of about $400 million, or 77 cents a share, including an adjustment for a merger-related charge. The company plans to announce its first-quarter financial results on April 19. Intel will announce its results next Tuesday.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc
Company Reports


Massachusetts: Cardinal Bars a Priest’s Speech

Abstract: Cardinal Sean O’Malley has barred a prominent Austrian priest from speaking in a Roman Catholic parish in the Archdiocese of Boston because the priest advocates the ordination of women and married men as one solution to the priest shortage. The appearance by the priest, the Rev. Helmut Schüller in Boston on July 17 is part of a cross-country speaking tour sponsored by 10 liberal Catholic groups that are pressing the church for change. The Archdiocese of Boston said that its policy, like the practice in other dioceses, is to prohibit individuals who promote “positions that are contrary to Catholic teachings” from speaking in Catholic parishes and at church events. Father Schüller helped lead an “Appeal to Disobedience” backed by about 400 priests and deacons in 2011, and was later stripped of his formal title of monsignor. His talk in Boston has been moved to a Unitarian Universalist church, but he is scheduled to speak at a Catholic parish in Detroit and a Catholic college in Pennsylvania.

Priest
Catholic Church
Sean P O'Malley
Helmut Schuller
Boston


At U.N., Myanmar Leader Highlights Steps to Reform

Abstract: The president of Myanmar , a former general who has led the move away from a prolonged era of dictatorship, poverty and isolation, asserted on Thursday in his first United Nations speech that “amazing changes” were transforming his country and could never be reversed. The president, U Thein Sein , also paid homage to the country’s opposition leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi , a Nobel Peace Prize winner and former political prisoner whose liberation from nearly two decades of house arrest in 2010 signaled the beginning of Myanmar’s gradual emergence from pariah status. “As a Myanmar citizen, I would like to congratulate her for the honors she has received in this country in recognition of her efforts for democracy,”said Mr. Thein Sein in his address to the United Nations General Assembly . It was the first time that Mr. Thein Sein had praised Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi in such a public way, and appeared to reflect growing confidence that his navigation of Myanmar’s political system away from decades of authoritarian rule would not be challenged at home, where many of his colleagues in the military are known to be ambivalent about the changes. In another first, Mr. Thein Sein’s speech was broadcast live in Myanmar, The Associated Press reported, so people at home could see for themselves the president’s outspoken tribute to Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, who is widely considered the country’s most popular politician and has expressed the hope of becoming president one day. Mr. Thein Sein spoke a day after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a meeting with him, announced that the United States intended to ease a ban on imports from Myanmar, one of the last remaining American sanctions on the country, as a reward for his efforts. The easing could further strengthen Mr. Thein Sein’s political stature in Myanmar, where the sanctions are a major impediment to the economy. Mr. Thein Sein was only removed from an American sanctions blacklist last week. He devoted much of his General Assembly speech to enumerating the political changes in his country, including the creation of an elected legislature, an end to censorship , the granting of amnesty to hundreds of prisoners and the attempt to create a culture of political dialogue and tolerance, where citizens can disagree without fear of retribution. “Within a short time, the people of Myanmar have been able to bring about amazing changes,” he said. “They have been taking tangible, irreversible steps in the democratic reform process.” Myanmar, he said, “is now ushering in a new era.” He also acknowledged the country’s litany of problems, including the levels of abject poverty and stunning gaps between rich and poor, and vowed that economic development would not widen those gaps. The president also said Myanmar was still confronting protracted ethnic insurgencies, including a dispute with the Kachin, a Christian minority near the China border, and the Rohingya Muslims along the Bangladesh border. Myanmar is predominantly Buddhist. “People inhabiting our country regardless of religion have a right to live in peace and security,” he said. Later in an appearance at the Asia Society in New York, the president acknowledged that the era of authoritarian rule in Myanmar had led to a significant exodus of educated people, who are desperately needed back home. “It’s true that many of our citizens — doctors, engineers and entrepreneurs — they are working out in foreign countries,” he said through a translator. “That might have something to do with the previous political systems.”

Aung San Suu Kyi
Thein Sein
General Assembly (UN)
Myanmar
International Relations
United Nations


Sex Assault Case on Long Island Now Includes Plot to Kill Boy

Abstract: MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — The owner of a religious supplies store in Nassau County who is accused of sexually assaulting a teenage employee has now been charged with conspiring to kill him. The suspect, Daniel Miller, 45, was arraigned on Thursday on one count of conspiracy and one count of criminal solicitation, the Nassau County district attorney, Kathleen M. Rice, said. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison. The authorities said Mr. Miller offered to pay someone $15,000 to kill the 17-year-old boy to prevent him from testifying in the sexual assault case. That case dates to April 19, the boy’s first day of work at the store, Botanica, in Inwood, N.Y. The police said the boy was told to drink a cup of liquid that, unbeknown to him, contained lorazepam, a drug used to relieve anxiety. He woke up about 12 hours later in the defendant’s Long Island home, the police said, and Mr. Miller was arrested on charges of drugging and sexually assaulting him. Mr. Miller’s lawyer, Joseph Conway, said his client had pleaded not guilty to all charges. Mr. Miller was being held on $5 million bond.

Sex Crimes
Long Island (NY)
New York City
Murders and Attempted Murders
Miller Daniel
Child Abuse and Neglect


Securities Inquiry Turns to Discount Brokerages

Abstract: Regulators on Friday intensified their crackdown on financial companies that sold auction-rate securities as being as safe as cash, widening their investigations to include several of the nation’s largest discount brokerage firms. The inquiries came as Andrew M. Cuomo , the New York State attorney general, threatened to take legal action against Merrill Lynch to settle claims it had misled investors when it sold the securities with promises of good returns. Mr. Cuomo’s office told the bank in a letter that its offer to buy back $10 billion of the debt was “woefully inadequate.” Auction-rate securities are preferred shares or debt instruments with rates that reset regularly, usually every week, in auctions overseen by the brokerage firms that originally sold them. But the $300 billion market collapsed in February, trapping investors who had been told that the securities were easy to convert to cash. On Friday, Wachovia became the fifth major bank or investment house to announce a settlement with Mr. Cuomo, agreeing to buy back $8.5 billion of auction-rate securities at face value. Charles Schwab, Fidelity Investments, and TD Ameritrade, three of the most widely used brokerage firms, acknowledged Friday that they were responding to inquiries into their sales and marketing practices. So far, Mr. Cuomo’s office, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and a task force of state securities regulators have placed about 25 companies under review. While regulators have turned the spotlight on the biggest investment banks, the widening of their net to discount brokerage firms is a twist. Unlike Wall Street investment banks, these firms did not underwrite auction-rate securities, nor did they maintain an inventory of them. And in many cases, investors may have bought these securities by executing trades online, without a retail broker’s assistance or advice. Investigators said, however, that there was reason to believe the securities might have been sold improperly. The “point of sale” activity at the discount and retail brokerages is similar, they said, and some of the discount brokerage firms use financial advisers or may have improperly listed information on their Web sites. In an interview, Mr. Cuomo said the questions were the same in all of his investigations, regardless of the type of brokerage. “What was the customer told? What were the representations made to the customers? What are the disclosures?” he said. “That is true whether it was UBS or Citi or Wachovia, or a discount brokerage.” And he said that in most of the cases, he believes auction-rate securities were not bought, but sold. “In most of the cases, they were pitched to the customer,” he added. “The customer didn’t go on Web sites looking for these.” Greg Gable, a spokesman for Charles Schwab, said in a statement that the firm was cooperating with regulators, but denied it had marketed auction-rate securities to its customers. The broker “simply acted as an agent as an accommodation when clients asked for them,” he said. “A significant portion were simply transferred in from other firms where they were purchased.” Kim Hillyer, a TD Ameritrade spokeswoman, said that the company was complying with inquiries from regulators. Ms. Hillyer said that TD Ameritrade investors held about $1.2 billion of auction-rate investments. Vincent Loporchio, a spokesman for Fidelity, declined to comment, citing company policy on regulatory inquiries. Neither Charles Schwab nor Fidelity would discuss their potential exposure. The new disclosures came after JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley also reached separate settlements with regulators this week, bringing to five the number of major banks and brokerages that have agreed to repurchase more than $35 billion in auction-rate notes at face value and pay $360 million in fines. Citigroup and UBS struck deals last week. State and federal regulators have been using the settlements as a tool to help individual investors get back their money after many were unable to cash out their accounts for months. But Mr. Cuomo appeared to be making a point with Merrill Lynch. David Markowitz, the chief of Mr. Cuomo’s investor protection bureau, said Mr. Cuomo was prepared to settle, but that any such agreement had to mirror terms reached by other firms. Mark Herr, a Merrill Lynch spokesman, said in a statement that the company was surprised by the New York attorney general’s letter. “We have been discussing this issue with New York and other regulators since we announced last week our plan,” he said. “We thought we were making progress.”

Banks and Banking
Securities and Commodities Violations
Cuomo Andrew M
Wachovia Corp


From Genomes, a Census of Early Humans

Abstract: From the composition of just two human genomes, geneticists have computed the size of the human population 1.2 million years ago from which everyone in the world is descended. They put the number at 18,500 people, but this refers only to breeding individuals, the “effective” population. The actual population would have been about three times as large, or 55,500. Comparable estimates for other primates then are 21,000 for chimpanzees and 25,000 for gorillas. In biological terms, it seems, humans were not a very successful species, and the strategy of investing in larger brains than those of their fellow apes had not yet produced any big payoff. Human population numbers did not reach high levels until after the advent of agriculture. Geneticists have long known that the ancestors of modern humans numbered as few as 10,000 at some time in the last 100,000 years. The critically low number suggested that some catastrophe, like disease or climate change induced by a volcano, had brought humans close to the brink of extinction. If the new estimate is correct, however, human population size has been small and fairly constant throughout most of the last million years, ruling out the need to look for a catastrophe. The estimate, reported in the issue on Tuesday of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , was made by a team of population geneticists at the University of Utah led by Chad D. Huff and Lynn B. Jorde. The human population a million years ago was represented by archaic species like Homo ergaster in Africa and Homo erectus in East Asia. The Utah team says its estimate of 18,500 implies “an unusually small population for a species spread across the entire Old World.” But that estimate would apply to the worldwide population only if there were inbreeding between the humans on the different continents. If not, and if modern humans are descended from just one of these populations, like Homo ergaster in Africa, then the estimate would apply only to that. Richard G. Klein, a paleoanthropologist at Stanford, said it was hard to believe the population from which modern humans are descended was as small as 18,500 “unless they were geographically restricted to Africa or a small part of it.” There is no independent way of assessing a genetics -based estimate of population size at this period, Dr. Klein said, although archaeologists have developed ways of assessing ancient populations of more recent times. The Utah team based its estimate on the genetic variation present in two complete human genomes, one prepared by the government’s human genome project and the other by J. Craig Venter, the genome sequencing pioneer. The government decoded a single copy of a mosaic genome derived from a medley of people, apparently of European and Asian origin. Dr. Venter decoded both copies of his own genome, the one inherited from his father and the one from his mother. The Utah team thus had three genomes to work with and looked at ancient elements known as Alu insertions, the youngest class of which appeared in the human genome around a million years ago. The amount of variation seen in the DNA immediately surrounding the Alu insertions gave a measure of the size of human population at that time. Their estimate agrees almost exactly with an earlier one, also based on Alu insertions but with sparser data. The insertions tag ancient regions of the genome that are unaffected by the recent growth in population, Dr. Huff said.

Genetics and Heredity
Population
DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid)
Genealogy


Making It to the Starting Line

Abstract: Forty minutes before the start of the New York Marathon, Victor Navarra has always been in the same place, perched in the bucket of a rescue truck, surveying the starting line and sending down orders from 85 feet in the air. “It’s like being God for a day,” said Navarra, 55, a retired Fire Department lieutenant who has coordinated the start of the race for 25 years. “I say something on the radio and it just happens.” Each year, as the runners inched toward the race’s three starting lines, Navarra made last-minute adjustments so that the field, now numbering about 40,000, could safely leave Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island and set off across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Now, in the buildup to his 26th New York City Marathon , Navarra’s biggest challenge will not be making sure that instructions to the runners are broadcast in seven languages or that 28,000 cups of coffee are ready for them. It will be living long enough to attend this year’s race. He was diagnosed in 2005 as having malignant tumors next to his sinuses, a condition he attributes to volunteering at ground zero in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In April of this year, Navarra said his doctors estimated he had three months to live after multiple operations to remove the tumors failed to eliminate the cancer. In July, he gathered his wife, two daughters and two grandchildren to celebrate Christmas early. By then, he had already planned his funeral. And last week, even though the tumors have taken away his eyesight, he was on conference calls with the New York Road Runners, going over minute details for the start of the Nov. 4 race. “His faculties aren’t failing him when it comes to the marathon,” said Mary Wittenberg, the director of the marathon. “It’s been a rock for him as much as he’s been a rock for us.” The mutual dependency is not lost on Navarra. “I’m not a doctor, but the fact that I have a reason to get up keeps me going,” he said. “I wake up every day and I say: ‘I’m alive. That’s a good start.’” Although he can barely stand and a tumor the size of an orange inside his mouth has impaired his speech, he still tells stories about the races he has seen since he began volunteering with the New York Marathon in 1976. “The setup at the start was about six card tables,” Navarra said. “We’d cut a hole in the fence and send the runners onto the bridge with arrows painted on pieces of wood to tell them where to go.” As the race grew from 2,000 runners to nearly 20 times that, he learned to innovate and is now credited with inventing the modern method to kick off a major marathon. Now, on race day, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is closed to traffic shortly after midnight, leaving the organizers barely enough time to set up three separate starting corrals, each with its own athlete village that includes food, massage tents and the world’s longest urinal (285 feet). “You can make a mistake once,” Navarra said of setting up. “But you don’t do it again.” Those six hours, between the time the bridge is closed and the time runners begin arriving at Fort Wadsworth, require a year of preparation. At every turn, Navarra said, a dozen things can and do go wrong. “I love challenges,” Navarra said. “If nothing went wrong, it would boring.” He recalled the time, in 1993, when Mayor David N. Dinkins came to the start to watch the race’s founder, Fred Lebow, who was then dying of cancer, begin his last marathon. According to Navarra, Dinkins wanted a photograph of himself pretending to start the race. “So, with 52 seconds to go before the start,” Navarra said, “Dinkins raises the air horn for the picture. All the cops saw this and they got nervous. The motorcycles start moving and adios. The runners started going out.” It was his worst marathon moment. “When you work the whole year for that one second and lose it, I bawled my eyes out,” he said. Navarra and Joanne, his wife of 37 years, have worked as a team to organize races throughout the country. But as much as Navarra enjoys the smaller events — he once did 22 in one year — New York is closest to his heart. That is why in 25 years, the marathon has become an afterthought to Navarra only once — on Sept. 11, 2001. After 21 years of serving in the city’s Fire Department, Navarra had been retired for four years. “I got my family together, hugged them and made sure they were O.K.,” he said. “The next thing I had to do was go to the firehouse because I needed to know that I didn’t stay home and watch television. I had to do something for my brothers.” His firehouse, Engine 40 and Ladder 35 at 66th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, was one of the hardest hit. Twenty-six men from the firehouse where he spent 11 years as a lieutenant set out that morning. Thirteen did not return. “That’s my other family,” Navarra said. “I can never look through the list without falling apart. I can’t deal with it.” On Sept. 12, Navarra was back in his fire gear and working the bucket brigades at ground zero, clearing debris and looking for survivors. “Over the course of the next few weeks, I basically lived there, doing all sorts of things,” he said in his living room in Staten Island. “When I arrived, it was bedlam.” Whether he was searching for his friends at ground zero or dealing with the countless donations that poured into the station, he tried not to let a second go to waste. He knew he also had a job to do for the marathon, which was only weeks away. Sleeping two or three hours a night, Navarra coordinated the start, and on the day of the race, with F-16s circling overhead and snipers on every roof, he was perched above Fort Wadsworth to make sure it went off without a hitch. Navarra said he was convinced his exposure to ground zero’s noxious fumes and sweltering heat caused the cancer that left him blind and unable to walk. He said he had been receiving regular examinations from the department’s 9/11 medical monitoring program and that commission doctors certified his condition as affected by the toxins at the site. For privacy reasons, Jim Long, a Fire Department spokesman, said he could not discuss or confirm medical records. Officials at the Uniformed Firefighters Association said they did not have access to medical records. “I know I’m not going to live,” Navarra said. “How long I have, I don’t know. But I know that I’m never going to see my granddaughter get married.” Still, Navarra has made a career of planning ahead, and he does not think now is a time to stop. He has already started thinking about the 2008 race. And even though he will probably not be there, his wife will continue the family tradition, hovering 85 feet above 40,000 runners.


U.N. Orders Both Sides in Syria to Allow Humanitarian Aid

Abstract: UNITED NATIONS — In a rare show of unity among world powers, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Saturday ordering the warring parties in Syria to stop blocking the delivery of humanitarian aid, though without the immediate prospect of punishment for those who disobey. The resolution, which is legally binding, addresses a conflict that has gone on for nearly three years, killing more than 100,000 people and creating more than six million refugees. It calls on the Syrian government to allow relief agencies to enter the country, decries the dropping of barrel bombs by government aircraft and strongly condemns terror attacks, plainly referring to some of the rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. It also calls on the United Nations secretary general to submit progress reports, and while it does not threaten sanctions, it promises to take “further steps” against those who do not comply. Britain and France, among Syria’s most biting critics on the Council, indicated their readiness to introduce a resolution calling for tougher measures in the event of noncompliance. Before the vote, Council diplomats said it was clear that there would be no chance of approval from Russia, Syria’s strongest ally, if the measure contained any language on sanctions. And so, just before the text was finalized Wednesday night, the suggestion of sanctions came out; late Friday afternoon, Moscow signaled its assent. The countries pushing for the resolution were clearly aiming for a vote during the Olympic Games in Sochi to exert the greatest leverage on Russia. On Saturday morning, as he entered the Council chambers, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly I. Churkin, told reporters: “Of course we’re going to support it. It’s a pretty good resolution.” Inside, Mr. Churkin made a point of saying that the Assad government had made “progress” in facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid. There was no suggestion that Moscow’s support for the Assad government was diminishing, though one diplomat said Russia’s vote could be a sign of its “uneasiness” over the government’s unwillingness to make aid delivery easier. The American ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, emphasized that Mr. Churkin had joined in the condemnation of the government. “We are heartened that our Russian colleagues have joined us in demanding the end of the use of indiscriminate weapons like barrel bombs,” she told reporters after the vote, “and how all the parties, but particularly the regime, need to stop using food and medicine as a weapon of war.” Diplomats said the next test for Russia would come after the United Nations submits its first monitoring report in 30 days. If Syria is deemed to be violating the resolution, critics of the Assad government will probably call for tougher measures, especially if it seems likely to miss a deadline to destroy its chemical weapons arsenal by June 30. Since the Syrian conflict broke out in March 2011, Russia has vetoed three resolutions trying to address broader concerns. It initially dismissed the need for this one, too, saying it preferred to let the warring parties agree to local cease-fires, one by one, so as to let in food and medicine. But Russia eventually signaled its intention to engage by putting forward a resolution of its own. Resolution From the United Nations Security Council on Syria In a hard-fought show of unity among world powers, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to order the warring parties in Syria to stop blocking the delivery of humanitarian aid, though without the immediate prospect of punishment against those who disobey. In a nod to Russian demands, the resolution “strongly” condemns the “increased terrorist attacks resulting in numerous casualties and destruction carried out by organizations and individuals associated with Al Qaeda, its affiliates and other terrorist groups.” The Syrian government refers to all of the rebels as terrorists. In several places, the resolution points to the government’s singular role in blocking aid. For instance, it “demands that all parties, in particular the Syrian authorities, promptly allow rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access for U.N. humanitarian agencies and their implementing partners.” Inside Syria, both parties tried to use the resolution to bolster their positions and condemn their enemies. Monzer Akbik, chief of staff to the president of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, said the group welcomed the vote but doubted that the government would live up to its obligations. “This means that the international community is talking in one voice and saying that the starvation and siege that the regime is inflicting on many areas in Syria should stop now and the regime should allow access to these areas,” he said. For his part, the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar al-Jaafari, said, “Humanitarian aid for Syrian cannot be achieved unless it is accompanied by an end to terrorism.” The most intense negotiations, diplomats said in interviews on Saturday, were over language on aerial bombardments, particularly by barrel bombs, which was a priority for several Western countries, and a reference to specific besieged communities. Naming those communities pointed to the Syrian government’s role in blocking aid. For the Russians as well as the Chinese, the subject of allowing aid across Syria’s national borders was especially troublesome. By Wednesday, the three countries that had drafted the document — Australia, Jordan and Luxembourg — had decided that the time for negotiations was over. “Our bottom lines had been preserved,” one Council diplomat said. “We had incorporated a good deal of some of the concerns from Russia and China.” Jan Egeland, the former United Nations relief coordinator who now heads the Norwegian Refugee Council, said the secretary general must be “ruthlessly honest” in monitoring the war. “The test of whether this resolution is being implemented is simple,” he said by email. “All parties must enable real progress over the next 30 days in some key areas: by lifting sieges on populated areas and ensuring civilians in besieged communities access to humanitarian aid, by opening border crossings from neighboring countries for deliveries of lifesaving aid, by an effective system for approving humanitarian aid convoys to hard-to-reach areas, by cessation of attacks on civilian targets like schools and hospitals.”

UN Security Council
Syria
Arab Spring
Humanitarian aid
Australia
Jordan
Luxembourg
UN


Bank of America Reports $7.3 Billion Loss, Citing Card Charges

Abstract: Bank of America , the nation’s biggest bank, announced Tuesday that operating profit rebounded in the third quarter, helped by improved credit conditions among consumers and businesses. On a noncash basis for the quarter, the bank reported a loss of $7.3 billion because of a $10.4 billion write-down in the value of its credit card unit, attributed to federal regulations that limit debit fees and other charges. Without the one-time charge, the bank earned $3.1 billion, or 27 cents a share. Wall Street had been expecting earnings of 16 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters. Analysts said the improving credit environment was a healthy sign, both for the bank and the broader economy. The bank set aside $5.4 billion in the quarter for credit losses, $2.7 billion less than the previous quarter and $6.3 billion less than the period a year ago. “The biggest thing is that credit quality improved way more than anybody thought,” said Chris Kotowski, an analyst with Oppenheimer & Company. “That is the holy grail — anything else you can deal with. The one thing that kills value for banking institutions is when credit quality spirals out of control, so this should be the key to the stock doing well for the next year or two.” Indeed, a substantial portion of the profit gain came from the expectation of lower losses among credit card and mortgage borrowers, rather than new business, as the bank was able to recapture money it had earlier set aside. It released $1.8 billion from reserves, compared with a release of $1.45 billion in the second quarter. In recent days, Bank of America shares have been hammered as investors worried about the impact of legal challenges to home foreclosures. After halting foreclosures across the country, Bank of America said Monday it was resuming the process in 23 states where court approval is required for a foreclosure to proceed. One critical worry over the last week was that investors would force the bank to repurchase now-toxic mortgage backed securities, arguing that they were put together improperly. These so-called “put-backs,” some analysts warned, could total tens of billions of dollars, undermining earnings for years to come. But the $872 million charge recorded for put-backs in the quarter indicates the threat is manageable, Mr. Kotowski said. In the same quarter a year ago, Bank of America reported a loss of $2.2 billion, or 26 cents a share. “We are adapting to the regulatory environment, credit quality continues to improve, and we are managing risk and building capital,” the chief executive, Brian T. Moynihan, said in a statement. “We are realistic about the near-term challenges, and optimistic about the long-term opportunity.” Bank of America became the third major bank to report third-quarter earnings. JPMorgan Chase reported a $4.4 billion profit for the third quarter while Citigroup reported earnings of $2.2 billion , its third profitable quarter in a row.


In a Highly Complex World, Innovation From the Top Down

Abstract: USER-GENERATED content — from Wikipedia to YouTube to open-source software — is generating waves of excitement. But the opening of innovation to wider numbers of people obscures another trend: many of the most popular new products, like the iPod , are dominated by a top-down, elite innovation model that doesn’t allow for customization. “New technologies are becoming so complex that many are beyond the possibility of democracy playing a role in their development,” said Thomas P. Hughes, a science and technology professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Consider: Electronic implants into human bodies; gene-splicing as common as cosmetic surgery; computer networks mining vast databases to discern consumer preferences. All of these innovations are the result of corporate or government initiatives overseen by elites. “The process of innovation leaves out a huge proportion of the population,” said Daniel Sarewitz, director of the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes at Arizona State University. To be sure, experts like Eric von Hippel, a management professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, argue that the proliferation of “user-generated” designs signals the “democratizing” of innovation. Armed with inexpensive digital tools and networks, ordinary people, he says, can band together to push their own innovations. They also can hijack existing technologies, taking them in directions only dimly envisioned by the original creators. One example is an electronic community called Instructables whose participants share methods for customizing standard products in unpredictable ways. The chief of Instructables, Eric J. Wilhelm, who earned his doctorate at M.I.T., where he was inspired by Mr. von Hippel, has posted a clever means of turning a white Asics Gel-Foundation 7 running shoe into a purple model. (The $90 official version comes only in a white-black-and-blue combination.) Today’s Web-savvy consumers “expect innovations to meet their needs,” Mr. Wilhelm says. “If innovation isn’t tailored to them, they expect to be able to tailor it to themselves. That is a big change.” But does this really mean that elites no longer sit at the top of the innovation food chain? “Elites have a lot of leverage but less than they used to,” says Peter Leyden, director of the New Politics Institute in San Francisco. “More people are getting their voices heard.” Mr. Leyden sees an emergent American “republic of innovation,” where growing numbers of people influence what innovations are made and when. Skeptics, however, say that the rosy scenario is exaggerated and that user-generated innovation is merely a kind of “democracy lite,” emphasizing high-end consumer products and services rather than innovations that broadly benefit society. “Difficult questions are going unasked about who is participating in innovation and on what terms,” says James Wilsdon, director of the innovation program at Demos, a think tank in London. In that scenario, needed innovations can be overlooked. For example, huge amounts of money are spent on improving Web search engines or MP3 players, while scant attention is given to alternative energy sources. Battling diseases like AIDS or Alzheimer’s — efforts that lobbying groups in wealthy countries help highlight — attract legions of well-financed innovators, while big global killers, like childhood diarrhea and sleeping sickness, are ignored. Popular pressure to pursue certain innovations sometimes gets results, of course. In 2004, voters in California passed a law lavishly funding a stem-cell research institute — in a rebuke to the Bush administration, which has banned federal funding for such research. “This was a great example of a democratic adjudication of an innovation issue,” Mr. Sarewitz of Arizona State said. Even so, bureaucratic and legal delays have meant a slow start for the San Francisco lab, which has not yet received approval to spend any of the $3 billion in promised taxpayer funds. The California example suggests that the balance between expert leadership and mass influence is hard to achieve. The underlying complexity of many innovations demands an ever-rising technological literacy from the public, and yet such an outcome “is a dream that will not likely come to pass,” insists Mr. Hughes, a visiting professor at M.I.T. For all the hoopla over the power and promise of user-generated content, consumer-directed design and other hallmarks of our new golden era of democratized innovation, one of the iconic products of our times — the iPod — can’t be customized (no, I’m not counting putting on different-colored protective jackets). There is an unbroken line between Henry Ford (with his Model T) and Steve Jobs. The new iPhone similarly reflects the elite, corporate innovator’s drive to find one size that fits many. The cliché that committees can’t create great ideas, or art, still seems to be true — though whether or not that is the best way to innovate remains an open question. Who knows how much longer?

Inventions and Patents
Science and Technology
Computers and the Internet


Shanghai Stock Market Echo of Tiananmen Date Sets Off Censors

Abstract: HONG KONG — Maybe it was just a coincidence, but when the Shanghai Stock Exchange fell 64.89 points on Monday — uncannily echoing the date of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy students on June 4, 1989, exactly 23 years earlier — the Chinese blogosphere went into a tizzy. “I want to thank all the stock traders!” wrote one microblogger. “Maybe God does exist?” wrote another. Whatever the reason, the strange trick that the stock market played on the Chinese Communist Party sent the country’s censors scrambling as well, prompting them to undertake unusually strenuous efforts to block references to the tragedy, which Chinese leaders have tried desperately to erase from their country’s consciousness. In a nation where numerology is taken very seriously, the censors quickly began blocking searches for “stock market,” “ Shanghai stock,” “Shanghai stock market,” “index” and related terms. They also deleted large numbers of microblog postings about the numerical surprise. And even before tens of thousands of demonstrators clad mostly in black gathered at Victoria Park in Hong Kong for an annual candlelight vigil commemorating the Tiananmen killings, censors were also blocking searches for “Victoria Park,” “black clothes,” “silent tribute” and even “today.” Not only did the broad index of the Shanghai exchange fall 64.89 points on Monday, but the index also opened that morning at 2346.98, a figure that, to some, looked like the date of the crackdown written backward, followed by the 23rd anniversary. The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index is calculated by adding up the market capitalizations of hundreds of stocks and then converting the sum into an index based on a value of 100 on Dec. 19, 1990. Richard W. Kershaw, the managing director for Asia forensic technology at FTI Consulting , a global financial investigations company, said that it would be almost impossible for anyone to coordinate the buying and selling of so many stocks to produce a specific result. But hackers have targeted the computer systems at other stock exchanges in the past, and Mr. Kershaw said it was at least possible that this might have occurred in China . He predicted that the government would investigate, adding, “You can bet we’ll never hear the results.” Chinese culture puts a very strong, sometimes superstitious, emphasis on numbers and dates. The Beijing Olympics started at 8:08 p.m. on Aug. 8, 2008, a time and date chosen for the many eights, considered an auspicious number. The candlelight vigil in Hong Kong drew a crowd that organizers estimated at “over 180,000,” which would make it the biggest of the annual events since 1989. Organizers have estimated the crowds in 1990, 2009, 2010 and 2011 at 150,000. The police here were more cautious, putting the turnout at 85,000; they had estimated the annual turnout from 2009 through 2011 at 62,800, 113,000 and 77,000, and the 1990 vigil at 80,000. The turnout on Monday, on a humid evening under a luminous full moon, was particularly hard to calculate. Six soccer fields in front of a large stage, the core of the park, filled up with densely packed crowds earlier than in previous years. That prompted people to spill over to a series of other fields in the park. Some fields had outdoor screens that were put up to display the proceedings; others had no such provisions, having not filled with crowds in past years. There was also an unusually large turnout of people who appeared to be in their teens or 20s. Until the last several years, the vigils had been mostly attended by people in their 40s and older — those who had experienced soaring hopes for democratization in 1989, followed by crushing disappointment. Andy Lo, 20, a university student, said that social media like Facebook had been filled this year with calls to attend the vigil. But he and others there were unable to explain why this had happened. “I used to think it was just a ritual,” he said. “We want something to change, the voice for change is much stronger now, but I can’t account for it.” Even 23 years later, the use of tanks and gunfire to disperse unarmed students and other Tiananmen Square protesters remains a point of bitter dispute in China and around the world. Increased attendance at the Hong Kong vigils has coincided with public concern here and in mainland China about issues including corruption and the inequity of wealth. And retired Chinese officials who were in office in the months leading up to the Tiananmen Square crackdown have begun publishing their memoirs. The memoir of Zhao Ziyang , the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in the two years before the protest, was published shortly before the 2009 vigil. He was ousted from power immediately after the Tiananmen crackdown by Deng Xiaoping , China’s supreme leader at the time. A series of conversations with Chen Xitong, the mayor of Beijing in 1989 and a reputed hard-liner, were published last week. He expressed regret that a military assault had taken place, denied reports that he had played a role in organizing the attack and said that “several hundred people died that day.” Estimates of the civilian death toll in the crackdown have ranged from the hundreds to thousands. China tightens security measures for the anniversary each year. In the last few days, the government has detained or placed under house arrest an unknown number of dissidents, part of an annual procedure before the anniversary. The local government of Tongzhou, an eastern district of Beijing, took the unusual step of publishing on its Web site a description of its precautions for the anniversary: “From May 31 to June 4, wartime systems and protective measures should be in effect, and security volunteers, wearing red armbands and organized by the collective action of neighborhoods, should be on duty and patrolling.” The post was deleted by early Monday afternoon. Liu Weimin, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, expressed “strong dissatisfaction” with the United States on Monday after the State Department issued a statement on Sunday calling for China to free political prisoners still in jail nearly a quarter-century after the Tiananmen crackdown.

China
Economy
Tiananmen Square
Stocks and Bonds
Censorship


Led by Lee, Knicks Find Opponent to Dominate

Abstract: AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — David Lee was a free agent with no offers on the table last summer. The Detroit Pistons were spending lavishly but sent their checks elsewhere. On Tuesday, Lee visited the Palace for the first time this season and, as if on cue, did everything possible to fill the arena with regret. Lee, showing off his newfound shooting range, scored on an array of layups and jumpers for a season-high 30 points in a 104-87 rout by the Knicks . He also had 12 rebounds and 5 assists in one of his most complete games this season. “He’s really getting a lot of confidence in his outside shot,” Coach Mike D’Antoni said of Lee. “You can see he’s just not hesitating.” The Knicks (12-19) won for the ninth time in 14 games this month, against a team they could be competing with for a playoff spot. The Pistons (11-20) lost their eighth straight game and fell nine games under .500 for the first time since the 2000-1 season. Detroit was the N.B.A.’s biggest spender on free agents in July, signing Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva for a combined $90 million, recharging a roster that had grown stale. But injuries have slowed the Pistons’ progress. Gordon, Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince have all missed extensive time. Tuesday night was only the third time Detroit had its best lineup together. Hamilton was a mess, going 5 for 21 from the field, and finished with 16 points. Lee could have been part of the rebuilding effort, but the Pistons locked in on Gordon and Villanueva immediately in July. “I think they were looking for something different,” said Lee, who returned to the Knicks on a one-year deal. “They were looking for a big that could step out and shoot the 3 like Villanueva, and they were looking for a guard like Gordon.” Of course, the Pistons probably did not expect that Lee would routinely make 20-footers. “I don’t think I did, either,” he said with a chuckle. The Knicks shot 51.3 percent from the field as they continued their December renaissance. They play the Nets in East Rutherford, N.J., on Wednesday with a chance to record their first 10-win month since January 2003.


Italy: Crackdown on Crime Families in Italy and U.S.

Abstract: In a coordinated crackdown, American and Italian authorities arrested 25 men in Sicily, New York, North Carolina and Florida on Wednesday and charged them with taking part in a range of criminal activities under the umbrellas of the Gambino crime family in the United States and the Santa Maria di Gesù family in Sicily. Robert Settineri, who prosecutors said was a Sicilian Mafia associate, was arrested in Florida and charged by federal prosecutors with money laundering and with obstructing justice by destroying documents related to a large-scale mail and wire fraud. In and around Palermo, Sicily, 20 people were arrested and charged with extortion, drug trafficking, attempted homicide and other crimes.

Italy
Organized Crime
United States
Gambino Crime Family
Santa Maria di Gesu Crime Family


In Synagogue Bomb Case, a Star Witness’s Last Turn

Abstract: The witness looked exhausted. As the jurors filed in for the afternoon session on Wednesday, he stood, but his head bowed over his hunched shoulders, making it seem as if he was trying to disappear into his black suit. It was the final day of the prosecution’s case and the 13th day on the witness stand for Shahed Hussain , a government informer and the central prosecution witness in the trial of four men accused of planting bombs outside two synagogues in the Bronx and plotting to fire heat-seeking missiles at military planes. Since Aug. 27, Mr. Hussain has testified in detail about the dozens of interactions that he secretly recorded with the defendants. And over the course of the month in Federal District Court in Manhattan, he has been questioned about every aspect of his personal life, from his marriage and his wealth to his criminal history and political affiliations. Defense lawyers, faced with damaging audio and video recordings of their clients actively engaged in the bombing plot, have called Mr. Hussain a serial liar. The judge has also said there were “inconsistencies” in his testimony. So for most of the day on Wednesday, Mr. Hussain sat in his seat, gazing wearily at the defense lawyers, who tried to land parting blows from a few feet away. One of the lawyers, Susanne Brody, asked him about an immigration form he signed in 2001, on which he indicated that he had never knowingly committed a crime for which he had not been arrested. Mr. Hussain had previously testified that he became involved in an identity fraud scheme beginning in 2000. “I did not understand that question,” Mr. Hussain said. Over the next few hours, he admitted mistakes in his testimony, saying that a story he told about a former prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, a family friend, had contained an error: a $40,000 gift Ms. Bhutto gave to Mr. Hussain’s son was used to buy a Cadillac Escalade, not a Mercedes, as Mr. Hussain had said earlier. There were more details about his wealth. Mr. Hussain said a family trust from which he had drawn nearly $700,000 over the last 14 years was worth between $10 million and $15 million. He also admitted that on previous tax returns, he applied for the earned income credit, normally reserved for the working poor. Some lies he told for the safety of himself and his family, he said, explaining why his passport indicated he was born in Rawalpindi and not Karachi, where he was actually born. A juror rolled her eyes, but it was not clear if that was a reaction to a lawyer’s question or the testimony. At 3:11 p.m., Mr. Hussain stood up, buttoned his suit and slowly walked out the courtroom. About an hour later, the government rested its case.


Moody’s Joins S.&P. in Downgrading G.E.

Abstract: General Electric lost its top credit rating from Moody’s Investors Service on Monday because of higher risks at the conglomerate’s struggling GE Capital lending unit. The expected move follows a similar downgrade of G.E. this month by the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s. Moody’s lowered its ratings for G.E. and GE Capital two notches to Aa2 from Aaa. It said the outlook for both was stable. The downgrades mean G.E. will most likely pay higher costs to borrow money. GE Capital, which recently made up nearly half of G.E.’s overall earnings, has been hurt by the financial crisis. G.E. said last week that the finance unit could just break even this year because of higher losses on loans for credit cards, overseas mortgages, big equipment and commercial property. General Electric, based in Fairfield, Conn., had forecast earlier that GE Capital would earn about $5 billion. Moody’s said that G.E.’s industrial businesses, which include energy equipment, machines for health care and jet engines, would still probably warrant the top credit rating on their own. But the lower overall rating was warranted because of the volatility of GE Capital’s earnings and questions over its financing, according to Moody’s. As a stand-alone entity, GE Capital would have a much lower credit rating. G.E. said the downgrade, along with the S.& P. cut, would not have a significant impact on its operations or financing. The company said that both ratings agencies gave it a stable outlook, meaning a further downgrade was not likely in the short term. Shares of G.E. rose 89 cents, or 9 percent, to $10.43.

General Electric Co
Moody's Corporation
Ratings and Rating Systems
Stocks and Bonds