After Fukushima, Does Nuclear Power Have a Future?

Abstract: A couple of months after the catastrophe at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant March 11, an American nuclear expert posed an interesting question. “The post-Fukushima public sentiment is surprisingly low-key isn’t it? What a difference between this event and TMI or Chernobyl,” he wrote in an e-mail, using an abbreviation for the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. “What do you think is going on? Why so quiet?” I was not convinced. What he said was certainly true in the United States, but the accident had a profound effect in Germany, China and several other countries, serving as a fearful reminder of what can go wrong with nuclear power plants. Phase-outs were the order of the day in Germany (where Chancellor Angela Merkel also demanded immediate shutdowns of eight of the country’s oldest reactors) and Switzerland. China suspended approvals for new reactors pending a safety review, which is now reportedly completed. This has resulted in a downward revision of China’s unofficial pre-Fukushima goal to install 86 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2020. It now looks like that will be set around 60 gigawatts (up from around 12 currently) or just a little higher. Italy said no to new reactors for the second time, ending a relatively brief flirtation with nuclear planners after a long post-Chernobyl freeze. “I think there is now less than 0.01 percent chance for nuclear in Italy,” said Luigi De Paoli, energy economy professor at the Bocconi University in Milan, according to Reuters. Taiwan appears on the brink of some kind of phase-out involving four reactors, although it is likely to allow a recently constructed fifth unit to operate. Venezuela and Israel, both countries that had harbored nuclear power ambitions, decided they could do without after all. “I think we’ll go for the gas,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNN. “I think we’ll skip the nuclear.” In Japan, of course, the effect was most dramatic. Thirteen units were automatically “scrammed” when the earthquake struck, and a 14th was already out for maintenance. With 15 others offline because of previous quakes or for mandatory inspection and refueling, the country’s fleet of 54 operating reactors was cut to 25. In May, the government ordered a shutdown of three additional units (one of which had already been down for maintenance) at Hamaoka, situated in a particularly vulnerable seismic zone near Tokyo. The nuclear “capacity factor” — a measure of how much electricity reactors generate as a percentage of what they could provide — had dropped precipitously, from 71 percent in February to 51 percent in May, but it would plunge even further in subsequent months. Facing the prospect of broad electricity failures over the summer, Japan’s leadership did not dare order more plants shut down, but it hardly needed to. Because of the requirement for inspections every 13 months, more reactors were taken offline, one after the other. Now only 11 are operating. (The Japan Atomic Industrial Forum stopped publishing monthly capacity factors after July, when the figure stood at 34 percent, with 19 units operating.) While there certainly were electricity shortages, Japan survived the summer without the extensive blackouts that had been predicted. Normally the reactors would have been restarted within several weeks of shutdown, but these are not normal times in Japan. Restarts require approvals from local and prefectural governments, and these have not been received since the disaster. The 11 reactors still in operation are due to go down for maintenance between now and next September, and that in theory could leave Japan with zero nuclear-generated electricity — although that is unlikely, given the pro-nuclear sentiment of governors in some prefectures and the intense pressure for restarts from Tokyo. However, the Japanese government has ordered a gradual phase-out of the country’s reactors, reversing a previous policy of increasing nuclear’s share of the generating mix to 50 percent by 2030. (Japan’s reactors were generally credited with supplying about 30 percent of the electricity mix, but the figure was debatable, given the frequency of power failures even before Fukushima.) “To build new reactors is unrealistic, and we will decommission reactors at the end of their life spans,” Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said in his first policy speech Sept. 2. Despite this relatively dismal outlook for nuclear energy , the London-based World Nuclear Association predicts a 30 percent increase in global nuclear generating capacity over the next decade; it foresees 79 more reactors online by 2020, for a total of 514, even taking Fukushima into account. And it sees a 66 percent increase by 2030, with capacity additions in China, India, South Korea and Russia outnumbering projected declines in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the United States. Curiously, it assumes Japan will restart all but the six units at Fukushima Daiichi and continue to build new reactors to replace aging ones, for a net number of operating reactors in 2030 more or less the same as before Fukushima. While the nuclear association is obviously bullish, it is less so than it was in its last forecast two years ago. And the projected increase would only keep nuclear energy treading water. As a percentage of global generation it would account for just 14 percent, the same amount the association says it currently contributes. (Other experts say the figure is lower.) In the United States, currently home to the world’s largest reactor fleet, only one proposed project, in Texas, was effectively canceled after Fukushima, but it had been teetering for more than a year since its largest backer, NRG Energy, decided to pull the plug. Plans for about 30 new reactors in the United States already had been whittled down to just four, despite the promise of large subsidies and President Barack Obama’s support of nuclear power, which he reaffirmed after Fukushima. Perhaps most interesting to watch will be France, whose dependence on nuclear energy is the highest in the world, with nearly 80 percent of the country’s electricity produced by 58 reactors, a fleet second in size only to that of the United States. A poll by the Institut Français d’Opinion Publique in May, published in Le Journal du Dimanche, found 77 percent of the public favored some kind of nuclear phase-out. That is not completely surprising, given past polls showing French opinion toward nuclear energy to be lukewarm. What is clear is that Fukushima is prompting a major rethinking of the country’s energy policies and that the nuclear issue promises to be a big factor in the presidential election next year. Against this background, it is not surprising that in the World Nuclear Association’s midcase scenario, both the United States and France show a gradual decline in the number of operating reactors over the next two decades. It has been evident for some time that nuclear energy’s future increasingly lies in Asia. Whatever the reasons for the muted response to Fukushima, the European phase-outs prompted by the tragedy would make this trend even more pronounced. But even in Asia, a nuclear future is no certain thing. Twenty-five years apart, Chernobyl and Fukushima were events that nuclear plant designers assumed would never happen. Any further major accidents could spell the industry’s doom. Stephanie Cooke is editor of the Energy Intelligence Group’s Nuclear Intelligence Weekly and author of “In Mortal Hands: A Cautionary History of the Nuclear Age.”

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (Japan)


Baby, You Can Drive My (Rented) Car, and Other Perks

Abstract: With Massachusetts deciding this week to allow marriages of same-sex couples who live out of state, and Gov. David A. Paterson of New York directing state agencies in May to recognize gay marriages performed legally elsewhere, many expect scores of New Yorkers to soon become husband and husband or wife and wife. They will still have to file federal income taxes separately, but could be eligible for a number of new benefits, according to state officials and the gay-rights group Empire State Pride Agenda. In a recent memo to the governor’s office, the Department of Environmental Conservation said that members of same-sex married couples would be granted the right to take deer or bear from their spouse’s land and shuck shellfish if their spouse has a permit. Other spousal rights include eligibility for benefits from the Crime Victims Board and inclusion in employee ethics filings. The governor’s office released a page-long list of other examples. As part of its push to legalize gay marriage in New York State, the Pride Agenda joined with the New York City Bar Association to mine state and local law books and find privileges reserved for married couples, and came up with 1,324 items. Here are some highlights: ¶The surviving spouse of a veteran can receive priority for public housing, and is entitled to free certified copies of the veteran’s honorable discharge papers. ¶A surviving spouse may authorize a partner’s autopsy and donate the body to science. ¶An absentee ballot can be provided if someone is out of town to be with his or her spouse. ¶Spouses may not be compelled to testify about statements made to each other during their marriage. ¶If a person dies without a will, his or her spouse inherits the estate, and if there are children, shares it with them. ¶Spouses cannot be disinherited, and have the right to contest a partner’s will. ¶If the state needs to move a cemetery because of flooding, surviving spouses have certain rights over the remains. ¶A spouse can take possession of the body of a prisoner executed by the state. ¶The surviving spouse of a correction officer can receive benefits from the state unless he or she remarries. ¶A spouse is considered an “authorized driver” of a rented car. And if someone transfers a used car to a spouse, the warranty goes along with it. ¶If the deaf spouse of a crime victim needs an interpreter during court proceedings, the state will pay for it. ¶A spouse has the right to 10 days of unpaid leave from work during a partner’s leave from the military in wartime. But the spouse of a current or former professional gambler or of someone convicted of a crime cannot receive a license to conduct bingo games. TINA KELLEY


Turkey Shaken by Military Officer Arrests in Ergenekon Case

Abstract: ISTANBUL — Tensions between Turkey’s powerful military and the government have escalated sharply as a court has ordered the formal arrests of 20 former and current officers on charges they had plotted a coup. The 20, arrested Wednesday and Thursday, were among 49 people detained Monday as part of an investigation into allegations of a 2003 military plan called Sledgehammer. Prosecutors say the military at that time intended to stir chaos to justify overthrowing the governing Justice and Development Party , known as the AK Party, which came to power in 2002. Turkey’s army regards itself as a protector of the country’s secular traditions and has had tense relations with the AK Party, which is rooted in political Islam. The arrests of military officers, including several retired generals and admirals, in a security operation aimed solely at members of the army, have no recent precedent in Turkey and are likely to further alarm the country’s secular elite. But the military’s power has been eroded in recent years as Turkey enacts reforms intended to enhance its candidacy for admission to the European Union. “It is not an easy power struggle to reach an end anytime soon, when the military tries to maintain its power and the government remains somewhat involved in the trial process,” said Rusen Cakir, a columnist with Vatan, a daily newspaper. “We still do not know where this polarization in the society, anxiously watching these happenings, will lead Turkey.” The plan under investigation appears to be part of what prosecutors have called the Ergenekon conspiracy . Prosecutors say an alliance of top military officers and secular power brokers in Turkish society was aimed at creating conditions that would allow the army to topple the country’s government. The army has acknowledged the existence of strategic planning to prepare for war situations, but has strongly denied that it had plotted a coup. Army officers also deny involvement in any network called Ergenekon and dispute claims that they intended to attack civilian and religious targets to foment unrest. In a rare meeting at the General Staff Headquarters in Ankara, the capital, on Tuesday, the highest-ranking generals of the army gathered to discuss the situation, a written statement posted on the military’s Web site said, but it gave no further details. The army, which has long enjoyed full immunity from civilian law, ousted four governments in the past 50 years without facing any challenges itself until the AK Party came to power. The continuing trial in the Ergenekon case is deeply divisive in Turkey. Efforts to punish those thought to have tried to destabilize the government are broadly popular. But some government critics say the investigation, which is led by pro-government forces within the judiciary, has become a tool of political manipulation intended to punish a wide range of vocal critics of the government. AK Party leaders deny that they have used the investigation to settle political scores. The investigation is led by several state prosecutors with special powers, looking into a wide range of evidence, including weapons and illegal documents confiscated during various security operations since 2007. More than 200 people have been arrested so far in the name of the investigation, including intellectuals, journalists and academics, some of them jailed without facing official charges. Among the detainees in the latest proceedings are two retired generals and a retired admiral: a former deputy chief of the general staff, Ergin Saygun; a former air force commander, Ibrahim Firtina; and the former naval commander, Ozden Ornek. All served during the AK Party’s tenure. The former generals will appear in court on Thursday and face a decision on whether the prosecution’s case against them will proceed. On Thursday, President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the chief of the general staff, Gen. Ilker Basbug, will evaluate the situation, the semiofficial Anatolian News Agency reported.

Turkey
Coups D'Etat and Attempted Coups D'Etat
Ergenekon Conspiracy


A Question of Trimming Pay at Goldman Sachs - Breakingviews

Abstract: A rare loss potentially looms for Goldman Sachs . A growing number of analysts estimate that the Wall Street titan will slip into the red when it announces third-quarter results. Given the state of the markets, it is not hard to imagine. But most assessments also expect Goldman to sock away nearly half its revenue to cover compensation for its employees. That could mean that the top brass needs to grin and bear draining the pool. The numbers don’t look promising. Assume, as Barclays Capital predicts, that Goldman reports a $180 million quarterly loss and that Lloyd C. Blankfein, the chief executive, sets aside $1.8 billion for pay and benefits. Cutting the pay pool in half would swing the firm to a profit of about $500 million. That is no windfall. It equates to return on equity of just below 3 percent. Even if Goldman left the compensation line empty for the quarter, it would fail to reap enough to meet its cost of capital. Such restraint would nevertheless show a willingness to put shareholders first. And it wouldn’t necessarily be just a short-term solution. After all, Goldman’s first half wasn’t great, either. Excluding the one-time cost of redeeming Warren E. Buffett’s preferred stock, it posted a return on equity of 10.2 percent. That is around half of Goldman’s recent historical average through the cycle. Achieving a more respectable 15 percent would have required cutting the compensation ratio to 33 percent, a bit lower than in 2009. Lower pay might have encouraged some to leave, though rivals weren’t exactly swimming in money, and over all, Goldman would still have squirreled away an average of $179,000 per employee. The other option, of course, is to cut its staff. That move also has costs, though, especially with more stock payouts that take years to vest. Keeping average pay higher in the first six months with a shallower compensation pool would have meant showing a quarter of employees the door, undermining morale and the ability to satisfy clients. Goldman may yet hold out longer before trimming pay. But with no obvious signs of business picking up, bankers and traders may need to get used to the idea of sacrificing more of their waning spoils to keep shareholders on board. Testing the Banks Europe’s banks may need to retake their summer exams. Regulators are seeking ways to inject more capital into the region’s troubled lenders. One potential quick fix is to use the same data as was used in July’s discredited stress tests, but to also impose markdowns on sovereign debt. Still, this wouldn’t be enough. The authorities should also raise the minimum capital ratio that banks need to clear. The flaw in July’s tests was that banks did not have to mark down the government bonds they hold at face value. As a result, only eight of the European Union’s 90 largest lenders flunked the exam, with a capital shortfall of just 2.5 billion euros. Since then, worries about sovereign debt have spread from Greece and Portugal to Spain and Italy, threatening a systemic crisis. Ideally, regulators would conduct another test. But that would take months, and Europe does not have the luxury of time. An alternative is to rerun the tests with the same data, while forcing the banks to mark all sovereign bonds to current market prices. In that case, 18 banks would fail, with a capital hole of 40 billion euros, according to calculations by Breakingviews. But even that wouldn’t restore confidence. The International Monetary Fund puts the capital shortfall of European banks at 100 billion to 200 billion euros. Some analysts have come up with even higher numbers. To address these concerns, regulators should simultaneously raise the minimum core Tier 1 capital ratio that banks need to clear. If it was raised to 7 percent from July’s 5 percent, more than half of the 90 banks involved in the tests would need a combined 98 billion euros of extra capital. Problems could arise from this approach. But as a quick way to restore confidence in Europe’s banking system, imposing a tougher test may be worth a try.

Banking and Financial Institutions
European Sovereign Debt Crisis (2010- )
Goldman Sachs Group Inc


Bill O’Reilly Defends Comments About ‘Well Fed’ Slaves

Abstract: Addressing Michelle Obama’s remarks about slaves having built the White House, Bill O’Reilly said Tuesday on his Fox News program that those slaves were “well fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government.” His comments drew swift rebukes online. He fired back on his Wednesday program, saying that the nation’s first president provided slaves with “meat, bread and other staples” and “decent lodging.” It all began in a 90-second segment near the end of “The O’Reilly Factor” on the Fox News Channel on Tuesday night, when Mr. O’Reilly delved into the history of the White House dating to George Washington’s selecting the site for it in 1791. Mr. O’Reilly, a conservative pundit and the author of historical books like “Killing Kennedy,” appeared to be attempting to fact-check a statement the first lady made on Monday at the Democratic National Convention, calling her words “a positive comment” and adding that “the history behind her remark is fascinating.” Image A brick made by a slave from the construction of the White House. Credit Tim Gruber for The New York Times “Slaves that worked there were well fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government, which stopped hiring slave labor in 1802,” he said. “However, the feds did not forbid subcontractors from using slave labor. So, Michelle Obama is essentially correct in citing slaves as builders of the White House, but there were others working, as well.” Twitter users seized on his comments, which were criticized as making light of the slaves’ treatment and regurgitating the antebellum view of the “happy” or “content” slave. Mr. O’Reilly responded on Wednesday, first on Twitter and then on television. Then, on his program, Mr. O’Reilly attributed the criticism to “smear merchants” and called it “a given that slavery is an abomination.” He then, again, addressed the conditions in which slaves worked. “As any honest historian knows, in order to keep slaves and free laborers strong, the Washington administration provided meat, bread and other staples, also decent lodging on the grounds of the new presidential building,” he said. “That is a fact. Not a justification, not a defense of slavery,” Mr. O’Reilly added. Historians generally agree that slaves indeed helped build the White House . The White House Historical Association said African-Americans — enslaved and free — provided “the bulk of the labor that built the White House, the United States Capitol, and other early government buildings.” Slaves worked at the government’s quarry in Aquia, Va., to cut the stone for the White House walls, the organization said. Jesse Holland, a journalist who wrote “The Invisibles: The Untold Story of African American Slaves in the White House,” said he appreciated that Mr. O’Reilly acknowledged the slaves, considering others had disputed their role in the White House after Ms. Obama’s comments. Most of Mr. O’Reilly’s history lesson was accurate, he said. But there’s no historical evidence either way on the question of how well fed the slaves were, he said. The slaves were indeed fed pork and bread, but it’s unknown what kinds and how much they were given, he said. “We know as construction workers they were expected to do hard, grueling, backbreaking work,” Mr. Holland said. “So they had to feed them enough so they could actually get their money’s worth. Were they well fed? That’s not something that, right now, history supports.” Many of the slaves lived in a structure described as a barn, Mr. Holland said. There were houses built for workers, but it’s unknown if the slaves got to live in them. Following is a transcript of Mr. O’Reilly’s original remarks on the Tuesday program, in the video above: Finally tonight, Factor Tip of the Day. As we mentioned, Talking Points Memo: Michelle Obama referenced slaves building the White House in referring to the evolution of America in a positive way. It was a positive comment. The history behind her remark is fascinating. George Washington selected the site in 1791 and as president laid the cornerstone in 1792. Washington was then running the country out of Philadelphia. Slaves did participate in the construction of the White House. Records show about 400 payments made to slave masters between 1795 and 1801. In addition, free blacks, whites, and immigrants also worked on the massive building. There were no illegal immigrants at that time — if you could make it here, you could stay here. In 1800, President John Adams took up residence in what was then called the Executive Mansion — it was only later on they named it the White House. But Adams was in there with Abigail, and they were still hammering nails, the construction was still going on. Slaves that worked there were well fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government, which stopped hiring slave labor in 1802. However, the feds did not forbid subcontractors from using slave labor. So, Michelle Obama is essentially correct in citing slaves as builders of the White House, but there were others working as well. Got it all? There will be a quiz.

2016 Presidential Election
White House
Democratic National Convention,DNC
Michelle Obama
Bill O'Reilly


Sampling the Best of the iPhone App Store’s Diversions

Abstract: APPLE turned on the tap for its iPhone App store last week, unleashing more than 500 applications for iPhone users. If you have an iPhone, you just might forget the device is capable of making phone calls, since you’ll be so busy updating Facebook pages, coveting your neighbor’s co-op and wielding your handset to swerve around virtual racetracks. The store is an object lesson for other cellphone makers and carriers on how to make your customers’ phones indispensable. The App Store is simple to use, thanks to its elegant and intuitive interface. Many of the apps are free, and most cost $9.99 or less (although a select few cost as much as $79.99). Five buttons — Featured, Categories, Top 25, Search and Updates — line the bottom of the screen, and that’s about all you need to navigate. Each app includes an overview from the publisher, a rating (one to five stars) and user reviews. If you’re considering a for-pay program, read the comments first because reviewers often describe glitches that might change your mind. The Categories screen will give you a good idea of the sweeping breadth of apps available, from work (scientific calculators) to play (tossing cows), with an emphasis on fun. If you know what you’re looking for, the fastest way to get it is to enter keywords in the search field. To download an app, simply touch and hold the Install key. The phone will ask for your iTunes password, and then will automatically load the app. If the app maker charges a fee, the amount will be charged to your iTunes account. The most promising of the new programs take advantage of the iPhone 3G’s built-in G.P.S. to provide location-aware capabilities. Suppose you’re having a drink after work and suddenly sushi seems like an imperative. Apps such as Yelp can automatically pinpoint your current location using G.P.S. and display nearby Japanese restaurants. The iPhone can also do double duty as a hand-held gaming console, thanks to its accelerometer, which, for instance, lets you use the device to steer a race car in a driving simulator game. Better yet, the graphics are surprisingly crisp. Many of the software titles present information that you could also find using the iPhone’s Safari Web browser, but the apps often win out. Say, for instance, you want to check your Facebook page. If you navigate to the Web site using Safari, you’ll need to home in on a certain part of the page and enlarge it to read, then scoot around to other parts of the page as necessary. With the Facebook app for the iPhone, all the information is reformatted so it is readable and organized. No scooting required. One important limitation is that applications don’t run in the background, so if you’re listening to an online radio station and toggle to your e-mail application, you’ll lose the radio feed. Here are eight of the best applications currently available. (Visit nytimes.com/personaltech for a slide show that shows you these and 10 other top picks.) Entertainment BoxOffice (Free): BoxOffice takes advantage of the iPhone’s G.P.S. capabilities to find movies near you. You can browse by theater, movies, showtimes and distance. When you find what you want, BoxOffice provides a short synopsis of each movie and ratings from Rotten Tomatoes, a movie review site. It will also display the address of the theater, and locate it for you on Google Maps. You can even link to Fandango for ticket purchases. Games Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D ($9.99): Flip your iPhone horizontal and hop into a hot rod with the crusading Crash Bandicoot. The iPhone’s accelerometer enables you to steer your car by tilting the phone to the left and right. The game offers 12 tracks and environments, as well as plenty of opportunities to blast through opponents and crates of fruit. The graphics are mighty impressive, but be warned that this game will drain your battery faster than an S-curve wipe-out. Health Care and Fitness Epocrates Rx (Free): This prescription-drug database contains data on more than 3,300 brand-name and generic drugs. While it’s meant for health care professionals, Epocrates delivers a wealth of information that is useful to consumers, too. For instance, Epocrates spells out common medication dosages for adults and children, side effects, interactions with other medications and even photos of the pills to help you identify or verify medication. Lifestyle Yelp (Free): Yelp fuses social networking, user reviews and local searches into one easy-to-use app that’s essential for any iPhone on the roam. This portable version of Yelp.com , a Web portal that has been around for a few years, has a substantial stock of user reviews (with ratings) and content. You can use G.P.S. to search for nearby restaurants, bars, coffee and tea shops, banks, gas stations and drugstores. Click the Map button and Yelp will display all search results on a Google Map. Music Tuner ($4.99): When you tire of your own tunes (remember, the iPhone is also an iPod ), turn on Tuner, an app that serves up thousands of Internet radio stations in a format that makes it easy to find exactly what you want to hear. You can either browse its incredibly comprehensive genres section (Albanian, anyone?), check out the Top 500 list, or simply search for your own favorite station. As with most Internet radio stations, the sound isn’t CD quality and the volume is sometimes a bit low, but the selection is vast. Be warned, however, that when you flip to another application, Tuner closes and you lose audio. Navigation CityTransit NYC Subway Guide ($2.99): This subway map (no folding!) is your guide to trains in the New York metro area. Plan your transportation via a map view or using a stop-by-stop subway line view. If you’re out and don’t know where to find the nearest subway, hit the Locate button for a list of nearby stations. Select one and CityTransit will plot the station for you on a Google Map. Bonus: The app also includes maps of Long Island Rail Road and Metro North. Social Networking MySpace (Free): The MySpace site is known for its unabashedly homely appearance, so it’s a bit surprising that its software developers delivered an iPhone app that is attractive, easy to use, and packed with features. The app offers many of the same features as the Web site (without the annoying music). Check on all your friends by viewing their photos, bulletins and comments. This app is an amazingly tight distillation of the full-fledged MySpace site. Sports MLB.com At Bat ($4.99): Stat-happy baseball fans will cheer for MLB.com At Bat, which delivers real-time scores of all Major League Baseball games. Click a game (they’re organized by date) and you’ll get an inning-by-inning rundown of runs scored, as well as stats on the winning and losing pitchers. Each game includes eight or so video clips of the day’s highlights (they look great on a Wi-Fi connection but woefully choppy on AT&T’s 3G network).

Computers and the Internet
Software
iPhone
Apple Inc
Social Networking (Internet)
Global Positioning System


Bomber Kills 21 Policemen in Afghanistan

Abstract: KABUL, Afghanistan — A man wrapped in explosives walked into a compound filled with Afghan police officers on Monday morning and detonated his payload, killing 21 officers and himself. The attacker struck in Tirin Kot, the capital of Oruzgan Province, a mountainous area where the government’s authority is being contested by the Taliban. Oruzgan is the birthplace of Mullah Muhammad Omar, the founder of the Taliban movement. The Interior Ministry said the attacker was dressed in a police uniform and set off the explosives during a training exercise in the compound. Eight other officers were wounded. Separately, the Defense Ministry said Afghan Army forces had seized three men wearing vests filled with explosives in the Deh Rawood district of Oruzgan. Monday’s attack was the second in as many days. On Sunday, a man drove a car filled with explosives into a convoy carrying French and Afghan soldiers on the southwestern edge of Kabul, the capital, killing himself and injuring three other people, including a French soldier. Two weeks ago, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the German Embassy in Kabul, killing an American serviceman and four civilians. The Taliban, which has launched hundreds of attacks against American, Afghan and other targets, claimed responsibility, news services reported. In recent months the number of suicide attacks has dropped significantly, largely a result of stepped-up security measures. In 2007, about 140 suicide bombers struck in Afghanistan; in 2008, the number dropped to about 80. As security has tightened against suicide attackers, the Taliban has turned to roadside bombs; in 2008, the number of attacks was double that in 2007.

Afghanistan
Bombs and Explosives
Terrorism
Afghanistan War (2001- )


Gus Johnson Is Eager to Expand His Horizons at Fox

Abstract: Last week, at the exact moment that the broadcaster Gus Johnson learned he would no longer call the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament, he was shooting baskets. Johnson found that a remarkable coincidence. In many ways, the tournament defined him, made him famous. His cult following had grown from his work in March. Johnson felt sad that CBS Sports , his home for 16 years, had declined to match the offer he accepted from Fox Sports; excited about the future; relieved that an unexpected turn under the microscope had ended. The process, he said, had been “very, very, very painful.” Over lunch Tuesday in New York’s Little Italy , Johnson said: “I’m tired of thinking. Weighing. Grappling with my thoughts. You’re giving up something to gain something. But you’re still giving up something. I’m leaving something that I love. And I love that thing. That was my thing. Sometimes, you’ve just got to walk away.” Since last November, Johnson has walked from the two jobs he loved most. First, he left the Knicks, where he was the play-by-play announcer. Then, he departed CBS. For Fox, Johnson will work college football and basketball games, and become part of the network’s N.F.L. rotation. He said he would miss the N.C.A.A. tournament, but he does not plan to watch next March, the same way he did not watch the Knicks until January or so. But Johnson also reiterated that he did not fear leaving the tournament “that made me.” He described his split from CBS as amicable, a necessary step. “I believe in myself,” Johnson said. “I believe in my ability to do my job, whether it be the N.C.A.A. tournament or the world tiddlywinks championship.” Johnson said negotiations with Fox started in early March, right before the tournament. When he told CBS about the other offer, he expected a quiet round of talks. Instead, when he arrived in Las Vegas to work Manny Pacquiao’s welterweight title defense against Shane Mosley on May 7, Sports Illustrated reported he was leaving CBS. The news broke as Pacquiao entered a production meeting, and Johnson’s cellphone buzzed with some 75 messages over the next hour. It was, Johnson said, “like, boom goes the dynamite.” As he worked the fight, Johnson deflected questions regarding his contract status, which he maintained was still being negotiated. CBS had the right to match, he said. The volume of response surprised Johnson. “I never thought it had the potential to become anything like that,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like that. I still don’t understand what the big deal is, why there are so many opinions. I’m just a regular dude. I didn’t think it would have this kind of impact.” Johnson did not rule out returning to CBS in the future. The network declined to comment, sending the same statement it used last week: “We were not able to reach an agreement with Gus. We wish him continued success.” Over the years, Johnson has become familiar with the criticism lobbed in his direction — that he did not prepare as well as other broadcasters, that he overshadowed color analysts, that he called average games with unnecessary excitement — but he said CBS never expressed any of those concerns to him. Instead, he credited the network for its role in his career advancement and noted the “great roster of talented announcers” who stood above him. Fox’s offer, which included Big 12, Conference USA and Pacific 12 football games, simply proved too enticing, Johnson said. He will continue to work boxing and mixed martial arts events for Showtime Sports, and cover college basketball for the Big Ten Network (of which Fox is a minority owner). And he just finished the voice-over for the video game Madden N.F.L. 12 . Johnson will continue to live in Manhattan, to be close to his 7-year-old son. He said that Fox wanted “to mold some things around my style.” He added: “They’ve elevating me to a status I’ve never been before. For the first time, I’m No. 1 at something. I’m at the point where I’m not a kid anymore. I’m in my 40s. I’ve paid my dues.” He says he sees this job as the next step toward a future where he works entirely for himself. On his cellphone, Johnson showed off the new hat and T-shirt designs for his Rise & Fire apparel line, which will be for sale soon. He talked of other ventures, other plans, some far outside of broadcasting. One week after the move to Fox became official, Johnson had already begun to move forward. He expressed no bitterness, as he tried to understand all the interest his future had generated in the past two weeks. “I feel no pressure,” Johnson said. “This is what I do. And I’m good at what I do. I’m going to be better at what I do. I’m going to have fun with this.”

Television
College Athletics
Johnson Gus
Fox Broadcasting Co
CBS Corp
Football


Leader of Central African Republic, François Bozizé, Is in Cameroon

Abstract: JOHANNESBURG — A day after being ousted by rebel forces, President François Bozizé of the Central African Republic surfaced in Cameroon on Monday, according to a statement read on state radio by a senior Cameroonian official. He will remain there until he finds a more permanent refuge, said the official, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh. The rebel coalition, known as Seleka, the word for alliance in the Sango language, solidified its grip on the capital, Bangui, and pledged to stick to the terms of an earlier transition plan negotiated in neighboring Gabon that was to lay the groundwork for new elections in two or three years, Reuters reported. Under that agreement, the rebels, the civilian opposition and Mr. Bozizé’s allies were to share power, but the Seleka rebellion claimed that Mr. Bozizé, who himself came to power in a military coup in 2003, was not respecting its terms. The rebels withdrew from the power-sharing deal and returned to the battlefield. The African Union on Monday froze the assets and imposed a travel ban on the seven leaders of the rebel coalition, according to news reports. There were also indications of disagreement within the rebel ranks over who was in charge, with one leader, Michel Djotodia, declaring himself the new head of state and The Associated Press quoting another rebel leader, Nelson N’Djadder, as disputing Mr. Djotodia’s assertion. South Africa, meanwhile, announced that 13 of its soldiers had been killed while fighting the rebels near Bangui. President Jacob Zuma of South Africa said 200 soldiers had battled more than 1,000 rebels, whom he referred to as “bandits.” Image President François Bozizé during a press conference at his palace in Bangui in January. Credit Sia Kambou/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images “They fought a high-tempo battle for nine hours defending the South African military base, until the bandits raised a white flag and asked for a cease-fire,” he said at a news conference in Pretoria. “Our soldiers inflicted heavy casualties among the attacking bandit forces.” South Africa had sent 200 of a planned deployment of 400 troops to the Central African Republic as part of an agreement with Mr. Bozizé’s government to bolster and train the country’s ragtag army. The high death toll shocked South Africans, many of whom did not know that the country had sent soldiers there and who questioned South Africa’s involvement in helping to prop up Mr. Bozizé. South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, called the deployment of troops there “highly questionable” and declared the mission “a complete disaster from the beginning.” The Central African Republic is one of the most fragile and impoverished nations in the world. It has a long history of military coups and harsh dictatorship, and of meddling by the troubled nations on its borders. Mr. Bozizé came to power with the assistance of Chad, to the north. The Central African Republic also borders Sudan, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, all of which have been at the center of major regional conflagrations.

Central African Republic
Francois Bozize
Cameroon
Coups D'Etat
Seleka
South Africa


Malcolm Smith Demands Apology for Lil Wayne’s Insult to New York

Abstract: State Senator Malcolm A. Smith of Queens said Wednesday that he was “angry,” “taken aback” and “shocked” by five words uttered by the rapper Lil Wayne — five words that, unlike some other Lil Wayne lyrics, can be printed here in their entirety: “I don’t like New York.” “I take strong exception to the words ‘I don’t like New York,’ ” said Mr. Smith, a Democrat. He called a news conference in Father Duffy Square, the island between West 46th and West 47th Streets, on Wednesday to demand an apology. Lil Wayne, whose given name is Dwayne M. Carter Jr., made the comment to MTV News in Las Vegas on Monday night. It was probably not a surprise to anyone, since Mr. Carter has made it clear that performing in the city that never sleeps is not high on his to-do list. After all, he was arrested after his first show in Manhattan, in 2007. He pleaded guilty to a weapons charge and spent eight months on Rikers Island. So Mr. Carter, originally from New Orleans, has something of a history with the city. Still, Mr. Smith — who said his 19-year-old daughter, Amanda, is a Lil Wayne fan — said it was wrong to be disrespectful of New York. Mr. Smith said he believed the comment resulted from “a lapse in mental judgment” on Mr. Carter’s part. “If you don’t like New York,” Mr. Smith said, “you don’t have to come to New York. You don’t have to sell your products here. And perhaps we won’t come to your concerts.” Mr. Smith said he took on Mr. Carter because his legislative district was “a little small place in New York City called Hollis, Queens, which is essentially the home and the origin of hip-hop.” He offered to meet Mr. Carter “anyplace, anytime,” adding that he hoped the agenda would be broadened to include discussion of “how to stop gun violence in our cities.” Mr. Carter’s remark came two days after more than 500 guns were turned in under a police gun-buyback program in Queens. Mr. Smith was one of the officials who sponsored the exchange, which promised $200 bank cards in exchange for illegal guns. “New Yorkers are forgiving people,” he said. “We’re prepared to forgive Lil Wayne if in fact he makes a sincere apology.” A spokeswoman for Mr. Carter had no comment. Mr. Carter is writing a book about his experience at Rikers Island.

Lil Wayne
Smith Malcolm A
New York City
Music


Merkel’s Standing Takes a Hit in Local German Elections

Abstract: BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel is without question the most powerful politician in Europe, trusted by German voters with their money and their future, but that still may not be enough to secure her a third term in elections this year. A down-to-the-wire state election over the weekend has shaken up German politics, handing the upper house of Parliament squarely to the opposition and jeopardizing Ms. Merkel’s re-election chances in September. Speaking to reporters after meeting with her Christian Democratic party leaders, the chancellor did not try to play down the outcome of Sunday’s vote in the state of Lower Saxony. “I don’t want to beat around the bush — after such an emotional roller coaster, a loss hurts all the more,” said Ms. Merkel, standing beside her party’s lead candidate from the state, a visibly shellshocked David McAllister, who had led the polls for months. The Social Democrats and Greens were poised to take power in the state after winning a one-seat majority in the state Parliament, ending a decade of conservative control. Once again it was the relative weakness of Ms. Merkel’s coalition partners, the Free Democrats, that decided the election. The Social Democrats took 32.6 percent of ballots, while the Greens won 13.7 percent, official preliminary results showed Monday, giving them 69 seats in the state legislature. Although the Christian Democrats emerged as the strongest party, with 36 percent of the vote, combined with their Free Democrat partners they were able to secure only 68 seats. The Christian Democrats were so concerned about the smaller party’s chances that their leaders implored their own voters to split their votes with the struggling party. In elections in most German states, each voter casts two votes, one for an individual candidate and the other for a party. The tactic nearly worked. The Free Democrats, polling right around the 5 percent threshold for representation in the state Parliament, won 9.9 percent of the vote. Analysis showed that more than 100,000 voters from the Christian Democrats shared their votes with the Free Democrats. Ms. Merkel can only hope that the Free Democrats put their house in order before parliamentary elections in eight months. Indeed, analysts interpreted the results as a worrying omen for Ms. Merkel as she squares off against her main challenger for chancellor, Peer Steinbrück of the Social Democrats. Though he kicked off his campaign with a series of gaffes and trails far behind Ms. Merkel, voters will not be choosing one over the other. Germany does not have a two-party, winner-take-all system; parliamentary politics come down to party success and alliances. The chances that Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democrats will win an outright majority in September’s elections are extremely low, polls show. Image Chancellor Angela Merkel at a news conference on Monday, when it became apparent that the opposition had picked up votes. Credit Michael Sohn/Associated Press That means that Ms. Merkel needs the Free Democrats to pull out of their tailspin. Otherwise, she could see a national repeat of the result in Lower Saxony, where her party won the largest share of the vote but watched the Social Democrats and the Greens team up to take power. Avoiding such an outcome will not be easy. Ms. Merkel is renowned for her tactical maneuvering but often criticized for succeeding at the expense of her associates and subordinates. Opinion surveys consistently show that she is more popular than ever, with voters particularly approving of her tough stance in the euro crisis on bailouts for deeply indebted nations like Greece. But analysts have questioned whether the Christian Democrats have therefore become too much of a one-woman party — and perhaps have jeopardized the junior partners in the governing coalition by overshadowing them. Philipp Rösler, the head of the pro-business Free Democrats and Ms. Merkel’s vice chancellor, responded Monday to the Lower Saxony defeat by offering to step down as party chairman. The leadership decided that he would remain but not lead the party in the parliamentary elections, making Mr. Rösler in effect a lame duck. Complicating matters further, the left-leaning coalition now enjoys an outright majority in Parliament’s upper house, the Bundesrat, where state delegations vote on legislation. The Social Democrats and Greens can now reject bills that need the upper house’s approval, forcing their return to the lower house for more debate. Although the shift of power is not expected to affect the government’s handling of the euro crisis, it could provide opportunities for the opposition to drag out other issues, resulting in an extended period of gridlock that could damage the governing coalition’s public standing. Ms. Merkel made it clear that the Free Democrats remain her preferred partner, but that she would not rule out a return to her coalition from 2005 to 2009, in which her Christian Democrats governed with the Social Democrats. “It will be a national election in which every party fights for its own votes,” Ms. Merkel said. The result in Lower Saxony continued a trend of losing state elections for the Christian Democrats in important states where they once held clear majorities. In May, the Christian Democrats failed to take control of Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, where the Social Democrats and Greens consolidated control, and they lost Schleswig-Holstein . A year earlier, they had been forced to step down after 58 years at the helm in Baden-Württemberg. Although the Christian Democrats fared much better in Lower Saxony than in those states, as Jürgen Falter, a professor of political science at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, pointed out, it set a dangerous precedent for what could happen in September. “The result showed that the conservative camp can rack up a considerable result, but that may still not be enough to build a coalition,” he said.

Germany
Election
Legislature
Angela Merkel
Social Democratic Party Germany
Free Democratic Party Germany


Max Raab, Maker of Fashion and Film, Dies at 81

Abstract: Max L. Raab, whose apparel company helped extend the button-down preppy look of the early 1960s to women’s clothing and who then moved into the film industry as an executive producer of several mind-bending movies, including “A Clockwork Orange,” died Feb. 21 at his home in Philadelphia. He was 81. The cause was complications of Parkinson’s, his wife, Merle, said. Mr. Raab and his brother, Norman, started what became a nationally known clothing label, The Villager, in 1958. Before that, while working for their father, Herman, a shirt manufacturer, they had noticed that more and more college women were buying Brooks Brothers-type button-down men’s shirts. The Raab brothers’ solid-color button-down blouses soon began selling so well that The Villager label — enclosed in an oval and guarded by an eagle — gained wide recognition. The company line expanded to florals, stripes, plaids and shirtwaist dresses with buttons all the way down to the hem, among other items. In 1980, six years after Max Raab started another apparel company, J.G. Hook, the headline on an article in The New York Times called him “The Dean of the Prep Look,” and said he was responsible for “supplying American women with as many blazers and button-down Oxford-cloth shirts as they could wear with the Fair Isle sweaters and Bass Weejun loafers.” By then, however, Mr. Raab had already been lured into the movie business, after being asked to supply the wardrobe for a low-budget independent film. In the late 1960s, he bought the film rights to Anthony Burgess’s disturbing futuristic novel “A Clockwork Orange,” about roaming gang members who committed violent crimes just for fun. Directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick, with Mr. Raab as one of the executive producers, the movie was released in 1971. That same year, Mr. Raab was executive producer of “Walkabout,” about two children lost in the Australian Outback who learn to survive after meeting an Aborigine. Among Mr. Raab’s other film production credits are “End of the Road” (1970); “Hex” (1973); and “Moment to Moment” (1975). Max Louis Raab was born in Philadelphia on June 9, 1926, the son of Herman and Fanny Kessler Raab. He served in the Army in Germany during World War II, and then in occupied Japan. After coming home he worked for his father’s company. Besides his wife, the former Merle Kass Levin, Mr. Raab is survived by his daughter, Claudia Raab of Philadelphia; two sons, Adam Max Gould of Brooklyn and Paul English of Paris; and two grandchildren. His first wife, the former Anita Charkow Mednick, died before him. His second marriage, to Mary Flores Raab, ended in divorce. His former companion, Nancy English, died in 1995. His brother, Norman, died in 2005. In 1974, on his own, Mr. Raab returned to the apparel business by opening J.G. Hook, which specialized in women’s sportswear. By 1980, the company’s annual revenue was more than $50 million. Mr. Raab also opened Tango, a necktie manufacturing company. In 1998, Mr. Raab left the clothing business to start Max Raab Productions, a documentary film company. Three years ago, working with Robert Downey Sr., the writer and director best known for “Putney Swope,” Mr. Raab produced “Rittenhouse Square,” a yearlong look at one of Philadelphia’s cultural hubs. Then, last year, just for fun, Mr. Raab opened a shop that sells tin toys and model planes, boats and cars.

Raab Max Louis
Apparel
Deaths (Obituaries)
Villager The
Motion Pictures
A Clockwork Orange (Movie)


Suicide Bomber Attacks Market in Pakistan

Abstract: PESHAWAR, Pakistan — An explosion in a market in northwestern Pakistan on Friday killed at least 21 people and wounded 33 in what the police described as a suicide bombing. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in Hangu, about 70 miles west of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province. Abu Omar, a Taliban commander in the neighboring tribal region of North Waziristan, said in a telephone interview that the attack was in revenge for the killing on Thursday of a Sunni cleric. The cleric, Mufti Abdul Majeed Deenpuri, 60, was shot in the southern port city of Karachi, setting off fears of reprisals against Shiites. Mr. Deenpuri was a senior teacher at Jamia Binoria, one of the largest seminaries in Pakistan. A gunman opened fire on a vehicle carrying the cleric and a colleague at a busy intersection and then fled. While the security situation is precarious across Pakistan , Rehman Malik, the interior minister, had warned of the potential for an attack in Karachi, a sprawling, violence-prone port city. Cellphone service was suspended there from noon to 3 p.m. during Friday Prayer. Image A man injured in the explosion in Hangu was transported to a hospital in Peshawar for treatment. Credit Fayaz Aziz/Reuters Sectarian violence has also occurred in Hangu in the past, often forcing the authorities to impose a curfew. The town borders the Orakzai tribal region, where the army and paramilitary forces are fighting Taliban militants. Friday’s explosion occurred just after Friday Prayer as worshipers filed out of nearby Sunni and Shiite mosques, police officials said. “People were coming out of the mosque when the explosion occurred,” said one officer in Hangu, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Another police official in Hangu said a suicide bomber had detonated his explosives. While Shiites were the likely target, the dead included people from both Islamic sects, he said. Separately, a Pakistani intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said 30 mortar shells fired from Afghanistan on Friday morning killed six residents of Angoor Adda, a border village in South Waziristan. However, there was no official comment from the Pakistani military, and a local government official gave a conflicting number of casualties, saying three people were killed and six wounded. In recent years, Pakistan and Afghanistan have traded barbs over accusations of cross-border rocket and artillery fire. The 1,510-mile craggy border between the two countries has long posed a problem for both sides, each accusing the other of not manning the border effectively. Both sides maintain that insurgents easily cross over the porous border, but plans to fence the border have been rejected as impractical. On Thursday, Human Rights Watch released its World Report 2013 , which sharply criticized the Pakistani government and its military and intelligence agencies for failing to reduce human rights abuses. “Pakistan’s human rights crisis worsened markedly in 2012 with religious minorities bearing the brunt of killings and repression,” said Ali Dayan Hasan , the director in Pakistan for Human Rights Watch.


ISIS Suicide Attack Kills 48 in Southern Yemen

Abstract: AL MUKALLA, Yemen — A suicide bomber disguised as a disabled man blew himself up at a gathering of Yemeni security officers in the southern port of Aden on Sunday, killing 48 people and wounding dozens of others, Yemeni officials said. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, naming the attacker and publishing a photograph of him smiling with a rifle at his side and wearing an explosive vest. The attack was the second this month to kill scores of security forces near a military base in Aden, highlighting the failure of the Yemeni government and its allies to ensure basic security in the areas they control. Yemen has been mired in conflict since 2014, when rebels aligned with Iran, known as the Houthis, seized the capital, Sana. They later forced the internationally recognized government into exile in Saudi Arabia. Video A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a military camp in the southern Yemeni city of Aden on Sunday morning, killing dozens of soldiers. Credit Credit Wael Qubady/Associated Press The country is now split, with the Houthis and army units allied with them controlling the northwest and a coalition of forces nominally loyal to Yemen’s president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, holding the south and the east. Jihadists have taken advantage of the disorder to launch attacks in the south, where the Islamic State and the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda have a presence. Sunday’s attack occurred as hundreds of members of the Yemeni security forces crowded outside the home of Nasser al-Anbouri, the commander of the Special Security Forces, near a military base in Aden, where they hoped to receive their salaries, said Ramzi al-Hassani, the commander’s office manager. The bomber was dressed in a police uniform and pretended to be disabled, infiltrating the crowd before detonating his explosive, Mr. Hassani said. The blast killed 48 people and wounded 84, according to Abdul-Nasser al-Wali, of the Yemeni Health Ministry. The bombing occurred a little more than a week after a suicide bombing near the same base. That attack, on Dec. 10, targeted a gathering of soldiers, killing 57. The Islamic State also claimed that attack.

Aden
Yemen
ISIS,ISIL,Islamic State
Terrorism
Military Bases
Bombs


Woods Denies Using Performance-Enhancing Drugs

Abstract: AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods got the tough part of this Masters week out of the way Monday, getting in front of the public in the morning and the news media in the afternoon. After engaging fans who came out for his practice round, Woods took aim at winning over a national television audience by taking on tough questions — about his personal life, his behavior and treatment he received from a Canadian doctor — without rancor. In a performance that was at turns sober, earnest and vulnerable, Woods, 34, took another step in the atonement for a string of extramarital affairs that erupted into a scandal that cost him millions of endorsement dollars while shattering the illusion of an idyllic Woods family life. After a morning that began with a cool reaction by fans at the first tee and ended with a warm ovation at the 18th green just after noon, Woods said he was overwhelmed by the reception given him by galleries at Augusta National Golf Club. Woods looked and sounded like the fresh young golfer who took Augusta by storm in 1997 by winning his first Masters — and the first of his 14 major championships — by 12 strokes. “I didn’t know what to expect with regards to the reception, and I’ll tell you what, the galleries couldn’t have been nicer,” he said. “I mean, it was just incredible. The encouragement I got, it was just — it blew me away, to be honest with you, it really did.” With more than 200 international print and television journalists arrayed in front of him at the Augusta National media center at 2 p.m., Woods was measured and direct. He offered answers about dark revelations concerning his personal life that began in the early hours of Nov. 27, when he crashed his car into a neighbor’s tree outside his home in the Orlando, Fla., subdivision of Isleworth. Woods said he did not address the public or speak to the police in the days and weeks after his car accident on the advice of his lawyer. He also denied using performance-enhancing drugs, including human growth hormone, in connection with treatment by the Canadian sports medicine specialist Anthony Galea as part of rehabilitation from his 2008 knee surgery. Galea is under federal investigation into whether he distributed performance-enhancing drugs to several athletes. Woods said Galea visited him at home four times. He said that his agent, Mark Steinberg, had been contacted by federal authorities but that they had not asked to speak with Woods. “He never gave me H.G.H. or any P.E.D.’s,” Woods said of Galea. “I have never taken any of those. I’ve never taken any illegal drugs in my life.” When pressed later about why he had selected Galea to treat him when many other doctors offer the same blood-spinning therapy, Woods replied: “He’s worked with so many athletes. And there’s a certain comfort level to that when a person has worked with athletes.” Woods did acknowledge taking the prescription painkiller Vicodin for a knee injury and an Achilles’ tendon injury, and the sleeping medication Ambien, around the time his father, Earl, died in 2006. Until now, Woods’s only attempts to address any issues arising in the last five months have been statements on his Web site, in which he admitted infidelity; his apology read in front of cameras Feb. 19, in which he did not answer questions; and two five-minute interviews with ESPN and the Golf Channel on March 21. During the Feb. 19 apology, Woods gave the impression to many that his return to the game was not imminent and might not come this year. He insisted that in that moment, he meant just what he said. And in one of his more animated moments in a day that had included many, Woods started describing what it was that changed his mind, what made him think about why he needed to get back in the arena sooner rather than later. As he did so, he began to smile. “I just had barely started practicing two days prior to that,” he said. “That was the first time I hit balls. And then I started hitting more balls, and more balls, and more balls, and I started getting the itch again to start playing again.” Then, referring to his swing coach, Hank Haney, he said: “Hank came down and we started working again, and that felt great. It felt like old times. So much has transpired, it felt like old times to have Hank out there working on my game and for hours and hours and hours on end, and that’s when I made the decision to come back and play.” Woods never seems happier than when he is competing. And after he said that on Monday, it was clear that any trepidation he might have had about coming back had evaporated by the time he was wrapping up his news conference, right about the time he was telling the man who prepares his official Web site that he was “going to go out there and try to win this thing.” Could Woods be readying one of those sublime golf moments, when he finds a way to snap everything into critical focus and mow down the field? “It feels fun again,” he said. “You know, that’s something that’s been missing. Have I been winning, have I been competing, have I been doing well? Yeah, I have. I’ve won numerous times the last few years, but I wasn’t having anywhere near the amount of fun. “Why? Because look at what I was engaged in. When you live a life where you’re lying all the time, life is not fun. And that’s where I was. Now that’s been stripped all away and here I am. And it feels fun again.”

Golf
Masters Golf Tournament
Augusta National Golf Club
Woods Tiger
Galea Anthony
Woods Elin


Review: ‘Chaos Monkeys’ Is a Guide to the Spirit of Silicon Valley

Abstract: There is plenty not to like in Antonio García Martinez’s Silicon Valley tell-all, “Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley” (Harper). An author whose biography boasts that he “lives on a 40-foot sailboat on the San Francisco Bay” is not well positioned to lampoon the social mores of the West Coast tech culture. The book’s dedication “to all my enemies” who made the oeuvre possible confirms the impression that the blizzard of score-settling that follows is less than balanced. The aphorisms are sometimes lazy, the facts can be sloppy, and the studied cool – all the while insisting that “I am the uncoolest person you will ever meet” – can be grating. I also could definitely have done without learning about Mr. García’s weakness for “strenuous fornication” and drunken romps in the Facebook broom closet. And yet, somehow, “Chaos Monkeys” manages to be an irresistible and indispensable 360-degree guide to the new technology establishment. Hiding underneath the braggadocio and evisceration of professional nemeses lies the beating heart of a formidable teacher. “Chaos Monkeys” is likely to attract headlines and interest because of the prominent names and institutions mercilessly described. This is unfortunate. Mr. García may apologize for his pedagogical asides, but these actually form the true core of what is a remarkably learned book. He schools us in three domains worthy of close study. The first half of “Chaos Monkeys” takes us inside the world of venture capital. After leaving – and litigating with – one early-stage tech company to start another, Mr. García sells out to Twitter, only to immediately abandon his co-founders for Facebook. Along the way, we meet the lawyers, angel investors, venture firms and associated institutions – notably the Y Combinator, which plays an outsize role in securing financing from the most prestigious investors – that drive this ecosystem. The second half of “Chaos Monkeys” takes place at Facebook, and it concerns the handful of dominant companies that have emerged from this start-up culture. These companies (in addition to Facebook, notably Google and Amazon), whose market values start at more than $300 billion, are approaching (or in the case of Apple and Microsoft, managing) middle age. In addition to contrasting their collective ethos with that of the start-up world, “Chaos Monkeys” touches on the also-rans like Twitter who failed to break into this rarefied plane. Beyond the author’s personal story, what connects the two distinct halves of the book is his area of actual domain expertise: advertising. Mr. García was a Ph.D. student in physics at Berkeley before joining Goldman Sachs to model prices for credit derivatives. He moved to Silicon Valley to perform the same magic in valuing the attention of internet users. And it is the explosion of digital advertising that has fed the emergence of the most recent crop of internet giants. In the course of describing his path from ad-tech start-ups to ad-targeting product manager at Facebook, Mr. García provides fascinating insights into the nature of the online and offline advertising worlds – both regarding what has changed and what has stayed stubbornly the same. Two aspects in these central lessons make “ Chaos Monkeys ” a particularly compelling read, despite its faults. First, Mr. García is not just a keen observer of corporate and social culture, but a thoughtful business and policy analyst armed with a highly refined detector for pretentious nonsense. Well before the investor Peter Thiel was revealed as the secret backer of the lawsuit that put Gawker into bankruptcy, Mr. García was writing that “the tech start-up scene, for all its pretensions of transparency, principled innovation, and a counterculture renouncement of pressed shirts and staid social convention, is actually a surprisingly reactionary crowd.” Even where Mr. García completely mangles the facts – as he does for instance in describing the mechanics of the Facebook initial public offering – he manages to draw multiple fresh insights that somehow feel directionally correct. And in contrast to the self-serving verdicts rendered on his allies and enemies, his broader conclusions seem well balanced. The world he inhabited, Mr. García reflects, “is no worse than traditional industry and politics, but certainly no better either.” Which brings us to the second reason “Chaos Monkeys” is a must-read. It matters. Mr. García is providing tools to honestly deconstruct a corner of the world that has amassed breathtaking cultural, economic and political influence, and not always for the good. Fully 60 percent of Harvard Business School graduates now go to work at companies with fewer than 500 employees. A fuller conversation is required before we rejoice that the invidious hegemony of Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Company and hedge funds as the resting place for our best and brightest graduates has been replaced with early-stage tech companies. At the least, readers of “Chaos Monkeys” will think twice before taking at face value tech leaders’ high-minded arguments for refusing to assist our national security apparatus in fighting terrorist threats. Even in the area of advertising, important social and public policy questions are implicated. The greatest danger of “Chaos Monkeys” is that it could suffer the same fate as many equally prescient cautionary tales: It is appreciated less as trenchant social criticism and more as a how-to manual. Such is the irresistible pull of Silicon Valley that I fear the manuscript will be pored over mainly for clues to getting a job at Facebook or having a venture selected by the Y Combinator. If that is the case, we all may want to join Mr. García on his boat and just sail away.

Chaos Monkeys
Antonio García Martinez
Books
Silicon Valley
Computers and the Internet
Tech Industry
Venture capital
Facebook


Behind the Power Grid, Humans With High-Stakes Jobs

Abstract: QUICK! You are on duty in a secret control room in a nondescript, windowless building. The sign out front is so small that people driving by cannot read it, and it may give no clue what goes on inside, anyway. But your task is crucial: you are matching the ever-changing power needs of tens of millions of electricity customers with supply coming from hundreds of electricity generators, deciding which units will run and which ones will be idle, and making quick adjustments for the generators you can’t schedule, like the wind machines and solar panels. Hardly anybody will ever know you are here, unless you mess up. All is going smoothly until you get a message from a neighboring electrical entity requesting emergency assistance. A quick glance at your computer screen tells you that you have sufficient spare capacity to help. Should you: A. Call your contracts department and ask what price you will charge? B. Go ahead and raise the generation in your area by the required amount? C. Review the computer system used by all the generators to see what transmission is available? D. Set up an emergency schedule with your neighbor? If you answered D, and you also gave the correct answers to several much more complicated questions , you are on your way to a job in an increasingly tough and essential field: managing the North American power grid. “The bar is being raised,” said Lourdes Estrada-Salinero, the director of operations compliance and control at the California Independent System Operator, one of the more than 100 “balancing authorities” that are responsible for coordinating supply with demand in some portion of the North American grid. About 40 percent of all the energy used in the United States — all the oil, gas and coal , uranium, wind and falling water — is turned into electricity before it is consumed, and that fraction seems destined to rise, as more air-conditioners, electric cars and yet-to-be invented hand-held gizmos are added to customers’ inventory. But the tolerance for failure is getting lower, and the power mix is getting more complicated. States, led by California, are demanding that an increasing fraction of the electricity come from sources that can turn themselves on or off with very little warning, as the weather changes and the wind and sunlight vary. Utility companies used to hire and train their own people to operate their systems. As the grid became more interconnected, some utilities organized themselves into power pools, with one control room handling the supply for multiple utilities. The earliest was the entity now known as PJM, which used to stand for Pennsylvania-Jersey-Maryland but now stretches into all or part of Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Illinois and scattered parts of other states. New York had a power pool and so did the six New England states. The job got exponentially more complicated when the federal government pressed the pools to convert into power markets, where the utilities would sell off their generating stations and third parties would be allowed to build generators. The hour-by-hour decisions about who would generate to serve what load were made mostly by an auction process and turned the pools into “independent system operators.” The human operator’s job, though, was mostly still unregulated until August 2003, when a series of errors in a control room in Carmel, Ind., at the Midwest Independent System Operator, created the biggest blackout in history. (For future reference, when disabling vital computer systems to install upgrades, kindly do not neglect to warn the system operators and do not leave the systems shut off when you go to lunch .) The lights went out as far away as New York. After that blackout, a utility that operates in the central United States hired Najmedin Meshkati, an engineering professor and “human factors” specialist at the University of Southern California, to review operations in some of its control centers. (Dr. Meshkati asked that the utility not be named because it did not make the report public.) The report stressed that operators needed “total systems comprehension” to understand what was happening on the grid. But sometimes the job is set up in a way that will overload the operator, he found. And the operations centers can have an “unspoken ‘macho’ culture” in which operators think that asking for help will jeopardize their job performance rating, he discovered. To improve operations in the control centers and reduce the frequency of blackouts, Congress gave the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission the authority to enforce detailed new rules. But that government agency lacked the expertise to write them; for that, it turned to a voluntary organization, now called the North American Electric Reliability Corporation , which it designated as a standards-setting and enforcement agency. It is still setting rules, almost a decade after the blackout, and it is requiring licenses for people who hold various jobs in the control centers. Holding such a certification is a key part of the résumé for a class of workers who are neither white-collar nor blue-collar. They might be called plastic collar, the people whose necks may or may not be girded in a necktie, but are sure to have a lanyard for an ID card that incorporates a computer chip that will get them into the windowless, label-less control rooms. They sit through an exam of approximately three hours, sometimes after sessions on online schools that have sprung up to help applicants cram. They end up with a certificate to frame on the wall. There are about 6,000 such professionals, although some are management employees and do not work regular shifts. And some staff duplicate control rooms, located miles from the main control room, ready to take over if there is a fire or mechanical failure, or if the villains decipher the sign out front. They get 200 hours of training every three years, and their continuing education resembles what the airlines give their pilots: extended sessions in full-scale simulators, with a computer playing the role of real hardware so the trainers can set up dire problems and see if the trainees can diagnose the situation and respond fast enough to prevent catastrophe. The increased training did not come without difficulty. Daniel E. Frank, a Washington-based lawyer who specializes in utility issues, said, “It takes time to do it and nobody has a lot of time. The utility industry is no different from anybody else.” “Any time you have to go in to training means somebody is away from the actual control room operations,” he said. Some centers maintain six teams to keep operations going around the clock; at any given time, one team is in training. On the job, the operators typically work four 12-hour days a week, alternating between days and nights. And they are paid well. With overtime, they commonly earn six-figure salaries, and they work in rural, low-cost areas. Recruiting is a challenge, though. Grid entities look for candidates with some background in engineering, but they also need certain personality traits, like the ability to work collaboratively but not to debate endlessly. People with military backgrounds are favored, because they often have appropriate organizational and technical skills. One aspect that makes the job complicated is that on the grid these days, there is a market not just for electricity, but also for “ancillary services.” These include the ability to ramp up and down quickly, which will be required as the wind and sun vary in intensity; the ability to add or subtract very large amounts of power in tiny fractions of a second, to keep the alternating current system working as closely as possible to 60 alternations per second; the ability to step in to control voltage; the ability to stand by for hours or days at a time, poised to start up if something goes wrong; and the ability, if everything goes wrong, to begin generating with no outside power to help. Operations are also governed by rules about how much air pollution a generating station is allowed to emit; how much it is permitted to raise the temperature of the lake or river it uses for cooling water; and how much power must be generated within a geographic area, regardless of capacity elsewhere, to ensure reliability. Some of that is built into computer programming, and some of it is drilled into the operators’ heads. John T. McCain is a former captain in the Marines who recently completed his training at the California I.S.O. as a “real-time scheduler,” coordinating what generation will run from hour to hour. “It reminds me of training that I’ve had in the military,” he said. “It’s fast-paced, and there’s a lot to learn.” In some respects, it is more difficult than military training, he said. His boss, Stephen Berberich, the president and chief executive of the I.S.O., said, “It’s an interesting mix between physics and policy and economics.”

Labor and Jobs
Electric Light and Power
Hiring and Promotion
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission


Germany: Officials Say They Foiled Plot for Attack on Professional Cycling Race

Abstract: German authorities said Thursday that they had foiled what they believed might have been an imminent attack on a professional cycling race planned for Friday. The authorities seized a cache of weapons, including a pipe bomb, and chemicals that can be used to make explosives when they raided a home outside Frankfurt. They detained a 35-year-old Turkish-German man and his 34-year-old Turkish wife in Oberursel. The couple, whose names were not released in line with Germany privacy rules, had been under surveillance. Officials were worried that the couple might have been planning an attack during the one-day Eschborn-to-Frankfurt race on Friday. The police said the race would be canceled in case the couple had accomplices or they had placed as-yet undetected explosive devices along the route. “According to our current information, we have prevented an attack,” said Stefan Mueller, the chief of police for Hesse State. Mr. Mueller declined to say whether officials believed that known extremist groups were involved.


C. J., a German Shorthaired Pointer, Wins Best in Show at Westminster

Abstract: As each of the seven competitors for best in show at the 140th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on Tuesday approached Richard Meen, the judge, he told them, “Relax.” But you wonder if any one of the four-legged champions, let alone their handlers, could heed the advice, even if they were aware that his non-canine work is psychiatry. Relaxation would seem to be the last thing on the mind of the last 14 dogs and humans standing after two days of competition. Whatever anxiety existed dissipated quickly. Meen is not one of those judges who drags out his decision as if he were telling a mystery story. He eyed each of the dogs, held out both his hands to frame their expressions, had them take a last lap around the green-carpeted ring at Madison Square Garden and headed straight to the judge’s table to write down his decision: He chose C. J., a 3-year-old male German shorthaired pointer. C. J. appeared to have grasped Meen’s advice to relax. When he won, he was impassive, looking out at the crowd as if he might have anticipated the outcome. Or maybe his serious demeanor was another way to show his shock. His handler, Valerie Nunes-Atkinson, was more emotional, kissing Meen and rival handlers, then dropping to her knees to hug and kiss C. J. “I just couldn’t believe it,” she said afterward. “For us in the sport, this is the pinnacle. This is what we strive for, what we shed tears over. The best dogs come here. This is the show to win.” The Sound and the Furry Barking is rarely encouraged in or asked of well-mannered pooches, but The Times recently took portraits and recorded the barks of various show dogs. Try to match the barks with the portrait. Nunes-Atkinson said she was thrilled to have won the sporting group earlier in the night and was apparently aware that odds in Las Vegas were against C. J., whom she calls her “heart dog.” She was not intimidated that other dogs were favored over hers. “You couldn’t go wrong with any of them,” Nunes-Atkinson said. “But I believe in my dog 100 percent. He’s a great German shorthaired pointer.” Earlier in the evening, after winning C. J.’s group, she said, “He loves it here. He was born this way. At 6 weeks, he walked across the living room floor and we said, ‘Oh, my.’ He has that sparkle that makes you stop and look at him.” She added: “We expected great things from him from the start.” Every victory confirmed that he was moving into rarefied territory. His bloodline is strong, most notably his grandmother, Carlee, who won best in show in 2005. Nunes-Atkinson herself started young, winning Westminster’s award for best junior showmanship when she was 15. Winning Westminster as an adult was “exactly as I expected it would feel when I was 10.” C. J. defeated Rumor, a German shepherd who entered the show as the top purebred dog last year; Lucy, a borzoi, who was the best dog in all breeds in Japan last year; Annabelle, a bulldog who was one of the crowd’s favorites; Bogey, a smiling Samoyed; Panda, a shih tzu; and Charlie, a Skye terrier who lost Best in Show last year to Miss P, a beagle. Throughout the news conference, liver-and-white C. J. rarely deviated from his serene, unaffected demeanor. He mostly stared at Nunes-Atkinson; occasionally pursued a treat, and appeared not to pay attention to the news media. “In the ring, it’s all serious with him,” she said. “But he’s silly at home, playing with his best friend, Ramona, a whippet. He’s a typical dog. He gets dirty. He always needs something in his mouth.” Meen, who breeds Borzois, said that C. J. passed his ultimate test. “For me, it’s very important that every dog take me back into the past to what they were bred to do,” Meen said. “They were bred to point in the field, and they have to move well. He never stopped looking, focused in front of him, and he floated around the ring.” Meen said his advice to relax was simply to remind the handlers to take a breath after the intensity of the competition. He laughed when he was asked if he mixed his vocation and avocation to treat dogs. “Dogs take care of themselves,” he said. “It’s humans that are a mess.” Losing, of course, is melancholy for owners and handlers (although the dogs might not notice). Gene Zaphiris, who owns Charlie, said before the final decision that competing in Westminster’s best in show for the second year in a row was a “sweeter” experience. Win or lose, Charlie was to retire. But it will be C. J., not Charlie, who is off on the winner’s media tour on Wednesday, heading to “Good Morning America,” the Empire State Building and Sardi’s. Such are the spoils of being top dog. NOTES Uno, widely considered the most popular and best-known best-in-show winner, was supposed to appear Monday night on the Westminster show on CNBC. But he was barred from the guest shot by Westminster officials after it was determined that he had not been registered to be at the show or inside Madison Square Garden (as if he were a former star player denied credentials to the stadium). When security was told that Uno, 10, was in a room used by USA Network (a part of NBC Universal, as is CNBC), an investigation began, said Gail Miller Bisher, the Westminster spokeswoman. “Having no prior approval to attend nor any documentation, he was requested to leave the premises,” she said. Uno lives on a ranch in Austin and was driven to Manhattan by the ranch manager. Pierre Moossa, the producer of the Westminster broadcasts, called the issue a “misunderstanding.”


Food Safety Is Crucial in China Deal for Baby Milk

Abstract: HONG KONG — Six years ago, when tainted infant formula killed six babies in China and sickened 300,000, one of the biggest foreign investors in the sector was caught by surprise. The investor, the Fonterra Cooperative Group of New Zealand, one of the world’s largest dairy companies, had put millions of dollars into a partnership with the Sanlu Group, a Chinese maker of infant formula that was one of several found to have mixed an industrial chemical into milk powder to artificially raise protein readings. Sanlu was declared bankrupt , and four of its executives were imprisoned. Fonterra was forced to write down the entirety of its investment of 200 million New Zealand dollars, or about $167 million at current exchange rates, in the Chinese venture. Yet on Wednesday, Fonterra became the latest foreign company to make a new bet that it could turn a profit by bringing safer food to China. The company said it would spend more than $500 million in a deal with the Beingmate Baby and Child Food Company, a Chinese manufacturer of infant formula. A day earlier, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, an American private equity giant, announced an investment of about $400 million in China’s largest chicken breeder, Fujian Sunner Development, in a deal intended to improve food safety and quality. “China is a completely different environment now; Beingmate is a completely different partner,” Theo Spierings, the chief executive of Fonterra, said on Wednesday in response to questions from reporters about the Sanlu episode, according to Reuters . “We are very focused on learning from the past and moving on to the future.” Food safety scandals occur with disturbing frequency in China. This week alone, according to reports in the state-run news media: The authorities seized more than 30,000 tons of chicken feet, a common menu item in China, that had been contaminated by a hydrogen peroxide cleaning agent; and in Zhejiang Province, 17 people were in court on accusations of selling 38 tons of dog meat — consumed in parts of the country — that had been poisoned when the animals were slaughtered with cyanide or overdoses of anesthetics. The challenge confronting big foreign food companies in China is how to ensure that their standards are enforced by all workers at all stages of the food supply chain. Ignorance can be a more common problem than outright deception, experts say. “Most of the time it’s not that something is being hidden, it’s more that the people are not aware of the standards that Western companies expect,” said Sébastien Breteau, the chief executive of AsiaInspection. The company conducts spot checks on all kinds of factories in China on behalf of the companies they supply, and among food factories, the failure rate for inspections so far this year has been more than 50 percent. “What I’ve seen,” Mr. Breteau said, “when you sit down in a factory and you explain what matters for a client, if you train them over more demanding standards in terms of manufacturing, then they catch up with it very quickly.” Although food companies with foreign backing are often financially stronger and are perceived as having higher quality and safety standards, some prominent lapses in China have shown that such companies can still run into problems. Fonterra’s investment in Sanlu was an early example. Last week, the American food producer H. J. Heinz recalled several batches of baby cereal products after they were discovered to contain high levels of lead. And last month, the OSI Group, an American-owned supplier for McDonald’s, KFC and other fast-food chains, became the subject of an investigation by the police and food safety officials in Shanghai. A local television station had broadcast a program accusing OSI employees of doctoring labels to extend expiration dates on chicken and beef products and showed footage seemingly of workers scooping up meat from the floor and putting it back on conveyor belts for processing. For OSI, which is based in Aurora, Ill., and had been known for its industry-leading operations and quality control, the episode was jarring. In response to food safety concerns in China, it had invested hundreds of millions of dollars building a chicken-meat supply chain in the country that included a feed mill, hatcheries and slaughtering operations. In the United States, it focuses on processing meat that is purchased from other suppliers. In the Fonterra deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals and calls for it to take a 20 percent stake in Beingmate, the two companies will import infant formula ingredients from Fonterra’s dairies and manufacturing sites in New Zealand, Australia and Europe for sale in China. “Extensive due diligence has taken place from both sides,” said Mr. Spierings of Fonterra, “and we have made arrangements on governance very clear.” Experts say that China’s food industry tends to be highly competitive and to have low profit margins, meaning that businesses can be tempted to skip steps to save money, in some cases turning a blind eye to possible dangers to consumers. “Producing food as a business is not the same as producing T-shirts,” said Peter Karim Ben Embarek, a food safety scientist at the World Health Organization in Geneva who was previously based in China. “If you cut corners making T-shirts, some customers might be upset, but if you do it with chickens, you might end up killing people.” He added: “You have a bit of a Wild West situation where the public oversight is still lacking in terms of on-the-ground implementation.” Gao Guan, the deputy secretary of the China Meat Association, said one problem is that China does not have enough food inspectors. “The level of regulation and enforcement is too low,” Mr. Gao said. He cited recurring problems at meat processors, which can be reckless in their pursuit of profit. “If you rely on the individual processors, then you will never be able to enforce safety standards, because everybody is just trying to make fast money.”

Food Safety
Fonterra Co-operative Group
Sanlu Group
Beingmate Baby and Child Food Company
China
Milk
New Zealand


Stocks Waffle, Then Dip on Spending News

Abstract: The major stock indexes zigzagged through the week but ultimately ended lower. On Friday, investors sold off stocks after a government report indicated that personal incomes had fallen and consumer spending had slumped in July. A weak earnings report from Dell dragged down the technology sector. For the week, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 84.51 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 11,543.55. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fell 9.37 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 1,282.83. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 47.19 points, or nearly 2 percent, to close at 2,367.52. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.81 percent from 3.87 percent the previous week. For the month, however, stocks were in positive territory. The Dow gained 1.46 percent in August, the S.& P. 500 was 1.22 percent higher, and the Nasdaq was up 1.8 percent. PRADNYA JOSHI

Stocks and Bonds
Dow Jones Stock Average
Nasdaq Composite Index


Like the Devils, the Nets Are Surging

Abstract: NEWARK — The Nets use a locker room across the hall from a much bigger room that the Devils use to dress for their games at Prudential Center. But that does not mean the Nets have been inspired by — or even paid any attention to — the Devils’ amazing surge. “I would like to get out and see them play before the season is over,” Coach Avery Johnson said with a smile before Thursday’s game against the Chicago Bulls . What the Nets say they have done recently, and with some success, is to sweat the details and take on their opponents one at a time — much like the Devils. An 84-73 loss Thursday was a tough setback, but the Nets are actually playing games that count these days. Really. A year ago, the Nets were 7-61, headed to a record of 12-70. Although they have twice as many losses as victories, the Nets (22-44) lurched into playoff contention — or maybe just staved off elimination — with their just-broken five-game winning streak, their longest in three years. “We’re playing with a lot of intensity, defensively and offensively, we’re on the same page and we’re unselfish,” guard Anthony Morrow said. “Our goal is still to make the playoffs, like it was at the beginning of the season,” he added. “Hopefully, we can keep this up, do what we’ve been doing.” The loss to the Bulls dropped them six games behind the Indiana Pacers (29-39), who are clinging to eighth place in the Eastern Conference, a half game ahead of the Charlotte Bobcats. The Nets have 16 regular-season games to make up the difference. The Bulls (49-18) won their eighth straight game because they put together a late 7-point spurt against the Nets, who have not given up on the notion of playing in the postseason. At least the idea does not sound as outrageous as it did as recently as Feb. 28, when the Nets lost their sixth straight. “If we didn’t have a chance at the playoffs, I’d be on vacation,” guard Sasha Vucacic said. “We are in a hard position. It doesn’t depend on us as much as it does on other teams to make the playoffs. But you can build momentum.” Thursday’s loss was not that demoralizing. The Nets held the Bulls to 84 points on 40 percent shooting from the field, but lost because they made only 35 percent of their shots. Nets guard Jordan Farmar said, “We’re not going to shoot like this every game, hopefully.” A Nets game at Prudential Center has an odd feel, as if the place has been borrowed either by the Nets or their opponents. When the Bulls’ Derrick Rose took two free throws in the first half Thursday, a boisterous “M.V.P.” chant erupted. The seats in the arena were filled with a substantial number of fans wearing Bulls jerseys. It was no surprise for the Nets, who rank 28th among 30 N.B.A. teams in average home attendance. “Right now, all we can continue to do is try to win our games, and at the end of the day, if we make it, we make it,” Billy King, the Nets’ general manager, said before the game. “As big as this game is tonight, if we win it, tomorrow’s game is bigger. I just like how there’s been a sense of confidence and a belief in each other’s abilities.” Had the Nets played only 32 or 33 games so far, Johnson said, maybe he would talk to his players about the playoffs being attainable. Instead, he said that he has tried to get them to focus on the next game. The approach has worked, Johnson said. Johnson sounded like Jacques Lemaire, the Devils’ interim coach. Johnson, 45, is 20 years younger than Lemaire and is completing his fourth season as an N.B.A. coach. But he, like Lemaire, knows not to worry about who uses the arena after April 11. “Right now, I’m not trying to add any more pressure on the team,” Johnson said.

Basketball
New Jersey Nets
Chicago Bulls
Johnson Avery