Clergy and New York Burger Co. Team to Fight Jinx

Abstract: The three holy men made their pilgrimages to Chelsea, braving snow and frigid winds, from as far away as New Jersey and the Bronx. But they had not come on Monday to tend to the sick or minister to the poor. They had come bearing the prayers and totems of their various faiths — Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist — to cleanse any lurking evil from that most hallowed of American institutions: a burger joint. There was to be a private Native American ceremony at some point; an Episcopalian minister, running late, would officiate later in the day. “This is the first time I blessed hamburger,” said the Rev. Ed Sombilon of Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Fort Lee, N.J. “But God works in mysterious ways, even crooked ways.” The operators of a new outpost of New York Burger Company, scheduled to open next week at 470 West 23rd Street, cooked up the ceremony along with their publicist in the hopes that the blessings — or at least the media attention they would draw — would help the restaurant succeed in a spot where so many had failed. The location, at the southeast corner of 23rd Street and 10th Avenue, is a place where restaurant dreams are made and dashed, sometimes within a single year. Four restaurants have come and gone from the corner in the last dozen years. “We believed that the location, the proximity of the High Line , all these things were great assets for our business,” said Jonathan Moldovan, a partner in the franchise along with his twin brothers, Petrous and Brice, and sister, Elisabeth Dufeu. “We figured we might as well get as much blessing as we could.” In most neighborhoods, there is at least one jinxed location where — despite ostensible ingredients for success like foot traffic, decent food and even a successful place next door — no one can seem to make a go of it. The dining blog Eater.com even published a list this year of 11 locations it deemed the most cursed, including the Chelsea corner, a spot at Fifth Avenue and President Street in Brooklyn that turned over four times in about three years, and a space on Avenue of the Americas in TriBeCa where three different restaurants operated in little more than a year and a half. “Sometimes it’s the landlord or the infrastructure in the building,” Robert W. Walsh , commissioner of the city’s Department of Small Business Services, said. “In some cases it’s the accessibility or ability to get there from primary routes.” Mr. Walsh, who directed the Union Square business improvement district, recalled that when Danny Meyer was looking to expand from Union Square Cafe , Mr. Meyer insisted on a place that his clientele, traveling from Midtown, could reach with a left turn from Fifth Avenue. In the case of 470 West 23rd Street, the reason for the failures is not entirely clear — even to its veterans. “Ahhhh,” cried Robert Arbor, who opened Le Solex there in 1998, after the spot had sat empty for five years. He was also the founder of the successful minichain of Le Gamin bistros. “It is the Bermuda Triangle, the evil nest, my downfall, my only failure,” he said. Mr. Arbor said his restaurant worked for a bit in the beginning and then just stopped. He said that the only downside to the space was that its enclosed sidewalk cafe made it “freezing in the winter but like a greenhouse in the summer,” but that it should have worked nonetheless. He eventually sold to Jerry Joseph of the successful Jerry’s restaurants, who could not make it work either. Outside the restaurant, residents did not have a unified theory on why the spot was so troubled. Eve S. Rosahn, 59, a public defender, said that although the location’s last restaurant, Il Bordello, had not appealed to her — “I wasn’t particularly looking for another Italian restaurant,” she said — she had liked Jerry’s and did not understand why it had closed. But since the new owners have replaced the old drafty windows, she said, “I’m probably going to eat way too many burgers now.” Whether the blessings — which included the installation of a mezuza in the doorway by Rabbi Dennis Tobin of Temple Beth-El in Co-op City and the sprinkling of water in four directions by the Rev. Robert Chodo Campbell, a Buddhist priest — can help remains to be seen. Edward Kirkland, chairman of the community board’s landmarks committee, who has fought to get the sidewalk cafe removed because he believes it does not fit in with the brownstones, said the burgers might prove a hit. “In the early days it was a little isolated and there weren’t many restaurants there,” he said, adding that as the waterfront area built up and become more fashionable, it was possible that the restaurant would be successful. But that, he said, “is a thing of this world rather than the next.”

New York Burger Company
Restaurants
Chelsea (NYC)
Hamburgers


U.C.L.A. Sends Notre Dame to Seventh Straight Loss, 89-63

Abstract: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Early in the morning or late at night, the U.C.L.A. Bruins are mowing down opponents at any hour. Alfred Aboya scored 19 points and grabbed 7 rebounds Saturday in No. 15 U.C.L.A.’s 89-63 rout of Notre Dame . The Fighting Irish lost their seventh consecutive game for the first time since the 1992-93 season. It was the fourth straight blowout victory for the Bruins (19-4), who have won those games by an average of 22.7 points since an 86-75 loss at Washington on Jan. 24. Since then, they have outscored their opponents by a combined 58 points in the first half. “It’s obvious we’ve been performing at a new level and just improving as a team,” said U.C.L.A. Coach Ben Howland, who won his 145th game in his sixth season, tying him for fourth on the program’s career victory list. “It was a good statement for our team and our conference to play them like this.” Darren Collison added 17 points, and Nikola Dragovic and the freshman Jermine Anderson had 10 points each for U.C.L.A. The Bruins have forced 74 turnovers during their four-game winning streak, including 11 on Saturday. “It’s our intensity,” Collison said. “We raised the level a notch on the defensive end and guys started playing their role harder. When our intensity is at a high level, we’re hard to beat.” Tory Jackson scored 17 and Kyle McAlarney 16 for the Irish (12-10), who dropped to 2-7 against ranked opponents. This losing streak, their worst under Coach Mike Brey, matched the seven in a row Notre Dame lost to end the 1992-93 season. “We’re searching for a win,” Brey said. “We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. This is the biggest challenge in the history of the program, but I think our kids will respond.” Playing for the first time since 2005, the teams tipped off at 10 a.m. local time because of the national telecast. The Bruins sure did not look groggy. U.C.L.A.’s trapping defense shut down an Irish team that came in averaging 79.4 points. The Irish had just 30 at the break. Aboya and U.C.L.A.’s double teams forced the Fighting Irish star Luke Harangody into his worst performance of the season. He was held to 5 points and a rebound — all in the first half. It was the first time in 15 games Harangody did not lead the Irish in scoring. “I had a hard time getting it out of the post and made some mistakes early,” said Harangody, who played only seven minutes in the second half. “We didn’t fight at all. They threw a couple punches and we just seemed to back down.” Aboya saw the frustration in Harangody’s body language. “Every time he missed a shot he was upset with himself,” Aboya said. “The double team was really efficient. He had a good taste of it. He had an off day and I’m glad it was against me.” The Bruins took command from the opening tip, running out to leads of 14-2 and 20-7 while fans were still filling empty seats. Josh Shipp’s one-handed fast-break dunk off a lob from Collison and Dragovic’s stuff that sent Harangody sprawling to the floor highlighted the fast start. “They got off to such a great start,” Brey said. “We had some great looks early and you got to knock down a few more of those. We had some key turnovers that turned into easy baskets.”

University of Notre Dame
University of California Los Angeles
Basketball
College Athletics


Using Silly Cat Videos to Sell Litter-Box Products

Abstract: WATCHING cat videos is so popular that it has become shorthand for being unproductive, whether or not someone being distracted by the Internet is actually watching a cat riding a robotic vacuum or playing the piano. Now a cat product that was introduced in 2012, Litter Genie, is being featured in a series of promotional videos on YouTube. Introduced in March by Playtex, the division of Energizer Holdings that makes Diaper Genie, an odor-eliminating diaper pail, Litter Genie has a similar design, with a replaceable cartridge of plastic liners that are cinched closed to lock in odors. But Litter Genie is a receptacle for clumps of waste scooped from the litter box. A Litter Genie video that is to be introduced on Tuesday uses the form of a music video, complete with opening credits in the lower left corner that include the name of the song, “Me Luvz Mahselfz,” and the artist, Walter and the Lap Cats. In the video, set in what is meant to resemble a well-appointed bachelor pad and with music sung in a rhythm and blues style, cats wear gold chains and gem-studded collars. “We’re filling you with five layered bags,” sings a vocalist, “blocking odor so no one gags.” The video, by JWT New York, part of WPP, directed by Keith Schofield and produced by Caviar in Los Angeles, is the third in a series featuring cats for the brand. One introduced in September is in the style of psychedelic 1960s music (“I Haz a Catnip in Mah Head”) and has 1.3 million views on YouTube; another released a month later in the style of punk rock (“I Haz a Pie Row Tek Nik”) has more than 1.1 million views. Claire Capeci, global business director at JWT New York, said one challenge with making videos promoting the product was that its function is hardly glamorous. “At the end of the day, we’re talking about a disposal system for cat poop,” said Ms. Capeci. The cat music videos, Ms. Capeci said, were inspired by the popularity not only of cat videos but also of so-called lolcats, the online photographs of cats with grammatically idiosyncratic captions, like “I Can Has Cheezburger,” which is also the name of a popular Web site that features lolcats. Because the product — and the broader category of odor-reducing litter pails — is relatively new, the videos needed to convey how the Litter Genie functioned. “You can either say it in a voice-over and be terribly boring or say it in a song and have fun with it,” said Billy Faraut, a creative director at JWT. A cat, Walter, is featured in all three videos and a television commercial for Litter Genie , by Grey New York that was introduced in September. The videos and commercial are both aimed at women ages 25 to 54. Cats live in 38.9 million households in the United States, according the American Pet Products Association, a trade group. That is second only to dogs, which are in 46.3 million households. But because cat owners are more likely to have more than one, cats as pets outnumber dogs, with 86.4 million, compared with 78.2 million dogs. Diaper Genie has an 85.4 percent share of the market for diaper disposal systems, according to Nielsen data cited by the brand. Chikako Harada, the senior brand manager for Litter Genie, is a former brand manager at Diaper Genie. She said that while the products serve a similar function, the tone of marketing for the cat product was more irreverent. “Cat culture is very fun, and people dress up their cats, and it allows us to poke fun a little bit,” said Ms. Harada. “But on the baby side, it’s more ‘oohs’ and cuddles.” Like Schick, the razor brand, also owned by Energizer, the company makes more money from the replacement cartridges than from the devices. At PetSmart, the device has a retail price of $18, while cartridge refills, which last about two months, cost $12. Ms. Harada said the base unit was priced relatively low to entice people to at least try it out. “And we know that the product satisfaction is so high and that people really loved it when they tried it, so we could be a little more profitable with the refills.” Julie Klausner, a comedy writer and performer, interviews celebrities on her podcast, How Was Your Week? But she also frequently mentions Internet cat phenomena and her own cat, Jimmy Jazz. Ms. Klausner said her favorite YouTube cat video stars include Maru, whose amusing habits include getting his head stuck in boxes, with more than 194 million views on his YouTube channel; two cats playing patty-cake, with more than 16 million views of a single video; and Henri, a cat to whom a sense of ennui is ascribed in four short videos in the style of French noir films, with more than 11 million views collectively. Ms. Klausner acknowledged that the Litter Genie videos were well produced, but she said she found the elaborate sets less compelling than cats behaving in inherently amusing ways in living rooms. “It’s a lot funnier to see Maru jump into a box,” she said. “It’s advertising funny,” said Ms. Klausner of the music videos. “But comedy funny is actually funny, and advertising funny is just funny for advertising.”

Cat
Online advertising
Video
Web television
Energizer Holdings
advertising,marketing


Former Player Helps Purdue Return to Prominence

Abstract: In 2004, Matt Painter completed a 25-win season with Southern Illinois and then signed on as the head-coach-in-waiting at his alma mater, Purdue, as Gene Keady took one last victory lap before retirement. But instead of chasing a Big Ten title with Keady, Painter endured a 7-21 season, Purdue’s worst since 1953. Southern Illinois, meanwhile, finished 27-8. “It was difficult,” Painter said in a telephone interview. “Southern Illinois was winning every game they played while we were getting our doors blown off. But you have to look at the big picture.” The big picture is considerably brighter now at Purdue, where Painter has led the Boilermakers to a 23-6 record, a No. 15 ranking and a tie with Wisconsin for the Big Ten lead going into Tuesday’s game at Ohio State. Purdue’s state rival, Indiana, seems to be getting more attention this season, following an N.C.A.A. investigation and the mid-season resignation of Coach Kelvin Sampson. Painter, meanwhile, has quietly nurtured a defensive-minded team dominated by freshmen and sophomores and reignited interest in a program that has not won a Big Ten title since 1996. Attendance is up. Students have been camping out all night for tickets. And they stormed the court on Jan. 26 for the first time in 16 years after the Boilermakers beat Wisconsin, then ranked No. 11. “The student body, they’re really just loving the experience,” said Chris Kramer, a sophomore guard and the team captain. “People are camping out. They’re in line all day. They’re skipping class.” Purdue officials banned the overnight camping after winter weather turned bitterly cold. But Painter, who grew up in Muncie, Ind., has endeared himself to the students waiting in line by bringing them doughnuts and chicken wings. Painter, 37, played guard at Purdue from 1989 to 1993, a span in which the Boilermakers made three trips to the N.C.A.A. tournament. He was an outspoken player who served as captain as a senior and sometimes butted heads with Keady. “At the time, he was trying to help me as a player and I was trying to coach the team,” Painter said. “I had the roles reversed a little bit.” After bouncing around as an assistant following his graduation, Painter took a job at Southern Illinois in 1998. His boss was Bruce Weber, who had been an assistant at Purdue when Painter played there. When Weber was hired by Illinois in 2003, Painter was promoted to coach. A year later, he headed back to Purdue. He started recruiting almost immediately, focusing on high school sophomores with whom he could establish early relationships, even if it took several years before they paid off. At the time, he could not promise a run at a Big Ten title. But he dangled something almost as valuable. “It’s very difficult to recruit when you’re losing,” Painter said. “But the one thing you can always sell is that they can come in here and play.” That was what attracted Kramer, who played at Huntington North High School in northeastern Indiana. He had offers from Purdue, Iowa and some smaller colleges. But he committed early to the Boilermakers, hopeful that he would play as a freshman and confident that Painter could turn things around. “That 7-21 season, I didn’t think it would happen again,” Kramer said. The Boilermakers finished 9-19, and last in the Big Ten, in Painter’s first season as coach. But last season, Purdue was 22-12 and lost to Florida, the eventual champion, in the second round of the N.C.A.A. tournament. The seniors David Teague and Carl Landry combined to average more than 33 points a game. This season, the freshmen E’Twaun Moore (12.1) and Robbie Hummel (11.7) lead Purdue in scoring. Keady expresses paternal pride in Painter, his protégé, adding that Painter’s success is due, in part, to recruiting and improved team chemistry. “He got better players that are on the same page,” said Keady, now an analyst for the Big Ten Network. “They’re locked in and together, like we used to have. They’re not N.B.A. players yet. But they’re players who can win.” Painter said he was not so sure before the season. He knew he had a talented team, but he did not know if they could build a résumé good enough to return to N.C.A.A. tournament. “You know they can play,” Painter said. “You just don’t know what to expect. It’s hard to be good.” Now, though, he knows what to expect.

Purdue University
Basketball
College Athletics
Painter Matt


Mavericks Prevail and Send Lakers Into Panic Mode

Abstract: LOS ANGELES — The Lakers celebrated last June on the Staples Center court in gold glitter when Kobe Bryant persevered, Pau Gasol dominated and Ron Artest chipped in. They had outlasted the Boston Celtics and cemented another championship. On the same court Wednesday, the Dallas Mavericks left the Lakers dizzy. The Lakers were booed at several intervals and stunned in what could be their final game there this season and Phil Jackson ’s last as their coach. Bryant’s scoring had little impact, Gasol was ineffective and Artest was ejected. The result was a 93-81 loss to the Mavericks and the burden of digging from a 2-0 crater as the Western Conference semifinals shifts to Dallas. With balanced scoring, a choking defense and a steady diet of Dirk Nowitzki jumpers, the Mavericks came here and seized two games— a feat that perhaps only those in their locker room believed could be accomplished. The Mavericks can gain entrance to the conference finals without having to visit Los Angeles again this postseason. “It’s one of 16 that we need, and right now we’ve got 10 more wins to get to our goal,” Dallas Coach Rick Carlisle said. Only 18 teams before Wednesday had entered a series with homecourt advantage and lost the first two games of a playoff series. The Lakers (1969), the Rockets (1994) and the Mavericks (2005) are the only teams that came back to win the series. The last time the Lakers trailed, 2-0, in a playoff series was in the 2008 finals when they lost to the Celtics. In the next two seasons, the Lakers claimed championships. “It’s a challenge, that’s for sure,” Jackson said. The loss arrived after the Lakers collapsed in the series opener and fumbled away a 16-point lead. It also revealed deeper cracks in the Lakers’ championship façade. “I think all 13 of our guys have trust issues right now,” said center Andrew Bynum, who had 18 points and 13 rebounds after having little impact in the first game. “I mean, it’s quite obvious to anyone watching the game: hesitation on passes, defensively, not being there for your teammate because he wasn’t there for you before. Stuff like that.” Artest was ejected late in the game when he received his second technical foul for clotheslining Jose Barea, who was efficient in driving past the taller Lakers interior players throughout the game. The league will probably review the play, and it may warrant further penalty. “It was uncalled for,” Jackson said. “There’s a good chance he’ll be suspended. I hope not.” Artest left without talking to the news media. Nowitzki had 24 points and 7 rebounds after he had 28 and 14 in the series opener. The Lakers even tried Artest, who is smaller but stronger, on Nowitzki. Nowitzki simply rose and shot over him. “Dirk’s one of the hardest guys to guard in the history of basketball,” Carlisle said. “It’s not tonight. It’s ever night.” Nowitzki is doing his part to shed a label that each of the Mavericks carry. In 2006, Miami rallied from a 2-0 series deficit to win the N.B.A. finals against Dallas. The next season, when Nowitzki won the M.V.P., Dallas was bounded in the first round. Ever since, Dallas has been regarded as a superior regular-season team that wilts in the playoffs. “We talked about it and this series is far from over,” Nowitzki said. “I’ve been around a long time. I’ve been up, 2-0, before and ended up losing the series. And I’ve been down, 2-0, lost both games to Houston a couple years ago, and came back and won Game 7. So we’ve seen a lot of things happen in this league.” Barea’s layup early in the fourth quarter stretched Dallas’s lead to 75-65. The lead ballooned to 15 points before Bryant hit a 3-pointer, the only one of the five 3-point attempts he made. Bryant scored 14 of his 23 points in the first half, when the Lakers stayed in the game. The Lakers scored only 32 points in the second half, shot only 41 percent for the game and missed 18 of their 20 3-pointers. “Desperate is a strong word,” Bryant said of the team’s mood. “I think, when you play desperate, you don’t play your best basketball. What we need to do is relax, we need to focus on what we’re doing wrong and the mistakes that we’re making, and we have plenty to review.” The Lakers normally excel as playoff series evolve. They lost the first-round series opener to the Chris Paul-fueled New Orleans Hornets. But Gasol (13 points and 10 rebounds on Wednesday) and Bynum are playing unevenly and the Laker bench managed only 12 points on 23 shots. Lamar Odom, awarded this season’s sixth man of the year award, missed 9 of his 12 shots. Jackson is intent on retiring after the season, and before the game he admitted that the opening loss against Dallas was more severe than the first-round setback against New Orleans. “We’re worried now,” he said. “This is a good team. We know that they have the same record we have. They have a lot of options in scoring, and we’ve got to play a lot better to overcome this team in the course of the series. Our strength is we’ve always become better and better against teams in series. We hope to do that.” Still, after the game, and another loss, Jackson tried to keep his sense of humor. When asked what he would do to jump-start the Lakers at Thursday’s practice, Jackson said, “I plan on flogging them tomorrow.” REBOUNDS The Lakers received clarification on the substitution glitch that Phil Jackson contested with the league office, Jackson said. In the closing moments of Game 1, he attempted to remove Andrew Bynum after Dallas went to a smaller lineup after a timeout with 20.3 seconds remaining. But no time had lapsed after Bynum had been originally inserted and he had to remain in for at least one play, in accordance with league rules. “They wanted to clarify that, fine, you can substitute anybody back in, but Bynum had to stay in,” Jackson said.

Basketball
Playoff Games
Dallas Mavericks
Los Angeles Lakers
Jackson Phil


Touring Slum in Rio, Pope Urges Young to Fight Against Corruption

Abstract: RIO DE JANEIRO — Pope Francis on Thursday delivered some of his most politically provocative remarks since his papacy began this year , hopping from his popemobile to walk through a slum in this city before urging young people to fight against corruption, a leading grievance behind the huge street protests that shook dozens of Brazilian cities in June. “Do not grow accustomed to evil, but defeat it,” Francis said at the favela, or slum, of Varginha, in an area that has commonly been known here as the Gaza Strip for its gun battles and drug trafficking in the past. “Do not lose trust, do not allow your hope to be extinguished,” he added, acknowledging that it was common for some to “grow disillusioned with news of corruption.” By singling out corruption in a folksy visit to a Brazilian favela on his first trip abroad as pope, Francis, an Argentine-born Jesuit, emphasized his aim to refocus the Roman Catholic Church on the neglected margins of society, especially in Brazil and other parts of Latin America where the popularity of evangelical churches has surged among the poor in recent decades. In a nod to the Brazilian political authorities who have warmly welcomed him, Francis also praised the government’s antipoverty programs and did not specifically mention the anti-establishment protests in Brazil. But he did critique Rio de Janeiro’s so-called pacification project in the city’s slums, in which security forces assert control over lawless areas. “No amount of pacification will be able to last, nor will harmony and happiness be attained in a society that ignores, pushes to the margins or excludes a part of itself,” the pope said in Varginha, a slum that has recently been subjected to pacification. In a remark that could resonate in Latin America and in the United States, which is also grappling with the widening disparity between the haves and the have-nots, Francis said that a society “impoverishes itself” by perpetuating such inequality. Care for the poor and marginalized is an integral part of Catholic teaching, and a concern of many popes and encyclicals, including those by Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI. But Francis has made it a hallmark of his young papacy, telling journalists in Rome days after his election, “How I would like a church that is poor and for the poor.” He has demonstrated that ideal by living relatively humbly as pope: in a communal guesthouse rather than the opulent papal apartment, wearing a pectoral cross of iron instead of gold, flying commercial. He recently told priests that they should not drive fancy cars, and he has traveled around Rio this week in a compact Fiat. “He is helping to wake people up,” said Natalia Morais, 21, a nursing student from Minas Gerais State who traveled to Rio to see the pope as part of World Youth Day, a conference attended by hundreds of thousands of Catholic youth. “When the pope talks, political leaders listen, and that’s what’s needed in Brazil, where our protests are about their corruption,” Ms. Morais said. Reaching beyond Brazil, Francis told Argentines who came here for the conference that “the church must be taken into the streets” in a struggle against complacency. “Stir things up, cause confounding, but do not diminish faith in Jesus Christ,” he said in Spanish. Not all Brazilians are thrilled with Francis’ visit, which the local news media has covered in detail. Some evangelical Christians, who account for about 22 percent of the country’s population, have pointed out that the Catholic Church enjoys many privileges in Brazil, including millions of dollars of government spending for the pope’s trip. “The Catholic Church has always had lots of money and support from the government,” said Elizeu Sousa Teixeira, 31, a security guard at an evangelical church in Brasília, the capital. “It’s political.” In each of Francis’ public appearances, he has been accorded a rock-star reception. On an uncommonly cold and rainy morning, hundreds of residents lined the narrow, muddy sidewalks of the Varginha favela to glimpse the first pope from the Americas, who obliged by stopping often to touch and bless people. Many onlookers had made their own shirts to commemorate the event, with a photo of Francis. Others draped themselves in Brazilian flags and waved banners bearing his image. Residents darted in and out of their homes, checking their televisions and radios to learn the pope’s whereabouts and calling the information out to their neighbors standing on wet rooftops to get a better view. Sônia Curato, 48, a manicurist, said the pope’s visit was different from that of other leaders. “Politicians come all the time. They make promises and leave,” she said. “He is a very simple person. You can tell that. He has charisma. He speaks to the people, doesn’t like going around in an armored car.” Others were more focused on the opportunities the visit presented. Josenil Guedes da Silva, 36, had driven down to the favela from his home in Recife to sell souvenirs, including a mug with the pope’s photo for about $5. With 600 mugs and 1,000 key chains, he said, “I came to do business.”

Pope Francis
Brazil
Corruption
Youth
Catholic Church
Rio de Janeiro


When One Farm Subsidy Ends, Another May Rise to Replace It

Abstract: It seems a rare act of civic sacrifice: in the name of deficit reduction, lawmakers from both parties are calling for the end of a longstanding agricultural subsidy that puts about $5 billion a year in the pockets of their farmer constituents. Even major farm groups are accepting the move, saying that with farmers poised to reap bumper profits, they must do their part. But in the same breath, the lawmakers and their farm lobby allies are seeking to send most of that money — under a new name — straight back to the same farmers, with most of the benefits going to large farms that grow commodity crops like corn, soybeans, wheat and cotton. In essence, lawmakers would replace one subsidy with a new one. “We are very much aware of the budgetary constraints of the federal government,” said Garry Niemeyer, an Illinois farmer who is president of the National Corn Growers Association . “We want to do our part as corn growers to help resolve those issues, but we only want to do our proportional part. We don’t want to have everything taken out on us.” But Vincent H. Smith, a professor of farm economics at Montana State University, called the maneuver a bait and switch. “There’s a persistent story that farming is on the edge of catastrophe in America and that’s why they need safety nets that other people don’t get,” he said. “And the reality is that it’s really a very healthy industry.” The subsidy swap is gaining momentum as lawmakers seek to influence the cuts in farm programs that are expected to be made by a special Congressional panel charged with slashing $1.2 trillion from future budgets. On Monday, leaders of the House and Senate agriculture committees said they were preparing recommendations for $23 billion in unspecified cuts over 10 years, far less than some other proposals. Lawmakers’ reluctance to simply eliminate a subsidy without adding another in its place demonstrates how difficult it is for Washington to trim the federal largess that flows to any powerful interest group. Indeed, the $5 billion program that lawmakers are willing to throw under the tractor, known as the direct payment program , was created in 1996 as a way to wean farmers off all such supports — and instead was made permanent a few years later. The new subsidy is being championed by Senator Sherrod Brown , Democrat of Ohio , and Senator John Thune , Republican of South Dakota . Mr. Thune, a leading voice in favor of deficit reduction, received at least $80,000 in campaign contributions since 2007 from political action committees associated with commodity agriculture, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign spending. Mr. Brown has received $5,500 in PAC contributions from such groups in that period. It is unclear how much support a new subsidy would garner, since many lawmakers view farm programs as a likely source of budget savings. Critics say that farm subsidies today have little to do with helping struggling family farmers. Instead, they go predominantly to well-financed operations with large landholdings. All told, the subsidies amount to about $18 billion a year — about half of 1 percent of the federal budget . An analysis of federal data by the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group that tracks farm subsidies , showed that the top 10 percent of direct-payment recipients in 2010 received 59 percent of the money under the program. Those 88,000 people, including farmers, their spouses and absentee landowners, got an average of $29,598. In lean times, such support might seem vital, but in recent years commodity farmers have done well. The Agriculture Department forecasts that farm profits this year, measured on a cash basis, will total $115 billion, 24 percent higher than last year, thanks to soaring crop prices. Adjusted for inflation, profits are expected to be at their highest level since 1974. The average income for farm households has been higher than general household incomes every year since 1996. The average household income was $87,780 for all farms in 2010, and $201,465 for families living on large farms. “How do you justify this kind of money going to a sector of the economy that’s booming while other folks in the country are suffering?” Craig Cox, a senior vice president of the Environmental Working Group, said of the subsidies. Lobbyists and farm-state lawmakers have long argued that farmers face risks, like bad weather, pests and volatile markets, that merit special treatment. Direct payments have come under fire, however, because farmers get them whether markets are high or low. The new subsidy, called shallow-loss protection, would act as a free insurance policy to cover commodity farmers against small drops in revenue. Most commodity farmers already buy crop insurance to protect themselves against major losses caused by large drops in prices or damage to crops. Those policies typically guarantee 75 to 85 percent of a farmer’s revenue, with the federal government spending $6 billion a year to pay more than half the cost of farmers’ premiums. The proposed new subsidy would add another layer of protection to guarantee 10 to 15 percent of a farmer’s revenue, paying out not only in years of heavy losses, but also when revenue dipped less severely. The shallow-loss plan getting the most attention is in a bill introduced last month by Senators Brown and Thune that would simplify and expand an existing program. Gary D. Schnitkey, a professor of farm management at the University of Illinois , said the Brown-Thune plan would help protect farmers during longer periods of depressed prices. Without such a program, he said, “we would see financial stress and we would see farmers go out of business.” It is unclear how much the proposal would cost taxpayers. Dr. Schnitkey said the plan could pay farmers $40 billion over 10 years . That would be $20 billion less than the programs it replaced, including direct payments and some smaller subsidies. But Dr. Smith, the Montana State economist, said the cost could be much greater because the plan used recent high crop prices as its benchmark. “If farm prices move back towards what are widely viewed as more normal levels than their current levels, farmers will be compensated for going back to business as usual,” he said. In a statement Senator Thune said the proposal in the bill “corrects inefficiencies in several farm programs with a streamlined and cheaper approach.” Representative Marlin A. Stutzman, an Indiana Republican, said that a shallow-loss plan would give farmers more flexibility in managing risk. “Farmers shouldn’t have to pay the brunt of the deficit problem,” he said. Mr. Stutzman and Senator Richard Lugar, also an Indiana Republican, included the Brown-Thune plan in matching farm bills they introduced this month. Congress is due to write a new five-year farm bill next year, but some lawmakers want to use the deficit-cutting process to revamp farm spending. President Obama has proposed cutting $33 billion from farm programs over 10 years, including ending direct payments without adding a shallow-loss program. Mr. Stutzman’s bill would slice $40 billion, with more than half coming from programs like food stamps and soil and water conservation.

Agriculture
Crop Subsidies
Federal Aid
Federal Budget
Lobbying


Transfer Bans Suspended

Abstract: The transfer bans imposed on Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid have been suspended until the appeals process is completed, according to FIFA, soccer’s world governing body. Both clubs were barred from registering players for two transfer windows for breaches of rules involving underage players. ■ Manchester United scored a 3-1 win over second-tier Derby in the F.A. Cup.

Soccer
Real Madrid
Atletico Madrid Soccer Team


Saudi Diplomat in India Is Accused of Rape

Abstract: NEW DELHI — The Indian police are investigating allegations that a Saudi diplomat imprisoned and repeatedly raped two Nepali maids who worked in his home. The Saudi Embassy has denied the allegations. As a diplomat, the Saudi man, who has not been identified publicly, has immunity from criminal prosecution, but may be expelled if the Indian government finds the allegations substantiated. Navdeep Singh Virk, the top police official in Gurgaon, where the diplomat lives, said Wednesday that the police had delivered a report on their investigation to the Ministry of External Affairs. The case brings together two issues that have drawn wide public attention in recent years: the problems that India’s police have had in dealing with rape, and the mistreatment of domestic workers in many parts of Asia and the Middle East. Acting on a tip from an advocacy group, the Indian police removed the two women from the diplomat’s apartment on Monday. In a statement on Wednesday, the police said an investigation of rape and illegal confinement had been opened based on what the women told them, that “they were beaten up, raped, abused and threatened by the family and their guests.” Rajesh Kumar, a police official, said the women, who have not been publicly identified, were 50 and 25 years old. In a televised interview wth the ANI news agency, one of the women, her face covered by a scarf, said the two had been confined in a room in the apartment and were repeatedly raped, sometimes by as many as five or six men. The Saudi Embassy in New Delhi said Wednesday in a statement that it “strongly stresses that these allegations are false and have not been proven,” the Press Trust of India reported. The embassy also objected to “unwarranted media briefings before investigations are complete,” and had formally protested the police intrusion into the diplomat’s home, the news service reported. In the televised interview, one of the women said they were employed through a Delhi agent. They were hired several months ago and were taken to Jidda, Saudi Arabia, for a time before returning to India, they told the police, according to Wednesday’s statement. A third maid who worked for the diplomat and his family until August went to Maiti India, a group that aids victims of human trafficking, and told the group that she was compelled to work to the point of exhaustion, denied pay and given too little to eat, adding that the other two women were suffering poor conditions as well. The Maiti India group then approached the police. The third maid, who spoke on condition that her name not be published, said in an interview that while she was in the Saudi family’s employ, she never witnessed any sexual assault or heard complaints about it from other maids. Mr. Kumar said a medical examination of the two women found that they had indeed been raped. Mr. Virk, the commissioner of police in Gurgaon, said the examinations were only preliminary and declined to give any specifics.

India
Saudi Arabia
Rape
Diplomats Embassies and Consulates
Nepal
Maiti India


Court in France Upholds Trader’s Sentence and Fine

Abstract: PARIS — A French appeals court on Wednesday upheld the 2010 conviction of Jérôme Kerviel , a former Société Générale trader whose rogue dealings brought the French bank to the brink of collapse almost five years ago. In her ruling, the appellate judge, Mireille Filippini, also upheld Mr. Kerviel’s original prison sentence of five years, with two suspended, and the trial court’s order that he pay 4.9 billion euros, or $6.4 billion, in restitution to Société Générale — equivalent to the amount the bank lost in the course of unwinding his fictitious trades in early 2008. Mr. Kerviel, 35, was found guilty by a lower court two years ago of breach of trust, forgery and unauthorized use of computer systems. The former trader, dressed in a dark suit and tie, listened impassively on Wednesday as Judge Filippini read the verdict to a wood-paneled courtroom packed with journalists. He was not ordered into immediate custody. Addressing reporters after the hearing, Mr. Kerviel’s lawyer, David Koubbi, called the judge’s decision a “lamentable injustice.” Mr. Kerviel left the courtroom through a side door without speaking to reporters. But in an interview with the RTL radio station later Wednesday, he said the verdict had left him “totally shattered” and vowed to appeal it to France’s highest court, the Cour de Cassation. The unwinding of an estimated 50 billion euros in unauthorized open positions on Mr. Kerviel’s trading book in January 2008 cost Société Générale 4.9 billion euros, the equivalent of about $7 billion at the time. Mr. Kerviel acknowledged at his original trial that he had falsified documents and entered fake trades to hide his activities, but said he had never profited personally from those transactions. He maintained that his bosses had deliberately turned a blind eye to what he was doing and had tacitly encouraged him as long as it was profitable. The bank has consistently denied those assertions, calling Mr. Kerviel an “evil genius” who acted entirely on his own. The judge’s 105-page ruling was unrelenting in its affirmation of the three charges against Mr. Kerviel and of the lower court’s calculation of the fine. “To the extent that Société Générale was perhaps negligent or maybe didn’t read all the warning signs, that didn’t serve to reduce the amount of damages or amount of prison time given to him,” said Christopher Mesnooh, a specialist in international business law with Field Fisher Waterhouse in Paris. “It is a lesson in personal responsibility in the extreme. This decision really is about Jérôme Kerviel and nobody else.” Jean Veil, a lawyer for the 148-year-old bank, said he was “very satisfied” with the court’s ruling but acknowledged that Mr. Kerviel, who is unemployed, was unlikely ever to repay the bank the full sum it was awarded. “We will look at the dossier with realism,” Mr. Veil said. But he vowed to pursue royalty payments linked to a memoir Mr. Kerviel published in 2010 and to any future film deals. Société Générale has admitted to management failures and weaknesses in its risk control systems, which it claimed Mr. Kerviel exploited to mask his unauthorized bets. An internal audit published in May 2008 described Mr. Kerviel’s immediate supervisors as “deficient” and acknowledged that the bank had failed to follow through on at least 74 internal alerts about his trading activities dating to mid-2006. The French Banking Commission later fined Société Générale 4 million euros. The bank dismissed two of Mr. Kerviel’s supervisors, and a handful of senior executives ultimately resigned, including Daniel Bouton, who had been Société Générale’s chairman and chief executive. Auditors found that Mr. Kerviel had been placing bets outside his trading limit for more than two years. Société Générale confirmed that it booked 1.4 billion euros in profit in the fourth quarter of 2007 from his unauthorized dealings. But when the market turned against him, eight large transactions entered into the bank’s computers in mid-December 2007 exposed the bank to 50 billion euros in risk — more than the market value of the bank. His last and, by far, biggest gamble was discovered Jan. 18, 2008. It was the unwinding of those trades, from Jan. 21 to Jan. 23, that led to the loss of 4.9 billion euros. In the aftermath of the scandal, Mr. Kerviel spent five weeks in pretrial detention and became something of a French folk hero. Much was made of the fact that someone from such a modest background — his mother was a hairdresser, his late father a metal-shop teacher — could dupe so many of his bosses, many of them well-bred graduates of the best French schools. The Société Générale scandal was one of the first fractures in the facade of what was then broadly perceived as an aggressive but essentially self-regulating financial system, giving rise to early calls against excessive risk-taking and lavish bonuses that have grown steadily louder since. It came not long after the first indications of the subprime mortgage crisis surfaced in the United States in August 2007 and was followed in March and September of 2008 by the demise of two flagship investment banks, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers.

Kerviel Jerome
Societe Generale
Banking and Financial Institutions
Frauds and Swindling
France


Six Months After Sandy, Jersey Shore Is Ready to Run

Abstract: When Joe Gigas, the executive director of the New Jersey Marathon, returned to his home in Long Branch after evacuating for Hurricane Sandy, he found that the ocean had ripped off one side of his house and sucked out the contents of four rooms. Still, only a week after the storm, he announced on the races’ Facebook page that the New Jersey Marathon and the Long Branch Half Marathon would be contested in 2013, although he did not know how, or where. Unlike the New York City Marathon, which was scheduled for Nov. 4, less than a week after the storm, the New Jersey races had the benefit of time. Gigas had six months to meet with eight Monmouth County municipalities, rework the courses so they avoided damaged roads and broken boardwalks, haggle with USA Track & Field over differences in maps — the national organization’s map showed the marathon course to be 200 meters short of 26.2 miles — and then have the races certified, all by May 5. USA Track & Field measured and certified the courses Thursday. Without certification, runners would not be able to use their race times to qualify for elite races like the Boston Marathon. “It’s still raw,” Gigas said last month. “Homeowners are not back in their houses yet. I’m not back in my house yet.” (Gigas said he was living in a rental.) When he approached town officials about the marathon this year, their reaction, he said, was not no but whether it would be safe. All eight towns eventually signed off on it. The two races start at the Monmouth Park racetrack in Oceanport, and the first miles wind through Oceanport and Monmouth Beach, which were flooded by Sandy. More than half of Oceanport’s 2,400 homes were damaged. In Monmouth Beach, the course will pass many houses that look fine on the outside but have Dumpsters and storage units in the driveway, because of the work that needs to be done on them. Some houses will be on jacks, as they are being raised to meet new elevation requirements set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. For Adam Schneider, the mayor of Long Branch, there was no question the races would be run. He said they would uplift residents, many of whom have parties along the racecourse. Then there is the economic benefit, which is especially needed this year. The half marathon and the full marathon end in Long Branch, and Schneider estimated that 15,000 people line the final miles to the finish. “It’s a relatively early spring day, and if we didn’t have a race, there would be very few people in town,” he said. “Instead, we’re busting from the seams.” He said he would be a part of it, too, running the Long Branch Half for the fourth time. Ninety percent of the two courses will remain the same, but rerouting the other 10 percent was tricky. The half marathon runs through three towns, the full marathon through eight. Gigas had to obtain approval of the new routes from each police department and town government before submitting them to USA Track & Field. Some landmark features of the marathon had to be sacrificed. In Asbury Park, it is typically run on the boardwalk, through the Grand Arcade of Convention Hall , where Bruce Springsteen has often rehearsed before touring, and the vestibule of the Casino , a former concert and amusement hall razed several years ago. Boardwalk repairs are scheduled to be completed by the end of April, but that did not leave enough time for the new course to be certified. Instead, runners will go down Kingsley Street and make the cross into Ocean Grove over a narrow pedestrian bridge. Because of that detour, there will be no wheelchair race in the full marathon this year. Gigas said the bridge was not the only factor making this year’s course less than ideal. The route also requires an abrupt turn around at a cone in Ocean Grove, which can throw off runners’ pace and cadence. Among them will be Oz Pearlman , a New York City magician and two-time winner who set the course record in 2011 with a time of 2 hours 28 minutes 19 seconds. Jen Matz, who spent her childhood summers at the Jersey Shore, will be running the Long Branch Half for the first time. She ran the Seaside Half Marathon two weeks before Hurricane Sandy, which destroyed a family member’s home in Lavallette, farther south on the Jersey Shore. Matz, who grew up in Monmouth County, but now lives in South Carolina, is running to promote the shore area. She said she would write about it on her blog at runnerstrials.com. “Maybe things don’t look exactly like they did, but the Jersey Shore is still a great place to go and race,” she said. “I want to draw attention to that.” So far, registrations for the half marathon are slightly down from last year, but those for the full marathon are up 15 percent. Gigas expects about 3,500 people to run the marathon, the most in its 17-year history. “I never really got that phrase Jersey Strong,” said Gigas, who grew up in New Hampshire. “But watching these municipalities deal with this, and then there’s me asking, ‘Can I run through your town?’ No one said no. It’s that Jersey can-do attitude.”


Manhattan Prosecutors Won’t Charge Police Commissioner’s Son in Rape Accusation

Abstract: Manhattan prosecutors have decided not to file rape charges against a son of Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly after a two-week investigation of a woman’s accusation that he had attacked her late last year inside the Lower Manhattan law office where she worked, prosecutors said in a letter on Tuesday. The office of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr. , concluded its inquiry into the accusation leveled against Mr. Kelly’s son Greg Kelly, a local television anchor, concluding that “the facts established during our investigation do not fit the definition of sexual assault crimes,” according to a brief letter to Mr. Kelly’s lawyer, Andrew M. Lankler. “Therefore, no criminal charges are appropriate.” A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office said it had conducted a “thorough investigation,” interviewing witnesses and analyzing evidence including security logs, text messages, receipts and phone records. The letter , from the chief of the district attorney’s Sex Crimes Unit, Martha Bashford, the assistant district attorney assigned to handle the case, said the witnesses included the accuser and Mr. Kelly, “both of whom were cooperative and were interviewed in the first days of the investigation.” In a statement, Mr. Kelly said, “I am thankful that the investigation established what I’ve known all along, that I am innocent of the allegations that were waged against me.” He thanked his friends and family, “whose support for me never wavered.” The accusations came to light after the woman, who is in her late 20s or early 30s and whose name was not released, walked into the 13th Precinct station house on Jan. 24. She told the police that she had met Mr. Kelly, 43, on the street and had gone for drinks with him at the South Street Seaport a few days later, on Oct. 8. Afterward, she said, they returned to her office and he raped her. Police detectives initially interviewed the woman in the hours after she walked into the station house last month, law enforcement officials said at the time. But within hours, the Police Department had turned the investigation over to Mr. Vance’s office because of the conflict presented by the department’s looking into a sexual assault accusation against the commissioner’s son, who from the outset denied the accusations through Mr. Lankler. After the allegations became public, Mr. Kelly, a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Reserves, took a leave from his position as an anchor of “Good Day New York” on the Fox station WNYW (Channel 5). While the woman told the police that Mr. Kelly had raped her after they returned to her office, she told them that the two continued to have contact by phone and text message after the encounter. According to her account, when her boyfriend later learned about the night, he became angry and approached the police commissioner at a public event and told him that the younger Mr. Kelly had sexually assaulted his girlfriend. The commissioner told him to write a letter, according to the woman’s account, but it did not appear that he did so. Commissioner Kelly’s account of his encounter with the boyfriend was similar, though according to his spokesman, Paul J. Browne, the man told the commissioner that his son had “ruined my girlfriend’s life” but declined to discuss it there. So the commissioner suggested that he write the letter.

Greg Kelly
NYPD
Raymond W Kelly
Cyrus R Vance Jr
Rape


F.C.C. Approves Net Neutrality Rules, Classifying Broadband Internet Service as a Utility

Abstract: WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to regulate broadband Internet service as a public utility, a milestone in regulating high-speed Internet service into American homes. Tom Wheeler, the commission chairman, said the F.C.C. was using “all the tools in our toolbox to protect innovators and consumers” and preserve the Internet’s role as a “core of free expression and democratic principles.” The new rules, approved 3 to 2 along party lines, are intended to ensure that no content is blocked and that the Internet is not divided into pay-to-play fast lanes for Internet and media companies that can afford it and slow lanes for everyone else. Those prohibitions are hallmarks of the net neutrality concept. Explaining the reason for the regulation, Mr. Wheeler, a Democrat, said that Internet access was “too important to let broadband providers be the ones making the rules.” Mobile data service for smartphones and tablets, in addition to wired lines, is being placed under the new rules. The order also includes provisions to protect consumer privacy and to ensure that Internet service is available to people with disabilities and in remote areas. Before the vote, each of the five commissioners spoke and the Republicans delivered a scathing critique of the order as overly broad, vague and unnecessary. Ajit Pai, a Republican commissioner, said the rules were government meddling in a vibrant, competitive market and were likely to deter investment, undermine innovation and ultimately harm consumers. “The Internet is not broken,” Mr. Pai said. “There is no problem to solve.” The impact of the new rules will hinge partly on details that are not yet known. The rules will not be published for at least a couple of days, and will not take effect for probably at least a couple of months. Lawsuits to challenge the commission’s order are widely expected. The F.C.C. is taking this big regulatory step by reclassifying high-speed Internet service as a telecommunications service, instead of an information service, under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. The Title II classification comes from the phone company era, treating service as a public utility. But the new rules are an à la carte version of Title II, adopting some provisions and shunning others. The F.C.C. will not get involved in pricing decisions or the engineering decisions companies make in managing their networks. Mr. Wheeler, who gave a forceful defense of the rules just ahead of the vote, said the tailored approach was anything but old-style utility regulation. “These are a 21st-century set of rules for a 21st-century industry,” he said. Opponents of the new rules, led by cable television and telecommunications companies, say adopting the Title II approach opens the door to bureaucratic interference with business decisions that, if let stand, would reduce incentives to invest and thus raise prices and hurt consumers. “Today, the F.C.C. took one of the most regulatory steps in its history,” Michael Powell, president of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association and a chairman of the F.C.C. in the Bush administration, said in a statement. “The commission has breathed new life into the decayed telephone regulatory model and applied it to the most dynamic, freewheeling and innovative platform in history.” Supporters of the Title II model include many major Internet companies, start-ups and public interest groups. In a statement, Michael Beckerman, president of the Internet Association, which includes Google, Facebook and smaller online companies, called the F.C.C. vote “a welcome step in our effort to create strong, enforceable net neutrality rules.” The F.C.C.’s yearlong path to issuing rules to ensure an open Internet precipitated an extraordinary level of political involvement, from grass-roots populism to the White House, for a regulatory ruling. The F.C.C. received four million comments, about a quarter of them generated through a campaign organized by groups including Fight for the Future, an advocacy nonprofit. Evan Greer, campaign director for Fight for the Future, said, “This shows that the Internet has changed the rules of what can be accomplished in Washington.” Image Supporters of net neutrality rallied on Thursday outside the F.C.C. building. Credit Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times An overwhelming majority of the comments supported common-carrier style rules, like those in the order the commission approved on Thursday. In the public meeting, Mr. Wheeler began his remarks by noting the flood of public comments. “We listened and we learned,” he said. In November, President Obama took the unusual step of urging the F.C.C., an independent agency, to adopt the “strongest possible rules” on net neutrality. Mr. Obama specifically called on the commission to classify high-speed broadband service as a utility under Title II. His rationale: “For most Americans, the Internet has become an essential part of everyday communication and everyday life.” Republicans in Congress were slow to react, and initially misread the public mood. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas portrayed the F.C.C. rule-making process as a heavy-handed liberal initiative, “Obamacare for the Internet.” In January, Senator John Thune, the South Dakota Republican, began circulating legislation that embraced the principles of net neutrality, banning both paid-for priority lanes and the blocking or throttling of any web content. But it would also prohibit the F.C.C. from issuing regulations to achieve those goals. This week, the Republicans pulled back , with too little support to move quickly. Also at the Thursday meeting, the F.C.C. approved an order to pre-empt state laws that limit the build-out of municipal broadband Internet services. The order focuses on laws in two states, North Carolina and Tennessee, but it would create a policy framework for other states. About 20 states, by the F.C.C.’s count, have laws that restrict the activities of community broadband services. The state laws unfairly restrict municipal competition with cable and telecommunications broadband providers, the F.C.C. said. This order, too, will surely be challenged in court.

Net Neutrality
FCC
Regulation and Deregulation
Tom Wheeler
Legislation


Stealth Wear Aims to Make a Tech Statement

Abstract: THE term “stealth wear” sounded cool, if a bit extreme, when I first heard it early this year. It’s a catchy description for clothing and accessories designed to protect the wearer from detection and surveillance. I was amused. It seemed like an updated version of a tinfoil hat, albeit a stylish one. Fast-forward a few months. Flying surveillance cameras, also known as drones, are increasingly in the news. So are advances in facial-recognition technology. And wearable devices like Google Glass — which can be used to take photographs and videos and upload them to the Internet within seconds — are adding to the fervor. Then there are the disclosures of Edward Snowden, the fugitive former government contractor, about clandestine government surveillance. It’s enough to make countersurveillance fashion as timely and pertinent as any seasonal trend, like midriff tops or wedge sneakers. Adam Harvey , an artist and design professor at the School of Visual Arts and an early creator of stealth wear, acknowledges that countersurveillance clothing sounds like something out of a William Gibson novel. “The science-fiction part has become a reality,” he said, “and there’s a growing need for products that offer privacy.” Image The CV Dazzle hairstyling and makeup program aims to camouflage a person’s face. Credit Adam Harvey and DIF Magazine Mr. Harvey exhibited a number of his stealth-wear designs and prototypes in an art show this year in London. His work includes a series of hoodies and cloaks that use reflective, metallic fabric — like the kind used in protective gear for firefighters — that he has repurposed to reduce a person’s thermal footprint . In theory, this limits one’s visibility to aerial surveillance vehicles employing heat-imaging cameras to track people on the ground. He also developed a purse with extra-bright LEDs that can be activated when someone is taking unwanted pictures; the effect is to reduce an intrusive photograph to a washed-out blur. In addition, he created a guide for hairstyling and makeup application that might keep a camera from recognizing the person beneath the elaborate get-up. The technique is called CV Dazzle — a riff on “computer vision” and “dazzle,” a type of camouflage used during World War II to make it hard to detect the size and shape of warships. Mr. Harvey isn’t the only one working on such products. The National Institute of Informatics in Japan has developed a visor outfitted with LEDs whose light isn’t visible to the wearer — but that would blind some camera sensors and blur the details of a wearer’s nose and eyes more effectively than a pair of sunglasses. And Todd Blatt , a mechanical engineer in New York, is working on a lens-cap accessory for people who don’t want to be recorded while talking with someone who is wearing Google Glass. Instead of asking that the computer glasses be removed entirely, they could instead hand the wearer the lens covering. Presto. No taping or photographing would occur during the conversation. Mr. Harvey likened his work and that of others to the invention of the rivet in denim jeans. “That was a practical way of making them more durable,” he said. Stealth wear, he said, is an “updated way of thinking about making your clothes more resistant to your environment and adapting them to protect you a little bit more.” But these designers face a challenge: although technology has inspired some new fabrics and materials, high-tech fashion of any kind has yet to really take off. Image A purse fitted with an electronic device reacts to a camera’s flash with lights so bright that the subject’s face is obscured. Credit Adam Harvey/ahprojects.com There simply isn’t much of a market for tech-savvy haute couture, said Becky Stern, an artist and the director of wearable electronics at Adafruit Industries , a company in New York that sells do-it-yourself electronics kits. Ms. Stern noted that a few years ago, clothing embedded with illuminated lights was relatively popular, but that interest later “kind of fell off.” Some of the most exciting experimentation is in the world of sports, she said, where athletic wear is being developed that can monitor a player’s vital signs. Such products are commercially viable, she said, and the technology could eventually migrate to clothing designed specifically to protect the privacy of its owner. Jan Chipchase, executive creative director of global insights at Frog Design , says he sees tremendous potential for an eventual stealth-wear market. He described current prototypes as “provocations,” saying they raise “issues that are impacting our cities and public spaces that need more discussion and debate.” Mr. Harvey’s items have not yet been thoroughly tested by intelligence firms or security experts. Most are still concepts, not ready for mass production. But he said he hoped that awareness of his designs might “empower you to control your identity a little more.” AND the mere fact that such designs are attracting attention online could pave the way for development of a mass market, said Joanne McNeil, a writer who covers Internet culture. On her blog “ Internet of Dreams ,” Ms. McNeil says that videos and mock-ups of not-yet-developed products, whether clothing or futuristic smartphones, are often popular online and may reflect the desires of a populace that larger corporations haven’t tapped. “Dreams outpace physical realities,” she said. In other words, even if stealth wear never becomes a viable or commercial reality, the newfound intrusiveness it responds to is genuine enough.

Innovation
Fashion
Privacy
School of Visual Arts
Adafruit Industries
Government Surveillance
Wearable Computing


Petraeus, in Pakistan, Hears Complaints About Missile Strikes

Abstract: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — In his new position as head of the United States Central Command , Gen. David H. Petraeus met top Pakistani officials on Monday for the first time and heard one message wherever he turned: American airstrikes against militants in the tribal areas are unhelpful. General Petraeus, the former commander of American forces in Iraq, arrived in Pakistan as missile strikes from drone aircraft against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas had escalated. There were two separate missile attacks by American drones on Saturday. In retaliation, a suicide bomber killed eight Pakistani paramilitary soldiers in South Waziristan on Sunday. After the meeting with General Petraeus, President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan said in a statement: “Continuing drone attacks on our territory, which result in loss of precious lives and property, are counterproductive and difficult to explain by a democratically elected government. It is creating a credibility gap.” There was no comment or public appearance by General Petraeus, and it was not clear how he responded to the complaints. Messages left with his press aides were not immediately returned. General Petraeus, who has been consulting in recent weeks with a wide range of people on the efforts by the Pakistani military to quell the insurgency in the tribal areas and on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, on Friday took over the Central Command, putting him in overall charge of the American-led military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. His visit comes as the Pentagon and the White House are completing reviews on policies toward Afghanistan, and as Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, has made clear that Pakistan and Afghanistan would be more of a foreign policy focus if he were to win the election. In an interview on CNN broadcast this past weekend, Mr. Obama said he believed it was necessary to convince Pakistan that the main threat to its security came from the militants, and not India, its historical enemy. During his round of calls on Monday, General Petraeus met with the commander of the Pakistani military, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and the defense minister, Ahmad Mukhtar. The American missile attacks in the tribal areas were generating “anti-American sentiments” and creating “outrage and uproar among the people,” Mr. Mukhtar said in a statement. A senior Pakistani military official said the army wanted to “bring home the point that the missile strikes are counterproductive, and that this is driving a wedge between the government and the tribal people.” Pakistani officials have consistently complained about the airstrikes that have been aimed at Arab fighters and Pakistani militants connected to Al Qaeda. But the statements against the airstrikes have been couched in less dramatic language than General Kayani’s declaration after an American ground raid in September in which he said Pakistan would defend its borders at “all costs.” There have been no known ground raids in the tribal areas since. On a more positive note, the senior Pakistani military official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject, said the United States had started “listening to us” and had moved toward sealing the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Bajaur area. The Pakistani Army is fighting Taliban militants in Bajaur and has criticized the United States for what it says is the failure of American troops in Afghanistan to stop Afghan militants from crossing into Bajaur and joining the battle. The Americans moved some of their forces to the east of the Kunar River last week, and this helped curb the flow of militants into Bajaur, the Pakistani military official said. “It is bearing positive results,” he said. In an effort to show General Petraeus the hard terrain that the Pakistani forces face against the insurgents in the tribal areas, the military planned to fly him over some of the terrain on Tuesday, the military official said. That way, the general would get an idea of the long, porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. “We will let him see where the roads end and where the mountains start,” the official said. “It will be a glimpse of the Tora Bora from the other side,” he said, referring to the area in Afghanistan near the Pakistani border from where Osama bin Laden is believed to have escaped from American troops in late 2001. In a visit Tuesday to Peshawar, in the North-West Frontier Province, General Petraeus planned to meet with Maj. Gen. Tariq Khan, the new leader of the Frontier Corps, the paramilitary force that is fighting in Bajaur. After a long delay, American and British trainers began instructing Pakistani officers last month, who in turn will train the Frontier Corps in an effort to turn the paramilitary force into a more effective group of indigenous counterinsurgency fighters. The Pakistani military officials planned to ask General Petraeus for help in increasing the army’s “operational capabilities,” meaning equipment. But the army was reluctant to accept training. “Why should they get into our areas?” the senior military official asked.

Pakistan
Petraeus David H
Zardari Asif Ali
Afghanistan War (2001- )
United States Armament and Defense
Pashtun (Ethnic Group)
Missiles and Missile Defense Systems


Hillary Clinton Faces a More Liberal Democratic Fund-Raising Landscape

Abstract: Hillary Rodham Clinton will seek out donors to her presidential campaign from a Democratic fund-raising landscape vastly altered since her first presidential bid and far more ideologically aligned with the party’s liberal activists. Democrats now get far less money from Wall Street, military contractors, health care companies and other industries that for decades ladled out cash more evenly to both parties, according to a New York Times analysis of data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group. And the party now relies far more on constituencies that have achieved new clout in the era of “super PACs” and carefully targeted digital fund-raising. As many as one-fifth of elite Democratic “bundlers” — volunteers who raise money from friends and business associates — are active in gay-rights causes or are themselves gay or lesbian. Outside Democratic groups rely heavily on wealthy environmentalists, such as the billionaires Tom Steyer and Michael R. Bloomberg, and on labor unions, whose financial might has been magnified by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010 even as their membership rolls decline. Female donors and bundlers have become both a bigger source of funding and a more organized financial force in party affairs: Emily’s List, a political group dedicated to electing female Democrats, now has five times as many members and twice as many donors as it did when Mrs. Clinton ran for president in 2008. And Democrats now rely far more on grass-roots donors to be financially competitive with Republicans. Democratic Party committees raised $200 million from donors giving $200 or less in 2014, according to Federal Election Commission records, twice as much as in 2008. The shift in the party’s donor base is being driven, in part, by the same polarizing demographic and political trends that have made the Democratic Party more ideologically liberal and have aligned business more closely with Republicans. Industry Money Shifts to Republicans Over the last three election cycles, several major industries have shifted their political donations to Republicans from Democrats. “Historically, business was very pragmatic and played both sides,” said Simon Rosenberg, president of NDN, a left-leaning think tank with ties to business leaders in Washington. “Now, business had thrown its lot in with the Republicans. It means that the traditional arguments of business are losing their grip on Democrats, in part because business isn’t any longer investing in Democrats.” The transformation is already reflected in Mrs. Clinton’s campaign and speeches. She sided with House Democrats and labor unions during the intraparty battle over a new Pacific trade deal, risking a significant rupture with her former boss, President Obama . And she criticized “hedge fund managers” in her campaign kickoff event in New York City, the sort of rhetorical flourish she carefully avoided in the past. Her stump speech sharply attacks Republicans on issues that, Democratic strategists have learned, can loosen floods of money from grass-roots donors, such as reproductive rights, gay rights and equal pay for women. “She was always talking about these issues, but not with the same rhetoric,” said Howard Dean, the former Democratic Party chairman and governor of Vermont. “And that’s because her base has moved left and the country has moved the left. I think she can be more of who she is.” Mrs. Clinton’s rivals for the nomination are already benefiting from the shift. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont socialist running for the Democratic nomination, is not yet the favored candidate of deep-pocketed Democratic donors. But he has already raised at least $8.3 million in online contributions through ActBlue , a fund-raising committee that serves as a conduit for Democratic campaigns. What Hillary Clinton Would Need to Do to Win Mrs. Clinton can expect little if any opposition in the Democratic primaries. But she was similarly well positioned when she declared her candidacy in 2007. At the same time, industries that wooed Democrats with a significant share of their political donations have steadily shifted more of their giving to Republicans, reflecting not only the country’s broader polarization but also years of bruising battles with the Obama administration and Democrats over issues like financial regulation, the Keystone XL oil pipeline and nutrition guidelines. Agribusiness and mining and oil interests, along with the financial services and health care industries, have shifted substantially more money to Republicans over the last three two-year election cycles, according to the Times analysis. That shift was exacerbated, some longtime Democratic fund-raisers said, by Mr. Obama’s decision not to accept contributions to his presidential campaigns from political action committees. While PACs account for a relatively small slice of money in presidential campaigns, their fund-raising historically acted as a bridge between Democratic politicians or lobbyists and businesses that were more Republican in outlook. “The fund-raising world in 2015 has changed dramatically from the fund-raising world in 2012 — which was a dramatic change from 2008,” said Representative Steve Israel, a New York Democrat and the former head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which now raises half its cash from small donors online. “It’s new rules, it’s new tools, it’s new technologies, and it’s new donors.” At the same time, older constituencies have become bigger players in Democratic fund-raising. More grass-roots fund-raising and bundling by groups like Emily’s List, for example, have created a financial constituency for issues such as equal pay. Who Is Running for President? Donald J. Trump officially accepted the Republican party's nomination on July 22. Hillary Clinton was officially nominated on July 26 at the Democratic Convention. “We’re not the full funders of any candidate,” said Stephanie Schriock , the president of Emily’s List and a close ally of Mrs. Clinton’s. “But we’re the extra bit that allows them more time to do what they need to do and the ability to speak on behalf of all women and families.” Stung by the defeat of Mr. Obama’s climate-change legislation in 2009, environmental groups have set up new bundler networks to raise “green-branded” dollars for candidates. They have also emerged as big spenders on election-themed political advertising. In 2014, the League of Conservation Voters and Mr. Steyer’s NextGen Climate Action, a super PAC, spent more on independent election advertising than any other Democratic-aligned issue groups. Climate change is also a top issue among the party’s super PAC donors, particularly Mr. Steyer. This month, Mr. Steyer issued a statement pointedly praising one of Mrs. Clinton’s Democratic rivals, Martin O’Malley , for “presenting real, concrete solutions to climate change.” For Mrs. Clinton, the party’s shifting financial fortunes may be a double-edged sword. They could liberate her to more forcefully or directly address issues that are important to the party’s base, especially on issues of wealth inequality, taxation and regulation. “What it does allow — and I think this is a particularly good thing in this year, when the biggest issue is fairness for working people — it does allow people to vote their consciences more easily,” Mr. Dean said. He added: “There’s no particular reason why Democrats even have to think about people on Wall Street. And they won’t.” But Mrs. Clinton’s campaign is particularly sensitive to criticisms that she is moving left or tailoring her message to the party’s liberal base. (A spokesman declined to comment for this article.) And there are signs that Mrs. Clinton, whose husband, former President Bill Clinton, became a successful fund-raiser by rebranding the Democrats as business-friendly, will seek more of an equilibrium. Unlike Mr. Obama, her campaign is aggressively raising money from business PACs, according to two Clinton fund-raisers. And Mrs. Clinton, like the Republicans who wish to run against her, has not yet pledged to voluntarily disclose the names of her bundlers. Mrs. Clinton’s most delicate dance may be with Wall Street. Investment banks like Goldman Sachs have for years been a source of personal, political and philanthropic wealth for the Clinton family. But the industry is now closely allied with Speaker John A. Boehner and congressional Republicans seeking to roll back or repeal elements of the Dodd-Frank financial reforms. Almost two-thirds of money from investment banks and three-quarters of donations from credit card companies and lenders now flow to Republicans, and donations from hedge fund and private equity executives were a significant source of cash for Republican super PACs during the 2012 election cycle. Mrs. Clinton backed the Dodd-Frank bill and other financial reforms, including elimination of the “carried interest” loophole used by private equity executives to lower their tax rate. But several Democratic donors and bundlers with Wall Street ties said they believed shewould be well positioned to repair that relationship; many financial executives, they said, viewed her more barbed language in recent weeks as necessary posturing. “The Clinton operation would like to have everybody in, and everybody giving,” said one longtime Clinton fund-raiser, who asked for anonymity so as not to damage his relationship with Mrs. Clinton’s team. “They usually try to find a way to have everyone on board.”

2016 Presidential Election
Hillary Clinton
Campaign finance
Liberalism US
PACs
Democrats


Restoring Sound to Windows 10

Abstract: Q. I upgraded my PC laptop to Windows 10 and ever since my computer doesn’t have any sound. How do I get my audio back? A. Upgrading a computer from an older version of Windows can sometimes damage the system’s device drivers, including the one for the sound card. To grab a new copy of the driver software, go to the Start menu’s search box, enter Device Manager and open it when it pops up in the results list. Next, in the “Sound, video and game controllers” area, look for the name of your computer’s sound card. Depending on your model, you may see hardware from Creative Labs , Intel or another company listed. Click the Driver tab there and choose Update Driver. Windows should look around and install a new version of the driver. If the system reports that it cannot find a driver for your sound card, go to the support area of the company’s website and see if there is an updated driver there to download. Uninstalling the driver — and then having Windows 10 reinstall it for you — is another option. Go back to the Device Manager box, right-click the audio driver and choose Uninstall; if you have a touch-screen device, press and hold the driver to get the Uninstall option from the menu. Restart your computer, and Windows will try to reinstall it for you. If that maneuver fails as well, Microsoft suggests installing the generic High Definition Audio Device driver, which you can choose in the Device Manager when you use the Update Driver option. Instead of letting Windows look for the driver, choose the path that lets you search the computer and pick a driver from a list. Sound problems in Windows 10 are not uncommon, and Microsoft has prepared a page of resources that includes a series of video tutorials and troubleshooting tools . You can find it all at windows.microsoft.com/support . Speaking to Siri Q. I thought Siri on the iPhone was supposed to just answer if you said, “Hey Siri,” but I still have to press the button. Why? A. Siri , Apple’s virtual assistant software, will respond without you having to hold down the Home button — under certain conditions. If you do not have one of the newest models, (the iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus), you need to have the phone plugged into a power source to summon Siri solely by voice. The “Hey Siri” option also needs to be enabled on your iPhone. To check in iOS 9, open the Settings icon on the Home screen. On the Settings screen, tap General, then Siri and flip the switch next to allow “Hey Siri.” After a short “Hey Siri” training session, you should be ready to go. TIP OF THE WEEK The convenience of an e-reader has helped many people fit more books into their lives. For planning purposes, Amazon’s Kindle software can often provide an estimated time it takes to read a particular title. With the book (or sample chapter) open on the screen, select the Menu button and then choose About This Book to see the typical amount of time needed to read the entire thing. The About This Book option is available on Amazon’s e-reader apps for other mobile devices such as some of its newer Kindle hardware like the Paperwhite model. When you are reading a Kindle book on a touch-screen device, you can tap the screen to cycle through several progress indicators at the bottom of the page, including the percentage of the book read, the number of pages left, the estimated time still needed to finish the chapter or to complete the whole book.

Microsoft Windows
EBooks EReaders
Kindle
iPhone
Software
Computers and the Internet
Tech Industry
Apple
Microsoft
Audio Speakers


A Voice That Stayed Above the Fray

Abstract: JOHANNESBURG — Bob Sheppard liked the air of mystery about his age. It was funny watching such a solid person, based in faith and education, grow a trifle coy about the year of his birth. But he was always specific about being born on Oct. 20. It was also Mickey Mantle’s birthday, but Bob did not live off that coincidence of two Yankees legends sharing a birthday. Bob had an ego, liked being the voice echoing around Yankee Stadium, saying, “No. 2, Derek Jee-tah,” but he did not need to be around the players. They did what they did out on the field, and he did what he did up on the booth. Here’s a little secret: between plays, Bob read books, hardcover books from home or the library. He was a voice, not a ballpark celebrity. How strange it is to be missing a chance to see Nelson Mandela, 91, circle the field in a golf cart in order to write about another man I admired, but from up close. Bob was more than 99 when he died Sunday after the illnesses that diminished him in the past few years. He was vague about them, too. I’ve known him since 1960, when I covered my first Yankee games as a young reporter. That summer, my wife and I, just married, would see him at Jones Beach strolling along the tide line with his wife, Mary. They were newlyweds, too; Bob’s first wife had died, but I did not know that at the time. They were a handsome couple. I reminded him of that recently, how I used to see him at the beach. He liked that, the memory of being a former St. John’s quarterback, tall, young and strolling the beach with his new wife. In recent years, when he was temporarily not going to Yankee Stadium — but definitely not retired — I would go see him; he was a little weaker each time. Recently I called, and he slowly let me know that he had fallen and was not going downstairs these days. He was as strong in his Roman Catholic faith as anybody I knew. He hated to admit he could no longer serve as a lector. His faith never wavered in the trying days. His daughter is a nun. He referred to Mary as “my archangel,” meaning she saved his life, day by day. Better to think of him younger, wearing tweedy professorial jackets, a note of class in the press dining room. He had his own little table in the corner at the old Yankee Stadium. The conversation went round and round, rarely about baseball. He did not need the reflected glory. The only time I would see him on the field was when he checked out the pronunciation of a new player’s name. In an earlier time, when baseball was not yet comfortable with Latino players, he made sure to give Minnie Miñoso his tilde. Later, he delighted in getting the pronunciation right for Shigetoshi Hasegawa . But he was not a fan. That is what people missed about Bob. He did not have gossip about players, insights into managers, theories about strategy. In the past few years, I would casually ask if he followed the Yankees or their broadcasters or even how his successors were doing with their own echoes in Yankee Stadium, and he seemed a bit vague. The last time I called, I noted that he had a special birthday coming up. It was the first time he had ever allowed me to refer, however obliquely, to his actual age. I don’t think he was anticipating a 100th birthday celebration. He was as secure about that as he was about everything else.


Day 77: The Latest on the Oil Spill

Abstract: Capture and Containment Efforts Continue BP reported Tuesday that its capture systems at the blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico collected or burned off 24,980 barrels of oil on Monday. Mark Proegler, a BP spokesman, said preparations continued for hooking a third vessel, the Helix Producer, up to the systems, which would increase the capture capacity from 28,000 barrels a day to 53,000 barrels. Skimming operations across the gulf have scooped up about 23.5 million gallons of oiled water so far. Oil Spotted in Lake Pontchartrain Oil sheen and tar balls from the spill have been spotted in Lake Pontchartrain, which forms the northern boundary of New Orleans and was rescued in the 1990s from rampant pollution, according to the unified command for the spill. Response crews placed a combined 600 feet of hard and soft boom in the Rigolets strait to prevent more oil from getting through to the lake. Nineteen manual skimming vessels and four decontamination vessels based out of Orleans and St. Tammany Parishes were dispatched to the oiled areas. An interactive map tracking the spill and where it has made landfall, live video of the leak, a guide to online spill resources and additional updates: nytimes.com/national .

Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline
Offshore Drilling and Exploration
Accidents and Safety
BP Plc
Gulf of Mexico


Italian Technology Is Chrysler’s Hope for Revival

Abstract: Fiat quietly ended its effort to market cars in the United States a quarter-century ago when the last of its vehicles to carry the Fiat nameplate, the 1983 Brava sedan, drove off a dealer lot. They had stylish exteriors and responsive handling, but Fiats were notoriously unreliable. This time around, the Italian automaker is hoping to make a more favorable and lasting impression on American consumers, with much-improved, fuel-efficient cars that could roll off the assembly lines of its new partner, Chrysler , in as little as 18 months. Fiat technology — which President Obama praised on Thursday at a news conference at the White House — will go into new Chryslers, broadening Chrysler’s lineup to include small and midsize cars. At the same time, the Fiat Group will introduce a few of its own cars, including Alfa Romeos, that are available only in Europe now. It is a remarkable turnabout for Fiat, which has ridden a wild roller coaster of successes and failures throughout its history, just as its new partner, Chrysler, has. Fiat withdrew from the United States in the 1980s — its Alfa Romeo franchise hung on for another decade until it too gave up — after drivers nicknamed the company Fix It Again Tony because its cars seemed to spend more time at the garage than on the highway. “The cars now are a world away from what they sold in the 1970s, or even six or seven years ago,” said Garel Rhys, head of the Center for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff University in Wales. Fiat was among the last of the big auto companies to join what Mr. Rhys calls “the quality revolution,” finally focusing on quality after Sergio Marchionne became chief executive in 2004. Mr. Marchionne spearheaded the deal for Chrysler and is also exploring a bid for the European and Latin American operations of General Motors. Now both Fiat and Alfa Romeo will return to showrooms among Chrysler’s United States dealerships, but drivers who remember Fiat’s boxy styles from the 1970s won’t recognize today’s models. The first Fiat car to arrive will be the 500, known as the Cinquecento, an update of the Italian classic from the 1960s that has earned comparisons to the more expensive Mini Cooper and has been a big hit since its introduction in Europe two years ago. Before that happens, the new Fiat Group offerings will have to be re-engineered to conform to United States crash-test standards. With the 500, Fiat hopes to attract younger, urban drivers, and it plans to sell it in Chrysler dealerships on both coasts beginning in 2011, manufacturing it at Chrysler factories in Mexico. In Europe, the Fiat 500 sells for roughly 9,000 euros, or $12,000, on average. The Mini, made by BMW, sells on average for $25,600 in the United States. Alfa Romeo will return with the MiTo, a compact now on sale in Europe, and the Milano, reviving a name from the 1980s and 1990s. When Chrysler emerges from bankruptcy, Fiat will initially have a 20 percent stake in the company, as well as three seats on the new company’s nine-member board. In a statement on Thursday, Mr. Marchionne said, “We look forward to delivering on the vast potential this alliance holds and reintroducing to North American customers some of our most popular brands.” But Fiat executives say the first priority will be building and selling the Chrysler models with Fiat technology. “Selling Fiats won’t turn Chrysler around,” said one executive who insisted on anonymity because of Fiat company policy. “You’re going to see a new range of Chrysler cars, based on our engineering, our platforms and our engines with a shape exclusively their own.” The midsize Chrysler Sebring, made in Sterling Heights, Mich., is among the models that Fiat engineers will redesign using technology from the Milano. Fiat also sees opportunities in selling Chrysler’s Jeep brand in markets like Brazil, Russia and India, along with Dodge Ram trucks. Fiat does not produce full-size S.U.V.’s or one-ton trucks, so American-made Jeeps and Dodge trucks could be a valuable addition to its product line if fuel prices remain low and global demand for bigger vehicles rebounds. Still, the return of Fiats to the United States, as well as new Chryslers built around Fiat technology, poses a marketing challenge. Despite praise for Fiat’s technological prowess and its fuel-efficient cars from the likes of President Obama, “nobody below 40 knows what on earth this vehicle is,” Mr. Rhys said. “It’s almost a new entry in the car market.” Fiat officials say that’s an exaggeration, adding that Fiat opened its first showroom in New York in 1904, five years after the company was founded in Turin. It also opened an assembly plant in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., before World War I. And CNH, its farm equipment division that sells the brands Case and New Holland, has long been a major player in the American agricultural market, with headquarters in Chicago. The Fiat Group’s ultra-high-end sports cars, Maserati and Ferrari, are available in the United States, as well. “It’s not like we’re arriving at Ellis Island,” said Richard Gadeselli, a Fiat spokesman. Alfa Romeo, he added, “still has a huge reservoir of brand loyalty. The U.S. has the largest number of Alfa Romeo owners’ clubs in the world.” Then again, some older drivers may remember Fiat for its quality problems, thinking of it in the same light as other failed European offerings, like Renault’s Le Car and the Yugo. “It’s a giant challenge,” said John Casesa of the Casesa Shapiro Group, an independent auto advisory firm in New York. “It will be very difficult to sell older, domestically oriented buyers on Fiat. They don’t buy small cars and don’t have good memories of Fiat’s last foray into the U.S.” Even the Chrysler models with the latest Fiat technology could face skepticism, Mr. Casesa added, saying that when it comes to reliability, drivers’ perceptions can take years, even decades to evolve. He says the Pontiac Vibe made by G.M. is virtually identical to the Toyota Matrix, but lags far behind in sales, despite G.M.’s improved quality over the last 25 years. “Fiat has a lot to overcome,” he said. “They will have to be patient to win people over.”

Automobiles
Chrysler LLC
Fiat SpA
Subprime Mortgage Crisis


From Woods: Moony Eyes, Lilting Voice, Then a Bombshell

Abstract: The golfers lamenting Tiger Woods ’s indefinite leave from the PGA Tour because he is their cash cow are out of bounds. Only two people are truly dependent on Woods, and earlier this year, he could not stop smiling when he talked about them. His 2-year-old daughter, Sam, and 10-month-old son, Charlie, brought out Woods’s softer side in interviews. When I covered Woods early in his career, the only warmth he exuded in news conferences came from the vibrant reds of his signature Sunday shirts. This year was different. Returning to competitive golf in late February after a nine-month injury-induced absence, Woods drew me in with a smile that started in his eyes when he talked about his children. When he was asked about the birth of Charlie or how he occupied himself while recovering from knee surgery, his eyes grew moony and his voice was lilting — a marked departure from his monotone. He talked about cutting practice short to spend time with Charlie. He expressed delight in the rapid development of Sam. “I didn’t realize how much I loved being home,” he said. This melting glacier of a golfer was so much more interesting, and likable, than the ice man who had won 14 major titles. Woods’s global warming required further examination, so I tracked him around the course in a kind of scavenger hunt in the first months of his six-win campaign. I was searching for more clues to flesh out the Clark Kent alter ego of golf’s Superman, and I collected enough material to write two articles. After a late-night accident last month and Woods’s subsequent admission of infidelity, the headlines of those articles read like punch lines: “The Family Guy Is Back on the Course” and “All Eyes Are on Tiger, the Father.” Woods’s parenting role model was his father, Earl, who was committed to rearing him after having two sons and a daughter in a failed first marriage. Earl, a retired Army officer, attributed the divorce to military obligations that took him away from the family. Asked how he would manage to be there for his children when golf takes him away from home so much, Woods told me, “It’s going to be a lot more difficult, there’s no doubt.” Maybe it is impossible. Perhaps Woods was destined to be like his father, only not in the way he had hoped. Over lunch on the veranda at the Masters one year, Earl Woods said, “I’ve told Tiger that marriage is unnecessary in a mobile society like ours.” The way Woods talked about his children, I was sure he was going to prove his father wrong.