Palestinians, in Reversal, Press U.N. Gaza Report

Abstract: The Palestinian leadership tried to regain lost credibility by pressing forward Wednesday on a United Nations report on the Gaza war at a specially scheduled debate at the United Nations Security Council, saying it would call for a formal endorsement of the report this week in Geneva. The Security Council debate represented the first major step in the Palestinian effort to reverse its surprise decision two weeks ago to delay action on the report , which found evidence of Israeli war crimes, at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. The decision, made under American pressure after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel threatened that advancing the report would end any chance of peace talks, prompted a strong reaction against the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas . Mr. Abbas is a relatively moderate leader whom the United States and Israel have tried to bolster in the face of popular gains by Hamas, and there was a sense that the pressure on him had backfired. Riyad al-Maliki, the foreign affairs minister for the Palestinian Authority , told delegates gathered at the Security Council that the Palestinians would seek to “rectify the malfunction that occurred” in Geneva when the Human Rights Council met on Thursday and Friday. He added that Palestinian leaders were hopeful that the 47-member council would “endorse and formally convey the report to the appropriate United Nations agencies, in accordance with the report’s recommendations.” Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gabriela Shalev, responded by reiterating Israel’s stance that the report was one-sided and biased against Israel. The report, she said, “favors and legitimizes terrorism” and was “destructive to the peace process.” She added: “If Israel is asked to take further risks for peace, the international community must recognize our right to self-defense.” But there was no Israeli comment as harsh as Mr. Netanyahu’s earlier warnings. The 575-page report, created by a four-member panel led by the South African jurist Richard Goldstone, details evidence of war crimes committed by both the Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups in connection with last winter’s fighting, though it reserves its harshest language for Israeli actions. Foremost among its recommendations is that allegations of war crimes by both sides should be referred to the Security Council for possible prosecution at the International Criminal Court in The Hague if credible investigations are not undertaken within six months. Israeli officials have engaged in extensive diplomatic efforts to discredit the Goldstone report since its release in mid-September. Their efforts intensified this week as it became clear that the Human Rights Council was no longer going to delay until March a decision on whether to formally endorse the report. Facing a furor at home, particularly from Hamas — the militant Islamic group that is the Palestinian Authority’s main rival — Mr. Abbas backtracked on his support for the delay, instructing his ambassador in Geneva to gather enough signatures to have the council reconvene. The council announced the special session on Tuesday. To shore up support for Israel before the Geneva meeting, Defense Minister Ehud Barak spoke Tuesday night with the foreign minister of France, Bernard Kouchner; the British foreign secretary, David Miliband; and the foreign ministers of Spain and Norway, among other foreign officials. According to a statement released by Mr. Barak’s office on Wednesday, the Israeli minister told the foreign officials that the Goldstone report was “false, distorted, tendentious and encouraged terrorism.” In Geneva, although the Palestinians mustered the 16 votes needed to call a special session, it was unclear just how strong a majority they could get on a new resolution. An endorsement of the report with a less than significant majority of the Human Rights Council would be considered weak. Given the record of the Human Rights Council, the chance of a no vote on a resolution appeared slim. But an official in Jerusalem said privately, because of the delicate nature of the diplomacy, that Israel hoped to see “at least a moral victory — to get all the reasonable countries on the right side of the vote.” Other countries expressed reservations about a resolution for a number of reasons, namely that the Palestinians were reversing course in such a short time span, and that a draft in circulation complicated the issue by adding demands, including that Israel cease excavations around Al Aksa Mosque in Jerusalem and ensure access to the holy site for Palestinian worshipers. In compromise negotiations that were expected to continue into Thursday at least, the Brazilians offered alternative wording for a potential resolution that would basically keep the Goldstone report within the Human Rights Council for the time being. Under the Brazilian language, the resolution would endorse the findings of the report and the call for both Israel and the Palestinians to conduct investigations into any possible war crimes. But it would stop short of endorsing the recommendation that the matter be referred to the Security Council or even the International Criminal Court if such investigations did not take place. “We feel that if we escalate this issue it might not be productive for the peace talks,” said Maria N. Farani Azevedo, the Brazilian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva. So far, the Palestinians have been reluctant to make changes, which diplomats and human rights organizations attributed in part to their intensive effort to quell the domestic fallout after the previous postponement. As part of that effort, the Security Council agreed last week to move up its monthly debate on the Middle East to Wednesday, from next week, to discuss the report’s findings. Human Rights Watch said that internal investigations into the accusations were crucial and that the prospect of some international action was most likely needed to spur them. “We are convinced that without addressing the issues contained in this report there is no solid basis for a peace process,” said Julie de Rivero, the Geneva advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. “For us, it would be important that there is a strong endorsement of the findings.” Official Says Peace Effort Stalled RAMALLAH, West Bank — The prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, Salam Fayyad, said Wednesday that the Obama administration’s efforts to restart an Israeli-Palestinian peace process seemed to be at an impasse and that he feared the Israelis intended to offer the Palestinians “a Mickey Mouse state, if that.” By that, he meant a state that is “not serious,” according to an aide — one that fell short territorially and in other ways. Mr. Fayyad said the Palestinians aspired to an “independent, sovereign, viable Palestinian state” in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Mr. Fayyad, a respected economist, was speaking to foreign reporters at a news conference in Ramallah.

United Nations
Palestinian Authority
Abbas Mahmoud
Netanyahu Benjamin
Goldstone Richard


Cambodia: Smugglers Warned

Abstract: Prime Minister Hun Sen said Thursday that he had authorized the military to fire rockets from helicopters at smugglers of illegally cut timber. Mr. Hun Sen did not explain how illegal logging activities might be distinguished from the air. Cambodia has suffered from severe deforestation for the past several decades.

Cambodia
Hun Sen
Smuggling
Logging
Military
Forests


An Infamous Explosion, and the Smoldering Memory of Radicalism

Abstract: On a brisk November morning, Cathy Wilkerson strides down one of the city’s finest streets, 11th between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, her glance sweeping across the row of handsome town houses, alighting nowhere in particular. “The street I remember,” Ms. Wilkerson says, “was a lot less polished.” If streets had memories, this one would recall a far less polished incarnation of her. On the morning of March 6, 1970, Cathy Wilkerson stumbled onto 11th Street in tatters, bleeding and her clothes all but ripped off her body. Her father’s town house, 18 West 11th Street, which she had borrowed on a ruse, had just been blown to pieces, killing three members of the Weatherman group who were building bombs in the basement. After the explosion, Ms. Wilkerson lived underground for 10 years, surrendering in 1980 and serving less than a year in prison; the only other survivor, Kathy Boudin , was captured in 1981 during the robbery of a Brink’s truck in which three people were murdered. For many, the town house explosion defined the instant when the highest-octane rhetoric of the era was dismally realized in the rubble of the pulverized house and the bodies of three young people. It sobered — though did not completely halt — the most violent of radicals. And in the annals of New York life, the 11th Street explosion had its own peculiar niche: The house had been built by a founder of Merrill Lynch, and was next door to the home of the actor Dustin Hoffman, whose desk fell into the rubble. Until now, neither Ms. Wilkerson nor Ms. Boudin have spoken publicly about the events. Now Ms. Wilkerson has written a memoir, “Flying Close to the Sun,” which unsparingly maps the idealism, fanaticism, moral absolutism and personal passions that carried her to the town house. She writes, “I abandoned myself to the sanctimoniousness of hating my enemies.” In a walk down 11th Street, in an interview, and in the book, Ms. Wilkerson, now 62, a math teacher and the mother of a grown daughter, describes her own acquiescence to violence as a slow-motion personal collapse, taking place in a wider cast of people who had lost their bearings in anger at United States policies in Vietnam and elsewhere. Her father’s house was being used as a factory for pipe bombs, with the first one to be planted in an officer’s club at Fort Dix, N.J. “The political point of the town house was that we had to take on the U.S. military, like we were a third world country,” she said. “The accident at the town house showed the absurdity of our approach.” As a girl growing up in Connecticut, Ms. Wilkerson had attended Quaker meetings. At Swarthmore College, moved by the triumphs of people fighting for civil rights in the South, she joined the Students for a Democratic Society. African-Americans set an example for women and others shut out of full participation in society, she said, spurring the antiwar movement. But those protests did not change foreign policy. A cadre of individuals, prepared to use physical force not only to stop the war but also to topple the government behind it, broke out of the SDS. They called themselves the Weathermen. Propelled by her desire to end injustice, Ms. Wilkerson said, she joined them. She describes self-criticism sessions led by individuals who used the jargon of psychotherapy. Many in the ranks slept on floors and survived on pennies, but the leadership enjoyed opulent creature comforts. A strict “need-to-know” policy was enforced, meaning individuals could share little information, creating a culture of paranoia. In the interests of creating “new men and new women,” she writes, the leadership pushed an antimonogamy policy, giving joyless parties where virtual strangers had public sex. “We threw ourselves into the possibility of remaking ourselves as more effective tools for humanity’s benefit to the point of sacrificing our own humanity,” she wrote. In December 1969, a Weatherman gathering in Flint, Mich., called for war on the United States, in bloodcurdling terms. For many, Ms. Wilkerson writes, the message to take back to their cells was: “Violence was cleansing and resurrecting.” That same fanatic heart, it would seem, could get 19 people to fly airplanes into buildings. In February 1970, Ms. Wilkerson was ordered to go to New York, reuniting her with Terry Robbins, a leader of the group with whom she had defied the antimonogamy policy. They set about building pipe bombs, with Fort Dix the main target. She persuaded her father to let her stay in the town house on 11th Street while he was away, saying she had the flu. He reluctantly agreed. The rest of the group moved in. On the day her father was to return, she was ironing bed linens. Revolutionaries they may have been, but Ms. Wilkerson did not want him to know they had been sleeping in his beds; it had never been her own home. As she worked in the kitchen, the room exploded. The pipe bombs in the basement had gone off, detonating three cases of dynamite. Mr. Robbins, Diane Oughton and Ted Gold were killed. Ms. Boudin had been taking a shower, Ms. Wilkerson writes, and together they crawled out of the wreckage. A neighbor brought them inside and gave them clothes. They found a single subway token, then walked to the subway on Sixth Avenue. They went through the turnstile together and did not look back. She helped in “symbolic” bombings in the early 1970s, including a courthouse in California. By 1976, the war was over, and the group had dissolved. “I was profoundly messed up,” she said, but a new daughter and three years of minimum-wage jobs helped her to reflect. She turned herself in, came out of prison and began to teach math. Her father has since died. Walking down 11th Street last week, she recalled that after the blast, she did not speak to her father for 10 years, until she surrendered. “I said to him, ‘I’m sorry,’ ” Ms. Wilkerson said. “He said, ‘It’s water under the bridge.’” She continued down 11th Street, veering for an instant toward the house built in its place, but only to make room for people on the sidewalk. She did not look up.

Bombs and Explosives
Wilkerson Cathy
Greenwich Village (NYC)
Fringe Groups and Movements
Boudin Kathy
Robbins Terry


NASA Unveils Plans for Electric-Powered Plane

Abstract: A new experimental airplane being built by NASA could help push electric-powered aviation from a technical curiosity and pipe dream into something that might become commercially viable for small aircraft. At a conference on Friday of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Washington, Charles F. Bolden Jr., the NASA administrator, announced plans for an all-electric airplane designated as X-57 , part of the agency’s efforts to make aviation more efficient and less of a polluter. “The X-57 will take the first giant step in opening a new era of aviation,” Mr. Bolden declared. The steps taken by NASA will not translate into all-electric cross-country jetliners. But the agency hopes the technology can be incorporated into smaller, general aviation and commuter aircraft some years from now. The X-57 will look more like a Cessna, unlike some of NASA’s earlier sleek, futuristic X-planes. Its cruising speed might hit 175 miles per hour. Its wings, however, will be unique — far skinnier than usual and embedded with 14 motors. “The problem with traditional aircraft design is you have to size the wings so that you have safe takeoff and landing speeds, and so the wing tends to end up bigger than you need for cruise flight,” said Sean Clarke, co-principal investigator for the project at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif. For the X-57, the NASA researchers are designing narrower wings that are efficient during cruise flight, powered by two 60-kilowatt electric motors at the wingtips that spin five-foot-wide propellers. For takeoff and landing, 12 smaller 9-kilowatt motors powering two-foot-wide propellers will kick in to blow extra air over the skinny wings to generate the necessary lift. In flight, the smaller propellers are folded away. NASA has already purchased the Italian-designed Tecnam P2006T twin-engine four-seat aircraft that it will transform into the X-57. In the first step, NASA will replace the gasoline-powered motors with electric ones, aiming for takeoff in about a year. Swapping out the wing will take another one to two years, Mr. Clarke estimated. The X-plane designations are handed out by the United States Air Force for experimental, cutting edge aircraft starting with the X-1 that broke the sound barrier in 1947. NASA’s last X-plane effort, more than a decade ago, was the X-43A, a pilotless black dart that accelerated to almost 7,000 m.p.h., which set the record for a jet-powered aircraft. The NASA researchers have nicknamed the new plane “Maxwell,” after James Clerk Maxwell, a 19th-century Scottish physicist who came up with the basic equations underlying electromagnetism. The X-57 is far from the first electric airplane, and a solar-powered electric airplane called Solar Impulse is currently making a series of flights that will take it around the world. But Solar Impulse cruises at 30 to 40 m.p.h., of which Mr. Clarke said, “I don’t think anyone would classify as high speed.” At 175 m.p.h., the X-57 would be as fast as the original P2006T and other similar general aviation planes. “That’s a speed that could enable much greater market share for a technology like this,” Mr. Clarke said. Operational costs could be cut by as much as 40 percent, and electric motors are much quieter. The design does not overcome the shortcomings of electric propulsion. Its 800 pounds of batteries will replace the rear two passenger seats, and the seat next to the pilot will be replaced with instrumentation, leaving space for only the pilot and no passengers. It can stay aloft for only about one hour. Mr. Clarke said the technology could be scaled upward for commuter or regional airliners, and NASA is investigating using fuel cells rather than batteries to provide the electricity. But limits in the speed of propeller-driven aircraft means they are unlikely for cross-country airline flights. “I think all-electric would be a stretch for jetliners,” he said. But NASA has four other X-plane projects in the pipeline, part of a 10-year aviation research program proposed by the Obama administration in February. “This will be NASA’s moonshot for aviation,” Mr. Bolden said. That includes a supersonic airplane that would not generate supersonic booms. “Talking about going around the world in six hours or going from Dubai in New York in an hour,” Mr. Bolden said. “That’s absolutely incredible.”

Airlines,airplanes
Electric Cars and Hybrids
NASA
Energy Efficiency


Donald Trump’s Ventures Began With a Lot of Hype. Here’s How They Turned Out.

Abstract: When Donald J. Trump unveiled his new online travel booking venture, GoTrump.com, he said in a promotional video in 2006 that customers would “love everything I put on this site.” “There’s nobody better,” he added. “There’s nobody even close!” A few months later, ground was broken for Trump Tower Tampa, a project he said would “redefine both Tampa’s skyline and the market’s expectations of luxurious condominium living.” And when he signed a long-term deal with the fledgling U.S. Pro Golf Tour that summer to become a partner on a new championship series, he proclaimed that “there is no doubt the talent level is among the highest in the world.” The travel venture never took off. The tower in Tampa, Fla., was not built . And the golf championships? Mr. Trump withdrew as the tour fell apart. Moving past a disastrous period that led to a loss on paper of more than $900 million — possibly freeing him from federal income taxes for years — Mr. Trump became a one-man factory of big ideas, churning out a continual stream of projects and promises. Together, they fed the image of Mr. Trump as an American Midas, the foundation of his argument for why he would make a great president. To see whether the results of these ventures came close to their high-energy billing, The New York Times analyzed scores of Trump business announcements starting a decade ago, including those posted on the Trump Organization’s website and those that have been deleted but live on in web archives. The Times also combed through news reports, his personal financial disclosures and court records; interviewed partners; and interviewed Mr. Trump himself. Of the roughly 60 endeavors started or promoted by Mr. Trump during the period analyzed, The Times found few that went off without a hitch. One-third of them never got off the ground or soon petered out. Another third delivered a measure of what was promised — buildings were built, courses taught, a product introduced — but they also encountered substantial problems, like lawsuits, government investigations, partnership woes or market downturns. The remaining third, while sometimes encountering strife, generally met expectations — notably the television show “The Apprentice” and the purchases of numerous golf courses, including properties near Philadelphia and in the Hudson Valley. In interviews, Mr. Trump disputed some of the characterizations, saying that, among other things, some projects that might appear to be failures were successes, for him at least, because he often made his money upfront, through fees for the use of the Trump name. The bottom line of all the hits and misses, however, is impossible to determine because Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has not released any tax returns. Regardless of how much money a deal made — or did not make — one constant through the years is that these ventures were almost always introduced with a certain Trumpian flair: Each would set a “new standard” or be the “very, very best.” Art of the News Release Jim Dowd, who advised Mr. Trump on public relations and marketing from 2004 to 2010, recalled that Mr. Trump typically took a personal interest in each news release, marking up drafts with a red pen he kept on his desk. “We would draft a quote for him, but he would always rewrite it, making it much larger than life,” Mr. Dowd said in an interview earlier this year. (Mr. Dowd died last month.) There were some common terms: “Huge, billions — those words would have to be in there,” Mr. Dowd said. “Definitely ‘unprecedented.’ Definitely ‘the best of the best.’” For free publicity, Mr. Trump would also schedule news conferences to announce his deals, and he seemed to feast on the attention. “He was so caught up in the glamour of the press conference and getting the lobby of Trump Tower filled with media,” Mr. Dowd said. “He would plop down the elevator, do his thing for 35 minutes, and he was pretty much in every media outlet the next day.” Eventually, Mr. Dowd said, the throngs of journalists who attended Mr. Trump’s news conferences waned, as they asked Mr. Dowd, “Really, another one?” Mr. Dowd thought Mr. Trump was putting himself out too often. “He was doing these all over the world,” he said. “He was flying to Panama to announce that project. He was flying to Puerto Rico; the golf course in Scotland.” Mr. Trump said he recalled those visits fondly, though he demurred when asked if he had been overexposed in his business ventures. “It’s a big world,” he said. “You can do a lot of things.” Strategy: Sell the Name But the reality was that the success of “ The Apprentice ,” which averaged 21 million viewers weekly when it made its debut in 2004, had given Mr. Trump access to what seemed like an endless flow of business opportunities. There were unrealized real estate developments in Atlanta ; on the Baja California peninsula in Mexico ; and in Cap Cana in the Dominican Republic , an “elite destination that will be known worldwide in the years to come.” The hotel and golf club in Cap Cana bearing the Trump name, announced almost a decade ago, have not been built, and Mr. Trump ended up suing his partners over licensing fees. There were entertainment endeavors: a concept for a Trump animation series akin to “The Simpsons”; a speaking tour in Australia that was canceled, though Mr. Trump did eventually go there for a round of lucrative speeches; and “Trump Tycoon,” a smartphone app that sold for “$2.99 but the advice is priceless,” as he wrote at the time on Twitter. He said recently that he did not recall the app, which is no longer available. There were scores of Trump-branded products, with mixed success: vodka; magazines; suits; ties; chairs; bath towels; crystal; and perhaps the most famous one, Trump Steaks, sold by Sharper Image and “by far the best tasting, most flavorful beef that you’ll ever eat.” Some live on, but in general, they typically failed to match the initial hype before quietly disappearing. And there was Trump University, a series of real estate seminars that, like many of Mr. Trump’s endeavors, wound up in the courts . Mr. Trump’s name seemed to be just about everywhere. But a close look reveals patterns, particularly before and after the financial crisis of 2008. (The Times did not analyze any projects begun after 2012, because a number of them were too new to evaluate.) Until the crisis, Mr. Trump focused mainly on real estate developments, often mixed hotel-condominium projects. The market downturn thwarted some of those plans, and he began shifting more aggressively to smaller licensing agreements with makers of home products and goods. The Trump Organization accelerated its focus on golf, buying clubs near Philadelphia; in Westchester County, N.Y.; in Doral, Fla.; and elsewhere. Despite occasional bumps, as when neighbors in Doral complained about noise and the course’s new view-blocking trees , the purchases have generally gone according to plan. Win-Win Proposition Where others might see disappointment, Mr. Trump is unfailingly upbeat when reflecting on his business ventures. In the interviews, he maintained that his deals, for the most part, “are all tremendously successful.” And a number of them were, at least for him, because they were licensing arrangements that paid him millions of dollars in fees upfront regardless of how well the engagement turned out. Other times, he said, he showed his business acumen by canceling or delaying deals to avoid hitting a difficult market. “All of my jobs work in some form or another,” Mr. Trump said, noting several times that he had more than 100 deals in progress or in negotiation. “A lot of people don’t understand.” He harbored no regrets about how he had trumpeted his past engagements, explaining how his promotions were no different from what one might find in newspaper ads for a new car or home. “People use language that’s very much up there,” he said. He acknowledged that he sometimes announced deals before they were fully baked. It was part of the plan, he said, to gauge the public’s response, like a trial balloon, to see whether a deal was worth doing. “It is an awfully good way of testing things, I’ll be honest with you,” he said. “There’s no investment, as opposed to doing the deal and letting it be a failure.” As president, Mr. Trump said, he might use the same approach to policy making. “I guess you could say there will be a time where I may want to test something by talking about it publicly and seeing what the response is,” he said. But he said that some of his campaign pledges were positively bankable. “For instance,” he said, “we are going to build a wall. I’m going to build the wall.”

2016 Presidential Election
Donald Trump
Commercial Real Estate
Golf
advertising,marketing
Trump Organization
Trump University


García Widens Distance From a Rued Remark

Abstract: NORTON, Mass. — Gone are the shouts of “Fried chicken!” that pierced the quiet during Sergio García’s swing at the United States Open, in response to García’s unfunny joke that he would have his adversary, Tiger Woods, over to dinner and serve him, of all dishes, that one. García played his second round of the Deutsche Bank Championship in relative peace and quiet Saturday, the birdsong broken only by applause for his good shots, of which there were many, or cries of “Keep it rolling, Sergio!” The fans appear to have released García, a native of Spain, from the prison he built with a wall of words. So when will García let himself go free? Those in his inner circle say García remains haunted because he made a racially insensitive comment that proved so hurtful to so many. García has made multiple apologies, all of which have come across as heartfelt. “It’s hard,” his manager, Carlos Rodriguez, said with a gusty sigh as he followed García around the Tournament Players Club of Boston. “You still feel bad.” Something has clearly been eating at García. After starting the season with top-eight finishes in four of his first eight PGA Tour events, he has failed to crack the top 20 in all six tour starts since making his remark at a European Tour banquet, a few days after questioning the sportsmanship of Woods, his playing competitor, during the third round of the Players Championship. On Saturday, García posted his second consecutive sub-70 score, a seven-under 64 for a 36-hole total of 13-under 129. He hit every fairway on the back nine and 14 greens en route to a one-stroke lead over Roberto Castro (65) and Henrik Stenson (63). It was the second time since the Players Championship that García had posted back-to-back rounds in the 60s. He opened with scores of 69 and 68 at the P.G.A. Championship before closing with a 75 and 76 to finish tied for 61st. In each of his starts this summer, García’s considerable skill has been obscured — some armchair psychologists might say sabotaged — by one or two bad holes. At the United States Open, he played Nos. 14 and 15 in a combined 16 over par on his way to finishing 14 strokes behind the winner, Justin Rose. At the British Open, García played Nos. 17 and 18 in a combined five over and finished 10 strokes behind the winner, Phil Mickelson. He has carded at least one double bogey in each of his five starts since the Open. “I think the summer has been tough,” García said. “But I’m trying hard to keep going, to keep doing the right things. And at the end of the day, that’s the only thing I can ask myself for: give my best effort out there.” García, 33, was not talking about soldiering on after a calamitous hole, as he did Saturday when he walked off the par-4 14th with his latest double bogey after his drive found the fairway. A bad hole is much easier to overcome than a bad reputation. García will spend the rest of his life trying hard to show people that he is not the racist that many perceive him to be. “Everything has been kind of a little bit difficult, but it’s good,” García said. “It’s been a good learning experience. So I think that you always have to try to take the positive out of all those things and learn from your mistakes. And hopefully make you a better player, a better person.” García is playing for the fifth consecutive week. He does not like to play more than three tournaments in a row, lest his game grow stale. But at No. 59 in the FedEx Cup standings, García was not sure he could sit out this week and remain among the top 70, who advance to the third tournament of the monthlong playoffs. So he entered the event to keep from falling behind in the standings, and to continue moving forward with his life. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to feel as good as I felt the first two days and put another two good scores up on Sunday and Monday,” García said. His good mood was not spoiled when he and one of his playing competitors, Sang-Moon Bae, were put on the clock, briefly, on the 10th hole. Rory Sabbatini was the third player in the group, and on the 12th hole, García stroked the bushy beard of Sabbatini’s caddie to see if it was really soft enough for the caddie’s 3-month-old child to kiss without being scratched. While García tried to keep the mood light inside the ropes, his girlfriend, Katharina Boehm, sent him positive vibrations from outside the ropes. Boehm, who played for College of Charleston while pursuing her degree, which she completed this year, in communication and business administration, knows from her competitive days how much the mental side matters. The challenge for García, as for most players, she said, is to focus on all the great shots he hits in a round and not the one or two awful ones. “There’s always something that keeps reminding you of your mistakes,” she said. For García, the reminder all summer has come from the bellows in his galleries and, worse, from the voice within.


Chinese Manufacturing Sector Expanded in December

Abstract: An important gauge of China’s giant manufacturing sector published Tuesday showed a third successive month of expansion in December and underlined the view that the world’s second-largest economy has settled into a mild rebound that is likely to extend into 2013. A survey of purchasing managers in the manufacturing sector, released by the national statistics bureau on the first day of the new year, produced a reading of 50.6 points for December. Figures above 50 mean the sector is growing, while those below suggest contraction. A similar survey released by HSBC on Monday painted a similar picture of solidifying recovery. That index, which is more focused on smaller, privately held businesses than its official counterpart, came in at 51.5 - a full point above the November reading, and the highest in 19 months. After a marked slowdown during much of 2012, the Chinese economy began to regain some momentum during the last few months of the year. A modest increase in exports, combined with government-induced infrastructure spending and other economy-supporting measures, dissipated fears of a ‘'hard landing'’ during the final quarter of 2012. Analysts widely expect the economy to have expanded about 8 percent in 2012, and to record similar or even slightly stronger growth in 2013. At the same time, however, analysts caution that the Chinese economy will need to grapple with a host of major challenges and that growth is likely to slow by several percentage points over the next decade. ‘'Looking forward, China’s cyclical rebound still faces strong headwinds,'’ Li-Gang Liu and Louis Lam, economists at ANZ, commented in a research note on Tuesday. ‘'Economic and policy uncertainties in the U.S. and the E.U. suggest that external demand for Chinese exports will remain sluggish.'’ Domestically, the government is grappling with rampant corruption and environmental degradation, a widening gap between rich and poor, and the need to reduce the dominance of state-owned enterprises. For growth to be sustainable, the economy will also need to become more driven by domestic demand, rather than government-induced investment and exports, analysts believe. China’s rapidly changing demographics — an aging population will cause the proportion of non-earners to soar in the coming years — is adding considerable time pressure. ‘'The problem is not so much how to maintain short-term growth momentum, but how to prepare China for the demographic challenge ahead,'’ Yao Wei, an economist at Société Générale in Hong Kong, said at a media briefing in last month. ‘'Within ten years, China will have worse demographics than South Korea or Japan. The window of opportunity for policymakers is closing very quickly,'’ she added.

China
Manufacturing
Economy
International trade


Tarantino’s Infringement Lawsuit Against Gawker Is Dismissed

Abstract: A federal judge has agreed to dismiss a lawsuit by the director Quentin Tarantino that accused Gawker Media of helping to leak his unpublished script, “The Hateful Eight.” Mr. Tarantino sued over for copyright infringement over a post on Gawker Media’s Defamer website that linked to a file-sharing website, where an unauthorized copy of the script could be read. The headline of the post in January got right to the point: “Here Is the Leaked Quentin Tarantino ‘Hateful Eight’ Script.” The judge, John F. Walter of Federal District Court in Los Angeles, ruled on Wednesday that Mr. Tarantino’s lawyers had not offered any examples of copyright abuse that resulted from the Defamer article and thus had no basis to make a claim. But before completely dismissing the suit, Judge Walter agreed to let Mr. Tarantino’s lawyers file an amended claim by May 1 with the evidence that supports their assertions. Heather L. Dietrick, general counsel of Gawker Media, said: “The court’s decision is a great step on the road to protecting the right to link in the context of reporting.” Mr. Tarantino’s lawyer, Martin D. Singer, did not immediately return a request for comment. In interviews, Mr. Tarantino has described his feeling of betrayal from the leak and said he might scrap the planned film, a Western, that would be based on the script. This week, Deadline Hollywood reported, he staged a reading of the script that included some actors who have worked in his films, and said he is reworking the script with an eye toward perhaps filming it.

Copyrights
Lawsuits
Gawker
Quentin Tarantino


Restaurant Is Accused of Selling Bass Illegally

Abstract: For years, diners have come to Francesco’s in Babylon, N.Y., for its menu of homemade pasta dishes, oven-baked bread and fresh seafood. But police officers with the state Department of Environmental Conservation recently took a special interest in one entree: the striped bass. The department received an anonymous tip. The owner of the longtime Long Island pizzeria and restaurant, Frank Genovas, was said to be illegally selling striped bass. Such tips come in all the time, Capt. Timothy Huss said. But this one stood out. “The owner of the restaurant, he’s known to be a very active recreational fisherman,” Captain Huss said. “So of course it piqued our interest.” Heavy regulations accompany the catching of striped bass, a species that once faced extinction from overfishing. Every year, commercial fishermen are issued a limited number of tags, to apply to every striped bass they take out of the water. For every two striped bass fillets a commercial fisherman might have, the associated carcass must be maintained as proof that the fish was not illegally obtained. Captain Huss assigned officers to watch the restaurant. On Oct. 16, the officers saw a worker take a big striped bass from a pickup truck behind the restaurant and carry it in. “And that’s when we moved in,” Captain Huss said. In the kitchen, officers saw Mr. Genovas filleting a striped bass. “The evidence was there, clear,” Captain Huss said. That night’s special was fresh-caught bass. Environmental conservation officers seized 60 pounds of untagged striped bass from Francesco’s. Mr. Genovas was cited for four misdemeanor-level violations: possession of untagged striped bass, taking striped bass without a commercial striped bass permit, failing to have a food fish license, and failing to keep the associated carcasses. Mr. Genovas said in an interview on Friday that none of the accusations were true. “I will show the D.A. proof, and it will all be squashed,” Mr. Genovas said. He is scheduled to appear in First District Court in Islip on Dec. 11. “That’s what we eat for lunch,” Mr. Genovas said of the confiscated striped bass. “How does the D.E.C. have the right to say he can’t cook his local catch for his employees? That’s no proof, to go to the menu and see bass.” It was Chilean bass, bought elsewhere, being served that night, he said. Mr. Genovas said that for customers, he bought his striped bass from a commercial seafood purveyor. The charges carry a penalty of up to $20,000 and up to four years in jail. “It’s terrible,” said Mr. Genovas, 53. “Is it fair for a guy like me, who’s been there 33 years, to embarrass the hell out of me?” Mr. Genovas said he started the business, on John Street, right after high school. He has been fishing for about 10 years, and said he regularly cooked his catch for friends and staff members, at no charge, in his restaurant. “I don’t know what kind of fine that is,” he said. “I’m not going to bring it home with scales all over my house.” The officers said that in Francesco’s, Mr. Genovas had three untagged striped bass in one cooler, and 23 pounds of striped bass fillets in portion sizes in another. “We suspect he was catching a lot of them himself,” said Captain Huss, “which you can’t do either.” Even for striped bass he caught himself, Captain Huss said, Mr. Genovas would face charges for lacking tags, permits or the carcasses. Captain Huss said that public health was also at issue. “That’s another reason why there might be some concern,” he said. “Fish being served in a place like this that are not in compliance.” Striped bass was on the menu at Francesco’s this week. “It’s kind of a gray area,” Mr. Genovas said, referring to cooking his own catch for his friends and employees. “But if I can’t do it, I can’t do it. I won’t do it no more.”

Bass Fish
Restaurant
Regulation and Deregulation
Long Island
Commercial fishing
Endangered Species
Babylon NY


City Weighs Extent of Concrete Retesting

Abstract: New York City is working to determine how extensively it needs to test the strength of concrete in buildings around the city after learning that prosecutors have found evidence that the area’s largest testing company often falsified results, officials and people briefed on the matter said on Wednesday. The company, Testwell Laboratories, has been hired in recent years to analyze the strength of concrete on a raft of public projects, including work for the city, as well as legions of commercial and residential buildings that were constructed in the area. But investigators have discovered evidence indicating that for at least five years, the company has falsified some concrete test results, according to several people who have been briefed on the investigation, being conducted by the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau. The company has denied the allegations. Because the investigation is not complete, a spokesman at the city’s Department of Buildings said that while some retesting will surely be done, officials were unsure how many buildings they might have to retest. They also have to determine whether to test existing buildings or just those currently under construction. But as prosecutors analyze evidence seized from Testwell’s offices in June, including detailed computerized records of concrete compression tests, the potential scope of the undertaking facing the city, private builders and developers looms large. With the city alone, Testwell holds roughly $12 million in contracts and has done millions of dollars in work for the government agencies that build schools, and has done work on bridges and subway tunnels. Among the projects where investigators have uncovered irregularities in the testing are the new Yankee Stadium and the Freedom Tower in Lower Manhattan. Although a retesting program may be expansive, structural engineers and construction industry experts downplayed any safety concerns. They said that most concrete produced in the city is generally of such high quality that they do not believe there are likely to be many problems with building stability. But the tests are required by the city’s building code, and if their integrity is in question, it is unclear whether buildings that have not had viable tests would be in compliance with the code. “We have put together a plan to retest,” said Tony Sclafani, the Buildings Department spokesman. “It’s going to be a sampling of sites under construction. This will involve both reviewing paperwork as well as actual retesting.” Mr. Sclafani, who would not speak about the criminal investigation, said that the department, as part of a broader citywide review of construction practices, is also examining procedures associated with concrete construction “to better insure the integrity of these operations.” It will include a review of the design and placement of concrete, as well as concrete testing and the companies that perform such work. Mr. Sclafani would not provide any details of the plan or any estimate of its cost, or say how the department, which has been plagued by a shortage of inspectors, would carry it out. Construction and inspection practices in the city are already under scrutiny as a result of a series of fatal accidents and arrests on corruption charges. The prosecutors — along with inspectors general at a half-dozen other agencies and public authorities, including the Metropolitan Transportation Authority — are examining the results of the company’s tests on steel and for the presence of asbestos, according to the people who have been briefed on the investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the inquiry is continuing. Testwell’s lawyers declined to comment on Wednesday. It is unclear how many of the roughly one million buildings in the city were built with concrete analyzed by Testwell. The people briefed on the inquiry could not say how many times the tests appeared to have been falsified, but they said evidence indicated that improper results were far from isolated. The Buildings Department’s computer system does not have the capacity to track which continuing or completed projects were built with concrete analyzed by Testwell. “Everyone that did business with them, public and private, is going to have to go through the same process,” said one person who has been briefed on the investigation. “How many contractors, how many owners, how many owner’s reps, structural engineers and city agencies are going to have to go through this, I don’t know.” Last month, when the investigation was first disclosed, lawyers for the company defended its work and said its officials had done nothing wrong. They noted that the company had cooperated when investigators searched Testwell’s offices in Ossining, N.Y., taking roughly 200 boxes of documents and computers. One of the lawyers, Martin B. Adelman, said at the time: “They are quite confident that at the end of whatever this investigation is, it will show that they have done their job correctly and honestly.” No one has been charged in connection with the inquiry. The office of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority inspector general, Barry L. Kluger, which is involved in the Testwell investigation, has also begun a review to determine what type of work the company performed for the authority. While the review has not been completed, investigators there have found that Testwell worked as a subcontractor on six projects and also had a continuing contract with New York City Transit to do testing as needed, one official said. The work included concrete tests on the South Ferry Terminal and the Second Avenue subway line and tests on steel welds on the approach to the Throgs Neck Bridge. The official said the office plans to ensure, as part of its review, that retesting is done where needed for the authority, which is involved in some of the larger public works projects in the city. A spokesman for the New York State Dormitory Authority, which is also working on the investigation with Manhattan prosecutors, said the agency stopped using Testwell in February after discovering some unspecified irregularities. The authority paid the company $3.9 million for testing services on more than two dozen projects in the last five years. They include several that the authority built for city hospitals, the City University of New York and the State University of New York. “When we discover irregularities with the services provided by a testing firm, we take it upon ourselves to engage another testing company to re-inspect, and we do what is necessary to ensure the quality of the work and the integrity of the project,” said the Dormitory Authority spokesman, Marc Violette. The testing of concrete by companies like Testwell is one of the most basic safety measures used for all kinds of construction projects in the city, from office towers and apartment houses to bridges and subways. Testing companies, both at job sites and in their laboratories, are supposed to conduct a variety of exams to make sure that the concrete was properly mixed and that it meets industry standards for strength and durability. Testwell, according to people briefed on the case, falsified compression tests. Such tests are the key to determining the strength of the material used in reinforced concrete buildings, according to Vincent J. DeSimone, the chairman of DeSimone Consulting Engineers. The tests are typically performed on concrete that has been poured into cylinders 12 inches long and 6 inches in diameter. The samples are sent to a lab, where they are crushed to the breaking point in a machine that measures its strength to ensure it meets the building engineer’s specifications. The tests are conducted 14, 28 and 56 days after the concrete is poured. “It’s the only way we know at the onset of the project that the material meets our specs,” said Mr. DeSimone, who has been working in the industry since 1959. While he called the testing a linchpin of the process, he said that there have been few recent instances of failures or distress, like cracking or sagging.

Concrete
Tests and Testing
Testwell Laboratories Inc
New York City
Accidents and Safety


Living in Houses Fit for a Museum

Abstract: The homes of Los Angeles business luminaries are well represented in a new exhibition on the Modernist architecture of John Lautner. Owners of Los Angeles-area homes that are featured in the show include Mitch Glazer , the producer and screenwriter; Robert Kotick, chief of Activision; Sam Zell, chief of the Tribune Company; and Frank and Jamie McCourt, chairman and president of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The exhibition, at the Hammer Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles, is being underwritten by Mr. Zell and Mr. Kotick, among others. Mrs. McCourt described her Lautner-designed home in Malibu as a place “where when you walk in, you never want to walk out.” Known as the Segel house, it is made of stone and wood and has trees growing through it. “It’s a most protective, enveloping home, a remarkable combination of the universe and your place in it,” she said. “You feel like you’re just part of nature.” The McCourts bought the home last summer from the actors Courteney Cox and David Arquette . JANE L. LEVERE WIND IS THE NEW OIL Big changes were in the wind last week. The longtime oilman T. Boone Pickens , for one, announced that he was building a huge wind farm in Texas as part of an effort to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. And General Electric said it planned to invest $100 million in three wind farms being built in New York State. Not to be outdone, the Blackstone Group was reported by Reuters to be planning to invest more than $1.5 billion in a wind farm off the coast of Germany. And vehicles are in place to harness all that wind financially. Invesco PowerShares Capital Management, a provider of exchange-traded funds, announced on July 1 that its global wind energy portfolio had started trading on the Nasdaq stock market. PHYLLIS KORKKI CHANGE AT CHARMING SHOPPES After a bruising proxy fight earlier this year, Charming Shoppes Inc. agreed in May to expand its board and add directors sought by activist hedge funds. But changes weren’t over at the company, parent of the plus-size specialty retailer Lane Bryant, among other stores. The company announced last week that its chief executive since 1995, Dorrit Bern , had resigned. Alan Rosskamm , chairman of Charming Shoppes, will run the company until a successor is named. Stock in Charming Shoppes, based in Bensalem, Pa., has fallen about 60 percent over the last year. Two hedge funds — Crescendo Partners and Myca Partners Inc. — challenged the company’s performance as well as executive compensation when they started the proxy contest earlier this year. Mr. Rosskamm said Ms. Bern had “saved the company and transformed it to where it is the leader in specialty plus-size apparel.” But, he added, “obviously the results in the past year have been disappointing.” Ms. Bern could not be reached for comment. She will receive a severance package with a value of $9 million to $10 million, most of which will be paid over two years, said Gayle Coolick , the company’s head of investor relations. ELLEN ROSEN DIVERSITY EFFORT An independent diversity monitor will oversee Morgan Stanley ’s efforts in carrying out the terms of a five-year, $46 million settlement with female financial advisers and trainees. Catherine Hagen Pepe , a retired lawyer with expertise in issues of workplace discrimination, has been jointly appointed by Morgan and the law firm Mehri & Skalet, which represented plaintiffs in the 2007 settlement. “This is empowering for the women of Morgan Stanley,” said Cyrus Mehri , co-lead counsel for the suit. In a statement, Morgan Stanley said that it was “committed to advancing diversity among our financial advisers,” and looked forward to working with Ms. Pepe. PATRICIA R. OLSEN TASTE-TEST LAWSUIT Three taste testers say they were injured as they sampled an experimental sweetener while working for Cadbury, the British candy maker. The three testers, all women, sampled the substance during a stint as $10-an-hour testers at the East Hanover, N.J., research center of the company’s United States subsidiary, Cadbury Adams, according to three lawsuits filed in Morris County, N.J. Their reactions were different, but each said the sweetener left a burning sensation that changed her ability to taste or eat certain foods, the lawsuits contend. Katharine Beyer, spokeswoman for Cadbury Adams, said she could not comment on the litigation, but said that the substance, which she declined to name, was not on the market. Cadbury, known for its chocolate, also makes Trident, Dentyne, Stride and Bubblicious gums, along with Halls cough drops. ELIZABETH OLSON

Hammer Museum
Architecture
Malibu (Calif)
Wind
General Electric Co
The Blackstone Group
Morgan Stanley
Charming Shoppes Incorporated


For Some N.H.L. Players, a Welcome Shot at Olympic Qualifying

Abstract: Less than two weeks after the closing ceremony at the Rio Olympics, the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games are the last thing on the minds of most people. But for the French hockey player Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare, they are all he can think about this week. “I didn’t dream of being an N.H.L. player when I was growing up,” said Bellemare, a 31-year-old defenseman who made his N.H.L. debut two years ago with the Philadelphia Flyers. “The only thing I knew was the Olympics, and I dreamed of playing for the national team and being one of the best players in my country.” Bellemare’s problem is that France has not qualified for the Games since 2002. But he and his teammates — and teams from 11 other countries — will get a chance to claim a place this week, when the International Ice Hockey Federation holds three qualifying tournaments for the final spots in the field for the Pyeongchang Games. The three-game round-robin tournaments run from Thursday through Sunday. Belarus, Slovenia, Denmark and Poland will play in Minsk, Belarus; Latvia, Germany, Austria and Japan will play in Riga, Latvia; and Norway, France, Kazakhstan and Italy will play in Oslo. The winners of each group will complete the 12-team field for Pyeonghcang, joining the nine teams that have already qualified for the tournament: Canada, the United States, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Slovakia, Russia and the host country, South Korea. But it is only because of a scheduling change that 26 N.H.L. players representing eight countries will get to take part in qualifying this year. Until this Olympic cycle, the qualification tournaments had always been held in February, which meant N.H.L. players were not available to participate. When the I.I.H.F. moved the tournaments to September, it opened the door for professionals playing in North America to compete. The German defenseman Christian Erhoff, a 12-year N.H.L. veteran and three-time Olympian, has had a short summer of training after playing at the world championship in May. But like Bellemare, he said he would not have missed the Olympic tournament. Germany missed the Sochi Games — the first time it had failed to qualify for the Olympics since 1952 — and is eager to return. “There was no question about playing,” Erhoff said. “We need to make the Olympics to get German hockey going in the right direction. The Olympics are the biggest spotlight for our sport in our country, and we need to be there and take the opportunity to push German hockey ahead. “Our federation is not very rich and we need all the money we can get and the Olympics are a big part of that. If you don’t participate, you don’t get the money from the state and the sponsors, so there’s a lot more than pride at stake for us. This affects the future of German hockey and the ability to develop new players.” Tobias Rieder, a 23-year-old wing for the Arizona Coyotes, was among the young players who missed out on Sochi. He had already played eight times for Germany at the junior level when it failed to qualify for the Olympics, and he said he had hoped that he would have the chance to help Germany make it back in Pyeongchang. But since he was preparing for his first professional season with Arizona, it took the scheduling change to September to make that happen. “Watching the Olympics in Rio was awesome, and, obviously, you want to be part of that,” Rieder said. “I remember when they lost a game at the qualification tournament and didn’t make it to the Olympics. We want to do better and get back there. I’m really happy and really lucky to be in this position.” It is unclear, though, whether even qualifying will get Bellemare, or the Germans, into the Games; the N.H.L. has not announced yet whether it will release its players to participate in Pyeongchang. After the Olympic tournaments, about a dozen of the players will set aside their national loyalties and join a combined Team Europe in Quebec next week for training camp and exhibition games in advance of the World Cup of Hockey. That tournament begins Sept. 17 in Toronto. Because it is the first of its kind, Bellemare acknowledged that “people don’t know what to expect from Team Europe, but neither do we.” Team unity and chemistry, he and Reider said, will be a work in progress. But Bellemare said he expected the team — which also includes players like Slovakia’s Marian Hossa and Marian Gaborik and Anze Kopitar of Slovenia — to pull together for games against the likes of the United States, Canada, Sweden and Russia. “But that’s next week,” Bellemare said. “This week, I want to help France make the Olympics.”

Ice hockey
2018 Winter Olympics
Pyeongchang
International Ice Hockey Federation
Flyers
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare


Massachusetts: Not-Guilty Pleas in Bullying

Abstract: Lawyers entered pleas of not guilty Tuesday for three students who face charges related to the bullying of Phoebe Prince, a 15-year-old student at South Hadley High School who committed suicide. Sean Mulveyhill, 17, and Kayla Narey, 17, are charged with violation of civil rights, criminal harassment and disruption of a school assembly, all felonies. Mr. Mulveyhill and Austin Renaud, 18, are charged with statutory rape. The students did not appear in court on Tuesday. Prosecutors said Ms. Prince was subjected to relentless taunts and physical threats before she killed herself on Jan. 14. Three other students will appear in court on Thursday to face felony charges.

Prince Phoebe
Bullies
Suicides and Suicide Attempts
South Hadley High School
Massachusetts
Mulveyhill Sean
Narey Kayla
Renaud Austin


Second Cargo of Chemical Agents Leaves Syria as Pace Is Criticized

Abstract: The second cargo of Syria’s most toxic chemical weapons was exported by ship on Monday for eventual destruction at sea, officials overseeing the effort reported. But the slow pace of removal, which is way behind schedule and has missed one deadline already, is causing increased concern and threatening to violate another deadline in less than two weeks. The two cargos exported so far from the port of Latakia — the first left Jan. 7 — have each carried a total of 15 to 20 tons, diplomats and arms control experts have said privately. If confirmed, the low estimate would be only about 5 percent of the 600 tons of the most lethal compounds, including components of sarin and VX nerve agents, that Syria had been obliged to export by the end of 2013, the first deadline under the government’s pledge to renounce chemical weapons. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations, which are collaborating on the effort to ensure the destruction of the weapons in the midst of Syria’s civil war, have declined to specify how much has been exported and how much remains among the so-called priority chemicals, stored in 12 sites around the country. A statement by the chemical weapons organization posted online announced the export of the second cargo aboard Danish and Norwegian cargo ships, protected by a naval escort of Chinese, Danish, Norwegian and Russian vessels. The organization said it looked forward to Syria “continuing its efforts to complete the removal of its chemical weapons materials in a safe, secure and timely manner.” But the organization, which won the Nobel Peace Prize last year in part because of its role in the plan to neutralize the Syrian stockpile, has signaled dissatisfaction at the slow pace. Officials have hinted at growing impatience with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and his subordinates, who up until this month had been highly cooperative. Image Naval forces on a ship in the Mediterranean wait to take chemical agents from Syria. Credit Marthe Brendefur/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images “They should be way down the road by now,” Christian Chartier, a spokesman for the organization, said in a telephone interview from its offices at The Hague. Mr. Assad has signaled his impatience, too, asserting in an interview last week with Agence France-Presse that the chemical organization was at fault for what he called a failure to provide sufficient equipment to get the chemicals safely to Latakia for export. “So far, the process of making equipment available has been quite slow,” he said. Officials at the organization have declined to comment on Mr. Assad’s complaint. Under a previously agreed timetable, all of Syria’s estimated 1,200 tons of chemical weapons compounds are supposed to be exported by Feb. 6. That second deadline appears increasingly likely to be missed. Sigrid Kaag, the United Nations official who is coordinating the effort in Syria, raised the possibility this month of further delays because of security concerns. But she said the goal was still to ensure that Syria’s arsenal was destroyed by midyear. “Many of us think it is moving far too slow,” a European diplomat monitoring the progress of the program said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic protocol. “This is risking deadlines, and if they don’t step up the pace it may have a big impact.” Daryl G. Kimball , executive director of the Arms Control Association, an antiproliferation group in Washington, said it was unclear what Mr. Assad gained by delay. “These chemical materials are no longer a military asset,” he said. “They’re a logistical and security burden.”


Ahead of I.P.O., Univision Faces Bigger Rival Than Trump: Shifting TV Habits

Abstract: Donald Trump isn’t Univision’s only problem, or even its biggest. The public brawl between Mr. Trump and Univision Communications, the country’s largest Spanish-language broadcaster, escalated last week after Mr. Trump, a Republican presidential candidate, ejected the Univision news anchor Jorge Ramos from a news conference. Univision was already fighting a lawsuit brought by Mr. Trump when it dropped its telecast of the Miss USA pageant after he made disparaging remarks about Mexicans. (Mr. Trump is a part owner of the Miss Universe Organization, which produces the Miss USA pageant.) But more troubling for Univision are questions about its business prospects ahead of its planned initial public offering this fall. The shares of major media companies have recently taken a hit because of worries over sharp declines in ratings and weak advertising sales — and the fact that consumers are abandoning cable and satellite TV subscriptions. Univision also faces increased competition from its rival Telemundo and English-language network programming aimed at Hispanic viewers. These issues, combined with the recent stock market convulsions, now have some industry executives and Wall Street analysts questioning the timing and the prospects of Univision’s I.P.O. “The challenges facing TV-based media companies are growing by the day, with the lack of visibility increasingly concerning investors and making valuations difficult,” said Rich Greenfield, an analyst with BTIG Research. “The question is: Can anybody flourish as the media tide goes out?” Univision’s financial backers, having owned the network for nearly a decade, are anxious for an exit. In 2007, at the height of the private equity boom, a group of investors including the billionaire Haim Saban and the buyout firms TPG and Providence Equity Partners paid $13.7 billion for Univision. Last year, its owners held preliminary talks with Time Warner, CBS and Viacom about a potential sale. But, among other issues, the media companies were turned off by Univision’s $20 billion price tag and its $9 billion debt load, according to people familiar with the discussions. Since no deal materialized, Univision is now pushing ahead with plans for an I.P.O., according to one person with knowledge of the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “What Univision needs to do is tell people that their businesses are different and better than conventional wisdom thinks traditional media businesses are today,” said Michael Nathanson, a media analyst with MoffettNathanson Research. Investors are concerned that the traditional broadcast networks will continue to lose viewers as people spend more time watching on-demand streaming television that includes minimal advertising, if any at all. Univision’s results from the most recent quarter did not provide potential investors with much confidence. The company, which was not profitable last year, reported a loss of $23.5 million in the most recent quarter. Total revenues declined 16.5 percent during the quarter compared with the same period last year, or just 3 percent when excluding the revenues generated by the World Cup, which Univision broadcast in 2014. Image Randy Falco, chief executive of Univision Communications. Credit Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images Rosemary Mercedes, a Univision spokeswoman, declined to comment, citing a regulatory “quiet period” ahead of the I.P.O. Univision has pitched its stock offering as a chance for investors to capitalize on the booming size and power of Hispanics in the United States. Hispanics now make up more than 17 percent of the American population and, during the last five years, accounted for more than half of the nation’s population growth. As the country’s top-rated entertainment, sports and news destination for Hispanics, Univision’s Spanish-language media offerings include two broadcast networks, Univision and UniMás; nine cable networks including the 24-hour sports network Univision Deportes; 60 local TV stations; and a smattering of digital and mobile outlets. Univision also trumpets the fact that about 91 percent of its viewers tune in live, a potential draw for advertisers, compared with an average of 65 percent for the top four English-language broadcast networks, according to its I.P.O. prospectus. The company has also highlighted a series of recent initiatives intended to connect with younger, digital-savvy viewers, including a distribution deal with Netflix and a partnership with Snapchat to create live Snapchat Stories for sports and entertainment events. Univision is also is a partner behind Fusion, the start-up English-language digital- and cable-TV joint venture with Walt Disney aimed at millennial audiences. Yet the company’s long-held dominance on the Hispanic market in the United States has faltered in the face of competition from Telemundo as well as other emerging TV networks and digital outlets. Fusion, which began in 2013, has struggled, with losses of $35 million last year. English-language networks have increased their efforts to offer programming that appeals to Hispanic viewers, but questions loom as to whether younger viewers will prefer to watch programs in Spanish. “One of the biggest obstacles Univision faces is the same thing English-language media companies face: The market has gotten a lot more fractionalized,” said Brad Adgate, senior vice president for research at Horizon Media, an ad-buying group. The ratings gap between Univision and Telemundo has narrowed in recent years, especially during the prime-time slot valuable to advertisers. Ad buyers said that Telemundo emerged as a stronger competitor with its gritty, violent “narconovelas” that provided an alternative to Univision’s more traditional Cinderella-story, melodramatic telenovelas. A change in how Nielsen measures viewers — a move intended to better represent the changing demographics of the country — could result in a slight decline in total ratings for Univision and a slight increase for Telemundo, according to executives with knowledge of the change. Lia Silkworth, managing director of Tapestry, a multicultural marketing group of Publicis’s Starcom MediaVest Group, notes that while Univision remains the dominant player in the market, Telemundo is shaking things up. “There is absolutely no doubt today that there are more choices in Spanish and in English to reach Latinos than there have ever been before,” Ms. Silkworth said. “I do see that continuing to increase over time.”


The Woman Who Returns Things — Many Things

Abstract: “SO what are you returning today, Mrs. C?” Victor from the Food Emporium on West 43rd Street is used to my octogenarian mother; she is, after all, the queen of returns. Too sour, too sweet, too salty, too funky. The list is endless. Nuts from Trader Joe’s? Tasteless. So what if they’ve been in her cupboard for six months. Cookies from Whole Foods? Only eight months and already stale. Rice? Bugs, and after just 10 months. While some people are good at post-Christmas returns, my mother is a virtuoso year round. Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods are a piece of cake (she has returned that, too) because they don’t ask for a receipt. Upper West Side emporiums like Zabar’s and Fairway, a quick subway ride from her apartment in Hell’s Kitchen, are another matter. Before both changed their policies in the past two years or so, you practically had to whip out your passport to return merchandise. Most of the time even that didn’t work, as my mother discovered to her dismay. She once bought salmon at one of these establishments. It smelled, well, like salmon. I’ve been told that if fish smells fishy, it’s not good. So she froze it. “I’ll return it next week,” she explained. Two months later she was back. After chasing down several underlings, she confronted the big kahuna: the store manager. “No, no, no,” he repeated. “But it was frozen, frozen, frozen,” my mother chanted in response. “We’re loyal, loyal, loyal customers.” Mom was relentless. “I won’t forget this.” You do not want to argue with my mother as I, her daughter, can attest. I have tried and failed. Her cheerful disposition belies the fact that a badger lies in waiting: neither wants to be cornered. Last spring she discovered that a major department store was having a 50-percent-off sale on expensive French cookware. The previous month she had missed out on such an opportunity at Bloomingdale’s Big Brown Bag Sale, and so this time she dashed downtown and purchased a 14-pound cast-iron porcelain-lined roasting pan. Because the pan didn’t fit in her shopping cart, she enlisted the help of a salesman who then flagged down a cab. En route, she phoned my younger sister, who lives with her, to bring the dolly she keeps handy for such purchases. Once the pan arrived in the apartment, there was no place to put the thing, and so it sat for weeks on the kitchen floor. Finally, my mother had two shelves made, one for her flower pots, the other for the monster. Up onto its perch it went, on a level just above her shoulders. The lid alone weighed five pounds. One of the pan’s selling points is that you can sauté and roast in it, thus making the cook’s life easier. Sadly, this proved not to be the case. “What a disappointment!” Mom groused one day over coffee. “They call that sauté? I call it mush.” The pan went unused for three months. Then, one stormy night, a huge boom was heard in the apartment. The shelves had collapsed, and the pan had crashed to the ground. The lid broke in two. Mom called corporate headquarters. “I’m sorry, Madam,” she was told. “It’s not our responsibility if the merchandise falls or was dropped.” She waited 30 minutes, then called again. “We’ll give you half credit, but you need to send back the pan and cover,” a more accommodating representative suggested sympathetically. After a sleepless night, Mom decided she didn’t want half credit. Cast iron wasn’t supposed to break. Her flower pots, filled with potting soil and zinnias, hadn’t broken when they fell. A former actress, she summoned all the drama she could muster; after all, she had once performed with Bob Hope, and in the 1960s had her own nightclub act at the Pierre Hotel. She wrapped up the pan and shipped it off with the following letter: “Dear Sirs, “I am returning your roasting pan because it doesn’t sauté as advertised. At first I tried to pack it myself, but it was so heavy that the lid fell out of my trembling hands. It broke in two and chipped the pan. “SIR, I am a feeble old woman of 83,” she continued. (Did I mention that this woman of 83 looks 60, plays bridge three times a week, gives dinner parties and swims laps at the gym?) “I am not as strong as I used to be. I am so very, very sorry. I’ve wanted this cookware for 25 years. Please accept my apologies.” My mother had made a conscious decision to handwrite the note (wobbly penmanship seemed to underscore her message), even though she is a habitual user of YouTube and her computer skills are the equal of any savvy 16-year-old’s. Ten days later, the company’s management called. It would send her full credit of $320 — double what she had paid. Did she feel guilty? What do you think? I am learning her ways. Normally, for example, if fruit was bad or cottony, I would simply throw it out. But my mother’s success with the roasting pan has inspired me, particularly during regular visits at Stew Leonard’s, where my husband and I stop en route from our apartment on the Upper East Side to our summer house in Connecticut. Stew Leonard’s gladly accepts returns, no questions asked. Peaches dry? Steak tough? Tomatoes watery? No problem. “Rule 1: The Customer Is Always Right. Rule 2: If The Customer Is Ever Wrong, Reread Rule 1,” states Stew Leonard Jr., the chain’s president and chief executive. “Making the customer leave happy is our goal.” One recent Saturday, as my sister and I were walking through Central Park, I noticed her carrying a small bag from Zabar’s. Before I could say a word, she said: “Brie, three months old. Mom says it tastes funny.” Had my mother passed the torch to my sibling? Not exactly. At that very moment, Mom was at Macy’s, returning a toaster oven that had been last year’s Christmas gift.

Families and Family Life
Retail Stores and Trade
Zabar's
New York City


Bath Looks to Shift Its Momentum at European Rugby Champions Cup

Abstract: LONDON — A trip to the South of France has long been reckoned a perfect antidote to the gloom of the British midwinter, but the rugby players of Bath are unlikely to get much rest or tranquility from their visit this weekend. On Sunday, the English club will attempt perhaps the toughest task in European club rugby, taking on Toulon, champion for the last three seasons, at the Stade Félix Mayol, as the European Rugby Champions Cup makes up for lost time. The five matches to be played this weekend, all in France, were postponed after the terrorist attacks in Paris in November. Four, including Toulon’s match against Bath, had been scheduled to be played in the first round. The fifth, Stade Français against Munster, was called off the following week, when it was felt it was still impossible to play in Paris. All 10 teams now face a step into the unknown in the form of three consecutive rounds of Champions Cup rugby, since the concluding weekends of the pool stage follow over the next two weeks. “It’s a unique challenge, certainly in club rugby. And it doesn’t even happen in the Six Nations, where they never play more than two in a row. The only thing I can compare it to is the World Cup,” said Bath’s head coach, Mike Ford. “But it’s a challenge we’re relishing and looking forward to.” It is set to be pivotal in the fortunes of both Bath and Toulon. Each has won two of its first three games, but both have also lost to Wasps (3-1), the surprise group leader. The winner will contest the pool with Wasps, while the loser will be close to elimination. “We see it as a straight knockout match,” said Ford. “We’re not looking too far ahead. The aim is to play the way we know can on this kind of occasion.” Toulon starts as the favorite; it is undefeated in 16 home matches at Mayol in its five seasons in the Champions. But as Ford points out, runs like that bring their own pressure. “It’ll be a fantastic occasion, with the contrast between the English and French leagues, an Irish referee and fear on both sides. We know we’re up against a great team in one of the most hostile atmospheres in Europe,” he said. “But the fear for them is not wanting to be the Toulon team that gets beaten in a European match at the Félix Mayol.” For Bath, it offers the chance to shift the momentum of a disappointing season. Few clubs were more affected by England’s unhappy World Cup. Bath’s brilliant center, Jonathan Joseph, was injured, fly-half George Ford — the coach’s son — was unexpectedly left out of the starting lineup, and Sam Burgess chose to return to the rugby league after becoming the focus of debate over England’s failure in the tournament. Bath has struggled in the English Premiership and in its last match lost 19-14 to previously winless Newcastle, leading Ford to say: “The players have got to have a good look at themselves, because it’s not good enough.” Yet last season — when Bath was one of the most exciting teams in Europe — they showed they were more than good enough. “We’ve got a history of rising to this sort of challenge. We went to France twice last season and won both times,” said Ford, looking back on the victories at Montpellier and Toulouse which enabled his team to make tournament history by reaching the playoffs after losing its first two matches. Two more matches — a trip to Dublin to face three-time winner Leinster and the return clash with Toulon in Bath — loom over the next two weeks. The ferocity of that schedule is a reminder that when the match in Toulon was first called off, Bath’s owner, Bruce Craig, suggested that it might be impossible to fit a replay into a season already compressed because of the World Cup. “It is what it is and we’re not feeling sorry for ourselves,” said Ford. “Three matches in a row isn’t going to be easy, but there’s no comparison with what people went through in Paris.” Sunday’s match in Toulon concludes a weekend in which Clermont Auvergne, runner-up to Toulon in two of the last three seasons, was hoping to take control of its group by winning at Bordeaux Bègles on Friday night. On Saturday both Paris teams are at home, with Racing 92 seeking a win over Glasgow which would take it close to the playoffs. On Sunday, tournament rookie Oyonnax gets to play the match against Ulster .


To Escape Fighting in Ukraine, Shakhtar Donetsk Takes an Indefinite Road Trip

Abstract: KIEV, Ukraine — Plumes of thick black smoke and a rapid-fire echo of explosions rose into the afternoon sky. Several hundred people from eastern Ukraine, almost all of them men in black T-shirts and balaclavas, were singing nationalistic songs as they threw smoke bombs onto the soccer field in front of them. They were members of the Shakhtar Ultras, a group of hard-core soccer fans who support Ukraine’s champions, Shakhtar Donetsk, anywhere they play. On this sunny August day, they were watching the Donetsk derby between Shakhtar and Olimpik. But the match, like all of Shakhtar’s matches these days, was not taking place in Donetsk, which has been battered by months of shelling. Instead the fans traveled hundreds of miles west to the capital, Kiev. As with most areas of Ukrainian society, professional soccer has been disfigured by the war in the east. Three teams in Crimea were absorbed into the Russian league system , and clubs from Donetsk, Luhansk, Mariupol and beyond have been forced to relocate to Kiev. Shakhtar, the country’s richest and most successful team, is the most public example of this disruption. It has won the last five Ukrainian Premier League titles and regularly competes in the UEFA Champions League, including this season’s tournament. Since 2009, Shakhtar has played its home games at the state-of-the-art Donbass Arena, a 50,000-seat stadium built to host several matches during the 2012 European Championships, and filled its roster with foreign stars acquired through the patronage of the club’s billionaire owner, Rinat Akhmetov. According to Forbes, Akhmetov, the son of a coal miner, is worth $12.5 billion. He made his money in steel, in iron ore and in the region’s coal mines, which are part of the club’s identity — his club’s crest includes two crossed coal hammers. He was also a former ally of Viktor F. Yanukovych, the deposed Ukrainian president. Since Akhmetov took over as Shakhtar’s president in the mid-1990s, his fortune has allowed Shakhtar to pay wages and transfer fees comparable to Europe’s biggest teams, attracting a host of talented players who might not otherwise move to eastern Ukraine. On Monday, Shakhtar’s star-studded roster traveled to Spain for its first Champions League game of the season , against Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday. These are just the sort of marquee games that Akhmetov’s money was supposed to buy. But given the volatile situation in the east — the team’s stadium was damaged last month in shelling — it is unlikely that Shakhtar will play any of them in its home stadium for the foreseeable future. “It is a strange situation, and strange for us,” said Shakhtar’s captain, the 32-year-old Croatian defender Darijo Srna. He was sitting in the lobby of an upscale hotel a short distance from Kiev’s Independence Square, the epicenter of Ukraine’s revolution. The club, its players and its staff are living here temporarily, eating breakfast at the buffet among the guests and training in the hotel’s small but plush gym. Some days, that produces odd scenes of World Cup veterans working out on treadmills alongside well-to-do middle-aged Ukrainian women doing their weekly exercises, or of players giving television interviews on plush couches in the lobby. But the war is never far away. “It is not easy when every day we wake up, open the newspaper and open the television and see,” Srna said, adding: “I’ve lived here for 11 years, in Donetsk. It is my home. I’m happy there. The day that will be the end of the war, we will return to Donetsk and kiss the street.” But the war has undoubtedly made things more difficult. Shakhtar is renowned for its success in scouting South America for emerging talent, especially in Brazil, and players like Manchester City’s Fernandinho and Chelsea’s Willian both gained European experience playing for the club. The current squad includes more than a dozen Brazilians, but five of them — and one Argentine — initially refused to return to Ukraine in July after a friendly in France, citing the deteriorating security situation. Club officials were furious. Mircea Lucescu, Shakhtar’s Romanian coach for the past decade, angrily blamed the players’ agents for trying to engineer the departures. “Players have contracts that they have to abide by,” Akhmetov told Shakhtar’s official website at the time. “If they do not come, I think, they will be the first to suffer.” All of the players, including the highly rated Brazilian Bernard, who played at the World Cup last summer, have since rejoined Shakhtar. The Brazilians and their teammates now can be seen quietly padding through the hotel’s lobby in groups of three and four, exiled by language within a team exiled from home. The most significant effect on the club’s fortunes, however, may come from Ukraine’s shifting political landscape. “Akhmetov was Yanukovych’s financial backer before he came to power, and he benefited a lot financially by being close to the president,” said Orysia Lutsevych, a research fellow at Chatham House in London. When Ukrainians rebelled earlier this year against Yanukovych’s plans to seek closer ties with Russia, Akhmetov initially stayed silent. In May, months after Yanukovych had fled the country, he came out in favor of the new Kiev government, but according to Lutsevych, the delay led many in Kiev to question his allegiances. For now, his soccer team plays on. The Donetsk derby in Kiev ended in a rout, with Shakhtar beating Olimpik, 5-0, in a tiny stadium before a few hundred fans. After the final whistle, Srna and a handful of players ran to salute their fans. They were quickly mobbed by the Ultras, shaking hands, exchanging hugs and posing for photos. “This was the best day of the season!” said one fan, a 21-year-old finance student named Vladyslav, who declined to give his last name. He beamed as he left the stadium. “I don’t know how I’ll get home,” he said. “Maybe I’ll hitch a ride on a tank.” No one knows when top-division soccer will return to eastern Ukraine. “Only God knows how long it will take Donetsk to recover from this hell, both mentally and materially,” said Alex Sereda, a Ukrainian soccer journalist based in the port city of Mariupol. The team there has also been exiled to Kiev. “It’s impossible to believe that two years ago this city hosted Euro 2012, with thousands of people walking around in Donetsk wearing Ukraine shirts.” In the weeks after the Donetsk derby on Aug. 15, the Donbass Arena was hit by shelling. The club’s offices were briefly overrun by unidentified armed men . But Shakhtar continues to win. It once again leads the Ukrainian league , having won every one of its relocated games this season. The Shakhtar Ultras continue to travel hundreds of miles every week — on Saturday they were in Odessa for a 2-0 victory over Chornomorets — even if their numbers apparently have been reduced. The day after the Shakhtar-Olimpik game, the Shakhtar Ultras’ Twitter account announced that a group of its members had stayed in Kiev and joined the Azov Battalion, a volunteer militia fighting in the east. Despite his best intentions, Vladyslav said, he was not among them. “I wanted to go to the military unit,” he said. “But my parents would not let me.”

Soccer
Ukraine
Donetsk Ukraine
Rinat Akhmetov
Shakhtar Donetsk Soccer Team


Special Parking Rules in New York City

Abstract: In New York City, because of Shavuot, alternate-side street-cleaning regulations will be suspended on Wednesday and Thursday. Other regulations will remain in effect.


Man Pleads Guilty to Newark Schoolyard Killings

Abstract: NEWARK — A suspect in the execution-style killings of three college students in a schoolyard in 2007 pleaded guilty on Tuesday, days before his trial was set to begin. The defendant, Melvin Jovel, 21, pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in the attacks in Newark. He faces up to life in prison. In July, a judge sentenced another defendant, Rodolfo Godinez , to more than 200 years in prison for his role in the killings. Four other defendants await separate trials.

Murders and Attempted Murders
Jovel Melvin
Godinez Rodolfo
Newark (NJ)


The Director Jean-Luc Godard Defends an Accused Internet Pirate

Abstract: PARIS — A Frenchman convicted of copyright theft for illegally downloading thousands of songs on the Internet has found an unlikely patron: a famous film director. Jean-Luc Godard , the 79-year-old director of movies like “Breathless” and “Alphaville,” has come to the support of James Climent, a photographer who faces a fine of 20,000 euros ($26,520) for violating musical copyrights. Mr. Climent, who lives in Barjac, a picturesque old town of artists and organic farmers in the Gard region of southern France, wants to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The highest French court rejected his last appeal in June, siding with music royalty collection agencies that brought the complaints against Mr. Climent five years ago. Mr. Climent said Mr. Godard this month donated 1,000 euros to his fund, helping him get him more than halfway toward the 5,000 euros he needs for legal fees and other costs of taking his case to the European Court. While Mr. Godard’s views on intellectual property are widely shared on the libertarian fringes of the Internet, they might seem surprising coming from a director who, under French law, retains editorial control over his work and derives financial benefit from it. Yet Mr. Godard, a pioneer of the New Wave of French cinema in the 1960s, whose films skewered the conventions of bourgeois society, clearly still delights in provoking the establishment, even if it could cost him money. Mr. Godard’s support for Mr. Climent comes as the debate over file-sharing is growing ever more politically charged in France. Mr. Climent was convicted under longstanding copyright legislation. But now the authorities are ready to begin enforcement of a tough new law, under which the Internet connections of persistent pirates could be suspended. “Downloading is a citizen’s right,” Mr. Climent said. “Even if there is only a small chance, there is a chance that a favorable judgment could change the laws across Europe.” Mr. Godard has yet to comment publicly on Mr. Climent’s case, but he laid out the rationale for his opposition to French copyright rules in a recent interview with the cultural magazine Les Inrockuptibles, in which he declared, “There is no such thing as intellectual property.” “Copyright really isn’t feasible,” Mr. Godard said. “An author has no rights. I have no rights. I have only duties.” Mr. Godard could not be reached, but an associate, who insisted on anonymity because the director had not authorized him to speak, confirmed the donation. Mr. Godard, the associate said, wanted to make a “symbolic” gesture to draw attention to what he described as Mr. Climent’s plight. In addition to the money, Mr. Climent said he had received a handwritten note that included a picture of a model sailboat and the valediction, “Surcouf, Jean-Luc Godard” — referring to Robert Surcouf, a maritime pirate of the French Revolutionary era. Mr. Godard’s support for Mr. Climent reflects some unusual twists in the debate over piracy in France, where digital sales of media content from authorized, licensed services have been far slower to take hold than in the United States. The conservative government of President Nicolas Sarkozy has championed tough measures to strengthen intellectual property enforcement. His efforts have been fiercely resisted by the opposition Socialists, which poses a bit of a paradox since they are traditionally the party with closer links to the cultural establishment. The centerpiece of Mr. Sarkozy’s crackdown on piracy is the so-called graduated response law, under which people who share digital songs, films or other media content could face the suspension of their Internet connections if they ignore repeated warnings to quit. The first e-mailed warnings will be sent to people accused of piracy within days, according to the government agency set up to administer the law. It could be many months, however, until the government’s resolve to disconnect people from the Internet is actually tested; more than a year can pass before people accused sharing files will receive their final warning, notifying them that they may be taken to court. To have a chance of a hearing at the high court in Strasbourg, Mr. Climent must file suit there by the end of the year. European high court cases can drag on for years. Nicolas Gallon, Mr. Climent’s lawyer, acknowledged that Mr. Climent’s chances of victory were slim, given the series of judgments against him in France. “In all honesty, it will be very difficult,” said Mr. Gallon, who has previously represented other counterculture figures, like the French anti-globalization campaigner José Bové. “We are not very optimistic. But we have to take this debate as far as we can.”

Copyrights and Copyright Violations
Computers and the Internet
Godard Jean-Luc
Movies
Climent James


Pact Unlikely Before Talks in U.S., Palestinian Insists

Abstract: RAMALLAH, West Bank , Nov. 22 — A senior Palestinian official said here on Thursday that it would be a “miracle” if the Palestinian and Israeli negotiating teams agreed on a joint document, as they had hoped, to present at the American-sponsored Middle East peace gathering set to start Tuesday in Annapolis, Md. But the official held out the possibility that a last-minute agreement on a short outline of intentions or principles could be reached in Washington, with help from the Bush administration, on the eve of the meeting. “I don’t know if the administration could do something at the last moment,” said Nimr Hamad, a political adviser to the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. “If something is going to happen, it will be in Washington,” he said. Israeli officials agreed with him on timing. “There might be a joint statement, and there might not be,” said Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, who leads the Israeli negotiating team. “Obviously it would be good to have one, and we are committed to continue working to reach one,” Mr. Regev said. “I expect the work to go on till Tuesday.” But the brinkmanship could also be seen as reflecting a longer term Palestinian goal: Mr. Hamad suggested that the difficulties in agreeing on a text underscored the need for more international involvement in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. Israeli, Palestinian and American leaders have billed the Annapolis meeting as a launching pad for serious, continuous negotiations meant to lead to a two-state solution of the conflict. But Mr. Hamad said that the “experience of the last two months, of not being able to agree on one page” of text, showed that international involvement was necessary “for negotiations to be serious” later. Israel has always rejected the idea of outside mediation. “Israel is very clear that this is a bilateral process,” said an Israeli government official who asked not to be identified by name because of the delicacy of the negotiations. “There is no need for outsiders telling us what to do.” Originally, the Israeli and Palestinian teams set out to work on a joint text for Annapolis that would refer to the core issues of the conflict, including borders, security arrangements, the status of Jerusalem and the problem of the Palestinian refugees of the 1948 war and their descendants. Israel sought to touch on these issues as generally as possible, without outlining solutions. The Palestinians had wanted a more detailed document with a clear timeline for resolving the conflict. A Nov. 17 draft of the proposals between the negotiating parties obtained by The New York Times, parts of which were published on Thursday, showed how wide the gaps between the sides still were. Large sections were bracketed, meaning that they remained in dispute. The Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams worked in Jerusalem until late Wednesday night, but by Thursday morning, the principal Palestinian negotiators had left for meetings with the Arab League in Cairo. Late Thursday, after a first day of meetings to try to form a unified position on the Annapolis conference, Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian negotiator, said, “The presence of Syria at the conference is support for us, and this is what we want.” Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, said the Golan Heights, a Syrian territory occupied by Israel, was discussed Thursday. “I hope all countries will participate if we are all convinced that there is something serious in the conference,” he said. But “there will be no normalization for free.” In Jerusalem, Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said there was still a chance of completing a joint statement. “We can work on it in Washington,” she said. “It’s not a lost cause.”

Palestinians
Israel
International Relations
Immigration and Refugees
Politics and Government
United States