A Syrian Rebel Advance Off the Battlefield: A Longer-Lasting Battery for Missiles

Abstract: Rebels in Syria are designing rechargeable batteries for shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles, a development that could make them more lethal against Syrian warplanes but that also carries potential risks to civilian aircraft, according to a rebel behind the new design and to Western analysts who have assessed his work. The batteries are matched to the SA-7b missile system, or Strela-2, an early variant of heat-seeking missile that originated in a Soviet design bureau in the late 1960s and has been reproduced in several countries, including China, North Korea and Pakistan. A weapon of a class often colloquially called Stingers, as the best-known American model is known, Strelas have for decades been the most commonly seen antiaircraft missiles among rebel and terrorist groups. But the limited availability and short life span of their batteries, which are attached to the exterior of the tube that contains the missile, has meant that nonstate groups often struggle with power supply, posing limits on the Strela’s use. Improvised batteries have been documented in the Syrian conflict , and a missile system powered by one apparently was used to shoot down a helicopter last year. The designer of the rechargeable battery, Abu al-Baraa, said he was a Syrian Air Force major until defecting to the rebels in 2012. Abu al-Baraa, who asked that his full name not be used because of concern for the safety of his relatives, said rebels in Syria could now overcome the problem of possessing many more missiles than batteries, and of high rates of battery consumption in marginally trained ranks when using SA-7s, which the Syrians call Cobras. “The need for the battery came due to the misuse of the Cobra guided missile by shooters as they turn the circuit without paying attention to shooting time limit, which leads them to replacing it with another,” he said. “What you get eventually is a missile with no power unit.” The new batteries, Abu al-Baraa added, last longer when activated and can be recharged by connecting to an electrical outlet. Matthew Schroeder, a missile proliferation analyst at Small Arms Survey , an independent research project based in Geneva, said the design was “extremely worrisome.” Strelas have appeared in conflicts since the Vietnam War. Untold numbers were stolen from Libya’s arsenals during the uprising that deposed Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in 2011. They have recently been documented in Syria and eastern Ukraine, where a shoulder-fired missile was believed to have hit a Ukrainian military transport plane near Luhansk in June, killing 49 troops. “If these devices proliferate,” Mr. Schroeder said of the improvised batteries, “black-market missiles that are currently unusable because their batteries are dead could become operational again, with potentially devastating consequences.” Abu al-Baraa said he was not a member of any rebel group, but collaborated with several of them, including the Western-backed Free Syrian Army. He claimed to have attended two rebel training sessions in Qatar, and to have shot down two Syrian Air Force aircraft with factory-made missile systems, including a Chinese-made FN-6. Government aircraft are hated and feared in rebel-held territory in Syria, which both rebels and human rights activists alike say has suffered from a sustained and indiscriminate aerial bombing campaign. Abu al-Baraa first posted images of a prototype missile battery this month, shortly before Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by a much larger missile system over eastern Ukraine. A Rogue State Along Two Rivers The victories gained by the militant group calling itself the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria were built on months of maneuvering along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Soon after he posted the images, his Facebook profile vanished for at least two days, but not before Damien Spleeters, an investigator for Conflict Armament Research , a private firm that tracks conventional arms, copied the photographs and shared them with The New York Times. It was not clear why the Facebook profile stopped functioning. Once his profile was active again, Abu al-Baraa agreed to be interviewed on Skype several times over the past week, described his design process, and provided photographs and a video of a newer battery prototype. Neil Gibson, a missile analyst at IHS Jane’s , the defense consultancy, examined the design description of the improvised batteries and suggested they would function. “There’s no reason why it shouldn’t work,” he wrote in an email. Abu al-Baraa said he decided to design a battery after hearing that Ahrar al-Sham, an Islamist fighting group, had produced improvised batteries for Strelas. The batteries were sufficient to fire the missile, he said, but the missiles were failing in flight. At least once, he said, a Strela failed to track the aircraft and veered off. “Too many missiles were wasted this way,” he said. He said he tested the voltage of an Ahrar-made battery with an Avometer, and found that after the battery was activated the voltage dropped sharply. Upon comparing voltages with those he recorded for a factory-grade Strela battery, he said, he noted the difference and thought he had found the problem. Working at his home in rural Idlib Province, he said, he assembled a unit with three groups of AA lithium-ion batteries salvaged from laptops, and managed to match the voltage for the factory-made sample. His total cost, he said, was about $50. “It took me one day to finish it,” he said. “My wife helped me, and my kids were playing around me. It could take less time, but there is no electricity to turn the soldering iron on, so I used the stove.” The factory-made SA-7 batteries, Abu al-Baraa said, tended to last only 40 seconds once a missile system was switched on — just long enough to lock on a target and fire a missile. Mr. Gibson said the brief life of the battery was rooted in its design as a thermal battery, also known as a molten-salt battery, which provides for reliability and long storage. This was ideal for military service, he said. “There is no loss of capability if the battery is left unused, unlike more normal dry and wet cell types, which decay more or less as soon as they are charged,” he said. For his design, Abu al-Baraa said, he chose lithium batteries, which can power a missile system for as long as 30 minutes. “My invention that brought life back to Cobras,” he said, was also made from “electrical wires taken from my neighbor Abu al-Abid” and “damaged plastic water pipes.” To this, he said, he added “electronic devices from a broken radio and a capacitor from an old fridge.” He added: “You would laugh if you see me assembling it.” The SA-7, as an early-generation system, is not as capable as more modern missiles. Its seeker head is more easily deceived by countermeasures, such as flares, and it has a shorter range and flies to lower maximum elevations than newer Soviet or Russian models, such as the SA-14, SA-16, SA-18 and SA-24. The SA-7 is sometimes referred to as a “tail-chase” system, meaning that its seeker head performs better when oriented at an aircraft that has already passed by, and is not as effective at frontal and side shots. Mr. Gibson and Mr. Schroeder noted the design used by Abu al-Baraa could not be applied to manufacturing batteries for more modern systems. “The battery units for later generation Manpads include the coolant required for the proper functioning of the missile seeker,” Mr. Schroeder said. “Unless an improvised cooling system can be developed, this technology won’t be of much use with second- and third-generation Manpads.” Abu al-Baraa agreed. He also suggested that he was working on one item at a time. On Friday, he said he had been hunting with a Strela equipped with a second generation of his battery and aimed the system at a Syrian jet. His battery powered the system, he said, but the jet was too high, and he held his fire.

Syria
Missiles and Missile Defense
Batteries
Airlines,airplanes
Terrorism


Bloomberg Hints at Curb on Articles About China

Abstract: HONG KONG — The chairman of Bloomberg L.P. said in a speech here on Thursday that the company should have reconsidered articles that deviated from its core of coverage of business news, because they jeopardized the huge sales potential for its products in the Chinese market. The comments by the chairman, Peter T. Grauer, represented the starkest acknowledgment yet by a senior Bloomberg executive that the ambitions of the news division should be assessed in the context of the business operation, which provides the bulk of the company’s revenue. They also signaled which of those considerations might get priority. Acknowledging the vast size of the Chinese economy, the world’s second-biggest after that of the United States, Mr. Grauer, said, “We have to be there.” “We have about 50 journalists in the market, primarily writing stories about the local business and economic environment,” Mr. Grauer said in response to questions after a speech at the Asia Society. “You’re all aware that every once in a while we wander a little bit away from that and write stories that we probably may have kind of rethought — should have rethought.” Bloomberg, the financial data and news company, relies on sales of its terminals, which are ubiquitous on bankers’ desks around the world, for about 82 percent of its $8.5 billion in revenue. But sales of those terminals in China declined after the company published an article in June 2012 on the family wealth of Xi Jinping , at that time the incoming Communist Party chief. After its publication, officials ordered state enterprises not to subscribe to the service. Mr. Grauer did not specifically mention the article about Mr. Xi or any other articles. Mr. Grauer’s comments on Bloomberg’s journalistic priorities in China reflect what some Bloomberg employees say is a re-emphasis on financial news, and skepticism from the business side about whether investigative journalism is worth the potential problems it could create for terminal sales. A Bloomberg spokesman in New York said the company would have no comment on Mr. Grauer’s remarks. A day earlier, Justin B. Smith, the chief executive of the Bloomberg Media Group, outlined an ambitious growth strategy for the news unit that would require expansion and increased investment. In a memorandum posted on the website Medium, he wrote: “Bloomberg Media is setting out to build a leading digitally led, multiplatform media company for global business. We want to become the indispensable source of information for the world’s most influential people.” Bloomberg, controlled by the billionaire Michael R. Bloomberg, who returned to the company at the beginning of this year after 12 years as mayor of New York City, employs about 125 people in mainland China across its businesses, which also include providing data about the country’s currency and bond futures markets. Image In Hong Kong's financial district a screen shows the Bloomberg Channel. Bloomberg relies on sales of its terminals world for about 82 percent of its revenue. Credit Tyrone Siu/Reuters “Being in China is very much a part of our long-term strategy and will continue to be so going forward,” Mr. Grauer said. “It occupies a lot of our thinking — Dan Doctoroff, our C.E.O.; me; Mike; and other members of our senior team.” After the article about the Xi family’s wealth was published, Chinese officials also blocked Bloomberg’s website on Chinese servers, and the company has been unable to get residency visas for new journalists. Other news organizations have come under similar pressure. The websites of The New York Times, including a new Chinese-language edition, were blocked when it published an article in October 2012 on the family wealth of Wen Jiabao , then the prime minister. Like Bloomberg, The Times has not received residency visas for new journalists. In November, several news outlets, including The New York Times, published reports quoting unidentified Bloomberg employees saying that top editors at the company, led by Matthew Winkler, editor in chief of Bloomberg News, did not publish an investigative article because of fears the company would be expelled from China. Mr. Winkler denied that the article had been killed. A reporter who was the co-writer of the unpublished investigative article — and who had been a lead reporter on the Xi family wealth article in 2012 — left Bloomberg News shortly after reports of the controversy were published in November. He joined The New York Times in January. Some current and former Bloomberg journalists, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they had hoped the controversy surrounding Bloomberg’s China reporting would prompt the company to reaffirm its support for investigative efforts. Mr. Grauer’s comments were met with dismay, particularly because he is regarded as close to Mr. Bloomberg and would be unlikely to voice views that were not broadly accepted at the top of the company. In his comments on Thursday, Mr. Grauer did not provide figures for the size of Bloomberg’s business in China. One former executive said in November that the company had about 2,000 to 2,500 terminals in mainland China, out of 300,000 terminals worldwide. Mr. Grauer said the company was investing aggressively in fast-growing emerging markets, including China and dozens of other countries. Such nations account for about 12 percent of people who use Bloomberg terminals, but 30 percent of its sales in the year to date, he said. “Our approach is pretty much to tune out all the news about weaknesses in the emerging markets,” Mr. Grauer said. “We’re investing full speed ahead.” In recent weeks, Mr. Bloomberg has taken up residence on the fifth floor of his company’s New York headquarters, which primarily houses the television operation of Bloomberg News. The glass of a small conference room has been frosted since he arrived, and he uses it to take Spanish lessons, an employee said. His influence within the editorial unit has also increased since he left city hall, said people with knowledge of the operation, who insisted on anonymity in discussing internal operations. Bloomberg has moved swiftly to put behind it a scandal in which its journalists were found to have used data from the terminals, like contact information, to help report stories. Reporters have been instructed in meetings, employees said, to avoid the use of proprietary information and to identify themselves clearly as from the news division. The aim, said one person present, has clearly been to assure terminal customers that their information is safe.

News media,journalism
Bloomberg LP
China
Peter T Grauer


A Berlusconi Reminder as Italy Faces Another Unelected Premier

Abstract: ROME — It speaks to the strange state of Italian democracy that Silvio Berlusconi, the disgraced former prime minister, is now claiming the high moral ground in politics — and that his claim is not completely without merit as Italy prepares for its third consecutive unelected prime minister. Mr. Berlusconi — he of the endless scandals, a recent tax fraud conviction for which he is awaiting sentencing and a humiliating expulsion from Italy’s Senate — has been quick to remind people that he is the last Italian prime minister actually elected by the Italian people, in 2008. Since then, Italy has experienced crisis management as much as democracy. Mr. Berlusconi resigned under pressure in 2011 at the height of Europe’s debt crisis. To succeed him, President Giorgio Napolitano appointed a technocratic government led by the economist Mario Monti. Then, in 2013, national elections were inconclusive, so Mr. Napolitano jammed together a coalition government and named Enrico Letta as prime minister. But faced with a revolt in his own Democratic Party, Mr. Letta resigned on Friday, Valentine’s Day, meaning that Mr. Napolitano will name his third unelected prime minister in three years. This time it will be Matteo Renzi, 39, the new leader of the Democratic Party, who engineered the revolt against Mr. Letta and has promised to change national election laws so that Italian voters can have a clearer say about who becomes prime minister. On Sunday, Mr. Napolitano summoned Mr. Renzi to Rome for a meeting on Monday morning, and he is expected to ask the Democratic leader to try to form a government. Parliamentary democracies are often messy, and Italy has a long history of revolving governments. But analysts say Mr. Renzi must deliver election reforms because an Italian public already confronted with a painful economic crisis is becoming even more cynical and distrustful as anti-establishment parties like the Five Star Movement are angrily questioning the legitimacy of the government and positioning for the European elections in May. Beppe Grillo, the comedian who leads the Five Star Movement, played on the legitimacy theme — in profane terms — when he compared Mr. Renzi to Al Capone and likened the dumping of Mr. Letta to the 1929 execution-style murders by Capone’s men that became known as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Less colorful skepticism came from across the Tiber River at the Vatican, where the Roman Catholic Church’s official daily newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, wrote in an editorial that Italy’s latest power shift was “the umpteenth government crisis with reasons and rituals that taste stale.” “So with Renzi,” the editorial concluded, “the moment has come in which the whole of Italy needs to turn a new leaf, after 20 years in which little of use has been achieved.” Mr. Renzi, the mayor of Florence, is nicknamed the Demolisher for his promise to shatter the political old guard. His political skills made him a rising national star amid predictions that he would one day become prime minister. But Mr. Renzi always said he wanted to be elected to win a public mandate for the changes he promised to deliver. His supporters say circumstances forced him to take this different route. The principal mandate of Mr. Letta’s government was to pass a new election law, especially since Italy’s highest court deemed much of the old law unconstitutional. None of the parties want to call elections until a new law is in place, but progress was slow as critics blamed Mr. Letta and other lawmakers for deliberately stalling to remain in office. Mr. Renzi, who became the leader of the Democratic Party in December, even struck a surprising deal on an election reform package with Mr. Berlusconi — who is still an opposition leader — that will soon be debated in Parliament. Finally, though, as critics blamed the government for inaction on multiple fronts, Mr. Renzi and his party decided that Mr. Letta had to go. Mr. Renzi has been considered a political outsider, someone who has confronted the old guard in his own party. Even before last week’s machinations, many analysts regarded him as the sort of political street fighter who represented Italy’s best chance to shatter the country’s systemic paralysis. But some analysts worry that Mr. Renzi is instead part of the same trend that produced Mr. Berlusconi two decades ago, and that has now produced Mr. Grillo — a personality-driven style of politics, fueled by television or the Internet, that has eroded Italy’s democratic institutions. “What Renzi has in mind is a personal party, like Berlusconi’s or the Five Star Movement,” which is dominated by Mr. Grillo, said Angelo D’Orsi, a professor of political theory at the University of Turin. “They ignore that there is a system founded on rules.” By the end of the week, Mr. Renzi’s transition to prime minister is likely to be official, although negotiations will be required because the Democrats by themselves do not have a majority in both chambers of Parliament. Mr. Renzi must then confront an economic crisis, rising unemployment and a sclerotic bureaucracy. He has promised to overhaul the labor laws and the tax system, introduce an emergency jobs act, rip through the bureaucracy and push big-ticket economic proposals through Parliament. It is a huge challenge, given that he is likely to be governing with the same unwieldy majority that was judged to be hampering Mr. Letta’s attempts to carry out his agenda. Yet, analysts say, he also must push through changes to the electoral system so that future prime ministers have a chance to win a popular mandate.

Appointments and Executive Changes
Democratic Party Italy
Enrico Letta
Matteo Renzi
Giorgio Napolitano
Silvio Berlusconi
Italy


2 Deals Focus on Big Data and Youth

Abstract: A COUPLE of deals are shining a spotlight on just how big of a deal big data is becoming on Madison Avenue. The deals, both for undisclosed financial terms, are to be announced on Monday. They involve companies that specialize in the collection, interpretation and predictive analysis of information about the behavior and habits of consumers, particularly the Americans ages 18 to 34 who are known as the millennial generation. In one transaction, the Intelligence Group, a division of the Creative Artists Agency, the talent agency in Los Angeles, is being combined with a company, Noise, that also specializes in the young-adult market. In the other, a unit devoted to research into millennials at Barkley , an agency in Kansas City, Mo., is being spun off as a separate consultancy, named FutureCast . “With the arrival of big data,” the ZenithOptimedia agency writes in a new report about United States advertising, marketers have “a wealth of data points with which to target” consumers. But the sheer bigness of big data can also represent a challenge. Mark Grether, global chief operating officer of Xaxis, a media and technology company owned by WPP, described last week a need to “extract more meaning more quickly from the massive amounts of anonymous big data being generated on a moment by moment basis.” Noise is part of the Engine USA division of the Engine Group, an agency holding company based in London. The deal is the first acquisition by the Engine Group since December 2010, when it bought Noise. “I’m a great believer in focus, specific targets and specific demographics,” said John Bernbach, president of Engine USA, and many marketers these days will “do whatever it takes to reach” the millennial audience. The Intelligence Group — founded in 1996 as Youth Intelligence and acquired by Creative Artists Agency in 2003 — is known for studies about younger consumers that it publishes under the name Cassandra Report . The Intelligence Group has offices in Los Angeles and New York; the Los Angeles office will become the Los Angeles office of Noise and the New York office will be absorbed by the New York headquarters of Noise. (Noise also has an office in San Francisco.) Two senior executives of the Intelligence Group, Joseph Kessler and Jamie Gutfreund, will take top posts at Noise. Mr. Kessler, who had been president of the Intelligence Group, becomes president and chief executive of the combined Noise, and Ms. Gutfreund, who had been chief strategy officer of the Intelligence Group, becomes chief marketing officer of Noise. (Noah Kerner, who had been chief executive of Noise before the deal, will take the post of nonexecutive chairman.) “We’re at this moment in time,” Ms. Gutfreund said, when “understanding who the millennials are and why they do what they do” will help advertisers reach a market that accounts for an estimated $2.5 trillion in annual spending. The Intelligence Group has worked for brands that include Disney, Honda, Microsoft, Red Bull and Unilever. Image Jeff Fromm will become president of FutureCast. Credit Ron Berg The sale of the Intelligence Group by Creative Artists Agency represents its second recent deal involving its marketing interests, coming after the company sold back to SS+K, a New York advertising agency, a minority stake in SS+K that it acquired in 1999. At Barkley, the goal of the youth-focused unit, started in 2010, has been to help marketers contend with “a tsunami of data,” said Jeff Fromm, the executive vice president of Barkley who is becoming president of FutureCast. One trend the data indicates, according to Mr. Fromm, is that to win among millennials, “marketers have to do more than beat other brands; they have to become a favorite.” And that extends beyond the millennial generation, he added, to Americans in their 30s and 40s “who are adopting the millennial mind-set.” Barkley has handled millennial-focused work for brands like Ball Canning, Coleman and the Missouri Lottery. As FutureCast starts, its initial client roster includes Foster Farms and Whole Foods Market. Mr. Fromm will own a minority stake in FutureCast and Barkley will hold a majority stake. “Jeff was part of the group at Barkley that came up with the idea to have a specific focus on millennials,” said Jeff King, chief executive of Barkley. “He did an amazing job running with the ball.” “We initially set out to make ourselves experts in millennials for two reasons, to help existing clients and to develop content of interest to potential clients,” Mr. King said. “The demand for that expertise has far exceeded our wildest expectations.” By establishing FutureCast as a stand-alone company, it will be able to work with marketers that are not Barkley clients, he added, as well as other advertising agencies. What will be the next big thing after it becomes common to use big data to help determine how to market to millennials? “Today, 10,000 women over the age of 25 are going to have a baby,” Mr. Fromm said, “and again tomorrow.” Those babies, along with children who are younger than millennials, compose a demographic group that Mr. Fromm calls “Generation Next, or the Plurals,” for reflecting their multiculturalism. Other terms used to describe that cohort are post-millennials and the pluralist generation.

Data Mining,Big Data
advertising,marketing
Noise
FutureCast
Creative Artists Agency
Barkley


Sour Days in Knicks' Executive Suite

Abstract: JUST when New York City was declared an Anna Benson-free zone, safe from the desperate-for-attention baseball wife, along came another tough-talking woman, crashing the headlines of the male sports sanctum in what is, sadly, the most common manner, the dominant purview of women from the field of play. While there is no way of knowing yet if the sexual harassment suit filed Tuesday by a recently fired female Knicks business executive against the team's president, Isiah Thomas, and Madison Square Garden has merit, the charges made by Anucha Browne Sanders do remind us that a woman who walks and talks in the lair of men can be made to suddenly disappear. She can be traded to Baltimore, as was the mouthy-but-harmless Anna Benson with her husband, Kris, or summarily dismissed for being the gatecrasher who, in the final corporate analysis, threw like a girl. "I am appalled by Anucha Browne Sanders's outrageous allegations," Steve Mills, the president of Madison Square Garden Sports, said yesterday, apparently supporting the argument that she suddenly turned incompetent after more than five years on the job. Did Thomas merely tune out a holdover from the previous regime? The case of Browne Sanders, listed in the Knicks' directory as the organization's fifth-ranking member, one slot below Thomas, could very well be one more in a never-ending series of fateful clashes between high-level Garden power brokers, with the added spice of gender conflict. Or it could be another wild ride down the icy slope that players of entitlement often take when they mistake every female in their workspace for the groupie in the hotel lobby. Based on the known evidence, the latter seemed to be the course chosen by Tim Nardiello, whose "inappropriate actions," in the opinion of the United States Olympic Committee, have cost him his job as the Olympic skeleton coach. Eerie was the juxtaposition of the second Knicks bombshell within a week with the news that Nardiello will not go to the Winter Games in Italy next month after a four-week investigation by the U.S.O.C. into charges by several female team members of sexual harassment. Nardiello, operating in a sport where money is hardly the name of the game, told The Associated Press that he is the victim of a political sham. Thomas's defense is that Browne Sanders is shaking him down. "I did not harass Anucha; I did not discriminate against her; I did not fire her; I did not participate in any discussion that led to her being fired; she did not even work for me," Thomas said, reading defiantly from a statement at a news conference. "I will not allow her or anybody else, man or woman, to use me as a pawn for their financial gain." As always, Thomas was calm, collected and cool, belying the frenzied campaigns being waged by both sides via aggressive public relations firms. Maybe he is guilty of nothing more than wanting his own people in place, but if Browne Sanders has a well-documented case, it will be a much graver threat to Thomas's job security than trading for Stephon Marbury, no matter what Mills and James L. Dolan, the Garden's chairman, say or think now. Conversely, by the time the Garden's people are finished with Browne Sanders, Anna Benson will look like Donna Reed. "I know I'm going up against some of the most powerful men in sports," Browne Sanders said in a telephone interview, referring to the Cablevision monolith that spared no expense in taking on the Jets' proposal for a stadium on the West Side of Manhattan that would have competed with the Garden for the entertainment dollar. Browne Sanders added, "And it's very intimidating, but I know I'm doing the right thing because I know what has happened to me." If nothing else, admire her willingness to take on Thomas, a street fighter who grew to become a franchise player in the N.B.A. at the diminutive height of 6 foot 1, and has scuffled to the finish line of every basketball job he has held, typically leaving burned bridges behind. It's just a shame that, once again, following up on the sordid skeleton story and the spat in the stands that involved Kendra and Antonio Davis, a woman in sports makes another splash without shooting or kicking a ball. "This is an ongoing thing about the way gender stereotypes are reinforced," Mary Jo Kane, a University of Minnesota faculty member and the director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport, said in a telephone interview. "Instead of talking about what Pat Summitt does, the dominant narrative is men-do-sports and women-do-men, the 'Desperate Housewives' view." While the Seahawks were rushing Sean Locklear from the jail cell he was briefly locked in, after allegedly assaulting his girlfriend, back to their offensive line for Sunday's victory over Carolina, America was hearing about every harsh word Kendra Davis ever spoke, including that she once even had a quarrel with Latrell Sprewell. (Who hasn't?) Now comes another woman in sports with an ax to grind, who will be assailed by her adversaries as desperate, and who will fall into line for the continuing roll call of victims and vixens. Sports of The Times E-mail: hjaraton@nytimes.com

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
NEW YORK KNICKS
NEW YORK KNICKERBOCKERS
THOMAS ISIAH
SANDERS ANUCHA BROWNE
SPORTS OF THE TIMES (TIMES COLUMN)
SUITS AND LITIGATION
SEXUAL HARASSMENT
BASKETBALL


Breakthrough Replicates Human Brain Cells for Use in Alzheimer’s Research

Abstract: For the first time, and to the astonishment of many of their colleagues, researchers created what they call Alzheimer’s in a Dish — a petri dish with human brain cells that develop the telltale structures of Alzheimer’s disease. In doing so, they resolved a longstanding problem of how to study Alzheimer’s and search for drugs to treat it; the best they had until now were mice that developed an imperfect form of the disease. The key to their success, said the lead researcher, Rudolph E. Tanzi of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, was a suggestion by his colleague Doo Yeon Kim to grow human brain cells in a gel, where they formed networks as in an actual brain. They gave the neurons genes for Alzheimer’s disease. Within weeks they saw the hard Brillo-like clumps known as plaques and then the twisted spaghetti-like coils known as tangles — the defining features of Alzheimer’s disease. The work, which also offers strong support for an old idea about how the disease progresses, was published in Nature on Sunday. Leading researchers said it should have a big effect. “It is a giant step forward for the field,” said Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, an Alzheimer’s researcher at Duke University. “It could dramatically accelerate testing of new drug candidates.” Of course, a petri dish is not a brain, and the petri dish system lacks certain crucial components, like immune system cells, that appear to contribute to the devastation once Alzheimer’s gets started. But it allows researchers to quickly, cheaply and easily test drugs that might stop the process in the first place. The crucial step, of course, will be to see if drugs that work in this system stop Alzheimer’s in patients. The discovery, said Dr. Sam Gandy of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, is “a real game changer” and “a paradigm shifter.” He added, “I’m really enthusiastic to take a crack at this in my lab.” Karen Duff, an Alzheimer’s researcher at Columbia University, while praising the work as “a tour de force,” cautioned that once Alzheimer’s starts, tangles can take off on their own and may need to be attacked by drugs that strike them specifically in order to stop devastation in the brain. Dr. Tanzi is now starting an ambitious project to test 1,200 drugs on the market and 5,000 experimental ones that have finished the first phase of clinical testing — a project that is impossible with mice, for which each drug test takes a year. With their petri dish system, Dr. Tanzi said, “we can test hundreds of thousands of drugs in a matter of months.” He already has used his system to look at drugs designed to prevent the formation of amyloid, the protein that clumps into plaques. The drugs, he reports, prevented both plaques and tangles in the petri dishes. Some are in clinical trials, and it is not known if they work in people. One was tested in patients and failed because it was too toxic. One hope is to find drugs for other diseases that are known to be safe and work on Alzheimer’s in the petri dish. He also found an enzyme needed to make tangles after plaques are present. When he blocked that enzyme, plaques formed but not tangles. The enzyme is another potential drug target, he said. Dr. Gandy wants to use the system to study the effects of genes that predispose someone to have Alzheimer’s, especially the most powerful one, ApoE4, which contributes to about half of all Alzheimer’s cases. No one really knows how or why it is linked to the disease, Dr. Gandy said. Image Images of the clumps known as plaques, seen in orange, disrupting a network of human nerve cells, in green, within a petri dish containing cells mimicking the brain of an Alzheimer's patient. Credit Dr. Doo Yeon Kim and Dr. Rudolph Tanzi, Massachusets General Hospital “I think I would go after that to begin with,” he said. Dr. Tanzi said that once his group had gotten the idea of growing neurons in a gel, setting up Alzheimer’s in a dish system had been straightforward. Group members used human embryonic stem cells — those cells that can become any cell of the body — and grew them with a mixture of chemicals that made them turn into neurons. They gave those neurons Alzheimer’s genes and grew them in wells in petri dishes that were lined with a commercially available gel. Then they waited. “Sure enough, we saw plaques, real plaques,” Dr. Tanzi said. “We waited, and then we saw tangles, actual tangles. It looks like you are looking at an Alzheimer brain.” All that was required to start the process was the Alzheimer’s gene, which made cells produce an excessive amount of a normal protein, beta amyloid. Previously, researchers had tried to grow the disease in a dish of liquid, but the neurons did not connect or develop plaques and tangles. The controversy over how and why Alzheimer’s gets going dates back three decades, when Dr. George G. Glenner , who died in 1995, proposed a simple process. Beta amyloid starts to accumulate in the brain. It turns into plaques. Neurons respond by making tangles. The combination proves fatal for brain cells, and dementia sets in. “He said, ‘This is how the disease starts,’ ” Dr. Tanzi said. “But for 30 years there was no proof that amyloid drives the rest of the disease.” In fact, when researchers put human Alzheimer’s genes in mice, the animals made excess beta amyloid and developed plaques but never had tangles. It was not clear why. Was excess amyloid only part of what was needed? Or were mice just too different from humans? Lacking anything better, mice were used anyway to test experimental drugs. But more than 20 drugs that seemed as if they would cure Alzheimer’s, based on studies in mice, utterly failed when tested in patients. “The lack of a viable model for Alzheimer’s has been the Achilles’ heel of the field,” Dr. Doraiswamy of Duke said. Some said that the amyloid hypothesis was correct and that the drugs failed because they were not potent enough or were given too late, when the disease was well established. But others asked if amyloid was the right target. Many proposed going after another protein instead, tau, a normal constituent of neurons that becomes deformed into tangles when a person has Alzheimer’s disease. Even those who insisted on the amyloid hypothesis often elaborated on it, saying that first amyloid accumulates and then a litany of other things go wrong — cell damage and inflammation and molecular stress — that finally lead to tau and tangles. “There was a big black box of things going wrong,” Dr. Tanzi said. But, he said, the more complex model was refuted by his study. Tangles formed with nothing but the presence of amyloid plaques. And drugs that block beta amyloid prevent both plaques and tangles from forming, Dr. Tanzi and his colleagues reported. “This provides strong support to the amyloid hypothesis and essentially cinches the serial link between amyloid and intracellular tangles,” Dr. Doraiswamy said. Now, he added, the challenge is to show that drugs that work in this system also help patients.

Alzheimer's
Nature Journal
Research
Massachusetts General Hospital
Brain
Rudolph E. Tanzi


Reader Tips on Finding a Partner Using Indian Marriage Sites

Abstract: India now has more than 1,500 matchmaking sites, giving parents — and potential brides and grooms — thousands of choices to help arrange modern marriages while allowing families to adhere to longstanding traditions regarding caste and religion. We asked readers, some of whom only gave their first names, who have used such sites to share their tips. Tips on Finding a Husband Don’t Let Parents Force You Into Anything Image Kadhambari Sridhar's first photo with the man who would become her fiancé, taken at the Washington Zoo in October 2014. Credit Kadhambari Sridhar Kadhambari Sridhar, 26, from Falls Church, Va., endured seven unsuccessful exchanges on TamilMatrimony . She said she met men who were “coerced” by their parents and were “not ready for marriage.” Some men even stood her up on dates. She said she had hoped the site for Tamils looking for mates would help her find a husband who lived in the United States and shared her religion and culture. But that did not happen. “There is a clear discomfort in trying to navigate a semi-arranged marriage within the Indian diaspora,” she said. Ms. Sridhar found her own match using Tinder, the mobile dating app, and won her parents’ approval. “I got the best of both worlds,” she said, “including a bended-knee proposal and ring in a surprise location — Rio.” Filter Out the Flirts There are many men online who, “just want to talk to girls without any intention of marrying them,” said Muskan Yadav, 25, from New Delhi. She has been using Shaadi.com to look for a man who is modest, respectful of his elders, will not demand a dowry and has some social status. Though her first encounter with a man she met on the site did not work out, she said it was a good experience because she talked to his parents first and then spent a month chatting with him before they met. “It was almost like the first time you meet your crush alone after expressing your feelings,” she said. Don’t Get Your Hopes Up Sudha, 28, from Goa, India, suggests that you wait to give a man you meet online your phone number because “most users are not reliable and serious.” She has been using Shaadi.com to look for a man who is ambitious, educated and fun-loving. Sudha was disappointed when some of the men she met in person were not the way they presented themselves in their online photos and messages. Remember: ask for a few recent photos of your match without hats or sunglasses. Don’t Settle Maanasa Kona has also been using Shaadi.com to look for a man who identifies as a feminist and is “well-educated enough to know his Nietzsche from his Kierkegaard.” Though she admits some of her requirements might be a little pretentious, Ms. Kona, 27, wants a man interested in art and culture who is an atheist “of the non-Harris/Hitchens/Dawkins variety.” Also, she doesn’t want to have children. She says she probably won’t find her dream man on any website “or anywhere else.” Except maybe a university philosophy department. Don’t let your parents force you into signing up for “these pestilential sites in the first place,” she advises. All you will get is spam, and disappointment. One awkward phone call with a potential suitor ended when he asked Ms. Kona how many children she wanted to “pop out,” and if it would be cool if they lived with his parents for the foreseeable future. “Maybe Tinder will finally come through instead,” she said. Tips on Finding a Wife Be Specific Image Parthav Desai on his wedding day. Credit Viral Shah Parthav Desai, 31, from Greensboro, N.C., used Shaadi.com to find his wife. He recommends being specific about the kind of partner you’re looking for on your profile. “After all, you will be judged on that basis and you’ve got to send the right message to the right person,” he said. He was looking for a non-judgmental, easygoing woman who was compatible with his family and friends. His first date asked him to fly to Texas, where she lived. Two years later, they were married. Deny, Deny, Deny James Gurung, 40, from New Delhi, said he was looking for a professional woman who has worked abroad and can drive, cook and swim, but does not snore. Most Indian women, he said, cannot do the first three, but often snore. He says to never admit to having any past relationships, even if the women you meet and their parents can reasonably assume that you have had some. “Indian women are looking for a Rama and Indian men are looking for a Sita,” he said, referring to the romantic Indian epic Ramayana. “No point in being Krishna,” the blue-colored Hindu god often depicted cavorting with women, he added. On his first date with one woman, he said, he wanted to escape because he thought she was too old. “But I was hungry,” he said. “So I ate, made small talk and left.” After 16 more attempts on TamilMatrimony, he finally found a bride and they were married. Don’t Overreach Karthik, 32, from Bangalore, India, has used several matrimonial sites, including Bharat Matrimony . He said he was looking for a good-looking, fair-skinned, educated woman who was career-oriented. But his first date with a woman he met on the site was the “worst,” he said. She was too smart. “Educated women have very high expectations,” he said. He recommends making your own decisions and not letting friends, family or others’ expectations influence you. Have an Open Mind Arvind, 30, from Chennai, India, said he was looking for an open-minded, good-looking, ambitious woman on Urban Tryst . Still, he recommends you abandon your preconceived notions about a woman before you go on a date with her. “Have an open mind and meet everyone that seems compatible,” he suggests. He made sure his first date with one woman was over coffee, “to keep it general and hence wanting more.” He is up to the fourth date now with the same woman and says it is going well.

Marriage
India
Weddings and Engagements
Dating
Online Dating


New Hope for Democracy in a Dynastic Land

Abstract: DOHA, Qatar — Now that he is set to become the new emir, the absolute ruler of Qatar, what possibly can Sheik Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani promise to the citizens of a tiny, incredibly rich country that seems to have everything? In Qatar, the unemployment rate flirts with zero (it is 0.1 percent); infants have a per-capita income over $100,000; health, housing, low interest loans and educations are all provided. Qataris have a world-class television network in Al Jazeera, will host the World Cup in 2022, are building an airport that will eclipse the one in nearby Dubai and hope to soon be self-sufficient in food production. But they do not have democracy. Some people here cautiously hope that the surprise decision of the outgoing emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, 61, to hand power to his fourth son , Sheik Tamim, 33, may signal the governing family’s intention to offer Qataris a taste of expanded personal freedoms, even if democracy is not explicitly on the agenda. There are some hints that already have at least a few Qataris excited. (For most, a beneficent feudal monarchy appears just fine, thanks, and they demonstrated their appreciation by lining up by the thousands, on foot and in their Mercedes and other luxury cars, to visit the two emirs, incoming and outgoing, in their palace on Tuesday and pledge their allegiance.) Najeeb al-Nauimi, the lawyer for Qatar’s only political prisoner, Mohammad ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami, said he was hopeful. His client was jailed for life last year for writing a poem that, in a fairly tame manner, criticized “sheiks playing on their PlayStations.” Mr. Ajami was arrested under a constitutional provision that forbids criticism of the emir, however indirect. Mr. Nauimi, who said he has known the incoming emir since the sheik was 9 years old, said Tuesday that Sheik Tamim had told him that Mr. Ajami would be released within a few days of the new emir’s accession to power. That does not speak to democracy as much as it does to the absolute power of the monarch, but all the same, Mr. Nauimi hoped it would be a signal of openness to come. “There will be a lot of changes, definitely,” Mr. Nauimi said. The outgoing emir already promised parliamentary elections by the end of the year — a constitutional requirement that is long overdue. Mr. Nauimi is among those agitating for amendments to the Constitution that would let that Parliament appoint the prime minister, paving the way for a constitutional monarchy inching closer to the British model and away from the autocratic style of the Persian Gulf states. It would be the first such example in any of the gulf’s monarchies, and one of the few in the Arab world. “I’m optimistic,” Mr. Nauimi said. Optimistic, but not absolutely sure — in part because the governing family has consistently demonstrated that it has no tolerance to being challenged, or even criticized indirectly. In the absence of any sort of public agitation, change will come from the top down, not from the bottom up. “I just don’t believe the people who say there won’t be any changes,” he said, offering what may be a case of wishful thinking. Image Sheik Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, center, in Doha in May. Some analysts suggest that he will nudge Qatar in the direction of a British-style constitutional monarchy. Credit Fadi Al-Assaad/Reuters But what can the new emir change? Many analysts say that Qatar’s aggressive interventionist foreign policy has become too integral a part of its national character to be rolled back. The betting is that the new foreign minister — expected to be appointed on Thursday with a new cabinet — will be promoted from within. Some here believe it may be Khalid al-Attiyah, the deputy foreign minister, who is close to the emir and a supporter of his many international ventures. “I think you’ll see some very big gestures from Sheik Tamim,” said John Watts, who works here for BLJ Worldwide , a well-paid consulting firm that acts as strategic adviser to the royal family and the Qatari government. The release of Mr. Ajami, the imprisoned poet? “That may well be one of them.” “I haven’t heard anything specific about his policy agenda, but that would fit into his nature and character,” Mr. Watts said. The outgoing emir himself seemed to be priming the pump for change in a televised address to the nation at 8 a.m. on Tuesday. (Oddly, because in the heat of summer few Qataris are actually awake that early). “The time has come to turn a new leaf in the history of our nation, where a new generation steps forward to shoulder the responsibility with their dynamic potential and creative thoughts,” the emir said. That of course could mean anything — or everything. One official close to the royal family said that the new cabinet would include at least one woman, and possibly two — a first here, and a rarity in the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf. “This is hugely exciting,” said Mike Holtzman, the president of BLJ Worldwide. While it is unusual in the region for a ruler to voluntarily step down, he said, “to those who follow Qatar, it is very much in keeping; they have invested heavily in their young people.” The incoming emir is an enigma, even to his own people, because until now his role has been in the background. “I don’t think Tamim and his father are far apart, philosophically,” said one former diplomat who has served in Qatar and who spoke anonymously in keeping with protocol. “But he’s done a good job of playing his cards close to his chest.” That has led to a school of thought here that he is socially conservative — none of his own three wives have anything like the high political profile role enjoyed by his mother, Sheika Mozah. “It’s just not true” that he is socially conservative, Mr. Holtzman said. For years, he was in the wings as his father and his prime minister ran the country, so people had little basis on which to judge him. “Now that he’s got the reigns, he’ll be showing concern for human rights, worker safety,” he said. “He has the wind at his back.” And democracy? “Well, Qatar is already a very open society.”

Qatar
Arab Spring
Hamad bin Khalifa al- Thani
Muhammad ibn al-Dheeb al- Ajami
Tamim bin Hamad al- Thani


Chinese Move to Prevent Reporting on Protests

Abstract: BEIJING — In the days since plainclothes security agents harassed and assaulted several foreign journalists on Sunday, the Chinese police have moved to prevent reporters and photographers from covering any potential public protests by establishing “no reporting” zones in Shanghai and Beijing. On Tuesday, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman defended the new restrictions and the behavior of the police, suggesting that the authorities were simply trying to maintain order. “The police provided reasonable guidance, and the journalists should understand and cooperate,” the spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, said at a regular news conference. “If both sides take this attitude, we can minimize the occurrence of such incidents.” The new limitations on reporters even in the absence of demonstrations highlight the government’s anxiety over the possible spread of unrest that has toppled authoritarian rulers in Egypt and Tunisia. Since anonymous calls for protests went out two weeks ago on an American Web site, state security forces have also placed scores of dissidents and rights advocates under surveillance and tightened censorship to prevent word of the “jasmine” rallies from spreading on the Internet or by means of microblogs. Although the new rules have not been formally announced, officials have informed a number of reporters and photographers that one of the capital’s main shopping districts, Wangfujing, and People’s Square in the heart of Shanghai are either off limits or require a special permit for taking photographs and conducting interviews. A cameraman working for The Associated Press received such a permit on Tuesday but was nonetheless prevented from filming by the police, the news agency said. The restrictions, which appeared to be a rollback of the news media laws that were liberalized before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, follow an outbreak of violence and intimidation against journalists who tried to cover rallies called by organizers last Sunday for more than 20 cities across the country. Three journalists were injured, including a Bloomberg News videographer who was seriously beaten by plainclothes security agents, according to the Foreign Correspondents Club of China , and more than a dozen reporters were barred from approaching Wangfujing by officers who cited vague new restrictions. The association also said that employees from five news organizations reported that some material or images had been confiscated and that nine other journalists had been detained for as long as four hours. In a statement e-mailed to its membership on Monday, the group described the tactics as vicious and well orchestrated, recounting instances in which men in plain clothes grabbed journalists, dragged them into alleys or shops and then forcibly erased images from their cameras. “It’s absolutely outrageous that in the middle of Beijing, the capital of China, a foreign reporter can be kicked and beaten in the face, and the authorities just blame the journalist, saying he was in breach of some regulations,” said the association’s president, Stephen McDonell, a correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “It’s a terrible development.” The Chinese news media have been barred from even discussing the rallies. In addition to the new restrictions on foreign reporters, the authorities have employed physical obstacles to would-be protests, erecting metal construction barriers adjacent to possible protest sites and hosing down nearby sidewalks to keep people moving. American and European diplomats have condemned the intimidation of journalists and criticized the rollback of news media rules. “I am disappointed that the Chinese public security authorities could not protect the safety and property of foreign journalists doing their jobs,” Jon Huntsman Jr., the departing American ambassador to China, said in a statement on Monday. “I call on the Chinese government to hold the perpetrators accountable for harassing and assaulting innocent individuals and ask that they respect the rights of foreign journalists to report in China.”

China
News and News Media
Demonstrations Protests and Riots
Politics and Government
Freedom of the Press


Russia Has Velvet Words for Obama, but Its Fist Is Clenched

Abstract: MOSCOW — Talk about mixed messages. Russia ’s leaders this week could not say enough good things about President Obama . His statements on Afghanistan were “encouraging,” his arms control proposals were “a fresh signal,” and plans for talks with Iran were “encouraging signals.” But the compliments came with the geopolitical equivalent of a punch in the nose. On Tuesday, in Moscow to accept $2.15 billion in Russian aid, Kyrgyzstan’s president announced a decision to close an air base in Manas that the United States uses. That move poses a formidable obstacle to Mr. Obama’s biggest foreign policy aim, prosecuting the Afghanistan war. Maybe this should not have come as a surprise. Starting with the bristling speech by President Dmitri A. Medvedev hours after Mr. Obama was elected, the signals from Moscow to the new American administration have veered from hostile to conciliatory and back. Moscow is clearly exploring the idea of cooperation. But it also insists, in arm-twisting fashion, that Mr. Obama make Russia’s interests a priority. “It’s not clear to me who’s calling the shots or what exactly the message is,” said Strobe Talbott, deputy secretary of state under President Clinton and now president of the Brookings Institution. “It’s an odd way to set the table for a serious, forward-looking dialogue. The Russians claim to want a discussion.” Afghanistan has been seen as an important area for cooperation between the countries because Russia has deep worries about the spread of Islamic extremism in the region. That notion was thrown into doubt on Tuesday when the Kyrgyz president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, announced plans to close the base, which is used to supply the military operation in Afghanistan. Kyrgyz and Russian officials have said the move has nothing to do with the pledge of Russian aid, but Moscow has long sought to push the United States out of the bases it has leased in Central Asia. Russian comments since then have suggested that if Mr. Obama hopes to proceed with his plans to deploy as many as 30,000 more troops in Afghanistan, he will have to secure Moscow’s support. That means addressing Russian complaints about issues that include American plans for missile-defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic and the expansion of NATO . “In the Russian mind, there is a window of opportunity to bargain, and if we are sitting down to bargain, we better have good cards on our side of the table,” said Oksana Antonenko, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. “What they see in the best-case scenario is a deal. A bargain,” she said. “It’s not a partnership.” The move was startling because it occurred amid a string of signals that Moscow was willing to engage Mr. Obama. American policy makers were encouraged by Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin ’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in which he muted his caustic anti-American tone. Mr. Medvedev organized a candid, hourlong meeting with the editor of Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper that is critical of the Kremlin and has lost a series of employees to gangster-style killings. He also promised to rewrite an anti-treason law that had infuriated human rights activists. In the last two weeks, Moscow announced that it was ready to open a NATO supply route to Afghanistan through Russia. And though official sources would not confirm it, an anonymous Defense Ministry official told the Interfax news service that Moscow had dropped a plan to station Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, near the Polish border. Then came Tuesday’s announcement about the Manas air base. “This really did come out of the blue for me,” said Andrew C. Kuchins, director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “It is a particularly Russian tactic: it’s sort of brutal, and rude, and makes it harder to achieve what you think their goal is.” Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview on Thursday that he called his counterpart in Moscow, Gen. Nikolai Makarov, on Wednesday, but had made no headway on the base closing. The Russians do not share Europeans’ giddiness over Mr. Obama. Relations between Russia and the United States last year reached their lowest point since the Soviet Union’s fall. Mr. Obama will have to deal with “the tail end of the Bush legacy,” including memories of last summer’s war in Georgia, said Sergei M. Rogov, director of the Institute for U.S. and Canada Studies in Moscow. “Can you imagine, after the Georgia war, that Russia would lobby Kyrgyzstan on behalf of the United States?” he asked. He added that the decision “was not something Russia did, it was something against which Russia didn’t object.” And Russian leaders are growing impatient to see concrete plans from Washington. Mr. Obama seems willing to slow the timeline on missile defense and NATO expansion, but not to shelve the projects publicly. “The real ballgame has not started,” Mr. Rogov said. “There will be tough bargaining on many issues.” It may be a mistake to look for a grand plan in statements coming out of Moscow, where major players still disagree about the benefits of a friendlier relationship and may be addressing domestic audiences. One raw issue — American influence in the post-Soviet sphere — underlies the raft of policy disputes between the capitals, said Professor Angela E. Stent, who directs Russian studies at Georgetown University. Resolving it “may be impossible to do,” she said, “but it has to be tried.”

Russia
International Relations
Obama Barack
Medvedev Dmitri A
Putin Vladimir V
North Atlantic Treaty Organization


Crash Near Everest Kills 18, Mostly German Tourists

Abstract: KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A small airplane crashed and caught fire Wednesday as the pilot tried to land at a tiny fog-shrouded airport near Mount Everest, killing 18 people, including 12 tourists from Germany, Australia and Nepal, officials said. Witnesses raced onto the tarmac in search of survivors but there was only one — the pilot, who was seriously injured. The 19-seat Yeti Airlines plane, which had taken off from the capital, Katmandu, snagged its wheels on a security fence during its landing at Lukla airport, about 40 miles from Mount Everest, said Mohan Adhikari, general manager of the Katmandu airport. The aircraft, a DeHavilland DHC-6 Twin Otter, caught fire and came to a stop on the airport grounds, Mr. Adhikari said. A fog had descended on the airport just before the crash, said Suraj Kunwar, a traveler at Lukla airport who was awaiting a flight. “Suddenly there was a big bang, and flames came out of the plane,” he said. “All the passengers waiting for planes ran to help douse the flames, but the passengers were already dead.” Lukla airport, little more than a runway carved into the side of the Himalayas at an altitude of 9,200 feet, is famous among travelers for its scenery, stomach-lurching landings — and occasional crashes. The runway ends in a steep drop of a few hundred feet. The Twin Otter is known for its ability to take off and land on short runways. Mr. Adhikari said the victims, included 12 Germans, 2 Australians and 2 Nepalese. There were also three Nepalese crew members — a pilot, co-pilot and flight attendant. The pilot was flown to Katmandu and hospitalized. Vijay Shreshta, executive director of Yeti Airlines, said the pilot’s injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. The Germans were on a tour run by Hauser Exkursionen, a travel company based in Munich. “We are completely shocked,” said Michael Schott, who owns the company, adding that one of the Nepalese victims was the group’s tour guide. The airport is an important jumping-off point for trekkers and mountaineers heading to Everest. The walk takes several days from there to Mount Everest Base Camp. In 2005, nine passengers and three crew members survived a crash at the airport in a small Gorkha Airlines plane with minor injuries.

Nepal
Airlines and Airplanes
Accidents and Safety


Girl’s Beating Not Reported, Family Says

Abstract: Relatives of Mohamed Shnewer, one of six men accused of plotting to kill soldiers at Fort Dix, said yesterday that his 12-year-old sister was beaten by a boy at her middle school last month — and that school authorities told them to keep quiet. The boy told Mr. Shnewer’s sister there was a terrorist on the loose, choked her and punched her in the face, the family said. He also told her, “Your brother is never going to come back,” according to family members, who have requested that the girl’s name not be published. The authorities called Mr. Shnewer a Muslim radical when he was arrested in May. The relatives said that because of the attack, the girl, two of her sisters and her mother went to Jordan. An older sister, Inas Shnewer, 19, said that the girl was badly bruised during the attack, on Sept. 19, and had a swollen cheek. Ms. Shnewer said that administrators at the school, the Carusi Middle School, in Cherry Hill, N.J., told the family to keep the beating quiet and not to contact the authorities. They said school officials showed the girl pictures from yearbooks, but she could not identify her assailant. Lt. William Kushina of the Cherry Hill Police Department said the police were notified of the unsolved attack on Monday. That was the same day that a Muslim-rights group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, publicized the attack. Afsheen Shamsi, a spokeswoman for the group, said that the authorities were taking the girl’s story seriously. “Our main concern is how the school handled it,” she said. Lieutenant Kushina said that schools were obligated to report assaults, but he was unsure how quickly they had to do so. Calls to the school’s principal, Kirk Rickansrud, were referred to the Cherry Hill School District. In a statement, the district said officials did not “ask the victim not to report the incident to police or other authorities.” But they also said that there was “a misunderstanding at the school level as to the appropriate protocol for reporting the incident” to the police. That was because “the investigation was still open, conflicting information was provided during interviews, and the victim and her mother left the country,” the district said. Although they said they were told not to contact the authorities, the Shnewers contacted an F.B.I. agent who had investigated their son, Ms. Shnewer said, who told them to contact the police. The six men are accused of being Muslim extremists who scouted military installations, including Fort Dix, and plotted an attack on soldiers.


Will Auburn’s B.C.S. Title Stick?

Abstract: GLENDALE, Ariz. — Running from the field to the locker room after Auburn’s 22-19 victory in the Bowl Championship Series title game on Monday night, Auburn center Ryan Pugh raised his arms and screamed to no one in particular, “They can’t take that away from us!” Later, by his locker, Pugh elaborated on his impromptu celebration. “Winning on the field,” he said. “You might not always be the media favorite or the favorites of the game. People might want to hate you for this or that, but at no point can they ever argue that there was a better team than us this year.” But amid the crisp white celebratory T-shirts and sweaty hugs, an elephant still loomed in the winning locker room on Monday night. As players picked confetti from their hair, they ducked questions about whether they were worried about Auburn’s national championship holding up under N.C.A.A. scrutiny of quarterback Cam Newton’s recruitment. “I’m not even going to answer those questions right now,” Pugh said. But Auburn cannot lock the crystal championship trophy in a case until the N.C.A.A. finishes the Newton investigation. The N.C.A.A. enforcement staff has been looking into Newton’s recruitment for at least four months. If it finds that he or his family committed violations, he could be ruled ineligible retroactively and Auburn could be forced to vacate its title. In the aftermath of the N.C.A.A. ruling that Reggie Bush and his family received improper benefits from a would-be marketing agent, the Trojans are expected to lose their 2004 title. The university is appealing the decision. When asked if there was any concern within the Auburn program that the title would be vacated because of the investigation, the Tigers’ defensive coordinator, Ted Roof, did not comment. The silence of the usually talkative Roof underscores the awkwardness of this Auburn victory. Athletic Director Jay Jacobs avoided reporters most of the past week here. One of the few times he did talk was to The Associated Press before the game, saying that Cecil Newton Sr., Cam’s father, would not attend. (The N.C.A.A. ruled that Cecil Newton should have his access to the Auburn program limited because he was trying to sell his son, and he skipped the Heisman Trophy ceremony.) Nevertheless, Cecil Newton was at University of Phoenix Stadium on Monday night, and father and son reportedly hugged after the game. An Auburn official later told USA Today that Cecil Newton had not received tickets from the university. The actions of Cecil Newton put Auburn under the N.C.A.A. microscope. The N.C.A.A. and Auburn agree that he attempted to shop his son to Mississippi State for $180,000 in a pay-for-play scheme brokered by a middleman. The Mississippi secretary of state is looking into the case because of the involvement of the middleman, Kenny Rogers, who has financial ties to the N.F.L. agent Ian Greengross. When reached on his cellphone on Tuesday afternoon, Jacobs said that he was going through airport security and could not talk about the investigation. “I’m not going to do that,” he said. The N.C.A.A. does not comment on the specifics of a continuing investigation. One question behind the inquiry is this: Why would Cecil Newton try to sell his son’s services to one Southeastern Conference university for $180,000 but not seek a similar payment from Auburn? (The N.C.A.A. declared Newton eligible because it ruled he had no knowledge of his father’s scheme.) The SEC’s commissioner, Mike Slive, said in an interview Saturday that to his knowledge, the N.C.A.A. had found no wrongdoing in the Newton case. He was also quick to say that it was the N.C.A.A.’s investigation, not his. The conference’s handling of the case, which included taking months to forward Mississippi State’s allegations to the N.C.A.A., may help spur a change in the way the SEC and other leagues handle potential infractions. But the possibility that the N.C.A.A. would take the national title away from Auburn offered little solace to the Oregon players, who said it would mean nothing. “They could take it away down the road; I don’t know,” the reserve quarterback Nate Costa said. “That’s unforeseen. For us, it really wouldn’t matter. We know Auburn beat us on the field today.” Costa said the wins Oregon received from U.S.C.’s having to vacate games because of the Bush ruling did not matter to the Ducks. “You win the game on the field, and that’s really all that matters,” he said. Auburn players said the Newton turmoil and scrutiny helped them bond throughout the season, and they kept defying expectations and came from behind eight times to win. “I think it was something that fueled our fire a little bit,” Pugh said. “You can say that you don’t want to read the media and you don’t want to listen to it, but at the same time, it’s there in front of you every time you turn the TV on.” Until the N.C.A.A. investigation is complete, and there is no telling when that will be, Auburn will have to face questions about whether its title will stick.

Newton Cameron J
Auburn University
Bowl Championship Series
National Collegiate Athletic Assn
College Athletics
Football


Santana, Mets’ Stopper, Is Unable to Stop the Astros

Abstract: HOUSTON — The excitement of the baseball season may be fading for the struggling Mets , but they can still sense somebody else’s fun as they trudge through their trips in the second half of this disappointing 2009 campaign. Five hours before they opened a series with the Astros on Friday night, a line of excited customers stood at the ticket windows of Minute Maid Park, waiting patiently to pay their money. Those fans became part of a festive crowd of 42,967 — the team’s second sellout of the season and its first since opening day — to see the Astros defeat the Mets, 5-4, in a match of two teams going in different directions. Houston beat Johan Santana (11-8), the Mets’ best pitcher, who struggled through six and two-thirds innings. He gave up 5 runs and 12 hits, tied for the most hits he has allowed in a game in his career. The winner was Mike Hampton (6-7), a former Met, who hit a two-run homer off Santana. Catcher Omir Santos hit a solo homer for the Mets. The Mets had a chance to tie it in the seventh on the game’s decisive play, when Daniel Murphy singled to right field and Jeff Francoeur tried to score from second. Hunter Pence’s throw was up the third-base line, but catcher Ivan Rodriguez took it back to the plate before Francoeur arrived. That resulted in an awkward dance by Francoeur, who seemed about to collide with Rodriguez before altering his route to try to avoid the tag. “I never could get anything behind it,” Francoeur said of his collision attempt. “I never could square it up.” That was one of several interesting and odd plays, which included Hampton’s two-run homer in the fourth inning that gave the Astros a 3-1 lead. Santana threw him a changeup on the first pitch and Hampton drove it into the left-field seats. “He put a good swing on a changeup,” Santana said. “He’s been doing that his whole career.” It was Hampton’s first home run this season, but the 16th in his major league career. Santana also noted the close dimensions of the Astros’ hitter-friendly park. “This ballpark — he took advantage of it,” Santana said. Santana had retired the first two hitters of the inning before Jeff Keppinger doubled to left field on a fly ball that could have been caught by Fernando Tatis, who seemed perplexed by the indented nook in the left-field wall. Mets Manager Jerry Manuel said Keppinger’s 10-pitch at-bat was a key to the outcome. Of Santana, Manuel said, “It probably wasn’t his best outing, but he competed.” The Mets are 2-6 since the All-Star break and 7-17 in their last 24 games. They are playing without several key starters and amid turmoil in their front office. They lost their previous two, in Washington, the second stop of a three-city tour. The Astros are as hot as the Mets are cold. Houston won its previous three games by sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals and has been victorious in 12 of its last 16. The Astros remain one and a half games behind the first-place Cardinals in the National League Central. Houston took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth with a two-out rally. A two-run double by Chris Coste broke a 3-3 tie and put the Astros ahead, 5-3. The Mets got one run back in the top of the sixth on the Santos home run. The Mets had tied it, 3-3, in the top of the fifth. The first run came on an opposite-field double by Luis Castillo to score Angel Berroa. After David Wright was walked intentionally, Francoeur brought Castillo home with a bloop single to center. Castillo had three hits, but the Astros played him to hit to the opposite field when he batted with two on and two out in the eighth. Carlos Lee charged toward the foul line in left to snag his slicing line drive. Hampton, who pitched for the Mets in 2000, gave up a run in the top of the first when Wright’s single scored Angel Pagan. The Astros got it back in the bottom half when Lee singled off Santana. Lee’s hit scored Kazuo Matsui, who played with the Mets from 2004 through 2006. Santana pitched out of trouble in the third when Pence grounded into a double play to end the inning. The problems began when the leadoff hitter, Michael Bourn, was safe on a misplay by Santana. Santana is generally a good fielder, but he threw backhanded and wildly over the head of first baseman Murphy after fielding a bunt by Bourn and missing him while trying to tag him in the basepath. The play was originally scored an error but changed to a hit. The Mets’ fielding, a chronic problem this season, continued to amaze. After Hampton’s home run, Bourn reached first on another infield hit. He appeared to be picked off by Santana. But Murphy’s throw skipped off the glove of Berroa, who was late to cover the bag. The ball went into center field and Bourn reached third on the error. Santana got out of the inning by retiring Matsui on a pop fly. “It’s always tough when you lose a game,” Santana said. “They took advantage of the mistakes we made.”

Baseball
New York Mets
Santana Johan
Houston Astros
Hampton Mike


Digital Age Creates Bumpy Nights at a Video Store

Abstract: When Milos Stehlik and Nicole Dreiske opened Facets Multi-Media in 1975, they ran their company on what could charitably be called a shoestring budget. Every month they survived was a reason to celebrate. Thirty-four years later, everything — and nothing — has changed. Today, Facets is a giant in the rarefied world of art-house films and cultural education. Its archives of more than 65,000 titles house what Mr. Stehlik claims is the world’s largest collection of art films, including some last-existing copies. Its ongoing film series exposes cineastes of every age to experimental works alongside beloved classics. Its staff of film enthusiasts delightedly recommends movies — from mainstream new releases to esoteric fare — to anyone who walks in off the street or uses their pioneering home-delivery rental system. The film critic Roger Ebert has called Facets “a temple to great cinema.” It is a cultural treasure trove and invaluable resource for movie lovers. Yet every month is still a struggle to survive. “Look, when we started, we had a typewriter and a few dollars,” Mr. Stehlik said. “Of course, those were difficult times. But in the early days it’s just you and your energy, and your delusions and your sacrifices.” As the director of Facets, Mr. Stehlik faces a mounting pile of bills, including ever-escalating property taxes on the organization’s modest building on Fullerton Avenue, and a payroll of 33 people, down from 50 a year and a half ago. Like most employers now, he is constrained by a reduced annual budget of $3.5 million, cut from $7 million in 2007. And while 70 percent of that money is earned income — from Facets’ retail operations and fees from its 1,600 members — for the remaining 30 percent, Mr. Stehlik is dependent on donors and grants, which are harder to come by in this economy. Unlike the city’s larger institutions, like the Field Museum or the Museum of Science and Industry, Facets cannot depend on an interest-generating endowment to help shield it from grim fiscal realities. Yet, Mr. Stehlik seems comfortable with the idea of imminent financial disaster. “We’ve been on that precipice many times in the last few years,” he said. “We live paycheck to paycheck, like most Americans.” But Facets’ quandary is not just about money. While an infusion of cash would allow Mr. Stehlik and his staff to expand their educational offerings and to carry out desperately needed outreach and marketing programs, their long-term survival is tied to broader, more nebulous questions. How does his business survive in a world of mergers and corporate conglomerates? And if it does survive, can it compete in the modern marketplace, where digital content is replacing film? Put another way: Is there a place for 16-millimeter film in a world of streaming video? Mr. Stehlik, unsurprisingly, believes there is. So does Eric Holst, Facets’ operations manager, who, like his boss, talks about film’s capacity for forging “emotional connections” and fostering “spiritual enrichment.” Mr. Holst said there were plans to address one of Facets’ perennial weaknesses: a distaste for self-promotion. Many people in Chicago simply are not aware of “what we do and what we can offer,” Mr. Holst said. He is confident that increased awareness will translate into expanded membership rolls and a healthier bottom line. A first step, quite literally, is planned for spring. Mr. Holst will kick off a shoe-leather, political-style campaign, sending volunteers across the city on a door-to-door mission to spread the gospel of film — and of Facets. Other plans for 2010 include a film series featuring restored, remastered editions of documentaries about and made in Chicago, as well as programs like a Latino film festival, which will showcase the depth of Facets’ catalog while targeting as-yet untapped communities of potential new members. Meanwhile, Facets has plenty of stalwart fans, including Judy Hoffman, a veteran filmmaker and faculty member in the department of cinema and media studies at the University of Chicago. She calls Facets’ collection “breathtaking,” and also praises its education and distribution programs. “The scope of their outreach is phenomenal,” Ms. Hoffman said.

Facets Multimedia
Facets Multimedia
Archives and Records
Movies
Renting and Leasing
Chicago (Ill)


How to Surf Safely at Cybercafes: Use Their Computer, but Bring Your Own Desktop From Home

Abstract: New flash drives from Lexar will come with software that lets you carry a virtual copy of your home computer in your pocket and surf the Web securely through other Windows machines. Plug in a flash drive with the software, called PowerToGo, when you are on the road and the computer will show you a desktop that looks just like yours at home. Your personal programs, buddy list, e-mail profile and preferences are all available. The PowerToGo software can run programs directly from the flash drive as if it were the host computer's main drive. But it also saves storage space on the drive by using programs commonly found on host computers, like Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office, and superimposing your personal settings. All logs and temporary files are saved to the flash drive, leaving no traces on the host computer. The program will be included on Lexar Lightning drives starting in early July. The 1-gigabyte Lightning lists for $100 and the 2-gigabyte is $160. The drives will be available through www.lexar.com and from major retailers. The software works with more than 100 tested Windows programs, but to use one that is not on the list, you will have to pay $30 extra for the "install-anything installer" after a free trial period.

Computers and the Internet
Computer Software


Colombia Slumps to Victory Over Peru in Copa América Quarterfinal

Abstract: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It is, traditionally, one of the weirder features of the Copa América: There is no extra time in case of a 90-minute draw, in the quarterfinal and semifinal knockout rounds. Teams skip the 30-minute overtime and go directly to penalty kicks, unless a tie occurs in the tournament’s final. And so as the clock tick-tocked along at MetLife Stadium on Friday night, the possibility grew into the probability that this frustrating, scoreless quarterfinal between Colombia and Peru would end up in one of those unfortunate, nearly random shootout results. That is exactly what happened in a match that did not quite live up to the exuberance or expectations of the capacity crowd. Colombia somehow hung on for a 4-2 penalty-kick victory after goalkeeper David Ospina made an improbable diving save with his left foot off a shot by Peru defender Miguel Trauco to hold a 3-2 edge. The clinching miss occurred when Christian Cueva, Peru’s No. 10, leaned too far back and sailed an attempt high over the net. For that one kick save, Ospina, the keeper for Arsenal, was named player of the match. “The game was very intense, very divided,” Colombia Coach José Pékerman said. “I had no doubt this match would be like this. Luckily in the end, I think, we deservedly took the win, even if it was on penalty kicks. We know that we can do better.” Paulo Guerrero, arguably Peru’s best player, asked to take the team’s fifth penalty kick and never had a chance to step up to the spot. “To be eliminated by penalty kicks hurts more,” Peru Coach Ricardo Gareca said. “Both teams did a good job of holding back their opponent. We need to develop more goal-scoring opportunities. I think the game was less exciting than the three others we played.” Earlier in the tournament, it appeared that this scheduled quarterfinal might well feature a showcase Brazil-United States match. Then Brazil crashed out, losing to Peru on Raúl Ruidíaz’s infamous handball goal, and the Americans surpassed Colombia in the Group A standings. Suddenly, Friday night at the Copa América was an all-South American affair, and a fairly dreary one. The match became a soccer hater’s best argument against the sport. There were many exaggerated flops, and virtually no scoring chances. This turn of events did nothing to deter the crowd, announced at 79,194, which filled the stadium with cheers of hope at impressive decibels. Considering the dismal behavior by crowds at the European Championships in France, these supporters remained remarkably good-natured throughout, trading chants and sharing organized red-and-yellow waves. Colombia was the clear favorite and had the advantage in possession throughout the first half. When it came to penetrating the final line of Peruvian defenders, however, Colombia lacked the imagination or the commitment to create new lines of attack. Peru appeared to lack the skill or the nerve to take the necessary risks. By the FIFA rankings, Colombia, known as Los Cafeteros, or the Coffee Growers, was a heavy favorite. It was ranked No. 3 in the world before the start of the tournament, in its hundredth year. It also won the Copa América in 2001. Peru, which won the title in 1975, stands at No. 48 in the FIFA rankings. “We know that we can do better,” Pékerman said. “We’ll acknowledge the negative. Sometimes we were rushed. We have to have a sense of patience.” Colombia now advances to a semifinal next week in Chicago against the winner of the Chile-Mexico match. If Mexico wins that game, the Colombians can expect a decidedly more hostile crowd. Maybe an edgy atmosphere will create some sharper soccer.


Jason Day’s Inconsistent Tee Shots Hinder His Bid at Firestone

Abstract: Jason Day wanted to expand his one-stroke lead Saturday at the Bridgestone Invitational. He finished the day happy just to have maintained a share of it. Spraying tee shots all over Firestone in Akron, Ohio, Day spent most of the afternoon scrambling for par until he made a 35-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole that settled him down in a hard-earned round of one-under-par 69 to share the lead with Scott Piercy. Piercy, coming off a runner-up finish at the United States Open two weeks ago at Oakmont in Plum, Pa., quickly tied Day for the lead with an eagle on the par-5 second hole and was flawless until the final hole. He had a one-shot lead until pulling his tee shot into the left rough, running a low shot through the green and into a back bunker, and having to scramble just to escape with a bogey and a 67. Day and Piercy were at five-under 205, the highest 54-hole score at this world golf championship since 2007. Only nine players remained under par, and given the firm conditions at Firestone, Day said he believed they all had a chance. David Lingmerth of Sweden had a 69 and was one shot behind. The big move Saturday belonged to the U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson, who hits it a long way and has a short memory. After warming up on the range, Johnson said he was ready for a great round of golf, adding, “I’m due.” Johnson was five under through 11 holes and closing in on the lead when he played the final seven holes in one over for a 66. Still, that was enough to get him to two-under 208, three shots behind, along with Charl Schwartzel (67) and William McGirt (70). Justin Thomas and Emiliano Grillo were another shot back. Jordan Spieth shot another 71 and was five shots behind. Piercy had no such issues. He holed a bunker shot on the second hole for eagle and did not have any stress in his round except for the 35-foot par putt he holed from the back fringe on the 14th hole. The final hole cost him the lead, but he was driving the ball well enough to think he had a strong chance to pick up his fourth career victory. “I know I can do it,” Piercy said. “It’s just doing it on a consistent basis, like a Jordan or a Jason and those guys.”


A Mere 112 Million? The Super Bowl’s Audience Is Tough to Gauge

Abstract: The Super Bowl may sometimes disappoint as a competitive game, but never as an audience grabber. Witness Seattle’s 43-8 drubbing of Denver last year. Despite being a blowout, it was the fourth straight Super Bowl to draw 100 million viewers, generating a record 112.8 million. We know the reasons for the game’s appeal: The Super Bowl is a de facto national holiday celebrating the nation’s most popular sport. Many viewers focus on the commercials. The halftime musical guests — Katy Perry will headline on Sunday — engage still others. As a one-day event, it is unmatched in American sports; only the Olympics can accumulate such huge audiences, but it takes the Games more than two weeks. The N.F.L. so dominated the list of the most seen programs in the 2013-14 season that only three were not pigskin-related: the Academy Awards (45.3 million viewers), the 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony (33.5 million) and the Grammy Awards (30.5 million). The league and the broadcasters who carry the Super Bowl believe there are more viewers out there, not only because of population growth, but also because some people who watch the game are not counted by Nielsen: people in bars, restaurants and offices; those at parties and clubs; and, to an increasingly important degree, fans watching on mobile devices. What if all those viewers were included in Nielsen’s calculations? Mark Lazarus, chairman of the NBC Sports Group, said the other day that he thought the number of viewers would be closer to 115 million or 120 million. “I really believe that the number is underreported substantially,” Lazarus said during a news media conference call to promote NBC’s broadcast of the Seattle-New England matchup. “If you take 120 million or so and add the parties, there’s no doubt in my mind that one in every two Americans is watching the game,” he said. That would be about 160 million viewers. Not that the N.F.L. or the networks need more Super Bowl viewers. The promise of enormous viewership every year has pushed the cost of a 30-second commercial to $4.4 million. Whether that viewership or windfall will be tempered in the future by people turning from football because of concerns over concussions or domestic violence cases cannot yet be judged. Finding a way to measure out-of-home viewing has vexed the networks and Nielsen for more than 25 years. No perfect technology has been developed to determine how many people who are watching are not counted. Bring them in from the cold, networks have implored Nielsen. In 1988, an ABC survey focusing on a San Francisco 49ers-Chicago Bears “Monday Night Football” game in 418 bars showed that 2.8 million viewers had gone uncounted by Nielsen. During the last two Olympics, NBC found that out-of-home viewing gave an 11 percent lift to its ratings for the 2012 Summer Games in London and a 9 percent ratings uptick for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. More recently, a three-month test last year by Nielsen in Chicago of people ages 25 to 54 showed that out-of-home viewing of general programming lifted ratings 7 percent to 9 percent; sports ratings got a 14 percent jump in April. “We’ve been doing this for a zillion years,” said Alan Wurtzel, president of research and media development for NBC Universal, who was at ABC when it measured the out-of-home “Monday Night Football” viewing. “Nielsen has said that their methodology was designed to deal with in-home viewing, not out-of-home. The issue now is that as the medium has become more portable and the technology more personal, it isn’t about people watching at the health club or bar, but on a smartphone or tablet. And we know this behavior is only increasing. It will be the new normal, and we have to account for it.” Those who are watching a game on a phone or tablet, Wurtzel said, are likely to be paying closer attention to what they’re seeing than those in a crowded bar or at a party. And everyone at every network wants that mobile consumer, and many more, to count in Nielsen’s numbers. In a statement, a Nielsen spokesman described the company’s “significant and steady progress” in measuring out-of-home viewers with current technologies — like the portable people meter (a pager-like device that picks up audio signals from the television) — and in measuring viewers “wherever they may be, regardless of device and location.” If out-of-home measurement can elevate Super Bowl viewership to 120 million and beyond, it might also push the game’s rating to a 50.0. The previous high of 49.1 was reached in 1982, when the 49ers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 26-21, in Super Bowl XVI. The next highest, 48.6, came a year later, as Washington beat Miami, 27-17. The rating has stayed in the 40s ever since , except for a dip to 39.0 in 1990, when the 49ers crushed the Denver Broncos, 55-10. Yet the growing population has pushed the Super Bowl audience from 85.2 million in 1982 to 106.5 million for the New Orleans Saints’ 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in 2010. That audience broke the United States viewership record of 105.9 million, set by the final episode of “M*A*S*H” in 1983. If a ceiling for Super Bowl viewership exists, we don’t know where it is. A game like Sunday’s, prefaced by the saga of deflated footballs and Marshawn Lynch’s bons mots, may set another record.

Football
TV
Ratings
Nielsen Media Research
Super Bowl


No Respite on the Court for the Knicks

Abstract: GREENBURGH, N.Y. — As if Raymond Felton weren’t having enough trouble keeping opposing point guards out of the lane, his estranged wife went around him to deliver his gun, unregistered in New York, to the police. Already convicted in the court of public basketball opinion, he’s now been declared guilty by one city tabloid (“Raymond Felon”) of two criminal counts. Welcome to the pitiless world of all Knicks not named Carmelo Anthony as they take turns being pummeled and impugned for the franchise’s worst season since, well, pick one from any of the mostly forgettable years under a certain notorious ownership. “This is not a distraction to this team,” Felton said as he gave an extemporaneous statement, arms folded — more defensively than defiantly — on Wednesday afternoon at the Knicks’ training base. To the contrary, the Knicks really could use a distraction or two from their continuing misery, though presumably not even Felton’s most determined critics would relish his current state of off-court affairs. In a charitable gesture, the Knicks allowed one teammate, Tyson Chandler, out of the team’s fortified zone to support Felton before a flight to Miami for Thursday night’s game against the salivating Heat. “We’re brothers,” Chandler said, referring to Felton, who will return to Manhattan Criminal Court to face the gun charges on June 2. Chandler added that being allowed to finish the season should alleviate Felton’s burden because “any time you step between those lines, it’s a safe zone.” Usually it is, at least from criminal prosecution. But barring a miracle turnaround over the final 25 games, the court will remain among the places where Felton and his much-criticized teammates are reminded of how much they have undermined the overriding season’s mandate of measuring up to mollify Carmelo. Felton, the point guard, has not held up his end of the bargain to help keep Anthony from pursuing free agency, as Anthony said he would before the season. Besides getting hurt, Chandler has not been a good enough rim protector. J. R. Smith has flopped as the secondary scorer, as have Andrea Bargnani as the prime acquisition and Iman Shumpert as the player supposedly with the most promising upside. After 54 victories last season, Mike Woodson has forgotten how to coach and, in short, the Knicks have all had their episodic periods of being targeted for various levels of villainy, for putting the Anthony era and its one playoff series victory at perilous risk. While carrying these underachievers around the country on his shoulders, Anthony has continued shooting and scoring amid all of his suffering. His increasingly dire reports on the agony of losing have portrayed him as truly committed to winning, even as he has rhetorically distanced himself from teammates and isolated himself on the wing, free to shoot with impunity. Image The Knicks’ owner, James L. Dolan, center, had title aspirations this season, but he has not provided a championship supporting cast. Credit Joe Camporeale/USA Today Sports, via Reuters Measured against the Madison Square Garden strongman James L. Dolan’s reported expectations of championship contention, this ready-aim-blame game wasn’t difficult to envision on the opening day of training camp when the new team president, Steve Mills, addressed reporters before disappearing into Dolan’s news media blackout cave. Mills opened by declaring the team’s goal of a long-term commitment from “one of those superstar players that don’t come around very often.” That day, I predicted “a season of breathtaking pandering to Carmelo Anthony.” With injuries piling on, increasing the pressure, it’s no surprise that everyone besides Anthony has been collaterally damaged. One of the great scoring machines in N.B.A. history, Anthony has played undeniably hard and gone on binges that are even harder to believe. But beyond the standard knock on him — he doesn’t make players around him better — is the fair question of whether he actually makes them worse. How does anyone develop cohesion and confidence playing with someone who scores as effortlessly as Anthony does and always believes he is the better option, no matter the circumstances? Who in the Knicks’ community could possibly tell Anthony what the television analysts gently suggest — that he trust his teammates more and pace himself into the fourth quarter? That when Anthony monopolizes the ball, the Knicks’ offense is canned vegetables compared with the fresh aroma of the more evolved teams that space the floor and move the ball? Who can be the one to remind him that he and Dolan are more responsible than any other Knick or combination thereof for the state of the franchise? In the interest of getting Anthony maximum dollars and Dolan a superstar to help justify huge ticket-price increases for his refurbished arena, they cooked up the deal that cost the Knicks too many assets, including the progressively regrettable forfeiture of their 2014 first-round draft pick. In the interests of continuing the illusion of Anthony as a rock-solid franchise foundation, it’s much more convenient to blame the fall guys, especially those with obvious foibles like Smith and now Felton. But you wonder if Felton would be generating more sympathy — or less antipathy — had he been playing the brand of ball he showed as Amar’e Stoudemire’s pick-and-roll partner early in the 2010-11 season and again at times last year. In a gun-crazed country, it’s hardly shocking when a millionaire athlete is hit with a weapons charge. Felton clearly has personal issues to go with the gun, Chandler admitting that “you can always tell” when a teammate is struggling with life. In Felton’s case, his poor performance has contributed much to this season of woe. But let’s also recall he returned to the Knicks last season only because Dolan didn’t want to pay Jeremy Lin and Anthony didn’t want to play with him. Off court and on, the Knicks’ collapse has been a total team effort, from the top down. In certain ways, Dolan and Anthony have brought this dysfunction on themselves.

Basketball
Knicks
Raymond Felton
Carmelo Anthony
Mike Woodson