Stamford Restaurants Face Ban on Trans Fats

Abstract: stamford HAVING an order of French fries, or a piece of cake for dessert, might become a bit healthier in some restaurants here this summer when a trans fat ban goes into effect. The city will ban restaurants from using trans fats beginning July 1. The new regulations do not apply to the sale of prepackaged foods. Dannel P. Malloy, Stamford’s mayor, said he proposed the ban because while many national restaurant chains had already stopped using trans fats, many smaller independent establishments have yet to follow suit. “What we’re seeing, quite honestly, are a lot of places in the city that serve less affluent people still cooking Latino foods, or other ethnic foods, using trans fats,” Mr. Malloy said. “That’s created a disparity of the health factor of food along economic lines, and we need to address that.” Stamford appears to be the first city or town in the state to ban the use of trans fats, which are derived from partially hydrogenated oils and are considered to increase the risk of heart disease. William Gerrish, a spokesman for the State Department of Public Health, said that he knew of no other. Last year, a bill banning trans fats throughout the state was passed by the Senate, but was never brought up for a vote in the House. State Senator John McKinney, Republican of the 28th District, a cosponsor of the bill, said that he would introduce it again next year if he is re-elected. “We’ve learned that trans fats are extremely harmful to your health, in terms of heart disease, and that there are effective alternatives that accomplish the same cooking goals as trans fats,” he said. In Stamford, Dr. Johnnie A. Lee, the director of Health and Social Services and the city’s medical adviser, said the ordinance would help to eliminate cardiovascular disease and help educate the public. “This will prompt people to read labels and ask questions about trans fats,” he said. Joseph Coppola, a Republican member of the city’s board of representatives, said that he voted against it. “I don’t believe it’s a legislator’s job to determine what people can eat and what they can’t eat,” he said. Simon A. Flynn, the president and chief executive of the Connecticut Restaurant Association, which represents approximately 750 restaurants in the state, said that he supported eliminating trans fats. He said that the July 1 deadline was too soon. “They’re not giving the marketplace, the suppliers and the restaurants themselves, enough time to reformulate what they need, and where to find new supplies,” he said. “There are all kinds of issues.” Dr. Lee said that the ordinance would be enforced during regular health inspections. He said letters about the ordinance had been sent to every food service business in the city last November and December, and so far his department has not received any complaints or questions. The operators of several restaurants and bakeries said that they no longer used trans fats. Maria Aposporos, the owner of Curley’s Diner in Stamford and a city representative who voted for the ordinance, said that she was persuaded to use vegetable oil, instead of trans fats, at her business 25 years ago. “If you keep your customers healthy and going back to work, they will continue to come here,” she said. “If you help get them sick and they are unable to work, they are not going to go out to eat, either.” In downtown Stamford, some diners said they favored the ban. Mike Dreibelbis, 23, of Stamford, who works for a non-profit bank in the city said: "It’s nice that you won’t have to worry about whether what you’re eating was made with trans fats." “I think it’s great,” said Alena Kerins, 28, a bookkeeper who lives in Stamford. “There are healthier alternatives that taste exactly the same.”

Connecticut
Trans Fatty Acids
Stamford (Conn)
Restaurants


Spain: Couple Accused of Links to ISIS

Abstract: Two Spanish residents arrested in Turkey are suspected of having links to terrorists and membership in the Islamic State group, the Interior Ministry said Saturday. The couple, a Moroccan man identified as Ahmed Debza and a Spanish woman named as Nadia Ataich Fernández, live in Spain’s North African enclave of Melilla. The government said they had been in contact with others to encourage them to travel to Syria and join the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, offering them aid to do so.

Turkey
ISIS,ISIL,Islamic State
Spain
Terrorism
Melilla Spain


For Simone Manuel, Gold Ripples Beyond the Pool

Abstract: RIO DE JANEIRO — Simone Manuel woke up Friday morning to confirmation that her victory in the 100-meter freestyle a few hours earlier had not been a dream. The proof was perhaps more surreal than Thursday night’s payoff: Instagram posts from LeBron James and Serena Williams. Manuel’s friend and fellow trailblazer Lia Neal had forwarded the messages after stumbling across them on Twitter. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, I wish I could see her reaction right now,’” Neal said. “She doesn’t need to hear from anyone else. Those are like her two favorite athletes.” Manuel’s popularity got an emphatic spike after she became the first African-American woman to win an individual swimming event at the Olympics. Manuel, a 20-year-old Texan, shared the gold medal with 16-year-old Penny Oleksiak, who also made history, becoming the youngest gold medalist from Canada. James wrote that he watched the race with his daughter . Williams posted a picture of Manuel and Simone Biles, who won the gymnastics all-around gold medal, and called them “amazing.” One mother posted a photograph on Twitter of her exuberant young black daughter posing in front of a television screen that showed Manuel being interviewed. By early Friday evening, it had more than 12,000 likes. “I saw that picture,” Neal said. “I retweeted it. I was tearing up again.” The top of the medals podium at Olympic Aquatics Stadium was crowded Thursday night, and not because there were co-gold medalists for the first time in the Olympics since 2000, when Anthony Ervin, whose father is African-American and American Indian, tied his teammate Gary Hall Jr. in the 50 freestyle. A Day of Finals Won and Records Broken 16 Photos View Slide Show › Image Quinn Rooney/Getty Images. Standing on the podium with her, Manuel said, were Neal, Ervin, Maritza Correira, Cullen Jones and all the black swimmers whose success shaped Manuel’s dreams. “This medal is not just for me, it’s for some of the African-Americans that have come before me, have been inspirations and mentors to me,” Manuel said. In 2012, Neal became the second African-American woman to make a United States Olympic swim team, after Correia in 2004. Neal was 17 and a rising senior in high school. Neal and Correia earned medals as members of 4x100 freestyle relays in their first Olympics. Correia won a silver, Neal a bronze. On Saturday, Neal raced in the morning heat for the American 4x100 relay team, which later took the silver. Neal, a rising senior at Stanford who grew up in Brooklyn, was asked which medal she considers more precious, her silver or the gold that Manuel earned in an upset. “I think Simone’s gold,” Neal said. “I just felt more when she touched the wall and saw that she won. I knew exactly what went into winning that gold medal.” Neal feels a sisterly bond to Manuel, who is one year behind her at Stanford. In the lead-up to the Olympics, they often felt as if people saw their stories as being only skin deep. On the way to becoming the first two black women to grace the same United States Olympic swimming team, Neal and Manuel often compared notes after news media interviews. To their growing frustration, race was often discussed more than their races. Image Manuel, left, and Penny Oleksiak of Canada tied to win gold in the 100-meter freestyle. Credit Chang W. Lee/The New York Times “We talk about it and acknowledge that other people talk about it,” Neal said, “but we’re like ‘O.K., we’re here, like everyone else here we’re training toward winning, toward representing their country in the best way possible. History comes along with that.” She added, “It’s cool because we’re not seeking to make history or change lives, we’re just doing what we love.” Neal sat with Manuel roughly two hours before Thursday’s final. They listened to music, including the song “1, 2 Step” by Ciara and Missy Elliott. Neal’s parting words were “Pipe It Up,” from Migos. Neal said she was shaking before Manuel’s race and started crying during the last 10 meters when it dawned on her that Manuel might win. The prerace favorites were Cate Campbell of Australia, who lowered the world record to 52.08 in July, and her sister, Bronte, who had clocked a 52.58 in April. Manuel posted a 53.32 in the heats, a 53.11 in the semifinals and a 52.70 in the final. “I was super surprised,” Manuel said after the race. “I don’t think there was a definitive point where I thought I had the race.” How shocking was the outcome? Sarah Sjostrom, the Swede who finished third, said, “Penny and the American girl winning, I think that was the biggest surprise of the meet.” (Never mind that “the American girl” had finished sixth, four places behind Sjostrom, in the 100-meter freestyle final at last summer’s World Championships in Kazan, Russia). Image Manuel, left, and Penny Oleksiak of Canada tied to win gold in the 100-meter freestyle. Credit Chang W. Lee/The New York Times After Manuel finished giving interviews in the mixed zone, she fell into the arms of Neal and another Stanford teammate, Maya DiRado. “She was just bawling,” Neal said. “She was like: ‘I’m so happy you guys are my teammates. I couldn’t have done this without you guys. I love you.’” Manuel’s sentiments meant the world to Neal, who was disappointed when she did not qualify for these Games in an individual event. “Why I broke down in tears and why I felt so much emotion when she won was because I was there with her every step of the way,” Neal said. “I knew exactly what it took to get to that point and win a gold medal firsthand.” How long will it take for swimming in the United States to become colorblind? Is one gold enough to change the questions Manuel and Neal face? “I think this definitely catapults us many steps forward,” Neal said, adding, “I think just that one medal will bring so many different people into the sport and inspire so many different people.” Manuel, who on Friday qualified for Saturday’s 50-meter freestyle final, said she looked forward to the day when she is known simply as a champion. After the 100 final, she said, “I would like there to be a day where there are more of us and it’s not Simone, the black swimmer, because the title ‘black swimmer’ makes it seem like I’m not supposed to be able to win a gold medal or I’m not supposed to be able to break records.”

Swimming
2016 Summer Olympics
Simone Manuel
Lia Neal
Black People,African-Americans
Penny Oleksiak
Youth


Taking Aim at Icicles to Keep Trains Moving Into and Out of New York

Abstract: The rail tunnels that connect New York City and New Jersey are 105 years old, and the technique that Amtrak employees have been using to keep trains running through them this frigid winter is hardly more modern. In essence, it involves a whole lot of whacking. Three or four times a day, a crew armed with telescoping yellow poles topped with hammerlike appendages rolls through the tunnels hunting for icicles. When the workers spot one dangling from the arched ceiling, they signal for the rail car operator to stop and they reach up and take aim. A few quick whacks and the Ice Patrol rolls on, having headed off another potential disruption of the tightly choreographed train traffic under the Hudson River. But on some especially cold days — Friday, for instance — the ice forms faster and in more places than the Ice Patrol can handle. The result can be a disastrous start, or end, to the workday for thousands of commuters who depend on the two single-track tunnels. They provide the only direct passage for trains traveling between Manhattan and points west. Each weekday, about 450 trains operated by Amtrak and New Jersey Transit pass through them. Commuters were delayed going into the city on Friday morning and again trying to get home that night. Both times they were told that the culprit was Amtrak’s Ice Patrol — an explanation that for years has elicited dubious responses on social media. Image The tunnels that the Ice Patrol crews maintain are used by not only Amtrak but also New Jersey Transit. Credit Ángel Franco/The New York Times Frustrated commuters took to Twitter on Friday evening to question the wisdom of deploying the Ice Patrol during rush hours and even to question its very existence. A woman posted a remark about “the excuses train conductors give.” A man followed with a message about the Ice Patrol, saying, “I’d love to meet them or see their uniforms.” Well, yes, Twitterati, there is an Ice Patrol. But the closest thing to a uniform that its members wear is a reflective orange vest and a plastic hard hat. On Tuesday morning, a crew of four regulars and three trainees boarded a dingy, diesel-powered “catenary maintenance vehicle” beneath Pennsylvania Station and set out in search of icicles. But first, Scott Mayers, the driver, had to call for the electricity that powers trains through the tunnels to be shut off. That 12,000-volt current runs through copper wires just below the ceiling of the tunnel. Those wires are part of the catenary system from which the trains draw the electricity that powers their engines. When ice forms on or above the wires, it can play havoc with the catenary system, tripping circuit breakers and leaving trains powerless on the tracks. If left unchecked, the ice can weigh on the wires enough to cause them to snap or fall. Image Randy Honeycutt cleared ice from overhead train wires beneath Pennsylvania Station on Wednesday. Credit Ángel Franco/The New York Times John H. Kremp, who oversees the Ice Patrol, said that Friday, when temperatures were in the single digits in the morning, was an exceptionally tough day in what has been an unusually challenging winter. Ice knocked out the power in the tunnels 12 times that day, he said. Even worse, Mr. Kremp said, it caused a cable to break inside the south tube on the cusp of the evening rush. Trains scheduled to depart from Penn Station were delayed for more than two hours. “It was the worst possible time,” Mr. Kremp said on Wednesday, as the Ice Patrol rumbled through the narrow passage past the scene of the damage. “Thank God nobody was stuck in here. They were delayed but they were delayed inside the terminal, where it was warm and they had food.” A member of the Ice Patrol said there had been so much ice on the walls and ceiling of the tunnel on Friday that it “looked like Crystal Cave.” Monday had been another challenging day, he said, because temperatures had fallen sharply after a brief warm spell on Sunday. Mr. Kremp said the south tube posed more trouble in cold weather because eastbound trains heading into Manhattan enter it at speeds as fast as 60 miles an hour, pushing a clot of cold air ahead of them. That frigid air contacts the water seeping through the pits and cracks in the concrete inner shell of the tunnel and turns it to ice, he said. Image Randy Honeycutt works on an Amtrak Ice Patrol crew. Credit Ángel Franco/The New York Times Mr. Kremp, whose title is assistant division engineer for electric traction, said Amtrak tried to limit the ice problem a few years ago by spraying a sealant inside the tunnels. But he said that did not prove to be a lasting solution. For now, the Ice Patrol is left to do battle the old-fashioned way. On Wednesday, after clearing a few icicles from the north tube under the Hudson, Mr. Mayers parked the rail car on the New Jersey side and waited for the go-ahead to switch to the track leading to the south tube. As inbound trains stacked up behind it, the Ice Patrol resumed watching for its searchlight to reflect off icy crystals. Through the plastic shield covering his bearded face, Randy Honeycutt spotted the enemy: ice wrapped around the copper wire overhead. Mr. Honeycutt, standing on a small platform on the back end of the rail car, stretched out his pole and swung it at the cable. Whack, whack, whack, and down came a shower of ice chunks. With the Hudson tubes cleared, the Ice Patrol chugged on to its next assignment: clearing ice out of the century-old tunnels under the East River that connect the Long Island Rail Road to Penn Station. The aim was to have those tunnels ready for the afternoon rush, too. “We do everything we can to minimize the disruption of service,” said Craig Schulz, a spokesman for Amtrak, which has been pressing elected officials for a new set of tunnels under the Hudson. “It’s certainly not our desire to have to run the Ice Patrol during the rush hour.” But the buildup of ice, Mr. Schulz added, “is unscheduled, it’s unpredictable, and we need to get in there and rectify it.”

Amtrak
New Jersey Transit
Ice
Public Transit
Bridges,Tunnels
NYC
New Jersey
Pennsylvania Station


Syrian Rebels Report Many Dead in Airstrike on Olive Press

Abstract: BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian rebels accused the authorities on Tuesday of launching an airstrike on an olive press “filled with people” in fields just outside the northern city of Idlib, killing at least 20 people and wounding 50 as they waited to have their olives turned into oil. Two activist groups, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in Britain, and the Local Coordination Committees, which rely on local activists for their reports, both said the strike exacted a heavy toll on civilians, making it only the latest in many such attacks that have caused casualties among noncombatants in Syria ’s grinding civil war. The authorities made no immediate comment on the claims, which came as rebel forces sought to secure a string of strategic gains, including a dam on the Euphrates River that they claimed to have overrun before dawn on Monday. Ahmad Kadour, an antigovernment activist in Idlib who was reached by Skype, said a government warplane dropped two explosive devices onto the Abu Hilal oil press, where throngs of people could be seen. He said rebel forces were “doing everything in their power to rescue people.” “I’m sure we’ll find out more people died but it’s too soon to find out the real number,” he said. Mr. Kadour said rescuers were taking the wounded to makeshift hospitals or across the 550-mile border with Turkey, a key supporter of the rebels. Activists maintain that the government strikes are responses to insurgent gains in a campaign designed to blunt the air power that has helped give President Bashar al-Assad an edge in countering the insurgency. In recent weeks, rebels have overrun a half-dozen bases around Damascus, Syria’s capital; two in the country’s eastern oil-producing area; and the largest military installation near the country’s biggest city, Aleppo. They have focused on challenging air power, their deadliest foe, by harassing some air bases, ransacking others and seizing antiaircraft weapons. The rebels are continuing to fight even in areas crucial for the government, like the ring of suburbs around Damascus and the commercial hub of Aleppo and its supply routes. “Rebels are learning,” Mr. Kadour, the activist in Idlib, said on Monday. “When they capture a base, they take the machinery and the weapons and leave right away, because the regime is always shelling the places it used to control.”

Middle East and North Africa Unrest (2010- )


On the Ground and in the Water, Tracing a Giant Wave’s Path

Abstract: TEMPE, Ariz. — Next to the office of Harindra Joseph S. Fernando at Arizona State University is a 107-foot-long wave tank that can mimic oceanic motions. “This tank is one of the most wonderful pieces of equipment I have,” said Dr. Fernando, 52, the director of the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Program at Arizona State. “It’s amazing.” After a tsunami swept across the Indian Ocean in 2004 and killed an estimated 300,000 people in Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka, Dr. Fernando used his amazing piece of equipment to determine why the wave was so lethal. He and colleagues confirmed that human activities at southern Asian seashores — like coral poaching, dune destruction and mangrove harvesting — had made a natural disaster even more deadly. As the anniversary of the Dec. 26 tsunami neared, Dr. Fernando, an American born in Sri Lanka who goes by the name Joe, described using a combination of science and local reporting to create a clearer picture of the disaster. An edited version of a three-hour conversation follows. Q. Where did you go for your vacation in the summer of 2004? A. I took my wife and kids to a seaside resort in the southeastern part of Sri Lanka, to a place called Yala. At the end of the holiday, we took a hired car back to Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital. As we drove along the coastal road, we found ourselves stuck behind two trucks hauling tons of coral, taken, apparently, from nearby reefs. When my wife asked our driver about this, he explained that dynamiting the reefs was a cottage industry in the region. He said that local people mined the reefs and sold the coral to be ground up and used as an ingredient in house paint. “Blasting the reefs is not legal,” he said. “But people do it.” This was disturbing. But I didn’t think long about it. Q. When did you think about it again? A. Six months later. Right after the tsunami. Immediately afterward, Dr. Philip Liu of Cornell asked me to join an international team traveling to Sri Lanka to gather scientific information on the height and reach of the wave. The region I was assigned to study, coincidentally, was the same part of the island the family had vacationed in during the summer. Q. What did you see there? A. Severe damage, though inconsistent damage. At Peraliya, near to where the family had encountered those trucks with coral, the tsunami had swelled to a height of 30 feet and surged inland for more than a mile. There, it inundated a passenger train, the Ocean Queen, killing about 1,700 people. Yet, only three miles away, in Hikkaduwa, the wave came ashore with a height of about nine feet and barely grazed the beach. Why such differences? I asked a fisherman at Peraliya, “Why was the inundation so severe right here?” He said, “Possibly the coral might be the issue, because this is largely a coral-mining area.” From my fluid dynamics background, I knew he was making sense. If you take friction from a flow, it moves faster. At Yala, where we’d stayed, I saw evidence of another type of beach-barrier destruction. The resort had been flattened to rubble; 175 people died there, including two friends from California. The owner told us how they’d taken down a sand dune so that all rooms could have an unobstructed view of the ocean. I returned to Arizona, convinced that human activity had magnified the disaster. Q. So now you had a working theory. How did you prove it? A. By employing a mixture of science and, believe it or not, journalism. A few weeks after I returned, the BBC asked me to consult on a documentary on the tsunami. With their funding, we hired divers to go underwater at eight different sites around the island, including Peraliya. Q. In other words, you used this remarkable research technique — you looked! A. Exactly. And the divers came back with pictures that were very clear. In the areas where there’d been a lot of inundation, there were no, or few, corals left. Here at my lab at Arizona State, we have our very nice wave tank, which permits us to run waves at different speeds and heights and then measure the effects under controlled conditions. So we made tsunami models with simulated coral reefs and then without them. What we saw was that where the coral was gone, the surging water increased by a factor of three or more. At Princeton, Michael Oppenheimer’s research group took the idea further with sophisticated computer models, which substantiated my laboratory experiment. The research together has shown that when you cut down the coral reefs, or dunes or mangrove forests, you make a jetway for waves, because you have less bottom friction, and that lets the water through. Q. Would you advocate a ban on coral mining? A. Absolutely. Everywhere, not only in Sri Lanka. Once you start mining corals, you reduce beach defenses. If you have a tsunami or the more common event, a storm surge, the reef will help protect the land. Q. Are you saying that a lot of the deaths in the tsunami were preventable? A. In Sri Lanka, some of them. In Indonesia, you couldn’t have done much, because the tsunami was triggered by a 9.3 underwater earthquake near Sumatra. The quake was so close and so overwhelmingly powerful that beach defenses wouldn’t have mattered. But in Sri Lanka, manmade problems made things worse. Q. Have there been reforms because of your research? A. My studies became very popular. Sri Lankans became very interested. A 1981 law against coral poaching is now being stringently enforced. Before the tsunami, there was a lot of toleration of coral poaching. It was almost thought of as a legitimate economic activity. Since the research, when people poach, citizens will catch them and call the police. When I went to Sri Lanka last year, I saw a billboard near Peraliya that read, “Let’s refrain from mining corals that control beach erosion.” I never thought people would take this seriously. Q. Few scientists ever get to see their work have a direct impact on policy. What does that feel like? A. I was born in Sri Lanka and I never thought I could make a contribution this way. I didn’t think I could do science that changed policy. Till the tsunami, I thought all I could do was to train students, which I did. Of course, the research was associated with natural disaster, which is sad. But these are the types of problems that scientists should be helping with. Right now, I’m working a lot on the “heat island” effect, asking why air temperatures in cities like Phoenix and Colombo are about 8 degrees warmer than in surrounding areas. On a different project, funded by the U.S. Navy, we’re figuring out how wave action contributes to how land mines get buried in conflict areas. This can save a lot of lives. These are important questions, though they are also practical. Many scientists are so engulfed in their own little area of fundamental research that they don’t want to directly embrace practical knowledge. That’s one barrier that I was able to break.

Weather
Tidal Waves
Disasters
Reefs
Environment


Western Colorado Struggles as Energy Jobs Fade

Abstract: MEEKER, Colo. — The news of a nationwide energy boom is almost too much for people in this town built atop a sea of oil shale and natural gas , where rusting tanks line the highways and ExxonMobil helped to finance the 4-H club’s new community center. Elsewhere — seemingly everywhere else but here, locals say — an oil and gas stampede is transforming towns from the green hills of western Pennsylvania to the plains of North Dakota and eastern Colorado, bringing a flood of money, jobs and attendant environmental concerns. But here, in a region rich in natural resources, where oil and gas jobs form the bedrock of the local economy, the boom has dried up. Energy jobs have flowed to Wyoming, Texas and Pennsylvania. Main Street businesses are struggling, and big new schools built to accommodate a surge of students from the last energy rush are now watching their enrollments dwindle. “We’re sitting here dead,” said Shawn Bolton, a Republican county commissioner who runs a construction business serving oil and gas companies. Four years ago, he had 125 employees, most of them working here on the Western Slope of Colorado. Now, Mr. Bolton said, all but a handful of his 70 remaining employees are working out of state. Accidents of geology and swings of the market lie at the root of their woes. Crude oil is less common here, but natural gas is abundant, locked deep in the sandstone. But while oil prices have stayed high even as the American economy stumbles along, natural gas prices are sagging near all-time lows, largely because of reduced demand and a surge in supplies unlocked by the spread of hydraulic fracturing techniques. And so, energy producers have pulled out of deep and remote gas fields here across the Piceance Basin, which covers an area larger than Connecticut. Officials said that four years ago, there were about 115 drilling rigs boring into the sandstone and shale formations around northwestern Colorado. Now, there are about 16. Many residents and local officials blame the government for driving them off. They say overlapping layers of regulation and fees have thrown up excessive and profit-killing roadblocks to drilling on public lands, which make up as much as three-quarters of all terrain in some counties here. Aside from a few liberal ski towns and organic-farming communities, Colorado’s western fringe is largely Republican, as red as the iron-rich plateaus skirting the horizon. In their dissatisfaction with the state of affairs, residents and officials offered ground-level echoes of the Republican attack against President Obama’s energy policies. They said the government was stifling domestic production, and they supported efforts to streamline federal permitting to drill on public lands. “It’s a challenging job to begin with,” said David Cesark, a vice president of Mesa Energy Partners, a small drilling company in Grand Junction that has four active wells in western Colorado. “But the feds are making it more difficult. It’s like a pack of wild dogs that are constantly following you and nipping away at you.” There is an economic whiplash to it all — a vision of a boom-and-bust cycle that may offer a glimpse of the future for other corners of the country where energy exploration is a boost to land values and local government coffers. In 2008, officials said, rental vacancy rates were less than 1 percent in Grand Junction, the largest city in western Colorado, and space was so tight that energy workers were living in hotels, squeezing out tourists who would come for rafting and biking. Restaurants desperate for workers offered signing bonuses of $3,000. The surrounding county’s unemployment rate was 3 percent. Today, it stands at 9.1 percent, compared with 7.8 percent statewide. Home foreclosures, falling across Colorado, are rising here . But the region is more resilient than it was during a devastating downturn in 1982 , set into motion when Exxon announced it was closing down an oil-shale project near Parachute, Colo., leaving thousands of people from oil crews and support companies out of work. About 24,000 people abandoned two of the hardest-hit counties over the next two years, according to a history by the Center of the American West, creating a string of modern-day ghost towns. That calamity has not happened this time. Drilling has continued even during the downturn, and a new pipeline bound for the Pacific Northwest was completed last year. Officials say the regional economy is less reliant on oil and gas, and is bolstered by growing tourism as well as aviation, health care and green energy. For all its energy problems, Rio Blanco County — which encompasses Meeker — has only a 6 percent unemployment rate. But that is sharply higher than the 2.8 percent jobless rate during the 2008 presidential elections , and Mr. Bolton, the county commissioner, said an exodus of workers and families made the economy look healthier on paper than it really was. With workers coming and going so fluidly, it is difficult to say precisely how the area’s population has changed in the past few years. But the Meeker School District reported that its enrollment fell by 8.5 percent from 2009 to 2011. And in the quiet streets of downtown Meeker, people said the town feels hollow. “The world fell off the edge,” said Wendy Gutierrez, who runs a gift shop on Main Street. Ms. Gutierrez said that her receipts had dropped by 35 percent over the past three years — about $50,000 — and that she had been doing anything possible to bring in customers. A coffee shop in the back. Knitting classes. Dry cleaning. A tanning bed, even. Her staff has fallen to 3 from 11. “It’s not coming back,” she said. “It all died,” said D. J. Ridgeway, 30, the scion of a family of Colorado roughneckers who moved their oil-support business to Meeker from Wyoming in 2005. At its peak, the company had 20 employees, he said. They hoped the region would snap back after energy prices rebounded following their steep decline in late 2008, but the recovery never came. His brothers and father and most of their equipment have migrated to Pennsylvania while Mr. Ridgeway spends his workdays in a nearly vacant warehouse and tries to scrape together a bit of business finding generators and industrial supplies for drilling rigs. “I’m the only one left,” Mr. Ridgeway said. He has stayed in town for the sake of his three school-age children, but said it was hard to justify his job anymore. “I love Meeker, but it’s getting hard to be here.”

Colorado
Economic Conditions and Trends
Natural Gas
Shale
Drilling and Boring
Labor and Jobs
Relocation of Business
Exxon Mobil Corporation
Energy and Power


In This Trial, U.S. Witnesses Aren't Exactly Good Guys

Abstract: No one expects a Mafia defector to be Eagle Scout material. There is, after all, much truth to the adage that to catch a thief, it helps to have been one. Nonetheless, the four informants scheduled to testify at the federal trial of Louis J. Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa will each take the stand with résumés that might have impressed Capone. According to a letter filed yesterday by prosecutors in the case, the men have collectively committed a smorgasbord of crimes. Mr. Eppolito, 57, and Mr. Caracappa, 64, are former New York City police detectives charged with participating in at least eight killings as assassins for the mob. Their trial is to begin next month in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, nearly a year to the day after they were arrested on the Las Vegas Strip. Prosecutors plan to introduce as witnesses two long-standing Mafia informants and a pair of turncoats specifically recruited for the case. Under law, prosecutors are required to disclose their witnesses' criminal histories, and in this case they include more criminal charges than the indictment. One of the witnesses is Alphonse D'Arco, former acting boss of the Luchese family, which employed the two defendants, prosecutors say. Mr. D'Arco has a conviction record that lists extortion, murder, murder conspiracy, robbery, arson, tax evasion, counterfeiting, narcotics trafficking, burglary, hijacking and assault, the prosecutors' letter says. Then there is Peter Chiodo, a onetime Luchese family captain, whose own biography adds labor racketeering and gambling. Steven Corso, a former accountant, has in his past wire fraud, embezzlement and stealing from the Casa di Amore, a Las Vegas restaurant and poker lounge, the letter says. The fourth informant, Burton Kaplan, a former wholesale clothier, has perhaps the most eclectic past. It includes not only murder and narcotics dealing, according to the letter, but also kidnapping, money laundering, obstruction of justice, weapons possession, the interstate shipment of stolen property, fraud and the sale and manufacture of counterfeit clothes. Witnesses with checkered pasts like these are sure to get a grilling on the stand, although the defense seemed most disturbed by the informants' minor crimes. "What really bothers me is the counterfeit clothes," said Mr. Caracappa's lawyer, Edward Hayes, who is known for dressing in a flashy style. "I can forgive a lot, but a guy knocking off Polo and Calvin Klein can never be received back to the body politic," he said.

NEW YORK CITY
CARACAPPA STEPHEN
KAPLAN BURTON
CHIODO PETER
D'ARCO ALPHONSE
EPPOLITO LOUIS J
CORSO STEVEN
POLICE BRUTALITY AND MISCONDUCT
MURDERS AND ATTEMPTED MURDERS
ORGANIZED CRIME


Congo Creates Massive Reserve to Protect Close Human Cousin

Abstract: Congo has announced the establishment of a rain-forest preserve intended to shield the bonobo, one of human beings’ two closest ape relations, from wildlife poachers and deforestation. The Sankuru Nature Reserve — at 11,803 square miles, it is larger than the state of Massachusetts — is being created through a partnership involving American and Congolese conservation groups and government agencies. Bonobos are closely related to both chimpanzees and humans, but do not appear to share the bellicose tendencies of their better-known kin. They are found only in the Congo basin south of the Congo River, and are listed as endangered by the World Conservation Union. Their numbers are thought to have declined substantially after many years of rising pressure from poachers harvesting the region’s wildlife to supply the trade in bush meat. Congolese conservationists have been working with residents of the region to curtail killing of the apes, whose flesh and bones, according to lore, strengthen children. Over all, the rain forests in the region remain largely untouched, particularly compared with areas farther east, conservationists said. “We are elated,” said Sally Jewell Coxe, the president of the Bonobo Conservation Initiative, a private group in Washington that led the effort and sent out a news release about it yesterday. The group is doing the initial work with Congo’s Ministry of the Environment and local environmental groups under a $50,000 grant from two American programs aimed at protecting great apes and the Congo basin’s forests.

Congo (Formerly Zaire)
Monkeys and Apes
Forests and Forestry


Ireland Unveils Austerity Plan to Help Secure Bailout

Abstract: DUBLIN — Acting to secure a $114 billion international bailout, the Irish government announced plans on Wednesday for steep tax increases and sharp cutbacks in its social welfare state. The austerity measures , which would slash public spending by $20 billion over four years, would help pay for a severe banking crisis that has depleted the country’s finances and led to a dramatic weakening in the government that is likely to see Prime Minister Brian Cowen ousted from office early next year. A crucial, separate 2011 budget is to come to a vote on Dec. 7. A throng of protesters shouted outside the Finance Ministry as Mr. Cowen and Finance Minister Brian Lenihan unveiled details of how the government planned to slash the deficit to 3 percent of domestic gross product in 2014, from 32 percent. Details of the plan were released as the government prepared to effectively nationalize two troubled banks that have bled the state of money, and as Standard & Poor’s lowered Ireland ’s credit rating, citing concerns about how much the government was borrowing and about the vast amounts needed to shore up the country’s banking system. In a speech Wednesday afternoon aimed at bolstering national morale, Mr. Cowen urged Ireland to “pull together as a people to confront this challenge, and do so in a united way.” He said the four-year plan would raise money mainly by taxing those who earned more, while going easier on those who had less. But he also warned that the “size of the crisis means no one can be sheltered.” Mr. Cowen refused to answer questions about when he might step aside, an outcome that has gained momentum as opposition politicians press for his removal and the electorate blames his government for wrecking Ireland’s economy. The prospect of political chaos in Ireland, and fears that a splintered government might roll back deficit-cutting measures amid public ire, had worried European officials and financial markets. The events in Ireland have led investors to turn their attention to the troubled economies of Spain and, in particular, Portugal. On Wednesday, Portuguese workers staged a huge strike to protest government austerity measures designed to get the nation’s finances under control. In Ireland, trade unions were also warning of “civil unrest” and planned protests in Dublin on Saturday. The International Monetary Fund and Ireland’s partners in the European Union insisted on an austerity budget as a condition for the $114 billion bailout, money that Ireland badly needs after it intervened to rescue its banks. During the economic boom years before 2008, Irish banks borrowed cheaply and pumped out loans on houses and construction projects, helping to fuel an American-style housing bubble that went bust, ravaging their balance sheets. The austerity plan calls for cuts of nearly 15 percent in Ireland’s social welfare budget, one of Europe’s most generous, saving $4 billion a year. Some 24,750 public jobs — a huge number in a country of about 4 million people — would be eliminated, cutting state payrolls down to about what they were in 2005 and saving about $1.6 billion a year. Child benefits and other social welfare payments would be reduced, and the nation’s minimum wage, now 8.65 euros, or $11.59, an hour, would be cut by 1 euro, or about $1.34, in the hope of promoting job creation. Mr. Cowen said the sagging economy could recover only if Ireland proved it was cleaning up its act. “Without putting public finances on a sustainable basis, we can’t have confidence from investors to create jobs in Ireland,” he said. He predicted that the deficit reduction plan would help lower unemployment to less than 10 percent, from 13.4 percent currently, within four years. While voters were angry about the crisis, there was also an acknowledgment that the boom years fueled too many excesses, which must now be reined in. “In a bubble, things get distorted, and after it collapses you need to rebalance the economy,” said Philip R. Lane, a professor of international macroeconomics at Trinity College. “So this plan is not really radically shifting the nature of the welfare state, it’s just returning it to what it was before the crisis.” Under the measures, Ireland’s tax net would be widened to take in some low-income workers who currently pay no tax, and a series of new taxes would be imposed on certain residential properties, as well as on 120,000 people who receive public sector pensions. The government also plans to cut spending on health care by over $1.9 billion through measures that are likely to push up the cost of private health insurance. Capital spending on education will rise, but education programs will nonetheless take a hit starting next year, as more than $66.7 million is cut from the four-year budget. Classroom sizes may also grow if educators cannot find ways to reduce teacher payrolls. Thousands of young Irish, along with people who have been shut out of the job market, are swelling the ranks of Ireland’s university students as they ride out a difficult economy. Still, the austerity plan does not touch Ireland’s low corporate tax rate of 12.5 percent, which has helped to lure companies like Microsoft, Intel and Pfizer to set up operations in the country. Though the country’s political parties are bitterly divided over many aspects of economic policy, they all agree that the low corporate tax rate is one of the few pillars that can allow Ireland to return to economic health. Multinational companies employ about one out of seven working people in Ireland, and their businesses are stoking export growth, even as the latest austerity program is expected to depress consumer demand and touch off a wave of retrenchment and job losses. The government is expected within days to take over effective control of the two largest banks in the country, Allied Irish Banks and the Bank of Ireland, following plunges in their share prices. Officials from the European Union and the monetary fund have been in Dublin since last week, talking with the government about the financial crisis . They will spend the next several days poring over the details of the budget plan. Before moving on to the Finance Ministry, protesters gathered outside hotel rooms where monetary fund officials have been staying, waving signs that urged the Irish to “fight for every job, resist every cut.” The ministry did not announce where the budget would be unveiled until nearly noon on Wednesday, citing security concerns and the likelihood that crowds of protesters could grow throughout the day.

Ireland
European Sovereign Debt Crisis (2010- )
Budgets and Budgeting
Politics and Government
Cowen Brian
Economic Conditions and Trends


Porzingis Scores 29, Tying Career High, as Knicks Top Bulls

Abstract: The rookie Kristaps Porzingis tied a season high with 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Carmelo Anthony added 24 points, and the Knicks beat the Bulls, 115-107, on Wednesday night in Chicago. In the front end of back-to-back games with the Knicks, the Bulls failed to complete a sweep of their four-game homestand and dropped behind the Detroit Pistons for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Nikola Mirotic scored a career-high 35 points for the Bulls, and Derrick Rose added 21. The Knicks led by as many as 22 in the second half. Rose and Mirotic tried to start a late rally, but each was answered by Porzingis and Anthony. Rose cut the deficit to 10 late in the fourth, but Porzingis hit a jumper. Mirotic made a 3-pointer to make the score 109-101 with 3 minutes 7 seconds left, but Anthony followed with a 3-pointer from the corner. The Knicks led, 57-55, at the half. Porzingis scored 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range. Rose led the Bulls with 12 points. Anthony, who missed Sunday’s loss to Sacramento with a migraine, scored 10 points with 5 assists in the first half. SPURS 112, HEAT 88 Kawhi Leonard matched his career high with 32 points before leaving with a bruised quadriceps, and San Antonio beat Miami to remain perfect at home. San Antonio earned its 36th straight home victory to open the season, leaving the Spurs a game shy of matching the record set by the Bulls in 1995-96. Leonard’s injury did not appear serious. The extent of the injury was not immediately known, but the Spurs’ doctors remained in the team’s box suite — possibly indicating that the injury did not require urgent attention. Josh Richardson led Miami with 17 points, and Dwyane Wade added 16. JAZZ 89, ROCKETS 87 A dunk by Derrick Favors with 1.6 seconds left lifted Utah to a victory at Houston. Gordon Hayward had 22 points as Utah moved a half-game ahead of Houston into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference standings. The Jazz trailed by as many as 18 in the second half before rallying for their first lead of the game with about four minutes left. Afterward, the teams exchanged leads several times before Dwight Howard tied the score with a dunk with 22.3 seconds remaining. Rodney Hood then found Favors, who finished with 17 points, under the basket to put Utah on top. Houston had a chance to win it after that, but a 3-point attempt by James Harden bounced off the rim. Harden had 26 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds and a career-high 8 steals, but the Rockets dropped their third straight. CELTICS 91, RAPTORS 79 Isaiah Thomas scored 23 points, Evan Turner added 17, and Boston won at home over Toronto. Avery Bradley finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds as the Celtics won their third consecutive game. DeMar DeRozan led the Raptors with 21 points. Point guard Kyle Lowry sat out, resting a sore right elbow. CAVALIERS 113, BUCKS 104 LeBron James scored 26 points, Kevin Love added 24, and Cleveland stayed drama-free during a victory at home over Milwaukee. Kyrie Irving celebrated his 24th birthday by flirting with a triple-double, and Tristan Thompson added 13 points and 10 rebounds for Cleveland, which maintained its grip on the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 24 and Jerryd Bayless had 15 to lead the Bucks, who lost for the fourth time in five games. HAWKS 122, WIZARDS 101 The reserve Dennis Schroder scored 23 points, Kyle Korver connected on five 3-pointers, and Atlanta came back to win at Washington in the second half of the teams’ home-and-home series. Led by Korver and his 15 points, Atlanta made a season-high 17 3-pointers to keep pace in the competitive Eastern Conference playoff picture. Paul Millsap scored 17 and Al Horford added 13 for the Hawks. Marcus Thornton led Washington with 23 points, but John Wall was held to 13 points on 6-of-17 shooting. PISTONS 118, MAGIC 102 Andre Drummond had 30 points and 14 rebounds, and Detroit never trailed in a home win over Orlando. Elfrid Payton had 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the Magic, who have lost five straight.

Basketball
Kristaps Porzingis
Charlotte Hornets
Jeremy Lin
Knicks
Chicago Bulls


Blatter Draws Attention FIFA Can Do Without

Abstract: In the flibbertigibbet world of Sepp Blatter, the vocal cords act first, and at some later time the vestigial reasoning and social conscience portions of his brain are engaged. This would be hilarious, except that Blatter is the president of FIFA, the world governing body of soccer, and he is in charge of important events like the World Cup. Blatter recently presided over the flawed awarding of the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. On Monday, he made a dumb remark when asked whether gay fans should attend the tournament in Qatar. “ I would say they should refrain from any sexual activities ,” Blatter said in a news conference in South Africa. It was a perfect example of why people should not flick their thumbs or their tongues before thinking. Given that English is Blatter’s fourth or fifth language, and that his Swiss sense of humor may not reverberate well in other parts of the world, it was still a foolish — and perhaps highly revealing — thing to say. This gaffe may take him even further from the Nobel Peace Prize, which he has been lusting after for years. A Nobel Peace Prize for doling out soccer tournaments under murky circumstances, and occasionally prattling about fair play? Blatter apologized Friday at a news conference in the United Arab Emirates, where the final of the Club World Cup will be held Saturday. His handlers had convinced him that he had blundered. “It was not my intention and never will be my intention to go into any discrimination,” Blatter said. “This is exactly what we are against. If somebody feels that they have been hurt, then I regret, and present apologies.” The apology was noted by Juris Lavrikovs, the communications director for the European branch of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association . In a telephone interview from Brussels, Lavrikovs called upon FIFA to “engage in a dialogue” about the conditions for gay men and women in 2022. He said his organization was more concerned about full-time residents of Qatar, which is listed among 70 nations in which homosexuality has been criminalized. An official with the Qatar bid committee, who was not authorized to speak because the committee has technically been disbanded, said in a telephone interview that the nation would be open to all people, but noted that the public display of affection was banned to all. Many details of the 2022 World Cup will be worked out in a document early in 2011, Chuck Blazer , the lone American representative on the FIFA board, said from the United Arab Emirates. Blatter’s statement of apology might be fine, except there is evidence that FIFA often goes off half-cocked. No sooner had 22 FIFA board members, many who are said to have traded votes and favors in private, chosen Qatar than a few people remembered that, oh gee, the temperature in Qatar averages 107 degrees Fahrenheit in June and July, when the World Cup is traditionally played. Qatar, a wealthy nation, could undoubtedly construct fantastic stadiums with some form of shelter and air-conditioning. But now, in classic Blatter revisionist fashion, there is talk of moving the 2022 World Cup to January, when the weather is delightful. This would entail a thorough dismantling of soccer’s precious September-to-May club schedule in most big leagues in the world. “FIFA’s job is to have a World Cup that protects the players, so we take note of the recommendations and go through the list of requirements,” Blatter said Thursday on his first trip to Qatar since the World Cup decision on Dec. 2. He added, “We will look into this and make the right decision.” Blatter also acknowledged there was talk of expanding the World Cup to neighboring nations in the Middle East, since one of the rationalizations of the Qatar decision was to place the World Cup in a predominately Muslim nation for the first time — surely an admirable goal, in the big picture. But this could only be done if Qatar asked to include a neighbor or three. Major decisions must go through Blatter, 74, FIFA’s president since 1998, who is running for another term early in 2011. He is a former publicist for a watch company and general secretary of Swiss ice hockey who rose through Olympic and FIFA ranks. In the past, he has blurted out that women’s soccer would be more attractive if the players wore skimpier uniforms, and proposed holding a World Cup every two years instead of every four, which would cheapen the greatest sports event in the world. He stood resolutely against electronic surveillance of the goal area, although he did display second thoughts after Frank Lampard’s obvious goal for England was not allowed in the recent World Cup in South Africa. The mood and logic swings of Blatter raise the deeper issue of how FIFA is governed. The recent vote in Zurich became a farce because Blatter permitted the 2018 and 2022 bids to be decided at the same time, inevitably increasing the likelihood of vote-swapping, at best . Blatter later said he thought it had been a bad idea. This is the kind of basic vision one might expect from somebody running an organization for a dozen years. The vote was blighted from the start when 2 of the 24 members of the inner circle were barred after a sting by The Times of London revealed they had been willing to sell their votes. Then the BBC ran an exposé charging that three prominent officials in FIFA — from Cameroon, Brazil and Paraguay — had accepted bribes. This was strongly denied by FIFA, but the organization has become the subject of jokes and gossip around the world. A week after Qatar’s bid was accepted, the highly idealistic F. C. Barcelona, which had always refrained from paid advertisements on its jerseys, turned up with a $40 million contract to advertise the Qatar Foundation, a philanthropy. Qatar is now a player, deserving to be judged on its own. But every time Sepp Blatter makes a foolish comment, he draws attention to this powerful organization that quite clearly could use even more scrutiny.

International Federation of Association Football (FIFA)


Favre Flies North and Rejoins the Vikings

Abstract: In the least surprising development in a career full of theater, Brett Favre flew to Minneapolis on Tuesday, intent on resuming his career with the Vikings nearly a year after he came out of retirement to join them the first time. In years past, as Favre dithered with retirement, his annual decision ignited great tension. This time, it was greeted with more of a shrug everywhere except Minnesota, an indication of how inevitable Favre’s playing, and the drama that surrounds him, had become. Last year, when Favre alighted in Minnesota, he was greeted by Coach Brad Childress, who picked up Favre at the airport and shuttled him to the Vikings’ practice facility, a bizarre chauffeur-in-coaching-shorts scene. This year, the Vikings went a step further, excusing from practice three players — defensive end Jared Allen, offensive linemen Steve Hutchinson and kicker Ryan Longwell — to fly to Hattiesburg, Miss., to persuade, perhaps beg, Favre to return, as first reported by The Minneapolis Star Tribune . By midafternoon, Favre was on a purple-and-white plane heading to Minnesota, having successfully missed another training camp and provided the N.F.L. with its annual need to monitor a Mississippi high school’s football practices. Favre’s return this season had seemed to be more of a foregone conclusion than at any time in the last five years. Last year, at age 40, he had one of the best seasons of his 19-year career, throwing 33 touchdown passes and just 7 interceptions , only a year after a shoulder injury sent his one-year tenure with the Jets into a tailspin. His play was so dynamic that Favre all but erased the criticism he received for the protracted thinking-out-loud dalliances with retirement he has conducted since at least 2002, which led to his bitter parting from the Green Bay Packers after the 2007 season. But Favre’s future was cast into some doubt again when he injured his left ankle in the N.F.C. championship game, which the Vikings lost in overtime to the New Orleans Saints. He had arthroscopic surgery to remove bone spurs and scar tissue, and multiple news-media outlets reported this month that Favre had sent text messages to teammates and Vikings officials telling them he was going to retire because the ankle was not healing to his liking. Favre denied those reports and his agent, Bus Cook, said Favre would play if his ankle was healthy. Still, when Favre did not report on Monday, even though the team had broken camp, the three players were dispatched. Good thing, because the N.F.L.’s season opener would have been a dud without him: the Vikings play the Saints on Sept. 9. Favre is scheduled to make $13 million in the second year of his two-year contract with the Vikings. If anything, the Vikings may be even more desperate for Favre than they were last year. Receiver Percy Harvin is having migraines again, running back Adrian Peterson missed most of camp with a hamstring injury and receiver Sidney Rice has a hip injury. The Packers, under Favre’s successor Aaron Rodgers, are expected to challenge the Vikings for supremacy in the N.F.C. North and perhaps for a shot at the Super Bowl .

Minnesota Vikings
Favre Brett
Football
Retirement


Iraqi Women Are Seeking Greater Political Influence

Abstract: BAGHDAD — For women in Iraq , the coming national elections offer both a promise and a reminder of the difficulty of change in this male-dominated culture. The Constitution calls for at least 25 percent of Parliament’s seats to go to women. But the first women elected in 2005 have had little effect, analysts and women who are members of Parliament say. Now, as the campaign begins for the country’s second post-invasion parliamentary vote, on March 7, some women say a new female political class is starting to emerge. In one sign of this development, 12 women from outside the political system have formed their own party, with a platform built on women’s rights and a jobs program for Iraq’s more than 700,000 widows. “People can see we are independent and we are not working for any party in Iraq,” said Jenan Mubark, who organized the slate because, she said, women were often marginalized within parties. “They can see we just want to empower Iraqi women in the educational and economic sectors. It’s a very wide range of objectives, but I believe that Iraqi women need it.” Iraqi women have higher rates of poverty and unemployment than men, and lower levels of education. Ms. Mubark manages a construction company and runs the Iraqi Center for Women’s Rehabilitation and Employment, a nongovernmental organization that she said gave her a base of support, both male and female. In her walkup office in central Baghdad, she described her agenda in language that has become familiar to political campaigns around the world. “This,” she said, “is the first step for change in our country.” Women have not been spared the violence of the electoral process. Last week, gunmen near Mosul killed Suha Abed Allah, a veterinarian running as a member of a multisectarian alliance. “Everything is possible,” said Safia Taleb al-Souhail, a member of Parliament whose father was killed after plotting a coup against Saddam Hussein, and who is now seeking re-election. “But I believe women have more space than four years ago, and the ability to go from place to place.” After the fall of Mr. Hussein in 2003, when women’s groups called for a quota in Parliament — originally seeking 40 percent of seats — they expected support from the United States, Ms. Souhail said. But American officials put other priorities ahead of women’s rights, Ms. Souhail and others said. “We took pictures with the president and the secretary of state,” she said. “This is not support. Support is letting the leaders know there also female leaders.” American officials have said they did support the inclusion of women in the new government. Like Ms. Mubark’s list, Ms. Souhail is running on a moderate, democratic platform. Both oppose an article in the Constitution requiring the creation of legislation that would give religious leaders partial authority over domestic matters, including marriage, divorce and inheritance. After opposition from women’s groups, the planned legislation was suspended, but religious parties hope to pass it. For Ms. Souhail, the suspension was a major success, as was establishing the quota for women in Parliament. But she said that in other areas, the impact of women had been disappointing. “We are seeing women in soft ministries,” she said. “Even those women who are chosen by certain political parties can’t give their positions independently, they have to bow to a leader. We want to have a woman who is a leader herself.” She added: “I’m not saying we didn’t improve. We improved by seeing women participate in the political process. And we have learned a lot for the last four years. Many women who did not know anything about political expression now can really teach.” Tanya T. Gilly, a member of Parliament from the heavily Kurdish north, will not be part of that next wave. She has decided not to seek re-election, citing a desire to spend more time with her children. She said that many of her peers, male and female, accused her of trying to impose Western values on Iraqi society. “One misconception is that we want some kind of liberal movement for women,” she said, adding that she had once received a death threat from another female lawmaker. “I have literally been told, ‘Why don’t you stay at home and learn how to cook and find yourself a husband,’ ” said Ms. Gilly, who is married. “These are colleagues who are members of the same party, who supposedly embody the same values that the party values.” She said that young women often avoided politics for fear of harming their reputations. “As a woman politician I should not have a problem having a meeting with all men, or a one-on-one meeting with a man,” she said. “But some people think that’s not the right thing, because Islamically you’re not supposed to have a woman and a man sitting in a room together unless they’re married.” Shatha al-Musawi, an independent member of Parliament, said she would not seek re-election because of the power exerted by party leaders over their membership, which often meant that women were excluded from decision-making sessions. “I am not ready to lie to people claiming that we have a democracy,” she said. “Iraqi women in the Parliament are more serious, more devoted, more present and more interactive than men with the public issues,” she said. Nonetheless, she said she did not think the solution was an all-woman party. “Politics is about ideas, principles and theories,” she said. “These issues can’t be tackled by a gender approach only.” She added, “I don’t think this is the right time to focus on women’s issues.” More than 6,500 candidates are running for 325 seats. In a campaign that has already been stirred by sectarianism, Ms. Mubark has joined the Iraq Unity Alliance, a secular, cross-sectarian coalition. She said the parties in the alliance had promised to support her on women’s issues. But even so, the effect that women like Ms. Mubark can have remains marginal, said Haider al-Musawi, a political analyst. “In comparison with other regional countries, Iraq is formally advanced, with many female M.P.’s and ministers,” he said. “But this is only a false bright image. In reality, Iraq is left behind other countries.” Ms. Souhail said that was starting to change, in part because of missteps by the men in office. “When it comes to violence, militias, corruption, so many mistakes, men were mainly the ones who made these mistakes,” she said. “So we do believe we have improved the willingness of our people for our acceptance in the future.” She pointed to stirrings of change among Iraqi women. “Many women who wore the hijab for security reasons are now able to take it off, and many who were not able to drive cars are now starting to drive,” she said. “There is a change in the tone of our society.”

Iraq
Elections
Women and Girls
Politics and Government
Social Conditions and Trends


Path of Stolen Credit Cards Leads Back to Home Depot Stores

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO — There are two tracks to finding the identity of a company that has been hit by cybercriminals. Both of them involve going backward. Over the last few days, thousands of fresh credit and debit card numbers have surfaced on so-called carding sites, which are websites where stolen credit card data is sold. On those sites, Eastern European hackers are selling the stolen account information of people in cities as distant as Mission Viejo, Calif., and Hanover, N.H. They are charging as much as $50 per card. Bank employees, fraud detectives at computer security companies and law enforcement officials are tracing the path taken by the stolen cards, tracking the source of what appears to be the latest in a series of major data breaches that the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security believe has affected more than 1,000 American retailers. So far, all roads point back to Home Depot. And if the evidence uncovered so far proves to be valid, the hack could top the record-setting breach of Target’s network last December. Investigators are searching for what they call “a common point of purchase” among the cards. Bank employees are able to identify stolen cards simply by examining the first six digits of the card, which are known as the Bank Identification Number, or BIN number. They are buying back card numbers and cross-referencing the transactions of those cards in search of one common retailer. Fraud detectives, meanwhile, who do not have access to transaction data, are able to exploit a recent innovation in the underground. In the last few years, carding sites have been selling the city, state and ZIP code of the store from which each card was stolen in addition to the account number and expiration date, said Ron Sadowski, the director of technology solutions at RSA, the security division of EMC. Hackers can charge a higher price for that location data because it allows criminals and counterfeiters to fool fraud-detection controls, which often flag purchases from far-flung places, Mr. Sadowski said. Investigators will try to match those ZIP codes to a list of store locations for a particular retailer. On Wednesday, Brian Krebs, the security blogger who first reported the potential breach of Home Depot, said that there was a 99.4 percent overlap between ZIP codes listed in a collection of stolen account numbers on an Eastern European carding site, called Rescator, and Home Depot’s store locations. Mr. Krebs said that out of 1,822 ZIP codes listed in the stolen card data on the Rescator carding site, only 10 did not correspond to a Home Depot store location. That means the breach could affect most of the retailer’s 2,200 stores, which is about 400 more than the Target breach. Mr. Krebs, citing bank sources, said fraudulent activity indicated that the breach on Home Depot began as early as late April. If that is confirmed, criminals would have had unfettered access to Home Depot’s payment systems for some four months. By comparison, Target’s breach was detected after three weeks. Home Depot, based in Atlanta, has not confirmed that it was the victim of a cyberattack, only that it was investigating “unusual activity.” Paula Drake, a spokeswoman for Home Depot, said the company’s forensics and security teams “have been working around the clock since we first became aware of a potential breach Tuesday morning.” Ms. Drake said Home Depot had engaged Symantec and FishNet Security, two cybersecurity firms, to look into a possible breach. If a breach is confirmed, Ms. Drake reminded customers that they would not be responsible for fraudulent charges and said Home Depot would offer free identity protection services, such as free credit monitoring. Retailers are not the only businesses being targeted by hackers. Last week, JPMorgan Chase was the victim of a sophisticated breach that security experts say has affected as many as five financial institutions. The identity of the other institutions is still unclear. “Underground criminals are going after all manner of businesses, large and small, that they think are vulnerable,” Mr. Sadowski said. “But the good news is there is more information than ever on how criminals are trying to perpetrate these attacks.”

Hacker (computer security)
Home Depot
Identity Theft
Credit card
Debit card
Computer security
Brian Krebs
JPMorgan Chase
Target


Animation for Young Minds

Abstract: Q. Are there any animation programs made specifically for children that run on the average Windows PC and do not cost hundreds of dollars? A. You do not need the kinds of machines that Pixar Animation Studios uses to get started with computer animation. A number of programs can create three-dimensional and stop-motion animation. Some are made just for kids. But first, you may want to ask your child what type of animation he or she wants to create. The Flip Boom program from Toon Boom ( www.toonboom.com/kids ) teaches young users the basics of animation, including the principles of timing and motion. It works on both Windows and Mac OS X systems and costs less than $40. A free trial version is also available to download, and the company makes animation software that is more sophisticated for older users as well. Anim8or, a free 3-D animation program for Windows, can be found at www.anim8or.com/main/index.html . CrazyTalk, a $50 Windows program from Reallusion ( www.reallusion.com/crazytalk ) can create 3-D talking animation from digital photos. You can find links to other animation programs, reviews and video tutorials at www.your3dsource.com . Shareware sites like Download.com also have various animation software to try. If you have a recent version of Adobe Premiere Elements, you have the ability to do stop-motion animation. The video-editing program sells for $99 at stores and at www.adobe.com , where a free trial is available. The stop-motion feature allows young auteurs to make animated movies by, say, methodically repositioning Wall-E action figures and snapping each frame of the movie individually with a Webcam.

Computers and the Internet
Software
Animated Films
Virtual Reality (Computers)
Pixar Animation Studios


Janet Yellen to Testify Before Congress and Britain to Vote on ‘Brexit’

Abstract: Here’s a look at the week ahead. ECONOMY Image Boats from the Fishing for Leave group campaigning for Britain to leave the European Union sailed by the British Houses of Parliament in London. Credit Niklas Halle’N/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images ‘Brexit’ vote looms, with immigration a key factor. British voters go to the polls on Thursday to determine whether to remain part of the European Union or sever the relationship, kicking off fraught and complicated divorce proceedings. A vote for a so-called Brexit would sow uncertainty through the global economy and almost certainly slow Britain’s economy as it negotiated a new trading arrangement with Europe. But the “leave” camp has a real shot at winning the vote on the strength of electoral yearnings for tighter limits on immigration — something Britain can’t impose while part of the European Union. Peter S. Goodman Janet Yellen to testify on monetary policy before Congress. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Federal Reserve’s chairwoman, Janet L. Yellen, will be presenting her semiannual testimony on monetary policy to Congress. She will appear before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, followed by the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. The Fed left rates unchanged when officials met last week. But Ms. Yellen’s testimony will be closely watched for any sign of when the Fed will decide to tighten monetary policy. Although Wall Street seems to think the next move may come in September, analysts will be looking for any hint on whether July remains an option, as well as any thoughts on the looming vote in Britain . Nelson D. Schwartz ____________ TECHNOLOGY Mark Zuckerberg’s majority control is up for vote. Facebook will hold its annual shareholder meeting in Silicon Valley on Monday, where its top executives, Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and others, will field questions about the state of the company. Up for a vote is a proposed new stock structure, one that is intended to continue giving Mr. Zuckerberg majority voting control over the company even as he plans to sell off his stock in the coming years to donate much of his wealth to philanthropic causes. The proposal is expected to pass, since Mr. Zuckerberg already maintains strict control under current company bylaws. Mike Isaac E.U. to decide on cross-Atlantic personal data sharing. European politicians will decide on Monday whether to approve new rules allowing companies like Google and Facebook to transfer personal data back and forth across the Atlantic. The proposals, known as the E.U.-U.S. Privacy Shield, have been criticized by some for failing to fully protect Europeans’ rights, and the lawmakers may still ask for more concessions from their American counterparts to meet Europe’s strict privacy standards. Mark Scott BlackBerry’s turnaround plan is unproved ahead of meeting. BlackBerry is no longer in danger of imminent collapse, as was the case when John S. Chen was brought in to lead the company in 2013. But as Mr. Chen prepares to run the company’s annual meeting in Waterloo, Ontario, on Wednesday and release first-quarter results on Thursday, his turnaround plan, which involves focusing on phone management and security systems for business and government, remains unproved. Despite adopting Google’s Android operating system, BlackBerry has not revived the smartphone business it once dominated. Last week, Maynard Um, an analyst at Wells Fargo, published a detailed case for finally shutting down the phone business . That would cut BlackBerry’s revenue almost by half to just over $1 billion, by Mr. Um’s estimates. But he forecast that without phones, BlackBerry could earn 27 cents a share this year rather than lose 10 cents a share. Ian Austen General Electric sets high target for software unit. General Electric’s software business is now a stand-alone unit, GE Digital. On Thursday morning, G.E. executives will present Wall Street analysts a progress report on the new unit. At the moment, G.E. Digital looks modest financially. The company has said it expects $6 billion in revenue this year, compared with total G.E. revenue of $117 billion in 2015. But G.E. has set aggressive growth targets for GE Digital. And the software unit’s new products including Predix, an operating system for the industrial internet, are vital to G.E.’s plan to become a “digital-industrial company.” Steve Lohr ____________ AUTO INDUSTRY Volkswagen shareholders are expected to get loud. Volkswagen will hold its annual shareholders’ meeting in Hanover, Germany, on Wednesday. Members of top management and VW’s supervisory board are expected to get an earful from shareholders about the company’s slim profits and emissions misconduct . But there are unlikely to be any real consequences as almost all of Volkswagen’s voting shares are owned by members of the Porsche and Piëch families, the state of Lower Saxony and the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar. Jack Ewing ____________ BANKING Asian Infrastructure Bank to hold its first annual meeting. Finance officials from more than 40 founding countries of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which was organized by China in part to provide an alternative to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, will gather in Beijing next weekend for an annual meeting. China has tried to follow some of the international governance standards from the older multilateral institutions, partly in response to criticism from the United States, which remains unwilling to join the new development bank, and from Europe, where some countries have decided to join. The bank has 57 founding countries, but not all have ratified the necessary documents in their legislatures and so not all will have finance officials to participate fully in the meeting. Keith Bradsher

BlackBerry
Durable Goods
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
Volkswagen
Federal Reserve
Facebook
Mark E Zuckerberg
Janet L Yellen


Holder Says Private Suit Risks State Secrets

Abstract: WASHINGTON — In his first year in office, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. put new limits on when the government could dismiss lawsuits in the name of protecting national security. Now, in what he has said is likely his final year, Mr. Holder has claimed broad authority to do just that in a case unlike any other. The Justice Department intervened late Friday in a defamation lawsuit against United Against Nuclear Iran , a prominent advocacy group that pushes for tough sanctions against Tehran. The government said the case should be dropped because forcing the group to open its files would jeopardize national security. The group is not affiliated with the government, and lists no government contracts on its tax forms. The government has cited no precedent for using the so-called state-secrets privilege to quash a private lawsuit that does not focus on government activity. The lawsuit, by a Greek shipping magnate, accuses United Against Nuclear Iran of falsely accusing him of doing business with Iran. The businessman, Victor Restis, subpoenaed the group for its donor list and all information it had collected about him. That was when the Justice Department stepped in. “There is no precedent, literally, for what the government is attempting to do,” said Abbe D. Lowell, a lawyer for Mr. Restis. Under President George W. Bush, the government used the state-secrets privilege to defeat lawsuits over the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program and the Central Intelligence Agency’s torture of terrorist suspects. The government’s power in such cases is absolute. Once it declares that information would jeopardize national security, a judge cannot force the government to reveal it. In 2009, Mr. Holder tightened the requirements for asserting the privilege. The attorney general must personally approve each case, and “only when genuine and significant harm to national defense or foreign relations is at stake.” The case most similar to Mr. Restis’s lawsuit is a government scientist’s defamation claim against Penthouse magazine for a 1977 article describing Pentagon research on dolphins. But the government’s interest in that case was clear: The allegations focused on government science, and a senior Navy security official was on the witness list. Image Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. intervened on Friday to dismiss a lawsuit that does not focus on government activity. Credit Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images The government interest here is less clear. Typically, an assertion of the state secrets privilege is accompanied by a sworn public statement from a senior official — the secretary of defense or C.I.A. director, for example. Those statements, while circumspect, help explain the government’s interest. In this case, however, the Justice Department said that “the concerned federal agency, the particular information at issue and the bases for the assertion of the state-secrets privilege cannot be disclosed” without jeopardizing national security. If United Against Nuclear Iran possesses American classified information, it is not clear how the group obtained it. Government intelligence agencies are prohibited from secretly trying to influence public opinion. “I have never seen anything like this,” said Ben Wizner, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who represented clients in other cases that have been quashed because of state secrets. “If there’s something in their files that would disclose a state secret, is there any reason it should be in their files?” Another possibility is that the Justice Department is trying to protect foreign relations with Israel, a vital ally. In court documents, Mr. Lowell has accused United Against Nuclear Iran of being financed by unidentified foreign interests. He has tried to force the testimony of Israel’s former intelligence chief and a prominent Israeli businessman, who he said helped pass information about his client. Lee S. Wolosky, a lawyer for United Against Nuclear Iran, said the group had received no money from foreign donors. He said nobody on its advisory committee — which includes Meir Dagan, the former Israeli intelligence chief — was involved in Mr. Restis’ case. The group has repeatedly said the lawsuit is meritless. “It is clear that U.A.N.I. and its leaders know they have no defense, and so are hoping to get the government to make this case go away,” Mr. Lowell said. “The bigger question now turns to why the government is doing U.A.N.I.’s bidding and exactly what relationship U.A.N.I. has with the U.S. government, other countries and its web of undisclosed financial supporters.” Mr. Lowell could argue that the lawsuit should continue without the information he was seeking, but Mr. Wolosky said he expected the case would be dismissed. “U.A.N.I. will continue to speak out against those who undermine the security of the United States, our friends and allies by doing business in Iran,” Mr. Wolosky said.

United Against Nuclear Iran
Classified Information
Justice Department
Eric Holder
Lawsuits
CIA
Victor Restis
US


The Splice That Binds Two Giants

Abstract: For Patricia F. Russo, pulling Lucent Technologies back from the brink of bankruptcy has not been enough. As chairman and chief executive of the company, the nation's biggest telecommunications equipment maker, she has been under pressure for the last two years to find a long-term solution for its troubles. On Thursday, it became clear that a $13.6 billion deal with Alcatel of France -- itself a survivor that has made a comeback in the turbulent global telecommunications industry -- was perhaps the only viable option left. Ms. Russo, who took the helm at Lucent in 2002, defied skeptics by returning the company to profitability by cutting thousands of jobs, eliminating billions of dollars in debt and promoting wireless technology. But righting a ship and driving it full steam ahead are two very different things. For all her efforts, Ms. Russo has been outflanked by her competitors who moved faster into new fiber optic technologies and by rapid consolidation among her customers in the phone industry. Under these circumstances, many analysts have predicted that it was only a matter of when, not whether, Ms. Russo would seek a merger. The transaction, which the companies characterized as a merger of equals, could be announced as soon as Monday. But no matter how the deal is labeled on Wall Street or in Washington, the new entity will face many hurdles. The telecommunications landscape has been swept by ever larger mergers -- including AT&T's plan to buy BellSouth, announced this month -- creating fewer clients with more leverage to demand cheaper equipment prices. At the same time, up-and-comers from Asia like Huawei have been cutting prices steeply to break into new markets. These newcomers have been able to compete with old-line manufacturers because of the broad shift toward equipment that runs on open standards, not the proprietary technology sold by Lucent, Nortel and others. This shift has allowed AT&T and other big carriers to sidestep Lucent and buy equipment directly from low-cost makers in places like Taiwan or China. Still, analysts and investors were upbeat about the merger because by teaming up, the companies could reduce their costs by consolidating some of their operations. For Alcatel, a merger would bring Lucent's very profitable C.D.M.A. wireless technology used by Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and others. Alcatel could take advantage of Lucent's long relationships with the Bell companies. The companies could also combine their fiber optic units and perhaps gain enough power in the market to reverse the long decline in prices. Lucent shares rose 24 cents, to close at $3.06 yesterday. The deal is not expected to include a premium on Lucent's market value. Alcatel's American depository receipts rose 25 cents, to close at $15.70. The details of the possible deal continued to trickle out early yesterday. Ms. Russo, 53, would be chief executive of the combined company, people close to the discussions said. The enlarged entity would have its "executive office" in Paris, though it would continue to have major operations in both the United States and France. Its board would be split evenly between the merger partners. Alcatel is not a new player in the North American market. In fact, since the mid-1980's it has considered itself more of a global company than a French one, even adopting English as the official language for its multinational staff. Most notably, Alcatel, like Lucent, has had to recover from a dire business downturn just a few years ago. The company, led by Serge Tchuruk, 68, an English-speaking French citizen of Armenian heritage who became chairman and chief executive of Alcatel in 1995, has also cut thousands of jobs in recent years. In 1998, Mr. Tchuruk got a harsh lesson when the stock plunged 38 percent in a day after he said earnings would miss analysts' estimates. He began cutting costs and focusing on the core businesses. The global work force, once 115,700, is now 58,000, with most of the layoffs outside France. Mr. Tchuruk, who is expected to retire as chief executive in May and remain as nonexecutive chairman, also shed unprofitable divisions like mobile phones to focus on network sales to developing markets and sales of high-speed Internet equipment and digital subscriber lines. Those efforts, many analysts say, allowed Alcatel to survive when the telecommunications sector crashed in 2000. In 2005, Alcatel recorded net profit of about $1.12 billion. The company generates 15 percent of its sales in North America and 15 percent in Asia, compared with 12 percent in France. Only one French company -- France Télécom -- is among its 10 biggest customers. Analysts said the two companies, which had merger talks in 2001, were a good fit, combining the growing reach of Alcatel in developing-world markets and its leadership in broadband equipment, fiber optic networks and Internet television with Lucent's strength in the wireless equipment market in the United States, where Alcatel is seeking growth. Lucent, under Ms. Russo's direction, has also pushed forward with next-generation technology like IP Multimedia Subsystem, or I.M.S., which is intended to integrate wireless and fixed-line networks. AT&T and Cingular, for instance, have signed contracts to work with Lucent. "I look at the deal with Alcatel and I think it's chocolate and peanut butter, they fit so perfectly," said Paul Sagawa, who covers Lucent for Sanford C. Bernstein, an investment research company, in New York. A merger with Alcatel would be the final unraveling of Lucent, a highflier whose stock once traded over $63 a share, in 1999. It has been through so much already, including losing more than two-thirds of its revenue since 1999. With its customers -- the Bell companies and the big wireless carriers -- consolidating, "the only way to respond is not to compete but to merge," said Richard Nespola, the chairman and president of the Management Network Group, a telecommunications consultant. The merger would not necessarily mean significant job cuts at Lucent, analysts said, because deep cuts could potentially harm Lucent's leadership in the wireless equipment market and its long relationships with the Bell companies. Any future layoffs, they said, would probably be at headquarters rather than in operational jobs. On Lucent's sprawling corporate campus in Murray Hill, N.J., Lucent employees were adopting a wait-and-see attitude about the merger. Sophia Tsai, who works in the new- product introduction department, said she had received an e-mail message from Ms. Russo, discussing the possible merger without going into detail. Ms. Tsai, like others interviewed, recognized that the merger could mean layoffs and department mergers. "It is possible that this is a merger of equals, and Lucent will remain in control," she said. "We have a strong leadership here. There might be some changes. It depends on who takes the lead." George M. Calhoun, a professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology, said that "looking at the size of both companies, there's no doubt Alcatel will be the Daimler and Lucent will be the Chrysler." But, he added, "keeping Pat in her position will reassure" Lucent's customers who are "scratching their heads whether they are going to have to deal with new people. " Mr. Calhoun also said that naming Ms. Russo as chief executive of the proposed merged company might give Alcatel access to government contracts that foreign companies were typically prohibited from bidding on. But Steve Kamman, an analyst at CIBC World Markets, said regulators and lawmakers could have "serious concerns" about an Alcatel-Lucent deal because Bell Labs, Lucent's research arm, has worked closely with various security agencies. This could lead to a long and potentially contentious approval process, he said. A Lucent spokesman, William Price, said company executives were not available for comment yesterday. Over all, nearly half of Lucent's revenue now comes from wireless equipment, up from 37 percent two years ago. At the same time, sales from wireline equipment have been shrinking and now make up a quarter of revenue, down from 37 percent in 2003. As for new products like I.M.S. technology, which Lucent hopes to rely on, the markets are not large and may take years to grow. In the meantime, Mr. Kamman said, "the whole industry is a fixer-upper." Ten years ago, he said, "this would have been earth-shattering, but the forces in play are so enormous that this merger is underwhelming."

LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES INC
ALCATEL SA
LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES INC
RUSSO PATRICIA F
LABOR
MERGERS ACQUISITIONS AND DIVESTITURES
LAYOFFS AND JOB REDUCTIONS
TELEPHONES AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS


Report Cites Bias by Police In Killings In Canada

Abstract: OTTAWA — Robert W. Pickton, a pig farmer, managed to murder 49 women before his arrest in 2002 largely because of “systemic bias by the police” against the victims, the commissioner who investigated the actions of the police said Monday. Up until Mr. Pickton’s arrest, at least 67 women had disappeared in British Columbia, mainly from Vancouver’s downtown East Side. The victims were mainly members of Canadian aboriginal groups, and most were prostitutes and drug addicts. All were killed or are presumed dead. After a 10-month trial in 2007, Mr. Pickton was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. During his interrogation, he confessed to killing 49 women. The inquiry’s 1,448-page report shows that although some people were alarmed at the rising number of missing women in the area during the 1990s, the police were indifferent largely because of the women’s social status and race. It was an indifference, said the man who led the inquiry, Wally T. Oppal, that extended to much of the city’s population. “There was an institutional, systemic bias against the women,” Mr. Oppal said at a news conference Monday. “They were poor, they were aboriginal, they were drug addicted and they were not taken seriously.” He added, “What if you were made to feel invisible, unworthy?” Despite Mr. Oppal’s condemnation of the police as well as his passionate plea for eliminating the poverty in the aboriginal communities where many of the victims were born, it was not clear whether his findings would satisfy the families of the victims or native groups. Several aboriginal leaders were critical of the two-year inquiry’s focus on the actions of the police rather than on broad issues of poverty. Mr. Oppal’s news conference was repeatedly interrupted by hecklers identified by Canadian news outlets as relatives of the victims. At one point, Mr. Oppal was silenced as a native drummer played and family members sang, some raising clenched fists. In addition to indifference, the Vancouver Police Department and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which patrols the suburb of Port Coquitlam, where Mr. Pickton killed his victims on his farm, were faulted for poor communication, lack of cooperation and a failure to accept that a sharp rise in disappearances in 1997 could have been the work of a serial killer. Mr. Oppal particularly faulted the police and prosecutors for their actions after Mr. Pickton was arrested and charged with stabbing a prostitute in 1997 during the height of the disappearances. The prostitute, whose name is protected under a court order, reluctantly agreed to let Mr. Pickton drive her out to his ramshackle farm for a sex act. Once there, she saw evidence that other women had been at the farm. Mr. Pickton handcuffed the woman and then repeatedly stabbed her before she escaped. The police and prosecutors eventually suspended charges against Mr. Pickton, apparently because of doubts over the prostitute’s reliability as a witness. Moreover, the inquiry also found that they ignored her suggestions that Mr. Pickton had taken other prostitutes to the farm. Mr. Oppal said that if the police had followed up, it was “conceivable” that Mr. Pickton could have been stopped at that point. Instead, the two police forces, the report found, felt little urgency to act on the disappearances of prostitutes or to even warn people in the downtown East Side of the rapid rise in disappearances. “The Vancouver Police Department deeply regrets anything we did that may have delayed the eventual solving of these murders,” the force said in a statement. “It may also come as small consolation to those who still grieve that we are committed to learning from our mistakes.” In the end, Mr. Pickton was caught by a police officer who had been on the job for just 18 months and was serving a search warrant for weapons. The officer initiated a wider search of the farm after finding items of women’s clothing and accessories. “Pickton was not even attempting to hide the fruits of his violent acts,” Mr. Oppal said. “It was there for everyone to see.”

Pickton Robert W
Pickton Robert W.
Serial Murders
Women and Girls
Vancouver (British Columbia)
Murders and Attempted Murders
Prostitution
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Race and Ethnicity
Police Brutality and Misconduct


Ricoh Buys Office Equipment Distributor in U.S.

Abstract: TOKYO — The Japanese copier and printer maker Ricoh said on Wednesday that it would acquire an American office equipment distributor, Ikon Office Solutions, for about $1.62 billion to help it expand overseas. Ricoh, which competes with Xerox, Canon and Konica Minolta Holdings in printers and copiers, said it would pay $17.25 cash for each Ikon Office share, a premium of 11 percent over Tuesday’s close of $15.56. Ricoh said in a statement that the deal had been approved by the boards of both companies but was subject to regulatory approvals in the United States, Canada and Europe. The transaction will be financed with a mix of internal and external financing and is expected to close by the end of the year, Ricoh said.

Ricoh Company Ltd
IKON Office Solution Incorporated
Copying Machines
Mergers Acquisitions and Divestitures
Office Equipment