Behind Volkswagen Settlement, Speed and Compromise

Abstract: It was one of the fastest civil settlements in the history of corporate malfeasance, coming together in six months instead of the years usually required for such complex negotiations. But the path to Volkswagen’s $15 billion deal last month with American officials and car owners over the company’s diesel deception was fraught with pitfalls, including clashing egos and cultures, arguments over mathematical formulas and frayed nerves from late nights and lost weekends. The negotiations, which began in January, threatened to unravel in March. Fixing half a million cars to comply with clean air rules looked increasingly impossible. And Volkswagen was balking at any plan to buy back and scrap every car, which the company said it believed would be exorbitantly expensive. Looking to negotiate the differences, a group of Volkswagen executives and lawyers, led by Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz, a VW board member, headed to Washington to meet with officials at the Justice Department, according to three people briefed on the discussions. The company proposed fixing the cars as best it could, while reducing emissions in other ways, like installing cleaner engines in government trucks, buses and tugboats. Government officials pushed back, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the continuing legal action. The officials would agree to a partial fix, but Volkswagen would have to offer to buy back the cars, even if every owner took that option. The breakthrough compromise led to the $15 billion deal with federal and state governments, and with plaintiffs’ lawyers to compensate car owners and help repair the environment. The settlement, though painful to Volkswagen, could easily have taken much longer and cost billions of dollars more, based on a review of court documents and interviews with parties on both sides. But a quick settlement was in the interest of both Volkswagen and the government. Volkswagen was dealing with the corrosion of its brand, as the scandal weighed on its profitability . While the settlement would do nothing to address the threat of stepped-up criminal investigations and shareholder lawsuits, a settlement in the United States civil case would eliminate one of the biggest sources of financial risk. Lawyers for the government wanted to get the polluting cars fixed or off the road. An extra push came from Judge Charles R. Breyer of Federal District Court in San Francisco, who is presiding over the Volkswagen hearings and was anxious that owners of Volkswagen diesels not be left in limbo. The common sense of urgency prevented the talks from dragging on, like so many other cases of corporate malfeasance. The $18.7 billion agreement that BP reached last year, meant to resolve all federal, state and local claims against the oil company arising from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, took more than two years to negotiate. “It’s remarkable that the civil case against Volkswagen has been resolved so quickly,” said David M. Uhlmann, a former chief of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section and a law professor at the University of Michigan. “And the evidence of Volkswagen’s culpability was overwhelming,” he said. “Its viability as a company depended upon a quick resolution.” Judge Breyer set the tone from the beginning. At an early settlement hearing in January, the judge put the lawyers on notice that he would not allow the civil case to become a circus or a witch hunt. The case, he said, was not a whodunit. Rather, he set two priorities: to stop the cars from polluting and get relief for the owners. “How do we fix what was done?” Judge Breyer said during the session on Jan. 21. “If it can’t be fixed, then what is fair and just compensation for the people who have been damaged by this matter?” Judge Breyer gave the lawyers tight deadlines. He set an example by deciding on members of the plaintiffs steering committee just hours after the court session ended. Volkswagen was in a weak position as the talks got underway. Government regulators were angry that the company had stalled for more than a year before admitting that software in nearly 500,000 cars was programmed to thwart emissions tests. American investigators were also frustrated that Volkswagen, citing German data privacy laws, refused to turn over internal emails and other documents. The atmosphere improved after a humility tour by two top Volkswagen managers. One of them, Manfred Döss, Volkswagen’s general counsel, has a reputation in Germany for hardball tactics. But beginning in January, he and Mr. Garcia Sanz met United States officials at the Justice Department, promising to be more cooperative, according to the three people. Behind the scenes, the two Volkswagen officials got German employees to waive their privacy rights so documents could be transferred to the United States. In some instances, employees were allowed to delete personal information not relevant to the case while a company lawyer watched, according to statements in court by Volkswagen’s lawyer, Robert J. Giuffra Jr. Producing the documents helped restore good will with the government. “From the beginning, if you compared it to a horse race, the winning horse was already some ways down the track,” said Deborah R. Hensler, an expert on complex litigation and class actions at Stanford Law School. “It’s extremely rare for there to be this scale of litigation against a defendant who at the beginning of the litigation has already admitted liability.” Settlement talks intensified under pressure from Judge Breyer. The judge wanted to know by late March how Volkswagen was going to fix cars so they would not continue spewing illegal amounts of harmful nitrogen oxides. How Volkswagen’s ‘Defeat Devices’ Worked Volkswagen admitted that 11 million of its vehicles were equipped with software that was used to cheat on emissions tests. This is how the technology works and what it now means for vehicle owners. Flogging the talks forward was Robert Mueller, a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who was appointed as special settlement master. Mr. Mueller brokered intense, late-night negotiations at the Washington offices of his law firm WilmerHale, taking one group, then another, into private conference rooms to push for concessions. Still, for weeks, the parties could not agree on a crucial aspect of the deal: how much money to compensate Volkswagen owners. On several occasions, one plaintiff’s lawyer looked nervously at a replica Prohibition-era Tommy gun mounted on Mr. Mueller’s wall. “If the director had his F.B.I. badge and machine gun, he might have shot us all,” said the plaintiff’s lawyer, Joseph F. Rice, who spent many late nights at Mr. Mueller’s law offices in Washington, negotiating on behalf of Volkswagen owners. Soon, the lack of personal time for the negotiators became a cruel, running joke. At periodic conferences with the parties in San Francisco, Judge Breyer would repeatedly refer to the long days the lawyers were putting in, at sacrifice to their families, to groans from those assembled. On April 21, the lawyers met another deadline set by the judge to reach a preliminary agreement. It called for Volkswagen to buy back or fix diesels starting with the 2009 model year, to compensate owners and to pay money to offset the environmental damage it had caused. While they had the broad outlines, they still needed to work out the details. In the weeks that followed, number-crunchers from all sides fed proposed figures and situations into financial models during negotiations. But each step forward was fraught. At one point, talks about how to value the cars bogged down over misunderstandings of whether negotiators were calculating median versus mean values, which would result in substantially different settlement sums. There were many questions. How many cars were out there? How many might have been wrecked and no longer on the roads? What were the taxes people paid? What was the car worth in September 2015, when the scandal broke in the United States? “We were basically trying to determine how much consumers overpaid for the car based on the false advertising — in time, in extra taxes,” said James Kohm, an associate director of the Federal Trade Commission, which was involved in the talks. “But I could say $50 billion, somebody could say $4 trillion.” Despite its weak position, Volkswagen won some important concessions, like not having to bring all the diesels into full compliance with air-quality rules. Government officials realized, the negotiators said, that some customers would want to keep their cars and that there needed to be a solution that reduced pollution as much as possible. The compromise also cut the potential cost to Volkswagen. It could save billions if many customers opted for repairs, which are less expensive for the company than buybacks. Instead, the company will pay $2.7 billion into a fund overseen by a court-appointed trustee that will be used for projects to reduce nitrogen oxides. Volkswagen will also invest $2 billion to build charging stations and other projects to promote the use of electric vehicles. About $1 billion will go to California, which has the largest number of Volkswagen diesels. In the final days before the June settlement deadline set by Judge Breyer, negotiators gathered at the Washington offices of Sullivan & Cromwell, which represented Volkswagen, at a large conference room overlooking the Jefferson Memorial. One of the last issues was to get state attorneys general, who had sued separately, to sign on to the deal, according to three participants in the discussions. Negotiations with Texas, a crucial state because it accounted for 43,000 of the affected vehicles, continued until around midnight on June 27, just hours before the settlement was due. Negotiators agreed that Texas would get $50 million in fines and fees as part of the settlement money. With Texas, 44 states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, were on board, enough to claim victory. The next morning, Sally Q. Yates, deputy attorney general of the United States, walked in front of cameras to announce steps to right what she called “an unprecedented assault on our country’s environment.” “But let me be clear,” Ms. Yates said, “it is by no means the last step.” She notably said that criminal inquiries into Volkswagen’s conduct would continue. Judge Breyer drove that point home at a conference in San Francisco a day later, warning that the settlement had some notable loose ends. The deal, for example, offers no solution for the 85,000 larger Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche vehicles. And the settlement is still subject to formal approval by the judge, which is expected to be granted. At the conference, the judge turned to Mr. Giuffra, one of the Sullivan & Cromwell lawyers who negotiated on Volkswagen’s behalf. Mr. Giuffra had often said that the negotiations took him away from his 9-year-old son. “I’m just going to have to tell you,” the judge said, “that to get acquainted with your son may take a bit longer.”

Cars
Vehicle Emissions
Volkswagen
Justice Department
Charles R Breyer
Automobile safety
Air pollution
Diesel engine


Lawyers in Ground Zero Settlement Challenge Judge

Abstract: Lawyers defending the city and its contractors from lawsuits filed by about 10,000 people who worked on rescue and cleanup operations at ground zero went to a federal appeals court on Wednesday to challenge a judge’s authority to block a settlement. The settlement , reached last month, would divide $657.5 million among the workers, based on the severity of their illnesses and the level of their exposure to contaminants. In a notice filed with the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the lawyers said they were appealing orders issued in recent weeks by Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of United States District Court in Manhattan asserting his judicial supervision over the amounts to be received by individual plaintiffs. All of the claims involve damage to the workers’ health, which they say they suffered in the 9/11 recovery effort. Judge Hellerstein stunned both the city and the plaintiffs at a hearing on March 19 by saying that the compensation was inadequate and that he was taking control. In a statement, the city’s lawyers argued on Wednesday that the judge had “inserted himself into a private settlement” and robbed the parties of their ability to choose to end the litigation. “We’d like the Court of Appeals to confirm that he has no authority to determine the terms of a private settlement,” James E. Tyrrell Jr., the lead lawyer for the city, said in an interview. At the hearing last month, Judge Hellerstein not only faulted the amount of compensation but said that the city, not the plaintiffs, should pay the lawyers’ fees. He also said he was taking control of the agreement to ensure that it was fair and that the plaintiffs understood its terms. But lawyers for both the plaintiffs and the city have remained committed to the settlement, which was brokered last month after two years of negotiations on suits dating to 2003. The settlement would end thousands of lawsuits filed by the workers, including firefighters, police officers and construction workers, who hunted for survivors and removed debris from the World Trade Center site after the terrorist attack. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said they were still deciding whether they would appeal as well, but added that they continued to stand by the agreement. “As far as we’re concerned, the settlement still exists, and ultimately this is for our individual clients to accept or reject on their own behalf,” said Marc J. Bern, one of the lead lawyers for the plaintiffs. “Ultimately, we have to do what is best for our clients.” Experts in mass tort litigation say the authority of district court judges to review settlements in cases involving individual plaintiffs — that is, non-class-action suits — has not been tested and remains unclear. But Judge Hellerstein has spoken emotionally about his duty to ensure a fair outcome in the 9/11 cases, referring to the workers as “our heroes.” Lawyers for the city counter that the judge is ignoring the possibility that other defendants could use the agreement as a model to strike their own deals and increase the overall compensation to the workers. The settlement calls for plaintiffs to provide medical documentation of their injuries and proof of their presence at ground zero so that the severity of their health conditions can be evaluated. The city is also challenging the judge’s order that his court approve an administrator and a medical panel to evaluate the claims, and his order for a fairness hearing on specific payouts. The settlement money from New York City would be paid by its insurer, the WTC Captive Insurance Company, from a federal compensation fund. It now stands at $1.1 billion, having covered more than $200 million in legal and administrative costs related to defending the city. Officials with the insurance company have said that about $500 million would remain in the fund to deal with future claims from plaintiffs whose illnesses have not yet manifested themselves.

World Trade Center (NYC)
Suits and Litigation
Appeals Courts (US)


Auburn Dismisses 4 Football Players

Abstract: Auburn Coach Gene Chizik dismissed four players after they were arrested. The police said the players — Mike McNeil, Antonio Goodwin, Shaun Kitchens and Dakota Mosley — were each charged with five counts of first-degree robbery, one count of first-degree burglary and one count of third-degree theft of property.

Auburn University
Football
Robberies and Thefts
College Athletics
Football (College)
Chizik Gene


California Effort to Issue Driver’s Licenses to Immigrants Receives Surge of Applicants

Abstract: LOS ANGELES — When Alberto Fraire drives past a police car these days, he no longer worries about steep fines, or perhaps being hauled to jail and tangling with the immigration system. When California began issuing driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants this year, he was one of the first in line. “There’s a huge sense of relief now; it’s a psychological thing,” said Mr. Fraire, 37, who came to the United States with his parents from Mexico more than 25 years ago and recently leased a new black BMW to celebrate receiving his license in May. “I am not completely secure, but I don’t have to worry every time I get into my car.” Mr. Fraire is part of an extraordinary milestone. In the first six months of this year, more than half of the new driver’s licenses issued by California went to undocumented immigrants like him. Even now, months after the program went into effect, lines regularly begin at the Department of Motor Vehicles in Los Angeles by 6 a.m., a sign of the continuing changes in the state’s population. D.M.V. officials predict that they will issue nearly 1.5 million licenses to undocumented immigrants within three years. Of the 883,000 total licenses issued from January to the end of July, 443,000 were granted to undocumented immigrants, the officials said. Many in the state applaud the license program, as well as other efforts by California to integrate undocumented immigrants into the economy, saying it simply reflects the demographic reality. California is home to nearly three million illegal immigrants, about 25 percent of all such immigrants in the country. More than half of the state’s residents are immigrants or children of immigrants, with Latinos making up the largest ethnic group. Image More than half of all new driver’s licenses issued in California since January, when the new law went into effect, have gone to people in the country illegally. Credit Monica Almeida/The New York Times While an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws has languished in Congress, many undocumented immigrants have established themselves in California over decades. Thanks to recent legislative measures, they can receive financial aid and student loans to attend state universities and can be approved to practice more than 40 professions, including law, architecture and dentistry. Mr. Fraire, for example, works as an electrician and plans to apply for a contractor’s license so he can open his own business. Most of the immigrant drivers who are now getting their licenses have been on the roads for years, usually driving registered cars with insurance to minimize the possibility of steep fines or of having their cars impounded. But critics say that with measures like the driver’s license program, the state is interfering with federal policy. They argue that such laws will only entice more immigrants to enter the country illegally, increasing the need for public spending. “It creates even more of a magnet in what is already basically a sanctuary state,” said Joe Guzzardi, a spokesman for Californians for Population Stabilization, which advocates stricter immigration policies. “These are very tangible rewards to people who have knowingly and willingly violated the law.” Still, nearly 65 percent of the state’s residents see immigrants as a net benefit to the state, according to a January poll by the Public Policy Institute of California, a San Francisco-based research group. Many of the laws offering benefits of various kinds have sailed through the State Legislature with little controversy, often with support from both parties. California is hardly alone in offering benefits to undocumented immigrants; a dozen states allow them to get driver’s licenses, and more offer in-state tuition rates at public universities. But no other state’s efforts come close to the breadth of those California officials have pursued. Image A D.M.V. center in Granada Hills. The state expects some 1.5 million illegal immigrants to receive licenses within three years. Credit Monica Almeida/The New York Times Under the budget approved this year, children from low-income families, regardless of their immigration status, will receive subsidized health care. Lawmakers are also considering legislation to allow undocumented immigrants to pay for health insurance through the state’s public exchange. And a bill that would give agricultural workers permits and protect them from deportation, the kind of policy that has historically been in the federal domain, cleared its first legislative hurdle with nearly unanimous support. Huntington Park, a suburb of Los Angeles, is moving this week to appoint undocumented immigrants to two unpaid advisory board positions. “If Congress isn’t going to act, this state will find its own way,” said Assemblyman Luis Alejo, a Democrat and the author of the driver’s license legislation and the agricultural bill. The shift in public opinion also reflects the demographic transformation of the state. “Most Latinos know somebody who is undocumented, and we’re not some marginal community,” said Angelica Salas, the executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, which has lobbied for many of the state programs. “We’re really just going to some level of common sense. We’ve done in-state tuition and professional licenses for more than a million people. Lives have changed significantly, and the sky has not fallen.” In other states, there has been greater resistance. For example, in Connecticut, which began offering driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants this year, there was an initial surge in applicants, leading to complaints about long delays for permits and driver’s license exams. The state’s General Assembly expected 54,000 applications in the first three years; nearly 50,000 were submitted in the first six months. Maryland has issued roughly 60,000 licenses to undocumented immigrants since January 2014, while Colorado has given out about 10,000. In 2013, after California’s Legislature approved the plan to issue the licenses, officials spent nearly a year working out the details, including what the licenses would look like and what identification documents would be accepted. Initially, officials worried that eligible immigrants would not try to obtain licenses for fear that it was a trap. Instead, in January, when the licenses became available, the morning lines of applicants stretched around D.M.V. offices. The state hired 1,000 new workers and opened four offices that are intended specifically to help with the new licenses and that remain open as late as 10 p.m. “Right now, we only drive if there is no other choice, but that is often,” said Roberto Tadeo, 40, as he waited to take his written exam one recent morning. Mr. Tadeo had spent the last hour driving from his home in South Los Angeles to a new D.M.V. office in the city’s northern suburbs. Clutching the Mexican passport he used to prove his identity, he looked over his road sign flashcards one more time. “Now I have to prove I’ve been doing it safely all this time.”

Driver's license
Illegal Immigration
California
State legislature
Department of Motor Vehicles


Judge Dismisses Charges Against Teenagers in Brooklyn Rape Case

Abstract: After a brief hearing, a judge on Thursday formally dismissed charges against five teenagers accused of raping an 18-year-old woman at a Brooklyn playground in a case that fell apart as inconsistencies emerged in her statements to investigators and she became increasingly reluctant to cooperate with prosecutors. The initial allegations — that the five teenagers brandished a gun and forced the woman’s father to flee before they raped her — stoked fears in Brownsville, the neighborhood where the encounter occurred and where violent crime has long been a problem. But after the five suspects were arrested within a few days of the Jan. 7 encounter, the case quickly turned even more complicated. Some of the suspects told investigators that the sexual contact was consensual and said that when they first encountered the woman at Osborn Playground that night, she was having sex with a man who turned out to be her father. Prosecutors indicated they were proceeding with particular caution and did not indict the defendants within six days of their arrests, as would have been needed to continue detaining the men on first-degree rape charges. Four of the men were released on bail, and the fifth was held on an unrelated charge, as the police and prosecutors continued to try to piece together what happened that night in Brownsville. Last week, the Brooklyn district attorney, Ken Thompson, announced that he would ask the court to dismiss the rape charges against the five suspects: Denzel Murray, 14; Ethan Philips, 15; Shaquell Cooper, 15; Travis Beckford, 17; and Onandi Brown, 18. (Mr. Cooper remains in jail on assault charges in a case from October.) At the hearing on Thursday afternoon in Brooklyn Criminal Court, three of the teenagers — Mr. Brown, Mr. Murray and Mr. Philips — stood before Judge John T. Hecht as he dismissed the charges and sealed the records in the case. At the hearing, Miss Gregory and Lisa Nugent, assistant district attorneys, requested that the charges be dismissed because the office did not believe it could prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. The prosecutor’s office found that the woman and her father provided inconsistent statements about the use of force, the presence of a weapon and who engaged in sex acts and who did not. Nevertheless, Ms. Nugent called the events of that night “extremely troubling on all levels,” which prompted a pointed rebuttal from Spencer Leeds, a lawyer representing Mr. Brown. Mr. Leeds said the prosecutor’s statement unfairly lumped the teenagers’ actions in with those of the woman’s father. He said people in their youth make mistakes, but in the age of the Internet, the teenagers must live with their names’ being forever tied to the allegations. “How do you get back that?” he asked the judge. Kenneth Montgomery, a lawyer who represents Mr. Murray, described the five teenagers, all of whom are black, as victims of racial bias. He said some community leaders were too quick to believe the accusations against them. “Funny enough, we live in a society where young black men don’t always have the presumption of innocence, especially in a crime like this,” he said. “This isn’t something new.” Since the encounter, authorities have learned more about the woman’s troubled history in foster care. Adopted at 2, she had been in New York City only since July after reuniting with her father.

Brownsville Brooklyn
Rape
Travis Beckford
Onandi Brown
Denzel Murray
Shaquell Cooper
Ethan Philips
Kenneth P Thompson
John T Hecht


Christian Lacroix Files for Protection From Creditors

Abstract: Christian Lacroix, the French couturier whose artistic and exuberant pouf dresses propelled him to fame in the 1980s, became the latest victim of the global financial crisis on Thursday when the fashion house bearing his name filed for court protection from creditors. The voluntary petition, similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, was filed with the commercial court in Paris, which will decide whether to restructure or liquidate the company. Although Lacroix’s chief executive, Nicolas Topiol, emphasized that the brand intended to continue operating during the process, the news brought an end to a luxury business model. Founded in 1987 by Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the concept was to start with haute couture, at the apex of the luxury pyramid, and develop from it a range of ready-to-wear apparel, accessories and fragrances. This was the system that had reaped mighty profits for established houses like Christian Dior and Chanel. But despite years of critical success, the company failed to break even, let alone turn a profit. Mr. Arnault sold Lacroix in 2005 to the Falic Group, a business based in Florida known for its Duty Free Americas chain. The Falic brothers sought to refocus the luxury brand at the peak, suppressing the lower-priced clothing and jeans lines. “Since the acquisition of Christian Lacroix SNC, we have been committed to the brand and to its high-end development,” Mr. Topiol said in a statement. “We will continue to do so, but the sharp downturn of the luxury market has significantly hurt our revenues.” The owners had been in discussion with potential financial partners and investors for the last year, Mr. Topiol said, adding “this process which was in its final phase, was directly hit by the conditions of the financial markets and could not be finalized prior to the filing.” According to people close to the matter, Lacroix was badly hit in the United States, where it had opened two stores in New York and Las Vegas and where buyers had recently reduced or canceled orders. Ready-to-wear sales for the coming autumn season were down 35 percent and losses for 2008 were 10 million euros ($14 million) on overall revenues of about 30 million euros. Mr. Topiol’s statement said only that the “long-term strategy for repositioning of the brand was dramatically hindered” by the financial crisis. That has been evident for some time across the luxury sector, where even the biggest players are being hurt by recession and financial turmoil. LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury goods company, recently scrapped a plan to open a Louis Vuitton flagship store in Tokyo. This year, Chanel announced the layoffs of 200 temporary employees. Versace, an independent Italian house, is in a state of turmoil, announcing that revenue fell 13 percent in the first quarter. The board this week approved a three-year plan to steer the company through the economic crisis while continuing to deny rumors that its chief executive of four years, Giancarlo Di Risio, will soon exit the company. The lessons seem to be that it is now difficult to survive in high fashion without being part of a corporate group that can invest in product development and flagship stores and that the pyramid model is no longer viable. The modern strategy, as exemplified by the growth of the Giorgio Armani brand, is a sunburst, with the designer at the epicenter and all product categories (except sunglasses, which are technically demanding) under the brand control. Yet, significantly, an Armani Privé couture line was created to add prestige and a direct link with celebrity clients. The loss of Christian Lacroix to Paris haute couture is immeasurable. Although the designer hopes to hold a small presentation during the July couture season, this was the last house established under the formal couture rules. Even a restructuring would most likely have severe implications for the 125-member staff. The grandeur of the couturier’s work was displayed this month in the sumptuous gown created for Philomena de Tornos, the bride of Jean de France, Duc de Vendôme, a descendant of the French royal dynasty. But just as royalty now has less attention than celebrity, so couture has lost its unique prestige, with the word bandied about by any high-end designer. And whereas fragrances produced from the mystique of haute couture once kept the houses afloat, now it is just as likely that a hip jeans brand like Diesel or a celebrity like Jennifer Lopez will have the perfume hit that has stubbornly eluded Lacroix. Mr. Lacroix, who received the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur in 2002, for services to fashion, has other strings to his bow, apart from his colorful and sophisticated collections. He was the creative director for Emilio Pucci, the Italian fashion house, from 2002 to 2005, while he was still within the LVMH group. He also has his own XCLX company, for which he has created décor for the French TGV high-speed train , as well as hotel interiors and uniforms for Air France. He has also designed for theater, opera and dance and acted as curator for fashion exhibits, including one currently at the National Museum of Singapore.

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA
Fashion and Apparel
Bankruptcies


Troy Tulowitzki’s Return Lifts Blue Jays Over the Rays

Abstract: Mike Trout hit a leadoff triple in the ninth inning on Friday and scored on a tiebreaking single by Albert Pujols, sending the Los Angeles Angels to a 2-1 win over Texas that kept the Rangers from clinching the American League West title. Los Angeles began the day tied with Minnesota in the race for the second A.L. wild card, and a game behind Houston, which played later on Friday. Rangers closer Shawn Tolleson (6-4) appeared in his fourth consecutive game. Trout hit the second pitch deep into the right-center gap, and then slid headfirst into third base before emphatically pumping his right arm toward his teammates in the dugout. Pujols followed with a soft single to left field on the next pitch. Already assured a playoff spot, Texas went into Friday needing a win over the Angels or a loss by second-place Houston to secure the division title. ROYALS 3, TWINS 1 Ben Zobrist put a major dent in Minnesota’s postseason bid with an R.B.I. double in the eighth inning against Glen Perkins, and visiting Kansas City topped the Twins. Perkins, hampered by neck and back trouble that led to his removal from the closer role, spoiled a stellar start by Ervin Santana (7-5) with a first-pitch fastball that Zobrist drove off the wall in right-center field. Zobrist then scored when right fielder Torii Hunter fumbled a single by Mike Moustakas, another blemish on an awful second half for Perkins. Chris Young gave the Royals another reason to consider him for the postseason rotation, allowing an R.B.I. single by Aaron Hicks in the third. Young, 36, gave up four hits in six and a third innings, retiring 15 out of 16 batters at one point. CUBS 6, BREWERS 1 Jake Arrieta struck out seven in six strong innings, and Chicago won at Milwaukee as the Cubs tried to keep up with Pittsburgh in the race to host the National League wild-card game. Anthony Rizzo had two hits and three R.B.I., including a solo homer into the Cubs’ bullpen in right in the fourth off Ariel Pena (2-1). Arrieta (22-6) allowed two singles in his final tuneup before the postseason. His E.R.A. dropped to 1.77. BLUE JAYS 8, RAYS 4 Troy Tulowitzki doubled and singled in his return to the Toronto lineup after missing three weeks with injuries, and the visiting Blue Jays rallied past Tampa Bay. Tulowitzki went 2 for 5 and scored a run. Edwin Encarnacion and Russell Martin homered for the Blue Jays, who started the day tied with Kansas City in the race for the American League’s best record and home-field advantage throughout the postseason. BRAVES 4, CARDINALS 0 Julio Teheran pitched six strong innings, Daniel Castro drove in two runs, and Atlanta beat visiting St. Louis. Teheran (11-8) allowed five hits, walked one and struck out six, closing his regular season by going 2-1 with a 1.62 E.R.A. in his last six starts. WHITE SOX 2, TIGERS 1 Chris Sale allowed one run over seven-plus innings and set the White Sox’ record for strikeouts in a season as host Chicago beat Detroit. By retiring James McCann, who looked at a 3-2 breaking ball for the first out of the second inning, Sale struck out his 270th batter of the season. He began the game with 267 strikeouts and broke the mark set by the Hall of Famer Ed Walsh in 1908, when he struck out 269 batters. Sale’s record came on an eventful day for the White Sox. Earlier Friday, General Manager Rick Hahn said he expected Manager Robin Ventura to return and also announced that the team would not be retaining the bench coach Mark Parent after the end of a disappointing season. Sale (13-11) had been struggling recently. His win on Friday was his first since Aug. 21, and he broke a four-game losing streak. He was helped by a diving catch by J. B. Shuck in right field on a drive by Dixon Machado that ended the seventh.

Baseball
Sports injury
Mets
Steven Matz
Los Angeles Angels
Texas Rangers


A Basketball Life, Shown From a High School Locker Room

Abstract: “The stage, such as it is” is a phrase that has appeared in connection with at least one of Ed Schmidt’s critically acclaimed shows. It might have stung someone who was less determined, because the theater was his apartment in Brooklyn. For one production, the stage, such as it was, was his kitchen and dining room. For the other, it was his living room. For his latest production, he has decamped to Manhattan, the borough of theaters, of eight shows a week, of greasepaint that smells and crowds that roar, of going out there a youngster and coming back a star. But when he led the way on Aug. 14 to where he will perform his new show, the old phrase came to mind. His latest performance space is a high school locker room in the East Village. The stage, a fraction of the size of the stage at Radio City Music Hall , is more of a walkway in front of a bench where the audience will sit. The ceiling is 6 feet 6 inches high. Andrea Bargnani , late of the Knicks and soon to be of the Nets, is six inches taller than that. “Yeah, it’s tight,” Mr. Schmidt said. “A nice, tight, claustrophobic space.” The light board is two switches on the wall. One controls the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. The other turns on the lights in an adjacent storage space, so the house lights and the stage lights are one and the same. There is no lighting technician to flip the switches. There is no stage manager to holler “Places, everyone” before the curtain goes up, either, and by the way, there is no curtain to go up. No carpenters built the set, just as no stagehands hid or hauled away the mess that Mr. Schmidt found the first time he looked in. He did the cleanup, even scrubbing the white brick walls. “There’s a certain do-it-yourself element to this,” Mr. Schmidt said. He also wrote the play, “Our Last Game.” “The rehearsal is basically me standing around talking to myself,” he explained before he ran through part of one scene. “There’s no director.” That meant no interruptions from somewhere out in the house about picking up the pace or changing the blocking or reimagining the motivation. And there will be no physical descriptions of Mr. Schmidt here. His website has a right-back-atcha way of turning past descriptions of him back on the reporters who wrote them, and no matter what this Clark Kent writes about him, Mr. Schmidt cannot possibly do the writer justice. Image Mr. Schmidt with a chalkboard to chart basketball plays. Credit Benjamin Norman for The New York Times Previews of “Our Last Game” begin on Tuesday. Opening night is Aug. 31. This means that his last play, “My Last Play,” was not his last play after all — it was just the last play he staged in his apartment. Mr. Schmidt seems to have a fascination with lasts. The in-home play that he did before “My Last Play” was “The Last Supper.” But this time, he is not giving anything away, as he did with “My Last Play.” Each person who saw “My Last Play” was told to choose a book from Mr. Schmidt’s personal library and take it home. Since the books were part of the backdrop, this was like cutting up the magic carpet in “Aladdin” and letting the audience walk off with tiny pieces, or giving away the portholes from “Anything Goes.” “The reason I started doing these plays was just all the middlemen — finishing the play, getting it to my agent, getting it to a theater, them putting it in a season a year or two later,” he said. “I cut out the middlemen. I answer to no one. If I want to go away for the weekend, I list on the website that three shows are sold out and go away for the weekend. It doesn’t make me a whole lot of money, but it’s pure profit.” If Mr. Schmidt’s latest stage is a fraction of the size of one in a Broadway theater, so is the seating capacity — 15 people, about the same as when Mr. Schmidt was performing in his apartment. “When you’re only selling 12 or 15 seats a night, it becomes pretty easy to fill the house,” he said, “and you can run for three years.” Mr. Schmidt, who teaches theater and English at the Trinity School on the Upper West Side, said he asked to use the locker room there, but planned construction made it impossible. He heard about Nord Anglia International School , a private school on East Second Street and Second Avenue that took over what had been La Salle Academy , a basketball powerhouse that moved to East Sixth Street in 2010. Mr. Schmidt asked. The principal of Nord Anglia, Alan Wilkinson, said Mr. Schmidt could use the locker room, which has a past. It appeared in “The Basketball Diaries,” a 1995 film that starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Lorraine Bracco and Mark Wahlberg. But more than that, Mr. Schmidt’s audience will sit where a future basketball star once sat when he played for La Salle: Metta World Peace , when he was known as Ron Artest. The Hall of Famers Chris Mullin , George Mikan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar , when he was known as Lew Alcindor, visited the school in competition as well. In “Our Last Game,” Mr. Schmidt plays a coach identified only as Coach — no last name. But “Our Last Game” is not autobiographical, even though Mr. Schmidt is the coach of the varsity basketball team at Trinity, the son of a high school basketball coach and a former point guard at Williams College. (“I’m 5-11,” he said, “but I always listed myself as 6 feet.”) “Our Last Game” follows Coach’s career, in reverse, through three pep talks: one just before he retired; one in midcareer, with the best team he ever shepherded; and one during the last game of his first season, in 1967. Mr. Schmidt called the 1967 scene “a full-on tirade” with language he would not use in rehearsal. Students from a summer program were playing in the gym outside the locker room, and he said they might have overheard. If the locker room is spartan, it is more than a coincidence. Coach’s team is called the Spartans. “These young men, there’s a hint they’re going into battle,” he said. “But we know they’re playing Class D basketball. I played Class D freshman and sophomore years. We had 17 kids in our class. There was really nothing heroic about it. These are kids who, if they went to a bigger school, wouldn’t make the basketball team.”


Egypt's Big Businesses Feel Neglected Amid Turmoil

Abstract: CAIRO — In the haze around Egypt’s latest bout of turmoil, the nation’s largest companies are struggling to adapt as the Islamist government is once again forced to focus on a fast-changing political crisis rather than the economy. Some of Egypt’s biggest employers have criticized the government for undermining the economy and the role of larger multinational companies in the country’s political stability. Although the Muslim Brotherhood and President Mohamed Morsi have promised a “Renaissance Project” to address Egypt’s economy, a new cast of Islamists has emerged at the lead of business, leaving many of the country’s big business owners out in the cold. This week, the country was thrust into another round of violence, prompting the president to declare a state of emergency in three Egyptian cities and give the army the power to arrest civilians. At least 45 people have died in fighting between the police and protesters. But the heads of some of the country’s largest listed companies say that tackling the fragile economy should happen in tandem with viable political solutions rather than in isolation, especially if the country expects to sign a long-awaited $4.8 billion loan package with the International Monetary Fund. “While continuing any kind of political dialogue, it is of absolute urgency that economic-policy shaping moves to the front line,” said Nassef Sawiris, chairman and chief executive of Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt’s largest listed company. “The political shocks of the last two years have paralyzed economic policy-shaping.” Orascom and a group of American investors, among them Bill Gates of Microsoft, have begun a $2 billion transaction in which Orascom will transfer its listing to NYSE Euronext Amsterdam. Investors holding 80 percent of OCI shares have agreed to exchange their stakes for stock in OCI NV. Many Egyptians have interpreted the move as a “flight to safety” after two years of political upheaval and the installation of an Islamist government. While the company’s transfer to Amsterdam will open access to capital markets, including the Eurobond market, increase share liquidity and attract a new type of shareholder, OCI’s departure from the Cairo stock market will have an impact on liquidity and trading volume at home. Tarek Kamhawey, a research analyst at Beltone Financial in Cairo, said that OCI was the largest company by market capitalization, at $8.5 billion, and comprises almost a quarter of market capitalization on the Egyptian exchange, followed by Egypt Telecom, which is worth less than half, at $3.7 billion. Mr. Sawiris said that while the “economic rationale” of the move to Amsterdam was important, “it does not belittle our main production assets in Egypt, Algeria and the U.S.” The company is working on keeping a presence on the Cairo exchange, either directly or through a depositary receipts program. Its 45,000 Egyptian employees will not be affected, the company said. “We have repeatedly said we are working on alternatives to give our Egyptian following of shareholders venues to invest in the company,” Mr. Sawiris said. OCI has had to face a number of challenges in Egypt, including a delay on a demerger of its construction and fertilizer unit, which was meant to take place last year but is still subject to approval by the government. According to Bloomberg, OCI is also reportedly in negotiations with the tax authority over outstanding taxes. For many in the business community, these developments represent a failure by the government to support big employers, which often pay the highest taxes and employ thousands of people. Hisham Fahmy, head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Cairo, said that the government “is taking large companies for granted” while becoming “fixated on small and medium-sized enterprises, because that’s the biggest problem at the moment.” “The informal sector and small companies are really unable to cope with instability, and, rightly so, they need a lot of help,” he added. The Muslim Brotherhood, by concentrating its efforts on grass-roots companies often run by fledgling entrepreneurs, has neglected the wider economic framework needed to support large companies. The signs of a muddled economy are clear. EFG Hermes, Egypt’s biggest investment bank, said its sale to Qatar’s QInvest had been delayed as regulators scrutinized the takeover. The deal, announced in March, was expected to be concluded in November. Qatar’s regulator has given the necessary approvals, Mona Zulficar, EFG Hermes’s nonexecutive chairwoman, told Bloomberg, indicating that it is the Egyptian regulator that is slowing the process. An ongoing currency crisis is also trickling down to critical businesses for Egypt. Venus International, a major importer of wheat, has said it is struggling because of pressure on the pound. “The erosion of the Egyptian pound and its scarcity in the market increases the foreign exchange risk on one side, and slows down dramatically our cash flow” as the company and its customers “must find U.S. dollars to pay the imports,” said Sadri Marathi, chief financial officer at Venus. “Sooner or later we will feel that the Egyptian population will be massively suffering from the economic crisis,” he added, signaling that it will become more expensive to feed the population. The president and the prime minister, Hesham Kandil, called for a “National Economic Dialogue” earlier this year, but that has been quietly delayed as the political crisis overshadows the economy. Reserves have plunged to about $15 billion as the central bank has attempted to prop up the currency. Investors who looked to come to Egypt do not believe the crisis will end quickly, said Mr. Fahmy of the American Chamber, while investors who already have a presence in Egypt have had to reassess their expectations for the current financial year. Shafik Gabr, a billionaire industrialist and chairman of Artoc, an Egyptian conglomerate with interests in automobiles, real estate and publishing, said the lack of economic stability was having “serious transition costs” linked to the economic stability in Egypt. Although in the last financial year he invested $23 million to create 400 jobs, Mr. Gabr said that a variety of problems “not limited to the deficit, significant subsidies, inelasticity of exports, heavy costs due to disruptions, exchange rate, inflation and unemployment” had contributed to “multiple stresses” on the economy. “Egypt has the potential,” he added. ‘ “The question now is does it have the political, economic and social will to make the best of that potential.”


Hungary’s Spirits Are Back Up, on a Horse

Abstract: BUDAPEST — A racehorse bought for a pittance has turned into a national hero in crisis-stricken Hungary . The thoroughbred known as Overdose pounded down the stretch here at Kincsem Park on Sunday to extend his record to 12 wins in 12 races, his jockey clad in the red, white and green of the Hungarian flag. And for an afternoon at least, the crowd of more than 20,000 in the grandstand and lining the rail, along with all the Hungarians watching at home, could forget about the resignation of the prime minister and their currency’s nosedive. As times have gotten tougher here, the 4-year-old Overdose has become the Hungarian Seabiscuit, a symbol of hope for Americans during the Great Depression . He appears to remind Hungarians of themselves: undervalued and underestimated. “This horse has a mission here in Hungary,” said Zoltan Mikoczy, Overdose’s owner, a cheerful, balding steel trader with a weakness for thoroughbreds. It is hard to overstate the great pride that Hungary, a small nation that has suffered many disappointments, feels for Overdose. The country was already afflicted with high debt and anemic growth before the global credit crisis struck last fall, leading to a bailout by the International Monetary Fund. But now, instead of bailouts and bankruptcies, talk has centered for a change on Overdose’s new flashy Belgian jockey , Christophe Soumillon, who is married to a former Miss France, and on comparisons to the 19th-century Hungarian filly Kincsem, one of the greatest horses of all time and namesake of the track, who retired with an unblemished record in 54 races. “I can compare Overdose to Seabiscuit,” said Zalan Horvath, the secretary of the Association for the Future of Equestrian Sports in Hungary. “I say that because the Hungarian nation has had a lot of bad times, in the last centuries but also lately.” While Overdose’s fame is not as great as Seabiscuit’s, his success may be even more surprising. Mr. Mikoczy, 47, went to Newmarket, in Britain, with friends in 2006, after promising his wife that he would not buy another horse after purchasing four at a sale a month earlier. He put up his hand “just for fun” when the bidding for Overdose was merely about $3,500, never imagining that he would walk out with a thoroughbred for such a bargain basement price. Nor did anyone predict victories for the horse in Rome and Baden-Baden , Germany. “We didn’t expect anything from the horse when he arrived,” said Sandor Ribarszki, the horse’s trainer, a quick-witted joker who has called Overdose “short” and “kind of ugly.” Now Mr. Ribarszki said he had trouble sleeping at night, wondering if anything had happened to the horse. Since Overdose’s victory streak began, Mr. Mikoczy said, he has been offered $6.5 million for the horse, but has refused to sell. “I didn’t buy the horse for business or to make a profit,” Mr. Mikoczy said. “You do not sell dreams.” Overdose has been called the Wunderpferd, or Miracle Horse, in Germany and the Budapest Bullet in Britain. A writer at Britain’s Racing Post recently raved that he “leaves the stalls with the overdrive already engaged.” But Overdose’s one setback may have done more to cement his reputation in Hungary than his dozen straight victories. At the prestigious Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp in Paris, Overdose appeared to win the premier sprint race with a time just shy of the 25-year-old course record. But the seeming victory was nullified because a malfunctioning gate prevented one of the other horses from starting. Overdose’s team decided he had expended too much effort to be allowed to run again. His rival, Marchand D’Or, went on to win the race, and later the title of best European sprinter. Tivadar Farkashazy, a Hungarian television commentator and journalist, compared the debacle to the Treaty of Trianon, signed in 1920 at Versailles, which whittled Hungarian territory down to a fraction of its size and remains a source of national outrage. “Again the tough luck, again in France,” said Mr. Farkashazy, who has also written a book about the horse. Trianon has special resonance to Overdose’s story. While the horse trains in Hungary and wears the colors of the country, his owner is an ethnic Hungarian who lives across the border in Slovakia. “It’s important that the horse remains Hungarian,” Mr. Mikoczy said, even though there are superior facilities available in other countries. Indeed, Hungarian racing had been in a slow decline since World War II, and the money-losing Kincsem Park was in danger of closing, a fate Overdose appears to have prevented for the time being. There is a clear patriotic tilt to the horse’s reception. He rode out Sunday with an honor guard of six flag-bearing riders dressed as Hussars, the famous Hungarian light cavalry, as tens of thousands screamed. “For us Hungarians, it’s a big deal,” said Livia Nagy, 23, one of the thousands who came out for the race. “Overdose is something we can be proud of.” The horse’s popularity has even attracted politicians. On Friday, Viktor Orban, chairman of the center-right Fidesz Party and a former prime minister who hopes to reclaim the job in next year’s election, turned up with a crowd of television cameras to pose with the star. “Failure is the most often heard expression in Hungary today — failure, mistake, pessimism. When even a horse is able to make a miracle from nowhere, it’s a sign of hope that we can get out from the desperate situation we are now in,” Mr. Orban said. “If I were a politician, I would do the same, because Overdose is one of the most famous persons in Hungary,” said Mr. Horvath, “even though he is a horse.”

Horse Racing
Recession and Depression
Hungary


Djokovic and Nadal in Semifinals

Abstract: Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have reached the Italian Open semifinals. Djokovic beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 7-5, 6-1, and Nadal defeated Tomas Berdych, 6-4, 7-5. Djokovic will play Roger Federer, who defeated Andreas Seppi, 6-1, 6-2. Nadal’s opponent is David Ferrer, who beat Richard Gasquet, 7-6 (4), 6-3. Among the women, Serena Williams reached the last four after Flavia Pennetta quit in the first set with an injured right wrist. She will face Li Na, who beat Dominika Cibulkova, 6-1, 7-6 (4). Maria Sharapova beat Venus Williams, 6-4, 6-3. She will play No. 12 Angelique Kerber, who defeated Petra Kvitova, 7-6 (2), 1-6, 6-1.


Zapatero Shakes Up Spanish Cabinet

Abstract: MADRID — Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero on Wednesday announced a government reshuffle that included the abolition of two ministries and the appointment of a new foreign minister. The reshuffling comes at a time when Mr. Zapatero has been trailing in opinion polls and struggling to revive an economy badly damaged by the collapse of Spain ’s construction sector and an unemployment rate of 20 percent, double the average in the European Union. Mr. Zapatero was due to make an adjustment in his team because of the previously announced departure of his labor minister, Celestino Corbacho, who is preparing to campaign in regional elections in Catalonia next month. But the realignment on Wednesday went beyond expectations, with Mr. Zapatero reassigning six portfolios, as well as scrapping two smaller ministries — one responsible for gender equality issues and the other housing — as part of his cost-cutting efforts. The two ministries will instead become departments within larger ministries. “This is the new government of reforms, definitive recovery and employment,” Mr. Zapatero said in a televised address from his Moncloa governmental compound. The most closely watched appointment was that of Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, the interior minister, who will now combine that job with that of first deputy prime minister. The promotion of Mr. Rubalcaba, a veteran of the ruling Socialist party, comes as Mr. Zapatero is yet to confirm whether he will seek a third term in office in 2012. On Wednesday, Mr. Zapatero underlined Mr. Rubalcaba’s experience as well as his successful crusade against ETA, the Basque separatist group. ETA has not killed on Spanish soil in more than a year and has instead found itself under increased pressure from political allies to stop the bloodshed, as well as struggling to maintain any operational structure. Another key switch was that of Trinidad Jiménez, the health minister, who will replace Miguel Ángel Moratinos as foreign minister. Ms. Jiménez is regaining prominence only weeks after suffering an embarrassing defeat in a Madrid party election, in which she stood at the request of Mr. Zapatero against a local Socialist politician. Mr. Zapatero’s approval ratings have recently fallen below 30 percent on the back of Spain’s economic downturn. Still, he managed to strike deals with two minority parties to guarantee parliamentary approval this week for a 2011 budget that includes massive spending cuts in order to allay fears among investors about Spain’s budget deficit. Meanwhile, the government reshuffle not only removes the Ministry of Gender Equality that had been created in 2008 but also breaks Mr. Zapatero’s long-standing pledge to have as many women as men in his cabinet. Instead, his slimmed-down team will now have eight men and seven women.

Zapatero Jose Luis Rodriguez
Spain
Madrid (Spain)
Economic Conditions and Trends
Politics and Government


Bonds Finds a Friend, and a Reminder of the Past

Abstract: ST. LOUIS, July 7 — Every few days, when Barry Bonds feels too old and tired to haul all of his 240 pounds out of the dugout, he sits on the bench and watches a version of his former self. Fred Lewis, the backup to Bonds in 2007, could have passed for Bonds in 1986. He is 6 feet 2 inches, 190 pounds, lithe as a leadoff man, recognized mainly for his discipline at the plate and his speed on the bases. He hits left-handed, with an upright stance, and wiggles his bat before he swings. Lewis hits home runs, but he is by no means a home run hitter. He can play every outfield position, but he looks most comfortable in left. When Lewis takes Bonds’s spot in the San Francisco lineup, some on the bench yell “Barry! Barry!” as if they stepped in a time machine. Bonds could have been confused for Lewis — about 20 years, 20 pounds and 745 home runs ago. Lewis has a unique vantage point to watch Bonds’s pursuit of Hank Aaron’s career home run record. He replaces him in left field, pinch-runs for him in the late innings and gives him a day off when necessary, which is fairly often. “I love being this close to history,” Lewis said. “But sometimes it makes me a little nervous.” The Giants ’ last road series, in Cincinnati, made him a little dizzy. Bonds hit the 751st home run of his career Tuesday, Lewis hit the second grand slam of his season Wednesday, and the two of them pretended to wrestle on a clubhouse couch Thursday. To hear Lewis’s side of the story, he was sitting quietly on the couch, watching television by himself, when Bonds plopped down beside him and playfully threw an elbow at his ribs. “You know I can crush you,” Bonds said, adopting the tone of an older brother. “Why?” the shy Lewis asked. “Because I’m bigger,” Bonds replied. For Bonds, size is always at the heart of the conversation. As a young player, he was slender and smooth. At 42, he is bulky and slow, fueling speculation that he took steroids. At 26, Lewis is trying desperately to muscle up. But no matter what off-season workout program he tries, he cannot seem to gain weight. Compared with his stocky contemporaries, he looks like a man who was built in another era. “He has that good, lean body,” said Roger Cador, who coached Lewis at Southern University. “It’s like he’s from the 1980s.” The ’80s produced Eric Davis, Darryl Strawberry and Bonds, players who were lanky, speedy and strong. Giants Manager Bruce Bochy, who played in the ’80s, said that Lewis was “big enough.” The Giants arrived Friday at Busch Stadium, where Lewis was cheered by relatives and Bonds was booed by fans who once embraced Mark McGwire. St. Louis is accustomed to home run chases and steroid accusations. Playing for the Cardinals in 1998, McGwire set a season record with 70 home runs. Since then, Bonds hit 73, and McGwire refused to tell a Congressional committee if he had used steroids. One theory, popularized in the book “Game of Shadows,” is that Bonds saw the attention McGwire received in St. Louis during the 1998 season and felt compelled to use steroids. But that theory assumes that Bonds really wanted more attention. During a casual conversation with reporters at his locker Friday, Bonds was asked about the hype accompanying his home run chase. Bonds thought for a moment, rubbing his right hand over his shaved head. “I’ve got to bunt more,” he said. Bonds’s sense of humor is among the most underrated parts of his game. When Lewis hit a grand slam July 4, after hitting for the cycle on Mother’s Day, he said that Bonds asked him, “Are you just going to hit on holidays?” By teasing Lewis, Bonds has made clear how much he likes him. As they stretched together Friday, Bonds told Lewis about the wind pockets at Busch Stadium, which make it difficult to hit home runs to right field. Lewis listened intently to the lecture on meteorology. “He talks to me about everything,” Lewis said. “At first, I was kind of speechless around him. I was starstruck. But he’s become like a big brother to me.” Lewis has played in only 42 major league games, but his career has been charmed. He hit for the cycle in his fourth start. He became the first Giants rookie to hit two grand slams in a season since the team moved to San Francisco. And he befriended Bonds, who is not exactly famous for making pals. Despite all the traits that Lewis and Bonds have in common, one of the players is more approachable. Lewis grew up in small-town Mississippi, talks in a slow drawl and listens to music from his church choir. He is old for a rookie and needs polish against left-handed pitching, but the Giants consider him one of their top prospects, a potential successor when Bonds retires. After the Giants-Cardinals series ends Sunday, Bonds will fly to San Francisco for the All-Star Game. Lewis will head home to Wiggins, Miss., where he learned to play baseball on an empty lot next to his church, using a broomstick for a bat. Bonds and Lewis had hardball in the family. Bonds’s father, Bobby, and his godfather, Willie Mays, starred for the Giants. Lewis’s cousin, Matt Lawton, played in the major leagues for 11 years. In 2005, when Lawton was with the Yankees, he tested positive for steroids. Lawton then became one of the rare athletes to admit that the test was accurate and acknowledge that he deserved his punishment. Lewis has seen steroids — and the suspicion of steroids — damage his cousin and his new big brother. Then again, he has also seen what each of them accomplished before steroids were even mentioned. “I’d still love to add 10 pounds of muscle,” Lewis said. “But for some reason, it just won’t come. And, you know what? That’s O.K. I like my weight the way it is.”

Bonds Barry
Baseball
Lewis Fred
Steroids
San Francisco Giants


Asked by Judge to Apologize for Bike Episode, Alec Baldwin Demurs

Abstract: Alec Baldwin is not apologizing for an incident that led to his arrest on a disorderly conduct charge in May. Mr. Baldwin told a Manhattan judge on Thursday that he would rather pay a fine than apologize for an encounter that started when the police stopped him while he was riding a bicycle the wrong way down a one-way street. Judge John Delury asked the actor, “Can you stay out of trouble, Alexander?” Mr. Baldwin replied, “Sure, sure.” The judge put the case on a path toward dismissal if the actor avoids being rearrested for six months — a common outcome for low-level cases in Manhattan. Earlier, the judge said to Mr. Baldwin: “Looks like you have a short fuse.”

NYPD
Alec Baldwin
John Delury
Manhattan
Biking


New Focus on Arms Industry Expansion in Southeast Asia

Abstract: KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Driven by tensions with China, Southeast Asian nations are building up their own military contractors to develop local expertise and reduce their dependence on big American and European arms suppliers. Although countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia will not do away with big-ticket imports from giants like the Airbus Group or Lockheed Martin, they are increasing the number of domestic companies to manufacture military hardware locally. With regional military spending forecast to rise to $40 billion in 2016, 10 percent above last year’s level, some countries are already developing their own exports. A domestic arms industry is a long-term economic and security goal for the 10 countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, whose members want to spend more on modernizing equipment, partly to bring military balance to the region. The goal has been given urgency, security analysts say, by China’s recent moves to press disputed claims in waters of the South China Sea, rich in oil and natural gas. Asean members have stopped short of explicitly citing Beijing as a reason for beefing up military capability. At a meeting in Myanmar last weekend, Asean foreign ministers appealed, as they have before, for “self-restraint” in the face of heightened tensions, with no mention of China in a formal statement. “This drive to ensure sovereignty is now at the foremost of all governments’ minds in the region,” said Jon Grevatt, the Asia-Pacific military industry analyst for IHS Jane’s. “Obviously the activity of China has raised the issue of protecting, securing territory.” China, whose military spending topped $145 billion last year, according to American estimates, claims about nine-tenths of the South China Sea. It has alarmed Southeast Asian diplomats this year with assertive moves like planting a giant, $1 billion oil rig in waters claimed by Vietnam. A buildup in China’s Coast Guard fleet has also allowed Beijing to expand its maritime presence without deploying warships. Some in the region have sought to counter that like-for-like: In a package that will take effect this month, Vietnam has set aside 11.5 trillion dong, or about $543 million, to be used to buy 32 Coast Guard and surveillance ships. Southeast Asia’s military spending grew 5 percent, to $35.9 billion, in 2013, data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute showed, and is expected to rise to $40 billion by 2016. The region’s arms spending has more than doubled since 1992, according to the institute. Military procurement in Southeast Asia is still dominated by government purchases of big-ticket items like jets or submarines from Western suppliers like Lockheed Martin in the United States and Airbus and ThyssenKrupp in Europe. Now, though, whether for radar or submarines, governments are tilting purchases to help them develop their own military expertise. While breaking no records in size or scope, recent deals show a growing trend toward embedding local manufacturing in procurement contracts. In one example, Boustead Heavy Industries in Malaysia is working with the French state-controlled naval contractor DCNS on a 9 billion ringgit, or $2.8 billion, contract for six coastal combat ships for the Malaysian Navy. All will be built locally. “We expect to achieve well over 60 percent in terms of local content and value, and see considerable transfer of technology to ourselves as well as local vendors and suppliers who we work with and cultivate,” said Ahmad Ramli Mohd Nor, the executive deputy chairman and managing director of Boustead. “Importantly, we will already have I.P. rights for the first generation of offshore patrol vessels, and this can provide a platform to tap the international market,” he added, referring to intellectual property rights. Known as defense offset deals, these partnerships can enable countries to build up domestic industries over time. Turkey, for example, has successfully used offsets to nurture its domestic industry, whose companies now produce half the country’s military equipment. Indonesia, which has more than doubled its military spending in the past five years, this year awarded a $164 million air defense system contract to Thales in France. A condition of the deal is that Thales must transfer radar manufacturing skills and knowledge to the state-owned Indonesian electronics company PT LEN Industri. Similarly, Singapore said late last year it would buy two submarines from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems in Germany, making the deal conditional on the involvement of local industry in developing combat systems. Singapore has by far the most advanced military industry in the region, as well as its being one of the world’s biggest arms importers. The wealthy island state has sold military equipment to countries from Nigeria to Brazil since its first overseas arms sales to Malaysia in 1971. Singapore Technologies Engineering, the state’s main arms maker, generated sales of $1.89 billion in 2012 alone, according to the Stockholm research institute. In a breakthrough, a unit of Singapore Technologies also won a contract for 330 million Singapore dollars, or $264 million at the current exchange rate, in 2008 to supply armored troop carriers to Britain — its first such sale to a major Western arms supplier — showing it could compete in the global arms arena. Singapore “will not be constrained by lots of regulations and unrealistic expectations,” said Ron Matthews, a professor of military industry economics at Cranfield University in Britain. Still, for now, the rise of a Southeast Asia arms industry will not deter big global players, analysts said. The region’s rising military spending makes it attractive for weapons makers at a time of tight military budgets in Europe and North America. The regional companies’ lack of advanced capability also means they are not currently competing head-on with the big players for big-ticket orders. Instead, they can play a more complementary role, focusing on areas like ammunition, small marine vessels and maintenance. But that could change if Southeast Asian firms start to compete for orders on the global market. “This is a near-term opportunity for global defense firms and a longer-term challenge,” said John Dowdy, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company.

Military
Arms Trade
China
Asia
Southern US
Indonesia
Malaysia


ESPN the Ultimate Remote by tvCompass

Abstract: ESPN the Ultimate Remote, a bright-red home theater remote control from tvCompass, is the first in what one can only hope will be a long line of TV-channel-branded electronics. This $300 remote, which can be preordered on Amazon.com , is more than just a run-of-the-mill clicker. Programmable keys allow you to add icons for specific channels — including ESPN — as well as for weather, text messaging and TV listings. The device connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi; it downloads and transmits data from the comfort of your easy chair. The device can also download ESPN content like game scores. Using a service called Click365, you can even browse the Web, connect to Facebook and play games. (Oh, and it can turn the TV and stereo system on and off.) The Ultimate Remote has a 2.2-inch color screen with a backlight and includes a rechargeable battery. More important, the release of this device points to a bright future: Can a C-Span political hype detector be far behind? JOHN BIGGS

Computers and the Internet
Remote Control Systems
Television
ESPN


Anguished 911 Call of Man Who Said He Had Tried to Drown His Children

Abstract: The crime started in a dark North Carolina neighborhood and ended when two children were pulled alive from a nearby lake by an off-duty deputy, and the police said their father had tried to kill them. The details unfolded in an anguished narrative during a 911 call, when a man called a dispatcher in North Carolina to report that he had just tried to drown his children, saying that he had sought help for “sexual desires” and that the children would be taken away from him. At the start of the 911 call released by the police , the man, identified as Alan Lassiter, 29, of Raleigh, N.C., said he did not know where he was, and asked the dispatcher to locate him using GPS. The man then delivered a chilling message, telling the dispatcher that the child protective agency was trying to take the children away. “I was dealing with some sexual desires that I thought I was going to get help with,” he said, “but instead they turned their back on me, the whole system, and tried to take my kids.” Then, speaking through what sounded like sobs, he said: “When somebody asks for help, really help them, O.K.?” “I don’t know where I am at. I need somebody to go and break the news to my wife,” he said, though he said he did not know her phone number. “I just need the police, I need the police.” “My daughters are in the lake drowning,” he said. He gave their ages as 5 and 3. “All I wanted was help,” he said. “My problem got 10 times worse.” He told the dispatcher that he saw apartments but did not know the name of the building. Then someone apparently approached him. “What’s the name of these apartments?” he shouted. “I just drowned my two daughters in the lake back there,” he said, apparently to a female bystander. Mr. Lassiter became too distraught to speak, and the woman took the phone from him and spoke to the dispatcher. She gave the precise location to the dispatcher: Shearwater Drive. She said: “I am at the lake right now, he has just got into a car that he had parked here at the lake. It is very dark here.” She said there was no movement at the lake. “It is pitch black.” The woman then shouts to others nearby, saying: “We are getting some help.” Officers were sent to the location at 9 p.m., according to a police statement. When a sheriff’s deputy arrived, the woman was heard on the recorded 911 call telling him that Mr. Lassiter “has stated he has drowned two children in the lake. He has another child that is missing.” The woman told the dispatcher that the deputy was taking Mr. Lassiter to the lake. The deputy, Durham County Sheriff’s Deputy David Earp, was off duty that night, but he rushed to the scene after the apartment building’s manager called him at home, according to an account reported by The Associated Press. He said he heard wailing, and spotted the girls in the dark. The 5-year-old was floating and crying. Her 3-year-old sister was fully submerged. Deputy Earp said he charged into water that came up to his chest and scooped them up, holding one in each arm. The police said he performed C.P.R. on the children. A third child, a 7-year-old boy, had managed to escape, they said. Mr. Lassiter was charged with three counts of attempted murder and sent to Durham County jail under a $2.3 million bond, a police statement said.

911.
North Carolina
Drowning,drownings
Murders and Homicides


Baseball’s Travel Plans Emerge as Playoff Chaos Ends

Abstract: Before Tuesday’s game against Boston, Yankees Manager Joe Girardi was asked how he remained focused on the game in front of him, considering all the postseason possibilities still in play for his team. “If there were maybe two scenarios, it might be easier to look ahead,” Girardi said. “But because there’s been so many, you’ll drive yourself crazy. I’m concerned about what we’re doing, and then you just go from there. Wherever Bennie tells us we’re going, that’s where we’ll get on a plane and go.” That would be Ben Tuliebitz, the team’s traveling secretary. He is responsible for booking hotels, arranging flights, ordering buses, shipping equipment, buying tickets and handling just about every bit of minutiae that allows the Yankees to get from point A to point B without a hitch. This year’s postseason push, Tuliebitz said, had been the most hectic in his six seasons in the position. As of Wednesday morning, though all five American League playoff spots had been secured, only Detroit, as a No. 3 seed, knew where it would be playing (at home) when the division round began. As the day progressed, the rest largely fell into place. Oakland beat Texas, 12-5, to secure the American League West title and push the Rangers into Friday’s wild-card play-in game. The Yankees, after steamrolling the Red Sox, 14-2, emerged as the top-seeded team in the A.L. and finally knew their postseason destination, sort of. They will open their first-round series, on Sunday, in either Texas or Baltimore, playing the winner of Friday’s wild-card game. The Athletics will start their first-round series against the Tigers on Saturday. In the National League, Wednesday began with one game in place — Friday’s wild-card encounter, in Atlanta, between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Braves. When Washington won its afternoon game against Philadelphia and locked up the No. 1 seed in the N.L., everything else took shape. The Nationals will play a first-round series against the wild-card winner, starting on Sunday, while Cincinnati travels to San Francisco to begin a first-round series on Saturday. For Tuliebitz and Girardi and everyone else in baseball, the 2012 homestretch has been a mental challenge because of the new playoff structure. The introduction of a second wild-card team in each league and the one-game play-in between those two teams was not officially approved until the schedules for the 2012 season and postseason had already been worked out. As a result, baseball had to improvise, reverting to a 2-3 first-round format in which the higher-seeded team opens on the road for two games and then goes home for as few as one or as many as three, if needed. Baseball had revised that format in 1998, going to a 2-2-1 format in which the team with the better record, and the higher seed, hosted the first two games and a Game 5, if necessary. But for this year, and this year only, the 2-3 format was reinstituted to eliminate a travel day and compensate for the added Friday game. All this was playing out in front of Tuliebitz as he waited for things to sort themselves out. A tiebreaker game against the Orioles on Thursday? Possible, but only if Baltimore beat Tampa Bay on Wednesday night and the Yankees lost. That didn’t happen. A weekend trip to Texas? That could occur. Earlier in the week, Tuliebitz and Michael Fishman, the Yankees’ director of qualitative analysis and a biomathematics graduate from Yale, were working on a probability spread sheet to determine the odds of each outcome. “We don’t know where we’re going to seed or how it’s going to wind up,” Tuliebitz said at the time. “Yeah, it’s probably the busiest that I’ve been in a postseason.” Teams typically travel with about 60 people during the regular season, but that number jumps to 80 in the postseason and increases the deeper a club goes into October. On the Yankees, Tuliebitz handles all the arrangements on his own, although he does have an intern. Although George Constanza was the assistant to the traveling secretary on the Yankees for a while in “Seinfeld,” in reality there is no such aide. But over the last few weeks, Tuliebitz could probably have used one.

Baseball
Playoff Games
New York Yankees
Oakland Athletics
Baltimore Orioles
Washington Nationals
Tuliebitz Ben


Federal Budget Deficit Widens, Driven by Baby Boomers

Abstract: The federal budget deficit widened in November, driven by higher spending in such areas as Social Security, Medicare and defense. The Treasury Department said the November deficit climbed to $64.6 billion, up 13.6 percent from a year ago. For the first two months of the budget year that began on Oct. 1, the deficit totals $201.1 billion, a 12.6 percent jump from a year ago. Total receipts are up 2.9 percent to $416 billion over the past two months compared with a year ago, but spending is up 5.9 percent to $617.1 billion. The rise reflects in part more tax revenue as unemployment declines. The latest numbers underscore the impact of paying benefits to a growing number of retiring baby boomers. The report said Social Security spending expanded 4 percent, while Medicare spending increased 9 percent.

Federal Budget
Baby Boomers
Treasury Department


Jane Rosenthal: Keep Coaxing Out the Spark in Others

Abstract: This interview with Jane Rosenthal was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant. Ms. Rosenthal, a movie producer, is a founder of the Tribeca Film Festival, now part of Tribeca Enterprises , where she is executive chairwoman. Q. Tell me about your early years. A. I always wanted to be in government and politics. When I was 16, I got a job as a page in the Rhode Island House of Representatives, and I was the youngest woman there and the first high school page. They actually paid the pages more than the representatives were getting, too. But I wanted to help change the world, and I decided that if I was going to have an impact, I could do that through documentary films instead of being part of the political process. I was obsessed with how you change the world through telling stories. What about your parents? My mother’s family had a company called ACS Industries, and they made pot cleaners. I spent many Saturdays going to the factory with my father. When they were extruding polypropylene, it was all different colors, and these pinks and oranges and greens would come out of the machines like hair. I had a very active imagination. Everything to me was a toy. One of my earliest memories of my mother in the early 1960s was her working for the N.A.A.C.P., and she would go into middle-income housing and sign apartment leases that black families could then use to move in. The civil rights issues were very real in our house, and my mother was quite passionate about discrimination and segregation. She was out there doing what she could do. And whenever there was a big historical moment on TV, like the “I have a dream” speech, she would say, “You have to sit and watch this. You’re not going to know what this is, but you’ll always remember that I made you watch it.” She also always said to me that you can absolutely do whatever you want. It never occurred to me that “no” was an option. And where did your interest in filmmaking come from? My mother was also an amateur actress. I’d go with her to rehearsals, and she might have only one line, but I’d have to sit through the whole thing. I was fascinated by makeup and hair and a person transforming themselves into a character and then getting up on stage, and how a show would change from a run-through to a dress rehearsal to a final performance. I wanted to major in acting and my parents said no. You can always go into acting, they said, but have a skill that you can fall back on. I thought, O.K., I’ll trick them. I’ll major in film and television, and then I can act in the films. And I very quickly realized that I was a lousy actress and that I was much better at producing. Describe your leadership style. I’m hands-off until there’s a big problem, and then I’m completely hands-on. As long as I trust that everybody is doing what they’re supposed to, it’s great. If something goes wrong, then I want to understand the process of how it went wrong and what you need to do. In my opinion, women make better producers because we’re used to multitasking and nurturing, and a lot of what you’re doing as a producer is nurturing all the creative talent. You have to create a safe environment for everybody — both on the set and in the office — to come together and do their best work. You want them to emit that spark of light, like a firefly, but they may have to go back and forth and back and forth, changing their mind before they do. But you have to remain calm and be very patient, and say, “This is good, let’s keep trying.” I have to ask. Favorite movie? I don’t really have a favorite movie. But “Mary Poppins” influenced me as a kid because she was a woman who could fly. She could speak her own language, she could take care of kids, have a job, and she loved to laugh. She was a superwoman. It spoke to me. How do you hire? It’s important for me to spend a lot of time with somebody I’m going to work with directly, and not necessarily in an office situation. If you’re eating a meal, do you get to the third hour? Somebody can always fake it up until the third hour, and then they can’t anymore, and that’s when the “bug me” factors might come out. It’s like if something bothers you on the first date, it’s going to bother you for the rest of your life, so forget it. So what are your pet peeves as a boss? I like the bad news fast, because then it’s just part of the process. I prefer people who are transparent and just give me the information straight. Don’t try to couch it, don’t try to play me. The other thing is that if anybody has to give me any kind of financial information, they always have to do it in a narrative. What questions do you ask in a job interview? I like asking provocative questions or questions that are just out of the blue like, “If you were a superhero, who would you be? Why?” How would you answer that question? I would go back to Mary Poppins. She could take the umbrella and just fly away. She had the bag of tricks. She packed light. Other broader life lessons? When you’ve done something well, like a movie that’s a box-office hit, everybody’s your best friend. When you’ve done something that’s not so good, nobody calls. But it’s O.K. You’re still the same person. So it’s about understanding who you really are, no matter where you are or what you’ve accomplished. The lesson I’ve learned is about who or what to trust, and what to take with a grain of salt or not. It’s really about trusting your instincts, because at the end of the day, that’s all you have. If you can’t trust your own instincts, then you can’t trust anything.

Management
Tribeca Film Festival
Jane Rosenthal
Movies
Tribeca Enterprises