Sharp Exchanges at City Council Hearing on Stop-and-Frisk Tactic

Abstract: “Outbursts are prohibited,” City Councilman Peter F. Vallone Jr. warned as a hearing on bills centered largely on the New York Police Department ’s controversial stop-and-frisk practices began on Wednesday morning. But it did not take long for the calm to be disturbed. The hearing, which stretched on for nearly six hours, featured a series of outbursts, squabbles and sharp exchanges. The hearing, before the Public Safety Committee, included testimony from about a dozen people on four bills aimed at police reform — three of which deal with street stops. The fourth bill would create an Office of Inspector General to monitor the Police Department, a measure both Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly oppose, arguing there is enough oversight already. Most of the negative remarks were directed at Michael Best, the mayor’s counselor, who testified against the bills on behalf of Mr. Bloomberg and the department. Councilman Jumaane D. Williams, a Brooklyn Democrat and a lead sponsor of the bills, collectively known as the Community Safety Act, voiced his frustration that Commissioner Kelly and Mr. Bloomberg did not attend the hearing. Mr. Williams likened them to 5-year-olds throwing temper tantrums and refusing to come to the table. Mr. Best shot back: “We have discussed these issues with the Council on many, many occasions, and it’s unfair to characterize what we are doing here as a temper tantrum, which is wholly inaccurate.” Mr. Williams responded, “There is a temper tantrum,” as Speaker Christine C. Quinn, who attended the hearing, placed her hand on his shoulder in an apparent gesture to calm him down. “We’re not going away until changes have occurred,” he said. The bills that address the stop-and-frisk tactic would do several things: ¶ Require police officers, when conducting stops, to identify themselves, provide their name and rank, and explain the reason for the stop. ¶ Seek to add teeth to an existing ban on racial profiling. ¶ Require that officers inform individuals of their right to refuse a search and obtain proof of their consent, if granted, in cases in which there is no other legal basis to search an individual. During 15 minutes of testimony, Mr. Best argued that the Council did not have the authority to regulate the powers and duties of police officers, which, he said, were governed by state criminal law and federal constitutional law. He said the legislation would “place a number of burdens on police officers that are impractical” and bog down the city in costly lawsuits. He also expressed strong opposition to an inspector general. “The N.Y.P.D. is already subject to a large amount of oversight by a number of different entities,” Mr. Best testified. He added that the bill would “violate the prohibition on curtailing the mayor’s authority.” Councilman Brad Lander, a sponsor of the bills, called Mr. Best’s arguments “preposterous.” “Every new law we passed would be considered curtailing,” Mr. Lander, a Brooklyn Democrat, said. “We should pack up and go home and not have a City Council.” For more than two hours, several council members asked Mr. Best pointed questions. Councilman Robert Jackson, a Democrat from Manhattan, pressed Mr. Best on how to address growing anger among minorities over stop-and-frisk practices. He bellowed: “It’s not working and it needs to be totally reformed.” “People are suffering,” Mr. Jackson added, as the crowd cheered and clapped. The sergeant-at-arms ordered quiet amid the pounding of a gavel. Mr. Vallone, a Democrat from Queens, chided Mr. Jackson, saying, “This isn’t a forum to make speeches.” That comment prompted Councilwoman Helen D. Foster, a Bronx Democrat, to say, “That should also apply to you, Peter.” When Mr. Vallone began to respond, Ms. Foster said, “Hey, hey, Peter, I don’t work for you. I am not one of your boys. You will not talk to me like that.” Ms. Quinn tried to broker peace. “I think it’s important to understand how emotional this topic is to people.” Ms. Foster then suggested that if Mr. Vallone were a minority, he would be able to better empathize. “If his father were an 88-year-old,” she said, “who’s being pulled over and called ‘boy’ and fitting a description, then it would be different.” At the start of the hearing, the first of three addressing stop-and-frisk practices, Ms. Quinn said changes were needed. “I’ve long said that although I believe stop, question and frisk should remain a tool in the toolbox of police officers, that when you have almost 800,000 stops at the peak, targeting almost exclusively African-American and Latino men, in neighborhoods which are lower income, that is a problem,” she said. She said the legislation must be reviewed. Ms. Quinn, who is likely to be a candidate for mayor next year, has repeatedly declined to say whether she supported the bills. When asked about the subject during a news conference Tuesday, she said: “I support the idea of ongoing reform. I have not yet taken a position on these four specific bills.”

Search and Seizure
Police
Police Department (NYC)
City Council (NYC)
New York City
Vallone Peter F Jr
Foster Helen Diane
Williams Jumaane D
Lander Brad


Girl, 2, Dies After Being Hit by Falling Facade in Manhattan

Abstract: A 2-year-old girl died Monday from injuries she sustained when a swath of brick facade broke free from a building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and rained down on her and her grandmother as they sat on a sidewalk bench below, the authorities said. The girl, Greta Greene of Brooklyn, was struck in the head Sunday when the bricks from a portion of an eighth-floor window ledge gave way, they said. Her grandmother, Susan Frierson, 60, was struck in the wrist and ankle and had minor injuries, the police said. The episode occurred around 11:05 a.m. outside the Esplanade Manhattan , a home for older adults on West End Avenue between West 74th and West 75th Streets, officials said. Responding emergency workers took Greta to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center , where the police said she underwent surgery. A spokesman for the city’s Buildings Department said an administrative code violation had been issued to the building’s owner, Esplanade Venture Partnership, “for a failure to maintain the property in a safe and code compliant manner.” “Buildings inspectors remain on scene conducting an investigation into the incident,” said the spokesman, Alexander Schnell. “The department is requiring that the property owner construct a sidewalk shed on the property to protect the public.” A woman who answered the phone at the building on Sunday declined to answer questions but said the average age of residents was in their “late 80s.” “I cannot really give you any information,” the woman said. “I was told not to.” She then hung up. Mr. Schnell said there had been no recent complaints to the Buildings Department regarding the facade’s conditions, before Sunday. In a statement on Sunday, Helen Rosenthal, the city councilwoman who represents the area, commended the authorities for their response and vowed to work with the department “to ensure this building is made safe as soon as possible for everyone on our streets.”

Accidents and Safety
NYC
Fatalities,casualties
Upper West Side Manhattan
Esplanade Manhattan
Susan Frierson
Greta Greene


Abercrombie & Fitch Agrees to Bangladesh Factory Safety Plan

Abstract: Abercrombie & Fitch said on Wednesday that it had signed on to a landmark plan to improve factory safety in Bangladesh, becoming just the second American company to join an accord that more than two dozen European retailers and brands have embraced. The only other American signatory is PVH Corporation, the parent company of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. Under the legally enforceable plan, retailers and apparel companies have committed to having rigorous, independent factory inspections, and to helping underwrite any fire safety and building repairs needed to correct violations. “We are committed to Bangladesh and support industrywide efforts to improve safety standards,” said Kim Harr, director of sustainability at Abercrombie, which had $4.5 billion in revenue last year. “We believe this is the right thing to do to bring about sustainable, effective change.” This week, a flood of European retailers joined the plan, including H&M, Carrefour, Mango, Primark, Marks & Spencer and Inditex, the parent of Zara. Momentum to join the plan grew after a factory building in Bangladesh collapsed on April 24, killing more than 1,100 workers. With so many European companies signing on, pressures have increased on American retailers to join, with much of that pressure focused on Gap, the world’s third-largest apparel company, which is often viewed as an industry leader on social responsibility. The plan’s supporters predicted that numerous other American retailers would follow suit if Gap signed on. Labor advocates and officials in Washington said there were intense internal discussions within Gap about whether to back the plan. In recent days, Gap has been the most vocal critic of the plan, saying it feared that joining would subject it to undue liability. Gap sent a letter to employees at its headquarters on Wednesday, saying, “We take our commitment to improving working conditions in Bangladesh very seriously.” The letter said Gap had hired a fire inspector to examine the 78 factories it uses in Bangladesh and had promised up to $22 million in loans for factories to make safety improvements. IndustriALL Global Union, a federation of unions from 140 countries that has negotiated with numerous retailers, urging them to join the plan, announced late Wednesday that a total of 31 companies had signed on.

Abercrombie
Rana Plaza Building Collapse
Fashion
Manufacturing
Retail
Bangladesh


Chip Supplier’s Profit Fell 75% in 2nd Quarter

Abstract: DALLAS, July 23 (AP) — Texas Instruments , the largest supplier of chips used in mobile phones, said on Monday that its second-quarter profit plunged almost 75 percent from a year ago, when its results in the quarter were bolstered by the $1.65 billion sale of a sensor business. Net income met analysts’ expectations, however, at $610 million, or 42 cents a share, down from $2.39 billion, or $1.50 a share, in the second quarter of 2006. On an operating basis, the company, based in Dallas, earned $739 million, or 47 cents a share, after excluding parts of the business it sold last year. Revenue for the quarter was $3.42 billion, down from $3.7 billion in the year-ago period, because of weaker demand for a broad range of products. Analysts had expected $3.45 billion in revenue, according to a Thomson Financial survey. Ron Slaymaker, the company’s vice president of investor relations, said it had emerged from an inventory glut, and that sales of high-performance analog products were helping to offset declines in other products. The president and chief executive, Richard K. Templeton, repeated his prediction, made in May, that gross profit margins, which were 52.1 percent in the second quarter of 2007, would reach 55 percent in the next few years. Texas Instruments said it expected to earn 46 cents to 52 cents a share in the third quarter — in line with Wall Street forecasts — on revenue of $3.49 billion to $3.79 billion. Analysts were expecting third-quarter sales of $3.7 billion. In May, the company unveiled plans to invest about $1 billion over 10 years in a new test and assembly facility in the Philippines, and also announced the sale of its digital subscriber line, or D.S.L., customer equipment business to the German chip maker Infineon Technologies for an undisclosed amount. That sale is expected to close at the end of this month. In a separate announcement that coincided with Monday’s earnings report, Texas Instruments said it was working with Ericsson, the world’s largest maker of wireless networks, to build a cellphone platform that could run on any operating system that manufacturers and carriers choose.


Retail Chain Is Liquidating

Abstract: The discount retail chain Goody’s Family Clothing will begin liquidating its stores on Friday as the retailer becomes one of the year’s first victims of the worsening economy. Goody’s, based in Knoxville, Tenn., has 9,800 employees and 287 stores in the Midwest and South. It was uncertain what will happen to the company’s workers after the liquidation. Executives with the company are speaking with competitors about whether they would like to purchase some of the chain’s stores. Goody’s is owned by PGDYS Lending, which is managed by Prentice Capital Management. The move comes less than four months after the privately held retailer emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after closing dozens of stores, a distribution center and a corporate office.

Goody's
Retail Stores and Trade
Bankruptcies
Shutdowns (Institutional)


David Baril Is Charged With Assault in Manhattan Hammer Attacks

Abstract: The police said on Thursday that they had filed assault charges against David Baril, who was suspected of wielding a hammer in a series of attacks before he was shot by an officer in Manhattan on Wednesday . Mr. Baril, who has been at Bellevue Hospital Center since his encounter with two officers on Eighth Avenue, was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and seven counts of felony assault. He was in critical condition and had not yet been arraigned. Image David Baril Credit New York Police Department Two uniformed officers on patrol in Midtown thought Mr. Baril, 30, fit the description of the man believed to have attacked four people with a hammer in Manhattan on Monday. The victims were all struck in the head, but none sustained a serious injury, the police said. When the officers approached Mr. Baril near 37th Street around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, he brandished a bloodstained hammer and swung it, claw-end forward, at Officer Lauren O’Rourke, the police said. Her partner, Officer Geraldo Casaigne, drew his pistol and fired four times, striking Mr. Baril twice, once in the right arm and once in the torso, the police said Thursday. After the brief encounter in the middle of the avenue, Mr. Baril was taken into custody and transported to Bellevue. The police provided a Bronx address for Mr. Baril, but officials said his last known residence was a shelter for mentally ill people on the Upper West Side. Officer O’Rourke, who had minor injuries to the back of her head and her back, was treated at Bellevue and released, the police said.

Police Brutality,Police Misconduct,Police Shootings


In Duel of Stars, Heat’s LeBron James Gains an Early Edge

Abstract: OKLAHOMA CITY — Their statistics were nearly identical, mirror images of dueling superstars in search of the slightest of edges. But as LeBron James and Kevin Durant spoke late Thursday night, it was clear that the psychology of the N.B.A. finals had been flipped in favor of the Miami Heat . James, analytical and confident, understood the Heat nearly blew Game 2 after being in command with double-digit leads most of the night. Regardless of how the Heat beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 100-96 , he is not interested in attaching statements to victories. “We want to make enough plays to win basketball games,” James said, “not to answer any questions about what people have to say about us.” Durant, understandably miffed at the Thunder’s first home loss in this postseason, realized he had been checkmated in making the crucial plays down the stretch. “I tried to stay aggressive,” he said. “I tried to keep my team in it. They believed in me, and we had a chance. It’s tough to lose that one.” James and Durant were locked on each other most of the time, and took their duel to a higher level as the Heat tied the best-of-seven series, 1-1. Games 3, 4 and 5 will be in Miami beginning Sunday, with the narrative between James, the league’s most valuable player, and Durant, its top scorer, suddenly shifting to an even more dramatic phase. James scored 32 points, shot 10 of 22 and had 8 rebounds and 5 assists. He did not make a 3-pointer, missing his two attempts, but his aggressive play got him to the free throw line, where he was 12 for 12. “We’ve just got to help each other out,” Durant said of guarding James. “We’ve got to close the paint out. He’s a strong guy, he’s getting to the rim and he’s getting the calls, and we’ve just got to do a better job.” Durant matched James with 32 points and shot 12 of 22. He shot only six free throws, though, making four, and was hampered with five fouls for most of the fourth quarter. He scored 26 of his points in the second half (16 in the fourth quarter), after he and Russell Westbrook continued a dangerous trend of false starts. This time the Thunder could not overcome the large deficit as they did in Game 1. Westbrook finished with 27 points, 18 of those coming in the second half, when Oklahoma City began climbing back from trailing by as many as 17 points. The Heat had their own issues with balanced scoring. Led by James, Dwyane Wade (24 points) and Chris Bosh (16 points, 15 rebounds), Miami’s starters accounted for 92 of the 100 points — not the ideal formula for a grueling series, even with the next three games at home. “It’s a huge game for us,” James said. “We understood that we wanted to split here. We didn’t want to go home being down, 0-2. It was good to see the sense of urgency to start the game.” But it was James who claimed the edge this time on Durant. With just under two minutes to play, James knocked down a 15-foot fadeaway bank shot that was stunningly crisp in its accuracy and gave the Heat a 5-point cushion. Although he missed a 3-point shot with 15 seconds left that would have iced the Thunder, James finished them off with a late pair of free throws. “He’s been doing it in so many different ways in this playoff run,” Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Sometimes it’s been the rebounds, sometimes it’s defensive plays. Attacking the basket, big 3s. He’s at that point now, whatever it takes.” During a timeout with about seven minutes to play, James and Spoelstra reaffirmed a decision for James to guard Durant the rest of the way with only a few brief words. “It was mutual,” Spoelstra said. “As soon as I brought it up, he was absolutely on the same page.” Durant hit a driving layup, then drilled a 3-pointer that brought the Thunder to 98-96. But with nine seconds left he missed a short jump shot as he drove against James and the two became entangled without a foul being called. “I want to guard the best at the biggest point of the game,” James said. “K. D. is an unbelievable talent. He can make every shot on the floor. I just try to keep a body on him, make him take contested shots. He got away from me a couple times that I’m not too happy about.”

Miami Heat
Oklahoma City Thunder
Durant Kevin
James LeBron
Basketball
National Basketball Assn


Gadgets You Need, Even if You Have a Smartphone

Abstract: After I bought my first iPhone, something changed. When I bought a new electronic device, I was often filled with regret rather than joy. The problem was this: Once I bought the new gadget, I realized that a cheap smartphone app could easily replace it. For example, I bought a snazzy point-and-shoot camera, wanting better-looking photos. Later, photo-editing apps like Camera Plus and Instagram appeared in the App Store to touch up my iPhone photos with a few taps. I haven’t used the point-and-shoot camera in years. Another time I bought a cheap all-in-one printer, thinking it would be good to have a scanner for my home office. Later, I realized an app called JotNot Pro was excellent at making iPhone photos look like scanned documents. (As for the printer portion of the all-in-one — who prints things anymore?) I even sometimes regret buying an iPad because the iPhone can perform the same tasks, and it’s more portable. True, the iPad is a great couch companion — but how often does a New Yorker stay home and relax? I’m well aware my chronic buyer’s remorse can be considered a “ first world pain ,” but you can learn from it. If you want to be wise about the gadgets you buy post-smartphone, keep the following items in mind. Image JAMBOX BLUETOOTH SPEAKER The Jambox is a brick-shaped wireless audio speaker. It can play sound from any device with a wireless Bluetooth connection, including smartphones and most laptops and tablets. It is small, lightweight and has decent audio quality. Want to listen to NPR while showering? Put the speaker on the side table in the bathroom. Traveling for vacation? You can play your own music from the Jambox in the hotel room. Heading to the beach or a rooftop party? Your friends will love you for bringing some tunes. Along with the Jambox, which costs $130, there are plenty of similarly priced bluetooth speakers to buy from companies like Logitech, Soundfreaq and Jensen. Image MACBOOK AIR I use my MacBook Air every day and take it with me to cafes and wherever I travel. Like the iPad, it’s extremely thin and light. But unlike the iPad, it has all the tools I need for work and goofing off, including Microsoft Word and Adobe Flash. It’s powerful enough to occasionally edit photos and videos. If you are shopping for a computer and have to choose between a tablet or a superlightweight laptop, I would vote the latter. And I wouldn’t even consider a traditional laptop, unless I were a professional video editor who needed extra horsepower. At $1,000, the MacBook Air is pricey. But there are lots of ultrathin “Ultrabook” laptops on the market from companies like Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Asus, which usually sell for upward of $800. Image ASUS ROUTER Routers are kind of like sunglasses. Buy a cheap one, and you will probably end up purchasing several more because pretty soon it will break, just like the flimsy shades you bought at the flea market. After going through several routers over the years, I finally invested in a nice one, the $130 RT-N56U from Asus, and realized that buying a fancy router goes a long way. It’s extremely easy to set up, fast and reliable. SYNOLOGY N.A.S. Not many people own a network attached storage device because they can be expensive, but they make life much easier. It’s basically a hard drive connected to the Internet. I use the Synology DS213 NAS ($300) to do wireless backups for my MacBook Air, and to add bulky files the notebook can’t hold, like movies and big audio files. Image The connected drive can also stream videos and music to any multimedia player. For example, if you have an Xbox or Apple TV in the living room, you can wirelessly stream media from the Synology onto those devices. It’s been a nice way to keep my backups and entertainment media all in one place, and make media accessible from any device. Some might argue that buying an external hard drive is unnecessary now that we can live in “the cloud.” But most people have at least some sensitive files they don’t want to store on a company’s online server, so I think a network attached storage device is still a solid investment. Image BACKUP BATTERY Almost every time I have friends at my house, someone asks to borrow my phone charger because of a dead phone battery. Other times I have been on the run, juggling text messages and e-mails, and my phone died. Smartphones typically do not have great battery life. You will be lucky to have power by dinnertime if you use yours to play a few games or post some Instagram photos throughout the day. When I finally bought a backup battery, it cured a lot of headaches. The backup battery I bought was a Mophie Juice Pack Air , which is an $80 iPhone case with a battery inside it. There are also lots of nifty keychain accessories containing backup batteries, which sell for upward of $30.

Smartphone
Laptop
Audio Speakers
Mobile Apps
Batteries


4 Bodies Found Along a Suffolk Road

Abstract: The police in Suffolk County have discovered four bodies over the past three days along Ocean Parkway in Oak Beach. The remains were found between Cedar Beach and Gilgo Beach on the north end of Jones Beach Island. The first body, described in a statement as skeletal remains, was found on Saturday afternoon by a police officer from the canine unit. The officer was conducting a training exercise near where a person had been reported missing earlier this year. The police said they had been searching the area in connection with the disappearance this year of a prostitute, Shannan Gilbert, 24, of New Jersey. Three more bodies were found on Monday while the police were searching the scene for evidence connected to the first body. The bodies were spread over about a quarter mile, each roughly 500 feet apart, and had been there for at least a month, a spokesman for the police said. The spokesman said he did not know if one of the bodies was that of Ms. Gilbert; none of the bodies have been identified. The police said the investigation was continuing.


For Marine Le Pen, Migration Is a Ready-Made Issue

Abstract: AMIENS, France — At a recent campaign rally in this economically gloomy northern city, Marine Le Pen, the gravel-voiced leader of the far-right National Front party, barely mentioned the word migrant. But, then again, she did not have to. The supporters who turned out for her at the event here along the Somme river brought up their fear of migrants, unprompted. Ms. Le Pen’s presence alone seemed enough to evoke it. “They are going to invade us. Then, there really will be unemployment,” said Christian Sobo, a retired building worker. “There is more help for them than for us, the French.” His wife, Katia, chimed in, mentioning Adolf Hitler: “What he did was monstrous. But we need someone with as much force as him now.” Ms. Le Pen has worked hard to sanitize the National Front’s image, to the point of backing the expulsion of her blustering father in August from the party he founded 40 years ago in large part on strident opposition to immigration. But when it comes to the latest wave of migrants who have arrived in Europe fleeing war and poverty, her views are hardly distinguishable from those of her father. Makeover or not, it is the same old National Front. Migrants bring filth, crime, poverty and Islamic terrorism, Ms. Le Pen has suggested in recent weeks; a dead migrant child’s photo was simply a ploy to manipulate European feelings of guilt. France is about to be “submerged” in a “terrifying” wave of migrants who represent only a “burden.” It is an issue ready-made for her party, and one that could fill the sails of like-minded, rightist parties across Europe. It has already helped lift Ms. Le Pen in the polls before regional elections in December in this somber city, where drifts of trash blow about in the shadow of an immense Gothic cathedral. National surveys have her easily pushing into second place in 2017 presidential elections. Seeking a Fair Distribution of Migrants in Europe German and European Union leaders have called for European countries to share the burden of absorbing the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have poured into the continent this summer. Never mind that, by and large, the migrants entering Europe recently do not want to come France , but have headed mostly to Germany or Sweden. Or that France has agreed to accept just 30,000 asylum seekers over two years, compared with Germany’s proposed embrace of as many as one million. The migrants — “illegals” as Ms. Le Pen’s party calls them — “strain our public accounts” at the expense of “our own,” she told party activists in Marseille in September. “Migrants are now wandering in our neighborhoods, around the train stations or in the slums, the cause for France of immense security and public hygiene problems,” she told them. “We are now becoming accustomed to terrorism,” she said. On Friday, Ms. Le Pen told supporters in Calais, where thousands of migrants are squatting, that the city is “besieged, in the exact meaning of the word.” Ms. Le Pen’s harshness has shocked even French politicians on the mainstream right, traditionally tough on immigration issues. Immediately, former President Nicolas Sarkozy accused her of “brutality” and “inhumanity.” In fact, as the migration crisis grows, mainstream politicians, left and right, are all struggling to squeeze into a shrinking middle ground between the embrace of the Germans and the tear gas of the Hungarians. Not Ms. Le Pen. Yet the far-right leader may be closer to the public mood in a country still stunned by the Charlie Hebdo massacre in January and fearful of Muslim immigrants ringing the cities. Polls show the French to be “very reticent” about receiving migrants, as the newspaper Le Monde recently put it, with barely half in favor. So by the time Ms. Le Pen arrived in this stronghold of her party recently, the migrant crisis was already topmost on the minds of her supporters. They knew where she stood, and they approved. “To take in foreigners — it just isn’t possible,” said Jacky Roussell, a retired worker at the closed Goodyear tire factory, wearing a two-day stubble. “We’re already living in poverty here. There are French people living in the street. Besides, you don’t even know if there are jihadists among them,” Mr. Roussell said. “We can’t take in everyone, can we?” Ms. Le Pen, after a month of inflammatory words on migrants in media appearances and speeches to supporters, only alluded to the issue as she launched her regional elections campaign, aboard a boat here in front of a gaggle of French journalists. In a region — Picardy — where unemployment is about a point higher than the national average of 10.4 percent, the theme was, “What I call, the little ones,” or “all the forgotten ones of French political life,” Ms. Le Pen told the assembled journalists. But she quickly made it clear why these “workers, these employees, these retirees on small pensions” were in such dire straits. Migrants were the underlying cause, because for the parties running France, “the entire world is their political priority,” Ms. Le Pen said. “Their behavior during the crisis of the illegals is the cynical example,” she added. Later, on the boat, she angrily pushed aside the example of Germany’s embrace of migrants, claiming that France has “eight million more” unemployed (the actual number is closer to one million). “Maybe Mrs. Merkel thinks she will get a cheaper work force,” Ms. Le Pen said. For all Ms. Le Pen’s efforts to project a mainstream image for the National Front and break with its racist past, historians point out that an anti-immigrant stance was the party’s backbone from its origins in the early 1970s. The first posters highlighted hostility to migrants — “Two Million Unemployed is Two Million Immigrants Too Many!” reads one from 1978. “Immigrants weigh on the economic life of our country,” Jean-Marie Le Pen told an interviewer that year — words that could have come from his daughter. The Scale of the Migrant Crisis, From 160 to Millions The latest E.U. proposal addresses just a fraction of a human crisis numbering in the millions. “Immigration was its central theme,” writes the historian Valérie Igounet about the National Front’s early days. “Rejection of immigration, this is what it is has been for more than 40 years,” Laurent Bouvet, a political scientist who specializes in the National Front, said in an interview. “There’s this side of them, a hierarchy of civilizations.” Ms. Le Pen’s supporters in the party — defensive about charges that she manipulates fear of foreigners — reject the accusation, without being asked. “People accuse us of playing on fears. It’s exactly the opposite,” said Hugues Sion, a departmental councilor who attended the rally here. “It’s not a question of fear. It’s the reality.” But on both points, Ms. Le Pen’s recent anti-immigrant initiative suggested the opposite. Manipulation of fear and of facts have appeared to shadow her words. In a recent radio interview, for instance, she claimed that among the Syrian migrants, “for the immense majority who are coming,” they were not fleeing the government of Bashar al-Assad, “because once again it is not Bashar al-Assad who is persecuting the Syrian people, it is Islamic State.” But most analysts suggest, as do interviews with the migrants, that government bombing campaigns are as much, if not more, to blame for the wave of refugees, than persecution by the Islamic State. “There is only a tiny minority of political refugees,” Ms. Le Pen claimed, saying that she “would fight” if her own country was at war — an irony since among the National Front’s important early founders were avowed Nazi collaborators. “In the coming years, we could be in the presence of the invasions that were lived through in the Fourth Century,” said Ms. Le Pen, referring to the Barbarian invasions of Western Europe. Those invasions largely targeted what is now France in the Fifth Century, historians say. But no matter, the point was made.

Middle East and Africa Migrant Crisis,European Migrant Crisis


Andalib Adwan Shehada, Bold Voice for Gaza Women

Abstract: GAZA CITY — ANDALIB ADWAN SHEHADA has lived all but two of her 47 years here in the Gaza Strip , yet the neighbors along the alley where she and her family built a three-story home in 1998 have taken to calling them “the foreigners.” Maybe it is because her 13-year-old son attends the American International School. Maybe it is because drummers escorted a mixed-gender crowd into the courtyard for her daughter’s recent wedding celebration. Maybe it is because Ms. Adwan, a Muslim who fasts on Ramadan but rarely enters a mosque, does not cover her dark shoulder-length hair. Or maybe it is because she has spent her life speaking boldly about the plight of women in this male-dominated society, challenging its attitudes toward rape and honor killing and divorce, spotlighting the abuse of women in a community that traditionally keeps it locked inside families and homes. “I think life in Gaza is not suitable for a human — now it’s worse than yesterday,” she said in a recent interview, describing a “psychological siege” imposed by a combination of Israeli restrictions on travel and trade and the hegemony of the militant Hamas faction over local government and society. “If I accept that I deserve this kind of life, I will be losing the hope. I believe I deserve a better life than this, so I’ll still fight.” Ms. Adwan, who goes by her original last name — which when combined with her first name means “aggressive nightingale” — lost a personal battle last month when Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a petition by her and three other women to study in the West Bank. Ms. Adwan began a master’s degree in gender studies at Birzeit University in 1999 but was blocked from attending classes after two semesters because of the second intifada. Her larger crusade, though, continues here in Gaza, where she established the Community Media Center in 2007 to train Palestinians in using documentary films and other techniques to expose the difficulties of daily life. The center, whose $200,000 annual budget comes from Western organizations including Catholic Relief Services and the United States Agency for International Development, is the latest in a series of groups that Ms. Adwan has helped start or run since 1991. Her activism dates to her childhood in the Rafah refugee camp, where she was the only girl to make announcements over the school public address system and to participate in the student movement of the early 1980s, which led to a two-day suspension. By 16, she published the first of many short stories about what is universally known here as “the situation.” The 10th of 13 children born to a woman married off at age 12 , Ms. Adwan was groomed for a distinct path by her father. He was the mukhtar — akin to mayor — of the village of Barbara, north of the Gaza Strip, and then of the Rafah camp, where his family landed after Israel’s establishment in 1948. Ms. Adwan remembers tagging along to meetings of the Rafah municipality and with Israeli officials. SO, though she is the rare Gaza woman who has traveled to European and Arab capitals, Ms. Adwan “is more connected with people on the ground,” said Issam Younis, the director of Al Mezan Center for Human Rights , a Gaza group whose board Ms. Adwan has been on for three years. “She’s not the kind of elite woman.” Indeed, Ms. Adwan dismissed questions like whether women should be seen in public without a head scarf or be allowed to smoke shisha at cafes — both largely taboo in this conservative area — as bourgeois, saying: “How many women go to these cafes and want to have shisha? You can count the women who don’t cover their hair.” But critics denounce her as a leftist who refused to cooperate with government efforts on women or to invite Hamas officials to her events. Amira Haron, an Islamic women’s rights advocate, said she was effectively wasting time promoting a “different, Western agenda.” “The work should be based, derived and inspired from the national agenda,” Ms. Haron said. “My agenda should mainly be the resistance of the Israeli occupation as a priority, because occupation is the source of all troubles.” Rema Hammami, a professor at Birzeit who has known Ms. Adwan for two decades, noted that many other Gazan feminists had fled in frustration, but that she had stayed because she was “stubbornly in love with Gaza.” Ms. Adwan herself described Gaza as a “dark heaven.” Living in Cairo for two years because of her husband’s work as a television news producer, she said they were treated “as foreigners” and were compelled to return home, despite the difficulties. “We have to be here,” she said. “Our family lives here, our house is here, our memories, our history.” Still, she was desperate to study in the West Bank, where she said “the minds are different because they haven’t the siege.” But the Israeli court ruled, 2 to 1, against the four women on Sept. 24, accepting the state’s position that giving them travel permits would “undermine the ‘separation’ policy, which is based on both security and political considerations.” Instead, Ms. Adwan is finishing a master’s in Middle Eastern studies — her thesis is on how the print news media dealt with women’s issues during and after the Gaza war in 2008-9 — at Al Azhar University here. Her Community Media Center, with eight employees, has published two newspapers highlighting prison conditions for women and youths, and it plans to host a film festival about human rights on Oct. 21. Her agenda is topped by improving women’s standing in divorce and custody proceedings, and strengthening penalties against rapists and honor killers. But she is equally concerned about daily struggles like the electricity here, which is on for eight hours, then off for eight. “I don’t know if you can imagine the situation in darkness,” she said. “It’s very, very difficult to just sit and wait for the electricity to come. It’s very difficult to walk on the streets while the generators are running. I cannot breathe from the pollution. I cannot hear the person walking with me.” HER daughter’s recent wedding, to a Gazan who works at a car dealership in New Jersey, was the first time in six years that the entire family was together here at their home. The salmon-color walls remain pockmarked by shrapnel from 2009, when an Israeli warplane hit an apartment building nearby; $3,000 from the United Nations refugee agency was not enough to fix them after the blown-out windows were replaced. The large first-floor kitchen is open to the salon, in the style of an American great room, something else seen as foreign in Gaza, where women cooking are usually shielded from guests’ view. On the coffee table is a menagerie of 13 elephant figurines, wooden and china and metal, from travels in Cyprus, Egypt, Spain, Morocco and France. On the floor, a stone elephant missing a tusk stands guard. “They are peaceful animals; they are not hurting anyone, even though they are big and can hurt,” Ms. Adwan said to explain her collection. “It’s the top of morals, to have the power and not use it against anyone.”

Adwan Shehada Andalib
Women's Rights
Palestinians
Gaza Strip
Muslims and Islam


Avella and Thompson Face Off in New York Mayoral Debate

Abstract: It was a perfunctory, even predictable debate question: What would be your first act as mayor? But with the cameras rolling on Wednesday night, William C. Thompson Jr. , New York City’s comptroller, seemed flummoxed, pausing for a painful six seconds, fumbling through a couple of false starts, then settling on a boilerplate answer: fire all of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg ’s commissioners. It was an unexpected miscue in the second and final debate between Mr. Thompson and Councilman Tony Avella of Queens, the two officials who are competing in the Democratic primary on Tuesday for the right to take on Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in November. During the debate, the candidates clashed over public schools, campaign fund-raising and the city’s rent guidelines board, with Mr. Avella repeatedly putting Mr. Thompson on the defensive. At one point, he suggested that Mr. Thompson, a former president of the city’s defunct Board of Education, was a flawed candidate with a weak track record who would prove an easy target for Mr. Bloomberg in attack advertisements. “He is just waiting for commercial after commercial,” Mr. Avella said of the mayor. Mr. Thompson, who is heavily favored in the primary, refrained from attacking his opponent in the debate, saving all of his fire for Mr. Bloomberg, whom he portrayed as an out-of-touch business mogul who was too cozy with developers. He called the new Yankee Stadium “another Mike Bloomberg giveaway boondoggle” and said that the city’s schools had become testing factories rather than centers of learning. In their first meeting, neither candidate committed any gaffes. In the second, they were not as fortunate. Asked about the long-awaited Second Avenue subway, a popular congestion-relief project on the East Side of Manhattan, Mr. Avella suggested immediately halting construction of the new line and building an above-ground light-rail system. The debate’s moderator, Bill Ritter of WABC-TV, reminded him that billions in taxpayer dollars had already been invested in the project, with deep holes dug and residents displaced. “Just pave it over?” he asked. “No, we could use it to wherever the train goes — you could stop and do the light-rail system.” “On top of it? Mr. Ritter asked. “Yes,” Mr. Avella said. Mr. Thompson objected. “We need to improve the mass transit for people who use it,” he said. “Second Avenue is one way.” But Mr. Thompson soon provided a peculiar answer of his own. When asked what steps he had taken to improve the environment, Mr. Thompson paused, then said that he was now chauffeured around the city in a hybrid sport utility vehicle. Mr. Avella, who during the debate vowed to drive himself as mayor — if security permitted it — responded that he had proposed legislation barring city residents from paving over their front lawns. The first 10 minutes of the debate focused on Mr. Thompson’s handling of the city’s $80 billion pension system, which he oversees as comptroller. Asked about an article in The New York Times that showed he had taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from investment managers who do business with the city, even as the city’s pension funds lagged behind their peers, Mr. Thompson said there was “no pay to play in my office.” And he said that by many measures, the city’s pension funds had performed well, especially in the last year, as the stock market stumbled. Mr. Thompson has raised far more money in the campaign than Mr. Avella, who says his smaller war chest leaves him less beholden to special interests. Both candidates offered detailed proposals for improving the economy without burdening city residents with hefty new taxes. Mr. Thompson suggested creating a more generous film tax credit to make New York City “the film capital of the world,” and using zoning laws to protect small businesses from losing their leases to chain stores. Mr. Avella suggested a system of rent control for small businesses to hold down costs, and the revival of the commuter tax. Asked to share something about themselves that would surprise voters, Mr. Avella described how he had given up his city-issued parking placard, which he considers a corrupting perk, even though it forced him to spend hours looking for a parking spot. Mr. Thompson said that he had struggled with weight. “I haven’t done a great job with it,” he said. “Keeping the pounds off is difficult.”

Avella Tony
Thompson William C Jr
Debating
Elections
Mayors
Bloomberg Michael R


TV Networks Scramble to Fill N.H.L. Void

Abstract: DETROIT — Usually at this time of year, hockey fans would plant themselves in front of their televisions and watch players like Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin and Marian Hossa command the ice. Instead, they have been reminded that Ken Dryden was tall, Guy Lafleur had a side part, and the boards in arenas once bore only team logos. For more than two months, as the lockout dragged on, sports channels that usually show N.H.L. games have had to scramble to fill their lineups. Sports network officials say audiences are a fraction of what they would typically expect, although die-hard fans are sticking around for the substitutes. “It’s frustrating,” said Greg Hammaren, the senior vice president and general manager of FoxSports Detroit, the television home of the Red Wings. In Michigan, the average Red Wings game is viewed in more than 100,000 households. Hammaren said about 65,000 of them are in the metropolitan Detroit area, which has earned the nickname Hockeytown. To fill the vacancies left by canceled games, FoxSports Detroit has shifted telecasts of the Pistons from its high-definition channel to the main FoxSports channel. It is also planning to run more college hockey games, and it is talking with the Red Wings about showing games played by the Grand Rapids Griffins, the American Hockey League team owned by the N.H.L. club. “People want live hockey again,” Hammaren said. FoxSports is leaning on its video library of past Red Wings games and those played by the Detroit Tigers. During the summer, Tigers telecasts are the highest-rated in Major League Baseball, according to FoxSports Detroit, often drawing the most viewers of any program on local TV. Hammaren said the video archive offered endless possibilities. “If you’re an anti-Yankees fan, an anti-Red Sox fan, we can show those,” he said, referring to games in which the Tigers beat them. Of Justin Verlander, the Tigers’ pitching ace, Hammaren said, “If you want to see all the Verlander games, I can program a month of those.” Another market that is showing classic games is Chicago. Broadcasts of previous Blackhawks games have generated e-mails from some grateful fans, said Phil Bedella, the vice president and general manager of Comcast SportsNet Chicago. “A lot of people send us messages saying: ‘Thank you. I’ve been telling my kids what Bobby Hull was like, what Stan Mikita was like, and now they can see them,’ ” Bedella said. But, he added, “I’d like to be doing classic games as well as Blackhawks games.” The situation is especially frustrating because the hockey audience swelled the last two years, since the Blackhawks won the 2010 Stanley Cup. Comcast SportsNet Chicago, which reaches Iowa, southern Wisconsin, most of Indiana and nearly all of Illinois, brings in 110,000 households in Chicago for each game and 135,000 over all, according to the network’s statistics. The network plans to show the Hockey City Classic , a four-team college tournament in February at Soldier Field. But in Chicago, college hockey cannot compete with the Blackhawks, who have official bars across the city, a lively social media effort and extensive fan-related events. “We just really want them back,” Bedella said, adding that hockey to Blackhawks fans was like a religion. He has a multitude of options in the future, however, because the network carries the Bulls, the White Sox and the Cubs as well as the Blackhawks. One plan, should the N.H.L. cancel the season, is to run “a more robust spring training schedule,” he said. Currently, Comcast SportsNet Chicago plans to show five White Sox preseason games and three Cub games, but those numbers could easily be increased. So far, Bedella said, the Blackhawks’ major advertisers have kept with the amended schedule, and he expects they will return when play resumes, whether this winter or next fall. But he lost advertisers who place one-time spots throughout the season, according to their needs. He cannot blame them for leaving. “It’s the holidays, and the ads have to run,” Bedella said. The audience numbers in Detroit and Chicago pale in comparison with those in Canada, where Saturday night broadcasts are a national tradition. “Hockey Night in Canada” typically attracts two million viewers for telecasts in eastern Canada and a million for games in western Canada, said Chuck Thompson, a spokesman for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . Like American stations, the CBC has shown vintage telecasts. Until last weekend, it ran a contest called Your Pick, in which fans voted for the classic games they wanted to view. But instead of a Saturday night game, the network showed the animated movie “Up,” which kicked off the CBC’s holiday programming. Thompson said nonhockey programming would be shown until it was clear whether a settlement would be reached. The CBC has contingency plans for 2013, and was pleased with the Your Pick contest, which attracted about 250,000 to 300,000 viewers a game. “It was modest, but it was where we expected them to come in,” Thompson said. (“Up” drew nearly 600,000 viewers.) If only some of those viewers would drop into the Souper Bowl in Pittsburgh. The bar sits opposite Consol Energy Center, the home of the Penguins. Its motto is “The Place to Be for Happy Hour and Pens Games,” and its mascot is a penguin chugging a beer. “We’re struggling quite a bit,” said Jess Satavy, a bar manager. Before a game, 500 people would pack the two-story bar, making it tough to get a seat, and others stuck around to watch broadcasts. The bar would be open until 2 a.m. for postgame stragglers. Now, unless there is an event across the street, “we close up when the happy hour crowd leaves,” Satavy said. The doors are usually shut by 9 p.m. The bar counts on revenue from hockey season to carry it through the summer, meaning 2013 will be tough unless games return. Satavy said she was not expecting a hockey season. “We’ve gotten our hopes up so many times that at this point, we’re pessimistic,” Satavy said. “We don’t want to be disappointed again.”

Hockey Ice
Television
Lockouts
Fox Sports
Canadian Broadcasting Corp
Comcast SportsNet
Cable Television


Golson Back at Practice

Abstract: Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson returned to the practice field for the first time in 10 months, participating in spring drills after being suspended for the fall semester for academic impropriety. Coach Brian Kelly has said that Malik Zaire will compete with Golson for the starter’s job.

College football
University of Notre Dame
Everett Golson
Brian Kelly


Injuries Sideline Steelers’ Polamalu and Holmes

Abstract: Steelers strong safety Troy Polamalu and wide receiver Santonio Holmes seem certain to miss at least one game with injuries sustained in a loss to the Jets . Polamalu sprained a knee and Holmes injured ankle ligaments during a 19-16 overtime loss Sunday, one of the N.F.L.’s biggest surprises this season. They are listed as doubtful for Monday night’s game against Miami. Coach Mike Tomlin talked yesterday as if neither would play. The injuries are the type that can sideline players for multiple games. GIANTS ADD RUNNING BACK Giants linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka was placed on injured reserve, two days after he broke his left leg against Detroit. To fill his roster spot, the Giants signed running back Patrick Pass, a member of three Super Bowl championship teams with the Patriots. COWBOYS’ CRAYTON HOBBLED Cowboys receiver Patrick Crayton missed practice because of a sprained left ankle and may miss tomorrow’s game against the Jets. Crayton has caught 31 passes for 466 yards and 5 touchdowns this season. If he is inactive, the second-year receiver Sam Hurd will take his place. PLEA FROM COMCAST Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company, has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the NFL Network demanding that its representatives stop encouraging fans to leave the cable provider. Jerry Jones, the Cowboys’ owner and the outspoken chairman of the league’s NFL Network committee, has urged customers of Comcast and other large cable providers that do not carry the network on a basic tier to switch to satellite or other cable services that do. The letter, dated Monday, contends that such actions violate the contract between the network and Comcast. “The legal arguments are without merit, and Comcast subscribers who are dropping that service do not need encouragement from us,” said Seth Palansky, an NFL Network spokesman. FINANCIAL PROBLEMS FOR VICK Michael Vick’s “deteriorating financial condition” prompted federal prosecutors to ask a judge in Richmond, Va., to order Vick to set aside nearly $1 million for the care of 54 pit bulls seized from his dogfighting operation. Vick faces a prison term of up to five years when he is sentenced Dec. 10 on a federal dogfighting conspiracy conviction. AROUND THE LEAGUE The Falcons’ Joey Harrington will start at quarterback tomorrow against the Colts after Byron Leftwich missed practice with a bruised tailbone. Coach Bobby Petrino would not say whether Harrington would remain as Atlanta’s starter for the rest of the season. ... San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith will miss the 49ers’ next two games to give his injured right arm more time to rest. ... Ted Tollner rejoined the 49ers as an assistant coach in an effort to spark the club’s offense. Tollner, the former Southern California and San Diego State coach, is also a longtime N.F.L. assistant who served on the 49ers’ coaching staff from 2002-4.

Football
New York Jets
Polamalu Troy
Athletics and Sports


As Jindal’s G.O.P. Profile Grows, So Do Louisiana’s Budget Woes

Abstract: BATON ROUGE, La. — In recent weeks, the office of Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana has issued news releases about the “mindless naïveté” of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the folly of opening diplomatic relations with Cuba and the threat of radical Islam in Europe, prompting a flurry of commentary about what it all might mean to Republican voters in Iowa and South Carolina should Mr. Jindal decide, as has long been expected, to run for president. But here in the Louisiana capital, there is mostly one topic on everyone’s mind these days, and it is quite distressingly close to home: the fiscal reckoning the state is facing for next year and perhaps for multiple budgets to come. “Since I’ve been in Louisiana I’ve never seen a budget cycle as desperate as this one,” said Robert Travis Scott, the president of the Public Affairs Research Council , a nonpartisan group based in Baton Rouge. Louisiana’s budget shortfall is projected to reach $1.6 billion next year and to remain in that ballpark for a while. The downturn in oil prices has undoubtedly worsened the problem, forcing midyear cuts to the current budget. But economists, policy experts and lawmakers of both parties, pointing out that next year’s projected shortfall was well over a billion dollars even when oil prices were riding high, turn to a different culprit: the fiscal policy pushed by the Jindal administration and backed by the State Legislature. “Is he responsible for the full $1.6 billion?” Mr. Scott asked. “I’d say no. But I’d say he’s responsible for the order of magnitude.” In a state the size of Louisiana, the shortfall is huge. But it is all the more daunting considering that the governor has unequivocally ruled out any plans for new revenue, bone-deep cuts have already been made to health care and higher education, ad hoc revenue sources have been all but drained and robust economic growth has yet to materialize. Mr. Jindal’s first term began in 2008 with a heady surplus of around $1 billion, high oil prices and a stream of federal disaster recovery money after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. He threw his support behind the largest tax cut in the state’s history and, for a time, had reason to boast about an economy that outperformed the nation’s. But oil prices are fickle, and the recovery money dried up and the recession arrived, if late and in a milder strain than in other states. Since 2010, here as elsewhere, middling has been the new normal. Image Mr. Jindal spoke in Washington on Thursday. He withdrew a tax overhaul plan for Louisiana after widespread criticism. Credit Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times “The underlying economy has been weaker or more sluggishly growing than we might want to believe,” said Greg Albrecht, the chief economist for the Louisiana Legislature, ticking off a list of metrics that are not picking up steam, including total payroll employment growth and personal income tax receipts. But a slower-than-ideal recovery is not unique to Louisiana. How the state has dealt with it is the root of the problem, said Mr. Jindal’s policy critics. That group includes some of his own party members running to replace Mr. Jindal, who is barred by term limits from seeking a third term as governor. “In many ways the economy’s doing pretty good, but there’s a disconnect because of this broken fiscal policy,” said United States Senator David Vitter, a Republican and the current favorite in the governor’s race. Among Mr. Vitter’s targets are the state’s generous and expanding buffet of tax incentives and its increasing reliance on one-time sources of revenue to plug budget gaps. “I don’t agree with his general approach,” he said of Mr. Jindal. In a telephone interview, Mr. Jindal defended his record, attributing “the vast majority” of the shortfall to the downturn in oil prices and insisting that a shrunken state government was the goal, not an unfortunate side effect. “We made an explicit decision and commitment that we were going to cut the government, the public sector economy, as opposed to the private sector economy,” he said, adding that per capita income in the state is at its highest. “We made the intentional policy decision we think it’d be better to shrink government and cut taxes. That’s unusual for Louisiana.” A movement to re-examine tax credits and exemptions — which quickly add up to more than $1 billion a year — has been gaining steam in the Republican-controlled Legislature. But Mr. Jindal is firmly against any changes that would result in net new revenue. Last year he even vetoed a bill that would have required the state to tally up the costs of those tax credits and rebates on the grounds that it could “create uncertainty about the state’s commitment to job creation and economic development.” In the interview, Mr. Jindal said he agreed that some tax credits were probably ineffective, pointing out that he had addressed such issues in a comprehensive tax overhaul he proposed in 2013, but quickly withdrew after widespread criticism. Who Is Running for President? Donald J. Trump officially accepted the Republican party's nomination on July 22. Hillary Clinton was officially nominated on July 26 at the Democratic Convention. With revenues limited, Mr. Jindal has turned to privatization and cuts to balance the budget, commended by some policy experts as corrections to a bloated government and roundly condemned by others as shortsighted. Louisiana’s higher education budget, one of the few discretionary targets, has been slashed by more than just about any other state since 2008; there are a thousand fewer full-time college faculty members on the state payroll, and next year Louisiana State University, the state’s flagship institution, is facing a potential 40 percent cut in its operating budget. Possible cuts to health care for next year, when compounded by the loss of matching federal dollars, could approach $1 billion. But deep cuts like these have not closed the gap before, leaving Mr. Jindal and the Legislature to turn to other solutions. The use of ad hoc money to plug holes is by no means a new practice here, but it has rarely been done on this scale: Trust funds for infrastructure and low-income older adults have been sapped, buildings sold, tax amnesties repeatedly declared, legal settlements spent and reserves drained. Such one-time sources added up to around $1 billion in this year’s budget alone, and lawmakers fear that these “gimmicks, games and accounting tricks,” as State Representative Brett Geymann put it, have run out. “The number is so big that it’s not going to take care of the problem like it has in the past,” said Mr. Geymann, a Republican and a member of a coalition of conservative legislators known as the fiscal hawks. On Monday, Moody’s Investors Service, the credit ratings agency, noted a number of warning signs about the state’s credit outlook, including the plunge in oil prices, “muted job growth” and “a structural deficit.” John Kennedy, the state treasurer, a Republican, pointed to the report as evidence of how “fiscally irresponsible” the state had been for the last seven years. But while so much attention is on the governor, Mr. Kennedy focused his blame on the Legislature. He argued that Mr. Jindal was not ultimately in charge of the purse strings and that, in any case, he was preoccupied at the moment. “Governor Jindal is running for president,” Mr. Kennedy said. “I wish him well. He’s a very talented guy, and I hope he’ll multitask as he’s working on his national campaign and come down and help us with this budget problem. But if he doesn’t, the Legislature needs to do the job.”

Tax Credits Tax Deductions Tax Exemptions


Patriot League Pushes Decision on Football Scholarships Into Future

Abstract: The Patriot League has delayed a decision on awarding football scholarships for at least two years and will continue to field its teams with a need-based financial-aid system. “Following extensive discussions at their meetings this week, the Patriot League Council of Presidents elected to table a decision to adjust the current need-limited model of financial aid for two years pending additional deliberations related to the league’s strategic direction,” the council said in a statement. The process has been steeped in secrecy and silence since one of the league’s members, Fordham, decided last year to offer football scholarships. It appears that concern about money prompted the council to table the issue. The seven football-playing members of the league spend anywhere from $1.4 million to more than $4.5 million annually, according to United States Department of Education data. “We had discussions about various financial-aid models and recognized and evaluated the benefits as well as the potential costs associated with athletic merit aid for football,” the statement said. “League presidents expressed their commitment to the stability and long-term positioning of the league.” Dan Weiss, Lafayette’s president, has been opposed to football scholarships. He indicated that the league was committed to staying together, but was unwilling to invest more money. “The league presidents worked intensely and collaboratively over the course of several days and concluded that our shared commitment to the league and its stability were of the utmost importance,” Weiss said in a statement. “The presidents and others on our campuses will continue to work together to develop a shared vision for football and a strong Patriot League.” Fordham has a scheduling agreement with the Patriot League for at least the next two years. This year, the Rams were 5-6 over all, 3-3 in the Patriot League, although those games did not count in league standings and Fordham was ineligible for the league’s title or N.C.A.A. playoff bid because it had awarded scholarships and other league programs did not. Frank McLaughlin, Fordham’s executive athletic director, declined to comment Wednesday. Before the decision, he had said that Fordham would like to continue to play football in the Patriot League, but that it would not hesitate to go elsewhere if scholarships were not approved — perhaps to the Colonial Athletic Association, with teams like Villanova and William & Mary.

Patriot League
College Athletics
Football
Scholarships and Fellowships


Samsung Reports Lowest Profit in 3 Years

Abstract: SEOUL, South Korea — Samsung Electronics reported on Thursday that its July-September quarterly profit fell to the lowest level in more than three years, as a decline in earnings from its smartphone business put the South Korean giant on track for its worst year since 2011. The company, the global leader in smartphones, has lost market share in annual terms for the last two quarters, lagging Apple in the premium market and overtaken by rivals like Lenovo and Xiaomi at the bottom end. Samsung said its third-quarter operating profit fell by 60.1 percent from a year earlier, to 4.1 trillion won ($3.9 billion), matching its guidance issued this month and signifying the weakest result since the second quarter of 2011. Looking to the fourth quarter, Samsung said it “cautiously expects an earnings increase, driven by strong seasonal demand for TVs and continued growth momentum for the memory business.” But it said the mobile division’s outlook remained uncertain. Analysts expect Samsung to record its weakest annual operating profit in three years, despite the introduction of devices like the Galaxy Note 4. A Thomson Reuters survey of 41 analysts estimated Samsung’s 2014 profit at 26.4 trillion won, down from last year’s record 36.8 trillion won. Profit for Samsung’s mobile division fell to 1.75 trillion won in the third quarter from 6.70 trillion won a year earlier, its worst performance since the second quarter of 2011. Samsung spent most of the quarter without introducing a new flagship device and continued to struggle in the mid- to low-tier markets. While the introduction of Galaxy Note 4 in September and the expected release of new products in the low end of the market during the October-December quarter are expected to lift smartphone sales slightly, analysts say the days of record mobile profits for Samsung are over.


Blast Kills Palestinian, a Diplomat, in Prague

Abstract: BERLIN — The Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic died on Wednesday after suffering severe injuries caused by an explosive booby trap security system in a safe at his Prague residence that he apparently had triggered by mistake, the police reported. They said there was no indication the explosion was sabotage or a terrorist attack. The diplomat, Jamal al-Jamal, 56, had been in the Czech capital only since Oct. 11. He and his family were just moving into the residence, and the explosion occurred while he was opening the safe, inadvertently setting off the security protection, according to a police spokeswoman, Andrea Zoulova. Daniel Langer, the lead surgeon at the Central Military Hospital in Prague, said the ambassador had suffered head, chest and stomach injuries. The immediate cause of death will be confirmed during an autopsy. An unidentified 52-year-old woman was taken to the hospital from the residence after apparently inhaling fumes from the explosion, but she was released soon afterward, said Jirina Ernestova, an official in Prague’s emergency services. Ms. Zoulova said a police investigation at the residence indicated that the safe itself had exploded because of careless handling that detonated the security system. The president of the Czech police, Martin Cervicek, was quoted by Czech television as saying, “We do not have a single indication that this could be a terrorist attack.” The Palestine Liberation Organization, the main umbrella organization of the Palestinian national movement, maintains missions in a number of European capitals as part of a broader diplomatic effort aimed at advancing the cause of Palestinian statehood. Difficult negotiations have been underway for months between the Palestinian leadership and Israeli officials over a two-state solution to their prolonged conflict. After the United Nations General Assembly voted to upgrade the Palestinians’ status to nonmember observer state in November 2012, the Czech Republic was one of many nations that also upgraded its diplomatic mission to be known as the Embassy of the State of Palestine. The Palestinian ambassador’s residence in Prague is different from the mission itself, which is in a neighboring villa. The villa where the explosion took place suffered no damage visible from the outside, according to the website of the newspaper Mlada Fronta Dnes. It quoted neighbors as saying they had heard nothing. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Mr. Jamal was critically injured by a blast that occurred minutes after he had opened a safe that had been transferred to the new residence from the mission’s old headquarters, and that he was pronounced dead after undergoing emergency surgery at the hospital. The statement, carried by the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, added that Palestinian officials were in contact with Czech authorities, authorizing them to inspect the scene of the explosion, and that a Palestinian delegation would arrive in Prague on Thursday. Riyad al-Malki, the Palestinian foreign minister, said in a statement that Mr. Jamal was “an example of a successful diplomat who was diligent in serving his country and his cause.”

Jamal al- Jamal
Diplomats Embassies and Consulates
Palestinian Authority
Czech Republic
Prague
PLO
Fatalities,casualties


Growing Accounts of Fraud Cloud Afghan Election

Abstract: PUL-I-CHARKHI, Afghanistan — A Kabul teacher assigned to run a polling station in this village arrived at 6 a.m. on Election Day to find the ballot boxes already full, well before the voting was to start. When he protested, the other election officials told him to let it go; when he refused, he was taken away by the local tribal chieftain’s bodyguards. Now he is in hiding and receiving threats, he said. And the village’s polling place is under investigation in one of the most serious reports of fraud that officials worry could affect the results of the country’s Aug. 20 elections — in this case, as in many others, in favor of President Hamid Karzai. Afghan election officials said Sunday that the serious fraud reports that they were considering had suddenly doubled — to 550 from 270, in a development likely to stoke public outrage and perhaps even delay the official results past September. By law, each of the more serious cases, out of more than 2,000 complaints of irregularities so far, must be investigated before the elections results can be certified. Western officials say they are increasingly ill at ease with the prospect of a national government in limbo even while American and NATO troops are pressed by the Taliban in a new phase of war that commanders concede is not going well. “It does indicate there were a lot of allegations that have to be taken seriously, and if fraud did take place, that it was systematic,” said Martine van Bijlert, an analyst with The Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent policy research organization. Concern was mounting among members of the international community, but there was uncertainty about how to deal with it, she said. Politics in Afghanistan works through a system of tribal, factional and ethnic networks in which power brokers organize support for a candidate in return for money, power or position. Yet this election has surpassed previous ones in the scale of bribery, corruption of election officials, ballot stuffing and altering the count, election observers and political analysts said. Mr. Karzai and the leading opposition candidate — his former foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah — both claim to be winning. With just over a third of the vote counted as of Sunday, Mr. Karzai had expanded his lead with about 46 percent of the vote, election officials said, but he remained short of the necessary 50 percent to win without a runoff vote. Mr. Abdullah was reported to have just over 31 percent. But as the reports of fraud widen, the legitimacy of any results is coming under increased question. The reports from this sprawling settlement of mud-walled houses show why. Opponents of Mr. Karzai have accused the local member of Parliament, Hajji Mullah Tarakhel Mohammadi, of organizing the ballot stuffing in Pul-i-Charkhi in order to deliver thousands of votes in favor of Mr. Karzai. The scale is such that it will change the overall result for Kabul Province, they said. Mullah Tarakhel, 30, a colorful tribal figure whose nickname is Crazy Tarakhel, denied any ballot stuffing in an interview at his home. But he said he had urged his tribe to vote for Mr. Karzai. Mullah Tarakhel is a leader of the Kuchi tribe, traditionally nomadic Pashtuns estimated to number more than a million people, and he boasted that across 18 districts of Kabul Province, Kuchis produced 180,000 votes for Mr. Karzai. Just in this dusty settlement on the eastern edge of the capital city, nearly 50,000 people voted, so many that they needed more ballots, he said. But those claims were put in doubt after a British journalist, Tom Coghlan of The Times of London, visited the settlement, just half an hour from the center of the city, on the morning of the elections. Mr. Coghlan arrived at the Hajji Janat Gul High School an hour after the polls had opened, and found no voters. But he did find 12 ballot boxes already full. The lists indicated 5,530 people had already voted, an impossibility in such a short time. The Kabul teacher, who did not want to be identified by name for fear of reprisals from Mullah Tarakhel, was assigned to be an election worker at the same school, named after Mullah Tarakhel’s late father. “I said that during the training we were told we must have empty boxes at the beginning,” he said. He found pre-filled boxes. The election officials, all locally hired from Mullah Tarakhel’s tribe, tried to persuade him to drop his protests. Then Mullah Tarakhel telephoned him and asked him to accept the boxes as valid. When he refused, four of Mullah Tarakhel’s armed guards came in a car and took him away and kept him under guard for the rest of the day. A week later there were few traces of the election at the Hajji Janat Gul High School, except for a broken ballot box seal and a pink sheet posted on a classroom wall showing the ballot count. The numbers had been visibly altered and did not tally. The total ballots cast were 600, but Mr. Karzai was shown to have 996 votes. Two other candidates won 4 votes and 1. At least three presidential candidates have raised concerns about the ballot stuffing in Pul-i-Charkhi, including the former finance minister, Ashraf Ghani, and Sarwar Ahmadzai, both of whom had hoped to pick up votes from Kuchis through their own tribal affiliations. Mr. Ahmadzai, who met with the United States ambassador in Kabul for electoral affairs, Timothy Carney, before holding a news briefing at his home in Kabul last week, said fraud in Mr. Karzai’s favor had been so extensive that he wanted a rerun of the vote in the entire ethnic Pashtun belt that stretches across 12 provinces, a third of the country. Mr. Ahmadzai accused Mullah Tarakhel of stuffing the boxes with ballots in favor of Mr. Karzai in his house in Butkhak and of getting 90 percent of Kuchi votes by fraud. “We will give them a chance to see how they announce the results; otherwise, if the results are announced with fraud, then our people will go out on the streets all over the country to protest,” he said. Mr. Abdullah, whose main aim is to win enough to force a runoff, accused Mr. Karzai last week of “state-engineered fraud,” and challenged the world not to turn a blind eye. On Saturday his campaign team posted video clips of reported instances of fraud. If fraud is proved in Pul-i-Charkhi and similar cases, the ballot boxes will be excluded from the general count, election officials said. Other suspicious cases have been found in places like Paktika Province, where the votes counted have outnumbered the registered voters in some areas, said one of the election commission chairmen, Fahim Hakim. In Helmand Province, where the heaviest fighting against the Taliban is happening, even the province’s election commissioner, Abdul Hadi, expressed surprise in an interview at how high the reported turnout had been. Yet without witnesses and solid evidence, proving fraud may be difficult, election officials acknowledged. International election observers who have been working for months in Afghanistan said the problem was not just individual cases of ballot stuffing, but systemic and institutional corruption. The election commission, supposedly independent, is heavily politicized, from the chairman down to local district officials appointed by the government, said one election observer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly about the process. “The whole mechanism is flawed and the people in the system will perpetuate the fraud,” he said.

Afghanistan
Elections
Frauds and Swindling
Ethics


U.N. Chief Calls Crackdown in Myanmar ‘Abhorrent’

Abstract: UNITED NATIONS , Oct. 5 — Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Friday that the use of force to put down peaceful protests in Myanmar was “abhorrent and unacceptable,” and that the country’s government must release those it had arrested and start a dialogue with political opponents. Mr. Ban made his remarks to the Security Council before his special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, reported on his four-day emergency trip to Myanmar. Mr. Gambari was dispatched after the junta ruling the country began a brutal crackdown last week on Buddhist monks and those who joined them in protests against the government. Speaking to the Council in the morning, Mr. Gambari said there were “continuing and disturbing reports of abuses being committed by security and nonuniformed elements, particularly at night during curfew, including raids on private homes, beatings, arbitrary arrests and disappearances.” He also said there were unconfirmed reports that the number of casualties was “much higher” than the number government had confirmed. The government has been saying that 10 people died in the crackdown. The junta said that hundreds of monks had been detained and that it was hunting for four whom it described as ringleaders. It claimed only 109 monks remained in custody, but diplomats and other analysts have been skeptical of government reports. The main city of Yangon appeared normal in daytime, but was a place of terror at night as people were dragged from their homes in a wave of arrests, according to foreign aid workers reached by telephone. At the United Nations, where 12 Buddhist monks from Myanmar watched from the gallery, Mr. Ban said: “While I am relieved to hear of reports that some military forces have been withdrawn and that some restrictions have been eased, the overall situation still remains of serious concern, especially with regard to the unknown predicament of the large number of individuals who were arrested without due process.” He called for their release “without further delay.” Mr. Ban added, “Now more than ever before, the government of Myanmar should take bold actions toward democratization and respect for human rights.” The secretary general also said that a “united Security Council could play an important supporting role in the ongoing efforts of the United Nations.” While the Council has been united in its support of Mr. Gambari’s mission, China, which borders Myanmar and is one of its few allies and trading partners, has argued that the crisis does not constitute the kind of threat to international peace and security that calls for the involvement of the Council. After Mr. Gambari spoke, Wang Guangya, China’s ambassador, said: “It is quite understandable for the outside world to express concern and expectation regarding the situation on the ground. However, pressure would not serve any purpose or would lead to confrontation or even the loss of dialogue and cooperation between Myanmar and the international community, including the United Nations.” “If the situation in Myanmar takes a worse turn because of external intervention,” he warned, “it would be the people of Myanmar who will bear the brunt.” Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador, said at the Council session that the crisis in Myanmar, formerly Burma, was clearly having effects beyond its borders because it was “closely tied” to the flight of refugees, the growth in the trafficking of drugs and people and the spread of infectious diseases. Countering China’s claim that pressure could undermine cooperation, he said: “For engagement to be productive, pressure has to be applied, to incentivize the regime to cooperate. The two are complementary rather than the view expressed that they are in conflict or contention.” He said that if the government did not take constructive action “in a timely manner,” the United States would introduce a resolution in the Security Council imposing sanctions on the country. “It is time for the Council to do more than simply listen to a briefing,” he said. He said the offer by the leader of Myanmar’s junta, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning opposition leader under house arrest, had come with “unrealistic conditions.” According to state television, the general had told Mr. Gambari that he would see Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi only if she gave up promoting activities that it identified as “confrontation, utter devastation, economic sanctions” against Myanmar and other sanctions. In his report to the Council, Mr. Gambari appeared to take issue with the argument, put forward by China, that the repression of antigovernment protests was a “basically internal” matter. “What happens inside Myanmar can have serious international repercussions,” Mr. Gambari said. He added, “No country can afford to act in isolation from the standards by which all members of the international community are held.” Mr. Gambari said he had been able to “deliver clear and strong messages” at the highest levels of the Myanmar government that it must cease night raids and arrests, lift curfews, release all people detained during the protests, withdraw the military from the streets and “put an immediate end to raids on monasteries.” He said it “remains unclear how responsive the authorities will be to these messages.”

Myanmar
United Nations
Ban Ki-moon
Gambari Ibrahim


The Rays’ Longoria Is Keeping It Simple, and Spectacular

Abstract: ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Evan Longoria approached Don Zimmer at Tropicana Field on Tuesday, put his hand on Zimmer’s shoulder and asked for some wisdom. With the Tampa Bay Rays one day away from playing in their first World Series, Longoria, their cool third baseman, wanted Zimmer, the team’s special adviser, to impart some advice culled from his 60 years in professional baseball. Zimmer knew that Longoria’s request was actually a bit of trap. He knew Longoria was already prepared for the next and the greatest challenge of his rookie season. So Zimmer treated the request playfully. He used spicy language in ordering Longoria to simply go play third. It worked. Longoria laughed and dashed to his position. As Longoria laughed and ran, he behaved like a little kid. It was not much of a stretch. Just five years removed from high school graduation, Longoria has cemented himself as one of the most dynamic players on a young, dangerous team that should remain young and dangerous for a while. “He’s a special player, a real special player,” Zimmer said. “Just watch the way he plays third base. He’s a good kid, too.” It is good to be Longoria. Good to be 23 years old, good to be perhaps the best rookie in the American League and good to be playing in a World Series in your first season. When the Rays oppose the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 on Wednesday night, Longoria will hit cleanup and will try to help Tampa Bay embellish its already magical journey with a championship. “I believe we’re going to win it, whether it’s destiny or not,” Longoria said. “Everybody believes it when we come to the field, no matter whether it’s Game 1 of the season or Game 1 of the World Series, that we’re going to win the game.” Longoria exudes calmness. At the plate, in the field or in the clubhouse, Longoria’s demeanor is that of someone who is in a recliner watching his favorite TV show. He does not complicate situations. He tries to simplify them. Usually, he succeeds. He has six home runs in 11 postseason games after hitting 27 homers, driving in 85 runs and batting .272 in the regular season. The Rays were so certain of Longoria’s glossy future that, after he had played only six games, they signed him to a contract that is worth $17.5 million over six years and could escalate to $44 million over nine years. “I think he was born to do this,” reliever Grant Balfour said. “He really was. There are some guys who can’t handle this. He walks around like it’s no big deal.” When pitcher Matt Garza fielded a question about Longoria, he said, “It’s his first year?” While Garza was trying to be comical, he was, in a way, being candid. Longoria has the presence of someone who has played more than 122 major league games. During Yogi Berra’s charity golf tournament three months ago, Zimmer said that Graig Nettles, a slick-fielding third baseman for the Yankees, quizzed him about Longoria. Zimmer told Nettles that Mike Schmidt, Brooks Robinson, Clete Boyer, Billy Cox and Nettles were the five best defensive third basemen he had seen. For Zimmer, now there is a top six. “I told Nettles that this kid didn’t have to take a back seat to any of them,” Zimmer said. “That’s how he good he is. I’m not saying he’s better, but he doesn’t have to take a back seat.” Because Longoria was not drafted and barely recruited out of St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, Calif., he went to Rio Hondo Junior College. Longoria excelled as a freshman at a college without much baseball pedigree and attracted the interest of Mike Weathers, the coach at Long Beach State. Weathers wanted Longoria to transfer, but Longoria played shortstop and Long Beach already had a superb shortstop named Troy Tulowitzki. Weathers said he was impressed that Longoria was willing to switch to third. At Long Beach, Weathers said Longoria was relaxed and confident. The Rays made Longoria the third overall pick in the 2006 draft and signed him in 20 minutes. “Down deep, he’s always had a calmness to him,” Weathers said. “He knows how to seize the moment and stay under control.” Tulowitzki, who plays for the Colorado Rockies, sent Longoria a text message on Tuesday. A year ago, Longoria watched Tulowitzki and the Rockies win 21 of 22 games before losing to the Red Sox in the World Series. Longoria and the Rays have silenced the Red Sox and have a chance to do what Tulowitzki and the Rockies could not do by winning a title. “His was almost the Cinderella story to the max,” Longoria said. “I almost feel like our story, my story, has almost exceeded his.” Longoria said he enjoyed being surrounded by 20 television cameras and smoothly handled the verbal volleys. When someone asked Longoria to offer a message to the military personnel overseas, he never hesitated in giving an earnest thanks. When a reporter suggested that Longoria had become more popular than Eva Longoria, the actress with the almost identical name, Longoria said, “I doubt that.” With a smile, he firmly added, “I never do interviews about that.” But Longoria does talk about the sports psychology training he received at Long Beach and how it helped him to visualize situations and “stay in the moment.” By staying focused, Longoria said it was easier to deal with situations that are bigger than those he has encountered — situations like the World Series. Before the Rays played Boston in the decisive game of the American League Championship Series, Longoria said “Game 7’s are where heroes are made.” It was not a cocky comment. It was the truth. Longoria was calm and ready then and, as Zimmer surmised in their chat on Tuesday, he is ready for the World Series, too.

Longoria Evan
Tampa Bay Rays
World Series


Marlins Starter’s Debut Is One to Forget as Braves Roll

Abstract: The Atlanta Braves scored seven runs in the first inning off Mat Latos and beat the host Miami Marlins for the second day in a row, 12-2, on Tuesday night. Latos, acquired from Cincinnati in the off-season, lasted only two-thirds of an inning in the shortest outing of his career. He was booed as he left the game, his first for his hometown team, and departed with a 94.50 E.R.A. It was the shortest outing by a starting pitcher in his Marlins debut, according to Stats. Latos failed to record a strikeout for the first time in 154 career starts. The Braves’ big inning included run-scoring doubles by Freddie Freeman, Christian Bethancourt and Chris Johnson, and a two-run single by Andrelton Simmons. ROCKIES 5, BREWERS 2 Jordan Lyles pitched six effective innings, and visiting Colorado hit six doubles for the second consecutive game in a win over Milwaukee. Lyles limited the Brewers to two runs and five hits. Six players doubled for the Rockies, who had 12 hits over all. The Rockies, who managed only one hit off Brewers starter Matt Garza through three innings, scored three runs in the third. ORIOLES 6, RAYS 5 Adam Jones drove in two runs with a double during a four-run first inning, and visiting Baltimore hung on to beat Tampa Bay. Steve Pearce homered for the second straight game, a two-run drive that made it 6-0 in the second for the Orioles. Baltimore’s Chris Davis went 0 for 3 and was hit by a pitch as the designated hitter in his return after a 25-game suspension for a positive amphetamine test. CARDINALS-CUBS POSTPONED The St. Louis Cardinals’ game at the Chicago Cubs was postponed after rain and cold weather were forecast for Tuesday. No makeup date was announced. INDIANS SIGN NO. 2 PITCHER Carlos Carrasco finalized a four-year, $22 million contract with the Cleveland Indians, a day before he was to make his season debut against Houston and two days after the Indians completed a five-year, $38 million deal with their ace, Corey Kluber. Carrasco’s agreement includes club options for 2019 and 2020. SPRING ATTENDANCE RECORD Major League Baseball set a spring training attendance record this year, surpassing four million and averaging nearly 8,400 fans a game. The league said attendance was up 11.7 percent from last season’s total of 3,610,738, and the average rose 3.8 percent from a year ago. This spring, the 481 dates drew 4,034,708 fans for an average of 8,388. That topped the record 3,823,479 set in 2013, while the average attendance eclipsed the previous best of 8,078 in 2014. GIANTS’ CAIN ON THE D.L. Before throwing a pitch in the regular season, San Francisco’s Matt Cain wound up on the disabled list. The Giants said that Cain, a 30-year-old right-hander, had a flexor tendon strain in his right forearm and put him on the disabled list retroactive to Saturday. Cain could miss a few weeks.

Baseball
Miami Marlins
Braves
Mat Latos
Matt Cain


U.S. Teaming With Yemen’s New Government to Combat Al Qaeda

Abstract: WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is embarking on an ambitious and potentially risky plan to help the new government in Yemen overhaul its military to combat the Qaeda franchise that has exploited the political turmoil there to seize control of large swaths of the country’s south. The plan’s two-pronged strategy calls for the United States and Yemen to work together to kill or capture about two dozen of Al Qaeda ’s most dangerous operatives, who are focused on attacking America and its interests. At the same time, the administration will work with Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf allies to train and equip Yemeni security forces to counter the organization’s wider threat to destabilize the country and the government of its newly installed president , Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi. This approach mirrors the White House’s global counterterrorism strategy in the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: to employ small numbers of Special Operations troops, Central Intelligence Agency paramilitary teams and drones against elements of Al Qaeda that are committed to striking the United States, while arming and advising indigenous security forces to tackle costlier long-term counterinsurgency campaigns. John O. Brennan , President Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser, spelled out the new plan in a visit to Sana, the Yemeni capital, before last week’s elections, as well as in telephone interviews. One main proposal, he said, is to pay Yemeni troops directly rather than through their commanders. The current system has spawned corruption and shifted soldiers’ loyalty to individual commanders rather than to the government. “We’re trying to ensure that the aid is very tailored, so it goes to those units that are professional, that fall within a command and control structure that reports to Hadi, that are addressing Al Qaeda and domestic threats to Yemen, and are not engaged in any political shenanigans,” Mr. Brennan said by telephone after making his seventh trip to Yemen in the last three years. Senior American officials say the Qaeda group in Yemen poses the most immediate threat to the United States and its allies. It was responsible for failed plots to blow up a commercial airliner as it approached Detroit on Dec. 25, 2009, and for planting printer cartridges packed with explosives on cargo planes bound for Chicago in October 2010. The American-backed campaign against the group has had mixed results in the past year. An American drone strike last September killed Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric who was one of the group’s top operatives, and Samir Khan, another American who edited the group’s English-language online magazine. Their deaths deprived the group of its two most skilled operatives focused on attacking America. But in the political tumult that surrounded Yemen’s former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh , many Yemeni troops in the past year abandoned their posts or were summoned to Sana to help support the tottering government. The United States pulled out about 75 Special Forces trainers and support personnel in Yemen, and counterterrorism training ground to a halt. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula — the group’s formal name — stepped in to fill the vacuum. In response, the C.I.A. and Special Operations forces have carried out nearly a dozen drone strikes against Qaeda operatives in Yemen since last May, according to The Long War Journal, a Web site that tracks the attacks. With Mr. Hadi now in power and pledging to work closely with the administration to fight Al Qaeda, Mr. Brennan said the administration would slowly start resuming security aid that was suspended last year. Mohammed Albasha, a spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy here, reiterated on Sunday that “the fight against Al Qaeda is a national and religious duty.” One major unanswered question is how much influence Mr. Saleh’s son and nephews will retain over the security forces, including the Republican Guard and the Central Security Forces, some of whose members have been trained and equipped by the United States. It is a practical and ethical dilemma for the administration, given that many Yemeni security forces used scorched-earth tactics to suppress pro-democracy protesters. “The Yemeni people who for one year stayed at demonstrations, they didn’t do this just for Saleh to leave, but for his whole regime, and that especially means those who are leaders in the armed forces,” said Ali al-Mamari, a Yemeni member of Parliament who quit the ruling party last spring after violence was used against protesters. “After the past year, the Yemeni people now are thinking that America is helping them, and the American role is respected,” he said. “If the Americans continue to support the son and nephews of Saleh in the same way, the stance of the Yemeni people will change toward America.” Some independent analysts also warned that the administration’s approach amounted to picking and choosing favorite Yemeni generals, which could backfire over time. “Any time the U.S. gets into where it’s favoring certain generals or trying to play generals off each other, it is a very dangerous game,” said Gregory Johnsen, a Princeton scholar who closely tracks militants in Yemen. The United States has allocated $53.8 million in security assistance for Yemen this year, up from $30.1 million last year, according to State Department figures. American officials, including Mr. Brennan and Gerald M. Feierstein, the American ambassador to Yemen, say the administration will consider Yemen’s requests for security assistance case by case once Yemen submits a long-term strategic plan for how it plans to address threats from Al Qaeda. A high-level Yemeni military delegation is expected in Washington next month, the first of a series of reciprocal visits. American officials say they envision sending trucks, troop carriers and transport helicopters, to give Yemeni forces greater mobility to attack militant fighters in their desolate redoubts. Ammunition, spare parts and other logistical support is also likely, the officials said. “There are some things we couldn’t do last year because of the political crisis,” Mr. Feierstein said. “There has been a hiatus. We have not done training because the Yemeni units were not in a position to continue with the training. They had other priorities.”

Middle East and North Africa Unrest (2010- )