Neymar Scores 50th Goal in Brazil’s Rout of Argentina

Abstract: Neymar scored his 50th international goal as host Brazil thrashed Argentina, 3-0, in their 2018 World Cup qualifying duel on Thursday. Neymar reached the 50-goal mark in 74 games as Brazil recorded its fifth consecutive victory under it new coach, Tite, to remain on top of South America’s qualification table. Philippe Coutinho and Paulinho also scored as the Brazilians made a triumphant return to Mineirão Stadium, scene of their humiliating 7-1 loss against Germany in a 2014 World Cup semifinal. Brazil now leads the 10-team round-robin competition with 24 points after 11 games. Argentina is in sixth place over all, one spot outside the qualifying positions for the finals in Russia. Brazil powered into a 2-0 lead in the first half after two wonderfully worked goals from Coutinho and Neymar. The Argentines created the first chance when Lucas Biglia’s shot from outside the penalty area was saved by Brazil goalkeeper Alisson in the 23rd minute. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE CHILE GOALKEEPER INJURED IN DRAW Before leaving the game with a leg injury, Claudio Bravo was the hero as Chile ground out a hard-fought 0-0 draw in its 2018 World Cup qualifier against host Colombia. Bravo made two superb first-half saves as Chile, the Copa América champion, dug in for a vital point in sweltering conditions in Barranquilla, Colombia. But Bravo’s display was soured by what looked like a pulled muscle in the second half, forcing him to be replaced by Johnny Herrera in the 65th minute. Colombia brought on the veteran striker Radamel Falcao at the start of the second half but he was unable to break the deadlock. The tie left Colombia with 18 points after 11 games in South America’s qualifying race; Chile had 17 points. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE SOUNDERS ROOKIE RECEIVES HONOR Seattle Sounders forward Jordan Morris was named Major League Soccer’s Rookie of the Year after scoring 12 goals, tying for the second-most goals by an M.L.S. newcomer. Orlando City’s Cyle Larin set the mark with 17 in 2015. Morris beat Philadelphia Union defender Keegan Rosenberry and New York City F.C. forward Jack Harrison for the honor. Morris played a key role in Seattle’s run to the M.L.S. playoffs, and he has started all three of its postseason matches as it booked a berth in the Western Conference finals. “We think he has been as impactful in his first season as any rookie in the history of the league,” Sounders General Manager Garth Lagerway said of Morris, who made his debut with the United States’ national team in 2015 when he was still playing in college. Morris signed with the Sounders in January 2016 and made his starting debut on March 6. After Morris strained a hamstring in the Sounders’ playoff game at Dallas on Sunday, he was removed from the United States’ roster for Friday’s World Cup qualifier against Mexico. It was not yet known if he would be available when the Sounders host the Colorado Rapids in the first leg of the Western Conference Championship on Nov. 22. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE HOCKEY Lightning Breeze Past Islanders Steven Stamkos had a goal and two assists, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Islanders, 4-1, in Tampa, Fla. Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Johnson and Brian Boyle also scored for the Lightning, who have outscored the Islanders by 10-2 in winning the first two games of the season series. The Islanders got a goal from Andrew Ladd. Stamkos opened the scoring by beating Jaroslav Halak from the left circle during a power play 8 minutes 3 seconds into the game. Stamkos has 111 career power-play goals with Tampa Bay, one shy of Vincent Lecavalier’s team record. FOOTBALL Duke Stuns No. 15 North Carolina Quarterback Daniel Jones ran for two touchdowns and threw for another to help Duke upset No. 15 North Carolina, 28-27, in Durham, N.C. Jones, a redshirt freshman, gave the defense fits all night with his mobility for the Blue Devils, who are 4-6 over all and 1-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He ran for 94 yards as part of a ground game that kept moving the chains against the Tar Heels (7-3, 5-2), who were No. 17 in the College Football Playoff rankings. Shaun Wilson ran for a game-high 107 yards and a touchdown as Duke finished with 227 rushing yards and converted 10 of 17 third-down chances. BROWNS’ SEASON-LONG SKID CONTINUES Joe Flacco threw three touchdown passes, and the host Baltimore Ravens beat Cleveland, 28-7, to leave the winless Browns at a low point in franchise history. Baltimore trailed by 7-3 late in the second quarter before gaining control during a third quarter in which Flacco went 10 for 12 with two scores. The Ravens (5-4) have won two in a row following a four-game losing streak. Baltimore is the only team in the A.F.C. North above .500. Cleveland (0-10) has opened a season with 10 consecutive losses for the first time since joining the N.F.L. in 1950. The loss left Cleveland’s all-time record at 461-461-10. The Browns have never been below .500. SEATTLE’S SHERMAN FINED FOR HIT Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman confirmed that he was fined by the N.F.L. for his hit on Buffalo kicker Dan Carpenter in Monday night’s game against the Bills. Sherman said the league’s explanation made it nearly impossible for him to appeal the $9,115 fine. Sherman said the league’s justification in its letter to him was that his hit on Carpenter as he attempted to block a field-goal attempt at the end of the first half came after the whistle was blown. Sherman said he would not appeal the fine. “It would be a long, thoughtless process,” Sherman said. “Their logic is impeccable so there’s not really a fight. I’m still fine with everything.” Sherman was not penalized for unnecessary roughness on the play. He was flagged for being offside, but the referee Walt Anderson’s said after the game that he did not believe the contact was excessive enough to warrant a penalty. The N.F.L.’s head of officiating, Dean Blandino, later said that Anderson’s interpretation was incorrect and that Sherman should have received a personal foul on the play, an interpretation that Seattle Coach Pete Carroll agreed with. PRO BASKETBALL Pelicans Capture Their First Win Anthony Davis hit two free throws with 12 seconds left and scored 32 points, and the New Orleans Pelicans got their first victory after losing their first eight games by beating the Bucks, 112-106, in Milwaukee. The Philadelphia 76ers (0-7) are the only remaining winless team in the N.B.A. Jabari Parker scored a season-high 33 points for Milwaukee, which lost its second straight game to a team that was winless. In their last game Sunday, the Bucks fell by 86-75 in overtime to Dallas, which was 0-5 coming into that game. CAVALIERS SALUTED AT THE WHITE HOUSE You learn a lot about people when they are down, President Barack Obama declared Thursday, and he was not talking about an election. Obama saluted the N.B.A.’s Cleveland Cavaliers for rallying from behind to defeat the Golden State Warriors and end a Cleveland pro sports title drought stretching back to 1964. Obama honored the Cavaliers on the South Lawn of the White House, squeezing in another sports champion before he leaves office. He opened by saying: “That’s right. I said world champion and Cleveland in the same sentence.” Cleveland came back from a three-games-to-one deficit to win the championship against a Warriors team that had set an N.B.A. record for most victories during a regular season. “The first team in history to dig themselves out of a hole like that,” Obama said. “The comeback was remarkable, and you learn about people when they’re down.”

2018 FIFA World Cup
Soccer
Neymar
Philippe Coutinho
Paulinho


Mourning Many Losses, Rebuilding a Sense of Home

Abstract: Stacks of plastic bags line a wall of Joanne Sawyer’s front room. From the jumble of her belongings, she pulls out a child-size pink chair, and bursts into tears. The chair is for her young granddaughters, and it is missing a leg. “I’m not going to throw it away,” Ms. Sawyer says. “We’ll find it.” The chair leg is one of a thousand things that have been lost in Ms. Sawyer’s move from homelessness into housing. At 48, she is still scraping together a sense of home for herself and her grandson Lakwan, 15, when so many of her possessions are gone. In 2001, Ms. Sawyer entered a Queens shelter after problems with her federally subsidized apartment made it unlivable. While she was in the shelter, Ms. Sawyer had to put her belongings into storage. “All you can bring with you is your clothes,” said Ms. Sawyer’s daughter Angela, 29. “Anything big has to go into storage.” Angela Sawyer herself has been living with her children in a shelter for more than a year. In late 2002, Joanne Sawyer found an apartment, with rent supplemented through Section 8, and moved in. But retrieving her belongings would cost her $900 that she did not have. “She couldn’t pay it — all of it was left,” her daughter said. And that was not the end of her troubles, or her losses. The new apartment, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, seemed all right at first, Lakwan remembered. “It had a bad paint job,” he said. “A year later, the wall started to look like it was rotten.” It was mildew, one of the reasons — along with roaches, mice and overflowing toilets — that the building was eventually condemned. “They closed the whole building down,” his grandmother said. “Everybody had to leave.” They left their beds behind because the mice had gotten to the mattresses, and moved temporarily into an apartment in Flatbush that was provided by the landlord of the condemned building. Ms. Sawyer again searched for permanent housing. In August, Ms. Sawyer and Lakwan moved into an apartment in Bushwick. Without money to move all of their belongings, they left much of what they could not carry: a china cabinet, a microwave, a kitchen set. They have not unpacked because there is nowhere to store anything. Instead of a dresser, plastic bags filled with clothes line a wall. Lakwan and his grandmother sleep on mattresses on the floor. The absent possessions bring the ache of bigger losses. Five color photocopies are taped to her living room wall. They are pictures of the people Ms. Sawyer has lost: her mother, her sister, a grandson, a son-in-law and Lakwan’s father. Lakwan, who was raised by his grandmother, has no contact with his mother. Their possessions are mostly gone, too: her mother’s red velvet living room set, her son’s comic books, her family’s photos. “I lost all my dead mother’s stuff,” Ms. Sawyer said, “all my dead son’s stuff, all my dead sister’s stuff.” In August, Ms. Sawyer found work as a housecleaner through WeCare, a job-training program run by the Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service, one of seven agencies supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund . Her rent is $1,112, of which she pays $93. The Section 8 program covers the rest. She also receives $213 in food stamps. To Ms. Sawyer’s frustration, the work has been mostly part time, 20 hours a week at $9.60 an hour. Money from the Neediest Cases, $436, has bought two dressers and a futon, which were to be delivered on Saturday. In her nearly empty apartment, Ms. Sawyer plays host to her family: 4 children and 12 grandchildren, who live in Brooklyn. “Christmas, everybody’s going to be here, the whole family,” she said. “My life is gone, my pictures of them, when she was a newborn in a hospital,” Ms. Sawyer said, nodding toward her daughter. “I can’t get those back. I can have her in the here-and-now, and that’s what matters.”

New York Times Neediest Cases Fund
Philanthropy
Families and Family Life


Buckeyes Remain Eligible for N.C.A.A. Tournament

Abstract: INDIANAPOLIS, March 10 - On Friday morning, the Ohio State Buckeyes heard the relatively good news that the N.C.A.A. would allow them to play in this year's national basketball tournament and that future banishment from the event would not be forthcoming. In the afternoon, the Buckeyes overcame a 12-point deficit in the second half to defeat Penn State, 63-56, in the Big Ten tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse. Both outcomes could have been damaging. If the N.C.A.A. had come down harder on Ohio State for illegal financial aid in its basketball program a few years ago, it could have barred the seventh-ranked Buckeyes (24-4) from this year's tournament and beyond, and it could have taken away more scholarships than the two that Ohio State had voluntarily dropped for this season. If the Buckeyes had been upset by the Nittany Lions, it would have ended Ohio State's chance for a No. 1 seeding next week in an N.C.A.A. regional quest likely to begin in Dayton, Ohio. Now, the Buckeyes can concentrate on Indiana, their opponent in the conference tournament semifinals. And they can count on next season's arrival of a talented class of freshman recruits who might have looked elsewhere had the N.C.A.A. punishments been more severe. "This is a great day for us," Coach Thad Matta said. "It is the first day in 18 or 19 months we've actually known where we are. It came to an end today. The smoke lifted. My wife cried tears of joy." Ohio State did not escape unscathed, however. It was placed on three years' probation, a ruling that wiped out records from four N.C.A.A. tournament appearances by the men's basketball team. That included a trip to the 1999 Final Four. Ohio State used an ineligible player, Boban Savovic, from 1999-2002 under the former coach Jim O'Brien. The university will have to repay tournament revenues of about $800,000 for the four years in which Savovic played. He received improper gifts, including housing and cash, from a booster. The Buckeyes must also remove the 1999 Final Four banner from their arena. Ohio State had acknowledged eight of nine violations alleged by the N.C.A.A. The university fired O'Brien in June 2004 and voluntarily held last season's team out of the postseason. The Buckeyes also limited their men's basketball scholarships to 11 this season, instead of the allowed 13. Other penalties include a public reprimand and a reduction in campus visits by basketball recruits next year, though that will not affect next season's prize recruits -- Greg Oden, Mike Conley, Daequen Cook, Othello Hunter and David Lighty. Oden, a 7-foot center from Indianapolis, is considered the best high school player in the country. He averaged 20 points and 9.6 rebounds a game for Lawrence North High School. Conley, a point guard and a teammate of Oden's, has 329 assists in 75 games. Cook is a guard from Dayton, and Lighty is a guard from Cleveland. Hunter, a forward, would transfer from a Florida junior college. Gene Smith, Ohio State's athletic director, said Ohio State pressed the N.C.A.A. to announce its findings before Sunday's announcement of tournament pairings..

PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSN
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
ETHICS
BASKETBALL
DECISIONS AND VERDICTS


House Approves Sweeping Effort to Help Housing

Abstract: WASHINGTON — The House approved far-reaching government assistance on Wednesday for the nation’s housing market, including broad authority for the Treasury Department to protect the nation’s two largest mortgage finance companies from collapse. The measure also includes an aggressive plan to help hundreds of thousands of troubled borrowers avoid foreclosure by refinancing their mortgages with more affordable government-insured loans. The White House, citing an urgent need to restore market confidence in the two mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , said President Bush would sign the measure despite his opposition to the inclusion of nearly $4 billion in grants for local governments to buy and refurbish foreclosed properties. Mr. Bush’s support assures that the bill will become law after final passage by the Senate, possibly on Saturday. The House approved the bill 272 to 152, with just 45 Republicans joining 227 Democrats voting in favor. The weak support among House Republicans was remarkable given the president’s position, and suggested an emerging split between Mr. Bush, who is nearing the end of his term, and lawmakers in the House, who are all up for re-election in November. Republicans said they would not support a bill that puts taxpayer money at risk while potentially bailing out irresponsible borrowers and greedy lenders. Lawmakers and experts described the legislation as a landmark shift in the government’s role in the housing market, extending a helping hand to both Wall Street and Main Street. They said it would rank in importance with the creation of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation to prevent foreclosures in the 1930s as part of the New Deal, and legislation in 1989 responding to the savings and loan crisis. “We are at a time of considerable turmoil in the private financial markets, and that is a traditional time when government support is needed and called upon,” said Thomas H. Stanton, an author and expert on the mortgage finance industry. Senator Christopher J. Dodd , Democrat of Connecticut and chairman of the banking committee, said: “This is the most important piece of housing legislation in a generation.” Mr. Dodd appeared at a news conference with Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama , the senior Republican on the committee. They said they expected the Senate to pass the bill with overwhelming support. Representative Barney Frank , Democrat of Massachusetts and a primary author of the legislation, said troubled homeowners might get relief within days of Mr. Bush signing the bill, because lenders have long known details of the legislation and could move quickly to help borrowers refinance. “Many of these institutions know this is coming,” he said. “I hope they will be able to take advantage of it right away.” But the legislation, much of which has been debated and fretted over on Capitol Hill for months, also leaves numerous questions unanswered. The biggest unknown is whether the measure will be adequate to slow the downward spiral of home prices and help the economy recover from what many analysts now expect to be a prolonged slowdown. Perhaps most significantly, the legislation hardens the government’s long-implicit assurance that it would step in to rescue the two mortgage giants who together own or guarantee about $5.2 trillion of the nation’s $12 trillion in mortgages. Currently, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guarantee financing for about 80 percent of new mortgages. To accommodate a potential rescue for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the bill raises the national debt limit to $10.6 trillion, an increase of $800 billion. The Treasury Department has said it hopes never to use the authority to spend unlimited taxpayer funds — perhaps hundreds of billions of dollars — to maintain the solvency of the mortgage giants because they are in sound financial condition. Still, shares in the two companies rose sharply on Wednesday in a sign of the market’s positive view of having a federal rescue plan in place. The independent Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday that the rescue plan for the mortgage finance companies should appear on the federal budget as a $25 billion charge in fiscal years 2009 and 2010, but officials conceded that this was only an estimate based on complicated probability calculations. The budget office said the chances were better than even that a rescue would not be needed before the Treasury Department’s authority to orchestrate a bailout ends at the end of 2009, and the cost to taxpayers would be nothing. But it also said that there was a 5 percent chance that the mortgage giants could lose $100 billion or more, potentially costing taxpayers that much or more. The bill authorizes the Federal Housing Administration to insure up to $300 billion in refinanced loans for homeowners at risk of foreclosure, aiming to help as many as 400,000 homeowners trade expensive adjustable-rate mortgages for more affordable 30-year fixed-rate loans. To participate, each borrower’s lender must first voluntarily agree to reduce the principal balance of the loan to about 85 percent of each home’s current value. The borrowers must demonstrate the ability to pay the new loan and must also pay a 1.5 percent annual insurance fee to protect the government from future defaults. The bill creates a permanent affordable housing trust fund that will initially help pay for the mortgage refinancing plan and eventually sponsor the creation of rental housing for Americans too poor to buy homes. The legislation provides some $15 billion in housing-related tax incentives, including a $7,500 tax credit for first-time home buyers who meet certain income qualifications. And it permanently increases the so-called conforming-loan limit, which typically qualifies mortgages for lower rates, to $625,500 in the nation’s most expensive housing markets. The bill also grants authority for state and local housing agencies to issue $11 billion in tax-exempt bonds to refinance bad mortgages, calls for stricter oversight of mortgage brokers and sets new disclosure requirements to make loan terms more transparent. Some experts, including Mr. Stanton, say the new regulator was not given enough authority. Mr. Bush has long supported tighter regulation of the mortgage giants. But until Wednesday he had threatened to veto the bill over $3.9 billion in grants for local governments, a provision the White House regards as a giveaway. Mr. Bush set aside those objections on the advice of the Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr. , who told Mr. Bush the overall package was necessary to help stabilize the troubled housing and credit markets, according to the White House press secretary, Dana Perino , who announced the switch Wednesday morning. She said the gravity of the crisis, and the tight Congressional schedule resulting from the coming summer recess, left no option. “The president would not have signed this bill if we had a lot of extra time on our hands,” Ms. Perino said. “We don’t.” She said Mr. Bush thought he could have won a veto fight with Congress, but he had concluded “a prolonged veto fight would not be good for the housing industry right now.”

George W Bush
Legislation
Henry M Paulson Jr


Oilers Promote Assistant to Coach

Abstract: The Edmonton Oilers have promoted the assistant Ralph Krueger to head coach. Krueger spent the last two seasons as an assistant under Tom Renney, whose contract was not renewed after the Oilers finished 29th in the N.H.L. last season at 32-40-10. The Oilers gave a three-year contract to Krueger, who played and coached in Europe and was coach of the Swiss national team from 1997-2010. He coached the Swiss team in 12 world championships and 3 Olympics. ¶ The Blues and Coach Ken Hitchcock, who led St. Louis to its first playoff series win in a decade last season, have agreed to a one-year contract extension through 2013-14 with a mutual option for 2014-15.

Edmonton Oilers
Hockey Ice
Renney Tom
Krueger Ralph


Now Europeans Are Slower to Spend, and It Shows

Abstract: It’s not easy to keep buying when the prices of necessities are soaring. For the first time in more than a decade, consumers in much of Europe are buying less than they did a year earlier, and that is helping to slow economies that may have fallen into recession. The European Union ’s statistical agency, Eurostat, reported this week that total retail sales in the 15 nations that use the euro were down in July for the third consecutive month. Those statistics are based on the volume of sales, not the price, and reflects in part the inflationary trends that have hurt consumers around the world. But the data also provided additional evidence of an economic slowdown in Europe. The gross domestic product for the euro area declined in the second quarter — something that has not happened since the euro was created in the late 1990s — and many economists forecast there will be another decline in the current quarter. The accompanying chart shows the trend in retail sales volumes on a year-over-year basis, using three-month moving averages to smooth the data. The latest figure shows a decline of 1.8 percent, the largest fall since the data began to be collected in 1995. There is some reason to hope that the decline is a temporary one, said Jennifer McKeown, an economist at Capital Economics in London. She points out that while volumes are down, consumers are spending more euros than ever. The amount spent on purchases is rising at a rate of 1.9 percent a year, which is lower than it was a few months ago but is still close to historical averages. “Sales values have continued to grow at pretty healthy rates, suggesting that sales volumes growth should pick up as inflation falls,” she said. Around the euro zone, the variations in sales growth are stark. with the healthiest gains in countries on the periphery of the zone. Sales in Cyprus were up almost 11 percent through May, the latest data available, and sales in Slovenia rose more than 5 percent through July. Sales in Finland gained 3.3 percent, although that was the smallest 12-month gain in the country since 2005. On the negative side, some of the largest declines came in countries where real estate prices have fallen off after soaring for several years. Sales volume in Spain was down 6 percent, while the figure in Ireland was a negative 2 percent through June. Of the four largest economies in the euro zone, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, only France is showing a gain in sales, and it is a small one. Those four countries account for three times as much economic activity as the other 11 countries put together. In Italy, where the property market was not as inflated but the economy is now weak, sales were down almost 5 percent through June. Germany, the largest economy in the zone, shows a smaller loss, of 1.3 percent. That figure may be worse than it first appears, because German sales have been declining for more than a year.

European Union
Recession and Depression
Sales
Economic Conditions and Trends
Europe


Hague Judge Faults Acquittals of Serb and Croat Commanders

Abstract: PARIS — A judge at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague has exposed a deep rift at the highest levels of the court in a blistering letter suggesting that the court’s president, an American, pressured other judges into approving the recent acquittals of top Serb and Croat commanders. The letter from the judge, Frederik Harhoff of Denmark, raised serious questions about the credibility of the court, which was created in 1993 to address the atrocities committed in the wars in the former Yugoslavia. Even before Judge Harhoff’s letter was made public Thursday, in the Danish newspaper Berlingske , the recent acquittals had provoked a storm of complaints from international lawyers, human rights groups and other judges at the court, who claimed in private that the rulings had abruptly rewritten legal standards that had been applied in earlier cases. Experts say they see a shift in the court toward protecting the interests of the military. “A decade ago, there was a very strong humanitarian message coming out of the tribunal, very concerned with the protection of civilians,” said William Schabas, who teaches law at Middlesex University in London. “It was not concerned with the prerogatives of the military and the police. This message has now been weakened, there is less protection for civilians and human rights.” Other lawyers agreed that the tribunal, which has pioneered new laws, is sending a new message to other armies: they do not need to be as frightened of international justice as they might have been four or five years ago. But until now, no judge at the tribunal had openly attributed the apparent change to the court’s current president, Theodor Meron, 83, a longtime legal scholar and judge. Judge Harhoff’s letter, dated June 6, was e-mailed to 56 lawyers, friends and associates; the newspaper did not say how it obtained a copy. In his letter, Judge Harhoff, 64, who has been on the tribunal since 2007, said that in two cases Judge Meron, a United States citizen who was formerly an Israeli diplomat, applied “tenacious pressure” on his fellow judges in such a way that it “makes you think he was determined to achieve an acquittal.” “Have any American or Israeli officials ever exerted pressure on the American presiding judge (the presiding judge for the court that is) to ensure a change of direction?” Judge Harhoff asked. “We will probably never know.” A spokesman at the court declined to comment on the letter. Other judges and lawyers were willing to speak, provided that their names were not used. By their accounts, a mini-rebellion has been brewing against Judge Meron, prompting some of the 18 judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to group around an alternative candidate for the scheduled election for tribunal president this fall. Until now, Judge Meron had been expected to be re-elected. “I’d say about half the judges are feeling very uncomfortable and prefer to turn to a different candidate,” said a senior court official. The official said he did not believe that American officials had pressured Judge Meron to rule a certain way in any case, “But I believe he wants to cooperate with his government,” the official said. “He’s putting on a lot of pressure and imposing internal deadlines that do not exist.” The legal dispute that is the focus of Judge Harhoff’s letter and that has led to sharp language in dissents is the degree of responsibility that senior military leaders should bear for war crimes committed by their subordinates. In earlier cases before the tribunal, a number of military or police officers and politicians were convicted of massacres and other war crimes committed by followers or subordinates on the principle that they had been members of a “joint criminal enterprise.” In contrast, three Serbian leaders and two Croatian generals who played key roles during the war were acquitted recently because judges argued that the men had not specifically ordered or approved war crimes committed by subordinates. Judge Meron has led a push for raising the bar for conviction in such cases, prosecutors say, to the point where a conviction has become nearly impossible. Critics say he misjudged the crucial roles played by the high-level accused and has set legal precedents that will protect military commanders in the future. The United Nations Security Council created the tribunal, a costly endeavor, and has been pressing it for years to speed up work and wind down, with the United States and Russia at the forefront of those efforts. By early this year, 68 suspects had been sentenced and 18 had been acquitted. But some of the highest ranking wartime leaders have been judged at a time when the tribunal is short-staffed and under continuing pressure to close down. Today, as the tribunal winds down it work, pressure over time is among the complaints heard from judges’ chambers. Several senior court officials, while declining to discuss individual cases, said judges had been perturbed by unacceptable pressures from Judge Meron to deliver judgments before they were ready. After the only session to deliberate the acquittal that Judge Meron had drafted in the case of the two Croatian generals, one official said, the judge abruptly declined a request by two dissenting judges for further debate. In his letter, Judge Harhoff also said that Judge Michele Picard of France was recently rushed unduly and given only four days to write her dissent against the majority decision to acquit two Serbian police chiefs, Jovica Stanisic and Frank Simatovic. “She was very taken aback by the acquittal and deeply upset about the fast way it had to be handled,” said an official close to the case. Judge Harhoff’s letter, which echoes protests by many international experts, seems likely to add a fresh bruise to the tribunal’s reputation. “The latest judgments here have brought before me a deep professional and moral dilemma not previously faced,” he wrote in conclusion. “The worst is the suspicion that some of my colleagues have been behind a shortsighted political pressure that completely changes the premises of my work in my service to wisdom and the law.”

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

War Crimes,Genocide,Crimes Against Humanity


Devils Spoil Opening of Rangers’ Homestand

Abstract: The Rangers and the Devils often play edge-of-the-seat games, and Saturday’s meeting at Madison Square Garden — the 39th regular-season showdown between Martin Brodeur and Henrik Lundqvist — lived up to the standard. Defenseman Eric Gelinas scored a power-play goal at 1 minute 15 seconds of overtime, and the 41-year-old Brodeur made 21 saves to lift the Devils to a 4-3 comeback win. It was the third straight victory for the Devils over the Rangers this season. “They are always fun games to play against the Rangers,” said Brodeur, who recorded his 677th career victory and also registered his 43rd career assist on the Devils’ first goal. “We’re missing five regular guys, and everybody is working really hard. I’m proud of the team.” Gelinas’s third goal of the season came 13 seconds after Ryan Callahan took a four-minute high-sticking penalty. Gelinas’s slap shot from the right point hit Lundqvist’s glove but trickled past the goaltender for the winner. The Rangers’ Chris Kreider tied the game at 3-3 on a power-play goal at 19:38 of the third, backhanding the rebound of a Ryan McDonagh shot past Brodeur. But the Rangers’ momentum was quickly halted in the extra session. “It’s a frustrating loss,” said Lundqvist, who signed a seven-year, $59.5 million contract extension with the Rangers last week. “We just didn’t get the bounces tonight.” Lundqvist, who is 10 years younger than Brodeur, holds a 24-9-6 advantage in their meetings. The slim margin of victory marked the 17th time in their last 24 meetings that the teams have been separated by two goals or fewer. For the Rangers (15-14-1), it was also their first overtime loss of the season, and it again denied them the chance to move to two games over .500. “I thought for the most part both teams battled real hard,” Rangers Coach Alain Vigneault said. “I give them credit. They are a tough team, and they defended real well.” Michael Ryder scored at 15:56 of the third to give the Devils a 3-2 lead. Ryder eluded defenseman John Moore just inside the blue line, then snapped the puck between Lundqvist’s pads. It was the eighth goal of the season for Ryder, who joined the Devils as a free agent last summer. The victory ended a three-game losing streak for the Devils (12-13-6). Devils right wing Jaromir Jagr had two assists, including one on the winning goal. Jagr, 41, praised the poised play of the 22-year-old Gelinas, who was recalled from Albany of the American Hockey League in October and been a steady contributor since. “He came to play, and he has grabbed the opportunity 100 percent,” said Jagr, the N.H.L.’s active assists leader with 1,020, to go with his 692 goals. “He’s a great example for the young kids. Be ready, and anything can happen. He can be a superstar in this league.” Brad Richards and Mats Zuccarello put the Rangers ahead, 2-0, before Cam Janssen and Travis Zajac answered for the Devils. The loss came as the Rangers began a franchise-record nine-game homestand. They have eight more home games over the next 16 days, balancing out their season-opening nine-game trip in October as renovations at Madison Square Garden were completed. They will not play another road game until Dec. 27, at Washington. Richards opened the scoring with his ninth goal of the season at 3:32 of the first, skating down the left wing on a two-on-one break with Callahan before firing the puck past Brodeur low to the stick side. Zuccarello made it 2-0 at the 57-second mark of the second with his sixth goal of the season. Callahan’s slap shot from the right circle was stopped by Brodeur but went directly at a sharp angle to Zuccarello in the left circle. Zuccarello fired the puck past the lunging Brodeur, leading to the usual Garden serenade of “Mar-ty, Mar-ty.” But Brodeur did enough to leave the Garden with another win in what could have been his final regular-season appearance at the arena as a Devil, as he will be a free agent after this season. Janssen made it 2-1 with a disputed goal at 6:02 of the second. Tim Sestito’s shot from the left circle was stopped by Lundqvist, but the puck lay in the crease before Janssen knocked it into the open net with his skates as he tried to stop. The play went for review before the ruling came back in the Devils’ favor. Lundqvist was livid with the decision, continuing to scream at officials from the crease until the ensuing face-off at center ice. Zajac, playing in his 500th N.H.L. game, tied the score at 2-2 at 5:58 of the third period, banging a rebound past Lundqvist. This was the second and final regular-season meeting between the Rangers and the Devils at the Garden this season. They will meet at Yankee Stadium on Jan. 26 and the Prudential Center in Newark on March 22.


New York City Tells Little About Bike-Share Delay

Abstract: As New York City’s landmark bike-share program churns toward an uncertain start date, riders have been told precious little. The program, Citi Bike, was supposed to begin in July; it will not, but city officials will not say when it will. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has attributed the delay to “software” problems, though officials have been unwilling to explain the issue in greater detail. Dock stations for the bikes can be assembled quickly enough that an August kickoff remains possible, but no guarantees have been made. And increasingly, some elected officials and members of the riding public appear befuddled by the city’s virtual silence in recent weeks, when many had hoped to be cycling already. “I’ve been waiting for it for months,” said Ted Larkin, 45, a cyclist from Midtown who said he had been checking the program’s Web site frequently for details that never seemed to come. “If not from them, where can one find the information?” The Transportation Department said last week that it was “working on the launch plan” and promised to update the public “as soon as we finalize all the details.” When asked to clarify the software problems on Thursday, Seth Solomonow, a spokesman for the department, said, “All we’re saying is, refer to previous statements on this, including the mayor’s.” A spokesman for Alison Cohen, the president of Alta Bicycle Share , which is operating the program, said Ms. Cohen was not available for interviews or comment. She has rarely spoken publicly in recent months, and Alta, when contacted last week about possible delays in the program, referred all questions to the Transportation Department. Given little information, riders have searched for prospective tea leaves. Some have looked to the example of Chattanooga, Tenn., where an Alta-run bike-share program kicked off on Monday after months of software-related delays. Others have scoured the program’s Web site or Twitter feed, @CitibikeNYC, which has supplied evolving answers to New Yorkers about the start date in recent weeks. “Why so hush-hush?” one user asked on July 9. (He was told then to expect an August start date; more recently, the account has taken to informing riders only that “details are being finalized.”) On Thursday, the Twitter feed offered that it was “never too early to start loving bicycles.” It directed followers to an image of an infant onesie — pink, with a bicycle on the front — available for $18 plus shipping. Some elected officials have called for greater transparency. Councilman James Vacca, the chairman of the City Council’s Transportation Committee, said the delay itself was not a concern; it signaled a prudent approach to a sprawling project. But the city’s muted response to the delay, he said, was troubling. “In this case certainly, many people have been kept out of the loop,” he said, including himself. “Has D.O.T. had communication issues? Yes, they have.” Councilwoman Gale A. Brewer, who described herself as a friend of the department’s commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, said the delay had not caused a clamor for bike-sharing among her constituents. But, she said, the department should “be more honest” about what is causing the wait. “I do think D.O.T. should tell us what the issues are,” she said, “because we would understand them.” For months, details in the lead-up to the program, hailed as a potentially transformative initiative in the city’s transportation history and a crucial piece of the Bloomberg administration’s legacy, have been tightly guarded. After the city announced in May that Citigroup would be the program’s lead sponsor, a WNYC report suggested that the city had had difficulties securing private funds and had signed a contract with Citigroup far later than officials had hoped. “We started a little bit late,” said Paul Steely White, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives , a rider advocacy group that has worked alongside the Transportation Department to promote the program. “It took a long time to find the private funding.” But, Mr. White added, the city’s handling of the delay was not cause for alarm. “No news is no news,” he said. “It’s a virtual certainty that these kinds of deadlines are always moved back.” Indeed, Mr. Bloomberg has suggested that any anxiety over the start date is proof of the city’s enthusiasm for the program, an assessment many residents acknowledged as true. But this enthusiasm, some said, was reason enough for the city to keep the public informed. “It would have been great to use for the summer,” said Katrina Tang, 27, a photographer from Estonia who said she was leaving the New York area in September. “Things do take a bit longer here.” Mr. Larkin, who said he has ridden in the city since his childhood, compared the situation to that of a restaurant that has run out of a favorite dish: Diners prefer to know about the problem before they order, he said. “Bad news,” he said, “should be delivered sooner rather than later.”

Citi Bike
New York City
Bicycles and Bicycling


In Anbar Province, New Leadership, but Old Problems Persist

Abstract: RAMADI, Iraq — It has been just more than seven months since a mainly tribal coalition came to power here in Anbar Province, but already its leaders are being accused by many of doing little for most citizens while seeking to enrich themselves through sweetheart business deals. “The majority of them are after personal gains,” said Sheik Ghazi Sami al-Abed, a prominent local businessman recently. “Few are looking to rebuild the country.” The provincial elections at the end of January were supposed to enfranchise people in this staunchly Sunni Arab province, once a stronghold for insurgents and militants linked to Al Qaeda. After almost all the Anbar Sunni tribes boycotted the previous elections in 2005, this year’s voting was seen as a crucial way to bring them into government and perhaps ease tensions with the Shiite-dominated national government in Baghdad. But extensive interviews with Anbar residents show that they see very little difference between their new government and the previous provincial council. That council, widely deemed illegitimate by many boycotting Sunnis, was accused so vehemently of corrupt and dysfunctional rule that it created fears of renewed intertribal warfare. “They are thugs; they became politicians and now they have a lot of money,” said another Anbar businessman about the province’s current political leaders. He spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. The discontent in Anbar is coming at a critical time, as the United States has reduced its military presence here significantly and completely stopped spending money on new projects despite the province’s “enormous” infrastructure needs, said one senior American official. It was American cash and contracts that spurred most tribal leaders to renounce the insurgency and switch alliances to the American side almost three years ago, in what is now known as the Sunni Awakening — a model the United States is seeking to replicate with tribes in Afghanistan. In the absence of American patronage, the worrisome question in Anbar, which makes up roughly one-third of Iraq’s territory, is whether public dissatisfaction coupled with political and economic rivalries between the tribal leaders in power and those on the outside could lead to large-scale violence. “The structure of modern local governance including transparency and accountability are at variance with the traditional expectations of tribal leaders,” said James Soriano, who leads the State Department’s Provincial Reconstruction Team based on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Ramadi. “There is a potential for a recipe for trouble if the pie is shrinking.” Mr. Soriano spoke before his expected departure from Ramadi this month. Anbar’s test also comes at a time when insurgents appear to be regrouping. Almost no day goes by without an attack or a bombing in Falluja, the province’s other main city. Several pro-American tribal leaders have been killed, and there have been a number of deadly bombings in Ramadi and other cities like Haditha and Qaim since July. The picture is further complicated by a still uneasy relationship between this province, once among the most loyal to Saddam Hussein, and the Shiite-led national government. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki appears to be pitting Sunni leaders against one another and finding tribal allies here who can bolster his standing as a national leader and help him in his bid for re-election in January. In addition to money spent by the Americans in Anbar, the previous provincial government received hundreds of millions of dollars from the central government. Much of it is believed to have been lost to corruption and mismanagement. Among the new political leaders coming under increased criticism is the province’s governor, Qasim Abed al-Fahadawi. In the absence of new American development aid, dwindling as the United States has urged the government in Baghdad to fill the breach, Mr. Fahadawi has followed the Western model and turned to the private sector for investment and help. The governor was even recognized for his efforts as “global personality of the year” by the London-based magazine Foreign Direct Investment . But increasingly, the governor’s business affiliations are sounding alarm bells inside the province and elsewhere. In a recent interview, Mr. Fahadawi made no secret of favoring a small clique of his tribal and business friends over others when it comes to future investments and contracts in the province. His relationship with Sheik Ahmed Abu Risha, who two years ago took the lead role in the American-backed tribal Awakening movement, has caused hard feelings here. Sheik Ahmed has turned the Awakening movement into the dominant political party here, leading the coalition that runs the Anbar provincial council. Many of the two men’s opponents say that Mr. Fahadawi has basically served as Sheik Ahmed’s money manager, with the two combining forces to use their political power to control how business contracts in Anbar are distributed to outside companies. Both men insist that their business dealings are completely aboveboard, and Mr. Fahadawi says he has helped bring in investment and jobs that have helped revitalize local industries. One of the biggest deals the men have been involved in is an effort to bring in two companies from the United Arab Emirates, Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum , to develop Anbar’s giant Akkaz gas field. Sheik Ahmed has taken the lead in the negotiations, and the two companies have committed to helping create as many as 100,000 jobs in the province, Mr. Fahadawi said. But the men are circumventing the Oil Ministry’s plan to put the contract up for general bidding, instead appealing directly to Mr. Maliki for support. It was one of the main topics Sheik Ahmed and Mr. Maliki discussed when the prime minister visited Anbar this summer. Almost 175 sheep were slaughtered and the meat was distributed in Mr. Maliki’s honor, according to local residents. Opposing tribal leaders in Anbar see the deal as an attempt by Sheik Ahmed to use national backing to cement his position as the province’s de facto chieftain and to freeze them out of lucrative business interests. They say he already has a dangerous amount of control over the local government and security forces. “There will be a bloody struggle if he takes it all,” warned Sheik Ghazi, the prominent local businessman. Another Anbar business magnate, Sheik Tariq Khalaf al-Abdullah, who was instrumental in introducing American forces to the local power structure at the beginning of the Awakening movement, also is fighting the deal. Sheik Tariq is now based in Amman, Jordan, but he has been trying to galvanize the opposition within Anbar. In an interview in his plush office in Amman, he wondered why the Americans were not taking a bigger role in monitoring Anbar’s affairs. “I am surprised how they could withdraw before tying the loose ends,” he said. Sheik Tariq established a tribal council and businesses for Anbar’s sheiks that benefited from American money and largesse when it was more abundant in return for allegiance. Mr. Soriano, the leader of the State Department reconstruction team, said that the United States would continue to assist and advise Anbar’s government but that it would be up to Iraqis to resolve their differences and determine their priorities. “A nice way to exit Iraq would be for a tribal society to support the structure of local government and local security forces to prevent a setback,” he said.

Sunni Muslims
Anbar Province (Iraq)
Iraq War (2003- )
Politics and Government
Awakening Movement (Iraq)


Publicis Buys Ad Unit With Luxury Focus

Abstract: PARIS — Publicis, the Paris-based marketing company, said Tuesday that it had acquired AR New York, an agency that creates advertising for many of the world’s leading luxury goods brands. Publicis portrayed the deal as a vote of confidence in the continuing buoyancy of luxury goods advertising, in which, the company said, spending was expected to rise 7 percent worldwide this year, despite a generally downbeat outlook for advertising. “The luxury market is an advertising segment ripe with investment opportunity,” Jean-Yves Naouri, chief operating officer of Publicis, said in a statement. AR’s staff of 50 has worked with fashion brands like Valentino, Versace, Salvatore Ferragamo, Jimmy Choo and Dolce & Gabbana, as well as brand owners like Moët & Chandon, Banana Republic and Conrad Hotels, creating advertising and advising them on strategy. While AR focuses on the U.S. market, Publicis said it would add the agency to a mini-network of agencies specializing in the luxury sector, including Publicis Shanghai, Publicis 133 Lux and Publicis EtNous. By joining Publicis, AR will also gain more direct access to the media buying clout of Publicis, one of the big four global advertising giants, alongside WPP, Omnicom Group and Interpublic Group. “AR New York will now have the expanded resources of Publicis Groupe to continue to deepen our international growth — particularly in Asia and India, where many of our clients are actively driving new initiatives,” AR said in a statement attributed to Diane desRoches, the chief executive, and Raul Martinez, the chief creative officer. Publicis declined to disclose what it paid for AR, which has grown quickly since its founding in 1996 and has gained a reputation for hip creative work. “They are passionate about the powerful influence of contemporary arts, design and culture on consumers’ engagement with brands,” Mr. Naouri said.

Advertising and Marketing
Publicis Groupe SA
Mergers Acquisitions and Divestitures
Fashion and Apparel
Luxury Goods


Review: ‘Powerhouse’ Lifts Veil on Secretive Hollywood Agency

Abstract: With the fall of the studio system, when actors labored under long-term employment contracts, came the rise of the talent agents, those mysterious professionals whose job is to procure employment for artists. The mystery extends from what agents actually do to the economics of the agencies where they work, as all the major industry players are private and notoriously secretive. In “Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency,” James Andrew Miller has taken on the formidable task of lifting the veil on the sector. It is a story worth telling. The agents’ collective fate — they are typically paid 10 percent of clients’ earnings — is a reflection of the broader media ecosystem. Besides, agents — with their intense, complicated relationships with their intense, complicated superstar clients — represent enduring figures of fascination in popular culture. Indeed, it is because of these relationships that agents have often risen to run movie and television studios, whose ultimate success is believed to hinge on access to temperamental artists. C.A.A. is an inspired choice as the lens through which to track the industry’s transformation from tight-knit private gentlemen’s clubs to the sprawling diversified giants they are today, controlled by some of the world’s largest private equity firms. Established more than 40 years ago by five renegade agents from the once-dominant William Morris agency, C.A.A. eventually eclipsed its predecessor and transformed the structure and the role of agencies. The good news is almost everyone who survived has talked to Mr. Miller. Given the compelling characters involved, notably C.A.A.’s founding partners, Michael Ovitz and Ron Meyer, and their successors, Bryan Lourd and Richard Lovett, after more than 500 interviews, there was more than enough material for a truly compelling narrative. The bad news is that instead of producing such a book, Mr. Miller has simply organized more than 700 pages of raw interviews in more or less chronological order — interspersed with occasional brief asides, written in the overheated prose of a showbiz trade rag. Worse, although the front of the book has 11 pages of names listed as the relevant “dramatis personae,” no index or detailed biographies help readers keep track. Image “Powerhouse” quotes John Skipper, the president of ESPN, as confessing that “it has always puzzled” him “when major sports organizations believe they need a third party to advise them on how to sell their media rights.” Credit Chuck Burton/Associated Press There are critical times in the agency’s history where hearing the firsthand accounts of competing protagonists — such as the period in which Mr. Meyer left for Universal, Mr. Ovitz left for Disney and the so-called Young Turks secured the agency for themselves at a fraction of its value with no money down — provides a unique window into the personalities and interpersonal dynamics. But mostly, it is a repetitive slog that cries out for the traditional synthesizing journalistic function of an author. This is not to say that there are not plenty of entertaining tidbits and stories along the way. It is rather that the payoff is pretty meager for the reader relative to the investment. The more serious problem with Mr. Miller’s approach to the material in this particular milieu is captured by an observation made by Tom Hanks: “Here’s the thing. Agents lie to you every day.” Far too many of the interviews in “Powerhouse” have the feel of a tale often told and perfected over time. Occasionally, a ray of real candor comes through, such as when Edgar Bronfman Jr. admits that part of the reason he offered Mr. Meyer the Universal job was get back at Mr. Ovitz the same way Mr. Ovitz was trying to get back at him. (Note: Mr. Bronfman uses more colorful language to express that sentiment.) The book reads mostly like the public observations of master manipulators with complex personal agendas. Including competing self-serving narratives only partially solves the book’s structural problem. One simple way to cut through the noise can be to look at the numbers. Mr. Miller describes himself as an honors graduate of Harvard Business School, so he should have been well positioned to analyze the financials to test various claims. Instead, he seems to have been content to simply repeat or transmit the selective assertions provided by his subjects. So, for instance, he reports that the initial investment of the private equity firm TPG Capital in C.A.A. was $166 million for 35 percent of the company at a $700 million valuation. These numbers are accurate despite the fact that 35 percent of $700 million is $245 million, not $166 million. That is because C.A.A. had pulled out an additional $200 million in debt simultaneously with the TPG investment, significantly leveraging the company. Yet Mr. Miller simply fails to mention this immense new borrowing, much less discuss how these spoils were divided at C.A.A. or what its impact was on the company or the culture. Only three pages earlier, Mr. Miller had noted that “borrowing was rarely used” at C.A.A. and that “the partners kept putting as much money back into the agency as they could.” He also includes interviews from TPG leadership bemoaning “the misconception” that private equity relies on debt to generate returns. Another key topic that “Powerhouse” reflects but does not adequately examine is the increasing reliance on sports at both C.A.A. and its now largest competitor, William Morris Endeavor, albeit in different ways. Mr. Miller notes that the question of whether this push represented “strategic genius or hubristic disaster” has long caused controversy, both internally and externally. In his view, however, this issue “is now not worthy of debate.” As evidence of this conclusion, he points to the fact that at C.A.A. in 2015, sports revenue eclipsed revenue from each of the film and television divisions. Mr. Miller is silent, however, about whether the sports division, which as recently as a few years ago was still unprofitable, as yet generates any cash flow. “Powerhouse” quotes the president of ESPN, John Skipper, as confessing that “it has always puzzled” him “when major sports organizations believe they need a third party to advise them on how to sell their media rights.” There is plenty of evidence that these organizations are increasingly asking themselves the same question. Given the now overwhelming focus on sports at the major agencies, how this gets answered and how the agencies respond will define the next chapter in their histories. Unfortunately, “Powerhouse” provides few clues as to how that chapter will end.

Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood's Creative Artists Agency


Frank McCourt Now Fighting Fox Over Dodgers TV Rights

Abstract: The animosity that once enlivened Frank McCourt’s desperate battle against Major League Baseball to hold on to his ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers is now fueling his feud with Fox Sports. Like the epic showdown between McCourt and baseball, which ended in a truce under which he will sell his team, the Fox-McCourt confrontation is being played out in United States Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, the place McCourt staggered into with the Dodgers in June. “He should get out of the way and let everyone return to the business of baseball,” Fox said in a filing last week. According to Fox, McCourt operates in bad faith, is a walking conflict of interest, has “unclean hands,” manipulates the bankruptcy code and hurts the Dodgers. And one more slap in his face: “Mr. McCourt is not necessary to this process.” This is baseball now: hot dogs, apple pie, Chevrolet and Chapter 11. McCourt is asking the court to approve a motion to let him move into fast forward and sell the team’s television rights beyond 2013, when Fox’s deal to televise the team’s games on its Prime Ticket sports channel expires. Why would McCourt want to do this? He will, after all, be history by the time a new owner starts getting his hands on this potentially huge cache of money. But that’s not McCourt’s concern. If he can get the bankruptcy judge to let him go ahead and auction the future TV rights now, he will have a chance to produce a very rich deal. That, in turn, should allow McCourt to sell the Dodgers for more money and enable him to profit more after he pays off his huge bank debt, his $131 million divorce settlement and other obligations. Fox is not backing down. The Prime contract with the Dodgers contains a clause that prohibits outsiders from talking to the team until after Fox’s 45-day exclusive negotiating period with the club ends on Nov. 30, 2012. Also, Fox has a limited right to match any outsider’s bid. But the Dodgers believe the clauses are weaker than Fox believes and ultimately unenforceable in bankruptcy court — where debtors like the Dodgers can seek to reject an existing contract. In a filing Monday, the Dodgers belittled Fox’s case, questioned why the network was personally attacking McCourt and said its motivation was to “shut out competing suitors for the post-2013 telecast rights and pay as little as possible to capture them for itself.” A hearing will be held Wednesday. Fox contends that if McCourt is looking to raise more money, he should sell the parking lots around Dodger Stadium, rather than try to maneuver around an existing TV contract. “Foolish talk,” the Dodgers countered, noting that the lots are owned by a McCourt subsidiary, Blue Landco, that is not in bankruptcy. McCourt does not have to sell the lots as part of the deal to sell the team and Dodger Stadium. He might just rent them to the new owner. He might never go away. Amid all this, it is worth recalling that Fox and the Dodgers were once united by cash. Last year, Fox advanced the Dodgers $25 million from the team’s 2011 TV rights fees to alleviate McCourt’s cash crunch. Then it made him a $30 million personal loan this year. But McCourt was blocked by Commissioner Bud Selig from securing far greater financial aid from Fox to solidify his finances and remain the Dodgers’ owner. First, Fox offered him a $200 million loan. Then Fox demonstrated an even greater desire to keep the Dodgers on Prime and away from its rival Time Warner Cable. It presented McCourt with a 17-year TV rights deal worth at least $2 billion, with $385 million upfront. But Selig’s mistrust of McCourt led him to veto both transactions. He also told McCourt in a long and tart letter that if he wanted to test the TV market, he had to do it when Fox’s exclusive rights ended in 2012. Fox surely believed that Selig was on its side. After all, baseball objected last month to the first of two TV rights motions filed in bankruptcy court by the Dodgers, arguing that allowing McCourt to sell the rights as soon as possible, instead of a year from now, would subject the Dodgers to a “substantial damages claim” from Fox. Yet within weeks, on Nov. 2, baseball reached a wee-hours truce with McCourt.  The news release heralding the truce said baseball and the Dodgers had agreed to a plan to sell the team “and its attendant media rights” to maximize value for the team and for McCourt. Fox’s interests were pushed aside. Irate as Fox is, it is too savvy to be surprised by baseball’s turnaround. Through the agreement, which still requires court approval, baseball is getting what it wanted: McCourt’s express ticket out of the sport and a process that will usher in a new owner to Selig’s liking. And by coupling the sale of the team and the TV rights, baseball was demonstrating how much it wanted this marquee franchise to sell for a record price — regardless of what McCourt had done and of how angry Fox is now.

McCourt Frank H Jr
Los Angeles Dodgers
Fox Sports
Baseball
Television
Suits and Litigation
Fox Broadcasting Co


Outpouring of Support for Parents of 2 Boys Fatally Shot in Bronx

Abstract: As public parks and playgrounds across the Bronx filled with youngsters on a sunny midsummer Sunday, the parents of two children who were killed last week were planning funerals. “You wouldn’t think twice about sending your kid to the park to play,” said Cassell Brooks, 50, who discovered the body of his son Kemar, 14, who had been fatally shot near a tennis court at Haffen Park . Mr. Brooks spent Sunday afternoon at his home, welcoming more than a dozen members of the Gospel Assembly Church, who offered condolences and pledges to help pay for Kemar’s funeral, scheduled for Saturday. An hour earlier, Shianne Norman, the mother of Lloyd Morgan Jr., 4, who was hit by a stray bullet at a playground in the Forest Houses Park on East 165th Street on July 22, wept as she accepted a $6,000 check from Mark Gjonaj, a businessman and State Assembly candidate. “Thank you so much,” Ms. Norman said, hugging Mr. Gjonaj tightly at a news conference outside Assemblyman Eric A. Stevenson’s office. Mr. Gjonaj, a Democratic candidate in the 80th Assembly District and a member of the Taxi and Limousine Commission, tried to explain what motivated him to help Ms. Norman. “I wish I could find the words, if there were words, that I could say that would help the family through this difficult time,” he said. Mr. Stevenson, who represents the 79th Assembly District, said the death of the little boy, which occurred during a shootout, should serve as a catalyst to end gun violence in the South Bronx. “This has to be the first of the last times we ever hear of something like this,” he said. “Otherwise his life will have been in vain.” Three suspects have been charged in connection with Lloyd’s killing. No arrests have been made in Kemar’s death. One of the mourners who stopped by Mr. Brooks’s home on Sunday afternoon was Assemblyman Carl E. Heastie, who offered whatever assistance he could to the family. “I just wanted to express my condolences,” he said, shaking Mr. Brooks’s hand. “I don’t even know what to say.” Mr. Brooks told members of his church how he searched for Kemar, the youngest of his five children, when he failed to come home Thursday night. He found his son’s body early Friday in bushes near the tennis courts. He had been shot once in the head. “To me he was a star,” he said. “We expected great things from him.” At Haffen Park, just west of the New England Thruway, a few parents said on Sunday that the killings gave them pause about letting their children play in places that should be safe. “It’s just not right; something needs to be done,” said Darryl Brown, 25, as he watched his son Jayden, 4, throw a ball against a wall on Gunther Avenue.

Murders and Attempted Murders
Bronx (NYC)
New York City
Morgan Lloyd
Brooks Kemar


Giambi Helps Yankees Break Through

Abstract: In the wacky category of Yankees highlights Sunday, Jason Giambi stole a base and Andy Pettitte was knocked off the pitching mound by a gust of wind during a rain-delayed 4-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Yankee Stadium. But those were hardly the only notable moments for Giambi and Pettitte, the two veterans who helped stop a two-game losing streak. Giambi also had three hits, drove in two runs and scored twice. Pettitte (8-5) pitched six shutout innings, extending his streak of scoreless innings to 19, his best in 11 years. The Yankees (41-35) have won 8 of their last 10 games. Giambi seemed in decline last season, in part because of injuries. But he raised his 2008 average to .271 and his runs batted in total to 42 to go with 17 home runs. He also raised his stolen base total to 2 for the season and 18 for his career. “Yeah, I might go 40-4,” he joked, referring to the home run/stolen base ratio. With one out in the second inning, he ran on a 3-2 pitch to stay out of a double play and seemed to surprise the catcher, David Ross, who juggled the ball. Giambi later delivered the game’s key hit, increasing the Yankees’ lead to 3-0 with a two-run double to left field in the sixth against reliever Jeremy Affeldt after a 56-minute rain delay chased Pettitte and Cincinnati starter Johnny Cueto (5-8). “Getting my swing back to the old Jason,” Giambi said of his opposite-field stroke against an exaggerated shift by the fielders to the right. “I’m not being pull-conscious.” He credited Kevin Long, the hitting coach, for encouraging him after a poor start. Giambi said Long “kept me out of my own head,” adding that during a slump, it was “part of being a human being” to think “I don’t care if I’m doing things right — I want results.” Pettitte was blown back by the wind during the top of the sixth, when thunder rumbled and lightning flashed as dust and litter swirled. “Almost like a fan was on at first base,” Pettitte said. Because he is broad-shouldered, Pettitte said, “If you’re up there like a billboard, obviously more wind is hitting you.” He said he felt sorry for catcher Jorge Posada. “Georgie was getting dusted at home plate,” Pettitte said. “We couldn’t throw a pitch for a while.” After hitting Brandon Phillips to put two on with one out in the sixth, Pettitte retired the next two batters before the grounds crew ran on the field. The wind billowed the tarp, and the organist played “Singin’ in the Rain.” Pettitte’s best inning might have been the fourth, when he loaded the bases with one out on two walks and an infield hit before striking out Joey Votto and Jay Bruce. The Yankees needed him to be a stopper because they had scored only two runs in the first two games of the series. “I’m mixing up my pitches a little more,” said Pettitte, who won his fifth consecutive decision. Pettitte and Girardi said Pettitte was also using both sides of the plate better. “I was getting a little one-dimensional,” said Pettitte, who started the season 3-5. For the Yankees, it was the ninth of 16 games in a row against National League teams, none of which have a record above .500. They begin a three-game series in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. One bright moment of the interleague play was a solo home run by Ken Griffey Jr. He hit a line drive over the right-field wall against Kyle Farnsworth in the eighth for the 601st homer of his 20-year career. Earlier, when the storm was brewing around the stadium in the top of the sixth, Griffey batted against Pettitte and hundreds of flashbulbs created their own artificial lightning in the seats, a moment that seemed as if it were from “The Natural.” After the home run, the 54,234 fans gave Griffey an ovation. His father, Ken Griffey Sr., played for the Reds and the Yankees. “It was fun,” Griffey said of the moment. “When you come to New York, you’re going to play better. The history. The stadium. The fans. If you can’t get hyped here, then you can’t do it anywhere.” INSIDE PITCH Kyle Farnsworth took three stitches to close a cut on his right hand (his pitching hand) after being hit by a line drive by Brandon Phillips in the eighth. He said he did not expect to go on the disabled list. “Depends on how sore my finger is,” said Farnsworth, who had a bandage on his ring finger and pinkie. After he left the game, Mariano Rivera entered and got four outs for his 21st save.

Baseball
New York Yankees
Cincinnati Reds


Japanese Police Arrest Man Thought to Be Final Suspect in ’95 Subway Attack

Abstract: TOKYO — Japanese police on Friday arrested the man thought to be the final suspect from the doomsday cult behind a 1995 deadly poison gas attack on Tokyo’s subways, at last bringing to an end a 17-year-old manhunt. The man, Katsuya Takahashi, 54, had been one of Japan’s most wanted fugitives for the role that authorities say he played in the nerve gas poisoning on the crowded subway system here that killed 13 people and sickened thousands of others. Investigators arrested Mr. Takahashi as he left an Internet cafe in Tokyo after receiving a tip that a man resembling the fugitive had been spotted there, according to the public broadcaster NHK. Mr. Takahashi faces charges of murder. Friday’s arrest brings to a close a long search for suspects behind the 1995 subway attack and a string of other acts of violence by the doomsday cult, Aum Shinrikyo , that terrified a public unaccustomed to violent crime or terrorism. Five cult members have received life sentences for their roles in the attacks and 13 have been sentenced to death, including the mastermind, the blind cult leader Chizuo Matsumoto, more commonly known as Shoko Asahara. Mr. Takahashi’s arrest came less than two weeks after Naoko Kikuchi, who is suspected of being an accomplice, was taken into custody in a Tokyo suburb . The police said that information gathered during her arrest, as well as more than 1,700 tips from the public on Mr. Takahashi’s whereabouts since then, had put investigators on Mr. Takahashi’s trail. “We believe that information led to today’s arrest,” Naomasa Yoshida, head of criminal investigations at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, said at a news conference after the arrest. “We are deeply thankful to the citizens of Tokyo and of Japan for their support and cooperation,” he said. A banner at the top of the department’s Web site announced Mr. Takahashi’s arrest, together with a message of thanks. Mr. Takahashi and Ms. Kikuchi had managed to elude the authorities for 17 years, though their photographs appeared on wanted posters across Japan. The manhunt appeared to gain momentum after another member of the Aum Shinrikyo cult wanted in connection with the attack, Makoto Hirata, turned himself in to the police five months ago. Mr. Takahashi is thought to have used an alias as he lived in several apartments and hotels in Yokohama and Kawasaki, just outside Tokyo. He most recently worked at a construction company in Kawasaki, according to local news reports, but took leave after Ms. Kikuchi’s arrest this month. Shortly after that arrest, security cameras at a bank in Kawasaki captured an image of a man thought to be Mr. Takahashi as he withdrew a large amount of money. The police then stepped up their manhunt, assigning 170 special investigators to the case and at one point dispatching about 5,000 police officers to stake out major train stations, according to the local media. To urge members of the public to come forward with sightings, the police also released a dozen photos and four video clips thought to be of Mr. Takahashi as he sought to evade capture. Investigators told local media that Mr. Takahashi is thought to have sought refuge in manga and Internet cafes that typically rent out small cubicles and are open around the clock. On Friday morning, police officers finally swooped in on Mr. Takahashi as he left the Internet cafe where he had been sighted. He did not try to resist arrest and calmly confirmed his identity, local media said. Local reporters soon overwhelmed the area as media helicopters circled overhead. Mr. Takahashi is accused of driving a cult member to the subway station, which served Tokyo’s central government offices, during the morning rush hour on March 20, 1995. There, he and other cult members released deadly sarin gas from plastic bags in an attack that they believed would start an apocalyptic battle with the government. Mr. Takahashi also faces charges linked to the kidnapping and death of a public servant in Tokyo, as well as another gas attack on a car parking lot operator, both of whom had tried to help cult members leave the organization. At one point, police offered a reward of about $127,000 for information leading to Mr. Takahashi’s capture. According to local media reports, Mr. Takahashi, a native of Yokohama, joined Aum Shinrikyo in 1987, the year it was founded by Mr. Asahara. He at one point served as the leader’s personal bodyguard before being assigned to the cult’s espionage division. Ms. Kikuchi has told investigators that she and Mr. Takahashi and were on the run together until 2006, according to media reports. He had advised her to keep to big cities, where they had a better chance of blending in with the crowds, she said.

Fugitives
Religious Cults
Aum Shinrikyo
Tokyo (Japan)
Takahashi Katsuya


A Trompe-l’Oeil Facade in Need of a Face Lift

Abstract: Using only oil paint, the artist Richard J. Haas created an entire cast-iron facade in SoHo more than 30 years ago. Ever since, his five-story trompe l’oeil mural at 114 Prince Street, near Greene Street, has beguiled so many people that it might be thought of as New York’s first big two-dimensional architectural landmark. In “The City Observed: New York,” for which the earlier photo was taken, Paul Goldberger called the mural a “great gift to New York,” adding, “The cat in the window is too cute and a giveaway, but this is still witty and attractive and lovable and full of understanding of what makes a city block work.” Another critic, Peter Blake, said the mural demonstrated that “it takes only genius and a few gallons of the right colors to enhance our gloomy environment.” While attracting countless double takes since then, the mural seemed resistant to graffiti until recently. The only noticeable addition was a second cat perched where Mr. Haas painted his. “Somebody made what I think is a sensitive addition,” said the artist, “though he was not a very good cat painter.” Today, however, having survived the era when just about any prominent wall surface attracted vandals, Mr. Haas’s mural stands defaced, its entire second-story base covered by tags. Mr. Haas and his wife, Katherine, learned of the vandalism last month when they were sent a news article from The Villager . “While murals come and go, destruction or damage to certain ones causes greater pain,” Mrs. Haas said in an e-mail message on Monday. “This one was the very first, and a few blocks from where we lived, and I can remember going by it every day and marveling at the wall as the painting evolved. I remember Dick at this drawing table working out the proportions of the windows to accommodate the two real ones.” Though the SoHo Alliance has offered to pay for undoing the immediate damage, larger questions hang over the mural. The paint job is showing its age, ruining the once-persuasive illusion. The cost of repairing the wall and repainting the mural was estimated at $100,000 a decade ago, Mr. Haas said. That would be a tough nut for any landlord, especially in a recession. And even if it were restored, what would happen if a new building rose where the adjacent one-story structure now stands? Mrs. Haas said she still hoped a donor might be found to finance a restoration. In the process, she said, her husband “would happily accommodate an improved version of the second cat.”

Art
Graffiti
Historic Buildings and Sites
SoHo (NYC)


Halliburton Says Unit Will Offer Shares

Abstract: HOUSTON, Jan. 27 - Halliburton, the nation's largest military- and energy-services company, said on Friday that it was moving forward with a plan to sell shares in its KBR unit even amid criticism of its contracts in Iraq. Shares in Halliburton rose $3.78, to close at $78.93, after the company said it would sell a minority stake in KBR and after it reported a stronger-than-expected profit for the fourth quarter. The profit was $1.1 billion on sales of $5.8 billion, including $1.3 billion the government paid for work in Iraq. Halliburton had a profit of $2.4 billion for 2005, in contrast to a $1 billion loss in 2004. The move to issue shares in KBR comes as Halliburton has come under scrutiny for receiving a $1.4 billion noncompetitive contract to restore Iraq's oil infrastructure after the removal of Saddam Hussein's government in 2003. Congressional critics say the company received the contract because of Vice President Dick Cheney, who was chief executive of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000. Strong results from Halliburton's oil field operations are driving much of the optimism over the company's prospects, with sales increasing in West Africa, China and Russia; a weak spot was Venezuela, where Halliburton said sales declined. Revenue at the unit increased 31 percent as high oil prices intensified demand for drilling services. KBR, which operates as a separate engineering and construction unit, also reported optimistic results, saying its income related to work in Iraq climbed after the federal government settled a fuel-cost dispute in its favor. KBR also won new contracts from Washington, including one valued as high as $385 million to build detention centers intended for an emergency influx of immigrants and another to build a new embassy compound in Skopje, Macedonia. Halliburton had already signaled its intent to sell shares in KBR, which was formerly known as Kellogg, Brown & Root, but discussed the plan in greater detail, explaining that it would still control KBR by issuing just a 20 percent stake to investors. Senior executives said the offering was being timed to coincide with a rosier outlook for companies that specialize in large construction projects. "We believe the I.P.O. market in general and the public market for engineering and construction companies in particular is very attractive," David J. Lesar, Halliburton's chief executive, said in a conference call with analysts. "The public valuation of KBR will benefit Halliburton's stock price." C. Christopher Gaut, Halliburton's chief financial officer, said the company might consider selling some KBR operations, though such transactions would be not be expected to alter plans for the stock offering. A Halliburton spokeswoman said the company planned to provide regulators with a more detailed description of the offering by the middle of March. Selling shares in KBR and eventually giving the unit greater managerial independence would allow Halliburton to focus on its energy services unit, which is more profitable. The energy services group had operating profit of $2.2 billion in 2005 on revenue of $10.1 billion, while KBR generated $418 million of operating profit on revenue of $10.8 billion, said Jeff Tillery, an analyst at Pickering Energy Partners in Houston. KBR's contracts in Iraq are still generating controversy, including an accusation this week from former employees that the company exposed American troops and civilians at a military base to contaminated drinking water. A spokeswoman for Halliburton, Cathy G. Mann, said KBR conducted an inspection of the water at the base and found no evidence of contamination.


Hard Work Not Yet Paying Off for the Jets

Abstract: HEMPSTEAD, N.Y., Oct. 8 — The Jets were supposed to start the season with an advantage. Their coach, Eric Mangini, told them so. Mangini’s mantra during a training camp in which he drove the players past the point of exhaustion day in and day out was this: Pay now and reap the dividends when the games begin. With more than a quarter of the season gone, the Jets are 1-4 and the players could be forgiven for wondering if their hard work was worth it. “It’s frustrating and it’s draining, also, mentally because you know how much work you put in,” receiver Jerricho Cotchery said Monday. “We put in a lot of work” — he raised his voice to emphasize “lot.” Exhaling deeply, he said, “The work we put in, we should be undefeated.” Instead, the Jets are teetering on the brink of irrelevance. Fortunately, their schedule the rest of October is dangling in front of them like a lifeline. Their next three opponents — the Philadelphia Eagles, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Buffalo Bills — are struggling, too. They have a combined record of 3-9 through Sunday’s games. The Jets can reel themselves back onto firmer ground by stringing together a winning streak, but they cannot afford any more false steps or their character may spring a few leaks. “It’s easy when you’re winning and being successful to work hard,” Mangini said. “It’s easy when things are good to stay a little bit later, to study as hard as you did the first week. What’s really tough is when things are tough to take the same consistent approach, and that’s why there is such a commitment to guys of high character here organizationally. Because through the course of my career I’ve seen the value in that.” Mangini has not dressed down his players in public, he has not raised his voice in a news conference or made any drastic changes to the lineup. He is staying the course because he said his players, starting with quarterback Chad Pennington , work too hard and care too much for the tide not to turn soon. “What I really like is the way that everybody on this team takes it personally,” he said. “Players, coaches, everybody is accountable.” The Jets have been inconsistent every which way. They are averaging nearly five penalties a game, which is a lot considering they had three or fewer in seven regular-season games in 2006. On the 98-yard scoring drive that put the Giants ahead for good on Sunday, Andre Dyson and David Harris were called for penalties that resulted in automatic first downs. The running game has gone missing since Thomas Jones rushed for 110 yards on 25 carries in last month’s victory against the Dolphins. In the second halves of the two games since then, Jones has 8 carries for 21 yards, a troubling development given that Jones typically gets stronger as the game wears on. “I’m here to play football,” Jones said. “As far as the number of carries I have that’s up to the coaches and the game plan.” When pressed, Jones said there have been miscommunications on some running plays, but he refused to assign blame. If he was upset to have touched the ball on the first play of the fourth quarter against the Giants and then not again the rest of the way, he hid his anger well. The Jets’ defense has produced three sacks, but Mangini suggested that statistic was misleading. Noting that Eli Manning was pressured “multiple times,” Mangini said, “Sometimes it’s not just about the sack, it’s about the throw-away and their inability to convert.” In the N.F.L., success is always about the ability to convert opportunities. “You can’t have the really good football, the really smart football, interrupted by plays that aren’t very well executed, that aren’t very smart, and that goes to the coaching as well,” Mangini said. Cotchery was on teams at North Carolina State, he said, where players lost interest when their hard work was not rewarded with early success. He does not foresee that happening this season. From the captains on down there is too much competitiveness, too much caring, Cotchery said. Too much losing, though, can spread through a team like an epidemic. Winning is the only cure.

New York Jets
Football
Mangini Eric
Pennington Chad


Letters to the Editor

Abstract: To the Sports Editor: I think most would agree that the World Cup was as entertaining as any that had preceded it. However, with the benefit of instant replay and slow motion, it is clear that cheating on the field has reached epidemic proportions and is now an entrenched part of the culture of the game. Par for the course were jersey tugging, pulling down a jumping player’s shoulder, embracing an opponent in an arm lock and raking with the boot, followed by a heavy stamp on the arch of the foot. Dozens of such fouls occurred in every match, but they were seldom picked up by the referees and linesmen. Since the advent of the television match official, rugby has virtually eradicated this problem. It is therefore high time that FIFA’s president, Sepp Blatter, and his brigade of like-minded dinosaurs follow suit. ANDREW NORMAN Poole, England  To the Sports Editor: Now retired, I have been a youth soccer referee for more than 20 years and was appalled at the referees’ ignoring of the rules in the World Cup. It is time that the “just let them play” group of officials is replaced by those who blow the whistle for infractions. I saw charging from behind, tripping and dangerous play throughout the games, and the referees called fouls only when a player fell to the field, writhing in drama or pain. I saw overt obstruction by players to keep an opponent from the ball. I saw game after game get out of control because of violence that should not be a part of soccer. Things as obvious as goalkeepers taking more than four steps and illegal throw-ins happened many times in all games. Soccer is finesse, not brute force. FIFA needs to take a stand and stop this. PETER BISHOP Jacksonville, Fla. Honest Messi Should Top Maradona To the Sports Editor: Re “Adept? Yes. Adored? Not Yet,” July 13: I suppose the only way Lionel Messi could equal Diego Maradona in popularity would be to commit a flagrant hand ball in a World Cup elimination game and to use performance-enhancing drugs. For me, Messi surpassed Maradona long ago. Brilliance and honesty should be quite enough. PETER HEIMAN Bronx Substitutions for Safety’s Sake To the Sports Editor: Re “Shouting About Diving, but Shrugging About Concussions,” July 13: A dilemma in addressing concerns about concussions so well articulated by Juliet Macur is soccer’s Law 3, which limits substitutions to three and forbids a substituted player to return, and which is so fundamental to the fabric of the game that its amendment is unimaginable. A manager must choose between quickly restoring the injured player and his team to full strength and using a valuable substitute or playing a man down while a potentially serious injury is evaluated. Although how to address accidental head injuries is more of a conundrum, referee guidance should not be so quick to move off a legitimate concern like fouls to the head. ANDY TANSEY Malverne, N.Y.  To the Sports Editor: Juliet Macur rightly calls out the medical treatment of fallen players during the recently concluded World Cup. As a soccer fan, however, I can suggest a rule change that might help. If medical professionals determine that there is real cause for further evaluation of a head injury, teams should be allowed to insert another player temporarily without affecting the availability of the injured player or the overall substitution limit. Also, if the player is ruled out from further play in the game, the team should be allowed an additional substitution. These small, sensible changes would protect the players without changing the dynamic of the professional game. EDWARD FISCHMAN Bethesda, Md. Mired in Losing? Think Again To the Sports Editor: Re “For a City Mired in Losing, James’s Return Offers a Glimmer of Hope,” July 14: John Hyduk’s essay about Cleveland and the return of LeBron James was nicely written. But I almost didn’t read it because of the offensive headline. Sure, Cleveland is not the industrial powerhouse it once was — what American city is? But its world-class cultural and health care institutions are thriving as never before. Good things took off while James was away. In August, the city is hosting the Gay Games; in 2016, the Republican National Convention. This is not a sports-crazed city “mired in losing” but a city reinventing itself as a dynamic (and affordable) place to live and work. James’s return is simply icing on the cake. CHARLES MICHENER Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Soccer
2014 World Cup
Concussion
Diego Maradona
LeBron James
Lionel Messi


Chilean Miners’ Rescue May Happen Within Weeks, President Says

Abstract: SANTIAGO, Chile — The 33 miners trapped nearly half a mile underground in northern Chile may be rescued by Oct. 17, weeks before the government’s original predictions, President Sebastián Piñera announced in a nationally broadcast radio interview Monday. “I hope to rescue them before leaving for Europe,” he said, referring to a trip scheduled for Oct. 17. “It is very important for me to share that moment not only with the 33 miners, with whom I have spoken many times, but also with their families.” If they are not freed before then, Mr. Piñera is considering postponing his trip to make sure he is at the gold and copper mine where the men are trapped on the day of the rescue. “Obviously, the trip will be adjusted to the rescue,” he said. The government is evaluating whether to fortify the shaft through which the miners will be lifted in a capsule that is already on location, said the mining minister, Laurence Golborne. Not casing the shaft would save several extra days of work. When the men were first discovered to be alive in August , having survived a cave-in, the government said it could take more than three months to rescue them but vowed to get them out before Christmas. That timeline has been steadily compressed, and last week Mr. Golborne said the rescue would most likely take place during the latter half of October. The 33 miners, who as of Tuesday have been underground for 60 days , have been working in shifts around the clock to remove the earth and rocks that fall as a drill widens the narrow shaft through which rescue workers first made contact with them on Aug. 22. Health treatment units, where the miners will be immediately taken after the rescue, are being assembled at the site, while the miners are being coached on how to deal with the hundreds of reporters expected to cover the event.

Mines and Mining
Chile
Rescues
Pinera Sebastian


News From the Advertising Industry

Abstract: Accounts ¶Macy’s, part of Macy’s Inc., New York, chose Carat, New York, part of the Aegis Group, to handle its television and digital media planning and buying assignment, which had been handled by MEC, part of the GroupM unit of WPP. Spending was estimated at $500 million to $700 million. The account does not include newspaper media buying, which is handled internally. ¶Wendy’s Company, Dublin, Ohio, expanded its agency roster by selecting VML, Kansas City, Mo., part of WPP, as its digital agency of record, handling duties that include the Wendy’s Web site, apps and social media. Billings were not disclosed. The assignment had been handled by Publicis Kaplan Thaler, New York, part of the Publicis Worldwide division of the Publicis Groupe, which continues as the advertising agency of record for Wendy’s. ¶LegalZoom, Glendale, Calif., named MEC North America as media agency of record, working with the MEC office in Irvine, Calif. The assignment, with billings estimated at $50 million, had been handled by Initiative, part of the IPG Mediabrands division of the Interpublic Group of Companies. MEC North America is part of the MEC unit of GroupM, which is owned by WPP. People ¶Bob Winter joined Crispin Porter & Bogusky, part of MDC Partners, to lead the agency’s Miami creative department as executive creative director, succeeding Ari Merkin, who left. Mr. Winter had been chief creative officer of the Chicago office of Y&R, part of the Young & Rubicam Group unit of WPP, where he is being succeeded by Bill Cimino; Mr. Cimino had been senior vice president and executive creative director at the Chicago office of DDB Worldwide, part of the Omnicom Group, where he also served as the global creative director on the agency’s McDonald’s account. ¶Susan Kim-Kirkland, executive vice president and managing director at JWT Canada, Toronto, part of the JWT unit of WPP, was promoted to chief executive, succeeding Tony Pigott, who is taking a new post, global chief executive at JWT Ethos, the social change and corporate social responsibility practice at JWT. Mr. Pigott is also being named nonexecutive chairman at JWT Canada. ¶Paul Stechschulte joined Arnold Worldwide, part of the Havas Creative unit of Havas, as executive creative director for the Amsterdam office, succeeding Sean Thompson, who left, the agency said, to pursue other interests. Mr. Stechschulte had most recently been executive creative director at Pereira & O’Dell, San Francisco. ¶Darren Moran rejoined BBDO New York — part of the BBDO North America division of BBDO Worldwide, owned by the Omnicom Group — as an executive creative director. He had most recently been chief creative officer at the New York office of DraftFCB, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, and before that worked at Y&R New York and BBDO New York. ¶Gian LaVecchia joined MEC, New York, part of the GroupM unit of WPP, as managing partner and digital lead, succeeding Adam Shlachter, who joined Digitas New York, part of the Digitas division of the Publicis Groupe, as senior vice president for media. Mr. LaVecchia had been executive vice president for digital media at Story Worldwide, New York. ¶Lauren Wiener joined Tremor Media, New York, as president for global sales and marketing, a new post. She had been senior vice president for the Meredith Digital unit of the Meredith Corporation. ¶Jennifer Levene Bruno, publisher and chief revenue officer at Veranda, part of the Hearst Magazines unit of the Hearst Corporation, was named publisher and chief revenue officer at a sibling magazine, Town & Country, succeeding Valerie Salembier, who had previously announced that she would leave Town & Country at the end of the year. ¶Lucy Kriz, senior executive director at the Condé Nast Media Group, New York, part of the Condé Nast Publications unit of Advance Publications, was named vice president and publisher of a Condé Nast Publications magazine, W, succeeding Nina Lawrence, who left to join The Wall Street Journal, New York, part of the Dow Jones & Company unit of News Corporation, as vice president of global marketing for advertising sales. ¶Mark Deep joined the Toronto office of the Marketing Store Worldwide, part of the Havi Group, as senior vice president of customer relationship management and loyalty for North America, a new post. He had been senior vice president for strategic services and business development at Wunderman, Toronto, part of the Young & Rubicam Group unit of WPP. ¶Cameron Blanchard, who led communications for the Entertainment and Digital Networks and Integrated Media division of NBCUniversal, New York, part of Comcast, was promoted to senior vice president for corporate communications at NBCUniversal. She succeeds Kathy Kelly-Brown, who was recently named to lead communications for the NBCUniversal News Group. Miscellany ¶Daniel J. Edelman formed the Daniel J. Edelman China Group to oversee the operations in China of Edelman, Edelman Digital, Pegasus and the Zeno Group. Steven Cao, president at Pegasus, was promoted to chief executive at the Daniel J. Edelman China Group, reporting to Thomas Mattia, chairman of the China group.

Appointments and Executive Changes
Advertising and Marketing