Poll Finds Quinn, Weiner and Spitzer Are Out Front

Abstract: Anthony D. Weiner and Christine C. Quinn remain at the front of the pack among Democratic candidates for mayor, and Eliot Spitzer holds a comfortable lead in the Democratic primary for comptroller, according to a new poll released on Monday by Quinnipiac University. With a little under two months until the Sept. 10 primary, the poll suggested that Mr. Weiner and Mr. Spitzer were benefiting from their high name recognition. It also found that the scandals that drove them from political office may not be weighing down their campaigns as much as some political experts had predicted. In the mayoral race, Mr. Weiner, a former United States representative who resigned after exchanging sexually explicit messages with women he knew only online, captured 25 percent of the vote among registered Democrats. He was followed closely by Ms. Quinn, the City Council speaker, with 22 percent. The difference between Mr. Weiner and Ms. Quinn was not statistically significant, because it was within the poll’s margin of sampling error. The poll found a significant drop-off after Mr. Weiner and Ms. Quinn: William C. Thompson Jr., a former city comptroller, claimed 11 percent; Bill de Blasio, the public advocate, at 10 percent; and John C. Liu, the city comptroller, at 7 percent. The findings were a setback for Mr. Thompson, who in a Quinnipiac poll released late last month had 16 percent of the vote, a level of support that put him in a statistical tie with Ms. Quinn and Mr. Weiner. But the predictive value of early polls is uncertain; Mr. Weiner may have benefited from an avalanche of news coverage since he entered the race. Mr. Weiner’s high standing was in part the result of strong support among black Democratic voters. Nearly a third supported him; only 14 percent supported Mr. Thompson, who is black and had been expected to be the most formidable candidate within the city’s African-American electorate. None of the candidates for mayor seems to have anything near the 40 percent required to avoid a runoff; if no candidate receives 40 percent of the vote in the primary, the two leading candidates will face off on Oct. 1. In the race for comptroller, the poll offered worrisome news for Mr. Spitzer’s opponent, Scott M. Stringer, who until a little over a week ago had expected to coast to the Democratic nomination, but now appears to be the underdog. The poll found Mr. Spitzer, the former New York governor who resigned after patronizing prostitutes, with the support of 48 percent of Democratic voters, compared with the 33 percent who supported Mr. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president. Women favored Mr. Spitzer over Mr. Stringer, as did black and Hispanic voters; white voters favored Mr. Stringer. Over all, Mr. Spitzer’s last-minute entry into the race appears to have been well received: 58 percent of Democrats said he should run for comptroller, including 53 percent of women. Fifty-three percent of Democrats had a favorable view of him; 32 percent had an unfavorable view. Mr. Stringer, on the other hand, is still relatively unknown to many voters: more than 6 in 10 Democrats said they had not heard enough about him to form an opinion. The poll, conducted by telephone, began on July 8, the day after Mr. Spitzer said he would run for comptroller, and continued through July 14. It included 738 Democratic voters and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points.

Mayoral races
Comptroller race
Anthony Weiner
Christine C Quinn
Eliot L Spitzer
NYC
Polls
Quinnipiac University


Musharraf Says Bhutto Took Excessive Risks

Abstract: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday rejected any suggestion that he or any members of the Pakistani military or intelligence agencies played a role in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto , and said it was probably carried out by the same extremists responsible for a number of suicide bombings in recent months. Taking questions from foreign journalists at the Presidential House here, Mr. Musharraf defended his police force and investigators, saying that Ms. Bhutto had defied the government’s warnings when she decided to go ahead with the rally in Rawalpindi, where she was killed a week ago. He added that she had broken standard security rules by standing in the open top of her vehicle as the crowd swarmed around her and by not leaving the rally quickly. In a televised question and answer session that lasted more than 90 minutes, Mr. Musharraf appeared relaxed and confident, telling journalists that they often got their facts wrong and that they did not understand the situation in Pakistan. He denied that he was unpopular in the country and dismissed the accusation from Ms. Bhutto’s party that he was delaying parliamentary elections by six weeks to give his people time to rig them. He said he wanted elections as soon as possible, to create an elected government that could unite the country and help fight terrorism. “There is no complicity” in Ms. Bhutto’s killing, he said. “Would I or the government be the maximum gainer from doing this? Or would there be someone else who would gain more?” He said that in the past three months there had been 19 suicide bombings by the militant leaders Baitullah Mehsud and Maulana Fazlullah. Most of the attacks were against military and intelligence targets, he said, calling it a “joke” to suggest that the military and intelligence agencies would be using the same people who were attacking them for their own ends. “No intelligence organization of Pakistan is capable of indoctrinating a man to blow himself up,” he said. Mr. Musharraf said that he had invited Scotland Yard to help with the investigation into Ms. Bhutto’s death to alleviate suspicions of foul play by the government, and that he did not fear what the inquiry would reveal. “We don’t mind going to any extent, as nobody is involved from the government or agency side,” he said. But Mr. Musharraf said the investigators would not be permitted to interview four government officials whom Ms. Bhutto singled out for suspicion last year. In a letter that she wrote before her return to Pakistan in October, she said she would consider the four responsible if anything happened to her. The president said her accusations were political and baseless. He said the government provided adequate security on the day she was killed, Dec. 27. She was accompanied at all times by a police superintendent of her own choosing, while four police vehicles with 30 policemen were flanking her and 1,000 more police officers were deployed at the rally, he said. He acknowledged that the government had made mistakes in its handling of the situation, issuing conflicting accounts of how she died before all the facts were known and hosing down the site of the attack too soon. But these were errors, he said, not a hasty effort at a cover-up. Political analysts and opposition politicians have predicted that Ms. Bhutto’s death will be one calamity too many for the president, after months of blunders and falling popularity since he moved in March to dismiss the Supreme Court’s chief justice. “I think he is in an extremely weak position,” said Rasul Bakhsh Rais, a professor of political science at Lahore University of Management Sciences. He suggested that Mr. Musharraf might still resort to extreme measures, like widespread election fraud or another period of emergency rule, to ensure that the party that backs him wins the elections and provides him with the necessary parliamentary support to continue as president. “This is an election that Musharraf cannot afford to lose,” he said. Predictions of what government will emerge from the vote vary widely. Mr. Musharraf’s supporters predict that the faction that backs him, Pakistan Muslim League-Q, will be able to form a government. But opposition parties predict a disastrous turnout for the Q League, as the faction is known, which would represent a repudiation of Mr. Musharraf’s leadership. Yet, far from appearing defensive, Mr. Musharraf showed an unshakable confidence and self-belief on Thursday. “There is a crisis, and I hope the solution is elections,” he said. The election date, Feb. 18, is the same as his wife’s and daughter’s birthdays, he said. “I don’t know whether this is coincidence. I don’t know whether this is my birthday gift to them,” he said. “But this election is going to be free, fair and transparent.”

Assassinations and Attempted Assassinations


WTA Announces Media Deal Worth $525 Million

Abstract: The Women’s Tennis Association on Tuesday announced a 10-year media agreement worth $525 million, with the goal of greatly expanding worldwide viewership of its tournaments. The tennis organization described the deal as the largest in women’s sports history . The W.N.B.A., for example, has a $12-million-a-year contract with ESPN that will rise to $25 million a year in 2016-17. Stacey Allaster, the chairwoman of the WTA, said that the annual average of more than $50 million more than doubles the $21 million that she estimated the tournaments currently receive. “This is a very clear signal to the market about the value of women’s sports for media partners and for brands and sponsors,” she said. The deal creates a joint venture between the WTA and Perform Group, a multimedia-rights company based in England. Perform is paying the rights fees and guaranteeing money to produce all 2,000 main-draw singles matches and 300 semifinals and finals of doubles matches each year. Networks that choose to produce tournaments on their own will receive subsidies from the venture, which is called WTA Media. Profits between the W.T.A. and Perform will be shared equally. “Perform is in line with our vision,” Allaster said by telephone. “In July, we were talking about 1,000 matches, and I said, ‘Why not do all of them?’ ” Early this year, she said, the WTA began studying how to broaden and modernize the worldwide reach that includes 22 so-called premier tournaments in locations such as Indian Wells, Calif., Madrid, Miami and Singapore, the site of the WTA Finals. It examined the media strategies of the Pacific-12 Conference, the PGA Tour, the N.F.L. and the UEFA Champions League. “It was a pretty clear road map for us,” Allaster said. “Control and own the content and use the efficiencies of technology to distribute it.” She said that she also wants to make an aggressive push into social media. “We want to be able to distribute all our matches and then cut them down to short form for social and over-the-top platforms for younger fans,” she said. ESPN and Tennis Channel, which are deeply invested in tennis, currently have contracts to carry WTA tournaments through 2016. Allaster said that she believed that they would compete for the future rights, along with Fox and entities like beIN Sport. Ken Solomon, the chairman and chief executive of Tennis Channel, which carries a majority of the WTA’s tournaments, said that the new deal “says a lot about how women’s tennis is on the upswing, which is undeniable when you look at the star power of the Wozniackis, the Marias and Serenas, and some up-and-comers.” He continued, “The W.T.A. has a unique advantage — it’s the only sport where women are as, or more powerful, than their male counterparts.” He added that the breadth of production that will be done by the joint venture will, essentially, create a world feed for each tournament that will help its viewers see more matches.

Tennis
Women's Tennis Assn
Perform Group
Stacey Allaster


Bangladeshi Women, Isolated in New York City, Need More Support, Advocates Say

Abstract: A 3-week-old baby ended up dead in the courtyard of an apartment building in Queens. The police arrested the mother, Rashida Chowdhury , a 21-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant, on charges of second-degree murder. They said she confessed to throwing the baby out the bathroom window of her fourth-floor apartment because she thought the child was possessed by an evil spirit. Beyond those stark facts, little is publicly known about the case or what led to the baby’s death early in the morning on Aug. 7. Still, the episode has resonated deeply among social service providers and advocates who have been trying to address mental health problems, particularly among women, in the growing Bangladeshi population in New York City. Depression is widespread, these advocates and service providers say, often born of cultural and geographic isolation worsened by economic hardship and financial dependence on spouses. “The women are becoming victims of everything,” said Rokeya Akhter, a Bangladeshi immigrant who leads the New American Women’s Forum of New York , a group that seeks to empower Bangladeshi immigrant women. “The women come to this country with an American dream in their minds and the situation sometimes is totally different. Women are going through so much frustration and they become depressed.” The Bangladeshi population — with significant concentrations in the Jackson Heights, Elmhurst and Jamaica neighborhoods of Queens — has been one of the fastest-growing immigrant groups in the city over the past few decades. It now numbers about 76,000, up from about 2,000 in 1980, making it the ninth largest foreign-born group in the city, according to the latest census data. It is also among the poorest, with poverty and overcrowding rates that are among the highest compared with those of the city’s other large immigrant groups. Many new Bangladeshi immigrants — and even some who have been here for many years — speak little or no English, further worsening the challenges of integration, advocates and community leaders say. Arranged marriages are also common, with brides either sent to join their husbands in the United States or traveling with their spouses from Bangladesh. “A lot of the women are older and come with husbands,” said Alison Karasz, executive director of Sapna NYC , a group based in the Bronx that is focused on the social, economic and health-related needs of South Asian women. “But sometimes young girls come and don’t know their husbands.” Even when the United States is new territory for both spouses, however, they may operate under different sets of rules once they arrive. While the men leave the home to work and circulate among the broader society, many women, because of cultural mores or child-care obligations, have to stay home, further depriving them of the ability to cultivate a support network. Afreen Alam, executive director of Chhaya Community Development Corporation , a Queens group focused on housing and economic development in the South Asian population, says some women are prohibited by their husbands from having a job and lack their own financial control. According to census data, Bangladeshi immigrant women have one of the lowest rates of labor force participation among the major immigrant groups in the city. Without their own source of income, advocates say, women are further isolated — an aspect of what Ms. Alam calls “the economics of gender disparity.” “Men, they come to this country, they’re going out, they’re working, they’re socializing with other people,” Ms. Akhter said. “But the women, they don’t. They are here like a prisoner.” Reshmi Sengupta, programs director for Sakhi for South Asian Women , a Manhattan group that works with victims of domestic violence, said the isolation can be so enduring, some women “may not know how to travel the subways even though they’ve been in this country for 20 years.” According to the authorities and neighbors, Ms. Chowdhury had been living for at least several months with her 40-year-old husband, Mohamad Ahmad, in an apartment building in the Richmond Hill neighborhood. The couple and their baby, Rizwan Ahmad, apparently shared a two-bedroom apartment with Mr. Ahmad’s brother and sister as well as her sister’s two young children. It remained unclear, however, how Mr. Ahmad and Ms. Chowdhury met and married or how long they have been living in the United States. Phone messages left for Ms. Chowdhury’s lawyer, Steven Goldenberg, were not answered, and the family did not respond to messages left at their address. The emergence of social service organizations to help Bangladeshi immigrants, particularly women, has lagged behind the population’s meteoric growth. One of the most glaring shortfalls, advocates say, is in the availability of mental health services provided by practitioners fluent in Bengali and Bangladeshi culture. “I get requests on a regular basis for counseling for family members from professionals who speak the language,” Ms. Alam said. But, she added, she has been “hard pressed” to find appropriate therapists. At the same time, many Bangladeshis are unaware of the range of social services that are available to them, including those provided by governmental agencies. “It’s a very new community; they’re still learning the different ins and outs,” said Dilip Nath, a Bangladeshi immigrant and president of New American Voters Association, which encourages immigrant participation in the political process. “If there’s a mental issue, I hope they can reach out. But they don’t know of the services available.” In the absence of many community groups beyond the mosques attended by the immigrants, social service and advocacy groups often rely on word of mouth to reach prospective clients. Doctors’ offices, hospitals and — in the case of some domestic abuse victims — the police are also sources of referrals. But advocates and service providers say that no matter how robust their efforts to reach the most isolated and vulnerable members of the community, they still feel they are a long way from meeting the demand.

Murders and Homicides
Rashida Chowdhury
Rizwan Ahmad
Bangladeshi-Americans
Mental Health
Richmond Hill Queens
NYC


Fitch Downgrades Ireland

Abstract: PARIS — Ireland got an unwelcome jolt Wednesday as Fitch Ratings cut its sovereign credit rating to the lowest level of any of the major agencies, citing the heavy burden of bailing out the country’s banking sector. Fitch cut Ireland’s long-term foreign- and local-currency ratings to A+ from AA-. Moody’s Investors Service, which warned Tuesday that it was reviewing the country for a possible downgrade, and Standard & Poor’s both rate Irish debt higher. The move “reflects the exceptional and greater-than-expected fiscal cost associated with the government’s recapitalization of the Irish banks, especially Anglo Irish Bank,” Chris Pryce, Fitch’s director of sovereign ratings said in a statement. On Sept. 30, the Irish government said it would have to inject billions more euros into the troubled institutions, a move that could push the total cost of bailing out its financial sector to €50 billion, or $69 billion, in the worst case scenario. Mr. Pryce said the outlook for the country’s rating was also negative, reflecting “the uncertainty regarding the timing and strength of economic recovery and medium-term fiscal consolidation effort.” A negative outlook suggests better-than-even odds that another downgrade is coming over the next two years. The market reaction to the announcement was muted. Irish stocks rose 1.5 percent in Dublin afternoon trading, and the euro continued to trade near its 2010 highs, set earlier Wednesday. The interest-rate spread, or gap, between Irish and German 10-year bonds widened by about 8 basis points to 407.7 percentage points. German bonds are considered rock-solid, and the spread indicates the premium investors demand to hold the riskier Irish securities. Fitch noted that the country’s general government deficit for 2010 would be equivalent to about 32 percent of gross domestic product, though it noted that included substantial one-off costs booked for the issue of promissory notes by the state to the banks. Without those one-time items, the underlying deficit is closer to the government’s 2010 forecast for 11.9 percent of G.D.P., it said.


Banana Republic to Offer ‘Mad Men’ Fashions

Abstract: LAST year, fans of “Mad Men” could buy versions of Barbie and Ken dressed in outfits inspired by the television series. This year, they will be able to dress that way themselves. The Banana Republic unit of Gap Inc., which has teamed up previously with “Mad Men” for marketing promotions, is doing so again this summer with what will be their most extensive joint effort to date. The centerpiece of the new promotion is a collection of men’s and women’s fashions, to be sold in Banana Republic stores and online, based on how the characters on “Mad Men” look. There will be 65 items in the so-called capsule collection, which are to carry co-branded labels bearing the logos of “Mad Men” and Banana Republic. The merchandise is to be priced the same as similar regular items sold in Banana Republic stores and on bananarepublic.com . The clothing and accessories like suits, dresses, ties, sweaters, hats, skirts, coats and blouses are influenced by “Mad Men,” which takes place in the 1960s. But they are intended to reflect the sensibilities — and the fit requirements — of contemporary shoppers. The “Mad Men” collection is to come out in August, when the AMC cable channel was expected to be presenting episodes of the show’s fifth season. (The first four seasons made their debuts from summer 2007 through summer 2010.) However, a dispute between AMC and Matthew Weiner , the creator of the series, has delayed Season 5 until early 2012.  Executives of Banana Republic and Janie Bryant — the Emmy Award-winning costume designer of “Mad Men,” who is working with them on the merchandise — said they did not believe the absence of the series from TV would damp interest in the collection. “It’s not that big of a deal,” said Jack Calhoun, president of Banana Republic, because “ ‘Mad Men’ continues to be relevant whether it’s on the air or not.” Ms. Bryant said she was “getting messages on Facebook and Twitter that say, ‘We’re so excited about Season 5, but we’re watching all the seasons before Season 5 again.’ ” Until the show returns, “they can get their fix with the clothing,” she added, laughing. Brooks Brothers has sold a suit inspired by “Mad Men,” which was designed by Ms. Bryant. She collaborated last fall with Nailtini on four nail polishes with “Mad Men” monikers like Bourbon Satin. Both Bloomingdale’s and Banana Republic have featured “Mad Men” in their store windows. Banana Republic has also offered customers style guides to dressing like “Mad Men” characters, a series of online video clips titled “Mad About Style” and contests to win walk-on parts on the series.  “Mad Men” mania does not seem to be played out, even after four years, said Tom Julian, a brand consultant and style expert who is the president of the Tom Julian Group. “At the consumer level, it still has a lot of legs,” Mr. Julian said. “People know what you mean when you say ‘the “Mad Men” look’: a two-button, trim suit, a crisp shirt and a pocket square, the mod look of the ’60s.” For Banana Republic to use the promotion to persuade “men and women to get dressed up for the fall is very easy to imagine,” he added. The collection was the brainchild of Ms. Bryant and Simon Kneen, creative director at Banana Republic, who collaborated on the retailer’s previous promotions with the series. “It wasn’t planned at all,” Mr. Kneen said, but grew from the fact “we got on so well.” “We’d talk for hours about white shirts,” he added. Ms. Bryant said she and Mr. Kneen worked on the collection for the last year, adding: “A lot of the pieces I brought to Simon and the design team were pieces from the show, some I designed, some vintage. A dress my grandmother made is an inspiration for a beautiful, beautiful dress.” Ms. Bryant and Mr. Kneen will return for another round of “Mad About Style” webisodes, which will be on the Banana Republic Facebook page, at facebook.com/bananarepublic , and a section of the AMC Web site, at amctv.com/madmen . The collection will be promoted in print, outdoor and online advertising; through direct mail; in stores; and through social media. For instance, fans of Banana Republic on Facebook are to get early access to a presale of the collection on Aug. 10, a day before it is scheduled to be available in stores and on the Banana Republic Web site. There are also plans to repeat the contest to win a walk-on role on “Mad Men,” co-sponsored by Banana Republic and AMC. Information will be provided at madmencastingcall.com .  In addition to inspiring shoppers and retailers, “Mad Men” is being credited with giving two networks ideas for series for the 2011-12 season that are set in the ’60s. One, “Pan Am,” will be on ABC, and the other, “The Playboy Club,” on NBC. Would Banana Republic consider offering clothing based on either or both? Although a ’60s vibe is “in the air,” Mr. Calhoun said, he wondered if those newcomers would be “too much of a clone,” noting that the Playboy Club in New York City figured in the plot of the fourth season of “Mad Men.” “Another tie-in would have to be a perfect fit,” he added. “ ‘Mad Men’ was a perfect fit.”

Fashion and Apparel
Advertising and Marketing
Banana Republic
Mad Men (TV Program)


Pakistan Overshadows Afghanistan on U.S. Agenda

Abstract: WASHINGTON — When President Obama announced his new strategy in March for dealing with the problems of Afghanistan and Pakistan , he declared that America’s once-grandiose goals in the region should be narrowed to taking aim at Al Qaeda . To get the job done, he was already sending upwards of 21,000 more troops to Afghanistan, and he promised to pour billions of dollars in aid into development programs in the region. There was only one hitch: Al Qaeda doesn’t really live in Afghanistan. It survives largely over the border in Pakistan, where American boots on the ground will never be tolerated. “This is the logical flaw in an otherwise pretty sophisticated plan,” one of the participants in the White House debate said at the time. “We have to stabilize Afghanistan. But if the goal is to take out Al Qaeda and its friends, we’re putting our troops in the wrong country.” But only five weeks later, what seemed like a fissure in the plan — a fissure Mr. Obama himself discussed and fully understood, his aides say — has opened into a canyon. As Mr. Obama prepares to meet at the White House on Wednesday with President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, the agenda has been overwhelmed by the drive that insurgents inside Pakistan are mounting for control of swaths of the country. The original intention for the meeting was to find ways to accomplish something the Pakistanis and the Afghans have never been able to engineer, no matter how hard Washington has pushed them to: A coordinated military effort to squeeze the Taliban and other insurgents on both sides of their long, wild border. Suddenly, that seems like the lesser of two urgent problems. “The possibility is now real that we will see a jihadist state emerge in Pakistan — not an inevitable outcome, not even the most likely, but a real possibility,” said Bruce Riedel, the Brookings Institution scholar who served as the co-author of Mr. Obama’s review. “And that is the real strategic nightmare for the United States ,” he added. Important as Afghanistan is to the United States, he said, the events of the past few weeks focused American minds on Pakistan’s uniquely toxic cocktail. “It’s where the far greater strategic risks lie,” said Mr. Riedel, a former intelligence officer who has long navigated the dangerous currents of South Asia . “It has more terrorists per square mile than anyplace else on earth, and it has a nuclear weapons program that is growing faster than anyplace else on earth.” Or, as Admiral Michael Mullen , the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , put it on Monday, “this isn’t about ‘can do’ any more; this is about ‘must do.’ ” So in the land of no good options, what are some of the possibilities that Mr. Obama can explore? What can he accomplish sitting down with a weak Pakistani leader who spent years dodging charges of corruption, and whose early support in Washington has quickly soured? Or with an even weaker Afghan leader who was once a favorite of the United States — both for his elegance and for his eloquence — but who many in the Obama administration would now like to see eased out of office in the coming election? Here are a few possibilities to watch for: Speed Up Plan A The core of Mr. Obama’s strategy was to bet on a long-term solution: Retraining the Pakistani military to become an effective counterinsurgency force and pour billions of dollars and plenty of manpower into real nation-building efforts on both sides of the border, but particularly in the tribal areas that have become Al Qaeda and Taliban strongholds — in short, to execute the Marshall Plan for the region that President George W. Bush first talked about in March 2002 but never executed. According to administration officials, Mr. Obama is expected to promise to unlock nearly $1 billion in aid that the United States has promised but not yet delivered, and to announce a new training program for Pakistani soldiers, probably located in Kuwait so that American trainers need not set foot on Pakistani soil. But building schools and training soldiers takes time. And with the Taliban expansion threatening the country’s main East-West highway — the highway that leads to Islamabad — it is not clear that the long-term approach will address the immediate military emergency. Step up Predator Attacks and Covert Ground Action Last summer Mr. Bush approved a covert plan allowing United States forces, for the first time, to use remotely piloted aircraft to attack not only Al Qaeda sites, but other insurgents that threaten either Afghanistan or Pakistan. President Obama continued that policy, but every proposed strike by the Predator drones has posed a awful choice: How do you blow up a house that has suspected terrorists in the basement if it also has seven-year-olds and their mothers in the living room? The popular anger in Pakistan about the drones has reached a fever pitch. Mr. Obama’s aides have debated inviting the Pakistanis to participate in the C.I.A. ’s Predator program, actively managing the missions rather than just permitting them to be mounted from a not-so-secret base on Pakistani territory. But many in the administration are hesitant, because past joint operations with Pakistan’s military and intelligence services have rarely worked. “The question is whether the Taliban’s boldness has scared the Pakistanis enough to realize that they need our help,” one national security official involved in the debate said. “We don’t know the answer to that.” There is similar concern about sending American special forces on missions deeper into Pakistan, for fear of the political reaction if they are discovered operating inside Pakistan’s borders. (One of Mr. Bush’s aides put this problem pithily last summer when he asked, “How do you invade an ally?”) Make Nuclear Arms the No. 1 Concern: In public, the administration says that no matter what inroads the Taliban make in Pakistan, the country’s nuclear arsenal is secure. “The Pakistani leadership and in particular the military is very focused on this,” Admiral Mullen said on Monday. But when not speaking on the record, intelligence and administration officials say they cannot rely on vague assurances that the weapons and the nuclear materials are locked down. They worry about a stream of intelligence suggesting sophisticated efforts by Al Qaeda and others to place their sympathizers inside the nuclear infrastructure. (Pakistani officials say they extensively screen the thousands of nuclear workers and weed out anyone suspect. But even in the United States, such programs have failed in the past.) So some officials argue for extending the American program to help secure Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, pressing Pakistan to develop joint plans to evacuate those weapons if they came under threat. It is doubtful that the Pakistanis, who fear the United States has secret plans to seize the arsenal, would ever agree. The bluntest statement of concern to date came a week ago from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton , in an interview with James Rosen of Fox News. “If the worst, the unthinkable, were to happen, and this advancing Taliban, encouraged and supported by Al Qaeda and other extremists, were to essentially topple the government for failure to beat them back, then they would have the keys to the nuclear arsenal of Pakistan,” she said. “We can’t even contemplate that,” she added. “We cannot let this go on any further, which is why we’re pushing so hard for the Pakistanis to come together around a strategy to take their country back.”

Afghanistan
Pakistan
Barack Obama
Afghanistan War
US Military


Jets Owner Johnson Discusses Losing His Daughter

Abstract: FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — As Woody Johnson, the Jets ’ owner, spoke at a conference table inside team headquarters Thursday, he tried to separate football wins and personal loss. For the first time since he purchased the Jets in 2000, Johnson’s team has advanced to the American Football Conference championship game. But his daughter Casey was found dead in a Los Angeles home Jan. 4, the same week the playoff run began. “It’s two different worlds, and that’s how you handle it,” Johnson said in his first extended comments since his daughter’s death. “One doesn’t really help the other. The other is the reality. I lost a daughter. There’s no way to bring her back.” For the most part, Johnson has controlled his emotions. But there are moments, like after the Jets beat the Bengals in the playoffs and Coach Rex Ryan awarded him the game ball in the locker room, when Johnson finds it difficult to maintain composure. Johnson said he still thought about his daughter all the time and that the past two weeks had been “brutal.” He said the public nature of his daughter’s death, the cause of which has not been determined, did not bother him. But even the Jets’ winning streak has not eased the pain he feels, Johnson said. “It really doesn’t affect it,” Johnson said. “The outcome is the outcome. It happened. I wish I could change it, but I can’t.” His loss hangs over what has become his most fulfilling season as the Jets’ owner. The last time this franchise made the A.F.C. title game, Johnson said, he watched it on television as a fan. Moments from this season will remain with him — like after the Jets topped the Bengals in the final game of the regular season to clinch the playoff berth, and the players left the locker room to take a lap around the field and thank the fans. “They were just unbelievable,” Johnson said. “Happiness index, that’s about as high as it has been so far. I think it can go higher.” He added, “We’re peaking at absolutely the perfect moment.” Johnson also addressed criticism over personal seat licenses at the new Jets stadium, saying they gave fans ownership they did not have before. He called the increase in P.S.L. sales a frenzy since December and said the non-P.S.L. part of the stadium, the upper bowl, had been sold out. As for the possibility of facing Brett Favre, the Jets’ quarterback last season before he left for Minnesota, in the Super Bowl , Johnson said, “That would be a wonderful opportunity for us.”


Vermont: Governor’s Race Is Going to Legislature Without a Concession

Abstract: The second-place finisher in last month’s election for governor, Scott Milne, said Monday that he was staying in the race, bucking recent history of the losing candidate’s conceding, and leaving the final say up to the State Legislature. Mr. Milne, a Republican, criticized what he called the “pervasive incompetence” of Gov. Peter Shumlin’s administration and described the state’s finances as “a disaster.” He cited a litany of complaints, including the lack of a plan to fund the state’s proposed single-payer health care system, the failure to put into effect a law requiring statewide prekindergarten and the absence of a plan to clean up Lake Champlain. Mr. Shumlin, a Democrat, reiterated that he was the top vote-getter and that he expected the Legislature to return him to office. “I continue to believe that the Legislature will honor the long democratic tradition of electing the candidate who received the most votes,” Mr. Shumlin said in a statement. The Vermont Constitution requires more than 50 percent of the vote to be elected governor, or the Legislature gets the final say. Traditionally the losing candidate concedes, and the vote is a formality. The secret-ballot vote will be held Jan. 7. Mr. Milne, a travel agent from Pomfret, got 45.1 percent of the vote. Mr. Shumlin got 46.4 percent. Democrats control 106 of the 180 seats of the Vermont House and Senate. “My expectation is historical precedent will be followed,” said the House speaker, Shap Smith, a Democrat.

Vermont
Scott Milne
Peter Shumlin
Gubernatorial races
State legislature


Paul Lioy, Scientist Who Analyzed 9/11 Dust and Its Health Effects, Dies at 68

Abstract: Paul J. Lioy, an environmental scientist widely known for his analysis of the dust spawned by the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and for his studies of its health effects over time, died on Wednesday after collapsing at Newark Liberty International Airport. He was 68. The cause had not been determined, his wife, Jean Lioy, said. Dr. Lioy (pronounced LEE-oy) was an internationally renowned authority on exposure science, a field concerned chiefly with pollutants and toxins that straddles environmental science and occupational health. He was the author of “ Dust: The Inside Story of Its Role in the September 11th Aftermath ,” a book for a general readership published in 2010. At his death he was a professor of environmental and occupational health of the Rutgers University School of Public Health, in Piscataway, N.J., as well as the department’s deputy director for government relations. From his home in Cranford, N.J., Dr. Lioy could see the plumes of dust that rose from the ruins of the trade center towers on Sept. 11, 2001. A million tons of dust would rain down on Lower Manhattan. Once his initial horror at the spectacle subsided, the scientist in him began to wonder just what was in that dust. Image Dr. Paul Lioy. Credit Nick Romanenko/Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey “It was unprecedented in terms of the complex characteristics of the materials released,” Dr. Lioy told The Asbury Park Press in 2011. He was one of the first scientists to gather samples from the scene, arriving to find a fluffy gray dust so profuse , The New York Times reported, that he and his colleagues simply scooped it from the windshields of nearby cars and secured it in Teflon bags. “It had a weird texture and color to it,” Dr. Lioy told The Times in 2005. The samples were dispatched for laboratory analysis. The results indicated the presence of elements that included chromium, aluminum, barium, titanium, mercury and lead; jet-fuel components; cellulose from paper and cotton; particles of wood, plastic, glass, asbestos and concrete; and organic matter that Professor Lioy, with circumspection and great tenderness, described as containing “everything we hold dear.” The findings allayed a potential health concern — asbestos-related illnesses — while illuminating an actual one: the persistent cough and other respiratory symptoms developed by some police officers, firefighters, construction workers and residents. “In the first 48 hours, the government was concerned about asbestos being the primary threat,” Dr. Lioy explained a decade after the attacks in an interview on the Rutgers website . “But it was not. Asbestos exposure is a long-term problem. Once the ‘World Trade Center cough’ started appearing, we realized it wasn’t caused by asbestos.” Three things, he continued, caused the cough. “First, cement dust was very alkaline — the pH was above 10,” he said. “That irritated the linings of the lungs. Second, glass fibers got stuck in people’s upper airways, like wooden logs in a narrow stream. That trapped the cement particles and enhanced the irritation. And there were very coarse particles that comprised the vast quantity of the dust mass.” Image Dr. Lioy's book about Sept. 11 residue. Paul James Lioy was born on May 27, 1947, in Passaic, N.J. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Montclair State College, as it was then known, followed by a master’s degree in the field from Auburn University in Alabama and master’s and doctoral degrees in environmental science from Rutgers. As a researcher, Dr. Lioy was associated for many years with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, which was largely absorbed into Rutgers in 2013. He was previously affiliated with New York University and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Over the years his other work included research on oil spills, ozone pollution and household pesticides. Dr. Lioy was part of a team of scientists that in 1988 found no connection between the environment around the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, N.J., and various cancers. The study was undertaken after four members of the New York Giants football team developed cancer within an eight-year span. Besides his wife, the former Jean Yonone, whom he married in 1971, Professor Lioy’s survivors include his mother, also named Jean Lioy; a son, Jason; a sister, Mary Jean Giannini; and two grandchildren. His other books include “ Exposure Science: Basic Principles and Applications ” (2014), written with Clifford Weisel. Even a decade after Sept. 11, Dr. Lioy and his colleagues faced empirical questions about the long-term health consequences of the attacks. “We understand the respiratory effects of the disaster, but cancer is still a big unknown,” he said in the Rutgers interview. “At this point, there are no truly quantifiable higher incidences of cancer attributed to 9/11. Still, we must remember that in the general population, about one in four Americans contracts a form of that disease. So the data will have to be examined carefully going forward.”

Obituary
9/11,Sept 11
Medicine and Health
HazMat
Rutgers
Paul Lioy


Bank of England Leaves Low Rate Unchanged

Abstract: LONDON — The Bank of England kept its main interest rate at a record low on Thursday because of concerns about higher energy prices and the continuing economic crisis in Europe. The bank left the interest rate unchanged at 0.5 percent and kept its bond purchasing program at £325 billion ($516 billion), as expected. Britain’s economy has shown some signs of improvement over the last two months, and the rate of consumer price increases has started to slow. But some economists warned that it was too early to say whether the trends would continue for the rest of the year. Bank of England policy makers are concerned about a rise in the price of oil and a squeeze on disposable household incomes because of the government’s austerity measures. These are concerns that policy makers can address by keeping interest rates low and increasing the money in circulation, especially as bank lending remains tight. “The headwinds are still there in higher energy prices and the euro zone crisis, but inflation is better, and some global markets are in better shape,” said David Tinsley, an economist at BNP Paribas in London. The Bank of England might yet decide to expand its asset-buying program next month, when the current round of stimulus is expected to end. Two central bank policy makers pushed for more stimulus last month, while a majority preferred to wait for a clearer economic outlook. The European Central Bank left its main interest rate unchanged at 1 percent on Wednesday. Recent signs that the euro zone economy was still struggling outweighed concerns by some economists about rising energy prices and the risk of inflation, especially in Germany, which has Europe’s largest economy. Unemployment in the 17 countries that use the euro reached its highest level in 15 years during February, according to data published Monday. The British economy shrank 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, more than the 0.2 percent previously expected, the Office for National Statistics said last week. But some economists say they now believe the country will avoid falling back into recession in the first half of this year. The government’s austerity program, which includes thousands of public sector job cuts, pay freezes and benefit cuts, continues to weigh on consumer spending, but the manufacturing and construction sectors showed surprising strength recently. Manufacturing in March grew at the fastest rate in 10 months, and the construction sector reported the fastest growth in 21 months, according to reports by Markit Economics, a financial data provider. Gross domestic product probably rose 0.3 percent in the first quarter of this year, the British Chambers of Commerce said Tuesday. Business lobby groups have called on the Treasury to do more to support companies and ease their access to loans.

Bank of England
Interest Rates
Great Britain
Inflation (Economics)
European Sovereign Debt Crisis (2010- )
Government Bonds


Only Downtrend at Pump: Independent Stations

Abstract: WHEN Bill Hands bought an unbranded gasoline station in Orient on the North Fork 21 years ago, it had three pumps — one for regular, one for premium and one for diesel. It still does. Mr. Hands’s three-pump station, called the Orient Service Center, on Main Road, is a rarity on Long Island, according to Charles A. Gardner, director of the Suffolk County Office of Consumer Affairs. Long Island has lost at least 45 percent of its gasoline stations in the last quarter-century, and many of those that have disappeared were small independent stations. “You don’t see those at all anymore,” Mr. Gardner said. “They’re not cost-effective.” While the number of stations has plummeted, the amount of gasoline sold has increased — from pumps that can dispense up to five grades of gasoline. Many factors have cut into profits and driven stations out of business, owners and industry officials say: new environmental laws, some of which require costly equipment upgrades; the soaring cost of oil; the cost of credit-card sales; and the consolidation of major oil companies. “There are not many small mom and pop businessmen like ourselves who can make it anymore,” said Andy Harris, who bought Turnpike Service in Jericho 22 years ago. “I made more money 20 years ago on an oil change than I make today because the price of oil is so high. And the cost of insurance and workmen’s compensation has hit the sky. Put it all together and you are making less and working harder today to make the same kind of money.” Mr. Hands, a major-league pitcher in the 1960s and ’70s, said the big gasoline price increases had harmed small stations, too. “Our profit margin stinks ever since the price went out of whack,” he said. “Most of the guys make more on a candy bar than a tank of gas.” Kathryn Odessa, executive director of the Long Island Gasoline Retailers Association, said that because it had become so expensive to do business, “most of our guys look for a way to bring in business with a convenience store or a car wash.” “We have between 800 and 1,000 members, and 20 years ago we probably had double that,” she said. “Every month we see several stations that are forced to close down.” Yet plenty of gas is being sold on Long Island — 1.197 billion gallons in 2005, up from 1.106 billion in 2000, according to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. That is about an 8 percent increase. Today’s pumps dispense many different grades of gasoline, some as many as five, and each has its own meter on the pump, Mr. Gardner said. He said the most at any one station is 45 meters; Suffolk has a total of 9,967 meters, up from 8,612 in 1986. But although the number of meters has increased, he said, the number of gas stations in Suffolk has dropped from 945 in 1986 to about 580 today. In Nassau County, 550 stations are operating today, compared with 1,130 30 years ago, said Glenn F. Powell, assistant director of weights and measures in the Office of Consumer Affairs. New environmental laws have had an effect, said Ralph Bombardiere, executive director of the New York State Association of Service Stations and Repair Shops. Among the subjects of these laws are the disposal of used oil and batteries and the type of underground gas tanks that may be used. Over the years, steel tanks were ordered replaced with fiberglass tanks. By 2010, the law will require double-walled fiberglass tanks. “As a result, smaller stations are closed and sold because they are not worth putting in the new tanks and upgrading the station,” Mr. Bombardiere said. “They say there are 1,000 tanks in each county that have to be changed, and it costs about $100,000 per location.” Mr. Bombardiere said that environmental issues and economics had combined to force stations to pump more gas than in the past to remain profitable. “Years ago, 50,000 gallons a month was O.K.,” he said. “Now 100,000 is not good enough. What they have done is added pumps to stations, and each station has to pump 150,000 to 300,000 a month.” Mr. Bombardiere said gas stations had turned to “alternate profit centers,” like convenience stores, because the profit margin on gasoline is so low. “The margins are not more than 15 cents a gallon,” he said. Because 60 percent of customers use credit cards, which cost retailers 9 cents for every $3 gallon of gasoline, the profit margin falls to 6 cents on those sales, Mr. Bombardiere said. Factoring in cash sales, the profit margin averages out to about 10 cents a gallon, he said. Mr. Powell, of the Nassau Office of Consumer Affairs, said consolidation in the industry has had an impact, too. “After Texaco and Chevron merged, Texaco and Shell merged their distribution network and Texaco pulled out of the market,” he said. Shell has also closed a lot of stations, he said. Major oil companies also own many of the tanks on Long Island and often the land on which the gas station sits. Mitchell Macy, the owner of DJM Service Station in Deer Park, said that he had been renting his station from Mobil for the last 21 years and that Mobil was scheduled to replace the tanks early next year. But he said his experience had changed since Mobil merged with Exxon in 1999. “There was once a family feeling, a team effort, a cooperative type of thing where the company was concerned about your well-being and the rent was reasonable,” Mr. Macy said. “Since the merger there has been a different mentality. The rent has tripled, from $4,000 a month to $12,000. They figure the property is worth X number of dollars and they want a return on their investment.” Mr. Macy said Mobil declined his offer to buy his station and refused to allow him to put in a convenience store. (Beth Snyder, an ExxonMobil spokeswoman, said only, “Any business development discussions we would have with him are between him and the company.”) As a result, Mr. Macy said, he is selling cigarettes, candy, soft drinks and lottery tickets from the small area near the register. “When I first came into this business, I was making a nice living,” he said. “Now there is just enough to subsist on.”

Long Island (NY)
Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline


Reports of 2 Tibetans Killed in Chinese Raid on Monastery

Abstract: BEIJING — A Tibet advocacy group based outside China said in a report released Friday that two Tibetans were killed Thursday night by Chinese paramilitary officers who were raiding a monastery in Sichuan Province to detain rebellious monks. The group, the International Campaign for Tibet , said security officers beat to death a man, Dongko, 60, and a woman, Sherkyi, 65, as they gathered with other people outside Kirti Monastery to try to prevent 300 monks from being taken away. Officers from the People’s Armed Police, a paramilitary force usually deployed to quell riots, had put the monks in 10 trucks, the group said, citing as its source a monk from Kirti living in exile who remained in contact with the monastery. The officers then clashed with a large number of laypeople, many of them elderly, who tried to prevent the trucks from driving out the main entrance gate, the group said. The report could not be independently confirmed, though information from the International Campaign for Tibet has generally been accurate. Several human rights groups said this week that Chinese officials had begun barring foreigners from the area. One officer at a police station in the nearby county of Ganzi, known as Kardze in Tibetan, confirmed by telephone that violence had taken place in Aba (Ngaba in Tibetan). An officer answering the phone at a police station in Aba said that there was no violence and that foreign tourists could visit. The standoff between Chinese forces and Tibetans at Kirti Monastery has been the most hostile one since a mass uprising in spring 2008 across the Tibetan plateau that involved rioting and protests by Tibetans and a brutal crackdown by mostly ethnic Han security officers. Kirti was the scene of one of the most violent clashes at the time, and at least 10 Tibetans were shot dead, according to Tibet advocacy groups. Photographs of some of those dead Tibetans have been smuggled or e-mailed outside China. The latest conflict began on March 16, when a 20-year-old monk, Phuntsog, killed himself by self-immolation to protest Chinese policies in Tibet. Security officers then locked down the monastery and began detaining monks . Some were reportedly beaten or tortured. Laypeople began gathering at the main gate of the monastery on April 12 to try to stave off a mass detention of monks. When officers raided the monastery at 9 p.m. on Thursday, the laypeople moved to protect the monks, the International Campaign for Tibet reported. The American government criticized China this month for its treatment of monks at Kirti. On Monday, the English-language edition of Global Times , a populist Chinese newspaper, ran an editorial that said “the Chinese police intervened to control lamas that had stirred up trouble.” On Saturday, the Tibetan government in exile, based in Dharamsala, India, condemned the actions of the Chinese forces, as did the abbot of the Kirti Monastery that has been established in Dharamsala as an exile institution with ties to the one in Sichuan. The monks in India often get immediate updates about events in China through cellphone calls and other means. Human Rights Watch released a statement on Friday saying the ban on foreigners in the area that took effect in recent days was a harbinger of a tough crackdown. “The Chinese government has a history of sealing off Tibetan regions ahead of deploying disproportionate force to quell protests,” said Phelim Kine, a researcher for the group. “Human Rights Watch has documented numerous incidents across the Tibetan plateau since March 2008 in which Chinese security forces have subjected protesters and those suspected of subversive activity, including Tibetan monks, to brutality and ill treatment during arrests.”

Buddhism
Monasteries and Monks
Politics and Government
Murders and Attempted Murders
Tibet
China


From Crimea, Putin Trumpets Mother Russia

Abstract: MOSCOW — Putting his personal seal on the annexation of Crimea, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia traveled on Friday to the naval port of Sevastopol, where he used the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany to assert that Moscow had the right to take over the Black Sea peninsula. Over the past decade, Mr. Putin has gradually turned Victory Day into a celebration of resurgent Russian power and nationalism. The visit to Sevastopol, in southwestern Crimea, the historical home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, was a potent manifestation of his goal of reviving Russia as a global power. The West reacted to the annexation in March with sanctions against Mr. Putin’s closest circle of advisers and a few significant companies. By going to Sevastopol, the Russian president effectively told Western leaders that Moscow would do as it pleased. Mr. Putin’s visit coincided with new clashes in eastern Ukraine. Victory Day celebrations there were marred by an attack by Ukrainian government forces on a police station in Mariupol, where at least seven people were killed. In his speech on a naval quay, Mr. Putin, as he did at a ceremony in Red Square earlier in the day, stuck to the patriotic themes of the day — strength, heroism, struggle and resilience. Speaking for less than four minutes, he ran through Sevastopol’s history: its naming by Catherine the Great 230 years ago; a 250-day Nazi siege the city endured; and its vote to rejoin Russia in March. “I think 2014 will also be an important year in the annals of Sevastopol and our whole country, as the year when people living here firmly decided to be together with Russia, and thus confirmed their faith in the historic truth and the memory of our forefathers,” Mr. Putin said in remarks broadcast nationwide. Image Residents of St. Petersburg carried portraits of their ancestors on Friday as Russia marked the 69th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. Credit Dmitry Lovetsky/Associated Press “There is a lot of work ahead, but we will overcome all the difficulties because we are together, and that means we have become even stronger,” he said. The annexation provoked the greatest tensions between Russia and the West since the height of the Cold War. Mr. Putin has maintained that the territory had long belonged to Russia and that he was only righting a historical wrong. Separatists in Crimea, backed by the Russian military, organized a referendum in March in which an overwhelming majority of the residents, many of them ethnic Russians, chose to come under the control of Moscow. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine immediately issued a statement protesting Mr. Putin’s visit. It accused him of ignoring international law, the demands of the international community that Russia not occupy Crimea and a treaty between Russia and Ukraine that calls on both countries to respect their mutual borders. “This provocation once again confirms that Russia deliberately chooses to escalate tensions in Russian-Ukrainian relations,” said the statement. “We urge the Russian side to return to civilized methods of interstate relations.” The secretary general of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, condemned Mr. Putin’s visit as “inappropriate.” Speaking in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, Mr. Rasmussen said that NATO considered the annexation illegal, The Associated Press reported. Mr. Rasmussen also said that NATO still had “no visible evidence” that Russia was withdrawing its 40,000 troops from the border with Ukraine, as Mr. Putin had said it would on Wednesday. In Sevastopol harbor, the backdrop for Mr. Putin’s speech, the naval version of the Victory Day parade unfolded with 10 gray warships lined up at anchor. Before Mr. Putin spoke, television images showed the Russian president riding in a modest white naval launch through the harbor. Video President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia traveled from Moscow to Sevastopol on Friday to commemorate Victory Day, in the process showcasing his nation’s military might. Credit Credit Yuri Kochetkov/European Pressphoto Agency As he drew along aside each warship, he yelled into a microphone, “Hello, comrades!” and the naval personnel, arrayed at least two deep on deck in their blue dress uniforms, shouted back a ritual greeting to their commander in chief, followed by a rousing “Hurrah!” People jammed the shores of the harbor to watch. After seizing many ships from Ukraine, Russia complained that they had been neglected and were barely more than scrap. The Kremlin has allocated $5 billion to refurbish the fleet. Mr. Putin’s visit came just hours after a thundering Victory Day parade in Moscow, a lengthy review of Russia’s refurbished military and advanced hardware as it rolled through Red Square. The annual event came under global scrutiny in light of the tension over the future of Ukraine. In the parade, the tribute to Crimea was not subtle. The first vehicle to enter the square behind row after row of tightly choreographed marching soldiers was an armored personnel carrier from a Black Sea Marines brigade, flying a large Crimean flag. Some 11,000 soldiers and 150 military vehicles, including tanks and intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, rumbled through the square. Through cloudless skies, a flyover included 69 aircraft, marking the 69 years since the victory over Nazi Germany. During the parade, military bands playing marches and patriotic songs maintained a steady, thumping background beat. In brief opening remarks before the first soldiers marched, Mr. Putin said the celebration represented all that makes Russia strong. Image A war veteran saluted among the crowd at a Victory Day ceremony in Odessa, Ukraine. Authorities in the city feared that pro-Russian groups would use the day to stage an attack. Credit Mauricio Lima for The New York Times “This is the holiday when the invincible power of patriotism triumphs,” Mr. Putin said. “When all of us particularly feel what it means to be faithful to the Motherland and how important it is to defend its interests.” Often, Mr. Putin’s annual Victory Day speech is both a national pep rally and a summary of the state of the Russian Federation, with the president using the address to emphasize important positions on foreign or domestic policy. This year, however, he adhered to the day’s theme of patriotism in the few minutes he spoke. In Donetsk, a provincial capital that has fallen largely under the control of pro-Russian separatists, posters went up around the city showing red flags and Soviet military medals and praising “the heroes of Donbass,” as the region is known. Outside the headquarters of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, the separatist political group there, a frank and unapologetic celebration of Stalin was taking place, an indication of how the current conflict reflects divisions over the legacy of World War II. A flag showing Stalin’s mustachioed face and the phrase “Death to fascists” flapped lazily in a morning breeze. “Kiev doesn’t want us to celebrate this holiday because they are supported by neo-Nazis,” said Yevgeny Ivanov, 44, a supporter of the Donetsk People’s Republic, as he was interviewed in a city park. Victory Day has always been a fraught holiday in Ukraine, even under ordinary circumstances, because Ukrainians fought on both sides. The Ukrainian Partisan Army, which at times was loosely allied with Nazi Germany — because it considered any opponent of the hated Soviet Union an ally, its defenders say — became an inspiration for nationalist groups that arose in the 1990s. The interim government in Kiev has discouraged large marches this year because of concerns about an outbreak of violence. In the Black Sea port of Odessa, Ukraine, the city authorities feared that pro-Russian groups, which lost at least 40 supporters killed in street fighting and a fire last week, would use the day to regroup and stage a counterattack by seizing administrative buildings. The authorities decreed that the authorized celebration there should be confined to one park.

Vladimir Putin
Crimea
Russia
Ukraine
International relations
Sevastopol Ukraine


A Shake-Up at Citigroup May Follow Earlier One

Abstract: When Citigroup ’s chief executive, Charles O. Prince III, shook up the leadership and structure of the investment banking unit last week, the move signaled a willingness to take dramatic action. But it also diverted attention from another trouble spot: the bank’s domestic consumer businesses, which analysts say have limped along without a clear focus and are facing one of the most challenging environments in years. The question for many analysts and investors, who will be listening to today’s conference call on Citigroup’s third-quarter results, is whether changes are also needed in the consumer unit. Citigroup will kick off a week of bank earnings reports. While no bank is expected to escape this summer’s credit storm and slowdown in the housing market, Citigroup is expected to be particularly hard hit. Earlier this month, it warned that it would write off $5.9 billion after it suffered heavy losses from fixed-income activities and moved to shore up depleted reserves. Profit is expected to fall to about $2.2 billion from $5.51 billion, a 60 percent decline. The heavy blow has raised questions about Citigroup’s diversified business model and risk management practices in its investment bank. The problems have also raised fresh doubts about Mr. Prince’s ability to manage the sprawling enterprise, despite strong support from Citigroup’s directors and biggest shareholder. With attention focused on investment banking, the domestic consumer unit, which make about a third of its profit, has largely gotten a pass. But inside and outside Citigroup, executives and analysts suggest that the bank needs broader strategic changes. Its credit card division has lost market share, analysts said, and revenues are stagnating. The size and location of Citigroup’s retail branches pale in comparison to its big rivals, analyst said, putting the bank at a disadvantage because it cannot use customer deposits to finance loans. Though executives say that loan losses are contained, it is a large consumer finance and subprime lender. Indeed, about a third of this quarter’s earnings hit — nearly $2 billion — is expected to come from setting aside more money to protect it from failing loans. But the bigger issues may be those of strategy and leadership, analysts said. Citigroup’s domestic consumer operations do not have a coherent identity. Bank of America, for example, competes by pushing as many financial products as it can through its branches. The consumer strategy of JPMorgan Chase is to be a low-cost operator in national lending operations and put a branch on every street corner in rich markets like Chicago and New York. Citigroup’s strategy on the other hand ranges from leading innovation in mobile banking to building more branches and encouraging cross-business activities like integrating the brokerage firm Smith Barney into the retail network. The most recent and articulation is that its credit card division is the internal A.T.M. for the bank’s faster-growing units. “This business can be a good capital generator, helping the company to afford future stock buybacks, pay dividends and drive the expansion of acquisitions across the globe,” said Eric W. Aboaf, the chief financial officer overseeing the North American consumer business in an interview yesterday. “The goal of North America is to grow it at a healthy pace but also help our strategy to grow overseas.” Executives say there are signs of progress. After years of seeing little or no revenue growth, Citigroup’s consumer operations reported increases of at least 6 percent in the first two quarters. In aggregate, executives said its card business was doing nicely, even if the private-label portfolios it acquired from Sears and Home Depot face pressure from a deteriorating economy. They are optimistic about their branch-building efforts and the progress of the Smith Barney pilots in Boston and Philadelphia, which have broke even thanks to greater revenue growth. “It is a battleship, and it takes some time to turn,” Mr. Aboaf said. Still, it faces significant challenges. The housing market is in the midst of a downturn; competitive pressure and interest-rate conditions are difficult. Its recent move to increase reserves by $2 billion, which executives say was based on signs of stress in economic and consumer payment data, suggests the situation will get worse. And then there are concerns about the fact that Citigroup has woefully underinvested in its computer systems for years. “At the least sexy of all levels, the company is just technologically behind the eight-ball of Bank of America and even J.P. Morgan,” said Meredith A. Whitney, a banking analyst at CIBC World Markets. Citigroup in the second year of a five-year technology overhaul. Analysts believe that project will allow it catch up to, not surpass, its peers. That leaves Steven J. Freiberg, the head of Citigroup’s North American consumer business, with essentially four options, none of which are considered particularly strong. First, the consumer business could divest certain core operations. Senior executives, for example, have floated the idea of selling its slow-growing credit card unit, said people close to the situation. But Mr. Prince and Mr. Freiberg have always pushed back. Citigroup’s growth plans depend on the cash that the unit throws off, and selling it might cause its business model, and expansion strategy, to unravel. Second, Citigroup could acquire a major regional bank, which would allow it to significantly expand its retail franchise. But Mr. Prince has sought to refocus the bank to fast-growing markets overseas. Third, Citigroup could choose to push much harder on its growth strategy, pumping more into the retail operations. But that would involve a big multiyear investment at a time when Mr. Prince is under pressure to control expenses. That has left Mr. Freiberg to pursue the fourth strategy, which is to seek incremental gains where he can. Citigroup’s strategy of building 100 branches a year will not pay off immediately but may down the road. Its online bank CitiDirect, is a helpful addition, analysts said, but is not a panacea to its deposit gathering problems. In addition, a recent restructuring may help improve sale productivity. In the end, analysts, said the changes that Citigroup made in its investment banking unit might have emboldened the bank to make some moves in the consumer businesses.

Citigroup Incorporated
Prince Charles O III
Banks and Banking
Company Reports
Finances


Iraq Takes a Dispute With Qatar to Court

Abstract: This spring, just seven weeks after becoming a citizen of Qatar, a Brazilian-born midfielder helped his adoptive nation defeat, and ultimately eliminate, Iraq in a World Cup qualifying match. Now, four months later, his participation in that game continues to upset Iraq’s national soccer federation because he was ineligible to play. The Iraqi federation, citing the rules of soccer’s world governing body, believes that Qatar should have to forfeit the game and that Iraq should be allowed to advance in the qualifying tournament. The player is commonly known as Emerson — although not the Emerson who has played for Brazil in the World Cup. His ineligibility was first brought to light in May by the Chinese Football Association, which reported to the world governing body, FIFA, that he had, among other violations, represented Brazil at the under-20 level in international competition, thereby rendering him ineligible to play for Qatar. And, under FIFA rules: “Any team that is found guilty of fielding an ineligible player shall forfeit the match in question. Victory and the resultant three points will be awarded to the opposing team.” But FIFA, while acknowledging that Emerson was ineligible for the Iraq match, has twice refused to change the game’s result because it determined that Qatar was not complicit. “The FIFA Disciplinary Committee examined the case and determined that the Qatar Football Association was not responsible,” a FIFA spokesman said in an e-mail message. The Iraqi Football Association planned to renew its appeal this week and take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, an international panel that has final say over legal matters in sports. The court said Thursday that it had received an incomplete statement of appeal from the Iraqi federation and expected to receive the full appeal by Monday. “It is unfair and now they will have to decide whether we will qualify or not,” said Hussain Saeed, the head of the Iraqi federation. The Qatari football association could not be reached for comment. In recent years, the Iraqi national team has been one of soccer’s international feel-good stories, standing as a rare symbol of unity in a sharply divided state. One year after the country was invaded, with a sports system left in tatters by Saddam Hussein’s regime, the national team finished fourth at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. In 2007, Iraq was a surprise winner of the Asian Cup. But 2008 has not been so kind. The Iraqi federation was briefly suspended by FIFA in May when Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s government disbanded Iraq’s Olympic committee and other national sports federations. Three days later, after the Iraqi government softened its stance, the ban was lifted. Now, Iraq faces a legal battle to regain its place in the qualifying tournament for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. “Football became the only joy for us in our bad situation, and those 11 players united us again and made us laugh and believe again that there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” said Mohammad Nasir, a 27-year-old Iraqi fan from Baghdad. “We are praying that Qatar are considered to have lost and we can make our dream of reaching the World Cup come true.” FIFA, however, says the Iraqi federation has no case, mainly because it has not followed proper appellate procedure. In a fax dated July 2, FIFA rejected Iraq’s first appeal because protests regarding the eligibility of players in the preliminary competition must be lodged 24 hours before the match in question; Iraq’s protest was lodged on June 17. “The argument put forward by the Iraqi Football Association that they did not know earlier about the eligibility of the player Emerson is not valid and is to be rejected,” FIFA said in the fax. “The regulations are clear and do not leave any space for interpretation or discretion in this regard.” The second rejection came after Iraq failed to pay the appeal fee of 3,000 Swiss francs within the required 10 days as a volley of letters sent back and forth disputed Iraq’s right to appeal. “As in every appeal procedure, formal requirements need to be met in order that the appeal is admissible,” a FIFA spokesman said in an e-mail message. Interwoven throughout the dispute is Emerson’s wandering soccer career. One of the game’s globe-trotting mercenaries, he has played in South America, Europe, Japan and the Middle East, with controversy often hovering over him. As a promising teenager in a land full of them, Márcio Emerson Passos developed in São Paulo F.C.’s youth system and, by the late 1990s, had ascended to the first team. In 1999, he was selected to play for Brazil at the South American under-20 championships. At the time, his passport listed his birthday as Sept. 6, 1981. When he was detained by the Brazilian police at an airport in Rio de Janeiro in 2006, the passport, along with his birth certificate and even his name, were shown to be fake. Márcio Emerson Passos, born in 1981, was also Márcio Passos de Albuquerque, born in 1978. Which one is his true identity is still unclear. But if he really is Márcio Passos de Albuquerque, it will mean that he was technically ineligible to play for Brazil’s under-20 team in 1999, since he was 21 at the time. In 2000, under the name Márcio Emerson Passos, he had joined Sapporo F.C. of the Japanese second division and in 2001 had played for Kawasaki Frontale. Later that season, he moved up to the first division with the Urawa Reds, where he stayed, with success, until July 2005. On his way to Qatar in 2006, where he had been playing for a year for Al Sadd F.C., the police caught on. The ultimate outcome of the investigation is unclear, but Emerson was allowed to return to Qatar. Like a few of its neighbors in the gulf, Qatar has spent many years trying to build a domestic soccer scene with aging stars and oil money. Among those who have played professionally in Qatar are Gabriel Batistuta, the Argentine striker; the French World Cup winners Marcel Desailly and Franck Leboeuf; and the Brazilian legend Romário. It is not rare for Brazilians to show up on the rosters of other nations. The Japanese national team has Alex from Maringá, Spain has Marcos Senna from São Paulo, Portugal has Deco from São Bernardo do Campo, Mexico has Zinha from São Paulo, and Tunisia has Francileudo dos Santos from Zé Doca. FIFA’s president, Joseph. S. Blatter, has been especially outspoken about the matter of changing allegiances. “FIFA takes this issue very seriously,” a FIFA spokesman said. So does Qatar. According to FIFA, the Qatari federation has brought a lawsuit against Emerson.

Soccer
Iraq
Qatar
World Cup (Soccer)
FIFA


U.S. Judge Denies Stay of Execution in Georgia

Abstract: ATLANTA — A federal judge on Monday rejected a Georgia inmate’s argument that his execution, scheduled for Tuesday evening, should be stayed because the state had refused to disclose details about the drug to be used in his lethal injection. Marcus Wellons, 58, was sentenced to death in the 1989 rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl. Absent a court order issuing a reprieve, he will be the first person executed in the United States since the botched lethal injection in Oklahoma of Clayton D. Lockett on April 29. The execution of Mr. Lockett, who writhed in apparent agony when he was supposed to be unconscious, raised new concerns about states’ lethal injection protocols, the drugs used and new laws in some states, including Oklahoma and Georgia, that keep details about those drugs secret. The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Mr. Wellons’s clemency request Monday afternoon. Later, Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr. of Federal District Court in Atlanta denied Mr. Wellons’s request for a stay of execution. A spokeswoman for Mr. Wellons’s lawyers said they would immediately appeal the judge’s ruling. Mr. Lockett’s execution figured prominently in Mr. Wellons’s argument that the State of Georgia was violating his constitutional rights by not revealing details about the drug to be used in his lethal injection. In Mr. Wellons’s legal challenge, his lawyers noted that state officials, citing the law, declined to disclose the qualifications of the personnel who would carry out the execution. “This is not an abstract concern,” the lawyers wrote, citing Mr. Lockett’s case as an example of “the consequences of error in the placement of the intravenous lines during an execution.” Mr. Lockett was injected with a combination of three drugs; an autopsy conducted on behalf of his defense team showed that Oklahoma officials had improperly placed an injection line into a vein in his groin. Georgia is among a number of states that recently passed so-called secrecy laws in an effort to maintain access to lethal injection drugs, particularly after many drug companies, fearing political backlash, declined to sell them. The Georgia law, which went into effect last year, classifies as “confidential state secrets” the identities of people who carry out death sentences on behalf of the state, as well as the identities of the drug makers. Mr. Wellons’s lawyers argued that the law made it impossible to know the provenance or quality of the single drug, the barbiturate pentobarbital, that the state planned to use in his execution. Judge Batten, in a 10-page ruling, found that the State Department of Corrections had a “compelling need” to keep the drugs used a secret, given the shortages it might otherwise face. He also said that Mr. Wellons’s concerns about the drug, and the person administering it, amounted to “pure speculation.” Monday’s ruling was one of a series of disappointments for death penalty opponents, who noted that challenges by death row inmates have yet to overturn any of the new drug secrecy laws. This month, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of a death row inmate in Texas, Robert James Campbell, on similar grounds. But Mr. Campbell was granted a last-minute stay last month by a federal appeals court, so the court could review whether he is mentally disabled. A state judge on Friday rejected a separate challenge in which Mr. Wellons argued that the pentobarbital to be used was not obtained with a valid prescription under state law, saying lethal injection “does not constitute the practice of medicine.” Mr. Wellons’s lawyers said they planned to appeal the ruling. Mr. Wellons is scheduled to be executed Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the state prison in Jackson, Ga.

Capital punishment
Georgia
Murders
Clayton Darrell Lockett
Timothy Batten


Two Editors to Share No. 2 Spot at The Associated Press

Abstract: The Associated Press, one of the world’s largest news organizations, named two successors on Friday to its second-ranking editor, Mike Silverman, who is retiring at the end of March. Mike Oreskes and John Daniszewski were both promoted to senior managing editor, effective April 1, working directly for Kathleen Carroll, the executive editor. Mr. Daniszewski, 55, had been managing editor for international news, and Mr. Oreskes, 54, had been managing editor for United States news. Each will keep oversight of his current area, while adding other parts of the sprawling operation to his portfolio, Ms. Carroll said in a memo. Mr. Oreskes was a political correspondent, metropolitan editor and Washington bureau chief, among other positions, for The New York Times, and then the top editor at The International Herald-Tribune, before joining The A.P. last year. Mr. Daniszewski spent most of his career as a foreign correspondent, working for The Associated Press and then for The Los Angeles Times, before returning to The A.P. as an editor in 2006. Mr. Silverman, who will turn 65 in March, has been with The A.P. for 37 years. The A.P. has more than 4,000 employees and 240 news bureaus globally.

Associated Press
Oreskes Michael
Silverman Mike
News and News Media
Appointments and Executive Changes


U.S. Cites Medicaid Overpayments to New York State

Abstract: ALBANY — The federal government paid New York State $700 million more in 2009 than the state needed to care for residents with developmental disabilities who lived in its institutions, according to the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington. The finding suggested that billions of dollars earmarked for institutional care in New York had been used for other purposes over the last several years. No penalty is recommended, however, because the payments were approved by federal regulators. Instead, the report recommends that federal and state officials do what they have already been trying to do for the last several months — negotiate a more accurate system of how Medicaid reimburses the state for care of those with developmental disabilities. The report also recommends that the new reimbursement system comply with federal requirements that “payment for services be consistent with efficiency and economy.” Most of the people with developmental disabilities in residential care in New York are not in institutional settings, but rather in group homes spread across communities throughout the state. State officials have said that extra Medicaid dollars earmarked for institutions have been redirected to other parts of its system of care, including group homes. But the inspector general’s office is considering a further review of how the excess money was spent. Concerns about inflated reimbursements to the state for its institutions have been discussed for some time. In 2010, The Poughkeepsie Journal reported that Medicaid was spending more than $4,000 a day on residents of institutions for people with developmental disabilities. The inspector general’s report said the actual cost of care was about $1,500. The findings help explain one of the reasons New York spends roughly $10 billion a year caring for people with developmental disabilities — more than California, Florida, Illinois and Texas combined — while serving fewer than half as many people. As part of the continuing negotiations, federal officials plan to scale back reimbursements to New York, but over a period of several years. The report was drafted by the office of Daniel R. Levinson, the inspector general of the federal health department. In comments appended to the report, both New York and federal regulators agreed to work together to address the issues raised in the report.

Disabilities
Group Homes
Health Insurance and Managed Care
Regulation and Deregulation of Industry
New York State
Medicaid


To Fight or Not to Fight? A Tight Battle for Drivers’ Title

Abstract: To fight or not to fight, that is the question facing the five remaining contenders for the Formula One drivers’ title. With four races left and as the series prepares for the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka on Sunday, only 25 points separate the top driver, Mark Webber, from his most distant rival, the fifth-placed Jenson Button. And with 25 points awarded for a victory, and only 18 for second place, that existential question will most likely decide the winner: Just how aggressive should the contenders be? Should their strategy be win at all costs, or should they take a more conservative, play-it-safe approach to score points regularly without risk of a crash? “As I have kept saying, you can’t win the championship tomorrow,” said Webber, the Red Bull driver who leads the series with 202 points, only 11 more than the Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso in second place. “But as we have seen in the last few races, it can make it harder if you’re not there in the end,” Webber added, indicating how important it is to finish the race and earn points. “It’s a bit of a boring way to go racing because it’s the big, big picture stuff. But you need to get the balance right, and that’s something that so far has not been too bad for me.” Behind Webber and Alonso is Lewis Hamilton, who only two races ago was leading the series. But in each of those races, the McLaren Mercedes driver put the accent on aggressive driving, made errors and dropped out of the race. By the second corner of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on Sept. 12, Hamilton attacked for position, collided with Felipe Massa’s Ferrari and was eliminated from the race. He had a similar accident at the next race, in Singapore on Sept. 25, in a battle with Webber, whom he now trails by 20 points. Hamilton, however, said it was just a question of judgment in the heat of the moment on whether to try to pass. “You just have to hope that when you do make those choices you make the right ones,” he said. “You’re not always going to get them right.” Managing the risk correctly, however, can pay off. In Singapore, Webber was in third place when Hamilton attacked him through a corner. Instead of backing off and letting him through, Webber held his line. Their cars touched, and Hamilton dropped out with a damaged car. Webber’s Red Bull teammate, Sebastian Vettel, who is fourth in the standings, only 1 point behind Hamilton, made a series of overly aggressive moves earlier in the season. But one of the most costly was at the Belgian Grand Prix on Aug. 29. Vettel was behind Button’s McLaren Mercedes and attacked him incessantly, impatient to pass him for second position. After 16 laps, during an attack, Vettel hit a slippery spot, spun around, and harpooned Button’s car, knocking Button out of the race and himself out of contention. “I try to focus on myself, try to achieve my optimum — sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t,” Vettel said. “I want to win races, I want to win the title. If the car is good enough to finish in fourth, we have to finish fourth, and not fifth, sixth or seventh.” Last year, a race winner earned 10 points and the second-placed driver earned 8. With a 25-point award for victory this year, and 18 for second place, none of the leading drivers can afford in the next four races to score no points at all. “Things can change quickly,” Vettel said after the Singapore Prix. “You win one or two races in a row and you are back again. The most important is the consistency.” Christian Horner, the team director at Red Bull, agreed: “It’s going to be down to who makes the least mistakes, who is the most consistent, and who is the most competitive in the remaining events.” “Our drivers are focused on one race at a time,” he added. “Hopefully, that will see us score heavily.” It is, however, probably no surprise that Alonso has won three of the last five races. Not only has his Ferrari improved, but Alonso has taken a more aggressive approach since he had nothing to lose in mid-summer. “I stick with my belief that the key is to always finish on the podium and then do the math in Abu Dhabi,” Alonso said, referring to the season finale on Nov. 14. With such a large number of points separating the winner from the second-place driver, however, a driver cannot afford to sit back and collect only second-, third- or fourth-place finishes while sacrificing so many points to a leader. Last year, Button ultimately won the title with an aggressive drive in the last race. Although he had built a large lead early in the season, he had drifted in a lackluster, conservative way through the final races after his car ceased to be as competitive. “You start thinking to yourself, ‘I can give away 1 or 2 points here, maybe 2 points here or 3 points there,’ but as soon as you start thinking about that you’ve taken your eye off the ball; you’re very cautious, but then you can be way too cautious,” he said. “If there is an accident that you think may happen, you back away from it. But also you don’t want to be aggressive because if you lose 10 points in one race and your car is not quick enough to challenge for a victory that could be your championship gone.” “But this year I have to fight,” he said, “I have to be more aggressive because I am behind.”

Automobile Racing
Formula One
Japan
Nagoya (Japan)


French Open — Andy Roddick Ousted in First Round

Abstract: PARIS (AP) — Six major champions made their way through the first round of the French Open on Sunday’s opening day. One did not: Andy Roddick . Venus Williams , a seven-time Grand Slam champion, recovered from a slow start to beat 19-year-old Paula Ormaechea of Argentina, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. Earlier in the day, Samantha Stosur of Australia and Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia were first up on the main two courts, and both won in straight sets. Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain and Juan Martín del Potro of Argentina soon followed on the same courts, and with similar results. And the 2008 French Open champion, Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, then made it 6 for 6. But Roddick, the 2003 United States Open champion, lost to 88th-ranked Nicolas Mahut of France, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, exiting in the opening round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2007. None of the top three men played on Day 1. Top-ranked Novak Djokovic and No. 3 Roger Federer will be on court Monday, and Rafael Nadal is set to begin his attempt for a record-breaking seventh French Open title on Tuesday. Among the women advancing to the second round were the Americans Melanie Oudin and Irina Falconi.

Roddick Andy
French Open (Tennis)
Tennis
Mahut Nicolas
Williams Venus
Ormaechea Paula


No Pole-Vault Record, but the Return of a Champion

Abstract: ISTANBUL — On a Sunday afternoon dominated by American athletes, the pole-vault runway was back to being a zone reserved for Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia, just as it was when gold medals were a foregone conclusion, not a point of conjecture. Her rivals were long gone, eliminated at lower altitudes at Atakoy Arena and already giving interviews. The only competition left for Isinbayeva was herself with the bar set at 5.02 meters, or little over 16 feet 5 ½ inches: a centimeter higher than the world record she set earlier this indoor season. Isinbayeva, still one of her sport’s biggest stars, did not quite trump herself this time, but the message was clear as she celebrated her victory at these world track and field championships with a clean backflip worthy of a score. After nearly four years without a global title, Isinbayeva, 29, is back in command under pressure, back to being the favorite with the London Olympics coming this summer: an Olympics that she continues to insist will be her last. “I think what I learned is that I have to value everything that I’ve done, all my victories and all my medals from the past,” said Isinbayeva, whose winning vault was 15-9. “Before, I considered that every victory means nothing for me without world record. It seems like defeat, and that was really the wrong thing. The last three years shows me to win a world champion title is not as easy as I expect.” The Americans certainly made it look routine here, dominating this three-day competition by winning 10 gold medals and 18 medals over all. Britain was a distant second with 2 gold medals and 9 total. “Going into the championships, I gave the team a challenge of 17 medals,” Coach John Moon said. “Some people might have thought that was foolish with such a young team, but we came here and got 18 medals. We sent a message that we are ready for London.” In last year’s world outdoor championships in Daegu, South Korea, the Americans won 25 medals, including 12 golds, with more events contested. The Americans won five gold medals Sunday. Brittney Reese won her fourth straight global title in the women’s long jump. She did it on her final attempt with a jump of 7.23 meters, or a little more than 23 feet 8 ½ inches, the longest of her career and the longest women’s jump indoors since 1989. Bernard Lagat, an enduring force at 37, then won the men’s 3,000, a race that included all three medalists from last year’s outdoor championships. Will Claye later won the men’s triple jump at 17.70 meters, beating his former Florida teammate Christian Taylor by 7 centimeters. The other American winners were the men’s 4x400 relay team and Aries Merritt, who upset Liu Xiang of China in the men’s 60 hurdles. Reese, 25, has won the last two world outdoor and world indoor long jump titles. She credited her championship record Sunday to her teammate Janay Deloach, who had taken the lead by jumping 6.98 meters on her final attempt but ended up with the silver medal. “It just motivated more to go out there and try to bust a big one,” Reese said. Lagat, a Kenyan by birth who became an American citizen in 2004, has now won three world 3,000 titles indoors. He won Sunday on a sore ankle by outkicking two of his former Kenyan compatriots — the silver medalist Augustine Choge and the bronze medalist Edwin Soi. Lagat finished in 7 minutes 41.44 seconds, 0.03 ahead of Choge. But the victory Lagat wants most is the Olympic 5,000 in London after an Achilles’ tendon injury spoiled his first Olympics as an American in 2008. “It was the most desperate time of my life,” Lagat said. “I was like, ‘What can I do? Can somebody do something? Give me an extra leg or something?’ ” This time, he will stick to one event. “It’s one thing doing world championships, but doing the Olympics is where everybody looks at it in the U.S.,” he said. “For me, it’s always about the kids, the young ones, they will look at the Olympic year. This is where we can reach the next generation of runners.” With many of the world’s top athletes sitting out the indoor season to prepare for the outdoor season and London, there was also room for some American surprises here. In her first global championship, Erica Moore, a former hurdler and heptathlete, took a bronze medal in the women’s 800 that was won by Pamela Jelimo of Kenya. And in the women’s 60, won by Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica, Tianna Madison, the 2005 world champion in the long jump, took a bronze in her first season as a sprinter at this level, although she intends to refocus on the long jump outdoors. “I think the U.S. is on a different planet,” said Charles van Commenee, the coach of UK Athletics. “We don’t compare. They are too good for us, but there may be one or two events where we can make your life difficult.” The Britons already managed to do that here, beating the Americans in the women’s 4x400 relay, a race that featured a tremendous third leg from Britain’s Christine Ohuruogu and a tight finish as Perri Shakes-Drayton held off Sanya Richards-Ross. Shakes-Drayton won by 0.03 and was leaning so far forward that she went sprawling. “I could feel her,” Shakes-Drayton said. “And I was thinking, ‘You’re not passing me, not until I cross this line.’ ” The British men were also briefly named the winners of the 4x400 after protesting against the United States for an alleged foul in the final exchange area by Gil Roberts. But the Americans successfully appealed and finished, well after the arena had cleared, with their 10th and final gold medal: a record total for any nation at a world indoor championships.

Track and Field
Istanbul (Turkey)
Pole Vault
Isinbayeva Yelena