As Concerts Return to Forest Hills Stadium, So Do Complaints

Abstract: Before the music came back, most people in the brick townhouses and apartment buildings of Forest Hills didn’t give much thought to the crumbling, steel-and-concrete Romanesque stadium abandoned by the United States Open 37 years ago. Its $120,000-a-year taxes, waist-high weeds and colony of feral cats were headaches for its owners, the West Side Tennis Club. But rock shows have returned to the Forest Hills Stadium , with window-rattling sounds that pierce the neighborhood’s calm. Some people have simply left home at performance time. Others hunker down and console weary toddlers, put off homework or S.A.T. preparation, and reschedule family affairs. The city’s Department of Environmental Protection has recorded sound in excess of permissible levels, and issued a notice of violation this week to the concert producers for the Replacements’ too-loud finale on Friday, which closed a show in which the opening bands had repeatedly been warned to turn it down. “It was nice and quiet here until they started this thing up,” said Pete Fontana, 63, a postal worker, pointing to the arena’s concrete arches across from his second-floor bedroom on Dartmouth Street. Image The noise and increased foot traffic from the concerts, which began again last year, have upset some in the neighborhood. Credit Benjamin Norman for The New York Times “If I wanted to go to sleep — forget it,” he said. Volume isn’t the neighbors’ only complaint. One August evening, profane lyrics reverberated on the streets during a hip-hop show by Drake and Lil Wayne. “I probably would not be happy having it pound in my house,” said Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz, who lives in the community just north of Queens Boulevard. She said that she heard the “foul language” from the Lil Wayne show, as did children, but that she hoped the venue succeeded. The concerts began in the summer of 2013 , with Mumford & Sons, after two producers, Jon McMillan and Mike Luba, presented a plan to spend millions of dollars to restore the stadium “to its former glory,” Mr. Luba said in an interview last week. “It’s a pretty important, iconic, New York landmark, both on the sports side and on the music side,” he said. Opened in 1923, the stadium rose on the grounds of a club that hosted its first national lawn tennis championship in 1915 and was eager to attract more tournaments. Star players like Althea Gibson, Rod Laver and Jimmy Connors shone there. By the 1960s, rock stars shared the lights: Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, the Who. A scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train” was filmed there. The Open left after its 1977 tournament. Concerts in the 1980s prompted an outcry over noise, litter and traffic. In the 1990s, daylong festivals sponsored by liquor companies brought raucous crowds and charges of racism by a promoter who said neighbors had “a problem with black people coming into the neighborhood.” The music events ended after a flurry of noise code citations from the city. Image Ann Whyte, a nearby resident, photographed people exiting the stadium along the wrong street. Credit Benjamin Norman for The New York Times Rot took hold on the idle stadium’s fences, sewers and electrical systems, said Roland Meier, the West Hills Tennis Club’s president. Ripping the arena down was one option. But club members rejected plans to demolish the stadium or build condominiums on the space. To cover operating costs, the club — a 12-acre oasis of grass, clay and hard courts — increased its annual fees, which are now $12,000 for a family. Membership dwindled to 700, from 1,200 in the club’s 1970s heyday. The plan from Mr. McMillan and Mr. Luba offered revenue: The club gets a share of each ticket, though Mr. Meier would not say how much. The two producers said millions had been spent so far on renovations, and more would be coming, but they would not name the investor providing the cash. “It gives us some funds to fix up the clubhouse and the grounds,” Mr. Meier said, “without having to go to the membership, which is great for a change.” Mr. Luba and Mr. McMillan, who own Tiebreaker Productions, met with elected leaders, merchants and others to forge relationships with the community. They ripped out the arena’s original wooden benches, which were splintered wrecks. They widened aisles, installed lighted handrails and patched concrete in 3,000 spots. They sent eight trucks to Toronto to fetch a repossessed stage that seemed designed for their space. “It was a magic thing for us,” Mr. Luba, 42, said, gazing at the stage at dusk on Friday, while awaiting the crush of 11,000 Replacements fans. Image Concertgoers heading toward Forest Hills Stadium on Friday. Credit Benjamin Norman for The New York Times Not so for many neighbors. The stage faces an area inhabited by middle-class families and, increasingly, new immigrants. Some residents have begun a group, Concerned Citizens of Forest Hills, to protect their quality of life as well as their property values, which they fear are diminishing. One member, Douglas J. Gilbert, 57, a patent lawyer who lives in an affluent part of the neighborhood, obtained city noise reports for the concerts under the state’s Freedom of Information Law. For the June 21 show by the Zac Brown Band, the data shows decibel levels throughout the set higher than the limit specified by the city’s noise code, enacted in 2005. It was the same on Aug. 9, during a show by the indie-rock band Modest Mouse. But besides a too-loud beer truck, the city issued no violations. Officials of the Environmental Protection Department said the noise during those concerts did spike above the allowable limit but was not sustained. Discretion is built into the code, they said, so inspectors can help people fix things, not just levy fines. But as Lil Wayne’s show began on Aug. 19, the bass boomed for long periods, violating the code. Inspectors sat the promoters down to explain strategies for mitigating noise. On Friday, the city stepped in. Inspectors warned the first two acts, Deer Tick and the Hold Steady, when the music got too loud, and the bands turned down the volume. But the Replacements played at three times the permissible level during their finale. Image Forest Hill Stadium hosted the Davis Cup in August 1955. The United States Open was also played at the stadium through 1977. Credit Edward Hausner/The New York Times “They basically turned it up too loud for the end of the show,” Chris Gilbride, a department spokesman, said. “That means we’ve sent them a violation for as much as $3,200.” Many residents say their goal is not to kill the concerts. A few said they liked some of the music. “All we are asking for are reasonable limits,” said Andy Court, 53, a Forest Hills resident who helped found the neighborhood group. “We shouldn’t have to fight for this. It should have been in place from Day 1.” The promoters say they are listening. They held the number of concerts this year to five, though there is no official limit. Each one ended by 10 p.m. They noted that some residents enjoy the shows and sit outdoors to listen. Their sound-squelching efforts go on: On Friday, they tested sound blankets, like the ones airports use to muffle jetliners’ roar, and they are considering using them more fully, along the arena’s fences, at its 10 portals or on its horseshoe-shape walls. Despite the citation, a spokesman for the producers said, they “look forward to working closely with the D.E.P., as they have at every show, to bring the community another great season of entertainment next year.” “We can’t be blind to the community’s needs,” said Mr. McMillan, 38, who is also the venue’s general manager. “We don’t want this to end.” Image Paul Westerberg, left, and Dave Minehan of the Replacements, a loud act. Credit Chad Batka for The New York Times But curfews and muted music present their own problems. On Friday, as one of the opening acts was playing, many punk rock fans in the crowd said they wanted more. Why weren’t the Hold Steady playing louder? Not pumping enough bass to numb their hearing? Not turning the intimate, outdoor arena into the virtual percussive subwoofer it was designed to be? At intermission, Jesse Malin, 45, a fan who grew up in Whitestone, Queens, was looking forward to the Replacements’ set . “Hopefully they’ll be able to turn it up, like a proper rock show,” he said. Hours later, Maggie Li stood in the dark on her porch, relieved the show across the street was over, but fearing the next one, by the guitarist Phil Lesh, on a school night. Her son Eric, 11, a seventh grader at Hunter College High School in Manhattan, would have to catch the subway by 6 the following morning. And his brother, Charlie, 8, spent the summer complaining. “He would say, ‘I hate the concerts. I cannot sleep, Mommy. Can you tell them to stop,’ ” said Ms. Li, 42. “I said, ‘It will be over, try to concentrate.’ But what can I do?” Then she answered her own question: Sell and move away.

Stadiums Arenas
Forest Hills Queens
Music
Noise
Forest Hills Tennis Stadium Queens NY
Hold Steady
West Side Tennis Club
Replacements


Citigroup Says Judge Suspends Wachovia Deal

Abstract: Citigroup announced late Saturday that it had persuaded a New York judge to temporarily block Wells Fargo from acquiring Wachovia , firing the first shot in what could be a prolonged legal battle. Citigroup has accused Wells Fargo of wrecking its plan to acquire Wachovia’s banking operations for $2.2 billion, or $1 a share, in a deal arranged by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Four days after that deal was struck, it fell apart when Wachovia agreed to Wells Fargo’s offer to pay seven times as much for the entire company. The underlying battle is over which company will emerge from the economic crisis in a stronger position among a smaller number of financial giants. Citigroup contends that the deal with Wells Fargo violates an agreement that prohibited Wachovia from having any sale or merger discussions with anyone other than Citigroup until Oct. 6. The order issued by a judge on Saturday extends the term of that agreement until further court action, Citigroup said. A person briefed on the situation said that Citigroup was seeking $60 billion in damages from Wells Fargo for interfering with the initial transaction. Efforts to reach a Wells Fargo representative late Saturday night were unsuccessful. Christy Phillips-Brown, a Wachovia spokeswoman, said the bank “believes its agreement with Wells is proper, valid, and is in the best interest of shareholders, employees and American taxpayers.” “Under that agreement,” Ms. Phillips-Brown continued, “Citigroup is always free to make a superior offer to Wachovia.” A senior Wachovia official said that Wachovia’s lawyers had not seen the judge’s order and suggested that Citigroup’s actions were a pointless legal maneuver designed to destabilize the Wells deal. The litigation could be a blockbuster, pitting some of the nation’s largest surviving financial institutions against one another and giving work to the most expensive legal talent money can buy. Citigroup is represented by the New York lawyer Gregory P. Joseph; Wachovia by David Boies of Boies, Schiller & Flexner; and Wells Fargo by Paul K. Rowe of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, according to people briefed on the matter. Until late Thursday, Citigroup believed it had reached a deal with Wachovia after marathon talks last weekend under intense pressure from federal regulators worried about Wachovia’s financial condition. Regulators agreed to help Citigroup by absorbing losses over $42 billion. Wells Fargo, which had walked away from talks with Wachovia, returned late Thursday with its surprise bid, in which Wells Fargo offered to buy all of Wachovia, not just its banking operations, for about $15 billion in stock, far more than Citigroup had offered. And Wells Fargo’s deal, which takes advantage of a lucrative tax loophole tied to deferred losses, would be structured without any direct government support. Federal regulators did not block Wells Fargo’s proposal, and by early Friday morning, its merger with Wachovia was approved by the boards of both companies. The move left Citigroup officials fuming. On Friday, they put out word to regulators and the public that Wachovia had breached an exclusivity agreement and that Wells Fargo had interfered with their deal. That night and Saturday morning, Citigroup officials huddled in a makeshift war room at the law offices of Davis Polk & Wardwell in Midtown Manhattan. Federal regulators have been discussing the offers, with senior officials from the Federal Reserve encouraging the parties to reach a swift resolution, according to a person briefed on the matter. Citigroup raised the stakes in the merger battle on Saturday afternoon, asking Justice Charles E. Ramos of New York State Supreme Court to issue an emergency order blocking the deal between Wachovia and Wells Fargo. Representatives from the banks met at Justice Ramos’s home in Cornwall, Conn., late Saturday afternoon for more than three hours of oral arguments, according to people briefed on the situation. In the unusual weekend session, Citigroup presented Justice Ramos with a 16-page complaint naming both Wells Fargo and Wachovia, and their boards, as defendants. But it has not yet filed the suit formally because the courts were closed. Late Saturday, after several hours of intense legal jockeying, Justice Ramos issued an injunction effectively blocking the Wells Fargo deal, pending a hearing scheduled for Friday. The agreement with Wachovia that Citigroup has cited and that contains the ban on negotiating with any other potential bidders was not a final merger contract but rather a letter agreement to “continue to proceed to negotiate definitive agreements.” Lawyers not involved in the battle said Wachovia could defend the Wells Fargo deal by arguing that it was better for its shareholders. Wachovia is likely to claim that its fiduciary obligations — its responsibility to protect the interests of its investors — required it to consider the Wells Fargo bid and, given its higher price, to accept that bid. The litigation could put regulators in a tough spot. The Wells Fargo deal may be better for taxpayers, but if it succeeds, in the future other financial institutions may not be willing to help the government, as Citigroup did, because of the risk that they might not reap the anticipated benefit.

Wachovia Corp
Mergers Acquisitions and Divestitures
Citigroup Incorporated
Wells Fargo & Co
Banks and Banking


Stung by an Upset a Year Ago, the Aztecs Avoid Another

Abstract: SPOKANE, Wash. — San Diego State knew that unsung New Mexico State had upset New Mexico this season. And the Aztecs had spent a year being reminded that they were victims of Florida Gulf Coast’s mesmerizing N.C.A.A. tournament run last March. The Aztecs, seeded fourth in the West Region, barely overcame those worries with a tense 73-69 overtime victory over 13th-seeded New Mexico State on Thursday, advancing to face another upstart team on Saturday. The Aztecs (30-4) will play 12th-seeded North Dakota State, a surprise winner over fifth-seeded Oklahoma. Guard Xavier Thames, the Mountain West Conference’s player of the year, led San Diego State with a game-high 23 points. San Diego State never trailed, and it seemed to have the game in hand with 32 seconds left and a 5-point lead. But New Mexico State’s Renaldo Dixon scored off a missed shot with 15.6 seconds remaining, and San Diego State turned the ball over on the inbounds pass. Guard Kevin Aronis missed a 3-point attempt from above the top of the key, but the Aggies got the rebound and gave him another chance. Aronis moved to his left, stopped and drained the tying basket from about 25 feet, well beyond the arc, with six seconds left. Thames’s running shot at the buzzer missed. But his first jump shot in overtime gave the Aztecs the lead again, and they never gave it up. Dwayne Polee II missed a free throw with 6.8 seconds left in overtime and San Diego State clinging to a 70-68 lead. After a timeout, he made the second. Daniel Mullings was fouled with two seconds left, before he could attempt a potential tying 3-pointer. He made the first free throw and missed the second intentionally, hoping the Aggies would get the rebound. But Polee did, and he made two free throws to secure the victory. For most of the game, Thames was more than enough of a counterweight to New Mexico State’s 7-foot-5-inch, 355-pound Sim Bhullar. Bhullar, a sophomore center, scored 14 points, mostly on dunks. Mullings led the Aggies (26-10) with 15 points.

College basketball
NCAA Men's Basketball,March Madness
San Diego State University
New Mexico State University


James Finds Help, but He Hardly Needs It

Abstract: CLEVELAND — Whether it was an act of accountability or arrogance, Mo Williams had put the pressure atop his sinewy shoulders with his series guarantee. But it was LeBron James who had to carry the true weight of those words with little help. And although James needed little help Thursday evening, he got it anyway. The Cleveland Cavaliers found their playoff moxie in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals and delivered a balanced 112-102 reminder that they have playoff breath remaining. James added to his burgeoning postseason résumé and had a direct hand in 32 consecutive points scored by the Cavaliers in the third and fourth quarters, including their first 28 of the fourth, as the Cavaliers sent the best-of-seven series back to Orlando. They trail the Magic by 3-2. James’s mind-set? “Just close out,” he said. He did with resolve. “We just gave him the ball and said ‘Give is some good looks, big fella,’ ” Cleveland Coach Mike Brown said. With the Magic seeking to double-team James, the Cavaliers inserted him at the high post, where he could either pass or make a path to the basket, a move that routinely resulted in a foul. “That’s what great players do,” Brown said. “Great players put their teams on their back and everybody steps up when the ball comes to them. But you have a player like LeBron who puts them on his back.” James’s twisting drive through the lane with 2 minutes 22 seconds remaining resulted in a finish at the rim, Dwight Howard’s fouling out and a revitalization of the series. With chants of “M.V.P.” raining down from a delirious Quicken Loans Arena audience, James put the Cavaliers ahead, 102-93. His encore was a long 2-point jumper, then an assist with a quick flick of his wrist to Anderson Varejao. James got his first triple-double of the series with a stunning 37 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists. He scored 15 of his points at the free-throw line. For once, it was not a solitary effort, and James was free to fully dissect the Magic’s defense. Williams, who scored 24, became the first Cavalier other than James with at least 20 points in a game in the series. Zydrunas Ilguaskas chipped in 16 points on 8 shots and Daniel Gibson connected on three of his four 3-point attempts. “That’s what I need from those guys,” James said. “I don’t add no pressure on my teammates, but they know we’re a very strong team when they make shots.” This time it was the Cavaliers who celebrated burying 3-pointers. They gritted their teeth, flexed their muscles and showed resolve by not allowing the Magic to leave with a victory despite their battling back from an early deficit. The Cavaliers climbed to a 22-point first-quarter lead, then gave all but a wisp of it up by halftime, leading by only 56-55 at the break. The game swayed entering the final quarter with Orlando ahead, 79-78, before James opened the period with his assists to Williams and Gibson.He went on to score the Cavaliers’ next 10 points. Orlando had no answer. “They hit shots and basically we’ve got to do a better job of containing LeBron at the top of the key,” Howard said. “He got a lot of easy shots and he creates for others.” The win moved the Cavaliers one step closer in an arduous path that runs against the grains of N.B.A. history. Only eight teams have rallied from a 3-1 deficit in N.B.A. history; 190 have tried. “We feel like we’ve been put in a lot of different situations and we feel like we can handle any situation that may come our way,” Brown said. The Cavaliers are still grappling with how to best defend Orlando’s arsenal of 3-point shooters and the interior presence of Howard. They did not stymie Howard on Thursday and seemed resigned to foul him. Howard still collected 24 points and 10 rebounds on a relatively thrifty 10 shots. Hedo Turkoglu scored a team-high 29 points for the Magic, but Rafer Alston, who had the hot hand in Game 4, made only 1 of his 10 shots. Brown sought advice from San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich on how to suture the Cavaliers’ defensive leaks. When asked before the game if he had the answer, James responded: “I don’t know. If I had a great answer, it wouldn’t be 3-1 Orlando at this point. We knew they were a competent team to go against because they’ve got the interior in Dwight and they’ve got so many guys around him that can shoot.” They did have a steady, if completely realistic, game plan for their own mental approach. “We’re going to approach every game like it’s our last,” James said beforehand. “It’s the panic button. Not panic like it’s the end of the world, but we’ve got to play three good games.” One down, two to go. Every game could be the Cavaliers’ last. But for a night, at least, their hopes lived on with a little backup for James. REBOUNDS The game held a distinct New York flavor among its audience to witness LeBron James. C. C. Sabathia, Alex Rodriguez and Mariano Rivera of the Yankees, who begin a series against the Cleveland Indians on Friday, sat in the first row behind the Cavaliers’ bench. The music mogul Jay-Z, a part owner of the Nets, sat courtside.

Basketball
Playoff Games
Cleveland Cavaliers
Orlando Magic
James LeBron
Williams Mo


Profit Alert Hurts Shares of Macquarie

Abstract: SYDNEY, Australia, Feb. 1 - Investors in Macquarie Bank, the Australian investment firm, have become accustomed to making money. The shares have consistently outperformed other Australian blue chips, fueled each year by record profit and the return to shareholders has soared over the past decade. But Macquarie's run was interrupted yesterday when its share price took its biggest fall in almost four years. The stock dropped 7.4 percent, to 63.45 Australian dollars, ($47.75), after Allan E. Moss, the chief executive, warned that profit from the investment banking division, the company's star performer, would fall significantly when full-year earnings were reported in March. The key to Macquarie's success has been its ability to build a global niche market by acquiring public works like toll roads and airports and offering them to investors. It has been so successful with these multibillion-dollar deals that major Wall Street firms have been rushing to follow suit. After the share price decline and warnings about investment banking income on Wednesday, some are questioning whether the company has lost some of its shine. To fans of Macquarie stock, the sell-off was an overreaction. Mr. Moss, an unassuming and conservative manager, told investors and analysts that the bank was still on track to record an annual profit that was slightly up from the record 823 million Australian dollars ($619 million) reported last year. Many analysts have been forecasting full-year earnings of 950 million dollars ($715 million) and setting a share-price target above 80 dollars ($60) for 2006. In recent years, Macquarie has been a master at surprising the markets with results that exceeded expectations. "The thing is, the market keeps expecting it to set new highs," said Don Hamson, fund manager at State Street Global Advisors, an investment management company based in Boston. "We have had two or three years of exceeding expectations, so you have to keep exceeding it more each year." In the last few weeks, the bank's notoriety outside Australia for audacious deal-making has been growing, with its hostile takeover bid for the London Stock Exchange and multibillion-dollar purchases of toll roads in the United States and Europe. "You would expect the deal flow to increase over time because our capital base is increasing and our staff numbers are increasing," Richard Sheppard, Macquarie's deputy managing director, said in an interview before the sell-off on Wednesday. "I think the key to our success is that we have been successful in finding and acquiring attractive assets for investors and then we have had the capacity, aided by good market conditions, to go out and raise the capital for those investments." Analysts say Macquarie, based in Sydney, has emerged as the undoubted leader in the business of financial re-engineering of infrastructure. The bank and its subsidiary funds have about 112 billion in Australian dollars ($84.2 billion) in assets under management.


Nascar Returns to Basics in Hope Fans Will Return to Nascar

Abstract: DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — No one has acknowledged seeing The Punch, but it has already gone down in Nascar lore alongside the great fights in stock-car history. Tony Stewart versus Kurt Busch in 2008 may not top Cale Yarborough taking on Donnie and Bobby Allison after a wreck on the last lap of the 1979 Daytona 500. But it is conveniently compelling. According to the reports repeated in the news media for days, Stewart punched Busch in a closed-door meeting with Nascar officials after the two bumped and battered each other’s racecars during a practice session at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 8. How fortunate for Nascar, which has advertised for weeks that it wants the drivers in its premier Sprint Cup series to show more emotion as a way to lure back fans who may have soured on the sport. Voilà, there’s Stewart — who last year accused Nascar of manipulating action on the track à la pro wrestling — suddenly in the middle of the brouhaha that played perfectly into Nascar’s desired story line for 2008. Nascar officials could not have scripted it any better. “I think it was just sheer coincidence that it happened on the heels of us saying we’re going back to basics,” the Nascar spokesman Jim Hunter said Thursday as race teams qualified and continued preparing for the season-opening Daytona 500 on Sunday. Hunter declined to confirm the punch even happened, but he agreed it fit into Nascar’s game plan. “It played great,” he said. But will it play to the base? That is what Nascar hopes as it seeks to reconnect with the core fans it believes it lost after years of growth and expansion. After a drop in television ratings the past two years, Nascar has responded with initiatives designed to bring fans back to races and television sets. “We do want to work harder in the future with our fan base who likes Nascar the most, our die-hard fans, to make sure we’re not missing anything with the original promise we have with them as we’ve gone on to growth and taken advantage of a lot of opportunities,” Brian France, Nascar’s chairman and chief executive, said in November at the close of the 2007 season at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “There’s always the possibility you may not be focused on your core fans enough, but we’re going to make sure in the future that is the case.” So Nascar pledged last month to let up on the penalties for bad behavior it believed stifled the personalities of its drivers over the years and turned them into a collection of bland corporate pitchmen. Nascar did not fine Stewart or Busch. Instead, it issued a six-race probation period and a vague threat regarding future discipline. France also said Nascar would add fewer new wrinkles in a sport that had in recent years altered its Cup championship format, introduced a new racecar and shifted its schedule from it Southern base. Series officials also want to return to consistent starting times to make things easier for fans. Currently, races start at various times to accommodate television broadcasts. Nascar is even bringing back country music. “I think people thought to nationalize this thing it needed to be part of pop culture and not mid-American culture, and I think that’s where we went askew,” Humpy Wheeler, president of Lowe’s Motor Speedway near Charlotte, N.C., and a longtime promoter in the sport, said recently. “We were playing a little too much rock music and we needed to get back to Hank Williams.” But it might take a little more than “Jambalaya” to bring back fans. In the last 10 to 15 years, Nascar has spread out nationally with tracks in Texas, Kansas, Las Vegas and outside Chicago. At the same time, the series dropped two racetracks and four of six Cup races previously held in North Carolina, the heart of Nascar country. Gone are the longtime hubs like North Wilkesboro Speedway and North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham. Darlington Raceway in South Carolina lost one of its two annual events; the traditional Southern 500 on Labor Day weekend has been replaced by a race in California. Nascar is not returning to North Wilkesboro or Rockingham anytime soon. “We left those people behind a long time ago,” the driver Kyle Petty, son of the seven-time champion Richard Petty, said last month. “So if you’re trying to go back and get them, sorry. You’re going to have to get on the bus and go back a lot of years to get that core fan. “If you define your core fan as a 1990s fan, when Jeff Gordon first came into the sport, then yes, you can probably go back and get some of those people.” But on the way to winning four championships, Gordon became the ultimate corporate pitchman. He has been the model for a new generation of drivers who mostly watch what they say and do and rarely stray from the company line. The top graduate of that school is Jimmie Johnson, the two-time defending champion, who drives the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet. Johnson said Wednesday that he had not thrown a punch since high school. “My dad was a heavy-equipment operator, and my mom was a school bus driver,” Johnson, who grew up in a trailer park in Southern California, said last month. “I didn’t have anything but the ability to be a corporate America spokesperson. That’s the only tool I had. I got programmed over the course of the years, and in that programming and what I’m about has led to a great relationship with Lowe’s, and I don’t want to do anything different in how I represent them and Chevrolet.” Johnson did say he would try to show more of his personality. But he will never be like Stewart, the cantankerous anti-Johnson of the Nascar garage. On the way to winning his two Cup points championships, Stewart has battled drivers, fans, the news media and series officials for years. Now Nascar is unleashing him, for better or worse. Still, at least one Johnson fan seems happy to see it. “The hard-working, beer-drinking fans, that’s what they want to see,” said Neil Kelley, 54, a podiatrist from Fortuna, Calif., who attended Thursday’s Gatorade 150 qualifying races at Daytona. Kelley, bedecked in Johnson gear from T-shirt to jacket, is a longtime fan of the sport who happily calls himself a “redneck.” “They want to see guys show emotion,” he said of his friends who have lost interest in Nascar. “They want to see some fistfights occasionally. They want to see a little cursing and a guy wearing grubby Levi’s and a T-shirt and growing a scruffy beard when he’s not in the car.” That would be Stewart. But even he cannot replace the hole that exists in Nascar’s core audience. Nor can Nascar. Wheeler said: “We lost some of the Southern core race fans because the changes were made too fast, and I think we alienated a lot of them because they looked upon a lot of this growth as greed and not growth. “And then they lost Earnhardt. No one can measure the impact of that, because the problem of losing him is, we really didn’t pick a replacement.” It has been seven years since Dale Earnhardt, the seven-time Cup champion, died after crashing on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Even now, at any given race, fans wear far more jackets, caps and T-shirts devoted to Earnhardt and the famed No. 3 than to most of the current drivers. “He was my hero,” said Tom Stratton, 50, a glass installer from St. Augustine, Fla., who wore an Earnhardt jacket Thursday. “My problem is, I miss Earnhardt and I’m not a fan of another driver.” Stratton said he left the sport in 2002 after Earnhardt’s death, but had slowly made his way back. He said others would follow. “It’s going to come back around,” he said. “I’m here today. My best friend wanted me to come. It’s the first time I’ve been here in about 10 years, I guess.” Stratton said that would happen because Nascar was still family to longtime fans. They are drawn to the fathers and sons who make up the sport: the patriarch Lee Petty, his son Richard and grandson Kyle; Ned Jarrett and his son Dale; and Dale Earnhardt and Dale Jr. The number of fans at Daytona wearing the No. 3 along with the No. 88 now worn by Earnhardt Jr. and his new Hendrick Motorsports team attested to it. “I got to go with Junior, although I don’t agree with his move,” Stratton said of Earnhardt, who left Dale Earnhardt Inc., the team founded by his father, and joined Hendrick. “He wants to win. I know he wants to win a championship. And he probably will. It might be a couple years, but he probably will.” If anything can bring the old-time fans back, that just may do it. NOTES Tony Stewart won the Camping World 300, a Nationwide Series race, on Saturday at Daytona, edging his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was third.

National Assn of Stock Car Auto Racing
Automobile Racing
Stewart Tony
Busch Kurt


Ayatollah Tells Ahmadinejad to Drop Choice for Top Iranian Deputy

Abstract: BEIRUT, Lebanon — In a sign of persistent fissures within Iran ’s conservative ranks, Iran’s supreme leader has told President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to reverse his decision to appoint a top deputy, according to comments reported by Iranian news agencies on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, scattered opposition rallies took place in Tehran, the capital, and other cities, with a heavy presence by the police and members of the Basij militia apparently discouraging many from taking to the streets to protest Iran’s disputed June 12 election. A senior member of Parliament said the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , had sent a letter to Mr. Ahmadinejad telling him to dismiss the deputy, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, whose appointment was announced Friday, according to news reports. “Without any delay, the removal or acceptance of Mashaei’s resignation must be announced by the president,” the deputy speaker of Parliament, Mohammad-Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard, told the ISNA news agency. The appointment had provoked a storm of criticism from conservatives, who were angered last year when Mr. Mashaei reportedly said that the Iranian people were friends with all other peoples, including Israelis. As late as Tuesday, Mr. Ahmadinejad had defended Mr. Mashaei — whose daughter is married to his son — and said he would keep him on. Cabinet appointments do not require the approval of the Iranian Parliament. Mr. Mashaei tried to defend himself , saying he meant that Iranians were friends of those who suffered under Zionist oppression in Israel and that his comments were “a psychological warfare against the Israeli regime.” But what appeared to be the intervention of Ayatollah Khamenei, who wields final authority on affairs of state, would seem to seal the matter. Conservatives largely closed ranks after the presidential election, which set off the worst internal unrest since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. But as Mr. Ahmadinejad begins appointing his new cabinet, splits among conservatives have surfaced again. On Tuesday evening, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported that Mr. Ahmadinejad might make as many as 19 changes to the cabinet, including the key posts of foreign minister, finance minister and intelligence minister. The cabinet changes are being closely watched for signs that Mr. Ahmadinejad might be making conciliatory gestures toward some of his critics. Many in the conservative and the reformist ranks have called for such signals, observing that the election has deepened a serious political and social rift in Iran. Supporters of the leading opposition candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, say that Mr. Ahmadinejad’s landslide election was rigged. Their protest movement, largely quelled by a heavy police crackdown, has gained new energy since Friday, when an influential former president, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, delivered a speech urging the government to recognize a broad lack of public confidence in the results. Opposition Web sites had issued calls for widespread demonstrations on Tuesday, the anniversary of a day in 1952 when huge street protests took place to reinstate Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, a national hero in Iran. There were scattered protests in Tehran, Shiraz and other cities on Tuesday, according to reports by witnesses and video clips posted on opposition Web sites. But they appeared to have been quickly suppressed by the police. In Tehran, witnesses said the police and the Basij militia used sticks and tear gas to disperse protesters in Haft-e-Tir Square in the center of the city.


Bengie Molina Rebuffs Mets to Re-Sign With Giants

Abstract: The Mets spent much of the off-season trying to persuade Bengie Molina to become their starting catcher, and they were relatively confident they could entice him to accept a one-year deal with a vesting option for a second season. In the end, that confidence got them nowhere. On Tuesday, Molina spurned the Mets’ final offer of $5 million for 2010, and the option, and instead accepted less money ($4.5 million) to remain with San Francisco for one more season. The news was a blow to the Mets, causing an afternoon of consternation at Citi Field. “It’s my understanding that he liked their deal better and felt more comfortable there,” Mets General Manager Omar Minaya said. “We made what we felt was a good offer, the right offer, and he decided to choose something else.” Minaya said the Mets might consider making an offer to the free-agent catcher Yorvit Torrealba, with whom they have been in contact. Turning to him would be intriguing, and perhaps costly, because Torrealba filed a continuing grievance against the Mets after they backed out of a three-year deal with him two years ago. The Mets and Torrealba agreed on a three-year, $14.4 million contract before the 2008 season. But the Mets changed their minds, citing residual damage that Torrealba had sustained from a rotator-cuff tear, damage the Mets said they discovered during a physical examination. The Mets’ decision hurt Torrealba financially when he tried to strike a deal with another team. In the end, he re-signed with Colorado, for two years and $6.75 million. Last month, the Mets and Torrealba attended a hearing on the grievance, conducted by the baseball arbitrator Shyam Das. A ruling is not expected for several months. If the Mets want to settle the grievance and pick up a catcher all in one move, signing the 31-year-old Torrealba would certainly do it. But Torrealba’s agent, Melvin Roman, would undoubtedly want any new deal to include extra money to make up for what they feel they lost out on two years ago. That might be daunting. The Mets, with their many medical mysteries, would also have to explain why they would now want a player they previously rejected for health reasons. Torrealba, who started 125 games the last two seasons as part of a Rockies platoon, hit .291 in 2009 in 213 at-bats and was a key player for Colorado last September in the team’s successful bid for the wild-card spot. Torrealba is also talking to Texas, Seattle and San Diego.. If the Mets decide to stay within their organization, they will likely rely on last year’s starter, Omir Santos, and an off-season pickup, Henry Blanco. Meanwhile, Minaya continues to look for pitching. The Mets attended Ben Sheets’s workout in Louisiana on Tuesday, although his injury history is an issue. They are also in talks with Joel Piniero and have spoken to the agents for the Japanese left-hander Hisanori Takahashi. The Mets also avoided arbitration with outfielder Jeff Francoeur, who agreed to a one-year, $5 million contract; and relievers Pedro Feliciano, who agreed to a one-year, $2.9 million contract; and Sean Green, who accepted a deal for one year at $975,000. INSIDE PITCH Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden were formally welcomed back into the Mets fold Tuesday when they, with Davey Johnson and Frank Cashen, were selected for induction into the Mets Hall of Fame on Aug. 1. All four were members of the 1986 World Series championship team, and they expressed delight at the honor, especially Strawberry and Gooden. Both players said they considered themselves Mets at heart, and Strawberry said the biggest mistake he ever made was leaving the team as a free agent.

Molina Bengie
San Francisco Giants
New York Mets
Baseball


Passport Hints at a Uighur Link in Bangkok Bombing

Abstract: BANGKOK — The Thai police said on Wednesday that their main suspect in a deadly attack on a Bangkok shrine has a Chinese passport indicating that he is from the far western region of Xinjiang but that they had not yet verified whether the passport was authentic. If confirmed, that information would strengthen the case made by some security analysts that the Aug. 17 bombing of the Erawan Shrine — which killed 20 people, including many ethnic Chinese tourists — was connected to the political grievances of Uighurs, a Turkic, mostly Muslim people. Uighurs in Xinjiang say they are oppressed by the ethnic Han, who dominate China. More specifically, the involvement of a Xinjiang resident would buttress the argument, which has been widely repeated in the local news media, that the attack may have been revenge for Thailand’s repatriation to China of more than 100 Uighurs in July. Much remained uncertain, however, and the investigation of the bombing has been plagued by a number of false leads. The Thai police have yet to release the name of the man said to have been in possession of the Chinese passport. They announced on Tuesday that he had been arrested along the border with Cambodia, and that he had been trying to flee the country. That account was contradicted by some officials quoted in Thai and Cambodian news media, who said the man had been arrested in Cambodia and handed over to Thailand. On Wednesday, the police said the man’s fingerprints matched those found on what they described as bomb-making materials that were seized in a raid on a suburban Bangkok apartment over the weekend. “We can confirm that the man was involved in the blast,” Prawut Thavornsiri, a spokesman for the police, said. “He may be the person who carried the bomb out of the apartment or brought the bomb to the crime scene.” Key Suspects in Bangkok Shrine Bombing A look at wanted and arrested suspects in the deadliest bombing in Thailand’s recent history. The attack on the shrine, a popular tourist attraction in central Bangkok, was the deadliest bombing in Thailand ’s recent history. The authorities have said the group that carried out the bombing was involved in human trafficking, but until Wednesday, they had avoided connecting the case to the Uighurs. A directive issued by the Interior Ministry last week instructed officials not to refer to Uighurs when discussing the bombing, and to call the attack a “disturbance,” not terrorism. Until Wednesday, the police had not disclosed the nationality of the man arrested on Tuesday or of an additional suspect, described only as a “foreign man,” who was arrested on Saturday with a counterfeit Turkish passport. That man’s nationality remains unknown. The Turkish Embassy in Bangkok said on Wednesday that it had asked the Thai Foreign Ministry for information about the man arrested Saturday, and about stacks of Turkish passports, also possibly counterfeit, that were found in his apartment. In an emailed statement, the embassy said it was ”awaiting an official reply from the Thai authorities.” A spokeswoman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the ministry had “noticed relevant media reports” and was in close contact with the Thai authorities. “The Chinese authorities will continuously pay close attention to the investigation of the case,” she added. “We believe that whoever committed this heinous crime must be severely punished by the law.” Dilxat Raxit, spokesman of the World Uyghur Congress, an exile group, called the shrine explosion “a heartbreaking and condemnable event” and urged the Thai police to “present accurate and transparent evidence.” The repatriation of Uighurs to China in July prompted heavy criticism of Thailand’s military government by human rights groups and by foreign governments, which said the Uighurs were likely to face persecution on their return. But if the bombing proves to be connected to the repatriation, the military government could be criticized for a different reason — that it had jeopardized the safety of the country. The military seized control from a democratically elected government last year, saying that it would keep Thailand safe from political turmoil and violence. Thailand’s failure to adequately secure its borders has been acknowledged by some officials. The country has long been known as a destination for criminals on the lam , who take advantage of its lax law enforcement to hide, sometimes for decades. Periodic attempts to remedy this situation have foundered. Anusit Kunakorn, the secretary general of the National Security Council of Thailand, said Wednesday that the country had trouble with border security and that officials responsible for it would come under closer scrutiny. “The prime minister may have to launch some punishment,” Mr. Anusit said. He added, “We gain benefits from tourism, but at the same time the benefits of being an open country come hand in hand with the illegal acts. Several gangs may have come and stayed in our country.” Thailand has denied the news reports that said the suspect arrested Tuesday had slipped across the border into Cambodia. But the morning of the arrest, the Thai chief of police, Somyot Poompanmoung, said six immigration officers at a checkpoint in the border town of Aranyapathet had been transferred to other posts. Mr. Somyot said the officers were being investigated on suspicion of being “accomplices or giving assistance or gaining benefit from human trafficking networks.” Mr. Prawut, the police spokesman, said Thailand would soon introduce a biometric system in an effort to crack down on fake travel documents. “We have to be stricter in terms of entering and leaving the country,” he said. “It must not be as easy as it was.” In another development on Wednesday, the Thai police issued an arrest warrant for Emrah Davutoglu, a Turkish man who was charged with possession of war materials without permission. The police did not elaborate on Mr. Davutoglu’s supposed involvement in the case, but they said he is married to Wanna Suansan, a Thai woman who is also being sought by the police. Ms. Wanna, who rented an apartment outside Bangkok where the police say bomb-making materials were found, is currently in Turkey. She has said that she moved out of the apartment a year ago and left Thailand well before the Aug. 17 blast. She also said she would return to prove her innocence, but the police said on Wednesday that they had contacted her and that she might be having second thoughts about coming back.

Bombs
Thailand
Uyghur
China
Bangkok
Erawan Shrine
Passport


Texas: B.P. Settles 2 Lawsuits

Abstract: The energy giant BP has settled two more lawsuits stemming from a 2005 explosion at its Texas City oil refinery that killed 15 people and injured more than 170, the company and a lawyer for two injured contract workers said. Terms of the deal were not released. Jury selection had been set for next week over lawsuits filed by the workers, E. J. Godeaux and Clarence Kinard. Theirs would have been the first cases connected to the blast to go to court. Mr. Godeaux, 61, a painter and sandblaster from Texas City, had neck and back injuries, and his right eardrum was blown out. Mr. Kinard, 67, a boilermaker from Cleveland, Tex., injured his back and experienced hearing loss.

Suits and Litigation
BP Plc
Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline
Texas


Mittal Steel Makes Bid for a Rival

Abstract: LONDON, Jan. 27 - The biggest steel company in the world wants to get much bigger. Mittal Steel, whose founder, Lakshmi Mittal, has never been bashful about his global ambitions, shocked the industry on Friday with an unsolicited $22.8 billion bid for the world's second-biggest steel company, Arcelor. A combination with Arcelor, itself the product of a merger of French, Spanish and Luxembourg companies in 2002, would create a steel giant with a leading position in the Americas, Europe and Africa and annual revenue of nearly $70 billion. With 320,000 employees, the combined company would have over 100,000 more workers than United States Steel employed at its height. The steel industry has been fragmented into lots of local players, which then became victims when local economies faltered. By creating a global player, Mr. Mittal, ranked the world's third-richest person, behind Bill Gates and Warren E. Buffett, hopes to ride out those boom-and-bust cycles. "This is a great opportunity for us to take the steel industry to the next level," Mr. Mittal said at a news conference in London. "Our customers are becoming global; our suppliers are becoming global; everyone is looking for a stronger global player." Because steel production continues to be dominated by local businesses, combining the two largest companies would probably not raise the same competition issues that it would in other industries. Together, Mittal and Arcelor would control just 10 percent of the total market, meaning that they would probably not have an immediate effect on global steel prices. Still, a combined company could become a stronger negotiator with raw materials suppliers and with customers. Arcelor's management did not share in Mr. Mittal's excitement. Arcelor, based in Luxembourg, said Friday that the deal had a "hostile character." Its board members met in the afternoon to decide whether to try to counteract it, but did not issue a statement afterward. With its bid of 18.6 billion euros, Mittal is offering Arcelor shareholders cash and stock worth 28.21 euros a share, a 27 percent premium over the company's closing price of 22.22 euros on the Euronext exchange in Paris on Thursday. Arcelor's options are limited: Mittal's offer is contingent on receiving just 50 percent of Arcelor's shares, and Arcelor's shareholders are mainly institutions that are likely to have few qualms about swapping one share for the next, analysts said. There is not another steel company large enough to make an obvious "white knight," though Arcelor may try to do a deal of its own, which would make it too large to be swallowed by Mittal. The markets reacted favorably to the offer. Arcelor's shares traded up 28.44 percent, to close at 28.54 euros on Friday on the Euronext exchange, as investors bet that the deal would go through and that Mittal Steel would be forced to raise its price. Shares of Mittal, with headquarters in Rotterdam and London, also rose on Friday in New York, closing at $34.26, up $1.96, or 6 percent. If the deal does go through, Mittal Steel would sell Dofasco, a Canadian steelmaker that Arcelor recently agreed to buy, to ThyssenKrupp of Germany. Dofasco had been the target of a hotly contested bidding war between Arcelor and ThyssenKrupp, which Thyssen recently exited. Mittal Steel estimated that it could achieve $1 billion in savings if it acquired Arcelor after cutting overlapping administrative and manufacturing units. Together, the companies would produce 115 million tons of steel a year, dwarfing their nearest competitor, Nippon Steel of Japan, which produces just over 30 million tons a year. Mittal is offering four Mittal shares and 35.25 euros in cash for every five Arcelor shares, or about one-quarter of the price in cash. Analysts and investors said the company would probably be forced to raise its price to win Arcelor, but might not be able to raise that much more money. Mittal is using a 5 billion euro bank loan from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup to finance the deal, and will have $14 billion in debt if the deal goes through. Ratings agencies warned on Friday that Mittal's ratings could be cut if it paid too much. Mittal is highly rated for the steel industry, said Fitch Ratings in a note, but "there are numerous risks surrounding the acquisition plans, including the high likelihood the price will need to be raised." Getting the deal done is a "question of how much Mittal wants to push it," said Matt Watkins, an analyst with CRU Group, an independent research firm in London. Mr. Mittal told journalists that he had tried at first to do a friendly deal, approaching Arcelor's chief executive, Guy Dollé, on Jan. 13 about the prospect, but was rebuffed. Mr. Dollé "saw difficulties" with the plan, Mr. Mittal said. Mr. Dollé canceled their next meeting, because he had won the Dofasco bid, and then did not return another call, Mr. Mittal said. Still, Mr. Mittal and his son, Aditya Mittal, who is the company's chief financial officer, both said at the news conference that they would like Arcelor's management to become part of the new organization. The two executives also said that they would honor all of Arcelor's existing agreements with its subsidiaries and staff, and that there would be no plant closings. If the deal goes through, the Mittal family would own 51 percent of Mittal Steel, down from 88 percent. Other Mittal investors said they welcomed the deal. "I'm very much in support of it," said the American financier Wilbur Ross, who sold his International Steel Group to Mittal Steel last year, and is now a shareholder and member of the board. "The industrial logic of the deal is impeccable." ThyssenKrupp's chief executive, Ekkehard Schulz, told surprised shareholders at the company's annual meeting in Bochum, Germany, that Mittal had agreed to sell Dofasco to it after all, if the merger goes through. Mr. Schulz said that after the announcement on Tuesday that Arcelor had won the Dofasco bid, Mr. Mittal called him to offer Dofasco for 68 Canadian dollars a share, provided Mittal takes control of Arcelor. The winning bid by Arcelor was 71 Canadian dollars. Mr. Schulz said the deal would allow ThyssenKrupp to take "this strategically meaningful step in an economically sensible framework." Some French officials expressed some concern about Mittal's bid for Arcelor, in part because they said they received the news on Friday morning, with no prior warning. Arcelor employs many French workers and has deep roots in France.

MITTAL STEEL CO NV
MERGERS ACQUISITIONS AND DIVESTITURES
STEEL AND IRON


Libya’s 2012 Tickets Being Held

Abstract: The International Olympic Committee said that no tickets would be given to Libya’s Olympic committee for the 2012 London Games until it is “absolutely certain” they end up in the right hands. The Daily Telegraph of Britain reported that the Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi ’s son, who leads the country’s Olympic committee, had received hundreds of passes to the Games from London’s organizing committee.

Olympic Games (2012)
International Olympic Committee
Qaddafi Muammar el-
Libya


Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Advances Toward Sainthood

Abstract: Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, who died in 1979, does not fit the stereotype of a Roman Catholic saint. Famous for his evangelizing television program in the post- World War II era, he was dramatic and humorous, not humble and retiring. He even won an Emmy. But this very human man, who lived and worked in New York for much of his life, is on his way to becoming the first male American-born saint. The Vatican on Thursday officially recognized Archbishop Sheen for having “heroic virtues” and granted him the title “venerable.” A church committee will now determine whether it believes that, since his death, Archbishop Sheen has interceded on behalf of someone alive to bring about a miracle, a requirement for the next step on the path to canonization. For Archbishop’s Sheen’s admirers , the announcement came as an official stamp of approval that meant Archbishop Sheen’s life was worthy of emulation. “He is the patron saint of media and evangelization,” said the Rev. Robert Barron, whose Illinois-based ministry, Word on Fire, seeks to spread the Gospel through television and the Internet. And the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest who often appears on television, said: “Sainthood has come to the media age. In another couple of years we will have the first Twitter or Facebook saint.” Archbishop Sheen brought Catholicism into the living rooms of Catholics, Protestants and people of other faiths at a time when anti-Catholic sentiment was still common in the United States. Wearing his full clerical garb, with scarlet cap and robe, he preached and offered simple lessons, like the importance of laughing at oneself. Signing off at the end of his show, “Life Is Worth Living,” he often raised his hands above his head with a performer’s pizazz. The show ran from 1951 to 1957, drawing as many as 30 million people on a weekly basis. “He is, for American Catholics, the leading symbol of what they think of as their golden age,” said John L. Allen Jr., senior correspondent for The National Catholic Reporter. “Catholics were coming out of the ghettos that had been imposed upon them; vocations to the priesthood were booming; schools were thriving. He is the symbol of that self-confidence.” But the case for his sainthood includes more than his television ministry. Away from the camera, he ran the American branch of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, which supports Catholic missions globally. Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, Ill., where Archbishop Sheen was ordained as a priest, recounted how Archbishop Sheen spent time reaching out to men in trouble, making frequent visits to prisons and death rows. “He practiced what he preached,” Bishop Jenky said. Archbishop Sheen eventually got into a public spat over money with Cardinal Francis Spellman, then the leader of New York’s archdiocese, and was assigned in 1966 to the Diocese of Rochester, which he considered an exile. He retired three years later, and turned to scholarly work and book writing. “It is a reminder,” said Mr. Allen of such disagreements, “that saints don’t have to be perfect at everything.” Since 2002, a committee has been compiling testimony about Archbishop Sheen’s holiness to present to the Vatican. The Rev. Andrew Apostoli, a Franciscan priest who lives at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, said he had collected many such stories, including one told by the parents of a child on Staten Island. The girl was in the hospital with a 104-degree fever for two weeks when Archbishop Sheen visited. He blessed the child and told the parents that the fever would break that night; it did. But the main possible miracle being reviewed by the Vatican involved Bonnie Engstrom, 30, who said she gave birth to a stillborn baby in Goodfield, Ill., two years ago. There had been a knot in the umbilical cord, and when the paramedics arrived and placed him in an ambulance, he showed no signs of life. “I was in shock; I started to shut down,” Ms. Engstrom recalled. She started praying, repeating the name of Fulton Sheen in her head: during her pregnancy, she had watched videos of his preaching on YouTube. The baby’s heart started after 61 minutes, and today the boy, James Fulton, is a healthy toddler, Ms. Engstrom said. “I believe that Jesus Christ healed my son,” she said, “but that his prayers were an integral part of that happening.”

Sheen Fulton J
Beatifications and Canonizations
Roman Catholic Church
Television


I Saw What You Did and I Know Who You Are. My Phone Told Me.

Abstract: When you are out and about, there is no reason to be in the dark about what is going on at home. Staying informed will get a bit simpler next month when Motorola releases a new version of its Homesight home monitoring system. The new version no longer requires leaving your PC on all the time to monitor its signals remotely. The Homesight system includes a video camera and wireless sensors that monitor movement, flooding, temperature changes and the opening of doors and windows. A starter kit that includes a camera, a motion detector and window and door sensors is available now for $100; additional sensors start at $20. You will still need a Windows-based PC to set up the new $300 gateway version of the starter kit (the main unit is shown here). But then the computer can be shut off, and you can still watch the video stream through a Web site or on a Java-enabled cellphone. (Any cellphone can receive nonvideo alerts.) You will never again have to wonder whether your cat is shredding the drapes while you’re out shopping. ERIC A. TAUB

New Models Design and Products
Security and Warning Systems
Wireless Communications
Motorola Inc
Recording Equipment
Recordings (Video)


Bob Fletcher Dies at 101; Saved Farms of Interned Japanese-Americans

Abstract: Bob Fletcher, a former California agriculture inspector who, ignoring the resentment of neighbors, quit his job in the middle of World War II to manage the fruit farms of Japanese families forced to live in internment camps, died on May 23 in Sacramento. He was 101. His death was confirmed by Doris Taketa, who was 12 when Mr. Fletcher agreed to run her family’s farm in 1942, the year she and her extended family were relocated to the Jerome War Relocation Center in Arkansas. “He saved us,” Ms. Taketa said. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the United States government forced 120,000 Japanese-Americans on the West Coast out of their homes and into internment camps for the duration of the war. Near Sacramento, many of the Japanese who were relocated were farmers who had worked land around the town of Florin since at least the 1890s. Mr. Fletcher, who was single and in his early 30s at the time, knew many of them through his work inspecting fruit for the government. The farmers regarded him as honest, and he respected their operations. After President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order in February 1942 that made the relocation possible by declaring certain parts of the West to be military zones, Al Tsukamoto, whose parents arrived in the United States in 1905, approached Mr. Fletcher with a business proposal: would he be willing to manage the farms of two family friends of Mr. Tsukamoto’s, one of whom was elderly, and to pay the taxes and mortgages while they were away? In return, he could keep all the profits. Mr. Fletcher and Mr. Tsukamoto had not been close, and Mr. Fletcher had no experience growing the farmers’ specialty, flame tokay grapes, but he accepted the offer and soon quit his job. For the next three years he worked a total of 90 acres on three farms — he had also decided to run Mr. Tsukamoto’s farm. He worked 18-hour days and lived in the bunkhouse Mr. Tsukamoto had reserved for migrant workers. He paid the bills of all three families — the Tsukamotos, the Okamotos and the Nittas. He kept only half of the profits. Many Japanese-American families lost property while they were in the camps because they could not pay their bills. Most in the Florin area moved elsewhere after the war. When the Tsukamotos returned in 1945, they found that Mr. Fletcher had left them money in the bank and that his new wife, Teresa, had cleaned the Tsukamotos’ house in preparation for their return. She had chosen to join her husband in the bunkhouse instead of accepting the Tsukamotos’ offer to live in the family’s house. “Teresa’s response was, ‘It’s the Tsukamotos’ house,’ ” recalled Marielle Tsukamoto, who was 5 when she and her family were sent to the Jerome center. Ms. Tsukamoto is now the president of the Florin chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League . Her mother, Mary Tsukamoto, was a teacher, activist and historian who, with Elizabeth Pinkerton, wrote “ We the People: A Story of Internment in America .” Mr. Fletcher’s willingness to work the farms was not well received in Florin, where before the war some people had resented the Japanese immigrants for their success. Japanese children in the area were required to attend segregated schools. Mr. Fletcher was unruffled by personal attacks; he felt the Japanese farmers were being mistreated. “I did know a few of them pretty well and never did agree with the evacuation,” he told The Sacramento Bee in 2010. “They were the same as anybody else. It was obvious they had nothing to do with Pearl Harbor.” After the war, resentment against the Japanese in Florin continued. If Mr. Tsukamoto tried to buy a part at the hardware store only to be told that the part was not in stock, he would ask Mr. Fletcher to buy it for him. Robert Emmett Fletcher Jr. was born in San Francisco on July 26, 1911, when the city was still rebuilding after the great earthquake five years earlier. He attended the University of California, Davis, and later managed a peach orchard before taking the job as a state shipping point inspector. Survivors include his wife, the former Teresa Cassieri, to whom he was married for 67 years; their son, Robert Emmett III; three granddaughters; and five great-grandchildren. The Fletchers bought their own land in Florin after the war and raised hay and cattle. Mr. Fletcher was a volunteer firefighter in Florin for many decades before becoming the paid fire chief. He was also active in historical groups. He was never much for celebrating his role in the war, and he noted that other Florin residents had helped their Japanese neighbors. “I don’t know about courage,” he said in 2010 as Florin was preparing to honor him in a ceremony. “It took a devil of a lot of work.”

Agriculture
Japanese American
Obituary
California
World War II


Four-Year Slide Dooms ‘Michigan Man’ Hoke

Abstract: When Brady Hoke was hired as Michigan’s football coach in January 2011, on the heels of the Rich Rodriguez era, he was praised for being a “Michigan man.” The term was never exactly defined. But it was traced back to the former coaches Fielding Yost and Bo Schembechler, and throughout the years, it had become a catchall phrase for someone who upheld the university’s high standards. Rodriguez was perceived as an outsider — not a Michigan man — whereas Hoke had coached the defensive line at Michigan under Lloyd Carr. At his introductory news conference, he declared that coaching at Michigan was still a prestigious job, saying, “This is Michigan, for God’s sakes!” Less than four years later, Hoke and Dave Brandon, the athletic director who hired him, are gone. Brandon resigned during the season, and on Tuesday, Michigan’s interim athletic director, Jim Hackett, held a news conference to announce Hoke’s firing and provide something of a blueprint for the program going forward. Image Under the leadership of Hoke, the Wolverines finished this season at 5-7, capped by a loss to Ohio State. Credit Leon Halip/Getty Images “I feel very fortunate to have been an assistant and head coach at the University of Michigan,” Hoke said in a statement released by the university. “I will always support the university and this football program.” Hackett told reporters that he would hire a search firm familiar with Michigan to help look for candidates. He said he was in the process of building “swim lane charts” to diagram when certain coaches would become available. He repeatedly asked for patience. “I believe that the head coach of Michigan football is one of the finest jobs in American sports today,” he said, “and we will have great options.” He later added, “We’re looking at the best out there.” Hackett declined to discuss specific candidates. He said that he wanted someone who could win and balance the university’s values and that “this place does not need to cut corners to win.” But most telling, he addressed the idea prominent among Michigan supporters that it takes a certain kind of person to coach the Wolverines. “I want to get rid of the word ‘Michigan man,’ ” Hackett said, adding that it was an outdated term that excluded women and had been largely misinterpreted. In a coincidence, on Tuesday, the same day Hoke was fired, Rodriguez, now the coach at Arizona, was named the Pacific-12 Conference’s coach of the year. N.C.A.A. Fan Map: How the Country Roots for College Football We’ve published maps showing where fan support for one team begins and another ends for baseball and basketball. Now we’re pleased to offer another one: the United States according to college football fans. Hoke’s downfall, Hackett said, was simply a lack of results. After winning 11 games and the Sugar Bowl in his first season, Hoke went 20-18 over the next three years, the Wolverines winning fewer games each year than the one before. In his final three years, he went 2-7 against Ohio State, Michigan State and Notre Dame. He tried hiring a new offensive coordinator, Doug Nussmeier, from Alabama, but the offense regressed. A quarterback who was probably concussed was allowed to return to the field. A star defensive end was arrested and accused of domestic violence. In an interview last week, Hoke blamed his record this year on youth and inconsistency, especially on offense. “I’m never going to have any regrets,” he said, sitting in his office. “Well, that’s not right. You regret certain things.” He paused and added: “I don’t know if the right word is ‘regret.’ You try not to second-guess.” Hoke said he was proud of how he had handled the controversy and turmoil. “I said at my first press conference, ‘This is Michigan,’ ” he said. “It still is.”

College football
Brady Hoke
University of Michigan


Lawyer Charged With Stealing Dead Client’s Money, Including From Slave Theater Sale

Abstract: A Queens lawyer was accused on Wednesday of stealing nearly $600,000 from a deceased client’s estate, including profits from the sale of the Slave Theater in Brooklyn, a significant venue among civil rights activists. The lawyer, Frank Racano, 54, was charged with one count of grand larceny for allegedly writing himself checks from the estate of the client, a longtime Brooklyn civil court judge, John L. Phillips Jr., who owned the Fulton Street theater before his death in 2008 . Judge Phillips bought the theater, a former vaudeville and movie house, in 1984 and filled it with murals of black leaders like Marcus Garvey and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After a black man was killed in Howard Beach, Queens, in 1986, activists including the Rev. Al Sharpton began to organize rallies and other events at the Slave regularly. At a time when Harlem was still the traditional center of New York’s black community, the Slave became a touchstone of black activism in Bedford-Stuyvesant . Now, like much else in Brooklyn, it is scheduled for redevelopment. In 2010, prosecutors said, Samuel Boykin, Judge Phillips’s nephew by marriage, became the administrator of his estate. Mr. Boykin hired Mr. Racano to assist in the sale of the judge’s real-estate holdings, including the theater and a lot behind it at 10 Halsey Street. In 2012 and 2013, prosecutors said, a buyer placed more than $700,000 into Mr. Racano’s attorney trust checking account. Over the next two years, prosecutors said, Mr. Racano wrote and cashed 300 unauthorized checks to himself from the account in sums ranging from $45 to $7,500, until it was depleted. “We will now hold him accountable for these shameful acts,” Ken Thompson, the Brooklyn district attorney, said in a statement on Wednesday. Shortly before Mr. Thompson’s statement was released, Mr. Racano was arraigned in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, where he pleaded not guilty. He was ordered held on bail of $250,000, and he is scheduled to return to court on Aug. 10.

Frank Racano
Robbery
Slave Theater
John L Phillips Jr
Brooklyn
Kenneth P Thompson
Lawyers
Appointments and Executive Changes
Wills and Estates


In Brooklyn, Four Plead Guilty to Conspiring to Support Tamil Tigers

Abstract: Four people with connections to Sri Lanka pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday to conspiring to provide support to the Tamil Tigers , the separatist rebels whom Sri Lankan troops defeated last month after more than a quarter-century of fighting for a homeland. The United States attorney in Brooklyn, Benton J. Campbell, said in a statement that the four defendants had raised millions of dollars and obtained weapons and technology for the Tamil Tigers, formally known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or L.T.T.E. Prosecutors said one of the four defendants, Karunakaran Kandasamy, was the director of the group’s American branch. Prosecutors said two others, Pratheepan Thavaraja and Murugesu Vinayagamoorthy, had been involved in an attempt to bribe an agent posing as a State Department official to remove the L.T.T.E. from the government’s list of foreign terrorist organizations. The government said the L.T.T.E., which dated to the 1970s, had relied on “sympathetic Tamil expatriates” to raise and launder money for the group. The government said, for example, that Mr. Vinayagamoorthy had helped to launder L.T.T.E. money through a Swiss bank to cover a trip to Sri Lanka by a congressman. In 2006, The Chicago Tribune identified the congressman as Representative Danny K. Davis, a Democrat of Illinois. Last winter, Mr. Davis turned down an offer through an intermediary to discuss taking the Senate seat vacated by President Obama. The offer came from Rod R. Blagojevich, then the state’s governor, who had been accused of trying to sell the seat. Mr. Kandasamy and Mr. Pratheepan, who goes by his first name, face sentences of up to 20 years each. Mr. Vinayagamoorthy and the fourth defendant, Vijayshanthar Patpanathan, face sentences of up to 15 years. Mr. Kandasamy’s lawyer, Charles A. Ross, said his client “has taken responsibility for the actions set out by the government.” He said Mr. Kandasamy, 51, had serious health problems, adding, “We’re hopeful for a merciful and lenient sentence.” Mr. Vinayagamoorthy’s lawyer, Michael Anthony Marinaccio, said he had no comment. Mr. Pratheepan’s lawyer, William Stampur, and Mr. Patpanathan’s lawyer, Susan G. Kellman, did not return calls Tuesday night. Prosecutors said Mr. Kandasamy had laundered money through a charitable front organization called the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization. They said Mr. Patpanathan had helped with that effort. Mr. Thavaraja was accused of buying weapons for the Tamil Tigers, including anti-aircraft guns, automatic rifles and grenade launchers, along with ammunition and explosives. The government said a spreadsheet on Mr. Pratheepan’s laptop computer listed $20 million worth of arms as “priority” purchase items. The State Department designated the Tamil Tigers as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997, and the government opened a wide-ranging investigation into its actions in this country in 1999. Three of the four defendants were arrested in 2006.

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Brooklyn (NYC)
Davis Danny K
Sri Lanka
Civil War and Guerrilla Warfare


Ft. Hood Suspect’s Beard Puts Focus on Army Rule

Abstract: AUSTIN, Tex. — Inside his cell at the Bell County jail, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan said he had a premonition months ago: He was going to die soon. More than two years after being accused of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others at Fort Hood in Killeen in November 2009, Major Hasan, an American-born Muslim of Palestinian descent, told his defense lawyers that he began growing a beard in anticipation of his death. The reason he does not want to die without a beard is that he believes not having a beard is a sin, according to court documents. Major Hasan’s decision to grow a beard — a seemingly trivial matter as he faces the death penalty if convicted of one of the worst mass shootings at an American military base — has raised legal questions for the Army and given him a brief courtroom victory, after a military appeals court last week delayed the start of his trial so it could examine the issue. Major Hasan’s defense team, including a Muslim imam who is an Army chaplain, said he grew a beard based on a “sincere, personal religious conviction.” But Army prosecutors see it differently, describing it as an attempt to prevent witnesses from identifying him at his trial and arguing that he was clean-shaven throughout his military career. The judge overseeing the case has taken another view, calling the beard a disruption to the court proceedings and telling Major Hasan that he will be forcibly shaved if he does not do so voluntarily. The judge, Col. Gregory A. Gross, has said that his decision on the beard had nothing to do with Major Hasan’s intentions in growing it, but with maintaining decorum in the courtroom and ensuring that the suspect followed regulations. Army personal appearance policies prohibit soldiers from having beards and goatees, though neatly trimmed mustaches are allowed. “I have no reason to doubt the reason that he’s growing the beard,” Colonel Gross said at a pretrial hearing, according to court documents. “However, it doesn’t matter. The rules are the rules. They apply to everybody.” The judge’s strict approach to the Army standards is not unusual. Army officials take the issue seriously, granting only a handful of soldiers exemptions to the beard regulations based on their religious beliefs. Since October 2009, six soldiers have been allowed to grow beards: two Muslim doctors, three Sikhs and an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, Army officials said. Before 2009, an exemption was granted to a white-bearded rabbi, Col. Jacob Z. Goldstein , 65, who was the senior chaplain for all military branches at ground zero after the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Major Hasan’s request for a religious exemption was rejected in June. Army leaders at the Pentagon denied the request out of “military necessity,” citing concerns with morale and unit cohesion, according to court documents filed by his defense lawyers. If the appeals court allows Colonel Gross to have Major Hasan forcibly shaved, he will not be the first Army soldier to undergo such a procedure. Army correctional policies allow prisoners who refuse to comply with the grooming standards to be restrained and shaved. The regulations state that electric clippers are to be used and that the prisoner “may be restrained with the reasonable force necessary to administer the appropriate action.” Typically, the so-called use-of-force team includes five military police officers who restrain the prisoner, a medical expert to attend to any injuries and a video camera operator who records the entire event, Army officials said. Army correctional facilities have forced shaves on prisoners six times since 2005, most recently in June on a pretrial prisoner at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Wash. The appeals court — the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, in Washington — halted Major Hasan’s case five days before his trial was scheduled to begin, on Monday, to allow it time to issue a decision. One of the main issues it is probably weighing is whether the judge can order Major Hasan to be forcibly shaved if he has grown his beard based on religious beliefs. Major Hasan’s lawyers said in court papers that a forced shaving would violate his religious liberties under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act , a 1993 federal law that protects religious observance from government interference. The law established that the government may substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion if it demonstrates a “compelling” need to do so and if it uses the “least restrictive means” available. Military lawyers representing Colonel Gross, in a response filed Wednesday, said a forced shave would not infringe on Major Hasan’s rights, describing the discipline and unit cohesion advanced by the Army’s grooming policies as compelling needs. Allowing Major Hasan to maintain his beard “would signal to every subordinate and every sitting accused that it is acceptable to be in noncompliance with judicial orders and Army regulations,” the lawyers stated. Muslim-American leaders said that although they had no sympathy for Major Hasan, forcing him to shave his beard was an unnecessary step that could offend Muslims in the United States and around the world. “I don’t think that would send a particularly good message to have anyone forcibly shaved, no matter what they’re accused of,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a group based in Washington that condemned the shootings at Fort Hood as cowardly and inexcusable. “Inmates should be allowed religious accommodation within guidelines. I think we need to separate the principle from the personality.”

Fort Hood (Tex)
Hasan Nidal Malik
Beards and Mustaches
Muslim-Americans
Murders and Attempted Murders
Defense and Military Forces
United States Army
Muslims and Islam


African Migrants Arrive in Italy After Standoff With Malta

Abstract: PARIS — More than 120 migrants arrived Monday in Sicily after being stranded on a cargo ship in the Mediterranean for four days while Italy and Malta argued over who should accept them. At the end of a voyage that left a pregnant woman dead and others sick, the migrants arrived on two Italian vessels and were escorted to a refugee center, said Laura Boldrini, a spokeswoman for the United Nations refugee agency in Rome. Many were expected to request asylum. “We are so happy that this situation is over,” Ms. Boldrini said by telephone from Rome. “Sometimes we get three weeks of Ping-Pong between Italy and Malta. This time it was fairly short.” A Turkish cargo ship rescued the migrants Thursday from two rubber dinghies that had set out from Libya a week before. One boat had run out of gas. The boats were carrying 129 Nigerians, 3 people from Niger, 5 from Ghana, 4 Somalis, a Liberian and a migrant whose country of origin was unclear, Ms. Boldrini said. Maltese authorities received distress signals from the boats on Thursday and asked the Turkish cargo ship, the Pinar E, to rescue the migrants and bring them to Italy. But Italy insisted that it was Malta’s duty to take them in. A pregnant woman drowned when she fell between boats while being rescued. Crew members had to keep seabirds from her body, which lay on the cargo ship, Ms. Boldrini said. Italian news photographs showed migrants sleeping wherever they could, beside the machinery, in the hold and under the open sky. Two refugees aboard the Pinar E had earlier been airlifted to an Italian island, Lampedusa, and 17 others were evacuated there by boat on Sunday, suffering from hypothermia, fever and chicken pox, Ms. Boldrini said. More than half of the 67,000 migrants who reached the European Union by sea last year landed in Malta or Italy, United Nations figures show; many were granted international protection.

Italy
Malta
Immigration and Emigration
Refugees
Africa


Facial Cuts a Problem for Olympic Boxing Hopefuls

Abstract: RENO, Nev. — Antonio Vargas never had a cut in his boxing life until blood trickled down his forehead Wednesday during his most important bout. An acclaimed flyweight, Vargas fought through the surprise and pain, but his Olympic dreams were imperiled when he lost a split decision at the United States team trials. “It happened so fast,” Vargas said. “It was just a clash of heads. I had that fight, man.” Vargas didn’t blame the blood for his loss, but facial cuts are a growing problem for Olympic-style boxers fighting for places in Rio de Janeiro at the first Olympics since the International Boxing Association, known as AIBA, decided that male boxers would no longer wear protective headgear. Image Get the latest tweets from @NYTSports , including breaking news, analysis and live updates. Seven fighters developed significant cuts during the first three days of the United States Olympic trials here last week, including the heavyweight favorite Cam F. Awesome and Vargas, the Pan Am Games champion who may be the Americans’ best chance to end their 12-year gold medal drought. They both fought on, but three other boxers were cut badly enough to force them out of the tournament. Mark Dawson was done after he needed 18 stitches on his forehead to seal a grotesque cut, also the first of his career. Even Chris Ousley’s Olympic dream died because his opponent, Carlos Monroe, was cut down to the skull and couldn’t continue yet still won their bout on the scorecards. The problems are not confined to the United States, with serious cuts reported from tournaments around the world since the 2013 rule change. AIBA reportedly reassessed its headgear decision during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow when the Australian boxer Daniel Lewis was cut too badly to continue, but quickly confirmed that the plan would move forward to Rio. Even AIBA’s detractors realize the absence of headgear has made Olympic boxing more television-friendly. Although the association acknowledges the danger of cuts, it contends that the change was made because concussions will decrease without the heavy protective padding. But many American coaches and fighters chuckle at the science used to justify the decision. “You’re subjecting a kid to trauma for nothing,” said Virgil Hunter, the veteran trainer behind the career of the Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward. “It’s one thing to get cut, and you get a million-dollar check when you get out of there. It’s another thing to get cut, and you get a trophy or a handshake.” Boxers have worn headgear in every Olympics since the 1984 Los Angeles Games, and women still wear it. The proliferation of cuts is fueling complaints throughout the sport from athletes and trainers who believe head guards are the only practical way to compete in an Olympic-style multifight tournament. Cuts usually result from heads banging together. That’s a frequent occurrence in professional boxing, but Olympic-style fighters must usually fight the next day or be disqualified. AIBA has encouraged fighters to wear cut-reducing creams, and it has started an initiative called HeadsUp! to encourage fighters to compete with fewer inadvertent head butts. USA Boxing officials hold a precarious position between their amateur fighters and AIBA, which has eliminated the word “amateur” from its name while creating several professional ventures for its fighters. USA Boxing does not want fighters sabotaged by cuts but also wants to support the international governing body. Headgear decisions in domestic tournaments could be taken out of the hands of USA Boxing soon. Various state athletic commissions have expressed concern about headgear-free boxing by amateurs, with some refusing to allow it.

Boxing
2016 Summer Olympics
Sports injury
International Boxing Association
AIBA


Myanmar Junta Members Go Civilian

Abstract: BANGKOK — It is an obvious move when generals in a military junta decide to step aside in favor of civilian rule: shed military ranks and uniforms and transform themselves into civilians. Last week, several cabinet members in Myanmar ’s junta did a quick change, resigning from the armed forces, apparently in preparation for parliamentary elections expected later this year. Under a new Constitution adopted in 2008, the military that has ruled Myanmar, formerly Burma, since 1962 is preparing to replace itself with a civilian government that includes a 440-member House of Representatives. The new legislature will set aside 25 percent of its seats for serving military officers, a number that could be augmented by former officers in civilian clothes. Many foreign analysts, as well as Myanmar’s opposition party, the National League for Democracy, have called the elections a false front intended to put a civilian face on the military’s continued grip on power. According to the official press, the prime minister, Gen. Thein Sein, and 22 cabinet ministers gave up their uniforms on Monday, a move that was not unexpected in advance of the elections. They maintained their cabinet positions, however, perhaps a foretaste of the civilian governments to come. The addition of those and any other newly resigned officers would ensure an even greater role for the military in the legislature, which in any case is not expected by foreign analysts to be independent of the country’s top leadership. Under the new Constitution, that leadership will also be dominated by serving military officers, with the armed forces chief remaining the country’s most powerful figure. The Constitution requires a candidate to be a member of a political party, and last week the official press reported that after shedding his uniform, Prime Minister Thein Sein, now a civilian, had applied to form a new party. On the opposition side, the National League for Democracy, headed by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has announced that it will not participate in the elections, which it condemned as unfair and undemocratic. That party won the last elections, in 1990, by a landslide but was prevented from assuming office by the ruling junta, which maintained its grip on power. Many of the party’s members have been arrested since then, and Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of the past 20 years under house arrest. The Constitution bars people with criminal records from running for office. Analysts say Myanmar’s half-step toward democracy could begin a long, slow process of greater accountability, at least on a local level. In any case, the military so thoroughly permeates the government, bureaucracy and economy of Myanmar that it is likely to retain vast influence in all areas of life, no matter what shape the government takes. It has been a long-term project for the military junta to seek the legitimacy, at least in form, of an electoral mandate. Its goal is what it calls “discipline flourishing democracy,” which would presumably avoid the undisciplined clash of interests in more open Western-style democracies. Its neighbors in Southeast Asia present a range of democratic and nondemocratic formulas of government, including the disciplined parliamentary systems of Singapore and Cambodia, with their virtual one-party rule. But since the overthrow of President Suharto in Indonesia in 1998, none of them have been governed by the military, which analysts say is still likely to be the case in Myanmar despite its civilian format.

Myanmar
Politics and Government
Elections


Czechs Forge Ahead With Nuclear Power Expansion

Abstract: PRAGUE — In October last year the Czech state power company, CEZ, selected three companies to bid for a contract to expand the Temelin nuclear power plant, in the southern Czech countryside. The companies are now readying themselves to submit detailed proposals that could have major consequences not just for the Czech Republic, but for the future of the nuclear industry in Europe. CEZ is looking for offers to build not only two new reactors at Temelin, but also as many as three more at other sites that it owns. “In 2007 the decision was made to issue a tender for two nuclear reactors, plus a possible three more,” said Vaclav Bartuska, the Czech ambassador at large for energy security and government commissioner for the completion of the Temelin nuclear complex. “This is right now the biggest tender in Europe and one of the biggest in the world.” Also, he said, “it’s unique as it is open for both east and west.” The bidders vying for the deal, estimated to be worth 500 billion korunas, or $25 billion, are Areva, of France; a joint Russian-Czech venture, MIR-1200, in which the Czech nuclear engineering company Skoda JS is working with the Russian companies AtomStroyExport and Gidropress; and the U.S. company Westinghouse. The processes by which public works contracts are awarded in the Czech Republic are often murky. But the government is determined this one will be different. “The tender is too big to be done the usual Czech way — it must be completely transparent,” Mr. Bartuska said. One reason for that is the political sensitivity of the decision. “There are three major countries behind the companies,” he noted. “In the end you have to say no to two of the world’s major countries.” The companies are now waiting for detailed tender documents from CEZ, which Mr. Bartuska said should be ready by the end of the year, a bit later than an originally scheduled September deadline. “Both CEZ and the companies need more time,” he said. “CEZ respected this.” The idea of a nuclear plant at Temelin was first proposed as early as 1979. By 1985, a design had been chosen, calling for four reactors to be built, and construction started in 1987. But after the 1989 Velvet Revolution, the plan was trimmed back to two reactors and alterations were made to the design, intended to raise reliability and safety to Western European standards. The first reactor finally was put into production in July 2000, and the second in 2002. The whole program ran massively over budget and has been plagued by protests, both from inside the country and from its neighbors, causing successive Czech governments to waver repeatedly on whether to continue, or to scrap it. Still, Temelin is now the Czech Republic’s largest power resource, and three years after the second reactor was commissioned CEZ started thinking about returning to the original plan. The two new reactors are expected to double the plant’s output. The tender terms stipulated that only companies with previous nuclear construction experience could apply, and Mr. Bartuska said all three bidders were “very serious and have the ability,” to meet the tender requirements. But, he added, “all three also have difficulties.” He declined to go into details, but said it remained uncertain how the competition would turn out — to the point that, in the end, there could be no winner at all. The government, he said, is looking for lower bids, and higher quality transfers of technology. “All will probably have to drop their price,” he said: “and we want nuclear know-how and know-why.” The expansion of Temelin is not strictly necessary in terms of the country’s energy security, since the Czech Republic is already self-sufficient. But Mr. Bartuska paints it as vitally important for the economic future. The country has a history of nuclear research going back more than 50 years — a potential resource that needs to be nurtured. For now, “We have beer, tourism,” he said; but “what will this country live off in 20 years’ time? “We will either be high-tech or dirt poor. Nuclear forces companies to do things they wouldn’t do. It’s cutting edge.” Under European Union regulations, the government cannot require the bidders to use local companies. Still, said Mr. Bartuska, high local content would clearly earn any bid a more positive public reception. The bidders would seem to have taken that on board: “I’ve heard numbers from bidders using 70 to 80 percent Czech companies,” he said. Based on local capabilities and the interests of the foreign bidders, Mr. Bartuska dismissed that as “not realistic.” Still, the companies disagree. “We intend to maximize to the greatest extent possible Czech content in this project,” Kerry Hanahan, Westinghouse’s project development director for the Czech Republic, said, pointing to the company’s local sourcing program, known as “Buy Where We Build.” “In principle, Westinghouse could source up to 70 to 80 percent of the plant in the Czech Republic,” Mr. Hanahan said. Miroslav Fiala, chief executive of Skoda JS, offered similar numbers for the MIR-1200 project. “The Consortium actively attracts local companies — their contribution to the project will be at least 70 percent of all supplies and services,” he said. Mr. Bartuska says coal -fired power plants now generate roughly 66 percent of the country’s electricity, with 30 percent coming from nuclear and the rest from other sources. Most of the coal plants were built back in the 1950s and ’60s and are nearing the end of their life span. That faces the government with a challenge, Marek Svitak, a spokesman for Temelin, said. “If the Czech Republic wants to replace the gradually decommissioned coal power plants in an effective and environmentally friendly way and maintain its energy independence, the nuclear industry offers a solution now,” Mr. Svitak said. “The completion of Temelin appears to be the best alternative in the technical, safety and financial respect.” Safety has been a past problem at Temelin. As of 1996, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear safety agency based in Vienna, had recorded more than 80 safety lapses before the first reactor even came into production. In 2001, its first year of operation, it had to be shut down in May, operated for about two weeks in August, and then was shut down again. Politically, too, Temelin has been a frequent source of friction with Austria, where protesters have blocked border crossings and where politicians opposed to the plant sought to block the Czech bid to join the European Union. Still, Mr. Svitak said that the plant is safe, and that safety is a constant priority. “Although the existing operating units are safe, new designs have expanded on safety,” he said. “The most advanced and sophisticated designs of the world’s leading manufacturers are being considered for completion of Temelin.” Mr. Hanahan said Westinghouse’s AP1000 pressurized water reactor, which it is proposing, incorporated a “passive safety system” relying on gravity and other natural forces to shut it down without human intervention in the case of an accident. The reactor “is a completely new way of thinking about how nuclear power plants are designed, licensed, and constructed,” he said. Mr. Fiala, for his part, also stressed the safety record of past nuclear plants built by the MIR-1200 consortium, citing in particular the Dukovany plant in Moravia, Czech Republic, which he said rated statistically among the 20 percent most reliable and safest plants in the world. Areva did not respond to requests for comment. How Prague decides to go forward is likely to have major consequences for the future of the whole nuclear industry, Mr. Bartuska said. “In the Czech Republic and the West, there are major nuclear challenges for all of us,” he said. “I hope there will be a nuclear renaissance in 10 to 15 years; so far, we only have a nuclear resuscitation.”