When Their Alter Egos Come Out to Play

Abstract: By day, Jennifer Donovan works as an astronomer, listening for the faintest whispers from atoms in deep outer space, the tracings of movement in galaxies millions of light-years from Earth. But it is nighttime. And in an abandoned cigar factory on a deserted street in Astoria, Queens, Jennifer Donovan, the astronomer, has become Luna Impact, roller derby chick. She hurtles down the floor, a blur of pursuit behind Hyper Lynx, a skater who has twice blocked her so hard that she flew out of bounds. Now, Luna Impact — 125 muscular pounds packed into the lithe frame of Ms. Donovan — has a ferocious derby face on. As she passes Hyper, she drops into a crouch and shifts lanes directly in front of her. Then she abruptly uncoils, standing up and bashing into Hyper’s helmet. The referee whistles a foul. Luna Impact goes to the sideline for the penalty. Between gasps, she spits out an explanation, after first spitting out her mouthpiece. “I tried to do a move called the can opener, but I hit Hyper Lynx in the front of the helmet, instead of the chest,” she said. “The chest would have been legal.” Skating rinks have shut all over the city. But this evening in the Holman gymnasium at City College, Luna Impact will be one of 30 women on two teams competing for the championship of the Gotham Girls Roller Derby ( www.GothamGirlsRollerDerby.com ). Roller derby, which seemed to have a short final flare of life on cable television back in the 1970s, has been reborn atop the skates of amateur women across the country. They have formed leagues, broken bones, drunk beer and won tens of thousands of raucous, loyal fans. The New York teams, which started in 2003 with a handful of women skating under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, include teachers, stage managers, accountants, a lion keeper, corporate lawyers and an antiques dealer, as well as the one known astronomer. Their ages range from 23 to 42. Each skater registers her nom du derby on a national list. The New Yorkers have become Lil’ Miss Stuffit, Surly Temple, Beatrix Slaughter, Lemony Kickit and Brigitte Barhot. They pooled funds and bought a 7,500-square-foot portable floor to use as a flat-track rink, and spend three hours packing and hauling it to the matches. The league is entirely owned and operated by the 60 skaters. “It’s the anti-sport sport, because even though it’s very athletic, it has none of that big sports culture,” said Aja Gair, a paralegal who skates under a name so sprawling that it is just about one verb short of an op-ed essay: Barbara Ambush Mother of All Your Problems. In a black dress and pumps, Danielle Noonan arrived for practice at the old cigar factory earlier this week direct from her office in the law firm of Kaye Scholer, where she practices patent law. She had never played a team sport, and had been trudging miserably on health club treadmills to keep fit. Then she heard about the derby, and fell for its generous camaraderie and silliness. For today’s match, Ms. Noonan, 28, will change into a short skirt with bloomers underneath, emerging as She Raw. “People from the office come to watch — mostly men, waiting for me to fall and hoot when my skirt flies up,” she said. “They’re asking me to join the firm’s football team, but between derby and billable hours, there’s no time left.” Everyone wears pads on the elbows, knees and wrists, helmets on the head and mouth guards between the teeth. The aggression runs high on the rink floor, but rarely gets nasty. “We really don’t fight because we have to run the business together,” said Ginger Snap, alias Natily Blair, 30, who wears a necklace that includes a pin once used to hold her fractured wrist in place. “You leave it on the track and buy her a beer afterwards. Something about putting on the skates takes away the vulnerability.” Luna Impact — Ms. Donovan, a graduate assistant in astronomy at Columbia University — had figure skated most of her life but gave it up after a coach moved to Florida. “I’d heard about derby through friends of Flying Squirrel, a geneticist,” she said. “I went to a championship. In 20 years of national figure skating, I never saw a crowd like that.” Two weeks before the opening bout, she took an accidental shot in practice that broke the joint of her jaw. “Auntie Christ meant to hit my shoulder,” she said. “You know those boxing movies where they show the boxer’s jaw getting hit in slow motion and how it gets deformed? I know how that feels.” One woman, a lawyer for the city, noted that while she did not go in for the tattoos or piercings that accessorized many of the skaters, and while she weighed about 100 pounds more than most, she still felt very much at home. Because of her job, she said, she could give only her skating name. “It’s Beyonsláy, accent over the A,” she said. “It’s really great to have an alter ego. I highly recommend it.”

Roller Skating
Roller Derby
New York City


Air France Flight Makes Emergency Landing in Kenya After ‘False Alarm’

Abstract: NAIROBI, Kenya — An Air France jetliner flying over the Indian Ocean made an emergency landing in Kenya on Sunday after a suspicious device found in a bathroom turned out to be constructed of cardboard and made to look like a bomb. Air France Flight 463 was headed from the island of Mauritius to Paris when a passenger noticed the suspicious device. Bomb fears aboard flights have intensified in recent weeks after the crash of a Russian jetliner in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula in October, which Western investigators said was caused by an explosive device. The passenger notified the crew, who alerted the captain, Kenyan officials said, and the plane then diverted from its flight path and made an emergency landing in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa shortly after midnight Sunday. The plane was a Boeing 777 with 459 passengers and 14 crew members, Kenyan officials said. Everyone was safely evacuated. Joseph Boinnet, the head of Kenya’s police, said in a Twitter post that investigators had retrieved a device and were “determining whether the components contained explosives.” The chief executive of Air France, Frédéric Gagey, said at a news conference in Paris on Sunday that the scare was a “false alarm” and that the device had been made of cardboard, sheets of paper and a timer. Kenyan news media reported Sunday night that six passengers were being questioned in connection with the bomb hoax and that all six would be further investigated by French antiterrorism police. The emergency landing in Mombasa disrupted flights at that airport for several hours, but by Sunday afternoon, Kenyan officials said service had returned to normal. “Jambo!” the Kenyan civil aviation authority said in a message on Sunday, using the Swahili word for hello. “We confirm of an emergency landing by Air France at Moi Int’l Airport this morning.” Moi International is the name of the international airport in Mombasa, the second biggest airport in Kenya. The scare was the latest incident to affect Air France and other airlines in recent weeks amid heightened concerns of potential terrorist threats to air travel in the wake of the Oct. 31 crash of the Russian airliner. Russian authorities have asserted the crash was caused by an explosive device , and militants linked to the Islamic State have claimed responsibility for bringing down the plane. Egyptian investigators, however, say they have so far uncovered no evidence proving the plane was brought down by a bomb. In those previous cases, several of which involved flights from the United States to Paris, the flights were diverted following anonymous bomb threats. But searches of the aircraft did not reveal anything suspicious. Last week, a flight from Madrid to São Paulo, Brazil, operated by the Brazilian airline TAM, returned to the Spanish capital after Spanish authorities informed the airline of a possible bomb threat.

France
Kenya
Plane Crash
Bombs
Airlines,airplanes
Air France
Terrorism


Duel Over Sugar Beet Seeds Could Create Shortage

Abstract: Court decisions that have suspended the planting of genetically modified sugar beets could result in a sharp decline in American sugar production in the next two years, leading to possible price increases for consumers and food processors, according to experts and farmers. Unless regulators can devise new rules acceptable to the federal court, the rulings could force farmers to abandon the genetically engineered beets they have come to rely on. Currently, those beets make up nearly all of the United States crop. Farmers, who would normally order their seeds around now for planting early next year, say they are unsure what to do. “Right now, it’s pretty tough to do any planning because everything is in limbo,” said Ric Rodriguez, a beet farmer in Powell, Wyo., and a director of the Western Sugar Cooperative. “Everybody’s pretty nervous right now.” In the most recent court ruling, on Tuesday, a federal judge in San Francisco ordered that 256 acres of baby beet plants intended to make seeds for future sugar beet crops be pulled from the ground. In unusually harsh language, Judge Jeffrey S. White of the United States District for Northern California said that the Agriculture Department and the seed industry appeared to have been trying to get around an earlier order from him barring the planting of genetically modified beets. The lawsuit was brought by several environmental groups, led by the Center for Food Safety, concerned that the modified genetic traits in the beets could spread through pollination to other closely related crops. The Agriculture Department filed a notice Wednesday that it would appeal Judge White’s decision. Monsanto, which developed the genetic trait used in the beets, and three seed companies said they would also appeal and ask for a stay of the judge’s ruling. The seed-producing beet plants affected by Tuesday’s judicial order, called stecklings, were intended for crops that would be planted in 2012 and beyond. Farmers are more immediately concerned about whether they will be able to plant the genetically engineered crops next spring. The beets are modified to be resistant to the popular herbicide Roundup, making it easy for farmers to control weeds. In August, Judge White said the Roundup-resistant sugar beets could no longer be grown commercially because the Agriculture Department had not adequately considered the environmental impact before approving them. The U.S.D.A. is preparing an environmental impact statement, but it is not expected to be completed until May 2012. In the meantime, the department is considering granting partial approval, which would allow the genetically engineered beets to be grown with restrictions. The public comment period on the new U.S.D.A proposal ends Monday. If regulators move ahead with it, the environmental groups are expected to seek another ruling from Judge White invalidating it. “They’re making it up as they go along,” Paul Achitoff, a lawyer for the environmental groups, said of regulators. If farmers cannot plant the genetically engineered seeds next spring, they will have to rely on conventional seeds. Most of these seeds are left over from three or more years ago, before the new genetically engineered seeds swept the market. This year, genetically modified seeds accounted for about 95 percent of total sugar beet acreage. Government experts predict there will not be enough conventional seed to go around. An environmental assessment by the U.S.D.A. predicts that sugar beet acreage could drop by 37 percent and total sugar production could fall by 1.6 million tons of refined sugar. Taking into account sugar from sugar cane grown in the South, total domestic production could fall about 20 percent. Because each spring’s beet planting produces sugar that is not consumed until the following year, the full impact on prices would probably not be felt until 2012, according to the assessment and industry experts. “It would have an extremely important impact on the market,” said Frank Jenkins, president of the Jenkins Sugar Group, a commodity brokerage firm in Connecticut. “It will be incumbent on the U.S.D.A. to make up for that by allowing timely imports. If they don’t do a good job of that, we’ll see prices at a historically unprecedented level.” Sugar beets make up slightly more than half of the nation’s sugar production, with the rest coming from sugar cane. Imports, which are controlled by the U.S.D.A., also contribute to sugar supplies. Jeff Stachler, the extension specialist for sugar beet weeds in North Dakota and Minnesota, said that some growers were ordering conventional seeds for spring, even if they would prefer the genetically engineered ones. This allows them to end the uncertainty, assure their seed supply and obtain the necessary weedkillers. “If we can’t plant Roundup Ready at the last minute, we are likely not to have enough herbicide to cover all the acres,” he said, referring to the genetically modified seeds. But some farmers say the older conventional seed might not grow as well as the genetically engineered varieties. So many farmers and the farmer-owned cooperatives that process the sugar are holding out hope they will be able to grow the engineered beets. “We are telling our farmers to sit tight,” said Duane Grant, the chairman of the Snake River Sugar Company in Idaho. In remarks to reporters Wednesday, the agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, criticized “a circumstance where a single judge can essentially decide whether someone gets to farm or doesn’t get to farm.” He also referred to the broader battle between opponents and supporters of biotechnology. “We need to figure out ways in which those who wish to do biotech and those who wish to do organic can live together in the same universe and be able to do what they think is best for their operation,” he said.

Sugar
Agriculture
Farmers
Genetic Engineering
Biotechnology
Agriculture Department


In the Spotlight, 2 Drivers Linked by a Moment

Abstract: With Sunday’s prestigious Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway beginning the stretch run before September’s Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff, the fortunes of two Nascar drivers connected by one team owner’s blockbuster decision have become a focal point of the season. Dale Earnhardt Jr. , considered the sport’s most popular driver, is in the midst of a slump that has threatened his hopes of making the Chase. Kyle Busch, perhaps Nascar’s most riveting driver, has been alternately dominating and dumbfounding this year, but he is establishing himself as the top challenger to the five-time defending Sprint Cup champion, Jimmie Johnson. Can Earnhardt finally be the contender his devoted fans have been waiting for ever since he joined the powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports in 2008? Is this the year Busch emerges as the next great Nascar champion, a destiny some predicted for him years ago even before he was unceremoniously dumped by the team’s owner, Rick Hendrick, to make room for Earnhardt? Myriad issues have confronted Nascar this season, including annual concerns about attendance and ratings, and handwringing about race strategies. But the answers to questions about Earnhardt and Busch could ultimately define the year. Earnhardt’s race team had a major transformation after last season, when he finished 21st in the standings and out of the playoff field for the third time in four years. A new crew chief, shop and fleet of racecars awaited him this year, and Earnhardt thrived in the environment. He was as high as third in the standings and came ever so close to posting his first win since 2008, placing second at Martinsville and at Kansas and running out of gas while leading on the final lap of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May. A berth in the 12-car field for the Chase was seemingly assured just a few weeks ago. But a five-race stumble dropped Earnhardt to ninth in the standings, 7 points ahead of his nearest competitor for that spot — the two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart. The frustration has bubbled over at times; Earnhardt has complained about the setups in his racecars and even snapped about teammates after races when there were issues on the track. But he played down those emotions when he spoke to reporters in Indianapolis on Friday. “What are you going to do?” Earnhardt said when asked if he was angry about the drop in the standings. “I’m not going to make myself miserable worrying about it. I’m just going to try to put the hammer down when I get to that part of the day and see what happens.” Perhaps the response is evidence of the calming influence of Steve Letarte, the crew chief who helped Jeff Gordon make the playoff field each of the past five years before being shifted to Earnhardt this season. “I’m probably the only one in the country, I’m not that worried about Dale Jr.,” Letarte said in a telephone interview last week. “He’s a remarkable racecar driver. We have a great friendship, a great professional relationship. I’m not a psychiatrist, I don’t know where his brain is, but I’m a friend and a co-worker and a crew chief on his race team, and I’m excited to go to the racetrack with him. I think he’s in a good place ready to go race.” Busch has no such concerns about the Chase. He is fifth in the standings and, most critically, has three victories to tie with Kevin Harvick for the best in the series. Asked about the points system punishing drivers for poor finishes, Busch made clear he was already looking ahead to how the system could affect him in the playoff. “A bad day used to not knock you back as far as what it does now,” Busch said Friday, pointing out how a few poor finishes had knocked him back in the standings. “Through the Chase, it’s going to be important to not have a bad day.” On the track, Busch is far and away the leader in attracting attention to his race team. Joyce Julius and Associates , which places a dollar value on television exposure, calculated that Busch had generated more than $38 million for his team this year. That is $12 million more than Earnhardt, his nearest competitor. Busch has been in the headlines seemingly every week. When he was not winning, Busch was deliberately wrecking Harvick’s racecar on pit road after a race. Or he was being punched by Harvick’s race team owner, Richard Childress, over another incident. Or he was drawing scorn for being caught driving 128 miles per hour in a 45-m.p.h zone in a small town north of Charlotte, N.C. All of which once again raised the issue of Busch’s maturity. But he may be finally answering that question. “That’s been kind of neat to watch, watching him mature,” the Joe Gibbs Racing team president, J. D. Gibbs, said. “Look, the way he’s handled certain situations — the issue with Harvick, the issue with Richard Childress. He’s done a good job. He handled it well, he didn’t say too much. He moved on. Obviously, he’s done a great job on the track. The speeding violation, he’s figuring out a way to make that right. It was a poor decision, and he agrees with it.” Gibbs added, “I feel like he’s kind of maturing.” That could go a long way in determining if he’s ready to finally win a championship.

National Assn of Stock Car Auto Racing
Automobile Racing
Nascar Sprint Cup Series
Earnhardt Dale Jr
Busch Kyle


Hoping to Earn a Diploma

Abstract: SALLIE MAE is flunking on Wall Street. Shares of the company, the nation’s largest source of student loans , have lost more than half their value since December, when Sallie Mae shook up its top management and, anticipating an increase in defaults, vowed to screen student loans more closely. Shares of just four companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index have performed worse during that time. Sallie Mae plunged again on Thursday, falling $1.68, to $17.76, as renewed turmoil in the credit markets sent the broader stock market tumbling. But Sallie Mae has been hurting for almost a year now. Its troubles began last spring, when Congress cut its subsidies to student lenders, hurting profits at Sallie Mae and other lenders. Then the turmoil in the credit markets began to take a toll on the company, which has relied on its ability to package the loans it makes to students into securities. The twin blows eventually helped shatter a $25 billion takeover of the company. While Sallie Mae has recently managed to shed two big burdens — an expensive lawsuit over its failed buyout and the refinancing of $31 billion in short-term debt — it has yet to persuade shareholders that it is on a sound footing. This week, Moody’s Investors Service cut the company’s credit rating, leaving Sallie Mae just two levels above junk-bond grade. Sallie Mae and other lenders have been stymied in their efforts to resell student loans through a process known as securitization. The spreads on securities based on student loans have recently widened to near-historic highs, and auctions that set the interest rate on many of these securities have failed because of feeble investor demand. That has left Sallie Mae dependent on more expensive forms of financing as it waits for the credit markets to settle down. Last week, the company closed on a $31.3 billion credit line, which replaces a similar-size debt that it had borrowed from JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America that was to come due soon. The lender has also warned that it expected a rise in student loan defaults, a prospect for which it has prepared by setting aside $575 million in loan-loss provisions. That helped contribute to a $1.6 billion loss for its fourth quarter, a reversal from the $18 million in profit it showed in the same time a year ago. For years, the company had made bets that its stock price would continue to rise, a prospect bolstered by its efforts to sell itself. After its proposed buyout collapsed, however, its stock fell, forcing the lender to raise $3 billion in new capital to pay off those contracts. Albert L. Lord, the company’s chief executive, also contributed to some of Sallie Mae’s woes. As the company’s $60-a-share deal began to crumble last summer, he spurned a revised $50-a-share deal that the buyers said could have paid more if the lender met its earnings targets. Upon his reinstatement as chief executive in December, he also held a strained conference call with investors, one punctuated by an expletive. Mr. Lord apologized at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in January. Sallie Mae has not suffered alone, as student lenders across the board have seen their stocks drop. (One competitor, the First Marblehead Corporation, sold a nearly 17 percent stake in itself to Goldman Sachs in December.) Still, over the last year its stock has fallen 58 percent, while other rivals have seen smaller declines. The lender has already taken some steps to strengthen its position. In December, it announced the appointments of Anthony P. Terracciano, a longtime banking executive, as its chairman, and John F. Remondi, a former Sallie Mae executive, as its chief financial officer. Earlier this week it also appointed John Hewes, a veteran of MBNA, as its chief credit officer, a new position that will oversee loan policy and credit risk management. Not everyone thinks that Sallie Mae’s future is dark. Sameer Gokhale, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, maintains an outperform rating on the stock and said the company remained the best-positioned student lender for the current markets. Mr. Gokhale said that the company has alleviated short-term risk as best it could, and that as the largest student lender it has the economies of scale to survive an abnormally choppy credit market. “My hope is that after a year they’ll come out of this bigger than ever,” he said.


Miami Car Dealer Admits Auto Industry Has Changed

Abstract: MIAMI — Ralph W. Sifford wears a gold Rolex and keeps his tie tight, and his seven General Motors dealerships in New York and Florida carry a distinctly American name: Grand Prize. “Everyone’s a winner,” Mr. Sifford said, smiling with pride. “That’s our slogan.” These days, however, buyers are harder to find. Survival might be, too. All around Mr. Sifford car dealerships are closing. Five have disappeared or gone up for sale within a 10-minute drive of his showroom here; nationwide, more than 1,000 shut down in 2008. And in the midst of such churn, Mr. Sifford and his staff have become the American car industry in miniature: on any given day, both the upbeat predictions that kept Detroit from changing and the brand loyalty that gives dealers hope are on full display. Mr. Sifford, who gives his age (70) only after people guess, admits that something has changed from when he started out full of “excitement and vinegar.” On his desk sits a scale model of his first car: a 1958 powder blue Chevy Impala convertible. Back then, Chevy was as cool as James Dean, he said, and its dealerships were as beloved as mom and apple pie. “We’re not that any longer,” he said. “And now to bring the American image back it’s going to be a lot of work.” Already, the changes are dizzying. Mr. Sifford has laid off 20 people here out of staff of 120. Memos now reach his desk almost hourly from Detroit explaining not just new rebates, but also new demands from a new corporate power center: the White House. Mr. Sifford said he appreciated Washington’s help so far. He predicted that the Obama administration’s decision to insure G.M. warranties in the case of bankruptcy would restore confidence to both buyers and dealers. Recently, he said, he even started to think the politicians had national security in mind. “In World War II, the Big Three, the automobile industry, built the tanks, and vehicles to get us through,” he said. “If they don’t have the Big Three, or General Motors, the biggest of the Big Three, there is nobody that the United States could turn to in a new war.” Patriotism, here at least, is what G.M. has left in the tank. Mr. Sifford claims to be the first dealer in Miami to hang an American flag from a pole 80 feet high; red, white and blue color his company like a poster of Uncle Sam. For some shoppers, it works. Three families that bought cars from Grand Prize on a recent weekday cited nationalism as a strong motivating factor. “We already lost Budweiser to Germany or Belgium,” said Jose Colón, 37, a corrections officer who arrived with several children and a newborn in tow. A strong G.M., Mr. Colón said, is “the way it’s supposed to be.” Even Cindy Slade, who said she was shopping because the transmission on her 1995 Chevy just conked out, was back for another. “I’m a Chevy girl,” Ms. Slade said, “and I’m going to stay a Chevy girl.” Mr. Sifford chuckles when he hears this sort of thing with a grin ready-made for a television commercial. He, too, has never bothered with imports; a single Ford dealership next door is as far as he has moved from his beloved Chevy. And although he sold one G.M. franchise last year, he said he planned to open another soon in Nanuet, N.Y. On the phone with G.M. to discuss final details, he tapped the desk with excitement. “We’ll have every G.M. franchise other than Hummer and Saab,” he said after hanging up. “We’ll be the superstore.” His staff, too, like the title character in Graham Greene’s novel “The Quiet American,” managed to see only the upside. “I don’t think it’s really as bad as everyone thinks,” said Mark Levenson, a raspy-voiced salesman who used to sell Harley-Davidson motorcycles. It was the last day of March. Mr. Levenson shouted to another salesman, “Right now we’ve got what, 78 vehicles out?” “Almost 80,” the other salesman said. “And last month we did 50,” Mr. Levenson said, “so that’s a big improvement.” March actually ended with 99 vehicles sold. It was success only in the narrowest sense: A few years ago Grand Prize Chevrolet sold 180 to 190 each month, Mr. Sifford said. Most were new; last month, the majority were used. Mr. Sifford, in his office overlooking the showroom, said that maybe everyone, winners still, needed to get used to smaller prizes. “Once you’ve had steak, how do you go back to hamburger?” he said. “It’s really difficult — and that’s what we have to do.”

Automobiles
General Motors Corp
Layoffs and Job Reductions
Subprime Mortgage Crisis
Miami (Fla)


Spending Bill Held Up as Congress Dickers Over Riders

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Travel to Cuba. Abortions in the nation’s capital. Energy efficiency standards for light bulbs. Those are a few of the issues that have ensnarled members of Congress trying to finish an omnibus spending bill that was due to be completed more than two months ago. A stopgap spending bill, for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, runs out Friday. In a rare feat of bipartisan cooperation in the badly divided Congress, members of the House and Senate appropriations committees have nearly reached agreement on legislation to finance most of the government for the remainder of the fiscal year. The bill has been held up by a passel of Congressional restrictions and riders in which lawmakers try to impose their policy preferences on the president by exercising the power of the purse. One, for example, would reinstate restrictions on travel to Cuba and remittances sent there from the United States. Since President Obama relaxed the restrictions in 2009, Cuba has seen a surge in visitors and remittances. Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, Republican of Florida, has led efforts to re-impose the restrictions. “Tourist travel is the No. 1 source of revenue for the Castro regime,” he said. Representative Harold Rogers, Republican of Kentucky and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said House and Senate negotiators had reached a bipartisan agreement on how to resolve this and other nettlesome issues in the spending bill — even though the Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, raised objections at the behest of the White House. Mr. Reid denied that the agreement was final. “It’s not complete,” he said. “There are still major issues, critical issues, to be ironed out.” Federal officials at some agencies began notifying employees on Wednesday that they might be furloughed if the government shut down temporarily because of a lapse in spending authority. However, Congress could try to prevent the disruption by passing another stopgap spending bill. Senator Reid said Republicans “obviously want to have the government shut down,” an assertion denied by Republicans, who said Mr. Reid was holding up the omnibus spending bill to gain leverage on other issues, like the extension of a payroll tax cut. “A government shutdown is a terrible idea,” said the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Mr. Reid said the proposed change in Cuba travel restrictions was too important to American foreign policy to be shoved through Congress as a rider to an appropriations bill. House Republicans are also trying to prohibit the District of Columbia from using local tax revenue to pay for abortions for low-income women under Medicaid . The White House and Congressional Democrats are resisting. Even “local funds” raised by the city are deposited in the United States Treasury and can be spent only if appropriated by Congress. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington’s delegate in Congress, explained it this way: “Although the District raises and manages its own $8 billion budget, Congress technically appropriates these local funds back to the District, a holdover and throwback to the pre-home-rule period.” House Republicans also want to waive a 2007 law so the Defense Department can continue using coal as an “alternative fuel.” Some Democrats and environmentalists say this provision could slow the Defense Department’s progress in increasing the use of cleaner fuels. Mr. Rogers and Kentucky state officials say that, with new technology, coal itself can be a clean fuel. House Republicans are also trying to repeal energy efficiency standards for light bulbs. “We are trying to promote fluorescent lights while Republicans are protecting incandescent bulbs,” said a Senate Democratic aide. Republicans said the federal government had no business telling people what kind of lights they could buy for their homes. Supporters of the federal standards said the new bulbs saved energy and would save money in the long run. White House officials were pursuing several goals of their own in the omnibus spending bill. For example, they sought more money for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, so the agency could more adequately protect consumers under the 2010 law overhauling regulation of financial services. Members of Congress said they were puzzled by the president’s effort this week because he signed a bill last month providing $205 million for the commission. As part of the omnibus spending bill, House and Senate negotiators agreed to a small increase in the budget of the National Institutes of Health, whose biomedical research enjoys bipartisan support. They dropped riders that would have prevented Mr. Obama from carrying out the new health care law . They provided less money for the Race to the Top program, under which states compete for federal grants for their schools. But lawmakers agreed to a policy change that would open the competition to big-city school districts.

Federal Budget (US)
United States Politics and Government
Law and Legislation
Senate
House of Representatives


N.B.A.’s Replay Controversies Could Lead to a Review

Abstract: LOS ANGELES — Clippers forward Matt Barnes was parked in front of the television at home Wednesday night, watching the end of the Nets-Miami Heat game while his twin 5-year-old boys busied themselves wrestling. As Barnes watched the final seconds unfold, he could not quite believe what he was seeing. Again. The night before, in Oklahoma City, Barnes had whacked the Thunder’s Reggie Jackson on the forearm, and Jackson lost the ball out of bounds with 13 seconds to play. The officials did not call a foul but ruled it was Oklahoma City’s ball. After they looked at video replays, they did not overturn the call — to the surprise of much of the TV audience, many in the arena and everyone on the Clippers’ bench. The ruling, along with several crucial Clippers mistakes, played a pivotal role in Oklahoma City’s 105-104 victory, which gave the Thunder a 3-2 lead in the series. It also prompted a diatribe against the officials from Clippers Coach Doc Rivers, for which the N.B.A. fined him $25,000 on Thursday. Barnes watched a similar situation unfold in Miami on Wednesday night. LeBron James cracked Paul Pierce on the arm in the final seconds of a close game, knocking the ball loose and out of bounds. Officials ruled it was the Nets’ ball and did not reverse the call, even after they watched replays that seemed to show that the ball went off Pierce. “I almost tweeted,” said Barnes, who was fined earlier this season for a profane outburst on Twitter. “But I just went and wrestled with my twins.” If Miami had not hung on for the 96-94 victory, there might have been the same kind of outrage from the Heat as there had been from the Clippers. The two incidents are the latest in the playoffs that have thrown a spotlight on what officials are allowed to review. “My sense is where we’ll probably end up is giving the officials some more discretion of what they can look at when they’re over there,” said Rod Thorn, the N.B.A.’s president for basketball operations, repeating remarks Commissioner Adam Silver made last month. “Everybody can see something that looks like a foul but the official, because he was restricted from applying his judgment.” As it stands, there are 14 criteria, or “triggers,” that an officiating crew can use to review a play, like whether a player’s feet are behind the 3-point line or whether a shot is out of a player’s hand before the buzzer. Some plays fall out of their purview. In Atlanta’s first-round series with Indiana, the Hawks’ Jeff Teague hit a running, off-balance 3-pointer just before the shot clock expired, a crucial blow in the Hawks’ Game 3 win. The officials reviewed the play to confirm that Teague had beaten the shot clock and had both feet behind the line, which he did. What they could not do anything about was Teague’s stepping out of bounds before he released the shot. In a Clippers loss to Golden State in their first-round series opener, Chris Paul lost the ball out of bounds as he was bumped by the Warriors’ Draymond Green. The referee ruled that it was the Clippers’ ball, perhaps a way of acknowledging the contact without punishing Golden State with two foul shots for Paul. But when the officials went to replay, they overturned the call because the ball had clearly last touched Paul. The next day, Thorn said in a statement that the officials used replay correctly but erred in not calling a foul on Green. It was being on the wrong end of both calls that infuriated Rivers. Asked during his news conference Tuesday night if he had any ideas to improve the system, Rivers said: “The answer is get it right. That’s the only answer. Sometimes, it’s hard. It can go either way. Then what can you do? But when it’s that clear, the answer is get it right.” Rivers voice will be heard the next time the league’s competition committee meets, which is expected to be in July. He is one of three coaches on the committee, along with Rick Carlisle of Dallas and Monty Williams of New Orleans. Changes to the replay system are certain to be on the agenda, Thorn said, adding that there would be discussion about giving the referees more triggers to work with and perhaps removing them from the equation, leaving all reviews in the hands of a central command center as the N.H.L. has done. “We’re looking into that,” Thorn said. “That seems to be a way that would really help. If somebody was already looking at it, they could get the right angles right away, which would make it more effective.”

Basketball
NBA
Oklahoma City Thunder
Brooklyn Nets
Miami Heat
Clippers
Doc Rivers
Playoffs
Referee
Instant replay


In a Young Spaniard, N.B.A. Sees Next Maravich

Abstract: BEIJING — With his floppy hair, incandescent smile and palpable swagger, the Spanish guard Ricky Rubio has created the biggest basketball buzz at these Olympics. Rubio, 17, is seen as the top point guard prospect in the 2009 N.B.A. draft , and he has received significant playing time on a Spanish team stocked with N.B.A.-tested guards. But what separates Rubio from the dozens of European players who have invaded N.B.A. rosters the last two decades is that he has become a global icon by his senior year of high school. He is brash enough to wear a game jersey that is simply labeled “Ricky” on the back and flashy enough to be a YouTube sensation. At least six of the nearly 500 Rubio clips that come up on the site have been hit on more than 100,000 times, and comparisons to Pete Maravich have arisen because of his looks and ability. “He’s big time,” said Steve Wojciechowski, one of Team USA’s scouts and an assistant coach at Duke University. “He’s going to be drafted very, very high as soon as he’s able to be drafted. If he were in the States, he’d be someone that people would be drooling over.” When Spain, the defending world champion, plays the United States on Saturday in a matchup of the two most talented men’s basketball teams here, the eyes of the world will be on Rubio. It is not something new to Rubio, who first played in Spain’s top professional league at 14 and has been on the N.B.A.’s radar ever since. Rubio comes off the bench for the Spanish team but was on the floor swiping steals and leading fast breaks when the Spaniards erased a double-digit, fourth-quarter deficit to beat China in overtime earlier this week. Rubio is not a household name yet, but the buzz around him is already bigger than any other potential European import. His emergence is another indication of how the world’s basketball axis is gradually shifting from America. Among those who have viewed Rubio’s YouTube résumé is his biggest competition for the top point guard prospect in next year’s draft, Brandon Jennings. In what was perceived as another blow to the American youth basketball system, Jennings became the first star player to choose to play professionally in Europe directly out of high school. He signed a deal with Virtus Roma in Italy and said that he had already circled the dates of the two games against Rubio’s Spanish club, Joventut. “I’ve seen him on YouTube,” Jennings said in a telephone interview. “I’m looking forward to playing against him. I know I’ll be going against one of the best point guards overseas, and he’ll be going against one of the best point guards in the United States.” Rubio speaks a bit of English but perhaps communicates better through his arched eyebrows and giant smile. He deflected most questions about the N.B.A., and there was still a question of whether he would come over for the 2009 or 2010 draft because of his contract with Joventut and concerns of his family. While Rubio says all the right things about wanting to play in Spain’s A.C.B. League next season, he also grew up idolizing Jason Kidd and Chris Paul. “It’s one dream to go to the N.B.A.,” he said. “It’s true. I have to say the truth. It’s a dream for everybody to play in the best league in the world.” Dan Fegan, Rubio’s Los Angeles-based agent, declined to comment on the Joventut contract issue or the timeline for Rubio to enter the N.B.A. But Fegan said he would be ready when the time comes. “In terms of his development as a player, he’s shown on and off the floor maturity beyond his years, which is an important factor that N.B.A. teams look at when drafting a young player,” Fegan said. In the N.B.A., his sizzle and flair would sell tickets and his smile would make any marketer’s knees wobbly. Coach Mike Krzyzewski said he admired Rubio’s “verve.” Wojciechowski called it “a moxie beyond his years.” Rubio plays with the nonchalance and flare of a playground legend — he can dribble on a string and can dissect defenses with improbable passes. His shot is still shaky, but he is well on his way to being a well-rounded point guard. “He doesn’t play like a European,” said Jim Boeheim, the head coach at Syracuse University and an assistant with Team U.S.A. “He plays like an American.” N.B.A. scouts and executives are not permitted to talk publicly about Rubio because he is not yet eligible for the draft. But an informal polling of three N.B.A. front office people yielded a consensus that he would be a top-five pick whenever he decided to come to America. What has impressed N.B.A. scouts is Rubio’s defensive ability. He has long arms, quick feet and the strength to defend N.B.A. guards immediately, something that few American college players are ready to do. “He’s got the quickest hands that I’ve ever seen,” one Eastern Conference executive said. “And the fact that he plays on the Spanish national team as a senior in high school shows the confidence that he brings to the table.” Rubio is by far the youngest player on the Spanish national team, which is stocked with players like Pau Gasol, José Calderón, Rudy Fernández and Juan Carlos Navarro. Coach Aíto García Reneses called Rubio “wonderful” and said his only hope was that Rubio kept improving. Gasol, who was the No. 3 pick in the 2001 N.B.A. draft and starts at center for the Los Angeles Lakers, said Rubio’s game was well suited for the N.B.A. “I was nothing compared to him when I was 17,” said Gasol, who was drafted when he was 20. “His maturity and confidence level is extremely high for his age and for what’s he doing.” Saturday’s game will offer Rubio the biggest stage and stiffest competition of his career, especially with the pressure defense the United States guards showed against Greece. It is his grandest opportunity to build his Internet fame, as a worldwide sensation grows one click at a time.

Basketball
Olympic Games (2008)
Rubio Ricky
Spain
United States


A Bright Spot in the Dim Video Game Picture

Abstract: After Electronic Arts, the No. 1 video game publisher, announces what it has forecast will be disappointing results for the recent holiday quarter, expect a lot of hand-wringing about the future of the video game business. "I don't think anyone should go into the earnings season with high expectations of a rosy picture, a rosy outlook or great numbers," said Edward S. Williams, a game industry analyst at Harris Nesbitt in New York. "It was a very difficult holiday for the publishers as a whole, and the outlook is going to remain somewhat murky for at least a while." Two of the other big domestic video game publishers, Activision and THQ, are expected to follow with their results over the next few days, and while the stanzas may change, the overall chorus will probably remain the same sad dirge. In explaining the current woes, many executives and analysts will point to the obvious culprit: Microsoft, which has failed to meet demand for its Xbox 360 game machine. Had Microsoft been able to supply more 360's, Activision and Electronic Arts, in particular, would have had better quarters. THQ rested its holiday hopes on older systems and fared better as a result. But the bigger picture for investors is that game publishers in the United States are still almost entirely in the same business they have been in for 20 years: selling new games at retail. As a result, the big publicly traded domestic publishers are not participating in any meaningful way in two of the hottest parts of the global video game industry: subscription-based online gaming and trade-ins of used games. Those two sectors are very different; online gaming is growing quickly but remains risky, while the used game business is more mature but remains tremendously profitable. Yet each represents a major challenge to the publishers' traditional business model. "There is no question that the used games business is a great place to be," said Michael Wallace, games analyst at UBS. "It's just that the publishers aren't a part of it. And the online business is also growing, but it's the non-U.S. companies that have taken advantage of it. E.A. dropped the ball, frankly, and most of the U.S. companies have not really participated in the online business." In the fast-growing online sector, the major companies are European and Asian. World of Warcraft, for instance, which has more than 5.5 million customers paying about $15 a month, is produced by a unit of Vivendi Universal of France. The big pure-play online gaming companies are NCsoft of Seoul, South Korea, and Shanda, which is based in Shanghai. Meanwhile, the used games business does not sound exciting until you look at the numbers. GameStop, which recently acquired Electronics Boutique to become the No. 2 video game retailer behind Wal-Mart, has made used games one of its pillars and that is a big reason its shares are up 89 percent since the beginning of last year; Electronic Arts shares are down 11 percent over the period. Over all, GameStop appears on track to generate about $3 billion in revenue this year. Of that, it looks like $800 million to $1 billion will come from the sale of used software, hardware and accessories. Just how profitable that segment is has only recently become clear to investors. The quarter that ended in October was the most recent with GameStop results and was the first in which the company broke out results for its used segment. They were eye-popping. Used products made up almost 32 percent of the company's total retail sales and almost 44 percent of gross profit. Even more impressive, while GameStop's gross profit margin on new hardware sales in the quarter was less than 11 percent, and on new software less than 25 percent, the company generated a whopping 45 percent profit margin in its used segment. For GameStop, the beauty of the used business is that it acquires most of its inventory not by paying cash but by giving gamers credit that they then spend in the stores anyway. GameStop then sells the used disks and cartridges, which usually function just as well as new disks and cartridges, for about 20 percent less than the new versions of the same games sitting an aisle or two away. But the publishers do not get any piece of that secondary market. "The used games business does not cannibalize sales of newer video games," Daniel A. DeMatteo, GameStop's vice chairman and chief operating officer, said in an interview. "As a matter of fact, it does somewhat the opposite. We continuously increase the market for new games by allowing customers to trade in games that they are no longer playing. The used games business puts currency in people's hands." Nonetheless, the size and profitability of GameStop's used business has publishers scrambling to figure out how to capture some of those dollars for themselves, perhaps through electronic distribution of games directly to players. Wal-Mart does not sell used games and Best Buy, another big game retailer, is testing the concept. So for now, the used market remains largely GameStop's franchise and it provides a solid, high-margin floor for the company even when sales of new games are slow. That is a big reason GameStop reported a strong holiday season recently while Activision, E.A. and Take-Two have all stumbled. For now, the angst among publishers continues to build behind the scenes. None of the companies that are to announce quarterly results in the coming days would comment. But Jim Ankner, a spokesman for Take-Two (which has its own worries these days what with its various federal investigations and the recent resignation of an important director), tried to put the most diplomatic face on the used game situation. "We would prefer that retailers only sold new games," he said, "but we've learned to make peace with it."

GAMESTOP CORP
ELECTRONIC ARTS
SALES
COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES


Man Sought for Questioning in Killing

Abstract: The police identified a Brooklyn man on Thursday that they are seeking for questioning in the Dec. 15 death of Carol Simon-Hayes, who was shot as she walked to the entrance of her Crown Heights apartment building. Two law enforcement officials, who insisted on anonymity because the investigation is continuing, identified the man as Darrius Dubarry. The police said that the last known address of Mr. Dubarry, who goes by the nickname D, was 454 Kingsborough Walk in Weeksville, but that officers had not found him at that address. They said the Police Department had enlisted the help of law enforcement agencies in several states in the hunt for Mr. Dubarry. Ms. Simon-Hayes, a 35-year-old hospital worker, was taking her 9-year-old son, Kieron, to swimming practice on Saturday night when she realized she had forgotten something. She left her son and her car with friends at a nearby gas station and walked back to her building on Eastern Parkway. She was shot steps away from her building’s entrance and died after being taken to a nearby hospital. The police said Ms. Simon-Hayes was probably not the intended target. On Thursday, standing with his father, Clarence McEwen, and reporters near the spot where Ms. Simon-Hayes was killed, Kieron called on the killer to surrender. “Whoever killed my mom, I want them to come and give up themselves because I love my mom, and she was my friend,” Kieron said.

Murders and Attempted Murders
Brooklyn (NYC)


After Stanford Case, California Governor Signs Bill Toughening Penalties for Sexual Assault

Abstract: Gov. Jerry Brown of California signed a bill into law Friday that requires minimum sentences in sexual assault cases, a direct rebuke of the penalty handed down in a Stanford sexual assault case that attracted nationwide attention this year. In that case, a former Stanford student, Brock Turner, 21, served just three months in jail after being convicted of sexually assaulting a 23-year-old woman behind a Dumpster. His sentence — originally six months — was widely criticized as being far too short, with many excoriating the judge who issued it, Judge Aaron Persky of Santa Clara County. The new law imposes a mandatory minimum sentence for such assaults, removing a measure of judicial discretion in such cases. Image Brock Turner served three months of his six-month sentence for assaulting an unconscious woman. Credit Stanford Department of Public Safety “As a general matter, I am opposed to adding more mandatory minimum sentences,” Mr. Brown wrote in a signing statement. The minimums, which limit the discretion of judges, have been criticized for targeting blacks and unfairly penalizing nonviolent drug offenders. “Nevertheless,” the governor said, he signed this bill “because I believe it brings a measure of parity to sentencing for criminal acts that are substantially similar.” The law sought to close what proponents described as a loophole in state law. Before the law’s passage, California handled penetrative sexual assaults differently when a victim was unconscious or severely intoxicated. Because such victims could not physically resist, the state deemed the assaults as lacking a use of force, which would trigger a mandatory denial of probation. Now, that automatic denial will be applied in all penetrative sexual assault cases. Court Statement of Stanford Rape Victim The Santa Clara County government released the more-than-7,000-word statement read by the victim in the courtroom. She detailed the shock of finding out what happened to her after the attack, and the wrenching aftermath. In March, Mr. Turner, a champion swimmer, was convicted of three felony counts: two of sexual penetration and one of intent to commit rape after attacking the woman. Judge Persky sentenced him in June to six months in jail and three years’ probation, explaining that he did not believe that Mr. Turner would be a danger to others and saying that “a prison sentence would have a severe impact on him.” The next day, BuzzFeed published the victim’s 7,244-word courtroom statement, which was subsequently published in other news outlets and read aloud on the floor of the House of Representatives. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. called the victim “a warrior.” Mr. Turner had been caught in the act by two witnesses who chased him down after finding him lying atop the unconscious victim, who had attended a party with her younger sister on the Stanford campus. Judge Persky now faces a recall campaign.

Mandatory sentencing
Jerry Brown
Aaron Persky
Brock Allen Turner
California
Stanford


Bronx Man Held in His Daughter’s Death

Abstract: A homemade placard outside the stately old apartment building on Davidson Avenue in the Bronx told of the heartbreak inside on Saturday. “R.I.P. baby,” it said. “May God keep you. Your day of peace began on 11/3. Love always, Monique and Yolanda.” The date referred to the day Demi Gray, just eight weeks old, was brought by ambulance to Bronx-Lebanon Hospital after her father called an ambulance; he told 911 operators that she had stopped breathing. The girl died about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, about an hour after she was brought in. Her father, Gregory Gray, 21, has been arrested and charged with manslaughter in her death. The charges were filed after the medical examiner’s office ruled that the infant died of blunt force trauma and said that it appeared she had been beaten on the head and torso. Mr. Gray has been denied bail and was in custody on Saturday night. During a hearing on Friday, prosecutors said he gave them conflicting accounts about how Demi was injured, The Associated Press reported: They said he told them he had dropped the girl on a metal chair, that he had rolled over her and that he had possibly held her too tight. On Davidson Avenue, in the Morris Heights neighborhood, family members saw it as a double tragedy — the death of a girl they adored and the arrest of a beloved young man they believed to be innocent. Hopeton Thomas, who is Mr. Gray’s uncle by marriage, and who lives just a floor above the Gray family’s apartment, said it was a “sad ordeal.” “He did not beat the child,” said Mr. Thomas, 41. “This child was well-loved by her father. This child was not an abused child.” Mr. Gray, who was unemployed, would parade Demi through the neighborhood, showing her off to friends and neighbors, Mr. Thomas said. “He was happy about this child.” Mr. Thomas described his nephew as “really a mama’s boy” who loved to play video games and who spent a lot of time at home. “He feels terrible about this,” Mr. Thomas said. The girl’s mother, he said, “was sad about the whole thing.” Hospital officials had called the authorities to report that Demi’s death was unusual, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office said. Mr. Thomas said he did not know how Demi was injured. “I do not have insight into what may have occurred,” he said. Outside the Grays’ apartment building, a plastic tarp had been spread out and decorated with memorial candles in glass sleeves. One was draped in a crucifix, and there were two stuffed bears and a pink balloon. Mr. Thomas said his family wanted to mourn Demi and help her father. “We’re going to give him our full support,” he said. “He’s a loving kid. He was brought up with a lot of love.”

Gray Demi
Gray Gregory
Child Abuse and Neglect
Bronx (NYC)
Murders and Attempted Murders


California: $6.5. Million Judgment Against Founder of Bikram Yoga

Abstract: The founder of Bikram yoga has been ordered to pay nearly $6.5 million in a lawsuit that said he had sexually harassed and wrongfully fired an adviser. A Los Angeles jury awarded punitive damages against the founder, Bikram Choudhury, on Tuesday, one day after awarding $924,000 in separate damages for compensation. Mr. Choudhury’s former legal adviser, Minakshi Jafa-Bodden, said he inappropriately touched her and wrongfully fired her in 2013 after she began investigating sexual abuse claims from other women. Six other women also have sued Mr. Choudhury, saying he sexually assaulted them. His lawyers deny the accusations. Mr. Choudhury, 69, built a worldwide empire around Bikram yoga, which is performed in rooms that can reach more than 100 degrees. However, Mr. Choudhury contends he is nearly bankrupt.

Bikram Choudhury
Rape
Sexual harassment
Los Angeles
Lawsuits


Inquiry On Safety Rules In Student Death

Abstract: An Indiana state official said the investigation into the death of a Notre Dame student killed in a tower collapse would look at whether the university violated workplace safety rules. Those rules include federal restrictions on scaffold use during high winds. Declan Sullivan of Long Grove, Ill., died Wednesday after a scissor lift toppled as he taped Notre Dame’s football practice. Wind gusts were as high as 51 miles per hour. Federal rules bar workers from using scaffold structures during storms or high winds unless use is deemed safe. A spokesman for the Indiana Workplace Development said the investigation would determine whether that rule and others applied in re Dame’s case.

University of Notre Dame
Accidents and Safety
College Athletics


A Review of the Laurel Restaurant, in Maplewood

Abstract: LEAVE it to a former vegan to produce one of the best hamburger platters in northern New Jersey. Lauren Dwyer, whose cookbook collection now includes Fergus Henderson’s “The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating,” serves it at the Laurel, the tiny but excellent restaurant she opened in May in Maplewood. Here is what the platter includes: the burger, a mixture of three cuts of beef (short rib, brisket and chuck) that Dennis Dwyer, Ms. Dwyer’s father and the chef, cooks on a flat-top grill to give it a nice crust; a Balthazar Bakery pain de mie bun; hand-cut fries (cooked twice to make them extra crisp); and a dainty pile of bread-and-butter pickles. With it, too, are two kinds of sauces: homemade ketchup and a “secret sauce” in which the mystery ingredient, I’m guessing, is curry powder. Made from mostly the same ingredients as commercial ketchup, the homemade version has an entirely different character, perhaps because everything in it is so fresh. Regardless of which you choose to put on your burger, you cannot lose. At the Laurel, almost every dish is what you would make if you had time and the talent of both Dwyers. At first blush, the menu seems to favor all-American dishes like macaroni and cheese or potpie fragrant with fresh herbs and large pieces of tender, poached chicken beneath a golden biscuit lid. A closer look, however, reveals more New Age flourishes: a salad made with this year’s “it” vegetable, kale, mixed with chopped almonds, smoked Gouda and slivers of tart Granny Smith apples, and a gingery vegetarian stew seasoned with warm spices like cumin and cinnamon that a vegan can eat with confidence and pleasure. None of these dishes are complicated, but each shows an attention to detail that is especially impressive in a restaurant run by a 27-year-old whose most recent jobs were in a spa and an art gallery. In a phone interview after my visits, Ms. Dwyer explained that she learned to cook as a child by observing her father, a Culinary Institute of America graduate who formerly cooked at Sign of the Dove in New York, among other places. Obsessed with and delighted by cooking, she spent 10 years visiting restaurants abroad and in New York, and expanding her extensive collection of cookbooks, some of which are on display in the restaurant. Among her collection are books not only by Mr. Henderson, Julia Child and Alice Waters, but also by Yotam Ottolenghi , the Israeli chef renowned for his vegetables, and Ferran Adrià , who has been called the greatest chef in the world. Inspired by all the dishes she tested and tasted, Ms. Dwyer has created new ones. For around six months, she tinkered with chickpeas: Should she roast them? Bake them? Use fresh or canned? Ultimately, she deep fried canned chickpeas and then seasoned them with 10 spices (cumin, coriander and cayenne, among them). Then she added Maldon sea salt and brown sugar. Her decision turned those chickpeas into an instant best-seller. She took Scotch eggs, the lowliest form of pub food — they are “usually kind of gross,” she acknowledged — and turned them into a delicacy. Deep fried in a blanket of sage-scented pork sausage and fat panko bread crumbs, they are wonderful with or without the mustard cream and pickled cucumbers that accompany them. Although Ms. Dwyer is responsible for about 95 percent of the recipes used at the Laurel, she gives her great-grandmother much of the credit for the meatball recipe. Unlike Italian meatballs, which are often mushy, the kind the Laurel serves, which are fried, are light on the inside and moist and crunchy on the outside. Fresh oregano and mint are snipped into the meat, which is also seasoned, in the Greek way, with cinnamon. I nibbled delicately on one of these meatballs; then I ate all three. Despite the lineup of near-perfect dishes, the Laurel is not a terribly comfortable place in which to linger. The pews repurposed as benches are hard, and the marble-top bistro tables are tiny. Still, what it lacks in seat cushions, it makes up for in decorative touches. My favorites are the pages of the Time-Life series “The Good Cook,” edited by Richard Olney , that Ms. Dwyer, a former art student, laminated and used to paper the bathroom walls. Sadly, the Laurel serves only one or two desserts; its kitchen is too small to accommodate a larger repertory. During my visits earlier this summer, it didn’t serve any. I consoled myself with the coffee, which is excellent, and the hope that Ms. Dwyer and her father will someday acquire the larger kitchen their talents deserve.

Restaurants
Maplewood (NJ)
Laurel (Maplewood NJ Restaurant)
Laurel The (Maplewood NJ)


Hernandez Gives Ailing Mets a Shot in the Arm

Abstract: The Mets continued an odd and striking trend Tuesday. They lost another player to another injury, yet won another game with a motley collection of spare parts. Mets contests are measured that way lately, in players lost and games won. The Mets learned they would be without Carlos Beltran until Friday at the earliest because of a bone bruise on his right knee. And they placed Jose Reyes and Ryan Church on the 15-day disabled list. Yet they won again, this time beating the Washington Nationals , 6-1, at Citi Field in front of 39,376. They won behind the arm of the seemingly tireless Livan Hernandez , the bat of the apparently ageless Gary Sheffield and their latest collection of replacements, including the elite 20-year-old prospect Fernando Martinez. “Today’s the day that everything happened perfect,” Hernandez said. The day started with grim news, with the Mets finally confronting their hobbled reality with a flurry of personnel moves designed to address their injury-depleted roster. By the time the game started, the Mets had placed Reyes and Church on the disabled list, promoted Martinez to make his major league debut, shelved Beltran and acquired the journeyman infielder Wilson Valdez for cash considerations. An active afternoon, General Manager Omar Minaya called it. By then, all the Mets (25-20) had to do was win another game with another patchwork lineup. It was this lineup of replacements that produced an early lead. There was Ramon Martinez, the substitute shortstop who began the season in the minor leagues, hitting a double to score the substitute catcher Omir Santos in the second inning for a 1-0 Mets advantage. There was Angel Pagan, playing center field for Beltran and batting leadoff in place of Reyes. Pagan singled twice in his first three at-bats, stole a base and threw out Josh Bard on a close play at home in the fifth inning. And there was Martinez, the organization’s top prospect. At age 20, he has already dazzled scouts with tantalizing athleticism and enviable hitting skills. To the scouting reports, he added a host of major league firsts — first start, in right field; first at-bat, a strikeout; first run batted in, third inning; first time hit by a pitch, fifth inning; first misplayed fly ball, eighth inning. On it went. “That’s unbelievable for me,” Martinez said. “Because I wanted all my life for that moment today.” The Mets signed Martinez in July 2005, when he was 16, and they gave him a $1.4 million signing bonus to match his prodigious skills. Martinez has struggled with injuries in the minor leagues, but they have not slowed his rapid advancement. He arrived in New York a few minutes before 6 p.m. on Tuesday, to start an extended audition that will last at least as long as the Mets’ injuries. Across the outfield, in left, stood Sheffield, who is 20 years older than Martinez and has played in the majors each season since the year Martinez was born (1988). The Mets would like to rest Sheffield, but his hot bat — including a three-run home run in the seventh inning that put this game away — combined with the team’s injuries has left them with little choice. The home run was Sheffield’s fifth this season and 504th over all, tying Eddie Murray for 24th on the career list. “I’ll probably get him a recliner in the locker room, get him a big soft chair,” Manager Jerry Manuel joked. It was Hernandez who reclined after the game, his right arm wrapped in ice. Hernandez, the Mets’ fifth starter, said he did not sleep until 5 a.m. on Tuesday, then threw 80-85 pitches in warm-ups, followed by 127 pitches to finish the 46th complete game of his career. Hernandez scattered nine hits and a walk, allowing one run and striking out six. His defense turned three double plays behind him. The replacements took care of the rest. The Nationals (13-32) cut into the Mets’ lead in the seventh inning when Adam Dunn hit his 15th home run this season. Hernandez shrugged and turned back toward home plate. He still held a 3-1 lead. “This is the Livan everybody knows before,” Hernandez said. Beltran, whose bone bruise constituted good news compared to the alternative, said he expected to return Friday against Florida. Reyes could be back as early as next week. From here, the Mets will concentrate on getting healthy — and winning in the interim. For Tuesday, the positive news stuck. They had lost another player and won another game, and this time, on this day, no Mets were injured. INSIDE PITCH On a rehabilitation assignment for Buffalo, Oliver Perez pitched four and a third innings. Perez, who has tendinitis in his right knee, allowed one run on three hits and five walks. He struck out five and threw 88 pitches.

Baseball
New York Mets
Washington Nationals
Hernandez Livan


Michael Wiener, 71, Dies; Helped Found Infinity Broadcasting

Abstract: Michael A. Wiener, a founder of the Infinity Broadcasting chain of radio stations who in retirement focused more on philanthropic work supporting the performing arts and research on heart disease, died on Sunday. He was 71. His death was confirmed by his wife, Zena, who said the cause was cancer. Mr. Wiener and his business partner Gerald Carrus sold their 44 radio stations to the Westinghouse Corporation in 1996 for about $4 billion, but the path to that sale began decades earlier when Mr. Wiener, who had spent many years selling advertising time on radio, joined with Mr. Carrus to buy KOME in San Francisco. To raise money to buy his first station in 1972, Mr. Wiener sold his father’s stamp collection for $5,000 and got help from his wife and others. The company grew quickly, and in 1979, Mr. Wiener and Mr. Carrus quit their regular jobs to run their network of stations. At the time, Mr. Wiener was selling advertising time for the radio stations owned by Metromedia. In 1981, the partners hired Mel Karmazin to run the company as president. Mr. Karmazin would lead a recruiting and buying spree over the next 15 years that included the fiery radio personality Howard Stern . “He was a very innovative guy who took a big risk in life,” Mr. Stern said of Mr. Wiener on Sunday. “They started in medium markets and worked their way into larger markets. People may say that is no big deal, but you can’t believe the number of radio stations that go under.” He went on: “And they were smart enough to hire Mel and give him the freedom to do his thing. There were not a lot of people who would take a risk on me.” Mr. Wiener had his greatest business success in 1996 with the sale of his company, just a year later he suffered his greatest tragedy when his only son, Gabe, a producer of classical music, died of a brain aneurysm at age 26. Even before that loss, Mr. Wiener had been active in philanthropy. Dr. Valentin Fuster, director of Mount Sinai Heart, said Mr. Wiener had been an early supporter of the Cardiovascular Institute at Mount Sinai. “The issue was to give patients access to cardiovascular care in an integrated way and to integrate the research on the different aspects of cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Fuster recalled. “He did not have a heart condition, but he really connected to the issue.” The Wieners became fascinated by the pervasiveness of heart disease and became supporters of Dr. Fuster’s work. The death of their son prompted the couple to make a series of contributions to artistic causes, including the dedication of a pipe organ to the Central Synagogue in Manhattan. The organ, with 4,345 pipes, bears their son’s name, as does the Gabe Wiener Music and Arts Library at Columbia University. In an interview with The New York Times in 2005, Mr. Wiener recalled that as a salesman, he had problems with some advertisers who “didn’t want any part of music that was associated with the drug culture and the peace movement,” he said. So he stopped using the term “rock ’n’ roll” to describe his stations’ music format, referring to it instead as “American music.” Mr. Wiener, who was born in Brooklyn, is survived by his wife; his daughter, Jenny Steingart of New York; and two grandchildren.

Wiener Michael A.
Infinity Broadcasting Corp
Hiring and Promotion
Deaths (Obituaries)
Stern Howard


Cameron Criticizes ‘Multiculturalism’ in Britain

Abstract: LONDON — Faced with growing alarm about Islamic militants who have made Britain one of Europe ’s most active bases for terrorist plots, Prime Minister David Cameron has mounted an attack on the country’s decades-old policy of “multiculturalism,” saying it has encouraged “segregated communities” where Islamic extremism can thrive. Speaking at a security conference in Munich on Saturday, Mr. Cameron condemned what he called the “hands-off tolerance” in Britain and other European nations that had encouraged Muslims and other immigrant groups “to live separate lives, apart from each other and the mainstream.” He said that the policy had allowed Islamic militants leeway to radicalize young Muslims, some of whom went on to “the next level” by becoming terrorists, and that Europe could not defeat terrorism “simply by the actions we take outside our borders,” with military actions like the war in Afghanistan . “Europe needs to wake up to what is happening in our own countries,” he said. “We have to get to the root of the problem.” In what aides described as one of the most important speeches in the nine months since he became prime minister, Mr. Cameron said the multiculturalism policy — one espoused by British governments since the 1960s, based on the principle of the right of all groups in Britain to live by their traditional values — had failed to promote a sense of common identity centered on values of human rights, democracy, social integration and equality before the law. Similar warnings about multiculturalism have been sounded by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France . But, if anything, Mr. Cameron went further. He called on European governments to practice “a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism,” and said Britain would no longer give official patronage to Muslim groups that had been “showered with public money despite doing little to combat terrorism.” Perhaps most controversially, he called for an end to a double standard that he said had tolerated the propagation of radical views among nonwhite groups that would be suppressed if they involved radical groups among whites. Muslim groups in Britain were quick to condemn the speech, among them the Muslim Council of Great Britain , a major recipient of government money for projects intended to combat extremism. Its assistant secretary general, Faisal Hanjra, said Mr. Cameron had treated Muslims “as part of the problem as opposed to part of the solution.” A Muslim youth group, the Ramadhan Foundation, accused the prime minister of feeding “hysteria and paranoia.” Mohammed Shafiq, the group’s chief executive, said Mr. Cameron’s approach would harden the divide between Muslims and non-Muslims, “and we cannot allow that to happen.” British leaders, particularly from the Conservative Party, which Mr. Cameron leads, have mostly been careful to avoid arguments that might expose them to charges of holding racially tinged views since a notorious speech in 1968 in which Enoch Powell, a leading Conservative, warned of “rivers of blood” if nothing was done to curb Caribbean immigration to Britain. “We have failed to provide a vision of society to which they feel they want to belong,” Mr. Cameron said, speaking of immigrant groups, dominated by Muslims, whose numbers have been estimated in some recent surveys at 2.5 million in Britain’s population of 60 million. Britain’s domestic intelligence service, MI5, has said that as many as 2,000 Muslims in Britain are involved in terrorist cells, and that it tracks dozens of potential terrorist plots at any one time. Mr. Cameron continued: “We have even tolerated these segregated communities behaving in ways that run counter to our values. So when a white person holds objectionable views — racism, for example — we rightly condemn them. But when equally unacceptable views or practices have come from someone who isn’t white, we’ve been too cautious, frankly even fearful, to stand up to them.” The prime minister pointed to several steps the government planned that would tackle the rise of extremism. Among these, he said, would be barring “preachers of hate” from visiting Britain to speak in mosques and community centers; stopping Muslim groups that propagate views hostile to values of gender equality, democracy and human rights “from reaching people in publicly funded institutions like universities and prisons”; and cutting off government support for such groups. The prime minister’s speech came at the end of a week in which Britain’s role as a base for Islamic terrorists as well as the behind-the-scenes pressure applied by the United States for actions that would deal more effectively with the threat have drawn fresh attention. On Thursday, the government’s official watchdog on antiterrorist issues, Lord Alexander Carlile, issued a final report before retiring in which he said that Britain had become a “safe haven” for terrorists, primarily because of rulings by the European Court of Human Rights , that made it difficult to deport people considered terrorist risks, and other decisions that curbed the application of British antiterrorist laws. For years, and particularly since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, American officials have been frustrated by what they see as an insufficiently robust crackdown on terrorist groups in Britain, which have been identified in Congressional testimony and elsewhere as a leading threat to American security.

Great Britain
Islam
David Cameron
Terrorism
Human Rights


China Debates Effect of Trial’s Rare Transparency

Abstract: BEIJING — The melodramatic trial of Bo Xilai, the former elite Communist Party official, has been trumpeted by the state news media here as a sure sign that Chinese citizens enjoy the benefits of a robust legal system. On Monday, Study Times, a weekly party journal, published a commentary titled “A Look at Judicial Openness Through the Bo Trial,” which was typical of the line taken by other state news media organizations. It argued that the transparency and process of the five-day trial “displayed China’s confidence: the confidence of the rule of law; confidence of the facts; confidence of the ability to distinguish right from wrong.” Few legal and political analysts would make such grand assertions. But there is a debate in China over whether the trial, in which Mr. Bo was charged with bribetaking, embezzlement and abuse of power, has contributed to any progress in establishing an independent judiciary with due process in this country, where the party rules the courts, or whether it amounted to little more than political theater . Perhaps the clearest sign that the trial was a show — if a spectacular one, with salacious testimony about a love triangle, a multimillion-dollar French vacation villa and a private jet to Tanzania — came in the form of relentless headlines and articles in the official news media that condemned Mr. Bo even as the trial was still unfolding. Most Chinese followed the trial through this coverage, and they saw headlines like this one on the Web site of People’s Daily, the party mouthpiece: “Prosecutors: Bo Xilai Pleads Not Guilty, so He Must Be Strictly Punished.” The party also kept the charges confined mostly to financial transgressions from early in Mr. Bo’s career and did not address the human rights abuses from his recent stint as party chief of Chongqing, because that would have touched on party politics. And political analysts and party insiders say a guilty verdict for Mr. Bo has almost certainly been predetermined. Some liberal legal scholars, though, have praised the relative transparency of the trial, because party leaders unexpectedly allowed many of the edited court transcripts to be posted on a running court microblog even if crucial testimony that implicated other leaders was kept secret. “It was open, and the defendant’s rights were well protected,” said Zhang Qianfan, a law professor at Peking University. Another scholar, Tong Zhiwei, said: “The Bo trial was more open than any other corruption trial of high-ranking officials in China.” The trial could impress on some Chinese the importance of legal procedures, analysts said. Viewed through that prism, the trial was an extraordinary one: several important witnesses for the prosecution appeared in court, giving Mr. Bo the chance to cross-examine them; the judges allowed Mr. Bo to state that he wanted to retract a confession he had made under “mental strain”; and the transcripts gave the public a (somewhat blurred) window into the courtroom. These are all elements missing from most Chinese criminal trials. The length of the trial also came as a surprise to many — previous trials of this nature, including the related ones last year of Mr. Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, and the former police chief of Chongqing, Wang Lijun , lasted just one or two days. Ms. Gu was convicted of the murder of a British businessman, and Mr. Wang of defection and other crimes. One person with contacts in the justice system said on the day the trial ended last week that senior officials were already disseminating internal orders within the nationwide security and justice system that said the process in the Bo trial should be studied. The officials were suggesting that the court proceedings and actions of the judges could serve as a model for enacting proper procedure, the person said. But it was unclear what this would mean for long-term changes for the judiciary, and how this might overlap with a new attempt at judicial reforms announced last month by Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People’s Court. Even legal scholars who applauded the new style evident in Mr. Bo’s trial recognize that it was an exception and not necessarily a model. Given Mr. Bo’s popularity among ordinary Chinese, which he bolstered by pushing neo-socialist policies in Chongqing, and his revolutionary family’s standing within the party, leaders no doubt felt compelled to allow Mr. Bo his say, within narrow parameters. The trial could, in theory, win over skeptics who were convinced the purging of Mr. Bo last year was the result of political rivalries. Allowing the public to see Mr. Bo cross-examining witnesses added legitimacy to the trial, and the more impassioned his arguments became, the more the public would believe he had been given a sufficient platform. That seemed to be the calculation, at least, but many of Mr. Bo’s supporters, especially residents of Chongqing, in southwest China, remain unconvinced. “We all agree that he is the victim of a political power struggle, that his fall had absolutely nothing to do with a paltry 20 million renminbi,” said Li Meishu, a young elementary school music teacher in Chongqing, referring roughly to the amount in bribes that Mr. Bo and his family are accused of taking. Many others have echoed Ms. Li’s sentiments. Party leaders had obviously hoped that ordinary Chinese had become so upset at endemic corruption that attaching a $3.5 million figure to the bribes Mr. Bo was accused of taking would be enough to tar him. But corruption has become so widespread that many Chinese see the figure as a hypocritical cover for a political purge. Legal scholars say the Bo trial is unlikely to be replicated wholesale across the justice system, even if the party leader, Xi Jinping, has pledged to bring down “tigers and flies” in an anti-corruption drive. Since the investigation into Mr. Bo, there have been notable inquiries into other so-called tigers accused of corruption, including Jiang Jiemin , the Central Committee member close to Zhou Yongkang, the former security chief and ally of Mr. Bo. Mr. Jiang was fired from his job overseeing state-owned corporations on Tuesday. But none of those figures have a grip on the public imagination like Mr. Bo does, and their cases, if they went to trial, would not necessarily demand as many trappings of legal legitimacy. Likewise, there is little in the way of due process to be seen in the recent clampdown on free speech, which includes detentions of liberal Chinese citizens. Xu Zhiyong, a prominent rights lawyer, was formally arrested last month on charges of “assembling a crowd to disrupt order in a public place,” which many see as a pretense to silence him. Such criticism has also swirled around the recent arrest of Charles Xue, a Chinese-American businessman who has been detained on suspicion of soliciting prostitutes. Rather than cinch his guilt, the state television broadcast of his confession has raised questions for many about legal rights; the same has been asked of a televised confession by Peter Humphrey, a British financial investigator. Mr. Bo was given leeway to speak in court, but there were obvious limits. He commented mainly on his family’s lifestyle and finances. The public transcripts did not show him raising questions about the political infighting that many say led to his downfall. According to unofficial written records from a court observer, he spoke of rivalry for top positions and of taking orders from a party agency run by Zhou Yongkang in a cover-up plan, but those remarks were kept out of the official transcripts, as were instances when he talked about specific threats made by investigators. “Bo Xilai served the party very well in the trial,” Chongyi Feng, an associate professor of China studies at the University of Technology, Sydney, said in an e-mail. “He ‘demonstrated’ the progress of the rule of law in China with his rigorous defense. He also toed the bottom line and protected the party by not revealing any scandals of his former Politburo colleagues. Understandably the verdict negotiated before the trial will be released in due course, irrespective of the court procedures.”

Communist Party of China
Bo Xilai
China
Judiciary


Syrian Government Forces, Backed by Russian Jets, Strike at Rebel-Held Towns

Abstract: BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian forces backed by Russian airstrikes began a new offensive on Thursday aimed at breaking rebel control of a crucial highway between two major cities, according to Syrian state media and antigovernment activists. Many of the 33 airstrikes Russia said it had carried out in Syria in the last 24 hours hit rebel-controlled towns between Homs and Hama. Residents of the area reported heavy bombardment, and mosques broadcast warnings to civilians to take cover. Antigovernment activists said dozens of people were killed. Russia’s Defense Ministry announced on Thursday that it had established a hotline with the Israeli military to avoid clashes in the sky during these operations. On Wednesday, representatives of both sides used the hotline to inform each other about their plans, the ministry said in a statement. A similar attempt to coordinate with the United States Air Force has yet to be concluded. Russia angered Turkey, a NATO member, in early October after its fighter jets violated Turkey’s airspace . Thursday’s strikes were the latest attempt by the Syrian government and its allies to turn the tide on rebels who have seized parts of the country’s northwest and are now within striking distance of communities that remain loyal to President Bashar al-Assad . Russia said its strikes hit a mobile surface-to-air system that rebels had captured, a mine factory and an artillery battery, among other targets. Mr. Assad’s forces, which have lost control of more than two-thirds of Syria’s territory and suffer from grave manpower shortages, have received a boost since Russian jets began bombing rebel positions on Sept. 30, adding a new, complicating factor to the civil war, now in its fifth year. Syria’s other major foreign backer, Iran, has also stepped up its aid to Mr. Assad. An official from the alliance backing Mr. Assad, which includes Russia, Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, said Thursday that hundreds of Iranian operatives were on the ground in central Syria assisting his forces. Underlining Syria’s close ties with Iran, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of a national security and foreign policy committee in the Iranian Parliament, told reporters in Damascus, the Syrian capital, on Thursday that his country fully supported the Syrian government, according to the Syrian state news agency, SANA. He did not mention the presence of Iranian troops, saying they would be sent only in response to a Syrian government request. The 33 sorties Russia conducted in Syria in the last 24 hours were down from 88 two days ago, the Russian Defense Ministry statement said. Russia is decreasing the number of airstrikes because battle lines are shifting in the wake of ground operations by the Syrian Army, the ministry said. Rebels are retreating, trying to regroup in new areas and adjust their ammunition supply chains, the statement said. Russian forces bolstered their reconnaissance missions, sending drones to ascertain the changes. How Syrians Are Dying Over four years of war has forced more than four million to flee the country, fueling a migrant crisis in the Middle East and Europe. Mr. Assad has long counted on Russia and Iran for military, political and financial support, and Hezbollah has sent well-trained fighters to help his forces on crucial fronts. The alliance says it is fighting “terrorists,” a name it uses for all of Mr. Assad’s foes, from the extremists of the Islamic State to more moderate rebels who came out of the Arab Spring protest movement against his rule. Although Russia said it was intervening in Syria against the Islamic State, most of its airstrikes have focused on the country’s northwest, where the Islamic State has little presence , but where armed rebels hold territory and often clash with government forces. Those rebels include members of the Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate. American officials have said Russia is more interested in propping up Mr. Assad than in routing the Islamic State. Thursday’s strikes appeared to be part of a Russian campaign to loosen rebel control in the northwest, and focused on rebel-held towns along the highway between Homs and Hama, two major cities still controlled by the government. Residents of the area posted online videos of vast clouds of smoke rising from residential areas after bombs fell. They said the bombardment was the heaviest in months. Firas al-Saidi, an antigovernment activist reached though WhatsApp, said the attacks came from many sides. “We are talking here about serious attempts for the first time in months,” he said. But it remained unclear whether the increased strikes would lead to a ground incursion and whether Mr. Assad and his allies had the forces to mount one, since they are already locked in fierce battles with rebels elsewhere in the northwest.

Syria
Russia
Bashar al-Assad
Iran
Hezbollah
Military


Ford to Suspend Auto Output in Russia Until Jan. 21

Abstract: MOSCOW — Hopes that Russia and other emerging markets could help support the automotive industry despite a slumping performance in the United States and Europe dimmed on Monday as the Ford Motor Company followed Volkswagen and Renault in suspending production at its Russian assembly line. While Ford ’s fortunes were less than glittering elsewhere, the automaker had deftly anticipated a surge in demand for cars in Russia over the last decade. As sales fell in the United States, Russia remained an engine of growth for both imports and the domestically assembled sedans. In fact, the Focus was the best-selling brand in Russia, easily outpacing its Japanese and European competition and proving Ford could do what it had struggled to achieve in the United States — efficiently build a popular, compact family car. Ford opened its largest dealership in Europe outside Moscow; demand exploded so quickly that the company at one point had a six-month backlog of orders for Focus cars built at an assembly plant near St. Petersburg. The company said Monday that it would idle that plant from Dec. 24 until Jan. 21 for an extended New Year’s holiday, citing poor sales; Focus sales were down 30 percent in October from a year earlier, the Interfax news agency reported. When it opened in 2002, the Ford plant became the first fully owned foreign automobile assembly line in Russia. Nissan, Toyota and parts makers followed, and the district around St. Petersburg now has so many plants it has become known as Russia’s Detroit. But that Russian car boom seems over now. Volkswagen and Renault have also idled Russian plants for an extended winter holiday to offset swooning demand. “The company decided to cut Ford production volumes in Russia because of the situation on the market and lower sales forecasts for the automobile industry in general,” Ford said in a statement. The company will pay two-thirds of the wages of assembly line workers idled by the shutdown. The loss will be partly offset by Ford’s plans to use the suspension to retool the factory for the introduction of local production of its Mondeo, a sedan aimed at more affluent buyers, the statement said. “It’s not as awful as in Europe or the United States, but it’s moving in that direction,” Elena Sakhnova, a transportation analyst at VTB bank in Moscow, said in a telephone interview. “We will see a significant drop in sales.” Russia had been the fastest-growing automotive market in Europe. In 2007, car sales grew 36 percent on a surge of trickle-down oil money. The forecast for 2008 is 20 percent, according to Ms. Sakhnova; in 2009 she predicts a contraction of 15 percent. Ford’s succeeded in Russia partly because it never sold many pickup trucks there; that sector is now hobbled in the United States market. Instead, Ford concentrated in Europe on compact family cars, particularly the Focus, which became the centerpiece of its strategy of selling to newly well-off, but hardly rich, clientele. In the United States, Ford is asking for $9 billion in standby financing from Congress to retool its American assembly lines to more fuel-efficient and electric cars, ensure financing for dealers and for other revamping costs. Ford’s worldwide sales are forecast to decline 13.9 percent next year, according to a note published by Deutsche Bank.