The Kimbell: A Small Art Museum With a Major Presence

Abstract: Eric M. Lee, the director of Fort Worth’s Kimbell Art Museum — regarded by some as the country’s finest small museum — had his first day on the job three and a half years ago, but his admiration of the museum dates back to 1987, when he was an art history major at Yale. It was then that the museum’s building, with its famed vaulted galleries and impressive landscaping, captured Mr. Lee’s imagination, prompting him to write a paper on the architecture and the mastermind behind it, Louis Kahn. “Already then, I thought the Kimbell was the most exciting museum in the country,” Mr. Lee said. That same year, during a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, he was mesmerized by Caravaggio’s “The Cardsharps,” a seminal work on loan to the Met that was one of several famous acquisitions by Edmund P. Pillsbury, the former director who added several renowned European pieces to the Kimbell’s permanent collection and put the small museum on the national radar. Now, Mr. Lee, 46, seems determined to put his own indelible stamp on the museum, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a much-anticipated exhibition: “The Kimbell at 40: An Evolving Masterpiece.” Featuring more than 220 masterworks, this sprawling retrospective, which opens on Sunday, underscores the museum’s status as one of the country’s most prestigious repositories of some of the world’s greatest art. Like Mr. Pillsbury, Mr. Lee recently managed to thrust the Kimbell into the center of the art world through his careful engineering of a major purchase , “The Torment of Saint Anthony,” a painting by young Michelangelo. This landmark acquisition emphasized Mr. Lee’s art historian gravitas and his ability to work with the board to keep the museum moving forward. “I’m honored to help lead the museum into the next chapter,” said Mr. Lee, the fourth director in the Kimbell’s history, whose slightly lilting voice reveals his roots in Clinton, N.C. To that end, Mr. Lee is working with the architect Renzo Piano on the museum’s first annex expansion. The new wing, which cost $135 million and is scheduled to open late next year, will appear as a low-slung pavilion of smooth concrete, Douglas-fir beams, and stretched scrims of fabric, crowned by a floating glass roof. The design was several years in the making, and during that time Mr. Lee, with the museum’s board, offered judicious suggestions about the 82,000-square-foot building’s final look. “For the expansion, I really didn’t want us to lose the original Kimbell’s sense of intimacy,” Mr. Lee said. After seeing the initial choice of white plasterboard for the gallery walls, he voiced his preference for a material that echoed the warm travertine and concrete walls of the Kimbell’s original building. “Ultimately,” Mr. Lee said, “Piano introduced a light gray concrete.” During his tenure, Mr. Lee has also spearheaded several key acquisitions. He snapped up Poussin’s “Sacrament of Ordination” for $24.3 million after doggedly pursuing the piece through a labyrinth of negotiations involving the collection of an English duke, a failed sale at Christie’s auction house and an elusive export license. “We couldn’t let this Poussin, one of the greatest old masterworks to come on the market in years, pass us by,” Mr. Lee said. But it was clearly the Michelangelo purchase that burnished Mr. Lee’s reputation as a rising star. Learning about the rare work’s availability on his second day at the Kimbell, he argued for its acquisition. But first he had to prove the painting’s authenticity. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s conservation department conducted a thorough examination of the piece and concluded that it was indeed an original Michelangelo. “When we couldn’t come up with a single argument for not buying it, I became totally convinced it was right,” Mr. Lee said. “But getting to that point was pretty nerve-racking.” In the end, the Kimbell agreed to pay what was reported to be $6.5 million for the Michelangelo. When it debuted at the museum in September 2009, it was one of only four Michelangelo easel paintings known to exist. “If one Kimbell painting is mentioned on TripAdvisor, it is this one,” Mr. Lee said. Mr. Lee faced another challenge two years later when he had to use his skills as an art scholar and marketer for “Caravaggio and His Followers in Rome,” the second-largest Caravaggio exhibition ever staged in the United States. “Since Caravaggio is not a household name, I wanted to pull out all the marketing stops by making the commercials like movie commercials — eye-catching, melodramatic, even a bit kitschy,” he said. Mr. Lee’s gamble paid off. Attendance went from a modest few hundred per day to 5,000 during the show’s last weekends. This ability to bring fresh curatorial and marketing initiatives to the Kimbell has earned its director praise from his Fort Worth museum peers. “I so appreciate the ease and youthful spirit that Eric brings to carrying on the awesome tradition of the Kimbell,” said Andrew J. Walker, director of the neighboring Amon Carter Museum of American Art , “while also bringing it forward with the new building.”

Fort Worth (Tex)
Kimbell Art Museum
Architecture
Lee Eric M


Battle Over Spending Bill Exposes Democratic Rift

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Senator Elizabeth Warren once famously said that she was willing to see “plenty of blood and teeth left on the floor” in her fight against Wall Street excess. And the Massachusetts Democrat finally found the perfect moment to throw a punch. Ms. Warren, who entered Congress with a liberal halo of anti-Wall Street credibility, took her most high-profile and tenacious Senate stand last week over a single provision in a $1.1 trillion spending bill, one that would roll back portions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, the financial industry regulatory law. Taking to the Senate floor, Ms. Warren implored her Democratic colleagues not to support the deal — and in the process threatened the entire bipartisan spending package that would avert a government shutdown. Though the bill narrowly passed the House on Thursday evening and appeared headed for passage in the Senate, Ms. Warren’s relentless fight to defeat it elevated her status as the leader of her party’s liberal base. Her effort to lead that revolt exposed emerging rifts between the progressive wing and the centrist middle in a Democratic Party struggling to find its footing after losing its majority in the Senate and falling further into the minority in the House in the midterm elections. It also put Ms. Warren at odds with President Obama, who supports the compromise bill despite his criticism of the provision, and other Democrats, including Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader. Many in the party believe that their losses in November can be attributed to the lack of a muscular, coherent message about how Democrats would address economic anxieties, particularly among working-class whites. That void offers new opportunity for Ms. Warren, whose populist leanings and fiery, us-versus-them speeches resonate well with organized labor and other workers left struggling since the financial crisis. The groundswell that Ms. Warren helped stoke last week offered an early glimpse of the complicated 2016 presidential dynamics that the Democratic Party is now facing. Hillary Rodham Clinton is considered such a prohibitive favorite in the Democratic race — if she runs — that she has almost cleared the field of strong challengers. And that has created a vacuum on the left that many liberals, who believe the party is not being sufficiently bold or aggressive in its efforts to connect with middle-class America, are desperate to fill. Ms. Warren has repeatedly said she is not planning to run for president. Her goal, said an aide, is to influence policy debates and negotiations on any Dodd-Frank rollbacks, and to show that the party’s base will fight to protect Wall Street regulation. But she is also proudly claiming what Howard Dean once called “the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party” — a left-leaning constituency that many politicians are nervous to cultivate. And the affection is mutual. The liberal group MoveOn.org is preparing to spend $1 million to persuade Ms. Warren to enter the presidential race. And more than 300 former Obama campaign staff members Friday released a letter calling on Ms. Warren to run. “Rising income inequality is the challenge of our times, and we want someone who will stand up for working families and take on the Wall Street banks and special interests that took down our economy,” the letter reads. However, some Democrats said that the party had always fought against the scaling back of big bank regulation and that the recent fight was more indicative of the current governing climate than any new progressive wave. “I’m not sure this creates an enormous amount of precedent for next year,” said Senator Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut. The government spending bill, with its rollback of some provisions of the Dodd-Frank law, would let big banks trade in certain risky financial instruments while having access to federal assistance if something goes wrong. Similar conditions several years ago helped create the recession, when the government was forced to bail out Wall Street banks seen as “too big to fail.” As she denounced the bill last week, Ms. Warren warned that a vote for it “is a vote for future taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street.” “This is about preventing another financial collapse that could again wipe out millions of jobs and take down our whole economy,” Ms. Warren said. One of the ways senior Democrats tried to placate some of their restless colleagues after the elections was to install Ms. Warren to a newly created position within Senate leadership, a perch from which she will be able to help shape policy and messaging. In an interview, Mr. Reid said that one of the lessons of the midterm elections was that voters wanted to know that officials were listening to them. And from his new but shrunken position as the minority leader in the next Congress, he said he planned to take the fight to Republicans on issues like Wall Street regulation and health care. “It’s pretty obvious to me what the fights are going to be about,” Mr. Reid said. “We feel it’s time that middle America gets a little help here.” The simple math of where Democrats on Capitol Hill stand today versus six years ago, when they had commanding majorities, is something many liberals see as a startling reminder of the need to make more enduring connections with voters. Democrats held 257 seats in the House after Mr. Obama’s 2008 election. When the new Congress convenes in January, they will have 187. (One race in Arizona is still in a recount.) The Senate picture is just as stark. In 2009, Democrats controlled 60 seats — a filibuster-proof majority. In the next Congress they will have 46. Representative James P. Moran, Democrat of Virginia, said that in the wake of the recent elections, some of his colleagues were especially skittish and were “not going to let Elizabeth Warren get to the left of them necessarily.” And a senior Democratic aide, speaking anonymously in order to offer a more candid assessment, warned, “If this party can’t accommodate both its Clinton-era folks and its Warren-ites, we’re headed for trouble.”

Elizabeth Warren
US Politics
Federal Budget
2016 Presidential Election
Barack Obama
Harry Reid


North Korea Begins Talks on Forgoing Nuclear Arms

Abstract: GENEVA, Sept. 1 (Reuters) — High-ranking negotiators from the United States and North Korea convened Saturday for two days of talks meant to advance an international effort to end the North’s nuclear program. Their discussions are expected to focus on how North Korea will disable and account for its nuclear facilities, as promised in an agreement reached in February. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher R. Hill and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan, did not speak to reporters when they arrived Saturday at the United States Mission in Geneva, where the negotiations began. On Thursday, Mr. Hill indicated that Washington was ready to discuss dropping North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. That designation imposes a ban on arms-related sales and keeps North Korea from getting some types of aid. “We will be figuring out at what stage that could be done,” he told reporters. “I’m not prepared to say precisely when it could be done at this point, but obviously it’s an important issue with respect to our working group.” North Korea has agreed in principle to abandon its nuclear program in return for economic and diplomatic benefits, though progress has been slow. Under a Feb. 13 deal with South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, North Korea said it would disable its nuclear facilities and give a full accounting of its entire nuclear program, though details of how it would do so have not been made clear. United States officials contend that North Korea, which tested a nuclear device in October, may have enough nuclear fuel to make eight or more atomic weapons. Mr. Hill emphasized that the United States wanted to see details of North Korea’s uranium enrichment program. The talks this weekend are also expected to touch on the fate of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea, a major issue in Japan. North Korea admitted in 2002 that its agents had kidnapped 13 Japanese, 5 of whom have since been repatriated. North Korea has said the others are dead.

North Korea
Atomic Weapons
United States
United States International Relations
Hill Christopher R
Geneva (Switzerland)


Phillies Defeat Dodgers to Take N.L.C.S.

Abstract: PHILADELPHIA — The paradigm has shifted. A city haunted by failure revels in glory. Its fans, nurtured on negativity, expect only good things. A World Series title can have that effect. Another one may turn this historic town into rubble, but no one would complain. The team famous for losing just keeps on winning. The Phillies toppled the Los Angeles Dodgers , 10-4, in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series on Wednesday night to win the seventh pennant in franchise history . They became the first defending champion to reach the World Series since the 2001 Yankees, relying on elements predictable (four home runs) and not (stellar relief work) to ensure that baseball will be played here in November. “Well, here we are again,” right fielder Jayson Werth said. For the first time in these playoffs, Ryan Howard did not drive in a run, but that blemish did not prevent him from earning the series’s Most Valuable Player award. In the five games, he batted .333 with two homers and eight runs batted in. His teammates compensated for his lack of production Wednesday, slugging four homers and battering Dodgers starter Vicente Padilla for six runs in three-plus innings. Werth hit two homers, and every starting position player but Carlos Ruiz scored a run. “Right now, I think we have as much confidence in ourselves as you can have,” said closer Brad Lidge, who pitched a perfect ninth inning. He has yet to allow a run in five playoff outings. “Everybody from top to bottom, we don’t feel like there’s a situation we can’t come back from.” Over the last two postseasons, the Phillies are 18-5. Since 1995, the dawn of the wild-card era, their .783 winning percentage is third best among teams that reached the playoffs in consecutive years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, trailing the 1998-99 Yankees (22-3, .880) and 1999-2000 Yankees (22-6, .786). Those three teams won the World Series, and their manager, Joe Torre, was in the visiting dugout Wednesday. After the game, he congratulated Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel for ousting his Dodgers in a second straight N.L.C.S. “You know, my first five years with the Yankees, you win four World Series,” said Torre, before mentioning the Tigers’ manager, Jim Leyland. “I remember seeing Jimmy Leyland, he says, ‘What you’re doing now is never going to be done again.’ It seemed like it was easy, but we all know it’s not.” The current Yankees hold a 3-1 advantage over the Angels in the American League Championship Series, with Game 5 on Thursday, and one more victory would set up a battle for Turnpike supremacy and the worst possible scenario for Mets fans. Regardless of the Phillies’ opponent, they will open the World Series on the road next Wednesday night, and their ace, Cliff Lee, would presumably start — perhaps against his former Cleveland teammate, C. C. Sabathia. “If that does happen, it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Lee said. The Phillies’ Game 5 clincher unfolded much as it did last year — coming off an exhilarating Game 4 comeback win, Cole Hamels on the mound, a booming first-inning homer, Lidge notching the final out — but for two major differences. A beleaguered bullpen , the very flaw that was supposed to undermine their title defense, recorded more outs (14) than Hamels (13), who has struggled to re-create his 2008 postseason success. More poignantly, this victory came at home. If hundreds of fans celebrated last year by congregating behind the visiting dugout at Dodger Stadium and chanting “Four more wins,” then the revved-up crowd of 46,214 spent all night partying. The euphoria reached a high when Lidge retired Ronnie Belliard on a flyout to center fielder Shane Victorino. Fireworks popped in the night sky, Ruiz mobbed Lidge and the Phillie Phanatic raced around the infield waving a 2009 flag. Several Dodgers stayed in their dugout to watch. “We felt we were more prepared, we knew we were more prepared, and it’s the same outcome,” right fielder Andre Ethier said. “It’s annoying. It’s frustrating. We have a long winter ahead of us to try to get to this point again.” The Phillies’ celebration briefly spilled into the clubhouse, where Pedro Martinez grabbed two bottles of Champagne and, screaming “Here we go boys!” sprinted back outside. After the trophy presentation, Werth stood atop a clubhouse table spraying his teammates. Chan Ho Park dumped a vat filled with ice atop Jimmy Rollins. Howard, his goggles draped around his neck, cut short an interview because he said he couldn’t see. A drenched Martinez said, “I worked hard for it, so I’m trying to have as much fun as possible.” A World Series vibe permeated Citizens Bank Park from the ceremonial first pitch, which Dallas Green tossed to Manuel. Green managed the Phillies to their first title, in 1980, and on Wednesday, the 29th anniversary of the clinching victory, he ceded his exalted status here to Manuel, the only man to guide this franchise to two World Series. Manuel took over in 2005, the first year that the homegrown nucleus of Rollins, Chase Utley and Howard played regularly together. “We’ve got guys who every now and then, they can do things that might tick you off a little bit,” Manuel said. “But for some reason between the players and my coaching staff and myself, they all buy into which way we want to go. I give them all the credit in the world, the players.” That group was later augmented by the arrivals of Victorino and Werth, and those additions in 2007 lifted the Phillies to their first playoff appearance in 14 years. It ended disappointingly, with a three-game sweep by Colorado, but it toughened them, too. “Everyone was going around slapping five and congratulating each other for a great season,” Werth said recently. “But Ryan Howard said something to me that night that I haven’t forgotten: ‘Remember how this feels.’ I think he probably said that to everybody. And I bet that stuck in everybody’s mind over the course of that off-season, because I know it stuck in mine.” The Phillies bounced back from that beating, just as they have from practically everything else. Their final two victories in the division series against the Rockies sprouted from ninth-inning rallies, and their dizzying comeback in Game 4 topped them all. On Wednesday, they fell behind, 1-0, on Ethier’s two-out homer in the first, but the Phillies never trailed again. Werth, who has five homers this postseason, crushed an opposite-field blast in the bottom of the first that made Padilla regret issuing two-out walks to Utley and Howard, and the Phillies led, 3-1. “The place got really loud,” Werth said. “You could feel it.” Trying to answer, the Dodgers drew to within 3-2, when James Loney led off the second with a homer. But Pedro Feliz led off the bottom half by depositing a ball into the right-field stands, and the Phillies piled on by scoring twice in the fourth to go ahead, 6-2. The fans taunted Manny Ramirez all night, and he provided more fodder in the sixth, when Victorino belted a two-run homer to deep left. As the ball soared over his head, Ramirez did not move, not even to give it a courtesy glance. He knew that it was gone, just as he probably realized what most everyone in the ballpark Wednesday had long known: The Dodgers might have posted the best regular-season record in the N.L., but the best team in the N.L. hails from Philadelphia. “You want to have people remember your team, and look back and say that team was pretty good,” Rollins said. “Everybody knows about the Yankees, everybody knows about Boston and all the great players. Obviously, we want that here. When people refer to Philadelphia, we want them to talk about not just a team that was the first to lose 10,000, but the team that was able to play with the best of their time.”

Philadelphia Phillies
Baseball
Playoff Games
Los Angeles Dodgers


Atlas Mara Exploring a Bid for Barclays Africa Group

Abstract: LONDON — The investment company Atlas Mara Limited, backed by the former Barclays chief executive Robert E. Diamond Jr., confirmed on Tuesday that it was in discussions with a group of investors exploring a bid for Barclays’ business in Africa. In March, Barclays said that it planned to sell down its 62.3 percent interest in Barclays Africa Group over the next two to three years, in a strategy shift by James E. Staley, its new chief executive. On Tuesday, Atlas Mara said that the consortium of investors was exploring an acquisition of Barclays’ stake in the African business to combine it with Atlas Mara, which was formed in 2013 to invest in financial services companies in Africa. The consortium includes Atlas Merchant Capital, a financial services investment company Mr. Diamond founded with David Schamis. Another participant is Ashish J. Thakkar, an entrepreneur whose Mara Group conglomerate has technology, manufacturing and real estate interests in 19 African countries, Atlas Mara said. Mr. Thakkar is one of Atlas Mara’s co-founders. “Given the significant complexity and early stage of the discussions with the consortium, there can be no assurance that the transactions discussed above, including the potential combination, will be completed,” Atlas Mara said in a news release on Tuesday. Sky News reported on Sunday that the private equity giant Carlyle Group was teaming up with Mr. Diamond on a potential bid. The parties have declined to comment. The Barclays African business is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and holds majority stakes in banks in 10 countries, with offices in two others. The business’s biggest profit driver is South Africa. The African business was formerly considered one of four pillars of Barclays’ strategy, alongside its credit card and its consumer and investment banking operations, under Antony Jenkins, who was ousted as chief executive in July. But it has proved a regulatory drag on the British bank and is no longer considered a core business under Barclays’ new leadership. Barclays, which has operated in the region for more than a century, wants to reduce its stake in the African business to below a controlling level or to sell the stake entirely. The goal is to free Barclays from regulatory and capital requirements that have dragged on its balance sheet. Mr. Staley, who joined Barclays in December , is seeking to turn around the bank by accelerating the sale of businesses it does not consider core operations and by focusing its strategy around two divisions: the British consumer bank, and the corporate and investment bank. For Atlas Mara — and Mr. Diamond — it would be a major coup to acquire Barclays Africa Group and would greatly expand its reach on the continent. Mr. Diamond helped spearhead a period of growth at Barclays as head of its investment bank and, later, its chief executive. But he was forced out as Barclays’ chief executive in 2012 as the lender faced pressure from regulators over its admission that traders had conspired to manipulate a global benchmark interest rate known as the London interbank offered rate, or Libor. Since its founding in 2013, Atlas Mara has made four acquisitions and has operations in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Mergers and Acquisitions
Atlas Mara Co Nvest
Barclays
Robert E Diamond Jr
Banking and Finance
Carlyle Group


Play Tests China's Sexual Limits

Abstract: BEIJING — There is a moment in the play “Our Vaginas, Ourselves” — a frank and funny exploration of feminism with Chinese characteristics — when the audience freezes in embarrassment. It is right after the actress Xiao Meili asks, “Do you masturbate?” “It’s so hard getting people to answer that question!” Ms. Xiao, a 20-something with a razor-sharp black bob, exclaimed in an interview. “A lot of the time I had to answer myself,” she said of her scene, in which she plays a teacher. During a recent performance in Beijing, Ms. Xiao paced in front of a white board demanding answers of her “students” — in reality a standing-room-only crowd of college-age women, some older women and several men. “A former professor of mine who attended told me she was terrified I’d ask her,” she said. Yet at one performance, “a woman yelled ‘Yes, it’s relaxing!”’ Ms. Xiao said, relishing the moment. “Totally spontaneous!” Inspired by Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues,” with an English title that makes reference to the feminist classic “Our Bodies, Ourselves” — its Chinese title translates as “The Way of the Vagina” — the taboo-busting “Our Vaginas, Ourselves” was first staged in January at an L.G.B.T. center in Beijing before an audience of 50, said its producer, Ji Hang. Written by four women, it is based on the life experiences of about a dozen contributors who gathered last autumn at Yiyuan Gongshe, a nongovernmental organization in Beijing, where they sat on cushions in a circle and talked. “Writing this play was really just getting it down,” said Ai Ke, 29, one of the writers, who by day works for the publishing house of a major social science research institute. It has been a hit. Since January, the amateur actresses and playwrights have performed it about 10 times in Beijing, Tianjin and Xiamen, to enthusiastic audiences numbering up to 150, who squeeze into small venues, sharing chairs and fanning themselves, as on a recent evening in the MOMA arts district of Beijing. But their performances have been limited in scale. The play has only been staged in unofficial venues because it was unlikely to get the necessary script approval from the authorities to show in official theaters, said Ms. Ji, the producer. “We really want to enter the mainstream theater scene, but it’s impossible because the scripts would have to be censored,” she said. The subject matter is far too edgy to pass, she said. While the play clearly owes a debt to Western feminism, what is striking — and exciting for the actresses and their audiences — is how thoroughly localized it is, with uniquely Chinese stories and a fast-paced style that at times recalls the xiangsheng, or crosstalk, of traditional Beijing humor, and rich, pun-laden language. Localization was crucial to the artists. “It’s so important to us I can’t even find the words to say it,” Ms. Ai said. “From the beginning we knew that was what we wanted.” The goal? Nothing less than to bring live, theatrical feminism — with its truths and relevance for hundreds of millions of people — to China. And to create an opportunity for personal transformation. “It was important to us as a consciousness-raising exercise,” Ms. Ai said. “The personal transformation was No. 1.” The localization is spelled out in the very first scene. “I’ll say it: vagina!” two actresses, called A and B, say in Mandarin, on a stage with minimal props. “I’ll say it in the Shanxi dialect: vagina,” B says. “In the Wenzhou dialect: vagina,” A says. Then it’s the Hubei dialect, and so on until they have uttered the word in 10 dialects, the audience reacting with delight to the shock of the familiar, yet rarely heard word, spoken in their hometown tongues. Of the play’s 11 scenes, eight consist of original material, while two are Chinese translations of excerpts from Ms. Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues,” and one is from an earlier Chinese play inspired by the American play, Ms. Ji said. Humor figures highly, as in Ms. Xiao’s scene and another called “The First Night.” Six women identified by the letters A to F chat about how they lost their virginity. “After we got a room,” sighs E, using a Chinese euphemism for having sex, “he got a receipt,” indicating that the man planned to make the encounter tax-deductible. The audience erupted in laughter. But there is also real tension, notably in scenes that focus on rape, health and abortion. In the final scene, “I Am an Intern in an OB-GYN Ward,” a medical student recounts her experiences at a hospital: An elderly woman embodying the Chinese cultural ideal of the selfless grandmother — who will not seek medical treatment for a gynecological problem — says, “Son, don’t spend the money on me. Spend it on my grandson to go to university.” The student also describes helping at births; the horror of aborting fetuses because they are female; and young women coming for routine abortions, sometimes several a year. China has a high abortion rate, and as I gazed around the audience, all their laughter gone, I reflected that quite a few women there probably knew precisely what she was talking about.


Mets’ Randolph Stays Seemingly Unfazed by Talk of Firing

Abstract: Willie Randolph hardly knew him when he added Jerry Manuel to his coaching staff in 2004, before his first season as manager. If Randolph were to be fired, though, Manuel would be asked to take over. Manuel would love to manage in the major leagues again, but this is not how he wants to get that chance. “It’s difficult because of my relationship with Willie,” said Manuel, the team’s bench coach, who managed the Chicago White Sox from 1998 to 2003. “Everyone goes through it at some point in their career. We all handle it differently and draw on different things to keep us going. I think he’s doing O.K.” The Mets ’ game Saturday night against the Texas Rangers was rained out and rescheduled as part of a doubleheader Sunday, giving the team’s owners and General Manager Omar Minaya two opportunities to evaluate Randolph’s status. The first game Sunday is to begin at 1:10 p.m., with John Maine facing Kevin Millwood; Pedro Martínez is to oppose Kason Gabbard in the second game, starting about 30 minutes after the end of the opener. Randolph will begin the day as manager, and even if he ends it that way, there is still a strong sense that some sort of shake-up must occur — whether that is Sunday, next Sunday or at the All-Star break. Minaya could shift his focus to jolting the coaching staff, most likely the pitching coach Rick Peterson, with the hope that such a move could inspire his sagging team. He did the same thing last July, when he promoted Howard Johnson to hitting coach and fired Rick Down, a close friend of Randolph’s, but it did not prove to have much of an effect over the final months of the season. Randolph said he felt it necessary to speak to his coaching staff — “I can’t assume they all know” was his explanation — and they brainstormed before Friday’s game about what they could do to reverse the team’s fortunes. Manuel is the only member of the coaching staff with managerial experience, which is one of the reasons Randolph was initially drawn to him. “This is separate from what I went through,” Manuel said. “It helps that I’ve been there before, but this is one of those things where you have to experience it for yourself.” Privately, players wonder just how much longer this uncomfortable situation can last. They are growing increasingly tired of having to answer questions about Randolph and would like to know what everyone else wants to: does he stay or does he go? “Would I rather talk about baseball? Yes,” third baseman David Wright said. “But I understand that this comes along with it and that we’ve underachieved so far this year, and these issues are going to be out there.” Outwardly, Randolph seems unaffected. He was in good spirits again Saturday, joking about seeing his “ugly mug” in “high def” on the back pages of the tabloids. Randolph said that aside from not falling asleep as easily recently, he had felt more relaxed and at ease over the last week despite his team’s losing six of eight games. “I think I’m always the calmest under pressure,” Randolph said. “I’ve always felt that way. I was brought up that way. That’s the way I grew up. I tend to be probably more focused and intense when I’m doing well because I want to continue to do that. I’m probably pushing the hammer more when I’m doing well than when things aren’t going well, because I know when things aren’t going the way they’re supposed to go, you can’t overreact. As the leader of this ball club, I don’t want my players to feel that kind of pressure.” This pressure is somewhat different from what Randolph and the Mets faced in October 2006, when they trailed St. Louis, three games to two, in the National League Championship Series. Randolph, for the first time, noted how far back the Mets are now — seven games behind first-place Philadelphia in the N.L. East — and how imposing that deficit may be. He called this weekend’s series tougher because “we’ve been doing some good things and not gotten a lot of results.” “You know that you’re ready to get over the hump, but it’s frustrating because we know that the team is better and can play better,” he said. In these turbulent times, Randolph has found comfort in the support of family and friends, and singled out a sympathetic message from Arizona Manager Bob Melvin. Manuel, in the meantime, has consulted the teachings of Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — “in chronological order,” he noted. “They’ve helped a lot,” Manuel said. “No question.” INSIDE PITCH Fans holding tickets for Saturday night’s game can exchange them for any future game. They will not be honored Sunday.

Baseball
Randolph Willie
New York Mets
Manuel Jerry


Amanda Knox Murder Appeal Begins in Italy

Abstract: PERUGIA, Italy — Nearly a year after they were found guilty of murdering a British exchange student, Amanda Knox , a Seattle college student, and her onetime Italian boyfriend returned Wednesday to an underground courtroom in this hilltop town to begin their appeals. The crush of cameras suggested that interest in the case and its fresh-faced protagonists remained high. In the past year, half a dozen books in English have been published on the case (as well as several in Italian), and two films — one for television — are in production. After more than three years in prison, Ms. Knox, 23, looked wan and tense as guards ushered her in. She bowed her head as she passed the bright lights of dozens of television cameras — many representing the English-speaking news media — that jostled for space in the brick-vaulted courtroom. Her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 26, was impassive, staring directly at the cameras as he was led into the room. “We have to get used to the idea that this is going to be a media trial,” Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellmann told the jury of five women and one man. The case became an international media magnet almost from the moment that the body of Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old Leeds University student on an exchange program, was found, throat slit, in her room in Perugia on Nov. 2, 2007. A few days later, the police arrested Ms. Knox, her American housemate, who was also studying here, along with Mr. Sollecito, Ms. Knox’s boyfriend of less than two weeks, accusing them of committing the murder during a drug-induced sex game that had spun out of control. Last December, Mr. Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years in prison; Ms. Knox got 26 years. A third defendant, Rudy Guede, a Perugia resident from Ivory Coast, was sentenced separately to a 30-year term, which was reduced to 16 on appeal. The opening hearing lasted barely 20 minutes because Giulia Bongiorno , a member of Parliament who is on Mr. Sollecito’s defense team, could not attend. The next hearing was scheduled for Dec. 11. In separate briefs filed for the appeal, defense teams for Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito are challenging the forensic and circumstantial evidence — the murder knife, the time of death, the witness accounts, the blood with mixed DNA, and DNA on a bra clasp — that led to the convictions. Asserting that proper procedures were not followed in recovering the DNA evidence , the defense is also asking that independent experts review forensic evidence. “We’re contesting everything, from A to Z,” Luciano Ghirga, one of Ms. Knox’s lawyers, said after Wednesday’s hearing. Mr. Ghirga said there was no believable motive for the crime. “Putting together a lot of uncertain elements does not make a strong case,” he said. “At least not one with no reasonable doubt.” The court must now decide whether to allow the defense to introduce experts and consultants to make their case. Ms. Knox is also standing trial in a separate case, on charges of slander. She is alleged to have accused the police of striking her during an interrogation. As Mr. Sollecito was led back to his prison cell after the hearing, reporters called to him, asking what he hoped for. “Justice,” he said.

Knox Amanda
Italy
Decisions and Verdicts
Murders and Attempted Murders


Alain Mimoun, a Top Runner, Dies at 92

Abstract: Alain Mimoun was a virtual unknown in international track and field when he won a silver medal for France in the 10,000-meter race at the 1948 London Olympics. The Algerian-born Mimoun soon became one of the world’s most brilliant distance runners. But gold eluded him. He was the runner-up twice at the European championships in 1950 and twice more at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Emil Zatopek of Czechoslovakia, perhaps the greatest distance runner ever, won all five of those races, leaving Mimoun tagged as his “shadow.” Mimoun finally ran the race of his life at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. At 35, he won the first marathon he ever entered. Zatopek, the winner of the 1952 Olympic marathon, was far back, in sixth place. When Mimoun died on Thursday at 92 in Champigny-sur-Marne, a suburb of Paris, he was hailed for the grandeur of his achievements and for his grit. His death was announced by France’s athletics federation. “He left a deep mark on the history of French sports,” said France’s president, François Hollande. But Mimoun, whose victory proved a precursor to the arrival of great international runners from Africa, was remembered as well for embodying the amateur ideal. The story of the respect he showed for a rival who had become his friend, and whom he had ultimately vanquished, was told once more. On Dec. 1, 1956, a crowd of more than 100,000 cheered the 5-foot-7 Mimoun, a mustachioed man with a blue jersey bearing the French tricolor and the number 13, as he ran a seemingly effortless final marathon lap at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on a day when the temperatures reached about 100 degrees. Mimoun had looked back for a glimpse of Zatopek or anyone else challenging him in his final strides, but there was no one in sight. After crossing the finish line, Mimoun lingered among the officials. “I was sure Emil was there at my heels,” he told Sports Illustrated in 1972. “I was hoping he would be second. I was waiting for him. Then I thought, well, he will be third. It will be nice to stand on the podium with him again. But Emil came in sixth, oh, very tired. He seemed in a trance, staring straight ahead. He said nothing. I said: ‘Emil, why don’t you congratulate me? I am an Olympic champion. It was I who won.’ ” Mimoun continued: “Emil turned and looked at me, as if he were waking from a dream. Then he snapped to attention. Emil took off his cap, that white painting cap he wore so much, and he saluted me. Then he embraced me.” Image Alain Mimoun, second from right, finished behind his nemesis, Emil Zatopek, at the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games. Credit Associated Press “For me, that was better than the medal,” Mimoun said. Ali Mimoun Ould Kacha was born on Jan. 1, 1921, in Telagh, in northwest Algeria, the eldest of seven children in a farming family. He began running as a teenager, then joined the French Army during World War II and was wounded in the foot at Monte Cassino in the Italian campaign. He faced possible amputation, but the wound healed and he moved to Paris after the war. He joined an athletic club and took the French name Alain. When he showed promise as a runner, he was named to the French Olympic team for the 1948 London Games. Zatopek beat Mimoun by nearly a lap in the 10,000-meter run in London. They became friends, and Zatopek invited Mimoun to visit Prague as his guest. Their rivalry resumed at the 1950 European championships in Brussels, where Zatopek and Mimoun finished 1-2 in the 10,000 and the 5,000. Zatopek bested Mimoun again in the 10,000 and in the 5,000 at the Helsinki Olympics. Mimoun hoped his luck would change in a marathon, and he dutifully prepared for Melbourne over a two-year period. When the French team arrived there, he shunned distractions. “He woke me at 5:30 in the morning to go run, and in the evening, he made me go to bed at 8:30,” his fellow Olympic runner Michel Jazy told the French commercial radio network RTL on Friday. “Even though we were at the Olympics, I couldn’t go to any of the parties.” But there were other matters on Mimoun’s mind. His wife had remained in France expecting their first child. Word came a day before the marathon that she had given birth to a daughter. The Mimouns named her Olympe. Mimoun took the lead about halfway through the marathon and shunned the cups of water on tables lining the course as he pulled away. He lost nine pounds, but he finished in 2 hours 25 minutes, about a minute and a half ahead of the runner-up, Franjo Mihalic of Yugoslavia. Zatopek, who had undergone hernia surgery six weeks earlier, finished 4:34 behind Mimoun. Mimoun never raced against Zatopek again, but his career embraced a host of superlatives beyond that rivalry. He won the International Cross-Country championship four times from 1949 to 1956. (Zatopek did not compete in those events.) He won six French marathon championships, the last when he was 45, along with many other French national running titles. He made his last Olympic appearance at Rome in 1960, finishing 34th in the marathon. He worked as a physical education instructor and ran recreationally into his 90s. Many French streets and municipal running tracks bear his name. Information on survivors was not immediately available. When Zatopek died in November 2000 at 78, Mimoun was deeply affected. “I haven’t lost an opponent,” a Czech newspaper quoted him as saying. “I’ve lost a brother.”

Alain Mimoun
Track and field
Obituary
France


American Tech Giants Face Fight in Europe Over Encrypted Data

Abstract: ROME — Silicon Valley’s battle over encryption is heading to Europe. In the United States, the F.B.I.’s demands that Apple help “unlock” an iPhone used by a mass killer in California opened a heated debate on privacy. After recent attacks on the Continent, like the bombings in Brussels last week and the wave of violence in Paris last November, governments across the European Union are increasingly pushing for greater access to people’s digital lives. This week, French lawmakers are expected to debate proposals to toughen laws, giving intelligence services greater power to get access to personal data. The battle has pitted Europe’s fears about the potential for further attacks against concerns from Apple and other American technology giants like Google and Facebook that weakening encryption technologies may create so-called back doors to people’s digital information that could be misused by European law enforcement officials, or even intelligence agencies of unfriendly countries. The recent attacks have pushed many Europeans to favor greater powers for law enforcement over privacy. But opponents say such measures should not undermine the region’s tough data protection rules that enshrine privacy on par with other rights like freedom of expression. This balance between national security and privacy has put major countries in the region on opposite sides of the debate, with Germany and the Netherlands dismissing encryption laws being considered by Britain and France. “Fundamental rights are just that, fundamental,” said Nico van Eijk, a data protection expert at the University of Amsterdam. “Of course, there are exceptions for national security reasons. But governments have to be pragmatic.” That pragmatism has led to a series of new proposals across Europe that, if approved, would give national intelligence agencies renewed powers to compel the likes of Apple, Google and Facebook to hand over encrypted information. In Britain, lawmakers are completing legislation that could force tech companies to bypass encryption protections in the name of national security. The law — called a “snooper’s charter” by opponents — may compel companies to aid the country’s law enforcement agencies by hacking people’s smartphones and computers, among other powers. And on Tuesday, French politicians will debate proposals to update antiterrorism laws that may hand tech executives prison sentences of up to five years, as well as fine their companies around $390,000, if they refuse to provide encrypted information to the country’s investigators. Amendments to the French law — itself a response to the attacks in November — may still pass without the encryption proposals, which are opposed by France’s left-wing government. But politicians and industry executives say Apple’s fight with the F.B.I. has focused a spotlight on how companies’ efforts to protect users’ messages and other data have made it increasingly difficult for European intelligence agencies to obtain such information. “When we’re able to recover a cellphone, but authorities have no way of accessing its data, it obviously cripples the work of our surveillance agencies,” said Philippe Goujon, a French politician behind the recent encryption proposals. “Sure, this could have repercussions internationally,” he added. “But there are other countries in the world that have similar legislation.” How Europe Protects Your Online Data Differently Than the U.S. All the talk about data privacy can get caught up in political wrangling. But the different approaches have practical consequences for people, too. Europe’s attempts to get access to encrypted data have not gone unchallenged by Apple. Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, has, for instance, met with a string of European politicians, including France’s prime minister, Manuel Valls, and Britain’s home secretary, Theresa May, in recent months to lobby for tough encryption technology. And to show that the company is trying to be cooperative, Apple’s executives have also provided unencrypted information, including so-called metadata on people’s phone calls and GPS coordinates, as part of terrorism investigations in Europe, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. Such efforts, in part, have paid off with some European governments that remain skeptical of plans to weaken companies’ encryption technology in the name of national security. Germany, which has some of the world’s toughest privacy rules, has balked at the proposals Britain and France are considering, while the Dutch government published an open letter this year expressly stating its opposition to back doors in encryption services provided by the likes of Apple. Such loopholes, the Dutch government said, would “also make encrypted files vulnerable to criminals, terrorists and foreign intelligence services.” As pressure in parts of Europe mounts over access to encrypted data, industry watchers say attention is expected to focus on Britain — a top international market for most American tech companies — where expanded powers for the country’s intelligence services are likely to come into force by the end of the year. The legislation is the brainchild of the ruling Conservative Party, which has a sufficient parliamentary majority to enact the regulatory changes. Under the proposals, the Investigatory Powers Bill would force Internet and telecommunications companies to hold records of websites visited by people in Britain over the last 12 months. It also would provide the country’s intelligence agencies with a legal mandate for the bulk collection of large quantities of data, while allowing them to hack individual devices under certain situations. Ms. May, Britain’s home secretary, told lawmakers this year that such powers were required to defend the country’s security. She added that the legislation offered sufficient transparency and oversight about how British spies conducted their activities to calm people’s privacy concerns. But for Apple and other Silicon Valley companies, the proposal also includes new powers that can permit the British government to demand that companies remove encryption protections where “reasonably practicable” to gain access to digital communications. The British government stresses that such rules would not undermine companies’ services because they may not apply to so-called end-to-end encryption, technology used by the likes of Apple’s iMessage and FaceTime services, as well as Facebook’s WhatsApp Internet messenger. But in a series of appeals to the British Parliament, several American tech giants, including Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo, have complained that the proposals could force them to create backdoor access for the country’s spies, or face falling afoul of the new national security rules. “A key left under the doormat would not just be there for the good guys,” Apple wrote in its recent statement to British lawmakers. “The bad guys would find it, too.” Such concerns, security experts say, could be compounded if other national governments — either in Europe or farther afield — followed Britain’s lead by passing similar legislation. “If these encryption plans go through, then who’s to stop France or other countries’ asking for the same thing?” said Ross Anderson, a professor of security engineering at the University of Cambridge who wrote a paper with other experts last year that criticized the American and British governments’ plans to weaken encryption. “When you give one country backdoor access, where do you stop?”

Europe
Government Surveillance
Spying and Intelligence Agencies
Privacy
Brussels Attacks
Computer security
Apple
Computers and the Internet
Tech Industry
Legislation


A Leading Asian Utility to Cut Carbon Emissions

Abstract: HONG KONG, Dec. 6 — CLP, one of Asia’s largest power utilities, plans to commit itself on Friday to sharply reducing its emissions of carbon dioxide. The company plans to cut the amount of carbon dioxide it emits with each kilowatt-hour of electricity generated by 4.8 percent over the next three years, and 76 percent by 2050. To do so, it will step up its investments in nuclear power, natural gas, renewable energy and so-called clean coal technologies. Timed to coincide with climate change negotiations currently under way in Bali, CLP’s announcement is the latest step by the power industry in addressing emissions of global-warming gases, especially carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas. CLP’s decision is especially noteworthy, energy experts said, because power companies active in developing countries rarely undertake such initiatives. CLP, of Hong Kong, has large investments in mainland China, Thailand, Taiwan, India and Australia. Developing countries are not subject to the emissions limits set under the Kyoto Protocol, but the United States and the European Union are pressing them, at the Bali talks, to at least agree to discuss binding limits for developing countries as well. “We believe that if everyone takes an approach like this, the magnitude of global warming may be limited to approximately 2 degrees Celsius to 3 degrees Celsius so that the most catastrophic effects of climate change may be off,” said Andrew Brandler, the chief executive of CLP Holdings, according to an advance copy of his statement. Two to three degrees Celsius is equal to 3.6 to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit. A United Nations panel warned last month that an increase of even this magnitude could cause a rapid rise in sea levels, as ice sheets melted, and the extinction of many species. The company’s plan is less ambitious than those of some utilities in Japan and France, which have set much lower emissions targets and already rely heavily on nuclear energy, which produces practically no global-warming gases. Setting its limit only in terms of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour of electricity also means that CLP is not committing itself to reducing its total carbon output, or limiting the amount of electricity it generates. “If you generate more power, then absolute emissions of carbon dioxide will increase,” said Frances Yeung, an energy campaigner for Greenpeace. On Thursday, Greenpeace protesters scaled a fly ash silo at one of CLP’s coal-fired power plants and hung a banner reading, “Climate Change Starts Here.” A CLP spokesman, Carl N. Kitchen, said the company was not limiting its overall emissions because it operates in rapidly growing electricity markets and does not want to limit its options. As if to underline that, Credit Suisse predicted in a research report Thursday that mainland China’s power consumption would continue growing by 11 to 14 percent a year for the next three to five years. China’s rapid expansion of mostly coal-fired electricity generation is the main reason it has overtaken the United States as the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, according to the International Energy Agency in Paris. Jeremy Carl, a research fellow specializing in Asian energy issues at Stanford, said it might be better for the environment if CLP did build more power plants, rather than letting other companies meet Asia’s growing needs. “Certainly they are going to be a lot more efficient than the big mainland power companies” in China, or the electric utilities in India, Mr. Carl said. CLP estimates that its operations now emit 1.85 pounds of carbon dioxide for each kilowatt-hour of electricity generated. The company’s plan calls for cutting emissions to 1.76 pounds in 2010, 1.54 pounds in 2020, 0.99 pound in 2035 and 0.44 pound in 2050. By comparison, China’s utilities emit 2.23 pounds a kilowatt-hour, those in the United States, 1.40 pounds and Japan’s, just 0.78 pound, according to data from Carbon Monitoring for Action in Washington, which gathers such data with the goal of drawing attention to climate change. One reason for the difference is that Japanese utilities rely heavily on nuclear power and natural gas, while most of CLP’s operations are in nations where coal is cheap and abundant, like China, India and Australia, as it is in the United States. Reaching CLP’s goals could be difficult, as many clean coal technologies either produce only modest reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, are very expensive or are simply not yet technologically feasible. For example, the company’s plan to meet its later targets assumes that it will become possible to capture and sequester the carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants. But the technology to do so is still under development and could prove costly even if perfected. The company also plans to use more natural gas, which produces less soot and carbon dioxide than coal. It has sought government permission in Hong Kong to build a liquefied natural gas terminal in a marine conservation area with fairly deep water, situated close to power plants.

Carbon Dioxide
Global Warming
Atomic Energy
Gas (Fuel)
CLP


Mother Is Accused of Throwing Newborn to Death From 7th-Floor Window in Bronx

Abstract: A 33-year-old woman was charged with murder on Tuesday for throwing her newborn girl out a seventh-floor window in her boyfriend’s Bronx apartment, the authorities said. The girl, who was found in an alleyway outside the apartment building on Monday, unconscious and unresponsive with her umbilical cord still attached, died of multiple blunt force injuries sustained in the fall, the New York City chief medical examiner, Dr. Barbara Sampson, said in a statement on Tuesday. The death was ruled a homicide, meaning that the infant was alive when she was thrown from the window. The police said the mother, identified as Jennifer Berry of Yonkers, had been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter. Ms. Berry, who briefly worked for New York City’s child welfare agency several years ago, was arraigned late Tuesday in Bronx Criminal Court, according to the Bronx district attorney’s office. Her case was adjourned until Oct. 5 and she was remanded to jail. Ms. Berry, a police official said, apparently hid the final stage of her pregnancy from relatives and friends, including, it appears, her boyfriend. She told some of them that she had miscarried weeks ago. On Monday, she initially denied giving birth to the child but ultimately relented and admitted that she had delivered the baby, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose details of the investigation. A spokesman for the city’s Administration for Children’s Services said on Tuesday that the agency was investigating the matter. Officials of the agency were not allowed to discuss whether the family had any previously reported issues. Ms. Berry worked in the agency’s child protective service branch from July 2007 to January 2008, agency officials said. She spent her first three months training in a classroom setting before continuing as a trainee in what officials described as a closely supervised situation with limited interaction with families. It is unclear why she left the agency after six months. On Tuesday night, no one answered the door at the Yonkers house where the police said Ms. Berry lives. The home, decorated with a wreath saying “Bless our home,” sits in the middle of a leafy block where nearly every residence has a front lawn. “They kind of keep to themselves,” said one neighbor, who declined to give his name. Shortly after 2:30 p.m. on Monday, the authorities were called to the Bronx apartment building, at 130 West 183rd Street, after the building superintendent’s wife found the baby while cleaning up the alleyway, the police said. The baby was declared dead at the scene, officials said. On the winding street in the tree-lined University Heights neighborhood, many neighbors said on Tuesday that the episode remained fresh in their minds. They were struggling with what they saw and heard outside the white-brick apartment building the day before. After the police arrived on Monday, Janiqua Torres, 33, went into the building’s stairwell, she said, where she could look into the area where the baby was found. Image An alleyway where a newborn baby was found beside a building on West 183rd Street in the Bronx. Credit Sam Hodgson for The New York Times “I saw the blood,” said Ms. Torres, who has been staying with her husband’s family in the building. “It was a mess.” “When I heard the police say ‘baby,’ ” she added, “that’s what crushed me.” Her husband, Kenneth Bolton, 29, said he saw Ms. Berry being led out of the building by emergency workers and flanked by detectives. She looked “like she was lost,” Mr. Bolton said, adding, “You know how some people might have that look in their face where they don’t know where they’re at?” Other mothers in the building said they were deeply shaken. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,’ ” Pauline Beaumont, 49, said. Ms. Beaumont said she wished the mother had simply handed the baby over to someone else. “I was like why couldn’t you just bring it down here and give it to us,” she said. Jeffrey Quarles, 49, said he thought the situation was “heart-wrenching” and “incomprehensible.” “It takes your breath away any time some situation like this occurs,” Mr. Quarles said, “where you can figure out something else could have been done.” Tiffany Martinez, who lives across the street, said she was a friend of Ms. Berry’s boyfriend. She said she was stunned by the allegations. “You literally must have hit the lowest of the low for you to do that,” Ms. Martinez said. “There’s no explanation for that. It’s a newborn.” Peter DeLuca, the owner of two funeral homes in Manhattan, said he was inquiring with officials about arrangements for the girl. Mr. DeLuca, whose 13-month-old son died in 1987, said he wanted to make sure that “the baby gets buried in a proper grave.” “It’s just inconceivable that this could happen to a newborn baby,” he said. “It’s a sad ending to a child who never had a beginning.” By nightfall, residents had set up a small memorial in the lobby of the apartment building. The cardboard box held a candle, flowers and a small baby’s milk bottle. Red cursive script on the side read: “Came into this life unknown not knowing what would happen to me, I didn’t have a chance. May her soul rest in peace with God.”

Murders and Homicides
Jennifer Berry
Bronx


SupermealX, India’s Soylent, May Be Nutritious, but Will It Make the World a Better Place?

Abstract: NEW DELHI — Is the right to food the same as the right to tasty food? The answer, like the answer to any question that involves human nature, is complicated because it does not involve mere facts. Ever since an American electrical engineer invented a food that abolishes the inconveniences of foraging and cooking, and contains all the nutrition a human body is known to require but is devoid of the substances that harm, there has been talk that it can end not only the problems of the overfed but also the underfed. After all, it is in the tradition of Silicon Valley-blessed projects to invent a solution for the rich that eventually “makes the world a better place,” to borrow an expression used by tech billionaires and comedians. What if India procures or makes a food like Soylent and distributes it at a great discount to all its malnourished? The thought has crossed many minds, including an Indian fitness entrepreneur who has created his own version of Soylent, called SupermealX, which he recently began selling online. His first paid customers will receive the food in a few weeks. Harsh Batra, 32, is a lean and fit man who has the habit of testing his own blood. He was an early adopter of Soylent, and as he watched his health improve he grew serious about making his own version. SupermealX, which has been certified by Indian regulators as fit for human consumption, is yellowish and has a tinge of vanilla flavor. Like Soylent, it derives proteins, sugars, fats, vitamins and minerals from both regular food and synthetic sources, but Mr. Batra has to import most of the ingredients. As a result, SupermealX in India, at 290 rupees a 500-milliliter meal (about $4.60 a pint), is almost as expensive as Soylent is in the United States. The Indian government spends about 3 to 4.5 rupees per lunch in the midday meal program that it provides to millions of poor schoolchildren. The midday meal, which provides 450 to 700 calories, depending on a child’s age, derives most of its calories from grain-based carbohydrates. Grain, especially rice and wheat, is cheap in India because of government subsidies. Nutritious vegetables are expensive. When the poor eat at all, they usually fill their bellies with starch. Angus Deaton, the 2015 Nobel laureate in economic science, and the economist Jean Drèze, observed in 2009 in an influential paper that the “anthropometric indicators of nutrition in India, for both adults and children, are among the worst in the world,” he wrote. “Indeed, according to the National Family Health Survey, the proportion of underweight children remained virtually unchanged between 1998-99 and 2005-06 (from 47 percent to 46 percent for the age group of 0-3 years). Undernutrition levels in India remain higher than for most countries of sub-Saharan Africa.” The situation for the poor has not vastly improved in the past decade. It would appear that a drink with all the nutrients a body needs, which can be stored in powder form for several months and has been created for the rich, would be an excellent idea for India’s poor, too. For every meal that a customer purchases, Mr. Batra plans to give one away free to an impoverished child in the care of a chosen organization. But the poor have yet to taste his food. “I have no idea how they are going to react,” he said in an interview. “In a few weeks I will know.” The issue of taste is significant. People, including the poor, eat not only because they have to, but because they enjoy it. Also, society is conditioned to believe there is something objectionable about the poor being made to drink a tasteless subsidized potion because they cannot afford the other kind of good food. There are movies in which people consuming tasteless but utilitarian nutrition is depicted as evidence of dystopia. Images of India’s poor being given a drink that is ideal for feeding the survivors of a calamity could be politically problematic. They would suggest that India is a disaster zone. Some might ruminate, by pure statistics, it is.

Food
Nutrition
India
Proven Health Solutions
SupermealX
Soylent,Rosa Labs
Harsh Batra


Texans’ Clowney Out; Frustration Follows Humiliation for the 49ers

Abstract: The Texans’ Jadeveon Clowney, the first overall pick in this year’s draft, will miss Houston’s game against Tennessee on Sunday after a setback with his surgically repaired right knee. He was ruled out on Friday. Clowney, an outside linebacker, has played four games this season after being injured in Week 1. He had arthroscopic surgery Sept. 8 and missed six straight games before returning Oct. 26. He had about 50 plays in a defeat to the Bengals on Sunday in his most significant playing time since the injury, but he had swelling in his knee after the game and did not practice all week. CRITICIZING A LOSS After San Francisco’s lopsided loss to Seattle that diminished the 49ers’ playoff hopes, Jed York, the team’s owner, said the team’s effort “wasn’t acceptable.” Cassie Baalke, daughter of General Manager Trent Baalke, called for the offensive coordinator Greg Roman to be fired before quickly deleting her Twitter post and later closing the account. Trent Baalke issued a statement that said he and Cassie had apologized to Roman. WILKERSON HAS TOE INJURY The New York Jets defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson has a turf toe injury that will not require surgery, but he said he expected to miss Monday’s game against Miami. The injury occurred in last week’s game against Buffalo, a loss. Wilkerson is uncertain when he will be able to play. FITZGERALD QUESTIONABLE Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald practiced on a limited basis, and Coach Bruce Arians said his participation would be a game-time decision Sunday in Atlanta. It was Fitzgerald’s first practice since spraining his left medial collateral ligament two weeks ago. BRIGGS ON INJURED RESERVE The Chicago Bears have placed linebacker Lance Briggs on the reserve/injured list because of a groin injury.

Football
Jadeveon Clowney
49ers
Titans
Houston Texans


E-ZPass Users Are Spared in M.T.A. Fare Plan

Abstract: Barring a last-minute miracle, the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will vote on Thursday to raise fares for the region’s subway, bus, and commuter-rail passengers. The biggest burden will be placed on 30-day unlimited MetroCard users, who will be asked to pay $104 a month, up from $89, a 17 percent increase. But there may be good news in store for a different group of traveling New Yorkers: drivers. Under a new plan, drivers who use E-ZPass to pay tolls on the authority’s nine tunnels and bridges would face no toll increase at all. The proposal, first floated by James P. Molinaro, the Staten Island borough president, at a public hearing last month, has picked up momentum among board members who view it as a positive incentive for drivers to use E-ZPasses, radio-based fare payment devices. (The plan would also save many Staten Island residents quite a bit of money.) “If you look at the lanes that are cash lanes, they back up, and the cars sit there, and they idle and it creates pollution,” said Allen P. Cappelli, a board member from Staten Island and a proponent of the plan. “It’s bad for the environment, and it’s costly to staff these booths with people to collect the tolls when you can do it mechanically.” About three-quarters of the cars and trucks that use the authority’s crossings are equipped with E-ZPass, officials said, although the number varies by borough. On the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to Staten Island, more than four-fifths of the drivers use the devices; that drops to two-thirds on bridges in the Bronx. The authority’s board will discuss the toll proposal on Thursday, but a formal vote will not be held until Oct. 27. Originally, officials proposed that E-ZPass users pay a 10 percent toll increase, but the alternate proposal shifts the burden entirely onto drivers who pay cash. The plan calls for cash tolls, which are often paid by out-of-state residents, to go up from 27 percent to 33 percent, depending on the crossing. Some critics, however, see a class bias at work. Politicians in the Bronx have expressed concern that cash tolls are often paid by drivers without the financial means to afford E-ZPass, which is usually paid for with a credit card. “This would expedite traffic flow and reduce backups,” said James Vacca, a Bronx city councilman and close watcher of transit matters. “The con is that low-income or elderly New Yorkers who might not have credit cards or a comfort level with E-ZPass would see an even bigger chunk of their income going to already pricey tolls.” The subway fare increase, conversely, would fall on the more-frequent and generally more-affluent riders who use unlimited MetroCards. Andrew B. Albert, chairman of the New York City Transit Riders Council, said he feared that the E-ZPass proposal could encourage riders of mass transit to drive instead. “If transit users have to pay an increase, I don’t know why motorists wouldn’t have to pay an increase,” Mr. Albert said. But Gene Russianoff, a longtime subway advocate and staff lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign, said of the plan: “At first blush, it seems like a good idea. It raises revenue and has social use.” Jeremy Soffin, a spokesman for the authority, said: “It’s a proposal that came up through the public hearings, and as with the changes to the fare proposals, we are doing our best to incorporate what we’ve heard. It has definitely caught the attention of the staff and the board here, and we think it’s a proposal that merits a real look.”

Tolls
E-ZPass
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Commuting
New York City
Prices (Fares Fees and Rates)
Transit Systems


In House, Freshman Democrats Make a Stand

Abstract: WASHINGTON — It took Representative Dan Maffei of New York two tries, $4 million and the retirement of a Republican incumbent to win his House seat last year. After all that, he wants to avoid becoming a one-term wonder because of an unpopular vote on health care. “We can’t afford to make enemies,” said Mr. Maffei, a former Congressional aide and a Democratic member of the freshman class that played a role this week in slowing House consideration of a health insurance overhaul, upending plans by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to meet President Obama’s goal of approving a bill before the August recess. Of 35 first-term Democrats, Mr. Maffei, who represents the Syracuse area, and 25 others occupy suburban, small-town and rural seats they took out of Republican hands, seats Republicans are eager to take back. As a result, junior Democrats want to be sure the emerging health care plan is one they can embrace, particularly after they have already had to cast a difficult vote on climate-change legislation. “As long as I feel comfortable that I had the opportunity to address issues that I have raised, I am willing to take the tough vote,” said Representative Frank Kratovil Jr., Democrat of Maryland. “What I am not willing to do is follow the lead simply to follow the lead.” As the House prepared to leave town until after Labor Day , the health bill was taking on some of the ideological hue of House freshmen, many of whom represent districts in Southern and Western states that were previously out of reach of Democrats, far from the urban centers that have long been the party’s base. But the changes in the health care legislation have already provoked a backlash from the party’s progressive wing, setting up an August struggle not only with Republicans but also among Democrats for the overall direction of the health plan. Working somewhat as a bloc, and also through other groups like the fiscally conservative Blue Dogs, the freshmen helped not only to postpone a floor vote but also to spur concessions on cost and regional disparities. In addition, in response to freshman demands, party leaders are talking about raising the threshold for any surtaxes that could hit small businesses. “On issues where we agree, we are not afraid to speak out together and flex our muscles,” said Representative Jared Polis, Democrat of Colorado and an author of a letter to Ms. Pelosi challenging the proposed surtax. “And one of those issues in the context of the health care debate was speaking out against tax increases we saw as too expensive.” Typically, Congressional freshmen are more seen than heard. But the political precariousness and the sheer size of the freshman class — along with the sophomores elected in 2006, they represent the difference between a Democratic majority and minority — give them more sway than usual. “They are influential,” said Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader, who helps tend to the care and feeding of the freshmen. “One of the concerns of the freshmen was to give them time, so they are getting time.” “It gives them an opportunity to explain to their constituents their views of the bill, and secondly, they have more time to figure out what changes, if any, they need to effect,” said Mr. Hoyer, who is urging the freshmen to take the offensive on health care and emphasize the potential benefits of the overhaul. In an indication of the importance attached to the class, Speaker Pelosi meets weekly with the freshmen for a Wednesday breakfast. Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is sending them home for August with a briefing package that offers recommendations on how to sell the health care plan. To hear Republicans talk, the freshmen are going to need each recommendation. “I think it’s safe to say that over the August recess, as more Americans learn more about their plan, they’re likely to have a very, very hot summer,” Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader, said Thursday. Republican strategists are planning a monthlong assault on Democrats deemed to be vulnerable, and many freshmen are at the top of the list. Not only is the first re-election campaign considered the best opportunity to beat an incumbent, but freshmen from formerly Republican districts in states like Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania have already been under the gun over the climate-change legislation. Thirteen of the 35 districts now held by Democratic freshmen were carried by the Republican candidate for president in 2008. Republicans say they do not believe that any modifications to the health plan will be enough to protect Democrats. “If Democrats think that their situation is improving on health care, then they haven’t been reading the polls,” said Ken Spain, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. Mr. Spain called the emerging bill “political malpractice for a Democrat in even the safest of seats.” But some of the freshmen say they are willing to take the heat as long as they can have some say in shaping the legislation. “We wanted to tackle the problems that neither party has had the guts to face for the last few decades, and we are ready to take them on even if that is unpopular,” said Representative Tom Perriello, a Virginia freshman who narrowly defeated a Republican incumbent. “But only if we feel what we are doing is actually solving the problem and not just patching it up.” Mr. Perriello said August could amount to a monthlong town-hall-style meeting to allow Democrats to explore health care with residents of their districts. He and other freshmen said that as recent survivors of competitive races, they had a good sense of how to gauge public opinion and act accordingly. “We all just finished very tough races,” said Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut. “Very few of us are in safe Democratic districts. So we listen very, very hard.”

Health Insurance and Managed Care
Reform and Reorganization
Democratic Party
House of Representatives
United States Politics and Government


Government Reshuffle in Greece in Wake of Riots

Abstract: ATHENS — Shaken by scandals, public protests and a surge in extremism, Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis of Greece on Wednesday replaced his finance minister, who was one of his closest aides, and eight other cabinet ministers in a sweeping cabinet shake-up. Mr. Karamanlis won re-election 16 months ago, vowing to press ahead with economic and social reforms. But in recent months, a number of scandals and weeks of violent protests triggered by the police shooting of a teenage boy in December have damaged Mr. Karamanlis’s popularity, with the Socialist Pasok Party taking the lead in opinion polls for the first time in nine years. The scandals have included a controversial land swap deal and the conviction of a senior government aide for attempting to harbor a criminal in a major drug-dealing case. Mr. Karamanlis’ New Democracy party holds a one-seat majority in Greece’s 300-seat Parliament. Despite the cabinet overhaul, Mr. Karamanlis left seven of the 16 ministerial posts in the cabinet untouched, including the posts of ministers of defense, foreign affairs and interior whose handling of the December riots was widely criticized. The protests, the worst show of civil unrest in decades, caused $ 1.3 billion in damage by militant youth who rampaged through Athens and other city centers burning and destroying scores of businesses. Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos tendered his resignation after the riots but Mr. Karamanlis asked him to remain in place. On Wednesday, however, Mr. Karamanlis replaced Mr. Pavlopoulos’ deputy who is in charge of the Greek police, appointing Christos Markoyannakis, a senior lawmaker who served as senior security official in the run up to the Athens 2004 Olympics. The finance minister, George Alogoskoufis, was replaced by his deputy, Yannis Papathanassiou. Opposition lawmakers criticized the shake-up. “Unfortunately, in this reshuffle, one person remained in his position: the prime minister,” said George Papakonstantinou, a Pasok spokesman. “The country needs a new government to escape this crisis.”

Greece
Karamanlis Kostas
Demonstrations and Riots


Braves Win Their 11th Straight as Strasburg Gets Little Support

Abstract: Justin Upton led off the eighth inning with a tiebreaking homer, and the National League East-leading Atlanta Braves extended their winning streak to a season-high 11 games by beating the host Washington Nationals, 3-2, on Monday night. Freddie Freeman drove in Atlanta’s first two runs with singles in the third and fifth. The Nationals again failed to provide much run support for Strasburg, who struck out nine in seven innings, allowing two runs and five hits. The last five times he has allowed two earned runs or fewer, Washington lost. DODGERS 3, CARDINALS 2 Zack Greinke pitched into the seventh inning and raised his batting average to .405 with a run-scoring single, helping Los Angeles win its 15th straight on the road. Nick Punto was productive subbing for the injured shortstop Hanley Ramirez, and Andre Ethier and A. J. Ellis each drove in a run. TIGERS 4, INDIANS 2 Alex Avila’s three-run homer in the ninth inning off closer Chris Perez sent visiting Detroit to its ninth straight win. The Tigers were an inning away from having their lead in the American League Central cut to two games before they rallied against Perez, who had converted 11 straight save opportunities. ROYALS 13, TWINS 0 Jeremy Guthrie pitched a four-hitter, and Eric Hosmer drove in a career-high five runs to help host Kansas City rout Minnesota for its 12th victory in 13 games. Guthrie won his fourth straight start to log his 12th victory. He retired the final 13 batters and did not allow a Twins runner to reach third base. ASTROS 2, RED SOX 0 Brett Oberholtzer threw seven shutout innings, and L. J. Hoes scored twice to lead host Houston. CUBS PICK UP OUTFIELDER The Chicago Cubs claimed outfielder Thomas Neal off waivers from the Yankees and transferred pitcher Rafael Dolis to the 60-day disabled list.


Knicks’ Defensive Disarray in Loss to 76ers Puts Woodson on the Spot

Abstract: The list of items that have haunted Knicks Coach Mike Woodson started early this season — practically from opening night. There were personality conflicts with Iman Shumpert, then J. R. Smith, then Chris Smith, then Beno Udrih. Critics nitpicked Woodson’s lineup choices before games and then admonished him over his time management at the end of games. Woodson was not being tough enough on players. He was being too tough on players. Through it all, one edifice remained untouched by controversy: the defense. It was Woodson’s last bastion of serenity. But recently, even that security blanket has grown tattered. The Knicks have allowed 109.4 points over their last five games, all of them losses, including Wednesday’s 110-106 defeat against the Philadelphia 76ers at Madison Square Garden. Woodson has suddenly found himself on his heels regarding his schemes, adjustments and mind-set in the facet of the game he is most proud of. The Knicks’ defensive shortcomings could be boiled down to one possession, arguably the most crucial of the game, as they trailed, 102-100, with two minutes remaining. A communication error between Iman Shumpert and Carmelo Anthony resulted in a wide-open 3-point attempt for Thaddeus Young. He buried it, and with it the Knicks (15-27). “It was a simple play,” Woodson said. “We just didn’t execute it properly.” The play was emblematic of the communication lapses and mental letdowns that have haunted the Knicks over the course of a forgettable season. Lately, the microscope has been focused on Woodson, who was grilled before the game about his defensive system, the subject of some barbed remarks by center Tyson Chandler after Monday’s 23-point loss to the Nets. Woodson dismissed concern that his emphasis on switching when guarding against the pick-and-roll was being questioned not only by the public but also by a valued member of his own locker room, Chandler. “We didn’t make adjustments,” Chandler said after the Nets game. “I’ve been doing this a long time,” Woodson said. “You hear gripes from players, you hear gripes from coaches. It’s all a part of it.” The theory that excessive switching cost the Knicks a win on Monday was overblown, Woodson argued. According to his calculations (which he was more than ready to supply), the defense switched 37 times, “and they scored eight times.” But the Knicks’ struggles remained in plain sight Wednesday. In the first quarter, Sixers forward Lavoy Allen ran the length of the court, apparently without a defender even noticing him. After his uncontested layup, there were boos from the crowd and a quick timeout from Woodson. “Our communication has been up and down all year,” J. R. Smith said. “When it’s great, you see everybody chirping, playing physical with intensity. To give up 110 against a team that averages 103, that’s frustrating.” Philadelphia (14-28) shot 56 percent from the field, including 5 of 8 from 3-point range, to grab a 33-26 lead after one quarter. Carmelo Anthony (team-high 28 points) did not hit his first field goal until nearly eight minutes were left in the half. Then he rattled off 11 points to finish the half. The Knicks came out of halftime with a little more vigor, tying the game at 65-65 a few minutes into the third quarter and then taking a lead for the first time since the game’s early moments. But the defense still struggled to restrain the 76ers’ attack. Philadelphia found success in beating the Knicks up the floor and in the paint, where the 76ers held an almost laughable 50-26 scoring advantage over the Knicks, who were still without the injured forwards Kenyon Martin and Amar’e Stoudemire. “Seemed like they were just sending everybody to the boards,” Chandler said. “They kept getting in, getting tips.” At the start of the fourth, the Knicks went on a 10-0 run to take a 90-84 lead. Finally, they put together a string of stops and found ways to convert on the offensive end. The run looked as if it might put an end to the Sixers, but Philadelphia continued to find ways to chip away. Point guard Michael Carter-Williams delivered a 3-pointer with 5 minutes 43 seconds remaining that gave the Sixers a 93-92 lead. That was followed by a 3 from Evan Turner, who finished with a career-high 34 points. “You work so hard to build a lead, or get a lead, and then within a snap of a finger, you’re back at it,” Anthony said. “It’s like a reoccurring story that’s happening.” With the Knicks trailing, 102-96, with three minutes remaining, Anthony hit a 3-pointer to keep their hope alive. That was short-lived. The 3-pointer by Young was followed by a missed shot by Anthony, and then a fall-away jumper by Turner. Chandler was asked how the defensive breakdowns seemed to arise. Was it the game planning? Was it the team tightening up? He held his tongue. Perhaps it was not to spare his coach. The Knicks have long since run out of simple answers. “Evan Turner got hot,” Chandler said, his words trailing off.

Basketball
Coaches
Knicks
76ers
Mike Woodson


Not Light, but Worth a Look for Those Who Like Sleek, Loaded Notebook Computers

Abstract: It would be impossible to build one computer to please everyone, but Toshiba’s new Satellite A205-S4617 notebook sure takes a whack at it. It is powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo processor running at 1.66 gigahertz and has 2 gigabytes of RAM, which is what you need to run all the features of Windows Vista’s Home Premium edition. The computer has four USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire port. Toshiba says it set the USB ports far enough apart to accommodate bulky devices that would normally block the use of the adjacent port. For audiophiles, the S4617 has built-in Harman Kardon speakers. The 15.4-inch screen is in the 16:9 format that is favored for viewing and editing high-definition widescreen video, and it has a resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels. To help the budding filmmaker handle all that video, the unit comes with a 250-gigabyte hard drive. The 5-in-1 media reader can handle the most common storage cards used in digital cameras and camcorders. The S4617 is available for less than $1,250. While it is not the lightest notebook, weighing less than 7 pounds, it does have a shiny black case with electric-green display lights. STEPHEN C. MILLER

Toshiba Corporation
Computers and the Internet


Afghan Tribe, Vowing to Fight Taliban, to Get U.S. Aid in Return

Abstract: JALALABAD, Afghanistan — The leaders of one of the largest Pashtun tribes in a Taliban stronghold said Wednesday that they had agreed to support the American-backed government, battle insurgents and burn down the home of any Afghan who harbored Taliban guerrillas. Elders from the Shinwari tribe, which represents about 400,000 people in eastern Afghanistan , also pledged to send at least one military-age male in each family to the Afghan Army or the police in the event of a Taliban attack. In exchange for their support, American commanders agreed to channel $1 million in development projects directly to the tribal leaders and bypass the local Afghan government, which is widely seen as corrupt. “The Taliban have been trying to destroy our tribe, and they are taking money from us, and they are taking our sons to fight,” said Malik Niaz, a Shinwari elder. “If they defy us now, we will defeat them.” The pact appears to be the first in which an entire Pashtun tribe has declared war on Taliban insurgents. But the agreement, though promising, is fragile at best. Afghan loyalties are historically fluid, and in the past the government has been unable to prevent Taliban retaliation. The agreement may also be hard to replicate, since it arose from a specific local dispute and economic tensions with the Taliban. While the Shinwaris are now united against the Taliban, if payments from the Americans falter or animosities flare with the Afghan government, the tribe could switch back just as quickly. Moreover, it is not clear that the elders, whatever their intentions, will be able to command the loyalties of their own members. After 30 years of incessant warfare, many of the traditional societal networks in this country have been weakened or destroyed. In many places, the Taliban are stronger than the tribes themselves. Indeed, in the past, Taliban gunmen have killed or threatened tribal leaders who defied them, and the American military and the Afghan government have largely been unable to protect them. Many of the Shinwari elders said Wednesday that they had already received death threats. The brother of one elder, a district governor, has already been killed. The pact is but one plank of a carrot-and-stick strategy toward the Taliban as the United States pours more troops into Afghanistan in the hopes of inflicting setbacks that might make the Taliban more willing to negotiate. While the Americans are rewarding tribes who confront the Taliban, on Thursday the Afghan government is unveiling its latest plan to woo back both Taliban foot soldiers and their leaders. That plan hopes to compensate for past failures that were underfinanced, lacked the buy-in of allies and did not prevent revenge killings. The new plan has two tracks: to reintegrate Taliban fighters into Afghan society and to allow Taliban leaders to play a political role in Afghanistan, a far more politically charged idea. The Karzai government wants countries attending an international conference in London on Thursday to back its plan and agree to finance it — at least initially. In exchange for laying down arms and agreeing to abide by the Afghan Constitution, Taliban fighters would be guaranteed jobs and an enforceable amnesty. The pact with the Shinwari tribe would complement the reconciliation effort. It echoes a similar phenomenon that unfolded in the Iraq war beginning in late 2006, which ultimately contributed to a substantial drop in violence there. In Iraq, tribal leaders from the country’s Sunni minority rebelled against Al Qaeda of Mesopotamia and joined forces with the Americans. The phenomenon was known as the Sunni Awakening . But no one expects to be able to duplicate the scale of the Iraq effort, because in many parts of Afghanistan the Taliban have not only intimidated or killed local tribal leaders but insinuated themselves into the very fabric of the hierarchies of the tribes. By contrast, in this part of Afghanistan tribal loyalties are strong and the tension between the Shinwaris and the Taliban longstanding. The conflict came to a head last July, when two Shinwari elders — Mr. Niaz and Malik Usman — insisted that a local Taliban commander named Kona stay away from a group of Afghan engineers who were building a dike in their valley. When Kona’s men kidnapped two of the engineers, the Shinwari elders decided they had had enough. In a confrontation that followed, members from the two Shinwari subtribes killed a senior Taliban commander who had come from Pakistan and chased Kona back across the border. After that, Mr. Niaz and Mr. Usman set up a local militia to keep the Taliban out of the valley, called Momand. “The whole tribe was with me,” Mr. Niaz said in an interview in November. “The Taliban came to kill me, and instead we killed them.” The dispute also had an economic element. Many Shinwaris make their livings by smuggling across the nearby Pakistani border. According to some tribal members, the Taliban had tried to take over the Shinwaris’ business and its smuggling routes. The dispute caught the attention of American Special Forces units, who descended into the Momand Valley on helicopters and offered help to the local Shinwaris. The Americans gave them ammunition and food, they said. On Wednesday, Mr. Niaz and Mr. Usman said the Special Forces teams had not visited them in many weeks. Nevertheless, they said, they decided to call in the help of the rest of the tribe. For their part, the regular American Army forces in Jalalabad said they were startled by the Shinwaris’ decision. At a tribal council meeting — called a shura — held last week, 50 Shinwari elders decided to declare that the entire tribe would oppose the Taliban. “The shura proclaims that the Shinwari tribe stands unified against all insurgent groups, specifically the Taliban,” the agreement stated. Among other things, the tribal elders declared harsh penalties against Taliban sympathizers, including huge fines and expulsion from the area. “The shura authorizes the burning of residences of those found harboring the Taliban,” the proclamation said. But the Shinwari elders did not merely declare their opposition to the Taliban. Although they declared their allegiance to the Afghan government, they directed at it a nearly equal measure of fury, condemning “all the corruption and illegal activities that threaten the Afghan people.” “We are doing this for ourselves, and ourselves only,” said Hajji Kafta, one of the elders. “We have absolutely no faith in the Afghan government to do anything for us. We don’t trust them at all.” Sensing opportunity — and wanting the agreement to stick — the American officers decided to bypass the government entirely and pledge $1 million in development aid directly to the Shinwari elders. That method of financing — directly to the shuras — mirrors that of the National Solidarity Program, which has gained much admiration here for the efficient way it has dispensed development aid. The agreement, struck during a hastily arranged tribal council meeting last week, was reaffirmed Wednesday at a gathering of the Shinwari elders, Afghan officials and American commanders in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar Province. The pact was signed by 50 Shinwari elders, some of whom stamped their thumbs on the document because they cannot read. Col. Randy George, the senior American officer in the area, said he was encouraged by the recent events. But he was not declaring victory. “You’ve got to start somewhere,” he said.

United States Defense and Military Forces