E.P.A. Grants California the Right to Enforce Emissions

Abstract: The Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that it had granted California the right to enforce its first-in-the-nation standards controlling greenhouse-gas emissions from cars and light trucks. The move reverses a 2008 ruling by the Bush administration and effectively ends a seesaw political battle between automakers and environmental regulators that began in Sacramento eight years ago when the California Legislature first took up the issue. Lisa P. Jackson, the E.P.A. administrator, said in an interview that she had reversed the ruling by her predecessor , Stephen L. Johnson, because the traditional presumption had been that California, with its history of air pollution, had grounds to establish rules that exceed federal requirements. “The burden is on those that object,” Ms. Jackson said. The immediate impact of the decision, which had been widely anticipated, is more symbolic than practical. The 2009 fleet of new vehicles is already in compliance with the California rules and the 2010 fleet is also expected to meet the requirements, said Tom Cackette, deputy director of California’s Air Resources Board. “Auto manufacturers have been making changes to vehicles both because they anticipated they might have to meet California standards and because there was a general interest in public in buying more efficient cars,” Mr. Cackette said. Nationally, about one-third of the greenhouse-gas emissions contributing to climate change come from the transportation sector , most of it from cars and light trucks. The rules in California will cut emissions from new vehicles by 14 percent from 2008 levels in 2011. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have also adopted the California rules in an effort to combat climate change. California’s emissions rules are also expected to be congruent with new federal fuel economy standards announced in May by the Obama administration. Both standards envision that emissions will be cut by 30 percent in 2016. The aligning of California’s rules and the federal mileage standards is intended to ensure that automakers comply with a single standard. This “moves us toward a policy that ensures that consumers in all 50 states have access to highly fuel-efficient vehicles at an affordable price,” said Dave McCurdy, president and chief executive of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers . Carmakers have accepted the fuel economy and emission standards that they long opposed, at a time when their industry is in crisis and accepting billions of dollars in federal money. In the interview, Ms. Jackson of the E.P.A. praised Fran Pavley, the state senator from California who originally crafted the early blueprint for the state standards in 2001. Ms. Pavley was jubilant Tuesday. “It took eight years, multiple federal courts, the U.S. Supreme Court, two presidents, two governors and a partridge in a pear tree,” she said in an interview. “What a difference that last presidential election made.”

California
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Automobiles
Environmental Protection Agency
Fuel Efficiency


New York Takes Over Paragallo’s Horse Farm

Abstract: The state police and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals took over the farm of the prominent New York thoroughbred breeder and owner Ernie Paragallo on Wednesday, saying he had neglected more than 170 horses under his care. Multiple charges of animal cruelty are pending against Paragallo in Greene County; each count carries a punishment of up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The police entered Paragallo’s Center Brook Farm in Climax, N.Y., about 11 a.m. with two veterinarians, said Ron Perez, president of the Humane Society/S.P.C.A. for Columbia and Greene Counties . “Veterinarians looked at about 40 horses, and all were in poor shape and several hundred pounds underweight,” Perez said. “It’s really bad. It’s the worst I’ve ever seen in a thoroughbred situation. The animals themselves are in horrific condition. It’s a sad, sad scene.” Joe Mahoney, a spokesman for the New York State Racing & Wagering Board, which had an agent at the farm during the raid, said all of the horses — ages 1 to 20 years old — showed signs of various stages of malnutrition . In addition, according to Mahoney, the veterinarians on site said the horses had lacked proper veterinarian care, vaccinations and suitable shelter. The care, rehabilitation and feeding of the horses on the farm now fall to Perez’s group. Perez described the horses as showing bones and being parasitic with skin infections and untreated injuries to their eyes and feet. Perez said there was some food on the farm, but not enough for that many horses. His group ordered 500 small bales and 20 larger round bales of hay that will be delivered Thursday, Perez said. Bedding was also ordered for the 25 mares on the farm who are in foal. “That will get us through a few days — it’s going to cost us a fortune to get these horses back in shape,” Perez said. Paragallo was not at the farm during the surprise raid. When reached by telephone Wednesday, he said he had not been to the farm in eight or nine months. “I’m negligent for not being there,” he said. “But I thought I was providing for them.” He said he had spoken to a state police officer Wednesday and would meet with the police on his farm Friday. “I know the horses were fed,” he said. “I don’t know what they constitute animal cruelty. I hope they are being fed because I’ve got the bills and I know I’m paying for it.” Perez said he did not know when the cruelty charges would be filed. “Our first priority is taking care of these horses,” he said. Meanwhile, Colleen Segarra, who removed two horses from the farm Saturday and filed a police complaint Wednesday about the dire condition of other horses on the farm, went to a Cornell University veterinary center for emergency treatment with one of those horses now in her care. The horse, a colt who will be 1 year old on April 28, weighed 364 pounds, or nearly half the normal weight for a yearling. “He is in very, very bad shape and may not make it past today,” said Segarra, a member of Equine Rescue Resource , which is caring for the yearling as well as his mother, who was also taken off the farm Saturday. The New York State Racing & Wagering Board has also opened an investigation of Paragallo. On Tuesday the board issued a subpoena that will require Paragallo, a licensed authorized agent in New York who is associated with Paraneck Stable, to answer questions about the care of his horses. Since 1996, Paragallo’s family-owned Paraneck Stable has been among the nation’s leading racing outfits, starting 4,686 runners who have earned $20.6 million in purses. He owns half of the stallion Unbridled’s Song, who commands a $125,000 stud fee in Kentucky . The Jockey Club released a statement Wednesday saying that it supported the investigations and that it would not recognize any of Paragallo’s horses if he is found guilty of animal cruelty, which would effectively end his career as a thoroughbred owner and breeder. In the past week, several individuals and rescue groups have shed light on the poor condition of horses under his care. Last month, four undernourished and neglected former racehorses belonging to Paragallo were rescued from a New York kill pen en route to slaughter. They were among more than 20 horses from Paragallo’s farm that were sold to slaughter for $680. A horse transporter, Richie Baiardi, said that he had picked them up at Paragallo’s farm at the end of February with the intention of taking them to Florida but could not because they were “bags of bones, literally walking hides,” and would not have survived the trip. All four mares are being rehabilitated by Another Chance 4 Horses, a rescue group, at its farm in Bernville, Pa. Three other mares are recovering at a boarding and training center in Fulton, N.Y., operated by Lisa Leogrande, who discovered the horses in the kill pen.


At Fort Bragg, Obama Showers Praise on Troops Back From Iraq

Abstract: FORT BRAGG, N.C. — President Obama observed the end of the war in Iraq on Wednesday before an audience of those who fought in it, telling a crowd of returning war veterans that the nearly nine years of conflict in Iraq, a war now indelibly imprinted on the national psyche, had come to a close. “As your commander in chief, and on behalf of a grateful nation, I’m proud to finally say these two words,” Mr. Obama told a crowded hangar at this famed North Carolina army base that is home to the 82nd Airborne Division: “Welcome home.” Calling it a “historic moment,” Mr. Obama, who has over the years of his presidency had his ups and down with his own military leaders, if not the enlisted men and women, infused his remarks with far more accolades for the military than the usual few that he dispenses to local politicians at the beginning of most of his standard speeches. This time, he thanked the “legendary” 82nd Airborne Division. He thanked senior enlisted leaders. And the Sky Dragons of the 18th Airborne Corps. And the Special Operations Forces. And military families. In fact, the president wrapped himself in all of the storied patriotism and history of the country’s armed forces, congratulating the assembled troops for the job they did in Iraq — a war which he himself never approved. It was a tough balance to strike. Mr. Obama had to speak of legendary battles in places like Falluja without referencing the weapons of mass destruction that were never found; he noted the sectarian violence without bringing up the years of fear that gripped the United States and the rest of the world back in 2004, 2005 and 2006, when it looked as if the American invasion of Iraq would engulf an already volatile region. “We remember the early days — the American units that streaked across the sands and skies of Iraq,” Mr. Obama said. “In battles from Nasiriya to Karbala to Baghdad, American troops broke the back of a brutal dictator in less than a month.” And yet, Mr. Obama said, “we know too well the heavy costs” of the Iraq War: “Nearly 4,500 Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice, including 202 fallen heroes from here at Fort Bragg. 202.” The speech was the latest in a series of public appearances orchestrated by the White House to signal the end of the conflict and to drive home the point that Mr. Obama fulfilled one of his 2008 presidential campaign promises. At times somber, at times ebullient — there were plenty of “Hooahs” during his speech — the president tried to project an understanding of what the people, who have seen their family members go off to fight a war that most Americans came to oppose, have been through. “There have been missed birthday parties and graduations,” Mr. Obama said. “There are bills to pay and jobs that have to be juggled with picking up the kids. For every soldier that goes on patrol, there are the husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters praying that they come back.” Mr. Obama made the trip to Fort Bragg, his first since taking office, as both the commander in chief who has brought soldiers home and as a presidential candidate. He brought along his wife, Michelle, who has been working with veterans’ families since Mr. Obama took office. At times, the visit seemed like a campaign swing. While he eschewed any of the usual criticism of Republicans and never even mentioned the names of either of the front-runners in the Republican primaries, Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney , Mr. Obama spent a long 20 minutes after his speech pressing the flesh. He plunged deep into the crowd of army fatigues and burgundy berets — signifying that soldiers are attached to air-borne units — seeming determined to shake hands with each and everyone there. Mr. Obama’s campaign advisers see North Carolina, a traditionally red state that Mr. Obama unexpectedly won in 2008, as a potential key to the president’s re-election path.But Fort Bragg and neighboring Fayetteville, with its large African-American population full of veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan , will need to join urban areas like Charlotte , Greensboro and Raleigh - Durham in turning out for Mr. Obama if the president is to have a chance of repeating that unlikely victory next year. On Tuesday, Jim Messina, Mr. Obama’s campaign manager, presented reporters with a slide show mapping out several Obama pathways to victory next year. One crucial path, he said, included winning North Carolina and Virginia — both states that John Kerry lost in 2004, but that Mr. Obama won in 2008. Already, the Obama campaign has opened up operations in North Carolina, and it is banking on the state’s changed demographics, including an influx of young, college-educated people. The Obama campaign is also hoping for high turnout among African-Americans, who make up 22 percent of the state’s population and 41 percent of Fayetteville’s population. Charlotte will host the Democratic National Convention next September. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney has already taken out television advertisements here in North Carolina, including one that ran this week, targeting Mr. Obama’s handling of the economy. Mr. Obama has been working hard to get credit for ending the Iraq war, a promise that was a centerpiece of his 2008 campaign. But it remains to be seen whether his successful completion of his promise to end the war will have much resonance next year, as the country continues to struggle through the fragile economic recovery. Fort Bragg is home to a variety of troops, including the Army Special Operations, the 18th Airborne Corps and the 82nd Airborne Division. Fort Bragg soldiers have been in the thick of the fighting in the Iraqi theater from Day 1 of the American invasion in 2003. “For all of the challenges that our nation faces, you remind us that there’s nothing that we Americans can’t do when we stick together,” Mr. Obama said. “It’s why the United States military is the most respected institution in our land. It’s why you, the 9/11 generation, have earned your place in history.” He concluded with “I am proud of you.”


McDonald’s Tweaks Its Recipes: Now, Real Butter in the McMuffin

Abstract: OAK BROOK, Ill. — McDonald’s long shied away from talking about how it makes the food on its menu and what is in that food. The company is now being open and loud about it. At an event Monday at its headquarters here, McDonald’s announced several changes to its ingredients, including eliminating artificial preservatives from some breakfast foods and Chicken McNuggets, its most popular food item, and removing high-fructose corn syrup from its buns. Such changes, together with its decision in 2015 to buy only chicken raised without antibiotics used to treat humans, affect almost half of the food on McDonald’s menu, the company said. The moves are the latest in a series by the company to address changing demands by consumers, who have pushed food companies and restaurants to provide more healthy options and fewer artificial ingredients. It is also an effort to play defense against numerous competitors who promote the quality and freshness of their foods. Mike Andres, president of McDonald’s U.S.A., said that over the last few years, the company took a hard look at its foods and how they were prepared. The ingredients it was using, like artificial preservatives and high-fructose corn syrup, had good reasoning behind them — but consumers disliked them. “Why take a position to defend them if consumers are saying they don’t want them?” Mr. Andres said on Monday. Jessica Foust, director of culinary innovation at McDonald’s, hosted a group of reporters in a test kitchen to show how some of the changes will work in practice. On the table in front of her were the five ingredients that go into an Egg McMuffin: an English muffin, a large egg, a slice of Canadian bacon, McDonald’s proprietary American cheese and butter — no longer liquid margarine. The margarine used to be squirted out of a plastic bottle. The butter the company will use has to be softened but not melted, then blended to maintain its flavor and consistency. The change took six months. “You have to be careful with butter,” Ms. Foust said. “We’re really cooking with real ingredients.” Other changes, like getting artificial preservatives out of Chicken McNuggets, were easier — all the company had to do was take the preservative out of the oil it cooked them in. That change has been made. The changes to the buns will happen this month. Marion Gross, senior vice president for supply chain at McDonald’s, said the sheer volume of ingredients that McDonald’s needs every day made it difficult to change quickly. So the company is increasingly testing new products and ingredients in regional markets, which allows it to develop larger supply chains over time. It is, for instance, testing Latino-inspired breakfast bowls in Southern California, like an egg white scramble with sautéed baby spinach and kale, and a scrambled egg with cheese and chicken chorizo, garnished with McDonald’s hash browns. Many of the new ingredients it is starting to buy, like cage-free eggs and antibiotic-free chicken, are more expensive. But Ms. Gross said that would not cause prices to rise. “We are confident we can offset the premium,” she said. McDonald’s is determined to continue to keep its prices steady, Mr. Andres said, noting that the costs of its major commodities like beef and chicken are down this year. After a rough patch, the company has regained its financial footing in recent quarters, helped in large part by making many of its breakfast menu items available throughout the day. But the growth from that change appears to be slowing down, putting pressure on the company to find new ways to increase sales. In its second quarter, the company reported that sales in stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, grew just 1.8 percent in the United States, less than investment analysts had expected. Globally, same-store sales rose 3.1 percent. Earnings were flat at $1.09 billion, compared with $1.2 billion in the same period a year earlier. One of the ways to get more customers, Mr. Andres said on Monday, is to talk more openly about foods in an effort to change consumer attitudes toward McDonald’s. “We’re going to continue to follow up and continue to inform customers — we told you we were going to do this, and here’s where we are on that,” he said. For instance, the company announced that all of its chicken would be antibiotic-free by 2017, but on Monday, it said it had already reached that goal. “We’re proud of the changes we’re making,” Mr. Andres said.

McDonald's
Antibacterial
Corn syrup
Food
Mike Andres
Chickens
Restaurant


Investors Rush to Beat Threat of Higher Taxes

Abstract: Business owners and investors are rapidly maneuvering to shield themselves from the prospect of higher taxes next year, a strategy that is sending ripples across Wall Street and broad areas of the economy. Take Steve Wynn, the casino magnate, who has been a vocal critic of higher tax rates. He and his fellow shareholders in Wynn Resorts, the company announced, will collect a special dividend of $750 million on Tuesday, a payout timed to take advantage of current rates. Experts estimated that taking the payout this year instead of next could save Mr. Wynn, who owns a sizable stake in the company, more than $20 million. For the wealthy like Mr. Wynn, the overriding goal is to record as much of their future income this year as they can. This includes moves as diverse as sales of businesses, one-time dividends and the sale of stocks that have been big winners. “In my 30 years in practice, I’ve never seen such a flood of desire and action to transfer a business and cash out,” said Kenneth K. Bezozo, a partner in New York with the law firm Haynes and Boone. “We’re seeing a watershed event.” Whether small business owners or individuals saving for retirement, investors are being urged by their advisers to reconsider their holdings. Along the way, many are shedding the very investments that have been the most popular over the last year, contributing to recent sell-offs in formerly high-flying shares like Apple and Amazon. Investors typically take profits in their own portfolio at year-end, but the selling appears to be more targeted this year. Stocks with large dividends, for instance, are seen as less attractive because of the perceived likelihood of a sharp increase in the tax rate on dividends. All this is weighing on the broader financial markets, as worries mount about the economic drag from the combination of higher tax rates and reduced government spending set for January if President Obama and Senate Republicans cannot reach a budget compromise before then. Fears about the fiscal impasse in Washington, along with anxiety about fading corporate profits and weakening economies abroad, have pushed the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index down about 5 percent since the election. On Friday, major stock indexes had their best showing of the week after President Obama and Republican leaders signaled that a compromise was possible. Even if many of the tax breaks scheduled to expire survive a new budget deal, some business owners and investors are bracing for substantial increases in specific areas of the tax code. The top rate on dividends, for example, could climb to 39.6 percent from 15 percent if no action is taken. Capital gains taxes, which now top out at 15 percent, could rise above 20 percent, many financial advisers say. Most investment income will also be subject to a 3.8 percent charge to help pay for President Obama’s health care law . Stocks that pay big dividends have been popular in recent years among investors eager for an alternative to the meager returns on bank savings accounts and Treasury securities . Since October, though, the two sectors that provide the most generous dividend payments — utilities and telecommunication stocks — have been among the worst performers, hurt also in part by the devastation of Hurricane Sandy on the East Coast. Utility companies in the S.& P. 500 have fallen 9.4 percent from their highs in October. Telecommunication stocks in the index have dropped 11.3 percent from theirs, compared with the broader index’s 6.8 percent decline from its recent high. John Moorin, the founder of a medical equipment company near Indianapolis, said he sold about $650,000 in dividend-paying stocks like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola a few days after the election, worried about the potential increase in taxes. “I love these companies, but I’m so scared that now all of the sudden I’m going to get taxed at such a rate with them that they won’t be worth anything,” Mr. Moorin said. Although Mr. Wynn has declared special dividends at the end of the year before — most recently in 2011 — in a call with analysts last month, he hinted that higher taxes would cause him and other chief executives to rethink big payouts in future years. In the meantime, he added, it was “very difficult to do long-range planning with a government that moves as much as this does on so many issues.” Leggett & Platt, a diversified manufacturer based in Carthage, Mo., decided to move up payment of its fourth-quarter dividend to December from January so shareholders could take advantage of the lower rate. “If we can help our shareholders avoid taxes and keep more of their dividends, we’ll do it,” said David M. DeSonier, senior vice president for corporate strategy and investor relations. While negotiators are trying to find ways to raise more revenue for the long term, some experts expect a substantial bump in tax collections in the short term as investors take a multitude of steps now that they would have taken in future years. After the top tax rate on capital gains rose to 28 percent from 20 percent at the end of 1986, federal receipts from such gains doubled to $52.9 billion in 1987, as sales surged at the end of the previous tax year. The potential jump in tax rates has been telegraphed for months, but many investors say they did not respond sooner because they were waiting to see if Mitt Romney would defeat the president and move forward with his commitment to keep rates at current levels. President Obama, since defeating Mr. Romney, has continued his call for an increase in marginal tax rates on the wealthy. A growing number of Republican leaders have conceded that some increase is now likely. Kristina Collins, a chiropractor in McLean, Va., said she and her husband planned to closely monitor the business income from their joint practice to avoid crossing the income threshold for higher taxes outlined by President Obama on earnings above $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples. Ms. Collins said she felt torn by being near the cutoff line and disappointed that federal tax policy was providing a disincentive to keep expanding a business she founded in 1998. “If we’re really close and it’s near the end-year, maybe we’ll just close down for a while and go on vacation,” she said. Of the potential changes in the tax code set to take place on Jan. 1, the scheduled increase in the tax rate on capital gains would hit a particularly broad range of investments. Business owners, for instance, can lock in the current top rate of 15 percent on capital gains if they sell their company before the end of the year. The capital gains tax also applies to increases in the value of stocks and other securities, encouraging some investors to sell holdings that have done well. This is one of several factors cited in the recent plunge in the price of Apple shares. They have dropped 26 percent since mid-September after rising 73 percent earlier in the year. The coming changes have not hurt all assets. Municipal bonds have become more attractive because they are exempt from most federal taxes, including the new surcharge related to President Obama’s health care law. Frank Fantozzi, a financial planner in Cleveland, is recommending that his wealthy clients increase their allocation to municipal bonds from around 30 percent to about 40 percent. But the potential effect of the scheduled tax increases and government spending cuts has been mostly negative. Many market strategists have suggested trimming overall holdings of risky assets like stocks, and business executives are proceeding very cautiously. Some business owners say they are holding off on hiring plans because they expect tax rates to rise. Dyke Messinger, chief executive of Power Curbers in Salisbury, N.C., said he would like to fill four slots at his construction equipment company but would only hire three people because he anticipated that his tax bill would rise by $100,000. “It’s not a huge amount of money,” Mr. Messinger said. “But it’s enough money that you don’t want to make a misstep.”

United States Economy
Federal Taxes (US)
Stocks and Bonds
Capital Gains Tax
Republican Party
Obama Barack
Income Tax


New Yorkers Recall Reverend Ike, Who Inspired Spiritual and Financial Betterment

Abstract: It was an attempt at business as usual at the weekly service on Sunday at the Palace Cathedral in Washington Heights, a former movie theater that now serves as the home of the Christ Community United Church. And knowing the beliefs of the church’s founder, the Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II, better known as Reverend Ike, who espoused a business-oriented, money-is-the-root-of-all-good approach to spiritual affairs, that effort was probably welcome. Reverend Ike died last Tuesday. “We are going to keep on learning and keep on prospering,” said the Rev. James Wyns as he began his sermon, echoing the printed announcement handed to parishioners encouraging them not to mourn the passing of Reverend Ike, as he was better known, but to celebrate his existence. But it was not always so easy for the 50 people gathered in the cavernous space, whose columns, ceilings and stairway balustrades are colored a deep, lustrous gold, to maintain their composure. Indeed, Charmaine Yates, who sang backed by a drummer and a chair-rumbling organist, could not complete her first sentence. “I don’t want to talk too long because — ” Ms. Yates said, before breaking down in tears, though she eventually finished her thought. “I thank God for him and his family for teaching me I am worth something.” Reverend Ike, who along with Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart and Pat Robertson was one of the first evangelists to use television to reach large-scale audiences, offered spiritual inspiration through sermons, books and CD packages sold on his Web site for up to $89.95. In return, the reverend requested cash donations from his parishioners, from his television and radio audiences, and from the recipients of his extensive mailings. Later, during the more than three-hour service on Sunday, a photo projected on one of two pull-down movie screens of a smiling Reverend Ike in a white suit, with a finger pointing to a passage on a page of an open Bible, seemed to be too much for some parishioners. Fibbie Harris, a retired school teacher from Yonkers, became so overcome with emotion that she had to get up, cheeks wet with tears, and walk to the lobby. “I do love him so much. I’ve been kissing a photo of his face at home,” said Ms. Harris, who has been coming to the Palace Cathedral since 1972, soon after Reverend Ike bought the boarded-up movie house. Although Reverend Ike’s books gave Ms. Harris strength to raise two children after her husband died, she said, it was his message about financial empowerment that really struck a chord, inspiring her to go back to school and get a teaching degree. “You’ve got to learn to think for yourself,” Ms. Harris said, saying that Reverend Ike’s followers were the opposite of Jim Jones’s adherents, who committed mass suicide in Guyana in 1978. In recent years, the theater on 175th Street, which has a capacity of 3,300, has hosted graduations, fashion shows and rock concerts under its rococo filigrees, including performances by Modest Mouse, Arcade Fire and Neil Young. Presumably, the venue will continue to hold such functions under the leadership of the Rt. Rev. Xavier F. Eikerenkoetter , Reverend Ike’s son. In fact, on Nov. 6 an event called “Monsters of Folk” is scheduled. Not everybody in attendance on Sunday swore by Reverend Ike’s self-reliant God-with-Mammon philosophy, which can seem to some a mix of opinions straight from the mouths of both Stuart Smalley, the self-help-obsessed character played by Senator Al Franken in his “Saturday Night Live” days, and Jim Cramer, the high-octane investment-tips-exhorting host on CNBC. In fact, Bilal Whitest, 46, a professional percussionist from Paramus, N.J., had simply come to pay respects to his old boss. Reverend Ike had hired him to play drums for Sunday services for five years in the 1990s. Whitest spoke about those years on Sunday as he stood in front of a scuffed glass case, from behind which visitors could buy books like “Health, Joy and Prosperity — for YOU!” Nearby, bottles of vitamins were for sale. But sitting up there behind his snare drum, he said, he could not help picking up a few financial pointers from time to time. “He talked about planning, about how to invest,” he said. “He was really good about financial betterment.”

Eikerenkoetter Frederick
Religion and Belief
Music
Washington Heights (NYC)


States Vie to Conduct Drone Tests

Abstract: LAS VEGAS — The state of Nevada recently joined the crowded bidding to be named a federal test site for the commercial use of pilotless aircraft under a program that will allow as many as six states to test the controversial but potentially lucrative technology for a five-year period. Nevada is hoping that its vast open spaces, powerful databanks and experience with military drones will help it stand out among the 37 states bidding for approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to test the commercial uses of drones. The amount of time and resources Nevada and the other states are dedicating to the effort shows the potential they see for getting an economic lift from a market that by some predictions may grow to $11 billion in the next decade, or nearly twice its current size. The six sites will give the F.A.A. information on how drones can be used safely in domestic airspace, data the agency needs as it prepares to meet a 2015 deadline for issuing guidelines on the technology. The agency now grants permission to fly drones on a case-by-case basis. For the states that are selected, the hope is that they will become more attractive to big and small companies interested in the expanding market. Steve Hill, executive director of the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development, said the application was important for Nevada, which has led the nation in unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies most of the time since the height of the recession. The state is suited for testing drones, he said, because it has “largest amount of restricted airspace without commercial aircraft.” “You could basically fly from the south to the north end of the state or about 300 nautical miles,” he said. Mr. Hill also pointed to the state’s 25 years in military research and development with drones in the deserts north of Las Vegas. Alan Gertler, vice president at the Desert Research Institute , is part of the team preparing the state’s application. He said drones could be used to help identify sources of geothermal energy or minerals, and to monitor chemical and biological systems. “It’s a state-of-the-art research tool,” Mr. Gertler said. The technology could also be used for weather and climate research, and to monitor natural disasters like forest fires, Mr. Hill said. Nevada began the application process in late February, along with 49 other applicants from 37 states. The F.A.A. will decide on the six finalists by the end of the year. However the winners wind up using the technology, the federal government will be following each site closely to gather information for developing guidelines on safely integrating unmanned aircraft into the nation’s airspace by Sept. 30, 2015. But even those guidelines are likely to be revised as the technology continues to develop, an F.A.A. official said. The federal government is also seeking public comment until April 23 about how to safeguard the privacy of people on the ground near the test sites. In Nevada, the public outcry has been muted, thus far. Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada , said, “The concern isn’t the drones themselves, it’s their use, like any other tool.” He said the group was following the process closely and hoped to see “strict guidelines” on their use. Mr. Hill said Nevada might have another advantage in the competition: Senator Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the Senate. “Obviously it helps to have the majority leader from your state,” Mr. Hill said, noting that Mr. Reid helped set up a meeting last August between several members of the state’s application team and the F.A.A. administrator, Michael P. Huerta, when Mr. Huerta was in Las Vegas for an annual conference. Ben Gielow, government relations manager for the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, a nonprofit trade group, said similar meetings had taken place between officials from other states and top F.A.A. officials. “It shows the high-level importance of this technology and the opportunity to test it,” he said.


Grasping for Clues in North Korean Execution

Abstract: SEOUL, South Korea — As he was confessing to crimes that would lead to his execution , the doomed uncle of North Korea’s leader suggested that he hoped the country’s many economic woes would drive the military to overthrow the Kim dynasty, the state-run news agency said. The statement, if true, was shocking for a country that normally hides any hint of disloyalty, has not publicized a coup attempt in decades and has not released a detailed explanation of a purge to its people — much less to the world. But even if the uncle, Jang Song-thaek, did not utter such treason, the laundry list of alleged crimes the North Koreans published is notable for its admission of instability in the hermetic nation and suggests that at least some see flaws in its debilitated state-run economy. “I was going to stage the coup by using army officers who had close ties with me or by mobilizing armed forces under the control of my confidants,” the North’s Korean Central News Agency on Friday quoted Mr. Jang as having said during his court-martial. “I thought the army might join in the coup if the living of the people and service personnel further deteriorate in the future.” As analysts scrambled Friday to make sense of the execution — many had doubted that the leader, Kim Jong-un, would kill a relative — and the highly unusual way the news rolled out, they advanced myriad theories for why Mr. Kim killed the man who was supposed to be his mentor. The biggest divide was whether the purge suggested Mr. Kim had fully taken charge of his country two years after his father’s death or, instead, was severely weakened by the reported betrayal. Most officials and experts cautioned that the opaque inner-workings of the North Korean government were notoriously hard to analyze. Still, many of them said the demise of Mr. Jang, considered a champion of Chinese-style economic reform, could set back such efforts. And they said that nuclear-armed North Korea appeared to be mired in an intense power struggle over economic and other policies that could become bloodier if Mr. Kim turns his ire on those referred to in the North Korean report as Mr. Jang’s “followers.” “If Kim Jong-un was sure of his control of power, he would not have needed to execute his uncle,” said Lee Byong-chul, a senior fellow at the Institute for Peace and Cooperation in Seoul. “There will be big and small bloody purges, and at a time like this, desperate extremists may lash out. Pyongyang is no longer safe.” On Friday, North Korea hinted at such retaliation by condemning “undesirable and alien elements” in “important posts of the party and state,” in “ministries and national institutions,” and in agencies dealing with foreign trade. It also indicated that a purge might reach the North’s powerful military and the secret police, saying that Mr. Jang had worked to “stretch his tentacles even to the People’s Army.” Mr. Jang, 67, was executed Thursday immediately after being convicted of treason, North Korea said. Suh Sang-kee, a governing party lawmaker in Seoul, quoted South Korean intelligence officials as saying that he was likely killed by a machine-gun firing squad. According to the North Korean state news agency, Mr. Jang had built a “little kingdom” of his own in the ruling Worker’s Party. Mr. Jang dreamed of first becoming premier “when the economy goes totally bankrupt,” then solving “the problem of people’s living at a certain level” by spending an enormous amount of funds he had stashed away, the report said. Image A train rider in Seoul watches a report on the uncle of Kim Jong-un. Credit Ahn Young-Joon/Associated Press “Jang dreamed such a foolish dream that once he seizes power by a base method, his despicable true colors as ‘reformist’ known to the outside world would help his ‘new government’ get ‘recognized’ by foreign countries in a short span of time,” it said. The state-directed economy has been falling apart for years, especially since the Soviet Union collapsed and stopped propping it up with subsidized fuel and other aid. Mr. Jang was considered a force behind new efforts to open up special economic zones that would give preferential treatment for Chinese and other investors. Some experts say Mr. Kim, or hard-liners influencing him, might have worried about giving away too much to China, even though the country is the North’s benefactor, or about Mr. Jang and his allies cashing in on the growing trade with China; Mr. Kim has indirectly criticized selling North Korean minerals too cheaply to China. Analysts said it was possible for the North to have faked or exaggerated the charges against Mr. Jang to keep him from posing a challenge to Mr. Kim’s power. But they also noted how unusual it was for the ruling family to pull back the curtain on its machinations. “Although high-ranking leaders, including members of the Kim family, have been deposed before, we haven’t seen anything this public or dramatic since Kim Jong-un’s grandfather Kim Il-sung purged his last major rivals in the late 1950s,” said Prof. Charles K. Armstrong , a North Korea expert at Columbia University and the author of “Tyranny of the Weak: North Korea and the World, 1950-1992.” “This seems to indicate the divisions within the Kim regime were more serious than previously thought,” Professor Armstrong said. Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University in Seoul, said the 30-year-old Mr. Kim had declared an end to his father’s era with the execution. “And he did it with a bang, sort of a shock therapy against anyone who still might have doubts about his authority. The speedy way he did it actually shows his daring and confidence.” But other analysts had lingering questions about who was running the country behind Mr. Kim. Mr. Jang “was the Kim family regime’s No. 1 revenue generator,” said John S. Park, a Northeast Asia security specialist at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, adding that that revenue “went directly into Kim family slush funds.” Chang Yong-seok, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University, said Mr. Jang was “the only one in the North who could talk about economic change.” “So, when I heard of Mr. Jang’s execution, my first thought was that it was a death notice for those of us who have hoped for economic reform in the North.”

North Korea
Jang Song-Thaek
Kim Jong-un
Politics


A Desert Cold and Wet Multiplies the Misery of Syrian Refugees

Abstract: ZAATARI, Jordan — The water has mostly been removed from hundreds of flooded tents and the dirt paths that run between them here in the region’s vastest camp of Syrian refugees. The clotheslines are laden with soggy sweaters and socks, waiting for the sun after a week of harsh wind, rain and snow. The residents are waiting, too: for the next storm, and the next, that they know will come this winter and also, many fear, for their own demise. “We were waiting for our deaths so we came out, but we found our second deaths here,” said a man who identified himself as Abu Tarik from the Dhulash family. He said he arrived in the Zaatari refugee camp 10 days ago after intense shelling near his home and farm, which lie across the border in Dara’a, Syria. “There, we were going to die from the fires,” he said, sitting on a mat surrounded by a dozen family members. “Here we’re going to die from the cold. We don’t want to die in this tent.” With aid agencies expecting the number of Syrian refugees to reach one million this year, and estimates for the cost of caring for them topping $1 billion, the misery in this struggling six-month-old camp is part of a deepening humanitarian crisis that threatens to destabilize the Middle East further. More than half a million people who have already fled Syria have ended up in camps and villages across Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon, all of which have asked for more international aid. Last week was the worst yet in Zaatari, as scores of tents collapsed under the most severe storm in 20 years. Two babies and a 22-year-old amputee died, all of unrelated causes. Several aid workers were injured when a riot broke out during food distribution. Life began to return to normal on Friday, but normal in this desert camp of nine square miles crowded with more than 50,000 people is, according to the refugees and even some of those running the place, somewhere between horrible and inhumane. Barefoot children trod through mud in temperatures not far above freezing. People lined up for hours for pots, utensils and buckets. Women pushed squeegees through the remaining puddles, and washed clothes in plastic tubs with cold water that quickly turned brown. A young man got a $3 shave and haircut in a corrugated tin shack that a refugee barber had set up four days before. A younger one shinnied up a 30-foot light pole to pirate electricity. Image Aid agencies expect the number of Syrian refugees to reach 1 million in 2013, and estimates for the cost of caring for them top $1 billion. Credit The New York Times “There’s no silver lining on such harsh conditions,” acknowledged Andrew Harper, the top official of the United Nations refugee agency in Jordan. “It’s just a really, really bad place to be.” But Mr. Harper said the United Nations and the nonprofit groups helping it run the camp were doing the best with what they had, noting that the agency had appealed for $245 million to absorb Syrians regionwide in 2012 and received $157 million. Jordan, already consumed with an intense financial crisis and a growing protest movement, is scrambling to keep up with the influx. Its task is particularly complex given the delicate balance in its population of six million, which is dominated by Palestinian refugees and their descendants and includes hundreds of thousands who fled the war in Iraq. Zaatari is only the most visible challenge. Nearly five times as many refugees are living in Jordanian cities and villages, taxing the government’s resources, and competing for scarce jobs. Anmar Hmoud, who is handling the Syria file for the prime minister, said that refugees could leave Zaatari and Jordan’s handful of smaller camps if a relative or friend could guarantee financial support, but that the government was “exhausting its own resources.” He estimated the cost of military, health, education and other services at $670 million for 2012 and 2013. “We are a neighbor, and we do our duty, but there is a limit to helping people unless we are helped by others,” he said. “It’s not the Jordanian problem, it is the international community’s problem.” Some relief is coming. Mr. Hmoud said a new camp just south of here near Zarqa, financed by the United Arab Emirates, would open in two weeks, allowing 6,000 of Zaatari’s most vulnerable residents to move into prefabricated homes, and eventually growing to accommodate 30,000. Saudi Arabia, which over the past month has provided Zaatari with 2,500 prefabs costing $8 million, announced Friday that it would give $10 million more to the Jordanian effort. Mr. Harper said he had met with envoys from Qatar and the Emirates. “It’s terrible to say, but sometimes it takes a miserable situation like we’re having now to get people to say, ‘Yes, we can do something,’ ” Mr. Harper said. Not soon enough for Iman Qardah, 30, who has been in the camp for 10 weeks with her five children, ages 1 to 10. When the storm struck last week, her husband spent the night hammering the stakes of the tent as the wind threatened to rip it from the ground. The next night, rain seeped inside, so the family slept piled on one side. The next, the tent “started swimming on the water,” she recalled, and finally collapsed. “My husband started shouting in the street for someone to help.” The family moved to a prefab that is perhaps 10 feet by 20 feet. But they leak, too. On Friday, the children huddled for warmth around a gas burner where Ms. Qardah was simmering cauliflower and rice, as a bucket nearby caught drops from the ceiling. A neighbor poked a head in, wondering jealously how she had procured a space heater. “Every day I’m thinner than the day before and my mind is more preoccupied,” Ms. Qardah said as she nursed the baby. “I used to not sleep because of the missiles. Now I don’t sleep because I’m worried about my kids constantly.” Syrian Camp Faces Storm’s Aftermath 13 Photos View Slide Show › Image Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times The camp is rife with complaints. Skimpy food rations, scarce clothes. Spotty electricity, rare hot water, squalid toilets. Suspicions that aid workers are stealing blankets. Nothing to do, no prospects for getting out. But given the weather and the continued flood of refugees — about 10,000 had arrived in the camp in the past 10 days — it is remarkable things are not much, much worse. Officials said there had been no casualties from the cold. Khaled al-Hariri, the 22-year-old who was described in a YouTube video posted Wednesday by a Syrian activist as “the martyr to negligence and cold,” actually died of cancer in a nearby hospital, according to a spokesman for the World Health Organization. There was also a stillbirth and a premature baby who died after three days in an incubator. Anne, the doctor at the French military clinic here, which requires personnel to be identified only by first name, said she had seen a slight uptick in sore throats and ears since the storm, but no frostbite. The main change is that patients linger in the consultation tent to stay out of the cold. The French have performed 192 surgical operations on war wounded in the camp. An organization called Gynecologists Without Borders has delivered 172 babies here, 46 in the last three weeks. Yusef Mohamed Hasan was at the clinic on Friday holding Sham, who was born Dec. 12 by Caesarean section. She was swaddled in four layers, then cradled in a big fuzzy blanket as her mother had the stitches removed. “As soon as my wife is O.K., we are going back,” said Mr. Hasan, 44. “It’s not better for me there; it’s not safe. But it’s humiliating here.” Talk of returning to Syria has increased as conditions have deteriorated, but officials said there had been no marked change in the number heading back across the border. Most are resigned to remaining through the winter, or longer. As the sun came out Friday, Aboud Mohamed Awad and three neighbors set about building themselves a bathroom. The storm made walking to the shared facilities unbearable, he said, and anyhow they are filthy and crowded. Mr. Harper of the United Nations said the goal was to have one toilet per 20 refugees, but that the reality right now was more like one to 50. Mr. Awad said he used the profits selling the ground floor of his home in Syria to buy corrugated panels and wood for about $100 and hired a $1.50-an-hour laborer, who started by smoothing cement with a pie plate to create a floor. “We can at least take care of certain things,” Mr. Awad said with something like pride. “We have young girls. It will make us feel more like people.”

Syria
Arab Spring
Humanitarian aid
Refugees,Internally Displaced People
Rationing
Jordan


U.S. Faces a Challenge in Trying to Pressure Syria

Abstract: WASHINGTON — The White House said on Monday that it was exploring new sanctions against Syria — mostly involving the assets of top officials around President Bashar al-Assad — but officials acknowledged that the country was already under so many sanctions that the United States held little leverage. “We’re talking about a country whose economy is about the size of Pittsburgh’s,” said one administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the continuing debate within the administration about the next steps. “There are things you can do to amp up the volume” of sanctions, the official said, “but the financial impact is slim.” The problem the Obama administration faces with Syria is similar to those involving North Korea and Myanmar, which have long been under sanctions. In Syria’s case, the United States already, in 2006, banned transactions with the Commercial Bank of Syria . In early 2007, it accused four government-related research organizations of working on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and banned transactions with them. But later that year, when Israel found a nuclear reactor under construction in the Syrian desert and destroyed it in an airstrike, the United States took no further action, in part because the Bush administration could not think of any truly effective sanctions. Now the Obama administration is looking for specific sanctions against individual leaders, though most of their money is probably in Europe or Lebanon. So far, President Obama has stopped well short of calling on Mr. Assad to step down, or of declaring, as he did of Libya’s leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, that Mr. Assad had lost the moral authority to lead his country. Nor, apparently, has the administration been working behind the scenes to ease Mr. Assad out of office, as in the case of Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Asked how the administration justified treating Mr. Assad so differently, Jay Carney, the president’s press secretary, said Monday that it was “up to the people of Syria to decide who its leaders should be.” He tried to differentiate Syria in other ways as well. “Libya was, again, a unique situation,” Mr. Carney said. “We had large portions of the country that were out of the control of Muammar Qaddafi. We had a Qaddafi regime that was moving against its own people in a coordinated military fashion and was about to assault a very large city on the promise that it would show” what Colonel Qaddafi himself called “no mercy.” And, Mr. Carney continued, “we had the support of the Arab League.” Administration officials say that while they lack many effective economic tools, they believe Mr. Assad is sensitive to portrayals of his regime as brutal and backward. “He sees himself as a Westernized leader,” one senior administration official said, “and we think he’ll react if he believes he is being lumped in with brutal dictators.” Recently, the White House stepped up its denunciations of the Syrian government, and of Mr. Assad himself. “Over the course of two months since protests in Syria began,” Mr. Obama said in a statement on Friday, “the United States has repeatedly encouraged President Assad and the Syrian government to implement meaningful reforms, but they refuse to respect the rights of the Syrian people or be responsive to their aspirations.” He accused Mr. Assad of putting “personal interests ahead of the interests of the Syrian people, and resorting to the use of force and outrageous human rights abuses.”

Middle East and North Africa Unrest (2010- )


Christians Uneasy in Morsi's Egypt

Abstract: CAIRO — Wasfi Amin Wassef used to buy and sell jewelry from his shop in Cairo’s vast Khan al-Khalili bazaar. Now he mostly buys it. Well into a third year of economic malaise following the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, many ordinary Egyptians are selling their most cherished possessions, including heirloom jewelry, to raise cash for a ticket that will let them start a new life abroad. Official figures or estimates are not publicly available, but anecdotal evidence suggests emigration is rising. “The number of people who sell us their gold since the revolution has increased three times,” Mr. Wassef said during an interview this month. Some are Muslims but most are Christians, said Mr. Wassef, a member of Egypt’s ancient Coptic Orthodox Christian minority. Since the ouster of Mr. Mubarak in February 2011, a growing number of Copts, including some of the most successful businessmen, have left Egypt or are preparing to do so, fearing persecution by an Islamist-controlled government as much as the stagnant economy that is smothering their industries. Among the most prominent, the heads of the Sawiris family for several months recently ran their business empire from abroad, although senior members of the family returned to Egypt on May 3. “Every week I learn of 10 people who are leaving or who have already left,” Mr. Wassef said. “They know that what happened to the Sawiris’ can happen to them tomorrow.” Coptic Christians, who account for no more than 10 percent of Egypt’s 85 million people, predate the Muslim conquest by six centuries and represent the last tile in a former mosaic of Egyptian religions, sects and ethnicities. Economically, Coptic business leaders have punched above their weight, dominating agriculture in the preindustrial age and in modern-era trade, finance and accounting. They have blended well into Egypt’s millennia-long tapestry of demographic change, which helps explain their resiliency. As Munir Fakhry Abdelnour, a prominent Copt who has worked in business, finance and politics, put it: “There is no Coptic quarter in Egypt.” Like other Arab leaders, Mr. Mubarak made a point of protecting minority groups to nurture loyal constituencies and patronage systems that he could leverage against his Islamist rivals. Though secular tension sometimes turned violent during his 30 years in power, it was generally contained by the state security apparatus. Since Mr. Mubarak’s overthrow, however, attacks on Copts and their institutions have been widely reported. In October 2011, for example, following the burning of a Coptic church in Upper Egypt, security forces clashed with Christian protesters: 28 people, mostly Copts, were killed. Last month, Muslim extremists laid siege to Egypt’s main Coptic Cathedral in Cairo. The assault, which according to witnesses and video footage the police did little to prevent, followed a funeral for five men who died days earlier, in Khusus, a small town north of Cairo, in clashes with militants. Critics blame President Mohamed Morsi and his government for failing to quell the violence. In an editorial last month , the state-owned Al-Ahram Weekly called the killings at Khusus “a symptom of irresponsibility in high places, of indifference that can lead the state to the verge of collapse,” while the Copts’ spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II, accused Mr. Morsi of “delinquency” and “misjudgments.” Mr. Morsi, a longstanding member of the Muslim Brotherhood who resigned from the group before taking office, issued a statement of regret following the attacks that struck many observers as perfunctory. Last week, he pointedly sent a low-level functionary as his representative to the Easter Mass led by the pope. Mingled with the threat of physical violence is the fear among Coptic business leaders that they are being singled out for punitive enforcement of the tax code. Orascom Construction Industries , the flagship in the Sawiris family business group and the largest publicly traded Egyptian company, is alleged by the finance minister to have failed to pay taxes on profit realized from its 2007 sale of a cement unit to the French cement maker Lafarge. The charge confounded analysts; Egypt has no capital gains tax, they point out, and O.C.I. took the cement company public two months before its sale precisely to benefit from tax incentives aimed at encouraging companies to list their shares. Still, in April, O.C.I. announced that it would pay 7 billion Egyptian pounds, or $1 billion, to Cairo’s tax authority and prosecutors promptly lifted a travel ban on the company’s chairman, Nassef Sawiris, and his father, Onsi. O.C.I., meanwhile, is pursuing plans announced in January for a share swap with its Dutch unit, OCI NV, which would effectively shift trading in the company’s stock to Amsterdam. The telecommunications tycoon Naguib Sawiris, the eldest and most outspoken of the Sawiris brothers, has all but liquidated his assets in Egypt. In October 2010, he signed a $6.5 billion deal that merged Orascom Telecom into the Amsterdam-based telecommunications company VimpelCom, which was controlled by the Russian investment firm Alfa Group. Hany Genena, the head of research at Pharos Capital, an Egyptian investment bank, said Mr. Sawiris was now selling most of his holdings in Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding, which was created as part of the merger with VimpelCom. Cash rich, analysts say, he is in the United States seeking investment opportunities in the country’s emerging shale gas industry. Mr. Sawiris declined requests for an interview for this article. To be sure, Coptic business leaders are not the only ones seemingly targeted by what they see as the selective interpretation of tax laws. Investors and businessmen regardless of faith complain of drift and inconsistency at the policy-planning level. Companies that were privatized during the twilight of the Mubarak years are now being considered for renationalization. A new tax law published in December has since been withdrawn. Plans to curb costly and wasteful subsidy systems have been postponed or watered down. “Everything is being done on a whim,” Mr. Genena said. “We wonder how we can keep operating like this.” But the burden of uncertainty rests heaviest on Coptic business leaders and investors who by numerous accounts are voting with their feet. Rafik Beshay, the procurement director at a Coptic-owned steel mill, says he is having difficulty finding Christians to fill job openings created by the departures as he tries to maintain parity among Christian and Muslim employees. The Caucasus state of Georgia is offering citizenship papers to any Egyptian Copt prepared to directly invest $20,000 there, according to Mr. Wassef, the jeweler, while the U.S. government has made it easier for Copts fleeing religious persecution to settle in America, according to Rasha Samir, the head of publications at the investment bank EFG-Hermes in Cairo. Requests for U.S. visas, she said, which ordinarily take months to process, are now finalized in just two weeks. Steve Blando, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security which handles asylum requests, denied that there was a policy to fast-track the process for Egyptian Copts. “The U.S. asylum system does not make decisions to grant asylum to individuals of a particular nationality,” Mr. Blando said. Each claim “is adjudicated on a case-by-case basis, and the applicant must meet each element of the asylum standard in order to establish eligibility for asylum.” Still, in the U.S. fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, according to data from the department, the United States had thus far granted 1,417 requests for asylum from Egypt, compared with 1,867 for the whole of 2012 and 837 in 2011. At 1,867, last year’s figure was nearly six times what it was in the year before Mr. Mubarak was overthrown.

Egypt
Christianity
Islam
Hosni Mubarak
Mohamed Morsi
Cairo
Muslim Brotherhood Egypt
Arab Spring
Economy


Now on YouTube: Local News

Abstract: With its ability to collect articles and sell advertisements against them, Google has already become a huge force in the news business — and the scourge of many newspapers. Now its subsidiary YouTube wants to do the same thing to local television. YouTube , which already boasts of being “the biggest news platform in the world,” has created a News Near You feature that senses a user’s location and serves up a list of relevant videos. In time, it could essentially engineer a local newscast on the fly. It is already distributing hometown video from dozens of sources, and it wants to add thousands more. YouTube says it is helping TV stations and its other partners by creating a new — but so far not fiscally significant — source of revenue. But news media companies may have reasons to be wary. Few TV stations have figured out how replicate profits on the Internet. YouTube can easily act as another competitor. So for now, most of the YouTube videos near you come from nontraditional sources: radio stations, newspapers, colleges and, in the case of a fledgling San Francisco outfit called VidSF, three friends who despise the local TV diet of fires and homicides. “It really levels the playing field,” said Kieran Farr, a founder of VidSF who covers the city’s culture and uploads his segments to YouTube. News Near You, started in the spring, is only part of YouTube’s push into news video. This summer, the company invited the more than 25,000 news sources listed on Google News to become video suppliers. The site is also promoting videos from ABC News, The Associated Press, Reuters and other outlets. This year, it began featuring breaking news videos — including ones submitted by citizens in Iran, where protests are being captured by cellphone users — on its home page. So far, the localized videos are no replacement for a print or TV diet of news. On Sunday, visitors near Baltimore saw a news report about a teen assistance program; in Chicago they saw a WGN-TV feature about street performers; and in Los Angeles, they saw a review of an electric motorcycle produced by The Los Angeles Times. Producers often count the views in hundreds, not thousands. To date, nearly 200 news outlets have signed up with YouTube to post news packages and split the revenue from the advertisements that appear with them. In addition, Google searches now show YouTube videos alongside news articles, helping the videos reach a wider audience. YouTube’s sheer breadth — it is visited by 100 million Americans each month — makes it a powerful force for promotion, as well as a potential threat to entrenched media companies. And those companies already have more than enough to worry about: much of the local media marketplace has collapsed in recent years as classified ads have moved online, automakers have curtailed ad spending and news and entertainment options have proliferated. YouTube, meanwhile, is still trying to turn a profit nearly three years after it was acquired by Google. Because copyright concerns prevent it from placing ads on amateur videos, it has striven to sign up professional partners to seed the site with ad-friendly content. News is one obvious option. “Google can only gain by splitting revenue with people who have feet on the street in local markets,” said Terry Heaton, a senior vice president at AR&D, a company that advises locally focused media organizations. Google said in June that it was pleased with YouTube’s trajectory and indicated that it expected the site to be profitable in the not-too-distant future, but did not specify when. While YouTube can gain by adding local video, it remains to be seen whether established news outlets will benefit. Google’s scraping of print headlines and links has led some to assign blame to the company for the financial struggles of newspapers. The chief executive of Dow Jones recently called Google a “digital vampire” that was “sucking the blood” from newspapers by harvesting their free articles. What YouTube is doing is somewhat different. It is not sending digital spiders around the Web to collect videos automatically; instead, it is asking news outlets to sign up as partners and promising a wider audience for their material. YouTube’s push to organize local news video began in earnest in the spring when the News Near You module was introduced. The module uses the Internet address of a visitor’s computer to determine the user’s location and whether any partners are located within a 100-mile radius. If so, seven days of local videos are displayed. But in many places, namely urban markets, 100 miles can hardly be counted as a local area; Steve Grove, the head of news and politics for YouTube, said, “we’ll get a smaller radius as we bring on more partners.” Mr. Grove said about 5 percent of users who see the News Near You module watch at least one local news video, a rate that YouTube sees as encouraging. “The relevancy factor kicks into gear,” he said. “Suddenly these videos actually matter to you because they’re about your neighborhood or where you live.” YouTube’s arms-wide-open approach forces stations to judge whether YouTube is a friend or a foe, echoing a question that newspapers have grappled with for years. (Some have deemed Google a “frenemy.”) “For stations, there won’t be significant revenue from YouTube in the short term,” said Andy Plesser, the editor of the online video site Beet.tv. That is partly because few of the videos reach an audience of millions, he said. He also suggested that the local news feature faces resistance from station owners. “Many simply don’t see the value of being on YouTube,” he said. In New York, the cable news channel NY1, for instance, said it was concentrating on drawing visitors to its own site, rather than sharing videos elsewhere. “It’s an old conundrum,” Marc Nathanson, an executive producer of NY1.com , said. “When you have valuable content, do you make people come to you for it? Or do you put it out there to enhance the brand and hope that users find their way back to you for more?” He guessed that NY1 would offer some videos on sites like YouTube in the future. Meanwhile, a new breed of local news broadcasters — including ones without broadcasting licenses, the traditional barrier to entry in local markets — is emerging online. “Radio stations, newspapers, universities, advocacy organizations, churches and other local groups, and individuals are becoming news producers,” Mr. Plesser said. Mr. Heaton said stations should treat YouTube as a marketing machine for their old-fashioned television newscasts. “As long as Google wants to pay for the bandwidth” to host videos, he said, “let them.” Mr. Grove said YouTube had not met “a ton of resistance” from news outlets and the main reason there are so few participants is that the initiative is new. Mr. Grove has stumbled across some local members, including The Dallas Morning News and The Cincinnati Enquirer, that he had not even known were on the site. (Any Internet user can create a YouTube account and start uploading videos free.) The New York Times created a YouTube channel in 2006 and has posted more than 1,300 videos on it, essentially highlighting some of the content on its own Web site. National news, too, is being curated by the site. The “top headlines” section of the site collects videos from prominent TV sources and crossreferences them with the trends from Google News, then produces the equivalent of a 30-minute newscast for users to watch, either in full or from one segment to another. In the future, more of the News Near You could come from people who do not report the news for a living. As the protests in Iran continue to demonstrate, citizens are able to provide much of the spot video from breaking news, even though they may lack the objectivity of professionals. The new iPhone includes a video recording capability with a “send to YouTube” button, suddenly making it simple and fast to upload clips. Rachel Sterne, the founder and chief executive of the citizen journalism site GroundReport, said the feature “trains laymen to be reporters.” And YouTube says it is developing tools to automatically spotlight those citizen videos as they come in.

YouTube.com
News and News Media
Computers and the Internet
Online Advertising
Advertising and Marketing
Google Inc
Television


Strauss-Kahn Case Forces French-Americans to Examine Loyalties

Abstract: Anne Cottavoz is of two minds about the Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair, her American mind and her French mind, though she concedes that after living in the United States for 27 years, there may be some blurring of the two. Ms. Cottavoz, a Frenchwoman who owns a health food store on the Upper West Side, said Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s arrest exposed a “slippery slope” in France between what she called “chauvinist behavior” and something more aggressive, like the sexual assault of a hotel housekeeper that Mr. Strauss-Kahn, the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has been accused of. In New York, she has felt respected as a woman in a way she might not have been in France, where, she said, “Frenchmen get away with too many sexual advances.” “We know in France that the general culture makes it comfortable for men to take liberties with women, and in America it’s not like that,” Ms. Cottavoz, 49, said. “In America, if they take liberties, there will be consequences.” The Strauss-Kahn case has gripped the city’s French-American community of roughly 70,000 as few other recent events have. It is the talk of restaurant workers, academics, wine importers and the Frenchmen in Bryant Park who daily play the horseshoes-like game of pétanque . The episode has forced many native French people to tease out what part of them has evolved into an American and what part has never left France, which coined the word “chauvinism” in the patriotic sense. (Nicolas Chauvin was a soldier fanatically loyal to Napoleon.) French-Americans, said Thomas Bishop, director of the Center for French Civilization and Culture at New York University, do not integrate into the American mainstream as easily as other ethnic groups, retaining stronger feelings for their homeland. The devotion extends to their passion for French politics. Rather than dismiss Mr. Strauss-Kahn with tabloid descriptions of him as a “frisky Frenchman,” they may view his fall from power as that of a man with “a tragic flaw” who thought he could “get away with anything,” Mr. Bishop said. And Ms. Cottavoz, who was raised in the Gascony region, said her French blood boiled at some of the ways the police and the news media treated Mr. Strauss-Kahn, particularly how he had been paraded in handcuffs before a crush of photographers. Americans, she said, may see a “perp walk” as a deterrent, but in France it is illegal and considered an unfair humiliation for someone who has not been convicted. Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s defense team has suggested that he and his accuser had a consensual sexual encounter. Still, French-Americans believe the case has “tarnished our image,” said Marie-Monique Steckel, president of the French Institute Alliance Française, which promotes French culture and language. When she heard news of Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s arrest, she said, she found herself “extremely emotional,” adding, “My Frenchness came to the fore with more force than I would have thought.” And although some French-Americans may think Americans react too prudishly to the sex scandals of their leaders, Ms. Steckel said, “There is a difference between a womanizer and rape.” “A womanizer is more acceptable in France,” she said. “It’s kind of considered good health and vigor, which is different from Americans, who are more puritanical. But violence against women is very different.” Seeing conspiracy is another matter that divides Americans and French — and that raises issues of identity for French-Americans. Ms. Steckel, who said she had lived in the United States for 40 years and decided to become a citizen only after President Obama’s election, a testimony to what she characterized as this country’s openness, said many French-Americans found it difficult to talk to friends in France who suspect the arrest was a plot by Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s political opponents. Mr. Strauss-Kahn was widely expected to be the Socialist candidate for president. French people who have lived in New York for a long time, she said, have moved beyond seeing the world in such a conspiratorial fashion. “The French adore the idea of plots,” she said. “They see plots everywhere. French-Americans become more factual.” Nevertheless, some French-Americans evidently still see such schemes. Michael Touchard, 36, manager of Tout Va Bien, a Hell’s Kitchen bistro, said it was hard to believe that “a man with as much power and so much to gain would try something like this.” Mr. Touchard, who came to New York as a child from Brittany with his restaurateur parents, does not consider it out of the question that Mr. Strauss-Kahn was framed by opponents aware of his history with women. Mr. Strauss-Kahn was rebuked by the I.M.F. in 2008 for an affair with a married Hungarian subordinate. “If you want to take down your enemy, you have to know his weakness,” Mr. Touchard said. There is no single French neighborhood here in the way that Astoria is known to be heavily Greek, but many French-Americans are scattered on the Upper East Side — close to the Lycée Français de New York — and in suburbs like Montclair, N.J., and Larchmont, N.Y., home to the lower division of the French-American School of New York. The 2005-9 American Community Survey estimated that New York City had 15,164 people born in France and a total of 70,600 who claimed French ancestry. In the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania metropolitan area, it found a total of 20,385 French-born residents and 160,439 of French ancestry. Many of them work for French restaurants, French banks and enterprises specializing in perfume, high fashion and luxury goods. They often prefer French newspapers, where the idea that Mr. Strauss-Kahn was the victim of a setup has been frequently discussed. Still, Mr. Bishop of N.Y.U. said, French-Americans are aware that in France, similar charges embroiling a powerful politician might have been “swept under the rug” by a justice system he said was more susceptible to political intrigue. The more scrupulous American justice system is something the French here grow to appreciate, he said. “The system doesn’t always work perfectly,” Mr. Bishop said, “but people cannot just walk away from something.”

Strauss-Kahn Dominique
New York City
Citizenship and Naturalization
France


Fall From Building Kills Boy in Brooklyn

Abstract: A boy plunged to his death from the roof or a window of a 13-story apartment building in Brooklyn on Tuesday night, the police said. The child, who the police said was between 9 and 12 years old, was found shortly after 7 p.m. on a grassy lot outside a building in the Albany Houses in Crown Heights. He was taken to Interfaith Medical Center in critical condition and was pronounced dead a short time later, the police said. The police said they were investigating the circumstances surrounding the child’s death. It was unclear whether the boy jumped, was pushed or accidentally fell from the roof of the building, at 1430 Bergen Street, or whether he fell from a window on a lower floor, the police said. Police who responded to the scene said there was an open window on the fifth floor, a spokesman for the Fire Department said.

Brooklyn (NYC)
Death and Dying
Accidents and Safety


Mosque Attack Causes Unease in Sri Lanka

Abstract: COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The Sri Lankan police imposed a curfew on a neighborhood in the capital on Sunday, a day after a Buddhist-led mob vandalized a mosque in an episode that has heightened religious tensions here and prompted a statement of concern by the United States. The police announced that a 13-hour curfew would start at 6 p.m. in the residential and commercial areas of the Grandpass district in Colombo, the capital, which remained under tight security after at least four people were wounded in Saturday’s attack. Witnesses reported scattered stone-throwing in the neighborhood on Sunday as the authorities deployed more police officers and paramilitary commandos. The United States Embassy in Colombo expressed concern over the violence and urged the authorities to prosecute those responsible. “This incident is particularly troubling in light of a number of recent attacks against the Muslim community in Sri Lanka,” the embassy said in a statement . “Targeting any place of worship should never be permitted, and we urge calm from all sides.” About 70 percent of Sri Lanka’s 20 million residents follow Buddhism, while Muslims are the second-largest religious minority, at just under 10 percent. Hindus make up about 13 percent of the population. Local Buddhists had objected to the mosque, a replacement for a nearby mosque that was marked for demolition as part of an urban development project. The government held talks with Muslim leaders and clergy members on both sides on Sunday and announced what Technology Minister Champika Ranawaka described as a “just solution” acceptable to all sides. “The settlement we reached today is for the mosque to move back to its original position,” Mr. Ranawaka told reporters. The government rescinded the demolition order, he said. Muslim ministers in the governing coalition said a failure to take stern action against those responsible for similar attacks in the past had brought about a breakdown in law and order. “The notion that there are elements in our society who can act with impunity should be totally eradicated from the public perception that has now taken root in our society,” the ministers said in a statement.

Vandalism
Buddhism
Islam
Sri Lanka
Curfew


Cuomo Plans One-Year Salary Freeze for State Workers

Abstract: ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will seek a one-year salary freeze for state workers as part of an emergency financial plan he will lay out in his State of the State address on Wednesday, senior administration officials said. The move will signal the opening of what is expected to be a grueling fight between the new governor and the public-sector unions that have traditionally dominated the state’s political establishment. It will also come days after the New Year’s Eve layoffs of more than 900 state workers, an event that union representatives marked with a candlelight vigil on the steps of the Capitol and outside government offices in five other cities. “The governor said during his campaign that the difficult financial times call for shared sacrifice,” said a senior administration official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the governor’s address. “A salary freeze is obviously a difficult thing for many government workers, but it’s necessary if the state is going to live within its means.” While the immediate budget savings from the freeze would be relatively modest — between $200 million and $400 million against a projected deficit in excess of $9 billion — achieving it would be politically meaningful. And because such a step would not require legislative approval, Mr. Cuomo could achieve it while bypassing the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver , and the Democratic-controlled State Assembly, labor’s most powerful allies in Albany. Of course, a freeze — which Mr. Cuomo promised he would seek during his campaign — would be subject to negotiation with the unions. But labor contracts for the vast majority of the state’s 190,000 employees expire on March 31, giving Mr. Cuomo an opening to seek changes at a time of public unease toward government workers’ benefits. Salaries, health care and pension benefits for state workers represent one of the largest and fastest-growing areas of spending, accounting for about one-fifth of all state dollars. On Sunday, a spokesman for the Civil Service Employees Association, the largest union of state workers, said that the association was open to discussions with Mr. Cuomo, but was uncomfortable with unilateral demands. “There’s a significant difference between negotiating in good faith, and issuing some kind of edict that may or may not be legal,” said Stephen Madarasz, the association spokesman. “It’s really all based on what action follows.” Public-sector unions around the nation face growing political pressures not only from Republicans but also from their traditional allies among Democrats, as governors grapple with recession, declining tax revenues and pension funds perilously close to bankruptcy. In November, following the Republican takeover of the House, President Obama ordered a two-year salary freeze for civilian federal workers, subject to Congressional approval. On Wednesday, Mr. Cuomo is also expected to call for a constitutional cap on state spending that would limit growth to the rate of inflation and for a budget that does not raise corporate, personal income or sales taxes, echoing proposals he made on the campaign trail. He will also repeat his call for a cap on the growth of local property taxes. Even if he succeeds in winning a freeze, experts said, Mr. Cuomo will ultimately need to tackle more difficult public employee benefits, including a substantial restructuring of the state’s pension system, which faces serious shortfalls in the coming years. “The past couple of budgets have really been holdover, stopgap plans,” said Elizabeth Lynam, vice president of the Citizens Budget Commission , an advocacy group that favors more limited spending. A one-year salary freeze, she added, would be “a beginning, and it’s a shot across the bow at organized labor, which has to date been uncompromising.” “Hopefully it will lead to broad-based changes in the way state employees are compensated,” she said. Mr. Cuomo has made clear that breaking the stranglehold that entrenched interests, including unions, have on political leaders in Albany is a major priority. But Mr. Cuomo, who has longstanding ties to labor and was endorsed by the Public Employees Federation last year, is hoping that unions will join him in the effort to fix the state’s budget problems. In recent months, he invited public-sector unions to become his partners, even sending their leaders copies of “The Man Who Saved New York,” a biography of former Gov. Hugh L. Carey , which recounts how Mr. Carey, a Democrat, teamed up with labor leaders in similar fashion in the 1970s. At the same time, Mr. Cuomo has signaled that he is ready to fight, and has vowed to avoid the fate of his predecessors, who have endured millions of dollars in withering television advertisements from public-sector unions seeking to forestall cuts to state spending. After his landslide victory in November, he kept a substantial campaign war chest on reserve to run his own ads to counter any union-backed television campaigns and is now deploying outside advisers to organize business interests into what he hopes will become a counterweight to labor: a new group known as the Committee to Save New York. Mr. Cuomo on Sunday attended Mass with his girlfriend, Sandra Lee, and his three daughters at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, down the street from the Executive Mansion. Shortly after that, he returned to work at the Capitol, where aides were huddled to help draft Wednesday’s speech and attend to other issues. “We’re going to be getting back to work,” he told reporters after the service. He also issued an executive order that will require top administration officials to undergo ethics training within the first three months of this year and to be recertified every two years afterward.

New York
Wages and salaries
Andrew Cuomo
NY State of the State
Jobs
Layoffs
Budget
Civil service
Labor Unions


Snack Sales and Overseas Results Lift Profit at General Mills

Abstract: MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — General Mills said Wednesday its quarterly profit rose 18 percent as it sold more snacks and benefited from strength overseas. The company, which makes Nature Valley snack bars and Cheerios cereal, also maintained its 2011 earnings and revenue outlooks. General Mills said it earned $392.1 million, or 59 cents a share, up from $332.5 million, or 48 cents a share, a year earlier. Sales in the period, which ended Feb. 27 and was the third quarter of its fiscal year, rose 2 percent, to $3.65 billion, from $3.59 billion. Adjusted earnings were 56 cents a share, matching the expectations of analysts surveyed by FactSet. Analysts had forecast revenue of $3.7 billion. Stock in General Mills, which is based in Minneapolis, fell 67 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $36.24. The company said revenue from its retail business in the United States dipped 1 percent, while international sales climbed 8 percent, to $688 million, powered by strength in the Europe and Asia. Revenue for the company’s snack division increased 14 percent, with Nature Valley and Fiber One snack bars among its strongest performers. Revenue from Yoplait yogurt, which General Mills makes in the United States under license from Yoplait, rose 1 percent. General Mills is in talks with Yoplait to buy a majority stake in the brand. The company also had solid results from its Small Planet Foods natural and organic unit, with revenue up 14 percent. Revenue for the bakeries and food service division rose 9 percent. The General Mills chief financial officer, Don Mulligan, said sales for Haagen-Dazs Japan were soft, and business was expected to be hurt by the earthquake and tsunami there earlier this month. A warehouse in Sendai was destroyed, but operations in other parts of Japan were running. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, the chief executive, Kendall J. Powell, said in a statement that General Mills expected the period to include its “highest earnings growth of the year.” Mr. Powell said he expected higher prices to help offset rising commodity costs. In an interview, Mr. Powell said consumers were likely to see more increases in food prices .

General Mills Incorporated
Company Reports


U.S.C. Suspends Tailback

Abstract: Southern California tailback Marc Tyler has been suspended from all team activities and the Trojans’ season opener for comments he made to TMZ that implied he gets paid to play for the Trojans. When asked by TMZ whether he could make more money at U.S.C. or in the N.F.L., Tyler said, “U.S.C., they breaking bread,” making a gesture indicating a large stack of money. Coach Lane Kiffin suspended Tyler, a fifth-year senior and the team’s leading returning rusher, for the Sept. 3 opener against Minnesota and possibly longer. U.S.C. is entering the second year of a postseason ban during four years of N.C.A.A. probation stemming from illegal benefits provided to the former star Reggie Bush.

Football
University of Southern California
College Athletics
Tyler Marc
Football (College)


WTA Takes On Eastern European Flavor

Abstract: MONTREAL — In the 1970s, the early days of the women’s tennis tour, the calendar was dominated by tournaments in the United States, and the draws were filled mostly with Americans. At the end of 1980, the world rankings had 31 Americans in the top 50. Australia was next, with four. Combined, all of Eastern Europe had six players in the top 50 in 1980. There were still only six in 1990. In 2000, about a decade after the fall of the Soviet Union, there were nine. Today, there are 26. The WTA is one of the most far-reaching tours, and its success has stemmed from aggressive expansion across borders. But the one thing it cannot control from its Florida base is where the players come from — where the product originates. It can only decide how to redistribute the product around the world. As the geographic center of talent migrates farther eastward, the question facing the WTA is: Does it matter if the bulk of the players on tour come from a different part of the world than the bulk of the people supporting it? “Like all businesses, in managing your product, the maturation of your product, you need to be adaptive and go to markets where there is growth,” Stacey Allaster , the WTA chairwoman and chief executive, said. The tour has focused its expansion efforts the past decade largely on Asia and the Middle East. Regarding Russia and Eastern Europe specifically, Allaster added, “We are just beginning to tap it, without question.” The challenges and opportunities facing the women’s tour are not as striking on the men’s tour, which remains, for now, centered on Western Europe. In the men’s top 50 on Aug. 23, eight players were from Spain, six from France, four from the United States. Russia (two) and Eastern Europe combined for 14. On the women’s tour, Americans now have three spots in the top 50 — a 90 percent drop from 30 years ago. Russia has nine — 10 if you include Yaroslava Shvedova , who was born and raised and still lives in Moscow but got away from the clog of competition by playing for Kazakhstan. “When I moved to Kazakhstan, I was their No. 1 player,” she said. The Russians may want her back; Shvedova cracked the world top 30 this summer. Underlying issues are as obvious as the draw sheets and the perplexed conversations of fans who struggle to recognize and keep straight top-25 players like Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland), Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) — never mind pronounce their names. “Especially with our long names, it can be hard to put the face with the name,” said Vera Zvonareva of Russia, a finalist at this year’s Wimbledon. One second-round match at the Rogers Cup in Montreal featured the Russians Dinara Safina and Nadia Petrova. They have long histories of top-five rankings and deep major-tournament runs. Yet confused fans sometimes ask one to sign a photograph of the other. In some ways, the proliferation of Russian and Eastern European players on the tour is similar to the influx of South Korean women on the women’s golf tour. In 2008, the L.P.G.A., its operations far more tethered to the United States than the WTA’s, had plans to require players to be conversant in English or face suspension, a controversial and short-lived effort to broaden appeal to fans and sponsors. Most tennis players eagerly speak English. Many, following the leads of Russian players like Anna Kournikova and Maria Sharapova, see tennis as a path to broader fortune . Some live in the United States. Still, in the WTA’s perfect world, the rankings would have an even distribution of players from as many countries as possible. The French Open final between Francesca Schiavone of Italy and Samantha Stosur of Australia was a marketing dream — women from different continents who became instant sensations in their home countries. “It would be great to have a national star in every market,” Allaster said. Balanced harmony was nearly achieved with the Aug. 23 rankings. The top 10 players represented nine countries. But down deeper, the number of countries represented across the top 50 has not changed drastically. In 1990, the top 50 had 20 countries. In 2000, it was 24. Today, it is 26. The WTA has broadened its breadth of major sponsors, but none are based where a majority of players come from. Individual players, too, find few sponsors back home. Shvedova, for example, said she had a clothing deal with Lacoste and a sunglasses deal with Oakley but nothing from Russia or Kazakhstan. The tour’s title sponsor is Sony Ericsson, a mobile communications company, and other sponsors include American companies like Usana Health Sciences and Bed Bath & Beyond, as well as Dubai Duty Free and Peak, a Chinese apparel maker. Oriflame is a Western European cosmetics company, but it will focus much of its sponsorship efforts in the Baltic region, Allaster said. Likewise, the schedule is far more international than it once was, now divided almost evenly among North America, Europe, and Asia and Australia. But top-level expansion has taken place mostly where there are few top-level players, at least for now. The WTA has seven upper-tier tournaments in the United States, not including the United States Open . It has one in Russia, in Moscow in October. Another premier tournament is held in Warsaw in May. Cold climate and relatively few suitable facilities hamper expansion into Russia and Eastern Europe, although the WTA has moved quickly into new markets at the second tier, placing tournaments in cities like Budapest; Portoroz, Slovenia; and Tashkent, Uzbekistan. “There is no lack of interest from promoters who want to stage a women’s event, particularly in Asia and the Pacific and in Eastern European countries,” Allaster said. The tour has an opening for a premier event at the start of the year, before Sydney and the Australian Open. It may go to Australia, India, the Middle East or even South Africa. The calendar flows toward the Grand Slam events. Tournaments before the French Open are played in warm weather on clay. They are played on grass before Wimbledon, and in the heat on hardcourts leading to the United States Open in New York. That is where American fans will find the world’s best players, even if they do not quite recognize the faces and the names. Thirty years ago, a majority of the players were American. This year, most matches will feature players with names many fans struggle to pronounce from countries many probably could not find on a map. “They ask you as you sign an autograph, ‘What is your name?’ ” the Russian Elena Vesnina good-naturedly said of Americans. “ ‘Can you write your name down?’ ”

Tennis
Eastern Europe
Women's Tennis Association