Groupon in Japan Faces Growing Pains

Abstract: NIIGATA, Japan — In this blustery provincial city on Honshu’s northwest coast, dotted with rice paddies and pachinko parlors, a popular new service has people buzzing: Groupon . Recently, a discount for eyelash extensions that a tiny beauty salon here offered through Groupon generated enough business to keep the salon’s staff booked through May. Groupon, which has confidently spurned a $6 billion takeover offer from Google, is not just a phenomenon in America. The deal-sharing service has found fertile ground in Japan, catching on even in places like Niigata that typically go unexplored by foreign corporations. But if Groupon’s rapid rise in this country indicates the universal appeal of a good deal — 5.6 million people in Japan used Groupon in November — the young company’s performance is also exposing the difficulties of its simultaneous expansion at home and overseas. A restaurant based just south of Tokyo botched the execution of a nationwide deal for a New Year’s meal sold via Groupon, for example, which became a big media story — and turned the site’s social networking capabilities back on itself, as angry consumers posted pictures of underwhelming deliveries like limp fish in lieu of the advertised caviar. The debacle prompted Groupon’s founder, Andrew Mason, to post a video apology on the Japanese version of the site, acknowledging that “we really messed up.” By many measures, the two-year-old company’s international introduction has been a resounding success. Groupon, based in Chicago, now pulls in more than $1 billion in annual revenue in the United States and overseas, and has about 50 million subscribers in 35 countries. But the controversy stirred by a Super Bowl ad that many found oddly insensitive to hunger in Tibet — the company has since withdrawn it — suggested that Groupon still had much to learn about international diplomacy. And Groupon’s experience in Japan highlights another obstacle to its rapid international growth. The company’s success in the United States quickly inspired a crowd of copycat sites in many of the foreign markets it had hoped to enter. So Groupon scrambled to snap up overseas upstarts, helping it build an impressive global network in record time, but also giving it only limited quality control over the discount deals being struck with local businesses. The company entered the Japanese market last summer by buying a start-up, Q:Pod, for an estimated $10 million. While there have been complaints about Groupon deals in the United States, most recently over an FTD florist deal that customers said overstated the discounts, some of the biggest complaints have been overseas, analysts say. “Many local competitors were springing up, so Groupon felt the need to set up shop here and dominate very quickly,” said Keiichi Yoneshima, an Internet analyst in Tokyo at Barclays Capital. “But rapid growth might have meant it didn’t pay enough attention to the details.” Takuya Watanabe, operating officer at Groupon Japan, said that some merchants’ deals were bound to fall through by no fault of Groupon’s and that the company was prepared to offer full refunds when necessary. And he defended Groupon’s fast growth. “Groupon is a global company, but it’s also one that’s all about small, local communities,” Mr. Watanabe said. “That means we don’t just stay in the big cities. We get out there.” Of course, Groupon would not be growing so fast if it were not offering something consumers find appealing: steep discounts, as much as 90 percent, on goods and services. Promotions become valid only after a certain number of people sign up, with a running tally displayed beside each coupon, lending a social media energy to the deals. The businesses that advertise with Groupon bear no costs if coupons do not sell. When the deals succeed, Groupon takes a share of the coupon proceeds. It is a particularly alluring business model for Japan. Though relatively rich, Japanese consumers have recently become stingier, bruised by a long-stagnant domestic economy. Japanese consumers are also accustomed to using coupons, popularized here by Recruit, an advertising and media giant that publishes magazines packed with conventional coupons for restaurants and beauty salons. Moreover, with shops and restaurants piled on top of each other in Japanese cities, competition is fierce. And so attention-grabbing deals are invaluable to businesses. “Everything depends on getting noticed, about whether people are talking about you,” said Yoshitaka Nomoto of Recruit, who leads marketing for Ponpare, its own Groupon-like service. “Also, Japanese shoppers love being able to see how many other people have bought the same thing.” It is little wonder, then, that Groupon’s success in the United States spurred a flurry of similar upstarts in Japan, led by Piku, which opened for business in late April, and Recruit, which scrambled to open Ponpare in late July. By the end of the year, there were at least 147 similar Web sites in Japan, according to Sheep.jp, a Web services company. But one of those sites, Q:Pod, which opened in late June, stood out. It not only had a reported 200 million yen ($2.4 million) in financing from the local venture capital firm Infinity Venture Partners, but also logistical support from PakuReserve, a mobile content and broadband company. From the start, Q:Pod employed a team of 20, and was able to draw on a nationwide sales force of more than 200 at PakuReserve, which helped find companies to offer deals on the site. Q:Pod quickly extended its reach beyond Tokyo to do business in virtually untapped small markets across Japan. It also introduced versions of the site compatible with Japan’s advanced cellphones. Less than two months after its introduction, Q:Pod was snapped up by Groupon, and the growth continued. Flush with cash, it overwhelmed rivals in advertising exposure. It added staff and scoured Japan far and wide for new deals: 80 percent off facials in Hokkaido, 54 percent off horse-riding lessons in Kyoto. In December, Groupon sold about 1.14 billion yen’s worth in coupons, almost twice the amount sold by the Ponpare site. That included the eyelash promotion offered by the tiny Queen’s beauty salon here in provincial Niigata. Wooed by a Groupon salesman, the salon’s 36-year-old owner, Yuri Umemoto, offered a 71 percent discount on its eyelash extensions. The promotional price was 1,890 yen ($22.66) for 60 silky synthetic eyelashes, which are painstakingly applied by one of the salon’s technicians in a procedure that takes about an hour. The response was spectacular, Ms. Umemoto said. Queen’s sold 123 coupons, enough, combined with existing clients, to keep her five-person staff busy for the next four months. And the deal has helped spread word of her salon’s services in a city where many women have been too shy to wear much mascara, let alone lash extensions. “In Niigata, people are so averse to showing off, so they need a big push,” Ms. Umemoto said. “They tend to be obsessed with what other people are doing. And what they saw is lots of people buying our coupons.” Despite such success stories, Groupon has continued to have well-publicized stumbles in Japan, even since Mr. Mason’s apology video. In January, the Hitoyoshi bistro in Nagoya offered 68 percent off horsemeat dinners. The response, 1,356 coupons sold, was far more than the restaurant could handle. The bistro ultimately canceled the deal. Despite Groupon’s reassurances that it will offer refunds when deals fall through, rivals now worry that Groupon’s blunders are starting to make Japanese customers skeptical of the entire deal-sharing business model. According to Sheep.jp, total coupon sales at the 147 Japanese sites it tracks fell 16 percent in January from the previous month, to 1.87 billion yen, while Groupon’s coupon sales were down 14 percent, to 983 million yen. “This is making everybody think that the business model is dodgy,” said C. Jeffrey Char, who runs Piku, a rival that focuses on fewer quality deals. “You can show a big discount, but if the customer isn’t fully satisfied,” he said, “you’d just be paying to lose money.”

Japan
Groupon
Computers and the Internet
Coupons
Discount Selling


T.C.U. Tips Pass to Itself for a Score and a Win

Abstract: Aaron Green caught a tipped pass in the back of the end zone with 23 seconds left, and No. 3 Texas Christian outlasted host Texas Tech, 55-52, on Saturday in the Big 12 opener for both teams. On a fourth-and-goal from the 4, a pass from T.C.U.’s Trevone Boykin intended for Josh Doctson was high, but Doctson got a hand on it. Green, a T.C.U. running back, then grabbed the ball as he fell out of the end zone. A video review confirmed he had control of the ball and got a foot in bounds. Boykin threw for four touchdowns and a career-high 509 yards for T.C.U. (4-0, 1-0). Doctson caught three touchdown passes and finished with 267 yards on 18 catches — all career highs. Green rushed for one touchdown, and the Horned Frogs got a safety in the first quarter after a snap went over Red Raiders quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Texas Tech fell to 3-1. OHIO STATE 38, WESTERN MICHIGAN 12 Cardale Jones threw two early touchdown passes, and Adolphus Washington returned an interception 20 yards for a score to lead No. 1 Ohio State (3-0) past Western Michigan (1-3) in Columbus, Ohio. Jones was 19 of 33 passing for 288 yards, with an interception, before J. T. Barrett replaced him late in the game. MICHIGAN STATE 30, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 10 Gerald Holmes ran for two fourth-quarter touchdowns, and No. 2 Michigan State (4-0) overcame a sluggish performance to defeat visiting Central Michigan (1-3). Connor Cook threw for only 143 yards, and the Chippewas kept their upset bid alive until the fourth quarter. Image L.S.U.’s Leonard Fournette slipping by Syracuse’s Wayne Morgan for a touchdown. Credit Mike Groll/Associated Press MISSISSIPPI 27, VANDERBILT 16 Chad Kelly threw for 321 yards, Jaylen Walton ran for a season-high 133, and No. 3 Mississippi (4-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) survived Vanderbilt (1-3, 0-2) in Oxford, Miss. It was a mostly mediocre performance by the Rebels’ offense, which came into the game averaging 64 points per game — tops in the nation. BAYLOR 70, RICE 17 Seth Russell matched a team record with six touchdown passes, throwing three of his five in the first half to Corey Coleman, and No. 5 Baylor (3-0) wrapped up its nonconference schedule with a romp over visiting Rice (2-2). Russell threw for 277 yards, and Shock Linwood ran for 158 and a score as the Bears extended the Football Bowl Subdivision’s longest home winning streak to 18 games. NOTRE DAME 62, MASSACHUSETTS 27 C. J. Sanders scored on a 50-yard punt return to help No. 6 Notre Dame (4-0) score four straight touchdowns and overcome a slow start against Massachusetts (0-3) in South Bend, Ind. DeShone Kizer threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Chris Brown with six seconds left in the first half to give the Fighting Irish a 35-20 halftime lead. C. J. Prosise scored on a 16-yard run, and the freshman Dexter Williams added a 14-yard touchdown run to open the second half, giving Notre Dame a 48-20 lead. GEORGIA 48, SOUTHERN 6 Nick Chubb ran for 131 yards and two touchdowns and also caught a touchdown pass to lead No. 7 Georgia (4-0) to a victory over Southern (2-2) in Athens, Ga. Chubb had scoring runs of 9 and 49 yards in the third quarter. The 49-yarder gave him 12 straight games with at least 100 rushing yards. He also scored on a 24-yard pass from Greyson Lambert in the first quarter. L.S.U. 34, SYRACUSE 24 Leonard Fournette ran for two touchdowns and a career-high 244 yards, Tre’Davious White returned a punt 69 yards for a score, and No. 8 Louisiana State (3-0) held off host Syracuse (3-1). Image Duke’s Shaun Wilson (29) congratulating T. J. Rahming on a score. Credit Streeter Lecka/Getty Images L.S.U., which beat its SEC rivals Mississippi State and Auburn to begin the season, used big plays to hand Syracuse its first loss, despite being called for 14 penalties for 120 yards. U.C.L.A. 56, ARIZONA 30 The true freshman Josh Rosen was sharp in his first Pacific-12 Conference road game, throwing for 284 yards and accounting for three touchdowns, in No. 9 U.C.L.A.’s win over No. 16 Arizona. The Bruins (4-0, 1-0) turned a Pac-12 showdown into a laugher by halftime, turning three turnovers by Arizona (3-1, 0-1) into touchdowns while building a 28-point lead. ALABAMA 34, LOUISIANA-MONROE 0 Jake Coker threw three touchdown passes, and No. 12 Alabama’s defense limited visiting Louisiana-Monroe (1-2) to 92 total yards in a rout. The Crimson Tide (3-1) had an uneven offensive performance, but it did not make much difference. TEXAS A&M 28, ARKANSAS 21 Kyle Allen threw for 358 yards, with a 20-yard touchdown to Christian Kirk in overtime, as No. 14 Texas A&M (4-0, 1-0) completed another late comeback against Arkansas (1-3, 0-1), winning the teams’ SEC opener in Arlington, Tex. The Aggies had a chance to win the game on the final play of regulation, but Taylor Bertolet’s 38-yard field goal attempt missed just to the right. Allen, who was 21 of 28 passing with both his touchdowns to the true freshman Kirk, hit the receiver in the end zone on the second play of overtime. The Razorbacks then got their chance, but DeVante Harris tipped away Brandon Allen’s pass to Drew Morgan on fourth-and-4 from the 19. NORTHWESTERN 24, BALL STATE 19 Clayton Thorson threw three touchdown passes, Justin Jackson ran for a career-high 184 yards, and No. 17 Northwestern (4-0) overcame a sluggish first half to rally against Ball State (2-2) in Evanston, Ill. 2015 Heisman Trophy Watch A look at the top players in contention for college football’s highest honor. Thorson, a freshman, finished 18 of 31 for 256 yards with one interception for the Wildcats. Jackson had 33 carries for an average of 5.6 yards. DUKE 34, GEORGIA TECH 20 Shaquille Powell rushed for three touchdowns, and Duke’s defense dominated No. 20 Georgia Tech (2-2, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) in Durham, N.C.DeVon Edwards returned a kickoff 100 yards for a score, and Powell scored on runs of 1, 4 and 30 yards for Duke (3-1, 1-0). MICHIGAN 31, B.Y.U. 0 Jake Rudock ran for two touchdowns and threw for a third during the first half, in which Michigan did all of its scoring, and the host Wolverines routed co-No. 22 Brigham Young (2-2). Michigan (3-1) has won three straight under Coach Jim Harbaugh since its season-opening loss at Utah. The Wolverines were 1-9 in their past 10 games against ranked opponents. WISCONSIN 28, HAWAII 0 Taiwan Deal ran for 147 yards and two scores, and co-No. 22 Wisconsin (3-1) held a nonconference opponent without a touchdown for the third straight game in blanking visiting Hawaii (2-2). Linebacker Joe Schobert had two sacks, and the Badgers held the Rainbow Warriors to 15 yards rushing in the first night game at Camp Randall Stadium in three years. OKLAHOMA STATE 30, TEXAS 27 Ben Grogan kicked a 40-yard field goal with six seconds left to lift No. 24 Oklahoma State (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) to a victory over Texas (1-3, 0-1), giving the Cowboys their fourth straight win on the Longhorns’ field. Grogan had tied the game with a 41-yarder with 1 minute 33 seconds left. The game appeared headed for overtime a minute later until Texas punter Michael Dickson, a rugby player from Australia, fumbled a deep snap and scrambled to get off a 10-yard punt near his own end zone. KENTUCKY 21, MISSOURI 13 Patrick Towles threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score to lead host Kentucky (3-1, 2-1 SEC) past No. 25 Missouri (3-1, 0-1), ending the Wildcats’ 18-game losing streak against ranked teams. Towles, a junior, threw touchdown passes of 24 yards to tight end C. J. Conrad in the third quarter and the 5-yard clincher to Dorian Baker with 6:20 remaining and fuel a small celebration on the field with some of the 58,008 fans.

College football
Louisiana State University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Texas Christian University
Texas Tech University


San Diego Chargers at Denver Broncos Preview

Abstract: Chargers (4-11) at Broncos (11-4) 4:25 p.m. Line: Broncos by 9 Despite all sorts of playoff intrigue surrounding this game for Denver — the Broncos can possibly clinch home-field advantage throughout the A.F.C. playoffs with a win, while risking finishing second in their division with a loss — all eyes will be on Peyton Manning. Manning, embroiled in controversy after an Al Jazeera report said he obtained human growth hormone through his wife (an accusation Manning vigorously denied), will be Denver’s backup quarterback, with Brock Osweiler having performed well enough in Manning’s absence to earn the trust of Broncos coaches. Interestingly, Manning still leads all N.F.L. quarterbacks in interceptions in 2015 with 17, despite not starting for the last six weeks. PICK: Broncos


Carrying On Mother’s Legacy by Caring for a Child

Abstract: The end was near, and Elizabeth Jones seemed to know it. Ms. Jones had just been released from what had become her grim second home — the hospital — and she decided it was time for a barbecue. So despite chronic heart and kidney problems that had her in and out of the hospital for most of 2007, in late August Ms. Jones showed off the cooking skills that she was known for in her neighborhood in Harlem. The menu included ribs, pork shoulder, chicken, shrimp kebab and crab. Four hundred plates were bought for the occasion, and by the end of the day every single one was gone. People from all over had descended on Ms. Jones’s building at 95 Lenox Avenue, filling the courtyard of the high-rise for what later would be seen as a farewell party. “I think she knew, too,” said Joddell Hooks, Ms. Jones’s daughter. “She told my cousin that she’s having this barbecue because she didn’t know how long she was going to be here.” On Sept. 2, a week after the barbecue, Ms. Jones’s kidneys failed, and she died. The death shook the entire family, because Ms. Jones was the one to whom everyone had looked for support, Ms. Hooks said. “My mother was the rock of the family,” Ms. Hooks said. “It’s been very hard for everybody.” The aftermath of her mother’s death has been more than an emotional struggle for Ms. Hooks, 23. It has also complicated her life. Her father had died eight years earlier, and so it was up to Ms. Hooks to care for her 11-year-old cousin, Darrell Luke Jr., whom Ms. Jones had adopted when he was 7 months old. Ms. Hooks, of Harlem, said she and Darrell have been close throughout the years. Ms. Hooks was just 12 when Darrell moved in with the family, and she said she rocked him to sleep his first night there. When he was 3 years old, Darrell said, he broke a light in their apartment, but Ms. Hooks helped him clean up and then took the blame. “She would let me get away with things,” Darrell said with a big smile. Now, she has a much larger role in Darrell’s life. In November, Ms. Hooks was granted temporary custody of Darrell. She said she was scheduled back in Family Court this month and expected to receive full custody. Ms. Hooks was already virtually a mother to Darrell for much of 2007 because Ms. Jones was too sick to care for him. But because Ms. Hooks is not yet Darrell’s legal guardian, she has not been receiving money from the Administration for Children’s Services. That has made for difficult financial times. In December, Ms. Hooks received $375 from Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, one of seven agencies supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund , to pay her rent and telephone bill. Her financial outlook has since improved slightly. She recently found a job baby-sitting, but it pays only about $275 per week. She said she also receives public assistance and food stamps, and her landlord has given her a break on rent until she gets a steady income. Ms. Hooks said her boyfriend, Danell Nixon, who works as a carpenter, also helped with the finances. Ms. Hooks completed a semester at La Guardia Community College before her mother’s death, but took the fall semester off. She said she hoped to return in March and planned to pursue a career in nursing. Three boxes sit in a cabinet above Ms. Hooks’s television. One holds the ashes of her mother, another the ashes of her father and a third the ashes of Kayla, her daughter who died of a chromosomal disorder just 18 days after she was born. For Ms. Hooks, Darrell provides the motivation to move forward. “Right now, I’m still a little depressed,” Ms. Hooks said. “But I’m doing what I have to do to live my life and also to take care of him.”

Families and Family Life
Child Care
New York Times Neediest Cases Fund
Philanthropy


Paul J. Curran, Anti-Corruption Crusader, Dies at 75

Abstract: Paul J. Curran, a versatile New York trial lawyer who pursued mobsters, corrupt public officials, crooked businessmen and other malefactors as the state investigation commissioner and as the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan in the 1960s and ’70s, died on Thursday night in Manhattan. He was 75. Mr. Curran, who lived in Manhattan and Spring Lake, N.J., died of complications of cancer, said his son Thomas. Mr. Curran served several years in the State Assembly early in his career and sought the Republican nomination for governor in the fall of 1982, when Mario M. Cuomo, a Democrat, won the first of his three terms. But Mr. Curran was best known as chairman of the State Commission of Investigation from 1969 to 1973, when he battled kickbacks, sweetheart contracts and other corruption, and as the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1973 to 1975, when he prosecuted Mafia leaders, narcotics detectives, white-collar criminals and a congressman. He was a Pentagon consultant on intelligence matters in 1976, and later served on panels that examined corruption in city schools, screened judicial nominations and sought to improve prisoners’ rights. He also investigated President Jimmy Carter’s family peanut business for the Justice Department in 1979, and thus became the first lawyer to examine a sitting president under oath. In a career that spanned five decades, however, Mr. Curran was most at home in a trial courtroom, winning many civil and criminal cases and the admiration of colleagues. “He was a lawyer’s lawyer,” said Jane W. Parver, of Kaye Scholer, the Manhattan-based international law firm where Mr. Curran had worked on and off since 1961. Paul Jerome Curran was born in Manhattan on Feb. 21, 1933, a son of Thomas J. Curran, the Manhattan Republican leader from 1941 to 1958. He attended St. Joseph Academy and Xavier High School, graduated from Georgetown University in 1953 and took a law degree at Fordham University in 1956. Mr. Curran and Barbara Ann Frank were married in 1954. Besides his wife and his son Thomas, of Bronxville, N.Y., he is survived by two sons, Mark, of Summit, N.J., and Paul Jr., of Pittsburgh; four daughters, Mary Louise Kingsbery, of Short Hills, N.J., Catherine Souther, of Scarsdale, N.Y., Barbara Susanin, of Villanova, Pa., and Elizabeth Stockton, of Summit; and 22 grandchildren. In 1958, after service as an Air Force officer, he joined the staff of the United States attorney in Manhattan and prosecuted narcotics cases for three years. Mr. Curran was elected to the Assembly from the Lower East Side in 1962, but quit the Legislature in 1966 to become Mayor John V. Lindsay’s city lobbyist in Albany. In 1968, Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller appointed him to the State Commission of Investigation, New York’s highest investigative body, and named him chairman a year later. With subpoena power but no authority to prosecute crimes, he exposed real estate tax fraud, kickbacks in public contracts in Buffalo and Albany, and other corruption. In 1973, President Richard M. Nixon named Mr. Curran to succeed Whitney North Seymour Jr. as the United States attorney in Manhattan, considered the Justice Department’s most prestigious outpost, embracing Manhattan, the Bronx and nine upstate counties. One of his assistants was Rudolph W. Giuliani. Mr. Curran won many convictions, notably against the mobster Carmine Tramunti and, in a conflict-of-interest case, against Representative Bertram L. Podell. He also obtained an indictment of Bernard Bergman, a notorious nursing home operator who later pleaded guilty in a $1.2 million Medicaid fraud case. In 1979, Mr. Curran investigated loans by the National Bank of Georgia to President Carter’s family peanut business, then controlled by his brother, Billy Carter. The bank was run by Bert Lance, a friend of the president’s and director of the Office of Management and Budget. Mr. Lance resigned in 1977 after a Senate inquiry into his banking practices. But Mr. Curran, after a seven-month inquiry that included the first sworn deposition of a sitting president, found no evidence that any of the millions in loans had been diverted to Mr. Carter’s 1976 presidential campaign, or that Mr. Carter or his brother had done anything illegal.


It's Porkball for Yankees and the Bronx

Abstract: WELL into a City Council hearing this week on the proposal for a new Yankee Stadium, one of the lawmakers recalled why he and his colleagues were there in the first place. "The name of this here issue is not black, not white, it's green," said the councilman, Thomas White Jr. of Queens. At least someone in that Council chamber got it right. For most of the afternoon on Tuesday, the long, emotional hearing resembled more of an encounter group than a legislative session. It got so heated that it was often hard to figure out exactly what Council critics of the team's plan really wanted, so avidly did they take advantage of the setting to rail at the Yankees. "You're smiling as if you hit a home run, but from where I sit, it is a foul ball," Councilwoman Helen Diane Foster of the Bronx told Reggie Jackson, a special Yankees adviser who testified in support of the team's plan for a new $800 million stadium. Councilman Charles Barron of Brooklyn, the former Black Panther, dropped in long enough to deliver one of his familiar diatribes. "This is not about baseball, this is about trust," Mr. Barron said, asking the team president, Randy Levine, how many "people of color" held decision-making jobs with the Yankees but cutting him off before he could fully answer. It kept on like that for hours -- pointed exchange after pointed exchange, with attempts at peacemaking mixed in. "I'm for people of color, I'm a man of color," Mr. Jackson said, offering to help the Bronx community deal with the Yankees and its mercurial principal owner, George Steinbrenner. "I'm at your service," he said, exchanging business cards with Ms. Foster. Shortly after that touching moment, Councilman White made his reference to greenery -- the financial kind, because this is a development project, after all. The Bloomberg administration and the Bronx borough president, Adolfo Carrión Jr., pronounce it a good deal, while Council critics -- probably not enough of them to stop the project in a vote next week -- disagree. Lawmakers could have examined basic issues on Tuesday, but emotions got in the way. At times, it seemed as if the baseball team had become the convenient target for anger and frustration about fundamental problems that still plague the Bronx. DESPITE improvements in recent years, the borough is still, as Bronx lawmakers kept saying, troubled by high rates of poverty, unemployment and poor health. Surely not even the harshest of the Yankees' detractors could think that a baseball team has the ability to eradicate poverty and urban disease, although the team is an oasis of wealth, celebrity and power, and Mr. Steinbrenner has a history of playing hard and fast with the city. The result is resentment. But there are some obvious concerns, though not examined in any depth. Council critics of the plan want the Metro-North station renovated to discourage driving and favor creating fewer parking spaces (though the stadium neighborhood is flooded with cars on game days right now). They also want more parkland to compensate for the 22 acres that would go to the new stadium, and more job guarantees. The team has committed to making sure that at least a quarter of the plan's construction jobs and new permanent jobs go to Bronx residents. There is another avenue of suspicion, unexplored on Tuesday but discussed plenty around City Hall: the Yankee plan for community resources, specifically how they will be distributed, and to whom. The team would provide, in each of 40 years, $700,000 in cash grants for community organizations, $100,000 for maintenance of parks in the stadium area, $100,000 worth of equipment for youth and sports groups, and 15,000 Yankee tickets for the community. A nonprofit group headed by a "person of stature," as Mr. Levine put it, would determine who gets the team's largess. The group would be made up of people selected by the Yankees and Bronx elected officials. To help sell the city on its stadium plan, the Yankees felt compelled to hire the lawyer for the Bronx Democratic organization, Stanley K. Schlein, and a consulting group headed by the former Bronx Democratic leader, Roberto Ramirez. So there is some understandable concern around town, not just in the Bronx -- about what would, if it were government money, be called pork. As the councilman said, the name of the issue is green, even if reduced to the inevitable black and white. Metro Matters E-mail: purnick@nytimes.com

NEW YORK CITY
NEW YORK YANKEES
BASEBALL
YANKEE STADIUM (NYC)
STADIUMS AND ARENAS


Canadiens Fall to Blue Jackets, 10-0, in Worst Loss Since 1995

Abstract: COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Montreal Canadiens were the last team in the N.H.L. to lose a game in regulation this season — and they did it in astonishing fashion Friday night. The Columbus Blue Jackets set their own record in delivering the loss. Cam Atkinson, Nick Foligno, Scott Hartnell and Josh Anderson each scored two goals as Columbus swamped Montreal, 10-0, matching the biggest loss in the Canadiens’ history and breaking the Blue Jackets’ franchise record for most goals in a game. Montreal lost by 10 goals for the fifth time, and for the first time since an 11-1 loss to Detroit in February 1995. The Canadiens dropped to 9-1-1. “I don’t think you’re going to forget one like that,” Montreal wing Brendan Gallagher said. “We got taught a lesson here tonight. We had it coming. Last game we were sloppy, we got away with it. Tonight we didn’t.” Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves, and Seth Jones and David Savard added goals for the Blue Jackets, who improved to 5-3-1. Columbus eclipsed its previous record of eight goals in a game. After surrendering 13 goals in its first 10 games, Montreal gave up eight to Columbus in the first two periods on Friday, half of them on power plays. Sixteen Columbus players picked up at least 1 point. Image Scott Hartnell, left, scored the Blue Jackets’ sixth goal of the game in the second period. Credit Kirk Irwin/Getty Images “There’s nothing positive about tonight — nothing,” Montreal Coach Michel Therrien said. The record output was no big deal to Columbus Coach John Tortorella. “All it is is one tick in the win column and one tick in the loss column,” he said. The Blue Jackets banged away at Al Montoya, Montreal’s backup goalie who started in place of Carey Price in the first game of a back-to-back set. On a power play with 9 minutes 4 seconds left in the first period, Foligno tapped the puck out from behind the net to Atkinson, who picked up his third goal of the season. Jones and Savard added goals in the first period, then the Blue Jackets poured it on the second. Atkinson got his fourth of the season 4:01 into the period, and Columbus got a goal each from Anderson and Hartnell, while Foligno added two. Hartnell got his second in the third, then Anderson finished the scoring 10:45 into the final period. Seth Jones found the net just 58 seconds later from the left circle on a pass out from behind the goal line from Anderson to make the score 2-0. “You’ve been on the other side where everything is not going right,” Foligno said. “It just seemed to be the case tonight where we were just getting every bounce. But we were earning it, too. I’m not going to take away from our game, either. We did a lot of good things. But I’ve never been up by 10 in my entire career.” Montoya had 30 saves for Montreal.

Ice hockey
Blue Jackets
Montreal Canadiens


Russia: Corruption Case Grows

Abstract: A former Defense Ministry official in Russia has been charged with embezzling more than $12 million while working for a private military contractor, the federal Investigative Committee announced Friday. The former official, Yevgeniya Vasilyeva, has emerged as a central figure in President Vladimir V. Putin’s decision earlier this month to dismiss the defense minister , Anatoly E. Serdyukov. Mr. Serdyukov was a former close ally of the president. Ms. Vasilyeva, who is the former head of the ministry’s property department, and Mr. Serdyukov were apparently involved in a romantic relationship. He was at her apartment when the authorities raided it in October, according to Russian news outlets. Ms. Vasilyeva, 33, was featured in a television documentary titled “Corruption” that showed her 13-room, $10 million Moscow apartment and five boxes of jewelry said to be worth $3 million. She is under house arrest.

Serdyukov Anatoly E
Embezzlement
Corruption (Institutional)
Russia


UConn Uses Defense to Stop Cincinnati's Winning Streak

Abstract: HARTFORD, Jan. 9 - With a pesky Cincinnati team hanging around and the score tied with 15 minutes 46 seconds left on Monday night, fourth-ranked Connecticut started to think about the unthinkable. Could it actually start the Big East season 0-2? "That might have been the end of the world," Huskies guard Denham Brown said. "Armageddon would have started." Not to worry. The world as we know it will survive, and so did Connecticut. After losing its Big East opener to Marquette by 15 points, then struggling in a 1-point victory at home against Louisiana State, the Huskies controlled the final 12 minutes on Monday and went on to defeat No. 25 Cincinnati, 70-59. When Bearcats forward James White made a 3-pointer to tie the score at 44-44, there was some cause for concern among the sellout crowd of 16,294 at the Hartford Civic Center. UConn (13-1, 1-1) had been shooting poorly for most of the game and could not seem to pull out of the funk it had been in during its first two games of 2006. But after White's 3-pointer, Craig Austrie hit two free throws to ignite a 12-2 UConn run. The Huskies led, 65-53, with 5:20 left, but Cincinnati (13-3, 2-1) kept it interesting. The Bearcats cut their deficit to 6 points with a 6-0 run. But UConn's Marcus Williams responded with a 3-pointer with 2:18 remaining, all but sealing the victory. Cincinnati had won 10 straight. "We needed this to show ourselves that we can play anybody in the country," UConn forward Rudy Gay said. "This team beat Marquette, and Marquette handed it to us. We came out and played tough and showed people we still are one of the best teams in the country." UConn Coach Jim Calhoun said afterward that he feared his team would be outrebounded, but the Huskies ended up with a 52-32 advantage in that statistic. They also played solid defense, holding Cincinnati to its lowest point total of the season. The Bearcats shot just 35.6 percent for the game. UConn received a big game from the improving forward Hilton Armstrong, who led the Huskies with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 6 blocks. "This was the fourth or fifth straight time that Hilton had a great game," Calhoun said. "He was a lively body, he blocked shots, he altered shots and he finished plays. Hard work really does pay off. It's a wonderful story of what he's done over four years to become just a really, really terrific basketball player for us, and our best inside threat." Calhoun was concerned that UConn had a rough game offensively. The Huskies shot 37.3 percent after shooting 38 percent in the loss to Marquette. "We've shot 35 percent through two Big East games," Calhoun said. "Everybody says, 'Well, that's because it's Big East competition.' We played Arizona, Arkansas and Gonzaga and we shot 47 percent. So, it's not the competition. We have to get focused." Gay, Brown and Williams each had 11 points for UConn. White led Cincinnati with 18 points, and Eric Hicks had 14 points, 11 rebounds and 7 blocks. Bearcats guard Armein Kirkland left with a knee injury with 7:49 to go in the first half and did not return. He had already scored 14 points. "You're talking about a guy who has had five knee operations and has torn an A.C.L. in both legs," the Cincinnati interim coach Andy Kennedy said. "I saw the twist. It's probably not good."

BIG EAST CONFERENCE
UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT
BASKETBALL


Tough Questions for China on Schools and Japan Aid

Abstract: BEIJING — Japan on Thursday decided against using military aircraft to deliver aid to earthquake victims in China after Chinese officials reportedly expressed concerns about what would have been the first Japanese military deployment to China since the two countries were enemies during World War II. Meanwhile, an education official in Sichuan Province conceded that poor official oversight and corruption might have contributed to the collapse of numerous schools during the earthquake on May 12. The official, Lin Qiang, also said he would forgo his own plans to carry the Olympic torch during its relay through the earthquake region. The two issues are a reminder of how the earthquake has become an enormous political and logistical challenge for the Chinese government. Leaders of both China and Japan have been working to improve relations in recent months, and a Japanese search-and-rescue team has already participated in rescue efforts in Sichuan. The idea of Japanese military planes carrying tents and blankets to Sichuan was initially floated by Japan as another effort to boost ties between the countries. But Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Nobutaka Machimura, said the Japanese government had postponed the idea. “As there were concerns in China, Japan and China had discussions and decided to shelve the idea of Self-Defense Forces planes providing transport,” Mr. Machimura told a news conference in Tokyo, according to Reuters. Instead, Japan will use chartered commercial planes to deliver supplies. Meanwhile, the issue of collapsed schools, in which thousands of students are believed to have died, continued to stir controversy. Initial examinations of some schools by engineers and other experts suggest that many had faulty construction and cheap materials. Parents also have blamed official corruption and negligence for failing to ensure that the buildings were safe. Comments by Mr. Lin, the vice inspector of the provincial education bureau, were originally published in Southern Weekend, an independent news weekly, and excerpted by Xinhua, the official news agency. “As an educational administrator, I bear special, though not direct, responsibility toward those innocent children and their parents and relatives,” Mr. Lin said. “So I have to reject the honor of relaying the Olympic torch as atonement.” Sichuan officials began investigating the issue last Sunday, Xinhua reported, and have blamed design defects and obsolete buildings for many of the collapses. Meanwhile, national education officials in Beijing are promising to change design requirements to insure that schools built in the future meet stricter standards than other structures. After the earthquake, Mr. Lin was one of the first educational officials to reach Beichuan, one of the worst hit areas, according to Southern Weekend. There, he saw the destroyed Beichuan Middle School, where hundreds of children died. Yet about 1,000 yards away, Mr. Lin also saw a Hope Project school, which had been built in connection with the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Donors for the Hope Project had strictly overseen construction — and, as a result, the building was largely undamaged. “Its construction quality was ensured under the donors’ supervision,” Mr. Lin said. “But most of the collapsed schools had no such supervisory mechanism. He added: “If we educational officials hadn’t left loopholes for corruption, the collapsed buildings could have been as solid as the primary school.”

World War II (1939-45)
China
Foreign Aid
Ethics


Turkey Authorizes Extension of Military Strikes in Iraq

Abstract: ISTANBUL — Turkey’s parliament voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to extend by one year its authorization of military operations against Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq, keeping the door open to future strikes in the region. The approval, by a vote of 497 to 18, had been largely expected, and occurred amid a flurry of attacks in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast. Seventeen Turkish soldiers were killed in an attack on a border post late last week, and Turkey responded with several days of air strikes in Iraqi territory. A fresh attack on Wednesday killed five police officers and wounded 19 others on the outskirts of Diyarbakir in the southeast. Turkey, a NATO member, has been fighting Kurdish separatists in its southeast since the 1980s, though the conflict has died down substantially in recent years. An attack on a border post last year set off a political confrontation between Turkey and Iraq, with Turkey conducting air strikes and a brief ground operation into Iraq. A government mandate permitting the military to conduct operations outside Turkey was due to expire Oct. 17. Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek said Turkey had conducted 29 air operations, several artillery strikes as well as land operations under the previous mandate. Turkey contends that Iraq does not do enough to curb the rebels, known as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., who hide in the mountains along its northern border. Iraq says far more reside in Turkey. The tension is a delicate matter for the United States, which counts Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds among its closest allies in a troubled region. When Turkey made a brief ground incursion early this year, the Bush administration pressed for a withdrawal. The Turkish strikes, however, have not ruined relations with Iraq, and even opened fresh lines of diplomacy between the countries. The Turkish president, Abdullah Gul , in a visit to Finland on Wednesday, said the extension of the mandate would be “used solely against the pinpointed targets of the terror organization,” the state-run Anatolian News Agency reported. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after the vote that operations against the separatists would continue, but added that solving the problem was “also about diplomacy, politics, sociology and psychology.” Local elections are planned for March and Mr. Erdogan’s party is working to win votes in the southeast, a region that has chosen Kurdish parties in the past. The attack in Diyarbakir occurred on a bus carrying police officers in training on a highway into the city. The assailants used long-range rifles, Anatolian reported, and a grenade was thrown, but did not explode. Turkey’s interior minister, Besir Atalay, said in a live television broadcast that the authorities had not yet identified the assailants. “Our pain is grave,” he said. The Reuters news agency, quoting a P.K.K. spokesman, said the group took responsibility for the attack, but contended that it had been fired on first. The attack is likely to increase the public pressure on Mr. Erdogan to act against the rebels.

Turkey
Kurds
Erdogan Recep Tayyip
Gul Abdullah
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Civil War and Guerrilla Warfare


Iraqi Foes of Security Deal Seek to Shield Assets

Abstract: BAGHDAD — Iraqi lawmakers opposed to the proposed security agreement with the United States have seized on a new argument that has emerged only in recent days: the accord does not explicitly protect Iraq ’s vast oil wealth and other assets from seizure to satisfy billions of dollars in legal claims against the former government of Saddam Hussein. An extension of this protection, which is guaranteed in the soon-to-expire United Nations resolution that the security agreement is meant to replace, will have to be negotiated separately, a wide range of Iraq and American officials who support the security agreement acknowledged Sunday. They also acknowledged that such a move will be critical to protecting Iraq’s assets, or the government’s main source of revenue — oil exports — could be thrown into disarray when the United Nations resolution expires Dec. 31. It appeared doubtful that the newfound hole in the security agreement would create enough additional opposition in Parliament to defeat final approval in a vote that is scheduled for Wednesday. Supporters of the agreement expressed confidence on Sunday that it would still pass by a significant margin and that ways to extend the protection of Iraqi assets would be found. But to Iraqi critics, the failure of the agreement to protect those assets reinforced their doubts. They said the defeat of the agreement, which would become the legal basis for the continued American military presence in Iraq after more than five and a half years of war, could not be ruled out. “There is no respectable government that would sign such an agreement,” said Mahdi al-Hafedh, a member of Parliament who opposes it and was among the first to raise the issue of the expiring protections. Given all the unknowns, he said, the original United Nations resolution — not just the protection clauses — should be extended six months to enable further study of the security agreement. The issue first emerged Saturday when parliamentary opponents pointed out that the agreement could not, by itself, ensure that Iraqi assets would continue to be protected against claims that could not only consume billions of dollars but also make it difficult for Iraq to sell oil and move the proceeds through banks around the world, where courts could “attach” — in effect, seize — money to settle legal judgments. Those judgments have been granted or considered in everything from basic claims of damages by Americans who were badly treated as prisoners of war or used as “human shields” against American bombardment in the 1991 war, to more fanciful assertions that Mr. Hussein was, for example, behind the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 or the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. On Sunday, in response to the criticism in Parliament, where both Iraqi and American government officials have labored mightily to win votes for the security agreement, the Iraqi minister of finance, Bayan Jabr, said during a news conference that the Iraqi government “was not able to achieve all of its wishes” in sections of the agreement relating to the protection of Iraqi assets. But he said that the agreement was well worth supporting because in it, the United States pledged to press the Security Council to continue the protections if Iraq produced a plan for resolving all legal claims on its assets. Two senior United States officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the agreement contained assurances that the United States would work to extend the protections by the Security Council. “It is the highest level of assurance in a bilateral agreement between the United States and Iraq that they’re ever going to get,” one said. The official said that if Iraq devised a strong plan to resolve outstanding legal claims on its money, they believed the Security Council was likely to extend the protections for a year. Iraq has already started talks with the State Department to consolidate and resolve some of the cases, said Fadhil Mohammed Jawad, a legal adviser to the prime minister, but progress was slow. Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi foreign minister, said he thought that in the end, his country would gain Security Council support. “We’ve already consulted with the permanent members of the Security Council and they will be agreeable,” he said. Mr. Hafedh, the Parliament member, said such reassurances did not convince him. He pointed out that the American ambassador, Ryan C. Crocker, and other senior American officials from the United States Embassy, who have been personally lobbying members of Parliament before the vote, “have given us moral and political guarantees that they will support Iraq on the immunity issue, but these guarantees have no legal impact.” In an illustration of the enormous complexity of the issue, both Mr. Jabr and the minister of planning, Ali Baban, who also attended the news briefing on Sunday, pointed out that it was not only the Security Council that would have to extend legal protection to Iraqi assets: a separate executive order by President Bush also provides some protections to Iraqi government funds held in American banks, and that order might have to be extended as well. The order by Mr. Bush formally expires in May 2009, although the next president, Barack Obama, could presumably review it. Mr. Bush has also worked with Congress to reduce the risk that Iraq’s assets could be seized. Mr. Bush’s order is not a mere detail. It is important to enforcing the current United Nations resolution, which requires that all Iraqi oil revenue is first deposited in an account at the New York Federal Reserve Bank before it is sent back to Iraq to satisfy budgetary requirements. The huge balances in the account have been contentious, because they reflect in part Iraq’s unwillingness or inability to spend money on its own reconstruction, while the United States has devoted $50 billion of taxpayer money for that purpose. Mr. Jabr revealed for the first time on Saturday that the account at the Federal Reserve now contained $20 billion — about twice the amount it contained at the end of 2007, according to the United States General Accountability Office. (In a separate interview, Mudher Salih Kasim, a senior adviser at the Central Bank of Iraq, said that the account contained, more precisely, $22 billion as of Oct. 10.) Despite the interwoven complexities on legal protections of Iraq’s assets, Mr. Jabr and other members of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s government said they still strongly supported the security agreement, which also in effect pledges to urge Mr. Obama to continue protecting Iraq’s assets in the United States. Mr. Obama’s position on the protections has not been made clear, but his transition has been well disposed toward the security agreement over all, since it sets a deadline for United States fighting forces to vacate Iraq, a goal Mr. Obama supported during the campaign. As members of Parliament considered the new developments in advance of the Wednesday vote, the largest bloc in the Parliament, the United Iraqi Alliance, which represents an array of Shiite lawmakers, met Sunday to set a strategy for pushing the measure through. They formed a committee with responsibility for contacting members of the other parliamentary blocs — Sunnis, Kurds and those Shiites who oppose the pact — and listening to their positions, said Abbas al-Bayati, a member of the alliance. The effort to win consensus is a response to Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, the most senior Shiite cleric in Iraq, who said in the last 10 days that the measure should be approved by a broad majority. The United Iraqi Alliance meeting was attended both by Mr. Maliki, who leads the Dawa Party, and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who leads the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, the two most powerful Shiite parties. Regardless of the vote outcome, the United Nations will still have to help Iraq deal with claims on Iraqi assets based on acts committed by Mr. Hussein, said Barham Salih, the deputy prime minister who is head of the cabinet’s economics committee. “The hope that we have is that the Security Council will decide to maintain these protections for Iraqi oil revenues,” Mr. Salih said. “Obviously this is very crucial issue for Iraq. It is very complex and very painful that we will have to pay for the sins of Saddam Hussein.”

Iraq
Status of Forces Agreements
International Trade and World Market
Iraq War (2003- )
Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline


A Crumbling Catskill Resort Glows Again as a Training Ground for Firefighters

Abstract: KIAMESHA LAKE, N.Y. — There was a time when comedians would flock to the Concord Hotel, bringing the house down every weekend with ethnic humor, one-liners and a smattering of risqué jokes. Now, firefighters come to this shuttered monstrosity once a year to burn the house down, section by section. From around the state, firefighters arrive at the Concord not for matzo ball soup, but to tramp through its corridors — setting fires and then putting them out — during a training weekend arranged by the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs. Arthur Winarick, a Russian immigrant who acquired the hotel in the late 1930s, had the foresight to use concrete and steel rather than wood when he expanded it. “Everything burns but the structure,” said Glen Miller, a training instructor and fire coordinator for the Yates County Fire Service. “There’s no worry that everything will crash in.” Just last weekend, 130 firefighters showed up to train and hone the essentials, including search and rescue, forcible entry and hose and roof operations. They broke windows, cut through roofs and used thermal imaging cameras to maneuver through heavy smoke. At this rate, according to Christian Delisio, a hands-on training coordinator, “it’ll take us 10 years to burn the place down, if it’s there that long,” because the Monticello Fire Department burns some rooms on its own and “some rooms just can’t burn.” Setting fire to actual — although deserted — hotel rooms gives trainees “the opportunity to see realistic fire conditions in a controlled environment,” said Mr. Delisio, a retired lieutenant in the New York City Fire Department. Called “the city in the country,” the Concord was a borscht belt icon, with 1,500 rooms spread over about 2,000 acres during its peak in the 1950s and ’60s. Everything was bigger and better — world-class golf courses (including one known as the Monster), indoor and outdoor swimming pools, skating, skiing and tennis courts that Althea Gibson played on. These days, Mr. Delisio said, the cavernous complex “looks like a bombed-out Beirut,” with its tall concrete buildings peppered with broken windows and piles of twisted bed frames, pieces of chairs and shreds of carpeting dotting the grounds once tended by a small army of gardeners. For those who remember the Concord’s glory days, a walk down the dark, dank, stripped-out hallways, once lined with stylish shops, is like a dive into the chill water of one its Olympic-size swimming pools. “I worked there in high school, parking cars, then bellhopped,” said Tom Kurthy, 68, who attended the training session as a member of the Monticello Fire Department, the host fire company. “I probably washed 95 percent of the windows in the hotel.” Letting his memory have its way, he said: “I once presented two dozen roses to Judy Garland on stage. It feels terrible, really terrible, to see the place like this.” Carl Houman, 46, deputy chief of the Monticello department, who was a lifeguard at the resort in the 1970s, remembered: “The people would come in, Friday till Sunday, nonstop. It’s a little disheartening to think of what it used to be.” The fire chief from Monticello, Marc Friedland, 37, who was a ski instructor here in high school, recalled that the large room with peeling paint where sandwiches were now being served from large boxes had been the coffee shop. Oddly enough, the Concord — which Paul Melfi, retired deputy fire chief for the city of Olean, remembered as “the largest convention center in the eastern United States at one time” — was host to the annual gathering of the state’s Association of Fire Chiefs for 31 years. At those meetings, as many as 30 fire trucks would be parked and on display in the building that housed the indoor tennis courts. Then the conventions — along with the endless shtick and bottomless dinners — ceased in 1998, which led the firefighters’ organization to inquire about holding its training sessions here. And so they began in 2003, Mr. Delisio said. To Arnold Graham, vice president and a partner of Charles Rapp Enterprises, which booked acts like Ringo Starr and Rosie O’Donnell at the Concord, allowing the towering buildings to rot was nothing short of sacrilege. “It should not be allowed,” he said in a telephone interview. But intertwined with the bittersweet memories was a dose of reality. David Winograd of Ellenville, a bandleader at the nearby Granit Hotel for more than 20 years who often played at the Concord, said that in its waning days, the hotel “began to look like a haunted house.” Mr. Miller, the Yates County training instructor, also has fond memories of the Concord — “back then it was such a big, beautiful place” — but the nostalgia goes only so far. “It went from being such a vibrant business to being a vacant eyesore,” said Mr. Miller, who visited the Concord as a conventioneer. “Someone else made the decision to abandon this place. We’re just opportunists, looking for abandoned buildings for realistic trainings.” The trainees roamed the dark, puddle-splattered hallways on the ground floor of an 11-story building, headed for a burning bedroom suite. One room had painted windows to keep the interior even darker. Two beds were visible through the gloom, and an adjoining room had a pile of mattresses and straw ready to be set on fire. Earlier, the trainees had drilled in teams, pushing in doors, using the thermal cameras, pulling hoses that push more than 1,000 gallons of water a minute. Now some firefighters waited outdoors to rush inside with hoses, while others tracked through the smoky halls toward the blaze, which blew windows out with its heat. Firefighters hone their skills at other places, but just as the Concord was the biggest Catskill resort, so too it is the pre-eminent training site. “I travel all over the country doing trainings,” said Mr. Melfi of Olean, “and there is no place that replicates the realism of firefighting better than this place right here.”

New York State
Fires and Firefighters
Hotels and Motels


Storm Diverts Republicans to Ohio

Abstract: CELINA, Ohio — The last time that anyone can remember a presidential candidate traveling to this postage stamp of a town in rural northwestern Ohio (size: 4.4 square miles) was in 1988. Even then, it was a running mate, Dan Quayle, who breezed through. On Sunday, in an unexpectedly concentrated dose of political attention, the entire Republican presidential ticket rumbled into town for an improvised and unintended doubleheader caused by Hurricane Sandy . The storm caused Mitt Romney to cancel a full day of events in Virginia, leaving him little time to do anything else but join his vice-presidential choice, Representative Paul D. Ryan, inside a cramped high school gymnasium where campaign posters calling for a “Real Recovery” mingled with a billboard for the Celina High School girls’ basketball team. “It’s not how big you are,” it read. “It’s how big you play.” A crowd of about 3,000, a small showing for Mr. Romney at this late stage of the campaign, seemed as taken aback as they were thrilled to have both men in the same room nine days before the election. “This is a pretty small place,” said Cathy Tinnerman, 49, who had expected to see only Mr. Ryan, a coup unto itself, she explained. “This is just historic for us.” Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan did not dwell on the approaching storm. Mr. Romney said that “our thoughts and prayers are with the people who will find themselves in harm’s way.” Instead, their focus was on President Obama , who did not campaign on Sunday. In back-to-back speeches, they described him as a leader whose historic promise had fizzled, who was intent on demonizing them and unable to conduct a campaign that matched the seriousness of the moment. Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan portrayed themselves as the candidates of big ideas, bipartisan instincts and sweeping change, borrowing a theme that Mr. Obama himself used four years ago to beat Senator John McCain. Mr. Ryan even invoked Mr. Obama’s lament from the 2008 campaign about “making a big election about small things.” “The unfortunate thing is,” he said, “that is exactly what he has become. He cannot run on his record.” The candidates’ schedules are, to some degree, now at the mercy of the storm, which is expected to strike several swing states where Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama had intended to travel over the next few days. Besides the Virginia rallies, Mr. Romney called off an appearance in New Hampshire on Tuesday. Mr. Obama has canceled plans to attend a batch of scheduled rallies — in Northern Virginia, Colorado Springs and Youngstown, Ohio, largely removing himself from the campaign trail for two of the campaign’s last eight days. And Monday morning he canceled a planned appearance in Orlando. On Sunday, the president headed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters for a briefing on Hurricane Sandy, which he called a “serious and big storm.” Mr. Obama urged East Coast residents to “take this very seriously” and to follow advice of state and local officials. “This hasn’t hit landfall yet,” Mr. Obama warned. “So we don’t yet know where it’s going to hit, where we’re going to see the biggest impacts. And that’s exactly why it’s so important for us to respond big and respond fast as local information starts coming in.” In his visit here Sunday, Mr. Romney carried himself like a front-runner, saying he was heartened by “large crowds of independents, some Democrats, a lot of Republicans coming together and enthusiastically getting behind this campaign.” He posed a series of questions about Mr. Obama, all of them eliciting a loud response of “no.” “His campaign slogan is ‘Forward.’ Forward on the same path,” Mr. Romney said. “And I ask you: Do you want four more years with 23 million Americans looking for a good job? I mean, do you want four more years with trillion-dollar deficits?” Mr. Romney, who has replaced his traditional stump speech with a loftier closing argument over the past few days, shed the partisan edge that he has sometimes displayed in his speeches. He promised to personally reach out to Democrats in Congress should he win the election. “I know there are good Democrats who love America just like we do — I’m going to reach across the aisle to them and work together, put the interests of the people ahead of the politicians,” he said. “We can’t change course unless we change the way Washington is working.” With the storm bearing down on the East Coast, the Romney campaign said Sunday that it had stopped sending e-mail fund-raising pitches to voters in states that are in Hurricane Sandy’s path, despite its goal of raising $7 million in the final week of the race. A senior aide to Mr. Romney, Kevin Madden, said the campaign was avoiding areas that were likely to be struck by the storm, all but precluding travel to the closely contested state of Virginia until later in the week. In Celina, those who showed up to see Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan said that Virginia’s loss was their gain. “I know he was supposed to be someplace else,” whispered Edward Deitsch. “But he’s here.”

Presidential Election of 2012
Hurricane Sandy (2012)
Romney Mitt
Obama Barack
Ohio


Court Overturns ‘Burkini’ Ban in French Town

Abstract: PARIS — France’s highest administrative court on Friday overturned a town’s ban on burkinis, the full-body swimwear used by some Muslim women, setting a precedent that challenges similar bans in at least 30 other municipalities, most of them on the French Riviera . The burkini — and the decisions to ban wearing them on beaches — has become the focus of spirited global debates over women’s rights, assimilation and secularism. In its ruling, the court, known as the Council of State, found that the ban in the town of Villeneuve-Loubet violated civil liberties, including freedom of movement and religious freedom, and that officials had failed to show that the swimwear posed a threat to public order. The ruling also made clear that the bans in other municipalities could be similarly overturned, and the Socialist government seemed conflicted on how to respond. In a statement, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve suggested that it was time for the local officials to back down, saying it was now “up to each and every one to responsibly seek to ease tensions, which is the only way to avoid disturbances to public order and to bolster coexistence.” But later on Friday, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said in a statement on Facebook that the ruling “doesn’t exhaust the debate that has opened up in our society on the question of the burkini.” Mr. Valls, who last week likened the burkini to a form of “enslavement,” said in his comments on Friday that “condemning the burkini in no way questions individual liberties.” The court’s decision seemed unlikely to end the controversy as France enters a presidential election season. The center-right former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who has announced his plans to run for president again, supports a national ban. While the decision does not apply directly to the many other French cities and towns that have banned the burkini, it amounts to a warning that their prohibitions are likely to be overturned if challenged. The largest such community is the city of Nice. The United Nations and the White House seemed relieved by the ruling. “Obviously we welcome the decision by the court,” Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s chief spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, who had expressed concern about the burkini ban, said at a news briefing, emphasizing “the need for people’s personal dignity to be respected.” Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman, said the United States did not want to “second-guess” France, but noted that President Obama “believes strongly in the freedom of religion.” Critics of the bans have said they unfairly targeted Muslims in the wake of deadly terrorist attacks in France and elsewhere in Europe. The bans provoked a backlash , particularly photographs spread online showing armed police officers confronting women wearing burkinis, or other clothing — like a veil, a tunic and leggings — covering most of the body. Patrice Spinosi, a lawyer for the Human Rights League , one of the groups that had challenged the ban, said his association would now ask mayors in other towns to withdraw their bans. “The council has ruled and has showed that mayors do not have the right to set limits on wearing religious signs in public spaces,” he said, in the absence of a demonstrated threat to public order. “It is contrary to the freedom of religion, which is a fundamental freedom.” Villeneuve-Loubet, a seaside resort of about 14,000, adopted the ban on Aug. 5, and it was supposed to end on Sept. 15. Police officers in the town will no longer be able to issue fines for burkini-wearing, and women who received fines will be able to contest them. Villeneuve-Loubet sits between Nice and Cannes, which enacted a burkini ban on July 28 . Most of the prohibitions are temporary and run until the end of the holiday season. The town’s mayor, Lionnel Luca , denounced the ruling. “Apparently, the terrorist attacks in Nice were not sufficiently traumatic,” he said sarcastically at a news conference on Friday afternoon, referring to the rampage by a truck driver who attacked a Bastille Day fireworks celebration on July 14, causing 86 deaths. “This decision will raise tensions and passions.” Marwan Muhammad, the head of the Collective Against Islamophobia in France , another group that challenged the bans, praised the ruling, but expressed concern that other communities might drag their feet on rescinding their bans. “Normally, mayors should remove their ordinances following this decision, except if they want to race against the clock and go to court,” Mr. Muhammad said, noting that the ordinances are set to expire in the coming weeks, while the court process can drag on for longer. Several mayors have already told French media that they did not intend to remove their bans in light of the ruling. The ordinances in question did not mention Islam or the burkinis explicitly — instead banned bathing attire that was not “appropriate,” was not “respectful of good morals and of secularism,” or did not respect “hygiene and security rules” — but the target of the laws was obvious. The Council of State said the “emotions and concerns that are the result of the terrorist attacks, most notably the one carried out in Nice last July 14, do not suffice to legally justify the ban.” Restrictions on liberty “must be justified by proven risks to public order,” the court said, finding that the town’s mayor had failed to meet that criterion. Anti-discrimination and human rights groups had challenged the restrictions in local courts, but the rules were upheld, leading the groups to appeal to the Council of State, which heard arguments from lawyers for both sides on Thursday. The bans have also fueled an intense political debate and split the French government, with Mr. Valls expressing support for them and several female ministers opposing the restrictions, even as they voiced distaste for the garments. Marine Le Pen, the head of the far-right National Front, said after the ruling that French lawmakers should expand a 2004 law that bans ostentatious religious symbols in schools to all public places, except for “religious personnel,” but she did not make clear how broad that exception should be. The showdown over the burkini was only the latest controversy over the principle of laïcité, or secularism, that has been a defining feature of French political life since the Revolution. Critics say the principle is increasingly used to justify measures that single out Muslims, rather than keeping government out of religion and vice versa, the original intent. Jean-Pierre Mignard , a legal expert who is close to Mr. Hollande, predicted that the controversy would continue. “The fact that some elected officials are already contesting the Council of State’s decision shows that they have now entered an ideological showdown,” he said, while adding that if an anti-burkini law were put forward in Parliament, it would not likely pass muster with the country’s Constitutional Council. Paul Cassia , a professor of public law at the University of Paris, said the decision on Friday “creates a precedent that applies to all the towns,” and “a strong presumption” that such bans are unlawful. Although the ruling on Friday technically suspended the ban, Mr. Cassia said the decision effectively overturned the prohibition completely and showed that the principle of laïcité had been misapplied by the towns. “It means neutrality for the state, not the individual,” Mr. Cassia said. He added: “I was in Nice two days ago. There are women in the street with veils. It’s completely unreasonable to ban them from the beach, while they are free to walk around the city. It’s hysteria.” Mr. Muhammad, the head of the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, said he feared that in the current political climate, Muslims would continue to be targeted. “Now that it is over with the beach, they are going to come back with the debate on long skirts or on halal meals ,” he said.

France
Muslim Veiling
Swimsuits
Decisions and Verdicts
Separation of church and state


ICE to Audit 1,000 More Companies in Immigration Crackdown

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Immigration enforcement officials said Thursday that they were expanding a program for auditing companies that might have hired illegal immigrants and had notified 1,000 companies this week that they would have to undergo such a review. John Morton, who heads Immigration and Customs Enforcement , known as ICE, announced the new initiative, saying it was part of the administration’s plan to deal with companies that hire illegal workers. “ICE is focused on finding and penalizing employers who believe they can unfairly get ahead by cultivating illegal workplaces,” Mr. Morton said. He said that because the program was a law enforcement operation, he would not identify the companies that would undergo an audit except to say that they had been selected as a result of investigative leads and their connection to public safety and national security. The language suggests the audits will affect private companies involved in infrastructure operations like gas and electric utilities and contractors on military bases but not retailers and manufacturers of nonessential goods. The announcement of the action appears to be part of a two-pronged strategy by Homeland Security officials to crack down on companies that regularly rely on illegal workers while simultaneously trying to reward companies that are diligent in checking the documentation of prospective workers. At a separate event on Thursday, Janet Napolitano , the secretary of Homeland Security, urged American consumers to favor companies that make efforts to ensure that they do not hire illegal immigrants. To that end, Ms. Napolitano said that her department was permitting companies that use a new computerized system to check the legal status of employees to feature a special logo on their products and ads saying “I E-Verify.” The E-Verify campaign allows employers to match a prospective candidate’s name against a database that combines several government lists, including Social Security , passport and border information. The first audit conducted by ICE covered 654 companies and resulted in the filing of formal notices to seek a fine from 61. ICE officials said they were considering seeking fines from an additional 267 companies from that first audit. An audit consists of ICE officials checking each worker’s Employee Eligibility Verification Form, known as an I-9, to determine what steps were taken to confirm the person was eligible to be hired. If irregularities are found, the companies may then be fined for lax monitoring. The strategy is part of the Obama administration’s effort to reduce illegal immigration by forcing companies to fire unauthorized workers rather than by conducting raids at the workplace, actions that are often accompanied by great personal trauma, including deportation and the dividing of immigrant families. Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, a leading Republican on immigration policy, on Thursday sharply criticized the administration’s approach. Mr. Smith said it was unwise to end “worksite enforcement” actions, or raids. “The most effective means we have of making these jobs available to American citizens and legal immigrants is U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement worksite enforcement actions,” he said. “Each time ICE detains and deports an illegal immigrant worker, ICE creates a job for an American worker.” The audits, however, have resulted in large-scale dismissals at the hands of employers, leaving the government one step removed. In September, American Apparel, a clothing maker with a large garment factory in downtown Los Angeles, fired about 1,800 immigrant employees — more than a quarter of its work force — after a federal audit turned up irregularities in identity documents the workers presented when they were hired.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (US)


Sannino Bella Vita Vineyard in Cutchogue Part of Family Tradition

Abstract: Sannino Bella Vita Vineyard , in Cutchogue, traces its origins in part to the island of Ischia, near Naples. The grandparents of Anthony Sannino, who owns Sannino Bella Vita with his wife, Lisa, grew grapes and made wine there; they immigrated to Brooklyn when his mother was 16. Anthony and Lisa Sannino bought a fully planted five-acre Cutchogue vineyard in 2006 from Harold Watts, the founder of Ternhaven Cellars, in Greenport, which he ultimately closed. Mr. Sannino, a building contractor, constructed the Sanninos’ home, which is also a bed and breakfast, at that vineyard. A largely self-taught winemaker, he took an online course from the University of California at Davis and has been guided by local winegrowers, he said. In 2007, Mr. Sannino created a “vine to wine” program that allows subscribers to participate in every step of the winemaking process at Bella Vita. He released his first wines in 2009; they are made from the vineyard’s own and bought grapes. They are sold at a leased barn at Ackerly Pond Vineyards, in Peconic, which has suspended its own wine production temporarily, Jill Blum, the owner, said in a phone interview. All five recently released 2010 Bella Vita wines I tasted were first class. The regular chardonnay ($18) was seductive and awash in tropical-fruit flavors. The fancifully named Chilly Day chardonnay ($16), containing a splash of Finger Lakes vidal blanc, was plush and redolent of pears. Both these whites should be drunk lightly chilled, as should the charming Merlot Bianca ($20), a floral light-pink rosé that evokes its French Mediterranean counterparts, and the nicely balanced Snow Merlot ($15), a dark rosé, which shows an enticing cherrylike flavor and refreshing acidity. The seemingly simple regular merlot ($30) probably will display complexity in six months. It has hints of tobacco, macerated dark plums and black licorice. For more information: (631) 734-8282 and sanninovineyard.com .

Sannino Bella Vita Vineyard (Cutchogue NY)


Want a Job in British Banking? You May Have to Ditch the Brown Shoes

Abstract: LONDON — The right pair of oxfords can make or break a potential job candidate in staid investment banking circles in Britain, according to a report released on Thursday. Candidates from less affluent backgrounds in Britain are being shut out of investment banking jobs, particularly those involving meeting clients in corporate finance, because of their dress, their accent and their manner of speech, according to the report released by the Social Mobility Commission , an advisory body created by the British government in 2010. Researchers at Royal Holloway, University of London, and the University of Birmingham found that some managers placed as much importance on whether a potential hire fit the traditional, polished image of an investment banker as on their skills and qualifications. The report, “ Socio-Economic Diversity in Life Sciences and Investment Banking ,” also found that managers who hired people for corporate finance jobs tended to recruit from a small pool of elite universities, such as the Cambridge, Oxford and the London School of Economics. “Issues relating to dress may seem both superficial and relatively simple for individuals from all backgrounds to adopt,” the report said. “However, interviewees suggested that they do play a material role in the selection process, once again, as demonstration of ‘fit.’ ” The researchers’ findings came as a number of investment banks and professional services firms have adopted business casual as a dress code in recent years as a way to better connect with clients, who have dropped suits and ties as their standard uniforms. In June, JPMorgan made business casual its new dress code , joining General Electric, IBM and others in moving away from traditional business attire. Social mobility is an important issue in Britain, where class and economic background can still play a part in how far a person advances. Prime Minister Theresa May , when taking office in July, said that improving the opportunities for people from all walks of life would be a priority in her government. Investment banks, the report found, are making an effort to open front-office roles to applicants from nonprivileged backgrounds through outreach programs and other initiatives that focus on work experience, internships and skills training, but these remain “relatively small scale.” Bankers in Britain are expected to be much more technically savvy than ever, but image remains a barrier if a job involves meeting clients on a regular basis, the report said. An ill-fitting suit, the wrong haircut or a lower-class accent can quickly eliminate a potential hire from corporate finance roles, according to the findings. As an example, the researchers found that wearing brown shoes with a business suit was generally considered unacceptable among British investment bankers, but a similar judgment did not apply to bankers from Continental Europe, where brown shoes were more commonplace. “A further qualification is that some bankers in corporate finance may ‘get away’ with wearing brown shoes perhaps, for example, if they are sufficiently senior,” the report said. Questions of dress code almost always concerned only male business attire, “underlining the strong association between investment banking and masculinity,” the report said. It indicated that these subtle messages in dress are a way for individuals to signal their allegiance to “tribes” in the City of London, the traditional financial center of Britain, and to reassure colleagues of their willingness to fit in. Such hurdles can be disheartening to jobseekers. One candidate told researchers that his mentor had said that, while he had done well in an interview and was “clearly quite sharp,” he was not the right “fit” for the bank because he was not polished enough. “He looked at me and said: ‘See that tie you’re wearing? It’s too loud. Like you can’t wear that tie with the suit that you’re wearing,’ ” the unidentified candidate is quoted in the report as saying. He added, “What kind of industry is this where I can be told that I’m a good candidate, I’m sharp, but I’m not polished enough?”

Banking and Finance
Job Recruiting and Hiring
Great Britain


New York City’s Taxi System Complies With Disabilities Law, Panel Rules

Abstract: A federal appeals court panel ruled on Thursday that New York City’s taxi system complied with federal disabilities law, rebuffing a class-action suit brought by advocates for disabled passengers that had threatened to jumble an already uncertain future for the city’s taxicabs. In its decision , the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned a District Court ruling that had called for the Taxi and Limousine Commission to provide more “meaningful access” to wheelchair users, under the Americans With Disabilities Act. “Plaintiffs contend that the T.L.C. violates the A.D.A. because it could require more taxis to be accessible, but does not,” the ruling said. “No doubt, more such taxis would be on the streets if the T.L.C. required more of them to be accessible. But the T.L.C.’s failure to use its regulatory authority does not amount to discrimination within the meaning of the A.D.A. or its regulations.” Currently, about 230 yellow taxis are wheelchair accessible. The sale of an additional 2,000 medallions, which the city expected to generate $1 billion as part of an effort to expand street hail service throughout the five boroughs, was delayed after a State Supreme Court justice temporarily blocked the plan this month. The fate of the sale, and the city’s livery taxi plan, remain uncertain. A ruling against the city on Thursday could have affected the introduction of the so-called Taxi of Tomorrow. Beginning as soon as the end of 2013, medallion owners will be required by the Taxi and Limousine Commission to buy the Nissan NV 200. The cars will be phased in over three to five years, with exceptions for wheelchair-accessible cabs, but the Nissans are not wheelchair accessible themselves without modifications. In a statement on Thursday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said, “Nothing in the A.D.A. compels the city to require that taxis be wheelchair accessible. “This ruling is consistent with common sense and the practical needs of both the taxi industry and the disabled, and we will continue our efforts to assist disabled riders.” The city is close to unveiling a dispatch service that will allow passengers in wheelchairs to arrange for a pickup. Many wheelchair users in the city also use Access-A-Ride, provided by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. But advocates say such services often fall short. Edith Prentiss of the Taxis for All Campaign , a plaintiff in the suit, said the dispatch system “was, and is, a joke.” She added that the commission “will not be able to placate the disability community with this kind of second-class segregated service.” James Weisman, the general counsel for the United Spinal Association , another plaintiff, invoked the Jim Crow era in response to the ruling. “In the Jim Crow South, blacks were given separate inferior facilities and services,” Mr. Weisman said. “This mayor treats people with disabilities in a similar fashion.”

Taxicabs and Taxicab Drivers
Americans With Disabilities Act
Decisions and Verdicts
Taxi and Limousine Commission
New York City
Suits and Litigation
Regulation and Deregulation of Industry
Disabilities


Study Sees Signs of Obesity Rates Stalling

Abstract: Obesity rates in women have leveled off and stayed steady since 1999, long enough for researchers to say the plateau appears to be real. And, they say, there are hints that the rates may be leveling off for men, too. The researchers’ report, published online at cdc.gov/nchs , used data from its periodic national surveys that record heights and weights of a representative sample of Americans. Those surveys, said Cynthia L. Ogden, an epidemiologist at the National Center for Health Statistics and the lead author of the new report, are the only national ones that provide such data. Dr. Ogden added that the trend for women was “great news.” Obesity rates have held at about 35 percent since 1999, convincing her that the tide had changed. “I’m optimistic that it really is leveling off,” she said. Men’s rates increased until 2003, when they hit 33 percent and stayed there through 2005-6. Dr. Ogden said she would like to see a few more years of data before declaring that men’s rates had stopped increasing. Obesity is defined as a body mass index, a measure of weight for height, of 30 or greater. For example, someone 5 feet 6 inches tall would be obese at 186 pounds. The goal at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is for the obesity rate to be no more than 15 percent by 2010. The last time that rate was seen was 1980. The report found that obesity rates varied with age. The highest were in people 40 to 59, when 40 percent of men were obese and 41 percent of women were. For women, but not men, the rates also varied with ethnicity. Non-Hispanic black and Mexican-American women had the highest rates — about half were obese when they were in their 40s and 50s. In contrast, 39 percent of non-Hispanic white women were obese at that age. As black women got older, their rates increased again. Sixty-one percent of black women 60 and older were obese, compared with 32 percent of white women and 37 percent of Mexican-American women. Obesity specialists had mixed reactions to the new data. “There is slight joy in fact that the number has not increased since 2003,” said Kelly D. Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale. “But it is mainly discouraging news that the number has not gone down at all.” Claude Bouchard, an obesity researcher who directs the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., said he was not convinced that obesity had leveled off. The rates for men and women edged up by about 2 percent from 2003-4 to 2005-6, Dr. Bouchard noted. Even though those increases were not statistically significant, they were, he said, a troubling trend. “I’m worried,” he said. “We are talking about something that is still creeping up.” And, he added, look at the obesity rates in black women: “Wow, through the roof.” But Madelyn Fernstrom, who directs the weight management program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said she was encouraged. And she said there might be more to it than people finally reaching the limit of how fat they can get. Instead, Dr. Fernstrom said, many Americans are setting more rational weight goals and discovering that even if they cannot lose much weight, they can try to avoid gaining. The national goal of no more than 15 percent of Americans being obese is “unrealistic,” she said, even counterproductive. And the so-called normal weight defined as a body mass index, or B.M.I., of 18 to 25 is impossible for many people to maintain. “When the bar is set too high, people do nothing,” Dr. Fernstrom said. “Whether it’s 7 to 10 fruits and veggies a day when people can’t even get to 5, or 75 minutes of physical activity when 20 is hard for most people, or a B.M.I. under 25.” Now, she added, many people are looking at other measures of health, like blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar, to assess their medical risks. And, she said, people are recognizing the threat of weight creep. “In my clinical practice, people come in and say, ‘I didn’t lose weight this month.’ I say, ‘But you didn’t gain weight,’” Dr. Fernstrom said. “The newer message is that not gaining weight is a reasonable goal.”

Obesity
National Center for Health Statistics


David Lowery Sues Spotify for Copyright Infringement

Abstract: Spotify has been sued for copyright infringement in a case that accuses it of failing to properly license songwriting rights in the United States. The suit highlights an escalating fight over the complex system of royalties for online music. David Lowery, the leader of the rock bands Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, and an outspoken advocate for musicians’ rights in the digital age, filed the suit on Monday in federal court in California. It contends that the company makes many songs available on its service without properly securing — or paying for — “mechanical rights,” which date back to the era of piano rolls but are still a major kind of music copyright. Mechanical rights refer to a copyright holder’s control over the ability to reproduce a musical work. Mr. Lowery’s suit contends that Spotify copies and distributes versions of his songs on its service, which streams music to some 75 million people around the world, 20 million of whom pay for monthly subscriptions. In his suit, filed in United States District Court in Los Angeles, Mr. Lowery applied for class-action status, arguing that Spotify has failed to handle the mechanical licensing for a huge but unspecified number of songs by many songwriters. Citing statutory damages for copyright infringement, which range from $750 to $30,000 — or $150,000 for each instance of willful infringement — Mr. Lowery’s suit says that Spotify could be liable for up to $150 million. “We are committed to paying songwriters and publishers every penny,” Jonathan Prince, a spokesman for Spotify, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, especially in the United States, the data necessary to confirm the appropriate rights holders is often missing, wrong or incomplete.” As streaming has grown, the songwriting rights — which are handled separately from those of recordings — have become more valuable and their licensing increasingly contested. Songwriters like Mr. Lowery often complain of low royalty rates or of not being paid at all, while online outlets and music publishers alike say that incomplete or conflicting data often hampers proper accounting. In October, Spotify removed from its service thousands of songs from Victory Records, an independent punk and metal label, after the label’s publishing arm complained that Spotify was not paying for millions of streams. Spotify said it did not have enough data to resolve the issue, but Victory and Audiam, a company that administers its royalties, disputed this, saying they had provided data with years’ worth of information. Victory’s songs were quietly restored to Spotify a few weeks later, but the issue has continued to simmer. The National Music Publishers’ Association estimates that 25 percent of the activity on interactive streaming services like Spotify is not properly “matched” to the right data to let songwriters and their publishers get paid. Last week, Spotify announced that it would create a “ comprehensive publishing administration system ” to fix the problem of faulty royalty information.

Spotify
Copyrights
Music
Royalties
Lawsuits
David Lowery


Grief and Defiance in Pakistan as Survivors of Taliban Massacre Return to School

Abstract: PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The survivors of a massacre at a Pakistani school last month returned to their school on Monday, offering a grief-tinged show of defiance and apprehension. It was the first time the Army Public School had opened since seven Taliban gunmen went through its classrooms and assembly hall on Dec. 16 in a rampage of bloodshed that traumatized Pakistan. New official figures put the number of dead at 150, with at least 134 of them children. Army soldiers stood at the gates as children, many clutching a parent’s hand, streamed into a school where the authorities had worked hard to erase traces of the killing. Walls had been washed and bullet holes hidden, parents and teachers said. But for many, the trauma was vivid and present. Some students traded stories of survival, marveling that they had survived the eight-hour assault. Others shed tears, describing empty classrooms where fellow students had been mowed down by Taliban gunfire. “I knew it would be difficult for me to fight off the tears,” said Andaleeb Aftab, a teacher whose 15-year-old son, Huzaifa, was killed in the assembly hall along with most of his class. Image Students of a government-run girls school in a Peshawar classroom on Monday. Last month’s attack has brought an atypical sense of unity to Pakistan. Credit Mohammad Sajjad/Associated Press Ms. Aftab, who escaped the killers by locking herself in a bathroom, said she had quietly slipped into the school early, over the weekend, to start grieving on her own. “I am a teacher,” she said, “and teachers are supposed to be role models.” Classes officially resume on Tuesday, and Monday’s ceremony was limited to students, parents, teachers and some military officials. The army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, visited with his wife and led prayers and the national anthem. Among the crowd were young people still wearing bandages or casts — wounded students, some of them shot several times in the attack. Mothers sobbed as their children recited a poem by Pakistan’s national poet, Muhammad Iqbal, the general said. Afterward, several students said they were determined to complete their education, regardless of the Taliban threat. “I am going to stay,” said Rizwan Khan, who lost several friends. Army snipers perched on nearby rooftops, and the school walls were lined with thick bales of barbed wire. Students had been told to leave their school bags at home on Monday. Though most of the school has been refurbished, the school assembly hall, where most of the deaths occurred, remained closed and was draped in a green cloth, said Ms. Aftab, the teacher. Video Witnesses described the scene on Tuesday in Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan after at least 145 people were killed in a Taliban attack on a school. Credit Credit Bilawal Arbab/European Pressphoto Agency Army officers told school staff members that they were considering putting the building to another use, but did not specify what that might be, she said. A national sense of anger and grief has created an unusually strong sense of unity among Pakistan’s normally fractious leadership figures. The army’s popularity has risen sharply, and the country’s parliamentary factions lined up behind a constitutional amendment last week to allow military courts to try suspected militants. After leaving the school, General Sharif held a meeting in Rawalpindi with the head of the United States Central Command, Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III. On Tuesday, General Austin was expected to meet with the United States secretary of state, John Kerry, who landed in Pakistan for a two-day visit on Monday. The Pakistani national security adviser, Sartaj Aziz, told reporters that Mr. Kerry was expected to visit the Army Public School on Tuesday. American officials did not confirm those plans. Fearing another Taliban attack on a school, the government has imposed onerous security requirements, including barbed wire, security guards and surveillance cameras, on educational institutions in many parts of the country. Schools that failed the new standards were not allowed to reopen on Monday. In Peshawar district, only 118 of 1,380 private schools met the security guidelines, said Dr. Mian Muhammad Saeed, a senior police officer. In the capital, Islamabad, the police prevented some schools from reopening after the winter break on similar grounds. Among students, even those who did make it back to class complained of a sense of pervasive vulnerability. “The uncertainty is terrifying,” said Nirmal Zara, 23, a student of psychology at Foundation University in Rawalpindi.

Army Public School and Degree College
Pakistan
Taliban
School Shootings and Attacks
Lloyd J Austin III
Peshawar