Obama Nominates Thomas E. Perez as Labor Secretary

Abstract: WASHINGTON — President Obama announced Monday that he would nominate Thomas E. Perez, who heads the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department, to be the next secretary of labor, a choice that promised to provoke a debate with Republicans about voting rights, immigration and discrimination. Mr. Perez would replace Hilda L. Solis as head of the Labor Department at a time when the president has promised to create more jobs and overhaul immigration policy. Mr. Obama presented Mr. Perez, who would be the only Hispanic in the cabinet, as an American immigration success story whose own history would help him tackle the issues of the day. “Like so many Americans, Tom knows what it’s like to climb the ladder of opportunity,” Mr. Obama said with Mr. Perez at his side during a ceremony in the East Room on Monday morning. “He’s the son of Dominican immigrants. He helped pay his way through college as a garbage collector and working at a warehouse. He went on to become the first lawyer in his family. “So his story reminds us of this country’s promise,” the president added, “that if you’re willing to work hard, it doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, what your last name is, you can make it if you try.” Republicans quickly criticized Mr. Perez, suggesting that he may undergo tough scrutiny in confirmation hearings. Critics described Mr. Perez as a radical legal activist who has presided over a politically charged division and has tried to help illegal immigrants avoid detection and receive public benefits. “This is an unfortunate and needlessly divisive nomination,” said Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama. “The top priority of the secretary of labor should be to create jobs and higher wages for American workers. But Mr. Perez has aggressively sought ways to allow the hiring of more illegal workers. Mr. Perez has also had a controversial tenure at the Department of Justice, where he has demonstrated a fundamentally political approach to the law.” Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the ranking Republican on the committee that will consider Mr. Perez’s nomination, issued a more cautious statement, saying he looked forward to meeting the nominee and examining his record. “Any nominee for this position should be ready and able to work with both parties in Congress to make it easier for the private sector to create good jobs for the 12 million workers still unemployed now more than three and a half years after the recession ended,” Mr. Alexander said. The president’s announcement came just days after a Justice Department inspector general’s report found that the voting rights section has been torn by “deep ideological polarization” with liberal and conservative factions in sharp conflict. The divisions date back to the George W. Bush administration, and most occurred before Mr. Perez was confirmed in October 2009. He portrayed the report as largely clearing the section on his watch. But the report also raised questions about testimony he gave, and Republicans made clear that they would take issue with his handling of some cases over the last three and a half years. His critics question, for example, whether he acted inappropriately in persuading the City of St. Paul to drop a lawsuit seeking to limit fair housing claims when there is no intentional bias. Liberals and labor leaders hailed Mr. Perez, calling him a champion for workers and those who have faced discrimination. “At a time when our politics tilts so heavily toward corporations and the very wealthy, our country needs leaders like Tom Perez to champion the cause of ordinary working people,” said Richard L. Trumka, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. James P. Hoffa, general president of the Teamsters, called Mr. Perez “the right choice” because of his history of advocacy. “In these difficult economic times,” Mr. Hoffa said, “workers need a fighter at the Labor Department who will stand up for them, and they are getting just that with Thomas Perez.” While at the Justice Department, Mr. Perez has pursued a record number of discrimination or brutality claims against local police and sheriff’s departments, including that of Joe Arpaio , the outspoken sheriff in Maricopa County, Ariz., who was accused of “a pattern of unlawful discrimination” against Latinos. Mr. Perez also challenged voter identification requirements imposed by South Carolina and Texas, and his division reached the three largest residential fair lending settlements in the history of the Fair Housing Act. Under him, the voting section participated in the most new litigation in the last fiscal year than in any previous year. He has spent a career fighting discrimination cases as a federal prosecutor, then, under President Bill Clinton, as deputy chief of the Civil Rights Division, and finally as head of civil rights enforcement at the Health and Human Services Department. Mr. Perez also served as an elected council member in Montgomery County, Md., and as the state’s secretary of labor, licensing and regulation. Though his father died when he was 12, his family pressed the value of education so much that all four of his siblings became doctors. Mr. Perez, 51, graduated from Brown University and Harvard Law School. “My parents taught my four siblings and me to work hard, to give back to our community and to make sure that the ladder of opportunity was there for those coming after us,” Mr. Perez said at the White House on Monday as he addressed the crowd in both English and Spanish. “Over my career, I’ve learned that true progress is possible if you keep an open mind, listen to all sides and focus on results.” The timing of the inspector general’s report on the voting section seems to ensure that it will come up during Mr. Perez’s confirmation hearings. The report found a toxic environment in which conservatives and liberals fought and maligned one another through the Bush administration and into the Obama administration. The examples it cited generally preceded Mr. Perez, and he wrote the inspector general that he had made a point of correcting the situation. “Since 2009, the Civil Rights Division and the Voting Section have undertaken a number of steps to improve the professionalism of our workplace and to ensure that we enforce the civil rights laws in an independent, evenhanded fashion,” Mr. Perez wrote. The inspector general, however, raised questions regarding Mr. Perez’s testimony about a case that preceded his time. Mr. Perez told the Civil Rights Commission in 2010 that no senior department officials were involved in a 2009 decision not to pursue further a case of voter intimidation involving the New Black Panthers. But the report noted that in fact senior officials did participate in discussions about the case, although the final decision was made by career lawyers as Mr. Perez had testified. Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said the report showed that Mr. Perez was “woefully unprepared to answer questions” about a matter that he expected to be asked about. “This is troubling as it suggests a failure to also prepare for hearings before Congress, including the Senate Judiciary Committee, when questioned on this same topic,” he said in a statement. Moreover, Mr. Grassley said the report made clear that Mr. Perez had not done as much as he had said to end harassment of conservatives in the voting rights section. “The reports shows that despite claims that it’s a new era in the Civil Rights Division, they are sadly mistaken, and it’s business as usual,” Mr. Grassley said. While conservatives have called him a radical, Mr. Perez has not backed off his aggressive approach, even as his name was up for consideration for the Labor Department job. Just last Thursday, he announced an investigation into excessive force complaints against the Cleveland Police Department.

Thomas E Perez
Labor Department
Appointments and Executive Changes
US Politics
Barack Obama


Kidd, Nets’ New Coach and Part-Owner, Sees a Brand on the Rise

Abstract: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Jason Kidd acknowledged Tuesday that he had purchased a small share of the Nets franchise — a half of Jay Z’s share, which was only a fraction of a percent — citing the rise of the team’s profile as a reason behind his investment. “I think you look at the product of where the brand is going, and I’m a big believer that it’s going in the right direction,” Kidd said. “So, like any investment, you tend to go with a company that is going in the right direction, and I feel like this is a company that is going in the right direction.” But as Kidd, 40, made clear, he still needs to adjust to his role as one of the brand’s main stewards. Speaking for about a half-hour at the Nets practice center during his first formal news conference since June, when he was named the team’s coach, Kidd cataloged the lessons he has been learning, the potential challenges to come and the expectations he holds for the Nets, who are expected to be championship contenders. It will be no small task, Kidd acknowledged, and the preparation has been rigorous. He attended a two-day coaches clinic this summer and digested advice from Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Doc Rivers and Frank Vogel, among others. He reviewed every Nets game from last season, from their Nov. 3 opener to their Game 7 loss last spring to the Chicago Bulls. Last season’s team, he concluded, did not have a strong identity. It was, to use his word, vanilla. “There was no flavor,” Kidd said. Kidd said adding the veteran stars Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, among other new players, would help change that. Pierce also used a food metaphor during his introductory news conference in July, saying the team had the ingredients to win, but would need “salt and pepper and all the spices.” The ingredients will begin to come together Monday, when the team flies to Durham, N.C., to hold five days of preseason practice at Duke. For all the talent that will travel there, questions about health and chemistry will probably persist all season. Kidd has only begun answering them. He joked that his conversations with Garnett about sitting out certain games “wasn’t very nice.” In a more serious tone, he said Garnett probably deserved a chance to play substantial minutes, at least at first, to develop a rhythm. Monitoring Pierce’s minutes would be a delicate challenge, too. But Kidd said he expected his accomplishments as a player over a 19-year N.B.A. career had earned him some credibility with his veteran players. “We battled against each other, so respect is there,” Kidd said. During a wide-ranging discussion, Kidd said the team would continue to be cautious with Deron Williams, who has been dealing with a sprained ankle. And asked about who, from such a collection of players, might be the best candidate to take a game’s final shot, he singled out Joe Johnson, noting he was 9 of 10 with 24 seconds or less left on the clock last season. Such things will remain to be seen. It is clear enough now, though, as Kidd pointed out, that the Nets as a brand are on the rise. As they enter the season, they appear capable of engendering endless intrigue, and Kidd’s presence has plenty to do with that. But as he also noted, he has adjustments to make. “I’m trying to get onto that coaches side,” Kidd said, somewhat jokingly. “The more time I spend with coaches, I’m picking up their lingo, their language.”

Basketball
Jason Kidd
Brooklyn Nets
Coaches


G.E. Reports Strong Quarterly Profit but Sales Are Below Forecasts

Abstract: Depressed oil prices, financial market worries and sluggish global growth threaten the industrial sector. But General Electric , the nation’s largest industrial company, seems to be weathering the challenges so far. The company on Friday reported solid fourth-quarter profit and delivered a cautiously optimistic outlook for 2016. Still, G.E.’s quarterly performance was mixed. Its revenue was weaker than Wall Street analysts had anticipated. The falloff in sales from its big oil-field equipment unit was one reason, but so was $1 billion in other equipment deals that G.E. expected to close in the fourth quarter but did not. G.E. executives insisted that most of those were fairly normal delays in completing heavy-equipment transactions rather than a signal that customers were becoming reluctant to buy, given the uncertain economic outlook. In a conference call, Jeffrey R. Immelt, G.E.’s chief executive, said the crucial signal of future business for the company — orders for its industrial products — was growing. And at the end of 2015, the company said it had a robust $315 billion backlog of orders for products including jet engines, power turbines and railway locomotives, and for services to care for the machinery. Mr. Immelt acknowledged the sluggish global economy and the “especially volatile” early weeks of 2016. But he emphasized that G.E.’s diverse collection of industrial businesses, its global reach and its cost-cutting programs should allow it to achieve double-digit profit growth this year. “We have all the elements to help ourselves in a tough economy,” he said. The financial scorecard for the fourth quarter and the full year of 2015 provides further evidence of the progress G.E. is making as it focuses increasingly on its industrial operations and pares back its once-huge finance arm, GE Capital. The company reported that its net profit increased 22 percent, to $6.28 billion, in its fourth quarter. G.E.’s earnings from continuing operations — mainly industrial businesses now — rose 27 percent, to 52 cents a share. That was slightly above the average estimate of securities analysts of 49 cents a share, compiled by Thomson Reuters. Image Construction in the Boston Seaport District, where General Electric plans to move its global headquarters. Credit Bill Sikes/Associated Press Revenue for the quarter rose 1 percent to $33.89 billion, below the analysts’ forecast of $35.96 billion. G.E.’s share price fell 2 percent shortly after it announced the results and closed down 1.2 percent. “The revenue shortfall was a disappointment,” said Steven Winoker, an analyst at Bernstein Research. But the strong order backlog and disciplined management of expenses, he said, should “ease concerns.” G.E. is undergoing two major shifts: in its portfolio of businesses, by shedding financial assets; and on the industrial side, by moving to become what G.E. executives call a “digital industrial company.” G.E. is a leader among industrial companies in placing sensors on heavy equipment and then analyzing the machine data with software to predict, for example, when a locomotive needs maintenance before it breaks down. The company’s revenue in its digital business rose 22 percent to $5 billion last year, with a goal, set by Mr. Immelt, of reaching $20 billion by 2020. As part of its campaign to become a digital-age industrial company, G.E. announced last week that it was moving its headquarters from Fairfield, Conn., to Boston, a hub of research universities and young, scientific talent. The company has also been enlarging its industrial business with the recent purchase of the electric grid and power generation assets of Alstom of France. The $10.6 billion acquisition was the largest industrial deal in G.E.’s history. The purchase involved lengthy negotiations with the French government. Integrating Alstom’s operations will be complex as G.E. trims the work force in some European countries at the same time it has pledged to add a net total of 1,000 jobs in France. But Alstom, G.E. executives said, adds significantly to the global stance of G.E.’s power-generation business. About $30 billion of G.E.’s $315 billion backlog comes from Alstom, said Jeffrey S. Bornstein, G.E.’s chief financial officer. With the tilt to industrial business, G.E. agreed last week to sell its consumer appliance business to China’s Haier Group for $5.4 billion. That deal came after an earlier deal with Electrolux of Sweden collapsed, when the Justice Department objected, saying the combination would reduce competition in the American appliance market.


Obama Order to Uncover Barriers in Hiring

Abstract: WASHINGTON — President Obama on Tuesday ordered “a governmentwide review” of federal regulations to root out those “that stifle job creation and make our economy less competitive,” but he exempted many agencies that most vex corporate America. The immediate effect is likely to be more political than substantive. The action was the latest in a series by Mr. Obama to claim the ideological center, and in particular to signal to businesses that he wants to work more closely with them on policies that could help create jobs. Mr. Obama’s executive order would not apply to federal agencies created to be largely independent of the White House and Congress. That includes those, like the Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Reserve, which currently are writing new rules for banks and other institutions that are mandated by the new law aimed at preventing another financial crisis. And it includes others like the Federal Communications Commission that have sway over large sectors of the economy. The order would cover executive branch departments that are drafting regulations to carry out the new health care law and environmental rules that also have been the focus of intense battles. In an accompanying memorandum, Mr. Obama emphasized that regulators should be flexible when it comes to rules that would affect small businesses. The president has made no secret of his desire for détente with businesses after the fights of the last few years. He recently met with about 20 corporate executives to discuss ideas for economic growth and will speak to the United States Chamber of Commerce on Feb. 7. He also named William M. Daley, formerly an executive of JPMorgan Chase, as his chief of staff. Mr. Obama announced his executive order with a column on the op-ed page in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, in which he called for “the right balance” between free markets and public safeguards against health hazards and commercial abuses like those that gave rise to the financial crisis. More broadly, Mr. Obama’s order also reflects his effort to regain support from centrist and independent voters, who will be crucial to his own re-election. Similarly, weeks after the midterm election, he proposed a two-year pay freeze for civilian federal employees amid pressure from voters and Republicans to reduce spending. And he signed on to a deal last month with Republicans that extended all the Bush-era tax cuts . Republicans leaders generally applauded Mr. Obama’s initiative, even as they pointed out its limitations. Business and conservative groups likewise welcomed it. But liberal and consumer groups criticized Mr. Obama for echoing some of the antiregulation rhetoric of Republicans despite recent tragedies — the gulf drilling explosion, mine accidents and food poisoning — where they said better regulatory oversight might have averted deaths. “Large corporations were at the bottom of all of the human damage listed above, not because they are intrinsically evil but because they cannot be trusted to regulate themselves,” Rena Steinzor, a law professor and president of the Center for Progressive Reform, wrote on a blog. Both sides and nonpartisan policy analysts expressed skepticism, however, that much would come of Mr. Obama’s order. Recent history gives evidence of the legal, procedural and political hurdles to removing regulations. Even so, Mr. Obama is following the well-worn tracks of presidents going as far back as Gerald R. Ford. “It is the easiest thing in the world for a president or any policy maker to denounce bad regulations and not give any specifics,” said James Gattuso, a senior research fellow in regulatory policy at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative policy organization. Still, he added, “I would rather have the president denouncing bad regulations than not denouncing bad regulations.” Mr. Obama’s order is “more of a talking point than a policy,” said Robert E. Litan, vice president for research and policy at the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo., who, as an academic and a federal official in the Carter and Clinton administrations has been involved in regulatory policy for decades. “Even if you find a rule you don’t like, and they probably will, then they’re going to have to go through rule-making and then it’s going to take a year or two or longer,” he added. “And then somebody will sue them; if it’s not another industry it will be a consumer interest group or a Republican interest group.” He recalled that one of Ronald Reagan’s first acts as president was to win repeal of a requirement for airbags that car makers loathed. The insurance industry sued, arguing that airbags saved lives and medical costs, and won in the Supreme Court. In his op-ed, Mr. Obama cited an agreement on vehicle fuel-economy standards that his administration brokered with automakers, unions, state officials and environmental advocates as an example of how negotiations can resolve conflicts. That deal, however, was possible largely because General Motors and Chrysler had little if any leverage; they were in bankruptcy and getting a bailout. Automakers returned to profitability last year and now are fighting fuel economy and emissions rules scheduled for 2017. On the environmental front, the Obama administration is also moving ahead with new regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and refineries, but has said it would do so in a cost-effective and common-sense way. For a time after the financial crisis in 2008, deregulation talk was not in fashion. But last summer corporate groups mounted a strong antiregulation campaign even as Congress debated tighter restrictions on activities that contributed to the crisis. In a letter sent to the administration, the chairmen of the Business Roundtable and the Business Council identified “government initiatives that will cause slower rather than faster growth.” Among the recommendations was one to loosen immigration limits to admit more skilled foreign workers.

Obama Barack
Regulation and Deregulation of Industry
Corporations
United States Economy


Donations for Refugees Surging, American Charities Report

Abstract: Leading aid organizations in the United States are reporting a surge in charitable donations for helping refugees in the week since a photograph of a drowned Syrian toddler on a Turkish beach rocketed around social media worldwide. The United States Fund for Unicef, for example, said that donations for the refugee response had gone up 636 percent, and that traffic to the organization’s website had tripled. Save the Children, which has been working with victims of the Syria conflict for years, said it also had seen sharp increases in donations from ordinary Americans and new interest in helping from the organization’s longtime corporate benefactors. “You see a dead child and can’t help but be catapulted into action,” said Caryl M. Stern, president and chief executive of the United States Fund for Unicef. While there have been many photographs of children killed or wounded in the Syria conflict, she said, the photo of Aylan Kurdi, 3, touched many people partly because he was “not just a baby caught in a crossfire — he was savable.” Ms. Stern drew an analogy between the Kurdi photo and the 1972 photo of Kim Phuc, the young girl burned by napalm during the Vietnam War, which became an iconic image of suffering in that conflict. “It’s just galvanizing people,” Ms. Stern said. “I don’t think it’s going to die down so quickly.” Carolyn Miles, the president of chief executive of Save the Children, said that in the first eight months of this year, the organization had raised $200,000 for its Syria work. “In the last eight days, we’ve raised $800,000,” she said. “It really did change things.” She said that because of the Aylan Kurdi photo, “people suddenly realized it was about people, it was about children, particularly.” Here is a list of some of the organizations collecting donations for Syrian refugees, compiled by Charity Navigator, a nonprofit group that evaluates American charities. Additional organizations are listed on their website . • American Refugee Committee • Catholic Relief Services • GlobalGiving • International Medical Corps • Lutheran World Relief • United States Fund for UNICEF • USA for UNHCR • S ave the Children • Oxfam America • World Food Program USA

Refugees,Internally Displaced People
Humanitarian aid
Aylan Kurdi
Syria


Winning Is Always the Goal for Hamilton

Abstract: Lewis Hamilton is a British driver for the McLaren Mercedes team and was the 2008 world drivers’ champion. He has won 20 races since he began driving for the McLaren Mercedes team in 2007. Before that, he was nurtured for nearly a decade in the team’s young driver program, having signed up as a protégé at the age of 13 while still racing go-karts. During those years, as he prepared for Formula One , Hamilton won in every series in which he raced. He also maintained close ties to the elite team, visiting its factory in Woking, England, using the racing car simulator, and even testing the Formula One car before he began racing. In his first season in Formula One, he came within 1 point of winning the drivers’ title, losing it in the final race to Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari. He won the title the following year, also in the final race — and also by a single point — but this time against the other Ferrari driver, Felipe Massa. Last month, Hamilton, 27, announced that after six seasons at McLaren, he will move to the Mercedes team next season on a three-year deal. He spoke recently to Brad Spurgeon of the International Herald Tribune. Q. The former team owner Ken Tyrrell once said it might be surprising to learn how many Formula One drivers actually just love to drive the car and don’t necessarily feel a need to win races. How important is winning for you — both races and titles? A. Winning is always the main goal, and that is the most exciting part. It is the most satisfying part of all the work that goes into it. But as you get to Formula One, you realize this is the pinnacle of the sport and winning tons of times is not that easy. So it makes you learn to appreciate them more. When you have a longer gap, when you have 20 races and you only have three wins, those wins you really appreciate, because it took a lot of effort from yourself and from all the people that are in the team. And of course you want to win as many titles as possible. But it is getting harder and harder to do so. Q. Which of the three teammates you have had in Formula One — Fernando Alonso, Heikki Kovalainen and Jenson Button — was the most important to you? A. Fernando — because he’s the best. He’s very, very good. I have the utmost respect for Fernando, and I have always said that he is the best driver and I learned so much from that guy. But this is my family, and when I leave it’s on hopefully good terms. And, unfortunately, at the time it was not on good terms when he went to Renault. But nonetheless we have both grown so much and he’s doing a phenomenal job. And I hope that if I don’t win the championship, I don’t mind if he wins it because he deserves it, he is just a phenomenal driver. Driving alongside him was really good fun. Q. You have been totally involved in a bubble of racing your whole life, and I guess Formula One is even more restrictive than other series. Do you ever get tempted to get out and see where you fit in elsewhere in the world? A. Yes, but I do. I just get out and do as much as I can in my private life. I’ve got a girlfriend [the pop singer Nicole Scherzinger] that’s got a completely different life. So I separate myself from my life and get in hers with her and get to experience something really cool. So that’s a new world I get to be involved in. I’m still learning how to maximize what I have and what I’ve experienced, and the opportunities that I have, because there are so many. So I plan on in the future doing more. I’ve begun to realize I am quite a creative person this last year, I very like designing things. So there are lots of hobbies that I’m starting to pick up that I didn’t even really know I had. So I’ve started getting involved in those. Because there’s a lot of downtime, so rather than just reading a book it would be cool to be doing something else. I play the guitar. I am pretty musical, but I just like listening to music mostly. But the girlfriend’s got the voice. Q. Do you feel you have grown as a person since you have been in Formula One? A. I would hope so. I’ve grown in a lot of ways. I’m nearly 28 now, so I think making less mistakes… but still making mistakes — stupid mistakes sometimes. But, looking back, of course sometimes you say, “I wouldn’t do it.” But I love making those mistakes sometimes because if you didn’t, it would just be so boring, so it is sometimes good to do those things. But I am growing and learning more and trying to avoid the ones that are damaging to me. Q. What do you see as your biggest challenge at Mercedes next year? A. The biggest challenge is getting up to speed, and helping to take a car that is not winning and to make it win. That’s going to be the biggest challenge because there is only a certain amount the driver can do. You need the special, intelligent people around you to help do the job as well, so communication is going to be the key, I think. Q. You are replacing Michael Schumacher at Mercedes. He came to symbolize Ferrari in his previous time in Formula One. Is it possible for a driver to push a team forward, push it to the top, just by being a strong personality? A. I don’t know what it has to do with personality. It has to do with drive, it has to do with determination. Q. You recently started using more social media, such as Twitter. What prompted that? A. I just get a spur every now and then to reach out. I get so many messages. I still can’t believe today that, coming from Stevenage [Hamilton’s hometown], I’ve got one million followers. Those followers send messages from all over the world, wherever they are, and I can write one message and say, “Hey, how are you doing?” That’s asking one million people how they are doing. I just can’t come to terms with it. And I am so appreciative of it, and I want to make sure they know how much I appreciate their support. You come here or wherever you go and you see the banners. There is only a certain amount you can do to show your appreciation. I’ve got one particular fan, she follows me everywhere — she’s Japanese. And she has three or four flags in front of my garage, and if you go to the chicane she has the biggest flags and banners — there must be like five. And she’s just amazing. And I have that in lots of places. For me, for someone to go through that effort, whether it be gifts, whether it be just a message, whether it be the flags or just the support… Without them, without the fans, we wouldn’t be here. And that’s the only way I can be close to them.

Formula One
Automobile Racing
McLaren Racing
Schumacher Michael
Ferrari SpA


Sterling Spars With Wife’s Lawyer at Trial That Will Determine Clippers Sale

Abstract: LOS ANGELES — A feisty, audacious and occasionally charming Donald Sterling took the witness stand Tuesday in a trial that will determine whether he can prevent his estranged wife from selling the Los Angeles Clippers, the basketball team he has owned for more than 30 years. Sterling testified in Superior Court for nearly an hour under examination by one of his wife’s lawyers, Bert Fields. They provided captivating theater: a pair of octogenarians, one of whom struggled to hear, Sterling, and one of whom struggled to speak, Fields, his raspy voice from a sore throat was sometimes just above a whisper. Sterling frequently asked Fields to speak louder and repeat a question, and even more often chided him over his line of questioning. When Fields asked if Sterling would have allowed the two doctors who declared him incapacitated to examine him if he knew why they were there, the 80-year-old Sterling barked: “Do you think any first-year law student would allow an adversary to examine you?” Later, Judge Michael Levanas cut off an exchange between Fields and Sterling over whether settlement talks between the parties had taken place, which Sterling had asserted and Fields quickly denied. Levanas said any talks were privileged, and when Fields offered to waive his privilege, Sterling challenged him to do so. “Be a man, for God’s sakes,” Sterling told Fields. “Be a man.” The 85-year-old Fields said the only other confrontation he had with a witness was when he said Michael Eisner, the former head of Disney, tried to intimidate him. “But not like this one, wow,” Fields said. “But what I wanted the judge to see and the whole world to see was the real Donald Sterling, and that’s what you saw today. You saw his rage, you saw his emotion, you saw him just make things up.” Fields said he was unsure if he would call Sterling back to the stand when the trial resumes Wednesday afternoon. Fields said he did not want the trial — which is due to be completed Thursday — to become prolonged. Sterling’s testimony was the highlight of the trial’s second day, in which the two doctors who examined Sterling, Meril S. Platzer and James E. Spar, testified about their diagnoses of cognitive impairment. Sterling is trying to block the sale of the Clippers to Steve Ballmer, the former chief executive of Microsoft. If Sterling was at times belligerent, he also came across as someone in control. In the cross-examination of Platzer and Spar, Gary Ruttenberg, a probate lawyer for Sterling, tried to poke holes in the doctors’ contention that Sterling lacked the capacity to serve as trustee of the family trust. Bobby Samini, Sterling’s lead lawyer, said his client’s testimony bolstered that stand. “The claim that he lacks competency is a sham,” Samini said. Samini said that Sterling’s inability to recall dates was not unusual, and that his only significant impairment was with his hearing. Image Donald Sterling’s lawyer Maxwell Blecher entering the courthouse. Sterling said the Clippers were worth over $2 billion. Credit Stuart Palley for The New York Times “A lot of people talk about things tangentially,” Samini said. “I don’t know how that makes them incompetent. He has a lot to say. He has a lot on his chest. And I think he wanted to use this opportunity to try to get some of this out.” During his testimony, Sterling said the Clippers were worth more than the record $2 billion that Ballmer has agreed to pay for the franchise. Sterling maintained that any N.B.A. team in Los Angeles or New York was worth between $2.5 billion and $5 billion because of a thirst for content by television companies. Sterling cited the Lakers’ television deal with Time Warner, which he said was worth $3 billion. The Milwaukee Bucks were sold this year for $550 million. “Do you think Microsoft is foolish and think they don’t figure out where they’re going to get the money back?” Sterling said. “There’s no ego here, there’s tremendous opportunity here.” Sterling, who has sued the N.B.A. after Commissioner Adam Silver barred him for life and fined him $2.5 million for making racist remarks in a conversation that was recorded by a then-girlfriend, V. Stiviano, also said that he would win $9 billion in his lawsuit against the league. Sterling entered the courtroom shortly before 2:30 p.m., accompanied by a publicist. Sterling, wearing sunglasses, walked casually to the front row, where he took the first seat on the aisle, across from where his estranged wife, Rochelle, sat. He propped the sunglasses on his forehead and listened to Spar testify, Spar said he found Sterling had a cognitive impairment consistent with the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease. When Spar was finished, Levanas called for a recess. As the court emptied, Rochelle Sterling made her way to her husband, who held her hand and pulled her toward him. She whispered a few words in his ear and wiped away a tear as she left the courtroom. Donald Sterling stayed in his seat during the recess. He made small talk with his lawyers and publicists, and laughed when a court sketch artist showed him a drawing of Sterling with his wife in the background. “My wife is prettier than that,” Sterling told him with a smile. Though he has plied girlfriends with cash, cars and gifts, Donald Sterling testified that he still loved his wife and trusted her. He had agreed to undergo neurological testing at the behest of his wife, who suggested a battery of exams upon his 80th birthday. Rochelle Sterling then arranged appointments with Platzer and Spar, and used their diagnoses to have Donald Sterling removed from the trust. Sterling said a letter he wrote to the N.B.A. on May 22, authorizing his wife to negotiate “all issues in connection with a sale,” was done because he believed she would retain a stake in the franchise, which is not part of her agreement with Ballmer. Sterling later rescinded the approval. “I authorized her to negotiate,” he said. “Negotiate is not to consummate a sale. As a good wife, she advised me that she was going to have a percentage of the team. Then I learned what she told me was erroneous and they made representations to me that weren’t true.” Outside court, after it had been cleared, Rochelle Sterling spoke to her lawyer Pierce O’Donnell and expressed the hope that Donald Sterling was not going to tie up the sale of the team in court for another two years, until the Clippers had a new television deal in place. “He’s speaking his piece,” she said to O’Donnell. “He has no filter. His brain has no filter.”

Basketball
Clippers
NBA
Donald Sterling
Rochelle Sterling
Steven A Ballmer
Bertram Fields
Pierce O'Donnell


Within Harsh Report on Fatal Fire, a Nod to Firefighters’ ‘Can-Do Attitude’

Abstract: Here is the Halligan tool: a lightweight crowbar-like device used by firefighters to pry open locked doors, smash windows and punch holes in walls. It hangs on a truck’s side at the headquarters of Ladder Company 1 and Engine Company 7, on Duane Street in Lower Manhattan. And as Firefighter John McConnachie pulls it from the rig on Friday and lifts its 8 ½ pounds up to the height of his chest — like an extension of his arm — he explains its place in the city’s long history of firefighting ingenuity. “Anytime something happens, we try to do something to make it safer and better,” said Firefighter McConnachie, 46, who has 15 years on the job. “It’s always a hairy situation — if it’s an explosion, a man under a train, there’s a gas leak, there’s a woman in a wheelchair with a broken elevator and we carry her up.” The Halligan, a combination adze, pick and fork, is made for improvisation. Named for its inventor, Hugh A. Halligan, who joined the Fire Department in 1916, it is well-suited to the men and women who are expected to think fast in a crisis, even if they have to cut corners sometimes. “Every fire, there’s screwed-up things,” Firefighter McConnachie said. “You try to go by the guidelines and the regulations, but things get screwed up. You have to take risks and you have to break rules to get the job done.” Firefighters’ tendency to improvise at fires and other catastrophes was highlighted in a Fire Department report released this week about a fire at the former Deutsche Bank building last August that killed two firefighters. The report, a 176-page lesson plan on firefighting failures, cited several ways in which firefighters broke rules or flouted procedures in the face of overwhelming hazards. In battling the blaze, high up in the tower, which was being dismantled in Lower Manhattan, they pushed their air packs beyond the 45-minute limit, removed their masks in an effort to save air, and ignored warnings of danger. One firefighter rode atop a freight elevator. But while the tone was scolding, the subtext was admiring. The report said the firefighters’ risky actions embodied a culture of positive thinking. “The ‘can-do attitude’ has enabled the F.D.N.Y. to protect life and property at a superior level of excellence since the Fire Department’s inception,” it states. Glenn P. Corbett, an associate professor of fire science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said city firefighters were known for fearlessness and innovation. Each fire is unique, he said. Conditions can change in a heartbeat. But a question remains: When is it appropriate to deviate from standard operating procedures? “There is a balance between advocating unsafe or inappropriate actions under normal circumstances versus a situation where extraordinary effort, experience, creativity, innovation, taking higher risks and pushing equipment beyond its limits is necessary,” said Professor Corbett, a former assistant chief of a volunteer fire department in New Jersey. “When someone is dying, firefighters are going to push themselves to the limit,” he said. Sometimes that can get firefighters into trouble. But they invariably show up. On Sept. 11, 2001, the alarm came in just before the 9 a.m. shift change, so the outgoing and incoming platoons were at firehouses at the same time. The alarms kept coming. “They rode heavy, as we say,” said Francis X. Gribbon, the department’s chief spokesman, describing how additional men jumped on the trucks headed to the World Trade Center. Of the 343 firefighters killed that day, roughly 60 were working in this volunteer capacity, he said. Since then, the Fire Department has banned the practice, said Salvatore Cassano, the chief of department. “Believe me, if I can do anything in my tenure, it is to improve safety,” Chief Cassano said. “I am tired of going to funerals. I am tired of visiting people in the hospital. I am tired of telling a wife that her husband is dead or a mother that her son is dead.” Some firefighters said it sometimes takes more guts to back off than to push ahead, even at fires where the possibility of trapped victims is low, at places like abandoned buildings or junkyards. It goes against instinct. They are usually not supposed to go to floors above the flames, but if someone is trapped up there, they might. Not following the rules is dangerous, many agree. “You can’t take off your mask if you’re in a fire,” said one firefighter outside a firehouse in central Brooklyn. But three firefighters on Flushing Avenue in Brooklyn, who had just helped extinguish a two-alarm blaze in a building under renovation, said they sometimes took their masks off. “Do we take it off?” asked one firefighter, dressed in bunker gear. “Yes, maybe to get a better view of the situation so we don’t have to look through that scratched-up mask all the time. We’re not supposed to, but we do.” A lieutenant from another company standing with the men disagreed. “I would never take my mask off,” he said. “Not in a large smoke situation, not even in a light smoke situation. There could be PCBs or anything else in the air. When we put it on, it stays on. We keep it on until the fire is over.” At the headquarters of Engine 34 and Ladder 21, on West 38th Street in Midtown, one firefighter conceded that he and his colleagues broke from standard rules sometimes, usually when lives were at stake. “It’s like anything in life: there’s the ideal situation and then there’s what you’re confronted with,” said the firefighter, Pat Skiba, 28, who joined the force five years ago. “It’s a dangerous profession; you can only make it so safe.” At Engine 54 and Ladder 4, on Eighth Avenue off West 47th Street, a 28-year-old firefighter summed up the feelings of many colleagues: “You got to do what you got to do to save lives, to save your fellow firefighters.”

Fires and Firefighters
Deutsche Bank Building (NYC)
Manhattan (NYC)


Scientists in Germany Draft Neanderthal Genome

Abstract: Scientists report that they have reconstructed the genome of Neanderthals, a human species that was driven to extinction some 30,000 years ago, probably by the first modern humans to enter Europe. The Neanderthal genome, when fully analyzed, is expected to shed light on many critical aspects of human evolution. It will help document two important sets of genetic changes: those that occurred between 5.7 million years ago, when the human line split from the line leading to chimpanzees, and 300,000 years ago, when Neanderthals and the ancestors of modern humans parted ways; and second, the changes in the human line after it diverged from Neanderthals. An early inference that can be drawn from the new findings, which were announced Thursday in Leipzig, Germany , is that there is no significant trace of Neanderthal genes in modern humans. This confounds the speculation that modern humans could have interbred with Neanderthals, thus benefiting from the genes that adapted the Neanderthals to the cold climate that prevailed in Europe in last ice age, which ended 10,000 years ago. Researchers have not ascertained if human genes entered the Neanderthal population. Possessing the Neanderthal genome raises the possibility of bringing Neanderthals back to life. Dr. George Church, a leading genome researcher at the Harvard Medical School, said Thursday that a Neanderthal could be brought to life with present technology for about $30 million. Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig led a team that had to overcome daunting technical obstacles to produce the draft of the Neanderthal genome. He was assisted by the company 454 Life Sciences, which invented a new DNA decoding machine that works by analyzing millions of very small fragments of DNA in parallel. DNA from Neanderthal bones is fragmented in just this way. Dr. Pääbo began his project more than 10 years ago, when he succeeded in extracting the first verifiable piece of Neanderthal DNA. Most Neanderthal bones have no recoverable DNA and those that do are heavily contaminated with modern human DNA from the many scientists and curators who handled them. Distinguishing human and Neanderthal DNA is hard because they are so similar. He said at a news conference in Leipzig on Thursday that he now had retrieved usable DNA from six Neanderthals and analyzed 3.7 billion units of DNA. The Neanderthal genome, like that of modern humans, is 3.2 billion units in length. Because many units have been analyzed several times over, and many not at all, Dr. Pääbo can now see about 63 percent of the Neanderthal genome. He will continue to analyze it until he has accumulated the equivalent of 20 Neanderthal genomes, which will allow almost every unit to be accurately known. An earlier analysis of Neanderthal DNA by Dr. Pääbo proved to have had 10 percent human contamination, he said, but in the new draft genome, he has taken pains to measure the degree of human contamination and finds it is below 3 percent, he said. Archaeologists have long debated whether Neanderthals could speak, and they have eagerly awaited Dr. Pääbo’s analysis of the Neanderthal FOXP2, a gene essential for language. Modern humans have two changes in FOXP2 that are not found in chimpanzees, and that presumably evolved to make speech possible. Dr. Pääbo said Neanderthals had the same two changes in their version of the FOXP2 gene. But many other genes are involved in language, so it is too early to say whether Neanderthals could speak. Dr. Richard Klein, a paleoanthropologist at Stanford University, said Dr. Pääbo’s project was “incredibly exciting” and could eventually shed light on the behavioral differences between Neanderthals and modern humans. When the full Neanderthal genome is in hand, could it be made to produce the living creature its information specifies? Ethical considerations aside, Dr. Pääbo said, Neanderthals could not be generated with existing technology. Dr. Church of Harvard disagreed. He said he would start with the human genome, which is highly similar to that of Neanderthals, and change the few DNA units required to convert it into the Neanderthal version. This could be done, he said, by splitting the human genome into 30,000 chunks about 100,000 DNA units in length. Each chunk would be inserted into bacteria and converted to the Neanderthal equivalent by changing the few DNA units in which the two species differ. The changed lengths of DNA would then be reassembled into a full Neanderthal genome. To avoid ethical problems, this genome would be inserted not into a human cell but into a chimpanzee cell. The chimp cell would be reprogrammed to embryonic state and used to generate, in a chimpanzee’s womb, a mutant chimp embryo that was a Neanderthal in many or most of its features. Dr. Church acknowledged that ethical views on such an experiment would vary widely. But bringing a Neanderthal to birth, he said, would satisfy the human desire to communicate with other intelligences. Dr. Church said he had no plans for such an experiment, but if someone were eager to supply the financing, “We might go along with it.” The treatment of Neanderthals would raise many problems. “Are you going to put them in Harvard or in a zoo?” asked Dr. Klein of Stanford.


Indiana Routs Maryland and Finishes Undefeated at Home

Abstract: Kevin Ferrell had 17 points and 4 assists in his final home game, Troy Williams matched his career high with 23 points, and No. 12 Indiana rolled over No. 14 Maryland, 80-62, on Sunday. With the win, the Big Ten champion Hoosiers (25-6, 15-3) finished 17-0 at home and completed their first perfect season at Assembly Hall since 2006-7. Melo Trimble scored 17 points for the Terrapins (24-7, 12-6). PURDUE 91, WISCONSIN 80 The freshman Caleb Swanigan scored a career-high 27 points, the sophomore P. J. Thompson had a career-best 22, and No. 15 Purdue (24-7, 12-6 Big Ten) topped visiting Wisconsin (20-11, 12-6). CINCINNATI 61, S.M.U. 54 Troy Caupain scored 14 points, and host Cincinnati (22-9, 12-6 American Athletic Conference) knocked off No. 24 Southern Methodist, ending the Mustangs’ season. S.M.U. is barred from postseason play because of N.C.A.A. rules violations. MISSOURI VALLEY FINAL Wes Washpun’s jumper from the top of the key bounced high off the back of the rim and fell in at the buzzer, and fourth-seeded Northern Iowa (22-12) survived after squandering a 17-point lead to edge second-seeded Evansville (25-9), 56-54, in the Missouri Valley Conference championship game in St. Louis. BIG SOUTH FINAL Dwayne Sutton had 25 points and 18 rebounds to help No. 4-seeded North Carolina-Asheville (22-11) upset No. 2-seeded Winthrop (23-9), 77-68, in the Big South’s title game in Buies Creek, N.C. ATLANTIC SUN FINAL Antravious Simmons scored 21 points, Zach Johnson blocked a potential game-tying shot with four seconds remaining, and fourth-seeded Florida Gulf Coast (20-13) edged seventh-seeded Stetson (12-22), 80-78, in overtime to win the Atlantic Sun Conference final in Fort Myers, Fla. PATRIOT LEAGUE SEMIFINALS Robert Champion scored 15 points, and ninth-seeded Holy Cross (13-19) routed fourth-seeded Army (19-13), 60-38, in a Patriot League semifinal game in West Point, N.Y. The Crusaders will meet No. 2-seeded Lehigh, a 78-62 winner over No. 6-seeded American, in the title game on Wednesday. COLONIAL SEMIFINALS Ameen Tanksley scored 23 points, and top-seeded Hofstra (24-8) edged fifth-seeded William & Mary (20-11) in Baltimore, 70-67, in a Colonial Athletic Association semifinal game. In the title game on Monday, the Pride will face the No. 2 seed, North Carolina-Wilmington (24-7), which defeated No. 6-seeded Northeastern, 73-70. MAAC SEMIFINALS Micah Seaborn scored 17 points, Justin Robinson added 15 points and 9 rebounds, and No. 1-seeded Monmouth (27-9) defeated No. 5-seeded Fairfield (19-13), 76-63, in Albany to advance to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference’s championship game. The Hawks will play No. 2-seeded Iona, which defeated No. 3-seeded Siena, 81-70, for the title on Monday. A. J. English led the Gaels with 29 points.

College basketball
Indiana University
University of Maryland


Florida: Campus Attack Is Foiled, Police Say

Abstract: A University of Central Florida dropout planned an attack on the campus but committed suicide in a dorm before carrying it out, the authorities said Monday. The man, James Oliver Seevakumaran, 30, pulled a gun on another student, who then called police, said the university’s police chief, Richard Beary. Mr. Seevakumaran shot himself in the head as officers responded. The university said it had been in the process of removing Mr. Seevakumaran from the dorm because he had not enrolled in the current semester. Four explosive devices were found in a backpack, and Chief Beary said he believed that Mr. Seevakumaran pulled a fire alarm in the dorm to get other students out in the open for an attack.

University of Central Florida
Florida
James Oliver Seevakumaran
Suicide
College
School shooting


Els Advances in Match Play

Abstract: Ernie Els reached the semifinals of the Match Play Championship by getting past Jordan Spieth in Marana, Ariz. Graeme McDowell’s outstanding week ended on the 18th hole when he lost to Victor Dubuisson, Els’s next opponent. Jason Day took out Louis Oosthuizen to reach the semifinals for the second straight year. Day plays Rickie Fowler, who won, 1-up, over Jim Furyk. ■ Anna Nordqvist shot a five-under-par 67 at the L.P.G.A. Thailand in Chonburi for a four-stroke lead over Inbee Park (67) and Michelle Wie (69).

Golf
Graeme McDowell
Ernie Els
Jordan Spieth
Jason Day
Louis Oosthuizen
Rickie Fowler


Arizona Sheriff Known for Toughness Is Allowing Inmates to Watch the Super Bowl

Abstract: PHOENIX — When the Super Bowl begins Sunday, 70,000 fans will ease into their seats and suites at University of Phoenix Stadium, munch on hot dogs and pizza, and wash them down with soda and beer. About 15 miles to the south, a few hundred other fans will make do with pink-hued popcorn and sit on metal stools in an enormous room to watch the New England Patriots play the Seattle Seahawks on a flat-panel television mounted to a cinder-block wall. And according to Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who arranged the viewing at the Maricopa County Jail, the inmates should feel lucky to get even that much. For the first time in years, Arpaio, who likes to be called America’s toughest sheriff, will let the 8,500 inmates watch the Super Bowl on televisions throughout the jail. Arpaio, who built his reputation on a brass-knuckle approach to law enforcement and a rabid enforcement of immigration laws, got a supporter to pay for 200 pounds of corn kernels so about 10 percent of the inmates could eat popcorn. No butter. No salt. And because the sheriff forces the inmates to sleep on pink sheets and wear pink underwear, the popcorn will be coated with a cherry glaze powder. Image Arpaio surprising female inmates with the news that they could watch the Super Bowl. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times Arpaio, 82, insists he is not getting soft. Only inmates who are military veterans or have sentences of a year or less will get to eat the popcorn. And if anyone gets out of line, he is turning off the television, no matter how close the score. “There’s no constitutional reason I have to let them watch the game,” Arpaio said. Most days, inmates are allowed to watch only three channels: the Weather Channel, the Food Network and C-Span. Given the confines of the jail and the dining options there, the channels are their own distinct form of torture. “They don’t like the Food Network because it reminds them of what they can’t get, and C-Span bores them to tears,” Sgt. Gary Miller said. “But last time we had the Super Bowl on, they were hooting and hollering. The guys went berserk.” Arpaio decided to let the inmates watch the game because he was born in Springfield, Mass., and the Patriots are playing. (No one is certain as to the last time a Super Bowl was seen at the jail, but many recall seeing the 2008 game, which was also played at University of Phoenix Stadium.) But, Arpaio said, he was not a Patriots fan. In his office he showed off a football signed by Tony Romo, the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, his favorite team. For good measure, he pointed to a newspaper clipping from 1975 that described how Arpaio — when he was a federal narcotics agent in Massachusetts — arrested a Patriots player for selling cocaine. An inveterate self-promoter and campaigner (he has been elected six times), Arpaio has an ardent following in Arizona. Ira Gaines, a theater producer who, like Arpaio, is a transplanted resident from the East Coast, donated $225 to pay for the popcorn. “We are huge supporters and he can do no wrong in my eyes,” Gaines said. “We donate every time he runs.” The popcorn Gaines paid for was being prepared by several inmates at the jail’s kitchen facilities on Saturday. One 24-year-old inmate who was doing a three-month sentence for violating his parole but did not want his name used, poured a small cup of oil in a movie theater-style popper. Then he added the kernels and the pink powder. The popcorn dropped into a plastic bucket. Another inmate on cooking detail scooped the popped corn into small plastic bags and tied them shut. Some inmates said they were rooting for the Seahawks, in part because they beat the hometown Arizona Cardinals during the regular season. The sheriff, though, is rooting for the Patriots. Arpaio will not be at the game. Instead, he will watch on television at home with his wife. “If I went to the game, I would probably have to pay $2,000, and if I took a freebie, it would be national headlines,” he said. He will be keeping an eye on the jail, too. If anyone gets out of control, the television will be turned off. “You never know what the prisoners will do,” he said. “If we have any problem, we’ll just put them in lockdown.”

Football
Joseph M Arpaio
Maricopa County AZ
Prison
Super Bowl
Patriots
Seahawks


Group Backed by U.S. Gives ISIS 48 Hours to Leave Syrian City

Abstract: Islamic State fighters holed up in one of the militant group’s last major strongholds in northern Syria have 48 hours to leave the city, according to an ultimatum issued by the local military council of the United States-supported Syria Democratic Forces. The two-day window opened after the main Syrian exile opposition group called on the coalition to halt its bombing of militant positions near the city of Manbij after dozens of civilians were reported killed this week in airstrikes by the United States-led coalition. The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, based in Britain, has reported that more than 100 civilians have died in airstrikes in the area since late May, when militias supported by the United States and its coalition partners in Syria began an offensive to seize Manbij from the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL. On Tuesday, the observatory reported that airstrikes north of Manbij killed at least 56 civilians, including 11 children . A day before, 21 people were killed in raids in the area also believed to have been conducted by coalition aircraft in Manbij. Kurdish and Arab forces, aided by the airstrikes, have surrounded the city, but have been unable to fully dislodge the Islamic State from the area. A statement from the Manbij Military Council posted on the Syria Democratic Forces online chat room said that Islamic State fighters, who have been using civilians in Manbij as human shields, will have 48 hours to leave the city with only their light weapons before bombings resume. The president of the Syrian Opposition Coalition, a political exile group that opposes both the Islamic State and the Syrian government, said that airstrikes should be halted to allow for an investigation into the reported civilian deaths in and around Manbij. “We believe that such incidents indicate a major loophole in the current operational rules followed by the international coalition in conducting strikes in populated areas,” Anas Alabdah, the president of the Syrian Opposition Coalition, said in a letter to the foreign ministers of the countries participating in the military coalition. He also warned that Syrians besieged by the Islamic State and others besieged by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are suffering, and additional civilian deaths “will only push them further into a spiral of despair and, more importantly, will prove to be a recruitment tool for terrorist organizations.” In a statement, a United States military spokesman, Col. Christopher Garver of the Army, said that the American-led coalition forces had conducted airstrikes near Manbij recently, and that the Pentagon was aware of reports of civilian casualties. “As with any allegation we receive, we will review any information we have about the incident, including information provided by third parties,” Colonel Garver said in the statement. He also said that if it turns out that coalition operations have endangered civilians, “we will then determine the next appropriate step.” The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency had reported on Tuesday that the airstrikes that killed civilians in Manbij may have been carried out by French forces participating in the coalition, and the Syrian Foreign Ministry called on the United Nations secretary general and the Security Council to condemn the coalition strikes.

Civilian casualties
US Military
ISIS,ISIL,Islamic State
Pentagon
Bashar al-Assad
Syria
Manbij


On Internet, You’ve Got (Paper) Mail

Abstract: Years ago, I had a computer student I’ll call Mrs. K, whose specialty was negativity. Her ability to find fault with absolutely anything amounted to a gift. Glorious fall foliage? Too much raking. “The Sound of Music”? Manipulative, sappy, two-dimensional. Mother Teresa? Overhyped. It must have been a relative of Mrs. K, then, who came up with Earth Class Mail. It’s a service that scans your incoming United States Postal Service mail and displays it on a private Web page. In other words, you avoid everything that would have bothered Mrs. K about paper mail: clutter, paper cuts and the risk of anthrax. O.K., there are a few more substantial reasons why you might want an online mailbox whose address never changes. Maybe you travel a lot, you live in an R.V. or you spend your winters in Florida. Maybe you’re occasionally stationed overseas. Maybe you’d like all your mail stored online for easy retrieval forever. Companies may like the concept because it assists with record-keeping and storage, or because it keeps the mail coming even through mergers, moves or downsizings. In any case, it’s an intriguing concept. Here’s how it works. At earthclassmail.com , you sign up for a new mailing address, which you distribute to your chosen correspondents. You probably don’t want to fill out an official postal service change-of-address form; magazines, catalogs and packages, for example, are a little tough to scan. If they do arrive, the company scans only the front and back of magazines, or the shipping label of the package. In other words, you probably want this to be a secondary address, not your only one. Next thing you know, you start getting e-mail messages that say, “You have new mail. Estimated number of pages: 2 pages or less,” or whatever. There’s even a little scanned picture of the front of the envelope (or the writing side of a postcard). When you click the link, you go to a private Web page. After you log in, you see your In-box. You see a little image of each piece of mail, along with its dimensions, weight, date, date of arrival and so on. You also see several buttons, which provide you the possible options for dealing with your mail individually or all at once: “Scan” tells the company to slit open the envelope and scan the contents. This takes time (one day) and may cost money (more on this shortly). You can opt to have every incoming envelope auto-scanned; that saves you time but, if you start getting junk mail, could cost you money. Once the scanning is finished, another e-mail message lets you know it’s ready. To read the scan, you click a link to download a PDF version of the scanned mail, the front and back of every page. The PDF is extremely easy to read, file, forward and store, but it would be nice if you could also read the mail right there on the Web site without having to download and open something. It would also be nice to get the scans by e-mail. (The company says it doesn’t offer that option because e-mail isn’t secure enough, but why not let the customer make that call?) “Recycle” is great for junk mail. It’s very satisfying to send such mail into its next life with a single click. “Shred” is for mail that you want to make sure nobody else will ever see again. “Ship” tells the company to put the mail back in the delivery system (in this case, DHL). This is for items you want to hold in your hot little analog hands: a letter from Grandma, a photo, a check. You can have something shipped to a different person, too, like your lawyer or accountant. If you’re a little queasy about the thought of total strangers going through your personal correspondence, the company wants you to know that its employees have special security clearance. They wear pocketless uniforms, and they’re under constant video surveillance. They’re not allowed to bring anything at all into the facility: no phones, cameras, not even pencils or pens. The company seals the ports on all the computers on site, to prevent workers from copying the scans. If, despite all that, you’re still queasy, well, you probably shouldn’t sign up. Over all, the service works as advertised. It’s not a total joy, however. One problem is the Web site itself, which feels heavy, slow and technical. There’s no way to label or annotate your mail, to organize it or even to search it. An “Archive” button files the scanned image, but it all winds up in one giant folder; you can’t organize it within that folder. Occasionally, the “From” column identifies the sender’s actual name and address, but usually, it just says “unknown,” even if the return address was laser-printed. Note, too, that mail sent to your Earth Class mailbox takes longer to reach you — up to a week — since it has to be reshipped to the scanning plant in Oregon. (An East Coast branch is supposed to open later this year.) Earth Class Mail is not for those on a budget, and the price plan makes cellphone plans look like a model of simplicity. You’re expected to know in advance how much mail you’re going to get. Some examples: for $10 a month, paid a year in advance, you’re entitled to receive 35 pieces of mail each month, and to have 50 of their pages scanned. If you get more than that, you’re charged 30 cents a piece and 25 cents a scanned page. There’s also a $20 monthly plan (100 pieces, 100 scans, lower overage fees) and a $60 plan (250 pieces, 200 scans) that doesn’t make much sense, since you’re paying three times as much for only twice as many scans. But whatever. Physically forwarding mail costs still more. Asking for four letters to be mailed to me cost $6.80; it came by DHL courier. If you don’t want a P.O. box, then for an extra $20 or $25 a month, you can have a street address in Hollywood, the financial district in San Francisco or Park Avenue in Manhattan. As the Web site cheerfully observes, getting one of these mailing addresses comes “at a fraction of what an executive suite costs.” (A note on the competition: paperlesspobox.com costs less — $10 monthly for 200 scans — but it’s much less sophisticated. They scan everything and e-mail it to you. You don’t have the option to review the envelopes before they’re opened and scanned, and you don’t get choices like Shred or Recycle.) The high prices are easy to understand; every step of the service involves manual labor. But over all, the cost is a pretty persuasive argument for just using e-mail. On the other hand, there’s something special about postal mail that makes me hope it never goes away completely. For the purposes of reviewing Earth Class Mail, I invited readers of my blog to send mail to my Earth Class Mail address — and bless their hearts, they did just that. It poured in from all over the United States, as well as Brazil, the Virgin Islands, the Netherlands, Israel, Germany, Thailand, Canada, England, Vietnam and Japan. Most wrote clever quips or friendly hellos. (Thanks, everyone!) The experiment reminded me of what’s missing from e-mail: that magical sense of transport. Getting e-mail from Vietnam is just not the same as holding a postcard in your hands (or even looking at a scan of it), seeing the original handwriting, looking at the photo on the front and pondering its journey across the world. So yes, Mrs. K would have had a field day finding fault with Earth Class Mail. But for anyone who still sees value in postal mail, if only for special occasions, here’s to anything that helps bring it into the 21st century.

Computers and the Internet
Electronic Mail
Postal Service


Patriarch Aleksy II, Russian Orthodox Leader, Dies at 79

Abstract: MOSCOW — Patriarch Aleksy II, who as leader of the sprawling Russian Orthodox Church presided over its restoration as a powerful influence in Russian society after decades of Soviet persecution, died on Friday at his country residence in Peredelkino, outside Moscow. He was 79. Doctors were still trying to determine the cause of death, the Moscow Patriarchate said Friday in announcing his death. Aleksy II was said to have been treated for years for myocardial ischemia, which is a shortage of oxygen to the heart muscle because of narrowed arteries. Aleksy II oversaw the largest Orthodox church in the world as the spiritual leader of more than 140 million people. He was the first leader of the church since the Bolshevik Revolution to be chosen without interference by the Soviet state, which had killed clergy members and believers and destroyed churches but which had allowed a church hierarchy to exist under tight control. He rose to leadership in June 1990, days before Russia declared its sovereignty within the Soviet Union in the waning days of Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika and just over a year before the August 1991 coup, a thwarted effort to restore Soviet rule. On Aug. 19, 1991, as tanks rolled into Moscow, the patriarch was leading a service on the Kremlin’s Cathedral Square outside the Cathedral of the Dormition. Aleksy celebrated his last liturgy at the cathedral, on Thursday, the day before his death. As patriarch, Aleksy II significantly deepened the church’s role in everyday life in Russia, erecting and restoring cathedrals, introducing Orthodox religious education in public schools and becoming a prominent voice on moral issues. During Russia’s war with Georgia in August, he called for peace and reminded Russians that Georgia was also an Orthodox country. But he was criticized for the church’s close relations with the Kremlin. Last year, after then-President Vladimir V. Putin selected his close aide, Dmitri A. Medvedev, to succeed him, Aleksy II praised the decision on national television. Both Mr. Putin and Mr. Medvedev have identified themselves as Orthodox Christians and have strongly supported the church. President Boris N. Yeltsin, the first post-Communist leader of modern Russia, was more ambivalent about his religious faith but had warm personal ties to the patriarch. The religious transformation that Aleksy II oversaw in Russia was underscored by Mr. Yeltsin’s funeral in 2007. It was held within view of the Kremlin at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, which was blown up on Stalin’s orders in 1931 and rebuilt in the 1990s. The choice of Aleksy II’s successor will be closely watched for signs of Kremlin influence. Mr. Medvedev, who was visiting India when the patriarch died, will cancel a visit to Italy and return to Moscow, Reuters reported a Kremlin spokeswoman in New Delhi as saying. “A great sorrow has befallen our nation, our society,” Mr. Medvedev said in a statement Friday. He said the patriarch was “a man whose destiny reflected all the great trials and upheavals that our country traversed in the 20th century.” Aleksandr Boroda, president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia, praised the patriarch as a “pillar” of Russia who had “devoted all of his efforts toward the moral education of our society.” Aleksei Mikhailovich Ridiger was born on Feb. 23, 1929, in Tallinn, Estonia, to a Russian mother and a father of Baltic German descent. He spent his childhood in Estonia, a Baltic state, during its brief period of independence before World War II, when it was home to many Russian émigrés and a Russian Orthodox spiritual center. Aleksy II completed his theological studies in 1953 in what was then Leningrad. He began rising to prominence in the church hierarchy in 1961, when he was appointed Bishop of Tallinn and Estonia. During his patriarchate, relations with the Roman Catholic Church were a frequent focus of acrimony and debate. Mr. Yeltsin had invited Pope John Paul II to visit Russia, but the Moscow Patriarchate and Aleksy II, who had repeatedly accused Rome of proselytizing on the “canonical territory” of the Russian Orthodox Church, said a papal visit would not be appropriate. The pope did visit the Baltic States, Georgia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. In the 1990s, as the tenets of Communism crumbled and Russia lunged into the free market, the church came under criticism when it was granted concessions for oil, tobacco and alcohol trading. The patriarchate said the money was needed to restore a ravaged church infrastructure, but its critics said the church should not have been involved in such businesses. During the 1990s, it became common to see leading politicians at Christmas and Easter services, events that once brought out the Soviet police to keep people away. Mr. Putin, a former K.G.B. officer, seemed at ease and familiar with church rituals. Indeed, he helped facilitate a signal event of Patriarch Aleksy II’s tenure: a historic rapprochement between the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia with the mother church in Russia. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, a Manhattan-based émigré church, was created in the 1920s on a monarchist, anti-Soviet platform. It vowed not to reunite with the Russian church until Soviet rule had ended. The Russian Orthodox Church removed a major obstacle to reunion in 2000, when it canonized Czar Nicholas II and his family, shot dead in 1918 after the Bolshevik Revolution, as well as hundreds of members of the clergy, monks, nuns and believers killed during Stalin’s rule. Negotiations between the churches accelerated after a 2003 meeting in New York between Mr. Putin and Metropolitan Laurus of the émigré church. Metropolitan Laurus, who died earlier this year, traveled to Russia for a ceremony of reconciliation at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior held on May 17, 2007. There he exchanged kisses on the cheek with the patriarch. Three days before the reunion, Aleksy II spoke hopefully on Russian television. “That spiritual revival that is taking place in Russia,” he said, “it is a miracle for which perhaps we always hoped, but could not imagine that we would become its witnesses and participants."

Russian Orthodox Church
Religion and Churches
Deaths (Obituaries)
Russia
Putin Vladimir V
Aleksy II


Gay Marriage Issue Divides Churches

Abstract: At a black Pentecostal church in Raleigh, N.C., the Rev. Patrick Wooden entered the sanctuary on Sunday to a standing ovation, exulting that God’s “high hand” had led voters last week to pass a statewide amendment banning same-sex marriage . He took to the pulpit and denounced President Obama for taking a stand “in support of sin,” and “in opposition to the biblical model of marriage.” A thousand miles away, at a predominantly white, Lutheran church in Madison, Wis., where a rainbow banner greets churchgoers arriving for services, the Rev. Susan Schneider preached that gay men and lesbians were included when Jesus commanded his followers to love one another: “Knocking down the walls is what Jesus was after.” Mr. Obama’s declaration last week that he supports same-sex marriage prompted ministers around the country to take to their pulpits on Sunday and preach on the issue. But in the clash over homosexuality, the battle lines do not simply pit ministers against secular advocates for gay rights. Religion is on both sides in this conflict. The battle is actually church versus church, minister versus minister, and Scripture versus Scripture. The dividing lines are often unpredictable. There are black churches that welcome openly gay couples, and white churches that do not. Some Presbyterian churches hire openly gay clergy members, while others will not. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that homosexual behavior is a sin, but there are Catholic priests who secretly bless gay unions. And leaders in the United Methodist Church have been debating whether to ordain openly gay ministers for four decades, and voted again just this month to uphold their prohibition. But there are Methodist ministers who perform same-sex marriages in defiance of church rules who share the denomination with ministers who preach that America is going the way of Sodom and Gomorrah because of homosexuality. The faith divide resembles what the nation experienced in the debates over slavery, said Michael Coogan, a lecturer in Old Testament and Hebrew Bible at Harvard Divinity School and the author of “God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says.” “The proslavery contingent quoted the Bible repeatedly, saying that God has all these commandments about slavery and nowhere in the Bible, including the New Testament, is it stated that there’s anything wrong with slavery,” Mr. Coogan said. “The abolitionists also quoted the Bible, but used the same sort of more general texts that supporters of same-sex relationships are using: love your neighbor, treat others as you would have them treat you, the golden rule.” Mr. Obama invoked his own faith when he revealed on Wednesday — a day after North Carolina voters approved an amendment to ban same-sex marriages, partnerships and civil unions — that he supports same-sex marriage. He said that he and the first lady “are both practicing Christians,” and that “obviously” his position “may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others.” “But, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it’s also the golden rule, you know? Treat others the way you would want to be treated.” On Sunday, after Pastor Wooden quieted the standing ovation in his sanctuary in Raleigh, a sea of pink hats and dresses in honor of Mother’s Day, he went into a sermon that portrayed the fight for the same-sex marriage amendment as a divinely ordained cause. Quoting from Exodus, he said God had led people to the polls with a “high hand,” just as God led the Israelites out of Egypt. Mr. Obama went “against God,” the pastor said. He invoked the New Testament passage from Romans in which men turn away from women and burn in their lust, “men with men.” Pastor Wooden’s 3,000-member congregation, the Upper Room Church of God in Christ, is part of an African-American denomination that declared in 2004 that it would “never allow” or bless same-sex unions. The declaration cited passages from Scripture: that God created “the woman for the man,” (I Corinthians 11:9), and that “marriage is honorable” (Hebrews 13:4). Pastor Wooden was in the forefront of the political fight over the marriage amendment in North Carolina, serving on the executive committee for the campaign and voicing radio advertisements heard around the state. He said that he had been raised by a single mother, and that he believed children needed both a mother and a father. In his sermon on Sunday, he talked far more politics than Scripture. He compared his role to that of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He also showed the congregation a front-page newspaper photograph of himself, which was magnified on the Jumbotron screens mounted around the sanctuary. At the Lutheran church in Madison, Pastor Schneider directly tackled the issue of the biblical prohibitions on homosexuality in her sermon. Her church is a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a mainline Protestant denomination that voted three years ago to allow openly gay clergy members to serve. “Yes, it’s true that the Bible says some nasty things about homosexuality,” she said to about 100 congregants, who ranged in age from toddler to the elderly. “It’s also true that the Bible has passages that prohibit men from cutting their hair, and that forbid anyone from wearing mixed fiber clothing, or planting two different kinds of seed in their fields, or eating shellfish. The Bible also commands slaves to obey their masters, parents to stone unruly children, and upholds as heroes of the faith men with multiple wives and concubines.” “As Lutherans,” she preached, “we don’t give each part of the Bible equal weight. Luther described the Bible as ‘the cradle of Christ.’ The whole book contains the story of God, but some parts touch the baby more closely than others.” Pastor Schneider says she has officiated at four same-sex weddings, two in Iowa and two in Chicago. (Neither Illinois nor Wisconsin permit gay marriage, though Illinois does permit civil unions for same-sex couples.) She said in her sermon that she was pleased when the seventh and eighth graders in the church’s confirmation class decided to write a letter to local politicians in support of same-sex marriage. Preaching from a biblical passage in Acts, she said that just as early Christians debated whether to baptize gentiles, modern Christians are still drawing boundaries between in groups and out groups. “The only thing that has changed in the church since the first century is who is considered ‘us,’ and who is considered ‘them,’ ” she said. “The essential issue is the same: We aren’t sure ‘they’ belong with God at all. When I was young, a pastor said, whenever you draw a line between us and them, bear in mind that Jesus is on the other side of that line.”

Same-Sex Marriage Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships


East Coast Braces for Hurricane Earl

Abstract: Hurricane Earl pounded North Carolina late Thursday night with powerful but diminishing strength, pelting the eastern part of the state with bands of rain and severe blasts of wind as communities and seaside towns across the eastern seaboard braced for the storm’s devastating force. The storm weakened as it approached the coast, shifting in strength from a Category 3 to a Category 2, but was still expected to sideswipe the Outer Banks in North Carolina overnight with winds exceeding 100 miles per hour. By 9 p.m., Earl was about 160 miles south of Cape Hatteras, and was steadily marching forward, unleashing severe rain squalls and gusts of wind along the Outer Banks By the time the fringes of the hurricane hit, some parts along the coast of North Carolina were so deserted they were nearly silent. The National Hurricane Center issued an advisory late Thursday night, warning that while Earl was weakening, it was still a “large hurricane.” Thousands of tourists were evacuated from the area earlier in the day, and at seaside inns in Long Island and the Jersey Shore, owners boarded up windows, pulled down their canvas awnings, and handed out flashlights to guests who had come to revel in an extended Labor Day weekend. On Nantucket, officials urged people to pull in their boats and planned to open an emergency shelter at a high school in the morning. Forecasters said that after passing North Carolina, the storm would likely continue weakening as it headed north into colder waters. In Massachusetts, where Earl is expected to pass perilously close to Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Friday night, Gov. Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency and asked residents near the coast to consider relocating. In New York, the Long Island Railroad said it was canceling all service on the East End of the island for Friday, with trains set to shut down east of Speonk and Ronkonkoma. And in many communities along the Atlantic seaboard, residents and business owners began boarding up their windows and shuttering their homes as they anticipated the brutal lashing from the storm, which could taunt the coastal United States into Saturday. The National Weather Service said Earl was heading north with winds of 105 miles per hour, and issued a tropical storm warning for parts of Long Island and a hurricane warning for coastal Massachusetts, including Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, which lie along the storm’s expected path as it curves to the northeast and sweeps up the coast. The storm could bring winds of at least 75 miles per hour, four to eight inches of rain and severe coastal flooding and erosion. By 8 p.m. Friday evening, the hurricane should reach a point about 100 to 120 miles southeast of Montauk at Long Island’s eastern tip, bringing tropical-storm force winds of up to 74 miles per hour to parts of Long Island itself, said Ross Dickman, the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service’s office in Brookhaven. He warned that such winds and heavy rains could start knocking down trees and power lines even earlier in the day Friday and urged residents to stock up on batteries and secure boats, beach chairs, outdoor umbrellas and any other objects that could turn into missiles. Forecasters have not entirely ruled out the possibility that Earl could maliciously swerve onto land as a full-fledged hurricane with winds of 100 miles per hour. “If the hurricane comes ashore, we could have extremely dangerous wind conditions causing significant damage,” Mr. Dickman said. “Right now it doesn’t look it’s going to happen.” “On my way to work this morning,” he added, “I noticed many of my neighbors had lawn furniture out and umbrellas open, and those sort of things need to be put away because they could potentially become projectiles in tropical force winds.” On the Outer Banks, a line of barrier islands with some stretches barely wider than the road itself, an evacuation order that applied to visitors and in some places residents was largely heeded. A state official called the response to the order “very healthy.” At the North Beach Campground in Rodanthe, a few stragglers visited the convenience store. Ron Pettit, a watersports business owner, said he had tucked away his jetskis and kayaks and was prepared to wait out the storm with his wife. But Robin Arnold stopped in to cash her check and gas up her car, headed off the island, in part because she was worried about being stuck there and unable to attend a weekend rock concert. “I’d rather see a concert than eat crackers and whatever else I have in my house,” she said. On Nantucket, officials said they planned to open an emergency shelter at a high school Friday morning. No one has been asked to evacuate, and it would be very difficult, said Gregg Tivnan, the assistant town administrator. "Nantucket is an island, and we can’t evacuate everybody," Mr. Tivnan said. Instead, people are being told to "shelter in place," he said, which means, "Make sure where you are is safe. Batten down the hatches, if you will." The town has also been sending bulletins to people who live on the southern part of the island, and in Sconset, which could see damage to sand dunes. Beaches were closed at noon Thursday, and mariners were told to consider hauling their boats. “We highly encourage people not to go swimming and do not go in the surf,” Mr. Tivnan said. But on Nantucket’s quaint cobblestone streets it was like nothing was happening on a humid Thursday night, with shops open, people dining and enjoying themselves. only a few shops had boarded window, including the Scrimshander Gallery, where caretaker Lowell Shay was nailing plywood in place. "You never know; that’s the motto," he said. "Part of it might be ok, especially since it’s supposed to move fast. But it could be a direct hit." Fartheralong the coast at Gurney’s Inn, an 84-year-old hotel on Montauk’s shorefront, some guests were calling to find out what the hotel’s cancellation policy was while others were excited about taking in the hurricane as breathtaking entertainment. “Mother Nature puts on quite a show when you have events like this passing by, and you get a front-row seat at Gurney’s,” said Paul Monte, its general manager and chief executive.

Hurricanes and Tropical Storms
Hurricane Earl


Coalition Drops Opposition to Dow’s Genetically Engineered Crops

Abstract: A group representing fruit and vegetable growers and canners has dropped its opposition to regulatory approval of genetically engineered crops resistant to the powerful herbicide 2,4-D. The group, known as the Save Our Crops Coalition, said Tuesday that Dow Agrosciences, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical , the crops’ developer, had agreed to take steps to reduce the chances the herbicide would damage fruit and vegetable crops. Dow is awaiting approval of genetically engineered corn that would allow farmers to spray 2,4-D on their fields to kill weeds without harming the crop. Soybeans and cotton that can withstand 2,4-D are also in the works. Some consumer and environmental groups oppose approval, saying it would lead to a vast increase in the spraying of 2,4-D, a chemical they say is harmful. The Environmental Protection Agency, most recently in April, said the chemical was safe enough to use. The agreement between Dow and the Save our Crops Coalition eliminates a vocal and influential opponent to Dow’s plan, one that could not be written off by the biotechnology industry or regulators as just another pesky group opposed to virtually all genetically engineered crops. Rather, its members, which included canners like Red Gold and Seneca Foods, were from the food industry and said they were not opposed to biotechnology in general. “When the mainstream started to question whether this was a good idea, it raised eyebrows,” said Steve Smith, the chairman of the coalition and director of agriculture at Red Gold. The coalition’s concern was that if 2,4-D were sprayed on millions of acres of corn, soybeans and cotton, some of the chemical would drift onto fruit and vegetable farms, destroying those crops, which would not be immune to the chemical. In addition to drifting in the wind when it is sprayed, 2,4-D can vaporize — or volatilize — days after it has been sprayed and travel miles in the air. In a joint statement issued with Dow on Tuesday, the coalition said its concerns had been assuaged after Dow agreed to “substantial measures to mitigate potential nontarget plant damage impacts from spray drift and volatilization.” Dow has been seeking approval of a new formulation of 2,4-D that is much less prone to drifting and vaporization. It agreed to request an amendment to the proposed label of the new formulation to include additional statements cautioning farmers about applying the chemical near sensitive crops. It also agreed to take steps to make sure farmers planting the new corn seeds used only the new 2,4-D, not older, generic versions without the drift-resistant formulation. In return the coalition said it would amend petitions it had filed with the Agriculture Department and the E.P.A. to drop opposition to approval of the seeds and the new herbicide form. The Agriculture Department has already indicated it is leaning toward approval of the corn. Dow said it hoped to win approval in time to sell seeds for the 2013 growing season. The chemical 2,4-D, in use for decades, was an ingredient in Agent Orange, the Vietnam War defoliant. However, it is thought that contaminants in the other ingredient caused the health problems attributed to Agent Orange.

Biotechnology
Corn
Agriculture and Farming
Defoliants and Herbicides
Dow Chemical Company


Key Piece of Data Recorder From Air France Crash Is Found

Abstract: PARIS — French accident investigators said Sunday that they had retrieved a key component from one of the flight recorders of an Air France jet that crashed in the mid-Atlantic almost two years ago, reviving hopes that it could help explain why the plane went down. The French Bureau of Investigations and Analysis said the memory unit of the flight data recorder was found early Sunday and brought to the surface, although it will be more than a week before it can be examined. Investigators were initially disheartened last week when an underwater drone located the recorder’s protective housing without the cylindrical memory module attached. But on Sunday, the mood at the bureau’s headquarters was charged with anticipation. “This is a very happy surprise,” Jean-Paul Troadec, the bureau’s director, said in an interview. Investigators had said the memory unit was probably dislodged from the housing when the plane hit the water, making it less likely that it would be found amid the rest of the wreckage, on a sandy plain nearly two and a half miles below the surface. “We had been expecting a lengthy search,” Mr. Troadec said. Photos of the memory module showed that it had suffered little exterior corrosion, he said, though it was not clear whether the memory chip inside had been damaged. If still readable, it could provide crucial information on the plane’s position, speed, altitude and direction when it ran into trouble. “First we need to know if we can read it,” Mr. Troadec said. The plane’s other black box, the cockpit voice recorder, has not been found. Because of the remote location of the crash site, 600 miles off the coast of Brazil, transporting the data recorder’s memory unit to Paris, where investigators will try to download its contents, will take 8 to 10 days. The Air France flight crashed on June 1, 2009, in a heavy, high-altitude thunderstorm en route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro. All 228 passengers and crew members were killed. After three failed searches, a team of oceanographers found the wreckage of the Airbus A330-200 last month, six miles from the plane’s last known location. Finding and decrypting the data on the flight recorders gained new urgency after the decision last month by a French judge to place both Airbus and Air France under formal investigation on allegations of involuntary manslaughter in the case. Under French law, this is one step short of criminal charges but could lead to a trial. So far, the only information about what happened to the flight is from automated messages that indicated a malfunction of the plane’s airspeed sensors.

Air France
Airlines and Airplanes
Accidents and Safety
Airbus Industrie


With Ban on H.I.V. Immigrants Now History, Relief and Revision

Abstract: John Newman fondly recalled the eight years he taught first and second grades in Vallejo public schools — he felt appreciated, and was once named “Teacher of the Year.” It was the 1990s, before he got sick and was told to leave the United States. “I was accepted by co-workers, neighbors and employers,” Mr. Newman said. “But I was not welcome by the government.” Mr. Newman, a Canadian, contracted H.I.V., which causes AIDS and nearly killed him. Breakthrough drugs brought back his health. Then he discovered that a law many considered cruel required him to leave his home. Sadly, he returned to Canada. Now the stories of people like Mr. Newman are becoming public. Experts say tens of thousands shared similarly interrupted lives thanks to a 22-year United States ban on allowing foreigners with H.I.V. to live in this country. President Obama described the ban as “rooted in fear rather than fact.” It became a dead letter in January. “The people affected by this have lived in the shadows,” said Steve Ralls, a spokesman for Immigration Equality, a nonprofit organization working to end immigration restraints based on H.I.V. status and sexual orientation. Mr. Ralls said the phones at his group’s legal aid headquarters in New York “started ringing off the hook and they have not stopped” since the ban was lifted. He said people were being reunited with lives — and in some cases spouses and families — they had been forced to leave behind. The ban was imposed in 1987 when H.I.V.-positive foreigners were added to a list of inadmissible undesirables that included prostitutes and felons, said Christian Schmidt, a San Francisco immigration lawyer. “They didn’t let you in,” Mr. Schmidt said. Those already here were tested. If results were positive, they had to leave. The ban grouped H.I.V. — which is infectious and transmitted in blood and through sexual contact — with tuberculosis, a contagious airborne disease. Critics said that by incorrectly inferring that H.I.V. was spread by casual contact, and equating the sick with criminals, the ban demonized those infected. “It’s really impossible to underestimate the stigma caused by this law,” Mr. Ralls said. The ban “set a very bad precedent,” he said. “It undermined H.I.V. awareness and testing.” Foreigners avoided testing, which Mr. Ralls said might have worsened the spread of AIDS. The United States was the only industrialized country with such a policy; the handful of others included Iran, Iraq and Syria. The policy took effect in the Reagan administration. Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz declined to comment when contacted recently. Efforts to lift the ban were blocked by a 1993 Congressional amendment introduced by Senator Jesse Helms , Republican of North Carolina. Those who fought the law say Mr. Helms, who died in 2008, perpetuated decades of discrimination. But just as the ban has disappeared, the curators of Mr. Helms’s legacy are trying to touch up the relevant history. Some want him seen as a savior to those with AIDS and a defender of gay rights. Despite Mr. Helms’s storied opposition to “a homosexual lifestyle,” the Jesse Helms Center in Wingate, N.C., is challenging the idea that he was a “homophobe” or obstructive in the AIDS fight. According to the center’s Web site, “It was Senator Helms who worked most tirelessly to protect the very principles of freedom that homosexuals are denied in many other nations.” John Dodd, president of the Jesse Helms Center Foundation, recently disputed an editorial in the British newspaper The Guardian that vilified Mr. Helms for his role in the ban. Mr. Dodd argued that “two million Africans were alive” because of the senator’s work fighting H.I.V. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco, whose partner Tim Curbo died from AIDS, said the Helms Center sought to sanitize the record. “It’s spitting on the graves of all the people who suffered,” Mr. Ammiano said, adding, “He was truly evil and very cavalier about it. He should be in the hall of shame.” Meanwhile, Mr. Newman is making plans to return to the United States. He e-mailed this week that he was in Kino Bay, Mexico, where “the sky is blue and the sun is hot.” Next week he plans to get behind the wheel of an R.V. and head north, feeling welcome for the first time in years.

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
Immigration and Emigration
San Francisco Bay Area (Calif)
Ammiano Tom
Helms Jesse