Gazprom Makes a New Gas Deal With China

Abstract: MOSCOW — Gazprom , the Russian gas giant, is adding substance to the Kremlin’s plan to shift its economic focus to Asia, as the company signs its second major gas deal with China this year. The deal for a new natural gas pipeline gives Russia additional leverage should tensions persist with the West. Although it would take years to complete, the pipeline would enable exports to China from Russia’s existing Siberian energy fields. Eventually, the deal means Russia could ship more natural gas to China than to Germany, now its largest customer. The pipeline, in theory, could also be used to divert energy supplies, currently headed to Europe, to Asia. “We’re putting ambitious goals before us, and are sure they will be fulfilled,” Gazprom’s chief executive, Aleksei B. Miller, said in a statement on Sunday announcing the deal, adding that the “wide-ranging work with our Chinese colleague is developing very dynamically.” Chinese customers are a welcome relief. The Russian economy and its energy giants have been swooning under the pressure of low oil prices and the sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. Also on the sidelines of an Asian economic summit meeting, the Russian state bank Sberbank signed an agreement to secure about $2 billion in financing from Chinese lenders, important for replacing European financing cut off by sanctions. In a sign of the mounting problems, the Russian central bank, which has spent about $30 billion in a month defending the ruble, announced Monday it would allow the currency to float freely, rather than maintain trading bands with the euro and dollar. The bank had planned to eliminate the trading corridors by the end of the year but sped up the policy shift as the economy has weakened. The gas deal is the latest example of the Kremlin’s deft use of pipeline politics. The design of Eurasian pipelines to strengthen Russia’s geopolitical position, sometimes compared to a slow-motion chess match, has been a strong suit for President Vladimir V. Putin since he first took office more than a decade ago. Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation signed a framework agreement to build the pipeline along a so-called western corridor, which would cross into China over the Altai Mountains, between Kazakhstan and Mongolia. The deal signed in May, soon after tensions with the West spiked over the Ukraine crisis, foresees exporting Russian gas from gas fields in eastern Siberia (not yet completely developed) to China, along a route called the Power of Siberia pipeline. Gazprom said it was worth $400 billion over the decades-long lifetime of the planned project. Energy analysts, though, have been skeptical the politically hued deal announcements this year will smoothly translate into a real natural gas market in eastern Eurasia. “It’s still a very, very long process,” said Fereidun Fesharaki, chairman of Facts Global Energy, a market research firm. The pipelines require a decade or more to build. “The best thing for the Russians is to supply Europe because the capital is already sunk,” he said. “Europe can’t do without Russia and Russia can’t do without Europe. If you want to do away with dependence on Russia you need a 20-year plan.” For now, the Chinese deals are for Russia, “a way of saying we have other options.” More broadly, testing the commercial prospects in China has been a slow and politically fraught exercise. Since the Ussuri River border skirmishes that marked the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s, the Kremlin has perceived its long border with China as a security challenge as much as a commercial opportunity. The border was only fully demarcated in 2009. Despite the warm rhetoric, even simple infrastructure such as a planned new railroad bridge over the Amur River has been repeatedly delayed. Deals are picking up, though. In another agreement announced in Beijing, the China National Petroleum Corporation agreed to buy a 10 percent stake in the giant Vankor Siberian oil field, which is majority owned by Rosneft.The new pipelines will take years to build. If completed as planned, they would export 68 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year to China. Today, Germany is Russia’s largest customer buying 40 billion cubic meters annually. Still, the European Union as a whole would remain Russia’s largest customer, buying about twice as much as China would under the new deals. “This is just business as usual,” Yan Vaslavski, an associate professor of political science at Moscow State Institute of International Relations, said in a telephone interview of the gas deals. Russia has no intention of diminishing gas shipments to Europe, integrally important for the Russian economy as they are. Instead, the China deals are insurance, he said: Should Europe squeeze Russian energy companies, they ensure revenue from west Siberian petroleum fields. “Russia is not turning its back on Europe,” he said. “But if Russia doesn’t turn to the East in time, this train will leave without Russia.”

Russia
Pipelines
Gazprom
Natural gas
China
Embargoes Sanctions
International trade


Radicalism Among Muslim Professionals Worries Many

Abstract: DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, July 13 — They were some of the best and brightest in the Muslim world who toiled for years to master their knowledge. Now they stand accused of seeking mass murder. For weeks, commentators and analysts in the Muslim world have been grappling with the implications that a Muslim doctor and engineer, at the pinnacle of their society, may have been behind the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow last month. The question being asked in many educated and official circles is this: How could such acts be committed by people who have supposedly dedicated their lives to scientific rationalism and to helping others? The answer, some scientists and analysts say, may lie in the way that a growing movement of fervent Muslims use science as reinforcement of religious belief, rather than as a means for questioning and exploring the foundations of the natural world. “It’s not that surprising for doctors and engineers to be involved in political Islamist movements — both of the violent and the more moderate sort,” said Taner Edis, associate professor of physics at Truman State University in Missouri and author of “An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam.” He and other researchers who study Islamist movements say that the involvement of doctors and engineers in terrorism is not shocking. Muslim scientists are among the most politicized groups in the region, and the Muslim approach to the scientific method, in the most extreme cases, can squelch the freewheeling curiosity at the heart of scientific discovery. “Fundamentalist-type attitudes are relatively common among people in applied science in the Muslim world,” Mr. Edis said. “The conception has been that modern science is developed outside, and we need to bring it into our societies without it corrupting our culture.” In other words, science is a tool for furthering an ideology rather than a means of examining core beliefs. For Islamists like Zaghloul el-Naggar in Cairo, the host of a popular television show about the Koran’s scientific teachings, all science can be discovered within the Muslim holy text, from the cause of earthquakes to genetics. Such direct links between science and religion ultimately hamper the scientific method by making some questions taboo, analysts say. “You have the emergence of a new kind of religious figure who is not a cleric, and all of his authority is as a scientist,” said Todd Pitock, who profiles Mr. Naggar in an article about Islam and science in the July issue of the magazine Discover. “The whole purpose of science for some Islamists is using it to reinforce faith; it really has nothing to do with science itself.” Medicine and engineering have long been the most prestigious professions in the Arab world, and many of its most illustrious writers, thinkers and politicians have risen through engineering and medical schools. Many notable militant leaders, too, have graduated from those schools. They include George Habash, a doctor and founder of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; the late Fathi Shikaki, a doctor and founder of Palestinian Islamic Jihad; Mahmoud Zahar and several other leaders of Hamas who trained as doctors; and Osama bin Laden, an engineer, and Ayman al-Zawahri, his No. 2 in Al Qaeda, once a practicing doctor. Nor are such militants limited to the Arab world. Che Guevara is among the radical doctors and scientists who rose in leftist and extremist movements around the world in recent decades. Extremists are of course a tiny minority of the thousands of graduates that come out of the region’s science programs every year. But increasingly, analysts and researchers say, Middle Eastern engineering and medical schools have become hotbeds of Islamist activity. Many Arab doctors, in turn, have led the charge against Israeli and Western actions in the region, building on their time-honored roles as community leaders. “The doctor at one time or another presented a figure who could really decide life and death,” said Sari Nasser, professor of sociology at the University of Jordan. “Now doctors have this tradition that they have to lead people and not to let them down. This is one reason why doctors as such are leading the fight against the West.” At the University of Jordan medical school, for example, where Mohammed Asha, a suspect in the Glasgow bombing, was a star student, politics features prominently in student life. Medical students lead demonstrations, fund-raising drives, boycotts against Israel and the United States, and other causes. For some professors at the school, the surprise was that Mr. Asha, who seemed largely apolitical during his time at school, could be connected to Islamic militancy. “I might have accepted this from some of the other students,” said one of his professors, speaking on condition of anonymity. “But he was not an activist like the others.” Hassan Abu Hanieh, a Jordanian researcher with contacts with militant Islamist movements in the region, says they have their own scientific perspective in which there are simple questions and clear answers. “They have an equation which is one plus one equals two — Israel is the enemy and its allies are apostates, for example,” he says. “If these are the symptoms then this is the disease,” he adds. “They diagnose the West and regard it as their enemy. Their mind-set is hard and their knowledge is based on facts, with one opinion and no room for exchanging views.” It was perhaps inevitable, he and others say, that Al Qaeda would seek to recruit Muslim doctors and scientists for tactical reasons as well. Mr. Zawahri is reported to have sought recruits who could blend in the West. “Wherever you go in the Muslim world, those who are most violent and most extremist are the ones who have the most scientific tendencies,” Mr. Abu Hanieh said. “One could even argue that sciences might contribute to increasing one’s radical thinking if the radical finds justifications to his philosophy through science.” For many Muslim doctors in the West, the implications add yet another challenge. “Ninety-nine percent of us don’t go beyond political activism; what is the difference between the 99 percent and the 1 percent who go to violent extremism?” said Hasan Shanawani, a senior member of the Association of Muslim Health Professionals, in Downers Grove, Ill., who said that doctors are normally on the lookout for foul play in medicine and will now have to be just as vigilant about spotting extremism. “How do we find that needle in a haystack? That’s what’s really bothering us.” Bin Laden Bounty Is Increased WASHINGTON, July 13 (Reuters) — The Senate voted Friday to double the bounty on Osama bin Laden, to $50 million, and to require President Bush to refocus on capturing him. By a vote of 87 to 1, the Senate set the higher reward for Mr. bin Laden’s killing or capture, or information leading to his capture.

Islam
Medicine and Health
Engineering and Engineers
Doctors
Science and Technology


At 20 Years Old, the Angels’ Mike Trout Is Beginning to Reach Potential

Abstract: ANAHEIM, Calif. — Mike Trout is a humble, clean-shaven baseball prodigy from a small town in southern New Jersey. He works at Angel Stadium, three and a half miles from places called Fantasyland, Tomorrowland and Main Street, U.S.A. His story springs from all of them. Trout is 20. He is, with Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals, the most talented player in the majors who cannot yet legally drink. His parents, Jeff and Debbie, have been here lately to see their son fluster the opponents of the Los Angeles Angels . A center fielder, he entered the weekend hitting .338 with 6 home runs and 19 steals, the most in the American League. On Monday, the Trouts took some friends with young children to Disneyland. They told Mike he did not have to come — there was a game that night — but Mike went anyway. It was his first time at Disneyland, and nobody recognized him. “The kids aren’t real big yet, like 8 to 11 years old, so I’m going on these kiddie rides,” Trout said later, on the Angels’ bench after early batting practice. “It’s all about them. They’re out here, having a vacation. I’m just happy they’re out here.” Trout led off that night against the San Francisco Giants’ Matt Cain, who had thrown a perfect game in his previous start. He rifled a single to left, stole second, went to third on a shallow flyout and scored on a sacrifice fly. Trout later stole two more bases; the next night, he collected four hits and a walk, and scored four runs. After that game, someone asked Angels Manager Mike Scioscia if it was too soon to consider Trout among the best players in the league. Scioscia tries hard to play down the hype around Trout, so naturally he said it was too early. But there is no denying Trout’s effect on the team. The Angels were 6-14 before Trout arrived April 28. They were 32-18 since then entering the weekend. “From when he came up to what he’s done now, you can’t ask more of a young player — you can’t ask more of a player at any age,” Scioscia said. “He’s playing with confidence. He just wants to play baseball, and he’ll let you guys talk about it.” Sure enough, Trout had dressed and left the clubhouse by the time Scioscia finished with reporters. He had already done an on-field interview, broadcast on the scoreboard, as he waved to his parents in the stands. “He’s a happy-go-lucky kid,” Jeff Trout said. “All we did was set him on a path and let his natural ability take over. I was very confident he’d do well.” Jeff Trout was a fifth-round draft choice of the Twins in 1983. He was already 22, not a strong defensive player, and would soon have knee problems. But he never stopped hitting. Trout batted .321 at Class AA in 1986, and then retired. Some of his former teammates spent the next season in Minnesota, on their way to a World Series title. Jeff started a family and embarked on a new career as a teacher and coach in Millville, N.J., his hometown. He had always spoken fondly of it. Years later, in 2008, Jeff’s old Class AA teammate, Greg Morhardt , was assembling a team of prospects for a showcase at the old Yankee Stadium. Morhardt, then an East Coast area scout for the Angels, heard about a 16-year-old from Millville with speed and strength and a father who had played in the minors. He put the pieces together: it must be his old teammate’s son. Mike, he found, was strong like his father and shared his sharp instincts. But Mike Trout was a different kind of prospect from Jeff. His speed was startling, Morhardt said: 3.9 seconds from home to first, exceptional for a right-hander. As he watched Trout take batting practice, his mind flashed to the can’t-miss prospects he had once faced: Will Clark, Rafael Palmeiro, Barry Bonds. “Bo Jackson, I did not see at 17 years old,” Morhardt said. “But of all the players I’ve seen at 17, 18, 19 years old, I’ve never seen a better athlete for strength and speed than Michael — ever. I remember playing against Jose Canseco in the Southern League, but he was on juice. Michael was a freak of nature.” Morhardt was convinced that Trout, at 17, could have been the best college player in the nation. When he went to Millville games, Morhardt said, it was mainly to see which other scouts were there. He was already sold. Halfway through Trout’s senior season, Morhardt said, Jeff Trout called. Morhardt told him politely that he hoped Mike went hitless the rest of the year, so other scouts who dropped in might leave the trail. “In my mind, Mike was it,” Morhardt said. “My chips were in: he was an everyday big league player who had a chance to be a Hall of Fame player.” The Angels held two picks in the first round in 2009, both compensatory choices: No. 24, from the Mets for Francisco Rodriguez, and No. 25, from the Yankees for Mark Teixeira. They ranked Trout second on their draft board, behind only Stephen Strasburg. Recent first-round picks from New Jersey high schools, like Eric Duncan and Billy Rowell, had struggled as professionals. “There was a lot of groupthink there,” said Jeff Trout, who was unsure whether Mike should accept an invitation from MLB Network to attend the draft. Debbie persuaded Jeff that the short drive to the studio, in Secaucus, N.J., would be a good experience for Mike. It was a minority opinion; of the 8 to 10 prospects invited, Trout was the only one who came. Morhardt worried that Oakland might take Trout before the Angels got the chance. Trout was then a shortstop, but the A’s, picking 13th, chose a college shortstop instead — Grant Green, now at Class AAA. Trout was called with pick No. 25, the Yankees’ spot, and Mike had little patience for haggling. Within a month he took a standard bonus for his spot — $1.215 million — and headed for a rookie league in Arizona. “I was itching to get out there and play,” he said. “The dream was to become a professional baseball player. Every day that went by that summer, I was telling my parents, ‘I could be playing right now.’ ” Immediately, Trout lived up to Morhardt’s billing. Still 17, he reached base safely six times in his first pro game. He hit .360 in Arizona and .362 in low Class A the next year. “I think he had 60-some infield singles in low-A,” said Angels pitcher Garrett Richards, a minor league teammate. “It almost got to the point where if the ball bounced twice to the shortstop, he was beating it out. If the ball physically hit the ground twice, he was there.” Last July, at 19, Trout became the youngest player in 40 years to make his major league debut with the Angels. His family and friends saw his first home run, in Baltimore, but in 40 games, Trout batted .220. He said he tried to hit grand slams with the bases empty. With a logjam of veteran outfielders this spring, Trout opened the season with Class AAA Salt Lake. As the Angels struggled, Trout and Richards agreed that the first to be promoted would rent a two-bedroom apartment near the ballpark. Trout did. He hit .403 before earning a promotion when Bobby Abreu was released. An injury the next month to another struggling veteran, Vernon Wells, freed the Angels to use their best lineup, with Trout leading off, followed by Torii Hunter, Albert Pujols and Mark Trumbo. Trout leans heavily on Hunter for advice and consults daily with Pujols for tips on pitchers. Pujols, who had hit .333 with 7 homers in his last 25 games heading into Friday, said Trout’s humility has impressed him most. “No matter the success that he got, the kid just comes and plays,” Pujols said. “And part of that, too, is he doesn’t have any pressure. He comes here, he plays around, he acts like a veteran guy, and that’s something that the veteran guys allow him to do. He belongs here, he knows that, and I think that’s something that is really important to him.” In the months of May and June through Friday, Trout had scored the most runs, reached base the most times and had the highest batting average in the A.L., at .353. Among the Angels, his .528 slugging percentage trailed only Trumbo (.636), and his speed fits well with Scioscia’s aggressive style. Hunter said Trout had “Rickey Henderson ability,” referring to plate discipline and the ability to distract pitchers on the bases. But Henderson, the career leader in stolen bases and runs, was 5-foot-10. Trout is 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, and it seems natural to wonder if his speed will hold up over time. “What he’s going to run like when he’s 35 is anybody’s guess,” said Jerry Dipoto, the Angels’ general manager. “But what he’s going to run like when he’s 21 to 25, there’s no reason why it should not be a skill he maintains. He’s such a quick-twitch athlete.” The skills are grounded in reality. At 8, Trout had the patience and curiosity to watch full games on television, to imagine himself as Derek Jeter. From his father, he internalized the truths of the game, the built-in failure. After Trout started June on a tear (21 for 42), he was not rattled when a 2-for-21 stretch followed. “This is major league baseball,” said Jeff Trout, who never quite got there but understands the game’s essence. “There’s always a 1-for-20 coming, and bingo, it did. And Mike knows that. That’s why he handles it so well.” When the action speeds up, Mike said, he tries to take a breath and calm himself, and remember he is playing the same game he played back in Millville. The stage is much brighter now, but reality has matched his fantasy. “It’s everything I thought it would be,” said Mike Trout, a young man who cannot wait for tomorrow.

Baseball
Trout Mike
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim


NASA Releases E-Mail in Astronaut Case

Abstract: NASA officials scrambled this year to decide how to handle the legal and public relations fallout surrounding Capt. Lisa M. Nowak , an astronaut who drove from Texas to Florida to confront a romantic rival, according to e-mail messages released Wednesday by the space agency. The 222 pages of messages also suggested a still-friendly relationship between Captain Nowak and Cmdr. William A. Oefelein of the Navy in the days before Captain Nowak drove to Orlando, where, the authorities say, she spritzed her rival, Capt. Colleen Shipman of the Air Force, in the face with pepper spray. Captain Shipman, who had been dating Commander Oefelein, had just arrived at the Orlando airport after visiting him in Houston. After Captain Nowak’s arrest, Col. Steven W. Lindsey of the Air Force, chief of the astronaut corps, flew to Florida and initially spoke on behalf of the agency. Many of the e-mail messages to Colonel Lindsey included kudos. “Steve, you are handling an incredibly difficult task extremely well,” wrote Michael Coats, an astronaut who is director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Other officials offered tactical suggestions. Carl E. Walz, a retired astronaut helping plan the next generation of space flight, asked whether it would help to take the case through the military courts, which “might get it out of the media circus.” Colonel Lindsey responded that the agency was working with military justice officials, but that “unfortunately, the situation is a lot more complex than that!” The messages were posted online by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in response to Freedom of Information Act requests from many news organizations, including The New York Times. The messages suggest that the agency’s public relations effort in the Nowak case was under close internal scrutiny. Eileen Hawley, director of external relations for the Johnson Space Center, sent around a message from an outside public relations professional, characterizing it as praising NASA “for caring about our family, for neither defending nor protecting her and for acknowledging her professional capabilities.” Ms. Hawley added, “If we continue to strike this balance of caring but not taking sides; remaining open; and not making excuses, we’ll be well served.” Ms. Hawley included the professional’s message, saying, “Hats off to NASA,” for its message control and, “If you have a crisis and are looking for words to sound good and allow wafel room. ... NASA made it look easy today.” The messages between Captain Nowak and Commander Oefelein were professional and warm, with a hint of flirtation. He asked her advice on the menu for his mission last December, and on Jan. 5, after his return from space but a month before the airport confrontation, he asked whether she would be at a happy-hour celebration of the midpoint of colleagues’ stay aboard the International Space Station. She replied, “Only if u r!” The messages reflect the banter of friendly colleagues, with her offering to pick up lunch for him and planning get-togethers for running and bike rides. Meanwhile, Commander Oefelein’s relationship with Captain Shipman was developing. In late January, Commander Oefelein invited her on a trip his shuttle crew was taking to his home state, Alaska, and said he had been asked about her clothing size for arctic gear. “I think I can figure that out,” he wrote. “Sized sexy and athletic.” He wrote that he usually stayed with his parents on such visits, but had asked for a hotel room this time “due to noise requirements,” adding, “We need some ‘privacy’!!!!” The private messages form an incomplete picture of the intertwined lives of the two astronauts, because NASA did not include messages deemed purely personal. “It’s not every e-mail,” said James Hartsfield, a spokesman for the Johnson Space Center. Personal comments came through messages related to official astronaut activities. That fact was seized on by Captain Nowak’s lawyer, Donald A. Lykkebak, who said through a spokeswoman that the messages were “deceptively incomplete” and had “little if anything to do with Lisa Nowak’s case.” Captain Nowak and Commander Oefelein have been dropped from the astronaut corps and have returned to duties with the Navy. Her trial on charges of assault and attempted kidnapping is to begin in April.


Barrynomics, or a Road to Funny Money

Abstract: TO fulfill that New Year's resolution to finally wrestle your financial life into shape by taking control of your mutual funds, you could spend hours comparing one fund with another. Or you could instead read "Dave Barry's Money Secrets" (Crown, $24.95). It won't make you richer, but it is a lot more fun than wading through Morningstar's nine style boxes and parsing the 12B-1 fees of the thousands of mutual funds on the market. It is true that Mr. Barry, who from 1983 to 2005 wrote a humor column for The Miami Herald that was syndicated worldwide, is not widely known as a financial expert. But in this lampoon, he has mastered the format followed by the typical financial self-help book. For example, it is obligatory these days to point out that if you eliminated small indulgences -- like buying a latte at Starbucks each day -- and invested that money instead, you'd be far better off financially in the long run. Mr. Barry agrees. Speaking of forgoing those expensive coffees, he writes that "at the end of two working weeks, you'd have saved $3.95 per day for 10 days, which works out to, let's see ... carry the 6 ... O.K., it's nearly $40." By his computation, "You would have saved enough money to invest in a half a keg of beer -- enough, if you manage it properly, to maintain a serious buzz for an entire weekend." That, to Mr. Barry, is an example of excellent long-term thinking. But, of course, one path to financial independence is to invest in stocks for the long haul. And like all financial experts, he offers a plan for making money in the stock market. Unlike the gurus' strategies, his approach will lead to wealth beyond your wildest imaginings: "Step 1. Gather all available financial data on the top 1,000 stocks for the past 25 years. "Step 2. By conducting a thorough analysis of each stock -- select the 10 stocks that have performed best in this time period. "Step 3. Using a time machine, go back 25 years and buy these stocks." He says that this system "is pretty much foolproof, except for one teensy flaw, which you may have already detected: you are way too lazy to do the research." Another topic that is often addressed in financial books is retirement planning, and Mr. Barry understands that it can be daunting. That is why he offers this bit of encouraging advice: "You still have time to salvage your retirement! All you need to do is develop some financial discipline, develop a realistic budget, avoid frivolous spending, pay off your debts and start putting away a meaningful amount of money each month for the future. Don't be discouraged! You really can do it, if you put your mind to it and use your magic time-travel ring!" He is equally entertaining in musing about another key to generating substantial riches: minimizing your tax burden. Well, minimizing is understating the case. "There is a great big old wad of people who don't pay taxes," he says. His goal "is to show you how to become a member of that wad, without winding up in federal prison." With tongue firmly planted in cheek, he speculates on how you can become a member of this select group: "The best way is to keep accurate financial records and thoroughly familiarize yourself with the applicable tax laws, so that you can avail yourself of every legal advantage. Like you would ever do that. That leaves Option B: cheating." Mr. Barry's advice is that you don't want to be blatant about it. For example, writing "You'll never catch me, I.R.S. cubicle-dwelling slugs" on your 1040 is probably not a good idea. Neither is claiming "an absurd refund amount, such as: 11 zillion dollars." But what about claiming a large number of dependents? In this book's zany realm, if not in a more official guide, that may be O.K. "The more dependents you have the less tax you owe," he writes. "Nowhere in the U.S. Tax Code does it explicitly state, in so many words, that these dependents cannot be imaginary, if you are catching my drift." Of course, the less income you report, the less you have to pay in taxes. "Smart rich people have understood this for years," Mr. Barry writes, telling a tale that could spring only from a colorful imagination: "For example on his 2003 tax return Bill Gates reported a total income of $6,437.62. This was so low that even the I.R.S. became suspicious. When auditors attempted to examine Mr. Gates' records, the entire U.S. government computer system (which uses the Microsoft Windows operating system) went berserk -- erasing data, generating porn e-mails, launching nuclear missiles at Belgium, etc." As a result, Mr. Barry says, the government decided not to challenge Mr. Gates on his income, "nor his 8,257 children. All named Ashley." For those of you who think that defrauding the I.R.S. is risky, Mr. Barry quotes an I.R.S. employee who says: "The odds are really good that we'll never catch you. How the hell can we? We're federal employees! We take 253 days off a year!" Some would argue that Mr. Barry's advice is, to be charitable, suspect. So, let's give him the last words. "Of course, I cannot guarantee that you will achieve the same level of financial success I did," he writes. "But I can promise you that, if you carefully follow the proven, time-tested money-management principles detailed in this book, you will be the first person to do so. And surely that is worth something." IN case you missed Mr. Barry's message, it becomes painfully clear toward the end of the book. "My point is that given a choice between having money and not having, you should definitely go with having it," he writes. "And that in the end is why I wrote this book: to get your money." Still, he is willing to offer a money-back guarantee. "Seriously, I wrote this book to help you, and that is why I will end it with this promise from me to you: if you follow the advice in this book, and you somehow fail to become wealthy, simply take this book back to the bookstore where you bought it, explain to the employees what happened, and ask for a full refund. "You have my personal guarantee, right here in writing, that they will laugh until they blow snot into their lattes."

BARRY DAVE
REVIEWS
BOOKS AND LITERATURE
PERSONAL FINANCES
MUTUAL FUNDS
STOCKS AND BONDS
DAVE BARRY'S MONEY SECRETS (BOOK)


Finnish Tango: The Passion and the Melancholy

Abstract: SEINAJOKI, Finland — Every July, this modest Finnish town, population 59,000, transforms several square blocks downtown into a vast dance hall. Stages are erected, tents are put up, and thousands of Finns — along with Spaniards, Germans and even a smattering of Japanese and North and South Americans — gather to dance for four days to the smoldering rhythms of the tango. The tango? Finland, the Buenos Aires of the North? What can the Finns, those cool blonds rendered melancholic and morose by the long, lightless winters (or so the cliché has it), understand of Argentina’s passionate national treasure? And yet they come, in recent years as many as 100,000, starting to dance in the early afternoon, listening to Finnish stars belt out tango tunes, taking part in lessons and contests, and striding, twisting and leaning to the “thump, thump, thump” of the tango beat until the early hours of the morning. The tango in its Argentine form is brooding and nostalgic. While the Finnish variety is more upbeat, many here say its blending of passion and melancholy perfectly expresses the Finnish soul. “It’s so powerful, with a lot of emotions and feelings,” said Eija Eerola, an office worker in her 40s, wiping sweat from her brow after a turn on the wood floor of a huge white tent. Dozens of couples — women in shorts, pedal pushers or skirts, and men in baseball caps, fedoras or 10-gallon cowboy hats — danced to the soft strains of an accordion and a violin. Image Dancing in the caravan area. Credit Touko Hujanen for The New York Times A passionate dancer, who takes to the floor “a couple of times a week” when at home in Helsinki, Ms. Eerola was visiting the tango festival, sleeping in a trailer, for the first time in seven years. What draws the Finns to the tango? “It’s a bit melancholy,” she said. “And that’s the way we are.” For Monica Wilson, who grew up in a Finnish family in Thunder Bay, Ontario, dancing the tango and being Finnish go together as naturally as ham and eggs — or, well, pickled herring and new potatoes. Ms. Wilson, 40, a schoolteacher, came to the festival, which ended on Sunday, with her brother and a cousin while on a trip back to the home country. She took some tango lessons and, with her cousin, tried out a few steps under the L-shaped tent, half the size of a football field, called the Pavilion. In Canada, she said, it is the two-step, but in Finland, it is the tango. Her Finnish-born parents in Canada, she said with a laugh, “danced the tango in the kitchen.” The festival here was founded about 30 years ago to fan the flames of what appeared to be a dying tradition. The tango had been introduced to Finland a century ago by a Finnish ballet dancer, Toivo Niskanen, who learned his classical steps in St. Petersburg, then the Russian capital. But he became enamored of the tango while visiting Paris. The tango flourished in Finland to the point of almost becoming the national dance. To this day, about 2,000 tango clubs thrive across a nation of 5.5 million people, and the festival in Seinajoki is one of the largest anywhere. Yet, after World War II, with the arrival of rock ’n’ roll, the tango’s influence began to wane. By the 1980s, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones threatened to drown out “ Hernando’s Hideaway ,” the tango show tune. Image The tango was introduced to Finland a century ago by a ballet dancer who learned his classical steps in St. Petersburg, Russia. Credit The New York Times “The tango was not popular anymore, though not forgotten,” said Juha Teuri, 31, the festival’s spokesman, at a local high school that was serving as the event’s headquarters. “At this point, something had to be done, so it started as a tango singing contest, then quickly grew bigger and bigger,” he added, explaining the origins of the festival in the mid-1980s. The festival is not the only summer tango gathering. A Web site dedicated to Latin dance, festivalsero.com , lists 20 such events in July alone, including the Puerto del Tango in Tallinn, Estonia; Tango Magic in Seattle; and the International Queer Tango Festival, one of a number of increasingly popular gay tango gatherings, in Berlin. But Seinajoki’s festival stands out, not only for its size but also for its juxtaposition of Scandinavian brooding and Latin passion. “For us it was a nice surprise,” said Anabel Saldaña, one of Argentina’s leading tango performers and teachers, who was invited this year from Buenos Aires with her partner, Jorge Mendoza, to perform and to teach at the festival. The couple’s nighttime duet on the festival’s main outdoor stage, before a crowd of thousands and amid flaming torches, smoke and lights, was a huge hit. Finnish tango is not the Argentine variety, Ms. Saldaña said. “But we think it has the same feeling, though with different words and concepts for the experience.” A Finnish Town Mad for Tango 12 Photos View Slide Show › Image Touko Hujanen for The New York Times Mr. Mendoza, who like Ms. Saldaña studied Finnish tango before arriving, agreed. “We don’t say, ‘We have the real tango, or the true tango,’ ” he said. “We are showing them another tango, that it’s nice and cool to tango.” “Here, the people, they took the tango and they made it their own,” he added. The difference between the Argentine original and the Finnish offshoot was evident at one of many classes the Argentine dancers gave for festival visitors in the school gymnasium. As eight Finnish couples listened attentively, Ms. Saldaña explained that the tango was “like a puzzle.” “If you know the pieces,” she said, “you can assemble them in different ways.” Then she and Mr. Mendoza, hands just off each other’s shoulders, slid around the floor, showing just how the puzzle could be put together. Several couples caught on; others appeared more to be moving furniture than dancing an Argentine tango. Leena Kaura, a retired textile designer, was delighted. “It has that flamenco flair to it,” she said of the Argentine variety. The organizers worry that the festival is increasingly becoming an affair for middle-aged and older people. To draw a younger crowd, big-name rock musicians — big in Finland, at least — now fill the gaps between tangos. On one sunny afternoon, Antti Tuisku , a kind of Finnish Adam Lambert, sang one of his hits to crowds of fans who waved their arms in a mosh pit, even as older dancers in the Pavilion continued to twirl and bend to a tango beat. Younger Argentines, who had similarly drifted away from the tango, have returned in droves in recent years, according to Ms. Saldaña. “When I was young, tango was for your grandmother,” she said. “Right now, it’s more popular than ever with young and old.” Over at the Pavilion, Aarno and Sirpa Ervasti did not miss the mosh pit one bit as they glided around the floor, closely entwined. They have come to the festival every year for the past 10 years. “We’ve been dancing the tango for 43 years,” Ms. Ervasti, 66, said. She, like her husband, Aarno, 70, is a retired elementary-school teacher. “It’s the quiet, the melancholy, maybe what we get from Russia,” he said. “Our Slavic side.” “It’s love,” she said. “It’s our way to make love.”


Bombardier’s New Plane Gets a Lift From Delta Order

Abstract: OTTAWA — The Canadian plane maker Bombardier said on Thursday that Delta Air Lines had agreed to buy 75 of its new CSeries airliners, a deal that could bring stability to Bombardier’s attempts to challenge Boeing and Airbus directly. Based on list price, Bombardier said the Delta order, for the CS100 aircraft, was worth about $5.6 billion. Like automobile buyers, however, airlines generally do not pay the posted price, and Delta is known as a canny negotiator. Delta has taken options for an additional 50 aircraft beyond the 75. Stumbles within Bombardier, combined with particularly aggressive competition from its larger rivals, had led many analysts to question Bombardier’s decision to try leveraging its success in the market for small regional jets by building an airplane that could compete directly with the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320. The support from a major airline, after a recent letter of intent from Air Canada to buy 45 of the CSeries planes, may begin to dispel speculation that Bombardier may have to abandon the project. The development of the CSeries has created a financial drain for the company, which struggled to find buyers. “This is a real big deal for us,” Alain Bellemare, the president and chief executive of Bombardier, said at a news conference at the factory northwest of Montreal were the planes are assembled. “It’s a turning moment.” Bombardier also said on Thursday that it had lost $138 million on sales of $3.9 billion during its first quarter. For the comparable period a year ago, the company posted a $100 million profit. With the Delta deal, Bombardier will hold 325 firm orders when the CSeries will enter service this year, 25 more than the company’s target. The CSeries, which can carry 100 to 150 passengers, was intended to be the first airliner using a new engine technology from Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies. The engine is said to be unusually quiet and, according to the companies, it requires up to 20 percent less fuel. But the CSeries project is more than two years behind schedule and vastly over budget. Delta will receive its first deliveries of CS100 planes in early 2018. Although analysts have praised the CSeries as technically innovative, the delays have allowed Boeing and Airbus to introduce versions of their existing planes with engines said to offer similar innovations. Although those slightly larger airplanes are not as modern or fuel-efficient as Bombardier’s offering, the two industry giants are able to offer them at attractive prices. Ed Bastian, who will take over as Delta chief executive on Monday, said at the news conference that his company’s purchase “brings Bombardier in as the third competitor into the mainline aircraft marketplace with Boeing and Airbus.” He added: “And we are thrilled to be able to have that choice in the marketplace.” While the announcement is expected to help create momentum for further sales of the CSeries, it will not immediately resolve Bombardier’s financial problems. Evan Mann, an analyst with Gimme Credit, an independent debt research firm, called the Delta order “a step in the right direction” but maintained Bombardier’s underperform rating. “The company is still burning through cash, and the timing as to when the CSeries program turns profitable and becomes free cash flow positive is still sometime away,” Mr. Mann wrote. As the project drained Bombardier of cash, the company was forced to seek $1 billion in aid from the province of Quebec , which is now a shareholder in the CSeries. The company is seeking a similar bailout from the government of Canada, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Negotiations for that investment, however, appear to have bogged down on a number of questions, including the special voting shares that give members of the founding families of Bombardier, a one-time snowmobile maker, control of the company. During a conference call with analysts on Thursday, Mr. Bellemare said that talks with the government remained underway but suggested that federal money was no longer necessary to keep the company operating. Later, he told reporters that any federal money would “further strengthen our ability to continue investing in aerospace right here in Canada.”

Bombardier
Delta Air Lines
Airlines,airplanes


Israel Election Result Complicates Life for Clinton

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s victory in this week’s Israeli elections has reverberated through American politics, reinforcing Republican faith in the political wisdom of a hawkish foreign policy, worsening his relationship with President Obama, and energizing liberal critics of Israel’s government. But mostly it has complicated the life of Hillary Rodham Clinton. As she moves closer to making her campaign for president official, Mrs. Clinton now faces a deepening polarization among Jewish Democrats over Mr. Netanyahu and how the United States should deal with his government. Mrs. Clinton, the former secretary of state who has long advocated a two-state solution and once took credit for starting what were then secret talks for an Iran nuclear deal that Mr. Netanyahu vehemently opposes, is now likely to be under increased pressure from her own party to speak up against a government that is openly hostile to Mr. Obama. But if she criticizes Israel, she risks prompting an influential segment of more conservative Jewish Democrats to withhold their support from her presidential campaign, or even to defect to a Republican candidate in 2016. “Everyone is now going to have to pick a side,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, a liberal Jewish lobby that has supported Mr. Obama’s positions on Israel and is hosting its annual conference this weekend. That included the woman at “the forefront” of the Democratic Party, he said, who would undergo “more and more pressure.” In contrast to virtually the entire field of prospective Republican candidates who heaped praise on Mr. Netanyahu, Mrs. Clinton has declined to comment on the Israeli election. Reporters on Thursday were kept away from the car that took her to Atlantic City for a paid speech to the American Camp Association. Until this point, Mrs. Clinton has essentially shrugged off the anguish of liberal supporters of Israel who are appalled by Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing government, and ignored the emboldened fringe of progressive Jews who have advocated boycotting Israel to protest its settlement growth and wars in Gaza. Last summer she made light of her time as Mr. Obama’s “designated yeller” at the State Department, a title she earned in part by upbraiding Mr. Netanyahu in 2010 after he announced new settlements during a visit by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. She then articulated a vigorous defense of Israel during last summer’s war in Gaza and since then has generally avoided public displays of empathy for the Palestinian losses that upset her liberal Jewish supporters. “If I were the prime minister of Israel, you’re damn right I would expect to have control over security” on the West Bank, she told The Atlantic in August. Such muscular remarks about the defense of Israel are standard procedure for a Democratic presidential candidate. The overwhelming percentage of Jewish voters, and donors, are liberal and will never vote for a Republican. The progressives who are bothered by Israel’s conservative government care a lot more about other issues, such as the economy and social issues. Support for the government is strong among what people close to Mrs. Clinton estimate to be about a 10 percent sliver of wealthy and influential moderate Democratic Jews for whom Israel is a priority, and could be a reason to withhold their financial backing, if not support a Republican candidate. But the anger generated by Mr. Netanyahu’s appearance before Congress and the other events that led up to his re-election will probably mean that more Democrats will be less willing to bite their tongues when it comes to criticizing his government. A statement on Thursday by the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly, which is traditionally a reliable defender of the Israeli government, condemned the prime minister’s campaign position. That suggests an expanded space, and perhaps tolerance, for criticism of Israel and another consideration for Mrs. Clinton as she formulates her response. “This isn’t going away,” acknowledged one person close to Mrs. Clinton. Not everyone subscribed to the notion that Jewish Democrats were torn over Mr. Netanyahu. Josh Block, president of the Israel Project , a pro-Israeli education group in Washington, blamed the Obama administration for manufacturing the tension to distract from the nuclear negotiations and accused progressive partisans of trying to “exploit and exaggerate the tensions for their own political gains.” Still, Jewish elected officials in the Democratic Party describe a nightmare scenario in which traditional supporters of Israel will receive primary challenges from candidates now openly critical of the Israeli government. Polls show that Israel is increasingly unpopular with African-American, Latino and young voters — a key portion of the Democratic base. Officials fear that an erosion of support for Israel in the party could cause insecurity among Jewish voters, forcing them to seek comfort in the eager embrace of the Republican Party. Who Is Running for President? Donald J. Trump officially accepted the Republican party's nomination on July 22. Hillary Clinton was officially nominated on July 26 at the Democratic Convention. This is the stuff of dreams for Republicans. For them, and especially the party’s neoconservatives, Mr. Netanyahu’s victory was a good omen. “It will strengthen the hawkish types in the Republican Party,” said William Kristol, the editor of the Weekly Standard, who said that Mr. Netanyahu would win the party’s nomination, if he could run, because “Republican primary voters are at least as hawkish as the Israeli public.” Would-be candidates responded accordingly. In a statement released after Mr. Netanyahu’s victory, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin congratulated the prime minister on a victory that was “especially remarkable in light of the Obama administration’s attempts to undermine him.” Former Gov. Jeb Bush and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida paid lip service to the two-state solution, only to argue that its pursuit should be put off. “The conditions don’t exist right now for that solution to truly take hold,” Mr. Rubio said. Potential candidates appealing to right-wing Jewish Republican megadonors like Sheldon Adelson or a base of conservative evangelicals, many of whom believe Israel has a biblically rooted right to the occupied territories, did not mention the two-state solution. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, for example, praised Mr. Netanyahu for defeating “the full force of the Obama political team.” And he happily exploited the bind in which Mr. Netanyahu’s rejection of the two-state solution and apparent race-baiting on the campaign trail had put Mrs. Clinton. “When it comes to Israel, the time for her to stand up is now,” he said, adding that if Mrs. Clinton disagreed with Mr. Obama’s Iran nuclear negotiations, “she needs to state so clearly and unequivocally right now.”

Hillary Clinton
Benjamin Netanyahu
Israel
2016 Presidential Election
Israeli settlement
Democrats
Palestinians
US Foreign Policy


Marketers Are Putting Nascar on Different Kinds of Circuits

Abstract: “GENTLEMEN, start your modems.” The 2008 season for the Nascar Sprint Cup Series begins on Sunday with the 50th running of the Daytona 500, and Nascar and its myriad sponsors are accelerating efforts to reach fans through the Internet and other nontraditional media. For years, marketers with Nascar deals — among them Best Western, Coca-Cola, Ford, General Motors, Molson Coors, Nationwide, Office Depot, Procter & Gamble, Sprint Nextel and United Parcel Service — concentrated their considerable ad spending in mainstay media like television, radio, print and billboards. If they were in a daring or experimental mood, they would — gasp! — buy some commercial time on cable. That is changing rapidly as campaigns featuring Nascar drivers and cars proliferate on Web sites, cellphones, digital video recorders, satellite TV and radio, video game consoles and mobile devices. The shift parallels the increasing appearance in the new media of ads celebrating sports, whether college basketball, competitive eating contests or the apex of American athleticism, the Super Bowl . “It’s incredibly important to reach the fans in different ways as they engage with our sport in different ways,” said Steve Phelps, chief marketing officer at Nascar in Daytona Beach, Fla. “If we don’t do that,” he added, bringing up a rival mode of transportation, “we’re going to miss the boat.”  According to Nascar’s research, “our avid fans, roughly 30 million of them, consume 8 hours a week of Nascar media” in various forms, Mr. Phelps said. Nascar.com attracts almost four million unique visitors each month, Mr. Phelps said. And computer users have uploaded more than 350,000 video clips, photographs and other content to a new social networking feature on the Web site, called the Community ( community.nascar.com ). “Television is still very important to us,” Mr. Phelps said, referring to network partners like ABC, ESPN2, Fox Broadcasting and Speed. “But as media becomes more fractionalized, we need to make sure we’re finding the places where the fans are.” That philosophy is also guiding big sponsors like Sprint Nextel. “The rabid Nascar fans are high-tech oriented,” said Bill Morgan, senior vice president for corporate marketing at Sprint Nextel in Kansas City, Mo., quite unlike the stereotype of “the blue-collar, beer-drinking, pickup truck Nascar guy.” Nontraditional media like the Internet, which lets fans interact with the sport and each other, suit Nascar, Mr. Morgan said, because “these are not passive sport watchers but rather active participants.” For 2008, Sprint is sponsoring an elaborate multimedia campaign carrying the theme “Speed is beautiful.” The campaign is by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, part of the Omnicom Group. The elements of the campaign in the nontraditional media include a section of the Sprint Web site ( sprint.com/speed ) where computer users will be able to download wallpaper, send customized e-mail messages to friends and design their own “burnouts.” There will also be a Nascar Sprint Cup mobile application for Sprint cellphones that will provide data like driver lap times, speeds and point standings; radio broadcasts of races; and “in-car driver communication” for all 43 cars entered in the Daytona 500, Mr. Morgan said. One popular method of expanding the new-media presence of Nascar sponsors is microsites, special Web sites devoted to Nascar that are separate from their mainstream sites. For instance, Office Depot has officedepotracing.com , distinct from the officedepot.com site, which is primarily for e-commerce. “It’s difficult to make a meaningful connection with customers in a media-saturated environment,” said Noah Maffitt, director for global e-commerce at Office Depot in Delray Beach, Fla. Nascar fans “will often be surfing the Web” for Nascar sites while watching a race on TV, he added. “You don’t often get that engagement during sports.” Mr. Maffitt called the racing microsite a “playground” that “allows us to do some things we normally wouldn’t do” to engage consumers, like blogging, podcasting and offering video clips. Office Depot is teaming up with Harlequin Enterprises, the romance-book publisher owned by the Torstar Corporation, for an online contest with an unusual prize. The winner will have his or her proposal — for marriage or a renewal of vows — featured on a Nascar race car, the No. 99 Ford Fusion sponsored by Office Depot and driven by Carl Edwards. Contestants can sign up on a Harlequin microsite, getyourheartracing.com . The contest will also be promoted on Office Depot Web sites as well as through millions of e-mail messages and postcards to be given away at the Daytona 500.  Another Nascar sponsor, Best Western International, will make its first foray into online contests, said Dorothy Dowling, senior vice president for marketing and sales in Phoenix, with a promotion bearing an April Fool’s Day theme that begins on Friday. The contest will invite consumers to upload funny photographs of family members, friends, co-workers or neighbors to a section of the Best Western Web site ( bestwestern.com/aprilfools ). The photo submitted by the winner will appear on the Best Western Toyota Camry driven by David Reutimann at a Nascar race in Phoenix on April 11. Like Office Depot, Best Western also has a microsite devoted to its Nascar sponsorship ( bestwesternracing.com ). “The online space is critically important to the hotel category,” Ms. Dowling said. “About 50 percent of our total business is through either bestwestern.com or partner Web sites.” Three agencies are working on the Best Western campaign: Allison & Partners in San Francisco, for public relations; the Los Angeles office of Initiative, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, for media; and ISM in Boston, for the creative.

National Assn of Stock Car Auto Racing
Advertising and Marketing
Computers and the Internet
Automobile Racing
Wireless Communications


Colorado: Fires Spur Evacuations

Abstract: Two wildfires prompted evacuations Friday of the homes of 1,700 people in Boulder as well as more in neighboring foothills where dozens of houses were burned in a blaze last month. Three subdivisions in the Boulder County foothills were evacuated Friday morning shortly after the wildfires were first reported, and the authorities issued emergency phone calls to 181 numbers. Officials later ordered evacuations for part of Boulder’s west side. The authorities feared high winds would spread the fires.


Orders for Durable Goods Fall 1.4%

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Orders to American factories for long-lasting manufactured goods fell in February for the third time in the last four months, and an important investment category fell for a sixth month. Orders for durable goods dropped 1.4 percent in February, after a 2 percent increase in January and declines of 3.7 percent in December and 2.2 percent in November, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. A crucial category that serves as a proxy for business investment spending retreated 1.4 percent in February, the sixth consecutive monthly decline. The weakness in February was widespread, with weaker demand for commercial aircraft, autos and machinery. The result adds to a slew of disappointing data from recent economic indicators. Economists, however, expect domestic demand to strengthen in the months ahead and hope that will be enough to offset weakness caused by a stronger dollar, which dampens export sales of American companies. Transportation orders were down 3.5 percent. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders dropped 0.4 percent. Demand for machinery and computers fell, and orders for communications equipment and appliances rose. Paul Ashworth, chief United States economist at Capital Economics, attributed some of the weakness to the big plunge in energy prices, which has led to cutbacks in drilling plans by oil and gas companies. But he noted one sign of encouragement: Business surveys of investment spending plans have improved significantly in recent months. "We would expect to see a rebound in equipment investment in the second quarter," Mr. Ashworth said. Many economists are looking for manufacturing orders to start strengthening after a stretch of weakness in the second half of last year. They believe the end of harsh winter weather and the resolution of a labor dispute at West Coast ports, which caused supply disruptions, should help. They expect strong consumer spending, powered by a year of healthy job gains, will bolster domestic demand and help to offset global weakness and the strong dollar. Growth in the overall economy slowed significantly in the October-December quarter, with a widening trade deficit trimming growth by more than a percentage point. On Friday, the government will release its final estimate of economic growth in the fourth quarter. Analysts expect growth will be revised slightly to a rate of 2.4 percent, up from the previous estimate of 2.2 percent. But that would still leave the economy expanding far below the 5 percent rate in the third quarter.


Teacher and Restaurateurs Were Flight 17 Victims

Abstract: AMSTERDAM — Hiding behind glasses of beer and flirting with nihilism, the aspiring writers, the sportsman, the teacher and the childhood friend were trying to cope with their feelings of irreplaceable loss. Their friend Laurens van der Graaff, 30, a tall, blond Dutchman who dreamed of writing a grand novel, and his girlfriend, Karlijn Keijzer, 25, a doctoral student in chemistry at Indiana University , had died en route to Indonesia for a summer vacation. They were two of the 193 Dutch passengers on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down on Thursday flying over eastern Ukraine. Mr. van der Graaff’s friends gathered Sunday at Café de Zwart, an Amsterdam watering hole popular among writers and journalists. It overlooks Spui, a square here where tourists roam in fluorescent shorts, unaware of the sadness many of the Dutch are coping with after such a tragic loss. Mr. van der Graaff had a knack for making friends wherever he went, said his childhood friend, Wim Amels, also 30. During a year as an exchange student at a high school in DeMotte, Ind., he was elected prom king. Image Laurens van der Graaff Credit Courtesy Hajo Hoffs “He was just impossible to dislike,” said Nina Polak, whose debut novel, “Do Not Dread the Waves Below,” Mr. van der Graaff had taken along on his doomed trip. Leaving his home town, Bergen, on the North Sea, after high school, Mr. van der Graaff began studying political science and, later, Dutch literature at the University of Amsterdam in an effort, his friends said, to avoid becoming a teacher, like both of his parents. He joined the student rowing society, Skøll, and in 2008 was elected its president. “He loved the spotlights,” said his rowing buddy, Young-kon Lambeck, 29, “and everybody loved him.” Ms. Polak remembered when, in 2010, nervous and “dressed like an Abercrombie & Fitch model,” Mr. van der Graaff walked into the modest office of Propria Cures, a satirical student literary magazine and a training ground for aspiring writers and cultural critics determined to eloquently thrash those they had succeeded. “We still don’t understand how such a nice guy could be such a merciless writer,” said Jim Glerum, 27, a friend and an editor at the literary magazine. Mr. van der Graaff criticized several celebrated Dutch writers in articles in the underground magazine, and his friends said he was a good writer. But they said he had always felt he lacked literary depth. In the end, he decided to become a teacher, and a very passionate one at that. Victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Among the 298 people aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 were a renowned AIDS researcher, a Dutch senator and an Australian novelist. His friends, along with the owners of Café de Zwart, toasted Mr. van der Graaff’s memory on Sunday before they fell silent thinking of their friend’s large, lifeless body lying in a wheat field in eastern Ukraine. They tried to laugh and reason away their tears. “His body is abstract now,” said Mr. Amels, maintaining a stiff upper lip. “Still, I’m sure his parents want to have his body here,” Ms. Polak said. “The idea that he is being moved around, by those rebels who don’t love him — I don’t know,” said Mr. Lambeck. “It’s just wrong.” Across the Netherlands, people have come together to share stories of their loved ones and contemplate their loss amid a distant conflict . In Rotterdam, mourners gathered at a restaurant, Asian Glories, whose charming host, Jenny Loh, and her husband, Shun Po Fan, the cook lovingly nicknamed Popo, died aboard Flight 17. Their son, Kevin, is now left alone to run two popular restaurants. Image People searched a wheat field for remains in the area of the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine. 1 / 8 Many of the Netherlands’ top chefs were to participate on Monday in a memorial vigil in Rotterdam for Ms. Loh, a Chinese Malaysian, and Mr. Fan, who was from Hong Kong. They had moved to the Netherlands more than 30 years ago. “Their dream was to please their guests,” said François Geurds, 38, the owner of FG Food Labs, one of the Netherlands′ few restaurants with two Michelin stars. Mr. Geurds said that years ago, when he was starting out, he would save his money to spend on meals at Asian Glories, where he learned to expand his tastes and became close friends with Ms. Loh and Mr. Fan. “They were just the kindest people,” he said. “If it could bring them back, I’d give them both my Michelin stars.” Mr. Geurds said that if their bodies were recovered, Ms. Loh would be buried in Malaysia and Mr. Fan in Hong Kong. “They need a proper burial,” he said. “We need to bring them back.”

Malaysia Airlines 17
Netherlands
Funerals
Fatalities,casualties


Sudan: Rebels Shell City in a Southern Border State

Abstract: Rebels on Monday shelled Kadugli, in South Kordofan State, killing at least one person and wounding three, said a Sudanese Army spokesman. The rebels of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement-North told Reuters that the shelling was in retaliation for attacks on their positions. Since last year, the rebels have clashed with Sudan ’s government forces in South Kordofan, which borders South Sudan . The rebels previously fought alongside the forces of South Sudan before it gained independence from Sudan.


Fledgling Women’s Hockey League Becomes a Trailblazer on Transgender Policy

Abstract: BUFFALO — With social change moving quickly across the professional sports landscape, the National Women’s Hockey League was playing catch-up. For the past three months, the only professional sports league in North America with an openly transgender player had no transgender policy in place. Now, the architects of new guidelines for such players in the N.W.H.L. say the fledgling four-team league, in only its second season of existence, is prepared to take a leading position when it comes to treatment of transgender players. “This is really a groundbreaking policy in professional sports, and specifically in women’s professional sports,” said Chris Mosier, vice president for program development and community relations for You Can Play, an organization that works to combat discrimination against athletes because of sexual orientation or gender identity. You Can Play and the National Center for Lesbian Rights were consultants for the N.W.H.L. guidelines. “Being a women’s league, they want to make sure their players are protected,” said Mosier, a professional triathlete and transgender man who competed for the United States national team at the sprint duathlon world championships in June. “This is a really unique opportunity for them on taking the lead that others can look to as one to replicate.” The league is unveiling its policy at the end of a year in which the International Olympic Committee revamped its guidelines to reflect the latest scientific and legal attitudes on the issue, making it less onerous for transgender athletes to compete at the Olympic Games. Those I.O.C. guidelines — which no longer require athletes to undergo sexual reassignment surgery — served as a template for the N.W.H.L., Mosier said. The policy also arrives at the end of a month in which North Carolina legislators rejected an attempt to repeal a state law that requires transgender people in public buildings to use the bathroom that corresponds with the gender on their birth certificate. “It’s a unique opportunity to continue to move the conversation forward and accelerate that social progress and to be that benchmark,” said Dani Rylan, the N.W.H.L.’s commissioner, “and to remain approachable and available for these discussions.” The N.W.H.L. was propelled into the national conversation on transgender issues on Oct. 7, when Harrison Browne, a 23-year-old forward for the Buffalo Beauts, came out publicly as a transgender man in an article on ESPN.com that was published hours before the start of the season. Browne played as Hailey Browne during the league’s inaugural season, 2015-16. “It was a nudge in the right direction after Harrison approached us this fall,” said Rylan, who oversaw the changing of Browne’s player profile name and pronouns on the N.W.H.L. website. The guidelines are three pages with a stated purpose of supporting “athletes choosing to express their gender beyond the binary of female and male.” The most restrictive conditions relate to those who make a transition from male to female, circumstances that typically have raised questions about fairness. An athlete cannot change her gender again for a minimum of four years and must demonstrate that her testosterone level is “within typical limits of women athletes,” subject to testing. Image Dani Rylan, commissioner of the National Women’s Hockey League, said of the N.W.H..L’s transgender efforts, “It’s a unique opportunity to continue to move the conversation forward and accelerate that social progress and to be that benchmark, and to remain approachable and available for these discussions.” Credit Bruce Bennett/Getty Images The new policy comes during an otherwise rocky season for the league. With attendance down, player salaries — between $10,000 and $26,000 — were slashed by more than a third last month, a measure that surprised players and called into question the viability of the N.W.H.L . Although Rylan and players have agreed not to discuss details of their continuing negotiations, she said, “We made sure we won’t have to cut salaries again.” On Friday, the N.W.H.L. announced that it had enacted a revenue-sharing arrangement on Dec. 1 in which 100 percent of ticket sales beyond the first 500 sold for each regular-season game will be split among the players on the home and visiting teams. Browne said he was optimistic the league would endure but would not commit to playing beyond this season. He has one goal and two assists through nine games with the Beauts (3-5-0-1). And he plans to begin a physical transition, including testosterone therapy — which is prohibited under the guidelines — after his professional hockey career has ended. Browne said he came out for personal reasons, not necessarily for transgender advocacy. Still, he has found himself advising parents and transgender high school athletes, who reach out to him, on how to come out to teammates. His robust social media following has made him a popular transgender figure. League merchandise with his name on it ranks third in sales, behind that of Amanda Kessel of the New York Riveters and Hilary Knight of the Boston Pride, who are both United States Olympians. “I feel accomplished that I was able to get the ball rolling on that and save some grief for any trans player that may come into the league after me,” said Browne, who did not have any say on drafting the policy. “I think it’s very inclusive,” he said. “I don’t think it’s discriminatory at all. I think it’s very fair.” Joanna Harper is a medical physicist at Providence Portland Medical Center in Portland, Ore., who has studied transgender distance runners. A transgender woman, she has advised the I.O.C. on its gender guidelines. “Transgender women will have advantages,” she said, noting that transgender women had never dominated in any sport. “Specifically, transgender women are taller, larger, they have more muscle mass. Those are all facts.” Still, Harper compared a transgender woman with suppressed testosterone to a large model car with a small engine. She would be competing against a smaller car with a smaller engine, and might not enjoy the advantages often assumed. “In hockey, getting up and down the ice, there may be disadvantages that a transgender woman may have,” she said, noting that the best hockey players, male or female, had not always been the biggest and strongest. “Just because a transgender woman is bigger doesn’t necessarily mean what you may think. It’s much more complicated.” Noting that athletes came in different shapes and sizes, Rylan sounded a note of optimism about the N.W.H.L. and its new guidelines. “We still hold tryouts in our league,” she said. “We are always looking for the best 68 players in the world to play in the league.”

Transgender,Gender Dysphoria
Women and Girls
National Women's Hockey League
Harrison Browne
Buffalo Beauts
Ice hockey


Wawrinka and Murray Lose in Indian Wells

Abstract: Kevin Anderson upset the Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka, 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-1, in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., joining Milos Raonic in sending home two top-10 players. Anderson advanced to the quarterfinals against the four-time tournament champion Roger Federer, who beat 11th-seeded Tommy Haas, 6-4, 6-4. Andy Murray, ranked sixth in the world, lost to the big-serving Raonic, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. On the women’s side, sixth-seeded Simona Halep defeated the Australian qualifier Casey Dellacqua, 6-2, 6-2, to earn a berth in the semifinals.

Tennis
Indian Wells Masters,BNP Paribas Open
Stan Wawrinka
Milos Raonic
Kevin Anderson
Andy Murray


Executives Will Testify in Airbus Inquiry

Abstract: One of highest-profile insider-trading inquiries in Europe in recent years will enter its final phase Monday as more than a dozen current and former executives of the aerospace group EADS and its Airbus subsidiary testify before a French regulator that is weighing more than €12 million in fines. The weeklong hearing of the sanctions committee of the French Financial Markets Authority follows a two-and-a-half-year investigation into allegations that top managers of the two companies were aware of manufacturing problems with the Airbus A380 superjumbo jet when they sold shares in European Aeronautics Defense & Space in March 2006, three months before the troubles became public and the company’s shares tumbled. The stakes in the EADS case — which dates back to 2006 — are high for both the regulator and the accused, lawyers and analysts said. Popular resentment of corporate leaders is still running high here in the wake of last year’s financial market meltdown, putting pressure on the French authority to demonstrate that it has the teeth to enforce fair trading. Meanwhile, EADS and its main industrial shareholders — the French media group Lagardère and the German car maker Daimler — are eager to put the headlines about the affair behind them. “There are very few instances today in France where people are actually convicted of insider trading,” said Frédérik-Karel Canoy, a lawyer representing the individual French shareholders of EADS. Since insider trading became a crime in the 1970s, he said, “the regulator has rarely fulfilled its role as defender of small investors.” A confidential report in July by the regulator’s lead investigator in the case charged Noël Forgeard, a former EADS co-chief executive, and six other individuals with profiting illegally from privileged information and accused EADS itself of failing to properly inform investors about the delays in the A380 program, according to people who have read the report. The same report exonerated 10 other executives whom the regulator had formally accused of insider dealings in 2008 — including the current Airbus chief executive, Thomas O. Enders. Lagardère and Daimler were also cleared of any violation. Following the report in July, the regulator’s sanctions committee has sought to determine what the accused executives would have known about the troubled A380 project when they sold their stock in early March 2006, three months before the problems with that aircraft program became public on June 13. The shares plunged 26 percent the next day. The authority’s investigator has recommended that Mr. Forgeard, who was ousted in July 2006, pay the most severe penalty, €5.45 million, or $8.1 million, after he reaped profits of more than €3.5 million from exercising his EADS share options. Mr. Forgeard has consistently maintained his innocence. In October, his lawyers asked the regulator to review new evidence that they said proved that he had moved to sell his shares well before a meeting of EADS and Airbus executives on March 1, 2006, when the regulator said the A380’s production problems were first discussed. The evidence includes a series of documents that were seized during police raids of Mr. Forgeard’s office in December 2006, said a person who had read the documents but was not authorized to discuss them. Among them is a letter dated Feb. 12, 2006, written by Mr. Forgeard informing his bank, Edmond de Rothschild, of his intention to sell a portion of his EADS shares and of his plans to give some of the proceeds to his children. The letter also indicated that Mr. Forgeard had sought approval of the sale from the EADS chief financial officer and head of compliance, Hans Peter Ring. A spokesman for Mr. Forgeard declined to comment. Telephone calls to his lawyer were not returned. According to a person who has seen the regulator’s July report, the investigator has also recommended a fine of €3.6 million for John Leahy, the chief commercial aircraft salesman at Airbus; €1.1 million for Jean-Paul Gut, a former EADS chief operating officer and board member; €710,000 for Andreas Sperl, a former financial director at Airbus; €360,000 for Alain Flourens, a manager in charge of the main Airbus engineering centers; €310,000 for Olivier Andriès, a former Airbus vice president; and €90,000 for Erik Pillet, a former Airbus director of human resources. EADS itself faces a fine of €700,000 for failing to release information fast enough about the delays in A380 deliveries. Those delays eventually stretched to more than two years, resulting in over €5 billion in losses for the company. The regulator’s sanctions committee is expected to take up to three weeks to deliberate after this week’s hearings, making a final decision likely before Christmas. Any defendant who is found guilty can bring his case to the Paris court of appeals, a process that would take at least another year, legal experts said. Defendants often do succeed in having the regulator’s rulings overturned in French courts. “It happens — and it’s not that rare,” said Stéphane Bonifassi, a lawyer in Paris who specializes in financial crimes. In highly publicized cases like the EADS affair, however, many judges have bent to political pressure to uphold the regulator’s findings, he said. In fact, even when the regulator has failed to find sufficient evidence of insider trading, the French courts have been known to convict. Such was the case with the American financier George Soros, who was fined €2.2 million in 2002 by a French court that found he had illegally profited from privileged information about a 1988 takeover bid for the bank Société Générale. A 1989 inquiry by the Commission des Opérations de la Bourse — a predecessor of the Financial Markets Authority — found no evidence of insider trading according to the rules in place at the time. Mr. Soros failed to have the verdict overturned by the French supreme court and in 2006 filed an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. That case is still pending. Several executives in the EADS case are also subjects of a separate criminal court inquiry. Legal experts said the French markets authority appeared to be getting more aggressive about pursuing insider-trading cases in recent years, though the financial penalties applied were usually far lower than the maximum allowed, or 10 times any profits made from the illegal dealings. “We are seeing more cases prosecuted and the sanctions are getting harsher,” Mr. Bonifassi said. “But compared to what can be handed down in the U.S., the fines are still not very high. If all you do is make them give back the profit, that’s nothing.”

European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co


New York Times Awards David Carr Fellowships to 3 Journalists

Abstract: The New York Times announced on Tuesday that it had chosen three journalists to spend two years in its newsroom as part of a fellowship named for the media columnist David Carr . The Times had initially said it would select just one person for the fellowship, which was created after Mr. Carr’s death in 2015. Instead, John Herrman , a co-editor and media reporter for The Awl ; Amanda Hess , a staff writer at Slate ; and Greg Howard , a reporter for Deadspin , will all join the Times newsroom on March 15. The three were chosen from more than 600 applicants, from countries all over the world, by a panel of Times editors. “We found these three candidates so compelling that we decided to select all of them,” said Dean Baquet, The Times’s executive editor. “They are thoughtful, deep reporters. We will learn as much from them as they will from us.” Mr. Herrman, 28, known for his long essays about the Internet and technology, will work with The Times’s media group and write primarily for the Business section. Ms. Hess, 30, who covers the human side of web culture for Slate, will join the Culture section. And Mr. Howard, 27, who has written about race and sports at Deadspin since 2013, will work with The New York Times Magazine and other sections. The Times created the fellowship to honor Mr. Carr, who was known for a writing style that was both plain-spoken and elegant. In his weekly Media Equation column , he displayed his passion for chronicling the ways in which technology was affecting the media industry and culture at large. He began his career with alternative weekly newspapers and joined The Times in 2002 as a reporter. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2015. He also wrote a memoir, “ The Night of the Gun ,” which chronicled his battles with addiction, and he was a star of the documentary “ Page One: Inside The New York Times ,” about The Times. He was also a mentor to many young journalists at The Times and other organizations. He could often be seen standing outside The Times’s 40th Street entrance, engaged in deep conversation with someone seeking his counsel. In 2014 he began teaching a course at Boston University’s College of Communication. “In the spirit of David’s curiosity, his ability to see around the corner, and his preference to show rather than tell, I can say with certainty that he would have made these choices himself,” said Jill Rooney Carr, Mr. Carr’s widow. “On behalf of the Carr family, we congratulate Amanda, Greg and John and can’t wait to see their work on the written page, on the screen or in a nascent medium that’s yet to be explained.”

The New York Times
David Carr
Scholarships
News media,journalism


Office Tower’s Owners May Profit From Plan to Allow Sale of Landmarks’ Air Rights

Abstract: Despite its modest size, the Lever House, a slim, blue-green glass tower that seems to hover over Park Avenue, created a sensation when it opened in 1952 as a modernist symbol of corporate America. Six decades later, the 21-story office building, which commands some of the highest rents in Manhattan, is a potential windfall beneficiary of the Bloomberg administration’s plan to allow bigger, taller new skyscrapers in the area surrounding Grand Central Terminal. The fate of Lever House and the city’s proposal, which has generated support from many in the real estate industry and criticism from community groups as it moves through the approval process, illustrate how arcane zoning changes can not only reshape the city’s skyline but enrich lucky property owners. In the administration’s latest proposal, historic landmarks like Lever House, as well as St. Patrick’s Cathedral and St. Bartholomew’s Church, would be able to sell and transfer their unused development rights to an expanded swath of development sites so that other builders can erect taller towers than would otherwise be allowed. The reason given is that the extra money would allow the owners of landmarks, which cannot be demolished, to pay for the preservation of the aging structures. But unlike St. Patrick’s or St. Bart’s, the estimated $75 million in proceeds from the sale of development rights from Lever House would not go back into the building. The money instead would go to the private landowner, the Korein family, whose portfolio of valuable properties stretches across Manhattan, from 120 Broadway downtown to the Delmonico Hotel on Park Avenue at 59th Street. The Korein family, the Archdiocese of New York and the Real Estate Board of New York were thrilled that the Bloomberg administration included the landmarks in their plan. But critics like State Senator Brad Hoylman contend the situation at Lever House is an example of “the slapdash nature of the proposal.” “This exception undermines the intention of the air rights transfers for historic properties,” Mr. Hoylman said. “The beneficiaries in this case don’t have an obligation to invest the proceeds in the preservation of the landmark.” The potential windfall for the Korein family is an unintended consequence of the city’s decision to address the complaints of religious institutions like St. Patrick’s, which lobbied for the right to transfer its unused air rights to a wider selection of sites to raise needed funds for the upkeep of buildings. But, an official noted, the city could not treat the landmark Lever House differently than the religious institutions. Image The 21-story Lever House on Park Avenue opened in 1952. Credit Demetrius Freeman/The New York Times The Bloomberg administration says revised zoning is needed to encourage modern towers to replace the area’s aging buildings so the district can continue to attract top corporate tenants. The rezoning will produce a handful of new skyscrapers, officials say, not an avalanche of new development. It remains to be seen whether anyone will purchase the unused development rights. “The transfer of air rights by landmarked buildings is just one way that the rezoning will improve East Midtown,” said Julie Wood, a spokeswoman for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. “Value will be created not only for property owners but for workers and residents, who will be the beneficiaries of improvements to the streets and public spaces.” Critics of the city’s initiative, which include elected officials, four community boards, preservationists and some real estate executives, contend that the administration has rushed a flawed proposal through the review process with unusual speed because officials want it approved before the mayor leaves office in December. The rezoning, they say, would allow developers to overwhelm the neighborhood with towers twice the size permitted now, casting shadows over the nearby Chrysler Building and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and further stressing public transportation. In a two-step process, developers would pay the city a “district improvement bonus” for a tower to rise 20 percent above existing limits. On certain sites, a developer could buy additional development rights from the city or from certain historic landmarks. The city’s initial proposal allowed for the purchase of unused development rights from Grand Central Terminal. But St. Patrick’s (with an estimated one million square feet of unused development rights), St. Bart’s and Central Synagogue lobbied city officials to be included. So did James Korein, chief executive of Omnispective Management, which owns the land beneath Lever House. City officials rejected those entreaties until July 17, when officials announced several revisions that gave the owners what they wanted. Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan and Rabbi Peter J. Rubinstein of the Central Synagogue promptly sent a letter to members of the City Council urging adoption of the rezoning, now that they could use the proceeds to “invest in the needs of our congregations” and “provide for the good repair of our historic buildings.” It remains to be seen whether anyone will buy some or all of the development rights. But regardless the money would not flow to Aby Rosen, principal of RFR Holding, which operates Lever House under a 99-year lease with the Korein family and spent $70 million rehabilitating the building in 2000. When Mr. Rosen signed the lease he was required to refurbish the building’s crumbling facade. He did that and more. Lever House now has a high-end restaurant, hedge funds pay top-dollar rents and celebrated works of art adorn the lobby. “We turned it into a gem that everybody loves,” Mr. Rosen said. Mr. Korein said he was heartened by the city’s reversal. He did not deny that his family would benefit. “We believe it can be worked out in a way that’s beneficial for everybody,” he said. “The specifics are out in the future.”

Lever House Manhattan NY
Commercial Real Estate
Mike Bloomberg
Grand Central Terminal
Historic preservation
Zoning
Midtown Area Manhattan


The Pulse: Charity Is Fined Over Fencing Rule

Abstract: Not even the Salvation Army is immune from Mayor Richard M. Daley’s affinity for ornamental fencing. In July, the charity was fined $500 by the city for lacking the required fencing at its property at 2270 North Clybourn Avenue, which includes a thrift store and rehabilitation facility. After issuing only one fine for a landscape ordinance violation from 2005 until 2008, the city issued 51 in 2009, according to records from the Department of Administrative Hearings. The city meted out $29,000 in fines to businesses last year for landscape ordinance violations. Ninety percent of the violations cited a lack of the required fencing. Deadlines for putting up fencing were phased in by area. Other parts of the ordinance require trees, hedges and screening of stored trash. Alderman Eugene Schulter (47th Ward) has proposed a two-year moratorium on enforcing the ordinance, a measure that requires City Council approval. Mr. Daley has defended the ordinance.

Salvation Army
Fines (Penalties)
Zoning
Chicago (Ill)