The scientists who altered a deadly flu virus to make it more contagious have agreed to suspend their research for 60 days to give other international experts time to discuss the work and determine how it can proceed without putting the world at risk of a potentially catastrophic pandemic.
Suspensions of biomedical research are almost unheard of; the only other one in the United States was a moratorium from 1974 to 1976 on some types of recombinant DNA research, because of safety concerns.
A letter explaining the flu decision is being published in two scientific journals, Science and Nature, which also plan to publish reports on the research, but in a redacted form, omitting details that would let other researchers copy the experiments. The letter is signed by the scientists who produced the new, more contagious form of the flu virus, as well as by more than 30 other leading flu researchers.
“We recognize that we and the rest of the scientific community need to clearly explain the benefits of this important research and the measures taken to minimize its possible risks,” the letter states. At an international meeting next month in Geneva, participants selected by the World Health Organization will consider what to do next. Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institutes of Health, said the gathering would “address some of these difficult issues on an international scale instead of something restricted to the United States government.”
The scientists say their work has important public health benefits, but they acknowledge that it has sparked intense public fears that the deadly virus could accidentally leak out of a laboratory, or be stolen by terrorists, and result in a devastating pandemic. A national biosecurity panel in the United States has already taken the unusual step of asking the scientists to keep part of their data secret to prevent others from reproducing their work.
Scientists are split regarding the research, with some praising it as important and urging that it be published, and others saying the experiments are so dangerous that they should never have been done.
The experiments involve a type of bird flu virus known as H5N1, which rarely infects people but is highly deadly when it does. The work, paid for by the National Institutes of Health, was done by two separate research teams, at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Ron Fouchier, a virologist who conducted the research at Erasmus Medical Center, explained why he and his colleagues decided to pause the research. “It is unfortunate that we need to take this step to help stop the controversy in the United States,” he said. “I think if this were communicated better in the United States it might not have been needed to do this. In the Netherlands we have been very proactive in communicating to the press, politicians and public, and here we do not have such a heated debate.”
Dr. Fauci said that he had never seen the scientific world so polarized, and that led him to urge the researchers to show good faith and flexibility by declaring the moratorium themselves. A concern “looming in the background,” he said, was that biosecurity experts might overreact and impose excessive restrictions on the research.
“I think it’s important research that needs to go forward,” Dr. Fauci said. “I think we need to get greater input on the conditions in which it goes forward.”
Dr. Fauci and others who support the research say it may help explain how flu viruses that start out in animals adapt to humans and become transmissible, and therefore able to cause pandemics. That information, the researchers say, could help them recognize viruses on the way to developing pandemic potential.
Richard H. Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers, is among those who oppose the research because of its risks, and doubts that it could be used to predict pandemics. He said that a moratorium was a good idea, but that this one did not go far enough. He said that the letter did not acknowledge the need for improved “biosafety, biosecurity and oversight,” and that in any case, 60 days would not be enough time to put the needed safeguards in place. The letter noted a “perceived fear” among the public, Dr. Ebright said, and seemed to suggest that the debate would cool down if people would just let the researchers explain that they had done the experiments safely.
Dr. Ebright said experiments with this virus should be done only in laboratories with the highest biosafety rating, BSL4, not in the “enhanced BSL3” in which the work was actually done.
Dr. Fouchier disagreed. He also said that his center did not have BSL4 labs.
Dr. Fauci said various expert groups, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had determined that enhanced BSL3 was good enough for bird flu research.
Since 1997, when the H5N1 virus was first identified, about 600 people have been infected, and more than half died — an extraordinarily high death rate. The saving grace of H5N1 is that when people do become infected — nearly always from contact with birds — they almost never transmit the disease to other people. But the virus has persisted in the environment, infecting millions of birds, and scientists have warned that if it mutates to become more contagious in people, disaster could ensue.
But what mutations would make the virus more easily transmissible? And how hard, or easy, would it be for those mutations to occur? Hoping to answer those questions, some researchers began experimenting with bird flu, working with ferrets, which are considered the best model for studying flu, because they contract it and get sick in much the same way that people do. Recently, the teams in Rotterdam and Madison announced that they had produced a form of H5N1 with mutations that allowed it to “go airborne,” meaning that it spread through the air from one ferret to another. Presumably, though not certainly, the virus could spread in the same way among people.
Dr. Fouchier said he was surprised by how easy it was to change the virus into the very form that the world has been dreading. Now, scientists around the world will have to grapple with what to do with Dr. Fouchier’s creation.
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Russian Says Western Support for Arab Revolts Could Cause a ‘Big War’
Russian Says Western Support for Arab Revolts Could Cause a ‘Big War’
MOSCOW — Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, warned Wednesday that outside encouragement of antigovernment uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa could lead to “a very big war that will cause suffering not only to countries in the region, but also to states far beyond its boundaries.”
Mr. Lavrov’s annual news conference was largely devoted to a critique of Western policies in Iran and Syria, which he said could lead to a spiral of violence.
His remarks came on the heels of a report on state-controlled television that accused the American ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, who has been in Moscow for less than a week, of working to provoke a revolution here. Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, at an impromptu meeting with prominent editors, also unleashed an attack on the liberal radio station Ekho Moskvy, which he said was serving American interests.
Mr. Lavrov said Russia would use its position on the United Nations Security Council to veto any United Nations authorization of military strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. The United Nations has repeatedly called for Syria end a crackdown on opposition demonstrators, which Arab League monitors say resulted in hundreds of deaths over the past month.
“If someone conceives the idea of using force at any cost — and I’ve already heard calls for sending some Arab troops to Syria — we are unlikely to be able to prevent this,” Mr. Lavrov said. “But this should be done on their own initiative and should remain on their conscience. They won’t get any authorization from the Security Council.”
Mr. Lavrov said foreign governments were arming “militants and extremists” in Syria, and he gave a bristling response to Susan E. Rice, the American ambassador to the United Nations, who on Tuesday expressed concern about possible Russian arms shipments to Syria.
“We don’t find it necessary to explain or justify anything,” Mr. Lavrov said. “We are only trading goods with Syria that are not prohibited by international law.”
Mr. Lavrov offered a similarly grave message about the possibility of a military strike against Iran, which he said would be a “catastrophe.” He said sanctions now being proposed against Tehran were “intended to have a smothering effect on the Iranian economy and the Iranian population, probably in the hopes of provoking discontent.”
Relations between Moscow and Washington have worsened over the past year, as the cordial tone of the “reset” between President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev has been replaced by a drumbeat of criticism. Mr. Lavrov said that Russia and the United States were not adversaries, and that “the cold war ended a long time ago.” By contrast, however, he was glowing about Russia’s cooperation with China, which he said was “the highest in the history of our bilateral relationship.”
Late on Tuesday night, Russia’s Channel 1 broadcast a segment about Mr. McFaul, who is one of Mr. Obama’s top advisers on Russia and a primary architect of the relationship’s reset. The commentary emphasized Mr. McFaul’s relationship with opposition leaders and suggested that his intent was to lay the groundwork for revolution.
“McFaul is not a specialist on Russia,” said Mikhail V. Leontyev, a Channel 1 commentator. “He is a specialist solely in the promotion of democracy.” Singling out a book by Mr. McFaul, titled “Russia’s Unfinished Revolution,” Mr. Leontyev added: “Is it possible Mr. McFaul came to Russia to work in his specialty? That is, to finish the revolution?”
The segment delved into Mr. McFaul’s previous work in Russia, including a stint in the 1990s with the National Democratic Institute, an organization that Mr. Leontyev said was “known for its proximity to the American intelligence services and its work preparing the political leaders of the third world.” Mr. McFaul should have “no problems” forging relationships with the opposition, Mr. Leontyev said. “Cooperating with the government is another story.”
The commentary followed news coverage on Channel 1 showing opposition leaders who visited the American Embassy to meet with Mr. McFaul. In the video, which was uploaded to YouTube with the title “Receiving Instructions at the United States Embassy,” people accost the opposition leaders on the sidewalk and ask: “Why did you come to the embassy today? What are your reasons for coming?”
Mr. McFaul dismissed the criticism of his meeting with the opposition figures, noting that he had already met with several high-ranking Russian officials.
“U.S. officials visiting Russia make a point of meeting with both government officials and civil society leaders,” he wrote on his blog in Russian and English.
The theme of American interference emerged again during a rapidly convened meeting between top journalists and Mr. Putin, which ended in a confrontation between the prime minister and Aleksei A. Venediktov, the editor of the radio station Ekho Moskvy. The station is an important platform for the opposition, and Mr. Putin said he had been horrified when he happened to hear a broadcast that contended that a planned United States missile defense system posed no great threat to Russia.
“Listen, it was such bull, I just don’t know — where do they get this stuff?” Mr. Putin said. “I thought, This is not information — what they’re broadcasting, it’s serving the foreign policy interests of one country with respect to another, to Russia.”
“I do not take offense when you pour diarrhea on me day in and day out, and yet you have taken offense,” Mr. Putin told Mr. Venediktov as the meeting came to a close, according to an official transcript. “I just said two words, and you took offense.”
MOSCOW — Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, warned Wednesday that outside encouragement of antigovernment uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa could lead to “a very big war that will cause suffering not only to countries in the region, but also to states far beyond its boundaries.”
Mr. Lavrov’s annual news conference was largely devoted to a critique of Western policies in Iran and Syria, which he said could lead to a spiral of violence.
His remarks came on the heels of a report on state-controlled television that accused the American ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, who has been in Moscow for less than a week, of working to provoke a revolution here. Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, at an impromptu meeting with prominent editors, also unleashed an attack on the liberal radio station Ekho Moskvy, which he said was serving American interests.
Mr. Lavrov said Russia would use its position on the United Nations Security Council to veto any United Nations authorization of military strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. The United Nations has repeatedly called for Syria end a crackdown on opposition demonstrators, which Arab League monitors say resulted in hundreds of deaths over the past month.
“If someone conceives the idea of using force at any cost — and I’ve already heard calls for sending some Arab troops to Syria — we are unlikely to be able to prevent this,” Mr. Lavrov said. “But this should be done on their own initiative and should remain on their conscience. They won’t get any authorization from the Security Council.”
Mr. Lavrov said foreign governments were arming “militants and extremists” in Syria, and he gave a bristling response to Susan E. Rice, the American ambassador to the United Nations, who on Tuesday expressed concern about possible Russian arms shipments to Syria.
“We don’t find it necessary to explain or justify anything,” Mr. Lavrov said. “We are only trading goods with Syria that are not prohibited by international law.”
Mr. Lavrov offered a similarly grave message about the possibility of a military strike against Iran, which he said would be a “catastrophe.” He said sanctions now being proposed against Tehran were “intended to have a smothering effect on the Iranian economy and the Iranian population, probably in the hopes of provoking discontent.”
Relations between Moscow and Washington have worsened over the past year, as the cordial tone of the “reset” between President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev has been replaced by a drumbeat of criticism. Mr. Lavrov said that Russia and the United States were not adversaries, and that “the cold war ended a long time ago.” By contrast, however, he was glowing about Russia’s cooperation with China, which he said was “the highest in the history of our bilateral relationship.”
Late on Tuesday night, Russia’s Channel 1 broadcast a segment about Mr. McFaul, who is one of Mr. Obama’s top advisers on Russia and a primary architect of the relationship’s reset. The commentary emphasized Mr. McFaul’s relationship with opposition leaders and suggested that his intent was to lay the groundwork for revolution.
“McFaul is not a specialist on Russia,” said Mikhail V. Leontyev, a Channel 1 commentator. “He is a specialist solely in the promotion of democracy.” Singling out a book by Mr. McFaul, titled “Russia’s Unfinished Revolution,” Mr. Leontyev added: “Is it possible Mr. McFaul came to Russia to work in his specialty? That is, to finish the revolution?”
The segment delved into Mr. McFaul’s previous work in Russia, including a stint in the 1990s with the National Democratic Institute, an organization that Mr. Leontyev said was “known for its proximity to the American intelligence services and its work preparing the political leaders of the third world.” Mr. McFaul should have “no problems” forging relationships with the opposition, Mr. Leontyev said. “Cooperating with the government is another story.”
The commentary followed news coverage on Channel 1 showing opposition leaders who visited the American Embassy to meet with Mr. McFaul. In the video, which was uploaded to YouTube with the title “Receiving Instructions at the United States Embassy,” people accost the opposition leaders on the sidewalk and ask: “Why did you come to the embassy today? What are your reasons for coming?”
Mr. McFaul dismissed the criticism of his meeting with the opposition figures, noting that he had already met with several high-ranking Russian officials.
“U.S. officials visiting Russia make a point of meeting with both government officials and civil society leaders,” he wrote on his blog in Russian and English.
The theme of American interference emerged again during a rapidly convened meeting between top journalists and Mr. Putin, which ended in a confrontation between the prime minister and Aleksei A. Venediktov, the editor of the radio station Ekho Moskvy. The station is an important platform for the opposition, and Mr. Putin said he had been horrified when he happened to hear a broadcast that contended that a planned United States missile defense system posed no great threat to Russia.
“Listen, it was such bull, I just don’t know — where do they get this stuff?” Mr. Putin said. “I thought, This is not information — what they’re broadcasting, it’s serving the foreign policy interests of one country with respect to another, to Russia.”
“I do not take offense when you pour diarrhea on me day in and day out, and yet you have taken offense,” Mr. Putin told Mr. Venediktov as the meeting came to a close, according to an official transcript. “I just said two words, and you took offense.”
Monday, January 16, 2012
Nadal Mends Fences With Federer and Overcomes Knee Problem to Win
Nadal Mends Fences With Federer and Overcomes Knee Problem to Win
MELBOURNE, Australia — Perhaps Roger Federer had a point about the benefits of keeping negative thoughts out of the public domain. Only a day after Rafael Nadal deviated from a long-established pattern and ripped his friendly rival Federer at a news conference, Nadal sheepishly said that he regretted the outburst, still valued their connection and should have made his comments to Federer in private.
“These things can stay — must stay — in the locker room,” Nadal said Monday. “I always had fantastic relationship with Roger. I still have fantastic relationship with Roger. That’s what should be, in my opinion. Don’t create crazy histories about what I said yesterday, please.”
Mending fences with Federer was hardly Nadal’s only concern on opening day at the Australian Open.
Nadal, seeded second, won his first-round match over the American qualifier Alex Kuznetsov, 6-4, 6-1, 6-1, but did so with his right knee tightly strapped after what he said was “the strangest” experience of his 25-year-old life.
On Sunday, Nadal said he was sitting in a chair in his Melbourne hotel when he heard a crack in the knee. He got up, manipulated the joint and said he felt a jolt of “unbelievable pain” as his knee locked.
“You can have an injury playing an aggressive movement, but sitting on a chair you cannot have injury,” said Nadal, who has had plenty of midtournament aches and problems, but never one quite like this.
“I have a hard afternoon,” he said. “I did all the tests, came here for ultrasound, went to hospital for M.R.I.”
Nadal said that although he was relieved when the M.R.I. revealed no structural damage, he had still been uncertain if he could play on Monday against Kuznetsov.
“We did a lot of work during the evening, at the end of the night, with a lot of pain,” he said. “But I finally really had the full movement of the knee.”
After extensive physiotherapy and anti-inflammatory treatments on Monday, he earned a second-round date with Tommy Haas, the German veteran who knows plenty about playing in pain as he continues his latest comeback at 33.
Federer, now 30, has had his issues lately, too. The chronic back pain that has nagged at him throughout his career returned this month during the tournament in Doha, and he retired before the semifinals. But after resuming full practice sessions last week in Melbourne, Federer did not appear constrained as he defeated the Russian qualifier Alexander Kudryavtsev, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2, in Monday’s night session.
“Honestly, I wasn’t afraid,” he said. “I felt I could serve at full strength. I didn’t feel I held back or played differently than usual.”
As for Nadal’s unusual outburst, Federer did not lash out in return. The kerfuffle began when Nadal was informed that Federer had said in a recent interview that he felt players sometimes hurt the tour by speaking negatively about the sport instead of keeping the complaints in house and working behind the scenes for change. Federer did not name Nadal directly, but Nadal took umbrage, nonetheless, and criticized Federer for playing the “gentleman” and staying safely above the fray while others “burned” themselves by speaking out and trying to raise awareness of the need for changes to the tour.
Federer attributed Nadal’s comment to pent-up frustration at the political tussles in the ATP in recent months as the organization searched for a new chief executive and debated changes to the ranking system. Federer, the president of the ATP player council, and Nadal, the vice president, have disagreed at times, with Federer often prevailing. But Federer said they had had three one-on-one discussions in the past two months in an attempt to bridge the divide.
“We can’t always agree on everything,” Federer said. “So far it’s always been no problem, really. Back in the day, he used to say, ‘Whatever Roger decides, I’m fine with.’ Today he’s much more grown up. He has a strong opinion himself, which I think is great.
“It’s what we need, especially on the council. It’s been nice working with him. That he has a strong opinion also creates sometimes good arguments about where you want to move the sport forward to.”
There is much to debate, with renewed tension between the men’s tour and the four Grand Slam tournaments over distribution of revenue. It is an old complaint, but the players are arguing with increasing vehemence that they deserve a much bigger cut than the 11 to 13 percent that they estimate they are receiving now in prize money.
Federer, who supports an increase, said that he generally preferred to keep his arguments out of the public domain but that did not mean he was not working for change for the players. Though his relationship with Nadal is clearly facing new pressures, Federer said that Nadal “was a friend like before and for me nothing has changed.”
“I would have dinner with him tomorrow if he calls me or I call him,” he said.
In first-round matches Tuesday, Novak Djokovic started his defense of the men’s title with a 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 win over Paolo Lorenzi of Italy. Djokovic, 24, who won three of the four Grand Slam titles last year, is the top seed. The No. 5 seed, David Ferrer of Spain, beat Rui Machado of Portugal, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.
The women’s No. 2 seed, Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, and Maria Sharapova, No. 4, both advanced.
MELBOURNE, Australia — Perhaps Roger Federer had a point about the benefits of keeping negative thoughts out of the public domain. Only a day after Rafael Nadal deviated from a long-established pattern and ripped his friendly rival Federer at a news conference, Nadal sheepishly said that he regretted the outburst, still valued their connection and should have made his comments to Federer in private.
“These things can stay — must stay — in the locker room,” Nadal said Monday. “I always had fantastic relationship with Roger. I still have fantastic relationship with Roger. That’s what should be, in my opinion. Don’t create crazy histories about what I said yesterday, please.”
Mending fences with Federer was hardly Nadal’s only concern on opening day at the Australian Open.
Nadal, seeded second, won his first-round match over the American qualifier Alex Kuznetsov, 6-4, 6-1, 6-1, but did so with his right knee tightly strapped after what he said was “the strangest” experience of his 25-year-old life.
On Sunday, Nadal said he was sitting in a chair in his Melbourne hotel when he heard a crack in the knee. He got up, manipulated the joint and said he felt a jolt of “unbelievable pain” as his knee locked.
“You can have an injury playing an aggressive movement, but sitting on a chair you cannot have injury,” said Nadal, who has had plenty of midtournament aches and problems, but never one quite like this.
“I have a hard afternoon,” he said. “I did all the tests, came here for ultrasound, went to hospital for M.R.I.”
Nadal said that although he was relieved when the M.R.I. revealed no structural damage, he had still been uncertain if he could play on Monday against Kuznetsov.
“We did a lot of work during the evening, at the end of the night, with a lot of pain,” he said. “But I finally really had the full movement of the knee.”
After extensive physiotherapy and anti-inflammatory treatments on Monday, he earned a second-round date with Tommy Haas, the German veteran who knows plenty about playing in pain as he continues his latest comeback at 33.
Federer, now 30, has had his issues lately, too. The chronic back pain that has nagged at him throughout his career returned this month during the tournament in Doha, and he retired before the semifinals. But after resuming full practice sessions last week in Melbourne, Federer did not appear constrained as he defeated the Russian qualifier Alexander Kudryavtsev, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2, in Monday’s night session.
“Honestly, I wasn’t afraid,” he said. “I felt I could serve at full strength. I didn’t feel I held back or played differently than usual.”
As for Nadal’s unusual outburst, Federer did not lash out in return. The kerfuffle began when Nadal was informed that Federer had said in a recent interview that he felt players sometimes hurt the tour by speaking negatively about the sport instead of keeping the complaints in house and working behind the scenes for change. Federer did not name Nadal directly, but Nadal took umbrage, nonetheless, and criticized Federer for playing the “gentleman” and staying safely above the fray while others “burned” themselves by speaking out and trying to raise awareness of the need for changes to the tour.
Federer attributed Nadal’s comment to pent-up frustration at the political tussles in the ATP in recent months as the organization searched for a new chief executive and debated changes to the ranking system. Federer, the president of the ATP player council, and Nadal, the vice president, have disagreed at times, with Federer often prevailing. But Federer said they had had three one-on-one discussions in the past two months in an attempt to bridge the divide.
“We can’t always agree on everything,” Federer said. “So far it’s always been no problem, really. Back in the day, he used to say, ‘Whatever Roger decides, I’m fine with.’ Today he’s much more grown up. He has a strong opinion himself, which I think is great.
“It’s what we need, especially on the council. It’s been nice working with him. That he has a strong opinion also creates sometimes good arguments about where you want to move the sport forward to.”
There is much to debate, with renewed tension between the men’s tour and the four Grand Slam tournaments over distribution of revenue. It is an old complaint, but the players are arguing with increasing vehemence that they deserve a much bigger cut than the 11 to 13 percent that they estimate they are receiving now in prize money.
Federer, who supports an increase, said that he generally preferred to keep his arguments out of the public domain but that did not mean he was not working for change for the players. Though his relationship with Nadal is clearly facing new pressures, Federer said that Nadal “was a friend like before and for me nothing has changed.”
“I would have dinner with him tomorrow if he calls me or I call him,” he said.
In first-round matches Tuesday, Novak Djokovic started his defense of the men’s title with a 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 win over Paolo Lorenzi of Italy. Djokovic, 24, who won three of the four Grand Slam titles last year, is the top seed. The No. 5 seed, David Ferrer of Spain, beat Rui Machado of Portugal, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.
The women’s No. 2 seed, Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, and Maria Sharapova, No. 4, both advanced.
Young U.S. Citizens in Mexico Brave Risks for American Schools
Young U.S. Citizens in Mexico Brave Risks for American Schools
TIJUANA, Mexico — Weekday mornings at 5, when the lights on distant hillsides across the border still twinkle in the blackness, Martha, a high school senior, begins her arduous three-hour commute to school. She groggily unlocks the security gate guarded by the family Doberman and waits in the glare of the Pemex filling station for the bus to the border. Her fellow passengers, grown men with their arms folded, jostle her in their sleep.
Martha’s destination, along with dozens of young friends — United States citizens all living in “TJ,” as they affectionately call their city — is a public high school eight miles away in Chula Vista, Calif., where they were born and where they still claim to live.
California teenagers start their mornings with crossing guards and school buses. Martha and her friends stand for hours in a human chain of 16,000 at the world’s busiest international land border. Cellphones in one hand and notebooks in the other, they wait again to cross on foot, fearing delays that could force them to miss a social studies final, oblivious to hawkers selling breakfast burritos or weary parents holding toddlers in pajamas.
In San Ysidro, the port of entry, they board a red trolley to another bus that takes them to school. They are sweating the clock — the bell rings at 8 a.m. sharp.
“Most of the time I am really, really tired,” said Martha, whose parents moved back to Tijuana because the cost of living was cheaper here than in southern California.
“I try to do my best,” she added. “But sometimes, I just can’t.”
In the raging debate over immigration, almost all sides have come to agree on tougher enforcement at the border. But nearly unnoticed, frustration is focusing locally on border-crossers who are not illegal immigrants but young American citizens, whose families have returned to Mexico yet want their children to attend American schools.
Called “transfronterizos,” these students migrate between two cultures, two languages and two nations every day, straining the resources of public school districts and sparking debate among educators and sociologists over whether it is in American interests that they be taught in the United States. Although some Mexican families pay the steep tuition required of out-of-district students, most do not, and many that pay taxes out of their paychecks do not pay the property taxes that support public services.
Some of the students’ parents are American citizens and some are Mexican.
Students like Martha fly under the radar in some school districts, while other districts assign truancy officers to find who they are. They live with the anxiety of potentially having to lie about their residency and the very real possibility that the prize they are after — a decent education — will be taken from them. Though their exact numbers are unknown, their presence reflects the daily complexities of border life — among them, economic and educational disparities between the United States and Mexico and families splintered by deportation and unemployment.
Transfronterizos can be found from Calexico, Calif., to El Paso, where violence in neighboring Cuidad Juárez, Mexico, has led to the creation of a designated lane for 800 to 1,400 students daily, including American citizens who attend El Paso schools.
In Tijuana, Martha and a half-dozen high school seniors let a reporter accompany them on their daily commute and discussed their identity conflicts and criticisms by their American counterparts. Students, their parents and some teachers spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize their enrollment.
Martha’s mother, a seamstress, never got beyond ninth grade. Several days a week, she rises at 2 a.m. to claim a place for her daughter in line — a border mom, instead of a soccer or a tiger mom. Martha’s family pitches in on the mortgage for a Chula Vista house, where members of the extended family live, and pays utilities to establish residency.
TIJUANA, Mexico — Weekday mornings at 5, when the lights on distant hillsides across the border still twinkle in the blackness, Martha, a high school senior, begins her arduous three-hour commute to school. She groggily unlocks the security gate guarded by the family Doberman and waits in the glare of the Pemex filling station for the bus to the border. Her fellow passengers, grown men with their arms folded, jostle her in their sleep.
Martha’s destination, along with dozens of young friends — United States citizens all living in “TJ,” as they affectionately call their city — is a public high school eight miles away in Chula Vista, Calif., where they were born and where they still claim to live.
California teenagers start their mornings with crossing guards and school buses. Martha and her friends stand for hours in a human chain of 16,000 at the world’s busiest international land border. Cellphones in one hand and notebooks in the other, they wait again to cross on foot, fearing delays that could force them to miss a social studies final, oblivious to hawkers selling breakfast burritos or weary parents holding toddlers in pajamas.
In San Ysidro, the port of entry, they board a red trolley to another bus that takes them to school. They are sweating the clock — the bell rings at 8 a.m. sharp.
“Most of the time I am really, really tired,” said Martha, whose parents moved back to Tijuana because the cost of living was cheaper here than in southern California.
“I try to do my best,” she added. “But sometimes, I just can’t.”
In the raging debate over immigration, almost all sides have come to agree on tougher enforcement at the border. But nearly unnoticed, frustration is focusing locally on border-crossers who are not illegal immigrants but young American citizens, whose families have returned to Mexico yet want their children to attend American schools.
Called “transfronterizos,” these students migrate between two cultures, two languages and two nations every day, straining the resources of public school districts and sparking debate among educators and sociologists over whether it is in American interests that they be taught in the United States. Although some Mexican families pay the steep tuition required of out-of-district students, most do not, and many that pay taxes out of their paychecks do not pay the property taxes that support public services.
Some of the students’ parents are American citizens and some are Mexican.
Students like Martha fly under the radar in some school districts, while other districts assign truancy officers to find who they are. They live with the anxiety of potentially having to lie about their residency and the very real possibility that the prize they are after — a decent education — will be taken from them. Though their exact numbers are unknown, their presence reflects the daily complexities of border life — among them, economic and educational disparities between the United States and Mexico and families splintered by deportation and unemployment.
Transfronterizos can be found from Calexico, Calif., to El Paso, where violence in neighboring Cuidad Juárez, Mexico, has led to the creation of a designated lane for 800 to 1,400 students daily, including American citizens who attend El Paso schools.
In Tijuana, Martha and a half-dozen high school seniors let a reporter accompany them on their daily commute and discussed their identity conflicts and criticisms by their American counterparts. Students, their parents and some teachers spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize their enrollment.
Martha’s mother, a seamstress, never got beyond ninth grade. Several days a week, she rises at 2 a.m. to claim a place for her daughter in line — a border mom, instead of a soccer or a tiger mom. Martha’s family pitches in on the mortgage for a Chula Vista house, where members of the extended family live, and pays utilities to establish residency.
Oversight of Cruise Lines at Issue After Disaster
Oversight of Cruise Lines at Issue After Disaster
PARIS — As the world was transfixed by the Titanic-like imagery of the partly submerged Costa Concordia and the frantic efforts to save the fuel-laden vessel in rough seas off the Tuscany coast, questions swirled on Monday about the enormous cruise line industry, which operates without much regulation.
The ship’s detained captain, Francesco Schettino, was accused by his bosses of deviating from a fixed, computerized course to show off his beautiful $450 million boat, carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew members, to the people of Giglio Island on a still Friday night, crashing it on a reef.
But as shares in the ship’s parent company — Carnival Corporation of Miami, the world’s biggest cruise line operator — slid by nearly a fifth and the owners and insurers tried to add up the cost of the disaster, there were more troubling issues raised about how the cruise industry is supervised and controlled.
Those issues included how much safety information and training are required for the crew and passengers, and how much discretion a captain has to alter routes, especially in an age when electronic radar, charts, GPS and other guidance systems are supposed to keep these large, sleek ships on course.
“There are legitimate questions as these vessels have substantially evolved in recent years,” said Helen Kearns, a spokeswoman for Siim Kallas, the European Union transportation commissioner. “The boats have gotten a lot bigger, as it’s economically advantageous to have more passengers,” she said. “But the way these vessels have grown in size does mean finding the right balance to make sure regulations are stringent enough to ensure there are procedures like safe evacuations.”
More than 72 hours after the accident killed at least six people, confusion still reigned over how many were missing. Italy’s coast guard abruptly raised the total to 29 late Monday after having said 16, including 2 Americans, remained unaccounted for. Worries also grew that the ship’s half-million gallons of fuel could leak into a marine wildlife sanctuary.
While airline pilots are directed and guided by controllers on the ground, sea captains are considered to be in complete control. “It’s not like the aircraft industry, where you file a flight plan,” said Peter Wild, a cruise industry consultant at G. P. Wild (International) Limited, a consultancy outside London. Rather, at most cruise lines, company directors determine the routes, which are then transmitted to the captain and a navigating officer, who scrutinize the charted course but are meant to follow it.
Captain Schettino’s boss, Pier Luigi Foschi, insisted that a safe route had been programmed into the navigating computers and that alarms would have sounded for any deviation. “This route was put in correctly,” said Mr. Foschi, who is chairman of Costa Crociere S.p.A.
“The fact that it left from this course is due solely to a maneuver by the commander that was unapproved, unauthorized and unknown to Costa,” he said at an emotional press conference in Genoa. “He wanted to show the ship, to go nearby this island of Giglio, so he decided to change the course of the ship,” Mr. Foschi said, admitting that the ship had done a similar but approved maneuver last summer for a festival.
The captain, who may face criminal charges of manslaughter, failure to offer assistance and abandonment of the ship, had said he struck an uncharted rock.
But an Italian prosecutor, Francesco Verusio, had harsh words on Monday. “We are struck by the unscrupulousness of the reckless maneuver that the commander of the Costa Concordia made near the island of Giglio,” he told reporters. “It was inexcusable.”
For many years, the global cruise line industry has operated under a loosely defined system that tends to escape scrutiny by courts and regulators. Cruise line instances of crime, pollution and safety and health violations have often gone unpoliced because no single authority is in charge.
A United Nations agency, the International Maritime Organization, oversees maritime safety through international conventions, including one for the Safety of Life at Sea, known as Solas, adopted in 1914, which grew out of the global anger that stemmed from the loss of the Titanic in 1912. But the agency has no policing powers.
PARIS — As the world was transfixed by the Titanic-like imagery of the partly submerged Costa Concordia and the frantic efforts to save the fuel-laden vessel in rough seas off the Tuscany coast, questions swirled on Monday about the enormous cruise line industry, which operates without much regulation.
The ship’s detained captain, Francesco Schettino, was accused by his bosses of deviating from a fixed, computerized course to show off his beautiful $450 million boat, carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew members, to the people of Giglio Island on a still Friday night, crashing it on a reef.
But as shares in the ship’s parent company — Carnival Corporation of Miami, the world’s biggest cruise line operator — slid by nearly a fifth and the owners and insurers tried to add up the cost of the disaster, there were more troubling issues raised about how the cruise industry is supervised and controlled.
Those issues included how much safety information and training are required for the crew and passengers, and how much discretion a captain has to alter routes, especially in an age when electronic radar, charts, GPS and other guidance systems are supposed to keep these large, sleek ships on course.
“There are legitimate questions as these vessels have substantially evolved in recent years,” said Helen Kearns, a spokeswoman for Siim Kallas, the European Union transportation commissioner. “The boats have gotten a lot bigger, as it’s economically advantageous to have more passengers,” she said. “But the way these vessels have grown in size does mean finding the right balance to make sure regulations are stringent enough to ensure there are procedures like safe evacuations.”
More than 72 hours after the accident killed at least six people, confusion still reigned over how many were missing. Italy’s coast guard abruptly raised the total to 29 late Monday after having said 16, including 2 Americans, remained unaccounted for. Worries also grew that the ship’s half-million gallons of fuel could leak into a marine wildlife sanctuary.
While airline pilots are directed and guided by controllers on the ground, sea captains are considered to be in complete control. “It’s not like the aircraft industry, where you file a flight plan,” said Peter Wild, a cruise industry consultant at G. P. Wild (International) Limited, a consultancy outside London. Rather, at most cruise lines, company directors determine the routes, which are then transmitted to the captain and a navigating officer, who scrutinize the charted course but are meant to follow it.
Captain Schettino’s boss, Pier Luigi Foschi, insisted that a safe route had been programmed into the navigating computers and that alarms would have sounded for any deviation. “This route was put in correctly,” said Mr. Foschi, who is chairman of Costa Crociere S.p.A.
“The fact that it left from this course is due solely to a maneuver by the commander that was unapproved, unauthorized and unknown to Costa,” he said at an emotional press conference in Genoa. “He wanted to show the ship, to go nearby this island of Giglio, so he decided to change the course of the ship,” Mr. Foschi said, admitting that the ship had done a similar but approved maneuver last summer for a festival.
The captain, who may face criminal charges of manslaughter, failure to offer assistance and abandonment of the ship, had said he struck an uncharted rock.
But an Italian prosecutor, Francesco Verusio, had harsh words on Monday. “We are struck by the unscrupulousness of the reckless maneuver that the commander of the Costa Concordia made near the island of Giglio,” he told reporters. “It was inexcusable.”
For many years, the global cruise line industry has operated under a loosely defined system that tends to escape scrutiny by courts and regulators. Cruise line instances of crime, pollution and safety and health violations have often gone unpoliced because no single authority is in charge.
A United Nations agency, the International Maritime Organization, oversees maritime safety through international conventions, including one for the Safety of Life at Sea, known as Solas, adopted in 1914, which grew out of the global anger that stemmed from the loss of the Titanic in 1912. But the agency has no policing powers.
As Reforms Flag in Greece, Europe Aims to Limit Damage
As Reforms Flag in Greece, Europe Aims to Limit Damage
ATHENS — As Greece and its lenders prepare for another week of tense negotiations, European officials now say that the task is less to help the country through its troubles than to avoid the sort of uncontrolled default that many experts fear could threaten the global financial system.
Officials from the so-called troika of foreign lenders to Greece — the European Central Bank, European Union and International Monetary Fund — have come to believe that the country has neither the ability nor the will to carry out the broad economic reforms it has promised in exchange for aid, people familiar with the talks say, and they say they are even prepared to withhold the next installment of aid in March.
Adding to the anxieties in financial markets, talks broke down Friday between the Greek government and private lenders over a plan to reduce Greece’s debt by $130 billion, a “voluntary” default that the troika has demanded before extending more aid. Those negotiations, aimed at forcing hedge funds and other private holders of Greek debt to accept large losses in order to make the country’s debt load more manageable, will resume Wednesday amid rising concerns about the consequences of failure.
The markets have taken into account a voluntary default by Greece, most experts say. But financial experts fear the possibility of an “involuntary” default if the negotiators are unable to reach an agreement. That could unleash violent market reactions that could conceivably produce another market cataclysm like the 2008 bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and throw the world into another recession.
Fanning those fears is a growing conviction among the Greek political establishment and the country’s lenders that the old dynamic — with Greece pretending to make structural changes and its lenders pretending to save it from default — has become untenable, people close to the talks say.
As recently as November, Greece and its lenders were optimistic that the country’s newly installed prime minister, Lucas Papademos, a well-respected financial technocrat, would stabilize Greece’s soaring debt and help nurse the country back to health.
But since then, his interim government — stocked not with technocrats but with politicians gunning for national elections as soon as March — has been paralyzed. Although it passed the 2012 national budget, it has failed to put into effect most of the unpopular changes mandated by the loan agreement that the previous government made back in 2010, when the country first admitted it was broke.
“The prime minister is a fine personality — he’s educated, he’s honest, he’s the best you can get around. But no one is helping him,” said George Kirtsos, the owner of a weekly newspaper, The Athens City Press. “Those that take the decisions at a national level believe that Greece will not make it.”
There is considerable posturing in these sorts of negotiations, and the troika has threatened to withdraw aid in the past, only to approve the next loan installment. It may do so again despite its misgivings, because the alternative of an uncontrolled default is too risky. But it will do so only if negotiations with private bondholders can be completed successfully.
But, amid a stream of gloomy news from Europe, including the downgrade of the debt of France and eight other countries, the sense that default is inevitable is growing. “When you simply go over the bare figures I can’t really imagine another scenario,” said Michael Fuchs, a leading member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union in the German Parliament.
“Mathematics is mathematics, and one plus one has to equal two and not five,” he said, describing how, even with a significant restructuring of its debt, the Greek government’s deficit would still be too large and its economy not competitive enough to put the country back on a sound footing.
That sense can be self-reinforcing as well, making it even harder for Mr. Papademos to push through the changes Greece needs to survive the current crisis.
Greece’s dire economic condition can hardly be overstated. After two years of tax increases and wage cuts, Greek civil servants have seen their income shrink by 40 percent since 2010, and private-sector workers have suffered as well. More than $75 billion has left the country as people move their savings abroad. Some 68,000 businesses closed in 2010, and another 53,000 — out of 300,000 still active — are said to be close to bankruptcy, according to a report issued in the fall by the Greek Co-Federation of Chambers of Commerce.
ATHENS — As Greece and its lenders prepare for another week of tense negotiations, European officials now say that the task is less to help the country through its troubles than to avoid the sort of uncontrolled default that many experts fear could threaten the global financial system.
Officials from the so-called troika of foreign lenders to Greece — the European Central Bank, European Union and International Monetary Fund — have come to believe that the country has neither the ability nor the will to carry out the broad economic reforms it has promised in exchange for aid, people familiar with the talks say, and they say they are even prepared to withhold the next installment of aid in March.
Adding to the anxieties in financial markets, talks broke down Friday between the Greek government and private lenders over a plan to reduce Greece’s debt by $130 billion, a “voluntary” default that the troika has demanded before extending more aid. Those negotiations, aimed at forcing hedge funds and other private holders of Greek debt to accept large losses in order to make the country’s debt load more manageable, will resume Wednesday amid rising concerns about the consequences of failure.
The markets have taken into account a voluntary default by Greece, most experts say. But financial experts fear the possibility of an “involuntary” default if the negotiators are unable to reach an agreement. That could unleash violent market reactions that could conceivably produce another market cataclysm like the 2008 bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and throw the world into another recession.
Fanning those fears is a growing conviction among the Greek political establishment and the country’s lenders that the old dynamic — with Greece pretending to make structural changes and its lenders pretending to save it from default — has become untenable, people close to the talks say.
As recently as November, Greece and its lenders were optimistic that the country’s newly installed prime minister, Lucas Papademos, a well-respected financial technocrat, would stabilize Greece’s soaring debt and help nurse the country back to health.
But since then, his interim government — stocked not with technocrats but with politicians gunning for national elections as soon as March — has been paralyzed. Although it passed the 2012 national budget, it has failed to put into effect most of the unpopular changes mandated by the loan agreement that the previous government made back in 2010, when the country first admitted it was broke.
“The prime minister is a fine personality — he’s educated, he’s honest, he’s the best you can get around. But no one is helping him,” said George Kirtsos, the owner of a weekly newspaper, The Athens City Press. “Those that take the decisions at a national level believe that Greece will not make it.”
There is considerable posturing in these sorts of negotiations, and the troika has threatened to withdraw aid in the past, only to approve the next loan installment. It may do so again despite its misgivings, because the alternative of an uncontrolled default is too risky. But it will do so only if negotiations with private bondholders can be completed successfully.
But, amid a stream of gloomy news from Europe, including the downgrade of the debt of France and eight other countries, the sense that default is inevitable is growing. “When you simply go over the bare figures I can’t really imagine another scenario,” said Michael Fuchs, a leading member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union in the German Parliament.
“Mathematics is mathematics, and one plus one has to equal two and not five,” he said, describing how, even with a significant restructuring of its debt, the Greek government’s deficit would still be too large and its economy not competitive enough to put the country back on a sound footing.
That sense can be self-reinforcing as well, making it even harder for Mr. Papademos to push through the changes Greece needs to survive the current crisis.
Greece’s dire economic condition can hardly be overstated. After two years of tax increases and wage cuts, Greek civil servants have seen their income shrink by 40 percent since 2010, and private-sector workers have suffered as well. More than $75 billion has left the country as people move their savings abroad. Some 68,000 businesses closed in 2010, and another 53,000 — out of 300,000 still active — are said to be close to bankruptcy, according to a report issued in the fall by the Greek Co-Federation of Chambers of Commerce.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
As Divers Search Cruise Ship, Reason for Crash Is Unclear
As Divers Search Cruise Ship, Reason for Crash Is Unclear
PORTO SANTO STEFANO, Italy — As shaken survivors spoke of a mad crush to flee a sinking cruise ship off the Tuscan coast of Italy on Saturday, raising questions about the crew’s preparedness, Italian authorities arrested the ship’s captain amid concerns that the megaship had steered dangerously off course.
At least three people were killed in the accident, and divers combed the ship’s underwater cabins all day for those still missing, up to 41 people. Early Sunday, rescuers found three survivors still inside the ship, raising hopes that others might still be alive.
The Costa Concordia, carrying 4,200 passengers and crew on a weeklong Mediterranean cruise, slammed into an undetermined object near the island of Giglio on Friday night as passengers for the late seating had just started dinner, tucking into appetizers of grilled mushrooms and scallops.
“In a moment, everything was up in the air,” said Alessandra Grasso, 24, a passenger from Sicily. “People, chairs, glasses, food.”
Anxious survivors, many comparing the experience to the movie “Titanic,” recounted a chaotic and terrifying scene in which some crawled through hallways to escape down perilous ladders to lifeboats, while others leapt overboard into the wintry Tyrrhenian Sea.
Ulrike Schweda, 63, from Germany, was caught in a crowd of people pushing toward a lifeboat, and slipped on the deck. “The most terrible thing was seeing children trying to get down this ladder they had put on the side of the boat,” she said.
Two French citizens and a Peruvian crew member were reported dead, according to a hospital official in Grosseto, Tuscany.
Divers searched until nightfall for the missing, perilously probing the 2,000 cabins for survivors while the Leviathan ship lay on its side in the water, a boulder poking through a 160-foot gash in its hull. The Italian Coast Guard said 41 people were still unaccounted for.
Early Sunday, an Italian fire brigade found a honeymooning couple from Korea still alive inside a cabin. Luca Cari, a brigade spokesman, said the couple had been taken to a local hospital to be examined. Cmdr. Cosimo Nicastro, a spokesman for the coast guard, said rescuers had also made contact with an Italian man trapped inside the ship.
The coast guard is also monitoring the environmental impact of the accident, but as of Sunday morning, no oil had seeped into the ocean from the ship. “We are optimistic and hope that the ship is not going to slide further down,” Commander Nicastro told reporters. “But the weather conditions are slowly worsening, and that is a cause of concern.”There were conflicting reports about whether the ship was off course in reef-filled waters just miles from the shore or whether an electrical failure had caused the crew to lose control. Passengers spoke of faulty evacuation procedures and unprepared staff who told them nothing was wrong — until the ship began tipping over.
After questioning him for several hours, the Italian police detained the ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, and the first officer, for questioning on charges of manslaughter, failure to offer assistance and abandonment of ship, the police said.
Before his detention, Captain Schettino told Italian television that the ship had hit a reef that was not on its navigation charts.
Gianni Onorato, the president of the Costa cruise company, a subsidiary of Carnival Cruise lines, said the ship had been sailing its “regularly scheduled itinerary” from Civitavecchia to Savona, Italy, when it struck “a submerged rock.”
He said Captain Schettino “immediately understood the severity of the situation” and “performed a maneuver intended to protect both guests and crew.”
The Italian coast guard said the captain had tried to turn the ship toward port in Giglio to make an evacuation easier, but it began to tip over as it reached the port.
PORTO SANTO STEFANO, Italy — As shaken survivors spoke of a mad crush to flee a sinking cruise ship off the Tuscan coast of Italy on Saturday, raising questions about the crew’s preparedness, Italian authorities arrested the ship’s captain amid concerns that the megaship had steered dangerously off course.
At least three people were killed in the accident, and divers combed the ship’s underwater cabins all day for those still missing, up to 41 people. Early Sunday, rescuers found three survivors still inside the ship, raising hopes that others might still be alive.
The Costa Concordia, carrying 4,200 passengers and crew on a weeklong Mediterranean cruise, slammed into an undetermined object near the island of Giglio on Friday night as passengers for the late seating had just started dinner, tucking into appetizers of grilled mushrooms and scallops.
“In a moment, everything was up in the air,” said Alessandra Grasso, 24, a passenger from Sicily. “People, chairs, glasses, food.”
Anxious survivors, many comparing the experience to the movie “Titanic,” recounted a chaotic and terrifying scene in which some crawled through hallways to escape down perilous ladders to lifeboats, while others leapt overboard into the wintry Tyrrhenian Sea.
Ulrike Schweda, 63, from Germany, was caught in a crowd of people pushing toward a lifeboat, and slipped on the deck. “The most terrible thing was seeing children trying to get down this ladder they had put on the side of the boat,” she said.
Two French citizens and a Peruvian crew member were reported dead, according to a hospital official in Grosseto, Tuscany.
Divers searched until nightfall for the missing, perilously probing the 2,000 cabins for survivors while the Leviathan ship lay on its side in the water, a boulder poking through a 160-foot gash in its hull. The Italian Coast Guard said 41 people were still unaccounted for.
Early Sunday, an Italian fire brigade found a honeymooning couple from Korea still alive inside a cabin. Luca Cari, a brigade spokesman, said the couple had been taken to a local hospital to be examined. Cmdr. Cosimo Nicastro, a spokesman for the coast guard, said rescuers had also made contact with an Italian man trapped inside the ship.
The coast guard is also monitoring the environmental impact of the accident, but as of Sunday morning, no oil had seeped into the ocean from the ship. “We are optimistic and hope that the ship is not going to slide further down,” Commander Nicastro told reporters. “But the weather conditions are slowly worsening, and that is a cause of concern.”There were conflicting reports about whether the ship was off course in reef-filled waters just miles from the shore or whether an electrical failure had caused the crew to lose control. Passengers spoke of faulty evacuation procedures and unprepared staff who told them nothing was wrong — until the ship began tipping over.
After questioning him for several hours, the Italian police detained the ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, and the first officer, for questioning on charges of manslaughter, failure to offer assistance and abandonment of ship, the police said.
Before his detention, Captain Schettino told Italian television that the ship had hit a reef that was not on its navigation charts.
Gianni Onorato, the president of the Costa cruise company, a subsidiary of Carnival Cruise lines, said the ship had been sailing its “regularly scheduled itinerary” from Civitavecchia to Savona, Italy, when it struck “a submerged rock.”
He said Captain Schettino “immediately understood the severity of the situation” and “performed a maneuver intended to protect both guests and crew.”
The Italian coast guard said the captain had tried to turn the ship toward port in Giglio to make an evacuation easier, but it began to tip over as it reached the port.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Monti, in Berlin, Calls for Growth Policies in Europe
Monti, in Berlin, Calls for Growth Policies in Europe
BERLIN — Italy’s technocratic prime minister, Mario Monti, arrived in Germany on Wednesday with a sharp message for Chancellor Angela Merkel that austerity alone was not the answer to Europe’s sovereign debt crisis, and that the political and economic situation in Italy could deteriorate rapidly without more assistance from European institutions.
In an interview with the German daily newspaper Die Welt, published the morning he was to meet with Mrs. Merkel, Mr. Monti said Italian sacrifices alone would not pull the country out of its debt problems. Without evidence of concrete assistance, “a protest against Europe will develop in Italy, also against Germany, which is viewed as the ringleader of E.U. intolerance, and against the European Central Bank,” Mr. Monti said, using the initials for the European Union.
“I cannot have success with my policies if the E.U.’s policies don’t change,” Mr. Monti said, pleading for help in particular in bringing down interest rates. Otherwise economic discontent could force Italy to “flee into the arms of populists,” he said.
Germany’s solution to the crisis has been to push for structural changes in the economies of deeply indebted countries like Greece, Spain and Italy, along with austerity plans aiming for balanced budgets. But the resulting economic dislocation has been painful, and unemployment has risen rapidly even as government spending has been cut. Mass demonstrations have broken out in Greece and Spain, and clashes between protesters and the police have rocked Athens and other Greek cities.
While Mr. Monti’s comments may have been a tactical move intended to soothe anger among his constituents at home, they also neatly encapsulated the rising anti-German sentiment among the unemployed and pensioners in other countries, who have seen their benefits reduced.
“The basic problem is that Germany still doesn’t treat the euro problem as though it is a collective problem,” said Sergio Romano, a political commentator for the Milan daily newspaper Corriere della Sera. “They are moving in that direction; they are contemplating the loss of further sovereignty in the euro zone. And Mr. Monti is telling Mrs. Merkel to speed it up.”
Although Mrs. Merkel pushed to have Mr. Monti replace his predecessor, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, she may live to regret her move. His more interventionist views on a range of issues, including more aggressive action by the European Central Bank and the issuance of collective debt — known as euro bonds — coincide far more neatly with those of President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, giving Mr. Sarkozy more leverage in his negotiations with Mrs. Merkel.
At a news conference after the meeting here on Wednesday between Mr. Monti and Mrs. Merkel, she seemed to acknowledge Mr. Monti’s plea, agreeing that European leaders would have to look for ways to spur growth and job creation. But she did not endorse new stimulus measures that would require greater government spending.
Mrs. Merkel may have been speaking with an eye on the home front as well, amid signs on Wednesday that the weakness of the European economy was beginning to drag down Germany, too. Government estimates said Wednesday that the German economy contracted by 0.25 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared with the previous quarter, raising the likelihood that stagnation could turn into outright recession.
But the report on German growth illustrated the strengths as well as the weaknesses of Europe’s largest economy. Germany’s gross domestic product grew at a healthy 3 percent clip in 2011, steadily reducing unemployment even as joblessness rose in many other countries.
“I don’t think that the fourth quarter result is going to change anyone’s mind in Germany,” said Sebastian Dullien, an economist and senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “There won’t be significant pressure on the German government to change their stance very soon.”
In the meantime, governments continue to follow Berlin’s prescription for cutting spending and raising taxes. On Wednesday, Spain’s Parliament approved the new center-right government’s first package of austerity measures, worth about $19 billion and devised to put the country back on track to meet its budget deficit targets.
BERLIN — Italy’s technocratic prime minister, Mario Monti, arrived in Germany on Wednesday with a sharp message for Chancellor Angela Merkel that austerity alone was not the answer to Europe’s sovereign debt crisis, and that the political and economic situation in Italy could deteriorate rapidly without more assistance from European institutions.
In an interview with the German daily newspaper Die Welt, published the morning he was to meet with Mrs. Merkel, Mr. Monti said Italian sacrifices alone would not pull the country out of its debt problems. Without evidence of concrete assistance, “a protest against Europe will develop in Italy, also against Germany, which is viewed as the ringleader of E.U. intolerance, and against the European Central Bank,” Mr. Monti said, using the initials for the European Union.
“I cannot have success with my policies if the E.U.’s policies don’t change,” Mr. Monti said, pleading for help in particular in bringing down interest rates. Otherwise economic discontent could force Italy to “flee into the arms of populists,” he said.
Germany’s solution to the crisis has been to push for structural changes in the economies of deeply indebted countries like Greece, Spain and Italy, along with austerity plans aiming for balanced budgets. But the resulting economic dislocation has been painful, and unemployment has risen rapidly even as government spending has been cut. Mass demonstrations have broken out in Greece and Spain, and clashes between protesters and the police have rocked Athens and other Greek cities.
While Mr. Monti’s comments may have been a tactical move intended to soothe anger among his constituents at home, they also neatly encapsulated the rising anti-German sentiment among the unemployed and pensioners in other countries, who have seen their benefits reduced.
“The basic problem is that Germany still doesn’t treat the euro problem as though it is a collective problem,” said Sergio Romano, a political commentator for the Milan daily newspaper Corriere della Sera. “They are moving in that direction; they are contemplating the loss of further sovereignty in the euro zone. And Mr. Monti is telling Mrs. Merkel to speed it up.”
Although Mrs. Merkel pushed to have Mr. Monti replace his predecessor, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, she may live to regret her move. His more interventionist views on a range of issues, including more aggressive action by the European Central Bank and the issuance of collective debt — known as euro bonds — coincide far more neatly with those of President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, giving Mr. Sarkozy more leverage in his negotiations with Mrs. Merkel.
At a news conference after the meeting here on Wednesday between Mr. Monti and Mrs. Merkel, she seemed to acknowledge Mr. Monti’s plea, agreeing that European leaders would have to look for ways to spur growth and job creation. But she did not endorse new stimulus measures that would require greater government spending.
Mrs. Merkel may have been speaking with an eye on the home front as well, amid signs on Wednesday that the weakness of the European economy was beginning to drag down Germany, too. Government estimates said Wednesday that the German economy contracted by 0.25 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared with the previous quarter, raising the likelihood that stagnation could turn into outright recession.
But the report on German growth illustrated the strengths as well as the weaknesses of Europe’s largest economy. Germany’s gross domestic product grew at a healthy 3 percent clip in 2011, steadily reducing unemployment even as joblessness rose in many other countries.
“I don’t think that the fourth quarter result is going to change anyone’s mind in Germany,” said Sebastian Dullien, an economist and senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “There won’t be significant pressure on the German government to change their stance very soon.”
In the meantime, governments continue to follow Berlin’s prescription for cutting spending and raising taxes. On Wednesday, Spain’s Parliament approved the new center-right government’s first package of austerity measures, worth about $19 billion and devised to put the country back on track to meet its budget deficit targets.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Income Taxes for Wealthy May Increase in Albany Deal
Income Taxes for Wealthy May Increase in Albany Deal
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders, seeking ways to shore up a state budget strained by the weak economy, are ironing out the details of a deal that would raise income taxes on the wealthy and cut them for the middle class.
Top aides to the officeholders planned to meet through the weekend, as New York State lawmakers prepared to return to Albany next week for a special session of the Legislature that the governor appeared likely to call.
Members of the Democratic majority in the State Assembly were notified that they should be ready to return to the capital on Tuesday. Negotiations were still in the preliminary stages on Friday, and rank-and-file lawmakers had not yet been briefed on the discussions. But several people who were briefed said it was possible that a deal could be reached within days.
As of Friday, Mr. Cuomo and the legislative leaders had not yet agreed on the specifics of any agreement. But people briefed on their talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were private, said the leaders were discussing the creation of new tax brackets that would allow them to apply higher tax rates to the state’s top earners. The new brackets are likely to be temporary; their duration was still unclear on Friday.
Any deal that includes a tax increase would be a shift in Mr. Cuomo’s position. He ran for governor last year on a platform of opposing all tax increases, and he has refused pleas from fellow Democrats to support extending the state’s so-called millionaires’ tax past its scheduled expiration on Dec. 31.
But with the Occupy Wall Street movement drawing more attention to the issue of economic inequality and with the faltering economy widening next year’s projected state budget gap to as much as $3.5 billion, Mr. Cuomo refused for the first time this week to rule out seeking any increase in taxes in the coming year, and in recent weeks he has repeatedly expressed a desire to bring more “fairness” to the tax code.
The leaders were discussing establishing one or more new tax rates for the highest-earning New Yorkers, which would still be lower than their rate this year, when there is a temporary surcharge in place, but higher than it would have been if the surcharge were allowed to end. New rates could go into effect at the start of next year.
A portion of the revenue generated from high-income residents would be used to lower the tax rate for middle-income ones, which could make it easier for Mr. Cuomo to sell the deal to Republicans who have opposed tax increases.
“You have to give them the ability to say, ‘This was not a tax increase; this was a tax cut,’ ” one person briefed on the discussions said.
As is often the case with Albany deal-making, it remained possible that the negotiations would fall apart and that the governor would seek changes to the tax code in next year’s regular legislative session, which begins next month.
One major unresolved issue was how much extra revenue the state would seek to raise from the tax changes, which in turn would determine the tax rate for the new high-income tax brackets and the cut for middle-class earners.
A spokesman for Mr. Cuomo declined to comment on Friday. Michael Whyland, a spokesman for the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, said that Assembly Democrats were “committed to working with the governor to bring fairness to our tax code.” Scott Reif, a spokesman for the Senate majority leader, Dean G. Skelos, a Long Island Republican, said, “Our members believe that the governor’s economic program deserves a fair hearing, especially if he’s talking about Senate Republican priorities like cutting taxes and creating private sector jobs.”
Several Senate Republicans said this week that they were open to revising the tax brackets, but many are leery of any form of tax increase.
State Senator Carl L. Marcellino, a Long Island Republican, said he believed lawmakers should “seek out every other possibility that we can to reduce spending,” instead of raising taxes.
“If we raise taxes on the people who own businesses and who provide the jobs, more of them will leave,” Mr. Marcellino said.
Democrats are embracing the idea of a more-progressive state tax code. The Senate Democratic leader, John L. Sampson of Brooklyn, urged Mr. Cuomo on Friday to call the Legislature back.
“The state’s deficit has gotten worse, which demands immediate and dramatic action,” Mr. Sampson said.
Danny Hakim contributed reporting.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders, seeking ways to shore up a state budget strained by the weak economy, are ironing out the details of a deal that would raise income taxes on the wealthy and cut them for the middle class.
Top aides to the officeholders planned to meet through the weekend, as New York State lawmakers prepared to return to Albany next week for a special session of the Legislature that the governor appeared likely to call.
Members of the Democratic majority in the State Assembly were notified that they should be ready to return to the capital on Tuesday. Negotiations were still in the preliminary stages on Friday, and rank-and-file lawmakers had not yet been briefed on the discussions. But several people who were briefed said it was possible that a deal could be reached within days.
As of Friday, Mr. Cuomo and the legislative leaders had not yet agreed on the specifics of any agreement. But people briefed on their talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were private, said the leaders were discussing the creation of new tax brackets that would allow them to apply higher tax rates to the state’s top earners. The new brackets are likely to be temporary; their duration was still unclear on Friday.
Any deal that includes a tax increase would be a shift in Mr. Cuomo’s position. He ran for governor last year on a platform of opposing all tax increases, and he has refused pleas from fellow Democrats to support extending the state’s so-called millionaires’ tax past its scheduled expiration on Dec. 31.
But with the Occupy Wall Street movement drawing more attention to the issue of economic inequality and with the faltering economy widening next year’s projected state budget gap to as much as $3.5 billion, Mr. Cuomo refused for the first time this week to rule out seeking any increase in taxes in the coming year, and in recent weeks he has repeatedly expressed a desire to bring more “fairness” to the tax code.
The leaders were discussing establishing one or more new tax rates for the highest-earning New Yorkers, which would still be lower than their rate this year, when there is a temporary surcharge in place, but higher than it would have been if the surcharge were allowed to end. New rates could go into effect at the start of next year.
A portion of the revenue generated from high-income residents would be used to lower the tax rate for middle-income ones, which could make it easier for Mr. Cuomo to sell the deal to Republicans who have opposed tax increases.
“You have to give them the ability to say, ‘This was not a tax increase; this was a tax cut,’ ” one person briefed on the discussions said.
As is often the case with Albany deal-making, it remained possible that the negotiations would fall apart and that the governor would seek changes to the tax code in next year’s regular legislative session, which begins next month.
One major unresolved issue was how much extra revenue the state would seek to raise from the tax changes, which in turn would determine the tax rate for the new high-income tax brackets and the cut for middle-class earners.
A spokesman for Mr. Cuomo declined to comment on Friday. Michael Whyland, a spokesman for the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, said that Assembly Democrats were “committed to working with the governor to bring fairness to our tax code.” Scott Reif, a spokesman for the Senate majority leader, Dean G. Skelos, a Long Island Republican, said, “Our members believe that the governor’s economic program deserves a fair hearing, especially if he’s talking about Senate Republican priorities like cutting taxes and creating private sector jobs.”
Several Senate Republicans said this week that they were open to revising the tax brackets, but many are leery of any form of tax increase.
State Senator Carl L. Marcellino, a Long Island Republican, said he believed lawmakers should “seek out every other possibility that we can to reduce spending,” instead of raising taxes.
“If we raise taxes on the people who own businesses and who provide the jobs, more of them will leave,” Mr. Marcellino said.
Democrats are embracing the idea of a more-progressive state tax code. The Senate Democratic leader, John L. Sampson of Brooklyn, urged Mr. Cuomo on Friday to call the Legislature back.
“The state’s deficit has gotten worse, which demands immediate and dramatic action,” Mr. Sampson said.
Danny Hakim contributed reporting.
Police Officers Find That Dissent on Drug Laws May Come With a Price
Police Officers Find That Dissent on Drug Laws May Come With a Price
PHOENIX — Border Patrol agents pursue smugglers one moment and sit around in boredom the next. It was during one of the lulls that Bryan Gonzalez, a young agent, made some comments to a colleague that cost him his career.
Stationed in Deming, N.M., Mr. Gonzalez was in his green-and-white Border Patrol vehicle just a few feet from the international boundary when he pulled up next to a fellow agent to chat about the frustrations of the job. If marijuana were legalized, Mr. Gonzalez acknowledges saying, the drug-related violence across the border in Mexico would cease. He then brought up an organization called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition that favors ending the war on drugs.
Those remarks, along with others expressing sympathy for illegal immigrants from Mexico, were passed along to the Border Patrol headquarters in Washington. After an investigation, a termination letter arrived that said Mr. Gonzalez held “personal views that were contrary to core characteristics of Border Patrol Agents, which are patriotism, dedication and esprit de corps.”
After his dismissal, Mr. Gonzalez joined a group even more exclusive than the Border Patrol: law enforcement officials who have lost their jobs for questioning the war on drugs and are fighting back in the courts.
In Arizona, Joe Miller, a probation officer in Mohave County, near the California border, filed suit last month in Federal District Court after he was dismissed for adding his name to a letter by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, which is based in Medford, Mass., and known as LEAP, expressing support for the decriminalization of marijuana.
“More and more members of the law enforcement community are speaking out against failed drug policies, and they don’t give up their right to share their insight and engage in this important debate simply because they receive government paychecks,” said Daniel Pochoda, the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, which is handling the Miller case.
Mr. Miller was one of 32 members of LEAP who signed the letter, which expressed support for a California ballot measure that failed last year that would have permitted recreational marijuana use. Most of the signers were retired members of law enforcement agencies, who can speak their minds without fear of action by their bosses. But Mr. Miller and a handful of others who were still on the job — including the district attorney for Humboldt County in California and the Oakland city attorney — signed, too.
LEAP has seen its membership increase significantly from the time it was founded in 2002 by five disillusioned officers. It now has an e-mail list of 48,000, and its members include 145 judges, prosecutors, police officers, prison guards and other law enforcement officials, most of them retired, who speak on the group’s behalf.
“No one wants to be fired and have to fight for their job in court,” said Neill Franklin, a retired police officer who is LEAP’s executive director. “So most officers are reluctant to sign on board. But we do have some brave souls.”
Mr. Miller was accused of not making clear that he was speaking for himself and not the probation department while advocating the decriminalization of cannabis. His lawsuit, though, points out that the letter he signed said at the bottom, “All agency affiliations are listed for identification purposes only.”
He was also accused of dishonesty for denying that he had given approval for his name to appear on the LEAP letter. In the lawsuit, Mr. Miller said that his wife had given approval without his knowledge, using his e-mail address, but that he had later supported her.
Kip Anderson, the court administrator for the Superior Court in Mohave County, said there was no desire to limit Mr. Miller’s political views.
“This isn’t about legalization,” Mr. Anderson said. “We’re not taking a stand on that. We just didn’t want people to think he was speaking on behalf of the probation department.”
Mr. Miller, who is also a retired police officer and Marine, lost an appeal of his dismissal before a hearing officer. But when his application for unemployment benefits was turned down, he appealed that and won. An administrative law judge found that Mr. Miller had not been dishonest with his bosses and that the disclaimer on the letter was sufficient.
In the case of Mr. Gonzalez, the fired Border Patrol agent, he had not joined LEAP but had expressed sympathy with the group’s cause. “It didn’t make sense to me why marijuana is illegal,” he said. “To see that thousands of people are dying, some of whom I know, makes you want to look for a change.”
PHOENIX — Border Patrol agents pursue smugglers one moment and sit around in boredom the next. It was during one of the lulls that Bryan Gonzalez, a young agent, made some comments to a colleague that cost him his career.
Stationed in Deming, N.M., Mr. Gonzalez was in his green-and-white Border Patrol vehicle just a few feet from the international boundary when he pulled up next to a fellow agent to chat about the frustrations of the job. If marijuana were legalized, Mr. Gonzalez acknowledges saying, the drug-related violence across the border in Mexico would cease. He then brought up an organization called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition that favors ending the war on drugs.
Those remarks, along with others expressing sympathy for illegal immigrants from Mexico, were passed along to the Border Patrol headquarters in Washington. After an investigation, a termination letter arrived that said Mr. Gonzalez held “personal views that were contrary to core characteristics of Border Patrol Agents, which are patriotism, dedication and esprit de corps.”
After his dismissal, Mr. Gonzalez joined a group even more exclusive than the Border Patrol: law enforcement officials who have lost their jobs for questioning the war on drugs and are fighting back in the courts.
In Arizona, Joe Miller, a probation officer in Mohave County, near the California border, filed suit last month in Federal District Court after he was dismissed for adding his name to a letter by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, which is based in Medford, Mass., and known as LEAP, expressing support for the decriminalization of marijuana.
“More and more members of the law enforcement community are speaking out against failed drug policies, and they don’t give up their right to share their insight and engage in this important debate simply because they receive government paychecks,” said Daniel Pochoda, the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, which is handling the Miller case.
Mr. Miller was one of 32 members of LEAP who signed the letter, which expressed support for a California ballot measure that failed last year that would have permitted recreational marijuana use. Most of the signers were retired members of law enforcement agencies, who can speak their minds without fear of action by their bosses. But Mr. Miller and a handful of others who were still on the job — including the district attorney for Humboldt County in California and the Oakland city attorney — signed, too.
LEAP has seen its membership increase significantly from the time it was founded in 2002 by five disillusioned officers. It now has an e-mail list of 48,000, and its members include 145 judges, prosecutors, police officers, prison guards and other law enforcement officials, most of them retired, who speak on the group’s behalf.
“No one wants to be fired and have to fight for their job in court,” said Neill Franklin, a retired police officer who is LEAP’s executive director. “So most officers are reluctant to sign on board. But we do have some brave souls.”
Mr. Miller was accused of not making clear that he was speaking for himself and not the probation department while advocating the decriminalization of cannabis. His lawsuit, though, points out that the letter he signed said at the bottom, “All agency affiliations are listed for identification purposes only.”
He was also accused of dishonesty for denying that he had given approval for his name to appear on the LEAP letter. In the lawsuit, Mr. Miller said that his wife had given approval without his knowledge, using his e-mail address, but that he had later supported her.
Kip Anderson, the court administrator for the Superior Court in Mohave County, said there was no desire to limit Mr. Miller’s political views.
“This isn’t about legalization,” Mr. Anderson said. “We’re not taking a stand on that. We just didn’t want people to think he was speaking on behalf of the probation department.”
Mr. Miller, who is also a retired police officer and Marine, lost an appeal of his dismissal before a hearing officer. But when his application for unemployment benefits was turned down, he appealed that and won. An administrative law judge found that Mr. Miller had not been dishonest with his bosses and that the disclaimer on the letter was sufficient.
In the case of Mr. Gonzalez, the fired Border Patrol agent, he had not joined LEAP but had expressed sympathy with the group’s cause. “It didn’t make sense to me why marijuana is illegal,” he said. “To see that thousands of people are dying, some of whom I know, makes you want to look for a change.”
Syrians Say They Are Feeling the Grip of Sanctions
Syrians Say They Are Feeling the Grip of Sanctions
DAMASCUS, Syria — The walls are suddenly closing in around enterprising young Syrians who bought into the idea of a modernized economy promised by President Bashar al-Assad — their simplest money transfers are blocked, and their credit cards are useless outside Syria as the growing list of international sanctions darkens their financial future.
The owner of a handicrafts business who this week tried to transfer $450 to the Lebanese bank account of one of her suppliers found the transaction rejected because it originated in Syria. She had to hand-deliver the cash instead. Then a client, an investor for whom she is designing furniture for a new Abu Dhabi hotel, asked her to export whatever was completed immediately, lest the entire shipment get stuck.
“This is not the solution” to end the crisis in Syria, said the woman, pulling her fashionable black wool coat tighter against the sudden winter chill hitting this superficially calm but beleaguered capital. “This is a way to make us starve to punish the president.”
Nearly nine months after a sustained popular uprising erupted against the Assad government, Syria finds itself increasingly isolated, with even onetime allies condemning its use of lethal force. Turkey, the Arab League, the European Union and the United States have all imposed economic sanctions.
The measures are already biting, in ways evident to a reporter during a brief, rare visit allowed by the government, which was seeking to draw attention to its claim that the Arab League sanctions in particular amounted to an “economic war” against Syria.
The crucial question for Mr. Assad, the international community and the tens of thousands who rose up against the government, is whether such financial pain will induce the leadership to halt the violent suppression of antigovernment protests.
The sanctions are already unraveling the most significant change of Mr. Assad’s tenure: linking Syria to the global economy, allowing private banks and opening economic opportunity for young people in nation where about three-quarters of the population is under the age of 35.
Optimists think the pressure could work, largely because the biggest tycoons are close to the president, especially his cousin, Rami Makhlouf, and some dozen sons of his father’s closest allies. (Mr. Makhlouf gobbled up so many state enterprises put up for sale that Syrians wryly dubbed the privatization process “Ramification.”)
Pessimists worry that the government, including the scions of the old guard, will let the economy sink further to cling to power.
“Up until the last minute, I did not believe the Arab League would take such a decision,” said Mohammed Ghassan al-Qallaa, the president of the Damascus Chamber of Commerce, his office filled with Assad paraphernalia, including a small gold bust of Mr. Assad’s father, former President Hafez al-Assad. “It was like a poke in the eye.”
Good statistics remain a rarity here. But trade and investment activity is already off by 50 percent, financial analysts in Damascus said, and estimates on how much the economy will shrink this year range from 12 to 20 percent. The higher estimates kick in if sanctions — like a flight ban still being debated by the Arab League — are toughened.
Layoffs are rampant, with unemployment estimated to have risen to 22 percent. The tourism sector, which amassed about $6 billion in 2010, a boom year, has been decimated.
Hotel managers report occupancy rates of 15 percent or lower, if they will divulge them at all, and numerous restaurants have gone broke. Financial analysts said the luxury Four Seasons chain tried to close its once-booming Damascus hotel, an effort rejected by the government, which owns an estimated 50 percent share.
Sven Wiedenhaupt, the hotel’s general manager, refused to divulge his occupancy figures or how many staff members had been laid off. But he silently cast his head first left, then right to emphasize the absence of anyone in the cavernous, distinctly chilly lobby. “We are still keeping the lights on and trying to remain cutting edge,” Mr. Wiedenhaupt said.
At one hotel in the northern city of Aleppo, the appearance of two German tourists proved so startling that the entire staff, from the manager to the chambermaids, rushed to pose for pictures with them. “It was like they had arrived from another planet,” said a Syrian woman who witnessed the scene and, like others interviewed, requested anonymity for fear of reprisal.
DAMASCUS, Syria — The walls are suddenly closing in around enterprising young Syrians who bought into the idea of a modernized economy promised by President Bashar al-Assad — their simplest money transfers are blocked, and their credit cards are useless outside Syria as the growing list of international sanctions darkens their financial future.
The owner of a handicrafts business who this week tried to transfer $450 to the Lebanese bank account of one of her suppliers found the transaction rejected because it originated in Syria. She had to hand-deliver the cash instead. Then a client, an investor for whom she is designing furniture for a new Abu Dhabi hotel, asked her to export whatever was completed immediately, lest the entire shipment get stuck.
“This is not the solution” to end the crisis in Syria, said the woman, pulling her fashionable black wool coat tighter against the sudden winter chill hitting this superficially calm but beleaguered capital. “This is a way to make us starve to punish the president.”
Nearly nine months after a sustained popular uprising erupted against the Assad government, Syria finds itself increasingly isolated, with even onetime allies condemning its use of lethal force. Turkey, the Arab League, the European Union and the United States have all imposed economic sanctions.
The measures are already biting, in ways evident to a reporter during a brief, rare visit allowed by the government, which was seeking to draw attention to its claim that the Arab League sanctions in particular amounted to an “economic war” against Syria.
The crucial question for Mr. Assad, the international community and the tens of thousands who rose up against the government, is whether such financial pain will induce the leadership to halt the violent suppression of antigovernment protests.
The sanctions are already unraveling the most significant change of Mr. Assad’s tenure: linking Syria to the global economy, allowing private banks and opening economic opportunity for young people in nation where about three-quarters of the population is under the age of 35.
Optimists think the pressure could work, largely because the biggest tycoons are close to the president, especially his cousin, Rami Makhlouf, and some dozen sons of his father’s closest allies. (Mr. Makhlouf gobbled up so many state enterprises put up for sale that Syrians wryly dubbed the privatization process “Ramification.”)
Pessimists worry that the government, including the scions of the old guard, will let the economy sink further to cling to power.
“Up until the last minute, I did not believe the Arab League would take such a decision,” said Mohammed Ghassan al-Qallaa, the president of the Damascus Chamber of Commerce, his office filled with Assad paraphernalia, including a small gold bust of Mr. Assad’s father, former President Hafez al-Assad. “It was like a poke in the eye.”
Good statistics remain a rarity here. But trade and investment activity is already off by 50 percent, financial analysts in Damascus said, and estimates on how much the economy will shrink this year range from 12 to 20 percent. The higher estimates kick in if sanctions — like a flight ban still being debated by the Arab League — are toughened.
Layoffs are rampant, with unemployment estimated to have risen to 22 percent. The tourism sector, which amassed about $6 billion in 2010, a boom year, has been decimated.
Hotel managers report occupancy rates of 15 percent or lower, if they will divulge them at all, and numerous restaurants have gone broke. Financial analysts said the luxury Four Seasons chain tried to close its once-booming Damascus hotel, an effort rejected by the government, which owns an estimated 50 percent share.
Sven Wiedenhaupt, the hotel’s general manager, refused to divulge his occupancy figures or how many staff members had been laid off. But he silently cast his head first left, then right to emphasize the absence of anyone in the cavernous, distinctly chilly lobby. “We are still keeping the lights on and trying to remain cutting edge,” Mr. Wiedenhaupt said.
At one hotel in the northern city of Aleppo, the appearance of two German tourists proved so startling that the entire staff, from the manager to the chambermaids, rushed to pose for pictures with them. “It was like they had arrived from another planet,” said a Syrian woman who witnessed the scene and, like others interviewed, requested anonymity for fear of reprisal.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Quiet Aide to Liu Helped Build a Donor Base Now Under Scrutiny
Quiet Aide to Liu Helped Build a Donor Base Now Under Scrutiny
She is an almost invisible figure in New York politics, a former insurance agent and single mother who unwinds at karaoke bars in Queens singing Taiwanese pop ballads in a gentle soprano voice.
But Mei-Hua Ru quietly wields considerable power in the city, having guided Comptroller John C. Liu’s rise from an obscure councilman 10 years ago to a major political force today.
It is Ms. Ru who, as a fluent speaker of Mandarin, Taiwanese and Cantonese, has helped connect Mr. Liu to a network of Chinese businessmen and civic leaders who now make up his donor base in the city’s Asian-American enclaves.
And it is Ms. Ru who acts as Mr. Liu’s most aggressive gatekeeper — known as much for locking his critics out of his public events as for making Mr. Liu available to appear at the festivals, parties and other gatherings hosted by his Asian-American supporters.
“Even though she’s in the background, she’s that strong and silent force,” said Vicki Shu, a friend of Ms. Ru’s, and a board member of the New York chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans. “And people who know his staff know that if you want to try to get to John, you have to get through Mei.”
Now, though, Ms. Ru has emerged as a central figure in a continuing federal investigation into whether thousands of dollars in illegal contributions have been funneled to the Liu campaign through a network of fictitious donors in the city’s Asian-American communities, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Last month, federal authorities arrested Xing Wu Pan, a fund-raiser for Mr. Liu, saying he had sought to help an F.B.I. agent posing as a businessman circumvent campaign contribution limits. An examination by The New York Times has also raised questions about the legality of donations to Mr. Liu, including whether some of the donors were reimbursed for their contributions.
In interviews this week, neither Mr. Liu’s lawyer, Paul L. Shechtman, nor his campaign spokesman, George Arzt, would characterize Ms. Ru’s relationship with Mr. Pan.
Ms. Ru, 43, who declined repeated requests to be interviewed for a profile over the last few months, has not been charged.
Interviews with dozens of Chinese-American community leaders suggest that Ms. Ru is a key to understanding the fund-raising machine created by Mr. Liu to harvest hundreds of thousands of dollars from new donors, especially among Asian-Americans in Queens.
Officially, Ms. Ru is the comptroller’s director of planning, or chief scheduler, earning $125,000 a year on his public payroll.
But she has greatly shaped Mr. Liu’s political organization, most recently recruiting its current treasurer, Jia Hou, known as Jenny, the 24-year-old daughter of a prominent Liu supporter. And major donors in Flushing and Chinatown say that Ms. Ru remains the main conduit for requests related to Mr. Liu.
In a statement to The Times, Mr. Liu praised Ms. Ru’s drive and passion, saying, “The simple fact that she’s had to deal with me while raising three wonderful kids shows how incredibly effective an individual she is, without whom I would not be where I am today.”
Mr. Liu was more expansive in an interview before The Times’s first article on his fund-raising was published on Oct. 12. He indicated that the newly installed treasurer, Ms. Hou, had a tough act to follow. “Mei was the heart and soul of the ’09 campaign,” he said then. “Now Jenny is the heart of the ’13 campaign. Mei volunteers her time. Many people who are used to dealing with Mei — they don’t like to be shifted to somebody else. But Jenny is taking hold, and she’ll soon be loved as much as Mei is.”
Ms. Ru grew up in Taiwan, eventually settled in Queens, and worked as an insurance sales agent for MetLife. She did not show much interest in politics until a decade ago, when she volunteered for one of Mr. Liu’s early City Council races.
The mother of three daughters, the oldest of whom is now in college, Ms. Ru quickly ascended in Mr. Liu’s organization, becoming political director.
She served as a Democratic district leader from 2006 to 2008. And in the fractious political world of Flushing, Ms. Ru was viewed as fiercely devoted to Mr. Liu. She told Sing Tao, a Chinese-language newspaper, in 2007 that her birthday wish was to work for the city’s first Asian-American mayor. There was little doubt whom she had in mind for the office
She is an almost invisible figure in New York politics, a former insurance agent and single mother who unwinds at karaoke bars in Queens singing Taiwanese pop ballads in a gentle soprano voice.
But Mei-Hua Ru quietly wields considerable power in the city, having guided Comptroller John C. Liu’s rise from an obscure councilman 10 years ago to a major political force today.
It is Ms. Ru who, as a fluent speaker of Mandarin, Taiwanese and Cantonese, has helped connect Mr. Liu to a network of Chinese businessmen and civic leaders who now make up his donor base in the city’s Asian-American enclaves.
And it is Ms. Ru who acts as Mr. Liu’s most aggressive gatekeeper — known as much for locking his critics out of his public events as for making Mr. Liu available to appear at the festivals, parties and other gatherings hosted by his Asian-American supporters.
“Even though she’s in the background, she’s that strong and silent force,” said Vicki Shu, a friend of Ms. Ru’s, and a board member of the New York chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans. “And people who know his staff know that if you want to try to get to John, you have to get through Mei.”
Now, though, Ms. Ru has emerged as a central figure in a continuing federal investigation into whether thousands of dollars in illegal contributions have been funneled to the Liu campaign through a network of fictitious donors in the city’s Asian-American communities, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Last month, federal authorities arrested Xing Wu Pan, a fund-raiser for Mr. Liu, saying he had sought to help an F.B.I. agent posing as a businessman circumvent campaign contribution limits. An examination by The New York Times has also raised questions about the legality of donations to Mr. Liu, including whether some of the donors were reimbursed for their contributions.
In interviews this week, neither Mr. Liu’s lawyer, Paul L. Shechtman, nor his campaign spokesman, George Arzt, would characterize Ms. Ru’s relationship with Mr. Pan.
Ms. Ru, 43, who declined repeated requests to be interviewed for a profile over the last few months, has not been charged.
Interviews with dozens of Chinese-American community leaders suggest that Ms. Ru is a key to understanding the fund-raising machine created by Mr. Liu to harvest hundreds of thousands of dollars from new donors, especially among Asian-Americans in Queens.
Officially, Ms. Ru is the comptroller’s director of planning, or chief scheduler, earning $125,000 a year on his public payroll.
But she has greatly shaped Mr. Liu’s political organization, most recently recruiting its current treasurer, Jia Hou, known as Jenny, the 24-year-old daughter of a prominent Liu supporter. And major donors in Flushing and Chinatown say that Ms. Ru remains the main conduit for requests related to Mr. Liu.
In a statement to The Times, Mr. Liu praised Ms. Ru’s drive and passion, saying, “The simple fact that she’s had to deal with me while raising three wonderful kids shows how incredibly effective an individual she is, without whom I would not be where I am today.”
Mr. Liu was more expansive in an interview before The Times’s first article on his fund-raising was published on Oct. 12. He indicated that the newly installed treasurer, Ms. Hou, had a tough act to follow. “Mei was the heart and soul of the ’09 campaign,” he said then. “Now Jenny is the heart of the ’13 campaign. Mei volunteers her time. Many people who are used to dealing with Mei — they don’t like to be shifted to somebody else. But Jenny is taking hold, and she’ll soon be loved as much as Mei is.”
Ms. Ru grew up in Taiwan, eventually settled in Queens, and worked as an insurance sales agent for MetLife. She did not show much interest in politics until a decade ago, when she volunteered for one of Mr. Liu’s early City Council races.
The mother of three daughters, the oldest of whom is now in college, Ms. Ru quickly ascended in Mr. Liu’s organization, becoming political director.
She served as a Democratic district leader from 2006 to 2008. And in the fractious political world of Flushing, Ms. Ru was viewed as fiercely devoted to Mr. Liu. She told Sing Tao, a Chinese-language newspaper, in 2007 that her birthday wish was to work for the city’s first Asian-American mayor. There was little doubt whom she had in mind for the office
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
F.T.C. Settles Privacy Issue at Facebook
SAN FRANCISCO — Accusing Facebook of engaging in “unfair and deceptive” practices, the federal government on Tuesday announced a broad settlement that requires the company to respect the privacy wishes of its users and subjects it to regular privacy audits for the next 20 years.
The order, announced by the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, stems largely from changes that Facebook made to the way it handled its users’ information in December 2009. The commission contended that Facebook, without warning its users or seeking consent, made public information that users had deemed to be private on their Facebook pages.
The order also said that Facebook, which has more than 800 million users worldwide, in some cases had allowed advertisers to glean personally identifiable information when a Facebook user clicked on an advertisement on his or her Facebook page. The company has long maintained that it does not share personal data with advertisers.
And the order said that Facebook had shared user information with outside application developers, contrary to representations made to its users. And even after a Facebook user deleted an account, according to the F.T.C., the company still allowed access to photos and videos.
All told, the commission listed eight complaints. It levied no fines and did not accuse Facebook of intentionally breaking the law. However, if Facebook violated the terms of the settlement in the future, it would be liable to pay a penalty of $16,000 a day for each count, the F.T.C. said.
Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, conceded in a lengthy blog post that the company had made “a bunch of mistakes,” but said it had already fixed several of the issues cited by the commission.
“Facebook has always been committed to being transparent about the information you have stored with us — and we have led the Internet in building tools to give people the ability to see and control what they share,” he wrote. By way of example, Mr. Zuckerberg pointed to more explicit privacy controls that the company introduced over the summer.
Facebook has long wanted its users to post content — links, opinions, pictures and other data — on their Facebook pages with minimal effort, or “friction,” as company executives call it. The settlement with the F.T.C. will undoubtedly require it to introduce more such friction.
The order requires Facebook to obtain its users’ “affirmative express consent” before it can override their own privacy settings. For example, if a user designated certain content to be visible only to “friends,” Facebook could allow that content to be shared more broadly only after obtaining the user’s permission.
On Tuesday evening there seemed to be some disagreement about what the agreement entailed. A Facebook spokesman said in response to a question that it did not require the company to obtain “opt in” data-sharing permission for new products.
But David Vladeck, director of the bureau of consumer protection at the F.T.C., said Facebook would have to inform its users about how personal data would be shared even with new products and services that it introduces over the next two decades. “The order is designed to protect people’s privacy, anticipating that Facebook is likely to change products and services it offers,” he said.
Ever since its public release in 2004, Facebook has drawn an ever-larger number of members, even as its sometimes aggressive approach to changes around privacy have angered some of its users.
“We’ve all known that Facebook repeatedly cuts corners when it comes to its privacy promises,” Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University, wrote in an e-mail after the announcement. “Like most Internet companies, they thought they could get away with it. They didn’t.”
Facebook is also obliged to undergo an independent privacy audit every two years for the next 20 years, according to the terms of the settlement.
Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which is part of a coalition of consumer groups that filed a complaint with the F.T.C., commended the order but said settlements with individual companies fall short of what is needed: a federal law to protect consumer privacy.
“We hope they will establish a high bar for privacy protection,” Mr. Rotenberg said. “But we do not have in the United States a comprehensive privacy framework. There is always a risk other companies will come along and create new problems.”
Several privacy bills are pending in Congress, and Internet companies have stepped up their lobbying efforts. The F.T.C., meanwhile, has ratcheted up its scrutiny of Internet companies. This year alone, it has reached settlement orders with some of the giants of Silicon Valley, including Google.
The order comes amid growing speculation about Facebook’s preparations for an initial public offering, which could be valued at more than $100 billion. The settlement with the F.T.C., analysts say, could potentially ease investors’ concerns about government regulation by holding the company to a clear set of privacy prescriptions.
“When you have an I.P.O. you don’t want investors to be skeptical or jittery,” said Ryan Calo, who leads privacy research at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School. “In order for you to be as valuable as possible, you want to make sure the seas are calm. This calms the seas.”
The order, announced by the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, stems largely from changes that Facebook made to the way it handled its users’ information in December 2009. The commission contended that Facebook, without warning its users or seeking consent, made public information that users had deemed to be private on their Facebook pages.
The order also said that Facebook, which has more than 800 million users worldwide, in some cases had allowed advertisers to glean personally identifiable information when a Facebook user clicked on an advertisement on his or her Facebook page. The company has long maintained that it does not share personal data with advertisers.
And the order said that Facebook had shared user information with outside application developers, contrary to representations made to its users. And even after a Facebook user deleted an account, according to the F.T.C., the company still allowed access to photos and videos.
All told, the commission listed eight complaints. It levied no fines and did not accuse Facebook of intentionally breaking the law. However, if Facebook violated the terms of the settlement in the future, it would be liable to pay a penalty of $16,000 a day for each count, the F.T.C. said.
Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, conceded in a lengthy blog post that the company had made “a bunch of mistakes,” but said it had already fixed several of the issues cited by the commission.
“Facebook has always been committed to being transparent about the information you have stored with us — and we have led the Internet in building tools to give people the ability to see and control what they share,” he wrote. By way of example, Mr. Zuckerberg pointed to more explicit privacy controls that the company introduced over the summer.
Facebook has long wanted its users to post content — links, opinions, pictures and other data — on their Facebook pages with minimal effort, or “friction,” as company executives call it. The settlement with the F.T.C. will undoubtedly require it to introduce more such friction.
The order requires Facebook to obtain its users’ “affirmative express consent” before it can override their own privacy settings. For example, if a user designated certain content to be visible only to “friends,” Facebook could allow that content to be shared more broadly only after obtaining the user’s permission.
On Tuesday evening there seemed to be some disagreement about what the agreement entailed. A Facebook spokesman said in response to a question that it did not require the company to obtain “opt in” data-sharing permission for new products.
But David Vladeck, director of the bureau of consumer protection at the F.T.C., said Facebook would have to inform its users about how personal data would be shared even with new products and services that it introduces over the next two decades. “The order is designed to protect people’s privacy, anticipating that Facebook is likely to change products and services it offers,” he said.
Ever since its public release in 2004, Facebook has drawn an ever-larger number of members, even as its sometimes aggressive approach to changes around privacy have angered some of its users.
“We’ve all known that Facebook repeatedly cuts corners when it comes to its privacy promises,” Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University, wrote in an e-mail after the announcement. “Like most Internet companies, they thought they could get away with it. They didn’t.”
Facebook is also obliged to undergo an independent privacy audit every two years for the next 20 years, according to the terms of the settlement.
Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which is part of a coalition of consumer groups that filed a complaint with the F.T.C., commended the order but said settlements with individual companies fall short of what is needed: a federal law to protect consumer privacy.
“We hope they will establish a high bar for privacy protection,” Mr. Rotenberg said. “But we do not have in the United States a comprehensive privacy framework. There is always a risk other companies will come along and create new problems.”
Several privacy bills are pending in Congress, and Internet companies have stepped up their lobbying efforts. The F.T.C., meanwhile, has ratcheted up its scrutiny of Internet companies. This year alone, it has reached settlement orders with some of the giants of Silicon Valley, including Google.
The order comes amid growing speculation about Facebook’s preparations for an initial public offering, which could be valued at more than $100 billion. The settlement with the F.T.C., analysts say, could potentially ease investors’ concerns about government regulation by holding the company to a clear set of privacy prescriptions.
“When you have an I.P.O. you don’t want investors to be skeptical or jittery,” said Ryan Calo, who leads privacy research at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School. “In order for you to be as valuable as possible, you want to make sure the seas are calm. This calms the seas.”
Line Grows Long for Free Meals at U.S. Schools
Millions of American schoolchildren are receiving free or low-cost meals for the first time as their parents, many once solidly middle class, have lost jobs or homes during the economic crisis, qualifying their families for the decades-old safety-net program.
The number of students receiving subsidized lunches rose to 21 million last school year from 18 million in 2006-7, a 17 percent increase, according to an analysis by The New York Times of data from the Department of Agriculture, which administers the meals program. Eleven states, including Florida, Nevada, New Jersey and Tennessee, had four-year increases of 25 percent or more, huge shifts in a vast program long characterized by incremental growth.
The Agriculture Department has not yet released data for September and October.
“These are very large increases and a direct reflection of the hardships American families are facing,” said Benjamin Senauer, a University of Minnesota economist who studies the meals program, adding that the surge had happened so quickly “that people like myself who do research are struggling to keep up with it.”
In Sylva, N.C., layoffs at lumber and paper mills have driven hundreds of new students into the free lunch program. In Las Vegas, where the collapse of the construction industry has caused hardship, 15,000 additional students joined the subsidized lunch program this fall. In Rochester, unemployed engineers and technicians have signed up their children after the downsizing of Kodak and other companies forced them from their jobs. Many of these formerly middle-income parents have pleaded with school officials to keep their enrollment a secret.
Students in families with incomes up to 130 percent of the poverty level — or $29,055 for a family of four — are eligible for free school meals. Children in a four-member household with income up to $41,348 qualify for a subsidized lunch priced at 40 cents.
Among the first to call attention to the increases were Department of Education officials who use subsidized lunch rates as a poverty indicator in federal testing. This month, in releasing results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, they noted that the proportion of the nation’s fourth graders enrolled in the lunch program had climbed to 52 percent from 49 percent in 2009, crossing a symbolic watershed.
In the Rockdale County Schools in Conyers, Ga., east of Atlanta, the percentage of students receiving subsidized lunches increased to 63 percent this year from 46 percent in 2006.
“We’re seeing people who were never eligible before, never had a need,” said Peggy Lawrence, director of school nutrition.
One of those is Sheila Dawson, a Wal-Mart saleswoman whose husband lost his job as the manager of a Waffle House last year, reducing their income by $45,000. “We’re doing whatever we can to save money,” said Ms. Dawson, who has a 15-year-old daughter. “We buy clothes at the thrift store, we see fewer movies and this year my daughter qualifies for reduced-price lunch.”
She added, “I feel like: ‘Hey, we were paying taxes all these years. This is what they were for.’ ”
Although the troubled economy is the main factor in the increases, experts said, some growth at the margins has resulted from a new way of qualifying students for the subsidized meals, known as direct certification. In 2004, Congress required the nation’s 17,000 school districts to match student enrollment lists against records of local food-stamp agencies, directly enrolling those who receive food stamps for the meals program. The number of districts doing so has been rising — as have the number of school-age children in families eligible for food stamps, to 14 million in 2010-11 from 12 million in 2009-10.
“The concern of those of us involved in the direct certification effort is how to help all these districts deal with the exploding caseload of kids eligible for the meals,” said Kevin Conway, a project director at Mathematica Policy Research, a co-author of an October report to Congress on direct certification.
Congress passed the National School Lunch Act in 1946 to support commodity prices after World War II by reducing farm surpluses while providing food to schoolchildren. By 1970, the program was providing 22 million lunches on an average day, about a fifth of them subsidized. Since then, the subsidized portion has grown while paid lunches have declined, but not since 1972 have so many additional children become eligible for free lunches as in fiscal year 2010, 1.3 million. Today it is a $10.8 billion program providing 32 million lunches, 21 million of which are free or at reduced price.
All 50 states have shown increases, according to Agriculture Department data. In Florida, which has 2.6 million public school students, an additional 265,000 students have become eligible for subsidies since 2007, with increases in virtually every district.
“Growth has been across the board,” said Mark Eggers, the Florida Department of Education official who oversees the lunch program.
In Tennessee, the number of students receiving subsidized meals has grown 37 percent since 2007.
The number of students receiving subsidized lunches rose to 21 million last school year from 18 million in 2006-7, a 17 percent increase, according to an analysis by The New York Times of data from the Department of Agriculture, which administers the meals program. Eleven states, including Florida, Nevada, New Jersey and Tennessee, had four-year increases of 25 percent or more, huge shifts in a vast program long characterized by incremental growth.
The Agriculture Department has not yet released data for September and October.
“These are very large increases and a direct reflection of the hardships American families are facing,” said Benjamin Senauer, a University of Minnesota economist who studies the meals program, adding that the surge had happened so quickly “that people like myself who do research are struggling to keep up with it.”
In Sylva, N.C., layoffs at lumber and paper mills have driven hundreds of new students into the free lunch program. In Las Vegas, where the collapse of the construction industry has caused hardship, 15,000 additional students joined the subsidized lunch program this fall. In Rochester, unemployed engineers and technicians have signed up their children after the downsizing of Kodak and other companies forced them from their jobs. Many of these formerly middle-income parents have pleaded with school officials to keep their enrollment a secret.
Students in families with incomes up to 130 percent of the poverty level — or $29,055 for a family of four — are eligible for free school meals. Children in a four-member household with income up to $41,348 qualify for a subsidized lunch priced at 40 cents.
Among the first to call attention to the increases were Department of Education officials who use subsidized lunch rates as a poverty indicator in federal testing. This month, in releasing results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, they noted that the proportion of the nation’s fourth graders enrolled in the lunch program had climbed to 52 percent from 49 percent in 2009, crossing a symbolic watershed.
In the Rockdale County Schools in Conyers, Ga., east of Atlanta, the percentage of students receiving subsidized lunches increased to 63 percent this year from 46 percent in 2006.
“We’re seeing people who were never eligible before, never had a need,” said Peggy Lawrence, director of school nutrition.
One of those is Sheila Dawson, a Wal-Mart saleswoman whose husband lost his job as the manager of a Waffle House last year, reducing their income by $45,000. “We’re doing whatever we can to save money,” said Ms. Dawson, who has a 15-year-old daughter. “We buy clothes at the thrift store, we see fewer movies and this year my daughter qualifies for reduced-price lunch.”
She added, “I feel like: ‘Hey, we were paying taxes all these years. This is what they were for.’ ”
Although the troubled economy is the main factor in the increases, experts said, some growth at the margins has resulted from a new way of qualifying students for the subsidized meals, known as direct certification. In 2004, Congress required the nation’s 17,000 school districts to match student enrollment lists against records of local food-stamp agencies, directly enrolling those who receive food stamps for the meals program. The number of districts doing so has been rising — as have the number of school-age children in families eligible for food stamps, to 14 million in 2010-11 from 12 million in 2009-10.
“The concern of those of us involved in the direct certification effort is how to help all these districts deal with the exploding caseload of kids eligible for the meals,” said Kevin Conway, a project director at Mathematica Policy Research, a co-author of an October report to Congress on direct certification.
Congress passed the National School Lunch Act in 1946 to support commodity prices after World War II by reducing farm surpluses while providing food to schoolchildren. By 1970, the program was providing 22 million lunches on an average day, about a fifth of them subsidized. Since then, the subsidized portion has grown while paid lunches have declined, but not since 1972 have so many additional children become eligible for free lunches as in fiscal year 2010, 1.3 million. Today it is a $10.8 billion program providing 32 million lunches, 21 million of which are free or at reduced price.
All 50 states have shown increases, according to Agriculture Department data. In Florida, which has 2.6 million public school students, an additional 265,000 students have become eligible for subsidies since 2007, with increases in virtually every district.
“Growth has been across the board,” said Mark Eggers, the Florida Department of Education official who oversees the lunch program.
In Tennessee, the number of students receiving subsidized meals has grown 37 percent since 2007.
Monday, November 28, 2011
For New Coach at Ohio State, It’s First Down and $4 Million
Ohio State University hired Urban Meyer as its football coach Monday, giving him one of the richest contracts ever in college sports — the latest indication that the big business of college football is undeterred by the nation’s broader economic woes or by concern about the prominence of sports on campus.
The contract includes $4 million in base salary, bonuses — for everything from players’ graduation rates to playing in a national championship, up to $700,000 annually — and lump payments in 2014, 2016 and 2018. The deal is worth more than three times the $1.32 million that the university’s president, E. Gordon Gee, made in 2010, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Mr. Meyer and Ohio State reached the lucrative deal amid a chaotic year in college athletics. The University of Miami was rocked by a report that a donor lavished football players with gifts for years; and longtime assistants for the Penn State football and Syracuse men’s basketball teams are facing allegations that they sexually abused young boys. Several other prominent programs are being investigated by college athletics’ governing body, the N.C.A.A., for myriad violations.
Even the Buckeyes await potential N.C.A.A. sanctions because players traded memorabilia for cash and tattoos, which led to the ouster of Jim Tressel as their coach six months ago.
Still, the college football arms race shows no signs of slowing. To replace Mr. Tressel, Ohio State will invest at least $26.65 million over six years in Mr. Meyer, 47, who won two national championships at Florida. That will include an annual automobile stipend, a golf club membership, 50 hours of private jet use and 12 tickets to each home game.
“It’s symbolic of the condition we’re in,” said William C. Friday, the president of the University of North Carolina system from 1956 to 1986. “There’s an unrestrained salary march, where universities are trying to superimpose an entertainment industry on an academic structure. Any salary in that range is excessive.”
Even Mr. Gee, the university president who hired Mr. Meyer on Monday, has described the system as broken. In an interview with The New York Times in August, he said: “College athletics has gotten beyond itself. Do I think it’s broken? Yes.”
On Monday, Mr. Gee called Mr. Meyer’s contract “a mark of our dignity and nobility.”
“I’m not certain I’ve ever made as much as a football coach,” Mr. Gee said in a telephone interview. “We live in a world of markets and opportunities. A number of surgeons here make more than I do. I’m about having the best physics faculty, the best medical school faculty and the best football coach.”
Mr. Friday was a co-founder of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. He watched as shoe companies paid large sums to coaches, as broadcast deals boomed. What Mr. Friday called the “invasion of money for commercial television” started about 10 years ago, he said.
Now, by any financial measure, college football has never been more prosperous. Five sports conferences have signed billion-dollar broadcast deals, fueled by the popularity of football.
In the Pacific-12 Conference, where games were once shown on national networks and local channels, officials have decided to create six regional networks instead. The template: the network for the Big Ten Conference, which includes Ohio State. The Big Ten network, according to SNL Kagan, a research firm, earned $227.1 million for the conference in 2010.
Contracts for college football coaches have increased at a similarly rapid pace. If Mr. Meyer reaches his benchmarks for bonuses, he will be among — and may even surpass — the upper echelon of college football coaches: Mack Brown at Texas, Nick Saban at Alabama, Bob Stoops at Oklahoma and Les Miles at Louisiana State.
Mr. Gee said that according to Ohio State’s data on college football coaches’ salaries, Mr. Meyer would rank fourth among his peers, emphasizing that much of Mr. Meyer’s bonuses is tied to academics and his staying at O.S.U. for all six years.
The contract includes $4 million in base salary, bonuses — for everything from players’ graduation rates to playing in a national championship, up to $700,000 annually — and lump payments in 2014, 2016 and 2018. The deal is worth more than three times the $1.32 million that the university’s president, E. Gordon Gee, made in 2010, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Mr. Meyer and Ohio State reached the lucrative deal amid a chaotic year in college athletics. The University of Miami was rocked by a report that a donor lavished football players with gifts for years; and longtime assistants for the Penn State football and Syracuse men’s basketball teams are facing allegations that they sexually abused young boys. Several other prominent programs are being investigated by college athletics’ governing body, the N.C.A.A., for myriad violations.
Even the Buckeyes await potential N.C.A.A. sanctions because players traded memorabilia for cash and tattoos, which led to the ouster of Jim Tressel as their coach six months ago.
Still, the college football arms race shows no signs of slowing. To replace Mr. Tressel, Ohio State will invest at least $26.65 million over six years in Mr. Meyer, 47, who won two national championships at Florida. That will include an annual automobile stipend, a golf club membership, 50 hours of private jet use and 12 tickets to each home game.
“It’s symbolic of the condition we’re in,” said William C. Friday, the president of the University of North Carolina system from 1956 to 1986. “There’s an unrestrained salary march, where universities are trying to superimpose an entertainment industry on an academic structure. Any salary in that range is excessive.”
Even Mr. Gee, the university president who hired Mr. Meyer on Monday, has described the system as broken. In an interview with The New York Times in August, he said: “College athletics has gotten beyond itself. Do I think it’s broken? Yes.”
On Monday, Mr. Gee called Mr. Meyer’s contract “a mark of our dignity and nobility.”
“I’m not certain I’ve ever made as much as a football coach,” Mr. Gee said in a telephone interview. “We live in a world of markets and opportunities. A number of surgeons here make more than I do. I’m about having the best physics faculty, the best medical school faculty and the best football coach.”
Mr. Friday was a co-founder of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. He watched as shoe companies paid large sums to coaches, as broadcast deals boomed. What Mr. Friday called the “invasion of money for commercial television” started about 10 years ago, he said.
Now, by any financial measure, college football has never been more prosperous. Five sports conferences have signed billion-dollar broadcast deals, fueled by the popularity of football.
In the Pacific-12 Conference, where games were once shown on national networks and local channels, officials have decided to create six regional networks instead. The template: the network for the Big Ten Conference, which includes Ohio State. The Big Ten network, according to SNL Kagan, a research firm, earned $227.1 million for the conference in 2010.
Contracts for college football coaches have increased at a similarly rapid pace. If Mr. Meyer reaches his benchmarks for bonuses, he will be among — and may even surpass — the upper echelon of college football coaches: Mack Brown at Texas, Nick Saban at Alabama, Bob Stoops at Oklahoma and Les Miles at Louisiana State.
Mr. Gee said that according to Ohio State’s data on college football coaches’ salaries, Mr. Meyer would rank fourth among his peers, emphasizing that much of Mr. Meyer’s bonuses is tied to academics and his staying at O.S.U. for all six years.
Gingrich Wields History, Seeking to Add Chapter
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Newt Gingrich is a historian. He earned a Ph.D. in history. If you’ve forgotten, he’ll remind you.
During a six-candidate forum in Iowa recently, Mr. Gingrich dropped in references to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, Capt. John Smith’s leadership of Jamestown, the French Revolution and, as a bonus, the Latin root of “secular.”
A few days earlier, as guests at a fund-raising breakfast forked into slabs of coffeecake, Mr. Gingrich told a lengthy anecdote about John Quincy Adams.
And in New Hampshire before that, he referred at a Tea Party forum to the Louisiana Purchase, Thomas Jefferson’s abolition of federal judgeships and, again, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.
Mr. Gingrich taught college history before entering politics, and his historical references on the campaign trail are such a feature of his public remarks as to be nearly a rhetorical tic. They strike some as evidence that Mr. Gingrich is the smartest candidate in the room — and others that he is a man determined to let you know how much he knows.
In an election season rife with factual misstatements, deliberate and otherwise, Mr. Gingrich sometimes seems to stand out for exhibiting an excess of knowledge. It is hard to imagine him not knowing that the Battle of Lexington and Concord took place in Massachusetts, not New Hampshire, where Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota located it this year.
But in some ways Mr. Gingrich seems not just to know history, but to think of himself very self-consciously as part of it, and not always in a small way. In an interview with The New York Times in 2009, he said he subscribed to the historian Arnold J. Toynbee’s theory of “departure and return,” the notion that certain great leaders must endure a long political exile before returning to power. He indicated that Charles de Gaulle, the French general who became president only after years out of power, was a role model.
“Some people say he sounds arrogant. I see it as confidence,” said Josh Byrnes, an Iowa state representative who threw his support to Mr. Gingrich after he spoke at his daughter’s school. “I think what Newt’s doing, he’s using historical lessons to take on this current situation we’re in.”
Mr. Gingrich’s deep identification with this role was highlighted recently when he said in a debate that Freddie Mac, the home mortgage giant, had hired him as a “historian,” not a lobbyist, as it fought off government regulators before the financial crisis.
When it came out that Mr. Gingrich had earned as much as $1.8 million from Freddie Mac, he was mocked by liberal critics as the best-paid historian ever.
At a forum on Monday night in Charleston, Mr. Gingrich fingered his lapel pin and said it represented George Washington’s campaign flag, with “13 stars on a gold background representing the 13 states.”
Fellow historians are generally pleased that Mr. Gingrich brings history into the national conversation, even if some dispute his insights. Last year, he said he agreed with a controversial essay linking President Obama to a “Kenyan, anti-colonial” world view. On Conservativenet, a listserv of historians, Prof. Lawrence Squeri of East Stroudsburg State wrote the other day, “I always did feel that Gingrich should have stayed in academia, conducting seminars that would make students rave or fume and send impassioned posts to the Rate My Professors Web site.”
Mr. Gingrich has been out of power since quitting Congress under pressure in 1998, but has surged in recent polls, and he is fond of citing historical crucibles to dramatize the stakes he sees for the 2012 election. In South Carolina this month, he said the country was facing a “choice comparable, I think, to 1860 and it may be comparable in some ways to 1788,” a brainy reference, apparently, to the year the Constitution was debated and ratified.
Mr. Gingrich reminded the same audience, “I studied American history” and offered a lengthy back story to the Lincoln-Douglas debates. “In 1858, Stephen Douglas was the most famous man in the United States Senate,” he began.
During a six-candidate forum in Iowa recently, Mr. Gingrich dropped in references to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, Capt. John Smith’s leadership of Jamestown, the French Revolution and, as a bonus, the Latin root of “secular.”
A few days earlier, as guests at a fund-raising breakfast forked into slabs of coffeecake, Mr. Gingrich told a lengthy anecdote about John Quincy Adams.
And in New Hampshire before that, he referred at a Tea Party forum to the Louisiana Purchase, Thomas Jefferson’s abolition of federal judgeships and, again, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.
Mr. Gingrich taught college history before entering politics, and his historical references on the campaign trail are such a feature of his public remarks as to be nearly a rhetorical tic. They strike some as evidence that Mr. Gingrich is the smartest candidate in the room — and others that he is a man determined to let you know how much he knows.
In an election season rife with factual misstatements, deliberate and otherwise, Mr. Gingrich sometimes seems to stand out for exhibiting an excess of knowledge. It is hard to imagine him not knowing that the Battle of Lexington and Concord took place in Massachusetts, not New Hampshire, where Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota located it this year.
But in some ways Mr. Gingrich seems not just to know history, but to think of himself very self-consciously as part of it, and not always in a small way. In an interview with The New York Times in 2009, he said he subscribed to the historian Arnold J. Toynbee’s theory of “departure and return,” the notion that certain great leaders must endure a long political exile before returning to power. He indicated that Charles de Gaulle, the French general who became president only after years out of power, was a role model.
“Some people say he sounds arrogant. I see it as confidence,” said Josh Byrnes, an Iowa state representative who threw his support to Mr. Gingrich after he spoke at his daughter’s school. “I think what Newt’s doing, he’s using historical lessons to take on this current situation we’re in.”
Mr. Gingrich’s deep identification with this role was highlighted recently when he said in a debate that Freddie Mac, the home mortgage giant, had hired him as a “historian,” not a lobbyist, as it fought off government regulators before the financial crisis.
When it came out that Mr. Gingrich had earned as much as $1.8 million from Freddie Mac, he was mocked by liberal critics as the best-paid historian ever.
At a forum on Monday night in Charleston, Mr. Gingrich fingered his lapel pin and said it represented George Washington’s campaign flag, with “13 stars on a gold background representing the 13 states.”
Fellow historians are generally pleased that Mr. Gingrich brings history into the national conversation, even if some dispute his insights. Last year, he said he agreed with a controversial essay linking President Obama to a “Kenyan, anti-colonial” world view. On Conservativenet, a listserv of historians, Prof. Lawrence Squeri of East Stroudsburg State wrote the other day, “I always did feel that Gingrich should have stayed in academia, conducting seminars that would make students rave or fume and send impassioned posts to the Rate My Professors Web site.”
Mr. Gingrich has been out of power since quitting Congress under pressure in 1998, but has surged in recent polls, and he is fond of citing historical crucibles to dramatize the stakes he sees for the 2012 election. In South Carolina this month, he said the country was facing a “choice comparable, I think, to 1860 and it may be comparable in some ways to 1788,” a brainy reference, apparently, to the year the Constitution was debated and ratified.
Mr. Gingrich reminded the same audience, “I studied American history” and offered a lengthy back story to the Lincoln-Douglas debates. “In 1858, Stephen Douglas was the most famous man in the United States Senate,” he began.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
For profit certification for teachers is booming
Denton: one afternoon on mid november jeff arington scattered 80 paper gingerbread men labeled with numbers across the floor of his high school disaster response class.
The number corresponded with the severity of injuries ranging from burns to hysterical blindness.His student had to categoriza the men based on the level of medical attention each required.
The number corresponded with the severity of injuries ranging from burns to hysterical blindness.His student had to categoriza the men based on the level of medical attention each required.
TV Attack ads aim at obama early and often
inside the debate halls,the clash may be republican versus republican.But offstage,conversatieve ane mounting a unfied and expensive air assault on the candidates common opponent:prsident obama
California bullet train project advances amid cries of bondoggle
SACRAMENTO across the country,the era of ambitions public works projects seems to be over.Governments are shelving or rejecting plans for highways,rail roads and big buildings under the weight of collapsing revenues and voters resistance.
But not california.
With a brashness and ambition that evoke a california of a generation ago,state leaders starting with gov.
jerry brown have railled around a plan to build a 520 mile high speed rail line from los angelese to san francisco,cutting the trip from a six hour drive to a train ride of two hour and 38 minutes.And they are doing it in the face of what might seem like insurmountable political fiscales.
But not california.
With a brashness and ambition that evoke a california of a generation ago,state leaders starting with gov.
jerry brown have railled around a plan to build a 520 mile high speed rail line from los angelese to san francisco,cutting the trip from a six hour drive to a train ride of two hour and 38 minutes.And they are doing it in the face of what might seem like insurmountable political fiscales.
Black friday sales up 7% over 2010
The holiday shopping season got off to a strong start an black friday, with retail sales up 7 percent over last year,according to one survay.Now stores just have to keep buyers coming back without the promise of super savings.
buyers spent $11.4 billion at retail stores and malls, up nearly $1 billion from last year.According to a report released saturday by shopper track.It was the largest amount ever spent on the day that marks the beginning of the holyday shopping season,and the biggest year over year increase since 2007.
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