By Justin Sullivan | AFP News – Fri, 1 Apr, 2011 7:58 PM EDT
Facebook and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg have been hit with a lawsuit seeking more than $1 billion in damages over a page on the social network which called for a "Third Intifada" against Israel.
Facebook this week shut down the "Third Intifada" page, which had almost 500,000 fans, but the lawsuit filed in a court here claims that the social network showed "negligence" by not quickly responding to appeals to remove the page.
Besides awarding damages, the complaint calls on the court to bar Facebook "from allowing the Facebook page titled 'Third Palestinian Intifada,' and other related and similar sites, which advocate violence and death to Jews."
The suit, a copy of which was obtained by technology blog TechCrunch, was filed in DC Superior Court by Larry Klayman, who describes himself in the complaint as "an American citizen of Jewish origin" who is "active in matters concerning the security of Israel and all people."
Klayman also identifies himself as the founder of Freedom Watch, whose website describes it as a political advocacy group dedicated to protecting privacy, free speech and other rights and "our national sovereignty against the incompetent, terrorist state-controlled United Nations."
Facebook dismissed the case as "without merit" and said it would fight.
"While we haven't been served with a complaint, we believe the case is without merit and we will fight it vigorously," a Facebook spokesman said.
Facebook shut down the page on Tuesday, several days after Israeli Public Diplomacy Minister Yuli Edelstein sent a letter to Zuckerberg urging him to remove it.
Facebook said the page was initially tolerated because it "began as a call for peaceful protest" but direct calls for violence began appearing and the page was removed for violating Facebook's policies.
How Ground Zero Inspired CityCenter after 9-11
MGM Mirage CEO James Murren describes a gloomy design catalyst for the giant, recently-opened Las Vegas complex
Interview by James S. Russell
(Bloomberg) — If James Murren, the chairman and chief executive officer of MGM Mirage, needs any reminder of the dire state of Las Vegas, he doesn't have far to go.
Standing forlornly next door to CityCenter, the glittering new mega-resort his company co-owns with state entity Dubai World, is the defaulted, unfinished Cosmopolitan casino.
CityCenter, which at $8.5 billion and 18 million square feet is by far the largest development Las Vegas has ever seen, opened this month as the city's two-year recession showed signs of easing. Yet the complex is a long shot by any measure.
I spoke to Murren, a youthful 48 with a touch of gray, while sitting at a boardroom-size table in his grand private office within the faux Tuscan splendor of the Bellagio Resort. From here he runs the 20 properties MGM Mirage owns or has investments in.
Bringing in six celebrity architects to design CityCenter was Murren's brainchild. Their sleek, glistening buildings are supposed to lure the free-spending visitors necessary to reduce MGM Mirage's $13 billion in long-term debt.
I asked Murren, who once considered a career in architecture, how big-name architects figured into a city defined by fantasy and spectacle.
"In 2004, we were looking at how to develop the 67 prime acres we had between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts. We were seeing designs for one theme hotel after another. It was a big yawn."
Murren said that while attending Trinity College in the "troubled, decaying" city of Hartford, Connecticut, he interned at agencies that helped house people. He also swooned over Rome during a college-sponsored sojourn.
For CityCenter, he said he also drew inspiration from the design competitions for the World Trade Center. Daniel Libeskind, whose masterplan became the basis for Ground Zero's redevelopment, agreed to design Crystals, CityCenter's shopping mall. Two other Ground Zero competitors, Rafael Vinoly and Norman Foster, designed hotels at CityCenter.
The area devastated on 9/11 was well-known to Murren, whose career path actually took him to Wall Street. He rose to director of research and managing director at Deutsche Bank before joining MGM Mirage as chief financial officer in 1998. His wife, Heather, was the managing director for global securities research and economics at Merrill Lynch & Co.
"I knew that world-class architects could make an experience that was meaningful and immersing," Murren said. He wanted a high-density plan, with a mix of residences and hotels.
"I overlaid a significant public-art program to appeal both to tourists and people who live here," Murren said. He demanded green design and management techniques, though they get a distinctive spin in a city devoted to heedless spending.
Slot machines are energy efficient, acres of glass are protected by shading horizontal fins, and the limo fleet runs on natural gas.
After Frank Gehry turned him down, Murren rounded out his design team with Manhattan's Kohn Pedersen Fox, Chicago's Murphy/Jahn, the New Haven firm of Pelli Clarke Pelli, and Gensler, a large international architecture and consulting firm hired to deal with the egos involved.
"They all took us to places we couldn't imagine," he said.
"International tourists are coming because America is on sale. We have a larger share of the Asian market in our portfolio."
Asked about prospects for Las Vegas, Murren says "there's unlikely to be any major new development in the next five years. Everyone needs to lick their wounds, heal, and reduce leverage."
He remains bullish on the city: "You can get things done here at a speed that other places can't imagine. Eight years after 9/11, New York hasn't got the 11 million square feet of Ground Zero rebuilding done. Here we proposed 18 million square feet in 2004 and we opened it in 2009."
(James S. Russell is Bloomberg's U.S. architecture critic. The opinions expressed are his own.)
To contact the writer of this column: James S. Russell in New York at jamesrussell@earthlink.net.
Interview by James S. Russell
(Bloomberg) — If James Murren, the chairman and chief executive officer of MGM Mirage, needs any reminder of the dire state of Las Vegas, he doesn't have far to go.
Standing forlornly next door to CityCenter, the glittering new mega-resort his company co-owns with state entity Dubai World, is the defaulted, unfinished Cosmopolitan casino.
CityCenter, which at $8.5 billion and 18 million square feet is by far the largest development Las Vegas has ever seen, opened this month as the city's two-year recession showed signs of easing. Yet the complex is a long shot by any measure.
I spoke to Murren, a youthful 48 with a touch of gray, while sitting at a boardroom-size table in his grand private office within the faux Tuscan splendor of the Bellagio Resort. From here he runs the 20 properties MGM Mirage owns or has investments in.
Bringing in six celebrity architects to design CityCenter was Murren's brainchild. Their sleek, glistening buildings are supposed to lure the free-spending visitors necessary to reduce MGM Mirage's $13 billion in long-term debt.
I asked Murren, who once considered a career in architecture, how big-name architects figured into a city defined by fantasy and spectacle.
"In 2004, we were looking at how to develop the 67 prime acres we had between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts. We were seeing designs for one theme hotel after another. It was a big yawn."
Murren said that while attending Trinity College in the "troubled, decaying" city of Hartford, Connecticut, he interned at agencies that helped house people. He also swooned over Rome during a college-sponsored sojourn.
'Magical Time'
"That was a magical time," he said, and one when the profession of architecture tempted him. "I wanted to examine the livability of cities."For CityCenter, he said he also drew inspiration from the design competitions for the World Trade Center. Daniel Libeskind, whose masterplan became the basis for Ground Zero's redevelopment, agreed to design Crystals, CityCenter's shopping mall. Two other Ground Zero competitors, Rafael Vinoly and Norman Foster, designed hotels at CityCenter.
The area devastated on 9/11 was well-known to Murren, whose career path actually took him to Wall Street. He rose to director of research and managing director at Deutsche Bank before joining MGM Mirage as chief financial officer in 1998. His wife, Heather, was the managing director for global securities research and economics at Merrill Lynch & Co.
"I knew that world-class architects could make an experience that was meaningful and immersing," Murren said. He wanted a high-density plan, with a mix of residences and hotels.
Radical Notion
He was determined that the development would be less like a hermetic blob on a highway strip and more public. He advanced the radical notion—at least in Las Vegas—that people might enjoy walking. He added $40 million in art."I overlaid a significant public-art program to appeal both to tourists and people who live here," Murren said. He demanded green design and management techniques, though they get a distinctive spin in a city devoted to heedless spending.
Slot machines are energy efficient, acres of glass are protected by shading horizontal fins, and the limo fleet runs on natural gas.
After Frank Gehry turned him down, Murren rounded out his design team with Manhattan's Kohn Pedersen Fox, Chicago's Murphy/Jahn, the New Haven firm of Pelli Clarke Pelli, and Gensler, a large international architecture and consulting firm hired to deal with the egos involved.
"They all took us to places we couldn't imagine," he said.
'Rugged Year'
How does he make CityCenter work in this economy? "It's been a really rugged year, but 35 million tourists will still come. CityCenter will act as a catalyst. Visitation has grown 10 to 20 percent after a significant project opens up.""International tourists are coming because America is on sale. We have a larger share of the Asian market in our portfolio."
Asked about prospects for Las Vegas, Murren says "there's unlikely to be any major new development in the next five years. Everyone needs to lick their wounds, heal, and reduce leverage."
He remains bullish on the city: "You can get things done here at a speed that other places can't imagine. Eight years after 9/11, New York hasn't got the 11 million square feet of Ground Zero rebuilding done. Here we proposed 18 million square feet in 2004 and we opened it in 2009."
(James S. Russell is Bloomberg's U.S. architecture critic. The opinions expressed are his own.)
To contact the writer of this column: James S. Russell in New York at jamesrussell@earthlink.net.
How to invest in the most dangerous places
By Jeff Reeves
source: market watch
ROCKVILLE, Md. (MarketWatch) — It’s hard to be an international investor these days.
Amid social upheaval in the Middle East and nuclear fallout in Japan and a U.N.-backed offensive in Libya, there is a lot of bad news out there. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget that the housing market is still dead in most of the U.S. and unemployment is still at the highest level in about 30 years.
The famous quote that “the time to buy is when there’s blood in the streets” is much easier said than done. For starters, most folks have a conscience and are reluctant to profit off someone else’s misery. If your investment philosophy is to cheerlead for world crisis and then become a profiteer, you have much bigger problems than your brokerage account. And for those of us simply looking for a silver lining to the current storm clouds hanging over the market these days, it is very hard to decide what is a calculated risk and what is a flat out gamble.
But allow me to offer some suggestions. After all, the market’s broad rally since September appears to be flagging and longer-term investors looking to safeguard their retirements may find the time is ripe to shake up their portfolios. And frankly, these dangerous places — including, Japan, Libya, and the Middle East — may be as good a place as any in the current environment.
Top Middle East investment: energy sector ETF
After 33 years in power, Yemen’s president hangs on to his position by a thread. Bahrain is calling in troops from neighbors to fend of a rebellion of its own. Egypt remains in turmoil after widespread protests that began weeks ago. It is almost impossible to stay on top of the protests sweeping through a wide array of Middle East nations, and even harder to predict where they may spring up next.
The one thing that is a constant, however, is the upward pressure Middle East unrest is putting on oil prices. That means investors looking to hedge against crude oil inflation or share in the profits for the energy sector should focus on the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF /quotes/comstock/13*!xle/quotes/nls/xle (XLE 78.67, -0.02, -0.02%) , or its top holdings such as Exxon Mobil Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!xom/quotes/nls/xom (XOM 83.62, +0.89, +1.08%) or Chevron Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!cvx/quotes/nls/cvx (CVX 106.78, +1.40, +1.33%)
Some investors have been enamored with investments like the United States Oil Fund ETF /quotes/comstock/13*!uso/quotes/nls/uso (USO 42.21, +0.03, +0.07%) that is a commodity pool, or the iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil ETF /quotes/comstock/13*!oil/quotes/nls/oil (OIL 27.91, +0.10, +0.36%) that is pegged to West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures. But don’t be fooled — whatever the marketing ploys, these investments do not track the ascent of oil faithfully. The OIL fund is up 12% since Dec. 1 and USO is up 13%. But light crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange is up 18% in that same period, from $88 to about $104 a barrel. The ETFs just didn’t keep up.
The energy SPDR, on the other hand, is up 20%. And while those other funds have gross expenses near 0.8%, the XLE fund costs just 0.25. Oh yeah, and the Energy Select Sector ETF also pays a small 1.3% dividend to boot. Read about the top 10 dividend stocks in the Dow on InvestorPlace.com.
Top Japan investment: Hitachi
You may be hearing a lot of bad things lately about Hitachi Ltd. /quotes/comstock/13*!hit/quotes/nls/hit (HIT 50.96, -2.25, -4.23%) Hitachi’s joint venture with General Electric Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!ge/quotes/nls/ge (GE 19.74, -0.01, -0.05%) produced the reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant that is the epicenter of the current crisis in that nation.
But Hitachi is much more than a company that dabbles in nuclear power. It makes ATMs, works on IT infrastructure and produces construction equipment, among many other things. This diversification helps keep Hitachi stable, and allow it to tap into various revenue streams when opportunity arises.
Before the Japan crisis, it seemed Hitachi was certainly finding plenty of opportunities. HIT stock skyrocketed almost 50% in five months to a new 52-week high on March 7 — before plummeting in the aftermath of the earthquake with all other Japanese equities.
After posting full-year losses for years, Hitachi is on track to not just turn a profit in 2011 but to turn a profit every single quarter with earnings forecast to be $6.11 a share. That’s a dramatic turnaround from a loss of $3.15 a share last year and a gut-wrenching $23.85 loss in 2009. Sales are forecast to grow 18% this year, marking the first positive move in revenue since 2008.
If you want to share in Japan’s recovery over the long-term, share in HIT stock. While there are certainly challenges ahead for this industrial giant and Japan as a whole, there are many reasons to be optimistic 2011 will be a turnaround year for Hitachi. Read about three pros and three cons for GE in the wake of Japan crisis on InvestorPlace.com.
Top Libya investment: Raytheon
As Libyan despot Moammar Gadhafi continues to attack his people and a coalition of nations attempt to enforce a no-fly zone, there have been several high-profile launches of Tomahawk missiles. Though not initially developed by the company, defense and aerospace giant Raytheon Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!rtn/quotes/nls/rtn (RTN 50.80, -0.48, -0.94%) is now the manufacturer of the programmable missiles.
These important tools not only allow for precise targeting of locations to avoid civilian casualties, they also are effective ways to keep our brave soldiers out of harm’s way in dangerous places. President Obama has insisted no U.S. ground forces will be invading Libya, meaning that as long as conflict persists there that Tomahawks will take on a lead role.
Of course, Raytheon is far more than a missile maker — and has broad appeal for investors. It boasts a 2.9% yield and has paid dividends since 1964. Raytheon has seen revenue grow in each of the past four years despite the recession, and is estimating a 4% growth in sales in 2011 despite talk of federal budget cuts. Its forward PE is 9.0, lower than competitors Boeing Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!ba/quotes/nls/ba (BA 73.34, +0.58, +0.80%) , General Dynamics Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!gd/quotes/nls/gd (GD 76.51, -0.34, -0.44%) and Lockheed Martin Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!lmt/quotes/nls/lmt (LMT 80.37, -0.43, -0.53%) The kicker is that Raytheon stock is up about 9% so far in 2011, nearly three times the broader market.
We all hope for a quick end to action in Libya and peace for its people. Hopefully Raytheon and its guided missiles will help bring that about sooner rather than later. And after the conflict ends, Raytheon’s strong upward momentum should continue to pay off for investors. Read about five defensive ETFs to buy now on InvestorPlace.com.
Reeves does not own any of the stocks or funds mentioned in this column.
source: market watch
ROCKVILLE, Md. (MarketWatch) — It’s hard to be an international investor these days.
Amid social upheaval in the Middle East and nuclear fallout in Japan and a U.N.-backed offensive in Libya, there is a lot of bad news out there. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget that the housing market is still dead in most of the U.S. and unemployment is still at the highest level in about 30 years.
The famous quote that “the time to buy is when there’s blood in the streets” is much easier said than done. For starters, most folks have a conscience and are reluctant to profit off someone else’s misery. If your investment philosophy is to cheerlead for world crisis and then become a profiteer, you have much bigger problems than your brokerage account. And for those of us simply looking for a silver lining to the current storm clouds hanging over the market these days, it is very hard to decide what is a calculated risk and what is a flat out gamble.
But allow me to offer some suggestions. After all, the market’s broad rally since September appears to be flagging and longer-term investors looking to safeguard their retirements may find the time is ripe to shake up their portfolios. And frankly, these dangerous places — including, Japan, Libya, and the Middle East — may be as good a place as any in the current environment.
Top Middle East investment: energy sector ETF
After 33 years in power, Yemen’s president hangs on to his position by a thread. Bahrain is calling in troops from neighbors to fend of a rebellion of its own. Egypt remains in turmoil after widespread protests that began weeks ago. It is almost impossible to stay on top of the protests sweeping through a wide array of Middle East nations, and even harder to predict where they may spring up next.
The one thing that is a constant, however, is the upward pressure Middle East unrest is putting on oil prices. That means investors looking to hedge against crude oil inflation or share in the profits for the energy sector should focus on the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF /quotes/comstock/13*!xle/quotes/nls/xle (XLE 78.67, -0.02, -0.02%) , or its top holdings such as Exxon Mobil Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!xom/quotes/nls/xom (XOM 83.62, +0.89, +1.08%) or Chevron Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!cvx/quotes/nls/cvx (CVX 106.78, +1.40, +1.33%)
Some investors have been enamored with investments like the United States Oil Fund ETF /quotes/comstock/13*!uso/quotes/nls/uso (USO 42.21, +0.03, +0.07%) that is a commodity pool, or the iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil ETF /quotes/comstock/13*!oil/quotes/nls/oil (OIL 27.91, +0.10, +0.36%) that is pegged to West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures. But don’t be fooled — whatever the marketing ploys, these investments do not track the ascent of oil faithfully. The OIL fund is up 12% since Dec. 1 and USO is up 13%. But light crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange is up 18% in that same period, from $88 to about $104 a barrel. The ETFs just didn’t keep up.
The energy SPDR, on the other hand, is up 20%. And while those other funds have gross expenses near 0.8%, the XLE fund costs just 0.25. Oh yeah, and the Energy Select Sector ETF also pays a small 1.3% dividend to boot. Read about the top 10 dividend stocks in the Dow on InvestorPlace.com.
Top Japan investment: Hitachi
You may be hearing a lot of bad things lately about Hitachi Ltd. /quotes/comstock/13*!hit/quotes/nls/hit (HIT 50.96, -2.25, -4.23%) Hitachi’s joint venture with General Electric Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!ge/quotes/nls/ge (GE 19.74, -0.01, -0.05%) produced the reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant that is the epicenter of the current crisis in that nation.
But Hitachi is much more than a company that dabbles in nuclear power. It makes ATMs, works on IT infrastructure and produces construction equipment, among many other things. This diversification helps keep Hitachi stable, and allow it to tap into various revenue streams when opportunity arises.
Before the Japan crisis, it seemed Hitachi was certainly finding plenty of opportunities. HIT stock skyrocketed almost 50% in five months to a new 52-week high on March 7 — before plummeting in the aftermath of the earthquake with all other Japanese equities.
After posting full-year losses for years, Hitachi is on track to not just turn a profit in 2011 but to turn a profit every single quarter with earnings forecast to be $6.11 a share. That’s a dramatic turnaround from a loss of $3.15 a share last year and a gut-wrenching $23.85 loss in 2009. Sales are forecast to grow 18% this year, marking the first positive move in revenue since 2008.
If you want to share in Japan’s recovery over the long-term, share in HIT stock. While there are certainly challenges ahead for this industrial giant and Japan as a whole, there are many reasons to be optimistic 2011 will be a turnaround year for Hitachi. Read about three pros and three cons for GE in the wake of Japan crisis on InvestorPlace.com.
Top Libya investment: Raytheon
As Libyan despot Moammar Gadhafi continues to attack his people and a coalition of nations attempt to enforce a no-fly zone, there have been several high-profile launches of Tomahawk missiles. Though not initially developed by the company, defense and aerospace giant Raytheon Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!rtn/quotes/nls/rtn (RTN 50.80, -0.48, -0.94%) is now the manufacturer of the programmable missiles.
These important tools not only allow for precise targeting of locations to avoid civilian casualties, they also are effective ways to keep our brave soldiers out of harm’s way in dangerous places. President Obama has insisted no U.S. ground forces will be invading Libya, meaning that as long as conflict persists there that Tomahawks will take on a lead role.
Of course, Raytheon is far more than a missile maker — and has broad appeal for investors. It boasts a 2.9% yield and has paid dividends since 1964. Raytheon has seen revenue grow in each of the past four years despite the recession, and is estimating a 4% growth in sales in 2011 despite talk of federal budget cuts. Its forward PE is 9.0, lower than competitors Boeing Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!ba/quotes/nls/ba (BA 73.34, +0.58, +0.80%) , General Dynamics Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!gd/quotes/nls/gd (GD 76.51, -0.34, -0.44%) and Lockheed Martin Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!lmt/quotes/nls/lmt (LMT 80.37, -0.43, -0.53%) The kicker is that Raytheon stock is up about 9% so far in 2011, nearly three times the broader market.
We all hope for a quick end to action in Libya and peace for its people. Hopefully Raytheon and its guided missiles will help bring that about sooner rather than later. And after the conflict ends, Raytheon’s strong upward momentum should continue to pay off for investors. Read about five defensive ETFs to buy now on InvestorPlace.com.
Reeves does not own any of the stocks or funds mentioned in this column.
MBA program listed as one of nation's top 16 for "green" industries
By Kristen Durbin
Source: The Observer
Notre Dame prides itself on its top-ranked undergraduate programs in the Mendoza College of Business, but the University has more than just its programs to be proud of —the sustainable reputation of the College's MBA program has also grabbed nation-wide attention.
In its April article "A Sustainable Degree," Entrepreneur magazine listed Notre Dame among 16 of the nation's top business schools for MBA students seeking careers in "green" industries.
The magazine selected MBA programs based on a survey of administrators and students at 325 graduate schools of business during the 2009-10 school year, Director of MBA Admissions Brian Lohr said.
"Even though this is a listing, not a ranking, of graduate business schools, our selection means that we are one of the best programs in the country for students seeking careers in sustainable industries," Lohr said.
The selection process took several factors into account, including the availability of courses on sustainability and career center guidance for students interested in "green" jobs. Notre Dame's varied course offerings and career planning resources qualified the MBA program to be considered for Entrepreneur's listing, Lohr said.
"We offer courses like Ethics in Finance and Banking, Sustainability in Business, and Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability, all of which relate directly to sustainable business and industry," Lohr said. "The Career Center also provides students with access to opportunities in ‘green' industries and to Notre Dame alumni who work in those fields."
General Electric Co., a major "green" industry leader, is the No. 1 recruiter of Notre Dame MBA students. Their current work in developing sustainable energy technologies ties in with the MBA program's recently recognized "green" reputation, Lohr said.
Lohr said GE chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt spoke to Notre Dame MBA students at the GE Live Forum in October 2009 about the company's strong relationship with the University.
"He said the company is attracted to Notre Dame students because they bring an excellent skill set and ethical business decision making to the table," Lohr said. "They are able to consider how business decisions impact not only the bottom line but also the local community and ecology."
Companies value the strong ethical mindset of Notre Dame students, especially in relation to issues of sustainability, Lohr said.
"What company wouldn't want to be part of a relationship with Notre Dame?" Lohr said. "The ethos of this place is one that people want to be around because we do things the right way, and we're ethical in practices of business."
This week, Notre Dame contributed to the discourse on sustainable business by hosting a conference titled, "The U.N. Millennium Development Goals: The Global Compact and the Common Good." Aspects of the conference focused on sustainability and global citizenship on the part of multinational businesses and investment, topics that reflect the growing interest in sustainable business, Lohr said.
"This generation is really in tune with sustainable, ‘green' practices within organizations and how they can impact the world," Lohr said. "If we can show we're a leader in that area, that will impact our applicant pool in a positive way."
The availability of sustainable research opportunities also factored into Entrepreneur's selection of "green" MBA programs, Lohr said. MBA students at Notre Dame have the opportunity to participate in research through elective courses, and several professors are conducting research related to sustainable business.
Assistant professor of Management Corey Angst is currently studying the functionality of paperless classrooms through the use of e-readers, Lohr said. Associate professor of Management Matt Bloom and visiting assistant professor of Management Ante Glavas studied the effects of working for "green" companies on employee motivation and job satisfaction.
Director of MBA Program Initiatives Bill Brennan said the program distinguishes itself from other MBA programs by offering interterm intensive courses to students prior to midterm break each semester.
These four-day, two-credit experiential learning courses offer students the opportunity to solve real problems for major corporations in small groups, learn cutting-edge, critical skills and apply their time and talents to resolve social issues in cooperation with nonprofit foundations, Brennan said.
"Every year, I poll the new class of MBA students about the interterm intensives, and roughly 70 percent of them chose Notre Dame partly because of that aspect of the program," Brennan said. "Few schools do anything like this, and it's an innovative part of our curriculum."
Brennan said the interterm platform ties directly into developments in sustainable business, especially when students work with companies like GE, IBM, Boeing and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters to solve real-life problems related to sustainability and corporate citizenship.
"It's a win-win situation because companies get a fresh perspective while students get great experiential learning opportunities," Brennan said. "The people we partner with value the experience, and we work with them to develop new business strategies, especially in the area of sustainability."
In one of several interterm intensive courses offered in the past, a group of students worked with Dairy Management, Inc. to develop a sustainable process for incorporating waste from dairy farms into sources of energy, Brennan said.
He said he believes Notre Dame's reputation as a "green" business school can only improve the prospects for the future.
"There's no doubt there will be more focus on sustainability and corporate citizenship in society as a whole, and we are very well-positioned as a business school to participate in that area because of things we are already doing," he said. "It fits into the Catholic character and mission of the University, so I can only see that being enhanced and continuing to evolve in the future."
Source: The Observer
Notre Dame prides itself on its top-ranked undergraduate programs in the Mendoza College of Business, but the University has more than just its programs to be proud of —the sustainable reputation of the College's MBA program has also grabbed nation-wide attention.
In its April article "A Sustainable Degree," Entrepreneur magazine listed Notre Dame among 16 of the nation's top business schools for MBA students seeking careers in "green" industries.
The magazine selected MBA programs based on a survey of administrators and students at 325 graduate schools of business during the 2009-10 school year, Director of MBA Admissions Brian Lohr said.
"Even though this is a listing, not a ranking, of graduate business schools, our selection means that we are one of the best programs in the country for students seeking careers in sustainable industries," Lohr said.
The selection process took several factors into account, including the availability of courses on sustainability and career center guidance for students interested in "green" jobs. Notre Dame's varied course offerings and career planning resources qualified the MBA program to be considered for Entrepreneur's listing, Lohr said.
"We offer courses like Ethics in Finance and Banking, Sustainability in Business, and Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability, all of which relate directly to sustainable business and industry," Lohr said. "The Career Center also provides students with access to opportunities in ‘green' industries and to Notre Dame alumni who work in those fields."
General Electric Co., a major "green" industry leader, is the No. 1 recruiter of Notre Dame MBA students. Their current work in developing sustainable energy technologies ties in with the MBA program's recently recognized "green" reputation, Lohr said.
Lohr said GE chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt spoke to Notre Dame MBA students at the GE Live Forum in October 2009 about the company's strong relationship with the University.
"He said the company is attracted to Notre Dame students because they bring an excellent skill set and ethical business decision making to the table," Lohr said. "They are able to consider how business decisions impact not only the bottom line but also the local community and ecology."
Companies value the strong ethical mindset of Notre Dame students, especially in relation to issues of sustainability, Lohr said.
"What company wouldn't want to be part of a relationship with Notre Dame?" Lohr said. "The ethos of this place is one that people want to be around because we do things the right way, and we're ethical in practices of business."
This week, Notre Dame contributed to the discourse on sustainable business by hosting a conference titled, "The U.N. Millennium Development Goals: The Global Compact and the Common Good." Aspects of the conference focused on sustainability and global citizenship on the part of multinational businesses and investment, topics that reflect the growing interest in sustainable business, Lohr said.
"This generation is really in tune with sustainable, ‘green' practices within organizations and how they can impact the world," Lohr said. "If we can show we're a leader in that area, that will impact our applicant pool in a positive way."
The availability of sustainable research opportunities also factored into Entrepreneur's selection of "green" MBA programs, Lohr said. MBA students at Notre Dame have the opportunity to participate in research through elective courses, and several professors are conducting research related to sustainable business.
Assistant professor of Management Corey Angst is currently studying the functionality of paperless classrooms through the use of e-readers, Lohr said. Associate professor of Management Matt Bloom and visiting assistant professor of Management Ante Glavas studied the effects of working for "green" companies on employee motivation and job satisfaction.
Director of MBA Program Initiatives Bill Brennan said the program distinguishes itself from other MBA programs by offering interterm intensive courses to students prior to midterm break each semester.
These four-day, two-credit experiential learning courses offer students the opportunity to solve real problems for major corporations in small groups, learn cutting-edge, critical skills and apply their time and talents to resolve social issues in cooperation with nonprofit foundations, Brennan said.
"Every year, I poll the new class of MBA students about the interterm intensives, and roughly 70 percent of them chose Notre Dame partly because of that aspect of the program," Brennan said. "Few schools do anything like this, and it's an innovative part of our curriculum."
Brennan said the interterm platform ties directly into developments in sustainable business, especially when students work with companies like GE, IBM, Boeing and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters to solve real-life problems related to sustainability and corporate citizenship.
"It's a win-win situation because companies get a fresh perspective while students get great experiential learning opportunities," Brennan said. "The people we partner with value the experience, and we work with them to develop new business strategies, especially in the area of sustainability."
In one of several interterm intensive courses offered in the past, a group of students worked with Dairy Management, Inc. to develop a sustainable process for incorporating waste from dairy farms into sources of energy, Brennan said.
He said he believes Notre Dame's reputation as a "green" business school can only improve the prospects for the future.
"There's no doubt there will be more focus on sustainability and corporate citizenship in society as a whole, and we are very well-positioned as a business school to participate in that area because of things we are already doing," he said. "It fits into the Catholic character and mission of the University, so I can only see that being enhanced and continuing to evolve in the future."
50 years old plus and broke
Retirement savings dissolve during years that should bring workers' peak earnings.
Source: Palm Beach Post
By Jeff Ostrowski Palm Beach Post Staff Write
In normal economic times, Tom Gaskin would be in his peak earning years, socking away money for retirement and paying down his mortgage.
But amid Florida's weakest labor market in decades, the 52-year-old West Palm Beach man has been out of work for more than two years.
After losing his job as a truck driver in late 2008, Gaskin earned a security license and has applied unsuccessfully for countless positions. He exhausted his unemployment benefits and has relied on the generosity of his five adult children.
"All of them kind of kick in to help me out," Gaskin said. "At this age, you want to be in a position where you can help your children."
Things haven't worked out that way for Gaskin or for millions of middle-age Americans who are seeking jobs.
Workers in their 40s and 50s typically count on these years to make good money, pay off debts and fatten up their 401(k) accounts.
But with so few employers hiring, middle-age job seekers have been forced to take on debt and dip into their savings.
Join the conversation: Comment on this story.
Gricel Cruz of West Palm Beach was 59 when she lost her job as a manager at Macy's. Now 61, she has found work, but only after a two-year search depleted her savings.
"I had to use my retirement savings to survive, and I have very little left," Cruz said. "I'm going to have to keep working."
While the job market has been frustrating for workers of all ages, mid-career workers have fewer safety nets. Younger workers can move in with their parents. Older job seekers can tap into their Individual Retirement Accounts and 401(k) plans without tax penalties at age 59ȀA1/2, and they can begin collecting Social Security at 62.
But middle-age workers typically are burdened with more financial obligations and less flexible lifestyles.
"Going back home to crash when you're 25 isn't quite the same as when you're 45 and you've got kids and a dog," said Sean Snaith, an economist at the University of Central Florida.
Another source of frustration for mid-career workers: There's a shortage of high-paying jobs, so laid-off workers in their 40s and 50s are unlikely to land positions that pay as much as they made previously. And there's no shortage of competition for entry-level jobs.
"You might be competing with somebody who's 10 or 20 years younger than you, who might have skills that are more up to date than you in some cases, and who's willing to work for less," Snaith said.
Middle-age workers say employers frequently say they're overqualified for entry-level jobs. One 47-year-old job seeker who asked not to be named said employers seem to ignore the successes on her résumé.
"It's almost like they want somebody in their early 20s who they can slap around," she said.
Even so, middle-age workers are faring better than most, so it's difficult to say they face age discrimination. The unemployment rate for 45- to 54-year-old workers was 7.3 percent in February, well below the national average of 8.9 percent.
By contrast, the jobless rate was 15.4 percent for 20- to 24-year olds and 9.4 percent for 25- to 34-year-olds.
Some mid-career workers are starting over. After John Schneider, 46, lost his television advertising sales job, he enrolled in Palm Beach State College's biotech program. He's still looking for a job that will use his new skills.
"It's been a pretty tough environment," Schneider said. "Biotech can be dicey even in the best of times."
The Greenacres man is surviving on his wife's paycheck, and the couple are expecting twins.
Simon McKay of Boynton Beach completed an MBA in 2009, but except for some consulting work and occasional temporary positions, he has been unemployed. He is eager to launch his career.
"I would like to be in my career, doing my thing," McKay said. "At 44, I'm not young anymore. Time is not on my side."
But McKay takes solace in the fact that the job market is tough for everyone. Florida's unemployment rate was 11.9 percent in January, and employers have proven reluctant to hire until they're certain the economy has recovered.
"None of that's my fault," McKay said. "I know that I've worked very hard."
Workers who pursue new careers in their 40s acknowledge that the change can be disconcerting. After running a business in his native Jamaica, Sean Duhaney, 43, is working on a nursing degree at MedVance Institute in Palm Springs.
"It was hard for me to adjust to being in a classroom with 18-year-olds," said Duhaney, a father of three who lives in Royal Palm Beach.
Getting a late start on a new career gives him less time to earn money and make contacts, but Duhaney looks at the bright side.
"I think that's an advantage," he said. "I'm a little bit older. I know what being on time means. I know what discipline means."
Tom Gaskin, meanwhile, keeps applying for jobs, and he stays busy by volunteering for an AIDS-awareness charity.
"A lot of people are getting pretty desperate, because they don't know what else to do," Gaskin said. "I love to earn my way."
Kidnapped journalists talk about abuse in Libya
4 Times Journalists Held Captive in Libya Faced Days of Brutality
Source: New York Times
This article is by Anthony Shadid, Lynsey Addario, Stephen Farrell and Tyler Hicks.
As the four of us headed toward the eastern gate of Ajdabiya, the front line of a desperate rebel stand against the advancing forces of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, a car pulled up alongside.
“They’re in the city!” the driver shouted at us. “They’re in the city!” Lynsey and Steve had worried that government soldiers might encircle the town, trapping us, but Tyler and Anthony discounted it. We had covered the fall of two other rebel-held towns — Ras Lanuf and Brega — and each time, the government had bombed and shelled the towns for days before making a frontal, methodical assault.
When they did, rebels and journalists fled in a headlong retreat. If Ajdabiya fell, Colonel Qaddafi’s forces would be on the doorstep of Benghazi, the opposition capital, and perched on a highway to the Egyptian border, from where we had entered Libya without visas.
No one really knows the script for days like these, and neither did we.
As we left the town’s last traffic circle, heading for Benghazi, all of us saw the checkpoint in the distance. “I think it’s Qaddafi’s soldiers,” Lynsey said.
Our driver, Tyler and Anthony shook their heads, but within seconds, the reality dawned on us. Unlike the rebels in their mismatched uniforms, track suits and berets, these men were uniformed. Their vehicles were a dark army green, and they lined in the street in military formation.
By chance, we made it through the first line of soldiers, but not the second.
“Keep driving!” Tyler shouted at Mohammed, the driver. “Don’t stop! Don’t stop!”
Mohammed had no choice, and a soldier flung open his door. “Journalists!” he yelled at the other soldiers, their faces contorted in fear and rage. It was too late.
Tyler was in the front, and a soldier pulled him out of the car. Steve was hauled out by his camera bags. Anthony crawled out the same door, and Lynsey followed.
Even before the soldiers had time to speak, rebels attacked the checkpoint with what sounded like rifles and medium machine guns. Bullets flew around us, and the soft dirt popped. Tyler broke free and started running. Anthony fell on a sand berm, then got to his feet and followed Tyler, who, for a moment, considered making a run for it.
Lynsey instinctively clenched her cameras as a soldier pulled at them. She let them go and ran behind us. Soldiers tried to get Steve on the ground next to the car, and he pointed at the gunfire. They made him drop his camera, then he ran, too.
We made it behind a simple one-room house, where a woman clutched her infant child. Both cried uncontrollably and a soldier tried to console them. When we got there, soldiers trained their guns on us, beat us, stripped us of everything in our pockets and forced us on our knees.
Tyler’s hands were bound by a strip of a scarf. A soldier took off Lynsey’s gray Nike shoes, then bound her with the shoelaces. “God, I just don’t want to be raped,” she whispered to Steve.
“You’re the translator!” a slight soldier screamed at Anthony. “You’re the spy!”
A few seconds passed, and another soldier approached, demanding that we lie on our stomachs.
All of us had had close calls over the years. Lynsey was kidnapped in Falluja, Iraq, in 2004; Steve in Afghanistan in 2009. Tyler had more scrapes than he could count, from Chechnya to Sudan, and Anthony was shot in the back in 2002 by a man he believed to be an Israeli soldier. At that moment, though, none of us thought we were going to live. Steve tried to keep eye contact until they pulled the trigger. The rest of us felt the powerlessness of resignation. You feel empty when you know that it’s almost over.
“Shoot them,” a tall soldier said calmly in Arabic.
A colleague next to him shook his head. “You can’t,” he insisted. “They’re Americans.”
They bound our hands and legs instead — with wire, fabric or cable. Lynsey was carried to a Toyota pickup, where she was punched in the face. Steve and Tyler were hit, and Anthony was headbutted.
Even that Tuesday, a pattern had begun to emerge. The beating was always fiercest in the first few minutes, an aggressiveness that Colonel Qaddafi’s bizarre and twisted four decades of rule inculcated in a society that feels disfigured. It didn’t matter that we were bound, or that Lynsey was a woman.
But moments of kindness inevitably emerged, drawing on a culture’s far deeper instinct for hospitality and generosity. A soldier brought Tyler and Anthony, sitting in a pickup, dates and an orange drink. Lynsey had to talk to a soldier’s wife who, in English, called her a donkey and a dog. Then they unbound Lynsey and, sitting in another truck, gave Steve and her something to drink.
From the pickup, Lynsey saw a body outstretched next to our car, one arm outstretched. We still don’t know whether that was Mohammed. We fear it was, though his body has yet to be found.
If he died, we will have to bear the burden for the rest of our lives that an innocent man died because of us, because of wrong choices that we made, for an article that was never worth dying for.
No article is, but we were too blind to admit that.
Captors in the Same Plight
We probably shouldn’t have lived through the night.
Even before the sun set, another gun battle broke out, almost as fierce as the first one. We were trapped in trucks in the open. Tyler stretched the binding of his handcuffs, allowing him to open the door. Anthony yelled for help, trying to open the door with his teeth.
A soldier finally let Tyler crawl around the pickup to let Anthony out. For a moment, our captors were in the same plight as us. As the hours passed, they offered us food, drink and cigarettes.
“These are the morals of Islam,” one said to Anthony. “These are the morals of Qaddafi. We treat prisoners humanely.” For a few hours they did. They offered blankets and mattresses, then put us in a car. As rebels attacked every so often, we all barreled out of the car and dived to the ground, until the firing subsided. They put us back in, and we dived to the ground again. They eventually let us lie behind a pickup.
Lynsey asked for her shoes. She got a bullet-riddled pair of Tyler’s, taken from his bag.
At 2 a.m. on Wednesday we were awakened.
“The rebels are massing,” one officer shouted. That day, and the ones that followed, we never really understood the command structure. No one wore rank; authority seemed to come from the pitch of a barked order.
In hindsight, the rebels and the army, or militia, didn’t seem separated by all that much. They were really gangs of young men with guns, each convinced of the other’s evil.
The rebels’ story was more familiar: They were fighting nearly 42 years of dictatorship, wielded by a man whom the vast majority in opposition-held Libya deemed insane. To the soldiers around us, they were fighting Al Qaeda or homegrown Islamists, and they couldn’t understand why we, as Americans, didn’t understand their battle.
And none of the men around us, all born after Colonel Qaddafi seized power as a young lieutenant in 1969, could imagine Libya without him.
A new group seized us, and they were rougher. They blindfolded us, tied our arms and legs and beat us. They then stuffed us into an armored car, where Lynsey was groped. She never screamed but instead pleaded. A soldier covered her mouth, tracing his hands over her body. “Don’t speak,” he warned. Another soldier tried to shove a bayonet into Steve’s rear, laughing as he did it.
A half-hour later, we arrived on what we thought were the outskirts of the other side of Ajdabiya. A man whom soldiers called the sheik questioned us, then began taunting Tyler.
“You have a beautiful head,” he told Tyler in a mix of English and Arabic. “I’m going to remove it and put it on mine. I’m going to cut it off.” Tyler, feeling queasy, asked to sit down.
We were finally put in a pickup where a soldier taunted Lynsey.
“You might die tonight,” he told her, as he ran his hand over her face. “Maybe, maybe not.”
From the moment of our arrest, the soldiers said we would be delivered to a man they called the doctor. Some referred to him as Dr. Moatasim, one of the more vicious of Colonel Qaddafi’s sons. Each has his own militia, and each seemed to operate on its own, with its own rules.
Like Trophies of War
At 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, we were thrown blindfolded and bound in the back of a pickup truck and driven along the Mediterranean coast toward Colonel Qaddafi’s hometown, Surt, a six-hour drive. Libya was never much of a state. In theory, that was Colonel Qaddafi’s idea. The Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab State of the Masses was supposed to be perpetual revolution.
At its best it was dictatorship, at its worst chaos, and what we saw from one end of the country to the other was the detritus of an experiment whose own people lamented had lasted far too long.
We felt like trophies of war, and at a dozen checkpoints, we could hear militiamen running to the car to administer another beating.
“Dirty dogs,” men shouted out at each stop.
Over the years, all of us had seen men detained, blindfolded and handcuffed at places like Abu Ghraib, or corralled after some operation in Iraq or Afghanistan. Now we were the faceless we had covered perhaps too dispassionately. For the first time, we felt what it was like to be disoriented by a blindfold, to have plastic cuffs dig into your wrists, for hands to go numb.
The act is probably less terrifying than the unknown. You don’t know when it’s going to end or what comes next. By late afternoon, we were taken to a jail in Surt. Our captors led us to a basement cell with a few ratty mattresses, a bottle to urinate in, a jug of water and a bag of dates. As night fell, we wondered whether anyone knew — or could know — where we were.
Graffiti of devout prisoners was etched into the wall, testament to an insurgency that was crushed in eastern Libya in the late 1990s. “God bring us relief,” one line read.
At one point, Anthony was taken out of the cell for questioning. He never saw the captors.
“How could you enter without a visa?” the man asked him. “Don’t you know you could be killed here and no one would ever know?” Anthony nodded. The man went on to denounce the rebels he said they were fighting — Qaeda fanatics, he said, and gangs of armed criminals.
“How could they ever rule Libya?” he asked.
They sent Anthony back to the cell, and we knew that no one had any idea where we were.
Camaraderie and Brutality
The next afternoon, on Thursday, was perhaps the worst beating. As we stood on the tarmac in Surt, waiting for a military plane to Tripoli, Tyler was slapped and punched, and Anthony was hit with the butt of a gun to the head. We were blindfolded and bound another time with plastic handcuffs, and Lynsey was groped again.
As we sat in the plane, we asked a question that came up at every stop: “Is everyone here?” Hearing a familiar voice seemed to encapsulate everything that camaraderie came to mean. As long as were together, we probably stood a chance.
Nothing ever felt more generous to Anthony than a handcuffed Tyler managing to reach into the pocket of Anthony’s jacket, pull out a cigarette and light it before handing it back to him.
The flight lasted 90 minutes and, again, we were dealt a gesture of kindness.
“I’m sorry,” a sympathetic air crew said to each of us.
Our destiny may have been decided at the airfield in Tripoli.
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We were put in a police wagon, reeking of urine, that resembled so many Interior Ministry vehicles in so many Arab capitals. Guards stripped of us our shoes, socks and belts. One then yelled in Anthony’s ear, “Down, down U.S.A.!” He did the same to Steve. “But I’m not American, I’m Irish,” Steve answered.
“Down, down Ireland!” he shouted back.
We were moved to two more vehicles, and an argument raged for a half-hour over us. We suspected the fight was between the vicious Interior Ministry and other branches of the government. That kind of fight is waged by the logic of a dictatorship: the spoils go to whoever can muster a greater threat.
We were moved to another vehicle but not before a soldier, perhaps from the losing side, drove the barrel of his rifle into the back of Tyler’s head.
‘Protection of the State’
Within a half-hour, we were in a military compound, in the hands of military intelligence. We collapsed on the floor, accepting milk and mango juice. We saw our bags unloaded, though we would never get them back.
A gruff man struck a sympathetic tone. You won’t be beaten or bound again, he told us. You will be kept safe and, although you will be blindfolded if you are moved anywhere else in the compound, no one will mistreat you.
From that moment, no one did.
We were taken to a detention center that looked more like a double-wide trailer. On the shelves were a two-volume German-Arabic dictionary and five of Shakespeare’s plays. (Colonel Qaddafi once famously quipped that Shakespeare, or Sheik Zubeir, was actually an Arab migrant.)
The men were given track suits. Lynsey was brought a shirt that read, “Magic Girl,” emblazoned with two teddy bears. Her new underwear read, “Shake it up.”
At the late hours of night, we were blindfolded to receive visitors.
“You are now in the protection of the state,” a Foreign Ministry official told us.
Official after official made excuses for what happened to us. One said we had to understand the difference between militias loyal to Qaddafi and the actual army. Another asked whether Anthony had seen any rebel unarmed — the presence of guns deployed against the state seeming to justify any crackdown. Officials asked Lynsey whether she had been raped.
The more they talked, the clearer it became: This semblance of a state was not a state.
In the four days that followed, we fought boredom more than anything else. Tyler finished “Julius Caesar.” Lynsey started “Othello.” If it went on much longer, Tyler jokingly suggested we perform the plays. As the hours passed, we replayed each moment of the preceding days in detail, trying to piece together what had happened to Mohammed.
We wondered whether we would be delivered into more sinister hands. After the no-fly zone was imposed and we heard volleys of antiaircraft fire, we thought that a desperate government could make us human shields. Weighing over all of us was guilt for what we had put our families and friends through.
In the end, it was the trappings of diplomacy that delayed our departure.
Foreign Ministry officials, clinging to a prestige they may have never had, insisted that our transfer be formal, between two sovereign states. At one point, they insisted an American or British diplomat had to travel to Tripoli in wartime. In the end, Turkish diplomats served as intermediaries and delivered us to the border.
As we left, we saw the billboards of a crumbling government. “Forty-one years of permanent joy,” read one slogan superimposed over a sunburst. But the words that lingered with us as we left were quoted to Steve by an urbane Foreign Ministry official speaking idiomatic British English.
As we sat in an office, he murmured two lines of Yeats.
“Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love.”
Source: New York Times
This article is by Anthony Shadid, Lynsey Addario, Stephen Farrell and Tyler Hicks.
As the four of us headed toward the eastern gate of Ajdabiya, the front line of a desperate rebel stand against the advancing forces of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, a car pulled up alongside.
“They’re in the city!” the driver shouted at us. “They’re in the city!” Lynsey and Steve had worried that government soldiers might encircle the town, trapping us, but Tyler and Anthony discounted it. We had covered the fall of two other rebel-held towns — Ras Lanuf and Brega — and each time, the government had bombed and shelled the towns for days before making a frontal, methodical assault.When they did, rebels and journalists fled in a headlong retreat. If Ajdabiya fell, Colonel Qaddafi’s forces would be on the doorstep of Benghazi, the opposition capital, and perched on a highway to the Egyptian border, from where we had entered Libya without visas.
No one really knows the script for days like these, and neither did we.
As we left the town’s last traffic circle, heading for Benghazi, all of us saw the checkpoint in the distance. “I think it’s Qaddafi’s soldiers,” Lynsey said.
Our driver, Tyler and Anthony shook their heads, but within seconds, the reality dawned on us. Unlike the rebels in their mismatched uniforms, track suits and berets, these men were uniformed. Their vehicles were a dark army green, and they lined in the street in military formation.
By chance, we made it through the first line of soldiers, but not the second.
“Keep driving!” Tyler shouted at Mohammed, the driver. “Don’t stop! Don’t stop!”
Mohammed had no choice, and a soldier flung open his door. “Journalists!” he yelled at the other soldiers, their faces contorted in fear and rage. It was too late.
Tyler was in the front, and a soldier pulled him out of the car. Steve was hauled out by his camera bags. Anthony crawled out the same door, and Lynsey followed.
Even before the soldiers had time to speak, rebels attacked the checkpoint with what sounded like rifles and medium machine guns. Bullets flew around us, and the soft dirt popped. Tyler broke free and started running. Anthony fell on a sand berm, then got to his feet and followed Tyler, who, for a moment, considered making a run for it.
Lynsey instinctively clenched her cameras as a soldier pulled at them. She let them go and ran behind us. Soldiers tried to get Steve on the ground next to the car, and he pointed at the gunfire. They made him drop his camera, then he ran, too.We made it behind a simple one-room house, where a woman clutched her infant child. Both cried uncontrollably and a soldier tried to console them. When we got there, soldiers trained their guns on us, beat us, stripped us of everything in our pockets and forced us on our knees.
Tyler’s hands were bound by a strip of a scarf. A soldier took off Lynsey’s gray Nike shoes, then bound her with the shoelaces. “God, I just don’t want to be raped,” she whispered to Steve.
“You’re the translator!” a slight soldier screamed at Anthony. “You’re the spy!”
A few seconds passed, and another soldier approached, demanding that we lie on our stomachs.
All of us had had close calls over the years. Lynsey was kidnapped in Falluja, Iraq, in 2004; Steve in Afghanistan in 2009. Tyler had more scrapes than he could count, from Chechnya to Sudan, and Anthony was shot in the back in 2002 by a man he believed to be an Israeli soldier. At that moment, though, none of us thought we were going to live. Steve tried to keep eye contact until they pulled the trigger. The rest of us felt the powerlessness of resignation. You feel empty when you know that it’s almost over.
“Shoot them,” a tall soldier said calmly in Arabic.
A colleague next to him shook his head. “You can’t,” he insisted. “They’re Americans.”
They bound our hands and legs instead — with wire, fabric or cable. Lynsey was carried to a Toyota pickup, where she was punched in the face. Steve and Tyler were hit, and Anthony was headbutted.
Even that Tuesday, a pattern had begun to emerge. The beating was always fiercest in the first few minutes, an aggressiveness that Colonel Qaddafi’s bizarre and twisted four decades of rule inculcated in a society that feels disfigured. It didn’t matter that we were bound, or that Lynsey was a woman.
But moments of kindness inevitably emerged, drawing on a culture’s far deeper instinct for hospitality and generosity. A soldier brought Tyler and Anthony, sitting in a pickup, dates and an orange drink. Lynsey had to talk to a soldier’s wife who, in English, called her a donkey and a dog. Then they unbound Lynsey and, sitting in another truck, gave Steve and her something to drink.
From the pickup, Lynsey saw a body outstretched next to our car, one arm outstretched. We still don’t know whether that was Mohammed. We fear it was, though his body has yet to be found.
If he died, we will have to bear the burden for the rest of our lives that an innocent man died because of us, because of wrong choices that we made, for an article that was never worth dying for.
No article is, but we were too blind to admit that.
Captors in the Same Plight
We probably shouldn’t have lived through the night.
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A soldier finally let Tyler crawl around the pickup to let Anthony out. For a moment, our captors were in the same plight as us. As the hours passed, they offered us food, drink and cigarettes.
“These are the morals of Islam,” one said to Anthony. “These are the morals of Qaddafi. We treat prisoners humanely.” For a few hours they did. They offered blankets and mattresses, then put us in a car. As rebels attacked every so often, we all barreled out of the car and dived to the ground, until the firing subsided. They put us back in, and we dived to the ground again. They eventually let us lie behind a pickup.
Lynsey asked for her shoes. She got a bullet-riddled pair of Tyler’s, taken from his bag.
At 2 a.m. on Wednesday we were awakened.
“The rebels are massing,” one officer shouted. That day, and the ones that followed, we never really understood the command structure. No one wore rank; authority seemed to come from the pitch of a barked order.
In hindsight, the rebels and the army, or militia, didn’t seem separated by all that much. They were really gangs of young men with guns, each convinced of the other’s evil.
The rebels’ story was more familiar: They were fighting nearly 42 years of dictatorship, wielded by a man whom the vast majority in opposition-held Libya deemed insane. To the soldiers around us, they were fighting Al Qaeda or homegrown Islamists, and they couldn’t understand why we, as Americans, didn’t understand their battle.
And none of the men around us, all born after Colonel Qaddafi seized power as a young lieutenant in 1969, could imagine Libya without him.
A new group seized us, and they were rougher. They blindfolded us, tied our arms and legs and beat us. They then stuffed us into an armored car, where Lynsey was groped. She never screamed but instead pleaded. A soldier covered her mouth, tracing his hands over her body. “Don’t speak,” he warned. Another soldier tried to shove a bayonet into Steve’s rear, laughing as he did it.
A half-hour later, we arrived on what we thought were the outskirts of the other side of Ajdabiya. A man whom soldiers called the sheik questioned us, then began taunting Tyler.
“You have a beautiful head,” he told Tyler in a mix of English and Arabic. “I’m going to remove it and put it on mine. I’m going to cut it off.” Tyler, feeling queasy, asked to sit down.
We were finally put in a pickup where a soldier taunted Lynsey.
“You might die tonight,” he told her, as he ran his hand over her face. “Maybe, maybe not.”
From the moment of our arrest, the soldiers said we would be delivered to a man they called the doctor. Some referred to him as Dr. Moatasim, one of the more vicious of Colonel Qaddafi’s sons. Each has his own militia, and each seemed to operate on its own, with its own rules.
Like Trophies of War
At 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, we were thrown blindfolded and bound in the back of a pickup truck and driven along the Mediterranean coast toward Colonel Qaddafi’s hometown, Surt, a six-hour drive. Libya was never much of a state. In theory, that was Colonel Qaddafi’s idea. The Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab State of the Masses was supposed to be perpetual revolution. At its best it was dictatorship, at its worst chaos, and what we saw from one end of the country to the other was the detritus of an experiment whose own people lamented had lasted far too long.
We felt like trophies of war, and at a dozen checkpoints, we could hear militiamen running to the car to administer another beating.
“Dirty dogs,” men shouted out at each stop.
Over the years, all of us had seen men detained, blindfolded and handcuffed at places like Abu Ghraib, or corralled after some operation in Iraq or Afghanistan. Now we were the faceless we had covered perhaps too dispassionately. For the first time, we felt what it was like to be disoriented by a blindfold, to have plastic cuffs dig into your wrists, for hands to go numb.
The act is probably less terrifying than the unknown. You don’t know when it’s going to end or what comes next. By late afternoon, we were taken to a jail in Surt. Our captors led us to a basement cell with a few ratty mattresses, a bottle to urinate in, a jug of water and a bag of dates. As night fell, we wondered whether anyone knew — or could know — where we were.
Graffiti of devout prisoners was etched into the wall, testament to an insurgency that was crushed in eastern Libya in the late 1990s. “God bring us relief,” one line read.
At one point, Anthony was taken out of the cell for questioning. He never saw the captors.
“How could you enter without a visa?” the man asked him. “Don’t you know you could be killed here and no one would ever know?” Anthony nodded. The man went on to denounce the rebels he said they were fighting — Qaeda fanatics, he said, and gangs of armed criminals.
“How could they ever rule Libya?” he asked.
They sent Anthony back to the cell, and we knew that no one had any idea where we were.
Camaraderie and Brutality
The next afternoon, on Thursday, was perhaps the worst beating. As we stood on the tarmac in Surt, waiting for a military plane to Tripoli, Tyler was slapped and punched, and Anthony was hit with the butt of a gun to the head. We were blindfolded and bound another time with plastic handcuffs, and Lynsey was groped again.
As we sat in the plane, we asked a question that came up at every stop: “Is everyone here?” Hearing a familiar voice seemed to encapsulate everything that camaraderie came to mean. As long as were together, we probably stood a chance.
Nothing ever felt more generous to Anthony than a handcuffed Tyler managing to reach into the pocket of Anthony’s jacket, pull out a cigarette and light it before handing it back to him.
The flight lasted 90 minutes and, again, we were dealt a gesture of kindness.
“I’m sorry,” a sympathetic air crew said to each of us.
Our destiny may have been decided at the airfield in Tripoli.
We were put in a police wagon, reeking of urine, that resembled so many Interior Ministry vehicles in so many Arab capitals. Guards stripped of us our shoes, socks and belts. One then yelled in Anthony’s ear, “Down, down U.S.A.!” He did the same to Steve. “But I’m not American, I’m Irish,” Steve answered.
“Down, down Ireland!” he shouted back.
We were moved to two more vehicles, and an argument raged for a half-hour over us. We suspected the fight was between the vicious Interior Ministry and other branches of the government. That kind of fight is waged by the logic of a dictatorship: the spoils go to whoever can muster a greater threat.
We were moved to another vehicle but not before a soldier, perhaps from the losing side, drove the barrel of his rifle into the back of Tyler’s head.
‘Protection of the State’
Within a half-hour, we were in a military compound, in the hands of military intelligence. We collapsed on the floor, accepting milk and mango juice. We saw our bags unloaded, though we would never get them back.
A gruff man struck a sympathetic tone. You won’t be beaten or bound again, he told us. You will be kept safe and, although you will be blindfolded if you are moved anywhere else in the compound, no one will mistreat you.
From that moment, no one did.
We were taken to a detention center that looked more like a double-wide trailer. On the shelves were a two-volume German-Arabic dictionary and five of Shakespeare’s plays. (Colonel Qaddafi once famously quipped that Shakespeare, or Sheik Zubeir, was actually an Arab migrant.)
The men were given track suits. Lynsey was brought a shirt that read, “Magic Girl,” emblazoned with two teddy bears. Her new underwear read, “Shake it up.”
At the late hours of night, we were blindfolded to receive visitors.
“You are now in the protection of the state,” a Foreign Ministry official told us.
Official after official made excuses for what happened to us. One said we had to understand the difference between militias loyal to Qaddafi and the actual army. Another asked whether Anthony had seen any rebel unarmed — the presence of guns deployed against the state seeming to justify any crackdown. Officials asked Lynsey whether she had been raped.
The more they talked, the clearer it became: This semblance of a state was not a state.
In the four days that followed, we fought boredom more than anything else. Tyler finished “Julius Caesar.” Lynsey started “Othello.” If it went on much longer, Tyler jokingly suggested we perform the plays. As the hours passed, we replayed each moment of the preceding days in detail, trying to piece together what had happened to Mohammed.
We wondered whether we would be delivered into more sinister hands. After the no-fly zone was imposed and we heard volleys of antiaircraft fire, we thought that a desperate government could make us human shields. Weighing over all of us was guilt for what we had put our families and friends through.
In the end, it was the trappings of diplomacy that delayed our departure.
Foreign Ministry officials, clinging to a prestige they may have never had, insisted that our transfer be formal, between two sovereign states. At one point, they insisted an American or British diplomat had to travel to Tripoli in wartime. In the end, Turkish diplomats served as intermediaries and delivered us to the border.
As we left, we saw the billboards of a crumbling government. “Forty-one years of permanent joy,” read one slogan superimposed over a sunburst. But the words that lingered with us as we left were quoted to Steve by an urbane Foreign Ministry official speaking idiomatic British English.
As we sat in an office, he murmured two lines of Yeats.
“Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love.”
This U.S. city's population dropped by 25% - Why ?
Census: Detroit population falls 25 per cent in past decade, losing more than 237,000 people
By John Flesher, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – Tue, 22 Mar, 2011 6:39 PM EDT
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - Hammered by the auto industry's slump, Detroit saw its population plummet 25 per cent over the past decade, according to census data released Tuesday that reflects the severity of an economic downturn in the only state whose population declined since 2000.
The statistics show that the Motor City's population fell to 713,777 in 2010, compared to 951,270 in 2000. Although a significant drop was expected, state demographer Ken Darga said the number is "considerably lower" than the Census Bureau's estimate last year.
"That's just incredible," added Kurt Metzger, a demographer with a Data Driven Detroit, a non-profit that collects statistics used by area planners. "It's certainly the largest population loss percentage-wise that we've ever had in this city."
Mayor Dave Bing disputed the numbers, claiming his city has at least 750,000 residents, which he called an important threshold for qualifying for some state and federal financial programs. He didn't say how so many people were missed by census workers, but he said he planned to appeal.
Detroit's population peaked at 1.8 million in 1950, when it ranked fifth nationally. Tuesday's numbers reflect the steady decline of the auto industry — the city's economic lifeblood for a century — and an exodus of many residents to the suburbs.
"The census figures clearly show how crucial it is to reinvent Michigan," Gov. Rick Snyder said. "It is time for all of us to realign our expectations so that they reflect today's realities. We cannot cling to the old ways of doing business."
Metzger said the drop-off in Detroit partially reflects the migration of middle-class blacks to suburban counties, a trend begun by whites decades ago. But the numbers also show that many blacks have given up on Michigan altogether: the state's non-Hispanic black population fell by 1.8 per cent.
That marks Michigan's first drop in black residents since statehood, and a historically significant change for a state that was long a magnet for blacks leaving the South to escape discrimination and seek jobs, said William Frey, a Brookings Institution demographer.
More recently, the housing crisis has accelerated foreclosures and driven down prices, which Metzger said has enabled more black families to buy houses in the suburbs.
The statewide population fell 0.6 per cent over the decade, although it did make gains with Hispanics and residents of Asian origin. The non-Hispanic Asian population was 236,490, up 35 per cent over the decade — Michigan's fastest growing racial group. Asians now account for 2.4 per cent of the state's residents.
Michigan's Hispanic population grew by 34.7 per cent, to 436,358 or 4.4 per cent of the overall population. Also up slightly was the Native American population, which rose 1.3 per cent.
By John Flesher, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – Tue, 22 Mar, 2011 6:39 PM EDT
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - Hammered by the auto industry's slump, Detroit saw its population plummet 25 per cent over the past decade, according to census data released Tuesday that reflects the severity of an economic downturn in the only state whose population declined since 2000.The statistics show that the Motor City's population fell to 713,777 in 2010, compared to 951,270 in 2000. Although a significant drop was expected, state demographer Ken Darga said the number is "considerably lower" than the Census Bureau's estimate last year.
"That's just incredible," added Kurt Metzger, a demographer with a Data Driven Detroit, a non-profit that collects statistics used by area planners. "It's certainly the largest population loss percentage-wise that we've ever had in this city."
Mayor Dave Bing disputed the numbers, claiming his city has at least 750,000 residents, which he called an important threshold for qualifying for some state and federal financial programs. He didn't say how so many people were missed by census workers, but he said he planned to appeal.
Detroit's population peaked at 1.8 million in 1950, when it ranked fifth nationally. Tuesday's numbers reflect the steady decline of the auto industry — the city's economic lifeblood for a century — and an exodus of many residents to the suburbs.
"The census figures clearly show how crucial it is to reinvent Michigan," Gov. Rick Snyder said. "It is time for all of us to realign our expectations so that they reflect today's realities. We cannot cling to the old ways of doing business."
Metzger said the drop-off in Detroit partially reflects the migration of middle-class blacks to suburban counties, a trend begun by whites decades ago. But the numbers also show that many blacks have given up on Michigan altogether: the state's non-Hispanic black population fell by 1.8 per cent.
That marks Michigan's first drop in black residents since statehood, and a historically significant change for a state that was long a magnet for blacks leaving the South to escape discrimination and seek jobs, said William Frey, a Brookings Institution demographer.
More recently, the housing crisis has accelerated foreclosures and driven down prices, which Metzger said has enabled more black families to buy houses in the suburbs.
The statewide population fell 0.6 per cent over the decade, although it did make gains with Hispanics and residents of Asian origin. The non-Hispanic Asian population was 236,490, up 35 per cent over the decade — Michigan's fastest growing racial group. Asians now account for 2.4 per cent of the state's residents.Michigan's Hispanic population grew by 34.7 per cent, to 436,358 or 4.4 per cent of the overall population. Also up slightly was the Native American population, which rose 1.3 per cent.
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