In a statement on a website, the Ansar al-Sunna group said "two of our martyr brothers attacked the two dens of Satan in Arbil" on Sunday.

"Our joy on Eid al-Adha was boosted by this attack against the agents of Jews and Christians," the statement said.

At least 105 people were killed in the blasts set off by two men strapped with explosives at the offices of two prominent Kurdish political parties in Arbil, some 330km north of Baghdad.

The Ansar al-Sunna also expressed sympathies with the "brothers" of the group Ansar al-Islam, blamed by the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) for the attacks.

The blasts wrecked the offices of the two parties and killed many of their senior members.

"Our joy on Eid al-Adha was boosted by this attack against the agents of Jews and Christians"

Meanwhile, Iraqi police defused a bomb placed near the car of the pro-US Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi in the northern city of Mosul.

The explosive device was discovered and defused before dawn, a police spokesman said.

Elsewhere, a city council member in the restive Iraqi town of Fallujah and his nephew were wounded by gunmen who sprayed their car with gunfire.

Sheikh Hisham al-Alussi was returning home with his nephew Muhammad Taghlob, when they were attacked. Alussi was seriously wounded.

US occupation forces claimed they had arrested nine men suspected of planning attacks on northern oil facilities and companies.

Officials said three former Iraqi intelligence officers were among those arrested.

Summary: A little known group with alleged links to al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for Sunday's twin explosions in the Kurdish city of Arbil that killed 105 people.


04/05/2015 AT 11:20 AM EDT

spent Easter weekend hanging with a different kind of Peeps.

The reality star, 34, posted a sweet holiday

on Saturday, showing the mom hard at work at a table full of Easter basket goodies on.

"Easter prep!" Kardashian West captioned the photo.

She kept it comfy and casual in a ponytail, black tank top and bare feet while she sat at the table stocked with an impressive spread of plastic eggs, jelly beans, marshmallow Peeps and an assortment of decorating supplies.

But the mom-turned-Easter bunny also took a break from basket building to squeeze in a family dinner with grandma.

Kardashian West posted a selfie with her Grandma MJ on Saturday evening, captioned the shot, "I love my grandma!"

The duo looked ready for spring, with Kardashian West donning a green sleeveless top and her grandmother sporting a yellow blazer and a Chanel silk blouse – and a big smile!

for a pre-Easter family dinner.

A photo posted by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Apr 4, 2015 at 5:21pm PDT

A photo posted by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Apr 4, 2015 at 6:00pm PDT

Absent from the meal photos were the little ones:

, 1 ½, and Kourtney and Scott's 2½-year-old Penelope, 5-year-old Mason and 3-month-old

, who Kourtney just showed off to her

Summary: The star posted an Instagram shot showing off a table full of egg decorating supplies and an assortment of sugary treats


Tom joined Bigballs Films in 2010 from McCann Erickson-owned communications agency Mworks, where as managing director for three years he worked with Bigballs Films to co-produce the BAFTA nominated real-time festival drama Who Killed Summer? for Vodafone. He loved Bigballs Films so much he joined the company. Prior to Mworks, Tom was client services director for two years at marketing services agency Arc Worldwide, heading up the agency's largest account group servicing brands including Fiat, MasterCard, Samsung and Nintendo.

In 1997 he co-founded youth marketing agency Fishtank.

Summary: Tom joined Bigballs Films in 2010 from McCann Erickson-owned communications agency Mworks, where as managing director for three years he worked with Bigballs Films to co-produce the BAFTA nominated real-time festival drama Who Killed Summer? for Vodafone.He loved Bigballs Films so much he joined the company. Prior to Mworks, Tom was client services director for two years at marketing services agency Arc Worldwide, heading up the agency's largest account group servicing brands includingFiat, MasterCard, Samsung and Nintendo


Athleta via The New York Times

Shoppers’ search data help Google spot trends, including jogger pants (above). Google plans to issue fashion trend reports twice each year, based on consumers’ searches.

NEW YORK — Normcore? So last year. String bikinis? Most definitely over.

Even interest in skinny jeans may be waning, if 6 billion fashion-related queries by Google users are any indication of this year’s most popular trends.

Instead, consumers are Googling tulle skirts, midi skirts, palazzo pants, and jogger pants, according to the company, which plans to start issuing fashion trend reports based on user searches twice a year — part of the company’s bid to become a bigger player in e-commerce and fashion.

In its inaugural report, Google distinguishes between “sustained growth” trends, like tulle skirts and jogger pants; flash-in-the-pan obsessions like emoji shirts and kale sweatshirts; and “seasonal growth” trends, or styles that have come back stronger every spring, like white jumpsuits. It makes similar distinctions among sustained declines (peplum dresses), seasonal ones (skinny jeans), and fads that are probably over (scarf vests).

Lisa Green, who heads Google’s fashion and luxury team, said the company had begun working with major retailers, including Calvin Klein, to help them incorporate real-time Google search data into fashion planning and forecasting. “Fast fashion” companies, for example, can take a trend and run with it.

“We’re interested in being powerful digital consultants for our brands, not just somebody they can talk to about what ads they can buy online,” she said.

Google’s foray into fashion is part of a wider scramble to define, inform, and tap how people search online for everything they can buy. Google has long experimented with e-commerce through services like Google Shopping, which lets shoppers compare prices, and the recently introduced Shopping Express, which lets users make grocery purchases and receive them on the same day or the next one. But the company’s e-commerce business trails behind Amazon’s and Alibaba’s, and in fashion, Yoox and Net-a-Porter are about to merge and flex their muscles.

For Google, product search is increasingly important for its mainstay business of selling ads alongside search results.

Google is hardly the first to deploy data to predict what might be a hot trend. IBM analyzes posts on blogs, social media, and news sites. In one early experiment in 2013, IBM declared that “steampunk” — an industrial aesthetic inspired by 19th-century Britain — was set to “bubble up, and take hold, of the retail industry.” That prediction has played out to a certain extent, judging from the popularity of “industrial” or “salvaged” furniture, for example, or body trainers and corsets.

Spotify, the music-streaming service, also offers free analytics to artists to help them gauge the popularity of their music or estimate how much they can earn from new tunes.

“People tend to make trend predictions based on a very limited number of observations, and that’s very hit and miss,” said Trevor Davis, a consumer products expert who led the IBM project. “The ability to detect trends . . . before they really become noticeable, and to follow them, is invaluable.”

For now, Google will share data free to retailers and trend-followers hoping to win partners and clout in the fashion arena.

Summary: Normcore? So last year. String bikinis? Most definitely over. Even interest in skinny jeans may be waning, if 6 billion fashion-related queries by Google users are any indication of this year’s most popular trends. Consumers google tulle skirts, midi skirts, palazzo pants, and jogger pants, according to the company, which plans to issue fashion trend reports based on user searches.


There's something disconcerting about reading Kathleen Kroll's ''American Pie, in Some Sky'' (Op-Ed March 15). Surely, she is not seriously considering the advantages of being a food-stamp recipient.

Surely, she doesn't really want the piece of American pie that is on someone else's table. Surely, she doesn't really want the ''good life'' that is lived by ''the Joneses.''

If she is really sincere in her desires, I am certain there are those who would willingly accommodate her. It is also disconcerting to realize that some of us who are able to work, even 70-odd hours a week, are fortunate enough to have a home with a mortgage and are able to borrow money for college, see those existing on welfare and food stamps as cheating.

Using food stamps for lobsters, roasts and take-out dinners is extremely bad management but it is not cheating. It is unfortunate Kathleen Kroll's article was not printed alongside Steve Lohr's

''How Tax Evasion Has Grown,'' in the Business section of the same issue. We would then have some real perspective on cheating and the American pie. THEODORE W. DONOVAN, Hamden, Conn., March 17, 1981

Summary: To the Editor:    There's something disconcerting about reading Kathleen Kroll's ''American Pie, in Some Sky'' (Op-Ed March 15). Surely, she is not seriously considering the advantages of being a food-stamp recipient.


Let us now consider the ''Jerry Lewis Mysteries,'' as if Jerry Lewis, the performer-director-writer-what-have-you, were not a person but the dimly remembered god of an esoteric cult, a Demeter or a Dionysius whose followers regard him as the relic of the divine Minoan child. One cannot explain him. If one accepts any aspect of him, one must accept all of him. Faith, which was formerly backed by Paramount, is still paramount, though now backed by 20th Century-Fox. The initiation rites are rigorous, involving principally, a carefully acquired ability to cross one's eyes and keep them crossed for as long as 90 minutes, or whatever happens to be the running time of the Jerry Lewis movie being watched in whatever temporary sanctuary it's being projected, say, the Trans-Lux 85th Street Theater.

It was there last weekend, in the the company of a comparatively small number of noisy initiates, old and young, that I watched the legend unravel. The movie is called ''Hardly Working'' (a truly marvelous title going to waste), the first successfully completed and released Jerry Lewis comedy in years and, apparently, one of the hits of the current season. What is one to make of it? Not much, though it has already been a big hit in France, the country that produced Balzac, the guillotine, Gilles de Rais, Voltaire, Racine, Vivienne Romance, Tallyrand, Gauloise cigarettes, undrinkable beer and the great Jacques Tati, whose films have taught Mr. Lewis absolutely nothing.

Some years ago Andrew Sarris, writing in the Village Voice, addressed a word of caution to Mr. Lewis's French admirers, saying, in effect, that because the Lewis films were better seen than heard, the French admirers should guard their faith by remaining forever innocent of the American language. Now, in addition, myopia is required.

The Jerry Lewis phenomenon is not something that's left me unmoved through the years. There are large swatches of ''The Nutty Professor'' (1963), the Jekyll-Hyde comedy he directed, which are hilarious. Another of his directorial efforts, ''The Bellboy'' (1960), is not as funny as it is ambitious, but the ambition is noble: to make a comedy, with the form of something by Tati, in which conventional narrative is replaced by a series of interconnected sight gags that have within them the drive of a narrative.

Still fondly remembered is the last film he made with Dean Martin, ''Hollywood or Bust'' (1956), directed by Frank Tashlin. However, the funniest moment in that film has nothing much to do with Mr. Lewis, being a scene in which a Hollywood director is attempting to get the proper nuances from Anita Ekberg, who is supposed to be an actress playing Empress Marie-Louise, impatiently awaiting Napoleon's return from Elba.

The last decade has been such a rotten one for Mr. Lewis that one doesn't lightly knock whatever success he might stumble upon. There have been that aborted legitimate theater production of ''Hellzapoppin,'' at least one film made abroad that has been tied up in litigation, plus his self-publicized problems with pills. It would be nice to be able to like ''Hardly Working,'' but about the only thing it is funnier than is the sight of the 76-year-old Bob Hope, on his recent Easter television special, going through a series of leering, out-of-date sketches with actresses so young they made him look like a life-size Humbert Humbert doll.

Time has not dealt kindly with Mr. Lewis in several ways. Most obvious, there is the matter of his age. He's in his mid-50's and though he doesn't look old, that is, in any way that suggests decreptitude, he doesn't look young either. He has the appearance of someone who's worked like hell to get into condition to make this movie, the result being a man who looks as if he'd been suspended in space, just far enough outside our world to avoid time's normal toll. If he were seen alone, he wouldn't appear especially old, but in ''Hardly Working'' he continues to play the sort of naive buffoon he played 30 years ago, opposite a leading lady, Deanna Lund, who seems almost young enough to be his granddaughter and who has been directed by him to find him lovable, funny and sexy. If he really were young, this might be acceptable, but because he's attained that state of eerie agelesness, one worries about the woman's sanity instead of responding to the comic method.

This method also has gone through a peculiar metamorphosis with time. It's as if he were much older than he actually is and, like an extremely old man, cannot concentrate very long on any one subject. In ''Hardly Working'' he plays a circus clown who, when the circus suddenly goes bankrupt in mid-season, attempts to earn his living as, among others, (1) a service station attendant, (2) a salesman in a glass store, (3) a salesman in an antique shop, (4) a bartender, (5) a buck-toothed Japanese cook in one of those restaurants where the cooking is part of the show, and finally (6) as a postal worker.

In earlier days he would have developed the individual routines to the extent that each, in some way, would have had a specific relation to whatever job his character was failing at. In ''Hardly Working,'' Mr. Lewis, as director-writer, is hardly working. There are a few feeble verbal jokes and the visual gags are, without exception, concerned with his spilling things (gasoline, milk, water, liquor, bean sprouts) or knocking things over (a lamp post, a person, a cart, two different sorts of mail boxes, a pyramid of cans). Because there is no build-up to any of the routines, there's never any comic payoff.


CAPE TOWN, Aug. 6— Every night evicted blacks, mainly women and children, huddle together on bare, windswept ground where they have been forbidden to erect shelters.

Every afternoon their fate is debated in the white Parliament, 12 miles away, where opposition speakers have been contending that their plight demonstrates the collapse of the Government's racial policies.

Yesterday the Government said again that those policies would not be relaxed to accommodate the homeless blacks, who are regarded as being illegally in a white area although most of them have been living and working here for years.

Pieter G. Koornhof, the Cabinet minister responsible for black affairs, said in an interview published in the Afrikaans newspaper Die Burger that his department would not allow more squatter camps to be established in Cape Town.

Mr. Koornhof, the Minister for Cooperation and Development, said it was painful for the Government and for him to have to act against homeless blacks but illegality could not be condoned.

Last night there were still more than 200 people on the patch of wasteland near Nyanga township, where the authorities have bulldozed away even the scrubby trees and bush to insure that they have no place to take cover.

Mr. Koornhof said the homeless blacks had to leave Cape Town because there was no work for them here. But Nowetsi Lengisi, who gave her age as 59, said she had worked as a domestic servant for the same white family for 19 years until she was jailed three weeks ago for coming illegally to Cape Town. Her employers then told her they were sorry to let her go but they could not afford to pay the heavy fine for employing an illegal migrant. The only severance pay she received, she said, was 30 rands, about $32, for her bail.

Last month a series of police raids evicted at least 1,000 blacks - many of whom are now in jail - from hostels and other dwellings in the black townships of Nyanga and Langa when they could not produce documents to show they were legally in the area.

They then fled to the open field, which became the site of further raids and mass arrests. When they tried to put up makeshift plastic tents to keep off the rain, which falls almost nightly, the police returned to pull them down. Parties Debate Situation

Monday night they were pulled down again, hours after Frederick van Zyl Slabbert, the leader of the opposition Progressive Federal Party had begun the debate on their situation by asking: ''Is there any conceivable interpretation of the Christian faith that will condone acts like that?''

Prime Minister P.W. Botha did not reply directly, but in the course of a two-hour speech he boasted that one of the governing National Party's main achievements was ''the maintenance of family life'' in South Africa. The opposition benches hooted, obviously thinking of the women living in the open because regulations deny them the right to live with husbands who have come here on migrant labor contracts.

''Don't go and select a few thousand who are illegally in the city,'' the Prime Minister responded defensively. ''Is family life only for whites?'' asked Alex Borraine, another opposition spokesman, when the debate continued yesterday. A Methodist minister before he entered politics, Mr. Borraine declared the raids and tearing down of shelters to be '' an offense before God.'' George Morrison, the Deputy Minister for Cooperation and Development, responded by saying that the Bible required the maintenance of law and order. Futile Effort to Expel Blacks

So far, there has been no evidence that any of the blacks who have been jailed, fined and ordered to leave Cape Town have actually done so. Most are from rural areas of Transkei, a black national state or homeland that was proclaimed independent five years ago.

The Deputy Minister virtually acknowledged the futility of the Government's efforts to expell the so-called ''illegal'' blacks. ''We tried to solve the problem in a humane way,'' he told Parliament. ''We started a fund and we got buses and taxis and took them back to the border gates of Transkei. But before those buses were back in Transkei, most of them had returned here.''

Two years ago Mr. Koornhof made what the Government regarded as a major concession when he halted plans to raze a large squatter camp known as Crossroads, where about 20,000 people had established themselves in metal shanties. Model Black Township

Mr. Koornhof then said that a model black township, to be called New Crossroads, would be built for the squatters on the condition that it was understood that the Government could not be expected to relent again for new waves of rural blacks. According to Government figures, about $9.5 million has now been spent on housing in New Crossroads.

The Government's warnings that further concessions could not be expected appeared to have no effect at all on the flow of migrants. The authorities apparently concluded that they would have to act harshly in order to deter rural blacks from Transkei and other homelands from streaming to the area.

This region is the one part of South Africa where blacks are not in the majority. The predominant group numerically is the persons of mixed race who are classified as ''coloreds.'' Under the National Party, Western Cape Province has been officially proclaimed a ''colored labor preference area'' with the result that the system of controls on black movement known as ''influx control'' has been rigidly enforced in order to limit local black populations.

Although the official count on the number of blacks in the Cape Town area is only 90,000, the actual total is widely held to be more than twice that number. Policy Said to Have Collapsed

Colin Eglin of the Progressive Federal Party said in Parliament that the construction industry in Cape Town would cease to function if all the ''illegal'' laborers were forced to leave.

''All this policy is doing,'' he declared, ''is to turn tens of thousands of people into statutory illegals, making them live their lives at the mercy of the police and officials.''

If the Government were to accept Mr. Eglin's assessment that its policy of limiting the flow of rural blacks to the Western Cape had collapsed, it would be seen to be making a major concession on racial policy at a time when it has apparently decided to deemphasize earlier promises of racial liberalization in order to stop a defection of Afrikaner voters to extremist parties that showed up in the April general election.

One of its main conclusions from the election results appears to have been that it had moved too rapidly to relax apartheid. Recently Mr. Koornhof seemed to signal a shift in direction by declaring that the Government would be taking measures to insure that whites were not ''crowded out'' by blacks in public places in white areas.

The Afrikaans press then took the lead in ridiculing the Minister and warning against a revival of racial codes that were supposedly on their way out.


WITH many savings institutions teetering on the brink of insolvency, and the Metropolitan Savings Bank's takeover of the failing Greenwich Savings Bank of New York earlier this week, many consumers have a more than casual interest in learning how the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's protection program works.

It is commonly thought that deposits are insured up to a maximum of $100,000. That statement is true - as far it goes - but canny individuals who structure their deposits carefully could easily increase the maximum coverage to $1 million or more.

''But this involves setting up different legal relationships, and we do stress that people should not do this solely for the purposes of deposit insurance,'' said Roger A. Hood, assistant general counsel of the F.D.I.C., which covers both commercial and savings banks.

Since the $100,000 limit is figured separately on accounts maintained at each insured institution, one way to increase the maximum would be to diversify and put large deposits in different banks.

Within the same bank, all of a customer's different deposit relationships - such as savings accounts, checking accounts and certificates of deposit - are added together and insured in aggregate for up to $100,000.

You can't circumvent the limits by simply changing the names of the accounts, registering one as John Doe, another as J. Doe, and a third as John Q. Doe, Mr. Hood warns. ''You are still just one individual depositor as far as these funds are concerned,'' he said.

However, one bona fide way to achieve this goal is through the use of joint bank accounts. For example, the insurance maximum could rise to $300,000 if a husband had a $100,000 deposit in his name, a wife had a $100,000 deposit in her name, and they also had a joint $100,000 deposit in both names. ''What we're talking about are different ownership relationships,'' Mr. Hood observed.

Another way to increase coverage is through a revocable, or Totten, trust (named for the landmark case that legitimized the technique of using the trust to pass on property to heirs without a will). The trust, which often might read ''John Doe in trust for John Doe Jr.,'' is typically used by parents to transfer funds to their children in the event of the parents' death. It does not require a lawyer to set up, and many banks routinely furnish the necessary legal boilerplate and signature cards.

The advantage is that the trust is separately insured, apart from accounts maintained either individually or jointly by the parents. Furthermore, the coverage rises with each person who is a party to the trust.

Thus, the maximum coverage would be $200,000 for a Totten trust established by a husband and wife on behalf of their child. As far as the F.D.I.C. is concerned, one deposit relationship would be the husband in trust for the child, and a second deposit relationship would be the wife in trust for the child.

''There are two trust interests,'' Mr. Hood said, ''even though they are jammed into one trust.'' If the father and mother were to establish a Totten trust for two children, he added, ''we would have, in effect, four different trusts jammed into one account and they would be insured for a total of $400,000.'' (The four he was referring to would be the father in trust for the two children and the mother in trust for the two children.)

However, one disadvantage is that if one parent were to die, the insurance coverage would be reduced accordingly. The F.D.I.C. reserves the liberal coverage on Totten trusts for instances of close kinship, and limits it to trusts whose beneficiaries are the spouse, child or grandchild of the owner. Mr. Hood said that since the agency had liberalized the rules in this area ''to accommodate family practice, we felt we had the right to put some limits on it.''

Custodial accounts for children, set up under the Uniform Gifts for Minors Act, provide yet another way to increase the insurance limits. Even though deposits may be made by an agent or a custodian of the youngster, the account for insurance purposes is considered that of the child.

Separate coverage for up to $100,000 per depositor is also provided for irrevocable trusts, executors of estates, and business accounts for partnerships and corporations. Individual Retirement Accounts and Keogh plans are also separately insured for up to $100,000, and there is a bill pending in Congress that would raise the maximum to $250,000.

Coverage similar to that provided by the F.D.I.C. is available for deposits in savings and loan associations, which are insured by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation, and credit unions, which are insured by the National Credit Union Administration. Institutions in a few states, such as Massachusetts and Maryland, are covered by state-sponsored insurance funds, which in some instances may provide depositors more generous protection.


Although food is unquestionably the main consideration in evaluating a restaurant, it is hardly the only one. Judging by letters from readers, there are far more complaints about other aspects of dining out. ''The food was fine BUT...'' is the most frequent introductory theme, and the dissatisfactions described are remarkably consistent.

Noise, high prices and lack of cleanliness are the most frequent complaints, along with poor and discourteous service and an overall feeling of unfriendliness - the exact opposite of the sense of welcome and warm hospitality a restaurant staff should impart. Clearly, the attitude of the staff reflects that of the owner, and his opinions and prejudices are automatically adopted by waiters and captains.

The feeling of welcome, or the lack of it, begins as soon as the customer enters the restaurant. Some owners and managers have a way of looking through unknown customers and directing them to tables perfunctorily, all the while keeping an eye out for better known patrons. Other times, the person in charge of the reception desk may be on the telephone or chatting with an associate, while guests wait in confusion to be acknowledged. Early arrivals are often made to wait in uncomfortable lounges until their full party assembles, instead of being graciously shown to a seat and offered a drink.

Seating arrangements also figure high on lists of complaints. In dining-rooms that may be half empty, it seems senseless to be seated smack up against one of the only occupied tables, a tactic restaurateurs employ for the convenience of waiters, but one that seems downright perverse to customers who would like the luxuries of space and privacy.

It is also possible to be shown to a horrible table next to a washroom or a swinging kitchen door, even though a reservation was made well in advance and the dining room has plenty of empty tables. Terrible tables should not exist, especially in the more expensive restaurants, but in any case it would seem reasonable to use such tables only as last, not first, resorts.

Favoritism toward regular customers at the expense of newcomers is also a frequent complaint, and it is slightly more delicate to account for. It is natural and unavoidable for a restaurant owner to feel friendlier toward a customer who spends money on his premises several times a week or month, and to give that person preference in tables and reservations. But aside from that, all customers should be made to feel welcome and there should be no difference in the food served.

This discrepancy is most blatant on weekends, when many restaurants are visited by suburban customers rather than Manhattan regulars. Inefficient service is usually the fault of the management. Waiters often are not properly briefed on the day's menu, either as to the dishes or what goes into them. Slow service often results from poor organization in the kitchen, also the responsibility of the person in charge (if, in fact, there is one), and the grooming and attire of dining-room help should also be controlled by the owner.

Waiters who never know who gets what are also badly trained, as they are if they reach across one diner to serve another or casually throw silver across the table, as many do. If an entire party has not finished a course, it is blatantly rude to remove plates from those who have finished, thereby rushing slower eaters. On occasion, a waiter or busboy has even slipped a utensil out of a diner's hand in an effort to get the table cleared.

Additional manifestations of favoritism include placing an entire tray of after-dinner cookies and bon-bons on a table and letting guests eat at will, as compared with not offering any at other tables, or holding the tray aloft, allowing only a moment for selection.

Restaurants about which there are the greatest number of service and hospitality complaints are the Coach House, La Caravelle, Le Cygne, Le Cirque, Wally's and Wally's East, the Palm, Luchow's, Tavern on the Green, Gallagher's and the Sichuan Pavilion. In some cases, the problems have arisen after a favorable review when the owner overbooks, making guests uncomfortable and putting an impossible strain on the kitchen.

Although parties of only women are now being treated far better in most places, a few recidivist restaurateurs are still refusing tables to such groups or are tucking them in hidden corners. Similarly, would-be diners in wheelchairs or those who are otherwise handicapped often get rude treatment and are shunted out of sight, as though their presence might spoil the fun of other customers -whereas even the most snobbish three star restaurants in France accommodate guests in wheelchairs, and owners seem to go out of their way to make such patrons comfortable. Clean Washrooms, Clean Menus

Other indications of a management's level of concern and respect for customers include the cleanliness and attractiveness of washrooms and the condition of menus. To be handed a grease-stained or torn menu is to be told that the owner is not concerned with the impression he makes.

Getting the check before asking for it, and poor ventilation and lighting also detract from the pleasures of dining out, as does the rapidly increasing custom of having waiters or captains call off a long list of daily specials. Not only is the customer dazzled by the list of seasonings and garnishes described, but there is also the embarrassment of not being told (and not wanting to ask), the price.

Considering how difficult and costly it is for a restaurateur to operate his business, it seems foolhardy to waste all efforts by not improving the readily improvable.

Illustrations: cartoon of diner submitting complaint to waiter


After seven months in the shadow of the rumbling volcano, Poland's experiment in union democracy seemed closer than ever to going the way of Pompeii. Under enormous pressure, the political cracks were widening and the next few days were likely to be crucial. The Communist Party Central Committee scheduled an emergency meeting for today, a general strike was planned for Tuesday, Warsaw Pact military maneuvers inside and adjoining Poland were extended indefinitely and shoppers went on a panic-buying binge. Nationwide food rationing will begin on Wednesday.

''This time we have one leg hanging over the precipice,'' admitted Lech Walesa. Millions of his Solidarity union followers staged a disciplined, four-hour ''warning'' strike Friday, the largest organized protest since Poland became Communist 36 years ago.

Union leaders met with Government officials after the protest Friday for three hours, sat down for another three hours yesterday and then adjourned until tomorrow. No breakthrough was achieved though Solidarity sources said the Government was rewriting a report on the incident that provoked the crisis - the March 19 beating of union activists in Bydgoszcz - to reflect union views.

''It is not an impasse,'' said Solidarity's second-in-command, Andrzej Gwiazda. ''I think that Solidarity is also ready for compromise and is aware of the importance of the situation,'' said Deputy Prime Minister Mieczyslaw Rakowski, the chief Government negotiator.

Leaders on both sides met with Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski. The Vatican published a letter from Pope John Paul II to the Polish primate stressing the ''common opinion of nations who love peace'' that the Poles had an ''undeniable right to resolve their problems by themselves.''

Hopes for compromise were swiftly dimmed, however, by Moscow. The official Tass press agency, in a statement read over Soviet television last night, declared flatly that Solidarity -which has insisted that Government officials implicated in the Bydgoszcz beatings be fired - was making ''unacceptable'' political demands. It repeated accusations that Polish dissidents had taken control of Solidarity and were using the union for political ends.

The categorical statement could be read as a justification for Soviet intervention. It seemed timed to strengthen hard-liners before today's crucial meeting of the Polish party Central Committee. Earlier, Tass condemned Solidarity's ''anti-Socialist, antipeople'' policies, adding that Polish dissidents had created ''chaos and anarchy.'' The East German news agency, more virulently, said Solidarity was printing threats to kill party leaders.

If the general strike takes place, Western diplomats in Warsaw said the Government may declare a state of emergency and use the army to keep services running, risking civil conflict.

President Reagan said the situation was ''very serious, very tense.'' Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. said hard-liners were regaining control, in a ''very dangerous, very bad'' split in the Polish party. If the Russians invade, detente would crumble; so would prospects for further credits, trade and arms control talks, Washington and its European allies warned.

But in Warsaw, union leader Walesa told his followers: ''Nobody will make us work from the barrel of a gun.''


ITS advocacy of supply-side economic theory helped make a hardcover best seller of George Gilder's ''Wealth and Poverty,'' and the book will have a new life as Bantam's lead paperback title for January. Another book on economic theory that is enjoying an unexpected new life is ''Paternalistic Capitalism,'' a critical look at how the economy is shaped by the corporate managerial elite, published by the University of Minnesota Press 10 years ago.

What has set off that renewed interest, it seems safe to say, is not so much the book's anti-supply-side message as its author, Andreas Papandreou, the onetime United States citizen and economics professor, who two months ago was elected Prime Minister of Greece.

When Minnesota published the book in 1972, Mr. Papandreou, having given up his United States citizenship some years earlier, was in exile waiting for the Greek dictatorship to collapse. It finally did in 1974.

Mr. Papandreou's Minnesota connection was professional and personal. After earning both his master's degree in economics and his doctorate from Harvard, he taught at the University of Minnesota, and while there he met and married Margaret Chant, a journalism student from Illinois. Later he taught at the University of California at Berkeley.

Mr. Papandreou wrote many articles and books while in the United States. ''Competition and Its Regulation'' (Prentice-Hall), a 1954 book, which he wrote with John T. Wheeler, a University of Minnesota colleague, was described by a New York Times reviewer as ''pretty rough going'' for the lay reader. When Mr. Papandreou's ''Democracy at Gunpoint'' (Doubleday) was published in 1970, a Times reviewer said that the book showed the author as ''irascible, arrogant and none too scrupulous of the truth.'' ''Paternalistic Capitalism'' is the only book by Mr. Papandreou still in print in the United States.

Forget about ''An Indecent Obsession,'' ''The Hotel New Hampshire,'' ''Noble House'' and other national best sellers. The best-selling novel in New Mexico for months has been ''Corey Lane'' (Ticknor & Fields), a western tale by Norman Zollinger. Indeed, the Little Professor Book Center in Albuquerque has sold about 700 copies.

It is all easier to understand if you know that Mr. Zollinger is a New Mexican and the owner of this particular bookshop. ''It's pretty hard to get out of my store without a copy of my book in your hand,'' he said with a laugh the other day. The book is on the front table and in the window, and one window copy is turned around ''to show that the fellow on the book is the same fellow behind the cash register.''

''Corey Lane'' is a modernized rendering of Shakespeare's ''Coriolanus,'' set not in Rome but in pre-statehood New Mexico. The novel also includes a brief appearance by Lew Wallace, some of whose ''Ben Hur'' was written while he was territorial governor of New Mexico. Mr. Zollinger's knowledge and love of the state is not that of the native but of the convert; he was a Chicago businessman until he moved to Albuquerque in 1971, opened his bookstore and decided to try his hand at writing.

Three years later he completed ''Riders to Cibola,'' a western that was promptly rejected by a dozen New York publishers. But in 1978 the Museum of New Mexico Press decided that it was the ideal book for its first work of fiction (except for collections of folk tales). The book became a local best seller, it sold a respectable 7,000 hardcover copies, and it is soon to go into a third paperback printing. It also won the Western Writers of American Gold Spur Award for the best novel of the year.

Mr. Zollinger usually writes from noon to 5 P.M., and he is now working on an autobiographical novel. ''Writing never gets easy,'' he said. ''I'm 560 pages along, but I was 560 pages along four weeks ago.''

Although one of the least populous states, New Mexico is fertile book territory. It boasts some 36 book publishers. The New Mexico Book League, an informal association of librarians, authors, booksellers and publishers that periodically publishes a newsletter filled with regional book talk, is starting its 10th year. And the state is the home of many nationally known novelists, including Richard Bradford (''Red Sky at Morning''), Frank Waters (''The Man Who Killed the Deer''), Tony Hillerman (''People of Darkness'') and Jack Schaefer (''Shane'').

New Mexico also has a lot of bookstores - 31 in Albuquerque, which has a population of about 350,000, according to Mr. Zollinger. And Santa Fe, the state capital with a population of less than 50,000, has some 30 bookstores. According to the November issue of Western Publisher, a book-trade newspaper published in San Francisco, within a block and a half of Sante Fe's plaza are seven book stores, ''each emphasizing a different subject.''

Mr. Zollinger, while hardly a disinterested party, thinks that is more than enough. In fact, he said, ''I sometimes think there are more people in New Mexico who write books than buy them.''

Henry Ford, the Ford family and the Ford Motor Company have been chronicled in enough books to fill a small library, but only recently was the first biography of the Dodge family published : ''The Dodges: The Auto Family Fortune and Misfortune'' by Jean Maddern Pitrone and Joan Potter Elwart.

John and Horace Dodge, Detroit machinists, went from building bicycles to building the drive train of Henry Ford's new Model A. They used their substantial income from Ford dividends to capitalize their Dodge Brothers Company, building a car so tough that Gen. John J. Pershing used it to pursue Pancho Villa in the deserts of Mexico. The brothers died young during an influenza epidemic after World War I, but their heirs have managed for better and often for worse to keep the Dodge name in the headlines for four generations, and their stories are told in this book published by Icarus Press.

Icarus, in South Bend, Ind., is distributed by Harper & Row and is one of a growing number of small regional presses making their presence felt beyond their regions. Not yet two years old, it published seven books last spring, including ''A Trial of Generals'' by Lawrence Taylor, a book critical of the trials of the Japanese generals Masaharu Homma (in command during the Bataan Death March) and Tomoyuki Yamashita (commander during the ''rape of Manila''). More recently, Icarus published ''Notre Dame Football,'' a lavishly illustrated book, as well as ''The Philadelphia Story'' by Frank Dolson, a sportswriter's account of the recent rise of those perennial doormats, Philadelphia's professional teams.

Illustrations: photo of George Gilder


SIDON, Lebanon, May 9— Israeli fighter-bombers raided a string of Palestinian guerrilla bases in the hills south of Beirut today, and the guerrillas immediately responded by firing artillery salvos into northern Israel.

By evening residents of the border region reported a full-scale artillery battle between the Israelis and Palestinian guerrillas dug into the rocky hillsides around the southern market town of Nabatiye, 10 miles north of the border.

(In Israel, the shelling sent residents of northern settlements running to shelters, but the Israelis reported no casualties. An Israeli military spokesman said the air attacks had been ordered ''after terrorist organizations had, during the past days, repeatedly and severely violated the cease-fire agreement.'' Page A6.)

Late tonight radio reports from southern Lebanon said the artillery exchanges had subsided. The Israeli air strike, with bombs and rockets, killed 6 people and wounded 20, according to casualty reports from Lebanese Government sources.

The air attack, the second in two weeks, and the artillery exchanges appeared to have fractured the last vestiges of the fragile American-mediated cease-fire, which began in southern Lebanon on July 23.

But conversations with officials of the Palestine Liberation Organization seemed to indicate that they did not consider the ceasefire void and that they might be willing to abide by it if hostilities halted. P.L.O. Leadership Meets

Yasir Arafat, the P.L.O. leader, presided over an emergency meeting of his 15-member executive committee soon after the Israeli attack began, and a statement issued afterward seemed to confirm a P.L.O. desire to restore the cease-fire.

''The Israeli attack was a flagrant violation of the cease-fire,'' the statement said, ''and we have taken all necessary measures to deal with the situation.''

Palestinian guerrilla sources said the shelling of northern Israel was started by the Marxist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, one of the most radical factions in the eight-m@ember P.L.O. coalition.

The Democratic Front apparently acted on its own initiative, but Mr. Arafat quickly endorsed the retaliation. Soon all the P.L.O. factions were reported to be firing into Israel from positions around Nabatiye, Jarmaq and Arab Salem.

''We said after the last attack that if they came again we would retaliate,'' Salah Khalaf, the No. 2 man in the P.L.O., said in a telephone interview. ''It was impossible not to retaliate, just impossible.''

The guerrilla leadership had been under mounting pressure from hard-line factions to renounce the cease-fire, arranged by Philip C. Habib, the American envoy, after Israeli planes attacked guerrilla bases on April 21.

Today's Israeli attacks began around 4 P.M., with waves of Israeli fighters, flying in pairs, streaking in on targets in the hilltop villages of Maghdousha, just southeast of the coastal port of Sidon; Sarafand, a little farther south near the Zahrani River, and the villages of Delhamiye and Saadiyat, south of Beirut in the hills above Damur.

Though the Lebanese Government reported casualites from the air strike, there was no immediate word here on casualties in the shelling across the border. At least seven ambulances were seen racing along the coastal highway between Sidon and Beirut, bearing casualties. Large Fire Seen in Hills

A large fire could be seen in the hills above Damur and Sidon, sending out clouds of black smoke at least 90 minutes after the air attack.

Palestinian guerrillas, some of them dressed in civilian clothes, raced along the coastal highway with their truck-mounted Soviet anti-aircraft guns, spitting out fire in vain at the high-flying Israeli planes.

The Christian Phalangist radio in Lebanon said that Syria had sent up MIG fighters midway in the Israeli raid but that they had not engaged the Israeli planes. Two Syrian MIG-23's were shot down by Israeli planes during the April 21 raid. Four Guerrilla Bases Hit

Mahmoud Labadi, a P.L.O. spokesman, confirmed that the Israelis had hit four guerrilla bases, but he gave no details. Soon after the attack, the state-run radio broadcast appeals by the Lebanese Red Cross for blood donations.

As in their earlier attack, the Israeli planes swooped in from the sea while the late afternoon sun was in the eyes of the Palestinian gunners. Before moving on their targets, the jets, which witnesses said appeared to be the delta-winged Kfir fighters, unleashed several red heat balloons to confuse the heat-seeking SAM-7 missiles fired by the guerrillas.

Residents in the Sidon area said that besides the hits on the guerrillas positions, several cars and houses had been set ablaze. In the Delhamiye region, a chain of electricity and telephone poles was felled. Several residents in the Delhamiye area were reportedly injured by Israeli time-delay bombs. P.L.O. Debates on Cease-Fire

The Palestinian shelling began about 50 minutes after the start of the Israeli air attack. It started with a few isolated shells and grew into a fusillade as more and more P.L.O. factions joined in.

A debate has been raging within the P.L.O. for two weeks, ever since the April 21 Israeli strike, over whether to continue honoring the cease-fire.

Mr. Arafat argued that the guerrillas should do everything possible to avoid provoking a major Israeli invasion in the south that might rob the P.L.O. of its last independent base of operations. Hardliners, such as George Habash and Nayef Hawatmeh, argued that the Palestinian ''revolution'' would lose its credibility if the guerrillas did not engage the Israelis in the south at a time when West Bank Palestinians were confronting the Israelis with little more than stones.

Illustrations: map of Lebanon (page A6) photo of women and children running for cover from air attack


New York has a special facility for taking on the coloration of whatever holidays its people are celebrating. Today is St. Patrick's Day, and the spirit will suffuse the city with more than the parade that has become its local cliche.

In quieter precincts, just a few steps away from the Fifth Avenue parade, an exhibition of vintage photographs depicting Dublin between 1880 and 1914 opens today. It is in the Rotunda, on the third floor, at the entrance of the main reference room of the New York Public Library's main building at 42d Street (930-0717).

The hundred views seen here were taken by Robert French for a picture postcard company and are among the trove of 40,000 glassplate negatives found by Kieran Hickey, a film maker, in Dublin's National Library. The exhibition, courtesy of the Irish Foreign Ministry, has been given the name ''Fadographs of a Yestern Scene,'' taking its words from the vocabulary of that famous Dubliner of that period, James Joyce.

Advanced browsers can learn more about Joyce just down the hall, in the Berg Collection of English and American Literature, where the detailed exhibition ''Two Centenarians, Virginia Woolf and James Joyce'' is on display.

The photographs, through June 30, may be seen from 10 A.M. to 9 P.M. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and from 10 to 6 Fridays and Saturdays. There is no charge. AND MORE IRISH

The folks at Folk City, 130 West Third Street (AL 4-8449), will also be Irish-minded tonight. The shows at 8:30 and 10:30 P.M. will be as Hibernian as you can get, or even want. On deck will be Touchstone, an assortment of Irish elan in the form of voike (Gaelic and English) and instrumentation consisting of Triona Ni Dhomhnaill, Claudine Langille, Mark Roberts (on flute, whistles, banjo, percussion) and Zan McLeod (guitar, bouzouki - yes, bouzouki). Also Cobweb, which features Gerry Carthy of Galway and Archie Meaney of Clare.

Seats to the early show are already sold out, though there is still standing room. There are some seats available for the late show. Telephone before coming down. Admission: $6 plus a one-drink minimum. Drinks: $1 and up; light edibles: $2 and up.

In the wake of the Irish tide tonight, tomorrow brings Taj Mahal to Folk City. The singer and composer of blues and Caribbean music does not appear that often in town, and this one-night stand puts him up front at 8 and 11 P.M. Admission: $8.50. IRISH, MORE OR LESS

''Who Threw the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy's Chowder'' and ''Molly Malone'' are not the usual accompaniment to dinner in Nirvana, the Indian-Bangladesh restaurant far above Central Park, on the top floor of 30 Central Park South (752-0270). But they and others of the breed will be served up in honor of the day tonight from 8 to 10 o'clock by Gerald Goodman, a harpist who also sings, and by Sheila Kennedy, a singer.

Mr. Green played these premises for two years about 15 years ago, when they housed the Penthouse Club, and he hasn't been back since. The neighborhood has changed considerably. Nirvana is a comfortably be-rugged establishment, that is, carpeted on floor, walls and wherever, with a distinctly subcontinental profile and a dazzling view of Central Park and mid-Manhattan. Before and after the Irish interlude, the music will be made by the house artist, Shayam Yodh, a neurological surgeon who gave that up to become a sitarist and who has been ensconced here for several years. He plays mostly melodies of North India, and they add to the flavor.

No cover, no minimum and, at this time, no liquor (you can bring your own bottle, if you wish). Main courses, $6.95 to $9.95. ANOTHER BEAT

Reibo Aoki is not Irish, but he is well worth hearing on any day. Mr. Aoki is Japanese and a virtuoso on the shakuhachi, a five-hole vertical bamboo flute that has been making music in the island empire for many centuries. He will perform at 8 P.M. today at the Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue, at 70th Street.

Mr. Aoki has helped revive interest in the sort of music produced by the shakuhachi. On tonight's program, he will play both solo meditative pieces illustrating its importance to Zen thought and ensemble pieces, with koto and shamisen. Before the music, the Urasenke Tea Ceremony Society will be on hand to introduce you to its own exquisite shtik.

Admission: $20. Information: 288-6400, ext. 286.

For Entertainment Events, see page C23. For Sports Today, see page B10. Richard F. Shepard

Illustrations: photo of Reibo Aoki

Summary: HOLIDAY   New York has a special facility for taking on the coloration of whatever holidays its people are celebrating. Today is St. Patrick's Day, and the spirit will suffuse the city with more than the parade that has become its local cliche.   In quieter precincts, just a few steps away from the Fifth Avenue parade, an exhibition of vintage photographs depicting Dublin between 1880 and 1914 opens today. It is in the Rotunda, on the third floor, at the entrance of the main reference room of the New York Public Library's main building at 42d Street (930-0717).   The hundred views seen here were taken by Robert French for a picture postcard company and are among the trove of 40,000 glassplate negatives found by Kieran Hickey, a film maker, in Dublin's National Library. The exhibition, courtesy of the Irish Foreign Ministry, has been given the name ''Fadographs of a Yestern Scene,'' taking its words from the vocabulary of that famous Dubliner of that period, James Joyce.


Matrimony has triumphed in the income tax tables. They no longer contain the ''marriage penalty'' - higher taxes for working married couples than for unmarried people living together.

But cohabitation without benefit of license or clergy won a resounding victory in New York last week. An appeals court blew a kiss to love by ruling that a landlord cannot break a woman's lease merely because a man to whom she is not married lives in the apartment.

The landlord in question, committed either to marriage or raising the rent, told the couple to split up, get married or get out. The court, citing the state's human rights law, ruled that it was illegal to discriminate against a tenant on the grounds of marital status.

Was the court responding to the spirit of St. Valentine, or to Chris Hansen, the Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing the tenant? No matter; its decision was sound.

Summary: Living Together   Matrimony has triumphed in the income tax tables. They no longer contain the ''marriage penalty'' - higher taxes for working married couples than for unmarried people living together.


ALBANY, Jan. 15— Governor Carey announced today that he would not seek re-election to a third term and would devote himself instead to a yearlong battle to make New York ''at once compassionate and competitive.''

Surrounded by his family, his Cabinet and his closest aides, New York's 51st Governor declared himself ''more of a fighter than a politician.'' He explained his decision by recalling his service dur- Transcript of statement, page 28. ing World War II, an experience that Mr. Carey has drawn upon frequently during his 22-year political career.

''As a young officer in the infantry on the battlefields of Europe, responsible for the lives of those who served under me,'' Mr. Carey said, ''I learned the hard and bitter lessons of choosing my battlegrounds - deciding where to fight and for what. In 1982, I have chosen.''

''I have decided,'' the 62-year old Governor continued, ''to devote all of my strength to finishing the work of these past seven years; to achieving a program that sets a certain, s afe course for this state's future; to seeking a victory more end uring and more importantthan any personal triumph at the polls.

''I cannot fulfill this commitment and at the same time immerse myself in the day-to-day details of the campaign trail. I will, then, neither seek nor accept the nomination for Governor.''

Mr. Carey's wife, Evangeline Gouletas-Carey, maintained an impassive smile but appeared close to tears. The Democratic Governor, whose standing in the polls has fallen to a low point, appeared at ease and in good humor throughout the address, but he approached tears at the end of his statement, when his commissioners and staff members gave him a standing ovation.

He described his administration as ''the best group of government people in the United States,'' a remark that did not appear in his prepared text.

Mr. Carey's unexpected decision sets up a potentially fractious and broad battle for the Democratic nomination for Governor. The Governor and his aides tried to play down the importance of Mr. Carey's standing in the polls as a factor in his decision. ''Popularity polls have never stopped me from saying what was on my mind, or from fighting battles I knew had to be fought,'' Mr. Carey said in his address. ''Opponents never intimidated me or made me back away from what I believed in.''

But statements from some Republican politicians here suggested that Mr. Carey's popularity decline would play a major role in their party's strategy.

''I'm sorry I won't have the opportunity to run against the Carey record, which is very different from the o ne he depicted for himself today,'' said Senator Ralph J. Marino, Republican of Muttontown, L.I., who is Nassau County's favorite-son candidate for Governor. ''Anyone runn ing on the Democratic line will be painted in the same corner with t he Carey brush.''

Mr. Carey's decision, which became known on Thursday while his aides huddled into today's early morning hours -first in New York City and then at the Executive Mansion - had several possible Democratic candidates assessing their chances.

Lieut. Gov. Mario M. Cuomo is expected to announce his candidacy by March. Also pondering the contest are the Assembly Speaker, Stanley Fink of Brooklyn; the President of the New York City Council, Carol Bellamy, and the State Attorney General, Robert Abrams.

Others are John S. Dyson of Dutchess County, the chairman of the State Power Authority; Alfred B. DelBello, the Westchester County Executive; Howard J. Samuels, a businessman who once lost the Democratic nomination to Mr. Carey, and the Senate minority leader, Manfred Ohrenstein of Manhattan.

Mr. Carey said in a brief news conference after the announcement that he would not endorse any candidate for his party's nomination. In his formal statement, the Governor said that Democrats should choose ''as open a process as possible'' in seeking a nominee. Carey Phones Cuomo

Mr. Cuomo was absent from the crowd of officials in the Capitol's Red Room, where Mr. Carey made his statement. Mr. Cuomo was the Governor's choice for Lieutenant Governor four years ago and had been a close friend and ally of Mr. Carey.

The two men have feuded publicly in recent months, and Mr. Carey explained that he had ''summoned the Cabinet'' to the Capitol and Mr. Cuomo was ''not a member of the Cabinet.''

But the Governor made a small gesture toward Mr. Cuomo, telephoning him after his news conference. Mr. Carey's announcement will make him the first Governor in more than a quarter of a century to face a Legislature in the knowledge that he would not serve another term. In 1954, Gov. Thomas E. Dewey announced he would not seek re-election, but his plans were not made known until late in the year.

Since then, two Governors - W. Averell Harriman and Malcolm Wilson -have been defeated for re-election, Mr. Wilson by Mr. Carey in 1974. Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller resigned in 1973 toward the end of his fourth term. New Revenue Sought

The Governor's announcement came as he prepared to propose his 1982-83 budget, which the state's Budget Director, C. Mark Lawton, said today would cause ''screams and yells.''


Facing increased competition for attention by an ever-growing number of regional film festivals, the Provincetown International Film Festival has carved out a niche within a niche. Now in its 17th year, the PIFF usually eschews starrier names and splashier films to stay true to its identity as edgy and intimate — much like the town itself.

It is tiny, relaxed Provincetown, with its mix of artists, eccentrics, and big-city refugees, that’s made this festival a magnet for moviemakers and supporters and driven much of its success and popularity over the years. This year’s event runs June 17-21.

“It’s the place, but it’s also the audience that’s unique,” says Christine Walker, who stepped in last year as interim CEO and is now the permanent head of the festival and its parent organization, the Provincetown Film Society. “They are passionate film viewers; many are artists themselves and they are passionate about the town. You have to be if you live here.

“I do lament sometimes that every festival relies on celebrities and stars, but we have been unique in that our Filmmaker on the Edge and our other honorees make sense for our awards,” she says. “We haven’t changed in order to attract a ‘celebrity.’ ”

This year’s Filmmaker on the Edge is Bobcat Goldthwait, who’ll be on hand for the screening of his latest film, “Call Me Lucky” (June 19). It’s a profile of the comedian, political satirist, and activist Barry Crimmins, who will also attend and participate in a post-screening talk. The film traces Crimmins’s career from the comedy clubs of Boston in the 1970s to his outspokenness on issues of war, child pornography, and the Catholic Church. On June 20, during the awards ceremony at town hall, Goldthwait will engage in an onstage conversation with the festival’s resident artist, director John Waters, who was the first Filmmaker on the Edge honoree.

“They are good friends and John Waters is a huge fan of [Goldthwait], so we’re thrilled to be able to highlight him in this way,” says PIFF artistic director Connie White.

Norwell native Jennifer Coolidge will receive this year’s Faith Hubley Career Achievement Award for a body of work that includes the classic Christopher Guest comedies “Best in Show” (screening June 20) and “For Your Consideration.” Coolidge, who’s making her stage debut in “Saving Kitty” at the Central Square Theater beginning July 9, will join critic B. Ruby Rich in conversation at Town Hall also on June 20.

The festival opens June 17 with writer-director Leslye Headland’s comedy “Sleeping With Other People” starring Jason Sudeikis, Alison Brie, Adam Scott, and Amanda Peet. Headland’s debut feature, “Bachelorette,” played the PIFF in 2012.

One of the most anticipated films is Paul Weitz’s “Grandma” (June 19). Since its premiere at Sundance earlier this year, the film has sparked awards buzz for star Lily Tomlin as a feisty feminist poet who travels around Los Angeles over the course of a day as she tries to help her granddaughter obtain $600 to pay for an abortion. Marcia Gay Harden, Judy Greer, and Sam Elliott costar.

Director James Ponsoldt, who seems to be everywhere this festival season, will also make an appearance in Provincetown to screen his latest, “The End of the Tour,” on June 20 and 21. Jason Segel and Jesse Eisenberg star in the story of novelist David Foster Wallace and Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky, who accompanies Wallace on the last five days of his book tour for “Infinite Jest.”

Also attending are directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini with their latest, “Ten Thousand Saints” (June 18 and 19). Set in New York’s East Village in the era of CBGB, yuppies, and the Tompkins Square Park Riot of 1988, it stars Ethan Hawke, Hailee Steinfeld, and Emile Hirsch.

The PIFF has always boasted strong LGBT programming and this year is no exception. Director Jeffrey Schwartz will attend with his documentary “Tab Hunter Confidential” (June 18), about the 1950s screen heartthrob who was closeted throughout his Hollywood career. Gay activist and playwright Larry Kramer and director Jean Carlomusto will be on hand for “Larry Kramer in Love and Anger” (June 18 and 21), which documents Kramer’s long and often controversial tenure as a political activist. Having its world premiere in Provincetown is director Jeff Kaufman’s “The State of Marriage” (June 20), about small-town Vermont lawyers Susan Murray and Beth Robinson who, with Boston-based attorney Mary Bonauto (who just argued the Supreme Court case for marriage equality), won legal and social landmark cases pivotal to the marriage equality movement.

“I Am Michael,” the closing night film, stars James Franco as rabble-rousing gay activist Michael Glatze, former editor of the San Francisco-based gay magazine XY, who famously became a born-again Christian and renounced his homosexuality in 2006. It features Emma Stone and Zachary Quinto. “It’s a strong movie on a difficult topic,” notes White.

White and festival programmers Andrew Peterson and Lisa Viola have again assembled an inviting slate of films with local ties. “Packed in a Trunk” (June 18 and 20) is Michelle Boyaner’s chronicle of Emmy award-winning writer and director Jane Anderson’s quest to uncover information about her great aunt, Provincetown artist Edith Lake Wilkinson. “Clambake” (June 19) recounts how several women innkeepers in Provincetown in 1984 launched what became Women’s Week, now one of the most popular lesbian events in the world. “Outermost Radio” (June 21) is about longtime local radio station WOMR in Provincetown and its deep connections to the community. Among the several shorts programs is “Jay Critchley Shorts: Business as Unusual” (June 21), a 75-minute showcase of films made between 2002-14 by Provincetown conceptual artist Jay Critchley, currently the subject of a 30-year survey exhibition at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum.

Summary: Now in its 17th year, the Provincetown International Film Festival usually eschews starrier names and splashier films to stay true to its identity as edgy and intimate — much like the town itself.


FORTUNE — The most surprising aspect of Netflix’s NFLX earnings and future-guidance announcement on Monday is that anyone was surprised by it. The company reported that revenues for its first quarter were up by 21% and losses were $4.6 million, compared with a profit a year ago of $60.2 million. That’s actually not bad given the investments the company has made to expand.

But the stock at midafternoon was down by more than 15%, based mostly on the company’s projection that subscriber growth rates would be more or less flat for the year. Many accounts cite the well-publicized “missteps” the company made when it changed its pricing plans last year, effectively boosting prices for many customers, and when announced it would spin off its DVD rental business, then reversed itself.

But the main reason for the anemic projections is simple competition, which everyone knew, or should have known, was coming. Competitors like Amazon AMZN , Hulu, Dish Network DISH , Redbox CSTR are piling into a market that Netflix once dominated. Not only will they increasingly compete with Netflix on price, but also on bidding for content. Meanwhile, companies like Hulu and Amazon are joining Netflix in presenting some of their own original content.

That will drive down revenue and drive up costs. The competition started getting serious even as many of Netflix’s formerly lucrative licensing deals were expiring. It recently outright lost access to movies from Sony SNE and Disney DIS thanks to the expiration of its deal with the Starz LMCA cable channel. It’s hard to fathom why anyone might have been taken by surprise on Monday — if anything, the news was better than might have been expected. Look for competition to further intensify in future quarters, and don’t be surprised when the news turns out to actually be bad.

Summary: Investors are selling Netflix shares like mad, as if it weren't well-known that competition would soon be eating away at the company's prospects.


Seven people have reportedly been killed and 12 injured after a packed train collided with a car in New York.

The northbound train filled with more than 700 commuters struck a Jeep Cherokee on the tracks near Valhalla, north of the city, and pushed it about 50 metres up the road, US officials have said.

The female driver of the car was reportedly killed along with a number of passengers on the train when a carriage burst into flames.

Six are dead after a train crashed into a car in New York. (bizzz23, Instagram)

The driver is believed to have been standing outside the car at the moment of impact.

Passengers were evacuated and many taken to a nearby gym to await bus transport.

US media has reported the woman driving the Jeep became stuck on the tracks and had tried to drive off before being struck.

Initial reports suggested six people had been killed, but the Metropolitan Transport Authority has revised its estimate to make it open-ended as work at the site continues.

Some US media reports indicate seven people have been confirmed dead.

However, there have been no reports people are still trapped, with evacuations of hundreds of passengers taking place shortly after the crash.

NBC has reported some passengers were forced to break the glass in train doors to get out.

Do you have any news photos or videos?

Summary: Six people have been killed and 12 injured after a packed train collided with a car in New York.


Where’s the relentless brooding, the intimidating intensity, the infamous hotel-desk telephone hurling? It’s not as if Russell Crowe is all sunshine and good cheer in the way he approaches his feature directorial debut, “The Water Diviner” (2015). But DVD viewers may well find that he sometimes lends the proceedings a gentler, lighter touch than expected, both narratively and in the disc’s extras. Aiming high, Crowe’s film deals with one of the defining chapters in the history of his native Australia, the bloody World War I clash at Gallipoli between Allied forces and the German-allied Turks. Crowe casts himself as Aussie farmer and well-digger Joshua Connor, whose three sons go missing in the battle, and who journeys to Turkey to locate their bodies and bring them home. Crowe plays mournful resignation expertly and also proves to be an impressive stylist, filling the movie with handsome vistas and visuals. He’s less successful when he tries for sentimental notes, as Connor comes to see the humanity in his people’s enemy and, in particular, in an Ottoman widow (Olga Kurylenko, “Quantum of Solace”). Shades of Kevin Costner and “Dances With Wolves.” In featurettes, Crowe has a rookie filmmaker’s usual kind, chummy praise for his cast. For more on the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, go beyond a historical segment and seek out Mel Gibson’s early work in Peter Weir’s “Gallipoli” (1981). And for another look at Crowe playing hyphenate, track down “Texas,” his documentary about his side gig as frontman for the band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts. (Warner, $28.98; Blu-ray, $44.95)

Jim Parsons segues from almost-alien misfit Sheldon Cooper, on “The Big Bang Theory,” to alien misfit, period. Parsons plays Oh, an especially chipper specimen of a race known as the Boov, galactic refugees who follow their leader (Steven Martin) from planet to planet good-naturedly displacing the locals. He falls in with a spunky young human girl (Rihanna), whose search for her mom (Jennifer Lopez) cuts through Parson’s amusingly superior condescension. Not fresh throughout, but that’s where Parsons and his irrepressible, goofy charm take over. Extras: on Blu-ray, character-drawing tutorials and deleted scenes. (DreamWorks, $29.98; Blu-ray, $36.99; 3-D, $48.99)

Well, here’s one that might make this reviewer rethink his hard-line stance about not wanting dog walkers to let their pets do their offseason business on the town beach. Seriously, though, Hungarian filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó does intriguing work with his parable of dogs rising up en masse to go after the humans who abuse them. Newcomer Zsófia Psotta (above) is nicely cast as a well-meaning girl caught in the middle. Extras: Curious about the technical logistics of wrangling hundreds of canines for an onscreen doggie-pocalypse? Look here for the details. (Magnolia, $26.98; Blu-ray, $29.98)

Summary: New releases on disc this week include “The Water Diviner” and “Home.”


The banks have been leaking cash at a rate of more than €100m a day even with capital controls that were imposed to restrict withdrawals, one banker said. There will be no money left for customers by Monday unless the European Central Bank agrees to lend them more money, this person added.

Echoing that assessment, the head of the Greek banks association told Greece's Skai TV on Thursday morning that cash points would have money until Monday, but did not say what would happen after that.

As Greece's crisis has deepened, its banks have emerged as the chief vulnerability that could soon force the country to leave the single currency. Without a deal with its creditors that provides some support for its financial system, the government would instead be forced to begin printing a new currency to recapitalise them or possibly raid customers' deposits.

Read MoreThe world's biggest sovereign defaults

As the pressure has mounted in recent days, bankers told the Financial Times that Greece's banks were effectively passing cash among themselves. The system is co-ordinated by the Bank of Greece, which has been asking healthier banks to return some of their liquidity so it can be doled out to weaker ones.

"We don't have a choice," one banker said.

The Bank of Greece failed to respond to requests for comment. Greece's four biggest banks — National Bank of Greece, Eurobank, Piraeus and Alpha Bank — all declined to comment.

Read MoreLive blog: Eurogroup meets to decide Greece's fate

The banks are pinning their hopes on an eleventh hour deal between Greece and the eurozone that would allow the ECB to increase the €89bn in emergency funding that they have already drawn and also ease their borrowing terms.

Last week the ECB changed the rules so Greek banks were obligated to provide more collateral for every euro they borrowed from the ECB. The changes mainly affected collateral that was secured by a Greek government guarantee. One banker estimated about €16bn of collateral was "wiped out" by the ECB's move.

If an increase is not secured, the banks "will be put under resolution and shut down", one banker said.

Read MoreGreece timeline: It all started in 2001 ...

Greek bank executives believe there is little they can do to prepare for a Grexit — a Greek exit from the eurozone — because the Bank of Greece would become the key decision maker in such a scenario.

In the meantime, though, bank executives have begun reviewing their recovery and resolution plans and taken some measures to secure funding. Some have also explored the possibility of selling offshore subsidiaries in Turkey, Cyprus and central and eastern Europe.

In a resolution scenario, the first step would be to wipe out some or all of the equity owned by shareholders and those who hold junior bonds and other low quality capital. Such actions could raise €30bn in total, bankers estimate.

Some believe that would be sufficient to absorb the increase in loan defaults banks have suffered since the start of the year. Greek banks hold about €40bn of loan loss provisions, covering almost 60 per cent of non-performing loans, say financiers.

More from the Financial Times:

Angela Merkel faces lose-lose on Greece

Greeks rush to pay taxes, buy ovens

Tspiras' transition: Pragmatist to hardliner

If they cannot generate sufficient capital this way, bank executives say, they may be forced to "haircut" depositors. This could mirror events in Cyprus two years ago, when the government seized a portion of deposits above the €100,000 threshold covered by deposit insurance rules in order to recapitalise banks.

But some argue such a move would have limited effect: only about €30bn of Greek banks' €120bn deposit base is outside the guarantee. Of that sum, about €20bn is the working capital of small businesses, which would have particularly harsh repercussions for the economy if it were subjected to a so-called bail-in.

Greek bankers are conflicted on the prospect of imposing losses on deposits below €100,000 and European regulatory sources say it is legally forbidden.

Summary: Greek banks will have no money left for customers by Monday unless the ECB agrees to lend them more money, a banker told the Financial Times.


Ramin Talaie | Bloomberg| Getty Images

James Grant, founder and editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer.

"What happens in a capitalist economy when there is not intervention?" he asked. "Prices get low enough to invite buyers to come in and seize that value."

Besides artificially increases stocks, Grant said that Fed intervention has been counterproductive to economic growth. "We have been living through a very persuasive demonstration of futility of intervention to solve a recession."

"It is now year six of this 'monetary improv' … [and] we're making it up as we go along," he added.

Using a baseball metaphor, Grant said: "We don't know exactly day-to-day where the strike zone is … how many strikes you get … nor what the distance is from home plate to first."

"Sometimes they change the rules after the game is over," he added.

—By CNBC's Matthew J. Belvedere. Follow him on Twitter @Matt_SquawkCNBC.

Summary: The Fed's bond-buying and near-zero-interest-rate policy has set up stocks for a big fall, said the founder of Grant's Interest Rate Observer.


Already known for its nontraditional workplace structure, Amazon-owned online retailer Zappos is taking things one step further with a new scheduling strategy that channels the likes of Uber.

In an effort to eliminate an antiquated system that had customer service representatives sign up for their desired shifts on a sheet of paper, with preference given to those with seniority, the company has developed a new platform that pays employees more for working during busier shifts.

It's similar to the model that rideshare app Uber uses to charge customers, in that the cost goes up when there is a surge in activity.

According to Fortune, employees who work "in the early hours of weekdays," when there is heavy volume coming from the East Coast, will receive higher hourly pay than those who work during less chaotic times, such as the weekend.

The program's goal is to build a "free-market system" that puts more power in the hands of employees, Zappos' Adam Goldstein told Fortune.

Employees working in Zappos' customer service department make, on average, $14.50 an hour.

To read the full story, click here.

Summary: Zappos has developed a new platform that pays employees more for working during busier shifts.


Jim R. Bounds | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Customers leave a Target store in Raleigh, North Carolina.

A young man walked into a Target in Raleigh, North Carolina Wednesday to buy a clip-on tie, but walked out with something more special, Raleigh ABC news channel WTVD reports.

One Target customer saw a store employee assisting the young man, who was looking for a clip-on tie to wear to a job interview at a local Chick Fil-A, according to WTVD. Target was out of clip-on ties, so employee Dennis Roberts taught the unidentified young man how to tie a tie and then offered tips for his interview.

Read MoreFrom stores to mannequins: Target's post-Canada wish list

WTVD reports Customer Audrey Mark captured the touching moment on her phone, and posted the photo online.

The chain is now being praised for Roberts' kind act of customer service at the Raleigh Target, according to WTVD. Roberts went so far as to check in Thursday to the local Chick Fil-A to see whether or not the young man had scored the job, and WTVD reports the store's manager would "let him know by the end of the week if he got the job."

Read the full story from WTVD.

Summary: When a young man walked into a Target to buy a clip-on tie, an employee instead taught him how to tie a tie.


Scott Sheffield, CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources, said he's planning for five years of low oil prices, in the low $60s per barrel.

Other CEOs were expecting the same range for oil prices, though analysts say Wall Street has priced energy stocks on the prospect of oil closer to $75 per barrel.

Bob Dudley, BP group CEO, told CNBC on Tuesday, "I think it's lower for longer. Don't know how long ... several years absolutely a possibility. ... The rigs have come down from 1,600 operating rigs onshore in the U.S to 750 and yet oil production keeps going up."

Dudley added, "If there is a deal signed in Iran that will change the balance supply in the world. Chinese growth, certainly there, is coming down. So I do think the industry needs to prepare for lower for longer."

Read MoreThe world's most important oil producer is now ...

"We're planning for $60 oil," said Stephen Chazen, CEO of Occidental Petroleum. "I think there's still a lot of 'whistling in the graveyard' mentality.… One could hope for $75 oil but you've got to plan for lower."

Chazen said the fact that the capital markets are open to oil companies and that private equity is ready to invest is likely to prolong the low-price environment. In the past, banks were the lenders that stepped in during a crisis, but now banking reform has kept them sidelined and willing to redo existing terms but not willing to make new investments, he said.

The financing "has the ability to make the down cycle last longer. There's more capital. There's not as much pressure to do something," Chazen said.

Estimates of the amount of available private equity capital range from $80 billion to $100 billion. "It gives people firepower to put it back into shale," Sheffield said in an interview. "I'm a believer in $60 to $80 oil but because of this, it could be at the lower end of the range."

Summary: Oil CEOs expect low oil prices to linger for at least a few years, due to a market flush with private financing and productive wells.


Much of household waste is due to overpurchasing, food spoilage and not maximizing the way we use the food we purchase.

The NRDC study cites three key ways to tackle consumer waste.

1. Make a shopping list.

This first step might seem relatively simple. However, the average family wastes about 20 percent of their groceries, according to the NRDC. That's because people impulse-buy at the supermarkets, giving in to the psychological tactics stores use to encourage consumers to shop more, such as strategically placing products at the ends of the aisles or offering product samples. But if you stick to your list, the savings can be big.

Read MoreGwyneth Paltrow fails $29 food stamp challenge

2. Don't put too much stock in the expiration date.

There is a great deal of confusion about expiration dates, and contrary to popular belief, most dates aren't statements about food safety.

There are two kinds of dates that commonly appear on food products. A "sell by" date is intended to be a message from the food manufacturer to the retailer so the store knows how long to display an item. It indicates that the product will still have significant shelf life once it reaches a consumer's home. "Best by" dates refer to quality, not safety, and signifies best flavor or peak freshness. A product will still be edible for several days afterward.

Read MoreA chef going where fast-casual boom has failed: healthy fare

Unfortunately, due to the lack of federal regulation about date labeling and confusion among consumers, many retailers and consumers throw food out on or before the date on the package, no matter what the date was intended to mean. "This contributes to enormous food losses at home and in the store," Berkenkamp said. "The best bet for consumers is to use your own judgment about whether the food in your fridge is still good. And if you think you can't use it up soon enough, pop it in your freezer rather than throwing it out," she said.

3. Learn from the top chefs—they don't waste.

Consumers need to start thinking like chefs. Restaurant chefs try not to waste any food, because they know better than anyone else that food is money. They use every part of the fare, from stalk to stem; no ounce goes to waste.

"Chefs do this every day in their kitchens, using culinary technique to transform 'lowly' ingredients into something delicious because it doesn't make sense—economically or ecologically—to throw them out," said Dan Barber, co-owner and executive chef at Blue Hill Farm and a leader in the sustainable food movement. "That's the real power of good cooking, and it's at the root of the world's great peasant cuisines."

—By Lauren Flick, CNBC producer

Summary: Americans waste a staggering $165 billion worth of food every year, costing the average family up to $2,200.


Here are my favorites so far:

Rage Against the Lean Startup Machine (@BeninJLM)

The 83(b)-52s (@whoisdjrico)—you really have be in the game to get this one.

And, for extra credit, @rkischuk tweets: "Best song: 'We're not gonna fund it!' "

Inspired by these efforts, and with some time to kill myself, I put on my thinking cap. Granted, it's a small cap for a small brain, so I included hedge funds and private equity to increase my options. How goes:

... and that's about it. I worked hard to find bands that would work with names like Andreessen or Icahn, but came up empty (Jethro Tull's Ian Andreessen?). Suggestions?

—By CNBC's Jane Wells. Follow her on Twitter: @janewells.

Summary: Kill some time playing the latest enterprenerd time-suck on Twitter, the #VCCoverBands hashtag.


The UK-based company is working on prescription medicines based on cannabis to treat a number of medical conditions.

Its stock soared as much as 43 percent to $65.97 after Morgan Stanley started coverage of the stock with an "overweight" rating and a price target of $103.

Cramer called Morgan's recommendation "timely" and "bold," predicting the stock will quickly reach the target.

"It's not a medical marijuana stock. They have a novel platform. It is an epilepsy company."

Cramer warned investors to stay away from other marijuana-related penny stocks. "Forget it! If you like cannabis, and I'm not necessarily speaking about 'liking' cannabis, it's GW Pharma."

Summary: CNBC's Jim Cramer strongly endorsed an analyst's recommendation on a company that's developing medicines based on cannabis.


WASHINGTON, July 28 (Reuters) - Britain's minister for defense procurement on Tuesday urged the United States to buy more UK-built weapons, saying current trade flows were too much of a one-way street.

The comments by Philip Dunne marked a public nudge by one of the United States' leading allies over the trade imbalance between the two countries.

"Trade often seems to go largely in one direction," Dunne told reporters during his first visit to the United States since the election of a new Conservative-led government earlier this year. "Put simply, we buy rather more from you than you buy from us."

Dunne said he raised the issue in a meeting with his U.S. counterpart, Defense Undersecretary Frank Kendall, telling him that more could be done to leverage the two countries' closely linked defense industries.

Dunne also met with U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work to discuss U.S.-UK collaboration efforts, including the cooperative development of the F-35 fighter jet.

Britain was the sixth largest exporter of major weapons between 2010 and 2014, with the United States accounting for 12 percent of those exports, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The U.S. State Department authorized more than $4.5 billion in sales of U.S. military equipment and services to Britain, a 2014 State Department report showed.

Dunne welcomed news the U.S. Marine Corps was likely to decide soon whether to declare an initial squadron of Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 jets ready for combat.

Britain is one of nine partner countries that funded development of the new warplane, and is expected to build about 15 percent of each of the aircraft.

Dunne said he did not expect significant changes to the UK's F-35 procurement plans ahead of a strategic review to be completed in 2020.

He said Britain expected to begin testing F-35 jets on an aircraft carrier in 2018 and start operational use from 2020.

A U.S. Department of Defense statement said Work and Dunne also discussed Britain's recent pledge to meet NATO's defense spending pledge of 2 percent of GDP for the next five years.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Andrew Hay)

Summary: WASHINGTON, July 28- Britain's minister for defense procurement on Tuesday urged the United States to buy more UK- built weapons, saying current trade flows were too much of a one-way street. Britain was the sixth largest exporter of major weapons between 2010 and 2014, with the United States accounting for 12 percent of those exports, according to a report by the...


Jeff Tjornehoj, head of Lipper Americas Research, said investors will have to decide if they have the stomach to stick with active funds in hopes of better results in the future.

A year like this sorts out what kind of investor you are, he said.

Even long-time standout managers like Bill Nygren of the $17.8 billion Oakmark Fund and Jason Subotky of the $14.2 billion Yacktman Fund are lagging, at a time when advisers are growing more focused on fees.

The Oakmark fund, which is up 11.82 percent this year through Nov. 25, charges 0.95 percent of assets in annual fees, compared with 0.09 percent for the SPDR S&P 500 exchange-traded fund, which mimics the S&P 500 and is up almost 14 percent this year, according to Morningstar.

Read MoreWhat matters for markets next year: Goldman Sachs

The Yacktman fund is up 10.2 percent over the same period and charges 0.74 percent of assets in annual fees.

The pay-for-active-performance camp argues that talented managers are worth paying for and will beat the market over investment cycles.

Rob Brown, chief investment strategist for United Capital, which has $11 billion under management and keeps about two thirds of its mutual fund holdings in active funds, estimates that good managers can add an extra 1 percent to returns over time compared with an index-only strategy.

Indeed, the top active managers have delivered. For example, $10,000 invested in the Yacktman Fund on Nov. 23, 2004, would have been worth $27,844 on Nov. 25 of this year; the same amount invested in the S&P 500 would be worth $21,649, according to Lipper.

Even so, active funds as a group tend to lag broad market indexes, though this year's underperformance is extreme. In the rout of 2008, when the S&P 500 fell 38 percent, more than half of the active large cap stock funds had declines that were greater than those of their benchmarks, Lipper found. The last time when more than half of active large cap stock managers beat their index was 2009, when the S&P 500 was up 26 percent. That year, 55 percent of these managers beat their benchmarks.

In 2014, some recurring bad market bets were made by various active managers. Holding too much cash was one.

Yacktman's Subotky said high stock prices made him skeptical of buying new shares, leaving him with 17 percent of the fund's holdings in cash while share prices have continued to rise. He cautioned investors to have patience.

"Our goal is never to capture every last drop of a roaring bull market," Subotky said

Summary: Stock-picking fund managers are testing their investors patience with some of the worst investment returns in decades.


Cigna rejected a takeover approach from larger health insurer Anthem, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing sources.

Cigna shares spiked after the report, touching a new all-time high before retreating slightly. The stock was up more than 13 percent midday Monday. Months of discussions have taken place, and Anthem has made two bids for Cigna, the most recent at about $175 per share, according to the newspaper.

Read MoreMajor inflection point looms for US health-care costs

The news comes after reports of wider consolidation in the sector. Humana—a key player in Medicare—has received takeover interest from companies including Cigna and Aetna, the Journal reported last month.

Summary: Cigna rejected a takeover approach from larger health insurer Anthem as health-care consolidation continues, Dow Jones reported.


* Oil, coal, copper all at 2009 peak financial crisis levels

* Solar stocks tumble along with China's stock rout

* Analysts say weak market conditions set to last

SINGAPORE, Aug 24 - Commodities markets hit fresh lows in early Asian trading on Monday as fears spread that a more severe slowdown in China would pull down other economies in the region, denting energy and raw material consumption.

In Japan, the Nikkei share average tumbled more than 2 percent to its lowest level in nearly five months on Monday as worries over slower growth in the Chinese economy intensified.

The weak sentiment in Asia also hit oil, the dominant fuel for transportation and most traded commodity.

The two most important crude futures, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and the global benchmark Brent , hit fresh 6-year lows on Mondays to levels last seen during the peak of the credit crunch of 2008/2009.

U.S. West Texas traded below $40 a barrel and Brent around $45 per barrel at 0115 GMT.

In coal, the most used source for electricity generation, benchmark API2 2016 futures already hit 12-year lows last week, and underlying physical benchmarks like cargoes from Australia's Newcastle or South Africa's Richards Bay terminals have fallen or are about to fall to levels last seen before the 2008/2009 boom and bust.

Although analysts said price rises could happen as investors bargain hunt, general market fundamentals were still weak and could result in further downward price adjustments.

"Given the structural negatives of a slowing China, oversupply and a strong dollar, it may not be too long before the long-term bearish trend reasserts itself," Barclays said in a note to clients.

The market weakness is not just affecting energy prices, but also industrial commodities.

Copper benchmarks were trading around the $5,000 a tonne on Monday morning, at levels similar during the peak crisis months of 2008-2009, and China's iron ore index, despite a recovery recently also remains near record lows, trading around $55 a tonne <.IO62-CNI=SI>.

The rout in commodities market has also spread to sectors that have so far been performing well.

The MAC global solar index, which is dominated by Chinese solar companies and which soared during the first months of the year, has almost halved in value since April, pulled down by the sharp drops in Chinese stock markets, where the benchmark CSI300 stock index has lost a third of its value since June.

Summary: SINGAPORE, Aug 24- Commodities markets hit fresh lows in early Asian trading on Monday as fears spread that a more severe slowdown in China would pull down other economies in the region, denting energy and raw material consumption. West Texas traded below $40 a barrel and Brent around $45 per barrel at 0115 GMT. In coal, the most used source for electricity...


Chris Mintz was shot up to seven times. (Supplied)

An army veteran is being hailed as a hero for charging a gunman during a mass shooting at a college in Oregon and declaring "you're not getting past me".

Chris Mintz, 30, who was studying to become a fitness trainer at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, was shot five times by the gunman identified as Christopher Harper Mercer.

Mr Mintz's family said he threw himself against the classroom door when the shooting began yesterday to prevent Mercer from entering.

But the gunman managed to blast his way in and repeatedly shot Mr Mintz, ignoring pleas that it was his son Tirek's sixth birthday.

"He gets shot three times, hits the floor, looks up at the gunman and says 'it's my son's birthday' and gets shot two more times," Mr Mintz's aunt, Wanda Mintz, told Fox.

"He could have very easily died."

Witnesses told KTLA Mr Mintz ordered his classmates to seek cover and told the gunman, "you're not getting past me".

She said Mr Mintz was shot in the back, abdomen, left hand and once in each leg but is expected to recover.

"He's going to have to learn to walk again," his cousin Ariana Earnhardt told Fox 8.

"But he walked away with his life, and that's more than so many other people did."

In a bizarre turn, actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse had to take to Twitter to inform fans he was not the victim.

The Superbad and Kick-Ass star, 26, urged users to forward their messages to Mr Mintz's family.

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Summary: An army veteran is being hailed as a hero for charging the gunman during a mass shooting at a college in Oregon, before being shot despite pleading that it was his son's birthday.