LONDON, May 6— Prince Charles was granted an injunction today to prevent the publication of purported transcripts of telephone calls he made from Australia to his fiancee, Lady Diana Spencer, and his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

Illicit tape-recordings of the calls were allegedly made last month while the Prince was staying at the ranch of a friend, Sinclair Hill, 300 miles northwest of Sydney. The tapes were then transcribed and the transcripts were given to a British freelance journalist, Simon Regan, who had already upset the royal family with an unflattering biography called ''Charles, the Clown Prince.''

Mr. Regan locked them in a Sydney bank vault and told his agents to see how much they would bring. The first publication to express interest was Die Aktuelle, a women's weekly in West Germany. One report said the magazine, which prints illustrated features of the love lives of prominent people, had paid $50,000.

When news about the transcripts was published on Monday, a spokesman for Buckingham Palace said: ''This is a bad day for journalism. There couldn't be a more contemptible way to behave.''

According to those who have seen the transcripts, those dealing with the conversations between Prince Charles and and Lady Diana were innocuous - ''the kind of guarded conversation and chat one would expect from any engaged couple grappling with the problem of trying to convey feelings through the impersonal device of a telephone line,'' as one person put it.

But another of the transcripts was said to have contained rude remarks by the Prince to his mother about the Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser. Publication of that document could damage relations between Australia and the Britain, already a bit strained, and would certainly doom the idea, which has already been shelved for the moment, of Charles's becoming Governor General of Australia after his marriage.

''The person responsible for the tapping is a republican and entirely politically motivated,'' Mr. Regan, the journalist, said. ''He is a telephone employee who would do anything he could to discredit Prince Charles.'' British Press Titillates Readers

Predictably, the British press exploded in condemnation of the unknown tapper and of Mr. Regan, while titillating readers with hints of what might be on the tapes. Rumors circulated that some of the popular papers were planning to publish the transcripts if Die Aktuelle did.

''Euthanasia for eavesdroppers,'' said the headline over an outraged editorial in The Times, the traditional defender of the royal family. The paper said that publication in Britain ''would be an example of Peeping Tom journalism that would uphold no principle, meet no legitimate public requirement and do no good to the public reputation of the British press.''

Yesterday, the Prince's office, the Foreign Office and the British Embassy in Bonn explored the possibilities of going into a West German court to block publication.This afternoon, even though the Australian Communications Minister, Ian Sinclair, said the transcripts might be forgeries, Buckingham Palace sought a High Court injunction in London.

It was granted in short order by Justice Sir Thomas Henry Bingham. Mr. Regan said that, if he still held the copyright over what he had written about the tapes, as well as the transcripts themselves, ''then the Palace have succeeded.'' But, he said, the lawyers for the West German magazine told him that they would not be stopped by a British injunction and that Die Aktuelle would publish the material in its next issue, which is to be printed on Friday and distributed in West Germany on Sunday.


WASHINGTON, July 14— Before his resignation today, Max C. Hugel was in charge of the largest directorate in the Central Intelligence Agency, the branch responsible for covert action and clandestine counterintelligence overseas.

Mr. Hugel did not fit the mold for that job in two respects: He had not had a career in professional intelligence work; instead, he had been a businessman in New Hampshire and worked on the Reagan campaign staff in last year's Presidential election. And, unlike most of his predecessors, he did not come from an Ivy League-style ''gentlemen's club'' background.

Mr. Hugel is portrayed in his unpublished autobiography and in the comments of his colleagues as a canny, ambitious, aggressive, impatient businessman who turned a small sewing machine company into a large import-export concern.

Mr. Hugel said in the manuscript that he had developed a strong sense of competitiveness, knowing that he would otherwise ''fade away.'' And several times he refers to being short, or small, and says his size motivated him to learn to anticipate and avoid problems and to sharpen his wits. 'Tough Little Street Fighter'

A business associate spoke admiringly of Mr. Hugel as a ''tough little street fighter from Brooklyn.'' Mr. Hugel's title was Deputy Director for Operations. Before March 1973, the job bore the title of Deputy Director for Plans. William E. Colby, who held the position in 1973 before he became Director of Central Intelligence, said in an interview today that he had asked James R. Schlesinger, then Director of Central Intelligence, to change the name because ''plans'' was a euphemism for what that part of the agency really did.

Besides Mr. Colby, two other men who had previously been in charge of the directorate for plans, or operations, were promoted from within the agency to Directors of Central Intelligence. They were Allen W. Dulles and Richard Helms. Mr. Dulles and Mr. Colby were graduates of Princeton, and Mr. Helms was a graduate of Williams College, an old liberal arts college in northwestern Massachusetts.

''It would be very unusual to have a nonprofessional, a businessman, an ordinary civilian running the directorate for operations,'' said Thomas Powers, author of a recent biography of Mr. Helms. ''That's certainly never happened before. That's one position where you want a professional. That's where the heart of the agency always was, and that's the office in which Presidents were always most interested.'' Supervised Recruitment of Spies

Presidents took an interest in the office because its covert agents could, at the President's behest, foment unrest in foreign countries. In addition, the Deputy Director for Operations supervised the recruitment of spies overseas, collecting minutely detailed information about low-level clerks in Soviet embassies abroad, for example.

The Deputy Director also had authority over counterintelligence operations designed to learn about Soviet activities in general. Officials in the Reagan Administrtion said that William J. Casey, the Director of Central Intelligence, had recruited Mr. Hugel because Mr. Casey thought his rough-and-tumble style was exactly what was needed to rebuild the clandestine service.

Some agency officials had become extremely cautious about conducting covert operations after years of Congressional investigations exposing unsuccessful and aborted projects, including plans to assassinate foreign leaders. Adept at Commercial Covers

In addition, Mr. Casey was said by agency officials to have believed that Mr. Hugel would be adept at helping develop commercial covers for American intelligence agents operating overseas.

Mr. Hugel, according to a biography distributed by the intelligence agency, specialized in Japanese economics at the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated in 1953. Earlier, he established a company, Brother International, to sell Japanese-made sewing machines in the United States.

Illustrations: photo of Max C. Hugel and Allen W. Dulles and Richard Helms and William


ALL of the candidates running for Governor this year have their own agendas, their schedules of priorities designed to bring them victory.

Governor Byrne, whom the state constitution bars from seeking a third term, also has his agenda. Naturally, he wants to see a Democrat elected, more specifically a Democrat who will not dismantle some of the programs closest to Mr. Byrne's heart, like the protection of the pinelands.

The Governor has not endorsed anyone in the 11-man Democratic primary field, although for the present he clearly is supporting the candidacy of John J. Degnan, the former Attorney General.

A few days ago, Mr. Byrne reportedly paid a courtesy call on Francis G. Fitzpatrick, the former Mayor of Bayonne and chairman of the Turnpike Authority, to see if he could drum up some support for Mr. Degnan in Hudson County.

Mr. Fitzpatrick, who was one of Mr. Byrne's early supporters in 1973, pointed out that his son was running for the State Assembly this year and supporting the gubernatorial candidacy of Mayor Thomas F.X. Smith of Jersey City, and so he would have to pass.

Some other members of Mr. Byrne's administration, no doubt eager to please the boss, have been doing their own bit for Mr. Degnan's cause and perhaps overreaching just a little. Some employees whose jobs are of the unprotected patronage variety were told that they could work for Mr. Degnan in the primary campaign, but for no one else.

One municipal official has told some friends that he was advised his town could be in line for additional Green Acres funds if he backed the former Attorney General. However, there is no indication that Mr. Degnan was aware of the alleged offer.

On his own behalf, Mr. Degnan appears to have put together the kind of support and fund-raising apparatus to make him a viable candidate in a short time. He has the endorsements of Peter Shapiro, the Essex County Executive; former Representrative Andrew Maguire of Ridgewood and State Senator John F. Russo of Toms River.

What Mr. Degnan really needs is elbow room in Essex County, his putative base. He has the endorsement of Raymond Durkin, the county's Democratic chairman, but Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson of Newark and State Senator Frank J. Dodd of West Orange will certainly pull their own votes out of the Essex pie.

Although he is backing Mr. Degnan at the moment, Mr. Byrne is keeping a neutral public profile so he can switch to another candidate if that should become necessary before the June 2 primary election.

Mr. Degnan's campaign reportedly will have to show increasing strength in April, otherwise the Governor might be forced to look elsewhere for the possible successor he could support over the long haul.

One candidate who could benefit if Mr. Degnan's campaign falters is State Senator Joseph P. Merlino of Trenton, Mr. Byrne attended a campaign dinner for Mr. Merlino recently, and has been heard to say during cabinet sessions that the state would be well served if Mr. Merlino, who is President of the Senate, should eventually win the governorship.


LITTLE SILVER IT IS easy to miss Antiques and Uniques at 32 Willow Drive here. The white-clapboard building south of the business section is on a knoll and almost hidden from the road; however, the driveway leads to six rooms filled with country and formal furniture and accessories in a setting that is designed to seem like an attractively decorated house.

There are nice starter pieces for a young family, and the prices are in line with new furniture, always a way to tell a good buy in an antique.

A matching pair of light pine chests dating to about 1860 were priced at $400 each. The four-drawer chests had bracket feet that went into a modified cutout skirt, and there were attractive oval brass pulls and brass key escutcheons.

The chests belonged to Dorothy Wild, who manages this cooperative of seven dealers. She also had a deep-seated Pennsylvania settle bench with a half-spindled back (two long, parallel back rails with a long row of vertical spindles below the lower rail) and a plank seat about six feet long.

The bench, which had been refinished, was dated to about 1840 and priced at $595. In addition, Mrs. Wild had an 11-inch-tall vase of cloudy white Bristol glass from England. It had a blue footing and a fancily ruffled top edge flaring out from a narrow neck. Victorian, it was delicately trimmed with tiny pink blossoms and green leaves. It cost $35.

A room called Blue Heron belongs to Mary McNitt, who also has a good selection of furniture. Her cupboards included a corner one of cherry that was 7 1/2 feet tall, 46 inches wide and had chamfered outer edges.

The top section had most of its old glass in 12 panes. The lower section had two paneled doors and the piece itself had small, round brass knobs.

Mrs. McNitt said that the cupboard came from a house in midwestern Pennsylvania and dated it to about 1840. The price was $3,300. A nice oddity was a yard-tall wooden marionette of Richard the Lion Hearted. Aside from a short, silky orange-colored kilt, it was covered almost entirely with a finely made suit of armor with ornate copper trim. A rosy papier-mache face peers out from under a visored helmet, which is adorned with a copper lion.

According to Mrs. McNitt, the marionette, which was priced at $600, came from Sicily and was made around 1870. A walnut kitchen clock with an alarm was made by the E.N. Welch Manufacturing Company of Forestville, Conn. Two feet tall, it was in a cutout gingerbread style with a six-inch clockface and flowery gilt reverse painting on the lower glass section.

The clock, which costs $210, was dated about 1880. In the front section of Antiques and Uniques is Linenworks, which is owned by Doree Marx. Furniture here is used as a backdrop for Mrs. Marx's collection of Victorian and turn-of-the-century clothes and linens.

A blouse from the Edwardian era in size 10 or 12, and nipped in at the waist, was made of scrolled lace that is still in its fine original condition. The price was $345.

There are lots of pretty pillows here, too. They are made of old lace pieces combined with newer materials, and Mrs. Marx has customers for them in Texas and New York City. A pair of white pillows - they were 16 inches square - was done in a filet crochet pattern called Garden Bouquet. The pair cost $56.

Patricia Horanecke was selling an American Windsor side chair with a shaped pine seat and a birdcage back of ash. She dated the chair, which was priced at $225, to about 1810.

From about 1830, Mrs. Horanecke had a Boston-style rocker in a size sometimes called ''Mother and Child.'' The seat was two feet wide and very low.

Mrs. Horanecke believes that the rocker came from western New Jersey or New York State. Its old grain painting simulated bird's-eye maple, and it was decorated freehand and with stenciling. The price was $410.

A Victorian Lincolnesque reclining chair looked like the precursor of the modern recliner. In a round mahogany frame with carved grapes at the top of the tall back, it was covered in red velveteen. Side knobs can lower the seat back, and a front foot-rest can be unfolded from under a leg rest and raised.

Mrs. Hornecke said the chair came from the home of a Connecticut doctor. Its price was $750. In a corner called Libbie's Country Store were kitchen and store items in tin, iron and wood, plus some newer objects. An oval-shaped shoe-shine box of tin was 10 inches high and had an iron shoe rest on its top. Green and aqua flowers are painted on the sides, and the price is $22.

And don't throw away that old washboard. There's one here for $8. The booth of Bill and Jean Barr was a little bare on a recent visit because they had not yet restocked after being cleaned out at a show the previous week.

However, there was a nice large coverlet from Lancaster County, Pa., for $450. Dating to about 1830-40, it was in a double rose pattern with a triple tree border in blue, green and red on white.

Judy Roche and Gail O'Brien were just moving in with boxes still unpacked. An Eastlake Victorian walnut mantel 52 inches long, eight inches deep and nine inches tall was carved in a repetitive fleur-delis and leaf design. It was $125.

During the summer, Antiques and Uniques is open Monday through Friday from 11 A.M. to 5 P.M. and on Saturdays from 11 A.M. to 1 P.M. The telephone number is (201) 741-2728. Little Silver is east of Red Bank and the Garden State Parkway (Exit 109). Calendar of Events

Friday and Saturday - Annual show and sale of antiques sponsored by the Hope Historical Society, Hope Community Center, Route 519 (south of I-80), Hope. Hours: Friday, 10:30 A.M.-9 P.M.; Saturday, 10:30 A.M.-6 P.M. Contribution: $1.25. Homemade food available.

Illustrations: photo of a gilded metal clock photo of a corner cupboard of cherry photo of a vintage quilt photo of an urn that matches the gilded clock photo of a walnut kitchen clock with alarm


Terence H. Wrong's letter, ''At Long Last, Lebanon's Shiites Take a Stand'' (April 28), loudly proclaims that Lebanon's Shiites have suffered victimization at the hands of the Maronites (Lebanon's largest Christian community), the Turks, the Egyptians and the Israelis for the past 200 years. His allegation against the Maronites is highly questionable.

Lebanon's current communal structure dates back to the Ottoman Turkish occupation of Lebanon, when a religious council was added to the political framework of the province in the 1840's. That chamber had two representatives from each religious community, including the Shiites.

When Lebanon became an independent state in the wake of World War II, political offices were designated in accordance with a ''Lebanese formula'' to preserve communal independence while allowing for full political cooperation among the various sects.

The president of the republic was to be a Lebanese Christian, the prime minister was selected from the Sunnite Moslem sect and the speaker of the chamber of deputies was chosen from the Shiite Moslem community. This was done to balance political and religious power to prevent the ''victimization'' of any sect at the hands of another.

A prevalent misconception in the media coverage of the Lebanese ''civil war'' has implied that the Maronites are involved in a conspiracy against Lebanon's Moslem population to preserve a privileged economic position in the state. Lebanon's leftist coalition has skillfully propagated that position in order to undermine the pro-Western stance of the Lebanese Government.

The Maronites have been singled out, maligned and raked over the coals unjustly. Their often-criticized prosperity is due largely to their modern (Western) outlook on life and the development of their own human resources. Clearly, it was not achieved at the expense of the Shiites or any other Lebanese community.

The Shiites of Lebanon, throughout much of their history, have been allies of the Maronites against foreign forces impinging upon Lebanon's sovereignty. Currently, they support the Maronite forces of Sad Haddad in South Lebanon.

Furthermore, Imam Musa al-Sadr, the noted Shiite spiritual leader in Lebanon, may have lost his life in August of 1979 for vociferously protesting that the war against the predominantly right-wing Maronites was unjustifiable. A.J. ABRAHAM New York, May 12, 1982

The writer is professor of Middle Eastern history at New York Institute of Technology.

Summary: To the Editor:    Terence H. Wrong's letter, ''At Long Last, Lebanon's Shiites Take a Stand'' (April 28), loudly proclaims that Lebanon's Shiites have suffered victimization at the hands of the Maronites (Lebanon's largest Christian community), the Turks, the Egyptians and the Israelis for the past 200 years. His allegation against the Maronites is highly questionable.     Lebanon's current communal structure dates back to the Ottoman Turkish occupation of Lebanon, when a religious council was added to the political framework of the province in the 1840's. That chamber had two representatives from each religious community, including the Shiites.


Wine could be as bad for your health as vodka, health officials say. (AAP)

A British court has ruled that heavy drinking during pregnancy should not be considered a "crime of violence" against the child in a case that had raised concerns about criminalising mothers.

The case was brought by a local authority applying to the government's criminal compensation authority for damages on behalf of a seven-year-old girl in its care who has severe disabilities after her mother drank heavily while pregnant.

"We have held that a mother who is pregnant and who drinks to excess... is not guilty of a criminal offence under our law if her child is subsequently born damaged as a result," the ruling on Thursday said.

The local authority's lawyers had argued that the mother was "reckless" in her behaviour by drinking up to half a bottle of vodka and eight cans of strong lager a day while she was pregnant.

While they do not suggest the damage was deliberate, they say she discussed her drinking with professionals and "went on to take the risk".

The ruling centred on whether a foetus can be considered a person under English law.

The case has sparked heated debate over the dangers of alcohol and the rights of women and foetuses in a country where abortion has been legal since 1967.

While there was no suggestion of charges against the mother, women's rights groups had warned that it risked opening the door to police action against other pregnant women with alcohol problems.

Ann Furedi, head of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, and Rebecca Schiller, co-chair of Birthrights, hailed the decision saying: "This is an extremely important ruling for women everywhere.

"The UK's highest courts have recognised that women must be able to make their own decisions about their pregnancies," they said in a joint statement.

The Court of Appeal judgment caps a five-year legal battle between the council and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA).

The CICA considers applications for damages involving behaviour that could constitute a crime, in this case the alleged reckless administration of a noxious substance to the foetus.

The girl, known only as CP, has a severe form of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), an umbrella term which covers a range of disorders varying from reduced intellectual ability to heart and kidney problems.

Do you have any news photos or videos?

Summary: A British court has ruled that a mother who drank heavily while pregnant was not guilty of a "crime of violence" against her child.


Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger says "Star Wars" is getting its own themed land at Disney parks.

Iger announced at Disney's D23 Fan Expo on Saturday that the 14-acre attraction will be built at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It represents the largest parks expansion ever.

Read MoreDisney: Woody to find love in 'Toy Story 4'

Iger says the "Star Wars" land will be "every bit as thrilling as the films" and will include attractions and entertainment in an area populated by aliens and droids. There will also be a Cantina and the chance to take control of the Millennium Falcon.

Disney parks have previously only had the Star Tours ride as their "Star Wars" themed attraction. More comprehensive park integration has been expected since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012.

Separately, the company also announced that writer-director Colin Trevorrow is set to direct "Star Wars: Episode IX", which will debut in 2019. That film will be the final installment of the trilogy set to kick off with "The Force Awakens", expected to be released in December.

--CNBC.com contributed to this article.

Summary: Disney CEO Bob Iger says "Star Wars" is getting its own themed land at Disney parks, which he announced at the company's expo on Saturday.


Its been one year since Michael Lewis' 'Flash Boys' hit the shelves. What has been the impact of the book?

It certainly sold books. Four consecutive weeks at Number 1 on the New York Times nonfiction list is quite a feat.

And it generated a lot of debate. Remember, at heart, it's a book about market structure. A book about market structure that makes the bestseller list? Wow.

It was the marketing that really made the book, and the timing. Lewis' main allegation—that the market is "rigged" in favor of high-frequency traders—fits in perfectly with the broader societal condemnation of the financial crisis and with the even broader folk mythology that the markets—and other human affairs—have always been manipulated by a small elite.

To a certain extent, the book reflects what Richard Hofstadter famously called "the paranoid style in American politics," the vague fear that there are dark, evil forces controlling us (and our money), that our fates are not our own.

Regardless, the book had a substantial impact, of that there is no doubt.

Let's try to keep this to a couple issues:

HOW HAVE REGULATORS RESPONDED TO THE ALLEGATIONS?

SEC Chair Mary Jo White emphatically stated that "the markets are not rigged" and, in Congressional testimony, said the retail investor was "well served, very well served, by the current market structure."

As for high-frequency trading (HFT), she said it "is not unlawful insider-trading."

That doesn't mean the SEC is delighted with all aspects of market structure. In January, White created a Equity Market Structure Advisory Committee to advise the SEC on what, if any, changes need to be made.

There is certainly a range of opinions on how much needs to be done to improve the markets at the SEC, but the lack of an emphatic response from them clearly indicates they do not believe the U.S. markets are in dire straits.

On the enforcement front, the book generated some smoke, though it's debatable how much fire has been generated.

The FBI, the U.S. attorney general, New York state prosecutors and the SEC have confirmed they are investigating the practices of high-speed firms.

New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has been particularly active, even announcing that subpoenas were sent to exchanges to examine their relationships with HFTs.

Yet, there have been remarkably few "gotcha" moments. In one small case, the NYSE did pay a $4.5 million fine over violations regarding "co-location," or allowing HFTs to site their computers right next to the exchange's "matching engine" so that information can be accessed more rapidly.

In another case, the exchange Direct Edge (now part of BATS) was fined $14 million in December 2014 for failing to follow rules regarding disclosure of how it handled order types. That investigation was underway long before the Lewis book came out, but the publicity likely accelerated the investigation.

In perhaps the most high-profile case, the New York attorney general is currently embroiled in a dispute with Barclays over the way it has managed its dark pool, alleging that the bank did not tell traders about the presence of high-frequency traders in the pool.

But these are actions against exchanges and a bank. There are few actions against HFTs themselves that are engaging in "abusive" or "manipulative" behavior.

This is surprising, because I do believe that there are bad actors. I think it's highly likely that some HFT somewhere has tried to game the system, to engage in practices that could be considered "abusive" and "manipulative" under the law.

Why do I believe this? Because the entire history of trading—for hundreds of years, long before HFT—are filled with examples of individuals who have tried to abuse the system. Why should high-frequency trading be different?

That doesn't mean the whole system is rotten, it just means enforcement should be rigorous.

In the case of HFT, much of the problem is that it is extraordinarily difficult to catch blatant abuse. It's hard because intent can be difficult to prove, and it's hard because in many cases the data isn't sufficiently robust to demonstrate abuse.

The SEC is trying to remedy that. There are proposals out now for a Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) that would allow regulators to efficiently and accurately track all activity throughout the U.S. markets. Let's hope the plan can be executed at a reasonable cost. Unfortunately, it appears to be years away from implementation.

And FINRA has proposed the creation of the Comprehensive Automated Risk Data System, which will gather trading data from some 4,000 brokerages in over 110 million investor accounts. That, too, is some years away.

Both of these proposals were well underway before Lewis' book.

One rule that needs to be implemented immediately: the SEC is trying to require high frequency traders to register with the SEC. It's about time: if HFTs are such a big part of the trading process, why doesn't the SEC even know anything about them? This is a first step and hopefully this will be done by the end of this year.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE RESPONSE OF THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY?

For the most part, the industry—big banks, exchanges, and the mutual fund industry (with a few exceptions) has rejected the claims.

It may not be surprising that the sell-side defends the status quo, but what about the buy-side? They, presumably, are getting the short end of the stick. Why, for example, haven't the big mutual funds issued denunciations? Even Jack Bogle, founder of Vanguard and no friend of high-frequency trading, has rejected the claim that the markets are rigged.

And what about the companies whose stocks are supposedly being manipulated. Why aren't there more complaints? Why, for example, haven't we heard issuers and companies themselves complain more? Maybe there is a company that has made an issue of this on a quarterly conference call, but I don't know of one.

Again, you can argue they are all corrupt, but do you really believe that? Isn't a more likely answer that: 1) this issue, if it is even a little true, is not among the highest priorities for funds, and 2) investors care a lot more about the long term returns of what they are buying, and those results have been excellent.

Still, there have been some moves to change things, though they are not related to Lewis' book. In one significant move, mutual fund giant Fidelity, in conjunction with several other firms (including T. Rowe Price, Blackrock, and JPMorgan) are getting ready to launch a dark pool of their own, called Luminex, designed to only trade large blocks between institutional firms. That, when it launches, will be a significant development.

HAS THE BOOK RESULTED IN ANY CHANGE IN MARKET STRUCTURE OR THE WAY STOCKS TRADE?

The short answer is no, nor does it appear that any regulator has dramatically changed their course of action. You could say this is because: 1) the dark forces have totally corrupted all the enforcement agencies, or 2) the enforcement agencies are alert to the prospect of bad actors, but most do not believe the overall market structure needs to be completely overhauled.

If you believe that 1) is the right choice, nothing I'm going to say is going to change your mind.

But I've spent years with enforcement officials, and the NYSE, and the Nasdaq, and everyone else who built the current system. Most have told me that the current system is not being torn down because it is a vast improvement over the old system, and by "old" I mean the system controlled by the NYSE (specialists) and Nasdaq (screen-based traders) that was the dominant paradigm until about 20 years ago.

Remember, 30 years ago if you wanted to buy 1,000 shares of IBM it would have: 1) cost you hundreds, and possibly thousands, of dollars, and 2) taken anywhere from 20 minutes to the following day to get a confirmation of execution. This was a time when the spread between the bid and ask was $0.125, then $0.0625, and then finally a penny in the year 2000.

Today, you can buy 1,000 shares of IBM and the cost could be as low as $7.99, with a confirmation that will occur in a sub-second interval.

This advance has nothing to do with HFT, it has to do with technological progress, but regardless, it is an improvement over the old system for retail investors.

Still, I am not a complete apologist for the current system. I think it is way too complicated (40 dark pools, 3 exchanges) which leaves the system open to technological failure. I also am no fan of the idea that exchanges should be paying customers to trade on their exchanges.

To the extent that Lewis' book shed light on a rather obscure part of the market, it has been a valuable contribution to the debate.

But I also recognize that there's always been intermediaries, and that throughout history, people have bitterly complained any time someone steps between a buyer and a seller and tries to make a profit, big or small, justified or not. Check out my "Brief history of high speed trading in the 1800s" for a small sample.

Programming note: Michael Lewis will be on Squawk Box Monday on CNBC.

Summary: What has been the impact of the book?


Dmitry Korotayev | Kommersant | Getty Images

The Arctic oil rig 'Prirazlomnaya' in the Barents Sea owned by energy giant Gazprom, near Naryan Mar, Russia.

During talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow this month, Tsipras expressed interest in Greece's participation in a pipeline that would carry Russian gas to Europe via its territory.

The two sides were expected to discuss the issue of the pipeline, a government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Shut out from international markets and with EU/IMF bailout aid frozen, cash-strapped Greece has said it expected to clinch a deal with Russia to take part in the "Turkish Stream" pipeline soon.

Russia was considering giving Greece advance funds for the project based on future profits it could earn from the pipeline's operation. Greece has said this would provide "a significant fiscal breath" for the country.

Read MoreIs Greece about to cosy up to Russia?

Greece has been locked in talks with the EU and IMF. It risks running out of money within weeks unless it submits a credible reform plan to secure fresh aid under its 240 billion euro bailouts.

Russia on Saturday denied a German media report which suggested the gas pipeline deal could add up to five billion euros to Athens' depleted state coffers.

Follow us on Twitter: @CNBCWorld

Summary: The head of Russian giant Gazprom Alexei Miller will be in Athens for talks with Greek Prime Minister and the country's energy minister.


The Federal Reserve seems ready to increase interest rates for the first time in nine years, billionaire Warren Buffett said Monday. But he added it's "not an easy decision."

"It's very tough to push rates higher in the United States, when Europe needs to keep them low. And you got this situation existing around the world," he said in a wide-ranging interview on CNBC. "But I keep hearing the [Fed] governors saying it's going to happen soon."

"It may very well happen. But I don't think it's an easy decision when … you may be affecting exports and imports very significantly, if you push rates here to be considerably higher than in Europe," Buffett said in the "Squawk Box" interview.

As for the U.S. economy, the Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO said he expects more of the same that's been seen in the past five years, about 2 percent growth.

Talk of a double-dip recession or a rapid acceleration appear equally unlikely, he said: "I don't see [the economy] accelerating or decelerating."

Buffett, who looks to buy stocks or business for their long-term prospects, said recent weakness in the market does not concern him.

"Stocks are going to be higher, and perhaps a lot higher 10 years from now, 20 years from now," he said, adding that's why he does not try to time the market.

Using housing as an analogy, he said people won't sell their homes if property values dipped 5 percent in the hopes of buying their homes back cheaper.

Buffett also touched on a number of other issues, from his possible intentions concerning IBM stock and Mondelez as an acquisition prospect, to the 2016 presidential race, to Berkshire's big acquisition of an aircraft parts maker.

Read more from Buffett's interviewDid Warren Buffett signal new IBM stock buy? Warren Buffett: Precision deal 'very high multiple' Warren Buffett: Trump won't be a flash in the pan

Summary: Billionaire Warren Buffett appears on CNBC and discusses a range of issues, including Berkshire Hathaway's $37 billion purchase in aircraft parts.


David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A Kohl's store in Colma, California.

Off-Aisle by Kohl's, however, will differ from its competitors' in that it will initially consist of like-new items that have been returned to the retailer's stores or through its website. Kohl's spokeswoman Jen Johnson said that other merchandise will eventually be added to the assortment, where items will sell for discounts as deep as 90 percent off.

Read MoreNordstrom's fastest-growing division stalls

"Off-Aisle by Kohl's is a single store that will enable Kohl's to test new ways to provide our customers with the opportunity to purchase merchandise at a highly discounted price," Johnson said.

The store, which opens in early June, will be located in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

With sales growth that's outpacing the overall apparel market, retailers have been honing in on the off-price category to attract discount-savvy shoppers.

Though its lower-priced division posted a rare misstep in the first quarter, same-store sales gains at Nordstrom's Rack had previously outpaced those at its traditional department stores for 2 1/2 years. And on Tuesday, TJ Maxx and Marshalls parent firm TJX posted its 25th-straight quarter of comparable sales growth.

Read MoreMacy's joins bargain game in new bid for growth

Despite these outsize gains, the off-price environment is also getting more competitive. In a call with investors earlier this week, TJX CEO Carol Meyrowitz said the company sees opportunity to expand its store count to 5,475, up from more than 3,400 locations today. Similarly, Nordstrom has said it will nearly double its Rack footprint to 300 stores by 2020.

Last week, Kohl's reported earnings of 63 cents a share on revenues of $4.12 billion.

Summary: Kohl's is the latest retailer to say it will join the outlet fray, following the likes of Nordstrom, Saks and Neiman Marcus.


The group has a market capitalization of around £534 million, compared to Barclays' £45 billion.

However, so-called systemically important banks such as Barclays have come under far tougher scrutiny and regulation in the wake of the 2007-08 financial crisis.

This has spurred speculation that emerging market-focused rivals of Barclays, like HSBC and Standard Chartered, might quit the U.K. to headquarter elsewhere.

"I think there is a very important future for universal banks, based on customer needs and client needs and those have not changed. But there is not a capital advantage," Diamond told CNBC.

Atlas Mara has pursued the same aggressive expansion strategy in Africa that Diamond espoused as head of Barclays, acquiring control or significant stakes in banking operations in Nigeria, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania and Rwanda.

Summary: Ex-Barclays chief Bob Diamond told CNBC that tougher regulation means large banks were finding it harder to access to capital.


However, Watts noted that as well as falloff in post-Christmas discounting, the majority of U.S. retailers were offering discounts in early November, before halting them just days ahead of Thanksgiving.

"In the coming years, as retailers and brands continue to increase the number of (price) 'drops' within a year, we expect to see greater fluidity in the discounting calendar—not twice yearly spikes," he said in the report.

Cyber Monday will likely see the largest online sales of any day this year, according to Adobe Digital Index, which provides data on digital trends. It forecasts cyber sales of $2.60 billion on December 1, up 15 percent year–on-year.

Read More5 holiday gift-giving mistakes to avoid

Black Friday online sales were seen at $2.48 billion, up a healthy 28 percent year-on-year.

Summary: Shoppers beware: The massive discounts and promotions after Thanksgiving and Christmas may soon be history, according to a retail report.


On the evening of Monday, the 30th ult., Hon. GEORGE ROBERTSON, for many years a mumber of Congress form Kentucky, delivered a speech at a Bell and Everett mass meeting in Covington. After viewing some of the positions taken by Mr. YAMOBY, Judge ROBERTSON discussed at length the unconstitutionality of accession. While on this subject he said:

"Can any State break up the Union? Must not the people have power to defend themselves -- to preserve their Government? Can any one member of the Union, becoming discontented or factious, break up the Union? What sort of Government would you call that? All the States are partners in the Union, and could South Carolina by retiring from the Union dissolve the partnership? Does not the Constitution provide that it shall not be altered, changed or amended, but shall be binding on every State and every citizen until three-fourths of the States by their legal representatives shall concur in revoking, changing or amending it? Are we dependent upon the accidental will of an accidental majority in a little State for all the blessings we enjoy under this glorious Constitution? Could South Carolina by blocking her ports affect the commerce of the United States? Could she by blocking her ports paralyze the power of the General Government to regulate commerce? Could she absolve herself from the obligation to pay her portion of the debts of the United States?

Gentlemen and ladies, I know this is a dry subject; it is one upon which I would like to dwell, if time and occasion would permit. I know it is dry, and, therefore, I will not labor for the purpose of proving that nullification and secession are both equally unconstitutional. If a State choose to revolt by rebellion, she has a natural right to take notice that when a State or any faction of people revolt, they must take the chances. If they succeed they may be called patriots. If they fall they will be denounced as traitors, and will meet the doom of traitors. [Applause.]

Judge ROBERTSON then proceeded to show how this principle was to be applied in the present crisis. He alluded to the nullification troubles in 1853, and charged that there was just as much proof now that Mr. BRECKINRIDGE was a nullifier and seceder as that Mr. YANCEY belonged to that class of politicians. Then speaking of the Norfolk questions, he said:

"Well, now they talk about DOUGLAS' answer being infamous. They say -- suppose every Southern State, including Kentucky, should secede, would you then, as a Kentuckian, join an Abolition army to force Kentucky to remain in the Union? There is secession that can't be healed. There is revolt that it is hopeless to try to put down. That is not the question. Suppose the people of the other States are opposed to secession, and a particular State shall try to secede. They say it would be wrong to use an army to subdue her. There is the crisis. That is the practical test of the powers of all Government. Moral suasion and advice is generally sufficient, but if that is not sufficient, if they will insist upon rebelling, you must use the proper power. If an army be necessary, it is the duty of the United States to call the army into service.

What did Gen. WASHINGTON do? Did not he himself in person, head an army to go to Western Pennsylvania, to put down the whisky insurrection? Were not SITEGREVES and others prosecuted and convicted of treason, but as the thing had passed off, he wisely and prudently pardoned them? But had the same crisis occurred again, Gen. WASHINGTON would have said it is too late now to compromise, if this thing is persisted in, the sooner the experiment as to whether we can maintain the Government is decided, the better for us and our posterity.

You will find, I think, if they bring us to that extremity that you hear something about -- treason against the United States -- that the, agitators will find whether there is a Government or the United States that can hang you for treason. I would resort to that extreme remedy if absolutely necessary. What would I do, suppose, for illustration, South Carolina, In the event of LINCOLN's election, should secede? She cannot move her geographical position. Suppose she says she is out of the Union. I say you have no right to go out; but as you say you are out, and will insist upon going out, you are not entitled to the protection of the Constitution of the United States, and you shall not have it. If you don't choose to send members of Congress to Washington, we can get along without them. If you don't choose to invoke the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, we won't press it upon you. As long as you stand out in defiance of the Constitution, you shall practically be treated as if you were out of the Union. If you want the mail, you must get it the best way you can. No mail shall pass the last post-office northwest of your State line. But there is one thing you must do. You must pay duties upon imported goods. To make you do this, I will use no force, but will send to hover round your harbor an American vessel, and whenever it sees a ship from abroad coining towards your port with goods to be unloaded there, not permit it to pass into the port until the duties are paid. That would be an act of aggression -- no war. What could they do? Governor WISE -- General Wiss, that wants to hunt up an army to fight -- who would he fight, where would he fight? How would South Corolina get along? she would have no mail, no representation in Congress, no participation in the Judiciary of the United States, no opportunity to get any goods imported without paying duty. She would, in fact, be starved out. If she should levy an army to send to Washington City, then I would call that treason, and then I would use force. It never would be necessary to resort to that extreme remedy. Here you have a quiet, sure and safe antidote against ultimate secession. I have detained you too long upon this first topic, but it is an important one."

Summary: On the evening of Monday, the 30th ult., Hon. GEORGE ROBERTSON, for many years a mumber of Congress form Kentucky, delivered a speech at Bell and Everett mass meeting in Covington. After viewing some of the positions taken by Mr. YAMOBY, Judge ROBERTSON discussed at length the unconstitutionality of seccession. While on this subject he said:


12/16/2015 AT 10:55 AM EST

is continuing to avoid the spotlight, but his older sisters aren't giving up on their public encouragement of the

In the image, posted to Kourtney's

, Rob held her hand as they walked down the street.

The pair's ensembles definitely date the image – Rob wore a polo shirt while Kourtney donned a silk chemise.

"Bobby," she wrote, with a simple heart emoji.

Khloé's post yesterday on the popular photo sharing app encouraged the reclusive star to "see yourself through my eyes."

"I'll forever be obsessed with you! My one and only! #MyAce," she wrote to the 28-year-old.

Rob first began avoiding the public eye after

He has since skipped out on family events, including sister

's wedding, but appears to be

"I've been working on my patience," Khloé previously told PEOPLE of her brother's problems. "I've been really trying. But I have my moments and I do snap â¦ I can't win life for Rob. I have to wait until [he's] ready to do it for himself."

Summary: Rob continues to avoid the spotlight following a battle with depression and significant weight gain


Advocacy groups have been pushing to limit unhealthy snacks and the ads promoting them for years.

"Given the high rates of childhood obesity and children's poor diets, it doesn't make sense to advertise and market unhealthy food to children at all, much less in schools," said Margo Wootan, Center for Science in the Public Interest's nutrition policy director.

CSPI says that in 2012, 70 percent of elementary and middle school students and 90 percent of high school students attended schools that allowed food marketing, most of it for unhealthy food.

(Read more: Lawmaker wants sugary drink warnings)

The Federal Trade Commission says the heaviest marketers are candy and snack food manufacturers, beverage companies and fast-food restaurants, which make use of posters and scoreboards.

They also give students coupons, for instance offering pizza as a prize for students who read a certain number of books, and they place advertisements in school television programs and other educational materials.

California banned sodas and junk food from public schools in 2005 and Connecticut did so in 2006, but most states don't have policies.

"Our priority is supporting the health of kids and they shouldn't be targeted for the marketing of junk foods and drinks," said Sam Kass, executive director of Let's Move.

(Read more: That chemical Subway ditched? Yep, it's everywhere)

Ads for junk foods such as candy bars, potato chips and other treats that don't conform to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Smart Snacks in School guidelines would be banned under the proposed rules. Those recent USDA guidelines limit calories, sugar, and fat content in food sold to students at 100,000 schools. Concessions sold at after-school sports games would be exempt.

As much as 90 percent of marketing for unhealthy foods in schools is related to beverages, and companies have already started to adjust. Under the proposal, beverage companies could market their branded lines of bottled water, but not sugary soft drinks.

"The new standards ensure that schools remain a safe place where kids can learn and where the school environment promotes healthy choices," U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement, adding that they want to "make the healthy choice, the easy choice for America's young people."

(Read more: Poop and eight other trends from the Toy Fair)

The beverage industry — led by companies Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper Snapple Group and PepsiCo — is on board with the move. In a statement, American Beverage Association President and CEO Susan Neely said that aligning signage with the healthier drinks that will be offered in schools is the "logical next step."

"Mrs. Obama's efforts to continue to strengthen school wellness make sense for the well-being of our schoolchildren," Neely said.

—By NBC News's Maggie Fox. The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Summary: It's another step in Michelle Obama's campaign against obesity. NBC reports.


One person’s tedium is another person’s riveting depth. “London Spy,” a new BBC America miniseries, may remind you of that TV axiom, as the drama creeps forward with the kind of deliberate pace that, as with “Rectify” and “Breaking Bad,” requires patience. It most certainly rewards you for your focus, as it brings you into a sense of real time with the characters and enables you to see and feel all of what is at stake. A lot is happening in each mesmerizing moment, not action-wise but psychologically. But still, be forewarned, “London Spy” runs a few miles behind fast shows such as “Empire,” which are driven to offer at least one major plot twist between every commercial break.

OK, now that I’ve gotten that caveat out of the way, I can drop some praise on “London Spy,” which premieres on Thursday night at 10. The five-part miniseries is both a rich love story and, as the dull title indicated, a spy drama, with both genres tightly bound up together. Ben Whishaw stars as Danny, a lonely man who works at a big box store, lives in a shabby apartment with friends, and is getting tired of and too old for a life of one-night stands. When he has a chance meeting with handsome investment banker Alex, played by Edward Holcroft, he falls fast. Alex is still in the closet, and, quite unlike Danny, has never acted on his gay attractions. Still, they forge a deep bond, which we watch unfold as if through a microscope.

And that’s all I’m going to say about the story line, which, with some Hitchcockian flair, develops into something unexpected and mysterious. I’m not even going to tell you who Charlotte Rampling plays, when she shows up with a chilly wind in episode 2. But I will say that your understanding of the facts of the situation will change with each enigmatic hour. Part of the pleasure of “London Spy,” created and written by Tom Rob Smith, is the way truths about the characters — not just Danny and Alex, but Danny’s older gay friend and mentor, Jim Broadbent’s Scottie — emerge gradually, elliptically, after you’ve been wondering for a while. Very little about the plot is telegraphed ahead of time.

Whishaw is extraordinary in this role. The actor, who has played Q in the last two James Bond movies, has done plenty of standout work in recent years, in the TV journalism drama “The Hour” and in the movie “Bright Star” as poet John Keats. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen him quite as raw as he is in “London Spy,” which features some dreamily explicit sex scenes. It’s a seamless and seemingly effortless performance, with Whishaw thoroughly immersed in the role, and it’s a treat to watch him work dynamic scenes with the formidable Rampling and Broadbent.

As Danny, Whishaw is boyish and flip right down to the way he walks. But you can feel the exhaustion in his soul at his rudderless life, before he and Alex’s relationship takes off (Whishaw even looks a bit like depressed musician Nick Drake). You can tell, as the show’s mystery develops, that his new love has made him finally ready to fight for what he wants. Despite the fact that Danny spent years doing drugs and having random sex, he remains a romantic, which Whishaw conveys with great subtlety. You may or may not struggle with the heightened, heated-up filmmaking in “London Spy,” which is filled with artful camera angles and non-linear time leaps, but you will likely fall under Whishaw’s spell.

Danny is out to sea as his relationship with Alex ushers him into a challenging and murky new reality. And Smith puts us alongside Danny for the ride, as he fights to find out what is really going on and who is zooming who. Despite governmental bluff and other significant obstacles, Danny refuses to drop out. He doggedly continues to follow the trail of clues and suspicions as they emerge in “London Spy.” I’m glad I did the same thing.

Starring: Ben Whishaw, Edward Holcroft. Jim Broadbent, Charlotte Rampling, Samantha Spiro. On BBC America, Thursday night, 10-11:15

Summary: BBC America’s five-part miniseries is both a rich love story and, as the dull title indicated, a spy drama, with both genres tightly bound up together.


Blair alsoÂ said that Britain needed aÂ wider debate onÂ Muslim integration, and particularly over theÂ need to strikeÂ a balance between integration and multiculturalism.

"It is a mark of separation and that's why it makes other peopleÂ from outside the community feel uncomfortable," he said at hisÂ monthly press conference on Tuesday, pointing out that UK Muslims should be free to dress as they wished.

"No-one wants to say that people don't have the right to do it.Â That's to take it too far."

Blair was speaking in reference to a recent case when a British school fired a Muslim teacher for refusing to take off her veil for classes.

"We need to conduct this debate in a sensitive way, but it needsÂ to be conducted"Â

The school said thatÂ she was unable to teach while showing only her eyes.

Blair has previously been reticent over the issue, but on TuesdayÂ said he supported the handling of the case.

"I can see the reasons why they came to the decision that theyÂ did," he said.

Blair also said that the controversyÂ over the veil highlighted the difficulties faced byÂ British Muslims trying to balance their loyalty to their stateÂ and to their religion.

"People want to know the Muslim community in particular, butÂ actually all the minority communities, have got the balance rightÂ between integration and multiculturalism," he said.

"We need to conduct this debate in a sensitive way, but it needsÂ to be conducted." Jack Straw's comments on veils angered many Muslim women

Jack Straw's comments on veils angered many Muslim women

He later added that the veil debate was part of a wider struggle within the Muslim world over the future of Islam.

"There's a second issues which is about Islam itself, and how Islam comes to terms with, and is comfortable with, the modern world," he said.

His comments came after Jack Straw, a cabinet minister andÂ former foreign secretary, wroteÂ two weeks ago that he asksÂ Muslim women who come to his constituency surgery to remove theirÂ veils.

StrawÂ later added that he would prefer if women did not wear veilsÂ at all.

The recent controversy has focused mainly on the right of Muslim women to cover their faces - rather than on their right to just cover their hair.

Summary: <P>Tony Blair, the British prime minister, has entered the debate over the integration of Muslims into British society, calling the full veil worn by some Muslim women


Activision Blizzard Inc. on Thursday turned in a lackluster report for the holiday quarter, which included a rare miss on analyst profit forecasts.

Investors punished the company’s stock in return. Shares of Activision, which had rallied from around $28 a share in price to near $40 in the final months of last year, tumbled by as much as 18% in after-hours trading on Thursday. In recent trade, the stock price was down 13.5%.

Activision reported that adjusted profit fell in the fourth quarter to 83 cents a share from 94 cents a year ago. Analysts had forecast 86 cents, while the company expected 82 cents.

The company hasn’t missed on analyst per-share profit expectations in about five years, according to Colin Sebastian, an analyst at R.W. Baird & Co. “This market is unforgiving right now,” he said. “There’s an exaggerated reaction to misses because there’s a lot of uncertainty.”

Along with the profit miss, Activision announced a delay to the sequel of a key game, while results slumped at King Digital Entertainment PLC, the mobile game maker Activision is acquiring.

The company had expected adjusted revenue in the fourth quarter, which is the important holiday period, to be flat at $2.15 billion, since it released a similar holiday slate of games a year earlier, including a fresh “Call of Duty” installment. Instead, adjusted revenue fell roughly 4% to $2.12 billion.

Videogame companies, as well as Wall Street, focus on adjusted results because under U.S. accounting rules, revenue for online-enabled games is deferred as long as new content is being added.

Meanwhile, the impact of a strong U.S. dollar trimmed $125 million from revenue and 11 cents a share in profit, Activision added.

Activision also partly blamed a soft showing from casual games, such as “Skylanders SuperChargers,” for its subpar fourth quarter. Stores were filled this past Christmas with toys-to-life competitors, such as an “Infinity” game from Walt Disney Co. featuring “Star Wars” characters and a new entrant from Lego A/S called “Dimensions” that included Batman.

Casual players are also shifting to mobile devices, hurting console games such as “Guitar Hero Live,” the company said.

Activision has taken steps to expand beyond its core business of console gaming, including the $5.9 billion acquisition of King, which has one of the world’s most successful mobile franchises in “Candy Crush.” The deal, which is expected to be completed later this month, gives Activision a stronger foothold in the fast-growing mobile-games business. Once completed, Activision said it would have 500 million monthly active users, up from 80 million.

But Activision faces challenges in growing King beyond its “Candy Crush” fame. For the fourth quarter, King on Thursday reported revenue, profit and a user base that were lower than a year earlier. Spending by players in newer games was increasing, but not enough to offset a drop in spending on older games, particularly “Candy Crush Saga,” King said.

King, which will continue to operate as an independent unit under CEO Riccardo Zacconi after the acquisition is final, posted $478 million in adjusted revenue and per-share profit of 38 cents for the holiday quarter. That was down from $559 million and 57 cents a share a year ago. Adjusted bookings tumbled 13% to $509 million. Monthly unique payers fell 21% to 6.58 million.

Still, Activision expects a brighter 2016, with adjusted revenue of $6.25 billion and per-share profit of $1.75, well above the $4.62 billion in adjusted revenue and $1.32 in per-share profit earned in 2015.

On a conference call with analysts, Chief Executive Bobby Kotick reiterated that Activision views itself as a broad entertainment company. He described its customer base as comparable to that of major social and entertainment giants such as Facebook Inc., ESPN and the National Football League.

To illustrate that point, he highlighted the King acquisition and that of “e-sports” producer and broadcaster Major League Gaming Inc. He said they were key to growing monthly active users as well as the number of hours people spend watching the company’s content.

Other company executives on the call also talked up the release of “Overwatch,” a new franchise coming in 2016 that is integral to the company’s e-sports expansion. At the same time, though, Activision said it was pushing back a sequel to the smash hit “Destiny” to 2017.

Rising demand for content delivered over the Internet helped boost digital sales to a high for the holiday period, Activision said. For example, the company sold nearly double as many digital downloads of “Call of Duty: Black Ops III” as it did with the series’ prior installment, “Advanced Warfare,” released a year earlier.

Adjusted digital revenue reached a record $780 million, accounting for a record 37% of total adjusted revenue. Rivals Electronic Arts Inc. and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. in recent days also reported strong digital revenue, a boon for profit margins.

Under generally accepted accounting principles, Activision reported fourth-quarter revenue of $1.35 billion and a profit of 21 cents a share, down from $1.58 billion and 49 cents a share a year earlier.

Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com

Summary: Activision Blizzard on Thursday turned in a lackluster report for the fourth quarter, though it expects significantly stronger results in 2016, as it digests “Candy Crush” maker King Digital.


updated 02/26/2016 AT 11:35 AM EST

•originally published 02/26/2016 AT 10:35 AM EST

Police have identified the suspect in a mass shooting across two Kansas towns that left four people dead, including the shooter, and 14 injured, PEOPLE confirms.

Police say 38-year-old Cedric Ford drove through two Kansas towns on Thursday, shooting people before opening fire on his own workplace, a Harvey County Sheriff's Office spokesperson tells PEOPLE.

"He was randomly shooting people," Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton said of the gunman during a news conference on Friday.

At around 5 p.m., officers received a report of a man shot in the shoulder. Soon another report came in, another victim had been shot in the leg, the sheriff's office said in a

"The shooter proceeded north to Excel Industries in Hesston, where one person was shot in the parking lot before he opened fire inside the building," police said in the statement. "He was seen entering the building with a long gun."

Source: Cedric Ford / Facebook

Three people were killed inside the factory. Walton said he does not believe the shooter said anything to the victims before shooting.

The spokesperson said that the gunman was an employee at the factory, which manufactures lawn care equipment.

"An officer responding to the scene exchanged fire with the shooter, who was killed," police said in the statement. "The officer was not injured."

Shooting across two towns in Kansas

Fernando Salazar / TNS via ZUMA Wire

Police said that 15 ambulances and two helicopters were used to transport victims to the Newton Medical Center, as well as Wesley Medical Center and St. Francis Medical Center in Wichita.

Police said 10 of the victims were critically injured. Walton did not reveal the names of the victims on Friday, saying those names will not be released until later Friday or perhaps even Saturday.

At the news conference, Officer Chris Carter described entering the factory after the shooting as "overwhelming."

"We're on autopilot," he said of himself and his fellow officers. "We're trained for these."

Less than two hours before the deadly shooting, the sheriff's office served the shooter with a protection from abuse order at the factory, Walton said. He said the man was upset, but no more than any other person would be when served with such an order.

"He didn't display anything that was outrageous," Walton said. "He was just a little upset."

Walton said that the person who had the order of protection out against the shooter was not in the Excel factory.

The official did not give details about the circumstances surrounding the order, but said such orders are usually filed due to violence in a relationship.

The shooter has a criminal history stretching back to 1996,

reports, citing court records. The shooter previously lived in Miami and had a series of convictions in Florida.

At the press conference, Walton said, "[The shooter has] been in my jail a couple times before."

Authorities said at the press conference that how the shooter obtained weapons, given his criminal history, is under investigation.

Summary: Police fatally shot Cedric Ford, 38, after he opened fire on multiple people across two Kansas towns


"We ask the government of Abkhazia to call on the Russian Federation ... and international organisations and the international community to start the process of recognition of an independent Republic of Abkhazia," a petition the parliament read.

Abkhazia broke away from Georgia after a war in 1992-1993 but is not recognised as an independent nation by any other country.

The resolution declared that the region had all the qualities of an independent state.

"The 13-year postwar period has confirmed the viability of the de facto independent state of Abkhazia, and the only thing that has to be done now is confirm and legitimise this sovereignty, just like it was done in relation to other countries in a similar situation," it said.

The majority of the Black Sea province's population holds Russian passports and Russia maintains a border crossing with the isolated region.

AbkhaziaTerritory: 8,700 sq kmCapital city: Sukhumi (Akua in Abkhaz)Population: 340,000Ethnic groups: Abkhaz, Armenians, Georgians, Greeks, Megrelians, Russians, UkrainiansSource: Unrepresented Nations and Peoples OrganisationGeorgia has accused Russian troops, who are based in Abkhazia as part of a peacekeeping mission, of supporting the terrorists.

AbkhaziaTerritory: 8,700 sq kmCapital city: Sukhumi (Akua in Abkhaz)Population: 340,000Ethnic groups: Abkhaz, Armenians, Georgians, Greeks, Megrelians, Russians, UkrainiansSource: Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation

Mikhail Saakashvili, the Georgian president, has vowed to bring Abkhazia, and another breakaway region South Ossetia, back under the control of Tbilisi.

Russian officials have said that if the Serbian province of Kosovo is granted independence, similar requests from Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Moldova's separatist Transdniestria province should also be considered.Â Â Â One week ago, Transdniestria appealed to other ex-Soviet states, including Russia, to recognise its independence. Russia has not reacted to the Transdniestrian appeal.

Relations between Moscow and Tbilisi have reached a low point after Georgia arrested four Russian military officers on charges of espionage and the Kremlin retaliated by imposing a transport and postal blockade.

Summary: The parliament of Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia has officially asked Russia to recognise its independence.


Elisabeth Röhm with Sabiq Moolji at the American Heart Association Kiosk at DFW Airport

Brandon Wade Brandon Wade / American Heart Association / Edelman

03/10/2016 AT 07:15 PM EST

to heart disease, and she has since become a voice to encourage others to be an advocate for their own health.

"My mom [and aunt] passed away [in their 60s from heart disease], and my dad had a heart attack when I was around 10 and he had a triple bypass," the actress, 42, tells PEOPLE of how her partnership with the

annual fashion show in 2012

"Rather than just sit there and do nothing about

, I put all of that pain, sorrow and longing for my mother into helping educate and make people aware. I would really like for people to not have to experience what I had to experience," she continues.

With heart disease being the number one cause of death in the United States, the

actress says, "There's no reason to not be CPR certified."

"To know CPR is to know how to prevent a tragedy, [so] if you've got 70 percent of these cardiac arrests that take place in the home – this could be your child, spouse, parent, friend – the initiative is to make CPR something that's not really intimidating, that's something that everybody feels they can learn. Hands-only CPR makes it just very, very easy," explains Röhm.

To further the nation's knowledge on the killer disease, the AHA and Anthem Foundation teamed up to place CPR training kiosks in seven airports all around the country. The kiosk looks like a video game, but instead teaches the lifesaving method to the beat of "Stayin' Alive."

.@ElisabethRohm is at #DFW today to show us how #CPRsaveslives. Visit https://t.co/UCFCZxTtkJ for more information. pic.twitter.com/Y9qhHCYpEy

"I've been stuck in so many airports for hours and wandering around, but to be able to go up to a kiosk in some of these major select airports is an amazing way to spend some of your wait," she says. "It's a miracle."

Nancy Reagan on the cover of PEOPLE

With of all the heartache and pain Röhm has had to endure over the years, she has been able to take it and drive it into something that's positive and can help other people, including her 7-year-old daughter, Easton.

"Easton is aware of the fact that I have lost two very meaningful, pivotal people in my life and that our family is devoted to heart and health, and that's with any family that's survived a tragedy," she says. "It's a part of our legacy now."

Summary: The Joy actress opens up about losing her mother and aunt to heart disease


Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko smiles in a glass cage inside court. (AP)

A Russian court has sentenced Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko to 22 years in jail after finding her guilty of complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists during the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Savchenko, a 34-year-old who has become a national hero at home in Ukraine, was defiant as the verdict was read out on Tuesday, shouting out a Ukrainian song and forcing the judge Leonid Stepanenko to call a brief adjournment.

Savchenko was captured by pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine in June 2014 during the separatist conflict there and handed over to Russia where she was charged with directing mortar fire which killed the two Russian journalists.

She has denied wrongdoing, and, from the glass and metal cage where she has been held in the courtroom, has often shouted her view that she is the victim of a show trial aimed at humiliating Ukraine.

Russian officials have signalled that, once the trial is over, they may be open to negotiations about handing Savchenko over to Ukraine, possibly as part of a prisoner exchange.

Summary: Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko has been sentenced to 22 years in a Russian jail, after being found complicit in the murder of two journalists.


04/25/2016 AT 12:20 PM EDT

is proving that fitness can completely

– with her own photos!

with one child next to a shot of when she was carrying twins at the same gestation. And though she has two babies in her belly in the second photo – her bump is

and nutrition with the twins – her third pregnancy – for the difference.

"My first pregnancy, I didn't exercise at all," Guidolin tells PEOPLE. "I felt tired all the time and struggled with the labor and the pregnancy. My third pregnancy I exercised the entire time and continued to work all the way through the pregnancy."

When she had her first two kids, both sons who are now 8 and 7, Guidolin lived an entirely

"I had very little idea about nutrition, and would eat packaged noodles and flavored milks to fill me up," she says. "I rarely made things from scratch and didn't really understand the difference a healthy lifestyle would make. My third pregnancy, I listened to my body, ate only meals from scratch – a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits – and had a clean lifestyle."

Her hard work paid off – Guidolin gained just 37 lbs. with her twins, now 7 months old, after gaining 62 lbs. with her first child. And Guidolin's

helped her bounce back after.

"I feel as though my fitness and strength that I continued throughout allowed me a better recovery," she says.

Guidolin wants other women to see her photo and know that it's never too late to overhaul

"I wanted to inspire women who may have experienced a hard pregnancy previously that it is possible to change your lifestyle and completely change your own personal experience and health," she says.

"My personal experience has been worlds apart since changing my lifestyle, and I really want others to know that they too can make some positive changes in their life."

Summary: Sophie Guidolin gained 62 lbs. with one child – but only 37 lbs. with twins!


People with albinism in Malawi are at risk of "systemic extinction" due to relentless attacks fuelled by superstitions, the United Nations' top expert on albinism has said on her first official visit in her new role.

At least 65 cases of violence against people with albinism including killings and dismemberment have been recorded by police in Malawi since late 2014, said Ikponwosa Ero, the UN's independent expert on human rights and albinism, on Friday.

People with albinism live in danger in regions of the world where their body parts are valued in witchcraft and can fetch a high price.

Superstition leads many to believe albino children bring bad luck.

In Malawi, where people with albinism number around 10,000 out of a population of around 16.5 million, the situation amounted to "an emergency, a crisis disturbing in its proportions", she said.

Some of the Malawians with albinism she met compared their ordeal to that of endangered species in the wild, Ero told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a phone interview from Malawi.

She said people with albinism are "an endangered people group facing a risk of systemic extinction over time if nothing is done."

"We talk about protecting wildlife while not even prioritising efforts in protecting people with albinism," she said.

Ero, who is from Nigeria and has albinism, took the job as the UN's first independent expert on the issue last August.

Albinism is a congenital disorder affecting about one in 20,000 people worldwide who lack pigment in their skin, hair and eyes. It is more common, however, in sub-Saharan Africa.

Attacks against people with albinism are particularly brutal, at times involving victims being dismembered alive by assailants wielding machetes, Ero said in her first report earlier this year.

She said was particularly troubled during her Malawi trip by an encounter with a teenage boy, Alfred.

The 17-year-old with albinism had been found in a pool of blood a year ago after being stabbed during his sleep by a machete-wielding attackers.

He was silent while meeting her, she said. The boy hadn't recovered and stopped attending school since the attack.

"You wonder what will become of this person," said Ero.

Summary: Brutal attacks on people with albinism, whose body parts are valued in witchcraft, has left them at risk of "extinction" in Malawi, a UN expert says.


are the proud parents of a

The actress' rep confirmed to PEOPLE that the new addition arrived last fall after her

revival costar Scott Patterson revealed Bledel's mom status in

"She's really blossomed as a woman and now she's a proud new mother and married and happy,"

. "We're comparing notes because my son [born July 2014] is about a year and a half older than her young son. I'm showing her photos and videos and what to expect. We're just really enjoying each other's company."

As with their courtship and subsequent marriage, the private pair had kept news of their growing family under wraps.

"It's something I realized about the most important things in my life," Kartheiser

in 2014 about keeping his lips sealed when it comes to his personal life. "If I share them with the world and I open that door to their fuming anger that they need to get out or their adoration that they want to flaunt, it lessens it. It cheapens it; it weakens it. And it's magical, love, and all of that is â¦ profoundly spiritual, and it just doesn't feel right."

The couple met when Bledel guest starred as the mistress of Pete Campbell (Kartheiser's character) on season 5 of

that he kept it "completely professional" and didn't become romantically involved with Bledel until two months after the season wrapped, but costar

said he sensed a connection between the future-spouses long before they made it official.

"I did know he liked her from a very early point,"

. "I was a supporter of that union."

Even show creator Matthew Weiner could feel the love in the air. "I told Vinny that they would be great together. I was like, 'Don't blow it!'" he told

"Honestly, they're a really good match," he added. "They're both very down to earth, with a sense of responsibility and strong family ties. And they've been acting since before they can remember, which makes for a very special personality. It's not just that I thought they would look cute together."

Bledel and Kartheiser finally went public with their relationship at an October 2012 press event. Then in March 2013, Kartheiser shyly admitted to

. "Yes, I don't know, yes," he replied when asked if he was getting married.

costars stepped in to spill some details on the romance.

the actor jokingly practiced popping the question on her and

"It was purely comedic but he was giving [Elisabeth] and I a facetious rendition of his planned proposal," Paré said at the season 6 premiere of the show. "We were like, 'Great! Lets do this one without cursing and without yelling!'"

"They are such a yin and yang," Moss added about the couple. "I've known Vinny for 12 years and Alexis is just the sweetest. I've never seen Vincent like this. It is really cool."

The next month, Bledel gave the world a glimpse of her gorgeous octagonal-shaped

– secretly, of course – in a June 2014 ceremony in California.

Although officially husband and wife, Bledel and Kartheiser didn't make a public appearance together until the January 2016 Screen Actors Guild Awards.

The reclusive life is nothing new for Kartheiser, who

in 2014 that he tends not to leave his house because, as he put it, "there's nothing out there."

Although he prefers to stay a healthy distance away from the grid, Kartheiser admitted to

that his lifestyle isn't quite as eccentric as he led reporters to believe in his pre-Bledel days. "Like, I don't have a toilet at the moment. My house is just a wooden box. I mean I am planning to get a toilet at some point. But for now I have to go to the neighbors. I threw it all out," he told

that he has never lived without a toilet, but he does maintain that he lived without a car in L.A. for years, commuting to the

"I go on the bus, I walk," he told

. "A friend left his car recently at my house and I took it out one day just for 15 minutes and it was terrible. You know why? I felt like I was back in L.A. again. Four or five years ago, when I had a car and I had been out of the city, I wouldn't feel I was back until I got in the car, you know. But now I feel off the grid. I feel that I am not part of the culture. And because I don't have a car I don't really go anywhere to buy things."

But by 2014, Kratheiser's lady love was already encouraging him to tune down his quirks. "I still dress like I did in high school. My fiancée bought me all of this," he told

about his dapper outfit. "She's like, 'Honestly, another ripped T-shirt? Put this on.'"

Now parents, the couple remain comfortable in their private ways, but Kartheiser has seemed to move on from his living in "a wooden box" phase, and we even got a rare peek of their marital style when their chic Brooklyn Heights

recently went on the market.

Summary: The actors have kept their relationship discreet since meeting on the set of Mad Men in 2012


Since the end of the Cold War, nations across Europe have spent relatively little time or money defending their borders from aggressive neighbors. But, as tensions between Russia and the west rise, several nations in the region are boosting defense budgets and eyeing new sophisticated air defense weapons systems.

That’s set the stage for a showdown between U.S. defense contractors Raytheon RTN and Lockheed Martin LMT , the world’s leading makers of missile defense systems capable of knocking incoming airborne threats out of the sky.

Over the past decade, any conversation about European missile defense largely centered on a theater missile shield. The shield relies on a series of radar installations and missile batteries installed in Poland and Romania (largely funded by the U.S.) to defend against an Iranian ballistic missile threat. However, as Russia flexes its military might, Baltic and Scandinavian nations—as well as countries in central and Western Europe—are starting to feel nervous. Most are now shifting their attention away from pan-European missile shields and towards rapidly deployable piecemeal systems that can defend an individual nation’s airspace.

This type of defense means possibly buying anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense systems, which currently no one in the world does like U.S. defense firms Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, says Roman Schweizer, a defense policy analyst at Guggenheim Securities. “Missile defense is one of those categories that’s on its own right now,” he says. “U.S. defense systems are the best, or at least the proven technologies that outdistance the competition in many respects.”

Heightened interest in missile technology places Raytheon and Lockheed Martin on opposite sides of a marketing battle, which has billions of dollars and decades of contracts hanging in the balance.

Such a competition is already playing out in the Middle East and Asia, where perceived threats from North Korea, China, and Iran have pushed neighboring countries to bolster defenses. Since December 2014, Raytheon has piled up $5 billion in Patriot contracts from countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are also working to acquire Lockheed’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile system, on which the United Arab Emirates has signed deals totaling $1.9 billion in recent years.

But, while tensions in those regions have developed over decades, Russia’s diplomatic about-face has been a bit more abrupt and generated a lot of interest in Europe in a short amount of time. Given tightening defense budgets across the globe, options for countries wary of new threats are slim. “We’re in an environment of constrained dollars today, and no nation can go it alone, no one can take a blank sheet of paper and design a new weapons system,” says Raytheon vice president Tim Glaeser.

That makes Europe a ripe market for companies that can offer missile defense systems that are affordable and easy to deploy. “Europe could become a growth area,” Schweizer says. “Certainly Poland and Germany have made two big decisions lately that have been meaningful to Raytheon and Lockheed, and there are plenty of other opportunities.”

Raytheon sells the Patriot Air and Missile System, an interceptor missile system borne directly out of Cold War tensions with Russia in the 1980s. The Patriot rose to prominence during Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s and is now deployed across the globe, including with four European militaries and the United States Army.

Meanwhile Lockheed Martin—the underdog, but by no means the inferior in this competition—is aggressively marketing the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), its own ground-mobile air defense system. Jointly developed by the United States, Germany, and Italy, MEADS was designed to replace the Patriot, with Lockheed Martin as the prime contractor. In 2011, the U.S. decided not to purchase MEADS and instead upgraded its existing Patriot systems. In December of last year it pulled its support from the 10-year, $3.4 billion MEADS program, placing huge pressure on Lockheed to quickly find a customer for the program or risk shouldering much of the ongoing program costs itself.

MEADS suffered another setback earlier this year when Poland, after long considering the system for its air defenses, decided to go with the Patriot in April. However, the program’s luck began to change when in June Germany breathed $4 billion worth of new life into MEADS, selecting the system for its own defenses and opening the door to further exports. “Germany’s was an incredibly significant decision for us,” Marty Coyne, MEADS business development manager at Lockheed Martin, told National Defense magazine last month. “What is significant is that they extended an open invitation to the rest of Europe to come join them.”

Lockheed’s challenge will be convincing other countries already using Patriot to transition to MEADS. A nod of approval from Germany—which holds a lot of sway in the European defense community—could go a long way towards changing officials’ minds. Raytheon, for its part, will continue pressing the case for Patriot and its long track record.

Neither company is ceding ground just yet. Coyne has said publicly that Lockheed doesn’t believe Poland’s business is a lost cause, as the country plans to deploy eight total air defense batteries and its contract with Raytheon only covers two. Raytheon likewise isn’t counting out Germany. “The contract won’t be awarded until 2016 sometime,” says Raytheon’s Glaeser about Germany’s contract with Lockheed. “So if MEADS stumbles, Patriot will remain in the hunt.”

The rest of an increasingly wary Europe is still up for grabs.

Summary: As tensions with Russia escalate, Europe joins the Middle East and Asia in beefing up its missile defense systems.


The kitchen in Julia Child's former Provence home, where she spent vacations from 1962 until 1992, is the original one her husband designed.

Photo: Cote d'Azur Sotheby's International Realty

The counters are tall, since Child was 6-foot-2.

Photo: Cote d'Azur Sotheby's International Realty

It's modeled after her kitchen in Cambridge, Mass., which is now in the Smithsonian.

Photo: Cote d'Azur Sotheby's International Realty

The rest of the main house includes a cozy living/dining space with a woodburning fireplace.

Photo: Cote d'Azur Sotheby's International Realty

Another view of the main room.

Photo: Cote d'Azur Sotheby's International Realty

There are three bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, plus another separate building with a living room, bedroom, kitchenette and bathroom.

Photo: Cote d'Azur Sotheby's International Realty

The property is located near a village called Plascassier in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France -- half an hour's drive from Cannes.

Photo: Cote d'Azur Sotheby's International Realty

There's also a sweet pool on the half-acre property.

Photo: Cote d'Azur Sotheby's International Realty

There's a nice terrace, too.

Photo: Cote d'Azur Sotheby's International Realty

An aerial view of the entire property.

Photo: Cote d'Azur Sotheby's International realty

Julia Child lived in France full-time for less than six years, from 1948 to 1956. But after establishing herself as the master of French cooking and the nation’s culinary ambassador to America, she and her husband Paul built a small cottage there, returning as often as possible to their idyllic vacation home.

They called the home “La Pitchoune,” which means “the little one” in Provençal. Nicknamed “La Peetch,” the half-acre property is now on the open market for the first time, asking 800,000 euros, or $862,500. The Times first reported the listing and the asking price.

Imagine — this is the place where the Childs entertained food-world legends like James Beard, Richard Olney and M.F.K. Fisher!

Located near a village called Plascassier in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of southeastern France — half an hour’s drive from Cannes — the 1,614-square-foot house has four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a lovely pool and verdant surrounds, according to the listing.

Its pièce de résistance is the world’s only existing Julia Child-owned and -operated kitchen in a private home. Paul designed it, modeling it after the one in their home in Cambridge, Mass. (The Massachusetts kitchen is now in the Smithsonian’s permanent collection.) Child’s Cornue stove, though, has been replaced; the original is now in the possession of food writer Patricia Wells.

The home’s lore is true, too: the counters are extra-tall to accommodate her 6-foot-2 height; all the appliances are original to the house. Paul and his brother painted outlines of all the professional cooking accoutrements on pegboards, which are still there today. Cue living out any “Julie Meets Julia” fantasies.

The 1963-built home was constructed on grounds that belonged to Child’s best friend and collaborator, Simone “Simca” Beck. Beck co-authored “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” with Child in 1961. According to the listing, the Childs agreed to return the house to Beck using an extremely binding “handshake deal.”

In 1992, as Paul’s health declined and after Beck passed away, Child gave up the house. The next occupant, starting in 1992, was a cooking school called “Cooking With Friends in France.” It, too, had a Child connection — run by Kathie Alex, an American who had known Child and studied cooking under Beck. (Alex initially rented it for $1,000/month, according to Times.)

As per the listing, “Child once wrote to Alex, ‘I’m counting on you to teach Americans about butter and cream!’ ”

And Alex sure did — buying La Pitchoune in the late ’90s for about $400,000, the Times says. Alex, now 75, closed the cooking school this year “for health reasons,” and put the property up for sale.

Foodies will probably stay close to the kitchen, but for those who need to move beyond it, the main house also has a cozy living/dining room with a wood-burning fireplace and three bedrooms with renovated en-suite bathrooms. A separate building houses another living room, bedroom, kitchenette and bathroom. The grounds have a garage, terrace and delectable pool.

The listing is being marketed by Peter Illovsky of Côte d’Azur Sotheby’s International Realty.

Summary: Julia Child lived in France full-time for less than six years, from 1948 to 1956. But after establishing herself as the master of French cooking and the nation’s culinary ambassador to America, she…


Murders are at a record low and New York (probably) isn’t facing imminent disaster. How can a mayoral candidate do what the last two mayors did: run on a platform of competence — a campaign directed toward everyone, not just pandering to special interests?

The answer is easy: the single biggest factor affecting New Yorkers’ day-to-day quality of life — whether you’re rich, poor or in the middle — is noise. New Yorkers are not happy about it.

The noise crisis isn’t just anecdotal. Last year, the city logged 2 million complaints on its 311 system. And 10.3% of the calls — 208,769 — were about noise. That’s more than twice the number logged in 2004.

Even this understates the case. Many callers and online “complainers” on other topics aren’t complaining at all. The city had 50,032 reports of lost property, for example, and tens of thousands of requests for various pamphlets.

Plus, a hefty chunk of the tens of thousands of people who complained about construction were probably more upset about construction noise.

Noise complainers aren’t crazy. As Ed Wendell, president of his block association in Woodhaven, Queens, puts it, few are complaining about the neighbor who has a party once. Nor are people griping about the respectful developer who works within his allotted weekday hours (if there is such a creature).

Rather, New Yorkers are upset because they must endure chronic, debilitating noise.

And if a noise is loud and persistent enough to bother you, chances are it is illegal under the city’s ordinances.

On paper, New York strictly regulates decibel levels on everything from bars to trucks. After-hours and weekend construction, especially, must be pretty quiet.

What kind of noise are people mad about?

The list reads like a Dr. Seuss tale.

Before you complain to 311, you can choose from “noise from large party,” “noise from neighbor,” “noise from street,” “noise from dog,” “noise from animal other than dog,” “noise from factory,” “noise from ice cream truck,” “noise from garbage truck,” “noise from construction” (which opens up its own set of decision points) and “noise from bar” — among others.

But mostly, it depends on where you live.

In Woodhaven, it’s parties. “Repeat offenders” hold huge bashes, complete with speakers bigger than human beings, Wendell says.

In Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, and Red Hook, Brooklyn, it’s incessant tour helicopters, says Craig Hammerman, community board president. (In large part that’s because City Councilwoman Gale Brewer got rid of much of the problem on the Upper West Side, so the tours moved.)

In Hell’s Kitchen and Chelsea (Christine Quinn’s stomping ground, and where I live), it’s noise from nightclubs, bars, after-hours construction and idling buses. Melody Brooks, who lives on West 53rd Street, endured 24-hour noise “as loud as a jet engine” from a badly built commercial-ventilating system for two years until recently.

In Washington Heights and Hamilton Heights in Manhattan, and Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn, it’s street crowds and parked cars thumping music all night.

Kevin Campbell, who lives in Bed-Stuy and is active in his block association, says a group of chronic street-corner loiterers keep him up, shouting and playing loud music from parked cars from late afternoon “till after midnight. I have to close the windows, turn the A/C up and turn the TV up” to have some time to concentrate, Campbell says.

He’s got two kids — now 4 and 6 — who will have trouble studying in such an environment in a couple of years, no matter how good the schools are.

Even on the wealthy Upper East Side, residents last week voted down audible crosswalk signals — because, they said, there’s enough noise already.

So how’s the city’s response? Not great. To even get a reaction, you’ve got to have the time to:

* Learn about city laws (to find out what city agency among the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Buildings, the NYPD and others is in charge of your noise)

* Be home for appointments for decibel readings;

* Organize your neighbors (often, today, through social media);

* Make friends with your local elected or appointed leaders;

* Go to meetings that last for hours in order to discourage people who aren’t going to such a meeting because they’re paid special-interest advocates;

* Have good luck, because invariably, inspectors will come out on the one night your neighbor is taking a rest;

* And if you meet with success, then make sure, over months and years, that the city government keeps doing it was supposed to be doing already.

There’s lots New York could do better.

To start with, take some of the burden off the police. As the NYPD’s community-affairs officers know, the police department is bombarded with complaints about everything — including noise that doesn’t fall in their jurisdiction (they mainly do parties).

How to do that? Better civil enforcement — with the main focus on stopping the illegal behavior, not charging a fine for it.

Suffering New Yorkers aren’t interested in being revenue collectors for the city; they want the noise to stop.

That means if you were dumb enough to hire architects who designed a ventilation shaft that exceeds legal decibel levels, that should be your bad luck. You should have to turn it off before you think up a fix — rather than torment your neighbors for two years.

The rest of us aren’t allowed to keep breaking the law until we figure out a way to fit abiding by the law into our lifestyle.

The city’s civil agencies also should be preventative — not reactive. Remember the bad old days, when NYPD officers only responded to crimes, rather than stop them? Noise-law enforcement is still like that. But city agencies whose officials have time to dun homeowners for improperly sorting their garbage surely have some time to prevent some noises.

The biggest obstacle, though, is political will — the same kind that Rudy Giuliani needed two decades ago when he dramatically cut violent crime after people said it couldn’t be done.

And it requires thinking about New York’s long-term interests, rather than short-term interests. Mayor Bloomberg, for example, wants more people to live in mixed-use neighborhoods like the Far West Side — with commercial, residential and office buildings all lumped together. That only works if each party follows the law — and people only follow the law when they have to.

Of course, in the short term, a builder or a bar owner wants to make lots of noise. Following the law costs time and money. In the long-term, though, illegal noise drives away committed residents, especially families.

The person brave enough to demonstrate that he or she understands that would tap a rich vein of votes. Even before that, though, the current mayor could make noise his latest public-health enemy. He’d hear thunderous applause.

Nicole Gelinas (@nicolegelinas on Twitter) is a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal.

Summary: Murders are at a record low and New York (probably) isn’t facing imminent disaster. How can a mayoral candidate do what the last two mayors did: run on a platform of competence — a campaign directe…