The return of Game of Thrones is quickly approaching, and while HBO still hasn’t revealed Jon Snow’s ultimate fate, they have released a decent amount of footage from the upcoming sixth season. From teasers to trailers to sneak peeks, it can be hard to keep track of all the available clips. Luckily, one dedicated fan has combined footage from almost every scene that has been released so far into a mega-trailer.

Read More: The New Game of Thrones Trailer Teases a Major Battle

YouTube user ControvT shared the nearly three-minute fanmade preview on Wednesday, giving viewers an opportunity to catch up on anything they may have missed. But don’t be fooled by Jon’s voice at the end of the video—it’s a quote from an earlier season.

The sixth season of Game of Thrones premieres April 24 on HBO.

Summary: Stay tuned for the voiceover at the end


It has been an exciting and record-breaking first week of the 2016 Summer Olympics as competitors from all over the world showcased their athletic prowess in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

On Thursday night, U.S. swimming legend Michael Phelps claimed the 22nd Olympic gold of his career with a dominant win in the 200-meter individual medley, marking the fourth straight Olympics that he has won this event. The victory provided Phelps his 13th individual gold of his long and storied Olympic career, surpassing an ancient Olympic record that has been held by athlete Leonidas of Rhodes for thousands of years. As a runner, Leonidas last competed in 152 B.C., winning 12 individual events over four Olympics.

Phelps wasn’t the only American swimmer to make history this week. Later that same evening, Simone Manuel became the first African-American woman to win an individual swimming gold medal. In a tight race, she tied for first with Canadian Penny Oleksiak as the two set a new Olympic record as well. Manuel’s roommate in athlete’s village has been none other than American Katie Ledecky, who in her own events has continued her massive record-setting success at the games.

It was also a triumphant week for the Americans in gymnastics, another marquee event of week one. Three-time world all-around champion Simone Biles of the U.S. snagged Olympic gold after a near-perfect floor routine on her final rotation. American Aly Raisman took silver and Russia’s Aliyah Mustafina took the bronze. Earlier in the week, the United States ‘Final Five’ team of Biles, Raisman, Laurie Hernandez, and Madison Kocian sealed their legacy as the best gymnastics team in the world by taking the gold in the Women’s Olympics Gymnastics team final. On the men’s side, Japan topped Russia and China for the gold in the team competition. They were led by defending 2012 champion Kohei Uchimura, known as “Superman,” who also took home the gold for the second consecutive games in the men’s individual all-around.

Judo champion Rafaela Silva provided home country Brazil its first gold medal this week. Growing up fighting in one of Rio’s impoverished favelas, Silva beat Sumiya Dorjsuren of Mongolia in the 57 kg gold medal match as the home crowd erupted with excitement.

Fiji won the first rugby sevens Olympic gold on Thursday with a win over Great Britain in the final match. It marked the nation’s first gold medal. Australia defeated New Zealand to win the first-ever Olympic women’s rugby sevens gold medal as well.

The 112-year wait for golf to be back in the Games was over this week. Britain’s Justin Rose gave the sport’s big return some extra splash with the first hole-one in Olympics history.

For more feature photography, go to msnbc.com/photography

Summary: It has been a record-breaking first week of the 2016 Summer Olympics as competitors from all over the world showcased their athletic prowess.


Over the weekend, the Washington Post published a huge 10,000+ word Q&A with Apple CEO Tim Cook. During the wide-ranging talk, Cook covered plenty of ground that will be familiar if you keep tabs on this sort of thing. He discussed the importance of publicly coming out as gay (which he’s done many times before) and delved into Apple’s standoff with the FBI over privacy matters (the subject of a TIME cover story and Q&A earlier this year).

Cook also provided a fair amount of predictable, rah-rah boosterism for his brand. He downplayed declining sales in China and the company’s largely poor performance in the stock market for 2016, and contended that without a doubt Apple is a long-term growth company that isn’t anywhere near its peak. Unsurprisingly, Cook refused to comment on specific future developments and products that haven’t already been discussed publicly during the interview.

On other hand, Cook did said a few things that are somewhat surprising, and certainly interesting for people who follow Apple mostly from the consumer perspective. Here are five noteworthy tidbits Cook offered up during the interview:

One day everyone on earth will have a smartphone. Right now, there are about 1.4 billion smartphones in the world. Cook thinks that sometime down the line, the market will expand five-fold (or more), so that there’s one smartphone for each human being on the planet.

Read Next: The Best Way to Come Out to Coworkers and Bosses

“Over time, I’m convinced every person in the world will have a smartphone,” Cook said. “That may take a while, and they won’t all have iPhones. But it is the greatest market on earth from a consumer electronics point of view.”

Siri will soon be able to order you an Uber. Apple has opened up Siri to third-party app developers, and the result, which should become reality as soon as this fall, is that “whatever kind of ride-sharing app you might use, Uber or Lyft in the United States, you could just — using your voice — order the car.”

Siri will know where you parked too. No time frame was offered on this one. But Cook promised that Apple’s voice-activated assistant will become so smart it’ll automatically remember where you parked the car—so you’ll never have to wander cluelessly hunting around the parking lot again.

He didn’t acknowledge Apple Watch’s struggles. During the interview, Cook admitted several mistakes he’s made as CEO, including one notable bad hire and a misguided decision to replace Google as the default map app on iPhones. Yet Cook didn’t hint that anything was awry with the Apple Watch, despite the lukewarm consumer response to the device that some have described as irrelevant and a flop.

Read Next: The Big Risk of Donald Trump’s Fight With Apple

The worst the Washington Post intro would say about the Apple Watch—the “first all-new device during [Cook’s] tenure”—is that it’s “not yet a mega hit.” Cook would only say that the Apple Watch has enable the company to get “into wellness and in health,” and that, “We keep pulling that string to see where that takes us.”

Summary: Siri is getting much, much smarter.


Waking up at daybreak to watch the sun rise may be one of camping’s joys, but sometimes you just want to sleep in. For nature-loving late risers who have idly wished for a tent with the equivalent of black-out shades, Coleman has an answer. The company’s new dome tent comes lined with a dark fabric that blocks over 98% of ambient light. Not only does this let you get as much morning shut-eye as your internal clock will allow, it keeps the tent about 10 to 20 degrees cooler in direct sun. To prevent the tent from feeling too much like solitary confinement during the day, the large screened windows on the sides unzip to let in the views, breezes and natural light. In our rigorous testing (conducted both consciously and unconsciously), the tent was equally pleasant for sleeping and kicking back. From $190 for 4-person model, coleman.com

As a go-to outfitter for expedition climbers and mountaineers, Nemo knows a thing or two about the gear necessary to survive inhospitable environments. With its Concerto sleeping bag, however, the company applies its expertise to addressing the more genteel needs of casual campers. This luxurious bag uses 700-fill water-resistant down that’s rated for temps as low as 20 degrees, but the shape of the bag—wide and rectangular—has the feel of a bed-on-the-go rather than a constricting tube. Furthering the at-home feel, the Concerto comes with an integrated sheet, and a built-in sleeve underneath that holds a sleeping pad securely in place. Bonus: The down layer can be unsnapped on each side and rolled away in warmer weather. $400, nemoequipment.com

Gregory Deva 70 GZ Solar Backpack

Looking for a tidier way to keep your power-hungry gadgets charged in the wilderness? Try this sleek collaboration from veteran backpack maker Gregory and solar-power expert Goal Zero. The new Deva 70 GZ has a magnetized panel that flips open to reveal Goal Zero’s Nomad 7 Plus solar panel. This 7-watt panel can convert sunlight into enough juice to keep smartphones and other small devices humming—yet adds less than a pound of additional weight. (The bag weighs 5 pounds 11 ounces total for the smallest size and 6 pounds 6 ounces for the largest). A portable battery charger is included, and there’s comfy padding on the hips and back area, as well as plenty of pockets to keep your accessories protected as you charge on the trail. $429, gregorypacks.com

Summary: Make camping a little more sumptuous with a black-out tent that lets you snooze late, a solar backpack to charge a slew of gadgets and a bed-like sleeping bag.


High profile lawyer Tim Sheehan. (AAP)

A prominent Queensland lawyer has had some of his assets frozen following allegations he and his clerk were sacked after siphoning more than $160,000 in funds from their firm.

Tim Meehan, who represented Daniel Morcombe's murderer Brett Peter Cowan, is accused of having his law clerk, Xanthe Larcombe-Weate, help him put clients' money into his own bank accounts.

The allegations are detailed in court documents that were filed by Bosscher Lawyers in an urgent bid to freeze the assets of Mr Meehan and his wife, which include a Pullenvale property and cars.

The documents claim $164,000 was deposited in cash into bank accounts known to be associated with Mr Meehan over the last financial year, while $11,000 was allegedly put into accounts for Ms Larcombe-Weate during the same period.

In an affidavit, firm boss Michael Bosscher said Mr Meehan was employed by the practice from late November 2011.

But he and Ms Larcombe-Weate were sacked last month following revelations there had been "ongoing theft" by Mr Meehan, aided by the young woman, upon the completion of an internal investigation.

"During the meeting in which (Mr Meehan) was presented with these allegations, and in which I provided him with a copy of my findings, he admitted to stealing from the practice," the affidavit reads.

The internal documents describe the scale of the theft as "significant and easily traceable".

"If I were appearing on behalf of either at a sentence I would submit that 'the theft was blatant, unsophisticated and was always going to be discovered'."

The firm's investigation showed clients didn't seem to be affected as funds had been provided for work performed and not future work.

Mr Bosscher appeared in the Brisbane Supreme Court today, when Justice David Boddice granted the order.

"I am satisfied that there is a basis to infer that if steps were not taken ... there is a danger that there would not be available assets to meet any judgment given by this court," Justice Boddice said.

Queensland Law Society president Bill Potts said it was inappropriate to comment, and would only say: "Mr Meehan no longer has a practising certificate issued by Queensland Law Society."

Mr Potts said Mr Meehan had handed in his certificate last month.

Queensland Law Society will also conduct an audit of the firm's trust accounts but "have no reason to believe any of the firm's clients have been adversely affected".

The matter will return to court on September 16.

A Queensland Police spokesman said neither Mr Meehan nor Ms Larcombe-Weate, who did not appear in court today, had been referred to police.

Summary: A Brisbane court has ordered assets associated with a high-profile lawyer accused of siphoning thousands of dollars from his former firm be frozen.


Kim Kardashian West on Wonderland

09/22/2016 AT 05:35 PM EDT

Believe it or not, the reality star says she's still "a fan" of

"I never publicly talk bad about people," Kardashian West says in the new issue of

. "I still don't feel like I have. I'm being honest."

The 35-year-old continued, asserting, "I'm a fan. I like her music. There was no shade."

Earlier this summer, Kardashian West

of a phone call between Swift and West, wherein the pop star seems to be heard allegedly approving the rapper's

lyrics: "For all my Southside n----- that know me best / I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex."

Swift can allegedly be heard saying, "It's like a compliment." Her rep later

that Swift had not been made aware of the full lyric, which includes the line, "I made that bitch famous." Swift soon defended herself,

titled "That moment when Kanye West secretly records your phone call, then Kim posts it on the Internet."

"Where is the video of Kanye telling me he was going to call me 'that bitch' in his song? It doesn't exist because it never happened," she wrote. "While I wanted to be supportive of Kanye on the phone call, you cannot 'approve' a song you haven't heard. Being falsely painted as a liar when I was never given the full story or played any part of the song is character assassination."

The incident was just the latest hiccup in West and Swift's

In the time since, Kardashian West has

she "claps back" when she feels "like someone is being fake."

that Kardashian West "was tired of Taylor being portrayed as this angel – she's fake."

, Kardashian West reportedly also reveals that members of Swift's friend group

to her after the call leak.

"Girls in her squad hit me up on text," she explains, before refusing to name names. "I'm not petty."

Summary: Kim Kardashian West says she's still a "fan" of Taylor Swift, despite their infamous feud


Chinese tourists will soon flood Asian and overseas countries, as the country’s markets and business shuts down for a weeklong holiday beginning tomorrow to celebrate the Communist Party’s rise to power.

A record 589 million Chinese are expected to travel during the holiday, estimates the China Tourism Academy. That’s almost half the population and a 12% bump over last year. They will spend $70 billion, up 13.5% over 2015, almost $125 for every household across the country.

Chinese travelers listed older tourist spots as top domestic destinations—places such as the Forbidden City in Beijing and the ancient city of Lijiang in the south—but they also cited the newly opened Shanghai Disneyland.

See also: Here’s What Apple Is Doing at its First Research Center in China

Not all stay in China, however. Last year 4 million Chinese traveled abroad during the holiday, and the number is expected to grow this year. The online travel site Ctrip.com ranked Seoul, South Korea, and Phuket and Bangkok, Thailand, as the top destinations for Chinese. (Over the full year, Hong Kong, Macau, and Thailand rank among the top countries for Chinese tourists, according to Nomura and CEIC.)

Already, the number of Chinese traveling overseas in the first half of the year hit 59 million, up 4%, according to the National Tourism Administration.

Both Chinese and foreign companies have long catered to the heavy travel period. This year is no different.

Last week Marriott began offering a customer service program for Chinese travelers, including Mandarin-Chinese speaking hotel assistants, Chinese tour guides, and complimentary power adapters.

See also: The Unusual Journey of China’s Newest Oil Baron

Meanwhile, Chinese search giant Baidu now offers cash exchange at five international airports, allowing users to turn excess foreign currency into Chinese yuan. And Alibaba’s electronic payment option Alipay has pages for a couple dozen international cities like Los Angeles and Bangkok, which users can access to find Chinese food options and shopping.

And if past years are any indication, get ready for pictures documenting what it looks like when almost 600 million people hit the road.

Summary: The Chinese Have a Week Off. Here They Come.


A woman is dead and more than 20 others are injured after a car crashed into a house where mourners were gathered in far north Queensland.

A large group had been viewing a body when the council-owned vehicle went through the front of a home at Kowanyama on Friday morning.

Police believe there may have been a family dispute before the car ploughed into the house.

A 48-year-old woman died, while 18 others were flown to hospitals in Cairns and Townsville with varying injuries.

Up to eight others were treated at the scene for minor injuries such as cuts and bruises.

The 55-year-old man driving the vehicle was taken into custody and is being questioned by police.

Acting Inspector Michael Gooiker said the driver was related to the mourners who had gathered at the home.

"There are indications there may have been some sort of dispute at a funeral and this is a result of that," he said.

It is unclear whether the council vehicle belonged to the driver.

Two doctors and two nurses from the Royal Flying Doctor Service happened to be attending a nearby clinic and were among those first at the scene.

Police organised a co-ordinated response, with investigators and forensic officers flown to the community.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said four doctors and 10 nurses went to the scene of the "very tragic incident".

The indigenous community, on the Gulf of Carpentaria side of Cape York, has a population of a little more than 1000 people.

Summary: A car has reportedly crashed into a number of people at a funeral in Cape York, with one person feared dead.


Big changes are coming to Logan International Airport, but one of its two commercial landlords is passing up the multimillion-dollar opportunity to reshape the shops and restaurants in the airport’s terminals.

Westfield Corp., which manages terminals A and C for the Massachusetts Port Authority, has decided to let its leases expire and not bid for a new contract to oversee the business in all four terminals.

Massport wants to put management of the terminals under a single contract and to shake up the offerings of businesses available to travelers. It wants the next operator to highlight the region’s cuisine and brands, while keeping national chains in the mix.

The Logan contract is one of the biggest airport deals in play across the country, and a number of big airport concessionaires and developers are in the hunt. A Westfield spokesman declined to comment about the Australian company’s decision to end its Logan business, other than to say: “We are very proud of our relationship with Massport over the past 20 years and will support Massport through the process.”

Get Business Headlines in your inbox:

The Globe's latest business headlines delivered every morning, Monday through Friday.

The company that has the contract to run concessions at terminals B and E, Airmall USA, confirmed it plans to bid for the single airport-wide contract.

Other potential bidders include groups with local ties — Boston’s New England Development and TD Garden owner Delaware North — as well as large out-of-state firms such as HMSHost, Paradies Lagardere, and SSP America.

About 160 stores, restaurants, and newsstands operate in the airport now, collectively generating nearly $190 million in revenue last year. In total, the concessions contract will include about 180,000 square feet of space, according to bid documents released in July.

Massport had originally requested that all bids be due by this week. But the agency recently extended that deadline to Jan. 12, largely to give the bidders the opportunity to review a new set of criteria and incorporate the scoring system into their bids. The factors Massport will use to pick a winner include the bidder’s experience and the proposal’s revenue potential for the port authority. Agency officials declined to comment because the bidding process is underway.

Any changes wouldn’t happen overnight. Massport’s board will pick a winner by mid-2017, but the transition to a new operator will happen in phases because Airmall and Westfield still have time left on their leases. Terminals B and E will now become available on Nov. 1, 2017, Terminal C opens up on Jan. 1, 2018, and Terminal A is scheduled to turn over on April 1, 2018.

Summary: Big changes are coming to Logan International Airport, but one of its two commercial landlords will be gone before they happen instead of playing a big role in the airport’s transformation.


Parts of northern Tasmania are on alert, with a severe weather warning in place ahead of forecast damaging winds which could contribute to a high fire-danger threat.

The Bureau of Meteorology has reported a front which is due to hit the island state on Tuesday morning bringing wind gusts in excess of 100 km/h, affecting the centres of Devonport, Currie, Scottsdale, Whitemark, Bridport and St Helens.

As the front passes across Tasmania combining winds, temperatures in the high 20Cs and low humidity, east and southeast parts will be subject to a very high fire danger warning, the BoM said.

Summary: A severe weather warning is in place for parts of northern Tasmania, with damaging winds forecast ahead of a very high fire danger as the front passes.


A British man has appeared in court after being accused of taking photos and videos of women changing in Sunshine Coast shopping centres and uploading them to Facebook.

Queensland police allege a shopper saw the 28-year-old man trying to film a woman in a change room on Sunday and called police

Police later discovered a cache of pictures, believed to have been taken at two Sunshine Coast shopping centres, on his phone.

Luke Thomas Robinson, who is on a working visa, was charged with 54 counts of recording in breach of privacy and faced Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Monday.

He is due to reappear in the same court on December 19.

Police now want to speak to women who used changing rooms at Noosa Civic or Sunshine Plaza between November 18 and December 10.

Summary: A man has been charged after allegedly using his phone to take photos of a woman changing at a shopping centre on the Sunshine Coast.


Campaign mailer in support of California Propositions 55 and 63 in November 2016 election.

Campaign mailer in support of California Propositions 55 and 63 in November 2016 election.

De León endorses gun control measure he once called ‘irrelevant’

Like you, we are inundated by political mailers these days. But one caught our eye the other day from state Senate President pro tem Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, titled “Keep Our Kids Safe From Guns!” That’s not surprising coming from de León, who led the fight to push through several tough new gun control measures this year.

But it was a bit surprising to see de León’s smiling face over the words “Yes on Prop 63.” the ballot measure fronted by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. In July, de León said Prop 63 was “irrelevant.”

“We’ve done our role,” de León told a Los Angeles TV station back in July. “Any individuals who want to further their own political interests, that’s their own business. But we have taken care of business, and as far as I am concerned any ballot measure in the fall is irrelevant.”

Indeed, parts of the ballot measure are similar to gun control legislation that Gov. Jerry Brown greenlit this year. But Newsom, who is running for governor in 2018, declined to pull his measure, saying that his reforms went further.

In late October, de León endorsed Prop. 63, saying, “because we must send a powerful and united message to the national Gun lobby that California will not capitulate to political bullying or compromise the public safety.”

And now, the smiling face on the mailer. But keep an eye on how the Newsom-de León relationship plays out over the upcoming governor’s race.

Summary: [...] one caught our eye the other day from state Senate President pro tem Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, titled “Keep Our Kids Safe From Guns!” That’s not surprising coming from de León, who led the fight to push through several tough new gun control measures this year.  [...] it was a bit surprising to see de León’s smiling face over the words “Yes on Prop 63.” the ballot measure fronted by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom.  [...] we have taken care of business, and as far as I am concerned any ballot measure in the fall is irrelevant.  [...] parts of the ballot measure are similar to gun control legislation that Gov. Jerry Brown greenlit this year.  In late October, de León endorsed Prop. 63, saying, “because we must send a powerful and united message to the national Gun lobby that California will not capitulate to political bullying or compromise the public safety.”


A Victorian man who sexually assaulted and strangled an 11-year-old girl after sneaking into her bedroom has been jailed for life.

Bowe Evan Levi Maddigan, 31, told police he thought Zoe Buttigieg looked “angelic” and he wanted to have her all to himself before attacking her.

He will be eligible for parole after serving 28 years for the murder and sexual assault of Zoe in her Wangaratta home last October.

Relatives, who had packed the court dressed in purple, applauded when the judge announced a life sentence would be imposed.

The Victorian supreme court judge Lex Lasry said he had given the sentence anxious consideration.

Ultimately he found the violation and murder of a child in her own bed warranted a term of life imprisonment, despite Maddigan pleading guilty to both charges.Zoe was entitled to feel safe in her home, Lasry said. The murder was face-to-face and would not have been quick.

“It is almost trite to say your offending was extremely serious,” he said. “It might not have been a prolonged or frenzied attack … But the fact you murdered her is gratuitous.”

Maddigan had gone to the house where Zoe lived with her mother, Janelle Saunders, after a day of drinking with friends. He and others spent the night smoking cannabis and continuing to drink.

Some time after 3.45am Maddigan woke and began to prowl around the house. He entered Zoe’s bedroom where she was in all likelihood asleep and coaxed her down from the top bunk. He then assaulted and strangled her but still refuses to say why. Lasry said the murder remained a “tragic mystery”.

Maddigan was picked up by police dazed and with self-inflicted wounds on a freeway. Child exploitation material was found on his phone among other pornographic images and a blood test revealed he had opiates in his system.

Zoe’s uncle read a statement on behalf of Saunders outside court, saying not a day goes by in which Zoe is not missed.

“Every day is filled with emptiness,” the statement said. “I love her so much, there are so many things my little girl will never get to do.”

Summary: Maddigan sexually assaulted and strangled 11-year-old after sneaking into bedroom of her Wangaratta home


KEY DATES IN CLAREMONT SERIAL KILLER CASE:

* 18-year-old woman indecently assaulted in her sleep during break-in at a Huntingdale home but attacker flees after a struggle

* 17-year-old girl abducted while walking through Rowe Park in Claremont and taken to Karrakatta Cemetery where she's sexually assaulted

* Secretary Sarah Spiers, 18, disappears after leaving Club Bayview in Claremont after calling a taxi from a nearby phone booth. Her body has not been found.

* Childcare worker Jane Rimmer, 23, similarly vanishes in Claremont and is last seen outside the Continental Hotel

* WA Police set up Macro taskforce

* Ms Rimmer's body found by a mother and her children picking flowers in Wellard, south of Perth

* Lawyer Ciara Glennon, 27, last seen in Claremont after also visiting the Continental Hotel

* Ms Glennon's body found in bushland at Eglington, north of Perth

* A suburban newspaper claims police have established a forensic link between Ms Glennon's murderer and the man who raped the teenager in Karrakatta two years earlier but police refuse to comment for "operational reasons"

* Bradley Robert Edwards, 48, from Kewdale, charged with eight offences related to two of the murders and the two other attacks, but no chargeslaid over the disappearance of Ms Spiers. Edwards remanded in custody.

Summary: A breakthrough in the 20-year mystery of the Claremont serial killer case has led to a man being charged with two murders and two other sex attacks.


Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, said the fall could be attributed to the north east coast of Scotland’s dependence on the North Sea oil and gas sector.

“The substantial fall in oil prices in the past couple of years has hit the industry hard with adverse impact on demand for homes in the area,” he said.

There were also marginal price drops in a number of other towns, including Falkirk, down 1.1pc, Inverness, down 0.9pc, and Blackpool, down 0.5pc.

Summary: House prices in Aberdeen recorded the highest fall among major UK towns and cities over the past year, after demand for homes was hit by the slump in oil prices.


"We've strengthened the hand of the people whose presence we were worried most about," said Mr. Prendergast, who worked on Africa policy at the National Security Council and State Department during the Clinton administration.

The American activities in Somalia have been approved by top officials in Washington and were reaffirmed during a National Security Council meeting about Somalia in March, according to people familiar with the meeting. During the March meeting, at a time of fierce fighting in and around Mogadishu, a decision was made to make counterterrorism the top policy priority for Somalia.

Porter J. Goss, who recently resigned as C.I.A. director, traveled to Kenya this year and met with case officers in the Nairobi station, according to one intelligence official. It is not clear whether the payments to Somali warlords were discussed during Mr. Goss's trip.

The American ambassador in Kenya, William M. Bellamy, has disputed assertions that Washington is to blame for the surge in violence in Somalia. And some government officials this week defended the American counterterrorism efforts in the country.

"You've got to find and nullify enemy leadership," one senior Bush administration official said. "We are going to support any viable political actor that we think will help us with counterterrorism."

In May, the United Nations Security Council issued a report detailing the competing efforts of several nations, including Ethiopia and Eritrea, to provide Somali militias and the transitional Somali government with money and arms  activities the report said violated the international arms embargo on Somalia.

"Arms, military matériel and financial support continue to flow like a river to these various actors," the report said.

The United Nations report also cited what it called clandestine support for a so-called antiterrorist coalition, in what appeared to be a reference to the American policy. Somalia's interim president, Abdullahi Yusuf, first criticized American support for Mogadishu's warlords in early May during a trip to Sweden.

"We really oppose American aid that goes outside the government," he said, arguing that the best way to hunt members of Al Qaeda in Somalia was to strengthen the country's government.

Senior American officials indicated this week that the United States might now be willing to hold discussions with the Islamic militias, known as the Islamic Courts Union. President Bush said Tuesday that the first priority for the United States was to keep Somalia from becoming a safe haven for terrorists.

The American payments to the warlords have been intended at least in part to help gain the capture of a number of suspected Qaeda operatives who are believed responsible for a number of deadly attacks throughout East Africa.

Since the 1998 bombings of the United States Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, American officials have been tracking a Qaeda cell whose members are believed to move freely between Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, and parts of the Middle East.

Shortly after an attack on a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, and the failed attempt to shoot down a plane bound for Israel that took off from the Mombasa airport, both in November 2002, the United States began informally reaching out to the Somali clans in the hopes that local forces might provide intelligence about suspected members of Al Qaeda in Somalia.

This approach has brought occasional successes. According to an International Crisis Group report, militiamen loyal to warlord Mohammed Deere, a powerful figure in Mogadishu, caught a suspected Qaeda operative, Suleiman Abdalla Salim Hemed, in April 2003 and turned him over to American officials.

According to Mr. Prendergast, who has met frequently with Somali clan leaders, the C.I.A. over the past year has increased its payments to the militias in the hopes of putting pressure on Al Qaeda.

The operation, while blessed by officials in Washington, did not seem to be closely coordinated among various American national security agencies, he said.

"I've talked to people inside the Defense Department and State Department who said that this was not a comprehensive policy," he said. "It was being conducted in a vacuum, and they were largely shut out."

Marc Lacey contributed reporting from Nairobi for this article, and Helene Cooper from Washington.

Summary: A covert C.I.A. effort to finance Somali warlords has empowered the Islamic groups it was intended to marginalize, critics say.


There's a case of grand larceny happening eight times a week on W. 52d St., before 2,000 witnesses.

The perpetrators are 14 kids, aged 3 1/2 to 11, who play princes and princesses of Siam, and they steal every single scene they're in during the latest revival of the musical classic, "The King and I," which opened last week at the Neil Simon Theater.

Lou Diamond Phillips plays the King of Siam and Donna Murphy she's the "I" of the title plays Anna Leonowens, English teacher to the children.

But when the kids are onstage, all eyes are on them.

Of course, they have a little help. The musical was written by Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics).

Hammerstein's stage directions specify that the children come on stage one by one, bow to their father the King, then shake hands with Anna. Composer Rodgers helped even more for these few minutes in the play, he wrote the delightful "March of the Siamese Children."

In fact, the children come from all over the metropolitan area. A few are stage veterans.

The rest were chosen in open auditions, where they had to sing "Getting to Know You." The words were printed for them on a large card. (Two, Jacqueline Te Lem, 3 1/2, and Jeff G. Yalun, 4, haven't learned to read yet.)

On matinee days, they're excused early from school, and several bring homework to do at the theater. John Chang, 10, who plays the King's eldest son, likes matinees because he gets to eat out at McDonald's.

Most come from Asian families. Korean-born Jenna Noelle Ushkowitz, who's 9, and Japanese-born Kenji Miyata, 11, have been adopted.

Ryan Hopkins, 11, has the role of Anna's son, an English school boy who travels with her to Siam. Ten-year-old Jonathon Giordano, who understudies them all, comes from a family whose roots are Italian. He's a stage and screen veteran.

Brandon Marshall Ngai, 81/2, says his dad was born in China, his mother in the Philippines. "I was born in Queens," he announces.

The only child who's actually a Thai (Siamese) is Kailip Boonrai, 7.

Erik Lin-Greenberg is 8 and from New Jersey. He doesn't want to be an actor when he grows up. He wants to design trains. Kelly Jordan Bit, who's 10, is a dancer; she attends the School of American Ballet.

Eight-year-old Amy Y. Tai likes vanilla and butter pecan ice cream.

Lexine Bondoc, 7, is a second-grader at Immaculate Conception school. She was in "The King and I" for the first time when she was only 11/2, but doesn't remember. Her friend, Shelby Rebecca Wong, 6, a first-grader, gets her mother to drive her in to work every day from Brooklyn.

Maybe the show ought to be titled "The Kids and I."

Summary: There's a case of grand larceny happening eight times a week on W. 52d St., before 2,000 witnesses. The perpetrators are 14 kids, aged 3 1/2 to 11, who play princes and princesses of Siam, and they steal every single scene they're in during the latest revival of the musical classic, "The King and I,"which opened last week at the Neil Simon Theater. Lou Diamond Phillips plays the King of Siam and


BY ANNE E. KORNBLUT Daily News Staff Writer

Sunday, November 5th 1995, 4:05AM

How do you break into pictures?

You could be like Chili Palmer: in the hit movie "Get Shorty," a scheming loan-shark with enough manipulatative skills to take on Hollywood.

Or, you could just get lucky, like the real-life Chili Palmer.

"I knew Elmore Leonard for years I used to research for some of his books," recalls Palmer, 58, a semi-retired private investigator in West Dade County, Florida. "One day he called me up and said, `I really want to use your real name for the character in one of my books.' And when I told him to go ahead, he wrote `Get Shorty.' "

Next thing you know Palmer's in Hollywood, having been invited to the set of "Get Shorty" to play the role of one of Ray "Bones" Barboni's henchmen.

Yep, that's him folks, the guy having a meal with "Bones," in the opening scene of the movie.

"My part's really short," admits Palmer, who also played an extra in Frank Sinatra's movie "Tony Rome."

Even so, did he have trouble memorizing his lines?

"I only had one," he says, summoning his talent once more. " `That was a good one, Ray!' "

Well, it may have been short but what feeling... what delivery!

Although Chili Palmer says acting in "Get Shorty was "natural," the question remains: is he a natural?

"Oh, yes," says "Get Shorty" director Barry Sonnenfeld, who worked with Palmer for two days on the set.

Good enough for an Oscar?

"I don't even think it will be for just supporting," laughs the director.

Sonnenfeld, who directed "Addams Family Values" and has been the cinematographer for films ranging from "Blood Simple" to "Misery," didn't even know there was a real-life Chili Palmer when he first began directing John Travolta in the loan-shark-gone-Hollywood role.

"About six weeks into shooting, Elmore Leonard called me and said, `Hey, do you think you could invite Chili Palmer out to the set?' " recalls Sonnenfeld. "And I said, `What? There's really a Chili Palmer? Of course!' "

With that, Chili Palmer flew from Florida to Los Angeles, and took on the role of one of the henchmen of Ray Bones, played by Dennis Farina.

According to Sonnenfeld, Palmer and Farina, known for "Midnight Run" and "Romeo is Bleeding," hit it off immediately.

"They both knew some of the same criminals," says Sonnenfeld. "Farina was a cop for eighteen years in Chicago, and he would say, `Whatever happened to so-and-so?' And Palmer would say, `Oh, I ran into him a few years ago.' "

In the book and now in the film, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld Chili Palmer is a Miami loan-shark who develops Hollywood aspirations.

Though most of his threats are implied, there is at least one violent scene, in which Palmer, played by John Travolta, beats up another loan shark for his leather jacket.

"I got four or five leather jackets and Dutch that's what I call Elmore Leonard knows that, so he threw a little leather jacket scene in there," says Palmer, who was born in Brooklyn and graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1955. "But the movie's not a biography of me. Maybe 20, 25% of it is real. But all that Hollywood producer stuff that's total fiction."

In truth, Palmer was a disco night-club manager and loan shark in Miami during the 1970s, when he was in his 20s.

And he does admit that loansharking occasionally got rough.

"Every once in awhile, you've got to enforce it, to get your money back," says Palmer, who originally got into the illegal business through a friend who "had some spare money he wanted to put to use."

But for the most part, Palmer behaved like Travolta's character in the movie subtlely.

"We usually got our money back just talking to the people, and kind of, not exactly threats, but giving him a hard stare, and letting his imagination work for him," Palmer recalls.

After his two daughters, Joanna and Jacqueline, were born, Palmer quit the loansharking business and became a private investigator and bodyguard. He and his wife, who met at a New Year's Eve party in 1965, have lived in Florida for three decades a far cry from the Chili Palmer character in the movie.

But Sonnenfeld confirms that the two do have some things in common.

"Chili's nothing like the down-and-dirty criminal Travolta portrays," says the director. "Except, of course, that the real Chili Palmer obviously has the philososphy that unless you have something to say, you don't speak. He has a very specific way of speaking he's very short with his responses."

Fortunately for the entire cast, Travolta was also unaware of Palmer's existence until he arrived on set.

Though the actor has received critical applause for his portrayal, Sonnenfeld admits that if he's been able to research Palmer first, the part might not have turned out as well.

" `I gotta tell you, Barry, we're incredibly lucky I didn't know about him before we started this movie,' " Travolta said, according to the director. " `I would have insisted on flying to Florida, spending a week with him, seeing all of his mannerisms, the way he talks . . . it would have totally ruined my performance.' "

But in the end, Travolta didn't need to learn anything from Palmer.

And Palmer apparently needed nothing from the super-star, either.

"He got the part exactly right," says Sonnenfeld. "We didn't even have to do any extra takes because Chili. . . well, his comic timing is perfect."

Summary: How do you break into pictures? You could be like Chili Palmer: in the hit movie "Get Shorty,"a scheming loan-shark with enough manipulatative skills to take on Hollywood. Or, you could just get lucky, like the real-life Chili Palmer. "I knew Elmore Leonard for years I used to research for some of his books,"recalls Palmer, 58, a semi-retired private investigator in West Dade County, Florida. "One day he called me


In China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know, just published by Oxford University Press, Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom provides answers to a wide range of commonly asked questions about the world's most populous country. The excerpt below describes two of the topics the book addresses: nationalism and the web.

What is the role of the Internet in political dissent?

Many bloggers are not interested in promoting political change yet remain passionate about being able to express their opinions about topics that interest them and to follow stories that strike them as important. Depending on the issue, they may end up writing things that line up very neatly with official government positions or veer off markedly from these.

TheStreet: ETFs For Betting On China

A good example of this came in the months before the Olympics. In March and April 2008, government spokesmen often complained about Western protesters causing disruptions during segments of the torch relay (e.g., when a Chinese torch-bearer was roughed up by a crowd in Paris, and when "Free Tibet" banners were unfurled in Europe and the United States). Many bloggers in the [People's Republic of China] PRC echoed this patriotic sentiment, and indeed, sometimes used much more vitriolic language to denigrate the foreigners interfering with China's Olympic moment.

And yet, when a devastating earthquake hit Sichuan [province] that May and the torch run continued, the official press initially ran stories about the natural catastrophe alongside upbeat ones about the Olympic flame's welcome in the PRC.

But some of the same bloggers who had been in step with the government propaganda did an about-face. How could anyone who claimed to care about the nation, they asked, continue the torch run and celebratory activities when so many of the people of that nation were suffering? The tone of many posts became critical of the regime, as bloggers called for a moratorium on the relay, a sign both of how complex a force nationalism can be and why the categories of dissident and loyalist are incomplete.

How powerful is Chinese nationalism?

In the West, a false notion is currently circulating that Chinese nationalism has become something that can only bolster the regime. The assumption is that patriotic fervor serves to prop up the official status quo and that popular nationalism is a force that the authorities can turn on and off like a tap.

The current generation of Chinese has indeed been reared on a steady diet of patriotic propaganda that emphasizes the humiliations that China suffered at the hands of foreign powers during such events as the Opium War (1839-1842) and the Japanese invasions of the 1930s and 1940s. Its members have been encouraged by the state to be wary of contemporary Western bias against the PRC, which is allegedly evidenced by such things as unfair presentations of unrest in Xinjiang and Tibet.

For all the latest headlines visit Forbes Asia.

Summary: A history professor's new book answers your FAQs.


This weekend marks the 138th running of the Kentucky Derby, certainly the jewel of the horse racing industry in America. But could the jockeys you see this weekend be an endangered species?

For those that have grown up around the sport, it seems like a silly question to ask. Still, at least one well known jockey thinks that's a very realistic possibility. C.C. Lopez, a jockey at Monmouth Park, tells the Wall Street Journal he wouldn't be surprised if jockeys were all replaced in the future.

"We're talking about drone planes in Afghanistan," said Lopez, who's competed in the Breeders Cup, said. "Is it really that big a stretch to have someone at the race controlling a robot from the stands with a joystick? It isn't far-fetched at all."

Lopez believes a horse controls 95 percent of a race, with the rider involved 5 percent of the time, possibly more if its very close finish. "I might have a role in it. But if the horse wins by five or 10 lengths, that is the horse," he said.

Aside from the horse-racing industry not thinking about such a change, Darren Rogers, a spokesman for iconic Churchill Downs, told the Wall Street Journal "we wouldn't even entertain the thought," he said (of riderless horses).

Others are more openminded about the idea. For instance, Walker Blankinship, the director of New York's Kensington Stables. "It would require radical change from the way things are done now," Blankinship said. "But I believe it could be done."

Ultimately, one of the biggest problems with the very idea of jockeyless racing, is getting the horses to race without someone on their back to encourage the process. "There is no way to teach a horse to chase a carrot," trainer Gary Contessa told the Wall Street Journal. "He's not going to chase anything at full speed—unless it was a male horse and you had him chasing a female horse. That might work." Without jockeys, he added, "You'd have a lot of 1,200-pound objects running in every direction."

It seems that machines replacing jockeys are the most likely scenario, should this fantasy ever become reality.

-- Follow Ben Maller on Twitter @BenMaller.full story >>

Summary: The intersection of sports and technology is busy and confusing. We try to make it easy to understand.


Dec 11th 2012, 4:11 by J.J. | BEIJING

CHINESE author Mo Yan travelled last week to Sweden to collect the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature. The decision to give the award to Mr Mo (whose real name is Guan Moye; his pen name means “Does not Speak”) has not been without controversy. After the announcement of his triumph, Mr Mo came in for a round of criticism from fellow writers and intellectuals, including many who feel that he is too cosy with the Chinese government.

In the recent past Mr Mo has spoken out in support of Liu Xiaobo, the winner of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize who has been jailed intermittently since 1989 and serving an 11-year sentence since 2009. But since arriving in Stockholm, Mr Mo has also made several statements attempting to justify Chinese censorship laws as being necessary security measures, along the lines of having X-ray scanners at airports. Such statements will hardly mollify Mr Mo's critics at home and abroad.

There has also been a kerfuffle over Mr Mo’s choice of wardrobe. Two weeks ago the author’s brother disclosed that Mr Mo was having a dinner jacket made for the award ceremony. “Netizens” called on Mr Mo to eschew Western garb in favour of something in keeping with traditional Chinese culture. Photoshopped images of Mr Mo in different styles of dress began popping up on the internet, as the netizens debated just which kind of sartorial statement Mr Mo should make at the ceremony itself on December 10th.

Ultimately—some might even say characteristically—Mr Mo has decided to try and please all parties. In addition to the now notorious dinner jacket (pictured, above, during the reception), the author also brought along that sartorial relic: the Mao suit.

It was Sun Yat-sen who popularised the iconic high-collared tunic with four external pockets which foreigners tend to associate with Chairman Mao: in China it is known as the “Sun Yat-sen Suit”. Originally it was a compromise between an idea of modernity, as represented by the Western suit, and yet in keeping with the pragmatic virtues and austere style that characterised the ideals of early Chinese revolutionaries. It became an emblem of Chinese Communist functionaries—and James Bond’s enemies—in the Cold War era. With the exception of the dapper outfits worn by Zhou Enlai on his trips abroad, most of China’s civilian leaders opted for the proletarian simplicity of the Mao suit. One of the few known instances in which Mao appeared in public wearing Western dress happened during his visits to the Soviet Union, in 1949 and 1957. On those occasions the Chairman looked distinctly uncomfortable, in a frumpy overcoat and fedora.

Not until the 1980s would China’s leaders start opening their closets and reforming their wardrobes. One of the first to adopt the bourgeois Western uniform of suit-and-tie was Hu Yaobang. A protégé of Deng Xiaoping and one of the most liberal members of his inner circle, Hu once suggested the elimination of chopsticks and the adoption of forks and knives. (Suffice it to say, the idea did not stick.)

In recent years, the Mao suit was relegated to use on special occasions, major events, or when top leaders appeared with their military counterparts. Hu Jintao donned a Mao suit for the parade and festivities that marked the 60th anniversary of the founding of the PRC. Earlier this month, Xi Jinping had to pose for photographs as the new head of the Central Military Commission, the Party’s top military post. Standing among officers in crisp service uniforms, he chose a simple black Mao suit in place of his standard navy blue (Western) suit.

If clothes make the man, we might also say that in China clothes make the modern. Officials from the Han ethnic majority dress in Western suits, while minority delegates are encouraged to wear traditional costumes, upon which they are praised for their “colourful” and “representative” attire. Little thought is given to why Han Chinese delegates tenders dress like they are heading to insurance-sales conventions in Omaha or Dusseldorf. Of course it is Western-style clothing and fashions that dominate the malls and high streets of Beijing. Asked why people prefer Western forms of dress, one young professional says that traditional Chinese outfits were outdated and unfashionable. When he wore a Mao suit to a choir competition in high school, he recalls, his teachers faulted him for looking like a farmer.

There are signs that tastes may be changing. A young woman working in Beijing says that at formal occasions she prefers Chinese-style dresses. But to dress that way day-to-day, nowadays, would be both expensive and difficult.

While the choice of attire may seem a trivial matter, the controversy over Mo Yan’s formal wear reflects a larger conundrum. In a country where the concept of what is foreign is so often conflated with what is modern, how to represent a modernity that is distinctly Chinese?

Summary: CHINESE author Mo Yan travelled last week to Sweden to collect the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature. The decision to give the award to Mr Mo (whose real name is Guan...


(MoneyWatch) JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is likely to face a major regulatory action connected with firm's anti-money laundering and compliance programs. The banks two main regulators, the Office of the Comptroller and the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve, are expected to announce the action as early as today, according to Reuters, which would likely be in the form of a cease and desist order. A cease and desist order is the harshest form of enforcement action that the OCC can issue. While the bank is not expected to pay a monetary penalty, the order could potentially limit the bank's business activities and strategic opportunities. Additionally, the bank will be required to enhance its monitoring and risk surveillance systems and procedures.

JPM CEO Jamie Dimon can't blame this on a "flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed and poorly monitored" strategy, like he did when the bank lost $6.2 billion on the so-called "London Whale" trade, which was disclosed in May of last year. At that time, the lapse was described as an uncharacteristic black eye for its charismatic CEO.

In many ways, the current potential regulatory action is worse than any trading loss, because it indicates a systemic lapse in controls. Regulators, who heightened scrutiny in this area months ago, appear to have found a company-wide lapse in procedures and oversight connected to anti-money-laundering (AML) surveillance and risk management. AML controls are intended to deter and detect the misuse of legitimate financial channels for the funding of money laundering, terrorist financing and other criminal acts.

The JPM sanction would be the fourth major AML action in the past 12 months.

Is the increase in AML regulatory sanctions indicative of a spike in the actual funding of these illicit activities? It's hard to say, but that conclusion seems unlikely, according to a veteran compliance professional. "Previously, these types of internal findings that cropped up as a result of ongoing bank regulatory oversight were remediated directly with the banks. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, enhanced scrutiny and political pressure has elevated the findings to public enforcement actions." While in the HSBC case regulators identified a connection to illicit funding, in many cases, regulators find flaws in the surveillance processes themselves.

Whatever benefit of the doubt the banks once had with their regulators is long gone. Matters that were once resolved privately will be on display, for the public to see. While compliance divisions may take that threat seriously, until attitudes and behavior in C-suites and boardrooms shifts more, expect to see a lot more of these actions.

Summary: Firm likely to be slapped with cease and desist order, another black eye for CEO Jamie Dimon


The posters and programs for Company One’s “Splendor” last fall offered three credits where there are usually two:

“A WORLD PREMIERE by Kirsten Greenidge

Dramaturgy by Ilana M. Brownstein”

Playwrights and directors always get prominent credits, but a dramaturg almost never does. The billing for Brownstein was one outward sign of a backstage shift in Boston theater.

“The role of the dramaturg was, really, we saw it as a third collaborator,” said LaCount, Company One’s artistic director.

But it’s a job that’s at best dimly familiar to the audience. Partly that’s because the role of the dramaturg changes from show to show and company to company. Dictionaries broadly define dramaturgy as the art of dramatic representation. Even dramaturgs say the job is not easy to explain. In today’s theater, they do anything from mundane script management to researching a play’s historical background, from suggesting changes in a play’s structure to arranging post-show discussions with the audience.

“You ask 10 dramaturgs what they do, and you’ll get 17 answers,” said Brownstein, whose title at Company One is director of new work.

From a small-company production like “Splendor” to the Broadway-bound “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess,” dramaturgs have been shaping much of what Boston theater audiences see. LaCount and others say that a dramaturg is especially valuable to a new play, and that’s why dramaturgs have a higher profile here lately. “I think Boston is becoming a player in new work in the American theater, (and) it’s been a while,” said LaCount. “I think the role of the dramaturg is a lot more noticeable and valuable.”

The Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas will hold their annual conference here in June. “The theme of the conference is looking to the future to see where we are going,” says conference chairwoman Magda Romanska, an associate professor at Emerson College and editor of an upcoming dramaturgy textbook. “I think it’s a really good moment for the field.”

Playwrights are artists and rightly protective of their creations. But Greenidge said she was happy to have Brownstein’s input during the development of “Splendor,” which is built around a Thanksgiving weekend and centers on ties of family and community.

“One thing Ilana brought up was, ‘Nobody ever has Thanksgiving dinner in your play — what does that mean?” Greenidge said. By the time of the premiere, the playwright added a brief, dreamlike scene in which all the characters come to the table to get a piece of pie before dispersing again.

Dramaturgy (it rhymes with clergy, though “dramaturg” is pronounced with a hard G) dates to Europe in the 1700s, when the first dramaturgs were sort of in-house critics. Formal dramatic structure was long their main concern. Now institutional dramaturgs may be involved in selecting plays for a company to produce; they often carry the job title of literary manager. Production dramaturgs work on a specific show. Some dramaturgs are freelance, some on staff. Duties and titles overlap.

In the modern era, dramaturgs are known mainly for researching the context of a play to ensure an accurate production, and to provide background information to cast and designers. They have long been considered “the in-house bookworm,” as one joked.

But even that role is not necessarily dull. “Today I’m reading all about S&M for ‘Venus in Fur,’ ” said Charles Haugland, dramaturg at the Huntington Theatre Company.

Dramaturgs enter the field in various ways, but few have had as consistent a path as Ryan McKittrick, director of artistic programs/dramaturg at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge. “I sort of grew up in this theater,” he said.

McKittrick was an undergraduate at Harvard when he fell in love with ART’s work, studied dramaturgy at the ART Institute, and has worked with the company since he graduated in 2000. He works on projects developed sometimes over years at the theater, including 2011’s “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess” under artistic director Diane Paulus that made it to Broadway.

“When I was an undergraduate, I didn’t really know what dramaturgy was,” McKittrick said. “It provides an opportunity for someone who loves academic research but also loves the theater and wants to pursue a life in professional theater. And within the theater you get to do many, many different things.”

Most dramaturgs write program notes and organize post-show discussions. Their quest: “How do we deepen an audience’s connection to the material?” said A. Nora Long, a dramaturg whose job title is associate artistic director at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston.

On productions, a dramaturg may also be responsible for “moment-to-moment rehearsal stuff” that requires a deep knowledge of the script, Brownstein said. “Splendor” follows numerous characters in a fictional Boston suburb over decades, jumping back and forth in time. The cast rehearsed the scenes in the order in which they appear in the play, not in the order in which they happen. So the scene they were working on at any given time might hinge on developments not shown until later.

“So it was one of my jobs for every scene to be the person who was like, ‘Context! Here’s what you need to know,’ ” Brownstein said.

Playwright Walt McGough says he’s always happy to have a dramaturg on one of his productions because they can solve thorny problems. When his “Priscilla Dreams the Answer” was in rehearsal with Fresh Ink Theatre a couple of years ago, he and director Melanie Garber got along great except for “one moment where we just kept talking past each other,” McGough said via e-mail.

The issue on which they deadlocked: when to start playing a Belle and Sebastian song in the play’s final moments. Garber wanted to start at the beginning of the last scene, while McGough wanted to wait until the blackout, he explained.

“We were wasting time trying to explain to each other why one choice was right and the other was wrong,” McGough said. “The dramaturg, Jessie Baxter, was sitting and patiently watching us run around in circles. She spoke up and recommended splitting the difference, and beginning the cue about halfway through the scene, so that it underscored the final moments but didn’t kick in fully until the play had ended.”

That solved the problem perfectly, he said, and exemplified the value of having a dramaturg who “observes the entirety of a play and its production, instead of just one aspect, and makes sure that everything that happens is being done in service to the same viewpoint.”

Baxter also “dramaturgs” for Company One and is working on its production of Annie Baker’s “The Flick,” opening at the Modern Theater in February.

The job all depends on the play, the circumstances and who’s involved. Dramaturgs can be less needed on a well-known work, especially with an experienced director. “If we’re doing ‘Private Lives’ with [director] Maria Aitken, she’s done 12 Noel Coward plays, she doesn’t need me,” said the Huntington’s Haugland.

And there are some playwrights and directors who aren’t so enthused about what dramaturgs have to say. Playwright Richard Nelson gave a speech in New York in 2007 in which he deplored a “culture of ‘development’ ” in which playwrights are thought to need help to do their work.

Boston dramaturgs say it’s often the older generation that has an issue with their growing role.

“I have some people in my family who are theater practitioners,” said Long, “and when I told my uncle I was studying dramaturgy, he was like, ‘As a director, what would I possibly need a dramaturg for? I can do research.’

“But the thing you cannot do is be another pair of eyes,” Long said. “I think the best dramaturgical relationships are about finding a collaborator who knows as much about what you are attempting to do onstage as you do, but who is going to look at it from a different perspective.”

As devised theater and new technologies become more common, younger playwrights grow more comfortable with new kinds of collaboration, said Romanska, who had just returned from a theater festival in Krakow filled with experimental work. “The rigid division of roles, director/dramaturg/playwright, becomes more and more blurred as people move across boundaries,” she said.

Summary: The posters and programs for Company One’s “Splendor” last fall offered three credits where there are usually two: “A WORLD PREMIERE by Kirsten Greenidge  Directed by Shawn LaCount  Dramaturgy by Ilana M. Brownstein”  Playwrights and directors always get prominent credits, but a dramaturg almost never does. The billing for Brownstein was one outward sign of a backstage shift in Boston theater. “The role of the dramaturg was, really, we saw it as a third collaborator,” said LaCount, Company One’s artistic director. But it’s a job that’s at best dimly familiar to the audience. Partly that’s because the role of the dramaturg changes from show to show and company to company. Dictionaries broadly define dramaturgy as the art of dramatic representation.


In response to reports of a Russian takeover in parts of Crimea, Arizona Senator John McCain declared Friday, “We are all Ukrainians,” before calling for swift U.S. economic aide to Ukraine, new moves to condemn Russia at the United Nations, sanctions against Russian officials and the installation of U.S. missiles in the nearby Czech Republic as a show of American regional strength.

Russian President Vladimir Putin believes “this is a chess match reminiscent of the Cold War and we need to realize that and act accordingly,” McCain said, in an exclusive interview with TIME. “That does not mean I envision a conflict with Russia, but we need to take certain measures that would convince Putin that there is a very high cost to actions that he is taking now.”

The comments echoed McCain’s 2008 statement, “We are all Georgians,” which he made as a Republican candidate for President after Russia invaded Georgia. Six years later, McCain says he feels the same about the plight of Ukraine. “We are all Ukrainians in the respect that we have a sovereign nation that is again with international boundaries… that is again being taken in as part of Russia,” he said in an interview in his Senate office. “That is not acceptable to an America that stands up for the rights of human beings. We are Georgians. And we are Ukrainians.”

Leaders of the newly formed Ukrainian government say Russian forces moved into Crimea’s two airports and parts of the province’s capital of Simferopol early Friday, though the troops wore no insignia. The Russia has an historic military presence in the province. The incursion comes after pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia in fear of his life after pro-European opposition groups in parliament voted to oust him. Ukraine has been torn part by violent protests since Yanukovych walked away from a trade pact with Europe in November and sought a bail out from Putin.

In the interview Friday, McCain said President Obama has “been incredibly naïve” about Putin’s goals. “Putin wants to restore the Russian empire, that’s his ambition, he’s stated it many times. Therefore no one should be surprised,” McCain said. “I predicted it and I’m not a genius. But I know Putin.”

McCain says he wants to see the Obama Administration move a short-term economic aid package for Ukraine as quickly as possible. Kiev is “on the verge of an economic collapse. That would give credibility to the new government,” he says. The U.S. should also be working on a long-term International Monetary Fund bailout for the Ukraine, McCain says.

On the military front, McCain believes Putin needs to face a show of U.S. strength. Putin is “convinced that the United States is weak and there’ll be no significant retaliation of his occupation of the Crimea and possibly eastern Ukraine,” he says. He wants to see Obama revive the Bush era missile defense plan, which would have placed U.S. missiles in the Czech Republic. He also believes that speeding up Georgia accession to NATO would send a strong message to Putin.

McCain would like to see the U.S. introduce resolutions in the United Nations Security Council condemning the violence in eastern Ukraine and approving an international response, though “obviously they’d be vetoed” as Russia is one of the five permanent members of that council, he says.

McCain also supports expanding the Magnitsky Act to allow the U.S. to bar certain Russian individuals involved in any incursion in Crimea and Ukraine from getting U.S. visas and doing work with U.S. citizens. That law was passed in 2012 in response to the 2009 death of lawyer Segei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison while he was investigating fraud and corruption involving Russian tax officials.

Finally, McCain said Obama needs to be braver in his foreign policy, citing Ronald Reagan’s declaration that all Americans stand with Israeli human rights activist Natan Sharansky, who spent nine years in a Russian gulag starting in 1977 on accusations of spying. Reagan “took a beating for saying it, but it reverberated every where, other than the gulag.”

“So, what I’m saying is: ‘Ask not for whom the bell tolls,’” McCain continued with a wink, paraphrasing the famous John Donne line about the interconnectedness and mutual responsibilities of humanity.

Summary: In an interview with TIME, the Arizona Senator said Obama is “naïve” about Putin’s ambitions “to restore the Russian empire.” McCain says he wants to see the Obama Administration move a short-term economic aid package for Ukraine as quickly as possible


Pollution, economic woes, political uncertainty and a crisis of confidence have cast a smoggy grey cloud over Paris, like the rest of France, of late. But it was not always this way.

An exhibition that opened this week has served as a timely and contrasting reminder to pessimistic Parisians of the former glory of their capital. The event, Paris 1900, is being staged at the Petit Palais, a magnificent, often overlooked, palace on the right bank of the Seine, and shows the City of Light at its brightest during the period known as La Belle Époque.

At the start of the 20th century the eyes of the world were on the French capital. The Universal Exhibition, for which the Petit Palais and its even more impressive neighbour, the Grand Palais, were built, made the city a showcase for the world.

Cézanne, Monet, Renoir, Pissarro and Toulouse-Lautrec, among many others, experimented with symbolism, and what would become recognised as the Impressionist movement. Grand stations like the Gare d'Orsay – works of art in their own right – were being built, while Fulgence Bienvenüe, the "Father of the Métro", was overseeing his first underground line.

Arts of all disciplines and sciences flourished. Travel and adventure were opening up swaths of the southern hemisphere, which were often quickly colonised. Absinthe was driving artists mad, mind-altering drugs were taken, poverty and prostitution were given the oil painter's gloss.

But it was to be a brief supernova before the horrors of the first world war brought darkness and slaughter to the continent.

Strolling through the exhibition's six "pavilions" at the recently renovated Petit Palais, it is clear the outward-looking, imaginative and self-assured Paris of 1900 is a world away from today's city, battered and bruised by a global economic recession and erring towards gloom.

"Paris in 1900 was enjoying a period of great joy, of huge optimism," said Christophe Leribault, recently appointed director of the Petit Palais, who gathered the 600 exhibits in 12 months.

"It was a time of cultural abundance, of arts, of science, of invention, of colonisation of parts of the world by France, Britain and Belgium. This exhibition is a celebration of that time and highlights the mythical nature of Paris and La Belle Époque.

"It is this image of Paris, with all its attractions, the beaux arts, the artistic salons, right down to the prostitutes and bordellos, that we wanted to celebrate."

He added: "Looking back there were of course signs of trouble, but nobody then could have guessed the horrors of war that were to come. Parisians were optimistic, confident, discovering things, looking forward."

The optimism of La Belle Époque did not last. Today, France is battling to keep its reputation as the centre of the civilised, cultured world, but a walk around its capital shows how much of its former glory shines on.

The exhibition at the Petit Palais, built for the 1900 universal exhibition and named Musée des Beaux-arts in 1902, will run until 7 August.

Summary: Summer-long Petit Palais show reminds gloomy, modern Parisians how their city was once the beacon of the world


05/28/2014 at 05:45 PM EDT

Moneta Sleet, Jr./ Ebony Collection/AP

For nearly 40 years Dr. Maya Angelou has been my friend, mentor, big sister and other mother. Early this year President Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation's highest civilian honor. And she is a national treasure. Here she reminds us that in the Facebook age, the distinction between acquaintance and friend needs to be made clear, and she tells why we should always cherish our friendships with our women friends.

There's a marked difference between acquaintances and friends. Most people really don't become friends. They become deep and serious acquaintances. But in a friendship you get to know the spirit of another person; and your values coincide. Friends may disagree, but not about serious matters. A friend will stand for you when you are no longer able. A woman can say to herself, "If I die, I know that my friend, my sister friend will be here to hold up the banner." Now that's very profound.

Summary: In 2011, the late poet and author explained the difference between friendship and acquaintanceship


My favourite building in Rome, the Pantheon, is being restored. Lasers perched on a huge scaffolding tower are gradually removing every blemish from the 1,900-year-old concrete ceiling, and already the cleaned sections look wonderful. Renovation is a constant process in this city, as it struggles to keep its innumerable antiquities clean and bright. The palaces and churches of the Piazza Navona gleam with new paint, and roads that were tarmacked for decades are being carefully recobbled. Even relatively modern buildings have been given a facelift, such as the huge, Edwardian-era Vittoriano monument - better known as the wedding cake - which has now been tidied up, opened to the public and elegantly floodlit.

What next? This could be a politically tricky question. The Vittoriano was completed just before the first world war. Just after that war, Rome entered a new architectural age, that of Mussolini's fascist state. Fascist architecture may not rank high on any tourist itinerary, but the fact is that Rome has an awful lot of it. EUR, the new Rome that Mussolini began constructing south of the capital, is largely fascist. So are Rome university, Termini station, and the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation offices, which were originally intended for administrators of Italy's African empire. The huge Foro Italico sports complex, built to inspire lazy Romans from their lethargy, is covered with fascist heroic athletes. More surprisingly, Mussolini's propaganda has been preserved in stone. High on the façades of ministry buildings you can still read fascist catchphrases about glory and the Patria, and see statues of patriotic peasants, workers, and mothers of the warlike generation to come (as Mussolini hoped). There is even a large obelisk proclaiming "Mussolini Dux".

Does it matter? Some might say that it's right that evidence of the past - however unsavoury - should be left, as a reminder of what has occurred. Recently in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a statue of the Belgian king, Leopold II, that country's most vicious colonial exploiter, who caused the deaths of millions, was re-erected (although the statue was removed again just a few hours later).

Besides, it's easy to regard Rome's fascist legacy with more amusement than horror: as just another bizarre historical layer in this endlessly fascinating city. For all their propagandist purpose the figures never quite achieve the brutal ugliness of Nazi or Soviet statuary. Some of the heroic athletes in the Foro Italico look rather unsure of themselves - and more than a little camp - as if they doubt they'll win any medals. All of this will help confirm the belief, much held in the English-speaking world, that Mussolini can be remembered with a slight smile; dictator he may have been, but compared to his colleagues Hitler and Stalin he seems relatively harmless, more buffoon than brute.

The longer I stay here and hear Italians talk about their country's past, the more I disagree. What if we forget about Hitler and Stalin for a moment, and stand Mussolini alone? All at once his record is less amusing. He gained power through gangs of former soldiers who beat up or killed anyone who stood in their way. Throughout his rule, opponents were humiliated, beaten, crippled, jailed and murdered. Italian aggression in Libya and Abyssinia led to at least 100,000 deaths. For all his boasting, his government was not even efficient, but corrupt and incompetent. His swansong regime in the last years of the war, the Nazi-backed rump state of the Republic of Salo, was renowned for its vengeful murderousness. Mussolini was no better than a Pinochet or Ceausescu. And of course it was Mussolini's political innovations that inspired Hitler, his eager disciple.

What's more, Mussolini continues to cast an ugly shadow over modern Italy and its politics. Fears of communism during the cold war meant that Italy was dominated for four decades by rightwing governments, while those who had actually resisted the Nazis as partisans were mostly relegated to the sidelines.

In recent years Mussolini has been enjoying something of a revival. His granddaughter is a parliamentarian with her own political party and there is even a wine named after the old dictator. Italy's "post-fascist" party, the Alleanza Nazionale, has become an election force and is part of Silvio Berlusconi's ruling coalition. A few years ago the party's leader, Gianfranco Fini, declared Mussolini to be Italy's greatest statesman, and Berlusconi has been talking up the fascist era. Recently the Berlusconi government even proposed a new law to reclass those involved in the Republic of Salo as "combatants", so giving them belated respectability, and perhaps pensions. There are constant skirmishes over memorials to partisans, and anniversaries of wartime massacres (which were committed by Italian fascists as well as German occupiers). Still, any attempts to mark the 60th anniversary of Mussolini's death on April 28 1945, are likely to remain low-key.

Elections are due next year. Berlusconi has impoverished huge numbers of Italians through his perceived failure to restrain runaway inflation, but still he is riding high in the polls against a divided left. If and when the left does regain power, the question of what to do with old fascist architecture will probably be low on its list of priorities. And yet, although it may be decades too late for a campaign of de-fascism, it's not too late for a little political symbolism, to mark what should have been more clearly marked after 1945: that a brutal regime had been disgraced and deposed, and that it was time to begin anew.

Not that I'm suggesting all fascist insignia and heroic figures should be done away with. I'm too much of a history addict for that. But couldn't something be added to Rome's endless historical layers? Perhaps some pieces of modern art (that Mussolini would have hated) to stand alongside the heroic statues on ministry façades, or to join the athletes in the fascist sports complex. And something should definitely be done about that obnoxious "Mussolini Dux" column. Why not turn it upside down, and give it a good lean, so it is perpetually falling to disaster?

Summary: As Rome's great buildings undergo renovation, Matthew Kneale suggests a new approach to the past.


Personal letters written between Eleanor Roosevelt and her daughter, Anna, provide fresh evidence about the strains in the domestic life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt while he was Governor and President. Yet the letters also reveal the couple's mutual dependence, tolerance and respect for each other's roles in public life.

The intimate letters cover nearly a half-century, from 1916 to 1962, when Roosevelt and his wife, who became a United Nations delegate and force in her own right, were at the center of dramatic events. A number of the heretofore unpublished letters appear in ''Mother and Daughter: The Letters of Eleanor and Anna Roosevelt,'' which is being published May 14 by Coward, McCann & Geoghegan.

The editor, Bernard Asbell, a Roosevelt biographer, has supplemented the letters with material based on interviews that he conducted with Anna Roosevelt Halsted before her death in December 1975. Eleanor Roosevelt died in 1962. Trip to Yalta Conference

These are among the disclosures in the book:

- President Roosevelt took Anna with him to the Yalta Conference with Churchill and Stalin in 1945 so that he would not have to include his wife in the official party.

In her memoirs, Mrs. Roosevelt concealed any disappointment about not being invited. She and the President had discussed the trip but he had told her there would be less of a ''fuss'' if Anna accompanied him. After Mrs. Roosevelt's death, Mr. Asbell asked Mrs. Halsted, ''Do you think your mother was hurt?''

''Yes, I'm pretty sure she was,'' Mrs. Halsted replied. ''Of course, I was so terribly anxious to go that this wasn't half the embarrassment that it was to have those papers thrown at me, when he said, 'Sis, you handle these.' '' She was referring to various papers that were given to the President for perusal by Mrs. Roosevelt but that her father passed along to her.

''I wanted desperately to go, you see,'' Mrs. Halsted continued. ''But I also knew that if mother went I couldn't go. The other thing was that Averell Harriman and Churchill were bringing their daughters, and there would be no wives. So I sort of fell in with this, just blocked it out for my own purposes very selfishly.'' Mr. Harriman was then Ambassador to the Soviet Union.

- Anna was aware of her father's friendship with Lucy Mercer Rutherford and, on some occasions when Mrs. Roosevelt was away from Washington, she served as hostess during dinners with Mrs. Rutherford at the White House. She also knew of a visit by Mrs. Rutherford with her father at Bernard Baruch's estate in South Carolina in 1943. When Mrs. Roosevelt learned that Mrs. Rutherford had been present when her husband died in Warm Springs, she was shocked and later expressed anger toward Anna for participating in the deception about Mrs. Rutherford's visits. Without 'Hanky-Panky'

''I realized that mother was not capable of giving father this - just listening,'' Mrs. Halsted told Mr. Asbell, describing a Thanksgiving 1944 visit in Warm Springs, when Roosevelt had driven Mrs. Rutherford to a picnic site in the mountains.

And yet, Mrs. Halsted added about their relationship, ''it was open, aboveboard, not hanky-panky or whatever you want to call it.'' A few weeks after her father's death in April 1945, the daughter telephoned Mrs. Rutherford; her written response is included in the book. Mrs. Halsted kept the letter in a locked drawer and in 1972, 27 years after it was written, showed it to the editor.

Mrs. Rutherford wrote about Roosevelt's death ''with very loving and heart-torn sympathy'' and about ''the strength of his beloved presence.'' She also told of ''his ringing laugh and one thinks of all the ridiculous things he used to say - and do - and enjoy. The picture of him sitting waiting for you one night with the rabbi's cap on his extraordinarily beautiful head is still vivid,'' she wrote.

Mrs. Rutherford's letter to Anna concluded, ''Forgive me for writing of things which you know so much better than I, and which are sacred, and which should not even be touched on by a stranger. I somehow cannot feel myself to be that, and I feel strongly that you understand.''

- Mrs. Roosevelt openly discussed some of the small irritations of life with ''Pa'' in letters to her daughter, yet some letters showed that there were firm links between the two strong personalities.

On March 3, 1937, Mrs. Roosevelt wrote, ''Pa is both nervous and tired.'' Referring to the controversy over the President's proposal to enlarge the Supreme Court and to her syndicated newspaper column, she said: ''The Court hue and cry has got under his skin. I thought stupidly his little outburst of boredom on meals was amusing and human and used it in my column. Pa was furious with me.'' She continued: ''He answered irritably that it had been very hard on him and he would certainly say nothing more to me on any subject! So it has become a very serious subject and I am grieved at my poor judgment and only hope it won't be remembered long. Will I be glad when we leave the W.H.,'' she said, referring to the White House, ''and I can be on my own!'' Desire for Companionship

These selected letters also show that Roosevelt wanted his wife's companionship and was concerned about her well-being. In 1931, Anna wrote to her mother: ''Father's letter to me was mostly trying to persuade you to go to Warm Springs for a week with him. He feels you are tired, and ought to 'slow up.' If you think it would give you any rest at all to go to Warm Springs - do go. Pa seems to want you there so badly, too.''

Mrs. Roosevelt did not join him. The editor adds that she ''secretly detested and openly avoided'' his trips to Warm Springs. These are some other impressions about personalities in Mrs. Roosevelt's letters to her daughter:

- Charles de Gaulle in 1945: ''The man is a fool.''

- Secretary of State James F. Byrnes in 1946: ''He seems to me to be afraid to decide on what he thinks is right and stand on it. He is afraid of his own delegation.''

- Secretary of State George C. Marshall in 1947: ''I like Marshall to work with.''

- On her late husband in 1948: ''What friends father made everywhere for the U. S. It ought to bring tangible results to us if we are wise.''

Illustrations: photo of Eleanor Roosevelt and her daughter Anne


How We Got to Now With Steven Johnson 9 p.m., PBS

In this new six-part series, Steven Johnson picks a few technologies and explains their paths of development and their historical impact. The pop science guy talks about how clean water has profoundly changed our lives, and he looks into the psychological effects of sunlight by examining sailors who live on submarines. Also, he digs into the workings of air traffic control at Heathrow.

Top Chef 10 p.m., Bravo

Y’all ready for a chowder challenge? Yes, I thought so. Boston foodies have been campaigning to bring “Top Chef” to our fair city, and they finally won. The Boston season begins airing on Wednesday night, and it will feature a lot of familiar locations, including Fenway Park, the Museum of Science, and the Cheers bar, where host Padma Lakshmi had a visit with “Cheers” star George Wendt. By the way, the cheftestants (one of our uglier new portmanteau words, don’t you think?) lived in a slick Boylston Street apartment during the filming. For more on “Top Chef,” see Pages 17-20. Pictured (from left): Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and Richard Blais.

American Horror Story: Freak Show 10 p.m., FX

Who’s better, Paulson or Paulson?

A sniper kills a bride. Talk about yer shotgun wedding.

Extreme Cheapskates 9 p.m., TLC

The blades are made of cardboard.

Summary: In this new six-part PBS series, pop science guy Steven Johnson picks a few technologies and explains their paths of development and their historical impact.


FORTUNE — Twitter this evening raised $1.82 billion in its initial public offering, and tomorrow morning is expected to begin trading its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol TWTR.

The micro-messaging service price 70 million shares at $26 per share, which is higher than both its original $17-$20 price range and its recently-revised price range of $23-$25 per share. It is, however, a bit lower than speculation earlier in the evening that the company would price the shares at $27 each, perhaps because the company is seeking to maximize its first-day trading “pop.”

At $26, Twitter would have a market capitalization of approximately $14.16 billion. Including stock options, the company’s value climbs to more than $18 billion.

All of the shares offered in the IPO came from the company, rather than from insiders. This is a major difference between Twitter’s IPO and Facebook’s offering from May 2012, where more than half of the shares came from directors, early investors and other insiders.

RELATED: How Twitter’s largest outside investor tricked me

Goldman Sachs , Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan (JPM) are leading the offering, with four other banks also listed.

Twitter reports a $133 million net loss on $422 million in revenue through the first nine months of 2013, compared to a $70 million net loss on $205 million in revenue for the year-earlier period.

In other IPO news, various reports tonight suggest that Square — the mobile payments company led by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey — is speaking with banks about a 2014 offering.

Summary: Twitter prices 70 million shares at $26 each.


FORTUNE — For Fortune’s 20th consecutive Apple AAPL Earnings Smackdown, we’ve started to collect estimates for fiscal Q4 2013 from our roster of professional and amateur analysts. The actual results are coming later than usual this year; Apple’s fiscal 2013 ended on Saturday Sept. 28., and the results won’t be known until Monday Oct. 28.

In the numbers we’ve seen so far, the conservative pros and the more bullish amateurs are in closer alignment than in the past. Their biggest disagreement is over Apple’s gross margin, a measure of the efficiency with which the company turns sales into profits.

The average GM estimate among the professionals is 36.8% — the high end, per Apple’s latest SEC advisory, of the 34-37% guidance the company offered in July.

The average among the amateurs is 37.4% — above the top of Apple’s range.

The attached chart comes from Wells Fargo’s Maynard Um, who addressed the gross margin question Tuesday and offered some bullish forecasts for the next two quarters:

iPhone launch quarters typically have accounting headwinds that ease in “s” cycles; historically, “s” versions drive better gross margins. Historically, the quarter of an iPhone launch has seen accounting gross margin headwinds (which, in our opinion, makes Apple’s September quarter gross margins more impressive). If our accounting reversal assumptions are correct and assuming 5s/c mix goes to two-thirds of iPhone volumes, we believe December corporate gross margins could be 39.6% (versus our 38.3% estimate)–or $0.56 in incremental EPS–without calculating any potential incremental benefits from deferred margin on component sale or warranty accruals.

The March quarter could see even greater upside potential as warranty accruals have typically seen material decreases per unit in the third quarter following an “s” version launch, which could lead to the March quarter corporate gross margin hitting 40% (versus our 38.5% estimate)–a level not seen since September 2012. While the reversals of these can vary, if we just take a holistic step back, we note that gross margins have gone up by an average of 225bps in the two quarters of launch in an “s” cycle versus the two quarters of launch in a new form factor iPhone where gross margins have decreased by an average of 225bps. Gross margin improvements, particularly if they get to 40%+ would, in our opinion, dispel high-end smartphone commoditization fears.

Summary: Wells Fargo's Maynard Um forecasts that Apple's GM could reach 40% by March.


Peder Balke lived in an Arctic of the mind. The 19th-century Norwegian painter explored the Arctic Circle and saw the mighty blank wall of rock that is the North Cape as a young man. He painted the frozen spectacle of the most remote regions of Norway for the rest of his life. The grandeur of the northern extremes got inside him; people rarely appear in his pictures; shipwrecks and ice-bound towns stand in for human life. Balke’s imagination is ice-bound, frozen in contemplation of something at the very edge of human experience.

The first paintings in this haunting exhibition, which bring an unjustly obscure visionary back into the light of day, are big, expansive views of the North Cape, where today tourists travel to see the midnight sun. Balke brings out its ineffable mystery. He sees in it a silent barrier, the final limit to knowledge and exploration – beyond it lies nothing. The sky above the massed rock is terrifyingly empty. The sea stretches into an inhuman void.

Explorers only reached the north pole in the late 1900s, two decades after Balke’s death in 1887. Today we worry about the future of the Arctic and probe its melting ice, but in Balke’s day there was no knowledge of global warming and not very precise information about the Arctic Ocean. When he stood gazing at the North Cape, it really did feel like the edge of the world.

Balke translates this sense into brutally pared-down paintings that meditate on a few recurring elements: mountains, coasts, sky, sea. As his memories of the Arctic became more distant, it seems to have become ever easier for him to abstract it in a set of stupendous motifs. He paints icy mountains so high and steep they seem to hang over the shores below, the sun as a band of fire in a yellow sky and white water grazing black rocks.

His eerie vision has a lot in common with that of his predecessor, the German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich, who also painted landscapes as cold and perfect as gelid vodka. For both of them, the landscape’s grandeur is a psychological metaphor. Balke’s identification with extreme scenery communicates a boundless isolation. He is a poet of solitude.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, his desolate paintings did not sell well when he was alive, and he had to go into business to make a living. He carried on as a part-time artist. In his later works, echoes of Japanese prints, always hovering in his northern wastes, become even stronger. His obsessive abstract mountain motifs have a Hokusai-like quality: mountains for the mind to dream on. He reduces his palette to a black-and-white scrim effect like carved walrus ivory, and paints on very small canvases. The loneliness of his art spirals into despair.

The extremism of soul that made Balke unsuccessful in his lifetime today looks precociously modern. When he died in 1887, the young Edvard Munch was just starting his career. Munch’s totally expressionist paintings of unreal Norwegian seas and skies complete the journey that took Balke to the Arctic. It is a journey inward, to the end of the night.

• Free until 12 April. Information: 020-7747 2885. Venue: National Gallery, London.

Summary: The first UK exhibition devoted to the eerie mystery of this 19th-century master shows just how precociously modern he was, writes Jonathan Jones