WHEN the publishing company founded by Harrison Smith and Robert K. Haas merged with Random House in 1936, the Smith and Haas roster included William Faulkner, Isak Dinesen, Robert Graves and Andre Malraux. But another of its authors was Jean de Brunhoff, whose internationally famous creation, Babar the Elephant, is now celebrating its 50th anniversary.

''We didn't have a juvenile department until we bought Smith and Haas,'' said Donald Klopfer, chairman emeritus of Random House, which he founded with Bennett A. Cerf. ''Babar became and has remained a very prominent part of our juvenile department.''

Messrs. Klopfer and Cerf acquired the Modern Library from Boni & Liveright for $225,000 in 1925. On the strength of the success of those books - more than 50 million copies were eventually sold - they started a subsidiary to publish limited editions of titles chosen at random - or Random, as they named the company in 1927.

Random House has more than its share of big-name children's authors, including Doctor Seuss (Dr. Theodore Geisel). But none has been published by the company as long as the de Brunhoffs - father Jean, who died in 1937 after writing and illustrating seven Babar books, and son Laurent, who brought Babar back to life in ''Babar and That Rascal Arthur'' in 1946, when the author was 21 years old. Laurent de Brunhoff has since written some two dozen books about the gentle elephant and the other inhabitants of the animal kingdom of Celesteville.

One person who has particularly vivid memories of Babar is Louise Williams, who was Louise Bonino when she headed the Smith and Haas juvenile department. ''I was at a cocktail party with Harrison Smith at the town house of Lewis Gannett, the book critic for The Herald Tribune,'' she recalled the other day, ''and Lewis's wife, Ruth, was passing around this large illustrated book in French that she had come across in a bookshop. The next day I mentioned it to Bob Haas and he wanted to have a look. I bought one at the French bookshop on Madison Avenue. Bob was entranced, so he negotiated with the French publisher for the American rights. Then he got his wife, Merle, to translate it into English.''

In 1933, two years after it was published in France, ''Travels of Babar'' was published in the United States with a preface by A.A. Milne. ''We had to charge $3 because of the large size and all the color, and I think the other publishers thought we were crazy to charge so much during the Depression,'' Mrs. William said. But it was a success, as was the next de Brunhoff book, ''Babar the King,'' also published by Smith & Haas. After the merger, Mr. Haas, a founder and president of the Book-of-the-Month Club from 1926 to 1931, became a vice president and director of Random House, while Mr. Smith became its treasurer.

Random House recently published ''Babar's Anniversary Album,'' a large, colorful collection of six favorite Babar stories by the de Brunhoffs, to commemorate the elephant's 50 years, and the other Babar books are still in print. But the others are in smaller formats. ''With costs the way they are,'' said Mr. Klopfer, ''we can't afford to do them in the big format they were originally published in.''

Mr. de Brunhoff will attend Babar's 50th birthday party, being held in conjunction with the opening of the ''Babar and His Friends'' exhibition at the Manhattan Laboratory Museum for children at 1 P.M. on Sunday. Admission is $2.

Big-money inducements are killing off the creative work of new authors. Movie rights and lucrative magazine arrangements have replaced the drive to produce genuine work, and many good books will die because they are never begun. Book publishing has become a sport of millionaires and of people looking at book publishing as a good financial speculation. If a writer's first book does not turn a profit, publishers may have to reject that author's next offering.

Sound familiar? But this is not a contemporary indictment. The gloomy assessment was delivered by Harrison Smith on Nov. 6, 1946, at the 41st annual book show of the National Arts Club in New York. Some 100 publishers at the show displayed 2,000 titles published that year. After the Smith and Haas-Random House merger, Mr. Smith became an editor at Doubleday and in 1938 he joined The Saturday Review of Literature, as the weekly was known until 1952. He retired as Saturday Review president in 1966 and died in 1971.

Mountaineers Books of Seattle is the publishing arm of the 11,000-member outdoor-activity club The Mountaineers. ''We said we needed a handbook for our mountain-climbing class, and that led to our publishing division,'' said Donna DeShazo, promotion manager for the press.

Its first book was ''Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills,'' published in 1960, which has sold more than 140,000 hard-cover copies and is in its fourth edition. The small press has some 100 titles in print and publishes 15 to 25 books a year, most of them trade paperbacks with the emphasis on mountaineering.

When Mount St. Helens began rumbling early last year, Mountaineers Books decided to replenish its dwindling stock of ''Fire and Ice,'' a geology of that volcano and 16 other major volcanos on the West Coast. The revised book, which was written by Stephen L. Harris, was published in April 1980, one month before Mount St. Helens erupted, and it has sold more than 90,000 copies.


PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 26— Phillip Testa, a reputed organized crime boss, and nine other former associates of the late Angelo Bruno pleaded not guilty today to charges of conspiring to violate Federal racketeering statutes.

The pleas were entered before United States Magistrate Tullio Leomporra, who set a trial date of April 13.

The case was assigned to Federal Judge James T. Giles.

The 10 men were indicted Friday for forming ''an illegal association'' to commit ''various illegal activities'' between June 1972 and June 1978.

Federal prosecutors contend the association was headed by Mr. Bruno, who was assassinated last March. Besides Mr. Testa, 46 years old, those arraigned today were Frank Narducci, 48; Harry Riccobene, 70, and his brother, Mario, 48; Joseph Ciancaglini, 46; Pasquale Spirito, 41; Joseph Bongiovanni, 34; and Frank Primerano, 42, all of Philadelphia; and Carl Ippolito, 72, of Trenton, N.J., and Charles Warrington, 40, of Levittown, Pa.


A burst of springlike weather lured New Yorkers into the streets yesterday to stroll or shop. They shed the down coats and scarves of the last cold weeks and brought home bargains from Washington's Birthday sales.

Bright sunshine and a high temperature of 57 degrees at 3:35 P.M. found street vendors who were selling leg warmers last week peddling sunglasses yesterday.

Although yesterday marked the official celebration of Washington's Birthday, many in New York took little notice of the day's historic value. 'Cameras and Stereos'

''Today is Washington's Birthday?'' said Steven Doherty, visiting from Boston. ''You buy used cars, cameras and stereos on Washington's Birthday - that's what it means for me.''

History books indicate George Washington was born on Feb. 22 -next Monday. Now that national holidays are celebrated on Mondays to result in three-day weekends, Washington's Birthday could have been celebrated on his historic birth date.

But because the Federal Government has been observing Washington's Birthday on the third Monday of February since 1971 and that fell on Feb. 15 this year, the holiday created a four-day weekend along with Lincoln's Birthday, which was observed last Friday.

The change disturbed a few New Yorkers like Ben LeRea, manager of Party Bazaar, a greeting-cards store on 42d Street between Fifth Avenue and the Avenue of the Americas. ''I'm a traditionalist,'' he said. ''When I was a kid going to school, just like Christmas Day was on the 25th, Washington's Birthday was on the 22d.'' Steel Drums and Bells

On the steps of the New York Public Library, about 50 people gathered to hear a one-man steel-drum band. Dressed in a safari shirt open at the chest, with bells tied around his ankles, the musician flashed his steel drumsticks, and the sounds usually associated with a Jamaica travel commercial floated out to 42d Street.

Arturo Fernandez was tapping his feet to the music, enjoying his day off from school. When asked why he had a holiday, the 11-year-old frowned. ''It's Valentine's Day,'' he said. ''No, that's wrong, it's Washington's Birthday. No, I've got it - Lincoln's Birthday.''

A few hours earlier, the Knights of Columbus held their 81st annual parade to commemorate former Knights and members of the armed forces who died on duty. The Knights, wearing their ceremonial plumed hats and black and scarlet capes, marched up Fifth Avenue from 35th Street to St. Patrick's Cathedral, where a memorial mass was held at 10:30 A.M.

This year is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the organization. In his sermon, the Most Rev. John J. O'Connor praised the Knights for their contributions of nine million hours and $25 million to charitable causes.

For some young New Yorkers, the holiday provided an opportunity to learn about Colonial costume-making. A small group of children aged 7 to 12 gathered outside the Morris-Jumel Mansion, at 160th Street and Edgecombe Avenue in Manhattan, where General Washington once had his headquarters. There they celebrated by making Colonial hats and blowing out 250 candles on a cherry torte.

Illustrations: photo of scouts at Federal Hall (page A1) photo of Caren Acker leading costumed children


WASHINGTON, Jan. 27— The nation's governors, who ordinarily avoid party lines on issues of state power, divided in unusually partisan ranks today in assessing President Reagan's proposals for shifting programs between the state and Federal governments. Democratic criticism was somewhat more solid than Republican support.

This weakening of the governors' customary unity on issues of federalism indicated that Mr. Reagan could count on less of their support this winter, as he seeks enactment of his program, than he had a year ago, when he sought to consolidate special aid programs to the states into large block grants.

Gov. Pierre S. du Pont 4th of Delaware, reflecting Republican support, called the President's proposals for shifting power to the states ''challenging, in the right direction for the country.''

But Democrats were less impressed by the goals outlined in the President's State of the Union Message. Richard Riley of South Carolina said he failed to see the philosophical basis for the choices Mr. Reagan suggested in Tuesday night's speech. Criticism From Democrats

Today's reactions, in telephone interviews from state capitals, found Democrats almost always ready to criticize. Some, like Scott M. Matheson of Utah, criticized the substance of Mr. Reagan's proposals on state and Federal roles. Others, such as Harry R. Hughes of Maryland, contended that Mr. Reagan's proposals were basically intended ''to solve the Federal deficit.''

Many Democrats said Mr. Reagan's proposals to shift programs to state control were beside the point, or at least secondary in importance to the economy. For example, Edmund G. Brown Jr. of California called the speech ''a diversionary tactic, diversionary from the central issue of our time, which is the sick economy and the 9.5 million people who are out of work.''

Most of the Republicans interviewed supported the President. Governor Kean of New Jersey called the speech a ''bold initiative.'' Lee S. Dreyfus of Wisconsin called the idea of sorting out Federal and state reponsibilities ''absolutely essential for the long-term good of the country.'' Lamar Alexander of Tennessee said Mr. Reagan had he eded ''a powerful voice for giving citi zens more control in their communities.''

But Robert Ray of Iowa, who called the plan ''rather bold,'' admitted to doubts about removing Federal standards altogether from Aid to Families With Dependent Children, the primary welfare program. Some Unanswered Questions

Another Republican, Richard A. Snelling of Vermont, noting the program's many unanswered questions, said his reaction was ''it depends.'' Mr. Snelling, who is chairman of the National Governors Association, complained that Mr. Reagan had failed to answer many key questions in his speech. A key question, he said, was whether the budget for the fiscal year 1983 would leave states financially ''debilitated,'' and thus unable to make the most of the opportunities he proposed.

The response from Democatic governors had two elements. There were the familiar critics, such as Mr. Brown and Governor Carey of New York, who said Mr. Reagan really ''views the new federalism as a new feudalism.'' William A. O'Neill of Connecticut dismissed the plan as one that would shift responsibilities without ''adequate revenue resources.''

But they were joined by others who have been less critical of Mr. Reagan in the past, and whose reluctance to support him on this issue may therefore carry more weight. Among that group were Mr. Matheson, Mr. Riley, Bruce Babbitt of Arizona and James B. Hunt Jr. of North Carolina.

Mr. Riley, emphasizing the problem of Federal budget deficits, warned, ''We're in no shape to pick up their deficits.'' Both Mr. Babbitt and Mr. Matheson said that while the President's plan warranted discussion, they would oppose it in it present form. Black and Hispanic Fears

Mr. Babbitt was at once more friendly and more critical. He called Mr. Reagan's ideas ''breathtaking'' and ''landmarks.'' But he also said that to carry them out, Mr. Reagan would have to overcome the fears of blacks and Hispanic Americans, especially in light of Mr. Reagan's ''record'' on the Voting Rights Act and tax exemptions for segregated private schools.

Mr. Hunt questioned Mr. Reagan's plans and his record on the economy. He also warned, as did other Democrats, that the President ''must not leave states holding the bag,'' with tradeoffs that ended up costing them money. He said North Carolina would lose $193 milli onby assuming t he responsibilities that the Federal Government now has for food stam ps and Aid to Families With Dependent Children in returnfor dropping its share of Medicaid costs.

Republicans were generally more willing to accept White House assurances that the formulas would be adjusted so that the swaps would come out even. Both Mr. Alexander and James R. Thompson of Illinois asserted in separate interviews that there would be no winners and no losers.


07/01/2015 AT 07:55 PM EDT

's impending divorce was weighing on her during a

to Boston Children's Hospital, she didn't let it show.

The actress was all smiles while spending time at the facility to research an upcoming role in the film

on June 26 – just four days before she and

"She was very friendly. She was coming to do some research for her next film, to ask him some questions that were a part of it, looking to make sure she had her info right," a hospital spokesperson told PEOPLE. "She was very pleasant, very nice."

A BIG thank you to Jennifer Garner for stopping by to meet with Dr. Nurko to do research for an upcoming movie role! pic.twitter.com/cGbt0SkNaG

Garner arrived at the hospital by herself wearing a blue and white striped T-shirt, and spent time with Dr. Samuel Nurko, the director of the hospital's Center for Motility and Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders.

The film, based on the bestselling novel of the same title, tells the true story of a mother, Christy Wilson Beam (played by Garner), and her sickly daughter, who is miraculously cured from her chronic disease after a surviving a dangerous accident.

on Tuesday after ten years of marriage.

"They plan on co-parenting and doing absolutely everything in the best interest of the kids," a source tells PEOPLE.

Both Affleck and Garner plan to continue

they purchased together in 2009, and will file for joint custody of their children, Violet, 9, Seraphina, 6, and Samuel, 3.

Summary: The actress showed no signs of emotional stress while visiting Boston Children's Hospital last week


Kelly Rutherford and boyfriend Tony Brand

By Lindsay Kimble and Reagan Alexander

07/10/2015 AT 02:30 PM EDT

continued on Thursday and Friday in a Los Angeles courtroom, as the former

Rutherford – has long been separated from her two children, Helena, 6, and Hermes, 8, due to a custody disagreement with her ex-husband Daniel Giersch – posted a hopeful message on

, walking arm-in-arm with Anthony Giovanni Deane, one of the friends – including Rutherford's current boyfriend Tony Brand, an assistant manager at Gucci – who came to support Rutherford in court.

with her children in New York City, she's spent the last three years traveling between Monaco and the United States since the German businessman's American visa was revoked in 2012.

Giersch, whom Rutherford divorced in 2009, appeared via video conferencing and opted not to petition for a trial continuance – a minor victory for Rutherford.

Giersch's lawyer Fahi Takesh Hallin spent much of Thursday's proceedings establishing Rutherford's residency, grilling her about her social media posts implying she lives in New York (not California) as well as the children's possessions while they stay in New York. When Hallin argued that the children don't reside in the U.S., Rutherford appeared to whisper with "That's the point."

The temporary visit, which was

, is to intended give Giersch time to work on his U.S. visa.

"I have a letter from the State Department that ... [my ex-husband] has made no effort to get a visa reinstated or come back to this country," Rutherford

earlier this week, "so the burden is now put on my kids and the U.S. citizens who are accommodating someone who is making no effort and who now is trying to get full custody in a foreign country."

As it now stands, Rutherford's children will have to return to Monaco to live with their father at the end of the summer.

Summary: Rutherford was joined by her boyfriend and several friends for the Thursday proceedings


Since it sold its devices business to Microsoft two years ago, analysts and tech fans have been constantly asking when Nokia would return to the phone business.

The Finnish telecoms maker posted a blog entry this week aiming to address that question. The answer: "It's complicated".

"For 14 years Nokia was the biggest cell phone maker in the world, and the brand became a household name," Robert Morlino, the spokesperson behind the post wrote, explaining that he understands why people ask about Nokia's return to phones.

Morlino said that Nokia would return to phones, but not in the same form as when it was the market leader.

"The right path back to mobile phones for Nokia is through a brand-licensing model. That means identifying a partner that can be responsible for all of the manufacturing, sales, marketing and customer support for a product," he wrote.

Summary: Nokia said it would return to the phone business but go with a brand-licensing model, after it sold its devices unit to Microsoft in 2013.


The nation's wealthiest homebuyers are moving to towns with humble beginnings that have bloomed into millionaire enclaves, and also to a handful of communities that were planned from the start with affluent residents in mind. To determine which towns made up this list, Zillow.comanalyzed data for towns with populations over 10,000 where the median home value is over a million, and where they saw the biggest increase in percentage of total home sales. Click on to see fifteen of the nation’s priciest communities that are still open to those with deep enough coffers. By Colleen KanePosted 8 Feb 2011

Source: Zillow.com | Photo: Juice Images | Getty Images

Summary: Click to see fifteen of the nation’s priciest communities that are still open to those with deep enough coffers.


Prices in the one of the world's most expensive housing markets are set to pick up pace this year, triggering renewed warnings of a potential bubble brewing.

According to a note from HSBC this week, while growth in real estate prices showed some signs of cooling in May, a strong bounce back in house price data and auction clearance rates in June and July could mean prices will end the year 10 percent higher.

"While we remain of the view that Australia does not currently have a housing bubble, it seems likely that if the current housing market trends were to persist for too long, there would be a risk of inflating one... the longer mortgage rates remain at low levels, the more this risk grows," said Paul Bloxham, chief economist for Australia and New Zealand at HSBC.

Read MoreAustralia stocks: Good times to roll on

Prices in Australia have more than tripled since 1997, on the back of low interest rates, high incomes and growing demand from Asia.

HSBC says signs of exuberance are most acute in Sydney, which was branded the second-most unaffordable city to buy a house in the English-speaking world by the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey published earlier this year.

Prices in the city have risen 15 percent in the past 12 months to the end of June, compared to only 7 percent weighted average of other capital cities, HSBC noted. Meanwhile, the investor share of Sydney property has reached record highs.

Read MoreMillion dollar homes: Reclaimed

"Developments in the Sydney market are more worrisome. The current pace of housing price growth... seems likely to be unsustainable," said Bloxham.

The bank noted that Sydney's slower supply response due to restrictions on land release has prompted concerns that supply might not be able to meet demand, fueling even higher prices. Meanwhile expectations of price rises now seem to be driving market gains, a trend HSBC says is a key characteristic of a bubble.

However, other analysts told CNBC that there have been several warnings of Australia property bubbles in recent times, but none has come to pass.

Read MoreVolatile Phoenix housing: A cautionary tale

"If you look at the set-up of the country, 87 percent of the population live in major cities, so there will always be demand and not enough supply," said Evan Lucas, strategist at trading firm IG.

"It's different from other economies for that reason. That's why we have had a lot of calls for a bubble which haven't materialized. Prices will cool but not crash as some are suggesting," he added.

"Most arguments that are being made today [in terms of the risks of a property bubble] are ones that could have been made in the past 20 years. The question is what's new?" said Steve Goldman, manager of Sydney-based Kapstream Capital.

Read MoreUn-advertised listings distort housing inventory

To be sure, HSBC flagged some mediating factors that could prevent a possible crash.

House owners in Australia tend to be on the wealthier end of the spectrum, making them less likely to default on their debt, Bloxham said, adding that existing mortgage holders have been paying down their mortgages faster than required recently, making them less of a risk.

Summary: Prices in the one of the world's most expensive housing markets are set to pick up pace, triggering renewed warnings of a potential bubble brewing.


After obliterating Wall Street's expectations, Walt Disney stock is a must, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Wednesday.

"Everyone has to own Disney," Cramer said on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." "This is what you get your kids. Forget about Hasbro."

Read More Measles outbreak hasn't impacted business: Disney CEO

Cramer made his remarks a day after the media and entertainment giant blew past analysts' forecasts, posting earnings of $1.27 per share on $13.39 billion revenue. The Street expected the company to post earnings of $1.07 per share on $12.87 billion revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thompson Reuters.

Disney shares on Wednesday morning, broke through its previous intraday high (on a split-adjusted basis) of $96.43 reached on Jan. 13. By midday, it was trading at $101.63. (Click here for the latest.) In the past three years, DIS is up 152 percent, while the Dow is up 37 percent.

Disney's outlook for the rest of the year also looks promising. "They've got a lot of new Pixar things coming up," Cramer said, adding that the company was being underestimated by many analysts for several reasons.

Read More5 earnings trades on Chipotle, Disney and Gilead

"You had all of these 'really smart' hedge-fund guys putting a gigantic short on Disney [because of the rising dollar]," Cramer said. "It was one of the great short spoils ever."

Cramer also compared the company to fellow Dow constituent Procter & Gamble. "Disney is [Procter & Gamble] during their heyday. [They] have 11 billion-dollar franchises, [and] they keep adding to them. This is the way Procter was when [they] were the great American company before it lost its growth."

Summary: CNBC's Jim Cramer explains why investors have to own this particular stock.


There's little chance Greece can repay its full debt, and basically no chance that it can run its government without access to credit, so more talks to try to find a deal are forthcoming. Greece's finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, who has had a contentious relationship with creditors, resigned after the election in an apparent attempt to pave the way for more negotiations.

In a report last week, the IMF conceded that it's likely the international creditors will have to "take a haircut" by reducing the principal amount of the debt they hold so Greece can make its payments. How much? In 2012, hedge funds agreed to write down about 70 percent of their remaining debt, setting one potential parameter. The IMF's report floated the idea of writing down the debt by about 53 billion euro, which would make the rest of the debt sustainable if Greece's economy grew 1 percent a year and the government ran consistent surpluses of 2.5 percent of GDP.

What's the best that can happen?

The best-case scenario could take either of two forms, depending on whether a deal is reached. The path the parties will try first is to make a deal, but that would require Germany to back off its opposition to reducing the principal amount of Greece's debt. On Monday, Greece's creditors said the ball was in Athens' court to present a credible deal.

With a deal, Greece makes some cuts that are largely offset by a reduction in the payments it has to make to its creditors, whether for interest or for principal reduction. This wouldn't be likely to deliver actual prosperity soon, but might prevent the situation from worsening.

Read More Bye, Yanis, hello Euclid. Can this man save Greece?

The best-case scenario for Greece without a deal is that it follows the path Argentina did in 2001 and 2002: Devalue its currency, which in Greece's case means abandoning the euro in favor of its own money, hoping that the drop in the cost of tourism and other Greek exports draws enough customers to begin delivering prosperity in a year or two. However, Varoufakis dismissed this idea in a May blog post, saying, "Greece cannot pull off an Argentina.''

Summary: The IMF and international creditors may need to reduce the principal amount Greece owes to avert a bigger crisis. Here are predictions.


But not everyone expects the RBA will cut rates.

HSBC is expecting the central bank to stand pat, forecasting a 25 basis point cut in the third quarter instead.

The RBA's reluctance to cut rates in March and April "suggests that it may need a convincing trigger to push it over the line," said Paul Bloxham, HSBC chief economist of Australia and New Zealand.

"Although underlying inflation is low enough not to constrain the RBA from cutting, it is not low enough to be an obvious trigger for a cut," he said. March consumer price inflation rose an annual 1.3 percent, below the central bank's 2-3 percent target.

"Although the decision could go either way next week, we expect the RBA to be on hold," Bloxham added.

Comments by Governor Glenn Stevens this week concerning retirement could also be a sign that the central bank will stay on hold, Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG, said.

"The fact that [he said] retirees are now worse off than they were a decade ago may be another reason he won't cut rates further unless forced – and the current data to hand certainly doesn't force anything," Lucas noted, noting the robust 37,700 jobs created in March and a better-than-expected 4 percent annual rise in February retail sales.

Summary: The RBA's decision may come down to the wire at its policy meeting Tuesday, as economists eye a rate cut despite concerns over a strong currency and home prices.


Although markets have scaled back expectations for the timing of a rise in U.S. interest rates from June to later this year, the prospect of monetary tightening in the world's biggest economy remain a key risk for emerging markets, analysts said.

In a note on Friday, Mark Mobius, an emerging markets fund manager at Franklin Templeton Investments, said it seemed likely that the Federal Reserve was in no rush to raise rates.

"Nonetheless, the markets will likely react when the Fed does act, so we are remaining cautious, and planning for some volatility ahead," he wrote.

In fact, until the outlook for U.S. rates becomes clearer, markets generally will be in for greater volatility, said Joe Zidle, portfolio strategist at Richard Bernstein Advisors.

"We'll have volatility until we get stronger-than-expected data that tells people the Fed is going to hike more quickly or weaker data that suggests the Fed will be hold," he told CNBC.

Jackson at Capital Economics said Turkey and South Africa were two emerging markets to watch most closely in terms of further volatility.

Turkish assets have faced additional pressure from uncertainty ahead of a weekend election that could force the ruling AK party to form a coalition. The Turkish lira traded at about 2.66 per dollar on Friday, holding near one-month lows.

"On every single measure of vulnerability you can look at, Turkey usually comes near the top," said Jackson.

Summary: Stocks and currencies are not the only markets caught up in the bond market turmoil this week. Emerging markets have also felt the pain.


In terms of technology, most of the smartphones sold in India are still 3G, with 3G penetration currently less than 10 percent. This is about four years behind China's adoption of 3G and also well below the level of other large, emerging Asian markets, Li added.

And smartphones are still mainly distributed through retail channels, rather than by network operators, because almost 70 percent of the Indian population lives in rural areas where networks have a smaller presence .

Read MoreMeeker bullish on India's Internet economy

"Going forward the operator channel is expected to remain insignificant compared with China and developed markets," he said.

While online sales are developing rapidly, with smartphone makers partners with e-commerce platforms such as Amazon India and Flipkart, low internet penetration and weak logistics infrastructure mean growth will be limited.

Given the market's characteristics, local and Chinese low-cost manufactures are well positioned to capture India's growth, according to Li.

Samsung is currently the top smartphone vendor in India with a 27.8 percent market share. However, its share has been declining in the past few years due to rising competition from domestic vendors. India's Micromax, Intex and Lava are the second, third and fourth biggest players, with a 15.3 percent, 9.4 percent and 5.4 percent market share, respectively.

"They focus on brand, distribution and customer service and rely on Chinese partners for handset design and manufacturing. Their 'low-price, high-specs' models are more wallet-friendly than those Samsung offers," Li said.

Read MoreWhy Xiaomi phones won't be on US shelves soon

"Going forward, with most incremental smartphone shipment coming from the low end, it will be more and more difficult for international [manufactures] to compete with the local or Chinese players," he said.

Xiaomi is one mainland manufacturer that has already made significant headway in the market with its low-price devices. It entered India last July and already has a 5 percent share of the market. Earlier this year, the company also announced plans to set up a manufacturing base in the country to meet robust demand.

Lenovo, with the acquisition of Motorola, has also rapidly gained market share in India through its partnership with Flipkart.

Summary: Just as China's long-insatiable appetite for smartphones wanes, India promises to be the next hot spot for explosive growth, a new report claims.


There is scope for the Greek crisis to drive more risk-averse money into gold if it worsens to the point where Greece leaves the euro zone, or if there is contagion into other economies in the bloc, such as Italy, Portugal or Spain, traders said.

Gold is typically regarded as a good bet in times of financial and economic uncertainty. But the metal's underperformance points to broader weakness as investors expect the Federal Reserve to raise U.S. interest rates this year.

The dollar gained 0.9 percent against a basket of currencies, mostly because of euro weakness.

"ADP numbers came in strongly today," Mitsubishi Corp analyst Jonathan Butler said, referring to U.S. private employers adding 237,000 jobs in June. "I think that's one of the reasons that gold is off today and there are nonfarm payrolls tomorrow."

Read MoreGreek crisis: How to trade the volatility

Spot palladium prices were up 4.2 percent at $697.50 an ounce, their biggest jump in two years in a bounce viewed as corrective after falling 14 percent in June, but also spurred by strong U.S. June auto sales.

"One cannot underestimate the impact motor vehicle sales will have on the palladium market," said Eli Tesfaye, senior market strategist for brokerage RJO Futures in Chicago.

Palladium is used in autocatalysts.

Silver fell 1 percent to $15.59 an ounce and platinum was up 0.4 percent at $1,079.25.

Summary: Gold fell on Wednesday, as the dollar strengthened and hopes for progress in the Greek crisis were revived.


U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Thursday reaffirmed his view that the government could stay funded by extraordinary measures through late October, but urged Congress to raise the borrowing limit and avoid unnecessary turmoil.

In a letter, Lew noted that the Treasury will reach its borrowing capacity once it exhausts emergency options. The department has implemented various measures, such as suspension of certain investments, to pay government bills ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline to extend spending authority.

"In the past, failure to raise the debt limit in a timely manner has negatively impacted business and consumer confidence, financial markets and the credit rating of the United States. To avoid these unnecessary risks, I respectfully urge Congress to raise the debt limit as soon as possible," Lew wrote.

Read MoreProspect of another shutdown looms

The government was previously shut down in 2013 amid attempts to defund the Affordable Care Act. An impasse over Republican attempts to block Planned Parenthood funding has raised concerns about the government's spending authority expiring again.

This week, Goldman Sachs Global Macro Research contended in a note that a government shutdown "appears nearly as likely as not." However, it said the incident may only have a "modest" effect on markets.

Summary: U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Thursday urged Congress to raise the borrowing limit to avoid "unnecessary risks."


10/15/2015 AT 04:30 PM EDT

One of the funnier (or at least seemingly far-fetched) future-related jokes of

hinged on the fact that perennially beaten-down Chicago Cubs were in line to win the World Series in 2015.

But the North Side underdogs may have the last laugh after all. They beat their top rival, the St. Louis Cardinals, Tuesday to clinch their division series title.

(The other element of the joke in film is that the team swept over Miami, which didn't have a major league team in 1985. Either way, it doesn't matter, because the Marlins are in the National League and wouldn't face the Cubs in a prospective World Series matchup.)

The film's screenwriter, Bob Gale, shed a little light on the genesis of that then-innocuous joke

"Being a baseball fan, I thought, 'Okay, let's come up with one of the most unlikely scenarios we can think of,' " he said. "Back in the day, seeing the movie with an audience, that always got a laugh."

But don't start doing victory laps on your hoverboard yet: For the Cubs to win their first World Series since 1908, they'd have to win the National League Championships before they even get to the World Series. (They'll be facing either the Los Angeles Dodgers or the New York Mets.)

Still, according to Yahoo! Sports, the Cubs are the most favored team at booking houses on- and offline, and in some cases their odds for taking the Series have improved from 50-1 to 9-4.

So maybe have the hoverboard charged just in case.

Summary: The Cubs have a way to go, but their odds have improved considerably recently


Rather than stand on the sidelines, Michael Rakowitz takes a can-do approach to political art. An American of Iraqi-Jewish descent currently based in Chicago, his interest in the west's relationship with Iraq has consistently defined his work.

Often he has devised practical, creative ways to get discussion going at ground level: public art projects that directly involve people. Begun in 2004, a project he called Return saw Rakowitz relaunch in Brooklyn a version of his grandfather's import/export business; the local Iraqi community were invited to send items to Iraq for free, testing channels of communication at a time when there was almost no postal infrastructure. For another of Rakowitz's projects, Enemy Kitchen (2006), cooking classes became a way to broach cultural boundaries, teaching school kids family recipes with the help of his mother in workshops staged in California and New York.

Rakowitz's political conscience was awoken early on. As a teen growing up in Long Island, he glimpsed his family's homeland through CNN's green night-vision images of anonymous sites bombed in the first Gulf war. The country his grandparents had fled in the 1940s was now at war with the place they fled to. Rakowitz became conscious of a process of cultural dislocation and erasure that he would later explore in his work.

Political and art-political themes come together in one of his most impressive works to date, The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist (2007), an extraordinary attempt to tell the story behind the National Museum of Iraq, which was famously looted during the second Gulf war. This complex narrative explores the history of the ancient Babylonian Ishtar Gate, taken from Iraq to Berlin's Pergamon Museum in the early 20th century and rebuilt by Saddam Hussein (it later became the site most photographed by US soldiers), alongside the plight of the embattled former director of the museum, Dr Donny George. Most astonishingly, it sought to recreate 7,000 missing objects – friezes, intricate ceramics and votive statues – with materials fashioned from Arab newspapers and food packaging sourced from Middle Eastern neighbourhoods in the US.

Why we like him: For paraSITE, begun in 1998 when Rakowitz was still studying, which demonstrates his inventively hands-on approach to social issues. Following discussions with local homeless people, he developed custom-built inflatable shelters, which can be heated via the air vents of existing buildings. Rakowitz has since recreated these nomadic dwellings, somewhat like silvery space-age tents, for homeless people in Massachusetts, New York City and even Ljubljana in Slovenia.

Truth and fiction: The artist found the inspiration for his current show, linking science-fiction fantasies and the art of war, on eBay. An American soldier was auctioning what looked like a helmet out of a Star Wars film, actually part of the uniform of Saddam Hussein's paramilitary group as designed by his son Uday, a long-time fan of the movie.

Where can I see him? The Worst Condition Is to Pass Under a Sword Which Is Not One's Own is at Tate Modern until 3 May 2010.

• This article was amended on Monday 8 February. The second sentence of the penultimate paragraph stated that Saddam Hussein's paramilitary helmets were modelled on those of Star Wars stormtroopers, when in fact they were inspired by the headgear of Darth Vadar himself.

Summary: From homeless shelters to Iraqi heirlooms, Rakowitz's political art tackles the cultural erasure brought about by poverty and war


Boeing, Airbus, and Lockheed Martin are all lining up for the next big thing, a jet engine composed of 3-D printed parts. GE Aviation plans to be in full production of its LEAP Engine by 2016, which will be nearly 25 percent lighter and more fuel efficient than what's currently available. The improvements will save companies hundreds of thousands dollars per plane.

CNBC's Melissa Lee got a three-step lesson on how to print a jet engine part with Greg Morris, Additive Technology Leader at GE Aviation, from its 3-D printing plant in Cincinnati.

Summary: GE Aviation plans to 3D print jet engine components. Here's a behind-the-scenes look.


Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton

Joshua Lott/AFP/Getty; Luke William Pasley/Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty

11/12/2015 AT 03:15 PM EST

In a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black,

's "massive" hairdo in a new interview Wednesday night.

Asked by conservative radio host

what the Democratic front-runner's appeal to voters is, Trump simply said, "She has a new hairdo, did you notice that today?"

"That's called a wig," Levin replied.

"Is that a wig?" Trump asked. "I tell you what, it really was shocking to see it because you're right, it must be – it was massive. Her hair became massive."

Trump's comments came hours after conservative political blogger Matt Drudge claimed on his website and in a series of tweets that Clinton

PEOPLE reached out to the former secretary of state's longtime hairdresser, Santa Nikkels – owner of Santa's Hair Salon in Chappaqua, New York, where Clinton lives – who assured us that Clinton's hair is not only real but also "the most amazing hair in the world."

Clinton and Trump's hairdos have both been subjected to heaps of criticism this election season. In August, Trump even went so far as to invite an audience member on stage to

of his notorious golden combover.

Clinton commented on the awkward moment the following day at a meeting of Democratic leaders.

"A lot of people have said a lot of things about my hair over the years, so I do kind of know what Donald is going through," she said. "If anyone wonders if mine is real, here's the answer: The hair is real. The color isn't."

"And come to think of it, I wonder if that is true for Donald, too," Clinton added.

Will these two ever get out of each other's hair?

Summary: "It really was shocking to see it," Donald Trump said of Hillary Clinton's "new hairdo"


The Town of Norton got the OK Wednesday to offer Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. a tax break of more than $7 million to build a $100 million drug manufacturing plant in the Southeastern Massachusetts community.

The 13-year property tax reduction, authorized by Town Meeting Dec. 9, was approved by the Massachusetts Economic Assistance Coordinating Council, which reviews business-related incentives offered by local governments and the state.

The size of the tax break is based on Alnylam’s plan to create 220 jobs, according to a document released by state economic officials.

Alnylam spokeswoman Christine Lindenboom said the company has not made a final decision on the property, located in an industrial park in Norton, and is considering other locations to produce a lineup of medicines for rare diseases that are based on a genetic technology known as RNA interference.

In a statement, Alnylam said its headquarters will remain in Cambridge’s Kendall Square, a global hub for biopharmaceutical research and development.

“As we prepare for product commercialization, Alnylam is exploring locations for a commercial manufacturing facility,” the statement said. “As a part of that search, the company has negotiated a [tax break] with the town of Norton. There are, however, other key milestones that must be met in order to move the project forward in Norton, including securing the property from the current owner.”

Lindenboom said Alnylam executives were not ready to elaborate on their plans.

Town Manager Michael Yunits said the community hopes to increase its tax base by attracting life sciences companies such as Alnylam and OMNIlife Science Inc., a maker of hip replacements that is weighing a move from Taunton. If plans go as hoped, Alnylam will begin construction early next year, he said.

Currently, Alnylam has at least seven experimental drugs in clinical trials and is expected to submit the first for Food and Drug Administration approval within two years. It is working in partnership with the Genzyme division of the French drug giant Sanofi SA on some of the drugs.

Under the $7,055,246 tax break approved by the town and now the state, Norton would reduce Alnylam’s property taxes by 50 percent the first year, Yunits said. The tax break would rise to 95 percent the second year and then gradually decline over the next 10 years, he said.

“I’m hoping they’ve settled on Norton,” Yunits said. “We’ve been working with them on this project since last summer. This is one of the areas we really want to target. It would be a great thing for the town and bring jobs, from scientists to the maintenance people in the building.”

Massachusetts officials have been looking at ways to boost the state’s cluster of biomanufacturing plants to match its growing sector of biopharma research.

The state’s largest drug-making site is a Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. plant in Devens. In addition to Genzyme, which makes biotech drugs in Boston and Framingham, and Biogen Inc., which has a plant on its Cambridge campus, there are bioprocessing facilities run by Pfizer Inc. in Andover, Shire PLC in Lexington, AbbVie Inc. in Worcester, and Baxter International Inc. in Milford.

There are also dozens of smaller contract manufacturing businesses that produce drugs, often in small batches for clinical trials. But many Massachusetts biotechnology companies make their drugs at cheaper facilities out of state or overseas or subcontract their manufacturing.

Alnylam is negotiating to build its plant in the Norton Commerce Center industrial park, a 123-acre site off Interstate 495. The site is owned by Condyne LLC, a real estate development firm based in Quincy. A call to a Condyne representative was not returned.

Summary: State officials Wednesday approved a $7 million tax break offered by the town of Norton to entice Cambridge biotech Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. to build a $100 million drug manufacturing plant in the southeastern Massachusetts community.


02/04/2016 AT 12:00 PM EST

is not too proud to beg.

At a town hall in Hanover, New Hampshire, on Wednesday the GOP hopeful launched into a passionate riff about protecting our country. Our next president "needs to be a lot quieter, but send a signal that we're prepared to act in the national security interest of this country – to get back in the business of creating a more peaceful world," he told the crowd. He paused for applause here – but was met with total silence.

"Please clap," he said, sounding defeated.

The crowd rewarded him with laughter and then, finally, applause.

The former Florida governor, who was once considered a shoo-in for the Republican presidential nomination, is reeling from a poor showing at the Iowa caucuses, where he came in sixth with just 2.8 percent of the vote.

With the New Hampshire primary right around the corner on Tuesday, he's called in reinforcements in the form of his mother, former First Lady

. The mother and son duo are scheduled to hold a town hall in Derry, New Hampshire, Thursday night.

Summary: Jeb Bush will hold a town hall in New Hampshire with his mother, former First Lady Barbara Bush


National Signing Day never seems to disappoint nowadays. Every year, somebody ups the ante on the hijinks.

On Wednesday, we had Deontay Anderson announcing his decision to go to Ole Miss while skydiving. Mecole Hardman had four cakes and didn't eat any of them because the Georgia commit was just trolling everyone. And the nation's top recruit Rashan Gary and his large contingent of family and friends flew up to Bristol, Connecticut, to reveal his school of choice in ESPN's studios.

But none of that topped "Signing of the Stars" extravaganza at Michigan. Thanks to a highly polished production by The Players' Tribune, the show was part-pep rally, part-American Idol and mostly an informercial for the Wolverines. The star-studded cast included Tom Brady, Derek Jeter and Lou Holtz, but the one who brought the house down was Ric Flair.

Just like on the football field in the fall, whenever there's competition, there are winners and losers. Here's our quick take on the recruiting scoreboard after Signing Day:

(All rankings courtesy of Rivals.com)

Jim Harbaugh: The man who can't stop making news was once again the headliner. Not only did he conceive "Signing of the Stars" that packed the Hill Auditorium on the Michigan campus, he also hauled in the Wolverines' best class in a decade, coming in at No. 4 after securing the commitment of the aforementioned Gary. And of course he didn't stop there: Harbaugh says Michigan will have its first week of spring practice at the IMG Academy in Florida, which will cause lots of teeth gnashing and whining down south.

Alabama: While Harbaugh made the most noise, Nick Saban quietly came out on top, with a flurry of signings -- nine in all -- Wednesday to finish with his fifth top-ranked recruiting class in the past six years. The defending national champions just did a quick reload, especially on defense.

SEC: LSU and Ole Miss came close to dethroning 'Bama for the top-ranked recruiting class and finished sixth and seventh. In all, SEC teams occupied half of the top 10 and eight of the top 16 spots. Saban's protege Kirby Smart did well to haul in the No. 10-ranked class despite splitting time after getting the Georgia job while continue to coordinate the Tide's title-winning defense.

USC: Despite all the turmoil -- a third coaching change in the past three years -- the Trojans had a spectacular Signing Day to end up with the eighth-ranked class after beating 'Bama for first last year. Clay Helton, only named permanent head coach in early December, capped off the day by nabbing five-star corner Jack Jones out of Long Beach Poly to finish with the best class in the Pac-12, and west of the Mississippi.

Charlie Strong: Coming off a 5-7 season, things were looking pretty bleak for the coach entering his third season in Austin. Texas' recruiting class were ranked well outside of the top 20 coming into Signing Day but Charlie finished strong, not only landing a few five- and four-star recruits but picking them off Texas A&M to boot. Strong's class ended up 13th, easily the best in the Big 12.

Non-Power 5: How big is the gap between the haves and have-nots? Look no farther than Signing Day, as the top-rated class by a Group of Five school came in 44th, well behind such Power 5 bottom feeders as Kentucky and Maryland. And that class belongs to Tom Herman's Houston Cougars, who were coming off a brilliant 13-1 season capped by manhandling Florida State in the Peach Bowl.

ACC's Also-Rans: Florida State and Clemson have dominated the ACC for the past five years, and that trend doesn't look to be halted anytime soon. The 'Noles and Tigers finished with the second- and fifth-ranked classes, respectively, while no one else in the ACC landed in the top 20. Mark Richt's rebuilding project at Miami will require some patience as the 'Canes came in a distant third among ACC schools, at No. 22.

Penn State: James Franklin's class came in fourth in the Big Ten ... the bad news is that it's also fourth in the cut-throat Big Ten East, well behind Ohio State, Michigan and even Michigan State. The Nittany Lions' No. 23-ranked class was hurt by a few late defections, most glaringly top-rated kicker Quinn Nordin, who flipped to Michigan after Harbaugh came to his house for a sleepover.

Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights joined the Big Ten with the expectations that being in the preeminent conference in college sports will help them keep a good number of New Jersey's top players, as the state is a fertile football recruiting ground. That didn't happen, at least not on this Signing Day, as nine of the state's top 10 players did indeed stay in the Big Ten, just not going to Rutgers (the other went to Tennessee). That includes Paramus Catholic's Gary, the top-rated recruit.

Pac-12 Network: While ESPN's networks, including the SEC Network, and the Big Ten Network competed for audience on Signing Day, not much was heard from the Pac-12 Network, as it joined the fray way too late in the day when all the festivities were nearly over. In addition, since the network is still lightly distributed even in the conference's own footprint, never mind nationally, few even thought about tuning in anyway.

-- Samuel Chi is the managing editor of RealClearSports.com and proprietor of College Football Exchange. Follow him on Twitter at @ThePlayoffGuru.

Alabama Crimson Tide, College Football, Football, Houston Cougars, Jim Harbaugh, Michigan Wolverines, National Signing Day, NCAAF, Penn State Nittany Lions, Rashan Gary, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Texas Longhorns, USC Trojans

Summary: National Signing Day never seems to disappoint nowadays. Every year, somebody ups the ante on the hijinks. On Wednesday, we had Deontay Anderson anno...


SuperAwesome, a London-based advertising firm which specializes in helping marketers reach children on the Web in a legal and safe manner, is building out its own YouTube kids ad network.

Via what it’s calling the Kidfluencer YouTube Network, SuperAwesome says it can help advertisers and media buyers find specific channels on YouTube that are kid-safe. The company is launching the network with a handful of YouTube creators who specialize in kids content, such as FamilyGamerTV, which reviews videogames, and TaDaKids, which features original children’s shows.

The Kidfluencer product is focused on helping advertisers pay to have YouTube creators feature their products or mention them in videos. It’s not about running traditional pre-roll video ads.

According to SuperAwesome Chief Executive Dylan Collins, the company manually vets every YouTube channel that signs on to the Kidfluencer network. And when brands pay to have their products featured in these videos, a “Safe Ad” logo will appear in the corner of the video player, indicating that these videos are being sponsored.

In general, marketers who target children with online ads must take great care to not collect data on these kids in order to comply with Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, a law enacted by the Federal Trade Commission in the 1990s to protect kids on the Web. Founded in 2013, SuperAwesome has built a set of specialized tools which it says helps advertisers like Lego and Hasbro run ads on websites and apps without violating COPPA rules. The firm raised $7 million in funding last year.

However, protecting against data collection is not as big of an issue when it comes to YouTube videos featuring paying sponsors, said Mr. Collins. Since the creators and videos are being hand selected because of their kid-friendly content and audiences, it’s not like marketers are collecting extensive data to figure out where to run ads. Therefore, SuperAwesome’s ad technology platform won’t play a role in the Kidfluencer network, at least initially.

Marketers still need a company that specializes in children’s advertising to help them sift through the vastness of YouTube—a platform that attracts lots of kids but one where advertisers are cautious. That was likely one of the reasons YouTube launched a stand-alone kids app last year, with original episodes and content from kid-safe channels.

SuperAwesome isn’t focused on the YouTube Kids app, but instead on YouTube proper, where plenty of kids are watching videos of toys being unboxed and other family-friendly fare.

SuperAwesome isn’t the first company to tap into this opportunity. Multichannel network Maker Studios represents the popular YouTube child star EvanTube, for example, among its extensive roster of social media influencers.

“Some of these creators have struggled with a lack of monetization options,” Mr. Collins said. “So we’re trying to find the best creators and the right brands, and make sure that brands engage with kids properly.”

Write to Mike Shields at mike.shields@wsj.com

Summary: SuperAwesome, the London-based advertising firm that helps brands reach children on the Internet without collecting any behavioral data, says it can now help marketers target kids safely on YouTube.


03/11/2016 AT 11:50 AM EST

If it's a kidnapping, it's an odd one, as Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) awakens from a car accident to discover that she's tethered to an IV in her arm and a cinder-block wall at her leg. But then, everything about the underground bunker at

is a little off. There are movies on DVD and VHS, board games to pass the time, a fully stocked kitchen, and Michelle is soon free to walk around as she pleases. She just can't leave.

A cinematic cousin of 2008's

(also produced by J.J. Abrams),

is creepy and campy all at once. It's a beautifully paced blend of sci-fi and horror, Armageddon flicks and

that boils down to one question: Can we trust Howard (

An earnest Doomsday prepper, Howard owns the bunker and he takes credit for saving the lives of his guests, Michelle and neighbor Emmett (

's John Gallagher Jr). Howard claims that the reason they're underground is because of a massive chemical attack – Russian or alien maybe, he doesn't know which – that killed everyone else. But if the rest of the world is dead, why does Michelle hear a car pass above her bedroom?

No one is at ease in this bunker, not with Howard stumbling over the line between prescient hero and gun-toting lunatic. That's all thanks to Goodman's crafty performance that makes viewers sympathize with Howard and confidently agree with his logic, while wondering what kind of wine he'd serve with Michelle's liver. Winstead and Gallagher are engaging too, as people forced to stay on guard, even as they attempt to settle in for the long haul with an unnerving host who may well be their only salvation.

These things usually wrap up with a dramatic escape and an end-title sequence, but don't expect

to be that pedestrian. The movie saves its wildest stuff for last, giving the audience more than a few chances to drop our jaws in confusion, in horror, in awe, and finally, in satisfied giggles. Thanks for the hospitality, Howard.

Summary: John Goodman makes a wicked Armageddon host in this creepy, campy new thriller


LOS ANGELES —The song’s not quite the same, but the opening of “Stairway to Heaven” is close enough to an obscure 1960s album track to warrant a trial that might rewrite the history of rock ’n’ roll over a songwriting credit.

Led Zeppelin founders Jimmy Page, 72, and Robert Plant, 67, are expected to recount the origins of the song more than 40 years ago at a trial scheduled for May 10. Lawyers for the two rockers have asked the judge to exclude evidence of the “adverse effects of drinking or drug use in the 1960s or later” as a factor in their allegedly flawed recollection of whether they were familiar with a song they are accused of copying.

US District Judge R. Gary Klausner ruled Friday that a jury must decide whether the British rockers ripped off the opening licks of “Taurus,” which was recorded by a band named Spirit that in 1969 played concerts with Zeppelin. Although there was no evidence of “striking similarity,” the judge said, there was enough evidence offered for a jury to weigh whether there was “substantial similarity.”

Lawyers for Page and Plant didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment on the ruling.

The lawsuit was brought in 2014, 43 years after “Stairway to Heaven” was released, on behalf of the late Randy California, Spirit’s guitarist and the composer of “Taurus.”

A trust created by his mother and administered by a former rock journalist alleged in the complaint that Page lifted the opening guitar plucks in “Stairway” from an instrumental that California had written in 1966 for his girlfriend. According to trustee Michael Skidmore, Page asked California to teach him the chords to “Taurus” in 1969, when the two groups would sometimes tour together.

Page, Plant, Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, and Warner Music Group asked Klausner in February to throw out Skidmore’s lawsuit, arguing that California was a songwriter for hire who didn’t own the copyright to his composition. Even if he did, they argued, the similarity between “Stairway to Heaven” and “Taurus” was limited to a “descending chromatic scale of pitches” that have been known for centuries and are too commonplace in music to be entitled to copyright protection.

Klausner parsed details of harmonics and rhythm in his April 8 ruling concluding the dispute couldn’t be settled without a trial.

Summary: The opening of “Stairway to Heaven” is close enough to an obscure 1960s album track to warrant a trial that might rewrite the history of rock ’n’roll over a songwriting credit.


At the ASPCA's 19th Annual Bergh Ball,

told the black-tie audience that rescuing dogs helped save her life.

gave Barrymore the Humanitarian award inside the Plaza's Grand Ballroom on Thursday, the actress spoke at length about life and children – but mainly dogs.

Speaking of the "unspoken gift" that animals had given her, Barrymore talked about the first time she adopted a dog – or rather, two dogs – and how writing about her beloved pet Flossie caused her to cry while writing her latest book,

"I feel very humbled by this award," Barrymore told the black-tie crowd. "I'm not a big speech preparer. I try to just speak from my heart. I was 19 when I started adopting dogs. I moved out on my own when I was 14. So I just figured I'd get that ball rolling â¦ how to fake yourself out!

"I didn't know to throw things away, how to build a cute bookshelf, all that stuff. And then when I felt I completely had my sâ together, I would go and start saving others. I had saved myself, it was time to turn it all around and start, you know. . . get outside myself. I can take care of things now, and I knew that I wanted to adopt and rescue.

"I waited almost a year," she continued. "It was the early '90s. I circled the paper and called people and went to shelters. Finally, I knew I wanted – much like my own children – I knew that they should have a friend. If there was one thing that was really tough growing up – no parents, boo hoo – I wanted my children to have someone to share the whole thing with."

Barrymore added, "I don't care if we were beating the crap out of each other. I just want someone different to disagree with. I just want that unspoken, amazing bond, much like you have with animals. So I was determined that I would get two dogs at the same time. I never make it easy on myself. God forbid I start with one pet. I was like, I want two.

"So I finally found these two puppies that needed to be rescued," she said. "And they were brother and sister, 6 weeks old. There was never more poo on the planet – what a joke.

"That lasted about six months, until things started to coalesce. And I remember waiting to name my dogs. I want [the dogs] to tell me – Flossie took four months. I wrote a book recently called

. And I wrote about my daughters and my two philanthropic endeavors – which have always been animals. And then before I started having children, [my cause] became children, organically, and magnetically, and psychically. I think, because there is something so core there and undeniable, and it does magnetically pull you in.

"And somehow, writing this book, the chapter that made me cry the hardest while writing, I couldn't even type on the keys, because I couldn't get clarity in my eyes from the tears just falling, was a chapter called 'Flossie,' about my dog who I had for 16 years," she continued. "You have a relationship with animals that is unspoken, without words. So there is a simplicity, sure we can probably all do with [fewer] words in our relationships. I think that for our language, we should just follow the dogs.

"But there also is such profoundness in just connectivity and energy and altruism that we have with our animals," Barrymore said. "Especially rescue animals. And they give it back. And there is some level of symbiotic gratitude, because you do save each other, and that is important. Currently, I have a small dog named Douglass. I remember taking him out of the pound when he was 8 weeks old. He had been left in a box on the side of the road. He was very shaken up and he looked like a Chihuahua. And I said, what am I doing? Adopt that Chihuahua. I love you, but I've been a big dog girl my whole life. And I didn't know what I was doing, I just felt empathy for this dog. I loved him so much that I took him home. And he grew. He must have been a whippet and a chihuahua and . . . he ate so much.

"He can sleep with me for 18 hours without even having to go to the bathroom," she said. "Seriously!

"I've fostered dogs, I've found dogs, I adopted a pregnant dog. That was a trip. She had a C-section. I watched it. That was scary.

"Again I will resort to the unspoken gift that have animals have given me," she added. "It has been a right of passage, and a humility, and a purpose, and a kindness, and a lack of cruelty. I don't have it in my heart to be rude, mean, cruel, unkind to any person on the planet, let alone an animal.

"And I wonder if animals were a big part of that teaching. I think they are. I really truly do. I give them all the credit in the world and for it. They will forever have my deepest respect, as will the humans. Thank you so much."

Barrymore then returned to her table, where she sat and chatted with her date,

Editorial Director Ariel Foxman. She latter snapped up a trip to Turks and Caicos for $19,000 in the live charity auction.

Barrymore's night out came just a little less than two weeks after she and her husband Will Kopelman announced that

. The couple, share two children â Olive, 3, and Frankie, 1 â and had been married for nearly four years.

Summary: The actress received the Humanitarian Award at the ASPCA's 19th Annual Bergh Ball


Filament is a startup that is taking two of the most overhyped ideas in the tech community—the block chain and the Internet of things—and applying them to the most boring problems the world has ever seen. Gathering data from farms, mines, oil platforms and other remote or highly secure places.

The combination could prove to be a powerful one because monitoring remote assets like oil wells or mining equipment is expensive whether you are using people driving around to manually check gear or trying to use sensitive electronic equipment and a pricey a satellite internet connection.

Instead Filament has built a rugged sensor package that it calls a Tap, and technology network that is the real secret sauce of the operation that allows its sensors to conduct business even when they aren’t actually connected to the internet. The company has attracted an array of investors who have put $5 million into the company, a graduate of the Techstars program. Bullpen Capital led the round with Verizon Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Samsung Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Haystack, Working Lab Capital, Techstars and others participating.

To build its technology, Filament is using a series of protocols that include the blockchain transaction database behind Bitcoin; BitTorrent, the popular peer-to-peer file sharing software; Jose, a contract management protocol that is also used in the OAuth authentication service that lets people use their Facebook ID to log in and manage permissions to other sites around the web; TMesh, a long-range mesh networking technology and Telehash for private messaging.

This cluster of technologies is what enables the Taps to perform some pretty compelling stunts, such as send small amounts of data up to 9 miles between Taps and keep a contract inside a sensor for a year or so even if that sensor isn’t connected to the Internet. In practical terms, that might mean that the sensor in a field gathering soil data might share that data with other sensors in nearby fields belonging to other farmers based on permissions the soil sensor has to share that data. Or it could be something a bit more complicated like a robotic seed tilling machine sensing that it was low on seed and ordering up another bag from inventory based on a “contract” it has with the dispensing system inside a shed on the property.

The potential use cases are hugely varied, and the idea of using a decentralized infrastructure is fairly novel. Both IBM and Samsung have tested out using a variation of the blockchain technology for storing data in decentralized networks for connected devices. The idea is that sending all of that data to the cloud and storing it for a decade or so doesn’t always make economic sense, so why not let the transactions and accounting for them happen on the devices themselves?

That’s where the blockchain and these other protocols come in. The blockchain is a great way to store information about a transaction in a distributed manner, and because its built into the devices there’s no infrastructure to support for years on end. When combined with mesh radio technologies such as TMesh it also becomes a good way to build out a network of devices that can communicate with each other even when they don’t have connectivity.

When designing the use case for the network, the engineer might choose to bring in a satellite radio once a week that can connect to the internet and upload the data from the remote network, or she might engineer the network to keep transferring messages until those messages reach a point that is connected to the internet. This could mean spacing out sensors until they get into range of a cell tower in a remote area for example. The TMesh radio protocol can travel up to 9 miles, but at very low data rates (think 300 bits per second at those distances) so something like a sensor reporting in every hour with a data point would be fine.

Eric Jennings, the CEO of Filament, told Fortune that each sensor costs about $25, but the cost drops quickly based on the volumes ordered. Most clients, which he didn’t name, pay between $10 and $12 per Tap he told me. The funds raised have mostly gone into producing the Taps, which customers should start deploying in large production volumes. He said current customers range from large Fortune 50 to smaller companies in oil and gas, manufacturing, agriculture and mining.

Summary: Sometimes decentralization makes sense.


J.P. Morgan’s jpm private bank is reportedly slashing about 100 jobs as the unit itself shifts focus to a more condensed group of ultra-high-net-worth clients.

The cuts will affect employees in several locations and departments, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The private bank, which boasts a host of wealthy clients, also recently cut as many as 30 staff from its Asia region. In the past few months, the division also made cuts of over 100 employees in New York, London, Washington, and Boston, according to the Journal.

The layoffs come as J.P. Morgan restructures its private banking arm to handle a smaller pool of higher-net-worth individuals who tend to entail less risk and generate more fees. As a result, the bank has raised its minimum in investible assets from $5 million to $10 million—a rule that is expected to take effect later this year. The private bank has laid off workers in anticipation of fewer clients who require more intensive service.

The changes are expected to affect about 10% of the bank’s clients, who will be moved from J.P. Morgan’s private bank over to an offering with less personalization, known as Private Client Direct.

J.P. Morgan’s shift toward higher-net-worth individuals is also an industrywide trend, as U.S. banks attempt to come in line with financial regulation designed to limit risk. Wealth management tends to have a larger pool of cash, allowing banks to maintain profits while obeying the law.

Private banks are generally quite exclusive and offer more than just financial services. Some help clients buy art or get tickets to Broadway shows and sporting events.

J.P. Morgan has declined to comment.

Summary: To help it focus on even wealthier clients.


Queensbridge rapper Nas celebrated the 20th anniversary of the release of his first album Illmatic this year. The debut is considered one of hip-hop’s most defining works; a quintessential piece of hip-hop history.

To commemorate the milestone, two independent filmmakers produced the documentary Nas: Time is Illmatic, a feature that highlights the gritty New York City environment within which the album was birthed.

In an interview with TIME, Nas explains why he feels it’s important to encourage black youth and ensure Americans—both black and white—know their history.

Summary: The rapper says Americans—both black and white—need to know their history


TASHKENT, Uzbekistan— Across the former Soviet lands of Central Asia, repression of news media is increasing and indiscriminate, say Western diplomats, local journalists and representatives of foreign and domestic private groups monitoring the region's progress -- or lack of it -- in building democracy.

Many of those watching the governments of the five countries -- Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan -- detect mounting pressure on any news outlets that veer from the government line, and they say the actions reflect the way Central Asia's authoritarian leaders have consolidated power.

''The media have been emasculated completely most places,'' Jerzy Wieclaw, head of the Kyrgyzstan office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said in his office in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek.

Stuart Auerbach, director of development for the Media Development Loan Fund, an American foundation assisting independent news organizations, described the situation as horrible. ''There is no real independent media in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, once the bright spots, and it's worse in the other countries,'' Mr. Auerbach said.

Aside from the routine financial difficulties inherent in poor countries, journalists in Central Asia have faced arrest, visits from tax inspectors and sometimes authorities with padlocks. In extreme cases, journalists may be beaten, and a few have been killed.

Officials in the region said they did not advocate violence, but they said tough restrictions were necessary because what appeared to be an independent press was often aligned with insurgents trying to overthrow the government. Indeed, as in many formerly Communist nations, some newspapers that do not toe the official line are simply mouthpieces for opposition politicians.

Avazbek Khodjimetov, an official with the Uzbek Foreign Ministry, said newspapers and television stations get into trouble if they call for war, violence or dissension. ''This kind of activity will be defined as subversive,'' he said, ''and it is illegal.''

In Turkmenistan, regarded as the most repressive of the five countries, the state controls and licenses all publishing, and newspapers carry front-page notices that they are sponsored by President Saparmurat A. Niyazov, who was elected president for life last December. The government extended its control to the Internet in May by closing down independent service providers and consolidating service with a state-owned company.

Karavan, the last major independent media company in Kazakhstan, was sold two years ago after its owner ran into tax troubles. The buyer was President Nursultan A. Nazarbayev's daughter, Dariga, who already owned the major television channels and the other national daily newspaper.

Along with Karavan's newspaper and television station, she got a new printing plant that had been financed indirectly by the American government to encourage independent newspapers.

Here in Uzbekistan, Central Asia's most populous country, the main independent media holding companies are owned by close allies of President Islam A. Karimov or government officials. The largest newspapers are financed by the government and printed in its plants.

In a holdover from the Soviet era, the Committee for the Protection of State Secrets reviews articles before publication in most newspapers. When it comes to the Internet, the government effectively controls and monitors traffic by requiring service providers to use a government server, as in Turkmenistan.

Uzbekistan also has a so-called ''insult law,'' which makes it a crime to criticize the president, his family, other officials or public institutions. Prison is more than an idle threat for those who violate it, and the government's reach is long.

Ukrainian police arrested two Uzbek journalists in exile, Muhammad Bekjanov and Iusuf Ruzimuradov, last year and sent them to Tashkent to face charges of distributing a banned newspaper that was alleged to have slandered Mr. Karimov. Mr. Bekjanov was sentenced to 14 years in prison and Mr. Ruzimuradov to 15 years.

Even the powerful British Broadcasting Corporation suffered retaliation after reporting on human rights problems. The government responded by switching the BBC's Uzbek-language radio broadcast to a band that can be picked up only by old Soviet shortwave radios, severely limiting the audience.

''For all intents and purposes, the government completely controls mass media,'' one Western diplomat said.

A few days before parliamentary elections late last year, the government shut down two of the country's most popular commercial television stations. The official reason was that their licenses had lapsed, though both had renewal requests pending.

''Society needs objective information, and that is what we were trying to provide,'' Shukrat Babajanov, one of three brothers who operated one of the stations, ALC-TV, said in an interview. ''But there is no tradition of a free press here.''

The other station was allowed to resume broadcasting after the elections, but ALC-TV remained off the air and was closed permanently in June. A cabinet-level commission said the five-year-old station had broadcast negative information and opinions that differed from those of the government.

Mr. Babajanov and his brothers, Kudrat and Gayrat, had high hopes when they started ALC-TV in the western city of Urganch in 1995. After taking part in the opposition movement during the heady days before independence in 1991, they concluded that the media were the best way to spread democracy.

''The station was a gift to the people who were able to speak through ALC's cameras,'' said Mr. Babajanov, 37, an artist who became the station director and an on-air reporter while one brother was anchor and the other was technical director.

With help from Internews, an American nonprofit organization that trains broadcast journalists in emerging democracies, the brothers built a popular operation on a shoestring budget. They concentrated on local stories like the quality of food at schools and the crash of a passenger plane from the government-owned airline.

Local officials complained about the coverage, but the brothers were not prepared when the authorities seized the station because its license had lapsed. They had applied for renewal on time, but the government had not responded, Mr. Babajanov said.

Several other stations with pending renewal applications were allowed to continue broadcasting, and it appeared that ALC-TV and Aloka TV had been singled out because of their aggressive coverage, said Scott Smith, the country representative for Internews at the time.

Since ALC was finally shut down in June, Mr. Babajanov said, he and his brothers have been harassed by tax inspectors and the security police, and they face bankruptcy.

For the artist-turned-journalist, it is unpleasantly reminiscent of Soviet times. ''Then and now, the mass media was an instrument for the government,'' he said.

Photo: Plenty of entertainment-oriented publications are on sale at newsstands like this one in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, but finding an independent newspaper or magazine anywhere in Uzbekistan is nearly impossible. (Staton R. Winter for The New York Times) Map of Kazakhstan highlighting Tashkent: The largest newspapers in Tashkent are government-financed.


The good news for investors is that it just got a whole lot easier to figure out what the Federal Reserve is going to do in the months ahead. The bad news is why.

The U.S. added just 38,000 jobs in May, the Labor Department reported on Friday. That was far fewer than the 158,000 economists had expected and the worst month for jobs growth since 2010. As well, employment figures for the previous two months were revised down by an...

The good news for investors is that it just got a whole lot easier to figure out what the Federal Reserve is going to do in the months ahead. The bad news is why.

The U.S. added just 38,000 jobs in May, the Labor Department reported on Friday. That was far fewer than the 158,000 economists had expected and the worst month for jobs growth since 2010. As well, employment figures for the previous two months were revised down by an additional 59,000 jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 4.7% from 5%, but for a bad reason: The number of people on the hunt for jobs fell sharply.

Another thing that fell sharply: the odds that the Fed will raise rates in the months ahead. Federal-funds futures, which price off overnight-rate expectations, now give essentially no chance of a rate increase in June. And the odds that the Fed will raise its target range on rates by a quarter point by its July meeting dropped to about 1 in 3. Just before the report, odds were at 2 in 3.

Despite protestations from Fed officials that June was a “live” meeting, the chances of a rate increase at that gathering had already seemed slimmer than many might have thought. Raising rates right in front of Britain’s referendum on whether it should stay in the European Union would have risked looking rash. Rather, the aim was probably to ensure that markets were prepared for a move in July.

July could still happen. There are two more jobs reports before the Fed meets late in the month, and the central bank will by then have a fairly clear sense of how the economy shaped up in the second quarter.

For now, though, it seems more likely the Fed will be on a cautious tack. The May jobs report suggests the troubles that weak growth, punk corporate profits and financial turmoil that hit during the first quarter bled into the labor market. As those effects fade, chances are that the jobs data will revive, but it could take time before the all-clear signal sounds.

This puts the Fed, which at the start of the year was bent on raising rates four times, but has since downgraded that to about two, in a bit of a fix. The next meeting after July is in late September, bringing it close to what is looking like a contentious presidential election.

That will hardly preclude the central bank from raising rates, but it probably does set the bar for a move a little higher. If there are any lingering doubts about the economy or job market, the Fed could stay on hold.

In the end, it is possible the Fed raises rates only once this year, or not at all. For all the central bank’s protestations that the markets’ rate expectations were too low, it is now looking as if markets had it right.

Write to Justin Lahart at justin.lahart@wsj.com

Summary: A poor employment report has sent the odds of the Federal Reserve raising rates this summer spiraling down.


When it comes to including women, minorities, and LGBT people in all aspects of production, Hollywood gets a failing grade, according to a new study.

The report says the film industry “still functions as a straight, white, boys’ club,” and is going through an “epidemic of invisibility” that has permeated 10 major media companies, including Disney dis , 21st Century Fox fox and Netflix nflx .

The study, conducted by the Media, Diversity and Social Change Initiative at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, is one of the most wide-ranging studies on diversity in Hollywood, and it comes weeks after the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag was created in response to no actors or actresses of color being nominated for an Academy Award for acting for two consecutive years.

“The prequel to OscarsSoWhite is HollywoodSoWhite,” Stacy L. Smith, a USC professor and one of the study’s authors, told the AP. “We don’t have a diversity problem. We have an inclusion crisis.”

Across 109 films released by major media companies in 2014, every film company earned a failing score on inclusivity based on the percentage of women, minorities, and LGBT characters on screen and behind the scenes. No film distributor earned a final inclusion score above 25% across all tests, as seen in the charts above.

The problem in the film industry, and how it affected the controversy surrounding the Academy Award nominations, is further highlighted when compared to their TV counterparts. Across 305 scripted TV or digital series, the inclusion rates were generally much better. Walt Disney and the CW Network fared relatively well in including women and minorities in the production of their shows.

In total, the study found that 28.3% of all speaking characters were from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, a number that is 9.6% below the minority proportion in the U.S. population. Across the 11,306 speaking characters evaluated, only 33.5% were female, and when the evaluation looks at characters above the age of 40, women accounted for just 25.7% of those roles.

It leads to what the study concludes as a “whitewashed” Hollywood. “When we start to step back to see this larger ecology, I think we see a picture of exclusion,” Smith told the AP. “And it doesn’t match the norms of the population of the United States.”

Summary: A new report scorches 10 major media companies.


Every few months a Hollywood celebrity walks into Vincent Chieffo's law office in Los Angeles, angrily waving a copy of one of the supermarket tabloids, those weekly newspapers that offer readers a feast of gossip, scandal and believe-it-or-not phenomena.

Asserting that an article is not true, the celebrity asks about suing the newspaper. Mr. Chieffo, a veteran entertainment lawyer, usually responds with what he calls "the facts of life" in the never-ending battle between these publications and the famous people whose lives provide the fodder for each week's blaring headlines.

He tells the celebrity that the tabloid will aggressively fight back, so the lawsuit will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and will probably drag on for years. He emphasizes that in preparing their defense, the tabloid's lawyers might be given legal permission to scrutinize the celebrity's personal life.

And he points out that by law, the standard of libel for public figures is high, making the case difficult to win. The celebrity will have to prove "actual malice" -- that the tabloid was not just negligent, but rather knew that the item was false and nonetheless displayed a reckless disregard for the truth. Warnings Often Deter Lawsuits

Such lawyers' warnings, which often deter lawsuits, reflect how successful these newspapers have been at avoiding legal judgments.

Even though newspapers like The National Enquirer, The Star and The Globe regularly leave famous people fuming about what those people consider to be lies, half-truths and innuendo, the tabloids face few lawsuits and almost never lose trials.

The Enquirer, which publishes about 3,600 stories a year and boasts a circulation of about four million copies a week, is currently involved in only two libel suits, said Paul Wolff, a lawyer for the newspaper with the Washington law firm Williams & Connolly.

Paul M. Levy, a lawyer at Deutsch, Levy & Engel in Chicago who represents The Globe, said that in about 25 years of publication, there had never been a legal judgment against his client in a celebrity lawsuit. 'The Scorpion Defense'

Lawyers who have fought the publications say that by spending lavishly to employ powerful law firms, these newspapers have built intimidating reputations.

"It's the scorpion defense: You don't attack a scorpion because you're going to get stung," said Mr. Chieffo, a partner at Gipson, Hoffman & Pancione who has sued tabloids about a dozen times. "It's very tough. It's very difficult to prevail."

These lawyers say that the case many celebrities cite as their inspiration for suing the tabloids, the actress Carol Burnett's lawsuit against The Enquirer, was an anomaly.

Ms. Burnett contended that The Enquirer made up a 1976 article that depicted her as intoxicated during an encounter at a restaurant with former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. The Enquirer wrote:

"At a Washington restaurant, a boisterous Carol Burnett had a loud argument with another diner, Henry Kissinger. She traipsed around the place offering everyone a bite of her dessert. But Carol really raised eyebrows when she accidentally knocked a glass of wine over one diner and started giggling instead of apologizing."

A jury awarded Ms. Burnett $1.6 million, but that judgment was later reduced to $200,000 after a number of appeals, and Ms. Burnett then agreed to an unspecified out-of-court settlement with The Enquirer. Damages Often Reduced

John D. Forbess, a Los Angeles lawyer who has sued The Enquirer and The Star on behalf of clients like Cher, noted that the Burnett case symbolized another difficulty in suing such publications -- or, for that matter, any publication: Even if a plaintiff wins high damages, appeals courts tend to reduce the award.

For those who decide to pursue a case, the going can be rough.

The tabloids' lawyers, employing a defense strategy that is often used by daily newspapers and other publications in libel suits, usually file a barrage of motions in court that tend to delay cases and put pressure on the plaintiffs to settle.

As a result, very few lawsuits ever come to trial. Some end with a settlement that includes a printed retraction or an agreement that the newspaper will not write anything about the celebrity for a specified period.

Mr. Chieffo and Mr. Forbess said that nearly all of their lawsuits against the tabloids had ended in out-of-court settlements. Suit From Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor sued The Enquirer about three months ago for libel and defamation of character. She cited two articles, one that said she had brought liquor into her hospital room when she was ill and another that said she was suffering from lupus.

Neil Papiano, Ms. Taylor's lawyer, said The Enquirer had filed motions asserting that the complaint is insufficient, seeking to move the case from state to Federal court and requesting Ms. Taylor's medical records from the past 30 years.

"I think they'll do everything they can to drag this on for a while," said Mr. Papiano, a partner at Iverson, Yoakum, Papiano & Hatch in Los Angeles. "Their object is to drag their feet. Our's is to move forward."

But Mr. Wolff, who heads the litigation team for The Enquirer, said he does not try to delay cases.

Mr. Wolff said no one at Williams & Connolly had ever been disciplined by a judge for filing unnecessary motions or seeking unnecessary depositions in an Enquirer case. 'A Thorough Defense'

"Our strategy is to do the best possible job for our client," he said. "And that, of course, means litigating with all the resources necessary. We do what we need to do to win the case. We do not engage in overkill. We engage in a thorough defense of The Enquirer."

Mr. Wolff said that The Enquirer's success in avoiding legal judgments stems from its careful reporting and editing and its reliance on legal advice throughout the editorial process.

In addition to the three lawyers from Williams & Connolly who represent The Enquirer in litigation matters, a group of four lawyers from the firm reads nearly every article before publication. Other supermarket tabloids have similar policies.

Mr. Levy said lawyers who criticize the tabloids' legal tactics are making excuses for their own failures.

"Why haven't celebrities been more successful?" he asked. "We are talking about celebrities with great resources. The reason is that we must be doing something properly within the law, or else there would be more successes here, and there are none."

Photo: "You're going to get stung," Vincent Chieffo, a lawyer, said about suing supermarket tabloids. (Bart Bartholomew for The New York Times)


Justin Bieber has been called "foolish" and "irresponsible" by a monkey protection organization that is indignant over his vow to adopt another pet primate.

Bieber now says "monkeys are awesome" and he wants another one, with this proviso ... "Just gotta make sure I got a house and it stays in the f***ing house ... I'm not gonna bring him to Germany."

The Deutschland reference ... in 2013 he took his monkey, Mally, to Germany where customs officials confiscated it after Bieber didn't have the proper documents. He never tried retrieving it.

Now the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance is lashing out, warning Biebs getting another primate "will prove dangerous to both you and your monkey, as well as irresponsible when it comes to your public following."

The org pleads, "Please do not repeat this foolish endeavor."

NAPSA wants the word out that monkeys carry disease and turn hostile when owners try to domesticate them, telling Bieber, "It is simply not possible to fulfill the unique needs of your monkey within a private home."

And that says it all.

Summary: Justin Bieber has been called "foolish" and "irresponsible" by a monkey protection organization that is indignant over his vow to adopt another pet…