training

New York Marathon Keeps Working as Unemployed Have More Time to Prepare

October 31, 2009

By Tony C. Dreibus and Mary Childs Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) — Ben Lloyd will run the New York City Marathon tomorrow after a good night’s sleep and a relaxing week. After losing his job as a Barclays Plc loan salesman in August, he says he’s had plenty of time to train properly. “Actually getting to train and sleep is a pretty novel concept,” said Lloyd, 38, who lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. “After being laid off in August it gave me the perfect opportunity to really focus my training.” About 40,000 people are registered to start the race, the 40th running of the event that makes its way through all five boroughs of a city that’s lost 173,000 jobs since July 2008, including 37,400 at financial companies. The slumping economy hasn’t kept away unemployed people like Lloyd or those who had to travel thousands of miles to attend the event. Only 25 percent of the 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometer) race’s participants are from the New York area, about 10,000 are from other parts of the country and approximately 20,000 are from outside the United States, said Richard Finn, a spokesperson for New York Road Runners , which organizes the annual event. Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong , who overcame cancer and now runs the Lance Armstrong Foundation that raises money to help people with the illness, will run the New York City Marathon after finishing in just under three hours a year ago. After the 2008 race, he said it was “the hardest physical thing” he’d accomplished. A Status Race Lloyd, who sold high-yield loans for Barclays and lost his job as a result of the company’s acquisition of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. 10 months earlier, said the race is appealing because of its status. “The location attracts more than the race itself,” he said. “New York City is a cool place to come, and if you want to do a marathon then why not make it NYC? If you are someone who is going to end up running a lot of marathons then ultimately the New York City Marathon is one of the ones you need to do.” Marathon running has grown in the past two decades as a record 425,000 people finished the distance in 2008, up 3.2 percent from a year earlier, according to data from Running USA , a group that tracks running trends. This year’s marathon is the city’s biggest on record, with about 103,000 applicants, Finn said. “Running serves as something of an anchor in rocky waters,” said Mary Wittenberg , chief executive officer of New York Road Runners and race director of the marathon. “It’s something you can control, something you can go out and spend some time and feel better for it.” Running Shoe Sales The National Sporting Goods Association reported that in 2008 about $2.31 billion was spent on running shoes, up 5.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the Running USA site. The New York race starts in Staten Island, crosses the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn before entering Queens. Runners will cross the Queensboro Bridge into Midtown and take First Avenue into the Bronx before heading back into Manhattan, along Fifth Avenue and finishing in Central Park South. The men’s and women’s winners will each receive $130,000, according to the marathon Web site. Second place nets $65,000 and third place will earn $40,000, the site said. If a former winner takes first place, he or she will receive an additional $70,000, Finn said. Last Year’s Record Brazilian Marilson Gomes dos Santos won the men’s race last year in a time of 2:08:43. Paula Radcliffe from the U.K. won the women’s race in 2:23:56. This year’s field will include Kenya’s Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot , winner of the Boston Marathon in 2007 and 2008, and Gomes dos Santos. Among the women vying for this year’s title are Radcliffe and Ludmila Petrova from Russia, last year’s runner-up. Along with the pros, Wall Streeters who are accustomed to setting and achieving goals in high-pressure situations have turned their focus to running as an outlet, according to Wittenberg. “It’s the Mount Everest of running,” she said. “It’s a major goal at a time when high-achieving people who are used to being able to set major goals in their business life might either be living with greatly reduced budgets at work or they might be out of work or stressed about their own job.” Lloyd, who plans to finish the race a few minutes slower than his personal record of 2 hours and 54 minutes because he participated in the Ironman World Championships on Oct. 10, said he’ll enjoy relaxing after the race and not having the pressure of returning to the office on Monday morning. “My triathlon club always has a big gathering post-race at a bar on the Upper East Side,” he said. “So I can enjoy a few beers without the worry of work.” To contact the reporter on this story: Tony C. Dreibus in Chicago at tdreibus@bloomberg.net ; Mary Childs in New York at mchilds4@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

Pakistan Bombs, Explosion at Wedding Kill 24 as Taliban Escalate Attacks

October 23, 2009

By Khalid Qayum and Farhan Sharif Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) — At least 24 people, including women and children traveling to a wedding, were killed in explosions in Pakistan as militants escalated near-daily attacks and the army pressed an offensive in a Taliban stronghold. A suicide bomber killed seven people outside the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in the northwest city of Kamra around 7:30 a.m. as staff arrived for work, district police officer Fakhar Sultan told reporters. Two of those who died worked for the armed forces, while the rest were civilians. A car bomb exploded near a restaurant in the nearby city of Peshawar five hours later, injuring eight people, the Edhi ambulance service said. Seventeen people were killed when an explosion hit a bus traveling for a wedding in the Mohmand tribal agency north of Waziristan, Associated Press reported. The cause of the blast in an area where the Taliban has operated was unknown, AP said. Pakistan’s army a week ago began its biggest offensive against the Taliban and its allies in the northwestern tribal region of South Waziristan bordering Afghanistan, deploying 28,000 troops. They are seeking to destroy the faction that was led by Baitullah Mehsud until his death in a U.S. missile strike in August. Pakistan blames the group for 80 percent of terrorist attacks in the country. Mehsud’s successor vowed to avenge his killing with suicide bombings. Military Under Fire Retaliation by militants was expected, said Zafar Nawaz Jaspal , assistant professor of International Relations at Islamabad’s Quaid-e-Azam University . “Controlling South Waziristan won’t end terrorist attacks completely but it will destroy their training camps and weaken” them, he said. The military are “willing to pay the price,” Jaspal said. The air force plant at Kamra, 110 kilometers (68 miles) northwest Islamabad and on the main road to Peshawar, manufactures and services aircraft. Foreign military experts have mentioned Kamra as a possible place to keep planes that can carry nuclear warheads, AP reported today. The army has denied the facility is tied to the nuclear program in any way, AP said. The attack there was the latest against military targets. Gunmen killed an army brigadier and his guard when they opened fire on a military jeep in Islamabad yesterday, and militants launched an attack on the army’s headquarters in the neighboring city of Rawalpindi on Oct. 10. Attacks last week that largely targeted security installations left at least 150 civilians, soldiers and police dead. Latest Fighting Pakistan’s army said today it had killed 13 guerrillas in the past 24 hours in South Waziristan, while two soldiers died. Heights were secured overlooking Kotkai, the hometown of suicide bomb mastermind Qari Hussain, the military said in a statement on its Web site. The army said six Uzbeks militants had been killed. The army said Kotkai ha been surrounded four days ago, adding later “intense” fighting was continuing. Accounts of fighting can’t be confirmed as foreigners are banned from tribal areas and local reporters have been forced out by the government and Taliban. The Waziristan offensive is Pakistan’s biggest yet against the Taliban and its allies, who have mounted increasing attacks on government targets since mid-2007. The U.S. has urged Pakistan to tackle militant strongholds it says are used to launch attack on international forces in Afghanistan. While the army has said it expects the operation to last six to eight weeks, analysts like Ashraf Ali , director of the FATA Research Center, an Islamabad think-tank that studies the tribal regions, say the fight could last longer in a region well suited to guerrilla-style fighters. The army failed to defeat militants in South Waziristan with offensives in 2004 and 2007. Refugees Flee In Washington, the U.S. Congress passed a defense spending bill that imposes restrictions on military assistance to Pakistan in a move to ensure the aid is spent fighting the Taliban. The conditions may trigger complaints in Pakistan and fan anti-U.S. sentiment. Earlier this month, Pakistani opposition lawmakers and the military said conditions attached to a $7.5 billion civilian aid package signed by President Barack Obama undermined the nation’s sovereignty. That legislation provides funds over five years to build roads, schools, power facilities and other projects serving civilians. Pakistan’s military said it cleared Taliban militants from the Swat Valley in North West Frontier Province after a 10-week offensive that began in April. The fighting prompted an exodus of up to 2.7 million people, a million of whom remain displaced, UNICEF said in a statement today. As many as 250,000 people may be displaced by the fighting in South Waziristan, Tariq Hayat, the government’s secretary for the tribal areas, said this week. UNICEF said 139,000 people have left the remote region to date, 57,600 of them in the past week. To contact the reporters on this story: Khalid Qayum in Islamabad at kqayum@bloomberg.net Farhan Sharif in Karachi at fsharif2@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

New England CCIM Breakfast Presentation Distressed Commercial Real …

October 19, 2009

Working with Banks Distressed Commercial Assets. Presentation for NECCIM on distressed commercial real estate and working with banks. October 19, 2009. in Training. Of course you lose something considering these 20 slides were an hour …

Read the full article →

2:”Make Money in Commercial” Real Estate Seminar Series

September 26, 2009

MakeMoneyInCommercial.com Listen in as Jason Gilbert, President of the rapidly growing Commercial Training Institute, based in San Diego, CA, talks about his 2 recently released strategies for investing in Commercial real estate . …

Read the full article →

Russian Art Fair Moves to Lure Billionaires After Prices, Wealth Slashed

September 23, 2009

By John Varoli Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) — Russia’s biggest contemporary-art fair opens tonight, trying to lure billionaire collectors after a year in which they reduced purchases as their wealth declined. Art Moscow , showing works from 40 Russian and international galleries, was postponed from May by its organizer, Expo Park Exhibition Projects Ltd., to coincide with the state-run Third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art . “Art Moscow is the most important commercial contemporary event in Russia and will tell us a lot about the art market,” said Marina Goncharenko, director of GMG Gallery in Moscow. “There are only a handful of collectors able to buy very expensive works. Otherwise, the market is mostly about a small group willing to pay between 5,000 euros ($7,395) and 20,000 euros.” The Russian economy contracted by about 10 percent in the first half of 2009 as prices fell for natural resources, such as oil, on which Russia is heavily dependent. Three auction houses in London sold 29.1 million pounds ($48 million) of Russian art in their June sales, half the total of last year, as art prices also plummeted. Moscow millionaire, Igor Markin , a leading contemporary Russian collector and owner of the Art4.ru museum, said in an interview that he “hasn’t bought anything in a long time.” In spring, he even sold four artworks for half their value before the crisis began, he said. More than half of galleries at Art Moscow are Russian, and 17 are foreign, including Volker Diehl Gallery of Berlin, and Knoll Gallery of Vienna. Faceless Peasants At Art Moscow, GMG Gallery offers Viktor Skersis’s “I’m in Total Oblivion,” (2008), an oil-on-canvas triptych, two of which feature faceless peasants playing folk instruments. The third canvas, in the center, bears the words, “I’m in total oblivion.” All three canvases sell for 70,000 euros. While the Russian government forecasts some economic growth in 2010, it said that it may be another three years before the economy returns to 2008 levels. That means the slump in the art market could last until then, said dealers. “Russia’s contemporary art market was never big to begin with, and so this slowdown makes it more difficult,” said Volker Diehl, a German gallerist with spaces in Berlin and Moscow. “Russians show more interest in reasonably priced art by Russian artists instead of international ones.” Art Moscow Diehl Gallery offers a 2.8-meter-by-1.8-meter painting, “Military Training” (2008) by Chinese artist Zhang Huang for $280,000. The work is a romantic seascape with no trace of anything military. The gallery also offers two early works of flowers by German photographer Thomas Florshuetz. Each sells for 14,000 euros. The 13th International Art Moscow Fair at the Central House of Artists, Sept. 23 to 27. 10 Krymsky Val, Moscow. Information: +7-495-238-0946 or http://www.art-moscow.ru/971.html . ( John Varoli writes for Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.) To contact the writer on the story: John Varoli in Moscow at jvaroli@gmail.com .

Read the full article →

16:”Make Money in Commercial” Real Estate Seminar Series

September 20, 2009

MakeMoneyInCommercial.com Listen in as Jason Gilbert, President of the rapidly growing Commercial Training Institute, based in San Diego, CA, talks about his 2 recently released strategies for investing in Commercial real estate . …

Read the full article →

15:”Make Money in Commercial” Real Estate Seminar Series

September 19, 2009

MakeMoneyInCommercial.com Listen in as Jason Gilbert, President of the rapidly growing Commercial Training Institute, based in San Diego, CA, talks about his 2 recently released strategies for investing in Commercial real estate . …

Read the full article →

15:”Make Money in Commercial” Real Estate Seminar Series

September 19, 2009

MakeMoneyInCommercial.com Listen in as Jason Gilbert, President of the rapidly growing Commercial Training Institute, based in San Diego, CA, talks about his 2 recently released strategies for investing in Commercial real estate . …

Read the full article →

U.S. Coast Guard Defends River Exercise That Caused Concerns in Washington

September 11, 2009

By Jeff Bliss and Justin Blum Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Coast Guard defended its decision to have gunboats train on Washington’s Potomac River yesterday, an exercise that prompted concerned law enforcement authorities to race to the scene on the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The Coast Guard maneuver was conducted about the time President Barack Obama was at a Sept. 11 ceremony at the Pentagon, which required his motorcade to cross the river on a nearby bridge. The drill spurred media reports of a possible incident on the river, including a story on CNN that shots were fired at another boat. There was no gunfire, though weapons were mounted on the front of several of the Coast Guard boats, said Petty Officer Second Class Nathan Henise. What took place was a “low-profile training exercise that goes on every day,” Vice Admiral John Currier said at a news conference outside the Coast Guard’s Washington headquarters yesterday. There was “no reason for specific notification” to other agencies, he said. Currier and White House press secretary Robert Gibbs faulted the news media for rushing out with reports based on partial information picked up over Coast Guard radio frequencies. ‘Unnecessarily Alarmed’ “If anyone was unnecessarily alarmed, based on erroneous reporting that denoted that shots had been fired, I think everybody is apologetic of that,” Gibbs said. The media has a responsibility “to ensure that we may not get this story first, but we may be the first ones to get it right.” In a statement, CNN said that some of its staffers heard a Coast Guard radio transmission that a boat had “breached a security zone” on the Potomac near the president’s event. The network said it checked with the Coast Guard and was told the Guard was unaware of such activity. “It would have been irresponsible not to report on what we were hearing and seeing,” the CNN statement said. Currier said other agencies reacted to the media reports. Commander Ron LaBrec, a Coast Guard spokesman, said a crew member did say over the radio that the boats would be conducting a drill before it began. The Coast Guard doesn’t have a transcript of the radio transmission because the boats aren’t equipped with recorders, LaBrec said. A transcript released by CNN didn’t include the warning about the drill. As part of the exercise, a member of the crew mimicked the sound of fired shots and that voice was heard over the Coast Guard’s special radio frequency, Coast Guard officials said. “One of the guys went, ‘Bang, bang, bang,’” Henise said. While the Coast Guard can encrypt frequencies to prevent the public from listening, the training radio transmission wasn’t blocked, LaBrec said. FBI Not Notified Law enforcement agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Park Police sent officers to the river, which forms the border between Washington and Virginia and passes near the Pentagon and other federal buildings, as well as Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. “FBI was not notified, and when we heard it on the news we responded the way we would to any incident,” said Katherine Schweit , a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Washington Field Office . Lieutenant Michael Libby of the Park Police, which has jurisdiction over federal areas on shore, said officers responded to the scene, initially unaware that it was a training exercise. Flights Stopped The Federal Aviation Administration stopped flights from nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, an FAA spokeswoman said. “We stopped departures from National Airport from about 10:08 to 10:30,” spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere said. She wouldn’t say how they were informed of the situation, only that it was done “out of an abundance of caution.” She also said that the FAA wasn’t told of the exercise beforehand. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index erased a gain of 0.4 percent after CNN reported the Coast Guard had fired on a boat. The index closed down 0.1 percent yesterday at 1,042.73 in New York. “The market got spooked,” said Edward Craig , head of U.S. equity trading at Jefferies & Co. in New York. “It’s just heightened sensitivity because of the date. Any type of news such as that is going to make the market jump one way or the other. I think it’s a calendar thing rather than anything of substance.” Four Boats Four 25-foot Coast Guard boats, each of which typically have a crew of four, participated in yesterday’s exercise, LaBrec said. The Coast Guard sent a helicopter to the scene after it received the initial reports about an incident, he said. The Coast Guard’s headquarters aren’t informed of routine training exercises by units, he said. LaBrec said the drill involved several boats trying to communicate or use other measures to stop another boat that wasn’t complying with security restrictions, he said. The maneuver began around 9:30 a.m., he said. The Coast Guard began receiving calls about an incident on the river at 9:40 a.m. and confirmed just after 10 a.m. that it was the training exercise, LaBrec said. Obama spoke at the Pentagon at about 9:30 a.m. and returned to the White House by motorcade over the river just before 10 a.m. Darrin Blackford, a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service Service, declined to comment, referring questions to the Coast Guard. New York Flyover The incident was reminiscent of the April 27 flyover of New York by one of the planes used as Air Force One and a fighter escort. That exercise, involving low-flying jets over New York Harbor, rattled windows and prompted office workers to flee high- rise buildings out of fear it was a repeat of the Sept. 11 attacks. An Obama administration aide who authorized that flight resigned and the Defense Department said the exercise wasn’t properly reviewed. Gibbs yesterday said Washington is safer because of training exercises such as the Coast Guard’s and that it wasn’t analogous to the Air Force One training incident. Lawmakers said they wanted to know more about the decision- marking process at the Coast Guard and its mother agency, the Department of Homeland Security. “It sounds very much like the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing,” Senator George Voinovich , an Ohio Republican who’s a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in a statement. To contact the reporters on this story: Jeff Bliss in Washington at jbliss@bloomberg.net ; Justin Blum in Washington at jblum4@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

Gordon Brown Visits Afghanistan, Seeks to Speed Training of Local Forces

August 29, 2009

By Thomas Penny Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) — U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown , visiting British troops in Afghanistan, said local forces should accelerate their training as part of a strategy to increase Afghan control over the country. During a six-hour trip to Britain’s Camp Bastion base in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan today, Brown said the target of training 134,000 soldiers by the end of 2011 should be brought forward to November 2010. He pledged British help to increase the number of recruits to 4,000 a month from 2,000. The Afghan army is currently just under 90,000-strong. “We can get another 50,000 Afghan armed personnel trained in the next year,” Brown told reporters. “Stepping that up means the Afghans take more responsibility for their own affairs, backed up by partnering and mentoring by British forces.” Brown’s suggestion that local troops should bear the burden of maintaining security comes as the U.S. is pressing its allies to increase their force levels in Afghanistan. Britain sent an extra 700 soldiers to provide security during this month’s presidential election, raising the strength of the U.K. force to around 9,000. The U.S.-led coalition numbers 65,000 personnel. U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal will ask once the Afghan election result is clear for 20,000 more international troops as part of his new plan to fight a resurgent Taliban, the London-based Independent newspaper reported today . Brown held talks with McChrystal as part of today’s visit. Poll Opposition Deploying more troops in Afghanistan would be politically difficult for Brown, who’s trailing in polls at home and faces an election by next June. A YouGov Plc poll in today’s Telegraph newspaper found 62 percent of people saying British troops shouldn’t be in Afghanistan, against 26 percent who support the deployment. No formal decision on further British deployment will be made until after McChrystal has presented his report and Brown has had a chance to discuss it with U.S. President Barack Obama , a person familiar with the British position said. Brown’s popularity has slid as increasing numbers of British soldiers die in the fighting in Afghanistan, where the U.K. has the second-biggest contingent behind the U.S. This month the total number of British deaths passed 200. In July alone, 22 British solders were killed, according to the Ministry of Defense . A Royal Marine was killed in an explosion while on foot patrol today near Gereshk, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, the London-based ministry said in an e-mailed statement. The next of kin have been informed. ‘Taliban Strengthening’ “What the increased level of British casualties this summer has done is focused public attention on the question of whether we’re succeeding in Afghanistan and what success means,” said Malcolm Chalmers, fellow at the Royal United Services Institute , a London-based military research group. “Since the Taliban is strengthening, it would appear we haven’t yet managed to succeed.” Brown, making his fourth visit to Afghanistan in 13 months, today told reporters that defeating the Taliban is critical to protecting the U.K. from terrorism. Speeding up the training of Afghan soldiers is part of a strategy of “Afghanization” being championed by the prime minister. “It will take time, they’ve only been an army for three years,” said Major Tom Wood of the Royal Logistics Corps, one of those training Afghan recruits at Camp Bastion. “But what people have got to understand is the Afghans are natural warriors, so in terms of fighting ability they’re brave beyond recognition. Their willingness to learn is fantastic.” Explosive Devices During his visit, Brown discussed improved techniques for detecting and disabling improvised explosive devices, which have killed three quarters of the soldiers who have died in Afghanistan. Brown said Britain would double the number of specialist troops it has in the country for dealing with the bombs, from 200 to 400 by the end of the year. The prime minister also pledged more support to Afghan farmers who abandon the cultivation of opium poppies and embrace conventional crops. Help will be given to 40,000 farmers, 10,000 more than this year, Brown said. District and provincial leaders will also be trained in the skills needed for effective local government, he said. Brown spoke by telephone today to both incumbent Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his challenger Abdullah Abdullah . He said he made it “absolutely clear” to both that the U.K. expects Afghanistan to train more soldiers. Final Results The Independent Election Commission said today that Karzai had 46 percent of the vote and Abdullah 31 percent, with 35 percent of the votes counted, the Associated Press reported. There’ll be a run-off if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the first-round vote. Final results of the election aren’t expected until mid-September. Brown held talks with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari yesterday and General David Petraeus , the head of U.S. Central Command, in Scotland on Aug. 21. Turkey pledged yesterday to double its contribution to peacekeeping in Afghanistan to 1,600 troops when Turkey takes over control of the rotating command of NATO operations in the Afghan capital Kabul in November. To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Penny with the prime minister in Afghanistan at tpenny@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

Obama Stands By Criticism of Gates Arrest as Police Defend Conduct in Case

July 24, 2009

By Juliann Neher and Edwin Chen July 24 (Bloomberg) — Barack Obama defended his criticism of police officers in the arrest of Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr .

Read the full article →

Joseph K. Kellogg, Jr. Joins Cubic as SVP Ground Combat Programs

July 16, 2009

Kellogg to Focus on Expansion of Training and Tactical Portfolio

Read the full article →

Next Entries →