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* * * * * * FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2014 ~ VOL. CCLXIII NO. 37
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Armour, which has sponsored theU.S. team since 2011, said he
wasconfident the suits were fast, but,in the absence of
medal-winningperformances, “we’ll moveheaven and earth to make
thembetter.”
Several skaters, includingHeather Richardson, ranked No. 1in the
1,000 meters, sent theirsuits to an Under Armour seam-stress
Thursday to have the panelmodified with an extra piece ofrubber.
After the alteration, Ms.
PleaseturntopageA8
parel sponsor Under Armour andbilled before the Games as a
com-petitive advantage—have a designflaw that may be slowing
downskaters, according to three peoplefamiliar with the U.S.
team.
Vents on back of the suit, de-signed to allow heat to escape,are
also allowing air to enter andcreate drag that keeps skatersfrom
staying in the low positionthey need to achieve maximumspeed, these
people said. Oneskater said team members feltthey were fighting the
suit tomaintain correct form.
Kevin Haley, the senior vicepresident of innovation for
Under
SOCHI, Russia—In the hoursafter gold-medal favorite ShaniDavis
finished nowhere near thepodium, the U.S. speedskatingteam pored
over data through theearly morning Thursday, ques-tioning
everything from racestrategy to skate blades.
After an equally disastrousoutcome in the women’s 1,000-meter
race later on Thursday, asuspect emerged: the high-techracing suits
the team adopted forthe Winter Olympics.
These suits—designed by ap-
counterterrorism Crime Investi-gation Department of the Kara-chi
police.
When Mr. Sharif launched theindirect negotiations in January,he
insisted that “talks and ter-rorism cannot go together.” TheTaliban
had blamed other mili-tant groups for a series ofbloody attacks
that rocked Paki-stan since then.
But the Taliban reversedcourse on Thursday, despiteseemingly
encouraging resultsfrom the talks in recent days. In
PleaseturntopageA9
when the bus taking them toduty was destroyed near thecity’s
southeastern Landhi neigh-borhood, an area the Talibandominate.
Karachi is likely to pay asteeper price if efforts by
PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif’s govern-ment to forge a peace deal
withthe al Qaeda affiliate’s leader-ship in tribal areas collapse
anda military operation is launched.
“If the peace talks fail, wefear that a big terrorism wavewill
hit Karachi,” said Raja UmarKhattab, a senior officer in the
KARACHI, Pakistan—The Paki-stani Taliban have tightenedtheir
grip over the country’scommercial hub, officials andresidents said,
despite a five-month government crackdownhere.
On Thursday, tentative peacetalks with the government werethrown
into disarray when themilitants claimed responsibilityfor a
roadside bombing thatkilled at least 12 police officers
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TODAY IN MANSION
The Pursuit of ParadiseARENA Sochi: Skating in the Shadow of a
Miracle
tomorrow in
WSJ. MAGAZINE
thewomen's style
issue
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What’sNews
i i i
World-WidenThe Pakistani Taliban hastightened their grip on
Karachi.Militants took responsibility fora blast that killed at
least 12 po-lice officers and threw tentativepeace talks into
disarray. A1n Afghanistan freed 65 de-tainees the U.S. military
saysare tied to attacks on Ameri-can and allied troops. A11n Russia
rejected a proposalto discuss removing Assadfrom power during a
politi-cal transition in Syria. A6n Damascus freed some ofthe men
detained upon evacu-ation from Homs. The U.N.called off its relief
mission. A6n Italy’s premierwas forcedto quit in the face of an
openrevolt in his party, clearingthe way for a rival’s ascent. A7n
South Korea has moved toease U.S. security concerns overa plan for
China’s Huawei to de-velop a wireless network. A6nKerry said he
would urgeChina to push North Korea togive up its nuclear program.
A6n The “right to bear arms”extends outside the home, afederal
appeals court ruledin a California case. A3n A federal judge ruled
thatVirginia’s ban on same-sexmar-riage is unconstitutional. A5n
Putin backed a presidentialbid by Egypt’s top commander,who was in
Russia seekingdeeper military ties. A8nGermany’s parliamentwilltake
up a bill aimed at alteringthe statute of limitations to
aidrestitution of Nazi-looted art.A7nScientists designed robotcrews
able to build structureswithout plans or outside aid.A3
i i i
Comcast faces tough regu-latory hurdles after seal-ing a $45.2
billion stock deal toacquire TimeWarner Cable. A1 The deal rids
Time War-ner Cable of unwanted suitorCharter, which is unlikely
tomake a counterbid. B1, B4n BNP Paribas is in talks tosettle U.S.
probes of moneylaundering and sanctions vio-lations and has set
aside $1.1billion for potential fines. C1nRetail sales fell 0.4% in
Jan-uary fromDecember, the steep-est drop in a year and a half.
A2nHarshweatherwill trim 0.3percentage point fromGNP thisquarter,
economists forecast.A2n Stocks renewed their climbdespite the
economic data. TheDow rose 63.65 to 16027.59. C4nThe SEC is shaking
up theway it prepares for trial after arun of courtroom defeats.
C1nThe agency tapped an ex-Finra official to head the trad-ing and
markets division. C2n AIG raised its dividend andbuyback target as
it swung toa profit, and set job cuts. C3nPepsiCo will sweeten
itspayout but has decided not tosplit off its drinks business. B6n
Cocoa prices have climbedto levels not seen since 2011 aschocolate
demand soars. C1n Pandora plans an ad servicethat will allow
listeners to betargeted based on politics. B1nBrookstone is
weighing abankruptcy filing as talks ad-vance with potential
buyers. B3n Penney is replacing itsCFO amid the retail
chain’sflagging turnaround effort. B3
Business&Finance
FRENEMIES
How a PupilBested His Mentor
Alarm bells went off a weekago at Charter CommunicationsInc.
when emails and phone callsto executives at Comcast Corp.went
unanswered.
Charter had been hot to buyTime Warner Cable Inc. Cablelegend
John Malone, who con-trols Charter’s largest share-holder, and
Comcast Chief Exec-utive Brian Roberts had talkedseveral times by
phone, includ-ing around Christmas. Mr. Rob-erts indicated he was
willing towork together on a deal for thestruggling company,
accordingto people familiar with the talks.
It was a high point in a some-times competitive relationshipthat
harked back decades, towhen Mr. Malone—now chair-
man of Liberty Media Corp.—had become a mentor to Mr.Roberts. In
recent months, saidpeople familiar with the discus-sions, Mr.
Malone’s efforts toconsolidate the cable industrythrough
Liberty-backed Charterhad drawn Mr. Roberts into theTWC fray.
Then Comcast went “almostradio silent,” said a person fa-miliar
with the negotiations.
Comcast had quietly changedcourse and had begun a sprinttoward
its own deal with TWC,with Mr. Roberts working thephones from his
hotel room atthe Sochi Olympics—sitting outall but one
competition—as histop executives worked in NewYork with TWC
counterparts tohammer out details as a winterstorm bore down on the
city.
Late Wednesday, Liberty exec-utives were caught off guard tohear
that Comcast had sealed a
PleaseturntopageA12
By ShaliniRamachandran,Martin Peers
and DanaMattioli
Some Old Movies Are More ThrillingIn These Remakes From
Ghana
i i i
Collectors Pay Thousands for Film PostersPainted on Flour Sacks;
A Jet Li No-Show
ACCRA, Ghana—There’s a lotgoing for “Mars Attacks!”—a 1996film
featuring Jack Nicholson,Glenn Close and homicidal spacealiens. But
the original postersjust didn’t project enough of themovie’s drama
for Jeaurs OkaAfutu.
They didn’t show any guns orexplosions or disembodied heads,for
example. Or the bikini-cladwoman with a dog’s face.
So Mr. Afutu put his brush to a
flour sack last fall and paintedthose critical elements onto
anexuberantly ghastly movie posterof his own, adding a bloody
knifethat isn’t in the movie.
When people look at hisposter, says the 39-year-old Gha-naian
artist, “they will all thinkabout it and say: ‘I have to go
andwatch this movie.’ ”
A local art dealer bought it forthe equivalent of $75, he says.
Ifhe had painted the poster backwhen the movie came out, itmight
have fetched thousands ofdollars today from a Western
col-lector.
Ghana has created much tradi-tional art that Western
collectorscrave. Now joining that portfoliois the often garish
locally paintedmovie poster, a decades-old artform enjoying a
revival—andcommanding prices that have in-spired alleged
fakery.
The posters hark to the 1980sand 1990s, when entrepreneursshowed
films in villages acrossGhana on generator-powered tele-vision
sets. To attract customers,they paid artists like Mr. Afutu topaint
posters, typically on flour-sack canvases.
But because the painters of-PleaseturntopageA10
BY WILL CONNORSAND DREW HINSHAW
Poster for ‘The SpyWho Loved Me’
BY JOSHUA ROBINSONAND SARA GERMANO
Are New Suits Slowing the U.S.?
PILING UP: Snow mounted throughout Thursday, as the Northeast
was pummeled by the storm system thatearlier paralyzed much of the
Southeast with snow and ice. In Brooklyn, above, New Yorkers
scrambled toget children to school after the nation’s largest
district went ahead with classes, sparking criticism. A4
KeithBe
dfordforTh
eWallS
treetJournal
BY SAEED SHAHAND SYED SHOAIB HASAN
Pakistani Taliban TightenGrip on Commercial Hub
Now that Comcast Corp. hassealed a deal to buy Time War-ner
Cable Inc. for $45.2 billion instock, its top executives face anew
challenge: clearing formida-ble regulatory hurdles.
Comcast Chief ExecutiveBrian Roberts has spent the pastfive
years making friends withthe Obama administration, buthe faces a
host of unknowns onthe regulatory front. The govern-ment review is
likely to belengthy and could touch on ev-erything from cable
prices to theway web traffic is prioritized.
The expected marathon regu-latory scrutiny may become ameasure
of the company’s cloutin the capital, and in particularthat of its
senior executives. Mr.Roberts sits on a presidentialjobs council,
has hosted Presi-dent Barack Obama and top
presidential adviser Valerie Jar-rett at his Martha’s
Vineyardhome and has also golfed withthe president.
The Justice Department latelyhas been a forceful presence
onantitrust matters. It blockedAT&T Inc.’s bid to acquire
U.S.wireless operator T-Mobile USInc. from Deutsche Telekom AGin
2011 and sent strong signalsrecently that a Sprint Corp. bidwould
meet the same fate. Lastyear, it sued to block major dealsin the
beer and airline indus-
PleaseturntopageA12
BY GAUTHAM NAGESHComcast-TWC Deal Charter gets left behind;
the impact on consumers... B1 Muscle on program costs is
seen as limited........................ B4 Goldman misses
out............ B4 Heard on the Street............. C8
Another Snow Day, but Not for All
Sochi’s merchandise stumble... B1 More Olympics.... D1-5,
WSJ.com
Charlotte, N.C.
7.6”Washington
14”New York
9.5”
After poor performances by U.S. speedskaters, such as Shani
Davis, some suspect a flaw in their high-tech suits.
Reuters
Deal to TestCable Chief’sCapital CloutComcast’s Bid for
TimeWarner CableExpected toFaceToughRegulatoryReview
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