Riordan abruptly ends bid to get L.A. pension measure on ballot

Former Mayor Richard Riordan speaks to the Los Angeles City Council on Nov. 20 about a half-cent sales tax increase. (Mark Boster /Los Angeles Times / November 26, 2012)

By David Zahniser and Kate Linthicum

November 26, 2012, 9:23 a.m.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan's push for a May ballot measure to cut pension benefits of city employees abruptly collapsed Monday, with a spokesman saying Riordan had suspended signature-gathering efforts.

Riordan's Save Los Angeles campaign had hoped to gather 300,000 signatures by Dec. 28 for a measure that would cut the pension benefits of existing employees and require new city workers to rely on a 401(k)-style retirement plan.

But according to a statement from spokesman John Schwada, "Riordan recently concluded that the Dec. 28 deadline cannot be met."

The statement said Riordan would explore other options "to accomplish the goal of pension reform."

“I ask the mayor, the city council and union heads to work with me over the next several months to save the city from bankruptcy and drastic cuts to public services," Riordan said.

The ballot measure proposal drew wide criticism from city employee unions, including the Police Protective League, which in recent weeks has sent out email blasts attacking Riordan.

Other city employee unions staged a vigil outside of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's house in protest of the proposed ballot measure.

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Beyonce documentary premiering on HBO in February

NEW YORK (AP) — Beyonce is getting personal.

HBO announced Monday that a documentary about the Grammy-winning singer will debut Feb. 16, 2013. Beyonce is directing the film, which will include footage she shot herself with her laptop.

The network said the documentary will include "video that provides raw, unprecedented access to the private entertainment icon and high-voltage performances." It will also feature home videos of her family and of the singer as a new mother and owner of her company, Parkwood Entertainment.

Beyonce said in a statement the untitled project was "personal" to her. She is married to Jay-Z. They had their first child, daughter Blue Ivy Carter, in January.

The 31-year-old will perform at the 2013 Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 3, 13 days before the documentary airs.

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Well: The ‘Love Hormone’ as Sports Enhancer

Is playing football like falling in love? That question, which would perhaps not occur to most of us watching hours of the bruising game this holiday season, is the focus of a provocative and growing body of new science examining the role of oxytocin in competitive sports.

Phys Ed

Gretchen Reynolds on the science of fitness.

Oxytocin is, famously, the “love hormone,” a brain peptide known to promote positive intersocial relations. It makes people like one another, especially in intimate relationships. New mothers are awash in oxytocin (which is involved in the labor process), and it is believed that the hormone promotes bonding between mother and infant.

New-formed romantic couples also have augmented bloodstream levels of the peptide, many studies show. The original attraction between the lovers seems to prompt the release of oxytocin, and, in turn, its actions in the brain intensify and solidify the allure.

Until recently, though, scientists had not considered whether a substance that promotes cuddliness and warm, intimate bonding might also play a role in competitive sports.

But the idea makes sense, says Gert-Jan Pepping, a researcher at the Center for Human Movement Sciences at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands, and the author of a new review of oxytocin and competition. “Being part of a team involves emotions, as for instance when a team scores, and these emotions are associated with brain chemicals.”

Consider, he says, what happens during soccer shootouts. For a study that he and his colleagues published in 2010, they watched replays of a multitude of penalty shootouts that had decided recent, high-pressure World Cup and European Championship games.

They found that when one of the first shooters threw his arms in the air to celebrate a goal, his teammates were far more likely to subsequently shoot successfully than when no exuberant gestures followed a goal.

The players had undergone, it seems, a “transference of emotion,” Dr. Pepping and his colleagues wrote. Emotions such as happiness and confidence are known to be contagious, with one person’s excitement sparking rolling biochemical reactions in onlookers’ brains.

In the shootouts, he says, each player almost certainly had experienced a shared burst of oxytocin, and in the rush of positive feeling, had shot better.

It is difficult, however, to directly quantify changes in oxytocin levels during sports, largely because of practical logistics. Few teams (or referees) will willingly pause games or celebrations after a thrilling play in order for scientists to draw blood.

But there are hints that physical activity, by itself, may heighten production of oxytocin. In a 2008 study, distance runners had significantly higher bloodstream levels of oxytocin after completing an ultramarathon than at the start.

More telling, in a study presented last month at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in New Orleans, male prairie voles that exercised by running on wheels over six weeks displayed changes in their nervous systems related to increased oxytocin production and bonded rapidly and sturdily with new female cage cohabitants, while unexercised males showed little interest in any particular mate.

“Lots of stresses can trigger oxytocin release, among them exercise,” says William Kenkel, a doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who led the study. He continued that “it stands to reason, then,” that such exercise-related oxytocin release “could facilitate social bonding.”

What this means for competitive athletes is that, in unexpected ways, every game or race may be a kind love match. And that’s good, Dr. Pepping says.

“In any social setting that requires some form of social interaction, be it cooperation, trust or competition, we require social information to guide our behavior and a nervous system and associated brain chemicals that are sensitive to this social information,” he said. A player needs to accurately scrutinize the body language of his or her opponents and teammates in order to gauge how they will respond during the next play, he points out. They also generally benefit from a tug of fellow feeling toward teammates, their “in-group,” and antagonism toward the other team or competitors, the “out-group.”

Oxytocin facilitates the ability to read other people’s emotions, and it deepens bonds between group members and heightens suspicion of and antagonism toward those outside the group, Dr. Pepping says.

It is also believed, as blood and brain levels rise, to encourage gloating.

So oxytocin is almost certainly an essential, if unacknowledged, player in most competitions.

But people differ in how much oxytocin they produce and in how their bodies respond to the hormone, a situation that has not, to date, been considered when judging athletes and their potential, Dr. Pepping points out, or when planning training routines. “Performance is not simply a matter of physique and strength” or of technique, he says. “It is important to start taking social emotions seriously,” he says, “and in particular those linked to positive emotional experiences.”

Encourage athletes to celebrate openly after a big play or new personal record (within the bounds of what referees will tolerate, of course). High-five often. Even gloat. “A healthy degree of gloating,” prompted by squirts of oxytocin, “could well be associated with and feed an athlete’s self-confidence,” Dr. Pepping says.

Athletes, by the way, aren’t the only group affected by oxytocin in a sports setting, “Sports fans, too, experience spurts of oxytocin release,” Dr. Pepping says, including the half-hearted. “Even when you don’t much like sports,” he says, watching others high-five and leap about the living room after their favored team scores will lead “your body to release oxytocin.” At that moment, we are all a fervent Bears or Giants or Oklahoma City Thunder fan, whatever we might think, in our more sober moments, about that James Harden trade.

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Obama designates Elisse Walter as new SEC chief, lauds Schapiro

WASHINGTON -- President Obama on Monday designated Elisse Walter as chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, but it's unclear if the Democratic commissioner will be the permanent replacement for outgoing Mary Schapiro.

Walter, who has served on the SEC since July 2008, will take over the reins of the agency after Schapiro steps down on Dec. 14. Schapiro announced her resignation Monday.

Obama thanked Schapiro for her "steadfast leadership." 

"When Mary agreed to serve nearly four years ago, she was fully aware of the difficulties facing the SEC and our economy as a whole," Obama said in a written statement.

"But she accepted the challenge, and today, the SEC is stronger and our financial system is safer and better able to serve the American people – thanks in large part to Mary's hard work," he said.

Obama can designate a current commissioner as chairman. But he must nominate a permanent replacement, who then has to be confirmed by the Senate.

After Schapiro departs next month, the SEC will have two Democrats and two Republicans, making it difficult to pass any controversial measures.

The White House did not indicate if Walter was among those being considered for the nomination.

Walter served as chairwoman for a short period in January 2009 after the departure of former Chairman Christopher Cox, before Schapiro was sworn in.

Walter, a former executive at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the National Assn. of Securities Dealers, has been mentioned as a permanent replacement for Schapiro.

Obama said he was "confident that Elisse's years of experience will serve her well in her new position."

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SEC chief Mary Schapiro to step down

Warren Buffett says tax hikes won't stop wealthy from investing

New faces likely for key U.S. economic posts, starting at Treasury

Follow Jim Puzzanghera on Twitter and Google+.

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Attack on Pakistani Shia Muslims kills five, injures 70

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A bomb blast in northwest Pakistan killed five people and injured 70 others Sunday, provincial and local authorities said, the latest in a wave of attacks that have struck the country’s minority Shiite Muslim community despite a host of stringent security measures, including wide-scale cellphone service bans and prohibitions on motorcycle riding in several cities.

The attack in Dera Ismail Khan was the second to strike the city of 119,000 this weekend and the fourth in five days directed at Shiite Muslims as they commemorate the anniversary of the 7th century martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad. A remote-controlled bomb planted in a shop exploded as a procession of Shiite Muslims passed by, police said.  

On Saturday in Dera Ismail Khan, seven people were killed and 26 others injured by a remote-controlled bomb buried under a pile of garbage that exploded while a Shiite Muslim procession moved past. Shiite Muslims commemorate Imam Hussein’s death with large processions that wend their way through cramped neighborhoods in dozens of Pakistani cities, creating a formidable challenge for police assigned to provide security for the mourners.

No one had claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack, though suspicion immediately focused on the Pakistani Taliban, the country’s homegrown insurgency. The group had previously said it was behind the wave of violence against Shiite Muslims earlier in the week. The Shiite Muslim community remains a prime target for the Pakistani Taliban and other Sunni militant groups, which regard Shiite Muslims as heretics.

In one of the earlier attacks this week, a suicide bomber slipped into a procession of more than 150 Shiite Muslims late Wednesday in the garrison city of Rawalpindi and detonated his explosives-filled vest, killing 23 people and injuring 62 others, according to Rawalpindi police. Earlier on Wednesday, militants detonated two bombs outside a Shiite mosque in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, killing two people and injuring 12 others.

Anticipating a spike in attacks, Pakistani officials late last week announced a series of restrictions aimed at curbing violence against Shiite Muslims.

Cellphone service was suspended in dozens of Pakistani cities over the weekend, a measure aimed at preventing the use of cellphones as remote-control detonators. Because assailants often use motorcycles to carry out attacks, motorcycle riding was banned in Islamabad, the capital, and the southern cities of Hyderabad and Quetta. The Pakistani newspaper Express-Tribune reported that the northwest town of Haripur imposed a 15-day ban on the wearing of shawls and coats to prevent would-be attackers from hiding explosives and other weapons.

ALSO:

Suicide bomber kills 3, wounds 90, in Afghanistan attack

Middle East shifts may weaken Iran's influence with Palestinians

Clashes erupt, offices ablaze after Egypt president expands power

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Saudi telco regulator suspends Mobily prepaid sim sales

(Reuters) – Saudi Arabia‘s No.2 telecom operator Etihad Etisalat Co (Mobily) has been suspended from selling pre-paid sim cards by the industry regulator, the firm said in a statement to the kingdom’s bourse on Sunday.

Mobily’s sales of pre-paid, or pay-as-you-go, sim cards will remain halted until the company “fully meets the prepaid service provisioning requirements,” the telco said in the statement.

These requirements include a September order from regulator, Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC). This states all pre-paid sim users must enter a personal identification number when recharging their accounts and that this number must be the same as the one registered with their mobile operator when the sim card was bought, according to a statement on the CITC website.

This measure is designed to ensure customer account details are kept up to date, the CITC said.

Mobily said the financial impact of the CITC’s decision would be “insignificant”, claiming data, corporate and postpaid revenues would meet its main growth drivers.

The firm, which competes with Saudi Telecom Co (STC) and Zain Saudi, reported a 23 percent rise in third-quarter profit in October, beating forecasts.

Prepaid mobile subscriptions are typically more popular among middle and lower income groups, with telecom operators pushing customers to shift to monthly contracts that include a data allowance.

Customers on monthly, or postpaid, contracts are also less likely to switch provider, but the bulk of customers remain on pre-paid accounts.

Mobily shares were trading down 1.4 percent at 0820 GMT on the Saudi bourse.

(Reporting by Matt Smith; Editing by Dinesh Nair)

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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'Twilight,' Bond, 'Lincoln' lead record weekend

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bella Swan, James Bond and Abe Lincoln have combined to lift Hollywood to record Thanksgiving revenue at the box office.

Kristen Stewart's finale as Bella in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2" was No. 1 again with $64 million during the five-day holiday stretch that began Wednesday, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Daniel Craig's Bond adventure "Skyfall" came in at No. 2 with $51 million, while Daniel Day-Lewis and Steven Spielberg's Civil War saga "Lincoln" finished third with $34.1 million.

According to box-office tracker Hollywood.com, the three films paced Hollywood to an all-time Thanksgiving week best of about $290 million from Wednesday to Sunday.

That tops the previous record of $273 million over Thanksgiving in 2009, when "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" led the weekend.

This Thanksgiving also was a huge 25 percent jump from a year ago, when domestic revenues were a weak $232 million as some big holiday releases fizzled.

With a strong December lineup ahead, Hollywood has resumed its record revenue pace for the year after a brief box-office lull in late summer and early fall.

Domestic revenues for 2012 are at $9.75 billion, putting Hollywood potentially on track for its first $11 billion year, which would beat the 2009 record of $10.6 billion, said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

"We're barreling toward a record-breaking box-office year," Dergarabedian said. "It's built on the back of just a lot of really strong movies that have come out over the past few weekends. It bodes very well for the rest of the holidays."

The "Twilight" finale, "Skyfall" and "Lincoln" finished in the same top-three rankings for the second-straight weekend as new releases were unable to dislodge the holdovers.

Released by Lionsgate's Summit Entertainment banner, "Breaking Dawn — Part 2," pulled in $43.1 million from Friday to Sunday, raising its domestic total to $227 million. The movie added $97.4 million overseas to bring its international total to $350.8 million and its worldwide take to $577.7 million.

Sony's "Skyfall" also topped $200 million domestically, ringing up $36 million for the three-day weekend to put its U.S. total at $221.7 million. With $41.3 million more overseas, "Skyfall" raised its international revenues to $568.4 million and its worldwide sales to $790.1 million.

"Lincoln," a DreamWorks film distributed by Disney, took in $25 million over the weekend to lift its domestic revenue to $62.2 million.

Leading the newcomers was Paramount and DreamWorks Animation's tale "Rise of the Guardians" at No. 4 with $24 million for the weekend and $32.6 million since opening Wednesday.

Based on William Joyce's "Guardians of Childhood" books, "Rise of the Guardians" gathers Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and other mythical beings as a team of heroes battling an evil overlord.

Close behind at No. 5 was director Ang Lee's shipwreck saga "Life of Pi" at No. 5 with $22 million over the weekend. The 20th Century Fox release has taken in $30.2 million domestically since its Wednesday debut and added $17.5 million in four Asian markets.

"Life of Pi" was adapted from Yann Martel's best-selling novel about an Indian youth adrift on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. Many fans considered the introspective novel impossible to film, but Lee has charmed audiences and critics with an inspiring survival story told through dazzling 3-D images.

The weekend's other new wide release, a remake of the 1980s U.S.-invasion tale "Red Dawn," opened at No. 7 with $14.6 million, raising its total to $22 million since debuting Wednesday.

"Red Dawn" sat on the shelf for three years while studio backer MGM went through bankruptcy, with distributor FilmDistrict eventually picking it up for domestic release. The movie's cast includes Chris Hemsworth ("Thor") and Josh Hutcherson ("The Hunger Games") in a story of young guerrillas battling North Korean invaders.

In limited release, Fox Searchlight's "Hitchcock" opened solidly with about $300,000 in 17 theaters. The movie stars Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock in a behind-the-scenes story of the making of "Psycho."

The weekend's overall strength came from a broad range of films that clicked with various audiences, from action and family fare to thoughtful drama.

"This is a marketplace that has something for everyone," said Chris Aronson, head of distribution for 20th Century Fox. "You have something deeper like 'Life of Pi,' yet you have a very successful sequel in 'Twilight' at the same time. Adult bio-drama, if you will, in 'Lincoln,' and you have Bond. That's the secret to a very successful and balanced marketplace."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2," $43.1 million ($97.4 million international).

2. "Skyfall," $36 million ($41.3 million international).

3. "Lincoln," $25 million.

4. "Rise of the Guardians," $24 million.

5. "Life of Pi," $22 million ($17.5 million international)

6. "Wreck-It Ralph," $16.8 million ($2.1 million international).

7. "Red Dawn," $14.6 million.

8. "Flight," $8.6 million.

9. "Silver Linings Playbook," $4.6 million.

10. "Argo," $3.9 million.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

http://www.rentrak.com

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

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Indian Prostitutes’ New Autonomy Imperils AIDS Fight

Kuni Takahashi for The New York Times

Sex workers in Mumbai’s long-established red-light district, where brothels are dwindling.

MUMBAI, India — Millions once bought sex in the narrow alleys of Kamathipura, a vast red-light district here. But prostitutes with inexpensive mobile phones are luring customers elsewhere, and that is endangering the astonishing progress India has made against AIDS.

Indeed, the recent closings of hundreds of ancient brothels, while something of an economic victory for prostitutes, may one day cost them, and many others, their lives.

“The place where sex happens turns out to be an important H.I.V. prevention point,” said Saggurti Niranjan, program associate of the Population Council. “And when we don’t know where that is, we can’t help stop the transmission.”

Cellphones, those tiny gateways to modernity, have recently allowed prostitutes to shed the shackles of brothel madams and strike out on their own. But that independence has made prostitutes far harder for government and safe-sex counselors to trace. And without the advice and free condoms those counselors provide, prostitutes and their customers are returning to dangerous ways.

Studies show that prostitutes who rely on cellphones are more susceptible to H.I.V. because they are far less likely than their brothel-based peers to require their clients to wear condoms.

In interviews, prostitutes said they had surrendered some control in the bedroom in exchange for far more control over their incomes.

“Now, I get the full cash in my hand before we start,” said Neelan, a prostitute with four children whose side business in sex work is unknown to her husband and neighbors. (Neelan is a professional name, not her real one.)

“Earlier, if the customer got scared and didn’t go all the way, the madam might not charge the full amount,” she explained. “But if they back out now, I say that I have removed all my clothes and am going to keep the money.”

India has been the world’s most surprising AIDS success story. Though infections did not appear in India until 1986, many predicted the nation would soon become the epidemic’s focal point. In 2002, the C.I.A.’s National Intelligence Council predicted that India would have as many as 25 million AIDS cases by 2010. Instead, India now has about 1.5 million.

An important reason the disease never took extensive hold in India is that most women here have fewer sexual partners than in many other developing countries. Just as important was an intensive effort underwritten by the World Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to target high-risk groups like prostitutes, gay men and intravenous drug users.

But the Gates Foundation is now largely ending its oversight and support for AIDS prevention in India, just as efforts directed at prostitutes are becoming much more difficult. Experts say it is too early to identify how much H.I.V. infections might rise.

“Nowadays, the mobility of sex workers is huge, and contacting them is very difficult,” said Ashok Alexander, the former director in India of the Gates Foundation. “It’s a totally different challenge, and the strategies will also have to change.”

An example of the strategies that had been working can be found in Delhi’s red-light district on Garstin Bastion Road near the old Delhi railway station, where brothels have thrived since the 16th century. A walk through dark alleys, past blind beggars and up narrow, steep and deeply worn stone staircases brings customers into brightly lighted rooms teeming with scores of women brushing each other’s hair, trying on new dresses, eating snacks, performing the latest Bollywood dances, tending small children and disappearing into tiny bedrooms with nervous men who come out moments later buttoning their trousers.

A 2009 government survey found 2,000 prostitutes at Garstin Bastion (also known as G. B.) Road who served about 8,000 men a day. The government estimated that if it could deliver as many as 320,000 free condoms each month and train dozens of prostitutes to counsel safe-sex practices to their peers, AIDS infections could be significantly reduced. Instead of broadcasting safe-sex messages across the country — an expensive and inefficient strategy commonly employed in much of the world — it encircled Garstin Bastion with a firebreak of posters with messages like “Don’t take a risk, use a condom” and “When a condom is in, risk is out.”

Surprising many international AIDS experts, these and related tactics worked. Studies showed that condom use among clients of prostitutes soared.

“To the credit of the Indian strategists, their focus on these high-risk groups paid off,” said Dr. Peter Piot, the former executive director of U.N.AIDS and now director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. A number of other countries, following India’s example, have achieved impressive results over the past decade as well, according to the latest United Nations report, which was released last week.

Sruthi Gottipati contributed reporting in Mumbai and New Delhi.

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L.A. Auto Show to serve as stage for vehicles, technologies

On any Saturday afternoon, the unlikely mix of exotic coupes, vintage woodies and electric cars sharing Pacific Coast Highway makes clear why Southern California is the center of U.S. car culture.

A similarly diverse array of machinery has made the Los Angeles Auto Show the premier stage for both cutting-edge green cars and sportier offerings designed to carve up that famous coastal road.

This year's show, the first North American showcase of the model year, starts Wednesday for the media and opens to the public Friday at the downtown convention center. It will feature two dozen world debuts, including Porsche's redesigned 2014 Cayman sports car, a hardtop counterpart to the Boxster convertible; and Toyota Motor Corp.'s latest RAV-4, a leading small sport utility vehicle.

Acura will unveil an all-new flagship sedan, powered by a 3.5-liter V-6 engine making 310 horsepower. Hyundai Motor Co. will show off a special concept car it says was designed with California car culture front of mind.

On the electric front, Chevrolet will reveal its Spark EV, which will have more power, torque and speed than the gas-powered version of the same car. General Motors Co. says the car will jump from a start to 60 mph in less than 8 seconds, which will make it one of the fastest EVs on the market (though still slow compared with the pricier, made-in-California Tesla Model S). Likewise, Fiat will show off an electric version of its 500 mini-car.

If you go to the show, or just want to track the latest in the auto industry, here are five new technologies to watch.

Three-cylinder engines

They have been tried before in America with little success. But a new generation of small, powerful engines will soon make inroads in cars that have traditionally needed at least a four-banger.

Ford Motor Co. will show off its small Fiesta with a new turbocharged three-cylinder engine that produces 123 horsepower and 148 pound-feet of torque — more powerful than the car's current base four-cylinder. The car may also achieve fuel economy north of 40 mpg.

Shrinking the engine size and weight without losing power is a key goal of automotive engineering, said Andrew Fraser, one of the Ford engineers who developed the power plant.

"It's a virtuous circle," Fraser said. "As you reduce the weight of the engine, everything else on the vehicle can be lighter, and you get better weight distribution and it drives better. Resistance to turning the car is largely determined by the weight in the front of it."

That's why many high-end sports cars have a mid-engine, he said, and why 50-50 weight distribution is seen as the holy grail of car design, creating nimble handling.

Other manufacturers — including BMW and Volkswagen — are working with three-cylinder engines that they may introduce in the U.S. market in coming years. The three-cylinder Ford Fiesta goes on sale in the U.S. in the second half of next year.

Phone navigation

Automakers typically embed features such as navigation and voice recognition in dashboards so they can charge as much as $2,000 for the options. Chevrolet is taking a different approach with its smallest and least expensive cars, the Spark and the Sonic.

These vehicles come with a 7-inch color touch screen and GM's MyLink, which allows drivers to purchase a $50 BringGo smartphone app to display a navigation program and traffic updates. This has virtually all of the information drivers would find in an embedded navigation system, including emergency information for police and the nearest hospital, points of interest, maps and turn-by-turn directions.

The MyLink system enables car owners to bring other apps to the vehicle such as Pandora and Stitcher radio services.

"This makes the car an extension of your smartphone," said Sara LeBlanc, global program manager for Chevrolet and General Motors infotainment. "It is an incredible deal when compared to the cost of an aftermarket Garmin or embedded navigation system."

So why don't automakers do this with all of their cars?

Not everyone has an Android or Apple smartphone, LeBlanc said. GM can take this approach because Spark demographics skew so young, and 90% of the target market has a smartphone, she said. But only about half of Chevrolet Malibu buyers have the phones, and GM can't afford to alienate the buyers who don't by not offering a navigation and voice recognition option.

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Boxer Hector 'Macho' Camacho dies days after being shot in head

Hector “Macho” Camacho, a former three-division boxing champion who had 88 professional fights against a who’s who of legendary opponents stretching from Ray Mancini (whom he defeated in 1989) to Oscar De La Hoya (who beat him by decision in 1997), has died. He was 50.

Camacho was pronounced dead Saturday after being shot in the head four days earlier while seated in a car outside a bar in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Camacho’s condition deteriorated before his family opted to take him off life support.

Another man in the car, who had nine bags of cocaine in his possession, was also shot and immediately declared dead, according to the Associated Press.

PHOTOS: Hector “Macho” Camacho

Camacho, known for wearing outlandish trunks ranging from a leopard loin cloth to others adorned with lights or tassels, well understood the importance of selling a fight and employing some mental warfare.

Before fighting Mancini, he said, “I never did nothing to the character. How can he dislike a good-looking guy like me? It's jealousy. He can't even be in the same room with me because he knows he can't beat me mouth-to-mouth.”

The late Times columnist Jim Murray assessed the crowd-pleasing disparity between De La Hoya and Camacho like this:

“Oscar was winning a gold medal for his country, Macho was stealing one for himself. Oscar plays golf, Macho plays craps. He was a hyperactive child, and he's a hyperactive adult.

“He has a positive flair for rubbing people the wrong way, doing exactly what nobody wants. For instance, in his last fight, he committed the unpardonable sin of beating up Sugar Ray Leonard, no less. That's about as endearing to the public as burning the flag.”

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Camacho’s theatrics were combined with an admirable desire to take on the best opponents possible. He faced the likes of Freddie Roach, Cornelius Boza Edwards, Rafael “Bazooka” Limon, Felix Trinidad, Roberto Duran and Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. His overall record was 79-6-3.

Camacho was born in Bayamon on May 24, 1962, and moved to New York City with his family. His career launched after he admitted to stealing cars in Spanish Harlem as a youth, with one transgression forcing him to jail in Rikers Island, N.Y. There, he boxed other inmates and was so good, one asked a question that stuck with him: “What are you doing here?”

“When he was young, you couldn’t hit him, that’s why he won his first 50 fights,” veteran boxing publicist Bill Caplan said.

The success emboldened his flair for flamboyance, as former Times boxing writer Richard Hoffer captured in a 1985 story:

“His style of dress … is outlandish enough to make Liberace look reserved. He wears enough jewelry to make Mr. T look like a man who only dabbles in accessories. It must be great fun to watch Camacho walk through a metal detector.”

When Camacho suffered his first loss in a 1991 World Boxing Organization lightweight title bout against Greg Haugen at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, his personable nature shined.

“You’d think the guy would be devastated, but 15 minutes after the loss, he was back in press row for the second fight of the HBO doubleheader, shaking everyone’s hands,” Caplan said. “Just a happy-go-lucky guy who loved people.”

The flash wasn’t a mask to toughness. He was never knocked out.

Camacho’s grit was unmistakable to anyone who observed his 1992 beating in front of a sold-out Las Vegas fight crowd at the hands of Chavez Sr., Mexico’s greatest fighter who was at his peak when he pummeled Camacho with body shots en route to a unanimous decision.

De La Hoya knew the importance of beating up and knocking down Camacho in their 1997 bout:

“Listen, Chavez … and Felix Trinidad couldn't knock him out or drop him,” De La Hoya said afterward. “At least I dropped him.”

Camacho’s love of the sport was evident both in his desire to entertain beyond fisticuffs and instances such as his 1995 fight in the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles.

There, recalled promoter Don Chargin, main-event fighter Camacho showing up with his hands wrapped, in a robe and colorful trunks to sit alongside off-night fighters and managers in complimentary seats to watch preliminary matches 90 minutes before his own bout against Tony Rodriguez.

“He just wanted to be with people,” Caplan said.

Camacho’s son, Hector Camacho Jr., is a middleweight boxer with a 54-5-1 record who most recently fought in July.

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

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