Retail Sales Hurt by Hurricane

Retail sales fell in the United States in October for the first time in three months as superstorm Sandy slammed the brakes on automobile purchases, suggesting a loss of momentum in spending early in the fourth quarter.

Sales dipped 0.3 percent, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday, after an upwardly revised 1.3 percent increase in September that was previously reported as a 1.1 percent rise.

Motor vehicle sales declined 1.5 percent, the largest fall since August last year, after increasing 1.7 percent in September. Auto manufacturers have blamed the storm for the drop in sales.

They expect auto sales to rebound in November. Automakers and dealers last week estimated that as many as a quarter million vehicles would end up in the scrap yard because of the storm.

Excluding autos, retail sales were unchanged last month after advancing 1.2 percent in September, the Commerce Department said.

The storm also likely dented sales at clothing stores, which dipped 0.1 percent after rising 0.4 percent the prior month.

Building material sales surprisingly fell 1.9 percent, defying expectations of a boost from pre-storm purchases. Building materials and garden equipment sales has increased 2.1 percent in September.

Separately, the Labor Department said producer prices unexpectedly fell in October as the cost of energy and motor vehicles tumbled.

The Labor Department said its seasonally adjusted producer price index slipped 0.2 percent last month, the first decline since May, after increasing 1.1 percent in September. It said the data had not been impacted by superstorm Sandy.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected prices at farms, factories and refineries to increase 0.2 percent last month. The decline showed there was little inflation pressure on the economy.

Wholesale prices excluding volatile food and energy costs also fell 0.2 percent, the largest fall since October 2010, after being flat in September. Economists had expected core prices to rise 0.1 percent.

Though food prices pushed higher, the overall tone of the report was consistent with benign inflation pressures as the economy struggles with sluggish demand, indicating the Federal Reserve would stick to its ultra-accommodative monetary policy stance for a while to nurse the recovery.

Consumer inflation is currently hovering around the Fed’s 2 percent target.

Overall producer prices last month were depressed by energy costs, which fell 0.5 percent as weak gasoline prices offset an acceleration in residential electricity costs. Gasoline prices fell 2.2 percent after rising 9.8 percent in September.

Food prices rose 0.4 percent after gaining 0.2 percent in September. Prices could stay elevated in the aftermath of a severe drought that pushed up the cost of grain and soybeans.

In the 12 months through October, producer prices increased 2.3 percent after rising 2.1 percent in September.

Outside food and energy, producer prices were pushed down by a sharp drop in the cost of passenger cars and light trucks. Passenger car prices fell 1.6 percent, the most since July 2009, while light truck prices fell 1.5 percent -- the largest drop since October 2010.

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Well: Thanksgiving From Jerusalem

If you are looking to add some international flair to your Thanksgiving table, Jerusalem is a good place to start.

The city’s diverse Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities have created unpredictable and exciting culinary combinations, the London chef and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi writes in the stunning new cookbook “Jerusalem.” The book, which Mr. Ottolenghi wrote with his friend and business partner Sami Tamimi, explores the history, culture and people of the city through its varied cuisines.

“Jerusalem is a fantastic place, and by that I mean it’s a place of fantasy,” Mr. Ottolenghi said. “There are so many layers of culture and history, almost placed one upon each other, that you start digging and find so many stories that are really the stories of the world.”

Both men grew up on opposite sides of the city in the 1970s — Mr. Tamimi as a Palestinian in East Jerusalem and Mr. Ottolenghi in Jewish West Jerusalem — but didn’t meet until years later in a bakery in London. Away from their birthplace for 20 years, they began to reminisce about the foods and flavors of their childhood. The result is a uniquely personal exploration of their cross-cultural childhood, told in recipes inspired by their mothers’ cooking, trips to local markets and the herbs, fruits and vegetables that surrounded their homes.

“Our first inclination was to cover everything, but we realized that would be impossible because there are so many communities and backgrounds of people in this city that it would be a cookbook of the world,” Mr. Ottolenghi said. “So now the majority of the recipes are just things we like to cook that have the essence of the city, the flavors, the aroma and the signature techniques. It’s a very private choice.”

Although food in Jerusalem is influenced by the incalculable number of cultures and subcultures that make up the city, there are some distinct food traditions, Mr. Ottolenghi said. Everybody uses chopped cucumbers and tomatoes to make a salad; stuffed vegetables are eaten regularly; and olive oil, lemon juice and olives are ubiquitous. Popular local ingredients include okra, cauliflower, artichokes, beets, eggplant, figs, lemons, pomegranates, plums and apricots.

For Well’s Vegetarian Thanksgiving series, the authors of “Jerusalem” offer three new recipes for your holiday table, including a flavorful stuffed eggplant, a roasted cauliflower and pomegranate salad and a radiant fig and sweet potato dish certain to become a new Thanksgiving tradition.

---

“Jerusalem”
Chermoula Eggplant With Bulgur and Yogurt

Chermoula is a mixture of spices used in North African cooking, often to season fish. Here it’s rubbed over eggplant, which is then roasted and topped with a Middle Eastern salad of bulgur wheat and herbs, something like tabbouleh. “It’s a hybrid that could only happen in Jerusalem,” said Yotam Ottolenghi, an author of the new “Jerusalem” cookbook.

2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon chili flakes
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
2 tablespoons finely chopped preserved lemon peel (available in stores)
2/3 cup olive oil, plus extra to finish
2 medium eggplants
1 cup fine bulgur
2/3 cup boiling water
1/3 cup golden raisins
3 1/2 tablespoons warm water
1/3 ounce (2 teaspoons) cilantro, chopped, plus extra to finish
1/3 ounce (2 teaspoons) mint, chopped
1/3 cup pitted green olives, halved
1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted
3 green onions, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
Salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. To make the chermoula, mix together in a small bowl the garlic, cumin, coriander, chili, paprika, preserved lemon, two-thirds of the olive oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

3. Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise. Score the flesh of each half with deep, diagonal crisscross cuts, making sure not to pierce the skin. Spoon the chermoula over each half, spreading it evenly, and place the eggplant halves on a baking sheet, cut side up. Put in the oven and roast for 40 minutes, or until the eggplants are completely soft.

4. Meanwhile, place the bulgur in a large bowl and cover with the boiling water.

5. Soak the raisins in the warm water. After 10 minutes, drain the raisins and add them to the bulgur, along with the remaining oil. Add the herbs, olives, almonds, green onions, lemon juice and a pinch of salt and stir to combine. Taste and add more salt if necessary.

6. Serve the eggplants warm or at room temperature. Place 1/2 eggplant, cut side up, on each individual plate. Spoon the bulgur on top, allowing some to fall from both sides. Spoon over some yogurt, sprinkle with cilantro and finish with a drizzle of oil.

Yield: 4 servings

---

“Jerusalem”
Roasted Cauliflower, Hazelnut and Pomegranate Seed Salad

The roasted flavors of cauliflower and hazelnuts, combined with the fresh pop of pomegranate seeds, make this a particularly memorable salad for your holiday table. Cauliflower and pomegranate are popular foods in both Arab and Jewish communities, and the sweet and sour combinations in this dish capture the flavors of the region.

1 head cauliflower, broken into small florets (1 1/2 pounds total)
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 large celery stalk, cut on an angle into 1/4-inch slices (2/3 cup total)
5 tablespoons hazelnuts, with skins
1/3 cup small flat-leaf parsley leaves, picked
1/3 cup pomegranate seeds (from about 1/2 medium pomegranate)
Generous 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Generous 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon maple syrup
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Mix the cauliflower with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and some black pepper. Spread out in a roasting pan and roast on the top oven rack for 25 to 35 minutes, until the cauliflower is crisp and parts of it have turned golden brown. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and set aside to cool.

3. Decrease the oven temperature to 325 degrees. Spread the hazelnuts on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and roast for 17 minutes.

4. Allow the nuts to cool a little, then coarsely chop them and add to the cauliflower, along with the remaining oil and the rest of the ingredients. Stir, taste and season with salt and pepper accordingly. Serve at room temperature.

Yield: 2 to 4 servings

---

“Jerusalem”
Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Fresh Figs

This dish takes inspiration from a city where fig trees grow in abundance. “Growing up, there were tons of fig trees around, and we would eat figs dry or fresh in fruit salads,’’ Yotam Ottolenghi said. “We wanted to celebrate those memories and came up with this recipe.”

4 small sweet potatoes (2 1/4 pounds total)
5 tablespoons olive oil
Scant 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 
(you can use a commercial rather than 
a premium aged grade)
1 1/2 tablespoons superfine sugar
12 green onions, halved lengthwise and cut into 
1 1/2-inch segments
1 red chili, thinly sliced
6 ripe figs (8 1/2 ounces total), quartered
5 ounces soft goat’s milk cheese (optional)
Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Wash the sweet potatoes, halve them lengthwise, and then cut each half into 3 long wedges. Mix with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, 2 teaspoons salt and some black pepper.

2. Spread the wedges out, skin side down, on a baking sheet and cook for about 
25 minutes, until they are soft but not mushy. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

3. To make the balsamic reduction, place the balsamic vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then decrease the heat and simmer for 2 to 4 minutes, until it thickens. Be sure to remove the pan from the heat when the vinegar is still runnier than honey; it will continue to thicken as it cools. Stir in a drop of water before serving if it does become too thick to drizzle.

4. Arrange the sweet potatoes on a serving platter. Heat the remaining oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the green onions and chili. Fry for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring often to make sure not to burn the chili. Spoon the oil, onions and chili over the sweet potatoes. Dot the figs among the wedges, and then drizzle over the balsamic reduction. Serve at room temperature. Crumble the cheese over the top, if using.

Yield: 4 servings

---

Reprinted with permission from Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, copyright © 2012. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc.

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Well: Thanksgiving From Jerusalem

If you are looking to add some international flair to your Thanksgiving table, Jerusalem is a good place to start.

The city’s diverse Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities have created unpredictable and exciting culinary combinations, the London chef and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi writes in the stunning new cookbook “Jerusalem.” The book, which Mr. Ottolenghi wrote with his friend and business partner Sami Tamimi, explores the history, culture and people of the city through its varied cuisines.

“Jerusalem is a fantastic place, and by that I mean it’s a place of fantasy,” Mr. Ottolenghi said. “There are so many layers of culture and history, almost placed one upon each other, that you start digging and find so many stories that are really the stories of the world.”

Both men grew up on opposite sides of the city in the 1970s — Mr. Tamimi as a Palestinian in East Jerusalem and Mr. Ottolenghi in Jewish West Jerusalem — but didn’t meet until years later in a bakery in London. Away from their birthplace for 20 years, they began to reminisce about the foods and flavors of their childhood. The result is a uniquely personal exploration of their cross-cultural childhood, told in recipes inspired by their mothers’ cooking, trips to local markets and the herbs, fruits and vegetables that surrounded their homes.

“Our first inclination was to cover everything, but we realized that would be impossible because there are so many communities and backgrounds of people in this city that it would be a cookbook of the world,” Mr. Ottolenghi said. “So now the majority of the recipes are just things we like to cook that have the essence of the city, the flavors, the aroma and the signature techniques. It’s a very private choice.”

Although food in Jerusalem is influenced by the incalculable number of cultures and subcultures that make up the city, there are some distinct food traditions, Mr. Ottolenghi said. Everybody uses chopped cucumbers and tomatoes to make a salad; stuffed vegetables are eaten regularly; and olive oil, lemon juice and olives are ubiquitous. Popular local ingredients include okra, cauliflower, artichokes, beets, eggplant, figs, lemons, pomegranates, plums and apricots.

For Well’s Vegetarian Thanksgiving series, the authors of “Jerusalem” offer three new recipes for your holiday table, including a flavorful stuffed eggplant, a roasted cauliflower and pomegranate salad and a radiant fig and sweet potato dish certain to become a new Thanksgiving tradition.

---

“Jerusalem”
Chermoula Eggplant With Bulgur and Yogurt

Chermoula is a mixture of spices used in North African cooking, often to season fish. Here it’s rubbed over eggplant, which is then roasted and topped with a Middle Eastern salad of bulgur wheat and herbs, something like tabbouleh. “It’s a hybrid that could only happen in Jerusalem,” said Yotam Ottolenghi, an author of the new “Jerusalem” cookbook.

2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon chili flakes
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
2 tablespoons finely chopped preserved lemon peel (available in stores)
2/3 cup olive oil, plus extra to finish
2 medium eggplants
1 cup fine bulgur
2/3 cup boiling water
1/3 cup golden raisins
3 1/2 tablespoons warm water
1/3 ounce (2 teaspoons) cilantro, chopped, plus extra to finish
1/3 ounce (2 teaspoons) mint, chopped
1/3 cup pitted green olives, halved
1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted
3 green onions, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
Salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. To make the chermoula, mix together in a small bowl the garlic, cumin, coriander, chili, paprika, preserved lemon, two-thirds of the olive oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

3. Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise. Score the flesh of each half with deep, diagonal crisscross cuts, making sure not to pierce the skin. Spoon the chermoula over each half, spreading it evenly, and place the eggplant halves on a baking sheet, cut side up. Put in the oven and roast for 40 minutes, or until the eggplants are completely soft.

4. Meanwhile, place the bulgur in a large bowl and cover with the boiling water.

5. Soak the raisins in the warm water. After 10 minutes, drain the raisins and add them to the bulgur, along with the remaining oil. Add the herbs, olives, almonds, green onions, lemon juice and a pinch of salt and stir to combine. Taste and add more salt if necessary.

6. Serve the eggplants warm or at room temperature. Place 1/2 eggplant, cut side up, on each individual plate. Spoon the bulgur on top, allowing some to fall from both sides. Spoon over some yogurt, sprinkle with cilantro and finish with a drizzle of oil.

Yield: 4 servings

---

“Jerusalem”
Roasted Cauliflower, Hazelnut and Pomegranate Seed Salad

The roasted flavors of cauliflower and hazelnuts, combined with the fresh pop of pomegranate seeds, make this a particularly memorable salad for your holiday table. Cauliflower and pomegranate are popular foods in both Arab and Jewish communities, and the sweet and sour combinations in this dish capture the flavors of the region.

1 head cauliflower, broken into small florets (1 1/2 pounds total)
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 large celery stalk, cut on an angle into 1/4-inch slices (2/3 cup total)
5 tablespoons hazelnuts, with skins
1/3 cup small flat-leaf parsley leaves, picked
1/3 cup pomegranate seeds (from about 1/2 medium pomegranate)
Generous 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Generous 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon maple syrup
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Mix the cauliflower with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and some black pepper. Spread out in a roasting pan and roast on the top oven rack for 25 to 35 minutes, until the cauliflower is crisp and parts of it have turned golden brown. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and set aside to cool.

3. Decrease the oven temperature to 325 degrees. Spread the hazelnuts on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and roast for 17 minutes.

4. Allow the nuts to cool a little, then coarsely chop them and add to the cauliflower, along with the remaining oil and the rest of the ingredients. Stir, taste and season with salt and pepper accordingly. Serve at room temperature.

Yield: 2 to 4 servings

---

“Jerusalem”
Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Fresh Figs

This dish takes inspiration from a city where fig trees grow in abundance. “Growing up, there were tons of fig trees around, and we would eat figs dry or fresh in fruit salads,’’ Yotam Ottolenghi said. “We wanted to celebrate those memories and came up with this recipe.”

4 small sweet potatoes (2 1/4 pounds total)
5 tablespoons olive oil
Scant 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 
(you can use a commercial rather than 
a premium aged grade)
1 1/2 tablespoons superfine sugar
12 green onions, halved lengthwise and cut into 
1 1/2-inch segments
1 red chili, thinly sliced
6 ripe figs (8 1/2 ounces total), quartered
5 ounces soft goat’s milk cheese (optional)
Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Wash the sweet potatoes, halve them lengthwise, and then cut each half into 3 long wedges. Mix with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, 2 teaspoons salt and some black pepper.

2. Spread the wedges out, skin side down, on a baking sheet and cook for about 
25 minutes, until they are soft but not mushy. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

3. To make the balsamic reduction, place the balsamic vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then decrease the heat and simmer for 2 to 4 minutes, until it thickens. Be sure to remove the pan from the heat when the vinegar is still runnier than honey; it will continue to thicken as it cools. Stir in a drop of water before serving if it does become too thick to drizzle.

4. Arrange the sweet potatoes on a serving platter. Heat the remaining oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the green onions and chili. Fry for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring often to make sure not to burn the chili. Spoon the oil, onions and chili over the sweet potatoes. Dot the figs among the wedges, and then drizzle over the balsamic reduction. Serve at room temperature. Crumble the cheese over the top, if using.

Yield: 4 servings

---

Reprinted with permission from Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, copyright © 2012. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc.

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Gadgetwise Blog: Tip of the Week: Sunrise, Sunset — at a Glance

As the year winds down, sunset arrives earlier in the day. If you want to see just when darkness will fall next, just type the word “sunset” and your current ZIP code into the search box on the Google or Yahoo home page and hit the Enter key to see the time of the next sunset displayed at the top of the results page. Typing “sunrise” brings up the time of the next day’s first light. If your browser is set to use your computer or mobile device’s location data, you do not even need to include your ZIP code in the search box because the search engine already knows where you are.

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France Grants Its Recognition to Syria Rebels as U.S. Waits

Javier Manzano/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Smoke billowed from burning tires as a Syria rebel fired towards regime forces during clashes in the Al-Amariya district of Aleppo in Syria on Tuesday.

PARIS — Syrian authorities ordered airstrikes for a third straight day close to the Turkish border on Wednesday, and said a French decision to recognize and consider arming a newly formed Syrian rebel coalition was an “immoral” act “encouraging the destruction of Syria.”

The French move represented an attempt to inject momentum into a broad Western and Arab effort to build a viable and effective opposition to hasten the end of a stalemated civil war which has destabilized the Middle East. For its part, the United States on Wednesday signaled a reluctance to go beyond its characterization of the rebel alliance as a legitimate representative of the Syrian people, rather than as their sole representative.

Speaking in Perth, Australia, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Washington first wanted to see the coalition influencing events on the ground.

“As the Syrian opposition takes these steps and demonstrates its effectiveness in advancing the cause of a unified, democratic, pluralistic Syria, we will be prepared to work with them to deliver assistance to the Syrian people,” news reports quoted her saying.

At the same time, she announced $30 million in American humanitarian aid to feed people affected by the civil war, bringing the total American assistance to almost $200 million.

The airstrikes on Wednesday underscored the urgency of the diplomatic maneuvers. Journalists along the 550-mile border between Turkey and Syria near the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar said they witnessed a Syrian airstrike in the adjacent Syrian town of Ras al-Ain, where rebels say they have ousted troops loyal to Mr. Assad. It was the third such strike there in as many days.

In response, Reuters reported, Turkey scrambled fighter jets to its southeastern border with Syria, recalling Turkey’s insistence that it will not refrain from a tougher reaction against Syria.

The official SANA news agency in Syria made no direct reference to the Western moves. But the deputy foreign minister, Faisal Muqdad, told the Agence France-Presse news agency that the establishment of the opposition coalition in Doha, Qatar, was a “ declaration of war.” "We read the Doha document and they reject any dialogue with the government."

Referring to the French recognition of the alliance, he said: “Allow me to use the word, this is an immoral position. They are supporting killers, terrorists and they are encouraging the destruction of Syria.”The announcement by President François Hollande on Tuesday made France the first Western country to fully embrace the new coalition, which came together this past weekend under Western pressure after days of difficult negotiations in Doha, Qatar.

The goal was to make an opposition leadership — both inside and outside the country — representative of the array of Syrian groups pressing for the downfall of President Bashar al-Assad. Although Mr. Assad is increasingly isolated as his country descends further into mayhem and despair after 20 months of conflict, he has survived partly because of the disagreements and lack of unity among his opponents. Throughout the conflict, the West has taken half measures and been reluctant to back an aggressive effort to oust Mr. Assad. This appears to be the first time that Western nations, with Arab allies, are determined to build a viable opposition leadership that can ultimately function as a government. Whether it can succeed remains unclear.

Mr. Hollande went beyond other Western pledges of support for the new Syrian umbrella rebel group, which calls itself the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces. But Mr. Hollande’s announcement clearly signaled expectations that if the group can establish political legitimacy and an operational structure inside Syria, creating an alternative to the Assad family’s four decades in power, it will be rewarded with further recognition, money and possibly weapons.

“I announce that France recognizes the Syrian National Coalition as the sole representative of the Syrian people and thus as the future provisional government of a democratic Syria and to bring an end to Bashar al-Assad’s regime,” said Mr. Hollande, who has been one of the Syrian president’s harshest critics.

As for weapons, Mr. Hollande said, France had not supported arming the rebels up to now, but “with the coalition, as soon as it is a legitimate government of Syria, this question will be looked at by France, but also by all countries that recognize this government.”

The six Arab countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, including key opposition supporters Qatar and Saudi Arabia, recognized the rebel coalition on Monday as the legitimate Syrian government. Political analysts called Mr. Hollande’s announcement an important moment in the Syrian conflict, which began as a peaceful Arab Spring uprising in March 2011. It was harshly suppressed by Mr. Assad, turned into a civil war and has left nearly 40,000 Syrians dead, displaced about 2.5 million and forced more than 400,000 to flee to neighboring countries, according to international relief agencies.

Steven Erlanger reported from Paris, Rick Gladstone from New York, and Alan Cowell from Paris. Reporting was contributed by Neil MacFarquhar and Hwaida Saad from Beirut, Lebanon; Nick Cumming-Bruce from Geneva; and Alan Cowell from Paris.

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False Posts on Facebook Undermine Its Credibility

SAN FRANCISCO — The Facebook page for Gaston Memorial Hospital, in Gastonia, N.C., offers a chicken salad recipe to encourage healthy eating, tips on avoiding injuries at Zumba class, and pictures of staff members dressed up at Halloween. Typical stuff for a hospital in a small town.

But in October, another Facebook page for the hospital popped up. This one posted denunciations of President Obama and what it derided as “Obamacare.” It swiftly gathered hundreds of followers, and the anti-Obama screeds picked up “likes.” Officials at the hospital, scrambling to get it taken down, turned to their real Facebook page for damage control. “We apologize for any confusion,” they posted on Oct. 8, “and appreciate the support of our followers.”

The fake page came down 11 days later, as mysteriously as it had come up. The hospital says it has no clue who was behind it.

Fakery is all over the Internet. Twitter, which allows pseudonyms, is rife with fake followers, and has been used to spread false rumors, as it was during Hurricane Sandy. False reviews are a constant problem on consumer Web sites.

Gaston Memorial’s experience is an object lesson in the problem of fakery on Facebook. For the world’s largest social network, it is an especially acute problem, because it calls into question its basic premise. Facebook has sought to distinguish itself as a place for real identity on the Web. As the company tells its users: “Facebook is a community where people use their real identities.” It goes on to advise: “The name you use should be your real name as it would be listed on your credit card, student ID, etc.”

Fraudulent “likes” damage the trust of advertisers, who want clicks from real people they can sell to and whom Facebook now relies on to make money. Fakery also can ruin the credibility of search results for the social search engine that Facebook says it is building.

Facebook says it has always taken the problem seriously, and recently stepped up efforts to cull fakes from the site. “It’s pretty much one of the top priorities for the company all the time,” said Joe Sullivan, who is in charge of security at Facebook.

The fakery problem on Facebook comes in many shapes. False profiles are fairly easy to create; hundreds can pop up simultaneously, sometimes with the help of robots, and often they persuade real users into friending them in a bid to spread malware. Fake Facebook friends and likes are sold on the Web like trinkets at a bazaar, directed at those who want to enhance their image. Fake coupons for meals and gadgets can appear on Facebook newsfeeds, aimed at tricking the unwitting into revealing their personal information.

Somewhat more benignly, some college students use fake names in an effort to protect their Facebook content from the eyes of future employers.

Mr. Sullivan declined to say what portion of the company’s now one billion plus users were fake. The company quantified the problem last June, in responding to an inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission. At that time, the company said that of its 855 million active users, 8.7 percent, or 83 million, were duplicates, false or “undesirable,” for instance, because they spread spam.

Mr. Sullivan said that since August, the company had put in place a new automated system to purge fake “likes.” The company said it has 150 to 300 staff members to weed out fraud.

Flags are raised if a user sends out hundreds of friend requests at a time, Mr. Sullivan explained, or likes hundreds of pages simultaneously, or most obvious of all, posts a link to a site that is known to contain a virus. Those suspected of being fakes are warned. Depending on what they do on the site, accounts can be suspended.

In October, Facebook announced new partnerships with antivirus companies. Facebook users can now download free or paid antivirus coverage to guard against malware.

“It’s something we have been pretty effective at all along,” Mr. Sullivan said.

Facebook’s new aggressiveness toward fake “likes” became noticeable in September, when brand pages started seeing their fan numbers dip noticeably. An average brand page, Facebook said at the time, would lose less than 1 percent of its fans.

But the thriving market for fakery makes it hard to keep up with the problem. Gaston Memorial, for instance, first detected a fake page in its name in August; three days later, it vanished. The fake page popped up again on Oct. 4, and this time filled up quickly with the loud denunciations of the Obama administration. Dallas P. Wilborn, the hospital’s public relations manager, said her office tried to leave a voice-mail message for Facebook but was disconnected; an e-mail response from the social network ruled that the fake page did not violate its terms of service. The hospital submitted more evidence, saying that the impostor was using its company logo.

Eleven days later, the hospital said, Facebook found in its favor. But by then, the local newspaper, The Gaston Gazette, had written about the matter, and the fake page had disappeared.

Facebook declined to comment on the incident, and pointed only to its general Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

The election season seems to have increased the fakery.

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Lance Armstrong Cuts Officials Ties With His Livestrong Charity

In the wake of being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for doping, Lance Armstrong last week cut all official ties with Livestrong, the charity he founded 15 years ago while he was treated for testicular cancer.

On Nov. 4, he resigned from the organization’s board of directors; he had previously stepped down as the chairman of the board Oct. 17. He has distanced himself from the charity to try to protect it from any damage caused by his doping controversy, the new board chairman, Jeff Garvey, said in a statement.

“Lance Armstrong was instrumental in changing the way the world views people affected by cancer,” Garvey said. “His devotion to serving survivors is unparalleled, and for 15 years, he committed himself to that cause with all his heart.”

Garvey said that the Armstrong family had donated nearly $7 million to the foundation and that the organization under Armstrong had raised close to $300 million to serve cancer survivors.

Last month, the United States Anti-Doping Agency made public its evidence in its doping case against Armstrong, saying he had doped and encouraged his teammates to dope so they could help him win races. He was subsequently barred from Olympic sports for life and was stripped of all the cycling titles he won from August 1998 on.

Since then, Armstrong has spent several weeks in Hawaii, out of the public eye. On Saturday, though, he posted a photograph on Twitter showing him at home in Austin, Tex. He is lounging on a couch with his seven yellow Tour jerseys framed on the wall in the background.

In the post, he said, “Back in Austin and just layin’ around.” The photograph had more than 400,000 page views as of Monday evening, with many people posting negative comments on the page.

“Lance, you have no moral conscious and it’s obvious many of your followers don’t either,” said one person who went by the Twitter handle “irobot,” who also posted that Armstrong needed “professional help.”

A person posting under the name “Aumann” said: “An art thief enjoying all his da Vincis.”

Other people posted words of support, including many who said they still thought Armstrong was the top cyclist in history.

“TomShelton” said of Armstrong’s seven Tour titles, “You earned all 7 of them no matter what is being said about you!”

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Lance Armstrong Cuts Officials Ties With His Livestrong Charity

In the wake of being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for doping, Lance Armstrong last week cut all official ties with Livestrong, the charity he founded 15 years ago while he was treated for testicular cancer.

On Nov. 4, he resigned from the organization’s board of directors; he had previously stepped down as the chairman of the board Oct. 17. He has distanced himself from the charity to try to protect it from any damage caused by his doping controversy, the new board chairman, Jeff Garvey, said in a statement.

“Lance Armstrong was instrumental in changing the way the world views people affected by cancer,” Garvey said. “His devotion to serving survivors is unparalleled, and for 15 years, he committed himself to that cause with all his heart.”

Garvey said that the Armstrong family had donated nearly $7 million to the foundation and that the organization under Armstrong had raised close to $300 million to serve cancer survivors.

Last month, the United States Anti-Doping Agency made public its evidence in its doping case against Armstrong, saying he had doped and encouraged his teammates to dope so they could help him win races. He was subsequently barred from Olympic sports for life and was stripped of all the cycling titles he won from August 1998 on.

Since then, Armstrong has spent several weeks in Hawaii, out of the public eye. On Saturday, though, he posted a photograph on Twitter showing him at home in Austin, Tex. He is lounging on a couch with his seven yellow Tour jerseys framed on the wall in the background.

In the post, he said, “Back in Austin and just layin’ around.” The photograph had more than 400,000 page views as of Monday evening, with many people posting negative comments on the page.

“Lance, you have no moral conscious and it’s obvious many of your followers don’t either,” said one person who went by the Twitter handle “irobot,” who also posted that Armstrong needed “professional help.”

A person posting under the name “Aumann” said: “An art thief enjoying all his da Vincis.”

Other people posted words of support, including many who said they still thought Armstrong was the top cyclist in history.

“TomShelton” said of Armstrong’s seven Tour titles, “You earned all 7 of them no matter what is being said about you!”

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False Posts on Facebook Undermine Its Credibility

SAN FRANCISCO — The Facebook page for Gaston Memorial Hospital, in Gastonia, N.C., offers a chicken salad recipe to encourage healthy eating, tips on avoiding injuries at Zumba class, and pictures of staff members dressed up at Halloween. Typical stuff for a hospital in a small town.

But in October, another Facebook page for the hospital popped up. This one posted denunciations of President Obama and what it derided as “Obamacare.” It swiftly gathered hundreds of followers, and the anti-Obama screeds picked up “likes.” Officials at the hospital, scrambling to get it taken down, turned to their real Facebook page for damage control. “We apologize for any confusion,” they posted on Oct. 8, “and appreciate the support of our followers.”

The fake page came down 11 days later, as mysteriously as it had come up. The hospital says it has no clue who was behind it.

Fakery is all over the Internet. Twitter, which allows pseudonyms, is rife with fake followers, and has been used to spread false rumors, as it was during Hurricane Sandy. False reviews are a constant problem on consumer Web sites.

Gaston Memorial’s experience is an object lesson in the problem of fakery on Facebook. For the world’s largest social network, it is an especially acute problem, because it calls into question its basic premise. Facebook has sought to distinguish itself as a place for real identity on the Web. As the company tells its users: “Facebook is a community where people use their real identities.” It goes on to advise: “The name you use should be your real name as it would be listed on your credit card, student ID, etc.”

Fraudulent “likes” damage the trust of advertisers, who want clicks from real people they can sell to and whom Facebook now relies on to make money. Fakery also can ruin the credibility of search results for the social search engine that Facebook says it is building.

Facebook says it has always taken the problem seriously, and recently stepped up efforts to cull fakes from the site. “It’s pretty much one of the top priorities for the company all the time,” said Joe Sullivan, who is in charge of security at Facebook.

The fakery problem on Facebook comes in many shapes. False profiles are fairly easy to create; hundreds can pop up simultaneously, sometimes with the help of robots, and often they persuade real users into friending them in a bid to spread malware. Fake Facebook friends and likes are sold on the Web like trinkets at a bazaar, directed at those who want to enhance their image. Fake coupons for meals and gadgets can appear on Facebook newsfeeds, aimed at tricking the unwitting into revealing their personal information.

Somewhat more benignly, some college students use fake names in an effort to protect their Facebook content from the eyes of future employers.

Mr. Sullivan declined to say what portion of the company’s now one billion plus users were fake. The company quantified the problem last June, in responding to an inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission. At that time, the company said that of its 855 million active users, 8.7 percent, or 83 million, were duplicates, false or “undesirable,” for instance, because they spread spam.

Mr. Sullivan said that since August, the company had put in place a new automated system to purge fake “likes.” The company said it has 150 to 300 staff members to weed out fraud.

Flags are raised if a user sends out hundreds of friend requests at a time, Mr. Sullivan explained, or likes hundreds of pages simultaneously, or most obvious of all, posts a link to a site that is known to contain a virus. Those suspected of being fakes are warned. Depending on what they do on the site, accounts can be suspended.

In October, Facebook announced new partnerships with antivirus companies. Facebook users can now download free or paid antivirus coverage to guard against malware.

“It’s something we have been pretty effective at all along,” Mr. Sullivan said.

Facebook’s new aggressiveness toward fake “likes” became noticeable in September, when brand pages started seeing their fan numbers dip noticeably. An average brand page, Facebook said at the time, would lose less than 1 percent of its fans.

But the thriving market for fakery makes it hard to keep up with the problem. Gaston Memorial, for instance, first detected a fake page in its name in August; three days later, it vanished. The fake page popped up again on Oct. 4, and this time filled up quickly with the loud denunciations of the Obama administration. Dallas P. Wilborn, the hospital’s public relations manager, said her office tried to leave a voice-mail message for Facebook but was disconnected; an e-mail response from the social network ruled that the fake page did not violate its terms of service. The hospital submitted more evidence, saying that the impostor was using its company logo.

Eleven days later, the hospital said, Facebook found in its favor. But by then, the local newspaper, The Gaston Gazette, had written about the matter, and the fake page had disappeared.

Facebook declined to comment on the incident, and pointed only to its general Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

The election season seems to have increased the fakery.

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Afghan Warlord Ismail Khan’s Call to Arms Rattles Kabul

Bryan Denton for The New York Times

Mujahedeen commanders at a gathering in Herat, Afghanistan, to address the threat to security posed by the Taliban.

HERAT, Afghanistan — One of the most powerful mujahedeen commanders in Afghanistan, Ismail Khan, is calling on his followers to reorganize and defend the country against the Taliban as Western militaries withdraw, in a public demonstration of faltering confidence in the national government and the Western-built Afghan National Army.

Mr. Khan is one of the strongest of a group of warlords who defined the country’s recent history in battling the Soviets, the Taliban and one another, and who then were brought into President Hamid Karzai’s cabinet as a symbol of unity. Now, in announcing that he is remobilizing his forces, Mr. Khan has rankled Afghan officials and stoked fears that other regional and factional leaders will follow suit and rearm, weakening support for the government and increasing the likelihood of civil war.

This month, Mr. Khan rallied thousands of his supporters in the desert outside Herat, the cultured western provincial capital and the center of his power base, urging them to coordinate and reactivate their networks. And he has begun enlisting new recruits and organizing district command structures.

“We are responsible for maintaining security in our country and not letting Afghanistan be destroyed again,” Mr. Khan, the minister of energy and water, said at a news conference over the weekend at his office in Kabul. But after facing criticism, he took care not to frame his action as defying the government: “There are parts of the country where the government forces cannot operate, and in such areas the locals should step forward, take arms and defend the country.”

President Karzai and his aides, however, were not greeting it as an altruistic gesture. The governor of Herat Province called Mr. Khan’s reorganization an illegal challenge to the national security forces. And Mr. Karzai’s spokesman, Aimal Faizi, tersely criticized Mr. Khan.

“The remarks by Ismail Khan do not reflect the policies of the Afghan government,” Mr. Faizi said. “The government of Afghanistan and the Afghan people do not want any irresponsible armed grouping outside the legitimate security forces structures.”

In Kabul, Mr. Khan’s provocative actions have played out in the news media and brought a fierce reaction from some members of Parliament, who said the warlords were preparing to take advantage of the American troop withdrawal set for 2014.

“People like Ismail Khan smell blood,” Belqis Roshan, a senator from Farah Province, said in an interview. “They think that as soon as foreign forces leave Afghanistan, once again they will get the chance to start a civil war, and achieve their ominous goals of getting rich and terminating their local rivals.”

Indeed, Mr. Khan’s is not the only voice calling for a renewed alliance of the mujahedeen against the Taliban, and some of the others are just as familiar.

Marshal Muhammad Qasim Fahim, an ethnic Tajik commander who is President Karzai’s first vice president, said in a speech in September, “If the Afghan security forces are not able to wage this war, then call upon the mujahedeen.”

Another prominent mujahedeen fighter, Ahmad Zia Massoud, said in an interview at his home in Kabul that people were worried about what was going to happen after 2014, and he was telling his own followers to make preliminary preparations.

“They don’t want to be disgraced again,” Mr. Massoud said. “Everyone tries to have some sort of Plan B. Some people are on the verge of rearming.”

He pointed out that it was significant that the going market price of Kalashnikov assault rifles had risen to about $1,000, driven up by demand from a price of $300 a decade ago. “Every household wants to have an AK-47 at home,” he said.

“The mujahedeen come here to meet me,” Mr. Massoud added. “They tell me they are preparing. They are trying to find weapons. They come from villages, from the north of Afghanistan, even some people from the suburbs of Kabul, and say they are taking responsibility for providing private security in their neighborhood.”

Habib Zahori and Jawad Sukhanyar contributed reporting from Herat, Afghanistan, and an employee of The New York Times from Kabul.

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