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"Credit...Sbusisiwe Magwaza/Government Communication & Info System, via European Pressphoto AgencyApril 6, 2016JOHANNESBURG In his first public appearance after South Africas highest court found that he had breached the Constitution, President Jacob G. Zuma visited one of his rural strongholds, where he received a heros welcome.Even as urban South Africans were calling for his resignation, thousands of supporters in Melmoth, a small town in the countrys southeast, many wearing T-shirts emblazoned with his face, cheered and chanted for him on Sunday.As your shepherd, let me lead you, Mr. Zuma told the crowd, according to news reports of his appearance.At the event, officially about the nations drought, organizers handed out food and Mr. Zuma spoke of the importance of black South Africans voting as a bloc. That was the only way, he said, to make gains, like the recovery of land seized from their ancestors.Mr. Zuma has defied South Africas political gravity for more than a decade, surviving scandals that would have long ago felled a lesser strategist: corruption charges related to arms purchases; accusations that he raped the daughter of a family friend; his acknowledgment that he fathered a child, his 20th, with the daughter of a close friend; and the use of millions of dollars in public funds to upgrade his home.He has succeeded thanks to the backing of rural communities like Melmoth, where his party, the African National Congress, has established a vast network of patronage that is expected to yield electoral victories for years, and perhaps decades. More than any of his predecessors, Mr. Zuma, himself a product of rural South Africa, has championed towns and villages.The A.N.C.s dependence on the rural vote helps explain why the party has continued to rally behind Mr. Zuma, most recently on Tuesday when it used its overwhelming majority in the National Assembly to quash an opposition motion to impeach the president. National and provincial officials, even those who have criticized Mr. Zumas conduct, have closed ranks behind the president.But behind this unified front, something is building within the A.N.C., said Somadoda Fikeni, a political analyst. The mood is far more fractured than what you hear in the partys public statements.On Thursday, the Constitutional Court ruled that Mr. Zuma had violated the Constitution in his handling of a long-running corruption scandal involving expensive upgrades to his home in Nkandla, a town in the southeast. For years, Mr. Zuma waved away criticism and then findings by the nations public protector that he had misused public money on the home improvements, totaling more than $16 million at current exchange rates.After failing to impeach the president, opposition leaders said they would use street protests and other means to keep the pressure on Mr. Zuma. On Wednesday, in a sign of widening popular discontent, an umbrella group of leaders from churches, unions, academia and other institutions said they would begin a campaign to press Mr. Zuma to step down.But within the A.N.C., there has been only a trickle of calls for Mr. Zumas resignation, coming from a few retired, though prominent, officials.In comments widely interpreted as being directed against Mr. Zuma, David Makhura, a party member and the premier of Gauteng, the province that includes Johannesburg and is the nations richest and most urban, said this week that loyalty to the country was more important than loyalty to the party. In November, Mr. Zuma said the A.N.C. was more important than South Africa, refusing to retract his statement after it elicited widespread criticism.When the A.N.C. was going to consider what next to do, we knew that the A.N.C. would act in the best interest of the people and the country, Mr. Makhura said at a memorial service for a party veteran. We should ask ourselves whether we can still say that today.The A.N.C. chapter in Gauteng Province has not backed Mr. Zuma as the partys presidential candidate in the past. Voters, especially in Johannesburg, the provincial capital and the countrys largest city, have gravitated to opposition parties in recent elections. For the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994, the A.N.C. is expected to face serious challenges in Johannesburg and some other cities in local elections scheduled for August.The split inside the A.N.C. reflects wider cleavages inside South Africa itself, said Steven Friedman, a political analyst at the University of Johannesburg.In urban pockets, a growing black middle class, participating in the formal economy, looks to politicians for good government, Mr. Friedman said. These include A.N.C. members who are opposed to Mr. Zuma and his politics.If you imagine the South Africa of 1994 as a country run by an exclusive club consisting of white people, what has happened over the last 21 years is that new members have been admitted to the club, Mr. Friedman said. Thats not trivial, but it still means its an exclusive club.The vast majority of South Africans are excluded from this club, with many living in rural areas like Melmoth, the town Mr. Zuma visited. In those areas, there is often little beyond the jobs and money provided by the A.N.C.For a lot of the A.N.C. members, supporters and even leaders there, outside the party government, there isnt really much they can do, said William Gumede, a political scientist at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and the executive chairman of the Democracy Works Foundation, a good-government group. Theyre not professionals who can go back to teaching or being medical doctors after being kicked out of power. The party and the party patronage system is the only place for them.For now, the partys rural and urban factions have united behind Mr. Zuma for the coming local elections, Mr. Friedman said. After the elections, the factional fighting is likely to emerge and intensify before a 2017 party conference when delegates will choose a successor to Mr. Zuma, who is limited to two terms as president.But until then, the A.N.C. could face growing popular discontent in the cities for continuing to stand behind Mr. Zuma. At a news conference announcing their anti-Zuma campaign on Wednesday, civil society leaders called on the president to step down.The formal political process has failed, said Prince Mashele, the executive director of the Center for Politics and Research, a private group participating in the campaign. The only thing that remains now is for ordinary South Africans to organize themselves under the banner of civil society to put pressure on the A.N.C. to make Jacob Zuma resign or to pressure Jacob Zuma himself to throw in the towel.",6
"Pam Anderson I've Got a French Connection ... With My Hot Soccer Boyfriend!!! 1/24/2018 Pam Anderson has jettisoned her American roots, and not because of Trump ... because she's in love. Pam is living in Marseille, France with her boyfriend, soccer player Adil Rami. They met at the Grand Prix in Monaco last May and they have been inseparable ever since. Pam literally packed a suitcase, hopped on a plane and left her life in L.A. to be with Adil. 50-year-old Pam and 32-year-old Adil are sharing a house with her Golden Retriever, Zuzu. And here's how serious it's gotten ... we found out she was shopping for engagement rings last month at Chrome Hearts jewelry store. Pam is in regular contact with her 2 adult sons ... they visit her often. As for Adil, who plays for the Olympique de Marseille soccer team ... he has twins who live with their mom. TMZ broke the story ... Pam is leasing her Malibu estate for $40k and she's gunning for a long term lease. We're told she has no plans to move back to the U.S. Vive la France!",1
"Technology|Suit Claims Googles Tracking Violates Federal Wiretap Lawhttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/02/technology/google-sued-wiretap-privacy.htmlThe complaint said Google tracked and collected users browsing history even if they took steps to maintain their privacy.Credit...Jason Henry for The New York TimesJune 2, 2020OAKLAND, Calif. Google violated federal wiretap laws when it continued to collect information about what users were doing on the internet without their permission even though they were browsing in so-called private browsing mode, according to a potential class-action lawsuit filed against the internet giant on Tuesday.The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, said Google tracked and collected consumer browsing history even if users took steps to maintain their privacy. The suit said Google also violated a California law that requires consent of all parties to read or learn the contents of private communication.The complaint focuses largely on what the company does to collect and track online activity when users surf the web in private browsing mode. Even when a user opts for private browsing, Google uses other tracking tools it provides to website publishers and advertisers to keep tabs on what websites the user visits, according to the lawsuit.Google tracks and collects consumer browsing history and other web activity data no matter what safeguards consumers undertake to protect their data privacy, said the complaint, which was filed by Mark C. Mao, a partner at the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner.Google has faced other lawsuits over its data collection, but this one tries to use the Federal Wiretap Act. The statute provides users with the right to sue if their private communications are intercepted. The lawsuit claims that Google intercepts the contents of communication between users and websites by collecting browsing history, specific website addresses and search queries.We strongly dispute these claims, and we will defend ourselves vigorously against them, a Google spokesman, Jose Castaneda, said. Incognito mode in Chrome gives you the choice to browse the internet without your activity being saved to your browser or device. As we clearly state each time you open a new incognito tab, websites might be able to collect information about your browsing activity during your session.The lawsuit said users had a reasonable expectation that their communications would not be intercepted or collected when they were in private browsing mode. It also said Googles practices intentionally deceive consumers into believing that they maintain control of the information shared with the company and encouraging them to surf the web in private browsing if they want to maintain their privacy.However, Google fails to mention that other tracking tools used by the company may continue to track users by collecting information such as internet protocol addresses as well as browser and device information, according to the complaint.The lawsuit was filed on behalf of three people with Google accounts: Chasom Brown and Maria Nguyen, both of Los Angeles, and William Byatt, a Florida resident. It seeks compensatory damages.",5
"Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesFeb. 13, 2014SOCHI, Russia Before boarding the new trains serving Sochi and the Olympic sites here, passengers must pass through metal detectors and place their bags on X-ray machines just as in airports. What many do not realize is that they are also being scanned by a far more sophisticated system that gauges emotional state in an effort to identify potential terrorists. The system, developed by Elsys Corporation, a Russian company based in St. Petersburg, uses computer analysis of live video images to measure tiny muscle vibrations in the head and neck known as vestibular-emotional reflexes. Called VibraImage, the system is part of the effort by the Russian government to protect the Olympic Games. It is designed to detect someone who appears unremarkable but whose agitated mental state signals an imminent threat. VibraImage is just one aspect of the remarkable security in place in Sochi, an initiative that Russian officials refuse to discuss but that is adding to what is believed to be the most expensive Olympics. The effort involves tens of thousands of officers deployed here from all over the country, including Siberia, the Arctic and the Far East, as well as warships in the Black Sea and surveillance blimps overhead.Train stations are also equipped with less subtle security features, including steel capsules that security officials can use to seal up a suspicious device that they think may be about to explode. Transportation hubs are hardly the only places with intense monitoring. In addition to tickets for the various events, all fans visiting the Olympic Park over the age of 2 must have registered in advance for a Spectator Pass a laminated credential, which must be worn around the neck and is scanned at the entrance and exit to the park and again on entrance and exit at the various arenas and other venues. Registering for the pass requires submitting personal data, including birth date, passport details, a telephone number and a photograph. As each fan arrives at the main bank of metal detectors and scans his or her pass, the photograph appears on a screen so officers can verify each visitors identity. Only when the security system recognizes that a pass is valid does a green arrow light up; a visitor is then invited to pass through a turnstile and into the park. The passes have become so ubiquitous that at times it seems everyone in the city is wearing them, even in downtown Sochi, far from the Olympic Park. While heightened security is now standard at all major world events, the Sochi Games are the first Olympic Games being held on the edge of a war zone the long-simmering Muslim insurgency in the North Caucasus, just on the other side of the mountains from here. President Vladimir V. Putin and other officials have promised that fans and athletes will be safe and that the security apparatus will not detract from the convivial atmosphere. It is a difficult balance. Rather than wearing their routine police uniforms, the vast majority of security officers are dressed in a purple version of the official Olympics gear made by the sportswear company Bosco a dazzling and gaudy quilt design intended to patch together folk designs from many parts of Russia. In addition, most officers are not displaying any visible weapon, a striking contrast from most events in Russia, where the police often appear heavily armed. Still, although grateful for the precautions, some fans say the security seems excessive. It seems to me a little bit too much, said Elena Sharapova, 33, who was headed home to Tuapse, about two and a half hours up the Black Sea coast from Sochi, after spending the day at the Games with her daughter, Veronika, 12. It was a view seconded by her friend Yelena Shapovalova, 32. Its a little bit annoying; probably were just not accustomed to these things, Shapovalova said. Sharapova, who as a result of free face-painting in the park had the multicolor Olympic rings on one cheek and the red, white and blue Russian flag on the other, said she was proud of Russia as the host of the Games. But in a voice that was hoarse after cheering and shouting for the Russian short-track speedskaters, she said that the security measures could accomplish only so much and that it was probably more dangerous away from the official sites. She noted that the police had failed to question her about several small vials of medicine she was carrying. We experience more threats when we are outside the Olympic facilities, Sharapova said. Some fans expressed both satisfaction and pride in Russias security capabilities. Grigory Poronik, an executive with the company Russian Helicopters who was visiting the Olympics from Moscow, said he was confident that the Russian security services would keep the Games safe. Asked if security was sufficient, Poronik replied: You better ask the foreigners. They were scared. Were not.He added, Americans even offered assistance in this respect, which we did not need. In fact, given the heightened security concerns, the United States took substantially greater precautions for the official delegation, which was led by the former homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano and included a number of prominent gay athletes, as a statement against Russias law barring so-called propaganda about gay relationships. The American delegation, which arrived in Sochi for last Fridays opening ceremony and stayed through the weekend, traveled in armored cars and with other extra protective measures, officials said. The opening ceremony and the initial days of competition proceeded without incident, undoubtedly permitting Russian officials and their counterparts at the International Olympic Committee to breathe an initial sigh of relief, but anxiety will run high until after the closing ceremony on Feb. 23. Away from the Olympic sites, it is more common to see officers carrying guns, including automatic weapons. In addition, military personnel are deployed at a nearby base, composed of dozens of tents, with hundreds of trucks and other vehicles at the ready. The authorities also built a small compound, on a hillside near the Olympic Park, equipped with antiaircraft missiles. Evgeni Apykhtin, who lives in Almaty, Kazakhstan, but was born in Omsk, in Siberia, said he had no trouble with security, even though he was dressed in an elaborate traditional costume, including a Kazakh hat and cloak, and was carrying the blue-and-yellow Kazakh flag on a long telescopic pole and a traditional stringed instrument called a dombra. Boarding the train at the Olympic Park station, Apykhtin said he was glad for the extra safety. There are so many idiots, he said. Its better to have us all checked.",4
"Credit...Toya Sarno Jordan for The New York TimesJune 24, 2018SILVER SPRING, Md. Their rock star had arrived.As the sun set on a sticky June evening, hundreds of supporters screamed. They chanted his name. They tried to get close enough to touch him.You all ready to make a political revolution? Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, asked them last week, fist pumping, voice booming. Then, for more than 15 minutes, he riffed on his familiar themes: Medicare for All, tuition-free public college, a $15 minimum wage. Someone held a sign urging a 2020 presidential run.Mr. Sanders, however, was not campaigning for himself. At least not explicitly.Ahead of the Maryland primary this Tuesday, Mr. Sanders had made the short trip from Capitol Hill to this Washington suburb to campaign with Ben Jealous, a former leader of the N.A.A.C.P. and one of the states top Democratic candidates for governor. The rally was part of what Mr. Sanders and his allies say is a cross-country endorsement strategy intended to help spread his ideological message.But the race in Maryland has also become a critical test of Mr. Sanderss ability to sway elections. If his policy agenda has caught on widely among Democratic candidates, and succeeded in moving the party to the left, Mr. Sanders himself has struggled so far to expand his political base and propel his personal allies to victory in Democratic primaries.He has endorsed only a handful of candidates in contested primaries, and three of them have recently lost difficult races in Iowa and Pennsylvania.In addition, an advocacy organization aligned with Mr. Sanders, Our Revolution, has had only marginal success. Though it has touted its electoral victories in recent primaries, fewer than 50 percent of the more than 80 candidates it has endorsed have won elections this year.Mr. Sanders and his advisers dismiss the importance of his win-loss record during primary season Its not a baseball game, he said and say he is treating the midterms chiefly as an exercise in movement-building. Yet for a figure of his prominence, who may run for president a second time in 2020, the midterm elections could represent a significant missed opportunity if Mr. Sanders fails to usher any allies into high office.At the moment, Mr. Jealouss campaign in Maryland appears to be the best remaining chance for him to do so.Mr. Sanders rejected the notion that the primary elections might reveal something about his political strength. We endorse based on where we can have the most impact, Mr. Sanders, 76, said in a brief phone interview after the Maryland rally. What I dont waste time on is endorsing people by and large who are clearly going to win.There are signs his progressive message is resonating. Democratic candidates are increasingly embracing his key proposal, Medicare for All. And like him, many now support tuition- or debt-free public college. There are widespread calls for a substantial increase in the minimum wage.But Mr. Sanders has done relatively little to fortify the infrastructure he built out in the 2016 campaign, and Our Revolution appears to be flailing. The group has repeatedly picked fights with the Democratic establishment in primary elections, losing nearly every time, and there have been questions about its leadership. Mr. Sanders has appeared to distance himself from some of its endorsements, including its support for Dennis Kucinich, a former congressman with some fringe views, in his unsuccessful bid for governor of Ohio this spring.Even supporters of Mr. Sanders who are sympathetic to his overall approach to politics say that he has not capitalized on opportunities to build support in more conventional ways.Early in the campaign season, for instance, several of Mr. Sanderss advisers discussed creating a super PAC to intervene in congressional primaries and help elect a bloc of activist Democrats, according to three people familiar with the tentative proposal, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. But Mr. Sanders was not interested in the idea and his allies ultimately feared it would alienate core supporters drawn to his perceived purity as a vocal opponent of super PACs.Mr. Sanders has also seemed to prefer charting a separate course from the party leadership, holding rallies around the country that focus on specific issues like health care or workers rights without a direct link to elections nearby.ImageCredit...Toya Sarno Jordan for The New York TimesIn one telling episode, Mr. Sanders rebuffed entreaties from multiple Democrats in California who asked him to consider holding a get-out-the-vote rally in the state ahead of its June 5 primary. Mr. Sanders had plans to be in Anaheim, Calif., the weekend before the election for events highlighting labor issues, including at Disney.But Mr. Sanders declined, citing his busy schedule on the trip, said two people familiar with the exchange, who were not authorized to discuss it on the record.Ari Rabin-Havt, a senior adviser to Mr. Sanders involved in planning the California trip, said he was unaware of multiple requests for Mr. Sanders to help turn out the vote for candidates there.Perhaps nowhere is Mr. Sanderss party leadership role murkier, however, than in the way he has approached his endorsements alone.Its his choice, said Mr. Rabin-Havt, a senior adviser to Mr. Sanders. Every decision is his.Although some of the roughly 20 candidates he has endorsed do overlap with contenders whom other Democratic and progressive organizations have supported including Stacey Abrams, an anointed party favorite who is now the partys nominee for governor in Georgia he has also confused allies at times by not getting behind winning candidates who support his message. In Nebraska, for example, he did not endorse Kara Eastman, a House candidate and ardent supporter of Medicare for All, who swept to victory last month in the Democratic primary over a former congressman.And where Mr. Sanders has plunged in most directly, voters have not necessarily followed his lead. In Iowa, where he nearly defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 caucuses, Mr. Sanders campaigned alongside Pete DAlessandro, a former aide in his presidential bid, and cut a television ad boosting him in a congressional primary. It had little impact on the race and Mr. DAlessandro finished a distant third.Still, even in defeat, Mr. Sanders may be building good will with candidates and, in many cases, former candidates who echoed his message, and who say his support brought them new attention from voters and the news media.Just a connection with him I think helped my campaign, said Greg Edwards, who was endorsed by Mr. Sanders but lost his House primary in Pennsylvania.Mr. Sanders noted that he was often endorsing underdog candidates who would be outspent in campaigns. He added that the real goal was to rally ordinary people into the political process.I think its fair to say that in that sense we are succeeding quite well, he said.But as the high-profile losses have piled up, Mr. Jealouss race for governor of Maryland has taken on outsize importance as a gauge of Mr. Sanderss influence and as one of his few remaining opportunities to help install a close personal ally in high office. Mr. Jealous was a top surrogate for Mr. Sanderss 2016 campaign and one of only a few prominent African-American advocates of his candidacy. Should he win the governorship of Maryland, Mr. Jealous could be an even more important supporter in 2020.Bernie knows that I have a lot of friends who could be running for president in 2020, Mr. Jealous who has also campaigned with Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey and Senator Kamala Harris of California, also possible 2020 contenders said in an interview before the rally last week.A recent primary poll showed Mr. Jealous tied with the county executive of Prince Georges County, Rushern Baker, as front-runners in a crowded field. But if Mr. Jealous is to win in the primary, and then in the fall no easy task given the popularity of Gov. Larry Hogan, the Republican incumbent he, like others, may need more than an endorsement from Mr. Sanders.As hundreds of supporters gathered in a plaza before the rally, many seemed to be there for the same reason: Mr. Sanders.Alejandra Diaz, 22, said she wanted to hear the senators remarks. Would his support make her more likely to vote for Mr. Jealous? she was asked.It does mean something that hes endorsing him, she said. At least I know his character its solid.",3
"Credit...Ben Gray/Associated PressJan. 5, 2021The Democrats now appear favored to prevail in both of their Senate races in Georgia, and therefore are the favorites to take control of the U.S. Senate. The two Republican candidates hold small leads in the vote count, and still have a chance to hold onto those advantages, but most of the remaining vote is in Democratic-leaning areas.The largest block of remaining ballots is the in-person vote in DeKalb County, a heavily Democratic area that includes part of Atlanta. Over all, the two Democratic candidates are favored to win the remaining vote by around nine percentage points, according to estimates from The Upshot.Democrats benefited from a strong turnout among Black voters, who are on track to represent a much larger share of the electorate than they did in the general election, based on the turnout by precinct and early voting data.With 5 percent of the vote left to count, the Rev. Raphael Warnocks projected lead over Kelly Loeffler (1.9 points) is larger than Jon Ossoffs projected lead (1.0) over David Perdue. Its hard to say when either race will be called. The Ossoff-Perdue call might have to wait until late absentee and provisional ballots are counted.",3
"VideoAnimal rights workers in Sochi, Russia, are rescuing stray dogs from exterminators hired by the government. They hope athletes and fans visiting the Olympics will adopt them.CreditCredit...James Hill for The New York TimesFeb. 5, 2014SOCHI, Russia A dog shelter backed by a Russian billionaire is engaged in a frantic last-ditch effort to save hundreds of strays facing a death sentence before the Winter Olympics begin here.Already, hundreds of animals have been killed, with the local authorities apparently wanting the stray dogs cleared from the streets before Fridays opening ceremony.While the authorities say the dogs can be wild and dangerous, reports of their systematic slaughter by a pest removal company hired by the government in recent months have outraged animal rights advocates and cast a gruesome specter over the traditionally cheery atmosphere of the Games.The handling of the matter has also sharply undercut the image of a friendlier, welcoming Russia that President Vladimir V. Putin has sought to cultivate in recent months.We were told, Either you take all the dogs from the Olympic Village or we will shoot them, said Olga Melnikova, who is coordinating the rescue effort on behalf of a charity called Volnoe Delo (roughly, Good Will), which is financed by Oleg V. Deripaska, one of Russias billionaire oligarchs.On Monday we were told we have until Thursday, Ms. Melnikova said.A dog rescue golf cart is now scouring the Olympic campus, picking up the animals and delivering them to the shelter, which is really an outdoor shantytown of doghouses on a hill on the outskirts of the city. It is being called PovoDog, a play on the Russian word povodok, which means leash.Lying past a cemetery, at the end of a dirt road and without electricity or running water, the makeshift PovoDog shelter is already giving refuge to about 80 animals, including about a dozen puppies. One is a chocolate-colored Shar-Pei and her two mostly Shar-Pei puppies. Another is a large, reddish-brown sheep dog named Kasthan, who likes to jump up and kiss the shelter workers, who are mostly volunteers.ImageCredit...Pavel Golovkin/Associated PressLocal animal rights workers say many of the strays were pets, or the offspring of pets, abandoned by families whose homes with yards were demolished over the past few years to make way for the Olympic venues and who were compensated with new apartments in taller buildings, where keeping a pet is often viewed as undesirable.They also say that Russia has never made a priority of pushing responsible animal control policies, including spaying and neutering, which would have helped avoid the current problems.We need a program of sterilization for dogs, said Nadezhda Mayboroda, a Sochi resident who is working at the shelter. People are not really well educated that it is necessary to sterilize their dogs at home. Human beings are not responsible at all.In recent months, residents of Sochi have reported seeing dogs shot with poisoned darts, then tossed into waiting trucks. Aleksei Sorokin, the director general of a pest control business, Basya Services, has confirmed that his company has been hired to catch and kill strays, telling local journalists the work was necessary.The effort to remove the dogs began in October, as did initial efforts to gather up strays and shelter them. Tatyana Leshchenko, an animal rights advocate here, said about 300 dogs a month were being killed in Sochi, at a cost of $25 to $35 each.Its very cruel, Ms. Leshchenko said, adding that the dogs were being shot with a chemical that causes them to suffocate. She said she had convinced at least one exterminator to give her advance warning of the neighborhoods to be cleared.The International Olympic Committee responded with a carefully worded statement; Mark Adams, a spokesman, told reporters at a briefing Wednesday that no healthy dogs found on the grounds of the Olympics were being destroyed.It would be absolutely wrong to say that any healthy dog will be destroyed, Mr. Adams said.On Monday, Humane Society International, an advocacy group based in Washington, wrote to Mr. Putin and urged him to prevent the killing of dogs, noting that the Russian president is also a dog lover. Mr. Putin has been photographed numerous times with his black Labrador, Koni.Mr. Putins spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, acknowledged in an interview with Kommersant FM radio Wednesday that Sochi was struggling with stray dogs.It is true that there are stray dogs in Sochi, more stray dogs than in other cities, he said. The explanation is quite simple. When a big construction project is underway, dogs and puppies always appear whom the builders feed. Now the builders have left, but unfortunately, the dogs remain.Stray dogs have been found inside sports venues and have even wandered into some of the residences for Olympic athletes and visiting journalists. Dogs can also be found throughout the city and in the mountain areas where skiing and other outdoor events will take place. The Olympic Committee does not have responsibility for areas outside its official venues.On Tuesday night, as thousands of fans streamed into the new Fisht Olympic Stadium for a dress rehearsal of the opening ceremony, what caught Ms. Melnikovas eye was a Rottweiler sitting nearby.Ms. Melnikova, who has two dogs of her own back home in Moscow, seemed heartbroken that she was unable to rescue the dog.On the left, near where the food court is, he was sitting next to the garbage container, Ms. Melnikova said. But she was not prepared. I need equipment to take a Rottweiler, she said. I didnt have a collar. If I had a collar, I would have tried.ImageCredit...Sergei Ilnitsky/European Pressphoto AgencyMr. Deripaska, an industrialist who largely made his fortune in aluminum, provided $15,000 to get the shelter started on land donated by the local government. He has also pledged about $50,000 a year for operations. He was also one of the major investors in the Sochi Games and paid for several huge projects, including an overhaul of the airport, a new seaport and the Olympic Village along the coast.With the Olympics fast approaching, however, there was simply no time to build an indoor space for the shelter, especially because so much work remained to be done on hotels and other buildings for the Games.In Sochi, you just cant find a construction guy because they are in such a rush to finish all the objects, Ms. Melnikova said.As local residents have learned of the shelter, however, the needs are only growing. On Tuesday night, shelter workers said, someone dropped off two puppies without any explanation or instruction. So far, the workers said, there have been some offers of money but few donations of what is needed most: food, veterinary medicines and other supplies, including dog shelters and collars.All of the dogs entering the shelter receive medical treatment, including vaccinations. All of them will be eligible for adoption, even to fans attending the Olympics. Spared execution at least for the moment the animals at the PovoDog shelter barked in a loud chorus as the sun slowly dropped into the Black Sea, which could be viewed in the distance.Many scampered around and nipped at each other, while one unlucky fellow got his head stuck in the chicken wire surrounding the shelter, only to be freed by a shelter volunteer, beseeching him to stay calm.Tiny puppies squeaked and squawked. Workers said they were likely to find homes faster than the older dogs two siblings of the Shar-Pei puppies have already been adopted.Still, most of the dogs are mutts, and Ms. Mayboroda said many people would not be interested a view that the shelter workers hope to change through a new publicity and outreach effort. Everybody here wants a shepherd or a pit bull, she said. Nobody wants just a mixed dog.",4
"The first- and second-place finishers in the mens aerials each attempted jumps with three somersaults. The gold medalist, Anton Kushnir of Belarus, had a jump with five twists, and the silver medalist, David Morris of Australia, had a jump with four. The composite image below shows their winning jumps from the final round. 2nd David Morris Australia Back double full-full-full Difficulty: 4.525 Score: 110.41 points 1st Anton Kushnir Belarus Back double full- full-double full Difficulty: 5.0 Score: 134.5 points More on NYTimes.com",4
"DealBook|Barclays to Pay $13.75 Million to Settle Case Over Mutual Fundshttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/30/business/dealbook/barclays-to-pay-13-75-million-to-settle-case-over-mutual-funds.htmlCredit...Olivia Harris/ReutersDec. 29, 2015Barclays Capital failed to stop 6,100 unsuitable switches between mutual funds on behalf of its customers over a five-year period that ended in June, resulting in $8.6 million of customer harm, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said on Tuesday.The brokerage firm unit of the British bank will pay $13.75 million to settle Finras investigation into whether it improperly switched customers in and out of certain mutual funds in violation of suitability standards.The settlement includes $10 million in restitution to affected mutual fund customers and $3.75 million in fines. Barclays neither admitted nor denied the charges, but consented to the findings.A Barclays spokesman had no comment.Broker-dealers have obligations under Finra rules to ensure that customers gain an advantage by switching mutual funds at the recommendation of their broker. Transaction fees associated with switching funds can undermine those advantages. Finra said that Barclays Capital did not have sufficient supervisory systems from January 2010 to June 2015 to prevent unsuitable switching.Barclays failed to act on thousands of alerts about potentially unsuitable transactions, Finra said. The regulator also said that Barclays did not provide adequate guidance to supervisors to ensure that mutual fund transactions for retail brokerage customers were suitable based on the clients objectives, risk tolerance and account holdings.A review of six months worth of transactions found that some 39 percent of mutual fund switches were unsuitable, Finra said, affecting 343 customers who had $800,000 of financial harm, including realized losses.",0
"Health|C.D.C. Offers Guidelines for Delaying Pregnancy After Zika Exposurehttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/26/health/zika-virus-pregnancy-cdc-waiting-period.htmlCredit...Victor J. Blue for The New York TimesMarch 25, 2016Federal health authorities said for the first time on Friday how long couples who have been exposed to the Zika virus should wait before trying to get pregnant.The officials, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that they had decided to recommend a waiting period based on the latest information about the science of the virus. The Zika virus has been linked to a surge of birth defects in Brazil, and to cases of Guillain-Barr syndrome, in which a persons immune system attacks part of the nervous system, leading to some paralysis.Women who have had symptoms of the virus or tested positive for it should wait at least eight weeks after their symptoms first appeared before trying to get pregnant, the agency said. Officials recommended that men who had symptoms should wait six months before having unprotected sex. The virus has been known to live longer in semen. Symptoms can include rashes and sore joints.Were learning more every day, and evidence of a link between Zika and a spectrum of birth outcomes is becoming stronger and stronger, said Dr. Denise J. Jamieson, one of the leaders of the pregnancy and birth defects team, which is part of the C.D.C.s Zika virus response team.She added, Weve become more concerned about the period around the time of conception. For people who either have the Zika disease or who travel to an area with active Zika transmission, we are now recommending they wait a period of time before trying to get pregnant.For people who have traveled to Zika-infected areas, but had no active signs of the disease, the C.D.C. recommended a shorter waiting period eight weeks for men and women before trying to get pregnant in order to minimize risk.Dr. Jamieson said the C.D.C. based the waiting times on the longest known risk period and allowed three times the longest period, out of an abundance of caution.The situation is trickiest for men and women who live in areas where Zika is circulating. C.D.C. officials recommended that doctors talk with their patients about the risks of the virus, but stopped short of recommending that women delay pregnancy. (Several countries outside the United States, including Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia and Jamaica, have in recent months at least suggested that women postpone getting pregnant for indefinite or varying periods of time. El Salvador has recommended that women wait until 2018.)These are very complex, deeply personal decisions, the C.D.C. said in a news statement.For men with pregnant partners who travel to a Zika-infected area, the recommendation remains the same: Use condoms for the duration of the pregnancy. Condoms should be used for vaginal, anal and oral sex.The agency said the waiting periods for men also applied to how to avoid sexual transmission of the Zika virus to their partners after they had traveled to Zika-infected areas, a phenomenon that is more common than scientists once thought. Men with symptoms should consider using condoms or not having sex for at least six months. For men without symptoms, the period was eight weeks.The agency also estimated that about 138,000 women in Puerto Rico are not using birth control that is effective, and may be at risk of unintended pregnancy.",2
"Credit...van der Linden V, Pessoa A, et al. MMWR: 11.22.2016Nov. 22, 2016It is the news that doctors and families in the heart of Zika territory had feared: Some babies not born with the unusually small heads that are the most severe hallmark of brain damage as a result of the virus have developed the condition, called microcephaly, as they have grown older.The findings were reported in a study of 13 babies in Brazil that was published Tuesday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. At birth, none of the babies had heads small enough to receive a diagnosis of microcephaly, but months later, 11 of them did.For most of those babies, brain scans soon after birth showed significant abnormalities, and researchers found that as the babies aged, their brains did not grow or develop enough for their age and body size. The new study echoes another published this fall, in which three babies were found to have microcephaly later in their first year.As they closed in on their first birthdays, many of the babies also had some of the other developmental and medical problems caused by Zika infection, a range of disabilities now being called congenital Zika syndrome. The impairments resemble characteristics of cerebral palsy and include epileptic seizures, muscle and joint problems and difficulties swallowing food.There are some areas of great deficiency in the babies, said Dr. Cynthia Moore, the director of the division of congenital and developmental disorders for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an author of the new study. They certainly are going to have a lot of impairment.Dr. Deborah Levine, a professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School who has studied Zika but was not involved in either study, said there would most likely be other waves of children whose brains were affected by the Zika infection, but not severely enough to be noticed in their first year.A lot of the developmental abnormalities were not going to see until later, she said. Theres going to be another group seen later in childhood, Im afraid, and another group probably when they reach school age.In the new study, doctors at two clinics in the northeastern Brazilian states of Pernambuco and Cear described the cases of 13 infants who had tested positive for the Zika virus. In 11 of the babies, brain scans taken days or weeks after birth showed significant neurological damage, including improperly formed brain areas, excess fluid in some places and abnormal calcium deposits, or calcification, which probably resulted from brain cell death. But the size of their heads, though small, was not small enough to be considered microcephaly. So doctors monitored their progress as they grew.Dr. Vanessa van der Linden, another author of the study and a neuropediatrician at the Association for Assistance of Disabled Children in Recife, Brazil, where most of the babies in the study are patients, said the type of brain damage in the babies who later developed microcephaly presented the same pattern, but less severe than those with it at birth.The babies in the study published this fall also appeared to have a pattern of similar, but less severe, brain damage, said Dr. Antonio Augusto Moura da Silva, of the Federal University of Maranho and an author of that study, which was published in Emerging Infectious Diseases. He and his colleagues studied 48 babies with brain abnormalities in the northeastern state of Maranho, identified six babies who did not have microcephaly at birth, and found that three of them later developed it.We were worried, but now that weve started following those cases, we are very sad, Dr. Silva said. The picture is really terrible. At the least, if they have microcephaly, we expect them to have a very poor quality of life.Experts and the authors of the studies said it was unclear why these infants brains did not develop enough to match their age and body size. Dr. Ernesto T. A. Marques Jr., an infectious disease specialist at the University of Pittsburgh and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Recife, who was not involved in either study, said it could be that because of the initial fetal brain damage, the necessary pathways and hormones that organize growth of the neonatal brain are not there anymore and the brain doesnt grow.It could also be the result of the immune system responding to the original Zika virus infection. Dr. Moore said that another possibility might be that there was still some infection that continued to damage the brain. But she said that seemed less likely, given that follow-up tests for Zika virus conducted on seven of the babies did not find evidence of active infection.The oldest babies in these studies are only just over a year old, too young for researchers to identify cognitive problems or delays in skills like speech. But some deficits are clear: Many of the babies had serious physical deficits tied to neurological damage, including overly tense muscles, muscle weakness and the inability to voluntarily move their hands.Still, unlike many babies born with microcephaly, most of the 13 in the new study had social interaction skills like smiling and making eye contact. And eight of them had good head control, an important skill for developing the ability to sit or walk.While cautioning that the study involved too few cases to make generalizations, Dr. van der Linden said that it appeared that most of these babies had good eye contact because the damage was less severe in brain areas involving vision than it was in areas involving motor skills.Dr. Marques said that head control, the ability to lift and support the head without help, in babies with microcephaly was quite rare. Having a social smile and eye contact is less rare, he said, depending on the type of visual damage and on whether they receive enough visual stimulation to strengthen their ability to use their eyes.At this age, 80 percent of brain stimulus comes from the eyes, he said. If you dont have that working and you lose this window of opportunity, these babies cannot recover it.One baby, a boy, had no anomalies at birth. His limbs looked normal and his head size was proportional to his body, Dr. Moore said. But brain scans soon after birth showed excess fluid and abnormalities in his cortex and corpus callosum, which separates the two hemispheres. At 11 months old, he had microcephaly, and also epilepsy, difficulty swallowing, involuntary muscle contractions, and muscles that were too stiff and restricted his movement, she said.Another baby had a sloping forehead and slight depressions in the front of his head at birth, as well as similar types of brain damage, apparent on scans, Dr. Moore said. By the time he was 1, he had developed microcephaly that was among the most severe of the babies in the study, and had muscular and swallowing problems. But he also had good eye contact, researchers reported.In six of the cases, the mothers reported having a symptom of Zika infection, a rash, between the second and fifth months of pregnancy. That supports other evidence suggesting that babies born to mothers who were infected late in the first trimester suffer the most serious effects. But since there are no symptoms in 80 percent of cases of Zika infection, it was unclear when most of the women were infected, and researchers are still unable to say whether the virus is more damaging to babies if their mothers experience symptoms.",2
"Credit...Bruce Weaver/Associated PressMarch 25, 2016Thirty years ago, Bob Ebeling drove to the headquarters of the aerospace contractor Morton Thiokol in Brigham City, Utah, to watch the launch of the space shuttle Challenger. On the way, he leaned over to his daughter Leslie and said: The Challenger is going to blow up. Everyones going to die.Mr. Ebeling (pronounced EBB-ling), an engineer at Thiokol, knew what the rest of the world did not: that the rubber O-rings designed to seal the joints between the booster rockets segments performed poorly in cold weather. A severe cold snap in Florida was about to subject the O-rings to temperatures more than 30 degrees lower than at any previous launch.During the afternoon and evening before the launch, Thiokol engineers, relying on data provided by Mr. Ebeling and his colleagues, argued passionately for a postponement of the launch in conference calls with NASA managers at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. They were overruled not only by NASA, but also by their own managers.On the morning of Jan. 28, 1986, sitting in a conference room with his daughter and Roger Boisjoly, Thiokols chief seal expert, Mr. Ebeling watched on a large projection screen as the Challenger cleared the launching pad. I turned to Bob and said, Weve just dodged a bullet, Mr. Boisjoly told The Guardian in 2001.A minute later, the O-rings failed and the Challenger exploded in a ball of fire, killing all seven crew members aboard. Among them was Christa McAuliffe, a schoolteacher from New Hampshire who had been chosen to be the first citizen passenger in space.ImageCredit...United States Fish and Wildlife ServiceMr. Ebeling never recovered from the disaster. Ive been under terrible stress since the accident, he told The Houston Chronicle in 1987. I have headaches. I cry. I have bad dreams. I go into a hypnotic trance almost daily.He soon left Thiokol and the engineering profession. For the rest of his life he faulted himself for not doing enough to prevent the launch.At times, he seemed to carry the entire burden of the disaster on his shoulders, although it was he, on the afternoon before the launch, who made a critical phone call to Allan J. McDonald, the Thiokol engineer in charge of the solid rocket motor project at the Kennedy Space Center, alerting him to concerns about the O-rings.I think this was one of the mistakes that God made, Mr. Ebeling told Howard Berkes of NPR in January, on the 30th anniversary of the event. He shouldnt have picked me for that job. I dont know, but next time I talk to him, Im going to ask him, Why? You picked a loser.Mr. Ebeling died on Monday in Brigham City at 89. His daughter Leslie Serna recalled the morning of the launch in an interview on NPR that day. Robert Vernon Ebeling was born on Sept. 4, 1926, in Chicago. His father, Ado, an auto mechanic, took the family to San Diego when Robert was a boy. After graduating from high school he was called up by the Army his mother, the former Irene Kramer, sat on the local draft board and served as an infantryman in the Philippines during World War II.He returned to San Diego after his discharge and in 1949 married Darlene Popejoy, who survives him. In addition to his daughter Leslie, he is also survived by three other daughters, Kathleen Ebeling, who confirmed his death, Judy Kirwan and Terrie Johnston; 12 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.Mr. Ebeling enrolled in California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, earning a degree in mechanical engineering in 1952, and went to work for Convair, a San Diego manufacturer of airplanes, rockets and spacecraft. The company made the first Atlas rockets used by Project Mercury, NASAs manned orbital flight program.Mr. Ebeling joined Thiokol, as it was then known, in 1962. A supplier of rockets and missile propulsion systems, the company in 1974 won the contract to build solid rocket boosters for the space shuttle program. Mr. Ebeling was manager of the ignition system and final assembly for the shuttle boosters.After leaving Morton Thiokol, Mr. Ebeling became a volunteer at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge near his home in Brigham City. In 1989, in response to damage caused by flooding of the Great Salt Lake, he created Friends of the Bear River Refuge, which raised money to restore the sanctuary. Drawing upon his engineering background, he also helped repair dikes and water-control structures.In 1990, President George Bush presented him with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Award for his work. In 2013, he was named the National Wildlife Refuge Systems volunteer of the year by the National Wildlife Refuge Association and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.Mr. Ebelings anguished interview with NPR in January moved hundreds of listeners to send expressions of support and sympathy.Mr. McDonald, his former boss at Thiokol, called him. I told him that he was not a loser, that a loser was someone who has a chance to act but doesnt, and worse, doesnt care, Mr. McDonald said in an interview on Thursday.He really did do something, he added. I told him that if he had not called me, we never would have had the opportunity to try to avert the disaster. They would have just gone ahead with the launch. At least we had the opportunity to try to stop it.The public response to Mr. Ebelings interview eventually had an effect, especially after a former Thiokol executive and a NASA official contacted by Mr. Berkes of NPR wrote words of encouragement. In a follow-up piece, Mr. Berkes asked Mr. Ebeling if he would like to respond.Mr. Ebeling said: You helped bring my worrisome mind to ease. You have to have an end to everything.",7
"Washington MemoCredit...Siphiwe Sibeko/ReutersApril 5, 2016WASHINGTON Osama bin Laden, gold bug?It appears so. At the end of 2010, Al Qaeda found itself suddenly flush after securing a $5 million ransom, and the group had to decide what to do with its windfall. At a time when the financial uncertainty of the Great Recession made gold a hot investment, Bin Laden turns out to have been as bullish about the precious metal as any Ron Paul devotee, Tea Party patriot or Wall Street financier.In a letter that he wrote in December 2010, Bin Laden instructed Al Qaedas general manager to set aside a third of the ransom nearly $1.7 million to buy gold bars and coins. The letter, written in Arabic, was part of the trove of intelligence seized by Navy SEALs in the raid on Bin Ladens compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011 that was declassified last month by the Central Intelligence Agency. It offers a glimpse into how Al Qaeda sought to manage its finances and what militant groups have tried to do with the money they raised.The overall price trend is upward, Bin Laden wrote to Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, the Qaeda general manager. Even with occasional drops, in the next few years the price of gold will reach $3,000 an ounce.Bin Laden may have lacked investing acumen gold peaked at $1,900 an ounce five months after his death in 2011 but he seems to have had a keen sense of the financial zeitgeist. His belief in golds bright future was shared at the time by many Americans and a number of financial luminaries, including George Soros and John Paulson, both of whom were investing heavily in the precious metal. Demand was so high that in 2010, JPMorgan Chase reopened a long-closed vault used to store gold under the streets of downtown Manhattan.It is probably safe to assume that if Al Qaeda bought gold American officials could not say whether Bin Ladens instructions were followed in this case the militants did not hand it over to JPMorgan for safekeeping. But American officials believe that the group had previously relied on gold as a safe haven and an alternative currency to the dollar. Al Qaeda would also have had access to gold brokers in Pakistans tribal areas and the loosely regulated gold market in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, at the time Bin Laden wrote his letter.There was always speculation about how Al Qaeda kept excess capital, said Juan C. Zarate, a deputy national security adviser during the George W. Bush administration who led American efforts to track the militants assets after 2001. They grew worried that we were able to do things with the dollar that influenced their ability to access it, to demand things of financial institutions.Like Al Qaeda, other Islamist militant groups have wrestled with how to avoid the reach of the Treasury and international blacklists. Their wealth management strategies have varied, and some have proved more adept at making money than investing it.The Islamic State, for instance, has become perhaps the wealthiest militant group in history by wringing cash from the people it rules, looting bank vaults and smuggling oil. Yet its success appears to have left it vulnerable: It has taken in so much money that it has had to resort to physically stockpiling cash in warehouses, 10 of which have been struck by American warplanes since the summer.The Haqqani network, a Taliban faction that is especially close to Al Qaeda, is believed to have poured money into real estate in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. A European official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence, said the Haqqanis are believed to have been hit hard by the real estate crash in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, a few years ago.Still, despite the occasional bursting bubble, real estate appears to have been a relatively safe investment, particularly in South Asia, where there is little regulation.You can show up with a suitcase full of cash and buy a house, said Gretchen Peters, who runs the Satao Project, a consulting firm that focuses on organized crime and terrorism. Its not like there is an I.R.S. money-laundering unit thats going to come for you.At the time Bin Laden wrote the letter to his general manager, the two had been discussing the $5 million ransom, which was paid by the office of President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan to free an Afghan diplomat that Al Qaeda had been holding. Unknown to the Qaeda bosses, about a fifth of the ransom was inadvertently provided by the C.I.A., which bankrolled a secret fund for the Afghan leader with monthly cash deliveries to the presidential palace in Kabul.Al Qaeda had the money in hand by the time Bin Laden sat down to write his general manager in December 2010. Bin Laden clearly wanted nothing to do with United States dollars, which many Islamist militants fear could expose them to the long reach of American justice.As for the ransom money for the Afghan prisoner, I think you should use one-third of the money to buy gold and another third to buy euros, he wrote.The remainder, Bin Laden said, should be used to buy Kuwaiti dinars and Chinese renminbi, also known as yuan, with about a third kept in local currencies to cover day-to-day expenses. When you do spend this money, use the euros first, then the dinars, the yuan, and then the gold, he wrote.Bin Laden had specific instructions for how to acquire the gold. It should be bought in coins or bars, which he referred to as 10 tolas, a common denomination for gold bars in South Asia. Coins are minted in several countries, he wrote, naming Switzerland, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.But Bin Laden was nothing if not paranoid by then at one point, he feared that an Iranian dentist had implanted a tracking device in one of his wifes teeth and he stressed in the letter that the broker you deal with should be trustworthy.He also suggested buying a small amount of gold and reselling it to make sure the broker was honest.Bin Laden appears to have believed that done right, investing in gold was nearly a sure thing.Right now it is $1,390 an ounce, but before the events in New York and Washington it was $280 an ounce, he wrote.He added, If the price of gold reaches $1,500 or a little over before you get this message, its still all right to buy it.If Al Qaeda bought gold when Bin Laden advised, it was a bad bet. The day his letter was dated, Dec. 3, 2010, gold closed at $1,414.08 an ounce. Today, the price is hovering around $1,230 an ounce.",6
"Wide segments of the party are eager to see investigations and prosecutions of President Trump and his allies, while President-elect Joseph Biden is taking a more measured approach.Credit...Kriston Jae Bethel for The New York TimesJan. 9, 2021WASHINGTON Twelve years ago, when the last Democratic president took office, he did not seek broad inquiries into officials from the previous administration for their use of torture practices, or for domestic eavesdropping. Nor did he pursue prosecutions of Wall Street executives for crimes that led to the 2008 financial crisis.Aside from some grumbling, Barack Obamas party went along in the name of national unity.This time, Democrats who have chafed at President Trumps behavior for four years are not willing to be so accommodating: They want to hold him, his family and his enablers accountable for acts they believe didnt just break norms, but broke the law.Whether or not the House pursues impeachment charges against Mr. Trump for his role in inciting his supporters to storm the Capitol on Wednesday, many Democrats say that impeachment is not enough.Once President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. takes office on Jan. 20, wide segments of his party are eager to see investigations and prosecutions of an array of Trump aides and allies an effort, they say, that would bolster the rule of law after a presidency that weakened it and serve as a warning to future presidents that there will be consequences for illegal actions taken while in office.The rioting at the Capitol has only intensified that desire. More than a dozen Democrats interviewed in recent days said the presidents role in inspiring the mob violence had prompted them to change their positions: They now want the Biden Justice Department to investigate the president and his aides.I was not on the investigate-and-prosecute train before yesterday, Kathleen Sullivan, a former chairwoman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said on Thursday. However, undermining the very foundations of democracy and the Constitution is a crime that cant be ignored.So far, Mr. Biden has not taken a position on impeachment, let alone the broader agenda of launching criminal investigations. He has said he would leave any decisions about it to his Justice Department, which he has promised will return to the pre-Trump norm of maintaining independence from the White House. His choice of Merrick B. Garland, a centrist judge, as his nominee for Attorney General is another indication of his more measured approach to pursuing investigations and indictments. His stance reflects not only his politics but a natural inclination not to settle scores much like Mr. Obama, whom Mr. Biden served for eight years as vice-president. Mr. Obama said shortly before his own inauguration that he believed the nation needed to look forward as opposed to looking backwards.But interviews with more than 50 current and former Democratic elected officials, Democratic National Committee members and party activists found an overwhelming consensus across the partys ideological spectrum toward holding Mr. Trump personally accountable and launching congressional and Justice Department investigations into him, his family and his top aides not only for inciting last weeks violent mob at the Capitol but for a host of other actions during his presidency.ImageCredit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesThe transgressions they cite include collusion with Russia, tax fraud, illegal pressure on state elections officials, using federal offices for political activity and violation of the constitutional provision that prohibits a president from profiting from foreign governments.A Georgia elections official on Saturday confirmed a third call Mr. Trump made to officials in the state trying to reverse Mr. Bidens victory. The calls began with one to Gov. Brian Kemp in early December to berate him for certifying the states election results. The efforts to change election results could be construed as illegal attempts at election interference or other criminal violations, but legal experts said proving a case could be difficult. Harry Reid, the former Senate majority leader, said Mr. Trump, former Attorney General Bill Barr and others need to be investigated by Mr. Bidens Justice Department, though he warned that Mr. Biden himself should keep his distance from any prosecutions to avoid the appearance of politicizing them.Theres a desire from me to never hear from Trump again, but I dont think the issue should be ignored, Mr. Reid said during an interview on Friday.The push for accountability for Mr. Trump and his allies is starkest in the partys liberal wing, especially among progressive people of color who have watched the Trump administration direct the use of tear gas against demonstrators for racial justice, and threaten them with long prison terms.Absolutely Trump should do jail time, said Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York. A Justice Department investigation, Mr. Bowman said, needs to happen on Jan. 20, as soon as possible.The desire to investigate and potentially prosecute Mr. Trump and his aides is not universal among Democrats.Martyring Donald Trump is a very bad idea and it could tear the country apart, said Matt Bennett, a co-founder of Third Way, a moderate Democratic think tank. Its just not worth it.For those seeking accountability, Mr. Trump is far from the only target. Representative Cori Bush of Missouri said she would introduce a resolution to expel every House Republican who voted on Wednesday to challenge the results of the election. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee has begun an effort to track down all of the state legislators who participated in Wednesdays Trump rally and subsequent rampage at the Capitol, and call for their resignations.Other Democratic organizations plan to pressure companies not to hire former administration officials, closing off the lucrative pathway into the private sector enjoyed by so many former White House staffers.Some Democrats argue that an effort to seek accountability for the past four years may carry some political dividends, by energizing the base in advance of what is likely to be a tough midterm election battle.You dont want to spend your political capital dealing with the mess of the past administration, but you have to in the name of good governance and political order, said Adam Jentleson, a progressive strategist. And there is political upside for it too. It will keep Democrats energized.The push for accountability from Mr. Trump reflects more than just outrage over his actions. Many on the left remain frustrated by their partys failure in the past to investigate people who may have violated the law.I think back to the financial crisis of 2008, said Jay Jacobs, the New York State Democratic chairman. We chose not to prosecute the banks, lenders, insurance and mortgage company executives who created the crisis and personally profited greatly. How did that work out for us politically? We cant make everyone happy. So, instead, lets just do the right thing.A variety of proposals are circulating through Democratic circles, some of them far-fetched, like forcing the expulsion of the 147 Republicans who objected to certifying Mr. Biden as the winner, and pushing for the immediate firing of all political appointees across the federal government.ImageCredit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesSome progressives have even borrowed ideas from national efforts undertaken by countries like South Africa, Ireland and Peru, including targeted truth and reconciliation committees and public contrition.Many seem unlikely to be taken up by the new administration, which has focused on combating the pandemic and rebuilding the economy. If acted upon, such an effort could lead to months or years of legal complications for the Biden administration.In remarks on Friday in Wilmington, Del., Mr. Biden accused Republicans who sought to overturn his victory of perpetrating the big lie, but he said judgments of their fates in office should be left to voters.Former Representative Tom Perriello, who was a special adviser for the war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone, said countries that have suffered national trauma and tried to move forward without experiencing consequences or contrition are unable to heal.Countries that skip the accountability phase end up repeating 100 percent of the time but the next time the crisis is worse, Mr. Perriello said. People who think that the way forward is to brush this under the rug seem to have missed the fact that there is a ticking time bomb under the rug.Legal experts have said it would be very difficult for prosectors to charge Mr. Trump after hes out of the White House. There is a longstanding practice of avoiding criminalizing policy decisions like enacting harsh penalties on undocumented immigrants but Mr. Trumps actions since the election may change that thinking.Mr. Bidens reluctance to wade into the issue could become more problematic if Mr. Trump pardons himself or his family members, some Democrats said. They argued that such a move would warrant an investigation into what, exactly, Mr. Trump is pardoning himself for. Its also not clear that a self-pardon would insulate Mr. Trump from federal charges. And it would not cover charges he might face from an investigation by state prosecutors in New York into his business dealings.ImageCredit...Todd Heisler/The New York TimesStill, for some Democrats the idea of maintaining a public focus on the president after he leaves the White House would distract from enacting the Biden agenda. Mr. Biden himself on Friday said his most important priorities are the virus, the vaccine and economic growth.Biden should first concentrate on uniting the country again in the beginning of his term, said Sheikh Rahman, a Georgia state senator. If Trump is given more attention than the American people who are suffering because of the policies hes enacted, it will cause even more division.Even those who want to hold Mr. Trump accountable for his actions dont have a clear idea of all that might entail. They argue that the scope of their efforts may need to go far beyond the president and his political allies into social media companies and attempts to fight domestic terrorism.There absolutely has to be accountability and whats difficult for even me to really say right now with any finality is how that should work, said Representative Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania, who is a former federal prosecutor. The president himself is often a layer or two removed from the violence committed by the people who follow him. Thats a difficult thing to act on within the bounds of our current criminal law.No matter what Mr. Trump does with his final days in office, the pressure on Mr. Biden from inside the party threatens to complicate the message of national unity he campaigned on and distract from his focus on policy. And with many Republican elected officials trying to distance themselves from the president after years of acquiescing to him, some Democrats see new opportunities to win bipartisan support for their legislative agenda backing that may be harder to gain if the Biden Justice Department is trying to prosecute Republicans at the same time.If there are some Republican elected officials who changed their position, do we work with them? asked Aditi Juneja of Protect Democracy, a legal group thats focused on suing the Trump administration for what it views as efforts to undermine democracy. What do they need to do for us to feel comfortable working with them?But, she added, the answer cant just be we pretend this never happened.",3
"TrilobitesCredit...Jama PantelMarch 17, 2017Every year in Texas, millions of bluebonnets bloom after warm weather, just at the cusp of spring. Bumpy blankets of blue spread across pastures, parks and highway shoulders. And because of a series of warm days in February, this years show has already begun. Its expected to peak in the next week or two, so grab your camera and hop in the car its time to get out there and find them.When you see acres and acres or oceans of bluebonnets, it can be stunning, said Andrea DeLong-Amaya, a horticulturalist at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas at Austin.And already, professional and amateur photographers are posting their sightings from across the state on Instagram. Its a Texan tradition to get your photo taken with bluebonnets each year.ImageCredit...Jama PantelEven along highways, the solid-colored floral displays are beautiful. Seeds grow well there because highways provide ample, open spaces. And mowing actually helps the flowers compete with other vegetation, Ms. DeLong-Amaya said. For this reason, and because highways reflect so much heat, bluebonnets bloom earlier along roads than they would in a garden.Jama Pantel, an Austin-based photographer who posted her first shots from around Austin on Instagram this week, uses the arrival of highway bluebonnets as a sign to start scouting safer locations for photo shoots.Its just a rite of passage for any Texan, she said.In 1965, Lady Bird Johnson, the former first lady, Texan and wildflower lover, championed the Highway Beautification Act, which replaced billboards with natural landscapes and wildflowers on highways across the country.Ms. DeLong-Amaya said the bluebonnets appeal could be that the Texas bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis) for the most part grows only in Texas. A blue that blue is also hard to find in nature.According to David Lees book, Natures Palette, The Science of Plant Color, only about 10 percent of flowering plants are blue. Plants dont have any true blue pigments as they do for red. Instead, plants alter their pigments (anthocyanins, which are involved in turning fall foliage red) in various ways to make them appear blue.Ms. DeLong-Amaya expects the floral display this year to be more sporadic than in years past because of the states relatively warm winter. So its best to take advantage when you can: Bluebonnets are annuals, and after they drop seeds, all the living plants will be dead around August.If you want to plant your own, she said, wait for fall. You can speed the germination process by breaking down the seeds tough shells so theyre thin enough for the moisture to seep in. Workers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center sometimes put seeds in the freezer before pouring boiling water on them and letting them soak for a day or two. Then they pick out the plump ones with cracked shells for planting.If youd rather not wait, however, Ms. Pantel suggests heading to parks or out along the highway in almost any direction. For nice displays, try McKinney Falls State Park, Brushy Creek Lake Park or head down Highways 71 or 290 west toward the Hill Country, Willow City Loop near Fredericksburg and Burnet, the Bluebonnet Capital of Texas, which attracts 30,000 people each year to its festival. Chappell Hill also hosts a festival in April.Turn down back roads, side roads and country roads, Ms. Pantel said. You can see beautiful scenes any which way you look.",7
"Credit...Clarence Tabb Jr./Detroit News, via Associated PressNov. 21, 2018More than two decades ago, Congress adopted a sweeping law that outlawed female genital mutilation, an ancient practice that 200 million women and girls around the world have undergone. But a federal court considering the first legal challenge to the statute found the law unconstitutional on Tuesday, greatly diminishing the chances of it being used by federal prosecutors around the country.A federal judge in Michigan issued the ruling in a case that involved two doctors and four parents, among others, who had been criminally charged last year with participating in or enabling the ritual genital cutting of girls. Their families belong to a small Shiite Muslim sect, the Dawoodi Bohra, that is originally from western India.The case, the first to be brought under the 1996 law that criminalized female genital mutilation, has been closely followed by human rights advocates and communities where cutting is still practiced and whose members have moved in growing numbers to the United States and other western countries.On Tuesday, Judge Bernard Friedman of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ruled that Congress did not have the authority to pass the law against female genital mutilation and he dismissed key charges filed against the doctors and removed four of the eight defendants from the case.As laudable as the prohibition of a particular type of abuse of girls may be, he wrote, prosecutors failed to show that the federal government had the authority to bring the charges, and he noted that regulating practices like this is essentially a state responsibility. He rejected arguments that the law allowed for such a federal prosecution because Congress has a right to regulate commerce or health care or can enact laws to support international treaties that the United States has signed.Federalism concerns deprive Congress of the power to enact this statute, Judge Friedman wrote. He added in the 28-page ruling, Congress overstepped its bounds by legislating to prohibit FGM because FGM is a local criminal activity which, in keeping with longstanding tradition and our federal system of government, is for the states to regulate, not Congress.Gina Balaya, a spokeswoman for United States Attorney Matthew Schneider in Detroit, said, We are reviewing the Judges ruling and will make a determination on whether or not to appeal.Lawyers for the defendants have argued that the Dawoodi Bohra practice is a protected religious procedure and is not mutilation but rather a ritual nick that doesnt remove the clitoris or labia as do some forms of cutting.Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University and former federal prosecutor, said the judges ruling appeared to be solid and that, while 27 states have their own laws criminalizing the practice, other states would need to pass laws or use existing assault or abuse laws if they wanted to bring charges.Given how this statute is written I think hes correct, Professor Henning said. I hate to say Congress whiffed, but they whiffed on this law. There isnt a federal police power, so they cant just adopt anything they want. It has to be located in one of Congresss express powers and this wasnt.Advocates fighting to end female genital cutting were dismayed by the ruling. Shelby Quast said her group, Equality Now, is urging federal prosecutors to appeal the decision. We are confident that Congress had the authority to pass this FGM law, she said.Mariya Taher, a co-founder of Sahiyo, a group representing members of the Dawoodi Bohra sect who oppose cutting, said she appreciated that the ruling was not condoning female genital mutilation and that states still have options to bring cases. But she added that she is concerned about the message those who believe in cutting might draw from the decision.Is this something that proponents will use as a reason to say that what we do isnt harmful, almost giving them permission to do this? she wondered. The U.S. is looked to as a leader, so this could definitely have repercussions globally.In the Michigan case, Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, an emergency medicine physician and a member of the Dawoodi Bohra sect, is accused of cutting the genitals of nine girls. Dr. Fakhruddin Attar, an internist, is accused of letting Dr. Nagarwala use his now-closed Burhani Medical Clinic in Livonia, a Detroit suburb. His wife, Farida Attar, the clinics office manager, and another woman, Tahera Shafiq, were accused of assisting the doctors.Judge Friedman dismissed charges against Ms. Shafiq, as well as mothers of two girls from Minnesota and one girl from Michigan. Dr. Nagarwala, the Attars and a fourth mother remain charged with conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. Dr. Nagarwala is also charged with conspiracy to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.Molly Blythe, a lawyer for Dr. Nagarwala, said Wednesday that while pleased with the ruling, Dr. Nagarwala remains under home confinement and still has to face the other charges, which could carry a sentence of years in federal prison.Legal experts said Congress could supersede the law with one that could pass muster, particularly by tying the cutting practice to aspects of interstate commerce, because Congress is allowed to make laws enforcing the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.There are ways that Congress could write a different statute that would be more closely connected to conduct that has an effect on interstate commerce, said Michael Rosman, general counsel for the Center for Individual Rights, although he said he believed such a law would still be vulnerable to claims it violated equal protection or religious freedom.Federal prosecutors argued that the law was linked to congressional authority to enforce the commerce clause, but Judge Friedman rejected that.If there is an interstate market for FGM, why is this the first time the government has ever brought charges under this 1996 statute? he wrote, adding FGM cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be classified as an economic or commercial activity.The judge also disputed prosecutors argument that the law fell under a constitutional clause that allows Congress to enforce treaties, specifically the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Judge Friedman said the covenants language was too general, calling for nondiscrimination and civil and political rights. It is not rationally related to the FGM statute, which prohibits the mutilation of girls genitalia.",2
"Our Coverage of the Coronavirus PandemicIn the United StatesEven with coronavirus cases on the rise, millions of Americans are expected to take to the skies and roads Memorial Day weekend, in what is likely to be one of the busiest travel periods since the start of the pandemic.White House officials said that they were introducing new models for distributing Paxlovid, the Covid-19 pill made by Pfizer, in an effort to get the treatment to more people and keep death rates relatively low even as cases increase.Around the WorldBeijing is not under official lockdown yet, but one can barely tell that thats the case. As the Chinese government enforces strict safety measures in the city to prevent a complete shutdown, its hard to find anywhere to go.Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain presided over a disorderly workplace in which there were widespread violations of coronavirus restrictions, according to a long-awaited government reporton lockdown parties at Downing Street.ResearchA large new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that one in five adult Covid survivors under the age of 65in the United States has experienced at least one health condition that could be considered long Covid.How safe really is it to go back to the gym right now? Research shows that people working out may expel a shocking number of the tiny aerosol particlesthat can transmit the coronavirus.Health GuidanceMasks: Does a mask protect you against Covid if others arent wearing one? This is what the evidence shows.Second Boosters: Should you get a fourth Covid shot? Older individuals and those with some health conditions may benefit from it.Long Covid: There is no universal definition of the condition, but clues about causes and potential treatments are beginning to emerge. Heres what we know so far.At Home: When someone in your house tests positive for Covid, there are some guidelines to follow.Covid Treatments in N.Y.C.: Antiviral pillsand monoclonal antibodies are available across the city. Here is how to get them.",2
"Recipients of the Moderna and the J.&J. vaccines may receive extra doses. The agency also embraced a mix-and-match strategy.Credit...Brittainy Newman for The New York TimesPublished Oct. 21, 2021Updated Oct. 25, 2021In a sweeping victory for the Biden administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday endorsed booster shots of the Moderna and the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines for tens of millions of Americans.The decision follows an agency endorsement last month of booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and opens the door for many Americans to seek out a booster shot as early as Friday.The coronavirus vaccines are all highly effective in reducing the risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death, even in the midst of the widely circulating Delta variant, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, director of the C.D.C., said in a statement.Her approval of recommendations made by a scientific advisory committee brings the country closer to fulfilling President Bidens promise in August to offer boosters to all adults. The pandemic is now retreating in most parts of the country, but there are still about 75,000 new cases every day, and about 1,500 Covid deaths.That pledge angered many experts, including some advising the Food and Drug Administration and the C.D.C., who said that scientists had not yet had a chance to determine whether boosters were actually necessary.Studies showed that the vaccines remained very effective against severe disease and death, although their effectiveness might have waned against milder infections, particularly as the Delta variant spread across the nation this summer.The purpose of the vaccines is to prevent illness severe enough to require medical attention, not to prevent infection, Dr. Wilbur Chen, an infectious disease physician at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and a member of the C.D.C. panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, said during its deliberations on Thursday.It might be too much to ask for a vaccine, either a primary series or the booster, to prevent all forms of infections, Dr. Chen said.The C.D.C.s advisers last month tried to narrow the number of Americans who should receive a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, saying that research did not support boosters for people whose jobs exposed them to the coronavirus, as the F.D.A. had indicated.But in a highly unusual move, Dr. Walensky overturned their decision, aligning the agencys advice with the criteria laid out by the F.D.A.ImageCredit...Stefani Reynolds for The New York TimesOn Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized booster shots for millions of people who received the Moderna and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines, just as it did for recipients of Pfizer-BioNTech shots last month. The F.D.A. also gave the green light for people eligible for booster shots to get a dose of a different brand.But in practice, who will get the shots and when depends greatly on the C.D.C.s final guidance. Though the agencys recommendations do not bind state and local officials, they hold great sway in the medical community.On Thursday, members of the C.D.C.s panel endorsed the so-called mix-and-match strategy, saying people fully immunized with one companys vaccine should be allowed to receive a different vaccine for their booster shot.Limited evidence strongly suggests that booster doses of one of the two mRNA vaccines Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech more effectively raise antibody levels than a booster dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.The committee advised that recipients of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine should receive a booster shot at least two months after their first dose.Among Americans initially immunized with an mRNA vaccine, adults over 65, adults who are 50 to 65 with certain medical conditions, and those who reside in long-term care settings should receive a single booster dose six months or longer after their second dose, the committee decided.For adults ages 18 to 49 with certain medical conditions and adults whose jobs regularly expose them to the virus, the panel opted for softer language, saying they may choose to get a booster after considering their individual risk.The experts emphasized that people who have received two mRNA vaccine doses or a single Johnson & Johnson dose should still consider themselves fully vaccinated. Federal health officials said they would continue to study whether those who had weak immune systems and had already received a third dose of a vaccine should go on to get a fourth dose.Some advisers were concerned that young and healthy Americans who dont need a booster might choose to get one anyway. Side effects are uncommon, but in younger Americans they may outweigh the potential benefits of booster doses, the scientists said.Those that are not at high risk should really be thoughtful about getting that dose, said Dr. Helen Talbot, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University.The committees final votes contrasted sharply with discussions earlier in the day. The panel heard that in adults under 65, even those with chronic conditions, the Moderna vaccine remained highly protective against severe illness and showed only a small decline in effectiveness over time, if any at all.The Johnson & Johnson vaccine showed less efficacy than the Moderna vaccine overall, but the data were too limited to determine whether there might be a decline over time.Having already authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech booster, however, some advisers said in interviews that they felt compelled to do the same for the other two vaccines, adding that it was only fair to people who had received those vaccines.Just over 11 million people have opted for an additional shot so far, and up to three million make up those with weak immune systems who were approved to receive a third dose to prop up their immune response. Only 6 percent of people who are fully vaccinated, and about 15 percent of adults over 65, have received a booster dose so far.ImageCredit...Alisha Jucevic for The New York TimesModernas booster shot will not be the same as its initial shot. The dose will be 50 micrograms, which is half the dose given in the initial rounds of immunization. Scientists from Moderna presented data indicating that the smaller dose is enough to rouse the immune system.But the smaller dose may need to be delivered from the same vials now used for initial immunization. Some committee members noted that this may increase the risk of contamination and incorrect dosing. (Moderna has been testing vials that deliver smaller volumes of vaccine to alleviate this problem, according to a former government official.)C.D.C. scientists said at the meeting that the Pfizer-BioNTech and the Moderna vaccines are generally safe, with the exception of uncommon and mostly mild heart problems in young men. The risk of the condition called myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle is higher after the second shot of an mRNA vaccine, and highest in males 18 to 24 years old.In those under 20, the condition may affect more than 100 males in every million immunized with an mRNA vaccine. Studies have shown that the risk of heart problems after a bout of Covid-19 is much higher.The Johnson & Johnson vaccine carries a small risk of blood clots in young women. The companys representatives said they had estimated the rate of blood clots at 15.1 cases per million after the first dose and 1.9 cases per million after the second.Some panelists said they worried about the risk of blood clots in young women who get a second booster dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and the risk of myocarditis in young men after a third dose of an mRNA vaccine.Perhaps young women should be directed to mRNA vaccines and young men to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Dr. Talbot said.Were in a different place in the pandemic than we were earlier, she said. The opportunities to mix and match vaccines are priceless.",2
"Technology|Antifa falsehood tops list of misinformation after Capitol rampage.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/technology/antifa-falsehood-tops-list-of-misinformation-after-capitol-rampage.htmlJan. 8, 2021, 2:03 p.m. ETJan. 8, 2021, 2:03 p.m. ETCredit...Jason Andrew for The New York TimesMisinformation and distortions of the truth have run rampant on social media in the days after a mob of Trump loyalists stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, disrupting lawmakers counting electoral votes to certify President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.s win.A conservative outlet, The Washington Times, claimed that facial recognition showed evidence that the mob was made up of members of antifa, a loose network of anti-fascist activists. The article has since been corrected. Other misleading and false articles and posts claimed that the mobs work was a setup or an inside job. And still others said President Trump would soon declassify information on how the election was stolen.The media insights company Zignal Labs compiled a list of the most popular false and misleading narratives on social media about Wednesdays events, counting their mentions on cable television and social media and in print and online news outlets on Wednesday and Thursday. Here is the list.1. Rioters on the Capitol were actually antifa: 411,099 mentionsThe false narrative that antifa supporters were actually behind the unrest at the Capitol peaked at 66,122 mentions on Wednesday evening, according to Zignals data. Rep. Matt Gaetz even referenced the false Washington Times article as proof that the mob was in fact members of the violent terrorist group antifa.On Thursday, The Washington Times published a new version of its article, reporting that it was actually neo-Nazis and other extremists who were identified in photos of the mob, after BuzzFeed News challenged the outlets reporting.2. The mobs actions were a setup and an inside job: 122,287 mentionsThe idea that the mobs work was an inside job spread widely on social media, even though there was no evidence to support the conspiracy theory. People said the setup had been planned by the deep state, which is shorthand for the conspiracy theory about Democratic elites secretly exercising political control over the public. The narrative peaked at 12,593 mentions from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, according to Zignals data.3. President Trump knew that the mob would happen, and people should trust the plan and hold the line: 83,990 mentionsThe distorted idea that President Trump knew about the mobs actions in advance and that people should trust the plan and hold the line was widespread especially among supporters of the conspiracy movement QAnon which is based upon the false premise that the country is run by a Democrat-led cabal of pedophiles whom President Trump is bringing down.4. The mob at the Capitol was made up of people posing as MAGA: 64,258 mentionsA popular false narrative that people in the mob were simply posing as MAGA peaked early on Wednesday, before accusations specifically zeroed in on antifa.5. President Trump will declassify information on how the election was stolen: 63,190 mentionsSome supporters of the president pushed the falsehood that he would soon declassify information on how the election was stolen, in spite of overwhelming evidence and a host of court rulings that no widespread fraud was found in the election.In some versions of the baseless rumor, people stated that this was the real reason that Mr. Trumps opponents in Congress were calling on the president to be stripped of his power from office under the disability clause of the 25th Amendment.",5
"Lonzo Ball Announces First Rap Concert ... In Lithuania! 1/26/2018 Lonzo Ball wants to put the ""lit"" in Lithuania ... announcing he's coming to the Eastern European country to perform his very first rap concert! Lonzo's dad, LaVar Ball, was reportedly presenting the Hip-Hop Act of the Year trophy at the M.A.M.A. Awards (like the Lithuanian Grammys) ... when he introduced Lonzo via a prerecorded video. Lonzo says the plan is to fly in over the summer and perform a show for the locals -- obviously capitalizing on the publicity splash his brothers are making as pro baller on Vytautus. Lonzo raps under the name Zo -- and has already dropped a couple of singles, including ""BBB"" and ""Super Saiyan."" Most rappers don't go to Europe to catapult their careers ... but Lonzo ain't most rappers. Good luck!",1
"Thunder 120, Nets 95Credit...Michelle V. Agins/The New York TimesJan. 31, 2014Seconds before the opening tip on Friday night at Barclays Center, Kevin Durant skipped alone across the baseline his eyes partly closed, his head tilted backward and let out a prolonged scream. It was an aggressive posture that did not bode well for the Nets.Over the last few weeks, Durant has existed on his own elevated plane, making baskets like a man possessed. He came to Brooklyn on a torrid run, having scored 30 points or more in each of his previous 12 games, and as the Oklahoma City Thunder steamrollered the Nets before a capacity crowd, the only tension inside the arena centered on whether he would extend that streak.Durant did not, watching the entire fourth quarter from the bench as the Thunder cruised to a 120-95 win. But Durant could probably do without the individual accolades, anyway. He stressed during his recent scoring outburst that his sole aim on the court had been to serve his team. The Thunders 10-game winning streak, then, is most likely a stronger reflection of his brilliant play.Man, Im glad thats over with, said Durant, who finished with 26 points, 7 assists and 3 rebounds. He added, I hate taking the credit when our whole team is going out there and playing well.Durant mentioned the passes of Reggie Jackson, the screens set by Kendrick Perkins and the shooting of Serge Ibaka, who went 12 for 12 from the field to contribute 25 points. Durant said he liked staying under the radar, which sounded somewhat ridiculous given his transcendent play. What hes doing right now, its crazy, the Nets Deron Williams said. At the end of the year, its going to be hard to argue that hes not the M.V.P. of the league, with what hes doing right now.The Nets had been bracing for Durant all week. They knew what he had been up to. Durants 12-game streak of 30 or more points he averaged 38 a game during the run was the leagues longest since Tracy McGradys 14-game run in 2003. Durant has put the Thunder on his back, particularly since December, when Russell Westbrook had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.Ive been around him for seven years, and its not important to him, Thunder Coach Scott Brooks said, referring to the end of Durants streak. I guess you can say that in the last 12 or 13 games, Im the only one who can stop him from scoring 30.Durant went 10 for 12 from the field and got off to a hot start. He scored the games first points, shimmying up to the 3-point line, sizing up Shaun Livingston the unlucky player assigned to guard him and popping up for a deep jump shot. Durants next time down the court, he established a position 17 feet from the hoop and sank another jumper with Livingston all but smothering him.Durant can make shots with two people on him, Nets Coach Jason Kidd said.Livingston was active on offense, too, and he led the Nets with 16 points. With just under five minutes left in the first quarter, Livingston stripped Durant of the ball at midcourt, galloped down the floor and finished with a two-handed dunk, cutting the Thunders lead to 17-16.It was a fine play. It was also the point at which the game ceased to be competitive.The Thunder ended the first quarter on a 13-0 run. Their 14-point lead to start the second quarter grew a bit, to 17, while Durant spent an early chunk of the period on the bench. At halftime, the Nets were trailing, 63-35. Durant was wearing two shirts over his uniform as the game trickled to an end.The game was the Nets first since Monday, when their five-game winning streak was broken by Toronto, and they looked disjointed and languorous on Friday. The most glaring statistic after the game was the Nets 17 rebounds, a record low for an N.B.A. team.Well, they shot almost 70 percent, Kidd said of the Thunder, who finished at 63.6 percent from the field, so they didnt have too many misses.REBOUNDSAndrei Kirilenko, who sat out two practices during the week with a sore right calf, was not available to play Friday night. ... Andray Blatche left the game during the third quarter with a bruised left hip and did not return. ... Marquis Teague, acquired from the Chicago Bulls on Jan. 21, played his first minutes for the Nets during the fourth quarter.",4
"Janet Jackson Here's to My Friend, Missy Elliott! 1/26/2018 Getty Janet Jackson and Missy Elliott united onstage Thursday night, but this time it wasn't for a performance. Janet presented the ""Work It"" singer with the Visionary Award at the Essence 9th Annual Black Women in Music award show in NYC, and it was a really sweet moment. Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media. The icons have been tight for years. Missy even came out onstage in December during the final stop of Janet's 2017 tour. JJ came close to shedding tears when she, apparently, made direct eye contact with Missy during the speech. Genuine friendship on display here.",1
"Politics|Pence rejects Trumps pressure to block certification saying he loves the Constitution.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/us/politics/pence-rejects-trumps-pressure-to-block-certification-saying-he-loves-the-constitution.htmlCredit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesJan. 6, 2021Vice President Mike Pence, in a bold statement on Wednesday afternoon, rejected President Trumps pressure to block congressional certification of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.s victory in the presidential election, claiming that he lacked the unilateral authority to decide the outcome of the presidential election.As a student of history who loves the Constitution and reveres its Framers, Mr. Pence wrote in a two-page letter, I do not believe that the Founders of our country intended to invest the vice president with unilateral authority to decide which electoral votes should be counted during the Joint Session of Congress, and no vice president in American history has ever asserted such authority.The letter was released by the White House as Mr. Trump was speaking to a group of supporters at the Ellipse, where over and over he implored Mr. Pence to have the courage to do what he has to do.Mr. Pence does not have the unilateral power to alter the results sent by the states to Congress.But Mr. Trump, listening to the advice of allies like Rudolph W. Giuliani, his personal lawyer, has been convinced that the vice president could do his bidding. If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election, Mr. Trump said Wednesday, claiming inaccurately that the vice president has the absolute right to throw out the election results.Mr. Pences defiance the first in his four years as a deferential No. 2 created a remarkable and uncomfortable split screen, as the president continued the public pressure campaign even as Mr. Pence arrived at the Capitol to preside over a joint session of Congress where the Electoral College vote will be certified.On Tuesday night, after The New York Times reported that the vice president in a private meeting had informed Mr. Trump he did not have the authority to change the results of the election, Mr. Trump released a statement disputing the story. He never said that, the statement said. The Vice President and I are in total agreement that the vice president has the power to act.The vice presidents advisers have been eager to find some middle ground where Mr. Pence could mollify Mr. Trump by acknowledging some of his concerns. In the letter, Mr. Pence indicated that he shared the presidents concerns about integrity of this election and would make sure that challenges received a fair and open hearing in Congress. Releasing the letter ahead of his arrival at the Capitol took some of the drama and suspense out of Mr. Pences largely ceremonial role, and the swirling questions about how he would play the awkward moment. But his aides expected him to be on the receiving end of the presidents ire for not complying with his wishes. They expected him to underscore his loyalty to the Trump agenda in other ways, over the coming days.On Wednesday, Kelli Ward, who chairs the Arizona Republican Party, also joined a group of far-right Republicans that petitioned the Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to grant Mr. Pence the authority to reject some state electors, after lower courts rejected the request. One of the attorneys who wrote the petition is Sidney Powell, a longtime member of Mr. Trumps legal team.On Wednesday afternoon, as Mr. Trumps supporters left the rally and stormed the Capitol with rioters entering the building and Mr. Pence being quickly evacuated from a building that was on lockdown, the president did nothing to quell the disorder that he had encouraged earlier in the day. Instead, he focused his ire on the vice president.Mike Pence didnt have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth! he wrote on Twitter.",3
"Trevor Hoffman Curt Schilling Should Be in H.O.F. 1/28/2018 TMZSports.com Trevor Hoffman says it's about damn time Curt Schilling joins him in the Hall of Fame, telling TMZ Sports voters should focus on his baseball skills ... and not his mouth. We spoke with the 2018 inductee (congrats, btw) about Schilling missing the cut for the 6th year in a row ... and Hoffy says Curt's more than deserving of baseball's highest honor. Curt's got 4 more attempts to get voted into the Hall ... and Hoffman sends his fellow pitcher an encouraging message. ""I hope you get in, Curt!""",1
"On BaseballCredit...Barton Silverman/The New York TimesFeb. 15, 2014TAMPA, Fla. There is no better time for wishful thinking, if not pure fantasy, than on the day of the first spring training workout for pitchers and catchers. So mull over the delicious possibility, however distant or remote, of Alex Rodriguezs eventual long-term replacement at third base being a converted catcher who hails from Miami and happened to play a season of college baseball at the ballpark that bears A-Rods tainted name.His name is Peter OBrien, No. 96 in your Yankees spring training lineup, a nonroster invitee who will be dispatched soon enough from George Steinbrenner Field to the minor league complex across the street. What position he plays once he gets there might serve as an indicator of how serious a power-hitting prospect he is, as well as how determined the Yankees already are to weigh alternatives to letting the suspended Rodriguez ever reclaim third base. OBrien, 23, raised a few organization eyebrows last season by hitting 22 home runs and 39 doubles while driving in 96 runs in 119 games, primarily as a catcher, at Class A ball locations in Charleston, S.C., and here in Tampa. My bats never been a question, he said after dropping his equipment bag at his dressing stall Saturday morning for the first time in a major league clubhouse. But people have always questioned my defense.With that in mind, and perhaps with the idea of taking positional inventory, OBrien was asked by the Yankees to play third base in the fall instructional league in Arizona. There, he continued to hit the long ball and make the case for himself as a future somebody in a farm system that in recent years has become California bone dry.Im ready to do whatever the Yankees want me to do, OBrien said. If thats third base, fine. Right field, fine. Right now, behind the plate.Once upon an era, the Yankees were celebrated for the development of talented young players whom the owner George Steinbrenner couldnt trade away because he was at the time suspended from baseball. You might call 2014 the final tribute to that homegrown core as Derek Jeter plays what he said Wednesday would be his final season. With rare exceptions, the Yankees have long since returned to the Bossy method of team construction using the generous free-agent kitty. Catcher was one position where they at least were generating some potential last season, even if what they had at the major league level was evoking no memories of Yogi, Thurman or even Russell Martin. But John Ryan Murphy known as J. R. last season, not his preference impressed in a late-season look, and the highly regarded Gary Sanchez, a 21-year-old Dominican, progressed to Class AA.Had they not watched attendance and television ratings head south along with their playoff ambitions, its possible that the Yankees would have been content with some combination of the defensively sound Francisco Cervelli (returning from a drug suspension), Austin Romine and Ryan. But Brian McCann, a seven-time All-Star with Atlanta, was too tempting a free agent and, at 29, has five guaranteed years, with the Yankees holding a team option for a sixth. Until his knees make McCann a candidate to replace Mark Teixeira at first base, the young catchers must claim to be thrilled with the revised pecking order.Romine and I were talking about that the other day, said Murphy, who is best remembered for lending his baby face to the poignant scene on the Yankee Stadium mound when Jeter and Andy Pettitte pulled Mariano Rivera from his last game.Being around someone like that and working with him every day, you can only learn from that.Live in the Yankees organization, learn the hard way about making long-term projections, no matter how steady the progress. OBrien, however, is too far down the food chain to be burdened by such things and is in no position to comment on third base being a more intriguing aspiration than catcher. With Rodriguez banished this season to the holding pen for performance enhancement cheats, and hundreds of millions of dollars spent to plug holes elsewhere, the Yankees have chosen to replace him with an assortment of stopgaps: Scott Sizemore, Kelly Johnson and perhaps Eduardo Nunez. Maybe A-Rod manages to mend enough fences to return in 2015 and spare the Yankees from swallowing all of the roughly $61 million they owe him. Could two developmental years be enough for the 6-foot-3, 215-pound OBrien to position himself as a possible successor?At Braddock High School in Miami A-Rods town he was a leadoff-hitting shortstop, without a home run to his name until senior year. Growing up I was always the smallest kid, OBrien said. I went to bed every night hoping Id get bigger. I definitely worked my butt off in high school trying to get stronger, and when my growth spurt happened, thats when everything started coming together.No major prospect, he played three years at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Fla., and was a third-round draft pick by Colorado in 2011. But after he chose not to sign and transferred home to play one season at the University of Miami the university to which Rodriguez donated generously without ever attending the Yankees selected OBrien in the second round of the amateur draft in 2012.He hit 10 home runs in 198 at-bats at low Class A in Staten Island, riding the ferry to Manhattan after games for dinner a taste of the big city.Hopefully, someday Ill be up there again, OBrien said.For now, he will put on his pinstripes in the row directly across from Captain Jeters stall, swing for the fences and try to round himself into a potential peg to fill the Yankees most glaring hole left by that other slugger from South Florida.",4
"News AnalysisA jarring juxtaposition is forcing a 244-year-old nation to contend with its original conundrum: Whose democracy is it?Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesPublished Jan. 8, 2021Updated Jan. 10, 2021ATLANTA The day after Georgia elected a Black descendant of sharecroppers and a young Jewish filmmaker to be U.S. senators, underscoring the rising political power of racial and religious minorities, the forces of white grievance politics struck back.At the Peoples House in Washington, a predominantly white mob in support of President Trumps attempts to overturn the election overtook the Capitol building by brute force. Confederate flags flew at the seat of American democracy. A gallows was erected, with a noose hanging in the air. It was as stark a contrast as any, one day that illustrated the nations original paradox: a commitment to democracy in a country with a legacy of racial exclusion.The seeds that led to the insurrection were hidden in plain sight. At Mr. Trumps rallies, where his supporters set up open-air markets of hate and conspiracy, selling Confederate flags and T-shirts that mock his opponents and the media. In conservative news outlets, where the language of revolution and civil war is commonplace. On Mr. Trumps Twitter feed, which has amplified white supremacists, anti-Semites and anti-Muslim extremists.On Thursday night, he took to that Twitter feed again to post a video message condemning the mob while taking no responsibility for inviting it to Washington or inspiring its actions. You do not represent our country, he said to the rioters, before moments later nodding to all of our wonderful supporters. On Friday night, Twitter permanently suspended Mr. Trumps account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.Whether the mob represents a fringe of the American political spectrum or a growing movement increasingly opposed to democratic norms is an essential question at the end of the Trump era, when it is clear that progress to some is seen as an affront to others.Its not surprising to see insurrectionists swarm the Capitol when the federal government is run by people who have made it the project of the Republican Party to dismantle the federal government, said Representative Mondaire Jones, a newly sworn-in Democrat from New York. He added that these leaders articulated this false narrative of a federal government that seeks to oppress the rights of the American people.Like other lawmakers on Thursday, Mr. Jones acknowledged that it was easier to diagnose the causes of the chaos than to craft solutions. The forces that helped Democrats send Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Kamala Harris to the White House are real. So is a widening gap between liberal and conservative movements, and the fact that as the United States has increasingly incorporated Black Americans, people of color, immigrants and Native Americans into the democratic fabric, it has come at a cost.Mr. Biden addressed the fallout as he introduced his designees for the Justice Department on Thursday afternoon.He framed it as a wake-up call to a country that has at times feigned ignorance of this reality: The most ardent portions of Mr. Trumps white base are engulfed by a toxic mix of conspiracy theories and racism.No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesters yesterday that they wouldnt have been treated very differently than the mob that stormed the Capitol, Mr. Biden said.His administration, he promised, would meet the moment as a policy challenge. More than anything, we need to restore the honor, the integrity and the independence of the Department of Justice in this nation, he said.But the mob tested more than policy or ideology. The intentions of the presidents supporters struck at an idea at the core of the American experiment that, in time, the countrys commitment to democracy will overtake its history of intolerance.Mr. Biden has made clear he believes that the Republican Party, from its base to its top elected officials, will break from the hard-line posture of Mr. Trump and work with Democrats and his cabinet. He has selected experienced cabinet leaders with that mission in mind, intended to restore faith in American institutions through familiar faces and ideological moderation.In emergency remarks from Delaware on Wednesday, the day of the unrest, Mr. Biden repeated his familiar refrain: The scenes of chaos at the Capitol do not reflect a true America, do not represent who we are.Some civil rights leaders said they took away the opposite message, that it was time to recognize the scope of the challenges facing the country, not dismiss them as fringe. It was a message intended for Mr. Biden, both political parties, and the most powerful corporations in the country.Representative Maxine Waters of California, a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said the images should be a jarring reminder of the countrys bloody struggle against injustice.That Confederate flag conjured up, for me, the many Black people who have died as a result of racism, she said in a phone interview.ImageCredit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesIn some ways, the week brings the political era defined by Mr. Trump back to where it began. Years before he announced his presidential run at Trump Tower in New York, he led the spread of birtherism, a potent mix of conspiracy theory and racism that sought to delegitimize President Barack Obama.His 2016 presidential run was full of similar misinformation and prejudice. He refused to denounce the endorsement of the Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke; insinuated that a Mexican-American judge could not fairly adjudicate; and allowed a questioner in New Hampshire to say, unchallenged, that Mr. Obama was a Muslim who was not even an American.During his time in office, Mr. Trumps supporters have taken his actions as tacit approval and begun to organize online, outside the gaze of mainstream news outlets and with the encouragement of some Republican officials.Death of a Nation, a documentary made by the conservative provocateur Dinesh DSouza, compared the Democratic Party to Nazi Germany and urged the audience to resist by all means necessary. It had a star-studded red carpet reception in Washington with appearances from Donald Trump Jr., the presidents son, and Housing Secretary Ben Carson. Republican House members held watch parties as campaign fund-raisers, as did some local Republican Party groups.In Arizona, a battleground state where Republicans rely on turnout among white rural conservatives to overpower Democratic votes in urban centers, the state party chair, Kelli Ward, and Representative Paul Gosar have appeared at events like a Patriotism Over Socialism rally and a gathering called Trumpstock, which paired public figures associated with the president and speakers that included open white nationalists who threatened violence if Mr. Trump lost re-election. At Trumpstock, supporters of the president spoke casually and openly about violence and insisted that they were not white supremacists, despite their racist language. They were patriots.Mr. Trump and his allies have not condemned such sentiments, but praised them. When he spoke to the marchers this week in Washington, many of whom had traveled to the capital after attending similar local events, the president framed their actions in the same apocalyptic terms used in Mr. DSouzas movie the country was at a crossroads and in need of saving.Youll never take back our country with weakness, Mr. Trump said to the crowd. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.With Mr. Trump on his way out, however, the Republican Party has a choice. Its congressional ranks include some more moderate figures who have denounced the president and his message, but also firebrands who have become the favorites of the partys base.Senator Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012 and a vocal critic of Mr. Trump, was harassed on a plane this week by people who were flying to attend Wednesdays rally. Figures like Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama have doubled down claiming without evidence that left-wing groups like antifa infiltrated the crowds in Washington to sow discord.ImageCredit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesRashad Robinson, the president of the civil rights group Color of Change, said Mr. Biden must be emboldened by the presidential results in November and, perhaps, by disgust at the events in Washington. He said the incoming Democratic administration should make racial justice a governing priority, not just an idea to pay lip service to on the trail.In 2020, for the first time ever, racial justice became a majoritarian issue at the polls, Mr. Robinson said. Now we have to do the work to make sure that what is a majority issue actually becomes a governing majority. Because that is how you make a democracy function when the will of the people are actually delivered on.He added: We dont get racial justice out of a true democracy. We get a true democracy out of racial justice.That admission strikes at the countrys long-held racial myths, and requires an acknowledgment that full American democracy is not centuries old and static, but fragile and relatively new.The road to the Civil Rights Act was paved with Black death, like the killings of the 13-year-old Virgil Lamar Ware and the 14-year-old Emmett Till. And for every Raphael Warnock, who will become the first Black Georgian to serve in the Senate, there are descendants of Black sharecroppers who are still mired in poverty, stuck in the generational cycle of inequality that stretches from the political to social and economic.Ms. Waters, the congresswoman, was a teacher in Watts, Calif., in the 1960s. She played a pivotal role in restoring order in Los Angeles after the rebellion in 1991, after city police officers beat Rodney King.Still, she said, seeing the symbols of hate on display on Wednesday made her fear for her life. And if some are surprised that so few of the people who forced their way into the Capitol were arrested or shot, they shouldnt be. The mob was white.When I looked out on that crowd, I didnt see any Black people all I saw was determined and angry white faces, Ms. Waters said. The white people of this country are going to have to take responsibility, and theyre the ones that are going to have to help change the thinking.",3
"April 3, 2016BRITO, Nicaragua A Spanish explorer conducted the first survey to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans here in the 16th century. Napoleon III of France dreamed about it. The railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt briefly had rights to do it. Nicaraguas history is littered with dozens of failed canal schemes.But when a Chinese billionaire, Wang Jing, officially broke ground in a field outside this sleepy Pacific Coast village about a year ago, many Nicaraguans believed that this time, finally, they would get their canal.And not a small one, either. Three times as long and twice as deep as the Panama Canal, it would slice 170 miles across the southern part of the country bulldozing through fragile ecosystems, virgin forests and scenes of incredible beauty. It would allow for the passage of the worlds largest ships, vessels the length of skyscrapers that are too big for the Panama Canal.Yet 16 months later, Mr. Wangs project it would be the largest movement of earth in the planets history is shrouded in mystery and producing angry protests here. President Daniel Ortega has not talked about the canal in public for months. And there are no visible signs of progress. Cows graze in the field where Mr. Wang officially began the project.Experts say they are baffled by Mr. Wangs canal. It may be backed by the Chinese government, part of its growing interest in Latin America, or may simply be a private investment cast adrift by the convulsions of Chinas stock markets and its slowing economy.At the time of the groundbreaking in December 2014, the Chinese government said it was not involved with the project. This and Mr. Wangs recent setbacks he has reportedly lost about 80 percent of his $10 billion fortune make some experts say the deal is probably dead.Others, however, say Chinese business practices are so opaque that it is hard to tell. Facilitating the movement of goods from the Pacific to the Atlantic aligns with Chinese interests, and the cost of the project is hardly an obstacle if the Chinese government wants to go forward if it is involved.ImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesOfficials of Mr. Wangs company say they are simply taking more time to do preconstruction studies.Its a project that has been notoriously nontransparent, said Margaret Myers, the director of the China and Latin America program at Inter-American Dialogue, a policy institute in Washington. She says she believes the project is probably dead for lack of funds, but like most experts is not sure.What does seem clear is that the projects critics environmentalists, human rights advocates and economists have grown more outspoken and organized. In this part of the country, many homeowners have stenciled Go Away Chinese on the sides of their houses, and virtually all the re-election posters for Mr. Ortega have been hit with black paint balls.When he announced the deal in 2013, Mr. Ortega, a left-wing guerrilla turned pro-business politician, promised that the canal would transform Nicaragua and create hundreds of thousands of jobs, eventually doubling the countrys gross domestic product. Many Nicaraguans, eager for a better future, embraced the idea, and many still do.But a growing number say the benefits of the deal are not so clear.Some question whether the canal would even be commercially viable. Few supertankers and massive container ships now afloat will not be able to pass through the expanded Panama Canal set to open soon. And few ports are big enough to welcome those megaships. In the short term, some experts say, the combination of the Panama and Nicaragua canals would lead to overcapacity and price wars.There are also concerns about the seismic activity in the area, or the many volcanos. Some analysts point to Chinas poor record on environmental matters and Mr. Wangs inexperience in building anything, let alone a $50 billion (some say $80 billion) canal carving through miles of protected areas that are home to many endangered species, including the jaguar, and legally recognized indigenous lands. The little-known Mr. Wang made his fortune in telecommunications, not in construction.And then there is the 50-mile trench to be dug on the floor of Lake Nicaragua, the largest body of fresh water in Central America which many fear could end up contaminating, even killing, the lake.Economists and human rights activists also object to the powers Mr. Wang has to expropriate land at far less than market rates, saying the terms of Mr. Wangs concession could discourage anyone else from investing in Nicaragua.That aspect has prompted protests from farmers, some of which have turned violent. Experts say Mr. Wang will have to pay only the assessed value, or about 5 percent of the market value, for any lands he takes. But many farmers would not be entitled to even that. In a country that is short of adequate roads and government offices, many do not have formal title to the fields they have cultivated for generations.Juan Sebastin Chamorro, the general director of the Funides research institute, who has come out against the canal, said the agreement with Mr. Wang, rushed through Parliament and enshrined in the Constitution, effectively made no landowner safe anywhere in the country.In theory, if Mr. Wang wanted to take this building we are sitting in right now for his project, he could, Mr. Chamorro said, his hand sweeping across his office in downtown Managua, the capital. Who would want to buy or build here with that possibility hanging over their heads?Mr. Chamorro said that the majority of the construction jobs would not go to Nicaraguans and that Panama did not become prosperous until it won control of its canal. That is unlikely to happen here for 100 years, according to the agreement with Mr. Wang, which he can sell to a third party.Under the current plan, the canal would begin along a stretch of pristine beach in Brito, then cut through Lake Nicaragua, which, with two volcanoes rising out of it, is one of the countrys major tourist destinations. It would reach the Caribbean coast by cutting through the land of the Rama and Kriol people, in areas that are not accessible by road right now.But the plan is much broader than just a canal. Mr. Wangs vision includes new airports, new ports on both ends of the canal, new lakes in the mountains to make sure the canal has enough water, and new islands in Lake Nicaragua to dispose of excavated sediment and rock.A 1,100-page study of the project, conducted by the British consulting firm ERM and issued five months ago, reinforced the notion of how much is at stake. It recommended further studies in many areas before going forward and noted that a wide range of mitigation efforts would be needed, like reforestation and job training.ImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesSome see hope in those efforts. Jeffrey McCrary, an American fish biologist who lives in Nicaragua and worked on the study, supports the project, saying Mr. Wangs company will have to provide money to clean up environmental damage already caused by deforestation, poor land management, crop fumigation and general dumping into Lake Nicaragua.Ive seen that lake, and it is in miserable shape, he said. Are we going to kill a lot of fish to build the canal? Yeah, we are. But without the canal, I think we are doomed.Kamilo Lara, a member of the Nicaragua Canal Commission, a group appointed by the government to oversee the project, said many critics of the project were political opportunists. Mr. Lara said the canal plan had been adjusted to deal with problem issues, like potential earthquakes, tsunamis and environmental concerns. And people who might be displaced by it, he said, could be moved to small cities with new schools and services they never had before.I have been to China, he said. I saw the incredible capital they have to invest.In answers to written questions, Pang Kwok Wai, the executive vice president of Mr. Wangs company, the Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Company, said Mr. Wang was in talks with potential investors and would announce progress in due form. He said Mr. Wang had already invested about $500 million of his own money.Mr. Pang also said the company, though not obligated to do so, would pay market rates for the land it wanted. We are in Nicaragua to bring progress and play a fair game, he said.In the meantime, speculating about the canal has become a national pastime, though polls show that Nicaraguans grow less inclined to believe that it will be built.We used to talk about it every day, said Carlos Fernando Chamorro, the editor of Confidencial, an investigative magazine. Now we only talk about it every two days.Some still hope it will lift this country out of poverty.But in Brito and the nearby city of Rivas, those who expect to be displaced are angry. Teresa de Jesus Henriquez Delgado, 31, is one of the residents who used a stencil to paint Go Away Chinese! on the outside of her house.I will resist with all of my strength when the bulldozers come to tear down my house, she said. I will fight until I die. I have to for my children. They cant take this land from my family.",6
"Fact Check of the DayIn a wide-ranging campaign speech, the president spread inaccuracies on health care, the steel industry, military spending and Representative Maxine Waters. June 28, 2018President Trump mounted a case for electing more Republicans to Congress in November with misleading attacks on Democrats and exaggerated boasts of his achievements at a campaign rally in Fargo, N.D., on Wednesday night.He was in Fargo to stump for Representative Kevin Cramer, a Republican, who is trying to unseat the states Democratic senator, Heidi Heitkamp. During the speech, Mr. Trump warned that Ms. Heitkamp would vote against his nomination to replace Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who had announced his retirement from the Supreme Court on Wednesday. (Ms. Heitkamp voted for his previous Supreme Court nominee, Neil M. Gorsuch.)Mr. Trump also updated his familiar stump speech and its repeated inaccuracies with a few new claims. Heres a fact check. what was said We just came out with the association plan, which is phenomenal. Millions and millions of people are signing up. the facts False. This month, the Trump administration announced a new rule that would allow small businesses to join together and set up association health plans. But Mr. Trump is counting his enrollees before the plans hatch. Under the rule, association plans will not be offered until at least Sept. 1, so it is impossible that millions and millions have already enrolled under the rule. The association plans may not have to provide essential health benefits that the Affordable Care Act requires for individual and small group market plans. These benefits include coverage for maternity care, mental health care and prescription drugs. As a result, the new plans could be cheaper and lure younger, healthier people away from Affordable Care Act marketplaces, driving up costs for those plans. The Congressional Budget Office projected that about 4 million people would enroll in these association health plans by 2023. Avalere, a health consulting firm, estimated that 3.2 million would enroll by 2022, up from an initial enrollment of 130,000 by 2019. what was said Maxine. Shes a beauty. I mean, she practically was telling people the other day to assault. Can you imagine if I said the things she said? the facts This is misleading. Mr. Trump is embellishing remarks made by Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, and falsely suggesting he has not urged physical violence himself. At a rally in Los Angeles on Saturday, Ms. Waters urged those who are opposed policies that result in the separation of immigrant children from their families to confront top Trump administration officials.Lets make sure we show up wherever we have to show up, she said. And if you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them and you tell them theyre not welcome anymore, anywhere. Mr. Trumps supporters have interpreted her use of the term push back as violence, but Ms. Waters has denied calling for harm and argues she only sought peaceful protest. (For what its worth, the White House itself has used push back numerous times in reference to, among other things, Californias immigration laws, criticism of the C.I.A. director, and reporting from The New York Times). Mr. Trump is wrong that he, himself, has never encouraged violence. During the 2016 campaign, he urged his supporters to rough up protesters, lamented the old days when protesters would be carried out on a stretcher and explicitly told supporters to knock the crap out of them. what was said United States Steel is opening up six plants through expansion, and new. the facts False. Mr. Trump announced that he would impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in March. But since then, the United States Steel Corp. has not announced the opening of a single new plant, let alone six. The company has announced that it would restart two blast furnaces at a plant in Granite City, Ill., one in March and the second in June. Mr. Trump may have been referring to each individual component of the steel-making process at Granite City as its own plant, an analyst explained to the Washington Post Fact Checker, but those parts are not new either. what was said The Democrats are always fighting against funding for the military, and funding for law enforcement. the facts This is exaggerated. Mr. Trump signed into law a $700 billion military spending bill into law in December and most Democrats voted for it. Those who voted against the bill in the Senate included three Republicans, four Democrats and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. In the House, 63 Democrats voted against the bill, but 127 Democrats supported it. OTHER claimsMr. Trump also repeated numerous claims that The New York Times has previously debunked: He falsely said Democrats want open borders and crime (most Democrats have voted for border security measures). He wrongly asserted that Representative Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, wants to protect the gang MS-13 (she has not said that).He exaggerated the number of MS-13 members who have been deported as in the thousands (this is not possible). He misleadingly claimed to have already started to build a border wall (construction has not begun).He exaggerated the United States trade deficit with the European Union as $151 billion (its $101 billion).He falsely claimed that the European Union does not import American cars (it does). He falsely boasted that wages are rising for the first time in 22 years (theyve been rising for several years). And he claimed to have saved our family farms and our small businesses by eliminating the estate tax (the tax affected only about 80 small businesses or farms last year). Source: Timothy Jost, Department of Labor, Federal Register, Congressional Budget Office, Avalere, The New York Times, YouTube, CNN, MSNBC, Washington Post Fact Checker, congress.gov, United States Steel Corporation website",3
"Feb. 19, 2014BEIJING Chinas anti-monopoly regulator said on Wednesday that the American chip maker Qualcomm was suspected of overcharging and abusing its market position, allegations that could lead to record fines of more than $1 billion.The regulator, the National Development and Reform Commission, which is also the governments main economic planning body, said it was in talks with another American technology company, InterDigital, which develops patent technologies for wireless devices and networks, about a possible settlement to a separate anti-monopoly investigation.Foreign companies, including Apple and GlaxoSmithKline, are facing tougher scrutiny as China targets key industries to protect consumers from bloated prices and second-rate products.In its first public statements about the Qualcomm investigation, the commission said it had begun making enquiries after receiving complaints that the chip maker was charging higher prices in China than it did in other countries.We received reports from relevant associations and companies that Qualcomm abuses its dominant position in the market and charges discriminatory fees, Xu Kunlin, who heads the commissions anti-monopoly and price supervision bureau, told a news conference in Beijing.The commissions investigations of Qualcomm and InterDigital are part of a focus on information technology providers, especially companies that license patent technology for mobile devices and networks. Industry experts say the commission is trying to lower domestic costs as China rolls out its faster 4G mobile networks this year.Earlier this month, the China Mobile Communications Industry Association said it had filed a complaint against Qualcomm for overcharging for use of its patents.Under the anti-monopoly law, the commission can impose fines of between 1 percent and 10 percent of a companys revenues for the previous year. Qualcomm earned $12.3 billion in China for its financial year that ended September 29, representing nearly half of its global sales.The commission said it conducted raids at Qualcomms Beijing headquarters and at its Shanghai offices in November.Officials subsequently met with William Bold, Qualcomms senior vice president for government affairs, and Fabian Gonell, vice president and counsel for technology licensing, in December, Xinhua, the state-run news agency, reported.Christine Trimble, a Qualcomm spokeswoman, said Wednesday that the company was cooperating with the investigation. We havent seen the transcript of todays press conference, but we intend to continue cooperating fully with the N.D.R.C., she said. The N.D.R.C. has advised us the investigation is confidential.Any settlement with Qualcomm or InterDigital is likely to include commitments to lower patent licensing fees for Chinese customers, analysts say, along with a fine.Lu Yanchun, a senior commission official, said InterDigital had to make promises on what steps it will take in light of problems weve raised about its licensing.InterDigital had been very cooperative and had taken some positive steps, Mr. Lu said.Executives from InterDigital, which is based in Delaware, met with commission officials on Jan. 3 to discuss ways to resolve the investigation, according to a stock-exchange filing.In a statement in December, InterDigital apologized for misunderstanding Chinese laws, and the company said its executives had feared arrest if they were to travel to Beijing.Also Wednesday, the National Development and Reform Commission said it had been collecting evidence of possible anti-competitive behavior in the countrys auto-parts market.In December, foreign carmakers were accused by Chinese state television of charging customers more for repairs in China than in other markets.We have always been watching, conducting informal investigations and collecting information, said Mr. Xu, the head of the anti-monopoly bureau. But he added that the agency had not officially set up the case.The commission, which is increasing its oversight of price gouging and monopolies, has initiated a number of investigations into Chinese and foreign companies over the past year.In August, the regulator fined six infant-formula manufacturers, including Mead Johnson Nutrition, Danone and Fonterra, a record $110 million after an investigation into price fixing and anti-competitive practices.",5
"Asia Pacific|Lawyer in Blasphemy Case Flees Pakistanhttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/03/world/asia/blasphemy-case-lawyer-pakistan.htmlCredit...B.K. Bangash/Associated PressNov. 3, 2018The lawyer for a Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy charges after spending eight years on death row in Pakistan has fled the country, fearing for his safety, her brother said Saturday.James Masih said Asia Bibis lawyer, Saiful Malook, left Pakistan, without providing further details. Mr. Malooks phone was switched off.Pakistans top court acquitted Ms. Bibi on Wednesday and ordered her release in a move that infuriated the countrys hard-line Islamists, who have held nationwide protests demanding her execution.The government reached a deal with the Islamists overnight in which it agreed to impose a travel ban on Ms. Bibi while the case is reviewed. In return, the Islamists halted their protests, which had blocked roads and brought life to a standstill in parts of the country.Mr. Malook told The Associated Press earlier this week that he would have to leave Pakistan because the followers of hard-line cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi had threatened to kill him as well as the judges who acquitted Ms. Bibi.The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that Mr. Malook passed through Rome en route to Amsterdam. It said he would speak at a conference in Amsterdam next week before permanently relocating to London.Blasphemy against Islam is punishable by death in Pakistan, and the mere rumor has caused lynchings in the past.Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab Province, was shot and killed by one of his guards in 2011 for defending Ms. Bibi and criticizing the misuse of the law. The assassin, Mumtaz Qadri, was hanged for the crime, but later was hailed by religious hard-liners as a martyr, with millions visiting a shrine set up for him near Islamabad. Mr. Malook had served as the prosecutor in Mr. Qadris trial.Ms. Bibi was arrested in 2009 on allegations that she insulted the Prophet Muhammad during an altercation with other farmworkers. Her family and lawyers deny she ever insulted Islam.Rights groups have called for Ms. Bibis release and criticized the blasphemy law, saying it has been used to settle scores or abuse religious minorities. The court upheld the blasphemy law, but said there was not enough evidence to convict Ms. Bibi.Pakistans Supreme Court has not been known to reverse its decisions, but court reviews typically take years. Ms. Bibis ordeal looks set to continue until the review is completed.Ms. Bibis family had expected her release by Thursday night. Her husband, Ashiq Masih, returned from Britain with their children in mid-October and was waiting for her release so that they could fly out of Pakistan. Though the family has not disclosed her destination, France and Spain have offered asylum.",6
"DealBook|BTG Pactual and the Perils of Supervoting Stockhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/04/business/dealbook/btg-pactual-and-the-perils-of-supervoting-stock.htmlBreakingviewsDec. 3, 2015BTG Pactual offers a case against companies issuing multiple classes of stock. The investment banks former boss, Andr Esteves, who is incarcerated, has ceded voting control in a stock swap with his partners. Its a neat fix, but reveals yet another risk of supervoting stock. Investors in companies with similar structures like Google, Moelis & Company and nearly every major media firm should take heed.Mr. Esteves was arrested on Nov. 25 on suspicion of obstructing an investigation into corruption at Petrobras, Brazils state-owned oil company, and is being kept in jail pending trial. This week he stepped down from his executive roles at BTG Pactual. Such a scandal is damaging enough for any bank, which relies on investor confidence to function. But Mr. Esteves also owned about a quarter of the companys equity, and his golden share gave him veto power over strategic decisions.ImageCredit...Paulo Fridman for The New York TimesSwapping seven senior partners nonvoting preferred stock for Mr. Esteves stake appears to have resolved this aspect of the scandal. A terse release put out by the company did not offer any details on the terms but did explain that he no longer controls the company and that the exchange was pursuant to its bylaws.That last point appears to show that BTG Pactual had at least prepared for extracting itself from its entrenched shareholder if things went awry. This form of key-man risk, though, does not get anywhere near the attention of a top employee dying or quitting the firm.More American firms are opting for dual-class stock. It gives Ken Moelis more than 90 percent of the vote at his mergers and acquisitions firm. Last year, Google introduced a third class of stock, which has no votes, to ensure the founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page retain absolute control. Its simply not obvious how these and other firms with multiple classes of shares will deal with unexpected situations. Bylaws to deal with them may not exist at all, may not cover all eventualities, or could be disputed.Supervoting stock creates a host of problems. It makes companies harder to analyze, creates a risk a firm will not be run in the best interest of all investors and encourages insiders to think of a corporation as their fief. What happens when an unexpected event such as an accusation of crime, or mental incapacity affects a controlling shareholder is a risk that deserves more investor attention.",0
"Credit...Pool photo by Alexander HassensteinOn SoccerWhen the Bundesliga resumed its season without fans, it became a valuable laboratory. Other leagues should take note of what it learned.Home teams were less likely to win without fans in the stands, an analysis of Bundesliga matches showed.Credit...Pool photo by Alexander HassensteinJuly 1, 2020Germanys privilege was also its risk. On May 16, the Bundesliga became the first major league in any sport in the world to tread gingerly into the light of the post-coronavirus world and attempt to play on. To some, it was a purely financial decision, evidence of soccers lost soul. To others, it was existential pragmatism, the only way to ensure survival.Either way, the Bundesliga became a trailblazer, a reference point for all the other leagues trying to find their way out of lockdown. Englands Premier League has credited its German rival with accelerating its own return, and Bundesliga executives reported fielding calls from their counterparts in major North American sports who were eager to pick their brains.But more than that, the Bundesligas comeback turned into a grand experiment, one that could answer some of soccers, and to some extent sports, biggest questions.For decades, studies have examined the role fans play in the worlds most popular game: How much do they contribute to home advantage? Does their presence affect the way teams play? Would their absence materially alter the nature of the game?The Bundesligas data offers the first glimmer of an answer to some of those questions, and an unwelcome glimpse into some of the games mechanics.Fans Are the Home-Field AdvantageImageCredit...Matthias Balk/DPA, via Associated PressIf the last six weeks proved anything, it was that players thanking fans for their support after a game is more than a platitude. Home-field advantage has long been far more significant in soccer than in most other sports. The great, unwelcome experiment running in Germany since May has demonstrated that what constitutes that advantage is not mere familiarity but, largely, the fans.The performances of home teams in the Bundesliga have, for all intents and purposes, collapsed in front of empty stands. The number of home victories slipped by 10 percentage points, to 33 percent of matches in empty stadiums from 43 percent in full ones. The change has been so extreme, in fact, that Lukas Keppler, a managing director of the data and analytics firm Impect, noted a sort of negative home advantage. For the first time in soccer history, he said, it has appeared, at times, to be easier to be playing on the road. According to data provided by another analysis firm, Gracenote, home teams scored fewer goals than they had in full stadiums (1.74 to 1.43 per game), leading to a decline in goal scoring over all.They also took fewer shots (a decrease of 10 percent), and those that they did take were worse. (The probability of any given shot ending up as a goal dropped more than a point, to 11.11 percent.) Home teams, the research found, also attempted fewer crosses, won fewer corners and tried fewer dribbles.By almost every attacking metric, Bundesliga teams were worse while playing in an empty home stadium. Most curiously, goalkeepers performed better away from home than they did on their own turf: The percentage of shots saved dropped noticeably for goalkeepers on familiar territory, but increased for those on visiting teams.Its a particularly odd finding, said Simon Gleave, Gracenotes head of sports analysis, because its the same goalkeepers, playing home and away.The Referee Is No Longer a HomerImageCredit...Pool photo by Kai PfaffenbachAnother aspect of home-field advantage that has been exposed in Germany is the impact a crowd can have on a referee. A considerable body of academic research, in fact, has long suggested that all or part of home advantage is down to refereeing decisions being subconsciously in favor of the home team, Gleave pointed out.That idea now can step out off the page and into real life. In the 83 matches Gracenote analyzed, home teams were penalized more for fouls in empty stadiums than they generally were when the stands were full. They also had seen, perhaps not surprisingly, an increase in the number of yellow cards they were awarded.Both teams committed more fouls in empty stadiums than they had in full ones perhaps a sign that referees, without a crowd to consider, have felt empowered to enforce the rules more rigidly. But there has been a significant shift in culpability: After the restart, hosts committed more fouls than their guests.The increase in yellow cards and fouls by the home team in matches behind closed doors appears to confirm the hypothesis, Gleave said. Indeed, in empty stadiums, visiting players no longer need to feel they are playing against 12 opponents. The corollary of that, of course, is perhaps more significant: In normal times, perhaps the field was not quite as even as it should have been.(Lack of) Intensity Is in the MindImageCredit...Ina Fassbender/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesThat first weekend, the players felt it. There was no wall of sound to greet them as they entered the field, no roar to urge them on after a setback, no delirium to greet a goal.Empty stands seemed to sap games of their urgency and intimidating stadiums of their hostility. At least one player noted motivation to strain that final sinew, to make that last burst was more elusive in the silence. Many fans, watching on, seemed to detect the same lack of intensity.The data, though, does not bear that out. According to the Bundesliga which tracks and records its own analytics, and then feeds the numbers back to its clubs players sprinted a little more, and teams made marginally more high-intensity runs, in games held in empty stadiums than they had previously this season.The game does not appear to be any less intense at all without fans, Keppler said. Though most teams performance varied only a little, he noted that Bayern Munich, the team that had the most sprints before the coronavirus break, could even increase their rate afterward.Bayern on its way to recording an eighth consecutive championship was not as impressive as Hertha Berlin, though. Inspired by a new coach, Bruno Labbadia, Hertha went from producing 211 sprints in a game to 238 (bettered only by Bayern and Augsburg), and managed almost 100 more high-intensity runs per game.Dortmund, meanwhile, slumped, enduring the largest drop in those two metrics of any team in Germany. The lesson, perhaps, is that the presence of fans is not as significant to a teams intensity as having something to play for. Where Herthas players had a new coach to impress and a season to save, Dortmund was drifting to yet another year in Bayerns shadow. That, rather than the empty stands, drew its sting.The End of EntertainmentImageCredit...Friedemann Vogel/EPA, via ShutterstockWhile industry and effort might have remained unchanged, Gleave saw in his figures fewer shots, fewer dribbles, fewer home wins proof that something was missing.His conclusion, one that many fans watching might instinctively uphold, is that the urge to entertain diminishes if there is nobody to respond. Games since the restart have featured, on average, 16 more passes than normal, a signal to Gleave that players, subconsciously or not, are choosing to pass the ball rather than attempt plays which would normally get fans on their feet.And yet similar data sets can give rise to different conclusions. Impects signature statistic is a metric called packing: a way of measuring how many opponents are bypassed by each and every action whether a pass or a dribble a player makes. It measures the effectiveness of a teams buildup, Keppler said, and it has been, essentially, unchanged since the restart. The overall quality of the game remained the same.That finding is not necessarily contrary to Gleaves data, and it is not a riposte to Arsne Wengers assertion that soccer would lose some of its magic if it endured a prolonged period without fans. Teams run just as much as they did. They are no less talented than they were in March.But the absence of fans the cavernous stadiums, the oppressive silence, the sense of unreality changed, somehow, the way the players expressed that talent, the way they approached the game. It created a more cautious, more mechanical approach, focused on the end result more than the process.The Bundesligas return in May was confirmation that soccer was, first and foremost, a business, more than a game. What the experiment of the last six weeks has shown is that is precisely what it became.",4
"Credit...Jessica Chou for The New York TimesThe F.T.C. chairman seems to have the votes to approve a settlement. One of the biggest issues has been whether to hold Mark Zuckerberg liable for future violations.Whether a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission should hold Mark Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive, liable for future mishandling of users data has been a point of contention in talks.Credit...Jessica Chou for The New York TimesMay 4, 2019WASHINGTON Facebooks announcement in late April that it had set aside $3 billion to $5 billion to settle claims that it mishandled users personal data suggested a strong consensus by federal regulators that the social media giant needed to be held accountable.But the reality behind the scenes at the Federal Trade Commission is far more complicated, reflecting the politics and give-and-take of the negotiations.The F.T.C.s five commissioners agreed months ago that they wanted to pursue a historic penalty that would show the agencys teeth. But now, the members are split on the size and scope of the tech companys punishment, according to three people with knowledge of the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity.The division is complicating the final days of the talks.Along with disagreement about the appropriate financial penalty, one of the most contentious undercurrents throughout the negotiations has been the degree to which Mark Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive, should be held personally liable for any violation of a 2011 agreement, according to two of the people.Facebook has put up a fierce fight, saying Mr. Zuckerberg should not be held legally responsible for the actions of all 35,000 of his employees.The talks could fall apart, but negotiations are moving forward and are expected to conclude within days, with an announcement made soon after. This account of the F.T.C.s investigation of Facebook is based on interviews with a half dozen people.Joseph J. Simons, the commissions Republican chairman, appeared to have the votes of the other two Republican commissioners, giving him the three needed to approve a deal. But a 3-to-2 decision along party lines, which Mr. Simons has said he wants to avoid, could lead to strong rebukes on Capitol Hill.The stakes are enormous for the agency and Mr. Simons. The case is being closely watched globally as a litmus test on how the United States government will police the countrys tech giants.The commission has a reputation of pulling some punches, particularly in contrast with regulators in Europe, who have pursued forceful action on both privacy and antitrust issues. The largest F.T.C. fine against a tech company was $22.5 million against Google in 2012, for misleading users about how some of its tools were tracking them.ImageCredit...Andr Chung for The New York TimesAny settlement will also be looked at as a measure of the Trump administrations willingness to penalize one of the countrys most valuable and influential companies. The administration has whittled away regulations in many industries, but President Trump has repeatedly said tech giants like Facebook and Amazon have too much power.Many Democrats have led efforts to rein in Silicon Valleys power.This is a hugely important decision because it will be watched by all these big companies to see if there is actually going to be a new day on the enforcement front, said Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who has pushed for Mr. Zuckerberg to be held personally liable in any settlement.Rohit Chopra, one of the two Democrats on the commission, has publicly urged stronger punishment of repeated offenders of F.T.C. rules.But Mr. Simons has appeared unwilling to force the issue and drag the case to court, which could be a risky move. He has recently intensified his efforts to get at least one of the two Democrats on his side, according to one of the people with knowledge of the talks. But the internal disagreements have held up a final agreement.In addition to the fine, Facebook has agreed, as part of a proposed settlement, to create new positions that would be focused on privacy policies and compliance, two of the people said. The agency, in coordination with the company, would set up an independent committee to oversee Facebooks privacy efforts. That committee and the F.T.C. would appoint an outside assessor to monitor the companys handling of data.The company has also agreed to assign an executive as a privacy compliance officer, making privacy oversight a job within the top ranks, the people said. Mr. Zuckerberg could be given the job, according to one person with knowledge of the talks, although another person expressed doubts.But the settlement probably wont include limits on Facebooks ability to track users and share data with its partners, mandates that privacy advocates have raised as important for regulation in the United States, and that Facebook has fought. Mr. Simons has argued that the settlement proposal sets a new bar for enforcement of privacy violations and wants to avoid litigation that risks losing that opportunity.Five billion dollars is a lot of money, said David Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown University and a former head of consumer protection for the F.T.C. And at the end of the day, it is not in the commissions interest to go to trial, because there is no guarantee they will get relief beyond whats already on the table.The F.T.C. and Facebook declined to comment for this article.The roots of the investigation stem from a case that Facebook settled with the agency in 2011. The company was accused of deceiving consumers about how it handled their data. As part of the settlement, it said it would overhaul its privacy practices.In March 2018, The New York Times and The Observer of London reported that Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm that had worked for Mr. Trumps presidential campaign, had used a vast trove of Facebook data to compile voter profiles. The agency then opened an investigation into whether the company had violated the 2011 agreement.ImageCredit...Guerin Blask for The New York TimesFacebook has apologized for reacting slowly to the revelations about Cambridge Analytica. But the company has said an academic researcher with access to the data broke its rules by sharing the data with the consulting firm.At the same time, sentiment in Washington was turning against Big Tech. It had become clear that Russia used online services to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. YouTube, Twitter and Facebook were being blamed for the spread of harmful content and fake news. Politicians like Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is now running for the Democratic presidential nomination, were accusing Amazon of unfair labor practices.Weeks after the investigation started, Mr. Simons, a longtime Republican antitrust lawyer, was sworn in to lead the agency. Two other Republicans, Noah Phillips and Christine Wilson, and two Democrats, Rebecca Slaughter and Mr. Chopra, were confirmed by the Senate as the other commissioners at the same time.All five first met to discuss the Facebook case in December. The commissions staff said they had found several violations of the 2011 agreement and a corporate culture that did not make privacy a priority, according to two people with knowledge of the talks.There was wide agreement among the commissioners that the charges against Facebook appeared strong and that they should respond vigorously, according to the two people.In the days and weeks after that meeting, staff members began to discuss a potential fine and other penalties with the commissioners. A fine far above $7 billion appeared to have strong agreement, according to one of the people.Staff members and commissioners also began talking about making Mr. Zuckerberg personally liable, meaning that he could be named as a defendant in a future case.In an early version of the complaint and proposed settlement, Mr. Zuckerberg was named as a responsible party, the two people said. The focus on Mr. Zuckerberg was first reported by The Washington Post.Facebook pushed back on the inclusion of Mr. Zuckerberg, saying it would not agree to that in a settlement.Democrats in Washington have recently been pushing for more accountability for top executives of companies under scrutiny.Soon after he joined the F.T.C., Mr. Chopra wrote a memo to all staff members saying the agency should address management deficiencies through structural remedies, including the dismissal of senior management.Mr. Simons has also publicly called for stronger enforcement of tech companies. But at a privacy conference in Washington on Thursday, he described the big trade-offs in naming chief executives in complaints.When you get to a position when threatening to name individuals and make them personally liable, companies are less likely to settle and you end up having to litigate a lot more than you would otherwise, Mr. Simons said. You have to think are you getting sufficient relief for consumers without having to name these people as a sufficient deterrent.Republican lawmakers would probably criticize an order that included Mr. Zuckerberg in the complaint.Its one thing if Facebook were an entity that itself couldnt be held liable, Senator Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, said in an interview.To hold a C.E.O. liable is extraordinary and not needed here.A few weeks ago, the commissioners were shown an updated proposed deal. It had a fine of around $5 billion and no mention of liability for Mr. Zuckerberg.The proposal set off a frenzy of discussion among the commissioners and staff members. Soon, details about the discussion began to leak out in the news media.Senior executives at Facebook believed that people within the F.T.C. were divulging details to influence negotiations, according to two people.Facebook, which had $56 billion in revenues in 2018, responded by announcing the expected $3 billion to $5 billion penalty, partly in an effort to set expectations for what the company thought it would finally have to pay, the two people said.Talks between Facebook and agency officials have continued over the past several days. Mr. Simons was trying to persuade Ms. Slaughter, who appeared to side with Mr. Chopra, to see his perspective. The commissioners are expected to vote on the settlement in the coming days.Having a good bipartisan consensus makes a huge difference to the effectiveness of the agency, Mr. Simons said in an interview in February. So I think its very important, and we are trying very hard to do that.",5
"Space & Cosmos|How much does a ticket to space on New Shepard cost? Blue Origin isnt saying.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/13/science/space/blue-origin-ticket-cost.htmlHow much does a ticket to space on New Shepard cost? Blue Origin isnt saying.Oct. 13, 2021, 11:12 a.m. ETOct. 13, 2021, 11:12 a.m. ETCredit...Blue OriginBlue Origin has declined to publicly state a price for a ticket to fly on New Shepard. The company is nearing $100 million in sales so far, Mr. Bezos has said. But its unclear how many ticket holders that includes.We dont know quite yet when Blue Origin will publicly announce a price, Mr. Bezos told reporters in July after his flight to space. Right now were doing really well with private sales.Oliver Daemen, the Dutch teenager aboard Blue Origins first crewed flight in July, was occupying a seat that the company auctioned off for $28 million, a steep number that even shocked some company executives. Of that total, $19 million was donated equally to 19 space organizations.Mr. Daemen, 18, wasnt the winning bidder. His father, a private equity executive, was the runner-up in the auction and was next in line after the actual winner. That individual, who has not been named, plunked down $28 million before postponing their trip over a scheduling conflict, Blue Origin said at the time.Tickets to the edge of space on Virgin Galactics SpaceShipTwo were hiked to $450,000 in August, from $250,000, when the company reopened ticket sales after a yearslong hiatus.Flights to orbit a much higher altitude than Blue Origin or Virgin Galactics trips go are far more expensive. Three passengers to the International Space Station next year are paying $55 million each for their seats on a SpaceX rocket, bought through the company Axiom Space.Many wealthy customers and space company executives see the steep ticket prices as early investments into the nascent space tourism industry, hoping the money they put down can help lower the cost of launching rockets.",7
"A financially troubled Seattle research institute cut back programs, leaving researchers to find new homes for work on infectious diseases like tuberculosis and leprosy.Credit...Grant Hindsley for The New York TimesDec. 13, 2019The future of a tuberculosis vaccine and research into other neglected diseases is in limbo after a Seattle institute abruptly laid off about one-third of its researchers, citing a financial crisis. The sudden staff cutbacks late last month at the Infectious Disease Research Institute have baffled many of the scientists who were also working on a vaccine for leprosy and research into tropical diseases.The layoffs on the day before Thanksgiving also put in jeopardy federal grants for the scientists work. This fall, the National Institutes of Health awarded a contract of up to $45 million to the nonprofit and other collaborating institutions to study the bodys immune response to tuberculosis over several years.Developing an effective vaccine against tuberculosis, the worlds deadliest infectious disease, has been elusive for decades. The only existing vaccine is decades old and is not effective in preventing the most common form of tuberculosis infection, in the lungs. A new vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline has proved promising in early clinical trials, but public health experts said there was a need for a healthy pipeline of additional vaccines to fight the disease, which kills about 1.5 million a year.The 26-year-old Seattle research institute has often struggled financially. It has scrambled to close a gap between research grants from federal and private sources and its overhead costs, and has operated at a loss for years. The founder, Steven G. Reed, stepped down earlier this year from his role as chief executive after years of turmoil in which executives and board members resigned over their dissatisfaction with his leadership.Dr. Reed has defended his work, and is now rushing to raise money to resuscitate the organization. In an interview, the institutes acting chief executive, Dr. Corey Casper, said he inherited the crisis when he took the job in February. He said he had tried for months to save the programs, and had kept senior scientists abreast of the nonprofits status. Thirty-three of the institutes 108 employees, who are mainly researchers, were let go.These were not easy decisions, but they were decisions that had to be made for the continued existence of the organization, Dr. Casper said.Research into drugs and vaccines is notoriously risky, and biotechs often shut down when a clinical trial fails or investors do not materialize. But scientists and other experts in public health said the sudden end to the programs was unusual. ImageCredit...Noah Seelam/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesI find it bizarre, said Dr. Mario C. Raviglione, a global health expert at the University of Milan who led the World Health Organizations global tuberculosis program from 2003 to 2017. Ive never heard about something like this.Dr. Mel Spigelman, president and chief executive of the nonprofit TB Alliance, described the landscape for tuberculosis research as precarious. He said that organizations face an annual shortfall of about $1.5 billion to finance new drugs, tests and vaccines for the disease, a bacterial infection that mainly attacks the lungs and can lie dormant for years. New investments are urgently needed to build on the progress weve seen to date.The potential success of the institutes TB vaccine is unknown. Early-stage clinical trials have begun, and others are planned in a number of countries. Dr. Emily Erbelding, the director of the division of the N.I.H. that oversees the Seattle institutes tuberculosis contract, said that her office had been in near daily communication to sort out how the research could continue, and that it would depend on what happens to the institute in the next few weeks. Several researchers are trying to relocate their work to new institutions. The scientists said they had not been told whether the institute, which owns the rights to the vaccines and other experimental products, would allow them to continue their work.Were a little bit in the dark right now as to how we are going to do this, said Tanya Parish, who oversaw the institutes research into new treatments for tuberculosis. Her research staff was laid off in November, and she said she has been told her own job will end later this month. It sets us back at least six months, she said. We have a lot of ongoing work thats been disrupted, and some work will have to be redone.Dr. Casper said that the institute was also speaking to research institutions to relocate the work, and was also looking to license technology like the vaccines to ensure the research could continue elsewhere. Weve made it very, very transparent to all of our investigators in our departmental programs that we want to do everything we can to enable their work, he said.Since its founding in 1993, the research institute has positioned itself as a nonprofit that operates like a biotech company, with a mission to bring new products to market for neglected diseases like tuberculosis, leprosy and leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease found mainly in the tropics. Early in the institutes history, Dr. Reed and Rhea Coler, the head of the tuberculosis vaccine program, played a role in the development of the GlaxoSmithKline vaccine. The institute also focuses on developing adjuvants, which are used in some vaccines to stimulate the bodys immune response.But like many nonprofits, it has struggled to stay afloat. With revenues of $23.6 million in 2017, it operated at a loss of about $4 million in 2017 and 2016, according to Internal Revenue Service filings. In 2018, its filings showed, it operated at a smaller loss about $47,000.Former executives and board members at the institute pinned much of the blame on Dr. Reed, whom they described as a passionate scientist but expressed concerns about his financial stewardship and potential conflicts of interest, including ties to for-profit companies to which the institute had licensed some of its technology. In the spring of 2018, the institutes chief financial officer, general counsel, board chairman and two of its other board members resigned.One of the concerns was that nobody really seemed to understand how the money was coming in and how it was being spent, said R. Douglas Bradley, the general counsel who stepped down. He said he did not see evidence that Dr. Reed misused funds. There was a moment where it was just clear that his behaviors were not going to change.Dr. Reed said he never did anything improper and acknowledged that keeping the organization going had been a challenge for many years, but weve always met the challenges.Staff members also pointed to the boards decision to award Dr. Casper a new contract, a copy of which was provided to The New York Times. It shows that the board offered Dr. Casper a four-year deal at an annual salary of $405,000. The contract also included a $20,000 bonus for this year. ImageCredit...Grant Hindsley for The New York TimesDr. Casper said he was deferring the raise from his current pay of $365,000 and would not get a bonus this year. In defending the increase, however, he said: Its very challenging to find someone whod be willing to take the risk. Dr. Reed received about $318,000 in 2018 for 32 hours a week, according to the institutes I.R.S. filings. Some researchers questioned the reasons for ending their programs since grants covered their expenses and some administrative costs. Malcolm Duthie, a senior scientist who was told his job would end later this month, was developing a leprosy vaccine financed through grants coordinated by the American Leprosy Missions. We have funded programs, he said. And weve been given very short notice, which basically handcuffs us in terms of being able to take these programs somewhere else.Dr. Casper said the grants did not cover all the overhead costs. If the institute survives, it will focus on three main areas its adjuvants, its manufacturing facility and a technology known as RNA vaccines that are also being pursued by for-profit companies, Dr. Casper said. The institutes board and leadership are vetting potential buyers or investors. Kari Stoever, who was on the board from 2016 to 2018, said she stepped down because the board did not act quickly enough to change the institutes leadership, including Dr. Reed. The institute had trouble staying competitive. Financing tuberculosis vaccines had shrunk in recent years to better coordinate different funding groups, said Ms. Stoever, who has worked for several public health nonprofits. Of the TB vaccines future, she said: Somebody will take it if the science is good. Theyre not going to let an innovation like a new TB vaccine disappear off the planet.Sheelagh McNeill contributed reporting.",2
"TV SportsMissing Costas? Fleeting Glimpses of a Lasting PresenceFeb. 19, 2014Credit...Bob Levey/Getty ImagesHow much time would you guess Bob Costas spends on the air during one of NBCs prime-time Olympic shows? Fifteen or 20 minutes? A half-hour?Costass longevity at the Olympic anchor desk his post since 1992, until an eye infection forced him off the air last week has fed the notion that he is highly visible each night. He is seen regularly, of course: at the start of each broadcast, and when he hands off from one sport to another, conducts interviews, offers bits of historical context and updated medal counts, and promotes the next days broadcast.I dont keep track of how many times Im on or not, Costas said by telephone Wednesday from Sochi, Russia. But it seems it would ebb and flow with how jam-packed an evening is. If Im on 12 times tonight and 6 times last night, Im not aware of it. And I dont care.He has no fixed length of on-screen time. But it turns out hes not on much. In his first two nights back after sitting out six days with the infection, Costas was a visible presence for a mere 5 minutes 28 seconds on Monday and for 10:17 on Tuesday, nearly half of it an interview with the figure skating analysts Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir.Costas was surprised by his figure for Mondays show. If you told me 15 minutes, I would say that sounds right, he said.The on-air totals for Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira, who filled in during Costass convalescence, were just as modest during the three random nights I measured them, ranging from 3:57 to 8:18. (All these times exclude the minute or two of opening narration to set the stage for the night.)The job of the Olympic prime-time host is a peculiar one. It isnt calling a game or moderating discussions. Costas serves as traffic cop and institutional memory. And with the exception of interviews, much of what he does is in modest bits 13 seconds here, 49 seconds there, a minute now and then.If Costas is not seen much, what is he doing? In an Olympics that is recorded for prime-time viewing, as this one is, NBC creates its broadcast piece by piece, and not necessarily in the order they will be aired. When we know how long each package is, Costas said, the writers and I will shape the leads and the tags and write down my observations. Interviews with athletes occur when the athletes are available. Although the first thing Costas did when he got to work Wednesday night (Sochi time) was interview Ted Ligety, the giant slalom gold medalist, their conversation was not scheduled to be seen early in the show.In a live Olympics, Costas said, you need to do more traffic copping, jumping from place to place. But in a taped Olympics, the producers can shape it.Depending on the sports that fit into the nightly jigsaw puzzle, Costas might disappear from the air for long stretches. On Monday night, at around 9:40 p.m. Eastern, Costas wrapped up bobsledding, and NBC headed to the final ice dancing performances. NBC went without Costas for about 90 minutes as it broadcast a dance and a commercial break, the kiss-and-cry, the next routine and a break, and on and on, until Meryl Davis and Charlie White won the gold medal.I dont mind when Im not on, Costas said. I will do as much or as little as you need me to do. If you need to do five minutes and that gets it done, thats fine.If the host is not seen much over a shows three or four hours, has the positions importance been overestimated? Perhaps. Did Lauer and Vieiras fill-in work suggest that the role could be filled by other experienced anchors? Maybe. But with 11 prime-time hosting gigs, Costas brings a reassuring presence and cumulative Olympic knowledge to each broadcast. The response to, and news media coverage of, Costass six-day absence suggests at least two possibilities: that people respect and missed him, or that the 24-hour news cycle simply loves a new subject to gnaw over.Bobs impact on the Olympics is greater than the amount of minutes hes actually seen, said Mike Weisman, a former executive producer of NBC Sports and a longtime friend of Costass. And when Bob wasnt there, it was a major story. How many other broadcasters can you say that about? Similarly, when Jim McKays Olympic hosting ended with ABCs last production in Calgary in 1988, he was missed. He probably still is. McKays and Costass personalities became enmeshed with their networks Olympic brands, but neither man made a memorable skiing, bobsledding, skiing, biathlon or hockey call. They always left that to others. Not enough is made of the extraordinary contributions and skills of someone like Tom Hammond, Costas said of his NBC colleague, who is calling figure skating in Sochi. Tom has made some of the best sportscasting calls Ive ever heard in track and field.",4
"Facebook did not immediately have a comment on the new letter.Facebooks leadership must reconsider their policies regarding political speech, beginning by fact-checking politicians and explicitly labeling harmful posts.As early employees on teams across the company, we authored the original Community Standards, contributed code to products that gave voice to people and public figures, and helped to create a company culture around connection and freedom of expression.We grew up at Facebook, but it is no longer ours.The Facebook we joined designed products to empower people and policies to protect them. The goal was to allow as much expression as possible unless it would explicitly do harm. We disagreed often, but we all understood that keeping people safe was the right thing to do. Now, it seems, that commitment has changed.We no longer work at Facebook, but we do not disclaim it. We also no longer recognize it. We remain proud of what we built, grateful for the opportunity, and hopeful for the positive force it can become. But none of that means we have to be quiet. In fact, we have a responsibility to speak up.Today, Facebooks leadership interprets freedom of expression to mean that they should do nothing or very nearly nothing to interfere in political discourse. They have decided that elected officials should be held to a lower standard than those they govern. One set of rules for you, and another for any politician, from your local mayor to the President of the United States. This exposes two fundamental problems:First, Facebooks behavior doesnt match the stated goal of avoiding any political censorship. Facebook already is acting, as Mark Zuckerberg put it on Friday, as the arbiter of truth. It monitors speech all the time when it adds warnings to links, downranks content to reduce its spread, and fact checks political speech from non-politicians.This is a betrayal of the ideals Facebook claims. The company we joined valued giving individuals a voice as loud as their governments protecting the powerless rather than the powerful.Facebook now turns that goal on its head. It claims that providing warnings about a politicians speech is inappropriate, but removing content from citizens is acceptable, even if both are saying the same thing. That is not a noble stand for freedom. It is incoherent, and worse, it is cowardly. Facebook should be holding politicians to a higher standard than their constituents.Second, since Facebooks inception, researchers have learned a lot more about group psychology and the dynamics of mass persuasion. Thanks to work done by the Dangerous Speech Project and many others, we understand the power words have to increase the likelihood of violence. We know the speech of the powerful matters most of all. It establishes norms, creates a permission structure, and implicitly authorizes violence, all of which is made worse by algorithmic amplification. Facebooks leadership has spoken with these experts, with advocates, and with organizers, yet they still seem committed to granting the powerful free rein.So what do we make of this? If all speech by politicians is newsworthy and all newsworthy speech is inviolable, then there is no line the most powerful people in the world cannot cross on the largest platform in the world or at least none that the platform is willing to enforce.President Trumps post on Friday not only threatens violence by the state against its citizens, it also sends a signal to millions who take cues from the President. Facebooks policy allows that post to stand alone. In an age of live-streamed shootings, Facebook should know the danger of this better than most. Trumps rhetoric, steeped in the history of American racism, targeted people whom Facebook would not allow to repeat his words back to him.It is our shared heartbreak that motivates this letter. We are devastated to see something we built and something we believed would make the world a better place lose its way so profoundly. We understand it is hard to answer these questions at scale, but it was also hard to build the platform that created these problems. There is a responsibility to solve them, and solving hard problems is what Facebook is good at.To current employees who are speaking up: we see you, we support you, and we want to help. We hope you will continue to ask yourselves the question that hangs on posters in each of Facebooks offices: What would you do if you werent afraid?To Mark: we know that you think deeply about these issues, but we also know that Facebook must work to regain the publics trust. Facebook isnt neutral, and it never has been. Making the world more open and connected, strengthening communities, giving everyone a voice these are not neutral ideas. Fact-checking is not censorship. Labeling a call to violence is not authoritarianism. Please reconsider your position.Proceed and be bold.Sincerely, some of your earliest employees:Meredith Chin, Adam Conner, Natalie Ponte, Jon Warman, Dave Willner, on behalf of Ezra Callahan, Chris Putnam, Bob Trahan, Natalie Trahan, Ben Blumenrose, Jocelyn Blumenrose, Bobby Goodlatte, Simon Axten, Brandee Barker, Doug Fraser, Krista Kobeski, Warren Hanes, Caitlin OFarrell Gallagher, Jake Brill, Carolyn Abram, Jamie Patterson, Abdus-Salam DeVaul, Scott Fortin, Bobby Kellogg, Tanja Balde, Alex Vichinsky, Matt Fernandez, Elizabeth Linder, Mike Ferrier, Jamie Patterson, Brian Sutorius, Amy Karasavas, Kathleen Estreich, Claudia Park",5
"TrilobitesCredit...Eric FishelJune 29, 2017The pin-tailed whydah is a spectacular little bird. Its also a parasite. And if you live near Los Angeles or some other parts of the United States, it could soon become a regular visitor to your backyard, says Mark Hauber, an evolutionary ecologist at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.In a study published Wednesday in The Condor: Ornithological Applications, Dr. Hauber and his colleagues used computer modeling to predict where you might spot them next. Their models suggest that potential sites for invasion include Californias Orange County, southern Texas, southern Florida, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and many of the Hawaiian Islands. If the birds are introduced in great numbers to these areas, they could have a damaging effect on the birds you know and love.During the mating season, a male pin-tailed whydah grows a plume of black feathers twice as long as his body. To impress a potential partner, he hovers in front her like a helicopter, flapping his wings and dangling his long tail feathers like luxurious locks of hair. He sings. After mating, the male leaves to breed more, and the female lays eggs in another birds nest.Credit...CreditVideo by Eric TanShe doesnt have to check. She doesnt have to feed the babies. She doesnt have to lead them to safety after fledging, Dr. Hauber said.The pin-tailed whydah is one out of only about 100 parasites of the 10,000 bird species in the world. In its native range in sub-Saharan and South Africa, it uses more than 20 other birds as foster mothers to care for its offspring.These birds dont look like a virus or bacteria, but they have the same impact, Dr. Hauber said.Brood parasites compete with their hosts. And the host birds must work harder to support themselves, their own young and the offspring they are tricked into fostering. Over time, it takes a toll on the hosts.Another brood parasite, the brown-headed cowbird, does the same thing to about 200 hosts. Some people think that its parasitism, along with habitat loss, contributed to the decline of the endangered Kirtlands Warbler in the Midwest, and other rare species.The cowbird expanded its territory naturally, but people introduced the whydah. Over the last century, it has made its way to North America and islands of the Caribbean via the pet trade. The whydah has now successfully colonized Puerto Rico and is starting to make a home in California, and Dr. Hauber is worried.ImageCredit...Justin SchuetzHosts that evolved with the whydah on the African continent some of which can be found here, too have learned to recognize foster babies by the spots inside their mouths, whats known as gape pattern recognition, and they feed them less than their own babies. But the whydah has also proven itself capable of switching hosts when its tricks dont work.Its basically like a virus jumping from a pig to a human or a bat to some domestic animal, he said. The virus would spread, potentially wreaking havoc on local ecosystems.After arriving in Puerto Rico in the 1960s and 1970s, for example, they learned to fool Orange-cheeked Waxbills. And in California, scaly-breasted munias have been found feeding young whydahs. Dr. Hauber is worried they could target native birds that never learned to identify whydah babies by their spots.Theyll try breeding and mating and sneaking their eggs into another birds nest, and at some point they might succeed, he said.ImageCredit...Eric FishelPeople buy pin-tailed whydahs as pets. But males and females paired together make poor feathered companions. When not breeding the male loses his elaborate tail feathers. And when his displays are not well received, he will pick on the female. Bored or frustrated pet owners or shopkeepers who cant sell their expensive pets may release them into the wild, Dr. Hauber said. Or they may escape while being transported.If enough birds are released, if the climate is right, and, more important, if a proper host is around, the whydah can persist. But the whydah is not a good flyer, does not migrate and may not be good at crossing bodies of water. Therefore, Dr. Hauber thinks any invasion will remain somewhat localized.A bird released in San Francisco is not going to fly to L.A., he said.If you spot a whydah in your backyard, dont try to capture or harm it, Dr. Hauber said. He recommends contacting the Fish and Wildlife Service or local Audubon Society who are better equipped to respond to this potential threat. And if you have a whydah youre trying to get rid of, Releasing them into the backyard is probably not the best way to do it, Dr. Hauber said.",7
"The new numbers still show overwhelmingly strong protection against severe disease but diminished effectiveness against infection.Credit...Amir Levy/Getty ImagesPublished July 23, 2021Updated Aug. 18, 2021As Israel struggles with a new surge of coronavirus cases, its health ministry reported on Thursday that although effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine remains high against severe illness, its protection against infection by the coronavirus may have diminished significantly compared with this winter and early spring.Analyzing the governments national health statistics, researchers estimated that the Pfizer shot was just 39 percent effective against preventing infection in the country in late June and early July, compared with 95 percent from January to early April. In both time periods, however, the shot was more than 90 percent effective in preventing severe disease.Israeli scientists cautioned that the new study is much smaller than the first and that it measured cases in a narrower window of time. As a result, a much larger range of uncertainties flank their estimates, which could also be skewed by a variety of other factors. Dr. Ran Balicer, the chairman of Israels Covid-19 National Expert Advisory Panel, said that the challenges of making accurate estimates of vaccine effectiveness were immense. He said that more careful analysis of the raw data was needed to understand what is going on.I think that data should be taken very cautiously because of small numbers, said Eran Segal, a biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science who is a consultant to the Israeli government on vaccines.Nevertheless, the new estimates are raising concern both in Israel and elsewhere, including the United States, that the vaccine might be losing some of its effectiveness. Possible reasons include the rise of the highly contagious Delta variant or a waning of protection from the shots over time.Israel launched an aggressive campaign with the Pfizer vaccine in January, and the country has achieved one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, with 58 percent of the population fully vaccinated. At the start of the campaign, government researchers began estimating how much the shot reduced peoples risk of getting Covid-19.They published their results in May, based on records from Jan. 24 to April 3: They estimated that the vaccine was 95 percent effective in preventing infection from the coronavirus in the country. In other words, the risk of getting Covid-19 was nearly 100 percent reduced in vaccinated people compared to unvaccinated ones. The researchers also estimated that the vaccine was 97.5 percent effective against severe disease.From a peak of over 8,600 cases a day in January, cases plummeted in the following months until only a few dozen people were testing positive on a daily basis across Israel. The vaccine most likely played a part in that drop, along with the tight restrictions that the government imposed on travel and meetings.ImageCredit...Ronen Zvulun/ReutersIsrael began relaxing its restrictions in the spring. In late June, the cases surged again. Now, over a thousand people are testing positive each day, leading Israel to restore some restrictions this week.Some of the people that tested positive for the coronavirus in the new surge were fully vaccinated. Epidemiologists had expected such breakthrough infections, as they do with all vaccines.Researchers at the Ministry of Health took another look at the effectiveness of the vaccine, limiting their analysis to the surge from June 6 to July 3. In that period, they estimated, the effectiveness of the vaccine at preventing infections was down to 64 percent. More recently, they ran another analysis. This time, they looked at cases between June 20 and July 17. In that period, they estimated, the vaccines effectiveness was even lower: just 39 percent against infection.Still, they estimated that the vaccines effectiveness against serious disease remained high, at 91.4 percent.If a vaccine has an effectiveness of 39 percent that does not mean that 61 percent of people who got vaccinated were infected by the coronavirus. Instead, it means the risk of getting infected is 39 percent less among vaccinated people compared to unvaccinated. So even at that lower percentage, the data shows that vaccinated people have significantly less risk of getting infected than unvaccinated people.The small number of people in the latest study means that the true effectiveness might be lower or higher. Making the numbers even more uncertain is the fact that the new surge has not yet spread evenly across the whole country. Travelers who have picked up the highly contagious Delta variant have brought it back to neighborhoods where vaccination rates are relatively high.The new outbreaks have yet to swamp communities of Orthodox Jews or Arab Israelis, where vaccination rates are lower. That imbalance may make the vaccine seem less effective than it really is.Also, the ages of people vaccinated vary significantly during the different time periods studied. For example, the people who got their vaccines in January were different than those who got them in April in one major respect: They were over 60. If more people who got vaccinated in January are now getting infected, it may not have to do with the vaccine itself, but with their advanced age or some other factor that researchers have yet to take into consideration.Still, the new estimates have prompted some researchers to ponder what might be happening to the vaccines. The Delta variant grew more common in Israel in June, raising the possibility that it might be good at evading the vaccine.In Britain, where Delta began surging earlier in the year, researchers estimated the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against the variant, based on a review of everyone in the United Kingdom who got vaccinated up till May 16. On Wednesday, they reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that it is 88 percent effective against symptomatic Covid-19.Another possibility is that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is gradually becoming less potent. The Ministry of Health researchers found that people who were inoculated in January were having breakthrough infections at a greater rate than people vaccinated in April.If the vaccine is indeed waning after six months, the implications can be enormous. It can influence the Israeli governments current deliberations about whether to give people a third shot. Dr. Segal says that if the vaccines are indeed losing some of their potency, then it might be wise to roll out boosters to fight the Delta-driven outbreak.If a third booster is safe and if it seems that it really would give a benefit, I think this is something we should definitely do as quickly as possible, he said.Dr. Balicer, who is also the chief innovation officer at Clalit Health Services, said that he and his colleagues are working on their own study on the effectiveness of the vaccine in Israel, using Clalits health care records to take into account such confounding factors.I think there is definitely some waning, but not as much as hypothesized based on the crude data, and its not just waning to blame, Dr. Balicer said. We are now trying to figure it out in a clean way.",7
"Dec. 23, 2015Canadian Pacifics third proposal to acquire Norfolk Southern received the same response from its fellow railroad operator as the first two: No, thank you.Norfolk Southern took a week to consider the newest offer from Canadian Pacific, backed by the billionaire investor William A. Ackman. On Dec. 16, the Canadian railroad added a so-called contingent value right, or C.V.R., that accords Norfolk Southern shareholders up to $3.4 billion extra, based on the combined companies stock price. The C.V.R. would be in addition to the approximately $27 billion cash-and-stock offer that Canadian Pacific made early this month.Norfolk Southern has rejected all three of Canadian Pacifics proposals, arguing that the offers were inadequate and carried too much regulatory risk.It would be inconsistent with the duties of the board to pursue a risky and uncertain offer that substantially undervalues the company, Norfolk Southerns chief executive, Jim Squires, and Steven Leer, the companys lead director, said in a letter to Norfolk Southern executives on Wednesday.CP remains confident that a CP-NS combination would secure regulatory approval as a seamless coast-to-coast single-haul service benefits shippers, the industry and the public, and would generate tremendous shareholder value, Canadian Pacific said Wednesday in a statement.Railroad mergers are subject to the approval of the Surface Transportation Board, a regulator in the Department of Transportation. The board created rules in 2001 after a wave of railroad deals were blamed for missing cargo and crashes requiring that participants in any potential merger demonstrate that it would improve competition and serve the public interest. The standard is even more vague than the typical antitrust regulations and has never been tested.For Norfolk Southern, that regulatory uncertainty was not worth the potential disruption to business that could occur over the few years it could take to get approval. Canadian Pacific suggested putting its own shares in a voting trust, led by an independent trustee, aimed at speeding up the integration of the two companies.But Norfolk Southern doubted that the voting trust would suffice. The railroad requested that Canadian Pacific seek a declaratory order from the transportation board to demonstrate whether the voting trust structure is legal under the regulators rules. Canadian Pacific has not yet pursued the order, Mr. Squires said in Wednesdays letter.E. Hunter Harrison, the chief executive of Canadian Pacific, contends that greater consolidation would be in the public interest because it could make the system more efficient. The company called out Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific and CSX in a statement Monday for halting service through Chicago during Christmas, which Canadian Pacific said was disruptive to shippers.Optionality, agility, efficiency and service are at the heart of our proposal and we urge all stakeholders to examine the benefits of a CP-NS combination, Keith Creel, Canadian Pacifics president and chief operating officer, said in Mondays statement.Some shipping organizations have opposed the combination. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of Global Automakers, which together represent the major car manufacturers in the United States, submitted a letter to Mr. Creel arguing that the deal posed significant service and competitive concerns, according to a copy obtained by The New York Times. Other associations in the agriculture and manufacturing industries have voiced similar concerns.Canadian Pacific is offering Norfolk Southern shareholders $32.86 in cash per share, plus 0.451 share in the new company, plus 0.451 of the contingent value right.Investors were not too surprised by Norfolk Southerns decision to reject Canadian Pacifics offer. Norfolk Southern shares closed up 0.9 percent and Canadian Pacific closed up 1.8 percent, in line with the broader market.",0
"Deal ProfessorDec. 22, 2015Its time once again to hand out grades to the years deals and deal makers.It was an astounding year on all fronts, as deal makers grew more aggressive and shareholder activism reached new heights. The merger market is on track for a record $4 trillion-plus year. Deal makers are no doubt celebrating, but they may also want to reflect that in these heady days, there were more than a few missteps and Fs.THREES A CROWD In the pharmaceutical feeding frenzy this year more than $600 billion worth of deals the battle among Mylan, Perrigo and Teva stood out. Teva bid for Mylan, which bid for Perrigo. None of the deals panned out as Mylan adopted a just say never strategy that drove Teva to buy Allergans generic drug business for $40.5 billion. Some shareholders said Mylan did not fully explain the consequences of its move to the Netherlands, an accusation that may have hurt Mylans bid for Perrigo, which was rejected by shareholders in any case.Perrigo gets an A for a rare hostile contest won on the merits; Mylan gets an F for fighting unfairly and poor shareholder relations, while Teva gets an incomplete for failing to follow through.DUMB ACTIVISM This year, shareholder activists again dominated and companies ran to do their bidding, but there were troubling signs that the reign of activists was pushing companies into risky strategies. DuPont and Dow, each a target of activist hedge funds, agreed to combine in a deal where they also immediately agreed to split up into three companies. This risky bit of financial engineering promises $3 billion in savings, but the markets were lukewarm as the stock of both companies rose then quickly fell below the announcement prices.Office Depot and Staples, meanwhile, pushed by the activist hedge fund Starboard Value, agreed to a $6.3 billion combination only to be later sued by the Federal Trade Commission, which sought to block the transaction. Starboard, which orchestrated the move, has fled to the lifeboats, and has sold about half its holdings in Office Depot.For overly risky strategies, these and other activist deals receive an F. Justin M. King, who quit the Staples board in protest over a settlement deal with Starboard, wins this years first profile in courage award.ITS YOU, NOT ME The precipitous decline of Valeant Pharmaceuticals Internationals stock price created hedge fund carnage and one of the more bizarre scenes of the year as William A. Ackman and his fund, Pershing Square Capital Management, held a four-hour conference call to defend Valeant. Mr. Ackman should have listened to his public relations people as he created more confusion over whether or not he supported management, driving the stock down further. Valeant stock has recovered somewhat, but Mr. Ackman, a brilliant investor by any measure, this year earns a C for a lack of consistency.NONDISCLOSURE DISCLOSURE Its not a takeover situation just yet, but the questions over Sumner Redstones health have left the two companies he controls, Viacom and CBS, in flux. The two have said little on the matter, leaving shareholders to ponder what it will mean when Mr. Redstone dies and his stakes are controlled by a seven-member trust. The excitement around this, as well as the claims made by a former companion of Mr. Redstones in a lawsuit, were worthy of a Bravo reality-TV show, but it was also an example of the perils of controlling stock and a founder strategy to live forever. Mr. Redstone deserves an F for not handing over the reins long ago.ImageCredit...Harry CampbellBREADSTICKS Starboard also showed the real value of activism. After unseating the Darden board in 2014, the restaurant company turned a corner and began to see growth in its Olive Garden chain and its delicious breadsticks. Darden and Starboard earn an A on the midterm for this success.I.P.O. SUCCESS Squares lawyers and bankers deserve an A for steering the company to a successful initial public offering that valued it above $4 billion. People may complain that this valuation was below its last private investment round, but they miss the fact that in just a few short years, Jack Dorsey has built a multibillion-dollar company.TAX ARBITRAGE Whether you like it or not, tax-driven deal-making paid off big this year. A last-minute change by Congress exempted a number of pending real estate investment trust spinoffs from changes to the tax laws. It was a $1 billion tax gift to those who were prescient enough to announce their spinoffs before year-end. Pfizers desperate attempt to complete a tax-inversion deal with Allergan, meanwhile, shows how valuable the lower tax rates and ability to get access to foreign cash are to pharmaceutical and other companies. It has created a have class of prior inversions and the have-nots lusting to get out of the United States. Congress gets an F for not fixing this problem and highlighting the absurdities of the tax laws with its last-minute change for real estate investment trusts.REGULATORY ARBITRAGE Dish Network astounded many when it used the very small business exception in the regulations to team with an Alaskan Native regional corporation and a former regulatory official to save $3.25 billion in the auction for wireless spectrum. The Federal Communications Commission gets an A for rejecting this blatant manipulation of the rules. The others are assigned to take a summer school basic civics class.ANTITRUST ARBITRAGE We are in an age of oligopoly as industries become ever more concentrated in the hands of a few players. Nonetheless, this year saw a number of deals push the antitrust envelope and fail, including Thai Union and Bumble Bee Foods, Time Warner Cable and Comcast and US Foods and Sysco. Others, like Office Depot and Staples, look to be on the ropes, while Aetna and Humana and Anthem and Cigna may run into resistance. An F goes to the chief executives and their advisers for taking on these overly risky antitrust deals in the run-up to an election year. A special message to Office Depot: Just because the authorities let you buy Office Max, it doesnt mean you get to buy them all.FOR THE DEFENSE Airgas was finally taken over, and some trumpeted the deal as the triumph of the poison pill. In 2011, Airgas fended off an offer of $70 a share from Air Products and Chemicals; last month, it agreed to be sold to Air Liquide of France for $143 a share in cash. But Airgas triumphed only because of the rich takeover bid its stock had underperformed until that point. In another takeover defense, Macerich used the Maryland staggered board statute to fight off a $16.8 billion bid from Simon Property. Both cases will have to be considered incompletes.DELAWARE AND BANKERS Bankers remained in the spotlight in the Delaware courts. There was the unsuccessful appeal of a $76 million verdict finding Royal Bank of Canada liable for its advice in the sale of Rural/Metro. And Goldman Sachs fought a lawsuit over the discovery that, owing to a spreadsheet error, the buyer of Tibco paid $100 million less than the announced price of the sale. The case is pending. In the new year, bankers will continue to get strict scrutiny from the Delaware courts and continue to complain that it is all so unfair. A C all around.ITS NOT ABOUT YOU Its hard to understand the conduct of Michael Gooch, the founder and C.E.O. of the interdealer brokerage firm GFI Group. Mr. Gooch tried to steer a deal to the CME Group in a transaction that would have sold part of the business to himself. His attempt was frustrated when Howard Lutnicks BGC Partners jumped in. Yet Mr. Gooch resisted negotiating until the bitter end. He gets an F.THE CARL C. ICAHN PERSISTENCE AWARD M&T Bank Corporation agreed to acquire Hudson City Bancorp more than three years ago. The deal was held up by Federal Reserve concerns over M&Ts anti-money-laundering compliance. In the meantime, Hudson Citys deposits declined by more than 30 percent. The deal finally closed this fall. The two companies get an A for persistence yet perhaps an F in economics, something Mr. Icahn never received.Best wishes in the New Year, and for a more sober 2016.",0
"Credit...Jack Guez/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMay 13, 2019SAN FRANCISCO An Israeli firm accused of supplying tools for spying on human-rights activists and journalists now faces claims that its technology can use a security hole in WhatsApp, the messaging app used by 1.5 billion people, to break into the digital communications of iPhone and Android phone users.Security researchers said they had found so-called spyware designed to take advantage of the WhatsApp flaw that bears the characteristics of technology from the company, the NSO Group.WhatsApp engineers worked around the clock to patch the vulnerability and released a patch on Monday. They encouraged customers to update their apps as quickly as possible.WhatsApp encourages people to upgrade to the latest version of our app, as well as keep their mobile operating system up to date, to protect against potential targeted exploits designed to compromise information stored on mobile devices, the Facebook-owned company said in a statement.The WhatsApp hole was used to target a London lawyer who has been involved in lawsuits that accuse NSO Group of providing tools to hack the phones of Omar Abdulaziz, a Saudi dissident in Canada; a Qatari citizen; and a group of Mexican journalists and activists, the researchers said. The researchers believe the list of targets could be much longer.Digital attackers could use the vulnerability to insert malicious code and steal data from an Android phone or an iPhone simply by placing a WhatsApp call, even if the victim did not pick up the call. As WhatsApps engineers examined the vulnerability, they concluded that it was similar to other tools from the NSO Group, because of its digital footprint.The lawyer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared retribution, said he had grown suspicious that his phone had been hacked when he started missing WhatsApp video calls from Swedish telephone numbers at odd hours. The lawyer contacted Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, which has helped uncover the use of NSO Group products in attacks on journalists, dissidents and activists.Ten days ago, as Citizen Lab was looking into the incident, engineers at WhatsApp discovered what they described as abnormal voice calling activity on their systems, said a WhatsApp employee familiar with the investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.WhatsApp alerted human-rights organizations about the threat and learned from Citizen Lab that the vulnerability had been used to target the lawyer.WhatsApp said it had alerted the Justice Department to the attack. The WhatsApp flaw was first reported Monday by The Financial Times.The products of the NSO Group, which operated in secret for years, were found in 2016 as part of a spying campaign on the iPhone of a now-jailed human-rights activist in the United Arab Emirates through undisclosed Apple security vulnerabilities. Since then, the NSO Groups spyware has been found on the iPhones of journalists, dissidents and even nutritionists.The company has long advertised that its products are sold to government agencies solely for fighting terrorism and aiding law enforcement investigations.The NSO Group said in a statement on Monday that its spyware was strictly licensed to government agencies and that it would investigate any credible allegations of misuse. The company said it would not be involved in identifying a target for its technology, including the lawyer at the center of the latest accusations.NSOs response is consistent with previous responses from the Israeli firm, which claims to have an in-house ethics committee that decides whether or not to sell to countries based on their human-rights records.But increasingly, NSOs spyware has been discovered in use by governments with questionable human-rights records like the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Mexico.The Israeli company sold a stake to Novalpina, a British private equity firm, in a leveraged buyout deal last year that valued it at nearly $1 billion.The firm has been on a public-relations campaign in recent months to show its value to law enforcement, and has cited several examples of its spywares being used, it says, to capture drug kingpins and to stop terrorist attacks.NSO and Novalpina have spent several months telling the world that there are adults in the room and telegraphing that they have made a commitment to close oversight, said John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab. Yet even 24 hours ago, we observed what some believe to be an NSO infection attempt against a human-rights lawyer.As this case makes it very clear if indeed this was NSO there is still a very serious abuse problem, Mr. Scott-Railton added.",5
"Steve Clark, a senior vice president for the city-owned utility in Chattanooga that offers a fiber-optic Internet service to residents, which transfers data at one gigabit per second. Gig City, as Chattanooga is sometimes called, has what city officials and analysts say was the first and fastest and now one of the least expensive high-speed Internet services in the United States.Credit...Tami Chappell for The New York TimesSlide 1 of 6 Steve Clark, a senior vice president for the city-owned utility in Chattanooga that offers a fiber-optic Internet service to residents, which transfers data at one gigabit per second. Gig City, as Chattanooga is sometimes called, has what city officials and analysts say was the first and fastest and now one of the least expensive high-speed Internet services in the United States.Credit...Tami Chappell for The New York TimesFeb. 3, 2014CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. For thousands of years, Native Americans used the river banks here to cross a gap in the Appalachian Mountains, and trains sped through during the Civil War to connect the eastern and western parts of the Confederacy. In the 21st century, it is the Internet that passes through Chattanooga, and at lightning speed.Gig City, as Chattanooga is sometimes called, has what city officials and analysts say was the first and fastest and now one of the least expensive high-speed Internet services in the United States. For less than $70 a month, consumers enjoy an ultrahigh-speed fiber-optic connection that transfers data at one gigabit per second. That is 50 times the average speed for homes in the rest of the country, and just as rapid as service in Hong Kong, which has the fastest Internet in the world.It takes 33 seconds to download a two-hour, high-definition movie in Chattanooga, compared with 25 minutes for those with an average high-speed broadband connection in the rest of the country. Movie downloading, however, may be the networks least important benefit.It created a catalytic moment here, said Sheldon Grizzle, the founder of the Company Lab, which helps start-ups refine their ideas and bring their products to market. The Gig, as the taxpayer-owned, fiber-optic network is known, allowed us to attract capital and talent into this community that never would have been here otherwise.Since the fiber-optic network switched on four years ago, the signs of growth in Chattanooga are unmistakable. Former factory buildings on Main Street and Warehouse Row on Market Street have been converted to loft apartments, open-space offices, restaurants and shops. The city has welcomed a new population of computer programmers, entrepreneurs and investors. Lengthy sideburns and scruffy hipster beards not the norm in eastern Tennessee are de rigueur for the under-30 set.This is a small city that I had never heard of, said Toni Gemayel, a Florida native who moved his software start-up, Banyan, from Tampa to Chattanooga because of the Internet speed. It beat Seattle, New York, San Francisco in building the Gig. People here are thinking big.But so far, it is unclear statistically how much the superfast network has contributed to economic activity in Chattanooga over all. Although city officials said the Gig created about 1,000 jobs in the last three years, the Department of Labor reported that Chattanooga still had a net loss of 3,000 jobs in that period, mostly in government, construction and finance.EPB, the city-owned utility formerly named Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, said that only about 3,640 residences, or 7.5 percent of its Internet-service subscribers, are signed up for the Gigabit service offered over the fiber-optic network. Roughly 55 businesses also subscribe. The rest of EPBs customers subscribe to a (relatively) slower service offered on the network of 100 megabits per second, which is still faster than many other places in the country.Some specialists say the low subscriber and employment numbers are not surprising or significant, at least in the short term. The search for statistical validation of these projects is not going to turn up anything meaningful, said Blair Levin, executive director of Gig.U, a high-speed Internet project that includes more than three dozen American research universities. Mr. Levin cited Solows paradox, the 1987 observation by Robert M. Solow, a recipient of the Nobel in economic science who wrote that you can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.Such is the case with many new technologies, Mr. Levin said. No one is going to design products that can run only on a one-gigabit-per-second network if no such networks exist, he said. But put a few in place, he added, and soon the supply of applications will drive a growing demand for the faster connections.Chattanoogas path to Gig City is part of a transformation that began long before most Americans knew the Internet existed. Named Americas most-polluted city in 1969 because of largely unregulated base of heavy manufacturing, Chattanooga has in the last two decades cleaned its air, rebuilt its waterfront, added an aquarium and become a hub for the arts in eastern Tennessee. In more recent years, an aggressive high-tech economic development plan and an upgrade of the power grid by EPB moved Chattanooga toward the one-gigabit connection.In 2009, a $111 million federal stimulus grant offered the opportunity to expedite construction of a long-planned fiber-optic network, said David Wade, chief operating officer for the power company. (EPB also had to borrow $219 million of the networks $330 million cost.) Mr. Wade said it quickly became apparent that customers would be willing to pay for the one-gigabit connection offered over the network.Chattanooga has been joined in recent years by a handful of other American cities that have experimented with municipally owned fiber-optic networks that offer the fastest Internet connections. Lafayette, La., and Bristol, Va., have also built gigabit networks. Google is building privately owned fiber systems in Kansas City, Kan.; Kansas City, Mo.; and Austin, Tex., and it recently bought a dormant fiber network in Provo, Utah.The systems are the leading edge of a push for ever-faster Internet and telecommunications infrastructure in a country that badly lags much of the world in the speed and costs of Web connections. Telecommunications specialists say that if the United States does not keep its networks advancing with those in the rest of the world, innovation, business, education and a host of other pursuits could suffer.Even so, few people, including many who support the systems, argue that everyone in the country now needs a one-gigabit home connection. Much of the public seems to agree. According to Federal Communications Commission statistics, of the households where service of at least 100 megabits per second was available (one-tenth as fast as a gigabit), only 0.12 percent subscribed at the end of 2012. In Chattanooga, one-third of the households and businesses that get electric power from EPB also subscribe to Internet service of at least 100 megabits.But just as few people a decade ago thought there would be any need for one terabyte of data storage on a desktop computer (more than 200 million pages of text, or more than 200 movies), even the most prescient technology gurus have often underestimated the hunger for computer speed and memory.Fiber-optic networks carry another benefit, which is the unlikelihood that a potentially faster network will come along soon. Fiber optics can transmit data at close to the speed of light, and EPB officials say the technology exists for their network to carry up to 80 connections of 10 gigabits per second at once.Those who use Chattanoogas one-gigabit connection are enthusiastic. Mr. Gemayel, the Florida native who moved Banyan here from Tampa, first passed through Chattanooga in 2012, when he heard about an entrepreneurial contest sponsored by The Company Lab with a $100,000 prize. Banyan, which was working on a way to share real-time editing in huge data files quickly among far-flung researchers, won the contest. Mr. Gemayel returned to Tampa with his check.But once there he discovered that his low-bandwidth Internet connection was hampering the development of his business. By the beginning of 2013, he had moved to Chattanooga.Other companies have become Gig-related successes. Quickcue, a company that developed a tablet-based guest-management system for restaurants, began here in 2011 and over the next two years attracted about $3 million in investments. In December, OpenTable, the online restaurant reservations pioneer, bought Quickcue for $11.5 million.Big technology dreams do not always pan out, of course, and Chattanooga is familiar with failed experiments. The city spent millions of dollars in the last five years to build a citywide Wi-Fi network, known as the wireless mesh, intended for use by residents and city agencies. It sits largely unused, and its utility has largely been usurped by 4G wireless service.Few people here would say that the Gig has even begun to be used to its fullest. The potential will only be capped by our selfishness, said Miller Welborn, a partner at the Lamp Post Group, the business incubator where Banyan shares office space with a dozen other start-ups. The Gig is not fully useful to Chattanooga unless a hundred other cities are doing the same thing. To date, the best thing its done for us is it put us on the map.For all the optimism, many boosters are aware there are limits to how far the Gig can take the city, particularly as it waits for the rest of the country to catch up.We dont need to be the next Silicon Valley, Mayor Andy Berke said. Thats not who were going to be, and we shouldnt try to be that. But we are making our own place in the innovation economy.",5
"Credit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesNov. 3, 2018ST.-OMER, France The players erupted in joy, dancing and shouting in Pashto, celebrating their second victory in a regional cricket tournament. It might have been a familiar scene in parts of Afghanistan or Pakistan, but it was far less so here in northern France.The St.-Omer Cricket Club Stars, known as Soccs, had just won a tournament on their home turf, a new cricket field next to a cow pasture. For their captain, Javed Ahmadzai, however, the sweetest triumph lay elsewhere.The best victory is off the pitch, said Mr. Ahmadzai, 32, a stonemason who arrived in France from Afghanistan in 2005. When we teach cricket to children in local schools and they wont let us go, or tell their parents: You see, Mom, migrants arent all mean. Bringing cricket to life in St.-Omer is about far more than sports for Mr. Ahmadzai and his teammates. It is an opportunity to be part of the community, to be thought of as local champions rather than just as foreigners.That hasnt always been easy.During the European migration crisis of 2015, refugees hoping to reach Britain gathered in squalid camps in northern France, living in treacherous conditions in places like the Jungle in Calais, less than 30 miles north of St.-Omer.Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right, anti-immigrant party in France and presidential candidate, argued that the country had been hurt by massive immigration, and often cited the camps in her attacks.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesHer message was well received in the region, and in the first round of the presidential election last year, more residents of St.-Omer voted for Ms. Le Pen than for any other candidate. (She won 39 percent of the towns vote in the second round compared with 33.9 percent nationally.)Yet two years after the government cleared the Jungle, in October 2016, there are still frequent police raids on migrant camps, and the lives of many seem stuck in limbo. The number of migrants in the Calais area has since dropped to 400 from 8,000. Many, including some who once lived in the Jungle and hoped to cross the English Channel, have decided to stay in St.-Omer.They study, work or seek jobs and, in the case of some Soccs players, hope that their sport will help them establish themselves in the town of 16,000 people. St.-Omer has sheltered more than 5,600 since 2015, most of them in a center for underage refugees.Whenever young Afghans arrive in St.-Omer, one of the first things they ask is where they can play cricket, said Jean-Franois Roger, the regional director of France Terre dAsile, a state-funded organization that helps refugees. Soccs gives them a framework. It helps them move forward and build something here.France is not exactly known for cricket, a sport played primarily in the former British Empire. It hardly figures in the national sports pantheon, with 1,800 cricket players in some 50 French clubs, compared with 2.2 million registered soccer players. Yet with the influx of migrants from Afghanistan, the number of cricket teams in northern France has grown to nine from two.The Soccs are among them. In summer 2016, Mr. Ahmadzai and other Afghans were playing cricket with a homemade ball in a public park in St.-Omer when a local businessman who was out running, Christophe Silvie, stopped to ask them about the game. A few months later, Mr. Silvie and Mr. Ahmadzai founded the club with another volunteer living nearby, Nicolas Rochas.The team practiced in a local gymnasium and won a first tournament. Then another.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesToday, some 30 players from St.-Omer and surrounding areas, ages 15 to 33, have helped turn the town into a center of cricket excellence. (In reality, there was little suspense in the recent final: The club has two teams, and both beat their rivals in the regular league and the playoffs. So the clubs first team played the second in that final match.)Cricket has helped the players gain priceless self-confidence and fight loneliness and isolation, said Mr. Rochas, the vice president of Soccs, who watched the final in September with his two young children. Its more than a club we are now like a family.For years, St.-Omer was the only town in the region with a France Terre dAsile center for underage refugees, most of whom came from Eritrea and Afghanistan. In 2017, Afghanistan was the second country of origin for asylum seekers in France, with 6,000 of a total 100,000 requests. The organization accommodated 2,230 migrants in the town in 2017, up from 300 in 2013. Many of the young Soccs players went through the center.I feel like Ive grown up so much here, and I know the people, so I want those titles to be like a gift for St.-Omer, Abdulwali Akulkhil, a 17-year-old Soccs player from Afghanistan who once lived in the center, said of the teams victories.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesWilliam Gasparini, a professor of sociology at the University of Strasbourg who specializes in sports, said that team activities could indeed be a springboard for integration, providing connections far beyond the field.Managers of amateur clubs are often local businessmen or people who are well connected in the area, so it gives the migrants some useful social capital, he said.Mr. Rochas, the team vice president who is known among the players as Big Brother, has helped several get into training programs in farm trucking and mechanics. He also helped another player, who speaks five languages and wants to become a diplomat, get an internship in the French Parliament.Yet, for all the progress on and off the field, Soccs players have faced resistance. Xenophobic messages popped up on social media when the towns mayor, Franois Decoster, said the club could build a cricket ground on an unused plot of land on the edge of the town. Some posts threatened to damage the site and others spread a rumor that a mosque would be built there.I had to explain again and again who these young men were and where they came from, said Mr. Decoster, a member of a centrist party. Integration can be a long, rocky process.The mayor says that efforts to help refugees settle at a local level and at the appropriate scale through initiatives like sports could help fight many preconceptions. If more cities and countries favored such activities, we wouldnt have the Salvinis, the Orbans and the Le Pens, he said, referring to the interior minister of Italy, the prime minister of Hungary, and the French far-right leader.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesComplaints about Soccs seem to have tapered, but Mr. Decosters optimism has yet to be followed by a strong showing of local support for the team. Only a few dozen people attended the final, many of them volunteers or acquaintances of the clubs managers.Hours later, when the victorious players honked horns and waved French flags as they circled the towns central plaza, most of those sitting outdoors stared at them, intrigued but unaware of what they were celebrating.Weve got prizes, compliments and promises, but many players wonder why, after a second title, there isnt more local enthusiasm, said Mr. Rochas, the clubs vice president.In 2017, the club received a European Citizens Prize, awarded each year by the European Parliament to citizens or organizations that promote cross-border cooperation and understanding. But it still lacks the resources and volunteers it would need to play in Frances national cricket league, as its victories at the regional level qualify it to do.Perhaps even more critical is the need to attract local players, some team members said. So far, a doctor living in St.-Omer is the only French-born player out of 30.We cant only play among foreigners. We need new French recruits, said Tazim Abbas, a 19-year-old player from Pakistan. Otherwise, who will keep the club running when I have a job and a life here?ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York Times",6
"Corner OfficeVideotranscripttranscriptDiversifying the Tech BoomAileen Lee is Silicon Valley veteran and venture capitalist with Cowboy Ventures who argues that companies who are more diverse perform better.naAileen Lee is Silicon Valley veteran and venture capitalist with Cowboy Ventures who argues that companies who are more diverse perform better.CreditCredit...Robert Galbraith/ReutersDec. 3, 2015This interview with Aileen Lee, founder and partner of Cowboy Ventures, a venture capital firm, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.Q. What were some early influences for you?A. Im the firstborn child of parents who immigrated here from China. They came from pretty much nothing in terms of financial resources and education. My dad moved to the United States when he was in high school and was able to go to college and med school, even though he had only been learning English for a couple of years.Ive heard lots of stories of how many jobs everyone in my family had and how hard they worked. And so I always grew up feeling a lot of gratitude for all the sacrifices and all the hard work they had gone through so that I would not have to work so many jobs. I have a real sense of motivation from wanting to make sure that everything that they went through was worth it.When you were younger, what kind of things did you do outside of class?I grew up in New Jersey and played sports and rode my bike around. It was a really nice time kids didnt have cellphones then and you knew everyone in the town. From a pretty early age, I developed an interest in travel. I told my parents I wanted to live abroad, and they said, Well, you have to have money to do those things.I had some friends who had the same interest, so we started lots of little businesses to try to make money. We used to tie-dye T-shirts and sell them to classmates. We used to make egg rolls and sell them at street fairs. I worked at the mall. My parents probably spent more money on the gas driving me to different jobs than I made.Did you have an idea what you wanted to do for a career when you went to college?No. I did not grow up thinking that I wanted to be an engineer. I had read some articles about girls becoming increasingly scientifically illiterate and that girls lacked confidence in their capabilities when it came to quantitative skills. And I just thought that was kind of wrong.I was underprepared academically when I first went to M.I.T., though. It was definitely a rude awakening. But it had a big impact on my career because I realized I could swim with these really smart people. I wound up being president of my class for three years.And after college?I worked at Morgan Stanley as a financial analyst for two years in M.&A., and then I did a third year living in China, just teaching English and kind of riding around on a bicycle with a backpack and studying Chinese. I wanted to reconnect with my Asian roots, then I came back to the States for business school.After graduation, I worked for Gap. In my second year, I was chosen to become chief of staff for Mickey Drexler, the C.E.O. at the time, and just an amazing merchant.I was very fortunate because I was probably the only person at my age and at my level who had the exposure to board-level discussions. I got to understand how he spent his time and see his superpowers and the superpowers of his direct reports.You spent 13 years at Kleiner Perkins before starting your own venture capital firm. Im sure youve spent time with hundreds of founders, trying to assess whether to bet on them. What do you look for?Theres not a formula. Ive learned that you really cannot judge a book by its cover. You have to get under the hood and spend some quality time with someone to understand what theyre really good at. If you dont, then youre only going to back extrovert, Type A people who are really good at selling. And its not clear that thats a requirement for building a great company. You could be a creative genius or a product genius, or you might have an insight into a market that is really special but youre not that good at explaining it.Sometimes you just know in the first five minutes when you meet someone. Your heart is beating faster, you love the way theyre describing something, they really understand the market and have an insight and approach to solving a problem for customers that no one has thought of before. Thats a no-brainer, but that only happens a couple of times a year.The next category is the harder one where the founders, especially at the seed stage, havent figured everything out yet. The fun part is figuring out whether the C.E.O. has enough of the raw material for the long haul. And so I ask questions like, What do you think youre really good at and where do you have areas where you want to grow or where you might have blind spots? And have they even thought about those questions before?Other questions?I like to talk about how, in a group setting, people often take on different roles someones the curmudgeon, someones the class clown, someones the consensus builder. And then Ill ask what role they usually play in a group dynamic like that.What career and life advice do you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?First, I dont think starting a company should be a goal. It really has to come from a place of having an insight about a problem that you personally have a connection to, or a problem that you see customers are having where you feel like youve got a mousetrap thats much better, not marginally better, than whats out there already.Starting a company and being a founder is really hard, and most companies fail. You really have to have a deep commitment and belief in it and be willing to see it through many ups and downs.Im often skeptical of people who say, Ive decided to start something, and Ive spent the last year getting a lot of different ideas and Ive settled on this one. I just dont think thats the right formula.",0
"Science|Only a fraction of U.S. health care workers are risking their jobs over vaccinations.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/07/science/covid-us-health-workers-vaccination.htmlOnly a fraction of U.S. health care workers are risking their jobs over vaccinations.Large health care systems around the country say that a very small percentage of their workers have missed vaccination deadlines.Credit...Allison Zaucha for The New York TimesOct. 7, 2021With deadlines for health care workers to take coronavirus vaccinations either passed or quickly approaching, only a fraction of those workers across the United States are risking their jobs by not complying.The consequences that employers warned of are becoming reality.UCHealth System in Colorado fired 119 people this week. Kaiser Permanente, based in California, has suspended more than 2,200 employees. And 400 workers have resigned from the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit rather than get inoculated.On Friday, UCHealth, a nonprofit system serving the Rocky Mountain region, sent the last of several email reminders to the 119 employees 0.5 percent of its work force who had not received a vaccination or a medical or religious exemption. They had already been removed from weekend schedules and were notified this week of their termination.Certainly we would have liked 100 percent compliance, Dan Weaver, the vice president of communications, said in an interview on Wednesday. He said that the terminated employees had been encouraged to reapply for their positions if they got vaccinated.Kaiser Permanente, one of the nations largest nonprofit health plans, announced its vaccination requirement on Aug. 2, when 78 percent of its work force had already been inoculated. A spokesman said this week that the level had risen to more than 92 percent.Still, about 1 percent of Kaisers work force across the country approximately 2,200 workers were put on unpaid administrative leave because they had not met the requirement, the spokesman said. They have until Dec. 1 to get vaccinated to be able to return to work.The Henry Ford Health System required its employees to comply with a vaccination requirement by last Friday. The system said on Tuesday that 99 percent of its 33,000 employees had been fully vaccinated, were soon to get their second dose or had received medical or religious exemptions.About 400 employees have resigned over the requirement, but new hires have already made up for the loss, officials said.At Henry Ford, Bob Riney, the chief operating officer and president of health care operations, said that people who had left the company could reapply once they were inoculated.We are doing all we can to keep those doors open, Mr. Riney told reporters. Whatever their choice, we wish them the very best and appreciate the years of service they provided our community and organization.Northwell Health, New York States largest health care provider, said on Monday that 1,400 employees less than 2 percent of its staff had declined to get vaccinated against the coronavirus and had to leave their jobs.President Biden announced a mandate on Sept. 9 that requires workers at nearly every hospital and health system in the country to get vaccinated or be tested weekly for the coronavirus.",7
"Donald Trump Jabs NFL at State of the Union 'Stand for the Anthem!' 1/31/2018 Fox News Donald Trump used the State of the Union to take a not so thinly veiled shot at Colin Kaepernick and the NFL ... telling Americans they should all STAND for the national anthem. Trump was praising 12-year-old Preston Sharp for putting flags on the graves of American military veterans when he pivoted and brought up the anthem. ""Prestons reverence for those who have served our nation reminds us why we salute our flag, why we put our hands on our hearts for the pledge of allegiance and why we proudly STAND for the national anthem!"" The line drew a roar from the crowd. Trump smiled and pointed. Of course, Trump's been on a tear against Colin and the NFL for months -- and previously said any player who takes a knee during the anthem should be punished by the league. 9/22/17 FOX News He also referred to a player who kneels as a ""son of a bitch"" and called for them to fired.",1
"Credit...Seth Wenig/Associated PressMarch 21, 2017The family of a part-time consultant for the C.I.A. who vanished a decade ago in Iran filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against that country, claiming that it had used a campaign of deception and lies to conceal its role in his imprisonment.The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Washington on behalf of the wife of the missing man, Robert A. Levinson, and their seven children. The action is seeking unspecified damages from Iran for its alleged role in, among other things, inflicting emotional distress on the family of Mr. Levinson, a private investigator who was a former F.B.I. agent.Other Americans once held by Iran as prisoners have filed lawsuits against the Tehran government, accusing it of hostage-taking, terrorism and torture. But the new action, which was also brought on behalf of Mr. Levinson, is unusual because Iranian officials have insisted since he disappeared that they know nothing about his whereabouts or what happened to him.A lawyer who represents Mr. Levinsons family called such claims hollow, adding that Iran had long been engaged in a campaign of disinformation about the missing man.We want justice, and this case calls out for justice, the lawyer, David L. McGee, said in an interview. We also want the world to know about Irans cruel and cynical behavior.A spokesman for Irans ambassador to the United Nations did not respond to two emails seeking comment.ImageCredit...FBI, via Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesThe lawsuit could lead to a confrontation between President Trump and Iran over Mr. Levinsons fate. American law enforcement officials have long believed that elements of Irans political, religious or intelligence hierarchy were involved in his capture and detention. But President Barack Obama never challenged Iran with those findings while in office, and Mr. Trump, who vowed in 2015 to bring Mr. Levinson home, has yet to do so.Mr. Levinson traveled in March 2007 to an Iranian island on a rogue mission to recruit an intelligence source for the C.I.A. He has been seen since then only in a hostage videotape made in 2010 and in a series of photographs. While some experts believe Mr. Levinson died in captivity, his family believes he is still alive. If so, he would now be 69.The 14-page lawsuit filing does not contain any new disclosures about Mr. Levinson. But the lawsuit asserts that the F.B.I. has concluded that the hostage videotape and photographs neither of which provided clues about his captors identity were part of an Iranian attempt to create a false scenario that Robert Levinson was being held by some other country.Lindsay Ram, an F.B.I. spokeswoman, did not respond directly when asked if the bureau had concluded that individuals or entities in Iran were responsible for Mr. Levinsons detention.Last year, Mr. Levinsons wife, Christine, filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act seeking numerous F.B.I. documents related to the bureaus long-running investigation into her husbands disappearance. But the F.B.I. denied her request, stating that since the inquiry personally involved Mr. Levinson, she would have to take steps like getting his approval or providing evidence that he is dead, a copy of that F.B.I. letter shows.This month, a Florida state judge appointed Mrs. Levinson as her husbands legal conservator, a posture that could overcome some of the F.B.I.s objections. But Ms. Ram, the spokeswoman, said that as a matter of policy the bureau does not release documents about cases that are ongoing.Mr. McGee said he was disappointed by the F.B.I.s position, particularly given the missing investigators two decades of service as an agent.As long as they keep this investigation open, the F.B.I. is not obliged to tell the family what it has done on Bobs behalf, he said.",6
"Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesFeb. 8, 2014KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia What are they feeding the Dufour-Lapointe sisters of Canada? Is it some combination of fiber and protein? Can it be packaged and sold at Whole Foods? Is it about to become the most sought-after meal wherever snow and hypercompetitive children and parents are found?These are legitimate questions, now that Justine Dufour-Lapointe, who is 19, and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe, who is 22, finished with a gold and a silver medal at the womens mogul competition.Their older sister, Maxime, 24, was not one of the six skiers who made it to the super final. But she finished in the top 12, and she was on hand to gush and revel along with her younger siblings when the three celebrated at a news conference.ImageCredit...Dylan Martinez/ReutersToday, it was my day, Justine said, still wearing her goggles and helmet. The last run was my run.It was certainly not Hannah Kearneys run. Kearney, a 27-year-old American, had her quest for a repeat of the gold medal she won at the Vancouver Games in 2010 foiled by a brief but gasp-inducing mistake near the start of the super final. It happened right after the first of two jumps on the course, when she landed ever so slightly off balance and ended up with her skis briefly splayed. She regained her typically immaculate, knees-glued form, but in this unforgiving sport, one momentary loss of control amounts to a fiasco. When youre competing, you have so much adrenaline, you dont realize a mistake is that bad, Kearney said. Im strong and pulled back together with all of my might. It could have been worse.In 90 minutes of competition at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, a crowd cheered, chanted and rang cowbells for one skier after another, with the Russian contingent chanting the loudest. (Rah-see-ya, Rah-see-ya is apparently how to shout Russia, Russia in Russian.) Much of the crowd vanished soon after it was clear that a Russian would not win a medal. Music played for the audience throughout the night the competition started at 10 p.m. local time and most of it was club beats layered on top of well-known pop and rock songs. Smells Like Teen Spirit was turned into the sort of number one would hear at a rave.The slope was 270 perilous-looking yards of snow, dimpled with moguls and interrupted twice by two launchpads for the required pair of jumps. The gradient is officially 28 degrees, but it looks much steeper. If this was not a sport, it could pass for the Nordic version of walking the plank. ImageCredit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesMoguls involves an unusual combination of flat-out racing skill and appraised technique. Twenty-five percent of a skiers score is determined by two judges who size up those jumps; 50 percent is determined by judges who weigh in on a competitors turns; and 25 percent is based on her time. The higher off the ground a skier gets on those jumps, and the more daredevilish the maneuvers in midair, the higher the score. But the longer a skier spends in the air, the slower she goes. So it may be best to floor it through most of the course, and catch air twice. Hurry, hurry, trick. Hurry, hurry, trick. Hurry, hurry, finish.It is not a sport for the faint of knee. Skiers must absorb the shock of all those moguls while hiding the work of the absorption keeping their heads even rather than bobbing. That was a larger-than-usual challenge on what was considered a particularly savage course here. Heidi Kloser, the No. 2 American and the fourth-ranked moguls skier in the world, crashed on a training run Thursday night, tearing her anterior cruciate ligament and fracturing her femur. There were no injuries Saturday night, unless one counts the psychic toll that the bronze took on Kearney. She was a far more daring skier than the sisters Dufour-Lapointe, and she flawlessly attacked the course in her second-to-last run, landing in first for the super final. Her jump of choice, a 360 while she grabs one of her skis, was among the most dramatic of the night, and she nailed it every time down the mountain.I think the girls are consistent skiers, she said at her news conference, but I could hear their scores; they were solid but not unbeatable.One serious bobble, though, is all it takes to undo even the best run in an Olympic final, and Kearney said she tried as best she could to put the error out of her mind and focus on the rest of the course as soon as she had recovered. That was not easy.Ill have to treat this bronze medal as a reward for fighting, she said, choking up and letting the tears flow, and not perfection.The sisters paid tribute to Kearney, who has said that Sochi would be her last Olympics. But understandably, Justine Dufour-Lapointe was more interested in getting her mind around her victory.Winning a gold medal, with Chloe, she said, Im living the dream right now. Im not realizing whats going on. Sooner or later, Ill probably realize Im an Olympic champion.",4
"Credit...Alex Wong/Getty ImagesJune 27, 2018WASHINGTON Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao confronted protesters on Monday after they accosted her and her husband, Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, over the Trump administrations temporarily halted policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the southern border.It was the latest heated skirmish, documented on social media, between officials representing the administration and activists furious over some of its most divisive policies.In a video posted on Twitter by one of the protesters, a small group of Georgetown students walked up to Ms. Chao and Mr. McConnell on the universitys campus as they were about to enter a black SUV and leave. One protester began asking the pair, Why are you separating families? as audio of immigrant children crying for their parents through sobs played in the background.Mr. McConnell entered the SUV, but Ms. Chao stopped to confront the protesters as they gathered around the back of the car.Why dont you leave my husband alone? she said. Why dont you leave my husband alone?Im not trying to disrespect you, one protester said, but hes separating families.He is not, Ms. Chao said, as a security guard separated her from the clamoring group, escorting her to the other side of the SUV. He is not.You leave him alone, she added, raising her voice and pointing admonishingly at the protesters. You leave my husband alone.How does he sleep at night? another protester yelled as Ms. Chao climbed into the car.As the administration and lawmakers grapple with a political and public relations crisis over the struggle to reunite separated families and frustrations over floundering efforts to pass immigration legislation, Ms. Chao and Mr. McConnell are the latest officials to face public wrath outside their political offices.On Friday, the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was asked to leave a Virginia restaurant because of her affiliation with the administration. On Monday, the neighbors of Stephen Miller, a top administration adviser known for his hard-line immigration views, endured protesters outside his Washington apartment. (Mr. Miller was attending Mr. Trumps rally in South Carolina at the time.)The increase in clashes instigated by private citizens determined to publicly shame conservative government officials notably endorsed by Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California has divided Democrats over how best to oppose the administration.We wanted to ask him a very simple, yet impactful question: Why are you separating families? said Roberto, the Georgetown student who filmed the encounter. He declined to give his last name because of online threats and backlash. For me, staying silent is not an option.Roberto, an intern with United We Dream, an immigration advocacy group, said the students also wanted to press the possibility of defunding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection over their involvement in the separation of families.Ms. Chao, herself an immigrant, has defended her husband before: Last summer, pressed on apparent tensions between Mr. McConnell and the president, she told reporters, I stand by my man both of them.The Transportation Department did not respond to a request for comment on the episode, and a spokesman for Mr. McConnells office declined to comment.",3
"Credit...Dmitry Lovetsky/Associated PressFeb. 16, 2014KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia A senior adviser to the Sochi Olympics convened an emergency meeting late last week with top winter sports officials at the Park Inn hotel in the Alpine village here.A situation had grown dire. It was not security, attendance or doping that was the problem. It was salt. Four months earlier, Hans Pieren, one of the worlds leading experts on salt and snow, had told Sochi officials that the Alpine skiing events required more than 19 tons of salt, a crucial ingredient for melting soft snow so it can refreeze into a hard surface.But the organizers did not listen, to their great regret. Now, with 10 days of competition remaining, many of the Games signature events were in jeopardy of being compromised, and even canceled.Tim Gayda, a Canadian consultant who is a senior adviser to the Sochi organizers, called the meeting Thursday night, according to some people who were there. He told the group that the strongest kind of salt, the large-grain variety, was simply not available in Russia. Mr. Gayda asked the group an urgent question: Does anyone know how we can get 25 tons of salt tonight?From there, a confidential international mission unspooled a mountaintop Oceans Eleven that just may have prevented a major Olympic embarrassment. This Sochi salt accord involved a Swiss salt salesman working late into the night; a rerouted airplane that may or may not have come from Bulgaria; an Olympian turned salt savant; and Russians powerful enough to clear months of customs bureaucracy overnight.It began with Mr. Pieren, 52, a ruddy Swiss skier who works as a senior race director for F.I.S., the international ski federation. He discusses the merits of different salt grains with the precision of a jeweler and often carries plastic sandwich bags with grains of salt fine, medium and large.Last September, Mr. Pieren made a final inspection of the Alpine skiing courses and told Sochi organizers that he needed 19 tons of salt for the Games: two tons of fine-grain salt, seven tons of medium and, most important, 10 tons of large-grain Himalayan-style salt. This was the heavy-duty salt that sinks deep into the snow, lasts longer and is most effective in warm weather.In emphatic but imperfect English, Mr. Pieren placed his order in a Sept. 29 email to Yves Dimier, the head of Alpine sports for Sochis organizing committee. If the conditions are incredible bad or wears than expected, we need maybe more salt and have to get more, Mr. Pieren wrote.ImageCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesMr. Pieren, who competed in Alpine skiing events at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics and now works with international competitions, was used to getting his way on matters of salt. Guided by intuition and experience, he combines different grains to find the right solution for every kind of snow. When we order something, it is not a wish, he said. It is a must.But Sochi organizers did not listen. After spending more than $50 billion on the Games, they did not order the full amount of salt recommended, which would have cost perhaps a few thousand dollars.Mr. Dimier and a spokesman declined to comment on his role in the decision, and the Sochi press office did not directly say why organizers did not heed Mr. Pierens advice. But they acknowledged the importance of the large-grained salt, and its scarcity in Russia. Sochi had hardly any large salt crystals, less than a ton nowhere near enough to harden expanses of soft snow, according to Mr. Pieren. And temperatures on the mountain were rising.Homeowners use salt to melt ice on the sidewalk, but Alpine experts cleverly use it to overcome soft snow conditions when a hard, icy surface is preferable. The salt melts the soft snow, and when the temperature drops usually overnight a layer of ice forms. Large-grain salt, about five millimeters in size, is best for soft, deep snow, because it drops farther into the snow and lasts for days, not hours.By the time of the emergency meeting, the world was watching Olympic athletes who had spent their lives training for these competitions. But their efforts could all be undone because of five-millimeter grains of salt or, rather, the lack of them.They didnt recognize the importance of the salt, Mr. Pieren said. They dont know anything about salt.It was not just the Alpine skiing races that were in trouble. Mr. Pieren fielded frantic calls from colleagues across the mountain at cross-country, the halfpipe, Nordic combined. All were worried about the conditions. All were in need of salt. Prominent athletes began to complain about the conditions. The halfpipe is pretty hard to ride, said Shaun White, an American snowboarder and one of the Games biggest stars.Once everyone gets in there, it just turns to mush, Mr. White said.Sochi officials had to act swiftly. When Mr. Gayda asked about arranging an emergency infusion of salt, Mr. Pieren knew where to turn. He called Schweizer Rheinsalinen, a 160-year-old company near Basel, Switzerland, that sits on the banks of the river (the Rhine) for which it is named. On its website, the company declares salt a world unto itself.Mr. Pieren reached Marcel Plattner, a sales accountant who works mostly in food-grade salt. Mr. Pieren told him he was in trouble. Not him personally in trouble, but he told me Sochi didnt have enough salt, Mr. Plattner said.Mr. Pieren was relieved to hear that the Swiss company had plenty of big-grain salt in a nearby warehouse; he said Olympic officials would buy 24 tons if it could be shipped immediately. At roughly $150 a ton, the bill would be more than $3,500. ImageCredit...Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesMr. Plattner was on a sales call with a supermarket chain when Mr. Pieren called. He was thrilled to help he had been watching the Sochi Games and was a fan of winter sports, hockey and skiing especially. I felt bad for the athletes, he said. It wasnt their mistake.Once Schweizer Rheinsalinen agreed to the sale, the international ski federation helped reroute a plane to Zurich, according to Jenny Wiedeke, a spokeswoman for the organization. The plane would leave Zurich at 11 a.m., with or without the salt. If youre too late, the show is gone, Mr. Plattner said. It was the time which was working against us.The ski federation and Sochi officials declined to describe how they secured a plane on such short notice. Mr. Plattner said he was told it had come from Sofia, the Bulgarian capital. Mr. Plattner worked until 11 that night to make the arrangements. He said he did not even have time to tell his boss. It was very exciting, he said.After sleeping for a few hours, he went to work early Friday. Because of a miscommunication, he missed the 11 a.m. plane but managed to get the salt on another plane that left the main Zurich airport about 3 p.m., he said.It was one of the more unusual, and exhilarating, sales of his career. I was surprised to work for the Olympics, Mr. Plattner said. Thats the reason I got a bit emotional. Our whole company and our logistics department was lucky to do something for a good reason, for the Olympic Games.When the plane landed in Sochi, Russian officials expedited the customs process, according to the Sochi organizing committee. The importation of the salt was done with full cooperation of all of the relevant authorities who treated this as a priority, the organization said in a statement.After the salt passed a security check Friday, Olympic vehicles took the load straight to the mountain, and about 24 hours after the emergency salt meeting, workers stood on the mountain, sprinkling the soft snow with big-grained salt, fresh from Switzerland.Even though problems with the course persisted Saturday, as several skiers in the womens super-G struggled, Mr. Pieren said he believed that the worst was behind them. Course managers were now armed if the temperature remained well above freezing, as expected. It could have ended in disaster, he said. But it was good teamwork.",4
"Business BriefingDec. 8, 2015Hundreds of civil lawsuits against Volkswagen over its use of deceptive software to evade emissions tests will be heard by a federal judge in California, despite a push from the automaker and the federal government to send the cases to Detroit. The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation decided on Tuesday to send the cases to District Judge Charles R. Breyer in San Francisco, where the first VW case in the nation was filed.Over 500 civil suits have been filed against the company, nearly a fifth in California, the panel said. It noted that relevant documents and witnesses might be found in California, given the role played by the states Air Resources Board in uncovering Volkswagens actions. The automaker has already admitted using the deceptive software. Many plaintiffs lawyers are accusing the company of defrauding customers, who say the value of their cars has dropped.",0
"Credit...Justin WoodAs the tech moguls disagree over the risks presented by something that doesnt exist yet, all of Silicon Valley is learning about unintended consequences of A.I.Credit...Justin WoodJune 9, 2018SAN FRANCISCO Mark Zuckerberg thought his fellow Silicon Valley billionaire Elon Musk was behaving like an alarmist.Mr. Musk, the entrepreneur behind SpaceX and the electric-car maker Tesla, had taken it upon himself to warn the world that artificial intelligence was potentially more dangerous than nukes in television interviews and on social media.So, on Nov. 19, 2014, Mr. Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive, invited Mr. Musk to dinner at his home in Palo Alto, Calif. Two top researchers from Facebooks new artificial intelligence lab and two other Facebook executives joined them.As they ate, the Facebook contingent tried to convince Mr. Musk that he was wrong. But he wasnt budging. I genuinely believe this is dangerous, Mr. Musk told the table, according to one of the dinners attendees, Yann LeCun, the researcher who led Facebooks A.I. lab.Mr. Musks fears of A.I., distilled to their essence, were simple: If we create machines that are smarter than humans, they could turn against us. (See: The Terminator, The Matrix, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.) Lets for once, he was saying to the rest of the tech industry, consider the unintended consequences of what we are creating before we unleash it on the world.Neither Mr. Musk nor Mr. Zuckerberg would talk in detail about the dinner, which has not been reported before, or their long-running A.I. debate.The creation of superintelligence the name for the supersmart technological breakthrough that takes A.I. to the next level and creates machines that not only perform narrow tasks that typically require human intelligence (like self-driving cars) but can actually outthink humans still feels like science fiction. But the fight over the future of A.I. has spread across the tech industry.More than 4,000 Google employees recently signed a petition protesting a $9 million A.I. contract the company had signed with the Pentagon a deal worth chicken feed to the internet giant, but deeply troubling to many artificial intelligence researchers at the company. Last week, Google executives, trying to head off a worker rebellion, said they wouldnt renew the contract when it expires next year.Artificial intelligence research has enormous potential and enormous implications, both as an economic engine and a source of military superiority. The Chinese government has said it is willing to spend billions in the coming years to make the country the worlds leader in A.I., while the Pentagon is aggressively courting the tech industry for help. A new breed of autonomous weapons cant be far away.All sorts of deep thinkers have joined the debate, from a gathering of philosophers and scientists held along the central California coast to an annual conference hosted in Palm Springs, Calif., by Amazons chief executive, Jeff Bezos.You can now talk about the risks of A.I. without seeming like you are lost in science fiction, said Allan Dafoe, a director of the governance of A.I. program at the Future of Humanity Institute, a research center at the University of Oxford that explores the risks and opportunities of advanced technology.And the public roasting of Facebook and other tech companies over the past few months has done plenty to raise the issue of the unintended consequences of the technology created by Silicon Valley. In April, Mr. Zuckerberg spent two days answering questions from members of Congress about data privacy and Facebooks role in the spread of misinformation before the 2016 election. He faced a similar grilling in Europe last month.Facebooks recognition that it was slow to understand what was going on has led to a rare moment of self-reflection in an industry that has long believed it is making the world a better place, whether the world likes it or not.Even such influential figures as the Microsoft founder Bill Gates and the late Stephen Hawking have expressed concern about creating machines that are more intelligent than we are. Even though superintelligence seems decades away, they and others have said, shouldnt we consider the consequences before its too late?ImageCredit...Tom Jamieson for The New York TimesThe kind of systems we are creating are very powerful, said Bart Selman, a Cornell University computer science professor and former Bell Labs researcher. And we cannot understand their impact.The Imperfect MessengerPacific Grove is a tiny town on the central coast of California. A group of geneticists gathered there, in the winter of 1975 to discuss whether their work gene editing would end up harming the world. In January 2017, the A.I. community held a similar discussion in the beachside grove.The private gathering at the Asilomar Hotel was organized by the Future of Life Institute, a think tank built to discuss the existential risks of A.I. and other technologies.The heavy hitters of A.I. were in the room among them Mr. LeCun, the Facebook A.I. lab boss who was at the dinner in Palo Alto, and who had helped develop a neural network, one of the most important tools in artificial intelligence today. Also in attendance was Nick Bostrom, whose 2014 book, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies had an outsized some would argue fear-mongering effect on the A.I. discussion; Oren Etzioni, a former computer science professor at the University of Washington who had taken over the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Seattle; and Demis Hassabis, who heads DeepMind, an influential Google-owned A.I. research lab in London.And so was Mr. Musk, who in 2015 had donated $10 million to the Cambridge, Mass., institute. That same year, he also helped create an independent artificial intelligence lab, OpenAI, with an explicit goal: create superintelligence with safeguards meant to ensure it wont get out of control. It was a message that clearly aligned him with Mr. Bostrom.On the second day of the retreat, Mr. Musk took part in a nine-person panel dedicated to the superintelligence question. Each panelist was asked if superintelligence was possible. As they passed the microphone down the line, each said Yes, until the microphone reached Mr. Musk. No, he said. The small auditorium rippled with knowing laughter. Everyone understood that Mr. Musk thought superintelligence was not only possible, but very dangerous.Mr. Musk later added: We are headed toward either superintelligence or civilization ending.At the end of the panel, Mr. Musk was asked how society can best live alongside superintelligence. What we needed, he said, was a direct connection between our brains and our machines. A few months later, he unveiled a start-up, called Neuralink, backed by $100 million that aimed to create that kind of so-called neural interface by merging computers with human brains.Warnings about the risks of artificial intelligence have been around for years, of course. But few of those Cassandras have the tech cred of Mr. Musk. Few, if any, have spent as much time and money on it. And perhaps none has had as complicated a history with the technology.Just a few weeks after Mr. Musk talked about his A.I. concerns at the dinner in Mr. Zuckerbergs house, Mr. Musk phoned Mr. LeCun, asking for the names of top A.I. researchers who could work on his self-driving car project at Tesla. (That autonomous technology was in use at the time of two fatal Tesla car crashes, one in Florida in May 2016 and the other in March of this year.)During a recent Tesla earnings call, Mr. Musk, who has struggled with questions about his companys financial losses and concerns about the quality of its vehicles, chastised the news media for not focusing on the deaths that autonomous technology could prevent a remarkable stance from someone who has repeatedly warned the world that A.I. is a danger to humanity.The tussle in Palm SpringsThere is a saying in Silicon Valley: We overestimate what can be done in three years and underestimate what can be done in 10.On Jan. 27, 2016, Googles DeepMind lab unveiled a machine that could beat a professional player at the ancient board game Go. In a match played a few months earlier, the machine, called AlphaGo, had defeated the European champion Fan Hui five games to none.Even top A.I. researchers had assumed it would be another decade before a machine could solve the game. Go is complex there are more possible board positions than atoms in the universe and the best players win not with sheer calculation, but through intuition. Two weeks before AlphaGo was revealed, Mr. LeCun said the existence of such a machine was unlikely.A few months later, AlphaGo beat Lee Sedol, the best Go player of the last decade. The machine made moves that baffled human experts but ultimately led to victory.Many researchers, including the leaders of DeepMind and OpenAI, believe the kind of self-learning technology that underpins AlphaGo provided a path to superintelligence. And they believe progress in this area will significantly accelerate in the coming years.OpenAI recently trained a system to play a boat racing video game, encouraging it to win as many game points as it could. It proceeded to win those points but did so while spinning in circles, colliding with stone walls and ramming other boats.Its the kind of unpredictability that raise grave concerns about the rise of A.I., including superintelligence.ImageCredit...Jack Nicas/The New York TimesBut the deep opposition to these concerns was on display in March at an exclusive conference organized by Amazon and Mr. Bezos in Palm Springs.One evening, Rodney Brooks, a roboticist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, debated the potential dangers of A.I. with the neuroscientist, philosopher and podcaster Sam Harris, a prominent voice of caution on the issue. The debate got personal, according to a recording obtained by The Times.Mr. Harris warned that because the world was in an arms race toward A.I., researchers may not have the time needed to ensure superintelligence is built in a safe way.This is something you have made up, Mr. Brooks responded. He implied that Mr. Harriss argument was based on unscientific reasoning. It couldnt be proven right or wrong a real insult among scientists.I would take this personally, if it actually made sense. Mr. Harris said.A moderator finally ended the tussle and asked for questions from the audience. Mr. Etzioni, the head of the Allen Institute, took the microphone. I am not going to grandstand, he said. But urged on by Mr. Brooks, he walked onto the stage and laid into Mr. Harris for three minutes, saying that todays A.I. systems are so limited, spending so much time worrying about superintelligence just doesnt make sense.The people who take Mr. Musks side are philosophers, social scientists, writers not the researchers who are working on A.I., he said. Among A.I. scientists, the notion that we should start worrying about superintelligence is very much a fringe argument.Mr. Zuckerberg goes to WashingtonSince their dinner three years ago, the debate between Mr. Zuckerberg and Mr. Musk has turned sour. Last summer, in a live Facebook video streamed from his backyard as he and his wife barbecued, Mr. Zuckerberg called Mr. Musks views on A.I. pretty irresponsible.Panicking about A.I. now, so early in its development, could threaten the many benefits that come from things like self-driving cars and A.I. health care, he said.With A.I. especially, Im really optimistic, Mr. Zuckerberg said. People who are naysayers and kind of try to drum up these doomsday scenarios I just, I dont understand it.In other words: Youre getting ahead of reality, Elon. Relax.Mr. Musk responded with a tweet . Ive talked to Mark about this, Mr. Musk wrote. His understanding of the subject is limited.In April, Mr. Zuckerberg testified before Congress, explaining how Facebook was going to fix the problems it had helped create.One way to do it? By leaning on artificial intelligence. But in his testimony, Mr. Zuckerberg acknowledged that scientists havent exactly figured out how some types of artificial intelligence are learning.This is going to be a very central question for how we think about A.I. systems over the next decade and beyond, he said. Right now, a lot of our A.I. systems make decisions in ways that people dont really understand.Tech bigwigs and scientists may mock Mr. Musk for his Chicken Little routine on A.I., but they seem to be moving toward his point of view. Inside Google, a group is exploring flaws in A.I. methods that can fool computer systems into seeing things that are not there. Researchers are warning that A.I. systems that automatically generate realistic images and video will soon make it even harder to trust what we see online. Both DeepMind and OpenAI now operate research groups dedicated to A.I safety.Mr. Hassabis, the founder of DeepMind, still thinks Mr. Musks views are extreme. But he said the same about the views of Mr. Zuckerberg. The threat is not here, he said. Not yet. But Facebooks problems are a warning.We need to use the downtime, when things are calm, to prepare for when things get serious in the decades to come, said Mr. Hassabis. The time we have now is valuable, and we need to make use of it.",5
"Baseball|Matsuzaka Says Tanakas Biggest Adjustment May Be to Life in the U.S.https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/sports/baseball/matsuzaka-says-tanakas-biggest-adjustment-may-be-to-life-in-the-us.htmlFeb. 11, 2014PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. About an hour before Masahiro Tanaka was officially introduced on Tuesday as a Yankee, as the next great Japanese import, Daisuke Matsuzaka was asked what advice he would give Tanaka. Essentially, what was his experience like? Matsuzaka paused, sort of smiled, started to talk and paused again. About seven years ago, the Boston Red Sox paid $103 million to bring him to the United States. In his second season, in 2008, he went 18-3. But not much went right after that. Matsuzaka was toiling in the minor leagues last season when the Mets gave him a chance. To get to the Mets spring training camp this year, he flew from Tokyo to Boston and then drove to Florida, accompanied by his interpreter, Jeff Cutler. He had only a minor league contract and a fighting chance to compete for the fifth spot in the Mets rotation. At the beginning, hes going to have to spend a lot of time adjusting and adapting to life over here and baseball over here, Matsuzaka said through Cutler. But as long as hes able to deal with that and overcome those things, I think he is a pitcher that has talent. I think he can have success over here. Matsuzaka added: Baseball wasnt too stressful or too difficult to adjust to. It was more of the things that happened in daily life, the American lifestyle, the cultural aspect of it, just things that were different. It took a little while to get used to and understand.Matsuzaka, 33, said he and Tanaka, 25, were not particularly close, although he said they knew each other from playing together in the World Baseball Classic. Asked about the concern over high pitch counts in Japan Tanaka threw 160 pitches in one game of the Japan Series last year and the potential for injury, Matsuzaka said: I dont believe thats necessarily true. I think some people throw lots and lots and never get injured, and others dont throw at all and get injured. Matsuzaka once again credited the Mets pitching coach, Dan Warthen, for helping him focus on the mound and for a few mechanical adjustments. Matsuzaka posted a 1.37 earned run average over his final four starts last year.",4
"SinosphereCredit...ReutersApril 4, 2016HONG KONG In an Oscar-like spectacle on Sunday night, the Hong Kong Film Awards announced 21 movie prizes. Or 20 if you consulted only reports in the mainland Chinese news media.That was because the top honor went to Ten Years, a low-budget independent production depicting a dark future for a Hong Kong bullied by the mainland government into assimilation. In the lists of award winners published on the Chinese news portals Sina and Tencent and a report by Xinhua, the state news agency, there was no mention of the best film.With a shoestring budget of about 500,000 Hong Kong dollars, or about $64,000, and a limited theater release, the film has raked in more than 5 million Hong Kong dollars, finding resonance with present-day fears that local culture and liberties are being threatened under Chinese rule. On Saturday, thousands of people flocked to community-organized screenings in more than 30 locations, including public parks and squares.We just hope that our feelings are shared by the Hong Kong people, said Ng Ka-leung, a producer and director of the film, after he won the award. We want to use our work to ponder the future of Hong Kong.Ten Years depicts a Hong Kong in 2025 crumpling under the tightening grasp of the Chinese government, even though it had promised a high degree of autonomy and civil liberties for 50 years under the one country, two systems principle governing the former British colonys 1997 transfer to Chinese rule. In the dystopian future depicted across five short stories, books are censored, houses are bulldozed against their residents will, and the Chinese government uses force and deception to interfere with local politics.In a scene that coincides with growing calls for Hong Kongs independence from China, a person sympathetic to those calls sets herself on fire in front of the British Consulate to protest Chinese rule.In January, after the movie was nominated for the best film award, the Chinese government reportedly ordered the mainland company Tencent and the state broadcaster CCTV to cancel broadcasting agreements of the ceremony. On Sunday night, residents in mainland cities who had tuned in to Hong Kongs main television channel said on Chinese social media that the program was cut off shortly after it started and replaced with a cooking show.I was watching the Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony when, all of a sudden, it was cut off, a user named MElemenT said on the Chinese social networking site Weibo.The more you want to censor something, the more we want to get it, another user said.Not everyone disapproved of the apparent censorship of mentions of Ten Years.Its a countrys bottom line to oppose secession, Lu Zhen said on Weibo. Whats wrong with the broadcasting regulators ban on a film supporting independence for Hong Kong?In an editorial in January, Global Times, a Chinese state-run newspaper that often carries nationalist views, denounced the film as a thought virus and called it absurd, pessimistic and fearmongering.In a report on Sunday night, it described the award ceremony as fairly quiet and said the actors seemed lonely due to the lack of attention.Before presenting the best film award, Derek Yee, a director and chairman of Hong Kong Film Awards, said, without elaborating, that it had been hard to find anyone else to present it. Artists have found themselves unable to perform on the Chinese mainland after they declared support in 2014 for pro-democracy demonstrations that the Chinese government deemed unlawful.A young scriptwriter came up to me before the ceremony and asked if mentioning Ten Years would offend anyone, Mr. Yee said. I said to him, The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.",6
"Jennifer Williams Court Orders Protection from Ex-BF 1/29/2018 JANUARY 2018 TMZ.com Jennifer Williams is celebrating a victory in court over the ex-bf she claims is violent and threatening. We got the ""Basketball Wives"" star Monday outside court in downtown L.A., and she was brandishing the temporary restraining order the judge had just granted. It requires her ex, Tim Norman, to stay at least 100 yards away from her at all times. Jennifer's not satisfied though, and told us she'll be back in court. As for seeing Tim -- who's on OWN's reality show ""Welcome to Sweetie Pie's"" -- in court? Jennifer claims he's a ""sick person"" who needs help. Looks like this drama will play out on the upcoming season of ""Basketball Wives"" -- cameras were following Jennifer and her pal, Evelyn Lozada, outside court.",1
"Asia Pacific|After APEC Meeting, Police Storm Papua New Guinea Parliament, Demanding Payhttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/20/world/asia/papua-new-guinea-parliament.htmlNov. 20, 2018Disgruntled police officers and other workers stormed the Parliament building in Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, breaking glass and overturning furniture as they demanded to be paid for their work during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting.Harry Momos, a spokesman for Parliament, said about 300 people forced their way into the building in Port Moresby, the capital. The situation cooled down Tuesday afternoon after the group met with the speaker of Parliament and the government finance minister, he said.We dont expect any further damage or confrontation, Mr. Momos said.Papua New Guinea, the poorest of the 21 member economies in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, known as APEC, had a rare turn in the global spotlight as host of the groups annual summit meeting, which ended Sunday. The Parliament raid on Tuesday was an embarrassing footnote to the event.Mr. Momos said the officers would be paid on Wednesday.A video shared by Bryan Kramer, an opposition lawmaker, showed art ripped off the walls, toppled plants and an overturned X-ray machine and desk. The windows at the front of the building had been shattered.Mr. Kramer said that numerous staff of Parliament were assaulted during this confrontation. Mr. Momos said there were no serious injuries.The government of Papua New Guinea had been criticized for spending lavishly on the APEC meeting, including $7 million on 40 Maserati sedans to ferry world leaders around the capital. About 7,000 people attended, including Vice President Mike Pence and President Xi Jinping of China.Just north of Australia, the country of eight million people is riddled with crime and is in the midst of a national health crisis, including the return of polio. Less than a fifth of the population has access to electricity, and almost 85 percent lives on subsistence farming.",6
"SHAKTOOLIK, Alaska In the dream, a storm came and Betsy Bekoalok watched the river rise on one side of the village and the ocean on the other, the water swallowing up the brightly colored houses, the fishing boats and the four-wheelers, the school and the clinic. She dived into the floodwaters, frantically searching for her son. Bodies drifted past her in the half-darkness. When she finally found the boy, he, too, was lifeless. I picked him up and brought him back from the oceans bottom, Ms. Bekoalok remembered. The Inupiat people who for centuries have hunted and fished on Alaskas western coast believe that some dreams are portents of things to come. But here in Shaktoolik, one need not be a prophet to predict flooding, especially during the fall storms. Laid out on a narrow spit of sand between the Tagoomenik River and the Bering Sea, the village of 250 or so people is facing an imminent threat from increased flooding and erosion, signs of a changing climate. With its proximity to the Arctic, Alaska is warming about twice as fast as the rest of the United States and the state is heading for the warmest year on record. The government has identified at least 31 Alaskan towns and cities at imminent risk of destruction, with Shaktoolik ranking among the top four. Some villages, climate change experts predict, will be uninhabitable by 2050, their residents joining a flow of climate refugees around the globe, in Bolivia, China, Niger and other countries. These endangered Alaskan communities face a choice. They could move to higher ground, a wrenching prospect that for a small village could cost as much as $200 million. Or they could stand their ground and hope to find money to fortify their buildings and shore up their coastline. At least two villages farther up the western coast, Shishmaref and Kivalina, have voted to relocate when and if they can find a suitable site and the money to do so. A third, Newtok, in the soggy Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta farther south, has taken the first steps toward a move. But, after years of meetings that led nowhere and pleas for government financing that remained unmet, Shaktoolik has decided it will stay and defend, at least for the time being, the mayor, Eugene Asicksik, said. We are doing things on our own, he said. The tiny Cessna carrying two visitors touches down lightly on the thin gravel strip that in Shaktoolik serves as an airport. It is mid-September, and with the commercial fishing season over, the village is preparing for winter. Moose meat simmers on the stove in the house of Matilda Hardy, president of the Native Village of Shaktoolik Council. Jean Mute, the pastors wife, stoops to pick cranberries for preserves in a field just outside town. By the river, a fisherman works on his boat, preparing it to hunt beluga whales in the shallow waters of the Norton Sound. In the evening, a boy outside the snack shop where children drink fruit slushies and munch on Kit-Kat bars proudly holds up a fat goose he shot in the days hunting expedition. The ocean is calm, but bad weather is already on peoples minds. Im wondering what our fall storms will bring, Ms. Hardy says. As of late November, there had been one high tide, but no severe storm. In Shaktoolik, as in other villages around the state, residents say winter is arriving later than before and rushing prematurely into spring, a shift scientists tie to climate change. With rising ocean temperatures, the offshore ice and slush that normally buffer the village from storm surges and powerful ocean waves are decreasing. Last winter, for the first time elders here can remember, there was no offshore ice at all. The battering delivered by the storms has eaten away at the land around the village, which occupies 1.1 square miles on a three-mile strip of land. According to one estimate, that strip is losing an average of 38,000 square feet or almost an acre a year. Flooding from the ocean and the swollen river waters has become so severe that the last big storm came close to turning Shaktoolik into an island. That was pretty scary, said Agnes Takak, the administrative assistant for the villages school. It seemed like the waves would wash right over and cover us, but thankfully they didnt. As Shaktoolik and other threatened villages have discovered, both staying and moving have their perils. The process of relocation can take years or even decades. In the meantime, residents still need to send their children to school, go to the doctor when they are sick, have functioning water lines and fuel tanks and a safe place to go when a severe storm comes. But few government agencies are willing to invest in maintaining villages that are menaced by erosion and flooding, especially when the communities are planning to pull up stakes and go elsewhere. Its a real Catch-22 situation, said Sally Cox, the states coordinator for the native villages. Interested in keeping up with climate change? Sign up to receive our in-depth journalism about climate change around the world. Even announcing the intention to relocate can scuttle a communitys request for financing. Some years ago, when Shaktoolik indicated on a grant proposal that it was hoping to move, it lost funds for its clinic, said Isabel Jackson, the city clerk. Shaktooliks leaders have identified a potential relocation site 11 miles southeast, near the foothills. But some residents say they fear that their culture, dependent on fishing and hunting, will suffer if they move. And Edgar Jackson Sr., a former mayor, said that the government turned down applications for money to build a road that would serve both as a way to get building materials to their new home and as an evacuation route. Residents currently have no reliable way to escape quickly in an emergency. We called it an evacuation road, a relocation road, Mr. Jackson said. The state and federal government didnt like those two words. Shaktoolik the name means scattered things in a native language has been forced to move twice before in its history. The Eskimo tribes that traveled from the north into the region in the mid-1800s found an Eden of berry fields, tundra where moose and herds of caribou grazed and waters where salmon, seals and beluga flourished. By the early 1900s, they had settled into a site six miles up the Shaktoolik River. But in the 1930s, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, responsible for providing educational services to Native Americans, built a two-room schoolhouse on the coastal sand spit, and the residents were compelled to move there if their children were to go to school. The old site, as village residents call it, was where many elders in Shaktoolik grew up; the skeletal remains of the buildings are still standing, a ghost town that sits three miles from the village. But that location, chosen by the federal government, put Shaktoolik at the mercy of the fierce storms that barreled into the sound from the Aleutian Islands. After a series of close calls in the 1960s one severe storm destroyed boats and left the airport littered with driftwood, making it impossible for planes to land another move seemed inevitable. Two new sites were proposed, one on higher ground near the foothills, the other the spot the village now occupies. At a series of three public meetings, the residents debated the choices. Mr. Jackson, who was mayor at the time, recalled that he and his wife were in favor of moving to higher ground. That would have solved our problems, he said. But majority ruled. We were short three votes. When the fall storms come, they almost always come at night, the waves hurling giant driftwood logs onto the beach like toothpicks, the river rising, the wind shaking the windows of the houses that sit in two orderly rows along Shaktooliks single road. Children who in summer play outside long after dark hunker down with their parents, listening to the CB radio announcements that serve as the villages central form of communication. Big storms on Alaskas west coast are different from those that threaten Miami or New Orleans. They can carry the force of a Category 1 hurricane, but their diameter is five to 10 times greater, meaning that they affect a larger area and last longer, said Robert E. Jensen, research hydraulic engineer at the Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center. Theyre huge, he said. Some residents here say that the storms are becoming more frequent and more intense, although scientists do not have data to confirm this. But there is no question that higher ocean temperatures have resulted in less offshore ice, allowing storm surges and waves to hit with greater force and bringing more flooding and erosion. The loss of sea ice, said David Atkinson, a climate scientist at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, is undeniably linked to a warming climate, as is the rising level of the sea as a result of melting glaciers, the increased volume of water lending even more strength to the oceans assault. Fifty years ago, when the beach was a quarter of a mile away, the increasing violence of the ocean might not have bothered Shaktooliks residents. But now the sea is almost at their doorsteps. At one time, Ms. Hardy, the council president, could see the beach from her window. Now she looks out instead on a berm, a mile-long, seven-foot-high mound of driftwood and gravel built by the village as a barrier against an angry ocean. Two state engineers came up with the idea, but they ran out of money before they produced a design. Mayor Asicksik decided to go ahead anyway. Local men hauled the gravel from the mouth of the river in old military trucks bought for $9,000 each and finished the project in less than four months. Residents here are proud of the berm: It is a symbol of their determination to fix their own problems without help from the government. But most also realize that the makeshift barricade is only a stopgap; some question whether it will last even through one big storm. It hasnt been tested yet, Ms. Hardy said. Shaktoolik faces other threats that will be difficult or impossible to ward off without assistance. Erosion is threatening the villages fuel tanks, its airport and its drinking water supply, which is pumped from the Tagoomenik River. The boundary between river and sea has been so thinned by erosion in some spots that salt water from the ocean, normally a benign source of sustenance, briefly overtopped the bank and poured into the river during a recent storm. The land continues to disintegrate. The Army Corps of Engineers assessment, while cautioning that its conclusions were based on limited data, estimated that the spit that Shaktoolik sits on could lose 45 acres by 2057, with rising water threatening fuel tanks, commercial buildings and the air strip. But the most urgent challenge is keeping village residents safe in the event of a disaster. Shaktooliks current emergency plan calls for people to gather inside the school. But the school building, which sits on the ocean side of the road, is itself likely to be flooded and is not large enough to comfortably accommodate everyone, even if it stays dry. Some families have said that in a severe storm they would flee up the Shaktoolik River. They keep their boats stocked with supplies. But the river, Mayor Asicksik and others said, would almost certainly be ice-filled and treacherous, and any attempt to escape would likely end in a search and rescue operation. Even the airport is risky. Carven Scott, Alaska regional director for the National Weather Service, who recently visited Shaktoolik, said that after Hurricane Irene hit the East Coast in 2011, the service conducted an assessment for future storms and concluded that the several million people who lived in vulnerable areas of the Northeast could be evacuated in about 12 hours. A similar evacuation in Shaktoolik, Mr. Scott said, might take five days. With bad weather conditions and low light, the chances are we could not get a sizable aircraft in there far enough in advance to evacuate, he said. Youd have to take people out in groups of 10 or less. Yet if it is to stay put, the village must find a way to prevent loss of life, if not the loss of property. They do not want to move and I have to accept that, said David Williams, a project engineer for the Alaska division of the Corps of Engineers and a member of an interagency group that is helping endangered villages plan for the future. But if they want to live here, Mr. Williams said, they have to have a way to get out of Dodge when getting out is required. Kirby Sookiayak, the villages community coordinator, sits in his office and ticks off the communitys wish list: an evacuation road; improvements to the water system and the fuel tank farm; increased fortification of the berm; floodlights and lighted buoys for the river; a new health clinic; a fortified shelter for residents in a storm. The estimated price tag for these improvements? Well over $100 million, according to Shaktooliks recently completed strategic management plan. And while state and federal agencies will finance some routine work, it will not even be close to what is needed. No one knows where the additional money will come from. Despite years of government reports calling for action, sporadic bursts of financing and a visit to the region by President Obama last year, the hundreds of millions of dollars it would take for Alaskas threatened villages to stay where they are or to move elsewhere have not materialized. In Kivalina and Shishmaref, the Corps of Engineers was able to build sturdy rock revetments to armor the villages, authorized by Congress in 2005 to do so at federal expense. But the law was rescinded four years later, and the corps can do nothing more without the villages coming up with matching funds of their own. The state of Alaska which in the past provided some funds to Newtok, allowing the Yupik community to begin its move across the river to safety is in a fiscal crisis, its economic health tied to oil revenues. And a federal lawsuit filed by one village against oil and coal companies, seeking relocation money as compensation for their air pollution, went nowhere. Shaktoolik is scheduled to receive $1 million from the Denali Commission, an independent federal agency created in 1998 to help provide services to rural Alaskan communities. But the money will not go far: some will help pay for a new design to fortify the berm, while the rest is intended to help protect the villages fuel tank storage. Perhaps the largest potential contribution is the $400 million allocated for relocating threatened villages in the Obama administrations proposed 2017 budget. But with a new administration, the fate of that allocation is at best uncertain. I wish theyd come and spend one day in one of our storms, Axel Jackson, who sits on the village council, said of politicians in Washington. The federal government spends billions on wars in foreign countries, he said. But they still treat us like were a third world country.",7
"Larry Nassar Gets Up To 175 Yrs. In Prison ... 'I've Just Signed Your Death Warrant' 1/24/2018 WLNS -- Larry Nassar is going to spend the rest of his life rotting in a prison cell. The judge in Nassar's sexual assault case says she just signed his ""death warrant"" ... sentencing him up to 175 years behind bars. Before the judge sentenced the disgraced ex-Team USA doc, Nassar gave a statement to his victims. WLNS Disgraced ex-Team USA doctor Larry Nassar will be sentenced Wednesday in his sexual assault case after his final victims give their impact statements ... and we're live streaming the proceedings. Through 7 days, we've heard from over 150 women and girls who Nassar assaulted -- including former Team USA gymnasts Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber. Of course, the 54-year-old was already essentially going to be behind bars for life ... after getting 60 years in a separate child porn case. This time, he's facing a minimum of 25 to 40 years. Sayonara, scumbag.",1
"Karachi JournalCredit...Sara Farid for The New York TimesMarch 12, 2017KARACHI, Pakistan It was a weekday afternoon in an upscale neighborhood of Karachi, but the hall was packed for the lecture on Islam and marriage.Laughter burst forth as the speaker asked how husbands change over the years.Theyre terrible listeners, one woman said. Inattentive, offered another. Other women, apparently without husbands, offered more charitable attributes: Theyre rational, and able to take risks.I was expecting the unmarried lot would have more unrealistic expectations for men, the speaker said to more laughter.Most religious events in Karachi are dominated by men and addressed by older, often-virulent clerics, but the participants at this recent lecture were all women. Drawn largely from the citys affluent neighborhoods, they sat in rapt attention, dressed in bright patterned tunics, listening to the lecturer, Sara Asif, instruct them on Islamic strictures.Ms. Asif talked about the strengths of women, and how a mans life and home would be joyless without a wife. Allah has given us beauty, she said. All of us are beautiful.ImageCredit...Sara Farid for The New York TimesSuch lectures by instructors like Ms. Asif are part of a growing religious ecosystem for women in Pakistan that eschews politics and traditional clerics in favor of female preachers and an Islamic-themed consumer lifestyle. This new culture has attracted a diverse mix of homemakers and socialites, bankers and doctors, who incorporate religion into their lives, but also into their lifestyles, buying everything from sequined abayas to custom prayer mats.The well-heeled in Karachi have been turning to Islam since the 1990s, when a female preacher called Farhat Hashmi began preaching the faith at the palatial homes that are a feature of Karachis wealthy neighborhoods.Soon after, women in those communities could be seen wearing burqas and attending Quran classes with the zeal of the newly converted. Ms. Hashmi also set up a controversial Islamic education network known as Al-Huda, which gained notoriety when it was revealed that former students included Tashfeen Malik, one half of the couple that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif., in 2015.Ms. Hashmis success helped spawn a string of religious businesses by people inspired by her, encompassing everything from educational institutions to burqa boutiques.But in recent years, a new generation of women like her former student Huma Najmul Hassan, whose Al-Ilm Institute is a popular fixture on Karachis religious circuit has helped take things to a new level. The number of women attending their classes is inspiring the growth of even more Islam-themed businesses for women.The commercial boom can be seen on the street across from the Baitussalam Mosque in the upmarket Defence area, which has turned into a veritable religious shopping strip. Islamic bookstores selling titles like 300 Questions for Husbands and Wives are sandwiched between boutiques stocking $35 abayas with embossed palm tree borders, and banks offering Shariah-based services.ImageCredit...Sara Farid for The New York TimesAt Habitt, a home dcor store in the Dolmen Mall on Karachis seafront, $4 sandalwood prayer beads are displayed against an invocation to prayer in stylized English script. Online, there are artisanal Islamic brands like Little Ummati, which sells customized $20 prayer mats.Mahjabeen Umar, a Pakistani graphic designer who lives in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, said Little Ummati had been born out of her desire to make religious practices appealing for her children. Since other products and books for children are colorful and well made, she asked, why should an Islamic product not be well designed?There has also been a boom in services.One woman runs a Shariah-compliant aerobics class out of a residence in the Defence neighborhood. On a recent Friday afternoon, a dozen teenage girls in skinny jeans took notes as a woman demonstrated how to make skin cream at a Muslim youth club meeting. In January, a group associated with the Baitussalam Mosque organized a workshop on halal food. Over a hundred abaya-clad women gathered to hear about Muhammads favorite foods and the risks of diets.In Karachis affluent neighborhoods, women meet at Quran classes and at private talks by female preachers, in residences and institutes watched over by guards. They gather for religious conferences in five-star hotels. Institutes offer a range of Islamic courses in English and Urdu: on understanding the Quran, Arabic pronunciations and Islamic practices through presentations like My WhatsApp to Allah.Islamic events from prayer meetings to conferences have long been a mainstay of life in Pakistan. Islam is constitutionally and culturally enshrined here and taught at school; Muslims make up 96 percent of the population.But Islam has historically been perceived as the domain of the poor, and mainstream religious-political groups that constitute clerics and conservatives support consider themselves authorities on faith, and promise to make Pakistan a Shariah-law-abiding state.ImageCredit...Sara Farid for The New York TimesIn recent years, however, the countrys elite have tried to seize that mantle, convinced that they are better placed as the guardians of Islam because of their education, experiences and resources.That view is echoed by Humaira Iqbal, a doctor who is a former student of the female lecturer Safiya Khan.Our elite didnt have any religion, and so religion was literally preserved by the clerics, she said. They led funerals and prayers, and taught kids to read the Quran. But unfortunately, because they were illiterate, they could not understand Islam like an educated person.Dr. Iqbal, 34, runs a workshop called Lustre that teaches women to embrace their sexuality within marriage using Islamic dictates and anecdotes from religious teachings.The concept of this workshop is that people realize that as far as religion is concerned, it is really, really encouraged, she said, referring to sex, albeit in heterosexual and marital relationships.She laughingly described herself as a hijabi pervert, referring to the Islamic headdress worn by women outside the home. She said she had become a guru of sorts to people with questions about sex, Islam and marriage like whether anal sex is acceptable. (It isnt, she said.)ImageCredit...Sara Farid for The New York TimesMuch of the discussion at womens lectures revolves around relationships, families and the demands of urban life.Women from affluent communities who discover Islam anew and opt to wear the hijab or adopt religious practices risk social ostracism and criticism particularly from their families, friends and husbands who are often aghast at a loved ones transformation into a black-robed, devout person who will not attend parties that feature singing and dancing.Many of these women say Islam has given them a sense of purpose and direction that had been missing from their lives.Kulsoom Umar, who studied at the London School of Economics and consulted on development projects in Pakistan, lectures at Al-Ilm. She walked into her first Quran class in a sheer shirt, and now wears a cloak and covers her face and hair.I was always a fiercely independent person, but the thing that Islam and God gave me was emancipation, she said.This conservative and independent strain of elite women does not necessarily fit a stereotype of submissive religious women.The empowerment that so many Al-Huda women speak about doesnt make much sense from a liberal feminist perspective, especially to those who cant come to terms with these womens full face-and-body covering, said Faiza Mushtaq, a sociologist at Karachis Institute of Business Administration who wrote her doctoral dissertation on Al-Huda.Yet in many ways, Al-Huda has given these women access to new forms of community and new positions of authority, she said, like studying the Quran collectively without the need for men and becoming leaders and organizers.",6
"Credit...Richard Perry/The New York TimesDec. 30, 2015During a preholiday shopping trip to New York, Lisa Libretto received an enticing alert on her iPhone: an offer for a $25 discount on a Vince Camuto handbag that she had coveted on the retailers website.If my phone is alerting me to the discount or some information about items I might like, that will totally pull me in, said Ms. Libretto, who lives in Ridgefield, Conn.The alert arrived at an opportune time, pinging as she neared the entrance of the Vince Camuto store. And it cemented her decision: She would buy the purse after all.But the timing was no coincidence. The app that she had downloaded from ShopAdvisor used beacon technology, a new addition to location-based marketing, to pinpoint her whereabouts before sending the discount. I hope its a technology more companies will use, she said.Ms. Libretto, 44, an artist and stay-at-home mother with two young sons, has embraced online shopping. My time is so short that when I do get to shop, the alerts are fantastic, she said.Because retailers are acutely aware that despite the popularity of online shopping nearly 92 percent of retail sales are made at brick-and-mortar locations, a technology that will help drive shoppers into stores is certain to attract a lot of attention.And with the ubiquity of smartphones, now owned by two-thirds of Americans, retailers and technology companies have spent the last few years trying, with modest success, to find ways to combine a shoppers desires with innovative mobile apps, to get legions of consumers into stores.Now, ShopAdvisor, a four-year-old company based in Concord, Mass., has added a wrinkle to location-based mobile marketing that it hopes will be the breakthrough retailers are seeking. GPS-based mobile apps are not new and geofencing, the ability to create a virtual perimeter around a designated location such as a shopping mall, has given retailers the ability to send push alerts to prospective customers nearby.ImageCredit...Richard Perry/The New York TimesBut beacon technology can pinpoint a customers location so precisely that a retailer knows when that shopper is lingering in the shoe department or browsing in lingerie. ShopAdvisor, which offers its own mobile shopping app and specializes in creating multichannel mobile shopping platforms for media companies, as well as retail brands, has incorporated beacon technology in a novel way.With the aim of driving shoppers into stores, ShopAdvisor incorporates data analytics that filter a shoppers preferences and provide a way for retailers to send personalized alerts to consumers who have downloaded a brands app, offering discounts, highlighting sales and providing content such as product reviews that might instantly sway a buying decision.Weve had at least three years of heavy-duty location-based marketing under retailers belts, said JiYoung Kim, senior vice president for Ansible, the mobile division of the Interpublic Group, the global marketing company. Everybody has the same tool, and targeting alone can only take you so far.What makes the ShopAdvisor approach enticing, Ms. Kim said, is that it not only precisely locates a shopper in a store but provides personalized creative content from that retailer to that shopper on the spot. Offer that shopper a 20 percent discount on some new black pumps she has been eyeing, along with a positive review from a popular fashion magazine, and a purchase is far more likely.Shoppers who have downloaded apps from various retailers in the last three years have been flooded with repetitious push alerts that have become like robocalls and tend to be annoying. For proximity mobile marketing to be effective, it requires something more.When you give people a marketing message about something that they actually want, in a location where they can act on it, that doesnt feel like an ad or an annoyance, said Scott Cooper, ShopAdvisors founder and president. It feels like a service to them. They tend to respond to it.The companys revenues come from monthly fees paid by clients, like media companies and retailers, based on the scale, scope and frequency of the campaigns. It also draws revenue from retailers that subscribe to its proximity marketing service.ShopAdvisor spent its first two years searching for a promising value proposition. It raised $11 million in venture financing but was still in search of what Mr. Cooper called the breakout business model. The advent of beacon technology this year solidified the mission. That last leg on the stool has really exploded the business, he said.For example, when Elle, the popular womens magazine, began planning for its 30th anniversary this year, the publication decided it had to do something noteworthy in addition to its celebratory September fashion and beauty issue. The 668-page issue, the largest in Elles history, would be flush with special content to support its many advertisers but we felt it was incumbent upon us to do something innovative, said Kevin OMalley, Elles senior vice president and publisher.ImageCredit...ShopAdvisorElle connected with ShopAdvisor and in August they started a pilot program called Shop Now. As part of the Shop Now campaign, Elle formed partnerships with such advertisers as Guess, Levis and Vince Camuto, and ShopAdvisor placed beacons in more than 1,600 stores around the country. Beacons, introduced in the last two years, are inexpensive, battery-powered, hockey-puck size digital sensors placed in locations to precisely identify and communicate with customers carrying smartphones.ShopAdvisor created a mobile app using beacon and geofencing technology for Elle readers, who tend to be avid shoppers. The geofence detects that an Elle reader with the app is near, and the beacon then precisely tracks that shoppers movements when she enters the store. It also sets off push alerts for that customer, suggesting specific items such as jeans or shoes that the customer has previously expressed interest in, along with curated content from Elle magazine. The content includes product reviews, top picks from Elle editors, coupons and other personalized marketing messages just for the customer.If you get a generic jeans offer from Guess, you are more likely to disregard it or delete it, Mr. OMalley said. Of course Guess will tell you they are the best. But if we say those skinny, low-rise jeans in this model is one of our picks, thats an editorial endorsement and brings third-party credibility and authority to the alert.According to Mr. OMalley, previous location-based marketing resulted in less than 1 percent of smartphone users entering stores, a disappointing result. After six weeks of the Shop Now campaign, more than 8 percent of those who received the app visited the stores, an increase retailers consider highly significant. Elle plans to start the next phase of the program in early 2016.Vince Camuto, the womens shoes and fashion retailer, saw immediate results. According to Leah Robert, executive vice president of the company, the Elle campaign was introduced in 23 locations and within a week, average sales per transaction rose 30 percent and the number of units sold increased significantly. Not only were many new customers coming into the stores but regular customers were visiting more frequently.The number of transactions per week almost doubled versus a typical average week for us, Ms. Robert said. We had click-through rates that were five times the industry benchmark. We drove several thousand additional shoppers into the stores over a four-week period..Since the Elle pilot campaign ended on Oct. 1, 20 percent of the same customers have, unprompted, returned to the stores of the participating retailers, according to ShopAdvisor. Users of its app who had been prompted to visit Vince Camuto stores during the Elle program did so 32 percent more than customers who did not use the app.Part of the success of the Elle campaign is ShopAdvisors ability to identify customers who have shown serious interest in products using the companys app. If you clicked on Vince Camuto black pumps and got near a Vince Camuto store, we can be superaggressive with you, Mr. Cooper said. You are absolutely someone who wants that message. If you have never shown any interest in that stuff at all, we leave you alone. We dont bother you.Privacy concerns loom as the biggest challenge for companies that contact smartphone users. Customers want to feel special, but they dont want to feel its too Big Brother, said Ms. Robert of Vince Camuto. We have to be personal but not creepy.Despite the early success indicators, however, analysts remain wary.Beacons are very new, and these are very small examples, Ms. Kim said. This is a crowded and very competitive space, and everybody wants a piece of what ShopAdvisor is doing. Because of privacy issues as well as not wanting to freak people out, nobody wants to be the first to do something dumb with a technology that powerful. The results so far are good but they are still in the very early stages.",0
"Credit...Wiktor Dabkowski/ZUMA Wire, via Alamy Live NewsJune 4, 2018Facebook endured a new wave of criticism from lawmakers and regulators in the United States and Europe on Monday after disclosures that the social media giant had allowed dozens of hardware manufacturers access to its trove of personal user data.Just months after being forced to explain its privacy measures and pledging reforms in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook found itself on the defensive once again, fending off questions about whether company executives had misled elected officials and why it had not fully disclosed the data-sharing agreements during recent testimony in the United States and Europe.The European authorities who last month enacted the worlds strictest data privacy law said Facebooks sharing of personal information with cellphone makers and other manufacturers deserved further investigation. Germanys top privacy regulator, Johannes Caspar, called Facebooks partnerships an unprecedented violation of privacy laws and user trust.And New Yorks attorney general, Barbara Underwood, said her office would expand its investigation of Facebooks data practices to include Facebooks sharing with hardware manufacturers.The broad scope of Facebooks data partnerships with Apple, Samsung, Amazon and other companies that make or sell phones, tablets, televisions and video game consoles was reported by The New York Times on Sunday, showing that Facebook had exempted at least 60 hardware makers from restrictions imposed on other companies in 2015. Those restrictions were intended to prevent games and other apps from gaining access to the Facebook information of their customers friends.Im extremely concerned that we are just now learning that even more personal user data was provided without consent, said Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, a senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and one of the lawmakers who questioned Facebooks chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, at a hearing in April.Mr. Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives have repeatedly cited the 2015 restrictions to assure policymakers that no outside company could again harvest swaths of personal information without the explicit consent of users, as a contractor for Cambridge Analytica did in 2014. But Facebook officials said this week that they did not consider hardware partners to be outside companies, under the terms of Facebooks privacy policies and a 2011 consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission.When Facebook delivers data to a partner device, a Facebook executive said in a statement posted on the companys website Sunday night, the device maker effectively functions as an extension of Facebook. And when Facebook users decide to share photos or phone numbers with their friends, they also consent to having that information flow to any partner devices their friends use.Friends information, like photos, was only accessible on devices when people made a decision to share their information with those friends, said the executive, Ime Archibong. We are not aware of any abuse by these companies.But some American lawmakers criticized Facebooks rationale and urged the F.T.C. to review whether the partnerships violated Facebooks promises to the regulator.I think this explanation is completely inadequate and potentially disingenuous, said Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat and ranking member of the Senate subcommittee charged with consumer protection. I think Mark Zuckerbergs testimony raises very serious and severe questions about Facebooks credibility.David Cicilline of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the House antitrust subcommittee, responded even more harshly.Sure looks like Zuckerberg lied to Congress about whether users have complete control over who sees our data on Facebook, Mr. Cicilline wrote on Twitter.Senior Republicans also said the partnerships merited further review.Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, said in a statement that The Timess reporting raises important questions about transparency and potential privacy risks for Facebook users. Mr. Thune said the Senate Commerce Committee, of which he is chairman, would seek more information from Facebook.The F.T.C. is already investigating whether the access to friends data that Facebook allowed until 2015 violated the terms of its earlier consent decree with the regulator. Rohit Chopra, a current F.T.C. commissioner, declined to comment on any specific company or investigation, but said he believed that the commission would act to enforce any agreements it had with companies.Too often, sensitive consumer data gets shared and copied over and over again to a point of no return, Mr. Chopra said. F.T.C. orders are not suggestions. When companies violate them, there can be serious consequences.Since the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke in March, Facebook executives, including Mr. Zuckerberg, have appeared before officials in Washington, London and Brussels. But on Monday, Facebook leaders, including the companys departing security chief, took to another social media platform Twitter to fend off criticism of its privacy policies. The company also addressed American lawmakers from its own Twitter account, saying that no users privacy had been violated by the data partnerships.Other privacy experts also weighed in, including one engineer at Facebooks advertising rival, Google. And executives at Apple which took advantage of Facebooks data-sharing until last year took a swipe at Facebooks privacy settings during a developers conference on Monday.During the events keynote address, Craig Federighi, an Apple senior vice president, unveiled a new feature that will let Apple users more easily control what sort of information is shared with Facebook and other social media companies.Mr. Federighi chose to demonstrate the new feature onstage by showing Apples Safari browser open to a webpage. Above it, a pop-up graphic appeared.Do you want to allow facebook.com to use cookies and website data while browsing blabbermouth.net? the pop-up read.",5
"Soccer|Bayern Munich in Commandhttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/20/sports/soccer/bayern-munich-in-command.htmlChampions League FinalHighlightsA Delayed KickoffFake TicketsReal Madrids Powerful PresidentAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySports BriefingBy The Associated PressFeb. 19, 2014Second-half goals from Toni Kroos and Thomas Mller gave Bayern Munich a 2-0 victory at Arsenal in the first leg of their Champions League series. AdvertisementContinue reading the main story",4
"TrilobitesThe Mekong River is home to enormous and endangered aquatic life. A 400-pound fishs release shows how some conservation efforts in Cambodia are paying off.Credit...University of Nevada, Reno, via ReutersPublished May 18, 2022Updated May 23, 2022Just after dawn on May 5, scientists working along a stretch of the Mekong River in Cambodia released a giant, endangered freshwater stingray that had been caught on a fishermans line. At 13 feet long and 400 pounds, the gigantic animal pancake was larger than a hibachi table.It was shaking, and I told her, Calm down, we will release you soon, said Chea Seila, a coordinator for the Wonders of the Mekong Project.The giant freshwater stingray, Urogymnus polylepis, is the worlds largest stingray species, known also as a whipray. With dusky-brown tops and creamy white bottoms, the animals slide across riverbeds in search of fish and invertebrates. Though they can grow to epic proportions, over-harvesting for the stingrays meat, accidental deaths in fishing nets and habitat fragmentation and degradation from dams, pollution and other human activities have made the animals endangered.After receiving a call from the fisherman who caught the stingray, Ms. Chea and her team drove eight hours through the night to assist with its release. They arrived at 3 a.m., and waited with the fish until the sun came up. More people were needed to delicately move the animal, which was armed with a venomous barb that could be more than a foot long and is capable of piercing bone.Before freeing the stingray, Ms. Chea and her colleagues took noninvasive samples that would help with future study of the species. Then, they helped guide the colossus back to the Mekongs depths.She swam away calmly, but then appeared again, which made us feel so, so happy, said Ms. Chea.VideoThe stingray had to be released delicately both to keep the animal safe and to protect humans from its venomous barb. Video by University of Nevada, Reno.That a stingray of this size could still be found in these waters was extraordinary, the experts said.It shows you nature is so beautiful, but also resilient, said Sudeep Chandra, a limnologist at the University of Nevada, Reno and co-scientist on the Wonders of the Mekong Project. Even with the major environmental problems in the Lower Mekong, like dams, forest change and overfishing, these large, charismatic species are still there, wanting to persist.Of course, it does not always play out like this, Ms. Chea said. People who live along the Mekong rely on the rivers bounty for food and income. Stories abound in those communities about much larger rays that have been chopped into small pieces for sale in the local market, she said. In fact, Ms. Chea said, another giant stingray was caught in April. However, it was already dead by the time they found it.Giant freshwater stingrays are not the only enormous and endangered creatures that need to be preserved along that stretch of river. It is also home to giant softshell turtles, the Mekong giant catfish and the giant barb, a type of fish. The Wonders of the Mekong partnership is working with scientists to better understand the habitat.Much of what is known about big rivers as ecosystems comes from the Mississippi River and rivers in Europe. But all of these are in temperate regions, Dr. Chandra said. In contrast, the Mekong is tropical and prone to huge, seasonal deluges. This gives the Mekong a dynamic and mostly unstudied ecology, he said.For instance, Dr. Chandra and his team were surprised to discover recently that beneath the Mekongs surface, there were hidden pools more than 250 feet deep. If you could somehow dip the Statue of Liberty and its pedestal into one of these chasms, only the torch would remain above water.It is probable that such pools play an important role in the life cycle of the rivers giants. With underwater submersibles, environmental DNA sampling and sensors that can provide information about the rivers changes in real time, the scientists working with the Wonders of the Mekong Project hope to learn more about these habitats and protect them from environmental threats.Ms. Chea has been working in these communities since 2005, developing trust and building partnerships between the project and the people who share the river with these species. And that work seems to be paying off. Now, when someone accidentally hauls in a giant creature, they may reach for a phone instead of a filet knife.Ms. Chea said a local leader told her that he had never seen a giant freshwater stingray. And during the release, she watched as he spoke with two young boys.She said she heard him identify the animal to them and say, You should protect it so your kids in the future will also know that we have a giant stingray in our village.",7
"Politics|Mulvaney Is Said to Want Deputy to Succeed Him at C.F.P.B.https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/15/us/politics/mulvaney-cfbp-kraninger.htmlCredit...Jacquelyn Martin/Associated PressJune 15, 2018Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget director and acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has picked a deputy at the budget office, Kathy Kraninger, to succeed him at the consumer watchdog agency, according to two people familiar with the situation.Ms. Kraninger, who oversees the preparation of the budgets for several cabinet departments, was selected over the objection of some officials inside the White House, who argued that her relative inexperience and association with Mr. Mulvaney could scuttle her nomination.The appointment is likely but not yet final, the officials said. Ms. Kraninger, a graduate of Marquette University and Georgetown Law School, specialized in homeland security matters before joining Mr. Mulvaneys staff at the Office and Management and Budget in March 2017.She surmounted a key hurdle last week when a member of the National Economic Council staff, Andrew Olmem, signed off on her nomination, people close to the situation said.President Trump tapped Mr. Mulvaney to oversee the consumer bureau late last year, giving the brash former South Carolina lawmaker a mandate to dismantle the agency, which was created in the wake of the financial crisis to help protect consumers against financial company abuse.Ms. Kraninger, 43, has spent much of her career on Capitol Hill, including serving as the clerk for the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security and working with the House Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.Since his appointment, Mr. Mulvaney has tried to weaken the bureaus enforcement and investigative activities, including its policing of payday lending, student lending and consumer finance.Critics said the selection of a protg was a way for Mr. Mulvaney to keep his grip on the consumer agency.This looks like nothing more than a desperate attempt by Mick Mulvaney to maintain his grip on the C.F.P.B. so he can continue undermining its important consumer protection mission on behalf of the powerful Wall Street special interests and predatory lenders that have bankrolled his career, said Karl Frisch, executive director of Allied Progress, a consumer group that has been critical of Mr. Mulvaney.One administration official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, said Mr. Mulvaney had picked Ms. Kraninger because she was seen as more palatable, particularly to Democrats, than another candidate, Todd J. Zywicki, a conservative professor at George Mason Universitys Antonin Scalia Law School.Ms. Kraningers possible appointment was reported earlier on Friday by Bloomberg News.A call to Mr. Mulvaneys spokesman was not immediately returned.",3
"Tyron Woodley Things Got Real w/ Conor McGregor 'Don't Ever Call Me a Bitch' 1/19/2018 Tyron Woodley says things got thiiiis close to REAL violence with Conor McGregor when the Irish superstar called him a ""bitch"" behind the scenes ... but Tyron set him straight real quick. The UFC welterweight champ told the whole story on ""The Hollywood Beatdown"" -- explaining how things went from 0 to 100 real quick at UFC 205 in Nov. 2016 ... with Conor ultimately backing down. There's a lot more ... Tyron calls B.S. on President Trump's physical exam numbers -- saying there's no way in hell POTUS is really 6'4"", 239 lbs ... but he's got a plan to help him cut the fat. Tyron's also weighing in on Logan Paul ... telling us if the YouTube star really deserves a 2nd chance after his suicide forest videos stunt. Make sure to subscribe to the TMZ Sports YouTube page to catch ""The Hollywood Beatdown"" every week.",1
"Letter From EuropeCredit...Guillaume Horcajuelo/European Pressphoto AgencyApril 4, 2016PARIS It was published several years ago, but a cartoon on the front page of the French newspaper Le Monde roughly summed up the situation across the country last Thursday when several hundred thousand public employees and students went on strike.What if we went on strike for nothing, asks one demonstrator in the cartoon, which appeared in 2010 during one of Frances periodic strikes. Ah! Not a bad idea, another answers.The strike and mass demonstrations by air traffic controllers, train drivers, schoolteachers and cafeteria staff, hospital and museum workers were nominally in protest against President Franois Hollandes attempt to change French labor law.Like a similar but smaller show of force on March 9, the walkout had a crippling effect on Paris and cities across France. Parents had to stay home from work to take care of children, and nonstriking employees were forced to cram onto trains and subways with reduced service to reach their jobs.In fact, the strike had less to do with the intricacies of the labor law than with a deepening disaffection, particularly among young people, with Mr. Hollandes government, now heading into the last year of its five-year mandate.VideotranscripttranscriptStudents Clash with Police in ParisHundreds of students demonstrated in Paris on Monday as France prepares to overhaul its labor code. Riot police responded aggressively.(SOUNDBITE) (French) 17 YEAR-OLD HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT, ABDEL, SAYING: Im still at high school which means Im going to be working in a few years and the change needs to happen now, it means we have to change things now, we cant wait for tomorrow, because tomorrows generation is us. So that we dont regret it, we need change now and Im encouraging all high school students to protest. // SOUNDBITE) (French) 17 YEAR-OLD HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT, SIMON, SAYING: Were here because of our convictions. Were not just here to smash stuff up and beat up the police, were here because we want to be heard and well stay here.Hundreds of students demonstrated in Paris on Monday as France prepares to overhaul its labor code. Riot police responded aggressively.CreditCredit...Etienne Laurent/European Pressphoto AgencyThe young were not only demonstrating against the labor law, said Roland Cayrol, a researcher at Sciences Po, during a televised debate on TV5. They were demonstrating against the situation in general.With unemployment still about 10 percent 29.5 percent among those ages 15 to 24 the mood in France is grim, made worse by lingering fears after the terrorist attacks in Paris last November.Not all major unions joined the strike, and the effect was varied: Some schools were open, some were shut as a precaution, and some were blocked by garbage cans piled high by striking students; only five airports in France had to cancel flights; the Eiffel Tower was closed, as were many museums.Newspapers were no help on Thursday, since the strikes prevented distribution, although their editions were available online.Those who took to the streets, estimated at 400,000 across the country, were mostly public employees and students, two groups with the least to lose if the French Parliament adopts the proposed changes to the labor law this spring.Chief among these is a proposal to cap payouts to laid-off employees, a move that employers say would allow them to hire more freely.In what kind of country do public employees, whose jobs are not affected, take to the streets with high school students, who dont have jobs but are worried about their retirement? asked one viewer in a text message sent to the televised debate Thursday on TV5.ImageCredit...Christophe Ena/Associated PressThe answers could be found sort of on signs held by the 28,000 demonstrators in Paris on Thursday. Labor law = insecurity for life, or We dont want to lose our life in order to earn a living.Interviewed on television, students accused the Socialist government of turning its back on leftist principles, without any reduction in Frances high unemployment rate.The demonstrations hardly stack up against some of Pariss famous protests, which have drawn crowds of a million or more. But even if their message was confused, the show of force by Frances more militant unions and student associations does not augur well for Mr. Hollandes chances in the 2017 presidential election.And yet, he still believes, read the headline on Friday in the newspaper Le Parisien.Mr. Hollande suffered an embarrassing defeat last week when he had to withdraw a proposed change to the Constitution that would have stripped French citizenship from convicted terrorists who possess a second nationality.That idea, borrowed from Frances right-wing parties and challenged on principle by many of his fellow Socialists, was proposed after the deadly attacks in Paris as a unifying symbol in the fight against terrorism.Mr. Hollandes retreat was described in an editorial in Le Monde as a major political disaster, the worst fiasco of his presidency, a trap which he set himself.Already weakened, with his popularity sinking to historic lows for a sitting French president, he now has no choice but to see through the changes to the labor law seen as his last initiative no matter who comes out on the streets next time, or why.",6
"Baseball|Mets Sign Reliever Jose Valverdehttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/sports/baseball/mets-sign-reliever-jose-valverde.htmlFeb. 12, 2014PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. In 2012, pitching for the Detroit Tigers, Jose Valverde was considered a competent closer, perhaps on the verge of being elite. He had compiled 110 saves in his first three seasons in Detroit, but in the 2012 playoffs, as the Tigers marched to the World Series, they did so in spite of him. He imploded. He blew one save, allowed nine runs in four appearances, and was mercifully benched. Last year, the Tigers waited until April to bring him back, on a minor league contract. In 20 games, he converted 9 of 12 save chances and was mostly effective, but when he failed, he failed spectacularly. He allowed four runs twice, and only four runs total over his other 16 games, but he was released in early August. The Mets announced Wednesday that they had signed Valverde to a minor league contract, to add another veteran presence to their bullpen. He will join Vic Black and Kyle Farnsworth as candidates to set up the incumbent closer, Bobby Parnell, who is rehabbing after having surgery in September to repair a herniated disk. In recent years, the Mets have made a habit of making moves like this, filling out their bullpen with aging, relatively inexpensive veterans. Last season the Mets took a chance on LaTroy Hawkins, who, at 40, pitched in 72 games with a 2.93 earned run average. Perhaps Valverde, even at 35, can recapture his old form. From 2010 to 2012 he had a 3.00 E.R.A. and averaged about 37 saves during the regular season. But then he collapsed in the playoffs, which, at least in part, led him here now to the Mets.",4
"Credit...Wiqan Ang for The New York TimesNov. 2, 2018SEATTLE Standing in a supermarket produce aisle, her face shadowed with dread, the middle-aged woman speaks directly to the camera and makes a plea for common decency.We should not be taxed on what we eat, she says in a commercial that is being broadcast across Washington State. We need to eat to survive, and if we have to cut back on what we eat, thats not going to be good especially for the elderly.Edith's StoryCredit...CreditVideo by Yes! To Affordable GroceriesIn the run-up to Election Day, residents of Washington and Oregon have been bombarded with similar messages from groups with names like Yes! To Affordable Groceries. The organizations have spent more than $25 million on commercials that feature plain-spoken farmers and penny-pinching moms urging support of ballot measures that would prohibit municipalities from taxing food sales.But what most voters dont know is that Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and other American beverage companies are largely financing the initiatives not to block taxes on staples like milk and vegetables but to choke off a growing movement to tax sugary drinks.At a time of soaring childhood obesity, and with more than one in three adults overweight, health advocates say that soda taxes are an effective way to dampen consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. Nearly 40 countries now have them, along with seven cities in the United States, including Philadelphia, San Francisco and Boulder, Colo.Towns and cities across the country have been mulling similar moves as a way to reduce sugary drink sales while raising revenue for programs that aim to blunt the public health impact of heart disease, hypertension and Type 2 diabetes, conditions that have been linked to diets heavy in sugar.ImageCredit...Wiqan Ang for The New York TimesNow the nations soda giants have turned to a new tactic to fight them: pushing sweeping ballot measures and statewide legislation that would permanently deny municipalities the ability to impose taxes on a broad range of goods and services. The initiatives are packaged and sold as citizen revolts against tax-happy politicians. None of them explicitly mention soda taxes.Opponents of the measures say they are fundamentally misleading because neither Washington nor Oregon has a plan to tax groceries. No one is even talking about taxing food, said Jim Krieger, a professor of medicine and health services at the University of Washington. This is simply the soda industry trying to protect its profits at the expense of public health and local democracy.The industry has momentum and money on its side. Here in Washington, the industry has spent over $20 million to promote Initiative 1634, according to state finance filings. Those fighting the ballot measure have raised $100,000.Starting last year, legislatures in Michigan, Arizona and California passed laws that pre-emptively bar local governments from imposing such taxes in the future. The outcome in Oregon and Washington, political analysts say, could determine the future of the countrys soda tax movement by encouraging soda companies to embrace ballot measures in states across the country.Its a pivotal moment, said Mark Pertschuk, director of the advocacy group Grassroots Change. Its hard to overstate the chilling effect of having soda taxes barred from the whole West Coast, where so many progressive policies are born.Opponents of the approach criticize it as overreach. The Oregon initiative, for example, takes the form of a constitutional amendment and critics say it is so vaguely worded that it could be used to block future taxes on restaurant meals, electronic cigarettes, catering halls and trucking companies that transport McDonalds Happy Meals.These pre-emptive measures undermine democracy and completely take away a local governments ability to do whats best for their communities, said Jennifer L. Pomeranz, a professor of public health at New York University. Its a true corporate takeover of America.ImageCredit...Wiqan Ang for The New York TimesWilliam Dermody, a spokesman for the American Beverage Association, the industry group backing the measures, countered that referendums are by their very nature democratic. Most voters, he said, dont want taxes on the items they put in their shopping carts soda included. We believe there is a better way to help people reduce the amount of sugar consumed from beverages and bring about lasting change, including working alongside the public health community and offering more low- and no-sugar options, he said.Public health studies that have assessed the impact of soda taxes have found a significant drop in soda consumption, including 21 percent in Berkeley, Calif., and 40 percent in Philadelphia.We know that even modest soda taxes work, said Laura MacCleery, policy director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Because they work, soda companies fight the taxes tooth and nail.But critics say such taxes hurt small businesses and have an outsize impact on the poor.Thousands of good wage jobs are tied to the food and beverage industry, and the taxes are regressive because they take money out of the pockets of folks least able to afford them, said Peter Lamb, a senior official for Teamsters Local 174 in Tukwila, Wash., which is championing the ballot measure.The strategy of pushing pre-emptive laws and ballot measures was pioneered four decades ago by the tobacco industry and the National Rifle Association as a way to stop localities from passing antismoking ordinances or limitations on gun ownership. The N.R.A. has been wildly successful, with 43 states now barring enactment of any restrictions on firearms.Although nearly all of Washingtons major newspapers have come out against the grocery tax ballot measure, neither side has a decisive lead, according to polling. But interviews with voters suggest the soda industrys efforts to conceal its involvement are working. At a Safeway supermarket in Burien, a Seattle suburb, most shoppers expressed enthusiasm for the initiative.For those of us who are struggling to get by, the last thing we need is a tax on food, Mallory Brumfield, 31, a preschool aide, said as she shopped for groceries at a Safeway supermarket with her two children in tow.ImageCredit...Wiqan Ang for The New York TimesLike many shoppers, Ms. Brumfield was surprised to learn that Coca-Cola, Pepsi and the Dr Pepper Snapple Group have provided the lion share of money to promote the measure. Knowing that kind of gives me pause about whether I should support it, she said.In Oregon, the grocery tax ballot, known as Measure 103, has been met with more public skepticism, largely because it involves a change to the state constitution. Opponents of the measure have raised more money than in Washington, around $2.6 million, including an infusion of $1.5 million last week from former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York. The group backing the measure, Yes! Keep Our Groceries Tax Free!, has raised over twice that amount, with donations evenly split between soda companies and supermarket chains.Critics accuse the Yes on 103 campaign of spreading misinformation, citing a television ad that claimed the initiative would prevent levies on food pantries. There is no universe in which food banks are going to be taxed, said Matt Newell-Ching, public affairs director at Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon, an advocacy group. Its like saying, Vote for this measure and the sky will continue to be blue.Last year, Seattle became the first city in the Pacific Northwest to enact a tax on sugary beverages, and it would be allowed to remain in place should the ballot measure pass. The tax is expected to generate $20.6 million this year, money that will go toward early education and a raft of programs that give the working poor better access to healthier foods.Sarah Wandler, a social worker at the Odessa Brown Childrens Clinic, said soda tax revenues have provided 300 families at the clinic with vouchers to buy fresh produce at farmers markets and corner stores. Our clients all report having healthier foods in the house, and they are trying fruits and vegetables they never had before, she said.State Senator Reuven Carlyle, a Democrat, is pessimistic about the prospects for defeating the proposal, but he takes the long view, citing the decades-long fight against Big Tobacco that eventually changed national attitudes.At the end of the day, he said, you cant bury the truth, because lets be honest: No one on the planet believes that soda is groceries.",2
"Political ads will be banned indefinitely after polls close on Nov. 3 and the company plans new steps to limit misinformation about the results.Credit...Noah Berger/Agence France-Presse, via Getty ImagesPublished Oct. 7, 2020Updated March 3, 2021SAN FRANCISCO Over the past few weeks, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive, and his lieutenants have watched the presidential race with an increasing sense of alarm.Executives have held meetings to discuss President Trumps evasive comments about whether he would accept a peaceful transfer of power if he lost the election. They watched Mr. Trump tell the Proud Boys, a far-right group that has endorsed violence, to stand back and stand by. And they have had conversations with civil rights groups, who have privately told them that the company needs to do more because Election Day could erupt into chaos, Facebook employees said.That has resulted in new actions. On Wednesday, Facebook said it would take more preventive measures to keep political candidates from using it to manipulate the elections outcome and its aftermath. The company now plans to prohibit all political and issue-based advertising after the polls close on Nov. 3 for an undetermined length of time. And it said it would place notifications at the top of the News Feed notifying people that no winner had been decided until a victor was declared by news outlets.This is shaping up to be a very unique election, Guy Rosen, vice president for integrity at Facebook, said in a call with reporters on Wednesday.Facebook is doing more to safeguard its platform after introducing measures to reduce election misinformation and interference on its site just last month. At the time, Facebook said it planned to ban new political ads for a contained period the week before Election Day and would act swiftly against posts that tried to dissuade people from voting. Mr. Zuckerberg also said Facebook would not make any other changes until there was an official election result.But the additional moves underscore the sense of emergency about the election, as the level of contentiousness has risen between Mr. Trump and his opponent, Joseph R. Biden Jr. On Tuesday, to help blunt further political turmoil, Facebook also said it would remove any group, page or Instagram account that openly identified with QAnon, the pro-Trump conspiracy movement.For years, Facebook has been striving to avoid another 2016 election fiasco, when it was used by Russian operatives to spread disinformation and to destabilize the American electorate. Mr. Zuckerberg has since spent billions of dollars to hire new employees for the companys integrity and security divisions, who identify and clamp down on interference. He has said the amount of money spent on securing Facebook exceeded its entire revenue of roughly $5.1 billion during its first year as a public company in 2012.ImageCredit...Gabriella Demczuk for The New York TimesWe believe that we have done more than any other company over the past four years to help secure the integrity of elections, Mr. Rosen said.Yet how successful the efforts have been are questionable. The company continues to find and take down foreign interference campaigns, including three Russian disinformation networks as recently as two weeks ago.Domestic misinformation has also mushroomed, as Facebook has said it will not police speech from politicians and other leading figures for truthfulness. Mr. Zuckerberg, who supports unfettered speech, has not wavered from that position as Mr. Trump has posted falsehoods and misleading comments on the site.For next months election, Facebook has gamed out almost 80 scenarios what technology and security workers call red teaming exercises to figure out what could go wrong and to protect against the situations. It also updated its policies to outlaw certain types of statements and threats from elected officials, capped by last months sweeping set of changes.But after weeks of Mr. Trump declining to say he would accept the elections outcome, while also directing his supporters to watch the polls, Facebook decided to ramp up protective measures.Asked why the company was acting now, Facebook executives said they were continuing to evaluate and plan for different scenarios with the election.Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, said Facebooks moves were aimed at silencing President Trump, pure and simple. The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment.Vanita Gupta, president and chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said Facebooks moves were important steps to combat disinformation and the premature calling of election results before every vote is counted.The open-ended ban on political advertising is especially significant, after Facebook resisted calls to remove the ads for months. Last month, the company had said it only would stop accepting new political ads in the week before Election Day, so existing political ads would continue circulating. New political ads could have resumed running after Election Day.But Facebook lags other social media companies in banning political ads. Jack Dorsey, Twitters chief executive, banned all political ads from the service a year ago because, he said, they could rapidly spread misinformation and had significant ramifications that todays democratic infrastructure may not be prepared to handle. Last month, Google said it, too, would ban all political and issue ads after Election Day.Mr. Zuckerberg has said that ads give less well-known politicians the ability to promote themselves, and that eliminating those ads could hurt their chances at broadening their support base online.Facebook also said it would rely on a mix of news outlets, including Reuters and The Associated Press, to determine whether a candidate had secured the presidency. Until those news organizations called the race, Facebook said, it would place notifications in the News Feed to say no candidate had won. That buttresses what the company had said it would do last month, when it announced that it would attach labels to posts redirecting users to Reuters if Mr. Trump or his supporters falsely claimed an early victory.To tamp down on potential intimidation at ballot boxes, Facebook also plans to remove posts that call for people to engage in poll watching when those calls use militarized language or suggest that the goal is to intimidate, exert control, or display power over election officials or voters.Mr. Trump and others have talked about watching polls in recent weeks. In a debate with Mr. Biden last week, Mr. Trump urged his supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully on Election Day. His son, Donald Trump Jr., said he wanted to see an army for Trump swarming the polls, raising concerns about the threat of violence at the ballot box.Facebook, which has been criticized for unevenly removing posts and inconsistently enforcing its policies against toxic content, said it had already taken down many posts where people were trying to interfere with the vote. Between March and September, it removed more than 120,000 posts from Facebook and Instagram in the United States because the messages violated its voter interference policies.Some researchers said Facebook was still not going far enough.If we are to believe that Facebook will faithfully enforce its own new policies, then they should take down the posts of the powerful users including the presidents son who have already called for violent intimidation around voting and on Election Day, said Shannon McGregor, a senior researcher with the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,The company said that it wouldnt shy away from eliminating more posts as the election approaches. On Tuesday, it took down a post from Mr. Trump where he falsely claimed the flu was more deadly than the coronavirus.I want to underscore that we remove this content regardless of who posts it, said Monica Bickert, head of global policy management at Facebook. That includes the president.",5
"Credit...Houston Cofield for The New York TimesDoctors Without Patients: Our Waiting Rooms Are Like Ghost TownsAs visits plummet because of the coronavirus, small physician practices are struggling to survive.Credit...Houston Cofield for The New York TimesMay 5, 2020Autumn Road in Little Rock, Ark., is the type of doctors practice that has been around long enough to be treating the grandchildren of its eldest patients.For 50 years, the group has been seeing families like Kelli Rutledges. A technician for a nearby ophthalmology practice, she has been going to Autumn Road for two decades.The groups four doctors and two nurse practitioners quickly adapted to the coronavirus pandemic, sharply cutting back clinic hours and switching to virtual visits to keep patients and staff safe.When Kelli, 54, and her husband, Travis, 56, developed symptoms of Covid-19, the couple drove to the groups office and spoke to the nurse practitioner over the phone. She documented all of our symptoms, Ms. Rutledge said. They were swabbed from their car.While the practice was never a big moneymaker, its revenues have plummeted. The number of patients seen daily by providers has dropped to half its average of 120. The practices payments from March and April are down about $150,000, or roughly 40 percent.That wont pay the light bill or the rent, said Tabitha Childers, the administrator of the practice, which recently laid off 12 people.ImageCredit...Houston Cofield for The New York TimesWhile there are no hard numbers, there are signs that many small groups are barely hanging on. Across the country, only half of primary care doctor practices say they have enough cash to stay open for the next four weeks, according to one study, and many are already laying off or furloughing workers.The situation facing front-line physicians is dire, three physician associations representing more than 260,000 doctors, wrote to the secretary of health and human services, Alex M. Azar II, at the end of April. Obstetrician-gynecologists, pediatricians, and family physicians are facing dramatic financial challenges leading to substantial layoffs and even practice closures.By another estimate, as many as 60,000 physicians in family medicine may no longer be working in their practices by June because of the pandemic.The faltering doctors groups reflect part of a broader decline in health care alongside the nations economic downturn. As people put off medical appointments and everything from hip replacements to routine mammograms, health spending dropped an annualized rate of 18 percent in the first three months of the year, according to recent federal data.While Congress has rushed to send tens of billions of dollars to the hospitals reporting large losses and passed legislation to send even more, small physician practices in medicines least profitable fields like primary care and pediatrics are struggling to stay afloat. They dont have any wiggle room, said Dr. Lisa Bielamowicz, a co-founder of Gist Healthcare, a consulting firm.None of the money allocated by lawmakers has been specifically targeted to the nations doctors, although the latest bill set aside funds for community health centers. Some funds were also set aside for small businesses, which would include many doctors practices, but many have faced the same frustration as other owners in finding themselves shut out of much of the funding available.Federal officials have taken some steps to help small practices, including advancing Medicare payments and reimbursing doctors for virtual visits. But most of the relief has gone to the big hospital and physician groups. We have to pay special attention to these independent primary care practices, and were not paying special attention to them, said Dr. Farzad Mostashari, a former health official in the Obama administration, whose company, Aledade, works with practices like Autumn Road.The hospitals are getting massive bailouts, said Dr. Christopher Crow, the president of Catalyst Health Network in Texas. Theyve really left out primary care, really all the independent physicians, he said.Heres the scary thing as these practices start to break down and go bankrupt, we could have more consolidation among the health care systems, Dr. Crow said. That concerns health economists, who say the steady rise in costs is linked to the clout these big hospital networks wield with private insurers to charge high prices.ImageCredit...Houston Cofield for The New York TimesWhile the pandemic has wreaked widespread havoc across the economy, shuttering restaurants and department stores and throwing tens of millions of Americans out of work, doctors play an essential role in the health of the public. In addition to treating coronavirus patients who would otherwise show up at the hospital, they are caring for people with chronic diseases like diabetes and asthma.Keeping these practices open is not about protecting the doctors livelihoods, said Michael Chernew, a health policy professor at Harvard Medical School. I worry about how well these practices will be able to shoulder the financial burden to be able to meet the health care needs people have, he said.If practices close down, you lose access to a point of care, said Dr. Chernew, who was one of the authors of a new analysis published by the Commonwealth Fund that found doctors visits dropped by about 60 percent from mid-March to mid-April. The researchers used visit data from clients of a technology firm, Phreesia.Nearly 30 percent of the visits were virtual as doctors rushed to offer telemedicine as the safest alternative for their staff and patients. Its remarkable how quickly it was embraced, said Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, a hospitalist and associate professor of health policy at Harvard Medical School, who was also involved in the study. But even with virtual visits, patient interaction was significantly lower.Almost half of primary care practices have laid off or furloughed employees, said Rebecca Etz, an associate professor of family medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University and co-director of the Larry A. Green Center, which is surveying doctors with the Primary Care Collaborative, a nonprofit group. Many practices said they did not know if they had enough cash to stay open for the next month.ImageCredit...Lyndon French for The New York TimesPediatricians, which are among the lowest paid of the medical specialties, could be among the hardest hit. Federal officials used last years payments under the Medicare program to determine which groups should get the initial $30 billion in funds. Because pediatricians dont generally treat Medicare patients, they were not compensated for the decline in visits as parents chose not to take their children to the doctor and skipped their regular checkups.This virus has the potential to essentially put pediatricians out of business across the country, said Dr. Susan Sirota, a pediatrician in Chicago who leads a network of a dozen pediatric practices in the area. Our waiting rooms are like ghost towns, she said.Pediatricians have also ordered tens of thousands of dollars on vaccines for their patients at a time when vaccine rates have plunged because of the pandemic, and they are now working with the manufacturers to delay payments for at least a time. We dont have the cash flow to pay them, said Dr. Susan Kressly, a pediatrician in Warrington, Pa.Even those practices that quickly ramped up their use of telemedicine are troubled. In Albany, Ga., a community that was an unexpected hot spot for the virus, Dr. Charles Gebhardt, a doctor who is treating some infected patients, rapidly converted his practice to doing nearly everything virtually. Dr. Gebhardt also works with Aledade to care for Medicare patients.But the telemedicine visits are about twice as long as a typical office visit, Dr. Gebhardt said. Instead of seeing 25 patients a day, he may see eight. We will quickly go broke at this rate, he said.Although he said the small-business loans and advance Medicare payments are a Godsend, and they will help us survive the next few months, he also said practices like his need to go back to seeing patients in person if they are to remain viable. Medicare will no longer be advancing payments to providers, and many of the small-business funding represents a short-term fix.While Medicare and some private insurers are covering virtual visits, which would include telephone calls, doctors say the payments do not make up for the lost revenue from tests and procedures that help them stay in business. Telehealth is not the panacea and does not make up for all the financial losses, said Dr. Patrice Harris, the president of the American Medical Association.To keep the practices open, Dr. Mostashari and others propose doctors who treat Medicare and Medicaid patients receive a flat fee per person.Even more worrisome, doctors groups may not be delivering care to those who need it, said Dr. Mehrotra, the Harvard researcher, because the practices are relying on patients to get in touch rather than reaching out.Some doctors are already voicing concerns about patients who do not have access to a cellphone or computer or may not be adept at working with telemedicine apps. Not every family has access to the technology to connect with us the right way, said Dr. Kressly, who said the transition to virtual care is making disparities worse.Some patients may also still prefer traditional office visits. While the Rutledges appreciated the need for virtual visits, Kelli said there was less time to talk about other things.Telehealth is more inclined to be about strictly what you are there for, she said.Private equity firms and large hospital systems are already eying many of these practices in hopes of buying them, said Paul D. Vanchiere, a consultant who advises pediatric practices.The vultures are circling here, he said. They know these practices are going to have financial hardship.",2
"Fair GameCredit...Jacquelyn Martin/Associated PressDec. 4, 2015After seven years of keeping United States interest rates at rock bottom, the Federal Reserve has signaled that Dec. 16 could be D-Day for a long-awaited increase. That was the message Janet L. Yellen, chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, conveyed in two public presentations last week.With a 0.25 percent rise in the Feds main tool for influencing interest rates a near certainty, investors are already beginning to focus on rate increases that may lie ahead. Will they be gradual, as Ms. Yellen has suggested? Or will economic developments push the Fed to be more aggressive?Answering these questions requires a crystal ball, which no one has. But they are worth exploring, given the market dislocations that can occur when policy moves take investors by surprise.Ms. Yellen alluded to this challenge both in her speech on Wednesday and in congressional testimony on Thursday. Waiting too long to raise rates, she said, could force the Fed to tighten policy relatively abruptly and risk disrupting financial markets and perhaps even inadvertently push the economy into recession.A slow and gradual approach to rate increases is what the Fed has telegraphed and is very much what investors expect and desire. But this may not be what they get.Thats the view of Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. Investors who think the Feds rate increases will be modest and come over a prolonged period may be incorrectly assessing three elements of the economy, he contends. These errors could be fostering a more negative outlook about economic growth than is justified, reinforcing the view that rate increases will be few and far between.The first mistake investors are making relates to their excessive fears about the slowdown in domestic manufacturing and the oil industry. While these downturns are genuine and painful and the spending drop in these arenas have been huge their negative impact over all is limited, Mr. Shepherdson said.The entire manufacturing sector generates 12 percent of the nations gross domestic product, but the oil sector and related manufacturing accounts for less than 5 percent.Moreover, the beneficiaries of this collapse far outnumber its victims. Whats happened over the last 13 months is a giant transfer of resources from oil producers to consumers, Mr. Shepherdson said. Consumers are much more important to the U.S. economy, and the very things that have hurt manufacturing and oil have given consumers a great boost.The second assumption that investors may be wrong about involves inflation and their belief that a stronger dollar will keep it in check in the United States. Such a situation would help put a lid on rate increases.A rising dollar certainly makes imported goods less expensive for American buyers. But only 15 percent of the core Consumer Price Index is dollar-sensitive, Mr. Shepherdson said.Rents make up 41 percent of the index, for example, while 34 percent consists of services, including medical costs, leisure and education. Expenditures on some of these items especially rents and health care are rising faster than other prices.Wage increases pose another wild card on inflation, Mr. Shepherdson said. Labor compensation has grown only modestly in recent years, Ms. Yellen pointed out in her speech, at annual rates of 2 to 2.5 percent. Now that may be changing.We have seen a welcome pickup in the growth rate of average hourly earnings for all employees and of compensation per hour in the business sector, she said.If inflation heats up, it will represent a big shift. Core inflation is running at 1.25 percent for the 12 months that ended in October, the Fed said, well below its 2 percent inflation objective.Fridays healthy jobs report 211,000 workers hired in November, more than forecast showed only a modest increase in compensation last month, but it suggested that rising wages may become even more of a factor as the job market continues to tighten. If nominal wages accelerate, then the Feds fervently held belief in gradual rate increases will come under pressure, Mr. Shepherdson said.Finally, investors seem convinced that retail sales, a major economic bellwether, are in trouble. This may not be the case.Its true that growth in nominal retail sales, those measured in current dollars, is declining. But, Mr. Shepherdson said, if you look at retail sales in real terms, which are not adjusted for price changes, the growth is impressive. In the latter part of 2014, such sales were registering a 4 percent gain. Today, its trending at about 5.5 percent, suggesting that the American consumer is better off than many investors think.If Mr. Shepherdson is right, that means that tens of millions of Americans will be seeing substantial improvement in their own financial well-being. Thats worth celebrating, but it may unnerve many on Wall Street.Each economic data release has the potential to roil the market if it appears to counter the prevailing view of a more modest recovery. Investors who play down healthy trends in the economy are likely to be caught offsides if the Fed becomes more proactive.Right now, the market is forecasting only a 50-50 chance of a second rate increase by April. Mr. Shepherdson is predicting such a move in March, as unemployment continues to fall and wage gains pick up further.By raising rates, the Fed clearly signals its belief that the economy has recovered from the devastation of 2008. That, too, is great news. But the policy shift will also require investors to make a fairly significant attitude adjustment, so dont be surprised if the ride gets bumpy.",0
"Credit...From left: David Zalubowski/Associated Press; Mark Lennihan/Associated PressPublished Oct. 21, 2021Updated Oct. 27, 2021In a sweeping victory for the Biden administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday endorsed booster shots of the Moderna and the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines for tens of millions of Americans.The decision follows an agency endorsement last month of booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and opens the door for many Americans to seek out a booster shot as early as Friday.The coronavirus vaccines are all highly effective in reducing the risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death, even in the midst of the widely circulating Delta variant, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the C.D.C. said in a statement on Thursday night. Her approval brings the country closer to fulfilling President Bidens promise in August to offer boosters to all adults. The pandemic is now retreating in most parts of the country, but there are still about 75,000 new cases every day and about 1,500 Covid deaths.That pledge angered many experts, including some advising the Food and Drug Administration and the C.D.C., who said that scientists had not yet had a chance to determine whether boosters were actually necessary.Studies showed that the vaccines remained very effective against severe disease and death, although their effectiveness might have waned against milder infections, particularly as the Delta variant spread across the nation this summer.The purpose of the vaccines is to prevent illness severe enough to require medical attention, not to prevent infection, Dr. Wilbur Chen, an infectious disease physician at the University of Maryland and a member of the C.D.C. panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, said during the deliberations on Thursday.It might be too much to ask for a vaccine, either a primary series or the booster, to prevent all forms of infections, Dr. Chen said.The C.D.C.s advisers last month tried to narrow the number of Americans who should receive a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, saying that research did not support boosters for people whose jobs exposed them to the coronavirus, as the F.D.A. had indicated.But in a highly unusual move, Dr. Walensky overturned their decision, aligning the agencys advice with the criteria laid out by the F.D.A.On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized booster shots for millions of people who received the Moderna and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines, just as it did for recipients of Pfizer-BioNTech shots last month. The F.D.A. also gave the green light for people eligible for booster shots to get a dose of a different brand.But in practice, who will get the shots and when depends greatly on the C.D.C.s final guidance. Though the agencys recommendations do not bind state and local officials, they hold great sway in the medical community.On Thursday, members of the C.D.C.s panel endorsed the so-called mix-and-match strategy, saying people fully immunized with one companys vaccine should be allowed to receive a different vaccine for their booster shot.Limited evidence strongly suggests that booster doses of one of the two mRNA vaccines Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech more effectively raise antibody levels than a booster dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.The committee advised that recipients of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine should receive a booster shot at least two months after their first dose.Among Americans initially immunized with an mRNA vaccine, adults over 65, adults who are 50 to 65 with certain medical conditions, and those who reside in long-term care settings should receive a single booster dose six months or longer after their second dose, the committee decided.For adults ages 18 to 49 with certain medical conditions and adults whose jobs regularly expose them to the virus, the panel opted for softer language, saying they may choose to get a booster after considering their individual risk.The experts emphasized that people who have received two mRNA vaccine doses or a single Johnson & Johnson dose should still consider themselves fully vaccinated. Federal health officials said they would continue to study whether those who had weak immune systems and had already received a third dose of a vaccine should go on to get a fourth dose.Some advisers were concerned that young and healthy Americans who dont need a booster might choose to get one anyway. Side effects are uncommon, but in younger Americans they may outweigh the potential benefits of booster doses, the scientists said.Those that are not at high risk should really be thoughtful about getting that dose, said Dr. Helen Talbot, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University.",2
"Politics|As the D.C. police clear the Capitol grounds, the mayor extends a public emergency.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/us/politics/national-guard-capitol-army.htmlAs the D.C. police clear the Capitol grounds, the mayor extends a public emergency.Credit...Kenny Holston for The New York TimesJan. 6, 2021The mayor of Washington extended a public emergency on Wednesday night as the local police worked to secure the area around the Capitol.Everyone needs to clear the Capitol ground and remove themselves back to their homes states, or wherever theyre staying, and let the police do their jobs, Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters late Wednesday evening.Ms. Bowser also issued an order extending the District of Columbias public emergency for 15 days. The order said that people who came to Washington for the purpose of engaging in violence and destruction had fired bricks, bricks, bottles, guns and chemical irritants. Their destructive and riotous behavior has the potential to spread beyond the Capitol, it said.A number of regional police departments, as well as the National Guard, helped the Metropolitan Police Department establish a perimeter around the Capitol to help enforce an overnight curfew that took effect at 6 p.m., said Robert J. Contee, the departments chief.Chief Contee added that some of the Capitol Police officers who were injured during demonstrations on Wednesday were still on duty.Although they are injured, they are still working theyre working very hard to regain control of the Capitol, he said.Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told reporters that all 1,100 members of the D.C. National Guard had been mobilized on Wednesday afternoon to support the local police. He said that several federal law enforcement entities would be working to determine how a clearing operation may be conducted.The decision to mobilize the D.C. National Guard by Secretary McCarthy and Christopher C. Miller, the acting defense secretary came as a pro-Trump mob breached the Capitol earlier in the day.Defense and administration officials said it was Vice President Mike Pence, not President Trump, who approved the order to deploy the D.C. National Guard. It was unclear why the president, who incited his supporters to storm the Capitol and who is still the commander in chief, did not give the order.President Trump initially rebuffed and resisted requests to mobilize the National Guard, according to a person with knowledge of the events. It required intervention from the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, among other officials, the person familiar with the events said.F.B.I. agents went to the Capitol grounds on Wednesday to help the police on the scene protect the building and the public. A handful of the F.B.I. agents arrived in camouflage and bearing shields and machine guns late in the afternoon outside the secure location where the senators were being held.And at the request of U.S. National Guard officials, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York will deploy 1,000 members of the New York National Guard to Washington for up to two weeks, he said in a statement Wednesday night.",3
"Credit...Doug Pensinger/Getty ImagesFeb. 5, 2014It should be pretty clear that professional athletes are better at sports than you. It turns out, though, they may be better looking, too. A new study of cyclists who competed in the Tour de France, generally considered one of the toughest endurance events in sports, suggests that good endurance is highly correlated with good looks.A Swiss biologist, Erik Postma of the University of Zurich, reached this conclusion by analyzing data from cyclists who finished the 2012 Tour. He collected 80 portraits supplied by race organizers that showed the head, neck and part of the shoulders of each cyclist, all with the same kind of lighting and background. Then he created an online survey, with the portraits presented in random order.Postma asked 816 participants to rate each portrait for attractiveness and masculinity on a scale of 1 to 5. He also gathered information on the raters nationality, age, level of education and sexual orientation.To measure endurance with as much objectivity as possible, he used times from the prologue, the time trials and the complete race. None of the raters knew who won or the order of finish.That performance and attractiveness were closely related was clear: The 10 percent of riders who performed the best in the race scored an average 25 percent higher on attractiveness than the 10 percent who performed the worst.About three-quarters of the survey respondents were women. To see if fertile women would react differently to the pictures, Postma asked the women to report whether they used a hormonal contraceptive and, if they did not, the length of their menstrual cycle and the start date of their last period. Postma found that the womens level of fertility made no difference in how appealing they found the riders.The education level of the raters was high, partly because the surveys were distributed mainly among academics. About 93 percent of the female respondents were heterosexual, as were 89 percent of the males. The raters were 32 years old on average, with a range from 14 to 73.Some of the variation in attractiveness ratings about 20 percent was attributable to characteristics of the raters rather than characteristics of the cyclists. For example, older raters generally handed out higher marks than younger ones. Still, men and women generally agreed on which riders were better looking. A riders nationality was irrelevant to how attractive he was found, and whether the portrait showed him smiling or straight-faced was not significant either. The study excluded any cyclist a rater recognized, to make sure the rater was judging by looks alone and not by prior knowledge of the rider.Other experts found the study convincing. Simon P. Lailvaux, an assistant professor of biology at the University of New Orleans who has published widely on sexual selection in animals, said the work was thorough.With humans, there are so many potential confounding variables, he said, and I think he does a good job of addressing them even accounting for the point in the menstrual cycle of the women. It makes the results complicated, but I think he did a good job of controlling for these sources of variation.Surprisingly, ratings of masculinity presumably an indication of testosterone levels did not correlate with either attractiveness or performance, suggesting that testosterone might not be as significant a factor as generally believed. And the explanation, Postma said, could lie in our evolutionary past.You might think masculinity would be attractive it signals testosterone, how strong you are, he said. But if you try to hunt a gazelle, it might not be so important that you are strong enough to knock it out because it will run away. If you have the endurance to run after it, it might be more beneficial.The attractive man, in other words, would be the one with the genes for endurance, not necessarily the one with the biggest muscles.Of course, the study reports only an average, and it does not conclude that the best-looking cyclist will always be the winner. Amal Moinard of France was rated the most attractive rider in the study, but he finished in the middle of the field in the studys measure of performance. Rui Costa, a Portuguese racer, was ninth in attractiveness and 15th in the performance rating, and the Belgian cyclist Maxime Monfort was third in attractiveness and sixth in performance.The 2012 winner, Bradley Wiggins, was not included in the analysis. He was hidden behind sunglasses in his portrait, which might have given him an unfair advantage.",4
"Politics|The storming of Capitol Hill was organized on social media.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/us/politics/protesters-storm-capitol-hill-building.htmlJan. 6, 2021, 4:41 p.m. ETJan. 6, 2021, 4:41 p.m. ETCredit...Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesJust after 1 p.m., when President Trump ended his speech to protesters in Washington by calling for them to march on Congress, hundreds of echoing calls to storm the building were made by his supporters online.On social media sites used by the far-right, such as Gab and Parler, directions on which streets to take to avoid the police and which tools to bring to help pry open doors were exchanged in comments. At least a dozen people posted about carrying guns into the halls of Congress.Calls for violence against members of Congress and for pro-Trump movements to retake the Capitol building have been circulating online for months. Bolstered by Mr. Trump, who has courted fringe movements like QAnon and the Proud Boys, groups have openly organized on social media networks and recruited others to their cause.On Wednesday, their online activism became real-world violence, leading to unprecedented scenes of mobs freely strolling through the halls of Congress and uploading celebratory photographs of themselves, encouraging others to join them.On Gab, they documented going into the offices of members of Congress, including that of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Dozens posted about searching for Vice President Mike Pence, who had been the target of Mr. Trumps ire earlier in the day.At 2:24 p.m., after Mr. Trump tweeted that Mr. Pence didnt have the courage to do what should have been done, dozens of messages on Gab called for those inside the Capitol building to hunt down the vice president. In videos uploaded to the channel, protesters could be heard chanting Where is Pence?As Facebook and Twitter began to crack down groups like QAnon and the Proud Boys over the summer, they slowly migrated to other sites that allowed them to openly call for violence.Renee DiResta, a researcher at the Stanford Internet Observatory who studies online movements, said the violence Wednesday was the result of online movements operating in closed social media networks where people believed the claims of voter fraud and of the election being stolen from Mr. Trump.These people are acting because they are convinced an election was stolen, DiResta said. This is a demonstration of the very real-world impact of echo chambers.She added: This has been a striking repudiation of the idea that there is an online and an offline world and that what is said online is in some way kept online.",3
"Personal Tech|Making an Android Tablet Easier to Readhttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/technology/personaltech/making-an-android-tablet-easier-to-read.htmlFeb. 21, 2014Q. The seven-inch Nexus tablet itself is just big enough, but I find the type too small. Is it possible to increase the size of the text on the screen?A. You should have your choice of a few preset text sizes on the Nexus 7. On a tablet running Android 4.4 (the KitKat version of the operating system), open the Settings icon from the Apps screen. As an alternative, you can swipe down from the top right corner of the screen to open the Quick Settings box and then tap the Settings icon.On the Settings screen, in the Device area, tap Display. In the list of Display settings, tap Font Size. Here, you can move from the default Normal and switch to Large or even Huge to increase the screen text size for apps and menus on the tablet. For those who find the normal text size too big, the Font Size options also include a Small option.Changing a Wi-Fi Networks NameQ. How do I change the default name of my home wireless network from my Mac? The network is running from an Apple AirPort Extreme.A. Changing the wireless networks name to something less generic is a good idea for general security and can be done by logging into the router. As with all of Apples AirPort base stations, you can get into the settings through the AirPort Utility program.If you set up the network yourself, you should already have a copy of the software in your Applications or Programs folder; OS X usually deposits the AirPort Utility inside the Utilities folder that is within the Macs Applications folder. The AirPort Utility software for Mac and Windows can also be downloaded from Apples support site. (An app version for iOS devices is also available.)On the Mac, open the AirPort Utility program. In the window that appears, click the icon for your AirPort Extreme router and then click the Edit button in the box that pops up. Type in the password you picked when you first set up the base station to get into the settings. Click the Wireless tab at the top of the settings window, and in the Wireless Network Name box, type in a new name for your network. In this same settings area, you also have the option to change the password needed to use the network. Click the Update button when finished.If you have forgotten the password for the base station, you can perform a soft reset to temporarily disable the security so you can pick a new password. Apples site has instructions for resetting its AirPort hardware, as well as recommended settings for Wi-Fi network names and other AirPort security options.",5
"Middle East|Israel Begins Murder Investigation of Soldier Who Shot Palestinianhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/26/world/middleeast/israel-begins-murder-investigation-of-soldier-who-shot-palestinian.htmlMarch 25, 2016JERUSALEM The Israeli military said on Friday that a soldier who shot a Palestinian assailant in the head as he lay motionless on the ground was being investigated on suspicion of murder. The announcement was highly unusual and underscored the seriousness of the case, which was filmed and quickly spread over social media.An additional three officers a company commander and two platoon commanders were reprimanded because they did not treat the wounded man,Yusri al-Sharif, 21, after the confrontation on Thursday, said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an army spokesman.Palestinians said the episode was unusual only because it had been filmed and had generated outrage. They said that since a surge of attacks began in October, there had been several similar episodes in which assailants were shot dead even after they did not pose a threat, and in which wounded Palestinians were left untreated.Palestinians have killed about 30 Israelis, two Americans and a Palestinian bystander since the near-daily stabbings, shootings and vehicular attacks began last fall. Israeli forces or civilians have shot dead 180 Palestinians during the same period. Most were either attempting attacks or were suspected of doing so.Thursdays clash began when two Palestinian men stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint near a Jewish settlement enclave in the West Bank city of Hebron. Both were shot.Video then emerged showing a soldier cocking his rifle and shooting Mr. Sharif for a second time as he lay on the road, as other soldiers and an Israeli ambulance crew milled about. The Israeli military swiftly condemned the episode as a grave breach of its values, and detained the soldier.The soldiers lawyers say he acted appropriately, because Mr. Sharif still had the intention and ability to harm soldiers.The announcement that the soldier was being investigated on suspicion of murder came after a court hearing on Friday to extend his detention by four days. The court barred the publication of the soldiers identity.It is unusual, Colonel Lerner said of the case. It goes to show the severity of the issue from the outset.Colonel Lerner said he could not recall the last time a soldier had been investigated on suspicion of murder, nor the last time a soldier had been charged with murder.Sarit Michaeli, a spokeswoman for BTselem, a human rights organization based in Israel, noted an investigation would not necessarily lead to a murder charge, which in Israel must cross a high threshold. Ms. Michaeli said a murder charge would be even more unlikely in a system that Israeli rights groups say is lenient on soldiers.As an example, another Israeli rights group, Yesh Din, reported that of 33 investigations the military opened in the West Bank into the deaths of Palestinians in 2014, only one indictment was issued, for manslaughter. Neither Yesh Din nor Colonel Lerner could say if a murder charge was considered in any of those 33 cases.",6
"Asia Pacific|Trump to Raise North Korea Sanctions With Chinese Leader, Pence Sayshttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/15/world/asia/pence-north-korea-sanctions-china.htmlCredit...Wallace Woon/EPA, via ShutterstockNov. 15, 2018President Trump is likely to bring up the enforcement of sanctions against North Korea when he meets with President Xi Jinping of China this month, Vice President Mike Pence said on Thursday.Mr. Pence, who is in Singapore for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit meeting, was responding to reports that China might be easing sanctions against North Korea, which would be a blow to the American-led effort to economically isolate the North over its weapons programs.We believe China is doing more than theyve ever done before, Mr. Pence said. The president is grateful for that.But he added that he expected Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi to discuss the issue of enforcement of those sanctions and really the unique role that China can play in ensuring the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.The two leaders will meet at the end of the month at the Group of 20 gathering in Buenos Aires.Mr. Pences remarks came after the release of a congressional report that said China appeared to have eased up on the enforcement of sanctions against North Korea. The annual report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission asked the United States Treasury Department to list Chinese businesses, entities and individuals doing business with North Korea that might be subject to United States sanctions.Also on Thursday, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce confirmed that trade talks with the United States had resumed following a phone call this month between Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi. Those talks had been on hiatus since August, with Mr. Trumps top economic advisers feuding over how the United States should proceed.Mr. Pence also said that he had a cordial encounter with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Tuesday at the gala dinner hosted by the regional bloc, known as Asean.We exchanged greetings, but nothing more than that, he said of Mr. Putin, whose July meeting with Mr. Trump drew fierce criticism in the United States over what many viewed as Mr. Trumps fawning behavior. Mr. Pence and Mr. Putin also had a brief conversation on Thursday.Mr. Pence is essentially standing in for Mr. Trump at the Asean meeting, and the presidents absence was conspicuous; not only is Mr. Putin in Singapore, but Mr. Xi will attend the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders forum this weekend in Papua New Guinea.Mr. Trump wont be there either, raising questions about the United States commitment to its allies as China seeks to expand its influence in the region.In something of a diplomatic whirlwind, Mr. Pence also met with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and tried to dispel any suggestion that South Korea was veering away from Washingtons tough line against the North by holding recent talks with North Korean officials.Mr. Pence said he had discussed the United Nations sanctions with Mr. Moon and that he assured me that as those inter-Korean talks take place, there will continue to be very close coordination with the United States, and also that South Korea remains committed to fully implementing all of the U.N. resolutions and sanctions.He said he had told Mr. Moon that the United States sought to avoid the mistakes of the past, referring to North Koreas broken promises after previous talks with the United States.He added that South Korea again today renewed their commitment to work very closely with the U.S. ahead of a planned second summit meeting between Mr. Trump and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, which is expected in the new year.",6
"Tyron Woodley to Nate Diaz: You're a Bum, Not 'The Real Champ' ... I'll Fight You Right Now!! 1/24/2018 Tyron Woodley says Nate Diaz calling himself ""The Real Champ"" is an absolute joke ... and if he's really serious about coming back, they can throw hands RIGHT NOW. Tyron just had shoulder surgery 5 weeks ago, but he ain't kidding ... explaining why he can whoop Nate's ass at way less than 100% on ""The Hollywood Beatdown"" (full episode drops this Friday). FYI, Diaz claimed he's making a return to the UFC in a social media post, saying -- ""I'll see you around May, June. Sincerely, The Real Champ."" Tyron says he truly believes Nate's gonna come back ... but does he think Diaz will accept a fight with him after ducking out back in November? He answers that question on the Beatdown, too.",1
"Business|KaloBios Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcyhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/31/business/kalobios-bankruptcy-martin-shkreli-chagas-disease.htmlCredit...Lucas Jackson/ReutersDec. 30, 2015KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, the troubled California biotechnology company that ousted Martin Shkreli this month, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday.The drug maker listed roughly $8.4 million in assets and close to $2 million in debt in filings with the United States Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.The drug maker had planned to go out of business before Mr. Shkreli took it over. Several of its experimental drugs had not worked, and the company did not have enough money to continue operating.But in late November, Mr. Shkreli led an investor group that bought 70 percent of KaloBioss stock on the open market for prices generally short of $2 a share. The stock briefly surged to more than $40 a share once his interest became known.Mr. Shkreli quickly drew attention after a plan surfaced to sharply increase the price of a decades-old drug that treats Chagas disease, a parasitic infection that can cause potentially lethal heart problems.Mr. Shkreli had already become infamous, as the head of Turing Pharmaceuticals, for raising the price of a lifesaving drug to treat toxoplasmosis, a rare parasitic infection, to $750 from $13.50 a pill.His ambitions for KaloBios proved short-lived. Mr. Shkreli was arrested on Dec. 17 on securities fraud and wire fraud charges. Federal prosecutors have accused Mr. Shkreli of something akin to a Ponzi scheme related to his first pharmaceutical company, Retrophin. They say he used the drug companys funds to pay off investors who lost money in his hedge fund, MSMB Capital Management.KaloBios fired Mr. Shkreli after his arrest. Two days later, Nasdaq informed KaloBios that it would be delisted from the exchange. KaloBios has appealed Nasdaqs decision. A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 25, the company said Tuesday.Trading in KaloBios has been halted since Mr. Shkreli was arrested. The last quoted price was $23.59 a share. On Monday, the company announced the resignation of two of its directors, Tom Fernandez and Marek Biestek.In its bankruptcy filings, the University of Miami and the accounting firm Ernst & Young are listed among KaloBioss largest unsecured creditors.Representatives for KaloBios could not immediately be reached for comment.",0
"Proof that the online future has arrived: The biggest e-commerce company outside China has unseated the biggest brick-and-mortar seller.Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York TimesAug. 17, 2021SEATTLE Amazon has eclipsed Walmart to become the worlds largest retail seller outside China, according to corporate and industry data, a milestone in the shift from brick-and-mortar to online shopping that has changed how people buy everything from Teddy Grahams to teddy bears.Propelled in part by surging demand during the pandemic, people spent more than $610 billion on Amazon over the 12 months ending in June, according to Wall Street estimates compiled by the financial research firm FactSet. Walmart on Tuesday posted sales of $566 billion for the 12 months ending in July.Alibaba, the giant online Chinese retailer, is the worlds top seller. Neither Amazon nor Walmart is a dominant player in China.In racing past Walmart, Amazon has dethroned one of the most successful and feared companies of recent decades. Walmart perfected a thriving big-box model of retailing that squeezed every possible penny out of its costs, which drove down prices and vanquished competitors.But even with all of that efficiency and power, the quest to dominate todays retail environment is being won on the internet. And no company has taken better advantage of that than Amazon. Indeed, the companys delivery (many items land on doorsteps in a day or two) and wide selection first drew customers to online shopping, and it has kept them buying more there ever since. It has also made Jeff Bezos, the companys founder, one of the richest people in the world.ImageCredit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesIt is a historic moment, said Juozas Kaziukenas, founder of the Marketplace Pulse, a research company. Walmart has been around for so long, and now Amazon comes around with a different model and replaces them as a No. 1.Wall Street firms had been expecting this retail baton to change hands in the coming years. But the pandemic accelerated the timeline, as people stuck at home relied on deliveries. Walmarts sales rose sharply during the pandemic, but it has not matched Amazon, which has added hundreds of new warehouses and hired about 500,000 workers since the start of last year.Walmarts sales grew $24 billion in the last year, the company said Tuesday. During roughly the same period, the total value of everything people bought on Amazon rose by nearly $200 billion, analysts estimate.While the figures are calculated differently, analysts regularly use them as a rough comparison. Knowing the full value of Walmarts sales is simple, because they nearly all come from its own inventory and are disclosed publicly each quarter. But analysts must calculate an estimate of the value of Amazons overall sales because most of what people buy on its site are products owned and listed by outside merchants. The company publicly reports only the fees it takes from those transactions.With Amazons success has come greater scrutiny. And the company has started to receive many of the same complaints over its treatment of workers and impact on local and national economies that Walmart faced during its biggest periods of expansion more than a decade ago.The Big Bad Wolf is Amazon now, said Barbara Kahn, a professor of marketing at University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School of Business who has written several books on retailing.Amazon and Walmart declined to comment.Over the last century, very few companies could stake a claim to worlds biggest retailer. The grocery chain A.&P. was such a force that antitrust authorities pursued it in the 1940s. Sears overtook A.&P. as the largest retailer in the early 1960s by targeting middle-class shoppers in the suburbs and expanding the department store model.Then came Walmart.ImageCredit...J. Scott Applewhite/Associated PressImageCredit...Terra Fondriest for The New York TimesIn 1962, Sam Walton founded the retailer in small-town Arkansas. Mr. Walton had a true passion some would say obsession to win, he wrote in his autobiography, and he sold a huge variety of products at low prices, including eventually fresh food. But his true innovation was building a vast logistics network that operated with such precision and efficiency that it crushed many competitors that couldnt compete.By the 1990s, Walmart had surpassed Sears. And then it kept growing, opening thousands of stores and acquiring other retailers across the world.Just as Mr. Walton founded Walmart as Sears was ascendant, Mr. Bezos started Amazon in the early 1990s as Walmart was king.Guru Hariharan, who worked on Amazons retail business, said Amazon had eclipsed Walmart by playing a different game. Walmart has hardened its lock on physical stores and the grocery business. But shopping online is growing far faster than in physical stores, even as it accounts for only about a seventh of U.S. retail sales. Amazon captures 41 cents of every dollar spent online in the United States, while Walmart takes just 7 cents, according to eMarketer.ImageCredit...Getty ImagesImageCredit...Getty ImagesThey have their own turfs that they are the kings of, said Mr. Hariharan, who left Amazon and eventually founded CommerceIQ, which advises brands like Colgate and Kimberly-Clark on e-commerce.Amazon has ascended in part because it opened its website to let third-party sellers list their products alongside items that Amazon buys and resells itself. This marketplace greatly increased the assortment of available items. Almost two million sellers offer products on Amazon, and they account for 56 percent of the items sold.The marketplace makes it harder to determine Amazons true influence in the retail industry. The company captures and reports only the fees it charges sellers to list, ship and market their goods, not the total money that flows through its business. The model is more profitable, but produces less revenue.It makes Amazon appear smaller, Mr. Kaziukenas said. They are obfuscating their reality.ImageCredit...Paul Conors/Associated PressThat has led analysts at investment banks like J.P. Morgan, BMO Capital Markets and Cowen to estimate what is known as the gross merchandise value, calculating how much customers buy on Amazon, regardless of whether it comes from Amazons inventory or from a sellers. The analysts make the estimates based on data the company releases, such as revenue it collects from sellers and the marketplaces share of total units sold, and their own research. FactSet compiles and averages the estimates. In the last 12 months, Amazon reported total retail revenue of $390 billion. But total product sales, including third-party transactions, was nearly 60 percent higher, according to the analysts estimates.Amazon has not regularly disclosed its gross merchandise value, but in 2019, facing antitrust pressure, Mr. Bezos shared the measure then $277 billion for the first time as a way to show that the third-party sellers were growing faster than Amazons direct retail business. Third-party sellers are kicking our first-party butt, he wrote.When Mr. Bezos testified in Congress last summer, he pointed to Walmarts size as evidence of a competitive retail industry. We compete against large, established players, like Target, Costco, Kroger and, of course, Walmart, he said, a company more than twice Amazons size presumably referring to Walmarts revenue.Walmart is still the largest private employer in the United States, with 1.6 million workers. And it sells more in the United States than Amazon, though J.P. Morgan estimates that Amazon will surpass Walmart in the United States next year.ImageCredit...Eze Amos for The New York TimesDuring the pandemic, Walmart honed its ability to use its stores as mini-distribution centers, where shoppers drive to retrieve their purchase curbside, a far less costly way to fulfill online orders than delivery. On Tuesday, Walmart said it expected to generate $75 billion in total online sales this year. The company has been expanding its effort to build its own marketplace, but the vast majority of its online sales still come from its own inventory, Mr. Kaziukenas said.Edward Yruma, a retail analyst and managing director at KeyBanc Capital Markets, said Amazon had only started to come to grips with the reality of its size.Walmart is big, and they know it, he said. Amazon has long played the role of the upstart, even as it became enormous. Just this summer, when it already employed about 1.3 million people, it added a new leadership principle that acknowledged the responsibility of its scale.We started in a garage, the new principle starts, but were not there anymore.",5
"Researchers hope the findings will improve conservation efforts, as some killer whale populations have dwindled and become endangered.Credit...Southwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA FisheriesDec. 10, 2019Parents, at least the human sort, know the benefits of having a grandmother close by: the extra help with child care, the reassuring advice borne from years of experience. In evolutionary biology, scientists call this the grandmother effect, and have hypothesized its one of the reasons humans live so long.Now, a new study suggests that the effect isnt limited to humans, and that killer whales also benefit from having grandmothers around. The study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that grandmother killer whales helped improve their grandcalves chances of survival, particularly when food was scarce.The findings may shed light on an enduring mystery: why some whale species live for years after they go through menopause and stop reproducing. The study showed that, by stopping reproduction, grandmother killer whales avoided conflict with their reproducing offspring and helped their grandcalves find enough to eat when salmon stocks dwindled.Having a living grandmother improves your survival; youre less likely to die when shes alive than in the years following her death, Stuart Nattrass, the studys lead author, and a researcher at the University of Hull, in Britain, wrote in an email. Weve known this is true of humans and a few other animals that dont have menopause, like African elephants, for a while, and had a strong inkling that it was also true in these resident killer whales, he wrote.He and other researchers said the findings could be important for orca conservation, suggesting its just as vital to protect older, postmenopausal females as it is younger females of breeding age and their offspring.Worldwide, there are an estimated 50,000 killer whales, or orcas. But several populations have declined in recent decades, and some have become endangered, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.To assess the survival rates of killer whales in lean years, the study examined census data for two populations, off Washington State and British Columbia, as well as annual catch numbers from chinook salmon fisheries in the Pacific Northwest. The population off Washington State has been endangered since 2005, and is now critically endangered. It has just 73 orcas and four grandmothers, according to Deborah Giles, a killer whale researcher at the University of Washingtons Center for Conservation Biology. Dr. Giles, who was not involved in the study, called that scarcity of grandmothers startling and scary.Orca matriarchs, she said, play a critical role in the species survival by guiding their families to fish when stocks are low and caring for the young while the mothers of breeding age hunt.Its part of what makes killer whales amazing animals, Dr. Giles said. They are these large-bodied, long-lived apex predators, and a lot of the life span for post-reproductive females is spent caring for, and being there with, their families. We dont see that as readily in other species.Female killer whales typically start reproducing in their teens and stop in their 30s or 40s. Yet they can live well into their 80s and 90s, posing the question for scientists of why this postmenopausal stage of life has evolved. Why stop breeding if the goal is to pass on your genes?Dr. Nattrass said the study could point to some answers. It found that postmenopausal killer whales provided the biggest boost to their grandcalves chances of survival, beyond that provided by grandmother killer whales that were still breeding.This is a particularly striking example of a case where there might be a fitness benefit to not breeding yourself you can better help your grandkids if youre not preoccupied with a baby of your own, he wrote.Dr. Nattrass said postmenopausal killer whales are able to guide their families to salmon when its scarce, using stores of ecological knowledge gained over decades of life experience. Without that knowledge, Dr. Nattrass said, the grandcalves could die.As salmon stocks continue to fall, the presence of these grandmothers becomes more and more important, Dr. Nattrass wrote. But there is going to be a point where that knowledge isnt enough. We really need to boost salmon stocks if these grandmothers are going to be able to help their families.Dr. Giles recalled one striking instance of this grandmotherly help: an aerial photo, taken in 2016, that showed a killer whale known as J2, estimated to be at least 75 and possibly older than 100, catching and sharing salmon with a recently orphaned youngster, presumed to be her granddaughter. The grandmother was feeding the youngster even as she was getting thinner and thinner toward the end of her life, Dr. Giles said.Heres this old, old female still trying to make sure her family members have enough food to eat, Dr. Giles said. She could have eaten that fish in one bite. But she didnt.",7
"Special Report: Energy for TomorrowCredit...David Ebener/DPA Picture-Alliance, via Agence France-PresseDec. 7, 2015The spinning blades of wind turbines produced 9 percent of Germanys electricity in 2014.Most of those turbines are in the north of the country, near Denmark and the Netherlands, or off the coast in the North Sea. The majority of Germanys electricity demand, however, comes from some 400 miles to the south, in the factories and corporate headquarters of Bavaria.Transporting electricity from the place where it is generated to the place it will be used means installing high-voltage power lines. But while renewable energy is extremely popular among the German public, power lines are not.Public protests against construction have been influential enough that, in July, the countrys governing coalition had to agree to bury high-voltage lines wherever possible a move that could raise the cost of those lines by billions of dollars.All over the world, people are looking at Germany as an example of a successful renewable energy transition. In 1990, almost none of the countrys electricity came from renewables. Last year, more than a quarter of the gross electricity generation was attributable to a combination of wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric power. In contrast, renewables accounted for about 13 percent of United States electricity production in 2014.Besides inspiration, the German experience has also offered an important lesson. Switching to wind and solar isnt just about building wind farms and installing photovoltaic panels.Developing renewable energy anywhere requires an understanding that the wind and the sun work as part of a broad system, encompassing both technological challenges related to integrating electricity into the grid and political, cultural and economic factors. This mode of systems thinking is gradually becoming more important, said Dolf Gielen, director of innovation and technology for the International Renewable Energy Agency. For example, even the seemingly simple question of Why renewables? has different answers in different parts of the world.In Germany, the shift to wind and solar power is intimately tied to the phase-out of nuclear energy. Based on a plan announced in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in Japan, there will be no nuclear energy produced in Germany by 2022. In 1990, 25 percent of the countrys electricity came from nuclear. By 2014, that share had fallen to 16 percent.Meanwhile, Mr. Gielen said, Chinas interest in renewable energy is driven by public concern about air pollution. And, in India, renewables especially solar are proving to be a vital part of bringing reliable electricity to parts of the country left out of traditional infrastructure development.Compared with plotting and installing transmission lines, it is cheaper and faster to build a small stand of solar generation and a microgrid to handle local needs like water pumping, lighting and phone charging, said Matt Rogers, director of McKinsey & Company in San Francisco and a 20-year veteran of energy consulting.Reliability means a very different thing in rural India than it does in San Francisco, Mr. Rogers said. People are discovering that some power fast is worth more than being able to get the perfect solution 20 years from now.In developed countries, though, installing renewable sources of electricity generation means making sure those sources fit into the existing grid. This can be a tricky problem to solve. All electricity grids must be balanced with supply almost perfectly matching electric demand at any given moment.Historically, this has been done by adjusting production in real time, as it is very difficult to store electricity. Because wind and solar generation are dependent upon variable natural resources, they can upset that balance. Avoiding blackouts means upgrading grid technologies and adding storage. This is why those transmission lines are so important to Germanys future.Its also why Germany has changed the policies it uses to set prices for electricity and encourage renewable development, Mr. Gielen said. Previous policy had made renewable development so attractive that it was outpacing the countrys ability to keep up with infrastructure support. Its much more difficult to do the grid investments because thats long-term planning, he said.California is one of the world leaders in adding storage into the grid system, primarily by using lithium-ion battery packs, the same technology found in computers and home electronics. The cost of these packs at grid scale has plummeted 80 percent in the last six years, from about $1,000 a kilowatt-hour in 2009 to $250 per kWh today, Mr. Rogers said.Control is also an important part of upgrading electricity grids. Historically, matching generation of electricity to demand has been based on phone calls grid controllers calling electricity producers to request more or less generation. Changing both hardware and software technologies within the system will allow controllers to make those changes automatically, speeding up the process and increasing stability.The cost of these technologies affects the cost of electricity generated by renewable resources, as does the cost of solar panels and wind turbines themselves.Public policy also plays a role in determining how expensive renewables are. It is no surprise that China, which produces most of the worlds solar panels, is also one of the countries with the lowest cost for installing rooftop solar.In Germany, the household cost for electricity, in general, is about 30 euro cents per kilowatt/hour. With bank financing easy to get because of the countrys long history of stable regulation, the cost to generate rooftop solar is about 15 cents per kilowatt-hour. Theres a clear economic case to install such a system, Mr. Gielen said.California also has a strong economic outlook for solar, largely due to the fact that policy in that state means electricity prices fluctuate widely depending on demand. But in the United States over all, rooftop solar electricity is about twice as expensive as it is in Germany. Policy again plays a big role in that cost, Mr. Gielen said. In Germany you fill out one form. In the U.S., in some instances, you have to fill out 20 forms, he said. If theres a lot more paperwork to be then done, thats reflected in the prices.",0
"Dec. 21, 2015LONDON Small banks and some other financial institutions in Europe should be exempt from some of the limits on bankers bonuses, the European Unions banking regulator said on Monday.The opinion, by the European Banking Authority, would still require a change in European Union law to carry out. But the guidance is meant to clarify disparity in the interpretation and enforcement of the bonus rules.The European Unions executive arm this year determined that the bonus and related compensation rules should apply without exception to all financial firms. But some national regulators including Britains have been exempting smaller banks from the bonus cap, which limits bonuses to an amount equal to one or two times an employees salary and other compensation that is not based on performance.Mondays opinion by the European Banking Authority said that some exemptions should be allowed for smaller financial firms and for staff members at banks who receive only a small amount of their annual compensation as bonuses based on performance.All employees who take risks that could affect the financial institutions overall stability should be subject to the bonus cap, the authority said. But some financial firms should not have to comply with new requirements, set to begin in 2017, that a portion of bonus pay be deferred for several years or paid in shares or other noncash financial instruments.To allow such waivers, European law would have to be changed, which would fall to the blocs executive arm, the European Commission, and the European Parliament.The application of the pay provisions should be harmonized in the European Union to achieve a level playing field and avoid distortion of the competition to attract the best and most talented staff, the banking authority said in its opinion on Monday. At the same time, the administrative burden for, in particular, smaller institutions should be reduced.The European Banking Authority has jurisdiction over banks throughout the 28-nation European Union.As part of formal guidelines issued by the regulator this year, banks and other financial institutions will be required to defer at least 40 percent of annual bonuses for a period of three to five years and to pay half of those bonuses in stock or other noncash financial instruments.The authority said those requirements could be burdensome for smaller institutions and require them to hire additional administrative staff members, which would put those firms at a competitive disadvantage.The opinion was released on Monday alongside the European Banking Authoritys final guidelines on how banks can pay bonuses and which employees are affected by the bonus cap.Those formal guidelines were first issued in March and finished this month after a consultation period. The bonus cap is already in place, but the new guidelines on pay go into effect on Jan. 1, 2017, to give financial institutions time to adjust their pay policies.The bonus cap, which came into effect in 2014, limits annual performance payouts to an amount equal to 100 percent of what an employee receives in so-called fixed remuneration, or salary and other compensation that is not based on performance.The cap was intended to reduce the financial incentive for bankers to make risky bets that authorities say contributed to the financial crisis.Under the cap, annual bonuses can be raised to 200 percent of an employees fixed pay if an institutions shareholders vote to approve the increase.It is up to local regulators to comply with European Union rules and banking authority guidelines or explain why they are not complying. They will have a two-month period after the new guidelines are translated and officially published to do so.As part of the rules, banks must apply the bonus cap to all bank-owned subsidiaries, including asset managers and insurance groups, if their employees take risks that could affect the financial institutions overall stability.The guidelines were intended to quash efforts by banks to get around the bonus limits, including using a new category of compensation, known as role-based allowances.The authority determined in October 2014 that role-based pay was discretionary and should be classified as variable compensation and subject to the bonus cap. Britains banking regulator, the Prudential Regulation Authority, previously criticized the bonus cap.When the European Banking Authority issued its opinion last year, several regulators, including the British authority, had already approved role-based pay for the 2014 year, so it was too late to enforce that for bonuses paid in January 2015 for work in 2014.Andrew Bailey, the chief executive of the Prudential Regulation Authority, said this year that the regulator would comply with the opinion.",0
"Disney Star Adam Hicks History of Violence ... Before Armed Robberies 1/27/2018 Disney star Adam Hicks is no stranger to violence ... he shot himself and allegedly brutalized his girlfriend before allegedly going on an armed robbery spree. Hicks shot himself in the leg last July while he was hanging out with friends. He told cops it was accidental but, according to the court document, was ""very uncooperative."" Hicks was arrested but prosecutors closed the case due to insufficient evidence. Hicks got himself in more trouble just 2 months later. Last September he was arrested after cops came to his home and his girlfriend told them Hicks pulled her by the hair, grabbed her arms, pinned her against a car, pushed her to the ground and continued brutalizing her ... this according to the court document obtained by TMZ. Cops say a neighbor witnessed the violence but became uncooperative. His girlfriend also refused to cooperate so the case was not prosecuted. TMZ.com TMZ broke the story ... Hicks, who starred in ""Zeke and Luther,"" ""Pair of Kings,"" and ""Lemonade Mouth"" and his girlfriend were arrested after allegedly cruising the Burbank area and pointing a gun at pedestrians and taking their cellphones, money and other property.",1
"Business BriefingDec. 7, 2015Consumers in the United States borrowed more heavily for auto and student loans in October, taking on debt to help them find jobs and commute to work. The Federal Reserve said on Monday that consumer borrowing rose $16 billion in October to $3.5 trillion. But the pace decelerated sharply from the $28.5 billion rise in September. Nearly all of the October gain came from the category that covers auto and student loans, while credit card borrowing edged up a mere $200 million. The increase suggests that more Americans are borrowing to improve skills and upgrade vehicles, instead of relying on debt to fund daily shopping and emergency expenses. Many economists expect that consumer spending will be relatively healthy in the coming months because of strong job gains that have bolstered auto and home sales for much of 2015.",0
"Drinking, cigarette smoking and the use of hard drugs all declined, according to a new federal survey of high school and middle school students.Credit...Paul Sancya/Associated PressDec. 18, 2019Teenagers are drinking less alcohol, smoking fewer cigarettes and trying fewer hard drugs, new federal survey data shows. But these public health gains have been offset by a sharp increase in vaping of marijuana and nicotine.These diverging trend lines, published Wednesday, are among the findings in the Monitoring the Future survey a closely watched annual study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or NIDA, of eighth, 10th and 12th graders. The survey shows that youth drug use and experimentation continue to undergo significant evolution.Most troubling to public health experts in this years report were sharp increases in marijuana vaping. Of 12th graders surveyed, 14 percent said they had vaped marijuana in the last month, nearly double the 7.5 percent reported a year ago.The percentage of teenagers who said they had vaped marijuana once or more over the last year essentially doubled during the past two years as well, rising to 7 percent for eighth graders, 19.4 percent for 10th graders and 20.8 percent for 12th graders.The survey found that 3.5 percent of 12th graders and 3 percent of 10th graders report daily use, the first year the researchers had asked that question.The data also echoed statistics that the government released in September about e-cigarettes, with a quarter of high school seniors reporting that they had vaped nicotine within the last month, along with one in four 10th graders.This is a very, very worrisome trend, Dr. Nora Volkow, director of NIDA, said of the rise in both types of vaping among young people.Vaping of marijuana was at the root of a public health crisis that unfolded this summer when more than 2,000 people across the country, many in their teens and 20s, became gravely ill with a lung illness that left many of them unable to breathe on their own. Most of the patients said they had vaped THC, the high-inducing ingredient in marijuana.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 2,409 cases of hospitalization associated with vaping lung illness nationwide and 52 deaths. (Many of those who died were middle-aged or older, though one was 17.)Public health experts have said the cause is not entirely clear but appears to stem from the way the lungs struggle to process certain oils used in black-market marijuana vaping devices; they have identified vitamin E acetate, an ingredient in some products, as a possible cause.Though vaping of marijuana is on the rise, the overall rates of using the drug in all forms smoking, vaping, edibles were mixed. The rate of overall marijuana use held steady for high school students who reported using it once or more over the past year, but there was an uptick in daily use.The Monitoring the Future survey this year did give public health experts a number of reasons to feel encouraged, as high school students reported declining use of many substances, including alcohol and tobacco, continuing a long-term trend. Roughly 52 percent of high school seniors said they had used alcohol in the last year, along with 37.7 percent of 10th graders. Those figures have been dropping for years; in 2000, 73.2 percent of 12th graders said they had used alcohol in the last year as did 65.3 percent of 10th graders. Cigarette use continued to drop, too. The portion of seniors who reported smoking in the last month fell to 5.7 percent, down from 13.6 percent five years ago.Public health experts said that those declines along with drops in the use of prescription painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin are the result of a multifaceted effort in the United States to discourage drug use, including stricter school penalties, smoking bans and general public awareness campaigns. There has been a whole lot of effort at the community level, said Dr. Sion Kim Harris, a pediatrician and director for the Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research at Boston Childrens Hospital. There are some encouraging trends.On the flip side, she said, when it comes to vaping, young people may have gotten the wrong message: that it is not harmful. Silvia Martins, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, noted that marijuana is increasingly marketed in states where it is legal to suggest the drug may have widespread health benefits, claims that are not backed up by science. The rise of marijuana vaping among young people, she said, could be related to the fact it is seen as less harmful and less risky.More broadly, Dr. Martins and other experts said that the changes in teenage drug use may have a curious influence: technology.The rise in vaping, they said, stems partly from the allure of the sleek electronic devices that deliver nicotine and marijuana, glamorized on social media and streaming videos; the gadgets are also relatively easy to conceal because they are designed to reduce smell and smoke. The popular Juul device, for instance, is often referred to as the iPhone of e-cigarettes.One of the reasons they are embracing these devices is because they are new technology. It resonates, said Dr. Volkow of NIDA, the federal drug abuse institute.But technology may also be partly responsible for the decline in the use of some other drugs, Dr. Martins and Dr. Volkow, among others, have hypothesized. The theory is that some teenagers are partying less because they are spending time stimulated by their devices, and communicating with one another over social media, rather than in gatherings where they might have encountered alcohol or drugs. Dr. Martins is in the middle of research to test that hypothesis.Now Dr. Volkow said she hopes that teenagers will awaken to the fact that using marijuana regularly can be dangerous. Less and less do kids feel it is harmful to smoke marijuana regularly, she said, adding that she regrets that these teens are being misled by what she called the freedom of misinformation.[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]",2
"Credit...Steve Marcus/ReutersDec. 3, 2015A little more than a year ago, David Crane was busy broadcasting plans to transform NRG from a conventional power producer to a new breed of green utility.In charge of the company for more than 12 years, Mr. Crane had been investing in wind farms and buying small start-ups to help capture emerging markets like rooftop solar, electric-vehicle charging and home automation, all part of a bid, he wrote to shareholders, to become like an Amazon, Apple, Facebook or Google of electricity.If that indeed comes to pass, he will not be there to see it.Mr. Crane, 56, stepped down as chief executive, the company said Thursday, and Mauricio Gutierrez, who has been executive vice president and chief operating officer since 2010, will take his place. The companys stock tumbled over the last several months, a decline that went largely unabated despite a reorganization and shift in strategy announced by Mr. Crane in September.He clearly had a vision for the power company of the future, and wanted NRG to be that company, and took real steps toward that, said Shayle Kann, who leads GTM Research, which focuses on clean energy industries. And then Wall Street didnt get convinced.The move comes as utilities here and abroad struggle to cope with the changing economics, policies and technologies in bringing more renewables into the power mix. In Germany, for instance, the large utility RWE, squeezed by low prices for conventional fuels, recently announced that it planned to split its renewables, retail and grid businesses into a separate entity.At NRG, which operates a large fossil-fuel-based fleet that tends to produce steady dividends, Mr. Crane became a high-profile proponent of change, traveling extensively to gatherings with energy executives and clean-energy advocates like Bill Clinton and Richard Branson and making attention-getting commitments to reduce the companys carbon footprint. NRG, he said, would be positioned to take advantage of the shift not only to renewable energy but also away from the traditional monopoly business model to a more decentralized power system.At the same time, Mr. Crane made a series of bets aimed at helping NRG make the transition to what he saw as a future where customers would have much more control over the sources and use of their electricity. He bought companies and reorganized NRG into three units. NRG Business was for conventional wholesale energy enterprises, including coal, nuclear and gas power plants. NRG Renew was focused on developing renewable energy sources including large-scale wind and solar farms and microgrids for commercial customers like businesses or governments. And NRG Home offered residential customers energy products and services like solar systems and electric-vehicle charging.But, as a combination of low oil and gas prices and the threat of rising interest rates led to turbulence in the energy markets and skittishness among renewable energy investors, the company pulled back from its ambitions. The company said it would cut costs, reduce debt and spin off the green enterprises into a separate company on a tight leash. The new green company, which NRG could eventually take public, could attract investment from people interested in growth and clean energy who would not ordinarily invest in NRG, Mr. Crane said at the time.But the moves were not enough. Now, how things go forward will be up to Mr. Gutierrez, 45, who has been at the company in various roles since 2004. Mr. Crane will assist in the transition through the end of the year, NRG said, but it declined to make him or Mr. Gutierrez available to comment.For the industry in general, said Anda Ray, vice president for environment at the Electric Power Research Institute, a nonprofit industry group, its important to understand your stakeholders, your employees, your consumers and what is their appetite for the pace and scale of change.She added: Oftentimes, were very enamored by the next newest thing. At the same time to build that into our everyday lives is actually a significant change.",0
"Technology|Mediation Fails for Samsung and Applehttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/technology/mediation-fails-for-samsung-and-apple.htmlFeb. 22, 2014SAN JOSE, Calif. Apple and Samsung Electronics have failed to settle their latest patent dispute despite a daylong meeting between top Samsung executives and Apples chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, hosted by a mediator earlier this month.The companies detailed the lack of progress in a court filing on Friday. Judge Lucy H. Koh of the United States District Court in San Jose has been pushing the sides to settle the two-year-old case.While the two sides said they remained willing to work through a mediator, the lack of a settlement points them toward a trial in March.Apple and Samsung, the worlds top two smartphone makers, have waged legal battles over mobile devices since Apple accused Samsung of copying the iPhone and the iPad in 2011. Later, Samsung claimed that Apple had used its technologies without permission, expanding battles to courts in Asia, Europe and North America.In November, a Silicon Valley jury added $290 million to the damages that a previous jury said Samsung owed Apple for copying vital iPhone and iPad features, bringing the total award to $930 million.The previous verdict covered 13 older Samsung devices. Samsung has said it would appeal.The latest trial will consider Apples claims that Samsungs newest devices, like its Galaxy S3, also copied Apples technology.",5
"Feb. 9, 2014Every week, The New York Times chooses one essential game to watch, highlighting hot teams, winning and losing streaks, and statistical intrigue in the N.B.A.Portland at Los Angeles Clippers, Wednesday, 10:30 p.m. EasternIn a recent interview with Yahoo Sports, Derek Fisher of the Oklahoma City Thunder reflected on the conditions that can motivate an injured star.Ive seen this before, Fisher said. Star player misses a short period, sees something while theyre out that completely changes the way that they see the game. And when they come back, its easier for them and they make it easier for everyone else.Fisher was referring to the injured point guard Russell Westbrooks being motivated by the sustained quality of his Thunder teammates play. But the quotation could just as easily refer to the Los Angeles Clippers Chris Paul, who returned Sunday night after missing more than a month with a shoulder injury. In Pauls absence, his teammate Blake Griffin was terrific. In the 18 games that Paul missed, Griffin averaged 27.5 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists a game, leading the Clippers to a 12-6 record. Griffin has attracted the attention of fans and sponsors since he entered the league, one of the perks of being a dunk-happy highlight reel. But his game of late has reflected growth: He is now able to shoot from midrange at a higher percentage, and his increased ability to make free throws has made him a more complete offensive asset for a Clippers team that, without Paul, desperately needed a player who could create his own shots.Pauls return could not come at a better time for the Clippers, who are in a fierce battle to maintain their place in the standings. Going into Sunday nights game against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Clippers were neck and neck with the Houston Rockets, both teams six games behind the Western Conference-leading Thunder, who defeated the Knicks earlier in the day. The Rockets, who did not play Sunday, have a five-game winning streak. But if Fishers analysis is universally applicable and Griffins elevated play inspires Paul to improve his game in turn, the Clippers should get a much-needed boost.Entering Sunday night, both the Clippers and the Rockets were only two games behind the Portland Trail Blazers, who at one point led in the conference standings but have dropped to third. The Blazers are 5-5 in their last 10 games despite having two players in next Sundays All-Star Game in New Orleans. Portland point guard Damian Lillard will be the first player to compete in all five events of All-Star weekend, playing in the Rising Stars Challenge, which matches some of the leagues top rookies against some top second-year players; the slam dunk and 3-point shooting contests; the skills competition; and the main event, the All-Star Game. But as dynamic as Lillard can be at his best, his play has been spotty recently. In his last 10 games, he has shot 24.6 percent from 3-point range, a considerable drop from his season average of 40.6 percent. For a player who averages seven 3-point attempts a game, this is a major concern. His point, rebound and assist totals have also declined slightly.Lillards shooting woes echo his teams: The Blazers are shooting 38.1 percent from 3-point range this season, but in their last 10 games they have dropped to 30.7 percent. Those 7.4 percentage points are the difference between being one of the best long-range teams in the league and one of the worst. In the last 10 games, only Indiana and Cleveland have a worse 3-point shooting percentage than Portland. When the Trail Blazers beat the Clippers in overtime Dec. 26, Portland shot 36.1 percent from deep, making 13 3-pointers, including a game-tying shot from Nicolas Batum that forced overtime. Portland is a team that lives and dies by the success of its offense, and with Los Angeles back near full strength, the Blazers will have to revert to their early-season form in an effort to outpace the Clippers rejuvenated stars.",4
"Researchers are still figuring out how to enable athletes in the face-first Olympic sled race to go even faster.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesPublished Feb. 10, 2022Updated Feb. 14, 2022Many Winter Olympic sports have ancient origins, dating to times when humans invented new ways of getting around in the harsh, white wilderness. Skiing may have first emerged 10,000 years ago in Altay, China, and the Indigenous Smi word for skiing (uoigat) is estimated to be 6,000 to 8,000 years old. Thousands of years ago in Northern Europe, people strapped animal bones to their feet to skate around on ice. And the First Peoples in Canada used toboggans to transport goods.The sport called skeleton has no such hallowed origins in the practical transport of humans or goods, despite technically taking place on a sled. Life was hard enough without central heating; there was no reason to hurtle face-first down a frozen chute on a brakeless sled.Yet for all the modernity of skeleton it was reintroduced to the Winter Olympics lineup only in 2002 scientists are still deeply puzzled by it.The other sliding sports provide clearer paths to victory. Bobsled drivers steer by pulling on two pieces of rope attached to a steering bolt. Lugers steer by flexing their calf muscles and gripping the sleds handles. But skeleton racers can guide themselves with only the subtlest of shoulder shrugs or foot taps. The slightest twitch can help or hurt by altering the athletes aerodynamics in ways that athletes, coaches and researchers are still trying to decode.There are even times when I just use my eyes, Katie Tannenbaum, a skeleton athlete from the Virgin Islands, told The Times in 2018.Skeleton was invented on a bit of a whim, according to the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation. The sport started in the late 19th century on the Cresta Run, an icy outdoor track used for sledding in St. Moritz, Switzerland, when recreational sledders began careening down headfirst. And although the name skeleton fits a sport that would seem to invite death head-on, it has murky origins; it may have arisen from a poorly Anglicized Norwegian word or the steel sleds sparse, skeletal appearance. The sport appeared in the Olympics in 1928 and 1948, when the games were held in St. Moritz.The physics of the sliding sports skeleton, bobsled and luge are simple. Its gravity that pulls you down the track, said Timothy Wei, a mechanical engineer with expertise in fluid dynamics at Northwestern University, who works with skeleton athletes. And all the drag forces are slowing you down.Much of the sparse, nonproprietary research on skeleton concerns the sprinting phase of the sport, where athletes run to generate velocity while pushing their sled across a short distance before jumping aboard. Scientists have investigated the ideal number of steps, the ideal step length and frequency and even the ideal angles of the hips, knees, ankles and thighs during the running phase. But scientists know far less about the mechanics of the more terrifying phase of skeleton.There are many reasons.The sliding is physically brutal: Athletes endure four to five G-forces of pressure around turns and must withstand the rattling vibrations of the track. In luge, athletes wear a neck strap to hold up their head under high G-forces; bobsled athletes, seated, are enveloped by their vehicle. In skeleton, athletes experience the elements face-first, all while tucking their heads down to remain streamlined, chins hovering just inches above the hard ice and eyes straining upward to visualize the track.You cant do more than two to three runs per day, Dr. Wei said. And by the end of the season, for one or two months you just cant think clearly. So while a runner can practice running whenever they like, a skeleton athlete is able to skeleton for only a few cumulative hours per year, if that; with few opportunities for testing, skeleton runs are logistically difficult to study.ImageCredit...James Hill for The New York TimesIts not easy to get to a track for practice. The International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation lists just 17 tracks around the world, all located in the Northern Hemisphere. This exclusivity creates economic and environmental barriers for sliders from other countries hoping to train, let alone make it to the Olympics.And the tracks are often serpentine, winding like roller coasters, making it difficult to keep a continuous eye on an athlete as they barrel down the track. The track at the Yanqing National Sliding Center in Beijing, also called the Snow Dragon, has a 360-degree turn. From Dr. Weis experience, watching a race means you just watch these guys sprint and disappear into a tunnel and theyre gone. He added, Theres no way to know exactly what the athlete is doing along the entire track, and to get data off it.But in a race where victory margins are typically a few hundredths of a second, its crucial for athletes to understand the aerodynamic forces slowing their slide, in order to minimize them. With your face pointing toward the ice, it can be hard to know whether tweaking the position of your foot or sliding up or down on the sled actually shaves off precious time.Enter the humble wind tunnel. More than a decade ago, Dr. Wei built a system that simulated the drag resistance that athletes experience in an actual skeleton run. He constructed a mock section of a track at the exit of an open wind tunnel with sensors embedded in the floor, near which he mounted a mock sled. The sensors tracked the drag forces and weight distribution of the athletes.Athletes mounted a mock sled, braced themselves against the gusts of wind, and were able to view in real-time how slight adjustments of their body affected their speed through a plexiglass window on the floor of the tunnel.Dr. Wei also conducted tests using a theatrical fog machine and illuminated by a green sheet of laser light. He tracked the movement of the fog particles to reveal how air swirled over the athletes bodies and heads, in the hopes of gaining insight into further ways of reducing drag.ImageCredit...Timothy Wei andC. M. LeongMs. Tannenbaum, who is set to compete for the Virgin Islands this week, worked with Dr. Weis wind tunnel to prepare for Beijing. (There are no bobsled tracks in the U.S. Virgin Islands.) Where is the drag coming from? Dr. Wei wondered. How much of it is from the sled itself, and how much is from Katie?A wind tunnel cannot replicate the surprises of a real track, where certain elements the tiny bumps on the ice, the wind conditions, the outdoor temperature will always be out of the athletes control.Part of the beauty of skeleton, compared with the other sliding sports, may be that it asks athletes to relinquish total control over their destiny on the ice.Even though it looks completely insane, in many ways its the safest of the sliding sports paradoxically because you have so little steering control, Dr. Wei said. Oversteering in these sports can often lead to a crash. Luge, where speeds can top 90 miles per hour, is considered one of the most dangerous sports in the Olympic Games.The most aerodynamic skeleton racer would not be a fleshy human, but an actual skeleton the wind would whistle right through the rib-cage, Dr. Wei said, adding that an actual skeleton would not be able to steer.Until the Olympics opens to the undead, the sport of skeleton remains in the domain of the living. And though the athletes may look as still as corpses, there is nothing more resolutely alive than clinging to a steel plank, sliding 80 miles per hour toward the center of the Earth, over and over and over again. Men Christopher Grotheer Germany Women Hannah Neise Germany",7
"Politics|Agents Seek to Dissolve ICE in Immigration Policy Backlashhttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/us/politics/ice-immigration-eliminate-agency.htmlCredit...Melissa Lyttle for The New York TimesJune 28, 2018WASHINGTON At least 19 Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators are seeking to dissolve the agency, concerned that the Trump administrations crackdown on illegal migrants has limited their ability to pursue national security threats, child pornography and transnational crime.In a letter sent last week to Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, the special agents proposed creating a stand-alone investigations unit and another agency to handle immigration detention and deportation. The request was sent as a growing number of Democrats and immigration-rights advocates have called for eliminating ICE.Investigations have been perceived as targeting undocumented aliens, instead of the transnational criminal organizations that facilitate cross border crimes impacting our communities and national security, wrote the agents from Homeland Security Investigations, which is a branch of ICE. The Texas Observer first reported the letter.ImageCredit...Tom Brenner/The New York TimesThe investigators said local law enforcement officials have questioned the independence of their agency, given the Trump administrations aggressive policies against illegal immigration including arresting undocumented workers for minor offenses, such as driving without a license.At least two House Democrats Representatives Mark Pocan of Wisconsin and Pramila Jayapal of Washington are pushing to eliminate ICE. And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who stunned the Democratic establishment this week with her upstart primary victory against Representative Joe Crowley of New York, made abolishing ICE one of the key planks of her campaign.An agency spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. But a senior ICE official said there were operational challenges raised in that letter that merit some discussion.ImageCredit...Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesHomeland Security Investigations is one of several divisions within ICE the best-known of which is Enforcement and Removal Operations, which arrests, detains and deports undocumented immigrants.The agents letter is rooted in longstanding tensions between the investigative and deportation divisions within ICE.The child of a forced marriage between two defunct federal agencies The United States Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service ICE has long struggled to balance its dual roles of transnational criminal investigations and deportations.Some agents in the investigations unit have said the Trump administration has prioritized ICEs deportations mission. Thomas D. Homan, the acting director of ICE and former leader of its deportation unit, has been a vocal proponent of the administrations immigration policies.The more than 6,000 special agents assigned to Homeland Security Investigations focus on money laundering, drug trafficking, human smuggling, child exploitation and cybercrimes. The agents have been involved in some of the highest-profile criminal investigations in recent years, including the takedown of the Silk Road website, an online market where illegal drugs and fake identifications were sold.The agency was also involved in the arrest and capture of drug lord Joaqun Guzmn Loera, better known as El Chapo, who led the Sinaloa cartel before he was extradited to the United States last year.H.S.I. is also the lead government agency for counter proliferation investigations, targeting individuals who illegally try to smuggle military and other high-tech equipment out of the country. The division has about 50 offices around the world.",3
"The proof was in the, er, concretion.Credit...Roger WilsonFeb. 10, 2022Archaeologists working at ancient Roman sites commonly find ceramics, but it is not always easy to know what these objects were used for. Wine storage? Food transportation? Tableware? Or were they purely decorative? Experts often disagree. But now a team of researchers working at a Roman site that dates from about 450 to 500 A.D. have definitive proof that one of the pots they found was a portable toilet.The terra-cotta pot, described Thursday in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, was found in the ruins of a villa near the Italian town of Gerace in Sicily. The pot is round with sloping sides, standing a foot high and 13 inches wide at the rim. The authors suggest that it could have been used by sitting on it, but more likely it was placed beneath a timber or wicker chair equipped with a cover over a suitable hole.Chamber pots have been found at various ancient archaeological digs. One was found recently at a 2,700-year-old site in Jerusalem; another, dating from 1,300 B.C., was excavated at the Egyptian city of Tell el-Amarna. Chamber pots from as early as the sixth century B.C. have also been found in Greece.Although some documents suggest that Roman chamber pots could have been made of onyx or gold, only terra-cotta and bronze pots have been found. Most have been identified only by their shape or their location in a house, but there are now various techniques for establishing their function more conclusively. These researchers did it by looking for human intestinal parasites.When they initially found the pot, it was in pieces, so they had to first put the fragments back together. The pot is burnt orange, with two wavy lines incised on the outside as decoration. Inside, at the bottom and sides of the pot, they found a crust calcified concretions that they hoped would help identify what the pot contained. They scraped a bit off for analysis.After preparing the sample in an acid bath to separate any organic material from the concretions, they were able to identify the preserved eggs of an intestinal parasite, the whipworm, which is excreted in human feces. How the jar had been used was clear.ImageCredit...Sophie RabinowWhipworms infect an estimated 800 million people worldwide, usually in tropical regions where access to proper sanitation is limited, but infections also occur in the southern United States. The worm lives in the colon and its eggs are excreted in feces. They begin development outside the body and are transmitted by oral contact with contaminated hands, soil or food. Sometimes the disease, trichuriasis, produces no symptoms at all or just mild diarrhea, but severe cases in children can lead to stunted growth and cognitive problems. The disease can be effectively treated with medication.Whipworms can be found in dogs, wolves, pigs and other animals, but the species found in the Roman artifact Trichuris trichiura is found only in humans, and is not transmissible to any other animal.The thing that stood out in the paper is their method could be developed so that we could have a general method for everyone, said Karl J. Reinhard, a professor of environmental archaeology at the University of Nebraska who was not involved in the study. Its simple and something anyone can do anywhere. It could be applied to museum specimens as well. I would encourage the authors to continue this work and develop a method from which we all could benefit.The lead author, Sophie Rabinow, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Cambridge in England, said that there are other techniques for analyzing ancient parasites DNA or protein analysis, for example. But, she said, the acid bath technique is much quicker, easier and cheaper, and, if the process is properly carried out, produces very reliable results.Its a good addition to the ceramists tool kit, Ms. Rabinow said. There is a huge backlog in archaeology, a huge amount of material to which these techniques could be applied. Ceramics are well preserved in many cultures, not just Roman, and parasites of many species preserve very well.Is there any danger of infection from whipworm eggs that are almost 2,000 years old?No, said Ms. Rabinow, noting that archaeologists and museum goers neednt worry about the parasites. After a few months, theyre finished.",7
"Storm Chasers' Joel Taylor Party Cruise Rages On after Death Drug Use Still Rampant 1/26/2018 TMZ.com The cruise on which ""Storm Chasers"" star Joel Taylor allegedly died of an OD continues to be party central ... with abundant drug use. A ""White Party"" was held Thursday night on the cruise ship and passengers tell us drugs were everywhere ... including ketamine and ecstasy. TMZ.com TMZ broke the story ... law enforcement sources tell us they believe Taylor's death was an OD. Passengers told us Taylor consumed enough GHB Monday night to lapse into unconsciousness on the dance floor. He was taken back to his room where he was later found unresponsive. Taylor's autopsy has been completed and officials are waiting on toxicology results to determine a cause of death.",1
"https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/05/business/international/samsung-insider-trading-investigation-korea.htmlCredit...SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg NewsDec. 4, 2015SEOUL, South Korea South Korean financial regulators on Friday said they were investigating whether nine executives from Samsung, the countrys largest conglomerate, used insider trading to profit illegally from a merger of two subsidiaries.The countrys stock exchange reported the suspected insider trading, prompting the Financial Services Commission to investigate the Samsung executives, Kim Hong-sik, director of the commissions capital markets investigation unit, told reporters on Friday.Mr. Kim did not elaborate. But South Korean news media reported that nine executives from several Samsung companies bought 40 billion to 50 billion won, or $34.5 million to $43.1 million, worth of shares of a subsidiary, Cheil Industries, shortly before the plan to merge it with Samsung C&T was announced in May.Cheil Industries shares rose sharply until the merger plan was announced on May 26.We understand the investigation involving certain individuals is still in its early stage, Samsung said in a news release. We will wait until the authorities conclude their investigation.The merger between Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T drew attention because of its role in a father-to-son transfer of power in the family that controls the conglomerate, or chaebol. The activist hedge fund Elliott Associates, which had accumulated 7.12 percent of Samsung C&T before the merger, campaigned to scuttle the deal. The fund said the merger wronged minority shareholders by grossly undervaluing Samsung C&T shares in an unlawful attempt to help Lee Jae-yong, the son of Samsungs chairman, Lee Kun-hee, inherit leadership of the conglomerate.The Lee family held a controlling stake in Cheil and wanted to use it as a de facto holding company for the entire group. The merger enabled Cheil to absorb Samsung C&Ts shares in other Samsung units, including the flagship Samsung Electronics, further consolidating the familys grip on the entire group.The merger was completed after Samsung C&T shareholders voted in favor of it in July.",0
"TrilobitesEvents in the genome of Welwitschia have given it the ability to survive in an unforgiving desert for thousands of years.Credit...Tao WenJuly 31, 2021The longest-lived leaves in the plant kingdom can be found only in the harsh, hyperarid desert that crosses the boundary between southern Angola and northern Namibia.A desert is not, of course, the most hospitable place for living things to grow anything, let alone leafy greens, but the Namib Desert the worlds oldest with parts receiving less than two inches of precipitation a year is where Welwitschia calls home.In Afrikaans, the plant is named tweeblaarkanniedood, which means two leaves that cannot die. The naming is apt: Welwitschia grows only two leaves and continuously in a lifetime that can last millenniums.Most plants develop a leaf, and thats it, said Andrew Leitch, a plant geneticist at Queen Mary University of London. This plant can live thousands of years, and it never stops growing. When it does stop growing, its dead.Some of the largest plants are believed to be over 3,000 years old, with two leaves steadily growing since the beginning of the Iron Age, when the Phoenician alphabet was invented and David was crowned King of Israel.By some accounts, Welwitschia is not much to look at. Its two fibrous leaves, buffeted by dry desert winds and fed on by thirsty animals, become shredded and curled over time, giving Welwitschia a distinctly octopus-like look. One 19th-century director of Kew Gardens in London remarked, it is out of the question the most wonderful plant ever brought to this country and one of the ugliest.But since it was first discovered, Welwitschia has captivated biologists including Charles Darwin and the botanist Friedrich Welwitsch after whom the plant is named: It is said that when Welwitsch first came across the plant in 1859, he could do nothing but kneel down on the burning soil and gaze at it, half in fear lest a touch should prove it a figment of the imagination.In a study published this month in Nature Communications, researchers report some of the genetic secrets behind Welwitschias unique shape, extreme longevity and profound resilience.Jim Leebens-Mack, a plant biologist at the University of Georgia not involved in the study, said it gives us a foundation for better understanding how Welwitschia does all the crazy stuff that it does. The Welwitschia genome reflects the plants arid and nutrient-poor surroundings. And its genetic history seems to correspond with environmental history.Approximately 86 million years ago, after a mistake in cell division, the entire Welwitschia genome doubled during a time of increased aridity and prolonged drought in the region and possibly the formation of the Namib Desert itself, said Tao Wan, a botanist at the Fairy Lake Botanical Garden in Shenzhen, China, and lead author of the study. He said that extreme stress is often associated with such genome duplication events.Dr. Leitch, a co-author of the study, added that duplicated genes are also released from their original functions, potentially taking on new ones.However, having more genetic material comes with a cost, Dr. Wan said. The most basic activity for life is DNA replication, so if you have a big genome, it is really energy consuming to maintain life, especially in such a harsh environment.To make matters worse, a large amount of Welwitschias genome is junk self-replicating DNA sequences called retrotransposons. Now that junk needs to be replicated, repaired, Dr. Leitch said.The researchers detected a burst of retrotransposons activity one to two million years ago, most likely because of increased temperature stress. But to counteract this, the Welwitschia genome underwent widespread epigenetic changes that silenced these junk DNA sequences, through a process called DNA methylation.This process, along with other selective forces, drastically pared down the size and energetic maintenance cost of Welwitschias duplicated library of DNA, Dr. Wan said, giving it a very efficient, low-cost genome.The study also found that Welwitschia had other genetic tweaks hidden up its leaves.The average plant leaf grows from the plants apexes, or the tippy-tops of its stem and branches. But Welwitschias original growing tip dies, and leaves instead pour out of a vulnerable area of the plants anatomy called the basal meristem, which supplies fresh cells to the growing plant, Dr. Wan said. A large number of copies or increased activity of some genes involved with efficient metabolism, cell growth and stress resilience in this area may help it continue to grow under extreme environmental stress. In a warming world, the genetic lessons Welwitschia has to offer may help humans breed hardier, less thirsty crops.When we see that the plant is able to live in this environment for so long and preserve its DNA and its proteins, I really feel like we can find hints for how to maybe improve agriculture, Dr. Leebens-Mack said.The study also underscores the importance of curiosity-driven research. When you encounter two leaves growing in a desert against all odds, kneel down in the burning soil and take a closer look.From weird things, you discover weird things that help you understand things that you didnt know you didnt understand, Dr. Leitch said.",7
"The panel also called on countries to ensure that beneficial forms of genetic alteration be shared equitably.Credit...Mark Schiefelbein/Associated PressJuly 12, 2021A committee of experts working with the World Health Organization on Monday called on the nations of the world to set stronger limits on powerful methods of human gene editing.Their recommendations, made after two years of deliberation, aim to head off rogue science experiments with the human genome, and ensure that proper uses of gene-editing techniques are beneficial to the broader public, particularly people in developing countries, and not only the wealthy.I am very supportive, said Dr. Leonard Zon, a gene therapy expert at Harvard University who was not a member of the committee, but called it a thoughtful group. Recent gene-editing results are impressive, he said, and the committees recommendations will be very important for therapy in the future.The guidelines proposed by the W.H.O. committee were prompted in large part by the case of He Jiankui, a scientist in China who stunned the world in November 2018 when he announced he had altered the DNA of human embryos using CRISPR, a technique that allows precision editing of genes. Such alterations meant that any changes that occurred in the genes would be replicated in every cell of the embryo, including sperm and egg cells. And that meant that the alterations, even if they were deleterious instead of helpful, would arise not just in the babies born after gene editing but in every generation their DNA was passed on to.Dr. Hes goal was to alter the DNA of babies in an attempt to make them genetically unable to contract H.I.V. from their parents. A court in China determined he had forged ethics documents and misled subjects in the experiments who had not realized what his gene-editing experiment consisted of. He was sentenced to three years in prison in December 2019.ImageCredit...Anthony Wallace/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesThe fact that such an experiment, known as germline editing, could take place raised the question of how to control gene editing and how to be sure it was used to benefit people.The W.H.O. standards say that Dr. Hes use of germline editing was unacceptable and that it is irresponsible to even consider using it now. But other sorts of gene editing are a different story.Scientists already are attempting gene editing to correct the mutation that causes sickle cell disease. The edited gene would be in blood-forming bone marrow cells of people who have the disease, not in sperm or egg cells, so the changes would not be passed down through the generations. But even that use of CRISPR raises other questions.The W.H.O. committee described an invented scenario where researchers from a rich country want to do a clinical trial of sickle-cell gene editing in sub-Saharan Africa, where the disease is prevalent. If the trial succeeds, the gene-editing treatment would be too expensive for all but very few citizens of the country where it is to be tested.Another hypothetical situation involves a gene-editing trial to correct a gene mutation that causes Huntingtons disease, a progressive brain disorder. People who inherit the mutated gene will develop Huntingtons disease with absolute certainty. If the gene-editing experiment succeeds, it may spare them that horrific disease. And because the editing does not involve sperm and eggs, the changes will not be heritable.But it would take years, perhaps even decades, to know if study participants whose genes were edited were protected from Huntingtons disease. Participants would not be freed of the terrible fear that, despite the gene editing, they might still develop the fatal brain disease.In such a scenario, the W.H.O. group asked if there were more rapid ways of assessing the treatments effectiveness. It also proposed that researchers consider the psychological burden on participants who are left hoping they are cured but not knowing for sure.Yet gene editing is here and holds enormous promise, the committee said. The W.H.O. has started a registry of studies underway and says it already includes 156 experiments involving genes that are not in sperm or eggs.The W.H.O. committee stressed that each country must have guidelines to be sure the research is conducted ethically and with appropriate oversight, and with conditions in place to ensure access and social justice. With the costs of treatment expected to be very high, at least at first, the group said the goal must be to ensure that the benefits of gene editing accrue equitably to people around the world.That is not an easy challenge, said Franoise Baylis, a committee member who is a medical ethics researcher at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.",7
"VideoNicolas is 14 and has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which is robbing him of his muscles and his life. A new and expensive drug may help, but can he get it?CreditCredit...Margaret Cheatham Williams/The New York TimesJune 22, 2017Nolan and Jack Willis, twins from upstate New York, and just 10 other boys took part in a clinical trial that led to the approval last fall of the very first drug to treat their rare, deadly muscle disease.Now the Willis boys are again test cases as a different type of medical question comes to the fore: whether insurers will cover the controversial drug, Exondys 51, which can cost more than $1 million a year even though its still unclear if it works.The boys insurer, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, refused to cover the cost of the drug because the twins, who are 15, can no longer walk. Their disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, overwhelmingly affects boys and causes muscles to deteriorate, killing many of them by the end of their 20s.Im cycling between rage and just sadness, their mother, Alison Willis Hoke, said recently, on the day she learned that an appeal for coverage had been denied. For now, the company that sells the drug, Sarepta Therapeutics, is covering the treatments costs, but Mrs. Hoke does not know how long that will last.The desperation in Mrs. Hokes voice reflects a sobering reality for families of boys with the disease since their elation last fall over the drugs approval. Because the Food and Drug Administration overruled its own experts who werent convinced the Exondys 51 had shown sufficiently good results and gave the drug conditional approval, many insurers are now declining to cover it or are imposing severe restrictions that render patients ineligible.ImageCredit...George Etheredge for The New York TimesThe story of Exondys 51 raises complex and emotionally charged questions about what happens when the F.D.A. approves an expensive drug based on a lower bar of proof. In practice, health insurers have taken over as gatekeeper in determining who will get the drug.Disputes like the one over the Duchenne drug are likely to become more commonplace in the coming months. A federal law, passed last year, directs the agency to remove barriers to approving drugs and medical devices, and its new commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, has called on the F.D.A. to be more lenient, especially when it comes to rare pediatric diseases.While insurers once covered drugs for rare diseases as a matter of course, that may be changing now that a wave of expensive drugs have reached the market. The pharmaceutical industry has been in hot pursuit of an increasingly enticing demographic target: An estimated 30 million people in the United States about 10 percent of the population are living with one of roughly 7,000 rare diseases.The agencys approval of Exondys 51, though, prompted a rebellion among some insurers, who are refusing to play along and saying they are concerned about the cumulative impact of such breathtakingly expensive drugs on health care costs. Anthem, one of the nations largest insurers, calls Exondys 51 investigational because the F.D.A. reserved the right to withdraw it from the market if future clinical trials fail to show it works.Another insurer, Premera Blue Cross, went so far as to tie coverage to an invasive procedure a muscle biopsy but then rescinded the requirement.Im reading a lot of denial letters, said Christine McSherry, who until recently served as executive director of the Jett Foundation, an advocacy group that guides families through the insurance appeal process. Her insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, is covering the drug for her son, Jett, through next April. Its very disheartening to have worked that hard, and to have sacrificed that much, and to now have to battle the insurance companies.The drugs high cost is driving the resistance. While the drug manufacturer, Sarepta, has said Exondys 51 costs about $300,000 a year per child, the price, based on a childs weight, can be much higher. For the dozen boys in the main clinical trial, the average list price would be more than double Sareptas quote $750,000 each, according to an analysis by the drug benefit firm Prime Therapeutics.I think a lot of the advocates in this space maybe thought that getting a drug on the market was the goal of their advocacy, said Dr. Aaron S. Kesselheim, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard University who voted against the drugs approval as part of an F.D.A. advisory committee. The goal of the advocacy should have been getting a product on the market, and making sure that its available at a reasonable cost.The agencys acceptance of Exondys 51, also known as eteplirsen, followed a highly polished, passionate campaign by patient advocates. Dr. Robert Califf, the former F.D.A. commissioner, ignored the agencys career experts who viewed the drug as little more than a scientifically elegant placebo.The conditional green light granted to Exondys 51 is part of an accelerated pathway that allows the agency to clear much-needed drugs based on early, if inconclusive, evidence of efficacy.ImageCredit...George Etheredge for The New York TimesUntil then, there was no approved treatment for boys with Duchenne; Exondys 51 may be helping protect muscle cells from deterioration by producing a form of dystrophin, a protein largely lacking in those with the genetic mutation. The boys typically need wheelchairs by their teenage years, and their hearts and lungs eventually give out. Between 9,000 and 12,000 people are estimated to be living with Duchenne in the United States; about 13 percent have the genetic mutation receptive to the new drug.Skeptics argued that the small clinical trials did not demonstrate meaningful improvement, showing just a minuscule increase in dystrophin. But others, including parents of boys on the drug, insist that it is working or at the very least, that it cant hurt to try.It makes me feel like I have a chance to live longer than I thought I would, said Patrick Denger, 22, who has been receiving weekly infusions since December. His costs were covered until his father got a new job and the family switched to Aetna, which has said it wont pay because he is too old and cannot walk.Mr. Dengers treatment was being paid for by Sarepta while he appealed. On Wednesday, he learned that Maine Care, the state Medicaid program, would cover his treatment.He believes his condition has stabilized, affording him the luxury of contemplating a future. Mr. Denger, who uses a wheelchair, drives his own van and works part time at a supermarket doing administrative work. He recently graduated from the University of New England, near his home in Biddeford, Me.ImageCredit...Margaret Cheatham Williams/The New York TimesIn addition to Anthem, Express Scripts, which manages the drug benefits for insurers and large employers, excluded the medication from its national coverage list. Other insurers, including UnitedHealth, Aetna and Humana, will cover it only under limited circumstances if the boy is under 14, for example, or can walk a certain distance. After six months, in many cases, the insurers require evidence that the drug appears to be working.Insurers are also restricting coverage of a similarly expensive drug, Spinraza, which treats another rare disease, spinal muscular atrophy. The F.D.A. granted broad approval to that drug in December, but many insurers are covering only babies and young children with the most severe forms of the disease, where the clinical evidence of efficacy is strongest.Jim Redmond, a spokesman for Excellus, said the company did not comment on individual cases and said its policy on Exondys 51 which requires that the patient be able to walk was determined by pharmacists and physicians who examined the evidence.Mrs. Hoke, who is a pharmacist near her home in Fayetteville, near Syracuse, noted that many new cancer drugs offer little long-term hope but are still covered. It extends their life for three months, and thats covered, she said. My kids can live for years with this drug.Whether Exondys 51 can indeed give boys more years to grow up remains an unknown. Sarepta has a lot riding on the drug. It is the biotechs only approved product, and the company must prove to investors that sales will be enough to finance a pipeline of drugs that could treat a wider range of boys with Duchenne.ImageCredit...Tristan Spinski for The New York TimesPerhaps thats why Sareptas executives have claimed in statements that the average price for Exondys 51 is $300,000 per patient per year.Thats not accurate, said David Lassen, the chief clinical officer at Prime Therapeutics, which manages the drug plans for more than 20 million Americans. Based on just the few claims that weve evaluated, we think thats low. He cited a range from $750,000 to $1.5 million a year, far greater than breakthrough drugs like, for instance, cystic fibrosis treatments sold by Vertex that cost more than $250,000 a year.Sarepta contends that the $300,000 estimate is a net price, accounting for discounts to insurers and the fact that not everyone will follow the weekly regimen. It also includes the assumption that younger boys who weigh less will begin taking the drug.What we have seen is that for some of the older, sicker boys who have been using it, the price is more, said Dr. Ed Kaye, the chief executive of Sarepta.Many Duchenne parents worry that insurers will balk if other costly drugs are approved to complement the treatment from Exondys 51. Already, they are reeling from the decision by PTC Therapeutics to price a once-cheap steroid, deflazacort, at about $35,000 per year. Many families had been importing it for about $1,600 a year.ImageCredit...Tristan Spinski for The New York TimesIn the end, they say, they have no choice.We need something to stop as much progression as possible, until something better can come along, said Michelle Lessner-Gonzales, whose 14-year-old son, Nicolas Gonzales, is waiting for the Illinois Medicaid program to decide how it will cover Exondys 51. In the meantime, her son is losing his ability to walk, a common prerequisite for coverage.Several insurance companies noted the lack of clinical evidence that the drug works, especially in older boys or those who cannot walk. Anthem, which has said the clinical benefit from Exondys 51 has not been demonstrated, said that it relied on outside experts to reach its decision, and that it eagerly awaited the results of future studies.Craig Burns, vice president for research at Americas Health Insurance Plans, a trade group for insurers, said his members were in a difficult spot. Theres more about this drug that we dont know than we do know, he said. And thats where payers are really struggling.Dr. Kaye, who announced he would resign from Sarepta later this year, said he had spent the past several months traveling the country, making his case to insurance executives. Like other companies marketing rare-disease drugs, Sarepta hired a team of employees who assist patients in getting covered, and the company will pay the out-of-pocket costs of those who cant afford it.I think the insurance companies do worry; they are worried about their bottom line, and trying to make sure they are very thoughtful about the money they spend, Dr. Kaye said. But when faced with individual stories, its hard to say No, you cant do it, because there are no alternatives.Brian Denger, Patricks father, said he had hoped for more when Exondys 51 arrived as a treatment. He lost another son, Matthew, to Duchenne in 2013, at age 20.I just believed that it was going to be more celebratory, he said. And were back to the point where it seems like were fighting again.",2
"DealBook|Under Fire, Debt Restructuring Amendment Is Pulledhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/16/business/dealbook/under-fire-debt-restructuring-amendment-is-pulled.htmlCredit...Jim Wilson/The New York TimesDec. 15, 2015The spending bill on Capitol Hill no longer includes an amendment that had hedge funds and other investors in Caesars Entertainment at loggerheads.The amendment would have made changes in an obscure Depression-era law meant to protect the interests of bondholders in a corporate reorganization. But it was seen as handing a victory to a limited group of investors in Caesars Entertainment and its owner, Apollo Global Management, at the expense of other hedge funds and other investors.The proposal prompted an outpouring of opposition from legal scholars, House Republicans and others, including six big asset managers that made a last-hour appeal in a letter to congressional leaders on Monday to drop the amendment.Opponents have fought to remove the amendment since it first appeared in highway legislation in November. After it was removed from the highway bill, Senator Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada and the Senate minority leader, revived it and put it into the omnibus spending bill.Bondholders in a number of restructuring deals, including the one involving Caesars, have been battling over the guarantees they had on their debt holdings, citing the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, which protects them from the actions of other bondholders that would limit their ability to collect principle or interest.Courts have backed the dissenting bondholders and the cases are being appealed. Some complained that the amendment was a way for powerful private equity funds to alter important aspects of the restructuring process without public debate.This effort is less about resisting a change in the law and more that it should be done in the sunlight, Oaktree Capital Managements co-chairman, Howard Marks, said in a phone interview on Tuesday before news broke that the amendment had been removed. Oaktree, which is a party in the Caesars restructuring effort, signed the letter in opposition to the amendment.The other asset managers signing the letter were BlackRock, DoubleLine Group, Pacific Investment Management Company, T. Rowe Price Associates and Western Asset Management.Millions of Americans rely upon the protections of the Trust Indenture Act, including our clients, the letter from the asset managers said. Their retirement and other assets are routinely invested in bonds and other public debt securities, including through pension funds and 401(k) accounts.Those on the other side of the debate say the recent court decisions create incentives for companies to seek more expensive bankruptcy court solutions rather than out-of-court settlements with creditors. They said the amendment was an attempt to clarify existing law, not rewrite the books.Advocates of the amendment said on Tuesday that its removal was disappointing but that they hoped the courts would return to the traditional interpretation of the law.",0
"Credit...Angela Ponce for The New York TimesHigh in the Andes Mountains, conservators are testing traditional methods for strengthening adobe buildings. The bell tower of the church of Santiago Apstol in Kuo Tambo, Peru. Built by the Spanish in 1681, it has been weakened by earthquakes, but traditional techniques are helping with its restoration.Credit...Angela Ponce for The New York TimesNov. 3, 2018In Kuo Tambo, perched at 13,000 feet in Perus Andes Mountains, the mud-brick walls of the Church of Santiago Apstol, built by the Spanish in 1681, have weathered their fair share of earthquakes.But after more than three centuries of shaking, the church began the 21st century with eroding bricks, walls coming apart at the seams, missing buttresses and a tattered, leaking wooden roof. Murals on the interior walls were flaking off, and the free-standing bell tower across the villages central plaza had acquired a crazed, Seussian cant. The church had become too unsafe to hold regular services, a blow to this staunchly Catholic town.Kuo Tambo wasnt alone. Strong earthquakes in 2007 and 2009 killed hundreds in Peru and ravaged scores of historic adobe structures. The danger to these buildings and the people living around them has motivated conservators and architects to explore methods to keep the buildings intact. The Seismic Retrofitting Project, an initiative of the Los Angeles-based Getty Conservation Institute, is studying traditional practices for stabilizing structures in areas prone to earthquakes.We wanted to know, are these techniques effective? Is it possible to work with these techniques from an engineering standpoint? said Daniel Torrealva, one of the projects research engineers at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru in Lima. And how can these techniques be included in construction?ImageCredit...Angela Ponce for The New York TimesImageCredit...Angela Ponce for The New York TimesImageCredit...Angela Ponce for The New York TimesThrough a yearlong series of workshops in Kuo Tambo that wrapped up in August, the Getty team worked with members of the Quechua-speaking village to implement low-cost and low-tech repairs that they hope could be standardized to make adobe structures safer and more resilient. If these techniques prove effective and affordable at the Church of Santiago Apstol and a few other sites, this approach could be used to strengthen buildings all over the world.[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]Adobe mud bricks are one of the worlds most commonly used building materials. An estimated 30 percent of the global population from Africa to India, and even in parts of Europe resides in earthen structures.In Peru, where adobe has been used since before Incan times, millions of people live in residential stock made of earth.But many of the zones around the world where earthen architecture is prevalent also happen to be seismically active. Though sturdy, heavy and insulating, unreinforced adobe is prone to crumbling in an earthquake walls twist out of alignment, crack into large chunks, then batter themselves to dust before suddenly collapsing. And damage accumulates over time; that a building survives one earthquake is no guarantee it will make it through the next.These qualities have given adobe a bad rap. The largest number of deaths from Perus 2007 earthquake occurred in an adobe church, where the walls failed after being battered by a concrete-bolstered structure over the front doors. It collapsed onto more than 100 panicked people as they attempted to flee.That doesnt mean adobe will no longer be used, conservators say, or that existing structures shouldnt be adapted to make them safer.Many mayors said they would never build in adobe again, said Norma Barbacci, a Brooklyn-based preservation architect. But this is a material that everybodys familiar with, and its the most sustainable, weather-appropriate and ecologically appropriate material for those locations.ImageCredit...Angela Ponce for The New York TimesImageCredit...Angela Ponce for The New York TimesImageCredit...Angela Ponce for The New York TimesAt Kuo Tambo, conservators saw an opportunity to rigorously test traditional seismic retrofits and provide evidence of their effectiveness.Santiago Apstol was architecturally pristine, essentially the same as when the Spaniards built it, said Claudia Cancino, the Gettys lead on the project. This meant the buildings materials and structure could be studied without the interference of modern adaptations, making it an ideal baseline to lab-test and model the behavior of historic reinforcements. If successful, the techniques could be rapidly applied to hundreds of similar buildings in this region alone.Its very well known here in Peru that earthen construction can withstand earthquakes if they are properly built and maintained, Ms. Cancino said. But there was no science behind it, no data.To come up with a strategy for strengthening Kuo Tambos church with a mix of new reinforcements, Mr. Torrealva and a team of engineers ran over 300 small-scale physical tests of a handful of techniques used for centuries by Peruvian builders.Then, working with Paulo Loureno, an engineer at the University of Minho in Portugal, the team built a detailed virtual model of the church. They ran simulations of the building with different arrangements of reinforcements, under multiple kinds of seismic stress.ImageCredit...Angela Ponce for The New York TimesThat resulted in a plan to outfit the church with 11 new tie beams that span the buildings width, a new collar beam below the roofs circumference and three L-shaped braces called keys inserted into each corner to tie the walls together, all from regionally sourced eucalyptus wood.Along with refreshed stone foundations, new adobe bricks, three new buttresses and a new A-frame roof, some parts of the church and the bell tower were also wrapped in a nylon-like mesh and then covered with mud plaster for extra support. The mural paintings have also been the subject of their own conservation process; many churches across the region host similar artworks.As the conservation was carried out at the church over the last year, the Getty team also ran a series of intensive training workshops at Kuo Tambo to put this knowledge into the hands of the villages residents, as well as other Peruvian conservators and engineers.The entire project cost around $1.5 million, and nearly doubles the churchs seismic resilience well exceeding Perus building code standards, Mr. Torrealva said. Work at another heavily damaged building, the Cathedral of Ica, kicked off in September, and training workshops are scheduled to begin in May 2019.ImageCredit...Angela Ponce for The New York TimesImageCredit...Angela Ponce for The New York TimesImageCredit...Angela Ponce for The New York TimesAdobe construction has always been categorized as an unknown material that cannot be put into the laws of engineering, Dr. Loureno said. Here, weve shown these traditional techniques can be used extensively by architects and engineers throughout the world.Speaking through a translator by telephone, a Kuo Tambo resident, Raul Crdenas, 57, said his entire village is eager to have the church back; villagers also plan to use restoration tricks from the project to better maintain their own adobe homes. For instance, one technique involves using the gel of a local species of cactus to make mud plaster more water-resistant.And five weddings are already planned to coincide with the bishops visit to rededicate the church in early 2019.ImageCredit...Angela Ponce for The New York Times",7
"Credit...Elaine Thompson/Associated PressMay 20, 2019Facial recognition software is coming under increasing scrutiny from civil liberties groups and lawmakers. Now Amazon, one of the most visible purveyors of the technology, is facing pressure from another corner as well: its own shareholders.As part of Amazons annual meeting in Seattle on Wednesday, investors are voting on whether the tech giants aggressive push to spread the surveillance software threatens civil rights and, as a consequence, the companys reputation and profits.Shareholders have introduced two proposals on facial recognition for a vote. One asks the company to prohibit sales of its facial recognition system, called Amazon Rekognition, to government agencies, unless its board concludes that the technology does not facilitate human rights violations. The other asks the company to commission an independent report examining the extent to which Rekognition may threaten civil, human and privacy rights, and the companys finances.This piece of equipment that Amazon has fostered and developed and is really propagating at this point doesnt seem to us to be in the best interest of the common good, said Sister Pat Mahoney, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph, a religious community in Brentwood, N.Y., that is an Amazon investor and introduced the proposed sales ban. Facial recognition all over the place just makes everyone live in a police state.The proposals are nonbinding, meaning they do not require the company to take action, even if they receive a majority vote. But they add to the growing resistance to facial surveillance technology by elected officials, civil liberties groups and even some Amazon employees.Last week, San Francisco banned the use of facial surveillance technology by the police and other city agencies. Oakland, Calif., and Somerville, Mass., near Boston, are considering similar bans. Earlier this year, state lawmakers in Massachusetts and California introduced bills that would restrict its use by government agencies. On Wednesday, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform is holding a hearing on the civil rights implications of facial surveillance.The Amazon shareholder proposals also highlight the rise of activism among investors in the countrys top tech companies.Last year, investors successfully pressured Apple to create stronger parental controls for iPhones, warning that the device could be too compelling for young children. In the coming weeks, shareholders of Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet will vote on issues related to election interference, hate speech, disinformation and the creation of censored services for China.Were not Luddites, were not anti-technology, said Michael Connor, the executive director of Open MIC, a nonprofit group that works with activist investors in the tech sector and helped draft the facial surveillance proposals with Amazon shareholders. But we do think all these technologies have to be handled and introduced in a responsible way.For Amazons annual meeting on Wednesday, employees who are stockholders have also introduced a proposal on climate change, pushing the company to make firm commitments to reduce its carbon footprint.But Amazon fought particularly hard to prevent the votes on facial surveillance. In a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission in January, the company said that it was not aware of any reported misuse of Rekognition by law enforcement customers. It also argued that the technology did not present a financial risk because it was just one of the more than 165 services Amazon offered.The proposals raise only conjecture and speculation about possible risks that might arise from clients misusing the technology, lawyers for Amazon wrote in the letter. The agency disagreed, ultimately requiring Amazon to allow the facial surveillance resolutions to proceed.In a statement in response to a reporters questions, Amazon said it offered clear guidelines on using Rekognition for public safety including a recommendation that law enforcement agencies have humans review any possible facial matches suggested by its system. The company added that its customers had used Rekognition for beneficial purposes, including identifying more than 3,000 victims of human trafficking.We have not seen law enforcement agencies use Amazon Rekognition to infringe on citizens civil liberties, the Amazon statement said.(The New York Times used Amazon Rekognition last year to help identify guests at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.)Amazon is becoming a national magnet for mounting opposition to facial surveillance a technology that may be used to identify and track people at a distance without their knowledge or consent.Facial recognition uses artificial intelligence to scan a photo of an unknown person. The software then compares the facial template of the unknown person with a database of templates of known people and, if the templates are very similar, may suggest a name or match.Proponents of the technology argue that such systems help law enforcement agencies more easily identify crime suspects and missing children. Civil liberties groups warn that the technology could easily be misused to disproportionately pursue immigrants, people of color and protesters, infringing on their rights to free speech and movement.Other companies have long sold facial surveillance to law enforcement agencies, but Amazon has differentiated itself by, in part, playing down warnings about the technology.Last year, Google said that it would refrain from offering facial recognition for general purposes until it had worked through the policy implications. This year, Bradford L. Smith, the president of Microsoft, said that his company had decided not to sell the surveillance technology to a police department seeking to freely use it on the general public.ImageCredit...Gillian Flaccus/Associated PressAmazon, in contrast, recently pitched its facial recognition services to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to company emails obtained under open records law by the Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit group based in Washington.Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, two prominent firms that advise many large institutional investors, each recommended this month that shareholders vote in favor of the resolution calling for an outside report on Rekognitions risks.In its analysis, Institutional Shareholder Services wrote that Amazon may be lagging its peers because it has not developed rules for bidding on government contracts, has not formed an artificial intelligence ethics committee and has not announced partnerships with civil liberties organizations.Industry analysts said there was little chance that the proposal to ban Rekognition would gain traction among shareholders.But at least a few large institutional investors including the New York City Pension Funds, which have about $1 billion in Amazon holdings plan to vote in favor of the proposal for an independent report on facial surveillance.We want Amazons board to oversee and disclose how Amazon is addressing the significant risks posed by the sale of facial recognition technology, said Scott Stringer, the New York City comptroller and the investment adviser to the funds. He described the software as a product that could lead to violations of human and civil rights around the world, especially if sold to authoritarian governments.Even so, that may not sway Amazon, whose largest investor prefers a wait-and-see approach to the risks of emerging technologies.Technologies always are two-sided. There are ways they can be misused, Jeff Bezos, Amazons chief executive, said at a Wired tech conference last fall, adding: Thats always been the case, and we will figure it out. The last thing Id ever want to do is stop the progress of new technologies, even when they are dual use.",5
"April 8, 2022, 12:02 p.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 12:02 p.m. ETReporting on spaceflight.What a stay on the space station is like.The Axiom-1 astronauts are not the first private citizens to visit the International Space Station. But this is the first time that NASA has been actively involved in this kind of trip.The space station is divided into sections built by different partner countries involved in the project, with the largest segments belonging to the United States and Russia. Previous visitors traveled to the space station on Russian Soyuz rockets and largely stayed on the Russian side of the station.Theyve come over to the U.S. segment, Dana Weigel, deputy program manager for the space station at NASA, said of earlier visitors during a news conference on Thursday. But their interest is usually in two different things. One is using our cupola so they can get great photos out of the window. And the other is using email.The Axiom-1 crew members underwent much of the same training as NASA astronauts, especially for what to do during an emergency. Ms. Weigel gave the toilet as an example. They needed to learn how the space station toilets work, but, as guests, they didnt need to train how to repair the toilet if it malfunctioned.We said, What is a day in the life of a private astronaut? Ms. Weigel said. She added: Video and photography is really important. So their training includes that.We kind of went through what are all the different things they need to do, they need to learn: how to use our galley so they can prepare food, she continued. Hygiene is very unique in a microgravity environment, so they get hygiene training. And so theres a lot of daily living training, just so that theyre comfortable and know how to kind of operate independently on board.With a larger-than-usual number of people staying on the U.S. segment, some of the sleeping quarters are makeshift in various parts of the station. One person will be sleeping in the Crew Dragon, Ms. Weigel said.The Axiom passengers will be busy conducting 25 experiments on the station, but careful not to get in the way of other crew members.Were very cognizant that we will be guests aboard the I.S.S., said Michael Lpez-Alegra, the former NASA astronaut and current Axiom executive who is commanding this mission.The Axiom visitors may also get to visit the Russian side of the station, but that would have to be at the invitation of the Russian astronauts.April 8, 2022, 11:45 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 11:45 a.m. ET Michael RostonEditing spaceflight newsEarlier today, there was the rare site of two rockets on launchpads at NASAs Kennedy Space Center at the same time: The Space Launch System rocket that will head to the moon for the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission, right, and SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket that just carried Ax-1 to orbit. But the large NASA moon rocket isnt going anywhere yet it needs to complete a dress rehearsal for its future launch, which will resume in the coming days.ImageCredit...Joel Kowsky/NASA/EPA, via ShutterstockApril 8, 2022, 11:39 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 11:39 a.m. ETThe astronauts will now spend nearly a day in orbit before reaching the space station.The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule is taking an 20.5 hour-trip to the International Space Station.The Crew Dragon is a gumdrop-shaped capsule an upgraded version of SpaceXs original Dragon capsule, which has been used many times to carry cargo. It is roughly comparable in size to the Apollo capsule that took NASA astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 70s. Earlier NASA capsules Mercury and Gemini were considerably smaller.The capsule has more interior space than a minivan, but less than a studio apartment. And there is a bathroom. As you can probably imagine, you and some of your friends may be able to pile into a space like that for a brief time, but much longer could become uncomfortable.Axiom said the crew might provide an update from the Dragon spacecraft en route to the space station.Docking is scheduled for 7:45 a.m. on Saturday. Then, checks to make sure the spacecraft is securely docked without any air leaks will take about two hours before the hatch to the space station is opened.April 8, 2022, 11:35 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 11:35 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightBecause this is not a NASA spacecraft, NASAs involvement in the launch and journey to the space station is minimal. Until the Crew Dragon gets close to the I.S.S., SpaceX and Axiom are in charge of everything.April 8, 2022, 11:32 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 11:32 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightThe Crew Dragon has separated from the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket. Everything has gone flawlessly, and the Axiom-1 astronauts are on their way to the International Space Station. Theyll get there tomorrow morning. April 8, 2022, 11:29 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 11:29 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightThe booster stage has landed on the drone ship.April 8, 2022, 11:27 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 11:27 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightThe second-stage engine has shut down. The spacecraft is now in orbit. April 8, 2022, 11:25 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 11:25 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightSpaceXs floating platforms or drone ships have fanciful names. The one used today is called A Shortfall of Gravitas.April 8, 2022, 11:23 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 11:23 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightDuring rocket launches, the word you want to hear over and over is nominal. That means everything is going as it is supposed to.April 8, 2022, 11:22 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 11:22 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightThe first stage booster now heads back to Earth, back through the atmosphere, to land on a floating platform in about 10 minutes.April 8, 2022, 11:21 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 11:21 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightThe first stage engines have cut off, as expected and the first stage has dropped away, with the second-stage engine igniting.April 8, 2022, 11:17 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 11:17 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightCountdown events pass quickly in the last couple of minutes. The Dragon is on its own power now and other systems are starting up. April 8, 2022, 11:14 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 11:14 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightPropellant tanks are full and the strongback the vertical structure that connects to the Falcon 9 until the final minutes of the countdown has tilted away from the rocket. A few minutes until liftoff.April 8, 2022, 11:04 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 11:04 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightLoading of liquid oxygen has begun in addition to the RP-1 rocket fuel (which is essentially kerosene). 15 minutes until launch.April 8, 2022, 11:02 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 11:02 a.m. ETHow dangerous is the flight?ImageCredit...Joe Rimkus Jr/ReutersThe crew is flying on the same spacecraft that NASA uses to take astronauts to orbit. That means the space agency has required it to meet a number of safety standards. In five journeys so far, no significant safety problems have been reported with the spacecraft.But every journey to space presents dangers from the moment the crew members are sealed into a spacecraft until the moment they safely exit. Astronauts have died on the launchpad (like the Apollo 1 disaster), as they headed to orbit (the space shuttle Challenger) and as they re-entered the atmosphere (the space shuttle Columbia). The Apollo 13 missions mishap showed the difficulty in bringing back a crew when the crippled spacecraft is far from Earth.Five successful trips of a spacecraft also does not mean all potential problems have been discovered and fixed. There were 24 successful space shuttle missions before the loss of Challenger in 1986.Even the astronauts aboard Crew Dragon have encountered risks. During a flight to the space station in April, mission controllers warned the crew that a piece of space debris was about to whiz past. The astronauts put on their spacesuits, got back in their seats and lowered their protective visors. The flight continued to the space station without incident and later analysis showed that it was a false alarm, that no debris actually passed near the spacecraft.In the days leading up to his launch in September last year during the Inspiration4 mission, Jared Isaacman, the flights commander, compared it with his hobby of flying fighter jets.I also like to look at risk on a relative basis, Mr. Issacman said. The last couple days, weve been tearing up the skies in fighter jets, which I put it relatively higher risk than this mission so that were nice and comfortable as we get strapped into Falcon.April 8, 2022, 10:52 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 10:52 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightPropellants are flowing into the Falcon 9 rocket.April 8, 2022, 10:41 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 10:41 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightThe launch escape system is armed. That is to take the crew to safety if there is a malfunction.April 8, 2022, 10:35 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 10:35 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightThe crew access arm is retracting from the Crew Dragon capsule. 45 minutes to go.April 8, 2022, 10:20 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 10:20 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightOne hour until launch. No issues. The weather looks lovely.April 8, 2022, 10:10 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 10:10 a.m. ETSpace tourism boomed in 2021.ImageCredit...Spacex, via Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesLast year was a busy year for space tourism.After years of delays, two companies that aim to capitalize on suborbital trips short up-and-down jaunts that provide a few minutes of floating finally passed a landmark goal: flying their billionaire founders.In July, Richard Branson, who started Virgin Galactic in 2004, was in one of the seats of his companys rocket plane. Nine days later, Jeff Bezos was provided with a ride by his rocket company, Blue Origin, in its New Shepard capsule.Three more New Shepard flights carrying paying passengers have flown since, including one that lifted William Shatner, known as Capt. James Kirk of Star Trek, to the edge of space. The Virgin Galactic space plane has not flown again as the company completes upgrades.Trips to orbit are much more ambitious, requiring acceleration to 17,500 miles per hour to avoid falling back to Earth. They are also much more expensive.Jared Isaacman, a billionaire who founded the payment company Shift4, announced in February that he was essentially chartering a rocket and a spacecraft from SpaceX for a trip to orbit (but not to the space station).Instead of taking some of his friends along, he gave two seats to the St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital in Memphis. Of those, one went to Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at the hospital who was once a cancer patient there. The second was raffled off and ended up going to Chris Sembroski, a data engineer. A third seat went to the winner of a contest run by Shift4 for space-related entrepreneurial ideas. Sian Proctor, who won that seat, became the first Black woman to pilot a spacecraft.The mission, called Inspiration4, spent three days in orbit. It was the first trip to orbit on which none of the people aboard was a professional astronaut.Russia was also active in the space tourism business last year. In October, a Russian director, Klim Shipenko, and Yulia Peresild, an actress, spent 12 days at the International Space Station to shoot scenes for a movie. In December, Yusaku Mazeawa, a Japanese billionaire, and his assistant also made a 12-day trip to the space station on a Russian Soyuz.Mr. Isaacman is planning more trips to space. He announced in February that he had purchased three more flights from SpaceX. The flights are part of a program he calls Polaris, designed to demonstrate new technologies and conduct research. The first flight is set to include a spacewalk, the first to be conducted by a private citizen; the last flight is to fly on Starship, the gigantic rocket that SpaceX is currently developing and which is intended to someday take people to Mars. April 8, 2022, 10:01 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 10:01 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightThe leak test passed on the second try and the crew is a little more than an hour from launch.April 8, 2022, 9:48 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 9:48 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightThe hatch is closed again. The leak test will now be repeated. A similar issue occurred during an earlier Crew Dragon mission, so theres no major problem with the flight at this point, and there is still time in the schedule.April 8, 2022, 9:40 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 9:40 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightThere is a major difference in how SpaceX does its launch preparations compared with what NASA did. For NASA missions from Mercury through the space shuttles, the rockets propellant tanks were filled before the astronauts boarded. The thinking was that they did not want astronauts aboard if anything went wrong. SpaceX, however, wants to load the propellants at the last minute, which allows the liquid oxygen to be cooled even more, allowing it to be denser and increasing the rocket's performance. SpaceX convinced NASA that this approach was safe and if anything ever did go wrong, the vehicle's launch abort system would whisk astronauts away to safetyApril 8, 2022, 9:31 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 9:31 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightThe seal was not tight, so the SpaceX technicians will reopen the hatch and clean the seal, then redo the leak check for the capsule.April 8, 2022, 9:26 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 9:26 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightThe hatch is closed and the Ax-1 crew is sealed inside the spacecraft.April 8, 2022, 9:15 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 9:15 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightThe astronauts went through leak checks of their spacesuits, and will soon be sealed into the Endeavour capsle. Theres a lot to do, which is why liftoff is still two hours away.April 8, 2022, 9:00 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 9:00 a.m. ETWhy NASA is finally allowing space tourism.ImageCredit...Axiom Space, via Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesIn 1984, during the Reagan administration, the law that established NASA was amended to encourage private enterprise off Earth: The general welfare of the United States of America requires that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration seek and encourage, to the maximum extent possible, the fullest commercial use of space.For human spaceflight, early commercialization efforts sputtered. Plans to privatize the operating of NASAs space shuttles were shelved after the loss of Challenger in 1986.Instead, it was the Soviet space program in the fading years of Communism that was farther ahead of NASA in selling access to space. In 1990, Toyohiro Akiyama, a Japanese television reporter, flew on a Soyuz rocket to the Soviet space station Mir. The trip was paid for by his employer, the Tokyo Broadcasting System.At the same time, a group of British companies sponsored a contest to send the first British citizen to space. The winner was Helen Sharman, a chemist. She visited Mir in 1991. At the end of the decade, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia leased Mir to MirCorp, a Russian-American commercial venture.An American, Jeffrey Manber, ran MirCorp, and he envisioned turning the space station into a hub for tourism and entertainment. NBC commissioned a reality television show that would have been produced by Mark Burnett, the creator of Survivor and The Apprentice.If you wanted to work with the capitalists in space in the 1990s, you worked with the Russians, Mr. Manber joked in an interview in 2018. If you wanted to work with the socialists, you worked with NASA.MirCorps dreams were not realized, because NASA insisted that Russia scuttle Mir and focus on the International Space Station instead.To the consternation of NASA officials, Russia sold trips to the International Space Station. Dennis Tito, an American entrepreneur, was the first Russian-hosted tourist on the station, in 2001. But Russia stopped taking private travelers in 2009 when, with the impending retirement of the space shuttles, NASA needed to buy available seats on Russian rockets for its astronauts to get to and from the space station.With SpaceX now able to provide transportation for American astronauts and NASA no longer a paying customer, Russia has resumed selling rides to the space station. The most recent trips, at the end of 2021, were a Russian director and actress shooting a movie and a Japanese billionaire, Yusaku Maezawa, and his assistant.In the last few years, NASA has opened up to the idea of space tourism. It hopes that private companies will be able to launch commercial bases into orbit to eventually replace the International Space Station. Jim Bridenstine, the NASA administrator during the Trump administration, often spoke of NASAs being one customer out of many and of how that would greatly reduce costs for NASA.But for NASA to be one customer of many, there have to be other customers. Eventually, other applications like pharmaceutical research or zero-gravity manufacturing may finally come to fruition.But for now, the most promising market is wealthy people who pay to visit space themselves.April 8, 2022, 8:53 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 8:53 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightSpaceX has built four Crew Dragons: Endeavour, Resilience, Endurance and Freedom. Thats all it will build, at least for now. Each spacecraft is designed to make at least five flights, or 20 in all. SpaceX officials say that should be enough for NASAs needs and private missions like Ax-1. The Freedom capsule is to make its first flight later this month, to take four astronauts three from NASA and one from the European Space Agency to the space station.April 8, 2022, 8:47 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 8:47 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightThe capsule the Ax-1 crew is sitting in, Endeavour, was the first Crew Dragon capsule and used for the 2020 flight of NASAs Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. That was the first launch of astronauts from the United States since the retirement of the space shuttles. It was subsequently also used for NASAs Crew-2 mission.April 8, 2022, 8:41 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 8:41 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightThe astronauts are in the capsule. They're about two-and-a-half hours from launch.April 8, 2022, 8:30 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 8:30 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightThe crew walked across the crew access arm into the white room for final preparations before entering the Crew Dragon capsule. Like the astronauts who have launched on SpaceX previously, the Axiom-1 crew members signed their names on the wall of the white room. April 8, 2022, 8:16 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 8:16 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightThe four members of the Axiom-1 crew have exited the suit-up room. They then got into Tesla cars for a drive to the launchpad. April 8, 2022, 8:10 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 8:10 a.m. ET Michael RostonEditing spaceflight newsJohn Insprucker, a SpaceX engineer, said that the weather was favorable at the Kennedy Space Center launch site, and also looked good in the ocean along the flight path where the crew would need to splash down in the event there was a problem during the trip.April 8, 2022, 8:01 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 8:01 a.m. ET Kenneth ChangReporting on spaceflightWe are now less than 4 hours until launch. The Ax-1 crew are getting into their flight suits ahead of traveling to the launchpad.April 8, 2022, 7:31 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 7:31 a.m. ETWhat it costs to launch to the space station.Short answer: Its not cheap.These days, Axiom Space declines to comment when asked how much it is charging to take people to the International Space Station. A few years ago, however, the company did provide a ticket price $55 million per passenger and does not dispute the number today.In 2006, when NASA started buying seats for its astronauts from Russia aboard Soyuz rockets, they cost $21 million each. But the price escalated, and the last seats NASA purchased cost $90 million. Altogether, NASA has paid Russia about $4 billion for 71 astronauts.Much of the price is tied up in the rocket and spacecraft needed to get to orbit. And once there, customers also must pay for accommodations and amenities.In 2019, NASA set up a price list for use of the space station by private companies. For space tourists, NASA said it would charge companies like Axiom Space $35,000 a night per person for the use of sleeping quarters and amenities, including air, water, the internet and the toilet.Last year, however, NASA greatly revised costs upward to reflect full reimbursement for the value of NASA resources that are above the space station baseline capability. This Axiom-1 mission is paying costs according to the original price list; subsequent Axiom trips will be subject to the higher costs.While suborbital up-and-down joy rides are much cheaper, theyre still quite expensive. Last August, Virgin Galactic announced a $450,000 ticket price for future passengers on its space plane. (People who bought tickets years ago but have yet to fly paid the relative bargain of $250,000.) Blue Origin has not announced a public price for seats on its New Shepard rocket and capsule, although one passenger bought a seat in an auction for $28 million.April 8, 2022, 7:31 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 7:31 a.m. ETMeet Axioms space tourists.The last orbital tourist flight to launch from the United States, Inspiration4, was chartered by Jared Isaacman, a billionaire who decided to give opportunities to three people who never could have afforded the trip for themselves. By contrast, each of Axioms space travelers is paying his own way.The customers are:Larry Connor, managing partner of the Connor Group, a firm in Dayton, Ohio, that owns and operates luxury apartments;Mark Pathy, chief executive of Mavrik Corporation, a Canadian investment company;And Eytan Stibbe, an investor and former Israeli Air Force pilot.The three did not know one another previously.While earlier private travelers to the space station were accompanied by professional Russian astronauts, the Axiom-1 mission is very different in that the entire crew are unaffiliated with any government, Derek Hassmann, the operations director at Axiom, said.The commander of the space station trip will be Michael Lpez-Alegra, a former NASA astronaut who is now a vice president at Axiom. Mr. Lpez-Alegra flew on three space shuttle missions and then served as space station commander from September 2006 to April 2007.When I left NASA 10 years ago, I became a very strong advocate for and believer in commercial spaceflight in general and commercial human spaceflight in particular, Mr. Lpez-Alegra said during a news conference last month.Mr. Connors previous exploits include a journey in a deep-sea submersible to the deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean, more than 35,000 feet below the surface in the Mariana Trench; aerobatic flying competitions; and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.During the news conference, Mr. Connor objected to being called a space tourist.The space tourists, theyll spend 10 or 15 hours training five to 10 minutes in space, he said. And by the way, thats fine. In our case, depending upon our role, weve spent anywhere from 750 to over 1,000 hours training.Mr. Connor also pointed to the scientific experiments that he and his crewmates will be conducting.Mr. Pathy is also chairman of the board for Stingray Group, a media and entertainment company based in Montreal, and serves on the boards of several charitable organizations. I always wanted to go to space as a child, he said. It was always an unachievable fantasy.A friend of Mr. Pathys told him about the Axiom private spaceflight missions. That conversation challenged me to actually make that dream a reality, he said.Mr. Stibbe founded Vital Capital, a private equity fund that aims to improve housing, water, electricity and health care in developing countries while earning money for investors. He knew Ilan Ramon, another Israeli Air Force pilot who became an astronaut and who died when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated when returning to Earth in 2003.He was a good friend, Mr. Stibbe said. He was my commander in the squadron. And I had the opportunity to visit him during his training.Mr. Stibbe said he would be continuing an experiment that Mr. Ramon started involving the observation of thunderstorms. He will also take some pages of a diary that Mr. Ramon had kept while in orbit in Columbia and which were later found on the ground.April 8, 2022, 7:31 a.m. ETApril 8, 2022, 7:31 a.m. ETThe Axiom-1 astronauts have reached orbit and are on their way to the space station.On Friday, three paying passengers and a retired NASA astronaut set off on a journey to the International Space Station. The mission, known as Axiom-1, represents NASAs first foray into space tourism aboard the orbital outpost. The crew, whose trip was booked through the company Axiom Space, will spend 10 days in orbit, including eight days aboard the station.The Axiom-1 mission launched at 11:17 a.m. Eastern time from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The astronauts are flying in a SpaceX Crew Dragon, the same capsule used by NASAs astronauts, which was lifted to space by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.The countdown to launch was just about flawless, with excellent weather and systems functioning as expected before the rocket ignited and carried the crew to space. About 10 minutes into a successful flight, the crew began experiencing the microgravity that comes with being in orbit. About 12 minutes after launch, the Crew Dragon capsule detached from the second stage of the rocket and the astronauts began their trip to the space station.You can rewatch the launch in the video player above. Axiom Spaces Twitter account will provide updates about the crew, who will spend about 20.5 hours in orbit before reaching the space station.A post-launch news conference is scheduled for 12:30 p.m.Beginning at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday, Axiom and NASA are to broadcast the approach and docking of the Crew Dragon at the International Space Station.",7
"Credit...Jason Henry for The New York TimesMarch 13, 2017Amid an opioid epidemic, the rise of deadly synthetic drugs and the widening legalization of marijuana, a curious bright spot has emerged in the youth drug culture: American teenagers are growing less likely to try or regularly use drugs, including alcohol.With minor fits and starts, the trend has been building for a decade, with no clear understanding as to why. Some experts theorize that falling cigarette-smoking rates are cutting into a key gateway to drugs, or that antidrug education campaigns, long a largely failed enterprise, have finally taken hold.But researchers are starting to ponder an intriguing question: Are teenagers using drugs less in part because they are constantly stimulated and entertained by their computers and phones?The possibility is worth exploring, they say, because use of smartphones and tablets has exploded over the same period that drug use has declined. This correlation does not mean that one phenomenon is causing the other, but scientists say interactive media appears to play to similar impulses as drug experimentation, including sensation-seeking and the desire for independence.Or it might be that gadgets simply absorb a lot of time that could be used for other pursuits, including partying.Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, says she plans to begin research on the topic in the next few months, and will convene a group of scholars in April to discuss it. The possibility that smartphones were contributing to a decline in drug use by teenagers, Dr. Volkow said, was the first question she asked when she saw the agencys most recent survey results. The survey, Monitoring the Future, an annual government-funded report measuring drug use by teenagers, found that past-year use of illicit drugs other than marijuana was at the lowest level in the 40-year history of the project for eighth, 10th and 12th graders.Use of marijuana is down over the past decade for eighth and 10th graders even as social acceptability is up, the study found. Though marijuana use has risen among 12th graders, the use of cocaine, hallucinogens, ecstasy and crack are all down, too, while LSD use has remained steady.Even as heroin use has become an epidemic among adults in some communities, it has fallen among high schoolers over the past decade, the study found.Those findings are consistent with other studies showing steady declines over the past decade in drug use by teenagers after years of ebbs and flows. Dr. Volkow said this period was also notable because declining use patterns were cutting across groups boys and girls, public and private school, not driven by one particular demographic, she said.Something is going on, Dr. Volkow added.With experts in the field exploring reasons for what they describe as a clear trend, the novel notion that ever-growing phone use may be more than coincidental is gaining some traction.Dr. Volkow described interactive media as an alternative reinforcer to drugs, adding that teens can get literally high when playing these games.Dr. Silvia Martins, a substance abuse expert at Columbia University who has already been exploring how to study the relationship of internet and drug use among teenagers, called the theory highly plausible.Playing video games, using social media, that fulfills the necessity of sensation seeking, their need to seek novel activity, Dr. Martins said, but added of the theory: It still needs to be proved.Indeed, there are competing theories and some confounding data. While drug use has fallen among youths ages 12 to 17, it hasnt declined among college students, said Dr. Sion Kim Harris, co-director of the Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research at Boston Childrens Hospital.ImageCredit...Kayana Szymczak for The New York TimesDr. Harris said she had not considered technologys role and would not rule it out given the appeal of the devices, but said she was hopeful drug use by teenagers had decreased because public-education and prevention campaigns were working. Dr. Joseph Lee, a psychiatrist in Minneapolis who treats teenage addicts at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, said he suspected that drug use and experimentation had changed because the opioid epidemic had exposed many more people and communities to the deadly risks of drugs, creating a broader deterrent.Explanations aside, researchers unanimously expressed hope that the trends would persist. They noted it was crucial to continue efforts to understand the reasons for the decline, as well as to discourage drug use.Though smartphones seem ubiquitous in daily life, they are actually so new that researchers are just beginning to understand what the devices may do to the brain. Researchers say phones and social media not only serve a primitive need for connection but can also create powerful feedback loops.People are carrying around a portable dopamine pump, and kids have basically been carrying it around for the last 10 years, said David Greenfield, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and founder of The Center for Internet and Technology Addiction.Alexandra Elliott, 17, a senior at George Washington High School in San Francisco, said using her phone for social media really feels good in a way consistent with a chemical release. A heavy phone user who smokes marijuana occasionally, Alexandra said she didnt think the two were mutually exclusive.However, she said, the phone provides a valuable tool for people at parties who dont want to do drugs because you can sit around and look like youre doing something, even if youre not doing something, like just surfing the web.Ive done that before, she explained, with a group sitting around a circle passing a bong or a joint. And Ill sit away from the circle texting someone.Melanie Clarke, an 18-year-old taking a gap year and working in a Starbucks in Cape Cod, Mass., said she had virtually no interest in drugs, despite having been around her. Personally, I think it is a substitution, Ms. Clarke said of her phone, which she said she was rarely without. Ms. Clarke also said she thought the habits depended on the person. When Im home alone, my first instinct is to go for the phone. Some kids will break out the bowls, referring to a marijuana-smoking device.There is very little hard, definitive evidence on the subject, said James Anthony, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Michigan State University and an expert on drug-use behavior. Still, he said, he has begun wondering about the role of technology on youth drug use: Youd have to be an idiot not to think about it.To see declines in drug use, Mr. Anthony said, it would not take much in the way of displacement of adolescent time and experience in the direction of nondrug reinforcers that have become increasingly available.The statistics about drug and technology use depict a decade of changing habits.In 2015, 4.2 percent of teenagers ages 12 to 17 reported smoking a cigarette in the last month, down from 10.8 percent in 2005, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Its survey also found that past-month alcohol use among 12- to 17-year-olds had fallen to 9.6 percent from 16.5 percent, while rising slightly for young adults ages 18 to 25.The survey found smaller but still statistically significant decreases in cocaine use by youths ages 12 to 17. Marijuana use was flat over the same decade: In 2015, 7 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds said they had smoked the drug, roughly the same number in 2005. But that was down from 8.2 percent in 2002 and it contrasted with the trend for the population as a whole such use was up to 8.3 percent in 2015, compared with 6 percent a decade ago.At the same time, gadgets are consuming a growing portion of young peoples time. A 2015 survey published by Common Sense Media, a childrens advocacy and media ratings group in San Francisco, found that American teenagers ages 13 to 18 averaged six and a half hours of screen media time per day on social media and other activities like video games.A 2015 report from the Pew Research Center found that 24 percent of teenagers ages 13 to 17 reported being online almost constantly, and that 73 percent had a smartphone or access to one. In 2004, a similar Pew study found that 45 percent of teenagers had a cellphone. (The first iPhone, which fueled smartphone adoption, was introduced in 2007.)Smartphones and computers are a growing source of concern, said Eric Elliott, Alexandras father, who is a psychologist at her school. Mr. Elliott, who has counseled young people for 19 years, said he had seen a decrease in drug and alcohol use among students in recent years. He said he was more likely to have a challenge with a student who has a video game addiction than I am a student who is addicted to drugs; I cant say that for the beginning of my career.In the case of his own daughter, he worried more about the device than the drugs.I see her at this point and time as not being a person who is controlled in any way by smoking pot, he said. But her phone is something she sleeps with.",2
"Credit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesNov. 18, 2018TIJUANA, Mexico After more than a month on the move, a caravan of migrants from Central America has come to a halt just a few yards from the border wall that divides Mexico and the United States.The metal barrier looms near the sports center where Tijuanas city government has set up a shelter for the migrants, whose numbers are swelling as buses arrive almost daily. On the other side beyond floodlights, motion sensors, cameras and a second fence lies their goal: the United States.But it is dawning on many of them that the shelter could be their home for months if they decide to seek legal entry into the United States.We have to wait for how long? asked Lenin Herrera Batres, 20, who joined the caravan with his wife and their 2-year-old son to escape threats after the couple witnessed a murder in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesWe dont have the money to stay here for one month, two months, he said, his voice trailing off.Less than a week old, the shelter has assumed the squalor of an overwhelmed refugee camp, and the rhythms of enforced idleness have taken hold. One group spends hours watching karaoke singers at an end of the basketball courts there, while men bet on cards at the other. Children dart around a playground. Women fold donated blankets in the reflexive gestures of tidying up at home, now just a tiny patch under a large tent.City officials, who fear that as many as 10,000 migrants from this caravan and two more behind it may ultimately alight in Tijuana in the coming weeks, are scrambling to provide for them.I sleep only three hours a night, and when I close my eyes I count migrants, not sheep, said Csar Palencia Chvez, the director of migrant services for Tijuana. No city can be prepared for the arrival of 5,000 people over three to four days. We are doing whats humanely possible.The number of migrants at the shelter swelled to almost 2,500 this weekend, with room for only 1,000 more.But an estimated 3,400 are waiting in Mexicali, a border city two and half hours to the east, and most of those are expected to reach Tijuana on Monday, said Maggie Nez, who was working with Pueblo sin Fronteras, an advocacy group that is assisting the caravan.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesTijuanas mayor, Juan Manuel Gastlum, has estimated that if all of the Central American migrants traveling north come to the city and seek asylum in the United States, it could take six months for their claims to be heard at the main port of entry to San Diego.They must take their turn behind about 3,000 others from Mexico, nations across Central and South America, and even West Africa who are waiting for an interview with a United States asylum officer. The delay may last as long as two months.New rules issued by the Trump administration this month are designed to funnel asylum seekers to an official port of entry rather than allowing them to present themselves to the Border Patrol if they make it across the border illegally.As the bottleneck in Tijuana has grown, it has threatened to try the patience of a city that is itself the creation of migrants and typically provides for them through church-run shelters.Some Mexicans ask why Central Americans are receiving special treatment, when the government offers no help for Mexicans fleeing violence in other states or for those deported from the United States.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesThere are so many undocumented people who do not have Mexicos help, said Rosa Guadalupe Martnez, 61, an optometric technician, who on Sunday joined a protest march of several dozen people waving Mexican flags. Others were openly hostile, alleging that some of the Central Americans would turn to crime.It is impossible to square the listless mood of the shelter with what President Trump railed against as a caravan invasion before this months midterm elections.By banding together, the migrants sought protection against the criminal gangs and corrupt officials who prey on people trying to reach the United States border. But they had little sense of the political firestorm their trek had set off.Many of the migrants repeat the magical thinking that has sustained them through their journey and brought them right up to the edge of the border: a belief that once all of the caravan has reached Tijuana, the gates may by flung open.God wants Trumps heart to be touched, said Francisco Naum, 27, who was traveling from Honduras with relatives. If God gave us the possibility to get all the way here, he will continue to open doors.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesOthers have begun to deal in practicalities, walking a mile from the shelter to enter their names on a waiting list for an asylum interview. Some clustered around volunteer American lawyers who arrived at the shelter to explain the basics of asylum law.People dont flee their country and go through the arduous trip on foot unless the situation is desperate, said Gilbert Saucedo, a Los Angeles lawyer who helped organize the volunteers through the National Lawyers Guild.I have talked to maybe 100 people today, he said on Saturday, and maybe 70 percent had credible cases on the surface. Yet many lack the documents they need to provide evidence.The migrants often reveal little emotion when recounting the violence they have fled, as if admitting grief could lead to a despair that would paralyze them at the very moment they need to keep pressing ahead.They killed my whole family, my father, my mother and my two brothers, said Jose Miguel Martnez, a rail-thin 18-year-old from El Salvador. He said he had been spared because he was in the military at the time but never received a police report or death certificate.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesOrbelina Melndez, 36, watched as her husband was shot in front of her in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, and then received death threats. She has no police report. When you are poor, they do not investigate and it remains unpunished, she said.Dr. Allen Keller, the director of the Bellevue/N.Y.U. Program for Survivors of Torture, who has flown to Mexico to meet with caravan members, called the situation a refugee crisis.These individuals are not here by choice, he said. In fact, they believe they have no choice.Melissa Guzmn, 33, from Honduras, was one of those who turned up early Saturday to put her name on the interview waiting list. She had joined the caravan with her daughter, Laura, 6, and son, Mynor, 11. Whatever the decision, she said, she wasnt going back to Honduras.As she walked back to the shelter with her cousin Yeni Palma, 37, and Ms. Palmas 13-year-old daughter, Yesselin, Ms. Guzmn seemed to perk up at their surroundings. Vendors were setting up a street market, and the women gazed at the secondhand appliances.Ms. Palma has begun to consider staying in Tijuana if she cant reach the United States. Pressing her hand down on a bed at the street market to test the springs, she said, Its been a long time.Yet some of the migrants insisted that they will get to the United States, come what may.Jos Adan Nez, 24, was ready to take his chances to get across the border. After only a few days in the shelter, he declared, If I die on the way, at least I will have fought for something.",6
"Sam Smith & BF Brandon Flynn Safe to Say This Relationship's Lit 1/25/2018 Sam Smith and his boyfriend, Brandon Flynn, put on a smoke show ... literally. The Grammy singer and ""13 Reasons Why"" star snuck in a quick cigarette break -- and a kiss -- Wednesday night outside of Gemma restaurant in Soho ... where the couple dined with a few friends. PDA was definitely calling -- Sam had just returned from Japan. Their silly sides were also on full display ... walking an imaginary runway with different strides. It might have gone down something like this.",1
"Global SoccerCredit...Albert Gea/ReutersFeb. 16, 2014LONDON The intensity and joy are back with Barcelona. The intensity and belief are back with Manchester City. And there could be few better ways to welcome back the Champions League than when these two meet in Manchester on Tuesday night.If Bara is back on full throttle, that means Lionel Messi is over his injuries and scoring again at a rate that eclipses the greats. The little Argentine chipped in two goals, exquisite of course, in Barcelonas 6-0 obliteration of Rayo Vallecano on Saturday.Earlier that evening, City eliminated Chelsea from the F.A. Cup, scoring only twice in a performance so strong that Chelsea was not allowed a shot on goal in the 90 minutes.This, said City captain Vincent Kompany, was vengeance for Chelsea winning at the Etihad Stadium in the league two weeks ago. No it wasnt, City Coach Manuel Pellegrini said; it was the fact that his team did not want to lose twice in its stadium to the same opponent.The best sound of all at the postgame news conferences was the muted acceptance of Chelseas coach, Jos Mourinho. Simple, Mourinho said. City played much better than us, and when the best team wins, I think football is in peace. It is at peace when this particular man is not bad-mouthing his fellow managers, as Mourinho did so often when his path crossed Pellegrinis in Spanish and English soccer.The game has another dimension when Baras stars are in good health. Two weeks ago, when Messi was tenderly feeling his way back after months of rest for his tired and torn hamstrings, a coach whose team took full advantage of Barcelonas wounds last season made a significant observation.When all your players are fit, Jupp Heynckes told a Barcelona board member, you still have more talents than us. Heynckes retired after his Bayern Munich side cleaned out the Bundesliga, German Cup and Champions League last season. His acknowledgment that Bayern finished off a weakened Barcelona came two weeks ago, when he met Barcelonas vice president, Javier Faus.That is how sportsmen with some exceptions talk when the microphones are switched off. Heynckes left Munich in great shape, and Pep Guardiola, the former coach at Barcelona, has added talents to Bayern since replacing him.Meanwhile, not only has Messi needed a prolonged timeout, but the captain Carles Puyol, the dynamic inventor Andrs Iniesta and the galvanic left back Jordi Alba have been nursed through strains and nagging pains. It hasnt always been appreciated, but Tata Martino, the coach in his first season after coming over from Argentina, has juggled maintaining results at the top while rotating and resting senior players.Some fluency was lost. Critics accused Martino of tampering with Baras intrinsic tika-taka pass-and-move style by trying to persuade players to mix up their approach, to make long diagonal passes from time to time.The coach had one purpose. He sought to arrive at the business end of the European season with a team fit enough and fresh enough to take on the best in Europe. There might, as people have suggested, be another motive.Martino is Argentine. Messi and another Barcelona player, Javier Mascherano, are also Argentine. There is a World Cup coming, and Argentina wants to be a force in that, just as Spain and Brazil and Germany intend to be.Even if it is done subconsciously, players do hold something back through the long season to be ready to take on the World Cup. If anyone is to blame for that, it is FIFA and the clubs for filling out the now year-round calendar with ever more lucrative tournaments.How thrilling, then, it is to see Messi et al. discard their cautious winter coats and turn on their skills again. With his first goal, an audacious flick of the ball over the head of the on-rushing Vallecano keeper on Saturday, Messi tied Alfredo Di Stfanos career mark of 227 goals that he scored between 1953 and 1966.One great Argentine player eclipses the record of another.But Messi wasnt finished. He was involved in more of the goals, scored by Adriano, Alexis Snchez and lastly by Neymar, the Brazilian returning from an ankle injury with a stunning run from the halfway line before he finished with his right foot.Messi, though, gave one more exhibition of his predatory art, his insatiable appetite for scoring, his joy. His second goal of Saturday night a low, precise placement from the edge of the 18-yard box, typical for Messi took him past Di Stfanos career total.There are other records on Messis radar. He is now level with Ral Gonzlez, and Hugo Snchezs mark of 234 is within reach. After that is the Athletic Bilbao legend Telmo Zarra, who scored 251 goals from 1940 to 1955. The difference is that those were career tallies, while Messi, who is 26, has plenty of time to add to his 337 total goals in 436 appearances in a Bara shirt. Moreover, in modern soccer not all players get to play 90 minutes every game. Martino did on Saturday what he has done before he substituted the greatest player in the world to spare his legs and his energy for Tuesday in Manchester.City awaits him in better heart. The 2-0 victory over Chelsea was achieved without the midfield presence of Fernandinho and the scoring threat of Sergio Agero. Both are injured, and both make a big difference to City.However, David Silva was impishly creative on Saturday, and Pellegrini outfoxed Mourinho with his use of substitutions. The first goal was a delightfully quick and precise low cross shot from Stevan Jovetic, the Montenegrin who has had few opportunities to show his class in Manchester.The second was worked by Silva and scored by Samir Nasri within minutes of Nasri replacing Jovetic.Pellegrini did not crow. His side was in better shape than it was when it met Chelsea 12 days before. A refreshed Bara will be a different dimension altogether.",4
"Credit...Jim Urquhart for The New York TimesFeb. 1, 2014Halfway between Denver and Seattle, as the crow flies, sits Arco, Idaho, a farming community that is home to about 950 residents, the Pickles Place cafe, an airstrip, the Sawtooth Club, some gas stations and not much else. We Googled it the other day, said Debbie Jones, a bartender at the Sawtooth. Were in the middle here. Arco is just over 500 miles from each city.ImageCredit...Jim Urquhart for The New York TimesJones will wear a new Peyton Manning jersey for a Super Bowl party Sunday at the bar. She expected about 40 people to show up, bringing meatloaf, spicy meatballs, potato salad and more, according to the sign-up sheet. What is less clear is whether the guests will lean more heavily toward the Broncos or the Seahawks. You have to pick a side so you can get into it, Jones said in a telephone interview. There will be yelling and screaming, Im sure.She is a longtime Broncos fan who has never attended a game. Her boyfriend, Dave Welchert, who bought the Manning jersey for her in Boise, about three hours west of Arco, will back the Seahawks.ImageCredit...Jim Urquhart for The New York TimesJones is hardly the only Idahoan who has been consulting maps and fiddling with a smartphone to chart the Broncos-Seahawks divide. That is mostly because of the scale of the game, but also because this state is in a bit of a football lull.Idaho State and the University of Idaho have gone a combined 26-92 in the last five seasons. That has left the spotlight to Boise State, which posted Bowl Championship Series victories in the 2006 and 2009 seasons. But last year, those Broncos seemingly lost every close game in finishing 8-4, lost Coach Chris Petersen to the University of Washington, and lost the Hawaii Bowl under an interim coach after their starting quarterback was sent home early for disciplinary reasons.Its a good thing theres next year, said Jones, who is also a Boise State fan.A couple of blocks away is Butte County High School, where Sam Thorngren polled his math students about which team they would cheer for in the Super Bowl.It was a free-for-all, but basically, they were split down the middle, said Thorngren, who also coaches the schools eight-man football team, which made it to the state title game last season. I had some mad kids when they found out I was rooting for the Broncos. It pretty much ruined our day of math, or at least the first 15 minutes.In Burley, about two hours south of Arco, Ginny Behr is the general manager of a Perkins restaurant. She estimated that her customers and 50 to 60 employees the restaurant is attached to a hotel were split almost evenly in allegiance to the Broncos and to the Seahawks. Was she aware that the drive to either teams home stadium is just short of 11 hours, giving Burley the bragging rights by land that Arco enjoys by air? No, I didnt know that, Behr, who grew up in Illinois and identifies as a Green Bay Packers fan, said over the phone. But were going to market that. Thank you for bringing that to my attention.ImageCredit...Jim Urquhart for The New York TimesNot surprisingly, Idaho, an overwhelmingly red state politically, begins to skew Seahawks lime green, blue and silver the farther west one drives. Capz, a store that sells N.F.L. apparel at Boise Towne Square Mall, ordered 100 hats 25 Broncos, 75 Seahawks that arrived Jan. 21. The Broncos hats sold out in two days. All but one of the Seahawks hats had sold in six. Travis Hawkes, who owns Capz as well as three local Pro Image Sports stores, said Seahawks gear had been the top seller all season.Even the Seattle equipment truck had a certain appeal in the Idaho capital. The big rig was en route to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey when it made its first stop in Boise, commemorating the occasion with an unremarkable photograph on the official Seahawks Twitter feed. That got the attention of the Boise-based Idaho Statesman newspaper, which ran the post as part of a package that asked, Seahawks or Broncos? Among other findings, the newspaper cited 2012 United States Census data that showed Idahos influx of former Washington residents had outpaced the influx of former Colorado residents by nearly 6 to 1.Still, the paper sells well beyond the boundaries of Boise, which is one reason its sports editor, Mike Prater, is not taking any chances. Weve started charting the stories just to make sure the coverage is close to even, he said.We really do think its split down the middle, said Prater, whose usual top priority, by far, is the Broncos of Boise State.Jones, at the Sawtooth, figured there was no telling whether her Super Bowl crowd would get behind one team more than the other. It may depend on who is passing through town and who decides to drop in en route to or from the Big Lost River, Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, the Idaho National Laboratory or points beyond. Jones will have at least one staunch ally in Tisha Kozloff, who was born and raised in Denver and now owns the Shell station down the street. ImageCredit...Jim Urquhart for The New York TimesIm crazy into it, said Kozloff, who will bring her sausage-beef-and-bacon meatloaf to the party, by request. But it wont be a quiet, lets-watch-the-game crowd.Jones says she still expects everyone to be civil. Its nothing too serious, she said. Just a friendly rivalry.In other words, if the drivers of the Seahawks equipment truck feel like making a slight detour through Arco on the way home, Jones will gladly pour them drinks. But if Denver comes through, she said, they get doubles.",4
"Science Times at 40Many women in science thought that meritocracy was the antidote to sexism. Now some have decided on a more direct approach.Credit...Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 19, 2018It is 2018, and the director of the National Science Foundation, France Crdova, is tired of learning that male scientists whose research she supports with public funds have sexually harassed their female students, staff and colleagues.At 71, she still remembers an unwanted sexual remark from a graduate-school professor she had sought out for advice on her astrophysics research. And over the last few years, she has listened to stories so many stories shared by younger scientists at conferences for geologists and astronomers.So last month, Dr. Crdova enacted the kind of structural change experts say is a prerequisite to increasing the ranks of women scientists, who hold only about 30 percent of senior faculty positions in colleges in the United States.Institutions that accept an N.S.F grant must now notify the agency of any finding related to harassment by the leading scientists working on it and face the possibility of losing the coveted funds. Individuals may also report harassment directly to the agency, which may then conduct its own investigation. That, too, may result in the suspension of funding.The move may seem like a no-brainer, but it may be the most consequential action any of the nations science agencies have yet taken to hold academic institutions explicitly accountable for sexual harassment. Other agencies require notification if a scientist can no longer work on a grant, but do not track the reason.[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]For the N.S.F., which distributed grants to some 40,000 scientists at 2,000 institutions in 2017, the goal is also a shift in a scientific culture that has long sought to evaluate scientists without consideration for their personal conduct.We were raised with letting the water run off of our back, recalled Dr. Crdova, whose resume includes stints at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and NASA as its chief scientist. Youre harassing me? Im going to ignore you. Im going to go do my research somewhere else.Well, enough is enough.That the N.S.F.s new sexual harassment policy was put in place by a woman who controls a $5 billion research budget captures the bittersweet nature of the #MeToo moment for many scientists.ImageCredit...Hilary Swift for The New York TimesEven as a small corps of women have assumed some of sciences most influential positions in recent years, their own experience along with actual research has shown that harassment and other forms of sex discrimination remain widespread.As they grapple with the fields big challenges, ridding it of the gender inequities that many believed would by now be a thing of the past ranks high on the list.I think when my generation came along, we thought, if we put our heads down and did a good job, things would get better, said Cori Bargmann, a neurobiologist who heads the $3 billion science arm of the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, a philanthropic organization.I even feel personally responsible, like I let these younger women down. I thought I would fix it by doing O.K. And clearly thats not enough, so weve got to do more.At one recent meeting, Dr. Bargmann recalled, a distinguished male scientist told her that she held a particular opinion on gene-editing embryos because she was a woman, and women are more conservative.I looked at him and thought, And thats your opinion because youre a dinosaur, she said.To boost the lagging representation of women in physics, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, one of many women whose scientific contributions have not received the same credit as those of male mentors or competitors, has said she will use her $3 million Breakthrough Prize to create scholarships for women and other under-represented groups.Dr. Burnell believes her own insights grew from her outsider status in the Cambridge lab of her thesis supervisor, who received the Nobel Prize for their shared work in 1974.I was one of very few women, and I wasnt from the southeast of England, the affluent part of the country, she told Space.com. So, I think increasing diversity of the workforce actually allows all sorts of things to develop.In a discipline often portrayed as the ultimate meritocracy, scientists have struggled with how to effectively counter unconscious gender bias. Among other metrics, studies have documented biases that favor male scientists in hiring, salary, start-up funds for laboratories, credit for authorship of papers, letters of recommendation, invitations to give talks at prestigious university colloquia and, invitations to speak on conference panels (a.k.a. manels).ImageCredit...Jeff Elkins/WashingtonianThe widely held conviction that science, unlike any other field, will reward whoever advances the collective search for truth may not help.There is this belief that science is noble and unbiased, and if Im good, Ill be recognized, said Margaret Rossiter, an emerita historian of science at Cornell. Sometimes thats true Marie Curie came along and got two Nobel Prizes. But often it turned out not to be true, and women were disillusioned.Much has changed for women in science, of course, since the 1970s, when Dr. Crdova approached a senior male scientist for advice on her graduate thesis and was taken aback by a comment that she describes as completely inappropriate and out of left field.In 1970, the zeros list published annually by the Womens Committee of the American Chemical Society reported that chemistry departments in 113 of the nations leading universities had zero women on their faculty.In 1994, the year the M.I.T. molecular biologist Nancy Hopkins famously measured laboratory space for a report on gender discrimination that drew national attention, the tenured faculty in the universitys School of Science included 15 women, compared to 194 men.Now, women account for about 20 percent of senior faculty in math, computer science and physics. They have received around half of doctorates in the life sciences for the last decade, and they constitute about half of assistant professor positions.But the representation of women overall decreases among associate professors and declines to 33 percent among full professors. (And only 3 percent of the women employed as full professors are African-American.)Among academic laboratories at leading research institutions, womens representation are further diminished, especially when the lab head has a high level of prestige. A 2014 paper showed that men are 90 percent more likely to do postdoctoral training with a Nobel Laureate.ImageCredit...Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesSo, while one recent study found that women fared just as well as men when they applied for their first N.I.H. grant, far fewer found themselves in a position to do so.For many women scientists, the emphasis on the term gender harassment in a major report on sexual harassment in science published this summer came as something of a revelation.Defined as verbal and nonverbal behaviors that convey hostility, objectification, exclusion or second-class status, it is far more common in science settings, the report said, than forms of harassment like sexual coercion or unwanted touching: less often a come-on than a put-down.I had always been thinking that sexual harassment was putting hands on people, said Carol Greider, a molecular biologist at Johns Hopkins who shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Weve been talking about the leaky pipeline for years, and this may turn out to be the big gushing hole.Dr. Greider is one of several senior women scientists who said in interviews that male scientists frequently talk over female colleagues, including them, apparently without realizing it. She believes that pressure must be brought to bear on universities from the outside, and so she is co-organizing a small meeting next month to brainstorm solutions to gender discrimination in science with lawyers, economists, behavioral scientists and activists.Erin OShea, appointed in 2016 as the first woman to head the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, an influential biomedical research organization, has instituted a new program to support women and underrepresented minorities as postdoctoral fellows and young faculty, when they may be most likely to drop out of the pipeline or be diverted to less elite labs at lower-ranking institutions.My interest is in capturing as much talent as possible for science, said Dr. OShea. If you want to capture the best talent, you dont want groups de facto excluded.For her part, Dr. Crdova said the N.S.F. is working on additional plans to combat gender harassment.In an interview last week, she said she had not previously shared publicly the story of her own incident of harassment. Nor had she told anyone what happened decades later, when she found herself sitting on the high-level committee evaluating candidates for an award for which, it turned out, her harasser had been nominated.I explained to the group that I thought his conduct was not becoming of a scientist, Dr. Crdova said. So that was my little thing. I thought, Well, Ill do this for the rest of the gals.",7
"Credit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesMarch 1, 2017RO BRAVO, Mexico It has bedeviled the United States for more than a century, becoming a bane of the American South, causing widespread job losses and setting off countless debates about stopping migration from Latin America.This is a wave that even the biggest, most expensive wall might never hold back.Were talking about the boll weevil.It is just one of the many issues that rely on bilateral cooperation between the United States and Mexico, and it embodies, in microcosm, many of the essential qualities of the broader relationship between the two countries: an alliance bordering on codependence despite economic, political and cultural differences.Thought to be native to Mexico and Central America, the boll weevil is a beetle that attacks cotton plants. It first crossed into the United States in the 1890s around Brownsville, Tex., and quickly spread to the Atlantic Seaboard, nearly wiping out the cotton industry.Since then, decades of intensive, costly eradication efforts have managed to annihilate the pest in nearly the entire country. The only place still battling infestation is at the southern tip of Texas.The reason?Mexico.While Mexico has cleared the boll weevil from nearly all of the cotton-growing regions in its northern border states, the problem lingers here in Tamaulipas, a state that for years has been damaged by warring drug gangs and corruption.ImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesHampered by violence, insecurity and a lack of money, the states inconsistent eradication efforts have ensured a steady supply of boll weevils making their way across the border into the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.The problem continues to consume American cotton growers, as well as state and federal officials, as they try to hold the line against the weevil.In this longstanding struggle often marked by frustration and miscommunication between the two countries there is a telling lesson for the Trump administration as it reassesses the United States relationship with its southern neighbor: What happens in one country often bears heavily on the other, a connection that demands collaboration and constant maintenance.One way or the other, Tamaulipas and Texas, they arent going to do it without the other, said Edward Herrera, the Rio Grande Valley manager for the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation.The lingering boll weevil problem is all the more remarkable and, for American cotton growers, frustrating considering the relatively puny size of the cotton industry in Tamaulipas. In 2016, it had about 7,000 acres in cultivation. In contrast, Texas had harvested more than five million, according to the latest estimates by the United States Department of Agriculture.Ray Frisbie, the retired head of the department of entomology at Texas A&M University, described the outsize influence of Tamaulipas as this little tail thats wagging this great big dog.The stakes, he said, are high: If we dont finish it off, the boll weevil could reinvade the United States and we could be back to the bad old days of spraying a lot of insecticide.Tamaulipas knows all too well the heartache the boll weevil can wreak. Cotton was once king here, too; about half a million acres were in cultivation in the mid-20th century.But the tyranny of the beetle forced farmers to drop cotton and shift to other crops. Cotton farming returned only sporadically, most recently in 2004, the same year the state began a boll weevil eradication program.In explaining the challenges of ridding Tamaulipas of the insect, Mexican growers and officials invariably blame the subtropical climate. Temperatures rarely fall to freezing, allowing cotton plants, the weevil habitat, to survive through the winter.In addition, wind and rain can be heavy, helping to spread the plant and the insect, as well as interfering with pesticide spraying schedules. (The growers and officials may or may not mention that these conditions are exactly the same on the Texas side of the border, where results have been significantly better.)When pressed, Mexican officials acknowledged that their program was spotty for years.The campaign was inconsistent because of a lack of resources, said Relbo Ral Trevio Cisneros, a cotton grower and industry leader in Tamaulipas.ImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesCrime and the general state of insecurity in the border region have also interfered with the eradication program. Sometimes criminal gangs have told farmers and eradication personnel to stay away from the fields on certain days, presumably while they smuggled drugs and migrants.Carlos A. Campos Reulas, the coordinator of Tamaulipass eradication program, keeps a reminder of the dangers in his office: a plastic boll weevil trap riddled with bullet holes. Someone had used it for target practice.Sometimes we see them in groups, armed with their weapons, he said of the criminal gangs, and we say, How can they be there and not the authorities?Violence and extortion threats have also driven some farmers to move their families to South Texas. In 2010, a farmer who at the time was one of the largest cotton growers in Tamaulipas was kidnapped and killed.The bilateral eradication campaign also suffered for years from a lack of communication and coordination between the two sides. But the cooperation between the Americans and the Mexicans has significantly improved in recent years, officials on both sides of the border said.American officials realized that if they ever hoped to declare the United States boll weevil-free, they would have to take a more hands-on approach to helping their Mexican counterparts, Mr. Frisbie said. The Tamaulipas program had stalled, he said, because the Mexicans were not applying enough pesticide.ImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesWith American guidance, pesticide applications doubled in Tamaulipas last year from the year before. The Americans have also outfitted Mr. Camposs trapping crews with technology that allows each program to monitor the others trap locations, pesticide applications and weevil captures.The eradication effort now rests heavily on the shoulders of Mr. Campos and his American counterpart, Mr. Herrera. Mr. Campos works out of a complex of agricultural research offices on a potholed road in Ro Bravo. Mr. Herreras office is about two dozen miles northeast, in a small strip mall in Harlingen, Tex.The long, historic fight to successfully rid the continent of the boll weevil has, in a way, boiled down to them.They have known each other for years but say their rapport has never been better. In past years they might have talked by phone only a handful of times a year but they now talk nearly every day, comparing notes, treating their zones as linked and borderless.The relationship is a careful pas de deux.Our intention is to make sure its successful without talking down, Mr. Herrera said.Indeed, Mexicans are sensitive about the charge that Mexico is to blame for the lingering boll weevil problem in Texas. Some Mexicans here insist that their crops may, in fact, be infected by weevils that migrated south from the United States.ImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesBut the prevailing winds are not a matter of speculation: They blow from the southeast and can be extremely powerful, capable of carrying the beetles scores of miles in a day, American cotton officials say.A hop, skip and a jump and theyre a ways down the road, Mr. Herrera said.American and Mexican officials and growers say they are entering this years growing season with a great deal of optimism about continuing progress in the fight.Still, the American cotton industry is not taking any chances. Growers in other states have been paying into an emergency fund for the Texas eradication program, should government support dry up and Texas growers struggle on their own to hold the weevil at bay.Growers across the country recognize that South Texas is in a battle that is beyond their control, said Don Parker, manager of integrated pest management for the National Cotton Council. We would not want the weevil marching back across the country.Growers worry about political fatigue. How long will state and federal officials be willing to help cover the bill for a problem that for the time being is affecting only a tiny percentage of cotton producers?We Rio Grande Valley producers see it as a real possibility, said Brian Jones, a fourth-generation cotton grower in Edcouch, Tex.The Texans, meanwhile, are counting on their allies across the border. The Tamaulipans feel the pressure.If theyre saying that we are to blame, Im not in agreement, Mr. Trevio said, frustration apparent in his voice. We are doing the campaign the best we can.",6
"The president-elect said the violence borders on sedition and made clear he viewed President Trump as responsible for inciting his supporters with baseless claims the election was stolen.VideotranscripttranscriptOur Democracy Is Under Unprecedented Assault, Biden SaysPresident-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. called on President Trump to go on television and respond to Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol this afternoon, disrupting the certification of the Electoral College vote.Our democracy is under unprecedented assault unlike anything weve seen in modern times. An assault on the citadel of liberty, the Capitol itself. I call on this mob to pull back and allow the work of democracy to go forward. Youve heard me say it before in a different context, the words of a president matter, no matter how good or bad that president is. I call on President Trump to go on national television, now, to fulfill his oath, and defend the Constitution. And demand an end to this siege. Its not a protest, its insurrection. The world is watching. Like so many other Americans, I am genuinely shocked and saddened that our nation, so long the beacon of light and hope for democracy, has come to such a dark moment. Notwithstanding what I saw today, what were seeing today, I remain optimistic about the incredible opportunities. Theres never been anything we cant do when we do it together. So President Trump, step up.President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. called on President Trump to go on television and respond to Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol this afternoon, disrupting the certification of the Electoral College vote.CreditCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesJan. 6, 2021WASHINGTON President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. denounced the storming of the Capitol on Wednesday as the violent expression of President Trumps refusal to accept his defeat, calling it an assault on the citadel of liberty and saying the president had stoked the mob with his brazen and false claims that the 2020 election had been stolen.In direct, forceful language, Mr. Biden called the scenes of chaos in the halls of Congress a dark moment in the nations history, appealed for calm and made clear that he held Mr. Trump accountable for instigating violence that left members of both parties and allies around the world appalled.At their best, the words of a president can inspire. At their worst, they can incite, Mr. Biden said.This is not dissent, the president-elect said in remarks from Delaware as scenes of the armed takeover of the Capitol played out on television screens. Its disorder. Its chaos. It borders on sedition and it must end now.The day had started as one of triumph for Mr. Biden and his party, with Democrats coming off elections the day before that sealed control of the Senate by picking up two seats in Georgia and Congress scheduled to clear away the last formal Republican objections to his victory by certifying the Electoral College outcome.Filling out his cabinet, Mr. Biden chose Judge Merrick B. Garland, whose Supreme Court nomination Republicans blocked in 2016, to be attorney general, placing the task of repairing a beleaguered Justice Department in the hands of a centrist judge. The choice left some Democrats on the left of the party disappointed that he had not picked a woman or person of color and underscored Mr. Bidens willingness to seek bipartisan consensus.But by early afternoon, the day had devolved into an intensely jarring reminder of what Mr. Biden will face when he takes office on Jan. 20: He will not only inherit a country racked by a pandemic and economic crisis, but also a political fabric that has been ripped apart by Mr. Trump and will not easily be woven back together.The assault on the Capitol by pro-Trump demonstrators devolved into a physical confrontation that halted the process of certifying the Electoral College outcome and was egged on by an incumbent president who on Wednesday morning raged to thousands of his supporters that the election was rigged and vowed, We will never concede.ImageCredit...Win Mcnamee/Getty ImagesWith Mr. Trump remaining mostly silent immediately after the mob entered the Capitol, Mr. Biden called on the president to go on national television now to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege.To storm the Capitol, he continued. To smash windows, occupy offices. The floor of the United States Senate, rummaging through desks. On the Capitol, on the House of Representatives, threatening the safety of duly elected officials. Its not protest. Its insurrection.Shortly after, Mr. Trump posted on Twitter a one-minute video in which he empathized with the rioters because we had an election that was stolen from us, but then urged them to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order.The effect of the days events on Mr. Bidens political strength remained unclear. In one sense, they were a reminder that in the view of Mr. Trumps most die-hard supporters his election was illegitimate, a belief that could inhibit some Republicans in a closely divided Congress from working with him.Or the God-awful display at the Capitol, as he put it, might push the parties together in some sort of temporary solidarity that could give him a chance to forge some early bipartisan deals.Mr. Biden expressed hope that it would be the latter.The work of the moment and the work of the next four years must be the restoration of democracy, of decency, honor, respect, the rule of law, he said, adding later: We must step up.It was a reminder, if Mr. Biden or any of his aides needed one, that little in his transition to the presidency was normal.ImageCredit...Jason Andrew for The New York TimesAs the rioters stormed the Capitol, Mr. Biden set aside plans to deliver a speech on the economy, in which he had been expected to hail the Georgia victories and to emphasize several of his economic priorities, including reiterating calls for another round of financial aid to help people, businesses and state and local governments weather economic pain from the virus.Mr. Bidens advisers are deep into the process of developing policy proposals to deliver to Congress in the coming weeks, starting with another stimulus package. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, who will be the Democratic majority leader after Mr. Biden is inaugurated, told reporters Wednesday morning that lawmakers first priority will be approving the $2,000 payments to individuals that Mr. Biden and the two victorious Senate candidates, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, promised voters they would deliver if Democrats won both elections.The Biden team is also drafting proposals to implement the president-elects Build Back Better campaign agenda, including new government spending on clean energy, infrastructure, health care and education, financed by tax increases on the rich and corporations.The Democratic victories in Georgia put Mr. Bidens party in control at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue and reduced the risk of total partisan gridlock in Congress, at least for two years.Without Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, as the iron-fisted leader of the Senate, Mr. Bidens campaign promise of a return to bipartisanship will be put to the test. Now, Mr. Schumer and Mr. Bidens allies will bring the new presidents proposals to the Senate floor for a vote. And even with just the narrowest of margins a 50-to-50 split that can be broken by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris he may be able to turn some of those proposals into law.McConnell would have been a recipe for total stasis, total gridlock, said Matt Bennett, a veteran Democratic strategist at Third Way, a moderate think tank. With Schumer in control of the calendar, hes got the opportunity to do some really substantial things.Liberal groups that supported Mr. Biden expressed hope on Wednesday that the Georgia wins would allow him to push an ambitious and expensive agenda that addressed the current economic crisis and long-running inequalities in the American economy.Mr. Biden and the Democratic majority will take office with a mandate for a significant down payment on creating an economy that works for all Americans, said Frank Clemente, the executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness, which has pushed Mr. Biden to enact substantial tax increases on the wealthy. That is in the neighborhood of $3 to $4 trillion over 10 years, which is paid for by making the rich and corporations pay their fair share in taxes.Other interest groups quickly seized on the Georgia results to ratchet up the pressure on Mr. Biden to make good on his campaign promises.We are fighting to defund ICE and C.B.P., to hold these agencies accountable for the pain and deaths of immigrants theyve caused, and for citizenship for the 11 million undocumented people living in the U.S., said Greisa Martinez Rosas, the executive director of United We Dream, a progressive advocacy group, referring to federal immigration agencies.ImageCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesMr. Bidens allies in the Senate expressed optimism that, armed with committee chairmanships and control of the legislative calendar, they could advance the president-elects policy goals.We need to fix a lot of the damage Trumps done, and then theres pent-up demand for a whole lot of things what do we do about climate and about racial inequality, about wealth inequality, about structural racism, said Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who is set to be the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee.Senator Thomas R. Carper, Democrat of Delaware, told reporters on Capitol Hill that theres a bipartisan agenda there that can unite us, and it should.Theres a hunger for rebuilding our roads, highways, bridges and transit systems, he said. Theres a hunger for rebuilding our wastewater, clean drinking water infrastructure.Mr. Biden has also proposed the most ambitious climate agenda of any president in history, including $2 trillion in spending on green initiatives. A majority in the Senate gives Mr. Biden options to make some of that happen.Democrats are now expected to use a first-out-of-the-gate coronavirus economic stimulus package as a vehicle for hundreds of billions of dollars in spending to aid the renewable energy economy, just as Mr. Obama used a 2009 economic stimulus law to push through $90 billion in green energy spending.Senate Democrats are expected to continue to look for ways to weave climate provisions into other major legislation, such as military, farm and labor bills. And Mr. Schumer also promises to get creative: For example, he plans to use a budgetary procedure, called reconciliation, that can skirt a filibuster to muscle through climate spending and tax policy.But Mr. Bidens agenda will be constrained by the Democrats narrow advantages in the House and in the Senate, where moderate Democrats such as Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona will wield vast power over which plans can pass.The name of the game is still going to have to be modest, incremental progress on a bipartisan basis, said Michael Steel, a partner at Hamilton Place Strategies in Washington who was a top aide to Representative John A. Boehner when the Ohio Republican was House speaker. I cant come up with a universe in which they are not better off doing a bipartisan process and a bipartisan product. I know that will annoy the left to no end, but thats the way this president can get results.Before the outbreak of violence on Capitol Hill, Mr. Biden signaled on Wednesday morning that despite the shift of Senate control to Democrats, he would still attempt to build legislative coalitions with Republicans on his top priorities many of which would require 60 votes to clear a Senate filibuster.Georgias voters delivered a resounding message yesterday: They want action on the crises we face and they want it right now, Mr. Biden said in a written statement. On Covid-19, on economic relief, on climate, on racial justice, on voting rights and so much more. They want us to move, but move together.ImageCredit...Andrew Harnik/Associated PressPrivately, some Republicans with long histories on Capitol Hill said Wednesday that the storming of the House and Senate could shock some Republican senators the group who had pushed back against their fellow Republicans attempts to overturn Mr. Bidens election and install Mr. Trump for a second term into a greater willingness to partner with Mr. Biden on policy issues.A high-profile business lobbying group that has long supported many Republicans, the National Association of Manufacturers, denounced Mr. Trump on Wednesday for inciting the violence and suggested it was time for his administration to invoke a constitutional provision to remove him.Vice President Mike Pence should seriously consider working with the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to preserve democracy, the groups president, Jay Timmons, wrote in a news release.Emily Cochrane, Nicholas Fandos and Coral Davenport contributed reporting",3
"Credit...Drew Angerer for The New York TimesDec. 10, 2015WASHINGTON As General Motors publicly expressed remorse over its decade-long failure to disclose defective ignition switches, it successfully fought to retain its protection from any lawsuits for crashes that occurred before its 2009 bankruptcy.Instead, G.M. offered compensation to those victims on its own terms, with a fund run by the lawyer Kenneth R. Feinberg and limited to 2.6 million small cars that were recalled in early 2014.Now the scope of that toll has become clearer: More than 100, or nearly one-third, of the switch-related death and injury claims approved by Mr. Feinberg were for accidents that happened before the companys bankruptcy filing. The data was included in the final status report on the G.M. compensation fund issued early Thursday by Mr. Feinberg.The legal strategy had been part of a broader effort by G.M., the nations largest automaker, to move past the biggest safety scandal in its history.G.M. stepped up to its responsibility for the ignition switches, but they made a decision to limit their larger financial exposure to pre-bankruptcy cases, said Cindy Schipani, a law professor at the University of Michigan.Mr. Feinberg said in his report that 399 death and injury claims out of 4,343 claims filed were found eligible for compensation. They include 124 deaths, 18 catastrophic injuries and 257 other types of injuries. He said that 128 of the approved claims or 32 percent of the total were for accidents that happened before G.M. went bankrupt.While Mr. Feinberg declined to comment further on details of the fund, his final report said that G.M.s potential legal defenses were ignored in the process of determining damages.The program did not consider legal defenses that might otherwise be available to G.M. in litigation, such as contributory negligence, statutes of limitations or the bankruptcy shield.The report also showed that many claims were settled by the fund despite evidence that the victims were speeding, driving recklessly or under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or not wearing a seatbelt. In all, about 61 percent of the eligible claims involved one or more factors characterized as contributory negligence by drivers of the vehicles, the report said.For example, the report said that 124 of the eligible claims involved a victim who was not wearing a seatbelt. Excessive speeding was cited in 151 cases, and drug or alcohol use was present in 68 cases.A G.M. spokesman, James Cain, said on Wednesday that the compensation fund was designed to take a nonadversarial approach to settling claims in which people were killed or injured because faulty switches had suddenly cut engine power and disabled airbags in affected models.G.M., he said, decided not to challenge damage awards if other factors, like driver errors, were involved.We faced the ignition switch issue with integrity, dignity and clear determination to do the right thing both in the short and long term, Mr. Cain said. The settlement facility is just one example.Over all, Mr. Feinberg said that he authorized a total of $595 million in payments to the 399 eligible claimants. G.M. had estimated in its second-quarter earnings report that the final total would be about $625 million.The report said that just over 90 percent of the compensation offers were accepted by the victims or family members who filed the claims and about 9 percent were rejected. None of the offers in a death claim were rejected. At least one offer is still under consideration until a January deadline.Neither G.M. nor Mr. Feinberg has shared any details on specific accidents.Before the compensation fund was started in June 2014, the automaker repeatedly said it had identified only 13 deaths in connection with defective switches since it began recalling affected models in February 2014.But the number of deaths grew steadily as claims poured into the compensation fund, and became public as Mr. Feinberg published monthly tallies of his damage awards.Some people who filed claims for pre-bankruptcy accidents were aware that the compensation fund might be their only opportunity for a settlement from G.M.Ken Rimer is the stepfather of Natasha Weigel, an 18-year-old woman who died in 2006 in an ignition-related crash in Wisconsin.He said on Wednesday that Ms. Weigels family had to weigh whether to accept an award from Mr. Feinberg or possibly receive no compensation if G.M. was ultimately shielded from pre-bankruptcy litigation.We wanted to have our day in court with G.M., Mr. Rimer said. But we figured that was never going to happen.G.M. has so far avoided lawsuits that predate its bankruptcy, which was aided by a $49 billion bailout by the federal government.Last April, Judge Robert E. Gerber upheld G.M.s immunity shield, which forced all litigants to pursue lawsuits against the automakers previous corporate entity, commonly referred to as old G.M.That decision has been appealed by plaintiffs to a higher court, with a ruling expected next year. Until the appeal is ruled on, a number of active ignition-switch lawsuits are stalled.In September, G.M. agreed to pay $575 million to resolve the cases of 1,380 people who had sued the company for accidents involving ignition switches, as well as settle a shareholder suit.But the lawyer in the cases, Robert C. Hilliard, said that 180 pre-bankruptcy lawsuits were excluded from that settlement.Those 180 cases are among the outstanding claims against G.M. included in the so-called multidistrict litigation that will be heard in a series of trials next year in New York.Mr. Hilliard said the claimants in the pre-bankruptcy cases are counting on the federal appeals court to overturn Judge Gerbers ruling on G.M.s legal immunity. Without a favorable ruling, theyll get nothing, he said.",0
"Politics|Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who was on Trumps Georgia call, has quietly aided efforts to overturn the election.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/us/politics/cleta-mitchell-a-lawyer-who-was-on-trumps-georgia-call-has-quietly-aided-efforts-to-overturn-the-election.htmlCredit...Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated PressJan. 5, 2021As President Trump has sought to overturn the election results, his personal lawyers paraded themselves before television hosts, state elections officials and anyone else willing to entertain their baseless claims of voter fraud.But behind the scenes, a longtime conservative lawyer named Cleta Mitchell quietly helped. Her work for Mr. Trump drew widespread attention for the first time over the weekend, when a recording was released of an hourlong call in which Mr. Trump threatened Georgia elections officials with a criminal offense if they failed to find enough votes to change the states presidential results.On the call, Ms. Mitchell repeatedly jumped in to help Mr. Trump, showing an intimate level of involvement in his efforts as they both made baseless claims about the election and pressed Georgia officials to hand over election data.Ms. Mitchell is a partner at the law firm Foley & Lardner, which has over 1,000 lawyers and represents large corporations such as CVS Pharmacy. Her presence on the call stood out because Mr. Trump has struggled to attract high-profile lawyers to aid his attempts to overturn the election.In the day after the audio emerged, Foley & Lardner sought to distance itself from Ms. Mitchell, saying in a statement on Monday that its lawyers were expected to refrain from representing or advising anyone in the election. The firm said it was examining Ms. Mitchells role on Mr. Trumps legal team.Ms. Mitchell, 70, has maintained a public profile supporting candidates and causes, earning a reputation as a firebrand. She was a leading critic of the I.R.S.s treatment of nonprofit groups associated with the Tea Party movement during the Obama administration and of state and local coronavirus restrictions that religious groups opposed last year.During the Trump administration, Ms. Mitchell has also represented the nonprofit of the presidents former chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, which has been scrutinized by federal prosecutors in Manhattan as part of a broad investigation into whether Mr. Bannon defrauded donors.At one point in the call over the weekend, Mr. Trump brought up a baseless claim about ballots from Atlanta that were for President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.Does anybody know about it? Mr. Trump asked.I know about it, but Ms. Mitchell said before she was interrupted by the president.OK, Cleta, Im not asking you. Cleta, honestly. Im asking Brad, Mr. Trump said, referring to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of Georgia.",3
"Science|Your Dog Remembers More Than You Thinkhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/science/dogs-memory.htmlScienceTakeVideotranscripttranscriptYour Dog RemembersResearchers are investigating whether dogs share a more complex kind of memory like humans and a few other animals.tkResearchers are investigating whether dogs share a more complex kind of memory like humans and a few other animals.CreditCredit...Ruth Fremson/The New York TimesNov. 23, 2016Once again, science has confirmed the suspicions of dog owners that their beloved pets know more than they are letting on. In this case, it has to do with memory, a favorite subject of researchers who study the mental abilities of other animals.No one doubts that dogs can be trained to remember commands and names of objects. They also remember people and places. But Claudia Fugazza and her colleagues at the Family Dog Project at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest set out to see whether dogs share a more complex kind of memory.In people it is called episodic memory, and it involves a sense of self. In animals, its called episodic-like memory, because its difficult to try to plumb something as elusive as self without the aid of language.All attempts to understand thinking and memory in nonverbal animals are difficult, and Dr. Fugazza, Adam Miklosi and Akos Pogany developed a technique that depends on something called Do-as-I-do training, which itself is pretty amazing.In this training, dogs learn to imitate any action the trainer takes. First the trainer does something like touch an open umbrella with his hand. Then he says, Do it. Then the dog taps the umbrella with its paw assuming the training is going well.Dr. Fugazza and her colleagues studied dogs that had learned the do-as-I-do command. They then switched to a different kind of training, teaching the dogs to lie down on a mat as a response to a new action by the trainer rather than wait for a do it command.Finally, they added one more step. After a trainer did something a dog had not seen before, like tapping an umbrella that lay nearby the mat with his hand, he took the dog behind a screen for a minute.Then he came back to the mat and, presumably to the dogs surprise, said, Do it. The dogs in the experiment reliably imitated the umbrella tap or whatever the trainer had done before.Dr. Fugazza and colleagues reported online in Current Biology that this showed that the dogs remembered an event they hadnt been concentrating on, the trainers action. She said one aspect strengthened that conclusion: The dogs tended to lie down immediately when they got back to the mat, suggesting that their heads were in lie down mode, not do it mode.Also, the dogs were not as good at the imitation command when it was unexpected, which is what would happen with incidental episodic-like memory rather than remembering an action for an expected command.Other experiments have suggested that chimpanzees, rats and pigeons have episodic-like memory. But Dr. Fugazza said the latest work with dogs is the strongest evidence yet, because the events they remember are richer in content and context than in previous experiments.Jonathon D. Crystal of Indiana University, who studies episodic-like memory in rats and wrote a commentary on the work that will appear in the print edition of Current Biology, said he thought the conclusions were strong, although it was very difficult to ensure that a memory was truly incidental in a training situation. He said human episodic memory is lost in Alzheimers disease and he and others study animal memory in hopes of learning how to combat that loss. The work on dogs offers a new technique that could be very useful, he said.What does this mean for the dog owner? Dogs probably remember what their owners do even when training isnt going on. And, she said, It tells us that the dogs memory is more similar to ours than we expected.",7
"Credit...Justin Mott for The New York TimesA countrys stunning progress against tuberculosis may be threatened by reduced support for a health care system stretched thin.Nguyen Quang Thieu, 53, waiting to have his lung X-Ray scan examined by Dr. Hoang Thi Phuong, head of the Respiratory Tuberculosis Department at the National Lung Hospital in Hanoi.Credit...Justin Mott for The New York TimesMarch 28, 2016HANOI, VIETNAM Dr. Bui Xuan Hiep, the head of tuberculosis control in this citys Hoang Mai district, paged proudly through a large handwritten patient log.This districts cure rate averages 90 percent, he said. Still, Dr. Bui could see problems.Seven patients had turned up with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis; four had been cured, two had died and one had simply disappeared.Its a story repeated throughout Vietnam. The nation was once racked by a tuberculosis epidemic, one of the worst in which H.I.V. was not the driving force. But officials fought back fiercely.Twenty-five years ago, battered by the aftermath of a long war, chronic poverty and a heavy-handed government isolated from much of the world, Vietnam had nearly 600 cases of tuberculosis for every 100,000 residents. Today, it has less than 200.The country boasts a 90 percent cure rate for uncomplicated tuberculosis and cures 75 percent of its drug-resistant cases, easily beating the global average, 50 percent.Indeed, public health officials worldwide have made remarkable progress against tuberculosis. Deaths from the disease have fallen drastically since 2000, according to the World Health Organization. Tuberculosis has been halted or reversed in 16 of the 22 countries that account for the vast majority of cases.ImageCredit...Justin Mott for The New York TimesBut Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the United Nations, last week warned that the fight was only half won and estimated that 1.5 million worldwide would die of the disease this year.There is no better example of how fragile this success may be than Vietnam. Hospital wards here are packed dangerously full, raising the risk that drug-resistant strains will spread.The easy-to-reach patients have been treated, and many of the rest are the hardest to help: heroin-addicted couriers and laborers from the poppy fields of the nearby Golden Triangle, and mountain villagers who do not speak Vietnamese and are barely connected to the health care system.But the biggest threat is that the money is close to running out.Our TB program is cost-effective and has great impact, said Dr. Nguyen Viet Nhung, its national director. But I always emphasize that this is a preliminary success. We need to sustain it.To reach Vietnams ambitious goal of pushing prevalence rates down to 20 cases per 100,000 residents essentially eliminating tuberculosis as a public health problem its tuberculosis-control program needs to spend at least $66 million a year. It now spends about $26 million a year.About $19 million of that comes from foreign donors, with more than a third from the United States, Dr. Nguyen said. Evidence of donor help is everywhere.The expensive diagnostic machines in hospital laboratories bear stickers from the United States Agency for International Development or from The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, 30 percent of whose budget is paid by the United States. But The Global Fund, the chief support of the tuberculosis program here, has long struggled to meet its fundraising goals, and Vietnamese officials worry about what happens when its current commitment ends in 2017. The White House tried to reduce the American contribution to the fund in fiscal year 2016 (Congress restored it), and proposed cuts to Usaids tuberculosis programs in both 2016 and 2017.ImageCredit...Linh Pham for The New York TimesOfficials here and at the W.H.O. fear that hard-won progress may soon be reversed and a remarkable success story may come apart, with deadly consequences.An Ancient ScourgeAfter years in the shadow of the AIDS epidemic, tuberculosis is regaining its notoriety as one of the worlds great killers: an airborne bacterium that spreads easily among people living crowded together in jails, ships, mines, trenches or slums and insinuates itself deep in the lungs and grows, slowly tearing apart the tissue until victims are coughing up blood.Tuberculosis now kills more people around the world than AIDS, according to the W.H.O.: 4,100 a day, compared with 3,300 dying of AIDS, making tuberculosis the leading infectious cause of death in the world.Mortality from both diseases is dropping, but tuberculosis deaths have fallen more slowly, especially in Asia.Vietnams success where so many other nations have failed is not just because of donor money, said Dr. Mario C. Raviglione, the director of the W.H.O.s global tuberculosis program.It succeeds because its a Communist country, he said. Socialist countries put a lot of resources into primary care: lots of doctors, lots of clinics. And once central government adopts a thing, they really do it. They give orders.Tuberculosis is an ideal disease for a regimented treatment approach.Almost all patients with uncomplicated tuberculosis bacteria that are not drug-resistant can be cured if they take a standard menu of four antibiotics every day for six months without fail.ImageCredit...Justin Mott for The New York TimesIn Vietnam, treatment standards set at the national level are followed by the entire public health network. The National Lung Disease Hospital in Hanoi oversees 64 provincial hospitals, which oversee 845 district hospitals, which oversee 11,065 neighborhood health clinics.The pharmaceutical-supply chain, the Achilles heel in many tuberculosis-ridden countries, is impressive. On a weeklong tour of urban and rural clinics, not one nurse or patient reported ever running out of drugs.Those neighborhood clinics usually just a few examining rooms, a small pharmacy and a parking lot are as ubiquitous here as police stations and firehouses in the United States.They treat many illnesses, but their role in tuberculosis is simple: Every tuberculosis patient in the district reports once a day to take his or her pills in front of a nurse. Each dose taken is checked off on a yellow card.Most patients comply without complaint, doctors say. Many poor countries are chaotic; Vietnam, while poor, is not. Parks are neatly trimmed, public bathrooms are clean, and police in gold-buttoned uniforms and high-brimmed hats are omnipresent.Nonetheless, there are a few stubborn patients Dr. Buis missing patient was a heroin addict who infected his mother with drug-resistant tuberculosis before disappearing. And the country has one surprising gap: It has no quarantine laws.In New York Citys outbreak of drug-resistant tuberculosis in the 1990s, officials legally locked up patients who refused to take their pills. The rare noncompliant patient here faces no such threat.We cant do that, said Dr. Le Minh Hoa, the head of treatment at Hanois provincial lung hospital. And besides, we dont have enough spaces for the people who want treatment.Patients with drug-resistant disease are especially hard to help. Their medicines, some of which are intravenous, must be taken for two years, and can cause deafness, psychosis and kidney failure. Patients must be hospitalized, their movements restricted to one or two corridors, sometimes for months until they are no longer coughing up live bacteria.Hospital wards are full of stooped, forlorn-looking men and women in masks and pajamas waiting to be declared well enough to go home and become a district outpatient.If they become worse instead of better, the prognosis is usually grim. Extensively drug-resistant disease (XDR TB) requires even more toxic drugs costing 25 times as much. Most XDR TB patients here die.Pham Thi Tuy, 25, was an unlucky woman she caught a drug-resistant strain, perhaps at her job as a medical technician. Facing two years of treatment, she lay hooked up to an IV in Dr. Les hospital, nauseated and exhausted by the drugs, watching videos on her cellphone all day.I only went to the doctor for an earache, she said. It didnt go away and didnt go away and they finally did a test and said it was TB.She hoped her fianc would wait two years for her to recover, she said and then suddenly looked up at Dr. Le.ImageCredit...Justin Mott for The New York TimesWhen I finish this, will I still be able to have children?Yes, Dr. Le said, patting her hand.Ms. Phams eyes crinkled behind her mask, suggesting a sweet smile, and she gave a big thumbs-up.Limited ResourcesThere are many signs that the national tuberculosis program here survives on a shoestring budget.While its top laboratories have some modern equipment, the 64 provincial hospitals share only 60 rapid diagnostic machines, less than half the number they need, even though Vietnam pays only $17,000 for each, about a tenth of the American retail price.More ominously, hospital wards are dangerously crowded. Seven patients a room, with beds only a foot apart, is not an uncommon sight. (That effectively means 14 inhabitants a room, as many patients have a relative sleeping on the floor or in a corridor to do nursing chores and bring food.)Windows and doors are kept open to blow away the bacteria that patients cough up. In chilly Hanoi, patients like Ms. Pham wear parkas in bed; in tropical Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon, they perspire in the muggy heat.Dr. Thuy Nguyen Thu, the head of the inpatient unit at the National Lung Disease Hospital, which treats the toughest cases, said four of her staff had caught tuberculosis in the last five years. New nurses were nervous, she said.Dr. Thuy had asked for ozone air filters, better fans and safer face masks, but there are budget limitations.Geography presents the tuberculosis-control program with another kind of obstacle. In the Shangri La-like valleys of Son La province, a six-hour drive west of Hanoi, some inhabitants live in villages with thatched roofs and speak only Hmong, Meo or Thai.ImageCredit...Justin Mott for The New York TimesFinding and keeping them in treatment is hard, said Dr. Tong Van Hieu, the director of the Quyet Thang neighborhood clinic in Son La. Some believe tuberculosis is caused by fog or dust or gold mine fumes, and turn first to folk remedies.In the cities, a new problem is on the rise.Vietnams growing prosperity lets some patients afford private doctors who often ignore the official four-drug regimen and fail to insist their patients take every pill.Pharmacists sell antibiotics without prescriptions, so some wealthy patients swallow only what they feel like taking. As a result, Dr. Phat Nguyen Ngoc, the head of a district hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, said about a third of his patients with drug-resistant disease had gotten it because they had seen private doctors first and had taken too few pills, or the wrong ones.And sometimes, even when compliant patients play by the rules, treatment fails, anyway.In the Hanoi Lung Disease Hospital, Hoang Van Toan, a weathered farmer looking much older than his 49 years, sat wrapped in a blanket. He had taken all his pills, he said, but tuberculosis had somehow outwitted them.The room was bare, with no television or any other diversion. I talk to my wife, he said, nodding at the woman sitting on the temporarily empty bed opposite him.And I walk for three hours every day at dawn, he added, pointing out the window to a nearby park. He wears a surgical mask as required, he said, but that makes no one nervous in Hanoi; thousands of passing motorcyclists wear them, too.What made him saddest, he said, is that it is still too dangerous for his grandchildren to visit.Asked if he would make it through the next two years, he said Yes, emphatically.I was a soldier, he added. I fought the enemy. I can fight this.",2
"Credit...Christopher Capozziello for The New York TimesJune 5, 2017Heart disease is the leading cause of death for people with Type 2 diabetes. Surely, then, the way to dodge this bullet is to treat the disease and lower blood sugar.Well, maybe. Growing evidence suggests that the method by which blood sugar is lowered may make a big difference in heart risk. That has raised a medical dilemma affecting tens of millions of people with Type 2 diabetes and for the doctors who treat them.Some diabetes drugs lower blood sugar, yet somehow can increase the chances of heart attacks and strokes. Other medications have no effect on heart risk, while still others lower the odds of heart disease but may have other drawbacks, like high cost or side effects.Its becoming clear, researchers say, that theres far too little evidence on how diabetes drugs affect the heart to make rational evidence-based judgments. If you think the landscape is confusing, it really is, said Dr. Leigh Simmons, an internist in Boston.Daunting is how Dr. JoAnn Manson, the chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Womens Hospital, describes the situation for patients and their doctors. She explained the option and uncertainties in a recent commentary in JAMA.There are 12 classes of drugs on the market and two or three different agents in each class. The drugs range in price from about $4 a month for older drugs to $700 a month for newer ones, and they have varying side effects. Many patients take more than one drug.The older, cheaper and more popular diabetes drugs were never tested for their effects on the heart they were approved before any links were noticed.A particular drugs effect on blood sugar does not predict its effects on the heart. Even understanding the chemistry at work the drugs act in very different ways to lower blood sugar does not predict whether a particular medication will increase heart risk in a particular patient, researchers say.We cant predict what happens to people just based on the mechanisms of these drugs, said Dr. Kasia J. Lipska, a diabetes expert at Yale University who wrote a recent paper on the issue. We have to study large groups of patients and examine what drugs reduce complications of diabetes such as heart attacks, and in which patients.But that has rarely been done. These drugs are already approved; there is little incentive to do such expensive studies now.Its a disgrace that so little is known, said Dr. Victor M. Montori, a diabetes expert at the Mayo Clinic.No one disputes the importance of lowering blood sugar when levels are very high. Doing so may help prevent complications like kidney disease, nerve damage and damage to the eyes, and may alleviate symptoms like fatigue and frequent urination.The starting point for lowering blood sugar is diet and exercise. But for many patients, that is not sufficient. Then doctors and patients are faced with two questions: How low should blood sugar go? And what drugs should be used to lower it?Doctors track blood sugar by testing for levels of a protein, hemoglobin A1C, which reveals average levels over the previous three months. The higher a patients A1C, the greater the risk of complications of diabetes.While this measurement is a good predictor of risk, the question is, who benefits from intensive blood sugar lowering and which drugs are best for whom? said Dr. Harlan Krumholz, a cardiologist at Yale.The target level varies among patients, though many do not realize it. They and their doctors often aim, at times obsessively, for an A1C level of seven.Yet that level is actually appropriate only for young, newly diagnosed people who have no other medical problems, Dr. Manson and others said.Older patients with other chronic conditions, like atherosclerosis, should not aim for such a low level, the researchers add. Studies find no obvious benefit to them no real reduction in the rate of complications like kidney, nerve or eye disease.Perhaps more distressing, while higher levels of A1C are linked to an increased risk of heart disease, what is not clear is whether a drug that reduces A1C will also improve cardiovascular risk, said Dr. Montori.That was made abundantly clear in recent years when, at the insistence of the Food and Drug Administration, companies making some of the newer diabetes drugs began testing them to be certain they were not actually raising the chances of heart disease even as they lowered A1C in patients.The results were a surprise. At identical A1C levels, some drugs lowered risk, some did not change it and some actually increased the chances of heart disease.Older and much cheaper diabetes medications, like metformin, have not been subjected to such tests, although they do have long and well established safety records. But whether they actually prevent heart problems is unknown, Dr. Montori noted.None of that has stopped doctors from urging patients to lower blood sugar at all costs. But many of their patients, particularly older ones, often take other medications, too.The more drugs they take to get to an A1C level of seven, the greater the risk of ensuing complications (to say nothing of skyrocketing costs). And they run the risk that blood sugar levels will dip too low.Vito Ciaccia, 64, of Old Saybrook, Conn., learned he had diabetes 30 years ago. He spent years chasing an A1C of seven, spurred on by doctors who focused single-mindedly on that number.They were always upping the dosage of drugs, wanting to get to seven he said. One doctor was very adamant and very demanding. He told me if I didnt do what he said, I would not be here much longer.I felt the treatment was just to pound drugs in and hope they work, Mr. Ciaccia added.But he rarely hit that A1C target, and the drugs caused uncomfortable side effects. While he was taking them, his blood sugar dipped up and down, often going so low that he experienced sweating, confusion and dizziness.Had his doctors realized that how tenuous was the connection between lowering A1C and heart disease, the biggest threat to these patients, they might have been less insistent. And he might have been less worried.I have patients who flip out if their A1C level is above seven, said Dr. John Buse, an endocrinologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Some are desperate to get it to six. I try to talk them down, but sometimes I fail.I dont think there is evidence for such zealotry, he added.Mr. Ciaccia is now being cared for by Dr. Lipska. She tells him hell do fine with an A1C level higher than seven, and can avoid the low blood sugar episodes that were so distressing.And it was O.K. to take one drug insulin which he preferred over a pile of diabetes drugs.Her approach, Dr. Lipska said, is to be straightforward with patients about the choices of treatment.I tell them, this is what we know and this is what we dont know, she said.",2
"VideotranscripttranscriptNorth Face Founder Dies in AccidentDouglas Tompkins, the founder of the North Face and Esprit clothing brands and a noted conservationist, died Tuesday after a kayaking accident in the Patagonia region of Chile.COYHAIQUE, CHILE (DECEMBER 8, 2015) (TVN - NO ACCESS CHILE/CNN/CHILE WEBSITES) // 1. VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF THE COYHAIQUE HOSPITAL WHERE NORTHFACE FOUNDER DOUGLAS TOMPKINS WAS TREATED AND PASSED AWAY 3. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PHYSICIAN, CARLOS SALAZAR, SAYING: (Douglas Tompkins was in a very serious condition, they carried out advanced resuscitation techniques, his body temperature was at 19 degrees Celsius when he arrived (at the hospital). The cases of people surviving such serious cases of hypothermia as a result of accidents are extremely rare. // 6. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DOCTOR, SERGIO GAETE, SAYING: Despite vital signs, and the fact that he had not been resuscitated for a long period, we tried everything possible, thinking we could turn the situation of hypothermia into our favour, but after several hours we realised that the situation was irreversible. // 13. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SPOKESPERSON FOR THE TOMPKINS FAMILY, HERNAN MLADINIC, SAYING: We are all shocked, though in some way, he was doing what he loved, enjoying nature.Douglas Tompkins, the founder of the North Face and Esprit clothing brands and a noted conservationist, died Tuesday after a kayaking accident in the Patagonia region of Chile.CreditCredit...ReutersDec. 8, 2015Douglas Tompkins, a noted conservationist and the founder of the North Face and Esprit clothing brands, died on Tuesday after a kayaking accident in the Patagonia region of southern Chile. He was 72.His death was confirmed by Coyhaique Regional Hospital, where Mr. Tompkins was flown with severe hypothermia. The health service in the Aysn administrative region said Mr. Tompkins was boating with five others on General Carrera Lake when their kayaks capsized in heavy waves.Chiles army said that a patrol boat rescued three of the boaters and that a helicopter lifted out the other three. No one else was seriously injured.A local prosecutor, Pedro Salgado, told radio Bo Bo that the lake was known for unpredictable weather conditions. He said that Mr. Tompkins had spent considerable amount of time in waters under 4 degrees Celsius, or under 40 degrees Fahrenheit.A lifelong outdoorsman, Mr. Tompkins made his fortune in retailing but later shunned the business world to pursue his passion for nature and conservationism.He flew airplanes, he climbed to the top of mountains all over the world, said his daughter Summer Tompkins Walker. To have lost his life in a lake and have nature just sort of gobble him up is just shocking.Douglas Rainsford Tompkins was born on March 20, 1943, in Ohio. The family briefly lived in New York City before settling in Millbrook, N.Y., in the Hudson Valley.He began rock climbing at age 12 in the Shawangunk Mountains in southern New York State; by 15 he was skiing and climbing mountains during family trips to Wyoming, according to the 2009 book Eco Barons: The Dreamers, Schemers, and Millionaires Who Are Saving Our Planet.Mr. Tompkins attended Pomfret School in Connecticut but never graduated and did not attend college, said Tom Butler, a spokesman for the Foundation for Deep Ecology, which Mr. Tompkins founded in 1990.Instead, he set off in search of adventure. At 17 he headed to Colorado, working in Aspen and squirreling away money for a year before flying to Europe to ski the Alps. He then traipsed through the Andes Mountains in South America until his money ran out in 1962, forcing him to return to the United States.ImageCredit...Scott Dalton for The New York TimesMr. Tompkins eventually landed near Tahoe City, Calif., where he worked in the ski lodges and started his first business, the California Mountaineering Service. Mr. Tompkins would sometimes hitchhike, and in the summer of 1963 he was picked up by a young woman, Susie Buell, who shared his enthusiasm for the outdoors. The two began a romance and married.Together they founded the North Face as a small ski and backpacking retail shop in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco. Never Stop Exploring was the company mantra.There wasnt anything we were afraid of, there wasnt anything we couldnt figure out how to do, said Susie Tompkins Buell, who was married to Mr. Tompkins until 1989. It was just an open book of adventure.Several years later the couple, along with a third partner, Jane Tise, started selling plain Jane dresses out of a station wagon. That business grew to become the multibillion-dollar retailer Esprit, known for its casual sportswear and lifestyle clothing.Esprits success in the 1980s fueled much of the conservation work that occupied Mr. Tompkins for much of the rest of his life. But by 1990 he had grown disillusioned with the corporate world and sold his stake in Esprit for what was reported as more than $150 million.Mr. Tompkins and his second wife, the former Kristine McDivitt, a former chief executive of the clothing company Patagonia, moved to South America in the 1990s. They split their time between homes in Chile and Argentina, concentrating their conservation efforts in both countries.The remote expanses of southern Chile, facing ecological threats from human activity like logging, offered opportunities for the type of large-scale conservation envisioned by this husband-and-wife team.Mr. Tompkins used his fortune to buy roughly 2.2 million acres through his various conservation groups, Mr. Butler said. That included Pumaln Park, one of the worlds largest private parks, protecting 715,000 acres of rain forest that stretches from the Pacific Ocean to the Andes. It is named in honor of the pumas that roam the parks virgin forests.At his death Mr. Tompkins had been working on creating new parks in Patagonia and in the Iber wetlands in northeastern Argentina.The global apparel company VF Corporation purchased the North Face in 2000.In addition to his wife and Ms. Walker, Mr. Tompkins is survived by his mother, Faith; his brother, John, and another daughter, Quincey Tompkins Imhoff.Mr. Tompkins was given many environmental awards, but his efforts were not immune to criticism. According to a 2012 profile in Earth Island Journal, many Chileans and Argentines worried that his land purchases and outspoken opposition to salmon farming and dam construction threatened their national sovereignty and stunted economic development.We want to do something good, but youve got to be very nave and out to lunch to think that certain sectors of society are not going to put up resistance, Mr. Tompkins told The New York Times. If youre not willing to take the political heat, then you shouldnt get into the game of land conservation, especially on a large scale.",0
"Another ViewCredit...Andrew Harnik/Associated PressLucian A. Bebchuk and Robert J. Jackson Jr.Dec. 21, 2015Lucian A. Bebchuk, a professor at Harvard Law School, and Robert J. Jackson Jr., a professor at Columbia Law School, served as the principal drafters of the rule-making petition submitted to the S.E.C. by the Committee on Disclosure of Corporate Political Spending and are the co-authors of the study Shining Light on Corporate Political Spending.The omnibus budget agreement adopted by Congress includes a provision that prevents the Securities and Exchange Commission from issuing a rule next year that would require public companies to disclose their political spending.This unusual Congressional intervention in S.E.C. rule-making is a troubling development both for investors and for the agency.The S.E.C. has long had broad authority to decide what information public companies must disclose to their investors. When Congress first mandated such disclosure authority in 1934, it expressly chose to give the agency wide discretion to make such decisions.In the decades since, the agency has adjusted disclosure requirements to respond to the evolving needs of investors.In recent years, investor interest in receiving information regarding whether, and how, public companies spend shareholder money on politics has been growing. Shareholder proposals requesting disclosure of such information have been the most common type of shareholder proposal at public companies.In response to investor concerns, many companies in the Standard & Poors 500-stock index have begun to disclose information on their political spending voluntarily. Still, for investors to obtain information about the large number of existing public companies, and to receive such information in a uniform and consistent manner, an S.E.C. rule would clearly be necessary.In July 2011 we were co-chairmen of a bipartisan committee of 10 corporate and securities law professors that considered this issue and submitted a rule-making petition to the S.E.C. The petition urged the agency to develop rules requiring public companies to disclose their spending on politics.To date, the agency has received more than 1.2 million comments on the proposal far more comments than those submitted on any rule-making petition in the history of the agency.An overwhelming majority of comments, including from a large number of institutional investors, supported the petition.To be sure, some opponents of disclosure, such as the United States Chamber of Commerce, have provided the S.E.C. with detailed submissions in opposition to rule-making, but they have failed to articulate persuasive reasons for a lack of transparency.For example, the chamber has argued that requiring disclosure of corporate political spending would be unconstitutional. But in the 2010 Citizens United ruling, which said that the government may not ban political spending by corporations, the Supreme Court upheld the disclosure rules challenged in that case. In a recent article, we reviewed the full range of objections that have been raised in the S.E.C. file and concluded that, either individually or collectively, they do not provide an adequate basis for keeping investors in the dark about corporate political spending.Nonetheless, there has been political pressure to keep the commission from considering such rules on the merits.In 2013, the S.E.C placed the consideration of the subject on its regulatory agenda. But Mary Jo White, the commission chairwoman, encountered significant pressure to remove the petition from the agenda during her first major hearing on Capitol Hill. The S.E.C. subsequently delayed consideration of rule-making in this area. Now, opponents of transparency have succeeded in using the budget process to keep the S.E.C. from issuing such a rule for another year.The rider included in the omnibus budget bill reflects opponents interest in avoiding a debate on the merits of disclosure to investors. Although the S.E.C. file includes numerous detailed submissions, the rider was added in a quick, back-room move without any hearing or adequate consideration of these arguments.The rider also undermines the standing of the S.E.C. It reflects a judgment that the commission and its staff, which have served the investing public well for generations, cannot be trusted to reach an appropriate decision about whether and how to develop rules in this area. Legislators should not tie the hands of independent and expert regulators and prevent them from doing their job.And the rider undermines the critical premises on which the Supreme Court has relied in its Citizens United decision. In this consequential decision, the court reasoned that the procedures of corporate democracy would ensure that political spending by public companies does not depart from shareholder interests. Without disclosure to investors, however, such procedures cannot be expected to limit or prevent such departures.In a recent talk, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the author of the Citizens United decision, expressed a concern that disclosure of corporate political spending was not working the way it should.The omnibus agreements rider, however, seeks to maintain this sorry status quo, preventing the S.E.C. from issuing a rule ensuring that disclosure works the way it should.",0
"VideoMr. Fillon, the center-right candidate for the French presidency, vowed to stay in the race even as he faces charges in a widening embezzlement investigation.CreditCredit...Christian Hartmann/ReutersMarch 1, 2017PARIS Frances embattled center-right presidential candidate, Franois Fillon, defiantly vowed on Wednesday to stay in the race, even as he announced that he would be formally charged in a widening embezzlement investigation.Mr. Fillons announcement, made at a news conference, added another element of uncertainty to an already unsettled campaign and increased the likelihood that Frances presidential race would be fought by two candidates from neither of the traditional mainstream parties.With formal charges looming that Mr. Fillon paid his wife and children hundreds of thousands of euros from the public payroll for little or no work, most analysts consider his chances of making it past the first round on April 23 in Frances two-round election to be diminished.That would leave the field open to the far-right candidate of the National Front, Marine Le Pen, whose rise in polls has sent jitters through financial markets and immigrant suburbs. Her likely contender is Emmanuel Macron, the former economy minister, who is running as the candidate of his own political movement.Mr. Macron, 39, is currently the favorite to defeat Ms. Le Pen, 48, in the second round on May 7. But Mr. Macron, a former Rothschild banker, is untested and inexperienced politically. His centrist program, some of it in line with the Socialist government he served, is viewed as unappealing to parts of the right-leaning electorate. The momentum, in most of the polls, is with her.A top National Front official, Florian Philippot, used a television interview after Mr. Fillons appearance largely to attack Mr. Macron a clear indication that Ms. Le Pen already considers him her principal opponent.Even as Mr. Fillon, 62, is increasingly being written off, he has doubled down on his defense, yielding no ground to his critics.Its Fillons final bet, said Laurent Bouvet, a political scientist at the University of Versailles St.-Quentin-en-Yvelines. Hes playing all or nothing. The right, the heart of the right, the one that elected him and doesnt want Le Pen to sweep the stakes, his bet is they wont abandon him, in spite of all his legal problems.In another country, the shadow hanging over Mr. Fillon would most likely end a campaign for the highest office. But in France, legal problems, even serious ones, rarely end political careers, even though the electorate appears to be showing in polls, at least less tolerance than previously for accommodating financial misdeeds in high places.Even if he were to step aside, his center-right Republican Party has few good options. Mr. Fillons two main challengers in the party primary both campaigned under the shadow of past and current investigations.The runner-up in the primary, Alain Jupp, was convicted in a phony jobs scheme undertaken while he worked at City Hall several decades ago. Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president, who finished third, is the subject of multiple investigations, and in February, he was ordered to stand trial on charges of illegally financing his failed 2012 presidential campaign.But Mr. Fillons problems, immediate and future, are different. He campaigned as the candidate of probity. That image has been shattered. And the sums reported to have been pocketed by his wife have shocked the French.Ms. Le Pen is not untainted by corruption accusations. But her legal difficulties, for now, have hardly dented her standing in the polls partly because she has never cultivated an image of virtue, and partly because her principal adversary is the European Parliament in Strasbourg, in which she sits and which is widely unpopular, especially among her supporters.Her legal troubles are also more complex than Mr. Fillons, and she is not suspected of having personally benefited from any of the alleged financial wrongdoing.Last week, a top Le Pen aide was charged in an alleged phony jobs scheme. The aide was paid out of Parliament money but was thought to have spent her time working for the National Front.Another close associate of Ms. Le Pens, Frdric Chatillon, has been charged with violating campaign finance laws. Mr. Chatillons ties to extremist groups on the far right have been closely documented in the French news media as well.Ms. Le Pen, invoking her parliamentary immunity, has refused a summons from the police who want to question her in the alleged phony jobs scheme, eliciting harsh criticism from government officials who accuse her of holding herself above the law. Like Mr. Fillon, she could still be formally charged.She and Mr. Fillon have struck remarkably similar defenses as the accusations have piled up around them. Both blamed the news media as well as the judicial system and civil servants for their problems.On Sunday, in a fiery speech in the western city of Nantes, Ms. Le Pen lashed out at judges, the legal system, civil servants and the news media, in a manner very similar to Mr. Fillons on Wednesday and for that matter, President Trumps in the United States.Ms. Le Pen said all of them were working in concert to undermine her. The rule of law is the opposite of government by judges, Ms. Le Pen told her cheering supporters.Judges exist to apply the law, she said, not to subvert the will of the people.On Wednesday, Mr. Fillon struck a defiant tone in front of the reporters at his campaign headquarters in Paris, proclaiming his innocence and denouncing what he said was an unfair judicial and news media campaign intended to destroy his candidacy.I didnt embezzle any money, Mr. Fillon told reporters. I employed like almost a third of the members of Parliament family members because I knew I could count on their loyalty and competence. They helped me, and I will prove it.From the beginning, he continued, I havent been treated as an ordinary suspect.And he insisted: The rule of law has been systematically violated. The press has been an echo chamber for the prejudices of the prosecutors.Mr. Fillon said angrily that the presidential election was being assassinated, and he announced his determination to stay in it, because only the voters can decide who will be president.The judicial screws have been steadily tightening on Mr. Fillon since newspaper reports in January especially those in the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchan said that for years he and his deputy had paid his wife hundreds of thousands of euros in state funds for a possible do-nothing job, and that his children had also benefited from the largess of Mr. Fillon, a former prime minister.In addition, Mr. Fillon is being scrutinized on suspicion of trafficking a high civilian honor, while prime minister, in exchange for money to his wife from a wealthy publisher friend.On Wednesday, in front of dozens of aides and members of his center-right party, Mr. Fillon told reporters he would answer a March 15 summons by the magistrates in the case, after which he is expected to be charged formally. The investigation will continue and Mr. Fillon could then stand trial, or the magistrates could drop the charges.Circumstances look increasingly unfavorable for him. In an article published on Wednesday before Mr. Fillons news conference, the French newspaper Le Monde described him as a candidate in a bunker who was hunched up and in his shell. It noted that he no longer took the train for campaign trips out of fear of being called out by protesters.He is often met by protesters banging pots, or casseroles in French a slang term for corruption affairs. Sometimes the placards read, Fake jobs for everybody.",6
"Australia|Amazon Lifts Ban on Australians Shipping From Its Main Sitehttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/world/australia/amazon-australia-access-website.htmlCredit...Joe Castro/European Pressphoto AgencyNov. 21, 2018SYDNEY, Australia Amazon will grant Australians access to products from its main website, walking back a decision made earlier this year that angered its customers in the country.The online retailer had announced that it would redirect Australians to a local website to comply with changes to Australian tax law. That law requires online retailers to impose a 10 percent goods and services tax on items sold and shipped from overseas.But customers complained that the move would raise prices and bar them from millions of products, some difficult to find otherwise. And it appears those concerns were heard.As a result of customer feedback, from 22 November Amazon customers will be able to ship eligible items from amazon.com to Australian delivery addresses, an Amazon spokeswoman said in a statement released early Thursday.After its initial decision to suspend exports to Australia, the company has focused on building the complex infrastructure needed to enable exports of low value goods to Australia and remain compliant with GST laws, the statement added in reference to the goods and services tax.The companys initial decision to bar Australians from gaining access to the main Amazon site drew criticism in June from Scott Morrison, the countrys current prime minister and then-treasurer.You dont get a special deal because youre a big company or a multinational, Mr. Morrison said when asked whether companies would be exempt from the tax. I think it is disappointing that Amazon has taken this out on consumers in Australia but that is their commercial position.Amazon launched in Australia quietly in December following months of speculation over its potential impact on the countrys retail sector. Local retailers, like neighborhood bookstores, raised concerns that the site would damage their businesses, and many welcomed the new tax on international imports, saying it would level the playing field.The reversal comes just before retailers hold their Black Friday sales the annual frenzy of heavy discounts, and granting Australians access to the main Amazon site will could prove a timely boon for the companys efforts to draw local customers.Analysts have predicted the retail giant will capture almost half of the American e-commerce market this year.But even with access to the Amazons main site, Australians will face some roadblocks. Third-party sellers on the site are still unable to ship to Australia, which was bloody frustrating, one customer complained on Twitter.Amazon will continue to work constructively with the government, to ensure a level playing field for all retailers and marketplaces, the Amazon spokeswoman said.",6
"Credit...Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York TimesNov. 1, 2018HELSINKI, Finland Shortly after 6 a.m. on Thursday, people began lining up outside the central office of the Finnish tax administration. It was chilly and dark, but they claimed their places, eager to be the first to tap into a mother lode of data.Pamplona can boast of the running of the bulls, Rio de Janeiro has Carnival, but Helsinki is alone in observing National Jealousy Day, when every Finnish citizens taxable income is made public at 8 a.m. sharp.The annual Nov. 1 data dump is the starting gun for a countrywide game of whos up and whos down. Which tousled tech entrepreneur has sold his company? Which Instagram celebrity is, in fact, broke? Which retired executive is weaseling out of his tax liabilities?Esa Saarinen, a professor of philosophy at Aalto University in Helsinki, described it as a fairly positive form of gossip.ImageCredit...Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York TimesFinland is unusual, even among the Nordic states, in turning its release of personal tax data to comply with government transparency laws into a public ritual of comparison. Though some complain that the tradition is an invasion of privacy, most say it has helped the country resist the trend toward growing inequality that has crept across of the rest of Europe.Were looking at the gap between normal people and those rich, rich people is it getting too wide? said Tuomo Pietilainen, an investigative reporter at Helsingin Sanomat, the countrys largest daily newspaper.When we do publish the figures, the people who have lower salary start to think, Why do my colleagues make more? he said. Our work has the effect that people are paid more.Employers, he said, have to behave better than in conditions where there is no transparency.A large dosage of Thursdays reporting concerned the income of minor celebrities, and one journalist moaned at the thought of profiling another beauty pageant winner, noting that, usually, they are broke as hell. The countrys best-known porn star, Anssi Mr. Lothar Viskari, was reported to have earned 23,826 euros (about $27,000), of which 7,177 was capital gains.ImageCredit...Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York TimesRoman Schatz, 58, a German-born author, rolled his eyes, a little, at Finlands annual celebration of its own honesty.Its a psychological exercise, he said. It creates an illusion of transparency so we all feel good about ourselves: The Americans could never do it. The Germans could never do it. We are honest guys, good guys. Its sort of a Lutheran purgatory.Mr. Schatz warned against taking all the financial figures released publicly at face value, noting that nontaxable income, like grants or business deductions, may not appear.It makes me smile every time, because its my taxable income, and people say, Roman Schatz makes less than a schoolteacher, he said.ImageCredit...Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York TimesEconomists in the United States have shown great interest in salary disclosure in recent years, in part as a way of reducing gender or racial disparities in pay.Transparency may or may not reduce inequality, but does tend to make people less satisfied, several concluded. A study of faculty members at the University of California, where pay was made accessible online in 2008, found that lower-earning workers, after learning how their pay stacked up, were less happy in their job and more likely to look for a new one.A study of Norway, which made its tax data easily accessible to anonymous online searches in 2001, reached a similar conclusion: When people could easily learn the incomes of co-workers and neighbors, self-reported happiness began to track more closely with income, with low earners reporting lower happiness. In 2014, Norway banned anonymous searches, and the number of searches dropped dramatically.More information may not be something which improves overall well-being, said Alexandre Mas, one of the authors of the University of California report.ImageCredit...Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York TimesFlamboyant wealth has long been discouraged in Finland; a line of poetry capturing this idea if youre lucky, hide it is so beloved that it has been set to music.The government has made individual tax data accessible to the public since the 19th century, though until recently citizens had to pore through bulky ledgers for what they wanted.Nowadays, Helsinki tabloids often assign up to half their editorial staff to cover the release of the data, and competition for computer terminals in the tax administration building is so intense that there was once a scuffle, which everyone agreed was totally un-Finnish.(The second-biggest news deployment of the year is for Finnish Independence Day, on December 6, when news organizations devote vast resources to reporting which A-listers have been invited to the presidential reception, and what they have decided to wear.)ImageCredit...Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York TimesMany journalists have little love for the task. I dont see the point of calling up semi-ordinary people and asking they why they made so much money, one grumbled but others, like Mr. Pietilainen, clearly relish it.One hundred and thirty thousand lines of Excel to process how do you feel about that? he said, with obvious appetite, as his colleagues stared at him.One of the great sports of National Jealousy Day is to publicly shame tax dodgers.In 2015, Mr. Pietilainen found that executives from several of Finlands largest firms had relocated to Portugal so that they could receive their pensions tax free. His reporting caused such a stir that the Finnish Parliament terminated its tax agreement with Portugal, negotiating a new one that closed the loophole.What may sting more in Finland, said Mr. Saarinen, the philosophy professor, is disapproval.These particular executives have destroyed their reputation, he said. I would be surprised if they didnt care. Finland is a small society. There is a sense that as long as youre a Finn, youre always a Finn. They will show up at Christmas at Helsinki airport, they will be recognized, and they will feel it in peoples eyes: the disrespect.ImageCredit...Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York TimesNewspapers also anointed capitalist heroes on Thursday.Especially adored are the young owners of the gaming company Supercell, who declared a total of 181 million euros in taxable income this year, and were five of the 10 top-earning citizens. Supercells 40-year-old chief executive, Ilkka Paananen, went out of his way in 2016 to express his happiness at breaking Finlands record for capital gains taxes, telling Helsingin Sanomat that it is our turn to give something back.This, said Onni Tertsunen, a graduate student at a downtown Helsinki cafe, is the kind of rich person Finns like. Hes really humble, he said. Thats the thing in Finland, to be humble. If you show it around, no one likes you.There are, of course, manifold other uses for income tax data. Tuomas Rimpilainen, a crime reporter, said he sometimes looked up the salaries of his professional competitors before asking his boss for a raise. (It worked.)Ive looked up my relatives, said a colleague, Markku Uhari.And my bosses, Mr. Rimpilainen said.No one likes to admit they do it, said another reporter, Lassi Lapintie. But everyone has done it.For all the attention from the news media, strictly speaking, the release of the tax data is not really big news.No one really conceals their income, Mr. Saarinen said.No one thinks it is conceivable that anyone would have the nerve to live in Finland and, outrageously, to avoid paying taxes, he said. People play by the rules, and they expect that to be the case. Its the default.He interrupted the interview, as several Finns did, to express bafflement over President Trumps refusal to release his tax returns.For Finns, that is unthinkable, he said. I dont know if we have a law saying that a person seeking the office of the president of Finland should explain how they made their money. The society just expects that to happen. If it did not happen, the society would punish that candidate.",6
"Feb. 21, 2014With each succeeding United States Olympic hockey game from Sochi, Russia, this week, NBC Sports watched as the number of people streaming the game live grew.On Wednesday, when the United States mens team beat the Czech Republic, 798,337 people, or unique users, streamed the game on computers, tablets and smartphones.On Thursday, when the Canadian womens team defeated the United States in overtime in the gold medal game, the number swelled to 1.16 million.Then, in the mens semifinal on Friday, which started at noon Eastern, 2.1 million people streamed Canadas 1-0 shutout of the United States, watching a total of 65 million minutes.Its the biggest stream ever for NBC Sports and beats the Super Bowl two years ago, just barely, said Rick Cordella, senior vice president and general manager for digital media at NBC Sports Group.NBC had been concerned that office computer networks could be overloaded with people trying to stream the game from their desks at work. Too many people watching in the same office could cause the stream to slow and buffer, or even shut down. Some used Twitter to complain. Currently watching USA/Canada vs. buffering, @SeanOB19 wrote. Either that or there is a lot more pausing in hockey than I remember. Some seemed to revel in it.Being a true American and watching live stream of the USA vs. Canada hockey on my iPad in class, @anna2056 wrote.Cordella said, I looked at the Internet and only saw a few complaints. In digital parlance, the term unique users refers to the people who come and go during an event that is streamed. They might start it, leave during the intermissions and return. Cordella estimated that if the United States had scored and sent the game into overtime, the number of unique users could have risen by as much as 40 percent.Another measure, that of people watching the stream at any particular moment, indicated it was rising throughout the game and peaking at 850,000 at 2:09 p.m., just before the end.Streaming is a significant part of NBCs Olympic strategy. For the second Olympics in a row from Europe, it is streaming all the events live, believing, as other news media companies do, that it is critical to reach a population increasingly comfortable with watching programming apart from television. This bodes well for the N.H.L. playoffs, Cordella said. Hopefully, were breaking people into the new form of consumption and will stick around for more of our sports events. Over all, 9.1 million users have streamed live video from Sochi, up 24 percent from the 2012 London Games.Live streaming is also viewed, more than ever, as a way to lift viewership in prime time, where most of the broadcast advertising is for the Olympics, even if it means the results are known in advance. Through Thursday, the 14th day of coverage in Sochi, NBC averaged 22.5 million viewers, down 9 percent from the 2010 Vancouver Games, which were carried mostly live in the evening. But NBC prefers to point out that the Sochi figures are up 7 percent from the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, which were also carried on a lengthy delay.The Sochi viewership has been greater than Turins for all but three nights. On Thursday, 20.3 million viewers watched an evening of events that culminated with the womens free skate won by Adelina Sotnikova in an upset over the Vancouver gold medalist, Kim Yu-na. On the comparable night in Turin, when an American, Sasha Cohen, won a silver medal, viewership averaged 25.7 million.The networks strategy has also been to use the Olympics to bring viewers to NBCSN. With live coverage of figure skating and hockey, NBCSN has seen its average viewership from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern rise to 1.6 million, up 126 percent from the comparable days of the London Games two years ago.",4
"The New York Times Science | Site Search Navigation Search NYTimes.com https://nyti.ms/2MvcLl4 Site Navigation Site Mobile Navigation Advertisement Science DEC. 26, 2019 More on NYTimes.com Advertisement",7
"Health|New Zika Notice Says Higher-Altitude Areas Can Be Safe for Pregnant Womenhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/health/new-zika-notice-says-higher-altitude-areas-can-be-safe-for-pregnant-women.htmlMarch 14, 2016Federal health officials last week modified their travel notices related to the Zika virus to say that pregnant women can safely travel to areas at altitudes above 6,500 feet.The mosquitoes that transmit the virus are not normally found at high altitudes, and some important tourist and business destinations in Latin America, including, for example, Mexico City and Bogot, Colombia, are high above sea level and can safely be visited, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.In January, when the agency first issued travel advisories, it applied them to entire countries. Some countries, including Mexico, objected that some of their important cities were mosquito-free. Early last week, the World Health Organization suggested pregnant women avoid areas with Zika transmission, letting individual countries define which areas were risky.The C.D.C. also advises pregnant women to guard against mosquito bites if they do visit areas with Zika transmission and to avoid sex during their pregnancies with men who have traveled to such areas or to use condoms.",2
"Malia Obama Fun Time in Big Apple with BF 1/21/2018 Malia Obama is full-on attached to her new boyfriend. Malia and Rory Farquharson took a field trip from their home base at Harvard in Cambridge to New York City, where they strolled through Soho. NOVEMBER 2017 TMZ.com Rory's a Brit who pretty quickly set his sights on the former First Daughter. They were tight during the Harvard-Yale game last November, and they've clearly kept it going. Malia's 19 -- a freshman -- and Rory's also 19 and a freshman at the Ivy League school in Cambridge.",1
"Credit...Luca Locatelli/INSTITUTENov. 4, 2018As Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia charmed Goldman Sachs bankers and Silicon Valley executives on an American tour this spring, some of his most trusted lieutenants were taking care of business in Washington.In a low-key ceremony two blocks from the White House, Saudi officials signed an agreement with Booz Allen Hamilton, the American consulting company, to help train the kingdoms growing ranks of cyberfighters.The agreement would open great horizons by improving the skills of the kingdoms cybersecurity experts, Saud al-Qahtani, a top adviser to the crown prince overseeing the deal, said in Saudi Arabia in a statement to the official press. It did not mention his continuing campaign to silence critics both inside the kingdom and online.Mr. Qahtani was fired last month after Saudi officials linked him to the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying he had contributed to an aggressive environment that helped lead to the killing. But while Mr. Khashoggis death prompted investors from around the globe to distance themselves from the Saudi government, Booz Allen and its competitors McKinsey & Company and Boston Consulting Group have stayed close after playing critical roles in Prince Mohammeds drive to consolidate power.In addition to standard consulting work like doling out economic advice and helping burnish Prince Mohammeds image, they have taken on more unconventional assignments. Booz Allen trains the Saudi Navy as it runs a blockade in the war in Yemen, a disaster that has threatened millions with starvation. McKinsey produced a report that may have aided Mr. Qahtanis crackdown on dissidents. BCG advises Prince Mohammeds foundation.The work is lucrative the three firms have earned hundreds of millions of dollars altogether on projects in Saudi Arabia. McKinseys work in the kingdom grew from two Saudi projects in 2010 to almost 50 the following year and kept accelerating, to almost 600 projects from 2011 to 2016.McKinsey consultants spread across the kingdom in recent years to advise government agencies such as the planning ministry, nicknamed the Ministry of McKinsey by some Saudis; the royal court; and a coterie of companies in industries such as banking, media, telecommunications, real estate and energy, internal McKinsey documents viewed by The New York Times showed.Last year, McKinsey bought a politically connected Saudi consultancy, adding that firms 140 employees to more than 300 already in the region.Its report singling out the kingdoms prominent online critics drew widespread condemnation when The Times revealed it last month. The dissidents including Khalid al-Alkami, a writer critical of Saudi policies, and Omar Abdulaziz, a Saudi now living in Canada were described in detail, alongside photos of them.Omar has a multitude of negative tweets on topics such as austerity and the royal decrees, the author, who McKinsey says is a researcher based in Saudi Arabia, wrote in bullet points. Mr. Alkami wrote multiple negative tweets regarding austerity.Though McKinsey said the report was prepared for an internal audience, Mr. Alkami was subsequently arrested, and Mr. Abdulaziz said two of his brothers were imprisoned. A third, pseudonymous account was shut down, and it remains unclear what happened to the person behind it.The crackdown was an early sign of the Saudi governments extreme measures to quash criticism, which culminated in Mr. Khashoggis murder.McKinsey said it was horrified at the possibility that its information could have been misused. In a note to former employees, McKinsey said the researcher had published the analysis in January 2017 on an internal system and that it was intended only to showcase techniques to gauge social media usage and reaction.ImageCredit...Saudi Press AgencyEven before Prince Mohammed rose up the royal hierarchy, McKinsey and BCG nurtured ties to him. BCGs top Middle East executive, Joerg Hildebrandt, cultivated a relationship with Prince Mohammed in recent years, according to two consultants who have worked in the region. Mr. Hildebrandt, through a spokesman, declined to comment.After Prince Mohammed was installed as defense minister in 2015, BCG landed a contract to help overhaul the ministrys procurement systems and improve its handling of finances and personnel, two people familiar with the contract said.Press officers for the Saudi Embassy in Washington did not respond to emails seeking comment.In February 2016, consultants for McKinsey and BCG escorted five emissaries from the Saudi royal court to make the rounds of think tanks in Washington. They informed Gulf experts about Mohammed bin Salmans grand goals to remake Saudi life while the consultants, who outnumbered the Saudis, quietly took notes.BCG has been deeply enmeshed in laying out the economic blueprint of the country, called Vision 2030, which aims to wean Saudi Arabia from its dependency on oil revenues. A McKinsey report in 2015 laid out the broad strokes of that plan.Asked by The Economist in 2016 about a $4 trillion estimate of needed investment to transform the kingdoms economy, the prince immediately recognized the figure. This is a report from McKinsey, not from the Saudi government, he replied, adding that McKinsey participates with us in many studies.Last months Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, a conclave championed by Prince Mohammed, underscored Saudi Arabias importance to the consulting firms. While executives, companies and journalists pulled out amid the global furor over Mr. Khashoggis murder, they stayed on.McKinsey led panels on money and energy, the event program showed. Boston Consulting Group focused on unspecified intelligence.In a statement, BCG said it focused in Saudi Arabia on work that could positively contribute to economic and societal transformation and that the company has turned down work that goes against that principle. The firm declines projects that involve military or intelligence strategy, a spokesman said.For years, Booz Allen has trained the Saudi Navy, part of an American government program to help allied militaries. The company has worked with the navy on operations, intelligence and electronic warfare, as well as logistics and financial management, it said in 2012. The contract ended last year, a spokesman said.Dozens of American military veterans work for Booz Allen in Saudi Arabia. One retired rear admiral with combat experience in the region advises top Saudi officers on military planning. Others have extensive shipboard experience that could be used to train Saudis on how to carry out blockades and how to operate equipment like electronic warfare gear that can detect and interfere with enemy radars and missiles.A spokesman for Booz Allen said the firms work with the Saudis did not include training on blockades or electronic warfare equipment. The spokesman said such work was out of the parameters of its United States government license covering the companys work with the Saudis.Booz Allen also advises the Saudi Army; it won a contract to help with logistics, including maintaining the Saudis Abrams tanks.In a statement, Booz Allen said that it had provided no support for Saudi Arabias war in Yemen, and that the company coordinates with the American government to ensure that its work is consistent with U.S. foreign policy and trade regulations. The firm did not address whether the troops and sailors it trains participate in the Saudi blockade in Yemen.The United States military has provided limited but significant aid to the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen, including refueling aircraft, sharing intelligence and sending Army commandos to the Saudi-Yemeni border to locate and destroy caches of ballistic missiles that Iran-backed Houthi rebels have used to attack Saudi cities.ImageCredit...Tasneem Alsultan for The New York TimesBooz Allen did advise the Saudi government on a plan to provide humanitarian aid to Yemen. But the project, the Yemen Comprehensive Humanitarian Operations, is seen by aid groups as an ineffective effort that undercuts the United Nations own program.We have had no control over how the plan or portions of it may have been used, the company said. Booz Allens role was first reported by IRIN, a humanitarian news agency.After signing the agreement in March to help shore up Saudi cybersecurity, Booz Allen began working directly to protect the systems of government ministries, citing damaging cyberattacks in companies in the kingdom. It also ran a so-called hack-a-thon the kind of event the company has done in the United States to teach people how to penetrate computer systems to discover their vulnerabilities.Booz Allen denied that its work with the Saudis involved hacks or the use of cyber for offensive purposes. But cyberexperts say that the same defensive maneuvers used to discover vulnerabilities or otherwise protect computer networks can easily be redirected to target other governments or dissidents as well.As for McKinsey, its work with Saudi Arabia is controversial even within the firm. Amid the Arab Spring, its consultants in the region argued that the firm should consider curtailing business in Saudi Arabia, said one former McKinsey consultant who worked in the Middle East.But more senior consultants, including partners, said McKinsey was not in the business of passing judgment on its clients cultures and values. The best way to improve the kingdom, they argued, was to modernize the economy and make government and companies work better.Rather than scaling back in Saudi Arabia, McKinsey doubled down.Many foreign consultants working in Saudi Arabia fail to understand the local culture or how an authoritarian government could exploit their work, said one consultant who has worked with the higher reaches of the Saudi government. He qualified that by saying that his colleagues take care to try not to cause harm.In a statement, a McKinsey spokesman said, We are proud of our record in Saudi Arabia, citing job creation and improved health outcomes.Consultants who aim to help authoritarian governments from the inside often give in to a desire to preserve their lucrative assignments, said Calvert W. Jones, a professor at the University of Maryland who studies the role of consultants in the Middle East.They soft-pedal, she said. Their fear is if they speak truth to power at this state of their interactions, they will be tossed out.The surge in business for BCG, McKinsey and Booz Allen also stems from Prince Mohammeds need for expertise as he pushes his proposals to revamp the country. His dependence on consultants is so great that some of the companies have people embedded at the royal court to respond quickly to requests, according to three consultants who have done work for the kingdom.Some reported being asked to turn around proposals in 24 hours, much faster than they often work. And the crown prince will sometimes ask different companies for proposals, then have their consultants pitch to each other as he looks on, the consultants said.Its like a beauty pageant, said one.Many of the consultants, who spend five days a week in Riyadh before flying elsewhere to see their families on weekends, were annoyed last year when the government kicked them out of their preferred hotel, the Ritz-Carlton, to use it as a temporary lockup for those accused of corruption.But not long after the government released those held, the consultants moved back in.",6
"Ed Sheeran, Darren Criss We're Getting Hitched to Our Girlfriends!!! 1/20/2018 Commitment is in the air, because Ed Sheeran and Darren Criss just got engaged!!! Ed's gonna marry his girlfriend Cherry Seaborn, a 25-year-old accountant. He posted this ... ""Got myself a fiance just before new year. We are very happy and in love, and our cats are chuffed as well xx."" Ed has said Cherry was his inspiration for the song, ""Perfect."" Darren Criss has decided to take his 7-year-relationship with GF Mia Swier to the next level, or as he put it, he's ""kicking [it] up a notch."" Criss is on a roll with his role as Andrew Cunanan in ""Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story."" Congrats to all.",1
"A new study finds a weak link between coloring and straightening treatments and breast cancer. But experts caution the results are far from certain. Credit...iStock/Getty ImagesDec. 4, 2019For decades, scientists have debated whether hair dyes frequently used by women might contribute to cancer. The research has been mixed and inconclusive, but now government investigators have turned up a disturbing new possibility.Black women who regularly used permanent dyes to color their hair were 60 percent more likely to develop breast cancer, compared to black women who did not report using dye, according to an analysis published this week in The International Journal of Cancer. White women using hair dye did not see a significantly increased risk. The reasons are unclear: It may be because different products are designed for women of different ethnic and racial backgrounds, or that variations in hair texture alter the amounts of dye that are applied or absorbed through the skin. The study also implicated hair straighteners, finding a 30 percent increase in the risk of breast cancer among women of all races who reported regular use of the products. African-American women were much more likely than white women to use hair straighteners, the researchers noted.The analysis does not prove hair treatments cause breast cancer, several experts said, and the overall risk for African-American women is difficult to know. Fewer than 10 percent of the studys participants were black women, their use of hair products was assessed only once, and they were tracked for just eight years on average. Generally, scientists become concerned when an environmental exposure doubles or triples cancer risk, meaning the relative risk rises by 100 percent or more. The figures reported in the new study fall short of that threshold.You cannot, based on these data, make the statement that hair dyes and straighteners cause breast cancer, said Dr. Larry Norton, medical director of the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. These effects were small. Still, some scientists said the findings were concerning because of how popular hair products are. In the study, more than half said they had used hair dye, and nearly three-quarters of black women reported using hair straighteners.Our advice is that if you want to take a cautionary approach, limiting the use of these types of products is warranted, said Robin Dodson, a research scientist at the Silent Spring Institute in Newton, Mass., who studies environmental risks to womens health.[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]She has identified several chemicals that mimic the hormone estrogen in hair straighteners used by black women, including parabens, commonly used as a preservative, and some banned by the European Union. Estrogen can fuel some types of breast cancer.Most products put out there on the market today are not adequately tested for safety, and they arent tested for endocrine-disrupting chemicals, Dr. Dodson said, referring to additives that interfere with hormones in the body. Most people are very surprised to learn that theres nobody really minding the store.The new study, carried out by scientists at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the N.I.H., relied on data from 46,709 women in the so-called Sister Study. Participants were between the ages of 35 and 74 and living in the United States from 2003 to 2009. None had breast cancer at the start of the study, but all had at least one sister who had breast cancer meaning that subjects, too, were at elevated risk.The women were asked about their use of hair treatments when they first enrolled in the study. They were followed over an average of eight years, during which 2,794 breast cancers were diagnosed.The take-home message is that these risks are potentially important, but we know that a lot of different factors contribute to a womans risk of breast cancer, said Alexandra White, head of the environment and cancer epidemiology group at the N.I.E.H.S. and an author of the new report.We want women to have this information and take it into account in their lifestyle decisions, but to keep in mind that the risks associated with these are small, she added.Only 4,087 of the participants in the study were black women, about 9 percent, she noted, and that number may be too small to know whether the risks are real. These findings are definitely more concerning for black women because of the findings on permanent dye and their more frequent use of chemical straighteners, Dr. White said. Many straighteners contain formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. Dr. White suggested that women switch from permanent dyes to semi-permanent dyes, which were not found to be associated with an increase in cancer.",2
"Her focus was on immunology and how to predict and diagnose the outcomes of transplants. She was, a colleague said, a great researcher and a great mentor to many people.Credit...via Mount Sinai Health SystemJuly 3, 2021Dr. Barbara Murphy, a leading nephrologist who specialized in advanced research that focused on predicting and diagnosing the outcomes of kidney transplants, died on Wednesday at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, where she had worked since 1997. She was 56.The cause was glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, her husband, Peter Fogarty, said.Dr. Murphy blended a passion for research into kidney transplant immunology in her role, since 2012, as the chairwoman of the department of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and its broader health system. She was the first woman named to run a department of medicine at an academic medical center in New York City.In baseball, they talk about five-tool players, Dr. Dennis S. Charney, dean of the Icahn School, said by phone. I dont know how many tools she had, but she was a very strong administrator, a great researcher and a great mentor to many people.Dr. Murphy, who was from Ireland, developed her interest in kidney transplantation while attending medical school at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin. She was drawn especially to how the surgery transformed patients lives.I love seeing how well patients do afterward, she told Irish America magazine in 2016. For all the years that Ive been in this profession, the interaction between a living donor and a recipient in the recovery room still makes me proud to be a physician and to play a part in such a life-affirming moment.After being recruited to Mount Sinai in 1997, she joined other researchers in examining the role of H.I.V. in kidney disease and helped establish the viability of kidney transplants for patients with H.I.V. In a speech at the Royal College in 2018, she recalled that there had been criticism of such transplants as if there were a moral hierarchy when it came to donor kidneys.She added, Two weeks ago, we received an email from one of our patients, thanking us on his 15th renal transplant birthday.More recently, Dr. Murphys research at her Mount Sinai laboratory focused on the genetics and genomics of predicting the results of transplants, and on why some kidneys are rejected.In findings reported in The Lancet in 2016, she and her collaborators said they had identified a set of 13 genes that predicted which patients would subsequently develop fibrosis, a hallmark of chronic kidney disease, and, ultimately, irreversible damage to the transplanted organ. Being able to predict which patients were at risk, they wrote, would allow for treatment to prevent fibrosis.Her research has been licensed to two companies. One, Verici DX, which is still in validation trials in advance of commercial sales, is developing RNA signature tests to determine how a patient is responding to, and will respond to, a transplant. The other company, Renalytix, uses an algorithm guided by artificial intelligence to identify a kidney disease risk score for patients. Dr. Murphy served on the boards of both companies.Barbara was foundational to Verici, Sara Barrington, the companys chief executive, said by phone. She added, Her lab will continue to file new discoveries out of her base research.ImageCredit...Roger Tully, via Mount Sinai Health SystemBarbara Therese Murphy was born on Oct. 15, 1964, in South Dublin. Her father, John, owned an airfreight company, and her mother, Anne (Duffy) Murphy, worked with him and also designed bridal wear.At age 4 she had to overcome a harsh judgment by a teacher.My elementary school teacher told my mother I was a dunce and I would never be anything, and whats more she shouldnt even try, Dr. Murphy recalled in a speech at a health care awards dinner sponsored by Irish America in 2016. Fortunately, my parents persevered.After earning her medical degree at the Royal College in 1989, she completed her residency and a nephrology fellowship at Beaumont Hospital, also in Dublin. She was also a nephrology fellow in the renal division of Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston, where she trained in transplant immunology.Dr. Murphy was recruited to Mount Sinai in 1997 as director of transplant nephrology by Dr. Paul Klotman, then the chief of the division of nephrology. He promoted her to his former position in 2003 after he had become chairman of Icahns department of medicine.She showed a lot of promise in transplant nephrology, which was emerging at the time, Dr. Klotman, now the president of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said by phone. Over the years she developed good leadership skills: She was very organized and task oriented.In the spring of 2020, Dr. Murphy, like other physicians, noticed with alarm that Covid-19 was much more than a respiratory disease. It was causing a surge in kidney failure that led to shortages of machines, supplies and personnel needed for emergency dialysis.The number of patients needing dialysis is orders of magnitude greater than the number of patients we normally dialyze, she told The New York Times.One of Mount Sinais responses to the pandemic that May was to open the Center for Post-Covid Care, for patients recovering from the virus. At the time, Mount Sinai had treated more than 8,000 patients who had been diagnosed with Covid-19.Barbara was instrumental in forming the center, Dr. Charney said, and she was involved in the follow-up as it related to kidney disease caused by Covid.Dr. Murphy was given the Young Investigator Award in Basic Science from the American Society of Transplantation in 2003 and named nephrologist of the year by the American Kidney Fund in 2011. At her death, she was president-elect of the American Society of Nephrology.In addition to her husband, she is survived by their son, Gavin; her sister, Dr. Celine Murphy, a cardiologist who works in occupational health; her brother, Dr. Kieran Murphy, an interventional neuroradiologist; and her parents.Dr. Murphy said she had learned an indelible lesson about the need for a strong patient-doctor relationship while still in medical school.Scholarship alone was not enough, she said at the Irish America award ceremony. An example: If we had a patient with rheumatoid arthritis and we shook their hands and they winced, it didnt matter how much we knew about the disease or how to treat it, wed failed our exam because we hadnt taken the patients overall well-being into consideration.",2
"Politics|As Congress meets to certify Bidens victory, Trump addresses protesters calling on Pence to overturn results.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/us/politics/as-congress-meets-to-certify-bidens-victory-trump-addresses-protesters-calling-on-pence-to-overturn-results.htmlCredit...Pete Marovich for The New York TimesJan. 6, 2021Washington girded for the volatile final act of the Trump presidency on Wednesday, as President Trump unwilling to cede the limelight or his fantasy of victory transforming a moment of Democratic triumph into a day of defiance by summoning supporters to his backyard for an airing of grievances.We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesnt happen, Mr. Trump told a gathering of die-hard fans at the Ellipse behind the White House on Wednesday essentially foreclosing any possibility he might opt for a conventional path from power.In a fitting bookend of his presidency filled with bravado and falsehood, Mr. Trump spoke at length about the size of the crowd gathered to greet him much as he obsessed over the turnout of his inauguration four years ago.And he continued to keep up his pressure on his own vice president, Mike Pence, who has rebuffed his attempts to block the certification in Congress of President-elect Joseph R. Bidens election on Wednesday in his role as the Senates presiding officer.I just spoke to Mike, he told the crowd. I hope Mike is going to do the right thing. I hope so. I hope so. Because if Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election.On Tuesday night, Mr. Trump watched from the White House residence, according to aides, as the Rev. Raphael Warnock claimed victory and Jon Ossoff led in the Georgia runoff elections on Tuesday night, smarting over a report that Mr. Pence told him that he had no authority to intervene and reverse the election results.On Wednesday, he seemed to concede that the Republican Senate candidates had lost, telling his supporters they never had a shot.The Georgia results, if their trajectory holds, would deliver to Mr. Biden control of both chambers of Congress, a staggering loss many Republicans blame on the presidents tardy and tepid efforts on behalf of the incumbents in the runoff election.Unable to win his race and unwilling to set aside his personal grudges for his partys greater good Mr. Trump has chosen, as he often has when cornered, to distract, disrupt and upstage his opponents.Mr. Trumps rally may overlap with a gathering of greater importance at the eastern end of the National Mall. The House and Senate will convene Wednesday afternoon for a remarkable joint session to formalize Mr. Bidens Electoral College victory, as Trump allies plot to hijack what is typically a mundane, ceremonial exercise into a last stand a move opposed by a growing number of their fellow Republicans and doomed to failure.Bipartisan majorities in both chambers are prepared to meet late into the night to beat back the challenges and confirm Mr. Biden as the winner. But by using the proceeding as a forum for trying to subvert a democratic election, Mr. Trump and his allies are going where no party has since the Reconstruction era of the 19th century, when Congress bargained over the presidency.",3
"Facebook was going to compete with Google for some advertising sales but backed away from the plan after the companies cut a preferential deal, according to court documents.Credit...Paige Vickers Published Jan. 17, 2021Updated April 6, 2021In 2017, Facebook said it was testing a new way of selling online advertising that would threaten Googles control of the digital ad market. But less than two years later, Facebook did an about-face and said it was joining an alliance of companies backing a similar effort by Google.Facebook never said why it pulled back from its project, but evidence presented in an antitrust lawsuit filed by 10 state attorneys general last month indicates that Google had extended to Facebook, its closest rival for digital advertising dollars, a sweetheart deal to be a partner.Details of the agreement, based on documents the Texas attorney generals office said it had uncovered as part of the multistate suit, were redacted in the complaint filed in federal court in Texas last month. But they were not hidden in a draft version of the complaint reviewed by The New York Times.Executives at six of the more than 20 partners in the alliance told The Times that their agreements with Google did not include many of the same generous terms that Facebook received and that the search giant had handed Facebook a significant advantage over the rest of them.The executives, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid jeopardizing their business relationships with Google, also said they had not known that Google had afforded such advantages to Facebook. The clear disparity in how their companies were treated by Google when compared to Facebook has not been previously reported.The disclosure of the deal between the tech giants has renewed concerns about how the biggest technology companies band together to close off competition. The deals are often consequential, defining the winners and losers in various markets for technology services and products. They are agreed upon in private with the crucial deal terms hidden through confidentiality clauses.Google and Facebook said that such deals were common in the digital advertising industry and that they were not thwarting competition.Julie Tarallo McAlister, a Google spokeswoman, said the complaint misrepresents this agreement, as it does many other aspects of our ad tech business. She added that Facebook is one of many companies that participate in the Google-led program and that Facebook is a partner in similar alliances with other companies.Christopher Sgro, a Facebook spokesman, said deals like its agreement with Google help increase competition in ad auctions, which benefits advertisers and publishers. Any suggestion that these types of agreements harm competition is baseless, he said. Google and Facebook declined to elaborate on the specifics of their deal.The Wall Street Journal had reported on aspects of the draft complaint earlier.The swell of recent antitrust cases filed against Google and Facebook has cast a spotlight on lucrative deals among Big Tech. In October, the Justice Department sued Google and homed in on an agreement with Apple to feature Google as the preselected search engine on iPhones and other devices.This idea that the major tech platforms are robustly competing against each other is very much overstated, said Sally Hubbard, a former assistant attorney general in New Yorks antitrust bureau who now works at Open Markets Institute, a think tank. In many ways, they reinforce each others monopoly power.Google and Facebook accounted for more than half of all digital advertising spending in 2019. In addition to displaying advertising on their own platforms, such as Googles search engine and Facebooks home page, websites, app developers and publishers rely on the companies to secure advertising for their pages.The agreement between Facebook and Google, code-named Jedi Blue inside Google, pertains to a growing segment of the online advertising market called programmatic advertising. Online advertising pulls in hundreds of billions of dollars in global revenue each year, and the automated buying and selling of ad space accounts for more than 60 percent of the total, according to researchers.In the milliseconds between a user clicking on a link to a web page and the pages ads loading, bids for available ad space are placed behind the scenes in marketplaces known as exchanges, with the winning bid passed to an ad server. Because Googles ad exchange and ad server were both dominant, it often directed the business to its own exchange.A method called header bidding emerged, in part as a workaround to reduce reliance on Googles ad platforms. News outlets and other sites could solicit bids from multiple exchanges at once, helping to increase competition and leading to better prices for publishers. By 2016, more than 70 percent of publishers had adopted the technology, according to one estimate.Seeing a potentially significant loss of business to header bidding, Google developed an alternative called Open Bidding, which supported an alliance of exchanges. While Open Bidding allows other exchanges to simultaneously compete alongside Google, the search company extracts a fee for every winning bid, and competitors say there is less transparency for publishers.The threat of Facebook, one of the biggest ad buyers on the internet, supporting header bidding was a grave concern at Google. The draft of the complaint reviewed by The Times cited an email from a Google executive calling it an existential threat that required an all hands on deck approach.Facebook announced in March 2017 that it was testing header bidding with publishers like The Washington Post, Forbes and The Daily Mail. Facebook also took a jab at Google, saying the digital ad industry had been handing over profits to third-party middlemen who make the rules and obfuscate the truth.Before Google and Facebook signed the deal in Sept. 2018, Facebook executives outlined the companys options to Mark Zuckerberg, its chief executive, according to the draft of the complaint: hire hundreds more engineers and spend billions of dollars to compete against Google; exit the business; or do the deal.To many in the ad industry, Facebook joining Googles alliance felt like a reversal on header bidding. One Open Bidding partner said it had been excited to be in discussions with Facebook about setting up an alternative to Googles alliance only to have conversations abruptly cease in 2018.Facebook disclosed that it had joined Googles program in one line in a Dec. 2018 blog post. But it did not reveal that Google, according to the draft complaint, provided Facebook with special information and speed advantages to help the company succeed in the auctions that it did not offer to other partners even including a guaranteed win rate.In this market, where fractions of a second count, a speed advantage was decisive. Facebook had 300 milliseconds to bid for ads, according to court documents. But the executives at Googles partner companies said they usually had just 160 milliseconds or less to bid.Facebook had yet another advantage: Direct billing relationships with the sites where ads would appear, according to the court documents. For most other partners, Google controlled pricing information, effectively putting up a wall between Open Bidding participants and site owners and hiding how much of winning bids sites end up receiving, the executives at other companies said.Google agreed to help Facebook have a better understanding of who would be shown the ads by helping the company identify 80 percent of mobile users and 60 percent of web users, the documents said. But several other partners said they had little such help understanding who was being shown ads.Adam Heimlich, the chief executive of Chalice Custom Algorithms, a marketing and data science consulting company, said the deal gave Facebook so much advantage that it was like allowing the social network to start every tournament in the finals.Facebook promised to bid on at least 90 percent of auctions when it could identify the end user and committed to spending a certain amount of money as much as $500 million a year by the fourth year of the agreement, according to the draft of the complaint. Facebook also demanded that data about its bids not be used by Google to manipulate auctions in its own favor, a level playing field not explicitly promised to other Open Bidding partners.Perhaps the most serious claim in the draft complaint was that the two companies had predetermined that Facebook would win a fixed percentage of auctions that it bid on.Unbeknown to other market participants, no matter how high others might bid, the parties have agreed that the gavel will come down in Facebooks favor a set number of times, the draft complaint said. A Google spokeswoman said Facebook must make the highest bid to win an auction, just like its other exchange and ad network partners.While both companies said that the deal is not an antitrust matter, they included a clause in the agreement that requires the parties to cooperate and assist each other if they are investigated for competition concerns over the partnership.The word antitrust is mentioned no less than 20 times"" throughout the agreement, the draft complaint said.Steve Lohr contributed reporting.",5
"Science|How Good Is a Bad Nights Sleep?https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/28/science/how-good-is-a-bad-nights-sleep.htmlQ&ACredit...Victoria RobertsNov. 28, 2016Q. Is a nights sleep physiologically beneficial even if it includes emotionally disturbing nightmares?A. Almost certainly yes, said Dr. Neomi Shah, a specialist at the Mount Sinai Integrative Sleep Center in New York. Despite the problems nightmares can cause, sleeping and having them is better than not sleeping, research suggests.Nightmares can make it difficult to sleep and interfere with daytime functioning, but physiological indicators of sleep patterns and quality do not differ in people who have nightmares, Dr. Shah said.Frequent long, distressing and vivid dreams often wake people and cause problems like insomnia and poor sleep quality, she said. Research has also consistently demonstrated that nightmares can harm general well-being, affect mood and elevate stress.Some studies suggest there are measurable sleep problems for people who have nightmares, while others show no difference. The studies that show such a link found that people who woke up stayed awake longer and that certain stages of sleep did not last as long. But people in those studies who had nightmares also had longer periods of rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep, when most dreaming occurs.A weakness of these studies is that they were not conducted in the subjects normal sleeping environment. A more recent study in such an environment found no differences in so-called sleep architecture, sleep-cycle and REM durations, or sleep patterns for just the nights with nightmares.Therefore, Dr. Shah said, despite upsetting nightmares, sleep architecture appears to be preserved, and subjects with frequent nightmares are likely deriving the physiological benefits of sleep. question@nytimes.com",7
"Middle East|3,300 Egyptian Children Hospitalized After Food Poisoninghttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/world/middleeast/egypt-food-poisoning-3300-children.htmlMarch 15, 2017CAIRO More than 3,300 children were hospitalized in Egypt on Tuesday after an outbreak of food poisoning at several state-run primary schools, state-owned news media said.The mass poisoning, in the impoverished Upper Egypt province of Sohag, north of Luxor, was one of the biggest food-safety cases to hit the country in years.Officials suspect that school lunches may have been contaminated, and they have opened an investigation. Samples from the lunches, consisting of processed cheese cubes, dry sesame paste bars and loaves of bread, were being analyzed, they added.Children, most younger than 12, began vomiting within an hour of eating the lunches, Ahmed Nashaat, a Sohag lawmaker, said in a telephone interview. A total of 3,353 children became ill, and at least 50 ambulances were sent to the schools, state news media said. Since then, all but 17 of the students have recovered and been discharged. No deaths or serious complications were reported.The ordeal revived complaints over the declining quality of Egypts public education and health systems. It is ridiculous how this keeps on happening, Mr. Nashaat said. It is not hard to store biscuits and look at the expiration date.Apparently in an attempt to deflect some of the anger, the governor of Sohag, Ayman Abdel-Moneim, quickly suspended the distribution of government meals and demanded that changes be made to how they were stored and transported to schools.Tuesdays outbreak was one in a long series that have occurred in public schools and universities nationwide recently. Earlier this month, more than 214 students were found to have food poisoning caused by government meals at several schools in the provinces of Minya and Assiut.Outrage over such instances of perceived government neglect was a main cause of the popular uprising in 2011 that toppled the government of President Hosni Mubarak. It was not just the parents who were angry in Sohag, Mr. Nashaat said. Everyone believes that was the result of neglect. This is leading people to conclude that the people in charge dont care about their kids.",6
"Corner OfficeCredit...Earl Wilson/The New York TimesDec. 12, 2015This interview with Jessica Herrin, founder and chief executive of Stella & Dot Family Brands, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.Q. What were some early influences for you?A. My parents were divorced when I was young, and thats where a lot of my drive comes from. My mom was a very smart, capable woman who became a mother as a teenager, and she always felt her lifes path was shaped by the challenges of not having much financial independence. So I was very determined to never let that happen to me. I started working two jobs from the time I was 15. It was never about earning money; it was about earning independence and choice.I mostly grew up with my dad. He is the quintessential entrepreneur, and a lot of my entrepreneurial spirit comes from him. His mother was a widow when he was 3. As he grew up, he was always the man of the house and always needed to have a job to help put food on the table. But his family never thought that they didnt have everything they needed. He has this attitude of great abundance, and hes always happy, always grateful, and the most positive person.He was always a smart guy, but since he also worked a lot he was not very focused in high school, until one day his calculus teacher told him, Im not going to pass you just because youre a senior. He wasnt going to graduate if he didnt pass the class. So he went to the library, studied hard and went from math dunce to genius. He believes that if you want to learn something, go crack a book and do it.What did you do after college?I had a mountain of debt, and I was about to take a job as an investment banker. At the last minute, I ended up going to interview with a software company in Texas. When I was driving back to the airport after the interview, uncertain about what to do, the cabdriver looked in the rearview mirror and could see I was lost in thought.He said, Darlin, whats on your mind? I told him I was weighing two different jobs. And he said, Heres the thing, sweetheart. Which job has the greater upside? Whats the downside, and is it worth the risk? And I said, Those are great questions. I took the job in Texas, and that has been my decision-making framework pretty much ever since. That cabdriver was my angel in a cowboy hat.You started WeddingChannel.com in your early 20s and later sold it to the Knot. What were some leadership and management lessons from those days?It was a good warm-up round for Stella & Dot, but I was a terrible leader back then. I was a 24-year-old kid under extreme pressure, and I had no experience. We went from two people to 140 in the space of a year. Then the dot-com bubble started to burst, and I knew that if I didnt do well, all these people around me were going to get fired. At that age, I didnt have the emotional intelligence to realize that a leader needs to be at their best under pressure, not their worst.I had that typical early-entrepreneur hero complex, where it was about how well I did versus how well I helped other people do the work. Thank goodness I got that out of my system early.Then a mentor told me that if I ever want to run a large company, I should go work at one. So I got a job as a middle manager at Dell, and I had to develop skills as a leader. I also got pregnant with my first child, and I was always sick and tired, so I had to become far more focused in how I was spending my time. I learned to focus on what really matters.And then you started Stella & Dot. How big is the company?Our revenue is around $300 million, and we have over 400 people in the home office and about 50,000 independent business owners in six countries.And what were your thoughts on culture this time?I wanted to hire missionaries, not mercenaries. The challenge, especially when youre growing fast, is to be incredibly fierce about your hiring filters. You have to commit to caring for the culture more than the quarter.So how do you hire?I start by asking them about how they grew up and what was influential in their life and what did their parents do and what theyre really passionate about. And then I ask them, What do you want to be known for, what mark do you want to leave? I just want to see that theyre someone who really has a deep well of passion and that they think that way. I also ask people what their superpower is.Its really about, do you care about the mission, do you have a fierce work ethic, are you a good person who other people enjoy being around, and do you care about winning as a company? Thats what I really try to tease out.The other really important thing is adaptability, and whether you can let things roll off your back. Youve got to find people who have the mental wiring to see opportunities more than they focus on obstacles. And if you offer them constructive criticism, theyre curious instead of frustrated, and theyre open-minded instead of defensive.What advice do you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?The biggest thing is to have authentic passion. Creating something is very difficult. It requires perseverance, it takes a lot longer than you want it to, and its a lot harder than you think. You need passion to levitate over the obstacles you will face.And what I tell everyone is, do not be afraid to wash windows. If you are a passionate, open-minded person, you will find that opportunity is all around you, and you have to be the one who sees it. So dont look around and complain about the parts you dont like.If you decide to be your best and bring passion to everything you do, you will find more greatness within yourself and far more opportunity.",0
"The companys Electron rocket carried a batch of small commercial satellites from a launchpad in New Zealand, a harbinger of a major transformation to the space business.Credit...Rocket LabNov. 10, 2018A small rocket from a little-known company lifted off Sunday from the east coast of New Zealand, carrying a clutch of tiny satellites. That modest event the first commercial launch by a U.S.-New Zealand company known as Rocket Lab could mark the beginning of a new era in the space business, where countless small rockets pop off from spaceports around the world. This miniaturization of rockets and spacecraft places outer space within reach of a broader swath of the economy.The rocket, called the Electron, is a mere sliver compared to the giant rockets that Elon Musk, of SpaceX, and Jeffrey P. Bezos, of Blue Origin, envisage using to send people into the solar system. It is just 56 feet tall and can carry only 500 pounds into space.But Rocket Lab is aiming for markets closer to home.Were FedEx, said Peter Beck, the New Zealand-born founder and chief executive of Rocket Lab. Were a little man that delivers a parcel to your door.Behind Rocket Lab, a host of start-up companies are also jockeying to provide transportation to space for a growing number of small satellites. The payloads include constellations of telecommunications satellites that would provide the world with ubiquitous internet access.The payload of this mission, which Rocket Lab whimsically named Its Business Time, offered a glimpse of this future: two ship-tracking satellites for Spire Global; a small climate- and environment-monitoring satellite for GeoOptics; a small probe built by high school students in Irvine, Calif., and a demonstration version of a drag sail that would pull defunct satellites out of orbit.Space Angels, a space-business investment firm, is tracking 150 small launch companies. Chad Anderson, Space Angels chief executive, said that although the vast majority of these companies will fail, a small group possess the financing and engineering wherewithal to get off the ground.Each company on Mr. Andersons list proffers its own twist in business plan or capability: Vector Launch Inc. aims for mass production; Virgin Orbit, a piece of Richard Bransons business empire, will drop its rockets from the bottom of a 747 at 35,000 feet up; Relativity Space plans to 3-D print almost all pieces of its rockets; Firefly Aerospace will offer a slightly larger rocket in a bet that the small satellites will grow a bit in size and weight; Gilmour Space Technologies is a rare Australian aerospace company; And Astra Space Inc., which is operating in stealth mode like a Silicon Valley start-up, saying nothing about what is doing. [Sign up to get reminders for space and astronomy events on your calendar.]Business is getting smallerImageCredit...Andy Buchanan/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesRockets are shrinking, because satellites are shrinking.In the past, hulking telecommunications satellites hovered 22,000 miles above the Equator in what is known as a geosynchronous orbit, where a satellite continuously remains over the same spot on Earth. Because sending a satellite, there was so expensive, it made sense to pack as much as possible into each one.Advances in technology and computer chips have enabled smaller satellites to perform the same tasks as their predecessors. And constellations of hundreds or thousands of small satellites, orbiting at lower altitudes that are easier to reach, can mimic the capabilities once possible only from a fixed geosynchronous position.Its really a shift in the market, Mr. Beck said. What once took the size of a car is now the size of a microwave oven, and with exactly the same kind of capabilities.Some companies already have launched swarms of satellites to make observations of Earth. Next up are the promised space-based internet systems such as OneWeb and SpaceXs Starlink.Until now, such small spacecraft typically hitched a rocket ride alongside a larger satellite. That trip is cheaper but inconvenient, because the schedule is set by the main customer. If the big satellite is delayed, the smaller ones stay on the ground, too. You just cant go to business like that, Mr. Beck said.The Electron, Mr. Beck said, is capable of lifting more than 60 percent of the spacecraft that headed to orbit last year. By contrast, space analysts wonder how much of a market exists for a behemoth like SpaceXs Falcon Heavy, which had its first spectacular launch in February.A Falcon Heavy can lift a payload 300 times heavier than a Rocket Lab Electron, but it costs $90 million compared to the Electrons $5 million. Whereas SpaceXs standard Falcon 9 rocket has no shortage of customers, the Heavy has only announced a half-dozen customers for the years to come.The United States military a primary customer for large launch vehicles is also rethinking its spy satellites. The system would be more resilient, some analysts think, if its capabilities were spread among many, smaller satellites. Smaller satellites would be easier and quicker to replace, and an enemy would have a harder time destroying all of them.Pit stops in the space raceSpaceX could have cornered this market a decade ago.Its first rocket, the Falcon 1, was designed to lift about 1,500 pounds. But after just two successful launches, SpaceX abandoned it, focusing on the much larger Falcon 9 to serve NASAs needs to carry cargo and, eventually, astronauts to the International Space Station.Jim Cantrell, one of the first employees of SpaceX, did not understand that decision and left the company. In 2015, he started Vector Launch, Inc., with headquarters in Tucson. Its goal is to make the Model T of rockets small, cheap, mass-produced.Vector claims that it can send its rockets into orbit from almost any place it can set up its mobile launch platform, which is basically a heavily modified trailer. That trailer was inspired by Mr. Cantrells hobby, auto racing, and many of the companies employees come from the racing world, too.The company is still aiming to meet its goal of getting the first of its Vector-R rockets to orbit this year, but Mr. Cantrell admitted that the schedule might slip again, into early 2019. The flight termination system the piece of hardware that disables the rocket if anything goes wrong is late in arriving.There are a lot of little things, Mr. Cantrell said. It drives you crazy.A prototype was planned for suborbital launch from Mojave, Calif., in September, but it encountered a glitch and the test was called off. The crew put the rocket in a racecar trailer and drove it to Vectors testing site at Pinal Airpark, a small airport a half-hour outside of Tucson that is surrounded 350 acres of shrubby desert.Vector built test stands for firings of individual engines as well as completed rocket stages. During a recent visit to the site, engineers were troubleshooting the launch problems of both the prototype rocket and a developmental version of its upper-stage engine.Soon the team will head to the Pacific Spaceport Complex, on Alaskas Kodiak Island, for its first orbital launch. Next year, Mr. Cantrell said, the company hopes to put a dozen rockets into space.Within a few years, he added, it could be launching 100 times a year, not just from Kodiak but also from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and Wallops Island in Virginia, where Rocket Lab agreed in October to build its second launch complex. Vector is also looking for additional launch sites, including one by the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.Resurrected rocketryImageCredit...Thom Baur/ReutersTom Markusic, another veteran of SpaceXs early days, also sees an opportunity to help smaller satellites get to space.I didnt feel there was a properly sized launch company to address that market, he said.Mr. Markusic said that the need for stronger antennas and cameras would ultimately prompt the construction of slightly bigger small satellites, and that it would be beneficial to be able to launch several at a time.He started Firefly in 2014, aiming to build Alpha, a rocket that would lift a 900-pound payload to orbit.The company grew to 150 employees and won a NASA contract. But in the uncertainty surrounding Britains exit from the European Union, a European investor backed out. An American investor also became skittish, Mr. Markusic said, after a SpaceX rocket exploded on the launchpad in 2016. Firefly shut down, and the employees lost their jobs.At an auction, a Ukraine-born entrepreneur, Max Polyakov, one of Fireflys investors, resurrected the company. Mr. Markusic took the opportunity to rethink the Alpha rocket, which is now able to launch more than 2,000 pounds.Alpha is basically Falcon 1 with some better technology, he said.Mr. Markusic said his competition was not the smaller rockets of Rocket Lab, Vector or Virgin Orbit but foreign competitors such as a government-subsidized rocket from India and commercial endeavors in China. But he complimented Rocket Lab.Theyre ahead of everyone else, he said. I think they deserve a lot of credit.Firefly plans to launch its first Alpha rocket in December of 2019.Riding the bus to orbitImageCredit...Greg Robinson/Virgin Orbit, via Associated PressNot everyone is convinced that the market for small satellites will be as robust as predicted.That equation has weaknesses at every step, said Carissa Christensen, founder and chief executive of Bryce Space and Technology, an aerospace consulting firm.Three-quarters of venture capital-financed companies fail, she said, and the same will likely happen to the companies aiming to put up the small satellites. She also is skeptical that space-based internet will win against ground-based alternatives.Publicly, theres no compelling business plans, she said.That means that the market for small rockets could implode for lack of business. She said a key to survival would be to tap into the needs of the United States government, especially the military. Virgin Orbit, Vector and Rocket Lab were the current front-runners, she said.The small rocket companies also have to compete with Spaceflight Industries, a Seattle company that resells empty space on larger rockets that is not taken up by the main payload. In addition, Spaceflight is looking to purchasing entire rockets launched by other companies, including Rocket Lab, and selling the payload space to a range of companies heading to a similar orbit.The first such flight, using a SpaceX Falcon 9, is to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base this month carrying 70 satellites, in what the company compares to a bus ride into orbit.Curt Blake, president of Spaceflight, said that both approaches can work. Buses are cheaper but less convenient, and sometimes the timely lift from a taxi is worth the added cost.Mr. Anderson of Space Angels was also optimistic. The difference today is how robust the sector is, he said. The sector today can handle failures.While the sector is getting off the ground, Rocket Lab doesnt intend to waste any more time: it is hoping to quickly follow Its Business Time with a second commercial launch next month, and then a third the month after that.Were very focused on the next 100 rockets, not the next one rocket. Mr. Beck said. Its one thing to go to orbit. Its a whole another thing to go to orbit on a regular basis._____Michael Roston contributed reporting.",7
"Credit...Alex Wong/Getty ImagesMarch 20, 2017WASHINGTON It was July 2014 when the Syrian defector, using the pseudonym Caesar, last slipped into Washington. Wearing a hood to hide his identity, the defector, a former Syrian police photographer, explained to a congressional committee how he had smuggled photographs out of the country that documented how thousands of Syrians had perished in President Bashar al-Assads prisons.Caesar had hoped the revelation would spur the Obama administration to take action against Mr. Assad, and he has acknowledged that he was bitterly disappointed when the United States and its allies refrained from intervening.Undaunted, Caesar and a fellow defector, a relative who identified himself as Sami, have returned to make a fresh appeal to a new commander in chief. Caesar is scheduled to go to the White House this week to urge President Trumps advisers to follow through on a pledge to establish safe zones in Syria and take other steps to assist the Syrian opposition.We are hopeful that President Trump will do what President Obama refused to do, Sami said. I do not believe the time is too late.The two defectors, who live in an undisclosed location abroad, made their case on Monday to small group of human rights experts and reporters in a private meeting at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and in a brief interview afterward. Neither photographs nor recordings of the session were allowed, to help protect their identity. They and their extended family are presumed to be at risk from the Syrian government and its agents.VideoThe Syrian conflict marks a grim anniversary on March 15, as the country enters its seventh year of civil war. The past year has been the deadliest for children since the conflict began, according to Unicef.CreditCredit...Joseph Eid/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesCaesar has supporters in Congress, but whether he will be able to make inroads with the Trump administration is far from clear. The defectors spoke Monday with Michael Ratney, who has served as the United States envoy on the Syria crisis, and they are scheduled to meet this week with senior aides at the National Security Council.But no meeting has been set with Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, Mr. Trumps national security adviser, or with the top echelons of the State Department or Pentagon.In a retrospective moment, the two defectors said they did not regret taking enormous risks to spirit the photos out of Syria even though they had discovered that the international community was better at expressing outrage than agreeing on measures to quell the fighting and to press for a more inclusive government that did not include Mr. Assad.For years, Caesar explained, his duties as a police photographer required him to document bodies that were often battered beyond recognition, a gruesome procedure mandated by the Syrian government. Determined to expose the torture and killing to the world, he smuggled thumb drives with the digital photos in his shoes and socks as he passed through government checkpoints.Nor was the government the only worry, he said. For a while, the opposition Free Syrian Army had controlled much of his neighborhood, and Caesar had been afraid that he would be in danger if the rebels found out he worked for the police. He handled that risk by making a fake civilian ID.By the end of 2013, he said, he had enough photos to document the murder and torture of more than 11,000 people and was ready to flee and make the evidence known. Caesar said his greatest worry was that the government would retaliate against his extended family.My life is not more valuable than the many who are being killed inside the country, he said. I died a hundred times a day. Looking at those bodies broke my heart.Navigating American policy on Syria has not been easy for the two defectors. While Mr. Obama declared that the Assad regime had lost the legitimacy to lead the nation and authorized a covert program to assist Syrian rebels, he was reluctant to take more direct action to compel the Syrian president to hand over power.The Trump administration has neither spoken out forcefully on the Syria crisis nor promised fresh action, beyond a pledge to establish safe zones to try to stem the flow of Syrian refugees.Mr. Trump indicated during the campaign that he has little interest in confronting Mr. Assad and has flirted with the idea of partnering with Russia, one of the Syrian governments main backers, to press the military campaign against the Islamic State. At the same time, however, Mr. Trumps vow to establish safe zones has given the defectors something of an opening.Establishing safe zones in the northern and southern parts of the country would do much to mitigate the suffering of the Syrians who oppose Mr. Assad, Sami said.American lawmakers, meanwhile, have been promoting legislation that would impose sanctions on anyone who provides financing or does business with the Assad government, which has also given the defectors a measure of hope. The legislation also calls for an assessment of how to set up safe zones or no-fly zones, and for an investigation of war crimes.The United States does not need to send troops, Sami said. It could sanction the Central Bank of Syria.",6
"Global HealthSierra Leone, one of the worlds poorest countries, is working to build a modern mental health system from scratch.Credit...Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York TimesApril 11, 2022FREETOWN, Sierra Leone For centuries, they called the foreboding building on a hill above this capital city the Kissy Lunatic Asylum. It was built in the early 1800s by the British colonial administration, and behind the high walls, patients were kept in chains. People here say the stench seeped from the brick walls, and the screams of patients, whose psychosis and trauma were untreated by medication or therapy, echoed out the narrow, barred windows.Today a small wooden sign hangs over the front desk in the outpatient department: Sierra Leone Psychiatric Teaching Hospital: Chain-free since 2018. The sunny corridors of the newly renovated facility flash with the fuchsia uniforms of psychiatric nursing students. The shelves of the pharmacy are lined with the latest antipsychotics and antidepressants. Children bounce on a trampoline at a cheerful clinic just for them. And six residents are on their way to being the first psychiatrists ever trained in this country.The transformation at Kissy is part of an extraordinary effort to build a mental health care system from scratch in one of the poorest countries in the world. The residents work the wards and see patients in the packed outpatient clinic, under the supervision of three consulting psychiatrists. They are the only three in the countrys entire health system a staggering ratio, but a threefold increase from decades when there was just one, who paid the patients at Kissy a weekly visit.Around the globe, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought a surge in mental health problems and has drawn attention to the severe limits on resources to help. There are often long waiting lists for appointments with therapists in high-income countries, but the shortage in the developing world is something else all together.You could have situations with one psychiatrist per million people, and no psychiatric nurses whatsoever, Mark van Ommeren, who heads the World Health Organizations mental health unit, said in an interview from Geneva. The absence of personnel to study and diagnose mental illness makes the actual scope of the burden of disease in developing countries something of a mystery. Dr. George Eze, the head of the new teaching program, surveyed the noisy line that spilled from the clinic into the courtyard on a recent steamy morning and declared it both a tragedy and a wonderful thing. Sierra Leone is a vivid example of human resilience anyone over the age of 30 today has lived through a civil war and displacement, an Ebola epidemic, devastating mudslides and now the lockdowns and disruptions of Covid. Most people, he said, have absorbed the traumas and carried on. But not everyone.There is PTSD, depression, all the psychopathology that goes with disaster, Dr. Eze said. We see 100 outpatients per day. The wards are full. Now I extrapolate to the entire population. If you pass through any market, youll pass many people with depression, phobic states, personality disorders. This is just the tip of the iceberg.Families once dreaded handing over their loved ones at the Kissy gates, Dr. Eze said; they brought them only when they felt they could not care for them at home, when paranoia or psychosis made their behavior violent or strange. People used to bring their family here with their hands tied and say, Take this man a last resort, he said.These days, when he arrives at work, he notices that patients and caregivers park motorbikes or cars out front, unashamed to be seen. Now they come for help, he said.Sierra Leone lacks more than just psychiatrists; there are only three physicians for every 100,000 people, the W.H.O. says (compared to 278 per 100,000 in the United States). But efforts to build the health system in the country are focused on physical health and primary care, as they are in many countries in the global south. Mental health care is often seen as an impossible luxury.The curriculum in medical schools and nursing colleges in developing countries rarely includes even a passing mention of mental health, Mr. van Ommeren said. Graduates primed on infectious disease and obstetrics are never taught to diagnose or treat postpartum depression, schizophrenia or post-traumatic stress.Sierra Leone has been pouring money, including funds from the World Bank and international donors, into rebuilding its health system since the end of a brutal civil war in 2001. The country is making gains against chronic problems such as malaria and maternal mortality.But it took serendipity, and some significant outside help, to take Kissy, named for the neighborhood where it is located, from asylum to teaching hospital.In 2014, the Boston-based humanitarian medical organization Partners in Health teamed up with the Sierra Leone health ministry to rehabilitate the hospital. The walls were lowered, the bars removed. Workers installed plumbing and electrical wiring, and a giant suite of generators, to make up for the failings of the rickety municipal power service. Patients were given bedsteads and fresh bedding, in lieu of torn and filthy mats on the floor.And on the 18th of August, 2018, we unchained the patients, said Anneiruh Braimah, the head of nursing. It was epic.Mr. Braimah, a wiry man who is known at Kissy as the Matron, has worked at the hospital since 1998. Drawn for reasons he cant explain to psychiatric nursing, he studied in Nigeria and then turned down a job offer there to come home and offer his services at the health ministry, which dispatched him to the asylum.At Kissy for decades, he was both nurse and doctor, he said, sometimes prescribing medications, when he could get them, and supervising a shifting roster of people who came briefly to work there. The standard of care involved physically restraining patients with the chains and injecting them with heavy sedatives, when they could be obtained.It was hard to feel good about the work they were doing, Mr. Braimah said, but they didnt have options. We just weathered the storm, he said. Even basic care, you couldnt do it.With the Partners in Health investment, two things changed: The unchained patients no longer raged and hurled the contents of their chamber pots, and students just one or two at first expressed interest in doing proper training rounds at Kissy.Regina Conteh, a nursing student, said her parents had barraged her with warnings before her first day at Kissy. But on her first day in the womens ward, she found that patients were not threatening her with violence. In fact, some sought out her care.On a recent day, a young patient named Aminatta brandished a bottle of orange nail varnish and offered to do Ms. Contehs nails. Aminatta had come to Kissy from a crowded low-income neighborhood in the city, mute and immobile with a depression that had never been treated. After a couple of months at the hospital, on regular antidepressants, she smiled and held her own hands out for Ms. Conteh to do the polishing. You can do things for people, the student nurse said as she painted.In the airy ward behind them, some patients lay unresponsive in their beds, while others did their laundry at a standpipe and tried to engage trainee nurses in boisterous conversation on topics including lunch, visitors and the possible return of the messiah.While Partners in Health offers mental health support at its global sites, this is the first time the organization has worked on reform of a national mental hospital. The organization does not usually work in capital cities; it focuses on delivering services in the most underserved parts of the countries where it works. But in 2016, Dr. Bailor Barrie, now the organizations country director in Sierra Leone, and a few colleagues happened to pay a brief visit to Kissy.From the moment we walked in, it was so miserable, so sorrowful, that it was clear that we had a moral imperative to be involved, Dr. Bailor said.The organization and the health ministry agreed to work together on rehabilitating Kissy. The effort involved not just physical renovations but a significant shift in perception of mental illness as a public health problem like any other.The ministry hired Dr. Eze from Nigeria and another psychiatrist, a Sierra Leonean who had recently returned from years in the United States, to be the faculty for a handful of medical students who were newly willing to consider stints at the transformed clinic.Partners in Health has spent $2.5 million at Kissy over four years on renovations, drugs and a laboratory and on earning accreditation as a teaching hospital. The complex now includes a soccer field, an occupational therapy center where patients play board games and gather for group therapy, and a playground for the childrens clinic.The Kissy hospital project became a favorite of Dr. Paul Farmer, the organizations co-founder, who died recently. In a conversation with a reporter shortly before his death, he called it just the most fantastic story, evidence of what was possible not just in Sierra Leone but across the global south.When Mattia Jusu qualified as a doctor and was given his assignment by the health ministry in 2019, he was horrified to learn that he had been posted to Kissy. I was expecting a very short stay, he said with a laugh. But a few months into coming, I started to change my mind.Some patients were calmer and more engaged with each passing day, and he began to see the power that mental health care could offer people who had been trapped in treatable but untreated illness for years. He is on track to be certified as the first domestically trained psychiatrist in two more years.Across the continent from Sierra Leone, in Ethiopia, there is a clue to both what the residency program may one day produce and a reminder of how long it may take. There, for the past 18 years, Addis Ababa University has run a program to train psychiatrists. The first group graduated in 2006 seven of them, for a country of 115 million people. The program has grown steadily since then, so that there are now psychiatrists in most of Ethiopias major hospitals, a once-unthinkable level of coverage, said Dr. Dawit Wondimagegn, a professor of psychiatry who until recently served as director of the universitys college of health sciences. Still, that is one psychiatrist per million people.Our fundamental challenge is that psychiatric disorders, and the need for access to mental health care in general, really is not a priority for health policy, in Ethiopia or anywhere in Africa, Dr. Wondimagegn said. Stigma is pernicious, and it feeds the idea that there is nothing to be done to help a patient who suffers from psychosis or depression.Ethiopias model includes psychiatric education for nurses and community health workers who will be the main points of interaction with the health system in rural areas. The W.H.O. advocates for building mental health into primary care, rather than training specialists and building dedicated clinics.The newest construction project at Kissy is a rehabilitation center, which will bring addiction treatment to Sierra Leone for the first time.We have such high rates of substance abuse have we ever asked ourselves why its happening? mused Dr. Elizabeth Allieu, the resident who set up the childrens clinic. All the child soldiers from the war, they have children now. These untreated people, traumatized and not healed, having children. What do you think will happen?Kissy once turned children away. Now Dr. Allieus clinic has helped put programming about mental health in children on radio shows, and a team is starting school outreach.We can do a lot here, Dr. Allieu said. A lot.",2
"TrilobitesScientists say rocks on the English coast contain clues of the processes that drove the end-Triassic event that killed as much as a quarter of all life on Earth.Credit...Victor O. LeshykFeb. 3, 2022Some 200 million years ago, the rocks that became the Palisades cliffs just across the Hudson River from Manhattan formed during volcanic activity that helped rip apart the ancient supercontinent Pangea. That volcanism helped lead to the birth of the Atlantic Ocean while it also contributed to killing off as much as a quarter of all life on Earth during the event known as the end-Triassic mass extinction.Marine animals like ammonites, ichthyosaurs and corals took huge hits during the extinction, and scientists have long suspected that the Atlantic-forming volcanism had something to do with it because of its effects on the climate and oceans. But evidence of what exactly killed life has been scant, making it one of the least understood of the so-called Big Five mass extinctions that punctuate the history of life on Earth.Research published in January in the journal Geology, though, is starting to fill in the gaps of this prehistoric murder mystery.By studying rocks in the southwest of England, a team of scientists found evidence of two triggers. One is that as oceans absorbed carbon dioxide emissions from the volcanic activity, they became so acidic that animals with shells dissolved in the water and died. The other is that the oceans lost their oxygen and became toxic to all but the most hardy ocean creatures.The main question that we set out to address is: What are the specific kill mechanisms of marine life at the end-Triassic? said Jessica Whiteside, a geochemist at the University of Southampton in England, and an author of the new research. The answer to which helps provide context for, and perhaps helps predict the future ecological and biodiversity effects of current CO2.Dr. Whiteside described the discovery of clues in rocks of Englands Blue Lias Formation, which emerged in the wake of the volcanism.What I noticed early on were these weird ghost fossils, she said. Ghost fossils are impressions of things like shells that remain in the rock, but without any remnant of the shells that made them a sign that the shells dissolved in acidic waters.ImageCredit...Fabienne Fossez/Alamy Other clues were chemical traces, or biomarkers, of a kind of bacteria known to thrive in waters without oxygen, and where there are dangerously high levels of a toxin called hydrogen sulfide.Bathed in toxic waters with no oxygen to breathe, marine life on top of being dissolved alive was all but doomed.Noah Planavsky, a biogeochemist at Yale University who was not involved in the research, said the discovery of the biomarkers provided strong evidence for toxic, oxygen-deficient waters. He added that this is something we can expect in the future, in our contemporary oceans.These kill mechanisms also reveal how mass extinctions arent always instant events like an asteroid hitting the planet, said Stephen Brusatte, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh who was not involved in the new work.Were used to thinking of mass extinctions as these single catastrophic events, where there is a lone killer that we can put all of the blame on, Dr. Brusatte said. But this study shows that there is often nuance to these episodes of mass death.Less clear is what drove the extinctions on land. Until the end-Triassic extinction, relatives of todays crocodiles dominated land ecosystems, while early dinosaurs were relatively minor players. But after the extinction, the crocodile relatives vanished, and dinosaurs started shifting into the limelight.This part of the story is still poorly known compared to what was happening in the oceans, and its intriguing to wonder whether there were multiple kill mechanisms on land, too, Dr. Brusatte said. If so, this could help explain why the dinosaurs were able to survive, and then disperse across the wasteland world in the aftermath.",7
"Be it President Trumps decision to reinstate the June 12 meeting with North Korea or more tariffs for American allies, here are six of the biggest stories in politics this week. (And links if youd like to read further.)June 1, 2018Its on again: President Trump rescheduled the summit meeting with North Korea on June 12.VideotranscripttranscriptTrump Says Hell Meet Kim Jong-un After AllThe president, who canceled a planned summit meeting a week ago, made the announcement after meeting a top North Korean envoy and receiving a personal letter from Mr. Kim.Well be meeting on June 12 in Singapore. It went very well. Its really a get to know you kind of a situation. Mike [Pompeo] has spent two days doing this. Weve gotten to know their people very well. And we will you people are going to have to travel, because youll be in Singapore on June 12. And I think it will be a process. Its not I never said it goes in one meeting. I think its going to be a process. But the relationships are building and thats a very positive thing. Mr. President, whats your stance on what the North Koreans are willing to do on the issue of denuclearization? Are they looking at all I think they want to do that. I know they want to do that. They want other things along the line. They want to develop as a country. Thats going to happen. I have no doubt. Itll be a beginning. I dont say, and Ive never said, it happens in one meeting. Youre talking about years of hostility. Years of problems. Years of really hatred between so many different nations. But I think youre going to have a very positive result in the end.The president, who canceled a planned summit meeting a week ago, made the announcement after meeting a top North Korean envoy and receiving a personal letter from Mr. Kim.CreditCredit...Tom Brenner/The New York TimesPresident Trump said on Friday that the summit meeting with North Korea on June 12 in Singapore had been rescheduled after a week of meetings and scrambling between American and Korean officials. The president made the announcement after a North Korean envoy, Kim Yong-chol, personally gave him a letter from Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader. Mr. Trump said he had not yet opened the letter, but felt the meeting really a get-to-know-you kind of a situation, he said afterward went well. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Kim Yong-chol, one of the highest-ranking North Korean officials, on Thursday in New York and had expressed optimism this week about the potential talks. But that same day, Kim Jong-un met with a top Russian official, Sergey V. Lavrov, in North Korea. Mr. Lavrovs welcome in Pyongyang, the capital and the invitation he brought from President Vladimir V. Putin for Mr. Kim to visit Moscow was a reminder that competing powers could still upend efforts to hold the summit meeting. ImageCredit...Tom Brenner/The New York TimesMr. Trump again attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions, posting on Twitter that he wished he had selected another lawyer to lead the Justice Department. The attacks came after The New York Times reported how Mr. Trump had asked Mr. Sessions last year to reverse his recusal from the special counsels investigation.This week, Mr. Trump also pardoned Dinesh DSouza, a conservative author, commentator and filmmaker who pleaded guilty in 2014 to illegal campaign contributions. He said on Thursday he was contemplating leniency for former Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, Democrat of Illinois, and Martha Stewart, the lifestyle mogul. In flexing his power to issue pardons, the president could potentially offer more clemency to people convicted of crimes that parallel charges that have been made or mentioned in connection with allies of Mr. Trump in recent weeks. He also bypassed the traditional Justice Department protocols for issuing pardons and clemency. ImageCredit...Lukas Schulze/Getty ImagesMr. Trump, stung by criticism that he had gone soft on China, said on Tuesday that the United States would proceed with tariffs and other punitive measures on the country. The tariffs, which include 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion worth of imported Chinese goods, are to be imposed by the end of the month. Days later, the Trump administration announced that it would enforce heavy steel and aluminum tariffs on some of its closest allies. The European Union, Canada and Mexico, which now face 25 percent tariffs on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, drew up retaliatory measures in part to target areas of the United States where Mr. Trump enjoys the strongest support. The decision came after months of uncertainty about exemptions and whether American officials would follow through with an aggressive trade tactic.Additional Reading:China Cuts Tariffs Ahead of U.S. Commerce Secretarys Visit to BeijingThe Upshot: The Economy Can Handle Steel and Aluminum Tariffs. The Real Risk Is Erratic Policy.Ivanka Trump Abruptly Leaves Call After Question About China TrademarksAfter Taunting Mexico, Trump Takes Action With Tariffs. But Do Mexicans Still Care?Despite concerns about tariff retaliations, the economy is still doing well. ImageCredit...Source: Bureau of Labor StatisticsThe United States economy had its strongest job gains since February, according to numbers released on Friday by the Labor Department. In May, 223,000 jobs were added (higher than Wall Streets expectation of about 190,000) and the unemployment rate was 3.8 percent, down from 3.9 percent in April and the lowest since early 2000.Before the numbers were made public, Mr. Trump broke with protocol and posted on Twitter about the jobs report. The language in his Twitter post seemed to signal notable gains, and economists said they were stunned at the prospect of Mr. Trump offering hints about the reports content that could affect the markets and trading. ImageCredit...Jordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated PressRoseanne Barr, whose ABC sitcom had attracted high ratings and personal praise from Mr. Trump, had her show canceled Wednesday after she posted a racist remark on Twitter about Valerie Jarrett, a black woman who was a senior adviser to President Barack Obama.But when Mr. Trump weighed in on the backlash, he focused instead on the apology that ABC officials made to Ms. Jarrett and did not condemn the tweet. It is not the first time the president has found equivalence or diverted attention when confronted with divisive events. A day later, Samantha Bee, a comedian on TBS, apologized for using a vulgar epithet to describe Ivanka Trump, the presidents daughter and senior adviser, on her show. But while TBS also offered an apology, the network did not take disciplinary action against Ms. Bee. The difference in consequences offered conservatives a new opportunity to criticize the news media for what they described as a liberal bias.Additional Reading:News Analysis: Disney Made Quick Work of Roseanne. Its Not Always So Easy.Roseanne Barr, Back on Twitter, Has More to SayRoseanne, the Reboot: A TimelineWith more primaries this month, Mr. Trump has begun to campaign more frequently for midterm elections. ImageCredit...Tom Brenner/The New York TimesMr. Trump is planning to focus his midterm campaigning in conservative states with competitive Senate races where he has strong support and can take advantage of his star power. On Tuesday, that strategy was evident as he campaigned in Nashville on behalf of Representative Marsha Blackburn, a Republican, who is running to succeed Senator Bob Corker.",3
"Credit...Dominique Faget/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMarch 18, 2017NEW DELHI The 43-year-old Badarpur Thermal Power Station, a coal-burning plant on the edge of what has been called the worlds most polluted city, New Delhi, was quietly cleared to resume pumping smoke into the air last week.In Parliament, around the same time, Indias environment minister dismissed a major study of global air pollution that found that high levels of particles in India cause more than a million people to die prematurely each year. The report, he told Parliament, was based on models, simulations and extrapolations.And Indian officials have indicated in recent weeks that they will not observe a deadline for coal-burning power plants across the country to adhere to stricter emissions standards. Instead, the deadline may be shifted from the end of this year to a later, unknown, date.Every winter, when cold air pushes down a blanket of pollutants and fine particulate matter on Delhi, newspapers are full of horror stories about air quality more recently, the Airpocalypse and political leaders call for urgent solutions.But every spring, the clouds break, and city officials appear to suffer from a collective amnesia.The moment the air quality goes moderate, theyre willing to go back to normal its basically work as usual, said Aishwarya Madineni, an air pollution researcher based in Bangalore.I think the mind-set of both the government and the public is extremely episodic, she said. They wake up when theres a crisis, and they switch off after that.The whipsaw policies have led some environmentalists to wonder if India really has a plan to tackle the alarming levels of air pollution in the country.Part of the problem, experts say, is that the responsibilities for improving air quality are diffuse, spread across myriad departments in state, city and central governments. The central government in January enacted an action plan for Delhis air that prescribed various measures to be taken based on the level of air pollution. But the wide range of agencies, including the Delhi municipal and state governments, and states next to the area, means little has been accomplished, critics say.Theyre not even following even 10 percent of what that action plan is asking them to do, Ms. Madineni said. To me, its clearly an implementation challenge that is being addressed haphazardly.Sayed Musawwir Ali, an official with Delhis environment department and a member of its pollution control committee, said the government was following the action plan 100 percent but declined to confirm specific policies.Whatever is written in the plan we are doing, he said.Since the public increasingly views air pollution as one of Indias most intractable and urgent problems, a tension has grown between the countrys need to provide clean air for its citizens and the need to provide power to the nearly 300 million residents who live without electricity.The Badarpur plant was reopened partly in anticipation of surplus power demand in Delhi in the summer, when temperatures reach a scorching 120 degrees and fans, coolers, and air-conditioners work overtime. It was closed in November in an effort to improve air quality.But an analysis by Greenpeace India found that Delhi has adequate supply to meet its needs, and the power provided by the Badarpur plant is more expensive than energy that could be bought from the central grid. Even if Badarpur needed to reopen, said Sunil Dahiya, who wrote the report, it would not need to be used until June.The government defended the reopening of the plant as being consistent with the action plan.Mr. Ali said that when pollution conditions have become bad, the plant has been directed to stop operations temporarily.He said that the plant was meeting emissions standards and that the Environmental Pollution Control Authority had said that the goal would be the ultimate closing of the plant in 2018. The Center for Science and the Environment, based in Delhi, found the Badarpur plant to be one of the countrys most polluting in 2015.Some experts say that the contribution of the Badarpur plant to Delhis air pollution is limited, even when it is running at capacity, and that a more efficient way to ensure better air would be to carry out the national emissions standards for thermal power plants that the Environment Ministry passed in December 2015, and are scheduled to take effect next December.Those standards require the countrys coal-based thermal power plants to keep emissions between 30 and 100 milligrams of particles per cubic meter, down from the 150 to 350 presently allowed, as well as limit other polluting gases.But Piyush Goyal, the power minister, said on Feb. 13 that discussions with the Environment Ministry to delay the December deadline were continuing, the Press Trust of India reported.An official with the central governments Environment Ministry could not be reached for comment.",6
"Chicago West Approval from Chicago Bulls Legend EXCLUSIVE 1/19/2018 TMZSports.com How does Scottie Pippen feel about his good friend, Kim Kardashian, naming her baby after his beloved Chicago?! Scottie loves it!! Go Bulls. Share on Facebook TWEET This See also Scottie Pippen Kim Kardashian Kim Kardashian Baby Chicago Bulls TMZ Sports Basketball NBA Exclusive The Kardashians",1
"Hawley Faces Blowback for Role in Challenging Election ResultsThe junior senator from Missouri drew widespread condemnation but defended his decision to object to Congresss certification of the election results.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesJan. 8, 2021WASHINGTON The day after Josh Hawley became the first Republican senator to say he would indulge President Trumps demand that lawmakers try to overturn the election, a reporter asked if he thought the gambit would make him unpopular with his colleagues.More than I already am? he retorted.Even before Mr. Hawley lodged what was certain to be a futile objection to Congresss certification of the results, the 41-year-old senator regarded as a rising Republican star who could one day run for president was far from the chambers most popular lawmaker.His insistence on pressing the challenge after a violent mob egged on by Mr. Trump stormed the Capitol to protest President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.s victory, endangering the entire Congress and the vice president in a day of terror that left at least five people dead, has earned him pariah status in Washington.But while Mr. Hawleys role in the riot may have left him shunned at least for now in official circles, it may only have improved his stock with his partys base in his home state, which remains deeply loyal to Mr. Trump.His fellow Republicans in the Senate lined up to blame Mr. Hawley for the riot. The editorial boards of major newspapers in Missouri accused him of having blood on his hands and called on him to resign. His publisher canceled his book deal and his erstwhile mentor called his efforts to get Mr. Hawley elected to the Senate the biggest mistake Ive ever made.But for him, it wouldnt have happened, former Senator John C. Danforth of Missouri, the Republican elder statesman, told The Kansas City Star of his former protgs role in the riot.Mr. Hawley has remained defiant, arguing Wednesday evening that the electoral count in Congress was the proper venue to debate his concerns about fraud in the balloting, though he never made a specific charge of wrongdoing.I will never apologize for giving voice to the millions of Missourians and Americans who have concerns about the integrity of our elections, Mr. Hawley said in a statement. Thats my job, and I will keep doing it.But many Republicans dismissed his effort as grandstanding intended to further his own political ambitions. Some Democratic senators demanded his resignation. And on Friday, Mr. Biden said that Mr. Hawley and Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, were part of the big lie that had animated Mr. Trumps refusal to concede, invoking Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germanys minister of propaganda.Mr. Hawley lashed out at Mr. Biden, accusing him of undignified, immature, and intemperate behavior and calling on him to retract these sick comments.Hours after the mob was cleared from the Capitol on Wednesday, Mr. Hawley refused to drop his challenge to the election results, objecting to Pennsylvanias slate of electors and forcing both chambers into a two-hour debate on his call to throw out millions of the states votes.An image of Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, sitting behind Mr. Hawley and glaring as the Missourian gazed into television cameras and made his case from the Senate floor became an instant meme. Mr. Hawleys challenge was rejected by broad bipartisan margins, with only six Republican senators joining him in supporting it.By Thursday, the fallout reached beyond the scorn of his colleagues. The publisher Simon & Schuster said it was canceling publication of his book The Tyranny of Big Tech, citing his role in what became a dangerous threat. Mr. Hawley responded with an angry statement that called his former publisher a woke mob and described their decision as a direct assault on the First Amendment.This could not be more Orwellian, Mr. Hawley said. This is the left trying to cancel everyone they dont approve of.Yet some of the harshest criticism came from his own party. His bid was in direct defiance of Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, who had implored his members not to challenge the election results and force a divisive vote when there was no chance of changing the outcome. Searing blowback came from other Republicans who are also considered 2024 presidential contenders and could find themselves running against Mr. Hawley in a crowded primary.Senator Hawley was doing something that was really dumbass, Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, told NPR. This was a stunt. It was a terrible, terrible idea. And you dont lie to the American people. And thats whats been going on.Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, also lashed out at Mr. Hawley in a Fox News interview on Thursday though he did not call him out by name for indulging the effort to overturn the election.You have some senators who, for political advantage, were giving false hope to their supporters, misleading them into thinking that somehow yesterdays actions in Congress could reverse the results of the election, Mr. Cotton said in a clip circulated by his office. That was never going to happen, yet these senators, as insurrectionists literally stormed the Capitol, were sending out fund-raising emails. That shouldnt have happened, and its got to stop now.Scott Jennings, a Republican strategist and former aide to Mr. McConnell, said in an interview that he believed Mr. Hawleys decision to raise his objection to Pennsylvanias electors hours after the mob stormed the Capitol was a disqualifying display of judgment.Once the Capitol had been literally occupied, how can you give quarter to the viewpoint that caused the occupation? Mr. Jennings said. What would it have taken for Josh Hawley to withdraw his objection? How do you come back from that?Some Democrats said Mr. Hawley never could. Senators Patty Murray of Washington, the No. 3 Democrat, and Chris Coons of Delaware, one of Mr. Bidens closest allies in the chamber, demanded that Mr. Hawley resign. Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, argued that the Senate should censure him.Any senator who stands up and supports the power of force over the power of democracy has broken their oath of office, Ms. Murray said in a statement.Still, as Republicans struggled to recover from an episode that has exposed deep rifts in their ranks, there was evidence that Mr. Hawleys actions on Wednesday had boosted his standing with influential elements of his party.The Senate Conservatives Fund, a political action committee founded by former Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, defended Mr. Hawley and urged its members to donate to his campaign.The junior senator from Missouris decision to object to the election results showed tremendous courage, the fund-raising pitch, signed by Mary Vought, the funds executive director, said. Conservatives should stand shoulder to shoulder with him in defending our cherished values.Christian Morgan, a St. Louis-based strategist and former top aide to Representative Ann Wagner, Republican of Missouri, also defended Mr. Hawley.Bernie Sanders did not cause the attempted mass assassination of Republican Members of Congress, James Hodgkinson did, Mr. Morgan wrote on Twitter, referring to a liberal activist who opened fire on Republican lawmakers during a softball practice in 2017. Josh Hawley & Ted Cruz did not cause an angry mob to invade the Capitol and murder a Capitol Police.Leaders of the Missouri Republican Party did not respond to interview requests on Friday. But their most recent Facebook post celebrating National Missouri Day and written before the chaos on Wednesday started drawing comments suggesting that party leaders begin searching for a candidate to mount a primary challenge to Roy Blunt, Missouris senior Republican senator, who voted to certify the election results.The former head of Missouris Republican Party, Jean Evans, said that she resigned from the position before the events on Wednesday in response to people demanding that the party bus people to protest in Washington and calling for violent behavior.I was concerned and alarmed by what I was hearing from certain elements within the party calling for a coup, Ms. Evans told a local television station.",3
Celebrity Scramble Guess Who! 1/21/2018 Hiding behind this luscious lip pic is an actress who wears the pants in Hollywood ... see if you can uncover the mystery as to which traveling star is hiding under this stretched-out snap. Share on Facebook TWEET This See also Celebrity Scramble Photo Galleries,1
"Asia Pacific|North Korea Flexes Its Military Muscle on YouTube, With Added Effectshttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/21/world/asia/north-korea-propaganda-video-attack-us.htmlMarch 21, 2017North Korea released a propaganda video this week depicting a United States aircraft carrier and a warplane being destroyed in computer-generated balls of fire, the latest salvo in an escalating war of words between the two nuclear powers.North Koreas missiles will be stabbed into the throat of the carrier, and the jet will fall from the sky, it warns. The video, which also includes images of North Koreas military and is narrated by a woman, was released by Uriminzokkiri, a state-run media outlet, and posted to YouTube.Its release coincides with the annual joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea known as Foal Eagle, and comes just days after Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson suggested that the United States was open to the possibility of a pre-emptive strike against North Korea.ImageCredit...UriminzokkiriMr. Tillerson recently visited Japan, South Korea and China primarily to discuss North Koreas nuclear ambitions.Let me be very clear: The policy of strategic patience has ended, Mr. Tillerson said on Friday while at the border between the two Koreas. We are exploring a new range of diplomatic, security and economic measures. All options are on the table.By Sunday, the North Koreans had conducted a test of a high-thrust rocket engine and posted the propaganda video to YouTube.ImageCredit...UriminzokkiriOn Monday, North Korea issued a statement from an unidentified Foreign Ministry spokesman saying the country would not be deterred from developing nuclear weapons.The nuclear force is the treasured sword of justice and the most reliable war deterrence to defend the socialist motherland and the life of its people, said the state-run Korean Central News Agency, quoting the spokesman.As North Korea has accelerated its weapons programs, it has also ratcheted the virulence of its propaganda. In 2013, Uriminzokkiri released a video depicting attacks on New York and Washington.Somewhere in the United States, black clouds of smoke are billowing, that video intoned. It seems that the nest of wickedness is ablaze with the fire started by itself.North Korea has continued to develop nuclear weapons despite several United Nations Security Council resolutions intended to curb its weapons program by imposing sanctions. Last year, the country conducted two nuclear explosions and more than 20 missile tests. This month, it test-fired a volley of missiles off the coast of Japan.",6
"Credit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesWhere there is indigenous land, newly elected President Jair Bolsonaro has said, there is wealth underneath it.Illegal gold miners work at a mine in Posto de Vigilancia.Credit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesNov. 10, 2018The Times traveled hundreds of miles into the Brazilian Amazon, staying with a tribe in the Munduruku Indigenous Territory as it struggled with the shrinking rain forest.The miners had to go.Their bulldozers, dredges and high-pressure hoses tore into miles of land along the river, polluting the water, poisoning the fish and threatening the way life had been lived in this stretch of the Amazon for thousands of years.So one morning in March, leaders of the Munduruku tribe readied their bows and arrows, stashed a bit of food into plastic bags and crammed inside four boats to drive the miners away.It has been decided, said Maria Leusa Kab, one of the women in the tribe who helped lead the revolt.The confrontation had begun.The showdown was a small part of an existential struggle indigenous communities are waging across Brazil. But the battle goes far beyond their individual survival, striking at the fate of the Amazon and its pivotal role in climate change.In recent years, the Brazilian government has sharply cut spending on indigenous communities, while lawmakers have pushed for regulatory changes championed by industries seeking unfettered access to parts of the Amazon that have been protected under the nations constitution.Now, Brazil has elected a new far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, who favors abolishing protected indigenous lands. He has promised to scale back enforcement of environmental laws, calling them an impediment to economic growth, and has made his intentions for the Amazon clear.Where there is indigenous land, he said last year, there is wealth underneath it.ImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesLong before Mr. Bolsonaros victory, descendants of the original inhabitants of the Amazon, the worlds largest tropical rain forest, had become increasingly vulnerable to bands of miners, loggers and farmers who have been clearing it at a rate environmentalists call unsustainable.From 2006 through 2017, Brazils part of the Amazon lost roughly 91,890 square miles of forest cover an area larger than New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Connecticut combined, according to an analysis of satellite images by Global Forest Watch.Thousands of square miles of forest have already been razed in indigenous territories, where large-scale industrial activity is prohibited. With Mr. Bolsonaros victory, indigenous leaders are sounding more drastic warnings.He represents an institutionalization of genocide in Brazil, said Dinam Tux, the coordinator of Brazils Association of Indigenous Peoples. A spokesman for Mr. Bolsonaros transition team said no one would comment on indigenous concerns, or respond to criticism of his views, because officials were focused on far more important issues.Experts say the rate of deforestation in the Amazon, which soaks up enormous amounts of the worlds carbon dioxide, makes it nearly certain that Brazil will miss some of the climate change mitigation goals it set in 2009, when it presented itself as an exemplar of sustainable development at a United Nations summit.The trendline has led federal prosecutors and environmentalists to say that the Amazon is on the brink of irreversible damage, potentially leading to the extinction of indigenous communities that have weathered centuries of calamities.The combined impacts of deforestation, climate change and extensive use of fire have brought the Amazon to the tipping point, said Thomas Lovejoy, an environmental science and policy professor at George Mason University. The indigenous people, who are the best defenders of the land, become vulnerable if the forest vanishes.Divide and ConquerMany indigenous leaders see the threats against their communities as a modern-day David-versus-Goliath struggle, with tribes facing violent bands of men who take advantage of the Amazons lawlessness to turn a profit.Officially, the fight over the Amazons future is playing out far away in the legislative chambers of the nations capital. After Brazils economy plunged into recession in 2014, politicians and industry leaders who favor loosening environmental protections gained the upper hand in a long-running contest over the rain forest.They have had some success in weakening protections enshrined in Brazils 1988 Constitution. But in many instances, the legal battle lags far behind reality. As miners, loggers and farmers charge into the Amazon, legally or not, the landscape is being radically reshaped.They havent given up on changing the law, but they are prioritizing a strategy of creating facts on the ground, said Cleber Buzzatto, the executive secretary of the Indigenous Missionary Council, an indigenous rights group. By creating an irreversible reality, they will then seek to change legislation.From the air, those facts on the ground look like bright orange gashes carved in the banks of lazy, zigzagging rivers that meander through the jungle.Few are as striking as the gold mine built around Posto de Vigilncia, or Lookout Point, one of the most remote Munduruku villages.ImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesOsvaldo Waru Munduruku, the rail-thin village chief, looked ashen as he explained how his tiny hamlet, home to about 15 families, became a hub of the illegal mining trade that has transformed the region in recent years.The National Indian Foundation, a federal agency that helps indigenous people, had its aid budget slashed in recent years, making it hard for remote villages to get food or basic services. Beyond that, many indigenous leaders like Mr. Waru long for much better living standards, education and opportunities than an isolated, arduous forest existence allows.So when the first white miners, as he calls them, dropped by in 2015 to suggest a partnership, Mr. Waru was tempted.He and other indigenous leaders knew there was little they could do to stop the miners. The brutal recession had driven large numbers of unemployed Brazilians into the jungle, hunting for gold. If a gold rush was about to break out in his part of Par state, he reasoned, the village might as well take a cut.This kind of co-optation has become common in remote areas of the jungle and precisely what many indigenous leaders want to stop.Divide and conquer, said Fernanda Kaingng, an indigenous rights lawyer who belongs to the Kaingang tribe. That is the strategy used to promote division with indigenous communities in order to secure access to wood, minerals and land.The miners in Mr. Warus village cleared a long strip for a runway and built a parallel settlement, with sleeping quarters and a small church. The miners rewarded him with 10 percent of the haul each month worth a few hundred dollars, he said.We would save it and save it until there was enough to buy things for the community, Mr. Waru said. It paid for a new boat motor, a generator and a radio.But then the bouts of diarrhea among children began. Erosion from the mines turned the river a sandy brown. Fish that had long been a staple of the communitys diet now had high levels of mercury, which is used to extract gold.Before, we had a lot of food here, but since the water became dirty, the fish vanished, he said. We became concerned about the future of our children.After Brink of Annihilation, Revival More than 896,000 indigenous people live in Brazil less than 0.5 percent of the population. They belong to 300 tribes and speak more than 270 languages.Their ranks are small compared with the millions of indigenous people in countries like Bolivia and Peru. Yet half a century ago, they were nearly extinct.In 1500, when the first Portuguese settlers arrived, three to five million people lived in what would later become Brazil.Smallpox and other diseases brought by the Europeans wiped out hundreds of thousands. Enslavement followed, first in sugar plantations and later when the rubber boom drew profitseekers to the Amazon starting in the 1870s.By the 1960s, when Brazils military dictatorship began, the indigenous population had fallen below 100,000. The generals regarded indigenous communities in the Amazon as impediments to development and drew them out of remote villages to assimilate them.That policy was formally abandoned in 1988, when Brazils current Constitution was drafted. It sought to atone for past abuses, setting in motion a process to mark and protect indigenous territories. There are now more than 600 of them, encompassing more than 13 percent of the country a fact that has long rankled Brazilian loggers, miners and farmers.Here along the Tapajos River, the Munduruku, nearly 14,000 members strong, have splintered into dozens of small villages, scattered across a territory slightly larger than New Hampshire. ImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesBut as the recession hit Brazils impoverished northeast and Amazon states particularly hard, outsiders with families to feed ventured into Munduruku land. They revived gold mines that the government had shut down in the 1990s.When the miners showed up in indigenous villages along the Tapajs in 2015, they found communities in worse shape than their own.In one, Caroal Rio das Tropas, families live in dilapidated wooden huts and sleep in hammocks. Skinny dogs with festering wounds sniff the ground for scraps of food. Poisonous snake bites are treated by using the body of the serpent as a makeshift tourniquet while the patient makes the six-hour boat ride to the nearest town.Some families fare better than others, with television sets, cellphones and appliances powered by rumbling old generators. That, said Ezildo Koro Munduruku, is the result of gold proceeds that have transformed the area and the tribe.Our grandparents generation, they had a strong organization, said Mr. Ezildo, 41. They were all united. They had little contact with white people.As mining camps multiplied, bringing processed foods, alcohol, drugs and prostitution to the area, several Munduruku men jumped at the chance to make money. Their diets changed and vices took hold. Many Munduruku worried that their way of life was being irreparably altered.Within our families, this began pitting brother against brother, Mr. Ezildo said.Some indigenous leaders initially argued that mining could be a boon, without causing too much environmental damage. But the gold brought only modest and fleeting benefits, he said.We are sick, physically and spiritually, Mr. Ezildo said. If one earns 100 grams of gold, they will spend it on alcohol and prostitutes.The Law of SurvivalAfter three days of tense debate, the women of the tribe gave the final word. Some pointed fingers defiantly at men in the room, while others cried as they took turns speaking into a scratchy microphone.When it was done, Ms. Kab, the mother who helped lead the uprising, hung up a sign with bullet points to summarize the plan.Paralyze illegal mining activity in the indigenous area; clean up the territory and expel all the invaders from Munduruku territory, it said.ImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesThe miners knew a revolt was coming and had tried to head it off. They flew to the village by plane, bearing massive bags of rice, beans and pasta, along with packs of grape- and orange-flavored soda a peace offering.Cleber da Silva Costa, the miner who brought the bounty, said he knew what he and his fellow miners were doing was illegal and harmful to the environment. Yet he argued that his crime was merely a symptom of more egregious wrong.If you didnt have so many corrupt people in Congress, you might be able to consider preserving the environment, he said.Mr. da Silva, 47, a miner with three children, said the camp was doing more to preserve than destroy indigenous communities.The little they have today is from miners, he said. The government doesnt help. All the money gets stolen. We may be in the wrong. But out here, its the law of survival.This Territory Is Not YoursWeapons in hand, about 30 members of the tribe set out to evict the miners.But after trudging for more than six hours through rivers, mud and steep hills, they reached the first gold mining camp exhausted, hungry and thirsty.Amarildo Dias Nascimento, the camp supervisor, sensed that a confrontation was imminent. So, in a disarming gesture, he welcomed the Munduruku delegation effusively, instructing his cooks to put on a feast of grilled chicken, beans and rice for the guests.Tonight, well just focus on joy, he said.Mr. Nascimento, 47, argued that the miners were merely trying to survive.Many have been left without options, he said, pointing at his men. Do you become a thief in Rio de Janeiro? Many are here because they dont want to resort to that. Were here fighting for our daily bread.ImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesThe next morning, Ms. Kab breast-fed her baby as she summoned the miners for the showdown.This is our land, she said. This territory is not yours. This is where we get sustenance for our children. We dont depend on gold, but rather the fruits and animals you are driving away.Mr. Nascimento listened politely, his head bowed.The moment you ask us to leave, we will do it immediately, he said.After the meeting broke up, several members of the Munduruku crammed into a bulldozer driven by one of the miners to avoid crossing a long, muddy patch of the trail on foot. But as they left, it was still unsettled when, or even if, the miners would leave.The Munduruku headed to the next mining camp, determined to deliver the same message. But the camp was larger, and they faced a far less welcoming group of miners. Several were drunk.We had to turn back because they were armed, Ms. Kab said.Midas DilemmaWeeks later, dozens of heavily armed federal police officers and agents from Brazils two environmental agencies descended on a mining camp in Munduruku land, sweeping in aboard four helicopters.The mission was the unveiling of Operation Paj Bravo, code named for an indigenous myth about a malevolent person who must be exiled.While Brazilian lawmakers press to expand mining, logging and farming in the Amazon, some prosecutors and officials remain steadfastly against it, using their authority to enforce environmental laws for as long as they exist.But the raids do little. As usual, miners scattered into the forest as the aircraft approached, preventing investigators from making arrests or even asking many questions. Agents set fire to several machines and camp dwellings before taking off.It was like something out of a war zone, said Valmir, a miner who used his first name because he feared prosecution. None of us here are bandits. If the government offers some sort of employment for us outside of mining, no one would return to mining.Days later, federal prosecutors searched gold dealers in the nearest major urban areas the second phase of the investigation. This one was called Midas Dilemma, a play on the tale of King Midas and his dangerous ability to turn everything he touched into gold.We see a parallel with the exploitation of national riches, said Gecivaldo Vasconcelos Ferreira, a federal police officer who helped lead the investigation. If they arent exploited in a responsible way, they end up becoming a curse.Luis Cames Boaventura, a prosecutor on the case, says the authorities have only scratched the surface of an enormous industry backed by local and national politicians.There are hundreds, if not thousands, of gold mines along the Tapajs, and supply chains are deliberately opaque, making it hard to go after illegal mining bosses, he said.It is a very serious problem, he said.ImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesIn May, prosecutors issued a call to action, warning that the gold trade could potentially lead to the extinction of indigenous communities and traditional cultures.Federal prosecutors have characterized the plight of some indigenous communities as genocide.But that stance is not widely shared by local, state or federal politicians. In Congress, a large coalition known as the ruralist bloc has championed scores of measures to ease access to minerals and potential farmland in protected areas.Mr. Bolsonaro, a veteran Congressman who easily won the presidential election last month, has long expressed the sentiment.If it were up to me, we would not have any more indigenous areas in the country, he said after winning.Doing away with them would require changing the constitution. But Mr. Bolsonaro has threatened to take smaller steps on his own, like halting fines against companies and individuals who break the law.He has put forward similar positions before. In 2012, after Mr. Bolsonaro was fined for fishing in a protected area, he introduced a bill in Congress seeking to bar agents from two federal agencies that pursue illegal mining, logging and fishing from carrying firearms.While campaigning for president, he called the system of protected lands obsolete, echoing the policy during the military dictatorship that such areas shackle economic growth and the individual prospects of indigenous people. The time had come, he said, to reintegrate them into society and recognize that they dont want to live in zoos.Mr. Bolsonaro argues that Brazil can no longer tolerate having so much land set aside as indigenous territories, national parks and conservation zones.All those reserves stymie our development, he said.Munduruku leaders opposed to mining were elated about the raids by federal agents. But soon, leaders like Ms. Kab received threats.The expectation of the indigenous leaders when they denounced what was happening was that the state would go in and expel the white people, said Danicley de Aguiar, a Greenpeace activist who has counseled Munduruku leaders. That did not happen.And while protecting the environment and indigenous traditions is laudable, its not realistic, argued Adonias Kab Munduruku, one of the tribes leaders who does business with miners.Its the only way for us, as indigenous miners, to send out children to study in the cities, to have them go to university, said Mr. Kab, 40. Parents want their children to learn, to be prepared, so they dont end up like their parents: working here in the mines.Prosecutors have yet to charge anyone from the raids, and gold mining continues to flourish in the area.What were seeing is that crime is paying off, said Paulo de Tarso Moreira Oliveira, a federal prosecutor.ImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York Times",6
"Memo From the United NationsCredit...Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty ImagesMarch 2, 2017UNITED NATIONS Some of Europes most successful far-right politicians are women. There is Marine Le Pen of France, of course. But also Frauke Petry of Germany, Siv Jensen of Norway and Pia Kjaersgaard of Denmark, who is something of a pioneer in the new wave of anti-immigrant populism sweeping through Europe.They are leading, or have recently led, what were once fringe parties pushing their extremist views to the political mainstream and seeking to appeal to those who once eschewed their parties: female voters.Some of them are also eyeing their countrys highest office. Ms. Le Pen is vying to be president of France in elections scheduled to start in April, and if she wins an expected runoff in May (a long shot, admittedly) she could be the first far-right leader to be directly elected as a European head of state.Gender issues dont much get the attention of far-right parties, whether led by men or women. The parties dont support gender quotas in politics, as many centrist and left parties do, nor do they campaign on issues like equal pay. Abortion and gay rights are not lightning rod political issues for conservatives as they are in the United States, so they tend not to be ideological tinder in Europe.Gender is a useful wedge, though, when it comes to highlighting what has become one of their main planks: a critique of immigration, particularly from the Muslim world. The European far right has long seized on the hijab as a symbol of patriarchy; more recently it has said that attacks on gays and women in Muslim enclaves are evidence of the Islamic threat to European values.ImageCredit...Odd Andersen/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMs. Le Pen, in an opinion essay published in a French daily, LOpinion, used the mass sexual attacks in Cologne, Germany, on New Years Eve in 2015 to call for a referendum on immigration to France. I am scared that the migrant crisis signals the beginning of the end of womens rights, she wrote. Ms. Le Pen is also making a bid to woo gay voters, whom her father, the partys founder, once openly berated.Ruth Wodak, a professor at Lancaster University in Britain, called Ms. Le Pens appeals on gender issues opportunistic.They defend our women against harassment by foreigners strangers, migrants, Muslim men, says Ms. Wodak, the author of The Politics of Fear: What Right-Wing Populist Discourses Mean. However, they never spoke out against sexual harassment before.How unusual is it for a woman to lead a nativist party? About as unusual as it is for a woman to head any political party. While some are part of political dynasties, as in the case of Ms. Le Pen, others are self-made.Ms. Petry, a former chemist and businesswoman, ousted a former Europe-focused leader of the Alternative for Germany and turned it into a squarely nationalist party. Her platform for the national elections scheduled for this fall takes aim at foreigners and at the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, for embracing them.ImageCredit...Arnold Jerocki/European Pressphoto AgencyMs. Kjaersgaard, one of the earliest forerunners of the European far right, established the Danish Peoples Party in 1995 and turned what were once considered fringe, racist ideas about restricting immigration into a potent political force.Her party has been crucial in supporting a minority government and has shaped policy as a result. Ms. Kjaersgaard is now the speaker of the Danish Parliament, though no longer the party leader.Ms. Jensen pushed her anti-immigrant Progress Party into a coalition government in Norway for the first time and snagged for herself an influential cabinet post as finance minister. She describes herself as a free-market conservative in the Thatcherite tradition. But she too has seized on fears of Islam, warning in a widely criticized 2009 speech about the sneaking Islamization of European society.Female leaders in Europe span the ideological spectrum. Two of the Continents most powerful leaders, Ms. Merkel of Germany and Theresa May of Britain, are on opposite sides of Britains plan to leave the European Union.Does the far right draw female voters? Not so much, but they are beginning to.One study, carried out across 17 countries by Swedish and Dutch scholars and published in late 2015 in an academic journal called Patterns of Prejudice, found women less likely than men to vote for what the study called the populist radical right but not because women were against the ideology.ImageCredit...Tariq Mikkel Khan/Polfoto, via Associated PressMen are neither more nativist nor authoritarian, compared with women, the study found, nor do women evince less discontent with their governments. Women by and large were deterred from voting for the radical right by other things, including the populist rights political style, occasional association with historic violence, stigmatization by parts of the elite and the general public in other words, their outlier-ness.That is where the gender of the leader can make a positive difference for the far right, said Cas Mudde, a Dutch scholar of the European far right.In the media, he argued, male leaders are often cast as power-hungry zealots. Female politicians are represented as softer, said Mr. Mudde, who teaches at the University of Georgia. For a radical right politician it can be actually very good.Sometimes, gender can make a difference in who wins. In Austria late last year, a larger share of women and a significantly larger share of young, educated women voted for the leftist party, helping to defeat the nativist candidate for president. Both parties candidates were men.Ms. Le Pens prospects in the French polls this spring will depend significantly on her ability to woo women, just as the success of far-right parties on the Continent more broadly will rest on their ability to bridge the gender gap.Consider Nonna Mayers research on the National Fronts record.In 2002, when it was headed by Ms. Le Pens firebrand, Holocaust-denying father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the party won a far larger share of mens votes than womens. In 2012, by the time Ms. Le Pen took over the party, the gender gap had virtually vanished, only to return again in midterm polls since then.Ms. Mayer, a political scientist, said the gender gap for populist right wing parties could vary from one country to another and from one election to the next. For Ms. Le Pen, she said, the test will be the coming presidential election.",6
"Special Report: Energy for TomorrowCredit...Sean Marc Lee for The New York TimesDec. 7, 2015TAIPEI, Taiwan Across Asia, motorized two-wheeled vehicles provide mobility for the masses, but emissions from hundreds of millions of scooters and motorcycles are responsible for more than half of traffic pollution in many cities, choking the air with hazardous levels of benzene and particulate matter, in addition to greenhouse gases.This year, a Taiwan-based startup called Gogoro has been using the scooter-filled streets of Taipei to test its Smartscooter, an electric scooter with an efficient all-electric drive train, sleek design and Internet of Things ingenuity. But Gogoro doesnt want to be called a scooter company. It sees itself as an energy services company at heart.What technology has done to content, it can also do to energy, said Horace Luke, Gogoros chief executive. The company operates a 4G-connected network of 90 battery-swapping stations around metropolitan Taipei serving a fleet of 2,000-plus smartscooters that are challenging their gasoline-powered rivals in performance zero to 30 in just over 4 seconds convenience, and environmental impact.The Smartscooter is quickly gaining market share. As of late November, Gogoros flagship vehicle accounted for 95 percent of Taipeis electric vehicles and 5 percent of scooters overall, Mr. Luke said.Gogoro scooters are powered by two lithium-ion batteries that use the same Panasonic cells as Tesla batteries, with one charge enabling travel of up to 60 miles. When its time to swap in fresh batteries, a smartphone app offers directions to the closest station with available batteries (one is a 7-eleven convenience store). In seconds, the user replaces used batteries which send vehicle diagnostics to the Gogoro network via Bluetooth with the newest and most-charged batteries at the station.Panasonic has bought into Gogoros vision. In November, Gogoro announced that the Japanese company had joined the Taiwan government and the billionaire Samuel Yin as Series B, or second round, investors in Gogoro, making it the second electric vehicle maker to attract Panasonic capital, the other being Tesla. Shortly after raising $130 million in Series B funding, Gogoro announced that it would expand into Europe, beginning with Amsterdam. The fundamentals of how people live changed in a decade with the smartphone, Mr. Luke said. If we put the same effort into how energy is consumed, how much can we change things in 10 years?Mr. Luke speaks from experience. He was chief innovation officer at the Taiwan-based smartphone maker HTC from 2006 to 2011, helping transform the company from one that made products for other companies to a global brand. While at HTC, Mr. Luke and a colleague, Matt Taylor, began discussing their vision for a new company that would leverage technology for social impact. Being based in Taiwan where 14 million scooters serve a population of 23 million scooters seemed like a good place to start.The scooter hasnt seen much evolution in the last 20 years, Mr. Taylor said. We asked ourselves if we could apply modern technology to something we see buzzing in the streets every day and make a better product in the process.In 2011, the two men co-founded Gogoro, with Taylor as chief technology officer. They decided to rebuild the scooter from the ground up. Their initial focus was on performance and innovation, but minimizing environmental impact quickly became important.In Taiwan, pollution from scooter exhaust is a public health concern. Studies have found correlations between higher measurements of the fine particulate matter classified as PM2.5 in the air and increased cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in local hospitals. During peak traffic hours, exhaust hangs heavy on the citys scooter lanes, also affecting air quality for nearby pedestrians. The amount of pollutants found in emissions from a new gas scooter exceeds the pollution found in new car emissions by a factor of 100 to 1,000, said Andr Prvt of the Switzerland-based Paul Scherrer Institut. Scooters using two-stroke engines are the worst culprits, he said.The two-stroke engine scooter is the first vehicle to think about in terms of going all-electric, even before larger vehicles, because the pollution is much worse, said Mr. Prvt, who researched scooter emissions from 2010 through 2014. Its the logical next step in reducing traffic pollution in many Asian cities.ImageCredit...Sean Marc Lee for The New York TimesThe Taipei government agrees, and is actively promoting electric scooter purchases. The citys Department of Environmental Protection offers replacement subsidies of around $45 for residents who retire their two-stroke scooters. A subsidy of up to $800 is available to those who replace their gas motorcycles with electric scooters. Gogoro Smartscooters currently cost between $2,200 and $2,375.In Gogoros most recent round of funding, the government also invested $30 million via its Taiwan Development Fund. The company appeals to a government concerned by the vulnerability of its semiconductor industry, an economic pillar that faces increasing competition from China. They see Gogoro as a huge opportunity for furthering the tech sector, Mr. Luke said.Taiwanese themselves have welcomed Gogoro. Elaine Kuan, a 29-year-old corporate accountant in Taipei, said she bought her Smartscooter in late July for its ease of riding and convenient technology, but also for its low environmental impact. I have asthma, so air pollution is a big deal to me, Ms. Kuan said. I hope that starting with myself I can slowly influence others and make the planet a place without vehicle emission pollution.Performance and convenience were the two main reasons Darren Liu, a 31-year-old pastry chef, bought his Smartscooter. The riding experience and acceleration are much better than my previous gas-powered bike, Mr. Liu said. Its the first electric scooter Ive seen that can get up into the hills. The battery swap model was also a big selling point. His previous experience using a relatives electric scooter required hours of charging, compared with 30 seconds to swap his Gogoro batteries.As it expands beyond greater Taipei to Taoyuan where it is headquartered and the tech hub Hsinchu, Gogoro is exploring the possibilities offered by a growing network of battery stations. At our core, were an energy company, Mr. Taylor said. Once the mix is actually working, its readily scalable. The stations cost less than $10,000, have a small footprint and require only an outlet and Internet access, he said.Mr. Luke said his company envisions an open system in which other companies develop products that can use Gogoros batteries. Many companies in fields as diverse as robotics, logistics and appliances have inquired, he said. But he added that Gogoros longer-term vision was focused on how to take energy and give it back to the grid when it needs it most.Gogoros entrance into the market this year comes as car companies including General Motors, Ford and Daimler-Benz are beginning to view themselves as service providers rather than manufacturers.Theres a transformation in the market where companies are being expected to expand into energy services, said John Gartner of the consultancy Navigant Research. Companies that get involved in electric-powered mobility will naturally move toward stationary storage, he said.Theyre looking to expand both markets by getting to economies of scale faster, Mr. Gartner added. Mr. Luke said that taking the scooter to Amsterdam in the first half of 2016 would provide a platform for demonstrating the role of Gogoros scooters and battery stations to new markets.If you think about smart cities in the world today, Amsterdam comes up in the top three, if not the top one, he said. Weve seen a lot of success in Taipei. Were taking that momentum and building on that to move into Europe quickly.",0
"Africa|7 Congo Army Officers Charged With War Crimes in Massacrehttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/world/africa/congo-massacre-war-crimes.htmlVideoFootage shared by human rights activists appeared to show soldiers killing unarmed civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo.March 18, 2017KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo Seven Congolese Army officers have been arrested and charged with war crimes after a video surfaced last month that appeared to show uniformed soldiers opening fire on a group of civilians in a massacre that left at least 13 people dead, the militarys auditor general said on Saturday.The video depicts a squad of soldiers gunning down a group of people, which included women and possibly children, in Congos Kasa-Central Province. Most of the victims were unarmed, though a few men appeared to be holding slingshots. Several analysts who saw the video said that it revealed a government-sponsored massacre of civilians and that the video could be used as evidence of war crimes.In connection with this video, we have found seven suspects, all are F.A.R.D.C. elements, who are currently in detention, said the auditor general, Gen. Joseph Ponde Isambwa, using an abbreviation for the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo.The officers, he said, had been charged with several crimes including war crime by murder, war crime by mutilation, war crimes by cruel inhuman and degrading treatment and denial of an offense committed by persons subject to military jurisdiction.Among those arrested was Sgt. Maj. Maneno Katembo, a rifleman who is believed to have recorded the video.Congo has a history of government-led atrocities, including gang rapes and the slaughtering of civilians.The government initially labeled the video a hoax, before reversing itself and ordering the officers arrest. The country is nearly lawless, and the government forces are known to be brutal, underpaid and among the most dreaded.On Monday, two United Nations officials an American and a Swede were kidnapped along with four Congolese also in Kasa-Central Province.On Saturday, the United Nations mission in Kinshasa released a statement expressing concern over reports of renewed fighting in the restive region.",6
"Out ThereCredit...Kevin Lamarque/ReutersNov. 21, 2016GREENBELT, Md. The next great space telescope spread its golden wings this month.Like the petals of a 20-foot sunflower seeking the light, the 18 hexagonal mirrors that make up the heart of NASAs James Webb Space Telescope were faced toward a glassed-in balcony overlooking a cavernous clean room at the Goddard Space Flight Center here.Inside the room, reporters and a gaggle of space agency officials, including the ebullient administrator Charles Bolden, were getting their pictures taken in front of the giant mirror.Now, after 20 years with a budget of $8.7 billion, the Webb telescope is on track and on budget to be launched in October 2018 and sent a million miles from Earth, NASA says.VideotranscripttranscriptUnfurling the Webb TelescopeThis animation depicts the planned deployment of the Webb Space Telescope and its sunshield.N/AThis animation depicts the planned deployment of the Webb Space Telescope and its sunshield.The telescope, named after NASA Administrator James Webb, who led the space agency in the 1960s, is the long-awaited successor of the Hubble Space Telescope.Seven times larger than the Hubble in light-gathering ability, the Webb was designed to see farther out in space and deeper into the past of the universe. It may solve mysteries about how and when the first stars and galaxies emerged some 13 billion years ago in the smoky aftermath of the Big Bang.Equipped with the sort of infrared goggles that give troops and police officers night vision, the Webb would peer into the dust clouds and gas storms of the Milky Way in which stars and planets are presently being birthed. It would be able to study planets around other stars.ImageCredit...Kevin Lamarque/ReutersThat has been NASAs dream since 1996 when the idea for the telescope was conceived with a projected price tag then of $500 million But as recently as six years ago, the James Webb Space Telescope was, in the words of Nature magazine, the telescope that ate astronomy, mismanaged, over budget and behind schedule so that it had crushed everything else out of NASAs science budget.A House subcommittee once voted to cancel it. Instead, the program was rebooted with a strict spending cap.The scientific capabilities of the telescope emerged unscathed from that period, astronomers on the project say. The major change, said Jonathan P. Gardner, the deputy senior project scientist, was to simplify the testing of the telescope.Most of the pain was dealt to other NASA projects like a proposed space telescope to study dark energy, which the National Academy of Sciences had hoped to put on a fast track to be launched this decade. Its now delayed until 2025 or so.Typically for NASA, the Webb telescope was a technologically ambitious project, requiring 10 new technologies to make it work. Bill Ochs, a veteran Goddard engineer who became project manager in 2010 during what he calls the replan, said the key to its success so far, was having enough money in the budget to provide a cushion for nasty surprises.The telescope smiling up at us like a giant Tiffany shaving mirror is 6.5 meters in diameter, or just over 21 feet, compared with 2.4 meters for the Hubble. The aim is to explore a realm of cosmic history about 150 million to one billion years after time began known as the reionization epoch, when bright and violent new stars and the searing radiation from quasars were burning away a gloomy fog of hydrogen gas that prevailed at the end of the Big Bang.In fact, astronomers dont know how the spectacle that greets our eyes every night when the sun goes down or the lights go out wrenched itself into luminous existence. They theorize that an initial generation of stars made purely of hydrogen and helium the elements created during the Big Bang burned ferociously and exploded apocalyptically, jump-starting the seeding of the cosmos with progressively more diverse materials. But nobody has ever seen any so-called Population 3 stars, as those first stars are known. They dont exist in the modern universe. Astronomers have to hunt them in the dim past.That ambition requires the Webb to be tuned to a different kind of light than our eyes or the Hubble can see. Because the expansion of the cosmos is rushing those earliest stars and galaxies away from us so fast, their light is red-shifted to longer wavelengths the way the siren from an ambulance shifts to a lower register as it passes by.So blue light from an infant galaxy bursting with bright spanking new stars way back then has been stretched to invisible infrared wavelengths, or heat radiation, by the time it reaches us 13 billion years later.VideotranscripttranscriptHubble Reflects the CosmosAfter 25 years, the Hubble Space Telescope is still surprising us. Hubble has been called the most important advance in astronomy since Galileo, and its greatest discoveries might still be ahead.When the Hubble Space Telescope was launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1990, NASA called it the greatest advance in astronomy since Galileo. Instead, within days it became a laughing stock. Hubble had an 8-foot diameter mirror, but a chip of paint on a measuring rod caused the huge mirror to be 4 millionths of an inch too flat, leaving the telescope with blurry vision. Hubble needed glasses. Three years later, the crew of the space shuttle Endeavor rode to the rescue. Spacewalking astronauts installed tiny mirrors to correct Hubbles vision. The universe snapped into focus. Hubble scanned the heavens with unmatched clarity. Its cosmic postcards captivated the world. Four internal flywheels can spin Hubble in any direction. Once pointed, sensors lock onto guide stars, holding the telescopes suite of instruments steady for hours or days at a time. Hubbles cameras record in black and white, through filters that isolate different wavelengths of light. Then each image is assigned a color that makes sense to the eye. When merged - this blended light shows the Pillars of Creation. A dusty birthplace of stars deep within the Eagle Nebula. Just below Orions belt, the cold clouds of gas that form the Horsehead nebula are shadowed and opaque in visible light. But Hubble can photograph the unseeable, peering deep into the ultraviolet and infrared, revealing internal structures and the hidden light of newborn stars. Translating the near blackness of cold space for our limited human eyes. Hubble was reborn again and again over the years by astronauts who replaced instruments when they wore out. But NASA declared an end to the servicing missions in 2003, after the loss of the space shuttle Columbia. There was a national outcry. In the end NASA agreed to one last service mission, led by astronomer and astronaut John Grunsfeld. As the shuttle Atlantis prepared to pull away, he (said goodbye to the old telescope / gave the old telescope one last pat, and a salute). After 25 years, Hubble is still surprising us. And its greatest discoveries might still be ahead of it.After 25 years, the Hubble Space Telescope is still surprising us. Hubble has been called the most important advance in astronomy since Galileo, and its greatest discoveries might still be ahead.As a result, the Webb telescope will produce cosmic postcards in colors no eye has ever seen. It also turns out that infrared emanations are the best way to study exoplanets, the worlds beyond our own solar system that have been discovered in the thousands since the Webb telescope was first conceived.In order to see those infrared colors, however, the telescope has to be very cold less than 45 degrees Celsius above absolute zero so that its own heat does not swamp the heat from outer space. Once in space, the telescope will unfold a giant umbrella the size of a tennis court to keep the sun off it. The telescope, marooned in permanent shade a million miles beyond the moon, will experience an infinite cold soak.The sunshield consists of five thin, kite-shaped layers of a material called Kapton. Way too big to fit into a rocket, the shield, as well as the telescope mirror, will have be launched folded up. It will then be unfolded in space in a series of some 180 maneuvers that look in computer animations like a cross between a parachute opening and a swimming pool cover going into place.ImageCredit...Chris Gunn/NASAOr at least that is the $8 billion plan.Engineers have done it on the ground, and it worked. The same people who refolded the shield after each test will fold it again, in a process Mr. Ochs compares to packing up your parachute before a jump. The test will come in space, where no one will be able to help if things go wrong.That whole process will amount to what Mr. Ochs called six months of high anxiety.For the most part, it all has to work, Mr. Ochs said.The last time NASA did something this big astronomically, in 1990, things didnt quite work. Once in orbit, the Hubble couldnt be focused; it had a misshapen mirror that had never been properly tested. Astronauts eventually fitted it with corrective lenses, and it went on to become the crown jewel of astronomy.ImageCredit...Chris Gunn/NASAMaking sure that doesnt happen this time is the agenda for the next two years. Our telescope is finished, John C. Mather, the senior project scientist, said. Now we are about to prove it works.In the coming weeks, the mirror and the box of scientific instruments on its back will be put on a rig and shaken to simulate the vibrations of a launch, and then sealed in an acoustic chamber and bombarded with the noise of a launch.If the parts survive unscathed, the telescope assembly will be shipped to a giant vacuum chamber at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. There it will be chilled to the deep-space temperatures at which it will have to work, and engineers will actually focus the telescope, twiddling the controls for seven actuators on each of the 18 mirror segments. No Hubble surprises here.Then the telescope will go to Los Angeles to be mounted on its gigantic sunshield. That whole contraption, now too big for even the giant C-5A military transport plane, will travel by ship through the Panama Canal to French Guiana.It will be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket supplied by the European Space Agency as part of Europes contribution to the observatory, and go into orbit around the sun at a point called L2 about a million miles from Earth. Canada, NASAs other partner, supplied some of the instruments.Then come the six months of anxiety. Sometime in the spring of 2019, if all goes well, the telescope will record its first real image of what, the assembled astronomers were not ready to guess. In a bonus undreamed of when the Webb telescope was first conceived, it looks as if the Hubble will still be going strong when the Webb is launched. They will share the sky and the potential for joint observing projects. A million miles apart, they can view objects in the solar system from different angles, providing a kind of stereoscopic perspective.Besides the expected baby galaxies and the exoplanets, there are, as astronomers like to remind us, always new surprises (like colliding black holes when the LIGO observatory was turned on last year) when humanity devises a new way to look at the sky.Asked what the telescopes greatest discovery would be, Dr. Mather said, If I knew, I would tell you.Nor would the project members talk about contingency plans to rescue the telescope if anything goes wrong a million miles from Earth. There are no plans to fix it or bring it back. They know how to attach a probe or robot to the telescope, Dr. Mather said, but we are planning to not need it, thank you.",7
"TrilobitesCredit...Thomas O'Neill/NurPhoto, via Getty ImagesNov. 18, 2016Nobody knows precisely what the Pilgrims first Thanksgiving feast looked like. According to primary sources, there was fowl (likely including wild turkeys), venison and cornmeal for sure. Possible side dishes were cranberries, pumpkin and stuffing made with onions, nuts and herbs.Many of these flavors are still Thanksgiving staples. Theres one modern favorite, though, that would not have been found at the inaugural Plymouth celebration: mashed potatoes. Thats because potatoes are native to South America and had not yet made their way to North America.Where in South America potatoes first became domesticated, however, is still unknown. Recent genetic studies point to the Andean highlands in southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia as the crops birthplace, but a lack of direct plant evidence has made it difficult to confirm.ImageCredit...Oliver Davis/Getty ImagesThis week, in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, archaeologists at the University of California, Merced, report finding such direct evidence microremains of what seems to be cultivated potatoes on ancient grinding tools from southern Peru. The remains go back as far as 3400 B.C.This is the best archaeological evidence indicating that, yes, early on there were indeed potatoes being cultivated in the central Andes, said Tom Dillehay, a professor of anthropology at Vanderbilt University who was not involved in the research.The authors of the study looked for microscopic starch grains on stone tools recovered from an ancient, high-altitude site called Jiskairumoko, in the Titicaca Basin of southern Peru. These tools, they suspect, were used to break up the skins of potatoes.In the process, tiny starch grains would get embedded inside micropores and cracks of the stone tools, said Mark Aldenderfer, one of the authors of the study.He and his co-author, Claudia Rumold, bathed the tools in a sonicator, which dislodged the starch grains from the pores using sonic waves. Then they analyzed the grains under a microscope and compared them to reference samples of other crops and wild plants from the region.Out of 141 starch samples recovered from 14 tools, 50 were consistent with cultivated or domesticated potatoes, Dr. Rumold said.Starch grain analysis, which is a relatively novel method, was key to finding evidence of potatoes because the tubers do not preserve well, Dr. Aldenderfer said. When a seed burns, you often get something left of a seed husk. When corn cobs burn, you get something left of the cob. When potato burns, it burns up very seldom do you get actual bits.The early cultivation of potatoes seems to have been part of a larger shift at Jiskairumoko, from hunting and gathering toward farming and herding, he added. Around the same time, people started to build more complex houses, and the beginnings of a social hierarchy emerged. In 2008, a team led by Dr. Aldenderfer found a gold necklace from Jiskairumoko dating back to 2000 B.C., suggesting that an elite class had formed by then.As for how the potato spread and changed from thumbnail- to fist-sized over time, many questions remain. We dont have enough data to know how many times it was domesticated in this particular area, or if it was just once, Dr. Rumold said.Historians do know that millenniums later, after the Spaniards conquered the Incan Empire, they introduced the potato to Europe. British colonialists then brought the potato to North America, where it flourished and became a staple. Eventually, probably starting in the 1800s, the beloved spud made its way into Thanksgiving traditions. So when you eat your mashed potatoes this holiday, add ancient Andean civilization to your list of things to be thankful for.",7
"Credit...Tim Shaffer/ReutersDec. 8, 2015Dow Chemical and DuPont, two of the biggest and oldest companies in the American chemical industry, are in talks to merge in what would be one of the largest transactions in a year full of huge deals, people briefed on the matter said on Tuesday.Under the terms being discussed, a merger of the two companies each with a market value of roughly $60 billion could eventually be followed by a breakup of the company, two of these people said.Combined, the two companies would be the second-biggest chemical company in the world, in terms of revenue, after BASF of Germany, with more than $92 billion in annual sales. The next step being discussed would be to break up the merged company into three businesses: agricultural chemicals, specialty products, and materials, like plastics.An announcement could come soon, these people added, while cautioning that talks were incomplete and could still collapse.Dow and DuPont the former founded in 1897 as a bleach producer in Michigan, the latter born in 1802 in Delaware as a gunpowder manufacturer are among the best-known names in the chemicals business. Dow has produced a slew of plastics and agricultural chemicals, while DuPont claims innovations such as Kevlar and Teflon.Yet each company has come under attack from activist investors unhappy with its financial performance. Last year, Dow settled a brief but bitter dispute with Daniel S. Loeb, the billionaire who runs the hedge fund Third Point, by adding four independent directors.And this May, DuPont formally E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company successfully fended off a board challenge by Nelson Peltz, dealing the billionaire financier his first loss since he opened his current firm, Trian Fund Management, a decade ago.In both cases, Mr. Loeb and Mr. Peltz have argued that the chemical makers they were targeting suffered from corporate bloat and missed financial earnings targets. The two companies argued that they were taking steps to trim excess costs and improve their operations, as well as buy back shares and increase stock dividends.While it made its name in chemicals, DuPont has made big strides on the agriculture side of its business, especially in its corn seed technology.Competition is fierce, especially from the likes of Monsanto. But DuPont has a number of patents that keep many of its products proprietary. In addition to agriculture, DuPonts portfolio includes electronics and communication, advanced materials, and safety and protection.Dow Chemicals portfolio is split into two groups: specialty and basic chemicals. The company has been focusing more on specialty chemicals, which carry higher prices, whereas basic chemicals are more commoditized. Dow is also more exposed to the volatility of the energy market.Since Dow settled with Mr. Loeb, its shares have stayed roughly flat.Yet victory for DuPont did not necessarily please shareholders. Shares of the company have fallen about 11 percent since the company won its battle with Mr. Peltz.In after-hours trading on Tuesday, shares of the two companies rose after The Wall Street Journal reported they were in talks.Representatives from Dow and DuPont declined to comment.Should the two sides agree on a deal, it would be yet another blockbuster merger in what has already proved to be one of the most fruitful years for deal makers. More than $4 trillion worth of deals have been since struck the beginning of this year, surpassing 2007 as the busiest year for acquisitions.Among the biggest deals announced this year are Pfizers $150 billion acquisition of the Botox maker Allergan, Anheuser-Busch InBevs $106 billion union with its fellow beer giant SABMiller, and Charter Communications $55 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable.In weighing a breakup of the combined Dow and DuPont, the two companies are following a path that both Pfizer and Anheuser-Busch InBev have embarked on. Pfizer is leaning toward splitting itself up into a faster-growing drug manufacturer and a slower-growing pharmaceuticals business, while Anheuser-Busch InBev has already agreed to sell off big swaths of its and SABMillers combined beer brands.Edward D. Breen, who recently became DuPonts chief executive, replacing Ellen Kullman, is no stranger to corporate breakups. As chief executive of Tyco, he oversaw its split into three separate companies, including the home alarm unit ADT, a valve-and-pipe unit, and a commercial fire and security business.",0
"Health|CureVac has withdrawn its Covid vaccine application to European regulators.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/12/health/curevac-covid-vaccine-europe.htmlCureVac has withdrawn its Covid vaccine application to European regulators.Credit...Thomas Kienzle/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesOct. 12, 2021The German company CureVac announced on Tuesday that it was withdrawing its mRNA vaccine for Covid-19 from the approval process in Europe. The company pulled the plug after determining that it might take until June for regulators to make a ruling about the vaccine.With other mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech already in wide distribution, the company decided it was time to give up on its initial efforts to address the Covid-19 emergency.The pandemic window is closing, Franz-Werner Haas, CureVacs chief executive, said in an interview.The company will also terminate its advance agreement with the European Commission to sell it 405 million doses of the vaccine after approval.But in the longer term, CureVac is not out of the Covid-19 vaccine business. The company is partnering with the pharmaceutical giant GSK to start a clinical trial of a new version of the vaccine that they hope will be more effective. The companies are also investigating how to combine seasonal booster shots to work against both Covid-19 and influenza.Founded 20 years ago, CureVac pioneered early research on mRNA vaccines along with the German firm BioNTech and the U.S. company Moderna. At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, all three companies developed new vaccines against the coronavirus.While Moderna and BioNTech moved swiftly into clinical trials, CureVac was slower to find partners to support its vaccines development. Nevertheless, some experts saw promise in the CureVac shot, hoping that it could help address the global shortfall in Covid vaccines.The European Medicines Agency gave CureVac special priority for its application, cutting the time needed for authorization. But in June, the company made a disappointing announcement: A clinical trial found that the vaccines efficacy was just 48 percent. By comparison, the vaccines from BioNTech and Moderna had efficacies around 95 percent.Despite that disappointment, CureVac went ahead with its application for authorization in Europe, and submitted a final data package in September. In its updated application, CureVac asked that the vaccine be considered only for people 18 to 60 years old. In that group, the clinical trial had found a moderately higher vaccine efficacy, of 53 percent.The European regulators response was less than encouraging. We were not being lined up for emergency review, said Dr. Klaus Edvardsen, the companys chief development officer.CureVacs Covid-19 vaccine is now the seventh to be abandoned after entering clinical trials. Last month, Sanofi announced it was giving up on its mRNA vaccine.But CureVacs newer version may have more success. In August, the company shared the results of an experiment on monkeys, showing that the new vaccine generated 10 times as many antibodies against the coronavirus as the original one did. CureVac will begin testing it in people in the next couple of months.Dr. Haas said the companys strategy is now to be fast with a second generation rather than to be very late with the first generation.",2
"Oscar De La Hoya Floyd Wouldn't Last 10 Seconds ... in UFC Fight 1/29/2018 1/29/18 TMZSports.com Oscar De La Hoya has set the over/under for how long Floyd Mayweather would last in a UFC fight ... and Floyd's not gonna like it. We got Oscar heading into Staples Center for a Lakers game the other day and asked him how his former boxing rival would fare in MMA. De La Hoya's prediction -- ""Tapped out in 10 seconds."" Ouch. FYI, Floyd says he probably ain't gonna test his skills inside the Octagon ... but money talks, so don't rule it out. Speaking of money fights, Oscar updated us on his quest to do business with Dana White ... a couple weeks after TMZ Sports got his initial pitch. 1/6/18 TMZSports.com",1
"Credit...Kirsten Luce for The New York TimesDec. 23, 2015Nearly a year ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio proclaimed that a new municipal identification card would help thousands of New Yorkers lead fuller lives, better lives, lives full of respect and recognition.More than 670,000 people have obtained the identification cards since the program began in January. One of the programs goals is to help many of those people obtain bank accounts.But some of the biggest banks in the city including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup will not accept the cards as a primary source of identification, even though their federal regulators and some smaller banks have approved their use.The banks reluctance threatens to leave thousands of undocumented immigrants and others on the margins of the financial system. For now, many are stuck with costly alternatives like check cashing services that take out a big chunk of a workers pay. Or they carry wads of cash around, potentially jeopardizing their safety.For years, the nations banking giants have said they support efforts to extend basic banking services to the estimated nine million American households that are unbanked, with no savings or checking account.In the case of the New York ID cards, those efforts are bumping up against another issue facing the big banks: protecting accounts from fraud and money laundering. In recent years, banks have had to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fines to settle investigations that found they had failed to adequately prevent money tainted by terrorism or illegal drugs from flowing through their branches.Caught in the middle are people like Donaldo C. Espinoza, a construction worker in the Bronx, who was unable to get a bank account with the ID card; and Blanca Perez, a housekeeper in Queens, who could not cash a check at Citibank using the ID she got after seeing a commercial for it on Univision, the Spanish-language TV network.Last spring, officials from the Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said that banks could use the New York identification cards known as IDNYC to satisfy certain requirements of federal anti-money laundering laws.Still, their letter did not compel the banks to accept the IDs, ultimately leaving the decision up to the individual financial institutions, which must assess the risk presented by each customer.For the big banks, the regulatory guidance was not enough to ease their concerns about being held liable if fraudulent or suspicious accounts were opened with the cards, according to people briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.These are business judgments, said Michael P. Smith, president of the New York Bankers Association. It is ultimately the institution that has to pass muster if there were ever a problem.Bank of America will accept the card only as a secondary form of photo identification. Citigroup is planning to accept the IDs as a secondary proof of identification starting next year. JPMorgan does not accept the card at all.A JPMorgan spokesman, noting that 35 percent of the banks branches are in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, said, We are committed to meeting the needs of communities where we do business.Some who advocate the use of the ID cards question whether the refusal to accept them has less to do with security concerns and more to do with protecting the bottom line. Regulations reining in fees have reduced the profits banks can make from low-income customers, putting the citys immigrants among the least attractive sources of potential customers.If New Yorkers who rely on IDNYC were perceived to be highly profitable customers, the big banks would no doubt change their tune, said Deyanira Del Ro, a co-director of New Economy Project, which works with community groups in New York.The lack of acceptance of the New York ID cards was among several concerns the nonprofit group highlighted in a letter last month to banking regulators. In the letter, 16 advocacy groups take particular umbrage with JPMorgan, the countrys largest bank, for what they say are its failures to serve the credit needs of low-income and minority communities.The advocacy groups focused on JPMorgan in part because it is the citys biggest bank.A spokesman for the bank said that Chase Liquid, a prepaid card, has helped more than a million people gain access to mainstream banking.The municipal ID cards are available to all New Yorkers over the age of 14. While the mayors office says it cannot track the exact number of immigrants with the cards, it has seen some encouraging signs. In the Corona Park neighborhood of Queens, for example, about 20 percent of the areas approximately 150,000 residents have the cards, according to the mayors office.Late Wednesday afternoon, at an unrelated event in Brooklyn, the mayor defended the ID card program, saying the cards were being accepted by many banks, credit unions and other organizations and have had a big impact on everything else in peoples lives, whether it is going for a lease, going for a library card, getting into their childs school when they have to show an ID.As for the banks that have declined to accept the card, the mayor said: Were certainly going to talk to them, and were certainly going to help them to understand. He expressed confidence that the banks concerns could be overcome.I think we can educate these banks about the fact that it is both an extraordinarily accurate ID, but its the right thing to do for New York City.The mayor emphasized that the cards were developed with input from the New York City Police Department and said the department had been one of the biggest backers of the program. They want every New Yorker on the street to have an ID card; it greatly improves the work of the NYPD, Mr. de Blasio said.To obtain an IDNYC, city residents must produce a form of photo identification and proof of their address, which the United States Postal Service has to confirm. The cards also feature holographic images, laser engraving and other security features to prevent forgery.The cards are intended to give New Yorkers broad access around the city, where it is nearly impossible to get into a government or commercial office building without showing some form of government-issued ID.Since taking office in 2014, Mr. de Blasio has pledged to find ways to narrow the gulf between the citys richest and poorest residents.A part of that effort, the mayor has said, is making it easier for all New York City residents to gain access to services provided by the city and its many institutions.For Mr. Espinoza, the 54-year-old construction worker, the need for a bank account was even more straightforward. He needed a place to put his money that was safer than under a mattress in his Bronx apartment.He signed up for a card in order to open a bank account. But the employee at the Bank of America branch in Lower Manhattan told him that the bank would not accept the card as a primary form of identification, he said.I was confused, Mr. Espinoza, who is originally from Honduras, recalled in an interview. They told me at the NY ID office that this would work to open up a bank account.In the end, Mr. Espinoza said he had to miss a day of work and spend $70 to renew his Honduran passport, which he used to open an account at the bank.Not every immigrant, advocates said in interviews, has the documents needed or feels comfortable going to the embassy of their home country to obtain a passport. The IDNYC, which assigns a number to each card, is intended to validate a New Yorkers identity regardless of their immigration status.Banks are not required by regulators to ensure that their customers are United States citizens or whether they are living in the country legally. Regulators are primarily concerned that the banks can verify that customers are who they say they are.With that requirement in mind, the de Blasio administration and the New York Bankers Association contacted the federal banking regulators this year asking for guidance on whether the IDNYC cards could be used as a proof of identity.In April, the regulators responded with what consumer advocates interpreted as an affirmation of the cards. The cards, the regulators outlined in the letter, could be used as a means of documentary verification. But ultimately, the regulators left the decisions up to the banks, writing that a bank may determine that more information than the ID Card is necessary.The city stands firmly behind the security features of the cards, emphasizing, as they mayor did, that a dozen credit unions and smaller banks are willing to accept the cards as primary IDs.Nisha Agarwal, commissioner of the mayors office of immigrant affairs, and Scott M. Stringer, the New York City comptroller, said the city plans to keep talking to the banks about the cards.We have done the work with the regulators, Ms. Agarwal said. If there is something else we can do to be helpful with the banks, we will.In a statement released Wednesday, Mr. Stringer said his office would contact every bank to discuss what steps they are taking to change their policy.While acknowledging that the guidance from regulators was far from an ironclad endorsement of the cards, Keith Mestrich, the chief executive of Amalgamated Bank, said he considered the city cards as sufficient proof of identity and residency.Amalgamated still requires potential customers to produce a taxpayer ID number from the I.R.S. or the Social Security Administration, along with the city-issued cards. It has opened about 250 accounts with the IDNYC.We think protections that are put in place are just as strong as most state drivers licenses, Mr. Mestrich said. I dont know why the big banks wont take them.",0
"Europe|Mount Etna Erupts in Sicily, Injuring at Least 10https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/world/europe/mount-etna-volcano-eruption.htmlCredit...Salvatore Allegra/Associated PressMarch 16, 2017Mount Etna, Europes largest and most active volcano, has been grouchy in recent weeks, sending up plumes of glowing red lava and ash that could be seen for miles from its peaks in Sicily.And early on Thursday, it issued another fearsome blast, injuring at least 10 people who had been on the mountain to take a closer look, according to wire service reports.A BBC science reporter on the scene described what happened in a series of tweets.Many injured some head injuries, burns, cuts and bruises, the BBC reporter, Rebecca Morrelle, wrote in describing a dramatic flight down the mountain amid a huge explosion.Running down a mountain pelted by rocks, dodging burning boulders and boiling steam not an experience I ever want to repeat, Ms. Morrelle wrote.An unnamed volcanologist on the mountain, she said, told her it was the most dangerous incident experience in his 30-year career.Ms. Morrelle said a medical team had logged at least eight injuries, all minor, and that the BBC crew was unharmed. Emergency authorities reported other injuries later.Back at the hotel, Ms. Morrelle shared a photograph of Rachel Price, a camera operator, brandishing a coat with a big hole burned through by a lump of rock.This prompted a reply from Philippa Demonte, a volcanologist apparently sitting safely in Salford, England, who recalled her early days studying lava flows in Hawaii.Rule No. 1 no synthetic clothing, she wrote.Images of the eruption were also captured from space. In this satellite image, posted by the European Space Agency, the snow has been processed in blue, to distinguish it from clouds.Earlier on Thursday, before ascending, Ms. Price, the camera operator, had posted an image of the snow-capped volcano, looking beautiful but not exactly sweet under cloud-streaked blue skies, in a tweet capped off with the hashtag #exciting.Indeed.",6
"Health|F.D.A. Proposes a Ban on Powdered Medical Gloveshttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/22/health/fda-proposes-a-ban-on-powdered-medical-gloves.htmlMarch 21, 2016WASHINGTON The Food and Drug Administration proposed banning powdered medical gloves on Monday, saying the powder can inflame wounds and cause scars to form between organs and tissue after surgery.The powder is added to the gloves by manufacturers to make it easier to put them on and take them off. But experts have known for some time that the powder can cause harm. The agency did not specify the precise percentage of gloves that now have powder, but a spokesman for the agency, Eric Pahon, said it was very small. The proposal is open for public comment for 90 days.The agency started to warn about the gloves in 1997 but refrained from banning them then, largely because it determined that pulling them from the market at the time could have caused shortages and been disruptive to the practice of medicine. The ban would apply to powdered surgeons gloves, powdered patient-examination gloves and absorbable powder for lubricating a surgeons glove.Powdered latex gloves were common in medical practice for years, but evidence that they might be dangerous began to be collected in the 1990s. According to Public Citizen, a consumer watchdog group, a number of major hospitals began switching to non-powdered alternatives in the late 1990s.Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe, a founder of the group, said it had petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to ban powdered latex surgical gloves in 1998. He said powder-free latex gloves were about a quarter of all surgical gloves on the market at that time.Theres absolutely no reason that they could not have initiated the ban back in 1998, Dr. Wolfe said. But Mr. Pahon said that banning them at the time would have created a shortage for a necessary medical device. He added that now, the agency was eliminating the risk from the market, as better alternatives have come out.Powdered synthetic gloves are associated with wound inflammation and a condition that can happen after surgery in which bands of fibrous scar tissue form between organs and tissue.",2
"Credit...John Minchillo/Associated PressJune 11, 2018WASHINGTON The Supreme Court on Monday upheld Ohios aggressive efforts to purge its voting rolls, siding with Republicans in the latest partisan battle over how far states can go in imposing restrictions on voting.The court ruled that states may kick people off the rolls if they skip a few elections and fail to respond to a notice from election officials. The vote was 5 to 4, with the more conservative justices in the majority.On one level, the decision sought to make sense of tangled statutory language. But it was also a vivid reminder that measures placing obstacles between people seeking to vote and their ability to cast ballots including cutbacks on early voting, elimination of same-day registration and tough voter ID laws present dueling visions of democracy.Republicans have pushed for such restrictions, arguing without evidence that they are needed to combat what they say is widespread voter fraud. Democrats have pushed back, countering that the efforts are part of an attempt to suppress voting by Democratic constituencies, particularly minorities.The case concerned Larry Harmon, a software engineer and Navy veteran who lives near Akron, Ohio. He voted in the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections but did not vote in 2012, saying he was unimpressed by the candidates. He also sat out the midterm elections in 2010 and 2014.But in 2015, Mr. Harmon did want to vote against a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana and found that his name had been stricken from the voting rolls. State officials said that they had done so after sending Mr. Harmon a notice in 2011 asking him to confirm his eligibility to vote and that he did not respond. Mr. Harmon said he did not remember receiving a notice, but he was dropped from the voter rolls.The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, ruled in favor of Mr. Harmon in 2016, saying that Ohio had violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 by using the failure to vote as a trigger for sending the notices.The Supreme Court reversed that ruling, allowing the approach by Ohio, which is more aggressive than any other state in purging its voter rolls. After skipping a single federal election cycle, voters are sent a notice. If they fail to respond and do not vote in the next four years, their names are purged from the rolls.A few other states use similar approaches, but not one of them moves as fast.Ohio is the only state that commences such a process based on the failure to vote in a single federal election cycle, said a brief from the League of Women Voters and the Brennan Center for Justice. Literally every other state uses a different, and more voter-protective, practice.Federal laws prohibit states from removing people from voter rolls by reason of the persons failure to vote. But they allow election officials who suspect that a voter has moved to send a confirmation notice.Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., writing for the majority, said federal laws allowed such notices as part of a process to cull inaccuracies from the voting rolls. A key provision, he wrote, simply forbids the use of nonvoting as the sole criterion for removing a registrant, and Ohio does not use it that way.Instead, he wrote, Ohio removes registrants only if they have failed to vote and have failed to respond to a notice.Justice Alito wrote that Congress had good reason to urge states to clean up their voting rolls. Citing a 2012 report from the Pew Center on the States, he wrote that some 24 million voter registrations were estimated to be invalid or significantly inaccurate, and that 2.75 million people were registered to vote in more than one state.In dissent, Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote that the goal of ensuring the accuracy of voting rolls did not justify erecting obstacles to prevent eligible voters from casting ballots. The purpose of our election process is not to test the fortitude and determination of the voter, but to discern the will of the majority, he wrote, quoting a Senate report.In 2012, Justice Breyer wrote, Ohio sent out 1.5 million notices, to roughly 20 percent of the states registered voters. But only 4 percent of Americans move outside their county each year, he wrote.Ohio only received back about 60,000 return cards (or 4 percent) which said, in effect: You are right, Ohio. I have, in fact, moved, Justice Breyer wrote. In addition, Ohio received back about 235,000 return cards which said, in effect, You are wrong, Ohio, I have not moved.In the end, however, there were more than one million notices the vast majority of notices sent to which Ohio received back no return card at all, he wrote.The upshot, Justice Breyer wrote, was that many voters who had not moved were removed from the rolls, thanks in large part to the human tendency not to send back cards received in the mail.Justice Alito said he was unimpressed by Justice Breyers cobbled-together statistics and a feature of human nature of which the dissent has apparently taken judicial notice.Federal law, Justice Alito wrote, plainly reflects Congresss judgment that the failure to send back the card, coupled with the failure to vote during the period covering the next two general federal elections, is significant evidence that the addressee has moved.Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Neil M. Gorsuch joined the majority opinion.Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan joined Justice Breyers dissent. In a separate dissent in which she wrote only for herself, Justice Sotomayor said Ohios program was of a piece with concerted state efforts to prevent minorities from voting and to undermine the efficacy of their votes that were an unfortunate feature of our countrys history.Justice Alito responded that the dissenters had focused on the wrong questions.The dissents have a policy disagreement, not just with Ohio, but with Congress, he wrote. But this case presents a question of statutory interpretation, not a question of policy. We have no authority to second-guess Congress or to decide whether Ohios notification program is the ideal method for keeping its voting rolls up to date.The only question before us is whether it violates federal law, Justice Alito wrote. It does not.Jon Husted, Ohios secretary of state, said other states may now follow Ohios lead.Todays decision is a victory for election integrity, Mr. Husted, a Republican, said in a statement, adding that this decision is validation of Ohios efforts to clean up the voter rolls and could serve as a model for other states to use.That would have a lopsided impact on Democratic voters, some analysts predicted.States can provide some rationale for sending notice cards to individuals for whatever reason, as long as its loosely tied to a change of address, and if voters fail to respond to that card, then basically they can be purged from the rolls, said Michael P. McDonald, a political scientist and director of the United States Elections Project at the University of Florida.Thats the implication beyond Ohio, he said. I think Republican states are going to embrace this ruling.A Reuters study in 2016 found that at least 144,000 people were removed from the voting rolls in recent years in Ohios three largest counties, which are home to Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus.Voters have been struck from the rolls in Democratic-leaning neighborhoods at roughly twice the rate as in Republican neighborhoods, the study found. Neighborhoods that have a high proportion of poor, African-American residents are hit the hardest.Voting-rights advocacy groups said they feared Mondays decision would lead to similar disparities. This decision will allow states to obstruct countless eligible voters from participating in our countrys electoral system, Vanita Gupta, the president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said in a statement. We should make it easier, not more difficult, for citizens to exercise their right to vote.Others suggested, however, that the impact of the ruling was likely to be more limited. It does give all 50 states the green light to do what Ohio did, said Edward B. Foley, an election-law scholar at Ohio State Universitys Moritz College of Law. But I think that green light is very specific with respect to voter purging and list maintenance.If youre a voter whos going to get purged as a result of this, he continued, it means you havent voted for at least six years, plus you havent responded to this notice. Genuine voter suppression is really horrific, but I dont think Ohio was being terribly irresponsible in what it was doing.The Justice Department for decades took the position that failing to vote should not lead to disenfranchisement. In the appeals court, the Obama administration filed a brief supporting Mr. Harmon.After the last presidential election, the department switched sides in the case, Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, No. 16-980.",3
"New research aims to shed light on the social habits of the popular, but often misunderstood, animal.Researchers hope that a deeper appreciation of groundhog sociality may help people become more sympathetic to them.Credit...Brandon KeimPhotographs by Greta RybusPublished Feb. 1, 2022Updated Feb. 3, 2022FALMOUTH, Maine Groundhog Day may be a tongue-in-cheek holiday, but it remains the one day earmarked in the United States for an animal: Marmota monax, the largest and most widely distributed of the marmot genus, found munching on flowering plants or, at this time of year, snuggling underground from Alabama to Alaska.Yet, for all their cultural prominence, groundhogs remain, as it were, in a bit of a shadow. Relatively little is known about their social life. They are thought of as solitary, which is not precisely wrong, but neither is it entirely accurate.These guys are much more social than we thought, said Christine Maher, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Southern Maine and one of the few scientists to study groundhog behavior.Dr. Maher arrived in Maine in 1998 with a keen interest in animal sociality. Marmots, a genus spanning 15 species of varying sociality including alpine marmots living in multigenerational family groups, semi-social yellow-bellied marmots and ostensibly antisocial groundhogs were a natural subject.She found an ideal study site at the Gilsland Farm Audubon Center, a 65-acre sanctuary of rolling meadows and forests on the coast of Falmouth, Maine. There, she has tagged no fewer than 513 groundhogs, following their fates and relationships in fine-grained detail.The resulting family trees and territorial maps, along with the records of their interactions and daily activities, are singular. Nobody had looked at them over time as individuals, Dr. Maher said.ImageGilslands groundhogs wont emerge until late February, but one morning last summer, Dr. Maher was out setting peanut butter-baited live traps around a shrub-hidden burrow beside the visitor center. The peanut butter soon proved irresistible.The trap afforded a rare up-close view of a groundhog: sleekly sturdy, with small, serious eyes, delicate whiskers and fur that shaded from auburn on her broad chest to a mlange of chestnut, straw and russet across the rest of her body. One round ear bore a tiny bronze tag inscribed with the number 580.This is Torch, said Dr. Maher, who names each of her study subjects. Torch was a first-time mother. Dr. Maher deftly transferred her to a thick bag to allow for safe weighing. She also took a hair sample for later DNA analysis and measured how much Torch wriggled during several 30-second intervals a simple test of personality.After returning Torch, irritated but unharmed, to her burrow, Dr. Maher started a circuit of Gilsland. She checked several still-empty traps for Barnadette, who was raising her pups beneath an old barn. Near the barn was a sprawling community garden and the smorgasbord of their compost pile.As anyone whose vegetable garden is visited by groundhogs can attest, the arrangement created a certain tension. Charles Kaufmann, one of the gardens coordinators, acknowledged that conflicts with gardeners had occurred, but had been resolved peacefully. Among their peacekeeping tools are floppy fences that groundhogs struggle to climb.Audubon is for the preservation and appreciation of the natural world, Mr. Kaufmann said. We feel bound to live within that perspective and philosophy. Also, groundhog pups are just the cutest things in the world.A coterie of groundhogsAlong a freshly mowed path leading from the gardens into a meadow, Dr. Maher spotted a groundhog. Through her scope she identified Athos, a yearling and a sibling to Porthos and Aramis.She named them after the Three Musketeers, which was a trick to help her remember them but it was also fitting. A few days prior, she had observed them hanging out together at the burrow where they were born.Such interactions belie the species solitary reputation, and conventional wisdom holds that juvenile groundhogs leave home to seek new territories just a few months after they are born. At Gilsland, Dr. Maher has found that roughly half the juveniles remain for a full year in the territory of their birth. When they finally depart, they often stay nearby.It depends on whether they can strike an agreement with their mother, Dr. Maher said. Some moms are willing to do that. Others are not. Mothers may even bequeath territories to their daughters. Dr. Maher suspected that Athoss mom had left Athos the family burrow.As groundhogs mature, their interactions become less amicable the Three Musketeers most likely would not lounge together for much longer but neither are they entirely antagonistic. Dr. Maher has also found her groundhogs to be friendlier to relatives than to unrelated individuals.The result is a community of related groundhogs whose territories overlap. Some individuals do venture farther afield or arrive from afar, which helps keep the gene pool fresh but a kinship-based structure remains. Gilsland Farms groundhogs could be understood as living in something like a loose-knit clan, its members keeping their distance but still crossing paths and maintaining relations.You have these whole networks of sisters living together, aunts, cousins, extending outward, Dr. Maher said. This had been hinted at, but I dont think people knew just to what extent it was happening.Daniel Blumstein, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who leads a long-term study of yellow-bellied marmots at Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, said that Dr. Mahers data was increasing our understanding of the benefits of having subtle social relationships. He added, She is allowing us to appreciate more the nuanced complexity of less in-your-face social relationships.An open question is whether the patterns Dr. Maher sees at Gilsland Farm are common in other groundhog populations. Their behaviors may vary depending on local circumstance, she said.Gilsland Farms groundhogs live on what amounts to a habitat island; to the west is an impassable estuary, to the east is a dangerous highway. North and south are suburban neighborhoods rich in potential habitat but bristling with unwelcoming homeowners. Theyre seen as varmints, Dr. Maher said of the groundhogs. People dont seem to give them much thought.An ancestral stateWhen young groundhogs do leave Gilsland Farm, they tend to end up run over or shot. So there are advantages to staying home, provided there is enough food. There are also mutual benefits to be shared: For example, a whistle of alarm occasioned by an approaching fox would be heard by all nearby.From the birds-eye vantage of evolution, the genes of somewhat-social groundhogs spread more readily than more solitary ones, and Dr. Maher thinks that it actually represents a return to something like an ancestral state. Before European colonization, groundhogs would have lived in clearings created by fires, storms, beaver activity and Indigenous practices separated by inhospitable forests.They were forced to live closer together, so they were more tolerant of each other and more social, she said. When Europeans cleared all that forest, they actually increased the amount of habitat available for groundhogs. Perhaps they became less social because they could spread out.The neighborhoods dont have to be dangerous, though. Dr. Maher hopes that a deeper appreciation of groundhog sociality may help people become more sympathetic to them and even graciously share the suburban landscape with them, the way the Gilsland Farm gardeners do.Her work also intersects with some nonscientific efforts, such as the social media presence of Chunk the Groundhog followed by more than 500,000 people on Instagram and the amateur naturalists whose 15 years of backyard observations yielded the uniquely intimate accounts of Woodchuck Wonderland.People dont usually have that insight into the way they live, said John Griffin, director of Urban Wildlife Programs at the Humane Society of the United States. In his own work, Mr. Griffin often encounters a sense of groundhogs as intruders. He thinks that a lack of familiarity for all their ubiquity, groundhogs are often glimpsed only along roadside verges or dashing for cover leads to intolerance or an exaggerated sense of risk.Appreciating that animals have social lives can change how they are perceived, Mr. Griffin said. I dont know how to quantify it, but I think its valuable, he said. Conflict resolution is all about perspective.Tolerance would benefit more than groundhogs. Their digging helps aerate and enrich soil, Dr. Maher said, and many other creatures use their burrows. Groundhog burrows may even create hot spots of local biodiversity.Athos, at least, would be spared the suburban gauntlet. The fact that she hasnt left yet makes me think shell stick around, Dr. Maher said.Athos moved slowly along the path, eating the clover and dandelions that would sustain her through the coming winter. Every so often she stood on two legs and looked around. Dr. Maher noted her activities on a hand-held computer.When an approaching pedestrian sent Athos scurrying into the tall grass, Dr. Maher explained how the system worked. I just key in two-letter codes for their behavior, she said. Feed. Walk. Alert. Run. Groom. Dig, occasionally. They dont have a huge repertoire.She sounded slightly self-conscious about this. Passers-by, she admitted, are sometimes amused that she spends so much time watching seemingly boring creatures.With a rustle Athos returned to the path. Oh, there she is! Dr. Maher exclaimed, the enthusiasm in her voice suggesting that, after all these years, she still finds groundhogs quite interesting indeed.",7
"Middle East|Moshe Katsav, Jailed Ex-President of Israel, Loses Bid for Early Releasehttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/07/world/middleeast/moshe-katsav-jailed-ex-president-of-israel-loses-bid-for-early-release.htmlCredit...Pool photo by Uriel SinaiApril 6, 2016JERUSALEM An Israeli prison parole board rejected a request on Wednesday by Moshe Katsav, the former president of Israel who is serving a seven-year term for rape, for a conditional early release from prison.Mr. Katsav, who entered prison in December 2011 after losing a Supreme Court appeal, had requested that his sentence be reduced by a third for good behavior.In its ruling, the parole committee said that Mr. Katsav, who has always professed his innocence, never expressed regret for his actions and had refused to participate in rehabilitation programs, factors that did not work in his favor.The committee noted what it described as Mr. Katsavs obsessive preoccupation with trying to prove his innocence, saying he could continue to offend his victims and possibly still pose a risk to women.From his appearance before the committee and from his words, the committee gained the impression that the prisoner considers himself as a victim, the parole committee wrote.Mr. Katsav, it said, is busy blaming external forces for his situation and still conducts himself in an aggressive manner, absorbed with himself, his own needs and losses, and only with the price that he and his family have paid.It added that Mr. Katsavs victims had expressed their opposition to his early release before the committee.Mr. Katsavs lawyers said they would appeal the decision.The main point of this decision is the question of the basic legal right of any person to continue to adhere to his belief in his innocence, Zion Amir, one of Mr. Katsavs lawyers, told reporters outside Maasiyahu Prison, southeast of Tel Aviv, where Mr. Katsav is being held.I am very sorry that our society and all the decision makers have become enslaved to a mood outside which leads to decisions such as this, Mr. Amir said, adding that Mr. Katsav responded with great pain and went back to his cell.Mr. Katsav was convicted in a district court in 2010 of raping an employee while he was minister of tourism in 1998, and of sexually abusing a second woman and harassing a third while he was head of state. He served in the distinguished, if mostly ceremonial, post of president from 2000 to 2007.Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister of Israel, entered Maasiyahu Prison in February to serve a 19-month term for bribery and obstruction of justice.",6
"Credit...Dennis M. Rivera-Pichardo for The New York TimesDec. 24, 2015Puerto Ricos beleaguered electric utility announced progress in its continuing efforts to avoid a default on as much as one-eighth of the islands total debt of $72 billion.Officials said that two bond insurers had agreed late Wednesday to take part in a five-year restructuring plan for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, an islandwide monopoly. The insurers involvement signaled that Prepa had found a way to satisfy its bondholders, who expect to be paid about $177 million on Jan. 1, without having to part with that much cash itself.Prepa is one of 13 branches of the Puerto Rican government scheduled to make bond payments on Jan. 1, for a total of around $902 million.Cash is in short supply, and Gov. Alejandro Garca Padilla has warned that if he must choose between paying bondholders and providing essential public services, he will provide the services. His warnings have given rise to intense speculation as to which types of bond debt may be paid, and which may not.At the same time, the governor announced that public workers and retirees would be paid their customary Christmas bonuses this year, for a total government outlay of about $120 million.The bond insurers now participating in the restructuring deal are Assured Guaranty and National Public Finance Guarantee. An official with knowledge of the negotiations said a third bond insurer with a smaller exposure, Syncora Guarantee, might join the process later.Until now, the bond insurers had held back from Prepas restructuring talks, because the deal taking shape would involve reductions of bond principal and interest, and for the insured bonds the insurers would have to cover investors losses. Only about $2.5 billion of Prepas $9 billion of debt is insured, however.The chief executive of Assured Guaranty, Dominic J. Frederico, said Thursday that he was committed to continue working cooperatively with Prepa and other stakeholders to implement the terms of Prepas recovery plan. High hurdles still remain, but Mr. Frederico said that if the deal were successful it could help Prepa modernize its antiquated generating plants while keeping electricity rates sustainable.On Jan. 1, the terms call for the two bond insurers to purchase $50 million of new revenue bonds from Prepa; members of a creditors committee known as the Ad Hoc Group will purchase an additional $65 million worth of bonds. Those purchases will give Prepa $115 million of fresh cash, which it can use to honor a large part of its scheduled bond payment due that day. Prepa is expected to make the rest of the payment out of its own resources, according to people familiar with the talks.In other respects, the restructuring plan resembles terms that were made public earlier this year.They include a five-year payment moratorium, lower interest rates and a permanent reduction of Prepas outstanding bond principal by more than $600 million. This would be accomplished through a debt exchange, in which the holders of Prepas current, junk-rated bonds could turn them in and receive new investment-grade bonds.Lisa J. Donahue, Prepas chief restructuring officer, said that to make sure the new bonds qualify for investment-grade ratings, the two bond insurers had agreed to backstop them by posting a type of financial guarantee, called a surety. The idea is to make investors want to exchange their shaky old bonds for the new ones, despite the lower face value, by making the new bonds a better credit risk.Assured Guaranty said in a statement that the surety would be issued in exchange for a market premium.The debt exchange is not expected to take place until next summer, and until then the negotiators must steer the deal around a number of obstacles. The first will fall no later than Jan. 23 a deadline for the Puerto Rican legislature to pass enabling legislation for the deal. Legislators have so far shown little appetite for this, because they would also have to request a rate increase for Prepa.Elected officials anywhere would be reluctant to authorize a rate increase in an election year, but in Puerto Rico the increase would come in addition to new taxes imposed because of the financial crisis, school and hospital closings, water rationing and other painful austerity measures.Furthermore, a large number of Prepas bondholders continue to stay aloof from the restructuring talks, perhaps hoping an even better deal might appear later.The creditors on board so far represent about 70 percent of Prepas $9 billion debt; they include the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico, mutual funds, hedge funds, and banks that finance Prepas fuel purchases.The holders of the remaining 30 percent of the debt have not yet signed on to the deal, and it is not clear whether enough of them ever will, at least under the incentives proposed by the current deal. But one more factor is expected to come into play in the first half of 2016: There are signs that Congress is preparing to make some form of bankruptcy protection available to Puerto Rico.Currently, none of the islands government bodies have any legal standing to take shelter in Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy. But that could change soon, and the bankruptcy laws include what are known as cramdown provisions, which make it possible for a bankruptcy judge to force holdout creditors to accept a deal.",0
"Credit...Christopher Capozziello for The New York TimesJune 11, 2017In recent years, millions of middle- and working-class Americans have moved from job to job, some staying with one company for shorter stints or shifting careers midstream.The Affordable Care Act has enabled many of those workers to get transitional coverage that provides a bridge to the next phase of their lives a stopgap to get health insurance if they leave a job, are laid off, start a business or retire early.If the Republican replacement plan approved by the House becomes law, changing jobs or careers could become much more difficult.Across the nation, Americans in their 50s and early 60s, still too young to qualify for Medicare, could be hit hard by soaring insurance costs, especially people now eligible for generous subsidies through the existing federal health care law.This news scares Fern Warnat, 59. She has gotten insurance on the federal marketplace a couple of times in the last few years. When she and her husband moved from New York to Boca Raton, Fla., she bought a policy for a few months to tide her over until she got coverage from a new job. A year later, she needed to buy insurance again when she found herself unemployed. The policy was expensive around $800 a month.It wasnt easy, but it was available, she said.Now she worries what would happen under the Republican plan if she left her job at a home health company that provides insurance.I need something to be there, she said. Im going to be 60 years old. All my conditions pre-exist.Since the Affordable Care Act was enacted, companies have become less worried about people who want to leave but feel locked into their jobs because of health insurance, said Julie Stone, who works with corporations at Willis Towers Watson, a benefits consultant. The law removed one of the barriers to leaving your job, she said.Fewer employers now offer health insurance for their retirees, she said. The other alternative is Cobra, the federal law that requires companies to allow workers to remain on their employers plan if they pay the full monthly premiums, which are often extremely expensive and out of reach for many people. The coverage generally lasts no more than a year and a half. Cobra was a Band-Aid on a broken market, Ms. Stone said.The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated in an analysis last month that states covering one-sixth of the population would take waivers that allowed insurers to charge people with pre-existing conditions more. It predicted that such consumers would be unable to purchase comprehensive coverage with premiums close to those under current law and might not be able to purchase coverage at all.ImageCredit...Amanda Lucier for The New York TimesThe budget office did note that the House bill would potentially lead to lower prices, especially for younger and healthier people. In most markets, the low premiums would attract a sufficient number of relatively healthy people to stabilize the market.But the budget office also warned that markets in states that allowed insurers to charge higher premiums for people with pre-existing conditions whether high blood pressure, a one-time visit to a specialist or cancer could become unstable. Some places are already experiencing a dearth of insurers. More companies could exit as they struggled to make money in highly uncertain conditions.Millions of people could also wind up with little choice but to buy cheap plans that provided minimal coverage in states that opted out of requiring insurers to cover maternity care, mental health and addiction treatment or rehabilitation services, among other services required under the Affordable Care Act. Consumers who could not afford high premiums would wind up with enormous out-of-pocket medical expenses.The individual market has always been characterized by heavy churn, and insurers struggle to meet the needs of these short-timers, particularly the young and healthy, for whom coverage can be expensive. Its a huge challenge, even independent of the A.C.A., said John Graves, a health policy expert at Vanderbilt University.Insurers say they have had a hard time accurately estimating the medical costs of the changing pool of customers who need relatively short-term coverage and pricing their plans high enough to cover those costs. Aetna, one of the large national insurers that has decided to leave the market, said about half of its customers were new, and it blamed high churn as one reason the company lost money.Older people with potentially the most expensive conditions account for almost 30 percent of those who enrolled for insurance on the exchanges this year.David Clark wanted to retire from his job at Sams Club at age 62, three years before he would qualify for Medicare. He and his wife, Phyllis, who now live in Delray Beach, Fla., were not in good health. He has a heart ailment, and she has diabetes. Before passage of the Affordable Care Act, he said, he would have had to keep working.We wouldnt have been able to buy insurance at any price, he said.But he was able to retire and get coverage on one of the marketplaces. This has been three of the greatest years of our life, said Mr. Clark, who spends much of his time mentoring college students. When he needed triple bypass surgery at age 64, he was covered.Many people are keenly aware that the existing marketplaces provide a safety net, even if it is far from ideal.Dr. Marie Valleroy was able to stop working because she could afford to buy insurance on the federal exchange for four years until she was old enough to get Medicare. She has multiple sclerosis, and her symptoms were making it harder for her to see patients in Portland, Ore. It was time for me to retire, truthfully, she said. Her medications cost upward of $5,000 a month.And the law made it possible for Bobby Evans, now 35, to move to New Orleans two years ago to be with his girlfriend, now his wife. Because he was working part time until he could find a permanent position, he bought a policy through the state marketplace.He and his wife have talked about opening their own consulting firm, but the plan is being delayed, he said, depending on what happens with the federal law providing individual insurance. Health care is a big-time barrier for a lot of peoples professional growth, Mr. Evans said.",2
"Health|Pfizer-BioNTechs vaccine is highly effective against hospitalization for those 12 to 18, a study shows.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/health/pfizer-vaccine-hospitalizations-teenagers.htmlPfizer-BioNTechs vaccine is highly effective against hospitalization for those 12 to 18, a study shows.Credit...Christopher Capozziello for The New York TimesOct. 19, 2021The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 93 percent effective against hospitalization with Covid-19 among 12- to 18-year-olds, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Tuesday, the strongest evidence to date of the vaccines ability to keep young people out of the hospital.With federal regulators now considering authorizing the vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, the study offered additional signs that extending vaccines to more young people could not only reduce the spread of the virus in the United States, but also protect those children from the rare cases in which they become severely ill.This evaluation demonstrated that two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are highly effective at preventing Covid-19 hospitalization among persons aged 1218 years, the agencys scientists wrote, and reinforces the importance of vaccination to protect U.S. youths against severe Covid-19.The agency studied young people who were hospitalized at 19 pediatric hospitals across 16 states from June through September, as the Delta variant spread across the country and exacted a devastating toll in less-vaccinated states in the South and West. It compared the odds of vaccination among children hospitalized with Covid and children hospitalized with other illnesses.Among the 179 patients in the study who had Covid, three percent were vaccinated and 97 percent were unvaccinated. Twenty-nine of the young Covid patients needed life support, and two died; all of those patients were unvaccinated, the agency said. Vaccinated children with Covid also tended to have shorter hospital stays than unvaccinated children.Nearly three-quarters of the Covid patients in the study had at least one underlying health condition, including obesity, diabetes, asthma or respiratory disorders, putting them at higher risk of severe illness.As of Monday, the C.D.C. said, 46 percent of children ages 12 to 15 were fully vaccinated nationwide, as were 54 percent of 16- and 17-year-olds. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is authorized for emergency use in children ages 12 to 15, and fully approved in people ages 16 and over. Booster shots have not been authorized for anyone in the United States under 18 years old.Pediatric hospitalizations rose as the Delta variant spread across the United States, reaching their highest level during the pandemic in September, the C.D.C. said.A clinical trial of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had earlier shown that the shots were highly effective at preventing Covid cases in children, but had not examined effectiveness against hospitalization in that group.",2
"Credit...Eirini Vourloumis for The New York TimesDec. 11, 2015ATHENS Demetri Politopoulos, the founder of a midsize beer producer in northern Greece, says he nearly fainted when he heard the news late one night in October.The Greek Parliament was planning to pass a law that would increase the tax he paid for each hectoliter of beer he sold by 50 percent.Just like that, the microbrewery he started 17 years ago would go under, as his new tax bill of 1.6 million euros would wipe out his expected 1.45 million euros in profit for the year.I about had a heart attack, said Mr. Politopoulos, a 52-year-old entrepreneur who for more than 10 years has been trying to persuade bureaucrats in Brussels and Athens that Greeces monopolistic beer market was damaging his business.So he hopped on a plane to Athens and to the surprise of many was able to persuade the government to shelve the law within a day an extraordinary turnaround given how slow the Greek state usually moves.It was a triumph for Mr. Politopoulos and his Vergina beer brand.But the tale is also important on a larger scale as it shows how many of the revenue-raising measures that Greece is rushing to put into effect at the behest of its creditors are threatening to put small Greek businesses the beating heart of the countrys downtrodden economy out of business.It was midday here, and Mr. Politopoulos was sitting in a cafe, chain-smoking cigarettes and nursing beers.He had stayed up most of the previous night celebrating the victory with friends and family and the low growl of his voice and untouched plate of food before him signaled that the evenings effect was still with him.Yeah, he said. We really partied. I dont know how my brother got on a 7 a.m. flight today.The celebration was a long time coming. Educated in the United States, Mr. Politopoulos returned to his native land 19 years ago with a dream to become an independent brewer. At the time, there were no Greek beer companies: The Dutch-based behemoth Heineken had locked up the market.He started his business in 1998, but even as demand for his Vergina beer grew, his share of the market stayed in the low single-digits as the market leader did all in its power to prevent shops and restaurants from selling his product.Even now, after 15 years and a 7 percent market share, it is almost impossible to find a Vergina beer in Athens.In 2005, Mr. Politopoulos took his case to the Hellenic Republic Competition Commission, citing numerous examples of what he said were unfair business practices by Heineken, from persuading retailers to not stock Vergina to more serious examples of bullying and intimidation.But as is often the case in Greece, his petition went nowhere.With Greece under unremitting pressure to find new revenue sources, the idea to close the gap between the way small and large brewers are taxed may have seemed a good idea.That is, until Mr. Politopoulos took the floor in Parliament on Nov. 2.We are proud to pay taxes in Greece, but this is going to put us out of business, he said. And when we do pay our taxes, we expect services like justice. Without justice in a society, there is nothing.His 10-minute declamation hit a cord. A video of the speech went viral and parliamentary members rallied to his cause.Indeed, concerns are growing here that in a rush to raise much-needed revenue, Greece and its creditors are placing an unfair burden on an already decimated private sector.In the teeth of a five-year depression, Mr. Politopoulos says business is holding up fairly well. Via his company, which also sells tea drinks, and the farmers who grow barley and tea, he estimates that Vergina supports more than 1,000 families in the area of Komotini, which is just a short drive from the Turkish border.How, he asked, could a tax increase and the closure of his beer factory be seen as good for Greece?The government of Alexis Tsipras seems to have gotten the message. The tax bill was quickly shelved and a number of Parliament members called for an investigation into why the competition commission was taking so long to render a decision.Last week, the commission did give its opinion, saying that Heineken would be fined 31 million euros for unfair business practices.In a statement, Heineken said the decision was unfair and ungrounded and that it would appeal the ruling.It has been an emotional time for Mr. Politopoulos. He is not married and has no children as he likes to say, making beer in Greece (and frequently drinking it) is his life.I am really proud that we can make a difference, he said, searching a bit to find the right words. This shows there are Davids and Goliaths and that sometimes the Davids win.",0
"Credit...Carlo Allegri/ReutersDec. 4, 2015Prosecutors in Manhattan have decided not to retry Steven H. Davis, the former chairman of Dewey & LeBoeuf, the once-prominent New York law firm that collapsed in bankruptcy in 2012, a person briefed on the matter said on Friday.Two other former executives of Dewey are expected to be headed to a new trial on charges they oversaw an accounting fraud at the firm.The criminal trial of Mr. Davis and the two other former Dewey executives Stephen DiCarmine and Joel Sanders ended in a mistrial in October.On Friday, a prosecutor working for Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, said the office intended to conduct a new trial when a jury was unable to reach a verdict on 93 charges against the three men after 21 days of deliberation. The trial judge declared a deadlock in the proceeding after the jury earlier acquitted the men on 58 charges.But in speaking before Justice Robert M. Stolz of the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, the prosecutor, Peirce Moser, was unclear on whether Mr. Vance intended to retry all three defendants, or just some of them.Mr. Moser declined to elaborate on his comment about a new trial when he was asked about it after the brief court appearance. A spokeswoman for Mr. Vance also declined to comment further.Mr. Moser and lawyers for the three defendants are scheduled to be in court on Monday, when it is expected that Mr. Vances office will make clear its intentions on retrying any of the defendants.Over the last several weeks, the lawyers for Mr. Davis, Mr. DiCarmine and Mr. Sanders have had meetings with top prosecutors to argue why their clients should not be retried. Mr. Vance has attended some of those meetings.Prosecutors are considering dismissing the charges against Mr. Davis by offering him a deferred prosecution agreement that would require him to refrain from any improper conduct for a period of time, said another person briefed on the matter.Such an agreement would be unusual given that Mr. Davis was already indicted on dozens of criminal charges and tried once by a jury. But the deal, if approved, would enable prosecutors to avoid retrying Mr. Davis without dismissing the charges outright.The first trial of the three men began at the end of May and concluded with a hung jury in October.In interviews conducted after the trial, jurors told reporters and the lawyers involved in the case that prosecutors presented too many charges against the defendants and the case was too complex. The jurors also gave different views on the relative culpability of the three defendants.Mr. Moser, who led the prosecution in the first trial, appeared before Justice Stolz on Friday to discuss the timing of a trial for a fourth defendant, Zachary Warren, a low-level employee at Dewey who was also indicted but not tried with the law firms three former executives.Mr. Moser told the judge that Mr. Warren should be tried after any retrial of the former executives. Mr. Warrens lawyer, Paul Shechtman, said it would be unfair to make Mr. Warren, currently working as a lawyer for a small firm in Pittsburgh, wait that long for a trial on the charges against him.Justice Stolz seemed to sympathize with Mr. Warrens plight. He told Mr. Moser that if Mr. Warrens trial were conducted first, it would not pose much legal danger to any retrial.There arent too many secrets in this case, the judge said.The judge, however, put off making any decision on the timing of trials until the conference on Monday, during which lawyers for all of the defendants, including Mr. Warren, will be present.Justice Stolz must still decide motions filed by the defense lawyer for the former executives to dismiss the charges the jury could not reach a verdict on.The former executives are still facing dozens of counts of grand larceny, falsifying business records and scheming to defraud.",0
"Fueled by Gen Z, text-heavy meme posts, often paired with nonsensically unrelated pictures, are turning the photo and video app into a destination for written expression.Credit...via InstagramPublished Aug. 9, 2021Updated Sept. 27, 2021LOS ANGELES Last month, the singer Courtney Love, who is a keen observer of social media trends, posted a cryptic message on Instagram.Lots of people dont understand Gen-Z, she wrote. I think theyre funnier than any other generation Ive ever known.Accompanying Ms. Loves Instagram post was a blurry photo of herself and a gallery of unrelated and messy screen-shotted memes filled with nonsensical text overlaid on random photos. Ms. Love gave a shout-out to several accounts that had posted this type of content and highlighted even more of them on Wednesday, saying they had made me think in memes.Ms. Love was mimicking and complimenting a kind of social media post that is now sweeping through Instagram. Known in internet slang as shitposting, this style of posting involves people publishing low-quality images, videos or comments online. On Instagram, this means barraging peoples feeds with seemingly indiscriminate content, often accompanied by humorous or confessional commentary.A growing ecosystem of Instagram accounts has embraced this text-heavy posting style, which has exploded in popularity among Gen Z users during the pandemic. The trend has transformed Instagram, the photo- and video-based app owned by Facebook, into a network of microblogs and a destination for written expression.Many of these Instagram accounts, with absurdist names like @ripclairo, @botoxqueen.1968 and @carti_xcx, may look haphazard to the casual observer. Yet there are similarities across accounts. Nearly all feature screenshots of text on top of photos, made using the anonymous confessions app Whisper, or Instagrams Create mode, which lets people design text posts on top of gradient backgrounds. The posts are also interspersed with uncredited images, viral videos and humorous content.You just post your thoughts, said Mia Morongell, 20, a creator of the @lifes.a.bender Instagram account, which has amassed over 134,000 followers. Its like Twitter, but for Instagram. Its like a blog where youre airing personal thoughts and feelings.For years, Twitter served this very purpose, with the most engaging tweets repackaged and reposted by meme accounts and influencers on Instagram. Twitter, recognizing this shift, started its own Instagram account in 2017 and has made it easier for users to easily share tweets as Instagram Stories.But Twitter posts have a 280-character limit. And for Gen Z users, the combination of text, tools like the Whisper app and Instagram Create mode have mixed together into a viral alchemy that resonates with their age group.If you see someone following a meme page where they typically post tweets, they have a different sense of humor to what Gen Z would consider to be cool, said Faris Ibrahim, 18, who posts in this style on his Instagram page @puddle_boot. In one recent post, Tanisha Chetty, 15, who runs the Instagram page @life.is.not.a.soup, posted an image of a mattress in a graffiti-covered room. Overlaid on it was a message, in chunky black-and-white text, which read: We should care less about mental help. Girl, go insane! You are valid. While the page only has 5,644 followers, the post racked up nearly 30,000 likes and thousands of comments.These pages have surged during the pandemic as young people have turned to Instagram to externalize their innermost id and seek connection, said Amanda Brennan, senior director of trends and the meme librarian at XX Artists, a social media agency. Theyre very representative of teenagers having to spend the last year solely communicating through the internet, she said.Creators who have adopted this posting style have had follower counts soar. The page @on_a_downward_spiral doubled to nearly half a million followers in the past six months, while the account @joan.of.arca grew 250 percent in the last two months to over 14,100 followers, according to Instagram data.Installations of Whisper, the app that emerged about five years ago as a way for people to anonymously share secrets, have also jumped, according to the analytics firm SensorTower.For Instagram, the shift has been a boon as it duels with TikTok, the short-form video app, for young users. While TikTok has seeded many memes into popular culture, more recent memes such as gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss, a phrase meant to poke fun at millennial culture gained popularity early among text-heavy Instagram pages before going mainstream on TikTok.Instagram Create mode posts are definitely whats in right now for people around the ages of 18 to 23, said Shaden Ahadi, 21, who co-runs the Instagram account @mybloodyvirginia with several friends. People who were regular TikTok users are using Instagram more.The shift to text-heavy memes on Instagram began about a year ago, users said.In the early throes of the pandemic last summer, screenshots of peoples overly earnest Facebook status updates became popular on meme accounts, which poked fun at them. But many young users said they didnt like having to log into Facebook to create or find the status updates.Instead, some of them turned to the Whisper app, which lets anyone quickly post text over an image that can be automatically generated or uploaded from your phone. Others used Instagrams Create mode tools, which also make it easy to make a text post in a few clicks. Confessional, overly personal messages paired with seemingly unrelated images allowed for an extra layer of humor and irony.The dissonance between the photo and the text on Whisper is what appeals to people, said Anna Mariani, 19, a creator who co-runs the Instagram page @this.and.a.blaernt.Whisper did not respond to requests for comment.Ricky Sans, Instagrams strategic partner manager for memes, said the Create mode tools hadnt been made for the purpose of text-heavy memes, but we love to see the creativity to reinterpret a tool to help expression and communication.Yet some meme creators said that as their pages have become more popular, Instagram has been absent. Jackie Kendall, 20, said she has had two meme accounts banned by the app she was not told why and is appealing a third ban.I couldnt tell if Instagram was just cracking down really hard or people were targeting my posts and reporting them, she said. I think Instagram needs to do a much better job of understanding meme pages and communicating with them.The relationship between meme creators and Instagram has long been fraught. In 2019, Instagram meme creators tried to unionize to force the company to better address their support requests and issues such as bans. (Mr. Sans was hired later that year.)In April, Instagram held a meme summit, where Mark Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive, answered questions from creators. Yet few popular text-heavy meme pages said they had heard from the company since, despite efforts to contact the platform.In a statement, Instagram said, We hear and sympathize with their concerns and aim to partner with as many meme creators as possible to ensure they receive quality support.Many text-heavy meme creators said they had banded together to support one another.We have meme families, said Misha Takeo, 16, who runs the account @kawaiicuteidols. Established creators, known as nepotism parents, form networks where they mentor and repost and tag smaller creators known as nepotism babies.Some users have also built their own audiences off cleverly written commentary beneath the posts on the meme pages. Known as mega commenters, they have added to the virality of the meme pages in Instagrams feed algorithm.Nate Robbin, 20, a college junior in Florida, said he has commented on text-heavy memes on Instagram for eight months and always gets the top comment on posts of the major players of every community. He called himself the niche internet micro celeb of the ironic posting community.Mr. Robbin was first to comment on Ms. Loves most recent Instagram post referring to that community. I said, Nurse, shes doing that thing again, he said. A good comment can not only drive up interaction to a post, but it can add to the joke itself and make the post funnier as a whole.His comment has over 3,000 likes.Ms. Brennan, the meme librarian, said the rise of Instagrams text-heavy meme pages was reminiscent of the early years of Tumblr, the blogging platform that was popular in the late 2000s and early 2010s.Gen Z is rediscovering the old internet and updating it, she said.",5
"Science|A Quick, Colorful Change for a Morning Gloryhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/03/science/a-quick-colorful-change-for-a-morning-glory.htmlTrilobitesCredit...National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki JapanMarch 2, 2016This weeks GIF science lesson highlights one of the more colorful ways that a drastic shift in pH, can affect a plant.In natures daily show, the morning glory is a master of the costume change. With normal fluctuations in pH levels, its petals can shift in color from blue to pink, and sometimes red in the course of a single day. But unless you camped out in front of the plant all day, you wouldnt see the transformation. Heres a video showing normal color fluctuations.Credit...CreditVideo by NIBB PRTo observe this phenomenon at high speed, researchers at the National Institute for Basic Biology in Japan placed dry ice in an enclosed space around a Japanese morning glory flower. As the ice evaporated and carbon dioxide built up in the surrounding air, the acidity increased, causing the pigments stored in tiny vacuoles, or bubbles in the petals outer cells, to shift from blue to pink. Watch as the color changes, as if by magic, right before your eyes.",7
"Beijing JournalCredit...Gilles Sabri for The New York TimesMarch 19, 2017BEIJING Stepping off a stylish, compact, orange-and-silver bicycle on the sidewalk outside her Beijing office, Cao Dachui kicked down its metal stand and locked the back wheel. Her half mile ride from a nearby subway station cost just 14 cents, and she could leave the bike anywhere.Its so very convenient, Ms. Cao, 27, said as buses and cars roared by, disgorging the stink of gasoline exhaust. Walking to the advertising agency would have taken twice as long. Life has really gotten easier, she said. Her friend Ma Zheng, 23, who was parking his own shared bike, nodded.Beijing was once a city of bikes, the capital of a country known as the Bicycle Kingdom for the millions of two-wheelers that dominated urban transport in a state-planned economy where cars were reserved for official business and the politically powerful. Decades of remarkable economic growth, beginning in the 1990s, led to a huge influx of cars in cities like Beijing, where owning one became not just a marker of reaching the middle class but also practically a prerequisite for marriage. As the economy roared, autos pushed bikes off the roads, creating heavy pollution and miserable traffic.Now, Beijing may be returning to its roots with a modern twist. Thanks to about two dozen technology start-ups, brightly colored shared bikes have flooded Beijing since last year, dotting a normally drab cityscape with flashes of bumblebee yellow, kingfisher blue and tangerine.Beijing commuters have long endured packed buses and airport-style security checks at subways, so many Chinese like Ms. Cao are embracing the shared bikes for the flexibility and freedom they offer. Commuters pick up the bikes and then ride and drop them off anywhere they like, locking the back wheel, with no need to find a stand or retether them, in contrast to city bike programs in Paris or New York.Urban obstruction is nothing new here. Scooters whiz down sidewalks and cars often park randomly, even on crosswalks, giving daily life in Beijing the feeling of a hectic video game. But the bikes strewn around the city like bright candies have taken Beijings chaos to another level, and drivers are particularly upset.ImageCredit...Gilles Sabri for The New York TimesIn the last few months, the bikes have been going crazy. Theyre like monsters occupying the city, said Huang Linwei, 29, a designer who drives to work in Beijing every day from Tongzhou, an eastern suburb. More than once Ive found it difficult to park my car because the bikes are parked all over the place!Others fear for their livelihood. Xu Jianmin, 56, an electric rickshaw driver, said he had made less money transporting commuters since the tens of thousands of bikes began appearing this winter.I know our business is kind of a gray zone, that we are not registered with the government, and of course nobody cares if were affected, Mr. Xu said. But I have to make money.I probably would like the bikes, too, if I had another job, he added.There have also been highly publicized instances of misuse and vandalism. In February, the police detained two nurses at a military hospital in Beijing for five days after they locked bikes with chains to stop others from using them.Angela Cai, a spokeswoman for Ofo, a market leader in bike-sharing in cities across China, said the company was working to address the dumping of bikes in public places. Workers wearing heavy blue coats can now be spotted on side roads in Beijings Chaoyang district, picking up discarded Ofos.This month, the municipal government said it would issue parking, management and maintenance regulations for the bikes by June, and that it expected the companies to cooperate.ImageCredit...Gilles Sabri for The New York TimesRiding the bikes requires only a few taps on a smartphone.Customers download one of the start-ups apps, electronically transfer a deposit and then pay per ride by using a bikes individual code. Bikes that rely on mobile technology feel right at home in a place like Beijing, where even elderly people are often early adapters of technology.Some companies offer booking services and even GPS to enable riders to find the nearest pair of wheels. But it doesnt always work as well as it sounds when I booked a bike recently, I wandered in circles for 10 minutes without finding it. I was at a high-rise mall, and it is possible the bike was parked on a different floor from those I was able to check.Costing as little as 7 cents a half-hour and designed to take people the last leg from public transport to their places of work or entertainment, the bikes have the potential to transform urban living and even shape peoples decisions about where to live and work. Those are vital issues in this sprawl of about 20 million people, many of whom spend hours a day commuting.Having a bike like this might allow me to choose, say, to live a bit further out, or take another job in a place that isnt as easy to get to, said Ms. Cao, the employee at the advertising agency.Analysts in China say there are three factors behind the sudden surge: a lot of cash looking for a home, a good idea and government support.Since March 2015, two industry leaders Mobike and Ofo have attracted about $750 million in private investment from China and overseas, the bulk of it in recent months, according to Ofo and Caixin, a financial magazine.ImageCredit...Gilles Sabri for The New York TimesBut easy money is only part of the story, according to Wang Chenxi of Analysys, a Chinese data and analysis firm. Behind this is the push of capital, but shared bikes are a good product, Ms. Wang said in an interview via WeChat, a messaging app. Capital needs an outlet, and just at that moment, shared bikes came along.Ms. Cai, the Ofo spokeswoman, said the company thought that as the citys population grew, and traffic jams got worse, shared bikes could solve the last mile problem in an environmentally friendly way.Another important reason for the speed and scale of the investment in the bike-sharing start-ups is government support, said Lin Chen, a professor at the China Europe International Business School, which is based in Shanghai. Capital only goes quickly to industries that the government supports, she said.The bikes have become so popular so quickly that they have also led to questions in Chinese media of an industry bubble and predictions of a battle for market share among the different start-ups, like what happened among ride-hailing companies in China. Uber China ultimately sold itself to its fiercest rival there, Didi Chuxing.A recent headline on the Chinese portal sohu.com asked: Are the recently extremely popular shared bikes a bubble, or the next Didi?Among frequent users of the bikes, they provoke a tangible sense of enthusiasm even glee.One recent afternoon, Feng Yuqin, 70, used her smartphone to unlock a bike parked on a sidewalk near Ms. Caos office. She said that she used to ride either her own pedal bike or her electric bike to the park to exercise, but that the bikes had been stolen a few times.With these, theres no loss, she said. It makes me really happy!",6
"Our Coverage of the Coronavirus PandemicIn the United StatesEven with coronavirus cases on the rise, millions of Americans are expected to take to the skies and roads Memorial Day weekend, in what is likely to be one of the busiest travel periods since the start of the pandemic.White House officials said that they were introducing new models for distributing Paxlovid, the Covid-19 pill made by Pfizer, in an effort to get the treatment to more people and keep death rates relatively low even as cases increase.Around the WorldBeijing is not under official lockdown yet, but one can barely tell that thats the case. As the Chinese government enforces strict safety measures in the city to prevent a complete shutdown, its hard to find anywhere to go.Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain presided over a disorderly workplace in which there were widespread violations of coronavirus restrictions, according to a long-awaited government reporton lockdown parties at Downing Street.ResearchA large new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that one in five adult Covid survivors under the age of 65in the United States has experienced at least one health condition that could be considered long Covid.How safe really is it to go back to the gym right now? Research shows that people working out may expel a shocking number of the tiny aerosol particlesthat can transmit the coronavirus.Health GuidanceMasks: Does a mask protect you against Covid if others arent wearing one? This is what the evidence shows.Second Boosters: Should you get a fourth Covid shot? Older individuals and those with some health conditions may benefit from it.Long Covid: There is no universal definition of the condition, but clues about causes and potential treatments are beginning to emerge. Heres what we know so far.At Home: When someone in your house tests positive for Covid, there are some guidelines to follow.Covid Treatments in N.Y.C.: Antiviral pillsand monoclonal antibodies are available across the city. Here is how to get them.",2
"Pro-Trump Mob Livestreamed Its Rampage, and Made Money Doing ItA site called Dlive, where rioters broadcast from the Capitol, is benefiting from the growing exodus of right-wing users from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesJan. 8, 2021When the white nationalist Tim Gionet stormed the U.S. Capitol with a mob of Trump loyalists on Wednesday, entering congressional offices and putting his feet up on lawmakers furniture, he also chatted live with more than 16,000 of his fans.Using a livestreaming site called Dlive, Mr. Gionet known by the online alias Baked Alaska broadcast his actions inside the Capitol. Through Dlive, his fans then sent him messages telling him where to go to avoid capture by the police. They also tipped him with lemons, a Dlive currency that can be converted into real money, through which Mr. Gionet made more than $2,000 on Wednesday, according to online estimates.Mr. Gionet operates one of at least nine channels that used Dlive to share real-time footage from the front lines of Wednesdays rampage. He and hundreds of other members of the far right have turned to the platform after mainstream services removed them. In 2017, Mr. Gionet was kicked off Twitter; last year, he was barred from YouTube.Dlives increasing popularity shows how an online exodus of far-right figures on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube since the November election has now moved beyond alternative social-networking, news and video sites like Rumble, Gab and Parler. Livestreaming is also benefiting especially as a way to communicate live with followers and to earn money by spreading hate.That shift gained further momentum this week after Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitch limited President Trumps accounts for inciting Wednesdays violence and clamped down on other right-wing personalities.On Friday, Dan Bongino, a right-wing podcaster, tweeted that he was leaving Twitter for good because it was an anti-American platform and that he would be on Parler instead. Twitter later said it had permanently suspended the accounts of several prominent Trump supporters who used the platform to spread conspiracy theories, including the lawyer Sidney Powell and Mr. Trumps former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn.Dlive said in a statement on Friday that it had zero tolerance toward any forms of violence and illegal activities. It added that it had suspended, forced offline or limited 10 accounts and deleted 100 broadcasts. Dlive also said it was freezing the earnings of streamers who had broken into the Capitol.But streamers and misinformation researchers said Dlives emergence as a haven for white nationalists was unlikely to change. Thats because the site, which was founded in 2017 and is similar to Twitch, the Amazon-owned platform where video gamers livestream their play, helps streamers make tens of thousands of dollars and benefits by taking a cut of that revenue.Jo-dell Brodhagen, a Dlive streamer and comedian from Ontario, said she had increasingly seen the site cater to far-right members by quickly addressing their questions and complaints while silencing longtime streamers who raised questions about their racist statements. She said Dlive favored white supremacists because it saw the numbers and the money thats being spent on these streamers. She said she planned to leave the site.Dlives growth has been stark, analysts said. The site reported five million active users in April 2019. On Wednesday, more than 150,000 people watched Dlive streams at the same time, one of the sites busiest days ever, and more than 95 percent of those views went to the far-right streamers, according to Genevieve Oh, a livestreaming analyst.Dlive was started by Charles Wayn and Cole Chen, young entrepreneurs who studied at the University of California, Berkeley. Mr. Wayn leads the company; Mr. Chen left it a long time ago, said Dlive, which is based in Silicon Valley.The site was built on so-called blockchain technology created by another start-up, Lino, which raised $20 million from investors in 2018. Dlive initially positioned itself as a video game streaming platform that would not take a cut of its streamers incomes, as Twitch and others do. That policy changed this year.In April 2019, Dlive scored a top-tier streamer when Felix Kjellberg, a YouTube star better known as PewDiePie, said he would stream his play on Dlive. (He returned to YouTube last year.)But by late 2019, Dlive was on its last legs, according to a longtime streamer, Nikola Jovanovic. That was when BitTorrent, the peer-to-peer file sharing service, stepped in to buy Dlive. BitTorrents parent company, Tron, is owned by Justin Sun, a Chinese cryptocurrency multimillionaire.By then, far-right provocateurs had started joining Dlive, drawn by its loose enforcement of prohibited speech, which essentially allowed streamers to say whatever they wanted.In 2019, for instance, Nick Fuentes, who attended the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., and has argued for Christian nationalism, was barred from Twitch and started streaming on Dlive. Reddit and YouTube later barred him for violating hate-speech policies.Mr. Fuentess first Dlive stream attracted just a few hundred viewers, but his audience has grown over time. Last year, some of his Dlive streams had more than 50,000 viewers at the same time, according to data compiled by Ms. Oh.Dlive has struggled with the right-wing influx. In messages obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Wayn told employees last year that he wanted to suspend some of the white supremacists and neo-Nazis who streamed on his site. But, he added, if today we ban everyone controversial on DLive, the difficulties we will encounter on the growth will be 10x more than having them.The strategy, Mr. Wayn said, was to tolerate them while amassing more legitimate video game players who would eventually dilute the right-wing community.Dlive said in a statement on Friday that interpreting Mr. Wayns comments as trying to grow with a tolerance of violence and illegal activities is misleading.A cursory glance at DLive shows an innocuous site. On Thursday night, 33 viewers watched a man livestream a sunset and 144 discussed cryptocurrency.But when a user changes the settings to allow x-tagged content to be viewed, streams with thousands of viewers discussing the riot at the Capitol quickly dominate the home page. In his stream on Thursday night, Mr. Fuentes, who had attracted 20,000 viewers, called Wednesdays events a flicker of hope that showed what is possible.Neither Mr. Gionet nor Mr. Fuentes responded to requests for comment.Everything about this platform is fake, said Mr. Jovanovic, 34, the longtime streamer. Its like a cardboard building that shows Disneyland. As soon as you press on it, its death and carnage.Mr. Jovanovic said he was suspended from the site in December after being accused of harassing a fellow streamer an accusation he denies and later permanently barred after complaining about Dlive on Twitter.Other far-right users who joined Dlive last year include at least half a dozen believers of the QAnon conspiracy theory, some of whom were barred from YouTube when the platform cracked down on QAnon accounts in October.On Wednesday, apart from Mr. Gionet, far-right-affiliated channels called Woozuh, Gloomtube and Loulz also streamed from the Capitol attack, as did an account called Murder the Media, which is affiliated with the Proud Boys, a far-right, neofascist organization. The words Murder the Media were scrawled on a Capitol doorway.Are they going to arrest us? a Dlive streamer named Zykotik wondered aloud while discussing his plans to ignore the citywide curfew in Washington. A man who identified himself as Clifford approached in Zykotiks stream. Are you Dliving? Zykotik asked. The man said he was.Because Parler, Gab and other sites dont offer ways to make money, streaming on Dlive has become a key piece of many far-right activists strategies, said Megan Squire, a professor of computer science at Elon University.Most donations are small amounts of money, but some donors give very, very large amounts, she said. Some users are giving $10,000 to $20,000 a month to streamers on Dlive. Top streamers on the platform earned six-figure incomes in 2019, according to Ms. Squires research.Shannon McGregor, a social media scholar and professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said Dlives growth was another step in the fracture of the social media ecosystem that could make it harder to follow the movements of extremists.This makes it way harder for people to track for journalists, for researchers, for people like the F.B.I., she said. Because theyre migrating from site to site, its sort of like theyre playing Whac-A-Mole.Kate Conger contributed reporting.",5
"Technology|Lenovo Reports Income Increase as It Expandshttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/14/technology/lenovo-reports-income-increase-as-it-expands.htmlFeb. 12, 2014TOKYO Lenovo, the worlds biggest maker of personal computers, reported Thursday it had made progress in its plan to expand beyond PCs, even before a planned acquisition of Motorola Mobility.Lenovo, which is based in Beijing but also maintains a separate headquarters in Morrisville, N.C., said its net income rose 30 percent, to $265 million, in the most recent financial period, which ended Dec. 31. Revenue increased 15 percent, to $10.8 billion.Lenovo said it sold 17.3 million smartphones and tablets in the quarter, compared with 15.3 million PCs. The companys Internet and digital home division, which includes smartphones, tablets and smart televisions, accounted for 16 percent of revenue, up from 11 percent a year earlier.While other PC makers have suffered sales declines as customers have switched to tablets or smartphones, Lenovo has continued to steam ahead. The company said sales of laptops, which account for about half the companys revenue, rose 11 percent from a year earlier. Sales of desktop PCs rose 12 percent.Lenovo has been pushing to diversify its product lineup, expanding into tablets and, especially, smartphones. The company is already the second-largest smartphone maker in the fast-growing Chinese market, after Samsung Electronics, and now it is pushing beyond China.Under a strategy it calls PC Plus, Lenovo agreed last month to buy Motorola, a maker of mobile handsets, from Google. That deal followed shortly on an announcement that Lenovo planned to acquire the low-end server business of IBM.The two deals, together valued at more than $5 billion, prompted concerns among some investors that Lenovo was moving too aggressively in its quest to move beyond PCs and to push into the smartphone business in the United States. Both Motorola and the IBM business that Lenovo agreed to acquire lose money, but the company says it is confident that it can turn them around.A range of cost saving and scaling opportunities, the iconic Motorola brand and the opportunity to expand Motorolas global reach will quickly place this business on a path to tangible success, Lenovo said in a statement.",5
"Credit...Amir Cohen/ReutersNov. 14, 2018JERUSALEM Avigdor Lieberman, Israels hard-line defense minister, stepped down from his post on Wednesday after the government agreed to a cease-fire with Hamas to end two days of cross-border clashes, in a surprise move that could prompt early elections.The decision by Mr. Lieberman to step down, and to withdraw his hawkish Yisrael Beiteinu party from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus coalition, will decrease the number of seats held by the government from 66 to a precarious 61 in the 120-seat Parliament.The battle to replace him could precipitate the beginning of the end of the Netanyahu government as the prime minister, whose calling card has been national security, faces increasing criticism from his right-wing rivals who say he was too quick to agree to the cease-fire.The political crisis began with a covert Israeli intelligence operation in Gaza on Sunday that went awry and spiraled into the fiercest round of fighting since the last Gaza war in the summer of 2014.It was not immediately clear who would replace Mr. Lieberman as defense minister after the resignation takes effect on Friday.Naftali Bennett, the education minister who is a member of the pro-settlement Jewish Home party and who frequently espouses bellicose positions, is demanding the defense job. Mr. Netanyahu will not be eager to give it to him, Israeli political analysts said.But a legislator from Mr. Bennetts party, Shuli Moalem-Refaeli, said that if Mr. Bennett was not appointed defense minister, then his party, Jewish Home, would also pull out of the coalition, a move that would bring down the government.Mr. Netanyahu who is plagued by corruption investigations and facing possible bribery charges also could take on the role, at least temporarily. But critics said he ought to quickly find an alternative since he already has a second job as the countrys foreign minister. He also nominally serves as minister of health.Mr. Netanyahu held consultations on Wednesday with the remaining coalition party heads in an effort to stabilize his government.Various coalition partners including Mr. Netanyahus conservative Likud, Mr. Liebermans ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu, and Mr. Bennetts Jewish Home are vying for support from the same right-wing electorate.Mr. Liebermans announcement, made at a news conference in Parliament, came a day after the right-wing government agreed to the cease-fire with Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, ending the short but intense outburst of cross-border violence.In Gaza, there were celebrations about what the Palestinians viewed as a rare victory over Israel.Many Israelis, including commentators considered close to Mr. Netanyahu and residents of the south who had been under heavy barrages of rocket fire, assailed the government for what they called a humiliating surrender after militant groups fired some 460 rockets and mortar shells from Gaza into southern Israel. Israel responded with airstrikes against 160 targets in Gaza.Explaining the timing of his resignation and appealing to his right-wing constituency, Mr. Lieberman said he considered the cease-fire to be a capitulation to terror. He also listed a number of other recent policy decisions with which he disagreed.What we are doing now as a state is buying short-term quiet at the price of serious damage to national long-term security, Mr. Lieberman said.Mr. Netanyahu apparently preferred a speedy cease-fire over the alternative a stronger and more sustained Israeli bombing campaign, the likelihood of longer-range rockets from Gaza reaching further into Israels densely populated coastal plain and the risk of sliding into an unwanted, full-scale conflict.Just before the latest spasm of violence broke out, he said he was doing everything he could to avoid what he called an unnecessary war that would achieve little in the long run.In his announcement, Mr. Lieberman also called for early elections, saying the lack of clarity over the countrys security policy must be brought to an end.I very much hope that by Sunday, negotiations between the parties will reach an agreed date for elections, he said.It takes at least three months to prepare for elections in Israel. The current governments four-year term is scheduled to run out a year from now.Despite the historical fragility of Israeli coalitions, until now Mr. Netanyahus right-wing and religious coalition partners have not been eager to bring down the most right-wing and religious government Israel has known.Mr. Lieberman has outflanked Mr. Netanyahu from the right on the issue of national security.Mr. Netanyahu defended his acceptance of the cease-fire by saying Hamas had begged for it. He also hinted at other justifications and plans but said he could not elaborate for security reasons.I hear the voices of the residents of the south, he said, speaking at a state memorial ceremony for David Ben-Gurion, Israels first prime minister. Believe me, they are precious to me, their words penetrate my heart.But together with the heads of the security forces, he said, I see the overall picture of Israels security, which I cannot share with the public.Avi Dichter, a former security agency chief and now the Likud head of the Knessets Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said he regretted Mr. Liebermans resignation, adding, In my opinion, it stems from political interests, not security ones.Abraham Diskin, professor emeritus of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said that there were no good solutions for the Gaza conundrum but that maybe the cease-fire was reached too early, before Hamas was punished more severely.Mr. Lieberman entered the coalition with a history of far-reaching goals and demands, including the introduction of the death penalty for people convicted of terrorist attacks, the toppling of Hamas and the ousting of the more moderate President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.As defense minister, he soon proved more pragmatic. In reality, Israels defense policy has largely been set by Mr. Netanyahu, in consultation with other senior security officials.Mr. Liebermans other disagreements with Mr. Netanyahu included the entry of Qatari-financed fuel into Gaza, which he opposed but which Mr. Netanyahu forced him to permit in order to ease a chronic electricity shortage in the Palestinian territory.He also objected when Mr. Netanyahu allowed $15 million in cash from Qatar to go to Gaza as part of a broader plan to ease tensions; Mr. Lieberman said the money went first of all to the families of the terrorists.And he opposed the delays in demolishing Khan al-Ahmar, a tiny Bedouin village in the West Bank, whose structures lack the required permits. The planned demolition has been internationally condemned, and Mr. Lieberman said Mr. Netanyahu had issued a written order stopping it.Mr. Lieberman earned a reputation as a blunt talking, polarizing figure, but his partys strength has dwindled in recent opinion polls, barely scraping past the electoral threshold.He was named defense minister in May 2016, as part of a political deal augmenting Mr. Netanyahus coalition, which had survived for a year with a razor-thin majority of one.",6
"Science|Boulders Dont Just Roll. They Bounce.https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/18/science/bouncing-boulders-atacama-desert.htmlTrilobitesCraters in a Chilean desert preserve the trajectories of giant rocks, allowing scientists to study the physics of rockslides. Credit...Paul M. MorganDec. 18, 2019Theres a place in Chiles Atacama Desert where trails of depressions punctuate the fine chusca dust. But what might seem like the footsteps left by a giant creature are in fact exquisitely preserved evidence of boulders that tumbled down a nearby cliff face before bouncing to their final resting place.The site, the Chuculay Boulder Field, is home to thousands of granite goliaths, some as big as houses. And because the deserts hyper-arid conditions preserve the boulders steps, its an ideal place to study rockfall theory and physics, said Paul Morgan, a geologist at Cornell University.Mr. Morgan and his collaborators analyzed the trajectories of some of these boulders and presented their research last week at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco. Their findings of how far boulders tumble are useful for designing structures that could protect people and property in rockfall-prone areas.In July 2018, Mr. Morgan and his collaborators from Cornell and Chiles Universidad Catlica del Norte pitched tents amid the granite giants of Chuculay. A 1,000-foot-high scarp, a geological feature created by a tectonic fault, towered nearby. The sites rocks probably tumbled down from that scarp during one of the numerous earthquakes experienced in tectonically active Chile, the researchers hypothesize.While most landscapes on Earth are continually changing, the Atacama Desert is different. Its over 30 times drier than Californias Death Valley. Without regular rainfall to drive erosion, if something happens, the evidence tends to stick around.ImageCredit...Paul M MorganTo map the boulders and the scarp in three dimensions, the research team scanned them with quadcopter drones equipped with cameras. They also scrambled up the scarp one day to get their own view.It was on the edge of safe, Mr. Morgan said.The scientists cataloged the sizes and locations of hundreds of boulders larger than roughly 6 feet in diameter. It made intuitive sense that they found the most boulders beneath the most jagged sections of the scarp.The rougher the scarp, the more likely it is to generate multiple rockfalls, Mr. Morgan said.They also mapped the trails of impact craters that led back toward the scarp, records of the rocks trajectories for 32 boulders. Some of the boulders bounced as many as 25 times before coming to a rest, and certain rocks left behind depressions up to 20 inches deep.When the researchers analyzed the locations of the impact craters, they were surprised. They had expected that the distances between successive depressions would decrease as the bouncing rocks lost energy. But sometimes there was a short bounce followed by a long bounce, said Mr. Morgan.One explanation is that natural variations in the properties of the desert floor its slope and composition, for instance affected how the rocks bounced. Another possibility is that some of the boulders broke apart, and that the craters left behind recorded the bounces of different fragments.The researchers also found that many of the boulders didnt simply tumble in a straight line. About a quarter of the rocks bounced sideways and came to rest more than 30 degrees away from where they left the scarp. This could also be explained by differences in the underlying ground, or irregularities in a boulders shape they arent perfect spheres.These results are valuable for designing structures like fences and berms in places where rockfalls are common, said Jeffrey Moore, a geoscientist at the University of Utah, who was not involved in the research.We want to know where the boulders are going to wind up, he said.Mr. Morgan and his colleagues are continuing to analyze the Atacamas bouncing boulders. Theres no shortage of research questions, said Richard Allmendinger, a structural geologist at Cornell and Mr. Morgans adviser.We started studying them simply because we didnt understand them.",7
"Senator Chuck Schumer will fulfill his ambition of becoming majority leader as Senator Mitch McConnell returns to heading the minority, shifting the policy agenda as Joe Biden takes office.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesJan. 7, 2021WASHINGTON The stunning Democratic wins in two Georgia Senate races this week upended Washingtons power structure overnight, providing an unexpected opening to the incoming Biden administration by handing unified control of Congress to Democrats, who will be tested by governing with spare majorities.The victories by Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff mean that Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, will control the Senate floor rather than Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and a man Democrats have long seen as the main impediment to their legislative ambitions.The momentous shift occurred even as a violent siege of the Capitol on Wednesday, egged on by President Trump, made clear the staunch refusal of his supporters to acknowledge President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. as the winner of the election, an explosive last gasp of Republican protest before Democrats assume full control. Thrust together at a secure location with top congressional leaders after being evacuated during the mayhem, Mr. McConnell found himself congratulating Mr. Schumer on his newfound status. In a wholesale change that will shift the policy agenda after Mr. Bidens inauguration, liberals including Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the democratic socialist who will now lead the Budget Committee will head Senate panels, rather than conservatives. Legislation from the Democratic-controlled House that had languished in the Senate will now get consideration across the Rotunda.The abrupt shift in circumstances invigorated Democrats who had been deflated in November when they failed to gain a Senate majority on Nov. 3 despite Mr. Bidens victory. Given the traditional advantage Republicans have had in Georgia runoff elections, many Democrats had become resigned to the prospect that they would be sentenced to another two years in the Senate minority, stymied in delivering on Mr. Bidens priorities.We sure did not take the most direct path to get here, but here we are, said Mr. Schumer, happy with the outcome any way he could get it, a result that put him in reach of fulfilling his ambition of becoming majority leader after four years as the chief of the minority.While the change in Senate control is momentous, particularly in easing the way for Mr. Biden to fill administration jobs and judicial vacancies, it does not mean that Democrats can have their way on everything or even most things.The Democratic majority in the House shrank in the last election, emboldening Republicans and giving Speaker Nancy Pelosi less wiggle room in what is likely her last term. More than half of House Republicans voted to throw out certified presidential election results from Arizona and Pennsylvania overnight Wednesday and Thursday without evidence of fraud, reflecting both the extreme character of the House Republican conference and what is sure to be a reluctance to work with Mr. Biden.With the Senate divided 50 to 50 and Democrats in charge only by virtue of the tiebreaking power of the vice president, the filibuster also looms large. Democrats will need to attract at least 10 Republicans to advance most bills while contending with demands from the left for bolder action now that their party will control all of Congress.Democrats conceded the difficulties but still welcomed the reversal of fortune.It is not all going to be easy, but it is certainly better than being 52-48 and President Biden playing Mother, May I? with Leader McConnell in moving any legislation to the floor, said Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, one of the incoming presidents closest allies on Capitol Hill.Yet Mr. McConnell, newly elected to his seventh term, has been in the position of leading the minority before and has proved effective in obstructing Democratic priorities.During President Barack Obamas first term, Democrats had a filibuster-proof 60 votes for a period, and Mr. McConnell still managed to confound Democrats while gradually chipping away at their majority. Republicans took control in 2015, mainly through emphasizing party unity against Democratic initiatives.As minority leader, Mr. McConnell can be expected to employ the same tactics while focusing on the 2022 midterm elections and seeking to regain his Senate power. That will make the first two years of Mr. Bidens administration extremely important when it comes to accomplishing any major priority.Republicans said they recognized that the legislative environment will be drastically different.Its the agenda, an agenda shift totally changed, said Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Republican of West Virginia. Theyre going to have the ability to run things from the House and, you know, shift the emphasis.When the Senate last had a 50-to-50 split in 2001, the two leaders, the Republican Trent Lott of Mississippi and the Democrat Tom Daschle of South Dakota, worked out a power-sharing agreement. But those two leaders had a much deeper relationship than Mr. McConnell and Mr. Schumer they had worked cooperatively on the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton and the Senate was less polarized than it is today.Mr. Schumer and Mr. McConnell will need to engage in talks to come up with some sort of governing framework.I assume in the next couple weeks, Schumer and Mitch will sit down and kind of figure out how this is going to work, said Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Republican. We had a little bit of a pattern back in 2000, but times have changed. Its different now.Perhaps the biggest difference will be the committee chairmen, representing a significant swing in ideology. Besides Mr. Sanders, for example, Senator Sherrod Brown, the progressive Ohio Democrat and strong labor ally, is set to be head of the Banking Committee and will have a markedly different agenda than that of the outgoing Republican chairman, Senator Michael D. Crapo of Idaho.Mr. Brown said his first order of legislative business would be addressing the effect of the coronavirus pandemic and relief provisions set to expire, including an eviction moratorium.We need to fix a lot of the damage Trumps done, and then theres pent-up demand for a whole lot of things, Mr. Brown said. What do we do about climate and about racial inequality, about wealth inequality, about structural racism?Among other notable committee changes would be Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon as head of the tax-writing Finance Committee, and Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois as chairman of the Judiciary Committee rather than Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, who was a chief driver of the Republican push to install more than 200 conservative judges on the nations federal courts the past four years. Senator Patty Murray of Washington, an aggressive backer of health law changes, is in line for the health committee.With the even partisan split, Democrats have begun talking about employing a special legislative process called reconciliation that applies budget rules to eliminate the threat of a filibuster, but what can be accomplished with that approach is limited. Activists are encouraging Democrats to try to eliminate the 60-vote filibuster to take advantage of their power while they have it.A window of opportunity like this may not come around again for a long while, said Brian Fallon, a former Schumer aide and head of the progressive group Demand Justice. It is almost overwhelming to think of all the opportunities for legislating that now exist, but the priority must be democratic reforms that make institutions like the Senate and our courts more aligned with the will of the people.But a handful of centrist Democrats, including Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana, have said they have no interest in gutting the filibuster, instead regarding it as a way to force the kind of compromise they think could restore the Senates ability to legislate.Bipartisan legislation tends to stand the test of time, and so hopefully we continue to work together and have it be encouraged by the filibuster, Mr. Tester said.",3
"The InterpreterCredit...Fernando Maia/EPA, via ShutterstockNov. 1, 2018For anyone curious about the future of democracy, two developments out of Brazil and Germany pose something of a mystery.The election of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil looks too similar to the wave of right-wing, anti-establishment populism sweeping Europe and the United States to be dismissed as coincidence. Mr. Bolsonaro, known for praising his countrys former military dictatorship and insulting minorities and women, has championed anger at Brazils establishment by promising strong-fisted rule.Underscoring the sense of a global shift, within hours of Mr. Bolsonaros victory, Angela Merkel, Germanys longtime chancellor and pillar of European stability, announced she would not seek re-election.Yet there is no obvious link between Mr. Bolsonaros rise and that of Western populists. Figures like Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary and German populist parties rose by railing against the European Union and immigration, neither of them issues in Brazil. Mr. Bolsonaro rode a backlash against corruption and crime epidemics that are distinctly Latin American.Maybe Brazils election, along with the rest of the populist trend, represents something more disruptive than a single wave with a single point of origin. Research suggests it exemplifies weaknesses and tensions inherent to liberal democracy itself and that, in times of stress, can pull it apart.When that happens, voters tend to reject that system in all but name and follow their most basic human instincts toward older styles of government: majoritarian, strong-fisted, us-versus-them rule.Its a pattern that might feel shocking or new in the West, but is all too familiar in Latin America, which has experienced several populist surges like the one that elevated Mr. Bolsonaro.Most attempts at democracy end in a return to authoritarian rule, Jay Ulfelder, a political scientist, wrote in 2012 as elected populists in Venezuela, Ecuador and Nicaragua rolled back rights in ways that look familiar today.At the time, most experts blamed issues specific to that region and that moment. But Mr. Ulfelder countered, I think we get a lot farther if we think of these regimes as the end state toward which most attempts at democracy will slide.When Democracy Doesnt Work as ImaginedThere is a gap between how liberal democracy, which protects individual rights and rule of law, is sold and how it works.It is often portrayed as rule by the people. But, in practice, elections and public sentiment are meant to be only part of a system governed by institutions and norms that protect the common good.That gap is often where the problems begin.When institutions fall short, as they did in Brazil, voters can grow skeptical of the entire idea of accruing power to bureaucrats and elites who failed in ways that highlight the gap.So voters move to replace institutions with a style of government that feels more like democracy as theyd thought it would be: direct rule by the people.That often means electing leaders like Mr. Bolsonaro, who promise to dismantle the establishment and rule through personal authority.In practice, such leaders tend to consolidate power for themselves, as Silvio Berlusconi did after riding to power in Italy on a wave of outrage against corruption. He seized control of state bureaucracies, stalling their once-promising progress, and replaced the old system of patronage with a new one loyal to him.Defying Popular WillSometimes an anti-establishment backlash comes when there really is a deep rot in the system, as in Brazil or Italy. But it can also come when governments do things that are simply unpopular.ImageCredit...Markus Schreiber/Associated PressThis has driven much of the instability in Europe, where leaders see eurozone and immigration reforms as essential to Europes long-term survival.But those measures are unpopular with voters, bringing a spark of realization that the system is engineered to, at times, ignore what they want.No one wants to believe their leaders are defying their wishes because a functioning democracy requires checks on public demand. It is easier to see those leaders as serving some other, unseen constituency.This creates an opening for a canny outsider to rise to power by scapegoating foreign or moneyed interests the liberal philanthropist George Soros is a popular target and by promising to restore the peoples will.The European Union, which never managed an identity that wasnt associated with bankers and technocrats, has been easy to cast as an enemy of popular will. Establishment parties, closely tied to that project, have collapsed.In Latin America, institutional failures were graver, with corruption rotting out political parties. Voters were aware of this corruption because justice systems had grown strong enough to root it out.A technocrat would say this showed the need for even stronger and more independent institutions. But to voters, it felt like an indictment of the entire system a reason to tear it down and elevate someone who could impose order.That is not so different from what happened in the United States, where party officials became seen as unresponsive and beholden to moneyed interests. President Trump rose in part by arguing that his wealth granted him independence though, in practice, he has empowered industry insiders and by promising policies that party leaders had considered too extreme.ImageCredit...Borislav Troshev/EPA, via ShutterstockCraving Majority RulePopulist backlashes, even if they focus on distant elites, tend to emerge as a desire for majority rule, which feels democratic to members of the majority and, in certain circumstances, like a matter of life and death.Human beings are tribal by nature. Our instincts are to put our group first and see ourselves as locked in competition with other groups. Liberal democracy, which promises that everyone gains when rights are protected for all, asks us to suppress those impulses.But this is no easy ask. And tribal instincts tend to come to the fore in times of scarcity or insecurity, when our capacity for lofty ideals and long-term planning is weakest.When people believe they are at risk of targeted violence, their sense of community narrows, according to research by Daphna Canetti-Nisim, a University of Maryland political psychologist. They grow more supportive of policies to control minorities and less supportive of pluralism or democracy.Those impulses can be exploited.The grisly campaign of state-sanctioned vigilante violence by President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines pins his countrys problems on an undesirable social class in his telling, a vast army of drug dealers and users and promises to control them through force.Mr. Bolsonaro has promised his own extrajudicial war on drugs.Such tactics work best when rallying a majority group. Liberal democracy, for all its protections of minorities, still delegates power by elections that favor whoever has the numbers.In Europe and the United States, this has meant encouraging a subtle but unmistakable sense that white Christians are under siege. White voters have grown more defensive of their whiteness and afraid of minorities, tempting them to see democracy as a zero-sum struggle.Imposing EqualityA three-country study led by Marta Marchlewska of the Polish Academy of Sciences found that the trouble often starts when members of a particular social group believe their group is declining in status relative to others.ImageCredit...Mark R Cristino/EPA, via ShutterstockThis makes members of that group care much more about their group identity and see people outside of it as threats.This can lead to a politics of us-versus-them, in which the ideals of liberal democracy feel like foolhardy surrender.Liberal democracy is designed to flatten out social hierarchies, making this kind of majoritarian backlash all but inevitable.This helped lead Polands Catholics, a once-dominant group, to support a political party that had promised to subvert the courts.It may have also led European and American whites who feared losing what they viewed as their special place in society to support populist leaders who promised to control immigrants and minorities, and led middle-class Brazilians to crave harsh policing of poor communities.Liberal democracy comes with features like independent courts and constitutional protections meant to check tribalist impulses and impose equality.But to the people whose impulses are being checked, those features can feel tyrannical. A populists promise to tear them down feels like freedom, though that is rarely what it brings.Scholars are still struggling to understand what will happen to democracy, whose growth stalled over a decade ago and may now be receding.Brazil hints at one possibility. Latin Americas experience with voters pulling their countries between periods of fuller democracy and populist strongman rule may be the natural default. The Wests half century of democratic stability may have been the exception, a byproduct of Cold War power rivalries.We had long thought that democracies in regions like Latin America or Southeast Asia would catch up to those in the West. And maybe they will. Or maybe we had it backward all along.",6
"Business BriefingDec. 3, 2015A $48 billion deal that would create the nations largest health insurer inched closer to completion after shareholders of both Anthem and Cigna voted in favor of a buyout. The companies said that nearly all of their shareholders approved the deal, announced in July, when the Blue Cross-Blue Shield coverage provider Anthem said it would pay $103.40 and a portion of its stock for each Cigna share. The boards of both companies have already approved the deal, and shareholder backing was widely expected, but the acquisition still has one more key hurdle to clear. Both federal and state regulators are reviewing the deal, which would create an insurance company that would cover more than 50 million people. Anthem and Cigna expect the acquisition to close in the second half of next year.",0
"The dazzling phenomenon could be visible on Saturday night or early Sunday morning, experts said, depending on the weather and local light pollution.Credit...Alex Kormann/Star Tribune, via Getty ImagesOct. 30, 2021Magnetic energy had been building up in the sun this week like a rubber band twisted into a corkscrew. On Thursday morning, the rubber band snapped, and the pent-up energy was released as a solar flare, ejecting about a billion tons of plasma gas that could result in the dazzling display known as the northern lights once it reaches Earth this weekend.But will it even be visible on Saturday night or early Sunday morning?If I was in the northern tier of the United States, then I would take a look in the sky, Howard J. Singer, chief scientist at the Space Weather Prediction Center at the National Weather Service, said in an interview on Saturday.The prediction center issued a geomagnetic storm watch on Friday that said the storm may drive the aurora borealis, the scientific name for the northern lights, over Washington State, the upper Midwest and the Northeast on Saturday. The storm was classified as a G3 on a scale from G1 to G5. It is not expected to cause technology disruptions, the center said.A CME associated with Thursday's solar flare is expected to reach earth tomorrow. A G3 (Strong) Geomagnetic Storm Watch is in effect for Saturday and Sunday, and may drive the aurora over the Northeast, to the upper Midwest, to WA state. Check https://t.co/WeNidVVNv6 for updates. pic.twitter.com/GOvR3a8AJX NOAA Space Weather (@NWSSWPC) October 29, 2021 Typically when we get to that level, we will see northern lights in the northern tier states, William Murtagh, the Space Weather Prediction Centers program coordinator, said in an interview.But there are unknowns associated with any magnetic storm, especially the exact timing of its arrival. The large expulsion of plasma from the sun, called a coronal mass ejection, is traveling in space at about one million to six million miles an hour. With Earth about 92 million miles away from the sun, the commute for the ejected particles is brief, sometimes as short as 15 hours or as long as four days, Dr. Murtagh said.This one is kind of on the fast side, Mr. Murtagh said on Saturday. We expect it sometime today, so itll be a little bit over a 50-hour transit.Since the ejected particles are so far away, however, scientists arent able to predict the exact timing. But if the particles arrive at Earth during the daytime, there wont be a light show, experts said. The same holds true if one lives in a city with high light pollution or in an area experiencing cloudy weather.But if it is nighttime, the skies are clear and there is low light pollution, then chances are good that people will see the aurora borealis, experts said.The prediction center can give people about a 30-minute heads up before the lights are visible because its Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite detects the hurtling tons of particles while they are still between the sun and the Earth.Mr. Murtagh said residents could monitor the centers social media accounts and website for status updates throughout the night.When the magnetic storm does reach Earth, the colorful curtains of purple and green if they materialize will be a result of the suns magnetic projectile interacting with the planets magnetic field, and how it couples with Earths magnetic field will dictate how strong the storm is, Mr. Murtagh said.The stronger the storm, the more likely that areas in lower latitudes will see the northern lights, experts said. This weekends magnetic storm could appear in areas near cities such as New York, Chicago, Boise, Idaho, and Salem, Ore. The lights typically last several hours and could be visible through the entire night, Mr. Murtagh said.In 1859, a solar superstorm caused northern lights that could be seen near tropical latitudes in places like Cuba and El Salvador. In 2011, the aurora borealis was seen as far south as Alabama.Meteorologists across the country were already telling residents that they would not be able to see the lights or advising those traveling north to gaze up at the sky at night.One resident in Des Moines was already prepared on Saturday afternoon to see the spectacle in the sky.Im going to go to a dark sky area, north of the city, and then kind of just sit and wait it out, Brennan Jontz, 28, who is a part of the Iowa Storm Chasing Network on Facebook, said in an interview. Got to be patient; thats the name of the game with the northern lights.He will bring a lawn chair, he said. He will drive toward the corn fields, away from the city lights, and turn on to a gravel road somewhere. Then he will sit down, take out his camera and wait to be illuminated again.",7
"matterWastewater could provide early, painless and localized data about the rise or fall of coronavirus levels.Credit...Douglas Magno/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesPublished May 1, 2020Updated May 13, 2020The world is eager to come out of lockdown. But if countries simply return to business as usual, new outbreaks of Covid-19 will follow. The only solution that public health experts see is to keep careful track of the coronavirus and clamp down on new flare-ups.The trouble is that the most obvious way to monitor the virus testing person by person has already proved to be a huge, expensive challenge. Experts say were nowhere near the scale we need to get a good picture of the pandemic.Now some scientists are looking for the virus not in our noses, blood or spit, but somewhere else: in our sewers.Its the signature of a whole community, said Krista Wigginton, an environmental engineer at the University of Michigan who has been finding the coronavirus in wastewater around the Bay Area in California.Water authorities and governments are in discussions with scientists and companies about tracking the pandemic through the detection of viruses in the sewer. Wastewater monitoring could provide early warnings of outbreaks. It could potentially give governments some of the data they need about when to end lockdowns and when to ratchet them back up.Measuring viruses in wastewater in effect tests an entire city or region at once. While only some people may get tested for the coronavirus on a given day, everyone uses the toilet.Its a great leveler, said Christobel Ferguson, chief innovation officer of the Water Research Foundation.This week, the foundation sponsored a virtual research summit, during which Dr. Wigginton and other experts shared their early results and developed a road map for improving their surveillance.For decades, public health workers have looked in sewage for signs of viral outbreaks. The World Health Organization has monitored polio viruses this way, to assess how well its vaccination campaigns have worked.In the early days, researchers had to run painstaking tests to find viruses in wastewater. They had to mix the water with cells so that the viruses could infect them. Then the researchers had to wait for the new viruses to emerge.Later, researchers were able to skip these experiments. They could simply fish out genetic material from the water, read its sequence, and determine what kind of virus they were dealing with. Even newer technology has made it possible to estimate the number of viruses by counting up the viral genes in a water sample.ImageCredit...Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesIrene Xagoraraki, an environmental engineer at Michigan State University, uses this method to detect viruses in wastewater in Detroit. In a recent outbreak of hepatitis A, she found that the virus increased in the water about a week ahead of the rise in confirmed cases. You can predict the outbreak, she said.When the coronavirus began spreading from China, Dr. Xagoraraki and other experts began wondering if they might see it turn up in wastewater.The early reports about the coronavirus made the idea seemed plausible. Although the virus infects peoples airways first, it can eventually get into the intestines.The coronavirus has been detected in some infected peoples feces. Some early studies suggest that the virus becomes inactive by the time it gets to the sewer system. But it still carries genes that researchers can detect.We started before the virus entered our country, said Gertjan Medema of the KWR Water Research Institute in the Netherlands. He and his colleagues created a test for the coronavirus and began using it in wastewater in early February.They didnt get any positive results, which was reassuring. They could be confident that their test was specific enough not to be fooled by other viruses.After the Netherlands saw its first confirmed case on Feb. 27, Dr. Medema and his colleagues went back out to run more tests. They found the virus in the sewers of cities like Amsterdam and Utrecht.The researchers then went to remote towns without any known cases of Covid-19. They discovered the coronavirus up to six days before the first confirmed cases were found there.Since then, Dr. Medema and his colleagues have continued to track the viruses in the sewer systems. As the confirmed cases of Covid-19 have gone up in Amsterdam and Utrecht, they have found more virus genes in the wastewater.Researchers have reported similar results from countries including Australia, France, Spain and the United States.At the meeting, the consensus of experts was that its not yet possible to use viruses in wastewater to estimate how many people are infected.For one thing, researchers are still trying to figure out the average number of viruses that infected people shed in their feces. For another, its not clear how many viral genes survive the journey from a toilet to a wastewater treatment plant.I dont feel like were at a point where we can say, This is the concentration in the wastewater and this is the number of people with illness, Dr. Wigginton said.Nevertheless, the experts who attended the meeting agreed that sewers have a lot to tell us about the pandemic.The studies of Dr. Medema and others suggest that a weekly test of wastewater could serve as an early warning system for outbreaks.When cities or states come out of lockdown, they could check the sewers to follow the virus trend. An increase would tell them that people were infecting each other. Then you need to go back into quarantine, said Eric Alm, a M.I.T. microbiologist and the scientific director of BioBot, a company that tracks pathogens in wastewater.Previous experience with other viruses has taught researchers to be careful about making sense of these apparent trends. If a huge crowd comes into a city to watch a football game, for example, the wastewater system may see a spike of viruses that has nothing to do with a new outbreak.It requires good information, Dr. Medema said, but its a doable thing.As their testing becomes more reliable and precise, Dr. Medema and other researchers hope to zoom in on future outbreaks. Instead of looking at a wastewater treatment plant that handles an entire city or county, they may go down into manholes to monitor changes in individual neighborhoods.Conceivably, they might be able to zero in on nursing homes, factories and other places that have seen intense outbreaks.If we see a hot spot arising, Dr. Xagoraraki said, we can close down a particular area for a while, so you dont kill the whole economy of a whole state.[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]",7
"Sports of The TimesCredit...Natacha Pisarenko/Associated PressFeb. 8, 2014KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia To discover how the 40-year-old Italian luger Armin Zggeler has remained at the top of his sport for more than 20 years, I persuaded him to tell me his secrets. Apples, he told me. And I have lots of noodles for lunch, and steak for dinner every night.Apples, noodles and steak? Thats it? Thats how Zggeler could become the first person to win a medal in six consecutive Winter Games with a victory in singles luge here on Sunday night?Yes, I grew up on a farm, and I had good, natural South Tyrolean food, he said after training on Wednesday. I gave him a skeptical look. And my parents, maybe they are very strong, too?Zggeler is one of the nearly superhuman athletes at these Olympics who are defying their age.At 40, the Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjorndalen won gold in Saturdays 10-kilometer sprint, giving him his seventh Olympic title and making him the oldest Olympic gold medalist in an individual event.In ski jumping, Noriaki Kasai, 41, of Japan will compete in Sundays normal hill event. Last year, he became the oldest World Cup winner in that sport. And Russias Albert Demchenko, 42, is among Zggelers top competitors here in luge. Zggeler, the great consumer of apples, noodles and steak, has won two Olympic gold medals, one silver and two bronzes. He earned his first medal at the 1994 Lillehammer Games and has since won six world championships, with his first world title and his most recent one 16 years apart.After the first two luge runs on Saturday, he was in third place, 0.744 of a second behind the leader, Felix Loch, 24, of Germany. Demchenko was second.Zggeler does not look like the old man, as almost everyone on the luge circuit refers to him. He looks the same as he did years ago: solid, like a boulder made of flesh and bone. He is 5 feet 11 inches and 190 pounds of muscle, with the thick neck of a linebacker. But his longevity is most intriguing. Zggeler has competed on an elite level in the sport longer than some of his competition has been on this earth.Tucker West, 18, of the United States team called Zggeler the Michael Jordan of luge. But Zggeler has one up on Jordan. He never retired and came back a lesser athlete. He stuck around, perfecting his technique, making the younger competitors jealous.Erin Hamlin, another American Olympian, said: You want to see what luge is supposed to look like, then watch that guy. Hes like perfection on a sled.Hamlins teammate Chris Mazdzer has seen Zggeler lift weights. Last fall, he took a peek at the weight Zggeler was lifting as Zggeler performed rows while lying on a bench.Mazdzers mouth dropped open.Oh, my God, that old man can lift 140 kilograms! Mazdzer said of the weight that was nearly 309 pounds. Mazdzer said he told him, Armin, youre still really strong.Zggeler just smiled.People unfamiliar with luge might think it would be a great fit for a 40-year-old because the athletes lie down as they slide feet-first down the course. Hey, you can lie on a sled even with a bulging gut and love handles, right? In reality, the sport is much harder and much harder on the body than it looks. Luge athletes can speed about 90 miles an hour down an icy, often treacherous track and might endure the stress of five times the force of gravity. In comparison, astronauts must handle three Gs upon takeoff.Particularly while zooming through the curves of the track, luge athletes must be strong enough to keep their heads up while gravity is pulling their heads down. To strengthen their neck muscles, they often put a light weight on their foreheads and bend their necks forward and backward.Athletes in luge are plagued with shoulder problems and back problems, which crop up sooner or later because they start their runs seated and propel themselves forward with their arms. The start position places great pressure on their shoulders and spines.You basically peak when youre 25, and then you just go until your back blows out, Mazdzer said.To keep his back from blowing out, Zggeler said, he does simple exercises and workouts, and even has fitness tips on his website. Among them are hiking with skiing poles, stretching hands over head and crunches.Hiking, stretching and crunches? Thats it? Thats the secret to being an Olympian at 40?Well, not really, said Mark Grimmette, the two-time Olympic medalist and five-time Olympian who now coaches the United States team.Grimmette, who retired from competition at 39, said that as an athlete ages, fitness becomes all about strengthening the core. He said he even copied Zggelers exercises calling one of them Armins because he knew how well Zggeler took care of his body.We did mostly really boring exercises, with light weights, he said. Like arm raises with two and a half pounds, or external/internal shoulder rotations with a rubber band. You have to work your smaller muscles when things start breaking down.Grimmette and Kurt Brugger, Zggelers coach, each said Zggelers focus not just his physical ability set him apart.Brugger, an Olympic gold medalist in doubles luge, said Zggeler had a tremendous ability to block out all distractions.Ive never seen anything like it, he said. And Armin eats very well, too, South Tyrolean food. Its true. Its helped him that he only eats food from our region in Italy.That is not entirely true.Zggelers nickname is the Cannibal, because he also devours his opponents.",4
"The moves came after critics and even some allies of the social media companies said they had failed to prevent the misinformation that led to chaos on Wednesday.Credit...Pool photo by Hannah McKayPublished Jan. 6, 2021Updated Jan. 14, 2021Update: Facebooks chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, said on Thursday that President Trump would be blocked from its platforms at least through the end of his term.SAN FRANCISCO Twitter and Facebook on Wednesday locked the accounts of President Trump, which prevents him from posting messages to his more than 88 million followers on Twitter and 35 million followers on Facebook, after he published a string of inaccurate and inflammatory messages on a day of violence in the nations capital.The moves were an unprecedented rebuke of Mr. Trump by the social media companies, which have long been megaphones for the president.Twitter said Mr. Trumps account would remain locked for 12 hours and the ban could be extended if several of his tweets that rejected the election results and appeared to incite violence were not deleted. Mr. Trumps account will be permanently suspended if he continues violating Twitters policies against violent threats and election misinformation, the company added.Twitter said the risks of keeping Mr. Trumps commentary live on its site had become too high. Our public interest policy which has guided our enforcement action in this area for years ends where we believe the risk of harm is higher, a spokesman said.Facebook later followed by barring Mr. Trump from publishing on the social network for 24 hours after finding that he had violated the companys rules with two posts, a Facebook spokesman said. Instagram, the photo-sharing site owned by Facebook, said it would also lock Mr. Trumps account for 24 hours.The actions followed a torrent of criticism aimed at social media companies for their role in spreading misinformation and being a bullhorn for Mr. Trump after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol building on Wednesday and halted the certification of Electoral College votes. For years, Mr. Trump had built his influence with posts on Twitter and Facebook. Since losing Novembers election, he had used the platforms to challenge the election results and call them fraudulent.On Twitter on Wednesday, users called for the companys chief executive, Jack Dorsey, to take down President Trumps account. Civil rights groups said action by social media companies against calls for political violence was long overdue. Even venture capitalists who had reaped riches from investing in social media urged Twitter and Facebook to do more.For four years youve rationalized this terror. Inciting violent treason is not a free speech exercise, Chris Sacca, a tech investor who had invested in Twitter, wrote to Mr. Dorsey and Facebooks chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg. If you work at those companies, its on you too. Shut it down.Twitter, Facebook and others had previously resisted cracking down on Mr. Trumps posts and other toxic content, saying that the posts were in the publics interest. While the platforms had started taking more steps against political misinformation in the months before the election, they declined to remove Mr. Trumps messages and instead took half measures, such as labeling his posts.So when violence broke out in Washington on Wednesday, it was, in the minds of longtime critics, the day the chickens came home to roost for the social media companies. After the onslaught of criticism began, Twitter and Facebook started removing several of Mr. Trumps posts from their sites, including one where the president falsely said that a sacred landslide election victory had been unceremoniously & viciously stripped away.We know the social media companies have been lackadaisical at best at stopping extremism from growing on their platforms, said Jonathan Greenblatt, director of the Anti-Defamation League. Freedom of expression is not the freedom to incite violence. That is not protected speech.Renee DiResta, a researcher at the Stanford Internet Observatory who studies online movements, added that the violence was the result of people operating in closed social media networks where they believed the claims of voter fraud and of the election being stolen from Mr. Trump.This is a demonstration of the very real-world impact of echo chambers, she said. This has been a striking repudiation of the idea that there is an online and an offline world, and that what is said online is in some way kept online. I hope that this eliminates the conception from peoples minds.YouTube also said on Wednesday that it would not tolerate calls for violence on their sites. The video site said it removed multiple live streams that showed participants storming the Capitol building carrying firearms. It also said it would elevate authoritative news sources on its home page, search results and in recommendations.Mr. Zuckerberg said in an internal memo to employees that he was saddened by this mob violence, according to a copy reviewed by The New York Times. He said Facebook had stepped up the moderation of Mr. Trumps comments because the situation was an emergency.The peaceful transition of power is critical to the functioning of our democracy, and we need our political leaders to lead by example and put the nation first, Mr. Zuckerberg wrote.Mr. Trump also told his supporters to go home in a video that he posted on multiple social media sites on Wednesday afternoon. You have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order, he said, while repeating false claims that the election had been stolen from him.Twitter later removed three tweets, including the video and the tweet by Mr. Trump inaccurately claiming a sacred landslide election victory before locking his account. YouTube also deleted the video, as did Facebook, which also took down the misleading post by Mr. Trump on the election victory.Critics said the moves by Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were too little, too late, after calls for violence and plans for protests had already spread on the platforms.On Facebook, protesters had openly discussed what they aimed to do in Washington on a Facebook page called Red-State Secession for weeks. The page had asked its roughly 8,000 followers to share addresses of perceived enemies in the nations capital, including the home addresses of federal judges, members of Congress and prominent progressive politicians.Comments left on the page often featured photos of gun and ammunition, along with emojis suggesting that members of the group were planning for violence. One post on Tuesday said people should be prepared to use force to defend civilization. Several comments below the post showed photos of assault rifles, ammunition and other weapons. In the comments, people referred to occupying the capital, and taking action to force Congress to overturn the results of the elections.Facebook said it removed Red-State Secession on Wednesday morning. Before it was taken down, the page directed followers to other social media sites like Gab and Parler that have gained popularity in right-wing circles since the election.ImageCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesThose alternative social media sites were rife with Trump supporters organizing and communicating on Wednesday. On Parler, one trending hashtag was #stormthecapitol. Many Trump supporters on the sites also appeared to believe a false rumor that Antifa, a left-wing movement, was responsible for committing violence at the protests.WAKE UP AMERICA, ITS ANTIFA and BLM operatives who are committing the violence, NOT TRUMP SUPPORTERS!, said one Parler account member called @Trumpfans100, offering no evidence for the claims.Officials at Parler did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Over the past year, Facebook and Twitter had stepped up efforts to moderate Mr. Trumps account, though they have stopped short of taking down his posts. Twitter began adding labels to Mr. Trumps false and misleading tweets last year and has prevented users from sharing the posts to limit their spread. Facebook has also attached labels to some of Mr. Trumps posts, redirecting users to reliable and accurate data.When Mr. Trump leaves office, the companies may have a freer hand. On Twitter, Mr. Trump had largely enjoyed exceptions to its rules because the company has said it considers posts from world leaders to be in the public interest. But Twitter has said that after Mr. Trump is no longer president, he will be treated like a regular user.This level of insurrection should not exist, whether it is on the Twitter platform from the president, or whether its on Facebook, which allows people to recruit and carry out these types of dangerous activities, Derrick Johnson, president and chief executive of the N.A.A.C.P., said in an interview. Daisuke Wakabayashi contributed reporting.",5
"Special Report: Energy for TomorrowCredit...Maggie Cen/ReutersDec. 7, 2015In July 2013, hundreds of people took to the streets in the southern Chinese city of Jiangmen to protest the proposed construction of a uranium processing plant in the region. The $6 billion plant would have supplied fuel for the countrys rapidly expanding nuclear power industry. But the plan was dropped in the face of public opposition, the first case of its kind in China, said Keith Florig, a risk-management researcher at the University of Floridas Warrington College of Business. The protest, and its fallout, are important events in a country that has 22 nuclear power reactors under construction and more planned, as well as a growing international business selling nuclear energy technology to countries including Argentina, Britain and Pakistan. Mr. Florig said that this rate of development hasnt happened since the late 1960s and early 1970s in the U.S. and Soviet Union.At the same time, Mr. Florig characterized China as being underprepared for dealing with the public opinion issues that have plagued nuclear energy in developed countries.He said that about 15 years ago he had interviewed Chinese energy officials to find out what they knew about nuclear energy development in the West. He found that they were uniformly focused on the technical challenges of controlling nuclear fission and using the heat it produced to boil water, create steam and power electric turbines. No one seemed to be aware of the social, political and economic challenges. Nuclear energy is not floundering in all developed countries. In France, more than 75 percent of electricity is produced by nuclear power. South Korea gets about 30 percent of its electricity from nuclear and is expanding its production capacity. Elsewhere, the challenges are as prominent as ever. In Japan, for example, citizens are protesting efforts to reopen nuclear plants that have been closed since the Fukushima accident in 2011. Germany has committed to shutting down all nuclear generation by 2022. The phase-out, announced in the wake of Fukushima, comes amid an increase in wind and solar power. It has also coincided with the opening of several coal-fired power plants. Germany remains a net exporter of electricity, and its renewable generation has increased rapidly. But it is importing more coal from the United States a trend helped by the collapse of the European cap-and-trade market for carbon emissions in 2013. Even in the United States, where support for nuclear energy remains relatively high, development has stagnated. The most recent nuclear power reactor to come online opened in 1996, in Tennessee; its sister reactor is to open next year, though construction on both began in 1973. ImageCredit...Patrik Stollarz/Agence France-PresseBut Xu Yi-chong, professor of governance and public policy at Griffith University in Australia, said that in general, one could say there is a difference between the developing and developed countries. He said a number of developing countries were expanding their nuclear fleets. Much of the interest in those countries has centered on the prospect of small modular nuclear reactors, a variety of reactor technology designed to be factory-produced, simple and quick to construct, and more robust in terms of safety. The big American-style nuclear power plants have a capacity of 1,000 megawatts of electrical power. In contrast, an experimental small modular reactor under development in China would have a capacity of 250 megawatts. That size would, in theory, expand the number of possible nuclear power plant sites. Many experts say such plants would need a smaller safety buffer zone and could thus be built closer to big cities. The modular factory production model is also attractive. Chinas nuclear energy development has been facilitated by factory-produced, standardized reactor designs, said Matt Rogers, director of McKinsey & Company in San Francisco. In the U.S., nuclear reactors are expensive because each one is a bespoke thing, like a custom tailor, he said. Anytime you are able to standardize a type of equipment, the costs fall. Public policy is also a factor in making nuclear energy economically attractive in China. The country has prioritized nuclear development as part of a strategy to become a world leader in the field. So there are price controls and forced relationships at every stage of the process, Mr. Florig said. There are no free markets and knowing what the costs really are thats tough to do.In contrast, the United States has neither a policy of promoting nuclear nor a policy of punishing production of greenhouse gases the other tool that might make nuclear power financially attractive, said M. Granger Morgan, a professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.Coupled with custom design, that leaves the nuclear industry in the United States saddled with expensive power plants that might not be able to recoup their costs in electricity sales. Since the 1980s, the Tennessee Valley Authority has abandoned plans for 12 reactors because the costs of construction were expected to be higher than the revenue.In Germany, where public policy actively opposes nuclear power, companies that own nuclear power plants could end up in even more financial trouble. Under the phase-out plan, the four large power companies that own Germanys nuclear plants are responsible for the costs of deconstruction, waste treatment and disposal. But the funds to pay for that exist mostly on paper, said Christoph Podewils, head of communications at Agora Energiewende, a research and analysis group. Whether the money will be real when it is needed depends on the success of the companies investments and what happens with interest rates. The pessimistic view would be that the obligations are higher than the net worth of the companies, Mr. Podewils said.",0
"People with different types of disabilities tested their skills and technologies on a zero-gravity research flight with the goal of proving that they can safely go to space.Credit...Al Powers/AstroAccess/Zero G CorporationPublished Oct. 22, 2021Updated Nov. 8, 2021Eric Ingram typically moves through the world on his wheelchair. The 31-year-old chief executive of SCOUT Inc., a smart satellite components company, was born with Freeman-Sheldon Syndrome, a rare condition that affects his joints and blocked him from his dream of becoming an astronaut. He applied and was rejected, twice.But onboard a special airplane flight this week, he spun effortlessly through the air, touching nothing. Moving around, he found, was easier in the simulated zero-gravity environment where he needed so few tools to help.While simulating lunar gravity on the flight which is about one-sixth of Earths he discovered something even more surprising: for the first time in his life, he could stand up.It was legitimately weird, he said. Just the act of standing was probably almost as alien to me as floating in zero gravity.He was one of 12 disabled passengers who swam through the air aboard a parabolic flight in Southern California last Sunday in an experiment testing how people with disabilities fare in a zero-gravity environment. Parabolic flights, which fly within Earths atmosphere in alternating upward and downward arcs, allow passengers to experience zero gravity for repeated short bursts, and are a regular part of training for astronauts.The flight was organized by AstroAccess, a nonprofit initiative that aims to make spaceflight accessible to to all. Although about 600 people have been to space since the beginning of human spaceflight in the 1960s, NASA and other space agencies have long restricted the job of astronaut to a minuscule slice of humanity. The American agency initially only selected white, physically fit men to be astronauts and even when the agency broadened its criteria, it still only chose people that met certain physical requirements.ImageCredit...Al Powers/AstroAccess/Zero G CorporationThis blocked the path to space for many with disabilities, overlooking arguments that disabled people could make excellent astronauts in some cases.But the rise of private spaceflight, funded by billionaires with the support of government space agencies, is creating the possibility of allowing a much wider and more diverse pool of people to make trips to the edge of space and beyond. And those with disabilities are aiming to be included.The participants in Sundays AstroAccess flight argue that accessibility issues must be considered now at the advent of private space travel rather than later, because retrofitting equipment to be accessible would take more time and money.The Federal Aviation Administration is prohibited from creating safety regulations for private spaceflights until October 2023. Initiatives like AstroAccess are aiming to guide the way that government agencies think about accessibility on spaceflights.Its crucial that were able to get out ahead of that regulatory process and prevent misinformation or lack of information or lack of data from making bad regulation that would prevent someone with disability flying on one of these trips, Mr. Ingram said.The group also hopes that making everything accessible from the get-go could lead to new space innovations that are helpful for everyone, regardless of disability.ImageCredit...Al Powers/AstroAccess/Zero G CorporationFor example, Sawyer Rosenstein, another AstroAccess passenger, is quick to point out how the lightweight metal alloys used in his wheelchair are a byproduct of NASA innovations. Mr. Rosenstein, 27, has been paralyzed from the waist down since an injury in middle school.Barred from space itself, Mr. Rosenstein became a journalist who often reports on space, including for a podcast, Talking Space.During Sundays flight, Mr. Rosenstein wore a specially modified flight suit with a strap he could grab to bend his knees and maneuver his legs.I was in control of myself and my whole body, Mr. Rosenstein said. Its almost indescribable to have that freedom after having it taken away for so long.He also found he was more flexible in zero gravity, where he could finally test his full range of motion. And the chronic pain he usually experiences throughout his body disappeared during the flight, he said. Like Mr. Ingram, he also could stand up on his own. They both suggested that their experiences signal that zero gravity or reduced gravity could have potential therapeutic applications.With just a few modifications for each type of disability, Ann Kapusta, AstroAccesss mission and communications director, said the dozen participants in the flight had a roughly 90 percent success rate getting back to their seats after 15 tests 12 in zero gravity, two that mimicked lunar gravity and one that mimicked Martian gravity.AstroAccess conducted these tests each lasting 20 to 30 seconds to ensure that people with disabilities can go on a suborbital flight, like the one Jeff Bezos took in July, and safely get into their seats in the limited time before re-entry. This is typical training for suborbital flights, but not for orbital flights, which dont have the same time crunch before re-entry.ImageCredit...Spacex, via ReutersThe relative ease of the flight surprised some on the team, including Tim Bailey, the executive director of Yuris Night, a nonprofit organization focused on space education that sponsors AstroAccess. At first, he said he was concerned that people with disabilities were more fragile and would require extra medical precautions.My biggest takeaway from this is my initial reaction of, Oh my goodness, this is going to be hard, was wrong, he said. They didnt need a lot of extra stuff.But moving around the plane was not without some challenges, said Centra Mazyck, 45, who was injured and became partially paralyzed while serving as a member of the U.S. Armys 82nd Airborne Division.Its very hard because its like youre floating, youre light as a feather, she said. You dont know your strengths or your weaknesses.Sundays parabolic flight was reminiscent of one in 2007 with Stephen Hawking, the physicist, who had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or A.L.S. But unlike Dr. Hawkings flight, this one was geared toward researching the ability of disabled people to function independently in space and developing tools they could use to do so.In addition to modified spacesuits for mobility impaired passengers, researchers tested special lighting systems for deaf passengers and Braille and navigational devices for blind passengers.To navigate the plane as a blind person, Mona Minkara, 33, tested an ultrasonic device and a haptic, or vibrating, device, both of which signaled her as she approached the planes walls and other objects. But the most helpful device, she said, was the simplest: an extendable cane.What was surprising to me is at some points, I knew exactly where I was and how I was facing, she said.Dr. Minkara, a bioengineer at Northeastern University in Boston, pointed out that making spacecraft navigable for blind people would also help keep other astronauts safe if the lights go out during a spacecraft emergency.ImageCredit...Al Powers/AstroAccess/Zero G CorporationSome on Sundays flight once dreamed of becoming professional astronauts, and hope this research could open the door for other disabled people to get the job.The European Space Agency announced this year that it is accepting astronaut applications from those with leg amputations or who are especially short, and hopes to expand to include more types of disabilities in the future. Courtney Beasley, a spokeswoman for NASA, said the American agency is not currently considering changing its selection criteria.Some private space companies rules are more forgiving than those of government agencies. Although SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment, Hayley Arceneaux became the first person with a prosthetic to travel to orbit in September during the Inspiration4 flight aboard the companys Crew Dragon capsule.Axiom Space, which is booking flights on SpaceXs vehicle to the International Space Station, and Virgin Galactic, which flies a suborbital space plane, do not have a list of disqualifying conditions for astronauts, and say they consider accommodations on a case-by-case basis.Dr. Tarah Castleberry, the chief medical officer of Virgin Galactic, said the company will conduct medical screenings for each astronaut to ensure safety and is currently considering flying people who have prosthetics, hearing impairments, paralysis and other medical conditions and physical disabilities.ImageCredit...Al Powers/AstroAccess/Zero G CorporationBlue Origin, the company owned by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, said in a statement that passengers must meet its own list of functional requirements that may exclude blind, deaf or mobility-impaired individuals from flying.Apurva Varia, 48, is deaf and one of the people who would continue to be excluded by such rules.Space organizations told us that we cant go to space, but why? Show me proof, he said.In ninth grade, Mr. Varia recalls watching a space shuttle launch on TV. The channel didnt have closed captions, so Mr. Varia didnt understand what the shuttle was, or why people were sitting inside wearing orange suits. When the countdown hit zero, he said he was amazed to see it blast into the sky and disappear.Soon afterward, Mr. Varia wrote a letter to NASA asking if he could apply to be an astronaut. He got a reply saying that NASA couldnt accept deaf astronauts at the time.Mr. Varia went on to earn advanced engineering degrees and has worked for NASA for two decades to direct space missions and help design propulsion systems for satellites.On Sundays flight, he got a little closer to his dream. He found himself bumping into the walls and ceilings as he tried to sign in American Sign Language and attempted drinking a big, floating bubble of water, which splashed on his face.It was an out-of-this-world experience, he said. I hope to go to space someday.",7
"Sports Briefing | BaseballFeb. 16, 2014The Boston Red Sox right-hander Ryan Dempster plans to take this season off, a decision that surprised teammates and will cost him $13.25 million in salary. Dempster, 36, said he was stepping away for physical reasons and to spend more time with his family. But he left a slight opening to play in 2015. Pitcher A .J. Burnett and the Philadelphia Phillies completed a contract that guarantees him $15 million for 2014 and $22.5 million over two seasons. Burnett is 37. (AP) The Atlanta Braves added to their extensive wave of long-term deals with their young stars by agreeing to a four-year, $42 million contract with the All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel, who avoided salary arbitration. (AP)",4
"DealBook|Ex-Morgan Stanley Adviser Receives Probation for Data Thefthttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/23/business/dealbook/ex-morgan-stanley-adviser-receives-probation-for-data-theft.htmlDec. 22, 2015A former Morgan Stanley financial adviser who downloaded information on thousands of the firms clients to a personal computer, some of it ending up for sale online, was given three years of probation by a federal judge in Manhattan on Tuesday.Galen Marsh, who was fired after some of the downloaded information was found posted on the Internet late last year, had faced a maximum of five years in prison. He pleaded guilty in September to one count of unauthorized access to a computer and was ordered to pay Morgan Stanley restitution of $600,000 and forfeit the computer equipment he used.Judge Kevin T. Duffy of Federal District Court in Manhattan announced the sentence on Tuesday to a relieved Mr. Marsh.We are ecstatic by the judges sentence, said Robert C. Gottlieb, his defense lawyer. We are grateful that Judge Duffy felt that leniency was warranted in this case.Mr. Marsh and his lawyer have contended that he did not intend to sell the information, share it or post it online. One theory was that foreign hackers got into his home computer and took the information.A spokesman for Morgan Stanley had no comment on Tuesday.Prosecutors said Mr. Marsh used the banks computers from June 2011 to December 2014 to gain access to confidential information about certain clients in 6,000 unauthorized searches. He obtained names, addresses, telephone numbers, account numbers and investment information on approximately 730,000 client accounts. He uploaded information to his personal computer at home in Hoboken, N.J.This year, Morgan Stanley said he took data on roughly 10 percent of the firms 3.5 million wealth management customers.Mr. Marsh was talking about job opportunities with two other financial institutions from late 2013 to the end of last year. He retrieved the client information to use it for his personal advantage, prosecutors said in September.",0
"Credit...Yasin Akgul/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 5, 2018ISTANBUL More than a month after Saudi agents assassinated the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, officials in Turkey continue to drip out sensational new details in a killing that has caused an international uproar.The latest twist in the case that has drawn heavy global criticism of Saudi Arabia: The kingdom sent an expert team to clean up evidence of the crime under the guise of helping with the investigation, a senior Turkish official said on Monday.A pro-government newspaper, Sabah, published news of the Saudi cleanup team and photographs of two of its members, whom it identified as a chemist and a toxicologist, who visited the Saudi Consulate where Mr. Khashoggi was killed.The senior Turkish official confirmed the main details of the report and said the Saudi team was sent with the knowledge of top Saudi officials. The two men traveled to Turkey for the sole purpose of covering up evidence of the killing before the Turkish police were allowed to search the premises, the official said in comments relayed by electronic message.The two men were identified as Ahmad Abdulaziz al-Junabi, a chemist, and Khaled Yahya al-Zahrani, a toxicologist, part of a team of Saudi investigators who spent several days in Turkey visiting the consulate and the consuls residence, ostensibly to help with the investigation into Mr. Khashoggis disappearance, the newspaper reported.The Turkish official confirmed the names of the two individuals and said they were part of a cleanup team. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, according to the rules of his office.The killing has severely strained relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and officials in Istanbul have regularly leaked new information about the case to ratchet up pressure on the kingdom.Saudi Arabia has detained 18 people implicated in the killing of Mr. Khashoggi, but has not said who ordered what Turkish officials have characterized as the political assassination of a prominent critic of the Saudi government. Turkish and Western officials have said that it is unlikely that such a plan would have been carried out without the blessing of the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who is seen as the countrys de facto ruler.While the killing has compromised Prince Mohammeds global standing, there is growing international consensus that the case has not appeared to weaken his grip on power.In the wake of the killing, international companies have come under pressure to cut ties to Saudi Arabia, but on Monday, the chief executive of SoftBank of Japan said it would continue to do business with the kingdom.Speaking on Monday in Geneva, the president of Saudi Arabias human rights commission, Bandar al-Aiban, vowed a full investigation and punishment of those responsible, but shed no new light on the case. His remarks, before the United Nations Human Rights Council, came in a review of the kingdoms human rights record.Turkey has demanded, to no avail, that Saudi Arabia disclose what became of Mr. Khashoggis body, that it name the local collaborator who a Saudi official has said helped dispose of the remains, and that it turn over the 18 suspects to face the Turkish justice system.In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Mr. Khashoggis two sons, Salah and Abdullah, called for their fathers body to be returned for a burial in Saudi Arabia. Salah Khashoggi said that he had faith in the Saudi investigation of the killing and that everybody involved will be brought to justice.The Saudi cleanup team arrived in Istanbul on Oct. 11, nine days after Mr. Khashoggis death, and visited the consulate every day from Oct. 12 to Oct. 17, according to Sabah. Turkish investigators were not allowed into the consulate, which is considered Saudi sovereign territory, until Oct. 15. Sabah published photographs of Mr. Junabi and Mr. Zahrani emerging from the entrance of the consulate and also published photographs that the newspapers investigative editor, Abdurrahman Simsek, said were head shots from cameras at airport passport control.The men arrived on the same day as a Saudi delegation that met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Oct. 11, as Turkish officials demanded to know what had happened to Mr. Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi government who lived in the United States and wrote opinion articles for The Washington Post. He had entered the consulate on Oct. 2 for a prearranged meeting to collect papers that would allow him to marry his Turkish fiance, and was never seen again.When the group identified as a cleanup team was in Turkey, Saudi officials were still insisting that Mr. Khashoggi, 59, had left the consulate safely, and that they did not know where he was. They later acknowledged that he had been killed in the consulate, at first describing his death as the accidental result of a fight, and later calling it premeditated.Turkey has identified a team of 15 Saudi officials that it has accused of being the perpetrators of the murder, who arrived in Turkey in the hours before Mr. Khashoggis disappearance and left the same day. Some of the 15 turned out to be security officers close to Prince Mohammed, and included a top forensic specialist.The Khashoggi case has worsened Saudi relations with not only Turkey, but also with the United States and some of its closest allies, particularly in Europe. It has also increased attention on Saudi Arabias role in the civil war in Yemen, where civilian casualties continue to climb, leading to calls in the West to stop arms sales to the Saudis.The United Nations review of Saudi Arabias human rights record included demands for a transparent investigation into the killing, but representatives of several countries took a broader approach to criticizing the kingdom. They pointed to Saudi Arabias frequent and increasing use of capital punishment, including for nonviolent offenses, and accused the Saudis of executing people for political or religious dissent.",6
"Credit...Mike Blake/ReutersJune 20, 2018WASHINGTON President Trump on Wednesday sought to quell the uproar over his administrations systematic separation of immigrant children from their families at the border, signing an executive order he portrayed as ending the problem.What caused the problem?Previously, many families caught sneaking across the border especially those seeking asylum were released into the United States while their immigration cases were processed. But in April, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that federal prosecutors would now pursue a zero-tolerance policy of criminally prosecuting every adult who illegally crossed the border or tried to do so.Sending adults to jail for prosecution prompted a set of court-imposed rules stemming from a class-action lawsuit over how the government handled unaccompanied minors in immigration detention. In the Trump administrations view, the government cannot hold children in immigration detention for over 20 days.That meant that if adults were sent to jail or long-term indefinite detention while their asylum requests or removal orders were processed, the children could not stay with them. As a result, the Trump policy of prosecuting adults has also led to a practice of separating families and holding children separately while trying to place them with relatives or in a licensed facility.Did Trumps order restore the old approach?No. His order explicitly states that the executive branch will continue to criminally prosecute people who cross the border illegally, signaling that the zero-tolerance policy remains in place.What does the order change?The order states that it is now the policy of the Trump administration to keep families together. It appears to envision a system in which families will be housed together in ad hoc detention centers, including on military bases, that the administration hopes a court will approve. It calls for many agencies including the Pentagon to make available existing facilities, or to construct them, for the Department of Homeland Security to use for the housing and care of alien families.Will this happen right away?The answer is unclear. At a briefing organized by the White House on Wednesday afternoon, Gene Hamilton, a counselor to Mr. Sessions, sidestepped a question about whether a family that shows up now would be separated. He said that an implementation phase would happen but that he was not sure precisely what the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services would do.Since the administration has concluded that it can detain families together for up to 20 days under the existing rules, the start of the revised policy may turn on how much family-style detention space is available and how many new families are apprehended.Separately, a Justice Department official said that family separation was prompted in the past when adults were taken into the custody of United States marshals, while children were held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for three days and then transferred to the Health and Human Services Department. Under the new plan, the official said, the entire family will stay in ICEs hands. While the adults will still be prosecuted, that will prevent the need to immediately separate family members. The administration appears to be hoping that the courts or Congress will change the rules within 20 days, allowing families to be detained together indefinitely.What does the Flores case have to do with this?The long-running class-action litigation over the treatment of children in immigration custody ended with a 1997 consent decree known as the Flores settlement. Under it, the government has been obligated to release children from immigration detention to relatives or, if none can be found, to a licensed program within about three to five days. If that is impossible, they must be held in the least restrictive setting appropriate to their age and needs.In the second term of the Obama administration, amid a surge of migrants, the administration adopted a policy of detaining families headed by women together while their cases were processed. After those conditions were challenged in court, Judge Dolly M. Gee of Federal District Court for the Central District of California ruled that the Flores settlement terms also applied to accompanied minors, so holding children with their mothers in indefinite immigration detention was unlawful.How much can Trump do without court permission?The most important part of Mr. Trumps order set in motion a request to get a court to approve holding families together for longer than 20 days. The order directs Mr. Sessions to promptly ask a federal court to modify the consent agreement in a manner that would permit the Department of Homeland Security to hold families together throughout immigration court proceedings. At his press briefing, Mr. Hamilton said that unless Congress acted sooner to change the law, it would be up to Judge Gee to decide whether the administration could keep families together.What happens to the children already separated?The administration initially said it would not try to reunite children and parents who were separated at the border under the zero-tolerance policy, according to Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for the Health and Human Services Department.But the agency retreated later Wednesday evening, saying that it is still very early, and we are awaiting further guidance on the matter.Reunification is always the goal, said Brian Marriott, the senior director of communications for the agency, noting that the department was working toward that for children affected by the presidents policy.That statement left open the possibility, though, that the children could be reunited with relatives or appropriate sponsors in the United States, not necessarily the parent they were separated from at the border.More than 2,300 children were separated from their parents at the border and placed in government-licensed shelters or in temporary foster care with families across the country.How do these parents differ from others whose children were removed by the government?The migrant parents did not lose custody of the children because of poor parenting. Nobody judged these parents were incapable of taking care of their kids, said Kay Bellor, a vice president at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.Lutheran is one of several nonprofits that have found temporary foster families to care for children separated from their parents at the border. Ms. Bellor said that none of them have been reunited with their parents since the separation.Was an order even necessary?No. Mr. Trump likes the flourish of signing executive orders in front of cameras, but most of his have amounted to asking his administration to conduct reviews and come up with proposed solutions to problems, or they have consisted of directives that he could have instead made with a phone call. This is one of those orders.",3
"Credit...Richard Perry/The New York TimesDec. 18, 2015Martin Shkreli has resigned as chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals after his arrest on securities fraud charges, the company announced on Friday.Turing, a privately held company in New York, said that Ron Tilles, its chairman, would step in as interim chief executive.Mr. Tilles, who will remain chairman, has spent most of his career at securities firms and other financial service companies, according to the description of him on Turings website. But he was a founder and worked in business development at Retrophin, Mr. Shkrelis first pharmaceutical company, though Fridays announcement did not mention his connection to Retrophin.Mr. Shkrelis arrest on Thursday was for activities in the past, when he ran a hedge fund and worked at Retrophin, not for anything at Turing. Turing became notorious for acquiring a 62-year-old drug and increasing the price fiftyfold, causing a public furor.Still, his arrest and indictment made it untenable for him to stay as chief executive of Turing, according to one Turing investor.I dont see how he can run this company anymore, said the investor, who asked not to be named because of his companys policy against speaking to the media. Theres no way it doesnt hurt the company.Federal officials described Mr. Shkrelis crimes as a quasi-Ponzi scheme in which he used money from Retrophin to pay off money-losing investors in his hedge funds. An F.B.I. official called his business schemes a securities fraud trifecta of lies, deceit and greed.In court on Thursday, Mr. Shkreli pleaded not guilty to the charges of securities fraud and was released on $5 million bail. After months of frequent Twitter activity and live streaming video, Mr. Shkreli was initially relatively quiet after his release except for one post on Twitter in which he said, Glad to be home. Thanks for the support.But by Friday afternoon, Mr. Shkreli, unshaven, started to live stream again, including playing online chess and guitar. He said many people had reached out to support him, but added that his lawyers had forbidden him from talking about the criminal case.Im good, Im good. Thank you guys. I missed you, too, he said. Sorry I couldnt live stream yesterday. I had a lot going on. He said he was changing his Twitter profile to reflect that he was no longer chief executive of Turing.A spokesman for Turing said neither Mr. Tilles nor Mr. Shkreli would be granting interviews.Mr. Shkrelis arrest immediately raised questions about his future not only at Turing but at KaloBios, a publicly traded California company that he gained control of in November, by leading an investor group that acquired the companys shares on the open market.He had already ignited controversy there by announcing that KaloBios had acquired the rights to an inexpensive drug used for decades to treat Chagas disease in Latin America. He said KaloBios would try to get the drug approved in the United States and charge tens of thousands of dollars for a course of treatment.The agreement to acquire the rights to that drug has not officially closed, however. A spokeswoman for Savant Neglected Diseases, the small company that was selling the rights to KaloBios, said Savant was now meeting with its lawyers about the matter. That suggests Savant might be reviewing options for withdrawing from the deal.KaloBios had announced it was going out of business before Mr. Shkreli bought his stake in the company.After Mr. Shkrelis investment in KaloBios became known, the share price shot up from under $2, the price he paid for most of his shares, to more than $40 at one point. The shares closed at $23.59 on Wednesday and did not trade on Thursday and Friday because of the arrest.The investigation into Mr. Shkreli remains active, according to a law enforcement officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about a current inquiry. That means that investigators and prosecutors may be looking at all of his post-Retrophin transactions, including the acquisition of KaloBios.KaloBios has not said anything publicly since the arrest of its chief executive. The board of KaloBios is now controlled by members of Mr. Shkrelis investor group, so he might not be ousted. However, if he is convicted of the charges against him, he will probably not be able to serve as an executive or director of a publicly traded company.Stephen Brozak, president of WBB Securities, a boutique health care investment bank, said it would be difficult for a public company to continue with Mr. Shkreli at the helm. But given that the company was out of money and options before he came along, it would also be difficult for it to survive without him.The irony is they cant live with him and they cant live without him, Mr. Brozak, whose company has no relationship with KaloBios, said. They were starting to sell the furniture before this happened.Mr. Shkrelis resignation from Turing led to some speculation, or hope, that the company would lower the price of the 62-year-old drug that it acquired in August. The drug, Daraprim, now costs $750 a pill, up from $13.50. It is used to treat toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that can cause brain damage in babies and people with AIDS.We hope that Martin Shkrelis departure will mark the end of Turing Pharmaceuticals reckless price hikes on lifesaving medications, the Human Rights Campaign, a group fighting for equal rights for gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender individuals, said in a statement.Turing sent a letter to health care providers on Friday, assuring them that Daraprim would remain available and that the companys financial assistance programs were still functioning. The letter did not mention anything about lowering the price.The Turing investor said he was surprised when Mr. Shkreli took over KaloBios, because it diverted his attention from Turing. If Mr. Shkreli found a promising drug, for instance, which company, Turing or KaloBios, would get the opportunity to acquire it? This company deserves some competent, full-time, mature, not crazy, management, the investor said. He said Turing already had a good roster of drug candidates it could develop. But he was concerned that employees would now leave and that Mr. Shkreli, who owns a substantial stake, would continue to exercise influence at the company.",0
"Science|The Secret to a Really Crisp Applehttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/03/science/apples-taste.htmlQ&AMarch 3, 2017Credit...Victoria RobertsQ. Why are some apples mealy while others are crisp?A. When apples are mealy, the cells split apart from each other when you bite into the fruit, whereas with crisp fruits the cells rupture and release juice, said Susan Brown, an expert in apple breeding at Cornell University who has helped develop several varieties.The cells of crisp apples stay intact and full of juice until they are bitten into, while cell walls of mushy fruit have weakened and simply separate from each other upon pressure without providing any snap.There can be several reasons for the differences, Dr. Brown said. The genetics of the variety can influence the taste and feel, she said, with Snapdragon and Honeycrisp known for their juiciness. But often mealy fruit can come from bad handling.If consumers store fruits at room temperature, rather than in the refrigerator, they will soften and get mealy sooner, Dr. Brown said.The differences between varieties can be striking. One study compared the relatively new variety Honeycrisp with the Macoun and Honeygold varieties.The researchers found that the Honeycrisp fruit maintained its cell wall integrity after six months of storage, even without controlled atmosphere conditions, while cell walls of Macoun and Honeygold apples had deteriorated, releasing their juices prematurely. question@nytimes.com",7
"Viktor Ahn bested his Russian teammate by three-quarters of a second to win the mens 1,000-meter short-track event. It is his second medal of the Sochi Games. Ahn, who was a South Korean speedskating star, became a Russian citizen in 2011 and pledged to compete for Russia. Here are the positions of the medalists in the first turn of each of the races nine laps. Related Article 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Sin South Korea Disqualified Finish: final Lap Finish:",4
"Politics|Traitor! Dozens of Trump supporters heckle Lindsey Graham for breaking with the president.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/us/politics/traitor-lindsey-graham.htmlTraitor! Dozens of Trump supporters heckle Lindsey Graham for breaking with the president.Credit...Michael Reynolds/EPA, via ShutterstockJan. 8, 2021Jeering supporters of President Trump accosted Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on Friday at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, angrily denouncing the Republican as a traitor and a liar for voting to formalize President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.s victory.Traitor! Traitor! one woman could be heard yelling in a pair of videos shared with The New York Times. You said you had his back and you didnt.Get out of here, another woman shouted at Mr. Graham, who was once considered Mr. Trumps closest ally in the Senate. You dont represent America.The tense scene vivified the continuing crisis unfolding in the Republican Party, as lawmakers, their voters and the nation reel from an insurrection by Mr. Trumps supporters that overtook the Capitol this week while Congress was meeting to count the electoral votes.Mr. Graham was far from alone, as elected Republicans who rejected Mr. Trumps attempt to overturn the election faced intense backlash from their own constituents, who have been persuaded by the presidents false claims that he won. Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, also had a nasty airport confrontation with supporters of Mr. Trump, while other Republicans were accosted outside the Capitol by voters from their states who had traveled to Washington at the presidents urging to protest his election defeat.After four years of standing beside Mr. Trump, including some of his baseless claims of voter fraud, Mr. Graham made a clean break Wednesday night after the mob had been cleared from the Capitol, saying enough is enough. He seemed to foresee the coming crisis.I cannot convince people, certain groups, by my words, but I will tell you by my actions, he said in the Senate.On Friday, Mr. Graham could be seen in another video, posted by Politicos Daniel Lippman, being escorted out of the waiting area by uniformed police officers as several dozen people harassed him. (An earlier version of this post misspelled Mr. Lippmans surname.)One day they will not be able to walk down the street, said one woman, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the initial Q, a reference to QAnon, the pro-Trump conspiracy theory. It is today.Mindy Robinson, a self-described conservative activist and commentator, posted yet another video in which a woman, apparently her, called Mr. Graham a garbage human being.Its going to be like this forever, wherever you go, for the rest of your life, the woman taunted.",3
"Sports Briefing | Pro FootballFeb. 6, 2014The Jets filled the lone remaining vacancy on their coaching staff by hiring Thomas McGaughey as their special-teams coach. McGaughey, 40, spent the last three seasons as the special-teams coach at Louisiana State. McGaughey was the Giants assistant special-teams coordinator for four seasons and has also coached in the N.F.L. in Kansas City, Houston and Denver.",4
"Credit...Laura McDermott for The New York TimesMarch 14, 2016Their websites show peaceful scenes young women relaxing by the ocean or caring for horses in emerald pastures and boast of their chefs and other amenities.One center sends out invitations to a reception with cocktails and hors doeuvres. Another offers doctors and therapists all-expense-paid trips to visit and experience their offerings, including yoga classes. Several employ staff who call mental health professionals, saying they would love to have lunch.The marketing efforts by these for-profit residential care centers are aimed at patients with eating disorders and the clinicians who treat them. The programs have proliferated in recent years, with some companies expanding across the country.The rapid growth of the industry there are more than 75 centers, compared with 22 a decade ago, according to one count has been propelled by the Affordable Care Act and other changes in health insurance laws that have increased coverage for mental disorders, as well as by investments from private equity firms.The residential programs, their directors say, fill a dire need, serving patients from areas where no adequate treatment is available. Only 15 to 30 percent of people have access to specialized care for eating disorders, which means there are a lot of people out there who have zippo, said Doug Bunnell, the chief clinical officer for Monte Nido, a program that began in Malibu, Calif., and now operates centers in five states.But the advertising and the profusion of centers, which typically cost $1,000 a day but can run much higher, is raising concerns among some eating disorders experts, who worry that some programs may be taking advantage of vulnerable patients and their families.In the companies rush to expand, they argue, quality of treatment may be sacrificed for profit. And they question whether the spalike atmosphere of some programs is so comfortable that it fosters dependency.For the most part, the people who are running and working in these programs believe theyre doing the right thing, said Dr. Angela Guarda, the director of the eating disorders program at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.But its a slippery slope, she said. Money can cloud your view.Many eating disorders specialists agree that some patients require the supervision of residential programs and benefit from the treatment. But studies showing the programs effectiveness are scant, Dr. Guarda and other experts said. The methods of the handful of studies that exist have been criticized.The quality and form of treatment varies widely across centers, and in some cases includes approaches equine therapy, for example, or faith-based treatment with little or no scientific evidence behind them. Some programs have full-time psychiatrists and medical doctors on staff, but others lack the expertise to handle emergencies or treat patients with coexisting medical or psychiatric problems.The perks offered to outside clinicians who might refer patients, the experts say, include free trips, restaurant meals, educational seminars and small gifts like pens and key chains dispensed at professional meetings. Critics liken them to pharmaceutical industry tactics that led to laws and policies requiring financial disclosure, though on a smaller scale. Studies had shown that even small gifts from drug companies, like free medication samples, affected doctors prescription practices.In an article to be published Monday in the journal Psychiatric Services, Dr. Evelyn Attia, a professor of psychiatry and director of the eating disorders program at Columbia University Medical Center, and four colleagues called for more transparency about the financial relationships between residential centers and the professionals who send them patients, and urged clinicians to be mindful of efforts to influence their recommended treatment.The effect of these clinician inducements, which are aimed at building a programs patient referral base, may not be fully recognized by the professionals they target, wrote Dr. Attia and her colleagues, who included Dr. Guarda.Several industry representatives said that while they had not seen the journal article, they agreed that more data on patient outcomes and stricter standards were needed. But, they said, the trips and seminars offered to clinicians were primarily educational. I dont think anyone in the eating disorders world is giving out swimming pools and trips to Europe and things like that, Dr. Bunnell said.Jillian Lampert, president of the Residential Eating Disorders Consortium, a group that represents about 85 percent of the centers, said, Health cares always been a business, adding that quality and profit were not mutually exclusive. If there are concerns, she said, we are incredibly open to having those conversations.A Deadly Mental IllnessEating disorders are among the most difficult mental illnesses to treat.Anorexia, in particular, has stymied many of psychiatrys best treatment efforts. The illness has the highest mortality rate of any mental disorder, with patients dying from the medical complications of starvation or from suicide. And patients often resist treatments that make them feel uncomfortable.The most severely ill patients the prognosis is grimmer the longer someone has anorexia, studies suggest require hospital treatment just to stay alive. But even after being stabilized, many patients need continual supervision for a time to regain weight and learn new behavior. The length of stay in residential centers ranges from two weeks to a year. A 2006 study found that the average stay was 83 days.In the past, health insurance companies placed strict limits on coverage for eating disorders, treating them differently from other medical illnesses. Few insurers were willing to pay for 24-hour care after a patient was out of immediate danger.But the passage of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act in 2008 and the Affordable Care Act two years later mandated equal treatment. Lawsuits brought by the families of patients who were denied coverage added to the pressure on insurers. In 2012, a federal appeals court ruled that health plans must cover residential treatment for anorexia under Californias parity law. The higher reimbursement rates offered some relief to families, who had often mortgaged their houses or drained their savings to pay for critically needed care.They also attracted the attention of Wall Street investors, who saw profits in providing treatment for so-called behavioral health problems like eating disorders, alcoholism and drug abuse. The number of covered lives is growing faster than the availability of services to treat them, creating compelling investment opportunities, the accounting and consulting firm BDO noted last year in an article on its website, referring to the effects of the legal changes.As the industry has expanded, larger centers have acquired smaller ones and some programs, flush with private equity investments, have expanded across the country.For example, Monte Nido, a treatment program founded by Carolyn Costin, a former teacher who recovered from an eating disorder, began with a center in Malibu.But in 2012, with financing from Centre Partners, a middle-market equity firm, Monte Nido began opening new residential centers and day-treatment programs. The company now has centers in Oregon, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New York, including one in a renovated mansion in Westchester County.Last year, noting that the investment had tripled the companys facility footprint during our ownership period, Centre Partners sold Monte Nido to another investment firm, Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, for an undisclosed sum.I believe that the Monte Nidos [sic] approach to eating disorder treatment is what you and others like you have been waiting for, Ms. Costin wrote in a letter to potential patients on the companys website, which includes images of beaches, mountains and the Boston skyline on its home page.With a need to fill more beds, marketers for some centers make cold calls to psychiatrists, psychotherapists, medical doctors and others who treat eating disorders, offering to inform them about a programs advantages and inviting them to visit.The Denver-based Eating Recovery Center has a call center and employs 20 professional relations liaisons who contact clinicians across the country. The author and motivational speaker Jenni Schaefer, who recovered from an eating disorder, recently joined the programs outreach team. On its website, the company, which began with a single center, bills itself as the only national health care system devoted to serious eating disorders at all levels of care.Craig Johnson, a well-known eating disorders specialist, joined the company in 2010 and has seen it through its expansion to 24 treatment programs in seven states, including three residential centers. He said when therapists visit, the focus is education, not entertainment. Were delivering lectures, Dr. Johnson said.Some therapists see the offer of free trips as a chance to view the facilities that they might recommend to patients.Ann Jacob Smith, a family therapist in Chevy Chase, Md., said that last year, she accepted an invitation to visit the Oliver-Pyatt eating disorders center in Miami. (The center is now part of Monte Nido).It was absolutely promotional, she said, But it was actually really educational. They took us in depth into what they did.Her later referrals were not influenced by the visit, she added. Im not impressed by being romanced.But Adrian Brown, a psychiatrist in Virginia, said that therapists who had not gone through the battle phase with drug companies might not even realize they were being swayed by financial interests.Dr. Brown recalled being offered a V.I.P. trip to a treatment center, with the representative telling her, We will pay your way, put you up in a really nice hotel, all expenses paid, yoga and whatever.Dr. Brown responded, No, thats not ethical.The representative replied, What do you mean? Another invitation arrived the next year.ImageCredit...Jenn Ackerman for The New York TimesMixed ResultsProspective patients or family members searching for a treatment program sometimes turn to sites like edtreatmentreview.com or www.edtxreviews.com, where former patients describe their experiences at different centers, evaluating the staff, critiquing the food and noting whether cellphones are allowed.Many reviewers have spent time in more than one residential center and the opinions on any particular program vary widely, a range reflected in interviews with former patients over the last several months.Tina Klaus, a 51-year-old artist who has struggled with bulimia since she was 10, said residential care was initially useful.Residential treatment is vital when you are at your ultimate rock bottom she said. But once home, her illness worsened because youre going back into your life, youre going back into all the emotions you used your eating disorder to hide from.Melissa R., 28, who asked that her last name not be used for reasons of privacy, said after several hospitalizations for anorexia, beginning when she was 21, she found a residential center in the Southwest on the Internet and spent six weeks there. The center, which she described as more like a resort, was somewhat helpful, she said, but not worth the time and money.People were nice, and the food was really good, she said. I had fun, I enjoyed rock climbing and stuff, but thats not why I was there. Im paying a lot of money to get well, not to rock climb.Last year, she spent two months at Eating Recovery Center in Denver, moving from residential care to day treatment, and began to gain control of her illness. E.R.C. was the best place Ive been, she said about the center. They were very individualized.Ashley Bilkie, 29, had a different experience with E.R.C. When she returned home in February 2015 after about six months in the Denver program her fourth stay in an inpatient program for treatment of anorexia and her second at E.R.C. I was getting sicker and sicker, she said. She lost the weight she had gained back at the center. I had to buy childrens clothing, she said.She was evasive with her parents. At the recovery center, she said, It was kind of like they set up a battle between myself and my parents. For their part, Ms. Bilkies parents, who for years had watched their daughters health decline, grew frantic. Ms. Bilkie would disappear, her father, Robert Bilkie, said, and he would find her wandering the aisles at Kroger or Target. Driving through the neighborhood, he half-expected to see her hanging from a tree.Its a parents worst nightmare, he said.It was also expensive. Mr. Bilkie, a financial adviser in Michigan, calculated that over three years, he paid at least $350,000 for unreimbursed inpatient care for his daughter. The Eating Recovery Center, he said, sent him bills for $30,000 each month. Mr. Bilkie paid willingly he was desperate to see Ashley get well, he said but no program seemed to produce lasting results.We spent an outrageous amount of money for what really amounted to ineffectual treatment, Mr. Bilkie said.Last fall, Ms. Bilkie entered the eating disorder center at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center, a university affiliated program.ImageCredit...Laura McDermott for The New York TimesThe staff there gradually weaned her off some drugs she had been taking taking at the center in Denver, including high doses of Xanax, a tranquilizer, and Adderall, an attention deficit drug and a stimulant.In group therapy, other patients put pressure on her to change her behavior. It was a switch, she said, from previous groups, where patients talked about their problems. With the programs stress on weight restoration studies show that it is the best predictor of how anorexic patients will do once they leave, rather than, say, elevated mood her weight returned to normal.She was discharged in November and continues to do well.I hated every single solitary second of it, she said of the experience. But thats a good thing, because I was not comfortable, and it meant that something was working.Dr. Ovidio Bermudez, the chief clinical officer of Eating Recovery Center, said that other patients have fared poorly at academic centers and then done well at E.R.C. Despite Ms. Bilkies perception, he said, therapists at the program did not try to divide patients from their families. (Ms. Bilkie gave Eating Recovery Center permission to discuss her case.)We would have to filter this through 20/20 hindsight, Dr. Bermudez said. Its really hard to know what somebodys frame of mind is and the degree of fragility they bring to any treatment experience.Dr. Anne Marie OMelia, a psychiatrist at the recovery center, said Ms. Bilkie was on Xanax when she arrived and was fearful of reducing the drugs dosage, though the center tried. She was switched to Adderall from another stimulant at E.R.C., Dr. OMelia said, to treat significant impulsivity.Seeking StandardsMs. Bilkies history of ups and downs is not unusual for patients with eating disorders.In many cases, you see one step forward, two steps back, said Dr. Mark Friedlander, the chief medical officer for Aetna Behavioral Health.His company, Dr. Friedlander said, considers residential care essential for treatment of some patients. But, he said, a lack of outcome studies, an absence of industry standards and a patchwork licensing system across states make it difficult for Aetna or other insurers to evaluate care.We would love to see greater consistency and higher standards, he said.To that end, a group of eating disorder specialists from treatment centers, including Eating Recovery Center and Monte Nido, have developed a list of minimum requirements for accreditation of residential programs. The Joint Commission, an independent company that accredits health care facilities, has adopted the requirements, which go into effect July 1.Dr. Lampert, president of the consortium, said the centers in the organization were also collecting data on patient outcomes, lengths of stay and other variables, with each center collecting data on 15 consecutive admissions of adults and adolescents.In the meantime, many patients and families will continue to rely on word of mouth and any information they can find online.These are black boxes, Dr. Scott Hadland, an adolescent medicine specialist at Harvard Medical School, said of the residential centers. People get the idea that these are places that can heal just based on what they see on a website or in the photos.",2
"Fortnites parent company, Epic Games, had broken its contract with Apple, a federal judge found. The case goes to trial next year.Credit...Brian Finke for The New York TimesPublished Oct. 9, 2020Updated Sept. 10, 2021SAN FRANCISCO A federal judge ruled on Friday that Apple did not need to reinstate the popular video game Fortnite in its App Store, in a blow to Fortnites parent company, Epic Games, which is locked in an antitrust battle with the tech giant over its app store fees and rules.Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the Northern District of California said in her ruling that Apples ban of the game could continue because Epic had violated its contract with Apple. There is significant public interest in requiring companies to adhere to contracts or resolve disputes through the normal course, she wrote.But Judge Gonzales Rogers also said that Apple could not ban Unreal Engine, Epics developer tools, from its platforms because of the potential significant damage to both developers and gamers who rely on the software.The mixed ruling showed the high cost of taking on a tech behemoth like Apple, even for an established company like Epic. The 116 million people who have accessed Fortnite through Apples systems will continue to be kept away while Epic and Apple prepare for a trial in the case, which is scheduled for May.An Epic spokeswoman said the company is grateful that Apple will continue to be barred from retaliating against Unreal Engine and our game development customers. Epic will continue developing for Apples platforms and pursue all avenues to end Apples anti-competitive behavior, she said.An Apple spokesman said the company was grateful that the court recognized that Epics actions were not in the best interests of its own customers and that any problems they may have encountered were of their own making when they breached their agreement. The spokesman added that Apples app store has been an economic miracle that has created transformative business opportunities for developers.Epics battle with Apple comes as the largest tech companies face scrutiny of their power. On Tuesday, House lawmakers said Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google had exercised and abused their monopoly power to stifle competition and harm consumers and recommended that the companies be restructured. European regulators have also opened an investigation into whether Apples app store rules are anticompetitive. And in the coming days, the Justice Department is expected to sue Google over anticompetitive search practices.At the heart of Epics case is Apples and Googles tight grip over smartphone apps in their app stores. Both companies require that developers use their payment systems and pay a 30 percent cut of any money they make in their apps.They think they can just decide arbitrarily what apps can exist, and what fees can be charged, and tax all commerce, Tim Sweeney, Epics chief executive, said in an interview last month. We came gradually to the realization that we had to fight this, not just by words, but also by really broad actions.Epic has said it wants Apple to change its requirements that apps use its payment system and shell out a 30 percent fee. It also wants to operate its own app store within Apples.The companies began fighting in August, when Epic violated Apples and Googles rules by directing Fortnite users to its own payments service. Apple and Google responded by pulling Fortnite from their app stores. Epic then sued both companies, arguing they were breaking antitrust laws.Apple later also cut off its support for Unreal Engine, Epics software development tool that is used by thousands of game makers. Judge Gonzalez Rogers said on Friday that Apple must continue supporting Unreal Engine and could not retaliate against any of Epics other affiliated apps or products.The fight has escalated over the past few weeks. Apple has accused Epic of seeking a special deal for itself, while Epic has accused Apple of cherry-picking out-of-context emails in its legal response.Other companies have used the battle to criticize Apple. Microsoft filed a declaration in support of Epic and has announced a set of developer-friendly principles for its own app store. Facebook has also recently called out Apples 30 percent app fees.Smaller app makers, normally wary of angering the tech giants, have found strength in numbers. In September, more than a dozen of them, including the music streaming service Spotify, the dating service Match Group and the Bluetooth tracking device maker Tile, formed a nonprofit group called Coalition for App Fairness to push for changes to the app stores.In a hearing last month, Apple said it was willing to reinstate Fortnite to its app store before a trial if Epic would return to complying with its rules. Judge Gonzalez Rogers proposed an arrangement that would put Apples fees from Fortnite in an escrow account until after the trial. But Epic refused, arguing that doing so would be complying with a contract it views as unlawful.I didnt buy that argument before, Judge Gonzalez Rogers said in the hearing. Im not particularly impressed with it now.",5
"Common Kanye Deserves To Name His Kid After Chicago 1/20/2018 TMZ.com Kanye West has done so much for Chicago, naming his daughter after the Windy City is both awesome and deserving ... so says Common. Common seemed both happy and entertained by his Chicago brethren's name choice for his third born when we got him Friday at LAX. Kanye named his baby Chicago..... Thats the most Kanye thing ever @Chris_Wormley43 The name choice had mixed reviews, with one person on Twitter commenting Kanye naming his baby Chicago is the most Kanye thing to do ... but Common says 'Ye deserves the right for good reason.",1
"Credit...Mason Trinca for The New York TimesTen years ago, psychologists proposed that a wide range of people would suffer anxiety and grief over climate. Skepticism about that idea is gone.Alina Black, a mother of two in Portland, Ore., sought a therapist who specialized in climate anxiety to address her mounting panics. I feel like I have developed a phobia to my way of life, she said.Credit...Mason Trinca for The New York TimesPublished Feb. 6, 2022Updated Feb. 10, 2022Listen to This ArticleTo hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.PORTLAND, Ore. It would hit Alina Black in the snack aisle at Trader Joes, a wave of guilt and shame that made her skin crawl.Something as simple as nuts. They came wrapped in plastic, often in layers of it, that she imagined leaving her house and traveling to a landfill, where it would remain through her lifetime and the lifetime of her children.She longed, really longed, to make less of a mark on the earth. But she had also had a baby in diapers, and a full-time job, and a 5-year-old who wanted snacks. At the age of 37, these conflicting forces were slowly closing on her, like a set of jaws.In the early-morning hours, after nursing the baby, she would slip down a rabbit hole, scrolling through news reports of droughts, fires, mass extinction. Then she would stare into the dark.It was for this reason that, around six months ago, she searched climate anxiety and pulled up the name of Thomas J. Doherty, a Portland psychologist who specializes in climate.A decade ago, Dr. Doherty and a colleague, Susan Clayton, a professor of psychology at the College of Wooster, published a paper proposing a new idea. They argued that climate change would have a powerful psychological impact not just on the people bearing the brunt of it, but on people following it through news and research. At the time, the notion was seen as speculative.That skepticism is fading. Eco-anxiety, a concept introduced by young activists, has entered a mainstream vocabulary. And professional organizations are hurrying to catch up, exploring approaches to treating anxiety that is both existential and, many would argue, rational.Though there is little empirical data on effective treatments, the field is expanding swiftly. The Climate Psychology Alliance provides an online directory of climate-aware therapists; the Good Grief Network, a peer support network modeled on 12-step addiction programs, has spawned more than 50 groups; professional certification programs in climate psychology have begun to appear.As for Dr. Doherty, so many people now come to him for this problem that he has built an entire practice around them: an 18-year-old student who sometimes experiences panic attacks so severe that she cant get out of bed; a 69-year-old glacial geologist who is sometimes overwhelmed with sadness when he looks at his grandchildren; a man in his 50s who erupts in frustration over his friends consumption choices, unable to tolerate their chatter about vacations in Tuscany.The fields emergence has met resistance, for various reasons. Therapists have long been trained to keep their own views out of their practices. And many leaders in mental health maintain that anxiety over climate change is no different, clinically, from anxiety caused by other societal threats, like terrorism or school shootings. Some climate activists, meanwhile, are leery of viewing anxiety over climate as dysfunctional thinking to be soothed or, worse, cured.But Ms. Black was not interested in theoretical arguments; she needed help right away.She was no Greta Thunberg type, but a busy, sleep-deprived working mom. Two years of wildfires and heat waves in Portland had stirred up something sleeping inside her, a compulsion to prepare for disaster. She found herself up at night, pricing out water purification systems. For her birthday, she asked for a generator.She understands how privileged she is; she describes her anxiety as a luxury problem. But still: The plastic toys in the bathtub made her anxious. The disposable diapers made her anxious. She began to ask herself, what is the relationship between the diapers and the wildfires?I feel like I have developed a phobia to my way of life, she said.An Idea on the Edge Spreads OutImageCredit...Mason Trinca for The New York TimesLast fall, Ms. Black logged on for her first meeting with Dr. Doherty, who sat, on video, in front of a large, glossy photograph of evergreens.At 56, he is one of the most visible authorities on climate in psychotherapy, and he hosts a podcast, Climate Change and Happiness. In his clinical practice, he reaches beyond standard treatments for anxiety, like cognitive behavioral therapy, to more obscure ones, like existential therapy, conceived to help people fight off despair, and ecotherapy, which explores the clients relationship to the natural world.He did not take the usual route to psychology; after graduating from Columbia University, he hitchhiked across the country to work on fishing boats in Alaska, then as a whitewater rafting guide the whole Jack London thing and as a Greenpeace fund-raiser. Entering graduate school in his 30s, he fell in naturally with the discipline of ecopsychology.At the time, ecopsychology was, as he put it, a woo-woo area, with colleagues delving into shamanic rituals and Jungian deep ecology. Dr. Doherty had a more conventional focus, on the physiological effects of anxiety. But he had picked up on an idea that was, at that time, novel: that people could be affected by environmental decay even if they were not physically caught in a disaster.Recent research has left little doubt that this is happening. A 10-country survey of 10,000 people aged 16 to 25 published last month in The Lancet found startling rates of pessimism. Forty-five percent of respondents said worry about climate negatively affected their daily life. Three-quarters said they believed the future is frightening, and 56 percent said humanity is doomed.The blow to young peoples confidence appears to be more profound than with previous threats, such as nuclear war, Dr. Clayton said. Weve definitely faced big problems before, but climate change is described as an existential threat, she said. It undermines peoples sense of security in a basic way.Caitlin Ecklund, 37, a Portland therapist who finished graduate school in 2016, said that nothing in her training in subjects like buried trauma, family systems, cultural competence and attachment theory had prepared her to help the young women who began coming to her describing hopelessness and grief over climate. She looks back on those first interactions as misses.Climate stuff is really scary, so I went more toward soothing or normalizing, said Ms. Ecklund, who is part of a group of therapists convened by Dr. Doherty to discuss approaches to climate. It has meant, she said, deconstructing some of that formal old-school counseling that has implicitly made things peoples individual problems.Obviously, it would be nice to be happyImageCredit...Calla Kessler for The New York TimesMany of Dr. Dohertys clients sought him out after finding it difficult to discuss climate with a previous therapist.Caroline Wiese, 18, described her previous therapist as a typical New Yorker who likes to follow politics and would read The New York Times, but also really didnt know what a Keeling Curve was, referring to the daily record of carbon dioxide concentration.Ms. Wiese had little interest in Freudian B.S. She sought out Dr. Doherty for help with a concrete problem: The data she was reading was sending her into multiday panic episodes that interfered with her schoolwork.In their sessions, she has worked to carefully manage what she reads, something she says she needs to sustain herself for a lifetime of work on climate. Obviously, it would be nice to be happy, she said, but my goal is more to just be able to function.Frank Granshaw, 69, a retired professor of geology, wanted help hanging on to what he calls realistic hope.He recalls a morning, years ago, when his granddaughter crawled into his lap and fell asleep, and he found himself overwhelmed with emotion, considering the changes that would occur in her lifetime. These feelings, he said, are simply easier to unpack with a psychologist who is well versed on climate. I appreciate the fact that he is dealing with emotions that are tied into physical events, he said.As for Ms. Black, she had never quite accepted her previous therapists vague reassurances. Once she made an appointment with Dr. Doherty, she counted the days. She had a wild hope that he would say something that would simply cause the weight to lift.That didnt happen. Much of their first session was devoted to her doomscrolling, especially during the nighttime hours. It felt like a baby step.Do I need to read this 10th article about the climate summit? she practiced asking herself. Probably not.ImageCredit...Mason Trinca for The New York TimesA Knot Loosens: There Will Be Good DaysSeveral sessions came and went before something really happened.Ms. Black remembers going into an appointment feeling distraught. She had been listening to radio coverage of the international climate summit in Glasgow last fall and heard a scientist interviewed. What she perceived in his voice was flat resignation.That summer, Portland had been trapped under a high-pressure system known as a heat dome, sending temperatures to 116 degrees. Looking at her own children, terrible images flashed through her head, like a field of fire. She wondered aloud: Were they doomed?Dr. Doherty listened quietly. Then he told her, choosing his words carefully, that the rate of climate change suggested by the data was not as swift as what she was envisioning.In the future, even with worst-case scenarios, there will be good days, he told her, according to his notes. Disasters will happen in certain places. But, around the world, there will be good days. Your children will also have good days.At this, Ms. Black began to cry.She is a contained person she tends to deflect frightening thoughts with dark humor so this was unusual. She recalled the exchange later as a threshold moment, the point when the knot in her chest began to loosen.I really trust that when I hear information from him, its coming from a deep well of knowledge, she said. And that gives me a lot of peace.Dr. Doherty recalled the conversation as cathartic in a basic way. It was not unusual, in his practice; many clients harbor dark fears about the future and have no way to express them. It is a terrible place to be, he said.A big part of his practice is helping people manage guilt over consumption: He takes a critical view of the notion of a climate footprint, a construct he says was created by corporations in order to shift the burden to individuals.ImageCredit...Mason Trinca for The New York TimesHe uses elements of cognitive behavioral therapy, like training clients to manage their news intake and look critically at their assumptions.He also draws on logotherapy, or existential therapy, a field founded by Viktor E. Frankl, who survived German concentration camps and then wrote Mans Search for Meaning, which described how prisoners in Auschwitz were able to live fulfilling lives.I joke, you know its bad when youve got to bring out the Viktor Frankl, he said. But its true. It is exactly right. It is of that scale. It is that consolation: that ultimately I make meaning, even in a meaningless world.At times, over the last few months, Ms. Black could feel some of the stress easing.On weekends, she practices walking in the woods with her family without allowing her mind to flicker to the future. Her conversations with Dr. Doherty, she said, had opened up my aperture to the idea that its not really on us as individuals to solve.Sometimes, though, shes not sure that relief is what she wants. Following the news about the climate feels like an obligation, a burden she is meant to carry, at least until she is confident that elected officials are taking action.Her goal is not to be released from her fears about the warming planet, or paralyzed by them, but something in between: She compares it to someone with a fear of flying, who learns to manage their fear well enough to fly.On a very personal level, she said, the small victory is not thinking about this all the time.Audio produced by Jack DIsidoro.",2
"The conflict among chiropractors has become more consequential as the Delta variant of the coronavirus spreads and the rate of new vaccinations slows.Credit...Bryan Anselm for The New York TimesJuly 14, 2021Anyone who listened to the Idaho chiropractor Steven Bakers podcast in May would have heard a cornucopia of misinformation about the coronavirus and the vaccines protecting hundreds of millions of people against it.In an episode titled Are the Vaccinated People Dangerous? (they arent), he claimed that scientists had never identified the whole virus (they have), that the vaccines turned people into modern-day zombies who spewed spike proteins in every breath and body fluid (they dont), and that vaccinated people could disrupt the menstrual cycles of women around them (they cant).So, Dr. Baker said, he had a new policy: If any patients made what I would consider a horribly poor decision to go get this shot, he would not allow them inside his office for 30 days.Dr. Baker, who didnt respond to a request for comment, doesnt represent all chiropractors, many of whom support vaccinations. But he is among a vocal cadre who have promoted doubts about the coronavirus vaccines online and in their clinics and, in the process, exposed a longstanding split within the profession.On one side are people like him, who dismiss the overwhelming medical consensus that the vaccines are effective and safe. These chiropractors closely follow the ideas espoused more than a century ago by the professions founder, Daniel David Palmer, who rejected germ theory and believed that diseases were caused by spinal misalignments called subluxations that disrupted an innate life force.The chiropractic profession, which involves adjustment of the spine through manual manipulation and is sometimes just called chiropractic, emerged from this vitalistic, almost supernatural idea of healing, said Timothy Caulfield, the Canada research chair in health law and policy at the University of Alberta. Its difficult for them to escape their roots, and I think thats one of the reasons that so many people continue to be attracted to chiropractic who are more likely to be vaccination hesitant, and why so many chiropractic practitioners are in fact vaccination hesitant.ImageCredit...Kim Kyung-Hoon/ReutersOn the other side are chiropractors who have called on their peers to encourage vaccination as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other medical authorities. In a 2013 paper in the Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association, for example, four chiropractors wrote that by recommending vaccines as clinically indicated, the chiropractic profession would promote the public good and, by doing so, would be in a better position to be embraced by the broader health care community.That paper, said one of its authors, Brian Gleberzon, a professor at Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, is still relevant.As the Delta variant of the coronavirus spreads and the rate of new vaccinations slows, the conflict within the profession has become more consequential. The United States is administering about 530,000 doses per day on average compared with a peak of more than three million in April and while case numbers are low nationally, they are spiking in states like Missouri and Arkansas, where vaccination rates are lagging.Many fields of alternative medicine are home to anti-vaccination sentiment, but chiropractic is one of the most popular of those fields, and its tensions are more in the open. More than 35 million Americans visit a chiropractor each year, according to the American Chiropractic Association. And even though chiropractors arent required to receive specialized training in infectious diseases they must attend chiropractic school, not medical school many patients look to them for medical advice.Professor Caulfields research has found that people who are attracted to alternative therapies like chiropractic are also the people who are likely to be susceptible to misinformation, he said. If youre open to alternative medicine, youre also more likely to be attracted to anti-vaccination rhetoric, so the ideas cluster.Annette Bernat, a spokeswoman for the American Chiropractic Association, said the group encouraged members to follow C.D.C. guidance on Covid-19 prevention and supported evidence-informed care and generally accepted best practices based on current, high-quality research, but had no stance on vaccines.But several state organizations said it could be appropriate for chiropractors to weigh in on vaccinations or other medical issues outside their scope of practice.The Arizona Association of Chiropractic one of 11 reached for this article said individual chiropractors were free to make their own decision with regard to the efficacy of vaccinations.Speaking for himself and not on behalf of the organization, James Bogash, a board member, argued that vaccination should be an individual choice based on risk tolerance and said scientists could not yet know the vaccines long-term effects.Mr. Bogash also expressed frustration that prior Covid infection is completely not part of the discussion, despite every evidence to support the fact that natural immunity is stronger and longer lasting than acquired immunity. (Research indicates that the vaccines are likely to create stronger and more reliable immunity, particularly against variants.)Without mentioning vaccines, Dawn Benton, executive vice president of the California Chiropractic Association, said chiropractors were well trained in the recognition of conditions that are outside of our scope so that we can determine when a patient is best treated in our office or by another health care professional.Given our training, she said, there are times when a doctor of chiropractic can appropriately comment on many medical topics, and we leave the decision on that up to each individual doctor of chiropractic and the regulations they practice under.Only two of the 11 organizations reached the Delaware Chiropractic Society and the Washington State Chiropractic Association said directly that chiropractors should refer patients to medical doctors for questions on medical subjects.Providing clinical advice on out-of-scope topics would violate numerous statutes and regulations governing health care licensees, said Jeff Curwen, the executive director of the Washington association. Chiropractors can and should discuss with their patients how nonchiropractic treatments may affect their chiropractic care, but they should always refer those patients to the appropriate provider type for specific answers to out-of-scope questions.Some practitioners, though, have shared inaccurate or unsourced information without prompting.On his website, Greg Werner, a chiropractor in New York City and Westchester County, N.Y., claims that there is no proof vaccines work and that germ theory doesnt exist because if it did EVERYONE would be sick ALL the time. (He declined an interview request.)A New Jersey chiropractor, J. Zimmerman, has routinely cited figures on his blog from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System a federal database to which anyone can report health problems after vaccination and suggested that vaccines caused the problems reported. He did not mention the C.D.C.s disclaimer A report to VAERS does not mean that the vaccine caused the adverse event, only that the adverse event occurred some time after vaccination in his posts until after The New York Times emailed him questions about his use of VAERS.Dr. Zimmerman did not answer those questions.Sean B. Carroll, vice president for science education at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a professor of biology at the University of Maryland, wrote in Scientific American in November that the chiropractic arguments against vaccines reminded him of arguments against evolution.He identified six tactics, the first five being doubt the science, question scientists motives and integrity, magnify disagreements among scientists and cite gadflies as authorities, exaggerate potential harm and appeal to personal freedom.People challenged on one front, he said, typically shift to another. And if all else fails, he said, they turn to the sixth: Reject whatever would repudiate a key philosophy. It is because of this pattern that pro-vaccine chiropractors voices are essential, Dr. Carroll said: Just as he cannot persuade creationists to accept evolution but clergy members sometimes can, chiropractors may be able to persuade their colleagues to accept vaccines where scientists cant.Outsiders are suspect, and theyre pretty much disregarded on the face of things, he said. Always the best way is that somebody from the in-group, or some group from the in-group, says, We think differently.",2
"Europe|Deadly Storms in Italy Devastate 2 Families as Floods Hit Sicilyhttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/04/world/europe/italy-storms-sicily.htmlCredit...Alessandro Fucarini/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 4, 2018MILAN Nine members of two families were killed in the same house in Sicily when the torrential rains and high winds that have been lashing Italy caused a river to burst its banks Saturday night.In just moments, rushing water filled the villa where the families were staying, drowning those inside.A father and his daughter escaped harm because they had left the house to do some shopping. A third person climbed a tree to survive.The deaths at the villa, in Casteldaccia in Palermo Province, brought the number of people killed in Sicily this weekend to 12. Three other people died in their cars hit by torrents of water.Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy spoke of an immense tragedy during a visit on Sunday to affected areas in Sicily. He said a cabinet meeting would be convened this week to declare a state of emergency and to come up with the first package of aid for areas affected.Heavy rains and gale-force winds have battered Italy for several days, uprooting millions of trees and cutting off villages and roads. Italys Civil Protection Agency said deaths caused by the wave of bad weather stood at 17, excluding the fatalities in Sicily.Some of the worst damage has been recorded in the northern regions of Trentino and Veneto. On Saturday the governor of Veneto, Luca Zaia, said the cost of the damage in the region amounted to at least one billion euros, or $1.14 billion.During a visit on Sunday to badly hit areas in the north, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said $285 million had been earmarked for relief. Mr. Salvini, who is also deputy prime minister, said it would cost about 40 billion, or about $45.5 billion, to safeguard Italy against such events in the future.",6
"By studying the relationship among ethnicity, migration history and the digestive systems microbiome, researchers hope to gain insights on health disparities in diverse communities.Credit...Erik Daily/La Crosse Tribune, via Associated PressNov. 8, 2018Bodies that migrate across borders undergo tremendous change. Immediately, feet alight on alien terrain, ears channel novel sounds and noses breathe in unfamiliar scents. More gradually, daily routines fall into new rhythms, cultural norms hybridize and dreams evolve. Another transformation occurs deep within the body, two recent studies from the Netherlands and United States find, as the trillions of microbes that live in the human digestive system shift in composition.While many factors may influence how this change occurs, the studies suggest that scientists should consider individuals migration status and ethnic origin as they aim for clinical interventions based on the gut microbiome. Researchers are trying to understand what governs gut microbial composition, in part because of increasing evidence that the trillions of microorganisms teeming in our guts influence health in myriad ways. Most chronic diseases have been tied to deviations in gut microbiome, though the specifics of cause and effect still need to be parsed out. [Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]The first study, published in Nature Medicine in August, compared the gut microbiomes of adults from Amsterdams six largest ethnic groups. A team led by Mlanie Deschasaux, an epidemiologist at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, assessed stool samples from 2,084 individuals who were ethnically Dutch, Ghanaian, Moroccan, Turkish, African Surinamese or South Asian Surinamese. Most of the non-Dutch participants had immigrated to the Netherlands as adults. Between ethnic groups, the researchers discovered significant differences in overall gut microbe composition. Of the various factors studied, ethnicity was the strongest determinant of gut microbial makeup.Across the Atlantic, Pajau Vangay and Dan Knights, of the University of Minnesota, worked with two local communities to study how migration alters the human gut microbiome. They published their results in Cell last week. One community, the Hmong, began arriving in Minnesota in the 1970s as refugees from the CIA-backed Secret War and Vietnam War, which ravaged their communities in Laos. The second group, the Karen, arrived in Minnesota in larger numbers in the past decade, fleeing human rights abuses in Myanmar.Stool samples and other data from more than 500 women revealed that immigrants from these groups began losing their native microbes almost immediately after resettling. They picked up American microbes, but not enough to compensate for the loss of native strains, so they end up losing a substantial amount of diversity overall, Dr. Knights said. Furthermore, losses were greater in obese individuals and children of immigrants.Dr. Vangay, a second-generation Hmong immigrant, partnered with Kathie Culhane-Pera, a family doctor, to involve Hmong and Karen community researchers. Together with the academics, the community researchers developed the studys design, recruitment methods and strategies for sharing results.ImageCredit...Pajau VangaySeparately, advisory boards of Hmong and Karen health professionals and community leaders gave input, resulting in a project conducted largely by and for the communities it studied, said Houa Vue-Her, a Hmong advisory board member.The study would not have worked otherwise, she added. Some Hmong with traditional spiritual beliefs might resist giving samples for laboratory testing, for instance, out of fear that it would interfere with reincarnation. Lingering trauma from the wars and the federal governments secrecy might prevent many others from trusting outsiders.The most obvious culprit behind the loss of native gut microbes is diet. Along with native gut flora, immigrants lost enzymes linked to digesting tamarind, palm, coconuts and other plants commonly eaten in Southeast Asia, the study found. The longer immigrants lived in Minnesota, the more their gut microbiomes shifted to one reflective of a typical American diet high in sugars, fats and protein.But diet alone could not explain all of the changes, Dr. Knights said. Other factors might include antibiotic medications, different birthing practices and other lifestyle changes.Dr. Deschasaux noted that her study and Dr. Vangays reach somewhat contrasting findings. While she found that immigrants maintained ethnic-specific microbiome profiles, even after decades in Amsterdam, Dr. Vangay found that the gut microbiomes of Hmong and Karen immigrants steadily assimilated to their new locale.The divergence might relate to differences in typical Dutch and American diets with perhaps less sugar, fat and meat and more raw vegetables in Dutch diets and possibly lower rates of acculturation by the Dutch immigrants compared with Hmong and Karen refugees, Dr. Deschasaux speculated.Yet both studies have implications for health disparities. Obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome all have been linked to the gut microbiome, and the ethnic groups Dr. Deschasaux studied in Amsterdam experience varying degrees of these conditions. Compared to the ethnic Dutch, for instance, Dutch Moroccans in her study had a higher prevalence of obesity, and South-Asian Surinamese had a higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.Similarly, research has shown that living in the United States increases the risk of obesity among immigrants, and Southeast Asian refugees are particularly vulnerable.It was actually a challenge finding participants who fell in the normal range of body mass index for the study, said Mary Xiong, a second-generation Hmong American and a community researcher in the Minnesota project. That opened my eyes about how much of a concern this is.That urgency in part motivated Dr. Vangay and her collaborators to relay their results back to community members.Many of these communities are not even aware that the gut microbiome exists, Dr. Vangay said.In many ways, she added, our best recommendation to community members was to hold onto their roots. For instance, the researchers partnered with Yia Vang, co-founder of Union Kitchen, a Minnesota-based Hmong pop-up restaurant, to hold cooking workshops for the Hmong community. One of the dishes that participants made was zaub qaub, or fermented mustard greens.In addition to being packed with probiotics, zaub qaub is one of the most iconic Hmong dishes, as kimchi is to Koreans, Mr. Vang said. When I eat it, Im partaking in the history of our people. The flavor Im eating is the same flavor my great-great-grandmother ate on the hills of Laos.",2
"The Supreme Court will hear from two convicted pill mill doctors in cases that could have significant implications for physicians latitude to prescribe addictive painkillers.Credit...Stuart Isett for The New York TimesFeb. 28, 2022For years, Dr. Xiulu Ruan was one of the nations top prescribers of quick-release fentanyl drugs. The medicines were approved only for severe breakthrough pain in cancer patients, but Dr. Ruan dispensed them almost exclusively for more common ailments: neck aches, back and joint pain. According to the Department of Justice, he and his partner wrote almost 300,000 prescriptions for controlled substances from 2011 to 2015, filled through the doctors own pharmacy in Mobile, Ala. Dr. Ruan often signed prescriptions without seeing patients, prosecutors said.Dr. Ruan has been serving a 21-year sentence in federal prison, convicted in 2017 for illegally prescribing opioids and related financial crimes. To collect millions of dollars in fines, the government seized houses, beach condos and bank accounts belonging to him and his business partner, as well as 23 luxury cars, such as Bentleys, Lamborghinis and Ferraris.On Tuesday, lawyers both for Dr. Ruan and for Dr. Shakeel Kahn, who is serving 25 years on charges related to pill mill clinics in Arizona and Wyoming will argue before the Supreme Court of the United States that the criminal standard the physicians faced is applied inconsistently among the federal circuits. In asking that the doctors convictions be overturned, they want the court to establish a uniform standard that permits doctors to raise a good faith defense. Juries could then consider whether doctors subjectively believed they were using their best medical judgment.The likelihood of these two doctors being set free is small, legal experts believe, but the courts decision on the broader legal questions could have significant implications for the latitude doctors can take in prescribing potentially addictive painkillers and other restricted medications.The cases confront an uneasy relationship between law and medicine. In an era when overdose deaths are soaring, how should the law balance letting physicians exercise their best judgment with stopping egregious outliers?At issue is the reading of the language of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. The act permits doctors and pharmacists to dispense certain drugs such as opioids and amphetamines, categorized by their potential for abuse and medical value, even as it prohibits everyone else from doing so. It says that a prescription for one of these medications must be issued for a legitimate medical purpose by an individual practitioner acting in the usual course of his professional practice.Prosecutors, through the office of the U.S. Solicitor General, argue that the criminal standard in the act is straightforward and well-established, with a baked-in good-faith defense that affords doctors ample leeway. Even if the Supreme Court were to adopt a new framework and order that the doctors be retried, they argue, a jury could not conclude that the doctors were relying on their good-faith medical judgment.The evidence, they wrote, overwhelmingly demonstrated that petitioners acted as drug dealers disguised as medical professionals, dispensing addictive drugs that endangered their patients simply to line their own pockets.Lawyers for the government and the doctors declined to comment or did not respond to requests to do so.For many in medicine, the case is not about whether Drs. Ruan and Kahn were bad doctors.Its about all the other doctors in the country who intend to do the right thing, but are dealing with difficult cases, said Dr. Stefan Kertesz, a professor of medicine at the Heersink School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and an addiction researcher. Are we all at risk of criminal investigation based on making decisions that involve difficult medical trade-offs?Some legal experts say they presume that the court picked two cases from different circuits in order to examine legal distinctions and disjunctions, and that it may well emerge with a clarifying rule. But it is difficult to predict how the justices will rule, they say, because the issues do not fit tidily into liberal and conservative boxes.The cases are being argued during a period when investigations of prescribing habits have increased, in an effort to curb the rise in overdose deaths that began more than 20 years ago, as prescription painkillers became readily available. Authorities saw doctors as a significant source of the problem.State regulators imposed an array of punishments for excessive prescribing, such as fines, license revocation and imprisonment. In recent years, the prescribing of opioids fell sharply. Even so, overdoses and deaths hit a record last year. A majority of those deaths were not from prescribed opioids but from illegal ones.ImageCredit...Tom Morton, K2radio.comImageCredit...Dr. Xiulu RuanSome studies see a connection between the drop in prescriptions and the rise in overdose deaths. An article published recently in The New England Journal of Medicine reported that high-dose chronic pain patients who were abruptly dismissed from doctors practices have experienced surges in emergency room visits, addiction to illegal drugs and even suicide.To what extent has the increased surveillance of doctors led to an overcorrection in prescribing? A 2019 survey in the journal Pain of 452 primary care clinics in nine states found that nearly half would not prescribe opioids to new primary care patients who said they were already being prescribed the painkillers.Dr. Samer Narouze, president of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, said that he knew of doctors who had lost licenses or were jailed, and that it could be hard to understand the basis on which different sanctions were meted out. In the current risk-averse, litigious climate, his hospitals opioid oversight committee has, on occasion, sought legal counsel before making decisions in difficult cases involving the drugs, said Dr. Narouze, chairman of the Center for Pain Medicine at Western Reserve Hospital in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.The outcome of the Supreme Court cases is also being closely monitored by representatives of chronic pain patients.We definitely want to catch doctors who are behaving like large-scale drug pushers, said Kate Nicholson, executive director of the National Pain Advocacy Center, which filed a brief arguing that fear of criminal prosecution deterred doctors from using good medical judgment to treat pain.Our issue is the chilling effect the current standards have on good doctors, who fear that even when they are exercising their best medical judgment, they will be subjected to oversight and enforcement, said Ms. Nicholson, a former government disability rights lawyer who was bedridden for 18 years and relied on high-dose opioids.Some years ago, she moved to Colorado to start post-surgical rehabilitation and needed to find a doctor to help her safely wean off opioids. But her new doctor, she said, told her that he had stopped prescribing opioids and that you wont find anyone else in this area willing to, either.Yet other patients, whose opioid addictions were initiated by doctors prescriptions, still want to see prescribers more tightly reined in and punished. Dr. Kahn based his rates on the number of pills prescribed; his brother, the office manager, would meet patients in parking lots to exchange the doctors signed prescriptions for cash, prosecutors said. Two days after a young patient paid him $1250, she died of an overdose of oxycodone.The Supreme Courts analysis of the Ruan and Kahn cases will likely involve a close reading of Congresss text and a discussion about canons of criminal law.In the last 15 years, as federal agents raided pill mills and prosecutions increased, the language around legitimate medical purpose and professional practice has been interpreted differently by different federal appellate courts. Those readings direct how a judge instructs a jury on what it must find to convict or acquit the prescriber.In a brief asking for a clear legal standard, health-law and policy professors argue that several appeals courts including the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, which upheld Dr. Ruans conviction, and the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, which upheld Dr. Kahns permit doctors to be convicted if they deviate from accepted medical practice, without a jury also having to find that the doctor did so without a legitimate medical purpose. That standard, they say, lacks a critical component of criminal law: intent.That element, the professors wrote, distinguishes well-meaning, possibly negligent doctors from criminal ones. Without the requirement of intent, the Controlled Substances Act has been weaponized against practitioners in reaction to the overdose crisis, they said. Prosecutions have increased, they said, while the standards for conviction have steadily eroded.The professors argue that this broad standard can ensnare doctors who determine that an individual patient requires a prescription of opioids that exceeds conventional limits. Doctors who prescribe medications off-label, a common practice, could also fall under that standard.Conversely, other circuits require that prosecutors prove beyond a reasonable doubt that doctors knew not only that they were deviating from accepted medical practice but also, and crucially, that they were prescribing without a legitimate purpose.But how far can a good-faith defense be stretched? Does it suffice for doctors to simply argue that they believed the prescriptions served a legitimate medical purpose?Good faith, then, would seem to be a subjective standard; legitimate medical purpose, an objective one. If so, the two would inherently be in conflict.Prosecutors argue that at the very least, doctors must show they made reasonable efforts to learn the medical norms upon which they based their good-faith judgment. A mistake in understanding those norms, they say, would not rise to the level of criminal conduct.Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took steps to give physicians more leeway in prescribing opioids. In a draft of the new recommendations, the agency bluntly states that prescribers should almost always seek alternative pain therapies rather than opioids. But it also says that doctors can rely on their best medical judgment, especially when treating legacy patients typically, chronic pain patients who are already on high opioid doses.The good-faith argument shouldnt be read as a get out of jail free card, said Kelly Dineen, who teaches health law at Creighton University School of Law in Nebraska and who is a co-author of the health-law professors brief. The jury still has to assess their credibility, she said. But doctors should be allowed to bring that defense.Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.",2
"MatterCredit...Juli Leonard/Raleigh News & Observer, via GettyMarch 9, 2016Scientists recently turned Harvards Skeletal Biology Laboratory into a pop-up restaurant. It would have fared very badly on Yelp.Katherine D. Zink, then a graduate student, acted as chef and waitress. First, she attached electrodes to the jaws of diners to record the activity in the muscles they use to chew food. Then she brought out the victuals.Some volunteers received a three-course vegetarian meal of carrots, yams or beets. In one course, the vegetables were cooked; in the second, they were raw and sliced; in the last course, Dr. Zink simply served raw chunks of plant matter.Other patrons got three courses of meat (goat, in this case). Dr. Zink grilled the meat in the first course, but offered it raw and sliced in the second. In the third course, her volunteers received an uncooked lump of goat flesh.In some of the trials, the volunteers chewed the food until it was ready to swallow and then spat it out. Dr. Zink painstakingly picked apart those food bits and measured their size.If that was all my dissertation was, I would have quit graduate school, Dr. Zink said. It was as lovely as it sounds.Dr. Zink persevered, however, because she was exploring a profound question about our origins: How did our ancestors evolve from small-brained, big-jawed apes into large-brained, small-jawed humans?Scientists studying the fossil record have long puzzled over this transition, which happened around two million years ago. Before then, early human relatives known as hominins were typically about the size of chimpanzees, with massive teeth and a brain only a third the size of humans current brains.But with the emergence of species like Homo erectus, hominins grew to about our current height, with brains twice as large as those of their forebears.In the late 1990s, Richard W. Wrangham, an anthropologist at Harvard, proposed that cooking was the key. Once hominins learned to use fire, he suggested, they roasted meat and starchy tubers they dug out of the ground.Cooked food was easier to chew and digest, and hominins no longer needed big teeth to grind tough plants. Better yet, the extra calories they received helped fuel hungry neurons and, eventually, bigger brains.While the oldest known hearths date to only 400,000 years ago, Dr. Wrangham argued that hominins cooked long before then. At first, they might simply have used natural fires to cook food before mastering the art of making one themselves.Yet cooking was not the only way hominins prepared food. As long as 3.5 million years ago, scientists have found, hominins were making stone tools. Cut marks on mammal bones suggest that the tools were used to carve meat from carcasses.Early hominins also made so-called hammerstones, which some researchers have speculated were used to smash nuts and other food.Dr. Zink and her adviser at Harvard, Daniel E. Lieberman, wondered if stone tools helped hominins digest meat and starchy tubers long before cooking was invented. To explore that possibility, they opened their unappetizing cafe.The findings? First, raw meat was impossible for the subjects to chew into smaller pieces. Its like chewing gum, Dr. Zink said.But slicing raw meat into smaller pieces allowed the volunteers to grind it further into bits small enough to swallow. (The test subjects spat out the raw meat to avoid food poisoning.)Cooked meat actually demanded more chewing, but it could be ground into even smaller particles that were digested with less effort.Slicing raw vegetables did not make it easier for the volunteers to eat them, the scientists found but pounding on the vegetables did. Cooking made the vegetables even easier to consume.Based on their experiments, Dr. Zink and Dr. Lieberman concluded that, long before the invention of cooking, stone tools could have made it easier for hominins to eat raw meat and tubers, conserving precious energy.It was surprising to us how effective it was, Dr. Lieberman said. He and Dr. Zink reported the results of their experiment Wednesday in the journal Nature.Stone tools used to process meat and vegetables could have influenced the evolution of hominins.Big, strong teeth, for instance, may have become less important to their survival. That can help explain the reduction of the face long before the evidence of cooking, Dr. Lieberman said. The extra energy could have helped to drive the evolution of larger hominin brains.Dr. Lieberman and Dr. Zink do not dismiss the importance of cooking. It killed food pathogens, made it possible to store food longer and destroyed toxins. But they argue that the advantages of the cooking fire were preceded by those of stone tools.It is a very clever piece of research, said William R. Leonard, an anthropologist at Northwestern University. I think they make a strong case that cooking was not critical to the transformation of early hominins, he added.Dr. Wrangham disagrees. There is no evidence, he said, that hominins actually smashed tubers to eat them, nor do any living hunter-gatherers engage in the practice.And even if early hominins did smash uncooked tubers, Dr. Wrangham said, he doubts that they got enough nutrition from them to keep a modern human healthy. He points to studies of people who eat only raw foods that link the diet to difficulty with pregnancy.The average woman on a diet like that with incredibly high-class agricultural foods cannot have a baby, Dr. Wrangham said.Kenneth Sayers, an anthropologist at the Language Research Center at Georgia State University, agreed that stone kitchen tools may have played a part in human evolution.But he cautioned that the energy hominins put into eating went well beyond chewing. Food was not presented on a plate, he said. Hominins went to great trouble just to acquire something to eat.Dr. Zink did not disagree. This is just one little step in what hopefully be some broader body of knowledge, she said.",7
"Sen. Booker, Rep. McGovern Trump's Speech Unified Us In Wanting to Leave the Room!!! 1/31/2018 TMZ.com President Trump was totally successful in bringing both sides of the table together in a burning desire ... to get the hell out of the room Tuesday night ... at least according to 2 members of Congress. We got Sen. Cory Booker and Rep. Jim McGovern on Capitol Hill -- shortly after the State of the Union -- and they addressed Trump's plan to deliver a non-divisive speech. Of course, they're both Democrats, so we weren't expecting glowing reviews, but they both found silver linings. Booker's involved NJ state pride, and McGovern actually LOVED one part of Trump's speech -- the end.",1
"More than 1 in 5 adult Covid survivors in the U.S. may develop long Covid, a C.D.C. study suggests.Researchers identified lasting health problems in many different organ systems, including the heart, lungs and kidneys.Credit...Joshua Bright for The New York TimesPublished May 24, 2022Updated May 26, 2022One in five adult Covid survivors under the age of 65 in the United States has experienced at least one health condition that could be considered long Covid, according to a large new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among patients 65 and older, the number is even higher: one in four.In an indication of how seriously the federal health agency views the problem of long Covid, the authors of the study members of the C.D.C.s Covid-19 Emergency Response Team recommended routine assessment for post-Covid conditions among persons who survive Covid-19.Long Covid is the term used to describe an array of symptoms that can last for months or longer after the initial coronavirus infection. The researchers identified post-Covid health problems in many different organ systems, including the heart, lungs and kidneys. Other issues involved blood circulation, the musculoskeletal system and the endocrine system; gastrointestinal conditions, neurological problems and psychiatric symptoms were also identified in the study.In both age groups, Covid patients had twice the risk of uninfected people of developing respiratory symptoms and lung problems, including pulmonary embolism, the study found. Post-Covid patients aged 65 and older were at greater risk than the younger group of developing kidney failure, neurological conditions and most mental health conditions.It is sobering to see the results of this study again confirming the breadth of organ dysfunction and the scale of the problem, said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at the V.A. St. Louis Health Care System and a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, who was not involved in the research.The study evaluated electronic medical records for nearly two million people comparing those who had been infected with the coronavirus with those who were not. The most common post-Covid conditions, regardless of age, were respiratory problems and musculoskeletal pain.The risk of post-Covid patients aged 65 and older developing the 26 health conditions the study evaluated was between 20 percent and 120 percent greater than people who didnt get Covid. Those aged 18 to 64 had a 10 percent to 110 percent greater risk than uninfected people of developing 22 of the health conditions. But in that age group, Covid survivors were no more likely than uninfected people to develop most mental health conditions, substance use disorders or strokes and similar cerebrovascular conditions.Dr. Al-Aly said the study results can potentially translate into millions of people with new diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, neurologic problems. These are lifelong conditions certainly manageable, but not curable conditions.The study analyzed records of 353,164 people who were diagnosed with Covid-19 in the first 18 months of the pandemic, beginning in March 2020. It compared them with the records of 1.64 million people who had a medical visit in the same month in which the Covid patients were diagnosed but did not become infected with the coronavirus during the study period, which ended on Oct. 31, 2021.People in both groups who had a history of one of the 26 health conditions in the previous year were excluded from the study an attempt by the researchers to consider medical issues that patients developed only after they had Covid.The study, which involved patients seen at health facilities that use a record system managed by Cerner Corp., a large medical data company, said the Covid patients included people admitted to hospitals, seen in emergency departments or diagnosed in an outpatient setting. The researchers did not indicate how many patients were in each group, one of several limitations of the studys findings.Between 30 days and 365 days after their coronavirus diagnosis, 38 percent of the patients experienced one or more new health problems, compared to 16 percent of the non-Covid patients, the study said. The younger age group, 18-to-64, was somewhat less likely to have those problems 35 percent developed long Covid issues, compared with 15 percent of uninfected people. In the 65-and-older group, 45 percent had new health conditions, compared with 19 percent of uninfected people.Based on those percentages, the study authors calculated that nearly 21 percent of the younger group and nearly 27 percent of the older group developed health problems that could be attributed to long Covid.The study did not look at the vaccination status of the patients and did not report characteristics like race, ethnicity, sex or geographic location. It also did not identify which coronavirus variants were linked to each case.The C.D.C. authors concluded that post-Covid conditions might affect a patients ability to contribute to the work force and might have economic consequences for survivors and their dependents. They added that care requirements might place a strain on health services in communities that experience heavy Covid-19 case surges.Dr. Al-Aly said he agreed that people who had Covid should be medically evaluated for potential new health problems.Now that we are in possession of knowledge that Covid-19 can lead to serious long-term consequences, he added, we need to develop additional tools to reduce the risk of long Covid.",2
"The European Commission plans to bring charges that Amazon abused its dominance in e-commerce.Credit...Thomas Samson/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesJune 11, 2020LONDON European Union officials are preparing to bring antitrust charges against Amazon for abusing its dominance in internet commerce to box out smaller rivals, according to people with knowledge of the case.Nearly two years in the making, the case is one of the most aggressive attempts by a government to crimp the power of the e-commerce giant, which has largely sidestepped regulation throughout its 26-year history.The European Union regulators, who already have a reputation as the worlds most aggressive watchdogs of the technology industry, have determined that Amazon is stifling competition by unfairly using data collected from third-party merchants to boost its own product offerings, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deliberations were private.The case against Amazon is part of a broader attempt in the United States and Europe to probe the business practices of the worlds largest technology companies, as authorities on both sides of the Atlantic see what they believe is a worrying concentration of power in the digital economy.Margarethe Vestager, the European Commissioner who leads antitrust enforcement and digital policy, is also examining practices by Apple and Facebook. In Washington, the Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission and Congress are targeting Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.William Kovacic, a law professor at George Washington University, said the tech industry was facing a striking critical mass of attention from governments around the world, including Australia, Brazil and India. He said that regulators in Brussels and Washington may deploy so-called interim measures against the companies, a rarely used tool that could force Amazon and other large tech platforms to halt certain practices while a case is litigated.This is a groundswell, Mr. Kovacic said.An announcement by European regulators about Amazon could come this summer, although the timing is still in flux, one of the people said. The Wall Street Journal first reported the expected charges.The European Commissions antitrust office, which started investigating Amazon in 2018, is planning to release what is known as a statement of objections against the company outlining its conclusions about how it has violated antitrust laws. It is just one step in what could be a yearslong process before final decisions are made about whether to impose a fine or other penalties on the company. A settlement could also be reached.Amazon declined to comment, as did the European Commission.The case stems from Amazons treatment of third-party merchants who rely on its website to reach customers. Investigators have focused on Amazons dual role as both the owner of its online store and a seller of goods that compete with other sellers, creating a conflict of interest.Authorities in Europe have concluded that Amazon abuses its position to give its own products preferential treatment. European officials have spent the past year interviewing merchants and others who depend on Amazon to better understand how it collects data to use to its advantage, including agreements that require them to share certain data with Amazon as a condition of selling goods on the platform.Many merchants have complained that if they have a product that is selling well on Amazon, the company will then introduce its own product at a lower price, or give it more prominent placement on the website.Bill Baer, the former head of antitrust enforcement in the U.S. Justice Department, said a challenge for regulators will be proving harm to consumers and rivals.It is not their success that justifies government intervention, said Mr. Baer, now a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution. It is when that success is used in a way that unfairly limits competition.This month, Ms. Vestager signaled more action against American tech giants, including giving her office added antitrust powers to address structural competition problems within an industry rather than just individual cases against a single company.The European Commission, the executive body for the European Union, is also debating a new digital services law that would include new regulations for large tech platforms like Amazon, Facebook and Apple that play a gatekeeper role. Other proposals under consideration include allowing regulators to step in even before a large tech platform has established dominance in a new market.It is not the first time the European Commission has targeted Amazon. In 2017, officials ordered Luxembourg to recover roughly 250 million euros from Amazon in unpaid taxes. That same year, the company settled an antitrust case concerning its contracts with book publishers for e-books.But otherwise, Amazon, whose chief executive, Jeff Bezos, is the worlds wealthiest person, has largely avoided tough regulation from authorities in the United States and elsewhere. This is despite criticism that it has crushed traditional industries like book selling and treated workers in its warehouses poorly.Yet as Amazons dominance has grown, and as it has become a gatekeeper for thousands of merchants selling goods online, critics have warned that it is abusing its power and that regulators must act before it is too late.In Washington, Amazon is being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission as part of broader inquiries by the agency and Justice Department into the tech sector. A case against Google could be brought as early as this summer, people familiar with the matter have said.Amazon and other tech companies are also the subject of a congressional inquiry into their market power. So far, Amazon has resisted lawmakers attempts to bring Mr. Bezos to Capitol Hill to testify publicly.While European authorities have acted the most aggressively against the tech giants, many have questioned whether their approach is working. In three separate cases in recent years, the European Commission fined Google a total of 8.24 billion euros, the equivalent of about $9.3 billion today. But critics argue that did little to dislodge the internet giants dominant market position.The challenge is: Are you going to do something that makes a difference and that genuinely alters behavior? said Mr. Kovacic of George Washington.David McCabe contributed reporting from Washington.",5
"Europe|Marine Le Pen Loses Parliamentary Immunity Over Twitter Casehttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/world/europe/france-marine-le-pen-national-front.htmlCredit...Jeff Pachoud/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMarch 2, 2017PARIS In a clear show of its disapproval, the European Parliament voted Thursday to lift the parliamentary immunity of Marine Le Pen, the leader of the French far-right National Front, in a criminal case involving graphic photographs she posted on Twitter of acts of violence by the Islamic State.In December 2015, Ms. Le Pen, a deputy in the European Parliament, posted three images, including one of the decapitated body of an American journalist, James Foley, who was killed by Islamic State militants in 2014.French prosecutors accused Ms. Le Pen, who is now a candidate in Frances presidential election, of the crime of dissemination of violent images, for which she could face up to three years in prison if tried and convicted.Ms. Le Pen said at the time that she had posted the photographs as a protest against a French television and radio journalist who had likened her far-right party to the Islamic State.French prosecutors had asked the European Parliament to lift her immunity. As a strident critic of the European Union and the Parliament, she is not regarded warmly by many of its members.Ms. Le Pen is facing a number of judicial entanglements as she pursues her presidential campaign. But none of them have dented her standing in polls or with her supporters, and she is widely expected to win a first round of voting on April 23.Of the three major candidates in Frances presidential race, two are now deeply embroiled in criminal investigations: Ms. Le Pen, and the center-right candidate, Franois Fillon, who on Wednesday angrily announced that he was certain to be formally charged by March 15 in an embezzlement investigation.Ms. Le Pen is also being investigated in connection with accusations that she paid National Front aides with money from funds provided by the European Union. According to the accusations, she was involved in a phony-jobs scheme in which aides working for her and other National Front deputies at the Parliament were actually carrying out party work.The lifting of her parliamentary immunity concerns only the case involving the Islamic State photographs and not the more serious accusations of misusing European Union funds.Her chief of staff was formally charged in the payroll case last week, and her bodyguard is also being investigated.After Ms. Le Pen posted the gruesome images on Twitter in 2015, the family of Mr. Foley demanded that she delete the one of his body, saying that she had used it for political purposes. Ms. Le Pen claimed that she had not known it was a photograph of Mr. Foley. Obviously, I withdrew it immediately, she said at the time.On Thursday morning, she told the French television network LCP: I am a deputy. Its my job to denounce Daesh, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State that some consider pejorative. She added that she was the victim of a politicized investigation.",6
"the new old ageThe pandemic pushed Medicare to make telemedicine more financially attractive. Now doctors, patients and regulators will see if they want to stick with it.Credit...Marianna GefenMay 8, 2020In late March, Mary Jane Sturgis got a call from her primary-care physicians office, saying that her doctor was working from home during the Covid-19 crisis and suggesting an alternative for her scheduled checkup. Would Ms. Sturgis agree to a video appointment on Zoom?I didnt know what Zoom was, Ms. Sturgis recalled. But I said if I could figure it out, sure.A retired college administrator, she contends with ailments that put her at high risk from the new coronavirus. Several autoimmune conditions. Damaged lungs, caused by radiation for breast cancer and requiring daily nebulizer and inhaler use. At 77, age itself.She already found it tiring to drive half an hour from her home in Media, Pa., to Dr. Lisa Sardanopolis office at Lankenau Medical Center; now, walking into a hospital also seemed dangerous.The transition to telemedicine initially proved a bit rocky. Ms. Sturgis could see her doctor on Zoom. But I couldnt hear her, Ms. Sturgis said. And she couldnt see or hear me.So at her doctors texted suggestion, they switched to FaceTime, familiar to Ms. Sturgis from video chats with her grandchildren. I was surprised at how well it worked, she said.Ms. Sturgis missed the way Dr. Sardanopoli sometimes placed a reassuring hand on hers when she worried. Otherwise, It felt like we were sitting and talking together as usual.At the end of their appointment, I said: Do I send you money? How do I pay for this? Ms. Sturgis recalled. She said, Its covered by Medicare.Just weeks earlier, that would not have been true. For years, advocates and researchers have urged greater use of telemedicine delivered by video or phone, through online patient portals or remote monitoring devices particularly for older adults.But Medicare adoption was slow. The Government Accountability Office reported in 2017 that just one percent of beneficiaries, most in rural areas, received care through telemedicine (a term used interchangeably with telehealth).Then came Covid-19 and its lockdowns, sending both small practices and major health systems scrambling to give patients access to health care without face-to-face contact. In response, federal agencies loosened restrictions and regulations, at least temporarily, that had stalled telemedicine for decades.This crisis has forced us to change how we deliver health care more in 20 days than we had in 20 years, said Dr. Robert McLean, a past president of the American College of Physicians, as well as an internist and rheumatologist with Northeast Medical Group in Connecticut.Though some practices and systems never acquired the necessary technology, Dr. McLean said, the major barrier to telehealth had been financial. It just wasnt getting paid for adequately, he said.In traditional Medicare, payment had been lower than for in-person visits, a sure way to discourage use. (Most Medicare Advantage plans already covered some telehealth services; each plan determines what it pays for them.)Health care systems and hospitals are businesses, said Dr. Sirina Keesara, who researches health system design at Stanford University and co-authored a recent editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine. If they dont have a financial incentive to change, theyll stick with what they know.Medicares restrictions hampered adoption in other ways, too. It limited services to rural patients and usually required them to travel to a clinic or office, rather than participate from home. It covered some services for established patients but not new ones, or insisted on office visits before it would reimburse for subsequent telehealth.But in March, citing the need for flexibility in face of the coronavirus pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services removed those barriers. It also added scores of new telehealth services it would cover, including emergency-room visits, initial and discharge visits at nursing homes and remote monitoring for chronic conditions. And it agreed to pay the same rates as for in-person care.It maintained a lower rate, at first, for audio-only phone visits. Professional associations objected, arguing that this policy reinforced the so-called digital divide, depriving older adults of remote care if they lacked computers, smartphones or broadband. People who rely on a landline cannot do video visits, Dr. McLean said.On April 30, that obstacle fell, too, as Medicare agreed to reimburse equally for visits in person, by video or by phone.And another major hurdle was removed by the Department of Health and Human Services, which, in March, temporarily relaxed enforcement of HIPAA, the federal patient privacy law. It will waive penalties when providers use everyday platforms like FaceTime or Skype, which arent HIPAA-compliant.Doctors and patients still need to be in the same room for some appointments, of course. Certain conditions mandate physical examination. Sometimes we need to have life-changing conversations, added Dr. Andrea Jonas, a pulmonologist and critical-care specialist at Stanford University and a co-author of The New England Journal editorial. Those are harder to do via telehealth.Still, by mid-April more than 20 percent of people over 70 had experienced a telehealth appointment since the start of the pandemic, a nationwide survey by NORC at the University of Chicago found. Almost half said they found the experience equivalent to an in-person visit; about 40 percent said it was worse.In interviews, patients told me of similarly mixed reactions.Last month, Debra Reed, a management consultant in Ojai, Calif., sat in on her husbands Zoom visit with his internist in Santa Barbara. Her husband, 86, has dementia and is recovering from a stroke. It was odd and unsatisfying, unsettling, Ms. Reed said of the encounter. It leaves one lacking.Diana Hamlet-Cox felt differently. Her 89-year-old father, who recently moved in with her and her husband in Goodyear, Ariz., has had half a dozen video or phone appointments with a urologist, a psychotherapist, a neurosurgeon.I was glad we didnt have to drive 25 miles to wait in a building with other people and all those surfaces to touch, Ms. Hamlet-Cox said. I thought, why didnt they do this sooner?Whether Medicare will stick with these changes temporary measures allowed during the public health emergency is uncertain. A press officer said the agency would assess its policies after the pandemic ebbs. It will need to address concerns about privacy and fraud.I think theres going to be huge pressure to abandon all this, said Dr. Kevin Schulman, a hospitalist and economist at Stanford University and a co-author of The New England Journal editorial. Providers will want to go back to the way we used to do it.The authors called for research to determine how well telehealth works during the pandemic.Previous studies have shown that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease dont fare better using telehealth, for instance. Perhaps patients were encouraged to stay home instead of going to emergency rooms with more severe symptoms, Dr. Jonas said.For now, though, expanded Medicare telehealth coverage is giving patients a glimpse of a different future, and some of them like it.Mary Jane Sturgis, for instance. Last month, she began to fear that if she contracted Covid-19, shed be hospitalized and placed on a ventilator without her consent; she asked Dr. Sardanopoli for an appointment to discuss her end-of-life wishes.They spent half an hour on FaceTime, talking through the options, untroubled by their physical distance.",2
"Super Bowl LII P!nk, J Lo, Cardi B's Venue Evacuated After Gas Leak 1/31/2018 One of Minneapolis' main Super Bowl LII party venues -- hosting P!nk, Jennifer Lopez, Imagine Dragons, Diddy, DJ Khaled and Cardi B -- was just evacuated for a gas leak. Law enforcement sources tell us they responded to The Armory around 1 PM. We're told crews discovered the gas was coming from an above ground pressure relief valve. A rep for the MFD says the valve was completely drained by crews. Good thing. The venue's gonna be busy this week. Thursday: Imagine Dragons, Machine Gun Kelly, Mura MasaFriday: P!nkSaturday: Jennifer LopezSunday: Diddy, DJ Khaled, French Montana, Cardi B, G-Eazy We're told the evacuation's been lifted and operations at The Armory have resumed.",1
"Disney Star Adam Hicks Brother Jailed for Deadly '14 Crash ... Hicks' Mom Died Year Later 1/31/2018 Disney star Adam Hicks' world was crumbling long before his arrest for armed robbery, due to his brother doing time, and his mother passing away ... TMZ has learned. Adam's little brother, Tristan, was the driver in a 2014 car crash in Vegas that killed a 17-year-old girl. Police say she died after she was ejected from the car. Tristan, who was 18 at the time, took off on foot. He was eventually arrested for fleeing the scene. Sources tell us Adam had recently gone to Vegas to testify at his brother's parole hearing. Adam paid for Tristan's bail and most of his legal fees during the case. Things went further south a year later when Adam's mother, Lucy, died unexpectedly from a heart attack. We're told Tristan's accident had weighed heavily on her. My biggest fear as a child became a reality. R.I.P mom. Everything I do now is for you. Love you always and forever. @adamhicks702",1
"On Pro BasketballCredit...Brendan Maloney/USA Today Sports, via ReutersFeb. 5, 2014We know what N.B.A. All-Star voting has typically been: a chance for fans to participate in the selection process for a showcase. No registration is required to prove that one knows Kobe Bryant from Krusty the Clown. Its a popularity contest that cannot be taken seriously.But thats only for the starters. It is the coaches who choose the reserves. It is the coaches who talk about respecting the game, playing it right and recognizing substance over style. They understand, or should understand, the immeasurable contributions that win the games that count the most.In the case of the Western Conference, what is the coaches excuse for discounting Tim Duncan?Something is wrong when Duncan a 14-time All-Star and 4-time champion, who missed a fifth ring by the thinnest of margins last spring is not shown the same respect as other N.B.A. greats. When Duncan at 37, still playing at a remarkably high level for a San Antonio team that remains stubbornly among the elite is not rewarded for all that he has been and still is.Many who know Duncan will shrug and cite his career-long reticence when it comes to promotional forums and platforms.Im sure Tim will be happy to have the time off to be with his kids, said R. C. Buford, the Spurs general manager, referring to All-Star weekend, Feb. 14-16, in New Orleans.After a pause, he added: Im also sure his feelings are hurt a bit. Hes just never been one to show them.On the subject of Duncans unexpressed feelings, last season ended with a most public display of suffering over a Game 7 loss in the league finals in Miami, to the point where it was painful to watch. We saw him slap the floor with both hands after missing a late-game jump hook and a tap-in, and sink to his knees in apparent surrender after LeBron Jamess title-clinching jumper.We saw him on the bench, close to tears, unable to manufacture his familiar mask of indifference.Doesnt caring so deeply also count as helping to sell the game? Doesnt playing and behaving selflessly and professionally for 17 years promote the league in a way that cannot be quantified in numbers like jersey sales?Doesnt seamlessly executing scores of high screen-and-rolls and setting the example in making the Spurs a basketball purists dream team speak to those who might otherwise be inclined to dismiss the N.B.A. as a rapacious dunk-and-pony show?In a telephone interview, Buford agreed that the Duncan snub reflected a general attitude about the Spurs organization, which has long recognized the league and shoe company agenda for selling Allen Iverson and hip-hop.He added: For years people have told us, You need to market yourselves more, open up your practices. But we always felt that if you handle yourself in a way thats professional, do the things that are important, have good people, why do you have to be something youre not?Buford offered the educated guess that Duncan, who received 492,657 fan votes, sixth among Western Conference frontcourt players, was more insulted by the coaches exclusion. He also acknowledged that the selection process was complicated in the talent-laden West, where Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and Kevin Love were chosen by the fans as starters, and Dwight Howard, Dirk Nowitzki and LaMarcus Aldridge were added by the coaches.In his first season with the rising Houston Rockets, Howard is averaging more points (18.3) and rebounds (12.3) than Duncan (15.1 points, 10 rebounds) but in five more minutes per game. Duncan averages more assists (2.9) and blocked shots (2.1) than Howard (1.7 assists, 1.8 blocks).But beyond the numbers, a strong case can be made that Howard does not come close to Duncan as a proponent of what matters most winning with team-first values.What nobody knows and nobody sees is the time he puts in, how he has always been the basis of what our program has become, Buford said. No matter how difficult it is for him to verbalize, we all see it, the angst of him missing the shot, how he beats himself up more than any great player Ive ever seen.Even now, months later, the subject of not winning Game 6 in Miami after it seemed to be in hand casts an instantaneous pall over a conversation with a member of the Spurs. Buford did not deny the toll it took on Duncan. Just the same, he said, softy, Tim was the first guy back in the gym, within days.In recent N.B.A. telecasts, Jeff Van Gundy has had fun contending that no player from a losing team should be an All-Star. That is extreme, and the fans, as long as they are voting, wouldnt have it.That said, the Spurs will step onto the Barclays Center floor in Brooklyn on Thursday night to play the Nets with roughly the same record as Miami, which landed three players on the albeit less-formidable Eastern Conference team.But by choosing only Tony Parker from the Spurs, havent the coaches mimicked the marketers and shortchanged a team that for a generation has raised the maturity bar and brought adult appeal to a sport overrun with branding hype targeted to youth?The coaches should have known better, but theres a chance for Duncan to be added to the All-Star team by Commissioner Adam Silver as an injury replacement for Bryant or possibly Chris Paul.Buford sighed at the mention of that.Thatll really tick him off, he said.",4
"Asia Pacific|Suicides Among Japanese Children Reach Highest Level in 3 Decadeshttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/06/world/asia/japan-suicide-children.htmlCredit...Martin Bureau/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 6, 2018TOKYO Suicides by young people in Japan rose to their highest level in three decades in 2017, according to new figures released by the government.Japan has a persistent problem with suicides, although the number has been declining over all. But child suicides have risen recently, with experts pointing to school pressures and bullying as likely triggers.Last year 250 children in elementary, middle and high schools committed suicide, the highest number since 1986, according to data released last month by the Education Ministry.According to the Education Ministry survey of schools, most of the students did not leave any explanation for why they decided to take their own lives. Of those who did, the most frequently cited reason was worries over what path to take after graduation. Other reasons included family problems and bullying.A separate survey by Japans Cabinet Office in 2015 found that suicides among children tended to spike on Sept. 1, speculating that students felt school pressures more intensely after the summer break. According to the Welfare Ministry, suicide was the leading cause of death last year among 15- to 19-year-olds.Although child suicide is not a problem unique to Japan, mental illness is still not an open topic of discussion, and it is difficult for children and teenagers who are depressed or anxious to seek help.In Japan, your biggest problem is that there is a greater stigma about mental health problems than in other countries, said Vickie Skorji, director of the crisis hotline at TELL, a counseling and crisis intervention service in Tokyo. Youre most likely to get bullied, and less likely to get support services and understanding from your parents.Some experts say that children do not receive as much support from family as they might have in the past. While several generations of a family used to live together, such arrangements are less common now.I think support networks for children have been weakening, said Yoshitomo Takahashi, a professor and psychiatrist at Tsukuba University. Now, we cannot expect the same thing from families that we used to expect. We cant expect parents or grandparents to provide the support they used to. And in this situation, children remain alone.Experts say that schools are generally not well equipped to cope with mental illness among students and, in general, education about mental illness is lacking. Teachers are busy, and they cannot respond to each individual student in many cases, said Yuki Kubota, professor of clinical psychology at Kyushu Sangyo University.Over the summer, a junior high school in Aomori, in northern Japan, admitted that bullying provoked the 2016 suicide of a 13-year-old girl, Rima Kasai. In a report about the suicide, the school said that it had relied on individual teachers to respond to the bullying but that the situation reached its limit as no organized action was taken.",6
"Credit...Tony Farlow/Four Seam Images for The Asheville TouristsJan. 31, 2014JERSEY CITY Russell Wilson needed help, and he needed it right then. The next morning, he was to fly to Denver to sign his contract with the Colorado Rockies and work out at his new full-time position of second baseman before shipping off to the minors, and he did not know how to turn a double play.He spoke with Jay Matthews, the Rockies scout who had tracked him for the past six years and was a former second baseman. Matthews, driving through North Carolina, said he could spare 20 minutes for a tutorial. They drove to a ball field. They practiced the pivot. Then they left.Matthews heard the next afternoon from a colleague who attended Wilsons workout. He asked how Wilson fared.Like he had played second base all his life, Matthews was told.The qualities on display that afternoon with Matthews in June 2010 a captivating blend of athleticism, aptitude and instinct are more familiar to fans who know Wilson as the precocious second-year quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks and are just as apparent. Had Wilson chosen to pursue baseball instead of football, a decision that he said he had not regretted once, there are many smart baseball men men with decades of playing, coaching and scouting experience who believe that he would have reached the major leagues.In an alternate universe, Wilson this week would be preparing for spring training instead of the Super Bowl, sparkling on defense instead of studying the defense of the Broncos. For a while, he thought he could do would do both.You dream big, Wilson said. Thats one of the things I tell kids all the time.And that is what his own father, Harrison Wilson III, would tell him: aim high. The day after Colorado drafted Wilson in the fourth round, his father died of complications from diabetes. That night, Matthews, driving through Wilsons native Richmond, Va., happened to call Wilson, who told him about his father. Matthews asked what he could do. Wilson asked him to throw batting practice. They went to an indoor facility and hit, threw and fielded for two hours.It was like therapy for him, Matthews said.Moments like that endeared Wilson to Matthews, who had known him since he was a junior in high school. Matthews was not deterred by Wilson amassing only 241 at-bats in three seasons at North Carolina State, his time split between the sports. Rather, he saw potential, a deft fielder whose lagging offensive skills would improve with repetition.If we could give him 1,500 minor league at-bats, Matthews said, theres no telling what could happen to him on the baseball side.What Matthews and the Rockies hoped was that Wilson would develop into another Jerry Hairston Jr., who has parlayed his versatility into a 16-year career. Some of the Texas Rangers evaluations pegged Wilson as a utility type, lauding his line-drive swing, arm strength and quick hands.Its not like what I would imagine was a Bo Jackson scouting report at the time, said Josh Boyd, the Rangers director for professional scouting. But the profile itself was a good complementary player. It wouldnt surprise me if he would have been able to overachieve the projections that I think a lot of scouts in the baseball industry had, as they did in football.Boyd was referencing Wilsons height, listed at 5 foot 11 inches, which discouraged teams who felt he was too short to play quarterback in the N.F.L. Still, he brought his North Carolina State playbook and a football to Pasco, Wash., where he struggled at the plate for the low-Class A Tri-City Dust Devils, offsetting his .230 average by committing one error and turning 14 double plays in 142 total chances.VideoSeattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson spoke to the media about his teammate Derrick Coleman.CreditCredit...Photos by Associated PressAfter the 2010 football season, his coach, Tom OBrien, asked Wilson to focus more on football, which he was not yet prepared to do. Having already graduated, Wilson was free to seek a release from his football scholarship and play immediately at another school. As he considered his options, Wilson advanced in Colorados system to Class A Asheville, where, for 7 p.m. games, he would arrive at the ballpark as early as 10 a.m. He asked coaches to hit him ground balls. He practiced bunting. He hit in the batting cage, alone, for about an hour before one-on-one sessions with the hitting coach, Lenn Sakata.What inspires a coach is that a player goes beyond what is expected of him, Sakata said. He wasnt going to fail because of a lack of effort.Brett Tanos, who shared second-base duties in Asheville with Wilson, said there was concern that Wilson would grow fatigued from working that hard, every day, during the course of a long season.But now, I really dont think he would have, Tanos said. Its just how Russell goes about it. There was just an extra thing about him that you knew was special.The harder Wilson worked, the less he improved at a rate satisfactory to him, at least. He was still swinging late at fastballs, for instance. Tanos said he sensed that Wilson had decided to play football as early as April 2011, when, after a game in Lexington, Ky., the team dressed and ate while watching the ESPN ticker scroll the quarterbacks who had been selected in the first round of the N.F.L. draft. While another teammate, Kyle Parker, a former quarterback at Clemson, joked that he would play in the N.F.L., Wilson just sat there quietly, Tanos said.It was like his mind-set was, Im going to go back because I can do this, Tanos said.One day that June, Wilson asked Sakata about a potential time frame for making the majors. Three years, Sakata told him.ImageCredit...Ted S. Warren/Associated PressIt just wasnt fast enough for him, Sakata said. The window of opportunity that he had set for himself was a year or two. By then, football would have disappeared.As Wilson remembers it, he woke up on the morning of June 27, 2011, and heard in his ear, Go against the odds. He said, For me, thats kind of how Ive always been. If someone tells me no, Im going to try to do the best I can to prove them wrong.He quit baseball, 93 games into his career (and 1,185 at-bats short of 1,500), to play football at Wisconsin. On the off chance this football thing does not work out, Wilson was, in December, selected in the minor-league phase of the Rule 5 draft by the Rangers, who hope to see him in spring training as a guest speaker.We definitely understand his priorities and all that, Boyd said, but you dont get too many chances to add a player, or a person, to the organization like that.That is how the Seahawks felt two years ago when they drafted Wilson in the third round, a critical development in their ascent to the N.F.L. elite. With his teammates in victory formation in the N.F.C. title game two weeks ago, Wilson took the snap, dropped to a knee and savored the moment. His thoughts, as he explained later, drifted to one thing.Man, Wilson said, I could have been playing baseball right now.Yes, he could have.",4
"Credit...Carlo Allegri/ReutersDec. 10, 2015When the pilot of an Alitalia jetliner reported seeing a drone while approaching Kennedy Airport in New York in March 2013, the likelihood of a collision between a drone and a commercial jet seemed pretty remote.But over the past two years, aviation experts and regulators have become increasingly concerned about the growing number of drones flying near airports and the risks they could potentially create for aviation safety. Last Saturday, for instance, a California Highway Patrol helicopter nearly crashed into a drone and the pilot avoided a collision only because he veered away.If you go through the windshield and you hit the pilot, thats game over, a highway patrol spokesman, Jim Andrews, told local reporters. If it goes into the rotor blades, depending on where or what it hits, it could be the same situation.But while the number of drones is growing rapidly, their impact on flight safety is still being debated. More than 400,000 drones were sold last year and this year the Consumer Technology Association is forecasting sales of 700,000 more.In August, the Federal Aviation Administration said reports of close calls by pilots had soared, even though F.A.A. rules prohibit flying drones near airports. It reported cases in which commercial pilots had seen drones flying above 10,000 feet and pointed to instances in which firefighters battling wildfires in the western part of the country had to ground their operations after spotting drones nearby.Drone enthusiasts criticized the agency as sensationalizing the issue as it seeks to regulate it. Critics, for instance, said laser beams pointed at pilots were a far bigger and more malicious threat to commercial aviation.There have been more than 5,000 reports of lasers aimed at airplanes, a number that has risen over the past few years, according to pilot representatives. Also, aircraft last year recorded about 13,000 bird strikes, a well-known threat to aviation safety, according to F.A.A. statistics.The Academy of Model Aeronautics, which represents model plane hobbyists, produced its own report that found that only a tiny number of drones were involved in close encounters with airplanes where pilots had to take evasive action. The F.A.A. itself has found only two instances of possible drone collisions with an aircraft, but has not been able to confirm either episode, according to a spokesman.But Hulsey Smith, the chief executive of Aero Kinetics, a maker of commercial drones, said the risks of accidentally flying into the path of an airplane or a helicopter was statistically just a matter of time.The general public has no sense of how dangerous these toys really are, he said. If we dont have an honest conversation about those risks, we could set this industry back years and decades.The F.A.A. is considering requiring drone owners to register themselves when they acquire a drone, probably before the end of this year. Regulators are also working on new rules for commercial drone operators, which will be completed next year. Under those rules, drones would be barred from flying above 500 feet, or faster than 100 miles per hour. Operators will also have to maintain a line of sight with drones.Mr. Smith said that registering drone owners was a necessary first step but not enough. He supports setting up a system to certify a drones airworthiness to prove it can operate safely, and possibly equipping drones with costly tracking beacons or collision avoidance systems.A study by two researchers at the Center for the Study of the Drone, at Bard College, due to be released Friday, tries to provide a more comprehensive overview of the risks. The study broadened the definition of close encounter to include incidents in which a drone flew close to a plane, not just those in which a pilot had to take evasive action.The study reviewed 922 incidents involving drones and manned aircraft in the national airspace over the past two years. These incidents were reported to the F.A.A. and NASAs Aviation Safety Reporting System, a confidential reporting system for pilots, from December 2013 to September 2015.The researchers found that 327 incidents or 35 percent of the cases could be described as close encounters, defined as drones coming within 500 feet of aircraft.In 158 of those cases, a drone came within 200 feet or less of an aircraft, and in 28 instances, a pilot reported having to maneuver to avoid a collision. The study also found 90 close encounters between a commercial jet aircraft and a drone, and 38 involved helicopters.Arthur Holland Michel, one author of the study, said regulators and policy makers, as well as the public, needed more accurate and impartial data to get a better understanding of the risks.The seriousness of the problem is still somewhat up for debate in terms of the particulars, he said, about whether a drone could bring down a commercial airliner or whether the episodes represent malicious intent.But the challenge of integrating drones in the domestic airspace can only be addressed through a combination of solutions, he said. And it will take collaboration between the industry, the regulators and the drone users.",0
"Photo Credit Richard Drew/Associated Press 1. Stay Resolved Photo Credit Andy Haslam for The New York Times 2. Pay Attention to Your Gut These three books dissect how your innards influence your weight gain. Photo Credit M. Spencer Green/Associated Press 3. Adopt a Business Approach Tara Parker-Pope, editor of our Well blog, explains how a business strategy helped her lose 25 pounds. Photo Credit Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times, Barton Silverman/The New York Times 4. Quality, Not Quantity The author of Always Hungry? argues in this Q. and A. that overeating doesnt make you fat. Rather, its an excess of high glycemic foods like sugar and refined grains. Photo Credit John Moore/Getty Images 5. Make Your Diet Fit You Some scientists say the right weight-loss strategy is a personalized diet that takes into account family history, medications and genetic makeup, for instance. Photo Credit Beatrice de Gea for The New York Times 6. Keeping the Muscle For others, the holy grail is a weight-loss program that decreases fat without diminishing muscle tissue. Photo Credit Joe Raedle/Getty Images 7. A Little at a Time Blood pressure, heart rate and other health measurements can improve with just a small amount of weight loss, a study shows. Photo Credit Kevin Moloney for The New York Times 8. Take a Bribe Four out of five large U.S. employers now offer some sort of financial incentive to employees to improve their health. Sometimes, they even work. Photo Credit Jon Boyes/Ocean, via Corbis 9. Just Dont Eat More on NYTimes.com",2
"Mischa Barton My Ex-BF Has 'Doctored' Sex Tapes 6/30/2017 TMZ.com Mischa Barton says she found proof one of her exes has copies of what she calls ""doctored"" sex tapes. She was supposed to have a courtroom showdown Friday with Adam Spaw, but he was absent due to a family illness. Instead, his attorney appeared and heard Mischa plead her case to a judge for a permanent restraining order. She claimed Spaw left behind multiple flash drives -- containing the ""doctored"" tapes -- when he moved out of their home. The judge pressed Mischa to explain what was doctored ... and she would only say they weren't originals. The judge set a new July court date for Spaw to respond to the allegations -- and re-issued Mischa's temporary restraining order. Outside court, she was pretty thrilled with the judge's decision.",1
"Politics|Lawmakers may have been exposed to the coronavirus while sheltering during the Capitol riot, a doctor says.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/10/us/politics/lawmakers-may-have-been-exposed-to-the-coronavirus-while-sheltering-during-the-capitol-riot-a-doctor-says.htmlCredit...J. Scott Applewhite/Associated PressJan. 10, 2021While sheltering in a secure location as a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, House lawmakers may have been exposed to someone who was infected with the coronavirus, Congresss Office of the Attending Physician said on Sunday.In an email sent to lawmakers, Dr. Brian P. Monahan, the attending physician, said that while the time in this room was several hours for some and briefer for others, during that period, individuals may have been exposed to another occupant with coronavirus infection. He told lawmakers to obtain a P.C.R. test as a precaution and continue taking preventive steps against the spread of the virus.Congress has long struggled to stem the spread of the virus within its ranks, with mixed guidance and a delayed testing regimen. Dozens of lawmakers, staff members and reporters took shelter in the secure room on Wednesday, but a handful of Republicans refused to wear masks, one person there said, even as Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, Democrat of Delaware, tried to pass out masks.Before the mob breached the Capitol, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, overseeing the certification of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.s victory and debate over a Republican effort to subvert those results in certain states, admonished Republicans for having too many people on the floor and for some objectors refusing to wear masks as they spoke.As the 117th Congress reconvened a week ago, multiple lawmakers tested positive for the coronavirus after taking their oath. Late Wednesday, one Republican, Representative Jake LaTurner of Kansas, received positive test results after voting on the House floor to overturn Arizonas results and did not return for a second vote early Thursday. It was unclear where Mr. LaTurner was sheltering in place as the mob tried to break into the House chamber, but in a statement issued shortly before 3 a.m. on Thursday, his office said he was not experiencing symptoms.Because lawmakers qualified for early access to the coronavirus vaccine, many have received at least one shot of a two-dose vaccine, with some receiving both doses. Some congressional aides have been authorized to receive the two-dose vaccine.",3
"Credit...BBCMarch 10, 2017There are well-known drawbacks to working from home: the isolation, the need for self-discipline.But here is a new one: the invasion of the toddlers.Robert E. Kelly, a political-science professor at Pusan National University in South Korea, learned this the hard way on Friday when he appeared as an expert on the BBC via Skype to discuss the South Korea impeachment scandal.He appeared to be in a home office, with a door closed behind him. Shortly before the interview, he innocently let his Twitter followers know he would be on TV.Then, as the questioning began, the door opened. A child toddled in.Then another strolled in, this time in a squeaky walker. And then their mother, Jung-a Kim, burst into the scene, skidding around a corner and frantically trying to herd the wayward young people out the door.She knocked books off a table before falling to her knees and grabbing the handle to close the door, finally, behind them all.The interruption, almost slapstick if it had not been real, was over within 40 seconds, during which Professor Kelly veered from apparent mild annoyance to repeated apologies to stifling smiles, while ultimately keeping his composure as he discussed the latest political drama underway in South Korea, where a court had removed President Park Geun-hye from office.The toddler intrusion starts just as the BBC World presenter, James Menendez, starts to ask him a question.And what will it mean for the wider region I think one of your children has just walked in, he said to Professor Kelly.He continues, gamely: Do you think relations with the North may change?Umm I would be surprised if they do the um pardon me. My apologies, Professor Kelly said, closing his eyes and smiling or grimacing as the sound of the objects toppling off the table and squeals of protest came from behind him.While the professor appeared to do his best to keep the live broadcast on an even professional keel, the clip was inevitably destined to do what these things do: spread widely across the internet.Yes, it did get weird. News organizations and television channels, including Buzzfeed, The Guardian and CNN, picked up the story. Online, many of the comments were sympathetic (This is TV Gold! said one), while others said that Professor Kelly had strong armed one of the children when reached behind him to repel her advance, all while keeping his eye contact with the camera and continuing to speak.Professor Kelly, who is an expert on politics on the Korean Peninsula, has been a contributing guest on the BBC for many years, as well as on ITN News and Sky. Many of his media appearances, chronicled on his YouTube page, appear to take place from the same room, which features a map on the wall and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.He could not immediately be reached on Friday, but his online biography and website, Asian Security Blog, notes his academic credentials and many contributions to scholarly publications and news organizations about North and South Korea. His wife, according to his personal profile, is a yoga teacher.Working from home with kids can be a challenge, especially when cameras or phones are involved. Tell us your stories in the comments.",6
"TV SportsCredit...Todd Heisler/The New York TimesFeb. 3, 2014EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. Richard Farago was just moments into calling his 10th Super Bowl when Denver Broncos center Manny Ramirezs snap flew over Peyton Manning.Ohhhh! Farago shouted, before describing the rest of the play in Hungarian and tossing in the word safety. His surprised reaction to the errant snap, which was translated later, was, Oh, my God, what a misunderstanding by Peyton Manning and his center.Soon after, Oliver Hollai, the analyst sitting beside Farago, added free kick during a broader comment. And as they watched a replay of the errant snap, they talked about the Broncos good fortune that they had surrendered 2 points, not 6.The two Hungarians Farago, 46, with short, spiky hair, and Hollai, 35, tall and blond are longtime broadcast partners who maintained a consistent banter during the game.Hes the Pat Summerall of Hungary, Hollai said. From the regular season through the Super Bowl, English is only one patois of N.F.L. broadcasting. The leagues games are seen in more than 100 countries, and the Super Bowl is watched in nearly 200. At MetLife Stadium, Sundays game was called (or reported) in Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Danish, Russian, Spanish, Hungarian, Portuguese and the English spoken in Britain over a feed distributed by NFL Films.Farago fell in love with American football, and Joe Montana, at a Chiefs-Steelers game in 1993. He did not have anyone to call N.F.L. games for when he worked for the state broadcaster, but in 2004, he joined Sport1 in Budapest, which had acquired league rights.Hollai spent five years living in Fort Lee, N.J., when his fathers banking work brought him to work at Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan. Hollai became a Giants and a Mets fan infatuations that continue to this day. Back in Hungary, Hollai had suggested only that Sport1 use his expertise in the language of the N.F.L. to help its broadcasts. But the network hired him as an analyst.They told me on a Friday that I would be working a game the next Tuesday, he said.On Sunday, those countries where the local language is not superimposed on the broadcast heard the Super Bowl call of Bob Papa, the play-by-play radio voice of the Giants, and Charles Davis, a veteran N.F.L. and college football analyst for Fox. Their mission was to offer a simpler version of the game very little Jon Gruden and a lot of storytelling and explanations of plays to appeal to a broad international audience with a knowledge of football that ranges from novices to American expatriates.Its about the big picture, Davis said before the game.They were light on statistics but slipped in definitions of touchbacks, coaches challenges and intentional grounding that Foxs Joe Buck and Troy Aikman did not need to use. About the most complicated term that Davis used was a route combination.Papa, who has called the world feed since 2008, said he was pleased when Americans around the world let him know they were watching his call of the Super Bowl. Last year, he got a text message from John Morgan, with whom Papa has called Olympic bobsledding for NBC, that he was watching the feed in Munich.And during the two-minute warning before halftime, Papa turned to say he had just received a Twitter post from the Middle East. Joe LaCava, Tiger Woodss caddie, said they are watching in Dubai, he said. Woods was competing at the Dubai Desert Classic.Unlike the world-feed booth with its stage manager, statistician and spotter the Hungarian booth, above the south end zone, was austere. Farago and Hollai were on their own in a little structure they shared with French sportscasters.Their notes were in Hungarian (the national anthem was himnusz) and English. Their game-calling was peppered with a football glossary, with some words that have no equivalent in Hungarian, like punt, blitz, touchdown, A.F.C., N.F.C. and cover-2.But in Hungary, with the growth of club football and rising ratings for the Super Bowl, Farago and Hollai use Hungarian for first down (elso kiserlet), catch (elkapas), field goal (mezonygol) and quarterback (iranyito).Yet their approach is as familiar to fans as any sports broadcasting teams. Faragos voice rose and fell at the right moments. Hollai stepped in when he was needed and did not lack for extensive explanations. Farago grew especially excited when Seattles Malcolm Smith intercepted a pass (passz in Hungarian) by Manning and returned it for a touchdown.And even if the average American football fan is attuned to games being called in English, there is something refreshing about hearing names like Kam Chancellor, Knowshon Moreno and Percy Harvin pronounced in Hungarian accents.",4
"NotebookCredit...Todd Heisler/The New York TimesFeb. 2, 2014EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. The ball found Seattle Seahawks linebacker Malcolm Smith in a big way during the postseason.Two weeks ago, he caught a ball tipped by cornerback Richard Sherman to seal a victory over the San Francisco 49ers and send Seattle to the Super Bowl.On Sunday, with the Denver Broncos behind by 15 points in the second quarter, quarterback Peyton Manning was hit as he threw a pass to Knowshon Moreno. Smith picked it off and ran 69 yards for a touchdown.It was up there for a while, and I was kind of thinking, Again? No way, said Smith, who was voted the games most valuable player.He added, It didnt feel real until I got to the sideline and realized, wow, that was a big play.Smith was not done. In the third quarter, Manning threw a pass to Demaryius Thomas, who ran for 23 yards to the Seattle 21-yard line. But cornerback Byron Maxwell poked the ball free, and Smith, a third-year player out of Southern California, picked it up. The Seahawks then marched 58 yards for another backbreaking score.It was the eighth time a defensive player was voted most valuable player of the Super Bowl. (In Super Bowl XII, two Cowboys defenders shared the award).The Seahawks defensive coordinator, Dan Quinn, complimented Smiths versatility and speed, noting that he had started the year at outside linebacker and had then moved to inside linebacker.That, it appeared, put him in the right place at the right time not once or twice, but three times.I always imagined myself making great plays, Smith said. You never think about being the M.V.P.Smith was also involved in perhaps the most bizarre security breach at the game.Early in his news conference, a man who appeared to be in his 30s leapt onto the platform and grabbed the microphone from behind the lectern.Investigate 9/11, he said. Nine-eleven was perpetrated by people in our own government.Smith looked to the side for help, and Harvey Greene, the spokesman for the Miami Dolphins, who was running the news conference, jumped forward. But the man, dressed in a red and black flannel shirt, had already run off.The incident lasted about four seconds.Smith remained calm. Is everyone all right? he asked to the handful of reporters nearby. Lets check his press pass, he added with a smile.As of 11:45 p.m., the N.F.L. was still looking into the matter.TAILGATING BETWEEN THE LINES The tailgate must go on, even at the Super Bowl. So Karin Kerr flew from Seattle to Philadelphia with a friend, Phillip Leonard. They rented a car, put a cooler in the trunk and piled soda and two kinds of beer on a bed of ice. Then they drove to MetLife Stadium, pulled into Lot P and wondered where everyone was.I expected this lot to be full, Kerr said Sunday afternoon.Tailgaters talk about the spectacle of what they do before a game before a regular game, anyway. They talk about the rows of cars. They talk about the sophisticated grills. They talk about the sense of community. There was not much of that in Lot P because there was not much of a crowd as fans had been encouraged to use mass transit to get to the game. By midafternoon, only a dozen hard-core tailgaters had pulled in and set up as best they could. Some were cramped: Under the rules for the Super Bowl, each vehicle had to stay within one parking space, no spilling over into a second spot with tents or tables; grills were prohibited. Farrah Rubani and her fianc, Richard Tricario of Staten Island, were in the parking space diagonally in front of Kerr and Leonards, and Rubani said it was expensive ground. She said they had paid $170 for the parking space. (She said they had spent $8,000 for two game tickets face value $1,500 apiece.) On Sunday, Rubani and Tricario, who is a Dallas Cowboys fan, had set up two folding chairs behind their car, careful not to go out of bounds. They were not sitting in the chairs. They turned one chair into a makeshift serving table for shrimp and olives. Tricario said there were sandwiches in a cooler. He shrugged.You cant grill, he said. Were following the rules.JAMES BARRONOPERATIC ANTHEM Rene Fleming became the first opera singer to perform the national anthem at the Super Bowl, but the word opera went unmentioned in her introduction.The announcer called Fleming a Grammy winner and superstar soprano. Her rendition was eminently operatic: confident, sensible and performed with ease, and without the strain sometimes exciting, sometimes not that pop-diva belting entails. Though the anthem ended up lasting just a few seconds more than two minutes, she began at a daringly slow pace, with creamy, light strings underneath. The choral backup was drawn from the armed forces.When it was announced that the anthem would be delivered by an opera star, one of the main questions was just how high her high notes would be. Video evidence, a pitch pipe and an online keyboard suggest that Fleming reached A-natural two of them. ZACHARY WOOLFE",4
"Credit...Josh Haner/The New York TimesFeb. 11, 2014KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia There was no way to ask the question without sounding slightly creepy, but the downhill skier Jan Hudec kindly answered it with cheerful Canadian candor. Yes, I have an enormous butt, he said.He also has, now that we are being frank about it, enormous thighs. How enormous are his butt and his thighs? It is so hard for him to find jeans that can contain their bulk, he said, that when he does, he hangs on to them for as long as he humanly can.When they rip, I drive them across town and my mother sews them for me, said Hudec, who, it is worth noting, is 32. Ripped jeans are apparently a common phenomenon for downhill skiers, much as it is routine for the Incredible Hulk to turn green and burst out of his clothes in fits of anger.Different sports attract, and also shape, different physiques. Where swimmers have broad shoulders, figure skaters are strong yet willowy and curlers can get away with being kind of shlumpy, downhill skiers and also speedskaters and hockey players tend to have unusually well-built legs and rear ends, products of their perpetual crouch and also of lifetimes of leg presses and squats.Watching the skiers come off the slopes after their runs here at the Winter Games is to see a parade of superconditioned lower bodies whose every powerful contour ripples graphically underneath what are essentially very expensive tights.Yes, we have derrires, said Chemmy Alcott, a British skier. Weve got booties. Ive spent 28 years squatting in that squat position, and Im really proud of it. It would be a lot easier for me to be a skinny normal person. I have to work really hard to get this muscle.Skiers say that they need big legs and rears to get them down the slopes as quickly and forcefully as possible.This is where we get our power from, said the American skier Travis Ganong, who was fifth in the mens downhill Sunday. When youre skiing three miles at 3,000 vertical feet over bumps and going off jumps, you need a solid platform. Otherwise we call it stumping out your lactic acid builds up too much and you have no energy left. You just collapse.Some downhill racers say they perform better when they are on the heavy side. When you have more weight, you have the control to go faster and to push yourself downhill, said Dominik Paris of Italy. Also, in the flat, you have the wind coming to you, so when you weigh more, you have the power to push against it.That argument certainly applies to traditional downhill courses. But the ones here are shaping up to be more complicated, skiers say, involving varied terrains, jumps and turns, and requiring agility and nimbleness as much as power.Under its new conditioning coach, an Austrian taskmaster named Tony Beretzki, the American mens team has a souped-up training regimen that focuses on full-body conditioning, with two endurance workouts a day, instead of emphasizing discrete body parts.Beretzki said size was less important than efficiency. His regimen focuses on what he calls intracoordination, where muscles work together, with an emphasis on balance, core work and strength.Its not a question of being so huge, but of having muscle mass, he said. Referring to the Austrian skier who won the mens downhill Sunday, he continued: Matthias Mayer if you look at him, hes not a typical downhill skier the way they used to be 10 years ago, but his endurance is very good, and he can hold his speed upright to the very end.ImageCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesHe said modern downhill courses presented new challenges to traditional skiers. The courses like the kind we see at Sochi they have become more and more bumpy and icy and turny, with a lot of jumps and directional moves, and therefore its not only a question of being huge and heavy to hammer down fast, he said. Of course, if you go down with a higher mass, you can accelerate faster, but thats not the only part of skiing downhill. You can be a heavyweight champion, but if your endurance isnt good enough, its useless.Martin Bendik of Slovakia, who has a particularly impressive pair of thighs, said the new courses brought new problems. If you are heavier, its better on the flat part because you go faster, and you need a lot of muscles to go 150 kilometers per hour, he said. But on the steep part, if you are turning, its of course better to be smaller and not so heavy.That does not mean most downhill skiers are ready to throw away their old training techniques or neglect their lower halves. Paris said he did endless squats with huge weights. Marc Oliveras, from Andorra, said he did squats and leg presses. The downhill skier Georg Streitberger of Austria said he spent a lot of time on the bicycle and eats a lot of meat. Its not so important what you eat as what you drink, he said. Drink? Train, he repeated, speaking slowly this time. Training is important.Hudec, who said he is typically reduced to rummaging through weird-size racks of jeans to find decent pairs, is hardly the only downhill skier who faces pants-buying challenges.Its a huge struggle for ski racers, finding a pair of jeans that fit right, Ganong said.Either they fit around the thighs and hang off the waist, or they fit around the waist but cannot contain the skiers massive legs.We tend to tear the crotches in our jeans quite a bit, the American racer Steven Nyman said. The introduction of leggings-style and elasticated jeans has been a godsend. We have to buy stretchy jeans, he said.I wear sweatpants, said Oliveras, who is known, he said, as Le Gros ... before using a local slang word that, he said, translates into the Big Thighs.I wear leggings, said Daniela Merighetti, an Italian skier.Every year, I buy the same pair of jeans in four different colors, Alcott said. You have to find the ones you find, and buy a lot of them.I have one pair of blue jeans and thats it I dont have another, said Edit Miklos of Hungary, who finished 16th in the womens super combined. Normally, I have to shorten them because the ones that fit me are too long.Work clothes are another matter. Some skiers say that while skintight pants would not necessarily have been their first choice as a job uniform I wouldnt say Im into it, but its our sport, Ganong said they were proud of their conditioning.I got a big butt, but Im not self-conscious, Nyman said. He discussed the point once with his teammate Erik Fisher, who is known on the mens tour for having especially imposing thighs, and they decided that it did not matter as long as their muscles did the job.Our bodies are our bodies, Nyman said.Also, whats not to admire?My fiancs a ski racer, too, said Alcott, referring to the Scottish skier Dougie Crawford. When he sees me squatting 150 kilos about 330 pounds hes really proud. Hes like, Yeah, look at my girl.As for Bendik, the big-thighed Slovakian, he says he actually loves shopping for pants.I come to the shop and they tell me, Your muscles are very nice, he said, gazing modestly down at the snow. You are like a model, and you can buy anything you want.",4
"Science|Its Very Unlikely That Asteroid 2013 TX68 Will Hit Earthhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/02/science/its-very-unlikely-that-asteroid-2013-tx68-will-hit-earth.htmlTrilobitesCredit...NASA/JPL-CaltechMarch 2, 2016Were going to get an extraterrestrial visitor, perhaps early next week, when asteroid 2013 TX68 zips past Earth. Theres been some agitated chatter about just how close the speeding rock will get.What we know for sure is that it will not collide, said Sean Marshall, a Cornell University doctoral candidate who observes near-Earth asteroids. So dont panic.The size of 2013 TX68 is estimated to be 100 feet in diameter, about the size of a large yacht. This makes it slightly larger than the speeding rock that in 2013 exploded over the Russian city Chelyabinsk, damaging hundreds of buildings and injuring at least 1,500 people, mainly as windows shattered.The exact time and distance of the closest approach will not be known until after the encounter. Mr. Marshall said Tuesday that 2013 TX68 could zip through Earths ring of geostationary satellites which orbit at a height of 22,300 miles or travel as far away as 40 times the distance to the moon.NASAs calculations last month put the flyby at around March 8. 2013 TX68 is not on the agencys list of potentially hazardous asteroids, which come closest to Earth and are big enough to survive atmospheric re-entry and cause damage on a regional scale. Their diameters are greater than 330 feet, or about 100 meters.But the extraterrestrial rock might eventually make the hazard list if new observations made during this months close pass reveal its diameter to be larger than expected.Its possible but unlikely, Mr. Marshall said of the larger size in an interview. Still, you wouldnt want to be there if it hit. It could still wipe out a city.",7
"DealBook|PR Newswire Sold to Cision for $841 Millionhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/16/business/dealbook/pr-newswire-cision-sale.htmlDec. 15, 2015LONDON UBM, the British business-events organizer, said on Tuesday that it had agreed to sell the news-release distribution service PR Newswire to Cision, the owner of Gorkana Group, for $841 million.The deal came after UBM said in September that it was in highly preliminary discussions with several parties to sell PR Newswire.Under the terms of the deal, UBM would receive $810 million in cash and $31 million of preferred equity.Cision, based in Chicago, is a provider of public-relations software and analytics, and its brands include the Gorkana Group, PR Web and iContact. It is owned by GTCR Private Equity.We are serious about building a comprehensive platform to help our clients manage the entire life cycle of communications from influencer discovery and content distribution to engagement and campaign analysis, Peter Granat, the chief executive of Cision, said in a news release.The transaction is subject to approval by regulators and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year.PR Newswire, based in New York, distributes news releases and other marketing messages for companies, primarily in the United States and Canada. Its primary competitor is Business Wire, a similar service owned by Warren E. Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway.PR Newswire derives about half its revenue from distribution in the United States and had about $297 million in revenue last year, according to UBM.Deutsche Bank, Barclays and RBC Capital Markets would provide debt financing to Cision as part of the transaction.UBM, based in London, organizes trade shows and is focusing more of its business on those events after its acquisition last year of Advanstar, a marketer and trade show organizer based in California, for $972 million in cash. The events sector accounts for more than 80 percent of UBMs business.Todays announcement represents a significant step in the execution of UBMs Events First strategy, the objective of which is to become the worlds leading focused B2B events business, Tim Cobbold, the UBM chief executive, said in a news release. The board is confident that this transaction realizes excellent value for our shareholders.UBM said that after the transaction, it planned to return about 245 million pounds, or $371 million, to shareholders through a special dividend.Evercore and JPMorgan Chase advised UBM on the transaction.",0
"Dec. 6, 2015The Treasurys schedule of financing this week includes Mondays regular weekly auction of new three- and six-month bills and an auction of four-week bills on Tuesday.At the close of the New York cash market on Friday, the rate on the outstanding three-month bill was 0.22 percent. The rate on the six-month issue was 0.48 percent, and the rate on the four-week issue was 0.18 percent.The following tax-exempt fixed-income issues are scheduled for pricing this week: MONDAYKing County, Wash., $175.7 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive.TUESDAYChandler, Ariz., $70 million of revenue bonds. Competitive.Hempstead, N.Y., $67.1 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive. Las Vegas, $164.4 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive.New York State Urban Development Corporation, $1.14 billion of revenue bonds. Competitive. Newport News, Va., $53.4 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive.Puyallup School District, Wash., $70.5 million of general obligation bonds. Competitive. WEDNESDAYClemson University, S.C., $191 million of higher education revenue bonds. Competitive. ONE DAY DURING THE WEEKBrighton School District, Colo., $160 million of general obligation bonds. RBC Capital Markets.Clayton, N.M., $57.3 million of jail project improvement and refinancing revenue bonds. RBC Capital Markets. Columbus, Ohio, $155 million of sewerage system revenue refinancing bonds. Bank of America.Cuyahoga County, Ohio, $60.5 million of excise tax revenue bonds. KeyBanc Capital Markets.Fulton County, Ga., Development Authority, $51.5 million of arts center project revenue bonds. Wells Fargo Securities.Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, $200 million of bonds. Wells Fargo Securities.Hartnell Community College District, Calif., $88.9 million of general obligation refinancing bonds. Morgan Stanley.Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, $340 million of revenue bonds. RBC Capital Markets. Indiana Municipal Power Agency, $385 million of power supply system revenue bonds. Citigroup Global Markets. Kaweah Delta Health Care District, Calif., $97 million of debt securities. Wells Fargo Securities.Missouri Environmental Improvement and Energy Resources Authority, $106.1 million of refinancing revenue bonds. Jefferies.Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, $197 million of debt securities. Raymond James.New Haven, $53.8 million of general obligation refinancing bonds. Piper Jaffray.New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority, $266.7 million of revenue and refunding bonds. Morgan Stanley.New York City Housing Development Corporation, $180.7 million of multifamily housing revenue bonds. J. P. Morgan Securities.New York City Housing Development Corporation, $197.3 million of multifamily housing revenue bonds. Wells Fargo Securities.New York State Housing Finance Agency, $145 million of affordable housing revenue bonds. Citigroup Global Markets.Northwest Local School District, Ohio, $66.8 million of school improvement general obligation bonds. RBC Capital Markets.Park Creek, Colo., Metropolitan District, $252.7 million of revenue refinancing bonds. RBC Capital Markets.Phoenix Industrial Development Authority, $84.7 million of revenue bonds. RBC Capital Markets.Shreveport, La., $120 million of water and sewer system revenue and refinancing bonds. Siebert Brandford Shank.Water Replenishment District of Southern California, $160 million of debt securities. Wells Fargo Securities.Southwestern Illinois Development Authority, $50.8 million of revenue bonds. RBC Capital Markets.Union County, N.C., $50 million of general obligation bonds. PNC Capital Markets.Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority, $91.2 million of grant anticipation revenue bonds. Jefferies.",0
"Credit...Butterfly ConservationMarch 17, 2017LONDON The killer, a former body builder, stalked his frail victims at nature reserves, in one case clambering over a locked gate armed with a net, before he chased them down, trapped them and carried them away, dead or alive.In what prosecutors are calling Britains first conviction of its kind, Phillip Cullen, 57, was found guilty this week of capturing, killing and possessing specimens of the Large Blue butterfly, the countrys rarest butterfly, admired for its beauty and expressionist blue wings. Mr. Cullen, who had denied the charges, could face a maximum of six months in prison when he is sentenced next month.It is an offense to capture, kill or possess that butterfly because it is a protected species in the U.K. It is a unique case, the prosecutor Kevin Withey, told a magistrates court in Bristol, in southwest England. There has never been a prosecution in terms of capturing and killing.The Large Blue (Maculinea arion), first documented in Britain in the 1790s, was declared extinct here in 1979, but can now be found in 33 sites in southwest England thanks to David Simcox, an ecologist who drove his van to Sweden in 1983, collected some eggs and reintroduced them into southwest England.During the trial, the court heard how Mr. Cullen was seen in June 2015 running after the butterflies with a small net at a nature reserve in Gloucestershire, while a friend stood watch nearby. He was also observed acting suspiciously at another Large Blue butterfly hot spot in Somerset.Unluckily for Mr. Cullen, a butterfly expert at the Gloucestershire nature reserve witnessed his treachery. When he confronted Mr. Cullen and asked him what he was doing, prosecutors said Mr. Cullen said he was looking for parasitic wasps not butterflies. The butterfly expert photographed Mr. Cullen trying to catch a Large Blue, evidence that was presented in court.After suspicions were raised, the police last year raided his home near Bristol, where they discovered hundreds of dead butterflies encased in glass. Significantly, two dead Large Blue butterflies were labeled with the letters CH and DB, which prosecutors said stood for Collard Hill in Somerset and Daneway Banks in Gloucestershire, where the butterfly abductions or killings had taken place. (It was not clear exactly where the butterflies were killed.)ImageCredit...Neil Hulme, via Butterfly ConservationMr. Cullen said CH was short for Cobalt Hue and that DB stood for Dark Blue. He acknowledged that he had traded in butterflies in the past, but that he bought them legally and sold them at auction.Asked by his defense lawyer if he had, at any time, chased a blue butterfly, he replied, Not at any time.Did you capture one? his lawyer asked. No, I did not, Mr. Cullen replied.The collecting of butterflies and moths has a long lineage in Britain stretching back centuries, and was considered a gentlemanly hobby in Victorian times, when collectors would proudly display their catches in glass display cases. Two British prime ministers, Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill, were among those who enjoyed the hobby.But the antiquated practice has fallen out of favor in this conservationist age, and of the 59 species of butterflies in the country, six, including the Large Blue, are fully protected, and it is illegal to collect, sell or kill them. The Large Blue is endangered globally.There is nevertheless a small but hard-core group of butterfly catchers who relish collecting rare species and mounting them as their Victorian predecessors did, said Liam Creedon, a spokesman for Butterfly Conservation. A mounted Large Blue butterfly can fetch as much as $400.Britain is a nation of eccentrics, and people engage in odd hobbies like train-spotting, stamp collection and collecting butterflies, he said. Even if butterfly collectors are a small group, they can have a large impact on a rare species like the Large Blue butterfly.The Large Blue has an extraordinary life cycle, which Mr. Creedon likened to a plot from the movie Aliens.Describing the process, he said that first the butterflies lay their eggs in the flowers of wild thyme. After hatching, the caterpillars drop to the ground, and use honey glands to lure unsuspecting foraging red ants. He said the ants then take the tiny caterpillars into their brood chamber, where the caterpillars feed on ant larva. When they turn into butterflies, they manage to scurry to daylight and fly away.",6
"Credit...Greg Lehman/Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, via Associated PressNov. 2, 2016Summer is the season when children play outdoors tirelessly until nightfall, burning up all the energy they had stockpiled throughout the school year, right?Reality check: According to a new national study of younger elementary school students, the risk of gaining excessive weight is far greater during the summer than when they are in school.A nationally representative sample of 18,170 kindergartners was weighed in the early fall and again in the late spring from 2010 through 2013, when the children were finishing second grade. The prevalence of children who were overweight increased to 28.7 percent from 23.3 percent. The prevalence of those who measured as obese grew to 11.5 percent from 8.9 percent. Most strikingly, according to the study published on Wednesday in the journal Obesity, all of the increases were during the summer breaks. No increase in the prevalence of being overweight or obese was seen during the school year.Its dispiriting how little progress we can see as a result of all these school-based fitness and nutrition programs, said Paul von Hippel, the lead author and an associate professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He was referring to initiatives such as soda bans, recalibrated school cafeteria food and more attention to physical education and nutrition curriculums.But it makes sense if you believe that schools were never the problem to begin with. Nor can they be much of the solution, added Mr. von Hippel, who said that family education and access to summer fitness programs needed to be bolstered.The research is the most rigorous and long-term in a growing collection of evidence suggesting that childrens ability to maintain a healthy weight can slip when they are out of school, much like their reading and math skills.The complex factors that contribute to this phenomenon are only beginning to be examined. Experts note that in the summer, children do not have a strict, school-defined schedule, so they spend more sedentary time snacking in front of screens. They go to bed later and get less sleep (which can contribute to weight gain). And because heat renders them sluggish, they can be less active.By contrast, despite schools limitations, it offers a built-in protective structure for weight-and-fitness maintenance. During the academic year, meal times at home and school become more fixed; sleep is better regulated; physical education and recess, however minimal, is in the schedule; and, most critically, by being in class during the day and doing homework afterward, students have less time for screens.Dr. Natalie Muth, a pediatrician and dietitian in Carlsbad, Calif., whose practice includes a healthy weight clinic, frequently sees children who struggle with summertime weight gain. One challenge for many during those months, she said, is that they are not getting free school lunches, which may be healthier than those they eat at home.Another, she added, is that while parents are working, they turn to other caregivers, who may not follow the familys school-year regimen. Grandparents love to use food as rewards, Dr. Muth said.The obesity rates will continue to remain high, Mr. von Hippel said, until we get serious about reducing screen time and confronting food marketing practices outside of school.Mr. von Hippel first noted this trend in a shorter study published in 2007, in which he examined results from the federal Early Childhood Longitudinal Study in which federal researchers collected statistics over time on a wide range of issues that could relate to school performance.In 2014, a study by Harvard researchers, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, summarized the results of seven smaller summer-weight-gain studies. It found that some minorities might be more vulnerable to gaining weight, and it raised concerns about long-term health implications. The new research found no significant difference either by race or income in summers effect. Like the C.D.C., the new Obesity report also encouraged more access for children to recreational facilities and physical activity programming in the summertime.We put so many resources into fine-tuning healthy school curriculums, and then we send children off for three or four months with very little in terms of resources. So why do we think childrens development only happens part of the year? said Amy Bohnert, an associate professor of psychology at Loyola University Chicago and the lead author of a chapter on obesity in a new book, The Summer Slide: What We Know and Can Do About Summer Learning Loss.Schools could begin conversations with children and families earlier in the year about summer routines, she said, noting, Kids are sent home with summer reading lists, so we need to send a message that this is important, too.Amy Moyer, a registered dietitian with Action for Healthy Kids, which supports health-based programs around the country, said schools still play a critical role in educating children about nutrition. Schools are in the unique position of modeling healthy behaviors and supporting kids and their families in making healthy choices, she said.Experts say that schools are assuming an increasing burden in educating children about the many risks in modern living, but community and statewide organizations also need to step up their involvement. A key player, they add, is the pediatrician.Dr. Teresia OConnor, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Baylor College of Medicine, who researches childhood nutrition and obesity, wonders whether parents tend to be more lenient with behavioral rules in the summer. In her practice, she said, Weve been starting to talk with parents in the late spring about what they can do to help their child maintain healthy behaviors that they do during the school year, when school lets out.",2
Gloria Allred James Franco's Not Innocent 'Til Proven Guilty ... For Oscars 1/23/2018 TMZ.com James Franco getting shut out at the Oscars may have a simple explanation -- Academy voters are buying his accuser's story that he's been a sexual predator ... this according to Gloria Allred. Gloria -- who btw never mentions James by name -- tells TMZ ...this is not a criminal case where people get a presumption of innocence. She says Academy voters can conclude whatever they want based on whatever evidence they believe. Does James have any recourse? Gloria almost gleefully says ...NOPE. See also James Franco Gloria Allred Movies Sex Exclusive Controversial S#!T The Oscars,1
"Politics|Portraits of California Voters: You Cant Have Change Without Votinghttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/us/politics/california-primary-voters.htmlFrom San Diego to the Central Valley, Californians are sending a message with their votes in Tuesdays primary.June 5, 2018ImageCredit...Hilary Swift for The New York TimesCalifornia voters are making lots of decisions in Tuesdays primary election. Theyre choosing candidates for a new governor as Jerry Brown retires from a lifetime in politics, and theyre choosing whether to nominate Senator Dianne Feinstein for a sixth term. And in seven Republican districts that favored Hillary Clinton in 2016, theyre choosing whether to send Democrats to Washington instead. New York Times photographers in each of these districts spoke to voters to find out what is motivating them and what message they hope the results on Tuesday send. I think its important to have a say in the community that we build, said Kennedy Monterroza, an 18-year-old Democrat from Oceanside, in the 49th District. She is voting for the first time on Tuesday. That is the first level of making a change in the country as a whole, she said.Follow live coverage from Times journalists as voters head to the polls.The 49th DistrictImageCredit...Hilary Swift for The New York TimesI thoroughly approve of the direction were going, said Nina Eaton, a Republican from Carlsbad. Im a pretty happy person to see things progressing and not in stalemate anymore. The 39th DistrictImageCredit...Kayla Reefer for The New York TimesDaniel Briones, 19, canvassed in Fullerton for Andy Thorburn, a Democrat running in the 39th District, on Monday. He believes Mr. Thorburn is the only viable progressive candidate in the race. Theres a need for this district to go blue, Mr. Briones said. The 48th DistrictImageCredit...Jenna Schoenefeld for The New York TimesHarold Reed of Costa Mesa mailed in his ballot for the primary. The 79-year-old Republican said he likes to feel that his vote will influence the outcome of the election, but he also wants members of his party to work with Democrats. We just have to be together, and I dont think we are together on a lot of stuff, he said. The 10th District ImageCredit...Josh Haner/The New York Times""You cant have change without voting, said Diane Bonkofsky, 67, of Tracy. Ms. Bonkofsky said she was undecided among the six Democrats running for Congress there. She said she values experience and sets realistic expectations. Usually when somebody says theyre going to do too much or do something that sounds impossible, theyre pretty much a liar, she said.The 25th DistrictImageCredit...Rozette Rago for The New York TimesUnless Im giving my input about who I want in office, I cant complain, said Allyson Sagardia, a Democrat in Santa Clarita. She is voting for the first time on Tuesday. The 21st DistrictImageCredit...Ryan Christopher Jones for The New York TimesJennifer Stephens-Bonds, 34, said she would be voting on Tuesday to make sure tax dollars are going to the right place. Ms. Stephens-Bond is a social worker in Hanford and is registered as a Democrat.The 45th DistrictImageCredit...Eric Thayer for The New York TimesJocelyn Ruiz, 20, of Tustin, says she is voting to express her own view and opinion. Ms. Ruiz is a Democrat, but she doesnt have a specific message in mind for the results of Tuesdays primaries. If it does good, its for the better, she said.",3
"Credit Photo Illustration by Getty Images Divorce can be a moment of liberation, or of devastation. In some countries, a rising divorce rate can be interpreted as a sign of women gaining control over their finances and future. In others, a woman who chooses to leave a bad marriage risks economic ruin, or even the loss of her children. Not all women even have this choice. In some communities and parts of the world, women lack any say in the decision to end their marriage. No matter where one lives, divorce is a deeply personal decision. But it is also one that plays out in public and has profound social and political implications. Wed like to hear from women around the world who have grappled with the decision to divorce or stay in an unhappy marriage, or whose spouse chose to initiate a divorce. What factors went into your decision, and what have been the repercussions? We may publish a selection of the responses. Sorry, but this form is no longer accepting submissions. More on NYTimes.com",6
"Science|How Does an (English) Garden Grow?https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/05/science/english-gardens.htmlQ&AJune 5, 2017Credit...Victoria RobertsQ. How can the famous English gardens grow so well with the cloud cover that always seems to be hanging over them?A. Contrary to popular myths, England is not constantly shrouded by rain clouds, said Rowan Blaik, the director of living collections at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. As an English gardener in New York, Id say theres not an awful lot of difference between the opportunities to successfully garden here and in England.As for the hours of solar radiation needed to power photosynthesis, the Met Office, Britains government weather and climate recorders, keeps a national record of sunshine hours, Mr. Blaik said.Their most recent long-term average climate data, spanning 1981 to 2010, found a considerable range of sunshine durations. Ventnor Botanic Garden on the Isle of Wight, just off the south coast of England, received a long-term daily average of 8.3 hours of sunlight in July, compared with 5.4 hours for Cragside, Northumbria, in the northeast.Britain has one big advantage in that it has only one climate zone, temperate, Mr. Blaik said, which is ideal for growing plants.This is especially fortunate, Mr. Blaik said, as the United Kingdom as a whole has just over 1,400 native plant species. Plant introductions from other temperate zones around the world helped give the nation such a rich horticultural history, he said.Todd Forrest, the vice president for horticulture and living collections at The New York Botanical Garden, agreed that for much of Britain throughout the year, climate conditions are ideal for a remarkable range of temperate zone garden plants.There is enough sunshine, warmth and water to support steady plant growth and flowering but not so much to spur the sort of rank growth found in warmer, wetter climates, Mr. Forrest said. Winter temperatures are cool enough to promote dormancy, but not so frigid as to cause massive winter kills.",7
"Olympics|Jamaican Bobsledders Are Back, With Fans Helphttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/07/sports/olympics/jamaican-bobsledders-are-back-with-fans-help.htmlCredit...Jae C. Hong/Associated PressFeb. 6, 2014KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia When Winston Watts put on his helmet to begin Jamaicas first trip down an Olympic bobsled track in 12 years, he was surprised by what he felt in his eyes. It was not tears of emotion; no, this substance was grittier and chalkier. After a moment, he figured it out: He had protein powder dribbling down his face.Our bags were lost on the flight over, he explained at the end of Thursdays training session. They showed up at midnight last night. But everything was opened. I dont know who it was security, I guess they opened up everything. The bottle was sealed, too they took off the top and broke the seal, and powder was everywhere.Despite the powder in his eyes and a travel nightmare that included a connecting flight through Kennedy Airport that was diverted because of snow in the New York metropolitan area Watts maintained relentless positivity. He and his brakeman, Marvin Dixon, missed the first day of bobsled training because their equipment arrived late, but that did not damper Wattss spirit.As something of a celebrity ambassador for bobsled because of the popularity of the cult-classic film Cool Runnings, Watts said he believed the Jamaicans presence enhanced the mood of the entire bobsled community.When Jamaica is not around, they are not happy we make people smile all the time, he said. We are loving and caring. We are from the sunshine!Certainly the Jamaicans popularity is undeniable. After qualifying for the Sochi Games, Watts and Dixon began a fund-raising drive mostly via the Internet to raise money for better equipment and other expenses that come with competing in the Olympics. The efforts raised about $178,000, Watts said, a figure that far exceeded their expectations and ultimately led the Jamaicans to politely ask their fans to stop donating.We are not greedy, Watts said. Our fans were amazing and we are here and we have better equipment. We are happy.Watts would not speculate on how well he thought he and Dixon would do in the two-man bobsled competition, which begins Feb. 16. He did, however, point out that his country has a strong history of going fast on tracks, albeit of a slightly different sort.When asked if Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter who has dominated the world track and field circuit, would make a suitable bobsled teammate, Watts beamed.Watts said that he had not heard from Bolt Hes a busy guy, he doesnt have any time to text me but that he would surely welcome him if Bolt ever decided to seek Olympic glory in the winter instead of the summer.He could be a very good pusher, Watts said. But I think hes not a person who likes cold.",4
"Transgender Sgt. Patricia King I'll Give Trump a Chance to Make Good At State of Union Address 1/30/2018 TMZ.com Transgender Army Staff Sergeant Patricia King has a seat for the State of the Union Address, and says she's going with an open mind, despite President Trump's attempted transgender ban in the military. Sgt. King's been serving for 20 years, and will be Rep. Joe Kennedy's guest. Although Joe's delivering the Democratic response to Trump ... she tells us she's not taking sides. The sarge insists she'll give the Prez the benefit of the doubt heading into his first State of the Union. Why so forgiving? King explained it's the same reason she puts on her uniform every day.",1
"Researchers identified a protein in the fluid that could boost the cognition of aging animals and might lead to future treatments for people.Credit...Jeff Roberson/Associated PressMay 11, 2022Five years ago, Tal Iram, a young neuroscientist at Stanford University, approached her supervisor with a daring proposal: She wanted to extract fluid from the brain cavities of young mice and to infuse it into the brains of older mice, testing whether the transfers could rejuvenate the aging rodents.Her supervisor, Tony Wyss-Coray, famously had shown that giving old animals blood from younger ones could counteract and even reverse some of the effects of aging. But the idea of testing that principle with cerebrospinal fluid, the hard-to-reach liquid that bathes the brain and spinal cord, struck him as such a daunting technical feat that trying it bordered on foolhardy.When we discussed this initially, I said, This is so difficult that Im not sure this is going to work, Dr. Wyss-Coray said.Dr. Iram persevered, working for a year just to figure out how to collect the colorless liquid from mice. On Wednesday, she reported the tantalizing results in the journal Nature: A week of infusions of young cerebrospinal fluid improved the memories of older mice.The finding was the latest indication that making brains resistant to the unrelenting changes of older age might depend less on interfering with specific disease processes and more on trying to restore the brains environment to something closer to its youthful state.It highlights this notion that cerebrospinal fluid could be used as a medium to manipulate the brain, Dr. Iram said.Turning that insight into a treatment for humans, though, is a more formidable challenge, the authors of the study said. The earlier studies about how young blood can reverse some signs of aging have led to recent clinical trials in which blood donations from younger people were filtered and given to patients with Alzheimers or Parkinsons disease.But exactly how successful those treatments might be, much less how widely they can be used, remains unclear, scientists said. And the difficulties of working with cerebrospinal fluid are steeper than those involved with blood. Infusing the fluid of a young human into an older patient is probably not possible; extracting the liquid generally requires a spinal tap, and scientists say that there are ethical questions about how to collect enough cerebrospinal fluid for infusions.While there are theoretically other ways of achieving similar benefits such as delivering a critical protein in the fluid that the researchers identified or making a small molecule that mimics that protein those approaches face their own challenges.Jeffery Haines, a biochemist who has studied cerebrospinal fluid and multiple sclerosis at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, said that the study had elegantly identified how certain ingredients in the fluid might promote memory. But he said the general publics appetite for anti-aging drugs was outpacing the science.In general, people are looking for the Holy Grail of aging, and they think there is going to be a magical factor thats being secreted thats just going to reverse this thing, he said. I dont think its that simple.Cerebrospinal fluid made for a logical target for researchers interested in aging. It nourishes brain cells, and its composition changes with age. Unlike blood, the fluid sits close to the brain.But for years, scientists saw the fluid largely as a way of recording changes associated with aging, rather than countering its effects. Tests of cerebrospinal fluid, for example, have helped to identify levels of abnormal proteins in patients with significant memory loss who went on to develop Alzheimers disease. Scientists knew that there were also health-promoting proteins in cerebrospinal fluid, but identifying their locations and precise effects seemed out of reach.For one thing, scientists said, it was difficult to track changes in the fluid, which the body continuously replenished. And collecting it from mice while avoiding contaminating the fluid with even trace amounts of their blood was extremely challenging.The field has lagged decades behind other areas of neuroscience, said Maria Lehtinen, who studies cerebrospinal fluid at Boston Childrens Hospital and is the co-author of a commentary in Nature about the new mouse study. Largely this is because of the technical limitations in studying a fluid thats deep inside the brain, and that turns over continuously.Dr. Iram was undaunted. She set about taking the liquid from 10-week-old mice, cutting above their necks and drawing out fluid from a tiny cavity near the back of the brain while trying not to puncture any blood vessels or poke the brain itself.When she was successful, Dr. Iram said, the result was about 10 microliters of cerebrospinal fluid roughly one-fifth of the size of a drop of water. To collect enough for infusions, she had to do the procedure on many hundreds of mice, taming the technical challenges that Dr. Wyss-Coray had warned of by sheer force of repetition.I like doing these types of studies that require a lot of perseverance, Dr. Iram said. I just set on a goal, and I dont stop.To infuse the young cerebrospinal fluid into old mice, Dr. Iram drilled a tiny hole in their skulls and implanted a pump below the skin on their upper backs. For comparison, a separate group of old mice was infused with artificial cerebrospinal fluid.A few weeks later, the mice were exposed to cues a tone and a flashing light that they had earlier learned to associate with shocks to their feet. The animals that had received the young cerebrospinal fluid infusion tended to freeze for longer, suggesting that they had preserved stronger memories of the original foot shocks.This is a very cool study that looks scientifically solid to me, said Matt Kaeberlein, a biologist who studies aging at the University of Washington and was not involved in the research. This adds to the growing body of evidence that its possible, perhaps surprisingly easy, to restore function in aged tissues by targeting the mechanisms of biological aging.Dr. Iram tried to determine how the young cerebrospinal fluid was helping to preserve memory by analyzing the hippocampus, a portion of the brain dedicated to memory formation and storage. Treating the old mice with the fluid, she found, had a strong effect on cells that act as precursors to oligodendrocytes, which produce layers of fat known as myelin that insulate nerve fibers and ensure strong signal connections between neurons.The authors of the study homed in on a particular protein in the young cerebrospinal fluid that appeared involved in setting off the chain of events that led to stronger nerve insulation. Known as fibroblast growth factor 17, or FGF17, the protein could be infused into older cerebrospinal fluid and could partially replicate the effects of young fluid, the study found.Even more strikingly, blocking the protein in young mice appeared to impair their brain function, offering stronger evidence that FGF17 affects cognition and changes with age.The study strengthened the case that breakdowns in myelin formation were related to age-associated memory loss. That is something of a departure from the longstanding focus on the fatty insulation in the context of diseases like multiple sclerosis.Some scientists said that knowing one of the proteins responsible for the effects of young spinal fluid could open the door to potential treatments based on that protein. At the same time, recent technological advances have brought scientists closer to observing changes in cerebrospinal fluid in real time, helping them peel back the layers of complexity and mystery surrounding this fluid, Dr. Lehtinen said.Still, scientists cautioned that those treatments would not materialize anytime soon. Among the difficulties are understanding what other proteins might be involved and figuring out how to harness their effects without causing separate problems.But Dr. Wyss-Coray said that the study filled a critical gap in the understanding of how the brains environment changes as people age.The question is, How can you maintain cognitive health until you die? How can you make the brain resilient to this relentless degeneration of the body? he said, and what a growing number of studies show is that as we learn more about the aging process itself, maybe we can slow down aspects of aging and maintain tissue integrity or even rejuvenate tissues.",7
"His method of boosting immune protection in babies helped save seven million lives. But he never profited from it. Credit...NIH photographyPublished Dec. 17, 2019Updated Dec. 19, 2019Dr. John B. Robbins, a pioneer in vaccinology and one of the inventors of the first effective defense against a form of meningitis that once killed more than a thousand infants a day worldwide, died on Nov. 27 at his home in Manhattan. He was 86.The cause was prostate cancer, his son Robert said.By some estimates, Dr. Robbinss vaccine against the illness, called Hib meningitis, has saved seven million lives since it was licensed in 1989. Pediatricians who worked in the pre-vaccine days remember feeling their hearts sink when they saw Hib bacteria under a microscope in a babys spinal fluid. It meant that, even with antibiotics, the child was at risk of permanent brain damage, deafness or death.Before the vaccine, Hib meningitis killed about 400,000 children a year, according to the World Health Organization.Since then, the disease has been largely relegated to the medical history books. The vaccine is now given in more than 180 countries; in the United States there is now only about one case of Hib meningitis a year for every million children under age 5, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The chief discovery made by Dr. Robbins and his longtime collaborator, Dr. Rachel Schneerson, is also now used to strengthen vaccines against typhoid fever, whooping cough, lethal E. coli bacteria, Clostridium difficile and anthrax.That discovery, known as conjugation, involves attaching proteins to the polysaccharides complex sugars on the bacteriums outer capsule. Conjugated pairs of proteins and sugars are much more visible to infants immature immune systems and help them generate protective antibodies. Two weeks before Dr. Robbins died, the first large rollout of a conjugate typhoid fever vaccine, which he had also helped invent, began, with 10 million children in Pakistan inoculated, according to Dr. Anita Zaidi, an expert on intestinal diseases at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which funded research on that vaccine. Dr. Robbins and Dr. Schneerson also conceived of an unusual vaccine for stopping malaria outbreaks: Instead of attacking malaria parasites in a persons blood, the vaccine would be picked up from recipients by mosquitoes that bit them. The vaccine would then attack the parasites in the mosquitoes midguts, making them unable to infect anyone else.Unlike some vaccine researchers, Dr. Robbins and Dr. Schneerson never got rich from their inventions. We had a notion a wrong notion, maybe that public money went into making it, so it should be free to the public, Dr. Schneerson said in a phone interview. Why wrong? Because immediately someone else did a little modification and applied for a patent.Also, she added, in the days when they did their breakthrough research, the N.I.H. had only one single lawyer, who was not interested in vaccines. Now, she said, theres lots of lawyers who say every day, What can we patent?Dr. Robbins conducted research on the Bethesda, Md., campus of the National Institutes of Health from 1970 until his retirement at age 80 in 2012, either for the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development or in the Food and Drug Administrations biologics laboratories there.He won many awards jointly with Dr. Schneerson, including the 1996 Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award, the 2006 Pasteur Award from the World Health Organization and Thailands 2017 Prince Mahidol Foundation Award for Public Health. (Some were also shared with Porter W. Anderson and Dr. David H. Smith, who developed the polysaccharide components of the Hib vaccine.) Until the 1980s, vaccines against bacterial diseases were often made from whole bacteria or their toxins that had to be killed or weakened. They could be dangerous: Some occasionally induced high fevers that could trigger convulsions. Worse, if a manufacturing failure left any full-strength bacteria alive, children could die.The next generation of vaccines, made of just the surface polysaccharides, were safer. But they rarely worked in children under age 2, who were the most at risk. Dr. Robbinss conjugate Hib vaccine protected babies as young as 2 months old. Hib stands for Haemophilus influenzae type b. Hib bacteria got their name because they were first isolated during the 1889 flu pandemic; until 1933, they were believed to be the cause of influenza. Flu is actually a virus; Hib is a common secondary infection that may be lethal if it reaches the bloodstream or brain.John Bennet Robbins was born in Brooklyn on Dec. 1, 1932, to Harry Robbins and Matilda (Bender) Robbins, owners of the Cornell Paper and Box Company in the boroughs Red Hook section. His paternal grandfather, Philip Rabinowitz, who emigrated to America, was the last of a line of prominent rabbis from Minsk, in what is now Belarus. However, Robert Robbins said, he lost his American rabbinical post for publicly supporting labor unions, which some members of his congregation opposed.My grandfather was one of eight children of an out-of-work rabbi, so he dropped out of school to work, Mr. Robbins said. He took a job in the Brooklyn dockyards. Harry changed his surname to Robbins, Dr. Schneerson said, because at 16 he was beaten up by co-workers after winning a promotion.Its O.K. to be Jewish, but you dont have to die for it, she said Dr. Robbins had quoted his father as saying. Robert Robbins said that the familys box company survived until 2012, when Hurricane Sandy flooded Red Hook, wiping out much of its inventory. Dr. Robbins received his undergraduate and medical degrees from New York University and did his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. While trained as a pediatrician, he soon gravitated toward research, working at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and teaching at Albert Einstein Medical School in the Bronx before joining the National Institutes of Health.In 1956 he married Joan Cannon, who survives him. Besides his son Robert, he is also survived by two other sons, Daniel and David; a daughter, Ellen Taxman; a brother, Marc; nine grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.Ms. Taxman said that Dr. Robbins had been such an advocate of vaccines that he made sure his children received every new one to be invented. I felt like a human pincushion, she said.During the 1976 swine flu scare, she remembered, when an experimental new vaccine was scarce, he brought vials of it to the annual staff holiday party he gave at his house.Every attendee was offered an injection and a T-shirt with a picture of Porky Pig saying I got my shot! on it.That was his idea of a holiday gift, she said.On one important ethical issue for vaccinologists, so-called challenge trials, friends remain divided on Dr. Robbinss position. In those trials, healthy volunteers are given an experimental vaccine and then challenged by being deliberately infected with the target disease to see if the vaccine works. Challenge trials can speed up vaccine approval, but of course they may be done only with curable diseases.Dr. Schneerson and another former colleague, Dr. Roger I. Glass, the director of the N.I.H.s Fogarty International Center, said that Dr. Robbins had always been morally opposed to challenge trials. Why take people and put them in a position of potential harm? Dr. Schneerson said. Besides, a challenge is not exactly what happens in nature, and what you want to prevent is what happens naturally.But Dr. Myron M. Levine, a former Robbins protg now at the University of Maryland Medical School who has conducted many clinical trials, said that at one time Dr. Robbins had supported challenge trials, and that he had twisted his arm to do one such trial of a struggling predecessor of what ultimately became the typhoid vaccine now being used in Pakistan.I explained to John how complicated it was, he said. You couldnt let people walk around excreting typhoid, so it would have meant monthlong stays in the hospital for them. It wasnt something we could do. He changed his mind later.",2
"Drew Carey Closest to Falling Off Stage Without Going Over 1/24/2018 CBS Drew Carey ... COME ON DOWN!!! To the ground. ""The Price is Right"" host might be nursing sore ribs after falling victim to a massive fail during Wednesday's show. A woman named Sona won the prelim round, and went HAM on Drew. Luckily for the host, a light fixture kept him from toppling completely off the stage after the wild bear hug -- or this vid would be a lot less funny. Carey popped up like a true pro. Sona was okay, too, and went on to win a treadmill and $2,000. Drew won bumps and bruises.",1
"Health|The C.D.C. now says fully vaccinated people should get tested after exposure even if they dont show symptoms.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/28/health/cdc-covid-testing-vaccine.htmlThe C.D.C. now says fully vaccinated people should get tested after exposure even if they dont show symptoms.Credit...Octavio Jones for The New York TimesPublished July 28, 2021Updated July 30, 2021In addition to revising its mask guidance on Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also quietly updated its testing recommendations for people who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.The agency now advises that vaccinated people be tested for the virus if they come into contact with someone with Covid-19, even if they have no symptoms. Previously, the health agency had said that fully vaccinated people did not need to be tested after exposure to the virus unless they were experiencing symptoms.Our updated guidance recommends vaccinated people get tested upon exposure regardless of symptoms, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the agencys director, said in an email to The New York Times. Testing is widely available.Fully vaccinated people should wear a mask in public indoor spaces after exposure, the agency said. Three to five days later, they should be tested for the virus.If the results come back negative, they can stop wearing masks indoors. If results are positive, the infected should isolate at home for 10 days.Although people who are fully vaccinated may still get infected with the virus, these breakthrough infections tend to be mild or asymptomatic. The vaccines authorized in the United States provide strong protection against the worst outcomes, including severe disease, hospitalization and death, including from the Delta variant.The new testing recommendation came on the same day that the agency recommended that fully vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors under some circumstances. When levels of community transmission are high, everyone, regardless of vaccination status, should wear masks indoors when they are in public, the agency now says.The agency also recommended that vaccinated people in close contact with unvaccinated people, including children under age 12, consider wearing masks in public indoor spaces whatever the transmission rates in the local community. In a shift, the agency also recommended universal masking in schools.For months, the C.D.C. had resisted recommending masks for vaccinated people, even as the highly contagious Delta variant spread and the World Health Organization recommended continued mask wearing.The change was prompted by new data suggesting that even vaccinated people who are infected by Delta may carry large amounts of the virus and transmit it to others, Dr. Walensky said at a news briefing on Tuesday.Apoorva Mandavilli contributed reporting.",2
"Credit...Vincent Yu/Associated PressDec. 11, 2015The Alibaba Group, the Chinese Internet giant, is making an ambitious play to reshape media coverage of its home country, taking aim at what company executives call the negative portrayal of China in the Western media.As the backbone of this effort, Alibaba agreed on Friday to buy the media assets of the SCMP Group, including one of Hong Kongs most influential English language daily newspapers, The South China Morning Post. Alibaba is acquiring an award-winning newspaper that for decades has reported aggressively on subjects that Chinas state-run media outlets are forbidden to cover, like political scandals and human-rights cases.Alibaba said the deal was fueled by a desire to improve Chinas image and offer an alternative to what it calls the biased lens of Western news outlets. While Alibaba said the Chinese government had no role in its deal to buy the Hong Kong newspaper, the companys position aligns closely with that of the Communist Party, which has grown increasingly critical of the way Western news organizations cover China.This coverage, the company said, influences how investors and others outside China regard Alibaba. The company said its shares, which are listed in New York, were being affected by all the negative reports about China.Our business is so rooted in China, and touches so many aspects of the Chinese economy, that when people dont really understand China and have the wrong perception of China, they also have a lot of misconceptions about Alibaba, Joseph C. Tsai, Alibabas executive vice chairman, said in an interview.Whats good for China is also good for Alibaba, Mr. Tsai added. He echoed a phrase often attributed to the former head of General Motors: Whats good for G.M. is good for America. For Alibaba, the financial stakes are not significant. Estimated to be worth $100 million, the deal represents a relatively small amount for a company with more than $12 billion in annual revenue.The bigger risk is reputational, as Alibaba leaps into the realm of politics. In owning The South China Morning Post, Alibaba will control a news organization that operates along a border that separates two systems, one in Hong Kong with a relatively free press and another in mainland China with strict censorship controls.As speculation of a deal began in recent weeks, some critics in Hong Kong had already started to worry about whether Alibaba was seeking to tame the papers coverage in order to curry favor with the Chinese leadership.The newspaper, which is not subject to Chinas strict censorship rules, has long jumped into controversial issues on the mainland like covering the anniversary of the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and last years Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong. The newspaper has delved into scandals among Chinas elite, including Ling Jihua, who served as an aide to the former Chinese president Hu Jintao.Willy Lam, a political commentator and former editor at the South China Morning Post, said an Alibaba takeover would most likely exacerbate a trend at the paper toward self-censorship on sensitive political issues.Alibaba, however, said it had no intention of interfering with the day-to-day operations of the paper and would not censor articles. The company said it would ensure the papers journalistic independence and integrity.ImageCredit...Kin Cheung/Associated PressWell operate on principles, said Mr. Tsai of Alibaba. Well let the editors make their judgment on what to publish and not to publish. I cant think of anything being off-limits.But Mr. Tsai did not offer details about how Alibaba would execute its vision for more positive coverage on China without sacrificing editorial independence, two agendas that are seemingly at odds. He said that more fair and accurate articles would translate, over time, into a more positive image of the country.With a print circulation of 100,000, The South China Morning Post is relatively small. But the newspaper, which is 112 years old, has outsize influence in the West because of its proximity to China and its English language format.Since 1993, the SCMP Group has been controlled by the family of the Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok, who has extensive business interests in China through its control of the Kerry Group. The South China Morning Post was once controlled by Rupert Murdochs News Corporation.In addition to The South China Morning Post, Alibaba is also buying the SCMP Groups other media assets, including a portfolio of fashion, travel and lifestyle publications. (Starting in February, copies of The International New York Times for Hong Kong and China will be printed by The South China Morning Post.)But the SCMP Group, like many media operations around the world, is facing financial pressure. The newspapers print circulation has dipped, and its profit growth has been lackluster.Alibaba said it planned to invest in the business, by expanding the staff and developing more digital ventures. The company is also looking to remove the websites paywall, granting free access to its content. (In 2013, another e-commerce giant, Jeffrey Bezos, the founder of Amazon, purchased The Washington Post.) Shares of Alibaba were 5.4 percent lower in trading on Wall Street Friday.Some free press advocates worry that a mainland entrepreneur could face intense pressure from the Chinese government to restrict news coverage or to follow directives of the propaganda arm of the Communist Party. In recent years, there have been growing concerns in Hong Kong that the Chinese government has asked entrepreneurs and advertisers to withdraw support of any publication that is deemed to be hostile to the Communist Party.Alibaba and Jack Ma have done a good job in maintaining good relations with the power structure and not getting involved in politics, said Orville Schell, a director at the Asia Society, referring to Alibabas executive chairman.But buying a newspaper, particularly in Hong Kong, could be hazardous, he said, adding, China is always tempted when things go wrong to take control.Alibabas move reflects a broader evolution in China, as some of the countrys biggest companies look to project a different image to the world.A number of Chinese companies have been making investments in overseas media, film studios and sports broadcasting rights. For instance, the Wanda Group, a company led by the billionaire Wang Jianlin, now controls AMC Entertainment, one of the biggest cinema chains in the United States.ImageCredit...Christophe Petit Tesson/European Pressphoto AgencyThe SCMP deal builds on the enormous ambitions of Mr. Ma, who co-founded the company in 1999 and built it into an e-commerce goliath that is now valued at more than $200 billion.In recent years, the company has expanded into finance, film, online video and social media. The company has also acquired stakes in several domestic media properties, including China Business News. Alibaba also recently completed a deal to fully acquire the online video site Youku.com. (Yahoo, the American online media company, owns a 15 percent stake in Alibaba.)Behind the scenes, Eric X. Li, the prominent Shanghai-based venture capitalist who was an early investor in Youku, helped advise Alibaba on its acquisition of SCMP Groups media assets. Mr. Li has gained notoriety in recent years as a political commentator known for aggressively critiquing American-style democracy and extolling the virtues of the Communist Party, like Chinas leadership system.Chinas re-emergence is perhaps the most consequential development for the world in the 21st century, Mr. Li said in an interview. Media coverage of China in the West has been too ideological and biased.He said Alibabas ownership would give the paper a unique and powerful vantage point to offer global readers a more pluralistic and realistic view of China.Big Chinese companies have been investing in media properties at a time when the countrys authorities have been exerting greater control over the state-run news and social networking sites, as well as blocking access to overseas sites like Google and Facebook. The websites of several major news organizations, including The New York Times, have been blocked in China, amid government criticism that the Western media portrays the country in a negative and unfair way.In an interview, Mr. Tsai, tempered his critique, saying the Western media has done some outstanding reporting in China in recent years. But he and others at Alibaba felt many outlets have placed undue emphasis on government incompetence and negative portrayals of Chinas development.He said Alibaba wanted to deepen the worlds understanding of China, by turning The South China Morning Post into a global platform for news about China.Theres very little downside. Even if we lose money, it wont be material, Mr. Tsai said. But the upside is quite interesting.",0
"Credit...Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center UtrechtNov. 12, 2016Researchers have designed a system that lets a patient with late-stage Lou Gehrigs disease type words using brain signals alone.The patient, Hanneke De Bruijne, a doctor of internal medicine from the Netherlands, received a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as A.L.S. or Lou Gehrigs disease, in 2008. The neurons controlling her voluntary muscles were dying, and eventually she developed a condition called locked-in syndrome. In this state, she is cognitively aware, but nearly all of her voluntary muscles, except for her eyes, are paralyzed, and she has lost the ability to speak.In 2015, a group of researchers offered an option to help her communicate. Their idea was to surgically implant a brain-computer interface, a system that picks up electrical signals in her brain and relays them to software she can use to type out words.Its like a remote control in the brain, said Nick Ramsey, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands and one of the researchers leading the study. On Saturday, the research team reported in The New England Journal of Medicine that Ms. De Bruijne independently controlled the computer typing program seven months after surgery. Using the system, she is able to spell two or three words a minute.This is the worlds first totally implanted brain-computer interface system that someone has used in her daily life with some success, said Dr. Jonathan R. Wolpaw, the director of the National Center for Adaptive Neurotechnologies in Albany.The study was partly supported by funds from Medtronic, an international medical technology company, which also provided the components for Ms. De Bruijnes implant. One of the papers authors is also a Medtronic employee, though the team notes in its report that he was not involved in the interpretation of the results.The brain-computer interface is not Ms. De Bruijnes only communication tool. For a couple of years, she has used another device that lets her select items on a computer screen by tracking her eye movements. With this system, she can spell five to 10 letters a minute.The eye tracker has a major drawback, though. Whenever the light levels in her surroundings change, the device must be recalibrated. This makes use outdoors difficult. Worried that she would not be able to alert her caregiver to pressing needs without a communication tool, she avoided going outside, Dr. Ramsey said.ImageCredit...Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht.Thats where we found our system really kicks in, he added. With it, she feels confident she can spell words for immediate needs, like an itch or saliva building up, or more urgent things, like her respirator giving her problems.Ms. De Bruijnes inability to move comes from a disconnect between her brain and muscles. Though she has lost the ability to move, her brain still generates an increase in electricity when she thinks about doing so. The brain-computer interface capitalizes on this.Electrodes on her motor cortex, the region of her brain that controls voluntary movement, detect small electrical spikes when Ms. De Bruijnes tries to move her right hand. Specifically, when she thinks about bringing her right thumb and ring finger together, wires transmit a signal to a typing software.The software displays four rows of letters on a tablet highlighting one row at a time. When it gets to the row Ms. De Bruijne wants, she makes a brain click by thinking about the hand gesture. Then the program goes along the selected row, left to right. When the correct letter is highlighted, she makes another click. Letter by letter, she spells out her thoughts.Some researchers have concerns about whether the systems benefits are worth the risk of surgery.Because she can use an eye tracker, the brain-computer interface is not necessary for Ms. De Bruijne to communicate, said Niels Birbaumer, a professor of medical psychology and neurobiology at the University of Tbingen in Germany. Dr. Birbaumer added that other noninvasive brain-computer interfaces had been shown to perform the same function as the communication system from Dr. Ramseys team.There are always dangers with surgery, acknowledged John Donoghue, a professor of neuroscience at Brown University and the founding director of the Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering. He added, however, that he thought the risks of this one were not significantly greater than those associated with more common procedures, such as deep-brain stimulation to treat Parkinsons disease, or placement of pacemakers for heart arrhythmias.Moreover, Dr. Donoghue said, Dr. Ramseys group used a safe, commercial device that the Food and Drug Administration has approved for treating Parkinsons disease and essential tremor, a neurological disorder that causes involuntary and rhythmic shaking.An invasive device holds two advantages over noninvasive methods, Dr. Ramsey said. First, an implant picks up a stronger, more reliable signal because it sits directly on the brain. Second, noninvasive systems require elaborate external electrode setups, while an implant can simply stay in place and work all the time, he said.In time, Dr. Ramsey said, he would like to see whether this system can aid people who are totally locked in, meaning they have also lost the ability to move their eyes and, unlike Ms. De Bruijne, do not have the option of using alternative eye-tracking technology.The results look promising, said Jeremy Hill, a researcher at Burke Medical Research Institute in White Plains and the director of neurotechnology at Blythedale Childrens Hospital. Ive been waiting for someone to make this breakthrough for a while, and Im very pleased this group has. I think it opens the door to greater things.",7
"TrilobitesThe only known cannibal among dinosaurs replaced its pearly whites more often than scientists expected, and so did some other carnivores.Credit...Corey Ford/AlamyDec. 6, 2019If there was a tooth fairy in the Cretaceous, dinosaurs kept it busy. Unlike humans, which lose just one set of teeth over a lifetime, dinosaurs often lost tens or even hundreds of sets.Plant-eating dinosaurs had to chew lots of tough material to sustain their large bodies, causing them to frequently replace their teeth. But researchers were surprised to discover fossil evidence recently that showed that a carnivorous dinosaur the only known cannibal replaced its chompers even more frequently than some herbivores. The dinosaurs propensity for chewing on the bones of its prey might have even contributed to its rapid tooth replacement rate, scientists hypothesized. These results were published late last month in the journal PLoS One.The research centered on several meat-eating dinosaurs, but Majungasaurus crenatissimus was really the star of carnivorous dinosaur dentition. This roughly 20-foot-long apex predator, which lived on what is now Madagascar about 70 million years ago, left behind a particularly plentiful fossil record. Several complete skeletons, hundreds of fragmentary skeletons and tens of thousands of shed teeth have been found.Thats pretty unheard-of, said Michael D. DEmic, a vertebrate paleontologist at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, who led the study.He and his colleagues also studied fossils of Ceratosaurus and Allosaurus, carnivores that prowled what is now the western United States about 150 million years ago.Dr. DEmic and his team started by cutting 21 Majungasaurus, Ceratosaurus and Allosaurus teeth into thin slices using a diamond-tipped saw. They counted fine lines in the dentin, the erstwhile living tissue of the teeth. These lines, each about a fifth the width of a human hair, reflect new layers of tooth tissue that were laid down each day, Dr. DEmic said. Thats how much the tooth extended in length per day.By counting these lines, the researchers built a mathematical model to predict a tooths age based on its length.The scientists next used computed tomography scanning to image tooth-bearing jawbones of the three carnivores. They found multiple teeth on top of one another in tooth sockets, much like nestled ice cream cones. Crocodiles and sharks continually replace their teeth in the same way.Theyre basically stacked and ready to go, Dr. DEmic said.ImageCredit...DEmic et al./PLOS One, 2019The researchers measured the lengths of roughly 140 of these stacked teeth and estimated the ages of the teeth using their mathematical model.By taking the difference between the ages of successive stacked teeth, Dr. DEmic and his colleagues calculated the dinosaurs tooth replacement rates. Allosaurus and Ceratosaurus both had rates of roughly 100 days, meaning that, on average, a socket would get a fresh tooth about every three months.But Majungasaurus went through teeth about twice as fast, every 56 days on average, the team found.That wasnt predicted, Dr. DEmic said. All of the carnivorous dinosaurs with estimates of tooth replacement rates measured to date, albeit only three genera, had rates topping 275 days. Tyrannosaurus clocked in at 777 days.Its really surprising to see such elevated tooth replacement rates in a meat-eating dinosaur, said David Evans, a vertebrate paleontologist at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto who was not involved in the study. This is on the level of what wed expect to see in bulk feeding, high-fiber herbivores.Majungasaurus was clearly an outlier, Dr. DEmic and his collaborators concluded. But why?To answer that question, the researchers turned to bones. Fossil records from Madagascar have revealed scratches and gouges on the bones of other dinosaurs that match the tooth spacing of Majungasaurus. Its likely that Majungasaurus crenatissimus was chomping down on the bones of its prey, which included its own species.Their teeth were contacting bone a lot, said Dr. DEmic. They were wearing their teeth out so quickly that they were having herbivore-like replacement rates.These results shed light on Majungasaurus diet and help breathe life into a long-extinct animal, said Dr. DEmic. Were always learning things about dinosaurian biology that surprise us.",7
"The world is worried about the Delta virus variant. Studies show vaccines are effective against it.Credit...Jack Guez/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesPublished July 6, 2021Updated Aug. 25, 2021As the Delta variant sweeps the world, researchers are tracking how well vaccines protect against it and getting different answers.In Britain, researchers reported in May that two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had an effectiveness of 88 percent protecting against symptomatic disease from Delta. A June study from Scotland concluded that the vaccine was 79 percent effective against the variant. On Saturday, a team of researchers in Canada pegged its effectiveness at 87 percent.And on Monday, Israels Ministry of Health announced that the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 64 percent against all coronavirus infections, down from about 95 percent in May, before the Delta variant began its climb to near-total dominance in Israel.Although the range of these numbers may seem confusing, vaccine experts say it should be expected, because its hard for a single study to accurately pinpoint the effectiveness of a vaccine.We just have to take everything together as little pieces of a puzzle, and not put too much weight on any one number, said Natalie Dean, a biostatistician at Emory University.In clinical trials, its (relatively) easy to measure how well vaccines work. Researchers randomly assign thousands of volunteers to get either a vaccine or a placebo. If the vaccinated group has a lower risk of getting sick, scientists can be confident that its the vaccine that protected them.But once vaccines hit the real world, it becomes much harder to measure their effectiveness. Scientists can no longer control who receives a vaccine and who does not. If they compare a group of vaccinated people with a group of unvaccinated people, other differences between the groups could influence their risks of getting sick.Its possible, for example, that people who choose not to get vaccinated may be more likely to put themselves in situations where they could get exposed to the virus. On the other hand, older people may be more likely to be vaccinated but also have a harder time fending off an aggressive variant. Or an outbreak may hit part of a country where most people are vaccinated, leaving under-vaccinated regions unharmed.One way to rule out these alternative explanations is to compare each vaccinated person in a study with a counterpart who did not get the vaccine. Researchers often go to great lengths to find an unvaccinated match, looking for people who are of a similar age and health. They can even match people within the same neighborhood.It takes a huge effort, said Marc Lipsitch, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Health.For its new study, Israels Ministry of Health did not go to such great lengths to rule out other factors. I am afraid that the current Israeli MoH analysis cannot be used to safely assess it, one way or another, Uri Shalit, a senior lecturer at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, wrote on Twitter.Israels numbers could also be different because of who is getting tested. Much of the country is vaccinated. During local bursts of new infections, the government requires testing for anyone symptoms or not who came into contact with a person diagnosed with Covid-19. In other countries, its more common for people to get tested because theyre already feeling sick. This could mean that Israel is spotting more asymptomatic cases in vaccinated people than other places are, bringing their reported effectiveness rate down.Fortunately, all the studies so far agree that most Covid-19 vaccines are very effective at keeping people out of the hospital and have generally protected against the Delta variant. Israels Ministry of Health estimated that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is about 93 percent effective in preventing serious illness and hospitalization.Their overall implications are consistent: that protection against severe disease remains very high, said Naor Bar-Zeev, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.Because effectiveness studies are so tricky, it will take more work to determine how big a threat Delta poses to vaccines. Dr. Lipsitch said that studies from more countries would be required.If there are five studies with one outcome and one study with another, I think one can conclude that the five are probably more likely to be correct than the one, Dr. Lipsitch said.",7
"The Fat Jew Business Offer to LaVar Ball Let Me Be BBB's Plus-Size Model! 1/24/2018 TMZSports.com Big Ballers come in all shapes and sizes ... so IG superstar The Fat Jew says LaVar Ball should hire him to be an official brand ambassador for BBB!! ""If they want like a heavyset guy with, like, a Shrek kinda body ... I would be down to rep for BBB,"" Fat Jew told TMZ Sports. ""Yo, LaVar, let me know!"" Sounds like a joke, but we're pretty sure he's 100% serious. Fat Jew says he bought a pair of ZO2 slides in spite of their ridiculous price tag ... and ain't even mad they took almost a month to arrive. TFJ bleeds BBB. Your move, LaVar.",1
"Credit...Pool photo by Patrick KovarikMarch 21, 2017PARIS The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen clashed sharply with her probable presidential opponent, the centrist Emmanuel Macron, over immigration, integration and Frances role in the world, during a marathon televised debate Monday night, a vivid prelude to the election battle to come.Facing off for the first time in a five-candidate debate that stretched for three and a half hours, Ms. Le Pen and Mr. Macron offered the starkest of contrasts, with the National Front leader providing a dark picture of a France besieged by immigrants and Islam, and her rival preaching conciliation.The debate also included the three other main contenders the Socialist Benot Hamon, the Republicans Franois Fillon, and the far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mlenchon but it was the fight between Mr. Macron and Ms. Le Pen that riveted attention.Mr. Macron, a former economy minister who founded a political movement centered on jump-starting Frances stagnant economy, but who has never held an elected office, appeared flustered at times as Ms. Le Pen displayed a mocking smile.The first round of voting in the presidential election will be on April 23, and the top two candidates will advance to the second round on May 7. Opinion polls show that Mr. Macron and Ms. Le Pen are the most likely to make it to that runoff a result that would be a stunning rebuke for Frances two main political parties, the Socialists and the Republicans.Ms. Le Pen, inheritor of the anti-immigrant, populist National Front party from her father, concentrated her fire Monday night on her younger opponent.Mr. Macron, 39, has advanced more by offering a fresh face than by political savvy, and Ms. Le Pen, 48, sought to exploit his vulnerability, forcing him to define himself in opposition to her strident positions.She accused Mr. Macron of supporting the burkini, the full-body swimsuit at the center of a rancorous debate last summer over displays of the Muslim faith.Weve got Islamists in our country, Ms. Le Pen said. The demands are incessant, she said, citing food and clothing.An unsettled Mr. Macron shot back: Im not putting words in your mouth. I dont need a ventriloquist.The trap you are falling into, Madame Le Pen, with your provocations, is to divide society, he said, adding that she was making enemies out of more than four million French men and women whose religion happens to be Islam.The other three candidates present Monday night tried to get shots in at the two front-runners.Mr. Fillon was once favored to win the election, but he has been wounded by a series of scandals, most notably charges of embezzlement over allegations that he put family members on the government payroll for nonexistent jobs.He sought during the debate to project a reassuring image of gravity, but he was forced to acknowledge that he might have made some mistakes. Most recently, he was accused of accepting two suits worth 13,000 euros, or about $14,000, from a political fixer.That has left Mr. Fillon vulnerable to sly insinuations about his ethics. Mr. Hamon, for instance, pointedly described himself as someone who would be an honest and fair president, free from the influence of money and lobbies.Mr. Hamon, the Socialist candidate, has promised a guaranteed universal income and has spoken of cutting the already reduced French workweek, but his chances are thought to be lowered by the presence of Mr. Mlenchon, whose positions are largely similar.Ms. Le Pen, who also faces accusations related to fictional jobs, accused Mr. Mlenchon of being a Robespierre when he called on voters to reward the virtuous and punish those who dont seem so.Mr. Macron, for his part, projected an image of innocence and virtue, and Ms. Le Pen aimed directly for it, with the most savage blast of the evening aimed at his reputation for speaking at length but saying little.After a windy declaration by Mr. Macron on protecting Frances independence, Ms. Le Pen, whose campaign is centered on a withdrawal from the European Union, mockingly repeated the word before firing back.Youve spoken for seven minutes, and I have no idea what you said, she said. You havent said anything. Every time you talk, you take a little of this, and a little of that, and you never settle on anything.",6
"Grant Hill On Top Duke Recruit: Zion Ain't LeBron ... Yet 1/28/2018 TMZSports.com Zion Williamson is gonna be great at Duke ... but we gotta pump the breaks on hailing him as the next LeBron -- so says Grant Hill. We got the Duke legend at LAX a couple days after Zion committed to the Blue Devils ... and Grant was pumped on Coach K locking down yet another elite prospect. ""I hope the rims are ready in Cameron,"" Hill told TMZ Sports. But Grant says that even though Zion's got the tools to be a king -- athleticism, size, explosiveness -- expecting him to become THE King is too much, especially this early (remember O.J. Mayo??). Fair enough, but the kid definitely passes the eye test ...",1
"Health|Modernas Covid vaccine produces a strong immune response in younger children, the company said.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/25/health/moderna-covid-vaccine-children.htmlModernas Covid vaccine produces a strong immune response in younger children, the company said.Credit...Velocity Clinical Research/Via ReutersPublished Oct. 25, 2021Updated Nov. 9, 2021The coronavirus vaccine made by Moderna is safe and produces a powerful immune response in children 6 through 11, the company said on Monday.One month after immunization was complete, the children in Modernas trial had antibody levels that were 1.5 times higher than those seen in young adults, the company said.Moderna did not release the full data, nor are the results published in a peer-reviewed journal. The results were announced one day before an advisory committee of the Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to review data for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in children 5 through 11.Moderna tested two shots of the vaccine given 28 days apart in 4,753 children. They received 50 micrograms of vaccine, half the adult dose, in each shot. (Last week, based on data showing that the half dose is still highly effective, the F.D.A. authorized a booster shot of the Moderna vaccine at this dose.)Moderna submitted study results for the vaccines use for adolescents 12 through 17 in June, but the F.D.A. has not yet announced a decision for that age group. Some research indicates that the Moderna vaccine may increase the risk of a rare side effect called myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, in boys and young men. In July, the F.D.A. asked both Pfizer and Moderna to expand the size of their trials in order to detect less common side effects.In children aged 6 through 11, most of the side effects were mild or moderate; the most common were fatigue, headache, fever and pain at the injection site, Moderna said in its statement on Monday. An independent committee will continue to review the vaccines safety in the trial participants for 12 months after the second dose.Moderna is still recruiting children aged 2 through 5 and 6 months to under 2 years for trials of the vaccine in those age groups. The company has enrolled about 5,700 children in the United States and Canada in the trial.Moderna plans to submit the results soon to the F.D.A. and to regulatory agencies in Europe and elsewhere, the company said.",2
"Australia|Australian Police Stopped a Car for Unpaid Fuel. They Found a Nightmare.https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/world/australia/british-woman-raped-australia.htmlMarch 7, 2017When the police pulled over a car in the small Australian town of Mitchell, it was for what they believed was a straightforward matter: The driver was accused of filling the vehicles tank with gasoline and then leaving the station without paying for it.What they found, however, was by no means routine. Behind the wheel on Sunday was a 22-year-old woman from Britain in a distressed state with visible facial injuries. In the back of the sport utility vehicle was a man hiding under clothes and other items.The police said that the man, identified only as a 22-year-old from Cairns, in northeastern Australia, had kept the woman captive for two months, raping and assaulting her as they traveled for hundreds of miles across the state of Queensland.Detective Inspector Paul Hart of the Queensland Police said on Tuesday that the woman, a British citizen who reportedly came to Australia in 2015 but who has not been publicly identified, had been held against her will after a brief relationship with the suspect soured.What she has experienced is no doubt horrific and terrifying, Inspector Hart said, adding that the woman was being treated for facial fractures, scratches and bruises after being rescued on the Warrego Highway, about 350 miles from Brisbane, on the eastern coast of Australia.ImageCredit...Dave Hunt/European Pressphoto AgencyThe pair met at a party in Cairns in January, the police said, and appeared to be living in the vehicle.He had basically deprived her of her liberty, committed a number of offenses against her as they traveled around the state culminating in their location in Mitchell, Inspector Hart said at a news conference in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane.The man has been charged with several crimes, including rape, assault, strangulation, deprivation of liberty and drug offenses, that would have been quite traumatic, Inspector Hart said. The suspect was denied bail after appearing in court in Roma on Monday, the BBC reported.We have potentially saved this young girls life, Inspector Hart said. It has taken great courage for our victim in this instance to provide the details she has.The circumstances the woman was in would likely have made it difficult for her to escape. She was frequently traveling in a remote area, and the BBC, citing the Queensland Police, reported that the suspect had damaged and invalidated her passport.The woman has made contact with her family in Britain, the BBC reported, although it was not clear when she would be able to return home. The British Foreign Office said it was supporting a British woman following an incident in Queensland, news reports said.",6
"Credit...J. Torres PhotographyJune 9, 2017Isabelle Rapin, a Swiss-born child neurologist who helped establish autisms biological underpinnings and advanced the idea that autism was part of a broad spectrum of disorders, died on May 24 in Rhinebeck, N.Y. She was 89.The cause was pneumonia, said her daughter Anne Louise Oaklander, who is also a neurologist.Calling her one of the founding mothers of autism is very appropriate, said Dr. Thomas Frazier II, a clinical psychologist and chief science officer of Autism Speaks, an advocacy group for people with autism and their families. With the gravity she carried, she moved us into a modern understanding of autism.Dr. Rapin (pronounced RAP-in) taught at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx and over a half-century there built a reputation for rigorous scholarship. She retired in 2012 but continued working at her office and writing journal papers. The neurologist Oliver Sacks, a close friend and colleague, called her his scientific conscience.In his autobiography, On the Move: A Life (2015), Dr. Sacks wrote: Isabelle would never permit me, any more than she permitted herself, any loose, exaggerated, uncorroborated statements. Give me the evidence, she always says.Dr. Rapins focus on autism evolved from her studies of communications and metabolic disorders that cause mental disabilities and diminish childrens ability to navigate the world. For decades she treated deaf children, whose difficulties in communicating limited their path to excelling in school and forced some into institutions.Communications disorders were the overarching theme of my mothers career, Dr. Oaklander said in an interview.In a short biography written for the Journal of Child Neurology in 2001, Dr. Rapin recalled a critical moment in her work on autism. After evaluating hundreds of autistic children, she wrote, I became convinced that the report by one-third of parents of autistic preschoolers, of a very early language and behavioral regression, is real and deserving of biologic investigation.Along the way, she helped debunk the myth that emotionally cold mothers were to blame for their childrens autism, and advocated early educational intervention for autistic children, with a focus on their abilities, not their disabilities. She also popularized the use of the term autism spectrum disorder, which refers to a wide range of symptoms and their severity.She would never let us say that autism is a single disorder, Dr. Mark F. Mehler, chairman of the department of neurology at Einstein, said in an interview. She always said there were a thousand different causes.Isabelle Martha Juliette Rapin was born on Dec. 4, 1927, in Lausanne, Switzerland, to Ren Rapin, a professor of English and American literature at the University of Lausanne, and the former Mary Coe Reeves, a Connecticut-born homemaker who graduated from Vassar.Fascinated by science, Isabelle decided at age 10 that she would be a doctor. And when she entered medical school at the University of Lausanne in 1946, she was one of about a dozen women in a class of 100 students. After six weeks of study at the Hpital des Enfants Malades in Paris in 1951, she left determined to be a child neurologist.She immigrated to the United States in 1953 to work in pediatrics at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. A year later she started a residency at the Neurological Institute of New York at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital. In 1958, she moved on to Albert Einstein in the Bronx.In addition to her daughter, Dr. Rapin is survived by her husband, Harold Oaklander; two sons, Stephen and Peter; a second daughter, Christine Oaklander; and four grandchildren.In a twist on social convention, Mr. Oaklander subordinated some of his career ambitions he is a former associate dean at Pace Universitys graduate school of business to let his wife advance hers.Rather than taking an industrial or teaching job outside of New York after he got his Ph.D. from Columbia University, she wrote, my husband accepted a faculty position in the graduate school of a less prestigious university than mine because he knew I could not bear the thought of leaving Albert Einstein College of Medicine.Over the years, Dr. Rapin became a mentor to other female neurologists.She was the person to turn to to get your grounding in how to start and what to do, said Dr. Martha Denckla, a professor of neurology at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore. Youd just go to a national meeting and listen to her.Dr. Nina F. Schor, the chairwoman of the pediatrics department at the University of Rochester Medical Center, recalled in an interview: She looked and comported herself as the very dignified professor. Old-school with a European persona. She stood ramrod straight, looked down her wire-rim glasses at you, and you thought, Oh, no, Im in trouble now. But in meeting Dr. Rapin over coffee, Dr. Schor said, she found her quite delightful; shed just had a new grandchild and was eager to show off the pictures.Dr. Mehler, a former student of Dr. Rapins, said he had often sat with her at the Einstein library, discussing science, until it shut down at midnight.She was surrounded by intellectual giants, who were all men, and she always paid them deference, he said. I dont know if she ever realized that she was very much their equal.",7
"On BaseballCredit...Illustration by Sam Manchester/The New York Times; Photographs by Getty ImagesFeb. 8, 2014Ten years ago this weekend, The New York Times published an article about the Boston front office under the headline Red Sox Trying to Picture the Parade. Team executives, we later learned, were not pleased. They thought the headline was presumptuous and made them sound as if they assumed they would win the World Series.Well, they went on to do just that, adding a title in 2007 and another in October. No team can hold a parade without picturing it, or at least plotting a route to get there.For the 2013 Red Sox, the formula was this: returning core of stars plus new manager plus seven high-character, complementary free agents equals a title. Nobody knew last February that, of all the ways to chase a championship, this would be the one to succeed. We knew we would be tested, and there would be skepticism, rightfully so, along the way, said General Manager Ben Cherington, whose 2012 team finished in last place in the American League East. So we felt like if we had a core, kind of a critical mass of guys in the clubhouse who really wanted to be there for the right reasons, they would embrace everything that came along with being in Boston.What will be the right recipe for 2014? With most teams opening spring training camps this week, lets skip ahead to the victory celebration and imagine how baseballs general managers and decision makers might sum up a run to the championship.ANGELS, Jerry DipotoRemember when Albert Pujols went on Sesame Street last winter? Grover was amazed he was actually an athlete, saying, Wow, you are good at baseball! Turns out that was just the start of Alberts campaign to prove his doubters wrong.ASTROS, Jeff LuhnowWeve been making steady progress toward building baseballs best farm system. But when Nolan Ryan accepted our invitation to work for the team, and then somehow made a heroic comeback and threw 25 no-hitters, that accelerated the process to competing. Incidentally, Nolan loves how much hitters strike out these days.ATHLETICS, Billy BeaneWe finally figured out how to destroy those Al Davis seats in center field: with a barrage of Yoenis Cespedes batting-practice home runs. Once that happened, we swung our karma, and the law of averages went our way.BLUE JAYS, Alex AnthopoulosThe problem wasnt that we hit too many home runs; it was that we didnt get on base enough to make those home runs matter. Having Jose Reyes healthy set up our offense, and adding three new starting pitchers after the start of spring training really helped.BRAVES, Frank WrenWhen you have a lot of guys just entering their prime, sometimes they all take a step forward together. But getting Dan Uggla and B. J. Upton back to their old selves, and maintaining a solid pitching staff, put us over the top. BREWERS, Doug MelvinPeople forget that we were actually over .500 after Ryan Brauns suspension last year. With Braun back, the offense we already had, a strong bullpen and Matt Garza making our rotation deeper, this isnt really a surprise to us.CARDINALS, John MozeliakWe didnt touch the pitching, Peter Bourjos caught everything in center, and Jhonny Peralta gave us a real hitter at short. Knowing that we would have the rookie of the year in Oscar Taveras, we thought it was pretty much a formality that wed win 110 games before sweeping the World Series.CUBS, Jed HoyerThey tell me our flight home is delayed because pigs are occupying the airspace over OHare. So I guess these guys really did win the title.DIAMONDBACKS, Kevin TowersHow fitting that Gerardo Parra throws out a guy at the plate to end the World Series. When you have him in right, and Paul Goldschmidt and Mark Trumbo hitting 80 homers in the middle of the order, you dont need a No. 1 starter to win.DODGERS, Ned CollettiLast year we had the best rotation in baseball, and Dan Haren only made us deeper. With a full season of Yasiel Puig and Brian Wilson, and good health for Matt Kemp and Hanley Ramirez, nobody could stop us. GIANTS, Brian SabeanHow many times do we have to say it? Every even-numbered year, we win the World Series. Well see you right back here in 2016.INDIANS, Chris AntonettiThe funny thing about last year is, we made the playoffs even though some of our best hitters had down years. Guys like Michael Bourn, Asdrubal Cabrera and Nick Swisher were bound to bounce back, and we found a legitimate staff ace in Danny Salazar.MARINERS, Jack ZduriencikSure, its a top-heavy payroll, but Brad Miller, Kyle Seager and Mike Zunino provided major production at minimal cost, and Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma and Taijuan Walker gave us three shutdown starters in October.MARLINS, Dan JenningsWe built our ballpark on the site of the Orange Bowl, so it was pretty cool to see Jose Fernandez predict this upset and make the No. 1 sign as he left through the tunnel. And no, were not trading him.METS, Sandy AldersonIke Davis, Curtis Granderson and Chris Young all rediscovered their 30-homer bats, and when Bartolo Colon went down in the playoffs, Matt Harvey came off the disabled list. When he struck out Stephen Drew to win the World Series, it was amazin!NATIONALS, Mike RizzoDoug Fister gave us a four-deep rotation, Bryce Harper was named the National Leagues most valuable player, and Washington is so crazy for us that even congressmen walk around with their shirts untucked like Rafael Soriano after the last out.ORIOLES, Dan DuquetteWe didnt do much last winter, but we knew what we had in Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman. The way we played after they came up from the minors to lead the rotation, it was like 1966 all over again.PADRES, Josh ByrnesWell, Kennedy/Johnson was the winning ticket back in 1960, and here we are again. Ian Kennedy and Josh Johnson reversed their regression to lead our rotation behind Andrew Cashner, and our young hitters all broke out together.PHILLIES, Ruben AmaroYou see, things like experience, saves and runs batted in still have meaning in this game. And when you have two of the best starters in baseball, you have a big edge in a short series.PIRATES, Neal HuntingtonYes, we were quiet last winter, but we didnt need to waste money on so-so free agents when we knew we had impact players coming up from the minors. Gregory Polanco gave the lineup a midseason jolt, and Jameson Taillon was this years Michael Wacha.RAYS, Andrew FriedmanAfter seven years of strong teams on low payrolls in the A.L. East, its gratifying to finally win the World Series. Now its time to trade David Price for some more young talent to keep the good times going.RANGERS, Jon DanielsShin-Soo Choo and Prince Fielder gave our offense a huge boost, and our pitchers really surprised us by filling in so well for Derek Holland after his knee operation in January. But taking Russell Wilson in the Rule 5 draft gave us that championship edge wed been missing.RED SOX, Ben CheringtonThe last time we won a title for the second year in a row was in 1916, and Babe Ruth pitched all 14 innings to win Game 2. But I think Jon Lesters no-hitter tonight tops even that.REDS, Walt JockettyYou saw in Boston, with John Farrell, how a former pitching coach could make a great manager. Bryan Price proved it for us again this year. But his best move was giving the steal sign to Billy Hamilton as often as possible. ROCKIES, Bill GeivettIts so rare to find two up-the-middle teammates as dynamic as Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki. And Brett Anderson, LaTroy Hawkins and Boone Logan really stabilized our staff and helped our young pitchers do some amazing things.ROYALS, Dayton MooreThe pitching was tremendous, again. But look at our lineup. Last year, our leadoff hitters had a .309 on-base percentage, 13th in the league. Getting Norichika Aoki fixed that, and the young guys behind him finally took that jump wed been waiting for. TIGERS, Dave DombrowskiThe only real difference this postseason was that Miguel Cabrera was healthy, Prince Fielder was gone, and our new late-inning relievers, Bruce Rondon and Joe Nathan, didnt give up backbreaking grand slams. TWINS, Terry RyanByron Buxton and Miguel Sano were 20 when this season started, and now theyve brought Minneapolis its first title since before they were born. What a thrill to see Phil Hughes jump into the arms of first baseman Joe Mauer after the final out.WHITE SOX, Rick HahnNobody thought wed be standing here after scoring the fewest runs in the league in 2013 while allowing the most unearned runs. But then again, nobody knew how good Jose Abreu would be.YANKEES, Brian CashmanHow funny that we won our 28th championship while using only one player under 28 years old in the World Series. Of course, that player was Masahiro Tanaka. His three wins and a save will go down in Yankees lore.",4
"Jane Lynch Mark Salling's Death ... Tragic and Heartbreaking 1/30/2018 SplashNews.com Jane Lynch is clearly struggling with Mark Salling's apparent suicide ... for several complicated reasons. Jane was out in L.A. just a few hours after TMZ broke the story her former ""Glee"" co-star was found dead. Police believe he hanged himself. Jane said the news was ""sad and very tragic."" As for how she'll remember Salling? Watch the video, and you can tell Jane was reaching for the right words -- especially in light of the fact Salling had entered a guilty plea to child pornography charges. Ultimately, she took the high road and shared a story about his early days on the ""Glee"" set.",1
"Science|Cats Can Transmit the Coronavirus to Each Other, but They Probably Wont Get Sick From Ithttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/13/science/cats-coronavirus.htmlThe six cats in a laboratory experiment cleared the virus from their bodies on their own. And there are no reports of humans contracting the virus from cats.Credit...Pascal Rossignol/ReutersMay 13, 2020Cats can infect each other with the novel coronavirus, but they may not have any symptoms, researchers reported on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine.The report follows earlier laboratory research and cases of domestic cats, as well as tigers and lions at the Bronx Zoo, that tested positive for the coronavirus. In several cases, those cats showed mild symptoms, but the six cats in the new experiment didnt get sick at all and cleared the virus from their bodies on their own.Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine and Peter Halfmann of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, along with other researchers from both the United States and Japan, conducted the study, in which three domestic cats were inoculated with the virus and three additional uninfected cats were put in cages, one with each of the inoculated cats.First the cats that had been given the virus tested positive. Then their cage mates also caught the virus. None were sick, and all were virus free after, at most, six days.Cats have also contracted the virus from humans, but there are no reports of a person becoming infected with the virus from a cat, although the authors suggest that the possibility deserves more research.The cats, once infected, shed virus particles in the same way that humans do. And it is the same coronavirus that infects people. That makes it theoretically possible for cats to give the virus to humans, said Dr. Karen Terio, chief of the Zoological Pathology Program at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. Still, Dr. Terio, who was not involved in the study, wrote in an email that given the limited social circle of most domestic cats, cats are most likely to become infected after contact with a human member of their household.The researchers urged people not to forgo the comforts of feline companionship; humans are the clear dangers in terms of disease transmission, not pets.If someone with a cat has the virus, Dr. Halfmann, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said to use common sense. No cat kisses, he said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as other organizations suggest keeping pets away from humans who have tested positive.If you are healthy, Dr. Halfmann said, life can go on as usual, My cat sleeps on a pillow right next to me. Asked if the results of the experiment had changed that habit, he said, he was there last night.",7
"No patients were affected, but the incident was another reminder of the risks in the increasingly common assaults on computer networks.Credit...Kristoffer Tripplaar/Sipa, via Associated PressPublished Oct. 3, 2020Updated April 27, 2021A Philadelphia company that sells software used in hundreds of clinical trials, including the crash effort to develop tests, treatments and a vaccine for the coronavirus, was hit by a ransomware attack that has slowed some of those trials over the past two weeks.The attack on eResearchTechnology, which has not previously been reported, began two weeks ago when employees discovered that they were locked out of their data by ransomware, an attack that holds victims data hostage until they pay to unlock it. ERT said clinical trial patients were never at risk, but customers said the attack forced trial researchers to track their patients with pen and paper.Among those hit were IQVIA, the contract research organization helping manage AstraZenecas Covid vaccine trial, and Bristol Myers Squibb, the drugmaker leading a consortium of companies to develop a quick test for the virus.ERT has not said how many clinical trials were affected, but its software is used in drug trials across Europe, Asia and North America. It was used in three-quarters of trials that led to drug approvals by the Food and Drug Administration last year, according to its website.On Friday, Drew Bustos, ERTs vice president of marketing, confirmed that ransomware had seized its systems on Sept. 20. As a precaution, Mr. Bustos said, the company took its systems offline that day, called in outside cybersecurity experts and notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation.Nobody feels great about these experiences, but this has been contained, Mr. Bustos said. He added that ERT was starting to bring its systems back online on Friday and planned to bring remaining systems online over the coming days.Mr. Bustos said it was still too early to say who was behind the attack. He declined to say whether the company paid its extortionists, as so many companies hit by ransomware now do.The attack on ERT follows another major ransomware attack last weekend on Universal Health Services, a major hospital chain with more than 400 locations, many in the United States.NBC News first reported the attack on UHS on Monday, and said it appeared to be one of the largest medical cyberattacks in United States history.The incidents followed more than a thousand ransomware attacks on American cities, counties and hospitals over the past 18 months. The attacks, once treated as a nuisance, have taken on greater urgency in recent weeks as American officials worry they may interfere, directly or indirectly, with the November election.A ransomware attack in Germany resulted in the first known death from a cyberattack in recent weeks, after Russian hackers seized 30 servers at University Hospital Dsseldorf, crashing systems and forcing the hospital to turn away emergency patients. As a result, the German authorities said, a woman in a life-threatening condition was sent to a hospital 20 miles away in Wuppertal and died from treatment delays.One of ERTs clients, IQVIA, said it had been able to limit problems because it had backed up its data. Bristol Myers Squibb also said the impact of the attack had been limited, but other ERT customers had to move their clinical trials to pen and paper.In a statement, IQVIA said the attack had had limited impact on our clinical trials operations, and added, We are not aware of any confidential data or patient information, related to our clinical trial activities, that have been removed, compromised or stolen.Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, two companies working on a coronavirus vaccine, said their coronavirus vaccine trials had not been affected.ERT is not a technology provider for or otherwise involved in Pfizers Phase 1/2/3 Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials, Amy Rose, a spokeswoman for Pfizer, said.Companies and research labs on the front lines of the pandemic have been repeat targets for foreign hackers over the past seven months, as countries around the world try to gauge one anothers responses and progress in addressing the virus. In May, the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security warned that Chinese government spies were actively trying to steal American clinical research through cybertheft.Health care, pharmaceutical and research sectors working on Covid-19 response should all be aware they are the prime targets of this activity and take the necessary steps to protect their systems, the agencies said.More than a dozen countries have redeployed military and intelligence hackers to glean what they can about other nations responses, according to security researchers.Even countries that previously did not stand out for their cyber prowess, like South Korea and Vietnam, have been named in recent security reports as countries that are engaged in hacking global health organizations in the pandemic.",5
"Boeings Starliner Lands on Earth After Test Flight to Space StationThe largely successful journey of the capsule could set up a flight for NASA with astronauts aboard before the years end.VideoThe uncrewed Boeing Starliner returned to Earth after a successful test flight that included four and a half days docked at the International Space Station.CreditCredit...NASA Johnson Space CenterMay 25, 2022Boeings Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth on Wednesday after a largely successful uncrewed test flight that included four and a half days docked at the International Space Station.It was a picture-perfect landing, Steve Stich, manager of the commercial crew program at NASA, said during a news conference a couple of hours later. The test flight was extremely successful. We met all the mission objectives.Starliner, which Boeing developed for NASA, provides the space agency with a second transportation system for taking astronauts to and from the space station. SpaceX, the rocket company founded by Elon Musk, has been flying astronauts to the space station on its Crew Dragon spacecraft for a couple of years.Streaking across the sky over the Pacific Ocean, then crossing over Mexicos Baja California Peninsula, Boeings capsule parachuted to a landing at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The conclusion of the this test flight comes after a couple of years of setbacks and sets the stage for the next Starliner mission, which is to have astronauts aboard.Mr. Stich said the spacecraft experienced a few glitches during landing it dropped communication with global positioning satellites for a while before reconnecting, and one of the capsules thrusters may have malfunctioned.On Tuesday, astronauts on the space station closed the hatch to the Starliner capsule after filling it with 600 pounds of cargo to be returned to Earth.The spacecraft undocked from the orbiting outpost on schedule at 2:36 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday. Less than 20 minutes later, it was more than 300 feet from the station and preparing for its journey back to the ground as the side of the Earth facing the sun came into view.It was a great stay by Starliner. Were a little sad to see her go, said Bob Hines, a NASA astronaut currently aboard the space station, after confirming the departure was successful.After it departed, Starliner lined up its trajectory with the selected landing site in New Mexico.As the capsule traveled through space, mission managers used the time before the spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere to remotely troubleshoot issues with its thrusters.During launch on Thursday last week, just before Starliner entered orbit, two of the spacecrafts thrusters failed. Other thrusters kicked in automatically to compensate.During the troubleshooting on Wednesday, the two balky thrusters were fired and still exhibited problems, putting out only about one-quarter of the expected thrust. Well have to go work on that after the flight, Mr. Stich said.Two other smaller thrusters, used during the approach to the space station, failed on Sunday, but those worked as expected when tested on Wednesday. Mr. Stich said four other of the smaller thrusters were also tested, without problem.At 6:05 p.m., the capsule ignited its propulsion system for 58 seconds to drop out of orbit.It then discarded its service module, the part below the cone-shaped capsule that contains most of the spacecrafts propulsion and power systems. The service module re-entered the atmosphere separately and burned up. The malfunctioning thrusters were on the service module, so engineers will not be able to directly examine them.The Starliner capsule sliced through the atmosphere; the compression of air against the blunt bottom seared the heat shield to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.At an altitude of about 30,000 feet, two small parachutes called drogues deployed. The three main parachutes deployed about a minute later. A couple of minutes later, it hit the ground, cushioned by airbags.Although Russian and Chinese astronaut transports have long parachuted onto land instead of splashing in the ocean, Starliner is the first American capsule to use that approach. Avoiding salt water should help simplify refurbishment of the capsule, which is designed to be used up to 10 times.ImageCredit...Bill Ingalls/NASAThe mission, which launched on Thursday, avoided the major problems that occurred during an earlier test flight in December 2019. Software flaws during that flight caused the mission to be cut short without Starliner docking at the space station.Because of the unfinished testing, NASA required Boeing to undertake a second uncrewed test flight. Boeing was ready to launch it in August 2021 until stuck valves on the spacecraft scuttled the countdown. Boeing then had to spend months investigating and remediating the valves.This time, Starliner mostly worked as designed and achieved its objectives. In addition to the malfunctioning thrusters, the cooling system operated a bit sluggishly. But these appear to be the sort of problems that a test flight is designed to uncover and not major surprises.Boeing and NASA can now start planning for the crewed flight, a final test before Starliner can enter routine operations.When I look at what happened in the flight and the kind of things well need to work through over the next few months, I dont see any reason why we cant proceed toward the crewed flight test next, Mr. Stich said.NASA will wait until summer to announce who will be on that flight and whether it will carry two or three astronauts. Boeing and the agency have suggested that flight could occur before the end of the year, but Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager of Boeings commercial crew program, said it would probably be several months before they could set a target date for launch.Certainly, it could move into the first quarter of next year, Mr. Stich said.The contracts to Boeing and SpaceX were issued in 2014, three years after NASA retired the space shuttles. The agency had to rely on Russia to transport astronauts for nearly a decade.A second transportation option offers NASA redundancy in case either spacecraft suffers an accident, and it prevents further reliance on Russia, which has become politically complicated since it invaded Ukraine earlier this year.",7
"Nelly Countersues Rape Accuser She Lied Just to Get Me Arrested 1/26/2018 Nelly is firing back, as promised, at his rape accuser with a countersuit ... claiming she came on to him, and then lied about their sexual encounter to get him criminally prosecuted. Nelly filed the suit in Seattle Friday, and in the docs says ... Monique Greene made her way into his VIP section of the nightclub where he was headlining, and started enthusiastically flirting with him. He says he invited her to join him and others back on his tour bus. Nelly insists they had consensual sex, and Greene only got pissed when one of his performers -- he told police it was a backup dancer -- entered the room to use his bathroom. He describes Greene as ""aggressive and disruptive"" and says she was asked to leave at that point. As we've reported, Greene called for an Uber and then called police to report the incident ... leading to Nelly's arrest for rape. According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, after Nelly's arrest ... Greene and her attorney made several statements on the Internet that falsely accused him of raping her. He says the statements were a clear and malicious attempt to get him prosecuted. Nelly adds her claims cost him money -- he was forced to cancel a scheduled performance -- and also damaged his reputation in the music biz. We broke the story ... the criminal case against the rapper was eventually dismissed when Greene refused to cooperate with prosecutors. He's also filed a motion to strike Greene's claim he sexually harassed at least 2 other women -- and wants her defamation suit against him dismissed because he has every right to publicly deny what he says is a false claim of rape.",1
"Credit...Neeta Satam for The New York TimesFrontline Health Care Workers Arent Feeling the Summer of JoyDoctors and nurses are reeling from new Covid cases, staff burnout and the prolonged stress of dealing with the pandemic.Dr. Terrence Coulter, a critical care specialist at CoxHealth in Springfield, Mo. The country has started the end zone dance before we cross the goal line, he said.Credit...Neeta Satam for The New York TimesPublished July 1, 2021Updated Aug. 26, 2021A largely unmasked nation will celebrate the nations return to near-normalcy this weekend with a ticker-tape parade in New York City, a dazzling fireworks display over the Washington Monument and countless Independence Day gatherings in cities and towns across the country.A summer of freedom. A summer of joy, is how the White House tried to promote a new national mood in a letter encouraging local officials to hold public events during the July 4th holiday.And in most parts of the country, Americans have reason to cheer, with more than half of those over 12 fully vaccinated, state after state lifting all emergency restrictions and caseloads decreasing by double-digits week over week. Families are traveling again, diners are flocking to restaurants and baseball is back as Americas seasonal pastime.But the summer is turning out to be fairly joyless in places like CoxHealth Medical Center in Springfield, Mo., where nurses, doctors and respiratory therapists have been grappling with a resurgence in coronavirus cases that forced the hospital to reopen the 80-bed Covid unit it had shuttered in May.Dr. Terrence Coulter, a critical care specialist at CoxHealth, said he and his colleagues were stunned to find themselves back in the trenches after the briefest of respites. With everyone masked, you learn to read the emotions in your co-workers eyes, he said. Theyre weary and theyre also disappointed that the country has started the end zone dance before we cross the goal line. The truth is were fumbling the ball before we even get there.Americas health care workers are in crisis, even in places that have had sharp declines in coronavirus infections and deaths. Battered and burned out, they feel unappreciated by a nation that lionized them as Covid heroes but often scoffed at mask mandates and refused to follow social distancing guidelines. Many of those same Americans are now ignoring their pleas to get vaccinated.Doctors and nurses are also overworked, thanks to chronic staffing shortages made worse by a pandemic that drove thousands from the field. Many are struggling with depression and post-traumatic stress; others are mourning at least 3,600 colleagues who wont be around for the celebrations.People dont realize what it was like to be on the front lines and risking your own safety without adequate protective gear while dealing with so much death, said Mary Turner, a registered nurse in Minneapolis who was unable to comfort her own father as he lay dying alone of Covid in a nursing home in the early days of the pandemic. A few months later, she found herself sobbing uncontrollably in a hospital room as she held up a phone so a man could say goodbye to his father. A lot of us are still dealing with PTSD, she said.In recent weeks, a familiar sense of dread has returned to emergency rooms across the South and Mountain West as the more transmissible Delta variant gained traction among the unvaccinated, fueling a jump in hospitalizations. In Missouri alone, caseloads increased more than 40 percent from two weeks earlier; at CoxHealth where Dr. Coulter works, the Delta variant comprised 93 percent of all cases last week, he said.ImageCredit...Caroline Yang for The New York TimesDr. Clay Smith, an emergency room doctor who travels between two distant hospitals in South Dakota and Wyoming, said he worried about his children, who are both too young to get inoculated. Its really disconcerting to work in a community where people are doing so little to protect themselves and others from the virus, Dr. Smith said.With fewer than a third of adults in the counties served by the hospitals fully vaccinated, he has been treating a small but steady stream of Covid patients, some of whom insist the coronavirus is a hoax even as they struggle to breathe. People think they are exercising their rights by refusing to get vaccinated, but in reality theyre exposing themselves and others to risk, Dr. Smith said.Some health care workers are also refusing to get jabbed. Last month, 153 employees at the Houston Methodist hospital system resigned or were terminated after they refused to abide by a policy requiring all staff to be vaccinated against Covid. Similar standoffs over vaccine mandates will most likely multiply as hospitals across the country embrace similar policies.In interviews, nearly two dozen health care providers expressed a range of conflicting emotions: Elation over how quickly the vaccines were created and relief that the pandemics darkest days are in the past, but fear that the large number of unvaccinated Americans could lead to localized outbreaks that persist for the foreseeable future.Few are in a celebratory mood.Deborah Burger, co-president of National Nurses United, a union that represents 170,000 registered nurses, said the revelries planned for the Fourth of July weekend felt ill-conceived and tone deaf, and not just because the pandemic continues to claim hundreds of lives a day.Nurses, she said, face a welter of indignities at work. Dire staff shortages are preventing many from taking much-needed vacations, and some hospitals are still requiring employees to reuse disposable N95 masks even though supply chain bottlenecks have eased. Then there is the open hostility from patients who have spent months steeped in right-wing commentary and conspiracy theories that have turned health workers into adversaries.Ive been in the field for 45 years and Ive never seen things this bad, said Ms. Burger, who is a registered nurse. Its really frustrating and dispiriting that the pandemic has been turned into a political event, rather than a public health crisis, and its health care workers who are left to deal with the aftermath.The pandemic continues to vex hospitals and their employees, often in unexpected ways. Dr. Mara Windsor, an emergency room doctor in Phoenix, rarely sees Covid patients these days, but she said an alarming shortage of nurses had gummed up the admissions process, forcing patients to wait upward of eight hours before they can be seen by a doctor. The problem is shared by hospitals across the city.Infuriated patients, she said, often scream at her; others will storm out before they can be treated. Its very anxiety provoking to have 30 patients in the lobby and not being able to take them because we have no nurses, said Dr. Windsor, who has been forced to scale back her hours and take a pay cut because of the drop off in admissions. What if someone has a heart attack? The whole environment has become really challenging.The conflict over vaccines has complicated, and sometimes curdled, the relationship between patients and health care providers. As a woman of color well aware of the systemic racism in American health care, Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis, an infectious disease doctor in St. Louis, said she was sympathetic to the vaccine-hesitant but that she sometimes struggled to contain her frustration, especially given that her sisters in South Africa had little hope of getting the shots any time soon.ImageCredit...Neeta Satam for The New York TimesThere are moments of overwhelming joy when seeing patients I know who survived Covid, but then Ill treat multiple members of a family with Covid or we will have to intubate someone and you cant help but think this was preventable, she said. Its heartbreaking, but were also really, really tired.Dr. Teena Chopra, the medical director of infection prevention and hospital epidemiology at the Detroit Medical Center, takes a no-nonsense approach with the Covid patients she treats, most of them increasingly young. Although caseloads across the state have dropped significantly since a calamitous third surge ended in April, only 51 percent of adults in Michigan have received one vaccine dose. In Detroit, that figure is 40 percent.The interactions she has with Covid patients, many of them African American, often leave her shaken. She recalled a recent exchange with a woman in her 40s who was struggling to breathe. When Dr. Chopra asked whether she had been vaccinated, the woman shook her head defiantly between gasps, insisting that the vaccines were more harmful than the virus. The patient later died.It leaves me angry, frustrated and sad, Dr. Chopra said. These nonbelievers will never accept our viewpoint, and the result is that they are putting others at risk and overwhelming the health care system.The emotional fallout of the last 16 months takes many forms, including a spate of early retirements and suicides among health care providers. Dr. Mark Rosenberg, an emergency room doctor at St. Josephs University Medical Center in Paterson, N.J., a predominantly working class, immigrant community that was hit hard by the pandemic, sees the toll all around him.He recently found himself comforting a fellow doctor who blamed himself for infecting his in-laws. They died four days apart. He just cant get past the guilt, Dr. Rosenberg said.At a graduation party for the hospitals residents two weeks ago the emergency departments first social gathering in nearly two years the DJ read the room and decided not to play any music, Dr. Rosenberg said. People in my department usually love to dance but everyone just wanted to talk, catch up and get a hug.Dr. Rosenberg, who is also president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, is processing his own losses. They include his friend, Dr. Lorna Breen, who took her own life in the first months of the pandemic and whose death has inspired federal legislation that seeks to address suicide and burnout among health care professionals.Most of the suffering goes unseen or unacknowledged. Dr. Rosenberg compared the hidden trauma to what his father, a World War II veteran, experienced after the hostilities ended.My dad didnt like to talk about the war but once in a while he did and what he said was that so many of his fellow soldiers died after they came home, he said. We would now describe this as PTSD, and I see the same thing happening among health care workers.Dr. Rosenberg said he had mixed feelings about the festivities planned for July 4. He is proud of the camaraderie and self-sacrifice he witnessed among colleagues who bravely faced down a deadly virus, but he is uncomfortable with the expression health care heroes, especially given the widespread resistance to vaccinations.Were ready to stand shoulder to shoulder again and face whatever comes our way, he said. But to be honest, were wiped out and we just want society to show us that we really are appreciated by getting vaccinated.",2
"Johnny Manziel It's 'Comeback Season' ... For My Swag!!! 1/22/2018 TMZSports.com Johnny Manziel and his hot fiancee have a message for all the Johnny Football lovers (and haters) out there -- IT'S COMEBACK SEASON!!! No, Manziel hasn't finalized his deal with the CFL ... but him and Bre Tiesi are out flaunting his ""ComebackSZN"" gear as he waits on word from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Johnny and Bre weren't too chatty when we got 'em leaving Delilah in L.A. over the weekend ... but they were happy to show off a sample of Manziel's new signature swag. Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media. And if hoodies aren't your thing ... they also got t-shirts with Johnny's face on a $2 bill and ""lost in the sauce"" dad hats!! Never change, Johnny.",1
"Our Coverage of the Coronavirus PandemicIn the United StatesEven with coronavirus cases on the rise, millions of Americans are expected to take to the skies and roads Memorial Day weekend, in what is likely to be one of the busiest travel periods since the start of the pandemic.White House officials said that they were introducing new models for distributing Paxlovid, the Covid-19 pill made by Pfizer, in an effort to get the treatment to more people and keep death rates relatively low even as cases increase.Around the WorldBeijing is not under official lockdown yet, but one can barely tell that thats the case. As the Chinese government enforces strict safety measures in the city to prevent a complete shutdown, its hard to find anywhere to go.Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain presided over a disorderly workplace in which there were widespread violations of coronavirus restrictions, according to a long-awaited government reporton lockdown parties at Downing Street.ResearchA large new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that one in five adult Covid survivors under the age of 65in the United States has experienced at least one health condition that could be considered long Covid.How safe really is it to go back to the gym right now? Research shows that people working out may expel a shocking number of the tiny aerosol particlesthat can transmit the coronavirus.Health GuidanceMasks: Does a mask protect you against Covid if others arent wearing one? This is what the evidence shows.Second Boosters: Should you get a fourth Covid shot? Older individuals and those with some health conditions may benefit from it.Long Covid: There is no universal definition of the condition, but clues about causes and potential treatments are beginning to emerge. Heres what we know so far.At Home: When someone in your house tests positive for Covid, there are some guidelines to follow.Covid Treatments in N.Y.C.: Antiviral pillsand monoclonal antibodies are available across the city. Here is how to get them.",2
"Science|What will it cost to fly on New Shepard?https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/20/science/cost-to-fly-blue-origin-bezos.htmlCredit...Blue Origin, via Associated PressPublished July 20, 2021Updated Oct. 13, 2021For the first flight, Blue Origin auctioned off one of the seats with the proceeds going to Mr. Bezos space-focused nonprofit, Club for the Future. The winning bid was $28 million, an amount that stunned even Blue Origin officials, far higher than they had hoped. Blue Origin announced it will distribute $19 million of that to 19 space-related organizations $1 million each.The 7,600 people who participated in the auction provided Blue Origin with a list of prospective paying customers, and the company has started selling tickets for subsequent flights.Blue Origin has declined to say what the price is or how many people have signed up, but representatives of the company say there is strong demand.Our early flights are going for a very good price, Bob Smith, the chief executive of Blue Origin, said during a news conference on Sunday.During the auction for the seat on Tuesdays flight, the company said that auction participants could buy a seat on subsequent flights. It has not publicly stated what it charged those who placed bids, or how many seats have been sold.Ariane Cornell, director of astronaut and orbital sales at Blue Origin, said that two additional flights are planned for this year. So we have already built a robust pipeline of customers that are interested, she said.Virgin Galactic, the other company offering suborbital flights, has about 600 people who have already bought tickets. The price was originally $200,000 and later raised to $250,000, but Virgin Galactic stopped sales in 2014 after a crash of its first space plane during a test flight. Virgin Galactic officials say they will resume sales later this year, and the price will likely be higher than $250,000.",7
"DealBook|Portugal to Rescue Banco Internacional do Funchalhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/22/business/dealbook/banco-internacional-do-funchal-banif-santander.htmlDec. 21, 2015LONDON The Portuguese lender Banco Internacional do Funchal will be split into a good and bad bank, with its healthy assets sold to Banco Santander of Spain as part of a state-backed rescue, Portugals central bank said on Sunday.The need for the rescue came after Banco Internacional do Funchal, known as Banif, had trouble repaying an injection of 1.1 billion euros, or $1.2 billion at current exchange rates, from the Portuguese government in 2013. That deal involved the government taking a majority stake in the lender.It is the second bailout of a bank in Portugal in a year and a half. The government rescued the troubled lender Banco Esprito Santo in August 2014.Banco Internacional do Funchal will receive an injection of 2.26 billion for future contingencies as part of the new bailout, which was approved by European authorities on Monday. The Banco Esprito Santo rescue included 4.9 billion in capital.The Bank of Portugal, the central bank, said the rescue and sale of the healthy assets would protect Banco Internacional do Funchals depositors and senior creditors and would allow normal operation of service.The solution is the one that best protects the stability of the Portuguese financial system, the central bank said in a news release.The Portuguese government will contribute about 1.77 billion, and the remaining 489 million will come from a resolution fund, which is bankrolled by financial institutions.The aid could reach as much as 3 billion, including the transfer of certain impaired assets to an asset-management vehicle and state guarantees related to units that are part of the Santander sale, the European Commission said on Monday.Banks cannot be artificially kept in the market using taxpayer money, Margrethe Vestager, the European Commissions competition chief, said in a news release on Monday about the Banco Internacional do Funchal announcement.The Portuguese lender had already received significant state aid but could not become viable again on its own, she added. The measures approved today now enable Banifs orderly exit from the market, and for a robust bank to take over a large part of its activities to the benefit of its customers.Santander will pay 150 million for Banco Internacional do Funchal assets and certain liabilities, and it will transfer them to its Santander Totta unit.We are fully committed to the economic development of Portugal and make available all our capacity to help people and businesses prosper in the communities where we operate, Ana Botn, the Santander chairwoman, said in a news release.Banco Internacional do Funchal is Portugals seventh-largest banking group. It had about 12.8 billion in assets at the end of June, according to Portugals central bank.",0
"Credit...Sam Hodgson for The New York TimesDec. 24, 2015Most companies listed on American stock exchanges are conventional, familiar businesses like Apple or Exxon Mobil, but the stock market also contains many obscure, even mysterious, specialized sectors that operate with much less public awareness.In recent months, one of those groups of specialty firms has been drawing attention as controversy has increased over some of its tactics and results.Known as business development companies, or B.D.C.s, the firms were created by Congress in 1980 to encourage investment in small businesses whose growth may generate jobs. They sell stock to the public and then use some of the proceeds to make loans to emerging businesses for a variety of needs.The category has grown tenfold over the last decade, to $64 billion in assets. That is partly because business development companies offer higher yields in exchange for the high-risk nature of their assets, and partly because they cater to a market that big banks have retreated from since the financial crisis.In the last four months, several business development companies have become targets of activist or dissident investors who are dissatisfied over management and performance issues and are waging proxy contests or seeking sales. In September, one company, TICC Capital faced multiple challenges to its plan to sell its asset manager to another concern. In October, an investor demanded that another, KCAP Financial, be sold. In November, the activist investor Elliott Management challenged a spinoff plan by a third, American Capital. And a shareholder of a fourth company, FifthStreet Finance, started a proxy challenge seeking three board seats.One of the most criticized business development companies, however, is Prospect Capital.With $6.6 billion in assets, Prospect is a large player in the category. But in the last year and a half, its stock price and net-asset value per share have been steadily sinking. Even before the recent junk-bond market upheaval, Prospect and three of the other business development companies being challenged have traded at discounts to net-asset-value of more than 30 percent this year, well below the average of less than 20 percent for such firms.Some analysts have accused Prospect of charging what they say are conspicuously high fees, even as investor returns have faltered. And others have taken issue with the compensation paid its chief executive, John F. Barry III more than $100 million annually in recent years, according to estimates by former employees and an outside analyst.By comparison, Malon Wilkus, chief executive of the largest internally managed business development company, American Capital, earned $16.9 million in 2014. Prospects president, M. Grier Eliasek, and the firms head of investor relations, Michael Cimini, who talked enthusiastically about Prospects stock and its 12 to 13 percent dividend in interviews they initiated in January, did not respond to emails and phone messages seeking comment on questions about Prospects performance.Not all such companies have disappointed investors. Main Street Capital, for one, trades at a 40 percent premium, based on the steady growth of a more sustainable dividend in the 6 percent range, lower fees and returns which topped the Standard & Poors 500-stock index in three of the five years that ended in 2014.The reversal of fortune at Prospect is striking, given its promising start.The firm went public as Prospect Energy in 2004 after a $121 million offering at $15 a share. It specialized in investments in energy firms and rode a surge in energy prices that peaked in 2008. It also made a shrewd $201 million acquisition in 2009 of Patriot Capital Funding, a specialty finance company, at a 54 percent discount to book value.The stock price rose to $18.79 in late 2006, and in total returns, it beat the S.&P. 500 in three of its first four calendar years as a public company, according to the research firm Morningstar.But since then, the stock price has fallen by 61 percent. Prospect has twice cut its dividend, which is now $1 a share, from its peak of $1.62 in 2009. And despite reducing its exposure to energy investments, its returns have trailed the S.& P. 500 in all but one year since 2008.Some investors who specialize in business development companies avoid Prospect stock partly because, they said, the firm inflates the fees it pays its management firm, Prospect Capital Management, a separate company owned largely by Mr. Barry.They have earned incentive fees even though they have lost shareholder value on a per-share basis, said David Miyazaki, who focuses on specialty finance companies at Confluence Investment Management in St. Louis.Prospect operates like a mutual fund, investing in high-yield, high-risk assets like stocks, loans and bonds of companies through private equity buyouts, finance companies, debt pools like collateralized loan obligations, real estate investment trusts, aircraft leasing and even online loans. Its latest report lists 131 different holdings.Prospects fees, like those of many business development companies, are similar to those of private equity funds. Its external manager charges a 2 percent annual management fee on all assets plus an incentive fee of 20 percent of certain income gains and administrative expenses at the high end of the sector. For its fiscal year that ended in June, the Barry-owned manager received fees and expenses totaling $240 million, or about 3.5 percent of its total assets, according to the companys annual report.Some analysts say Prospect has often paid out dividends above its earnings, and sold stock below its book value, both of which can hurt investors. Both moves have helped Prospect raise its assets tenfold since 2008, also increasing fees.Dividends in excess of earnings arent really dividends, they are returns of investors capital, and they lead directly to falling net asset value per share, David B. Golub, chief executive of Golub Capital BDC, a low-fee competitor, said about business development companies in general.Since 2007, Prospects net asset value per share, or book value, has fallen 33 percent to $10.17, partly because of the high dividends.Some analysts have also objected to various tactics they say allow Prospect to inflate income, increasing incentive fees due its manager. For example, Prospect charges above-market interest rates to some companies it controls and receives some of the interest in noncash debt securities that count toward current incentive fees leaving shareholders at risk of nonpayment.Four Prospect companies pay interest of 20 percent or more on debt they owe Prospect typically 10 percent in cash and 10 percent in noncash pay-in-kind debt, according to its reports.In an August call with a Prospect staff banker who questioned imposing such high rates on the companies, Mr. Barry described the interest payments as a brand new road freshly paved to have net investment income come in to Prospect, according to a record of the call. By contrast, he said, with an equity interest in the same company, you get to walk across a minefield before earning profits.The son of a partner at the law firm of Lord Day & Lord, Mr. Barry, who is in his mid-60s, had what he sometimes alludes to as a silver spoon upbringing, graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy, Princeton and Harvard Law School. He joined Prospect Capital Management in 1990 after stints at a law firm and two investment banks.Mr. Barry works mainly from his home in Riverside, Conn., often coming into Prospect headquarters near Bryant Park in Manhattan on Fridays. He generally conducts business remotely, via email and lengthy phone calls with groups of employees.Starting last summer, Prospect and other business development companies experienced a series of adverse events.In early 2014, Prospect suspended its stock and bond sales for a few months pending a review of its accounting by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which required Prospect to clarify the accounting for its owned subsidiaries.Business development company stocks were also hit last year when several big index providers dropped them, based on regulatory guidance requiring index mutual funds to reflect their hefty fees in the index funds own fees. This year, they fell further as concerns grew about energy exposure and rising future defaults.Some investors say the wide discounts to book value represent a good buying opportunity, especially with activist investors popping up. The whole business development sector is on sale, said Gregg T. Abella, an adviser at Investment Partners Asset Management in Metuchen, N.J. Prospect, he added, looks cheap to me based on its earnings, income and low energy exposure.In December 2014, Prospect said it would cut its dividend a second time. With its shares down 34 percent in the last 17 months, Prospect has curtailed new stock sales. As a result, growth of its assets slowed to 5 percent in its latest fiscal year from an annual rate of 58 percent over the previous five years.One reason for Prospects big discount to net-asset value, now 28 percent, is that some investors are skeptical of the value Prospect reports for some assets.Robert Dodd, a Raymond James analyst, said he had not had a buy rating on the stock since 2008. Given all the questions and unknowns, he said, there is no price at which I would be a buyer of Prospect.",0
"Credit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York TimesNov. 12, 2018SANG-E-MASHA, Afghanistan One pickup truck after another arrived at the government compound in a district capital in Afghanistan on Sunday, pulling around to the back of the governors office to unload the dead, out of sight of panicked residents.Soldiers and police officers, many in tears, heaved bodies of their comrades from the trucks and laid them on sheets on the ground, side by side on their backs, until there were 20 of them.The dead all wore the desert-brown boots of Afghanistans finest troops, the Special Forces commandos trained by the United States. Four days earlier, the soldiers had been airlifted in to rescue what is widely considered Afghanistans safest rural district, Jaghori, from a determined assault by Taliban insurgents.Early on Sunday, their company of 50 soldiers was almost entirely destroyed on the front line. And suddenly, Jaghori a haven for an ethnic Hazara Shiite minority that has been persecuted by extremists appeared at risk of being completely overrun by the Taliban.A small team of journalists from The New York Times went into Jaghoris capital, Sang-e-Masha, on Sunday morning to report on the symbolic importance of what everyone expected to be a fierce stand against the insurgents.Instead, we found bandaged commandos wandering the streets in apparent despair, and officials discussing how they could flee an area almost entirely surrounded by the Taliban. By the end of the day, we were on the run, too.Officials told us that more than 30 of the commandos had been killed, and we could see, on the streets and in the hospitals, 10 other wounded commandos. An additional 50 police officers and militiamen were also killed in the previous 24 hours, according to the militias commander, Nazer Hussein, who arrived from the front line with his wounded to plead for reinforcements.This is genocide, Commander Hussein said. If they dont do something soon, the whole district will be in the Talibans hands.The disaster prompted a protest by Hazaras in Kabul, who railed against what they said was government inaction, but even that took a deadly turn. The demonstration had just ended on Monday when a suicide bomber struck, killing three women and three men, one of them a police officer, according to a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.Afghanistans Shangri-LaJaghoris 600,000 people are poor and live in an isolated part of the central highlands, an area that has no paved roads or electric lines, with terraced wheat fields and abundant orchards of almond and apple trees.ImageCredit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York TimesBut the district is famous for how peaceful it had been. Most people say they cannot remember the last time there was a murder or serious robbery. And the districts education record is aspirational for the rest of the country: Schooling is nearly universal among girls, and much higher than the Afghan average for boys.(Nationally, less than a fourth of Afghan girls complete high school.)Many of Afghanistans most prominent women are from Jaghori, where the sight of girls riding bicycles and even driving vehicles virtually unknown in major Afghan cities is common.In recent years, though, Jaghori District has largely been cut off from the rest of the country, since it is in Ghazni Province, much of which is controlled by the Taliban, and the main roads leading to the district have been blocked by the insurgents.Three years ago, a small airstrip was put in, but scheduled air service has yet to begin. People who have managed to get out of Jaghori are usually smuggled by drivers along remote tracks. That trip used to cost about $50 a person. In the past week, it has increased to $350.A week ago, the Taliban broke a longstanding truce and attacked Jaghori from three directions in what appears to be a determined effort to take the district, as the insurgents have done elsewhere with increasing frequency, inflicting steadily rising death tolls on government forces.ImageCredit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York TimesThe Taliban attacked us because this is where all the schools are, and because here there are even more girls in school than boys, said Mubarez Nabizada, who works for the charity Shuhada, which runs orphanages and a hospital.Outnumbered and ReelingThe spot of hardest fighting has been Hotqol, a market town a few miles from the district capital, Sang-e-Masha. Starting on Nov. 5, the Taliban ambushed eight border outposts in Hotqol, all manned by local militiamen, an informal grouping of armed locals without official government support.A celebrated Hazara commander from the anti-Soviet jihad days, Gen. Habibullah Bashi, was among the dead on the first day, and 30 of his armed followers went missing, including three of his sons, all presumed killed, according to his 19-year-old son, Mohammadi Bashi.I buried my father, but we werent able to find my brothers, he said.General Bashis personal bodyguard, Sayid Hussein, also fled, and on Sunday was sitting dejectedly in the back of a pickup truck with a machine gun mounted on the cab. Like many local Hazaras, he was angry that the government had not given them more support.All they give us is promises, but what can we do with promises? he said. Twenty from my family are dead.ImageCredit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York TimesThe governor of Jaghori District, Zafar Sharif, said that there had been no Afghan troops in the district before the commandos arrived on Wednesday only 250 police officers, plus the informal militia groups. About 1,000 Taliban had attacked, he said.As the bodies of the Afghan commandos began being lined up in the government buildings courtyard, Governor Sharif was upstairs in a meeting with a delegation from Kabul, sent by President Ashraf Ghani. From the top of a glass-fronted staircase, he had a clear view of the bodies being lined up below. He burst into tears, weeping uncontrollably.Even infidels would not do this, he said. This is another Karbala. The reference was to a historic massacre of Shiites by Sunnis.The 15-member presidential delegation began trying to work the phones to Kabul. The insurgents had blown up cellphone towers for two different companies, but a third was working intermittently.One of the delegation members, Qais Sargand, from the Interior Ministry, said the complaints that Jaghori District had not received enough resources were exaggerated for political reasons. He said that local leaders desire to have the government arm thousands of militiamen would undercut efforts to have a regular military under central authority. If we do that here, they will want it in Badghis Province and Kandahar, Nangahar and all over the country, Mr. Sargand said.ImageCredit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York TimesMr. Sargand was also very emotional about the dead commandos. When I see their bodies, I remember their live faces, because I have met them one by one on the front line, he said.The local politicians wanted to show that commandos couldnt do it, he added. Our commandos said when they were fighting they got no support from the militiamen.Local officials did not appreciate what a sacrifice it had been to send the commandos at least 30 of whom had been killed in Hotqol alone, Mr. Sargand said. The Afghan Armys finest fighters, they number only 20,000 and are severely stretched. This year, an entire company of commandos was wiped out in Ajristan District in Ghazni Province, where they had been sent to guard the district headquarters the sort of garrison work they are not meant to do.Waiting for HelpAll over the district capital, Sang-e-Masha, people were waiting for military helicopters from Kabul. Both of the hospitals had critically wounded fighters who needed urgent evacuation.In Shuhada Hospital, one commando, Azizi Rahman, was bleeding internally from gunshot wounds and getting a blood transfusion. Wed rather evacuate him to Kabul, said Dr. Ramazan Hashimi. We can do the operation here, but it will be dangerous.ImageCredit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York TimesJust a few hours later, Dr. Hashimi was surgically removing the commandos spleen and a kidney. The helicopters had not come.Mohammadi Bashi had been promised that a helicopter was on the way to evacuate all 32 surviving members of his family; as relatives of General Bashi, they were especially at risk if the Taliban captured the whole district.As the soldiers bodies arrived two and three at a time, officials with the presidential delegation warned that they should be kept out of sight so as not to create panic.The head of the delegation, the presidential adviser Asadullah Falah, left the meetings to grant an interview, in which he sought to play down the crisis. We have some casualties, but were still not definite about how many, he said.Told that the bodies of 20 commandos were plainly visible just outside the window of that room, he said that many must have been police officers and militiamen. They were all in uniforms with commando shoulder patches.Mr. Falah answered a phone call about the helicopters; four were on their way, so his 15-member delegation could also leave, he was told. Tell one of them to land in the governors compound, so people dont see the bodies, he told the caller, within earshot of a Times reporter. It will weaken morale here.But by the time it grew dark, the helicopters had not arrived. The Taliban mostly fight at night, and were expected to renew their offensive, especially in Hotqol, where the commandos were killed on Sunday.Escape from JaghoriCommander Hussein squeezed into a car with a half-dozen other fighters and left. If Hotqol falls, the whole of Jaghori will fall, he said.By late Sunday night, reports came that Hotqol was now undefended, and families were fleeing from there and the next town as well. Panic set in amid rumors that the Taliban were only an hour away from Sang-e-Masha.Governor Sharif went into hiding.We fled, too, along mountain tracks barely visible in the darkness. Nearly all of the traffic was one way, cars and even dump trucks packed with families escaping Afghanistans latest catastrophe.",6
"DealBook|Bank of England Singles Out R.B.S. and Standard Chartered in Testshttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/02/business/dealbook/bank-of-england-rbs-standard-chartered-stress-tests.htmlDec. 1, 2015LONDON The Bank of England singled out two of Britains largest lenders on Tuesday for failing to meet certain capital thresholds in the latest round of tests examining the banking sectors ability to withstand future global financial shocks.Despite the shortfalls, the central bank said that the two lenders, Standard Chartered and the Royal Bank of Scotland, passed the exercise, and that neither would be required to raise additional capital.Both banks announced plans this year to strengthen their capital positions, with Standard Chartered saying in November that it would raise up to $5.1 billion.The central bank exercise examined the balance sheets of seven of Britains largest banks, with this years crisis situation focused on a potential deterioration in economic conditions in Asia and the eurozone.The stress-test results suggest that the banking system is capitalized to support the real economy in a severe global stress scenario, which adversely affects the United Kingdom, the Bank of England said in a report on Tuesday. The capitalization of the system has improved further over the course of 2015.ImageCredit...Suzanne Plunkett/ReutersThe other banks tested were Barclays, HSBC, the Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide Building Society and Santander.Under the test, the lenders were required to have a common equity Tier 1 ratio to risk weighted assets of 4.5 percent. All of the lenders were able to meet that requirement, which is a measure of their ability to weather financial turbulence.The Bank of England said that R.B.S. did not meet its individualized capital guidance, but it noted that the lender had taken several actions to improve its capital position, including planning to issue additional bonds.We are pleased with the progress we have made relative to the 2014 stress test, but recognize we still have much to do to restore R.B.S. to be a strong and resilient bank for our customers, Ewen Stevenson, the chief financial officer of R.B.S., said in a news release.The central bank also found that Standard Chartered was below an important capital threshold, but it said the lender had moved to improve its balance sheet and capital position.The test was conducted on our balance sheet as at the end of 2014, William T. Winters, the chief executive of Standard Chartered, said in a news release. Since then, we have made further significant progress in strengthening our capital position. We are operating at capital levels above current minimum regulatory requirements, and have a number of additional levers at our disposal to further manage capital.",0
"Credit...Mike Blake/ReutersFeb. 15, 2014KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia The Russian skicross racer Maria Komissarova underwent a successful six-and-a-half-hour operation after she broke and dislocated her spine while training Saturday, Russian officials said.Komissarova, 23, was taken to a hospital near the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, and the decision was made to operate there instead of moving her down the mountain.Mikhail Verzeba, a spokesman for the Russian freestyle ski federation, said that Komissarova had fractured the 12th dorsal vertebra in her lower-middle back.Komissarova fell while exiting the third jump in a series near the top of the 1,200-meter course, according to Jenny Wiedeke, a spokeswoman for the international ski federation.SWEDES RALLY FOR RELAY VICTORY When Charlotte Kalla of Sweden started her anchor leg of the womens cross-country relay, the two leaders were 25 seconds ahead and the four-time Olympic champion Marit Bjorgen of Norway was chasing close behind.Kalla erased a huge deficit on the final leg and then won a three-way sprint to give her country its first gold medal of the Sochi Olympics.It was Swedens first victory in the womens 4x5-kilometer relay since 1960, and it came on a day when Norway, the heavy favorite, finished fifth.Kalla was 25.7 seconds behind Finlands Krista Lahteenmaki and Germanys Denise Herrmann after the final exchange but gradually erased the deficit and caught up to the leaders as they entered the stadium.On the final straight, the Swede overtook both and beat Lahteenmaki by half a second. Herrmann and her German teammates settled for bronze.CHINESE SHORT-TRACK WIN Zhou Yang of China overcame a false start to win the womens 1,500-meter short-track speedskating gold medal, successfully defending the Olympic title she won four years ago.Shim Suk-hee of South Korea earned the silver. Arianna Fontana of Italy took the bronze, earning her second short track medal of these games. Fontana won silver in the 500.SWISS WOMEN UPSET RUSSIA Stefanie Marty scored midway through the first period, and Florence Schelling stopped 41 shots to give Switzerland a 2-0 victory over Russia and a spot in the womens hockey semifinals.Lara Stalder added an empty-net goal with 21 seconds left for Switzerland, which will face top-seeded Canada in the semifinals Monday.Anna Prugova made 27 saves for Russia, which moves to the classification round and can finish no better than fifth.In the womens hockey quarterfinals, Emma Eliasson scored with 4 minutes 15 seconds to play, and Sweden beat defending bronze medalist Finland, 4-2 a reversal of the result from the third-place game four years ago.Valentina Wallner made 29 saves for Sweden, which will play the United States in the semifinals. Finland, the No. 3 seed in the world, drops to the classification bracket and can finish no better than fifth.SLOVENIA SHOCKS SLOVAKIA Anze Kopitar scored the third of three goals in a six-minute stretch of the third period to give Slovenia a surprising 3-1 victory over Slovakia.Slovenias Rok Ticar broke a scoreless tie 3:23 into the final period. His teammate Tomaz Razingar scored midway through the third, and Kopitar, the only N.H.L. player on his team, scored 23 seconds later.Slovenia goaltender Robert Kristan stopped the first 27 shots he faced before Tomas Jurco scored with 17.8 seconds left in the game for Slovakia.Jaroslav Halak, the Slovakia and St. Louis Blues goaltender, made 28 saves.Slovenia (1-1) qualified by beating Belarus, Ukraine and Denmark and was competitive for two-plus periods against host Russia before losing, 5-2, on Thursday. It will play the United States on Sunday.TIE FOR LEAD IN MENS CURLING China and Sweden claimed easy wins to move into a two-way tie for the lead in mens curling and guarantee at least a tiebreaker for a spot in the semifinal.Canada beat Britain, 7-5, in a game that went down to the final rock, leaving both teams at 5-2.China silenced the home crowd early in a 9-6 win over Russia, and Sweden needed just nine ends to beat Germany, 8-4. Both winning teams are 6-1.Switzerland beat Denmark, 9-3, in the other game in the afternoon session.",4
"Karl-Anthony Towns Fly Eagles, Fly! ... Bring On the Patriots! 1/22/2018 TMZSports.com He plays for Minnesota, but NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns was ALL ABOUT PHILLY on Sunday -- decked out in Eagles gear ... and celebrating after the victory! The Timberwolves star (who's in town to play the Clippers) hit up Craig's -- in a very good mood -- reveling in his team's NFC Championship victory over the Minnesota Vikings. FYI, KAT grew up in Edison, NJ -- about 60 miles from Philly. So, how does he feel about the Eagles' chances against Tom Brady? He likes it. A lot.",1
"The Week AheadDec. 20, 2015Heres what to expect in the coming week in business news.Drone Registration Begins ImageCredit...Rick Bowmer/Associated PressDrone pilots, start your web browsers. The Federal Aviation Administration plans to open a website Monday for its mandatory registration program, aimed at improving safety by making people more accountable for their use of remote-control flying machines.Owners will be required to submit their names, home addresses and email addresses to a national database, and to put a registration number on drones weighing from half a pound to 55 pounds. An owner of a drone before Monday will have until Feb. 19 to register. Anyone who gets a drone after the website opens will have to register before its first flight. Cecilia Kang_____Third-Quarter Growth The Department of Commerce will release its third and final estimate of economic growth in the third quarter at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. Wall Street is expecting a slight downward revision in the pace of expansion for the period of July, August and September.Reported growth is expected to fall to 1.9 percent from an earlier estimate of 2.1 percent. The downshift is most likely because of inventory adjustments on the part of businesses as well as fewer services purchases by consumers. Nelson D. Schwartz_____Nikes EarningsNike, one of a shrinking number of star performers in the world of retailing, is expected to report earnings on Tuesday, and analysts expect another solid quarter of growth. Nike is not entirely immune from the slumping mall traffic and sluggish holiday sales afflicting its peers.But high demand for its athletic shoes and clothes, and a strong e-commerce business, have helped set Nike apart. Analysts expect Nikes earnings to be about 85 cents per share, compared with 74 cents for the same quarter last year. Hiroko Tabuchi_____New-Home Sales ReportImageCredit...Mike Blake/ReutersThe Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development are scheduled to report the latest data on November new-home sales at 10 a.m. on Wednesday. Economists are expecting a slight increase in sales, which are running at an annual rate of about 500,000.New-home purchases tend to be volatile, and economists are watching for any sign that the recent rate increase by the Federal Reserve will eventually affect the real estate market. But with unemployment still falling and wages beginning to rise in some sectors, the real estate business is expected to remain fairly robust. Nelson D. Schwartz_____Closing Early for ChristmasTraders around the world will wrap up business early on Thursday, ahead of the Christmas holiday. In the United States, major stock markets will close at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, and bond trading is expected to shut down at 2 p.m. Eastern time. Many markets in Europe also close early for Christmas Eve. Jesse Pesta_____Battling for Theater ScreensImageCredit...Mike Segar/ReutersWith most schools on holiday break and families looking for activities to entertain themselves, Hollywood kicks into overdrive. Seven major movies will arrive in theaters in the coming days or expand into wide release: Concussion, with Will Smith, above, Daddys Home, Joy, Point Break, The Hateful Eight, The Revenant and The Big Short.Last year at this time, American Sniper became a juggernaut. But a year ago, there was no Star Wars: The Force Awakens taking up theater space. As a result, a brawl has broken out among studios and directors over screens because there will not be room for everything. Movies like Concussion, a drama about football-related brain injuries, and Point Break, a remake of the 1991 crime thriller, may have to prove their appeal quickly or lose screens. Brooks Barnes_____Data on Japanese EconomyImageCredit...Yuya Shino/ReutersJapans economy has been known to throw feints at statisticians. Last month, the country appeared to be in recession, until new data caused government analysts to change their minds a few weeks later. Fresh numbers are due on Friday, but it is unlikely that they will make the economys direction much clearer. The unemployment rate, now at a two-decade low of 3.1 percent, is expected to remain at or near that level.An unwelcome three-month decline in core consumer prices most likely came to an end in November, with prices flat or up slightly, according to predictions by private sector economists. But consumers still seem defensive: Household spending is expected to have dropped by more than 2 percent in November, the third consecutive month of decline. Jonathan Soble",0
"Dec. 14, 2015Gilt Groupe, a onetime darling of online fashion sales, is nearing a deal to sell itself albeit at a steep discount to its once lofty valuation.The Hudsons Bay Company, which owns Saks Fifth Avenue, is in advanced talks to buy the start-up for about $250 million, a person briefed on the matter said on Monday. That is down significantly from the $1 billion valuation that Gilt fetched more than three years ago.A deal could be announced early next year, though people briefed on the talks cautioned that negotiations were still underway and could still fall apart. Gilt is also speaking with a handful of other potential buyers in addition to Hudsons Bay, according to another person briefed on the talks.Should the two sides reach an agreement, it would cap a long and volatile ride for Gilt, which shook up the fashion industry when it opened for business eight years ago. The company focused on so-called flash sales, in which consumers have a limited amount of time to buy clothes, accessories and furniture sold by the site.The business model was so popular that Gilt raised $138 million from investors like SoftBank of Japan and Goldman Sachs in 2011, even as it remained unprofitable. And the online retailer was regarded as a star in New York Citys start-up community.The companys early success bolstered the reputations of its founders, including Alexis Maybank, Alexandra Wilkis Wilson and Kevin P. Ryan, the former chief executive of the online ad company DoubleClick, who also served as chief executive of Gilt.But flash sale sites, like Gilt, have lost their luster as consumers become increasingly desensitized to deals, analysts say.Estimated sales at the biggest flash sale sites, including Gilt, Rue La La and Zulily, have stalled in recent quarters, and Gilt most likely does not turn a profit, according to analysts. Gilts sales came to less than $700 million last year. In February 2015, Gilt raised $50 million in funding from investors led by the equity firm General Atlantic.And it still had not taken a step toward an initial public offering, as had been discussed earlier with investors.Other flash-sales specialists like Groupon have moved away from the model, while Zulily, which catered to mothers, sold itself to the owner of QVC for nearly 15 percent less than its initial public offering price.Hudsons Bay is also looking for a turnaround. The Canadian department store operator, which bought Saks in 2013, has succumbed to wider retail blues, posting an unexpected loss of 4 cents a share in the third quarter.And while acquisitions including the German department store chain Galeria fueled a 34 percent jump in sales, the increase fell short of analyst expectations. During a conference call with investors, executives at Hudsons Bay, which also owns Lord & Taylor, blamed sluggish mall traffic, as well as the abnormally warm weather across much of the eastern United States that has stalled sales of winter items.Despite Gilts misfortunes, Hudsons Bay believes that the online retailer still has cachet. Chief among Gilts attractions is its solid presence in mobile sales, an area in which the brick-and-mortar retailer has been eager to expand.Hudsons Bay intends to combine Gilt with its Saks Off Fifth line of outlet stores, according to one of the people briefed on the matter.A spokesman for Hudsons Bay Company declined to comment. Jennifer Miller, a spokeswoman for Gilt, said in an email that the company had no comment.News of the discussions was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.",0
"Credit...James Hill for The New York TimesFeb. 15, 2014SOCHI, Russia Zbigniew Brodka of Poland won the mens 1,500-meter speedskating event here Saturday, but the continuing story at Adler Arena was the Americans baffling performances. The United States team includes world-record holders and Olympic and world champions. Yet Americans won none of the first 21 speedskating medals at the Sochi Games.For the 1,500, they tried something different by wearing their standard skin suits, but the results were similar. Brian Hansen, who finished seventh, was the top American among the four who competed. His teammate Shani Davis, the two-time gold medalist who holds the world record in the event, finished 11th. You win some, you lose some, Davis said. But I tried my best and simply wasnt good enough today. Brodka and Koen Verweij of the Netherlands had the same time in hundredths, but Brodka was the winner by three-thousandths of a second in 1 minute 45.006 seconds. Denny Morrison of Canada took the bronze.United States coaches, officials and athletes are seeking answers. Was the problem their Batman-like Olympic suits, which cost millions to engineer? A lack of confidence? Unfavorable draws? Better competition? The ice conditions? Altitude training? Or did they all eat the wrong cereal for breakfast? Its hard to say, said Joey Mantia, who finished 22nd. Obviously, we were all underperforming, and none of us were living up to the expectations of what we thought we were going to do. The chief suspect was the Mach 39 suit, which was developed in secrecy in Under Armours lab in Baltimore in a partnership with Lockheed Martin. The suit had not been used by the team in elite competition before the Olympics. Then Hansen finished ninth in the mens 1,000 meters Wednesday. The next day, the American Brittany Bowe, the world-record holder in the womens 1,000, finished eighth, one place behind her teammate Heather Richardson. We dont have any information that supports its the suits, said Ted Morris, U.S. Speedskatings executive director. No data or anything like that. But once something like that gets whispered in somebodys ear, that stuff can spread like wildfire, and it doesnt matter what the data actually shows. Although the team was granted permission to switch to the suits it used for World Cup competition, the Americans still lagged.The Netherlands has amassed 13 long-track speedskating medals, four of them gold. It looked worse because the Dutch are performing so well that it really kind of rubbed it in our faces, Matthew Kooreman, the American coach, said. The Dutch coach, Jillert Anema, said the difference between the Americans suits would translate to only tenths of a second on a lap, which would not be enough to put them on the podium. Another possible culprit and a source of infighting among the American coaches was that many skaters left Utah to prepare for Sochi at altitude in Collabo, Italy. Some officials were quick to point out that they had trained there before other successful international events and that several foreign competitors doing well in Sochi had also trained there. Still, the combination of changes across the board might have rattled some athletes, coaches said. We had something to battle that should not have been in the mix, said Nancy Swider-Peltz, a four-time Olympian who is Hansens coach. And the problem was Collabo. And we came from low land, and three weeks before an Olympics, you dont make that drastic of a change, changing altitude, changing ice, changing wind, changing coldness, you cant feel yourself, throwing in a new skin, throwing in some other factors that should not have been thrown in. The ice was cited as another factor.The ice is very different from what were used to in Salt Lake City, said Anna Ringsred, who was 26th in the womens 3,000 meters last Sunday. A lot of us, myself included, get used to the fast ice and we train on fast ice all the time and its really quite different when you come to slower ice like this. U.S. Speedskating officials said they planned an extensive review of their Sochi performance. But perhaps no one is more disappointed than athletes like Davis, who was eighth in the 1,000. At the end of the day, the paper says Im eighth and the paper says Im 11th, said Davis, 31, probably in his final Olympics. It doesnt say because of a suit or because of a lack of confidence or whatever you had to deal with. It just says eighth and 11th. Thats what I have to live with for the rest of my life.",4
"Credit...BurtonFeb. 6, 2014Beyond the thrilling victories and agonizing defeats, the Olympics are a 16-day fashion show, even for fans blithely unaware that the United States Alpine skiing uniforms are meant to evoke the nations flag reflected in the water off Fort McHenry the morning after the British bombardment, 200 years ago, that inspired The Star-Spangled Banner.To some, it might just look like a super-tight ski uniform. But dressing the athletes is more complicated than that, an Olympic sport in itself. Companies vie for the right to design and manufacture clothes, both functional and aspirational, then spend months promoting their creations through choreographed unveilings, hoping to outdo their sartorial rivals. Such competition might help explain why the inside of American freeskiing jackets includes a yellow star cut from gear worn to the top of Mount Everest, but snowboarders will wear high-tech corduroy pants and jackets inspired by a quilt found at an antique show. Fans might be impressed to learn that the aerodynamic suits of the speedskaters were designed with the help of Lockheed Martin. They might be more impressed to know that the similarly clingy uniforms of the luge team were designed by Valiant Entertainment, a comic-book publisher.The biggest fashion runway will be Fridays opening ceremony, where the American team will march in heavy cardigans festooned in bold patchwork and iconography, which one fashion pundit compared to wearing Times Square. Afterward, athletes can return to their rooms and relax in specially designed village apparel, as if those two words go together.The question that viewers might ask, when confronted with the kaleidoscope of styles, is as complex as any of the designs: Why? Why would companies devote untold hours, effort and money to imagining, creating and making (mostly in the United States, after commotion over Ralph Laurens made-in-China collection for the 2012 London Games) mostly small batches of high-tech uniforms with tiny logos that will not be sold to the public?The short answer is a familiar one in business jargon: branding.Its definitely a more broad brand play than it is a moneymaking play, said Jeff Timmins, senior global brand director for Columbia Sportswear. Columbia provided freestyle skiing uniforms for Canada, Russia and the United States, whose moguls team will wear pants with a snow camouflage pattern white, basically to disguise motion, a key element of judging.Companies and various governing bodies declined to reveal details of their uniform arrangements. But generally, the companies pay for the right to sponsor the Olympic teams and make and supply the uniforms, seeing it as a rare chance to reach a global audience and align themselves if only temporarily with some of the worlds top athletes. ImageCredit...The North FaceIt builds buzz, its marketing, it creates fan engagement, said Peter Zeytoonjian, managing director of consumer products and events for the United States Olympic Committee. Its not completely different than what any professional sports team does.Nike and Ralph Lauren are among those selling some products to the public. That Times Square sweater? It was $598, but Ralph Laurens website says it is no longer available. The reindeer-themed hat is, for $95. Columbia, like several others, uses the Olympics to push technology and fashion in the years to come. We wanted to build the best product weve ever built, Timmins said. Were using this really as a product design and development opportunity. Some of these skiers are the coolest kids on the mountain; to get their feedback is priceless.The only American athletes absolved from becoming runway models for someone elses idea of patriotic fashion are the figure skaters. They choose their own costumes. That changes if and when they win a medal, at which point they will don Nikes medal-stand look, with its soulful details, as the company described them, like Land of the Free and Home of the Brave in the jacket pockets and on the insoles of the shoes.ImageCredit...Columbia SportswearThe design of the uniforms and the deals struck with the manufacturers are left to the national governing bodies for each sport. The United States Olympic Committee usually approves the uniforms with little debate, as long as the uniforms conform to the requirements set by the International Olympic Committee.Those rules, explained in a 33-page book called Guidelines Regarding Authorised Identifications, generally allow only one manufacturers logo on each piece of clothing or equipment. On clothes, it must be in specific places (chest or arm) and cannot be more than 20 square centimeters in size (a bit more than 3 square inches). On equipment, it can be no larger than six square centimeters. Uniform designs must be different from one Winter Olympics to another no hand-me-downs but there are no hard rules about palettes. Countries are encouraged to use their national colors, although some might think that Germanys candy-colored striations this year might stretch the guidelines. Clothing designers, typically, are not conformists, and neither are some of the companies where they work. To be honest, the idea of a uniform is a bit counterintuitive to what were all about, said Greg Dacyshyn, chief creative officer of Burton, which dresses the American snowboarding team. ImageCredit...Columbia SportswearEven with Olympic uniforms, they want to surprise. The goal is buzz among fans, love among clients and jealousy among rivals. With luck, the uniforms will get the positive viral attention of the pants worn by Norways curling team an eye-crossing zigzag pattern of red, white and blue. (They were made by Loudmouth, an American company.)For the 2010 Vancouver Games, Burton created a preppy plaid jacket and pants that looked like torn, faded jeans, but were actually high-tech snow pants. This year, for an heirloom hippy theme, Burton found a quilt at an antique show in Brimfield, Mass., deconstructed it and put it back together to use as a screen print for the teams jackets. An image of an old, faded flag adorns a sleeve. Officials at the United States Olympic Committee cannot recall quashing a design proposal for being too outlandish. Companies like Burton, involved in the Winter Games for the third time, simply want to bend expectations.Theres a mutual level of trust there were going to make everyone look good and were not going to break too many rules, Dacyshyn said. But I was surprised, pleasantly surprised, the last time around when we did the denim thing.Beyond appearances, companies eagerly tout the technical superiority of their uniforms, from the articulation of elbows to the latest in waterproof zippers. Many features focused on weight, ventilation and aerodynamics, and companies reached deep into the jargon thesaurus to explain them.ImageCredit...Columbia SportswearThe inner details become a game of one-upmanship. Nike said that each United States hockey jersey was made from about 17 recycled plastic bottles and that the socks used about five. (Ralph Lauren did not say how many Oregon-based sheep were used for each of its wool cardigans for the opening ceremony.)Most boldly, perhaps, North Face sewed star-shaped fabric that had been to Mount Everest, with the phrase Bigger than Me, into the inside of its jackets for freeskiers in sports like halfpipe, where they will climb a 22-foot wall, not a 29,029-foot mountain.Fans might just notice the outside of the clothes. In events where speed is critical, most American teams have gone to black, as if red, white or blue might increase drag. American speedskaters will don black, skintight uniforms designed in a partnership between Under Armour and Lockheed Martin. The uniforms have tiny rubber nubs because wind-tunnel tests showed that a slight disruption of air is a good thing, not unlike the effect of dimples on a golf ball. Unlike the snowboarders, whose corduroy pants might make the vtttt, vtttt noise as they walk, the speedskaters have antifriction fabric between their thighs.The sleek uniforms of American Alpine skiers, by Spyder, are black at the shoulders, fading to ever-lighter blue as they descend to the waist, like pre-dawn over a horizon specifically, the dawns early light over Baltimore Harbor during the War of 1812. Only at the Olympics, apparently, can Francis Scott Key provide posthumous inspiration to both a ski team and to the insoles of shoes worn on a medal stand.",4
"Asia Pacific|North Korea Tried to Jam GPS Signals Across Border, South Korea Sayshttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/02/world/asia/north-korea-jams-gps-signals.htmlCredit...Kim Hong-Ji/ReutersApril 1, 2016SEOUL, South Korea South Korea said on Friday that North Korea had tried to jam GPS signals in the South, a form of sabotage it has attempted before, but that no disruption of mobile communications or of air or ship traffic had resulted.The Pyongyang government has made several similar attempts since 2010, according to South Korean officials. In 2012, jamming signals sent by the North forced 252 commercial flights to turn off their GPS and use an alternate navigation tool. The latest signals, detected on Thursday, were not as strong as in past attempts, the South Korean Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said in a statement.South Korea traced the signals to Haeju, a town on North Koreas southwestern coast, and to Diamond Mountain in the countrys southeast, the Science Ministry said. The jamming signals were still being sent on Friday, said Moon Sang-gyun, a spokesman for the Souths Defense Ministry. The Defense Ministry and the Souths Unification Ministry called them a provocation and called on the North to stop them.Last week, Alison Evans, a senior analyst and East Asia expert for IHS, a research organization in London, said North Korea was likely to attempt cyberattacks or try to disrupt GPS signals in the South to show its displeasure with annual United States-South Korean joint military exercises that have been underway since early March. But she said Pyongyang was likely to try to manage the risk of escalation while doing so.The Science Ministrys announcement came as President Park Geun-hye was in Washington for a nuclear security summit meeting, where she met with President Obama and with President Xi Jinping of China to discuss the enforcement of new sanctions imposed on Pyongyang for its most recent test of a nuclear device and launch of a long-range rocket.The North has launched a number of short- and medium-range missiles since the United Nations adopted the tougher sanctions last month. It launched another short-range missile on Friday from its east coast, said a South Korean military official, who asked not to be identified because a formal announcement had not yet been made.",6
"Credit...Mark Metcalfe/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 23, 2018SYDNEY, Australia Indias president, Ram Nath Kovind, on Friday began wrapping up his visit to Australia after several days of meetings as the two countries move to tighten their economic and political bonds at a time of worsening tensions between China and the United States.The visit came four months after the quiet release of a 500-page report by Australias former top diplomat, Peter Varghese, on the need to enhance the countrys economic and security ties with India over the coming years.Australias prime minister, Scott Morrison, endorsed that report on Thursday, calling it a road map for our economic future with India. He and other officials said the Australian government had agreed to work on strengthening ties between the two countries education, resources, agribusiness and tourism sectors.The relationship is on an upward trajectory and this visit is likely to give it positive momentum, said Ajay Gondane, Indias high commissioner to Australia.Although the leaders conversation focused on economic partnerships, their meeting and the Varghese report have pointed to growing concerns in both countries about Chinas aggressive rise, experts said, and the efforts needed to counter it.The report did not specifically say that India and Australia need to work together to balance China it was much more sophisticated and nuanced, said Amitabh Mattoo, a professor at the University of Melbourne and the founding director of the universitys Australia India Institute. But anyone who reads between the lines would recognize that its China, China and China.Mr. Morrison emphasized shared values between Australia and India, drawing an implicit contrast with Chinas authoritarian approach.Our cultures might be different, but we believe in similar things we believe in the supremacy of the ballot box in our national life; in the rule of law, Mr. Morrison said at the India Business Summit in Sydney on Thursday. And we believe in the rights of nations to live free and not under the controlling hand of others.President Kovind echoed that point, speaking of the peace and prosperity of a free, open and rules-based Indo-Pacific Region, as well as a shared passion for cricket.After unveiling a statue of Mohandas K. Gandhi and addressing members of the Indian diaspora in Sydney, Mr. Kovind spoke to students at the University of Melbourne before heading to a cricket game between India and Australia.The visit came as the two countries have become increasingly interwoven through trade and immigration.Two-way trade between Australia and India hit $27.5 billion last year; 700,000 people of Indian descent call Australia home, making it the fastest growing immigrant community in Australia; and more than 87,000 Indian students are enrolled at Australian educational institutions, Mr. Morrison said in his speech Thursday. He added that we welcome more skilled migrants from India than any other nation.India has also been a major investor in Australias mining industry. Mr. Morrison said that coal was Australias largest export to India, worth more than $9 billion in 2017.But one of those investments has drawn intense scrutiny: the effort by the Indian company Adani to open one of the worlds largest coal mines, which opponents say would harm the Great Barrier Reef because of potential damage from coal shipments. The plan still awaits final approval.But this week, the focus has been on strengthening economic ties and broadening the two countries strategic alignment.The talks came a year and a half after Malcolm Turnbull, Mr. Morrisons predecessor, met the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, on a visit to India. At the time, Mr. Turnbull put a proposed free-trade agreement between the countries on the back burner. Now there is a greater sense of urgency to build ties in order to counter China, Professor Mattoo said.The economic relationship will happen in any case, he said. It is the strategic alignment that is important to ensure that the relationship really takes off.",6
"Economy|U.S. Wholesale Inventories Shrink, Hinting at More Anemic Growthhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/10/business/us-wholesale-inventories-shrink-hinting-at-more-anemic-growth.htmlDec. 9, 2015WASHINGTON United States wholesale inventories fell in October as businesses stepped up efforts to reduce stockpiles of unsold merchandise, suggesting that inventories would again be a drag on growth in the fourth quarter.The Commerce Department said on Wednesday that wholesale inventories slipped 0.1 percent as stocks of durable and nondurable goods fell. September inventories were revised downward to show them increasing only 0.2 percent instead of rising 0.5 percent as previously reported.Inventories help drive changes in gross domestic product. The component of wholesale inventories that goes into the calculation of G.D.P., wholesale stocks excluding autos, also dipped 0.1 percent.A record back-to-back increase in inventories in the first two quarters of this year left warehouses bulging with unsold merchandise and businesses with little appetite to restock. Inventories subtracted 0.56 of a percentage point from G.D.P. growth in the third quarter. That restricted growth to an annualized rate of 2.1 percent.The drop in wholesale inventories in October prompted economists to trim their fourth-quarter growth estimates by as much as two-tenths of a percentage point, to a 1.7 percent rate.We think that the drag from inventories in the fourth quarter will be more severe than we had previously believed, said Daniel Silver, an economist at J.P. Morgan in New York.Given downward revisions to September data, economists said they expected the third-quarter G.D.P. estimate to fall to a 1.9 percent pace when the government publishes its second revision later this month.Data last week showed that manufacturing inventories fell for a fourth straight month in October. Retail inventory data on Friday could shed more light on the magnitude of the anticipated inventory drag in the final three months of the year.Sales at wholesalers were unchanged in October after increasing 0.5 percent in September. Sales have been soft since last August, in part because of the negative impact of lower oil prices.At Octobers sales pace, it would take 1.31 months to clear shelves, unchanged from September. This is a relatively high number and suggests that businesses are unlikely to speed up their pace of inventory accumulation anytime soon.",0
"The New Old AgeCredit...Melissa Lyttle for The New York TimesMarch 25, 2016Ram and Geeta Chandran had always planned to move into a senior community after they retired. The couple had no children, and we knew we had to move to a retirement community so we wouldnt be lonely in a huge house, said Geeta Chandran, 72, a family physician.Then they came across an online ad for ShantiNiketan, a planned 55-plus community in Tavares, Fla., designed for Indian-Americans. (The name, in Sanskrit, means peaceful home.)The Chandrans, who had emigrated from India in 1970, found the prospect of aging with others from their home country appealing.Indian immigrants who came to the United States in the 1960s and 70s for educational and work opportunities have begun to downsize and contemplate their postcareer years, said Iggy Ignatius, 60, ShantiNiketans chairman. Many people were thinking theyd go back to India, but pragmatically, its not possible, he said. Our children are here. Our grandchildren are here.In Florida, from the architecture that reminds Dr. Chandran of Chennai, India, to the vegetarian meals and Bollywood dance classes, we have created a mini-India, a piece of India, Mr. Ignatius said.The Chandrans moved into their three-bedroom condominium in 2011, paying $250,000, and now they lead yoga classes in ShantiNiketans meditation room.Mr. Chandran, 77, a former corporate vice president, conducts Hindu prayers each weekday morning in a small on-site temple. For festivals, Dr. Chandran puts on the silk saris she found few occasions to wear in Newport News, Va.You feel more at home here, she said.Developers call these kinds of housing options affinity group communities, said Robert G. Kramer, chief executive of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care, an industry research group.In addition to those established by and for members of religious groups, they include retirement communities for military officers, for gays and lesbians, and for the alumni of particular colleges and universities.Facilities for specific ethnic groups have appeared more recently, but I think well see more of them, Mr. Kramer said. Were such a polyglot culture.Among those already in operation: Aegis Gardens, a 64-unit Chinese-American assisted living complex in Fremont, Calif., opened in 2001. With a staff that speaks Mandarin and Cantonese, daily tai chi sessions and a Chinese chef, it maintains nearly 100 percent occupancy, said Dwayne Clark, the chief executive of Aegis Living.So the company, which operates 30 assisted living facilities on the West Coast, is building a second Chinese-American facility, a $50 million independent living, assisted living and memory care campus in Newcastle, Wash., scheduled to open next year.Monthly rents are likely to start at $5,300, executives said, not including help with the activities of daily living. ShantiNiketan began with 54 apartments when the Chandrans moved in. Now it has 174, with 120 more condos for Indian-Americans under construction, and Mr. Ignatius plans an initial public offering to finance similar developments near Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago. Dr. Mukund Thakar began creating Indian-American floors in New Jersey nursing homes a decade ago, hiring Indian physicians, nurses, aides and dietitians. His Indian Nursing Home program now operates in eight facilities around the state and one in the Bronx. In Queens, a small nonprofit group called India Home runs culturally appropriate senior center programs for South Asian immigrants. The Desi Senior Center in Jamaica, Queens, for example, attracts older Bangladeshis with hot halal lunches, English instruction and a screen separating men from women in exercise classes.Theres a Catholic Charities senior center two blocks away, but they would not go there, because nobody on the staff speaks Bengali, said Lakshman Kalasapudi, India Homes program manager.As for Latinos, I expect to see the first Hispanic facilities in Southern California and the Southwest, said Mr. Kramer of the National Investment Center.For years, New Old Age readers from other countries have insisted that their cultures revere elders and revile children who dont care for their parents in multigenerational homes. But even in those societies, where elder care frequently depended on the unpaid labor of women, demographic and socioeconomic shifts have made a difference. Nursing homes have sprouted across China, for instance.Though Chinese-American families (like most American families) try to keep older relatives at home as long as possible, a lot of my residents have said its very lonely if your children are at work, your grandchildren are at school, and youre alone with a caregiver, dozing in front of the TV, said Emily Poon, the general manager of Aegis Gardens in Fremont.In standard assisted living, they might feel even more disconnected. The majority cant speak English well, Ms. Poon said. They couldnt communicate effectively with the staff or the other residents. They might find the food unpalatable, the activities unengaging. Isolation breeds its own physical and psychological dangers.Alice and George Louie, 90-year-old Chinese immigrants, moved to Aegis Gardens in 2012 to be near their daughter and son-in-law. The staff helps Mr. Louie, who has dementia, with his medications. Mrs. Louie, who has diabetes and uses a walker, practices tai chi and calligraphy. They eat meals with other Cantonese speakers.For the Chinese New Year, you never saw a place so extravagantly decorated, Mrs. Louie said. The festivities included traditional lion dancers, jugglers and gymnasts; the dining room served dim sum.For administrators, ethnic facilities can pose special challenges. Aegis executives had to petition to change the Fremont communitys street address, Mr. Clark said, because it contained the numeral 4, considered unlucky in Chinese culture. Inside the facility, apartment numbers jump from 103 to 105 and 239 to 251.Days before the opening, a feng shui practitioner decreed that the fountain in the courtyard be torn out because its outer rim contained points; he was mollified when workers hastily sawed off the points.A larger challenge: How long will the market for ethnically specific senior housing and programs last? Immigrants more assimilated offspring may care less about traditional cooking or a Gujarati-speaking staff. For first-generation Indians, this is working out great, Mr. Ignatius said of ShantiNiketan. Im not sure my children will come here.But if the need 40 years hence looks uncertain, the demand right now is pressing, said Dr. Vasundhara Kalasapudi, the executive director of India Home. The group wants to establish day programs for South Asians with dementia, as well as assisted living facilities and nursing homes.This is a common topic for all of us, how difficult it is to take care of families with medical problems, she said.Or nonmedical problems. Dr. Kalasapudi, a geriatric psychiatrist, recalled being pressed into service to talk to a hospitalized Indian immigrant who suffered, the staff believed, from depression. Her mother tongue was Telugu, but they managed to communicate in Hindi.Im not depressed, the patient told her. I just dont like the food.",2
"Credit...Fernando Rodriguez for The New York TimesDec. 7, 2015Many Fed watchers have warned about the upsetting effect Ben S. Bernankes aggressive central bank actions have had on emerging markets around the globe.But when the recently retired chairman of the Federal Reserve came to the International Monetary Fund last month to deliver a vigorous defense of how his bond-buying spree played out abroad, Mr. Bernanke directed his remarks not at prominent critics in Brazil and India but at a 45-year-old French economist living in London.Hlne Rey, a professor at the London Business School, contends that the impact of Fed policies on global markets has become so potent that emerging markets have become largely powerless in terms of coping with the large investment flows that pour into and out of their economies.Mr. Bernankes speech largely focused on his own legacy, but the issue of how mindful the Fed should be regarding the effect that rate changes have on other countries has become critically important.This fall, Fed governors surprised many by deciding not to raise rates; one of the factors cited was the impact that Chinas currency devaluation would have on already fragile emerging markets. Many economists have been warning that a rate increase combined with uncertain exchange rates in China and other countries would weaken global growth.Now, with all indications pointing to a rate increase this month the first in more than nine years the fear remains that emerging markets will get hit by another round of capital volatility and currency devaluations as investors exit risky assets in favor of higher yielding prospects in the United States.All of which makes Ms. Reys research particularly relevant, not least her recommendation that policy makers in the United States and abroad put in place regulations that reduce the intensity and speculative fervor of these flows. That could mean capital controls in emerging markets or new rules for investment funds that would punish short-term trading by investors.Hlne has pushed the notion that there is a global financial cycle and that countries are exposed to it independently from the exchange rate regime they use, Olivier Blanchard, the former chief economist of the I.M.F., said in an introduction to a lecture Ms. Rey gave at the fund in 2014. And she has suggested that the only way to deal with it is through capital controls. This is quite a different position and likely to be quite influential.In a widely discussed paper that she presented two years ago at a central bank conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Ms. Rey described what she called a global financial cycle whereby financial firms, often using borrowed money, swoop into Malaysian, Brazilian and Turkish markets when rates in the United States are low and swoop out when rates rise frequently leaving wreckage in their wake.Ms. Rey is not the first economist to propose that volatile capital flows, especially those that cause real estate bubbles, may be harmful for countries that absorb them.Hyun Song Shin, a former Princeton professor who is the head of research at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, has been talking for a number of years about how Fed policies have spurred speculative investment flows globally.But by highlighting how new exchange rate policies intended to help countries handle these money streams have not worked, Ms. Reys research offers a provocative new twist.In previous emerging market crises, most countries got into trouble because their exchange rates were tied to the dollar, making them vulnerable to the ups and downs of interest rate policies in the United States.To better insulate themselves from these external policy shocks, the I.M.F. and most economists advised these countries to let their exchange rates float freely, which most have done.What Ms. Rey found, however, was that countries like Brazil, Turkey and South Africa were just as exposed to the whipsaw effect of rate-driven capital flows with flexible rates as they were when currencies were pegged to the dollar.ImageCredit...Lalo de Almeida for The New York TimesThis conclusion suggests that what ails countries like Turkey and Brazil is less their troubled economies (high inflation and lots of debt) and more the volatile investment flows coming into their countries.And it questioned what has long been seen as a core principle for emerging economies: that the free flow of capital into and out of these markets is a force for good that should be encouraged.There is no doubt that Hlnes work carries with it important policy implications, said Mr. Shin, the economist at the Bank for International Settlements, whose work on global capital flows Ms. Rey has drawn upon.Ms. Reys paper, delivered in the summer of 2013, could not have been better timed. Just months earlier, global markets had been roiled by the so-called taper tantrum when global investors pulled billions of dollars out of emerging economies based on the news that the Fed would taper its bond purchasing program.Suddenly, she was very much in demand fielding calls from central bankers, policy makers and global investors alike, all of whom were searching for a framework to help them analyze this sudden bout of market volatility.It has been a nice surprise life has definitely gotten busier, Ms. Rey said in a telephone interview from Santiago, Chile, where she was talking to the central bank there about how best to respond to capital flows. This is an important debate. We have to decide which flows are beneficial and which are speculative.Her ascent has been rapid. A gift for crunching numbers lifted her from the small town of Brioude in central France to a Grande cole in Paris, a scholarship at Stanford University and a doctorate from the London School of Economics.In 2000, she was recruited to Princeton University by none other than Mr. Bernanke, who was the chairman of the universitys economics department at the time.She is married to Richard Portes, a prominent economist also at the London Business School.Ms. Rey has been the co-author of several papers of note, but it has been her work on capital flows that has drawn attention. In 2014, she was asked to deliver the Mundell-Fleming lecture at the I.M.F., one of the most prestigious invitations available to an internationally minded economist.Indeed, it would be from this very platform that Mr. Bernanke would offer up his deconstruction of Ms. Reys thesis one year later.To be sure, he took care to laud the quality of her work, but there was also a hint of defensiveness in his remarks. After all, Mr. Bernanke was the one holding the monetary reins during this period and he questioned whether Ms. Reys definition of a swarm of investors chasing risky assets when rates in the United States are low might not be overly simplistic.And wasnt it also true that those experiencing the most turbulent capital flows Turkey, Brazil and South Africa, for example were already on edge as a result of their own economic problems?These were countries that were vulnerable, Mr. Bernanke said in his speech. Their policies made them riskier.Unlike many rising economists, Ms. Rey has a humble air about her, and she takes pains to say that her research is not meant to be critical of Mr. Bernankes time at the Fed.But she stands firmly by her claim that the Feds propensity to spur speculative and at times damaging investment flows remains underappreciated and that more aggressive steps need to be taken to mitigate them.I think Ben has a very good point, even if we do recognize a global financial cycle, how do we know it is excessive, she said. Still, my evidence points to additional risk-taking not only in emerging markets but Europe as well.",0
"The noodles and barbecue arrive within 30 minutes. The containers they come in could be around for hundreds of years thereafter.Credit...Lam Yik Fei for The New York TimesMay 28, 2019BEIJING In all likelihood, the enduring physical legacy of Chinas internet boom will not be the glass-and-steel office complexes or the fancy apartments for tech elites.It will be the plastic.The astronomical growth of food delivery apps in China is flooding the country with takeout containers, utensils and bags. And the countrys patchy recycling system isnt keeping up. The vast majority of this plastic ends up discarded, buried or burned with the rest of the trash, researchers and recyclers say. Scientists estimate that the online takeout business in China was responsible for 1.6 million tons of packaging waste in 2017, a ninefold jump from two years before. That includes 1.2 million tons of plastic containers, 175,000 tons of disposable chopsticks, 164,000 tons of plastic bags and 44,000 tons of plastic spoons. Put together, it is more than the amount of residential and commercial trash of all kinds disposed of each year by the city of Philadelphia. The total for 2018 grew to an estimated two million tons.ImageCredit...Na Zhou for The New York TimesHalf a days work for just a few pennies. It isnt worth it, said Ren Yong, 40, a garbage collector at a downtown Shanghai office building. He said he threw takeout containers out.For many overworked or merely lazy people in urban China, the leading takeout platforms Meituan and Ele.me are replacing cooking or eating out as the preferred means of obtaining nourishment. Delivery is so cheap, and the apps offer such generous discounts, that it is now possible to believe that ordering a single cup of coffee for delivery is a sane, reasonable thing to do.Yuan Ruqian knows that it is not. Yet she, too, has succumbed. Like the time she was craving ice cream, but a newly opened Dippin Dots store seemed so far away. Or when she orders delivery for lunch, which is nearly every day. Asked about the trash she generates, Ms. Yuan, 27, who works in finance in Shanghai, said: Laziness is the root of all evil. The transformation of daily life has been swift. Meituan says it delivered 6.4 billion food orders last year, a nearly 60 percent jump from 2017. Those orders were worth $42 billion in total, meaning the average order was $6.50 about enough for a decent meal for one in a big Chinese city.ImageCredit...Na Zhou for The New York TimesEle.me the name means Are you hungry? and is pronounced UH-luh-muh has not disclosed similar figures. But across Chinas major takeout apps, orders worth a combined $70 billion were delivered in 2018, according to the analysis firm iResearch.By comparison, online food delivery sales in the United States are expected to total $19 billion this year, according to Statista. Uber says its Uber Eats service generated $7.9 billion in orders worldwide last year. GrubHub reported $5.1 billion in food sales and 159 million orders in 2018, implying an average order value of $32.Around the world, the convenience of such services comes with costs that can be easy to overlook. Labor controversies, for instance. Or roads made more hazardous by takeout couriers zooming around on motorbikes. Plastic waste is just as easily ignored, even when it is being generated and mismanaged on a titanic scale.China is home to a quarter of all plastic waste that is dumped out in the open. Scientists estimate that the Yangtze River emptied 367,000 tons of plastic debris into the sea in 2015, more than any other river in the world, and twice the amount carried by the Ganges in India and Bangladesh. The worlds third and fourth most polluting rivers are also in China.Takeout apps may be indirectly encouraging restaurants to use more plastic. Restaurants in China that do business through Meituan and Ele.me say they are so dependent on customer ratings that they would rather use heavier containers, or sheathe an order in an extra layer of plastic wrap, than risk a bad review because of a spill.ImageCredit...Na Zhou for The New York TimesMeituan is deeply committed to reducing the environmental impact of food delivery, the company said in a statement, pointing to initiatives such as allowing users to choose not to receive disposable tableware. The e-commerce titan Alibaba, which owns Ele.me, declined to comment. This deluge of trash might not be such a big problem were China not in the middle of a monumental, if flawed, effort to fix its recycling system. Recycling has long been a gritty, unregulated affair in the country, one driven less by green virtue than by the business opportunity in extracting value out of other peoples leavings. The government now wants a recycling industry that doesnt spoil the environment or sicken workers. The transition hasnt been smooth.China recently banned many types of scrap from being imported into the country, hoping that recyclers would focus on processing domestic material instead. That killed off a lucrative business for those recyclers, and left American cities scrambling to find new dumping grounds for their cardboard and plastic. Some cities have been forced to end their recycling programs.ImageCredit...Na Zhou for The New York TimesOther policies may inadvertently be causing fewer recyclables to be collected from Chinas homes and offices. In Beijing, many scavengers who do this work have fallen victim to an aggressive government campaign to improve the quality of the citys population, a euphemism for driving out migrant workers from the countryside. To clean up the filthy air in Beijing, the government has also clamped down on small, scattered polluting enterprises in the capital region. Inspectors have since closed down hundreds of dingy backyard workshops that cleaned and processed plastic scrap.Not everyone mourns the loss. For years, Mao Da, an environmental researcher, has studied the plastic industry in Wenan County, near Beijing. Workers there used to sort through food and medical waste by hand, he said. Nonrecyclable material was buried in pits near farmland. It was an environmental and public health catastrophe, Mr. Mao said. So far, though, the crackdown hasnt caused large, professionally managed recycling companies to fill the void. Instead, it has left the entire business in limbo.Youve got fewer people collecting scrap, fewer people transporting it and fewer people processing it, said Chen Liwen, the founder of Zero-Waste Villages, a nonprofit that promotes recycling in rural China. The overall recycling rate has definitely fallen.ImageCredit...Na Zhou for The New York TimesIn Chifeng, a small city northeast of Beijing, Zhang Jialin is pondering life after recycling. For years, Mr. Zhang and his wife bought plastic scrap and ground it into chips. But the local authorities have stepped up environmental inspections. The city has slated Mr. Zhangs street for demolition. He and other recyclers believe it is because officials consider their scrapyards an eyesore. The Chifeng government didnt respond to a request for comment.What I do is environmental protection, Mr. Zhang, 45, said. I dont let stuff get thrown everywhere. I break it down. I wash it.He continued: So why do the environmental protection authorities target me as if I were harming environmental protection? Thats what I dont get.",5
"Three recent developments incremental and undramatic but encouraging are likely to improve the lives and health of seniors.Credit...Elizabeth Frantz/ReutersFeb. 28, 2022The Covid pandemic has presented older Americans with plenty of grim news, from staffing shortages in long-term care and hospices to the punishing effects of loneliness and isolation. But there have been encouraging developments too the kind of incremental progress that can take years to achieve, as lawsuits wend their way through courts, bills die in state legislatures and rise again, and the pandemic complicates everything.The results are not always dramatic, but they can improve lives and health for older people, especially those with low income. Here are three.A New Right to Appeal Medicare DecisionsFirst, a federal appellate court recently ruled that if Medicare declines to pay for your rehabilitation in a nursing home after youve left the hospital, because you were on observation, you can appeal the decision.This issue has boggled patients and families for years. You were in a hospital bed, doctors and nurses provided care, you were examined and perhaps received medication, but you were not actually admitted. Or you were, and then the hospital changed your status to on observation. Technically you were an outpatient, not an inpatient.But Medicare requires three consecutive days as an inpatient for you to be eligible for nursing home coverage. So you are left either having to pay the tab yourself (the national average nursing home cost is $260 a day) or forgoing care. In fact, if you are among the 9 percent of Medicare beneficiaries who dont have Part B, which covers outpatient care, you must pay the hospital bill, too.Hundreds of thousands of patients discharged from hospitals have probably faced this conundrum. You can appeal just about every issue regarding your Medicare coverage, but not that one, said Alice Bers, litigation director at the Center for Medicare Advocacy.To change this, the center along with Justice in Aging and a private law firm sued the federal Department of Health and Human Services in 2011.Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed that Medicare beneficiaries have a constitutional right to appeal if hospitals reclassify them as observation patients. If patients win their appeals, traditional Medicare will pay for up to 100 days of nursing home care, and those who were previously forced to pay out-of-pocket could receive refunds. (Medicare Advantage plans dont generally require the three-day stay.)The Center for Medicare Advocacy answers frequent questions here.One catch: The government could still ask the Supreme Court to take the case, or seek a rehearing by the Second Circuit court. And the Medicare appeals process is no picnic. People have the best chance of winning if they persist and work their way up through the levels, Ms. Bers said.Repealing the three-day requirement would take Congressional action. But at least with the right to appeal, you have a fighting chance.California Eases Medicaid QualificationsIn a second promising development, California is eliminating asset limits for older people who are trying to qualify for Medicaid, and other states are considering similar moves.Medicaid, the state and federal program that provides health care for the poor and for people with disabilities, and also pays for long-term care in nursing homes and at home, sets strict ceilings on recipients wealth. In most states, if you are older than 65, you can amass no more than $2,000 in assets, or $3,000 for a couple (usually with a home and a car exempted).It makes people live in very deep poverty, unable to save for emergencies or even modest expenditures, said Amber Christ, director of health care policy and advocacy for Justice in Aging. If you go over the limit by a dollar, you lose eligibility.California will abolish this ceiling in two steps. In July, the asset limit rises to $130,000 for an individual and another $65,000 for each family member. In July 2024, the state will discard asset limits altogether. If you are older or disabled, you will qualify for Medi-Cal (as California calls its Medicaid program) if your income does not exceed 138 percent of the federal poverty level. The state estimates that about 17,000 residents will become newly eligible.Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York has incorporated a similar measure in her proposed state budget, eliminating asset limits as of Jan. 1, 2023; the state legislature will tackle the budget in March. Arizona eliminated asset limits in 2001, although not for long-term care, and other states are looking into the approach, Ms. Christ said.One catch: This year, 138 percent of the federal poverty level amounts to an annual income of $17,774. Medi-Cal recipients must still be poor, but less poor than before, and will be better able to hold onto their health coverage.Social Security Offices to ReopenImageCredit...Fred Prouser/ReutersIn a third piece of a good news, the Social Security Administration has finally announced that it will soon reopen its 1,200 local offices.Except for limited dire need appointments made at the discretion of managers, offices have remained closed since the pandemic hit in March of 2020. Now, said Mark Hinkle, a spokesman for the agency, we anticipate that local field offices will restore increased in-person service to the public, without an appointment, in early April.This matters. There are things that have to be done in person for Social Security, said Kate Lang, senior staff attorney at Justice in Aging. You can apply online for retirement benefits but not for survivors benefits or for Supplemental Security Income, or S.S.I., which helps support seniors with very low income.These in-person requirements have meant that hundreds of thousands of applicants who would normally walk into local Social Security offices, carrying the required original documents, have been out of luck for two years.Moreover, people already on benefits have gotten notices saying their benefits are being reduced or discontinued, and theyre unable to get in touch with anyone at Social Security to find out whats going on, Ms. Lang said. Theres no way to fix these problems.Trying to reach Social Security by phone can be an exercise in frustration. A report from the agencys inspector general found that monthly calls to field offices rose from 4.6 million before the pandemic to 7.5 million in April through September 2020, and to 12 million in March of 2021. If you called field offices or the national 1-800 number, you often encountered busy signals or long waits; many callers abandoned the effort.Even after the Social Security Administration agreed to reopen offices, protracted negotiations with its uneasy employees followed. But the agency and its unions have reached agreements, although they are still working out the logistics of reopening.One catch: Visitors to a field office will likely face occupancy limits, and the agency must cope with huge backlogs. In an email, Mr. Hinkle said that the agency encourages the public to use its online or phone services when possible and to schedule in-person appointments in advance.Ms. Lang noted: Its not like everything will be hunky dory on April 1. In fact, Justice in Aging has brought a class-action suit against the Social Security Administration on behalf of S.S.I. recipients who were unable to provide information or challenge decisions while offices were shuttered.But, Mr. Hinkle said, offices will reopen this spring dependent on the course of the pandemic indisputably a good thing.",2
"ScienceTakeVideotranscripttranscriptCocka-ToolsCockatoos can make simple tools out of a variety of materials, like bamboo and even cardboard.This is Figaro, a goffin cockatoo. Hes making a tool out of larch wood to get a little bit of cashew. These birds are so smart Theyre sometimes compared to human 3 year olds. Figaro discovered how to make tools completely on his own. A few years ago. Then the scientists set it up so that three other cockatoos could learn from him. Then the researchers wondered if the birds could transfer those skills to different kinds of materials. So they offered the birds larch wood, a twig cardboard and beeswax. All four birds could trim a twig. No problem. Three could do larch wood. One seemed to have some kind of larch wood phobia. Two of the birds Figaro and Doolittle, could handle the cardboard.That required some serious Cut-out work. Impressive. But if these birds look like good pets, Think about this. like a three year old. They need tremendous attention and stimulation. But. These are birds. And they stay with that three year old level. For 40 years. Or more.Cockatoos can make simple tools out of a variety of materials, like bamboo and even cardboard.Nov. 21, 2016The Goffins cockatoo is a smart bird, so smart it has been compared to a 3-year-old human.But even for this species, a bird named Figaro stands out for his creativity with tools.Hand-raised at the Veterinary University of Vienna, the male bird was trying to play with a pebble that fell outside his aviary onto a wooden beam about four years ago. First he used a piece of bamboo to try to rake the stone back in.Impressed, scientists in the university Goffins lab, which specializes in testing the thinking abilities of the birds, put a cashew nut where the pebble had been. Figaro extended his beak through the wire mesh to bite a splinter off the wooden beam. He used the splinter to fish the cashew in, a fairly difficult process because he had to work the splinter through the mesh and position it at the right angle.In later trials, Figaro made his tools much more quickly, and also picked a bamboo twig from the bottom of the aviary and trimmed it to make a similar tool.Cockatoos dont do anything like this in nature, as far as anyone knows. They dont use tools. They dont even build nests, so they are not used to manipulating sticks. And they have curved bills, unlike the straight beaks of crows and jays that make manipulating tools a bit easier. Blue jays have been observed creating tools from newspaper to pull food pellets to them.Alice M.I. Auersperg, a researcher at the Veterinary University of Vienna who studies cognition in animals, and her colleagues reported those first accomplishments by Figaro in 2012. Since then, they have continued to test Figaro and other birds in the lab that were able to learn tool use or tool making, sometimes both, by watching Figaro.Most recently, Dr. Auersperg and colleagues report in the journal Biology Letters, the scientists tested four cockatoos to see if they could adapt their skills to different materials. The birds had different skill sets when they started. Figaro had already mastered larch wood and a bamboo twig. Another bird, Pipin, had only mastered tool use.The results made two things clear. First, these birds can transfer a skill to a completely different material. Both Figaro and Dolittle were able to make tools not only out of larch wood and twigs, but out of cardboard, which required a fairly complicated biting procedure to cut out a tool of the right length and width. Think of a toddler trying to master that task with kiddie scissors.But the tests also showed clear variations in the abilities of different birds. Pipin seemed to have something against larch wood, but was able to trim a twig, as were all of the birds.That was the only triumph for Pipin, whereas Kiwi could do twigs and larch wood, but not cardboard.The birds were also offered beeswax, which none of them could turn into the equivalent of a stick.Dr. Auersperg may look into individual differences in future research. For now, she says, the cockatoos have shown that their general level of intelligence, which perhaps evolved because they ate some foods in the wild that had to be extracted from hard shells, can be put to use in making and using tools in ways not seen in nature.She did say that the birds are so intelligent and complex in their behaviors that keeping them as pets is quite demanding. You might even compare it to dealing with a 3-year-old for 40 years or more. Thats how long the cockatoo can live.",7
"TrilobitesCredit...iStockNov. 27, 2016In the wake of the election, its clear American society is fractured. Negative emotions are running amok, and countless words of anger and frustration have been spilled. If you were to analyze this news outlet for the ratio of positive emotional words to negative ones, would you find a dip linked to the events of the past few weeks?Its possible, suggests a study published last week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Analyzing Google Books and The New York Timess archives from the last 200 years, the researchers examined a curious phenomenon known as positive linguistic bias, which refers to peoples tendency to use more positive words than negative words. Though the bias is robust and found consistently across cultures and languages social scientists are at odds about what causes it.In this study, the authors shed light on some possible new patterns behind the effect. Across two centuries of texts, they found that peoples preference for positive words varied with national mood, and declined during times of war and economic hardship.Its been shown that linguistic positivity bias exists, over and over again. What people havent actually looked at is how this phenomenon fluctuates over time, and whether there are certain predictors for it, said Morteza Dehghani, a professor of psychology and computer science at the University of Southern California and an author of the paper.To measure linguistic positivity, Dr. Dehghanis team looked at catalogs of words associated with positive and negative emotions, from a collection called the linguistic inquiry and word count, or LIWC, database. The positive category included about 400 words, including awesome, pretty and grace. The negative one included about 500 words, including suffer, grief and hatred.Then the researchers looked at how many times these positive and negative words appeared each year, across 1.3 million texts in Google Books and 14.9 million New York Times articles. They also analyzed word usage relative to unemployment and inflation rates, wartime casualty estimates and national happiness surveys.Looking for changes over time can provide clues about the mechanism behind the linguistic positivity bias, said William Hamilton, a doctoral candidate at Stanford University who focuses on linguistic trends and was not involved in the study.Many theories have been proposed: Maybe its because were social creatures, and affirmative language promotes group bonding and cooperation. Maybe we inherently privilege positive information. Maybe, optimistically, more good things than bad things happen overall, and the words we use reflect that.When youre looking at a static snapshot of time, its hard to disentangle all these competing hypotheses, Mr. Hamilton said.The new study provides evidence that positive language use may change depending on objective circumstances, such as war and poverty, as well as subjective happiness. What may be less compelling is the researchers finding that there is an overall decrease in positive language use over the last 200 years.Tools like the LIWC database were developed around the way people write and talk today, said Mark Liberman, a linguistics professor at the University of Pennsylvania who was not part of the study. As a result, the database doesnt capture changes in word meanings and frequency of use. Over time the word awesome, for instance, changed from meaning daunting to being synonymous with good.Additionally, experts in linguistics and textual analysis say that the composition of text collections like Google Books change over time, confounding attempts to extract chronological patterns.Its a compelling trend they find, Mr. Hamilton said, but there needs to be more follow-ups for me to be totally confident this is something thats happening.Rumen Iliev, a psychology researcher at Stanford University and a co-author of the paper, said these concerns are legitimate, but that this study is just the beginning.We hope that our research will generate novel research which will use both different dictionaries and different databases, he said.",7
"Technology|Google Promises Its A.I. Will Not Be Used for Weaponshttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/technology/google-artificial-intelligence-weapons.htmlCredit...Jim Wilson/The New York TimesJune 7, 2018SAN FRANCISCO Google, reeling from an employee protest over the use of artificial intelligence for military purposes, said Thursday that it would not use A.I. for weapons or for surveillance that violates human rights. But it will continue to work with governments and the military.The new rules were part of a set of principles Google unveiled relating to the use of artificial intelligence. In a company blog post, Sundar Pichai, the chief executive, laid out seven objectives for its A.I. technology, including avoid creating or reinforcing unfair bias and be socially beneficial.Google also detailed applications of the technology that the company will not pursue, including A.I. for weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people and technologies that gather or use information for surveillance violating internationally accepted norms of human rights.But Google said it would continue to work with governments and military using A.I. in areas including cybersecurity, training and military recruitment.We recognize that such powerful technology raises equally powerful questions about its use. How A.I. is developed and used will have a significant impact on society for many years to come, Mr. Pichai wrote.Concern over the potential uses of artificial intelligence bubbled over at Google when the company secured a contract to work on the Pentagons Project Maven program, which uses A.I. to interpret video images and could be used to improve the targeting of drone strikes.More than 4,000 Google employees signed a petition protesting the contract, and a handful of employees resigned. In response, Google said it would not seek to renew the Maven contract when it expired next year and pledged to draft a set of guidelines for appropriates uses of A.I.Mr. Pichai did not address the Maven program or the pressure from employees. Its not clear whether these guidelines would have precluded Google from pursuing the Maven contract, since the company has insisted repeatedly that its work for the Pentagon was not for offensive purposes.Google has bet its future on artificial intelligence, and company executives believe the technology could have an impact comparable to the development of the internet.Google promotes the benefits of artificial intelligence for tasks like early diagnosis of diseases and the reduction of spam in email. But it has also experienced some of the perils associated with A.I., including YouTube recommendations pushing users to extremist videos or Google Photos image-recognition software categorizing black people as gorillas.While most of Googles A.I. guidelines are unsurprising for a company that prides itself on altruistic goals, it also included a noteworthy rule about how its technology could be shared outside the company.We will reserve the right to prevent or stop uses of our technology if we become aware of uses that are inconsistent with these principles, the company said.Like most of the top corporate A.I. labs, which are laden with former and current academics, Google openly publishes much of its A.I. research. That means others can recreate and reuse many of its methods and ideas. But Google is joining other labs in saying it may hold back certain research if it believes others will misuse it.DeepMind, a top A.I. lab owned by Googles parent company, Alphabet, is considering whether it should refrain from publishing certain research because it may be dangerous. OpenAI, a lab founded by the Tesla chief executive Elon Musk and others, recently released a new charter indicating it could do much the same even though it was founded on the principle that it would openly share all its research.",5
"Credit...Tuomas Lehtinen/AlamyNov. 20, 2018At least three dozen students have come down with chickenpox at a private school in North Carolina nearly one-quarter of the student body in what health officials call the largest outbreak in the state since the chickenpox vaccine became available more than two decades ago.The students, who range in age from 4 to 11 years old, attend the Asheville Waldorf School in Asheville, N.C., about 120 miles west of Charlotte. They began falling ill in mid-September, said Dr. Jennifer Mullendore, the medical director for Buncombe County Health & Human Services.The school has 152 children in nursery school through sixth grade, and one of the states highest rates of religious exemptions for vaccination.The size of this outbreak and the fact that this school continues to have a large number of unvaccinated students makes it very likely there will be continued spread of chickenpox within the school, Dr. Mullendore said. This also poses a risk of spread to the surrounding community.North Carolina requires students to receive the chickenpox vaccine, but exceptions can be made for medical or religious reasons.During the 2017-2018 school year, about two-thirds of the 28 kindergartners at Asheville Waldorf School received a religious exemption from the required vaccinations, state data shows, the highest percentage in the state for schools with kindergarten enrollment of at least three students.Schools in the county have had smaller chickenpox outbreaks in recent years of no more than five to 11 children, Dr. Mullendore said. This year, however, was different.There is a significant amount of misinformation about vaccines on the internet and social media, which parents may find confusing and concerning, Dr. Mullendore said. We encourage parents to talk with their childs health care provider and review medically accurate, scientifically sound information about the serious risks of vaccine-preventable diseases compared to the very rare risks of vaccination.Officials with Asheville Waldorf School, which is on vacation this week, did not immediately respond to a request for comment when asked about the outbreak.Chickenpox, transmitted by the varicella-zoster virus, is highly contagious and results in a blisterlike rash, itching, fatigue and fever.ImageCredit...Bsip/UIG, via Getty ImagesIt usually presents as a mild illness, but can sometimes cause complications like bacterial skin infections, bloodstream infections, pneumonia, infection of the brain even death.It is important to understand that even healthy children and adults may develop serious complications from varicella, Dr. Mullendore said.The illness can be more severe in immunocompromised people, children younger than 1 year of age, pregnant women, adolescents and adults, she added.While most parents in the United States are making sure their children get the recommended vaccines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has seen an increase in the number of children younger than 2 years old who do not receive any vaccines; there are about 100,000 who are not protected, said Kate Fowlie, a spokeswoman for the C.D.C.Thats not necessarily because of parental choice, she added. Some parents may think they cannot afford vaccines, or may not have ready access to a doctor.The C.D.C. recommends two doses of chickenpox vaccine for children: The first is administered to babies from 12 to 15 months old and the second to children ages 4 through 6.Those who have never had the vaccine may still receive it after being exposed to the virus, ideally within three days, to either prevent the illness or lessen its severity.Chickenpox outbreaks have declined greatly since 1995, when the chickenpox vaccine became available. It has been shown to be about 90 percent effective at preventing the virus.All 50 states have laws requiring school immunizations, but in 45 states and Washington, D.C., parents who object for religious reasons are exempt from the vaccine requirements, according to the Immunization Action Coalition.Eighteen states permit parents to seek exemptions for personal or philosophical reasons. A study published in June in PLOS Medicine found that the states that permitted both religious and personal exemptions had a rise in the number of enrolled kindergartners with nonmedical exemptions since 2009.Some people think that natural immunity obtained by getting sick with infections is better or safer than the immunity provided through immunization, Dr. Mullendore said. However, vaccine-preventable diseases are not benign and can lead to serious illness, something that is not seen with immunizations.",2
"Technology|Google Sets Limit on How Long It Will Store Some Datahttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/24/technology/google-data-storage.htmlThe internet company has long been criticized about how much information it keeps on users. The change applies only to new accounts.Credit...Jason Henry for The New York TimesJune 24, 2020OAKLAND, Calif. After years of criticism about how it keeps a record of what people do online, Google said it would start automatically deleting location history and records of web and app activity as well as voice recordings on new accounts after 18 months.The limited change, announced on Wednesday, comes after Google introduced an option last year to allow users to automatically delete data related to their web searches, requests made with the companys virtual assistant and their location history. At the time, it offered users the ability to erase the data after three months or 18 months.The policy sets Google accounts to delete that data by default on new accounts, instead of requiring users to go into the products settings to change to an option to delete. The settings on existing accounts will remain unchanged.Google, which boasts that it has more than one billion monthly users for seven of its services, said it did not alter the settings for existing accounts because it did not want to upset users with an unexpected change. However, the company said it planned to alert users to the ability to change the deletion settings in emails and promotions on its products.The shift addresses the power of defaults, or predetermined choices made for the user, to guide peoples behavior in how they use online services. Some users never tinker with the settings, which means they do not exercise choice in the level of privacy or data collection that they prefer.While critics have argued that Google collects an abundance of data to improve the targeting of advertisement to make more money, the company has said that user data is important to personalize products and make it more useful.In the announcement on Wednesday, Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Googles parent company, Alphabet, said the company was challenging ourselves to make helpful products with less data.Google said it would also change the default setting on new YouTube accounts to erase viewing history after three years, although users can choose to delete that record after three months, 18 months or choose not to delete it at all.The company also announced other efforts aimed at making it easier to manage online privacy, including new features to make it easier to enable incognito mode a more private form of browsing in several of its products. Google said it would also add a feature to help users learn their privacy settings from its search engine by typing in a query like Google Privacy Checkup.",5
"After weeks of escalation and threatening language, the Defense Department is sending mixed messages as the anniversary of the death of an Iranian general nears.Credit...U.S. Navy, via Getty ImagesPublished Jan. 1, 2021Updated Jan. 5, 2021WASHINGTON The Pentagon has abruptly sent the aircraft carrier Nimitz home from the Middle East and Africa over the objections of top military advisers, marking a reversal of a weekslong muscle-flexing strategy aimed at deterring Iran from attacking American troops and diplomats in the Persian Gulf.Officials said on Friday that the acting defense secretary, Christopher C. Miller, had ordered the redeployment of the ship in part as a de-escalatory signal to Tehran to avoid stumbling into a crisis in President Trumps waning days in office. American intelligence reports indicate that Iran and its proxies may be preparing a strike as early as this weekend to avenge the death of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, the commander of Irans elite Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.Senior Pentagon officials said that Mr. Miller assessed that dispatching the Nimitz now, before the first anniversary this Sunday of General Suleimanis death in an American drone strike in Iraq, could remove what Iranian hard-liners see as a provocation that justifies their threats against American military targets. Some analysts said the return of the Nimitz to its home port of Bremerton, Wash., was a welcome reduction in tensions between the two countries.If the Nimitz is departing, that could be because the Pentagon believes that the threat could subside somewhat, said Michael P. Mulroy, the Pentagons former top Middle East policy official.But critics said the mixed messaging was another example of the inexperience and confusing decision-making at the Pentagon since Mr. Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and several of his top aides in November, and replaced them with Mr. Miller, a former White House counterterrorism aide, and several Trump loyalists.This decision sends at best a mixed signal to Iran, and reduces our range of options at precisely the wrong time, said Matthew Spence, a former top Pentagon Middle East policy official. It calls into serious question what the administrations strategy is here.Mr. Millers order overruled a request from Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., the commander of American forces in the Middle East, to extend the deployment of the Nimitz and keep its formidable wing of attack aircraft at the ready.In recent weeks, Mr. Trump has repeatedly threatened Iran on Twitter, and in November top national security aides talked the president out of a pre-emptive strike against an Iranian nuclear site. It is unclear whether Mr. Trump was aware of Mr. Millers order to send the Nimitz home.The Pentagon and General McKenzies Central Command had for weeks publicized several shows of force to warn Tehran of the consequences of any assault. The Nimitz and other warships arrived to provide air cover for American troops withdrawing from Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. The Air Force three times dispatched B-52 bombers to fly within 60 miles of the Iranian coast. And the Navy announced for the first time in nearly a decade that it had ordered a Tomahawk-missile-firing submarine into the Persian Gulf.As recently as Wednesday, General McKenzie warned the Iranians and their Shia militia proxies in Iraq against any attacks around the anniversary of General Suleimanis death on Jan. 3.But on Thursday senior military advisers, including General McKenzie and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were surprised by Mr. Millers decision on the Nimitz.ImageCredit...Andrew Harnik/Associated PressThe Navy had sought to limit more extensions to the carriers already lengthy deployment, but commanders believed the warship would stay at least another several days to help counter what military intelligence analysts considered a growing and imminent threat.American intelligence analysts in recent days say they have detected Iranian air defenses, maritime forces and other security units on higher alert. They have also determined that Iran has moved more short-range missiles and drones into Iraq. But senior Defense Department officials acknowledge they cannot tell if Iran or its Shia proxies in Iraq are readying to strike American troops or are preparing defensive measures in case Mr. Trump orders a pre-emptive attack against them.What you have here is a classic security dilemma, where maneuvers on both sides can be misread and increase risks of miscalculation, said Brett H. McGurk, Mr. Trumps former special envoy to the coalition to defeat the Islamic State.Some top aides to Mr. Miller, including Ezra Cohen-Watnick, one of the White House loyalists newly installed as the Pentagons top intelligence policy official, raised doubts about the deterrence value of the Nimitz, especially when balanced against the morale costs of extending its tour. Some aides also questioned the imminence of any attack by Iran or its proxies, an assessment reported earlier by CNN.Pentagon officials said they had sent additional land-based fighter and attack jets, as well as refueling planes, to Saudi Arabia and other gulf countries to offset the loss of the Nimitzs firepower.On Friday the top commander of Irans paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said his country was fully prepared to respond to any American military pressure amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington in the waning days of Mr. Trumps presidency.Today, we have no problem, concern or apprehension toward encountering any powers, Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami said at a ceremony at Tehran University commemorating the anniversary of General Suleimanis death.We will give our final words to our enemies on the battlefield, General Salami said, without mentioning the United States directly.Irans foreign minister, Javad Zarif, said on Thursday that the Trump administration was creating a pretext for war.Instead of fighting Covid in US, @realDonaldTrump & cohorts waste billions to fly B52s & send armadas to OUR region, Mr. Zarif said in a tweet. Intelligence from Iraq indicate plot to FABRICATE pretext for war. Iran doesnt seek war but will OPENLY & DIRECTLY defend its people, security & vital interests.In another provocation from Iran on Friday, Tehran notified international inspectors that it was about to begin producing uranium at a significantly higher level of enrichment at Fordow, a plant that is deep under a mountain and thus harder to attack. The move seemed primarily aimed at putting pressure on President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. to rejoin the nuclear agreement with Iran. There was little activity permitted at the Fordow plant under the 2015 deal.The notification to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, the United Nations group that oversees the production of nuclear material, said that Iran would resume production of uranium enriched to 20 percent purity. That is the highest level it produced before the nuclear deal, which the country justified at the time as necessary to make medical isotopes for its Tehran Research Reactor.Fuel enriched to that level is not sufficient to produce a bomb, but it is close. It requires relatively little further enrichment to get to the 90 percent purity that is traditionally used for bomb-grade fuel.The move was not unexpected. Irans Parliament passed legislation recently requiring the government to increase both the quantity of fuel it is making and the enrichment level. But the choice of doing that production at Fordow, its newest facility, was telling. The plant is built deep underneath a mountain at a well-protected Islamic Revolutionary Guards base, and successfully striking it would require repeated attacks with the largest bunker-busting bomb in the American arsenal.It would take months for Iran to produce any significant amount of fuel at the 20 percent enrichment level, but the mere announcement could be another red flag for Mr. Trump to rekindle bombing options.David E. Sanger contributed reporting.",3
"Credit...Alessandro Grassani for The New York TimesNov. 20, 2018LONDON In June 2001, as the great and the good of the international art world convened at the Venice Biennale, Maurizio Cattelan, the Italian contemporary artist (and prankster), persuaded a group of about 150 of them to fly to a decidedly less glamorous destination: a garbage dump outside Palermo, Sicily, where he had installed a life-size replica of the giant Hollywood sign parked in the Californian hills.The plane was chartered by another Italian: Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, an art collector and patron who hosted a lunch on the Palermo landfill (which was managed by one of her husbands companies) and then flew everyone back to Venice.Today, Ms. Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, 59, counts among Europes best-known collectors and owns works made in the last two or three decades by artists like Mr. Cattelan, Damien Hirst, Doug Aitken, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Sarah Lucas, Alicja Kwade and Matthew Barney.She also runs a foundation in a converted tire factory in her birthplace Turin, Italy that stages exhibitions and funds artists residencies and educational programs.Next year, the foundation is opening a satellite outpost (designed by the architect David Adjaye) in the Matadero Madrid arts complex, a sprawling former slaughterhouse in the Spanish capital.Ms. Sandretto Re Rebaudengo got an enviable head start in life: Her father was an industrialist whose company she worked for as a graduate in economics from Turin University.In the early 1990s, after marrying a Turinese aristocrat with whom she now has two sons, Ms. Sandretto Re Rebaudengo started collecting contemporary art. Her father, initially puzzled by her decision, gave her the cash to do it: He said, If you do it, do it well, she recalled in a recent interview.After a trip to London in the early 1990s and a memorable visit to the studio of the sculptor Anish Kapoor, where she was dazzled by his powder-pigment sculptures she said she started buying works by young British artists, which she then showed in an abandoned loft at her fathers plant.The exhibition traveled to a museum in Modena, where Ms. Sandretto Re Rebaudengo met the curator Francesco Bonami, who was until 2014 the artistic director of the foundation she set up in her name in 1995; it was based originally outside Turin, then expanded into its current premises.During a recent visit to London, Ms. Sandretto Re Rebaudengo spoke about the opening of the Madrid space an ambitious next step and the first time that her foundation will take its mission outside Italy.The following conversation has been translated from the Italian and has been edited and condensed.What was it like when you first started collecting contemporary art and displaying it in your house in Turin?It was difficult in the beginning. I stripped the tapestries and old paintings off the walls, painted everything white, and showed contemporary works. I remember friends saying to me: How horrible! How can you live like this? Your house is lovely, but these paintings are ugly!ImageCredit...Alessandro Grassani for The New York Times[The American collector and patron] Peggy Guggenheim had a similar experience earlier on. People couldnt understand what I was doing to my house. My response to them was always: Just you wait; you too will understand.Today, everybody is busy buying contemporary art and filling their homes with it. Was it difficult for you as a woman to set up a collection and an art foundation? I was always lucky enough to be involved in activities where I didnt have to ask anyone for anything. I never had to go look for work; I worked for my father, even if he never treated me like the owners daughter. When I got into the art world, I cant say that life was very complicated. I started collecting, I was able to set up a foundation, and was lucky enough not to have to find a job. That made a big difference. So my personal trajectory as a woman was not difficult.What I did realize right from the start was how difficult life was for women artists.How so?Women artists werent taken seriously. The other day, a friend of mine told me the story of an artist in her 80s who was in a gallery in Rome that was hosting an exhibition of her work back in the 1980s.A male collector walked in, said he liked the works and asked the gallerist who the artist was. As soon as he found out, he said, Oh, but shes a woman Im not buying. And he didnt.We once put on a show focusing on the presence of female artists in Italian collections. And we realized that male collectors in Italy almost never bought work by female artists, whereas female collectors did.The difference in price between a female artist and a male artist is staggering, even today. If you look at the auctions, the situation may have improved, but its still very very tough.Do you think the #MeToo movement is helping change things?The #MeToo movement is absolutely essential. It has raised a great deal of awareness. But a lot remains to be done for ordinary women, because for them, things arent yet changing, and theres a lot of catching up to do.I live in a country where feminicide is a common occurrence.Women endure physical and psychological violence inside the walls of their own home. Husbands come home drunk and beat up their wives. We women have to solve this problem on a political and social level, but I also believe that culture has a role to play.In our foundation, we show lots of works by women on issues to do with violence, which schoolchildren come and see. Its also important for us mothers to educate our sons.Why have you decided to open a foundation in Madrid?I felt the need to get out of my city. I believe we have experiences to share in other places. I looked around, at some of the big cities in Europe. In London, theres too much already. I looked at Lisbon, but its a little geographically off-center. I looked at Berlin, but the sky wasnt the color I wanted. So I went to Madrid, because I spent time in Spain as a child and speak Spanish.Youre not a museum: youre a private collector with a finite number of works. A lot of private museums have opened and then closed because they werent sustainable. How will you keep yours going?I think you find a balance if you dont just create a home for your collection, or open an exhibition venue, or focus on education, but combine all three elements. Then, in my view, it works.What happens decades from now when youre no longer able to run your foundation?Thankfully, I have two sons who are strong believers in this project. My eldest son, Eugenio, is already active in the art world. My other son, Emilio, is involved in events management and in food. Theyre both interested.",6
"Credit...Tobias Schwarz/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMarch 19, 2017BERLIN Even in Germany, where consensus is highly valued, it had never happened before.On Sunday, Martin Schulz was anointed leader of the Social Democrats, Europes oldest democratic party, with 100 percent of the valid votes cast at a special convention.The result places Mr. Schulz, 61, a former president of the European Parliament, in pole position to unseat the worlds most powerful woman, Chancellor Angela Merkel, when the two face off on Sept. 24 in the national election, in which Ms. Merkel is seeking a fourth term.Even before that, it could increase the tensions coursing through Germanys relationship with President Trumps administration. Already, Mr. Trumps actions and Britains decision to leave the European Union have had an effect here, slowing the rise of right-wing populism as voters re-examine the value of the Continents unity.But the rallying cries in Mr. Schulzs 75-minute address to the convention seemed destined to irk an American administration that is already demanding more from its NATO allies. His best applause lines railed against buying more weapons, or argued that even Mr. Trump should hold fast to democratic values.Anyone who tries to curb the freedom of the news media, Mr. Schulz emphasized, is laying an ax on the roots of democracy, whether he is the president of the United States or a protester at a rally of Pegida, the anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant movement in Germany. Both are unacceptable.After the unanimous endorsement of his election bid, Mr. Schulz jubilantly declared, This vote is the start of capturing the chancellery.He was nominated as the new party leader only in late January and has since been embraced by the center-left with an lan not seen in years. More than 13,000 people have joined the Social Democrats in recent weeks a fact celebrated by party leaders even though 2016 membership, at around 438,000, was 130,000 less than a decade earlier.Significantly, the 153-year-old Social Democrats have drawn level with Ms. Merkels center-right bloc, with both hovering around 31 or 32 percent in polls. Currently, the two govern in a coalition led by Ms. Merkels conservatives.Though German politicians and voters are used to the compromises of coalition politics, the partnership seems likely to grow testier. If so, some commentators said, that would be another sign of the effect Mr. Trump is having across a continent he often scorns.Last week in the Netherlands, and in December in Austria, centrist parties beat back the rising tides of nationalist populism, not quashing the far right but denying it further claim on national leadership. Commentators say that Mr. Trump has galvanized even Europeans skeptical of the European Union, a bloc often derided as remote and unknowable to the almost 500 million people who live in its 28 member states.Unease about Mr. Trump means that he has had a much bigger effect in Europe than in the United States, Rolf Kleine, a senior political editor of the best-selling Bild newspaper, said on the sidelines of the Social Democrats convention.Suddenly, Mr. Kleine said, people got frightened. They have seen what the results are when you elect people you perhaps had better not have elected, he added.Just how awkward relations already are was on full display last week when Mr. Trump received Ms. Merkel at the White House. In a subsequent post on Twitter, he claimed that Germany owed vast sums for past American defense.Then, on Saturday, American resistance deprived the German hosts of a Group of 20 finance ministers summit meeting of a usually routine declaration against protectionism.Ms. Merkel, known for her patience and for waiting out crises, has not reacted to either the NATO demands or the Group of 20 statement. But her close ally, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen of Germany, issued a sharp statement on Sunday in which she denied Mr. Trumps contention.There is no debt account in NATO, Ms. von der Leyen said, adding that it was false to view the 2 percent pledged for military spending by each member as exclusively for NATO. Included in the sum, which Germany is set to reach over the next decade, is support for United Nations peacekeeping missions and the fight against the Islamic State. What we all want is fair burden-sharing, which requires a modern understanding of security, Ms. von der Leyen said.While Mr. Trump continues to unsettle, opponents might argue that Mr. Schulz, who failed to finish high school and is entirely untested in national politics, also represents a risk. But Mr. Schulz, a former bookseller, has a compelling personal story, more than 20 years of experience in European structures and, above all, a message that Germans appear newly eager to hear. Since he was chosen as the Social Democrats leader and embraced a simple slogan, More Justice, his party has advanced. Supporters chant Martin! Martin! when he appears and wave placards proclaiming that it is time for Schulz.His rise has apparently blunted the advances of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which now runs around 9 to 10 percent in polls. The Green and Left parties are also stuck around 8 percent each, with the liberal Free Democrats hovering around the 5 percent hurdle that must be cleared to win parliamentary seats.So far, Mr. Schulz has provided almost no details of what his policies might be and says he will outline his program only in late June. Even supporters worry that this leaves him vulnerable.At the moment, he is everybodys darling, said Steffen Burmeister, 54, who is active in local politics near Hamburg. He can bring people along, and he has the right themes. In addition, he said, it is a very important signal that he is someone who has worked so hard for Europe, and at the top of the structure. Still, Mr. Burmeister argued, more fresh faces are needed.Mr. Schulz sought to appeal to voters of all ages: invoking the iconic Willy Brandt, the Social Democrat who pioneered dtente with the Soviets, for older generations and seeking to woo younger ones with concern for their future.Anne Wachter, 27, works for the Social Democrats. Embracing a life-size image of Mr. Schulz, which she said she had carried nationwide to appearances in recent weeks, she rejected the idea that his advance was a result of Mr. Trumps rise.I think we just let Donald Trump be, she said, and make our own policy.",6
"Credit...FineArt/AlamyPast Pandemics Remind Us Covid Will Be an Era, Not a Crisis That FadesThe Triumph of Death, an oil painting by the Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, circa 1562.Credit...FineArt/AlamyPublished Oct. 12, 2021Updated Oct. 14, 2021The skeletons move across a barren landscape toward the few helpless and terrified people still living. The scene, imagined in a mid-16th-century painting, The Triumph of Death by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, illuminated the psychic impact of the bubonic plague.It was a terror that lingered even as the disease receded, historians say.Covid-19s waves of destruction have inflicted their own kind of despair on humanity in the 21st century, leaving many to wonder when the pandemic will end.We tend to think of pandemics and epidemics as episodic, said Allan Brandt, a historian of science and medicine at Harvard University. But we are living in the Covid-19 era, not the Covid-19 crisis. There will be a lot of changes that are substantial and persistent. We wont look back and say, That was a terrible time, but its over. We will be dealing with many of the ramifications of Covid-19 for decades, for decades.Especially in the months before the Delta variant became dominant, the pandemic seemed like it should be nearly over.When the vaccines first came out, and we started getting shots in our own arms, so many of us felt physically and emotionally transformed, said Dr. Jeremy Greene, a historian of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. We had a willful desire to translate that as, The pandemic has ended for me.He added, It was a willful delusion.And that is a lesson from history that is often forgotten, Frank Snowden, a historian of medicine at Yale University, said: how difficult it is to declare that a pandemic has ended.It may not be over even when physical disease, measured in illness and mortality, has greatly subsided. It may continue as the economy recovers and life returns to a semblance of normality. The lingering psychological shock of having lived in prolonged fear of severe illness, isolation and painful death takes long to fade.ImageCredit...Chicago History Museum, via Getty ImagesSome diseases, like the 1918 flu, receded. Others, like the bubonic plague, remained, smoldering. H.I.V. is still with us, but with drugs to prevent and treat it. In each case, the trauma for those affected persisted long after the imminent threat of infection and death had ebbed.If nothing else, the Covid-19 virus has humbled experts who once confidently predicted its course, disregarding the lessons of history.What we are living through now is a new cycle of collective dismay, Dr. Greene said a dismay that has grown out of frustration with the inability to control the virus, fury of the vaccinated at those who refuse to get the shots and a disillusionment that astoundingly effective vaccines havent yet returned life to normal.No matter when or how pandemics dwindle, they change peoples sense of time.A pandemic like Covid-19 is a breach of the progressive narrative, that medicine is advancing and diseases are being conquered, Dr. Greene said.As the pandemic drags on, days merge into each other as time seems to blur and slow down with no forward momentum.ImageCredit...Historical Images Archive/AlamyImageCredit...World History Archive/AlamyIn past pandemics, as today, strong anti-science movements hindered public health and the waning of disease.As soon as Edward Jenner introduced the first smallpox vaccine in 1798, posters appeared in England showing humans who had been vaccinated sprouting horns and hooves, Dr. Snowden said.In 19th-century Britain, the largest single movement was the anti-vaccine movement, he added. And with vaccine resisters holding out, diseases that should have been tamed persisted.But the difference between vaccine skeptics and pandemic misinformation then and now, historians said, is the rise of social media, which amplifies debates and falsehoods in a truly new way.ImageCredit...Allan Tannenbaum/Getty ImagesWith H.I.V., Dr. Brandt said, there were conspiracy theories and a lot of misinformation, but it never had a broadcast system like Covid-19.Other pandemics, like this one, were hobbled by what Dr. Snowden calls overweening hubris, prideful certainties from experts that add to the frustrations of understanding how and when it will dwindle away.With Covid, prominent experts declared at first that masks did not help prevent infection, only to reverse themselves later. Epidemiologists confidently published models of how the pandemic would progress and what it would take to reach herd immunity, only to be proved wrong. Investigators said the virus was transmitted on surfaces, then later said that, no, it was spread through tiny droplets in the air. They said the virus was unlikely to transform in a substantial way, then warned of the Delta variants greater transmissibility.We paid a heavy price for that, Dr. Snowden said. Many people lost trust in officials amid ever-changing directives and strategies that weakened the effort to control the virus.Jonathan Moreno, a historian of science and medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, said the end of Covid would be analogous to a cancer that has gone into remission still there, but not as deadly.You are never cured, he said. It is always in the background.",2
"League of Legends teams in the U.S. lag behind their competitors in Asia, so they recruit the worlds best players by offering huge salaries.Credit...Andrew WhitePublished Jan. 30, 2021Updated Sept. 26, 2021Crimson lights flashed and announcers yelled in shock as a star athlete pulled off a miraculous feat: leading his team to an upset victory in the semifinals of a world championship tournament.The setting was Shanghai, and the championship was for League of Legends, a video game. The enraptured crowd of thousands treated the frantic mouse-clicking with the same gravitas given to a traditional sport.At the center of it all was Hu Shuo-Chieh, a decorated Taiwanese superstar who soon followed up his standout moment (his team would fall short in the finals) with an even more surprising move. In November, Mr. Hu, known in gaming as SwordArt, announced that he was leaving his base in China, the hub of global e-sports, for a backwater in the world of competitive League of Legends: the United States.America is accustomed to dominance in global sports, but in League of Legends, the highest-profile video game played by professionals, U.S. teams lag far behind their counterparts in Asia, where e-sports are a way of life. In countries like China and South Korea, gamers start competing as children, and professionals train up to 18 hours a day.To keep up, U.S. teams have dangled increasingly large salaries in front of these superstars, akin to Major League Soccers luring famous European footballers stateside. Aided by an influx of cash and big-name sponsors, these teams have recruited at least 40 players from Asia since 2016, according to a New York Times analysis, and a similar number from Europe.Many professional gamers are simply looking for a big paycheck, fueling the perception that the United States serves as a retirement community for players who are past their prime. Others are drawn to a comfortable lifestyle in places like Los Angeles. And some claim to be the player who will finally put America on the map by winning the first world championship for the continent.They can be the hero for an entire region, said Chris Greeley, the commissioner of League of Legends North American region, called the League Championship Series. They can be onstage and lift that trophy and deliver that to a region thats superhungry for it.Mr. Hu, who signed a record-breaking two-year, $6 million contract with TSM, a U.S. team, said a sense of adventure had drawn him to the United States.Im not a person who wants to feel very comfortable every day I want to challenge myself, Mr. Hu, 24, said in an interview.Just like traditional sports, professional leagues devoted to video games like League of Legends, Overwatch and Call of Duty feature teams vying for coveted championship trophies, rabid fans shelling out money for jerseys and multimillionaire players searching for glory.Competitions are strategic, five-on-five cage matches, in which players match wits and mouse-clicking speeds as they guide their avatars through a colorful jungle, slaying fantastical monsters and rushing to destroy the opponents base. International competitions began in 2011 and are operated by Riot Games, which is owned by the Chinese internet giant Tencent.ImageCredit...Aly Song/ReutersInterest in e-sports leagues surged among U.S. audiences in recent years. In 2015, 38.2 million people in North America watched at least one e-sports event, according to Newzoo, a gaming analytics firm. By 2020, that number had jumped to 57.2 million.League of Legends, a team-based title released by Riot in 2009, dwarfs its competitors in viewership. Nearly 46 million people watched at least part of the world championship event in October.Despite League of Legends growth in the United States, North American teams are still routinely outclassed by their competitors in Asia, where ubiquitous internet cafes in many countries make playing computer games cheap and easy. Nine of the 10 annual world championships have been won by a Chinese, South Korean or Taiwanese team.When I was really young, I would look up to the top pro players I wanted to be the same as these guys, said Jo Yong-in, 26, a South Korean-born League of Legends player known as CoreJJ.When he was growing up on the island of Hwado, there was nothing else to do except play games, said Mr. Jo, who moved to Los Angeles in 2019 and now competes in the United States for Team Liquid.ImageCredit...Team LiquidMr. Hu, considered one of the most charismatic, vocal leaders in a sport where communication is paramount, said maintaining the high standards he set for himself and his teammates would be key in the United States. With Suning, his Chinese team, he often practiced from noon to 5 a.m.Im not a person to want to hide something, he said. Sometimes, a very kind team cant improve. You need to fight, talk a lot, and then your team can improve.But until a U.S. team earns worldwide acclaim, questions will persist about whether importing players can lead to success. Riot has tried to foster homegrown talent by expanding American developmental leagues and tightening rules governing how many players per team can be from other countries. Even so, stars from Asia and from European countries like Denmark and Spain still abound in the League Championship Series, as they have since competition began in 2013.There have been other players of comparable stature who have come to America with similar intentions who have amounted to nothing, said Jacob Wolf, a former ESPN reporter who writes for Dot Esports. Some foreign stars struggle to assimilate, encounter insurmountable language barriers or leave before their contracts are up because of homesickness, he said.ImageCredit...Aly Song/ReutersStill, athletes from other countries enjoy perks in the United States, players said. They can live in sunny, multicultural Los Angeles and practice in state-of-the-art facilities like TSMs. That sleek, $13 million, 25,000-square-foot training center offers access to the same chefs and physical therapists as the citys two National Basketball Association teams.And salaries are growing in North America. The average for a player in a teams starting five has climbed to $460,000 from $300,000 since 2018, Mr. Greeley said. The highest-paid players in the United States, Mr. Wolf said, might make up to $500,000 more than their elite counterparts in a country like South Korea.Many of the League Championship Series 10 teams are backed by billionaires who also own traditional U.S. sports teams. But the sport has not yet become a cash cow. To get in on League of Legends, teams had to pay Riot $10 million to $13 million.Riot declined to say how much it made from League of Legends, and analysts do not think it is profiting directly from e-sports. But SuperData, a research company, estimated that the game itself brought in more than $1.8 billion in revenue last year.Just a few blocks from Riots headquarters in western Los Angeles where matches are normally played is Sawtelle Boulevard, where e-sports stars frequent ramen restaurants and boba shops. Korean transplants often spend their weekends in Koreatown, where they can find food that reminds them of home, said Genie Doi, an e-sports immigration lawyer.The work-life balance in the United States is another draw for players who are weary of putting in 18-hour practice days and even developing wrist injuries, said Kang Jun-hyeok, a South Korean-born League of Legends player who has been Team Liquids coach and general manager. Though South Korea and China have made strides in recent years, he said, the culture is that of working hard, grinding until you collapse, Mr. Kang, 31, said.North American teams pitch these benefits to prospective players as they engage in a delicate courtship to woo the best free agents before other teams do. Once a player decides to sign a contract, Ms. Doi helps the team apply for a visa, which she said was usually granted despite the unusual profession.She said the arrival of so many international stars aligned perfectly with the continents history of immigration.Its just really fitting that North American e-sports is this melting pot of global cultures, Ms. Doi said. I think thats whats eventually going to make North America a strong contender.",5
"Credit...Sergey Ponomarev for The New York TimesMarch 8, 2017LONDON The London newsroom and studios of RT, the television channel and website formerly known as Russia Today, are ultramodern and spacious, with spectacular views from the 16th floor overlooking the Thames and the London Eye. And, its London bureau chief, Nikolay A. Bogachikhin, jokes, We overlook MI5 and were near MI6, Britains domestic and foreign intelligence agencies.Mr. Bogachikhin was poking fun at the charge from Western governments, American and European, that RT is an agent of Kremlin policy and a tool directly used by President Vladimir V. Putin to undermine Western democracies meddling in the recent American presidential election and, European security officials say, trying to do the same in the Netherlands, France and Germany, all of which vote later this year.But the West is not laughing. Even as Russia insists that RT is just another global network like the BBC or France 24, albeit one offering alternative views to the Western-dominated news media, many Western countries regard RT as the slickly produced heart of a broad, often covert disinformation campaign designed to sow doubt about democratic institutions and destabilize the West.Western attention focused on RT when the Obama administration and United States intelligence agencies judged with high confidence in January that Mr. Putin had ordered a campaign to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, discredit Hillary Clinton through the hacking of Democratic Party internal emails and provide support for Donald J. Trump, who as a candidate said he wanted to improve relations with Russia.The agencies issued a report saying the attack was carried out through the targeted use of real information, some open and some hacked, and the creation of false reports, or fake news, broadcast on state-funded news media like RT and its sibling, the internet news agency Sputnik. These reports were then amplified on social media, sometimes by computer bots that send out thousands of Facebook and Twitter messages.To many Americans, the impression that RT is an instrument of Russian meddling was reinforced when its programming suddenly interrupted C-Spans online coverage of the House of Representatives in January. (C-Span later called it a technical error, not a hacking.)Watching RT can be a dizzying experience. Hard news and top-notch graphics mix with interviews from all sorts of people: well known and obscure, left and right. They include favorites like Julian Assange of WikiLeaks and Noam Chomsky, the liberal critic of Western policies; odd voices like the actress Pamela Anderson; and cranks who think Washington is the source of all evil in the world.But if there is any unifying character to RT, it is a deep skepticism of Western and American narratives of the world and a fundamental defensiveness about Russia and Mr. Putin.ImageCredit...Sergey Ponomarev for The New York TimesAnalysts are sharply divided about the influence of RT. Pointing to its minuscule ratings numbers, many caution against overstating its impact. Yet focusing on ratings may miss the point, says Peter Pomerantsev, who wrote a book three years ago that described Russias use of television for propaganda. Ratings arent the main thing for them, he said. These are campaigns for financial, political and media influence.RT and Sputnik propel those campaigns by helping create the fodder for thousands of fake news propagators and providing another outlet for hacked material that can serve Russian interests, said Ben Nimmo, who studies RT for the Atlantic Council.Whatever its impact, RT is unquestionably a case study in the complexity of modern propaganda. It is both a slick modern television network, dressed up with great visuals and stylish presenters, and a content farm that helps feed the European far right. Viewers find it difficult to discern exactly what is journalism and what is propaganda, what may be fake news and what is real but presented with a strong slant.A recent evening featured reports of Britain refusing to condemn human rights violations in Bahrain and a mainstream media firestorm over Attorney General Jeff Sessionss chats with the Russian ambassador to the United States. Other reports included the liberation of Palmyra by the Syrian Army with the support of the Russian Air Force; an interview with former British ambassador to Syria and a United States critic, Peter Ford; and a report about a London professor decrying the fall in British living standards.There are clickbait videos on RTs website and stranger pieces, too, like one about a petition to ban the financier George Soros from America for supposedly trying to destabilize the country and drown it with immigrants for a globalist goal.Mr. Bogachikhin and Anna Belkina, RTs head of communications in Moscow, insist it is absurd to lump together RTs effort to provide alternative views to the mainstream media with the phenomena of fake news and social media propaganda.Theres an hysteria about RT, Ms. Belkina said. RT becomes a shorthand for everything.For example, she says, while RT was featured heavily in the American intelligence report, it was largely in a seven-page annex (of a 13-page report) that was written more than four years ago, in December 2012, a fact revealed only in a footnote on Page 6.She flatly denies any suggestion that RT seeks to meddle in democratic elections anywhere. The kind of scrutiny were under we check everything.ImageCredit...Sergey Ponomarev for The New York TimesFor RT and its viewers, the outlet is a refreshing alternative to what they see as complacent Western elitism and neo-liberalism, representing what the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov recently called a post-West world order.With its slogan, created by a Western ad agency, of Question More, RT is trying to fill a niche, Ms. Belkina said. We want to complete the picture rather than add to the echo chamber of mainstream news; thats how we find an audience.Nearly all the mainstream media came out against Mr. Trump during the campaign and much of the news coverage about him was negative, she said.This is why we exist, Ms. Belkina said. Its important to watch RT to hear alternative voices. You might not agree with them, but its important to try to understand where theyre coming from and why.A French legislator, Nicolas Dhuicq, who has appeared on RT and went to Russian-annexed Crimea in 2015 as part of a delegation of French legislators, said that RTs aim was to make the voice of Russia heard, to make the Russian point of view on the world heard.Still, Mr. Dhuicq said, the impact of RT, in my opinion, is very low. He added: There is enormous paranoia when we imagine that RT will change the face of the world, influence national or other elections.Afshin Rattansi, who hosts a talk show three times a week called Going Underground, came to RT in 2013 after working at the BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera and Irans Press TV. Unlike at the BBC and CNN, I was never told what to say at RT, he said. There have been two cases of RT announcers quitting because of what they said was pressure to toe a Kremlin line, especially on Ukraine, but not in London, Mr. Rattansi said.Michael McFaul, a Stanford professor who was the United States ambassador to Russia during the Obama years, said that RT should not be lightly dismissed. There is a demand in certain countries for this alternative view, an appetite, and we arrogant Americans shouldnt just think that no one cares.ImageCredit...Sergey Ponomarev for The New York TimesBut there is a considerably darker view, too. For critics, RT and Sputnik are simply tools of a sophisticated Russian propaganda machine, created by the Kremlin to push its foreign policy, defend its aggression in Ukraine and undermine confidence in democracy, NATO and the world as we have known it.Robert Pszczel, who ran NATOs information office in Moscow and watches Russia and the western Balkans for NATO, said that RT and Sputnik were not meant for domestic consumption, unlike the BBC or CNN. Over time, he said, Its more about hard power and disinformation.The Kremlin doesnt care if you agree with Russian policy or think Putin is wonderful, so long as it does the job you start having doubts, and of 10 outrageous points you take on one or two, he said. A bit of mud will always stick.Probably more important than RT, Mr. Pszczel said, are Sputnik and local language outlets sponsored by Russia, like the Slovak magazine Zem a Vek, known for its conspiracy theories. Sputnik is the largest source of raw news in the Balkans, he said, because its a free product in local languages. And then they set up some friendly association, at some small university, which holds seminars, and then a number of strange websites start promoting the product, like an industrial marketing operation.But RT is also helpful in another traditional Moscow effort: making friends with useful people, and not just Mr. Assange, Mr. Pomerantsev said. RT made Mike Flynn feel good after losing his job as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, he said, paying him a reported $40,000 to come to RTs anniversary celebration in Moscow and sit near Mr. Putin. And Mr. Flynn, for a time, was national security adviser of the United States.Mr. Nimmo of the Atlantic Council noted RTs small reach in Germany, where Angela Merkel, a Putin critic, is facing a tough re-election fight, and where there are up to 3.5 million Russian speakers. I strongly suspect that RT Deutsch has a trivial effect compared to Russian-speaking Germans watching Russian television, he said.Stefan Meister, who studies Russia and Central Europe for the German Council on Foreign Relations, agreed that we shouldnt overestimate RT. The main success of the Russians is the link to social media through bots and a network of different sources. That network, he said, is increasingly well organized, with more strategic and explicit links between sources and actors Russian domestic media, troll factories, RT, people in social networks and maybe also the security services.Open societies are very vulnerable, Mr. Meister said, and its cheaper than buying a new rocket.RT is part of the reality of the 21st century, Mr. Pomerantsev said. Everyone will do it soon. Its the world we have to live in. Hacks and leaks are much more disruptive, he said. If you can take out the electrical grid in Ukraine, thats scary. Its hard to get too scared about Larry King on RT.Mr. Pomerantsev agrees with Ms. Belkina that RT is not inventing popular mistrust about Western democracy. The Russians are about sowing mistrust about institutions that is there already, feeding it, he said. How do we make our institutions more trustworthy?",6
"Antibody levels rose in the children who received it, suggesting the vaccine protects against infection. But the data were gathered before the arrival of Omicron.Credit...Alisha Jucevic for The New York TimesMay 11, 2022Modernas coronavirus vaccine elicits a strong immune response in children aged 6 to 11, researchers reported on Wednesday another signpost in what has become a long and tortuous road to protecting young children against the virus, even as cases again inch upward.On Monday, Moderna requested authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for the vaccines use in this age group. But authorization, if granted, is unlikely to bump up the low immunization rates among young children by much.The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been available for children aged 5 to 11 since November, but as of Wednesday, just 28.7 percent had received two doses. There is no coronavirus vaccine available at all for children younger than 5, forcing parents to rely on less reliable protective measures.Last month, Moderna asked the F.D.A. to authorize its vaccine for use in children 6 months to 6 years old. The agency is already reviewing the companys data on adolescents, and is expected to decide on use of the Moderna vaccine in children of all ages in June.In February, Pfizer and BioNTech also sought authorization of their vaccine for use in the youngest children, but withdrew the application after data suggested that two doses did not produce adequate protection against the Omicron variant.The companies are banking on a third dose to shore up immunity in children, and the F.D.A. is expected to review those data in June, as well.We really cant do it this way in the future we cant leave children to the very last, said Dr. Sallie Permar, an expert in pediatric vaccines at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.The process has been particularly confusing and unfair for parents of the youngest children, who still do not have access to a vaccine more than two years into the pandemic, she said.It has been nearly a year since Moderna requested F.D.A. authorization for use of its vaccine in adolescents 12 to 17 years. While the agency gave the go-ahead to Pfizer-BioNTechs vaccine for use in that age group in just three weeks, the agencys review of Modernas vaccine had stalled.The delay in authorization has been longest in the United States. Europes drug regulators approved Modernas vaccine for adolescents aged 12 to 17 last summer, and has recommended approval for children aged 6 to 11.Regulatory agencies in Canada and Australia have also authorized the Moderna vaccine for 6- to 11-year-olds.In the United States, just over one in four of the 28 million children aged 5 to 11 have been immunized against the coronavirus. Parental reluctance seems to stem partly from the fact that the infection is known to be less risky for children.The risk of a kid getting severe Covid is much, much, much lower lets be honest about that, said Dr. Ofer Levy, director of the precision vaccines program at Boston Childrens Hospital and an adviser to the F.D.A.Still, he said he had just treated a child with leukemia who had been hospitalized for Covid. Some children do get severe Covid, some end up in a hospital, he said, adding that more than 1,500 children under 18 have died so far in the pandemic.Im not into mandates, but I do think that families should have the option of protecting their youngest, Dr. Levy said.In its trial, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Moderna first tested different doses of its vaccine and chose a dose of 50 micrograms half the adult dose for children aged 6 to 11. The researchers then randomly assigned more than 4,000 children to receive two shots 28 days apart.Three-fourths of the children got the vaccine, and the remainder received placebo shots of saltwater. Roughly half the children were from communities of color. To gauge the vaccines power, the researchers measured antibodies produced after immunization. (Pfizers vaccine trials relied on this same approach, called immunobridging.)The children who received the vaccine produced antibody levels that were slightly higher than those seen in young adults, a promising sign. The trials were not large enough to assess the vaccines ability to forestall severe disease or death.But based on small numbers of infections with the Delta variant among the participants, the researchers estimated that the vaccine had an efficacy of 88 percent against infection.Immunobridging is basically an educated guess that we take that the same level of immunity is going to be just as protective in a younger age group as it was in an older age group, Dr. Permar said. So its nice when you can also follow that up with efficacy.The shots seemed to produce only minor side effects including pain at the injection site, headache and fatigue and less often than in adults. About half the children also had fevers, for about a day.That side effect may become an issue in children younger than 5, because high fevers in very young children require invasive tests in order to rule out dangerous bacterial infections, Dr. Permar said.The trial was not large enough to detect rarer side effects, such as the heart problems that have been observed in other age groups. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine appears to cause fewer cases of so-called myocarditis among young children than among adolescents or young adults.Modernas trial measured the vaccines power against the Delta variant, and the researchers are still assessing its performance against Omicron. All of the vaccines have proven to be less effective, in all age groups, against the Omicron variant.Independent scientists have reported that the Moderna vaccine provokes a strong immune response in children aged 7 to 11, and in adolescents, against the Omicron variant and other versions of the coronavirus.But these antibodies appear to wane over time, as they do in adults. Probably the performance of the vaccine, in terms of vaccine efficacy, wont be as high in real-world data, Dr. Levy said.Dr. Permar said she hoped the pandemic brings a change in how vaccines are evaluated during an emergency.We need to think of a different way to approach including kids and pregnant women in trials earlier, she said. And we need to be doing that now, because the next pandemic is going to be upon us before we want it to be.",2
"Credit...Rodrigo Buendia/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesJune 24, 2015TEMUCO, Chile On a cold, rainy afternoon just a few hours before Brazil played Peru in the Copa Amrica last week, four policemen stood guard by a set of flagpoles in the town square here. Days earlier someone had managed to take down one of the red, white and blue Chilean flags and replaced it with the traditional Mapuche flag in a peaceful but poignant protest.The Mapuche flag, a symbol of Chiles largest indigenous group, remained aloft for only a short time before it was discovered and replaced with the official flag. Then the guards were posted to protect it.See them over there, Venancio Couepan, a Mapuche advocate, said through an interpreter the day of the Brazil-Peru match. They dont want to let that happen again.Mr. Couepan, a 25-year-old law student, said he was not responsible for the flag switch. But he appeared to revel in the nonviolent protest, especially in the timing of it.Temuco is seen as the capital of the Mapuches, an indigenous people who thrived here long before Europeans began arriving in South America five centuries ago. So the citys hosting of several matches in this summers Copa Amrica South Americas 99-year-old international soccer championship has been a chance for advocates to press issues facing Mapuches before an international audience.Two weeks before Temuco hosted its first game in the Copa Amrica, Ricardo Celis, a member of the City Council, made a formal request to the mayor that the Mapuche flag be raised alongside the Chilean flag in the town square during the tournament.Mr. Celis, a physician who is not Mapuche, said he made the request to recognize Mapuche influence at a time when the attention of South America would be focused on Chile and Temuco. But his request was rejected by the mayor, Miguel Becker, on the grounds that the national flag already represented all Chileans and that another was unnecessary.ImageCredit...Rodrigo Buendia/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesI feel this is very wrong, Mr. Celis said in a telephone interview. If you go to Santiago or Valparaso and ask people about Temuco, they will say it is the home of the Mapuche people. During the Copa Amrica, it is important to recognize that the Mapuche people live here, too.He said that in the days after he made the request on May 19, he saw support for and against it split evenly on social media. The disagreement over the flag reflects some of the larger issues that have pitted Mapuches against some Chileans of European descent, a gap that Mr. Couepan seeks to bridge.A year ago, he founded an organization called Fundacin Chile Intercultural to promote the rights of Mapuches and to foster a better understanding about their cause among the general population. The focal point of some of the worst disagreements pits Chilean farmers and lumber companies against Mapuche dissidents over long-disputed land rights, and those conflicts have drawn much publicity.But there have been other more peaceful Mapuche protests surrounding the Copa Amrica. On June 10, a few days before the flag incident, a group of about 40 Mapuche demonstrators temporarily blocked the road on which the Peruvian team bus was traveling from the Temuco airport, forcing the Peruvian players and officials to wait until the demonstration was dispersed. The activists contend that the airport was built on traditional Mapuche land, for which they have not been adequately compensated.Many of the fans coming to Temuco for the Copa Amrica travel through that airport. Temuco has already hosted two games in the Copa Amrica, and on Thursday it will be the site of a quarterfinal between Bolivia and Peru.This is not to disrupt the Copa Amrica, and it is not directed against the Peruvians or the Chilean people, Couepan said through an interpreter. It is to highlight the problems we face. The Chilean people think, Oh, the Mapuche want a war, the Mapuche want to burn my house, the Mapuche are bad people. But our only problem is with the government, not with the farmer or the people.A passionate defender of his peoples civil rights, Mr. Couepan is also a devoted soccer fan and supporter of Chiles national team. He noted with pride that some of its players like the former striker Marcelo Salas and the current midfielder Jean Beausejour are Mapuche. He also pointed out that the logo for the 2015 Copa Amrica incorporates aspects of the design of the Mapuche flag, even if organizers and political officials refuse to fly it.But Mr. Couepan also turned and pointed to a large statue near the flagpoles in the central square as fans in the red and white of Peru and the yellow of Brazil paraded by and took photographs with it. The statue was intended to commemorate the centuries-long interaction between the Mapuches and the Spanish and their descendants, but some, like Mr. Couepan, find it offensive.It depicts a conquistador holding a cross, a noble indigenous woman, a heroic farmer, a calm Chilean soldier with his gun at his side and an almost grotesquely distorted Mapuche warrior brandishing a spear.ImageCredit...Rodrigo Buendia/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesThis is racism, Mr. Couepan said.At times the conflict of cultures has escalated into open hostility, with reports of arson at the farmhouses of Chilean farmers and of police brutality against Mapuches, who are somewhere between 8 and 11 percent of the Chilean population but perhaps almost a third of those in the Araucana region around Temuco. The widely accepted term Mapuche actually refers to several groups of indigenous peoples in Chile and Argentina.Some seek rights to confiscated land. Some seek greater political participation, or the expansion of cultural identity, including the Mapuche language, Mapudungun, and in some cases autonomous regions similar to those of indigenous peoples in the United States.In Chile, some estimate the Mapuches retain only five percent of their traditional land, and they are not recognized in a constitution that has been difficult to amend.Under the 17-year dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet that began in 1973, the government terminated collective property, which had a devastating effect on the Mapuches. Since then, spotty efforts have been made to address the land issue.There are good intentions on behalf of the government, said Jorge Contesse, a Chilean professor of international law at Rutgers University. But I would say the results have been inconsistent, at best.The Pinochet regime also enacted an antiterrorism law that was later used by the government of the former President Ricardo Lagos, a Socialist, against Mapuche leaders. That resulted in a conviction of the Chilean government by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2014.The courts conviction is a stain for Chiles democracy, said Contesse, who served as an expert witness for the court.Although traditionally of the land, many Mapuche people have moved to urban centers in Santiago and Temuco over the years seeking economic opportunities. Jos Aylwin, the co-director of the citizens watch group Observatorio Ciudadano, said the platform of the Copa Amrica could not be ignored.It is quite relevant, he said. These games are being played in the heart of Mapuche land.",4
"Credit...Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressFeb. 14, 2014On the Miami Dolphins practice field, players simulated sexual acts as they taunted a teammate about his sister. In the teams hallways and meeting rooms, racist epithets and homophobic language flowed. One coach gave an offensive lineman an inflatable male doll as part of his Christmas stocking stuffer. Many of the Dolphins knew, but did not say or do anything.The players apparently considered this behavior part of the job. In the wake of it, a young player, Jonathan Martin, quit the team and debated giving up on his career, feeling such psychological duress that he said he twice considered committing suicide.In a 144-page report commissioned by the N.F.L. to explore allegations of bullying within the Dolphins, the life of players was depicted in extraordinary and often unseemly detail, evoking Lord of the Flies more than the highlight shows that saturate autumn Sundays. The report determined that three Miami offensive linemen Richie Incognito, John Jerry and Mike Pouncey engaged in a pattern of harassment toward Martin; another young offensive lineman; and an assistant trainer, including improper touching and sexual taunting.The verbal and physical abuse was widespread and even celebrated, according to Ted Wells, a defense lawyer who was hired by the N.F.L. in November to investigate the scandal that engulfed the Dolphins and tarnished the league, which has attained exceptional popularity while facing issues like spying, bounty programs and the long-term dangers of brain trauma. Wellss report, released Friday morning, was based largely on emails, text messages and more than 100 interviews conducted with Miami personnel, from players to coaches, management to support staff (the sensitive subject matter was included with permission of Martins family). It determined, at bottom, that the harassment of Martin resembled a classic case of bullying, where persons who are in a position of power harass the less powerful.But after presenting his findings, in often vulgar and explicit detail, Wellss conclusion was restrained: We encourage the creation of new workplace conduct rules and guidelines that will help ensure that players respect each other as professionals and people.At the end of a week when an N.F.L. draft prospects coming out revived the debate about whether the league was ready for an openly gay player, the reports descriptions of homophobic comments and bullying seem to suggest that the N.F.L. has a long way to go. The investigators seemed to accept the notion of locker-room behavior as boys being boys, writing that they recognize that the communications of young, brash, highly competitive football players often are vulgar and aggressive.Still, the investigators said that improvements must be made. With the recent announcement by Michael Sam, it is even more urgent a tolerant atmosphere exist throughout the league, the report said.ImageCredit...Credits from left: Lynne Sladky/Associated Press, Ronald Martinez/Getty Images, J Pat Carter/Associated PressAlthough the report also concluded that Martins teammates did not intend to drive him from the team or cause him lasting emotional injury, it is possible, even likely, that teams will enact stricter and more specific anti-harassment policies intended to prevent a recurrence of the ugliness that was made public in late October, when Martin left the Dolphins. The league, in a statement, said it would comment as appropriate after reviewing the report.The Dolphins owner, Stephen Ross, released a statement saying he had read the report and was disturbed by the language used and the behavior described.I have made it clear to everyone within our organization that this situation must never happen again, Ross said. We are committed to address this issue forcefully and to take a leadership role in establishing a standard that will be a benchmark in all of sports.Incognitos lawyer, Mark Schamel, took issue with the report and said it was replete with errors.It is disappointing that Mr. Wells would have gotten it so wrong, but not surprising, Schamel said in a statement. The truth, as reported by the Dolphins players and as shown by the evidence, is that Jonathan Martin was never bullied by Richie Incognito or any member of the Dolphins offensive line.Incognito was suspended indefinitely Nov. 3 amid allegations that he bullied Martin, with whom he shared a complicated relationship. He was as apt to help Martin, who is black, improve his blocking technique or ask about his evening plans as he was to demean him with racial insults or homophobic language. More than 1,000 of their text messages, from October 2012 to November 2013, were made public at the end of January, and their exchanges many containing lewd descriptions and profane language meandered from women to football to their social calendar. On the surface, the messages depict a friendship that seemed genuine.But inside Martin seethed, humiliated by the persistent abuse leveled by Incognito, who is white and was identified as the primary instigator of the taunting.The mistreatment began early in the 2012 season, when the intensity and frequency of the insults increased soon after Martin declined to fight back when Jerry, who is black, called him a bitch. Throughout the season, Martin often arrived at team headquarters repeating what became to him a mantra: Just get through the day. He did, but not without enduring shame. Sometimes, Incognito would make jokes about slavery in his presence, and Martin would be teased for not being black enough. At other times, Martin was subjected to crude sexual references often accompanied by obscene gestures about his sister, whom his three tormentors had never met. Martins sister was also mentioned during a string of five text messages, sent by Incognito on Jan. 6, 2013, that Martin found particularly revolting. Insulting him with homophobic language, Incognito also referred to Martins sister in sexually graphic terms. Martin did not express his anger to Incognito, but he told investigators he was extremely upset because that exchange reminded him how he had failed to defend his family on the many occasions that his teammates had denigrated them. While in Florida for off-season workouts that April, Martin sent his mother a lengthy text message detailing his anxieties and hesitancy for confrontation. Worried about his mental health, she flew to Florida, and it was there, at a team event in Fort Lauderdale, that several teammates made inappropriate comments about her. Jerry, for one, suggested that he could have sex with her and Martins sister at the same time. When Martin discussed his mental-health issues with team officials after failing to report to voluntary workouts for two straight days, he was referred to a psychiatrist, who placed him on antidepressant medication. The abuse continued into the summer, training camp and last season. On Oct. 28, Martin resolved he could tolerate no more.After being mocked throughout the day, debased with derogatory language, Martin vowed that he would leave if the linemen did one more thing to him. While Martin was waiting in the cafeteria line for dinner, Incognito called him a derogatory term and told him not to join them for dinner. When Martin tried to sit down at their table, they left, and he flung his tray on the floor and left the building. Martin checked himself into a hospital to receive psychiatric services. Martin ignored several text messages from Incognito for three days before engaging him on Oct. 31. Their exchange concluded with Incognito telling him: If u need anything hit me up. Im here for you my dude. A few hours later, in a text to Pouncey, who is biracial, Incognito called Martin a gay slur and said that Martin should never be allowed to return. Pouncey agreed and called Martin a coward for snitching. In addition to Martin, an unnamed young offensive lineman was said to have been taunted with homophobic insults and touched in a mockingly suggestive manner. Jim Turner, the teams offensive line coach, gave all of his linemen, except the unnamed one, inflatable female dolls before Christmas 2012. When interviewed, Turner said he could not remember giving a male doll to that lineman. Martin was said to have engaged in the teasing, but not the touching, of that player.The investigators also determined that the harassment extended to members of the staff. An unnamed assistant trainer, who was born in Japan, was targeted by Incognito, Jerry and Pouncey, the report said. In December 2012, on the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the three linemen wore Japanese headbands given to them by the trainer and jokingly threatened to harm the assistant trainer in retaliation for the Pearl Harbor attack.Martin told investigators that they had mocked the trainer by using an Asian accent and by making jokes about his mother and girlfriend. They also called him a dirty communist or North Korean, the report said. The trainer, who did not return messages seeking comment, was said to have confided in Martin that he was upset, but he denied in interviews that Incognito had offended him because he said he was worried about losing players trust.Herman Edwards, a former head coach who also played in the N.F.L., said what happened in the Dolphins locker room was far from normal. He found it surprising that the taunting continued as long as it did without a coach, staff member or team leader intervening. You have to have some kind of idea of what is going on in your own locker room, Edwards said. Coaches always have to have an eye on whats going on in there.",4
"Charles Manson 3 Finalists Vying for Body!!! Judge to Sort It Out 1/24/2018 Charles Manson's still on ice, but the battle's heating up for his body -- and the 3 lucky finalists in line for the corpse all have some issues, which have now fallen in a judge's lap. According to docs, obtained by TMZ and filed by the Kern County Coroner, 3 men are claiming Manson's bod. The first is Michael Channels, who submitted the first will from Manson -- but it's only partially legible. Plus, Channels is listed as a witness, which casts doubt on the will's validity. Contestant #2 is Matthew Robert Lentz, who claims to be Manson's son and also filed a will, but his only has 1 witness -- at least 2 are required -- so it's incomplete. Last up ... Jason Freeman -- who says he's Manson's grandson -- filed legal docs to prove he's Charles Manson Jr.'s son ... seemingly making him the murderer's next of kin. The problem here is, before his death, Manson told prison officials he had no family. In other words ... it's legal helter skelter. Good luck sorting it out, your honor!",1
"Global SoccerFeb. 11, 2014LONDON It feels as if much of England is drowning. And half the clubs in its Premier League are afraid of going under.Neither is an exaggeration. Historic rainfalls keep coming, flooding farmlands and towns in the south. And just seven points separate 11 teams in the bottom half of the league.The nation is fighting nature. The clubs are gripped by fear of dropping out of the worlds richest soccer league.Soccer in the Premier League is awash with money. Even the lowest of its 20 teams will be paid 63 million pounds, or $103 million, this season as its share from television revenues.But three clubs will be relegated when the season ends in May. Once they drop, they will leak resources. The chief executive of one of those clubs broadcast on local radio last month that he would prefer death rather than relegation. A bit over the top? Of course, but there is history to such talk.Nearly 33 years have passed since the death of Bill Shankly, the marvelous, mischievous team manager of Liverpool, who once said: Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that. Shanks could bandy words similar to the way that the great Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi did. And, from my own early days as a young television reporter, I can confirm that Liverpools sage said many a word with a poker face while chuckling inside.One doubts that Norwich Citys chief executive, David McNally, is quite so expert in front of the microphone. McNally is a numbers man. He has to make the books balance, and he fears, as do half the chief executives in the Premier League, what would happen if his club sank.We will not contemplate relegation, McNally said in an interview broadcast on BBC Radio Norfolk. In a sporting sense, it is worse than death. There was no chuckle to be heard. The executive was asked if the team manager, Chris Hughton, had the backing of the Norwich board. We are in the entertainment business, and results are the only thing that matters, he responded. Whether Chris has a long term at Norwich City, or whether I do, it is about how well we do in our jobs and the only real measure is results.Beyond the rhetoric is the math. To stay in the Premier League, Norwich does what every other team does. It buys the best players it can from the world market. It pays wages that would not be sustainable outside the Premier League, but there is a black hole of inequality below that.Clubs that go down are often saddled with players who either abandon ship and play for somebody else or, if they are not wanted by another Premier League side, hold the relegated club to their seven-figure annual contracts.ImageCredit...Olly Greenwood/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesThats entertainment? Actually, its business with a callous reality. The repercussion usually comes before the fall, at least as far as the coaches and managers are concerned.Norwich is open and honest about its relationship with Hughton. His job depends on his keeping the team out of the bottom three, preferably by deploying attractive tactics.But if Hughton, once a classy Tottenham Hotspur fullback, is dangled by a thread, he at least still has a job.Seven other coaches within the 20-team Premier League have already departed. Five of them, Paolo di Canio (Sunderland), Ian Holloway (Crystal Palace), Martin Jol (Fulham), Steve Clarke (West Bromwich Albion) and Malky Mackay (Cardiff), were rooted in or right near the relegation zone when relieved of their duties.Two others have also fallen. Spurs dismissed Andr Villas-Boas because, after spending a fortune to get into the Champions League places, he ran out of time to prove he could knit all the talents into a convincing unit.And a week ago, Swansea City terminated the contract of Michael Laudrup.Swansea is a small club of big ambition on the Welsh coast, where the storms battering England first hit. The Swans know how turbulence really feels, because the club has twice risen through four divisions of the English leagues and has survived flirting with bankruptcy.Huw Jenkins, the chairman who fired Laudrup, is a lifelong fan who, as a local businessman, helped form the rescue plan that spared Swansea from liquidation.Jenkins has had a Midas touch in choosing managers to build attractive teams on tight budgets.Roberto Martinez (now at Everton) and Brendan Rodgers (now at Liverpool) fulfilled that role before moving on. Jenkins and his board then signed up Laudrup, the great Dane who graced the fields and then managed clubs in Denmark, Spain and Russia.Laudrups sportsmanship and serenity survived the transition from player to coach. He recruited decent, cut-rate players from Spain to help Swansea win the League Cup last year, the clubs first major trophy in 102 years of existence. There was talk of Real Madrid or Chelsea luring him. But last year, Swansea banished Laudrups agent. Then came injuries to last seasons top striker, Michu, and others as the team struggled with Europa League games on top of the Premier League.To some, Laudrups laissez-faire attitude became a reason to dismiss him. The team lies in the middle of the standings, yet only a couple of defeats from danger. Laudrup was replaced by the club captain Garry Monk. Without going into detail, Jenkins wrote in last weekends match program, it was clear to all our directors that the strong principles we have had at Swansea City over the last 10 years were slowly being eroded. The Swans are gambling on staying afloat. The sacking season is just over halfway done.",4
"Dec. 14, 2015MADRID Portugal faces fresh concerns relating to one of its smaller banks after shares in Banif tumbled Monday amid concerns about its ability to pay back loans it received in a bailout of the countrys banking sector.Banif was one of the smaller banks to receive emergency lending as part of the international bailout of 78 billion euros, or $85.7 billion, that Portugal negotiated in 2011. Banifs ability to repay its share of the bailout has been under particular scrutiny since July, when the European Commission, the competition authority of the European Union, announced that it was investigating whether the subsequent restructuring of Banif included what amounted to illegal state subsidies.Banifs problems provide an early test for the Socialist government of Prime Minister Antnio Costa, who took office last month after a general election that failed to produce a clear-cut winner. Mr. Costa persuaded the Communists and other left-wing parties to form a parliamentary alliance to oust the center-right coalition government that had overseen Portugals three-year bailout program.Mr. Costas administration was already facing another banking headache: how to sell Novo Banco, an institution incorporating the healthy assets of Banco Esprito Santo, which required a 4.9 billion state-led bailout in 2014.The auction of Novo Banco is meant to complete Portugals restructuring and rescue of Banco Esprito Santo, which collapsed after it was forced to disclose unsustainable losses linked to loans it had made to other companies in the Esprito Santo family business empire.As part of the bailout, the Portuguese authorities broke up Banco Esprito Santo and transferred its healthy assets to a new entity, Novo Banco. The plan was to then auction Novo Banco to private investors and to recover as much of the cost of the bailout as possible, but that sale has been delayed.Banif could now be subjected to a similar restructuring, with its toxic assets split off from the rest of the bank, according to some Portuguese news reports, The share price of Banif fell about 35 percent on Monday.Banif issued a statement on Monday in which it denied reports that the government was struggling to prevent the banks collapse. Instead, Banif said, the government plans to sell its 60 percent stake in the bank to a strategic investor.The board reaffirms the ongoing open and competitive process of selling the states stake in Banif, in which several international investors are involved, Banif said in the statement.Banif, whose full name is Banco Internacional do Funchal, reported a net loss of 295 million last year, following a loss of 470 million in 2013. The government injected 1.1 billion of fresh capital into Banif in 2013 to help the bank meet minimum capital requirements.The bank was founded in Funchal, the capital city of Madeira. It has a strong presence there, as well as in the Azores and among Portuguese migrant communities in countries including Canada and the United States.Miguel Albuquerque, the head of Madeiras regional government, said on Monday that he had spoken to Mr. Costa and had received assurances that the banks deposits would be safeguarded. News reports about an imminent collapse of the bank dont correspond to reality, Mr. Albuquerque said.Portugal returned to growth after competing its bailout program on schedule in 2014. Last week, Fitch Ratings issued a relatively positive report about the Portuguese banking sector, despite the delays in selling Novo Banco.Portugals banks are stabilizing, supported by a mildly favorable, but fragile, operating environment, Fitch said. Downside sector risks are, in our view, limited but it will take time before the banks significantly improve their stand-alone financial strength and political uncertainties could dampen reforms to boost investment and growth.",0
"Kanye West Private Screening For His Film with Dame Dash 1/20/2018 Kanye West threw a party in honor of Damon Dash's new movie -- in which Kanye's an executive producer -- and a bunch of celebs were there ... but definitely not Jay-Z. Ye held a private screening for ""Honor Up"" Friday night in Calabasas and surprised all the guests with some movie merchandise too. We're told Dame was on hand along with Pusha T, Claudia Jordan, Daniel Dneiko, A-Trak, Terrence J and of course, Kim Kardashian. As you know ... Kanye and Jay haven't spoken in a long time, and Dame and Jay-Z were once biz partners but had a major falling out -- but it looks like it's all good between Kanye and Dash. ""Honor Up"" gets released next month.",1
"Politics|Senate sergeant-at-arms resigns following Houses top security official stepping down.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/us/politics/sergeant-at-arms-resigns.htmlCredit...Win Mcnamee/Getty ImagesJan. 7, 2021Three top security officials on Capitol Hill are stepping down a day after a mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, congressional leaders said on Thursday.Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California announced during her weekly news conference that Paul D. Irving, the House sergeant-at arms, intended to resign from his position, and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said Thursday evening he had accepted the resignation of Michael C. Stenger, the Senate sergeant-at-arms.News of Mr. Stengers resignation came after Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, said he would fire Mr. Stenger as soon as Democrats took the majority.Steven Sund, the Capitol Police chief, will also leave his position on Jan. 16 after Ms. Pelosi called for his resignation, saying Mr. Sund, he hasnt even called us since this happened. Mr. Sund, in his letter of resignation, said he would use his remaining paid sick leave 440 hours, about 55 days after departing.The swift departure of the top three security officials just two weeks before a presidential inauguration reflected bipartisan outrage over the law enforcement failure to prevent a mob of violent protesters from storming the Capitol as lawmakers debated the formal certification of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.s victory. The sergeants-at-arms are responsible for security in their respective chambers and related office buildings, while Mr. Sund oversaw more than 1,800 Capitol Police personnel.It was unclear immediately who would replace Mr. Stenger and Mr. Sund. In his statement, Mr. McConnell said Jennifer Hemingway, the deputy sergeant-at-arms, would serve as acting sergeant-at-arms.Lawmakers in both chambers and from both parties vowed on Thursday to find out how those responsible for Capitol security had allowed a violent mob to infiltrate the Capitol. House Democrats announced a robust investigation into the law enforcement breakdown.Mr. McConnell said in a separate statement that a painstaking investigation and thorough review were needed after the events of Wednesday, which he described as a massive failure of institutions, protocols, and planning that are supposed to protect the first branch of our federal government.Mr. McConnell added that the ultimate blame for yesterday lies with the unhinged criminals who broke down doors, trampled our nations flag, fought with law enforcement, and tried to disrupt our democracy, and with those who incited them.But this fact does not and will not preclude our addressing the shocking failures in the Capitols security posture and protocols.",3
"Stormy Daniels to Wendy Williams My Vagina's Trained & Beautiful ... Come See It, Anytime!!! 1/31/2018 Stormy Daniels is going to war -- a vagina war -- with Wendy Williams, and she's willing to put it ALL on the line ... TMZ has learned. Stormy caught wind of Wendy's show Wednesday when the host called her washed up, messy -- and the coup de grace -- ""all worn out down below."" Now, Stormy's firing back, telling TMZ ... ""My vagina is a well trained beautiful athlete that would not have the longest running contract in porn history if she were ugly."" Fox The porn star -- who now swears she did NOT bang Donald Trump -- says she'd be happy to show Wendy what she's working with, whenever Wendy wants. All jokes aside ... Stormy's upset about the attack on her lady parts, and says she's considering a defamation lawsuit. She might want to get a consultation before pursuing that.",1
"Health|C.D.C.s Pandemic Team Will Surrender Some Responsibilitieshttps://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/health/covid-cdc-reorganization.htmlMay 20, 2022, 6:15 p.m. ETMay 20, 2022, 6:15 p.m. ETCredit...Ron Harris/Associated PressJust weeks after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began a comprehensive internal review with an eye toward restructuring, the agencys director announced on Friday that the team that coordinated the national response to the Covid-19 pandemic would return some of its functions to other departments.But the so-called Incident Management Structure, initially brought together to respond to the public health emergency, is not being dissolved and will continue to meet the demands of this evolving pandemic, according to a letter sent to employees on Friday by the agencys director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky.The move signals the beginning of efforts to put in place comprehensive changes at the agency, whose public standing and reputation have suffered in recent years. Some 60 percent of Americans, for example, say they are confused by changes in official pandemic recommendations, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.But Dr. Walenskys letter was short on details regarding the changes. A statement in response to questions from The New York Times said only that the reviews initial data collection phase is complete, and now the director will synthesize the information, identify themes, and prioritize next steps to formalize approaches and find new ways to adapt the agency to the changing environment.Dr. Walensky told employees last month that the C.D.C., which has faced an onslaught of criticism over its recent handling of the pandemic, would undergo a review and evaluation by Jim Macrae, a federal official who has held several senior positions within the Department of Health and Human Services. That review started on April 11.The review is also looking at how to modernize ways in which the agency develops scientific research and deploys it, and what other strategic improvements can be made to better serve public health, like better surveillance systems.To those ends, the reviewers have conducted more than 100 interviews and held nearly 50 one-on-one conversations with public health leaders both inside and outside the agency, Dr. Walensky said.The C.D.C. has long been admired for its scientific approach to improving public health. Many scientists from around the world were trained by its experts and have emulated the agencys standards and methods.But the C.D.C.s infrastructure was neglected for decades, along with the public health system generally. Agency scientists stumbled early in the pandemic with the flawed design of a diagnostic test, and went on to make some recommendations about masking, isolation and quarantine that critics charged were based on insufficient evidence.On Friday, Dr. Walensky indicated that health equity would be a priority for the agency in the future. The pandemic laid bare the stark racial and ethnic health disparities in the United States. Black, Hispanic and American Indian/Alaska Native adults were hospitalized with Covid and died at higher rates than white Americans.The roots of the inequities are myriad, and include difficulties gaining access to care, mistrust in the medical system, higher rates of existing health problems like obesity and diabetes, and socioeconomic circumstances, like crowded housing and consumer-facing jobs, that increased the odds of exposure to the virus.Dr. Walensky said that lessons learned from the pandemic and feedback she has received made clear that it is time to take a step back and strategically position C.D.C. to facilitate and support the future of public health with a keen focus on health equity and the agencys core capabilities.",2
"Credit...Stefan Wermuth/ReutersMarch 9, 2017LONDON Theresa May, Britains accidental prime minister, seems unassailable, with her opposition in disorder.But there are increasing uncertainties around Britains decision to leave the European Union and an inevitable gathering of opposition to her decision to go for a hard break with the bloc, particularly in Scotland and Northern Ireland but also, increasingly, in England.A bill to allow the government to start its formal notice of resignation from the European Union, known as Brexit, is wending its way through Parliament. With noisy bouts of disagreement from the House of Lords, pressure is growing on Mrs. May, of the Conservative Party, to call an early general election to solidify her narrow majority in the House of Commons while the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats remain in disarray.Mrs. May has vowed that she will invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty by the end of March, beginning the two-year process of withdrawing from the European Union. She may do it even sooner, before the other 27 nations of the European Union gather in Rome on March 25 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome that led to the founding of the bloc. Some are urging her to call for an election at the same time.However, Mrs. May has vowed not to hold an election before the next scheduled vote, in May 2020. And she is usually described as someone with contempt for those who treat promises as ephemeral.But the temptation is strong, articulated this week by William Hague, the former Conservative Party leader, speaking for other Tory legislators, who urged her to capitalize on Labours woes.Given the challenges of the Brexit negotiations, new agitation for independence in Scotland, anxiety about the Irish border and a Trump administration, Mr. Hague argued that she and her government would be in a much stronger position if they had a large and decisive majority in the Commons and a new full term ahead of them.An election would catch the Labour Party in its worst condition since the early Thirties, and with its least credible leader ever, Mr. Hague wrote, referring to Jeremy Corbyn. That, he added, would strengthen the governments hand at home and abroad.The argument was underlined by Mrs. Mays second defeat in the House of Lords over the bill authorizing her to invoke Article 50. She insists that she will pass the bill again through the Commons without amendment (judging that the Lords, the advisory chamber, will then accede to it).That remains most likely. But the amendments reflected wider concern among the political and economic elite of the country that the hard Brexit she envisages leaving Britain outside the single market and customs union ought to be subject to some form of credible parliamentary review at the end of the process.To show her toughness on the issue, Mrs. May fired Michael Heseltine, 83, a former Conservative deputy prime minister now in the House of Lords, as a government adviser for voting against her wishes. But her response also seemed edgy and disproportionate.The invocation of Article 50 begins a two-year period of negotiation with the European Union over the terms of the divorce and a framework for a future relationship. The British government is understandably coy now about how it will negotiate, but Parliament will have a final vote on whatever deal is reached in 2019.ImageCredit...Neil Hall/ReutersWhile some in the House of Lords and the Commons want that vote to be meaningful, others believe that by then it will be too late for Parliament to do more than accept whatever deal the government has managed to secure, since rejection would mean a blunt break with the European Union and no shock-cushioning deals on trade, customs or regulations.But the political mood is already febrile, with Northern Irelands politics stalemated, anxiety over the future of the border with Ireland and Scotland talking seriously about another referendum on independence.Scotland in particular has been upset by the Brexit vote, after having voted resoundingly to remain in the bloc. Nicola Sturgeon, Scotlands first minister, told the BBC on Thursday that autumn 2018 was the common sense time to hold a referendum, if that is the road we choose to go down.So the logic of an early election is clear. Given the mess of the Labour Party under Mr. Corbyn, and the weakness of the Liberal Democrats, Mrs. Mays Conservatives might be able to win a majority of 100 or so in the Commons, a much safer figure than now, which is a working majority of 17.A larger majority would take a lot of the pressure off Mrs. May in the Brexit negotiations, which are clearly going to be difficult and are unlikely to produce the glorious outcome that some in Britain imagined last June, when they voted for independence from the European Union.There would be another benefit. Mrs. May, who became prime minister in a foreshortened vote of her own party when David Cameron suddenly quit, after he was on the losing side of the Brexit referendum, would be able to claim her own personal mandate on her own platform. A larger majority would also put to rest any prospect of a parliamentary rebellion in 2019, when a final Brexit bill would presumably come to a vote.Mr. Hague pointed to the complexity of Brexit, saying that any deal is bound to be full of compromises which one group or another in Parliament finds difficult to stomach. And as British law needs to be amended countless times to take account of leaving the E.U. treaties, the government could face many close votes, concessions or defeats as it tries to implement Brexit.And that perceived weakness, he judged, will embolden the E.U. negotiators, and makes an agreement that is good for the U.K. harder to achieve.Gordon Brown, when he took over as Labour Party prime minister from Tony Blair in 2007, hesitated to call an early election to take advantage of his honeymoon popularity and win a fresh mandate. After the recession of 2008, Mr. Brown lost the 2010 election and stepped down.But Steven Fielding, a professor of political history at Nottingham University, said that he expected Mrs. May to keep her word, about the election timing and delivering Brexit, in the hope of creating a longer lasting political realignment that could keep the Conservatives in power for many years, long after Corbyn shuffles off the stage.By carrying out Brexit, she neutralizes UKIP in the south and takes away the votes UKIP thought theyd get from Labour in the north, he said. Brexit has given the Tories an opportunity, and Corbyn has magnified it. UKIP is a right-wing populist party in Britain.Even if Mr. Corbyn were to be replaced before 2020, by then Mrs. May will have delivered Brexit as she promised, for good or ill, and, if not Corbyn, Labour will have a transitional leader that would have to make big compromises with his supporters in the party.Mr. Corbyn said that the party would be ready for an election whenever it came, and cautioned, Do not underestimate the support there is for the Labour Party.",6
"Credit...Matthew Staver for The New York TimesFeb. 12, 2014SOCHI, Russia Many of the fans in TD Garden were on their feet before Jason Brown finished his free program at the United States figure skating championships last month in Boston.A standing ovation had been part of the plan for Brown and his team since the beginning. With no quadruple jump to pile up points, Brown and his choreographer, Rohene Ward, and his longtime coach, Kori Ade, knew that Brown needed a dense and transcendent program to have a chance of reaching the Olympics this year at age 19.Everything about the program is meant to bring the audience up to such a high that those judges cant help but reward, reward, reward, Ade said last month at their new training base in Monument, Colo. Thats how the program is constructed, the way it builds.Browns powerful, joyful performance in Boston, which secured him second place at nationals, has been viewed on YouTube more than 3.7 million times. And Brown an Olympic rookie with a signature ponytail and unselfconscious enthusiasm is now a bronze medalist after the team event here.Next is the mens competition, with the short program Thursday and the free skate Friday.In a series of recent interviews, Brown, Ade and Ward described how that program set to Reel Around the Sun from Riverdance was conceived, constructed and polished.They provided a window into the challenges faced by elite figure skaters, who begin preparing programs long before the season. Robin Wagner, the former coach of the 2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes, said many of the methods that Ade and Ward used to build Browns program were not uncommon. But the attention to detail, particularly in Browns mental approach, has been remarkable.This is a very thoughtful process and certainly, she has left no stone unturned, Wagner said of Ade.The three strong personalities involved in the process interact more as family than as colleagues. Ade, who is married with two young children, has coached Brown since he was 5; Ward joined the team in 2009. Ade had never been to the Olympics as a coach, and Ward never made it to the Winter Games as a competitive skater.I think that makes this more special for all of them, Browns mother, Marla, said. They are an outside-the-box trio, but it works.THE DIAGRAMWitty, driven and husky-voiced, Ade, 40, uses an iPad to film and guide her skaters during training. She navigates between multiple screens and her pupils programs during practice sessions in Monument.I have more than a slight case of A.D.D., she said.But this free program began in March with a single sheet of paper. Before there was a soundtrack, before there was a story line, Ade drew 13 boxes.She also did what a coach at any level might do: consult the technical information on the United States Figure Skating Association website.Creating a timeline, she filled the rectangles with the eight jump elements, the three spins and the two step sequences required for a senior mens free program for the 2013-14 season. She then chose the details, including the types of jumps, placing five triples in the second half of the program in search of bonus points.Its almost like playing Bananagrams, she said, referring to the childrens word game. Its like you have all your letters, and you just have to construct it into the perfect personal crossword puzzle, and when it needs to morph, it needs to morph.Ade wrote reminders of the free program rules outside the boxes, like Jump combinations limited to two jumps but one three-jump combination is permitted.I do that, she said, so if we need to swap out a spin or change a position in a spin, I dont miss the rule.With the puzzle done, if only for the moment, she flew to Italy for a competition in early April, leaving Brown and Ward to brainstorm in Monument.THE MUSICOn her laptop, Ade has a folder titled Jason Maybe in which she includes pieces of potential music. She and Brown had considered the soundtrack to Pearl Harbor for his Olympic season long program, but no decision had been made until Ward, sifting through ideas on the Internet, had a eureka moment.He had this burning fire in his eyes, Brown said, and it was like, this is what you are going to do.ImageCredit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesWard, 30, said Brown had not heard of Riverdance, the hit show based on Irish step dancing that was first performed in the 1990s and was once used with some frequency for figure-skating programs.After hearing Reel Around the Sun, the flute-punctuated opening number, Brown was reeling at the up-tempo, cardiovascular challenge it would present on skates.I was like, Rohene, you are crazy, I cannot pull this off,' Brown said.Wards response was immediate, Brown said: He looked me in the eye and said, Jason, this is something youve never done before, and thats what the Olympic year is all about.'They spoke with Browns mother, a former executive producer for The Arsenio Hall Show, who liked the idea. Then they called Ade in Europe.She was like: ""Riverdance? Thats so corny,' Ward said. And I said, No, no, its just that a lot of people havent done it justice except for a couple of ice dance teams.A lot of people try to reinvent themselves in Olympic years, and I feel like sometimes its best to do classic things but modernize that classic piece. I felt like with Jasons youthfulness, it was the best time to use that piece of music because his endurance and stamina would work the best right now versus four years from now.Ward and Brown cut the music nearly in half to fit a 4-minute-30-second free program. They removed some slower sections and focused on building narrative power to the finish. By the end of the night, they had a rough cut, with Ward well aware that Brown and Ade were skeptical.Rohene took that as a challenge: Im proving them wrong; theyre going to fall in love with this,' Brown said. Because he had a vision, and hes one of those people, when he has a vision he pursues that vision.THE CHOREOGRAPHYWard, a Minnesotan, was a gifted skater who competed in four national championships but routinely cracked under big-event pressure.I truly felt he was the most brilliant talent I had ever seen if he could put it all together, said Wagner, who once worked with him.Ward was the only skater Ade has seen who could execute triple jumps while spinning in either direction.To this day he could have a pair of jeans on, rub his legs a couple times and go out and do a quad toe, triple toe, no big deal, Ade said.Ade said Ward was not formally trained as a choreographer, but she and Brown collaborate happily with him despite pressure from the skating establishment to find someone with more credentials.I think Jason is the perfect canvas for Rohenes gift, Ade said.The first brush strokes were applied the morning after Riverdance was chosen. At the Monument rink, they started with the straight-line step sequence across the length of the ice, the heart of the program in Wards view.Improvising heavily, Ward performed the entire 30-second sequence on the first take. Brown did not, but they pushed on, and when Ade returned, they showed her their early work.The hair stood up on my arms, Ade recalled. I said, This is going to be a magical program.'ImageCredit...Matthew Staver for The New York TimesBecause of the intricacy of the choreography, Brown and Ward regularly spent a two-hour lesson on just one five-second segment. Ward said it took three weeks for Brown to perform the footwork without stumbling, and only then did he add the arm and body movements.With that sequence in place, they worked on the choreography from there to the end of the program, then circled back and did the beginning. It starts with Brown staring intently at the judges, which is only an illusion because Brown, who wears glasses, does not perform with them.Its a blur for him, so if hes making eye contact with someone, he doesnt know it, Ade said. So its not awkward for him.Wards emphasis was on intriguing transitions. for example, a long glide on a single skate with Browns left leg held straight up by his side and then straight into a triple lutz with an arm raised overhead, which is known as a Tano lutz after Brian Boitano.Early on, Ward included a spiral, rarely performed well by leading American men, and telegenic spin positions that underscore Browns flexibility.Ward said the hardest section to master proved to be the 90 seconds after the straight-line sequence. That chunk includes a triple-lutz, single-loop, triple-Salchow combination, then a Russian split jump into a triple flip, double toe. It is followed by a hydroblade where Brown bends low, the fingers of his right hand grazing the ice and a double axel.That section was after the halfway mark; he had just done the footwork so had used an abundance of energy, Ward said. So he had to learn how to harness the rest of his energy and use it, but still perform through the next minute and a half without looking like he was tired or looking like it was difficult.To get the effect he wanted and the points Brown needed, there could be no significant slowing of the pace until the final note. This sets the program apart and is one of the keys to its appeal, but all that came at a price.When we started this program every day, he would say, This is impossible,' Ade said. Because its nonstop. There are no choreographed breathing points after the first four seconds when hes staring down the judges. The only place he really gets to breathe is when hes spinning.THE WORKLast year, Ade, Brown and the rising junior skater Jordan Moeller left their base in the Chicago suburbs and relocated to Colorado Springs. Ade said the idea behind relocating was to train at altitude, accelerate the maturation of the teenagers and have access to nearby United States Olympic Committee medical and technical support.They intended to train at the World Arena Ice Hall, where other elite skaters are based. They instead ended up about 20 miles away in Monument at the Colorado Sports and Events Center, a facility with two sheets of ice generally used for hockey.The rinks are cold enough to make gloves and a winter jacket de rigueur, and because of the low temperatures, the ice is particularly hard. That is not ideal for skaters because it makes it tougher to carve patterns in the ice with an edge.Not nearly as well appointed as World Arena Ice Hall, the sports center does not cater to as many skaters, which means that Ade and her pupils have ample time to run through their music and programs without interruption.Brown said he had performed the Riverdance program far more than 100 times from start to finish in training, not counting sections. It has not been without resistance.He begged us more than a dozen times to take things out, Ade said.But Brown and Ade knew what he needed to be competitive in his first senior season. That meant refining every spin, every entry and exit into a jump and every detail in an attempt to claw back points to compensate for the lack of a quadruple jump, which Ade said could bring a skater 13 to15 points if executed cleanly.I just keep saying, Do the math, do the math,' Ade said. Its a game you have to figure out.Each element on its own was within Browns skill set, including the triple axel he mastered last year. The density of the whole package was the issue.The first time I did the program cleanly was not until September, a week before I left for my first event, Brown said. Generally I run clean programs in the summer.He sometimes found himself in tears before and even during his program.Id be so scared I was going to get halfway through and not be able to breathe, he said.Ade said that even she had doubts at times, but that Browns steady progress allayed them.At night, Brown lay in bed and envisioned success. It would be like, Why can I see it, but why cant I do it? he said.THE TOOLSBrown performed an early version of the program without all eight planned triple jumps at the Broadmoor Open in Colorado Springs in June. Ward said judges offered critiques. The level of out-of-competition communication between judges, skaters and their coaches sets the sport apart from most others.Some at the Broadmoor said Riverdance had been overused; others said it was hard to distinguish where certain elements ended or began, but this blurring of the borders between elements was exactly what Ward intended.I said, Its not my job to make your job easier as a judge to say, Oh thats the footwork,and thats a spin,' Ward said. No, Im going to make it a whole piece that flows.We even had a couple of heated conversations with some judges, because they thought, Well, what if we miss it and end up judging the element incorrectly?But Ward did not want to compromise. Reviews were still mixed in August at Champs Camp, the United States Figure Skating seminar staged at World Arena to help top American skaters and coaches prepare for the coming season.Ade said officials were confused about the meaning of the program: Was it traditional Riverdance or a twist on it? What was Brown looking at here? Why was he serious there?We didnt really have a story, Ade said.She devised one as she lay in bed one night: a tale of a hero whose village is under attack and who uses the dance as his battle against the invader and then as a way to celebrate victory.For sure it helped, Brown said. Youre doing your footwork and instead of it being like, Did I get this turn?, its more like duck, hit, punch, punch, duck.ImageCredit...Matthew Staver for The New York TimesAdes story also distracted him from the mechanics and the consequences, but they were not finished shaping Browns internal narrative with the goal of keeping him in the moment.After he finished fifth in Skate America in October, Brown and Ade matched up each part of the program with what he should be thinking: a rough equivalent to creating a swing thought for a golfer. Ade wrote their work on three lined pieces of paper in two adjacent columns the left column titled Doing and the right column titled Thinking Message.The messages included the physical (soft knees for the entry to a spin), the motivational (keep selling it for the first step sequence) and the triumphant (HA for the ending).In Paris, this is all I thought about it, Brown said of the Trophe Eric Bompard in November, where he finished third. Leading up to nationals, this is all I thought about, and I had the sheets with me every single day.Wagner said many skaters would not have thrived on this level of mental detail. One might imagine that at this stage, Browns mind would have been overrun with imaginary invaders and mantras.Its true, but you do it so often and you do sections of the program every single day, so it becomes innate, he said. And thats whats cool.THE EFFECTAs a neophyte coach and choreographer, Ade nearly made it to the 2002 Winter Olympics after working briefly with the Australian Anthony Liu. It did not happen, she said, because the size of the Australian delegation was reduced after the Sept. 11 attacks.I was mildly heartbroken, but I thought if I didnt earn it, I didnt earn it, and if Im meant to be an Olympic coach someday, it wont be in the ninth inning of someones career, she said. It will be that I actually raised the Olympian.She made a point of never wearing anything with the Olympic rings until it happened and said Brown had adopted the same policy.This, said Ade, opens up a world of apparel options for us.With plenty of veteran talent in the field and no quad of his own, Brown is a long shot for a medal in mens singles in Sochi, but the program that gave him so much angst and satisfaction has resonated beyond his imaginings.Honestly, I flip out when theres 100 people, he said of viewers for his programs on YouTube.An hour after Brown finished skating in Boston, his younger brother, Dylan, called to tell him that he already had 100,000 views. Several days later, Dylan called again to say he was staying up all night to watch the video break the million-view barrier.Its just such a breath of fresh air, because I think skaters have gotten so bogged down with the technical elements and requirements, Wagner said. I think weve lost the beauty of putting a program together where the steps make sense to the music and youre telling a story.Ade said Brown received a thankful Facebook message from the musics composer, Bill Whelan, and heard from some Riverdance cast members who said they watched his skate for preperformance inspiration.For Ade, the remarkable part is that the program went viral for being uplifting.They are not watching it because he fell and its funny to watch a figure skater fall, she said. They are not watching it because its Jerry Springer and someones life is in shambles. They are watching it because hes doing something with so much joy and so much passion.",4
"Credit...Lynsey Addario for The New York TimesJune 15, 2018WASHINGTON The Trump administration said on Friday that it had separated 1,995 children from parents facing criminal prosecution for unlawfully crossing the border over a six-week period that ended last month, as President Trump sought to shift blame for the widely criticized practice that has become the signature policy of his aggressive immigration agenda.From April 19 to May 31, the children were separated from 1,940 adults, according to a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, who spoke during a conference call with reporters that had been described as an effort to correct the record about immigrant families being split up at the border.Administration officials insisted on anonymity to explain the presidents policy and deny many of the damaging stories that have appeared about it in recent days. That included an anecdote about a 4-month-old taken away from her mother by immigration authorities as the baby was breast-feeding, which one official said the department had tried unsuccessfully to verify.I hate the children being taken away, Mr. Trump told reporters on Friday morning in front of the White House. The Democrats have to change their law thats their law.A short time later, he wrote on Twitter, The Democrats are forcing the breakup of families at the Border with their horrible and cruel legislative agenda.But Mr. Trump was misrepresenting his own policy. There is no law that says children must be taken from their parents if they cross the border unlawfully, and previous administrations have made exceptions for those traveling with minor children when prosecuting immigrants for illegal entry. A zero tolerance policy created by the president in April and put into effect last month by the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, allows no such exceptions, Mr. Trumps advisers say.The presidents efforts to deflect blame for the practice reflected the degree to which it has become politically unpopular, with Democrats, civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups and religious leaders condemning it as inhumane. Republicans have also begun to express unease about the practice. Speaker Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, said on Thursday that he was not comfortable with it, and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio tweeted on Friday: Quit separating families. Its that simple.The number released on Friday suggests that thousands of children have been taken from their parents at the border since late last year. The New York Times reported in April that about 700 children had been separated from their parents as they were processed at stations on the southwest border, including more than 100 under the age of 4. As the number of children in its custody grows beyond the capacity of existing detention centers, the Trump administration reportedly plans to erect a tent city in Tornillo, Tex., to house them.The homeland security official said that the administration had drawn a bright line against taking babies from their parents because the government was unable to appropriately care for children that young, but could not immediately provide information about the age cutoff below which they would decline to take a child.The official also denied that department personnel were using false pretenses to take away children, such as saying that they were going to bathe. But lawyers and members of Congress who have spoken with migrants separated from their children in recent days have reported hearing otherwise.Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington, who recently visited 174 women apprehended at the border and being held in a federal prison facility in SeaTac, said some of them reported having been told that they needed to briefly leave their children to be photographed or see a judge, only to return and find the children had been taken away.They were forced to leave their children in this room, and then when they came back, the children were gone, and not a single one of them was able to say goodbye, Ms. Jayapal said in an interview on Friday. One woman, she said, told her that a border agent had said she and the other detainees should let all their friends back home know that this is what would happen if they tried to come into the United States illegally.Even as they defended the tactics, administration officials argued on Friday that they would prefer not to have to use them, and called on Congress to support legislation to change immigration laws so they would no longer be necessary.At one point, the official complained that Joe Scarborough of MSNBC had been disrespectful for having said during a broadcast that the tactics being employed to separate children from their parents unwittingly were just like the Nazis, calling the comparison disgusting. Without naming Mr. Scarborough, he demanded an apology.",3
"Credit...Joshua Lott for The New York TimesDec. 4, 2015Consider it a done deal.American employers expanded their payrolls at a robust pace in November, the government reported on Friday, all but guaranteeing that policy makers at the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade when they meet in less than two weeks.In addition to announcing 211,000 new hires last month a bit more than Wall Street had expected the Labor Department also revised upward its earlier estimate of job creation in September and October by a total of 26,000 jobs. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 5 percent.The labor market strength evident in the November data removes the last major uncertainty before the Fed decision.This is a green light from our perspective, said Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors. Wall Street, which in the past has sold off after strong jobs data and the prospect of higher interest rates, greeted the report with enthusiasm, perhaps because it removes any remaining uncertainty about the Feds plans. Stocks reversed Thursdays losses and rose more than 2 percent; bond yields fell slightly. The report on Friday echoes other recent positive data on job openings, new weekly claims for unemployment benefits and private payroll surveys, Mr. Orlando added. This is a good number for liftoff, he said, referring to the expected move by the central bank, which has held rates near zero since December 2008.Over all, the Labor Department data painted a picture of an economy that is growing steadily and creating jobs at a healthy pace, even as wage gains remain subdued and many Americans are still stuck on the sidelines of the recovery.If hiring continues at a healthy pace next year, as most economists now predict, it could also blunt Republican criticism in the presidential campaign of Democratic economic policies, which have been a prominent target for the current crop of G.O.P. candidates.With an average monthly payroll increase of 210,000 so far this year, the 211,000 gain in November though still subject to revision has a metronome-like element of consistency. It is also near the average monthly increase of 199,000 in 2013 and 260,000 in 2014.For a long time, Ive thought the labor market was in pretty good shape, and this just confirms that, said Scott Clemons, chief investment strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York. After the release of the jobs report, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Patrick T. Harker, added his voice to the chorus of Fed officials who said it was time for the central bank to raise interest rates.ImageCredit...Joshua Lott for The New York TimesRaising rates this year will, in my view, serve to reduce monetary policy uncertainty and to keep the economy on track for sustained growth with price stability, Mr. Harker said at a Fed conference in Philadelphia.Still, even after more than six years of economic recovery from the devastating financial crisis, the labor market is well below its pre-recession levels and pockets of economic weakness remain.At 62.5 percent, the proportion of Americans in the labor force remains near multidecade lows. The jobless rate for African-Americans rose by 0.2 percentage point in November to 9.4 percent, which is more than twice the 4.3 percent level for white Americans.Moreover, the economy is still 2.8 million jobs short of where it would have to be to match pre-recession employment levels while also absorbing new entrants into the work force, according to the Hamilton Project, a research group associated with the Brookings Institution in Washington. Even if the current trend continues, that so-called jobs gap will not be closed until mid-2017.In addition to the tempo of hiring and the unemployment rate, Fed policy makers have been paying close attention to the pace of wage increases. In November, the government said wages rose by 0.2 percent, leaving the 12-month change in average hourly earnings 2.3 percent higher.Despite steady hiring gains and a falling unemployment rate, wage growth in recent years has barely advanced faster than inflation. In October, that trend seemed to improve, with an unexpectedly strong 0.4 percentage point increase in average hourly earnings that pushed the 12-month gain to 2.5 percent even as the pace of inflation fell, mostly because of lower energy prices.But with Novembers figures reverting to the earlier trend, Mr. Clemons said, I dont think theres a lot of wage pressure yet.He foresees two more interest rate increases next year, bringing short-term rates to about 0.75 percent at this point next year. Other analysts, like Mr. Orlando, expect the Fed to raise rates roughly every other meeting next year, which would bring the Feds benchmark rate to about 1 percent in the fall of 2016.This week, the chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, Janet L. Yellen, and other top Fed officials made clear that a rate increase was imminent unless the economic data went wildly awry. Raising rates, Ms. Yellen said in a speech Wednesday, would be a testament, also, to how far our economy has come in recovering from the effects of the financial crisis and the Great Recession.It is a day that I expect we all are looking forward to, she added.In the November data, the mix of sectors doing the hiring was encouraging, with big gains in construction, education and health services, and the white-collar professional and business services sector.On the other hand, the mining and logging sector lost 11,000 jobs, hit by continuing job cuts in the oil patch and other commodity-dependent industries.One wild card in the November report was the retail sector. But the data showed that stores added 31,000 retail jobs.The transportation and warehousing sector added 6,400 jobs in November, reversing losses in September and October.In Chicago, Redwood Logistics has been on a steady growth track all year, adding about 100 employees in the last 12 months, said the companys chief executive, Todd Berger. With a nationwide work force of about 425, Mr. Berger said he anticipated hiring another 100 workers in the next year. Although many people might consider strong shoulders to be the main qualification for a job at a shipping and transportation company, the reality is very different.Most of Redwoods jobs require a college degree, Mr. Berger said. In November, Redwood filled three managerial positions, all of which paid more than $100,000 a year and required specialized training and experience.Salaries for less-skilled positions, like truck drivers, have also been creeping up. In Texas, Redwood has been hiring drivers from among those laid off from the energy industry.Our drivers will go to work in the oil fields when thats hot, he said. Now theyre coming back.",0
"Take a NumberCredit...David Goldman/Associated PressJune 19, 2017Gunshots are the second leading cause of injury-related death in children, exceeded only by car accidents. In a typical week in the United States, 25 children die from bullet wounds.Between 2012 and 2014, an average of 1,297 children under age 18 died each year from firearm injuries. Aside from deaths in the course of law enforcement and other circumstances, there were an average of 693 homicides, 493 suicides and 82 unintentional deaths annually.In addition, there were 5,790 nonfatal injuries a year from gunshots, most due to assault.Researchers writing in the journal Pediatrics analyzed data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and by the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System.They found that the annual rate of firearm homicides among African-American children (3.5 per 100,000) was nearly 10 times the rate among whites.But the suicide rate among white children was almost four times the rate among blacks. The rate of unintentional firearm deaths among African-Americans was twice that of white children.There were wide geographical differences in firearm death rates. In eight states Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Vermont there were fewer than 20 child firearm deaths a year from 2010 to 2014.The District of Columbia and Louisiana had the highest rates 4.5 and 4.2 per 100,000 respectively.The highest gun homicide rates were in seven Southern states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee. But rates were also high in Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania, California and Nevada.Child suicides by gun were highest in Montana, Idaho, Oklahoma and Alaska.Most children who died of unintentional gun injuries were shot by another child of about the same age, most often while playing with a gun or showing it to others.Overall, child gun homicide rates declined 36 percent to 0.9 per 100,000 in 2014 from 1.4 in 2007. At the same time, suicides by gun increased 60 percent to 1.6 per 100,000 in 2014 from 1.0 in 2007.There isnt a single issue in isolation that increases the likelihood of gun death, said the lead author, Katherine A. Fowler, a behavioral scientist with the C.D.C.Children are at a higher risk of violence if they have academic problems, encouragements to be aggressive, and limited adult supervision, she said. The likelihood of violence is also higher in communities with high levels of instability, gang activity, drug sales, unemployment or poverty.",2
"Dec. 1, 2015WASHINGTON Manufacturing in the United States contracted in November for the first time in three years as the sector buckled under the weight of a strong dollar and deep spending cuts by energy companies.Other data on Tuesday showed a sturdy increase in construction spending in October, which should help to offset the drag from manufacturing on fourth-quarter growth.Manufacturing accounts for 12 percent of the economy, and analysts say it is unlikely the persistent weakness will deter the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates this month.Manufacturing is being pummeled by the stronger dollar and the weakness of global demand, but the other 88 percent of the economy continues to perform well, said Steve Murphy, a United States economist at Capital Economics in Toronto.The Institute for Supply Management said its national factory index fell to 48.6 last month, the weakest reading since June 2009, when the recession ended, from 50.1 in October. While a reading below 50 indicates a contraction in manufacturing, the index remains above 43.1, which is associated with a recession.Factory activity has also been undercut by business efforts to reduce an excessive inventory build, which is putting pressure on new orders. The institute said a gauge of new orders tumbled 4 percentage points, to 48.9, last month.Inventories at manufacturers continued to shrink, and their customers reported stocks of unsold goods were too high for a fourth consecutive month.Ten out of 18 manufacturing industries, including apparel, electrical equipment, appliances and components, and computer and electronic products reported contraction in November.Manufacturers cited dollar strength, slower Chinese and European growth and lower oil prices as headwinds. Recent data on business capital spending plans and factory output had offered hope that the worst of the sectors woes were over.But with auto sales and construction spending remaining robust early in the fourth quarter, economists still expect gross domestic product to expand at around a 2 percent annual pace, almost matching the third-quarter pace.The good news is that the much more important services sector continues to do very well, benefiting from solid domestic demand, said Harm Bandholz, chief United States economist at UniCredit Research in New York.In a separate report, the Commerce Department said construction spending increased 1 percent to a seasonally adjusted $1.11 trillion rate, the highest level since December 2007, after rising 0.6 percent in September.Construction outlays were up 13 percent compared with October of last year. Spending in October was buoyed by a 0.8 percent rise in private spending, which touched its highest level since January 2008. Outlays on private residential construction hit their highest level since December 2007.Investment in private nonresidential construction projects rose 0.6 percent, to a near seven-year high, with spending on manufacturing plants rising a robust 3 percent.Public construction outlays jumped 1.4 percent to a five-year high as a surge in federal government spending offset a dip in investment by state and local government.Despite the free-fall in oil patch activity, total construction in the rest of the economy is doing quite well, said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pa.",0
"Tech FixThe new iPhone has an improved design, but its undermined by the wireless industrys messy rollout of ultrafast 5G networks.Credit...Jim Wilson/The New York TimesPublished Oct. 20, 2020Updated Sept. 14, 2021I started this iPhone review in the most peculiar way: by opening a map to find out where I could test it.Thats because Apples newest iPhones, for the first time, work with 5G, the ultrafast fifth-generation wireless networks that will theoretically let people download a movie to their devices in seconds. The problem? The superspeedy 5G networks have not been rolled out everywhere.I learned this the hard way. When Apple provided The New York Times with iPhone 12s to test on Verizons 5G network, I quickly discovered that my neighborhood in the San Francisco Bay Area didnt have any 5G connection. So I went on a journey through San Francisco to find the superfast data speeds that Apple and Verizon executives promised when they unveiled the new iPhones last week.When I found places where I could connect to the fastest 5G networks, the iPhone experience was hugely gratifying. The network delivered download speeds to the phone that were up to seven times as fast as the best broadband services I have ever used.But the locations where I tracked down ultrafast 5G were far less satisfying. At one point, I found the speedy connection in the back of a Safeway parking lot. Another time I was in front of a Pet Food Express. What would I do with an incredibly fast internet connection there?In most parts of San Francisco, the iPhone instead drew data from a more vanilla flavor of 5G that Verizon calls 5G Nationwide, which is the connection that most of the country will get for the foreseeable future. Those download speeds ranged from much slower than to twice as fast as my older iPhone, which was on Verizons 4G network.Thats all to say that despite the hype around 5G, the network underwhelmed. At this point, it should not be the primary reason to splurge on an expensive handset in a pandemic-induced recession.The iPhone 12, with bright screens and a more robust design, is still a solid upgrade from past iPhones. But you will pay a premium: The device, which becomes available on Friday, starts at $829, up from $699 for last years iPhone 11. (Another model, the iPhone 12 Mini, costs $729 but has a smaller screen and ships later this year.)I tested the iPhone 12 and the high-end iPhone 12 Pro, which starts at $999, for about a week. Heres how that went.ImageCredit...Jim Wilson/The New York TimesThe Hunt for 5GPhone carriers like Verizon and AT&T started rolling out 5G networks last year and have marketed them as superfast. But what they arent telling you is that there are two flavors of 5G and that the one you will most likely get is not going to be the speedier one.Here are the two versions of 5G in a nutshell:Theres ultrafast 5G, which is called millimeter wave. (Verizon labels it 5G Ultra Wideband.) It travels very short distances and has trouble penetrating obstacles and walls. That makes it usable in outdoor spaces like street corners or parks, but probably not in our offices or homes anytime soon. Because of that, only tiny slivers of the country now have superfast 5G.Then theres 5G Nationwide, which is more widely available. It travels much farther, but carriers have said it will be only about 20 percent faster than 4G wireless networks.I saw the differences in 5G firsthand when I opened the Verizon coverage map for San Francisco. Verizon used red to highlight locations with 5G Nationwide, while areas with the ultrafast 5G were marked in dark red. The overwhelming majority of the city was shaded in red, with only small areas in dark red.To test ultrafast 5G, I drove to six locations that Verizon advertised as having the fast connection and used the Speedtest app from Ookla, a network diagnostics company.At three of the locations in the citys Marina district and Mission district, I was immediately disappointed. I walked up and down the streets, constantly refreshing websites and running the Speedtest app, but there was no superfast signal to be found. Instead, I got 4G or vanilla 5G connections.Verizon said its engineers walked those same streets in the Marina over the weekend and were able to find the superfast 5G connection in one location but confirmed the signal had weakened in the other. (Verizon didnt immediately comment on the location in the Mission district.)That led me to conclude that Verizons coverage map was unreliable.Still, I drove to three other locations in the citys Marina, Presidio Heights and South of Market districts. There, I finally found the fabled superfast 5G and I was blown away.Standing in front of a camera store in South of Market, I got 5G speeds reaching 2,160 megabits a second, which was 2,900 percent faster than 4G. Even where it was a tad slower behind the Safeway parking lot in the Marina district the 5G iPhone drew speeds of 668 megabits a second, which was 1,052 percent faster than 4G.These were odd places to have blazing fast speeds, though. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, these areas did not have much foot traffic. The carriers have said ultrafast 5G speeds would be great for data-heavy tasks like streaming video, but I had no desire to do much streaming while standing on those street corners.Why the nondescript locations? Karen Schulz, a Verizon spokeswoman, said the company ran into complex engineering tasks in San Francisco. While ultrafast 5G relies on access to light poles, most of the citys utilities infrastructure is underground. Verizons progress to deploy 5G has run into red tape, she said.When I tested the new iPhones on the vanilla 5G network, any speed improvement was hardly noticeable. In the best cases, vanilla 5G was twice as fast as 4G, or 209 megabits a second compared with 103 megabits on 4G. But in some locations, 5G was slower than 4G. In one part of the Mission district, for instance, 5G speeds reached 28 megabits a second compared with 39 megabits on 4G.Ms. Schulz said that customers should initially expect the 5G Nationwide network to perform like 4G, and that performance and coverage would grow over time.Im not sure thats good enough. Ive reviewed phones over the past 12 years and covered the transition from 2G to 3G, and from 3G to 4G. I have never seen a network rollout this confusing and spotty 5G, simply, is a mess.ImageCredit...Jim Wilson/The New York TimesEverything ElseSetting aside the network issues, theres still a handset to review and that brings much better news.The design changes to the new iPhones are substantive. The iPhone 12 has a fancy OLED screen, a more modern display technology. So it looks brighter and has more accurate colors than the iPhone 11, which used LCD screen technology. (OLED was previously exclusive to Apples high-end iPhones.) The edges of the phone are also now flat instead of round.The changes have helped the handset shed some weight and thickness while maintaining a roomy 6.1-inch screen. It felt much more comfortable inside my pants pockets than the iPhone 11, which always seemed too thick.Apple also said it had strengthened the display glass, making it four times less likely to break. Its difficult to test that scientifically, but I dropped the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro several times by accident on hard surfaces. They survived without any scuffs.Also new is a charging mechanism that Apple calls MagSafe. Its basically a new standard to support faster charging via magnetic induction. The new standard will open doors to other companies to make accessories that magnetically attach to iPhones, such as miniature wallets.I tested both the MagSafe charger and Apples MagSafe wallet. But I preferred charging with a normal wire because it was faster, as well as carrying my own wallet, because it can hold more cards.Theres a major downside to all of the new features: We have to pay a lot for these phones. Apple is also no longer including charging bricks or earphones with the new iPhones since so many people already own power bricks and fancy wireless earbuds. While that will lead to less waste, this shift and the price jump may annoy plenty of people.So Should I Buy?Its tough to recommend splurging on a fancy phone in a pandemic. But here are three quick questions to ask yourself about whether its time to upgrade:Can I still get software updates on my current phone?Is my device repairable for a reasonable cost?Am I happy with my phone?If you answered no to any of the above questions, you will probably be happy investing in this upgrade.But if you answered yes, wait it out. In a few years, the carriers will probably have a better handle on 5G. At that point, it may even be safe enough to leave the house again and reap the benefits of the mobile companions we carry everywhere.",5
"Nov. 14, 2016Zuby Malik is an unlikely candidate to violate international law. A 78-year-old mother of four with a crown of silver hair, she is a retired obstetrician-gynecologist with a penchant for order.But Ms. Malik is fighting for her life. After receiving a Stage 4 non-small-cell lung cancer diagnosis a year ago, she exhausted many of the treatments available to her and grappled with torturous side effects that left her itching and gasping for breath. During the summer, she decided to go to Cuba and bring back a cancer vaccine that is not approved in the United States. That she comes from a family steeped in medical training made the decision all the more difficult.At first, I was a little nervous, said Ms. Malik, sitting in her Northern California living room flanked by an oxygen tank and a table of medicines. But American treatments were not helping me, and I decided I should go to Cuba. What other choice did I have?Soon after she began the medication, she said, her breathing became easier and her energy returned. In her refrigerator was a box of blue- and orange-capped vials of the vaccine.Other cancer patients are following the same unlikely trail. Since beginning to normalize relations with the United States in 2014, Cuba has become a hot tourist draw with its unspoiled beaches and vibrant night life. But the country also has a robust biotechnology industry that has generated an innovative vaccine called Cimavax. It is part of a new chapter of cancer treatment known as immunotherapy, which prompts the bodys immune system to attack the disease.Cimavax is a therapeutic vaccine developed not to prevent cancer, but to halt its growth and keep it from recurring in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer. Developed in Cuba and available to patients there since 2011, it works by targeting a protein called epidermal growth factor, or E.G.F., that enables lung cancer cells to grow. The vaccine stimulates the bodys immune system to make antibodies that bind to E.G.F., preventing it from fueling the cancers growth. It is also available in Peru, Paraguay, Colombia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.Last month, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced that the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, a nonprofit cancer center designated by the National Cancer Institute in Buffalo, had received authorization from the Food and Drug Administration to conduct a clinical trial of Cimavax. It marks the first time since the Cuban revolution that Cuban and American institutions have been permitted to engage in such a joint venture, said Roswell Parks chief executive, Candace S. Johnson.The trial could take years, but American cancer patients are not waiting. Over the past couple of years, dozens have slipped into Havana and smuggled vials of the vaccine in refrigerated lunchboxes back to the United States, sometimes not even telling their doctors. Talk about Cimavax on cancer patient networks online has been escalating steadily as relations between the two countries have warmed and more patients are making preparations to go.Theres no doubt that without this medicine, I would be dead, said Mick Phillips, 69, of Appleton, Wis., who first went to Cuba in 2012 and has been returning annually ever since. When we were children, we were taught that Cubans didnt know what they were doing. Turns out they do.Despite experiences like Mr. Phillipss, trials in Cuba have shown only a modest benefit over all. In the most recent trial, patients receiving the vaccine after chemotherapy lived about three to five months longer than patients who did not receive it. The study, published earlier this year in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Cancer Research, also found that vaccinated patients with high concentrations of E.G.F. in their blood lived even longer.The United States embargo against Cuba prohibits the importation of most goods from Cuba, including medication, without a license. American citizens are now permitted to travel to Cuba if their purpose falls into one of a dozen categories approved by the Treasury Department, but seeking medical care is not one of them.ImageCredit...Mike Roemer for The New York TimesMost patients going to Cuba fly through a third country such as Canada or travel under a general education category called people to people. None have declared with customs officials the dozens of vials of Cimavax they bring back tucked in their backpacks or suitcases. Stephen Sapp, a public affairs officer for United States Customs and Border Protection, says there is no record of Cimavax being intercepted at the United States border. If it were, it is unclear what might happen.Under the F.D.A.s personal importation policy, some unapproved medications may be brought into the country if there is not an adequate alternative available in the United States, or if treatment began in a foreign country and the amount is limited to a three-month supply. In addition, the Treasury Department recently established a new general license enabling American citizens to import Cuban pharmaceuticals under certain circumstances. But in the case of Cimavax, the regulation has apparently never been put to the test.Ms. Maliks son, Nauman, carried 80 vials of the vaccine and a set of syringes in his backpack when he and his mother flew into Los Angeles from Cuba in June. Patients generally receive an initial round of four injections at La Pradera, an international health center that caters mostly to foreign medical tourists in Havana two to the arms and two to the buttocks and then continue to give themselves periodic injections at home for up to several months. At the airport, Mr. Malik wrote on his declaration form that he was carrying medication, but he said that authorities did not ask what it was.I was ready for the discussion, but it just never happened, he said.Cuban researchers began working on Cimavax in the 1990s, prompted in part by the high rate of lung cancer in the country. A noncontrolled study in 1995 produced the earliest published evidence of the feasibility of inducing an immune response against epidermal growth factor in patients with advanced tumors, according to a 2010 article published in Medicc Review, an international journal of Cuban medicine.Dr. Kelvin Lee, the chairman of immunology at Roswell Park, has been collaborating with scientists at Cubas Center of Molecular Immunology since 2011. He said he hoped the vaccine could be used on other head and neck cancers and ultimately to prevent cancer.Patients in Cuba began receiving the vaccine free in 2011, and it has been administered to more than 4,000 patients worldwide, according to Roswell Park. Lung cancer and immunotherapy researchers are intrigued by Roswell Parks proposed trial, which would combine the vaccine with a form of immunotherapy called a checkpoint inhibitor that keeps the cancer from turning off a patients immune system. The Roswell trial intends to use the drug Opdivo, one of four checkpoint inhibitors approved by the F.D.A.ImageCredit...Brendan Bannon for The New York TimesBut the scientists are also reserved in their appraisal of Cimavax, in part because the Cuban trials were done on a relatively small number of patients. There is concern that the vaccine has received disproportionate attention in the flush of warming relations between the two countries.The data is intriguing, but we need to do more definitive studies to evaluate the benefits, said Justin F. Gainor, a thoracic oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital who works on the design of clinical trials for novel therapeutics. Right now, the body of evidence does not support using it outside the clinical trial process.The Cuban health care system has long been recognized for providing high-quality health care. A 2015 report on the Cuban health system by the World Health Organization noted, In Cuba, products were developed to solve pressing health problems, unlike in other countries, where commercial interests prevailed.With Cimavax migrating into the United States, those commercial interests are already coming into play. In Cuba, a four-shot dose of Cimavax costs up to $100 to manufacture, Dr. Lee said. Mr. Phillips, of Appleton, Wis., estimates that he pays about $9,000 for his annual supply of Cimavax, or about $1,500 a dose, which a visiting nurse administers every two months. Although some patients say the price recently dropped to about $850 a dose, the total cost of the trip can easily run more than $15,000, including airfare, lodging at La Pradera for several nights, and several months worth of the vaccine.Mr. Phillips, a lifelong smoker who was given a lung cancer diagnosis in 2009, said it was worth every penny. After chemotherapy and radiation, his cancer returned in 2010.Since I have been taking Cimavax, it hasnt come back, said Mr. Phillips, who travels to Cuba via Toronto.How other patients are doing on Cimavax is difficult to gauge. Ms. Maliks oncologist declined to be interviewed, saying he did not know enough about the medication. Several patients said they had not told their doctors for fear that they would refuse to treat them further.Im afraid he wont treat me if I am being treated by a Cuban doctor, said a 57-year-old woman named Lily who started Cimavax in Cuba in June and asked not to be identified because she is afraid of consequences for not declaring it. I think hell be afraid of liability or malpractice issues if he treated me while I was taking something thats not F.D,A.-approved.In the five months since Ms. Malik began taking Cimavax, her experience has been mixed. Initially, the fluid in her lungs diminished significantly, giving her renewed energy and allowing her to get around without her walker. But recently, fluid has begun to build up in her right lung, and she has grown weak and short of breath. Her son says she is likely to switch to a new medication soon and stop taking Cimavax. aIts not panning out as wed hoped, he said. Its really like the Wild West trying to know what is best to do.Stories of patients returning from Cuba are met with keen interest on the online health care social network Inspire, which supports a lung cancer group of about 53,000 members. They share information about how to travel under the radar and which size of refrigerated lunchbox is best.We got a lot of inquiries, said Judy Gallant, an owner of P&G Travel, which has offices in Ontario and Havana, and is planning trips to Cuba for half a dozen American patients. We make it clear we are not medical people. We just help them connect with people who are.Some American patients have a new worry: that when Donald J. Trump, the president-elect, takes office, he might crack down on Cuba and make it more difficult for patients to travel there. But Mick Phillips does not seem worried.I think were going to be O.K., he said. Trump may do a lot of things, but I dont think hes into preventing people from being able to live.",2
"Apple could announce plans as soon as Monday to replace Intel processors in Macs with chips that it designed itself.Credit...Haruka Sakaguchi for The New York TimesPublished June 19, 2020Updated Dec. 1, 2020OAKLAND, Calif. Silicon Valley is bracing for a long-expected breakup of Apple and Intel, signaling both the end of one of the tech industrys most influential partnerships and Apples determination to take more control of how its products are built.Apple has been working for years on designing chips to replace the Intel microprocessors used in Mac computers, according to five people with knowledge of the effort, who werent authorized to speak about it. They say Apple could announce its plans as soon as a company conference for developers on Monday, with computers based on the new chips arriving next year.Apples move is an indication of the growing power of the biggest tech companies to expand their abilities and reduce their dependence on major partners that have provided them with services for years even as smaller competitors and the global economy struggle because of the coronavirus pandemic.Facebook, for example, is investing billions of dollars into one of Indonesias fastest-growing apps, a telecom giant in India and an undersea fiber-optic cable around Africa. Amazon has built out its own fleet of cargo planes and delivery trucks. And Google and Apple continue to buy upstarts to expand their empires.ImageCredit...Ritchie B. Tongo/EPA, via ShutterstockTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, the partner Apple uses to build similar components it designs for iPhones and iPads, is expected to make the Mac chips in factories in Asia an arrangement much like Apples use of Foxconn to assemble iPhones.Intel and Apple declined to comment. Bloomberg previously reported on Apples plans.Other big tech companies like Amazon and Google already design some of their own chips, both for performance and potential cost reasons. Some tasks, like artificial intelligence and the rendering of 3-D images, can be handled more efficiently on special-purpose circuitry rather than the general-purpose microprocessors that are Intels mainstay.Since 2005, Macs have used effectively the same Intel chips that most PCs do. Making its own processors would give Apple even more control over how Mac computers work. Apple has always designed the chips used in iPhones and iPads, adding features to customize designs licensed by Arm, a semiconductor firm owned by the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank. Apples forthcoming Mac chips are also expected to rely on Arm technology, improving compatibility with its mobile devices.Apple has created a large chip-design team, building on the 2008 purchase of a 150-employee start-up, PA Semi. A large number of them once worked at Intel, including Johny Srouji, who reports directly to Apples chief executive, Tim Cook.Apples move would be a symbolic blow to Intel, particularly when civilian and military officials are concerned over the weakening of American leadership in chip manufacturing, which they regard as crucial to the countrys ability to retain an edge over China. Legislation introduced in Congress last week, with rare bipartisan agreement, would funnel tens of billions of dollars to bolstering U.S. research and manufacturing in semiconductors.Intel has long been a U.S. standard-bearer in the semiconductor business, particularly in the complex manufacturing processes that turn silicon wafers into the chips that power computers, smartphones, cars and consumer devices.The moves financial impact on Intel would be muted, at least in the short term. Intel sells Apple about $3.4 billion in chips for Macs each year, according to C.J. Muse, an Evercore analyst. That is less than 5 percent of Intels annual sales, and Mr. Muse forecast that the blow would be closer to half that since Apple might change the chips on only some Mac models. Apple sells nearly 20 million Macs a year.Thats not chicken feed, but its compared to total PCs sold of about 260 million a year, said Tim Bajarin, an analyst who has tracked Apple for nearly 40 years. Intel supplies the chips for just about every PC.But the long-term effects could still be serious for Intel. The chipmakers lofty profit margins have long been linked to its track record of delivering the most powerful computing engines on the market, particularly for laptops and computer servers. But Intel has never done well selling chips for newer tech products like smartphones and tablets.Apples last chip transition for Macs, in 2005, was viewed as a major step in the long-term comeback orchestrated by Steve Jobs, one of the companys founders, as well as a big victory for Intel. Macs had long relied on a design, called PowerPC, that was a collaboration among Apple, Motorola and IBM. But Mr. Jobs bet that Intel could provide much faster performance.That selling point has been undermined by troubling news from Intels huge factories. Much of the companys success in computers stems from its history of packing more transistors on each square of silicon, which allows the chips to keep carrying out more computing tasks at a lower cost.But Intel has stumbled badly in that industrywide race to miniaturize. Intels latest process for making chips, once expected as early as 2015, did not enter high-volume production until 2019. The delay aided Taiwan Semiconductor and Samsung Electronics, which produce chips designed by multiple companies. The competitors exploited Intels lag to take a technology lead.Intel has fallen behind by 12 months, maybe 18 months, said Handel Jones, chief executive of International Business Strategies, which offers consulting services to the chip industry.Apple was troubled by the production stumble, according to three people familiar with the situation, who were not authorized to speak about confidential dealings between the companies. Intel also ran into stronger-than-expected demand for other types of chips, causing production shortages that crimped sales for some PC makers last year. The combination further tarnished Intels image as a reliable producer.ImageCredit...Cayce Clifford for The New York TimesRobert Swan, Intels chief executive, has vowed to make the changes necessary to regain technology leadership and prevent product shortages. But if Apple succeeds in offering Macs with its own chips that seem noticeably superior to Intels, analysts and industry executives said, other PC makers might shift more models to chips from rivals like Advanced Micro Devices or even start designing their own chips, though that would take years.I think it could inspire other companies to look at non-Intel processors, said Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. Reputationally, this is not a good thing for Intel.Microsoft, a longtime Intel partner, already sells some laptop computers with Arm-based chips from Qualcomm, though analysts said their performance didnt match that of models powered by Intel technology. If that situation changes, they add, Apple and Intel could become outright rivals, using their hefty marketing might to counter each others technical claims.Another trend making it easier for Apple to consider the shift is the increasing use of web-based software, rather than software running on peoples PCs and tailored for their hardware.Still, Macs in particular are a mainstay of certain creative professions, such as animation and film editing, and developers of those software applications will have to modify Mac programs to take advantage of Apples new chips. That could lead to a delay in some software working for the new Macs when they are released, said Jeff Johnson, a Mac developer in Madison, Wis.The professional software is the hardest and slowest software to make big changes to, so those are the types that you may not see ready on Day 1, he said. The new Macs may have some issues out of the gate.",5
"Credit...Rex Features, via Associated PressMarch 4, 2017YORK, England Having disclosed his sin of masturbation, Mark Stibbe, age 17, was ordered to strip naked and lean over a wooden chair in the garden shed of a lavish Hampshire mansion on the southern coast of England.Then came the first blow from a cane, its impact so ferocious that it sent the boy into a state of paralysis that lasted through at least 30 more strokes that left him collapsed on the floor, blood oozing down his legs.I remember being so appalled by how vicious the first lash was that I couldnt scream, Mr. Stibbe, now 56 and an acclaimed Christian author, recalled on a recent afternoon in his Yorkshire home. Youre in this tiny shed full of canes with this man. I felt utterly powerless.Until that day in the late 1970s, the man he says beat him, John Smyth, was known to Mr. Stibbe and his friends as a charismatic lawyer and influential evangelical Christian leader who regularly attended the Christian forum of their nearby boarding school, Winchester College, the oldest in Britain. Now, Mr. Smyth, 75 and keeping a low profile in South Africa, stands at the center of a widening scandal of sadistic abuse of dozens of boys over three decades that has ensnared the leader of the Anglican Church, the Most Rev. Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury, though only peripherally.The accusations against Mr. Smyth, which were first reported in February as part of a Channel 4 news investigation, are the latest in a string of large-scale child abuse and sex scandals that have embroiled British institutions in recent months, exposing a long history of denial and cover-ups.The Hampshire police have begun an investigation into Mr. Smyths conduct, and more victims are speaking out in the hope that he will come forth in South Africa and face justice. The most recent account was from the bishop of Guildford, Andrew Watson, who said in a statement that he, too, had received a beating in the infamous garden shed that was violent, excruciating and shocking.Mr. Stibbe said, The sin that seemed to preoccupy him more than anything was masturbation, and he managed to persuade me that I needed to purge my body of that sin.ImageCredit...Channel 4 NewsMr. Smyth would explain to the boys why they needed to be punished so severely. He quoted from the Bible and told me I had to bleed for Jesus, said another victim, who attempted suicide on his 21st birthday, after Mr. Smyth promised him a special kind of beating for the occasion.When he was done, he would lean in towards me and put his face on my neck telling me how proud he was of me, said the man, who asked that his name not be used because of the deeply personal nature of his remarks.The scale and severity of the abuses Mr. Smyth is accused of first surfaced in 1982, after the suicide attempt, which prompted an internal investigation by the Iwerne Trust, a Christian charity headed by Mr. Smyth that ran summer camps. He is said to have used his position at camps to win the trust of the boys he was to abuse.Five of the 13 victims who came forward in 1982 told investigators for the trust that they had received 12 beatings and about 650 strokes. The other eight said they had each been hit about 14,000 times over a period of years.Some of the victims received up to 100 strokes at a time for masturbating, having indecent thoughts or looking at pornography beatings that caused some to faint or bleed for up to three weeks, the trust found.The trusts report concluded that all the cases were technically criminal offenses, and yet none were reported to the police. Instead, Mr. Smyth was removed from the trust in 1984 and sent to Zimbabwe, where he set up similar Christian summer camps for privately educated boys, the South African news media have reported.In 1997, Zimbabwes prosecuting attorney arrested Mr. Smyth on a charge of culpable homicide in the death of Guide Nyachuru, a 16-year-old boy who was found dead at the bottom of the swimming pool of one of Mr. Smyths camps in Zimbabwe. Mr. Smyth denied any involvement in the drowning, calling it a tragic accident, and a year later all charges against him were dropped.ImageCredit...Jim Pascoe/Diocese of GuildfordIn court documents in the case, he was accused of brutally beating five other boys at the camps there.He would strip us naked and hit us with wooden bats to purge us of sin, said one of the victims in Zimbabwe, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal by Mr. Smyth.In 2002, Mr. Smyth moved to South Africa, where new accusations of abuse have surfaced in news outlets in recent weeks. Last month, he was removed from the Church-on-Main in Cape Town, where there were claims of inappropriate behavior but not proof of criminal acts, the church said in a statement.In Britain, the claims against Mr. Smyth have struck at the heart of the Church of England after Archbishop Welby acknowledged that he had worked at the elite Christian holiday camps run by the Iwerne Trust where Mr. Smyth groomed the boys.The archbishop promptly issued an unreserved and unequivocal apology on behalf of the church, saying it should have done more to investigate the accusations that he said he had not been aware of until 2013.But several of the victims who spoke to The New York Times have accused members of the church and boarding school of covering up the scandal. They said the institutions had wanted to protect their reputation and some of their senior members, who had supported some of Mr. Smyths theological interpretations that the victims say led to the practice of violent atonement.The victims, now mostly in their 50s, described a pattern in which Mr. Smyth drew them into what seemed at first to be a warm and welcoming inner circle.ImageCredit...Neil P. Mockford/Getty ImagesThey said he would select a small group of the brightest and handsomest teenage boys to join him at his nearby mansion for a traditional Sunday roast beef dinner, complete with roast potatoes, peas and gravy.When the meal was over, he allowed them to play games in his garden and swim in his private pool, creating a family environment that had been absent from the boys lives since they had been sent away to boarding school at the age of 7 or 8. He spent the summers befriending them in elite Christian camps, training them in his ultraliteralistic interpretation of the Bible and guiding them toward careers in the military and the church.But once he had won their trust and established a bond that many of them said had been akin to a father-and-son relationship, the nature of the meetings took a sinister turn. The victims said they had fallen so deeply under Mr. Smyths thrall that they hadnt even dared to talk to one another about the horrors they had been subjected to in the shed.Many of them felt deep shame and said they had been resigned to the culture of abuse, which in their minds was a fact of life in the British education system at the time.None of the victims said they had been sexually assaulted, but one of them said Mr. Smyth had occasionally stripped naked and groaned in spiritual ecstasy during the lashings.The Smyth case has led other victims of vicious boarding school thrashings to reveal the abuse they endured.The churchs reaction has been to paint Smyth like a one-off single incident, but its not, said Giles Fraser, a priest and journalist, who recently wrote a column about the beatings he endured at boarding school.Its about a mind-set that allows this to happen. This sort of muscular Christianity enforced by theology, education and the cane that dominated the public education system and produced your caricature Englishman strong, emotionally incapable in some ways, reserved and superior, he added.I think the idea that this is just about Smyth is in itself a cover-up, Mr. Fraser said, and its because the church is desperate for people not to say how all of this grows out of theology.",6
"Credit...Alpana Aras-King for The New York TimesJune 1, 2018Sign up for California Today for the latest news on the June 5 primary and more here.TURLOCK, Calif. In all of his campaigns for the House, Representative Jeff Denham has never seen anything quite like the rolling circus that trails him through his sprawling district in Californias Central Valley the Dump Denham signs, the papier-mch effigies, the shouting.He says it does not faze him, but there is nothing like the political gallows to focus the mind of an endangered politician, and Mr. Denham, a Republican, is responding in a way that touches almost everybody here in California farm country: He is leading the charge on Capitol Hill to pressure Speaker Paul D. Ryan to hold a vote on legislation to protect the young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers.Nearly two dozen other House Republicans about half of them politically vulnerable and many in districts with large Hispanic populations have followed suit, affixing their signatures to a petition that is just a few votes short of forcing Mr. Ryan to act. If it works, it will push the party into a divisive, and politically risky, election year debate on immigration.A vote this summer to help undocumented immigrants could demoralize President Trumps most ardent supporters and depress Republican turnout in November. A vote to toughen immigration rules and harm the young Dreamers would further energize Democratic voters. To avoid such a showdown, the speaker has scheduled a two-hour meeting on immigration with his rank and file when lawmakers return to Washington next week.There have been some critics who say that this could cost us our majority, said Mr. Denham, who is facing a crowded field of five Democrats and one other Republican in Tuesdays unusual two party primary election here. My concern is if we do nothing, it could cost us our majority. So yes, its risky. But its the right thing to do.From Miami to the Rocky Mountain West to Texas and to California, the petitions signatories form a renegade band that is not only making life difficult for Mr. Ryan but also standing up to the conservative Freedom Caucus, which so often dictates policy in the House. Of the 23 Republicans on the petition, 11 are in districts that are clearly in play. Another five have announced their retirements or have already left the House.The Freedom Caucus has been bullying Ryan from Day 1, particularly on immigration, said Frank Sharry, the founder and executive director of Americas Voice, an immigrants rights group. And yet the Republican majority depends on districts like Denhams.ImageCredit...Alpana Aras-King for The New York TimesHere in Californias 10th Congressional District, a rich agricultural region where the roads are lined with dairy farms and orderly rows of almond trees, it is difficult to overestimate the effect that immigration policy has on daily life. The voices of Mr. Denhams constituents make that much clear.Christine Hackler, 70, an almond farmer and registered Democrat who voted for Donald J. Trump in 2016, complained that laborers were not showing up for work, for fear that immigration authorities will conduct a sweep and deport them. Like many agricultural employers here, she is up in arms over Congresss failure to create a new guest worker program for laborers and has told Mr. Denham so. She has already cast an early ballot for Mr. Denham in Tuesdays primary: Hes not perfect, but hes trying.Uriel Vallejo, 17, a high school senior here in Turlock, said he decided to go to college close to home, opting against a school in San Diego because it would be too risky for his undocumented parents to visit him so close to the border. He spends his afternoons canvassing for one of Mr. Denhams Democratic opponents, Virginia Madueo, and sees Mr. Denhams immigration push as an act for him to get re-elected.Ann Strahm, 50, a sociology professor at California State University, Stanislaus, said she has students who have asked, Would you hide me? if immigration authorities turned up at their homes.As a member of Be the Change Turlock, a new grass-roots group of self-described pissed-off middle-aged ladies who are into arts and crafts, Ms. Strahm is among those who have been dogging Mr. Denham with papier-mch effigies and on social media, with pictures of milk cartons featuring the congressman and the word missing in bold capital letters.Yet though she is working hard to unseat Mr. Denham in large part because of his vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act she sounds almost sympathetic when she talks about his immigration stance, especially toward young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.His outward expressions toward people who are undocumented is caring, she said. I dont give him much, but I can give him that.Mr. Denham, 50, an Air Force veteran who owns a plastics company and a small almond farm, said the status of Dreamers is personal for me. His father-in-law, a onetime farmworker from Mexico, came to the United States on a now-defunct guest worker program and ultimately became a citizen as a result of a 1986 immigration law that conservatives still deride as amnesty. Mr. Denham says he helped with the paperwork.Latinos account for nearly 45 percent of the population here in the 10th District, though just 26 percent of the electorate. The district runs from the San Francisco exurb of Tracy to the heart of the San Joaquin Valley. Mr. Denham won the district in 2016 by three percentage points as did Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee.Here are the pieces you need to read to understand California, and what may happen there on Tuesday. What is a jungle primary and how does it work? Republicans are struggling to field candidates on the ballot in November. Meanwhile, Democrats, too, are wary of a possible disaster. Everything you need to know about the top races in the state.Around the country, the electoral math for those Republicans who have signed the petition is much the same and in some cases worse.In South Florida, Representative Carlos Curbelo, who is leading the petition drive along with Mr. Denham, is seeking a third term in a district that Mrs. Clinton won by 16 points, four points more than he did. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates his race a tossup, even though his likely Democratic challenger, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, is a virtual unknown. (Mr. Denhams race is rated as a tossup too.)In Colorado, Representative Mike Coffman, a five-term incumbent in yet another tossup race, started studying Spanish in 2013 after his districts lines were redrawn to put him in a district where one in five residents is Latino. Mrs. Clinton won there in 2016 by nine points; Mr. Coffman won by eight.In Texas, Representative Will Hurd, who touts his rsum as a former C.I.A. agent and whose sprawling district includes roughly 800 miles of the United States southern border is facing a tough challenge from Gina Ortiz Jones, a Democrat and a former Air Force Intelligence officer and Iraq war veteran. He won his district by one point in 2016; Mrs. Clinton carried it by three.ImageCredit...Eric Gay/Associated PressPeople every election say I have a difficult election, Mr. Hurd said in an interview, dismissing the notion that politics is at work. This is the right thing to do.Along with a Democrat, Representative Pete Aguilar of California, Mr. Hurd has sponsored legislation that would offer the Dreamers a path to citizenship while also beefing up border security. The bill, which has Mr. Denhams backing, is one of four measures including a hard-line measure offered by the Freedom Caucus that would be taken up by the House if the petition is successful.While many Republicans are railing against so-called sanctuary cities, Mr. Denham and the others are walking a fine line, trying to appease conservatives while putting just enough distance between themselves and the president to attract support from independents and crossover Democrats.Mr. Denham considers himself fairly conservative he also supports building the wall that Mr. Trump has proposed at the southern border with Mexico and votes with the president 97 percent of the time, according to the FiveThirtyEight website. In Washington, he is active in the Republican Main Street Partnership, a coalition of business-minded Republicans whose president, Sarah Chamberlain, says a Denham loss would be an awful harbinger for the party.If Denham loses, Nancy Pelosi is speaker, she said, referring to the House Democratic leader.As they are around the country, Democrats here are energized. Local chapters of anti-Trump groups like Indivisible and Swing Left have sprung up, and the women of Be the Change Turlock meet every Monday night to plot strategy. They and other critics see Mr. Denhams immigration push as too little, too late, arguing that if he really wanted to help Dreamers, he would have pushed his petition a long time ago.Hes grandstanding, said Cathy Doo, 63, a retired electric and gas company employee who complains that Mr. Denham votes Republican, straight down the line.Meantime, the demonstrations are continuing; last week, Democrats staged a Dump Denham rally at a busy street corner, and when Mr. Denham spoke at a Memorial Day ceremony, a group of protesters trying to behave modestly so as not to offend veterans turned their backs.Mr. Denham, who says the protests are very manufactured and go away as soon as the press leaves, insists he is not worried. To those who accuse him of being a clone of Mr. Trump, he has a ready reply: It seems to me that Im standing up to my own party.",3
"Across the developing world, hundreds of millions of people are unable to get a vaccine to protect themselves from the ravages of Covid-19, and millions of them have already become infected and died. Depending on wealthy nations to donate billions of doses is not working, public health experts say. The solution, many now believe, is for the countries to do something that the big American mRNA vaccine makers say is not feasible: Manufacture the gold-standard mRNA shots themselves. Workers inspecting and packing vials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine at a Serum Institute of India site in Pune, India.Karan Deep Singh/The New York Times Despite mounting pressure, the chief executives of Moderna and Pfizer have declined to license their mRNA technology in developing countries, arguing it makes no sense to do so. They say that the process is too complex, that it would be too time- and labor- intensive to establish facilities that could do it, and that they cannot spare the staff because of the urgent need to maximize production at their own network of facilities. You cannot go hire people who know how to make mRNA: Those people dont exist, the chief executive of Moderna, Stphane Bancel, told analysts. But public health experts in both rich and poor countries argue that expanding production to the regions most in need is not only possible, it is essential for safeguarding the world against dangerous variants of the virus and ending the pandemic. Setting up mRNA manufacturing operations in other countries should start immediately, said Tom Frieden, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, adding: They are our insurance policy against variants and production failure and absolutely can be produced in a variety of settings. The vaccine needs of poorer countries were supposed to be met through Covax, a multinational body meant to facilitate global vaccine distribution but donations have been slow and limited. Wealthier countries have locked up supply. Just 4 percent of people in low-income countries are fully vaccinated. Experts in both the development and production of vaccines say the mRNA vaccines involve fewer steps, fewer ingredients and less physical capacity than traditional vaccines. Companies in Africa, South America and parts of Asia already have much of what they would need to make them, they say; the technology specific to the mRNA production process can be delivered as a ready-to-use modular kit. Most estimates put the cost of setting up production at $100 million to $200 million. A few large pharmaceutical producers in developing countries have these funds at hand; others would need loans or investors. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and the International Finance Corporation both have billions of dollars in funding available for this kind of project, as low-interest loans or a share of equity. The New York Times interviewed dozens of executives and scientists at vaccine, drug and biotechnology companies across the developing world and from those conversations, found 10 strong candidates to produce mRNA Covid vaccines in six countries on three continents. The key criteria include existing facilities, human capital, the regulatory system for medicines and the political and economic climate. Which Companies Could Produce mRNA Vaccines? The Times assessed leading companies based on suitable production facilities and the availability of skilled workers, the countrys history of drug regulation and certification for drug export, and other political and economic factors that affect research and trade. By The New York Times. Ratings are based on interviews with experts. The candidates include companies that are already making other Covid vaccines, such as the Serum Institute of India, the worlds largest vaccine maker; public institutions that are already testing their own mRNA vaccines for the coronavirus; and firms tapped by the World Health Organization to be regional centers for mRNA development. Two companies in Asia are already making their own mRNA vaccines against Covid. Gennova Biopharmaceuticals in Pune, India, has one in Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials. Gennova says that unlike the mRNA shots currently in use, its vaccine can be stored at the temperature of a standard medical refrigerator. Gennovas manufacturing site in Pune, India.Karan Deep Singh/The New York Times Gennova is headed by Sanjay Singh, a biochemist who worked on malaria vaccines at the National Institutes of Health in the United States for six years before returning to India. The company is negotiating with contract manufacturers to make its vaccine while also working to expand its existing production capacity from 100 million to one billion doses a year, and it could be in production with its Covid shot within months, Dr. Singh said. Researcher Debasmita Panda at one of Gennovas mRNA labs in Pune.Karan Deep Singh/The New York Times BioNet-Asia, a Thai drug maker, is producing test batches of a Covid mRNA vaccine developed at Chula Vaccine Research Center in Bangkok that is in Phase 2 trials. If results continue to be positive, the vaccine could go to Thailands drug regulator by March, and BioNet would be ready for commercial production on approval, said Kiat Ruxrungtham, who heads the research team making the ChulaCov19 vaccine. BioNet employees inspecting and testing a pre-filled syringe packing machine at a factory in Ayutthaya, Thailand.Adam Dean for The New York Times Having this capability and capacity of this technology platform within the country the goal is when you have a new variant spreading or you have the next pandemic, you can start things very quickly instead of waiting to buy vaccines like we have been doing so far, Dr. Ruxrungtham said. The BioNet vaccine factory in Ayutthaya, Thailand.Adam Dean for The New York Times Other drug companies would like to license one of the existing mRNA vaccines pay a fee to receive the formulation and instructions, then share a royalty on each dose they sell and start making it as quickly as possible. Stephen Saad, chief executive of Aspen Pharmacare in Durban, South Africa, said that with an investment he estimated at $100 million, his firm could be producing a billion doses of mRNA vaccine within a year more than enough to supply all of Africa, across which Aspen already has a distribution network. Bio-Manguinhos, the immunobiology arm of a venerated Brazilian public health research organization, will soon start clinical trials of an RNA-based Covid vaccine, said Sotiris Missailidis, deputy director of technology development for the research center. Maria Magdalena Arrellaga for The New York Times This year, Bio-Manguinhos nearly doubled its production capacity to 215 million doses of other vaccines, including AstraZenecas Covid shot, which it produces under contract. Brazil has a medical regulatory agency that maintains the same standards as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency. A laboratory at Bio-Manguinhos in Rio de Janeiro.Maria Magdalena Arrellaga for The New York Times A range of factors has restricted access to vaccines in developing countries, including supply chain and shipping bottlenecks, and politics: the Serum Institute was supposed to supply Covax, but Indias government banned exports at the height of that countrys second wave. Aspen in South Africa won a contract to bottle the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but it had to export many of the shots right back to Europe and to Canada until activists created a public outcry. What weve learned through this pandemic is that it really does matter where the doses are coming off the production line, said Andrea Taylor, who tracks vaccine production for the Duke Global Health Innovation Center. Making mRNA vaccine shots differs in significant ways from traditional vaccine production. It is an enzymatic process, not a biological one that involves live cells, and in many ways is closer to the work of making drugs, said Zoltan Kis, a chemical engineer who analyzed mRNA production capacity for the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub at Imperial College in London. In fact, when BioNTech was ready to start production of its vaccine, it went not to a vaccine maker but to a cancer drug plant in Germany. Modernas contract manufacturer in Switzerland employed former food scientists from Nestle, enlisted to transfer their chemistry skills. Its a game changer because you dont have to deal with the same stakeholders anymore, said Alain Alsalhani, a vaccines expert with Doctors Without Borders access-to-medicines campaign. Modernas contract manufacturers use a modular production kit that can make 100 million doses some in the business compare the concept to an Ikea kitchen. The Covid mRNA vaccines have already earned more in a single year than any previous product in pharmaceutical history and are on track to bring in more than $53 billion in revenue this year alone. The longer Pfizer and Moderna have a proprietary lock on the technology to make them, the greater the edge they will have on any future vaccine for cancer or other diseases, said Zain Rizvi, an expert on access to medicines with the advocacy organization Public Citizen. When a company has a functioning production line, it is a straightforward process to swap the mRNA content and make vaccines for a different pathogen, such as malaria or H.I.V. This argument over manufacturing Covid mRNA vaccines echoes one that was made two decades ago about treatments for H.I.V. Hundreds of thousands of people died of AIDS in Africa long after antiretroviral drugs were widely available in wealthy nations, because the patented medications were being sold at a price far too high for governments in the worst-affected countries to purchase. Treatment access advocates staged a global campaign demanding that the drug makers license low-cost producers or release the rights to their intellectual property to allow someone to fill the gap. Employees entering the Serum Institute of India campus in Pune.Karan Deep Singh/The New York Times Although major Western pharmaceutical companies insisted there was no way to make the drugs more cheaply, Indian, Brazilian, Thai and South African drug makers said they could do it. Indian generic companies reverse-engineered many of the formulas, and today, the bulk of the worlds AIDS drugs are made in these countries. Now, the W.H.O. has taken on a similar challenge. Because efforts to win licensing deals or other cooperation from Pfizer and Moderna have been unsuccessful to date, the organization is backing an effort to reverse-engineer Modernas vaccine at a technology transfer hub in South Africa, said Martin Friede, who runs the Initiative for Vaccine Research at the W.H.O. The biotechnology company Afrigen Biologics will make the mRNA and the Biovac Institute will manufacture the vaccines. Konanani Tshikalange, a biotech intern, at work at Afrigen in Cape Town, South Africa.Sydelle Willow Smith for The New York Times Patrick Tippoo, head scientist at Biovac, which has a contract to bottle the Pfizer Covid vaccine, said the institute would prefer to own the technology to make an mRNA vaccine. But the fastest route to production would be a partnership with the maker of one of the existing mRNA vaccines. If Biovac had access to the recipe and instruction from people who have made the vaccine, and were to purchase modular production suites, the company could make the vaccines in 12 to 18 months, he said. Peter Booysen checking a fermenter at the Biovac Institute in Cape Town, South Africa.Sydelle Willow Smith for The New York Times Instead of sharing its recipe, Moderna announced earlier this month that it would spend up to $500 million to build its own vaccine plant in Africa. (The company did not specify which of the 54 countries it planned to build in or how long it would take.) And BioNTech, the inventor of Pfizers mRNA process, has announced plans to build plants in Africa in the next four years. The Western pharmaceutical industry, and some supply chain and health experts, says the fastest route to closing the Covid vaccine gap is to focus on a more equitable distribution of vaccines made by the existing players. No enforced technology transfer would do more to address equity than whats already lined up, said Thomas Cueni, director of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, an industry lobby group in Geneva. Biovac in Cape Town is a part of the W.H.O. project to reverse-engineer an mRNA Covid vaccine.Sydelle Willow Smith for The New York Times Intent on spreading production capacity across the developing world, the W.H.O. is also working on a second track that will seek partnerships with institutions such as Dr. Ruxrungthams research center in Bangkok, with their own mRNA vaccines. These vaccines would potentially be cheaper to produce and, critically, could be heat stable not requiring ultra cold storage and thus far more appropriate for use in low resource settings, Dr. Friede said. Some of the efforts are producing innovations that could benefit their regions far beyond the current pandemic. Gennova in India has worked with a Seattle startup called HDT Bio to develop a new method to deliver mRNA with a lipid nanoparticle, one that does not require extreme cold storage. We wanted to solve the problem of the scalability issue, and the temperature issue, Dr. Singh, the chief executive of Gennova, said. If we can solve these problems, we are building a solution not just for India but also a global solution. Gennova received seed funding from the government of India, and it plans to use internal resources, and a potential partnership it is negotiating with a large multilateral agency, to take its vaccine forward, Dr. Singh said. While Gennova has the technology, other producers such as the Brazilian and Argentine vaccine makers would need infrastructure such as the kits Moderna used to set up production with its contractor in Switzerland. For the producers not yet working with mRNA, the fastest way to start making Covid shots would be a partnership with Pfizer or Moderna, but the technology transfer process would involve hundreds of steps, said Prashant Yadav, a supply chain expert with the Center for Global Development. Can you do it for mRNA just by sending the transfer document blueprints and having a few Zoom calls, or a team to visit for a few days? In most cases, probably not, he said. An experienced team that stayed onsite for a period of time would be crucial. Dr. Yadav estimated it would take one of the producers in South Africa or Brazil up to 18 months to have an mRNA vaccine ready to go in arms, with a recipe-share. There would also need to be a parallel process of boosting the capacity of national regulatory agencies which will be critical to maintaining quality. Dr. Kis said that any manufacturer that had a site at the standard set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration-governed system of best practice for pharmaceutical manufacturing could switch to mRNA production in six months, using the pop-up production kits. We will build facilities in these regions to enable them to respond to this current pandemic or maybe the pandemic will be over but this time the world has seen what the cost of not being prepared is, so hopefully this time weve got the political will, Dr. Friede of the W.H.O. said. Richer countries are going to have to put their hands in their pockets and contribute to the construction and maintenance of these facilities. Because in a pandemic, youre not safe until your neighbor is safe. Muktita Suhartono and Richard C. Paddock in Bangkok and Karan Deep Singh in Pune contributed reporting.",7
"Credit...BBCMarch 13, 2017Professor Robert E. Kelly, a political-science professor at Pusan National University in South Korea, sat down on Friday in what appeared to be his home office for a BBC World interview via Skype on a serious subject: the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.Then his children burst in.Soon after the segment began, video footage shows, a toddler casually strolled into his office, punching the air with her elbows. She was soon followed by a baby in a walker. Then his wife slid frantically into the room, grabbed the two kids and herded them out as Professor Kelly remained mostly composed.Many readers said they could relate to the slapstick interruption of Professor Kellys serious moment, sharing stories of disruptions not only from kids, but pets and naked spouses, too.Here is a selection of tales received on the website and Facebook page of The New York Times. Comments have been edited for length and clarity.My Child Woke UpI was on a long conference call with a colleague and some clients, calling in from home as I had a sick child sleeping in the next room. As a subject matter expert, I only had about five minutes of the call in which I actually had to speak, and everything seemed to be going along fine, until my child suddenly woke up, came looking for me to tell me that he felt sick and proceeded to vomit all over the stairs. Which coincided with my colleague asking me to provide the crucial information the client needed from my area of expertise.I took the phone off of mute and calmly said, Im sorry, my child has just thrown up on the stairs; can I have five minutes? Client was very gracious, got my kid cleaned up and tucked back in bed then chimed back in acting every bit the total professional. DMC, SeattleShoved the Pacifier in His MouthAs a playwright with a new production coming up, I was doing a telephone interview on live radio on the home phone. I thought my baby Sam was asleep in his crib when his deafening cries started. As the interviewer began his next question, I dropped the phone receiver, ran into Sams room, shoved the pacifier in his mouth, ran back to the phone and started answering a question I hadnt heard, trying to use impressive sounding abstract theater jargon that might be applicable. I loved this video, and it made me and thousands of other worker parents feel less alone! JoannaI Looked Up to See My 1-Year-Old Rolling Down the StairsOnce upon a time I was presenting our monthly numbers to the sales team when I heard a loud bang over and over. I looked up to see my 1-year-old rolling down the stairs with my wife chasing after her. She picked her up and raced back up the stairs. I continued with my presentation and never heard a cry. She logrolled and didnt hurt herself at all, thankfully! Joe Grammatico, via FacebookThe Candidate Had Locked His Children OutI am glad professor Kelly was not applying for a job. I was once a member of a panel hiring a school director. We were interviewing a candidate via Skype, and in the middle of it we could all hear a door being pounded. It turned out the candidate had locked his children out of his apartment in an attempt to have a quiet environment for his interview: The kids just couldnt take it, and started banging the door. It was not a determinant factor in the hiring, but it did cause an impression, and I am afraid it was not positive. RoseMarieDC, Washington, D.C.Daddy, Whatcha Doing?This happens to me sometimes when I have to take a call and Im working from home. My office door opens and I hear, Daddy, whatcha doing? Any shushing just prompts him to ask louder. I either put the phone on mute or ask if I can call the person later. Worse is when my two kids get into a screaming match. Dhananjay Deshpande, via FacebookThe Interviewers Husband Walked Into the Frame Completely NudeI once had a Skype interview and, in the middle of the interview, the interviewers husband walked into the frame completely nude. I tried my best to keep a straight face while he figured out that I could see him. Im not certain she knew I had just seen her husband, but we both pretended nothing happened and faked our way through the rest of the interview.Needless to say, I did not get that job. Tom, ChicagoI HAVE LICEMy mom likes to tell a story of taking me to work with her when I was little. I couldnt go to school, but she had a deadline that couldnt wait. She set me up in a conference room and told me to read and color quietly until she was done. Angry at being shut up all by myself, I made a sign saying, I HAVE LICE and taped it to the window of the conference room for all her co-workers to see. Kids are unpredictable. Emily, Minneapolis He Began Rolling His Toy Trucks Over My ToesWhen I was doing an important telephone interview at home for my newspaper, my youngest son decided I wasnt paying enough attention to him, and after trying to get my attention and failing to do so, he began rolling his toy trucks over my toes. I can fully relate to this situation. I think its hilarious. Its what comes with having kids. Anne Amato, via FacebookMommy, Come Wipe Me!Oh, this brings back memories. My favorite was when I was on a call with the executive team of the Fortune 500 health insurance company I worked for discussing health care reform when one of my children yelled from the bathroom, very loudly, Mommy, come wipe me! Ann Kuhns, SacramentoMy Toddler Decided to Take His Clothes OffI dont work from home unless Im on call. I once took a phone call and stepped outside to get some quiet. My toddler decided to take his clothes off and run around the front yard and then start down the street. So I chased a naked child for a few minutes before negotiating with him to put clothes on. I did a pretty good job of keeping the phone muted when I didnt need to talk. Except for one time when I said: O.K. fine, you can stay out here with me, but you have to put clothes on. At least shorts. Gretal Kinney, via FacebookThe Cats Show No RespectI am on the phone all morning while working from home. My talking puts my two dogs fast asleep, and other than the occasional snoring, they are quiet. The cats, however, show no respect. There is a piano just outside my work area, and during a call when I was training a group, the cat decided to jump up on the keyboard and slowly walk on the keys, playing his own tune. Luckily, everyone on the call enjoyed the show and we continued on after completion of the interlude. Rigaudon, Connecticut",6
"Credit...Erin Schaff for The New York TimesJune 7, 2018WASHINGTON President Trump hired Rudolph W. Giuliani to speak for him. But no less than Mr. Trumps wife and his chief diplomat spent Thursday explaining that Mr. Giuliani does not always know what he is talking about.Melania Trump, the first lady, let it be known that Mr. Giuliani has no idea how she feels about Stephanie Clifford, the pornographic film actress who goes by the name Stormy Daniels and says she had a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump, while Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, made clear that Mr. Giuliani has nothing to do with North Korea policy. Their pushback came in response to the latest in a series of seemingly off-script moments by Mr. Giuliani, the former New York mayor who has joined the legal team representing Mr. Trump in the special counsels investigations into his campaign and associates.Mr. Giuliani has been something of a loose cannon, making public comments that surprised other advisers, were later contradicted or touched on matters beyond his ostensible mandate. At a conference in Israel this week, Mr. Giuliani said Mrs. Trump accepted her husbands denial that he had any sexual liaisons with Ms. Clifford. She believes her husband and she knows its untrue, Mr. Giuliani said.That drew a sharp retort from the first ladys office. I dont believe Mrs. Trump has ever discussed her thoughts on anything with Mr. Giuliani, the first ladys spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said in an email to The New York Times.The unusually pointed response from a first lady who rarely engages in conflicts the way her husband does may have spoken to a sensitivity that goes beyond Mr. Giuliani. Even as she rejected Mr. Giuliani as a spokesman for her feelings, Mrs. Trump did nothing to affirm that she did accept her husbands explanation of what happened with Ms. Clifford.VideotranscripttranscriptHow Rudy Giuliani Is Going Off-ScriptRudolph Giuliani President Trumps lawyer and a former mayor of New York spoke on a variety of topics, like the Mueller investigation and Stormy Daniels, while in Israel. He also danced at a restaurant.Rudy Giuliani is technically off the clock, and physically across the globe. But Americas mayor is very much in the limelight. What is going on with Rudy Giuliani? Rudy Giuliani is being widely criticized today for comments he made in Israel. Going rogue once again. Rudy Giuliani diverted from the official lines. And you have to wonder: Why? During a trip to Israel for a private speaking engagement, Giuliani, who is now one of Trumps private lawyers, chose to weigh in on an array of hot-button issues. First, there was his explosive account of how the North Korean leader apparently demeaned himself to get President Trump to reschedule the summit. Well, Kim Jong-un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in. Giuliani also floated a theory to tarnish the Russia investigation. A group of 13 highly partisan Democrats that make up the Mueller team excluding him are trying very, very hard to frame [Trump], to get him in trouble when he hasnt done anything wrong. But Giuliani reserved the bulk of his fire for Stormy Daniels, who has become one of President Trumps archenemies. Im sorry. I dont respect a porn star star the way I respect a career woman. So, Stormy, you want to bring a case? Let me cross-examine you. As for Daniels alleged affair with President Trump in 2006, Giuliani said it was a lie. Oh, very, very credible source: Stormy, Stormy the porn star. I dont believe her. I dont know sue me, Stormy. I dont believe you. And neither does Melania Trump, according to Giuliani. She believes in her husband. She knows its not true. Look at his three wives, right? Beautiful women, classy women, women of great substance. Stormy Daniels? We have to respect on the stage every woman. Yes, I respect porn stars. Dont you respect porn stars? Or do you think that porn stars desecrate women? One thing that was less controversial: Giuliani appeared to be enjoying his visit to the Holy Land as cameras spotted him partaking in some napkin-spinning revelry at a Jerusalem hot spot.Rudolph Giuliani President Trumps lawyer and a former mayor of New York spoke on a variety of topics, like the Mueller investigation and Stormy Daniels, while in Israel. He also danced at a restaurant.CreditCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesAlso left uncertain was the degree to which Mr. Giuliani is freelancing when he says such things or reflecting what the president wants him to say. In a telephone interview on Thursday, Mr. Giuliani did not say his client had told him about Mrs. Trumps feelings. But the president has frequently instructed his lawyer on what to say about topics related to Ms. Clifford and the special counsel investigation.Mr. Trump may not have had qualms about Mr. Giulianis public denunciation of Ms. Clifford. At the same conference, Mr. Giuliani said she was not credible because of her career in the sex industry. Im sorry, I dont respect a porn star the way I respect a career woman or a woman of substance or a woman who has great respect for herself as a woman and as a person and isnt going to sell her body for sexual exploitation, he said.Ms. Cliffords lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said Mr. Giuliani was the one with the credibility problem. My client @StormyDaniels should be celebrated for her courage, strength and intelligence, he wrote on Twitter. She is one of the most credible people I have ever met regardless of gender. Period. I would be put her character up against Mr. Giulianis any day of the week.As for Mr. Pompeo, he looked pained when asked at a White House press briefing on Thursday about Mr. Giulianis foray into North Korea diplomacy. While in Israel, Mr. Giuliani said Mr. Trump agreed to resume plans for a summit meeting only after Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, pleaded with him to do it.Kim Jong-un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in, Mr. Giuliani said.Mr. Pompeo, who has met twice with Mr. Kim and led Mr. Trumps efforts to set up a meeting to discuss North Koreas nuclear program, made clear that he did not find Mr. Giulianis intervention helpful.I know Rudy, he told reporters at the White House after a meeting between Mr. Trump and Japans prime minister. Rudy doesnt speak for the administration when it comes to this negotiation and this set of issues.The often prickly North Koreans did not immediately respond to Mr. Giulianis portrayal of what happened, and Mr. Pompeo sought to play it down as a joke. I took him as being in a small room and not being serious about the comments, he said. I think it was a bit in jest. Were moving forward. Were focused on the important things.Mr. Giuliani also ventured into Middle East peace as Jared Kushner, the presidents son-in-law and senior adviser, has developed a plan to resolve the decades-old dispute between the Israelis and Palestinians.Mr. Giuliani suggested that the Palestinians should, like Mr. Kim, get down on their knees and beg. Thats what needs to happen with the Palestinian Authority, he said. They have to be seeking peace. Youve got to change the dynamic and put the pressure on them.The former mayor told Israeli reporters that he had seen Mr. Kushners secret peace plan and that it made all the sense in the world. But Mr. Giuliani called The Wall Street Journal afterward to say he only knew what had been in news reports. I have not seen any secret plan or been told about one, he said. I based my comments on the publicly available discussion of the plan.",3
"Credit...China Daily/ReutersDec. 18, 2015HONG KONG At the end of last month, the Chinese renminbi was anointed as one of the worlds elite currencies, a first for an emerging market and a widely hailed acknowledgment of Chinas rising financial influence and economic might.But soon after reaching that milestone, the renminbi started slowly and steadily falling as Chinese companies and individuals moved huge sums of money out of the countrys weakening economy.The falling currency sets a fresh challenge for Beijings leaders as the Chinese renminbi is increasingly woven into the global marketplace. While a weaker currency helps the countrys exporters, the government must also control the slide, or risk fanning market worries and trade tensions.So far, the Chinese government has stepped into currency markets repeatedly to control the tempo of the drop, but not enough to stop it.Over the last two weeks, the renminbi has dropped 1.3 percent against the dollar. The move follows a 4 percent devaluation in August. And while Chinas central bank has stayed studiously silent, most banking industry economists now expect the renminbi to continue slipping in the weeks and months to come.We are looking for larger depreciation in the first half of next year, and then a stabilization, said Ryan Lam, the head of research at Shanghai Commercial Bank, a Hong Kong institution.The currency is partly a barometer of global forces, a sign of the Chinese economys weakness and the dollars strength. It also reflects the markets bet that the currency will continue to fall as the Chinese government looks to help the countrys economy by making exporters more competitive.Every morning this last week, the central bank has weakened by an additional 0.1 or 0.2 percent its daily fixing of the value of the renminbi, which sets the midpoint for the currencys daily trading range.The Peoples Bank of China, the countrys central bank, faces a tricky balancing act.If the renminbi falls too steeply, the volatility could prompt traders to place large bets on further depreciation, making the decline harder to control. The International Monetary Fund added the renminbi on Nov. 30 to its group of global reserve currencies, alongside the dollar, euro, yen and pound. In an effort to meet the I.M.F. requirements, China had to loosen some of its currency controls, making it somewhat more susceptible to market forces.While a weaker currency helps Chinese exporters, it also adds to the countrys already widening trade surplus with the United States.A continued drop in the currency could start trade issues in the midst of the American presidential elections. Candidates mentioned China nearly two dozen times in Tuesdays Republican presidential debate, none of them favorably. Carly Fiorina described China as a rising adversary and asserted that like North Korea, they, too, recognize one thing: strength and their own economic interest.Some longtime American critics of Chinas currency policies had tried to persuade the Obama administration to try to block the I.M.F. decision, contending that the renminbi continues to be heavily controlled by the Chinese government. Those critics of Chinas currency policies point to the recent weakness as evidence.Its not at all surprising to me that once they got what they wanted, the renminbi is sliding further downhill, said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York. We have to take much tougher action against the Chinese government if were going to have success combating currency manipulation.The I.M.F. has a policy of not commenting on short-term currency fluctuations, while the Peoples Bank of China and the United States Treasury very seldom do so. All three declined to issue statements on the renminbis drop since the I.M.F. decision three weeks ago.The I.M.F. had said that China has adopted substantial reforms aimed at making the renminbi more freely usable. The Treasury accepted this in lending American support to the decision by the I.M.F.s board to accept the renminbi. The I.M.F. and the Treasury have both urged China to let markets play a greater role in setting the value of the renminbi, which makes it harder for them to object now when market forces push down the currency.Those market forces are tougher to manage, although China still has formidable resources to do so.It has the worlds largest trade surplus. And until the last couple of years, that kept the renminbi on a path of gradual appreciation. But money is sluicing out of the country now, and it is more than offsetting the money that comes in from Chinas selling of more goods overseas.The Chinese government has responded to faltering investment spending in the country by cutting interest rates. While lower lending rates have helped housing prices and construction by making mortgages cheaper, lower rates on bank deposits have also given an extra incentive for Chinese investors to look overseas for opportunities. At the same time, the Federal Reserve is now raising interest rates, making it more attractive to keep money in dollars.The Peoples Bank also has far less autonomy than central banks in the West. Major currency policy decisions, including the decision to let the renminbi sink steadily lower against the dollar, are made by Communist Party leaders, leaving the central bank to manage day-to-day interventions in the markets.Still, China has more ability than most countries to prevent a plunge. The nation has the worlds largest foreign exchange reserves, $3.5 trillion worth of dollars, euros and other currencies.ImageCredit...Tim Chong/ReutersChina also retains some regulatory restrictions on large outflows of money. China is enforcing its remaining regulations much more stringently this autumn, in an attempt to choke off more speculative outflows into overseas real estate and other investments.An official news outlet, Peoples Daily, reported last month that the authorities had closed an underground bank that had handled illegal foreign exchange transactions totaling $64 billion, mainly money leaving the country, since the start of 2013. The authorities needed 35,000 sheets of paper to print records from the underground bank, Peoples Daily reported.Chinese exporters and importers in the United States and Europe are celebrating the renminbis weakness.Betty Chong, a director of the J.C. & Winsons Company, which manufactures gloves, hats and scarfs in Wuxi for export, said that she no longer added a premium to her prices as a buffer against appreciation of the renminbi. The devaluation of the renminbi against the U.S. dollar of course helps my exports my goods are comparatively more competitive than those from nearby manufacturers in Bangladesh, Vietnam and India, she said.Chinas exporters to Europe are benefiting, as well as those selling to the United States. Chinas central bank made headlines a week ago by saying that it would publish an index of the renminbis value in terms of a basket of currencies, not just the dollar. Such an index would highlight that the renminbi actually strengthened against some currencies in the first 11 months of this year, like the euro, even as it weakened against the strong dollar.But because the dollar has faltered in the past two weeks, the drop in the renminbi lately has been even sharper against other currencies. The renminbi has fallen 3.7 percent against the euro in the past two weeks, for example.A weaker renminbi is not a complete boon to Chinese companies.Zhang Zepeng, the sales manager at the Qingdao Reliance Refrigeration Equipment Company, which makes cold-storage rooms and refrigerator compressors in Qingdao, has profited from a weaker renminbi on its exports. But he is concerned about rising costs for supplies bought overseas, since his company also sells within China.Since we need to import some of our raw materials, I do not want to see the RMB further devalue to, say, 6.7 or 6.8 against the U.S. dollar, since that will mean we will have to pay more for our raw material imports as well, he said. It is now around 6.5 to the dollar.If China does allow the renminbi to decline further in the coming months, it would not be the first emerging market to achieve a breakthrough in international economic relations only to see its currency soon tumble.A little more than two decades ago, Mexico concluded the North American Free Trade Agreement with the United States and Canada, cementing its position as an emerging market closely tied to the global economy. But less than a year later, as Fed rate increases prompted investors to move money to the United States, Mexico found itself struggling to protect the peso. It ended up letting the peso drop nearly 30 percent in less than a week.",0
"Credit...M. Spencer Green/Associated PressNov. 1, 2016Americans believe that obesity is tied with cancer as the biggest health threat in the nation today. But though scientific research shows that diet and exercise are insufficient solutions, a large majority say fat people should be able to summon the willpower to lose weight on their own.The findings are from a nationally representative survey of 1,509 adults released on Tuesday by NORC at the University of Chicago, an independent research institution. The study, funded by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, found that concerns about obesity have risen. Just a few years ago, in a more limited survey, cancer was seen as the most serious health threat.The lead researcher, Jennifer Benz of the survey group at the University of Chicago, said that to her knowledge no other survey has provided so comprehensive a view of Americans beliefs about obesity, including how to treat it, whether people are personally responsible for it and whether it is a disease.Researchers say obesity, which affects one-third of Americans, is caused by interactions between the environment and genetics and has little to do with sloth or gluttony. There are hundreds of genes that can predispose to obesity in an environment where food is cheap and portions are abundant.Yet three-quarters of survey participants said obesity resulted from a lack of willpower. The best treatment, they said, is to take responsibility for yourself, go on a diet and exercise.Obesity specialists said the survey painted an alarming picture. They said the findings went against evidence about the science behind the disease, and showed that outdated notions about obesity persisted, to the detriment of those affected.Its frustrating to see doctors and the general public stigmatize patients with obesity and blame these patients, ascribing attributes of laziness or lack of willpower, said Dr. Donna Ryan, an obesity researcher and professor emerita at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., who was not involved with the study. We would never treat patients with alcoholism or any chronic disease this way. Its so revealing of a real lack of education and knowledge.The self-help route has not been successful for most. Ninety-four percent of the survey participants who were obese had tried to lose weight with diet or exercise, to no avail. A quarter of those people said they had tried five to nine times, and 15 percent said they had tried more than 20 times.Trying 20 times and not succeeding is that lack of willpower, or a problem that cant be treated with willpower? asked Dr. Louis Aronne, the director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian, who was not involved with the study.Obesity specialists said there were several reasons for obese people to seek medical help. There are factors, like side effects of certain medicines, that cause people to gain weight. There are also prescription drugs that help some people lose weight and keep it off. And for those with extreme obesity, there is surgery.Its not that diet and exercise are useless, noted Penny Gordon-Larsen, a professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina and the president of the Obesity Society, which studies obesity and its treatment. But lifestyle advice also depends on whether the issue is prevention or treatment and, if treatment, whether the person is extremely obese, obese or just overweight, she said.We need people to understand what options are there, Dr. Gordon-Larsen, who was not involved with the study, said.The study revealed that misconceptions about obesity treatment are pervasive. Sixty percent of respondents said diet and exercise were more effective than weight-loss surgery, which is the only method that elicits pronounced and sustained weight loss in nearly everyone with extreme obesity. Sixty-eight percent said it was riskier to remain obese than to have weight loss surgery, which has a lower mortality rate than gall bladder surgery or joint replacementDr. Raul J. Rosenthal, the president of the bariatric surgery society that funded the study, found this persistent belief in the power of diet and exercise hard to understand.If you think a disease is a potential killer, as serious as cancer, why would you take on its treatment and cure by yourself? he asked. The reaction of people to something that is a potential killer is mind-blowing.One problem, though, is that medical professionals can be as misinformed as the public, said Dr. Scott Kahan, an obesity medicine specialist who is an assistant professor at George Washington University and directs the National Center for Weight and Wellness, an obesity clinic.Doctors, he said, learn nothing about obesity in medical school, which might be why only 12 percent of those in the survey with severe obesity said a doctor had suggested surgery to them. We are talking about people who are 100, 200 pounds overweight, Dr. Kahan added. Dr. Kahan, who is not a surgeon, noted that for most people that heavy, there was no other treatment that worked.Dr. Caroline M. Apovian, the president-elect of the Obesity Society and director of the nutrition and weight management center at Boston University, echoed Dr. Kahans concerns about the failure by doctors to mention the only effective course of treatment.If I said that was the case for cardiovascular disease and bypass surgery, you would say doctors are negligent, she said.",2
"Greg Hardy I Can Fight & Play Football ... Signs w/ Jim Jones' Arena Team 1/26/2018 TMZSports.com Greg Hardy will take a pro MMA fight in February and take the field for Jim Jones' arena league football team in March. And that's why Jim says Greg could be the modern-day Bo Jackson -- a ""beast"" in TWO pro sports. As we previously reported, Greg is pursuing a career as a pro MMA fighter -- he beat the hell out of his first 2 opponents. But he also wants to play pro football again -- and with Jim owning the Richmond Roughriders in the American Arena League, the rap star saw a great opportunity to get the ex-NFL star back in the field. ""That man is a BEAST,"" Jones said on the ""TMZ Sports"" TV show ... ""He's not one of the regular players. He's one of the best in his craft."" Hardy is set to take the field for the Roughriders on March 17 ... one month after his next MMA fight -- and he says he's ready to ""handle business"" in both sports.",1
"Nov. 16, 2018An American teacher whose baffling disappearance in Mexico last month set off a social media campaign to solicit information was killed by a drug cartel member, the Mexican authorities said Thursday.The teacher, Patrick Braxton-Andrew, 34, went for a walk on Oct. 28 outside the remote town of Urique, in Mexicos northern state of Chihuahua, and never returned.The authorities now say that Mr. Braxton-Andrew was killed that day by Jos Noriel Iran Gil, a member of the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel, which is active in much of the country, according to a Facebook post on the official page of Javier Corral Jurado, the governor of Chihuahua State.Under the progress in the investigation, I can say that it was a cowardly and brutal murder, of a totally innocent person, a clean man whose misfortune was to cross paths with this rascal, Mr. Corral wrote on Thursday.The authorities said they are searching for the killer, but have not revealed how they determined Mr. Braxton-Andrew had been murdered. His body has not been found.Mr. Corral has vowed to bring justice to his family and lauded him as an explorer who loved Mexico and its people.The Sinaloa cartel, one of Mexicos most powerful drug-trafficking rings, is active in many parts of the countrys north, exerting influence and control through violence, kidnapping and targeted killings.While the town of Urique is not saturated by tourists, it is known as a destination for the famed El Chepe train, which passes through the stunning natural landscape of the Copper Canyon.Mr. Braxton-Andrew, who was from Davidson, N.C., was an algebra and Spanish teacher and had backpacked extensively throughout Latin America.Mr. Braxton-Andrew, who was fluent in Spanish, had been traveling alone in northern Mexico on a break from his job as a part-time teacher in a private school in North Carolina. He had traveled by train on El Chepe and gone hiking alone in the Urique area. He had planned to meet up with his brother in Mexico City later in the month, his family said in a statement. When he failed to do so on Oct. 30, family members knew something was wrong, they wrote on a dedicated Facebook page.That page, which they created, confirmed his death and posted a tribute on Thursday. The family thanked the Chihuahua governor and attorney general for their unwavering commitment to locating Patrick.Patrick died doing what he loved traveling and meeting people, the post read. Join us in celebrating his life as he would want us to do. We will always remember Patrick and his joy for life.During the weeks of uncertainty over Mr. Braxton-Andrews fate, his relatives shared constant updates of what little they had learned about his disappearance, interspersed with accounts of a man they say had a love for travel, sports and teaching.They wrote that Mr. Braxton-Andrew was last seen around 4 p.m. on Oct. 28 when he went for a walk from his hotel in Urique. He had been spotted walking near a ranch outside the town, and locals searched for him after learning that he was missing, with local police joining the effort three days later.His family set up a base in Mexico City in recent weeks to monitor the search, according to The Charlotte Observer, which spoke with them on Wednesday, a day before the news broke of Mr. Braxton-Andrews death.As part of the social media campaign seeking information, supporters shared images of Mr. Braxton-Andrew with the hashtag#FindPat and its Spanish-language equivalent, #BuscaPato.The family also enlisted the help of Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, whose office was in touch with Mexican law enforcement officials.On Friday, Mr. Tillis said the work to find and repatriate the teachers body would continue.Our hearts go out to his loving family, friends and the communities of Davidson and Mooresville, where he touched countless lives, Mr. Tillis said in a statement. Patricks family deserves justice, and I will continue to work with the U.S. Department of State and federal officials as Mexican law enforcement continues their investigation.",6
"Business BriefingDec. 7, 2015Airbus orders topped 1,000 aircraft from January to November, sending its shares higher as it looked all but certain to win its annual race against its American rival Boeing. Boeing, however, was in good shape to retain its title as the worlds largest jetliner producer as Airbus, a European company, continued to lag on deliveries. Airbus Group shares rose 2.9 percent; Boeing was virtually unchanged. On Monday, Airbus said it had sold 169 aircraft in November, bringing the gross 2015 total to 1,079. After cancellations and model conversions, the net was 1,007. That compares with Boeings 655 gross orders between Jan. 1 and Dec. 2, giving it 568 after cancellations. Airbus handed over 556 aircraft in the first 11 months, including 10 midsize A350s and 24 A380 superjumbos. Boeing remained ahead, with 709 deliveries. Despite the share bounce, analysts said the latest data brought few surprises. But it highlighted Airbuss stronger position for now in the race for orders of upgraded medium-haul jets, potentially casting a shadow over the unveiling this week of Boeings new 737 MAX.",0
"VideoGunmen dressed in medical uniforms stormed the Afghan capitals main military hospital, leaving dozens dead and scores more wounded.CreditCredit...Mohammad Ismail/ReutersMarch 8, 2017KABUL, Afghanistan Gunmen disguised as medical staff members stormed the main military hospital in Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least 30 people and wounding dozens in an attack that was claimed by the Islamic State and that highlighted the countrys deteriorating security situation.Afghan forces struggled for seven hours to evacuate the crowded hospital and end the siege, killing all of the perpetrators of the audacious attack, which was carried out in broad daylight in the center of the Afghan capital.As the war in Afghanistan has escalated and security forces have suffered high casualty rates, the 400-bed Sardar Daud Khan hospital remains the main care center for wounded army soldiers. The hospital is busy on any given day, as the bodies of those who are killed around the country are also brought there for their families to pick up.The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack on Wednesday through its Amaq News Agency, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, hours after the Taliban denied involvement.Last year, there was a record number of civilian and military casualties from fighting that continues to rage across the country. Much of the fighting has been waged by the Taliban, an insurgency emboldened by territorial gains in recent years, but a group affiliated with the Islamic State has also been trying to gain a foothold in the east of the country.After repeated operations by Afghan forces and airstrikes by the United States military, the group has been reduced to about 700 fighters, according to United States military officials. Despite those losses, the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for an increasing number of suicide missions in Kabul, the one on the hospital being the most sophisticated. The groups deadliest attack left at least 80 people dead at a peaceful protest last summer.The Islamic State, whose regional chapter covers Afghanistan and Pakistan and is largely made up of fighters from Pakistani tribal areas, also claimed responsibility for an attack on a shrine in southern Pakistan on Feb. 16 that killed more than 80 people.The regional picture is complicated, analysts say, by the difficulty in determining whether attacks attributed to the Islamic State were actually carried out by the group, or if other established groups like the Haqqani network were responsible.The attack in Kabul on Wednesday began around 9 a.m., a busy time for the hospitals staff as well as for family members visiting loved ones. A suicide bomber on foot detonated his explosives at one of the hospitals rear entrances, after which other attackers, believed to number four, entered the building.Maj. Gen. Dawlat Waziri, the spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, said the attackers had worn medical uniforms.Thirty people have been killed, including hospital personnel and patients, and more than 50 have been wounded, General Waziri said after the attack ended around 4 p.m.Sediq Sediqqi, the spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, said all the attackers had been killed.Survivors recounted harrowing stories of hiding under beds and holding their breath, or of trying to escape through windows. Caretakers tried to evacuate patients on gurneys. Hundreds of family members waited anxiously for hours outside the police cordon.Fazel Mohammed, 46, who works in the neurology department on the fifth floor, said he had been on duty the night before and was waiting for the morning handover when the initial explosion occurred.I heard firing in the corridor of the fifth floor, and I saw gunmen shooting everyone they saw, Mr. Mohammed said. They hit one of our colleagues with a bullet in the chest, and they fired at a girl who was a relative of a patient. Then they shot a cleaner and then another guy.Mr. Mohammed said he and others tried to barricade themselves in one of the rooms. They stayed there for three hours before security forces rescued them.Dr. Akramuddin Kakar, who was stuck in the hospital for most of the seven hours, said, We understand that on the second, third, fourth and fifth floors, casualties were very high, because everywhere was full of blood.He added, The attackers killed whoever they saw in the main building of the hospital.As the elite forces who cleared the building were leaving, civilians and men in military uniforms arrived in more than a dozen vans to donate blood a sign that the number of casualties could be higher than reported by the government.The United Nations condemned the attack, asking all parties to respect medical sites.On behalf of the U.N. humanitarian agencies, I strongly emphasize that medical facilities, personnel and those receiving treatment must never be placed at risk and under no circumstances be subject to attack, Adele Khodr, the United Nations interim humanitarian coordinator for Afghanistan, said in a statement.This attack marks an abhorrent new low dressing in disguise to shoot at the sick and wounded is a cowardly, wicked act, Dr. Hamdullah Mohib, Afghanistans ambassador to the United States, said in a statement. These are forces of evil the world must work together to defeat.The hospital attack comes at a difficult time for medical workers in Afghanistan. From January 2015 to last December, about 240 attacks against health facilities or medical personnel have been recorded, according to a new report by the nongovernmental organization Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict.According to the United Nations, 3,498 civilians were killed and 7,920 were wounded in Afghanistan last year. Afghan officials say more than 6,200 Afghan soldiers and police officers were killed and more than 12,000 were wounded.",6
"MatterCoronaviruses discovered in Laotian bats are surprisingly adept at infecting human cells, showing that such deadly features can indeed evolve outside of a lab.Credit...Kevin K. CaldwellOct. 14, 2021In the summer of 2020, half a year into the coronavirus pandemic, scientists traveled into the forests of northern Laos to catch bats that might harbor close cousins of the pathogen.In the dead of night, they used mist nets and canvas traps to snag the animals as they emerged from nearby caves, gathered samples of saliva, urine and feces, then released them back into the darkness.The fecal samples turned out to contain coronaviruses, which the scientists studied in high security biosafety labs, known as BSL-3, using specialized protective gear and air filters.Three of the Laos coronaviruses were unusual: They carried a molecular hook on their surface that was very similar to the hook on the virus that causes Covid-19, called SARS-CoV-2. Like SARS-CoV-2, their hook allowed them to latch onto human cells.It is even better than early strains of SARS-CoV-2, said Marc Eloit, a virologist at the Pasteur Institute in Paris who led the study, referring to how well the hook on the Laos coronaviruses binds to human cells. The study was posted online last month and has not yet been published in a scientific journal.Virus experts are buzzing about the discovery. Some suspect that these SARS-CoV-2-like viruses may already be infecting people from time to time, causing only mild and limited outbreaks. But under the right circumstances, the pathogens could give rise to a Covid-19-like pandemic, they say.The findings also have significant implications for the charged debate over Covids origins, experts say. Some people have speculated that SARS-CoV-2s impressive ability to infect human cells could not have evolved through a natural spillover from an animal. But the new findings seem to suggest otherwise.That really puts to bed any notion that this virus had to have been concocted, or somehow manipulated in a lab, to be so good at infecting humans, said Michael Worobey, a University of Arizona virologist who was not involved in the work.These bat viruses, along with more than a dozen others discovered in recent months in Laos, Cambodia, China and Thailand, may also help researchers better anticipate future pandemics. The viruses family trees offer hints about where potentially dangerous strains are lurking, and which animals scientists should look at to find them.Last week, the U.S. government announced a $125 million project to identify thousands of wild viruses in Asia, Latin America and Africa to determine their risk of spillover. Dr. Eloit predicted that there were many more relatives of SARS-CoV-2 left to find.I am a fly fisherman, he said. When I am unable to catch a trout, that doesnt mean there are no trout in the river.When SARS-CoV-2 first came to light, its closest known relative was a bat coronavirus that Chinese researchers found in 2016 in a mine in southern Chinas Yunnan Province. RaTG13, as it is known, shares 96 percent of its genome with SARS-CoV-2. Based on the mutations carried by each virus, scientists have estimated that RaTG13 and SARS-CoV-2 share a common ancestor that infected bats about 40 years ago.Both viruses infect cells by using a molecular hook, called the receptor-binding domain, to latch on to their surface. RaTG13s hook, adapted for attaching to bat cells, can only cling weakly to human cells. SARS-CoV-2s hook, by contrast, can clasp cells in the human airway, the first step toward a potentially lethal case of Covid-19.To find other close relatives of SARS-CoV-2, wildlife virus experts checked their freezers full of old samples from across the world. They identified several similar coronaviruses from southern China, Cambodia, and Thailand. Most came from bats, while a few came from scaly mammals known as pangolins. None was a closer relative than RaTG13.Dr. Eloit and his colleagues instead set out to find new coronaviruses.They traveled to northern Laos, about 150 miles from the mine where Chinese researchers had found RaTG13. Over six months they caught 645 bats, belonging to 45 different species. The bats harbored two dozen kinds of coronaviruses, three of which were strikingly similar to SARS-CoV-2 especially in the receptor-binding domain.In RaTG13, 11 of the 17 key building blocks of the domain are identical to those of SARS-CoV-2. But in the three viruses from Laos, as many as 16 were identical the closest match to date.Dr. Eloit speculated that one or more of the coronaviruses might be able to infect humans and cause mild disease. In a separate study, he and colleagues took blood samples from people in Laos who collect bat guano for a living. Although the Laotians did not show signs of having been infected with SARS-CoV-2, they carried immune markers, called antibodies, that appeared to be caused by a similar virus.Linfa Wang, a molecular virologist at the Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore who was not involved in the study, agreed that such an infection was possible, since the newly discovered viruses can attach tightly to a protein on human cells called ACE2.If the receptor binding domain is ready to use ACE2, these guys are dangerous, Dr. Wang said.Paradoxically, some other genes in the three Laotian viruses are more distantly related to SARS-CoV-2 than other bat viruses. The cause of this genetic patchwork is the complex evolution of coronaviruses.If a bat infected with one coronavirus catches a second one, the two different viruses may end up in a single cell at once. As that cell begins to replicate each of those viruses, their genes get shuffled together, producing new virus hybrids.In the Laotian coronaviruses, this gene shuffling has given them a receptor-binding domain thats very similar to that of SARS-CoV-2. The original genetic swap took place about a decade ago, according to a preliminary analysis by Spyros Lytras, a graduate student at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.Mr. Lytras and his colleagues are now comparing SARS-CoV-2 not just to the new viruses from Laos, but to other close relatives that have been found in recent months. Theyre finding even more evidence of gene shuffling. This process known as recombination may be reshaping the viruses from year to year.Its becoming more and more obvious how important recombination is, Mr. Lytras said.He and his colleagues are now drawing the messy evolutionary trees of SARS-CoV-2-like viruses based on these new insights. Finding more viruses could help clear up the picture. But scientists are divided as to where to look for them.Dr. Eloit believes the best bet is a zone of Southeast Asia that includes the site where his colleagues found their coronaviruses, as well as the nearby mine in Yunnan where RaTG13 was found.I think the main landscape corresponds to north Vietnam, north Laos and south China, Dr. Eloit said.The U.S. governments new virus-hunting project, called DEEP VZN, may turn up one or more SARS-CoV-2-like viruses in that region. A spokesman for USAID, the agency funding the effort, named Vietnam as one of the countries where researchers will be searching, and said that new coronaviruses are one of their top priorities.Other scientists think its worth looking for relatives of SARS-CoV-2 further afield. Dr. Worobey of the University of Arizona said that some bat coronaviruses carrying SARS-CoV-2-like segments have been found in eastern China and Thailand.Clearly the recombination is showing us that these viruses are part of a single gene pool over hundreds and hundreds of miles, if not thousands of miles, Dr. Worobey said.Colin Carlson, a biologist at Georgetown University, suspects that a virus capable of producing a Covid-like outbreak might be lurking even further away. Bats as far east as Indonesia and as far west as India, he noted, share many biological features with the animals known to carry SARS-CoV-2-like viruses.This is not just a Southeast Asia problem, Dr. Carlson said. These viruses are diverse, and they are more cosmopolitan than we have thought.The interest in the origins of the pandemic has put renewed attention on the safety measures researchers are using when studying potentially dangerous viruses. To win DEEP VZN grants, scientists will have to provide a biosafety and biosecurity plan, according to a USAID spokesman, including training for staff, guidelines on protective equipment to be worn in the field and safety measures for lab work.If scientists find more close cousins of SARS-CoV-2, it doesnt necessarily mean they pose a deadly threat. They might fail to spread in humans or, as some scientists speculate, cause only small outbreaks. Just seven coronaviruses are known to have jumped the species barrier to become well-established human pathogens.Theres probably a vast range of other coronaviruses that end up going nowhere, said Jessica Metcalf, an evolutionary ecologist at Princeton University.Still, recombination may be able to turn a virus going nowhere into a new threat. In May, researchers reported that two coronaviruses in dogs recombined in Malaysia. The result was a hybrid that infected eight children.When a coronavirus that we have monitored for decades, that we think of as just something our pets can get, can make the jump we should have seen that coming, right? Dr. Carlson said.",7
"Business| New Star Wars Speeds Toward Recordhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/20/business/media/new-star-wars-speeds-toward-record.htmlCredit...Kevork Djansezian/Getty ImagesDec. 19, 2015Star Wars fever has spread through movie theaters around the globe, even reaching the White House, as the series yet again began toppling box-office records.After a record $57 million from Thursday night showings in North America and packed matinees on Friday, Walt Disney projected that Star Wars: The Force Awakens would surpass $215 million over the weekend, beating the record-setting domestic opening of Jurassic World, which debuted with $208.8 million in June.Such an outcome would surprise few analysts, but the numbers were nevertheless remarkable. The Force Awakens was heading toward a Thursday night and Friday total of more than $120 million domestically, said Dave Hollis, head of distribution for Disney. The previous one-day record was $91.1 million, set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in 2011.In such rarefied territory, Disney has been cautious about overestimating the box-office force of The Force Awakens, J. J. Abramss seventh chapter in George Lucass space saga. Based on the early response, many predict a weekend total closer to $250 million for the film far above Jurassic World.Disneys biggest worry has been that moviegoers will be daunted by sold-out shows and long lines. More than $100 million in advance tickets (also a record) were sold before the opening of The Force Awakens, many of those going toward Thursday and Friday shows. Saturday will depend more on walk-up business. Mr. Hollis said exhibitors were continually adding more screenings to satisfy demand.Internationally, the film, which cost about $200 million to make, has already earned an estimated total of $72.7 million since opening in a handful of countries on Wednesday. The Force Awakens is simultaneously opening around the world nearly everywhere but China, where it is scheduled to debut in January. The Force Awakens had the biggest single day ever for a film in Britain, earning an estimated $14.4 million on Thursday.While Star Wars helped create the concept of the summer blockbuster, The Force Awakens is appearing in the holiday season, in which the previous top opening was the $84.6 million debut of 2012s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. By Disneys estimates, The Force Awakens the widest December opening ever, with 4,134 theaters blew past that number by Friday afternoon.Imax and 3-D screenings are helping propel the record gross. Disney said that 47 percent of the Thursday box office came from 3-D showings and $5.7 million from Imax screens.A lot is riding on the film for Disney, which paid $4.06 billion for Lucasfilm in 2012. Sequels and spinoffs are already in development for years to come, not to mention an entire corner of Disneyland devoted to the saga.Positive reviews for The Force Awakens, which is set 30 years after Return of the Jedi, have added to the fervor. Critics have hailed it as a fan-friendly return to form for the series.Such a positive reaction may attract the kind of repeat viewings that made Avatar and Titanic, both from the filmmaker James Cameron, the highest-grossing films of all time. Whether The Force Awakens can come close to the global hauls of those films ($2.8 billion for Avatar and $2.2 billion for Titanic) will not be clear for weeks.But so far, The Force Awakens is attracting the interest of seemingly everyone. President Obama began a year-end news conference on Friday noting, Clearly, this is not the most important event thats taking place in the White House today. Soon to begin was a screening of the film for families who had lost a relative to combat or service-related injuries.",0
"Credit...Yasuyoshi Chiba/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 23, 2018DAKAR, Senegal The new international airport in Sierra Leone was supposed to be a shiny welcome center for travelers a symbol showing that after a devastating civil war and an Ebola epidemic, the nation was finally open for business.But last month, the government decided that the multimillion-dollar price tag was too high, so it canceled the financing that made construction possible: a more than $300 million loan from China that Sierra Leone might have struggled to repay.President Julius Maada Bio was soon hailed by analysts for putting the brakes on a project that could have deeply indebted his nation, already one of the poorest in the world.It seemed that Sierra Leone was heeding the hard-earned lessons of other developed nations that have found themselves owing enormous amounts to China.Yet only a few days after his announcement about scrapping the deal, Mr. Bio appeared on state-owned Chinese television to make clear that he was not backing away from China after all. In fact, he was seeking its help to build a more than $1 billion bridge, and was also open to renegotiating the airport loan.We are a developing nation, Mr. Bio told the interviewer, and we look forward to nations that want to help us develop.Across sub-Saharan Africa, governments like Sierra Leones are opting to overlook glaring examples of developing countries teetering toward economic distress after borrowing heavily from China.Forty percent of countries in the region are close to falling into debt crisis, the International Monetary Fund has cautioned. And many of those are still seeking loans from Beijing for help to finance airports, highways, railways, dams and power projects.The warning signs of taking on too much debt from China appear across the globe, as in Sri Lanka, where after struggling to make their payments, officials recently turned over to China a port and 15,000 acres of land for 99 years.But Chinese-backed ventures have also hit snags in Africa.Kenya has now borrowed far more from China than from any other country. But it has also come to depend on a flood of Chinese manufacturing imports, a trade imbalance that makes it harder to raise foreign currency to pay off debt. Kenyas trade with China has grown eightfold in the past decade, according to President Uhuru Kenyatta, who complained at a conference this month in Shanghai that the trade was skewed in favor of China.The monetary fund has flagged Djibouti, site of a large Chinese military base with live-fire exercises in the desert, as having potential problems with mounting debt, most of which is owed to the Chinese governments Export-Import Bank, according to a report this year from the Center for Global Development. Yet Djibouti shows no signs of limiting new borrowing for projects, and its unclear whether these will earn enough revenue to pay off their debts.In Nigeria, Chinese projects have been dogged by accusations of corruption, poor decision-making, and in some cases shoddy construction. Yet the nation is still turning to China to build a coastal railway and myriad other projects.Chinese debt has become the methamphetamines of infrastructure finance: highly addictive, readily available, and with long-term negative effects that far outweigh any temporary high, according to a recent article by Grant T. Harris, who was President Barack Obamas White House director for Africa from 2011 to 2015.The added fact that China has flooded African markets with low-cost manufactured goods means that many African factories have been driven out of business, making it harder for African countries to raise the hard currency mostly dollars that they need to repay loans from Beijing.China has extended lines of credit to nations rich in natural resources like oil, bauxite, iron and other metals. So even if a resource-rich developing country has trouble repaying its loans for a while, the thinking goes, it can pay with natural resources sooner or later. China also gains politically by extracting promises of support for the Beijing government over Taiwan as a condition of eligibility for a loan.At the China-Africa Forum for Cooperation summit in Beijing this month, China announced that it had set up a $60 billion fund for African infrastructure projects to strengthen ties with the continent.Numerous analysts and experts, including the former secretary of state Rex W. Tillerson and Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the monetary fund, have warned nations to be cautious about taking on too much Chinese debt.Angola, the Republic of Congo and Zambia were some of the nations that Moodys listed this month among the most indebted to Chinese creditors. A report from the financial research company said interest payments in Ghana, Angola, Zambia and Nigeria already absorbed more than 20 percent of government revenue.This month, while speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Vice President Mike Pence accused China of using debt diplomacy to expand its global influence. But Chinese officials have repeatedly disputed any notion that its loans are creating so-called debt traps for African nations.On the contrary, cooperating with China helps these countries raise independent development capabilities and levels, and improves the lives of the local people, said Hua Chunying, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, in a statement responding to Mr. Pence.China has promised to forgive some of its loans to some of Africas poorest nations. But it was unclear which countries would benefit, and the promise applied to only interest-free loans.China is strengthening ties in new areas on the continent, specifically in West Africa where it is adding more African countries to the list of nations in its Belt and Road initiative, which envisions major infrastructure projects backed by the Chinese government around the world.One of the new Belt and Road countries is Senegal, which was part of President Xi Jinpings four-country visit to the continent this summer. During a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Senegals growing capital city, Mr. Xi handed keys to a new wrestling stadium built by the Chinese to President Macky Sall.Across the country, billboards line the roads touting Mr. Salls Emerging Senegal plan to transform the economy with a new city, a new commuter rail link and other projects. Chinese loans are paying for a highway to the city of Touba and part of an industrial park.The agreements benefit both governments. Mr. Sall is facing re-election next year and eager for his vision to be completed. And Senegal, along Africas westernmost coast, is of particular geographical importance to China as a base for manufacturing and exports.The same is true on the opposite side of the continent, in Mozambique, where Chinese loans are paying for bridges and numerous other projects. Its part of a plan to double down on places that have strategic importance, said Anna Rosenberg, sub-Saharan Africa director at Frontier Strategy Group, an emerging markets advisory firm.For Africa this is not a bad thing, she said. They need the infrastructure. They cant wait for aid to come from the West. They need it fast, and the Chinese government has realized that.For nations like Sierra Leone that are eager to put years of political instability behind them, the lure of Chinese deals can be irresistible. With more than half of the population living under the poverty line and an economy struggling to get back to the levels reached before the Ebola outbreak, it has few other options.During his election campaign, Mr. Bio decried the new airport project, calling it a sham that is clouded with secrecy and unnecessary for a nation that had no more than 40,000 travelers passing through each year. The monetary fund had also warned against the deal. Canceling the loan was one of the first major moves Mr. Bio made after taking office this year.But on Chinese television, Mr. Bio backpedaled, explaining that he was negative about only the terms of the airport deal, and that the cancellation wasnt intended as a sweeping indictment of dealing with China. He went on to praise a Chinese health center and other aid the nation has given to Sierra Leone.Sierra Leone is home to one of the largest iron ore deposits in the world and its economy is dominated by a China-backed mining project that exports ore for use in Chinese steel mills. Government officials declined to comment on plans for more loans from China.Analysts caution that African governments need to get better at negotiating loans with China, taking care to haggle over interest rates and adding clauses requiring full-time employment for local citizens.The Chinese seem to know what they want from Africans, in particular when it comes to commodities, said Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, a former member of the Senegalese government who scrutinized deals between China and Senegal. The question is, is that the same for Africans?",6
"NFL Legend Cortez Kennedy Donates Brain to CTE Research ... Autopsy Reveals 1/22/2018 NFL Hall of Famer Cortez Kennedy donated his brain to the most famous CTE research center in the world when he passed away in May ... this according to the autopsy obtained by TMZ Sports. Kennedy's body was discovered by a friend on May 23, 2017. At the time, it was unclear how the 48-year-old passed away. But according to the autopsy report, the official cause of death is hypertensive heart disease -- a heart condition caused by high blood pressure, according to Healthline.com. The medical examiner also lists pneumonia and diabetes as a contributing factor to Kennedy's death. He's listed in the autopsy as 6'1"" and 265 lbs. As we previously reported, Kennedy was hospitalized for swollen legs just days before he died. The report shows Kennedy's family requested the ex-NFL star's brain be sent to the Boston University CTE Center for further examination. BU is widely regarded as the leader in CTE research -- they've studied the brains of several deceased NFL stars including Aaron Hernandez and Dave Duerson. Kennedy played 11 seasons for the Seattle Seahawks ... and was an 8x Pro Bowler. He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2012.",1
"Credit...Burhan Ozbilici/Associated PressNov. 21, 2018ISTANBUL President Recep Tayyip Erdogan didnt get everything he wanted.For weeks, the leader of Turkey has been trying to undermine his regional rival, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, with a skillful drip of intelligence leaks linking the prince to a gruesome crime: the killing of a dissident, Jamal Khashoggi.President Trumps statement on Tuesday made clear that the United States would stick with its Saudi ally, leaving Mr. Erdogans biggest ambition sidelining his rival and realigning American policy in the Middle East unfulfilled.This is not credible, Numan Kurtulmus, the deputy chairman of Mr. Erdogans political party, told reporters on Tuesday, dismissing Mr. Trumps explanation that no one really knew who was responsible for ordering Mr. Khashoggis death as comic.But that does not necessarily mean Mr. Erdogan lost the geopolitical battle over the consequences of the killing.If anything, the Turkish president may now be in a better position than he was when Mr. Khashoggi disappeared inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul seven weeks ago.Mr. Erdogan, who has been widely criticized for locking up more than 100,000 people since an attempted coup two years ago, has gained badly needed international stature from the case. He has successfully claimed the moral high ground vacated by the American president, and he has kept up the pressure on Saudi Arabia.He is standing with the overwhelming majority of people in the Arab world, said Asli Aydintasbas, a senior fellow with the European Council for Foreign Relations. People are outraged, and they do think that Erdogan is on the right side.Across the Arab world, there is real appreciation for what Erdogan stands for, she added. Thats what he cares about and thats what is important to him.ImageCredit...Huseyin Aldemir/ReutersBeyond that, the Khashoggi case has allowed Mr. Erdogan to soften his authoritarian image in the West and potentially build some momentum toward repairing deeply strained relations with the United States.By steadily spooling out grisly details of the killing, Mr. Erdogan has found common cause with American lawmakers outraged by Saudi Arabias brazen tactics. Before that, some American politicians were more focused on castigating Turkey, a fellow NATO member, for backsliding on democracy and purchasing an antimissile defense system from the Russians.The main benefit has been with Erdogan earning political capital in Washington, which will be useful, said Sinan Ulgen, a former diplomat for Turkey and the chairman of the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies in Istanbul.Even if he failed to cause a shift in policy within the Trump administration, Mr. Erdogan is unlikely to let the Khashoggi case go. Turkey has called for a United Nations inquiry into the killing and continues to demand answers, if only to clip the wings of the Saudi prince, whom Mr. Erdogan sees as a threat.At the height of the affair, Turkish officials were calling on Washington to shift its alliances in the Middle East, hoping to nudge the United States away from the powerful monarchies of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as from the secular military leadership of Egypt.Turkey has squared off with Saudi Arabia on a number of fronts, including the kingdoms dispute with Qatar. Mr. Erdogans government also opposes American sanctions on Iran, putting it directly at odds with the Saudi crown prince, often known by his initials, MBS, who described Turkey as part of a triangle of evil.It was a far-fetched idea that Trump would drop MBS, said Mr. Ulgen. There will be some disappointment in Ankara, but also realism.In fact, Turkey expected Mr. Trumps position from the start, argued Ms. Aydintasbas.Erdogan is a smart politician and has been around a long time, she said. He can see where Trump is coming from, she added. They seem to agree to disagree.Despite the continuing anti-American sentiment often used by the Turkish government, there are signs that both sides want to repair relations.ImageCredit...Tasneem Alsultan for The New York TimesYou can see a desire in Ankara to normalize relations with the U.S., Ms. Aydintasbas said. There is also a clear desire on the side of Trump to fix relations with Turkey. Erdogan does not want to ruin that.The release last month of an American evangelist pastor, Andrew Brunson, eased Mr. Erdogans relations with the White House and with Congress, allowing them to move forward on other disputes that have brought relations to an all-time low over the past year.Already, Washington has signaled it is doing more to investigate a Pennsylvania-based preacher, Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey accuses of instigating the attempted coup in 2016.The two nations have also begun joint patrols in Manbij, in northern Syria, where Turkey and the United States have been at loggerheads. Washington supports Kurdish forces in the region, but Turkey considers them a grave security threat.On Tuesday, Turkeys foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, indicated some acceptance of Mr. Trumps decision to side with Saudi Arabia, without backing away from the Turkish position that whoever ordered the killing should be revealed.Many countries did not want to fall out with Saudi Arabia over the murder, he said. We do not want that either, yet the murder should be brought to light, he said, according to the semiofficial Anadolu news agency.Mr. Cavusoglu was in Washington on Wednesday for scheduled meetings to address several of the outstanding disputes between the two countries. Those include an impending fine on the Turkish state bank, Halkbank, for violating American sanctions on Iran, as well as Turkeys detention of American citizens and three Turkish consular employees on charges of terrorism, which American officials call baseless.Then, there is the important front in Syria.Mr. Erdogan rails constantly against the United States support for Syrian Kurdish fighters, whom he considers an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party, which Turkey, the United States and Europe have all designated a terrorist organization.While those issues remain between the countries, Mr. Erdogan is unlikely to waste the political capital he has gained through the Khashoggi case, political observers in Turkey said.ImageCredit...Tom Brenner for The New York TimesHe still can threaten to release the audio recordings of the killing, which Turkish officials have said indicate high-level Saudi involvement. But analysts say that is a nuclear option he is unlikely to use, since it would essentially end his leverage.On Wednesday, in a speech at the presidential palace in Ankara, Mr. Erdogan pointedly did not mention the Khashoggi case or Mr. Trumps statement of support for the Saudi crown prince.Instead, the Turkish president was already in full campaign mode for local elections in March, showing that national political concerns still come first as he listed his latest enemies of the state.He slammed the European Court of Human Rights for a decision calling for the release of a Kurdish political leader, Selahattin Demirtas.He denounced an imprisoned philanthropist, Osman Kavala, who has been swept up in his post-coup crackdown.He thundered against wholesalers, whom he accused of raising the price of onions and potatoes.His nationalist stance has to be seen in the light of local politics, Mr. Ulgen said.Turkeys economic difficulties, including a drastic fall in the lira and high inflation, mean Mr. Erdogans Justice and Development Party risks losing some important municipalities in March.The members of the project to make Turkey kneel down, to make our country surrender, are still in solidarity, Mr. Erdogan roared, referring to the supporters of popular protests in Gezi Park and Taksim Square in 2013.Those praising Gezi, werent they the ones who destroyed all the windows, burned everything around? Didnt they burn the buses belonging to the state? Didnt they burn down the artisans shops? Shall we tolerate them?",6
"Credit...Chris Large/Walt DisneyFeb. 4, 2014As the Sochi Olympics will remind the world again, there is a huge amount of human drama in the skiing, skating and snowboarding that seize the worlds attention every four years.Yet the list of films set at the Winter Olympics is short, and the quality falls off pretty quickly. Still, at the top are a few excellent films worth checking out as the opening ceremony nears.Here is an informal ranking of 10 notable Winter Olympics films.1. Miracle (2004)Everyone going into the theater knew how the story was going to end, but the director Gavin OConnor and the screenwriter Eric Guggenheim somehow made the story of the American hockey gold medal in 1980 riveting all over again.A lot of the credit goes to Kurt Russell as Coach Herb Brooks. Russell gives a tense, believable performance and manages to avoid being upstaged by his own costumes: the garish checked slacks and blazers favored by Brooks.The film includes several indelible scenes, including Brookss driving his players up and down the ice to the brink of exhaustion while repeating, Again, again, and inspiring them with a Win One for the Gipper-quality pregame speech: If we played them 10 times, they might win nine of them. But not this game. Not tonight.ImageCredit...Paramount/Getty Images2. Downhill Racer (1969)This film is worth seeing just for the spectacular skiing footage, filmed at resorts across Europe. But the story resonates as well. Robert Redford plays a cocky, womanizing downhill skier. Like many 1960s protagonists, he is almost an antihero, with an aloof attitude and contempt for teammates and his coach (Gene Hackman, on form, as usual). The film follows him for several years on the World Cup circuit, culminating in the 1968 Games in Grenoble, France. Winning is the ultimate payoff in many sports films, but we find we care as much about whether he grows as a person.ImageCredit...Buena Vista Pictures3. Cool Runnings (1993)There were so many pitfalls awaiting a film about the fish-out-of-water tale of the Jamaican bobsled team at the 1988 Games. But this movie winningly juggles humor, emotion and triumph over adversity with just the right balance, helped immeasurably by the priceless John Candy as the coach.4. The Cutting Edge (1992)It is a fairly cornball premise: an injured hockey player has to switch to pairs skating and ends up in a love/hate relationship with his snooty partner. But the movie is redeemed by quality acting by D. B. Sweeney and Moira Kelly and a bright script that has you rooting for those cute kids on and off the ice. But steer clear of The Cutting Edge: Going for the Gold (same plot, but featuring the daughter of the original protagonists), The Cutting Edge 3: Chasing the Dream (same plot, but this time, the girl is the hockey player) and The Cutting Edge: Fire & Ice (same plot, but adding a buff speedskater).5. Sonja Henie Films(notably One in a Million, 1936)The Norwegian figure skater Sonja Henie won the womens title at three straight Games 1928, 1932 and 1936 and then headed to Hollywood, where she became a huge star. Just as Elvis Presley nearly always played a character who sang, Henie seemed always to wind up on a pair of skates in her films. Try One in a Million, her first major film, which includes a little bit of everything: romance, a debate over amateurism at the Olympics, a plot to kill a European premier, Adolph Menjou, Don Ameche and a performance by the Ritz Brothers.ImageCredit...Suzanne Hanover/Paramount Pictures6. Blades of Glory (2007)It should have worked: Will Ferrell and Jon Heder as an all-male pairs skating team at the World Winter Sport Games (psst, thats the Olympics). Ferrell is funny in pretty much everything, and there are a few inspired ideas, like Will Arnett and Amy Poehlers skating tribute to the forbidden love of John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. But some jokes come off as tasteless, or merely fall flat. The movie has its fans, but it cannot measure up to the best of the genre.7. Miracle on Ice (1981)Wait, didnt we already have this one? Nope, there was an earlier television movie treatment of the 1980 hockey miracle, this one starring Karl Malden. Much less inspired than its successor, it still delivers a chill or two at its climax. And isnt that Steve Guttenberg as goalie Jim Craig?8. Going for the Gold: The Bill Johnson Story (1985)The brash downhill gold medalist Bill Johnson is a promising subject for a film, and Anthony Edwards is a solid actor. But this TV movie was made cheaply and quickly to cash in on Johnsons fleeting fame.9. A Brothers Promise: The Dan Jansen Story (1996) Matt Keeslar stars as the star-crossed speedskater Dan Jansen, who finally won gold in 1994 after falling in 1988 and skating poorly in 1992. As the title of this TV movie implies, Jansens victory is portrayed through the prism of the death of his sister just before the 88 Games. That sort of sentimentality is not for everyone.10. Tonya & Nancy: The Inside Story (1994)Oh, no, they didnt. Oh, yes, they did.Another quickie TV movie, this one examines the ugly attack on Nancy Kerrigan before the 1994 Olympic trials and lays much of the blames for it on Tonya Hardings having a verbally abusive mother. It sometimes throws in art house gimmicks such as having the screenwriter be a character who addresses the camera directly and including interviews with actors playing key figures in the story. Playing it straight might have been a better idea.From looking at this list, it seems that Hollywood has barely scratched the surface of Winter Games films. What about a Tiger Woods-Lindsey Vonn biopic? A gripping, coming-of-age tale about a luger? And when will we finally see the great American curling film?",4
"Business BriefingDec. 28, 2015KaloBios Pharmaceuticals said on Monday that two directors had resigned after the arrest of Martin Shkreli, who had been its chief executive, on securities fraud charges this month. Tom Fernandez and Marek Biestek resigned from the KaloBios board on Sunday, the company said in a regulatory filing. Both men had worked with Mr. Shkreli, initially at MSMB Capital, the hedge fund he and Mr. Biestek founded. Mr. Fernandez also worked at Retrophin, a drug company Mr. Shkreli led before running Turing Pharmaceuticals. MSMB and Retrophin are at the center of the indictment against Mr. Shkreli, 32, who has pleaded not guilty.",0
"DealBook|How to Value Yahoos Core Businesshttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/10/business/dealbook/how-to-value-yahoos-core-business.htmlDec. 9, 2015With Yahoo exploring a separation of its core business, the world may soon know what the company minus its lucrative stake in Alibaba is worth.As of Wednesday, that figure is a negative (yes, negative) $13 billion.How can a company that has $4.5 billion in revenue and one billion users be worth less than zero?Lets walk through the numbers.The value of Yahoos stake in Alibaba is $32.5 billion and its stake in Yahoo Japan is $8.6 billion. The companys net cash or cash minus debt is $4.2 billion. All told, that is $45.3 billion.But stock market investors are assigning a valuation of $32.5 billion, based on Wednesdays trading. The news that Yahoo was halting a spinoff of its stake in Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, choosing instead to explore a spinoff of Yahoos core Internet operations plus its stake in Yahoo Japan, sent shares lower, widening that gap.Investors are being punitive in part because of uncertainty. Spinning off the Yahoo core business and Yahoo Japan is projected to be even more complicated than the original plan to divest Alibaba. It could take another year or more and may still carry a tax liability, albeit a smaller one because the asset is smaller.Mark May, an analyst with Citigroup, downgraded his rating on Yahoo in anticipation of the execution risk.Investors were also disappointed that the core business will still be run by the current management team, led by Marissa Mayer, according to Brett Harriss, an analyst with Gabelli & Company. Before Ms. Mayer took over as chief executive of Yahoo in 2012, the company had earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, of $1.4 billion, a figure projected to be $929 million this year.It may have declined, but with that much Ebitda, Yahoos core business cannot be worthless.On average, analysts value Yahoos core based on five times projected Ebitda some a little higher, some a little lower. That yields a market capitalization of $4.6 billion if Yahoo were an independent company. Tack on the 35 percent stake in Yahoo Japan, worth about $8.6 billion, and youve got a $13.2 billion business that could be spun out.If the transaction ultimately is taxed, the bill would be a lot smaller for the Yahoo core plus Yahoo Japan entity than the original plan to spin off its Alibaba stake. Assuming a 41 percent tax rate, as CRT did in Wednesdays note, Yahoo would pay $5.4 billion in taxes, versus $13.3 billion in taxes if it spun out Alibaba potential savings that amount to $8 billion. Thats an extra dollar back for each share outstanding. Yet, interestingly, the stock lost 45 cents a share Wednesday.It is clear that the turmoil surrounding Yahoo is not over. Only when it has a spinoff or a sale will the market truly be able to put a price tag above zero on its core business.",0
"The retirement of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, long a critical swing vote, could move the Supreme Court to the right if he is replaced with a reliable conservative. Related Article Term beginning: 1937 40 50 60 70 80 90 2000 10 +4 Thomas +3 Alito +2 Gorsuch +1 Roberts Martin- Quinn ideology score Kennedy -1 Breyer Kagan -2 Ginsburg -3 Sotomayor -4 -5 The median justice is the one who can help secure a five-vote majority in controversial cases. Justice Kennedy has been the median justice for 18 of the 30 years he has served on the court. -6 -7 Term beginning: 40 50 60 70 80 90 2000 10 +4 Thomas +3 Alito +2 Gorsuch +1 Roberts Kennedy -1 Breyer Kagan -2 Ginsburg -3 Sotomayor Martin-Quinn ideology score -4 -5 The median justice is the one who can help secure a five-vote majority in controversial cases. Justice Kennedy has been the median justice for 18 of the 30 years he has served on the court. -6 -7 The Supreme Court Loses Its Center July 1, 2018",3
"Credit...Wu Hong/European Pressphoto AgencyFeb. 26, 2014BARCELONA, Spain Smartphones are going against one of the long-held rules in portable electronics, that smaller is better.Year by year, computers, storage devices and music players have shed size and weight. And for decades, it has been happening with cellphones, too.But now cellphones, and smartphones in particular, are going the way of the television: They just keep getting bigger and bigger. And people keep buying them.The trend became even more apparent this week, as handset makers introduced a number of big-screen smartphones from five diagonal inches to more than seven inches at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain.Samsung Electronics, Sony and the Chinese manufacturers Huawei and ZTE, among others, are all betting that consumers find images and video to be more vivid and engaging on a bigger screen, and that they may prefer to carry a larger phone instead of both a smartphone and a tablet.The turn to bigger screens is a sharp departure from the dominant strategy of phone makers just a few years ago, when critics often and loudly mocked devices with big screens, joking that people would never buy them because they would not fit in the pockets of tight hipster jeans, or because people would not want to be seen clutching big devices to their skulls.But Samsung, the No. 1 phone maker in the world, pushed hard on phones with bigger screens, and the effort has paid off with millions of units sold, particularly in Asia.Samsung has said its research found that people liked bigger-screen phones because they wanted a device that was good for handwriting, drawing and sharing notes. Asian-language speakers found it easier to write characters on a device using a pen rather than typing.VideoMolly Wood says bigger may be better when it comes to smartphones.Now Samsung and other phone makers believe they will find a more receptive audience outside Asia, too, including in the United States and Europe.The cultural difference is not much, said Lee Young-hee, head of marketing for Samsungs mobile division. Most people like the bigger display its more and more welcomed by people around the world.Demand for big-screen phones is clearly strong. IDC, the research firm, estimates that at least 20 percent of all smartphones shipped last year in China, the largest smartphone market in the world, were five inches or larger. It predicts that number will balloon to 50 percent by 2017.IDC also recently predicted that the growth of tablet sales would slow this year, partly because many people are gravitating toward larger phones and shifting away from smaller tablets.In some markets consumers are already making the choice to buy a large smartphone rather than buying a small tablet, said Tom Mainelli, an IDC research director who follows tablets.The most extreme example of a big phone announced this week came from Huawei, which introduced the MediaPad X1, a smartphone with a seven-inch screen, usually a size used in tablets. Because the device has a phone connection, Huawei calls it a phablet.Roland Sladek, a vice president for international media affairs at Huawei, said the company found that people liked to spend at least an hour a day on mobile devices, and that has driven the demand for larger screens.Other makers are pushing slightly smaller versions. Samsung this week introduced the Galaxy S5, its latest flagship smartphone, which, at 5.1 diagonal inches, is just a smidge bigger than its predecessor. Sony unveiled the Xperia Z2, a 5.2-incher. ZTE introduced the Grand Memo II, a six-inch phone; last month it introduced the Boost Max, a 5.7-incher that the company hopes will help it gain some traction among American buyers.In the U.S., people live in the big house, drive a big car and I think theyll also like big phones, Lixin Cheng, chief executive of ZTEs American division, said in an interview.ImageCredit...Lluis Gene/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesHe said that with software becoming more sophisticated and data networks speeding up for watching videos, people just want bigger screens.Reception to big-screen phones is still relatively muted in the United States. The NPD Group, a research firm, said that out of the 121 million smartphones sold in the United States last year, only 3.3 million were 5.3 inches or larger, what NPD considers a phablet. In the fourth quarter, phablets represented only 4 percent of United States smartphone sales, NPD said.That is largely because Apple, the No. 1 phone maker in the United States, has refrained from making a bigger iPhone. Some analysts say they are skeptical that large phones will take off in the United States unless Apple releases one.Rumors abound that Apple is already planning to release at least one bigger iPhone this year. Timothy D. Cook, Apples chief executive, has said the company would consider releasing one only when the technology was good enough to meet Apples high standards for quality. Starting with the sixth-generation iPhone, Apple increased the size of the iPhone screen to four inches, up from 3.5 inches in the earlier models still considerably smaller than many devices coming from its Asian rivals.Natalie Kerris, an Apple spokeswoman, declined to comment for this article. But the global market data, along with the traction that Apples Asian competitors are gaining, show a clear opportunity for Apple to expand sales with a bigger iPhone, perhaps among affluent customers in China, where the company hopes to be a more dominant player.Apple could position a bigger iPhone as a premium product, costing even more than its current high-end iPhone, said Milton Pedraza, chief executive of the Luxury Institute, a research firm. It could be marketed toward wealthy older customers who would enjoy a bigger screen because their vision is becoming worse and their fingers are not as dexterous, he said.Laurence Isaac Balter, chief market strategist at Oracle Investment Research, which has clients that own Apple shares, thinks it is necessary for Apple to introduce a larger phone. It would clearly appeal to people who want just one device instead of both a phone and a tablet, he said.The fact that today many Apple users walk around with an iPad Mini and an iPhone is ludicrous, Mr. Balter said. In the end the manufacturer that delivers the one device that does it all will be the winner.Lenovo, the Chinese company that is buying the handset division of Motorola from Google, said that there seemed to be no turning back from supersizing smartphones in markets around the world.Liu Jun, executive vice president for Lenovos mobile business group, said: Simply put, more and more people are using their smartphones for entertainment, and people like viewing their photos, TV shows and movies on a larger hand-held screen.",5
"Credit...M. Spencer Green/Associated PressFeb. 18, 2014CHICAGO Kain Colter, a football recruit, arrived at Northwestern University with dreams of becoming an orthopedic surgeon. But the summer before his freshman year, he said, he was steered away from a chemistry class toward less strenuous options like sociology and African history. He is now pursuing a psychology degree instead of the premed track.During the 2012 season, after Colter was named the starting quarterback, Northwestern traveled to Ann Arbor, Mich., for a day game against Michigan. The Wildcats made the five-hour trip by bus, had team meetings, held walk-throughs, played the game, met reporters and then returned to campus in Evanston, Ill. According to Kolters accountable hours log to ensure he had time for academics, he spent 4 hours 8 minutes on football activities.Colter, the leader of the Northwestern football teams petition to form a union, which was filed last month, offered more than four hours of testimony Tuesday afternoon before the National Labor Relations Board. In question is the relationship between academics and football for players specifically, which comes first and whether these athletes should be classified as students or employees. Colter insisted he was on campus to play football.Its truly a job, Colter said. Theres no way around it.Northwestern graduates 97 percent of football players, the highest among schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Lawyers for the university, which argues that its football players do not meet the requirements for a union because they are full-time students, expressed difficulty in understanding why Northwestern was chosen as a test case.They then painted Colter as a football player who has benefited greatly from his educational experience, and argued that athletics and academics go hand-in-hand.Colter has a grade point average above 3.0. He was Academic All-Big Ten each year he was eligible. He took classes like Financial Business and Introduction to Neurology. He received tutoring and extra help when he asked for it. He is scheduled to graduate this year, earlier than expected. There could be no truth, Northwesterns lawyers said, to the accusation that he was not permitted to study and study what he wished.The hearing was moved from the N.L.R.B.s regional office to a larger room in a federal building in downtown Chicago because of increased interest. Tuesday began with Colter fielding questions from John Adam, a lawyer for the College Athletes Players Association, the newly formed group seeking to represent Northwestern players in collective bargaining.Colter, who exhausted his athletic eligibility last season, laid out in great detail his experiences during what he called the yearlong college football season. He spoke of the time demands, the control exerted by coaches and administrators and the academic sacrifices he said he had to make.It makes it hard for you to succeed, Colter said. You cant ever reach your academic potential with the time demands. You have to sacrifice, and were not allowed to sacrifice football.Training camp before the season, Colter said, requires 50 to 60 hours per week and 14-hour days, on occasion. The in-season commitment is 40 to 50 hours each week. Summer workouts require a return to campus only a few weeks after the end of the previous school year. Colter said he was never allowed to schedule a class before 11 a.m. because of practice, which made it difficult to take the courses he needed to continue as a premed student.The idea was to cast Colter and his teammates as employees, with responsibilities to match. The compensation, argued Colter, is an athletic scholarship, valued by Northwestern at $76,000 per year. And, he continued, because it can be revoked year to year in some cases, there is a quid pro quo to deliver on the football field. (When Colter was recruited, he received a one-year renewable scholarship, but later he was given a multiyear scholarship.)When he was cross-examined by university lawyers, Colter was pressed about whether his scholarship money dedicated to tuition was taxed. And he was asked whether he received retirement and paid time-off benefits like other Northwestern employees. He said he did not.Beyond the employee-student construction, there were other logistical questions raised by Northwesterns lawyers. The College Athletes Players Association does not seek to represent non-scholarship football players or any athletes who do not play football or basketball, including women, which raises issues surrounding Title IX, the federal law that requires equal spending on mens and womens sports.The hearing continues Wednesday and is expected to last all week.The players group has another witness to call, and Northwestern will call several experts to try to rebut Colter. The regional N.L.R.B. office here will then make a ruling, most likely within a month of the hearings conclusion. That decision can be appealed to the federal board in Washington.Colter, meanwhile, will head to the N.F.L. combine in Indianapolis this weekend.",4
"Golf|3 Top Seeds Eliminated in Arizona Golf Eventhttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/sports/golf/3-top-seeds-eliminated-in-arizona-golf-event.htmlSports BriefingFeb. 20, 2014Top seeds Henrik Stenson, Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose were all eliminated in the second round of the W.G.C.-Accenture Match Play Championship in Marana, Ariz..The No. 1-seeded Stenson never led in falling to Louis Oosthuizen, 4 and 3, while fourth-seeded McIlroy lost a seesaw encounter with Harris English after 19 holes. Rose, seeded second, lost to Ernie Els, who birdied the 20th hole. Anna Nordqvist of Sweden shot a six-under 66 to take a one-stroke lead over Michelle Wie in the first round of the L.P.G.A. Thailand tournament in Pattaya, Thailand. Three other Americans, Angela Stanford, Lexi Thompson and Jennifer Johnson, shot 68. (AP)",4
"Credit...U.S. Coast Guard, via European Pressphoto AgencyDec. 3, 2015Corporations continue to use big civil legal settlements with federal regulators as a way to deduct billions of dollars from their American tax bills, largely because the regulators fail to forbid the practice in the terms of the settlements.BPs pending $20.8 billion settlement with the Justice Department and other federal and state regulators related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 allows about $15.3 billion to be classified as a tax-deductible business expense, according to an analysis by the United States Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit advocacy group.Likewise, the Justice Departments $25 billion mortgage settlement with Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial in 2012 billed at the time as the largest consumer financial protection settlement in United States history allowed $20 billion to be eligible as a deduction for those banks.U.S. PIRG analyzed the 10 largest settlements by five federal regulators since 2012, six of them bank settlements in the aftermath of the financial crisis.The report, to be released on Thursday, found that while corporations paid a collective $80 billion to resolve federal charges of wrongdoing, some $48 billion of that amount was eligible as a deduction.The end result was a loss of $17 billion in tax revenue, more than the annual amount in estate taxes collected by the Internal Revenue Service, the group noted.In BPs case, the company had already written off $37.2 billion in cleanup costs arising from the Deepwater Horizon spill and claimed a $10 billion tax credit.Short of changing the federal tax code, which allows companies to classify civil settlements, including restitution and other payments, that are not fines as tax-deductible, U.S. PIRG is urging agencies to disclose more details about their agreements.The public deserves transparency and accountability, said Michelle Surka, U.S. PIRGs tax and budget program director, in an interview.ImageCredit...Alex Wong/Getty ImagesBig settlement announcements that fail to disclose how much of the payment is tax-deductible diminish the deterrence value for companies, she added.Large legal settlement agreements often serve as an expeditious way for a corporation with strong legal muscle to negotiate its way out of a potentially larger fine or penalty without admitting or denying wrongdoing, the report says.A similar sentiment was voiced by Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Senator James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, in legislation they introduced this year, which passed the Senate unanimously in September. That measure, called the Truth in Settlements bill, would require more disclosure about settlements with enforcement agencies. The House has yet to take up the bill.Regulators do not have a strong motive to prohibit the practice in settlements because the tax benefits are one way to bring parties to the negotiating table. Its a powerful incentive for companies, said Lisa B. Petkun, a partner at Pepper Hamilton in Philadelphia. And to the extent that its a sweetened deal by being deductible, its a carrot for regulators.With federal corporate taxes at about 35 percent and state taxes pushing that up to 40 percent in some cases, youre not going to get a better incentive than a tax incentive to settle, said Diane Giordano, a tax partner at the accounting and advisory firm Marcum.Policies are unevenly applied, U.S. PIRG found in its research. Only about 18 percent of the publicly announced settlements by the Department of Justice explicitly prohibited tax deductions on settlement payments, while 15 percent of cases resolved by the Securities and Exchange Commission had the prohibition, according to the report.Companies have been willing to fight for years to preserve the deductions.Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, a kidney dialysis services provider, settled Medicare civil and criminal fraud charges with federal regulators in 2000, agreeing to pay $486 million. It deducted the $385 million in civil claims and fought the government in court over the deduction, ultimately winning in 2013. It even received a $50 million tax refund, plus interest, U.S. PIRG found.The I.R.S. said that unless enforcement agencies explicitly forbade it, corporations generally deducted settlements as a business expense.The groups report picks up from a 2005 study by the Government Accountability Office that found the tax-deduction eligibility was rarely addressed in agreements between regulators and corporations.U.S. PIRG examined publicly available out-of-court settlements from 2012 to 2014 involving the Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, the S.E.C., and the Department of Health and Human Services. It also looked at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created in 2010 by the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.None of the five agencies have publicly announced policies for the tax status of settlements, though the E.P.A. and the C.F.P.B. have acted consistently in making sure portions of their settlements were not tax-deductible, U.S. PIRG said.",0
"A well-known conspiracy theorist who entered the Capitol shirtless, wearing a fur headdress with horns, was among those arrested.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesPublished Jan. 9, 2021Updated Jan. 10, 2021A man who was photographed carrying the lectern of Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the rampage in the U.S. Capitol this week and another who roamed through the halls of Congress while wearing a horned fur headdress have been arrested and charged, the Justice Department said on Saturday.Adam Johnson, 36, of Parrish, Fla., was arrested by U.S. marshals on Friday night after a widely circulated photograph showed him sporting a wide smile as he waved to the camera with one hand and hauled off Ms. Pelosis lectern with the other. On his head he wore a Trump knit hat, with the number 45 on the front.Jail booking records from the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office provide few details about the arrest of Mr. Johnson but show that he was arrested on a federal warrant. The records list a few identifying tattoos, including one that reads God, wings, cross. He was charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, one count of theft of government property, and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.My office, along with our law enforcement partners at all levels, have been expeditiously working and leveraging every resource to identify, arrest and begin prosecuting these individuals who took part in the brazen criminal acts at the U.S. Capitol, Michael Sherwin, the top federal prosecutor in Washington, said in a statement.ImageCredit...Agence France-Presse, via Pinellas County Sheriff's OfficeMr. Sherwins office said on Saturday that it had also charged Jake Angeli, a well-known conspiracy theorist who was photographed in the Capitol on Wednesday.Mr. Angeli entered the building shirtless, with his face painted red, white and blue, and wearing a fur headdress with horns. He also carried a spear, about six feet long, with an American flag affixed just below the blade, according to Mr. Sherwins office.Mr. Angelis outfit was one of the most recognizable from the breach, pushing him from obscure fame on the right-wing fringes to dinner-table conversations across the United States. Nicknamed Q Shaman for his propagation of baseless QAnon conspiracy theories, Mr. Angeli was a fixture at pro-Trump rallies in Arizona after the 2016 election. He was arrested on Saturday.The office also charged Derrick Evans, a state lawmaker from West Virginia who stepped down from his post Saturday afternoon, with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Mr. Angeli faces the same charges.Early Saturday morning, the F.B.I. arrested Doug Jensen, who was also among the extremist protesters. He was captured on video pushing far into the Capitol, ignoring the warnings of a law enforcement officer. The video, taken by Igor Bobic of HuffPost, shows the officer backing away as Mr. Jensen approaches him, moving up the stairs and through the halls of the building.On his Twitter account, Mr. Jensen posted a photo of himself during the incursion with the captions You like my shirt? and Me .Mr. Jensen is in custody in Polk County, Iowa, and is facing several charges. They include obstructing a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, according to a spokesman for the Polk County Sheriffs Office.According to The Bradenton Herald, a publication based in Bradenton, Fla., people who know Mr. Johnson, the man photographed carrying the lectern, identified him to the F.B.I. soon after the image emerged. The newspaper reported that Mr. Johnson had posted on social media just before the rampage, disparaging the Black Lives Matter movement and Washington police officers, calling the officers corrupt and saying they were picking the sides of criminals.The authorities also arrested Richard Barnett, 60, on Friday. He is the man pictured with his feet kicked up on a desk in Ms. Pelosis office during the Capitol siege. Mr. Barnett, who was arrested in Bentonville, Ark., will appear in federal court on Tuesday and will ultimately be extradited to Washington, D.C.The photo of Mr. Johnson, taken by a wire services photographer, and the subsequent arrest suggest that the authorities will use the myriad photographs and videos of the melee to pursue additional arrests. The F.B.I. posted images to its Twitter account and website on Friday asking the public for information about the people who were pictured.The Justice Department announced charges for 13 individuals, including Mr. Barnett, after the riot. The charges include entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.The number of arrests is expected to grow quickly as investigators scrutinize social media to identify the protesters, and some participants could face more serious charges, for actions including the death of Brian D. Sicknick, a Capitol Police officer who died after Trump loyalists struck him on the head with a fire extinguisher. One rioter, Ashli Babbitt, also died in the melee, shot by a police officer.Mr. Sherwins office said on Saturday that the offices civil rights division had opened a formal federal excessive force case into Ms. Babbitts death.The investigation into Ms. Babbitts shooting is a routine, standard procedure whenever an officer deploys lethal force, a Justice Department spokeswoman said.The U.S. attorneys office has also opened a federal homicide investigation into the death of Mr. Sicknick.Katie Benner contributed reporting.",3
"VideotranscripttranscriptStudent Death Leads to Protests in DhakaStudents took to the streets to protest the killing of a liberal blogger who was attending the university in Dhaka. The death came after a string of similar attacks by Islamist militants on liberal bloggers.AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY // Dhaka - 7 April, 2016 // Various more of protest // Various of Jagannath University students demonstrating in front of their campus against the killing of Nazimuddin Samad, who was hacked and shot to death // DHAKA, BANGLADESH (APRIL 7, 2016) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) // SOUNDBITE) (Bengali) UNIVERSITY STUDENT, BILLAL HOSSAIN, SAYING: We are protesting here because one of our law students at the university was brutally killed, we want a proper investigation and we want justice for the killing. // Senior assistance police commissioner briefing the press // SOUNDBITE (Bengali): Shahen Shah Mahmud, Senior Assistance Police Commissioner with Dhaka Metropolitan Police: Some miscreants killed him after tracking (him down). It could be linked to previous enmity or a personal clash. We are investigating it, keeping such factors in mind. // Various of body of Samad on guerney // Exterior of Dhaka Mitford Hospital mortuaryStudents took to the streets to protest the killing of a liberal blogger who was attending the university in Dhaka. The death came after a string of similar attacks by Islamist militants on liberal bloggers.CreditCredit...Munir Uz Zaman/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesApril 7, 2016NEW DELHI Men armed with machetes killed a secular activist at a crowded intersection in Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, a police official said on Thursday, the latest in a series of grisly attacks on intellectuals and bloggers who have written critically about militant Islam on social media.Witnesses said a group of cleanshaven men surrounded Mohammad Nazim Uddin, a law student, around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday and slashed his head, then shot him when he fell to the ground, said Syed Nurul Islam, the deputy commissioner of police for Wari, the area of Old Dhaka where the killing took place.Mr. Uddin, 26, was an atheist who frequently expressed his views on Facebook, often posting as many as five times a day. His family had asked him to stop, fearful that the posts would make him a target, and for about four months, ending in January, he had complied, said Gulam Rabbi Chowdhury, a childhood friend.To tell the truth, he was always a little detached from his family; he had trouble with them because of his views on religion, he said. He was very outspoken. He didnt worry about whether you were with him or not.Mr. Uddins killing deepens the sense of dread among those campaigning for secular causes, said Mr. Chowdhury, an official in a regional chapter of the Communist Party of Bangladesh.If we keep our mouths shut, then theyll finish the atheists one by one, and after that, theyll eventually come to us, he said. Everyone is afraid to speak out now.The assault was eerily similar to a series of attacks on bloggers carried out last year, often in crowded public places. The leader of Al Qaedas branch in the Indian subcontinent released a video taking responsibility for two of the killings, calling the victims blasphemers. In October came fatal attacks on two men who had published the works of atheist writers.Many writers and journalists have become hesitant to publish work that could attract the attention of Islamists, and a growing list of activists have applied for asylum in Western countries.Robert D. Watkins, the United Nations resident coordinator in Bangladesh, called on the government to ensure the perpetrators were brought to justice. His statement noted that courts had so far delivered a verdict in only one of the recent blogger killings, the murder of Rajib Haider in 2013.As a student, Mr. Uddin was part of the Shahbag movement, which seeks to punish Islamist leaders convicted of war crimes during the bloody 1971 war for independence from Pakistan.His Facebook writings focused on the ideological rift that has opened among young Bangladeshis, between those who see the country as fundamentally secular and those gravitating toward orthodox Islam.He frequently urged the government to take a tougher line with Islamist groups. In one post, he used a proverb to criticize the governments approach to rising militancy, likening it to raising a baby snake by feeding it milk and bananas. Asked for his religious views, Mr. Uddin wrote, I have no religion.In August, he responded publicly to what appeared to be threats, saying: No one is forcing you to read or look at what I write. So why this violence, this murdering? Then he abruptly ceased his prolific postings, explaining his decision with a grim verse: I wont write anymore. I wont stay here anymore. Your hell can stay your own. Everyone can burn or die in this hell.In January, when he resurfaced on social media, his friends cheered his return and asked why he had been away so long.",6
"Seeing Comet Borisov wont be easy for the typical sky gazer, but astronomers still have a lot to learn from this extrasolar tourist.Credit...European Southern Observatory/EPA, via ShutterstockPublished Dec. 24, 2019Updated Dec. 26, 2019After drifting between stars for eons, Comet 2I/Borisov will make its closest approach to Earth on Saturday, Dec. 28. The comet is only the second confirmed interstellar object to be observed in our solar system, after Oumuamua in 2017. During the comets close approach, it will be about 180 million miles away from us, which at that point will be farther away than Mars.Unfortunately for sky gazers hoping to catch a glance of this years Christmas comet, it will be very difficult to see, though you can try.Can you see Comet Borisov with a telescope?It is going to be very tough. Comet Borisov is small less than half a mile across and it is getting fainter as it moves away from the sun.There are no records, so far, of someone seeing the comet with just their eyes through a telescope, said David Jewitt, a planetary astronomer at the University of California, Los Angeles.Some amateur observations have been made using CCD telescopes, which have cameras in place of the eyepieces. But unless youre using a telescope with an aperture larger than 20 inches, you will see only a fuzzy ball.Gennadiy Borisov, the Crimean astronomer who discovered the comet in August, used a 26-inch aperture telescope he built to make his finding. Also, the comet will be diving into the Southern Hemisphere, so it will be even harder for us to see north of the Equator, Dr. Jewitt said.But if you would really like to try, Dr. Jewitt suggests grabbing a large telescope that is at least a meter in diameter and then going somewhere far from any city lights, like the top of a mountain in a desert.What have we learned about the comet?On Dec. 12, the Hubble Space Telescope released two images of Comet Borisov that show the icy interloper as a bright blue dot crowned by a ghostly aura. The first image was taken in November and features a photobomb from a faraway galaxy. The second was taken while the comet made its closest approach to the sun. The ghastly glow around the comet is made of dust and ice particles that are being ejected from its core. That wispy tail measures more than 100,000 miles long.The Hubble images basically show us that this comet has the same kind of physical structure as comets in our own solar system, said Jennifer J. Wiseman, a senior project scientist with the Hubble Space Telescope mission.Comets in our solar system are like fossil records of its earliest days. Because they spent most of their lives far from the sun, they retain the most primitive material from the solar systems early years. By studying Comet Borisov, scientists are getting some of their closest observations yet into the formation of another star system.The planetary system that this object came from originally was possibly not that different from our solar system, said Heidi B. Hammel, a planetary astronomer with the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy.The Hubble observations have also yielded surprises about the size of the comets core. At its upper limit, it has a radius of about 500 meters, or a third of a mile, and only a couple hundred meters at its lower limit. That makes it about one-fifteenth the size that astronomers previously thought.Because Comet Borisov is so small, its possible the space rock could break apart, Dr. Jewitt said. As the icy rock travels near the sun, it heats up and ejects more and more material. This process, called outgassing, can accelerate the spinning of the comet. The smaller the comet, the faster its spin can be accelerated, which could potentially cause it to explode. Because Comet Borisov just whisked by the sun in early December, theres still a chance it could experience such a fate in the next few months as it tries to exit our solar system.Itll be interesting because well be able to see what comes out from the inside of one of these interstellar bodies as it breaks down, Dr. Jewitt said. Im hoping for an explosion.Are there more interstellar objects in our solar system?Although weve so far observed only two in our solar system Oumuamua and Comet Borisov scientists predict there may be as many as 10,000 interstellar bodies floating within the orbit of Neptune, our solar systems farthest known planet. Nearly all of these objects are too far and too faint to observe.VideoA time-lapse sequence of the comet 2I/Borisov over a seven-hour period. It is the second known interstellar object to enter our solar system, passing through at 110,000 miles per hour. NASA, Images by ESA and J. DePasqualeCreditCredit...Space Telescope Science Institute/NASA, via Associated PressWill we observe more interstellar objects in the future?The difficulty with spotting these interstellar interlopers is that they are not very bright. But astronomers are optimistic we will see many more in the future.Once youve found the first one, then finding more become easier and easier, Dr. Jewitt said. We can expect to find more objects in the next year or two.Dr. Hammel agreed, saying new telescopes like the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which is being built in Chile, will help in the search.Its going to be a really cool time for astronomy, she said.Has an interstellar object ever hit Earth?We dont know the answer yet. Dr. Jewitt has calculated that Earth probably gets pelted with an interstellar object like Comet Borisov or Oumuamua about once every 100 million years. That would suggest our planet has experienced about 50 interstellar encounters during its deep history.And if they did strike our world, what did they bring with them?If they were able to carry biological materials from another system, Dr. Jewitt said, maybe they would survive and could implant all over the galaxy.",7
"Credit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesMarch 19, 2017When the leader of the United Nations apologized to Haitians for the cholera epidemic that has ravaged their country for more than six years caused by infected peacekeepers sent to protect them he proclaimed a moral responsibility to make things right.The apology, announced in December along with a $400 million strategy to combat the epidemic and provide material assistance and support for victims, amounted to a rare public act of contrition by the United Nations. Under its secretary general at the time, Ban Ki-moon, the organization had resisted any acceptance of blame for the epidemic, one of the worst cholera outbreaks in modern times.Since then, however, the United Nations strategy to fight the epidemic, which it calls the New Approach, has failed to gain traction. A trust fund created to help finance the strategy has only about $2 million, according to the latest data on its website. Just six of the 193 member states Britain, Chile, France, India, Liechtenstein and South Korea have donated.Other countries have provided additional sources of anti-cholera funding for Haiti outside the trust fund, most notably Canada, at about $4.6 million, and Japan, at $2.6 million, according to the United Nations. Nonetheless, the totals received are a fraction of what Mr. Ban envisioned.In a letter sent to member states last month, Mr. Bans successor, Antnio Guterres, asked for financial commitments to the trust fund by March 6. He also appeared to raise the possibility of a mandatory dues assessment if there were no significant pledges.The deadline came and went without much response.Mr. Guterres has not stated publicly whether he intends to push for a mandatory assessment in the budget negotiations now underway at the United Nations. Privately, however, diplomats and United Nations officials said he had shelved the idea, partly because of strong resistance by some powerful members, including the United States.ImageCredit...Khaled Kazziha/Associated PressDiplomats said part of the problem could be traced to simple donor fatigue, as well as to many countries reluctance to make financial commitments without certainty that the money will be used effectively.The donor challenge was acknowledged by Dr. David Nabarro, a United Nations special adviser who rose to prominence running its mobilization to fight the Ebola crisis in West Africa, and who has been leading its fund-raising efforts for Haiti as he seeks to become the next director general of the World Health Organization.Donors will respond, but they need to be convinced that theyre going to be given a good proposition for whats done with their money, he said in January at the World Economic Forum. The Haiti cholera story is not actually a very good one, in that its taken us a rather long time to get on top of it, and still the problem is persisting.The fund-raising effort has been further complicated by the Trump administrations intention to cut spending on foreign aid. The United States, historically a leading source of Haitis foreign aid, is also the biggest single financing source for the United Nations, which may now confront painful choices over how to allocate reduced revenue.Ross Mountain, a veteran United Nations aid official who is its senior adviser on cholera in Haiti, said that a number of ideas concerning the financing were under discussion. And, he said, while $400 million is not a very large sum, considering the circumstances, we are all very aware about the competing demands.Mr. Mountain also conceded that on the financial side, we have not moved further ahead.Mr. Trumps new United Nations ambassador, Nikki R. Haley, who has called the cholera crisis nothing short of devastating, did not respond to requests for comment about the funding problem. But in her Senate confirmation testimony in January, Ms. Haley said, Were going to have to make this right with Haiti, without question, and the U.N. is going to have to take responsibility.Cholera, a waterborne bacterial scourge that can cause acute diarrhea and fatal dehydration if not treated quickly, has killed nearly 10,000 people and sickened nearly 800,000 in Haiti, the Western Hemispheres poorest country, since it was introduced there in 2010 by infected Nepalese members of a United Nations peacekeeping force. This year, as of late February, nearly 2,000 new cases had been reported, amounting to hundreds a week.Studies have traced the highly contagious disease to sloppy sanitation that had leached fecal waste laced with cholera germs from latrines used by the Nepalese peacekeepers into the water supply.ImageCredit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesWe still have the biggest outbreak of cholera of any country anywhere, said Dr. Louise Ivers, a senior policy adviser at Partners in Health, an international medical aid organization that has long worked in Haiti. Here we are, nearly seven years later, and its still a big problem.Compared with other disasters confronting the United Nations, like the Syria refugee crisis and famines threatening 20 million people in Yemen and parts of Africa, the Haiti crisis may not loom as large. But unlike the others, the direct cause in Haiti was traced to the United Nations.This fact weighed on Mr. Ban until near the end of his tenure. He finally acted after the organizations independent investigator on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, said in a scathing report that the United Nations failure to take responsibility for the cholera crisis was morally unconscionable, legally indefensible and politically self-defeating.But Mr. Bans apology for Haitis cholera epidemic also clearly reflected an assumption that all members were responsible for the success of the new strategy to defeat it. For the sake of the Haitian people, but also for the sake of the United Nations itself, we have a moral responsibility to act, he told the General Assembly on Dec. 1. And we have a collective responsibility to deliver.Advocacy groups that had been somewhat heartened by Mr. Bans words have grown increasingly anxious not only about the lack of money, but also about the lack of clarity in how the material assistance and support part of the plan, which represents half of the $400 million goal, will be used.Two leading advocacy groups for Haitian cholera victims, the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, sent a letter on Thursday to Mr. Guterres, requesting a meeting and expressing concern that the current trajectory of fund-raising and elaboration of the New Approach is betraying the U.N.s promises of a meaningful and accountable response in Haiti.Lawmakers in the United States critical of the United Nations response in Haiti have also put pressure on the organization.While the U.N. has admitted to wrongdoing and promised to create a fund to provide restitution to the people of Haiti victimized by cholera, Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, said in a statement last week, they have failed to make good on these promises.",6
"Hello, welcome to Live With The New York Times. Today were discussing press restrictions in Egypt and the region. This is a topic thats of particular relevance in the wake of President Trump calling the news media in the United States, the enemy of the American people. Declan Walsh, the Cairo bureau chief for The Times, will be joining us along with a handful of journalists who also work in Cairo. Theyll be discussing the challenges visual journalists face working in Egypt, and how things have gotten harder since the permissive days of the Arab Spring. Please jump in with your questions for Declan and the other journalists. And here are some of Declans recent articles from Egypt, including the latest on Hosni Mubarak, the autocrat who was toppled in 2011. Declan Walsh Bureau Chief, Cairo Thanks for joining us. Never easy, reporting in Egypt has become especially difficult in recent years. Dozens of journalists are in prison, the government imposes tight restrictions and many ordinary Egyptians are suspicious or even hostile towards reporters. Even a straightforward interview on the street can be tough. I look forward to starting the conversation at 9am ET. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Theyll be ready soon. Please join us by submitting your questions for them here. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Since the permissive days of the Arab Spring, it has been increasingly harder to work as a journalist in Egypt. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Visual journalists have a particular challenge because they must apply for a permit before filming anything on the streets. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sima Diab is a Syrian-American photographer based in Cairo. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sima says she normally focuses on long features & the stories of the day. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Dana Smillie is a freelance photographer and video journalist with Polaris Images, and has been based in Cairo since 1996. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sabry Khaled is an Egyptian photojournalist, documentary filmmaker, and lecturer of photography at the British University in Egypt. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sabry says he has stopped doing hard news because of the circumstances on the ground. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk No one could provide safety for him. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk My press card doesnt protect you, Sabry said. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk So he got into feature photography. Now he only covers the really important and big news, so he can have it in his archive. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk He says he feels that he has safety if working in a pack of journalists. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk If he went out right now and was working on the street, either nothing could happen, or literally anything can happen. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sabry doesnt have a 2017 press card. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk If someone asks him what hes doing while he is taking photos, he plays tourist. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Please join us by asking Declan and the other journalists in Cairo questions about press issues in Egypt and the region. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sima says she is worried about the perception of her, what her persona looks like. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk She is discussing the phenomenon of the honorable citizen. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sima says that once she was taking a photo of the Nile with her cell phone, a guy stopped her and said you foreigners are giving a bad impression of the country. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sima says she was completely taken aback she was just taking a lovely photo of the Nile. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Dana says this isnt new. Shes been working here for decades. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Dana says that when people confront you, they assume that as a foreigner youre trying to make Egypt look bad. R Rania Reader, Egypt What are the important stories that you think the world is missing because of press freedom issues in Egypt? Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Declan has a lot of experience with countries that restrict the press. He was kicked out of Pakistan in 2013, on the eve of national elections. Declan had lived and worked in Pakistan for nine years. Here are some stories on Declans expulsion: Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Rania in Egypt, Declan is now bringing up your question on the important stories the press is not covering. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sabry says that there are some stories about people suffering that cant be covered by photographers. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sabry says strength in numbers is important we go at least in pairs, not individually, no way. How about the press work in Syria? How afraid are journalist for their lives? How difficult is it? Also, how difficult is to blend with the culture of a foreign country? Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Reader A, Declan is now asking the group your question about press work in Syria. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sima says it is incredibly difficult to work in Syria. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sima adds that you need to find a good balance in terms of being in a foreign country and blending in. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sima: You can never really disappear. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk She says its crucial to be as honest as possible. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Dana hasnt been working in Syria either, but she does work in the region. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Dana says shes found it easier working in countries where people are used to be photographed. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Though that too has changed in Egypt in the last five years or so. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Since the Arab Spring, there has been a lot going on in Egypt so people got more used to seeing cameras, Dana says. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk But things have quieted down. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Dana: you definitely need a special permission for filming in the streets. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Someone will ask you for it, she says. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sabry says the situation now reminds him of the situation under Hosni Mubarak. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Under the revolution, it was like journalism heaven, Sabry says. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk But the situation now is bad again. NS Nora Sabry Reader, Egypt I think they feel that way because ever since the revolution, it has been a common perception among Egyptians that foreign media always highlights the negative in the country. Its sad, but you always hear it in conversations with family/friends. Too much of a generalization, but people pick it up and choose to believe it. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Declan explains the Al Jazeera case when three journalists working for Al Jazeera were arrested and charged. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Declan: That had a pretty chilling effect on peoples ability to do their job, for a period anyway. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sabry says that led him to say no to some important jobs. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Declan is talking about one of the most famous journalists in Egypt who was arrested. RR Ryan Roche Reader, Is the current U.S.-backed military dictator of Egypt worse or better for the free press than the last U.S.-backed military dictator of Egypt was? Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Here is a Times article on Shawkan: Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Nora, Declan is addressing your comment. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sima says that yes, news tends not to be happy. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk She says news is what is happening. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sima says most of her work focuses on migration and refugees, and very little of that is happy news. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Dana adds that she has worked on some non-political news and features, for example the recent archeological find. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Declan is now bringing up the United States and press freedom. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Declan says that Egypt clearly is a difficult place to work but not the only country in the world where these issues come up. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sabry says that the U.S. has always been seen as a role model in terms of how it treats its journalists. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk But now things have changed in the U.S. under Trump, he says. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sabry: Its very confusing. I dont know who we will use as a role model now. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Declan asks if fake news was a concept in Egypt. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sima says it hasnt necessarily been fake news in Egypt, but news with an agenda. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk She adds that some people thought she would Photoshop her photos because they didnt understand journalism. LF Lawrence Ferrara Reader, Boston, MA A crucial exploration of one of the basic foundations of any democracy, even more important in transitional democracies like Egypt: freedom of the press. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sima says that when you are thinking about pitching a story in Egypt, she must always think about her safety first. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Dana adds that when you get away from Cairo, it is much harder to work because people arent used to seeing cameras or foreigners. C Carine Reader, Toronto, ON Im an Egyptian journalist living in Canada. From my discussions with Egyptian friends and family, there seems to be a lot of distrust of the media there, especially foreign media. Why do you think that is? Do you think journalists have a responsibility to fix that distrust? Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Declan is asking Dana what its like to work as a women in Egypt and the region. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Dana says that one benefit is that she can go into both female and male settings, whereas her male colleagues would never be able to go somewhere where its all women. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Carine, Declan is asking your question now. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sabry says the main problem is when the government or officials say the international media shouldnt be trusted. GW Garrett Wolfe Reader, Ukraine Im a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine. I teach English and other subjects at a village secondary school. What can we, as educators, do to prepare the next generation to preserve (or advocate for/create) press freedoms? Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Garrett Wolfe, Declan is asking your question. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Sima says she loved photography when she was in school. She doesnt know if educators have a specific role to encourage press freedoms. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Declan: there does seem to be an issue of the publics trust of the press. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Declan is now talking about his own experiences. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Declan says that in many places, foreign journalists have challenges, but local journalists have the real safety concerns. Hanna Ingber Senior Editor, International Desk Thanks everyone for joining us today. Our conversation with Declan Walsh, Sima Diab, Sabry Khaled and Dana Smillie about working as visual journalists in Egypt is over. You can tell the live interactive journalism team what else youd like to see live at LIJteam@nytimes.",6
"on techHow two apps created new kinds of commerce in China, and what a cashless future might look like.Credit...Dani ChoiPublished Oct. 27, 2020Updated Jan. 28, 2021This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it weekdays.Its hard for those of us who live outside of China to grasp how paying for everything has gone digital in the country.Most businesses there, from the fanciest hotels to roadside fruit stands, display a QR code a type of bar code that people scan with a smartphone camera to pay with Chinas dominant digital payment apps, Alipay and WeChat. Paying by app is so much the norm that taxi drivers might curse at you for handing them cash.My colleague Ray Zhong, who used to live in Beijing and wrote about Alipays parent company selling stock to the public for the first time, spoke with me about how Chinas digital payment apps created new kinds of commerce, and whether China offers a glimpse at a cashless future for the rest of us.Shira: How did Alipay and WeChat get so popular in China?Ray: Credit cards were never prevalent in China. The country skipped over a generation of finance and went straight to smartphone-based digital payments.And the apps are simple for businesses. If a business can get a printout of a QR code, it can get paid by app. They dont need special machines like businesses do to accept credit cards or many mobile payments like Apple Pay, which are essentially digital wallets of bank cards, while Alipay and WeChat are more pure digital payments.Whats useful about these payment apps?China has a stodgy, state-dominated banking system. These apps have allowed small businesses to connect to modern financial infrastructure easily.I know paying with a credit card isnt tremendously difficult, but making it a fraction easier to buy stuff has enabled different kinds of commerce. You probably wouldnt buy something on Instagram for 50 cents with your credit card, but people in China buy digital books one chapter at a time.What are the downsides?Imagine if powerful tech companies like Google knew everything youve purchased in your entire life. Thats one.There are also concerns that Alipay and WeChat are so dominant that no one can compete with them.How did Chinas government respond to these two apps creating a financial system outside its explicit control?The government has been attentive. It put a cap on fees that Alipay and WeChat can charge merchants. And where the apps make their real money in making loans and selling investments the government wants to make sure borrowers arent being gouged and investment funds arent taking on excessive risks. These apps initially portrayed themselves as alternatives to the conventional, government-backed banking system. But in response to the governments scrutiny, Alipay and WeChat deliberately now say they are partners to banks, not competitors. Several government-owned funds and institutions are investors in Ant Group, Alipays owner.(Our newsletter cousins at DealBook have more information on the initial public stock offering of Ant Group.)Is China a preview of digital payments taking hold in the rest of the world?Alipay and WeChat developed for Chinas specific needs. Im not convinced similar QR-code-based digital payment systems will catch on elsewhere. Maybe in India.Alipay and WeChat are hardly perfect. I think Apple Pay is much easier to use, for in-person checkout at least. But the Chinese apps have the edge for online payments. No typing a 16-digit credit card number into a tiny field on your computer.When you lived in China, did you use payment apps?Yes, for everything: my rent, phone bills, food, gym classes, train tickets, rides on Didi the Chinese equivalent of Uber.What do you miss about the payment apps?Cash and making change are super-annoying. And I hate coins. Actually, does anyone like coins?If you dont already get this newsletter in your inbox, please sign up here.Good information mattersThere are two ways to counter bad information: Tackle the misinformation, or blare the correct information so people dont encounter or believe the bogus stuff.The fights were watching unfold at the big internet companies have mostly focused on the first. Theres constant drama about what Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other big internet properties are doing about the spread of conspiracy theories and misleading information about the coronavirus and possible voter fraud, including from President Trump.Misinformation has a way of getting ingrained in peoples brains particularly if we see it often enough or it comes from people we trust. But repeated good information can be powerful and stick in our minds, too.Thats why Twitter on Monday said it would start putting messages in a prominent spot at the top of Americans feeds to highlight credible information that can head off commonly circulated misleading information about the election.My colleague Mike Isaac wrote that among the communications are messages stating that voting results may not come immediately on Election Day, and that voting by mail is safe and reliable. (Twitter also continues to apply warning labels to the presidents misleading information about voting, including as recently as Monday night.)The Election Integrity Partnership, a coalition of researchers who focus on election interference, has also emphasized the power of underscoring what is going right with voting.In its guide to the public and journalists, the coalition recommended highlighting positive experiences people have in voting and emphasizing that the vast majority of ballot casting and counting will go smoothly. Focusing on isolated problems in elections can be used as false evidence to support bogus claims of voter fraud, the researchers said.Look, the next few days and weeks around Election Day are going to be noisy and confusing, and were going to be bombarded with misleading information. Theres no easy fix, but the researchers are telling us that wallowing in credible information and focusing on whats going right can arm our brains against the toxicity.Its your turn: What do you want to know about how tech companies are handling election-related information and results? My Times colleagues and I will try to tackle a selection of your questions in the coming days. Email us at ontech@nytimes.com and put VOTE in the subject line.Before we go Bogus information hyped by powerful people has a big impact: In the latest episode of the Stressed Election video series from The New York Times, my colleagues trace how partisans in Kentucky capitalized on a made-up tweet about voter fraud to spread doubts about the outcome of the 2019 governors race. (Nick Corasaniti of our politics team has more here.)Uhhh there were 700 people at an Airbnb party during a pandemic?! Airbnb has forever struggled with party houses rented homes where people throw ragers that sometimes spark violence or annoy the neighbors. Sources told my colleague Erin Griffith that Airbnb has long overlooked the problem to avoid turning away business.This is a direct result of how Facebook designs its computer systems: Research led by two information technology professors found that the more time people spend on Facebook, the more polarized their online news consumption becomes. And the polarizing effect is far more pronounced for conservatives than for liberals, the professors wrote in The Washington Post.Hugs to thisLook and listen to this orphaned baby buffalo whose deep guttural noises sound like shes saying hello. Or maybe its just me?! (Thanks to the Brass Ring Daily newsletter for bringing little Cheza to my attention.)We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think of this newsletter and what else youd like us to explore. You can reach us at ontech@nytimes.com. If you dont already get this newsletter in your inbox, please sign up here.",5
"Deal ProfessorDec. 15, 2015The proposed combination of Dow Chemical and DuPont shows that in todays markets, financial engineering prevails and that only activist shareholders matter. Whether that is good for the rest of us remains to be seen.The merger is certainly an impressive feat of financial engineering. It will bring together two companies: DuPont, with 54,000 employees, and Dow Chemical, with 53,000 employees. The two behemoths will merge, and then in the space of two years spit out three newly formed companies, one in agriculture, another in material sciences and a third in specialty products used in such fields as nutrition and electronics.This plan is one easily understood by a hedge fund activist or investment banker in a cubicle in Manhattan with an Excel spreadsheet. To them, it makes perfect sense to merge a company and then almost immediately split it in three. Doing so will meet the goal to define business lines with precision and, it is hoped, spur growth. Expenses can also be cut, on paper at least.The companies that the combined entity will create can cut $3 billion in expenses, but the last time I checked, three companies each require a chief executive, general counsel and many other executives, so these savings may be eaten up by new overhead.The problem, of course, is that putting together two companies and then splitting them almost immediately is no easy task. These are people and businesses being moved around and the logistics of integration alone may take years to work out.Pushing babies out into the world almost immediately seems to be asking for trouble. There will also be significant costs for the employees, suppliers and customers of all the companies involved. Whether this will create value for shareholders is up in the air, let alone whether this will create value for everyone else.DuPonts last spinoff, Chemours, a performance chemicals unit, has been a disaster, losing three-quarters of its value in less than a year after its separation.Nonetheless, it appears that the Dow Chemical chief executive, Andrew N. Liveris, initially proposed a split back into two companies, but Edward D. Breen, the chief executive of DuPont, countered with three. So it goes.Given the risks involved, one wonders why the companies would commit to this. The reason is those activist shareholders.Today, shareholder activist hedge funds roam our capital markets. They are willing to agitate vocally for change at almost any company. And in many cases the hedge funds are looking for a crystallizing event to capture more immediate value. A sale is the best option. But outside that, a spinoff has become the transaction du jour.In either case, the funds and other shareholders are for the most part not looking to do the hard work of a turnaround, but instead perform some financial engineering. Whatever an analyst with an Excel spreadsheet can do is what companies seem to be plunging headlong to mimic, paying heed to their shareholder masters.And the spinoff is the ultimate financial engineering exercise.The idea behind a spinoff is that one plus one equals three. A spinoff allows the company to be more focused and deliver more immediate value. Rather than having a company sell two product lines, management can be more transparent and focus on the line they are better at. In addition, high-growth and low-growth businesses can be separated.ImageCredit...Harry Campbell for The New York TimesThats the theory at least. In practice, studies have shown that spinoffs produce short-term gains but over the longer term may not be as successful. Moreover, spinoffs are often seen as a chance to take out the trash and jettison liabilities. Time Inc., for example, was spun off from Time Warner with substantial debt and has struggled significantly since its spinoff.Still, these splits are all the rage and there were 60 last year, according to spinoff research. Even Hewlett-Packard, the granddaddy of Silicon Valley, has split into two companies: a low-growth HP Inc. and a high-growth Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company. EBay and PayPal are now also separate. From General Electric to Yum Brands, corporate America is marching to the spinoff piper.For those who study history, it feels a lot like the go-go years back in the 1960s. Only then, companies raced to become conglomerates, under the theory that diversification was the key and that managerial talent could be brought to bear anywhere. Now, it is the opposite, and companies are being atomized. Those go-go years, by the way, ended badly.Despite the iffy empirical support and the bubbly atmosphere behind them, spinoffs persist because companies, frankly, are scared, and shareholders are much more powerful than they have ever been.Today, institutional shareholders like BlackRock, T. Rowe Price, Vanguard and a handful of other companies often hold almost a majority of a public company. And many of these institutional investors pay heed to proxy advisory services like Institutional Shareholder Services, meaning that these shareholders often vote as a group. Increasingly, institutional investors are throwing their support behind the activists.So far this year, hedge funds have won 59 percent of the proxy contests they waged, according to FactSet SharkRepellent. Now the mantra in corporate America is to settle with hedge funds before it gets to a fight over the control of a company.And companies are running scared. Much was made of DuPonts victory over Trian in a proxy contest. But now it is clear that it was a Pyrrhic victory. The chief executive of DuPont at the time, Ellen J. Kullman, is now gone.DuPont did much of what Trian wanted anyway, and now Trian, which holds only 2.9 percent of DuPont, is a cheerleader for this merger.Similarly, Dow Chemical had been a target of Daniel S. Loebs Third Point. While Mr. Loeb is supportive of the merger, he also sent a letter to the Dow Chemical board protesting the continued role of Mr. Liveris at the merged company. Mr. Liveris may have felt the need to do something to placate the activists by doing this deal, but in any event, it is now hard to see him surviving the wrath of Mr. Loeb.When historians look back at this era, they will see this deal as a turning point when corporate leaders threw up their hands and surrendered to activist shareholders.Is this a good thing?The Dow-DuPont merger may create more value, but the risks are high. In the boardrooms and cubicles, these risks appear to be acceptable, because they are just items on a spreadsheet.In real life, however, this series of complex transactions may end up harming not just shareholders but everyone else involved in the corporate enterprise.To be sure there is valuable activism out there, but perhaps it is time to take a deep breath and do some thinking about whether the spinoff craze and indeed the relationship between companies and shareholders makes sense before it ends badly, like those go-go 60s.",0
"Credit...Hanna Lassen/Getty ImagesClarissa Sebag-MontefioreNov. 6, 2018[Sign up for the Australia Letter to get news with context, conversation starters and local recommendations in your inbox each week.]SYDNEY, Australia When Hollywoods elite donned black at this years Golden Globes to raise awareness for the #MeToo movement, the Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush skipped the event altogether. Accused of sexually harassing a young actress during a production in Sydney of King Lear, Mr. Rush was suffering physical trauma, a friend said. Mr. Rush, 67, is now suing the Australian tabloid that had splashed the allegations across two front-page articles last year, claiming he was defamed. The case has become a moment of reckoning for both the Australian entertainment industry and a #MeToo movement that has been muted here compared with its counterparts in the United States and elsewhere.Closing arguments began Wednesday in the trial, which pits Mr. Rush against Rupert Murdochs Nationwide News, publisher of the tabloid, The Daily Telegraph. We are in the middle of this social movement, the middle of this social conversation and here is a case that is going to test how far weve come, said Zahra Newman, 31, an actress who starred in a recent production of The Book of Mormon.The trial, she said, is exposing a generational shift that is challenging for older generations of artists who just think, Get over it, toughen up.Given the nations strict defamation laws, some experts believe the Rush trial is also having a dampening effect on #MeToo.This case has done more than anything to slow down the #MeToo movement, said Michael Bradley, a Sydney-based media lawyer. There were a lot of stories being prepared in various media organizations ready to run that got killed.In the United States, public figures suing for defamation must prove that the allegations made against them are false and were published with malice. In Australia, by contrast, the onus is on the publisher to prove that the allegations are true.Australian media is incredibly reluctant to make serious accusations against public figures because defamation laws can be used to stymie public debate, said Matt Collins, a Victoria-based defamation lawyer.The Daily Telegraph articles accused Mr. Rush of acting inappropriately toward an unidentified actress, later revealed to be Eryn Jean Norvill, during a 2015-16 Sydney Theatre Company production of King Lear. One story was accompanied by a photograph of Mr. Rush in character and King Leer as the headline. ImageCredit...Brendan Esposito/EPA, via ShutterstockMr. Rush claimed that the articles falsely depicted him as a pervert and a sexual predator.The case has attracted a large cast of supporting characters. Backing Mr. Rush is the crme de la crme of the Australian theater aristocracy: The theater director Neil Armfield, the film director Fred Schepisi and the actors Robyn Nevin and Helen Buday have all testified in his defense. Supporting Ms. Norvill, who is in her mid-30s, are #MeToo campaigners and younger members of the theater industry. Many are using the online hashtag #IstandwithEJ.Mr. Rush conceded to the court that he may have called Ms. Norvill, who played King Lears daughter Cordelia, yummy but said it was simply theater banter.One text message Mr. Rush sent to Ms. Norvill read, I was thinking of you (as I do more than is socially appropriate), and included an emoji of a winking face with a panting tongue. Mr. Rush told the court it was a throwaway line.Ms. Norvill, testifying before a packed gallery last week, said that Mr. Rush made groping and cupping gestures toward her breasts during rehearsals, raising his eyebrows, bulging his eyes, smiling, licking his lips.In a critical scene, when King Lear grieves over Cordelias dead body, Ms. Norvill stated that Mr. Rush deliberately stroked her breast, a claim corroborated by another actor, Mark Winter, who was on stage.At the time I was on stage with my eyes closed playing a dead body, so I probably felt very trapped because I couldnt do or say anything, or move, Ms. Norvill said.Asked why she did not raise a formal complaint, Ms. Norvill said that the consequences of speaking out as a junior member of the cast would have been catastrophic.I was at the bottom of the rung in terms of hierarchy, and Geoffrey was definitely at the top, she told the court. She added that his power was intimidating and that the other members of the production were complicit in turning a blind eye.Deb Verhoeven of the University of Technology Sydney, who studies gender inequity, said that the Australian theater industry was a small world, literally. If you speak up, Professor Verhoeven said, you will suffer the reputational consequences more severely than you might in other places or other similar industries. The legal implications in Australia add to an atmosphere of fear.Why would I make an informal complaint or any kind of complaint if I feel I am going to end up having my reputation questioned in front of the court? Professor Verhoeven said. Thats why its silencing. The ultimate effect will be to shut down opportunities for women to voice their experience.Ms. Norvill is, in many ways, a reluctant #MeToo figure. Off-the-record comments she made to a colleague about Mr. Rush were later repeated by a source to The Daily Telegraph. She was not interviewed for the articles.Ms. Norvill has been forced to recount her trauma in a fight between a rich old man & a rich old newspaper. Whoever wins, she loses, wrote Nic Holas, campaigns director for Change.org Australia, on Twitter.In a dramatic cross-examination, Mr. Rushs lawyer, Bruce McClintock, accused Ms. Norvill of telling a whole pack of disgusting lies to blacken and smear his clients reputation. Key to the plaintiffs case is that she is only now speaking up. But Ms. Norvill told the court: I had the least power. What was I supposed to do?Want more Australia coverage and discussion? Sign up for the weekly Australia Letter, start your day with your local Morning Briefing and join us in our Facebook group.",6
"Credit...Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 22, 2018Europes leaders need to send a much stronger message that they will no longer offer refuge and support to migrants if they want to curb the right-wing populism spreading across the Continent, Hillary Clinton warned in an interview published Thursday.Mrs. Clinton said that while the decision of some nations to welcome migrants was admirable, it had opened the door to political turmoil, the rise of the right and Britains decision to withdraw from the European Union.I think Europe needs to get a handle on migration because that is what lit the flame, Mrs. Clinton said in the interview with The Guardian, which was conducted before the United States midterm elections this month.I admire the very generous and compassionate approaches that were taken particularly by leaders like Angela Merkel, but I think it is fair to say Europe has done its part, and must send a very clear message we are not going to be able to continue provide refuge and support because if we dont deal with the migration issue it will continue to roil the body politic, she said.The issue of migration has been a divisive one worldwide, and especially so in Europe, in the wake of an influx of refugees and migrants that, in 2015 alone, drew one million people to the continent. Since then, its leaders have cut unauthorized migration to Europe by 90 percent, largely through the kinds of deterrents Mrs. Clinton belatedly recommended.In the United States, President Trump has mobilized his base of supporters by focusing on what he calls the perils of immigration. He spoke frequently before the midterm elections about a caravan of immigrants traveling north toward the countrys southern border. Democrats agreed on a strategy of mostly ignoring that issue, but the party is divided on how best to grapple with immigration in general.Mrs. Clintons remarks to The Guardian drew criticism and a dose of surprise from an array of scholars, pro-immigration advocates and pundits on both the left and right, some of whom were so perplexed by the comments that they wondered aloud whether Mrs. Clinton had perhaps misspoken. Mrs. Clinton, many said, has a long history of supporting refugees a track record seemingly at odds with her recent remarks. Her immigration platform in the 2016 presidential election boasted that we embrace immigrants, not denigrate them.A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment on Thursday night.I was kind of shocked, Eskinder Negash, the president and chief executive of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, said of Mrs. Clintons comments. If shes simply saying you need to cut down on refugees coming to Europe to ask for asylum because they have a well-founded fear of persecution, just to appease some right-wing political leaders, its just not the right thing to do.Tanja Bueltmann, a history professor at Northumbria University in Britain who focuses on migration issues, said Mrs. Clintons perspective was tragically misjudged.Ultimately, immigration is not actually the problem that inflamed voters: Much more foundational issues, such as austerity, are the real reason, Professor Bueltmann said. Immigrants and refugees are simply the scapegoats populists have chosen to use to drive forward their ideas.Mrs. Clintons comments came against a complicated backdrop in Europe. Far-right parties have seized on the immigration issue and gained a foothold in parliaments and governments across the continent, while centrist leaders in a number of countries have undertaken largely successful efforts since 2016 to drastically lower the number of unauthorized immigrants now reaching their borders.Anti-immigration candidates have risen to power in Italy and Austria, and they have gained seats in countries like Germany. The open migration policies of Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany since 2005, ended up causing turmoil within her government and contributed to major electoral setbacks. She recently announced that she would step down as the leader of her conservative party in December and not seek re-election in 2021.To liberals in Europe, Mrs. Clintons advice may have seemed belated as the continent continues its conservative tilt; but it was right on time for the rising populists, who seized on her remarks as they seek to revive a fading and highly effective issue.Maybe Hillary has understood the lesson, said Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, which has advocated an Italians First platform and a hard line against migrants entering their country.Ms. Meloni, who recently hosted Stephen K. Bannon President Trumps former chief strategist as a keynote speaker at her partys annual conference in Rome, added that Mrs. Clinton appeared to acknowledge that opposition to migration was not a problem of racism, and that if you dont control migration it will affect mostly poor people, people living on the outskirts, working classes.The left didnt understand that, or didnt want to, and they paid for their distance from the people, she said.At the same time, centrist leaders have worked to make the continent less hospitable to unauthorized migrants; the number of new arrivals there has dropped to a fraction of what it was.For instance, Ms. Merkel, the center-right German leader, and Frans Timmermanns, the center-left former Dutch foreign minister, led efforts to forge a counter-migration pact with Turkey in March 2016, promising the country billions of euros in aid for their help in stemming the migrant flow from Syria. Italy reached a similar deal with Libya. The deal was criticized by liberals, leftists and rights activists but afterward unauthorized migration to Europe plummeted by 90 percent.We must get the facts straight, said Gerald Knaus, the architect of the controversial deal with Turkey. Today in 2018, few irregular migrants reach the European Union.Mr. Knaus said that mimicking the approach of the far right only risked helping them. Just getting tough without any strategy does the work of the far right, he said.Democrats in the United States have also struggled to come up with a collective stance on immigration to counter President Trumps relentless focus on the issue.Indeed, Mrs. Clintons assessment represented a stark reminder of the sort of politics she and her husband were long identified with: pragmatic and canny in the view of moderates but, to progressives, nothing less than craven accommodation to the nationalism she purportedly wants to tame.Conversely, Mr. Trump has not hesitated to fully leverage the politics of immigration and fear to his advantage. In the days leading up to the midterm elections, Mr. Trump and his aides managed to overcome a steady stream of negative headlines about the brutal killing of a dissident by his close ally, Saudi Arabia, by shifting attention to the caravan of Central Americans traveling toward the United States.The strategy reprised some of the themes that he used to great effect during the 2016 presidential election. Since the midterm election, talk of the caravan has largely dropped off the Republican agenda.Mrs. Clinton was largely absent from the midterm campaigns, and figures on the American left swiftly seized on her comments to argue that she was badly out of step with the Democratic Partys ascendant liberalism and should remain sidelined.Our job on the left, Corey Robin, a progressive author wrote in a stinging Facebook post, is to say: goodbye to all that, were done being done.",6
"on techAs Americas economy suffers, Big Tech does shockingly well.VideoCreditCredit...By Kenny BrandenbergerPublished July 31, 2020Updated Dec. 17, 2020This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it weekdays.Three months ago, the Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos effectively declared that his company would try to lose money. Instead, Amazon declared on Thursday the largest profit in its history.It was a bit awkward.Companies are supposed to make money, for sure. But this comes at a moment when politicians and the public are wondering if Americas digital superstars are so powerful and perhaps, tilt the game to their advantage that they simply cant be beaten.A company like Amazon planning to lose money and instead making billions of dollars in profit is a pretty compelling sign of dominance.This week in technology made me think of that old line about a once dominant car company: Whats good for the United States was good for General Motors, and what was good for GM was good for the country. (Theres a debate about what the GM executive meant by this, but its still a good line. Stay with me.)The bosses of four of Americas tech giants, dragged (virtually) in front of Congress this week, said some version of that old saw. They said that their successes are uniquely American, and that their companies enrich the country and the lives of people who live in it.Thats true. It is, however, hard to ignore that the fortunes of the country and its leading corporate citizens are currently going in opposite directions.We learned on Thursday that the United States wiped out five years of economic growth in a matter of months, as my colleague Ben Casselman put it. During that period, Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook mostly raked in money hand over fist.Mostly, this makes sense. During a pandemic, we have needed the products and services these companies provide. That does not, however, guarantee them financial success.(Read more: Last year, my colleague Kashmir Hill wrote about trying and mostly failing to cut the five big U.S. technology companies out of her life. Now, Kash is reflecting on what she learned from that experiment.)Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg said a few months ago that the way his company makes money selling ads to a local bakery or an online luggage maker tends to naturally rise and fall in tune with the economy. Thats generally true, but not right now. The economy is tanking at its worst rate in many decades. Facebooks advertising sales are fine.What has been bad for the United States hasnt yet been bad for Big Tech. Is, then, whats good for Big Tech good for the country? Im not sure.Theres an axiom in technology that change happens gradually, then suddenly. Tech companies can seem unbeatable until they arent often because of some rapid evolutionary change. It happened to Nokia and Sun Microsystems whose old headquarters was taken over by Facebook in a symbol of one empire replacing a crumbled one.So could there be a Fall of Rome moment for todays tech superpowers? Yes, in theory, and we might never see it coming. Right now, though, despite broader economic pains and a growing backlash to their power, these four American tech superpowers appear to be as close to invulnerable as you can get.Your TakeWeve spent a lot of time this week talking about the congressional antitrust hearing and potential abuses of power by Big Tech. We want to change things up a bit and hear from our readers. Tell us about one tech invention of the past decade that makes your life fabulous, or at least easier, and why.A reader in Allentown, Pa., Arthur Weinrach, inspired us, writing in to mention the many technological changes that hes grateful for, including the E-Z Pass.Tell us yours at ontech@nytimes. Please include your name and location. We will publish a selection of them.What didnt get attention at the Big Tech hearingThe antitrust code was written to tackle railroads and steel companies that grew strong enough to raise their prices at will.A hot conversation in legal scholarship is whether those laws apply to Google, Facebook and other companies that offer many products for no (monetary) cost to us. (My colleague Cecilia Kang talked about this on The Daily.)There are, however, at least a couple of examples in which tech companies are being accused of behavior that has led to higher sticker prices for us. In other words, there are conventional, railroad-baron-type antitrust claims against the tech giants, too.These instances didnt get much of an airing during the congressional hearing this week into tech company power, but theyre worth paying attention to.One issue involves Apples App Store. A lawsuit that is winding its way through U.S. courts claims that Apples commission of as much as 30 percent on digital app transactions makes all iPhone apps more expensive than they would be without Apples monopoly over iPhone app distribution.Another involves Amazons marketplace. Some merchants have said that Amazon punishes them if they list what they sell on Amazon for lower prices on Walmart.com or other spots. Those sellers claim that Amazon is in essence pushing up the prices on products on competitors shopping sites.Members of Congress didnt ask Apple and Amazon about these allegations, and the companies have previously denied them.Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia Law School and a contributing Opinion writer for The New York Times, told me that he believed those price claims were the strongest potential antitrust case against Amazon on legal grounds.He said, though, that theres a distinction between technical antitrust and public opinion antitrust. Intricate discussions about price setting are boring in congressional hearings.If you dont already get this newsletter in your inbox, please sign up here.Before we go Europe vs. Big Tech: The European Union and some of its member countries have been relatively aggressive in suing Americas tech giants and restricting them through new laws. But, as my colleague Adam Satariano writes, theres a belief that those tactics havent been effective, and now officials in Europe are drafting several new laws and regulations that aim at the heart of how the U.S. digital stars operate.Bond with your co-workers by robbing a (virtual) bank: Bored by Zoom calls for work? My colleague David Segal has a fun look at people holding business meetings and work bonding sessions in Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto and other video games. Just dont get killed by zombies on your lunch break.Seven. Billion. Video. Views: If you have kids, they have probably watched the slightly unnerving YouTube videos released by CoComelon and Blippi, two giants of childrens entertainment. Both are now part of a single empire whose YouTube videos generate more than seven billion views each month, Bloomberg News writes. Childrens programming is among the most popular destinations on YouTube, which has made some parents and childrens advocates uncomfortable.Hugs to thisHere is a cat eating corn on the cob rather elegantly, I think.We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think of this newsletter and what else youd like us to explore. You can reach us at ontech@nytimes.com. If you dont already get this newsletter in your inbox, please sign up here.",5
"Credit...Haley Ahlers/University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignNov. 17, 2016URBANA, Ill. A decade ago, agricultural scientists at the University of Illinois suggested a bold approach to improve the food supply: tinker with photosynthesis, the chemical reaction powering nearly all life on Earth.The idea was greeted skeptically in scientific circles and ignored by funding agencies. But one outfit with deep pockets, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, eventually paid attention, hoping the research might help alleviate global poverty.Now, after several years of work funded by the foundation, the scientists are reporting a remarkable result.Using genetic engineering techniques to alter photosynthesis, they increased the productivity of a test plant tobacco by as much as 20 percent, they said Thursday in a study published by the journal Science. That is a huge number, given that plant breeders struggle to eke out gains of 1 or 2 percent with more conventional approaches.ImageCredit...L. Brian Stauffer/University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignThe scientists have no interest in increasing the production of tobacco; their plan is to try the same alterations in food crops, and one of the leaders of the work believes production gains of 50 percent or more may ultimately be achievable. If that prediction is borne out in further research it could take a decade, if not longer, to know for sure the result might be nothing less than a transformation of global agriculture.The findings could also intensify the political struggle over genetic engineering of the food supply. Some groups oppose it, arguing that researchers are playing God by moving genes from one species to another. That argument has gained some traction with the public, in part because the benefits of gene-altered crops have so far been modest at best.But gains of 40 or 50 percent in food production would be an entirely different matter, potentially offering enormous benefits for the worlds poorest people, many of them farmers working small plots of land in the developing world.Were here because we want to alleviate poverty, said Katherine Kahn, the officer at the Gates Foundation overseeing the grant for the Illinois research. What is it the farmers need, and how can we help them get there?One of the leaders of the research, Stephen P. Long, a crop scientist who holds appointments at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at Lancaster University in England, emphasized in an interview that a long road lay ahead before any results from the work might reach farmers fields.ImageCredit...David Drag/University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignBut Dr. Long is also convinced that genetic engineering could ultimately lead to what he called a second Green Revolution that would produce huge gains in food production, like the original Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, which transferred advanced agricultural techniques to some developing countries and led to reductions in world hunger.The research involves photosynthesis, in which plants use carbon dioxide from the air and energy from sunlight to form new, energy-rich carbohydrates. These compounds are, in turn, the basic energy supply for almost all animal cells, including those of humans. The mathematical description of photosynthesis is sometimes billed as the equation that powers the world.For a decade, Dr. Long had argued that photosynthesis was not actually very efficient. In the course of evolution, several experts said, Mother Nature had focused on the survival and reproduction of plants, not on putting out the maximum amount of seeds or fruits for humans to come along and pick.Dr. Long thought crop yields might be improved by certain genetic changes. Other scientists doubted it would work, but with the Science paper, Dr. Long and his collaborator Krishna K. Niyogi, who holds appointments at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have gone a long way toward proving their point.Much of the work at the University of Illinois was carried out by two young researchers from abroad who hold positions in Dr. Longs laboratory, Johannes Kromdijk of the Netherlands and Katarzyna Glowacka of Poland.No one plans to eat tobacco, of course, nor does the Gates Foundation have any interest in increasing the production of that health-damaging crop. But the researchers used it because tobacco is a particularly fast and easy plant in which to try new genetic alterations to see how well they work.In a recent interview here, Dr. Kromdijk and Dr. Glowacka showed off tiny tobacco plants incorporating the genetic changes and described their aspirations.We hope it translates into food crops in the way weve shown in tobacco, Dr. Kromdijk said. Of course, you only know when you actually try it.In the initial work, the researchers transferred genes from a common laboratory plant, known as thale cress or mouse-ear cress, into strains of tobacco. The effect was not to introduce alien substances, but rather to increase the level of certain proteins that already existed in tobacco.When plants receive direct sunlight, they are often getting more energy than they can use, and they activate a mechanism that helps them shed it as heat while slowing carbohydrate production. The genetic changes the researchers introduced help the plant turn that mechanism off faster once the excessive sunlight ends, so that the machinery of photosynthesis can get back more quickly to maximal production of carbohydrates.It is a bit like a factory worker taking a shorter coffee break before getting back to the assembly line. But the effect on the overall growth of the tobacco plants was surprisingly large.When the scientists grew the newly created plants in fields at the University of Illinois, they achieved yield increases of 13.5 percent in one strain, 19 percent in a second and 20 percent in a third, over normal tobacco plants grown for comparison.Because the machinery of photosynthesis in many of the worlds food crops is identical to that of tobacco, theory suggests that a comparable manipulation of those crops should increase production. Work is planned to test that in crops that are especially important as dietary staples in Africa, like cowpeas, rice and cassava.Two outside experts not involved in the research both used the word exciting to describe it. But they emphasized that the researchers had not yet proved that the food supply could be increased.How does it look in rice or corn or wheat or sugar beets? said L. Val Giddings, a senior fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in Washington and a longtime advocate of gene-altered crops. Youve got to get it into a handful of the important crops before you can show this is real and its going to have a huge impact. We are not there yet.Barry D. Bruce of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, who studies photosynthesis, pointed out that the genetic alteration might behave differently in crops where only parts of the plant, such as seeds or fruits, are harvested. In tobacco, by contrast, the entire aboveground plant is harvested Dr. Bruce called it a leafy green plant used for cigars!Dr. Bruce also noted that, now that the principle has been established, it might be possible to find plant varieties with the desired traits and introduce the changes into crops by conventional breeding, rather than by genetic engineering. Dr. Long and his group agreed this might be possible.The genetic engineering approach, if it works, may well be used in commercial seeds produced by Western agricultural companies. One of them, Syngenta, has already signed a deal to get a first look at the results. But the Gates Foundation is determined to see the technology, assuming its early promise is borne out, make its way to African farmers at low cost.The work is, in part, an effort to secure the food supply against the possible effects of future climate change. If rising global temperatures cut the production of food, human society could be destabilized, but more efficient crop plants could potentially make the food system more resilient, Dr. Long said.Were in a year when commodity prices are very low, and people are saying the world doesnt need more food, Dr. Long said. But if we dont do this now, we may not have it when we really need it.",7
"Credit...Russell Contreras/Associated PressJune 14, 2018WASHINGTON An immigration bill pitched as a compromise between conservative and moderate Republicans would make sweeping changes to the United States immigration system while establishing a special visa program that would give young undocumented immigrants the chance to become citizens based on factors like employment and education.The draft bill, circulating among lawmakers on Thursday afternoon and up for a vote next week, closely adheres to President Trumps vision for an immigration overhaul. In addition to protecting the young immigrants, it provides billions of dollars for a wall on the southwest border while imposing new limits on legal immigration.The bill would also toughen rules for asylum seekers. And it would address the separation of children from parents under the Trump administrations crackdown on illegal border crossings by mandating that families be kept together while in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security, according to a summary of the measure.In effect, the measure would offer Democrats and immigration moderates in the Republican Party a difficult choice: accept hard-line changes to much of the immigration system in exchange for protections for young undocumented immigrants and what appears to be a modification of the wrenching policy of splitting up families at the border.Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, tried Thursday to blame Democrats for the family-separation policy that the Trump administration started because Democrats have refused to accept the broader changes in immigration policy demanded by the president.The separation of illegal alien families is the product of the same legal loopholes that Democrats refuse to close, and these laws are the same that have been on the books for over a decade, she said.The proposed bill, the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2018, grew out of weeks of negotiations between Republican conservatives and moderates.Were bringing legislation thats been carefully crafted and negotiated to the floor, Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin said Thursday. We wont guarantee passage.And its passage is far from assured. Within hours of the drafts release, Heritage Action for America, the political arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation, said that it would urge lawmakers to vote against the measure, deriding it as amnesty.Immigration rights groups are almost certain to oppose it, as well. And Democrats, who were cut out of negotiations, will most likely oppose it.It is nothing more than a cruel codification of President Trumps anti-immigrant agenda that abandons our nations heritage as a beacon of hope and opportunity, said Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader.In one sense, Mr. Ryan has already succeeded, having quashed a rebellion from moderate lawmakers who were attempting to use a parliamentary maneuver known as a discharge petition to force votes this month on immigration.Had the petition succeeded, the House would have considered and almost certainly passed a bipartisan measure that would pair a path to citizenship for the young undocumented immigrants brought to the country illegally as children, known as Dreamers, with enhanced border security.ImageCredit...Al Drago for The New York TimesBut the petition fell two signatures short of the number it needed and moderates lost much of their leverage.Mr. Ryan called the new immigration measure a very good compromise and said he hoped it would pass. But Democrats and other critics of the speaker said that the bill is destined to fail, and accused Mr. Ryan of putting it on the floor solely to give political cover to the moderates, many of them vulnerable in this falls midterm elections and facing demands from constituents to address the Dreamers fate.Hundreds of thousands Dreamers have been shielded from deportation by an Obama-era initiative known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which Mr. Trump moved last year to end.Under the proposed bill, Dreamers would be able to apply for a six-year renewable legal status, assuming that they meet certain criteria, including having been under 16 when they entered the United States.The new merit-based visa program would give them an avenue to obtain citizenship though the program would be open to others beyond Dreamers, a design that could make it less offensive to conservatives loath to approve any kind of special pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.Through the program, Dreamers would be able to obtain green cards, and, in turn, citizenship. The program would include a point system based on qualifications like education level, military service and employment.The draft bill also includes changes to the legal immigration system. It would eliminate the diversity visa lottery system, which is intended to bring in immigrants from underrepresented countries. It would also curb family-based immigration, eliminating the visa categories for married children of United States citizens and siblings of adult citizens.Such family-based migration is the cornerstone of the existing immigration system, but Mr. Trump has been pressing to move toward a system that favors educated professionals and skilled workers.The bill would beef up border security, providing funds for Mr. Trumps promised wall on the southern border with Mexico, while also including changes intended to strengthen immigration enforcement important provisions to conservatives and to the president.In an apparent effort to discourage lawmakers from rescinding funding for the wall in the future, the bill would tie the border-wall money to the issuance of visas under the merit-based program.Republicans, who said Thursday afternoon that they were digesting the 293-page document, seemed to have mixed views. A major question is whether conservatives, including members of the House Freedom Caucus, will support the legislation.Its going to legalize people who are illegally in America, said Representative Steve King, Republican of Iowa, who is known for his hard-line views on immigration. He said he would vote against the bill: Thats amnesty.But Representative Tom MacArthur of New Jersey, who considers himself a center-right Republican, said that he was encouraged by the draft and that the negotiations that produced it had been unifying for the Republican conference.Its forced all of the different perspectives to come together and talk about what really matters, Mr. MacArthur said.",3
"Energy & Environment |Googles Latest Steps to Increase Its Use of Renewable Energyhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/04/business/googles-latest-steps-to-increase-its-use-of-renewable-energy.htmlDec. 3, 2015As nations wrangle in Paris this week over reducing their carbon dioxide emissions, companies have been eager to show that they, too, are getting with the program.Now, from Google, long a leader among corporations in green energy investing, comes new agreements to buy renewable energy to power its operations that, taken together, nearly double what it had already promised.Were really trying to lead this transition to a cleaner energy economy, said Michael Terrell, principal for energy and infrastructure at Google, whose aim is to use 100 percent renewable energy. Its transforming anyone who touches the energy space. Its not just about data centers or tech companies.The Google announcement follows a flurry of similar, though smaller, corporate purchases of renewable energy this year by companies including Hewlett-Packard, Kaiser Permanente, Dow Chemical and Amazon Web Services. Bloomberg has agreed to buy more than 25 percent of theenergy generated by a wind farmin Chautauqua County tooffset the energy use of its New York offices.More recently, Unilever promised to eliminate coal from its energy mix within five yearsThe combination of falling prices for green energy and increasing pressure from shareholders and customers to show direct action, rather than just set goals, in fighting global warming has helped spur the deals. In addition, increased experience and the advent of new mechanisms like a green tariff, in use in North Carolina and Nevada, that Google helped devise to make it easier for companies to buy renewables through their utilities has made it easier for corporations to take greater control over where their energy dollars go.Google has invested about $2.5 billion in renewable energy projects. The latest deals will bring the amount of renewable energy it has agreed to purchase to 2 gigawatts from 1.2 gigawatts, executives said. The projects include solar power from farms in North Carolina and Chile and wind power from farms in Oklahoma and Sweden.",0
"The guidance acknowledges that many students have suffered from months of virtual learning.Credit...Juli Leonard/The News & Observer, via Associated PressPublished July 9, 2021Updated July 28, 2021The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged schools on Friday to fully reopen in the fall, even if they cannot take all of the steps the agency recommends to curb the spread of the coronavirus a major turn in a public health crisis in which childhood education has long been a political flash point.The agency also said school districts should use local health data to guide decisions about when to tighten or relax prevention measures like masking and physical distancing. With the highly contagious Delta variant spreading and children under 12 still ineligible for vaccination, it recommended that unvaccinated students and staff members keep wearing masks.The guidance is a departure from the C.D.C.s past recommendations for schools. It is also a blunt acknowledgment that many students have suffered during long months of virtual learning and that a uniform approach is not useful when virus caseloads and vaccination rates vary so greatly from place to place. Some experts criticized the agencys decision to leave so much up to local officials, however, and said more specific guidelines would have been more helpful.School closures have been extremely divisive since the outset of the pandemic, and advising districts has been a fraught exercise for the C.D.C. Virtual learning has been burdensome not only for students but also for their parents, many of whom had to stay home to provide child care, and reopening schools is an important step on the economys path to recovery.This a big moment, said Dr. Richard E. Besser, a former acting director of the C.D.C. Its also a recognition that there are real costs to keeping children at home, to keeping them out of school, that school is so important in terms of childrens socialization and development and it provides other supports as well.Virtually all of the nations major school districts plan to return to regular in-person instruction in the fall, and some are still trying to persuade hesitant parents to send their children back. Others are not giving parents a choice; New York City will not offer a remote learning option in the fall.Not everyone seemed inclined to follow the new advice. In California, for example, state officials announced Friday that they would continue requiring masks for everyone in school settings regardless.The C.D.C. was prompted by the national vaccination campaign, which has vastly changed the complexion of the pandemic in the United States. Erin K. Sauber-Schatz, a captain in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps who helped lead the C.D.C. task force that wrote the guidelines, said agency officials really want to get kids back in the classroom and believed the time was right to tailor prevention strategies to communities.This guidance has been written to be really flexible, she said.One major shift is in the recommendation for physical distancing. The agency continues to advise that students be spaced at least three feet apart, but with a new caveat: If maintaining such spacing would prevent schools from bringing all students back, they could rely on a combination of other strategies like indoor masking, testing and enhanced ventilation.In another shift, the C.D.C. made clear that masks could be optional for vaccinated people, in line with its recommendations for the general public.Still, the agency said that schools may opt to require universal masking if local cases were rising, for example, or if a school could not determine how many of its students and staff members were vaccinated. And it urged schools to be supportive of people who are fully vaccinated, but choose to continue to wear a mask. In general, students and staff members did not need to be masked when outdoors, the agency said.The C.D.C. also strongly urged schools to promote vaccination, which the guidance called one of the most critical strategies to help schools safely resume full operations. Studies suggest that vaccines remain effective against the Delta variant.The countrys two major teachers unions, which have close relationships with the Biden administration, praised the guidance. Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, whose members in some cases fought the reopening of schools this past school year, said the recommendations are grounded in both science and common sense.Still, both school and public health officials predicted challenges ahead.Ms. Weingarten said the mask guidance posed a particular test, since classes with students 12 and older would most likely include a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated students. Many officials in areas with low vaccination rates have already said they will not require masks in schools and at least eight states have already banned such requirements.Some parents who have advocated school reopening greeted the new guidelines with relief. Meredith Dodson, whose son is entering kindergarten this fall in San Francisco, organized a group of parents who spent the last school year fighting for the city to open its schools. The city finally allowed elementary school students to return in mid-April, but most middle and high school students were not able to do so at all.This is a huge step in the right direction, Ms. Dodson said.Many schools have already largely or entirely returned to in-person learning. By mid-spring, the vast majority of districts had allowed at least younger students to return to classrooms, although many, especially on the West Coast, only allowed them to attend part-time. Many families especially Asian American, Black and Hispanic families chose to keep their children learning remotely.In addition to masking and social distancing, schools are advised to consider regular screening testing, improving ventilation, promoting hand washing, and contact tracing combined with isolation or quarantine.Jennifer B. Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, said that while leaving decisions on school safety protocols to local officials might sound good in theory, it could prove paralyzing by putting prevention strategies up for negotiation and debate.I really hoped they could issue very clear guidelines specifying what level of distance is required, she said, and not sort of like a meditative journey on the relative benefits of distance.Other experts, including some who have been highly critical of the C.D.C., praised the new guidelines.For the first time, I really think they hit it on the nose, said Dr. Benjamin P. Linas, an infectious disease specialist at Boston University. I think its science-based and right on the mark.Dr. Linas said that he anticipated pushback to the recommendation that unvaccinated children wear masks, but that it still made sense.I dont want to send my 11-year-old to school without a mask yet, because Delta is out there, he said, referring to the highly transmissible variant that now causes the majority of cases in the United States. And even if shes not going to get severe Covid from Delta, Im not ready to take that risk.ImageCredit...Seth Wenig/Associated PressThere are also questions about what role the more contagious Delta variant may play as children and teachers return to the classroom this fall. Captain Sauber-Schatz said the prevention strategies that had worked for Covid-19 all along also worked for the Delta variant, so for now the C.D.C. was keeping a close eye on it.The new guidelines still rely on quarantine as a prevention strategy for unvaccinated students when they are exposed to the virus, which Emily Oster, an economist at Brown University who has pushed to keep schools open, criticized as a significant hindrance for students and parents.Its really disruptive, Dr. Oster said.Physical separation has been contentious, and the new guidance may not resolve the debate. While the C.D.C. recommends that students be permitted to sit just three feet apart, it continues to call for teachers and other staff members to remain at least six feet from students regardless of their vaccination status and if they are unvaccinated, six feet from one another.Some experts, including Ms. Freeman and Dr. Besser, found that aspect confusing. Captain Sauber-Schatz said those recommendations were rooted in studies looking specifically at physical distancing among students.For the studies that have been done looking at the difference between three feet and six feet, those were all between students in the classroom, not between teachers and students, she said. We have the science and the evidence to make that recommendation, that three feet is permissible between students in the classroom. We dont have that level of evidence for the staff.",2
"Credit...Brett Carlsen for The New York TimesFeb. 15, 2014PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. Early in the summer of 2002, Omar Minaya, the general manager of the Montreal Expos, made what he thought was an easy trade. After five consecutive losing seasons, the Expos, behind Vladimir Guerrero and Jose Vidro, were surprise contenders, in need of a boost. This was perhaps their last hurrah. As part of a six-player deal, Minaya sent Brandon Phillips, Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore all top prospects to the Cleveland Indians for Bartolo Colon. That season, Colon was one of the best pitchers in baseball. In 17 starts, he compiled 10 wins, 4 complete games and a 3.31 earned run average, but the Expos fell out of the playoff race, finishing 83-79. Still, Minaya would make the same trade again. Of course, he said in a phone interview, no doubt about it.Colon energized the clubhouse, the whole ballpark, Minaya said. There was a buzz around the city. Years later, the Mets hope Colon will have a similar effect. After five consecutive losing seasons of their own, they signed him to a two-year, $20 million contract this off-season. They would like him to replace Matt Harvey, their young ace, who will very likely miss the season after having Tommy John elbow surgery. They hope that Colon, 40, can locate his fastball and mentor their young pitchers.On Saturday, Colon sat in a dugout in the Mets minor league complex and met with reporters for the first time this spring. His biceps and his belly stretched the blue shirt he was wearing. He looked bigger than his listed weight of 265 pounds. Im happy to be here, Colon said, smiling.When Minaya traded for him, Colon was 29. His fastball could still touch 98 miles per hour. Off the field, too, he came as advertised. Minaya found him to be quiet, funny once you got to know him and a great teammate, who did not complain and wanted to pitch in every big game. There was just no drama, Minaya said. You knew he was going to take the ball.Minaya does not seem surprised Colon is still pitching. He was always big, but he knew how to carry his weight. His delivery was easy and compact, and he relied on his lower half, driving off that tree trunk of a leg. So as long as his legs are working, hes going to be fine, Minaya said.Colons fastball is his signature pitch. Minaya marveled at its late movement. Terry Collins, the Mets manager, noted how Colon can move it inside and out, up and down, seemingly put it wherever he wants. Because his fastball is so dynamic, it does not necessarily matter how hard he throws. With the Oakland Athletics last season, using that fastball, Colon won 18 games and posted a career-best 2.65 E.R.A., both ranking second in the American League.Some were suspicious of the performance. From 2006 to 2009, he had started just 47 games, and then he missed the 2010 season and his career seemed in jeopardy. While he was out, in April 2010, he had a procedure in the Dominican Republic that involved injecting his own fat and bone marrow cells into his elbow and shoulder. The doctor who oversaw the procedure, Joseph Purita, was known to use human growth hormone with other patients. He denied using H.G.H. with Colon. But in August 2012, Colon was suspended for 50 games for having an elevated level of testosterone. He later was named as part of the Biogenesis scandal. Through an interpreter, Colon said he was a little surprised as well by how well he pitched in 2013. He attributed his success to improved control and simply keeping healthy and working hard. Oakland had taken precautions to protect Colon. He rarely threw bullpen sessions between his starts. His pitch count was generally capped at about 100. Collins does not seem as concerned about Colons age or potential fatigue, even though he will turn 41 in May. He called Colon an old pro who knows how to prepare and take care of himself. But Collins acknowledged concern when Colon, with his doughy physique, has to bat, run the bases and maybe even slide. Other than with the Expos, Colon has not played in the National League. The Mets were the only team to offer Colon a two-year deal. He said that he was not concerned about his weight, and that he wanted to lead the pitching staff by example. Collins wants the younger pitchers to watch him work his fastball. Colon was asked, How much longer can he pitch?He said he would go until his body cant take it anymore.",4
"The tech C.E.O.s will appear together at a congressional hearing on Wednesday to argue that their companies do not stifle competition.Credit...Clockwise from top left: Erik Tanner for The New York Times; Kyle Johnson for The New York Times; Jim Wilson/The New York Times; Jessica Chou for The New York TimesPublished July 28, 2020Updated July 29, 2020WASHINGTON After lawmakers collected hundreds of hours of interviews and obtained more than 1.3 million documents about Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google, their chief executives will testify before Congress on Wednesday to defend their powerful businesses from the hammer of government.The captains of the New Gilded Age Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tim Cook of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Sundar Pichai of Google will appear together before Congress for the first time to justify their business practices. Members of the House judiciarys antitrust subcommittee have investigated the internet giants for more than a year on accusations that they stifled rivals and harmed consumers.The hearing is the governments most aggressive show against tech power since the pursuit to break up Microsoft two decades ago. It is set to be a bizarre spectacle, with four men who run companies worth a total of around $4.85 trillion and who include two of the worlds richest individuals primed to argue that their businesses are not really that powerful after all.And it will be a first in another way: Mr. Zuckerberg, Mr. Pichai, Mr. Bezos and Mr. Cook will all be testifying via videoconference, rather than rising side-by-side for a swearing-in at a witness table in Washington. Perhaps appropriately, their reckoning will be broadcast online.It has the feeling of techs Big Tobacco moment, said Gigi Sohn, a former senior adviser at the Federal Communications Commission and a fellow at Georgetown Universitys law school, referring to the 1994 congressional appearance of top executives of the seven largest American tobacco companies, who said they did not believe that cigarettes were addictive. The hearing, which caps a 13-month investigation by the House subcommittee, will be closely watched for clues that could advance other antitrust cases against the companies. The Federal Trade Commission, for one, is preparing to depose Mr. Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives in its 13-month probe of the social network. The Justice Department may soon unveil a case against Google. And an investigation into Apple by state attorneys general also appears to be advancing.As a result, preparations for the hearing have been frenetic even with the event postponed by a few days this week to accommodate the commemoration of Representative John Lewis as tech lobbyists jockeyed behind the scenes to influence the types of questions that lawmakers might ask.At the hearing, which starts at noon on Wednesday, the 15 members of the antitrust subcommittee will have five minutes for each question. Representative David Cicilline, Democrat of Rhode Island and the chairman of the subcommittee, will control the number of rounds of questioning, potentially stretching questioning into the evening.The length of the hearing may also be prolonged since the antitrust issues facing Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon are complex and vastly different.Amazon is accused of abusing its role as both a retailer and a platform hosting third-party sellers on its marketplace. Apple has been accused of unfairly using its clout over its App Store to block rivals and to force apps to pay high commissions. Rivals have said Facebook has a monopoly in social networking. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is dealing with multiple antitrust allegations because of Googles dominance in online advertising, search and smartphone software.Democrats may also veer off the topic of antitrust and bring up concerns about misinformation on social media. Some Republicans are expected to sidetrack discussion with their concerns of liberal bias at the Silicon Valley companies and accusations that conservative voices are censored.There was an attitude these were great American companies that created jobs and that we should have a hands-off approach and let them flourish, Mr. Cicilline said in an interview. But there are a lot of serious issues we have uncovered over the course of the investigation that werent apparent when we first began investigating.Facebook, Amazon, Google and Apple declined to comment.For the chief executives, the hearing will be a test of how they perform under fire. Mr. Bezos, 56, has not previously testified to Congress, while Mr. Cook, 59, and Mr. Pichai, 48, have both testified once before. Mr. Zuckerberg, 36, the youngest of the group, has the distinction of being the veteran: He has answered questions at three congressional hearings in the past two years as Facebook has dealt with issues such as election interference and privacy violations.But none are taking any chances for the event to go awry. Mr. Zuckerberg, who had been at his 750-acre estate on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, has been preparing for his testimony with the law firm WilmerHale, according to people with knowledge of the matter. And a small team is working with Mr. Bezos for his testimony in Seattle, said people with knowledge of the matter.For weeks, the tech giants have also waged a lobbying battle to soften any blows. All four chief executives planned to call lawmakers on the House subcommittee in the days before the hearing, said three people with knowledge of the preparations who were not authorized to speak publicly. Apple and Amazon also recently released studies to rebut claims of market dominance and anticompetitive practices. Last week, Apple publicized a study by a consulting firm called Analysis Group showing that the 30 percent commission it charges many apps for the right to appear on iPhones is close to what other platforms charge for distribution. The study left out that Apple helped popularize that 30 percent standard across the industry.Amazon-funded economic consultants have in recent months argued that the e-commerce companys business model, which is not grounded in selling ads like Google and Facebook, makes it less likely to violate antitrust laws. Last week, Amazon also released a report on small business, saying sales by third-party sellers grew 26 percent in the past year, outpacing Amazons own sales directly to consumers.Google has said that the search and advertising tech markets that it dominates are changing fast. More than half of all searches for products on the internet originate on Amazon, Googles lobbyists have said.And Facebooks Washington staff has pointed to competition from China, particularly from the popular video app TikTok, as evidence that competition in social media abounds. The Chinese-owned app is in the cross hairs of the Trump administration, which has threatened to ban it for national security reasons.Big Techs rivals have also jockeyed to have their gripes brought up at the hearing, even if for just a few minutes. The House subcommittee has been flooded with proposed questions, documents and letters from the companies competitors, according to congressional staff and rivals.Spotify, for instance, submitted questions about Apples dominance of the App Store. GreatFire, a China-based group, sent a letter with nine questions for Mr. Cook about Apples censorship of certain apps in China. Blix, a company whose email app competes with Apple and that is suing Apple in federal court for patent infringement, sent five questions to the subcommittee, including one on why Apple ranked its own apps ahead of rivals offerings in its App Store.This month, David Heinemeier Hansson, the co-founder of Basecamp, a project-management tool, said he also briefed lawmakers on a recent public spat with Apple. Apple had denied Basecamps new email app from appearing in the App Store because it charged customers outside of Apples payment system. After Mr. Heinemeier Hansson complained publicly, Apple permitted the app with some minor changes.The subcommittees members, who have already held five hearings about the tech giants, were informed and thoughtful during his briefing, Mr. Heinemeier Hansson said.Clearly theres already a great resonance, he said.Even if the hearing results in more theater than substance, some said the greatest risk to the tech companies was increasing momentum toward regulations.The C.E.O.s dont want to be testifying. Even having this collective hearing creates a sense of quasi-guilt just because of who else has gotten called in like this Big Pharma, Big Tobacco, Big Banks, said Paul Gallant, a tech policy analyst at the investment firm Cowen. Thats not a crowd they want to be associated with.Cecilia Kang reported from Washington, Jack Nicas from Chicago and David McCabe from Wellfleet, Mass. Daisuke Wakabayashi, Mike Isaac and Karen Weise contributed reporting.",5
"Credit...Ahmad Yusni/European Pressphoto AgencyMarch 9, 2017BANGKOK Two Malaysian workers with the United Nations World Food Program were allowed to leave North Korea on Thursday, two days after the unpredictable Pyongyang government barred all Malaysians from leaving the country.With their departure, nine Malaysian embassy workers and family members remain in North Korea as the countries wrangle over the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the half brother of North Koreas ruler, who was killed last month in Malaysias largest airport.Prime Minister Najib Razak said that those nine remained safe and were continuing with their daily routines. The two countries will negotiate privately to end their diplomatic standoff over the killing, he said.Our strong focus on resolving this issue will not change, he said in a statement. I pledge that the government will do everything possible to ensure that our citizens continue to be safe and will be able to return to Malaysia.Mr. Kim was killed Feb. 13, when two women, one Indonesian and one Vietnamese, smeared toxic liquid on his face, the police say. The women have been arrested and charged with murder. An autopsy found that Mr. Kim was poisoned with VX nerve agent, a banned chemical weapon. The Malaysian police are seeking seven North Koreans, including a diplomat assigned to the embassy.North Korea, accusing Malaysia of collaborating with its enemies, has challenged the police findings and suggested that Mr. Kim, 46, died of heart failure. The countries have expelled each others ambassadors and barred each others citizens from leaving. There are about 1,000 North Koreans in Malaysia.Yiwen Zhang, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program in Beijing, said the two Malaysian workers arrived at the citys airport safely on Thursday. She would not discuss details of their detention but pointed out that they had been working in North Korea as international representatives, not for Malaysias government, and should not be bound by the Norths travel restrictions.The staff members are international civil servants and not representatives of their national government, she said.In a Twitter post, Mr. Najib welcomed their release and identified them as Stella Lim and Nyanaprakash Muniandy.Mr. Najib said in his statement that Malaysia would not sever diplomatic relations with North Korea, saying that the countries should continue to communicate directly.This is a sensitive issue, he said. Therefore, the government has decided that all negotiations and discussions will be conducted behind closed doors.He suggested that Malaysian officials were uncertain about what North Korea was hoping to accomplish by insulting Malaysia, criticizing its police investigation and detaining its citizens.As of now, I can only disclose that the government is in the process of establishing the reasons and motives behind the actions of North Korea, he said.Until Monday, Malaysia had allowed North Koreans to enter the country without a visa. For now, Mr. Najib said, Malaysia will continue to ban North Koreans from leaving.We will not relent from our firm approach, he said.Under the Vienna Convention of 1961, which governs the conduct of diplomatic relations, a host country cannot detain a foreign diplomat. Both Malaysia and North Korea are signatories to the pact. In 1979, in one of the most egregious violations of the convention, a group of Iranian students seized 52 Americans, most of them diplomats, at the Tehran embassy and held them for 444 days.",6
"11 Things Wed Really Like to KnowPhysicists are no longer unified in the search for a unified theory.Credit...Franziska BarczykNov. 19, 2018Is Albert Einstein finally dead?Yes. The old sage took his last breath and muttered his last indecipherable words, in German, on April 18, 1955. But lately he has been dying a second death, if one believes a new spate of articles and papers bemoaning the state of contemporary physics.Never mind the recent, staggering discovery of gravitational waves: ripples in space-time that Einstein predicted a century ago, and which indicate the universe is peppered with black holes that shred and swallow stars.No, something much deeper than gravity or quantum theory, Einsteins other misbegotten legacy, is at stake.More than anyone, it was Einstein who set the goal for modern science: the search for a final theory of everything, a unified theory, he said, that would explain why there was no other way to put together the universe than the one we seem to live in.Or, as he famously put it, What interests me is whether God had any choice in the creation of the world.Roll over, Albert.There are no laws of physics, read the headline on an article in Quanta, the online science magazine, last summer by Robbert Dijkgraaf, the director of the Institute for Advanced Study, where Einstein spent his last 22 years.Instead, Dr. Dijkgraaf wrote, there is a frighteningly complex landscape of possibilities, a nearly infinite, subtly connected network of complementary versions of reality. There exists a universe for every good or bad dream youve ever had, each with its own set of so-called fundamental particles, forces, laws and dimensions.This landscape, also known as the multiverse, is the vision of string theorists who have vaulted past Einstein in the current scientific imagination.[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]String theory unites gravity, which curves the cosmos, with quantum mechanics, which describes the randomness that lives inside it, by envisaging the fundamental constituents of nature as tiny strings of energy vibrating in 11 dimensions.The theory has been described as a piece of 21st-century physics that fell into the 20th century by accident and which might require 22nd-century mathematics to understand.The result is a mathematical labyrinth with 10 solutions, each one a different potential universe. In principle, one of those universes is ours but nobody knows, because the math and physics are so horrendously complex.Or so the story goes. If our world is but one of many, how do we deal with the alternatives? Dr. Dijkgraaf wrote. The current point of view can be seen as the polar opposite of Einsteins dream of a unique cosmos.Reached in Princeton, Dr. Dijkgraaf said that the articles headline, which he hadnt written, perhaps was an overstatement. Probably there is some fundamental principle, he said, perhaps whatever it is that lies behind string theory.But nobody, not even the founders of string theory, can say what that might be.Scientists were drawn to this vision by the discovery, two decades ago, that a mysterious force dark energy is accelerating the expansion of the universe, making the galaxies retreat from each other faster and faster as cosmic time goes by.This dark energy bears all the earmarks of a fudge factor, called the cosmological constant, that Einstein inserted into his equations a century ago, and later rejected as a blunder. But the amount of this dark energy is smaller than the predicted value of the cosmological constant by a factor of 10.Physicists can only explain the discrepancy by assuming that the value of Einsteins constant is random across all potential universes; we live in one with the right amount of dark energy to allow stars and galaxies to form.In short, we live where we can.For some physicists, the landscape is a logical extension of the Copernican revolution. Just as the Earth is not the center of the solar system, nor the only planet, so our universe is not the only universe.For other physicists, the idea of other universes is an epistemological absurdum, a dead end of unprovable speculation and a betrayal of the Einsteinian dream of a unique cosmos.Even in our one universe, Einsteins pilgrims are in trouble, their path to ultimate knowledge blocked or perhaps nonexistent.The discovery in 2012 of the long-sought Higgs boson confirmed the last outstanding piece of an ambitious mathematical edifice known as the Standard Model, which details all the forms of matter and energy that can be measured in a lab. The Standard Model explains why your computer boots up and why a gardenia smells so sweet.But the model works too well. Particle physicists have now sifted the debris from trillions upon trillions of subatomic collisions in the Large Hadron Collider, the immense machine in which the Higgs was discovered. So far they have confirmed that the Higgs behaves as the Standard Model predicted.That is a great intellectual achievement, but it fails to reveal any discrepancies that could lead to a deeper theory. In particular, researchers have found no trace of a much-hoped-for phenomenon called supersymmetry, which would tie together the individual physical forces and supply a whole new menu of elementary particles, including, perhaps, the stuff of dark matter.But supersymmetry might always have been an illusion, according to Sabine Hossenfelder, a theorist at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Study. She emerged last year as one of the most vocal critics of modern physics, with a provocative new book, Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray.Dr. Hossenfelder argues that physicists have gone off course by exalting mathematical elegance. They believed that Mother Nature was elegant, simple and kind about providing clues, she wrote. They thought they could hear her whispering when they were talking to themselves.Particle physicists contend that they merely have been following time-honored and successful principles. They chased the Higgs boson for half a century, and nearly gave up before nature finally coughed it up.Meanwhile, the cosmologists, a notably fractious group, have agreed on their own standard model of our particular universe.According to them, atoms the stuff of you, me and the stars account for only 5 percent of the cosmos by weight. Dark matter, of which we know nothing except that its collective gravity sculpts and holds the galaxies together, amounts to 25 percent.The remaining 70 percent is dark energy, pushing everything apart; we dont know anything about that, either. We only know that this dark sector exists because of the effect of its gravity on the luminous universe, the motions of stars and galaxies.A theory that leaves 95 percent of the universe unidentified is hardly a sign that science is over.Maybe we dont understand gravity after all, some astronomers say. I worry that we deify Einstein too much, Stacy McGaugh, an astronomer at Case Western Reserve University, told Gizmodo in June.If scientists want any gift for the holidays, its some new physics that would break the stalemate of these standard models and provide new clues to our existence.Maybe that breakthrough will come from finally figuring out what dark matter is, or from the Large Hadron Collider, which will continue banging together subatomic particles for the next 20 years in search of new forces and phenomena. Every collision recorded is another step into the unknown.For now, the universe might have 11 dimensions, or it might be somebodys dream. Life might have started on Mars or in a boiling ocean vent, or maybe were all bits in somebodys computer simulation. The search for who we are and how nature is put together is one of the flagship human endeavors, like art or music. It will continue.Dr. Hossenfelder, for all her skepticism, ends her book on a hopeful note.The next breakthrough in physics will occur in this century, she wrote. It will be beautiful.",7
"A study found that the Abbott ID Now machine was less accurate when it processed short, dry swabs.Credit...Al Drago for The New York TimesPublished May 13, 2020Updated May 17, 2020A rapid coronavirus test used by the White House to screen its staff could miss infections up to 48 percent of the time, according to a study by researchers at N.Y.U. Langone Health.The study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, evaluated the accuracy of the test, Abbott ID Now, a machine about the size of a toaster oven that can yield results in five to 13 minutes.The product, which was given emergency authorization by the Food and Drug Administration in late March, has been enthusiastically promoted by President Trump it was even used as a prop during at least one news conference. Mr. Trump has said the tests are highly accurate.A White House spokesman did not immediately respond for comment.There are 18,000 ID Now testing units in the United States, and the company says it has shipped 1.8 million of the kits required for the machine to test for the virus. The so-called point-of-care test is designed to be in doctors offices and clinics, and it is being used in drive-through testing sites around the country.In a statement, the company defended its product, saying, ID Now is an important tool that delivers information where its needed most. Abbott said that its reported rate of false negatives or missed infections was 0.02 percent and that the N.Y.U. studys results were not consistent with other studies of the test.Its unclear if the samples were tested correctly in this study, the company said. In communications with the users of the test, it is performing as expected.The authors of the N.Y.U. study said they evaluated the Abbott test because they were considering using it to test emergency department patients who were suspected of having the virus.The test can use two kinds of swabs: a long, nasopharyngeal swab that is inserted deep into the nose, where it meets the throat; and a shorter nasal swab that can take samples from the nose or throat. A swab is then taken to the testing unit for processing, where it is swirled in liquid, which is then analyzed in the machine.In April, other hospitals and researchers found that if swabs were stored in a liquid solution before being inserted into the machine, the sample could become diluted, producing negative results for those who were infected. Abbott later revised its instructions to recommend placing a dry swab directly into the machine after the sample was collected.The N.Y.U. researchers tested how the machine fared when the dry swabs were used. They took two samples each from 101 emergency department patients at N.Y.U. Langone Tisch Hospital who were suspected of having Covid-19. One sample used the longer nasopharyngeal swab and was stored in liquid. The second sample used dry nasal swabs. Each specimen was tested on both the Abbott ID Now and another machine, the Cepheid GeneXpert, which takes 45 minutes to yield a result and which has been validated by N.Y.U. as acceptably accurate.The researchers found that the Cepheid machine identified 31 of the 101 patients as positive for the virus. But even when the dry nasal swabs were used, the Abbott ID Now identified only 16 people as positive. In other words, 15 patients had the virus, but the Abbott ID Now test said they were negative.Using the dry nasal swab yielded less accurate results than when the researchers used a nasopharyngeal swab that had been stored in liquid. When those types of nasopharyngeal swabs were used, the Abbott missed infections one-third of the time, the researchers said.The White House did not respond to questions about which types of swabs it uses.The N.Y.U. researchers said that because the Abbott ID Now machine missed so many infections including in patients who had to be admitted to the hospital the technology is unacceptable in our clinical setting.The researchers said their study was limited by the small sample size, as well as the one to two hours it took to transport the samples. Although that was within the manufacturers recommendation of two hours, the researchers noted that the test was intended to be used where the patients were, not in a laboratory.Reporting contributed by Jeremy White.[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]",2
"March 2, 2017BERLIN Two Syrian men, one of whom faces war crime charges in the killing of 36 Syrian civilian government employees, have been arrested in Germany and accused of membership in a terrorist organization, federal prosecutors said on Thursday.The men are suspected of belonging to a combat unit of the Nusra Front, formerly Al Qaedas branch in Syria. They were arrested in raids on their homes on Wednesday and Thursday in the western cities of Dsseldorf and Giessen, and appeared before a judge on Thursday, prosecutors said in a statement.The arrests are the latest in what appears to be an effort by the German authorities to move against the growing number of radical Islamists in the country. Germanys domestic intelligence service estimates that number at 1,600, up from 100 three years ago.We receive between two and four credible tips on planned terrorist activity in Germany each day, Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of the intelligence service, said at a security conference last month. We have to recognize that we are living in a different situation now.One of the Syrian men, identified only as Abdalfatah H.A., 35 German privacy laws forbid revealing suspects identities is suspected of carrying out what prosecutors called so-called Shariah death sentences against 36 Syrian government employees in March 2013. He is also accused of being a member of the combat unit of the Nusra Front that prosecutors say was founded by the second suspect arrested this week, Abdulrahman A.A., 26, together with a third Syrian, Abd Arahman A.K., that same year. Abd Arahman A.K. was detained last June on suspicion of plotting to carry out an attack in Dsseldorf with two other Syrians.Prosecutors said Abdulrahman A.A. and Abd Arahman A.K. had participated in an armed battle against Syrian government troops, including taking over a big arms depot near Mahin in November 2013.Frauke Khler, a spokeswoman for federal prosecutors, declined to give information about when the suspects had entered the country.Abd Arahman A.K. is suspected of taking part in a plot to carry out a multipronged attack similar to the November 2015 massacre in Paris, which left 129 dead. Prosecutors said that the suspect, who was 31 at the time, had been part of a plan to have two suicide bombers attack a downtown Dsseldorf district, the Altstadt, that is packed with bars, cafes and nightclubs.The attack was to take place on a Friday or a Saturday, because the Altstadt is regularly full on these two days, according to a December ruling by the countrys Federal Court of Justice that extended his pretrial detention. Prosecutors believe that he had trained in Syria on how to construct explosive vests and had been sent to Germany as part of a sleeper cell.Human rights groups have pressured governments to bring people suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria to trial.Last year, the German authorities detained nearly 50 people on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist organization or plotting to carry out a terrorist attack in the country.Also Thursday, a Lebanese man identified only as Tarik A., 19, was arrested in Dsseldorf on suspicion of belonging to the Islamic State, a case that Ms. Khler said had no connection to the arrest of the two Syrians.",6
"Credit...Andy Wong/Associated PressDec. 23, 2015SHENZHEN, China With little more than an architects drawing and a sales pitch to go by, Tim Chen paid around $500,000 last month for a small apartment being built above a shopping mall on the outskirts of this southern Chinese metropolis.I wanted to grab a larger unit in the first batch that went on sale, but I didnt grab fast enough, he said in the lobby of the developments salesroom, echoing an urgency that has gripped many buyers in recent months.Even as the broader Chinese economy has slowed and as housing values have slumped across much of China, the Shenzhen juggernaut has barreled ahead. High-tech start-ups replaced the factories that had made the city a pioneering showcase of Chinese-style capitalism. Millions of young people moved here from across the country. Construction is everywhere, with prices of new homes surging.ImageCredit...Brent Lewin/BloombergBut the deadly landslide on Sunday in Shenzhen, in which a man-made mountain of dirt and construction debris collapsed, is exposing the weaknesses in Chinas rapid growth. Disregard for safety standards and environmental regulations remains common despite growing risks, as demonstrated in the Shenzhen disaster, which buried or toppled dozens of buildings and left scores of people missing.In Jiazitang village, on the outskirts of Shenzhen, Li Xiuhua, a 21-year-old migrant worker, complained on Wednesday about a deserted construction project next door.No one seems to care about this construction site anymore, Ms. Li said, pointing to the heaps of rubble and construction waste alongside the road. Since I moved here two years ago, the construction has been stopped and no one has come to clear away this waste.The landslide in Shenzhen casts a dark shadow over what had come to epitomize the China story, a gleaming metropolis of 11 million people, where only 3.3 million are registered as locals. The migrant city, which did not exist a few decades ago, even seemed to defy the countrys current economic problems.In November, prices of new homes contracted in 49 of the 70 cities included in the main official survey of the market, data released on Friday showed. Prices in metropolises like Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai fared better than in most places, rising 8 percent to 13 percent from a year earlier.But Shenzhen is in a category of its own. Home prices soared 44 percent last month, the fastest rise in any Chinese city since the official survey began in its current form, in 2011.ImageCredit...ChinaFotoPress, via Getty ImagesThe property market has become a vexing political issue at the highest levels. This month, the Politburo of the governing Communist Party announced plans to address an enormous housing overstock nationally, including relaxing restrictions on internal migration to help create demand for homes in outlying cities.But the frenzy in Shenzhen highlights the difficulties that China faces as it tries to manage a crucial engine of the economy.The runaway expansion in real estate and construction in recent years and their slowdown more recently has led to serious problems with industrial overcapacity and rising debt. In the Shenzhen disaster, the deadly mound of debris was created to fix another problem, the haphazard and sometimes dangerous dumping of dirt and construction waste.Compared with the rest of China, Shenzhen has a much higher reputation for dotting its is and crossing its ts, and being much more business-friendly, said Christopher Balding, an associate professor at Peking University HSBC Business School who has been based in Shenzhen for nearly seven years. At the same time, Im not surprised something like this happened, because even in Shenzhen buildings are just flying up.Shenzhen is the ultimate symbol of modern Chinas economic transformation.The city, which was only a coastal fishing village when the country started reopening to the world in the late 1970s, leapfrogged ahead of Chinas other metropolises on the path of capitalism thanks to its status as a special economic zone, separated from the rest of the country by an internal border. Tax breaks, cheap land and proximity to Hong Kong lured foreign investment. Many millions of migrants from other parts of China provided an able supply of low-cost labor.In recent years, the area has also transitioned more smoothly than others to the latest phase in Chinas development, a growth model that revolves around services and consumer spending. The factories churning out lower-value products like garments and shoes are closing down, relocating inland or heading to cheaper destinations like Southeast Asia and Bangladesh.ImageCredit...Kim Kyung-Hoon/ReutersIn their place, dynamic companies have arisen to cater to Chinas rising consumer classes. Tencent, the social messaging and online gaming behemoth, counts Shenzhen as its home base. So do DJI, the worlds biggest consumer drone maker; Citic Securities, heralded as Chinas answer to Goldman Sachs despite falling under scrutiny recently; the Ping An Group, an insurance and financial conglomerate; and China Vanke, one of the countrys biggest homebuilders.The transformation is evident in places like Longhua, where the housing development Unitown is under construction. For decades, the district was part of greater Shenzhen. But it sat on the less-developed side of the internal border that separated the core economic zone downtown from the rest of the city, a barrier that migrant workers from outside Shenzhen were restricted from crossing.But in the five years since Shenzhens internal border controls were abandoned, Longhua evolved into a thriving residential suburb.An office worker who would provide only her given name, Xia, recently bought a large three-bedroom apartment at Unitown. She and her husband are upgrading from a smaller unit in the same district, where she has lived for about a decade. Their son will be able to walk to school in a few minutes.We only looked for apartments in Longhua, because its so convenient, she said. Because of rapidly rising prices, she had to take out a larger mortgage. That puts a lot of pressure on me, Xia said.Shenzhens housing market has always been considerably more volatile than that of most of the rest of the country.Shenzhen has the least amount of state-owned land of any major Chinese city, and that makes it hard for the government to direct market prices by controlling the supply of land available for development, said Michael Cole, an expert on the Chinese property market who operates the industry website Mingtiandi. The government in Shenzhen also appears less strict in the way that they interpret and enforce home purchase restrictions.Chinas central bank moved in March to ease restrictions in most cities that require buyers of second homes to make a down payment of up to 70 percent of the value of the home, lowering the threshold to 40 percent. But in first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai or Shenzhen, where housing demand remains high, those restrictions are supposed to remain largely in place.However, in interviews, many real estate agents and home buyers in Shenzhen said those restrictions had generally been relaxed for people who are buying a second home because they intended to upgrade.Shenzhens is the freest market in China, said Zhang Jianwei, a sales agent at Colorful Garden, a new development of more than 500 apartments in the city center.Prices rise the fastest, but also fall the fastest, he added. Its capitalism first.",0
"The agency threw out previous recommended limits on doses but encouraged nonopioid therapies wherever possible.Credit...Patrick T. Fallon/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesFeb. 10, 2022The federal government on Thursday proposed new guidelines for prescribing opioid painkillers that remove its previous recommended ceilings on doses for chronic pain patients and instead encourage doctors to use their best judgment.But the overall thrust of the recommendations was that doctors should first turn to nonopioid therapies for both chronic and acute pain, including prescription medications like gabapentin and over-the-counter ones like ibuprofen, as well as physical therapy, massage and acupuncture.Though still in draft form, the 12 recommendations, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are the first comprehensive revisions of the agencys opioid prescribing guidelines since 2016. They walk a fine line between embracing the need for doctors to prescribe opioids to alleviate some cases of severe pain while guarding against exposing patients to the well-documented perils of opioids.Dr. Samer Narouze, president of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, an association of clinicians, praised the tone, level of detail and focus of the project. Its a total change in the culture from the 2016 guidelines, he said, characterizing the earlier edition as ordering doctors to just cut down on opioids period.By contrast, the new proposal has a much more caring voice than a policing one, and its left room to preserve the physician-patient relationship, added Dr. Narouze, chairman of the Center for Pain Medicine at Western Reserve Hospital in Cuyahoga Falls, OH.The 229-page document warns of addiction, depressed breathing, altered mental status and other dangers associated with opioids, but it also notes that the drugs serve an important medical purpose, especially for easing the immediate agony from traumatic injuries such as burns and crushed bones. In those instances when opioids seem the way to go, the recommendations said, doctors should start with the lowest effective dose and prescribe immediate-release pills rather than long-acting ones.The recommendations are now open on the Federal Register for public comment for 60 days. The agency will review the comments and most likely issue a final version by the end of 2022. Like the 2016 guidelines, they are suggested practices and not mandatory.We are welcoming comments from patients who are living with pain every day and from their caregivers and providers, said Christopher Jones, a co-author of the draft and acting director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the arm of the C.D.C. that released the new guidelines.Kate Nicholson, executive director of the National Pain Advocacy Center, a patient organization that says it does not take funding from the pharmaceutical industry, found much to admire in the new guidelines. We went from one side of the pendulum, with overly liberal prescribing of opioids, and that did harm, to just looking at gross drops in prescribing without looking at individual needs. And that did harm, said Ms. Nicholson, whose input was sought during the development of the draft. This is closer to a Goldilocks solution where chronic pain is not a monolith.The guidelines do not apply to patients suffering pain from cancer or sickle cell, or are in end-of-life or palliative care. Ms. Nicholson said, however, that relying on such disease categories which insurance companies seize upon to make reimbursement rulings doesnt tell us enough about who actually has severe pain.The 2016 guidelines generated anger and fear in many chronic pain patients, many of whom rely on doses far higher than the recommended ceiling of 90 morphine milligram equivalents daily. Hundreds of pain medicine specialists protested as well.Though the dosing ceilings were merely a recommendation, dozens of states codified them. Fearing criminal and civil penalties, many doctors misapplied them as rigid standards, tapering chronic pain patients too abruptly and even tossing some from their practices.Studies show that the number of opioid prescriptions overall has been dropping since 2012, and the decline escalated after the 2016 guidelines came out.The new proposed recommendations step back from the notion of one-size dosing fits all and instead builds in flexibility to recognize that pain care needs to be individualized, Dr. Jones said.But the recommendations make it abundantly clear that doctors should regularly reassess the benefits and risks of opioids.The evidence around the long-term benefits of opioids continues to remain very limited, Dr. Jones said.In another indication that the C.D.C. sees these new guidelines as a course-correction to the earlier ones, the agency now suggests that when patients test positive for illicit substances, doctors should offer counseling, treatment and, when necessary, careful tapering. Because doctors had interpreted the 2016 dosing limits narrowly, some had worked up one-strike policies and were summarily ejecting such patients.Dr. Jones said that such results should instead be considered one piece of diagnostic information among many. An unduly high level of opioids could indicate the patient still has untreated pain or even a substance use disorder. If you instead retain the patient and have those conversations, theres now an opportunity to improve the patients life, he said.Drawing from a mountain of research that accumulated in recent years, the proposed guidelines also offer extensive recommendations for the treatment of acute pain short-term pain that can come with an injury like a broken bone or the aftermath of surgery. They advise against prescribing opioids, except for traumatic injuries, such as burns and auto accidents.In granular detail, they compare the relief provided by opioids to that offered by alternatives such as exercise and acupuncture and other drugs. And they give fine-tuned recommendations for discrete areas of pain, such as lower back, knees and neck.The guidelines, for example, note that opioids should not be used for episodic migraines. They endorse, among other treatments, heat therapy and weight loss for knee osteoarthritis, and, for neck pain, suggest options like yoga, tai chi, qiqong, massage and acupuncture.Dr. Marie Hanna, an associate professor of anesthesia and critical care at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said she was particularly enthusiastic about the depth and breadth of research that the guidelines provide in support of nonopioid treatments, including manual manipulation, laser therapy and exercise.This is what weve been talking about for years, but no one was listening. Now we have the evidence to show that these treatments are effective. Im very optimistic, added Dr. Hanna, a member of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, an organization of pain researchers and providers across several disciplines.The recommendations also say that many studies show that, over time, pain alleviation from opioids usually plateaus and then wanes, requiring ever higher doses.We never wanted to pretend that opioids arent really important tools, said Dr. Jeanmarie Perrone, a professor of emergency medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, who served on an advisory panel for the prescribing guidelines. But after youve got that cast on, were going to wean you off those opioids. One long-bone fracture doesnt mean six weeks of opioid prescriptions.",2
"Credit...Aly Song/ReutersMay 15, 2019One of the worlds leading internet giants appears to be feeling the effects of Chinas economic slowdown and the trade war with the United States.The Alibaba Group, Chinas largest e-commerce company, said on Wednesday that revenue increased by 51 percent in the March quarter from the same period last year. That topped Wall Streets expectations, and was a pickup from the quarter before. But it was still the companys second-slowest pace of revenue expansion since early 2016.For the full year that ended March 31, revenue also grew by more than half. The company said, however, that the increase was partly the result of adding several recently acquired businesses, such as the takeout delivery service Ele.me, to its sales computations. Without those, it said, full-year sales would have increased by just under two-fifths, the slowest growth in three years.Alibaba also said the number of customers on its Chinese retail marketplaces for the full year that ended in March had grown to more than 650 million, an increase of over 100 million.Chinas economy has slowed since the tariff fight with the United States began last year. Diplomacy with Washington has frayed. Alibabas enormous size makes the company a closely watched bellwether for consumer and business sentiment in China, even if its an obstacle to finding new ways to make money.Alibabas scale and breadth may also put it in a better position than many other Chinese businesses to weather the present choppiness.With services from commerce and food delivery to payments and travel booking now under its umbrella, Alibaba has built such a vast ecosystem of interconnected products and platforms that its hold on Chinese consumers and merchants is almost unassailable, said David Dai, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in Hong Kong.Alibaba is over all in a much stronger position as compared to any other internet or e-commerce company in China, Mr. Dai said.During a conference call on Wednesday, the companys executive vice chairman, Joseph C. Tsai, urged analysts to look beyond what he called the elephant in the room: Chinas economic confrontation with the United States.More important for Alibaba, Mr. Tsai said, is the long-term increase in consumer spending by Chinas middle class. The company would also benefit, he said, if China agreed to import more American goods as part of a trade settlement, because Alibaba is already a partner to global brands that cater to Chinas growing ranks of shopaholics.Those are the more significant drivers of our business, as opposed to quarter-to-quarter G.D.P. or industrial production, Mr. Tsai said.Yet in a season of high anxiety about the trade war and the global economy, Chinas entire tech sector is feeling the pressure.Leading companies have laid off workers. Start-ups, including some that Alibaba has invested in, are struggling. Coders are protesting long hours and unpaid overtime a sign, industry observers say, that the years of breakneck growth and boundless optimism for Chinese tech companies are past.Alibaba has said it will not lay off any employees this year. But the company has not been immune to strain. On Wednesday, Alibabas chief executive, Daniel Zhang, said the company would continue to hold off on charging merchants more to advertise on its shopping sites, despite the harm it would cause to revenue growth.Such ads, along with other services that help merchants reach customers, represent the biggest part of Alibabas sales, and nearly all of its profit. Unlike Amazon, Alibaba does not pocket proceeds from merchandise sales on its platforms. It makes money by charging third-party sellers to use its digital shelves and signboards.Alibaba has said it will avoid ramping up ad sales until it has collected more data about whether new personalized ads in its shopping app are successfully persuading customers to hand over more of their money.But Alibaba executives have also said the company does not want to add to its merchants expenses at a time when many of them are already jittery about the economy.Instead of trying to make more money by charging more for ads, Mr. Zhang said Wednesday, the company plans to invest in enticing more people, particularly those who live in Chinas smaller cities and towns, into conducting their lives within Alibabas consumer universe. More than two-thirds of the new users on Alibabas Chinese shopping platforms this past year lived outside the countrys megacities, the company said.",5
"Media|Disney Invests $200 Million More in Vice Media to Support New Programminghttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/business/media/disney-invests-200-million-more-in-vice-media-to-support-new-programming.htmlDec. 8, 2015Credit...Jemal Countess/Getty ImagesDisney has invested another $200 million in Vice Media, doubling its stake just weeks after its first investment, people familiar with the deal said on Tuesday.The cash infusion brings Disneys stake in Vice to about 10 percent, according to one of the people. The investment does not change Vices valuation, the person said, which last month was put in the range of $4.2 billion to $4.5 billion.The money will help finance original programming, including TV shows, the people said. Vice is expected to unveil its new cable channel, Viceland, as early as the end of February, and intends to fill it with lifestyle and entertainment programming. Viceland will replace H2, the History channel spinoff owned by A&E Networks.The investment which brings Disneys total to $400 million is the latest show of support for Vice, whose brash voice and ability to attract young male viewers has attracted piles of cash from traditional media companies seeking to reach its core audience. A&E Networks, the television group owned by Hearst and Disney, invested $250 million last year, and 21st Century Fox has invested $70 million.Vice also has a weekly newsmagazine show on HBO and is expected to introduce a daily newscast on the premium cable network next year.Family-friendly Disney and insurgent Vice might seem like strange bedfellows, but one reason for the relationship could involve the challenges facing the cable television business. As subscriber losses and ratings declines hold back growth at some of Disneys older channels, including ESPN, Viceland could pick up some of the slack. Disney declined to comment on Tuesday.A&E Networks and Vice said last month when they announced the long-awaited deal that the channel would initially be distributed to about 70 million homes in the United States.Despite Vices raciness, Disney believes in the fledgling companys multiscreen approach to delivering news and entertainment and its understanding of young adult audiences, said people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships. Although the odd-couple nature of Disney and Vice carries risks, Disney has come to believe that the Vice brand can be kept entirely separate from its own.Brooks Barnes contributed reporting",0
"Terrell Owens to Dak Prescott: Watch Your Back In Dallas 1/22/2018 TMZSports.com Terrell Owens says the Dallas Cowboys have a long history of turning on superstar players and running them out of town ... and he doesn't want Dak Prescott to be the next victim. Owens was at LAX when we asked about his weekend Twitter comments ... when he argued that Dallas' disappointing 9-7 record was not Dak's fault. He also argued that Dak is NOT trying to turn the locker room against Dez Bryant, who also had a disappointing season. Instead, Owens seemed to argue that the Cowboys coaching staff and other execs are pushing the negative narratives to create a fall guy ... so they can then fire that guy and look like heroes. Case in point ... Terrell Owens (according to Terrell Owens). T.O. says that's exactly what happened to him back when he sported the star -- claiming Tony Romo and then-offensive coordinator Jason Garrett teamed up to force him out to save face. ""Everybody knows what went down,"" Owens says ... insisting there are multiple witnesses from the Cowboys who will attest that he was done dirty in Big D. ""I just didn't like the way they were trying to say Dak is the problem or Dak is putting the blame or turning people against Dez. That's not fair to Dak.""",1
"Asia Pacific|Bombing Foiled After Lull in Bangladesh Attacks Endshttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/world/asia/bangladesh-bombing-islamic-state.htmlCredit...Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMarch 17, 2017DHAKA, Bangladesh The police in Bangladesh said they foiled an apparent bombing attempt at a checkpoint of Bangladeshs elite police force on Saturday, less than a day after an attempted suicide attack outside another police facility.A young man, suspected to be involved in a militant group, was shot while crossing a Rapid Action Batallion checkpoint, and the police found two bombs in his bag, said Lieutenant Colonel Tuhin Mohammad Masud, a R.A.B. officer in eastern Dhaka.The Islamic State extremist group said it was responsible for the botched suicide attack on Friday, which brought an apparent end to an extended lull in militant activities.On Thursday, police made a bloody raid on a hide-out in Chittagong that they said was used by militants affiliated with a branch of Jamaat-ul-Mujahedeen. The branch is widely understood to be affiliated with the Islamic State.Four suspected militants, including one woman, and a 6-month-old were killed in the raid, said Noor E Alam Mina, the superintendent of police for Chittagong district.Officials said that security had been increased at international and domestic airports and that prisons in the country had been placed on alert.An unknown assailant carrying a bomb entered the battalions compound, where a few troops were staying and some construction was going on, said Commander Mufti Mahmud Khan, a spokesman for the unit.Two officials confronted the assailant and the bomb exploded, wounding both officials and killing the assailant, Mr. Khan said. The police suspect that the assailant was a member of a militant organization but are not certain which one, he said.A bomb squad came to the spot to collect evidence, but the body of the assailant had been scattered over a large area, according to The Daily Star, an English-language daily newspaper.After an attack on a restaurant last year, Bangladeshs elite police forces conducted waves of arrests and killings of suspected militants, and there was an end to the small-scale attacks that had become commonplace in recent years.But reports of attacks on members of religious minority groups have resumed in recent weeks, among them the killings of a Sufi spiritual leader and his daughter and a Bangladeshi Christian. Neither crime has been officially linked to extremists.",6
"Researchers analyzed the largest database of private insurance claims in the United States in the first four months after a diagnostic code for long Covid was created.Credit...Alex Wroblewski for The New York TimesMay 18, 2022More than three-quarters of Americans diagnosed with long Covid were not sick enough to be hospitalized for their initial infection, a new analysis of tens of thousands of private insurance claims reported on Wednesday.The researchers analyzed data from the first few months after doctors began using a special diagnostic code for the condition that was created last year. The results paint a sobering picture of long Covids serious and ongoing impact on peoples health and the American health care system.Long Covid, a complex constellation of lingering or new post-infection symptoms that can last for months or longer, has become one of the most daunting legacies of the pandemic. Estimates of how many people may ultimately be affected have ranged from 10 percent to 30 percent of infected adults; a recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office said that between 7.7 million and 23 million people in the United States could have developed long Covid. But much remains unclear about the prevalence, causes, treatment and consequences of the condition. The new study adds to a growing body of evidence that, while patients who have been hospitalized are at greater risk for long Covid, people with mild or moderate initial coronavirus infections who make up the vast majority of coronavirus patients can still experience debilitating post-Covid symptoms including breathing problems, extreme fatigue and cognitive and memory issues. Its generating a pandemic of people who were not hospitalized, but who ended up with this increased disability, said Dr. Paddy Ssentongo, an assistant professor of infectious disease epidemiology at Penn State, who was not involved in the new study.The analysis, based on what the report calls the largest database of private health insurance claims in the United States, found 78,252 patients who were diagnosed with the new code from the International Classification of Diseases diagnostic code U09.9 for Post COVID-19 condition, unspecified between Oct. 1, 2021, and Jan. 31, 2022. Dr. Claire Steves, a clinical academic and physician at Kings College London, who was not involved in the new research, said the overall number of people who received the diagnosis was huge, given that the study covered only the first four months after the diagnostic code was introduced and did not include people covered by government health programs like Medicaid or Medicare (though it did include people in private Medicare Advantage plans). Thats probably a drop in the ocean compared to what the real number is, Dr. Steves said.The study, conducted by FAIR Health, a nonprofit organization that focuses on health care costs and insurance issues, found that 76 percent of the long Covid patients did not require hospitalization for their initial coronavirus infection. Another striking finding was that while two-thirds of the patients had pre-existing health conditions in their medical records, nearly a third did not, a much larger percentage than Dr. Ssentongo said he would have expected. These are people who have been healthy and theyre like, Guys, something is not right with me, he said.The researchers plan to continue to track the patients to see how long their symptoms last, but Robin Gelburd, the president of FAIR Health, said that the organization decided to publish data from the first four months now, given the urgency of the issue.She said researchers were working to try to answer some of the questions that are not addressed in the report, including providing detail on some patients previous health conditions to try to identify whether certain medical problems put people at higher risk of long Covid.The organization also plans to analyze how many patients in the study were vaccinated and when, Ms. Gelburd said. More than three-quarters of the patients in the study were infected in 2021, most of those in the last half of the year. On average, patients were still experiencing long Covid symptoms that qualified for the diagnosis four and a half months after their infection.The findings suggest a potentially staggering impact of long Covid on people in the prime of their lives, and on society at large. Nearly 35 percent of the patients were between the ages of 36 to 50, while nearly one-third were ages 51 to 64, and 17 percent were ages 23 to 35. Children were also diagnosed with post-Covid conditions: Nearly 4 percent of the patients were 12 or younger, while nearly 7 percent were between ages 13 and 22.Six percent of the patients were 65 and older, a proportion that most likely reflects the fact that patients covered by the regular Medicare program werent included in the study. They were much more likely than the younger groups with long Covid to have had pre-existing chronic medical conditions.The insurance data analyzed did not include information about the race or ethnicity of patients, researchers said.The analysis, which Ms. Gelburd said was evaluated by an independent academic reviewer but not formally peer-reviewed, also calculated a risk score for the patients, a way of estimating how likely people are to use health care resources. Comparing all the insurance claims the patients had up until 90 days before they contracted Covid with their claims 30 days or more after they were infected, the study found that average risk scores went up for patients in every age group.Ms. Gelburd and other experts said the scores suggested that the repercussions of long Covid are not simply confined to increased medical spending. They signal how many people are leaving their jobs, how many are being given disability status, how much absenteeism is there in school, Ms. Gelburd said. Its like a pebble thrown into the lake, and these ripples circling that pebble are concentric circles of impact.Because the study captured only a privately insured population, Dr. Ssentongo said, it almost certainly understates the scope and burden of long Covid, especially since low-income communities have been disproportionately affected by the virus and often have less access to health care. I think it may even be worse if we added in the Medicaid population and all these other people that would have been missed in the studys data, he said.Sixty percent of the patients with the post-Covid diagnosis were female, the study reported, compared with 54 percent of Covid patients overall in the FAIR Health database. In the oldest and youngest age groups, however, there were roughly as many males as females.I think there is a female preponderance in terms of this condition, Dr. Steves said, adding that the reasons could include differences in biological factors that make women more prone to autoimmune conditions.The insurance claims showed that nearly one-quarter of the post-Covid patients had respiratory symptoms, nearly one-fifth had coughs and 17 percent had been diagnosed with malaise and fatigue, a far-reaching category that could include issues like brain fog and exhaustion that gets worse after physical or mental activity. Other common issues included abnormal heartbeats and sleep disorders.Generalized anxiety disorder was more common for 23- to 35-year-olds than for other age groups, the study reported, while hypertension was more common in the oldest patients.Last year, FAIR Health published a study tracking insurance records of nearly two million people who had contracted Covid, which found that one month or more after their infection, almost one-quarter of them 23 percent sought medical treatment for new conditions.The new study tried to determine how common certain symptoms were before the patients got infected compared with the period when those same patients were diagnosed with post-Covid conditions. It found that some typically uncommon health issues were much more likely to emerge during long Covid. For example, muscle problems occurred 11 times more often in the patients with long Covid, pulmonary embolisms occurred 2.6 times more often and certain types of brain-related disorders occurred two times more often, the study said.Like previous studies, the report found that if patients did need hospitalization for their initial infection, they were at higher risk of long-term symptoms than patients who were not hospitalized. The report came to that conclusion because about 24 percent of the patients diagnosed with a post-Covid condition had been hospitalized more of them male than female while only about 8 percent of all coronavirus patients needed hospitalization.Still, because the vast majority of people do not need to be hospitalized for their infection, medical experts said that this and other studies indicate that many people with mild or moderate initial illness will end up with lingering symptoms or new post-Covid health problems.Ms. Gelburd and medical experts said that as doctors become more acquainted with the U09.9 code, they might use it in different circumstances than they did in the first four months. One recent analysis found that doctors use of the code has been inconsistent so far. Given the likely scale of long Covid, Dr. Ssentongo said he expects that in the future doctors will ask patients if they have ever been diagnosed with post-Covid conditions, just as doctors ask about other previous medical problems so they can treat patients appropriately.Post-Covid syndrome is going to become perhaps one of the most common pre-existing comorbidities going forward, he said.",2
"MatterCredit...Matthew DoddMarch 1, 2017They are microscopic artwork: tiny tubes and long filaments, strange squiggles etched into some of the most ancient rocks known.On Wednesday, researchers reported that these may be the oldest fossils ever discovered, the remains of bacteria thriving on Earth not long, geologically speaking, after the very birth of the planet. If so, they offer evidence that life here got off to a very early start.But many experts in the field were skeptical of the new study or downright unconvinced.Martin J. Van Kranendonk, a geologist at the University of New South Wales, called the patterns in the rocks dubiofossils fossil-like structures, perhaps, but without clear proof that they started out as something alive.Heated disputes are nothing new in the search for the earliest life on Earth. In 1993 J. William Schopf, a paleontologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and his colleagues found what that they, too, argued were the worlds oldest fossils: chainlike blobs in 3.46 billion-year-old rocks made, they said, by bacteria. Other researchers later argued that the structures were just oddly shaped minerals.But additional specimens from other sites came to light over the past two decades, and many of them have withstood scrutiny. There is now solid evidence of life dating back about 3.5 billion years.Earth was a billion years old by then, and scientists have long wondered if even older fossils might be found.In August, Dr. Van Kranendonk and his colleagues reported discovering fossils in Greenland dating back 3.7 billion years. The scientists argued that the organisms were once mats of bacteria that grew in shallow coastal waters.In the new study, published in the journal Nature, Mattew S.Dodd, Dominic Papineau and their colleagues at University College London studied rocks that were either slightly older or much older than those containing the Greenland fossils.They came from a remote geological formation in Canada called Nuvvuagittuq, which stretches across four square miles on the coast of Hudson Bay. Geologists surveyed the formation for the first time in the 1990s.Researchers have variously estimated its age at 3.77 billion years or 4.22 billion years just 340 million years after the formation of the planet.In 2008, Dr. Papineau collected rocks from the formation and found a number of clues indicating that they had formed around hydrothermal vents on the ancient sea floor that spewed iron and other minerals.He also found hints that there might have been life there tiny blobs of rock, for instance, that contained a compound called apatite, which can form from phosphorus released by dying organisms.ImageCredit...Dominic PapineauThe tubes and other structures in the rock that Mr. Dodd found are also reminiscent of bacteria that live today around hydrothermal vents. They grow as filaments, feeding on iron compounds and creating tube-shaped cavities in the sediment.Similar filaments contain iron compounds in the Nuvvuagittuq rocks, Mr. Dodd and his colleagues found, and they are attached to round clumps that resemble the tiny anchors bacteria use to hold on to rock surfaces. The rocks also contain forms of organic carbon that could have been created by bacteria.The researchers argue that it would be unlikely for all of these features to have formed in the absence of life. Then youre left with one scenario a biological origin, Mr. Dodd said.Such a discovery could have big implications for the understanding of lifes early evolution.If these really are fossils 3.77 billion years old, then they show that life was already diversifying by that time, thriving in both the shallow ocean in what is now Greenland and the deep ocean in todays Canada.And if these are fossils 4.2 billion years old, then scientists will have evidence that life began quickly on Earth, not long after the oceans formed.Yet Frances Westall, the director of research at the CNRS-Centre de Biophysique Molculaire in Orlans, France, isnt convinced these are fossils at all. I am frankly dubious, she said.For one thing, she has argued, the filaments in the Nuvvuagittuq rocks are too big. She and her colleagues have found filaments formed by bacteria in rock dating back 3.3 billion years, and these are far smaller.On the early Earth, bacteria were forced to stay small, Dr. Westall said, because the atmosphere did not yet have enough oxygen to fuel their growth.Long after the Nuvvuagittuq rocks formed on the sea floor, they were heated to tremendous temperatures. Some experts doubted that microscopic fossils could have survived such a baking.These authors built their research on pushing speculative ideas and appear totally unaware of the considerable evidence against their interpretation, said Wouter Bleeker, of the Geological Survey of Canada.In response, Dr. Papineau observed that the type of rock studied, known as chert, is very hard and might have protected fossils from high temperatures.I think the authors have done a good job, said David Wacey, who researches the origins and evolution of life at the University of Western Australia. With the new evidence, he said, One comes up with a pretty convincing biological scenario for the origins of the mysterious rock features.Dr. Wacey was not surprised that the new work had drawn criticism. It may be many years before a consensus is reached, he said. But this is how science progresses.",7
"Credit...Stuart Isett for The New York TimesFeb. 17, 2014Chad Kellogg, an elite climber known for his speed ascents of large mountains, died on Friday after being struck on the head by a falling rock while descending the Patagonian peak Fitz Roy. He was 42.His death was confirmed by his father, Ric, who was notified by a climbing partner. It was first reported by the climbing website SuperTopo.com.Kellogg was one of a small but growing number of climbers who had begun to make speed as much a priority as establishing a first ascent or a new route up a familiar peak. He had attempted a speed record on Mount Everest three times.Its not that Im a great climber, he said in 2011, as he prepared to make his second attempt on Mount Everest without the supplemental oxygen used by many climbers to ascend the nearly 30,000-foot mountain. (Climbing without oxygen was, he thought, a greater challenge.) Its that I want it more than anyone else does, and Im willing to go out there and put in the work, put in the days, to achieve what I think is important.His death reverberated among climbing enthusiasts in the Northwest.Its like the loss of a family member, said Christian Folk, the marketing manager for Outdoor Research, a Seattle equipment manufacturer that sponsored Kellogg on his climbs.Kellogg, who did his climbing all over the world, won the Khan Tengri mountaineering race in Kazakhstan in 2003 and held a variety of unofficial records for speed ascents of Mount Rainier, the 14,410-foot mountain that looms over the national park of the same name in Washington State. One of those records, now broken, included the first sub-five-hour ascent and descent, a trip that can take some climbers two days.He was competitive, said Mike Gauthier, the chief of staff at Yosemite National Park, who hired Kellogg as a climbing ranger on Mount Rainier in 1997, but Chad really never spoke about it; he just did it.Behind Kelloggs prowess on rock and ice lay a crevasse of loss. His wife, Lara-Karena Kellogg, died while descending an Alaskan climb in 2007. Shortly after, he learned he had colon cancer. (It later went into remission.) A brother died, as did other family members and a close climbing partner. He continued to find solace in the mountains.Chad Kellogg was born on Sept. 22, 1971, in Omak, Wash. The son of missionaries, he grew up in Kenya and later in Seattle. He trained with the Olympic luge team in Lake Placid, N.Y., before turning his attention to climbing.In recent years, Kellogg gained recognition and more sponsors for his climbs, including first ascents, and had received grant money to ascend two unclimbed peaks in Nepal this fall.He was a cardiovascular machine, said Brent Bishop, a friend and fellow climber who helped document his Everest attempts. He was really able to suffer. He just kept getting stronger. I think we were really robbed of seeing what this climber was going to do.In addition to his father, Kellogg is survived by his mother, Peggy. His partner on the Fitz Roy climb, Jens Holsten, survived the rock fall.",4
"Credit...Tim Goessman for The New York TimesJune 3, 2018BIG SANDY, Mont. Under a nearly cloudless sky on the sun-speckled northern prairie last Tuesday, Jon Tester, this states senior senator, had his hands deep inside a 25-year-old grain auger.In Washington, the White House was letting it be known that President Trump was planning a summertime blitz against Democrats running for re-election in states that he had won, a tour that would surely bring him to Montana, where the presidents margin was 20 percentage points.Mr. Tester had recently torpedoed the nomination of the presidents personal physician, Ronny L. Jackson, to be his secretary of veterans affairs, incurring Mr. Trumps wrath very dishonest and sick! the commander in chief thundered on Twitter.But Mr. Tester, a third-generation lentil and pea farmer trying to make up for a late spring, was far more concerned with a broken shear pin that had stopped his bright red auger, which he needed to raise and store leftover seed from the 1,800 or so acres his family has been working for a century. Another repair job a few days earlier had taken out a fresh chunk of flesh from his famously mangled left hand. (Mr. Tester lost three fingers to a meat grinder as a child.)See, this job was supposed to take 45 minutes three days ago, he said with amusement, beads of sweat dripping from his close-cropped hair, as Sharla, his wife and farming partner, looked on. Im gonna need a designated cusser, he added, before filling the job himself.ImageCredit...Tim Goessman for The New York TimesIf nothing else, Mr. Tester is incautious, at least compared to most of the other Senate Democrats up for re-election this fall in states that Mr. Trump won big. While Mr. Tester voted against the presidents nominees for secretary of state and C.I.A. director, the Democratic senators from West Virginia, North Dakota and Indiana were quick to register votes in support. They certainly did not publicize blistering charges against Dr. Jackson or any other Trump cabinet nominee.I know things about Tester that I could say, too, the president warned ominously at a campaign rally in late April, after a weekend of tweets calling for the Montanan to resign. And if I said them, hed never be elected again.The attacks sent a bolt of energy through Republicans here and in Washington, who warn that Mr. Tester should not be so sanguine. They say his liberal voting record against Neil M. Gorsuch for the Supreme Court, against the Republican tax cuts, and against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act belies his claims to be a Montana moderate and makes him out of sync with his state. And with Mr. Trump and his policies largely viewed favorably here, they are betting that an engaged president can help drive a decisive wedge between Mr. Trumps voters and their senator.Jon Tester no longer can say that he supports the principles and values of the people of Montana, said Matt Rosendale, the state auditor, who is the front-runner in Tuesdays Republican primary. He added that the people of Montana know it now.But unlike other red-state Democrats, Mr. Tester did not draw a top-tier Republican challenger. Two top potential recruits stayed out of the race Ryan Zinke, a former congressman and the current interior secretary, and Montanas attorney general, Tim Fox. Mr. Rosendale, who has tied himself closely to Mr. Trump, is seen as slightly less of a threat the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the seat as likely Democratic.The only way you can knock out Jon Tester is if you shake peoples faith in his strength, said David C.W. Parker, a political science professor at Montana State University who wrote a book about Mr. Testers 2012 campaign. Whether it will work, Im not too sure.On his farm, surrounded by a sparsely populated expanse of quietude, Mr. Tester said he was confident that after 12 years in Washington, voters understood where he was coming from.This is important. This is who I am, Mr. Tester, 61, said as he took a seat in the shade of his tool shop and looked out over a piece of the flat farmland his grandparents first homesteaded a century ago.That, in short, is Mr. Testers pitch for a third term in Washington. In a state that is still largely rural and tinged with a libertarian mistrust of big government, Mr. Tester drives a beat-up pickup truck, shoots guns and has little to say about his partys internecine fights. Voters know where he stands, he reasons. Mr. Rosendale, he is likely to remind voters, is a real estate developer from Maryland.Mr. Tester is betting that his votes against high-profile Republican priorities will matter less than the support he has lent to measures like the repeal of Dodd-Frank banking regulations on community banks that are popular with Montanans. One in 10 Montanans is a veteran, making his role as a Democratic linchpin for a flood of veterans legislation coming out of Washington a particularly valuable asset. And despite the presidents tongue-lashing, Mr. Tester said he would welcome a visit.For now, that message appears to be resonating.In Fort Benton, a sleepy hamlet along the banks of the Missouri River not far from Big Sandy, Ron Young, the president of the town bank, said that he identified with conservative policies, but admired Mr. Tester. Over a midday tea one day last week, Mr. Young sounded pleasantly surprised that the senator whom he has known for years from his work on the state banking association had voted in favor of repealing parts of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law in an effort to ease regulations on small and medium-size banks like his.I think that overall, Jon is seen as somebody who will listen to you, Mr. Young said. He might vote differently, but hes honest in his approach. Thats rare.ImageCredit...Tim Goessman for The New York TimesMr. Young said he had bristled when Mr. Trump set his sights on Mr. Tester over the failed Jackson nomination.I have a real problem with him being attacked just for raising it, Mr. Young said. And, he added quietly, I dont believe for a minute Jon was making things up.A few hours away, in Butte, a labor stronghold in the copper-rich mountains of southwest Montana that has been slowly shifting away from Democrats, Chris Thomas said Mr. Tester was a rare breed: He follows through.Butte doesnt seem to fall into play with a lot of things were promised, Ms. Thomas said during a break from work at Wilhelm Flower Shoppe. The daughter and wife of veterans, Ms. Thomas was speaking of the recent commitment, secured in part by Mr. Tester after more than a decade of trying, for federal funding to build a 40-bed veterans home there. I like to feel somebody is speaking a voice for me, she said.She doubted that the president she voted for could sway her away from the senator she still supports.Im stronger for Tester, I think, than Trump, she said.Katie Hanning, another Trump supporter who manages a home builders association in Great Falls, was left with an unsavory feeling by the Jackson episode, but she said that on balance, she was pleased with Mr. Testers vote on the banking bill and his role shaping legislation that will make it easier for veterans to see private doctors.ImageCredit...Tim Goessman for The New York TimesWe let a lot of that noise be noise for a while and then make a decision, Ms. Hanning said.Are we 100 percent happy with him? she said. No, but were happy.Still, that is far from a consensus view. Mr. Tester has never won more than 50 percent of the vote here, and large rural swaths of the state remain out of reach for him. Even in Butte, a mining town where he retains strong support, the senator has some detractors.I have absolutely no love for him at all, said Jerry Kennedy, a musician who has shifted from supporting Democrats to mostly Republicans. He painted the treatment of Dr. Jackson as the latest example of Mr. Testers dishonesty.He absolutely trashed him. There was absolutely no reason to do that, Mr. Kennedy said.But Bill Hill, a retired conservationist and guide who was sitting a few yards away, interjected that Mr. Tester was better than most politicians he had voted to send to Washington. And, he added, with a look toward his friend: Hes the only guy in Washington with a flattop haircut.O.K., Ill go with that, Mr. Kennedy nodded. I like the haircut.Mr. Tester is unapologetic about the way he handled the charges against Dr. Jackson. They were serious, including allegations that he loosely administered drugs as the White House doctor and drank on the job, and they came from serious people, he said.Sweep it under the table and act like nothing happened? Thats not my style, Mr. Tester said.He was sitting at the kitchen table inside his modest aluminum-siding-clad home the weekend after Dr. Jackson withdrew his nomination when his chief of staff called to report the presidents tweets.They were brutal, the men agreed. Thatll make some news, Mr. Tester recalled saying. Then he got on his tractor to lay seed that a wet winter had delayed for about a month.",3
"Millions of people continue to suffer from exhaustion, cognitive problems and other long-lasting symptoms after a coronavirus infection. The exact causes of the illness, known as long Covid, are not known. But new research offers clues, describing the toll the illness takes on the body and why it can be so debilitating. Diagnosing Long Covid Patients with severe Covid may wind up in hospitals or on ventilators until their symptoms resolve. Damage to the body from severe Covid pneumonia, low oxygen, inflammation typically shows up on traditional diagnostic tests. Long Covid is different: A chronic illness with a wide variety of symptoms, many of which are not explainable using conventional lab tests. Difficulties in detecting the illness have led some doctors to dismiss patients, or to misdiagnose their symptoms as psychosomatic. But researchers looking more deeply at long Covid patients have found visible dysfunction throughout the body. Studies estimate that perhaps 10 to 30 percent of people infected with the coronavirus may develop long-term symptoms. Its unclear why some people develop long Covid and others dont, but four factors appear to increase the risk: high levels of viral RNA early during an infection, the presence of certain autoantibodies, the reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus and having Type 2 diabetes. The Immune System Dang, why am I always so sick? Messiah Rodriguez, 17 Long Covid patients appear to have disrupted immune systems compared to post-Covid patients who fully recover. Many researchers believe chronic immune dysfunction after a coronavirus infection may set off a chain of symptoms throughout the body. One possibility is that the body is still fighting remnants of the coronavirus. Researchers found that the virus spreads widely during an initial infection, and that viral genetic material can remain embedded in tissues in the intestines, lymph nodes and elsewhere for many months. Coronavirus RNA is visible in different body tissues at 500x magnification. Daniel Chertow et al., preprint via Research Square Ongoing studies are trying to determine if these viral reservoirs cause inflammation in surrounding tissues, which could lead to brain fog, gastrointestinal problems and other symptoms. Coronavirus components persist in one patients small intestine, 92 days after the start of their Covid symptoms. Christian Gaebler et al., Nature Researchers have also found evidence that Covid may trigger a lasting and damaging autoimmune response. Studies have found surprisingly high levels of autoantibodies, which mistakenly attack a patients own tissues, many months after an initial infection. A third possibility is that the initial viral infection triggers chronic inflammation, possibly by reactivating other viruses in the patients body that are normally dormant. The reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus, which infects most people when they are young, might help predict whether a person will develop long Covid, one study found. Inside the intricate world of the immune system, these explanations may coexist. And just as different long Covid patients may have different symptoms, they may also have different immune problems, too. Identifying the problems that are central to each patients illness will be critical for guiding treatment, said Dr. Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale. For instance, a patient with autoantibodies might benefit from immunosuppressive medication, while a patient with remnants of the Covid virus should receive antivirals, Dr. Iwasaki said. Depending on what each person has, the treatment would be quite different. The Circulatory System Something as simple as climbing on a ladder all of a sudden became a mountain. Eddie Palacios, 50 Many long Covid patients struggle with physical activity long after their initial infection, and experience a relapse of symptoms if they exercise. Initial studies suggest that dysfunction in the circulatory system might impair the flow of oxygen to muscles and other tissues, limiting aerobic capacity and causing severe fatigue. In one study, patients with long-lasting Covid symptoms had unexpected responses to riding a bike. Despite having apparently normal hearts and lungs, their muscles were only able to extract a portion of the normal amount of oxygen from small blood vessels as they pedaled, markedly reducing their exercise capacity. One possible culprit: Chronic inflammation may damage nerve fibers that help control circulation, a condition called small fiber neuropathy. The damaged fibers, seen in skin biopsies, are associated with dysautonomia, a malfunction of automatic functions like heart rate, breathing and digestion that is very common in long Covid patients. Chronic inflammation in long Covid patients may damage small nerve fibers. Peter Novak et al., Annals of Neurology These findings demonstrate that people with long Covid are suffering systemic physical problems, rather than just being anxious or out of shape, said Dr. David M. Systrom, an exercise physiologist at Brigham and Womens Hospital who helped conduct the bike study. You cant make up small fiber neuropathy by skin biopsy. That isnt in somebodys head, Dr. Systrom said. You cant make up poor oxygen extraction to this degree. All of these are objective measures of disease. South African researchers found another circulation problem: Microscopic blood clots. Tiny clots that form during an initial Covid infection will typically break down naturally, but might persist in long Covid patients. These clots could block the tiny capillaries that carry oxygen to tissues throughout the body. Platelets in the blood can become hyperactivated in Covid and long Covid patients, contributing to microclots. Etheresia Pretorius et al., Cardiovascular Diabetology Inflammatory substances called cytokines, which are often elevated in long Covid patients, may injure the mitochondria that power the bodys cells, making them less able to use oxygen. Walls of blood vessels may also become inflamed, limiting the uptake of oxygen. Whatever the cause, low oxygen levels may contribute to long Covids most common symptom, severe fatigue. Some long Covid patients meet the criteria for ME/CFS (also known as chronic fatigue syndrome), which often starts after a viral infection. Researchers have found that ME/CFS patients also suffer from a lack of oxygen triggered by circulatory problems. That puts enormous strain on the bodys metabolism and makes simple activities feel like strenuous exercise. The Brain I approach a red light, my brain knows that its red, but its not reacting to the rest of my body to put my foot on the brake. Do you understand how terrifying that is? Samantha Lewis, 34 Even people with mild cases of Covid can experience sustained cognitive impairments, including reduced attention, memory and word-finding. Possible long-term neurological problems from Covid constitute a major public health crisis, according to Dr. Avindra Nath, the clinical director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Researchers found a wide range of dysfunction in the brains of long Covid patients. Although it is unclear how often the virus directly penetrates the brain, even mild infections appear to cause significant brain inflammation, according to the researchers, who included Dr. Nath, Dr. Iwasaki and Dr. Michelle Monje, a neurologist at Stanford. Infections may trigger the over-activation of immune cells called microglia in a way that appears similar to the process that can contribute to cognitive problems in aging and some neurodegenerative diseases. Microglia are activated in the brain of a Covid patient, contributing to brain inflammation. Anthony Fernndez-Castaeda et al., preprint via bioRxiv. Photos: Myoung-Hwa Lee Another research group found that long Covid may significantly reduce the amount of blood that reaches the brain, a finding that has was also seen in patients with a related chronic condition, ME/CFS, before the pandemic. The Lungs I couldnt breathe. It literally felt like someone was sitting on my chest. Angelica Baez, 23 Shortness of breath is a frequent symptom of long Covid. But common lung tests including chest X-rays, CT scans and functional tests often come back normal. Using specialized M.R.I. scans, a team of British researchers found preliminary evidence of lung damage in a small group of long Covid patients who had never been hospitalized. Detailed scans of their lung function indicated that most of the patients took up oxygen less efficiently than healthy people did, even if the structure of their lungs appeared to be normal. The researchers cautioned that a larger group of patients will be needed to confirm the findings. If the results hold up, possible explanations for the observed shortness of breath include microclots in lung tissues or a thickening of the blood-air barrier that regulates the uptake of oxygen in the lungs. Living With Long Covid Its really not something you can push through. Dr. Abigail Bosk Many hospitals now offer post-Covid clinics or recovery programs, which bring together doctors with experience treating long Covid patients. Given the number of patients, some doctors and programs have long waits for appointments. It can help to plan ahead and try multiple options. Survivor Corps keeps a directory of post-Covid clinics. Dysautonomia International offers a list of doctors with experience treating autonomic disorders commonly seen in long Covid. Body Politic hosts a Covid support group where thousands of long haulers share information and advice on Slack. The Long Covid Support Group hosts a community on Facebook. The Royal College of Occupational Therapists offers advice for managing post-Covid fatigue. An essay from Maria Farrell offers advice on how to get well, and the importance of making time to rest. ME Action, a group supporting people with ME/CFS, offers advice to long Covid patients on how to manage symptoms. Americans with long Covid may qualify for disability benefits, although without conclusive medical results, many people face roadblocks. Three leading researchers into long Covid often share information about the latest findings on Twitter: Dr. Amy Proal, a microbiologist at PolyBio Research Institute; Dr. David Putrino, the director of rehabilitation innovation for the Mount Sinai Health System; and Dr. Iwasaki, the Yale immunologist. Health Rising covers the latest research into long Covid, ME/CFS and other chronic illnesses in detail. Gez Medinger, a video producer, interviews some prominent researchers into long Covid on YouTube. A video interview with Dr. Svetlana Blitshteyn, a neurologist and the director of the Dysautonomia Clinic, offers advice for treatment and an overview of current research into autonomic disorders. A detailed guide to understanding, treating and living with orthostatic intolerance is available from the Johns Hopkins Childrens Center. The Times has written extensively about long Covid, including:",7
"In a closely watched case, Facebook lost an appeal related to charges that it has violated competition laws by abusing its dominance in social media.Credit...Uli Deck/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesJune 23, 2020LONDON In a decision that could further embolden European governments to take on large tech platforms, Germanys top court ruled on Tuesday that Facebook had abused its dominance in social media to illegally harvest data about its users.The ruling by the Federal Court of Justice, upholding a decision by Germanys antitrust watchdog, is a major victory for proponents of tougher regulation of the worlds largest technology companies.The case had been closely watched after German regulators used a novel interpretation of competition law to rule against the social media giant last year. The authorities said Facebook broke competition laws by combining data it collected about users across its different platforms, including WhatsApp and Instagram, as well as from outside websites and third-party apps.In Germany, Facebook now must alter how it processes data about its users. It was ordered to allow people to block the company from combining their Facebook data with information about their activities on other apps and websites.The decision is a direct shot at Facebooks business model, which relies on collecting reams of data about people in order to offer more targeted advertising. The authorities argued that Facebook unfairly used its dominance to collect data about millions of users of third-party sites that used tools like Facebooks like and share buttons, and an analytics service called Facebook Pixel.Regulators concluded that consumers faced a false choice: Agree to hand over vast amounts of personal data or not use Facebooks ubiquitous social media services at all.Facebook successfully appealed last years decision when a court ruled that regulators had overstepped their legal authority. That decision was appealed to Germanys highest court.On Tuesday, the federal court said regulators were right in concluding that Facebook was abusing its dominant position in the market.There are neither serious doubts about Facebooks dominant position on the German social network market nor the fact that Facebook is abusing this dominant position, the court said. As the market-dominating network operator, Facebook bears a special responsibility for maintaining still-existing competition in the social networking market.The decision may not be the last word. A lower court still must issue a ruling on the matter, a process some antitrust attorneys view as a formality given the high courts strong-worded ruling. In theory, the lower court could rule in Facebooks favor, setting up another appeal to the federal high court.Another wild card: German officials could send the matter to the European Court of Justice, the European Union high court that resolves many thorny legal questions from member states, said Rupprecht Podszun, a professor of competition law at the University of Dsseldorf.Facebook said it would continue to fight and wouldnt make any immediate changes, arguing that it has months before it must comply. We will continue to defend our position that there is no antitrust abuse, Facebook said in a statement.Facebook is the latest tech company to suffer a regulatory setback. This month, the European Commission announced a formal investigation of Apple over its treatment of third-party app developers. Amazon is also under antitrust scrutiny in Brussels. In Washington, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google are facing investigations by the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and Congress.Germanys top antitrust enforcer, Andreas Mundt, has long pushed for regulators to be more aggressive in taking on Facebook and other tech giants. He has argued that Facebook uses the data it collects from users to strengthen its position over rivals, harming competition.On Tuesday, Mr. Mundt cheered the court decision, saying data is one of the most valuable assets in the digital economy and must be a central part of antitrust enforcement. He said the courts decision provides important information on how we should deal with the issue of data and competition in the future.Data are an essential factor for economic strength, and a decisive criterion in assessing online market power, Mr. Mundt said in a statement. Whenever data are collected and used in an unlawful way, it must be possible to intervene under antitrust law to avoid an abuse of market power.Christopher F. Schuetze contributed reporting from Berlin.",5
"NASA Plans February Moon Launch With Giant RocketA flight of the Space Launch System and Orion capsule without astronauts aboard is planned for early next year, a first, long-delayed step toward returning astronauts to the moons surface.Credit...Isaac Watson/NASAPublished Oct. 22, 2021Updated Nov. 10, 2021[Follow the latest updates on SpaceXs NASA crew-3 launch mission.]NASA set dates on Friday for its giant rocket to launch a spacecraft to the moon and back, beginning in mid-February next year. No, for real this time.In a news conference, officials from the space agency announced a two-week period beginning Feb. 12 for a flight without astronauts aboard of the Space Launch System, the biggest rocket flown by the agency in decades. It will loft Orion, a capsule for transporting astronauts to deep space, on an uncrewed trip that orbits the moon then returns to Earth.We are on track to fly, and this team will be ready when our flight hardware is ready, said Mike Sarafin, the NASA official who is the missions manager.Whether NASA will proceed with this February timeline depends on the results of testing on the ground leading up to the launch window, including a January dress rehearsal of the launch. The officials also announced more two-week flight periods in March and in April, both without astronauts, which are based on the moons alignment with Earth.The long-delayed flight, called Artemis-1, is aimed at testing the safety of the vehicle. A future flight, Artemis-2, will carry a crew on a similar voyage, which will echo the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. NASA hopes to be able to carry astronauts back to the lunar surface, including the first woman and first person of color, in the coming years.No humans have visited the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. In the years that followed Apollo, NASA turned its attention to the space shuttles and to building a space station in low-Earth orbit. The agency possessed no equipment for venturing farther from the planet.To send people back to the moon, NASA needs a rocket approaching the power of the Saturn V that carried the Apollo astronauts. In 2011, the Obama administration announced the beginning of the Space Launch System, a rocket based on designs from Constellation, an earlier scrapped program.S.L.S. is a monster of a rocket, capable of lofting 70 metric tons to space. A modified version of the rocket that will fly in the future would heft 130 tons even more than the Apollo-era launcher. Flights of the Space Launch System will be expensive, about $2 billion per launch, although Congress has steadily funded the program. NASA has so far spent $10 billion on the rocket, plus another $16 billion on the Orion capsule.But little has gone according to plan with S.L.S. NASA scheduled its first flight for 2017. It failed to meet that goal, and a 2018 audit faulted poor performance by Boeing, the main contractor working on the rockets booster stage, for much of the missed deadlines. As problems persisted, the Covid-19 pandemic added to delays for the program.In January 2021, the rocket was finally ready for its first big test, a sustained firing of the engines that would simulate the stresses of a trip to orbit. The test was supposed to last for eight minutes, but was cut off after only about a minute.During the second attempt in March, the rocket recorded a sustained 499.6-second burn of the giant engines that sent a giant cloud of steam over the massive test stand in Mississippi. Once the test was deemed a success, the agency shipped the massive rocket to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin preparations for flight.This week, the Orion spacecraft was lifted atop the rocket and put into place. Together, they stand 322 feet tall, or higher than the Statue of Liberty and its base.If an assortment of spaceflights stick to their schedules, 2022 could be one of the busiest years the moon has ever seen. In addition to Artemis-1, NASA plans to send a small satellite to orbit the moon and a pair of robotic landers carrying a variety of private cargo to the lunar surface. China, Russia, India and South Korea have all announced plans for lunar orbits or landings in 2022.President Trump committed the United States to returning astronauts to the moon by 2024, a target the Biden administration has not changed. But analysts have been skeptical of reaching that ambitious goal, given that much of the hardware including a spacecraft to actually land astronauts on the lunar surface is not yet built.NASA awarded a contract to SpaceX, the private company founded by Elon Musk, to use its Starship spacecraft as a lunar lander. Starship is still in its prototype stage and has not yet launched to orbit. Blue Origin, the company founded by Jeff Bezos of Amazon, also filed a lawsuit in federal court over the contract, arguing that NASA awarded it to SpaceX unfairly. Should a judge side with Mr. Bezos company, it could force NASA to start again, further delaying the lunar lander program.",7
"on techUnscrupulous, boundary-pushing executives seem to be an inescapable part of the most exciting technology.VideoCreditCredit...By Timo LenzenPublished Aug. 3, 2021Updated Aug. 4, 2021This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it weekdays.Im angry about start-up founders who over-promise, behave badly and sometimes crater their companies and walk away unscathed.But deep down, I also wonder whether unscrupulous, boundary-pushing executives are an inescapable part of innovation rather than an aberration.If we want world-changing technology, are hucksters part of the deal? This is a version of a question that I wrestle with about technologies including Facebook and Uber: Is the best of what technology can do inextricably linked to all the horribles?Ive been thinking about this recently because of the glare on two start-up founders, Adam Neumann and Trevor Milton.Neumann used to be the chief executive of the office rental start-up WeWork. He boasted that his company would transform the nature of work (on Earth and Mars), forge new bonds of social cohesion and make boatloads of money. WeWork has done none of those things.A new book details the ways that WeWork mostly just rented cubicles, burned through piles of other peoples money, treated employees like garbage and made Neumann stinking rich as the company nearly collapsed in 2019. WeWork has stuck around in less outlandish form without Neumann.And last week, federal authorities charged Milton with duping investors in his electric truck start-up Nikola into believing that the companys battery- and hydrogen-powered vehicle technology was far more capable than it really was. Among the allegations are that Milton ordered the doctoring of a promotional video to make a Nikola prototype truck appear to be fully functional when it was not. (Miltons legal team has said that the government was seeking to criminalize lawful business conduct.)Its easy to shake your head at these people and others including the Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes who will soon be on trial for fraud and wonder what personal failures led them to mislead, hype, and crash and burn.But people like Holmes, Neumann and Milton are not oopsies. They are the extreme outcomes of a start-up system that rewards people who have the biggest and most outrageous ideas possible, even if they have to fudge a little (or a lot).I am constantly furious about this system that seems to force start-ups to shoot for the moon, or else. WeWork had a basically smart, if not entirely original, idea to remove many of the headaches of commercial office leasing. But that wasnt enough, and I almost dont blame Neumann for that.Disproportionate rewards go to the entrepreneurs and companies that can sell a vision of billions of users and values in the trillions of dollars. This is why Airbnb doesnt merely say that it lets people rent a home in an app. The company says that Airbnb helps people satisfy a fundamental human need for connection. Its why delivery companies like Uber and DoorDash are aiming to deliver any possible physical product to anyone, and companies think they have to make virtual reality become as popular as smartphones. Merely earthbound ambitions arent good enough.Those conditions tempt people to skirt the edges of whats right and legal. But I also wonder if curtailing the excesses would also curb the ambition that we want. Sometimes the zeal to imagine ridiculously grand visions of the future brings us Theranos. And sometimes it brings us Google. Are these two sides of the same coin?Elon Musk shows both the good and the bad of what happens when technologists dream outlandishly big. Perhaps more than any single person, Musk has made it possible for automakers, governments and all of us to imagine electric cars replacing conventional ones. This is a potentially planet-transforming change.But Musk has also endangered peoples lives by overhyping driver-assistance technology, has repeatedly over-promised technology that hasnt panned out and has skirted both the law and human decency.I used to half-jokingly ask a former colleague: Why cant Musk just make cars? But maybe its impossible to separate the reckless carnival barker who deludes himself and others from the bold ideas that really are helping to change the world for the better.I hate thinking this. I want to believe that technologies can succeed without aiming to reprogram all of humanity and without the associated temptations to engage in fraud or abuse. I want the good Musk without the bad. I want the wonderful and empowering elements of social media without the genocide. But I just dont know if we can separate the wonderful from the awful.Before we go The next target of Chinas tech crackdown? The authorities showed that they may be unhappy with video game companies, my colleague Cao Li reported, and stock prices crashed for some big Chinese game makers. Chinas government has pushed recently for tighter regulation of tech companies, including going after Chinese companies that go public outside the country, those that provide food delivery or online tutoring and the countrys ubiquitous WeChat app.Thats one way to get Facebooks attention: Its almost impossible for people who lose access to their Facebook accounts to get hold of anyone at the company for help. Some people figured out a workaround, NPR reported: Buy one of Facebooks $299 Oculus virtual reality headsets, call Oculuss customer service team and have them help restore a Facebook account. Yeah, thats nuts, and it doesnt always work.The mystery of the missing Dan Brown book: My colleague Caity Weaver goes down a rabbit hole to figure out if a botched bar code explains why online book resellers kept sending the wrong titles to someone trying to buy a novelty 1995 dating book by the author of The Da Vinci Code.Hugs to thisA very fast and acrobatic cat interrupted a baseball game for multiple minutes, as the crowd cheered it on and booed the pesky humans trying to shoo the cat off the field. My colleague Daniel Victor wrote about the animal antics in professional baseball on Monday night.We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think of this newsletter and what else youd like us to explore. You can reach us at ontech@nytimes.com.If you dont already get this newsletter in your inbox, please sign up here. You can also read past On Tech columns.",5
"Politics|Prosecutors mull charges for theft of national security information after laptops and documents are stolen in Capitol siege.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/10/us/politics/stolen-items-prosecutors-charges.htmlProsecutors mull charges for theft of national security information after laptops and documents are stolen in Capitol siege.Credit...Matthew Rosenberg/The New York TimesJan. 10, 2021Michael R. Sherwin, the U.S. attorney in Washington, said on Sunday that the Justice Department was considering charges for theft of national security information after the violent mob that stormed the Capitol on Wednesday looted laptops, documents and other items from congressional offices.In an interview with NPR, Mr. Sherwin did not go into detail about what was stolen or the extent of the breach, but he had previously alluded to electronic items and documents that had been stolen from offices.Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, posted a video on Twitter in the hours after the riot showing the extent of the damage to his office. He said that the rioters smashed the door virtually off its hinges and stole a laptop from his desk.Drew Hammill, the deputy chief of staff to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said in a tweet on Friday that a laptop had also been stolen from a Capitol conference room, though he added that the device was only used for presentations.In an internal memo sent the day after the attack, Catherine Szpindor, the chief administrative officer for the House of Representatives, said there were no indications that the House network was compromised. But she urged lawmakers and their staff members to take inventory of their electronic equipment and treat any storage devices found as potentially compromised.The mob also had access to paper documents during the breach of lawmakers offices. Richard Barnett, 60, of Gravette, Ark., posed for a photograph holding a personalized envelope from Ms. Pelosis office. He was later arrested.Ali Zaslav, a CNN journalist who was with lawmakers in the Senate chamber as the Capitol was being stormed, posted a video on Twitter showing the office of the Senate parliamentarian vandalized, with documents strewn across the floor.Elijah Schaffer, a reporter for The Blaze, a right-wing media company, was among the mob whom he described as revolutionaries as they ransacked Ms. Pelosis office. He posted a photograph on Twitter showing a computer in the office with emails still on the screen.",3
"The New Old AgeCredit...David PlunkertMarch 11, 2016I know my television is too loud.Im asking people to repeat themselves more often.Im the restaurant patron asking the manager to please turn down the music so I can hear my friends across the table.Almost two-thirds of Americans older than 70 have meaningful hearing loss, experts say, and I probably will be among them. I should do something about it.One reason I havent is the average price for hearing aids: roughly $2,500, often more and most of us need two. That helps explain why only 20 percent of those with hearing loss use hearing aids.Medicare declines to cover a number of products and services that older beneficiaries need. Dental care ranks high on my personal list of exclusions that make the least sense, but the fact that the 1965 Medicare law specifically prohibits the national insurance program from paying for hearing aids is also a strong contender.So its heartening to notice some recent developments that might lead to more rational policies and more affordable and accessible devices. An October report by the Presidents Council of Advisors on Science and Technology recommended federal actions to simultaneously decrease the cost of hearing aids, spur technology innovation and increase consumer choice options.The council suggested, for example, that the Food and Drug Administration permit a basic hearing aid, for mild to moderate age-related hearing loss, to be sold over the counter something every state prohibits.The report also urged the Federal Trade Commission, whose rulings enabled consumers to comparison shop for eyeglasses and contact lenses, to treat hearing devices more like visual ones. It should be like a prescription for eyeglasses, said Dr. Christine Cassel, a co-chairwoman of the councils hearing technologies working group.The hearing aid itself represents only about a third of what audiologists charge. (Medicare does cover testing with a physicians referral.)After an audiologist or physician provides an audiogram assessing your hearing, Dr. Cassel said, you should be able to take it with you and shop around for the best prices on devices. In June, the Institute of Medicine will issue a report on hearing health that tackles key questions like federal regulation, insurance and price. A number of major players among them the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute on Aging and the Pentagon have sponsored the yearlong effort. The F.D.A., acting on recommendations by the presidents council, will host a public workshop next month to consider whether its hearing aid regulations may hinder innovation, reduce competition and lead to increased cost and reduced use.The agency has also reopened public comments on proposed regulation of so-called personal sound amplification products and their marketing.Reports, comments, workshops we can be forgiven for rolling our eyes and wondering if anything useful will emerge. Still, these actions represent a greater national focus on hearing loss and rehabilitation than we have seen in decades.Whats driving this interest, apart from the demographic bulge that means the hearing-impaired population is about to grow much larger, is a wave of new research.Congress banned Medicare coverage of hearing aids 50 years ago because people thought hearing loss was just a normal part of aging, said Dr. Cassel, one of the authors of a recent JAMA editorial on hearing health policies. They didnt see it as a disability or a medical problem.But were learning that, however normal, hearing loss can have significant consequences.Older adults with poor hearing report a greater number of falls than those with normal hearing, a Finnish study found. American researchers have demonstrated a similar association in those 40 to 69.Older adults with hearing loss are also more apt to report periods of poor physical and mental health, and to be hospitalized.Perhaps most disturbing, studies also show a relationship between hearing loss mild, moderate or severe and accelerated rates of cognitive decline. Older people with hearing loss also are more likely than those with normal hearing to develop dementia.How can aging ears affect so many other aspects of our health? Dr. Frank Lin, an otolaryngologist and epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University who has led many of these research efforts, points to several possible causes. With diminished hearing, your brain is constantly having to work harder to process garbled sounds a concept called cognitive load and may have less capacity for other mental tasks.Alternatively, hearing loss may lead to changes in brain structure. In one of Dr. Lins studies, magnetic resonance imaging tests showed greater brain atrophy among those with poor hearing.A struggle to hear can also lead to isolation, and weve known for years that social connectedness is important for cognitive health, Dr. Lin added.Technology put the Internet in our pockets, but hasnt done much to affordably improve our hearing.In every other aspect of our lives, advances in electronic technology have made things cost much, much less, Dr. Cassel said. That hasnt happened with hearing aids.Almost annually, she added, some congressperson gets energized about this and tries to pass legislation to remove Medicares hearing aid restriction. Last year, it was Representative Debbie Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, with six Democratic co-sponsors. The bill stalled in committee, but we are not giving up the fight, Ms. Dingell said in an email.Driving down the cost of the devices could make them more widely available in several ways.If its $200 instead of $2,000, more people could pay out of pocket, Dr. Cassell said. And that also means Medicare might cover it unlikely at current prices.Its clearly possible to provide good devices for far less than we now pay. The Department of Veterans Affairs, which negotiates with manufacturers for lower prices, provided comprehensive hearing care to more than 900,000 veterans in 2014 and dispensed almost 800,000 hearing aids without copays. The average cost per device: $400.Price isnt the only obstacle to wider use. In European countries where insurance does cover hearing aids, theyre still underused. Clearly, our discomfort with age-related disability plays a role.So do the shortcomings of hearing aids. Though theyre improving, no technology will ever correct hearing loss like glasses correct vision, Dr. Lin said.As hearing declines with age, the cochlea, the part of the inner ear that receives and transmits sound, sustains irreversible damage.Still, the way we acquire hearing aids, or dont, has costs beyond the obvious. Daunted by the multiple visits, the adjustments and especially the expense, people often delay for years while their mild or moderate hearing loss worsens.Over that time, youve lost some of the neural pathways from the ear to the brain, Dr. Lin said. With longstanding hearing loss, rehabilitation is much harder. The earlier you address it, the easier it is and the more successful you can be.",2
"Credit...Michael Short/BloombergJune 1, 2018SAN FRANCISCO Google, hoping to head off a rebellion by employees upset that the technology they were working on could be used for lethal purposes, will not renew a contract with the Pentagon for artificial intelligence work when a current deal expires next year.Diane Greene, who is the head of the Google Cloud business that won a contract with the Pentagons Project Maven, said during a weekly meeting with employees on Friday that the company was backing away from its A.I. work with the military, according to a person familiar with the discussion but not permitted to speak publicly about it.Googles work with the Defense Department on the Maven program, which uses artificial intelligence to interpret video images and could be used to improve the targeting of drone strikes, roiled the internet giants work force. Many of the companys top A.I. researchers, in particular, worried that the contract was the first step toward using the nascent technology in advanced weapons.But it is not unusual for Silicon Valleys big companies to have deep military ties. And the internal dissent over Maven stands in contrast to Googles biggest competitors for selling cloud-computing services Amazon.com and Microsoft which have aggressively pursued Pentagon contracts without pushback from their employees.Googles self-image is different it once had a motto of dont be evil. A number of its top technical talent said the internet company was betraying its idealistic principles, even as its business-minded officials worried that the protests would damage its chances to secure more business from the Defense Department.About 4,000 Google employees signed a petition demanding a clear policy stating that neither Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology. A handful of employees also resigned in protest, while some were openly advocating the company to cancel the Maven contract.Months before it became public, senior Google officials were worried about how the Maven contract would be perceived inside and outside the company, The New York Times reported this week. By courting business with the Pentagon, they risked angering a number of the companys highly regarded A.I. researchers, who had vowed that their work would not become militarized.Jim Mattis, the defense secretary, had reached out to tech companies and sought their support and cooperation as the Pentagon makes artificial intelligence a centerpiece of its weapons strategy. The decision made by Google on Friday is a setback to that outreach.But if Google drops out of some or all of the competition to sell the software that will guide future weaponry, the Pentagon is likely to find plenty of other companies happy to take the lucrative business. A Defense Department spokeswoman did not reply to a request for comment on Friday.Ms. Greenes comments were reported earlier by Gizmodo.The money for Google in the Project Maven contract was never large by the standards of a company with revenue of $110 billion last year $9 million, one official told employees, or a possible $15 million over 18 months, according to an internal email.But some company officials saw it as an opening to much greater revenue down the road. In an email last September, a Google official in Washington told colleagues she expected Maven to grow into a $250 million-a-year project, and eventually it could have helped open the door to contracts worth far more; notably a multiyear, multibillion-dollar cloud computing project called JEDI, or Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure.Whether Googles Maven decision is a short-term reaction to employee protests and adverse news coverage or reflects a more sweeping strategy not to pursue military work is unclear. The question of whether a particular contract contributes to warfare does not always have a simple answer.When the Maven work came under fire inside Google, company officials asserted that it was not offensive in nature. But Maven is using the companys artificial intelligence software to improve the sorting and analysis of imagery from drones, and some drones rely on such analysis to identify human targets for lethal missile shots.Google management had told employees that it would produce a set of principles to guide its choices in the use of artificial intelligence for defense and intelligence contracting. At Fridays meeting, Ms. Greene said the company was expected to announce those guidelines next week.Google has already said that the new artificial intelligence principles under development precluded the use of A.I. in weaponry. But it was unclear how such a prohibition would be applied in practice and whether it would affect Googles pursuit of the JEDI contract.Defense Department officials are themselves wrestling with the complexity of their move into cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Critics have questioned the proposal to give the entire JEDI contract, which could extend for 10 years, to a single vendor. This week, officials announced they were slowing the contracting process down.Dana White, the Pentagon spokeswoman, said this week that the JEDI contract had drawn incredible interest and more than 1,000 responses to a draft request for proposals. But she said officials wanted to take their time.So, we are working on it, but its important that we dont rush toward failure, Ms. White said. This is different for us. We have a lot more players in it. This is something different from some of our other acquisition programs because we do have a great deal of commercial interest.Ms. Greene said the company probably would not have sought the Maven work if company officials had anticipated the criticism, according to notes on Ms. Greenes remarks taken by a Google employee and shared with The Times.Another person who watched the meeting added that Ms. Greene said Maven had been terrible for Google and that the decision to pursue the contract was done when Google was more aggressively going after military work.Google does other, more innocuous business with the Pentagon, including military advertising on Google properties and Googles ad platform, as well as providing web apps like email.Meredith Whittaker, a Google A.I. researcher who was openly critical of the Maven work, wrote on Twitter that she was incredibly happy about this decision, and have a deep respect for the many people who worked and risked to make it happen. Google should not be in the business of war.Even though the internal protest has carried on for months, there was no indication that employee criticism of the deal was dying down.Earlier this week, one Google engineer on the companys internal message boards proposed the idea of employees protesting Google Clouds conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco in July with a campaign called Occupy Moscone Center, fashioned after the Occupy Wall Street protests.That engineer resigned from the company this week in protest of Maven and planned for Friday to be his last day. But he said he was told on Friday morning to leave immediately, according to an email viewed by The Times.Peter W. Singer, who studies war and technology at New America, a Washington research group, said many of the tools the Pentagon was seeking were neither inherently military nor inherently civilian. He added, This is not cannons and ballistic missiles. The same software that speeds through video shot with armed drones can be used to study customers in fast-food restaurants or movements on a factory floor.Mr. Singer also said he thought Google employees who denounced Maven were somewhat nave, because Googles search engine and the video platform of its YouTube division have been used for years by warriors of many countries, as well as Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.They may want to act like theyre not in the business of war, but the business of war long ago came to them, said Mr. Singer, author of a book examining such issues called LikeWar, scheduled for publication in the fall.",5
"Middle East|Pope Francis to Visit Egypt to Mend Ties With Muslimshttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/world/middleeast/pope-francis-egypt.htmlMarch 18, 2017VATICAN CITY Pope Francis will travel to Egypt next month, the Vatican said Saturday, giving him another opportunity to promote better relations between Catholics and Muslims.Francis has accepted an invitation to visit Cairo on April 28 and 29 from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Roman Catholic bishops, the leader of the Coptic Orthodox church of Alexandria and the grand imam of Al Azhar mosque, the Vatican said in a statement.Christians, mostly Orthodox Copts, account for about 10 percent of Egypts population, which is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim.Violence sometimes erupts over disputes related to the building of churches, religious conversions and interfaith relationships.Francis has put great emphasis on improving interfaith relations since he became pope in 2013, and a year ago he met the grand imam of Al Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, in the Vatican.That meeting unfroze relations after Al Azhar, a 1,000-year-old mosque and university center, cut off contacts with the Vatican in 2011 over what it said were repeated insults toward Islam from Francis predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.Benedict had denounced what he called a strategy of violence that has Christians as a target after a bomb attack outside a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria that killed 23 people.A bombing at Cairos largest Coptic cathedral killed at least 25 people and wounded 49 in December.Pope Francis has urged an end to what he called a genocide against Christians in the Middle East, but he has also said it is wrong to equate Islam with violence.",6
"Politics|Melania Trump Returns to the Border, This Time Without Subtexthttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/us/politics/melania-trump-border-visit-arizona.htmlCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesJune 28, 2018TUCSON Melania Trump made her second visit in a week to the border on Thursday as her husbands administration continued to struggle with the fallout from its zero tolerance policies that resulted in the separation of migrant children from their parents.The first lady met with officials at a Border Patrol office in Tucson and later toured a Department of Homeland Security facility in Phoenix where some of the separated children are being temporarily housed.I want to thank you for all your hard work that you do, Mrs. Trump told the officials in Tucson. Im here to support you and give my help, whatever I can for behalf of the children and the families. Thank you for having me.President Trumps crackdown on illegal border crossers in early May led to more than 2,300 children being separated from their families, causing a humanitarian outcry and a political crisis for many of his Republican allies.The president issued an executive order last week aimed at ending family separations, but the government is struggling to reunite the families already broken apart. Critics have filed several lawsuits, and one federal judge has ordered the government to reunite all of the children with their parents within 30 days.Thursdays trip was Mrs. Trumps first public appearance since her first border visit was marred by a controversy over her decision to wear a jacket that said I REALLY DONT CARE. DO U? on the back during a visit last week to a Texas border facility.That fashion choice which Mrs. Trumps spokeswoman dismissed as a meaningless decision overshadowed the first ladys Texas visit and her effort to demonstrate the Trump administrations empathy for the plight of the separated children.Her clothing choices on Thursday were far less controversial: Mrs. Trump arrived in Arizona wearing a black sweater and white slacks for her visit with officials and children.During the visit to Phoenix, Mrs. Trump toured several classrooms at Southwest Key Campbell, a facility partly funded by the Department of Health and Human Services where children some of them separated from their parents after crossing the border illegally are being held.In one classroom, about 10 boys and girls were making colorful pictures of animals when Mrs. Trump arrived. When she asked the children how old they were, several shouted Cinco! in Spanish.Using the classrooms teacher as a translator, Mrs. Trump asked: Do you like it here with some friends?S, one little girl answered.Do you like to dance with some music? Mrs. Trump asked.The girl shook her head, no.Theyre honest, her teacher said.Mrs. Trump also visited a room where young children ranging in age from 6 months to 2 years were being kept. A marker board on the wall read, Head count 6.28.2018: 9 little ones. Four mothers were also in the room.Where are the moms? Mrs. Trump asked. Where is your baby? she asked one young woman, who pointed out a boy who was 14 months old. She said they had been at the shelter for 12 days.Wow, so cute, the first lady said.Stephanie Grisham, the first ladys communications director, told reporters that Mrs. Trump has frequently shared her views about policy issues privately with her husband. But she conceded that Mrs. Trump has been more visible about the family separation issue at the border.I would say this is very visible. She cares about children deeply, Ms. Grisham said. She also believes in strong border laws and treating everybody equally.",3
"Credit...Guillermo Arias/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 14, 2018TIJUANA, Mexico Hundreds of migrants in the caravan traveling from Central America have begun arriving in the northern Mexico border city of Tijuana, setting up a potential confrontation with the American authorities that has been brewing for weeks.Their arrival in Tijuana marked the end of one struggle making it safely to the United States border. But it signaled the start of another to get across that border, something that President Trump has promised to impede, even for those seeking asylum. Mr. Trump has labeled the caravan an invasion, deployed American soldiers to the border and made changes to asylum rules in efforts to confront it.A few of the migrants who have made it to Tijuana were already trying to figure out how to get appointments with American border officials to present their cases for sanctuary, migrants advocates said. Most, however, appear to be biding their time and considering their options, including seeking sanctuary in the United States, trying to cross illegally or remaining in Mexico.About 800 migrants associated with the caravan have made it to Tijuana so far, according to local officials and advocates, with thousands more still crossing Mexico and expected to arrive in the next several days.On the United States side of the border on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis traveled to Texas to meet with some of 5,600 American troops deployed to support border security as the caravan approached. He continued to stand by President Trumps order to send up to 15,000 American troops to the southwest border, telling soldiers on Wednesday that their mission is to put obstacles in the way of the approaching caravan.Mr. Trump has come under fire from critics who accuse him of stoking fears about the migrant caravan as a threat to get Republicans to the polls for the midterm elections. He has not tweeted about the caravan since the elections on Nov. 6.The Trump administration has reassigned border agents from El Paso, Texas and nearby crossings to Arizona and California in anticipation of the caravans arrival, said Hector Mancha, the El Paso director of the United States Customs and Border Protections field operations.From his place in line outside a soup kitchen in downtown Tijuana on Wednesday morning, Wisthon Jos Betancourt could see the tawny, sun-baked hills of Southern California off in the distance and the new life they suggested. Part of the vanguard of the caravan, he had just stumbled off a bus after an arduous day-and-a-half drive.On one hand, we feel some happiness for having arrived at this point, he said, allowing an exhausted smile. But were a little worried about what Trump is going to do.Since the caravans inception in Honduras in mid-October, the mass migration has bedeviled governments through the region and tested the humanitarian impulses of citizens along its route. The caravan itself has been struggling in fits and starts in recent days to make its way up the Pacific Coast.ImageCredit...Marco Ugarte/Associated PressOn Wednesday, thousands of migrants were arrayed in clumps between the states of Nayarit, Sinaloa and Sonora, trying to catch rides in private vehicles or waiting for buses donated by regional governments, churches and civic groups to take them north.Authorities in Tijuana said they expected between 1,500 and 2,000 migrants associated with the caravan to arrive by the end of the day on Thursday, with many hundreds more showing up throughout the rest of the week. That influx could possibly overwhelm the citys resources, they said.Another 2,400 migrants associated with two other separate caravans were in Mexico City on Wednesday, according to Nashieli Ramrez, the president of the citys human rights commission. That group was staying in a vast temporary shelter set up in a sports stadium.The main caravan started in mid-October in the northern Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, quickly gathering size as it crossed into Guatemala. Moving sometimes on foot and other times by hitching rides in passing cars and trucks, the migrants occasionally slept in shelters but more often bedded down on the central plazas and sidewalks of small towns and hamlets.In southern Mexico, the caravan, which included mostly young men but also many families with young children, began to show its fatigue. Some members fell behind to convalesce, remain in Mexico or return home. Others sheered off and moved ahead at a faster pace. At the same time, however, new caravans, inspired by the success of the first one, started materializing in Central America and heading north.Early this month, during a several-day stop in Mexico City where the municipal government provided shelter and care to the migrants, the main caravan had a chance to coalesce once again, expanding to an estimated 5,000 or so. Refreshed and emboldened, it resumed its trek north last week.The caravans leaders have been trying to hold the group together in the belief that there is safety in numbers and that a larger group sends a louder message about the plight of migrants and the poverty and violence many say they are fleeing.But the size of the main group, which has waxed and waned over the course of the trip, has also overwhelmed towns along its path. Many governments and their citizens have risen to the challenge, providing migrants with food, water, medical care and secondhand clothes, and allowing them to sleep in public spaces.That challenge now confronts government authorities and community organizations in Tijuana and the surrounding state of Baja California. And they are worried.Tijuana, long a migratory gateway to the United States, supports a constellation of migrant shelters. But most have capacity for only scores at a time, not hundreds and certainly not thousands. And on Wednesday, migrants advocates said the shelters were already half full days before the majority of the caravan was to arrive.Csar Anibal Palencia Chvez, Tijuanas director of migrant services, said Wednesday there were some 2,800 migrants not related to the caravan waiting their turn to apply for asylum at the United States border, with many of them filling the shelters. In addition, there were another 130 Mexican deportees, many also staying in the shelters.ImageCredit...Gregory Bull/Associated PressMr. Palencia said he had appealed to the federal government for assistance but had not received any.The federal government is not accompanying us, he said outside a soup kitchen and shelter in downtown Tijuana. Its worrisome for a city to be left alone.Tijuana and the state of Baja California recently weathered what migrants and human rights advocates described as a humanitarian crisis related to another mass migration.Haitian migrants, most of them traveling from Brazil, streamed into Tijuana in 2016 and 2017 in hopes of crossing into the United States. But a change in United States policy toward Haitian immigrants effectively shut the border to many, causing a backup in Tijuana.At the peak of the crisis, at least 4,500 Haitians were stuck in Tijuana, with civil society groups and individuals assuming most of the burden of caring for them.Now, with more than that number of migrants expected to gather in Tijuana and other northern Baja California municipalities in the coming days, the authorities could face a more severe situation.We feel that the same or worse is going to happen, Mr. Palencia said. Mexicos Interior Ministry declined to comment on the matter.Meanwhile, the migrants who have arrived faced an array of difficult choices. First and foremost: Where to sleep?Olvin Joel Lobo Reyes, 21, who said he left Honduras because of poverty and was seeking a job in the United States, arrived on Tuesday among a group of about 350 caravan migrants. He spent the night in a small shelter in downtown Tijuana that had no running water, and was planning to try his luck on Wednesday in Playas, a borough in western Tijuana.As for achieving his goal of getting a job in the United States, he had not figured out how he was going to do that. He was planning to wait for the bulk of the caravan to arrive because his understanding was that the group would march to the border en masse and see what Trump says.He, like many migrants, hoped that the force of the gesture would persuade the American authorities to relent and let them in. If that didnt happen, he had a Plan B: to stay in Mexico and look for work. And even a Plan C: to sneak across the American border with the aid of a smuggler.For now, however, he was going to bide his time and figure out the best move.Thanks to God, we made it, he said. All will be defined here.",6
"Asia Pacific|2 Taliban Bombings Kill 23 People in Kabulhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/world/asia/bombings-kabul-taliban.htmlCredit...Rahmat Gul/Associated PressMarch 1, 2017KABUL, Afghanistan The Taliban set off two explosions in quick succession in the capital on Wednesday, killing 23 people and wounding 106, according to Afghan officials.Three of the dead were security force members, but most of the rest were believed to be civilians.Officials said a bomb first went off at a neighborhood police headquarters in the southwestern part of the city. A short time later, a second explosion was heard in the eastern side of the city, near offices of the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence agency.Faraidoon Obaidi, head of the Kabul police criminal investigations division, said two attackers had entered the police headquarters, while another pair assaulted a nearby recruitment center for the Afghan National Army. The later strike also used two attackers.After the explosions, the attackers apparently fought with the authorities. An exchange of small-arms fire was heard in both areas for five hours. The attackers were presumably killed.A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, emailed and posted social media messages claiming responsibility for the bombings soon after they took place.Officials originally said 12 people died, but Qamaruddin Sediqi, a spokesman for the Afghan Health Ministry, revised the death count to 23 and the number of injured to 106, up from 50, after receiving more complete information from hospitals.The attack on the security office involved a suicide bomber, but it was unclear what sort of detonation took place at police headquarters. It was the first insurgent bombing in Kabul since Feb. 7, when a suicide bomber killed more than a dozen people outside the Supreme Court offices.Elsewhere in Afghanistan on Wednesday, a district in the northern province of Baghlan fell to the Taliban on Wednesday, according to Faizullah Amiri, the governor of Tala Wa Barfak district. It was believed to be the first time in recent years that a district in Baghlan, normally a government stronghold, had fallen to the insurgents.We were under siege for four days, Mr. Amiri said. Our supply routes from Bamian were blocked and the route to Baghlan was also blocked and eventually the district collapsed to the Taliban.He said three security force members and seven Taliban militants had died in the fighting.",6
"Astronomers had already spotted two other rocks orbiting the asteroid known as 130 Elektra, and think more quadruple systems are out there.Credit...Yang/ESOFeb. 8, 2022We already knew the asteroid 130 Elektra was special. Astronomers previously discovered it had two moons, making it a rare triple asteroid system. Now a third moon may have been found, making it even more uncommon the first-known quadruple asteroid in the solar system.Elektra was first discovered in 1873, orbiting in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Oblong-shaped and 160 miles across on its longest side, it is a relatively large asteroid and completes an orbit of the sun every five years.In 2003, the first moon was discovered orbiting Elektra, and in 2014 a second. The discoveries were interesting, but not unusual more than 150 asteroids are known to have one or two moons, in the same way planets can have moons that are gravitationally bound to them. Multiple moons can be found around large asteroids, said Bin Yang, an astronomer from the European Southern Observatory in Chile who discovered Elektras second moon. A NASA mission, DART, is on target to collide with one such asteroids moon later in the year.But until now, an asteroid with three moons has eluded astronomers. Anthony Berdeu from the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand and colleagues used images from the Very Large Telescope (V.L.T.) in Chile to take a closer look at Elektra, and they found evidence for a previously hidden moon inside the orbits of the other two.This is the first asteroid with three moons, Dr. Berdeu said. We are pretty confident. Its quite exciting.Their results were published Tuesday in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.At a paltry one mile across, the moon would be slightly smaller than its siblings at 1.2 and 3.7 miles across. It swings around Elektra once every 16 hours at a distance of only 220 miles. To an observer standing on the third moons surface, Elektra would loom large in the sky.Dr. Berdeu says he was able to find the moon using a new algorithm to eke out its extremely faint light in images taken by the V.L.T. The data reduction techniques employed by the algorithm allowed for a sharper image of Elektra and its surroundings.Dr. Yang, who was not involved in this paper, said that she and other astronomers had been trying to look for quadruple systems for a while, and that her team also saw tantalizing hints of this third moon in their studies of 130 Elektra. This discovery would be a very exciting result, she said, although further observations will be needed to confirm the moons existence.Alan Fitzsimmons, an astronomer from Queens University Belfast who was also not involved in the paper, says the moons are most likely chunks of Elektra that were broken off in a collision when another object smashed into the asteroid in the past. They all look like theyre from the same material, he said.Further study of this system could reveal the stability of such multi-moon asteroids. This third moons orbit is misaligned to the other two, something thats very strange, Dr. Berdeu said. Dr. Yang said that she thought the system was unstable and that the inner moons may eventually fall back onto Elektra.It could also tell us more about the formation of multi-moon asteroids. This new finding will inspire modelers to look at asteroid impact formation, and try to set a limit on how many moons an impact can form, Dr. Yang said. How many moons can a system really sustain?Further studies are expected to unearth more quadruple systems too. New telescopes, such as the Extremely Large Telescope currently being built in Chile, will have the observing power necessary to more easily spot these multi-moon asteroid systems.And astronomers may not stop at quadruple asteroids. There is no limit to what we can find, Dr. Berdeu said. We expect to find more quadruple systems, and why not quintuple or sextuple.",7
"Deondre Francois 911 Call 'She's Tearin' Up Everything' 1/25/2018 TMZSports.com FSU QB Deondre Francois was worried his ex-GF was going to wreck all his stuff -- including 2 flat screen TVs -- according to the 911 call obtained by TMZ Sports. Cops responded to an incident at Francois' apartment earlier this week. Francois claims his GF became enraged and started breaking things at his apartment before she tried to hit him. Francois' GF told a different story ... saying the FSU QB flew into a jealous rage, knocked down a door and threw her to the ground. In the 911 call made by DF, he tells Tallahassee PD that his girl is ""tearin' up everything in my house."" Francois tells the operator the girl threatened to call cops and say he physically hurt her ... ""She's trying to say I was domestic violent. But my best friend is sitting right here. He just seen her trying to take everything down."" ""I just want someone to come get her please."" As for the investigation, Tallahassee PD tells us Francois is in the clear ... which means Francois and his girlfriend will not face criminal charges from the incident.",1
Salt Bae Come to My New Steakhouse ... And I'll Feed You with a Knife 1/27/2018 Salt Bae is expanding his restaurant empire ... he's opened a steakhouse in the Big Apple. The social media celeb opened Nusr-Et Steakhouse in Midtown Manhattan where he did what made him famous ... sprinkling salt in dramatic fashion on grilled steaks. He interacted with customers including rapper Bryson Tiller who was tucked away in the VIP section. As a matter of fact he even sliced a piece of meat and fed Bryson from a large knife. It's Salt Bae's 9th restaurant. The reviews are .... mixed.,1
"Science|NASA Isnt the Only Space Program Celebrating a Year at Marshttps://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/science/mars-china-emirates.htmlNASA Isnt the Only Space Program Celebrating a Year at MarsChina and the United Arab Emirates have also had a successful 12 months on the red planet.Credit...China National Space Administration, via Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesFeb. 15, 2022The other country was an unexpected newcomer: the United Arab Emirates. Without much experience in spaceflight, it collaborated with engineers at the University of Colorados Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics to build Hope, a spacecraft about the size of a small car.ImageCredit...Kamran Jebreili/Associated PressHope is smaller in size and ambition than Perseverance or Tianwen-1, but building it provided on-the-job training for budding Emirati engineers and scientists who worked side-by-side with their American counterparts in Boulder, Colo.Hope entered orbit around Mars and continues looping around the planet, making measurements of the atmosphere. It has made some unexpected findings, particularly the quantity of oxygen in the upper atmosphere.When we were comparing it to the models, it was around 50 percent higher than were expected, said Hessa al-Matroushi, the missions science lead. So that was surprising.Hopes instruments found structures in the upper atmosphere with higher concentrations of oxygen. Scientists are trying to figure out the significance of the surprise.Another spacecraft, the ExoMars 2022 mission, a collaboration between the European Space Agency and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, is planned for launch to Mars this year. It was originally scheduled for launch in 2020, but technical problems and the pandemic the mission was postponed. The next opportunity for launch opens in late September.ExoMars is carrying a rover named Rosalind Franklin, which is to look for indications of past life in Oxia Planum, a 120-mile-wide plain near the equator that possesses clay-rich minerals.",7
"Credit...Marine BuffardWith the virus widespread in white-tailed deer, scientists wonder which animals might be next.Credit...Marine BuffardFeb. 22, 2022Barbara Han, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, knew it was a question of when, not if, the coronavirus would spread to animals. As the first reports of infected animals appeared in 2020, she began working on an artificial intelligence model that would predict which creatures might be next.We had a pretty lofty goal of being able to predict exactly which species we should be keeping an eye on, given that we think its going to spill back, Dr. Han said. As her team worked, the trickle of cases in new species became a flood: cats and dogs in homes and mink on farms. The virus infiltrated zoos, infecting the usual suspects (tigers and lions) as well as more surprising species (the coatimundi, which is native to the Americas and resembles a raccoon crossed with a lemur, and the binturong, which is native to Southeast Asia and resembles a raccoon crossed with an elderly man).Dr. Han and her colleagues ultimately identified 540 mammalian species that were most likely to host and spread the coronavirus. She had been especially worried that the red fox, which ranked high on her list of at-risk creatures, and is widespread in Europe and North America, would be susceptible to the virus. Were just waiting for somebody to report it, she said.Just days earlier, in fact, researchers in Colorado had announced that the virus had proved capable of infecting red foxes in the lab. Oh no! Dr. Han exclaimed when informed of the finding. It really sucks to be right in my line of work.Last fall, scientists analyzing tissue samples from dead white-tailed deer in Iowa found that the virus was widespread in that species. The discovery intensified concerns that the virus might establish itself in an animal reservoir, mutate and spread to other species, including back to humans. It also opened a rabbit hole: If deer can silently spread the coronavirus, what else could? And what else will?Experts say there is no need to panic, and emphasize that animals are not to blame. Really, humans are infecting the animals, and now animals are sick and some of them are dying, Dr. Han said.But identifying the species at risk is crucial for protecting both human and animal health. It is also a formidable scientific problem, with a wide array of potentially vulnerable species. Scientists must analyze a constant, chaotic stream of computational predictions, laboratory data and confirmed infections in zoos, homes and the wild.In an ideal world, scientists would monitor every potentially susceptible population. But in the real one, they are trying to strike a delicate balance between identifying the species of highest concern and casting a wide net as the virus mutates and variants emerge. It wouldnt surprise me if you would find an animal species or an animal reservoir that nobody has thought about, Dr. Diego Diel, a virologist at Cornell University, said.The basics of infectionScientists use a variety of tools to identify susceptible species. Each approach has limitations, but together they paint a fuller picture of which animals are at risk.Some research teams are focusing on the ACE2 receptor, a protein found on the surface of the cells of many species. The coronaviruss spiky protrusions allow it to bind to these receptors, like a key in a lock, and enter cells.In 2020, a group of scientists compared the ACE2 receptors of hundreds of vertebrates, mostly mammals, with those of humans to determine which species the virus might infect. (The ACE2 receptors of birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians are not similar enough to ours to raise concern.)The predictions have been very good so far, Harris A. Lewin, a biologist at the University of California, Davis, and an author of the study, said in an email. The scientists predicted, for instance, that white-tailed deer were at high risk for infection.But some predictions proved entirely wrong: The paper identified farmed mink as a species of very low concern and then in April 2020 the virus raged through mink farms.Indeed, ACE2 offers only a snapshot of susceptibility. Viral infection and immunity is much more complex than just a virus binding to a cell, Kaitlin Sawatzki, a virologist at Tufts University, said in an email.And of the worlds nearly 6,000 mammalian species, scientists have sequenced the ACE2 receptors of just a few hundred of them, creating a biased data set. These sequenced species include model organisms used in experiments, species that carry other diseases, and charismatic zoo denizens, not necessarily the animals that people are most likely to encounter.If a pandemic were to have arisen from a squirrel, we would be like, God, whats wrong with us? We didnt even measure the basic biology of a squirrel, Dr. Han said. So scientists have to find creative ways to make predictions for animals whose ACE2 sequences remain unknown. ACE2 sequences play a crucial role in basic biological functions, such as regulating blood pressure. By collecting a species basic life history details such as what it eats and whether it is nocturnal Dr. Hans team trained a machine learning algorithm to identify those that appeared likely to bind to and transmit the virus, allowing them to predict susceptibility across many more mammals.Scientists can test these computational predictions in the lab by trying to infect animal cells or live animals with the virus. Such experiments can differentiate species that may seem similar; one study found that deer mice could be infected with and shed the original version of the virus, while house mice could not.But what happens in a collection of cells does not always occur in real animals, and what happens in a lab, where animals typically receive high doses of the virus, may not reflect real life. For instance, although the original virus can replicate in pig cell lines, actual pigs do not appear to be highly susceptible, researchers found.To learn whether animals have been infected by the virus in the real world, scientists can perform what are known as serology studies, looking for coronavirus antibodies in their blood. Serology helps us to look at the historical exposure, Dr. Suresh Kuchipudi, a veterinary microbiologist at Penn State, said.The discovery of widespread antibodies in white-tailed deer set off scientific alarm bells because it indicated that many of the animals had already been infected by the virus. It prompted researchers to look for active infections in the cervids, which they soon found.But sampling and swabbing free-ranging animals can be difficult and time-consuming. So the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which received $300 million under the American Rescue Plan to conduct disease surveillance in animals, is now asking zoos, aquariums and wildlife facilities to send in blood samples, which will be analyzed for coronavirus antibodies.And researchers at Tufts, including Dr. Sawatzki, have enlisted wildlife rehabilitation specialists to swab an eclectic collection of creatures, including black bears, bobcats and hundreds of bats. (Bat rehabilitators often submit guano samples instead of oral swabs, which can be difficult to obtain from the animals. They have very tiny little mouths, Dr. Sawatzki said.) So far, all have been negative.Bats have been a source of concern because they are reservoirs for other coronaviruses, and many scientists believe that SARS-CoV-2 initially emerged from bats. But bat species are incredibly diverse, and not all of them appear to be susceptible to the virus a reminder that animals of highest concern may not be intuitive, scientists said.Complicating matters, the virus is not static, and animals that resisted infection with past variants might be vulnerable to new ones. For example, lab mice that were not susceptible to the original coronavirus or to the Delta variant were susceptible to Beta and Gamma.Thats the problem with emerging diseases, said Dr. Scott Weese, an infectious diseases veterinarian at the University of Guelph in Ontario. You have to keep resetting your knowledge every time something changes, he added.ImageCredit...Marine BuffardA shortlist of speciesBiological susceptibility is just one piece of the puzzle; whether or not a species becomes a reservoir depends on a constellation of factors. It depends on their social behavior, the immune response thats mounted by the animals, the population size, the kind of connection with different populations of animals, said Dr. Keith Hamilton, head of the preparedness and resilience department at the World Organization for Animal Health.For a virus that is overwhelmingly transmitted by humans, a speciess relationship with us matters tremendously. Although narwhals ACE2 receptors technically place them at high risk for infection, they are not likely to run into us. Still, risk isnt zero for marine mammals, especially captive ones: In 2006, a human likely transmitted MRSA to a bottlenose dolphin in a marine park in North America.And the risk to pets is manifest.Weve heard stories of dogs getting infected from people sharing food and letting them lick off their plates when they were sick, said Dr. Casey Barton Behravesh, who directs the One Health Office at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which created a national repository for data on coronavirus cases in animals. Or even drinking out of toilets.Pet dogs, cats and hamsters can all be infected by the virus. Hamsters in a Hong Kong pet store most likely infected two people, leading to a contentious hamster cull.But we are far more likely to infect our pets than they are to infect us, and many of these infections will be dead ends, scientists predicted. Infectious pets can also be isolated. Your hamster at home that you may have bought some time ago is not a high risk to you, Dr. Hamilton said.A larger concern, scientists said, are the peridomestic species that live alongside us but roam freely; in North America, these include deer mice, red foxes and feral cats. These animals may act as a bridge between humans and wild populations, spreading the virus to species we may not encounter. And rodents, which are reservoirs for other pathogens, should be definitely on the top of the list, Dr. Kuchipudi said.To monitor this potential threat, officials from the U.S.D.A. and other agencies are looking for signs of the virus in some of these animals including rodents, skunks, foxes and opossums that live in and around zoos, wildlife facilities and mink farms.Globally, certain threatened species are also a top concern. Three snow leopards in a Nebraska zoo died after contracting the coronavirus, and a wild leopard cub in India was found to be infected.And great apes, which frequently encounter tourists and researchers, are vulnerable to other respiratory viruses. Great apes are uniquely susceptible to human pathogens, because were closely genetically related, said Dr. Kirsten Gilardi, a wildlife veterinarian at the University of California, Davis.So far, no coronavirus infections have been reported in wild apes, but researchers are monitoring the animals closely, collecting fecal samples from those with respiratory illnesses.A long gameAnimal surveillance is a long-game question, said Dr. Andrew Bowman, a veterinary epidemiologist at Ohio State University. How do we get ahead of the virus and try to understand what might be coming down the line, potentially years from now?To keep tabs on mutations in animals, and whether they are transmitted across species, federal researchers are conducting genomic surveillance, comparing virus samples from infected animals with those from humans in close contact with them.Some researchers are analyzing potential variants. Dr. Kuchipudi and his colleagues created a computational model that virtually generates novel patterns of mutations and then assesses whether they might make the virus more likely to infect, say, cows. Scientists can then watch for those mutations in databases and observe cattle more closely if the sequences appear. This will give us a way to make sense of the sequencing data and proactively screen, Dr. Kuchipudi said.Scientists also worry about the longer-term threat of viral recombination, in which an animal is simultaneously infected by two coronaviruses that swap genetic material, generating a new virus. Researchers at the University of Liverpool created a model predicting potential hosts in which coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, could recombine.Staying ahead of the virus will require long-term funding and commitment. But scientists say making these investments now could result in better systems for monitoring pathogens in other species and an expanded understanding of how animal health is linked to ours. It may even help experts catch the next looming health threat before it spills over from animals.Theres no harm in understanding better the world around us, Dr. Han said. There can only be harm in not understanding and not investing in that knowledge, which is really obvious now.",2
"Science|Who else was aboard the flight?https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/20/science/blue-origin-crew-bezos.htmlPublished July 20, 2021Updated Oct. 13, 2021Mr. Bezos brought his younger brother. Mark Bezos, 50, has lived a more private life. He is a co-founder and general partner at HighPost Capital, a private equity firm. Mark Bezos previously worked as head of communications at the Robin Hood Foundation, a charity that aids anti-poverty efforts in New York City.Blue Origin auctioned off one of the seats, with the proceeds going to Club for the Future, a space-focused charity founded by Mr. Bezos. The winning bidder paid $28 million and we still do not know who that was.ImageCredit...Daemen FamilyLast week, the company announced that the auction winner had decided to wait until a subsequent flight due to scheduling conflicts.Instead, Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old student from the Netherlands who was one of the runners-up in the auction, and who had purchased a ticket on the second New Shepard flight, was bumped up.The fourth passenger was Mary Wallace Funk she goes by Wally a pilot who in the 1960s was among a group of women who passed the same rigorous criteria that NASA used for selecting astronauts.",7
"Credit...Leslye Davis/The New York TimesJune 19, 2017MEYRIN, Switzerland The worlds biggest and most expensive time machine is running again.Underneath the fields and shopping centers on the French-Swiss border outside Geneva, in the Large Hadron Collider, the subatomic particles known as protons are zooming around a 17-mile electromagnetic racetrack and banging into one another at the speed of light, recreating conditions of the universe when it was only a trillionth of a second old.Some 5,000 physicists are back at work here at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, watching their computers sift the debris from primordial collisions in search of new particles and forces of nature, and plan to keep at it for at least the next 20 years.Science is knocking on heavens door, as the Harvard physicist Lisa Randall put it in the title of her recent book about particle physics.But what if nobody answers? What if there is nothing new to discover? That prospect is now a cloud hanging over the physics community.Its been five years and more than seven quadrillion collisions of protons since 2012, when the collider discovered the Higgs boson, the particle that explains why some other elementary particles have mass. That achievement completed an edifice of equations called the Standard Model, ending one significant chapter in physics.A 2015 bump in the collider data hinted at a new particle, inspiring a flood of theoretical papers before it disappeared into the background noise as just another fluke of nature.But since then, the silence from the frontier has been ominous.The feeling in the field is at best one of confusion and at worst depression, Adam Falkowski, a particle physicist at the Laboratoire de Physique Thorique dOrsay in France, wrote recently in an article for the science journal Inference.These are difficult times for the theorists, Gian Giudice, the head of CERNs theory department, said. Our hopes seem to have been shattered. We have not found what we wanted.ImageCredit...Leslye Davis/The New York TimesWhat the worlds physicists have wanted for almost 30 years is any sign of phenomena called supersymmetry, which has hovered just out of reach like a golden apple, a promise of a hidden mathematical beauty at the core of reality.Theorists in the 1970s posited a relationship between the particles that carry forces, like the photon that conveys electromagnetism or light, and the basic constituents of matter, electrons and quarks.If the theory of supersymmetry is correct, there should be a whole new set of elementary particles to be discovered, so-called super-partners of the quarks and the electrons and the other particles we already know and love. Clouds of them left over from the Big Bang, moreover, could make up the mysterious dark matter that astronomers say constitutes a quarter of the universe and whose gravitational pull controls the fates of galaxies.Colliders get their mojo from Einsteins equivalence of mass and energy. When a pair of protons collide in the Large Hadron Collider, they recreate a smidgen of the original Big Bang that jump-started the cosmos. Whatever forms of matter can be made from that bank of energy particles and forces that held sway when the universe was young can reappear and briefly strut their stuff through labyrinths of electronic detectors and computers.Every time colliders get a little more energy to spend, scientists get access to realms of time, nature and possibility we have never experienced, and we get a little closer to the mathematical bones of reality.The Large Hadron Collider was designed to collide protons with energies of seven trillion electron volts apiece, taking science back to the first trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. That was enough, physicists knew, to discover the Higgs or to prove that it was wrong.Many theorists had also hoped that supersymmetrical particles would show up when the Large Hadron Collider was finally turned on in 2010. Indeed the mystery particles could have shown up even earlier, in the colliders predecessors, according to some versions of the theory.As a headline in The New York Times put it in 1993: 315 Physicists Report Failure in Search for Supersymmetry.So far they are still failing. In May, a new analysis by the 3,000 physicists monitoring the big Atlas detector (one of two main detectors in the CERN tunnel) reported no hints of superparticles up to a mass of almost 2 trillion electron volts.ImageCredit...Leslye Davis/The New York TimesIn other experiments, meanwhile, increasingly sensitive efforts to capture the putative dark matter particles drifting in space (and through our bodies) have also come up empty, and theorists have started turning to more complicated ideas for what nature might be doing in the dark.Last year, some scientists gathered in Copenhagen to pay off bets, with bottles of expensive cognac, they had made that supersymmetry would appear by now.Many of my colleagues are desperate, said Hermann Nicolai of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam, Germany. They have invested their careers in this.The idea that the Large Hadron Collier would discover the Higgs boson but nothing else has long been physicists worst nightmare. Among other things, it would leave them with no explanation for their greatest achievement: the Higgs itself.According to CERN, the long-sought boson, the keystone to the Standard Model, weighs 125 billion electron volts, or as much as a whole iodine atom. But that is ridiculously too light, according to theoretical calculations. The mass of the Higgs should be some thousands of quadrillion times as high.The cause is quantum weirdness, one principle of which is that anything that is not forbidden will happen. That means the Higgs calculation must include the effects of its interactions with all other known particles, including so-called virtual particles that can wink in and out of existence.Theorists have to doctor their equations for the Higgs and other numbers to come out right under the Standard Model.But when the alleged supersymmetric particles are inserted in the mix, a miracle occurs. They cancel out the effects of the other particles, leaving the Higgs with a perfectly finite, normal mass. This is the way nature should be, they say.Supersymmetry is such a general idea that there is always another version that can be proposed.Not everybody is ready to give up on supersymmetry or to pay off bets.ImageCredit...Leslye Davis/The New York TimesGordon Kane, a superstring theorist at the University of Michigan who is well known in the community for his optimism about supersymmetry, said his calculations predicted that the lightest superparticle should show up around about 1.6 trillion electron volts once enough data was properly analyzed. Sadly, he wrote in an email, the experimenters have not done realistic searches.Another staunch supporter is John Ellis, a veteran CERN theorist and professor at Kings College London, whose office at the lab displays a cardboard skeleton holding a sign implying that this is what happened to the last person who criticized Susy, short for supersymmetry. Obviously Im disappointed Susy didnt show up when the L.H.C. was turned on, he said, adding that there were still plenty of chances for it to show up.Guido Tonelli, a professor at the University of Pisa in Italy who was one of the leaders of the Higgs hunt, said, For a while we thought we could discover the Higgs and new physics at the same time that was very exciting. But he said he did not share his colleagues depression that it did not happen: The fact that the Higgs fits the Standard Model means new physics is farther up the energy scale. We know it is there, we just dont know if it is tomorrow or the next decade.He added, We need to explore; dont be timid.By the end of 2018, the collider will have logged some 15,000 trillion collisions. If something does not show up by then, Dr. Giudice said, it will be time to go back to the drawing board.Its a high point of research when we have confusion, he said. Certainly this is a moment of confusion.Confusion, he explained, means an opportunity for new ideas.Among the other ideas, Dr. Giudice suggested with a few quick squiggles and scrawls on this blackboard, is that the Higgs mass is fixed not by some deep symmetry principle, but rather by the continuing dynamics of fields and forces. As the universe expands and evolves during the Big Bang, the Higgs field, of which the boson is an expression, undergoes phase transitions, like water turning to ice. At some point, it gets stuck.What fixes the value of the Higgs is the history of the universe, he said. But that would make the Higgs field unstable over very long time frames much longer than the age of the universe and could eventually collapse, dissolving what we think of as reality.Another possibility, which is anathema to many card-carrying Einsteinians, is that these problematic numbers are due to random chance. There are virtually an infinite number of possible universes with different Higgs masses, but only one that has the capability of a evolving into stars, planets, us.CERN has begun laying plans for a truly giant successor to the Large Hadron Collider: It would be 100 kilometers around and collide protons at 100 trillion electron volts. China is also exploring a Great Collider along those lines.ImageCredit...Leslye Davis/The New York TimesAt 14 trillion electron volts, the Large Hadron Collider would either find the Higgs boson or something else because the Standard Model broke down at those energies.The Future Circular Collider, as CERN refers to it, has no such specific purpose because under the Standard Model, that higher energy range is barren of new particles a desert in the parlance. But nobody really believes that the Standard Model, with no mention of gravity, is the last word about the universe.There are trillions upon trillions of proton smash-ups to go before we sleep.One encouraging hint has come from recent CERN studies of a weird short-lived little particle called a B-meson, which among other things flips back and forth from being itself and its antimatter opposite trillions of times a second. According to the Standard Model, these particles should have an equal chance of producing electrons as their fat cousins the muons, when they decay in certain ways. However, measurements at the CERN collider have shown a definite propensity for the mesons to underproduce muons, as reported at CERN in April.The same quantum weirdness that blows up the theoretical mass of the Higgs might also be at work here, physicists say, hinting at a new very massive particle called a leptoquark. Or it could just be a fluke.Needless to say, if these signals hold up then it would be an extremely big deal, but it is too soon to say, said Guy Wilkinson, an Oxford professor who is the spokesman for the LHCb collaboration.It was only six years ago that the collider was on the verge of ruling out the Higgs boson, at least as prescribed by the Standard Model. Scientists prepared to explain to the public why failing to find the Higgs boson would be more exciting than finding it: another chance at creative confusion.It was just then, of course, that a small bump appeared in the data charts that would turn out to be the elusive boson.Nature might be more subtle than we think it is, said Joel Butler, a physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, who leads one of the CERN detector teams.It took 50 years to find the Higgs, he said, standing beside his multistory detector, known as CMS, 300 feet underground one morning.Patience is clearly a virtue in physics, he added.",7
"Technology|Google delays its return to office until January.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/31/technology/google-rto-delta-variant.htmlIt is the latest company to push back plans for a return in light of the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.Credit...Laura Morton for The New York TimesPublished Aug. 31, 2021Updated Sept. 21, 2021Google is pushing back its return-to-office date by three months, to Jan. 10, in a decision that reflects the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Alphabet, Googles parent company, informed employees of the plans in an email on Tuesday. He said that after Jan. 10, offices in different countries and locations will determine for themselves when to return based on local conditions, and that employees will get 30-days notice.Like other companies, Google has repeatedly postponed the date when it expects its employees to return to work at its offices. Last month, Google pushed back its return date from September to October and announced that it would require employees who returned to the companys offices to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.If Google employees return to the office in January, it will be nearly two years since the company asked its staff to work from home in the early days of the pandemic. The extended period of working from home has forced the company to rethink the future of its workplace and what is the best way to balance remote work with in-person collaboration.",5
"Usain Bolt Blastin' Bubbly ... in Cape Town Rager 1/30/2018 Usain Bolt was locked and loaded in Cape Town this past weekend ... tearin' up the South African party city with the help of a gold-plated champagne super soaker!! Bolt rolled through local hot spot Grand Cafe & Beach with a small entourage -- poppin' bottles, smokin' cigars and (of course) gettin' his groove on. The retired sprinter's Sunday Funday wrapped a little before midnight -- but not before he blasted his homies with some heavenly Brut. Ain't no stoppin' the World's Fastest party train!",1
"TrilobitesA trove of fossilized eggs and skeletons in Argentina revealed that some dinosaurs likely traveled in herds and socialized by age.Credit...Universal Images Group/DeAgostini, via AlamyOct. 21, 2021Paleontologists have found the earliest known evidence that dinosaurs lived in herds unlike reptiles, and more like penguins and other birds do today and socialized with each other by age groups.The scientists, working a rich deposit of fossils at a site in Argentinas province of Santa Cruz, at the southern tip of South America, found more than 100 eggs and the skeletons of 80 individuals ranging in age from embryos to adults.All of the fossils, including the embryos inside the eggs, are of the species Mussaurus patagonicus. These dinosaurs were about 10 feet high and 26 feet in length when fully grown, with a long tail balanced by an equally long neck that ends in a head that seems too small for the enormous animal it is attached to. This is the only place Mussaurus remains have ever been found.Little is known about the behavior of dinosaurs, but this large number of fossils, and their distribution at the site, has given scientists new information about their social lives. The study appeared in Scientific Reports on Thursday.The bones and eggs are spread over about 250 acres a small area for finding so many fossils of the same species. Most of the eggs were found in clutches of eight to 30 in nests close together, which suggests that the animals used a common breeding ground. Within the nests, the eggs are arranged in trenches that the animals apparently excavated for the purpose.The scientists found eggs, neonates, juveniles and adults clustered close to each other, which indicates that the animals lived in socially cohesive groups, rather than gathering only temporarily to breed and lay eggs. Age groupings like this, the authors write, suggest that the animals maintained social connections with each other across their life spans.Among the specimens are 11 one-year-olds, and an analysis of the bones suggests that they were probably members of a single brood, buried together. The researchers also found many adults close to each other, in natural resting poses, suggesting that the animals lived and died together.ImageCredit...American Museum Of Natural History, via ReutersOften fossils are found in large numbers at one location not because the animals died together, but because a stream or river transported bones of different ages and species, piling them up and burying them under the silt. But these Mussaurus bones were found in deposits made from windblown dust, and the authors conclude that they probably died simultaneously in periodic droughts. There were at least three episodes of mass death at the site.The sediments also have evidence that the animals still had soft tissue when they were buried, said the lead author, Diego Pol, a researcher at the Museo Paleontologico Egidio Feruglio in Trelew, Argentina. This indicates a simultaneous death.The Latin name for the species is clearly a misnomer. The site had been examined by other researchers in the late 1970s, but they found only a few juveniles, small enough to hold in the palm of one hand. They named them Mussaurus, which is Latin for mouse lizard. These new excavations, which began in 2012, have revealed a much more extensive assemblage of bones, and an animal considerably larger than a mouse.It has been known for some time that dinosaurs sometimes lived in herds, but the behavior was found only in dinosaurs that lived, at the earliest, about 150 million years ago. But the long-necked, plant-eating Mussaurus flourished 193 million years ago, meaning that dinosaurs likely lived in herds earlier than previously thought.X-ray analysis by the researchers of the growth patterns in the bones indicates that the animals did not reach adult size until they were at least 15 years old.During all this time young individuals were vulnerable and subject to predation, Dr. Pol said. This adds to the interpretation that herd behavior was beneficial for the species, to protect the young during their growth.Body shape the long neck and tail that come to mind immediately when picturing a dinosaur may also be a factor in Mussauruss evolutionary success.Once it appeared, that body became the dominant form for millions of years, Dr. Pol said. So were very interested in the evolution of that form. Behavior was, maybe, another element in that successful evolutionary recipe.",7
"In the Ocean, Its Snowing MicroplasticsTiny bits of plastic have infiltrated the deep seas main food source and could alter the oceans role in one of Earths ancient cooling processes, scientists say.Credit...April 3, 2022As long as there has been marine life, there has been marine snow a ceaseless drizzle of death and waste sinking from the surface into the depths of the sea.The snow begins as motes, which aggregate into dense, flocculent flakes that gradually sink and drift past the mouths (and mouth-like apparatuses) of scavengers farther down. But even marine snow that is devoured will most likely be snowfall once more; a squids guts are just a rest stop on this long passage to the deep.Although the term may suggest wintry whites, marine snow is mostly brownish or grayish, comprising mostly dead things. For eons, the debris has contained the same things flecks from plant and animal carcasses, feces, mucus, dust, microbes, viruses and transported the oceans carbon to be stored on the seafloor. Increasingly, however, marine snowfall is being infiltrated by microplastics: fibers and fragments of polyamide, polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate. And this fauxfall appears to be altering our planets ancient cooling process.Every year, tens of millions of tons of plastic enter Earths oceans. Scientists initially assumed that the material was destined to float in garbage patches and gyres, but surface surveys have accounted for only about one percent of the oceans estimated plastic. A recent model found that 99.8 percent of plastic that entered the ocean since 1950 had sunk below the first few hundred feet of the ocean. Scientists have found 10,000 times more microplastics on the seafloor than in contaminated surface waters.Marine snow, one of the primary pathways connecting the surface and the deep, appears to be helping the plastics sink. And scientists have only begun to untangle how these materials interfere with deep-sea food webs and the oceans natural carbon cycles.Its not just that marine snow transports plastics or aggregates with plastic, Luisa Galgani, a researcher at Florida Atlantic University, said. Its that they can help each other get to the deep ocean.Marine snow-makingImageCredit...Agung Parameswara/Getty ImagesThe sunlit surface of the sea blooms with phytoplankton, zooplankton, algae, bacteria and other minuscule life, all feeding on sunbeams or one another. As these microbes metabolize, some produce polysaccharides that can form a sticky gel that attracts the lifeless bodies of tiny organisms, small shreds of larger carcasses, shells from foraminifera and pteropods, sand and microplastics, which stick together to form larger flakes. They are the glue that keeps together all the components of marine snow, Dr. Galgani said.Marine snowflakes fall at different rates. Smaller ones have a more languid descent as slow as a meter a day, said Anela Choy, a biological oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. Bigger particles, such as dense fecal pellets, can sink quicker. It just skyrockets to the bottom of the ocean, said Tracy Mincer, a researcher at Florida Atlantic University.Plastic in the ocean is constantly being degraded; even something as big and buoyant as a milk jug will eventually shed and splinter into microplastics. These plastics develop biofilms of distinct microbial communities the plastisphere, said Linda Amaral-Zettler, a scientist at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, who coined the term. We sort of think about plastic as being inert, Dr. Amaral-Zettler said. Once it enters the environment, its rapidly colonized by microbes.ImageCredit...Morgan Trimble/AlamyMicroplastics can host so many microbial hitchhikers that they counteract the natural buoyancy of the plastic, causing their raft to sink. But if the biofilms then degrade on the way down, the plastic could float back up, potentially leading to a yo-yoing purgatory of microplastics in the water column. Marine snow is anything but stable; as flakes free-fall into the abyss, they are constantly congealing and falling apart, rent by waves or predators.Its not as simple as: Everythings falling all the time, said Adam Porter, a marine ecologist at the University of Exeter in England. Its a black box in the middle of the ocean, because we cant stay down there long enough to work out whats going on.To explore how marine snow and plastics are distributed in the water column, Dr. Mincer has begun to sample deeper waters with a dishwasher-size pump full of filters that dangles on a wire from a research boat. The filters are arranged from big mesh to small to filter out fish and plankton. Running these pumps for 10 hours at a stretch has revealed nylon fibers and other microplastics distributed throughout the water column below the South Atlantic subtropical gyre.But even with a research boat and its expensive and unwieldy equipment, an individual piece of marine snow is not easily retrieved from deep water in the actual ocean. The pumps often disturb the snow and scatter fecal pellets. And the flakes alone offer little insight into how fast some snows are sinking, which is vital to understanding how long the plastics linger, yo-yo or sink in the water column before settling on the seafloor.Is it decades? Dr. Mincer asked. Is it hundreds of years? Then we can understand what were in here for, and what kind of problem this really is.Instant marine snowImageCredit...Luisa Galgani, Chiara Esposito, Paraskevi PittaTo answer these questions, and work within a budget, some scientists have made and manipulated their own marine snow in the lab.In Exeter, Dr. Porter collected buckets of seawater from a nearby estuary and loaded the water into continuously rolling bottles. He then sprinkled in microplastics, including polyethylene beads and polypropylene fibers. The constant churning, and a squirt of sticky hyaluronic acid, encouraged particles to collide and stick together into snow.We obviously dont have 300 meters of a tube to make it sink, Dr. Porter said. By rolling it, what youre doing is youre creating a never-ending water column for the particles to fall through.After the bottles rolled for three days, he pipetted out the snow and analyzed the number of microplastics in each flake. His team found that every type of microplastic they tested aggregated into marine snow, and that microplastics such as polypropylene and polyethylene normally too buoyant to sink on their own readily sank once incorporated into marine snow. And all the marine snow contaminated with microplastics sank significantly faster than the natural marine snow.ImageCredit...Adam PorterDr. Porter suggested that this potential change of the speed of the snow could have vast implications for how the ocean captures and stores carbon: Faster snowfalls could store more microplastics in the deep ocean, whereas slower snowfalls could make the plastic-laden particles more available to predators, potentially starving food webs deeper down. The plastics are a diet pill for these animals, said Karin Kvale, a carbon cycle scientist at GNS Science in New Zealand.In experiments in Crete, with funding from the European Unions Horizon 2020 research program, Dr. Galgani has tried mimicking marine snow on a larger scale. She dropped six mesocosms huge bags that each contained nearly 800 gallons of seawater and recreated natural water movement in a large pool. Under these conditions, marine snow formed. In the field, you mostly make observations, Dr. Galgani said. You have so little space and a limited system. In the mesocosm, you are manipulating a natural system.Dr. Galgani mixed microplastics into three mesocosms in an attempt to recreate a sea and maybe a future ocean where you can have a high concentration of plastic, she said. The mesocosms laden with microplastics produced not just more marine snow but also more organic carbon, as the plastics offered more surfaces for microbes to colonize. All this could seed the deep ocean with even more carbon and alter the oceans biological pump, which helps regulate the climate.Of course, its a very, very big picture, Dr. Galgani said. But we have some signals that it can have an effect. Of course, it depends on how much plastic there is.A plastic feastImageCredit...Steve Downer/Science SourceTo understand how microplastics might travel through deep-sea food webs, some scientists have turned to creatures for clues.Every 24 hours, many species of marine organism embark on a synchronized migration up and down in the water column. They do the equivalent of a marathon every day and night, Dr. Choy said. Guilherme V.B. Ferreira, a researcher at the Rural Federal University of Pernambuco in Brazil, wondered: Is it possible they are transporting the plastics up and down?Dr. Ferreira and Anne Justino, a doctoral student at the same university, collected vampire squids and midwater squids from a patch of the tropical Atlantic. They found a plethora of plastics in both species: mostly fibers, but also fragments and beads.This made sense for midwater squids, which migrate toward the surface at night to feed on fish and copepods that eat microplastics directly. But vampire squids, which live in deeper waters with fewer microplastics, had even higher levels of plastic, as well as foam, in their stomachs. The researchers hypothesize that the vampire squids primary diet of marine snow, especially meatier fecal pellets, may be funneling plastics into their bellies.Its very concerning, Ms. Justino said. Dr. Ferreira said: They are one of the most vulnerable species for this anthropogenic influence.Ms. Justino has excavated fibers and beads from the digestive tracts of lanternfish, hatchetfish and other fish that migrate up and down in the mesopelagic, 650 to 3,300 feet down. Some microbial communities that settle on microplastics can bioluminesce, drawing in fish like a lure, said Dr. Mincer.In the Monterey Bay Canyon, Dr. Choy wanted to understand if certain species of filter feeders were ingesting microplastics and transporting them into food webs in deeper water. Marine snow is one of the major things that connects food webs across the ocean, she said.ImageCredit...NOAA Ocean ExplorationDr. Choy zeroed in on the giant larvacean Bathochordaeus stygius. The larvacean resembles a tiny tadpole and lives inside a palatial bubble of mucus that can reach up to a meter long. Its worse than the grossest booger youve ever seen, Dr. Choy said. When their snot-houses become clogged from feeding, the larvaceans move out and the heavy bubbles sink. Dr. Choy found that these palaces of mucus are crowded with microplastics, which are funneled to the deep along with all their carbon.Giant larvaceans are found across the worlds oceans, but Dr. Choy emphasized that her work was focused on the Monterey Bay Canyon, which belongs to a network of marine protected areas and is not representative of other, more polluted seas. Its one deep bay on one coast of one country, Dr. Choy said. Scale up and think about how vast the ocean is, especially the deep water.Individual flakes of marine snow are small, but they add up. A model created by Dr. Kvale estimated that in 2010, the worlds oceans produced 340 quadrillion aggregates of marine snow, which could transport as many as 463,000 tons of microplastics to the seafloor each year.Scientists are still exploring exactly how this plastic snow is sinking, but they do know for sure, Dr. Porter said, that everything eventually sinks in the ocean. Vampire squids will live and die and eventually become marine snow. But the microplastics that pass through them will remain, eventually settling on the seafloor in a stratigraphic layer that will mark our time on the planet long after humans are gone.",7
"April 1, 2016CAIRO The leaders of Libyas fragile new unity government cautiously expanded their authority in Tripoli on Friday, venturing from their fortified base in the city port to make public appearances in a downtown mosque and square, while political factions from nearby towns pledged their allegiance.The unity government, which landed in Tripoli by boat on Wednesday in defiance of warnings and an air blockade imposed by hostile armed groups, is seeking to establish its own authority. Although formed under United Nations auspices in December, and enjoying strong backing from the United States and its European allies, it has faced bitter opposition from rival Libyan factions that, until this week, left it languishing in five-star hotels in neighboring Tunisia.Worries that the sudden arrival of Prime Minister Fayez Serraj and six others from the unity governments nine-member Presidency Council would plunge the capital into violence dissipated somewhat on Friday, amid signs that the unity government was gaining momentum.Key militias in Tripoli sided with the new administration and 10 coastal towns near Tripoli, including Sabratha, where American warplanes in February bombed an Islamic State training camp, pledged their fealty to the new administration.At lunchtime on Friday, Mr. Serraj, a businessman previously little-known in Libyan politics, ventured a few miles from his base at Tripolis naval base to attend prayers at a downtown mosque, and to shake hands with security officials and well-wishers in Martyrs Square, a central landmark where Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi gave defiant speeches before his ouster in 2011.Mr. Serrajs confident thrust appeared to soften the bellicosity of Tripolis self-declared government. In a statement on Thursday, the Tripoli leader, Khalifa al-Ghwail, who had earlier issued warnings against Mr. Serraj, pledged to offer peaceful resistance.Still, the situation remained deeply uncertain in a city awash with competing militias, and where alliances can shift easily. Things are going better than expected, said Mattia Toaldo, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. But the unity government still has to achieve a long checklist of things if it wants to survive, let alone thrive.Away from the cameras, negotiations continued to avert confrontation among rival militias. Ibrahim Ben Rijab, a mediator who is leading the talks, said he was cautiously optimistic.Steps are being taken, he said in a phone interview. But it is still too early to tell. The next two days will be decisive.Western countries see the unity government as their best bet for stabilizing Libya and mounting a concerted military drive against Islamic State, which has expanded far beyond its base in Colonel Qaddafis hometown, Surt. In recent days they have stepped up efforts to force rival groups to accept the new administration.On Friday the European Union imposed sanctions on three leaders from the countrys two other parliaments, one in Tripoli and the other in the eastern city of Tobruk. Mr. Ghwail, the prime minister of the unrecognized Tripoli government, was among those named.The United Nations Security Council, meanwhile, focused on the oil sector in a resolution on Thursday that called the unity government Libyas sole legitimate authority and condemned efforts by parallel institutions to export the countrys oil.That resolution appeared to have an effect on Friday, when the militia that guards many of the countrys oil terminals pledged loyalty to Mr. Serrajs government.Analysts and diplomats say the real test is likely to come in the days ahead, when Mr. Serrajs ministers are expected to try and establish control of key ministries across Tripoli. Mr. Serraj has already started talks with the Central Bank, which controls foreign reserves estimated at up to $85 billion, and the national oil company, which is the source of the countrys dwindling wealth.Officials at several ministries, contacted by phone, said there has been deep uncertainty in recent days, with little sense of who is in charge.Libyas complex civil conflict, which involves an array of militias organized by town, tribe or ideology, burns with less ferocity than others in the Middle East, such as Yemen or Syria. The United Nations documented 32 civilian casualties across the country during the month of March, mostly in the east. Yet the power vacuum greatly worries the West because it has emboldened the Islamic State in its expansion in Libya and helped increase the flow of migrant boats to Europe.For Mr. Serraj, much may depend in the days ahead on the stance taken by militias from nearby Misurata, which have controlled much of Tripoli in recent years. But even if his unity government can persuade, or at least neutralize, its opponents, it faces an even greater challenge in eastern Libya.Gen. Khalifa Hifter, a prominent military leader who controls most of the eastern city of Benghazi, has thus far been ambiguous about the United Nations-led political process. He has not publicly commented on this weeks events.Hifter is sitting on the fence, waiting to see if Serraj can control Tripoli, said Mr. Toaldo, the analyst. But he will want to show that hes still a man to be dealt with.",6
"Health officials are exploring the possibility that a common adenovirus might be responsible for the unexplained cases, which remain rare.Credit...Biophoto Associates/Science SourcePublished May 3, 2022Updated May 20, 2022The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has opened a multipronged investigation into reports of puzzling hepatitis cases in otherwise healthy children. In the United States, 180 cases and six deaths have now been reported, the agency said at a news briefing on Friday.The cases remain extremely rare, with 614 children affected worldwide, according to a May 20 report from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.But even these small clusters have raised alarm. In Britain, where many of the cases have been reported, two pediatric liver units already have had at least as many admissions for acute, unexplained hepatitis in 2022 as they typically would have in an entire year, according to a briefing from the U.K. Health Security Agency.Most children should recover fully, experts said, but some of the cases have been severe. In nearly 10 percent of reported cases, children have required liver transplants, according to the World Health Organization. At least 15 deaths have been reported worldwide.Experts are still searching for a cause. This is an evolving situation and an ongoing investigation, Dr. Jay Butler, deputy director for infectious diseases at the C.D.C., said at the briefing.One leading theory is that an adenovirus may be responsible. Adenoviruses are common, but they are not usually associated with hepatitis in healthy children. And with many nations only now beginning to look for cases in earnest, the scope of the problem remains unknown.Its still early days, said Dr. Richard Malley, an infectious disease specialist at Boston Childrens Hospital. Its hard to predict whether this will become more common or if, in fact, it will just be a blip in our 2022 infectious-disease story.Heres what scientists know so far.What is hepatitis?Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver and can have a wide range of causes. Viral infections can cause the condition; the viruses known as hepatitis A, B, C, D and E are all known triggers.Heavy drinking, as well as certain medications and toxic substances, can also cause hepatitis. In autoimmune hepatitis, the bodys own immune system attacks the liver.Sudden and severe hepatitis in previously healthy children is uncommon, which is why the new clusters of cases have prompted concern.Where have the new cases been reported?In early April, Britain became the first country to notify the W.H.O. of a cluster of unexplained hepatitis cases in children. The cases were unusual because they occurred over a short period of time in otherwise healthy children, and because clinicians quickly ruled out any of the common hepatitis viruses as the cause. They did not identify any patterns in travel, diet, chemical exposures or other risk factors that might explain the outbreak, according to the U.K. Health Security Agencys briefing.Since then, cases have been reported in more than two dozen countries.In the United States, Alabama recorded nine cases between October and February. Three of the children developed liver failure, and two required liver transplants, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted in a recent report. All of the children either recovered or are recovering, the agency noted.The two that received the transplant are actually doing quite well, said Dr. Henry Shiau, a pediatric transplant hepatologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Childrens of Alabama hospital.The cases prompted the C.D.C. to issue a nationwide alert, asking health care providers to keep an eye out for similar cases.Cases have now been reported in 36 states and territories, the C.D.C. announced this week. The median age of affected children is about 2, Dr. Butler said on Friday. Many of the cases, which date back to October, were identified after a retrospective review of medical records, he noted.What are the symptoms?In many of the cases, children developed gastrointestinal symptoms, including vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain, followed by a yellowing of the skin or eyes, known as jaundice. They also had abnormally high levels of liver enzymes, a sign of liver inflammation or damage.Gastrointestinal symptoms are common in children and should not, in isolation, be cause for alarm, Dr. Shiau said. But a yellowing of the skin or eyes are more telltale signs of liver problems, he said.The likelihood of your child developing hepatitis is extremely low, Dr. Meera Chand, the director of clinical and emerging infections at the U.K. Health Security Agency, said in a statement. However, we continue to remind parents to be alert to the signs of hepatitis particularly jaundice, which is easiest to spot as a yellow tinge in the whites of the eyes and contact your doctor if you are concerned.Whats causing it?Thats the million-dollar question, Dr. Shiau said. I want to be up front about this: We dont know.But one leading hypothesis is that an adenovirus one of a group of common viruses that often cause cold-like symptoms is responsible. Of the 169 cases included in an April W.H.O. report, at least 74 had an adenovirus infection, the organization said. Eighteen of those children were infected with what is known as adenovirus type 41, which typically causes gastrointestinal and respiratory symptoms.The evidence is accumulating that theres a role for adenovirus, particularly adenovirus 41, Dr. Butler said.But the explanation is not a perfect fit. Not all of the children have tested positive for an adenovirus, and while the viruses can cause liver inflammation, that symptom is most common in people who are immunocompromised. It is not a common cause of liver failure in kids, said Dr. Aaron Milstone, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Johns Hopkins Childrens Center.It is possible that a new adenovirus strain has emerged or that adenovirus infections are occurring in conjunction with some other risk factor such as a toxic exposure or an infection with another pathogen causing these unusually severe outcomes, the U.K. Health Security Agency said.Or the adenovirus infections could be a red herring. Because the viruses are so common among children, it is difficult to determine whether they are the cause of these hepatitis cases or whether many of the children have been infected incidentally. For proof of causality you really need a lot of data, which we just dont have, Dr. Malley said.How are officials responding?The C.D.C. is pursuing multiple lines of investigation, Dr. Butler said. First, the agency is trying to determine whether these cases truly represent a new spike in unexplained hepatitis in children or are part of an existing phenomenon that is now being recognized in the light of increased awareness.A preliminary analysis suggests that in the United States, 1,500 children to 2,000 children under age 10 are admitted to hospitals annually for hepatitis cases that are not linked to a known viral cause, Dr. Umesh Parashar, chief of the C.D.C.s viral gastroenteritis branch, said at the briefing on Friday. So far, the agency has not documented an overall increase in cases, though a small increase might be difficult to detect, he noted.The agency is also working with doctors across the country to gather more data. This effort includes reviewing the medical records of children who have had hepatitis previously and searching for any exposures or patterns that might tie the new cases together. This is the type of shoe-leather epidemiology that our disease detectives are trained to do, Dr. Butler said.The C.D.C. is also investigating whether adenovirus infections are more common among children with liver disease than in children without liver disease and conducting laboratory studies of adenovirus samples from affected children. Early evidence suggests that multiple versions of adenovirus 41 may be involved, Dr. Butler said.Is this connected to Covid-19?Its not clear. Of the 169 cases in the W.H.O. report, 20 tested positive for the coronavirus. And there was evidence of coronavirus infection in fewer than 20 percent of the U.S. cases, Dr. Butler said. These figures are not surprising, given how widely the virus has been spreading in recent months, scientists said.There is no evidence that hepatitis is linked to the Covid-19 vaccines. The vast majority of these children are unvaccinated, and most are too young to have received a vaccine anyway, Dr. Butler said.Still, a coronavirus connection cannot be entirely ruled out, experts cautioned. It is possible that a prior coronavirus infection could be a contributing factor, and the hepatitis cases may be linked to the pandemic in less direct ways. For example, the public health measures implemented over the past two years may have left fewer children exposed to common adenoviruses. That, in turn, might have made them more susceptible now, according to one of the U.K. Health Security Agencys working hypotheses.But that, too, is speculative.At this point, Dr. Shiau said, we still dont know whats going on.",2
"Health|Deaths from tuberculosis rose in 2020, for the first time in a decade, the W.H.O. says.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/14/health/tuberculosis-deaths-covid.htmlDeaths from tuberculosis rose in 2020, for the first time in a decade, the W.H.O. says.Credit...Rijasolo/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesOct. 14, 2021Deaths from tuberculosis, the worlds biggest infectious disease killer until the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, have increased for the first time in more than a decade, totaling more than 1.5 million people in 2020. That trend is expected to worsen in 2021 and 2022, according to a report released on Thursday by the World Health Organization.The report confirmed the warnings from the W.H.O. and other global health organizations that the Covid-19 pandemic would reverse years of progress against other infectious diseases, including TB, H.I.V. and malaria.This is alarming news that must serve as a global wake-up call to the urgent need for investments and innovation to close the gaps in diagnosis, treatment and care for the millions of people affected by this ancient but preventable and treatable disease, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the W.H.O.s director general, said in a statement.Reported diagnoses of TB also dropped sharply, to 5.8 million cases in 2020 from 7.1 million in 2019, suggesting that many more cases than before are going undiagnosed and untreated a trend that is likely to have a long-term effect on TB deaths. And only 2.8 million people were given preventive treatment for TB in 2020, a 21 percent decrease from 2019.In many poor countries, health care workers, funds and testing equipment that would normally be dedicated to TB were redirected to cope with Covid-19, according to the W.H.O. report. Lockdowns and disruptions in supply chains also interrupted access to treatment and care.At the same time, global funding for TB has fallen to $5.3 billion from $5.8 billion, less than half of whats needed, according to the W.H.O. report.There were some glimmers of good news amid the sobering statistics. In the Russian Federation, the incidence of TB fell by 6 percent a year between 2010 and 2020, and the W.H.O. European Region overall exceeded the 2020 goal with a decrease of 25 percent.",2
"AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySports Briefing | Pro FootballBy ReutersFeb. 15, 2014The former Dolphins lineman Andrew McDonald is the unidentified player named in an N.F.L.-commissioned report as being a victim of bullying in the Miami locker room, his agent said. But the players agent, Brett Tessler, said that McDonald, who now plays for the Carolina Panthers, had no problems with the Dolphins. AdvertisementContinue reading the main story",4
"On PoliticsJan. 7, 2021ImageCredit...Where things standNot since the War of 1812, when British forces set fire to the Capitol, had the halls of power in Washington been overtaken by violent intruders as they were yesterday.The crowd of hundreds who broke windows and burst their way through the front doors were only the front lines of a mob of thousands, which President Trump himself had encouraged that morning to march en masse to the Capitol, with the goal of disrupting Congresss acceptance of the Electoral College vote. You will never take back our country with weakness, he said.The presidents supporters forced their way past law enforcement officers, entered the Senate chambers and put their feet up, quite literally, on the House speakers desk. Then they eventually filed out, largely without being detained by the police.A person with knowledge of the events told Maggie Haberman that Trump had resisted sending in the National Guard even after the Capitol had been stormed and that it had taken intervention from senior White House officials to get those forces ordered into action.Badly outnumbered, the Capitol Police skirmished with rioters who were overrunning the Capitol but didnt deploy the kinds of aggressive tactics that police forces in cities around the country had used against protesters throughout 2020. Some videos showed officers standing passively by, and the failure of law enforcement personnel to keep the Capitol safe seems likely to be a major point of discussion in the coming days.One woman died after being shot by a police officer inside the Capitol, officials said. Three other people died in what the authorities called medical emergencies. Numerous police officers were reported to have been injured during the fracas yesterday.It was all a bridge too far even for some of the staunchest allies of Trump, who released a one-minute video expressing love for his supporters at the Capitol and only equivocally asking them to back off. Once the Capitol was re-secured and debate resumed hours after the mayhem began, much but certainly not all of the Republican resistance to accepting the election results withered away, and Congress moved forward with certifying Joe Bidens victory.Around 3:40 a.m. Eastern time, Vice President Mike Pence made it official, affirming Biden as the nations 46th president. In a striking break with the president, he opened the proceedings hours earlier with a firm rebuke to the rioters, telling them, You did not win. He ended the brief but forceful speech with an exhortation Lets get back to work and drew an ovation from the Senate.There may have been a whiff of presidential auditioning here whether for 2024 or 24 hours from now. A statement from Trump, issued via surrogates after Twitter and Facebook locked his accounts, promised an orderly transition, but a growing number of civic and business leaders called on members of his cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and declare him unfit for office.That prospect, which appears to remain unlikely, would place Pence in the Oval Office for the final days of the administration.Some prominent Democrats have also called for Trump to be re-impeached immediately, calling it the best way to ensure his removal from office and avoid any further violence before Biden enters the White House.Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota tweeted yesterday that she would draw up articles of impeachment. We cant allow him to remain in office, its a matter of preserving our Republic and we need to fulfill our oath, she wrote. A number of other House Democrats expressed their support for the move.And Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the chair of the House Democratic caucus, said in an interview with ABC News that all options should be on the table with regard to removing the president from office.In remarks yesterday afternoon from Wilmington, Del., Biden denounced the violence at the Capitol and called on Trump to condemn it.This is not dissent, he said. It borders on sedition. Calling it an insurrection, Biden demanded that Trump go on national television to address what happened, but his calls fell on deaf ears.The end of the Trump presidency will also be the end of Republican control in the Senate, after Jon Ossoff, one of the Democratic challengers in Georgia, was declared the winner yesterday in his runoff election against David Perdue.Ossoff will join the Rev. Raphael Warnock, who defeated the states other Republican incumbent, Senator Kelly Loeffler, as the first Democratic senators from Georgia in 16 years.They will shift the balance of power significantly in Washington from the right wing toward the center, as Democrats will hold razor-thin control over both houses of Congress.Democrats in the Senate will now be in a position to confirm Bidens appointments, including Merrick Garland, whom Biden will pick as attorney general, people close to his decision said yesterday. For Garland, it may feel like poetic justice if his nomination slides past Mitch McConnell, who denied Garland a place on the Supreme Court in 2016 but as the Republican leader will no longer control the Senates majority.If Trump has driven the Republican Party off a political cliff, most of the momentum is still inside the car: Well over half of rank-and-file Republican voters still think that the election was stolen from him.While the Senates Republican caucus mostly came together to allow Bidens win to be confirmed, some senators logged official objections in the record. And on the House side, well over 100 legislators voted in support of objections that the Democratic majority overruled.While conservative news outlets like Fox News and Newsmax were heavily critical of the rioting at the Capitol, it remains hard to imagine that the coalition Trump has assembled will easily disintegrate or meaningfully change course even after such a traumatic event.The fact remains that a violent protest was able to delay the adoption of the elections legitimate results, and a president who still holds his followers in thrall garnered significant support in refusing to give up power.Photo of the dayImageCredit...Win Mcnamee/Getty ImagesTrump supporters broke into the Senate chambers yesterday.The view from abroad on the U.S. chaos: Some hope, a lot of worry.The worlds democracies, many under increasing strain in recent years, watched yesterday with growing apprehension but not surprise as once-unthinkable political violence erupted in the United States capital.These countries top leaders, The Timess Katrin Bennhold writes in a new article, saw a warning for all the worlds democracies: If this can happen in the United States, it can happen anywhere.The German vice-chancellor, Olaf Scholz, squarely blamed Trump. The peaceful transfer of power is the cornerstone of every democracy, he wrote. A lesson once taught to the world by the USA. It is a disgrace that Donald Trump is undermining it by inciting violence and destruction.Prime Minister Pedro Snchez of Spain tweeted: I trust in the strength of Americas democracy. The new Presidency of @JoeBiden will overcome this time of tension, uniting the American people.Still, many others abroad were more downbeat.The worlds strongmen and dictators must be in euphoric and celebratory mood, wrote Yossi Melman of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. The glorified democracy in the world is in shambles like a third world country.And Ana Paula Ordorica, a Mexican journalist who covered the U.S. election in November for Televisa, said: As Mexicans, what is surprising is that for the first time the United States, which has been an example of democracy, is becoming the counterexample of it.On Politics is also available as a newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.Is there anything you think were missing? Anything you want to see more of? Wed love to hear from you. Email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com.",3
"Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesDec. 16, 2015Communication today is faster and more ephemeral than ever. We fire off emails, skip the punctuation in our texts, and watch our photos and messages vanish in seconds on Snapchat.Digital tools have made communicating with others easier but not necessarily more thoughtful, and this bothered Sonny Caberwal, an entrepreneur. Were in a rush to make everything disappear, he said.Receiving a physical, handwritten thank-you note or letter these days feels special, but it also requires some work. You have to assemble all the pieces, Mr. Caberwal said including paper, a pen, the recipients address, an envelope and a stamp and then the note has to be written and mailed, all of which is time-consuming. He wanted to enable people to do that more easily, by harnessing technology to create a product that still felt very personal and worth keeping.His company, Bond, harks back to a time of fountain pens, creamy sheets of writing paper and wax-sealed envelopes. Mr. Caberwal, founder and chief executive of the New York City start-up, describes it as the opposite of Snapchat. Bond was started in 2013, and has about 50 full-time employees and several high-profile backers, like Gary D. Cohn, the president of Goldman Sachs, and the rapper Nasir Jones (known as Nas).Although handwritten notes and cards may seem like artifacts of the 20th century, greeting cards are still a strong business. According to the Greeting Card Association, Americans purchase about 6.5 billion cards a year and annual sales are estimated to be $7 billion to $8 billion. Despite a culture awash in digital communications, the greeting card and stationery industries have not declined precipitously but have remained largely flat, said Patti Stracher, director of the National Stationery Show, an annual trade show and business event for stationery, greeting card and gift companies.One could say the digital age has grown connectivity and expanded the reasons for other forms of personal communication, for a tangible, experiential connection, she saidAt the Greeting Card Associations annual convention in October, nearly every presentation included a discussion of the intersection of digital technology and traditional greeting cards, said Carlos LLans, the organizations president. Were actually finding that social media gives people another opportunity to identify card-worthy occasions, he said. You cant save a Facebook birthday message and put it in a drawer.That overlap of digital and traditional is where Bond lives. The company built its own writing machine, which can produce personalized notes for every customer. Designed by the companys chief technology officer, Kenji Larsen, the machines have robotic arms that can hold a pen, a paintbrush or a marker. The paper is moved around using static electricity rather than a roller so it stays pristine, with no wrinkles or marks. Bond also seals each envelope with wax, adds postage and mails it.Customers can choose from a variety of handwriting styles, or they can have their own handwriting copied and digitized for $500. Each customers original signature is uploaded to Bond via smartphone, to be used on cards and notes. Customers also upload recipients addresses. If an address is unknown, the service will send an email or text message to the recipient asking for it. An invitation-only premium service, Bond Black, costs $1,200 a year and provides clients with a personalized mobile app to send notes in their own handwriting on custom stationery.Many of Bonds biggest customers are commercial, including Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, and small independent businesses like professional services firms and real estate brokers. Companies spend $23 billion on customer relationship management tools to understand and have a more personal relationship with their customers. We are the physical implementation of that, Mr. Caberwal said. One Bond client, a Fortune 500 retailer, tested the service by sending personalized thank-you notes to some of its best customers. Those customers, Mr. Caberwal said, ended up spending, on average, $16 more each month after receiving the thank-you note and returned 33 percent less merchandise.Mr. Caberwal followed an unusual path on his way to starting Bond. He was a corporate lawyer, played percussion with the band Thievery Corporation, founded a tea store, modeled for Kenneth Cole and, with his wife, started the online fashion company Exclusively.com in India. That company was acquired by the Indian e-commerce marketplace Flipkart. By that time he, his wife and their young daughter were back in New York, and Mr. Caberwal was looking to start another company. Thats really what I know how to do best, he said, build e-commerce companies.Bond now has 200 robotic writing machines in its Manhattan facilities (although the machines are manufactured at a plant it owns in Rhinebeck, N.Y.), and it also produces its own stationery. The company raised a few million in seed funding, Mr. Caberwal said, and is in the midst of an effort to raise $3 million. By the end of the year, Bond expects to have about $500,000 a month in sales, he said, adding that revenue has been growing from 30 to 50 percent a month. Mr. Caberwal said he expected Bond to be profitable by the second quarter of 2016. A single card costs $3.50, but for corporate customers with larger orders, the price ranges from $2 to $2.50 a card.Jason Hirschhorn, founder and chief executive of the New York start-up Redef, which provides curated information streams, began using Bonds services this summer. They are using robotics in a very clever way, Mr. Hirschhorn said. I dont have a lot of time, but I like the idea of being able to use personalized stationery in my own hand, using my own words, all done remotely for me. And its all in my computer, so I can track what Ive done.Saneel Radia, founder and president of Finch15, a New York firm that helps companies develop new products and services, uses Bonds service early in his relationships with customers and business partners. At first Mr. Radia had his own handwriting duplicated but then switched to one of the styles offered by Bond. I hate what my handwriting looks like, so I upgraded it, he said. Now its an odd mix of creative and energetic, handwriting I wish I had.Mr. Radia said people often thanked him for the notes they received, and he readily admitted that a robot had written them. People hire us because we are at the intersection of service and technology, he said. Bond, like us, is also at that intersection, so using the service shows that our company has its finger on the pulse of what is new and useful in this space.Mr. Radia said although the cards created by Bond are not actually handwritten, they are still a far cry from an email or a mass-produced thank-you note.Youre giving someone something that took time and is work not the same amount of work as mailing a letter you wrote yourself, but more than a text message that says, Thanks for the meeting, Mr. Radia said. Its thoughtful, and it is my sentiments. And it comes in an envelope with a wax seal, which certainly helps.",0
"Science|Is Earth Getting Bigger Over Time?https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/science/earth-size-mass.htmlGood QuestionThe planet is a magnet for stuff: space dust, dead leaves, old refrigerators. Is all that mass adding up?Dec. 10, 2019Has Earth grown larger from the buildup of decaying vegetation through the ages? Robert in Spartanburg, S.C.Earth isnt getting bigger. Its actually getting smaller!Decaying vegetation does pile up across the planet, but not everywhere equally. Wind and rain erode the ground over time, and even where leaves and other vegetation do gradually accumulate, like peat bogs and river deltas, that material doesnt add to Earths bulk. ImageTrees are built from air well, air and water. The water comes from the rain and the ground, but most of the rest of a tree is carbon and oxygen that was extracted, by photosynthesis, from the carbon dioxide in the air. And that carbon dioxide came from somewhere else on Earth. None of these processes actually makes the Earth bigger or smaller no mass is being created or destroyed. Atoms are just getting moved from one place to another.But Earths size isnt quite constant. Space around Earth is dusty; its full of asteroid debris, comet trails and ionized particles streaming away from the sun. And as our planet flies through that dust, our gravity vacuums it up.The dust enters the atmosphere, drifts around and eventually settles on the surface. This steady flow of dust along with occasionally larger chunks in the form of meteorites adds about 43 tons of mass to Earth every day. Its possible that a few molecules of the dust on your dresser recently arrived from another planet.But that 43 tons a day is small potatoes compared to Earths mass, which is about 5,972,200,000,000,000,000,000 tons.Moreover, and in spite of the added space dust, the planet is actually losing mass over all, because our atmosphere leaks. Gravity does a decent job of keeping Earths air wrapped around us, but a faint stream of lightweight gasses mostly hydrogen, but also helium and oxygen is continually escaping from the fringes of our atmosphere. These streams are particularly dense near the poles, where gas ionized by the sun flows out along the magnetic field lines in the form of the polar wind.Thanks to our leaky atmosphere, Earth loses several hundred tons of mass to space every day, significantly more than what were gaining from dust. So, overall, Earth is getting smaller.Dont worry: At the current rate, it would take quadrillions of years for Earth to evaporate completely, millions of times longer than the expected lifetime of the sun. But if the air leak bothers you, you could always try to convince NASA to build a giant lid.Randall Munroe is the author of the web comic XKCD and, most recently, How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real World Problems.",7
"Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesFeb. 21, 2014SOCHI, Russia Deep in the back alleyways of the Ice Cube Curling Center in the Olympic Park stands a door marked TER Secondary. It is not clear exactly what goes on in there or why it is so close to doors labeled Language Services and Venue Technology Operations, but it is further evidence, if any was needed, that the Olympics occupy an exotic alternative world that makes sense only on its own terms.Every four years, wildly disparate winter sports come together to form an instant civilization that lasts for a few weeks and then dissolves peacefully back into its constituent parts. Like any world, it has its own secret language, a shorthand that can mystify the uninitiated. Take the V.M. Office door at the curling arena. Venue management, explained a woman who turned out to be behind that very door. It had just opened unexpectedly, revealing the on-duty V.M. Office staff her and a colleague to be eating lunch and watching the biathlon on television. Were ruling all the stuff at the venue.At the curling arena, some doors were easier to fathom than others. The Sport Manager Room was simple: The sport manager manages sport. Timing and Scoring Storage? Also self-explanatory, since timing and scoring devices surely have to be stored somewhere. And there was the Mascot Dressing Room, where perhaps a lucky visitor might happen upon a half-dressed bear.But what was the C & W Dressing Room? Many of the doors said Staff Only in English, yet were rendered at least three ways in Cyrillic. A succession of hand-lettered signs pointed down four corridors and stairwells through storage areas for chocolate power bars, for drywall shelves and for empty refrigerators marked beer to a final destination, far above the ice, known by the mysterious designation Eng Platform C.One door, alarmingly, appeared to scream Danger! in about five ways in Russian, but in English said only, In case of black out or lack of voltage in a socket.ImageCredit...Josh Haner/The New York TimesWhat was the difference between the Ice Technicians Room and the Ice Technicians Working Area Room? A worker who came out of the Ice Technicians Room looked to be in a prime position to explain. Alas, no. Probably you can ask Hans hes the main ice maker, he said. But Hans was not there, nor was he in the nearby Ice Technicians Working Area office, which maintained its mystique by virtue of being locked.A lot of the other doors were locked, too. And while it would have been exciting to see what was going on in the Water Purification/Preparation/Treatment Room, it was probably just as well that all was quiet in the Russian Federal Guards Services Unit.Some Olympic signs are odd to outsiders but not to people who have been to an Olympics or two. The Mixed Zone, with its connotations of coed bathrooms, might not be the best name for a place where reporters interview athletes (how about Interview Zone?), but that is what the place is called. Every venue has one.Here in Sochi, every venue also has its Access Control Points, its Interpretation Booths, its Athletes Dressing Rooms and its Doping Control Station, cheerily designated with cartoons of two urine sample containers that resemble baby bottles and are labeled A and B. Every venue has Broadcast Commentary Positions, a Jury Appeal Room and a Logistics Office. And each also seems to have something related to CER and sometimes to TER, either in a primary or a secondary capacity.Im sorry, but this is secret information, said an official who suddenly popped out from behind the CER & TER Primary door at the biathlon station and who quickly popped back inside again, groundhog-style.Some venues have Wax Cabins; others do not. But it is fair to bet that only the figure skating arena has a place called Entertainment Dressing Room or a place called Costume Repair Room. And only the biathlon stadium has a Rifles and Ammunition Storage Room.ImageCredit...Josh Haner/The New York TimesUnfortunately, we cant show you, said an official stationed outside that room, which was protected by a steel gate, like a bank vault.Then there was the Dry Shooting Room, which looked like nothing special, maybe a high school rec room in a school district with a limited rec room budget. They practice here without ammunition, said Evgenia Karbusheva, a volunteer.Some of the oddness can be attributed to language confusion, which is nobodys fault. And while most of the English renditions of Russian signs are admirably clear, others look as if they were written by rogue translators who sneaked into the office when the official translators were at lunch.How else would you explain the blameless regular garbage can in the Olympic Park that reads Food Waste Accumulation Area? Or the sign by the concession stand at the ice hockey arena reading, Please Take Your Drinks Before Paying?Perhaps the best signs are near spectators entrances to the biathlon competition, which you reach after walking some way up a hill. They appear to have sprung from nothing more than the friendly imagination of some Olympic sign producer who has been reading a motivational manual for the armchair athlete.Just Several Meters More and Youll Reach the Goal! one reads.Before you know it, you are more or less being awarded your own gold medal, for the arduous sport of successfully making your way nearly to your seat.We Know the Journey Was Difficult, the sign reads, and We Are So Proud of You!",4
"Extras small maneuvers before, during or after a major move could give the United States champion Gracie Gold the boost she needs to reach the Olympic podium. A Quick Turn Before a Jump Height and distance matter in jumps. But a quick turn, called a bracket, before the takeoff of Golds double axel, can add almost 10 percent to the jumps value. On the ice, the turn creates the pattern of a curly bracket. A Challenging Spin Position Gold enters a high-scoring combination spin with a challenging entry, known as a back entrance, and then holds her position for two revolutions. In her upright position, she adds points by lifting her left leg with one hand, creating a martini glass shape. Difficult Turns in Footwork Sequence Gold earns additional points by skimming across the ice while doing a series of rapid turns, called a twizzle, which helps increase the difficulty level of her footwork sequence. She also does a sequence of increasingly difficult turns on one foot while shifting direction. More on NYTimes.com",4
"Millones de personas siguen experimentando agotamiento, problemas cognitivos y otros sntomas de duracin prolongada tras la infeccin por coronavirus. No se sabe cules son las causas precisas de este padecimiento, conocido como covid persistente o long covid en ingls, pero hay nuevas investigaciones que nos ofrecen algunas pistas y especifican los estragos provocados en el cuerpo por la enfermedad y por qu pueden ser tan debilitantes. El diagnstico de covid persistente Los pacientes con covid grave pueden terminar hospitalizados con un respirador hasta que los sntomas desaparecen. Es comn que en las pruebas de diagnstico habituales aparezcan los daos en el cuerpo resultantes de una covid grave : neumona, baja oxigenacin, inflamacin. La covid persistente es diferente: se trata de una enfermedad crnica con una amplia gama de sntomas, muchos de los cuales no se pueden esclarecer con pruebas convencionales de laboratorio. Las dificultades para detectar la enfermedad han hecho que algunos mdicos no tomen en serio a los pacientes o que, por error diagnostiquen los sntomas como psicosomticos. Pero los investigadores que han estudiado ms a fondo a los pacientes con covid persistente han descubierto trastornos visibles en todo el cuerpo. Los estudios calculan que tal vez del diez al 30 por ciento de las personas infectadas con coronavirus presentan sntomas a largo plazo. No se sabe por qu algunas personas desarrollan covid persistente y otras no, pero hay cuatro factores que, al parecer, aumentan el riesgo: altos niveles de ARN viral al inicio de la infeccin; la presencia de algunos autoanticuerpos; la reactivacin del virus Epstein-Barr y padecer de diabetes tipo 2. El sistema inmunitario Diablos, por qu estoy siempre tan enfermo? Messiah Rodriguez, 17 aos Parece que, a diferencia de los pacientes que se recuperan completamente despus de la covid, los pacientes con covid persistente tienen sistemas inmunitarios alterados. Muchos investigadores creen que una disfuncin inmunitaria crnica despus de una infeccin con coronavirus podra desencadenar una cadena de sntomas en todo el cuerpo. Una posibilidad es que el cuerpo siga combatiendo lo que queda del coronavirus. Los investigadores descubrieron que el virus se propaga mucho durante la infeccin inicial y que el material gentico viral puede permanecer incrustado durante muchos meses en los tejidos de los intestinos, los ganglios linfticos y de otras partes del cuerpo. El ARN del coronavirus, visible en diferentes tejidos corporales con un aumento de 500x Daniel Chertow et al., preimpresin va Research Square Algunos estudios que estn en curso intentan determinar si estos reservorios virales provocan inflamacin en los tejidos circundantes, cosa que podra producir lagunas mentales, problemas gastrointestinales y otros sntomas. Los componentes del coronavirus persisten en el intestino delgado de un paciente, 92 das despus del inicio de sus sntomas de covid. Christian Gaebler et al., Nature Los investigadores tambin han hallado pruebas de que la covid puede desencadenar una respuesta autoinmune perdurable y perniciosa. En los estudios se han descubierto niveles extraordinariamente elevados de autoanticuerpos, los cuales atacan por error los propios tejidos del paciente muchos meses despus de la infeccin inicial. Una tercera posibilidad es que la infeccin viral inicial, quizs al reactivar otros virus que hay en el cuerpo del paciente y que por lo general estn latentes, desencadene una inflamacin crnica. En uno de los estudios, se descubri que la reactivacin del virus de Epstein-Barr, el cual infecta a la mayor parte de las personas cuando son jvenes, podra ayudar a predecir si alguien desarrollar covid persistente. Estas explicaciones pueden coexistir dentro del intrincado mundo del sistema inmunitario. Y as como los diferentes pacientes de covid persistente pueden tener diferentes sntomas, tambin pueden tener diferentes problemas de inmunidad. Para la eleccin del tratamiento, ser primordial identificar los problemas principales presentes en la enfermedad de cada paciente, asever Akiko Iwasaki, inmunloga en la Universidad de Yale. Por ejemplo, quizs a un paciente con autoanticuerpos le funcionen bien los medicamentos inmunosupresores, mientras que un paciente con un reservorio viral de covid debera recibir antivirales, coment Iwasaki. El tratamiento debera ser muy diferente dependiendo de lo que tenga cada persona. El sistema circulatorio Algo tan sencillo como subir una escalera se convirti de repente en una montaa. Eddie Palacios, 50 aos Muchos pacientes con covid persistente tienen dificultades para realizar actividades fsicas mucho tiempo despus de la infeccin inicial y experimentan una reaparicin de los sntomas cuando hacen ejercicio. Los primeros estudios indican que es posible que un mal funcionamiento del sistema circulatorio afecte el flujo de oxgeno hacia los msculos y otros tejidos, lo que restringe la capacidad aerbica y provoca una intensa fatiga. En uno de los estudios, los pacientes con sntomas de covid persistente tuvieron respuestas imprevistas cuando se pusieron a andar en bicicleta. Pese a que su corazn y sus pulmones eran en apariencia normales, sus msculos solo podan obtener una pequea parte de la cantidad normal de oxgeno de los vasos sanguneos pequeos cuando pedaleaban, lo que reduca de manera muy notoria su capacidad para ejercitarse. Es posible que esto se deba a que la inflamacin crnica puede daar las fibras nerviosas que ayudan a controlar la circulacin, una condicin que recibe el nombre de neuropata de fibras pequeas. Las fibras daadas, las cuales se detectan mediante una biopsia de piel, estn vinculadas con la disautonoma, una falla en las funciones que el cuerpo realiza automticamente como la frecuencia cardiaca, la respiracin y la digestin y que es muy comn en los pacientes con covid persistente. La inflamacin crnica en pacientes con covid persistente puede daar las fibras nerviosas pequeas. Peter Novak et al., Annals of Neurology Estos hallazgos demuestran que las personas con covid persistente estn experimentando problemas fsicos sistmicos y no solo estn ansiosas o fuera de forma, seal David Systrom, un especialista en la fisiologa del ejercicio del Hospital Brigham and Womens que colabor en la realizacin del estudio de la bicicleta. No se puede inventar una neuropata de las fibras pequeas que arroja una biopsia de piel. Eso no se encuentra en la imaginacin de nadie, seal Systrom. No se puede inventar que exista poca obtencin de oxgeno a este grado. Todos esos son indicadores objetivos de una enfermedad. Los investigadores sudafricanos descubrieron otro problema de circulacin: cogulos microscpicos. Por lo general, los cogulos diminutos que se forman en una infeccin inicial de covid se rompen de manera natural, pero pueden perdurar en los pacientes con covid persistente. Estos cogulos podran obstruir los capilares diminutos que transportan el oxgeno a los tejidos de todo el cuerpo. Las plaquetas de la sangre pueden sufrir hiperactivacin en los pacientes con covid y covid persistente, contribuyendo a la formacin de microcogulos. Etheresia Pretorius et al., Cardiovascular Diabetology Las sustancias inflamatorias llamadas citoquinas, que casi siempre estn elevadas en los pacientes con covid persistente, tal vez daan las mitocondrias que producen energa en las clulas del cuerpo, reduciendo su capacidad para usar el oxgeno. Tambin las paredes de los vasos sanguneos pueden inflamarse y limitar la captacin de oxgeno. Sea cual sea la causa, es posible que los bajos niveles de oxgeno contribuyan a la aparicin del sntoma ms comn de la covid persistente: la fatiga intensa. Los investigadores que estudian a los pacientes con el sndrome de fatiga crnica (tambin conocido como ME/CFS, por su sigla en ingls), que suele comenzar tras una infeccin viral y comparte muchas caractersticas de la covid persistente, encontraron un patrn parecido: la falta de oxgeno desencadenada por problemas circulatorios ejerce muchsima sobrecarga sobre el metabolismo del cuerpo, lo que ocasiona que las actividades sencillas se sientan como un ejercicio extenuante. El cerebro Me acerco a un semforo en rojo, mi cerebro sabe que est en rojo, pero no reacciona al resto de mi cuerpo para poner el pie en el freno. Te das cuenta de lo aterrador que es eso? Samantha Lewis, 34 aos Incluso la gente con casos leves de covid puede experimentar un deterioro cognitivo prolongado, el cual incluye una disminucin de la atencin, de la memoria y la dificultad para encontrar las palabras. Segn Avindra Nath, director clnico del Instituto Nacional de Trastornos Neurolgicos y Accidentes Cerebrovasculares, los posibles problemas neurolgicos a largo plazo derivados de la covid constituyen una crisis importante de salud pblica. Los investigadores descubrieron una amplia gama de alteraciones en el cerebro de los pacientes con covid persistente. De acuerdo con los investigadores, entre ellos Nath, Iwasaki y Michelle Monje, una neurloga de la Universidad de Stanford, aunque no se sabe bien con qu frecuencia el coronavirus penetra de manera directa en el cerebro, incluso las infecciones leves parecen provocar una inflamacin considerable en este rgano. Es posible que las infecciones desencadenen la activacin excesiva de las clulas inmunitarias llamadas microglas de un modo parecido al proceso que puede contribuir a los problemas cognitivos durante el envejecimiento y algunos trastornos neurodegenerativos. La microgla se activa en el cerebro de un paciente de covid, contribuyendo a la inflamacin cerebral. Anthony Fernndez-Castaeda et al., preimpresin va bioRxiv. Fotos: Myoung-Hwa Lee Otro grupo de investigadores descubri que la covid persistente puede reducir de manera significativa la cantidad de sangre que llega al cerebro, un hallazgo que antes de la pandemia tambin se ha visto en los pacientes con un padecimiento similar: el sndrome de fatiga crnica. Los pulmones No poda respirar. Senta literalmente como si alguien estuviera sentado en mi pecho. Angelica Baez, 23 aos La dificultad para respirar es un sntoma frecuente de la covid persistente, pero los resultados de los estudios que por lo general se hacen a los pulmones los cuales incluyen rayos X de trax, tomografas computarizadas y pruebas funcionales casi siempre son normales. Mediante el uso de la resonancia magntica, un equipo de investigadores britnicos descubri indicios preliminares de dao pulmonar en un pequeo grupo de pacientes con covid persistente que nunca haban sido hospitalizados. Las imgenes detalladas de su funcin pulmonar indicaban que la mayor parte de los pacientes captaban el oxgeno de manera menos eficiente que las personas sanas, incluso cuando la estructura de sus pulmones pareca normal. Los investigadores advirtieron que, para confirmar estos hallazgos, se necesitara un grupo ms grande de pacientes. Si estos resultados se sostienen, algunas explicaciones posibles de la dificultad para respirar observada incluyen la presencia de microcogulos en los tejidos pulmonares o un engrosamiento de la barrera hematogaseosa o alvelocapilar que regula la captacin de oxgeno en los pulmones. La vida con covid persistente No es algo que puedas superar en realidad. Dra. Abigail Bosk Muchos hospitales ofrecen ahora clnicas o programas de recuperacin tras la covid, que renen a mdicos con experiencia en el tratamiento de pacientes con covid persistente. Debido a la cantidad de pacientes, algunos mdicos y programas tienen largas esperas para las citas. Puede ser til planificar con antelacin y probar varias opciones. Survivor Corps cuenta con un directorio de clnicas con tratamientos poscovid. Dysautonomia International ofrece una lista de mdicos con experiencia en el tratamiento de los trastornos autonmicos que se suelen ver en la covid prolongada. Body Politic alberga un grupo de apoyo de covid en el que miles de personas que experimentan la versin persistente de la enfermedad comparten informacin y consejos en la plataforma Slack. El grupo Long Covid Support tiene una comunidad en Facebook. The Royal College of Occupational Therapists offers ofrece consejos para gestionar la fatiga poscovid. Un ensayo de Maria Farrell ofrece consejos sobre cmo recuperarse y la importancia de dedicar tiempo al descanso. ME Action, un grupo de apoyo a las personas con ME/CFS, ofrece consejos a los pacientes con covid persistente sobre cmo controlar los sntomas. Los estadounidenses con covid persistente pueden solicitar prestaciones por discapacidad, aunque sin resultados mdicos concluyentes, muchas personas enfrentan obstculos. Tres destacados investigadores de la covid persistente suelen compartir informacin sobre los ltimos hallazgos en Twitter: Amy Proal, microbiloga del Instituto de Investigacin PolyBio; David Putrino, director de innovacin en rehabilitacin del Sistema de Salud Mount Sinai; y Akiko Iwasaki, inmunloga de Yale. Health Rising cubre detalladamente las ltimas investigaciones sobre covid persistente, ME/CFS y otras enfermedades crnicas. Gez Medinger, productor de videos, entrevista a algunos destacados investigadores de la covid persistente en YouTube. Una entrevista en video con Svetlana Blitshteyn, neurloga y directora de la Clnica para la Disautonoma, ofrece consejos para el tratamiento y una visin general de la investigacin actual sobre los trastornos autonmicos. El Centro Infantil Johns Hopkins ofrece una gua detallada para entender, tratar y vivir con la intolerancia ortosttica. El Times ha escrito numerosos trabajos sobre la covid persistente, entre ellos:",7
"Credit...Tobias Nicolai/Scanpix, via ReutersNov. 21, 2018COPENHAGEN In the eyes of his former associates, Nedim Yasar, once the leader of a notorious Danish gang, did something much worse than just leave the criminal life: He talked about it, becoming a nationally recognized expert on gang violence.Mr. Yasir was fatally shot on Monday night at what should have been a high point in his reformed life he had just left a party in Copenhagen celebrating the release of a book about him, written with his cooperation. His death was big news in Denmark, lamented on the front pages of many newspapers.He was killed for what he said, not just because he left a brotherhood, said Aydin Soei, an author and sociologist who interviews and writes about gang members. The code is to leave the gang and shut up about it, but he went the other way. He stood up with his story, burning to break the chain feeding the gangs new members and to encourage others by saying there is an alternative to the gangs.The police in Copenhagen said they did not have any suspects and appealed for witnesses. In a statement, investigators said they were aware of an attempt on Mr. Yasars life at his home last year, but they had not been aware of any recent threats.Mr. Yasar had founded a gang, Los Guerreros, that became involved in drug trafficking, and he spent time in jail for violence, robbery, blackmail and unlawful imprisonment. Five years ago, he entered a state-run exit program for gang members, then became a radio host and a respected voice in Denmarks debate about gang violence.ImageCredit...Bax Lindhardt/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesOn Tuesday came the release of Rodder: A Gangsters Way Out, written by a journalist, Marie Louise Toksvig. The Danish word rodder is used to mean both roots and troublemakers.In an interview on Sunday, Mr. Yasar, who was born in Turkey and had lived in Denmark since age 4, said his decision to leave the gang took shape when he learned he was having a son.I was afraid he would look at me like I saw my father, so I had to choose: Do you want a son growing up looking at you thinking youre cool and then join the gangs and do crime to get your recognition? he told TV2. Or do you want to leave the environment so your son can see you in a different way and respect you for the human being you are?Mr. Yasar was shot while getting into his car after a book reception at the offices of the Danish Red Cross youth branch, where he had been a mentor to troubled youths.He was inspiring, but never lecturing. Its a big difference, said Anders Folmer Buhelt, the organizations director. Nedim was very strong on values and very clear on what society he wanted to create. But he was also clear on who he used to be.Mr. Soei, the sociologist, said he could not think of a more important voice warning young men against entering the dangerous and paranoid lifestyle of a low-level gang member, which is far removed from the tales of fame and wealth told by gang recruiters.ImageCredit...Bax Lindhardt/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesPoliticians including the prime minister and the minister of justice deplored the killing of Mr. Yasar and celebrated his contributions after he left the gang.This terrible tragedy raises the question if we as society offer the right protection to those people wishing to step out of the shadows and back in to society, the justice minister, Soren Pape Poulsen, wrote on Twitter.Jakob Kvist, the publisher of Rodder, said: My concern is that violence works, and this will deter others from coming forward and from seeking an exit from this environment. My concern is that the people he was fighting for who are living outside the states protection under alternative regimes in the ghettos will find it harder to get out.Gang violence in Denmark has never reached the levels seen in some other countries and rarely results in death, but it is one of the hottest topics on the political agenda, linked to arguments over how open the country should be to immigrants.For decades biker and immigrant-heavy gangs have fought on and off over control of illegal markets, internal conflicts and revenge. Attacks usually target members of rival gangs, but shots are sometimes fired in crowded areas, near innocent bystanders a rare threat and source of concern in a generally peaceful country.The most recent gang war, in 2017, lasted six months, leaving three people dead and 25 wounded. Little gang-related violence has been reported this year.",6
"Elon Musk Makes $3.5 Million Off Flamethrower Joke!!! 1/29/2018 Elon Musk is so hot as a businessman, he can joke about getting into the flamethrower biz ... and instantly make millions. Elon's Boring Company reportedly sold $3.5 million worth of $500 flamethrowers right out of the gate. He just announced the new product on Sunday, and showed off the technology in a video. W.C. Fields couldn't have done it better, because they got flooded with pre-orders. The Tesla and SpaceX founder joked back in December that he'd get in on the flame game if his tunnel-building Boring Company sold 50,000 hats. Man of his word. That's hot.",1
"Greta Gerwig It's 'Lady Bird' Mania At Her Old High School!!! 1/20/2018 Greta Gerwig's critically-acclaimed ""Lady Bird"" -- which she wrote and directed -- figures to be an Oscar darling, but it's already a huge winner at her alma mater. Greta's former high school, St. Francis Catholic High School in Sacramento, CA -- where the movie is based -- is totally stoked about Gerwig's success and not afraid to show it. Sources close to the situation tell us Greta's parents heard the school was buzzing about ""Lady Bird,"" so they delivered movie posters to the school and pins for the students to wear. We're told if Greta or her movie get nominated for the Academy Awards -- which is more than likely -- the school plans to have an Oscars watch party for the big night and cheer her on. The Oscars air Sunday, March 4.",1
"TrilobitesThis is what happens when atmospheric chemists hang towels on drying racks around their chemistry building.Credit...Josef Polleross for The New York TimesMay 29, 2020People have written poems about it. It has been imitated by candles and air fresheners. At least one person has even fought in court for the right to produce it naturally.Its the smell of line-dried laundry.Some atmospheric chemists like that scent, too. In a paper published this year in Environmental Chemistry, researchers examined line-dried towels at the molecular level, to try to pinpoint the source of their specific fragrance.Silvia Pugliese led the research while she was a masters student at the University of Copenhagen. When Ms. Pugliese was a child, her mother line-dried laundry, and she still does it whenever she can.The fresh smell reminds me of home, she said. So she was excited to rigorously pursue such an everyday research subject.In between their more official thesis work, Ms. Pugliese and two labmates, with their adviser Matthew Stanley Johnson, commandeered two little-used areas of the universitys chemistry building a dark, empty office and a small, fifth-floor balcony and obtained materials, including ultrapurified water and a set of cotton towels from Ikea.Each towel got washed three times in the water, and then hung out: inside the office, on the balcony under a plastic shade or on the balcony in the sun.When they came across the drying racks, a lot of colleagues laughed, Ms. Pugliese said. But we had a lot of support.When a towel finished drying, the researchers sealed it in a bag for 15 hours. As the towel sat in the bag, they sampled the chemical compounds it released into the air around it. The researchers performed similar sampling on an empty bag, an unwashed towel and the air around the drying sites.By comparing the experimental towels chemical profiles to those controls and to each other, the researchers were able to tease out which compounds popped up only when they hung wet towels in the sun, Ms. Pugliese said.ImageCredit...Silvia PuglieseLine-drying uniquely produced a number of aldehydes and ketones: organic molecules our noses might recognize from plants and perfumes. For example, after sunbathing, the towels emitted pentanal, found in cardamom, octanal, which produces citrusy aromas, and nonanal, which smells roselike.Why is that? It may have to do with exposure to ozone, an atmospheric chemical that can transform some common chemicals into those aldehydes and ketones.A more fundamental contribution, she thinks, may come from the sun itself. When exposed to ultraviolet light, certain molecules get excited and form highly reactive compounds called radicals, Ms. Pugliese said. Those radicals then recombine with other nearby molecules, processes that often lead to the creation of aldehydes as well as ketones.Its possible that the water on a wet towel gathers a lot of these excitable molecules together, and then works like a magnifying glass, concentrating the sunlight and speeding up these reactions, Ms. Pugliese said.Similar processes are likely occurring on any number of natural outdoor surfaces, including bare soil and individual blades of grass perhaps part of the reason that sun after a rainstorm makes the world smell fresh. (Although the scent seems to last longer on clothes, potentially because aldehydes bond with cotton, said Ms. Pugliese.)Ricardo Lpez, a chemist at the Lab for Flavor Analysis and Enology at the University of Zaragoza in Spain who was not involved in the research, thinks the aldehydes and ketones may not tell the whole story.When testing for key flavor compounds, sometimes compounds in low concentrations are as important as those in high concentrations, he said. Additional forms of testing might be helpful to get the full bouquet.Ms. Pugliese has, for now, moved onto headier things her doctoral research involves artificial photosynthesis but she hopes to dig into similar topics in the future.I thought it was a really nice way to do science, she said.",7
"Credit...Tim Clayton for The New York TimesFeb. 21, 2014MADISON, Conn. The board of selectmen for this tranquil shoreline town addressed an unusual request on Feb. 10. Andrea Perullo, the proprietor of a local jewelry store, asked if this years Presidents Day could be formally recognized as Mac Bohonnon Day.That this took place in the town halls James Madison Room in a community named for the fourth president of the United States seemed beside the point. Bohonnon, an 18-year-old freestyle aerials skier who was to compete on Monday, was believed to be Madisons first Olympian. The motion passed unanimously.It took two seconds, Perullo said. They were all for it.If there was a winner of the Sochi Games before the final medal totals were in, it might have been Connecticut, which emerged as a surprisingly strong source of talented hockey players, skiers, snowboarders and even a luge athlete. This has stirred the sort of state pride normally reserved for womens basketball.Sure, California and Colorado produce hordes of Winter Olympians. But this year, nine Connecticut natives competed at the Sochi Games more representatives than 37 other states and their performances were closely monitored back home.Bohonnon, who got a taste of being airborne as a youngster on his backyard trampoline, finished fifth in his Olympic event.Jonathan Quick, a member of the United States hockey team and the Los Angeles Kings of the N.H.L., honed his goaltending skills on frozen Clarks Pond in Hamden. Well before Quicks No. 32 Kings jersey was hung on the wall at Louis Astorino Arena, home of the Hamden Green Dragons, he was a scrawny 15-year-old with some extraordinary athletic gifts that could easily have gone unnoticed in another town in another state.Not in Hamden. Quick lived on Tanglewood Drive, a street hockey haven. Bill Verneris, the Hamden High School boys hockey coach, said youngsters from seven households within five minutes of one another wound up playing for his teams. Put it this way, Verneris said. If you grow up in a neighborhood where all the kids play baseball, youre probably going to play baseball. The tradition in this town is hockey.Verneris traced Hamdens hockey roots to Murray Murdoch, an early Rangers wing who became the fourth head coach of Yales budding program. In 1946, Murdoch was a founder of one of the nations first youth hockey teams, in New Haven. This year, five members of the mens and womens national teams once played for the Mid Fairfield Youth Hockey Association in Stamford.ImageCredit...Franck Fife/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesSkiing and snowboarding have history in Connecticut as well. In 1949, Walt Schoenknecht, an enterprising ski resort owner in Cornwall, was credited with being among the earliest to use snow-making equipment. And when Rod Taylor, a member of the United States ski team from 1967 to 1971, was winding down his career, he founded Woodbury Ski Area in Litchfield County. Seeking ways to draw interest, Taylor was among the first to allow snowboarding then called snurfing, for surfing and skiing to all areas of his mountain. Woodburys first halfpipe was built in 1979, Taylor said, well before snowboard parks became commonplace. Im proud that we were way ahead of everybody else with this, Taylor said in a phone interview. Sure enough, 25 years later, the snowboarding sensation Alex Deibold rose out of Branford, fueled by mozzarella-and-sausage pizzas from Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, a Connecticut dining staple. His uncle Tony Rosselli is the oldest grandson of the restaurants founder. On the night of snowboard cross, Rossellis family stayed up until 5 a.m. as Deibold, 27, took the bronze medal.The next morning, the Today show called, Rosselli said. They wanted to come to Pepes.In Madison, the anticipation for Bohonnons aerial performance became a townwide spectacle. The Chamber of Commerce printed posters and T-shirts urging citizens to cheer him on. An 11-foot banner proclaiming support for Madisons Mac Bohonnon was stretched across the patio above the local arts cinema.It hardly seemed to matter that Bohonnon, like a lot of other Connecticut snow athletes, left the state before high school to seek more favorable conditions. In an op-ed published by The Boston Globe on Feb. 18, Deibold described the damaging effect of climate change on hills in the Northeast.Connecticut does have advantages like Interstate 91, which makes trips to Vermont ski areas easier than the commute from Boston or New York. But a town like Madison is not used to being represented on the world athletic stage.ImageCredit...Tim Clayton for The New York TimesIt was just so exciting and unexpected, said Eileen Banisch, executive director of the Madison Chamber of Commerce. Theres a lot of pride.Quicks success, on the other hand, was more easily foretold in Hamden, where the high school boys team has won four state hockey titles since 1985. On Thursday, Verneriss players were scheduled to have only about an hour of ice time. Yet they gathered in the sun-washed entryway, some still sweating from warm-ups, to watch the final minutes of the womens Olympic gold medal game, which the United States, coached by the Watertown native Katey Stone, lost to Canada. The players huddled in front of the television hanging above old plaques and trophy cases. Verneris tried to coax them back to practice.All right, guys, Winnipeg, he said, calling out a warm-up routine. Lets go.Nobody moved.",4
"Health|How Are Abortion Restrictions Affecting Medical Training? Tell Us.https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/10/health/how-are-abortion-restrictions-affecting-medical-training-tell-us.htmlThe potential for limits on abortion, including a procedure that is used to treat uterine conditions other than pregnancy, will affect providers as well as patients.Credit...Joseph Prezioso/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMay 10, 2022With at least 22 states poised to drastically limit or end abortion procedures if Roe v. Wade is overturned, how will the training of doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants be affected?If you are a student or educator in a profession licensed to perform abortions, including dilation and curettage, or D. and C., we would like to hear your thoughts.We may contact you to learn more, and we wont publish any responses without your consent. If youd prefer an even more secure means of communication, you can send your responses (and any records, images or other information) to nytimes.com/tips.",2
"Two NASA astronauts will now stay for more than a month and not two weeks during their first flight aboard the Crew Dragon capsule.Credit...SpaceXPublished May 1, 2020Updated May 28, 2020What was intended as a two-week test flight of SpaceXs new astronaut-carrying capsule will now be a mission planned to last more than a month to help a short-handed crew aboard the International Space Station.The launch of SpaceXs Crew Dragon capsule, carrying two NASA astronauts, Douglas G. Hurley and Robert L. Behnken, is scheduled for May 27 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It would arrive at the space station the following day.This is a high priority mission for the United States of America, Jim Bridenstine, the NASA administrator, said during a news conference on Friday.That will end a drought of nearly nine years since the last time people headed to orbit from American soil. On July 8, 2011, the space shuttle Atlantis lifted off from Launchpad 39A; it returned to Earth 11 days later. Since then, NASA has relied on Russia and its Soyuz rockets for transportation to and from the space station.Its probably a dream of every test pilot school student to have the opportunity to fly on a brand-new spaceship, said Mr. Behnken, who flew aboard the space shuttle in 2008 and 2010, and Im lucky enough to get that opportunity.Mr. Bridenstine noted that this would be only the fifth time NASA astronauts have flown on a new spacecraft for the first time. The previous ones were Mercury, Gemini and Apollo during the 1960s and the space shuttle in 1981.We should not lose sight of the fact that this is a test flight, Mr. Bridenstine said. Were doing this to learn things. And its also true were taking it very, very seriously from a safety perspective.Listen to The Daily: Space Travel, PrivatizedHow SpaceX is ushering in a new era in the exploration of the cosmos.transcripttranscriptListen to The Daily: Space Travel, PrivatizedHosted by Michael Barbaro; produced by Alexandra Leigh Young, Michael Simon Johnson and Jessica Cheung; with help from Sydney Harper and Luke Vander Ploeg; and edited by M.J. Davis LinHow SpaceX is ushering in a new era in the exploration of the cosmos.michael barbaroFrom The New York Times, Im Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily.[music] Today: For the first time in history, a private company is sending astronauts into space. Science reporter Kenneth Chang on the dawn of a new era in space travel.Its Thursday, May 28.Ken, how many space launches have you covered in your career?kenneth changIve forgotten. Because I started covering these at the end of the space shuttle era. So it was probably five or six then. And there was a few other scattered ones. And Ive actually made more trips than that. Because especially with the space shuttle, they would postpone the launch at the last second a gazillion times. So I would just fly in in, fly out, fly in, fly out, and not even see a launch.michael barbaroBut if you had to guess, how many fly-ins and fly-outs have you made to try to watch a space launch?kenneth changOh, Id say 20.michael barbaro[LAUGHS] Thats a lot.kenneth changYeah.michael barbaroAnd thats where you are right now, when we say fly in, fly out, you are in at the moment.kenneth changI am in. Im actually currently in a Hampton Inn in Titusville, which is 20 minutes from the Kennedy Space Center.michael barbaroGive me the scene there in Florida at the Kennedy Space Center. I know youre not there, but youre soon to be there. Whats it look like right now?kenneth changSo because of the coronavirus, NASAs basically limiting the number of people there. The visitors center, where the public usually gathers for the launch, is closed. So when I go there, Ill get to watch it. But Ill be outside the whole time and with a mask and at least six feet away from everyone else.michael barbaroSo Ken, at this point, its about 1:20 p.m. Where are we in the countdown for todays launch?kenneth changSo the astronauts have put on their space suits. Theyre about ready to get in a car to drive to the launch pad. And this is part of whats really different about this launch versus whats happened in past years from the Kennedy Space Center. In the past, it was NASA having the space shuttle and such. This time, it is a private company, one called SpaceX that was founded by Elon Musk, the billionaire who also operates Tesla, which is a company that makes electric cars.michael barbaroSo whats happening where you are in Florida on Wednesday is that a private company is putting NASA astronauts into space on a privately owned vessel?kenneth changYes. And this has never been done before. If you think, theres been three countries that have sent people to space: the United States, the former Soviet Union and now Russia, and China. And now you have this small company called SpaceX, which I guess is not so small anymore. But it is now joining these big nations to do something thats really hard.michael barbaroKen, when I think of the space program, I think of it as the pride and joy of the United States. And I think of it first and foremost as a federal government program, NASA. So how did we get to this point where a private company has more or less supplanted NASA in sending astronauts into space?kenneth changSo of course, at the beginning of the space era, you think of Sputnik.archived recording[RADIO SIGNAL BEEPING] Until two days ago, that sound had never been heard on this Earth. Its a report from mans farthest frontier kenneth changThe Soviets sent a satellite up before the great, mighty United States did.archived recording a radio signal transmitted by the Soviet Sputnik, the first manmade satellite as it passed over New York earlier today.kenneth changThis spurred, of course, a lot of fear and worry in the United States.archived recordingIs it possible that it is transmitting a code, not just a beep signal for radio listening? Yes, its quite possible that its transmitting a code.kenneth changSo the United States started a major space program and created NASA to do things that would counter what the Soviet Unions were doing.archived recordingThe space age had begun.kenneth changAnd so the first space missions, you just think of archived recordingShepard himself had been hauled up into the helicopter.kenneth chang you think of Alan Shepard, the first American to reach space.archived recording (john glenn)Roger kenneth changJohn Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth.archived recording (john glenn)A little bumpy along about here.kenneth changAnd each of these baby steps that led to Apollo.archived recording (neil armstrong)Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.kenneth changAnd of course, Neil Armstrong walking on the surface of the moon.archived recording (neil armstrong)Thats one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.kenneth changThese were all events tied up in the identity of the United States as a nation.archived recording (richard nixon)This is the greatest week in the history of the world since the creation. The world is bigger, infinitely. I only hope that all of us in government, all of us in America, we can reach for the stars just as you have reached so far for the stars.kenneth changAnd so that was the mentality that drove the space program through the 60s into the early 70s. And then after that, it was a transition to try to figure out what to do. Once weve gotten to the moon, how do we get to the next step?So NASA basically came up with three options to present to President Nixon. You could go for broke, you could start planning to go to Mars. Or you could build a space station and a space shuttle to go to the space station. Or you could just build a space shuttle. And Nixon chose just to build the space shuttle. That was the cheapest that he was willing to invest in. And so because the space shuttle did not have a space station to go to, it had to serve other purposes. One of them was that the military wanted to use it to launch spy satellites. Other people want to use it to run science experiments in orbit. And so this sort of became this pickup truck that was supposed to do all these different chores for different parts of the federal government. It ended up being a technological marvel that was not great at doing any one particular task.archived recording8, 7, 6, 5.kenneth changI mean, with the space shuttle, if you think about the launch, if you watch one, it was an amazing sight.archived recording2, 1, [INAUDIBLE]. [LAUNCH SOUND]kenneth changYou could hear the rumble as it goes up.But you could never get over just how bright the light from the engines are. It never does justice to see it on a computer screen or a TV.But it didnt capture the imagination of people like going to the moon did for Apollo. Tasks were not the grand dreams that fueled the Space Age.michael barbaroSo what happens to this kind of underwhelming NASA space program that youre describing?kenneth changThe space shuttles were actually designed to be run almost like a commercial enterprise. They were reusable. The thought was that they could land and fly very quickly. And that they would fly often enough that the cost of a mission would be fairly cheap as NASA got better and better at running the shuttles. In fact, at various points, there were actually discussions that NASA would outsource the operation of the shuttles to a private company.michael barbaroHm.kenneth changThose didnt happen.archived recordingWe have main engine start 4, 3, 2, 1, and liftoff, liftoff of the 25th space shuttle mission. And it has cleared the tower.kenneth changBecause first, in 1986 archived recording 1The engines throttling up. Three engines and now at 104 percent.archived recording 2Challenger, go with throttle up.kenneth changThere was a Challenger accident where the shuttle disintegrated during launch.archived recordingWe have a report from the flight dynamics officer that the vehicle has exploded. Flight director confirms that. We are looking at checking with the recovery forces.kenneth changAnd it killed Christa McAuliffe, the teacher who was aboard.archived recordingPresident Reagan has declared a week of mourning for the seven astronauts five men and two women who lost their lives on their way into space this morning.kenneth changAnd this was a huge setback. And NASA had to go back and fix the design. And then they became very careful to make sure that it was safe enough for the astronauts. And of course, once youre very careful about safety, youre safer. But that means that everything costs more, everything is slower. And this piece of the space shuttle program continued. Then in 2003, there was another accident.archived recordingA few minutes ago, it was about eight oclock, the space shuttle Columbia was going over north Texas.kenneth changColumbia, it was actually on a mission conducting some science experiments. And archived recordingYoull notice here it looks like you can see pieces of the shuttle coming off.kenneth chang as it reentered the atmosphere for landing archived recordingSome kind of objects leaving some kind of trail over the skies of North Texas.kenneth chang the structure of the shuttle disintegrated and the seven astronauts aboard died. And this was a turning point, for NASA and the country to decide going to space is dangerous. We are risking our astronauts lives to do something in space. What should we be asking them to risk their lives for?michael barbaroMhm.kenneth changAnd this soul-searching led to the decision that the shuttles were now too old, too complex, too dangerous to continue operating.archived recording (george w. bush)The shuttles chief purpose over the next several years will be to help finish assembly of the International Space Station.kenneth changSo that there would be a few more flights, and then it will be retired.archived recording (george w. bush)In 2010, the space shuttle, after nearly 30 years of duty, will be retired from service.michael barbaroSo after all these years of neglecting the space shuttles and running into safety problems, the decision is not to invest more in them, but essentially, to kind of walk away from the program?kenneth changThats essentially what happened. But still, NASA needed a way to get its astronauts to and from the space station.archived recordingIncluded in the White Houses two billion dollar budget is $850 million to help along commercial space ventures, like SpaceXs Falcon rocket and Dragon capsule.kenneth changSo when the Obama administration came in, they took a look at what NASA was doing and decided that was an opportunity to get more commercial companies into this business of sending people to space.michael barbaroAnd what is NASA thinking at this moment, as it starts to contemplate farming out travel to the space station?kenneth changSo the thinking of the NASA officials were, we really want to go back to the moon. We really want to go to Mars. We want to go send astronauts off on new places where they can go look at things that we have never seen before. And because too much of the budget was tied up with the space shuttle, they wanted to find some way to spend less money on what they thought was routine missions, so that they could do something that was more exciting and could better justify what they were created to do.michael barbaroGot it. So the thinking is: let a private company do the kind of grunt work of space travel. And that would free the federal government, NASA, up to do the grand explorations.kenneth changThat was exactly the reason. And NASA chose two of them that they liked and decided to fund them. One was Boeing and one was SpaceX. And of course, NASA wanted both of these to be operational as soon as possible. It became a sort of friendly competition. Both companies actually ended up three years behind schedule.michael barbaro[LAUGHS]kenneth changAnd at this final time, SpaceX is going to be first. And Boeing is still, perhaps, a year behind.michael barbaroSo SpaceX wins the competition.kenneth changYes.There actually is a flag on the space station. So on the very last space shuttle mission, the astronauts left a flag there. And whoever was going to be on the first vehicle to get to the space station would capture the flag.michael barbaroAnd so that will be SpaceX.kenneth changYes.michael barbaroOK. So Ken, I know you need to go actually watch this rocket launch. So we will let you go kenneth changYes.michael barbaro and talk to you once the launch is done and you are off deadline.kenneth changIf I miss the launch, my editor is going to kill me. This was actually a conversation I had with my editor. [LAUGHS]michael barbaroWell be right back.archived recording 1 we want to make that call. Because shortly after that, we will begin loading liquid oxygen onto the second stage. Standby.archived recording 2We continue violate a couple different weather rules that we now do not expect to clear in time to allow for a launch today. And todays launch attempt, Launch Control would end the launch auto sequence and proceed to the launch abort auto sequence, please.archived recording 3Launch abort has started.archived recording 4And Dragon SpaceX, unfortunately, we are not going to launch today. You are go for 5.100. Launch scrub.archived recording 5Weve heard the call from the crew. They have been informed. Launch director michael barbaroSo Ken, its nearly 7 p.m. And things did not quite go as planned. What actually just happened down there in Florida?kenneth changSo through the whole day, the weather looked really icky. It was raining. It was cloudy. And then, about an hour before liftoff time, the rain sort of cleared up. The clouds start thinning out. And it looked like, for a while, that they were going to actually be able to get the rocket off the launch pad. But then, at the very end, about 15 minutes before the liftoff time, the weather officer said were still red for launch. They called off the launch. And theyre going to try again on Saturday.michael barbaroSo no launch on Wednesday, but perhaps a launch over the weekend?kenneth changYes.michael barbaroSo I want to talk about, Ken, this private company that, I guess, almost just put American astronauts into space SpaceX. I mean, what was it about this company that attracted NASA to it and allowed it to get this coveted contract?kenneth changSo SpaceX was this upstart small company. It was very ambitious. And they found ways to do rockets and such that was less expensive and faster than many of the bigger companies in the past. And I always described them for the longest time as the Southwest of the rocket business, Southwest Airlines.michael barbaro[LAUGHTER]kenneth changThey found efficiencies that other companies did not that has allowed them to find new markets and find ways to do things that werent a business model before, because it was too expensive and too slow in the past.michael barbaroWhat are some examples, Ken, of ways that they inexpensively innovated and seemed to save a lot of money on this kind of a launch?kenneth changSo in the very beginning, their engineering decisions were often driven by how things could be done efficiently. And this could have been as simple as recycling parts of their rockets. So if youve ever watched a rocket launch, the bottom part of the rocket, which is the first stage or booster stage, is the part that lifts up the rocket through the thick bottom part of the atmosphere. And it usually just drops away when its done after a few minutes.michael barbaroRight.kenneth changAnd for the longest time, this piece would just fall back into the ocean and be lost.michael barbaroRight. And that sounds like a pretty expensive thing to just toss off into the ocean.kenneth changIts a very expensive thing. Just each engine would be several million dollars.michael barbaroWow.kenneth changSo one of the things that, from the very beginning, Elon wanted to do was, we should try to use them again. And for a while, when they were trying to land these boosters, they would just crash and abort. And there was these fantastic explosions as the thing almost landed. And then, finally, they succeeded. They actually managed to land this booster back on the ground at Cape Canaveral. And then now, they do this almost routinely. For every SpaceX launch, you watch it go up, you see the booster drop off. And about 10 minutes after launch, you see it land vertically, almost like those rockets in those 1950s science fiction movies.michael barbaroWow.kenneth changIts amazing.This is where SpaceX went from being the Southwest Airlines to a true innovator in this field.michael barbaroSo Ken, how much, in the end, does it feel like SpaceX has saved in terms of cost from what NASA might have paid to put someone into space a decade ago?kenneth changSo the clearest comparison that we have is that before SpaceX came along, NASA had a plan to develop its own rocket and capsule for taking astronauts to the space station. And when that program was canceled, the estimated cost to do this would have been at least $20 billion dollars.michael barbaroWow.kenneth changNow SpaceX has a contract with NASA basically to provide the exact same service, so that all the development costs, plus providing some of the actual launches, for $2.6 billion.michael barbaroWow. So a fraction of that $20 billion dollars?kenneth changYes.michael barbaroSaving that much money would seem like a tremendous boon for NASA, for the federal government, for the American taxpayer. Does anyone at NASA worry that something fundamental is lost when a private company that is ultimately a business thats interested in making profit is running a launch like this?kenneth changI think theyre most excited about what the rocket does as opposed to who builds it and who operates it.michael barbaroHm.kenneth changI always remember the Saturn V rocket from the Apollo missions in the 60s, the most impressive thing thats flown to date. However, it wasnt because it was so big. Its because it went to the moon. Thats why we remember it. It doesnt necessarily matter whose rocket goes to the space station or ultimately takes people to the moon and beyond. Its that these systems, if they work well, they enable NASA and other agencies to go explore the solar system in new ways that we werent able to do before.michael barbaroKen, is this ultimately a positive development that youre describing here, the privatization of space exploration? Which, I guess, at first blush, seems like something people might be worried about. Is it turning out that this is a very natural evolution of a process that began with the government creating a market, taking these serious risks and opening up to a more efficient private company, and that thats a pretty good progression?kenneth changSo if we go back in history, think of an example where this has happened before. And that is the airplane.So in the very earliest days, there was various people building different types of an airplane. But theres no real business for doing it. It is when the government decides to start sending air mail that it created a business where people could start airlines to carry the mail. And thats led to this wonderful air travel system that we have in the United States and around the world today.michael barbaroSo if we follow that logic, eventually private space travel could be a vast network that many companies enter and perhaps many civilians use, just like civilian aircraft?kenneth changSo once its no longer just NASA astronauts going to space, theres all sorts of new possibilities that open up. So if you have a commercial space station that has nothing to do with NASA that could be filled with millionaire space tourists to spend a couple of weeks in space. It could also be a pharmaceutical company that wants to try out new drugs that can only be made in zero gravity. So once there is a market of going to space that doesnt involve the government, then everyone else can start thinking of how can I get up there, too? How can I make money up there?michael barbaroSo when SpaceX does pull off this launch, maybe its in a couple of days, youre saying its not really just putting two astronauts into space on a private aircraft. Its truly launching a new era in the space program. And its, I guess, the private era of space travel.kenneth changYes. And its coming sooner than you realize. Theres a company out there doing it right now called Axiom Space. They have a contract with SpaceX. They have an agreement with NASA to use part of the space station for these tourists. And this could be launching as soon as the second half of next year.michael barbaroHm.So Ken, everything that youre describing is very exciting. But it occurs to me that its also somewhat conditional. I mean, what happens if, now that its delayed on Saturday, on Sunday, whenever this launch occurs, what happens if it fails? What happens if it goes badly? Is everything youre describing then in doubt?kenneth changIts certainly pushed into the future and delayed. Is it such a setback that everyone says this was a bad idea, we give up, we need to go back to the way things were? I dont think so. Space is still a very hard business, no matter whether its SpaceX or NASA or someone else running these programs. There is a risk to whoever is riding on top of that rocket every time it launches. Everyone whos down there watching is nervous. They always go, I hope this is not a bad day. Because they realize it could be a bad day. And I dont think that one bad day means we never go back to space.michael barbaroWell, Ken, good luck. I hope that you do get a launch in the next few days. And well check in with you after that.kenneth changGreat. Thank you very much.michael barbaroWell be right back.Heres what else you need to know today. On Wednesday, just four months after the first case of the coronavirus was confirmed in the U.S., the American death toll reached 100,000, according to The Times, more than any other nation in the world. The virus has now claimed more American lives than the U.S. wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan combined.Most statisticians say that the actual death toll is probably much higher, given how few Americans have ever been tested.So far, the virus has infected more than 1.7 million Americans.Thats it for The Daily. Im Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.Like the last shuttle mission, the launch will occur at 39A, but almost everything else will be different. Instead of designing and operating its own spaceship as it did for the space shuttles and earlier programs like the Apollo moon landings, NASA has turned to two private companies, SpaceX and Boeing.Boeings spacecraft, Starliner, encountered two major software glitches during an uncrewed test flight in December and will now repeat that mission before attempting to fly astronauts.For SpaceX, the May flight is the last step to certify that its spacecraft meets NASAs needs and requirements. As the Crew Dragon approaches the space station, for example, the astronauts will test flying the spacecraft by manual control before letting its automated system perform the docking.The two astronauts will also get to use the bathroom facility in the capsule during the 19 hours from launch to docking at the space station. The toilet? Mr. Hurley said. Well let you know how it works out. They have one. Well try it out, and well let you know when we get back.Currently there are only three astronauts aboard the International Space Station two Russians, Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, and one NASA astronaut, Christopher J. Cassidy. The smaller station crew is preoccupied with maintenance tasks, and that limits the amount of scientific research that can be performed.NASA officials decided to extend the stay of Mr. Hurley and Mr. Behnken at the space station so that they can help Mr. Cassidy. The SpaceX capsule is currently certified to remain 119 days in orbit. Over time, oxygen atoms in the upper atmosphere react with materials on the capsules solar arrays, reducing the amount of power they generate.The length of the stay also depends on the status of the next Crew Dragon, the first operational mission which is designated Crew-1, which is to take four astronauts to the space station later this year. SpaceX and NASA need the demonstration Crew Dragon to return to Earth to certify that the spacecraft meets NASAs safety requirements and that it is ready to start routine missions.It is a trade off, said Kirk A. Shireman, the program manager for the space station for NASA. What we would like to do, from a space perspective, is keep them on orbit as long as we can until that Crew-1 vehicle is just about ready to go.",7
"DealBook|The Logic in AstraZenecas Buying Spreehttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/18/business/dealbook/the-logic-in-astrazenecas-buying-spree.htmlBreakingviewsDec. 17, 2015AstraZeneca is increasing risk with its merger splurge. The phamaceutical company is spending $4 billion on a stake in the cancer specialist Acerta, taking its total to more than $7 billion this quarter. But while AstraZenecas deals arent cheap, they do seem to clear the value hurdle.The acquisitions reflect AstraZenecas position as the European drug company most exposed to patent losses. It recently lost exclusivity on the blockbuster heart drug Nexium, and will lose a further 17 percent of sales through 2017, according to Fitch. Pascal Soriot, the chief executive, thinks the company can nearly double sales to $45 billion by 2023, but that requires investment. Bringing new drugs in-house makes sense.The flurry of mergers and acquisitions also reflects industry pressure. Governments are being ever more demanding on prices, particularly in the United States, where insurers and payers are consolidating. That leads pharma companies to specialize. For AstraZeneca, that means getting out of areas like gastroenterology, and bulking up in oncology.The danger, though, is that the acquisitions increase financial leverage at a time when AstraZenecas cash flows are already challenged. UBS expects net debt to hit almost one times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization this year, from 0.1 in 2014. The rating agencies Fitch and Moodys already have the group on negative outlook and its single-A rating lags peers Sanofi and Novartis. AstraZeneca is not an expert in the blood cancer area it is buying into. Recent divestitures, meanwhile, have raised concerns over the sustainability of AstraZenecas earnings.Still, the Acerta acquisition looks reasonably priced. AstraZeneca is paying $4 billion for a 55 percent stake in a company whose acalabrutinib blood cancer drug is expected to generate $5 billion in peak annual sales. It still needs regulatory approval, though.Risk-adjusted by 50 percent to reflect the possibility that the blood cancer drug goes nowhere, the purchase price is less than three times sales. That is in line with the sector average. It looks like a good value beside AbbVies recent purchase of Pharmacyclics, whose main drug is similar to Acertas. There are notable differences not least that the Pharmacyclics drug has approval. But that went for nearly five times as much.",0
"Bucks 101, Knicks 98Credit...Benny Sieu/USA Today Sports, via ReutersFeb. 3, 2014MILWAUKEE The fourth-quarter scenes played out in a way that could only make Knicks Coach Mike Woodson shudder. Amare Stoudamire dribbled into a lane crowded with Milwaukee Bucks and lost the ball. Out of the pack came Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, his long limbs churning upcourt on the way to a dunk that pushed the Bucks lead to 10.Then, after the Knicks gamely trimmed the deficit to 1, Carmelo Anthony shot-putted the ball from the baseline and off the side of the backboard. Antetokounmpo was off again, finishing a length-of-the-court drive with a layup. Finally, it was Brandon Knights turn. After Anthony had nailed a 3-pointer that appeared to rescue the Knicks from disaster and tie the score, 98-98, Knight calmly dribbled to the 3-point line and buried a shot over the outstretched arm of Raymond Felton with 1.4 seconds left.When Anthonys desperation shot bounced off the backboard, the Knicks had been beaten, 101-98, by the lowly Bucks. Anthony, with 36 points, and J. R. Smith, with 30, were the bright spots on an otherwise forgettable night.Not to take anything away from them, Woodson said, but this is a game I thought we should have won. Of Knights winning basket over Felton, he added: Ray kind of backed off a little bit. I thought he could have been a little more aggressive.The Knicks identity has been a mystery all season. As if looking at a Rorschach test, optimists have viewed them as an unlucky team striving to get healthy, while others have seen expensive players ill suited for one another. Highs like Anthonys franchise-record 62-point game have been matched by lows like Novembers nine-game losing streak.Recently, the Knicks (19-29) have turned inconsistency into an art form. In January, they won five in a row, then lost five straight before reeling off four more consecutive victories. We played on a roller coaster tonight, Woodson said. When we needed to secure it at the end, we couldnt do it.To figure it out what the Knicks are, it is becoming more appropriate to examine their body of work rather than consider what might be. And it is becoming increasingly difficult to imagine the Knicks as anything other than the below-.500 team they are, stuck on the outside of a playoff race between the also-rans of the Eastern Conference.After an eight-game homestand during which the Knicks went 4-4, their one-game trip to the Milwaukee seemed more adventurous than it should have been. The Bucks, who improved to 9-39, jumped to an 11-3 lead before Woodson turned to the enigmatic Smith, who provided the spark he did so often a season ago.It was never very pretty for either team. They combined to shoot 13 for 41 (32 percent) from the field in the first quarter, but the Knicks 3-point shooting kept them afloat.The Knicks, playing without Andrea Bargnani (elbow) for the sixth consecutive game, went repeatedly to isolation plays for Anthony in the third quarter. He was effective, shooting 13 of 25. Thats been a nightmare for most fours in the league because they have to chase it, Woodson said before the game, referring to power forwards matching up with Anthony. Its a tough guard.But the efforts of Anthony and Smith could not stop a determined Bucks team that looked to be playing at a faster speed than the older Knicks. Knight scored 25 points. Khris Middleton added 19, and Antetokounmpo had 15.We are New York, we represent New York, we play with New York on our chest, Anthony said. Every time we step on the court, no matter where were at, guys want to beat us. Its a tough situation to be in, as far as myself and J. R. providing 66 points and still coming up short. Iman Shumpert returned after missing three games with a sprained right shoulder. He started but scored only 5 points in 24 minutes.The Knicks will return home this week for matchups against the Portland Trail Blazers and the Denver Nuggets. The Denver game will be their 50th of the season. Of the remaining 32 games, 20 are on the road.In a somber locker room after the loss, voices were muted. Tyson Chandler sat in front of his locker, staring at the games box score printed on a sheet of paper. He shook his head.I felt like if it was going to go into overtime, we probably would have got the win, he said.",4
"Dana White Strongly Hints at Stipe vs. Cormier ... for Heavyweight Belt 1/26/2018 TMZSports.com It's pretty obvious Dana White is ""working on"" Stipe Miocic vs. Daniel Cormier ... even though he won't come out and say it. The UFC honcho did everything short of confirm negotiations on the ""TMZ Sports"" TV show (airs weeknights on FS1) ... telling the guys he LOVES the idea of a champ vs. champ superfight for the heavyweight title. ""Were working on something fun right now ... could be Cormier,"" Dana said with a smile when we asked him about Stipe's future. Of course, Brock Lesnar and Jon Jones are potential wild cards ... but both are still suspended for doping. So, with no other crazy options on the table ... all signs point to Cormier (the light heavyweight champ) being offered the next shot.",1
"A Group of Scientists Presses a Case Against the Lab Leak Theory of CovidIn a review of recent studies and comparisons to other outbreaks, a group of virologists contends that there is more evidence to support a natural spillover from animals to humans.Credit...Hector Retamal/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesPublished July 9, 2021Updated Oct. 13, 2021In the latest volley of the debate over the origins of the coronavirus, a group of scientists this week presented a review of scientific findings that they argue shows a natural spillover from animal to human is a far more likely cause of the pandemic than a laboratory incident.Among other things, the scientists point to a recent report showing that markets in Wuhan, China, had sold live animals susceptible to the virus, including palm civets and raccoon dogs, in the two years before the pandemic began. They observed the striking similarity that Covid-19s emergence had to other viral diseases that arose through natural spillovers, and pointed to a variety of newly discovered viruses in animals that are closely related to the one that caused the new pandemic.The back and forth among scientists is taking place while intelligence agencies are working with an end-of-summer deadline to provide President Biden with an assessment of the origin of the pandemic. There is now a division among intelligence officials as to which scenario for viral origin is more likely.The new paper, which was posted online on Wednesday but has yet to be published in a scientific journal, was written by a team of 21 virologists. Four of them also collaborated on a 2020 paper in Nature Medicine that largely dismissed the possibility that the virus became a human pathogen through laboratory manipulation.In the new paper, the scientists provided more evidence in favor of the virus having spilled over from an animal host outside of a laboratory. Joel Wertheim, a virologist at the University of California, San Diego, and a co-author, said that an important point in support of a natural origin was the uncanny similarity between the Covid and SARS pandemics. Both viruses emerged in China in the late fall, he said, with the first known cases popping up near animal markets in cities Wuhan in the case of Covid, and Shenzhen in the case of SARS.In the SARS epidemic, the new paper points out scientists eventually traced the origin to viruses that infected bats far from Shenzhen.Based on the distribution of viruses similar to the new coronavirus across Asia, Dr. Wertheim and his colleagues predict the origin of SARS-CoV-2 will also be far from Wuhan.Since first surfacing in the final months of 2019, this pandemics viral culprit has yet to be found naturally occurring in any animal.In May, another team of 18 scientists published a letter arguing that the possibility of a lab leak needed to be taken seriously, because there was too little evidence to favor a natural origin of the coronavirus or a leak from a lab. Wuhan, where the pandemic was first documented, is home to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, or W.I.V. for short, where researchers have studied coronaviruses from bats for years.One of the signers of the May 2021 letter, Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona, became a co-author of the new paper arguing for a natural spillover.ImageCredit...Hector Retamal/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesHe said his views have evolved as more information emerges. Among other reasons for Dr. Worobeys shift was the growing evidence about the Huanan animal market in Wuhan. When the pandemic first arose in Wuhan, Chinese officials tested hundreds of samples from animals sold at the market and did not find the coronavirus in any of them.But last month a team of researchers presented an inventory of 47,381 animals from 38 species sold in Wuhan markets between May 2017 and November 2019. It included species like civets and raccoon dogs that can act as intermediate hosts for coronaviruses.Dr. Worobey called that study a game-changing paper.He also pointed to the timing of the earliest cases of Covid in Wuhan. The Huanan market is right at the epicenter of the outbreak, with later cases then radiating outward in space from there, Dr. Worobey said in an email.No early cases cluster anywhere near the W.I.V., which has been the focus of most speculation about a possible lab escape, he said.Other scientists, however, say that such arguments are speculative, and that the new review is mostly a rehash of what was already known.Basically, it really boils down to an argument that because nearly all previous pandemics were of natural origin, this one must be as well, said David Relman, a microbiologist at Stanford University who organized the May letter to Science.He noted that he does not object to the natural origin hypothesis as a plausible explanation for the pandemic origin. But Dr. Relman thinks the new paper presented a selective sampling of findings to argue one side.Dr. Worobey and his colleagues also presented evidence in their new paper against the idea that so-called gain-of-function research that intentionally alters the function of a virus might have played a role in the pandemic. The researchers argue that the genome of the coronavirus shows no compelling signatures of being manipulated. And the diversity of coronavirus scientists have been discovering in Asian bats could have served as the evolutionary wellspring for Covid-19.But Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University and a persistent critic of attempts to diminish the likelihood of a laboratory leak, said that this was a straw-man argument.Dr. Ebright said it was possible that a W.I.V. lab worker might have contracted the coronavirus on a field expedition to study bats or while processing a virus at the lab. The new paper, he argued, failed to address such possibilities.The review does not advance the discussion, Dr. Ebright said.",7
"Credit...Nigerian Presidential Office, via ReutersMarch 10, 2017LONDON President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria returned home on Friday after spending seven weeks in Britain on a vacation that turned into an extended medical leave, with questions about his health and about the stability of Africas most populous country remaining unanswered.Nigerians have been kept in the dark about the medical condition of the 74-year-old president. The government did little other than praise his return, say he needed additional tests and rest, and announce that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would continue to act as president.This is a day of joy, Mr. Buharis spokesman, Femi Adesina, said in a video posted on Friday. Its a splendid day. Its a day to give glory, honor, majesty to God in Nigeria. The president is back.Mr. Buhari flew into the northwestern city of Kaduna and then boarded a helicopter for Abuja, the capital. (The Abuja airport is closed for renovations.)Nigeria, a nation of 180 million, is in recession and battling challenges nearly everywhere: widespread malnutrition in the north, an area that has been ravaged by the Islamist group Boko Haram; a militant uprising in the south, where a group called the Niger Delta Avengers has sabotaged oil infrastructure; and a struggle for land between farmers and herders in the center.Mr. Osinbajo, the vice president, is a Christian from the south, and he acts a counterbalance to Mr. Buhari, a Muslim from the north. In recent weeks, Mr. Osinbajo has been working on an economic overhaul aimed at securing a World Bank loan to help the government cope with a deficit caused by the drop in oil revenue.Mr. Osinbajos position as acting president may reflect an effort by the government to avoid a repeat of the instability that consumed the country in 2010, when President Umaru YarAdua died after a prolonged illness, leaving a power vacuum and prompting a political crisis.Mr. Buhari left for Britain on Jan. 19, saying he was going on a short leave as part of my annual vacation. He said that he would return on Feb. 6. But that date came and went, and although officials said he had taken medical tests and received treatment, they would not provide details, prompting intense speculation and uncertainty.From London, Mr. Buhari was not much more forthcoming, though on Twitter he revealed that he had received visiting Nigerian lawmakers; offered birthday wishes to a former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, and to Mr. Osinbajo; and met with the Most Rev. Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury.Mr. Buharis office announced on Thursday that he would return home the next day but provided few details about his extended leave of absence. The president underwent routine medical checkups during his vacation, his office said, adding, The holiday was extended based on doctors recommendations for further tests and rest.Toyin Falola, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and the author of several books about African history, said that Mr. Buharis refusal to say more about his health reflected deep-seated cultural norms, including fears that disclosing illness would worsen it.You cannot look at it from the point of view of the West, where there is a culture of reporting, he said in a phone interview. Africans dont like to report their health, whether its a poor farmer or the president.The topic may be particularly taboo because several leaders have died in office, the professor said. The nations first prime minister after independence in 1960, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, was overthrown in a military coup in 1966 and died under murky circumstances.Two military rulers Maj. Gen. Johnson T. U. Aguiyi-Ironsi in 1966 and Gen. Murtala Muhammed in 1976 were killed. Gen. Sani Abacha died of a heart attack in 1998 during his leadership, and Mr. YarAdua died in 2010 of kidney and heart ailments.When you have less of a grip on the management of a nation, then you have bureaucrats and officers taking use of the opportunity for private gain, Professor Falola said, adding that the months during which Mr. YarAdua had been incapacitated were a maximum period of greed.Mr. Buhari, a former general, was Nigerias leader under military rule from 1983 to 1985.Three decades later, he made a political comeback, defeating President Goodluck Jonathan, who had succeeded Mr. YarAdua, in a 2015 election that was generally seen as free and fair. It was the first time an incumbent president in Nigeria had been ousted peacefully, via the ballot box.I think he should use this opportunity, as much as he can, to improve communication and transparency, Professor Falola said of Mr. Buhari. If his doctors have told him that he has a life-threatening illness, and that he cannot survive, he should ensure an effective transition of power. But maybe its a manageable disease. We just dont know.",6
"Credit...National Archives and Records AdministrationOne hundred years after the end of World War I, the Army Corps of Engineers is still cleaning up the relics of experiments that helped develop chemical weapons to counter the Germans gas attacks. At the American University Experiment Station near the Dalecarlia Reservoir in Maryland, soldiers tested gas masks in a man-test laboratory.Credit...National Archives and Records AdministrationNov. 10, 2018WASHINGTON Under a canopy of poplar and oak trees, a team of geophysicists surveyed the forest floor for century-old wartime relics. They positioned an electromagnetic scanner atop the carpet of leaves while the delicate instrument harvested data about objects in the soil beneath.In 1918, mortars and artillery shells arched toward this spot near the Dalecarlia Reservoir, one of the main water sources for the nations capital. But no armies fought here and no soldiers charged up the embankment. Rather, the shells were launched from the wartime research campus to the east at American University, where scientists developed chemical weapons, explosives, bombs and gas masks to use on the battlefields in World War I.In this centennial of the wars end, the team working in the woods was a reminder that the Great War had another name the Chemists War, a sobriquet reflecting the crucial role of science in the conflict. Alex Zahl, a project manager for the United States Army Corps of Engineers and a self-described World War I buff, mused over the state-of-the-art science detecting remains of experiments dating to 1918.They were using cutting-edge technology 100 years ago developing chemical weapons, Mr. Zahl, 62, said in the air-conditioned trailer that serves as the cleanup headquarters. That was high technology at that time, and here we are 100 years later using high technology again to remediate the material left behind.ImageCredit...Andrew Mangum for The New York TimesImageCredit...National Archives and Records AdministrationImageCredit...Andrew Mangum for The New York TimesWorld War I, which ended with the armistice on Nov. 11, 1918, is infamous for its horrific battlefield conditions, its grinding, bloody clashes the Battles of the Somme, Verdun, Passchendaele and others and the resulting human slaughter. Some 8.5 million soldiers were killed and 21 million more were wounded.Less is remembered about the role of science. The war hastened technological progress with optics, radio and primitive sonar. The Germans largest siege cannon, the dreaded Paris Gun, heaved gigantic shells into the stratosphere that returned to earth to pummel the French capital, 75 miles away. Lithe German submarines prowled under the waves. Aviation, in its infancy at the wars start, roared into maturity by the end. The inventor Thomas A. Edison lent his scientific prowess to the United States Navy.Even before the United States entered the war, the National Academy of Sciences anticipated the need for collaboration among scientists, universities, industry and the military. President Wilson established the National Research Council in 1916, and after the president signed the war declaration on April 6, 1917, the National Academys foreign secretary, George E. Hale, fired off a telegram to counterparts in Britain, France, Italy and Russia: The entrance of the United States into the war unites our men of science with yours in a common cause.American scientists threw themselves into the war effort. Though few are household names today, top physicists, chemists and engineers volunteered. Many from prestigious universities were known as dollar-a-year men, paid a symbolic wage for their efforts.The military had problems to solve that it couldnt solve on its own, said Daniel J. Kevles, emeritus professor of history at Yale and author of The Physicists.In many ways, the United States Chemical Warfare Service epitomized such efforts. Germanys chemical warfare program was the brainchild of its most esteemed chemists, and the Americans were ill-prepared. Entering the fray two years after Germany sparked the chemical arms race with a surprise chlorine gas attack in Flanders, Belgium, the United States Army had neither gas masks nor protective gear, and no capacity for producing or deploying chemical weapons. Doctors had no experience with gassed or chemically burned soldiers. And there was little time to catch up.ImageCredit...National Archives and Records AdministrationImageCredit...National Archives and Records AdministrationImageCredit...Andrew Mangum for The New York TimesTo correct those deficiencies, the War Department set up a laboratory, initially under the civilian Bureau of Mines, called the American University Experiment Station. It began modestly with one building and fewer than 100 researchers.By the wars end, almost 2,000 soldiers, scientists and civilians worked at the campus, which soldiers called Mustard Hill for the blister agent sulfur mustard. The army leased nearby farmland for proving grounds, part of which the soldiers named Death Valley. The service had satellite labs and outposts on campuses and factories throughout the country an effort that some historians compare to the Manhattan Project in World War II. When the war ended, the scientists revealed they had developed a new weapon called lewisite, an arsenic-based blister agent manufactured outside Cleveland at a top-secret factory nicknamed the mousetrap because of its elaborate security. Though never used, the so-called super-poison gas was reportedly to be dropped on the Germans in 1919 if the war had not ended.Although they had many imperfect successes, the rise of chemical warfare within the U.S. military during World War I, I would say, is unparalleled, said historian Thomas I. Faith, the author of a 2014 book about chemical warfare, Behind the Gas Mask. The experiment station reverted to American University when the war ended. Over the decades, developers turned surrounding land into an affluent residential neighborhood, transforming Death Valley into Spring Valley, in the northern section of the District of Columbia. The WWI legacy was largely forgotten until 1993, when developers dug up a cache of mortars, triggering a state of emergency, evacuations and a lengthy cleanup. In all, 141 munitions were found at that site.Several years later, the Corps of Engineers reopened its examination of the area, acknowledging that it had prematurely shut down the cleanup. The contamination and debris proved more extensive than originally believed, sparking an uproar from residents and a pledge from the Army for more transparency and community participation. The corps has been a near-constant presence in Spring Valley since then. Hundreds of munitions have been hauled away, most of them from a handful of burial pits. Arsenic has been the most widespread chemical contaminant the army has carted off thousands of tons of tainted soil and replaced it with clean topsoil. Sulfur mustard, lewisite and other chemical warfare compounds as well as traces of the constituent chemicals that remain after the warfare agents break down over time have also been detected and removed. Concerns about the health effects of chemical contamination among Spring Valleys roughly 25,000 residents have long lingered over the cleanup, especially after a lengthy neighborhood newspaper investigation reported unusual illnesses and health problems among residents. A 2007 health study conducted by Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health for the city found the neighborhoods residents to be generally healthier than most Americans, though with slightly more incidence of cancer including some that can be linked to arsenic compared to nearby Chevy Chase. A follow-up study in 2013 similarly found that the communitys health was very good. Finding no conclusive links between the war era and disease, it recommended no further epidemiological study but did recommend continued health monitoring in the neighborhood. The environmental cleanup is also a kind of archaeological undertaking, a historical scavenger hunt for evidence of the scientific enterprise around chemical warfare.ImageCredit...Andrew Mangum for The New York TimesImageCredit...National Archives and Records AdministrationImageCredit...National Archives and Records AdministrationOne hot spot was a contaminated property where the Corps razed a house in 2012. The location has remained a stubborn symbol of the cleanups complexities. In summer 2017, during what was expected to be a low-risk phase, an unidentified chemical agent in the soil sickened three contractors, halting the excavation. Air samples from under the adjacent residence, which had been vacated last year by the previous university president, found traces of chemicals. The excavation work resumed last month. The current president, Sylvia M. Burwell, former secretary of Health and Human Services, does not live there. The university declined a request to interview Ms. Burwell.In the latest cleanup phase, the Army has begun examining the soil of about 91 properties beneath the cone of the artillery range. The scanning near the reservoir was at an early stage, using new technology that pinpoints buried metal objects and compares their digital profiles against a database of military munitions, such as mortar shells or 75-millimeter artillery rounds. If the item is deemed harmless cultural debris, in Army parlance a discarded soda can, for example then it wont be disturbed.Were going to leave items in the ground that all this equipment says is cultural debris and nothing to do with World War I activities, Mr. Zahl said.On one Spring Valley property, some relics will likely never be removed. Last year, Elliot Gerson and his wife, Jessica Herzstein, bought the stately home where Ms. Herzsteins parents had lived for decades. The Corps has extensively investigated and cleaned up the property and says it has no health concerns. But three original structures from the Experiment Station remain.ImageCredit...National Archives and Records AdministrationImageCredit...National Archives and Records AdministrationImageCredit...Andrew Mangum for The New York TimesOn the wooded slope above the driveway, weeds choke a concrete platform with an angled gutter in the middle the launching pad for the experimental mortar range. Behind the house, two ivy-draped bunkers nestle in the woods, ferns poking through cracks.One afternoon, Mr. Gerson, 66, paused to reflect midway down a slate path leading to one of the structures. He called them a secret archaeological site in the forest, evidence of century-old scientific endeavors.Inside, he pointed to holes in the walls where scientists might have pumped gas into the chamber. Though harmless now, he said, the structure is a memento of the ghoulish weapons tested here, and newly revived from obsolescence in Syria and elsewhere 100 years after the wars end. Theyre still fascinating reminders of a remarkably little-known but important chapter in American history. Some of the best chemists in the United States were assembled here in an urgent effort to save the Allies after the German use of chemical weapons, he said.ImageCredit...Andrew Mangum for The New York Times",7
"Health|Which Big Drug Companies Are Helping the Poor? Heres the Listhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/14/health/pharmaceuticals-access-to-medicine-index.htmlGlobal HealthCredit...Eric Thayer/BloombergNov. 13, 2016The pharmaceutical giant GSK, which has held first place in the Access to Medicine Index ever since its introduction in 2008, was ranked first again this week.The index measures how well the worlds top 20 pharma companies do at getting their drugs and vaccines and often their scientific expertise to the worlds poorest countries.The list was created by Wim Leerveld, a Dutch former pharmaceutical executive, and grew with early support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Dutch and British governments. At first, many drug companies ignored its requests for information.Now, virtually all cooperate. Some have created global health divisions and even compete to do well on the list.Positions in the rankings, issued every two years, have remained relatively constant, except for Japanese companies. They began as bottom dwellers and have slowly risen; the Eisai Company is now in 11th place.GSK has always led the list, but Andrew Witty, its chief executive, who took office in 2008 promising to do as much as he could for the poor in Africa and Asia, will retire in March.The C.E.O. often determines how generous a company is. Richard Sykes, one of Mr. Wittys predecessors at the former GlaxoSmithKline, was until his retirement in 2002 the industrys most vocal opponent of easing patent monopolies in poor countries so they could import cheaper drugs.He dismissed the Indian drug industry, which now makes the bulk of the medicines for the worlds poor, as pirates on the high seas.Indian companies were on the initial 2008 list, but were moved to a separate one later because they generally have much smaller budgets and different missions.Johnson & Johnson has risen steadily up the list and is now No. 2, followed by Novartis and the two Mercks what were once the American and European divisions of the drug giant, but are now separate companies.Novo Nordisk, which has ranked as high as No. 2, fell to No. 10. The company focuses entirely on diabetes, and not all its products are available for licensing or equitable pricing strategies, the index said in explanatory notes.The lists companies collectively have 850 products that treat 51 diseases that burden poor and middle-income countries, said Jayasree K. Iyer, the executive director of the Access to Medicine Foundation, which produces the list.The drug companies are developing another 420 products, often in partnerships with smaller companies in India or elsewhere.",2
"Credit...Ian Willms for The New York TimesNov. 2, 2016IONA, Nova Scotia A century ago, the flaming fall foliage in Nova Scotia would have long faded by early November. But today, some of the hills are still as nubbly with color as an aunts embroidered pillow.Climate change is responsible, scientists say. As the seasonal change creeps later into the year, not only here but all across the northern United States and Canada, the glorious colors will last longer, they predict a rare instance where global warming is giving us something to look forward to.If climate change makes eastern North America drier, then autumn colors will be spectacular, as they are on the Canadian Shield in dry summers, especially the red maples, said Root Gorelick, a biology professor at Carleton University in Ottawa. The Canadian Shield is a broad ring of forests and ancient bedrock that extends hundreds of miles from the shores of Hudson Bay.Over the very long term, the warming planet may have a negative effect on fall foliage, but even then any adverse impact is uncertain. It is not just an aesthetic question, but an economic one as well: The changing colors drive billions of dollars in leaf peeping tourism in Canada and the United States.From a peepers point of view, its good news, said Marco Archetti, the lead author of a 2013 paper at Harvard on predicting climate change impacts on autumn colors in New England.ImageCredit...Ian Willms for The New York TimesWe only have to read Henry David Thoreau to know that climate change is pushing the changing colors later into the year. He spent a lot of time tramping around his native Concord, Mass., making notes on how plants changed with the seasons.In his 1862 essay Autumnal Tints, the naturalist wrote: By the twenty-fifth of September, the Red Maples generally are beginning to be ripe. Some large ones have been conspicuously changing for a week, and some single trees are now very brilliant.He goes on to say that sugar maples, whose change generally follows red maples in short order, are most brilliant about the second of October.Anyone sensitive to the onset of autumn in New England these days knows that most trees, including the maples, are still bottle green on those dates.In general, peak leaf color in Concord and the surrounding Boston area for these maples is now more typically a week or two later than what Thoreau observed, said Richard Primack, a biology professor at Boston University. He has been using Thoreaus records and satellite images to track the effect of climate change on local plant cycles.The Harvard study, which looked at the percentage and duration of autumn color in Harvard Forest in central Massachusetts from 1993 to 2010, predicted that with current climate change forecasts, the duration of the fall display would increase about one day for every 10 years. Look at it this way: Children born this year could have an extra week to enjoy the colors by the time they are 70.The study further analyzed data for trees that turn red: red maple, sugar maple, black gum, white oak, red oak, black oak, black cherry and white ash. Only in white ash trees did the duration and full display of color decrease. In the others, the amount and duration of red leaves increased over the course of 18 years.The Harvard study used data collected by John OKeefe, the museum coordinator, now emeritus, at Harvard Forest, who made his observations by eye estimating the percentage of colored leaves for each species and the duration from when 10 percent of a trees leaves turned color to when 90 percent had turned.Those observations have been validated by Andrew Richardson, a professor of evolutionary biology at Harvard, who has since set up a network of 350 phenocams, cameras that quantify the duration and intensity of autumn colors in locations from Alaska to Hawaii, Arizona to Maine and up into Canada.Johns direct observations on the ground line up pretty well with the camera data, Professor Richardson said. In the shorter term, autumn colors may get better before they get worse.ImageCredit...Ian Willms for The New York TimesWorse? Scientists say that in the longer term the warming temperatures could threaten cold-weather hardwoods like the blazing maples, pushing their southern border north and narrowing the band in which they can survive between the temperate and circumpolar boreal forests.More southern and less colorful species like oaks and hickories may march north, eventually replacing the maples and other exhibitionists. Some scientists also say that the mechanism that makes leaves red may not work as efficiently in much warmer weather, eventually dulling those colors.The scientific term for the color change is leaf senescence, when deciduous trees pack up their summer clothes and prepare to sleep naked through the long frigid winter. The green chlorophyll in the leaves breaks down, disappearing to reveal the yellow carotenoid pigments underneath. Those pigments break down more slowly, until the leaves eventually turn brown.The real magic comes from the trees, maples among them, that produce a compound called anthocyanin as the chlorophyll disappears.Anthocyanin is the pigment that makes cranberries red and blueberries blue, among other things. Its role in autumn leaves is not well understood, but current theories suggest that some trees have evolved to produce it to protect their leaves from the damaging effects of intense sunlight while the chlorophyll breaks down the red pigment absorbs wavelengths in the green region of the spectrum that would otherwise be reflected by the disappearing chlorophyll.Leaves that contain roughly equal amounts of yellow carotenoids and red anthocyanin appear bright orange in the fall. The higher the proportion of anthocyanin, the brighter red the tree will be, to the point of scarlet, the curious color that excites us most.Sunlight, particularly in late summer and fall, sets off the production of anthocyanin. Cloudy weather dampens production and leads to less colorful displays. Many scientists argue that warming temperatures do not have much to do with the intensity of color, only with its timing: when it appears and how long it lasts.But Howard Neufeld, a professor of biology at Appalachian State University in North Carolina, said climate change could eventually affect the complex processes in leaf senescence and lower anthocyanin production, dulling the autumn reds.To produce anthocyanin, leaves need energy, which they get from the sun and from sugar in the leaves sugar that otherwise would be metabolized by the tree.Warmer temperatures, Professor Neufeld said, may speed up enzymes involved in nighttime respiration, when leaves exhale carbon dioxide and absorb oxygen, as humans do. Respiration requires sugar for fuel, and burning it faster would leave less available for anthocyanin production.The result: drearier leaves.So far, however, warmer temperatures do not seem to have had this effect. Mr. OKeefe noted that despite this years record warmth and one of the latest onsets of fall color that he had seen in 27 years, in his neck of the woods it had been a brilliant red year.Professor Neufeld, too, concedes that even though we thought colors might be dull, they are bright this year.For someone standing in a Nova Scotia dell amid the glowing golden light of the sun filtered through buttery beech leaves and a fiery orange sugar maple, the science seems less important than the simple, sublime beauty of the trees. As Thoreau wrote, I am more interested in the rosy cheek than I am to know what particular diet the maiden fed on.",7
"Politics|High turnout among Black voters has lifted the Democratic Senate candidates in Georgia.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/us/politics/high-turnout-among-black-voters-has-lifted-the-democratic-senate-candidates-in-georgia.htmlJan. 5, 2021, 11:00 p.m. ETJan. 5, 2021, 11:00 p.m. ETCredit...Audra Melton for The New York TimesA surge in turnout from Georgias Black voters has powered the fortunes of the Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, putting the Democrats within reach of flipping two Senate seats and winning control of the chamber.Predominantly Black counties across rural Georgia have had turnout for Mr. Warnock and Mr. Ossoff that nearly matched the Nov. 3 general election and margins that exceeded what President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. received when he defeated President Trump in the state.In Calhoun County, which is 61 percent Black and where most ballots had been counted late Tuesday, Mr. Warnock was ahead by 19 percentage points out of 2,031 votes cast and Mr. Ossoff had an edge of 18 points, compared with Mr. Bidens 15 percent margin out of 2,198 votes in November.In Clay, Macon, Randolph and Washington Counties, all small, rural, predominantly Black counties, Mr. Ossoff and Mr. Warnock won larger margins than Mr. Biden did with turnout that nearly reached the November figures an extraordinary feat given the nature of the runoffs.Some of Georgias largest counties in metropolitan Atlanta, which is home to the states largest concentration of Black voters, have yet to report a majority of their votes, though they are expected to soon.Data from TargetSmart, a Democratic political data firm, found that nearly 50,000 Black Georgians had cast early ballots in the Senate runoffs after not voting in the Nov. 3 general election.Scores of grass-roots organizations worked to turn out Black voters in the lead-up to the runoffs, and on a campaign swing last weekend, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris targeted Black neighborhoods where early-voting turnout had been soft. The Black vote delivered the U.S. Senate for Democrats, said Tom Bonier, the chief executive of TargetSmart.",3
"Credit...T.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York TimesApril 1, 2016WASHINGTON In Douglas Lauxs final days as a C.I.A. officer, the futility of his mission prompted him to quote George Orwell to his boss.Mr. Laux had spent months in 2012 working with various Middle Eastern nations that were trying to ship arms to Syria to help disparate rebel groups there. But it had become clear to him that the C.I.A had little ability to control the squabbling and backstabbing among the Saudis, Qataris and other Arabs.He told a senior C.I.A. officer he felt like Winston Smith, the character in 1984 known for his fatalism, because he was carrying out his work without comprehending the politics and competing agendas thwarting progress in aiding the rebellion. I understand the how, Mr. Laux said, paraphrasing one of Smiths famous lines. I do not understand the why.It is a sentiment that might sum up much of Mr. Lauxs career at the C.I.A., an organization he served for eight years as an undercover case officer and soldier in the agencys shadowy conflicts overseas. His career at the agency began with a tour at a remote firebase in southern Afghanistan and ended with a spot on the agencys Syria Task Force a life in war zones that is emblematic of the lives of a large cadre of American spies who joined the C.I.A. after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He left the agency three years ago, but is speaking publicly about his experiences there for the first time in conjunction with the release of a memoir.The collective weight of all C.I.A. memoirs written since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks could collapse a bookshelf, but Mr. Laux brings a raw perspective to the canon. His memoir is not filled with recollections of White House meetings or lengthy defenses of waterboarding. Mr. Laux was thousands of miles from Washington, a grunt in a secret war.We have officers who have only done war-zone stuff since they walked in the door, said Mr. Laux, an intense, sometimes edgy 33-year-old with an athletic build and a trimmed beard. The big question for the C.I.A. is whether it can be sustained, and whether it finds enough people to invest that time psychologically and emotionally. Mr. Laux spoke in a recent interview in a quiet Washington bar owned by one of his friends.He arrived in southern Afghanistan as part of a surge of C.I.A. officers to the country in early 2010, at the same time that President Obama had ordered the deployment of tens of thousands of additional military service members in the hope of beating back a resurgent Taliban. He lived in a concrete fortress that was once a prison built by the Soviets during their war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, part of a ramshackle base surrounded by razor wire. He spoke Pashto, which he learned during his C.I.A. training.Raised in rural Indiana, Mr. Laux had never ventured far from home when he watched the World Trade Center crash to the ground via a television on the campus of Indiana University, where he was a freshman. He submitted an online application to the C.I.A. in his senior year he had noticed an advertisement for the spy agency on a campus job board waited months and, after a series of mysterious phone calls, was told to report for an interview in Washington. He was accepted into a C.I.A. program that eventually led to the standard course for operations officers at the Farm, the agencys training facility at Camp Peary in Virginia.Mr. Laux was in Afghanistan when American troops were dying in large numbers, many of them from roadside bombs built in makeshift factories across the border in Pakistan. In his book, Mr. Laux recounts how he ran a web of informants to try to hunt down people who had turned the bomb making into a lucrative business. (The books title, Left of Boom, is Pentagon-ese for efforts by soldiers and spies to dismantle the militant networks before they were able to plant the bombs.)The role that Pakistans intelligence service, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, played in the bomb making is most likely central to Mr. Lauxs story, but C.I.A. censors have blacked out those sections, along with other large chunks of the narrative, as part of an agency review process required for all books by former C.I.A. employees.Mr. Laux said he was struck by how little the military seemed to know about Afghanistan after so many years in the country, and that many C.I.A. officers had developed little more insight. Soldiers and spies served short tours of duty with much of that time spent just becoming familiar with their surroundings and then turned their jobs over to new arrivals forced to make the same mistakes as their predecessors.By 2011, Mr. Laux said it became a common refrain among Americans in Afghanistan that the United States had not been in the country for 10 years. It had been in Afghanistan one year, 10 times, he said.Thousands of American troops were patrolling eastern Afghanistan hunting for Taliban fighters, while C.I.A. operatives focused almost exclusively on Al Qaeda. Mr. Laux recalls the confusion this sowed, and the occasionally tragicomic results.One example was the militarys regular practice of broadcasting on Pashto-language radio stations the names of Taliban fighters they were hunting, offering money for information about their possible whereabouts. Mr. Laux and other C.I.A. officers, not knowing of the military broadcasts, would pay people who approached them with what they claimed was specific information about the same names that had been on the military broadcasts. The information was often bogus.Mr. Laux and his colleagues, who at first thought it was valuable intelligence about high-level Taliban fighters, eventually realized it was a game that had been going on for years. The Americans were desperate for intelligence, and some Afghans were exploiting that desperation to line their pockets.Mr. Laux, concerned about reprisals from his former employer, refused to give details about what is in the redacted sections of his book including a section about collecting information about a Qaeda operative who appears to have been killed by a C.I.A. drone. A source had been tracking the operative, and one day sent Mr. Laux a text message *73 the signal that the operative was in a specific location.Mr. Laux said that 20 minutes later, his source confirmed that the Qaeda militant, given the code-name Scimitar, had been killed. But how he was killed is redacted from the book.He ended up dying, is all Mr. Laux would say about the operations outcome.He returned from Afghanistan feeling a stranger in his own country, and his life began a downward spiral of alcohol and OxyContin. Mr. Laux said he tried hard to keep his substance abuse from his bosses at the C.I.A., who had little oversight over case officers in between their overseas postings.The C.I.A. initially declined to comment when it was asked earlier this week about Mr. Lauxs book. On Friday afternoon, a spokesman said in a statement that maybe with age and greater maturity Mr. Laux might at one point have a different perspective on his time at the agency.The American people should know that his former colleagues continue to do extraordinary work despite his departure, and do so without the need for public recognition, said the spokesman, Ryan Trapani.In the spring of 2012, as the civil war in Syria escalated, the C.I.A. sent Mr. Laux to the Middle East as part of the agencys nascent task force charged with making contact with the Syrian rebels.He developed relationships with the rebels, but frustration followed. The Obama administration was deeply divided over how much to support the rebels, and Saudi Arabia and Qatar and other nations decided to arm them on their own, usually keeping their efforts from the C.I.A. Many of the details of Mr. Lauxs time working on the Syria operation are redacted. A version of a plan he drafted to arm the Syrian rebels was eventually adopted by David H. Petraeus, the C.I.A. director, who then proposed it to the Obama White House.He left the agency in 2013, burned out from the deployments and frustrated by bureaucracies both foreign and domestic. He said he began writing the book almost immediately after leaving the C.I.A., when the memories and emotions were fresh.He insists that the book should not be read for cosmic conclusions about the state of American intelligence, but as the account of one persons C.I.A. career. But he hopes it can be a useful snapshot for understanding how the post-9/11 wars changed the C.I.A., and the lives of the people who fought them.Or, he jokes, maybe it is a self-help book.Want to kick your drug habit? he said. Go to Syria.",6
"Dec. 23, 2015Tucked inside the mammoth tax and spending bill passed by Congress this month is a much-anticipated provision that will lock in a large tax break for small-business capital investments that has been temporary until now.The break is intended to make it more affordable for small companies to buy up to $500,000 a year worth of equipment like computers, machinery and vehicles.Known as the Section 179 deduction, the tax provision allows qualifying capital items to be written off immediately on a businesss taxes, instead of being depreciated over a number of years. That has the effect of lowering a businesss taxable profits, sometimes significantly.The deduction is essentially limited to small and midsize companies. It begins phasing out when a company spends more than $2 million a year on qualifying purchases, and is eliminated entirely for those that spend more than $2.5 million.Jerry Kortesmaki, the owner of London Road Rental Center in Duluth, Minn., relies on the deduction to stock up on equipment for his machinery and party supplies rental business. This year, he is using it to help pay for some $200,000 in new goods, including chairs, a mini-excavator, four trailers, an insulation blower and a sewer camera.Ive been able to grow my company very quickly because Ive been able to reinvest whatever I made in buying more equipment to rent, said Mr. Kortesmaki, who has 11 full-time workers at his 13-year-old company.The deduction works like this: If a company has a $90,000 profit and decides to spend $50,000 of it on new computers, the company would normally write off the cost of the equipment gradually, deducting a portion of it each year over the span of the computers useful life. But Section 179 allows the business to deduct the entire $50,000 cost at once in the year the equipment is purchased, reducing the companys taxable profit to $40,000. (The deduction cannot exceed a businesss total net income.)Nearly all small businesses, even the very tiniest, should consider taking advantage of the deduction, said Tanya Ouellette, an accountant with Raiche & Company in Dover, N.H.It doesnt have to be a huge piece of equipment, she said. I tell my clients, If you bought a new Apple laptop, were going to take a 179 on that.For equipment dealers like Sherry Wuebben, who sells farm machinery, the permanence is as big a deal as the tax break itself. For the last few years, she and her customers have watched nervously as the years final days slipped away, wondering when and whether Congress would renew the deal that many business owners rely on to finance their big-ticket purchases.We would get phone calls every day from customers about it, wondering if they should go ahead and buy, said Ms. Wuebben, who is an owner of St. Joseph Equipment in La Crosse, Wis. The uncertainty weighed very heavily on them.ImageCredit...Mark Kegans for The New York TimesSection 179 was once a fairly limited tax break, with an annual cap of $25,000 or less. But in 2003, Congress temporarily raised the limit to $100,000, and in 2008, as the recession set in, it raised the cap again to $250,000. In 2010, hoping to stimulate more spending, Congress increased the limit to $500,000, allowing businesses to use the deduction toward expensive items like factory machinery and trucks.But each increase was a temporary measure requiring annual reauthorization to prevent the cap from returning to $25,000 and Congress developed a habit of waiting until the very last days of the year to make a decision. In 2012, it missed the calendar deadline completely and passed legislation on Jan 1, 2013, retroactively raising the deduction limit for equipment business owners had purchased the previous year.The uncertainty drives my clients up a tree, said Paul Neiffer, an accountant with CliftonLarsonAllen in Yakima, Wash., who specializes in the agricultural industry. Not knowing each year if it will be extended prevents a lot of our farmers from pulling the trigger on buying equipment.From now on, they will know. Signed on Friday by President Obama, the 233-page tax deal includes in its myriad tax breaks one that permanently sets the Section 179 cap at $500,000, subject to inflation adjustments.Mr. Kortesmaki said he was confident enough that Congress would once again lift Section 179s cap to go ahead this year with his planned capital purchases, even before the legislation was passed. But other business owners held off and this year, the deal came too late for some, Ms. Wuebben thinks.You cant plan to spend that kind of money with just two weeks left in the year, she said. We might see some activity this year, but the real benefit for us will come next year, when customers can plan ahead for it.Some companies do try to jam in qualifying purchases before the calendar year ends. Last year, Congress raised the Section 179 limit for the year on Dec. 16. The next day, the prices farm machinery sold for at auctions increased compared with just a few days earlier, according to Greg Peterson, the owner of Machinery Pete, a site that tracks equipment auction prices.The response is nearly Pavlovian at this point, he said. The farm audience had grown so used to this annual silly dance of wait-and-see on our friends in Washington.Making Section 179s higher limit permanent will cost taxpayers $77 billion in foregone revenue over the next 10 years, according to a government estimate. The tax breaks aim is to stimulate spending but does it work?An analysis by the Congressional Research Service found that expensing allowances like Section 179 appear to have a minor effect at best on how much businesses spend on capital goods. Expectations for future sales growth, not tax considerations, motivates most of the investment in the kinds of assets eligible for expensing.The main advantage of expensing allowances, the report suggests, comes from simplifying the tax accounting business owners face on their capital purchases.Still, owners like Mr. Kortesmaki see the tax break as a crucial one for helping their small business grow a bit bigger.Id rather invest that money in my business than pay taxes on it, he said. Having this become permanent makes my business planning for the next few years a whole lot easier.",0
"U2 Sunday Grammys Gig Will Be 'Live' ... From Friday Night 1/26/2018 U2 won't really be performing live from a remote location during the ""60th Annual Grammy Awards"" ... but it will seem that way thanks to some TV magic. Sources close to production tell TMZ ... the band is set to record their Grammys performance Friday night on a barge in the Hudson River. When the show airs Sunday night -- live from Madison Square Garden -- cameras will cut away from MSG to U2's pre-recorded performance It'll look like it's live, but now you won't be fooled. To be clear, the boys from Dublin aren't lip syncing -- just playing live to tape. It's not uncommon for huge live TV events to prerecord segments, especially when a stunt shot's involved. Remember Lady Gaga's nose dive into the Super Bowl? 2017 Here's how the final product looked for that.",1
"Credit...Richard Sennott/Star Tribune, via Associated PressMarch 14, 2017WARSAW The Polish government will seek the extradition of a 98-year-old Ukrainian-American who prosecutors say carried out Nazi-led atrocities in 1944 that killed scores of civilians.The family of the man, Michael Karkoc, who entered the United States in 1949 and now lives in a nursing home in Minneapolis, says that he is innocent of the charges and that he has dementia and is not fit to stand trial.In a June 2013 investigation, The Associated Press reported that Mr. Karkoc, then 94, had commanded the SS-led Ukrainian Self Defense Legion, which carried out mass killings in villages in eastern Poland and helped suppress the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.Mr. Karkoc did not tell the federal authorities in 1949 that he had worked for the legion and, later, for the SS Galician Division, both of which were on a list of organizations whose members were forbidden to enter the United States, The A.P. reported.In a subsequent article in November 2013, The A.P., citing files from the Ukrainian intelligence agencys archive, reported that a private under Mr. Karkocs command testified in 1968 that Mr. Karkoc had ordered an assault on the village of Chlaniow as retribution for the killing of an SS major. The village was razed.In a Ukrainian-language memoir published in 1995, Mr. Karkoc said he had helped found the Ukrainian Self Defense Legion in 1943, in collaboration with Nazi officers, to fight on behalf of Germany and against the Soviet Union.The A.P.s articles led to investigations in Germany and Poland. German prosecutors ended their investigation in 2015, saying Mr. Karkoc was unfit to stand trial, but the Polish inquiry continued.In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Robert Janicki, an official with the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes Against the Polish Nation, said there was no doubt that the man living in Minnesota was the same man who carried out the pacification of the villages in the Lubelskie region in 1944, referring to Chlaniow and the nearby village of Wladyslawin. More than 40 civilians were killed.Mr. Janicki referred to the man as Michael K., citing Polish privacy laws. We have also discovered a signature of Michael K. on documents related to the unit from that time, he said. Our forensic experts have determined that this is a signature of the man who lives in the States.The commission, which is part of the countrys Institute of National Remembrance, a body that has prosecutorial powers and is tasked with investigating Nazi- and Soviet-era crimes, filed a request on Monday to a court in Lublin for a temporary arrest warrant for the man. The warrant would be the first step toward requesting extradition, Mr. Janicki said.In Washington, Nicole Navas, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said that while the department took all credible allegations of participation in World War II Nazi crimes very seriously, it did not comment on extradition requests.The charges carry a potential term of life in prison. Mr. Janicki rejected the argument that prosecuting Mr. Karkoc would be pointless given his age and health. First of all, age is not a factor when it comes to bringing anyone to justice, he said. As for the state of his health, that will be for expert witnesses to determine.The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a human rights organization, has criticized Poland for not doing more to track down those who committed atrocities during the Nazi era. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Germans killed 1.9 million non-Jewish Polish civilians during the war, along with at least three million Polish Jews.Mr. Janicki acknowledged the criticisms, but said it took time to assemble evidence. Its incredibly difficult to gather the necessary evidence to put someone on trial today, he said. It requires international cooperation, and it takes years to reconcile all the efforts. But it doesnt mean that its not worth pursuing.Some say that its too late to hunt the criminals down, but I dont think it is, he added. The case of Michael K. proves that. Besides, try telling its too late to a woman who as a girl was hiding in a field, watching her parents being executed.Mr. Karkocs son and spokesman, Andriy Karkoc, said in an interview on Tuesday in Minneapolis that his father was not guilty.My father is an innocent 98-year-old man who never did anything wrong, Mr. Karkoc said, adding that his father was a victim of German reprisals against Ukrainian resistance fighters.At a restaurant near the Ukrainian Orthodox Church where many family weddings had taken place, Andriy Karkoc, 63, said the allegations had been deeply painful for the family, even though his father had scoffed at them. He lived a public life here in Minnesota, Andriy Karkoc said. We have fought for human rights. If he was a Nazi, why would he do that?Michael Karkoc, an ethnic Ukrainian, was born in the city of Lutsk on March 6, 1919. Claimed by Czarist Russia in the late 18th century, the area became part of Poland after World War I, was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939 and was occupied by the Germans in 1941. Since 1945, it has been part of Ukraine.After the war, Mr. Karkoc ended up in a camp for displaced people in Neu-Ulm, Germany. His first wife died in 1948, a year before he and their two sons immigrated to the United States, where he worked as a carpenter, remarried and had four more children.",6
"A maker of rapid Covid tests recalls nearly 200,000 kits over concerns of false positives.Credit...Patrick Hamilton/Agence France-Presse, via Getty ImagesPublished Oct. 5, 2021Updated Nov. 1, 2021Ellume, an Australian company that makes a widely available at-home coronavirus test, has recalled nearly 200,000 test kits because of concerns about a higher-than-expected rate of false positives. That represents about 5.6 percent of the approximately 3.5 million test kits Ellume has shipped to the United States.The company, which detected the problem in mid-September, traced the issue to variations in the quality of one of the raw materials used in the test kit, Dr. Sean Parsons, Ellumes chief executive, said in a phone interview. He declined to specify the material in question, citing a desire not to publicly disclose precisely how the test kits work.About 427,000 test kits, including some provided to the U.S. Department of Defense, were affected by the problem, Dr. Parsons said. Roughly half have already been used, he said, yielding about 42,000 positive results. As many as a quarter of those positives may have been inaccurate, Dr. Parsons said, although he stressed that it would be difficult to determine exactly how many. Im very sorry that this has happened, Dr. Parsons said. Were all about chasing accuracy, and to have these false positives is disappointing.ImageCredit...Patrick Hamilton/Agence France-Presse, via Getty ImagesThe issue did not affect all Ellume test kits or the reliability of negative results, the company said.Ellumes test is a rapid antigen test, designed to detect pieces of the virus in the nose. Users swab their nostrils, insert the swab into a dropper of fluid and then add the fluid to a Bluetooth-connected analyzer. Results are transmitted to a smart phone app in 15 minutes. Last December, it became the first over-the-counter, completely at-home test to receive an emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.The company has asked retailers to remove the tests from shelves and is in the process of notifying consumers, Dr. Parsons said.Consumers who have one of the affected tests can request a replacement online. People who try to use one of the affected test kits will be notified in the app that the test has been recalled. It really wont be possible to use any of those tests now, Dr. Parsons said.He added that the company had put extra controls in place to prevent the same problem from cropping up again in the future.We are doing everything possible to get known, good product into the hands of consumers in the U.S., Dr. Parsons said.The recall comes as demand for testing has soared, and consumers have complained that at-home test kits are hard to find. On Monday, the F.D.A. authorized a new at-home antigen test, ACON Laboratories Flowflex. The authorization is expected to double rapid at-home testing capacity in the U.S. over the next several weeks, Dr. Jeffrey E. Shuren, who directs the F.D.A.s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in a statement. By years end, the manufacturer plans to produce more than 100 million tests per month, and this number will rise to 200 million per month by February 2022.",2
"Asia Pacific|U.S. Navy Carrier Suffers Second Aircraft Crash in Weekshttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/12/world/asia/fa18-hornet-crash-philippines.htmlCredit...Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kaila V. Peters/United States Navy, via Associated PressNov. 12, 2018BEIJING A United States Navy warplane crashed into the sea northeast of the Philippines on Monday, the second crash in less than a month involving aircraft from the carrier the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan.The aircraft, an F/A-18 Super Hornet, had a mechanical problem during routine operations over the Philippine Sea in the Western Pacific, the Navys Seventh Fleet said in a statement. In October, an MH-60 Seahawk helicopter, also assigned to the Ronald Reagan, crashed shortly after takeoff, injuring a dozen sailors.The two aviators in the jet on Monday were plucked from the sea and brought back to the carrier in good condition, the Navy said.The crash was the latest mishap for the Seventh Fleet, the largest American fleet deployed overseas, and a moment of reckoning for the Hornet.According to the Navy, a new F/A-18 Super Hornet costs $57 million.Last year, two of the Seventh Fleets commanders were forced out after two collisions between Navy destroyers and commercial ships resulted in the deaths of 17 sailors.Navy investigators concluded the collisions were avoidable and resulted from a series of crew and basic navigational errors.Many of the decisions made that led to this incident were the result of poor judgment and decision-making of the commanding officer, officials concluded in a report on the June 2017 collision between the destroyer Fitzgerald and a container ship near Japan in which seven Navy sailors died.Two months later, another destroyer, the John S. McCain, collided with an oil tanker near Singapore, leaving 10 sailors dead.After the results of the inquiry were made public, Senator John McCain, then chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said automatic budget cuts to the Pentagon since 2013 were among the reasons for the 17 deaths.The fallout from the collisions was severe. The commander of the Navys Pacific Fleet took early retirement, and the commander of the Seventh Fleet was removed in connection with the accidents.The F/A-18 Super Hornet that crashed Monday is one of the most widely used strike fighters in the Navy, employed for reconnaissance, close air support and precision strikes.The Seahawk that crashed last month is a twin-engine assault helicopter used for submarine warfare, search and rescue and anti-ship warfare. In the accident in October, the helicopter crashed onto the deck of the carrier.",6
"Omarosa Eyeing $500k Check With New Speaking Gig!!! 1/22/2018 Omarosa's learning that quitting -- or getting fired, depending on who you believe -- pays big time. The former 'Apprentice' star and President Trump's former Director of Communications for the White House Office of Public Liaison has officially signed with the American Program Bureau ... joining its elite roster of speakers that includes Jay Leno, Diddy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson. We're told Omarosa signed her John Hancock Monday morning and will ask for up to $50k a speech, depending on the venue. Robert P. Walker, APB's founder and CEO, tells TMZ ... his firm's goal is to book at least 10 appearances over the next 3 months, and he thinks that's doable. Walker says, ""Since it's Black History Month and Women's History Month, I'm sure Omarosa will be in high demand, as she has always been."" Omarosa left Trump's administration last month but was reportedly on the White House payroll until Saturday. And now she's ready to talk ... for a fee.",1
"New findings indicate the outbreak of severe lung injuries may have peaked, but cases are still surfacing. The agency is urging doctors to monitor people closely after hospitalization. Credit...Lauren Lancaster for The New York TimesDec. 20, 2019Health officials are warning doctors to more closely monitor patients with severe lung damage caused by vaping, because some have relapsed or died shortly after being sent home from the hospital.The recommendations are part of four new reports about the nationwide outbreak of severe illnesses from vaping, which has hospitalized 2,506 people and killed 54 as of Dec. 17. The reports were published on Friday, two by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and two by The New England Journal of Medicine.In the new reports, researchers pinpointed the beginning of the outbreak to early June, and said that evidence was mounting to connect the illness to vitamin E acetate an additive to the illicit THC-based products that most patients have vaped.The C.D.C. is confident that vitamin E acetate was strongly linked to an explosive increase in cases last summer, Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the agency, said at a news briefing on Friday. But she and other health officials warned that even if THC suppliers stopped adding vitamin E acetate, that would not necessarily make illicit THC safe, because providers could switch to other dangerous substances. Sellers use additives to extend the THC and increase their profits. The C.D.C. is still recommending that people avoid vaping nicotine, because it may also contain unknown additives that may not be safe. Separately, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Friday that 44 websites had been seized by the agency and the Drug Enforcement Administration for marketing illicit THC vaping cartridges. By seizing the sites, the agencies basically shut them down. The F.D.A., which has been investigating the supply chain involved in the outbreak, said it did not have evidence directly connecting the lung illnesses to the sites, but had obtained information about some of them from patients and their families. Although most of the lung injuries this year have been attributed to vaping products containing THC, the high-inducing ingredient in marijuana, the new research also suggests that nicotine vaping may be causing health problems in young people. One of the studies found that starting in 2017, long before the outbreak of severe illness, there was a gradual increase in emergency room visits for lung trouble by people using e-cigarettes, especially patients 10 to 19 years old.The scientists said that the growing use of e-cigarettes by teenagers may have caused the increase in those visits to the emergency room. But Dr. Shuchat emphasized that the evidence was not clear and needed more study.In the outbreak of severe lung damage, cases peaked in September. But new ones are still being reported every week nearly 100 occurred from Dec. 10 to Dec. 17 and more deaths are being investigated.One of the new reports found that among 2,409 cases reported to the C.D.C. by early December, 31 patients had to be rehospitalized and seven others died after being sent home. Their median time to winding up back in the hospital was four days, and the median time to death after hospital discharge was three days.Those rehospitalized were more likely than others to have a history of chronic conditions like heart disease, respiratory problems and diabetes. The ones who died after being sent home were more likely to be age 50 or older.Because of those cases, the C.D.C. is urging that patients who are sent home see a doctor within two days, which is sooner than previously recommended. The advice is especially important for people with underlying chronic illnesses, the agency said. It is also providing new guidelines for doctors. It is not clear whether any of the patients who relapsed or died had started vaping again when they got home, Dr. Schuchat said, but she said that it was important for addiction counseling to start before patients leave the hospital. She added: I think its likely that there are a variety of factors here, and the medical conditions were particularly important.Another study addressed the lingering question of whether the outbreak, first widely recognized in August, was really a new illness, or actually something that had been going on for a long time without being detected.The illness appears to be new: Cases spiked in early June, the researchers found, based on analyzing emergency-room visits reported to a database called the National Syndromic Surveillance Program, which was created to detect bioterrorism after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. They examined the reasons for visits, looking for mention of e-cigarettes, along with lung symptoms like shortness of breath and chest pain.Why the surge occurred in June is not known, though researchers suspect it was because of increased use of vitamin E acetate, and other potentially toxic additives, by suppliers of illicit THC vaping products. Minnesota authorities who seized illicit THC vapes found that in 2018, 10 of 10 products contained no vitamin E, whereas 20 of 20 seized in September 2019 did contain it. I believe the practice of diluting THC vaping products with vitamin E really took off this past year, Dr. Schuchat said, adding that the idea of using the vitamin additive had been promoted on YouTube and other social media platforms. But how to explain the gradual increase in emergency room visits by young patients 10 to 19 years old starting in January 2017, well ahead of the outbreak? Though some cases could be linked to whatever later caused the severe illnesses, the researchers said the problems could also have been the result of the increasing use of nicotine e-cigarettes. Among high school students, the proportion who said they had vaped nicotine in the previous 30 days rose to 27.5 percent in 2019, from 11.7 percent in 2017.A few years earlier, in 2015, the e-cigarette maker Juul had introduced nicotine salts, which make inhaled nicotine feel gentler on the throat and are more potent because they allow people to inhale higher concentrations of nicotine without discomfort. The ease of vaping with Juuls wildly popular, sleek devices, and the addictiveness of high levels of nicotine could have led some people to vape more and more, exposing them to higher amounts of potential toxins like flavorings and to overdoses of nicotine, which can make people feel quite sick.A study published in 2017 found increased rates of chronic cough and other respiratory problems in teenagers who vaped nicotine, including those who had never smoked cigarettes.Research published last week on adults found that while e-cigarette users were better off than smokers, they were more likely than nonsmokers to develop respiratory disease. The risk was greatest among those who both vaped and smoked, which was common. One of the new articles, published on Friday in The New England Journal of Medicine, strengthens the case against vitamin E acetate, reporting that it was found in lung fluid from 48 of 51 people with the vaping illness 94 percent. Earlier research had made the same finding, but in a smaller number of patients.The 51 patients came from 16 states, indicating that vitamin E acetate was in widespread use, and not from just a single, local supplier of tainted products, Dr. Schuchat said. The new study compared the patients with 99 healthy people who had previously given samples of lung fluid as part of other research on smoking that involved nonsmokers, smokers and vapers. None of the healthy people had the vitamin E additive in their lungs.Researchers dont know how vitamin E acetate could harm the lungs, but they suggested two possible ways. It could disrupt a substance called surfactant, which helps keep open tiny air sacs deep in the lungs and is essential for normal breathing. A second theory is that the heat of vaping could break down the vitamin E acetate into ketene, a dangerous molecule that might produce the kind of chemical burns found in the lungs of some patients.Both ideas need more study and testing in animals, the researchers said.The vitamin E acetate was first found in a THC-vaping product from a sick patient that was analyzed in August by scientists at the New York State Department of Healths Wadsworth Center.Since then, the center has found the substance in more than 100 THC samples, about 69 percent of all the THC vaping cartridges it has tested, David C. Spink, director of the organic and analytical chemistry lab, said in an interview. Most of the samples are 40 percent to 50 percent vitamin E acetate, Dr. Spink said. The lab has also tested six products marketed over the internet to dilute THC for vaping. They came in brown bottles, with nice, professional looking labels on them, but they didnt have a list of ingredients, Dr. Spink said. Three of the six were pure vitamin E acetate. Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]",2
"Credit...Noel Celis/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 3, 2018MANILA An Australian nun who had criticized President Rodrigo Dutertes policies, including his brutal war on drugs, arrived home from the Philippines on Sunday, more than six months after the president ordered her arrest and deportation.The nun, Sister Patricia Fox, 71, who has worked in the Philippines for almost 30 years, had exhausted all legal means to fight her expulsion from the Philippines. She attended her last Mass at St. Josephs Church in Manila before leaving for the airport, accompanied by a motorcade of supporters.She landed in Melbourne on Sunday morning, where she told ABC News: The human rights abuses are just increasing. Its a reign of terror.From Manila before her departure, Sister Fox said, I will continue to seek justice for the victims and do all I can to support the peoples struggle for true peace based on justice.She added that she bore Mr. Duterte no ill will, but wished that he would consider the plight of the poor and the small people, not just the military and business people.Sister Fox has long been involved in political and social activism in the Philippines, and since Mr. Duterte took office in 2016 she has spoken out repeatedly against his drug war, which has left thousands of mostly poor Filipinos dead at the hands of police officers or vigilantes.Mr. Duterte cited such criticism in April when he said he had ordered the Bureau of Immigration to arrest and deport the nun. You are a foreigner, who are you? he said. You do not have the right to criticize us. Do not insult us every time you open your mouth.Sister Fox, who spent a night in jail before being released, later won a reprieve from deportation when the Justice Department said the Immigration Bureau had overstepped its authority. But since then, the bureau has downgraded her missionary visa to a temporary visa, which was due to expire on Saturday.You cannot force the government to give you a visa, so I chose to go out and take my advocacy elsewhere, Sister Fox said on Saturday.The Duterte administration has taken similar action against a number of foreign critics of the presidents policies. In August, the immigration bureau detained an 84-year-old Australian professor, Gill Boehringer, at the Manila airport and barred him from entering the country because he had joined protests against Mr. Duterte.Also this year, three foreign missionaries, including an American, were detained and deported in July after visiting the southern Philippines to investigate allegations that the army had carried out abuses there, including the December killings of at least eight members of an indigenous community in the province of Lake Sebu.One of Sister Foxs lawyers, Katherine Panguban, said they would continue to appeal her case to the immigration bureau while the nun is in her native Melbourne. This clearly shows that this government is intolerant of dissent, Ms. Panguban said of the case.A spokesman for Mr. Duterte, Salvador Panelo, said on Saturday: The departure of Sister Patricia Fox is a timely reminder to all foreigners who stay or sojourn in this country that they are not entitled to all the rights and privileges granted to the citizens of the Philippines.She underwent a legal process where she was given the opportunity to be heard, he said, adding, We wish Sister Fox well in her travel, and we thank her for whatever good deeds she has performed during her stay in the country.Officials in the Catholic Church, which has considerable influence in the Philippines and has been active in the opposition to Mr. Duterte, said Sister Foxs expulsion was a blow to the missionary spirit of the church.The government should have taken the moral high ground in taking up the case of the embattled nun, said Father Jerome Secillano of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.Mr. Duterte has often expressed contempt for the church and joked about founding a religion based on himself. He did so again on Thursday, which was All Saints Day, during a visit to the northern Philippines.The Catholics are crazy. We dont even know those saints, who those fools are, those drunkards, he said in a mix of English and Tagalog.Ill give you one patron saint so you dont go astray, he said. Get a hold of a picture of me. Place that in your altar. Saint Rodrigo.",6
"Health|People who received a J.&J. vaccine may be better off with a Moderna or Pfizer booster, a study finds.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/13/health/johnson-vaccine-booster-fda.htmlPeople who received a J.&J. vaccine may be better off with a Moderna or Pfizer booster, a study finds.Credit...James Estrin/The New York TimesPublished Oct. 13, 2021Updated Oct. 15, 2021People who received a Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine may be better off with a booster shot from Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech, according to preliminary data from a federal clinical trial published on Wednesday.That finding, along with a mixed review by the Food and Drug Administration of the case made by Johnson & Johnson for an authorization of its booster, could lead to a heated debate about how and when to offer additional shots to the 15 million Americans who have received the single-dose vaccine.The agencys panel of vaccine advisers will meet Thursday and Friday to vote on whether to recommend that the agency allow Moderna and Johnson & Johnson to offer booster shots.Despite the questions raised by the new data on the strength of Johnson & Johnsons boosters, some experts anticipated that the agency would clear the shots anyway, since the effectiveness of the one-shot vaccine is lower than that of the two-dose mRNA vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech. And the broader public may also be expecting the authorizations, given the Biden administrations push for boosters from all brands.Once the agency authorized a booster from Pfizer-BioNTech last month, the die was cast, said John Moore, a virologist at Weill Cornell Medicine.The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are by far the most used in the United States, with more than 170 million people in the United States fully immunized with either one or the other vaccine. When Johnson & Johnsons was authorized in February, public health experts were eager to deploy the one-and-done option, particularly in communities with poor access to health care. But the shots popularity plummeted when the F.D.A. later paused its use to investigate rare blood clotting cases.For those who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the timing of a booster authorization of any brand is still uncertain. The F.D.A. panel is set to vote Friday only on whether the agency should permit a second dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, a scenario the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions own vaccine advisory committee will discuss next week. If both agencies believe an additional dose should be offered, people could seek them out as early as next week.Whether the F.D.A. might authorize the mix-and-match approach, and how, is unclear. The strategy will be discussed at the agency panels meeting on Friday, but no vote will be taken. If regulators eventually believe there is enough scientific support for the approach, they would likely need to update the authorization language of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to allow for their use in people who initially received Johnson & Johnsons.In a study conducted by the National Institutes of Health, researchers organized nine groups of roughly 50 people each. Each group received one of the three authorized vaccines, followed by a booster. In three groups, volunteers received the same vaccine for a boost. In the other six, they switched to a different brand.The researchers found that those who got a Johnson & Johnson shot followed by a Moderna booster saw their antibody levels rise 76-fold within 15 days, whereas those who received another dose of Johnson & Johnson saw only a fourfold rise in the same period. A Pfizer-BioNTech booster shot raised antibody levels in Johnson & Johnson recipients 35-fold.The authors cautioned about the studys small size and noted that they did not follow the volunteers long enough to identify rare side effects.Sharon LaFraniere contributed reporting from Washington.",2
"Credit...James Hill for The New York TimesFeb. 8, 2014SOCHI, Russia Womens ice hockey is the snow leopard of the Sochi Games, its survival in the Olympics endangered by the success of the United States and Canada, which have dominated the sport since its Olympic debut in 1998.In the past four Winter Games, only Sweden, in 2006, has been able to break the North American stranglehold on the top two podium spots. Finland, ranked third in the world, entered the Sochi Games confident it had closed the gap after pulling off an upset against the Americans in November at the Four Nations Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y.Finland fell back on Saturday. It was only a preliminary game, but its 3-1 defeat to a resurgent United States team at Shayba Arena was worrisome. The Finns were outshot, 15-3, in the first period and 43-15 over all and did not score until the final minutes.The top two teams, the Americans and the defending champion Canada, are so strong that their fans have cause to wonder if they are rooting for them at the sports peril. Hilary Knight, a forward whose unassisted goal off a turnover in the opening minute set the tone for the game, said she took it as a backhanded compliment when she heard people say, Yeah, we dont want you to be one of the top two teams.After Canadas scorched-ice run to victory in 2010, which included an 18-0 rout of Slovakia, Jacques Rogge, then the president of the International Olympic Committee, said ominously, We cannot continue without improvement.Since then, the International Ice Hockey Federation has introduced coaching symposiums and summer camps in which North American players work with women from other countries, including Japan, which is competing here.The federation also modified the Olympic format, grouping the top four teams in the same division, with all guaranteed a spot in the medal round. The idea was for teams in both groups to find their level of competition in the preliminary rounds rather than finding themselves on either end of lopsided scores.The modified format is like giving a flashlight to a hotel guest during a blackout. It is a short-term fix that cannot hide the larger problem. At the Four Nations Cup, the Americans outshot the Finns by 59-16 but lost because Noora Raty delivered a performance in goal that she described this week as one of those games that you probably only get once in your lifetime.Raty, who led the University of Minnesota to back-to-back N.C.A.A. titles, said after practice on Thursday: I kind of wish that game had happened here, but you never know. It could happen again.Cheerleaders waited to enter the stands for a womens hockey game between the United States and Finland. The United States won, 3-1.Credit...James Hill for The New York TimesSlide 1 of 15 Cheerleaders waited to enter the stands for a womens hockey game between the United States and Finland. The United States won, 3-1.Credit...James Hill for The New York TimesShe was quickly disabused of that dream by Knight, who scored on the Americans first shot. In the 10th minute, the Finns Riikka Valila had her teams best scoring chance, but goaltender Jessie Vetter stopped her shot from close range.Kelli Stack and Alex Carpenter collected the other goals for the United States, both in the second period. It has been an eventful week for Stack, who was sitting with a few teammates in a lounge in the athletes village on Wednesday when President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia stopped by.He came over and said hi to us and shook our hands and smiled, Stack said, adding, He asked us what sport we were in, and we said ice hockey and his eyes lit up.Putin, a recreational player, was an enthusiastic backer of Russias Kontinental league, formed in 2008 to compete with the N.H.L. for the worlds top talent. Russia also has an 11-team womens pro league, which works well for expanding the game domestically but which has limited international efficacy.What the women need, said Raty, 24, are sponsors to invest in a North American-based professional league that pays its players a living wage.I might be done playing if I cant play pros, Raty said.She added: I wish thered be a womens pro league, because thats the next thing our sport needs. I feel like our sport cant grow without a pro league. The only one we have is in Russia, and not many players actually want to go there.For post-collegians, there is the Canadian Womens Hockey League, but what the players earn is not enough to make ends meet without a part-time job or financial assistance from their parents, U.S.A. Hockey or sponsors.At the end of the day we absolutely love what we do, said Julie Chu, 31, who plays for the leagues team in Montreal. So we can make some sacrifices. Some days we have to get some financial support from our parents, which is hard when youre in your late 20s or early 30s.The womens conundrum is that for the game to increase its profile it needs an infusion of money, but to get that money the game has to increase its profile.To get on TV and have more TV opportunities would help us sustain our game better, Knight said, adding, We dont necessarily drop the gloves as the men do and we cant open-ice hit somebody, but our game is more dynamic and its more of a finesse game and I think thats special.",4
"Turning ventilated patients onto their stomachs, called proning, helps them by opening their lungs. Now doctors are testing to see if it can keep others off ventilators altogether.Credit...Lyndon French for The New York TimesMay 13, 2020Hospitals across the country are filled with a curious sight these days: patients lying on their bellies.Patients almost always lie on their backs, a position that helps nurses tend to them and allows them to look around if theyre awake. But for many patients, the coronavirus crisis is literally flipping the script.The surprisingly low-tech concept, called proning, can improve breathing in patients stricken by the respiratory distress that is the hallmark of the virus, doctors have found. It draws from basic principles of physiology and gravity. Lying on ones stomach helps open airways in lungs that have become compressed by the fluid and inflammation unleashed by the coronavirus infection.When patients are on their backs, the heart is now sitting on top of the lungs and compressing it even more, said Dr. Michelle Ng Gong, chief of the divisions of critical care and pulmonary medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Montefiore Health System in the Bronx. The rib cage cannot move in the usual way because its now up against the bed.But, she said, When you flip the patient onto the belly, now the back of the lungs can start to open, allowing more air sacs to function, she said.In addition, a larger share of the lungs is in the back of the body than the front, meaning that patients on their stomachs dont have to support as much lung weight.Before the coronavirus pandemic, proning had been used for some very ill patients on ventilators, but not nearly as frequently as it is being tried now. Thats partly because turning heavily sedated patients onto their bellies is a labor-intensive maneuver, previously done with medical teams of as many as eight people who must carefully avoid dislodging a patients breathing tube or intravenous lines.With the coronavirus producing an avalanche of patients with malfunctioning lungs, hospitals have been employing the maneuver not only for intubated and sedated patients, but for non-intubated patients who are having serious breathing trouble. In I.C.U.s, doctors are asking patients to turn onto their stomachs in hopes that the position will keep them from needing ventilators. In emergency rooms and regular hospital floors, doctors are trying tummy time with some patients whose condition is not as dire, on the theory that it might help them recover faster.Past experience has found that in ventilated patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome, or ARDS a condition that many seriously ill Covid-19 patients develop proning for many consecutive hours a day improves the medical outcome that matters most: survival.Theres a lot of evidence that it actually decreases mortality, and there are not a lot of things that actually do, said Dr. C. Corey Hardin, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital.[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]In many patients with ARDS, only some of the air sacs are collapsed, so while pressure supplied by a ventilator can open those air sacs, too much pressure can overinflate air sacs that arent collapsed, Dr. Hardin said. Proning allows the ventilator pressure to be set at a minimum, meaning that the flattened air sacs are reinflated, but theres no danger of overinflating somewhere else, he said.A 2013 study convinced many experts in the field of the advantages of proning patients on ventilators. It found that intubated patients with ARDS who were flipped onto their bellies for stretches of 16 hours were twice as likely to survive as patients who spent the entire time on their backs. The prone group also had fewer cardiac arrests than the supine group.Subsequent studies found similar benefits. Still, before the pandemic, the technique was being used for only about 15 percent of intubated ARDS patients, Dr. Gong said.One reason for the wariness was the potential risk involved in flipping patients over. Some of these patients who have very low oxygen in their blood, a simple act of just turning them to their side even, not even to their belly, can cause their oxygen level to drop, Dr. Gong said.Its a bit like going into battle, she said. The ability to turn these patients safely without dislodging a tube, without something accidentally falling out, without a patient going into cardiac arrest, that takes team coordination.Recently, she said, a coronavirus patients breathing tube fell out and the team had to hurriedly flip the patient back over so the tube could be reinserted. But, Dr. Hardin said, most complications can be avoided with training and experience.Theres certainly a lot of anxiety about that when you talk about rolling out something if you havent done it a lot, he said. But once youve done it a couple of times, people are like, Oh wow, this isnt that big of a deal.To limit medical staff exposure to infected patients during the pandemic, hospitals have been proning patients with much smaller teams, often just three or four people.Proned patients must periodically be turned onto their backs again, called supinating, because that position is better for some nursing tasks and because too much uninterrupted time facedown can cause the equivalent of bedsores on the face. Ventilated patients are typically proned for 16 hours, but at Mass General, Dr. Hardin said, some are proned for 24 or 48 hours.Some of these patients will lose the benefits once we supinate them and then we have to prone them again, Dr. Gong said. So some of these patients were supinating, proning, supinating, proning, and it can go on for days.Susan Zhang, 56, of Long Island, N.Y., was proned each of the seven days she was sedated and on a ventilator in April in Montefiores neuroscience intensive care unit.At first, Ms. Zhang needed 85 percent oxygen from the ventilator, but that level decreased almost daily and was down to 35 percent on the seventh day, according to her husband, Dr. William Liang, an internist, who created a handwritten flow chart of his wifes daily medical status.They proned her the whole day, then let her rest a little bit, and then proned her in the evening, he said. Ms. Zhang also received some medications, so its impossible to say how much the proning helped, but Dr. Liang believes it contributed to a very nice progression.In a telephone interview from a hospital recovery room earlier this month, Ms. Zhang, who was receiving nasal oxygen, said in a voice still weak from the intubation that she was grateful to the hospital for saving my life. She is now recuperating in a rehabilitation hospital.The benefits for intubated patients have prompted hospitals to examine whether proning can help prevent the need to put patients on ventilators. A clinical trial at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago is studying whether I.C.U. patients lying on their stomachs are less likely to be intubated than those who remain on their backs.People are saying go ahead and prone them, but we need to find out if that is truly something that stands out in terms of mortality benefit or I.C.U. length of stay or mechanical ventilation need or ventilation length, said Dr. Sara Hanif Mirza, an assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Rush, one of the trial leaders.ImageCredit...Lyndon French for The New York TimesEqually important is understanding whether proning can have negative effects for such patients, said David Vines, another trial leader and an associate professor at Rushs College of Health Sciences. He said that sometimes its better to intubate severely ill patients early, depending on how much their lungs can benefit from resting while a machine breathes for them.If by proning them, we may just be delaying them and they wind up getting intubated anyways, we worry about that because those people can end up having worse outcomes, he said. We would be concerned if theres a mortality difference because we didnt act fast enough.One of Dr. Viness recent patients was an older man in the I.C.U. on nasal oxygen. I went ahead and told him to prone, but I just delayed his intubation 24 to 36 hours and he ended up being intubated anyway, Dr. Vines said.Because of such concerns, Dr. Vines said the trial will evaluate patients soon after they prone themselves, and if we dont see improvement in an hour, we should intubate you.Another issue is that some patients, because of factors like weight or age, find lying on their stomachs uncomfortable or difficult, which can affect results. Some hospitals are using mattresses designed with cutouts for pregnant womens bodies to make patients more comfortable.Proning may have helped Leticia Espinoza, 50, of Elmwood Park, Ill., who went to Rushs emergency room in late March. After several days of fever and chills, her breathing problems became so serious that she was transferred to the I.C.U., where, Dr. Mirza said, it seemed likely she would need intubation.They asked me to lay down on the bed with my belly down. Ms. Espinoza said in a recent interview. It was not really comfortable. Its an unusual position for me. I did it because I wanted to improve.Ms. Espinoza, a participant in the clinical trial, managed to spend about 20 hours each day on her stomach, with interruptions only to use the bathroom or eat, or to turn briefly on her side when she needed a break. She ended up avoiding a ventilator, her oxygen needs steadily decreased, and after three days, she was moved out of the I.C.U. Soon afterward, she went home.",2
"Politics|David Perdue concedes to Jon Ossoff in Georgia.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/us/politics/david-perdue-concedes-to-jon-ossoff-in-georgia.htmlCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesJan. 8, 2021Three days after the runoff elections in Georgia that secured full congressional control for Democrats, Senator David Perdue acknowledged his loss to his Democratic challenger, Jon Ossoff.Mr. Perdues concession on Friday, coupled with Senator Kelly Loefflers concession to Senator-elect Raphael Warnock a day earlier, ensures that the results of the Georgia runoffs will not be subject to the prolonged, baseless challenges that President Trump raised to his own loss in the state.Although we won the general election, we came up just short of Georgias 50 percent rule, and now I want to congratulate the Democratic Party and my opponent for this runoff win, Mr. Perdue said in a statement. In the November election, he received 49.7 percent of the vote to Mr. Ossoffs 47.9 percent, but Georgia requires a runoff if no candidate reaches 50 percent ironically, a system that historically benefited conservative candidates by reducing the power of Black voters.With roughly 98 percent of votes counted, Mr. Ossoff is ahead by 45,000 votes, or about a percentage point: more than three times the number of votes that President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. won the state by, and double the margin that would have allowed Mr. Perdue to seek a recount.Mr. Ossoff and Mr. Warnock will be sworn in once Georgia election officials certify the results most likely by the time Mr. Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20. That will create a 50-50 split between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris breaking ties, and end six years of Republican control of the chamber.",3
"TrilobitesNew research finds that the extinction of this flightless bird was completely our fault.Credit...The Natural History Museum, London/Science SourceDec. 4, 2019Not so long ago, the northern seas were full of great auks. Every summer, millions of the two-toned, goose-sized birds would gather at different breeding grounds across the North Atlantic. The flightless birds were easy to capture, and passing sailors loved how they tasted.In less than half an hour we filled two boats full of them, the French explorer Jacques Cartier wrote after encountering a throng near Newfoundland in 1534. Collecting them was as easy as if they had been stones.Just three centuries later, though, the species had become famous for its scarcity instead. Museums and merchants started paying top dollar for great auk eggs and skins. In 1844, members of a small expedition found two of the birds on an Icelandic island, strangled them and crushed their only egg. That was the last confirmed sighting. In this way, the great auk went extinct.What caused such a precipitous decline? In the past, researchers have speculated that environmental change topped off by human greed took down the great auk. After all, thats what people think happened to woolly mammoths.But new research points the finger more squarely at us. A paper published last month in eLife which uses genetic analysis from museum specimens to reconstruct great auk population trends, suggests there was no reason for them to go extinct if they hadnt been hunted, said Jessica Thomas, a scientific officer at Swansea University in Wales and the lead author of the study. This puts great auks in the same doomed-by-humans category as the passenger pigeon and the moa.While there are limits to how much you can learn about historic population changes from genetic data, the paper shows how this type of reconstruction might be applied to better understand other species conservation problems, said Tim Wootton, an ecology and evolution professor at the University of Chicago who was not involved in the research.Humans have been hunting great auks for millenniums. But starting around the 15th century, they became a staple for sailors traveling near the American and European coasts. Crews ate their eggs, brought them onboard as mobile food sources and plucked out their feathers to sell to pillow-makers. They even burned their oil-rich bodies for fuel.The birds were gone before we could learn very much about them. Naturalists never got a chance to study them in the wild. Even basic information, like the extent of their breeding season or the sound of their calls wasnt well-documented, Dr. Thomas said.The researchers needed a different way to look into the species history. So they compared DNA from 41 different great auks, including the two endlings killed in Iceland. They were looking for evidence of species-level vulnerabilities: a shrinking gene pool, for example, or signs that the overall population was fragmenting into smaller groups.They didnt find any. Genetic diversity was really high, Dr. Thomas said. They were doing really well.But how did the great auks maintain such high diversity even though they couldnt fly? By studying data from an unrelated project that uses floating GPS tags to trace sea currents, Dr. Thomas team found oceanic flows that went straight past a number of former breeding sites, which may have enabled mingling.Next, the team modeled different extinction scenarios. For instance, assume there were once 2 million great auks in the world. Would the species have gone extinct if people had harvested 9 percent of the adult birds annually? What about 10 percent, along with 5 percent of the eggs?According to the groups calculations, only a 2 percent harvest rate is reliably sustainable. The sailors almost certainly outpaced that, said Dr. Thomas.Dr. Thomas sees the study as a warning for other species and for us, their destructive stewards. In a world with plenty of rare creatures, its tempting to let the numerous ones fend for themselves, she said.But even an abundant and widespread species that doesnt appear to be vulnerable deserves a watchful eye.You can cause them to go extinct, she said.",7
"Middle East|Damascus Bombings Near Pilgrimage Sites Kill Dozenshttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/11/world/middleeast/damascus-syria-suicide-bombings.htmlVideoA double suicide bombing in Damascus killed dozens of people and injured others on Saturday.CreditCredit...Louai Beshara/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMarch 11, 2017BEIRUT, Lebanon A double bombing near Shiite shrines often visited by foreign pilgrims in Damascus, Syria, killed at least 40 people on Saturday, shattering the capitals efforts to isolate itself from the war raging elsewhere in the country. Many of the dead were from neighboring Iraq.The Syrian state news service, SANA, said militants set off two explosive charges near the Bab al-Saghir cemetery, just south of the Old City.Syrias interior minister, Mohammed al-Shaar, who visited the site after the blasts, said they had killed 40 people and wounded 120.Other reports cited a higher death toll. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which opposes the Syrian government and monitors the conflict from Britain with the help of contacts in Syria, said that one of the blasts was from a suicide bomber and that the nature of the second was unclear. It put the death toll at 46.The spokesman for Iraqs Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Jamal, said the attacks killed more than 40 Iraqi pilgrims and wounded 120.The Iraqi government said it was sending medical teams to Damascus to help care for the wounded and airplanes to transport them home.Video from the blast sites showed large buses with their windows blown out and bodies peppered with shrapnel holes, as well as blood and scattered shoes in the street nearby.The attacks were a blow to the government of President Bashar al-Assad, which has sought to ensure quiet in the capital.As Syrias war enters its seventh year, Mr. Assads forces have rolled back rebel advances and consolidated their grip on Damascus.That has led to a rise in the number of Shiite pilgrims arriving from abroad to visit the citys sacred shrines, from Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but there are many militants in Syria who aim both to kill Shiites and to undermine Mr. Assads grip on the capital. They include the Syrian affiliate of Al Qaeda and the jihadists of the Islamic State, both of which are Sunni and consider Shiites apostates.Since neither group holds significant territory near the site of the attacks, they point to a major security breach.Last year, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a suicide attack south of Damascus near the Sayeda Zeinab shrine, which is revered by Shiites.Also Saturday, Mr. Assad said in an interview with the Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV that his military planned to target the city of Raqqa, the capital of the Islamic States self-proclaimed caliphate, but that any foreign troops entering Syria without permission would be considered invaders.Kurdish-led forces backed by the United States are also advancing on Raqqa.When asked how he felt about President Trump, Mr. Assad said he was optimistic because Mr. Trump had said that he intended to step up the fight against the Islamic State.I said since the beginning that this is a promising approach to whats happening in Syria and in Iraq, because we live in the same area and we face the same enemy, Mr. Assad said.He added that as of yet he had no direct lines of communication with the American president.",6
"Nets 108, 76ers 102Credit...Michelle V. Agins/The New York TimesFeb. 3, 2014Nets Coach Jason Kidd walked into a pregame news conference at Barclays Center on Dec. 3 with a sobering bit of information: He was relieving his top assistant, Lawrence Frank, of a majority of his coaching duties.The Nets were 5-12, and a 24-point trouncing by the Denver Nuggets that night did little to ease the angst. Frank was thought to be Kidds ballast.How much further could things sail adrift without that stabilizing force on the bench?As it turned out, things did change, just not in the way some expected. The Nets season began heading in the opposite direction. Two months later, on Monday, Kidd was named the Eastern Conferences coach of the month for January. With Frank still out of the picture, the Nets have won six of their past nine games, including Mondays 108-102 defeat of the Philadelphia 76ers.Before the game, Kidd, at least outwardly, hardly conveyed surprise or amusement with the honor, which tends to be his status quo. His even-keeled nature, antithetical to most N.B.A. coaches, now appeared almost Zen-like after a month in which the Nets went 10-3, turned around a disastrous start and zoomed up the conference standings.It marked a fine turnabout for Kidd, too. He seemed to steady his coaching grasp, his confidence, his lineups, his voice. The result was a relaxing of some of the criticism of his performance early on in the season.Im still feeling my way, Kidd said before the game. But Ive seen a lot in the first couple months. The biggest thing is being able to communicate with those guys in that locker room and making sure that were all on the same page.There are other, subtler alterations in his coaching manner as well. Case in point: Kidd, the former point guard, has lately emphasized the teams ballhawking ability, mostly as an alternative to what it lacks in size. On Monday, that translated to 26 forced turnovers (converted into 32 points) and 15 steals.Look, in this league, you can play great defense and still get scored on, Kidd said. But if you get some deflections, kind of disrupt the rhythm, hopefully that can help you get a win.That might sound simplistic, but it also sounded good, especially after the last of Shaun Livingstons seven steals in the waning moments wound up sealing the victory for the Nets (21-25) on Monday.The last couple games, weve struggled with rebounding, Livingston said. So we have to be active with our switches and one-on-one defensively, containing our man, because we dont really have a lot of shot-blocking presences, outside of K.G. Kevin Garnett. We have to be good defensively on the ball, and we have to take pride in that.Livingston put together one of his most complete games of the season: 13 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists to go with all those steals. Paul Pierce added 25 points to pace the Nets, who were without Joe Johnson, who sat out with tendinitis in his right knee.The Nets opened up a 19-4 lead to begin the game, while Philadelphia missed seven of its first eight shots. But the Nets got in foul trouble early, and the lack of depth did not help matters. The 76ers began pushing the pace, accelerating the ball movement and increasing the defensive pressure all the way to full court.Philadelphia took a lead midway through the second quarter, but the Nets ended the half on a 17-5 run, making four consecutive stops on the defensive end in the final minute to take a 54-49 lead into the break. They kept up the pace in the third quarter, pushing the lead to 19 while hitting nine of their first 14 shots from the floor.The 76ers committed nine turnovers in the third quarter, leading to 15 of the Nets 30 points. But the 76ers started the fourth by hitting their first eight shots from the field to trim their deficit to 5.A long jumper by Lavoy Allen trimmed the lead to 2 with 3 minutes 30 seconds remaining, but Deron Williams answered with a pull-up jumper. The Nets needed a defensive stop, and Garnett supplied it blocking a floater by Michael Carter-Williams that led to a 3-point play by Mirza Teletovic. (Garnett finished with a season-high five blocks.)The 5-point swing gave the Nets a 102-95 lead with a little less than three minutes remaining. But the 76ers kept at it. With 30 seconds left, Williams ran off a screen and appeared to bang knees with a defender, hobbling him momentarily. The 76ers promptly ran Williams off another screen he could not get through, and his man, James Anderson, made a wide-open 3-pointer to cut the lead back to 2.Philadelphias last key opportunity was stolen away by Livingston, who deftly swiped the ball from Evan Turner dribbling up the court to seal the win.REBOUNDSForwards Andray Blatche (bruised hip) and Andrei Kirilenko (sore calf) were inactive for Mondays game. ... Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson, a day after the Seahawks defeated the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl, attended the game.",4
"Marseille DispatchCredit...Andrea Mantovani for The New York TimesNov. 19, 2018MARSEILLE, France The red-helmeted marine firefighter was firm. Right, he told the anxious families gathered around him, were closing up the building.Bewildered and frightened, they climbed the darkened, rickety staircase of their building on the Rue Jean Roque, past the chunks of missing plaster and thick lines of cracks, some big enough to put an arm into. On the firefighters orders, they gathered their belongings and then left, for the last time.Their decrepit five-story apartment building, long ignored by city officials, was now deemed unsafe. Marseille city leaders, on the defensive after ignoring expert warnings, were racing to respond to a public outcry after two buildings collapsed this month, killing eight people.Nervous officials have since evacuated 1,054 people, and counting, from 111 crumbling apartments in the heart of the ancient and dingy Mediterranean port. But a 2015 report written for Frances minister of housing found that 40,000 dwellings in Marseille were unsafe which is 10 percent of all unsafe buildings in France, and affects 100,000 of the citys inhabitants.Marseille, Frances second-largest city and one of Europes poorest, is facing a housing crisis that, more deeply, is a crisis of poverty. More than a quarter of the population is officially poor.Many are asking why it has taken officials so long to address the dire conditions and what Marseilles persistent poverty says about the neglect of the other France in part immigrant and poor whose decline long preceded President Emmanuel Macrons pro-market changes, and easily threatens to outlast them.ImageCredit...Andrea Mantovani for The New York TimesImageCredit...Andrea Mantovani for The New York TimesAs the city has poured millions into sports facilities and dazzling museums for tourists, little has gone to shore up the hundreds of buildings in the city center, some dating to the 18th century and earlier, which house the poor. Inspections have been haphazard and cursory, alarming reports have been ignored and official efforts understaffed.Despite the 2015 reports determination that 40,000 buildings were unsafe, only a tiny fraction were officially declared unsafe by the city in all of 2016, according to an activist group.ImageCredit...Andrea Mantovani for The New York TimesImageCredit...Andrea Mantovani for The New York TimesOn Oct. 18, two and a half weeks before the buildings collapsed on the Rue dAubagne, an expert sent by the city declared the first floor of No. 65 unsafe. Not the rest of the building, though.Those who were killed including an immigrant mother of eight, a student, a painter and an out-of-work African migrant with no papers reflected the gap between those who have housing, clean water, education and job opportunities, and the rest, even in a country with an extensive social safety net.In response, thousands of people have poured into the citys streets to protest the authorities perceived negligence.Gaudin, Murderer! they shouted last Wednesday night, referring to the citys powerful longtime mayor, Jean-Claude Gaudin. The streets justice will condemn you! they yelled, 10,000 strong in a noisy march on the Baroque City Hall building facing the water.There is no particular fault for which we reproach ourselves, Mr. Gaudin told the local news media after one of the marches. But the response of city officials has been sparing.ImageCredit...Andrea Mantovani for The New York TimesImageCredit...Andrea Mantovani for The New York TimesThe people of Marseille, both the smartly dressed and the ragged, have trooped day after day to the makeshift memorial of flowers and candles erected near the disaster site. It wasnt the rain! an ironic reference to City Halls initial explanation, and already an icon of the protest was scribbled on the wall.Who died there? said Rabah Ramdani, a shopkeeper who had come to pay tribute. Only the poor. And it isnt over.Down long and narrow Rue Jean Roque, shady in the autumn sunshine, Bintou Ciss stood outside her tiny alterations shop around the corner from the collapsed buildings, refusing to go inside.Because Im afraid, she said. Everything is rotten here. Its nothing but slums.You can see it, she added, looking up at the facades cracks.In the dilapidated old buildings of the Noailles neighborhood in the city center, where the poor live, fear has taken over. Children say they are afraid to come home from school, working mothers say they wake at night at the slightest vibration, university students sleep somewhere else.Up until now weve been ashamed to bring people here, said Laura Spica, a musician who lives on the street. Now, were not only ashamed, were afraid.ImageCredit...Andrea Mantovani for The New York TimesImageCredit...Andrea Mantovani for The New York TimesDazzling and pastel-hued, Marseille is a concentration of Frances postindustrial urban pathologies a sort of French Detroit, said the sociologist Michel Peraldi.It has never recovered from the double blows of deindustrialization and decolonization, Mr. Peraldi said. The industries that transformed cheap raw materials no longer exist, and neither do the once closely linked colonies that supplied them. The biggest contemporary employer is the public hospital administration.Unemployment is nearly 50 percent higher than the national average. Immigrants have come in waves since the 1950s from North Africa.There are three generations of unemployed, Mr. Peraldi said. There has never been any clear policy to reintegrate these classes into society.Of the two buildings that fell on the Rue dAubagne, No. 63 was vacant, boarded up and missing much of its roof, and had been taken over by the city. It is thought that the collapse of that structure, feebly supporting the already weakened and inhabited No. 65, brought down No. 65, like a house of cards.What this has revealed is a state of total decadence, and a total insouciance on the part of the elected officials, said Patrick Lacoste, head of an activist group, Center-City for Everybody.This is a political catastrophe, Mr. Lacoste added, because for 23 years City Hall has let the neighborhood die.Enter any building, at random, in the Noailles neighborhood and the staircases tilt queasily downward. It is advisable to hold the handrail.When the neighbor goes up the stairs, the whole place shakes, said Khedidja Dhamani, a middle-aged woman who lives on the Rue dAubagne down the street from the collapsed buildings.ImageCredit...Andrea Mantovani for The New York TimesCeilings are missing expanses of plaster, and old wooden beams are often exposed and rotten. In Ms. Dhamanis kitchen, water from the neighbors bath streamed through a large crack.Elsewhere in Noailles, fabled for generations as a food-shopping district, it is common to see rusty steel girders propping up staircases. Stephanie Rose, a young mother of two, tells her children to wear tennis shoes when it rains; the water comes right into the apartment.Nearby on the Rue de lArc, Saida Ouahebs downstairs neighbor asks her not to use her washing machine, because it makes the ceiling shake. Ms. Ouahebs three young daughters are now scared to be in their small two-bedroom apartment. Her 9-year-old refused to leave school one day this week.Were not sleeping well here, said Ms. Ouaheb, who works as a cleaner in a restaurant and whose monthly rent of 640 euros, or about $730, is heavily subsidized by the state.Her Moroccan husband speaks no French, doesnt have the right papers, and doesnt work. Since Monday I am afraid, she said. I would like to leave.At the weeks protest marches, immigrants who live in the downtown slums were largely outnumbered by white, bourgeois residents of Marseille, mostly unaffected by the grim housing conditions. Many nonetheless expressed shame over the deadly disaster.Its incredible that something like this could have happened, here, in France, said Elise Sut, a musician who joined one march.",6
"Markelle Fultz I CAN FIX HIS JUMPER ... Says Celeb Shooting Coach 1/26/2018 TMZSports.com 76er and Lakers fans REJOICE ... the broke ass jump shots of Markelle Fultz & Lonzo Ball can be fixed ... according to a pro shooting coach who says he knows the antidote to their bricks. Fultz is befuddling the basketball world with his sudden inability to find the hoop, with videos of 76ers practice showing the #1 pick can't even draw iron anymore. Brett Brown talked about Markelle Fultz being able to pass an test. He made a few shots when practiced opened to us. Here's a compilation of the 1-on-1 drills he was doing after practice with Brown's explanation. #Sixers pic.twitter.com/Rp0WuNSKUD @mharrisNBCS We spoke to Chris ""Lethal Shooter"" Matthews, an ex-pro hooper, who's worked with huge NBA stars on their form, and drawn millions of views on social media for his shooting exhibitions. He says he can help Fultz, and Lonzo, another young player who can't seem to hit the broad side of a barn. ""I really truly believe I can help take those guys to the next level when it comes to the art of shooting."" Matthews goes on to tell us -- with all due respect -- exactly what he thinks the 76ers are doing wrong with Fultz ... and how he'd change things up. Watch Chris in action below, the teams might wanna take the help. Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media.",1
"MatterCredit...M. KahruNov. 22, 2016The Arctic Ocean may seem remote and forbidding, but to birds, whales and other animals, its a top-notch dining destination.Its a great place to get food in the summertime, so animals are flying or swimming thousands of miles to get there, said Kevin R. Arrigo, a biological oceanographer at Stanford University.But the menu is changing. Confirming earlier research, scientists reported Wednesday that global warming is altering the ecology of the Arctic Ocean on a huge scale.The annual production of algae, the base of the food web, increased an estimated 47 percent between 1997 and 2015, and the ocean is greening up much earlier each year.These changes are likely to have a profound impact for animals further up the food chain, such as birds, seals, polar bears and whales. But scientists still dont know enough about the biology of the Arctic Ocean to predict what the ecosystem will look like in decades to come.While global warming has affected the whole planet in recent decades, nowhere has been hit harder than the Arctic. This month, temperatures in the high Arctic have been as much as 36 degrees above average, according to records kept by the Danish Meteorological Institute.In October, the extent of sea ice was 28.5 percent below average the lowest for the month since scientists began keeping records in 1979. The area of missing ice is the size of Alaska and Texas put together.Since the mid-2000s, researchers like Dr. Arrigo have been trying to assess the effects of retreating ice on the Arctic ecosystem.The sun returns to the Arctic each spring and melts some of the ice that formed in winter. Algae in the open water quickly spring to life and start growing.These algae are the base of the food chain in the Arctic Ocean, grazed by krill and other invertebrates that in turn support bigger fish, mammals and birds.Dr. Arrigo and his colleagues visited the Arctic in research ships to examine algae in the water and to determine how it affected the waters color. They then reviewed satellite images of the Arctic Ocean, relying on the color of the water to estimate how much algae was growing what scientists call the oceans productivity.The seas productivity was rapidly increasing, Dr. Arrigo found. Last year he and his colleagues published their latest update, estimating that the productivity of the Arctic rose 30 percent between 1998 and 2012.But Mati Kahru, an oceanographer at the University of California, San Diego, was skeptical. As an expert on remote sensing, he knew how hard it is to get a reliable picture of the Arctic Ocean.The ocean is notoriously cloudy, and algae are not the only thing that tinting the water. Rivers deliver tea-colored organic matter into the Arctic Ocean, which can give the impression that theres more algae in the water than is actually there.Dr. Kahru and his colleagues decided to take an independent look, scouring satellite databases for images taken from 1997 to 2015 every image available, he said.The scientists used a mathematical equation to determine how the color in each pixel of each image was determined by algae, runoff, and other factors. Dr. Kahru decided that Dr. Arrigo was right: The Arctic Ocean has become vastly more productive.Marcel Babin, an oceanographer at Universit Laval in Quebec who was not involved in the new study, said that the researchers had done very careful work that confirmed the earlier studies. Its an important finding, he said.Not only is the Arctic Ocean producing more algae, but its doing so sooner each year. These blooms are coming earlier, sometimes two months earlier, Dr. Kahru said.In fact, the bloom may be coming even sooner than satellites can record. On research cruises, Dr. Arrigo and his colleagues have found that open water is no longer a requirement for algae to grow.The ice has gotten so thin that sunlight reaches through it. Now theyre not even waiting for the ice to melt, said Dr. Arrigo said of algal organisms.If we stay on our current course, pouring more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the Arctic will only get warmer, perhaps becoming ice-free in the summer. If algae can find more nitrogen and other nutrients in the ocean, its productivity may continue to rise.Scientists cant yet say what the ecological effects of this transformation will be. It is probable it will have an impact on the whole food web, Dr. Babin said.Dr. Babin and his colleagues have been studying that impact over the past two summers on an expedition called the Green Edge Project, which has studied the ecology in Baffin Bay off the coast of northern Canada. They hope to present the first results of the survey next year.Some species may thrive because they can graze on the extra algae. But if the ecosystem comes to life earlier in the year, many species may be left behind.Fish larvae may not be able to develop fast enough. Migrating whales and birds may show up too late. A lot of the extra algae may drop to the sea floor by then, untouched.Its going to be a different Arctic unless we turn things around, said Dr. Arrigo.",7
"Baseball|Prices Skyrocket for Tickets to See Jeters Last Gameshttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/sports/baseball/prices-skyrocket-for-tickets-to-see-jeters-last-games.htmlFeb. 12, 2014When Derek Jeter announced on Facebook on Wednesday that the 2014 season would be his last, fans fled to social media to express their reactions. More enterprising enthusiasts, though, rushed immediately to their computers for a different purpose to scoop up tickets to games in late September at Yankee Stadium.The spike in prices for seats to the Yankees final regular-season home game, on Sept. 25 against the Baltimore Orioles, was startling, building like a tidal wave moments after Jeters declaration went public. The Yankees will conclude the regular season on the road, as they did last year, with a three-game series at (where else?) Fenway Park from Sept. 26 to 28. Ticket prices soared for the final game there as well.Chris Matcovich, the vice president for data and communications at TiqIQ, a ticket aggregator, said in an email that the market for Jeters last game in New York and in Boston was one of the craziest we have seen in terms of initial demand and how quickly tickets were taken off resale websites by brokers.At 2 p.m., just before the announcement, a seat to the Yankees-Orioles game on Sept. 25 could be purchased for as low as $26. By 4:30 p.m., the price had inflated by more than 350 percent to $280 for a cheap seat. The average ticket price, by early evening, exceeded $800.Matcovich said the market was even more bullish than when Mariano Rivera announced his retirement on March 9 last year. At its peak that day, average ticket prices for the final home game (Sept. 27) rose to $467.06 and wound up falling by nearly 50 percent by the day of the game.The ticket prices for the final Sunday matinee at Fenway also skyrocketed, Matcovich said, to more than $200 from a low of $91 before Jeters announcement. The Red Sox had a two-game flex pack that included Game 162 against the Yankees, but it sold out less than two hours later.Connor Gregoire, a communications analyst for SeatGeek, another ticket marketplace, recommended that fans sit tight and allow the hysteria to die down, citing the extent to which prices dropped for Riveras last home game last season. Gregoire noted that the Yankees had not opened their single-game ticket sales for 2014. The home finale is expected to sell out in minutes, but the inventory should flood the market, and prices should drop considerably.Of course, by September there is a good chance that fans will know whether the Yankees will be bound for the playoffs, which would alter the frenzy over watching Jeters last regular-season appearance. But if fans do not want to risk missing out, they had better be prepared to pay a hefty sum.",4
"Politics|Trump Is Said to Intend to Campaign for South Carolina Governor in G.O.P. Runoffhttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/us/politics/trump-henry-mcmaster-south-carolina.htmlCredit...John Bazemore/Associated PressJune 19, 2018WASHINGTON President Trump intends to campaign Monday for Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina, according to Republican officials familiar with the plan, putting his presidential prestige on the line for one of his earliest supporters a day before the states closely contested Republican runoff election.In a gamble that he can lift Mr. McMaster to the nomination at the 11th hour, Mr. Trump intends to join Mr. McMaster for a rally in the Columbia area hours before the polls open in the state.And this Saturday, Vice President Mike Pence will campaign with Mr. McMaster, who is locked in a close race for the Republican nomination with John Warren, a former Marine and political newcomer.The White Houses last-minute intervention amounts to political payback for the governor, who was among the first statewide Republican elected officials to support Mr. Trump. Mr. McMaster has been an outspoken ally of the president ever since. He has argued that Mr. Trump should receive a Nobel Peace Prize for his negotiations with North Korea, and this week he defended Mr. Trumps hard line on immigration and the separation of children from their families at the border.Mr. McMaster talked by telephone with Mr. Trump on Monday and asked him to come to the state, according to Republican officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that have not yet been made public. They said the president felt he needed to demonstrate his loyalty to the governor.The president may be feeling confident about his clout among South Carolinas Republican voters, who ousted a vocal critic of his, Representative Mark Sanford, in the primary last week. Mr. Trump attacked Mr. Sanford and endorsed his opponent, Katie Arrington, in a Primary Day tweet.Yet by flying into South Carolina the day before an uncertain vote, Mr. Trump is also risking embarrassment in a state that he carried by 14 points in 2016.Mr. McMaster, 71, fell short of winning a majority in the primary this month, in part because he is identified with a political status quo at the State Capitol that has become an easy target amid an open corruption investigation that has led to a series of indictments of Republican lawmakers. And in Mr. Warren, a 39-year-old businessman, the governor is facing an opponent with no voting record to pick apart.Mr. McMaster has scrambled to slow Mr. Warren during the two-week runoff, reminding voters of his support from Mr. Trump, but Mr. Warren has received endorsements from the other two leading Republicans who also ran in the primary race.This is not Mr. Trumps first gamble in a Republican nominating contest. At the urging of a host of senators last year, he went to Alabama to rally support for Senator Luther Strange during the special election there. But Mr. Trump was stung when Roy S. Moore easily defeated Mr. Strange in the runoff.As in Alabama, where the Senate was left vacant after Jeff Sessions became the attorney general, there is a competitive race in South Carolina because of an administration appointment: Mr. McMaster took office last year when Nikki R. Haley, then the governor, become the United States ambassador to the United Nations.",3
"As a doctor, he saw the inequities in the system at first hand; as a writer and administrator, he called them out. Credit...via Mullan familyDec. 10, 2019Dr. Fitzhugh Mullan, who as a physician, administrator and professor spent a lifetime pushing back against what he saw as inequities in the health care system that left minority groups and low-income people underserved, died on Nov. 29 at his home in Bethesda, Md. He was 77.Kathy Fackelmann, director of media relations at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, where Dr. Mullan had been a professor since 1996, said the cause was lung cancer. Dr. Mullan had an earlier encounter with cancer in the mid-1970s, when he was 32. He turned that experience into a book, Vital Signs: A Young Doctors Struggle With Cancer, and in 1986 he was among the founders of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship.But his main interest was in bringing social justice to the health care system, which he saw as fundamentally flawed both in how it recruits, trains and motivates doctors and in how it delivers care. It was a passion he developed in the summer of 1965, after his first year in medical school, when he spent several months in Durant, Miss., working with impoverished black residents.A simple choice presented itself in my mind, Dr. Mullan wrote in White Coat, Clenched Fist: The Political Education of an American Physician, a sometimes blistering memoir published in 1976. Either their poverty resulted from their being black and, therefore, inadequate (the racist explanation), or their poverty derived from their being black and therefore segregated, exploited and oppressed. While I was in Mississippi I saw enough to persuade me forever that the squalor of the black community was caused by the system and not the people.That revelation, eye-opening at the time for a white Northern medical student from a relatively privileged background, defined the rest of Dr. Mullans life.In the woods of Mississippi, he continued, away from the medical center, far away from the labs and lecture halls, well outside the standard avenues of medical approbation, I discovered why I wanted to be a doctor.He carried that inspiration into his career in pediatrics once he graduated from medical school in 1968, and then into top administrative posts, including at the United States Public Health Service and, from 1991 to 1996, as an assistant surgeon general. And he imparted a social-justice ideal to countless students and health professionals. One is Susan Hassmiller, senior adviser for nursing at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, whom he mentored when she was a doctoral student 30 years ago.He always gravitated to the less fortunate, Dr. Hassmiller said by email, and always became the voice for those who had no or little voice.Fitzhugh Seumas MacManus Mullan was born on July 22, 1942, in Tampa, Fla. His father, Hugh, was a physician. His mother, Mariquita MacManus Mullan, was a poet and a daughter of Seumas MacManus, an author famed for his interpretation of Irish folk tales.Dr. Mullan grew up in New York City and attended the Dalton School. After graduating from the Pomfret School in Connecticut, he enrolled at Harvard, receiving a bachelors degree there in 1964.He graduated from the University of Chicagos medical school in 1968 and did residencies at Jacobi Hospital and Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, where he encountered an urban version of the inequities he had seen in Mississippi. Lincoln, where he was a resident in 1970 and 1971, mostly served black and Puerto Rican patients.We still had a diarrhea room, he said in an interview with Kaiser Health News in 2009. They didnt have enough resources to do anything other than put anybody with any type of diarrhea in one part of the general ward. This was not 1970s medicine; this was very primitive, he added. And it was part of the disequities that were built into the health care system. In 1972, under the newly formed National Health Service Corps, which places health professionals in underserved areas, Dr. Mullan began practicing medicine in New Mexico. It was the beginning of a decade-long association with the corps that saw him become its chief medical officer and then, from 1977 to 1981, its director.In the 1980s he held posts with the state of New Mexico and the National Institutes of Health, as well as academic positions at the National Academy of Sciences and Johns Hopkins University. While assistant surgeon general, he was also director of the Bureau of Health Professions at the Health Resources and Services Administration.ImageCredit...via Mullan familyDr. Mullan wrote prolifically books, scholarly articles, essays and he was outspoken about the problems he saw in the health care system and the medical profession. One problem, he said, was what kinds of doctoring were rewarded and respected.The prestige walks of medical life today are research and the subspecialties, he said in a 1978 essay in The New York Times, adding, No one gets a Nobel Prize for ghetto medicine.He advocated neighborhood clinics staffed by doctors with a sense of mission practitioners, as he put it in the same essay, for whom medicine is something more than a meal ticket or an exercise in technobiology.We will never improve the infant mortality rates or the longevity statistics of the inner city by hunkering down among the radioisotope scanners and incubators of the large hospitals, he wrote.He bridled at the term health care safety net when it came into vogue to describe the last line of defense for societys disadvantaged.It seemed to me an insult to the dignity of patients that they would get no more than uncertain, makeshift, last-resort medicine, he wrote in a 2009 article for the website and journal Health Affairs. Worse, the term, trotted out antiseptically in policy circles, seemed a capitulation to doing anything better for the medically disenfranchised and a happy codification of the idea that haphazard, second-class care was part of the American way of life.His interests extended beyond the United States. A study he led found in 2005 that Africa and the Caribbean were losing large numbers of their trained doctors to four developed countries: the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia. The abandoned countries were left drastically underserved, the study found, and Dr. Mullan called on the United States to increase its supply of homegrown doctors.In April, the George Washington University Health Workforce Institute, which examines issues like the recruitment and distribution of health workers, was renamed the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity. Dr. Mullans first marriage, to Judy Wentworth in 1968, ended in divorce in 1998. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Irene Dankwa-Mullan, whom he married in 2007; a sister, Quita Mullan; two brothers, Anthony Mullan and Alex Cohen; three children from his first marriage, Meghan Mullan, Caitlin Crain and Jason Mullan; a stepdaughter, Perpetua Buadoo; and four grandchildren. In a 2015 TED Talk, Dr. Mullan noted that life expectancy in the United States had increased by 30 years in the 20th century, to 77. But, he noted, that gain was not uniform black people, people in low-income states and people without insurance did not reap the full benefit. That, he said, presented a challenge for health professionals and policymakers in the future. Is our goal to see to it that the privileged people in the United States put 30 more years on, and live on average to be 107, he asked his audience, or should we think about our priority being the earnest, serious, durable disparities within this, and move the floor up?",2
"Credit...Zhao Chuang/Peking Natural Science Organization, via American Museum of Natural HistoryMarch 28, 2016At a preview of the new American Museum of Natural History exhibition Dinosaurs Among Us, scientists gave a tip of the hat to Thomas Henry Huxley, the man who proposed in the 1860s that dinosaurs never really vanished from Earth. Most did go extinct, but their evolutionary legacy lives all around us. They are birds, all 18,000 species of them.While Charles Darwins book of books, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, was still in print in 1859, Huxley, a lecturer in paleontology and natural history in London, wrote a favorable review and became a convert to Darwins theory. In a debate the next year, Huxley got the better of the bishop of Oxford, and became known thereafter as Darwins bulldog. He was also the first in a long line of Huxleys who distinguished themselves in science and the arts.A few years later, Huxley enlisted Archaeopteryx, a fossil specimen found in a Bavarian limestone quarry, in his defense of Darwin. He was struck by the specimens many reptilian features; but for a feather in the fossil, it would probably have been misidentified as a reptile. In a report in 1867, Huxley established the evolutionary relationship of birds and reptiles, citing 14 anatomical features that occur in birds and reptiles alike, but not in mammals.Archaeopteryx was one of those missing links in the fossil record that Darwin worried was a weakness in this theory of evolution. Huxley called attention to the feathers and wishbone of this early bird and the long bony tail of a reptile. This was a species in transition.Why has it taken so long to recognize that Huxley had almost certainly been right about the origin of birds from some meat-eating theropod dinosaurs?ImageCredit...M. Ellison/American Museum of Natural HistoryMark A. Norell, the chairman of the division of paleontology at A.M.N.H. and curator of the exhibition, had long been a staunch proponent of a dinosaur-bird link. A lot of evidence amassed over the last two decades, especially the numbers of feathered dinosaurs found in China, moved paleontologists to organize the exhibition as a kind of victory lap.I think this is really going to shake up the way people think of dinosaurs, Dr. Norell said.Most ornithologists, though not completely won over, had already ceased raising blanket objections to the dinosaur-bird link. They seemed at a loss to conceive of alternative explanations for the gathering evidence, paleontologists say.The slow evolution of the practice of paleontology itself was another reason for the delay in recognizing Huxleys insight. For the rest of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, the big game of fossil hunting was the bigger and more bizarre dinosaurs that drew people to museums. Expeditions to remote lands widened the search to nearly all continents, piling up skeletons faster than could be analyzed in depth.Roy Chapman Andrews became the real-life Indiana Jones in the 1920s, bringing back from the Gobi Desert of Mongolia a variety of new dinosaur species and the first dinosaur eggs. If only he had found feathered dinosaurs then and there, paleontologists say, the dinosaur-bird link might have been recognized much sooner. That was not to happen until the end of the century.By that time, the field work of fossil hunters remained important, but only as the first step in discovery. For example, in 1964, John H. Ostrom of Yale University saw a birdlike claw sticking out of the ground in Montana. He named the dinosaur Deinonychus, or terrible claw. But it reminded him of Huxleys evolutionary insight, leading Dr. Ostrom to link birds to new generations of dinosaur research.In the last two or three decades, biological disciplines have joined dinosaur studies, applying tools capable of transcending the terrible claw limitations of fossilized skulls and bones. Geologists once dominated the field, Dr. Norell said, but now so many of us could be called paleobiologists.Also, thousands of fossils with feather imprints have been discovered in Liaoning Province in northeastern China in the last 15 years, Dr. Norell said. Birds are the only feathered creatures alive today, but 150 million years ago, early birds and dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes came with feathers, not necessarily for flight. Feathers, museum researchers said, are one of the most useful skin coverings that ever evolved for insulation or mating display as well as gliding or powered flight.Paul C. Sereno, a University of Chicago paleontologist, has analyzed many recent Chinese fossils of animals that had lived more than 100 million years ago that were found in lake bed sediments.Huxley was a brilliant anatomist, Dr. Sereno said. Some of the first birds from the Chinese site look just like Archaeopteryx. This time, the dinosaur-bird transition has become ascendant.So what is there not to like about evolution if it indeed accounts for the few surviving dinosaurs transformed into flocks of birds? Monstrous dinosaurs may captivate first graders, who thrill at being scared at a safe distance in time.They may also draw comfort from knowing the eating habits (carnivore or herbivore) of dinosaurs their know-it-all grown-ups cant even pronounce their names. Need there be more reason for a fascination with strange and mighty dinosaurs when you are little in a big world?From my back porch in the country, I hear crows squawking high in the trees. Crows are smart, clever enough to pry open garbage cans down the road, if raccoons had not gotten there first which might account for their squawking. Some birds, like blue jays at the feeder, seem to enjoy chasing off chickadees and sparrows.Better to be hearing the bullying jays or cardinals singing their vespers, however, than to have a fearsome T-rex peering in at you through your upstairs windows at daybreak, ready for breakfast.",7
"Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesJune 23, 2018WASHINGTON Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said she was asked to leave a Virginia restaurant Friday night because of her work in the Trump administration, becoming the latest official to be singled out for her support of the presidents policies.In a Saturday tweet, Ms. Sanders said that the owner of the restaurant, the Red Hen in Lexington, Va., suggested she leave, and she complied.The womans actions say far more about her than about me, Ms. Sanders said. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so. A person identified as a waiter at the restaurant said in a Facebook post that Ms. Sanders had been accompanied by seven other guests.Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) June 23, 2018 The restaurant did not respond to phone calls, and its website appeared to have crashed Saturday morning as reports of the episode began circulating.The encounter is the third time this past week in which a Trump administration official was confronted over his or her political stance.As tensions continued to escalate over the White Houses child-separation policy, Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security, was heckled on Tuesday night while dining at a Mexican restaurant. If kids dont eat in peace, you dont eat in peace, demonstrators shouted, according to video of the confrontation shared on social media.And Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to the president known for his hard-line stance on immigration, was described as a fascist by a protester on Sunday, also while at a Mexican restaurant, The New York Post reported.While the administration struggles to reunite the families amid outrage over images and audio recordings of sobbing children taken away from their parents, the divisive messaging on both sides of the debate has intensified.Within hours, the Red Hens review pages online painted a stark picture of the divide: Some people left glowing reviews for the farm-to-table restaurant from halfway across the country, and others denounced the political choices of the owner.The best, one reviewer wrote on Yelp, leaving five stars. Ive heard that they serve crow to those deserving of it.Pathetic, the next review read. How dare you use politics to discriminate. Seems you will be the actual loser in this case, once the reviews really sink in. Good luck, pal.On Facebook, the establishment had accumulated more than 10,000 five-star reviews, and more than 18,000 one-star reviews, prompting some criticism over Ms. Sanderss decision to use her White House social media account instead of her personal one to identify the restaurant.Another area restaurant with the same name an unaffiliated Red Hen in a neighborhood of Washington found itself in the crossfire, receiving some of the vitriol intended for the Lexington establishment.@PressSec went to the unaffiliated @RedHenLex last night, not to our DC-based restaurant, it said on Twitter.",3
"Credit...Imaginechina, via Associated PressJune 25, 2018America is now home to the worlds speediest supercomputer. But the new list of the 500 swiftest machines underlines how much faster China is building them.The list, published Monday, shows the Chinese companies and government pulling away as the most prolific producer of supercomputers, with 206 of the top 500. American corporations and the United States government designed and made 124 of the supercomputers on the list.For years, the United States dominated the supercomputer market. But two years ago, China pulled even on the Top 500 list. China moved decisively ahead last fall and extended the gap in the latest tally.Making the most powerful supercomputers is regarded as one measure of a nations technical prowess, even if they are a rarefied niche of technology. Countries and companies have increasingly deployed the machines in a wider range of tasks in fields including medicine, new materials and energy technology.Supercomputing is one step in Chinas rapid rise in technology, stirring concerns in America about the countrys grand plan and tactics and the potential economic and geopolitical implications of those advancements.In an assessment last fall, the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a bipartisan congressional advisory group, pointed to supercomputing as part of Chinas ambitious whole-of-government plan to achieve dominance in advanced technology.China began its supercomputing push in earnest a decade ago. Initially, it absorbed foreign technology, and then steadily developed its own.China was slow to make that work, but its working now, said Richard Suttmeier, an expert in Chinese science policy at the University of Oregon.The high-performance computing program, policy experts say, offers a blueprint for the multibillion-dollar efforts China has recently begun in fields like artificial intelligence and quantum computing the next frontiers of technology, where economic advantages will be won or lost.Supercomputer technology has occasionally been a trade issue between the United States and China. In 2015, for example, Washington denied Intel a license to sell its microprocessor chips to four supercomputer labs in China, saying the centers worked on technology for the Chinese military.The export ban, supercomputer experts say, served to prod the Chinese to accelerate their development efforts.The lesson the Chinese took away was that you cant rely on the United States, said Jack Dongarra, a supercomputer expert at the University of Tennessee and co-creator of the Top 500 list of the fastest machines. Theyre trying to replace all Western technology with all Chinese-made.Supercomputers were once found almost entirely in national laboratories, and used for government projects like simulating nuclear explosions and modeling weather patterns. But more than half of the 500 fastest are now toiling for corporations.The global supercomputer market is expected to double from 2017 to 2022, to more than $9.5 billion, according to an estimate from Hyperion Research. The research firm defines supercomputers as machines that cost more than $500,000 each.Three Chinese companies are among the top five makers of the 500 fastest supercomputers. Lenovo is first, Inspur is third, and Sugon is fifth. Two American companies are second and fifth, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and Cray.The new list confirmed that the current fastest machine resides in the United States. This month, the Department of Energy announced that its new supercomputer, called Summit, had achieved speeds well ahead of the previous leader, the Sunway TaihuLight at a Chinese supercomputing center in Wuxi. Summit, built by IBM in a partnership with Nvidia, is at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.Depei Qian, a top supercomputer researcher in China, marvels at the progress his nation has made in the past decade beyond our expectations, he said.A point of particular pride: The Sunway TaihuLight machine uses homegrown microprocessors. That used to be a weakness, said Mr. Qian, a computer science professor at both Sun Yat-sen University and Beihang University.But while China has made impressive strides, Mr. Qian said the country still lagged in certain advanced hardware technologies and, especially, in software. Software is a tough issue for us, he said. That will take longer.Software is a challenge for supercomputing engineers in general. Supercomputers are increasingly being programmed to process vast amounts of data with artificial intelligence software. So data-handling speeds in software applications often become more important than raw calculating speed, which has been the traditional yardstick of supercomputer performance.The 500 list is based on the machines speed of mathematical calculation. But another benchmark codeveloped by Mr. Dongarra of the University of Tennessee measures data-handling speed in applications. Summit tops that list as well, while the Sunway machine ranks sixth.But China is also catching up in software development, supercomputer experts said. The flagship centers in China today are surprisingly similar to ours, said Rick Stevens, an associate director of the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois.Chinas overarching policy, Mr. Stevens said, is to play the long game in technology, and supercomputers are just one part of that.",5
"Credit...Michael Kirby Smith for The New York TimesMarch 16, 2016MILFORD, Neb. Susan Kubicka-Welander, a short-order cook, went to her pain checkup appointment straight from the lunch-rush shift. We were really busy, she told Dr. Robert L. Wergin, trying to smile through deeply etched lines of exhaustion. Thursdays, its Philly cheesesteaks.Her back ached from a compression fracture; a shattered elbow was still mending; her left-hip sciatica was screaming louder than usual. She takes a lot of medication for chronic pain, but today it was just not enough.Yet rather than increasing her dose, Dr. Wergin was tapering her down. Susan, weve got to get you to five pills a day, he said gently.She winced.Such conversations are becoming routine in doctors offices across the country. A growing number of states are enacting measures to limit prescription opioids, highly addictive medicines that alleviate severe pain but have contributed to a surging epidemic of overdoses and deaths. This week the federal government issued the first national guidelines intended to reduce use of the drugs.In Nebraska, Medicaid patients like Ms. Kubicka-Welander, 56, may face limits this year that have been recommended by a state drug review board. We dont know what the final numbers will be, Dr. Wergin told her, but we have to get you ready.As politicians and policy makers decry the opioid crisis, the countrys success in confronting it may well depend on the ability of physicians like Dr. Wergin to reconcile their new role as enforcer with their mission of caring for patients. Collectively, primary care physicians write the greatest volume of opioid prescriptions according to a recent study, 15.3 million prescriptions for Medicare patients alone in 2013. The burden of monitoring patients for potential abuse, while still treating pain that is chronic and real, falls largely on these front-line gatekeepers.I have a patient with inoperable spinal stenosis who needs to be able to keep chopping wood to heat his home, said Dr. Wergin, 61, the only physician in this rural town. A one-size-fits-all prescription algorithm just doesnt fit him. But I have to comply.In prescribing opioids, Dr. Wergin, who is also chairman of the board of the American Academy of Family Physicians, is taking professional and personal risks. He must go through an elaborate prescription checklist, with state and federal officials looking over his shoulder. He has faced threats from addicts who show up at the hospital emergency room, desperate for pills. Following the recommendation of his malpractice insurance carrier, he now requires his patients to sign pain management contracts, in which they must agree to random drug tests before receiving an opioid prescription.ImageCredit...Michael Kirby Smith for The New York TimesThough he has been enmeshed in his patients lives for decades, having gone to grade school with many of them and delivered their children and grandchildren, the new vigilance has injected an uncomfortable layer of suspicion in his relationships with them.I dont want to stop prescribing opioids altogether, Dr. Wergin said. But I can see why some doctors have gotten to that point.Pain is one of the chief reasons people go to their doctor. Once overlooked and even dismissed, pain has been a standard vital sign on a patient work-up for nearly two decades. But unlike blood pressure, it is difficult to measure, not least because peoples ability to tolerate pain is highly individual.Often an orthopedic surgeon or emergency room physician will write an initial opioid prescription for short-term use, said Dr. Jonathan H. Chen, an instructor at the Stanford University School of Medicine who researched the Medicare data, but the prescribing doctor never sees the patient again and never realizes the problem they triggered.The patient follows up with a primary care doctor, who now has to manage the patients opioid use.Dr. Wergins patients often lack the means to consult pain specialists in Lincoln, the closest city, 30 miles away. So he is their doctor of first and last resort. Wherever you turn in Milford (population 2,090), there he is: the doctor for a local nursing home, for the towns volunteer fire department, for the high school sports teams, sometimes making house calls in his weather-beaten Chevy Tahoe. When his patients are hospitalized, it is to him they complain about the overcooked salmon, expecting he can take care of that, too.ImageCredit...Michael Kirby Smith for The New York TimesBuoyant and chatty, Dr. Wergin seems to have stepped out of a Norman Rockwell painting, with his faux-threats to give rambunctious young patients a mind-your-mother shot, and his prescriptions for relieving his own stress: baking pies or road-testing his 1962 red Corvette. And so he is particularly uneasy about the skepticism he must now bring to patient care.Patients look at him, stricken and indignant, when asked to sign a pain contract. Do you think Im an addict? they say. Or, I dont need a contract for my heart medicine, so why this?Why? When a random drug test of one longtime patient showed no trace of prescribed opioids, Dr. Wergin had to fire him for breaking the contract. Instead of taking the pills, the patient had been selling them.Dr. Wergin has learned to be even more wary during his emergency room shifts at the hospital 15 miles away. There, he has seen firsthand a growing number of overdoses and opioid-related deaths.The scenario has become so familiar that now when a nurse reports that the patient in Room 3 is complaining of excruciating back pain and asking specifically for Percocet, Dr. Wergin will reply, And is he about 31, single or divorced, and insisting he is allergic to nonsteroidals?These are seekers n sellers, he explained, who peel off I-80 and head for the hospital thinking were just ignorant hayseeds. A few months ago, state troopers pulled guns on one such man, who had stormed into the hospital demanding pain medications and threatening Dr. Wergin and other staff members.As Dr. Wergin recounted this, driving through the fog-shrouded back roads of winter-stubble prairie, where patients are rushed to the emergency room after being crushed by forklifts and tractor tipovers, he recoiled against his own cynicism.You dont want to become so jaded that you assume everyone in the E.R. is a drug-seeker, he said.Still, he has made adjustments. He now rarely writes prescriptions for oxycodone, which is prized on the street. For other painkillers, he logs into an electronic pharmacy registry to view the patients other medications. Although every state but Missouri has such a system, Nebraskas, like many, is not foolproof: patients can opt out for privacy reasons and not all insurers, who supply the data, opt in.And most state electronic systems are not compatible with one another. A Nebraska patient can just drive 80 miles to a Kansas E.R. and get another prescription and no one would know, Dr. Wergin said.Prosecutors and medical review boards are increasingly scrutinizing physicians who prescribe controlled substances. A colleague of Dr. Wergins in a nearby community was investigated for two years after a patient died of an overdose. Although she was cleared, the reputation of her small-town practice was damaged. She moved to another state.ImageCredit...Michael Kirby Smith for The New York TimesThe management of chronic pain has had a long, fractious history in the United States. In the 1990s, doctors were admonished for undertreating pain. Opioids, they were told, including newer ones like OxyContin, could be safely prescribed and bring life-changing relief. Now the pendulum has swung sharply back and doctors have been scrambling for alternatives.Some state medical boards recommend limiting the number of opioid doses per month. Others limit by strength of daily dose. The new guidelines by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise primary care doctors to treat pain first with measures such as aspirin and ibuprofen. Three days of opioids will usually suffice, they said, and rarely more than seven.Although much contention surrounded the drafting of the guidelines, everyone generally agrees that patients should not be custodians of large quantities of opioids. One of Dr. Wergins patients, Gene Filbert, 64, had been taking 240 short-acting hydrocodones a month, or about eight a day, to keep at bay the pounding pain that has resisted five surgeries for the elbow and wrist he smashed in a fall while installing a telephone line. An alternative, fentanyl, a slow-release, higher-dose patch, nauseates him. Dr. Wergin has now inched him down to 180 pills a month but the coming Nebraska limit may be 150.In a small town, lots of folks know about Mr. Filberts pain and his pills.People ask me all the time if they can have a few, said Mr. Filbert, a man with a raspy voice and a silver-streaked beard. And I say, Hell no, the doctors shorting me already! Many medical associations now offer doctors training about opioids and chronic pain, urging them first to use other remedies: physical therapy, acupuncture, anti-inflammatories, antidepressants, counseling.But alternatives are unrealistic for some. Physical therapy is too expensive for Ms. Kubicka-Welander: she can scarcely make the rent on her home in a trailer court. Patients with a compromised liver cannot take high doses of acetaminophen. Those on blood-thinners should not use ibuprofen.Dr. Wergin is careful not to assure patients that they will be pain-free. Instead, he talks about setting realistic goals while living with pain. Can they work? Walk? Sleep?The problems faced by Beverly TeSelle, 71, defy most solutions.After a second stroke that left her using a wheelchair, Mrs. TeSelle, formerly a gregarious accountant, began to suffer vicious headaches that left her weeping and moaning.The biggest relief for both of us is when she goes to sleep, her husband of 53 years, Larry, said, tearfully.Dr. Wergin noted that Mrs. TeSelle, whose strokes have also left her with slurred speech, and hand, arm and shoulder pain, already takes more than what may be allowed by coming state limits. He considered increasing the dose of her fentanyl patches but said, I worry about respiratory depression.He reviewed the list of her medications.Lets at least try to reduce those headaches so she can talk with her friends and family, he said, recalibrating doses.Dr. Robert L. Wergin examines Gene Filbert, 64, at the Milford Family Medical Center in Milford, Neb.Credit...Michael Kirby Smith for The New York TimesSlide 1 of 6 Dr. Robert L. Wergin examines Gene Filbert, 64, at the Milford Family Medical Center in Milford, Neb.Credit...Michael Kirby Smith for The New York TimesDr. Wergins final patient of the day, a 55-year-old woman, had three rotated vertebrae in her lower back, migraines and a mastectomy for breast cancer this fall. She asked not to identified because she worried her opioid use might jeopardize her job.Her fibromyalgia was flaring up, she told Dr. Wergin. Pain was aggravating her insomnia.And you have to cut my pills again? she asked.Dr. Wergin nodded. It will be very difficult to get an override for your dose. Instead, he increased her antidepressant.Its people like my husband who screwed the rest of us over, she said.Her husband, she explained, used to sell methamphetamine and OxyContin. His doctor in Lincoln would readily write prescriptions. One night six years ago, she found her husband on the floor of their bedroom, dead, mostly likely from an overdose.Its rough cutting back when Im at a level that almost works, she said to Dr. Wergin.A rare flicker of frustration crossed his face.Im sorry, Dr. Wergin said.",2
"Credit...Tasneem Alsultan for The New York Times Nov. 20, 2018 . . (40 ) (37 ) . . : . . . . . . . . . .ImageCredit...Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA, via Shutterstock . . . . . . 2015 . . . . 2009 . 2012 . . : . 1.36 . . . . .ImageCredit...Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images . 33 . . : ... ... ! 4.8 2017 . . . . 2017 . . . 2017 . 100 .VideotranscripttranscriptKilling Khashoggi: How a Brutal Saudi Hit Job UnfoldedAn autopsy expert. A lookalike. A black van. Our video investigation follows the movements of the 15-man Saudi hit team that killed and dismembered the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.There were 15 of them. Most arrived in the dead of night, laid their trap and waited for the target to arrive. That target was Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi critic of his countrys government and its young crown prince. Since his killing in Istanbul, Turkish media has released a steady drip feed of evidence implicating Saudi officials. Weeks of investigation by The Times builds on that evidence and reconstructs what unfolded, hour-by-hour. Our timeline shows the ruthless efficiency of a hit team of experts that seemed specially chosen from Saudi government ministries. Some had links to the crown prince himself. After a series of shifting explanations, Saudi Arabia now denies that this brazen hit job was premeditated. But this reconstruction of the killing, and the botched cover-up, calls their story into serious question. Its Friday morning, Sept. 28. Khashoggi and his fiance, Hatice Cengiz, are at the local marriage office in Istanbul. In order to marry, hes told that he needs Saudi paperwork and goes straight to the consulate to arrange it. They tell him to return in a week. It all seems routine, but its not. Inside theres a Saudi spy, Ahmed al-Muzaini, whos working under diplomatic cover. That very day, he flies off to Riyadh and helps concoct a plan to intercept Khashoggi when he returns to the consulate. Fast-forward to Monday night into Tuesday morning. Saudi agents converge in Istanbul aboard separate flights. Muzaini, the spy, flies back from Riyadh. A commercial flight carries a three-man team that we believe flew from Cairo. Two of the men are security officers and theyve previously traveled with the crown prince. A private jet flying from Riyadh lands around 3:30 a.m. That plane is often used by the Saudi government, and its carrying nine Saudi officials, some who played key roles in Khashoggis death. Well get to Team 3 later on, and for now focus on these men from Team 2. This is Salah al-Tubaigy, a high-ranking forensics and autopsy expert in the Saudi interior ministry. Turkish officials will later say his role was to dismember Khashoggis body. Another is Mustafa al-Madani, a 57-year-old engineer. As well see, its no accident that he looks like Khashoggi. And this is Maher Mutreb, the leader of the operation. Our investigation into his past reveals a direct link between Mutreb and the Saudi crown prince. When bin Salman toured a Houston neighborhood earlier this year, we discovered that Mutreb was with him, a glowering figure in the background. We found him again in Boston, at a U.N. meeting in New York, in Madrid and Paris, too. This global tour was all part of a charm offensive by the prince to paint himself as a moderate reformer. Back then, Mutreb was in the royal guard. Now, he would orchestrate Khashoggis killing. And his close ties to the crown prince beg the question, just how high up the Saudi chain of command did the plot to kill go? Early Tuesday morning, Khashoggi flies back from a weekend trip to London. He and the Saudis nearly cross paths at the airport. The Saudi teams check into two hotels, which give quick access to the consulate. Khashoggi heads home with his fiance. Hed just bought an apartment for their new life together. By mid-morning, the Saudis are on the move. Mutreb leaves his hotel three hours before Khashoggi is due at the consulate. The rest of the team isnt far behind. The building is only a few minutes away on foot, and soon, theyre spotted at this entrance. Mutreb arrives first. Next, we see al-Tubaigy, the autopsy expert. And now al-Madani, the lookalike. The stage is almost set. A diplomatic car pulls out of the consulate driveway and switches places with a van, which backs in. Turkish officials say this van would eventually carry away Khashoggis remains. From above, we can see the driveway is covered, hiding any activity around the van from public view. Meanwhile, Khashoggi and his fiance set out for the consulate, walking hand-in-hand. In their final hour together, they chat about dinner plans and new furniture for their home. At 1:13 p.m., they arrive at the consulate. Khashoggi gives her his cellphones before he enters. He walks into the consulate. Its the last time we see him. Inside, Khashoggi is brought to the consul generals office on the second floor. The hit team is waiting in a nearby room. Sources briefed on the evidence, told us Khashoggi quickly comes under attack. Hes dragged to another room and is killed within minutes. Then al-Tubaigy, the autopsy expert, dismembers his body while listening to music. Maher Mutreb makes a phone call to a superior. He says, Tell your boss, and The deed was done. Outside, the van reportedly carrying Khashoggis body pulls out of the side entrance and drives away. At the same time, the Saudis begin trying to cover their tracks. While Khashoggis fiance waits here where she left him, two figures leave from the opposite side. One of them is wearing his clothes. Later, the Saudis would claim that this was Khashoggi. But its al-Madani, the engineer, now a body double pretending that the missing journalist left the consulate alive. Yet theres one glaring flaw: The clothes are the same, but hes wearing his own sneakers, the ones he walked in with. Meanwhile, the van thats allegedly carrying Khashoggis body makes the two-minute drive from the consulate to the Saudi consuls residence. Theres several minutes of deliberations but the van eventually pulls into the buildings driveway. Again, its hidden from public view. Its now three hours since Khashoggi was last seen. The body double hails this taxi and continues weaving a false trail through the city. He heads to a popular tourist area and then changes back into his own clothes. Later, we see him joking around in surveillance footage. Over at the airport, more Saudi officials arrive on another flight from Riyadh. They spend just five hours in Istanbul, but were not sure where they go. Now we pick up Maher Mutreb again, exiting from the consuls house. Its time for them to go. Mutreb and others check out of their hotel and move through airport security. Al-Muzaini, the spy, heads to the airport too. But as theyre leaving Istanbul, Khashoggis fiance is still outside the consulate, pacing in circles. Shell soon raise the alarm that Khashoggi is missing and shell wait for him until midnight. The alarm spreads around the world. Nine days later, the Saudis send another team to Istanbul. They say its to investigate what happened. But among them are a toxicologist and a chemist, who also has ties to the hit team. He and Tubaigy attended a forensics graduation days before Khashoggi was killed. Turkish officials later say that this teams mission was not to investigate, but to cover up the killing. Now the Saudi story has changed, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for several suspects in Khashoggis killing. But that doesnt include Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who many Western government officials are convinced authorized the killing. Khashoggis remains still havent been found.An autopsy expert. A lookalike. A black van. Our video investigation follows the movements of the 15-man Saudi hit team that killed and dismembered the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. . . 4.8 . . . . . . . : .... . : . .",6
"Credit...Antonio Bat/European Pressphoto AgencyFeb. 2, 2014KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia At 18, the skiing wunderkind Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States has already proved that she has an uncommon ability to take on high-pressure situations and prevail.Sunday in snowy Slovenia was not one of those occasions.In her last race before her first Olympics, Shiffrin, the reigning world champion and current World Cup leader, was in range of another victory in slalom after winning the first run on a tough, weather-challenged course.But the second run a Shiffrin specialty over the last two seasons, in all kinds of conditions did not go as she had visualized before she attacked the Podkoren course.Skiing last, she pushed out of the start amid heavy snowfall and hit a deep rut before the first timing mark, pitching abruptly forward on her skis.For those accustomed to her stability and upper-body control, it offered a rare glimpse of Shiffrin seeming off balance and rattled. She recovered quickly enough to avoid missing the next gate, but her mistake came on a flat part of the course, depriving her of speed in a place where it was devilishly difficult to gather it again.Im always thinking when I go down the course, Shiffrin said. But there it was like, all of a sudden, your brain turns off and instincts take over, and you try to make it down.Shiffrin pushed on, projecting urgency instead of her usual calm, and ended up in seventh place, 0.72 of a second behind the winner, Frida Hansdotter of Sweden.I know where my slalom skiing is, and I know I can do it any time, any day, Shiffrin said. And if there are runs with one little mistake, and I make it on a flat section and it cost me the race, then Ill take it, knowing that Ill learn from it next time.Next time will be in the mountains above Sochi, Russia, where Shiffrin will make her Olympic debut on Feb. 18 in the giant slalom and then follow up with the slalom on Feb. 21.Despite Sundays struggles, she remains the slalom favorite with three victories in six races this season. It is quite a spot for a teenage skier in her first Olympics, but the consensus here is that Shiffrin is well suited to manage it.I think if youre skiing great and youre relaxed and confident, it doesnt matter if its your first or fourth Olympics, said Jim Pollock, Canadas head womens technical coach. I think Mikaela can handle it. Shes handled a lot of pressure, like last year at the world championships, winning the title and then coming into this year with high expectations and other peoples expectations of her. She might have had one or two off-races but came back very strong. I think shes the one to beat.Resi Stiegler, a 28-year-old American who just missed qualifying for Sundays second run, said that she was struck by Shiffrins maturity. Stiegler, who has had to come back from injuries, said that not having the tough memories that accompany a long career could also help Shiffrin.I think she doesnt have that thing in the back of her head that especially older athletes have, Stiegler said. Just like this one race or this one type of condition where you blew out your knee or you lost the title at this one hill, and its so devastating. No matter what, unless you are, like, brilliant at forgetting the past, its hard to do.And I think its a huge reason why if youve never had a big loss or a huge upset, you can keep going and have this very fresh feeling. All your memories are only greatness, which is awesome. Its a great thing to have. It may also help that Shiffrin will not have the full-blown Olympic experience in her debut. Though the long-range goal is for her to become a speed-event skier as well, she remains a two-event skier for now.That means that while some of her Alpine teammates, like Julia Mancuso and Bode Miller, will be in Sochi from the start, she will train in Italy with other American technical specialists for much of the first week of the Games and arrive in Russia long after the opening ceremony.It will be strange, Shiffrin said. We might be thinking, Maybe we should get going.Shiffrin spent most of her time in the finish area Sunday fielding Olympic questions. Security was an issue, and Shiffrin said she was confident that the competitors would be safe in Sochi.I think theyve had time, enough time, four years worth of time to work out the kinks, or even longer, she said. So its really just a matter of going in and focusing on the skiing and not letting that worry me.But the dominant theme was the P-word.I dont really feel the pressure, she said. If anything, I think its a great position to be in. Id rather be in this position than not going. I like to know I have a chance at winning a medal.Its definitely a big event, and its very prestigious, and theres a lot going on. I would never want to underestimate the Olympics or take anything away from that, but the race in and of itself is just another race. Whether its at the Olympics or the World Cup or wherever it is, its still start and finish and some gates in between.What defines Shiffrin in her competitors eyes is her ability to take such a direct line between those gates.Shes skiing more like a guy kind of line, said Marie-Michle Gagnon of Canada.The Swedes, who like most of Shiffrins competition have spent time analyzing her technique on video, have been struck by her ability to sustain speed and form until the finish.She has a light technique, said Fredrik Steinwall, the coach of the Swedish womens team. She applies pressure on her skis, but she does it at exactly the right moment, and that means she maybe doesnt get as tired as the other girls. She has really efficient technique, and she looks like shes not using that much power or at least is not losing power and energy in the wrong places. Its power all going in the right direction.But on this Sunday at least, it was the Swedes who got the power and energy equation just right, and after many a second-place finish (eight to be precise), Hansdotter won her first World Cup race, with Marlies Schild of Austria in second and Schilds younger sister Bernadette in third.See you in Sochi, Hansdotter said to the Schilds as she left the news conference. Shiffrin will see them there, too.Sure, Im excited, she said. For sure, its every childs dream. Either they want to go to the Olympics or they want to be president, and I happen to be going to the Olympics.",4
"Gabrielle Carteris I'm Honored '90210' Fans Still See, Hear Andrea 1/22/2018 Gabrielle Carteris' #MeToo speech at the SAG Awards was so moving, fans thought it echoed one given by her character on ""Beverly Hills, 90210"" ... and Gabrielle agrees. Carteris -- who's become Prez of SAG-AFTRA in 2016 -- tells TMZ she's ""honored"" people made the connection to her '90210' role of Andrea Zuckerman. Gabrielle made a powerful statement Sunday night about harassment and abuse in show biz. She says Andrea was always a character who spoke the truth, and thanked her '90210' fans for making the comparison -- ""You're the best!"" for remembering her commencement speech at West Beverly High. Check out the speeches for yourself ... it's pretty spot on.",1
"Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesJune 12, 2018The political committee formed by former President Barack Obama is preparing to mobilize for the 2018 midterm campaign, targeting more than two dozen congressional races and several key state elections with a program aimed at turning out Democratic-leaning voters.The group, Organizing for Action, which emerged from the vestiges of Mr. Obamas old campaign operation, intends to deploy organizers in 27 Republican-held congressional districts that could be key to a Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives. Their mission, officials with the group said, will be to coordinate and train volunteers and deploy them to help Democrats in states from California to North Carolina.In addition, the organization will focus on several elections that may affect the redrawing of the congressional map after the 2020 census; these include races for governor in states such as Florida and Wisconsin and redistricting-themed ballot referendums in Colorado and Michigan. Organizing for Action previously announced it would partner in 2018 with a committee led by Eric H. Holder Jr., Mr. Obamas former attorney general, to attack legislative gerrymandering in the midterms.The new effort offers fresh insight into Mr. Obamas political agenda for 2018: The Organizing for Action campaign emerged in part from a February meeting between the former president and strategists including Katie Hogan, the groups executive director. In the meeting, Mr. Obama conveyed in no uncertain terms that recapturing the House and helping Democrats gain more influence in the redistricting process were two of his top goals, people familiar with the conversation said.Jesse Lehrich, a spokesman for Organizing for Action, said in a statement that the group intended to display its grass-roots muscle in the midterm campaign.This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for the progressive movement, he said. Were fired up that O.F.A. can play its part by doing what we do best community organizing.The focus is to be wholly on the general election, Mr. Lehrich said: Organizing for Action will not meddle in Democratic primaries.Mr. Obama does not have a formal role with Organizing for Action, but the group is directed in large part by his former advisers and is seen by Democrats as reflecting his political priorities. The former president returned briefly to the campaign trail last year, boosting Democratic candidates for governor in Virginia and New Jersey, and he is expected to appear at fund-raisers for the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee this month.While Organizing for Action may play a role in bolstering Democratic turnout machinery in 2018, the elections are also an important test of the groups staying power. It frustrated traditional party committees during Mr. Obamas presidency, when some Democratic leaders saw the group as drawing money and attention away from the D.N.C. That committee fell into disarray when Mr. Obama was president, and prominent Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, have criticized the state of the partys infrastructure in 2016.Since Mr. Obama left office, Organizing for Action has been active mainly in debates over policy, rather than electoral politics. It has weighed in publicly on several issues at the federal level, including gun control and the Trump administrations drive to unravel Mr. Obamas policies on climate, health care and immigration. The group reported raising about $600,000 in the first three months of the year.Organizing for Actions list of targeted congressional races covers many of the more moderate and right-of-center suburban areas that have emerged as perhaps the most important battlefield of the midterms. It includes two congressional seats outside Minneapolis, three near Philadelphia and three in the suburbs of Dallas and Houston. The group is pursuing eight congressional districts in California, including seats held by the Republican Representatives Dana Rohrabacher and Mimi Walters, who are running for re-election, and Darrell Issa and Ed Royce, who are retiring.The focus on suburban areas may underscore both the high political stakes in those districts, and also the limitations of Mr. Obamas political brand. It is not clear whether Democrats in the conservative states where control of the Senate is to be decided, like West Virginia and Tennessee, would welcome even a secondhand association with Mr. Obama in the heat of a difficult campaign.Matt Gorman, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, predicted that activity by an Obama-linked group would stir backlash on the right, and he jabbed at the Democrats history of internal conflict.No one motivates Republican voters like Barack Obama, Mr. Gorman said. We thank his political organization for their in-kind contribution to keeping G.O.P. control of the House. Maybe they shouldve taken the advice of many in their own party and closed up shop after 2016.",3
"White Collar WatchDec. 7, 2015Credit...Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesThe more complex a system is the federal tax code, for example the easier it will be to exploit. The financial markets have become much more fragmented in the last 20 years, which has led the Securities and Exchange Commission to start trying to crack down on those who try to profit from the complexity.But it can be difficult to separate out those who play the loopholes in the system to their advantage from someone engaging in fraud. Just ask any tax lawyer, who will tell you there sometimes is not all that much difference between good planning and improper avoidance.The S.E.C. filed administrative charges last week against twin brothers, Behruz and Shahryar Afshar, and their close friend, Richard F. Kenny IV, over exploiting stock exchange rules to reap more than $2 million. They are accused of using trading strategies to bilk the exchanges out of rebates and avoiding fees for equity options orders that disadvantaged others traders. The question is whether they just pushed against the edge of the rules or crossed over into committing securities fraud.Trading in stocks and options takes place on 11 exchanges and dozens of alternative trading systems that have become so highly automated that most orders are entered and filled in milliseconds. Trading that was once done by telephone and reported on a ticker tape hours later has been transformed into lightening execution by firms looking to exploit price discrepancies of less than a penny.To deal with the fragmentation in the markets, the S.E.C. issued Regulation NMS in 2005, which requires the execution of orders at the best available price across all markets. Attracting trades to a particular venue requires offering something more than just a good price because everyone has to do that.What has developed in the securities markets is the maker-taker model for pricing in which exchanges pay rebates to draw orders that add liquidity to the market, called the maker, and impose an access fee, which can be no more than 30 cents per 100 shares, for orders that remove liquidity, the taker. The typical rebate is 20 cents for a 100 share order, so the exchange makes money by seeking out a roughly equal number of maker and taker orders, giving it about 10 cents for each trade of 100 shares.This pricing structure has drawn criticism because it creates a potential conflict of interest for brokers to route customer orders to the market that pays generous rebates, which can result in higher costs for investors even though they get the best price. It has also led to a proliferation of different types of orders that go far beyond the basics of a market or limit order to attract firms to trade there. For example, there are market to limit orders or auction-only orders intended to draw high-frequency trading firms seeking out rebates to supplement their trading profits.The charges against the Afshar brothers and Mr. Kenny reflect how they played the markets to take advantage of the rebate system. One tactic involved using the rules for filling options orders that give priority to ordinary customers ahead of professional traders and impose lower fees on their trades. The exchanges put this in place because they want to give a small measure of protection to individual investors from the sophisticated firms that look for every slight advantage.Qualifying as a customer means placing no more than 390 options orders per day. If that number is exceeded, then at the end of the quarter the designation of professional is attached to the account and its orders do not receive priority treatment.The defendants created two limited liability companies and told their broker that they were separately owned by each of the twin brothers when, according to the S.E.C., Behruz Afshar had an ownership interest in both. One company would engage in heavy trading until it was designated as a professional, and then they would shift their trading to the other to have its orders designated as receiving customer priority. By switching back and forth, they received about $2 million worth of rebates and fee reductions.The second way they generated rebates involved figuring out how to enter large AON orders, or all-or-nothing orders, at a price just above or below the current market price that was not displayed to other traders. They would then place a small order on the opposite side to try to attract others to put in similar orders so that their AON order would be filled, then canceling the small order once the larger one was filled. Under the exchanges rules, this was a maker order that qualified for a rebate, generating about $225,000.The S.E.C. described this as spoofing, a tactic that has recently drawn more attention from market regulators looking to put a stop to practices aimed at fooling others into trading by entering orders with the intent of quickly canceling them to give the impression of greater market activity than actually exists.In November, Michael Coscia was convicted in the Federal District Court in Chicago in the first prosecution for spoofing and faces a prison term for using an algorithm to enter and cancel numerous orders in less than a second.In spoofing cases, the victims are other traders who were misled by the orders resulting in losses or at least higher costs. But in this case, it is the exchanges that are the immediate victims, even though they are the ones that set up the system of rebates and order types that allowed this to take place.What the Afshars and Mr. Kenny did can be seen in one way as taking front cuts as we used to call it in elementary school to get their trades executed before others and reap the benefits that come from being first. At what point does that constitute securities fraud rather than just a sharp practice exploiting a gap in programs created by the exchanges to strengthen their own business?The actual trades were not fraudulent because the Afshars and Mr. Kenny completed the transactions, so the exchanges got the liquidity they sought in exchange for the rebates and reduced fees. The S.E.C.s cases focuses on the tactics used to take advantage of the rebates being offered and priority afforded to smaller investors, not the message sent out by the orders that might have deceived investors about the market.The Afshars and Mr. Kenny figured out a way to make their trading more valuable by using marketing tools employed by the exchanges to increase their volume of transactions. There is no requirement that exchanges provide rebates or allow for so many different order types.Indeed, some question whether rebates skew the market in favor of certain traders to the detriment of ordinary investors. An Another View column in 2014 advocated limiting or even getting rid of the access fee charged for some orders because it has added to the complexity of the markets as exchanges compete for market share. The New York Times reported recently that Investors Exchange, or IEX, which was celebrated in Michael Lewiss book Flash Boys, will not offer rebates and limit the number of order types in an effort to make its market more investor-friendly.The fact that the defendants were able to take advantage of the rules that cost exchanges more than $2 million certainly gives the appearance of being deceptive. One instant message cited by the S.E.C. quotes Behruz Afshar telling another trader that you should see all the [expletive] we are doing here . . . too funny.More than anything else, the case focuses on whether going too far in taking advantage of the rules is a violation by customers trolling the markets for any edge. If it does, then this is another warning shot to traders that they must tread carefully when using strategies intended to exploit the market.",0
"Eagles' Chris Long I'll Boycott Trump's White House ... If We Win Super Bowl 1/29/2018 Pardon My Take Chris Long says he's ready to stick it to Donald Trump AGAIN -- stating he will NOT attend the White House visit if the Eagles win the Super Bowl. Backstory -- Long boycotted the trip in 2017 when he was invited to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. as a part of the New England Patriots championship team. Now, he's on the other side ... telling the Barstool Sports podcast, ""Pardon My Take,"" straight-up -- ""No, I'm not going to the White House. Are you kidding me?!"" For the record, Long has previously explained his decision to boycott the WH last year ... saying he believes history will frown on the Trump presidency and does not want to be connected to it in any way.",1
"Africa|Jacob Zuma Beats Back Impeachment Drive in South Africahttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/06/world/africa/jacob-zuma-impeachment-south-africa.htmlVideotranscripttranscriptSouth African Impeachment Trial DelayedSouth African lawmakers on Tuesday questioned who should lead the debate over impeaching President Jacob G. Zuma. A court ruled that he had misused state funds for his private home.4. (SOUNDBITE)(English) DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, JOHN STEENHUISEN, SAYING (PART OVER SHOTS OF PARLIAMENT MEMBERS): I submit, madame Speaker, that you were the first respondent in the matter that served before the Constitutional Court last week, you are therefore, if I may use the term, party to the crime that took place and I would, I would ask you, madame Speaker, in the interest of restoring the credibility of this parliament, that you make the decision to invoke rule 15 and ask the deputy speaker to preside over this debate today. // 6. (SOUNDBITE)(English) ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS LEADER, JULIUS MALEMA, (PART OVER SHOTS OF PARLIAMENT MEMBERS): No, no, Baleka, listen to me. No, Baleka, listen to me. You are not a Speaker here, you dont have a right to sit where you are sitting. You are sitting there illegally. You have violated the constitution of the Republic of South Africa, you dont qualify to sit where you are and it was you, in protection of Zuma - we are discussing Zuma now, we cannot discuss Zuma with you presiding over this matter. You were there, you messed up this case, you want to continue messing it up. So the best thing you can do to yourself, were not asking you to do anything - let the deputy speaker sit there. 7. (SOUNDBITE)(English) AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS MP, NOSIVIWE MAPISA-NQAKULA, SAYING: I think just put the matter, put the question to the House whether people want you to chair this session or not and we put this matter to a vote and we proceed with the work of parliament.South African lawmakers on Tuesday questioned who should lead the debate over impeaching President Jacob G. Zuma. A court ruled that he had misused state funds for his private home.CreditCredit...Schalk Van Zuydam/Associated PressApril 5, 2016JOHANNESBURG South Africas governing African National Congress handily defeated an opposition effort to impeach President Jacob G. Zuma on Tuesday, five days after the nations highest court ruled that he had violated the Constitution in his handling of a long-running corruption case.Lawmakers from the party rallied behind Mr. Zuma, who maintained that he had acted illegally only because of bad legal advice.The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, put forward the impeachment motion with an eye toward important local elections later this year. Opposition lawmakers said the A.N.C., the party of Nelson Mandela, had become a corrupt organization interested only in self-preservation.Today it will be recorded that A.N.C. members of this Parliament chose to defend a crooked, broken president instead of the Constitution and the rule of law, said Mmusi Maimane, the leader of the Democratic Alliance. Today will signal once and for all that the A.N.C. has lost its way, and that there is no way back.The Constitutional Court ruled last Thursday that Mr. Zuma had acted against the Constitution by ignoring a 2014 order by the Office of the Public Protector, a national watchdog agency. The office had directed Mr. Zuma to reimburse the state for millions of dollars in nonsecurity-related improvements to his private home in Nkandla, in southeastern South Africa.For years, Mr. Zuma dismissed calls by critics to pay for the work himself. His party attacked the public protector, and party lawmakers issued a report exonerating the president.The courts ruling left open the possibility that Mr. Zuma might have been following wrong legal advice and therefore acting in good faith when he failed to comply with the public protectors order.ImageCredit...David Harrison/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMr. Zuma seized on that part of the ruling in a televised address the day after the court acted. He apologized for causing a lot of frustration and confusion, but defended his actions and said the violation happened because of a different approach and different legal advice.The ruling party stuck to that line on Tuesday in the impeachment debate in the Assembly, where Mr. Zuma was not present.The president acted in good faith in the justified belief that he was entitled to do so, in terms of the Constitution, said the deputy justice minister, John Jeffery.In recent days, as opposition parties and a few high-ranking A.N.C. members called for Mr. Zuma to resign, the ruling partys top leaders and power brokers from its rural strongholds closed ranks behind him.The impeachment motion required a two-thirds majority vote to pass, but the ruling party has a comfortable majority in the Assembly, with 249 of the 400 seats. The vote on the impeachment motion was 143 in favor and 233 against.Mr. Maimane, the Democratic Alliance leader, conceded before the vote was taken that the motion would fail, but he said he hoped that voters would remember the conduct of Mr. Zuma and his party when they cast ballots in municipal elections later this year.Julius Malema, the leader of the second-largest opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, urged A.N.C. members to turn against Mr. Zuma.Stop thinking for your stomach, Mr. Malema said. Vote with your brains.",6
"Canada|Barred From Canadian Embassy Parties: Cardboard Trudeauhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/21/world/canada/canada-justin-trudeau-cardboard-cutout.htmlCredit...Sam Hodgson for The New York TimesMarch 21, 2017He was the consummate politician: tall, dapper and always willing to be trotted out for public appearances, even when someone licked his face. The only problem? Hes made of corrugated paper.Despite the social media appeal of posing for selfies with a life-size cardboard cutout of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or perhaps because of it Canadian diplomats in the United States have been ordered to no longer set up the 6-foot-2 cardboard replica of Mr. Trudeau at promotional events, after researchers from the opposition Conservative Party raised the issue on Monday.Before they were quietly retired, the sultry, if flat, cardboard cutouts of Mr. Trudeau popped up across the United States, from a Canadian consular event in Atlanta and a Canada Day celebration at the nations Embassy in Washington last year, to the South by Southwest arts festival in Austin, Tex., where the two-dimensional Trudeau, garbed in black suit and brown loafers, was surrounded by revelers with cocktails.There will be no future invitations. We are aware of instances where our missions in the United States had decided to purchase and use these cutouts, the Global Affairs Canada spokesman, Michael OShaughnessy, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday. The missions have been asked to no longer use these for their events.The abrupt retirement of the cutouts may reflect a tension in Canadian politics, between the understated reserve thats a legacy of British colonial rule and the desire for American-style star power.Highly sensitive to accusations that Mr. Trudeau lacks the gravitas of a world leader, the governing Liberal Party has long sought to balance his brand as celebrity and statesman. Last week, he attracted a great deal of media attention just by attending a performance of the Broadway musical Come From Away.The prime ministers office is incredibly aware of the power of his celebrity and want nothing to affect that, said Ian Capstick, a media consultant in Ottawa. By having countless cutouts out there the government really starts to lose control of that image.While Global Affairs did not respond to emails and telephone calls asking about the reason for the decision, the demise of the Trudeau stand-ins comes at an awkward moment for the real-life prime minister, who is under fire for a family vacation to a Caribbean island owned by the Aga Khan, which cost Canadian taxpayers more than $95,000.Conservative activists discovered that the Canadian Embassy last June paid $147.79 for a rush order on a Trudeau cutout from HistoricalCutouts.com, a Pennsylvania company.Emails obtained by the Conservative researchers reveal a quiet debate over the cutout, with one describing the replica as a hoot that would spark some serious selfie action. But not all bureaucrats were supportive. It just doesnt seem very prime ministerial, one said.Conservatives have seized on the cutouts as a partisan waste of taxpayer money and an insult to Canadian political tradition.Its undignified and unbecoming, John Brassard, the Conservative Party spokesman and a member of Parliament, said in an interview, during which he argued the cutout was an accurate metaphor for Mr. Trudeau: Our prime minister is all about style with very little substance.",6
"Dont Write It Off: Advice From Brain Injury Experts After Bob Sagets DeathPeople who find themselves alone after a significant knock to the head are at higher risk of harm.Credit...Phillip Faraone/Getty ImagesFeb. 10, 2022It appeared to be an ordinary fall: Bob Saget, the actor and comedian, knocked his head on something and, perhaps thinking nothing of it, went to sleep, his family said on Wednesday.But the chilling consequences Mr. Saget, 65, died some hours later on Jan. 9 from blunt head trauma, a medical examiner ruled have underscored the dangers of traumatic brain injuries, even those that do not initially seem to be causes for alarm.Some 61,000 deaths in 2019 were related to traumatic brain injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and nearly half of head trauma-related hospitalizations result from falls.Brain injury experts said on Thursday that Mr. Sagets case was relatively uncommon: People with serious head trauma would be expected to have noticeable symptoms, like a headache, nausea or confusion. And they can generally be saved by surgeons opening up their skull and relieving pressure on the brain from bleeding.But certain situations put people at higher risk for the sort of deterioration that Mr. Saget experienced, doctors said.As serious a risk factor as any, doctors said, is simply being alone. Someone with a head injury can lose touch with their usual decision-making capacities and become confused, agitated or unusually sleepy. Those symptoms, in turn, can stand in the way of getting help.And while there was no indication that Mr. Saget was taking blood thinners, experts said the medications can greatly accelerate the type of bleeding after a head injury that forces the brain downward and compresses the centers that regulate breathing and other vital functions. More Americans are being prescribed these drugs as the population ages.Mr. Saget had been in an Orlando hotel room during a weekend of stand-up comedy acts when he was found unresponsive. The local medical examiners office announced on Wednesday that his death resulted from blunt head trauma, and said that his injuries were most likely incurred from an unwitnessed fall.There was no evidence of illegal drugs in his system, the medical examiner said.If you have a head injury, you never and I mean never be by yourself for the first 24 hours, said Dr. Gavin Britz, the chair in neurosurgery at Houston Methodist.Dr. Britz said that he would counsel people who get a significant knock to the head to see a doctor or, short of that, to ask someone to track their symptoms and even wake them up occasionally at night for monitoring.Brain injury experts also emphasized that the presence of symptoms usually indicated whether medical help was needed.Theres no need to call the doctor after a little bump, said Dr. Jeffrey Bazarian, an emergency physician and concussion expert at the University of Rochester Medical Center. On the other hand, he said, If you hit your head and have lingering symptoms, like a headache or confusion, that requires medical attention especially if youre on a blood thinner.The C.D.C. warns that traumatic brain injuries can be overlooked in older people when the symptoms overlap with those seen in other common ailments, like dementia.People 75 and older account for roughly one-third of head trauma-related hospitalizations, the agency said, though experts said they tend to apply extra caution to any patients who are at least 60 years old. C.D.C. data indicate that men are at higher risk than women.Neither Mr. Sagets family nor the medical examiner offered details on Wednesday about precisely how the head injury had killed him.The family specified that Mr. Saget had accidentally hit the back of his head. Injuries to the sides and back of the skull may be associated with significant brain bleeding, said Dr. Angela Lumba-Brown, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine.Still, she said, significant blows to any part of the head can cause problems.Doctors said that there were a number of possible scenarios for how Mr. Saget died. They also cautioned that crucial details of his case were missing, like whether or not he had underlying conditions and the precise nature of his injuries.In one scenario, they said, more common among younger patients, someone receives a blow to the head serious enough that their skull fractures, rupturing a blood vessel or artery between the skull and the thick lining covering the brain. The result is an epidural hematoma, and the bleeding can be deadly. In some such cases, there is an interval when patients feel fine.That was the injury that killed the actress Natasha Richardson in 2009 after what appeared to be a minor fall on a beginners ski slope.Maybe theres a bit of a headache, and you go to bed, and the blood clot expands, Dr. Britz said. Over time, it gets so big that you get brain stem compression.Another scenario is a fall that ruptures small veins between the membrane covering the brain and the brain itself, doctors said. That kind of injury is more common in older patients a result, in part, of brains shrinking as people age, doctors said, and the prevalence of blood thinners.In those cases, known as subdural hematomas, symptoms can develop quickly or over the course of weeks.Brain experts said that as Americans age and, in many cases, go on blood thinners after a heart attack or stroke, the risks of head injuries become more pronounced.As our population is aging, we have to be aware of the risks that come with being on blood thinners, said Dr. Neha Dangayach, the director of neuroemergencies management for Mount Sinai Health System. If you fall or hit your head, dont write it off.Still, doctors said, those head injuries were often easily treatable and deaths usually completely preventable.Dr. Jamshid Ghajar, a neurosurgeon at Stanford University School of Medicine who has worked on guidelines for treating brain injuries, said that he had operated on a 100-year-old with a serious head injury.I took the blood out, Dr. Ghajar said, and he was awake right away after.",2
"DealBookCredit...Mark Lennihan/Associated PressNov. 30, 2015Long before Pfizer conceived of merging with Allergan in a $150 billion deal to rid itself of what its chief executive called an an uncompetitive tax rate in the United States, the company was deploying various tax avoidance strategies dating back to at least 1976.Thats when Pfizer, with the help of lobbyists for the pharmaceutical industry, sought to take advantage of an unusual tax credit program that legislators in Washington had passed to help spur investment in Puerto Rico. In that year, hoping to stimulate employment on the Caribbean island, Congress passed Section 936 of the Internal Revenue Code, a law that gave mainland companies a full tax exemption on profits earned in Puerto Rico. In addition, the local corporate tax code gave companies incentives to establish subsidiaries there. As you can imagine, Pfizer quickly set up shop in Puerto Rico. It then spent the next two decades lobbying to keep the much-criticized law from being repealed. According to a United States General Accounting Office report from 1992, Pfizer saved at least $759 million over 10 years.Pfizer wasnt alone. The pharmaceutical industry descended on Puerto Rico to take advantage of the savings. The tax break ultimately cost American taxpayers $24.7 billion in unpaid tax receipts, according to the General Accounting Office. After the tax law was scrapped in legislation signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996 that phased out the tax break over a 10-year period, Pfizer and its rivals pulled up their stakes in Puerto Rico, leading, in part, to the islands current economic crisis.All of this is said not to moralize about whether Pfizer owes a patriotic duty to pay a hefty tax bill. It is meant simply to highlight the lengths companies like Pfizer and others will go to reduce their taxes, even when they receive substantial benefits as American businesses. Pfizer has received at least $50 million in federal subsidies over nearly the last 15 years, according to the Corporate Research Project, a nonprofit that tracks corporate subsidies. And, still, it wants to leave the United States and move its headquarters to Ireland.So long as United States companies feel as if they have to compete on an international stage against companies in countries with lower tax rates in Pfizers case, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca in Britain, and Novartis in Switzerland they will seek ways to leave the country to reduce their bill.ImageCredit...Sam Falk/The New York TimesIn 1934, Judge Learned Hand wrote what has become something of a mantra for those who believe theres no obligation to pay high taxes. Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the Treasury, he wrote. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase ones taxes. Over and over again the courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible.Ive argued in previous columns that the government should consider temporary measures to prevent some of these deals from happening. Last year and again last month, the Treasury Department issued new rules intended to curb these so-called inversion deals. Still, there are ways for companies to bypass these rules, as the structure of the Pfizer-Allergan merger demonstrated. (The combination is not technically structured as an inversion, though it achieves the same goal of securing a lower tax rate overseas.)Our actions can only slow the pace of these transactions, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew said last month after introducing new rules to curb inversions. Only legislation can decisively stop them.There are all sorts of ideas percolating around Washington about how it could make it less attractive for drug companies like Pfizer to leave the United States, some more outlandish than others, but virtually all require being more protectionist and less open. For example, one idea making the rounds would be for Medicare or Medicaid to favor buying domestic drugs over foreign ones. Another would give domestic drug companies priority in the Food and Drug Administration approval process. All those punitive steps might work in the short term, but they would create their own complications and unintended consequences.The only way to end the inversion craze, or whatever tax avoidance plan comes next, is to comprehensively reform the corporate tax code. Does that mean companies tax rates will most likely fall? Yes. President Obama has long pushed for a simplified tax code that lowers corporate tax rates with fewer brackets, while cutting unfair tax breaks and loopholes. The White House, on its website, says, Our system has one of the highest statutory tax rates among developed countries to generate about the same amount of corporate tax revenue as our developed country partners as a share of our economy; this, in turn, hurts our competitiveness in the world economy. Tax rates will most likely always be marginally higher in the United States than elsewhere, as they should be given the benefits accorded companies based here. But the gap between rates here and other developed countries cannot be so large that it drives American companies overseas.",0
"Americas|Brazils Congress Must Consider Impeaching Vice President https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/06/world/americas/brazil-impeach-ruling-michel-temer-dilma-rousseff.htmlApril 5, 2016RIO DE JANEIRO A justice on Brazils high court ruled on Tuesday that an impeachment request made against the countrys vice president, Michel Temer who had been expected to take over the presidency if Dilma Rousseff were to be ousted must also be considered by the countrys Congress while it holds hearings about removing Ms. Rousseff.The interim ruling by Justice Marco Aurlio Mello puts another obstacle in the path of those pushing to impeach Ms. Rousseff and who had thought that Mr. Temer taking over would help quickly fix the countrys political and economic crises. Brazil is battling a prolonged economic recession and huge corruption scandal.The impeachment hearings against Ms. Rousseff, based on allegations that she violated fiscal laws by using funds from state banks to cover budget shortfalls, are currently taking place in a committee in Brazils lower house, and many have argued that her ouster is highly probable. Mr. Temer had already been meeting with opposition politicians and was planning a new government in recent months, according to Brazilian news media reports.Yet Tuesdays decision will probably not only raise doubts about whether Mr. Temer can take over, but will also embolden many of Ms. Rousseffs supporters, who have long seen him as the shadowy figure engineering the impeachment effort against her, from within her government.The importance of the decision is that it is going to force everybody in Brazil to discuss the links between Temer and the impeachment process, said Mauricio Santoro, a professor of political science at Rio de Janeiro State University.Justice Mello ruled that Eduardo Cunha, the Brazilian legislator spearheading the effort to impeach Ms. Rousseff, who himself faces bribery charges, must evaluate a request made to impeach Mr. Temer.A Brazilian lawyer, Mariel Mrley Marra, made a request last year to Brazils Congress that impeachment proceedings also be considered for Mr. Temer, accusing him of the same fiscal crimes of which Ms. Rousseff is accused.Mr. Cunha, the speaker of Brazils lower chamber of Congress, postponed addressing the request while focusing his attention on trying to oust Ms. Rousseff, a bitter political opponent of his.But in his ruling, Justice Mello said that a 1950 Brazilian law dealing with impeachment was not respected by Mr. Cunha in his decision to delay considering the petition to impeach Mr. Temer.The justice did not rule on the merits of whether Mr. Temer should be impeached. That decision falls to Congress. But he said the legislature must evaluate the request.Mr. Cunha called the ruling absurd and said he would appeal it.The ruling comes at a time when the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, to which Mr. Temer belongs, is losing some momentum after breaking with Ms. Rousseffs Workers Party last week.They left the government with lots of noise, but at the end of the day, many of the ministers who belong to P.M.D.B. remain in office, Dr. Santoro said, referring to Mr. Temers party.As for Mr. Temer, he is facing more problems than he thought he would, Dr. Santoro said.",6
"Business BriefingDec. 4, 2015Pepperidge Farm has sued Trader Joes, accusing the grocery chain of trademark infringement for selling a cookie that looks too much like Pepperidge Farms popular Milano cookie. In a complaint filed on Wednesday in the New Haven, Conn., federal court, Pepperidge Farm said Trader Joes was damaging its good will and confusing shoppers through its sale of Trader Joes Crispy Cookies. Alison Mochizuki, a Trader Joes spokeswoman, said on Friday that the privately held company did not discuss pending litigation. Introduced in 1956, the Milano consists of chocolate filling, and sometimes other flavors, sandwiched between two oval-shaped cookies. A trademark was registered in 2010.",0
"Credit...Stephen Lovekin/Getty ImagesDec. 15, 2015One week after striking a deal with MSNBC, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin have signed a deal for a weekly show for Showtime, the premium cable channel announced on Tuesday.Mr. Heilemann and Mr. Halperin, perhaps best known as the authors of Game Change, will be featured on a weekly 30-minute show that will offer a behind the scenes look at the 2016 presidential election, Showtimes president, David Nevins, said in an interview. It will not be a talk show.Mr. Nevins likened the show, which will be called The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth, to Showtimes A Season With Notre Dame and HBOs Hard Knocks. The Circus will feature a rotating set of characters, he said, from the presidential candidates, to campaign handlers and possibly members of the news media. Mr. Heilemann and Mr. Halperin will be correspondents on the show, along with the Republican strategist Mark McKinnon. It will premiere in January.Cable news is mostly pundits and talking heads, Mr. Nevins said. Theres a limit to the depth of story you can get in the nightly news. It felt like we could do a political documentary in real time. Every election turns out one or two documentaries, but why do you have to wait a year for this?Mr. Heilemann and Mr. Halperin have a daily 5 p.m. political talk show on Bloomberg Television, With All Due Respect, and last week, they agreed to a deal with MSNBC to rebroadcast the show at 6 p.m.Mr. Nevins said that Mr. Halperin, a friend since high school, approached him about three months ago to discuss doing a show together.It represents something of a departure for Showtime. Though HBO has long been in the topical or talk show business, Showtime has generally restricted those efforts to sports, including the Notre Dame show that aired this fall, Inside the NFL and 60 Minutes Sports.In recent years, HBO has ramped up its news programming and talk shows in an attempt to offer a variety of shows that could fuel sales for its stand-alone app, HBO Now. Bill Simmons will host a new talk show next year, a daily newscast with Vice will premiere next year, and Jon Stewart will begin offering digital shorts to the network.Showtime, which has its own stand-alone app, is now venturing into new terrain.We looked to complement our very strong lineup of series, and were looking for things with currency and immediacy, Mr. Nevins said. I think well be breaking news.Mr. Nevins said that the show would be done in cooperation with Bloomberg, though Showtime will be financing this show. If something newsworthy develops while the show is being filmed, that footage could be shared with the Bloomberg show and, as a result, MSNBC. (MSNBCs parent company is Comcast; Showtime is part of the CBS Corporation.)The Bloomberg talk show has had a rocky first year. In addition to small viewership which will inevitably receive a bump when it airs on MSNBC next year the show has been criticized for being too frivolous.Mr. Nevins is not bothered by any of that.They get access and they get people talking and they have a sense of humor, which will be important to the show, he said. I dont want it to feel dry like the Sunday morning talk shows. Theyre uniquely suited to do a show at this time, and itll make noise.",0
"Business|Some Tropicana and Other PepsiCo Products to Carry Non-GMO Project Sealhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/11/business/some-tropicana-and-other-pepsico-products-to-carry-non-gmo-project-seal.htmlDec. 10, 2015Labels on Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice and four of its brand siblings will begin carrying early next year an increasingly familiar certification the butterfly seal conferred by the Non-GMO Project, a nonprofit group that verifies products as being free of genetically engineered ingredients.The decision to add the seal to Tropicana is notable because its parent, PepsiCo, has been one of the biggest opponents of state efforts to impose labeling requirements on such foods.Consumers today have a desire for transparency from brands, and that desire is only going to increase, said Bjrn Bernemann, vice president and general manager for the Tropicana brand in North America.PepsiCo has not had to make any changes in the products to meet the verification because the only thing in Tropicana is orange juice and as yet, there are no genetically engineered orange trees.Tropicana Pure Premium is non-G.M.O., and it always has been, Mr. Bernemann said. Some consumers, however, are expressing a desire to get beyond what brands are actually telling them, and we felt having external verification would give our consumers assurance.Smaller PepsiCo product lines like Naked Juice, as well as Smartfood and Stacys snacks, also have Non-GMO Project certification, but Tropicana represents the largest of the companys brands to win it so far.Mr. Bernemann said PepsiCo had been in the process of getting certification when he took over the Tropicana brand about six months ago. The products to be labeled represent 92 percent of the Tropicana Pure Premium portfolio.Duane Stanford, the editor of Beverage Digest, said it made sense for PepsiCo to get outside verification.A company with the visibility of PepsiCo is absolutely going to have to take an extra step to make sure consumers trust the label, Mr. Stanford said. You can make a case that G.M.O.s are safe for human consumption, and theres a lot of science that says they are, but certain consumers are still skeptical.In 2013 and 2014, PepsiCo spent almost $9 million to oppose ballot measures that would have imposed labeling in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington State, according to research by the Environmental Working Group, which favors labeling. All those measures were defeated.The advocacy group also found that the company had spent more than $11.45 million over 2013, 2014 and the first quarter of 2015 on lobbying against labeling at the federal level, either directly or through the trade group the Grocery Manufacturers Association.Mr. Bernemann said PepsiCo felt that a national labeling law was needed.We are in favor of the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, he said, referring to legislation pending in Congress that would pre-empt state regulation on G.M.O. labeling, which would create a uniform standard on the federal level for labeling foods and beverages.",0
"TrilobitesA scientist who has studied falling playing cards, coiling rope and other phenomena has now analyzed what transforms a carpenters tool into a sonorous instrument.Credit...Caitlin Ochs for The New York TimesMay 1, 2022Early in the 19th century, an unknown musician somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains discovered that a steel handsaw, a tool previously used only for cutting wood, could also be used to produce full and sustained musical notes. The idea had undoubtedly occurred to many a musically-inclined carpenter at other times in other places.The key is that the saw must be bent in a shallow S-shape. Leaving it flat, or bending it in a J- or U-shape, will not do. And to resonate, it must be bowed at exactly the right sweet spot along the length of the saw. Bowed at any other point, the instrument reverts to being a useful, but unmusical, hand tool.The seated musician grips the handle of the saw between her legs, and holds the tip with either her fingers or a device called an end clamp, or saw cheat. She bends the saw into a shallow S-shape, and then draws the bow across the sweet spot at a 90-degree angle with the blade. The saw is then bent, changing the shape of the S to lower or raise the pitch, but always maintaining the S-shape, and always bowed at the moving sweet spot of the curve. The longer the saw, the greater the range of notes it can produce.Now L. Mahadevan, a professor of physics and applied mathematics at Harvard, along with two colleagues, Suraj Shankar and Petur Bryde, has studied the way the saw produces music and drawn some conclusions that help explain, mathematically, its beautiful sounds. The report was published April 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.Studying musical saws may seem an odd choice for a Harvard professor of mathematics, but Dr. Mahadevans interests are broad. He has published scientific papers explaining falling playing cards, tightrope walking, coiling rope, and how wet paper curls, among other phenomena that may appear at first glance unlikely subjects for mathematical analysis. In such a list, the musical saw seems no more than a logical next step.To understand the musical saw, imagine an S lying on its side, a line drawn through its center, positive above the line and negative below it. At the center of the S, he explained, the curvature switches its sign from negative to positive.A simple change from a J- to an S-shape dramatically transforms the acoustic properties of the saw, Dr. Mahadevan said, and we can prove mathematically, show computationally, and finally hear experientially that the vibrations that produce the sound are localized to a zone where the curvature is almost zero.That single location of sign-changing, he said, gives the saw a robust ability to sustain a note. The tone slightly resembles that of a violin and other bowed instruments, and some have compared it to the voice of a soprano singing without words.Dr. Mahadevan acknowledges that while he set out to understand the musical saw in mathematical terms, Musicians have of course known this experientially for a long time, and scientists are only now beginning to understand why the saw can sing.But he thinks research into the musical saw may also help scientists better understand other very thin devices.The saw is a thin sheet, he said, and its thickness is very small compared to its other dimensions. The same phenomena can arise in a multitude of different systems, and might help design very high quality oscillators on small scales, and even perhaps with atomically thin materials such as sheets of graphene. That could even be useful in perfecting devices that use oscillators, such as computers, watches, radios and metal detectors.For Natalia Paruz, a professional sawist who has played with orchestras worldwide, the mathematical details may be less significant than the quality of her saws. She began by playing her landladys saw when it wasnt being used for other purposes. But now she uses saws specifically designed and manufactured to be used as musical instruments.There are several American companies that make them, and there are manufacturers in Sweden, England, France and Germany. Ms. Paruz said that while any flexible saw can be used to produce music, a thicker saw produces a meatier, deeper, prettier sound.But that pure tone, whatever its mathematical explanation, comes at a cost. A thick blade, she said, is harder to bend.",7
"Credit...Odd Andersen/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesDec. 9, 2015WOLFSBURG, Germany It was the corporate equivalent of saying never mind.Volkswagen, which has been on a public relations losing streak in recent months, said Wednesday that one of its admitted sins was not as egregious as the company had originally confessed.The automaker said Wednesday that it had overstated things last month when it announced an auto emissions problem that regulators had not yet detected that it had misled the public about the fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions of 800,000 vehicles in Europe. The number, Volkswagen said on Wednesday, was only a small fraction of that no more than 36,000.German transportation regulators have not yet confirmed the revised, smaller number. But if it is accurate, it means that Volkswagen would have to repay only a small fraction of the 2 billion euros, or $2.2 billion, in tax incentives that the company originally estimated customers in Europe had improperly received from their governments for driving cars with low emissions of greenhouse gases.The tax breaks were granted by governments on the basis of the low emissions and good fuel economy that Volkswagen had initially reported for the cars and that the company on Wednesday said it could once again vouch for, in most cases.Whether 2 billion, or a much smaller figure, the money is only a portion of the many billions of dollars Volkswagen could end up spending in repairs, fines and lawsuit settlements over the much bigger scandal it has not been able to explain, or explain away. That is the problem of deceptive software it has admitted installing in more than 11 million diesel cars that was designed to let the cars cheat on emissions tests.If the scaled-back admission on Wednesday holds up, it might be a rare, if minor, piece of good news for the company. But it also raises questions about why the company announced the 800,000 figure and whether Volkswagen still has a public communications problem.Volkswagen said on Wednesday that it had chosen to err on the side of caution when it disclosed the new problem and gave the figure of 800,000 cars. The company said that after retesting the vehicles, it concluded that its original measurements of fuel economy and carbon dioxide emissions were accurate for the vast majority of the vehicles.And even for 36,000 or fewer of the vehicles, Volkswagen said, the fuel economy and emissions discrepancies might be small enough that the company may not have to reimburse any tax breaks. The fuel data was off by the equivalent of less than two miles per gallon, the company said, and the carbon dioxide-emission figures were off by a few grams per 100 kilometers, or about 60 miles, traveled.Volkswagens bigger issue remains the diesel cheating scandal involving 11 million cars. Most are in Europe but about 500,000 of them are in the United States, where regulators disclosed the deception in September.On Thursday here in Wolfsburg, Matthias Mller, the Volkswagen chief executive, will hold his first news conference since the wrongdoing came to light and he was promoted to replace Martin Winterkorn, who resigned a few days after the deception was exposed.Mr. Mller is expected to provide an interim report on the companys own investigation of who was responsible for the diesel cheating. How forthcoming the company is able to be will be a test of its campaign to restore credibility.Volkswagen said late last month that it would be able to make diesel vehicles in Europe compliant with clean air rules by reprogramming the software. For some engines, Volkswagen said it would install a simple plastic part to improve the flow of air into the engine and reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides the gases that the deceptive software was meant to reduce during testing, but would allow at much higher levels during on-the-road driving.Though Volkswagen has yet to indicate how it will fix its diesel vehicles in the United States, where emissions standards are stricter, the remedial actions announced for Europe were much simpler and cheaper than expected.In Europe, Volkswagen has mostly gotten the risks out of the way, said Ferdinand Dudenhffer, a professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen who specializes in the auto industry and is a prominent critic of Volkswagen.But he said the company was also benefiting from light enforcement of regulations in Germany. The Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt, the regulatory agency for motor vehicles in Germany, is deliberately starved for resources by political leaders eager to protect the countrys powerful automakers, Mr. Dudenhffer said Wednesday. As a result, he said, the agency does not have the capacity to challenge Volkswagens technical findings.Under European Union rules, approval by German regulators automatically confers approval in the blocs other countries.Volkswagen also said Wednesday that it had replaced an executive who had earlier been suspended in connection with the diesel emissions cheating. The executive, Heinz-Jakob Neusser, will give up his duties as head of development for the Volkswagen brand and be replaced by Frank Welsch, the company said.Mr. Neusser will remain with the company and is available to take on other responsibilities, Volkswagen said.Last week, Ulrich Hackenberg, who like Mr. Neusser played a top role in developing Volkswagen engines in recent years, resigned his post at the company. Six other executives have also been suspended, but as far as is known they remain on the payroll.There is little political will in Germany to punish Volkswagen, which is one of the countrys largest employers. But Volkswagen still faces intense pressure in the United States from the Environmental Protection Agency, and there are customers and dealers who have filed hundreds of lawsuits.There is still the United States, Mr. Dudenhffer said.",0
"A Historic Event: First Malaria Vaccine Approved by W.H.O.Malaria kills about 500,000 people each year, about half of them children in Africa. The new vaccine isnt perfect, but it will help turn the tide, experts said. VideotranscripttranscriptA Historic Day: W.H.O. Approves First Malaria VaccineDr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organizations director general, said the long-awaited vaccine was a breakthrough for science and could save tens of thousands of young lives each year.As some of you may know, I started my career as a malaria researcher, and I longed for the day that we would have an effective vaccine against this ancient and terrible disease. And today is that day an historic day. Today, W.H.O. is recommending the broad use of the worlds first malaria vaccine. This recommendation is based on results from an ongoing pilot program in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi that has reached more than 800,000 children since 2019. This long-awaited malaria vaccine is a breakthrough for science, child health and malaria control. Using this vaccine, in addition to existing tools to prevent malaria, could save tens of thousands of young lives each year.Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organizations director general, said the long-awaited vaccine was a breakthrough for science and could save tens of thousands of young lives each year.CreditCredit...Cristina Aldehuela/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesOct. 6, 2021The world has gained a new weapon in the war on malaria, among the oldest known and deadliest of infectious diseases: the first vaccine shown to help prevent the disease. By one estimate, it will save tens of thousands of children each year. Malaria kills about half a million people each year, nearly all of them in sub-Saharan Africa including 260,000 children under 5. The new vaccine, made by GlaxoSmithKline, rouses a childs immune system to thwart Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest of five malaria pathogens and the most prevalent in Africa. The World Health Organization on Wednesday endorsed the vaccine, the first step in a process that should lead to wide distribution in poor countries. To have a malaria vaccine that is safe, moderately effective and ready for distribution is a historic event, said Dr. Pedro Alonso, director of the W.H.O.s global malaria program.Malaria is rare in the developed world. There are just 2,000 cases in the United States each year, mostly among travelers returning from countries in which the disease is endemic. The vaccine, called Mosquirix, is not just a first for malaria it is the first developed for any parasitic disease. Parasites are much more complex than viruses or bacteria, and the quest for a malaria vaccine has been underway for a hundred years.Its a huge jump from the science perspective to have a first-generation vaccine against a human parasite, Dr. Alonso said. In clinical trials, the vaccine had an efficacy of about 50 percent against severe malaria in the first year, but the figure dropped close to zero by the fourth year. And the trials did not directly measure the vaccines impact on deaths, which has led some experts to question whether it is a worthwhile investment in countries with countless other intractable problems.But severe malaria accounts for up to half of malaria deaths and is considered a reliable proximal indicator of mortality, said Dr. Mary Hamel, who leads the W.H.O.s malaria vaccine implementation program. I do expect we will see that impact.A modeling study last year estimated that if the vaccine were rolled out to countries with the highest incidence of malaria, it could prevent 5.4 million cases and 23,000 deaths in children younger than 5 each year.A recent trial of the vaccine in combination with preventive drugs given to children during high-transmission seasons found that the dual approach was much more effective at preventing severe disease, hospitalization and death than either method alone.The malaria parasite, carried by mosquitoes, is a particularly insidious enemy, because it can strike the same person over and over. In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, even those where most people sleep under insecticide-treated bed nets, children have on average six malaria episodes a year.Even when the disease is not fatal, the repeated assault on their bodies can permanently alter the immune system, leaving them weak and vulnerable to other pathogens. ImageCredit...Cristina Aldehuela/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMalaria research is littered with vaccine candidates that never made it past clinical trials. Bed nets, the most widespread preventive measure, cut malaria deaths in children under 5 only by about 20 percent.Against that backdrop, the new vaccine, even with modest efficacy, is the best new development in the fight against the disease in decades, some experts said.Progress against malaria has really stalled over the last five or six years, particularly in some of the hardest hit countries in the world, said Ashley Birkett, who heads malaria programs at PATH, a nonprofit organization focused on global health.With the new vaccine, theres potential for very, very significant impact there, Dr. Birkett said.Mosquirix is given in three doses between ages 5 and 17 months, and a fourth dose roughly 18 months later. Following clinical trials, the vaccine was tried out in three countries Kenya, Malawi and Ghana where it was incorporated into routine immunization programs.More than 2.3 million doses have been administered in those countries, reaching more than 800,000 children. That bumped up the percentage of children protected against malaria in some way to more than 90 percent, from less than 70 percent, Dr. Hamel said.The ability to reduce inequities in access to malaria prevention thats important, Dr. Hamel said. It was impressive to see that this could reach children who are currently not being protected.It took years to create an efficient system to distribute insecticide-treated bed nets to families. By contrast, including Mosquirix among routine immunizations made it surprisingly easy to distribute, Dr. Hamel added even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, which prompted lockdowns and disrupted supply chains.We arent going to have to spend a decade trying to figure out how to get this to children, she said.This week, a working group of independent experts in malaria, child health epidemiology and statistics, as well as the W.H.O.s vaccine advisory group, met to review data from the pilot programs and to make their formal recommendation to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the W.H.O.We still have a very long road to travel, but this is a long stride down that road, Dr. Tedros said at a news conference on Wednesday. The next step is for Gavi, the global vaccine alliance, to determine that the vaccine is a worthwhile investment. If the organizations board approves the vaccine not guaranteed, given the vaccines moderate efficacy and the many competing priorities Gavi will purchase the vaccine for countries that request it, a process that is expected to take at least a year.But as with Covid-19, problems with vaccine production and supply could considerably delay progress. And the pandemic has also diverted resources and attention from other diseases, said Deepali Patel, who leads malaria vaccine programs at Gavi.Covid is a big unknown in the room in terms of where capacity is currently in countries, and rolling out Covid-19 vaccines is a huge effort, Ms. Patel said. Were really going to have to see how the pandemic unfolds next year in terms of when countries will be ready to pick up all of these other priorities.",2
"DealBook|In New Tack in Gun Debate, a Call to Investigate Smith & Wessons Disclosureshttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/business/dealbook/in-new-tack-in-gun-debate-a-call-to-investigate-smith-wessons-disclosures.htmlCredit...Luke Sharrett for The New York TimesDec. 14, 2015The New York City public advocate on Monday asked federal regulators to investigate whether the gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson had made adequate disclosures in its financial statements.In an eight-page letter, the public advocate, Letitia James, said the Securities and Exchange Commission should examine whether Smith & Wesson misrepresented or omitted information about how often its products are involved in crimes and what it has done to keep its guns out of the hands of criminals.Shareholders would want to know whether Smith & Wesson faced heightened regulatory scrutiny or significant litigation risk, Ms. James said in the letter.Nearly two weeks ago, a terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., left 14 people dead and provoked a fresh outcry about gun violence in America. It also is the third anniversary of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults.With the increase in mass shootings, public concern about the proliferation of firearms has animated a national dialogue about gun control measures, interstate gun trafficking, and whether gun manufacturers should take additional steps to ensure that their products do not end up in the hands of criminals, the letter says. Smith & Wesson knows that it is at risk of grave reputational harm.Ms. James is opening a new avenue in her fight against gun sellers and makers. Earlier this month, she called on TD Bank, a big lender, to stop financing Smith & Wesson. This summer, she convinced the New York City Employee Retirement System, the citys largest pension fund, to explore divesting itself of its holdings of gun retailers like Walmart and Dicks Sporting Goods.Smith & Wesson, based in Springfield, Mass., is one of the countrys largest gun makers, and in a securities filing says it makes 50 percent of all the revolvers owned in the United States. The company did not respond to a request for comment.Large United States pension funds have used similar tactics to push big energy companies to disclose more about their climate change-related risks, including spending on Arctic drilling and Canadian oil sands projects. Exxon Mobil is facing new legal challenges by those who argue it should have acted earlier to address the risks of climate change.Guns could be the next focus of such shareholder efforts, though there were no new gun-related proposals submitted for the 2015 annual shareholder proxies last spring, nor any yet for 2016, according to Institutional Shareholder Services.A 2014 proposal for the Walmart annual proxy submitted by Trinity Church of New York focused on the retailers sale of semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity magazines. The S.E.C. allowed Walmart to keep it off its proxy that year. The church sued to keep it in, but lost on appeal and recently withdrew a request to the United States Supreme Court to hear the matter.",0
"The Great ReadA population of strange canids in Texas could hold the key to reviving the highly endangered red wolf.Credit...Jan. 3, 2022From a distance, the canids of Galveston Island, Texas, look almost like coyotes, prowling around the beach at night, eyes gleaming in the dark.But look closer and oddities appear. The animals bodies seem slightly out of proportion, with overly long legs, unusually broad heads and sharply pointed snouts. And then there is their fur, distinctly reddish in hue, with white patches on their muzzles.The Galveston Island canids are not conventional coyotes at least, not entirely. They carry a ghostly genetic legacy: DNA from red wolves, which were declared extinct in the wild in 1980.For years, these genes have been hiding in plain sight, tucked away in the seemingly unremarkable animals that scavenged for food behind housing developments and roamed the grounds of the local airport.Their discovery, which came after a determined local resident persuaded scientists to take a closer look at the canids, could help revive a captive breeding program for red wolves and restore the rich genetic variation that once existed in the wild population.It doesnt seem to be lost any longer, said Bridgett vonHoldt, an evolutionary biologist at Princeton University, referring to the genetic diversity that once characterized red wolves. We might have a chance to bring it back.ImageThey just didnt look rightRon Wooten, a Galveston resident, never paid close attention to the local coyotes until they ran off with his dog one night in 2008. A pack took him and carried him off, recalled Mr. Wooten, an outreach specialist at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.He found the pack, and what remained of his dog, in a nearby field. He was horrified, and he blamed himself for his dogs death. But as his flashlight swept over the coyotes red muzzles, he found himself fascinated.Determined to learn more, he posted a message on Facebook asking his neighbors to alert him if they spotted the animals. Eventually, a friend came through: There was a pack near her apartment building.Mr. Wooten raced over with his camera, snapping photographs as he watched a group of pups chasing each other. They were just beautiful, he said.But when he looked more carefully at the photos, he began to wonder whether the so-called coyotes were really coyotes at all. They just didnt look right, he said. I thought at first that they must have bred with Marmaduke or something because they had super-long legs, super-long noses.Mr. Wooten, a former fisheries biologist, started reading up on the local wildlife and stumbled across the history of red wolves. Once abundant in the southeastern United States, the wolves had dwindled in number during the 20th century a result of habitat loss, hunting and other threats.In the 1970s, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made a last-ditch effort to save the species, traveling along the Gulf Coast and trapping all the red wolves it could find. Scientists selected some of the animals for a breeding program, in hopes of maintaining the red wolf in captivity.Mr. Wooten became convinced that the creatures that had taken his dog were actually red wolf-coyote hybrids, if not actual red wolves.Eager to prove his hypothesis, he began looking for dead canids by the side of the road. I was thinking that if these are red wolves then the only way theyre going to be able to tell is with genetics, he recalled.He soon found two dead animals, collected a small patch of skin from each and tucked them away in his freezer while he tried, for years, to pique scientists interest.Sometimes they wouldnt respond, he said. Sometimes theyd say, Yeah, thats a neat animal. Nothing we can do about it. And, Theyre extinct. Its not a red wolf.Genetic secretsEventually, in 2016, Mr. Wootens photos made their way to Dr. vonHoldt, an expert on canid genetics.The animals in Mr. Wootens photos immediately struck her. They just had a special look, she said. And I bit. The whole thing hook, line and sinker.She asked him to send his specimens, but there was a glitch: By then, he had lost one. So he packed up the skin tissue he could find and threw in the scalpel he had used to prepare the other sample, hoping that the scientists could extract DNA from it.It was just a really kind of lovely chaos, Dr. vonHoldt said. (The scientists did manage to pull DNA from the scalpel, but Mr. Wooten later found the second sample and mailed that, too.)Dr. vonHoldt and her colleagues extracted DNA from the skin samples and compared it to DNA from coyotes, red wolves, gray wolves and eastern wolves. Although the two Galveston Island canids were mostly coyote, they had significant red wolf ancestry; roughly 30 percent of their genetic material was from the wolves, they found.It was a real validation, I think, to the people on the ground the naturalists and the photographers on the ground saying, We have something special here, said Kristin Brzeski, a conservation geneticist who was a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. vonHoldts lab at the time. And they do.Mr. Wooten was thrilled. It blew me away, he said.Even more remarkable, some of the genetic variants, or alleles, the Galveston animals carried were not present in any of the other North American canids the researchers analyzed, including the contemporary red wolves. The scientists theorize that these alleles were passed down from the wild red wolves that used to roam the region.They harbor ancestral genetic variation, this ghost variation, which we thought was extinct from the landscape, Dr. vonHoldt said. So theres a sense of reviving what we thought was gone.The researchers suspect that some red wolves evaded the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service dragnet back in the 1970s. There was surely a little slippery one that got away, or a couple, Dr. vonHoldt said.At some point, the red wolves or their descendants bred with local coyotes and not just in Texas. In 2018, the same year Dr. vonHoldts team published its findings, another group documented high levels of red wolf ancestry in wild canids in Louisiana.The findings could help scientists understand the genetic variation that once existed in wild red wolves and even resurrect it. We can start actually understanding what was the historical red wolf and think about reconstructing that animal, said Dr. Brzeski, who is now at Michigan Technological University.In the late 1980s, some of the red wolves from the captive breeding program were released in North Carolina. But that experimental population has plummeted in recent years; officials estimate that fewer than 20 of the animals now patrol the Carolina coast. And all the red wolves alive today are descended from about a dozen animals, an extremely low level of genetic diversity that could further imperil the species.Hybrid helpThe hybrids raise new conservation possibilities. For instance, scientists might be able to restore genetic diversity by carefully breeding red wolves to hybrids with high levels of red wolf ancestry. Or they could use artificial reproductive technologies or gene-editing techniques to insert the ghost alleles back into red wolves, Dr. vonHoldt said.The findings also come as some scientists have begun rethinking the value of interspecies hybrids. Oftentimes, hybridization is viewed as a real threat to the integrity of a species, which it can be, Dr. Brzeski said.One reason that the red wolf populations declined in the wild is because the animals frequently interbred with coyotes. But, she added, here we have these hybrids that are now potentially going to be the lifeline for the highly endangered red wolves.The discovery of hybrids in both Texas and Louisiana also suggests that scientists and officials may want to refocus their red wolf conservation efforts on those areas, said Lisette Waits, a conservation geneticist at the University of Idaho and co-author of the 2018 paper on the Louisiana hybrids.In addition to studying the hybrids, it might make sense to reintroduce captive-bred red wolves to those regions, where animals with red wolf genes still roam the landscape. It could completely change the direction of the red wolf recovery program, Dr. Waits said.Dr. Brzeski, Dr. vonHoldt and their collaborators are now studying the hybrids in both Texas and Louisiana as part of the new Gulf Coast Canine Project.They are using GPS collars and wildlife cameras to learn more about the canids movements and behaviors, collecting fecal samples to analyze their diets, using genetic analysis to trace pack relatedness and collecting tissue samples from animals with the most red wolf ancestry. One goal, Dr. vonHoldt said, is to create a biobank set of specimens that could be used to help increase the genetic health of the captive red wolf population.They are also hoping to learn more about how these red wolf alleles have persisted, especially in animals that live close to humans in a popular tourist destination. The island setting, which keeps the canids relatively reproductively isolated, is probably part of the explanation, but so is the lack of persecution, Dr. Brzeski said, noting that the animals were not commonly hunted.Indeed, Mr. Wooten is not the only local resident who has taken an interest in the animals. The research team works closely with Josh Henderson, the animal services supervisor at the Galveston Police Department, and there is considerable community support for the canids.Steve Parker, a lawyer who grew up in the area, remembers hearing childhood stories about his relatives trapping red wolves. The Galveston canids have helped him connect with the older generations, many of whom have passed away. Id like to see something and maybe be able to touch something that was special to them, he said.Mr. Wooten, for his part, dreams of setting up an educational center devoted to teaching the public about the unique animals. The possibilities of what these animals hold down here is pretty valuable, he said. And thats the reason I pursued it, I think. I think God was thumping me on the head and saying, Hey, I got animals here. Take care of em.",7
"Credit...Amber Ford for The New York TimesThe New Old AgeThe approval of Aduhelm to treat Alzheimers disease has raised hope among older adults, but many doctors wonder if it is warranted.Joan and James Morehouse have been hoping for a treatment for Alzheimers since Mr. Morehouse, 71, received a diagnosis four years ago, and they delighted in the news of Aduhelms approval. I said, Oh, my God, my prayers have been answered, Ms. Morehouse said.Credit...Amber Ford for The New York TimesPublished July 7, 2021Updated Sept. 2, 2021July 8: This article was updated to note a change in the F.D.A.s recommended use for Aduhlem that was announced after it was first published.Dr. Kenneth Koncilja, a geriatrician at the Cleveland Clinic, saw the announcement from the Food and Drug Administration on June 7, on Twitter: The agency had approved Aduhelm (aducanumab), the first drug to treat Alzheimers disease to be approved in nearly 20 years.The calls from patients spouses and family members began within the hour, and have not stopped. I was shocked at how fast the word spread Hey, is this something we can use? When can we get it? Dr. Koncilja recalled. Theres a mix of excitement, anxiety and desperation.His first call that morning came from Joan Morehouse, 78, who has been caring for her 71-year-old husband, James, in their home in North Perry, Ohio, since his Alzheimers diagnosis four years ago. She has watched him get lost on familiar drives and forget their grandchildrens names.When her brother and her son both emailed her a news article about the F.D.A. action, she recalled, I said, Oh, my God, my prayers have been answered.It fell to Dr. Koncilja to explain the complexities: That Aduhelm is not yet widely available. That protocols determining which patients qualify have yet to be developed. That the clinical trial data was ambiguous and that the drug might bring no noticeable improvements in daily life. That its side effects include brain swelling and bleeding.And that its maker, Biogen, estimates the annual cost of monthly intravenous infusions at $56,000, plus expensive scans and tests.Its a more difficult question than Ive ever had before, Dr. Koncilja said. Patients ask him how their lives will change, and I dont know how to answer.In the weeks since the F.D.A.s action, which initially placed virtually no restrictions on prescribing the drug, geriatricians, neurologists and other doctors across the country have been fielding similar questions.Aduhelm has generated intense controversy. Biogen stopped two trials in 2019 because they demonstrated no benefit, then submitted an F.D.A. application after a later analysis of one trial showed slightly slower cognitive decline at high doses.In a letter to the F.D.A., the American Geriatrics Society argued that approval was premature given the lack of sufficient evidence. The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine later came to a similar conclusion.The F.D.A.s own advisory committee strongly recommended against approval, and three member scientists resigned in protest when the agency overrode its advice. A new survey of 200 neurologists and primary care doctors has found that most disagreed with the F.D.A. decision.Senators Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, have called for a hearing, concerned that spending billions on Aduhelm could undermine Medicare. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform has announced an investigation into the drugs approval and pricing.On Thursday, reacting to widespread criticism, the F.D.A. narrowed the drugs recommended use to those with mild cognitive impairment or mild Alzheimers disease, noting that there was no data on its safety or effectiveness in later stages of dementia.ImageCredit...Kayana Szymczak for The New York TimesGiven all that, should older adults consider Aduhelm? The F.D.A. has passed the determination along to the American family, said Dr. Jason Karlawish, co-director of the Penn Memory Center, who, with a number of other doctors, publicly opposed the drugs approval.Penn Memory doctors are receiving anxious inquiries, too. Geeta Simons, a musician in Philadelphia whose 80-year-old father has Alzheimers, messaged her fathers neurologist there. I wanted to believe that this was that magical save, she said.Such doctors face a dilemma, Dr. Karlawish said, a moment when theres no decision that resolves all the uncertainties and settles the ethical concerns.It puts us in a bad place, agreed Dr. Karina Bishop, a geriatrician at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Ethically, she added, if this drug was available right now, I would not feel able to prescribe it.Even as individual doctors grapple with advising patients, hospitals and health systems are devising protocols for when Aduhelm becomes more widely available, probably within weeks.At the Mayo Clinic, said Dr. Ronald Petersen, a neurologist who directs the Alzheimers Disease Research Center there, were going to stick pretty close to the inclusion and exclusion criteria used in the trial.That means only patients with mild cognitive impairment or early Alzheimers disease would qualify, after an M.R.I. to rule out certain conditions and risks, and a P.E.T. scan or lumbar puncture to confirm the presence of amyloid. The Mayo protocols, like the clinical trials, would exclude people taking blood thinners like Warfarin or Eliquis.Its not like you come in and say, Im a little forgetful, and we say, Heres this drug, said Dr. Petersen. But not every provider, he acknowledged, will employ such safeguards.Dr. Eric Widera, a geriatrician at the University of California, San Francisco, expressed a similar concern: If doctors were extremely cautious and limited this drug to the very specific population included in the study, with very careful monitoring, it would be the first time in medicine that was ever done.He pointed out another consequence of federal approval: a rift between some doctors and the Alzheimers Association, the national advocacy group, which this spring mounted a campaign it called More Time. Intended to demonstrate public support for approval of aducanumab, the effort included newspaper ads and social media posts.Now Dr. Widera, who has worked with a local chapter to train medical students and residents, is seeking an alternate source of information to which to refer patients. He has come to mistrust the Alzheimers Association, calling it a big promoter, almost a marketer, for Biogen, which, like other pharmaceutical firms, helps underwrite the organization and contributed $275,000 to it last year.The association said in an email that history has shown us that approvals of the first drug in a new category will invigorate the field, increase investments in new treatments and generate greater innovation.One major unpredictable factor in Aduhelms future: insurance coverage. Medicare could decide to authorize coverage as reasonable and necessary, to deny or limit it, or to delay a decision. A spokesman at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it was reviewing the F.D.A.s decision and would have more information soon.Given the drugs announced price tag, a restrictive Medicare policy could put it beyond reach for most older Americans.ImageCredit...Amber Ford for The New York TimesEventually, the F.D.A. might also take action against Aduhelm. Its accelerated approval process requires Biogen to undertake a new clinical trial; if that shows no benefit, the agency could withdraw approval. But Biogen has until 2030 to report those results; by then, thousands of hopeful patients might already be taking Aduhelm.For now, doctors are wrestling with how to respond.One of my core principles is respect for patient autonomy, especially for this disease, which degrades a patients ability to exercise self-determination, said Dr. Karlawish. Slightly softening his published opposition to Aduhelm, he said that he now would prescribe it, after extensive discussions with patients, but Id be a reluctant prescriber.Several doctors described gently dissuading patients by noting the uncertainty that the drug would help, the potentially disabling side effects and the many unknowns. They have been open to waiting and getting more information, Dr. Bishop said.Ms. Morehouse, for instance, had heard nothing about Aduhelm before the F.D.A. acted. We are on a horrible journey, she said of her husband and herself. Perhaps with the new drug, we could have maybe not a normal life, but a better life.During their phone call, she listened as Dr. Koncilja noted that the science was exciting but that Aduhelm was no miracle drug. She heard for the first time about brain swelling or bleeding, and that scared me, she said. Would I ever want to put Jim through that? She was staggered by the price, which she cannot pay.Her excitement has abated. But Dr. Koncilja didnt take away all my hope, she said. He told me, Lets see the potential through the summer, and well confer again in the fall.",2
"News AnalysisMaking his debut onstage, he was greeted by forceful challenges from Elizabeth Warren and the rest of the Democratic field.Credit...Calla Kessler/The New York TimesPublished Feb. 20, 2020Updated Feb. 21, 2020Michael R. Bloomberg bobbed behind his lectern, as if the motion might deliver him somewhere more comfortable. He blinked, then blinked some more. He appeared unsteady for all the preparation his billions might buy him on questions of race and gender that could not have come as a surprise.Pressed about allegations of a hostile workplace at his company, Mr. Bloomberg wandered into a legalistic defense of nondisclosure agreements, adding that perhaps women didnt like a joke I told. Questioned on his longstanding support for stop-and-frisk policing, a signature policy of his mayoralty in New York, he professed himself embarrassed before suggesting others onstage also had plenty to apologize for.Remember, he said in one exchange, explaining why he had not yet released full tax documents. I only entered into this race 10 weeks ago.That much was clear.Until Wednesday, as Mr. Bloomberg spent heavily and campaigned atypically, bypassing the early-voting states to focus on delegate-rich contests in March and beyond, his candidacy had existed almost in parentheses: Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was the early front-runner. (But Mr. Bloomberg wanted his voters.) Senator Bernie Sanders won New Hampshire. (But would Mr. Bloombergs fortune bury him by the spring?)Onstage at last, beside his competitors for the first time, the partition fell away unlocking months of pent-up, fieldwide frustration with how the primary has proceeded. Though Mr. Bloomberg took the earliest and perhaps fiercest fire, his meek rebuttals seemed to inspire a wider reckoning among his peers, who slashed and bickered with an eagerness the race had not seen before. It signaled both the urgent electoral hour and, at times, a genuine and visceral distaste for Mr. Bloombergs attempt in recent weeks to bend the race to his whims.Often, Mr. Bloomberg seemed resigned to standing with a half-smirk, less poker face than momentary capitulation, listening as one rival after another took a turn.He didnt get a whole lot done, Mr. Biden said of Mr. Bloombergs time as mayor, a statement the billionaire did not bother jumping in to contest.I dont think you look at Donald Trump and say, We need someone richer in the White House, Senator Amy Klobuchar reasoned, an argument Mr. Bloomberg chose not to grapple with much.Id like to talk about who were running against, Senator Elizabeth Warren teased, a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians. And no, Im not talking about Donald Trump.At one point, a moderator, Lester Holt, had to beckon Mr. Bloomberg to defend himself, observing that there was a lot for you to respond to.Um, Mr. Bloomberg began. He said he was the best candidate to defeat President Trump and the leader with the experience to succeed if he did.Im a mayor, he said, or was a mayor. It had been a while.Ms. Warren, seeking to boost her chances after setbacks in the first two states, appeared particularly emboldened, tweaking Ms. Klobuchar on health care policy, Mr. Sanders for the vitriol among some of his supporters and, most gleefully, Mr. Bloomberg.After a halting, if careful, answer from Mr. Bloomberg about the nondisclosure agreements during which the former mayor recited various feats of gender parity in his business and government life Ms. Warren challenged him to release women from the agreements if they wished to speak publicly about how they were treated in his employ.I hope you heard what his defense was, Ms. Warren said, before paraphrasing liberally. Ive been nice to some women. That just doesnt cut it.For much of the night, Mr. Bloomberg, who had not debated since his third and final mayoral election in 2009, looked both rusty and familiar. He was every bit the political patrician New Yorkers remember, referring to his fellow hopefuls as my associates, calling the debate a panel and joking that TurboTax would not suffice for the thousands of pages of financial documents he has yet to release.He did appear to grow more confident later in the night, speaking forcefully on environmental issues and landing a well-practiced zinger or two.What a wonderful country we have, he said in one answer, needling Mr. Sanders for his considerable (if much smaller) net worth. The best known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with three houses. What did I miss here?ImageCredit...Calla Kessler/The New York TimesMr. Bloombergs very presence onstage was a testament to the unsettled primary that coaxed him into running in the first place a heady turn in a race that has been defined, in part, by progressive contempt for the billionaire class.The inability of any candidate to unite the partys disparate factions so far has provided Mr. Bloomberg with an opening, albeit a complicated one, particularly after the disappointing early-state returns for Mr. Biden, whose stumbles on the campaign trail last year helped persuade Mr. Bloomberg to reconsider a decision to stay away.The result, with voting already underway, is a field whose front-runner, Mr. Sanders, and his would-be spoiler, Mr. Bloomberg, have both spent much of their adult lives resisting a full embrace of the party they now hope to lead.We could wake up two weeks from today, the day after Super Tuesday, and the only candidates left standing will be Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg, the two most polarizing figures on this stage, Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., warned, adding, Lets put forward somebody whos actually a Democrat.For Mr. Bloomberg, an uninspiring debate debut risked underwhelming Democrats whose chief exposure to him in recent months has been through an inescapable ad campaign.But it is not clear how, or even if, his performance might affect his prospects. Mr. Bloomberg is offering audiences an unsentimental bargain, in some ways, pitched less at the heart than the gut. These are extraordinary times, the argument goes, requiring extraordinary interventions up to and including an ultrarich, party-switching Manhattanite hard-wired to replace another.Voters do not need to fall in love, Mr. Bloombergs allies say. They need only to fall on the right side of the question underpinning his campaign: Can anyone else really be trusted to take down the president? And if not, then why not default to the man with the biggest budget for political weaponry?Mike Will Get It Done, read the signs at his events. The means are generally left unsaid.On Wednesday, Mr. Bloomberg moved to project this brand of lets-get-realism after Mr. Sanders spoke about workers feeling like cogs in a machine.I cant think of a way that would make it easier for Donald Trump to get re-elected than listening to this conversation, Mr. Bloomberg said. This is ridiculous. Were not going to throw out capitalism. We tried that, other countries tried that. It was called communism and it just didnt work.Mr. Bloombergs instincts, if unchecked, do not lend themselves easily to a live television event. He is an undersize septuagenarian with a New England accent and a New Yorkers impatience. He has been known to sigh audibly or look skyward when annoyed by questions. He can cling to statistics as a kind of rhetorical security blanket, firing off numbers where concision would do. If advisers had urged Mr. Bloomberg to curb these tics, it did not show onstage in Las Vegas.ImageCredit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesFor progressives like Mr. Sanders and Ms. Warren, Mr. Bloomberg is a gift-wrapped contrast, a flesh-and-blood billionaire elbowing into the process on cue. Mr. Biden, straining to revive his campaign after bleak finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, has also highlighted Mr. Bloombergs trail of troubling comments about redlining and stop-and-frisk, suggesting that black voters putting their trust in the former New York mayor are doomed to be disappointed.It was a violation of every right people have, Mr. Biden said Wednesday night of the aggressive policing tactic.While Mr. Bloomberg has at times proved an irresistible target, Mr. Sanders has appeared to absorb fewer attacks from his rivals than a nominal front-runner might typically expect. More moderate candidates like Mr. Biden and Mr. Buttigieg have pressed Mr. Sanders on the cost of his plans. Ms. Warren has said he has a lot of questions to answer about the venom among some supporters.But it has often been Mr. Bloomberg coming in for the most persistent flogging of late.Both the Sanders and Bloomberg campaigns see value in framing the primary as a two-man race, and even before Wednesday night, the week had produced several punchy skirmishes.Hours before the debate, a Sanders spokeswoman claimed on CNN without evidence that Mr. Bloomberg had suffered heart attacks in the past as she tried to deflect questions about Mr. Sanderss medical records after his recent heart attack. (The spokeswoman, Briahna Joy Gray, later said she misspoke.)Well, we both have two stents, Mr. Sanders said Wednesday night, suggesting a kind of camaraderie-in-health.Other subjects encouraged clearer distinction.Mr. Bloomberg declared himself the only candidate there who had started a business. (Is that fair? he asked, hearing no objection. OK.)And during closing remarks, after Ms. Klobuchar had pointed viewers to her website, Mr. Bloomberg noted one clear measure on which he stands alone.You can join me at MikeBloomberg.com, too, if you want, he said. But Im not asking for any money.",3
"N.B.A.|Knicks Hope Bucks Loss Was Hiccuphttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/sports/basketball/knicks-hope-bucks-loss-was-hiccup.htmlFeb. 4, 2014GREENBURGH, N.Y. Given the way their season has unfolded, it seemed almost safe to assume that the Knicks, after winning four of their previous five games, would somehow find a way to lose to theworst team in the N.B.A.It happened Monday night against the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Knicks returned to practice Tuesday hoping it was an aberration amid strong recent play.Theres a lot of little things that we just didnt get done that we got to clean up, said Coach Mike Woodson, whose task will not be any easier Wednesday night when the Knicks (19-29) face the Portland Trail Blazers (34-14) at Madison Square Garden. If we do that, I know well put ourselves in position to win games. But its the little things right now that are beating us.One of those little things though not so little, really continues to be perimeter defense. The Bucks, whose 101-98 victory left them 30 games below .500, went 11 of 18 from 3-point range, and Brandon Knights step-back 3-pointer over Raymond Felton provided the winning margin with 2.3 seconds left. Woodson said he thought Felton had given Knight too much space.But again, when I reviewed the tape, it never should have gotten to that point, said Woodson, who cited as an example the nine free throws that the Knicks missed.Felton circumvented reporters after the game, and a team spokesman said he was unavailable for interviews after Tuesdays practice.One player who did speak was Amare Stoudemire, who expressed frustration with his limited role.After missing seven games with a sprained left ankle, Stoudemire returned to play four minutes Saturday in a loss to the Miami Heat. Against the Bucks, he collected 7 points and 4 rebounds in 17 minutes.From a doctors standpoint, there hasnt been limitations since the first week of the season, so we cant keep saying there are limitations, he said. Its a coachs decision at the end of the day. I feel great and Im ready to play, but its up to him if he wants to play me or not.Asked if he had pressed Woodson for more playing time, Stoudemire said: Yeah, I mean, I talk to Coach all the time about it. He knows Im ready. He knows how hard I train in the weight room and also on the basketball court. He added, Im ready to play.",4
"Credit...Erin Schaff for The New York TimesJune 27, 2018WASHINGTON Senator Mitch McConnell wasted no time on Wednesday and promised a Senate vote on a new Supreme Court nominee by the fall and Democrats will have little power to prevent confirmation of President Trumps choice on their own.The Senate stands ready to fulfill its constitutional role by offering advice and consent on President Trumps nominee to fill this vacancy, Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, said after Justice Anthony M. Kennedy announced his retirement. We will vote to confirm Justice Kennedys successor this fall.The decision to move swiftly shows that Mr. McConnell and his fellow Senate Republicans do not intend to give Democrats and their allies an extended opportunity to build opposition to a nominee or to retake the Senate and blockade confirmation as Republicans did with President Barack Obamas nominee in 2016.The confirmation process will throw a volatile new issue into the already charged midterm campaign season, providing fresh challenges for both Republican and Democratic candidates.But it represents an opportunity for a crowning judicial triumph for Mr. McConnell, who led the blockade against Merrick B. Garland in 2016, and will now have the chance to usher a second Republican-nominated justice onto the Supreme Court in the first two years of Mr. Trumps presidency. He has already guided scores of appeals and district court judges onto the bench.In elevating Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court last year, Republicans altered Senate rules to deny Democrats the opportunity to filibuster the nomination as well as future Supreme Court choices. That procedural change following a similar 2013 Democratic effort to speed confirmation for lower court judges means that Republicans can confirm a second Trump pick with only Republican votes though they hold a very narrow 51-to-49 majority.But because one of those Republicans, Senator John McCain of Arizona, is absent with cancer and unlikely to be on hand for future votes, the resistance of a single Republican could be an obstacle to confirmation. That may influence Mr. Trumps selection process and prevent him from making a risky conservative choice that could ignite resistance from his own party. It will also drive Democrats to put intense pressure on more moderate Republicans, like Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who support abortion rights.Democrats made clear that they intend to focus on a potential threat to Roe v. Wade as part of their effort to upend a Trump nominee they find objectionable or, failing that, to deploy the issue along with health care as a rallying point for voters in November.Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, called on his colleagues to block any nominee who would encroach on established rights that Democrats consider sacrosanct.The Senate should reject on a bipartisan basis any justice who would overturn Roe v. Wade or undermine key health care protections, he said.Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, echoed that call.When it comes time to decide on a replacement for Justice Kennedy, I hope that my Republican colleagues who believe that women, not the government, have the right to control their own bodies will stand with those of us who oppose any nominee who would deny any woman the right to choose, Mr. Sanders said.Dawn Laguens, the executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said that the Senate should reject any nominee who would not defend Roe v. Wade and womens rights. We cannot allow a world in which our daughters and granddaughters have fewer rights than we have, she told reporters, vowing that Planned Parenthood supporters would be contacting representatives to voice concerns with the list of nominees provided by Mr. Trump.But Ms. Collins and Ms. Murkowski have in the past supported Republican Supreme Court nominees who have provided general assurances that they would not overturn settled issues.Ms. Murkowski acknowledged the difficulty of the potential choice, and said she would consider privately signaling to the White House who she would and would not support. But, she added, any decision she made would have to be based on multiple issues.Roe is one of those factors that I will weigh, just as I weighed it with the other nominations that came before us, she said. Is it the only factor that I weigh? No.The confirmation showdown presents dangers for the 10 Democratic Senate candidates running for re-election in states carried by Mr. Trump. They will come under intense pressure to back the president and his nominee or risk losing their seats in a backlash.I would suspect if we vote before Election Day, and we have a Gorsuch-like nominee, man or woman, I think some of them will wind up voting for that nominee, said Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri.But they are sure to be squeezed by progressive advocacy allies, who intend to demand united Democratic opposition.Several Democrats called for the Trump administration to put forward a nominee who could attract significant bipartisan support, but the administration seemed almost certain to seize the opportunity to push the already conservative court to the right, given that Democratic votes might not be needed at all.The fight for a second Trump-nominated justice comes as Democrats still grieve the Republican treatment of Mr. Garland, who did not even get a hearing over a nearly yearlong blockade. That anger was stoked anew in recent days as the court delivered a series of 5-to-4 decisions on politically contentious issues such as abortion, labor, voting rights and a travel ban in favor of Republicans and the administration.Democrats and many legal analysts believe those rulings would have gone the other way had Mr. Garland been on the court, and the outcome left Democrats seething. The decision by Justice Kennedy has only exacerbated fears about a highly politicized court.Ive been very depressed about the Supreme Court for a year, said Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who clerked for Justice Harry Blackmun. I often wonder what he would think about the court and how politicized its principles and values are. It is a political sellout.Such boiling resentment over Mr. Garlands treatment ensures that Democrats will not be willing to provide much assistance to Mr. Trump in filling the seat. Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat and a veteran of countless judicial confirmation battles, noted on Wednesday that Mr. McConnells rationale for blocking Mr. Garland was to await the outcome of the presidential election. He said that Mr. McConnell should now follow his own precedent and allow the voters to speak in the midterm elections.Senator McConnell set the new standard by giving the American people their say in the upcoming election before court vacancies are filled, Mr. Durbin said in a statement. With so much at stake for the people of our country, the U.S. Senate must be consistent and consider the presidents nominee once the new Congress is seated in January.Mr. Schumer made the same point. Our Republican colleagues in the Senate should follow the rule they set in 2016: Not to consider a Supreme Court justice in an election year, he said on the Senate floor. Anything but that would be the absolute height of hypocrisy.Mr. McConnell is unlikely to heed that advice.It is imperative that the presidents nominee be considered fairly, Mr. McConnell said.",3
"Feb. 16, 2014SEOUL, South Korea When the short-track speed skater Viktor Ahn waved the Russian flag on his victory lap and sang the Russian national anthem on Saturday after winning the gold medal in the mens 1,000 meters at Winter Olympics on Saturday, it was a poignant scene for South Koreans.Mr. Ahn, whose Korean name was Ahn Hyun-soo, was one of the best skaters South Korea had ever produced, winning many medals for his birth country, including five world championship titles in a row and three Olympic golds. Everyone knew his name in South Korea, where Olympic gold medals are strong symbols of national pride and their winners are looked on as patriots.As a Korean, I wish he were singing the Korean national anthem, Mr. Ahns father, Ahn Gi-won, told the South Korean news agency Yonhap in Sochi, Russia. But however he tried in South Korea, he could have no opportunity to recover his reputation.South Koreans are proud of the nations short-track speed skaters, who have won more Olympic gold medals than all of those participating in its other winter sports competitions combined.When after a bitter falling-out with South Korean sports officials, Mr. Ahn, 28, decided to switch his allegiance to Russia and adopt a Russian name in 2011, many South Koreans accused him of betrayal to get cash rewards from an Olympic host nation anxious to win its gold in short-track skating.But others saw him as a victim of a sordid underside of their countrys star-studded short-track speed skating world, which has been plagued by accusations that coaches fostered factionalism, physically abused athletes and fixed matches to promote those they favored and to squash the careers of those they did not.By Sunday, South Korean media outlets, Internet bloggers and Twitter users were congratulating Mr. Ahn for his victory against their countrys scandal-ridden short-track speedskating authorities. I am happier about his gold than a gold won by a South Korean, one South Korean posted on Twitter.After the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, where he won three gold medals, Mr. Ahn was not allowed to rejoin the national team because, speedskating federation officials said, he suffered frequent injuries and was getting too old for a sport that needed to foster many talented youngsters.But Mr. Ahn and his father blamed the federation for turning its back on a storied skater during a temporary setback, a problem that South Koreas president, Park Geun-hye, seemed to tacitly acknowledge.The player Ahn has the best skills but he cannot seek his dream as a South Korean but is playing for another country, Ms. Park said last Monday after Mr. Ahn won the bronze medal in the mens 1,500 meters after outracing South Korean skaters. We must ask ourselves if his problem was not due to the unreasonableness in our sports community.She blamed sports leaders who discriminate against certain athletes while recruiting players, "" adding, This practice buries the talent of great athletes and undermines the competitiveness of our sports teams.After his short-track speedskating victory, Mr. Ahn kissed the ice. For the past eight years, I have never lost sight of this moment, he said. This is the moment that I confirm that I made a right decision.South Koreas federation had no reaction to Mr. Ahns victory. Afterward, access to its website was disrupted, possibly because of a flood of angry users who wanted to criticize the federation, South Korean media reported.On Twitter, another user posted, Somebody must explain why the flag the player Ahn was holding was Russian, not South Korean.",4
"A normally ceremonial ritual in Congress exploded into chaos as protesters, egged on by President Trump, forced their way into the Capitol to stop the counting of electoral votes to confirm President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.s victory.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesJan. 6, 2021WASHINGTON Congress confirmed President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.s victory early Thursday morning, overwhelmingly repudiating a drive by President Trump to overturn his defeat after it culminated in a mob of loyalists storming and occupying the Capitol in a shocking display of violence that shook the core of American democracy.There was no parallel in modern American history, as insurgents acting with the presidents encouragement vandalized Speaker Nancy Pelosis office, smashing windows, looting art and briefly taking control of the Senate chamber, where they took turns posing for photographs with fists up on the dais where Vice President Mike Pence had just been presiding. Outside the building, they erected a gallows, punctured the tires of a police SUV, and left a note on its windshield saying, PELOSI IS SATAN.The attack by rebels carrying pro-Trump paraphernalia stopped the electoral counting for several hours and sent lawmakers and Mr. Pence fleeing. But by the time the Senate reconvened in a reclaimed Capitol, one of the nations most polarizing moments had yielded an unexpected moment of solidarity that briefly eclipsed partisan division. Republicans and Democrats locked arms to denounce the violence and express their determination to carry out what they called a constitutionally sacrosanct function. They refused, by resounding bipartisan majorities, to deliver Mr. Trump the election reversal he demanded.Mr. Pence, breaking with the president he has loyally served, made Mr. Bidens victory official just after 3:40 a.m. in Washington, declaring that Mr. Biden had received 306 electoral votes to Mr. Trumps 232 and would be inaugurated the 46th president on Jan. 20.To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win, Mr. Pence had said earlier. Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the peoples house.Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, said the failed insurrection had only clarified Congresss purpose.They tried to disrupt our democracy, he said. They failed.In a statement just before 4 a.m. Thursday, the president finally conceded, saying, Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th.Still, the process opened bitter wounds within the Republican Party that are unlikely to quickly heal. While some Republicans who had planned to join the effort to overturn Mr. Bidens victory agreed to drop their challenges after the Capitol siege, Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri pressed forward, keeping both chambers in session well past midnight.An objection to Arizonas results lodged by Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama just before the violence broke out in the Capitol failed overwhelmingly in the Senate, 6 to 93. The House turned it back on a vote of 121 to 303, but more than half of that chambers Republicans supported the effort to overturn the election results.A challenge to Pennsylvanias results backed by Mr. Hawley ended in lopsided defeats, as well. Skipping debate altogether, senators voted to reject it 7 to 92. The House moved more slowly, but eventually voted 138 to 282 to do the same.The upheaval unfolded on a day when Democrats secured a stunning pair of victories in runoff elections in Georgia, winning effective control of the Senate and the complete levers of power in Washington. And it arrived as Congress met for what would normally have been a perfunctory and ceremonial session to declare Mr. Bidens election.From the start, Mr. Trumps allies, acting at his behest, had been determined to use the session to formally contest the outcome. Driving a painful wedge among Republicans, they trumpeted his false claims of voting fraud and initially gave voice inside the Capitol to those who ultimately forced their way in, stopping the process in its tracks.Lawmakers and Mr. Pence mostly took shelter together near the Capitol, amid violent clashes between protesters and law enforcement, but small groups reported being stranded for a time in offices and hideaways throughout the building.Capitol Police, reinforced by the F.B.I. and National Guard in tactical gear, successfully retook the Capitol complex just before 6 p.m., after more than three hours of mayhem. Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington had declared a citywide curfew from 6 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday, and a public emergency lasting until after Mr. Bidens inauguration.The siege was the climax of a weekslong campaign by Mr. Trump, filled with baseless claims of fraud and outright lies, to try to overturn a democratically decided election that he lost. He fought the result in court with dozens of spurious lawsuits that he lost. He outright pressured Republican leaders in key battleground states to reverse the will of the voters. And he fought, at last, to turn the congressional counting into the site of his final stand.We gather due to a selfish mans injured pride, and the outrage of supporters who he has deliberately misinformed for the past two months and stirred to action this very morning, Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah and the 2012 presidential nominee, said after the chamber reconvened. What happened here today was an insurrection incited by the president of the United States.Far from discouraging confrontation, Mr. Trump had encouraged his supporters earlier Wednesday to confront Republican lawmakers going against him to side with the Constitution.We will never concede, he told a group of thousands gathered near the White House, inveighing against members of his own party preparing to finalize his loss as weak Republicans, pathetic Republicans whose leadership had gone down the tubes. He then repeatedly told them to march to the Capitol where the vote tallying was about to get underway. The violence began a little more than two hours later.ImageCredit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesIn a speech just before the violence broke out, Mr. McConnell, the most powerful Republican on Capitol Hill, forcefully rebuked Mr. Trump and members of his own party, warning that the drive to overturn a legitimate election risked sending democracy into a death spiral.The voters, the courts and the states have all spoken, said Mr. McConnell, the majority leader. If we overrule them all, it would damage our republic forever.Yet even as he spoke, it was becoming clear that the vicious cycle had already been unleashed. Within an hour, Mr. McConnell was in the grip of his Capitol Police detail and being rushed out of his chamber with other senators as members of his own party chanted curses to his name.Mr. Biden, in his own remarks, demanded that Mr. Trump intervene to tamp down an unprecedented assault on democracy. He called for a televised address by Mr. Trump to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege.This is not dissent. Its disorder. Its chaos. It borders on sedition, and it must end now, Mr. Biden said. I call on this mob to pull back and allow the work of democracy to go forward.Mr. Trump initially stayed quiet as the mob rampaged through the Capitol. When he did make himself heard, it was to call for support for law enforcement in a tweet that concluded, Stay peaceful! But not long after, he released a brief video repeating his disproved claim that the election was stolen and speaking in sympathetic and affectionate terms to members of the mob. Later, he absolved the mobsters of their gross assault, effectively arguing that their actions had been warranted.These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long, Mr. Trump wrote Wednesday evening in a tweet, which Twitter later removed. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!ImageCredit...Kenny Holston for The New York TimesThe mob of Trump supporters was already massing by the thousands on Capitol Hill when Congress convened in joint session at 1 p.m. Under normal circumstances, the counting of electoral votes is little more than a glorified paperwork exercise.But with Mr. Trumps refusal to concede, his allies had planned a series of as many as six objections to the electoral votes of battleground states Mr. Biden won, turning the session into a messy final parliamentary stand.The president had also intensely pressured Mr. Pence, who as vice president oversees the counting, to go rogue and unilaterally throw out the votes of key battleground states Mr. Trump lost. Shortly before the session began, Mr. Pence denied him in a bold statement after four years of loyal alliance.I do not believe that the founders of our country intended to invest the vice president with unilateral authority to decide which electoral votes should be counted during the joint session of Congress, and no vice president in American history has ever asserted such authority, he wrote.Once the counting got underway, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona quickly lodged the first such objection to Mr. Gosars home state, sending senators and House members to their respective chambers for up to two hours of debate on Mr. Trumps baseless fraud claims.About 2:15 p.m., as the House and Senate separately debated the objection, security rushed Mr. Pence out of the Senate chamber and the Capitol building was placed on lockdown after the demonstrators surged past barricades and law enforcement toward the legislative chambers.We now have individuals that have breached the Capitol building, an officer told the House.In a scene of unrest common in other countries but seldom witnessed in the history of the United States capital, hundreds of people in the mob barreled past fence barricades outside the Capitol and clashed with officers. Shouting demonstrators mobbed the second floor lobby just outside the Senate chamber, as law enforcement officials placed themselves in front of the chamber doors.For a time, senators and members of the House were locked inside their respective chambers. Just outside the locked doors, Mr. Trumps supporters violently tussled with the police. A woman inside the building was shot and later died, the District of Columbia police said. Three others died of medical emergencies, authorities said. Multiple officers were injured.ImageCredit...J. Scott Applewhite/Associated PressAs the mob closed in, senators were rushed into the well of the Senate and down into the basement where they left the building via an underground tunnel.This is what youve gotten, guys, Mr. Romney yelled as the Senate was first thrust into a lockdown, apparently addressing his Republican colleagues who were leading the charge to press Mr. Trumps false claims of a stolen election.On the other side of the Capitol, Representative Steve Cohen, Democrat of Tennessee, yelled out to Republicans on the House floor: Call Trump, tell him to call off his revolutionary guards.Multiple lawmakers reported that the Capitol Police had instructed them to take cover on the House floor and prepare to use protective hoods after tear gas was dispersed in the Capitol Rotunda of the Capitol. Shortly after, the police escorted senators and members of House from the building to others nearby, as the mob swarmed the hallways just steps from where lawmakers were meeting, carrying pro-Trump paraphernalia.Representative Nancy Mace, a freshman Republican from South Carolina, described seeing people assaulting Capitol Police. In a Twitter post, Ms. Mace shared a video of the chaos and wrote: This is wrong. This is not who we are. Im heartbroken for our nation today.In the early afternoon, the police fired what appeared to be flash-bang grenades. Rather than disperse, the demonstrators cheered and shouted, Push forward, push forward. One person shouted, Thats our house, meaning the Capitol. Other people repeatedly shouted, You swore an oath.When the violence broke out it was Mr. Pence, sheltering in the Capitol, not Mr. Trump who approved the deployment of the D.C. National Guard, according to Defense Department officials. Mr. Trump initially rebuffed and resisted requests to mobilize forces, according to a person with knowledge of the events. It required intervention from Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel, among other officials, the person said.At the White House, officials including two from the East Wing and a top press aide began submitting their resignations, with more expected to follow in the coming days.I dont recognize our country today, and the members of Congress who have supported this anarchy do not deserve to represent their fellow Americans, said Representative Elaine Luria, Democrat of Virginia.Other Republicans laid responsibility squarely at the feet of the president.What he has done and what he has caused here is something weve never seen before in our history, Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 House Republican, said on NBC. Ms. Cheney said that the chaos unleashed on Capitol Hill would be part of his legacy.What we are seeing today is a result of that a result of convincing people that Congress was going to overturn the results of the election, a result of suggestions that he wouldnt leave office, she said.Reporting was contributed by Luke Broadwater, Catie Edmondson, Jonathan Martin, Helene Cooper and Michael D. Shear from Washington, and Maggie Haberman from New York.",3
"The pathogen is proving a familiar adage: The dose makes the poison.Credit...Misha Friedman for The New York TimesMay 29, 2020When experts recommend wearing masks, staying at least six feet away from others, washing your hands frequently and avoiding crowded spaces, what theyre really saying is: Try to minimize the amount of virus you encounter.A few viral particles cannot make you sick the immune system would vanquish the intruders before they could. But how much virus is needed for an infection to take root? What is the minimum effective dose?A precise answer is impossible, because its difficult to capture the moment of infection. Scientists are studying ferrets, hamsters and mice for clues but, of course, it wouldnt be ethical for scientists to expose people to different doses of the coronavirus, as they do with milder cold viruses.The truth is, we really just dont know, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University in New York. I dont think we can make anything better than an educated guess.Common respiratory viruses, like influenza and other coronaviruses, should offer some insight. But researchers have found little consistency.For SARS, also a coronavirus, the estimated infective dose is just a few hundred particles. For MERS, the infective dose is much higher, on the order of thousands of particles.The new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, is more similar to the SARS virus and, therefore, the infectious dose may be hundreds of particles, Dr. Rasmussen said.But the virus has a habit of defying predictions.Generally, people who harbor high levels of pathogens whether from influenza, H.I.V. or SARS tend to have more severe symptoms and are more likely to pass on the pathogens to others.But in the case of the new coronavirus, people who have no symptoms seem to have viral loads that is, the amount of virus in their bodies just as high as those who are seriously ill, according to some studies.And coronavirus patients are most infectious two to three days before symptoms begin, less so after the illness really hits.Some people are generous transmitters of the coronavirus; others are stingy. So-called super-spreaders seem to be particularly gifted in transmitting it, although its unclear whether thats because of their biology or their behavior.On the receiving end, the shape of a persons nostrils and the amount of nose hair and mucus present as well as the distribution of certain cellular receptors in the airway that the virus needs to latch on to can all influence how much virus it takes to become infected.A higher dose is clearly worse, though, and that may explain why some young health care workers have fallen victim even though the virus usually targets older people.The crucial dose may also vary depending on whether its ingested or inhaled.People may take in virus by touching a contaminated surface and then putting their hands on their nose or mouth. But this isnt thought to be the main way the virus spreads, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.That form of transmission may require millions more copies of the virus to cause an infection, compared to inhalation.Coughing, sneezing, singing, talking and even heavy breathing can result in the expulsion of thousands of large and small respiratory droplets carrying the virus.Its clear that one doesnt have to be sick and coughing and sneezing for transmission to occur, said Dr. Dan Barouch, a viral immunologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.Larger droplets are heavy and float down quickly unless theres a breeze or an air-conditioning blast and cant penetrate surgical masks. But droplets less than 5 microns in diameter, called aerosols, can linger in the air for hours.They travel further, last longer and have the potential of more spread than the large droplets, Dr. Barouch said.Three factors seem to be particularly important for aerosol transmission: proximity to the infected person, air flow and timing.A windowless public bathroom with high foot traffic is riskier than a bathroom with a window, or a bathroom thats rarely used. A short outdoor conversation with a masked neighbor is much safer than either of those scenarios.Recently, Dutch researchers used a special spray nozzle to simulate the expulsion of saliva droplets and then tracked their movement. The scientists found that just cracking open a door or a window can banish aerosols.Even the smallest breeze will do something, said Daniel Bonn, a physicist at the University of Amsterdam who led the study.Observations from two hospitals in Wuhan, China, published in April in the journal Nature, determined much the same thing: more aerosolized particles were found in unventilated toilet areas than in airier patient rooms or crowded public areas.This makes intuitive sense, experts said. But they noted that aerosols, because they are smaller than 5 microns, would also contain much less, perhaps millions-fold less, virus than droplets of 500 microns.It really takes a lot of these single-digit size droplets to change the risk for you, said Dr. Joshua Rabinowitz, a quantitative biologist at Princeton University.Apart from avoiding crowded indoor spaces, the most effective thing people can do is wear masks, all of the experts said. Even if masks dont fully shield you from droplets loaded with virus, they can cut down the amount you receive, and perhaps bring it below the infectious dose.This is not a virus for which hand washing seems like it will be enough, Dr. Rabinowitz said. We have to limit crowds, we have to wear masks.",2
"Videotranscripttranscript'BBC Dad' Chats About Family BlooperRobert E. Kelly, the professor whose BBC interview spread widely on the internet after being interrupted by his children, spoke on Wednesday at Pusan National University in South Korea.(SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR FOR POLITICS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AT PUSAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, ROBERT KELLY, SAYING: we love our children very much, and we are happy that our family blooper - our family error on television - brought so much laughter to so many people. // I think the reason why this became, why this went viral is because my real life sort of punched through the fake cover I had created for television, right? There I am in my suit, delivering my talking points, or whatever, and then suddenly reality bursts in. I think thats my sense of why this is so resonant.// I am a little bit wary of the sort of fallout for my academic credentials. We didnt want this. I mean I guess this is now the first line of my obituary, right? Im BBC Dad for a while I suppose.Robert E. Kelly, the professor whose BBC interview spread widely on the internet after being interrupted by his children, spoke on Wednesday at Pusan National University in South Korea.CreditCredit...Yelim Lee/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMarch 15, 2017HONG KONG Strangers ask him if he was wearing pants. His phone hasnt stopped ringing. And, no, he was not abusing his daughter in trying to get her out of camera range during a live television interview.Robert E. Kelly, the so-called BBC dad whose young children wandered into the room while he was doing a Skype interview on South Korean politics, met with reporters along with his family on Wednesday to discuss their newfound fame and the very public family blooper that has made them a viral sensation.This is now the first line in my obituary, Dr. Kelly said during a news conference at Pusan National University in South Korea, where he is a professor of political science.With his 8-month-old son, James, squirming in the arms of his wife, Kim Jeong-ah, Dr. Kelly told the room full of reporters that when the BBC interview ended, he thought he would never be invited on television again. Little did he know.We thought it was a disaster, he said of the interview during which his 4-year-old daughter, Marion, marched into the room, followed by James in a squeaky walker, before his wife burst in and hurriedly shepherded the children away. We thought no TV network would ever call us again.The video has been mined by pundits for wider social significance, lampooned by comedians and doctored by GIF-makers. But Dr. Kelly warned against attaching deeper meaning to an embarrassing work-life mishap, noting that while doing TV interviews from home he tries to present a professional backdrop, despite the occasional chaos of his home life.My real life punched through the fake cover I had created on television, he said. This is the kind of thing a lot of working parents can relate to.He also batted away some of the darker interpretations of his behavior, saying he was not manhandling his daughter by pushing her away during the interview.I was not shoving Marion out of the way, he said. I was trying to slide Marion behind the chair because we have toys and books in the room that he hoped would distract her.Dr. Kelly said he and his wife were bemused by the assumption and the subsequent backlash against it that Ms. Kim was a nanny working for the family. He said that they were offended, but not as much as some commentators on social media.Neither one of us are interested in politicizing this or having this provoke a backlash, Dr. Kelly said in a telephone interview from his home after the news conference.Dr. Kelly, who is from the United States, met Ms. Kim, a yoga teacher, at a shopping mall in Seoul shortly after he moved to South Korea in 2008. He and his wife rarely talk about race, he said, but they wonder whether their mixed-race children will face prejudice growing up in Asia.So far we havent gotten any flak, he said, noting that his daughter, who is bilingual, is doing well in a Korean kindergarten.He said that the couple occasionally wonder whether their children will get bullied, but, he said, Were not really keen on this becoming the subject of some aspiring sociologists dissertation.Dr. Kelly has been a contributing guest on the BBC for many years, regularly discussing the tumultuous politics of the Korean Peninsula from the now-famous room.His internet fame comes as he has been in demand with the recent deluge of news about the two Koreas, including the removal of Park Geun-hye as South Koreas president and North Koreas missile tests.The United States secretary of state, Rex W. Tillerson, is heading to South Korea on Friday, and Dr. Kelly said he hoped the United States would reassure its allies that it would help them defend against Chinese bullying.He expressed some concern about all the attention his family had received, saying, We have been buried in phone calls. And he denied any intention of cashing in on his newfound fame, saying that it would be unseemly to monetize something involving his children.Contrary to speculation on the internet, Dr. Kelly said, he and Ms. Kim did not fight after the interview ended. And he shot down a widely circulated theory for why he had not gotten up from his chair.I was wearing pants, he said.",6
"tech fixWe are beholden to a few Big Tech overlords for much of our digital lives. We can be more conscientious about it.Credit...Glenn HarveyJuly 29, 2020In the morning, you check email. At noon, you browse social media and message friends. In the evening, you listen to music while shopping online. Around bedtime, you curl up with an e-book.For all of those activities, you probably used a product made or sold by Google, Amazon, Apple or Facebook. Theres no simple way to avoid those Big Four. Even if you subscribed to Spotify, you would probably still be using a Google Android phone, an Amazon speaker or an Apple iPhone to stream the music. Even if you deleted Facebook, you might still be using the Facebook-owned Instagram or WhatsApp.Being beholden to a small set of companies that touch every corner of our digital lives is precisely why lawmakers have summoned the chief executives of Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple to testify in an antitrust hearing on Wednesday. Expect the tech titans to be grilled over whether their companies have become so powerful and far-reaching that they harm rivals and all of us, too.So what can we do if we want to break out of the stranglehold of Big Tech?At first glance, there may not seem like much we can do to escape. Its not like you can start shopping at local bookstores and put Amazon out of business, said Jason Fried, the founder of Basecamp, a Chicago-based company that offers productivity apps.But the more I thought about this, the more I realized that there were some steps that we could take to better support techs little guys, too. We would do ourselves and smaller businesses a favor by staying informed on alternatives, for one. We could change our consumption patterns so that we were not just buying new products from the tech giants. And we could show our support for indie developers who make the apps we love.As Mr. Fried put it, We can do things to change our own conscience. Heres how.When possible, find alternativesStep One to becoming a more conscientious consumer is doing some research.While Google Chrome may be the most popular web browser, there are alternatives that collect less data about us. And while all of our friends are on Facebook, there are also smaller apps or methods we can use to stay connected with them. The key is to read news sites and tech blogs to learn about options.You have to read and be informed, said Don Heider, chief executive of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. Otherwise, youre not going to have a clue of where to go and what to pick and what the impact is.Mr. Heider pointed to a few examples: Instead of Google Chrome, people can download great browsers, including DuckDuckGo, Brave and Opera, which focus on stronger privacy and security protections. Instead of Facebook, we can tell our friends to hang out with us on social media apps like Vero and Mastodon, which are both ad-free, he said.The same goes for Amazon. Instead of ordering paper towels and hand sanitizer on Amazon, consider picking up those items at a local store. Instead of ordering a new dog collar on Amazon, consider buying a custom-made one from an independent merchant on Etsy.Mr. Fried says he rarely shops on Amazon, takes cabs instead of Ubers and finds books via IndieBound, a resource for buying titles from local bookstores. When the default is just Amazon, Amazon, Amazon, youre just feeding the flame, he said.Why buy new? Buy usedSpeaking of alternatives, theres a different way to buy tech hardware altogether: Purchase gadgets used or refurbished.When you buy a new phone or computer, your dollars go directly to the tech giants who created the products. But when you buy used, you are supporting a broader community of small businesses that repair and resell equipment.Many of us generally shy away from used electronics because we fear the products may be in shoddy condition. The reality is that resellers work with technicians who restore products to their former glory before putting them up on sale and the gadgets are often backed by a warranty. Reputable vendors of used goods include GameStop and Gazelle.Buying used also contributes to a broader mission: the so-called right to repair movement.Unlike car mechanics, small electronics repair shops have limited access to the parts and instructions that they need to service our smartphones, tablets and computers. Public advocacy groups and the repair community have pushed to pass legislation that would require electronics manufacturers to share all of the components and information needed to fix our gadgets.If more people opt to buy used or refurbished goods, that will show that there is demand for repaired products. That, in turn, puts pressure on manufacturers to make repair more accessible to independent technicians and consumers, said Carole Mars, the director of technical development and innovation at the Sustainability Consortium, which studies the sustainability of consumer goods.It comes down to accepting refurbished and demanding refurbished, Dr. Mars said. That will lead you to ask, Why cant I get this product used or fixed? Its because the company locked it down.So try to make this a habit: Whenever you are shopping for an electronic online, check if there is a used or refurbished option. If there is one in good condition, go for it and save some bucks.Support indie developersA lot of what we do with our devices is made possible by smaller companies that produce our apps and games. One way to show our support to David rather than Goliath is to have some patience and empathy for the indie developers.People often get frustrated when an app or game they love gets a big software update and charges another $3 to $10 for the new version, for example. Try not to get irritated these are small outfits trying to survive, not big corporations trying to milk you and be willing to pay. Its the same amount of money as a cup of coffee or a sandwich, and youre polishing a piece of software that you love.If you can pay for software that you like, said Brianna Wu, a game developer, you probably have an ethical responsibility to do so in the same way that youd have the ethical responsibility to tip a waitress. The reality is that most of the time when you play an indie video game, that group of people have bet their entire companys future on you paying for it.Keep in mind also that small app developers lack the huge marketing budgets of our tech overlords. They rely largely on all of us to do grass-roots marketing in the form of written reviews or word of mouth, said David Barnard, founder of the app studio Contrast. So when you love an app, tell your friends about it.Ill close with an example: My favorite piece of indie software for the Mac is Fantastical, a calendar app, which does a better, more reliable job organizing my online calendars than Apples calendar app.It was an expensive calendar app $50 but its kept me punctual, which makes it worth every penny.",5
"Outbreaks of Untreatable, Drug-Resistant Fungus Spread in 2 CitiesFor the first time, the C.D.C. identified several cases of Candida auris that were resistant to all drugs, in two health facilities in Texas and a long-term care center in Washington, D.C.Credit...Centers for Disease Control and PreventionJuly 23, 2021A deadly, hard-to-treat fungal infection that has been spreading through nursing homes and hospitals across the United States is becoming even more dangerous, according to researchers, who for the first time have identified several cases in which the fungus, Candida auris, was completely impervious to all existing medication.The finding, released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is an alarming development in the evolution of C. auris, a tenacious yeast infection discovered in Japan in 2009 that has since spread across much of the world.Federal health officials say the bug has spread even more widely during the coronavirus pandemic, with overwhelmed hospitals and nursing homes struggling to keep up with the surveillance and control measures needed to contain local outbreaks.In the new report, the C.D.C. said, five of more than 120 cases of C. auris were resistant to treatment.The C.D.C. did not identify the facilities where the novel infections took place, but health officials said there was no evident link between the outbreaks, which occurred in Texas at a hospital and a long-term care facility that share patients, and at a single long-term care center in Washington, D.C. The outbreaks took place between January and April.Nearly a third of the infected patients died within 30 days, according to the C.D.C., but because they were already gravely ill, officials said it was unclear whether their deaths were caused by the fungus.Over the past eight years, the C.D.C. has identified more than 2,000 Americans colonized with C. auris meaning the fungus was detected on their skin with most cases concentrated in New York, New Jersey, Illinois and California. Between 5 and 10 percent of those colonized with the pathogen go on to develop more serious bloodstream infections.Once it gains a foothold, the fungus is difficult to eliminate from health care facilities, clinging to cleaning carts, intravenous poles and other medical equipment. While relatively harmless to those in good health, the yeast infection can be deadly to seriously ill hospital patients, residents of long-term care facilities and others with weakened immune systems.If you wanted to conjure up a nightmare scenario for a drug-resistant pathogen, this would be it, said Dr. Cornelius J. Clancy, an infectious diseases doctor at the VA Pittsburgh Health Care System. An untreatable fungus infection would pose a grave threat to the immunocompromised, transplant recipients and critically ill patients in the I.C.U.While C. auris has long been notoriously hard to treat, researchers for the first time identified five patients in Texas and Washington, D.C., whose infections did not respond to any of the three major classes of antifungal medication. So-called panresistance had been previously reported in three patients in New York who were being treated for C. auris, but health officials said the newly reported panresistant infections occurred in patients who had never received antifungal drugs, said Dr. Meghan Lyman, a medical officer at the C.D.C. who specializes in fungal diseases.The concerning thing is that the patients at risk are no longer the small population of people who have infections and are already being treated with these medications, she said.Infectious disease specialists say the coronavirus pandemic has probably accelerated the spread of the fungus. The shortages of personal protective equipment that hobbled health care workers during the early months of the pandemic, they say, increased opportunities for the funguss transmission, especially among the thousands of Covid-19 patients who ended up on invasive mechanical ventilation.The chaos of recent months also did not help. Infection control efforts at most heath care systems are stretched thin in the best of times, but with so many Covid patients, resources that might have gone to infection control were diverted elsewhere, Dr. Clancy said.For many health experts, the emergence of a panresistant C. auris is a sobering reminder about the threats posed by antimicrobial resistance, from superbugs like MRSA to antibiotic-resistant salmonella. Such infections sicken 2.8 million Americans a year and kill 35,000, according to the C.D.C.Dr. Michael S. Phillips, chief epidemiologist at NYU/Langone Health, said health systems across the country were struggling to contain the spread of such pathogens. The problem, he said, was especially acute in big cities like New York, where seriously ill patients shuttle between nursing homes with lax infection control and top-notch medical centers that often draw patients from across a wider region.We need to do a better job at surveillance and infection control, especially in places where we put patients in group settings, he said. Candida auris is something we should be concerned about, but we cant lose sight of the bigger picture because there are a lot of other drug-resistant bugs out there we should be worried about.",2
"Credit...Saeed Khan/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 18, 2018SYDNEY, Australia The United States and China turned a Pacific Rim trade summit this weekend into a stage where the world could do little more than stand by and watch as two great powers aggravated their battle over trade.President Xi Jinping and Vice President Mike Pence both made their cases to the global leaders assembled in Papua New Guinea then they dug in and refused to compromise. That left the group of 21 nations in disarray, unable to agree on even a routine joint statement like those that had closed every other Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit since 1989.Countries caught in the trade-war crossfire between China and the United States are becoming increasingly exasperated.The entire world is worried, said Prime Minister Peter ONeill of Papua New Guinea.The disagreement over the final statement reflects a hardening of the conflict between China and the United States, with each side deploying aggressive, uncompromising rhetoric reminiscent of that heard during the Cold War.During a weekend of diplomacy in Chinas backyard that had been meant to defuse trade tensions, Mr. Xi and Mr. Pence instead chose escalation, attacking each others positions and battling for loyalty within a trade group that represents 60 percent of the global economy.Experts said the stalemate at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, known as APEC, would set up a high-stakes showdown at the Group of 20 conference in Argentina this month, which Mr. Xi and President Trump are expected to attend.The core issues in the clash were familiar and have shaped the trade dispute between the United States and China for months.Mr. Trump has made a combative stance on trade a signature element of his administrations foreign policy. So draft versions of an APEC communiqu showed that the United States wanted strong language condemning Chinese trade practices it calls coercive and predatory. Among them: restricting market access and pushing foreign companies to hand over valuable technology.The Chinese delegation sought to reaffirm its opposition to what it says are protectionism and unilateralism by the United States, especially the tariffs Mr. Trump has imposed on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods as part of an unprecedented effort to force China to change its policies.Mr. Trumps trade offensive has stoked fears of an economic Cold War between the worlds two largest economies. While the president has sought to preserve cordial personal relations with Mr. Xi, the broader relationship between the United States and China has deteriorated steadily, not just in the commercial sphere but also in security issues like the South China Sea.Mr. Xi seemed eager to shore up ties with an important trading partner, North Korea. He told President Moon Jae-in of South Korea on the sidelines of the trade forum that he was considering accepting an invitation from the North's leader, Kim Jong-un, to visit, a spokesman for Mr. Moon said.Such a visit, as well as any additional support for North Korea at a time when its nuclear promises are falling short of American demands, could bring a new round of threats that go beyond trade to global security.But at the APEC conference in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, the tensions centered on economics.For years, American foreign policy has sought to balance the economic benefits of cooperating with China with the risks of treating the country as an adversary.Now, the scales have tipped.From Mr. Trumps tweets to defense position papers and a major speech by Mr. Pence on Oct. 4, the United States has made clear that it sees China as a strategic threat.Its a new level of Cold War rhetoric, said Hugh White, a prominent regional analyst at the Australian National University.Economic cooperation, he said, is being sidelined.The Trump administration, for the first time since Nixon in 1972, has sought to distance America from Chinas economic opportunities, Mr. White said. Thats a huge shift.Mr. Pence has played an especially prominent role in the confrontation.[Sign up for Damien Caves Australia Letter to get news, conversation starters and local recommendations in your inbox each week.]Appearing in Mr. Trumps place at APEC, he doubled down on recent criticism of Chinas geopolitical strategies and attacked the countrys One Belt, One Road initiative an infrastructure plan financed by China that covers some 70 countries.He urged Asian nations to work with the United States. If they do, he said, they will not be saddled with debt, a problem some countries are facing as a result of their partnerships with Beijing.Mr. Xi, who spoke before Mr. Pence, insisted that such criticism was misguided. Chinas infrastructure plan, he said, is inclusive and beneficial.It will not close a door and create a small circle, Mr. Xi said. It is not the so-called trap, as some people say. It is the sunshine avenue where China shares opportunities with the world to seek common development.Experts said the two countries positions have become more entrenched.It boils down to mutual intransigence between the U.S. and China, said Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Australian National University.Jonathan Pryke, a Pacific Rim expert at the Lowy Institute, agreed, describing the result as raw stubbornness.Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia tried to sound upbeat. I think there is a lot more progress being made here than I think is probably being acknowledged, he said.He and many other national leaders seemed eager to return to a time when the worlds strongest powers got along, or at least worked together on building the world economy.What the leaders of many countries fear, especially in Asia, is a cleavage into two camps.No one wants to be forced to make a choice, said Mr. White, the analyst.For now, the world beyond the United States and China seems to have been given the task of maintaining calm and of trying to steer the world away from economic divisions and greater clashes.By Sunday night, it was increasingly difficult to see the summit meeting as anything but a continuation of hostilities.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada was among the first to make that clear. The joint statement, he said, was a lost cause.I dont think it will come as a huge surprise that there are differing visions, he said.",6
"Credit...Yahya Arhab/European Pressphoto AgencyApril 7, 2016CAIRO A Saudi Arabia-led military coalition used bombs supplied by the United States in an attack on a market in Yemen last month that killed at least 97 civilians, including 25 children, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Wednesday.The group said it had found fragments of two American-made bombs at the market, in the northern district of Mastaba, linking the United States for the first time to the March 15 airstrikes, which were believed to be the deadliest coalition bombings during Yemens yearlong civil war. The high death toll, along with images of children killed in the blasts, ignited international outrage and prompted calls for an investigation.The Saudi-led coalition has been criticized for carrying out indiscriminate airstrikes that have hit markets, hospitals and homes as it has waged war against the Houthis, a rebel group from Yemens north that seized power from the government last year.Coalition airstrikes have caused most of the civilian deaths in the conflict, according to the United Nations, and have led to mounting calls in Europe for an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia. An airstrike on another market, in February near Sana, the capital, led the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to call for an inquiry.The debate in the United States over the airstrikes has been much more muted, in part because the Obama administration has provided few details about its precise role in the air campaign. American officials have said they provide assistance to the coalition, including intelligence from reconnaissance drones, airborne fuel tankers and advanced munitions.The assistance is coordinated by a 45-person American military planning group with personnel in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, according to American officials.In Houthi-controlled northern Yemen, where the airstrikes have been concentrated, the Obama administrations participation in the war has fueled growing anger at the United States, residents said. In its report, Human Rights Watch said the United States might be jointly responsible for war crimes violations if it had participated in specific military operations, such as providing advice on targeting decisions and aerial refueling during bombing raids.The U.S. is obligated to investigate allegedly unlawful attacks in which it took part, the group said.In response to questions about the Human Rights Watch report, Col. Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for the United States Central Command, or Centcom, wrote in an email that the decisions on the conduct of operations to include selection and final vetting of targets in the campaign are made by the members of the Saudi-led coalition, not the United States.The U.S. is confident that the information that we relay and noncombat support we provide to Saudi Arabia and other coalition members is sound and provides them the best options for military success consistent with international norms and specifically mitigating the potential for civilian casualties, he added.We have consistently reinforced to coalition members the imperative of target analysis and precise application of weapons in order to identify and avoid structures and areas that, if struck, could result in civilian casualties.Human Rights Watch said its researchers had found fragments of what it said was a 2,000-pound American bomb called the MK-84 during a visit to the market on March 28.The group reviewed photographs and footage showing fragments from a second bomb, found by journalists from ITV, the British television network, and determined that it was also an MK-84. The size of the ordnance was determined in part by reviewing photographs of bomb craters, the group said.Establishing the precise size of an air-delivered bomb is hard to do by crater analysis, and it was impossible to independently verify the organizations claims. But if confirmed, the use of 2,000-pound bombs would reflect a decision by the Saudi-led coalition that carried substantial risks for civilians.The 2,000-pound general-purpose bomb, of the American standard Mark 80 series, is the largest of its class. American warplanes typically carry smaller bombs, often in the 500-pound class, in part to reduce property damage and dangers to noncombatants.A spokesman for the Saudi coalition did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the report. The spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, previously told Reuters that the coalition struck the market after acting on information provided by anti-Houthi forces loyal to Yemens exiled government.Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that the bombs fell about noon, five minutes apart. One landed near a tomato seller and the other near the entrance to the market.A witness told the group that he saw the bodies of 10 Houthi fighters among the dead and that some Houthis frequented a restaurant about 200 feet from the spot where one of the bombs fell.Mohamed Bikili, who had gone to the market that day to buy food, was among the victims, according to his father, Mansoor Ali Bikili. The father said he headed toward the market after hearing the first airstrike, and when he arrived, after the second bombing, the dust in the market had turned black.Mohamed Bikili, 18, was nowhere to be found. Over the next few days, Mr. Bikili recovered parts of what he believed to be his sons body, strewed across the market, he said.",6
"Credit...Ng Han Guan/Associated PressMarch 8, 2017Today marks the third anniversary of one of the biggest aviation mysteries of all time. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared on a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, to Beijing on March 8, 2014, prompting the largest and costliest search in aviation history.In January, investigators called off the underwater search after no traces of the aircraft were found in a search zone of more than 46,000 square miles in the southern Indian Ocean.",6
"Credit...Josh Haner/The New York TimesFeb. 13, 2014KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia With the Winter Olympics melting under a heat wave, the effects could be seen Thursday from the coast of Sochi, where spectators were spotted sunbathing, to the mountains high above the city, where cross-country skiers raced in sleeveless jerseys. The balmy weather has forced changes in competition schedules, sent workers scrambling to harden the slushy snow and made Olympians reconsider what to wear for their warm-weather winter sports.You sit outside in a T-shirt and shorts thats not winter, said Christoph Sumann of the Austrian biathlon team. You dont know what to wear for the race. He settled on the thinnest T-shirt he could find. A teammate, he said, wore nothing beneath his racing uniform.Its absolutely too warm for me, he said. Im a winter guy.So far, these Olympics have not been a good fit for those who like their Winter Games wintry. It has not snowed since the Olympics began last week, and most days have brought bright sunshine and springlike temperatures.Ive never seen it this warm at a Winter Games, said Max Cobb, a senior official with the International Biathlon Union, who has attended every Winter Olympics since 1992. Cobb was in constant radio contact with the crew spreading salt, meant to turn the slush into water, then back into ice.If we were competing now, the women would probably be in shorts and bibs and jogging bras, Cobb said.Weather for the 2014 Games has been a concern since the International Olympic Committee made Sochi the first host of the Olympics in a subtropical climate. The southern Russian city sits on the Black Sea, some of its promenades lined by palm trees. Sochi hardly counts as a winter wonderland in a nation all too familiar with freezing temperatures: It was minus-25 degrees Fahrenheit, about minus-32 Celsius, in Siberia on Thursday.Organizers have long dismissed concerns about the warm weather. After a warm spell a year ago disrupted test events, they stockpiled huge mounds of snow, stashed it in shady spots and covered it with insulating material to help most of it last through the summer.Now, there seems to be enough snow, thanks in large part to a heavy winter storm and one of the worlds largest snow-making operations. The problem is the condition of the snow. Puddles of slush would complicate nearly all the outdoor events, jeopardizing contests that Olympians have spent years training for.Organizers kicked into high gear Thursday to prevent that. In the middle of the night, machines covered the biathlon course with salt. Then, after the sun came up, a crew of 15 workers walked the four-kilometer cross-country course, carrying buckets of large-grained salt. The workers sprinkled the salt onto the tracks in the manner of people feeding birds.The mens super combined Alpine ski race scheduled for Friday was moved to 10 a.m. local time from 11 a.m. to counter midday temperatures that were expected to approach the mid-50s Fahrenheit, around 13 Celsius. Afternoon temperatures at the RusSki Gorki Jumping Center, home of ski jumping and Nordic combined, reached 63 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday. The competition manager there said the site had a deep base, partly because trucks had been sent into the mountains last month to fetch fresh snow.At the jumping center, and every other mountain site, salt was being applied liberally.It would be really good if temperatures could dip down overnight, to get those perfect icy conditions, said Jenny Wiedeke, communications manager for the F.I.S., the international ski federation that oversees skiing and snowboarding. But this is something we battle as an outdoor sport.While blue skies and snow-capped peaks provided enticing backdrops, some of the sites seemed better suited for beach volleyball than for winter sports. Men without shirts walked toward the biathlon stadium, where officials had traded their parkas for T-shirts. In a particularly ominous sign, mosquitoes were spotted.At the sun-splashed site of the cross-country skiing events, where temperatures rose toward 60 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 15 Celsius, on Thursday, women raced in sleeveless jerseys. Fans wore T-shirts, and skiers slogged through the soft snow.Afternoon temperatures in the upper 50s Fahrenheit were expected through Saturday across the mountain sites, including the bottom of the skiing site and the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, where snowboarding and freestyle skiing are taking place.Night will bring little relief, as temperatures are forecast to stay well above freezing. Cooler weather, but with temperatures still above freezing, has been predicted beginning Sunday, but rain is possible.As temperatures continued their steady climb, the International Olympic Committee showed little worry.Every event has happened, and on schedule so far, said Mark Adams, the I.O.C. communications director. So, if this is a problem, then lets have more of them. It seems quite good.Indoor arenas for sports like hockey, figure skating and curling were built near the coast and have been largely unaffected by the weather.But the outdoor events are becoming slushy. They are staged about 30 miles into the mountains, in a tight river valley framed by majestic, snow-covered peaks. Weather worries were exacerbated by the 2010 Vancouver Games, which faced an unusual dearth of snow and record high temperatures. There was so little snow at the site for snowboarding that more had to be hauled in.Sochi has not yet resorted to such drastic measures, but if the snow continues to melt, it could prove disastrous for events like the cross-country portions of the biathlon. Picture skiing through oatmeal.It really affects a lot of things, said Tim Burke of the United States biathlon team. He travels with 25 pairs of skis. On Thursday, for the first time, he wore his most extreme warm-weather skis. Instead of the usual layers of long underwear, he wore only a T-shirt under his uniform.Many spectators at the biathlon stadium left their coats unzipped, if they wore them at all. Gloves were stuffed in pockets, heads uncovered. Victor Medvedev and his wife, Yelena Tikhonov, were visiting from Chelyabinsk, in Siberia.Of course we didnt expect anything like this, so we had to leave our winter boots and thermal underwear in the hotel, Medvedev said. We also had heavier hats.Tikhonov added, Its much better than minus-18.",4
"Credit...Sergey Ponomarev for The New York TimesMarch 7, 2017AMSTERDAM The parochial world of Dutch elections is not often seen as a hotbed of foreign intrigue. But in recent months, an unexpected worry has emerged: the influence of American money.The countrys fast-rising far-right leader, Geert Wilders, is getting help from American conservatives attracted to his anti-European Union and anti-Islam views. David Horowitz, an American right-wing activist, has contributed roughly $150,000 to Mr. Wilderss Party for Freedom over two years of which nearly $120,000 came in 2015, making it the largest individual contribution in the Dutch political system that year, according to recently released records.By American standards, the amount is a pittance. But to some Dutch, who are already fearful of possible Russian meddling in the election, the American involvement is an assault on national sovereignty.Its foreign interference in our democracy, said Ronald van Raak, a senior member of Parliament in the opposition Socialist party, who has co-sponsored legislation to ban foreign donations. We would not have thought that people from other countries would have been interested in our politics, he said. Maybe we underestimated ourselves.The Dutch parliamentary elections on March 15 are the kickoff for a pivotal political year in Europe. Other elections loom in France, Germany and possibly Italy. With the viability of the European Union at stake, anxieties are rising about foreign interference, with European intelligence agencies warning that Russia is working to help far-right parties through hacking and disinformation campaigns.But sympathy for Europes far right is also coming from Americans who share similar views and are willing to contribute money to help the cause. Measuring this outside support is difficult, though, because many European countries have leaky, opaque accountability systems on campaign finance.France, Germany and the Netherlands have only published campaign finance data from as recently as 2014 or 2015. And only the Netherlands will update that information with more disclosures before Election Day. New campaign finance data is expected to be released on Wednesday.Though Europe is generally known for its public financing of elections, parties are increasingly seeking outside donations, especially since regulatory loopholes abound. In Germany, the far-right Alternative for Germany sold gold bars and coins in a strategy to inflate its revenue and, through a quirk of the rules, increase its access to public funds, until the practice was banned by Parliament. German parties have also sought to divert public funds provided to parliamentary caucuses.Its illegal but basically done everywhere in Germany, said Christoph Mllers, a professor of public law and legal philosophy at Humboldt University of Berlin.ImageCredit...Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressWhile France bars contributions from businesses, loans are allowed. A Russian bank made headlines in recent years after lending millions of euros to the far-right National Front party of Marine Le Pen. After that bank failed last year, the party complained that it had been shunned by French banks and declared itself in the market for a new lender.If nothing else, European far-right parties are gaining newly emboldened allies.I expect the Trump administration to be more open to these parties than Obama, certainly, said Representative Steve King, an Iowa Republican who is an ally both of President Trump and the European far right, having met with various party leaders during a recent European trip.The State Department, in a statement, declined to comment on political parties in foreign elections.Mr. Horowitz, who has long sounded alarms on Muslim immigration, first rallied to Mr. Wilderss side after the Dutch politician was put on trial in 2010 for inciting hatred against Muslims with a film he made that attacked the Quran; he was acquitted the next year. Mr. Wilders was more recently found guilty of incitement after leading an anti-Moroccan chant at a rally, though he avoided a fine.I think hes the Paul Revere of Europe, Mr. Horowitz said in an interview. Geert Wilders is a hero, and I think hes a hero of the most important battle of our times, the battle to defend free speech, he added, calling the situation in Europe a nightmare.Though Mr. Horowitzs donations adhere to Dutch standards, there was some question of whether they comply with American law.Organized as a 501(c)(3) under American tax law, Mr. Horowitzs foundation is barred from making donations to political organizations. The donations went to the Friends of PVV, according to Dutch records, a foundation covered by political disclosure rules.Michael Finch, the president of Mr. Horowitzs foundation, said in an email that the funds that were sent to Geert Wilders were to help him in his legal cases and were not political donations.But donations to foreign political entities are problematic, tax experts said.The I.R.S. views foreign political organizations as the same as domestic political organizations not appropriate for a charity to support, said Marcus S. Owens, a partner at Loeb & Loeb, and former director of the Exempt Organizations Division of the Internal Revenue Service, in an email. He added, The I.R.S. also views a charity that is controlled by a political organization as transgressing federal tax rules.Mr. Horowitz said he was not certain if the foundation had given additional funds to Mr. Wilderss party this year or last year.VideoThis is Geert Wilders, a far-right Dutch politician with aspirations to be the next prime minister of the Netherlands. He has compared the Quran to ""Mein Kampf"" and has called Moroccans ""scum.""CreditCredit...Bart Maat/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMr. Wilderss backing of Israel, where he once lived, has set him apart from other far-right groups, and he has courted American Jews. Daniel Pipes, another conservative American activist and a Harvard-educated historian known for his controversial statements on Islam, said in an email exchange that he hoped the rise of the insurgent parties leads not to their forming governments but their sending a strong message to the legacy parties to wake up and deal with the imperative issues they have so long ignored.Mr. Pipes said his foundation, the Middle East Forum, provided money in the six figures to help pay legal bills in Mr. Wilderss trial over the film, but specifically to a legal fund, and has not provided political support. Mr. Pipes has called Mr. Wilders the most important European alive today, but has differed with him on his view of Islam, though he himself has expressed inflammatory views on the subject.Dutch records also show that two American foundations paid for Mr. Wilderss flights and hotels on trips to the United States last year. One, the Gatestone Institute, lists John R. Bolton, a combative former United Nations ambassador under George W. Bush, as its chairman. Another, the International Freedom Alliance Foundation, is backed by Robert J. Shillman, a wealthy Trump supporter who paid for a digital ad in Times Square last year depicting Mr. Trump as Superman. The travel payments were previously reported by Foreign Policy magazine.Lawmakers and academics say the European public has seen little need for tight campaign finance regulations because political campaigning in Europe has historically been far more restrained than in the United States.The campaigns dont seem to be that relevant, Mr. Mollers said. You see campaign finance is spent for posters, and no one believes that changes the game.Now, however, European political campaigns could become more expensive as parties turn to data-driven persuasion efforts similar to those used in the United States, even if they are limited by European data-protection laws. The Dutch Green Party, for instance, has licensed software from Blue State Digital, a prominent American data consultancy.Guillaume Liegey, co-founder and chief executive of Liegey Muller Pons, a data consulting firm, was an adviser to President Franois Hollandes 2012 campaign in France, one of the first in Europe to use data-driven techniques.The idea of using data and technology has since then become more of a standard in todays European campaigns, he said in an email. He now consults for the campaign of Emmanuel Macron, a left-leaning politician who is one of the front-runners in the French presidential race, which takes place in two stages in April and May.Few dispute the stakes. Mr. Wilders and Ms. Le Pen, the French far-right leader, are running strong in polls, though both are considered long shots to win control of their governments. If either did win, it could be a devastating blow to the euro currency union, as well as the European Union itself, an outcome that many analysts regard as a foreign policy disaster.Mr. Horowitz disagrees, and portrays the European Union as the disaster.To have this Parliament that represents nobody in Brussels making laws for everybody, its very anti-democratic, said Mr. Horowitz. I always thought it was a bad idea.",6
"Credit...Jawed Tanveer/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 10, 2018KANDAHAR, Afghanistan At just 2 years old, Madina had been vaccinated seven times. It was not enough: When she fell ill this fall, a trip to the doctor in Kandahar City confirmed that she was among the latest Afghan toddlers to contract polio.Almost a million children in Kandahar Province alone, like Madina, need at least one dose of oral vaccine a month to head off the disease, health workers say. But many of them also live in the most violent and socially disrupted parts of southern Afghanistan, where the Taliban control large areas and do not want government health workers going door to door.These realities make a sustained vaccination campaign brutally difficult for health workers here. And Afghanistan, one of three countries where polio is still endemic, is losing ground. Officials have registered 19 cases of polio so far this year, up from 13 each of the previous two years, according to World Health Organization figures. In August, I followed a polio vaccination crew in Kandahar and saw how, even in areas where health workers have been able to function, many things stand in their way: security fears and drought, deep poverty and stifling tradition, widespread illiteracy and superstition. Still, starting just after dawn each day, the vaccination teams are at it, hoping to reach just a few more children. VideoA medical worker administers a polio vaccine to a child in Kandahar.CreditCredit...By Fahim AbedMawlawi Abdul Rashid of Kandahar City, a religious scholar and member of one team, said most of the residents were poor and desperately worried about what their children would have to eat each night. Drought adds to the daily burden, with families in many neighborhoods having to buy water from tankers after wells dry up. Given that, Mr. Rashid said, They dont care about polio vaccine as much.Mohammad Shah, 38, said that as a vaccine campaigner in the city he had been visiting more than 100 houses a day in temperatures reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit. He said some families asked for food and other necessities instead of the vaccine a need that Mr. Shah, a father of five, said he understood.They keep asking us to bring them wheat, soup and other staples, he said.Despite efforts to have religious scholars express support for the vaccine, Mr. Shah said mistrust about it still existed. Many worry about whether strict interpretations of Islam allow the vaccine. Some question its contents and believe conspiracy theories that Westerners have manipulated it to cause infertility.Abdul Razaq, 65, who was administering the vaccine in the Loya Weyala area of Kandahar City, which is dominated by people displaced by fighting, said around 10 of the 200 families there refused it.Its very difficult to convince those families who reject the vaccine, he said. But we try our best.Most families here hold traditional views wary of letting outside men enter a home if no male family members are present. For that reason, the health workers try to have at least one woman on each vaccination team. But there are not enough female workers, and all-male teams are frequently turned away. Polio was eradicated before 2000 in Western countries, but it is still a critical issue for Afghanistan, said Destagir Nazari, of the Ministry of Health. The world is trying to eradicate the virus completely, he said. It is an international responsibility for Afghanistan to eradicate it, and we try our best to do so.Across Afghanistan, more than 10 million children require polio vaccine. The United States, Canada and Japan are among the largest donors for the vaccination drive.The vaccinators days are long. They start early in the morning, gathering in health facilities of each neighborhood of Kandahar City to collect the vaccine and vitamin E tablets, which they carry in plastic coolers. Teams then head out in rented taxis or on motorcycles, armed with lists of families in their areas that have children younger than 5. They go door to door, circling back after a break for lunch and prayer to the houses where children werent home in the morning. At one house, a woman insisted that she didnt want her 3-year-old daughter, Mursal, to be vaccinated. She wouldnt give a reason, but the workers suspected she was worried for religious reasons. Each member of the three-person team tried to persuade her, even reading from a book of religious declarations that allowed the vaccine. The last member of the team to try, Mr. Razaq, was blunt: If you keep rejecting the vaccine, he asked, will you be able to take care of your daughter when she contracts polio? He pleaded, insisting that he was religious, too, but still made sure all his young children were vaccinated. At last, he got through, and Mursal received her dose for the month. Sometimes religious scholars, like Mr. Rashid, accompany the teams and help reassure families. According to Islam, health is very important, and we can use anything to ensure our health, he said. We convinced 70 families this month who were rejecting polio vaccine.Other times, balloons work. That was enough at one house: A woman there said no to the vaccine, but the boy with her wanted a balloon so he got both it and his dose.But bigger fears at work here than childrens distaste for medicine. Many families know the Taliban are suspicious of the government vaccination drive, and worry that they will become targets if they are seen allowing the health workers into their homes.Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said that the insurgents were not against the vaccine and that they supported administering it in areas under their control. But they will not allow government teams to go door to door in their areas, saying they believe the workers sometimes act as spies. The Taliban usually insist on distributing the vaccine centrally from mosques. But health workers say only a house-by-house approach can come close to ensuring enough doses are distributed each month. Mr. Shah, who has been administering vaccine for 12 years, said that as hard as this year had been, it was getting better, at least in his area: Last year 25 families there rejected the vaccine. This year, that dropped to eight. When I see a polio victim, I feel very sorry for him and I understand thats why my job is so important, Mr. Shah said. Officials, though, lament that progress is so halting despite all their efforts. Abdul Qayoom Pokhla, head of Kandahar Provinces public health department, said that even without the stress of war, eradicating polio there would take at least one or two years. We need a secure environment to implement the polio vaccine campaign, he said.VideoCreditCredit...By Fahim AbedMujib Mashal contributed reporting from Kabul.",6
"Credit...Paul McErlane/Bloomberg NewsDec. 30, 2015LONDON Two decades after being discovered, natural gas began flowing on Wednesday from wells off Irelands northwest coast. Royal Dutch Shell, the oil company, said it had begun producing gas from undersea wells, part of an effort for Ireland to produce more of its own resources.Opening the taps in the Corrib field, more than 50 miles offshore, is a breakthrough for the oil and gas industry in Ireland, which has had mostly disappointing results in recent years while encountering resistance from environmental groups.The gas was discovered in 1996, and Shell has struggled to win approval from the government for the project, which has long been opposed by local environmental campaigners. Philip Robinson, a Shell spokesman, attributed the long interval between discovery and the start of production to environmental opposition, but said relations with the local communities had improved in recent years.Kinsale Head, the only other major discovery off Ireland, which imports nearly all of its fuel needs, including large volumes of gas, has been online since 1978. Periodic bursts of excitement about oil and gas troves that might be found in Irish waters have ended up sputtering.Pat Shannon, chairman of the Irish Offshore Operators Association, a trade group, said that the area where Corrib is, known as the Atlantic Margin, was promising for oil and gas operators.I think this is a very significant day for the exploration industry in Ireland, Mr. Shannon said.Alex White, Irelands minister for communications, energy and natural resources, gave Shell the final go-ahead on Tuesday, saying that Ireland would benefit from having its own resources. In approving the project, Mr. White said he had made consent subject to 20 conditions, including environmental management.Mr. White added that Ireland was committed to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and that gas, which is used for generating electric power, had a role in easing the transition to a greener economy. Developing local gas, Mr. White said, will deliver significant and sustained benefits, particularly in terms of enhanced security of supply and economic development.The minister said that the gas would meet more than 40 percent of demand on the island.Shell says that along with its partners, Statoil of Norway and Vermilion Energy Ireland, it has spent 1.1 billion euros, or $1.2 billion, on the project and that Corrib would provide 175 jobs for up to 20 years.Terence Conway, a spokesman for the group Shell to Sea, which has fought the project, said that opponents, who worried that building a large gas processing facility on land at a place called Bellanaboy Bridge risked accidents and pollution, had few options left. There is not much more we can do at the moment, he said.",0
"Harvey Weinstein I'm a Lot of Things But Sex Trafficker Ain't One of 'em! 1/30/2018 Harvey Weinstein says actress Kadian Noble is way off base with her allegation he engaged in sex trafficking when she met him in his Cannes hotel room. Weinstein is responding to Noble's lawsuit, and insists there was no exchange of money or movie roles for sex during the alleged 2014 incident. As we reported, Noble claims Weinstein lured her to Cannes to discuss her future in the biz. In her lawsuit, she said Weinstein forced her to masturbate him and he groped her. In her suit against Harvey, his brother Bob and TWC, she said that was sex trafficking because Harvey enticed to make an international trip by promising movie roles. In docs, Weinstein says that's absurd because he made no such promises, and Noble is merely speculating he regularly did this to other women. He adds ... the alleged incident Noble described is only a sexual assault, not sex trafficking. He wants a judge to toss the whole suit.",1
"Credit...Andrew Quilty for The New York TimesMarch 10, 2017KABUL, Afghanistan Afghans who worked for the American military and government are being told that they cannot apply for special visas to the United States, even though Afghanistan is not among the countries listed in President Trumps new travel ban, according to advocates for Afghan refugees.As of Thursday, Afghans seeking to apply for what are known as Special Immigrant Visas were being told by the American Embassy in Kabul, the capital, that applications would no longer be accepted, according to Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire.Officials at the embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It was unclear if the visa suspension was related to the presidents new ban, which, in addition to denying visas to citizens of six predominantly Muslim countries, also orders that the number of refugees allowed into America be cut by more than half, to 50,000 this year, from 110,000 in 2016.Ms. Shaheen, along with Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, has been a strong advocate of the Special Immigrant Visa program, meant for Afghans who face the threat of reprisal for their work with Americans. Its apparent suspension could affect as many as 10,000 applicants. Allowing this program to lapse sends the message to our allies in Afghanistan that the United States has abandoned them, Ms. Shaheen said in a statement.Officials at the International Refugee Assistance Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York said they had learned that as of Thursday, Afghans were being told that applications were no longer being accepted, though the suspension had taken place on March 1. Our worst fears are proving true, said Betsy Fisher, the groups policy director.Mac McEachin, another official at the organization, said the decision could affect the 2,500 soldiers of the Armys 82nd Airborne Division who might be deployed to Syria. Now that the world has seen how we turn our backs on our Afghan allies, there is almost no chance that local allies in Syria will be inclined to work with us, he said.American military officials are also requesting an increase in troops deployed to Afghanistan.One of those affected by the shut-off of special visas is Mohammad Nasim Hashimyar, who worked for three years as an interpreter for American Special Forces in Oruzgan Province, and later for the American Embassy. He lives in hiding in Kabul as he waits for his visa interview, which now appears unlikely to happen.It will force me to go through an illegal way to Europe because my life is in danger in Kabul, he said. I always have a gun with me even though I dont have a license for it.Ms. Shaheen said she would press Congress to renew the visa program and provide more places for Afghan applicants.Congress recently reauthorized the Special Immigrant Visa program for four more years but allocated only 1,500 additional visas. Advocates estimate that up to 10,000 are needed. Mr. McCain and Ms. Shaheen tried unsuccessfully to get Congress to authorize 4,000 more such visas.It is unclear whether the reported suspension of new applications was related to the number of available visas or to the presidents order reducing refugee intake generally, or to a combination of the two factors.The presidents new travel ban, issued Monday, ordered a 90-day suspension of visas to citizens of six largely Muslim countries: Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Iran, Yemen and Libya. Unlike his earlier order, which was blocked by the courts, it did not include Iraq; there had been complaints that doing so would leave Iraqis who supported American forces vulnerable to reprisals. It also removed an exemption for religious minorities in the affected countries, a provision that had been widely seen as discriminating against Muslims.Afghanistan was not included in either of the presidents travel bans, but his decision to reduce the overall number of refugees accepted by the United States would affect Afghans as well. Afghans are the second-largest group of refugees worldwide, after Syrians.",6
"Credit...Amr Nabil/Associated PressMarch 13, 2017CAIRO An Egyptian prosecutor ordered Hosni Mubarak, the toppled autocrat, released from the Maadi Military Hospital in southern Cairo, where he has been held for much of the last six years.But as of Monday night, Mr. Mubarak, 88, still had not left the hospital, underscoring the murkiness surrounding his status. His detention has been viewed by many Egyptians as a political matter as much as a legal one.Mr. Mubarak led Egypt for almost 30 years until he was toppled in 2011. He was later prosecuted on a variety of charges, including corruption and murder, but almost all the cases eventually foundered. His only standing conviction is for his role in embezzling state funds to redecorate his familys lavish residences.He appeared to be set for release earlier this month after the countrys top appeals court cleared him of responsibility for the killings of 239 protesters by the police. On Monday, the Cairo prosecutor, Ibrahim Saleh, ruled that there was no longer any reason to hold him.As far as I am concerned, he was in prison until today, and now he is free, Mr. Saleh said in a telephone interview.Mr. Mubaraks longtime lawyer, Farid el-Deeb, said Monday that Mr. Mubarak would be released from detention in the next few days.The freeing of one of the Arab worlds most notorious strongman leaders, a longtime American ally accused of cronyism and corruption, would be a landmark in Egyptian history. In some respects it illustrates how little the country has changed, despite the tumultuous days of the Arab Spring, when millions of Egyptians thronged the streets clamoring for a radical new direction.Some of those frustrations were evident on Monday on social media, one of the few avenues of free speech left in Egypt, where some people were voicing bitter criticism by borrowing a phrase, on the asphalt, that is usually associated with the release of jailed democracy activists.Mubarak on the asphalt, and the youths are in prison, a Twitter user who gave his name as Mohamed 303 wrote.Even so, Mr. Mubaraks supporters have begun to shrug off the stigma associated with his name and to praise him as a bulwark against chaos. Regardless of Mubaraks disasters, he did not run away, wrote another Twitter user who gave his name as Mohamed. He appeared in court, and he did not bring strife to this country.Though the prosecutors release order was not surprising, it was undoubtedly awkward for Egypts current leader, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who sometimes praises the revolution that overthrew Mr. Mubarak.As a former president, Mr. Mubarak will enjoy state protection at his home in Heliopolis, the affluent Cairo neighborhood where he lived for much of his rule. His lawyer said that is where he will go when he leaves the hospital.His legal woes are not entirely over. He has been implicated in a corruption case over the theft of funds from a state-run newspaper, and the Illicit Gains Authority has a long-running investigation into the sources of his wealth.Those matters will help Mr. Sisi keep Mr. Mubarak in line, according to Hossam Bahgat, a prominent journalist who has also investigated Mr. Mubaraks wealth. They are keeping those cases, in case they want to punish him, or if he does something wrong, Mr. Bahgat said.Mr. Mubaraks decision to cede power in February 2011 had ripple effects throughout the Arab world, and preceded the overthrow of longtime dictators in Libya and Yemen later that year. But the promise of the Arab Spring soon dissipated as Libya and Yemen plunged into chaos, Syria descended into civil war, and the militants of the Islamic State used the resulting chaos to pursue their vision of jihadist Armageddon.The first democratic presidential election in Egypts history brought Mohamed Morsi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, to power in June 2012. But just 12 months later, he was ousted by military officers and replaced with Mr. Sisi, a serving general who later left the military to become a civilian president.Under Mr. Sisi, Egypts courts have jailed tens of thousands of Brotherhood members, opposition activists, lawyers, journalists and other critics of his rule. The political prisoners include many of the same people who helped topple Mr. Mubarak in 2011 a paradox that will not be lost on many Egyptians if Mr. Mubarak is indeed released. Mr. Sisi pardoned 203 prisoners on Monday who had been held for politically related crimes, but the list did not include any prominent opposition activists.",6
"Credit...Giannis Androutsopoulos/Associated PressNov. 22, 2018ATHENS, Greece Nine men arrested in the beating death of an American student outside a bar in Greece in 2017 were cleared of murder but convicted of assault charges on Thursday.A court in Patra, in western Greece, reduced the charges to grievous assault, handing six men sentences ranging from five to 15 years in prison and freeing three others after convicting them of simple assault for the brutal attack on the student, Bakari Henderson, 22, in the summer of 2017 on the holiday island of Zakynthos.The verdict disappointed the parents of Mr. Henderson, who have said that they were hoping all the men would be sentenced to life in prison. The prosecution attorney, Andreas Patsis, said that the outcome had shattered the relatives and that they did not think justice had been done.The decision spurred Mr. Hendersons parents to warn other Americans against allowing their children to visit Greece.If someone can be murdered and there is no justice, what makes you think that you can send your child to another country and be safe? Mr. Hendersons mother, Jill Henderson, told reporters outside the courtroom after the verdict.The attack on Mr. Henderson in July 2017 at the resort of Laganas was apparently prompted by an argument over a female bartender. Security footage captured a swarm of men kicking and punching Mr. Henderson, who was chased down the street.ImageCredit...Giannis Androutsopoulos/Associated PressHe died within 30 seconds, police officials said.At the time, a female bartender told investigators that when she had posed for a selfie with Mr. Henderson, who was African-American, a man standing nearby commented: There are a lot of Serbs in the bar. Why are you talking to a black guy?She said the man then punched Mr. Henderson, who responded by hitting him over the head with a beer bottle.The nine men charged with the beating were a British citizen of Serbian origin who worked as a bouncer at the bar where the brawl broke out, a Greek bartender, and seven Serbian men. Their names were not immediately available.The Briton received the heaviest penalty from the Greek court: 15 years in prison for intentional bodily harm resulting in death. Five of the Serbian suspects received terms of five to 10 years for causing grievous bodily harm. The court refused a request by their lawyers for the terms to be suspended.The Greek bartender and two other men were released after receiving convictions for simple assault.Mr. Henderson, a college graduate from Austin, Tex., had been traveling in Greece and was working on a photography shoot for the opening of a clothing line when the attack occurred, his family said last year.Bakari loved spending time with family and friends, traveling and meeting new people, according to a family statement released after his death. Bakari was an inspiration to all he met. He loved life and lived it to the fullest.Renowned as a party town, Laganas traditionally attracts young tourists, chiefly Britons, and serves cheap alcohol in bars that tolerate, and often organize, raucous gatherings. Violent fights are not unusual. A British man was stabbed to death in Laganas in 2011.Over the past few years, the authorities have sought to curb alcohol-fueled offenses while sustaining tourism, a source of revenue on which the island depends.",6
"Credit...Joshua Lott for The New York TimesDec. 3, 2015Johnny Burris, a former broker at JPMorgan Chase, might have known he was walking into a minefield when he decided to go public with his concerns about his former employer.Mr. Burris complained in 2013 that JPMorgan was pressuring brokers like him to sell the banks own mutual funds even when the offerings from competitors were more suitable. A few weeks after an article in The New York Times about Mr. Burriss concerns appeared, complaints from some of his former clients in Arizona began showing up on his disciplinary records that are maintained by a regulatory agency and publicly available.The client complaints made it hard for Mr. Burris to get another job and helped scuttle his case against JPMorgan for wrongful termination. But when Mr. Burris recently reached two of the clients whose names had been on the complaints, they told him they had not, in fact, written the complaints a JPMorgan employee had.Carolyn Scott, the ostensible author of one of the letters complaining about Mr. Burris, said in a recent interview with The Times that she had not written the document, but had signed it without knowing the contents after a JPMorgan employee had told her it was something that could help her get some money back.I was stupid enough I didnt read it myself, Ms. Scott said. I had no problems with Johnny. No problems whatsoever.Another man who supposedly wrote a letter of complaint was, it turned out, essentially unable to read or write, and said in an interview that he had never had an issue with Mr. Burris.I would never have known how to draft a complaint letter, nor could I have drafted the letter in question, the man said in a declaration that he recently signed in front of a notary public to support Mr. Burris after the declaration was read back to him aloud.For Mr. Burris, the explanation behind these complaints was clear: This was retaliation for his criticism of JPMorgan, though retaliation carried out poorly.How do you believe I feel knowing that the bank solicited, drafted false, erroneous complaints about me? he wrote to JPMorgan in late October, after speaking with his old clients.During the arbitration in 2014, Mr. Burriss lawyer asked his former supervisors if anyone at JPMorgan had helped draft the complaints and was told: Absolutely not.This week, though, a spokeswoman for JPMorgan, Patricia Wexler, said that one of Mr. Burriss former colleagues, Laya Gavin, had, in fact, assisted the clients as a courtesy by typing up what they told her verbally, reading it back to them for accuracy, and submitting them for review.Both clients involved disputed that description of the events and said that the complaints Ms. Gavin wrote up did not reflect their sentiments and added that Ms. Gavin had not read the complaints to them before having them sign the documents.A spokeswoman for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Michelle Ong, said that her organization was aware of these allegations about the complaints and was looking into them. Finra is the agency that maintains broker disciplinary records. It is not difficult to understand why JPMorgan employees might have been unhappy with Mr. Burris. In 2012, he made secret recordings of his supervisors at the bank pressuring him to sell the JPMorgan mutual funds instead of similar funds from competitors.After he shared these recordings with journalists and regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating the issue. JPMorgan is now preparing to pay more than $100 million to settle an investigation into the banks marketing of proprietary funds, according to people briefed on the negotiations.Mr. Burris has a pending whistle-blower case before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, arguing that he was fired because of the concerns he had raised about the JPMorgan proprietary funds.Mr. Burriss case is a continuing headache for JPMorgan in a business line financial advice and asset management that has been seen as among the primary sources of growth for it and other big banks. Since the financial crisis, the kind of work that Mr. Burris did, managing money for clients, has been seen as relatively risk-free revenue for the banks.But his case has been a reminder of how the asset management business can expose the banks to conflicts of interest, especially when they run their own mutual funds. It also shows how hard it can be for the banks to police the far-flung multitudes of brokers and financial advisers they are assembling.Mr. Burris worked as a financial adviser in Arizona at the JPMorgan Sun City West branch, outside Phoenix, mostly serving retirees in the area. His problems at the firm mounted quickly in 2012.At the beginning of the year, he received a glowing employee review from the same woman who later wrote up the complaints against him, and he was promoted to work in the elite Chase Private Client division. At the time Mr. Burris had no client complaints on his regulatory records.But Mr. Burris says he began to push back internally when his supervisors urged him to sell his customers JPMorgan-branded mutual funds in so-called managed accounts. Other JPMorgan brokers complained publicly around the same time about facing similar pressures from their superiors.It was soon after Mr. Burris began raising these concerns that his supervisors voiced unhappiness with some of his practices as a broker and within a few months he was fired.Mr. Burris said that he was fired because he refused to sell in-house mutual funds. He questioned the supposed misdeeds that the bank cited for dismissing him. In a few cases, Mr. Burriss supervisors said he had encouraged a client to make a trade but then marked it down as if the trade had been initiated by the client suggesting that Mr. Burris was hiding his activity.Mr. Burris has received signed declarations from the clients on whose behalf he made the trades. Both men stated that the trades were their ideas, not Mr. Burriss, contrary to what his supervisors said.I never found him to push me into anything, Paul Hudson, one of Mr. Burriss former clients, said in an interview. I made no complaints. I wasnt aware that I had anything to complain of myself.The state judge overseeing Mr. Burriss unemployment claim questioned JPMorgans explanation of Mr. Burriss firing and said that it appeared to have been done in a rushed manner that bypassed JPMorgans progressive disciplinary procedures.The more serious criticisms of Mr. Burris began to show up on his disciplinary record soon after he went public with his grievances against JPMorgan. In the course of two weeks, three client complaints showed up on his regulatory records.During his arbitration case, Mr. Burriss lawyer asked a JPMorgan supervisor at his old branch in Arizona whether the client complaints were written by someone at JPMorgan or if any JPMorgan employee had helped draft them.Absolutely not, the JPMorgan employee, Umbreen Kazmi, responded to both questions.It was only after the arbitration case was over that Mr. Burris tracked down the clients and learned that the letters had, in fact, been drafted by one of his old colleagues at JPMorgan, Ms. Gavin, a close associate of Ms. Kazmi.Ms. Wexler, the JPMorgan spokeswoman, said this week that during the hearing Ms. Kazmi answered truthfully based on what she knew she did not realize that anyone had provided the customer with the courtesy of typing up a verbal complaint or issue.The clients who spoke with The Times all said that they felt bad when they heard that Mr. Burris had been affected by the complaints that they ostensibly had made, because they had not had negative experiences with Mr. Burris.It disturbs me to no end, said Leona Weakland, who made a declaration on Mr. Burriss behalf.After Mr. Burris was fired, Ms. Weakland and her husband took their money from JPMorgan to have it managed by Mr. Burris again.",0
"Credit...Maddie McGarvey for The New York TimesFor Amy McGrath to win the race against Representative Andy Barr, she will have to win the votes of rural residents who feel alienated from the national Democratic Party.Amy McGrath, the Democratic nominee for a House seat in Kentucky, will need to win rural, traditionally Republican parts of her district as well as more Democratic-leaning cities like Frankfort, above.Credit...Maddie McGarvey for The New York TimesJune 16, 2018VERSAILLES, Ky. Ben Chandler knows how it feels to win and lose Kentuckys Sixth Congressional District.The area rambles from the Bluegrass region to the Appalachian Mountains to the east. Overwhelmingly white and culturally conservative, it is an uneasy mix of working-class struggles and old-money prosperity bourbon distilleries and luxuriant horse farms, one very large auto plant and the University of Kentucky. President Trump and the Second Amendment are popular here, but not in that order. Reverence for veterans runs deep.Amy McGrath, a Naval Academy graduate, Marine combat aviator and something of a Chandler protg, is persuaded a Democrat can once again be elected to the House in this district. Mr. Chandler, the last Democrat to do so, had to develop what he called an unorthodox calculus for winning over voters: The politics of confusion.ImageCredit...Maddie McGarvey for The New York TimesI didnt have the luxury of voting the way I felt or taking the positions I wanted to take or even the best positions, he said in an interview on the farm that has been in his family since 1784. I had to balance that with what the people I represented wanted.By 2012, after four terms in office, Mr. Chandler found that formula no longer worked. In an increasingly polarized country, there was no longer a middle of the road in the Sixth District. A Republican, Andy Barr, defeated him and has won re-election two times since.ImageCredit...Maddie McGarvey for The New York TimesNow, Ms. McGraths race against Mr. Barr will test the limits of any Democratic wave in the midterm elections and of the power of female candidates in a year with a record number of women running for Congress. If Ms. McGrath and others like her can win, Democrats would almost certainly retake control of the House.She will have to run up large margins in the few heavily populated areas that lean Democratic, such as Lexington and Frankfort. More challenging, she will have to win the votes of rural residents who feel alienated from the national Democratic Party, stepping squarely into the culture wars over guns, same-sex rights and access to health care.The electoral tripwires are many. In Anderson County to the west, bourbon distillers and Baptists coexist. In Bath County to the east, historical markers lionize the life of the Confederate general John Bell Hood. In Fayette County, in the middle, voters elected Jim Gray, who is gay, as mayor of Lexington. In Woodford County, where the moderate Mr. Chandler lives, one banner promoting a pro-life event and another celebrating gay rights were recently hanging off the courthouse railing.ImageCredit...Maddie McGarvey for The New York TimesThe economy in most of the district is doing well, with pockets of poverty, mostly in rural areas. In Scott County, where Ms. McGrath lives, the largest Toyota plant in the world churns out Camrys and Lexus sedans, a factory that could be hurt by Mr. Trumps proposed tariffs. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail runs through the district, attracting tourists to another export that has been targeted for retaliatory tariffs by trading partners suffering from the presidents attacks on their steel and aluminum industries.The horse industry is as durable as the bluegrass this years Triple Crown winner, Justify, lives on WinStar Farm, adjacent to Mr. Chandlers homestead. In Clark County, Ale-8-One soda is a local staple made in Winchester and sold throughout the district. Many of the nations chemical weapons are stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Richmond, another sizable employer. The eastern part of the district is less well educated and more economically distressed.A Democrats path to victory starts in Lexington, a city of more than 300,000 in a county with the states highest percentage of college graduates that often provides about 40 percent of the overall vote. Lexington is ringed by suburbs where Democrats are hoping Ms. McGrath can pick off the votes of suburban women and men who will be drawn to her military service.ImageCredit...Maddie McGarvey for The New York TimesIn the other 18 counties outside Fayette, Mr. Trump won with an average of 63 percent of the vote. Mr. Barr, who has deep reserves of trust and affection in rural precincts, won his race that year by 22 percentage points.But Ms. McGrath may have the kind of profile that can bring around some conservatives, win over moderates and appeal to liberals.The word most people would apply to her is tough, said Al Cross, the director at the University of Kentuckys Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues. She has a pretty well-defined identity.In her primary victory over Mr. Gray, Ms. McGrath won handily in all of the rural counties, including Anderson, where tobacco farms have either gone to seed or given way to subdivisions as it has evolved into a bedroom community for Frankfort or Lexington. Mr. Trump won nearly 75 percent of the vote here.But Ms. McGrath decided early that she would compete for votes in the county. In November, she came to sit for an interview in the office of Ben Carlson, the editor and publisher of the weekly Anderson News, the principal source of local news, with a subscription price of $30 a year and a market penetration of 32 percent. Congressional candidates dont flock into The Anderson News asking us to interview them, Mr. Carlson said.ImageCredit...Maddie McGarvey for The New York TimesHe delivered a 3,500-word, front-page article, covering a number of issues, including ones that could cause Ms. McGrath trouble in the race against Mr. Barr. What really surprised me was how honest and open she was about things she knew dang well werent going to be popular here, he said.Mr. Carlson attends dozens of community meetings a month and prides himself on being able to gauge sentiment. She was accessible, he said of Ms. McGraths campaign appearances. People love the Marine Corps thing.They do not like her position on guns, he said, because Ms. McGrath calls for background checks and banning bump stocks on weapons. This is very, very, very pro-gun country, Mr. Carlson said. An assault rifle ban will go over like a lead balloon. There are more AR-15s in this county than you can shake a stick at.ImageCredit...Maddie McGarvey for The New York TimesIn another rural area, Donna Barnes, the chairwoman of the Republican Party in Montgomery County, agrees. The people here are passionate about the Second Amendment, she said. Ms. McGrath has changed her stance on gun control and when she did that, she actually lost some of the interest of Montgomery County.Ms. Barnes also said that voters needed to hear more about Ms. McGrath than her biography. Basically, all we are hearing is I am a veteran, vote for me.For many others, though, Ms. McGraths military service will be appealing and could help to inoculate her on a number of issues. To break through, she has opened a number of field offices in rural counties, including Clark, where her staff has a presence on the historic Main Street in Winchester.ImageCredit...Maddie McGarvey for The New York TimesEd Burtner, the mayor of Winchester and former Marine who served in Vietnam, is no fan of Mr. Trump because of the presidents criticism of Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, but he said the presidents support runs deep here. I havent found a single person that said they voted for Trump that has also not said they wouldnt do it again, Mr. Burtner said.Weve got that conservative base and in some cases ultra conservative base, he said. And she has to recognize thats here, and thats going to be in a lot of the communities where she is running.Henry Branham, a local judge and Democrat, said that people did not engage him on the subject of the president, but that hardly meant an embrace of his party. Clark County is so far from Nancy Pelosi, its pathetic, Mr. Branham said.Republicans tried to quickly define Ms. McGrath as too liberal for the district.People accepted gay marriage; they dont like it, Mr. Carlson said of people in Anderson County. Transgender in the military. A lot of the feedback was, I really like her, but boy, she is awfully liberal.ImageCredit...Maddie McGarvey for The New York TimesBut her military rsum provides a strong counterpoint. Lawrenceburg, the Anderson County seat, has a healing field with flags to honor every Kentuckian who has been killed in the war on terrorism. The American Legion is the largest civic group.Mr. Chandler, whose grandfather, A. B. Chandler, was governor and senator before becoming the commissioner of Major League Baseball, knows the district like few others, and he believes Ms. McGrath has a powerful rejoinder to being labeled far left.How do you caricature someone as a liberal who has bombed terrorists? Mr. Chandler said. Thats ludicrous. I hope they try it. Look at Barr in the face and say how many terrorists have you killed?Young woman wanted to be a fighter pilot at an early age, he went on. Went against all of the societal norms, he said, adding, A mother of three dropping bombs on terrorists you dont run across that profile every day.ImageCredit...Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times",3
"Nobel Prize Awarded for Research About Temperature and TouchDavid Julius and Ardem Patapoutian were honored for their discoveries about how heat, cold and touch can initiate signals in the nervous system.Credit...Jonathan Nackstrand/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesPublished Oct. 4, 2021Updated Oct. 6, 2021The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly on Monday to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian, two scientists who independently discovered key mechanisms of how people sense heat, cold, touch and their own bodily movements.Dr. Julius, a professor of physiology at the University of California, San Francisco, used a key ingredient in hot chili peppers to identify a protein in nerve cells that responds to uncomfortably hot temperatures.Dr. Patapoutian, a molecular biologist at Scripps Research in La Jolla, Calif., led a team that, by poking individual cells with a tiny pipette, hit upon a receptor that responds to pressure, touch and the positioning of body parts.After Dr. Juliuss pivotal discovery of a heat-sensing protein in 1997, pharmaceutical companies poured billions of dollars into looking for nonopioid drugs that could dull pain by targeting the receptors. But while research is ongoing, the related treatments have so far run into huge obstacles, scientists said, and interest from drug makers has largely dried up.Neither winner was easy for the Nobel committee to reach before it announced the prize around 2:30 a.m. California time. Dr. Julius said in an interview that his phone pinged with a text message from his sister-in-law, who told him that she had gotten a call from the Nobel Assemblys secretary-general but had not wanted to give the man Dr. Juliuss phone number.Dr. Patapoutian said that the committee eventually reached his 94-year-old father on a landline, who in turn called Dr. Patapoutian to tell him, I think you won the Nobel Prize.Im a bit overwhelmed, Dr. Patapoutian said a few hours later, but pretty happy.Why did they win?Pain and pressure were among the last frontiers of scientists efforts to describe the molecular basis for sensations. The 2004 Nobel Prize in Medicine was given to work clarifying how smell worked. As far back as 1967, the prize was awarded to scientists studying vision.But unlike smell and sight, the perceptions of pain or touch are not located in an isolated part of the body, and scientists did not even know what molecules to look for. Its been the last main sensory system to fall to molecular analysis, Dr. Julius said at an online briefing on Monday.The biggest hurdle in Dr. Juliuss work was how to comb through a library of millions of DNA fragments encoding different proteins in the sensory neurons to find the one that reacts to capsaicin, the key component in chili peppers. The solution was to introduce those genes into cells that do not normally respond to capsaicin until one was discovered that made the cells capable of reacting.At that point, scientists in Dr. Juliuss lab knew that the receptor they had identified TRPV1, a channel on the surface of cells activated by capsaicin had to have evolved primarily for a more common stimulus, beyond the rare instances when someone might encounter hot peppers. That other stimulus turned out to be heat, said Dr. Michael Caterina, a professor of neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who helped run a critical 1997 study on the topic in Dr. Juliuss lab. Acid activated the channel, too.Tobias Rosen, an undergraduate in the lab, came up with the clever recognition that essentially what we had cloned was a hot and sour soup receptor, Dr. Caterina said. It has acid, it has hot temperature, and its spicy.In search of the molecular basis for touch, Dr. Patapoutian, too, had to sift through a number of possible genes. One by one, he and his collaborators inactivated genes until they identified the single one that, when disabled, made the cells insensitive to the poke of a tiny pipette.The channel integral to the sense of touch became known as Piezo1, after the Greek word for pressure. That channel and a similar one, both described in a 2010 paper, are now known to regulate a number of bodily functions that involve stretching, said Dr. Walter Koroshetz, the director of the N.I.H. National Institute on Neurological Disorders and Stroke, which provided funding to Dr. Juliuss and Dr. Patapoutians labs.Those functions include the working of blood vessels, breathing and sensitivity to a full bladder.Why is the work important?The identification of pain receptors prompted a flurry of interest from pharmaceutical companies: If you could block the channel identified by Dr. Julius, they reasoned, you could address chronic pain.But there were several major problems. One is that some sensitivity to pain is useful; without it, people risk running a scalding hot bath or burning their hands on a stovetop. Pain serves a purpose, Dr. Caterina said.Another is that the same channels responsive to heat also turned out to contribute to the control of body temperature. Blocking them was found to cause a slight fever a potentially major liability.As a result, some scientists including Peter McNaughton, a professor of pharmacology at Kings College London have focused on the channels tendency to become hypersensitive when inflammation occurs. Instead of trying to stop the channels normal activity, the scientists studied ways to safely block them from revving up even further in response to inflammation.Another approach is to take advantage of the fact that repeated exposure to capsaicin makes sensory neurons less sensitive the same reason that people who eat spicy foods develop a certain tolerance, Dr. Caterina said. Apply a prescription-strength patch with a lot of capsaicin, Dr. Caterina said, and it should deaden the pain response.Still, difficulties remain. For example, it turned out that there were multiple heat-sensing channels. Block some, and others would compensate. If you whack one of them, the other ones can still respond to noxious heat, said Professor John Wood of University College London, who studies pain and touch.The channels identified in Dr. Patapoutians work, Dr. Wood said, were involved in so many processes that they made for difficult drug targets.Its fascinating mechanistically, Dr. Wood said, but I dont think it has much clinical relevance to treating pain.Who are the winners?ImageCredit...Sandy Huffak/Howard Hughes Medical Institute/Scripps Research/EPA-EFE, via ShutterstockDr. Patapoutian, who is of Armenian origin, grew up in Lebanon during the countrys long and calamitous civil war before fleeing to the United States with his brother in 1986 at age 18. Needing to establish residency in California so that he could afford college, Dr. Patapoutian worked eclectic jobs for a year, delivering pizzas and writing the weekly horoscopes for an Armenian newspaper.At U.C.L.A., in the course of preparing to apply to medical school, he joined a research laboratory so that the professor would write him a good recommendation.I fell in love with doing basic research, Dr. Patapoutian said in an interview. That changed the trajectory of my career.He added: In Lebanon, I didnt even know about scientists as a career.Dr. Patapoutian said that he gravitated to studying the sense of touch and pain because those systems remained so mysterious. When you find a field thats not well understood, he said, its a great opportunity to dig in.ImageCredit...University of California, San Francisco/EPA, via ShutterstockDr. Julius, too, became fixated on the question of how the bodys sensory receptors worked. Growing up in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, he said that he began considering a career in science while at nearby Abraham Lincoln High School, where a former minor league baseball player turned physics teacher spoke to students about calculating the trajectory of a baseball.He was the person who made me think, Maybe I should do science, Dr. Julius said.As a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, and later a postdoctoral scholar at Columbia University, he said he became interested in how magic mushrooms and LSD worked, and more broadly in how things from nature interact with human receptors.No sensory system matters more to survival than pain, he said. And hardly any was as poorly understood. So his lab began investigating the workings of a wide range of unpleasant natural substances: toxins from tarantulas and coral snakes, capsaicin from chili peppers and the chemicals that make horseradish and wasabi so pungent.Who won the 2020 Nobel Prize in medicine?Dr. Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice received the prize for their discovery of the hepatitis C virus. The Nobel committee said the three scientists had made possible blood tests and new medicines that have saved millions of lives.Who else won a Nobel Prize in the sciences in 2021?The Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday was awarded to Syukuro Manabe of Princeton University, Klaus Hasselmann of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, and Giorgio Parisi of the Sapienza University of Rome. The committee said their work has been essential to understanding how Earths climate is changing and how human behavior is influencing those changes.The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded on Wednesday to Benjamin List and David W.C. MacMillan for their development of a new tool to build molecules, work that has spurred advances in pharmaceutical research and allowed scientists to construct catalysts with considerably less impact on the environment.Who else won Nobel Prizes in science in 2020?The physics prize went to Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez for their discoveries including work on black holes that have improved the understanding of the universe.The chemistry prize was jointly awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for their work on the development of Crispr-Cas9, a method for genome editing.When will the other Nobel Prizes be announced?There are two more science prizes. Physics will be announced on Tuesday, and Chemistry on Wednesday, both in Stockholm.The prize in Literature will be announced in Stockholm on Thursday. Read about last years winner, Louise Glck.The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday in Oslo. Read about last years winner, the World Food Program.The Nobel in economic science will be announced in Stockholm on Oct. 11. Last years prize was shared by Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson.",2
"In a historic reversal, fewer patients are dying in hospitals. But experts warn that many families are unprepared to care for seriously ill relatives at home. Credit...Taylor Glascock for The New York TimesPublished Dec. 11, 2019Updated Dec. 26, 2019For the first time over a half century, more people in the United States are dying at home than in hospitals, a remarkable turnabout in Americans view of a so-called good death.In 2017, 29.8 percent of deaths by natural causes occurred in hospitals, and 30.7 percent at home, researchers reported on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.The gap may be small, but it had been narrowing for years, and the researchers believe dying at home will continue to become more common.The last time Americans died at home at the current rate was the middle of the last century, according Dr. Haider J. Warraich, a cardiologist at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System and a co-author of the new research. In Boston in 1912, about two-thirds of residents died at home, he said. By the 1950s, the majority of Americans died in hospitals, and by the 1970s, at least two-thirds did. Americans have long said that they prefer to die at home, not in an institutional setting. Many are horrified by the prospect of expiring under fluorescent lights, hooked to ventilators, feeding tubes and other devices that only prolong the inevitable.And hospice care, usually delivered at home, is more available than ever before. Some 1.49 million Medicare beneficiaries received hospice care in 2017, a 4.5 percent increase from 2016, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.There has been a kind of cultural shift that has romanticized dying at home and made it the only way to die, said Carol Levine, an ethicist at the United Hospital Fund in New York. At the same time, hospitals have long had financial incentives not to keep Medicare patients for long periods, noted Dr. Diane Meier, a professor of geriatrics and palliative medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.Typically, Medicare pays hospitals per diagnosis per patient, not for the number of days a patient is in the hospital. Administrators dont want it to go on for a long time, Dr. Meier said.We send very very sick, complicated patients home under the care of family members who are not trained professionals, she added.Many terminally ill patients wind up in the care of family members who may be wholly unprepared for the task. We are, perhaps appropriately, shifting the site of care to where patients and families say they want to be, said Dr. Sean Morrison, chair of geriatrics and palliative medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. But, he added, We have put a tremendous burden on families in the type of care they have to provide and the type they have to pay for.ImageCredit...Travis ReedMargaret Peterson, 58, a fellow at the Chicago Center for Family Health, cared for her terminally ill husband, Dwight, at home for four long years. A paraplegic adamant that he wanted to die at home, he was discharged from a hospital in 2012 and enrolled in hospice care, because he was not expected to survive long. But he confounded expectations, living for four years. Ms. Peterson was his caregiver, along with a home health aide once a week and nurses from a hospice. The burden was crushing, she recalled, and her husbands suffering in the last few days seemed needless.It just went on and on and on, she said. The model of care wasnt designed to give me any respite. It was absolutely exhausting.When he had a terrible bedsore on his foot that needed care, Ms. Peterson knew she did not have the training to help him. A friend, a vascular surgeon, offered to come several times a week to treat the wound. It was wonderful, but its like these GoFundMe things, she said. We should not have to resort to a doctor to do us an enormous favor.For the last four days of his life, Mr. Peterson was in excruciating pain. Still, he did not want to return to a hospital, because he did not want to die there.He had way, way more pain than he needed to have, Ms. Peterson said. Her husband died on March 6, 2016, from deterioration and infection of his hips and pelvis, a consequence of his paraplegia. There is a kind of fantasy where if you make all the right choices, you get this beautiful and peaceful death, she added. But you can do everything right and still have an unpredictable and tragic experience.Part of the problem is that often hospice care remains relatively limited. Many patients now dying at home need substantial care, said Dr. Warraich. Hospice is asked to do a big lift, he said. They get a fixed payment, a daily rate for patients, so they cannot offer many services. They are asked to be very effective but on a razor-thin budget.Families often are trapped by gaps in the system, said Dr. Meier. I dont think families or caregivers understand what its like to die at home, she said. They will need to understand how to manage symptoms, like pain or shortness of breath or confusion. They are on-call 24/7 and have to be alert to changes at all times. They dont get to go home after an eight-hour shift.Even with hospice care, families are the front-line caregivers, she added. Ninety-nine minutes out of 100 the family is on its own.",2
"Update: Britain has voted to exit the European Union. It is a historic decision sure to reshape the nations place in the world. For more about the fallout, The Times prepared an updated explainer of the basics. Britain held a referendum on Thursday on whether to leave the European Union, a process often referred to as Brexit. Photo Supporters of Grassroots Out campaign outside the Electoral Commission in London in March. Credit Andy Rain/European Pressphoto Agency What is Britain deciding? The referendum question will ask voters whether the country should remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union. Photo A slogan of the Vote Leave campaign was projected onto the White Cliffs of Dover in southern England this month. Credit Peter Nicholls/Reuters The reasons for and against Those who favor leaving argue that the European Union has changed enormously over the last four decades with regard to the size and the reach of its bureaucracy, diminishing British influence and sovereignty.Those who want to stay say that a medium-size island needs to be part of a larger bloc of like-minded countries to have real influence and security in the world, and that leaving would be economically costly. Photo Credit Toby Melville/Reuters What are pollsters and bettors predicting? As the campaign progressed, the odds against Brexit gradually became smaller, then they rose again. Betfair, a betting exchange, had the Remain camp with an 80 percent chance of winning on the day of the vote. Who is arguing to stay, and who to go? REMAIN Prime Minister David Cameron leads the Remain camp, and he could lose his job if his effort fails. Behind him are most of the Conservative government he leads, the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party, which is strongly pro-Europe.Most independent economists and large businesses favor staying in, as do the most recent heads of Britains intelligence services. President Obama, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President Xi Jinping of China also want Britain to stay in.LEAVE The Leave camp is led by Michael Gove, the justice minister, and Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London. Nearly half the Conservative members of Parliament favor leaving, as do the members of the U.K. Independence Party, or UKIP, and its leader, Nigel Farage. Their main issues are sovereignty and immigration.Abroad, the French National Front leader, Marine Le Pen, favors Brexit, as do other anti-Europe parties in Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere. Photo A vigil in Parliament Square in London for Jo Cox, a member of Parliament who was killed in northern England on Thursday. Credit Daniel Leal-Olivas/Agence France-Presse Getty Images Campaigning stopped for several days. Why? Jo Cox, a member of Parliament, was shot and killed outside a library in her district of Birstall, England, last week. With the referendum days away, campaigning was immediately suspended as a gesture of respect. It resumed on Sunday.Ms. Cox, 41, was a vocal supporter of Britains remaining in the bloc. When the suspect in her killing, Thomas Mair, was asked in court for his name, he answered, My name is death to traitors, freedom for Britain. Photo Credit Francois Lenoir/Reuters What is the history? The European Union began in 1951 as the European Coal and Steel Community, an effort by six nations to heal the fissures of World War II through duty-free trade. In 1957, the Treaty of Rome created the European Economic Community, or Common Market.Britain tried to join later, but President Charles de Gaulle of France vetoed its application in 1963 and in 1967. Britain finally joined in 1973. Photo Has a vote like this happened before? Yes. A referendum was held in 1975, two years after Britain joined the European Economic Community, on whether it should stay. More than 67 percent of Britons voted in favor. Photo London is a major financial gateway, the biggest and busiest in Europe and rivaling Wall Street as a hub of international trading in stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities. Credit Andy Haslam for The New York Times What impact would an exit have on Britains economy? This is an essential and divisive question. The economic effect of an exit would depend on what settlement was negotiated, especially on whether Britain would retain access to the single market for duty-free trade and financial services. But that would probably require accepting freedom of movement and labor for European Union citizens, which is one of the main complaints the Leave camp has about bloc membership.Most economists favor remaining in the bloc and say an exit would cut growth, weaken the pound and hurt the City of London, Britains financial center. Even economists who favor an exit say growth would be affected in the short and medium terms, though they also say Britain would be better off by 2030.In late October, the chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, said that the better-than-expected 0.5 percent growth in gross domestic product in the third quarter was evidence that the British economy was able to cope with Brexit. Photo Prime Minister David Cameron in Warsaw during an official visit to Poland this year. Credit Radek Pietruszka/European Pressphoto Agency Why now? It has to do with a decades-long rift in the governing Conservative Party. A vocal minority has demanded that Britain leave the European Union since the time of Margaret Thatcher. That minority grew in opposition during the Tony Blair years, and views on Europe have become a litmus test for Tory candidates, because grass-roots Conservatives tend to favor a British exit.To pacify his party and undermine the anti-European Union U.K. Independence Party, Mr. Cameron promised to hold the referendum should he be re-elected prime minister. Nearly half of all Tory members of Parliament, including six cabinet ministers, now favor leaving the bloc. Photo Unlike in general elections, Commonwealth citizens in Gibraltar, a British overseas territory, can vote in the referendum. Credit Jorge Guerrero/Agence France-Presse Getty Images Who is voting? British citizens 18 and older can vote, as can citizens abroad who have been registered to vote at home in the last 15 years. Also eligible are residents of Britain who are citizens of Ireland or of the Commonwealth, which consists of 53 countries, including Australia, Canada, India and South Africa.Unlike in general elections, members of the House of Lords may vote, as can Commonwealth citizens in Gibraltar, a British overseas territory. Citizens of the European Union living in Britain cannot vote, unless they are citizens of Cyprus, Ireland or Malta. Photo Credit Andy Rain/European Pressphoto Agency Why the unusual name? The referendum is often called Brexit, for British exit from the European Union. It is a variant of the label Grexit, invented during the Greek debt crisis (which, by the way, is not over). Photo Credit Philippe Wojazer/Reuters Is this vote final? Yes, at least for the foreseeable future. If Britons vote to leave, there will be an initial two-year negotiation with the European Union about the terms of the divorce, which is unlikely to be amicable.The negotiation will decide Britains relationship with the bloc. The major issues would surround trade. If Britain wants to remain in the European Unions common market the worlds largest trading bloc, with 500 million people Brussels is expected to exact a steep price, in particular to discourage other countries from leaving.",6
"TrilobitesCredit...Amy BloomfieldMarch 3, 2017Blood laced with a natural antifreeze pumps through the veins of wood frogs. They rest suspended, somewhere between life and death, awaiting springs arrival in frozen winter forests. Beneath a blanket of decaying leaves, salamanders are waiting, too.Tap, tap. Its time for the race.Each year in late March and early April, from New Jersey to Maine, forest-dwelling amphibians like spotted salamanders and wood frogs wake up from their winter homes and migrate during the night to vernal pools for breeding. Some animals travel through the woods, never to be seen by humans, while others cross broken habitat, trying sometimes fatal journeys across streets.But some of them were waking up early late last month, the result of unseasonably warm weather, say reports from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Volunteers helping to usher the amphibians across the street in the Hudson Valley last week saw wood frogs, spotted salamanders, four-toed salamanders and spring peepers. In some pools, male wood frogs are already calling for females that show up later.When weather is warm and wet, as it has been recently and is in the forecasts for next week, hundreds to thousands of the animals migrate at once, in whats called a big night.Although our Hudson Valley volunteers didnt witness a big night of migration last month, we did see early movement, said Laura Heady, a conservationist who runs a program to protect estuaries and land in the Hudson Valley for the D.E.C. and Cornell University. We may be experiencing seasonably cold temperatures over the next few days, but the current forecast suggests next week will be rainy and warm. If these conditions prove true, I suspect more amphibians will be back on the move.Some of these species, like spring peepers, are just traveling through the night, but others, like spotted salamanders and wood frogs, depend on the inconspicuous vernal pools, or wicked big puddles, as they are called in Massachusetts.ImageCredit...New York State Department of Environmental ConservationThe lucky ones arrive just as the ice begins to break around the edges of the pools. There, adult amphibians go through courtship, mate and fertilize eggs. Then those eggs develop into adults themselves. All of this must happen fast before the water dries up in the summer.Its a race against dryness, Ms. Heady said.In some cases, it is also a game of Frogger. Slow-moving amphibians, just waking up, dont always make it past even light traffic, said Ms. Heady.Since 2009, more than 300 volunteers have ushered around 8,500 amphibians across the streets from just above New York City to Albany. They also counted 4,000 to 5,000 dead amphibians.Mortality estimates vary but are surprisingly high, sometimes reaching nearly 40 percent in New York, said James Gibbs, a biologist at State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, said in an email. These animals are facing a major new source of mortality in many areas as it is hard to get away from roads in New York State.People who want to help save the slippery night travelers can volunteer as crossing guards in New York and other Northeastern states. But they have to be ready to get wet, cold and slimy in the middle of the night, on a road that may or may not have any creatures to shepherd.If you volunteer, you can expect to park your car safely off the road and wear safety gear and lights to make yourself visible. Bring a flashlight or headlamp, amphibian identification guide and a data form, to record how many you see alive or dead, how long youre there, how much distance you covered and other information, like the amount of traffic. You should wash your hands, but avoid lotion, bug spray and hand sanitizer amphibian skin is sensitive, and you may need to pick them up or nudge them along. Those who dont want to get close can do a windshield survey and monitor traffic instead.If weather permits next week, you could experience a big night.Its really incredible if you love nature and you can withstand being out in the rain, Ms. Heady said.",7
"Americas|State Dept. Official Praises Mexican Efforts in War on Drugshttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/world/americas/drug-narcotics-mexico-state-department.htmlCredit...Bryan Denton for The New York TimesMarch 2, 2017WASHINGTON One of the few senior Obama administration appointees still at the State Department delivered a ringing endorsement on Thursday of Mexicos efforts to stop illegal drugs from entering the United States, just as the Trump administration is examining whether to slash money supporting those efforts.William R. Brownfield, assistant secretary for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs, said in a conference call with reporters that the United Nations and decades of patient diplomacy had put the United States in a much better position to police the international flow of narcotics than at any point in the last three decades.Weve still got major challenges ahead to address the opioid crisis here in the United States of America, Mr. Brownfield said. Referring to an annual report on international narcotics released on Thursday, he added, but in my humble opinion, this report suggests that were in a far better place to address those challenges now than we would have been 20, 30 or 40 years ago.ImageCredit...Guillermo Arias/Associated PressPresident Trump has criticized Mexico as a source of dangerous illegal immigrants and drugs, and his pledge to build a wall along the southern border of the United States has infuriated Mexican officials. Mr. Trump also referred to the United Nations on Twitter as just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.The United States is in the midst of an opioid epidemic that is now killing more people than traffic accidents, and at least 90 percent of the heroin consumed in this country comes from Mexico.Mr. Brownfield said the opioid crisis had been caused by, among other factors, doctors prescribing habits and soaring patient demand in the United States and by Mexican drug traffickers increased efforts to meet that demand.The United States and Mexico have shared responsibility for this problem, and that requires shared solutions, he said, adding that cooperation between the two governments to attack the problem was at historically high levels.Mr. Brownfield said that Mexico and the United Nations were vital allies in the fight against international drug trafficking. The Merida Initiative, a bilateral partnership with Mexico begun in 2007 that is focused on fighting organized criminal groups, makes us more able to interdict drug trafficking than ever before, he said.In a sense, he added, we have developed a law enforcement cooperative wall.The Trump administration is compiling a list of continuing American aid to Mexico, possibly in hopes of identifying money that could be diverted to help pay for a border wall. The Merida Initiative is the reviews biggest target.Asked if he planned to resign, as many Obama appointees have, Mr. Brownfield said, I am in the job for which I was confirmed by the United States Senate in the year 2011 and will remain here until I am no longer in this job.The Trump administration continues to rely on Obama appointees like Mr. Brownfield because of a slow appointments process.",6
"Credit...Afolabi Sotunde/ReutersNov. 2, 2018DAKAR, Senegal The Nigerian Army, part of a military criticized for rampant human rights abuses, on Friday used the words of President Trump to justify its fatal shootings of rock-throwing protesters.Soldiers fired this Monday on a march of about 1,000 Islamic Shiite activists who had blocked traffic on the outskirts of the capital, Abuja. Videos that circulated on social media showed several protesters hurling rocks at heavily armed soldiers who then shot fleeing demonstrators in the back.The Nigerian military said three protesters were killed, but the toll appears to have been much higher.Amnesty International and leaders of the protest said more than 40 people were killed at the march and two smaller marches, with more than 100 wounded by bullets. A Reuters reporter counted 20 bodies at the main march.Human rights activists and many Nigerians were outraged at the militarys response, which echoed a similar confrontation in 2015, when soldiers killed nearly 350 protesters from the same group, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, the largest and most recognizable face of Shiite Islam in the country. The group organizes frequent protest marches.Early Friday morning, the military responded to the criticism.The armys official Twitter account posted a video, Please Watch and Make Your Deductions, showing Mr. Trumps speech on Thursday in which he said rocks would be considered firearms if thrown toward the American military at the nations borders.Were not going to put up with that, Mr. Trump said in the clip. They want to throw rocks at our military, our military fights back.[Read how Trumps vulgar remarks about Africa didnt keep him and Nigerias president from meeting.]The army deleted the post hours later without explanation after it had caused an uproar on social media.Mr. Trump is popular among groups in Nigerias mostly Christian south that admire his tough talk against Islamic extremism. Though a polarizing figure, some people praise what they regard as his straightforwardness and frank talk, despite his reported insult last year when he said Nigerians in the United States would never go back to their huts in Africa.Earlier this year after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, during which Mr. Trump praised the Nigerian leaders fight against the Islamic State in West Africa, Mr. Trump said he never again wanted to meet someone so lifeless as Mr. Buhari, The Financial Times reported.On Friday, John Agim, a spokesman for the Nigerian Army, said the initial posting of the video was a response to Amnesty International, which had criticized what it called the militarys use of excessive force.We released that video to say if President Trump can say that rocks are as good as a rifle, who is Amnesty International? he said. What are they then saying? What did David use to kill Goliath? So a stone is a weapon.Our soldiers sustained injuries, he continued. The Shiites even burnt one of our vehicles, so what are Amnesty International saying?The army has said as many as six soldiers were wounded during the protest after thousands of members of the sect overran a police checkpoint and blocked traffic along a highway.Soldiers had arrived to assist the police, a news release said, and were met with protesters who threw canisters of fuel, large stones, catapults with dangerous objects and other dangerous items.The military posted photos of six slingshots and one pocketknife on its Facebook page as evidence.They wanted to take over the checkpoint with their weapons, Mr. Agim said. They knew it was there. We responded to them.ImageCredit...Paul Carsten/ReutersIbrahim Musa, a spokesman for the Shiite group, said that on Monday security forces refused to let protesters, who numbered about 1,000, pass the checkpoint as they marched toward their destination. He said 13 protesters were killed during two other marches this week, one before and one after Mondays deadly march.Rocks are not equal to bullets, he said. The use of force is disproportionate. I dont think President Trump is a good example even in America many are critical of him. I am surprised that the army will use Trump as a role model.There was no immediate comment from the White House on the Nigerian Armys posting. But asked on Friday about whether he condoned American soldiers firing on migrants in a Mexico caravan if they attempted to cross the United States border, Mr. Trump said: They wont have to fire. What I dont want is, I dont want these people throwing rocks.A State Department official in Washington, responding to the Nigerian shootings, said in a statement that the United States supports regional efforts to fight terrorism and protect civilians, employing our full tool kit including diplomacy, foreign assistance, senior military engagement, and security assistance.The statement was a reiteration of a Twitter posting on Thursday by Tibor Nagy, assistant secretary for the State Departments Bureau of African Affairs, in which he called for restraint on both sides and an investigation to hold all lawbreakers accountable.There was a conspicuous lack of comment on both the killings and the Nigerian Armys response from President Buhari and Atitku Abubakar, his main challenger in elections scheduled for next February.Their silence may partly reflect the antipathy toward the Islamic Movement of Nigeria in their own bases of support.There were also social-media expressions of support for the militarys response.If the military in my country doesnt shoot back at a group of people who chose to block the highway and throw rocks at them, how would I trust them if they had to go toe-to-toe with a foreign enemy?! wrote a senior aide to the governor of Kogi State in central Nigeria. Please, use bullets to cure those fanatics of their madness!!Despite its history of massacring innocent civilians in the war with the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, detaining innocent citizens and raping women and girls fleeing war-torn communities, the Nigerian military has been the recipient of warplane sales and other gear from the United States. American officials are particularly worried about a branch of Boko Haram operating in Nigeria that says it has ties to the Islamic State.A recent report mandated by Congress on the American strategy to improve security in Nigeria played down Nigerian military abuses, said Matthew Page, a former State Department expert on the region who is now an associate fellow in the Africa program of Chatham House, a British research group.Mr. Page said that even under the Obama administration, Washington sent mixed signals to Nigeria on human rights, adding that diplomats and policymakers have been house-trained by the Nigerian government to avoid public condemnation.Such concerns are now voiced in private, if at all. Detainee deaths and child imprisonment continues, and extrajudicial killings by Nigerian soldiers are not even covered up anymore, he said. Under the Trump administration, any senior-level squeamishness about Nigerian military abuses has evaporated.Almost 20 years after the end of military rule in Nigeria, protests are still viewed by many as a public disturbance and threat to the authorities.Additionally, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria is seen as a threat by some Nigerians to the Sunni form of Islam that is dominant in Nigerias north. The group does not recognize the Nigerian Constitution, claiming it excludes protections for minorities. Many Nigerian authorities say the group has the larger aim of creating an Islamic republic inspired by Iran.In his meeting with President Buhari at the White House this year, Mr. Trump commented on the killings of Christians in Nigerias Middle Belt, where clashes over land use have broken out between mostly Christian farmers and mostly Muslim herdsmen.We have had very serious problems with Christians who are being murdered in Nigeria, Mr. Trump told the Nigerian president, who is Muslim.While many farmers have died, the clashes also have killed scores of Muslim herders.",6
"Olympics|Finnish Goalies Mask Runs Afoul of I.O.C. Ruleshttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/07/sports/olympics/finnish-goalie-mask-runs-afoul-of-ioc-rules.htmlCredit...Petr David Josek/Associated PressFeb. 6, 2014SOCHI, Russia On her Olympic mask, the Finnish goaltender Noora Raty included the words Hakkaa paalle, which loosely translates to Cut them down. It is a battle cry with roots that go back four centuries, to the Thirty Years War, and it has become the national team mantra, something the players recite before every game.After Finlands practice Wednesday in Sochi, an official from the International Olympic Committee told Raty that she would have to cover the phrase with tape because it was in violation of Rule 50, which prohibits any advertising, demonstration or propaganda on an athletes equipment at the Olympics.First they told me you cant have something that says my countrys better than your country, said Raty, 24, a three-time Olympian. But that really doesnt say it. Its just cut them down, but then they decided no slogans or quotes.Finland, which handed the gold-medal-contending American squad a rare loss last fall behind Ratys 58 saves, opens play Saturday against the United States. The American goaltender Jessie Vetter was told to remove text from the Constitution of the United States from her mask last month.Its just a mask, Raty said. It wont affect my game.She added: Theres a lot of pictures of it on social media and stuff, so its not like people dont know that its there. So its kind of a stupid rule, but it is the rules.",4
"Business|G.M. Will Import Buicks Made in China to the U.S. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/05/business/gm-will-import-buicks-made-in-china-to-the-us.htmlDec. 4, 2015DETROIT General Motors said on Friday that it would sell its first Chinese-made vehicle in the United States next year in an effort to expand the product lineup of its struggling Buick brand. G.M. said it would introduce the Buick Envision, a compact sport-utility vehicle built in China, to the American market. It would be the first time that any of the three Detroit automakers have brought a Chinese-made vehicle to the American market. G.M. is the largest automaker in the United States.The volume of Envisions to be imported is not expected to be large. But the move highlights G.M.s strategy to maximize its global production capacity by funneling some models to markets that can absorb excess capacity.The Envision is made in G.M.s Chinese joint-venture plant in Yantai in northeastern Shandong Province. The vehicle is currently sold only in China, and G.M. has sold more than 120,000 since it was introduced last year. The company said the vehicle would add a needed model to the brand at a time when sales of carlike S.U.V.s called crossovers are soaring industrywide. The Buick brand has struggled this year with falling sales of passenger cars because American consumers are increasingly choosing S.U.V.s and trucks. When it goes on sale in 2016, it will play an important role in a crossover lineup that represents 60 percent of Buick sales in North America, said Duncan Aldred, a G.M. marketing executive.Through November, Buick sales are down 3 percent for the year, compared with an increase of more than 5 percent for the total American industry. Sales of its LaCrosse, Regal and Verano sedans are down substantially. But its two current S.U.V. models have posted gains.G.M. has additional capacity for the Envision in its Chinese plant and is testing the vehicle for possible changes to tailor it to American consumers.Volvo, which is owned by a Chinese company, already exports a sedan made in China into the United States.",0
"The Food and Drug Administration is permitting a Rutgers lab to start selling spit-collection kits to detect the coronavirus.Credit...Anna Moneymaker/The New York TimesMay 8, 2020The Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that it had granted emergency authorization for the first at-home saliva collection kit to test for the coronavirus.The test kit was developed by a Rutgers University laboratory, called RUCDR Infinite Biologics, in partnership with Spectrum Solutions and Accurate Diagnostic Labs. Rutgers received F.D.A. permission last month to collect saliva samples from patients at test sites but can now sell the collection kits for individuals to use at home. They must be ordered by a physician.The agency has come under fire in recent weeks for allowing myriad companies to offer diagnostic and antibody tests without submitting timely data for review, under its emergency use authorization policy because of the pandemic. Tests have varied widely in terms of their accuracy, and access to diagnostic testing has been scattered, with shortages of tests and the materials required to process them straining capacity from one state to another.To date, 8.1 million people in the United States have been tested for the coronavirus. But public health experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations leading infectious disease expert, said testing needed to double by the end of May.Just last week, the F.D.A. ordered dozens of companies it had allowed to market antibody tests, which some states and public health experts hope will help indicate the depth of infection in communities and quantify who has recovered and perhaps developed some immunity, to submit data proving accuracy within 10 days, or it warned the products could be removed from the market.The F.D.A. said that Rutgers had submitted data showing that testing saliva samples collected by patients themselves, under the observation of a health care provider, was as accurate as testing deep nasal swabs that the health professional had collected from them. The agency also said the spit collection kits should be limited to people who are exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms.A patient can open the kit, spit into the tube, put the cap back on and ship it back to our lab, said Dr. Andrew Brooks, chief operating officer and director of technology development at RUCDR. We bring the test to the patient, instead of the patient to the test.The F.D.A. said it still preferred tests based on deep nasal samples, which involve a health professional inserting a long swab up through the nose and into the back of the throat. But even those have had problems. In mid-April, for example, an unnamed team of health providers reported to the F.D.A. that the new Abbott ID Now test failed to detect coronavirus on six patients who were known to have Covid-19.Rutgers has 75,000 of the saliva test kits ready to ship and can process 20,000 tests each day, with a 48-hour turnaround. Dr. Brooks said he expected other labs around the country to adopt it for their own use.He said that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid had approved a $100 fee per test, but prices will vary. One company, Vault Health, is now offering telehealth appointments in which a health practitioner supervises the spit test via video. Vault charges $150 per test.The spit tests are part of an emergency pandemic response effort by the F.D.A. to help developers of novel tests for the coronavirus quickly get to market. Last month, the agency authorized the first type of at-home kit for the virus in the United States, a kit sold by LabCorp that enables people to swab their own noses and send the samples to be tested at the companys labs around the country.Now, at a time when some states say they are still facing a shortage of tests, the at-home spit-collection kits have the potential to widen the audience for virus screening. By keeping people with symptoms at home, instead of asking them to go to medical centers to be tested, the spit kits could reduce the risk of spreading the infection to health care workers.They may also appeal to people who would feel more comfortable spitting into a container than inserting swabs into their noses to collect virus specimens.This combines the ease of saliva collection with at-home collection, Dr. Stephen Hahn, the F.D.A. commissioner, said in an interview on Friday.Some public health experts, however, have cautioned that at-home sampling kits can also come with downsides. One is that it can take longer for people to get test results when they use at-home kits that need to be sent to labs. Because the infection can take several days to develop, they said, the time lag could result in some people receiving false negative test results for coronavirus. Physicians, they said, should make patients aware of the limitations.In its emergency authorization for the Rutgers test, the F.D.A. noted that negative test results would not preclude a coronavirus infection and should not be used as the sole basis for patient management decisions.The agency also noted that the Rutgers lab was the only entity it had authorized to market at-home coronavirus self-sampling kits for saliva. In March, the F.D.A. cracked down on several health start-ups that had rushed to market unauthorized at-home kits that involved consumers collecting their own spit or throat swabs for testing.This is not a general authorization, the F.D.A. said of the Rutgers spit kits, for at-home collection of patient samples using other collection methods, saliva collection devices, or tests, or for tests fully conducted at home.The F.D.A.s decisions to issue more than 100 emergency use authorizations has drawn intense criticism from Democratic lawmakers. Earlier this week, Senator Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, and Senator Patty Murray, of Washington, both Democrats, sent a letter to Dr. Hahn requesting information on how the agency was tracking the use, safety and effectiveness of Covid-19 treatments. and diagnostic tests given emergency use authorization because of the pandemic.The lawmakers said they were particularly concerned about the F.D.A.s tracking of adverse events caused by hydroxychloroquine, a treatment repeatedly promoted by President Trump.The senators noted evidence of the drugs lethal cardiac side effects and its lack of evidence as a treatment for Covid-19. There are also reports that the F.D.A. lowered its quality-control standards so that the administration could accept Bayer Pharmaceuticals donation of millions of hydroxychloroquine tablets for distribution, they said.The senators also told the F.D.A. to make sure that it tracked all reports of adverse events from remdesivir, which received emergency use authorization to treat patients hospitalized with Covid-19.",2
"Credit...Stephen Crowley/The New York TimesMarch 7, 2017WASHINGTON Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was sitting in his residence in Jerusalem on Monday, being questioned by the police in a murky bribery and fraud investigation that could put an end to his political career, when the telephone rang.On the line was President Trump, who wanted to talk to Mr. Netanyahu about Iran and a few other matters.The prime minister excused himself for several minutes to take the call, and later issued a statement in which he thanked Mr. Trump for his warm hospitality during his recent visit to Washington and expressed his appreciation for the presidents strong statement against anti-Semitism during the presidents speech before Congress.It was the latest example of what has become a budding political symbiosis between the two men. The Israeli leaders praise for Mr. Trumps stand against anti-Semitism helped inoculate the president from charges that he had not responded swiftly enough to a skein of threats against Jewish community centers and the vandalism of Jewish cemeteries.And Mr. Trumps conveniently timed call was a not-so-subtle reminder to Israels attorney general that indicting Mr. Netanyahu a step that would precipitate his resignation as a prime minister could harm Israels national security at a dangerous time.Mr. Netanyahu has survived past inquiries into his personal trips and home expenses without charges, and he has steadfastly denied wrongdoing in this case. But political analysts say this is the most serious legal challenge he has faced in his long political career one that comes just as he has made a powerful new friend in the White House.It appears that President Trump is prepared to go a long way to help Prime Minister Netanyahu with his domestic difficulties and that Netanyahu, in return, is willing to provide a kosher seal of approval for a president who was slow to condemn anti-Semitism, said Martin S. Indyk, who served as a special envoy to the Middle East in the Obama administration.American and Israeli officials insist they did not coordinate Mr. Trumps call for political effect. White House officials said Mr. Trump told aides on Monday morning he wanted to speak to Mr. Netanyahu; the two sides spent a few hours setting up the call, which just happened to occur during the interrogation.But the president helped Mr. Netanyahu in another way a few weeks earlier. On the eve of their first visit, the White House told reporters that the president would be open to a peace accord between the Israelis and the Palestinians that did not involve the creation of a Palestinian state.That statement, which broke with decades of American policy in favor of a two-state solution, was a political gift to Mr. Netanyahu. He was under intense pressure from right-wing members of his coalition not to utter the phrase two-state solution during his trip to Washington, nor to have the new president formally embrace the policy.When Mr. Trump was asked during a news conference with Mr. Netanyahu whether he favored a one-state or two-state solution, he replied: I like the one that both parties like. Im very happy with the one that both parties like. I can live with either one.When Mr. Netanyahu was asked his opinion, he referred approvingly to the briefing by the White House before he arrived.I read yesterday that an American official said that if you ask five people what two states would look like, youd get eight different answers, he said. Mr. President, if you ask five Israelis, youd get 12 different answers. But rather than deal with labels, I want to deal with substance.The next day, speaking at the United Nations, the American ambassador, Nikki R. Haley, said that, in fact, the United States still absolutely supported the two-state solution. For Mr. Netanyahu, that hardly mattered; back home, his trip was widely hailed as a success.Experts on the Israeli-American relationship said the choreography bore the imprint of Israels ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, and Mr. Trumps son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who is taking a leading role in Middle East policy for the administration. The two speak regularly and were instrumental in setting up the visit.American and Israeli leaders have played in each others politics for a long time. In 1996, President Bill Clinton gave Prime Minister Shimon Peres a ride on Air Force One during Israels closely fought election campaign. A week before the election, Mr. Clinton urged Israelis to vote for peace that is, for Mr. Peres. His opponent in that election was Mr. Netanyahu.In 2012, Mr. Netanyahu welcomed Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee, to Israel all but endorsing him in his campaign against former President Barack Obama. Mr. Netanyahus relationship with Mr. Obama had been toxic for years because of disputes over the Iran nuclear deal and the Israeli governments settlement building in the West Bank.It is that relationship to which Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu are eager to draw a contrast. There is no question the two are closer on key issues, not least the nuclear deal, which they both stridently condemn, although it is not clear either wants to rip it up immediately.In its statement, Mr. Netanyahus office said, The two leaders spoke at length about the dangers posed by the nuclear deal with Iran and by Irans malevolent behavior in the region and about the need to work together to counter those dangers. The White House said only that the two leaders had discussed the need to counter continuing threats and challenges facing the Middle East region, though it took note of Mr. Netanyahus gratitude for Mr. Trumps statements against anti-Semitic acts.So far, experts said, Mr. Netanyahu had benefited more from the relationship than Mr. Trump.Solving todays problems probably helps Bibi more than Trump in the short term, said Daniel C. Kurtzer, a former American ambassador to Israel and Egypt, using Mr. Netanyahus nickname. But in the larger picture of how Israel is viewed in Washington, it probably helps Trump as well.",6
"EntrepreneurshipCredit...Emily Berl for The New York TimesDec. 9, 2015For the California restaurateur Andrew Gruel, poor online reviews demand rapid responses.One of his new Slapfish restaurants, serving sustainable seafood, was hit this year with dozens of bad reviews that complained about its prices (too high) and portions (too small).So Mr. Gruel pulled out all the stops. He sent emails to customers begging them to come back. And he rejiggered menu prices, increased portion size and even introduced combo meal deals. Quickly, those one-star reviews shifted into five stars.You can get buried by bad reviews, said Mr. Gruel, whose fast-casual restaurants serve food like fish tacos and lobster burgers. So its a race to stop the bleeding.The payoff, he added, can be tremendous. Turning around one-star reviews creates lifetime customers and better reviews draw more customers.Mr. Gruels extreme approach to bad reviews may sound like overkill. But studies show that consumers overwhelmingly choose businesses based mainly on star ratings. Even a decline of one star, on a scale from one to five, can hurt revenue and send a business into a slide.So tracking a businesss online reputation is a critical part of building a thriving company, experts said.Star ratings persist forever, said Daniel Lemin, author of ManipuRated: How Business Owners Can Fight Fraudulent Online Ratings and Reviews. Meanwhile, actual reviews can fall off the first pages of review sites. And consumers rarely read reviews older than three months. After problems are addressed and solved, he added, theres a high chance that disgruntled customers can become avid advocates.So small businesses have nothing to lose by engaging their critics, Mr. Lemin said. The recipe is simply apologizing and asking for another chance. The criticism may hurt, he adds, but the way a business responds matters.Yelp is, of course, the powerhouse review site that is most watched. According to a Nielsen survey, 44 percent of consumers use Yelp to search for local businesses. TripAdvisor and Angies List have far smaller followings.This has prompted the growth of reputation management firms such as ReviewTrackers, Reputation.com, and Status Labs. They typically use data-analysis tools or software to find online reviews and rapidly respond to them.For example, ReviewTrackers, based in Chicago, tracks over 70 review sites, said Chris Campbell, the chief executive and founder. That number grows every quarter, he said. Free tools like Google Alerts do not always pick up every review site, he added. Your customers are already talking about you, Mr. Campbell said. So you cant just ignore them. Anyway, businesses that engage with their customers are growing. Studies show, he said, that the quality of a restaurants online reviews can even predict how fast it will close.Mr. Gruel, a trained chef who started his business in a food truck, prefers to respond to reviews himself. He fears using canned responses that arent personal. If he cannot respond quickly, he asks an employee to do so. Using two smartphones and an iPad, Mr. Gruel already responds to about 50 online reviews a day, regardless of whether they are positive or negative.Dining experiences live on in the computer, he said. And they reach thousands of people. But you can only manage a fraction of that experience inside the restaurant. He also checks Yelp statistics, which analyze things like how many people visit a review page, that are emailed to him.Checking online reviews every few days is now a business necessity, many experts said. Barbara Findlay Schenck, author of Small Business Marketing Kit for Dummies, recommends finding out which three sites customers use most and then setting up online alerts to monitor them. Be strong where your customers are looking, she advised.The minute you see a bad review, look for a shard of truth, she said. Is this something you can improve? Look for what you can fix. But dont fight fire with fire by getting into an argument with a reviewer, she added.Meg Piercy, who heads the furniture company MegMade, based in Chicago, checks reviews on multiple sites each day. Her business has more than 3,000 pieces of refurbished furniture that can be customized and they are sold in several states. Besides Yelp, she also checks Instagram, Etsy and the MegMade Facebook page. This only takes a few minutes, she said. If a review is negative, she calls the customer within 48 hours.I want people to know my true heart, said Ms. Piercy, who doesnt want to outsource her review scans either. And Im thankful for their feedback. When one customer gave MegMade a two-star review a few weeks ago, Ms. Piercy responded by giving her $100 off the next changing table.Reviews need to be four stars or above to satisfy Ms. Piercy, a self-proclaimed perfectionist. She also said online reputation issues can keep her up at night. Its so important, she said. But she also sees ratings as a potent marketing tool, given consumers growing clout.Ms. Piercy even uses an Excel spreadsheet to track all posted reviews. I look at the quality of the review, she said.Positive reviews are indeed good marketing fodder. You can blast them out by putting Yelp badges with the number of five-star reviews on your website, said Darnell Holloway, director of local business outreach at Yelp. Now its all about relational capital, he said, and you dont need a big marketing budget.Mr. Gruel also enlists Yelps Elite Squad, which reveals emerging hot spots. About 70 percent of our business has grown through Yelp and Instagram, he said. One study even found that a 3.5-star rating that is bumped up to four stars can result in a 19 percent increase in peak-hour bookings.The rating system is hard to manipulate, experts cautioned.Bad reviews cant be scrubbed on Yelp, Mr. Holloway said. The only exceptions to this rule is when someone violates content guidelines through hate speech or by not having had the experience theyre actually reviewing.For example, the Minnesota dentist who killed a lion in Zimbabwe got hundreds of negative Yelp reviews. We removed them, Mr. Holloway said. Yelp isnt a place to post political reviews. Disgruntled employee posts are also cut. Software evaluates every review, he added.Yelp and other sites also discourage offering incentives to reviewers. We make sure that we catch business owners who are offering these incentives, Mr. Holloway said. Were focused on quality control.Yelps sting operations also track down people who write fake reviews for money. But they can be hard to pinpoint, some experts said. Everyone is looking for answers to fake reviews, Mr. Holloway added. But dont get hung up on negatives. Its still important to join the conversation diplomatically.The phenomenon of fake reviews has only grown worse, Mr. Lemin said. Review writers even solicit work on the website Fiverr.com, he said. But dont panic when you get a bad review. One cant harm you. And a bad review can even validate the good ones, he said.Mr. Gruel said he aimed for four- or five-star reviews. They will make my business sustainable, he said.",0
"Manson Family Killer CA Gov Blocks Van Houten's Parole 1/19/2018 Manson family killer Leslie Van Houten's slight whiff of freedom just got snuffed out by Cali Gov. Jerry Brown. Gov. Brown kept his streak going, and once again reversed the parole board's recommendation Van Houten be released. Back in September the board ruled Van Houten was suitable for parole, but just as he did in 2016 ... Brown blocked that decision. 68-year-old Van Houten has claimed she was an immature 19-years-old -- the youngest member of the Manson family -- when Charles Manson brainwashed her into commiting the LaBianca murders in 1969. In his decision, Brown said Van Houten is still downplaying her ""central role"" in the murders. He said rather than accepting full responsibility, Van Houten continues to push blame off on Manson. She'll continue serving her life sentence.",1
"TrilobitesCredit...John Kappelman/The University of Texas at AustinNov. 30, 2016Lucy was a small one. She weighed about as much as the average 2nd grader and stood about three-and-a-half feet tall. But that lady (or pre-lady, because Australopithecus afarensis like her werent quite human) was strong. Her famous skeleton, a 3.18 million-year-old fossil also known as AL 288-1, tells us so. But to build arm bones as strong as hers, she, and possibly other members of her species, probably spent a lot of time in trees, suggests a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One.Lucy, discovered almost half a century ago, was the most complete skeleton of the earliest hominid ever found at the time. She changed our understanding of human evolution. Theres little doubt Lucy walked on two feet like a modern human, or that she climbed trees to sleep, avoid predators or gather food. Some scientists including some involved in this study even think she died after a fall from one. But just how much time she spent in trees has been a subject of contention because interpretations of her ancient skeletal clues are hard to prove. For the latest study, researchers looked at the ways bones can grow stronger or weaker with everyday use. And by examining the internal structure of Lucys upper right arm and leg bones and comparing them with the bones of around 100 chimpanzees and 1,000 modern humans, they concluded that climbing trees wasnt just some trivial task. Lucy did it enough that the ratio of strength between her arms and legs is slightly more chimpish than human.VideotranscripttranscriptIn the Trees With LucyThis is a digital reconstruction of Lucy's upper arm bone. By comparing the CT scans with those of modern primates and humans, scientists found that her upper limb strength was more like a chimpanzee's than a human's.n/aThis is a digital reconstruction of Lucy's upper arm bone. By comparing the CT scans with those of modern primates and humans, scientists found that her upper limb strength was more like a chimpanzee's than a human's.CreditCredit...Wiley Akins/University of Texas-AustinThat doesnt mean she was acting like a chimp, just that she was stressing her limbs more like a chimpanzee than a modern human, said Christopher Ruff, a paleoanthropologist at Johns Hopkins University who led the study.To make inferences about how Lucys bones were used in day to day life, the researchers analyzed 3-D digital models of bones built from scans of the fossil. Bones, like drinking straws, are hollow, and if you were to slice them horizontally youd have a set of bone bangles. The width of each one of those bangles at particular parts of the bone indicate its strength. This width is called cortical thickness. For example, a professional tennis players racket arm bone has a larger cortical thickness than that of the other arm.Lucys bones were pretty thick.Shes tiny, but for her size, shes coming in very strong, said John Kappelman, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Texas at Austin who conceived of the study.Because there isnt much evidence for tool use, which could have made her bones stronger, the researchers concluded she must have been climbing.Other researchers, like Donald Johanson, the paleoanthropologist at Arizona State University who discovered Lucy, still thinks Lucy and other A. afarensis were primarily walkers.They would have had to spend a considerable amount of time in the trees for this to happen, and I think the overwhelming anatomical evidence is that they were terrestrial in their preferred locomotion, he said, suggesting that activities like food gathering and digging up roots could have contributed to the thickness of their bones.The study brings new evidence to a long debate about whether Lucys skeleton reflects life in trees as well on the ground, or just unused adaptations leftover from ancestors. Long arms, curved fingers and toes and shoulder blades that pointed more toward the head than side of the body are indications she was a climber. But her big toe which looks more like yours and mine than a chimpanzees is strong evidence, said Dr. Johanson, that she was mainly a walker.Debates aside, one thing is clear about Lucy: You dont develop that kind of arm strength unless you exercise your arms a lot, said Dr. Ruff. She wasnt just doing a couple of pull-ups a week.",7
"World|Remembering the End of World War I, in Photoshttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/11/world/armistice-wwi.htmlCredit...Tom Brenner for The New York TimesNov. 11, 2018Thousands of people around the world commemorated on Sunday the centenary of the armistice that ended World War I, the so-called Great War that left millions dead and reshaped European borders, international warfare and society.In Paris, President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia were among the dozens of world leaders who gathered to observe the moment when guns fell silent after four years of brutal warfare.In London, members of the British royal family, Prime Minister Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn, the opposition leader, laid flowers for the war dead, and thousands of veterans and ordinary citizens marched in tribute to those who had sacrificed their lives.Pope Francis addressed crowds at the Vatican, and memorial services were held in Australia, Belgium, India, Ireland and New Zealand, among other places.Here are some of the best images of the day.ImageCredit...Pool photo by Benoit TessierImageCredit...Tom Brenner for The New York TimesImageCredit...Benoit Tessier/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesImageCredit...Pool photo by Benoit TessierImageCredit...Ludovic Marin/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesImageCredit...Francois Mori/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesImageCredit...Stephane Mahe/ReutersImageCredit...Tolga Akmen/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesImageCredit...Peter Nicholls/ReutersImageCredit...Henry Nicholls/ReutersImageCredit...Tolga Akmen/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesImageCredit...David Gray/ReutersImageCredit...Sajjad Hussain/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesImageCredit...Vivek Prakash/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesImageCredit...Marty Melville/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesImageCredit...Tom Brenner for The New York Times",6
"TrilobitesScientists have produced data that shows the range of an enigmatic short-eared canid species that has yet to be widely studied.Credit...Galo Zapata-Rios and WCSPublished May 4, 2020Updated May 7, 2020It is one of the Amazon rain forests most elusive and enigmatic mammals. Experts call the species shy or even a ghost.Its a dog.Or at least a type of dog. The short-eared dog is the only member of the canine genus Atelocynus, and the only such species unique to the Amazon rainforest. In a study published last month in Royal Society Open Science, 50 researchers chipped away at the creatures mysteries by putting together a large location data set gleaned mostly from camera trap cameos. By mapping the speciess range and determining its preferred habitat, the scientists, many of whom have never encountered the animal in person, hope to help protect it.Daniel Rocha, a graduate student at the University of California, Davis, and the studys lead author, became interested in the short-eared dog in 2015, when he began working in the southern part of the Amazon. He and his colleagues set up camera traps to study the local mammal community. As they looked through the footage, these dogs would appear, he said. With pricked ears and furrowed brows, they almost look surprised to be caught on camera.It surprised him, too. Even locals who spend a lot of time in the Amazon dont often see short-eared dogs, which were assumed to be quite rare. They also evade career researchers focused on this region: Mr. Rocha, who spent years leading this study, said, Ive never seen the dog in the jungle, ever.Carlos Peres, an ecology professor at the University of East Anglia who contributed to the study, has been working in the Amazon for nearly 40 years. His longest sighting of a short-eared dog lasted about 20 seconds as it chased a spiny rat into a hollow log.Theyre incredibly secretive, he said.VideoA short-eared dog captured on a camera trap in the Amazon rain forest. Video by Hugo C.M. Costa/Instituto JuruaMany canid species, from wolves to African wild dogs, hunt in packs and prefer more open habitats, like tundra or grasslands. Short-eared dogs, which only live in the Amazon, are mostly solitary and almost certainly the most rainforest-adapted of all the canids, said Dr. Peres. They are most comfortable trotting around in the trees, far from anywhere people might tread.As a result, the species is one of the least studied dogs worldwide, Mr. Rocha said. We dont know much about their life histories or reproductive strategies, or how many of them exist. We dont even really know what they eat, although scat studies suggest that they like fish, small mammals and fruit.Individual experts have gone to great lengths to change that. Renata Leite Pitman, a contributor to the study and an affiliated scholar at Duke Universitys Nicholas School of Environment, once obtained a short-eared dog pup that had been raised with domestic dogs. She and her assistant, Emeterio Nuonca Sencia, trained the dog to walk on a leash and took careful notes on what he sniffed at, ate and avoided. She has also managed to track several dogs with radio collars.When Mr. Rocha started contacting his peers about the short-eared dog, he found that nearly every researcher in the Amazon had a little bit of data a camera trap snapshot or two, usually bycatch from an unrelated project, he said.ImageCredit...Daniel RochaBy combining location data from the traps with the few in-person sightings, as well as information from specimens found in natural history collections, Mr. Rocha and his co-authors were able to estimate the short-eared dogs range. They found a wider distribution than previous studies had the dog has been seen in five countries, and seems to inhabit an area bordered on the west by the Andes, the north by the Amazon River and the south and east by the rain forests edge.They also found that a good part of its distribution is threatened by deforestation, said Mr. Rocha. He and his colleagues predict that if logging, development and other pressures are not managed, the dog may lose 30 percent of its habitat by 2027.Mr. Rocha said that studies like this one, where dozens of researchers collaborate on a question, are becoming more popular as experts seek to learn about the many creatures that call the Amazon home. If we are so in the dark about one of the most widely beloved animal types, imagine how much we dont know about less charismatic species, some of which may be similarly threatened, he said. If we dont know what were losing, its really hard to care.",7
"Politics|Kirstjen Nielsen Justifies Family Separation by Pointing to Increase in Fraud. But the Data Is Very Limited. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/us/politics/nielsen-family-separation-factcheck.htmlFact Check of the DayPresident Trumps homeland security secretary said the number of immigrants fraudulently posing as families has tripled. Thats true per government data. But those cases make up less than 1 percent of families apprehended at the border.June 18, 2018what was said Im sad to say that from October 2017 to this February, we have seen a staggering 315 percent increase in illegal aliens fraudulently using children to pose as family units to gain entry into this country. Kirstjen Nielsen, speaking Monday to the National Sheriffs Association the factsThis needs context.Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security, suggested in two appearances on Monday that the Trump administration policy to separate children from their parents at the border was justified, in part, to prevent smugglers from posing as families to take advantage of a get-out-of-jail-free card. But characterizing the increase of this type of fraud as staggering is misleading. The data reflects a period of less than two years, making it difficult to draw a meaningful historical comparison. And the instances of fraud make up less than 1 percent of families apprehended at the border. The numbers Ms. Nielsen cites are correct. Katie Waldman, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, told The New York Times that there were 46 cases of fraudulent family claims in the 2017 fiscal year, which began in October 2016 and ended in September 2017. In just the first five months of the 2018 fiscal year, there were 191 cases a 315 percent increase. But those instances of family fraud are a tiny fraction of the total number of families apprehended at the southwestern border: 0.06 percent of nearly 76,000 families in the 2017 fiscal year and 0.6 percent of 31,000 families apprehended in the first five months of the 2018 fiscal year. Further, Ms. Waldman said the department had only recently begun compiling family-fraud data, so a comparison with earlier administrations data would not yet be possible. Source: Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection",3
"The New York Times Business |Indictment Charges Shkreli With Security Fraud Site Search Navigation Search NYTimes.com https://nyti.ms/1O9cPgW Site Navigation Site Mobile Navigation Advertisement Business DEC. 17, 2015 The investigation is related to Martin Shkreli's time as a hedge fund manager and running the biopharmaceutical company Retrophin. Related Article Retrophin Complaint Against Shkreli June 1, 2017 The company filed a lawsuit alleging its former chief executive, Martin Shkreli, had breached his duty of loyalty to the company. A Former Employee Speaks June 1, 2017 An affidavit from Timothy Pierotti, who once worked for Martin Shkreli. Drug C.E.O. Martin Shkreli Arrested on Fraud Charges Dec. 21, 2017 Advertisement",0
"Australia|Justin Bieber Impersonator Is Charged With Child-Sex Crimeshttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/09/world/australia/justin-bieber-impersonator-child-sex.htmlCredit...Chad Batka for The New York TimesMarch 9, 2017A 42-year-old Australian man has been charged with committing more than 900 child-sex offenses after he was accused of pretending to be the pop star Justin Bieber to solicit explicit online photographs from children, the Queensland Police Service said on Thursday.The police said that the victims included dozens of Mr. Biebers fans in Australia, Britain and the United States. The 23-year-old Canadian pop singer, whose rise to stardom was driven in large part by support from adoring young fans, is on tour in Australia.The suspect, who has not been identified by name, was already facing charges in Queensland State of possessing material exploiting children, and of using the internet and social media to entrap children under age 16, the police said.He now faces a further 931 criminal charges for offenses including rape, the indecent treatment of children and making child-exploitation material that the police said stretched back at least a decade.The police raided the home of the suspect after he initially refused to allow access to his social media accounts. Investigators examined his computer, the police said, and found that he was using applications including Facebook and Skype to communicate with his victims and lure them into sending him explicit images.Detective Inspector Jon Rouse, who works on a Queensland Police Service task force devoted to combating the sexual exploitation of children online, described the offenses as frankly horrendous. He said it was imperative that the parents of Bieber fans be vigilant.This investigation demonstrates both the vulnerability of children that are utilizing social media and communication applications, and the global reach and skill that child-sex offenders have to groom and seduce victims, Inspector Rouse said in a statement. The fact that so many children could believe that they were communicating with this particular celebrity highlights the need for a serious rethink about the way that we as a society educate our children about online safety.The case comes amid intensifying concern across the globe that children are being sexually exploited online. In Denmark, a 70-year-old man recently went on trial accused of ordering the rape or sexual abuse of 346 Filipino children. At least one of the victims was as young as 3.Prosecutors said the man, a retiree living on the outskirts of Copenhagen, had paid for live, online sex shows from the Philippines.According to the international police organization Interpol, a majority of crimes against children usually take place within the home or the family circle.But Interpol has attributed a surge in child-related offenses to the internet, because it gives predators easy access to abusive material as well as a means to contact children via chat rooms or social networking sites.A recent study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime noted that social networking sites included an abundance of biographical information on potential victims that could be exploited by abusers, while children often lacked discretion and relied on a sometimes false sense of privacy and safety.Offenders are able to gain easier access to larger and new populations of children through the use of online forums, email, social networks and other internet-based communication tools, the study said.The report also found that child abusers can have relatively high education levels, making them more adept at using technology.",6
"Charles Manson Grandson Shut Down By Judge to Get Remains 1/29/2018 The alleged grandson of Charles Manson has just lost his bid to get the killer's remains. A judge just ruled Jason Freeman does not have a right -- at least not now -- to pick up the remains from the prison where Manson died. Freeman is one of 3 people who have tried to take possession of the remains and Manson's estate. It appears the reason the judge rejected the claim was because Freeman filed his case in Los Angeles and Manson died in Kern County ... in other words, the judge lacked jurisdiction. See also Charles Manson RIP Family Exclusive",1
"Science|Dont Be Fooled by a Climate Change Pausehttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/02/science/climate-change-misconception-pause.htmlMisconceptionsCredit...James YangMarch 31, 2016Misconception: There was a global warming pause, so climate change is bunk.Actually: Thats like saying a temporary dip in the stock market means that the best long-term investment strategy is keeping your cash under the mattress.Those who deny the science of climate change and the role of human activity in causing it often claim that global warming paused for more than a decade until recently, and that the pause means that climate change is not happening.There is, in fact, an active debate among scientists about whether the pause even happened at all. Data on global temperature appeared to show a slower comparative rise in the years following 1998, the end of the last El Nio event. But last June, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published a paper in the journal Science stating that the pause probably didnt occur at all, or was at least greatly overstated; they blamed inaccurate data for giving a misimpression of a hiatus in warming.Because that isnt complicated enough, the paper became the target of a political attack by a member of Congress, Lamar Smith, a Republican from Texas who heads the House Science Committee, and disputes the overwhelming scientific evidence underlying climate change. He called the paper evidence of the Obama administrations suspect climate agenda.Then in February, yet another paper in the journal Nature Climate Change took the opposite view, claiming that a slowdown, at least, is real.Feeling whipsawed yet? Dont. This kind of disagreement among scientists happens every day, and when the subject is less politicized it can be fascinating to watch. This is how scientific inquiry moves forward: Putting hypotheses out there and testing them. Most days, it makes a lot more sense than politics does.In any case, whether or not there was a pause in warming for a dozen years or so has no bearing on the underlying scientific validity of climate change. Even the lead author of the February paper that argued the pause is real says that the findings do not undermine global warming theory. Besides, record global temperatures for 2014 and 2015 suggest that warming has resumed. But even more important, the long-term trend is clear: Climate change is about the long haul, not short-term variability.A post by Brenda Ekwurzel, a climate scientist, on the blog of the Union of Concerned Scientists put it this way: Even as a car slows down to go over a speed bump, there is no question the car is still advancing down the road.",7
"Economic SceneCredit...Michael Dalder/ReutersDec. 8, 2015The United States has some of the most hostile policies toward an immigrant population found in the developed world.Start with the special police forces dedicated to persecuting and deporting over a quarter of the nations immigrants, the estimated 11 million who entered the country without authorization. Then there is the lack of labor laws to shield them from wage theft and perilous jobs.And dont get me started on Americas stingy social insurance: even legal permanent residents are barred from a host of government programs, including Medicaid, food stamps and other welfare programs.So why is it that immigrants in the United States including those here illegally have managed to integrate far more successfully into the American economy and social fabric than foreigners arriving to the relatively coddled states of the European Union, where they often enjoy access right away to a panoply of rights and benefits?The difference is worth pondering.There is no question that citizens across the West are gripped by anxiety about immigration. It entwines a fear of imported terrorism with the older xenophobia of natives threatened by ethnic diversity.But closing the door to Muslims or building a wall across the southern border, Donald Trump notwithstanding, is not going to stop the many immigrants from impoverished fringes of the globe from continuing to make their way toward the wealthy and relatively secure societies of Europe and the United States.Contrasting the experiences in Europe and the United States could help us better enable immigrants and their descendants to find their identities and flourish in the new world in which they live. And it will improve the prospects for greater economic growth and less strife for the rest of us.The very notion of integration is nebulous of course. By some standards one could say immigrants to the United States integrate poorly. Rates of naturalization are low. Less-educated immigrants often work for very low wages. Immigrant poverty rates are substantially higher in the United States than in the European Union.Yet progress is evident. Reporting among some of the poorest illegal immigrants toiling on Americas farms and construction sites, I have encountered a sense of achievement and possibility that belies their harsh living conditions. It contrasts markedly with the sense of exclusion and alienation reported from immigrant enclaves across Europe.A report released in September by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine noted that more immigrants buy into the American dream than do native-born Americans: 70 percent believe their children will be better off than themselves, up from 60 percent 20 years ago. Among American-born parents, only 50 percent believe that.In fact, the children of the least-educated immigrants are much better educated than their parents. They find much better jobs.Current immigrants and their descendants are integrating into U.S. society, the report concluded. Integration increases over time, with immigrants becoming more like the native-born with more time in the country, and with the second and third generations becoming more like other native-born Americans than their parents were.Richard Alba and Nancy Foner, sociologists at the City University of New York, just published the book Strangers No More, (Princeton University Press). They compare the challenges facing low-status immigrants in North America and Western Europe. In the end, they do not make a definitive call on which experience is better.There are complex arrays of similarities and differences, Professor Alba told me.Still, they identify unique hurdles in the way of immigrants that make it difficult for those coming from outside the European Union to get ahead in Europe.Among the most notable is clearly Europes segmented labor market, difficult for newcomers to crack. In the United States, less-educated immigrants may work for little pay. But the vast majority of them work. The employment rate of immigrants is higher than that of natives. In Europe it is lower.A report about the integration of immigrants issued over the summer by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development noted that more than a fifth of Europes immigrants from outside the European Union were unemployed, about double the rate of European Union citizens.One in four of the economically active is out of work in France and one in three in Belgium and Sweden. And these poor employment prospects persist down the generations. Youth joblessness among the European-born children of immigrants is almost 50 percent higher than for those with native-born parents.Employment is not the only barrier. Children from less-educated immigrant families are much less likely to succeed at school in Europe than the sons and daughters of natives, and much more likely to end up marginalized: out of school and out of work. Immigrants feel discriminated against more often in Europe. Perceived discrimination is particularly acute among the European-born children of immigrants, who in several countries still do not qualify for automatic citizenship.As Professor Foner put it: The United States does a better job at accepting immigrants as Americans in the making.ImageCredit...Monica Almeida/The New York TimesTo be sure, immigrants make up a smaller share of the population of the United States than they do of the populations of immigrant havens like Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Still, that share is considerably larger than that of ethnically distinct immigrants from outside the bloc who live in the European Union nations.And yet, across most of Europe, voters want to limit immigration. Majorities in many European countries see immigrants as an economic burden and as people who refuse to assimilate. For all the hatred of immigrants stirred up by Mr. Trump and other Republican hopefuls, most Americans 63 percent in 2014, according to the National Academies report still believe immigration is a good thing. Majorities across the political spectrum favor granting illegal immigrants a path toward legal status.The United States is a nation of hyphenated identities. Europes nation-states, deeply rooted in history, are not.The most common criticism of this sort of analysis is that it misses the role of religion. Most immigrants in the United States are Christian. In Europe they are mostly Muslim. Europeans hostility is often justified by arguing that Islam is incompatible with values inherent to Europes liberal democracies.Professors Foner and Alba suggest this incompatibility has perhaps less to do with Muslim intransigence than with the European insistence that immigrants adopt a narrow set of behaviors, including Christian traditions and, importantly, secular values.In the United States, they write, to be religious is to be in sync with mainstream norms. Many Americans have more trouble accepting atheists than Muslims. In Europe, by contrast, claims based on religion have much less acceptance and legitimacy.In June, President Obama hosted a Ramadan Iftar meal at the White House. In France, public schools still serve fish on Fridays. In some schools, the choice for Muslim children is pork or nothing.Muslims feel they have a secondary status in these societies, Ms. Foner told me.The American approach to immigration, of course, could improve enormously. Ending the active persecution and deportation of 11 million living illegally in the United States would vastly improve not only their own odds of success, but those of their 4.5 million American-born children citizens all as well.But in this moment in which bigotry and hatred flow so freely from the campaign stump, the most critical insight might be to understand the value of Americas traditionally more open and welcoming approach.The anti-immigrant reaction to the terrorist attacks in Paris is already delivering electoral success to the xenophobic National Front in France. Mr. Trump has a substantial following, but he lacks a political party behind him and is a long way from gaining a similar victory.And lets hope it stays that way. Erecting walls would blunt one of the United States most powerful tools of social cohesion and economic progress. It would produce a society less able to accept, mold and succeed from the many immigrants in our midst.",0
"Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesFeb. 21, 2014KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia Mikaela Shiffrin, the 18-year-old wunderkind of ski racing, is a product of a countercultural movement in American youth sports, an initiative of parents who encourage their children to focus on the process of athletic achievement instead of the results. In theory, both the journey and the destination are enhanced.Shiffrin, the most precocious ski racer the United States has produced, believed and preached the doctrine, even as she became the youngest slalom world champion a year ago.Then, on Friday night, Shiffrin skied to a commanding lead at the halfway point of the womens Olympic slalom competition. The gold medal was hers to lose. Riding the chairlift for the second run, which would complete her coronation as ski racings newest queen, Shiffrin started to cry.I might actually be an Olympic champion, she gasped.Minutes later, roaring down the racecourse, she could not get the gold medal out of her mind. Shiffrin was on the verge of crashing, one ski airborne, her arms flailing.Her coach was sure the race was lost. Her mother wondered if she would have a heart attack. The racer relied on the process.Ive made that recovery in practice a hundred times, if not more, Shiffrin said later. So I said, You know what to do charge back into the course.About 25 rapid and nearly flawless turns later, Shiffrin sped past the finish line to become the youngest Olympic slalom champion. She is the first American to win the event in 42 years.You can create your own miracle, Shiffrin said when the gold medal was on a sash draped around her neck. But you do it by never looking past all the little steps along the way.Shiffrin, with a winning time of 1 minute 44.54 seconds, was 0.53 of a second better than her childhood idol, Marlies Schild of Austria, who won the silver medal. Schilds teammate Kathrin Zettel won the bronze.In skiing circles, Shiffrin has been considered a prodigy and called the Mozart of ski racing since she was 12. Lately, she has been called the next Lindsey Vonn, a reference to the American Olympic champion of four years ago, who is sitting out the Sochi Games with a knee injury. If Fridays outcome was a passing of the torch, it will be no surprise to most of the worldwide ski community.Mikaela is going to win many, many races; Im sure this is only the beginning, said Maria Hfl-Riesch, the defending Olympic slalom champion, who finished a whopping 1.19 seconds behind Shiffrin. She is a tremendous skier for someone so very young and very mentally tough.Shiffrin is from a ski racing family that twice moved back and forth from Colorado to New England to help foster the ambitions of Mikaela and her older brother, Taylor. Fridays performance was a validation of a distinctive homegrown approach.Her parents were her first coaches and remained involved in her tutoring on snow until she was 11. They then sought a guru at a ski academy who was in accord with their developmental theories. When Shiffrin went on the World Cup tour at age 15, her mother, Eileen, went with her against the wishes of the countrys top ski authorities. Mother and daughter continue to travel together.Along the way, Shiffrin has racked up victories and become almost as famous for her ability to win with a demeanor and poise uncommon for a teenager.It was all on display again on her sports biggest stage in the mountains north of Sochi. Even in the usually antsy hours before her race, Shiffrin was at ease.She may have been waiting all her young life for Fridays race, but her day began typically. She ate breakfast with her parents and briefly wandered the United States ski teams hotel, where there are common areas for the athletes to gather and connect.Shiffrin came across members of the Nordic combined team, who stenciled a red, white and blue USA in temporary paint on her neck. She had lunch in a noisy cafeteria with glass walls that overlooked the snowy slopes, and then, with fans around the world agog in anticipation of the showcase event for the sports newest star, Shiffrin took a nap.ImageCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesShiffrin is renowned for being able to snooze at midday anywhere. At her first major junior championship, she had to be awakened minutes before what became a record-setting run.On Friday it was the Winter Olympics. Shiffrin slept.Perhaps that is why she looked so at peace several hours later as she pushed out of the gate for the first run, which she dominated, taking nearly a half-second lead in an event often decided by hundredths of a second.Shiffrin led the field at every timed interval down the racecourse, which drops about 600 feet top to bottom.In the second run, many of the top medal contenders faltered. Shiffrin did, too, but survived her misstep to attack the course anew.Even with a major mistake, Shiffrin, the worlds best slalom skier since she was a high school junior, outclassed the competition.Eileen Shiffrin said of her daughter: She is a gifted slalom skier. If you watch, it is really pretty skiing.ImageCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesMikaela Shiffrins success comes from neither extraordinary strength nor speed, although she works out for several hours daily. She is admired for the purity and simplicity of her form as she descends a mountain. And she knows ski racing tactics.When Shiffrin saw that the slalom gates were set up to be roughly 9 to 10 meters apart instead of the usual World Cup distance of 10 to 11 meters, she had a plan.It just means you have to move your feet quicker, she said. And that makes you faster.In the end, racing down the icy pitch here under floodlights and before a grandstand of 18,000, Shiffrin still had time to look back on the whole process of her ski racing career.You think of so many things that led to this moment, she said. I think thats why I started to cry on the chairlift.But Shiffrin stayed true to her roots.It is still about the process of a ski race, she said late Friday, standing near the slalom finish. No matter what else was happening, I kept thinking that I had to keep my skis moving down the hill. Keep going, dont quit, dont stop.Shiffrin smiled.As if she were the living proof of a theory, she added, Then see what happens.",4
"News AnalysisCredit...Dolly Faibyshev for The New York TimesDec. 10, 2015WASHINGTON For roughly the first two years of its existence, Munchery, an on-demand food preparation and delivery service, classified its drivers as independent contractors. They were not covered by minimum wage and overtime laws, and were not eligible for unemployment insurance or workers compensation.Then, in 2013, it reversed course and made its drivers full-blown employees. In addition to those various protections, they received health benefits if they worked at least 30 hours per week.The about-face suggests an ambiguity in the status of workers at Munchery and other on-demand companies like the car-hailing services Uber and Lyft. These workers have some characteristics typically associated with contractors (like working as few or as many hours as they want), and some associated with regular employees (the companies often give some form of instructions about how to perform tasks).This ambiguity has, in turn, led to pleas by technology executives and policy advocates for the creation of a new kind of worker status that would effectively split the difference between the two categories.Alan B. Krueger, a former chief economist to President Obama, and Seth D. Harris, a former deputy labor secretary, argued in a paper released this week that many workers in the so-called online gig economy should have more rights and protections than most do now. At the same time, they wrote, forcing these new forms of work into a traditional employment relationship could be an existential threat to the emergence of online-intermediated work.Muncherys experience, however, suggests that the traditional employee-contractor dichotomy in the laws governing work may still hold up reasonably well when it comes to this new world. The true source of ambiguity may be confusion on the part of the companies themselves over which model best suits their business needs.While the upfront costs were lower for Munchery with a work force of contractors who receive a 1099 form for their taxes rather than the W-2 reserved for employees this approach was ultimately bad for business.There was too much turnover, while high-volume periods, like the Super Bowl or days with miserable weather, were a challenge.When lots of people want food delivered, said Kris Fredrickson, the companys vice president for operations, on a 1099 model its tougher to compel them to show up.Under an employment model, by contrast, the company has a much more reliable and knowledgeable work force, one that can be held to a specific standard of quality and a more consistent schedule. Company executives said the additional 20 to 30 percent in costs have more than paid for themselves.And Munchery, it turns out, is only one of many on-demand companies to have made the transition in recent years.After Instacart, the on-demand grocery delivery service, was started in 2012, it became known as the Uber for groceries. A worker would fire up the Instacart app on a smartphone, accept an order, drive to the desired supermarket to buy the goods, then drop them off at the customers home.But turnover was higher than the company preferred, and service quality was lower: There were too many missed items and too much bruised produce. It was also highly inefficient to pay drivers to make the trip from their homes to the store to the customer.This year, Instacart reimagined its model. Thanks to partnerships with leading supermarkets, teams of designated shoppers now embed in each store and respond quickly to orders. Instacart has made them bona fide employees who receive training and will be judged on how well they do their jobs.The shoppers then pass the order along to drivers, who remain independent contractors. The only requirement for drivers, who receive no training or instructions, is that they have a license and a clean record, and can navigate their way around town.While the company is still refining the business model, said Nikhil Shanbhag, an Instacart vice president, weve seen a cadre of workers who are better, have fewer issues than we used to see before in terms of missed items, bad produce. They are getting more and more efficient.There are certainly legitimate gray areas in the laws governing the online gig economy. In a comment that has since been widely circulated, a federal judge in California hearing a case brought by Lyft drivers brooded earlier this year that the jury in this case will be handed a square peg and asked to choose between two round holes.In their analysis, Mr. Krueger and Mr. Harris posit a situation in which a single driver has both the Uber and Lyft apps open simultaneously before accepting a passenger. If the drivers were employees and potentially eligible to be compensated for time spent waiting for passengers, not just driving passengers they ask, Who should pay the driver for this waiting time? (The new report was carried out for the Hamilton Project, a research group, but Mr. Krueger previously co-wrote a study of Uber drivers that was commissioned by the company.)But even these hard cases often are not necessarily as hard as they initially appear. Benjamin I. Sachs, a Harvard law professor who is a former union official, notes that the drivers may only need to be paid from the point at which they have agreed to pick up a particular rider.And such cases appear to be relatively rare even in the gig economy, which itself is a tiny fraction of the economy over all, less than 1 percent of employment in the United States, according to an estimate by Mr. Krueger and Mr. Harris.More fundamentally, Uber and Lyft face the same basic questions that Munchery and Instacart do: Do they want control over their workers or not?Companies that do and there are some indications that these ride-hailing platforms are among them, with practices like deactivating drivers who do not maintain certain quality ratings are frequently considered employers in the eyes of the law.What I know about the nature of the control exercised by Uber and Lyft over the way the work is performed, and the fact that the drivers perform a service integral to the business model itself, provide a strong indication of an employment relationship, said Wilma B. Liebman, a former chairwoman of the National Labor Relations Board.Both Uber and Lyft maintain the contrary. Another fear among venture capitalists and tech executives is that these innovative companies are being coerced by the threat of litigation and a crackdown by regulators to upgrade their workers status even if they only engage in one or two practices like training that are common among employers.You have regulatory bodies suing people, lawyers out there suing people, said Simon Rothman, a venture capitalist at Greylock Partners, who is on the board of an on-demand firm. Many start-ups cant withstand a lawsuit even if a company is in the right.To fix this, regulators could simply clarify the criteria that suggest employment or independent contractor status categories that, in theory at least, already give businesses a fair amount of flexibility because no one factor carries the day. Courts and regulating agencies look at the totality, said David Rolf, president of a large service employees union in the Northwest. Training in and of itself is not determinative.Mr. Krueger and Mr. Harris are concerned that what they see as the overly crude nature of labor law means that independent contractors are not provided enough protections.But creating an entirely new category of worker would not only be politically and logistically tortuous, it would also risk depriving workers who would otherwise be classified as employees of the benefits they might enjoy.That has been the experience with intermediate categories both in Britain and Italy, according to an analysis by Valerio De Stefano and Janine Berg of the International Labor Office, which is based in Geneva.We could do something that is unduly hasty and ends up doing more harm than good, said Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez, whose department is actively exploring the implications of the gig economy for the laws it enforces, but who declined to comment on the Krueger-Harris paper specifically. I am undeniably fearful that the on-demand conversation is used as an excuse to further roll back the safety net.",0
"March 10, 2017Thousands of people fled from their homes, offices and schools six years ago after a devastating earthquake and tsunami caused a meltdown at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. To this day, few have returned, leaving behind ghost towns where eerie signs of the departed linger under a caking of dust.Tomioka, a little more than six miles south of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, was home to 15,830 people before the accident. They left in a hurry. At a ramen restaurant in Okuma, on the main road to town, dishes were left in the sink.Some towns, like most of Futaba, just four miles north of the nuclear plant, may never be reoccupied. Wandering its deserted streets, catching a glimpse of a piece of a childs artwork here, a workers old Rolodex file there, I am hit by an unstinting sense of loss and devastation.ImageCredit...Ko Sasaki for The New York TimesEvidence of sudden flight is everywhere. The earthquake shook an elementary school so vigorously that students could not even stay standing. When the children left, they assumed they would return a few days later. Instead, they left and never came back.ImageCredit...Ko Sasaki for The New York TimesThe portraits of past principals lay scattered on the floor, the forgotten history of an abandoned school.ImageCredit...Ko Sasaki for The New York TimesMost of the 21,434 people who lived in the town of Namie have put down roots elsewhere. They are now asking that the town simply demolish their homes. A little over 800 houses and shops have been knocked down already; another 1,280 are on a waiting list.In Tomioka, I met Chiharu Matsumoto, 68, a former resident who volunteers at a rest center in town for people returning just to clean out or get things from their homes. She lives in a city to the west now and said she did not plan to move back. Her grown children have not visited Tomioka since evacuating after the disaster. They do not know how much radiation they might receive, she said.The government says it will be safe for residents to return in April. So far, 304 people have moved back on temporary permits. With so few people returning, it makes little sense for many commercial operations to restart. Many of the convenience stores, restaurants and pachinko gambling parlors, like this one, have yet to be cleaned up or repaired.ImageCredit...Ko Sasaki for The New York TimesSome scientists say radiation in many towns has fallen to levels that should not cause long-term health problems; others ask whether even low doses are safe. But the situation is much beyond science, said Dr. Otsura Niwa, chairman of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima, who has conducted extensive sampling in Fukushima since the disaster. Its the human element which is playing the biggest role, he said.The people most likely to return are the elderly. Ichiro Tagawa, 77, moved back to Namie on a special permit in September and reopened the bicycle repair shop that has been in his family for 80 years. I am so old I dont really care about the radiation levels, he said, and in fact it is very low.Another reason he wanted to return was to be near his familys grave sites. One large cemetery near the coastline was heavily damaged by the tsunami.We want to visit our ancestors graves, Mr. Tagawa said. But we are living in a very lonely town.ImageCredit...Ko Sasaki for The New York Times",6
"A gamer in Melbourne has had his assets frozen in connection with a popular video game cheat. Hes one of many being sued by game companies worldwide, raising questions about copyright law and the policing of online civility.Credit...Philippe Lopez/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 7, 2018MELBOURNE, Australia Imagine you are racing a car through a packed city center. You are in first place, only seconds from victory, when suddenly, a missile explodes and kills you. By the time you have come back to life youre playing a video game you are far behind the fleet. But your attacker, despite being rammed and shot at, stands unharmed.For players of the popular video game Grand Theft Auto Online, scenarios like this are not uncommon when facing off against competitors using an unauthorized plug-in known as Infamous that lets them make themselves invincible, teleport or acquire unlimited weapons, vehicles and currency. But the games publisher, Rockstar Games, and its parent company, Take-Two Interactive Software, are stepping up their response worldwide to what they see as outright cheats. They have filed at least five lawsuits in the United States, Europe and Australia, with the most recent case including a search and seizure order against Christopher Anderson, a Melbourne man connected to Infamous.ImageCredit...Asanka Brendon Ratnayake for The New York TimesWhile the move has been welcomed by some gamers, it has incensed others who argue that video games (like other online realms) should be open and collaborative; creators working outside major corporations often develop modifications that enhance players experiences. The crackdown has also raised broader questions about the reach of copyright law, which some scholars see as a potential threat to free speech, and whether search and seizure orders go a step too far in policing online civility.Cheaters do tend to ruin the game experience for others, but not everything that is antisocial is illegal, nor should it be, said Mitch Stoltz, a senior attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit in San Francisco that defends digital privacy and free speech. Mr. Stoltz said the legal arguments being raised by game publishers pushed the boundaries of copyright law, which generally applies to making permanent copies, rather than temporary modifications. Changing a game isnt actually distributing a new version of the game, just as watching a movie through tinted glasses isnt watching a new movie, he said. Theres a lot of money at stake. Since being released in 2013, Grand Theft Auto V has reportedly made $6 billion, which is more than any film in history. Until recently, gamers could easily download Infamous for use with the online version of Grand Theft Auto. Prices ranged from a few dollars to about $40 for a lifetime membership. But earlier this year, Infamous was taken offline following a spate of legal action by game developers against modders, or people who modify games in a way the original designers did not intend.Take-Two Interactive took legal action against cheat developers in New York, Florida, Britain and Germany for copyright infringement. Epic Games the developer of the popular multiplayer game Fortnite also filed multiple lawsuits against YouTube users in North Carolina who promoted the use of cheats online. (One of them was a 14-year-old.)While Take-Two Interactive is based in the United States, the defendants cases are subject to copyright law in their own countries. Free trade agreements and treaties have helped standardize how those laws work, legal experts said, making it easier for companies to police their wares across national boundaries.But for players, the cases and the severity of enforcement often come as a surprise. ImageCredit...Rafal Gerszak for The New York TimesIn September, an Australian federal judge issued orders against Mr. Anderson who is also known online as sfinktah, Koroush Anderson and Koroush Jeddian authorizing a freeze on his assets and a search of his home in Melbourne. (The address of Mr. Andersons neighbor, which he said he had once used for an Amazon delivery, was also searched under the order.)The use of search and seizure orders in copyright cases is not uncommon in Australia, said Nicolas Suzor, a law and digital media researcher at Queensland University of Technology. But having them obtained in a closed courtroom hearing without the defendant being represented is concerning, he said. Mr. Anderson agreed.They cant technically protect the software, so theyre using scare tactics, said Mr. Anderson, 42, standing outside his home in southeast Melbourne, on a porch strewn with broken electronics, a faded shopping basket and a cactus. The raid, Mr. Anderson said, came after weeks of surveillance. Early on the morning of Sept. 25, his computers and hard disks were seized. Mr. Anderson, who does not currently have a job, was also prohibited from using or disposing of any assets excluding for modest living expenses and was restrained from further developing or distributing Infamous and any other cheat software. Failing to do so, the court order noted, could result in his imprisonment. He is acting as his own attorney, he said, and has yet to file a defense. Theyre just beating up on me, Mr. Anderson said of the game publishers, arguing that the search and seizure order was a disproportionate response. Infamous was designed to help players combat cheaters using more sinister modifications, almost like an antivirus software, he said. But Alex Walker, editor of the gaming website Kotaku Australia, said that Infamous was just a straight-up cheat. Cheats, he said, break and exploit parts of the game code to advantage the experience of one player at the disadvantage of other players. It is genuinely harmful to the community, he added. In a statement provided to The Times, Take-Two Interactive said it was committed to protecting our multiplayer community from harassment and other disruptions to their shared entertainment experiences. We can and will continue to take legal action against those who interfere with the multiplayer environment enjoyed by our audiences, the company said.Take-Two Interactives lawsuit coincides with the release of its newest game, Red Dead Redemption II a hotly awaited sequel to the Western adventure game in which players can freely explore a built universe instead of adhering to a structured sequence of events. The companys crackdown on mod developers, experts say, may be both a warning to aspiring cheat developers and an attempt to preserve sales. According to Take-Two Interactives most recent annual report, game spending by fans on virtual currency or costumes, for example accounted for 42 percent of net revenue. This business model, experts say, is increasingly threatened by mods, which can offer those same items for free (or at an amount that goes to the modder and not the game publisher). Video game publishers and developers are forced into a perpetual virtual arms race to update their products and security technology before the sellers can update theirs, the Entertainment Software Association, a video game industry trade association based in Washington, wrote in a submission last month to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.Still, copyright policy may not be the best way to tackle the problem, said Meredith Rose, a policy counsel and copyright expert with Public Knowledge, an advocacy group in Washington focused on consumer digital rights. She said banning individual cheaters, for example, would be a fairer and more effective response. ImageCredit...Yoshikazu Tsuno/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesThe proportionality of the hammer is completely out of scale with the harm being done, Ms. Rose said. Even if copyright litigation were justified when it came to cheaters, she added, the cases could set a dangerous precedent: Copyright and anti-circumvention laws could also be used to deter competition, criticism of corporate policies or reports of security vulnerabilities. The contracts that accompany downloads of video games and other media products often include clauses that allow for a broad range of draconian corporate policing, said Mr. Stoltz, the San Francisco attorney. When courts worldwide become willing to transform violations of the fine print into heavy-handed remedies, he said, it makes everyone vulnerable to the whims of every company that we do business with online.This article was produced in collaboration with the Australian Broadcasting Corporations Science team. An ABC radio report about the international crackdown on cheats by gaming companies was also broadcast on RN Breakfast and can be downloaded here. Want more Australia coverage and discussion? Sign up for the weekly Australia Letter, start your day with your local Morning Briefing and join us in our Facebook group.",6
"On Pro FootballCredit...Barton Silverman/The New York TimesFeb. 2, 2014EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. The Seattle Seahawks ripped out the feel-good ending to Peyton Mannings storybook season. Tore the final pages to shreds. Burned them in a fire. Left Manning and his Denver Broncos looking like outdated print in a digital world.In the football home of his brother Eli, Manning came to play with the house money he had earned as a 37-year-old who two years ago did not know if he would play again. He came in search of a second Super Bowl title and further validation of his greatness. He wound up on the wrong end of an embarrassing beatdown, making no statement for the ages, instead looking rather aged. But even though the Seahawks buried the Broncos, 43-8, on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, Mannings failing to maximize his credentials for others to assess should have been beside the point. The very best athletes cannot afford to make their legacies a game-day obsession. However difficult to do in a communications world of 140-character synopses, athletes like Manning must eventually get to a place where they can make their own cases for career fulfillment.Watching a snap sail past Mannings gloved hands for a safety on the games first play from scrimmage, watching him throw passes that were hurried and tipped and picked off, and watching him jog off the field with his chin sinking to the turf, you wondered if he could leave such a lasting image on the biggest stage. We needed to play really well to win, Manning said after the game. We didnt come close.For two weeks, he had sidestepped variations on the question of what winning or failing to win a second Super Bowl title would mean in the grand scheme of things. Would he retire with a victory? Would he consider his place as one of the unquestioned greats secured?During one interview, he was even asked to name his three greatest quarterbacks in history, a question he handled with the agility he has never quite had when pressured in the pocket.I dont have a list, he said. I think I could describe the perfect quarterback. Take a little piece of everybody. Take John Elways arm, Dan Marinos release, maybe Troy Aikmans drop-back, Brett Favres scrambling ability, Joe Montanas two-minute poise and, naturally, my speed.He drew laughter with the punch line. But he cleverly managed to make himself part of the conversation, for whatever its worth, which is not much.However unavoidable, it is a fools errand, an argument without end, to compare the best players from different eras, teams, styles and situations. Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesSlide 1 of 35 Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesTo be fair to the elusive and creative Russell Wilson, Manning was not even close to being the best quarterback on the field Sunday. Big as the game was, though, it was still one game. One game in what is no doubt the twilight of a 16-year career. One game in which Denvers Trindon Holliday foolishly ran out the opening kickoff from deep in the end zone and was tackled at the 14, setting up the mistimed snap from center Manny Ramirez. One game in which the Broncos were outcoached, outhit and outperformed in every phase.Did Manning do anything to slow the Seattle locomotive? Despite a Super Bowl-record 34 completions, he did not. But should this dismal night negate the Associated Press Most Valuable Player award Mannings fifth, a record that he picked up on Saturday? The comeback from serious neck surgery that has produced two playoff seasons in Denver and the franchises first Super Bowl appearance since Elway bowed out with his repeat victory 15 years ago? Elway, the Broncos executive vice president for football operations, brought Manning to Denver after 14 years in Indianapolis, where Manning won the Super Bowl in 2007. There, he will forever be an icon. In Denver, he will ultimately be remembered as Elways luxury rental. If anyones legacy was in position to reach a new level on Sunday certainly in the Mile High City it was Elways, not Mannings. Elway took the shot with Manning when no one knew what, if anything, he had left after a full year off. Who even knew how much Manning was willing to risk after so many years? During Super Bowl week, he talked about how he and Elis necks were checked for genetic abnormality after their brother Coopers career ended with injuries. How the doctor said they were not picture perfect but were sturdy enough to play on. How during his year off in Indianapolis, he thought: Maybe I had been on borrowed time this entire time. If that was going to be the end of it because of a neck injury, I really, believe it or not, had a peace about it.It was about the time of the Super Bowl two years ago Eli winning his second, at Peytons house, Lucas Oil Stadium when Peyton received clearance to play, to see what he had left. There were times when he could not answer the question, when progress was nonexistent or fretfully slow. He finally chose Denver, in part because it was Elway who believed he could still be a Super Bowl quarterback.Coming to the stadium off Exit 16W in Career Year 16 made it all seem like a storybook in search of an ending. In his brothers home, Peyton had his chance to pull even with Eli in the family Super Bowl standings.That, in truth, was the only quantifiable achievement available to Peyton Manning on Sunday. The weather was good for Manning, who admittedly throws imperfect spirals or ducks, as Richard Sherman derisively called them. But the kickoff happened, as did the bad snap, a poor throw for an interception and a hit on another throw that was intercepted and returned for a demoralizing score. If there was a fitting headline to write for this game, it was this: Seattle Slew. There would be no Sweet 16 for Manning to celebrate off Exit 16W. There would be little trace of the Manning that the legacy shapers were looking for, or demanding.Its a difficult pill to swallow, he said. But you have to get over it, process it.He will have to live with the result and the reactions to his playoff record, which fell to 11-12. But there must be a long view here, too. Given where he was two years ago, bet on Mannings coming to the conclusion that it was better to have been here than to have not come back at all.",4
"After Airbnb and ClassPass began selling virtual classes because of the pandemic, Apple tried to collect its commission on the sales.Credit...AirbnbJuly 28, 2020ClassPass built its business on helping people book exercise classes at local gyms. So when the pandemic forced gyms across the United States to close, the company shifted to virtual classes.Then ClassPass received a concerning message from Apple. Because the classes it sold on its iPhone app were now virtual, Apple said it was entitled to 30 percent of the sales, up from no fee previously, according to a person close to ClassPass who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of upsetting Apple. The iPhone maker said it was merely enforcing a decade-old rule.Airbnb experienced similar demands from Apple after it began an online experiences business that offered virtual cooking classes, meditation sessions and drag-queen shows, augmenting the in-person experiences it started selling in 2016, according to two people familiar with the issues.Airbnb discussed Apples demands with House lawmakers offices that are investigating how Apple controls its App Store, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. Those lawmakers are now considering Apples efforts to collect a commission from Airbnb and ClassPass as part of their yearlong antitrust inquiry into the biggest tech companies, according to a person with knowledge of their investigation.Those lawmakers are set to grill Tim Cook, Apples chief executive, and the chief executives of Amazon, Facebook and Google in a high-profile hearing on Wednesday.Apples disputes with the smaller companies point to the control the worlds largest tech companies have had over the shift to online life brought on by the pandemic. While much of the rest of the economy is struggling, the pandemic has further entrenched their businesses.With millions more employees working from home, Amazon and Google are selling more online cloud space, with revenue for Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud soaring in the first quarter of the year, which included the start of the pandemic. Facebook and YouTube, which is part of Google, some of the internets largest gathering places, had traffic surge as people couldnt socialize in person.Apple has also brought in more revenue from its online-services business, mostly on the back of its App Store, and its Macs, iPads and iPhones have become even more important tools.With gyms shut down, ClassPass dropped its typical commission on virtual classes, passing along 100 percent of sales to gyms, the person close to the company said. That meant Apple would have taken its cut from hundreds of struggling independent fitness centers, yoga studios and boxing gyms.Apple said that with Airbnb and ClassPass, it was not trying to generate revenue though that is a side effect but instead was trying to enforce a rule that has been in place since it first published its app guidelines in 2010.Apple said waiving the commission in these cases would not be fair to the many other app developers that have paid the fee for similar businesses for years. Because of the pandemic, Apple said that it gave ClassPass until the end of the year to comply and that it was continuing to negotiate with Airbnb.To ensure every developer can create and grow a successful business, Apple maintains a clear, consistent set of guidelines that apply equally to everyone, the company said in a statement.ClassPass was told it must comply with the rule this month, according to the person close to the company. Instead, it stopped offering virtual classes in its iPhone app, since those classes were subject to Apples commission, according to Apple. As a result, fewer potential customers now see the classes advertised by its gym partners.In 2016, Airbnb started a business offering in-person experiences to travelers, such as guided tours, bar crawls and cooking classes with locals in their vacation destinations. In early April, as the pandemic gutted travel plans and the companys bottom line, Airbnb began selling virtual versions of similar experiences, though it quickly expanded that business to more prominent offerings, like cooking classes with famous chefs and training sessions with Olympic athletes.Later that month, Apple reached out to say that when the online experiences were sold in Airbnbs iPhone app, the company would have to pay Apples fees, said a person familiar with their exchanges.Apple said it believed that Airbnb had long intended to offer virtual experiences not that the business was created simply because of the pandemic and that it would continue to do so once the world has resumed to normal. Apple also pointed out that Airbnb had never paid Apple any money despite the fact that it built its multibillion-dollar business with the help of its iPhone app.Airbnb is still negotiating with Apple. In June, Brian Chesky, Airbnbs chief executive, said that the online experiences offering was the companys fastest growing product ever and had earned $1 million in revenue. Apple said that if the two companies could not come to terms, it could remove Airbnbs app from the App Store.ImageCredit...James Estrin/The New York TimesMany companies and app developers complain that Apple forces them to pay its commission to be included in the App Store, which is crucial to reaching the roughly 900 million people with iPhones. Apple said the App Store had 500 million visitors from 175 countries each week.For months, economists and lawyers at the Justice Department have held meetings with companies and app developers about the App Store as part of its antitrust investigation into Apple. The music service Spotify and another large company that declined to be named also said they have had recent conversations with attorneys general from several states about the issue.Unlike Spotify, Airbnb and ClassPass do not offer services that directly compete with one of Apples digital products.Many companies complain that they are also subject to what they call Apples capricious enforcement of its rules, which can lead to their apps removal from the App Store, killing some of their business. If Apple removes an app from the App Store, the developer couldnt gain new app users and couldnt update the apps already on peoples phones, eventually rendering them broken.Apple said a small fraction of iPhone apps were subject to its commission, which is in line with the fees other platforms charge, according to a study released by Apple last Wednesday. Airbnb, for instance, charges a 20 percent commission on experiences.If youre not in the App Store today, youre not online. Your business cannot function. So theyre the gatekeepers of something that every single company wants, said Andy Yen, the chief executive of ProtonMail, an encrypted email service based in Switzerland that effectively competes with Apples own email service. If you want to pass through their gates, theyre going to charge you 30 percent of your revenue.Mr. Yen said his company had been battling with Apple since 2017 over its commission, with Apple sometimes restricting the ProtonMail app on iPhones. To account for Apples fee, ProtonMail began charging 30 percent more for subscriptions bought on its iPhone app versus those bought on its website, which arent subject to Apples fee. The only way that we could support this fee was actually by passing on the cost to the customer, he said.But when ProtonMail told iPhone users about the lower price on its website, Apple restricted its app. Then, when the company instead tried to make clear that 30 percent of the subscription price went to Apple, Apple restricted its app again. You only hide something like this if its wrong, Mr. Yen said.Asked about ProtonMails experience, Apple said its rules require certain apps to use its payment system and ban them from directing people to buy their products or services elsewhere.",5
"Europe|Marseille Buildings Collapse, and Rescuers Comb Ruinshttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/world/europe/marseille-building-collapse.htmlCredit...Claude Paris/Associated PressNov. 5, 2018MARSEILLE, France Two buildings collapsed into a pile of rubble and beams on Monday in Marseille, and the authorities said they were in a race against the clock to find anyone who might be trapped in the ruins.The buildings one condemned, the other inhabited gave way sometime after 9 a.m. In the spot where they had stood, a large gap appeared as the dust and debris settled.The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said Monday evening that it was unknown if anyone had been killed or trapped. But two people who were on the street when the buildings collapsed were treated for slight injuries, the Marseille fire services said.After the collapse, fire officials deliberately brought down most of a third building out of concern that the unstable structure might topple onto search crews and dogs sent in to comb the rubble of the other buildings.The authorities said one building had been condemned as substandard and was supposed to be unoccupied, but the other had apartments.The French housing minister, Julien Denormandie, was at the scene and said he could not rule out the possibility that people were trapped.""Its a race against the clock, Mr. Denormandie said. The urgent task is to determine whether there are people we can save.""Old images of the buildings, near Marseilles Old Port, showed that one had five floors and the other six. One of the buildings was clearly in poor repair, with boarded-up windows and large visible cracks on the facade.One local official, Sabine Bernasconi, said one of the buildings had been subject to an evacuation order, but she could not say for sure whether squatters might have been using it.Neighbors said they feared there were people inside the other building when it crashed down, Agence France-Presse reported.There was a Comorian lady every morning she took her two children to school and she got back just before the explosion, said Nacer Sellani, manager of a shop across the street.Djaffar Nour, who was grocery shopping down the street, said the collapse was a matter of seconds.",6
"DealBook|Junk Bond Fund That Barred Investors Reaches S.E.C. Dealhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/17/business/dealbook/junk-bond-fund-that-barred-investor-redemptions-reaches-deal-with-sec.htmlCredit...Fred R.Conrad/The New York TimesDec. 16, 2015Third Avenue Management reached an agreement with its regulator on Wednesday over its abrupt move last week to bar investors in a stricken bond fund from taking their money out.The deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission makes official the decision that Third Avenue made last Thursday to close the door on what had become a panicked run by investors on its high-yield credit fund.The funds portfolio is made up of hard-to-sell corporate bonds either in bankruptcy or emerging from it, making it impossible for portfolio managers to meet mounting redemption demands.As a result of the agreement, the remaining assets of the Focused Credit Fund will be transferred from a liquidating trust back into the original mutual fund structure. This will allow remaining investors to track the funds value on a daily basis via its ticker, TFCVX.But the move is not expected to hasten the return of investor assets, which company officials said could take a year or more.A spokeswoman for the S.E.C. said that the agency required the fund to put in place investor and market protections, including ongoing commission oversight and provisions involving an orderly and fair process as a condition of its approval of the order.Third Avenues general counsel, W. James Hall, said that he did not think there would be any additional delay in investors in the fund getting repaid.The after-the-fact agreement between the S.E.C. and Third Avenue underscores how fast events were moving last week. While the investment firm had been in communication with Washington before the shutdown, Third Avenue felt that it did not have the time to wait for official approval, people briefed on the discussions said.In its filing, Third Avenue said that its credit fund had experienced $1.1 billion in redemptions this year through Dec. 9. That figure was almost one and a half times the funds remaining assets of $788 million on that date.In November alone, the company said, redemptions totaled $317 million quite a sum for a fund where a sizable chunk of its securities do not even trade.By early December, the fund had raised $200 million in cash to meet investor requests, the filing said. The remains of this cash position were being distributed to investors on Wednesday, Third Avenue said.The filing provided additional details explaining Third Avenues unorthodox strategy. The board overseeing the fund, which is led by Third Avenues founder, Martin J. Whitman, had a call with management on Nov. 30 and was informed of the difficulties the fund was having in satisfying sales requests.On Dec. 9, the board unanimously agreed to move the securities into a liquidating trust, to keep sales from pushing bond prices down even further.According to the filing, regulators expressed concerns over the move, no doubt fearful of the precedent that Third Avenue was setting, and the prospect that it could cause runs on other bond funds.While bond funds with similar investment strategies have experienced a fall in their net assets since the Third Avenue closure, there has not been a broader panic. Analysts have noted that Third Avenues credit fund was something of an outlier in that it had a much higher proportion of assets in private equitylike investments, which cannot be readily converted into cash.Moreover, large exchange traded funds in junk bonds have efficiently absorbed record levels of buying and selling, easing investor fears that the junk bond market will seize up.Complaints and queries also came in large numbers from investors. In its filing, Third Avenue said that after moving the securities into a trust, it asked the S.E.C. for so-called exemptive relief, which would allow assets to be returned to the fund but keep investors from removing them.",0
"Credit...Max Whittaker for The New York TimesJune 2, 2018Sign up for California Today for the latest news on the June 5 primary and more here.LOS ANGELES Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democratic candidate for governor of California, was working the hallways of Grand Central Market the other day, stopping people at every turn and food counter to ask for votes in this Tuesdays primary. That included Bruce Binkow, 61, a boxing promoter, over his lunch at Prawn Coastal.Mr. Binkow smiled at the pitch from Mr. Villaraigosa, a former mayor of Los Angeles. But as he moved on, Mr. Binkow said his thoughts were less on the race and more on what he described as Californias prosperity under the man who has served 16 years as governor over the past 40 years Jerry Brown, the Democrat stepping off the stage because of term limits.He was an excellent governor, Mr. Binkow said as Mr. Villaraigosa posed for selfies a few feet away. California seems to be healthier, more welcoming, more prosperous. Im very, very happy with him. Those are big shoes to fill.A head-spinning field of 27 candidates is competing to fill those shoes. They are facing a stature gap as they are measured, inevitably, against the man they would like to replace. And the leading contenders to win on Tuesday are particularly burdened by political and personal baggage that offer another contrast with Mr. Brown as he prepares to retire to his ranch.Two of the Democrats Mr. Villaraigosa and Gavin Newsom, the lieutenant governor were involved in high-profile affairs while they were in public office in the mid-2000s, episodes that have been raised against them during a candidate debate and in a handful of advertisements at a time of heightened awareness of sexual misconduct.ImageCredit...Max Whittaker for The New York TimesPeople dont bring it up in the context of the #MeToo movement they bring it up as something they remember as part of my record, Mr. Villaraigosa said in an interview. Just like I think they bring it up for Gavin for the same reason.The top Republican candidate, John Cox, has been lifted by an endorsement from President Trump, as the states diminishing population of Republicans appears to be rallying around him. Mr. Cox is now in a strong position to end up as a leader in the primary; the top two finishers will advance to the November general election, regardless of party, under Californias nonpartisan election system.ImageCredit...Max Whittaker for The New York TimesBut Mr. Trumps support could ultimately be toxic in a state where the president is unpopular. Mr. Newsom has already run advertisements tying Mr. Cox to Mr. Trump most likely helping Mr. Cox with conservative voters in the primary while signaling how he would go after him in the fall.And Mr. Cox, a Chicago business executive, is a recent arrival to California who has not been elected to major political office. That lack of government service could be a burden at a time when voters tell pollsters that experience is a key factor in choosing Mr. Browns successor.ImageCredit...Max Whittaker for The New York TimesThe reality is that Browns approval rating has been over 50 percent for quite a while, said Mark Baldassare, the president of the Public Policy Institute of California. Things are going very well in the state. Its been a long time since people worried about the state budget, and he has managed his relationships with the Legislature quite well.The next governor of California will almost certainly be elevated overnight into a national figure. And the election is taking place as California enters potentially difficult waters: This transition of power, with an old guard stepping aside, is playing out as the state is engaged in an escalating battle with Mr. Trump and Washington, and as Mr. Brown and other leading state officials warn that California is overdue for a recession.But so far, no candidate seems to have excited an electorate that does not appear to be particularly hungry for change. No one is paying attention, Mr. Newsom said. Ive seen two cameras at six events today.There is a sense of satisfaction, he said in an interview. People arent looking for anything radically different.But Joe Sanberg, an investor and liberal activist based in Los Angeles, said the Democrats had failed to inspire voters or present a compelling economic agenda.The proof that no ones presented a transformational economic message is the fact that a third of voters are still undecided about who to vote for, for governor, Mr. Sanberg said.Here are the pieces you need to read to understand the state, and what may happen there on Tuesday. What is a jungle primary and how does it work? Republicans are struggling to field candidates on the ballot in November. Meanwhile, Democrats, too, are wary of a possible disaster. Everything you need to know about the top races in the state.Mr. Newsom, who has led the field in almost every poll this year, served two terms as mayor of San Francisco before becoming lieutenant governor in 2011; he grew wealthy with the creation of a small wine and hospitality business empire financed by Gordon P. Getty, the investor. As mayor, he defied the federal government in backing the legalization of same-sex marriage.Mr. Villaraigosa served as speaker of the State Assembly and as mayor of Los Angeles. Another Democrat who polls suggest has an outside chance of advancing to the November election, John Chiang, is the state treasurer.By contrast, Mr. Brown, 80, served as governor in two different eras, attorney general, mayor of Oakland and secretary of state. He grew up in the home of his legendary father, Pat Brown, who served two terms as governor before losing to Ronald Reagan in 1966.Jerry Brown will be a hard act to follow, because of his gravitas, his expertise, his clear priorities and his negotiating skill, said Miriam Pawel, an author who has just written a history of California told through Mr. Browns family. One may agree or disagree with his priorities, but he has proved to be an astute politician who effectively corralled competing factions to close deals.Indeed, to a considerable extent, Mr. Villaraigosa and Mr. Newsom have tried to attach themselves to parts of the legacy of Mr. Brown, who has not endorsed anyone in this contest. But they have been critical as well, particularly on the rise of poverty and the homelessness crisis that unfolded under Mr. Brown.For Mr. Newsom and Mr. Villaraigosa, the challenge of inspiring voters goes beyond being judged against Mr. Brown and trying to turn out an electorate that seems, over all, happy with the direction California is going. They also have the hurdle of troubled impressions and memories that linger from earlier chapters in their careers particularly when many relationships between women and powerful men, even consensual ones, are being revisited.As mayor, Mr. Newsom cut a glamorous figure across San Francisco. In 2004, Harpers Bazaar called him and his wife at the time, the Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle, the new Kennedys, photographing the couple in expensive designer clothes at the home of Mr. Getty and his wife, Ann. Mr. Newsoms marriage to Ms. Guilfoyle ended in 2006; the mayor remained politically popular.He rocketed up, Phil Matier, a political columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle who covered Mr. Newsom. Im not sure he had his helmet on when he did it.Mr. Newsom was frequently seen at events with celebrities and gained a reputation as a partyer. Around the same time in 2006, city gossip and political columns said he was dating Brittanie Mountz, who was around 19 at the time; he was roughly 20 years her senior. (Mr. Newsom, in an interview this week, denied they were dating. She was a friend, he said. I wont go into details. Dating is not a term I would use. But friendship, yes. Ms. Mountz declined to comment.)ImageCredit...Max Whittaker for The New York TimesMr. Newsoms personal life drew attention again in February 2007, after he acknowledged he had had an affair with his campaign managers wife, Ruby Rippey-Tourk.The affair had occurred in 2005, when Mr. Newsom was in the middle of divorcing Ms. Guilfoyle and when Ms. Rippey-Tourk was working as his appointments secretary. Alex Tourk, Mr. Newsoms campaign manager and friend, resigned. Mr. Newsom, 39 at the time, apologized swiftly and said he would seek treatment for alcohol abuse.Mr. Newsom was re-elected easily in the fall of 2007. The voters either overlooked it or, while it was important, not important enough, said Tom Ammiano, a former member of the San Francisco board of supervisors.In an email to The New York Times, Ms. Rippey-Tourk, now Ms. Rippey Gibney, called the affair a very unpleasant mistake but said she did not feel Mr. Newsom did anything untoward. I take responsibility for my decision I made a bad choice not a coerced one, she wrote.Mr. Newsom said that he heard about the issue only from the news media and from political opponents, but that it was fair game for voters to consider.Its par for the course, he said. Its exactly what I expected. Voters have a right to consider everything. The people of San Francisco considered that and they probably know me better than anybody.Mr. Villaraigosa, as mayor in 2007, acknowledged an affair with a television anchor, Mirthala Salinas, that took place as he was separating from his wife, Corina.The affair was covered relentlessly in the news media and cast a shadow over Mr. Villaraigosas time as mayor. He became a prominent spokesman for President Barack Obamas 2012 campaign and briefly emerged as a serious contender for transportation secretary, along with Anthony Foxx, then the mayor of Charlotte, N.C., according to several people familiar with White House deliberations at the time.But Mr. Villaraigosa was photographed around this time at a party in Mexico with the actor Charlie Sheen, stirring concerns in the White House that his lack of personal discipline could embarrass the administration. He remained in Los Angeles.Mr. Villaraigosa said in an interview this week that he expected voters to take his marital difficulties into account, but argued they were outweighed by the rest of his record: a drop in crime, his program to expand mass transit. He said he did not think the affair hurt him politically. I dont think people see the connection, he said. Because in my case, it wasnt somebody working for me and it wasnt a 19-year-old. It was a woman who I had a consensual relationship with.ImageCredit...Max Whittaker for The New York TimesVoters seem divided as to whether personal behavior should matter. It makes me queasy, said Jane Davis, 59, a community volunteer from Redlands, in San Bernardino County. I dont think thats honorable behavior.But Ronald Hattis, 75, a physician from Redlands, described Mr. Newsoms behavior as human.I know there are people who that sort of thing bothers them, he said. But if youre only looking for people who have abstained from doing anything, who are not alpha leaders, youre going to miss a lot of talent.At the end of the day, the biggest obstacle for these candidates when it comes to exciting voters may not be their past but the sitting governor in Sacramento.Hanging over this election is What happens after Jerry? said Rick Jacobs, a senior political adviser to Eric M. Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles. Im not sure most voters have focused very far beyond that, which presents challenges for all of the candidates.",3
"A proposal in the South Korean legislature is an early test of how forcefully the Biden administration will defend the companies abroad while trying to trim their power at home.Credit...Ed Jones/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesPublished Aug. 23, 2021Updated Aug. 27, 2021WASHINGTON For months, Apple and Google have been fighting a bill in the South Korean legislature that they say could imperil their lucrative app store businesses. The companies have appealed directly to South Korean lawmakers, government officials and the public to try to block the legislation, which is expected to face a crucial vote this week.The companies have also turned to an unlikely ally, one that is also trying to quash their power: the United States government. A group funded by the companies has urged trade officials in Washington to push back on the legislation, arguing that targeting American firms could violate a joint trade agreement.The South Korean legislation would be the first law in the world to require companies that operate app stores to let users pay for in-app purchases using a variety of payment systems. It would also prohibit blocking developers from listing their products on other app stores.How the White House responds to this proposal poses an early test for the Biden administration: Will it defend tech companies facing antitrust scrutiny abroad while it applies that same scrutiny to the companies at home?Washington has a longstanding practice of opposing foreign laws that discriminate against American firms, sometimes even when doing so conflicts with domestic policy debates. But President Biden wants a consistent approach to his concerns about the tech giants incredible power over commerce, communications and news. In July he signed an executive order to spur competition in the industry, and his top two antitrust appointees have long been vocal critics of the companies.The approach the White House chooses may have widespread implications for the industry, and for the shape of the internet around the world. A growing number of countries are pursuing stricter regulations on Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, fragmenting the rules of the global internet.American officials have echoed some of the industrys complaints about the proposal, saying in a March report it appeared to target American companies. But trade officials have yet to take a formal position on it, said Adam Hodge, a spokesman for the United States Trade Representative. He said officials were still considering how to balance the claim that the legislation discriminates against American companies with the belief among tech critics in South Korea and America that the legislation would level the playing field.We are engaging a range of stakeholders to gather facts as legislation is considered in Korea, recognizing the need to distinguish between discrimination against American companies and promoting competition, Mr. Hodge said in a statement.Apple said that it regularly dealt with the United States government on a range of topics. During those interactions it discussed the South Korean app store legislation with American officials, including at the U. S. Embassy in Seoul, the company said in a statement.The company said the legislation would put users who purchase digital goods from other sources at risk of fraud, undermine their privacy protections, make it difficult to manage their purchases and endanger parental controls.A Google spokeswoman, Julie Tarallo McAlister, said in a statement that Google was open to exploring alternative approaches but believed the legislation would harm consumers and software developers.The proposal was approved by a committee in the Korean National Assembly last month, over the opposition of some in the Korean government. It could get a vote in the bodys judiciary committee as soon as this week. It would then require a vote from the full assembly and the signature of President Moon Jae-in to become law.ImageCredit...Jean Chung for The New York TimesThe proposal would have a major impact on Apples App Store and the Google Play Store in Korea.The Google store accounted for 75 percent of global app downloads in the second quarter of 2021, according to App Annie, an analytics company. Apples marketplace accounted for 65 percent of consumer spending on in-app purchases or subscriptions.One way software developers make money is by selling products directly in their apps, like Fortnites in-game currency or a subscription to The New York Times. Apple has insisted for years that developers sell those in-app products through the companys own payment system, which takes up to a 30 percent cut of many sales. Last year, Google indicated it would follow suit by applying a 30 percent cut to more purchases than it had in the past. Developers say that the fees are far too steep.After South Korean lawmakers proposed the app store bill last year, the Information Technology Industry Council, a Washington-based group that counts Apple and Google as members, urged the United States Trade Representative to include concerns about the legislation in an annual report highlighting barriers to foreign trade. The group said in October that the rules could violate a 2007 accord that says neither country can discriminate against firms with headquarters in the other.Apple said that it was not unusual for an industry group to provide feedback to the trade representative. The company said the government had explicitly asked for comment on potentially discriminatory laws. In a statement, Naomi Wilson, the trade groups vice president of policy for Asia, said that it encouraged legislators to work with industry to re-examine the obligations for app markets set forth in the proposed measure to ensure they are not trade-restrictive and do not disproportionately affect American companies.When the trade representatives report was published in March just weeks after Mr. Bidens nominee to the position was sworn in it included a paragraph that echoed some of the tech groups concerns. The report concluded that the South Korean laws requirement to permit users to use outside payment services appears to specifically target U.S. providers and threatens a standard U.S. business model.ImageCredit...via Jo Seoung LaeThe American report did not say the law would violate the free trade agreement with South Korea. But in July, the managing director of a group called the Asia Internet Coalition, which lists Apple and Google as two of its members, pointed to the report when he told Koreas trade minister that the law could provoke trade tensions between the United States and South Korea.The Biden administration has already signaled its concerns, the director said in a written comment in July.American diplomats in Seoul also raised questions about whether the legislation could cause trade tensions.Google said something like that, and a similar opinion was expressed by the U.S. Embassy in Korea, said Jo Seoung Lae, a lawmaker who backs the legislation. He added that the embassy had been in touch with his staff throughout June and July. Park Sungjoong, another lawmaker, also said that the embassy had expressed trade concerns about the law.Mr. Jo said that a Google representative had visited his office to express opposition to the proposal, and that Apple had also provided their feedback opposing the legislation.Mr. Jo said that he had requested that the United States provide its official position, but he said he had not received one yet.American trade officials sometimes defend companies even when they are criticized by others in the administration. While former President Donald J. Trump attacked a liability shield for social media platforms, known as Section 230, his trade representative wrote a similar provision into agreements with Canada, Mexico and Japan.But Wendy Cutler, a former official who negotiated the trade agreement between South Korea and the United States, said that it would be difficult for America to argue that the Korean rules violate trade agreements when the same antitrust issues are being debated stateside.You dont want to be calling out a country for potentially violating an obligation when at the same time your own government is questioning the practice, said Ms. Cutler, now the vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute. It weakens the case substantially.South Korean and American app developers have run their own campaign for the new rules, arguing it would not trigger trade tensions.ImageCredit...Pool photo by Jeon Heon-KyunIn June, Mark Buse, the top lobbying executive at the dating app company Match Group and a former board member of a pro-regulation group called the Coalition for App Fairness, wrote to Mr. Jo, the Korean lawmaker, supporting the proposal. He said that the Biden administration knew about concerns around the tech giants, making trade tensions less likely.Later that month, Mr. Buse attended a virtual conference about the app store legislation hosted by K-Internet, a trade group that represents major Korean internet companies like Naver, Googles main search competitor in South Korea, and Kakao.Mr. Buse, who traveled to Seoul this month to press the case for the legislation on behalf of the Coalition for App Fairness, made it clear that his employer considered it a high-stakes debate. He listed the many other countries where officials were concerned about Apples and Googles practices.And all of this, he said, is following the leadership that the Korean assembly is showing.",5
"Credit...Lajos Soos/EPA, via ShutterstockNov. 15, 2018For those seeking refuge from war and violence, Hungary has been an unwelcoming place. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been at the vanguard in casting refugees as an insidious menace, best kept at bay by barbed wire and locked up in detention centers. His government made it a crime to even assist people in the country applying for asylum.So it was somewhat awkward this week when the former prime minister of Macedonia Nikola Gruevski, who was supposed to begin a two-year prison sentence on Monday after being convicted of abuse of power announced on Facebook that he had fled his homeland and was in Budapest seeking asylum.After more than 24 hours of silence, the Hungarian government confirmed late Wednesday night that Mr. Gruevski was in the country and seeking asylum but provided few other details, including how a convicted politician managed to get into the country considering that both his personal and diplomatic passports had been confiscated.Mr. Gruevskis flight stoked outrage in Macedonia, which issued a warrant for his arrest and demanded that he be extradited. It has also highlighted the competition between the European Union and Russia over the values and allegiances of countries in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.For years, Mr. Orban has been engaged in a battle with Brussels as he flouted its norms and rules over a variety of issues, including migration policy and threats to the independence of Hungarys judicial system.At the same time, Mr. Orban has sought to strengthen his ties with Russia and find allies in the countries on the eastern fringes of the bloc of nations, including rulers in the western Balkans that aspire to join the union.When Mr. Gruevski was in power, Mr. Orban cast aside concerns about corruption to embrace the Macedonian leader.Istvan Hegedus, the chairman of the Hungarian Europe Society, said that Mr. Orban has tried to have it both ways for years reaping the benefits of membership in the European Union while cozying up to Russia and other nondemocratic nations for support when needed.This sort of dance between east and west, between dictators and Brussels, it cannot work forever, he said. As a leader, you are forced to make decisions.In this case, it is Macedonia that again finds itself in the middle.The small Balkan nation is in the final stages of a wrenching political battle to change its official name to satisfy a decades-old dispute with Greece and set a path to joining NATO. Moscow has long opposed the expansion of NATO and Mr. Gruevskis party, VMRO-DPMNE, had opposed the deal to change the countrys name.Mr. Hegedus and other outside observers said that they would not be surprised to see Mr. Gruevski disappear from Hungary only to re-emerge in Russia or some other country from which it would be harder to have him extradited.It would be incredibly cynical, but Orban might make a human rights argument, saying that other asylum seekers have chosen to leave the country and that is their right, he said. Which would be incredibly unfair given that most of those seeking asylum are stuck in shipping containers on the Serbian border.Mrta Pardavi, co-chairwoman of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights group dedicated to helping refugees, said that it is completely unrealistic that a former prime minister of another country would arrive to Hungary without the prior knowledge of the Hungarian authorities.Ms. Pardavi, whose group has been a frequent target of the Orban government, said that technically, Hungarys interior minister has the discretionary power to grant asylum even if someone cant be considered a refugee under normal circumstances.Its hypocritical that this extraordinary exception is only made for somebody who is a great ally of Prime Minister Orban, she said.The Hungarian government denied that it played any role in facilitating Mr. Gruevskis flight from Macedonia.Nikola Gruevski has submitted an asylum request to the competent Hungarian authority, the government said in a statement. Given that he was prime minister of his country for 10 years, for security reasons the Hungarian authorities have allowed Mr. Gruevski to have his asylum request submitted and heard at the headquarters of the Immigration and Asylum Office in Budapest.Pressed on why Mr. Gruevski was not forced to go to one of the transit centers created by Mr. Orban to seek asylum, the Hungarian leader replied dismissively, telling reporters to ask the lawyers.Earlier, however, Balazs Hidvghi, the communications director of Mr. Orbans party, Fidesz, pointed to a familiar figure to explain why the former Macedonian leader might deserve asylum.Nikola Gruevski is persecuted and threatened by the current Macedonian government, which is under the influence of George Soros, he said.There is no evidence to suggest the Hungarian-born, American philanthropist has anything to do with Mr. Gruevskis legal troubles.In fact, the United States government played an instrumental role in helping establish the office of the special prosecutor in Macedonia that eventually brought charges against Mr. Gruevski. The State Department, in a statement, said that Mr. Gruevski had been convicted after a thorough and transparent legal process.""We believe it is appropriate for the Macedonian legal process to proceed and for Mr. Gruevski to be held accountable within the Macedonian justice system, the department said.During the trials of Mr. Gruevski and his associates, audio recordings and documents revealed how the former prime minister ran the country as a mafia state, ordering surveillance on opponents, rigging elections and reaping the spoils.The trials were viewed as a big step forward in a country that has been plagued by corruption since it declared independence from the former republic of Yugoslavia in 1991.While Mr. Gruevski still faces a variety of charges, he was recently convicted of abuse of power in a case having to do with the purchasing of a new armored vehicle for official use while he was prime minister. He lost his final appeal on Nov. 9 and was scheduled to start his jail sentence Monday.He never showed up.The reaction in Skopje was swift. Public shock and anger were stoked by rumors and suspicions that quickly took on a life of their own online.Social media where most people in the country get their news was rife with anonymously sourced speculation about plots and conspiracies. Some people said that Mr. Gruevski escaped by dressing as a woman and traveling with false papers. Others saw the hand of Russia.The Albanian Ministry of Interior said late Thursday that Mr. Gruevski escaped through Albania, somehow making his way to the Hungarian Embassy in Tirana, where he was then driven in a diplomatic vehicle to Montenegro. It remained unclear how he was able to exit Macedonia and how he made it from Montenegro to Budapest.Some in Macedonia said they suspected the complicity of the Macedonian government itself, claiming without evidence that the administration of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev had secretly agreed to let Mr. Gruevski escape in order to secure the votes needed to reach an agreement on renaming the country.Mr. Zaev said such speculation was nonsense.I strongly reject all speculations about some kind of political deal with Gruevski. Nothing such has been done, he said. We will investigate how he escaped, but I am convinced that Gruevski will be returned and he will face his sentence.He then said he was confident in the core values of the European Union.What kind of motivation would other countries have to join the E.U. if an E.U. country allows convicted criminals to escape from justice? he asked.",6
"H-Town Singer Busted for Being A Deadbeat Dad 1/25/2018 H-Town's Solomon ""Shazam"" Conner just got arrested, and it should teach him an important lesson -- if you're gonna knock boots, you better pay for the kids you might end up having. Conner was busted Wednesday in Texas for failure to pay child support ... according to court docs. It's his second arrest for this. He and his twin brother founded the R&B group H-Town back in the '90s. It's unclear how much Conner allegedly owes this time around -- but when he was arrested in 2015 for back child support, he'd racked up a $170k tab.",1
"Business|Treasury Auctions Set for the Week of Dec. 21https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/21/business/treasury-auctions-set-for-the-week-of-dec-21.htmlDec. 20, 2015The Treasurys schedule of financing this week includes Mondays regular weekly auction of new three- and six-month bills and an auction of four-week bills on Tuesday.At the close of the New York cash market on Friday, the rate on the outstanding three-month bill was 0.23 percent. The rate on the six-month issue was 0.46 percent, and the rate on the four-week issue was 0.15 percent.",0
"Europe|Dove Painted on Francos Tomb Reignites a Debatehttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/world/europe/franco-tomb-dove-paint.htmlVideotranscripttranscriptArtist Paints Dove Over Francos TombAn artist painted a dove and the words For Freedom on the tomb of the former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.Ill leave it at that. Not a good thing. I did notice this going to the other.An artist painted a dove and the words For Freedom on the tomb of the former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.CreditCredit...Pedro Armestre/Associated PressOct. 31, 2018MADRID A Spanish artist painted a dove on the tomb of Gen. Francisco Franco on Wednesday as a protest against the former dictator, the latest in a series of controversies over his tomb and plans to move his remains.The artist, Enrique Tenreiro, smuggled red paint through the security gate of the huge underground basilica that Franco had built, spray-painting the words For Freedom along with the dove on the tomb.Mr. Tenreiro, who was taken away by a guard and faces a police investigation, issued a statement saying that he had not meant to offend Francos family and supporters, but had wanted to alleviate the suffering of those who lost a Civil War that shouldnt have occurred.What does the government plan to do with Francos remains?The protest came amid a heated debate set off by Prime Minister Pedro Snchezs decision to exhume Francos remains from the basilica, built on a site known as the Valley of the Fallen, an hours drive from Madrid.Spains new Socialist government believes Franco should no longer be honored in a place that the dictator also turned into one of Europes largest mass graves, containing the remains of at least 33,000 people killed during and after the Spanish Civil War. Most had fought for Franco, but the remains of many of his opponents were also anonymously dumped there.What happens next?Shortly after taking office in June, Mr. Snchez announced that Francos exhumation would happen immediately.In September, the government won approval from Parliament for the exhumation. But it has yet to determine exactly when and where to relocate the remains. Francos family has opposed his exhumation but says he could be reburied inside the crypt of Madrids cathedral a proposal the government has vowed to block.The issue has gone beyond politics. Because Francos basilica is run by Benedictine monks, Spains deputy prime minister, Carmen Calvo, raised the matter during an official visit to the Vatican on Monday. The Vatican does not have a direct say in the relocation, though its backing could be helpful.Proposals for the current burial site are already being offered. Jos Guirao, Spains culture minister, has suggested the Valley of the Fallen be transformed in the way that Nazi concentration camps were opened to the public after World War II, so that people dont forget the horror.Albert Rivera, one of the main opposition leaders, has said he wants to create a Spanish national cemetery comparable to Arlington in the United States.Have artists targeted Franco before?Another artist, Eugenio Merino, exhibited a statue of the dictator inside a Coca-Cola refrigerator during Madrids art fair in 2012.In 2016, when Barcelona hosted an exhibition about Francos legacy, the centerpiece was an outdoor equestrian statue of the dictator headless from an earlier act of vandalism. Activists pelted the statue with eggs, splashed it with paint and eventually knocked it over, only a few days after the start of the show.",6
"Health|What a Gene and Its Risks Could Mean for Kidney Transplantshttps://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/17/health/kidney-transplants-black-americans.htmlKidneys from Black donors are automatically downgraded in transplant assessments, but studying a gene variant could help change that.Credit...Ruth Fremson/The New York TimesMay 17, 2022Transplant specialists, when evaluating kidneys that come from donors, try to work out how likely it is that the kidney will fail after being transplanted into a recipient. Their risk calculations consider factors including the donors age, height, weight and history of diabetes. And, to the dismay of some researchers, it also includes the donors race.Kidneys from deceased Black donors are automatically downgraded as higher risk.Some experts are now asking if there is a better way of evaluating kidneys from Black donors, one that can rely more on genetic screening rather than race to assess the risk of failure.The proposed genetic screening would check whether donors carry two copies of variants in a gene, APOL1, that are strongly associated with kidney disease. Because most Black donors do not have those genetic variants, the experts argue, their kidneys should not be automatically downgraded.But before instituting that change, researchers say they have to determine if, in fact, kidneys from donors that have the risk variants of APOL1 are more likely to fail.The first hint came from a study by Dr. Barry Freedman, of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina involving 1,153 deceased donor kidney transplants performed at 113 different transplant programs. It found that kidneys from deceased donors with two risk variants were twice as likely to fail rapidly compared with kidneys from donors who have one gene variant or none.But that finding will need to be replicated in a bigger research effort. It is getting underway with APOLLO, a large study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, to assess living and deceased donors. Study researchers are testing kidney donors for APOL1 and following the fate of thousands of transplant patients who have received kidneys from Black American donors at more than 97 transplant programs.In the study, living donors can decide if they want to learn the result of their genetic test and if they want the recipient of their kidney to know the result as well. Medical privacy regulations forbid doctors from telling kidney transplant candidates if a living donor has the variants without the donors consent.Dr. Freedman said that whatever results come from the research, more transplant centers are broaching the idea of genetic testing people who want to donate kidneys.Until recently, he added, many transplant centers said they dont want to talk about it.",2
"Credit...Peter W. Cross for The New York TimesNov. 15, 2016If there is one thing decades of studies with tens of thousands of heart disease patients have revealed, it is that lowering cholesterol can reduce the risk of heart attacks and deaths. Now, with new drugs on the market that can plunge cholesterol levels lower than ever thought possible, researchers are eagerly waiting for an answer to the next question: Is there a limit to the benefits in high-risk patients? After a certain point, do benefits level off or even reverse?A new study suggests there is no leveling off. But that good news comes in the context of unexpected problems with the new drugs, known as PCSK9 inhibitors.On Nov. 1, Pfizer, one of three companies developing such drugs, announced that it was stopping the project after spending years and huge sums on the drugs development and after clinical trials with 27,000 patients were well underway. Patients developed antibodies to the drug, which canceled its effects.And while two other PCSK9 inhibitors approved for sale last year do not have such a problem, they have another issue. With their high price Amgens list price for its drug is $14,000 a year insurers are refusing to pay for them.For now, the PCSK9 inhibitors, heralded as a triumph of basic research, are turning into expensive headaches.The new 18-month study involved 968 heart patients. They were randomly assigned to take a statin or a statin plus the Amgen PCSK9 inhibitor, evolocumab. It, like the PCSK9 drug developed by Sanofi and Regeneron, can drive levels of LDL cholesterol, the dangerous kind, to what Dr. Peter Libby of Harvard calls subterranean levels. (Dr. Libby was not associated with the new study.)Researchers used ultrasound to measure the size of patients plaques. When those pimple-like growths on the walls of coronary arteries rupture, people can have heart attacks. Research has shown that the smaller the plaques, the lower the heart attack risk.Patients taking a statin had LDL levels averaging 93, which is considered excellent. Those taking a statin plus evolocumab had levels averaging 36, and some got their levels down to 10.A level of 30, said Dr. Elliott M. Antman, a cardiologist at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston and a past president of the American Heart Association, is like that of a 6-month-old baby. In a sense you are turning back the cardiovascular clock, he said. Dr. Antman was not associated with the new study.Plaques got smaller in two-thirds of those taking evolocumab but in fewer than half of those taking a statin alone. And the lower the LDL level for the evolocumab patients went, the more likely it was that plaques would shrink. At the lowest LDL levels around 24 81 percent of patients plaques shrank.The study was published online Tuesday in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, to coincide with a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association.The results are not proof of benefit, cautioned Dr. Steven Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic, who directed the study. Its a signal, he said. It suggests these drugs will show benefit.What is needed and will come within months are the outcomes of large clinical trials investigating whether PCSK9 inhibitors are safe and prevent deaths from heart disease. Maybe then, said Dr. Sean Harper, Amgens executive vice president for research and development, insurance companies will more readily approve the drugs.I hope it will make a difference, he said.Amgens drugs are discounted about 35 percent, Dr. Harper said. Medicaid and the Department of Veterans Affairs get bigger discounts. But even with discounts it remains an expensive drug.Yet even when patients meet all the criteria for a PCSK9 inhibitor, insurers deny 80 to 90 percent of claims at first. In the end, only one in three or one in four qualified patients gets the drug, Dr. Harper said.Insurers generally require prior authorization before they will pay for the drugs, and their decisions usually depend on whether patients meet specific criteria, said Kristine Grow, a spokeswoman for Americas Health Insurance Plans, which represents private insurers. But, she added, plans also have robust appeals processes. And part of the companies hesitation is their wish to see evidence that the drugs actually prevent heart attacks and deaths from heart disease.In the meantime, insurers have been forcing doctors to send in extensive documentation about a patients need for the drug and then denying appeal after appeal, Dr. Harper said.What theyve done is make it so administratively onerous for doctors offices that they hit fatigue, Dr. Harper said. Some physicians feel so passionately that they are willing to work full time, but sometimes after doing all that their patients face a very high co-pay and abandon the scrip, he added.Dr. Seth Baum, a cardiologist and heart researcher in private practice in Boca Raton, Fla., and the president of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology, has numerous stories of frustrating dealings with insurers over PCSK9s.One of his patients, Mahendra Mahabir, 41, of Margate, Fla., said he had his first heart attack at age 17, another at 23 and two more since. He had stents implanted to prop his arteries open and had a bypass operation in 2004. His father, uncles and aunts all died of heart disease at young ages.He takes the maximum doses of a statin and two other less effective cholesterol-lowering drugs, but even so, he and Dr. Baum said, his LDL level bounces around in the 200s, sometimes reaching 300. Without the drugs his LDL is 500.So when the PCSK9 inhibitors were approved, Dr. Baum was sure Mr. Mahabir would get them. It should be a slam dunk, he said.He said he applied in June to Mr. Mahabirs insurer, but the request was denied. He appealed, and it was denied again. Dr. Baum submitted three appeals, he said, but every time there was another reason for the denial.Contacted by The New York Times, the insurer, United Healthcare, said it would review the case but could not comment immediately.Finally, on a call with a doctor at the insurance company, Dr. Baum was encouraged. But the next day, he found out that his appeal had been denied again. The insurer wanted the man to have a 12-week trial of a statin.Hes been taking a statin for 25 years, Dr. Baum said.Dr. Baum appealed again. Mr. Mahabir was finally approved on Monday.He does not yet have the drug it has to come from a special pharmacy. When I can pick up the medicine, then I will believe it, Mr. Mahabir said.",2
"TV SportsFeb. 17, 2014Bode Miller had just tied for a bronze medal in the mens super-G at the Olympics in Sochi, Russia, on Sunday and it was time to be interviewed. NBC had already established Millers quest as an emotional story line, putting a microphone on his wife, Morgan, to hear her reactions to his races, and having the couple sit for an interview with Tom Brokaw. He was being humanized as the changed man, the family man, the mature 36-year-old whose brother had died last year.This is the type of storytelling that lubricates NBCs prime-time Olympic engine.This time, the engine backfired.It was not out of bounds for NBCs Christin Cooper to ask a medal winner questions about his brothers death. (Millers brother, Chelone, was a snowboarder who died last year at 29.) It was a relevant area to pursue, part of his Olympic biography. And Miller brought it up in response to her first question, saying that he had a lot of emotion riding on the race.Cooper picked up on that quickly and asked, Bode, youre showing so much emotion down here, whats going through your mind? That probably should have been the last question about his brother. This was, after all, an interview with a great skier who had just won a bronze medal, the sixth Olympic medal of his career. He had done no wrong to be milked for more emotion than he wanted to reveal.Cooper needed to strike a far better balance in her questions so that the takeaway for viewers would not be that she was badgering him.Maybe the absence of detail in his answer he said only that it had been a long struggle coming in here. And, uh, just a tough year compelled her to go forward.I know you wanted to be here with Chelly experiencing these games; how much does it mean to you to come up with a great performance for him? And was it for him? she said. Now she was sounding intrusive, and maybe doubting his fraternal inspiration. It was one question too many, at least the way it was phrased. But it pushed Miller into a thoughtful answer that he did not know if he had won a medal for his brother or to make myself proud.He was holding up, but tears had started to trickle down Millers face.He was being a stand-up guy, even if he was being pulled through a wringer.Now was truly the time to stop. If youve made a medal winner cry, it is time to simply say thank you and move on. It was on tape, so NBC could have cut it off and gone to Matt Lauer in the studio. Instead, Cooper forged on, wondering whom he seemed to be talking to when he looked up in the sky before he started his run down the mountain.It was not a bad question, but by this point, it was overkill.Whats going on there? she said.Millers helmeted head was bowed and he was unable to answer. The clock kept ticking, and I expected NBC to turn its camera elsewhere or for Cooper to say, Thanks, Bode, you had a great race. That did not happen. And there was no interview with the gold medalist, Kjetil Jansrud, to plug in and change the tempo.Instead, Cooper, a former Olympian who won a silver medal in the giant slalom at the 1984 Games, tried to comfort Miller, putting a hand on his shoulder. In all, NBC lingered over this scene for 75 seconds as Miller continued to weep, as he walked away, as he was comforted and as his wife embraced him. He might have cried on his own, for his brother, for joy, for the way his life had changed. But had the tears not been provoked by Coopers questions, we probably would not have seen that emotion.Dan Hicks, who called the super-G race for NBC, talked over some of this tearful imagery unnecessarily mentioning how Miller had seemed like a different skier than in the past and how his emotions continued to flow out. Yep, we saw that.Emotion is a real and honest element of athletic triumph and defeat. And you dont want a network to tell its journalists to stick to soft questions when interviewing the winners. But in this instance, Cooper and NBC lacked the sensitivity to know when enough was enough.It did not end there. Later Sunday, Miller visited Matt Lauer in the studio on Sunday night. You always strike me as someone who likes to keep your emotions pretty close to your vest, and yet this has been a pretty challenging year for you, Lauer said to Miller, again bringing up his brothers death and his public custody battle. Miller, who did not bring up the interview, said he talked to his brother at the start, saying give me a couple hundreths today, give me that little extra push.He continued: Then for it to come down and be as close as it can possibly get in ski racing and end up with a medal, it just seemed kind of connected. At that point, I was just pretty overwhelmed with the feeling of getting a little bit of help from my brother.Battered by online criticism of Christin Coopers interview of Miller after it was broadcast Sunday night, NBC released a statement Monday.Our intent was to convey the emotion that Bode Miller was feeling after winning his bronze medal, a spokesman for the network said. We understand how some viewers thought the line of questioning went too far, but it was our judgment that his answers were a necessary part of the story. Were gratified that Bode has been publicly supportive of Christin Cooper and the overall interview.Miller also came to Coopers defense in a pair of posts on Twitter on Monday and expanded on those comments in an interview on NBCs Today with Lauer.Ive known Christin a long time, and she is a sweetheart of a person, Miller said. I know she didnt mean to push. I dont think she really anticipated what my reaction was going to be, and I think by the time she sort of realized it, I think it was too late and I dont really, I dont blame her at all. He continued: I feel terrible that she is taking the heat for that because it really is just a heat of the moment kind of circumstance, and I dont think there was any harm intended. So, it was just a lot of emotion for me, its been a lot over the last year and that you sometimes dont realize how much you contain that stuff until the dam breaks and then its just a real outpouring.",4
"Kim & Kanye Baby Girl's Name Revealed ... Say Hello to Chicago West!!! 1/19/2018 Kim Kardashian and Kanye West chose a very unique name for baby #3 -- Chicago ... Kanye's hometown ... but it's a good bet she'll be known by a certain nickname. Kim announced the name on her app by simply posting ""Chicago West."" As we reported ... Kim and Kanye had their third child via surrogate, who gave birth Monday to a healthy girl weighing 7 lbs. 6 oz. Kim was in the delivery room during the birth, and we're told she was the first person to have skin-to-skin contact with the baby. As you know, they already have 4-year-old North, and 2-year-old Saint. We're told the kids have been referring to her by the nickname Chi (pronounced Shy). Welcome to the family, Chicago!!!",1
"Shareef O'Neal Love LeBron, But ... Lakers Are My Dream Team 1/20/2018 TMZSports.com Move over, Ball bros -- Shareef O'Neal says the Lakers are his #1 choice when he goes pro ... and if we were Magic Johnson, we'd start working OT to make it happen. We got Shaq's son touching down in LAX ... and asked who he'd want to draft him since his NBA career is creeping up. Shareef told TMZ Sports his favorite team and player were the Cavs and LeBron James, respectively ... but there's 1 thing that puts the Purple and Gold above playing with the King. Not to say Shareef couldn't do BOTH -- right, LeBron??",1
"DealBook|Theranoss Wounded Credibility Hurts Other Start-Upshttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/22/business/dealbook/theranoss-wounded-credibility-hurts-other-start-ups.htmlBreakingviewsDec. 21, 2015Credit...Mike Blake/ReutersTheranos, a privately held blood-analysis company that is valued by investors at $9 billion, faces new charges of finagling with its herpes test, a product essential to its success, according to The Wall Street Journal.Unless the company wins vindication from independent experts, the damage may be too serious to fix. That harms similar start-ups, whose survival depends on investor trust.The Food and Drug Administration is investigating claims by former employees that Theranos continued administering tests despite accusations of inaccuracy. One contention is that the company modified its equipment while its herpes study was already underway. That would be a fundamental violation of research practices. The company denies it did anything wrong, and says it provided complete and accurate information to regulators.This is not just any kerfuffle. A big part of Theranoss valuation is based on its proprietary technology for detecting medical conditions cheaply and effectively, using minuscule blood samples. The company aims to introduce more than 100 tests with the F.D.A.s blessing. The problem is that Theranos has not subjected its technology and methods to experts strict review.With the news of the investigation, the companys precarious situation could reflect badly on all so-called unicorns, the name for private start-ups ostensibly valued at $1 billion or more.There are more than 140 unicorns, according to CB Insights. Publicly traded companies must disclose reams of information, including audited financial statements, but private firms do not face anywhere near as much scrutiny. In fact, thats one reason many large enterprises choose to remain private.The lack of disclosure means that investors must in many ways take what start-ups tell them on faith. That will be harder to do in the wake of Theranoss self-inflicted wounds, a development that could hobble all single-horned creatures.",0
"Congressional MEMOThe 116th Congress has lurched through a government shutdown, the impeachment and trial of a president, and the deadliest pandemic in a century.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesJan. 2, 2021WASHINGTON It began with a pair of firsts, one hopeful and one grim: The most diverse Congress in the nations history was sworn in two years ago during the longest government shutdown.And on Sunday, the 116th Congress will end much as it began filled with anticipation yet bitterly divided having lurched through a cycle of once-in-a-generation moments packed into two years under President Trump. The shuttering of the government for more than a month. The impeachment and trial of a president. The deadliest pandemic in a century and a multitrillion-dollar federal response. A Supreme Court confirmation rushed through in the final weeks of the election.We have kind of gone from crisis to crisis, havent we? said Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, who is participating in a coronavirus vaccine trial in part to signal to his constituents that it would be safe to receive one. Obviously, Covid is the biggest issue.Even with a few legislative accomplishments among them, an overhaul of the North American trade agreement, enactment of landmark land conservation legislation and trillions of dollars in emergency economic aid to address the pandemic partisan gridlock forced lawmakers to punt on their hopes that this Congress could be the one to do difficult things. The one that could alter a broken immigration system, overhaul policing and address gun violence and expand health care access and make it affordable.Still, Congress made history of a different kind, ushering in a new era of governing through technology during the pandemic, with the House allowing proxy voting and both chambers adjusting to hearings and negotiations over Zoom.Here are some of the moments that defined the 116th Congress.Swearing In During a ShutdownWith one of the largest classes of newly elected lawmakers in congressional history, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California became the first person in more than 60 years to reclaim the speakership after having lost it, recovering her distinction as the first woman to hold the post. The chamber where she assumed power better reflected the country in its diversity and youth. House rules were changed to allow head coverings on the floor an adaptation reflecting the arrival of the first Muslim women to be sworn in and the self-titled Squad of young progressive women of color was born.ImageCredit...Erin Schaff for The New York TimesWithin hours of her election as speaker, Ms. Pelosi began calling votes on legislation to reopen government agencies that had been closed since late December 2018, as Mr. Trump demanded more money for the border wall that had been his signature campaign promise.Imagine if youre a new member, Ms. Pelosi later recalled. You come in with a government that is shut down. Then you have an active agenda.But Senate Republicans refused to consider the measure, even before it cleared the House. It set the predicate that would hold firm for most of the Congress: legislation triumphantly shepherded through by House Democrats would rarely be granted a vote on the Senate floor by Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader.ImageCredit...Leigh Vogel for The New York TimesThe shutdown ended after just over a month, with lawmakers in both parties essentially going around Mr. Trump and agreeing to a package that had far less money for the wall than he had demanded. But Mr. Trump would quickly declare a national emergency at the southwestern border, prompting months of bitter division over how to respond to his hard-line immigration policy.An Impeachment, Then an AcquittalMs. Pelosi would spend months pushing back on the notion of impeachment before changing course after the president was accused of wrongdoing.But in late August, an intelligence whistle-blower revealed that during a half-hour phone call in July, Mr. Trump had pressured Ukraines leader to investigate President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., just as the president was withholding millions of dollars in military assistance for the country.Democrats who had resisted impeaching Mr. Trump swung into action, beginning five months of hearings and investigations that would yield additional details about Mr. Trumps pressure campaign on Ukraine and growing calls for his removal. Even as they struck compromises on the overhaul of the North American Free Trade Agreement and a budget agreement, by Christmas, the House had voted to charge Mr. Trump with high crimes and misdemeanors, with Republicans unanimously opposed. It was the third impeachment of an American president in history.No Constitution can protect us if right doesnt matter anymore, and you know you cant trust this president to do whats right for this country, Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the lead impeachment manager for House Democrats, warned during the Senate trial that followed. You can trust he will do whats right for Donald Trump.ImageCredit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesImageCredit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesThe outcome in the Senate was never in doubt, as most Republicans including those who conceded the phone call was not as perfect as the president claimed it to be quickly concluded that his actions did not warrant his removal.Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, the lone Republican to find Mr. Trump guilty of abuse of power, deemed the impeachment trial among the moments of great consequence"" during his first two years in Congress.There are times when you stand alone those are the moments that are most poignant and in some respects, most revealing to yourself about whether you have the courage of your conviction, he said in an interview. He did not specify whether he was referring to impeachment.Surreal Days in a PandemicEven as senators were spending hours each day sequestered in the chamber, top congressional leaders were beginning to conduct hearings on the spread of the novel coronavirus in China.Within a month of Mr. Trumps acquittal, the House approved what would be the first in a series of relief packages, culminating in the largest stimulus measures in modern American history.As the pandemic spread to the Capitol, lawmakers raced to complete a $2.2 trillion stimulus law, shuttling through darkened hallways devoid of tourists and staff members as states and cities forced businesses and institutions to close their doors in efforts to slow the spread of the virus.ImageCredit...Erin Scott for The New York TimesSurreal is a good way to describe it, said Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon and one of the lawmakers who spent days huddled in a Senate office building negotiating the creation of relief programs. When youve been in public service, sometimes you think youve seen most things. This was so different.By the end of 2020, nearly 10 percent of Congress had contracted the coronavirus, temporarily hospitalizing at least two lawmakers and forcing a number of lawmakers to quarantine.Democrats moved to allow the House to vote remotely for the first time in the history of the chamber, instituting a system that would allow a lawmaker to have a colleague cast a vote for them by proxy if they were unable to travel.Race to Fill the Supreme CourtAs summer set in, the urgency of the pandemic gave way to deep paralysis on Capitol Hill driven by partisan differences. Efforts to pass another economic relief package stalled as Republicans resisted doing so and attempts to enact a federal overhaul of policing during a nationwide call for racial justice splintered as Democrats pushed for a more aggressive set of changes than Republicans were willing to consider.ImageCredit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesBut when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in late September, Republicans were determined to quickly fill her seat before an election that could cost Mr. Trump the presidency, or them their Senate majority or both. Abandoning the position that had led them in 2016 to block President Barack Obama from filling a vacancy months before an election, Republicans rushed to push through the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, whom Mr. Trump introduced at a jubilant ceremony in the White House that was later determined to be a superspreader event, causing multiple senators to contract the virus.By the end of the 116th Congress, nearly 150 judges were confirmed to the nations highest court, circuit courts and district courts across the country young, conservative and likely to shape interpretation of the nations laws for decades. Even as some Republicans began to break with Mr. Trump in anticipation of what both parties believed would be a punishing election result for their party, they enthusiastically rallied to support his Supreme Court nominee, a payoff after years of loyalty to the president.A Stimulus Deal Almost DerailedDefying most expectations including their own House Republicans emerged with more than a dozen victories and a record 29 women in their ranks come January, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.It left Mr. Biden, who was declared the victor soon after, with a slim majority in the House and Democratic control of the Senate contingent on the outcomes of two runoff races in Georgia.The political stakes of the contests helped shift the monthslong debate over providing pandemic relief to millions of unemployed Americans, small businesses, schools and hospitals across the country, prodding leaders into negotiations over another package.Shortly after the November election, a group of moderates led by Senators Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, and Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, began work on a compromise framework and jolted both chambers into a final round of frenzied negotiations. They finally yielded a $900 billion deal that passed both chambers days before Christmas after several near-misses with the prospect of yet another government shutdown.Still, Mr. Trump threatened not to sign it, plunging the fate of the legislation into uncertainty and holding out the possibility of yet another government shutdown. Four days before the new year began, he signed it into law.I think divided government can be an opportunity, Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, said. And how we take that up, how we choose to use it is up to us.",3
"Business BriefingDec. 30, 2015Sidecar, a delivery and ride-hailing pioneer that has struggled to compete with bigger rivals like Uber and Lyft, said it would stop offering services. In a message posted on Medium, Sidecars co-founders, Sunil Paul and Jahan Khanna, said its rides and deliveries would end at 5 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday. The companys investors included Google Ventures and Richard Branson. While Uber says it is operating in 68 countries and Lyft in 190 cities, Sidecar did business in just eight markets in the United States. Apps for hailing rides have become a huge business, but it is not clear how many companies will survive as the industry grows. Uber and Lyft have raised billions of dollars in funding, and they have taken the lead in the ride-hailing market.",0
"Africa|Nigerias Battles With Boko Haram Scar the Land and Its Peoplehttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/10/world/africa/nigeria-boko-haram.htmlMarch 10, 2017ImageCredit...Ashley Gilbertson for The New York TimesWhile working on an article on civilian massacres by the Nigerian military, the photographer Ashley Gilbertson and I heard reports that soldiers were burning villages. The militant group Boko Haram, too, has been accused of setting fire to homes, but residents told us the military had now adopted the tactic as a way to clear the countryside so it could freely carry out operations against the insurgents. We saw the charred remains of villages when we flew over the area, but it was unclear who was responsible.In some places like this one, patches of farmland were burned. The military not long ago opened several main highways from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, leading to the rest of northeastern Nigeria, saying the area was now cleared of insurgents. Farmers who are living in squalid camps for displaced people in Maiduguri are anxious about the state of their fields. Because they have not been allowed back for years, they have no idea what awaits them on their farms.ImageCredit...Ashley Gilbertson for The New York TimesFrom the sky, Borno State, the region where Boko Haram is most active, is a patchwork of fallow farmland, swaths of desert and a few swampy areas. Famine-like conditions are raging in the area, a region with a rich history of agriculture. Boko Haram has chased off all the farmers, and the militants themselves have fallen victim to food shortages. We spotted only a handful of vehicles on the roads as we passed overhead. The area is mostly a ghost town.ImageCredit...Ashley Gilbertson for The New York TimesEvery shade of beige is visible in this part of Nigeria. We think these are animal tracks, probably from cattle. Boko Haram is notorious for stealing cows to feed their group and to trade as a means of financial support. Most farmers who have livestock have cleared out, but nomadic herders pass through this part of Nigeria. Maybe the tracks are from motorbikes, which officials in Maiduguri banned after insurgents used them to begin attacks and carry out suicide bombings. Now, anyone spotted riding a motorbike is presumed to be a member of Boko Haram.ImageCredit...Ashley Gilbertson for The New York TimesThis is part of a camp for displaced people in a community called Monguno. The town itself was once destroyed by Boko Haram, but military advances helped clear out insurgents, and now tens of thousands of people have poured in, looking for a safe place to wait out the yearslong insurgency. They live in ragged huts in a camp that is low on food supplies. More people arrive daily 350 villagers came the day before we visited. Several recent arrivals told us the military had ordered them to leave their homes. One woman sent an envoy back to check on her house and received word that it had been burned to the ground.ImageCredit...Ashley Gilbertson for The New York TimesLake Chad is not far from this area of Nigeria, and swamps emerge in a few spots, right next to farms. Besides farmers, fishermen have also fallen on hard times during the crisis. The military has largely banned the fish trade, fearing Boko Haram was profiting from it. We met one fisherman in the Monguno camp who had been sneaking back to a small lake to fish, then stuffing his catch in his pants in hopes of passing undetected on his way home.ImageCredit...Ashley Gilbertson for The New York TimesThe military has a big garrison in Monguno, and soldiers keep watch in their vehicles on the outskirts of town. A berm has been constructed around the edges of the camp, which houses about 26,000 displaced people. Mobile phone networks in Monguno have been cut and fuel stations are closed.ImageCredit...Ashley Gilbertson for The New York TimesMost farms are inoperable around here. Famine was declared in pockets of Borno State last year. Many communities are sealed off from safety as insurgents scatter from hide-outs in the forest, pushed out by recent military operations. Humanitarian groups face huge logistical challenges getting food and other supplies to people in need. Even roads the military says are safe now have been attacked by insurgents.ImageCredit...Ashley Gilbertson for The New York Times",6
"A reliably red state for almost two decades, Georgia no longer resembles its Deep South neighbors. President Trump and Joe Biden head there Monday to help rally the bases.Credit...Audra Melton for The New York TimesJan. 3, 2021With President Trump touching down in North Georgia on Monday to court white rural voters and President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. rallying support from a diverse electorate in Atlanta, the high-stakes Senate runoffs are concluding with a test of how much the politics have shifted in a state that no longer resembles its Deep South neighbors.Should the two challengers win Tuesday and hand Democrats control of the Senate, it will be with the same multiracial and heavily metropolitan support that propelled Mr. Biden to victory in Georgia and nationally. And if the Republican incumbents prevail, it will be because they pile up margins in conservative regions, just as Mr. Trump did.Thats a marked change from the 2000 election, when George W. Bush won decisively in the Atlanta suburbs to capture the state and Democrats still ran competitively with right-of-center voters in much of rural North and South Georgia.After resisting the tide of Republicanism longer than in other parts of the South it didnt elect its first G.O.P. governor until 2002 Georgia became a reliably red state in the nearly two decades since. But now, its fast becoming a political microcosm of the country.Although Georgia still skews slightly to the right of Americas political center, it has become politically competitive for the same demographic reasons the country is closely divided: Democrats have become dominant in big cities and suburban areas but they suffer steep losses in the lightly-populated regions that once elected governors, senators and, in Georgia, a native-born president, Jimmy Carter.Georgia is now a reflection of the country, said Keith Mason, a former chief of staff to Zell Miller, the late Democratic governor and U.S. senator from a small town in North Georgia. Mr. Miller helped hold off Republican realignment in the state in the 1990s only to accelerate it in the early 2000s when he crossed party lines to endorse Mr. Bushs re-election.Conservative Democrats like Mr. Miller are rare, as are the sort of liberal-to-moderate Republicans who were also once found in Georgia. Today, though, the standard-bearers of the two parties in the state reflect thoroughly nationalized parties.After nominating a string of candidates for statewide office who they hoped would be palatable to rural whites, only to keep losing, Democrats elevated three candidates in the past two years whose views placed them in the mainstream of the national party and whose profiles represented the partys broader coalition.Stacey Abrams, a Black former state representative whose district includes portions of Atlanta, fell 55,000 votes short of being elected governor in 2018; Jon Ossoff is a white, 33-year-old documentary filmmaker from a prosperous Atlanta family; and the Rev. Raphael Warnock grew up in impoverished circumstances in Savannah before becoming pastor at the countrys most storied Black church, Ebenezer Baptist in Atlanta.It looks nothing like the party of the 90s and early 2000s, said Jennifer Jordan, a Democratic state senator. She recalled how the former governor Roy Barnes, a Democrat who succeeded Mr. Miller in 1999, used to brag about his N.R.A. affiliation.ImageCredit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesThe Senate hopefuls are embracing the change. Think about how far weve come, Macon, that your standard bearers in these races are the young Jewish journalist, son of an immigrant, and a Black pastor who holds Dr. Kings pulpit at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Mr. Ossoff said during a recent drive-in rally in the central Georgia city.The two candidates are also gladly accepting help from their national party, something Georgia Democrats once shied away from. In addition to Mr. Bidens Monday visit, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was campaigning in Savannah on Sunday.It was no accident that Republicans steered Mr. Trump away from greater Atlanta in his two trips to the state during the runoffs: In December, he visited Valdosta, in South Georgia, and on Monday he will appear before voters in Dalton, which is far closer to Tennessee than the state capital.Yet even bringing the president back to Georgia at all marked a risk for Republicans, after weeks in which he roiled G.O.P. politics in the state. He demonstrated his willingness to intervene once again this weekend: in an extraordinary phone call on Saturday, Mr. Trump pleaded with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find enough votes to reverse his loss in the state, The Washington Post reported. Although todays Georgia candidates are a better fit for the current Democratic Party, and may more easily energize the young and nonwhite voters who make up its base, they have struggled in much of the states rural areas. Mr. Biden was able to defy this trend in his November victory, outperforming Ms. Abramss 2018 showing and Mr. Ossoffs November performance in some of the states most conservative redoubts.That was enough to win the state by 12,000 votes, said Michael Thurmond, the chief executive of DeKalb County. And it shows why we need to do better reaching working-class white voters. (The president-elect also ran better than Ms. Abrams and Mr. Ossoff in much of metropolitan Atlanta.)If the Democrats have shifted away from putting forward candidates like Mr. Miller and former Senator Sam Nunn, another centrist from small-town Georgia, Republicans have turned to elevating candidates much like their national leader: David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are wealthy business executives with little political experience.And just as with Mr. Trump, the attempts by the two incumbents to rebrand themselves as populists to appeal to rural Georgians have had the effect of alienating many suburban voters who were once steadfast Republicans but now recoil from the party of Trump.Had Mr. Perdue run just slightly better in the former Republican pillar of Cobb County, for example, he could have reached 50 percent statewide in November and avoided a runoff. But he didnt even garner 44 percent in the county, which encompasses the northwest suburbs of Atlanta, after winning it six years ago with more than 55 percent of the vote.ImageCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesWere more Trumpian, more populist than the Johnny Isakson party, said Ralph Reed, a former state Republican chair and conservative Christian activist, referring to the conservative-but-courtly former senator whose resignation prompted the appointment of Ms. Loeffler. Both parties changed because the grass roots in both parties want more.Taken together, this has created a state thats nearing 50-50 parity and fostered a style of politics in which mobilization takes precedence over persuasion, because the bright lines between party and region have left few Georgians up for grabs.There are very few swing voters, said Ms. Abrams, now a voting rights activist. She said that this was particularly the case in a general election runoff when turnout typically falls and you are trying to convince the core of your base to come back a second time in a pretty short period.Still, Ms. Abrams acknowledged that electoral politics tends to lag behind demographic changes.The demographics, though, account for much of the reason that the state has grown more politically competitive.There has been a population explosion around Atlanta, thanks to an influx of Asian, African and Hispanic immigrants as well as a migration of native-born Americans, white and Black alike, who have moved to the region because of family ties, the relatively affordable cost of living and expansive job opportunities.Although long identified with Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines, the city has become a corporate behemoth, home to companies like UPS and Home Depot as well as to the American headquarters of the carmakers Mercedes and Porsche.Atlanta itself has long been a mecca for African-Americans but the entire metropolitan region is now diverse, and counties that were once heavily white and solidly Republican are now multiracial bulwarks of Democratic strength.In 2000, for example, Al Gore received only 31 percent of the vote in Henry County, an exurban Atlanta community that was once dominated by farmland, including that of the former segregationist Senator Herman Talmadge. In November, Mr. Biden won almost 60 percent of the vote in the county, and the jurisdiction elected a Black sheriff for the first time.Ms. Jordan, the state senator who represents a suburban Atlanta seat, said the population changes would have made Georgia more closely contested this decade but Trump put a turbo booster on it in large part because he energized such strong opposition among women.Sheron Smith, 59, who attended Mr. Ossoffs drive-in rally in Macon, said her own activism illustrated how the state had changed. Ms. Smith said she was always politically liberal, but did not get involved in organizing until 2016, when Mr. Trumps election prompted her to join a progressive womens group in town.I think a lot of people were like me, Ms. Smith said, and after 2016 we thought: I have to do more. I cant just sit on my hands. I have to get involved. And that energy has just stuck around. I want to be involved now.ImageCredit...Nicole Craine for The New York TimesThis engagement has prompted a full reversal of the old formula, in which Republicans hoped their overwhelming support in the suburbs would offset the Democrats historical rural strength.Its a total 180 in terms of strategy, said Mr. Thurmond, the DeKalb County executive, recalling the hotly-contested 1980 Senate race in which political junkies stayed up late watching the metro Atlanta returns except then it was to see if Mack Mattingly, a Republican, could claim enough votes in the region to overcome Mr. Talmadges rural strength.Four decades later, Georgia is close to evenly split again but in ways that better reflect the Sun Belt than the Old South.Jim Hobart, a Republican pollster reared in Georgia, said his home state was most politically similar to another battleground that Mr. Biden narrowly carried: Arizona.Both have increasingly large minority populations and are dominated by one large media market, said Mr. Hobart, alluding to greater Atlanta and Phoenix.Georgia, he added, is a purple state now.",3
"Surprise Russian Thruster Firing Prompts Space Station EmergencyWhile the astronauts were said to not be in any danger, it was the second such incident since July.Credit...JSC/NASAOct. 15, 2021The International Space Station was briefly tilted out of its normal position in orbit on Friday during a test firing of thrusters on one of Russias docked spacecraft.The Russian space agency said in a statement on its website that the crew and station were never in any danger. But it was the second such emergency on the station since July, when an unexpected firing of thrusters on a new Russian module briefly inverted the outpost.The incident occurred on Friday morning as the Russian astronaut Oleg Novitsky was performing a test of the engines aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, a crew module that has been docked to the station since April. The spacecraft is scheduled to return three passengers to Earth on Sunday.When the engine test was scheduled to end, the thruster firing unexpectedly continued, Leah Cheshier, a NASA spokeswoman, said in an email, and the station orbital positioning control was lost at 5:13 a.m. Eastern time. Russian officials in Moscow and personnel at NASAs astronaut headquarters in Houston sprang into action during the incident, voicing commands to their astronauts to initiate emergency protocols.Oleg, take it easy, the station was turned by 57 degrees, no big deal, a Russian mission control official in Moscow was quoted as saying to the astronaut by Interfax, a Russian news agency. We had to make sure that engines are in order, this is important.Station, Houston space-to-ground two, we see the loss of attitude control warning, NASA mission control in Houston alerted its astronauts on the station, instructing them to begin emergency procedures in the crews warning book. Flight controllers regained control of the station within 30 minutes, Ms. Cheshier said.Roscosmos, Russias space agency, said in a statement that the space stations orientation was temporarily changed but that its normal position was swiftly recovered after Russian specialists in Moscow intervened. A Roscosmos spokesman declined to provide additional details of the incident.As you can well imagine, when things start going off the rails like that, theres enough noise on the radar that the clarity of what actually happened is a bit of a mystery, Timothy Creamer, a NASA flight director who was on duty at the time, told the American astronauts in communications shortly after the thruster firings stopped. He said the Russian thrusters may have stopped firing after they reached a limit, though it was unclear what kind.We think and we havent got confirmation we think the thrusters stopped firing because they reached their prop limit, Mr. Creamer said, adding that Moscow is checking into it and doing their data analysis.On Sunday, the same spacecraft that experienced the thruster incident is expected to bring back to Earth a Russian film crew that was flown to the station on a different Soyuz spacecraft on Oct. 5. NASA mission control, heard on a livestream of mission control audio, indicated that the thruster firing incident delayed a planned film shoot in the stations cupola, a room with six windows facing Earth. Ms. Cheshier said the MS-18 spacecrafts undocking with the crew inside would occur at 9:14 p.m. Saturday, as planned.In July, Russia docked its Nauka module to the orbital base, adding a new room for science experiments on the Russian segment of the station. Hours later, Naukas thrusters suddenly started firing, spinning the station one and a half revolutions about 540 degrees before it came to a stop upside down.Unexpected jolts to the space station, which is the size of a football field, put stress on the forest of instrumentation on its exterior. After the Nauka incident, Zebulon Scoville, a NASA flight director who managed the agencys emergency response that day, said on Twitter that he had never been so happy to see all solar arrays + radiators still attached.NASA and Russia have maintained a long relationship on the space station over the past two decades. But in recent years, elements of the station have showed signs of their age, including some air leaks on the Russian side.NASA wants to continue the partnership with Russia and keep the station operating through 2030, gradually handing off American elements of the laboratory to private U.S. companies. But Russias space chief, Dmitri Rogozin, has suggested that Moscow could pull out of the orbital partnership in 2025, one of the latest signals that ties between the two space powers are beginning to fray.Russia has ramped up its relationship with Chinas space program. The two countries signed an agreement in March to work on lunar bases, which would rival the plans of NASAs Artemis moon exploration program.China launched the first elements of its own new space station this year and sent its second crew of three astronauts there on Friday for a six-month mission.",7
"VideoA ski technician plays a behind-the-scenes role that is part crew chief, part caddie and part counselor. Ales Sopotnik spends countless hours tuning the skis of the American Alpine racer Leanne Smith.Feb. 12, 2014The Alpine skiers at the Sochi Games are reaching speeds in excess of 80 miles an hour and at that velocity, the condition of their equipment can spell the difference between a spot on the podium and a helicopter flight to a hospital. Little wonder that ski technicians are so valued. Part crew chief, part caddie and part counselor, a ski technician is responsible for maintaining and tuning the dozens of pairs of skis a racer might use in a season.Youd better trust what that person is doing, said Leanne Smith, a member of the United States Alpine ski team.The technician maintaining her skis is Ales Sopotnik, one of several on the American team. He can spend several hours on a single pair of skis, carefully honing the edges to razor sharpness and waxing and polishing them to precisely match the snow conditions of the days event. He is also something of a ski whisperer, offering his counsel to the competitors.I trust him more than probably anyone else out here, Smith said. Ales is like having a sidekick that is probably a lot smarter than I am. From the outside looking in he can always give you the best advice.",4
"Credit...M. Scott Brauer for The New York TimesJune 28, 2018CHELSEA, Mass. It was the day after a Latina community activist in New York toppled an entrenched congressman of her own party in one of the biggest political upsets of the decade. And the shock waves reverberated 200 miles away in Boston, where another woman of color who is challenging an entrenched incumbent was clearly buoyed by the surprising turn of events.Ayanna Pressley, a Boston city councilwoman, appearing at a candidate forum at a senior center Wednesday night, gave a brief, impassioned speech about economic inequality and concluded that she this woman! could be a disruptive force for change. The audience whooped and hollered in support.In an interview afterward, Ms. Pressley, her voice raspy from pollen in the air, said she was inspired by the stunning success of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday in a New York Democratic House primary.What her victory has done is reaffirmed for us that theres a path to victory, that this is winnable and that its going to come down to the field, Ms. Pressley said, referring to how campaign workers get out the vote.Since Ms. Ocasio-Cortezs victory over longtime Queens Democrat Joseph Crowley, several other insurgent candidates have drawn inspiration from the success of her unapologetically progressive campaign providing hope that they, too, could upend the Democratic establishment against all odds.This is especially true among women, who are running for Congress in record numbers this year. In Massachusetts, three women who are challenging longtime male House members said the results in New York have provided a jolt of confidence.Every race has its own dynamics, and two of the three women running in Massachusetts remain long shots to win their primaries on Sept. 4. But each also received an uptick in fund-raising and social media interest after Ms. Ocasio-Cortez scored her victory, their campaigns said a testament to just how many progressive voters see 2018 as an opportunity to upend the partys male stalwarts.Ms. Ocasio-Cortezs victory instantly raised Ms. Pressleys national profile in her race against Representative Michael E. Capuano, increasing media attention, visits to her website (pageviews are up 57 percent since Monday, with 43 percent more people signing up to volunteer or donate) and donations to her campaign. She received 205 contributions from Tuesday night through Thursday morning, most of them under $100, for a total of $18,000; thats three times the number of contributions she received in the same period last week.Brianna Wu, a software engineer running against Representative Stephen Lynch in a district largely comprising communities south of Boston, said her campaign had one of its best fund-raising days in weeks on Wednesday all thanks to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez.ImageCredit...M. Scott Brauer for The New York TimesSeeing someone in a similar position, and with your positions on the issues, take on the system and win it makes your whole team feel unbelievably energized,Ms. Wu said in a telephone interview.She said both she and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez were focused on energizing new voters who are historically less likely to turn out in midterm elections.What really excites me is her energy, that youre going out and youre talking to constituents who dont feel represented, Ms. Wu said. It lights your soul on fire, it makes you want to get out there and knock on twice as many doors.Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, a lawyer from Springfield, Mass., who is challenging 15-term incumbent Richard Neal in Massachusettss 1st district, said Ms. Ocasio-Cortezs victory was particularly inspiring to her as a fellow minority woman.We dont have millions of dollars to buy visibility, Ms. Amatul-Wadud said. We have to go door to door. We have to talk to the grass roots. We have to talk to the masses, not just the elite.Neither Ms. Amatul-Waduds opponent nor Ms. Wus responded to requests for comment.Although the insurgent candidates said the intangible benefits of Ms. Ocasio-Cortezs victory were immense, national political analysts warned against drawing too many parallels between her triumph and other races.The overwhelming majority of Democratic incumbents have been successful in defending their seats this election cycle, and while the party frequently has clashes of ideas and strategy, grass-roots activism traditionally has to be coupled with significant monetary investment to be successful, said Anna Sampaio, who specializes in race, gender and politics at Santa Clara University.I wouldnt say this is a tidal wave, Ms. Sampaio said. The animosity against Trump alone wont make the difference. You have to invest in registering, connecting and mobilizing voters. And without that investment, that tidal wave? I dont see it coming.Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, said Ms. Ocasio-Cortezs victory required the right time, right place, right message and right candidate. She said this alignment, though inspiring, would be difficult to replicate.At most, its a wake-up call to Democrats, and its a wake-up call for incumbents of either party, Ms. Walsh said of Tuesdays results. Never take a re-election for granted.But if there is an analogous situation in the Bay State to Ms. Ocasio-Cortezs victory, it may be the campaign of Ms. Pressley, who similarly combines grass-roots support with institutional credibility. Ms. Pressley has been endorsed by Justice Democrats, the progressive organization that was among the first to encourage Ms. Ocasio-Cortez to run.ImageCredit...M. Scott Brauer for The New York TimesIn the interview, Ms. Pressley sought to align herself closely with Ms. Ocasio-Cortez.Neither of us are accepting corporate PAC money, Ms. Pressley said. We both have taken a position to defund and to abolish ICE. We both support health care and Medicare for all. So there are many similarities our convictions, our values, our positions, and the kind of campaigns were running and how we hope to govern.As the primary approaches, Ms. Pressley has mobilized a sizable grass-roots engagement team and hopes to execute the same field strategy that proved so successful for her New York counterpart.Ayannas got an opportunity now, shes got a chance, said Mary Anne Marsh, a Boston-based Democratic strategist. Theres national attention on her because someone like Ocasio-Cortez who was outspent, worked like crazy, organized like crazy and has a great message won. The question is, can Ayanna make good on this opportunity?Doug Rubin, another Democratic consultant in Boston, said he believed the environment was so ripe for change that Ms. Pressley had the potential to win. Ms. Ocasio-Cortezs victory, he said, would help Ms. Pressley with raising money and her profile and giving more credibility to her victory scenario.But for all their similarities, Ms. Pressley lacks an advantage that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez had she is not catching her opponent off guard.Capuano was initially in a state of denial, but then he kicked into gear, and hes putting together a real campaign now, said Ms. Marsh, the strategist. He had a good visit to the border, hes picking up endorsements left and right, and if he cant win them, hes trying to deny them from her.Mr. Capuano has been endorsed by minority establishment figures such as Representative John Lewis, the civil rights icon, and organizations like the political arm of the Congressional Black Caucus. He also has the crucial backing of Bostons mayor, Martin J. Walsh.Mr. Capuano was not available for comment Thursday, but his spokeswoman said in a statement: Because of Donald Trump, were in the fight of our lives, and we believe people here will recognize that we need to keep Mikes experience, proven skill and strength in that fight.Money remains a challenge for Ms. Pressley. Mr. Capuano raised $838,000 in the first three months of the year, the most recent figures available, compared with $364,000 for Ms. Pressley. He had more than $1.1 million in cash on hand, while she had $260,000. Another challenge for Ms. Pressley is creating ideological separation, because Mr. Capuano has an established progressive voting record in Congress.Ms. Pressley said she knows shes the underdog, but she still sees Ms. Ocasio-Cortezs victory as a tipping point.At the womens march, we held signs that said, Today we march, tomorrow we run, Ms. Pressley said. They didnt believe us, but its coming to pass. Buckle up.",3
"Shemar Moore My Hot Grammy Date Proves I'm Not Gay! 1/30/2018 TMZ.com Shemar Moore's heard the rumors he's gay because he's frequently dateless for big events -- but says ""Quantico"" star Anabelle Acosta should take care of that. We got Shemar with Anabelle Monday at LAX, on their way back from the Grammys. While they happily posed at the award show, Anabelle was a little camera shy with us. Shemar was dying to tell us about how he hooked up with her. The ""S.W.A.T."" star handed out some major props to the people who helped him get in touch with Anabelle. So, did they make a love connection? Check out the video -- for what Shemar says and what they did together.",1
"Canada LetterNov. 2, 2018This is Dan Bilefsky in Montreal, where the pungent smell of cannabis wafting from the long lines of people at government marijuana stores may soon compete with the more familiar street smells of poutine. I am filling in this week for Ian Austen on the Canada Letter.ImageCredit...Alana Paterson for The New York Times[Want to receive the Canada Letter in your inbox every week? Sign up here.]When I went to Vancouver a few weeks ago to report on Canadas national experiment to legalize marijuana and bring it out of the shadows, I didnt need to look far to find the black market.There were at least five illegal outlets within five minutes of my hotel downtown. Some were signposted with lurid lights outside. Others looked more like sterile drugstores or hipster cafes, only instead of cough syrup or lattes, they were selling cannabis-infused face creams, potent marijuana concentrates and jelly treats.When a senior City Hall official told me Vancouver had more black market marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks outlets, I was skeptical. But a marijuana dispensary crawl across the city and a call to Starbucks soon revealed that she was right.The coffee chain had 50 outlets in the city of Vancouver. There are roughly twice as many illegal pot retailers.Now, just a few weeks after legalization, the challenge of taming a $5.3 billion illegal trade is becoming all too apparent, not least because the legal market cant keep up with surging demand, pushing Canadian pot-smokers to once again go underground.[Read: Vancouver, Canadas Marijuana Capital, Struggles to Tame the Black Market]Before pot was legalized on Oct. 17, some observers feared that die-hard cannabis users would studiously avoid the government stores. Surely, smoking a joint rolled by the state was the ultimate buzz kill.But the opposite seems to have happened.In Quebec, where cannabis stores are run by a government agency, the province shut down its 12 shops for three days, unable to keep up with the crowds. The stores will remain shuttered every Monday through Wednesday until the shortages can be overcome.In Ontario, where brick-and-mortar government stores wont be up and running until April, the online Ontario Cannabis Store received more than 150,000 orders the first week after pot became legal. The unrelenting demand was exacerbated by a postal strike.And on the day legalization came into effect in British Columbia, there was only one legal government retailer in the province, in Kamloops, a city nearly a four-hour drive away. (The province has since licensed its first private cannabis retailer in Kimberly, B.C., roughly 10 hours from Vancouver by car).Shortages aside, the illegal trade remains as resilient as it is defiant.While I was in Vancouver, I met with Jodie Emery, a longtime leading cannabis advocate, who co-owns several black market Cannabis Culture outlets. Her shop on Davie Street, in a bustling area peppered by ramen joints, looks like an upmarket Starbucks. But it sells outlawed cannabis products like marijuana-infused maple syrup rather than Frappuccinos.ImageCredit...Alana Paterson for The New York TimesMs. Emery, who grew up in British Columbia and was convicted in 2017 of trafficking marijuana, told me the black market was here to stay, since there was neither political nor public will for a crackdown. Even if the authorities came to close down her stores, she said she would merely reopen them.As it is, she has already been served with an injunction, and said her criminal record made it all but impossible for her to get a legal license.Others marijuana retailers like Jessika Villano, owner of Buddha Barn in the bohemian neighborhood of Kitsilano, welcomed legalization, saying they were tired of living in fear of being shut down.Ms. Villano told me she opened her health store about five years ago after seeing how the cannabis cakes she baked for her mother helped her emphysema. She has paid $7,500 to apply for a provincial license and $30,000 for a municipal license, and has turned over three years of financial records to the government.ImageCredit...Alana Paterson for The New York TimesShe has also rebranded her shop, since operating a medical marijuana retail operation is officially illegal. But as of Friday, the provincial authorities had still not granted her license. She is determined to be part of the legal trade.I dont look good in an orange jumpsuit, she said, smiling.A Cannabis Conversation in VancouverWere holding our first Times subscriber event in Vancouver on Nov. 15. Ill be joined by The Timess San Francisco bureau chief, Thomas Fuller, as well as guests from within the industry to discuss the impact of marijuana legalization on Canadas economy and culture. Canada Letter readers can use the promo code CANADALETTER to get $5 off the ticket price. You can get your tickets and find out more here.______This weeks Trans Canada and Around the Times highlights were compiled by the Canada audience growth editor, Lindsey Wiebe.Trans CanadaMy job is to encourage hesitant lovers to take the risk. In this imagined fairy tale by the author Michael Cunningham, featured in the travel issue of T: The New York Times Style Magazine, a matchmaking sprite in Montreal remembers a now-iconic poet, a dancer, and the meeting that may or may not have inspired an unforgettable song.Ts travel issue also includes this guide to Montreal. On the agenda: vintage designer shopping, Cubist architecture, inspired cocktails and, of course, fresh bagels.Theres a lot of Calvin Klein underwear on display in the new music video by Carly Rae Jepsen, the B.C.-born pop star behind Call Me Maybe. But Calvin Klein says it had nothing to do with it.Every month, Netflix Canada introduces a new batch of programming. Novembers highlights include the prescient sci-fi thriller Children of Men, as well as Narcos: Mexico. The crime dramas third season leaves behind trafficking in Columbia and, with a new cast, follows the rise of the Guadalajara Cartel.In the latest edition of the Climate Fwd. newsletter, The Timess energy and environment policy reporter Coral Davenport brings readers up to speed on Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus political battle over taxing carbon emissions.Around the TimesIn the three years since Saudi Arabia unleashed a full-scale military campaign in Yemen, at least 10,000 civilians have been killed and 14 million face starvation. Robert F. Worth, the Timess former bureau chief in Beirut, explores how the bloody war began, and why it will be so hard to end, for The New York Times Magazine.Theres an image of homelessness etched in the public consciousness, writes Nikita Stewart, a Times reporter who covers social services. That picture wouldnt normally include baby Antonio, born homeless, and part of the largest single population in New York Citys shelter system: kids under the age of 6.A year ago, it was easy to be blissfully unaware of CBD, writes Alex Williams, reporter and feature writer for The Times. Now, judging by the hype, its as if everyone suddenly discovered yoga. Or penicillin. Or maybe oxygen.",6
"Global healthA new government program will provide donated drugs through major drugstore chains.Credit...Celeste Sloman for The New York TimesDec. 3, 2019With donated drugs and services provided by major pharmacy chains, 200,000 uninsured Americans will gain access to H.I.V.-preventive medicines at no cost, the Trump administration announced on Tuesday.The announcement, by Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary, essentially explained how the government plans to distribute the drugs for pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, that were promised in May by the drugmaker Gilead Sciences. PrEP describes a strategy of preventing infection with H.I.V. by taking a single pill a day, either Truvada or Descovy. Both are made by Gilead. The strategy is 99 percent effective at preventing infection, studies have shown, and is a mainstay of the administrations campaign to end the H.I.V. epidemic. Some American cities with high H.I.V. rates, such as San Francisco, already have programs that pay the costs of PrEP for the uninsured. Gilead itself offers the drug at no cost to those who cannot afford it, or picks up insurance co-pays for patients who qualify. But the new program called Ready, Set, PrEP marks the first time the federal government is supplying PrEP to patients not enrolled in Medicaid, the Veterans Health Administration or any other federal health program. Under the new program, any patient who lacks health insurance, has had a recent negative H.I.V. test and has a prescription for PrEP presumably obtained from a doctor can call 855-447-8410 or sign onto a new government website, getyourprep.com, to apply for free H.I.V.-prevention drugs.They can also apply in person, Mr. Azar said, through a participating health care provider, such as a community clinic. Until March 30, the government will pay Gilead $200 per bottle each bottle of Truvada contains 30 pills to cover the cost of moving donated drugs from factories through the supply chain to patients, Mr. Azar said. ImageCredit...Tom Brenner/The New York TimesAfter that, he said, the Walgreens, Rite Aid and CVS chains will donate dispensing services and offer counseling to patients, and the government will seek cheaper ways to get the drugs from Gilead to those chains.About 1.2 million Americans could benefit from PrEP because they are at high risk of getting H.I.V. from unprotected sex or needle-sharing, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only an estimated 270,000 people are now taking the drugs. Truvada and Descovy are now mired in billion-dollar patent lawsuits pitting H.H.S. against Gilead. The federal government and the company both claim ownership of patents covering the use of the drugs to prevent H.I.V. infection.But Mr. Azar said the new program was not related to the lawsuits. That matter will be resolved in the court system, he said.Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, leader of a team at Massachusetts General Hospital that has analyzed the costs of the H.I.V. plans of the Obama and Trump administrations, said she was having a hard time understanding why the government is paying $200 a month per bottle to dispense these drugs. Truvada does not need refrigeration or special handling, and it is distributed free in France and Norway. The drug costs patients only $96 a year in Australia, $384 in Germany and $720 in Ireland.The company has promised to donate enough of the drugs to cover as many as 200,000 people for 11 years in the United States.Mr. Azar described the $200 per bottle payments as a stopgap measure that will enable rolling out the drugs as soon as possible. The amount is what Gilead claimed it pays the pharmacy supply chain to distribute its drugs, he said. After March 30, Mr. Azar said, with a combination of donated pharmacy costs and competitive bidding for distribution contracts, I think well be able to do better.Gilead makes no money from the distribution arrangement, said Ryan McKeel, a company spokesman. It will reimburse vendors but not charge the government for the time of any Gilead employees involved.Any tax deductions the company takes for its donation, he added, will be based on the cost of making the pills, not on their market value or distribution costs.James Krellenstein, a founder of the advocacy group Prep4All Collaboration, said the governments plan is poised to repeat the errors of Gileads own medication assistance program.While uninsured patients may get free drugs under the program, he said, they get no help paying for the medical exam and laboratory tests needed to get and keep renewing the prescription, which can cost up to $1,000 a year.Instead of focusing on paying Gilead up to $6 million for high pharmaceutical supply chain costs, the government could pay for lab tests for 6,000 patients, Mr. Krellenstein said.[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]Mr. Azar said that some of those costs are already covered by public clinics, and that his department is seeking $291 million this year from Congress to defray other fees in about 50 high-risk areas, beginning with Baltimore; Baton Rouge, La.; DeKalb County, in Georgia; and Cherokee Nation reservations.To increase awareness of PrEP, Mr. Azar said, Walgreens and Health Mart, a coalition of independent pharmacies, will publicize the program.In some cities, including New York, posters and billboards encouraging gay men and other people at risk to use PrEP are ubiquitous. But in more conservative parts of the country including the rural South, which is now one of the epidemics hottest zones awareness campiagns are uncommon.",2
"Credit...Josh Haner/The New York TimesFeb. 20, 2014SOCHI, Russia Gracie Gold, an 18-year-old American who placed fourth in womens figure skating Thursday, said she knew the competition would be fierce. Based on international rankings, she was not necessarily a medal favorite going in. But with the surprising tumbles of Yulia Lipnitskaya of Russia and Mao Asada of Japan in the short program, Gold had to feel as if she could make the podium.I felt like I had a shot at a medal, said Gold, who was fourth going into Thursdays free skate. But being points behind the women, and knowing that they skated really well, I sort of let go of those expectations of getting a medal and I just skated for myself and I just skated the best program that I could.Adelina Sotnikova of Russia delivered a sophisticated performance to win the gold medal.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesSlide 1 of 15 Adelina Sotnikova of Russia delivered a sophisticated performance to win the gold medal.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesI pretty much knew that I was going to come in fourth, but then I said, Im fourth at the Olympic Games. What are you talking about? Why is that disappointing?Gold, the reigning American champion, who skated to Sleeping Beauty by Tchaikovsky for her long program Thursday, was the top American in the event. One of her teammates, Ashley Wagner, placed seventh, and another, Polina Edmunds, was ninth.Gold has battled confidence issues, but her investment in improving her on-ice psyche paid off this week.Some American fourth-place Olympic finishers in figure skating have used the position as a launch pad. Evan Lysacek placed fourth at the 2006 Turin Games before seizing the gold medal in Vancouver in 2010. Sasha Cohen finished fourth at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games before winning a silver medal in 2006.There are tons of great names who have gotten fourth at their first Olympics, Gold said. And they just kept with it for the next quad.She added, Im among good company.Gold was already off the ice and calmly answering questions in a Team USA track jacket as Kim Yu-na of South Korea, favored to win the gold, finished her free skate. Gold was not interested in watching Kim or any of her other competition. Im kind of enjoying my experience, she said.When Kims score was announced and it was clear Kim would have to settle for silver, Russias surprise Olympic champion, Adelina Sotnikova, bolted down the corridor, yelps of joy in Russian echoing around the walls as she darted toward her coaches in tears.Gold, with a stoic smile, calmly walked back to the athletes area, not a hair out of place in her blond bun. She exchanged hugs and looked relieved that the anxiety of an Olympic debut was behind her.She said she planned to vie for a spot on the American team for the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.The next quad should be really interesting, Gold said. And really fun.",4
"Business BriefingDec. 30, 2015Contracts to buy previously owned homes fell in November for the third time in four months, a signal that growth in the housing market could be cooling. The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday that its pending home sales index slipped 0.9 percent to 106.9. The group added that the index had risen slightly more in October than initially estimated. Pending home contracts become sales after a month or two, and the declines in recent months could point to slower growth in home-buying in 2016. Mortgage rates have only inched higher since the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate by a quarter point on Dec. 16, but Fed policy makers expect to continue the increases next year. Pending home sales had been posting strong gains earlier in the year and were still up 2.7 percent from a year ago. But contracts fell 3 percent in the Northeast in November from a month earlier and were down 5.5 percent in the West. They rose 1.3 percent in the South and gained 1.0 percent in the Midwest.",0
"Health|Childhood vaccinations have lagged across the world because of the pandemic.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/28/health/polio-measles-vaccinations-covid.htmlChildhood vaccinations have lagged across the world because of the pandemic.Credit...Adi Weda/EPA, via ShutterstockOct. 28, 2021The pandemic dealt a serious setback to global efforts to immunize children against diseases like measles and polio, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday, reducing worldwide coverage for some vaccines to levels not seen since more than a decade ago.The proportion of eligible children who received a polio vaccine fell to 83 percent in 2020 from 86 percent the year before, as did coverage with the third dose of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine, known as DTP3. Coverage with the measles vaccine also dipped slightly, to 84 percent last year from 86 percent in 2019.Those setbacks, while seemingly small, meant that millions more children missed out on routine immunizations during the pandemic, putting them and their communities at risk.Globally, nearly 23 million children targeted for the DTP3 shot were not vaccinated in 2020, compared with 19 million in 2019, the C.D.C. said. The vast majority of those had not received a single dose of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine. Not since 2009 had coverage with that vaccine been so low.The C.D.C. scientists involved in the report called for action to be taken to address the immunity gaps of preventable diseases in countries already saddled with Covid outbreaks. Scientists from the World Health Organization and UNICEF also were co-authors on the study.The decline in vaccinations follows a decade of stagnant immunization levels. In 2019, measles deaths swelled to their highest levels in 23 years, a consequence of what public health experts described as insufficient vaccination coverage. Scientists said that the pandemic had hampered the tracking of measles outbreaks.The pandemic also disrupted immunization programs, the C.D.C. report said, interrupting the supply of basic vaccines and making it more difficult to administer them.Immunization levels for diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis and measles were lowest in much of Africa, the report said. The W.H.O. also said on Thursday that only five of Africas 54 nations were expected to reach a year-end goal of vaccinating 40 percent of their people against Covid. UNICEF, a United Nations agency working to distribute coronavirus vaccines, warned of a shortfall next year in syringes for both Covid and routine vaccinations.",2
"Credit...Daniel Berehulak for The New York TimesMarch 25, 2016BRUSSELS From his home in Tennessee, Levi Sutton has spent three days trying to figure out what happened to his half brother and sister-in-law, Justin and Stephanie Shults, who were at the Brussels international airport when the bombs went off.On Wednesday, the State Department told Mr. Suttons family that the couple had been found, without saying if they were alive or dead. Hours later, a Belgian social worker called to say that the information was wrong and that the Shultses whereabouts were unknown. Frustrated by the confusing and contradictory information, Mr. Sutton, a college student, has been posting pleas for help via Twitter.We tried calling the embassy, the Red Cross, hospitals, he said in a telephone interview. Were unable to get any information, he added. No one is telling us anything. All we can do is pray.More than 72 hours after the deadly attacks at the Brussels airport and a busy subway station, the Belgian authorities still had not published a list of the victims. Families across Brussels and around the world were left waiting for word, prolonging the agony of those already suffering and teetering between hope, despair and grief.Some official confirmations did come out on Friday but only a trickle.The 31 people killed in Brussels included Americans, Secretary of State John Kerry announced at a morning news conference here in the Belgian capital, though many hours later the State Department still had not released their names.Three Dutch citizens were killed, too, came the word from the Foreign Ministry in the Netherlands.The German police announced by the afternoon that a young woman from Aachen who was at an airport checkout counter when the terror attacks erupted there on Tuesday morning had not survived, though her husband did, and was being treated at a Brussels hospital. Around midnight in China, the state-run news agency named another victim: Deng Jingquan, a businessman who was known as Frank.By Friday, about a third of those killed had been publicly identified, mostly by relatives, workplaces or universities, and often through social media. The Belgian authorities said the process was slow because of the mutilation of many bodies, particularly at the subway, where the bombs did more damage because of the enclosed space.We need to have 100 percent certainty in the identification of the victim before we can identify someone, said Michael Jonniaux, a spokesman for the Belgian federal police, who are overseeing the gruesome task.Though some have questioned whether Belgiums fragmented and linguistically divided bureaucracy could be slowing things down, Mr. Jonniaux flatly rejected that idea. He cautioned against comparisons with other attacks, including the Nov. 13 massacre in Paris, saying identifying people killed in explosions is much more difficult than those killed by gunfire.After a plane crash, he noted, investigators begin with a manifest of who was onboard, but no such list exists for a subway. The fact that the victims, including at least 300 wounded, are believed to be from at least 40 countries, only complicates the notification process.I dont think we are taking longer than other countries like Spain or Britain, said Mr. Jonniaux, whose Victim Identification Team helped investigators after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed in eastern Ukraine in July 2014 and after the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. The state of the victim is much different.The Belgian governments crisis center issued a statement responding to the families frustration, saying: It is imperative not to make a mistake.Mr. Jonniaux said his seven-member team had added 23 people after Tuesdays attacks.As rescue crews began sorting through the rubble after the morning blasts, victims from the airport were sent to a university hospital in the town of Leuven, while those from the Maelbeek subway station went to the military hospital in Neder-over-Heembeek in northern Brussels, which is also serving as a coordination point for relatives. The injured have since been scattered to 48 hospitals across Belgium, and some were sent to France.At the military hospital, a blocky concrete structure, the relatives of the missing must pass through two security checkpoints guarded by armed soldiers and police officers, and show identification. They are greeted by members of the Red Cross and officials from Mr. Jonniauxs identification team, as well as a psychologist to help shepherd them through the process.Relatives can help identify possessions found at the scene, such as eyeglasses, clothing or computers, though to call the body a match, the team requires DNA evidence, dental records, X-rays or digital fingerprints.We pick up everything that can be used as evidence, Mr. Jonniaux said. Anything that can provide a clue, such as a piece of jewelry or a valise.As of Friday afternoon, the list of confirmed dead included: Olivier Delespesse, 45, a Belgian civil servant killed in the subway. David Dixon, 51, a British software developer. Lopold Hecht, a 20-year-old law student and actor from Belgium. Loubna Lafquiri, a gym teacher at a Muslim school in Brussels. Bart Migom, 21, a Belgian student. Alexander Pinczowski, 26, and Sascha Pinczowski, 29, who were brother and sister of Dutch origin and on their way to New York. Adelma Tapia Ruiz, 36, a Peruvian mother of 3-year-old twin girls. Jennifer Scintu-Waetzmann, 30, a German newlywed leaving for her honeymoon in New York. Elita Borbor Weah, 41, a single mother who was a refugee from Liberia living in the Netherlands.On Facebook, the search continued as well. Have you seen this young woman? begins one anguished post, accompanied by a photograph of a smiling woman with long brown hair. Her name in Aline Bastin, Belgian nationality, 29 years old. She was very probably in the subway during the explosion. We are desperately looking for her if you have seen her, please contact us!Chandrasekar Ganesan enlisted a Facebook group for Indian expatriates in Belgium for help in finding his brother Raghavendran Ganesan, a software engineer, who rode the Brussels Metro daily to work. I have talked with people from the Indian Embassy, Brussels, and they told me that they are searching for him. They have also looked into many hospitals it seems ... but still there is no word of him as of yet, Mr. Ganesan wrote. Still there is no information.",6
"Credit...Mark PerniceNov. 3, 2016Dozens of sperm banks across the country are recruiting men to help them build up a supply of frozen sperm to meet the growing demand from women looking to start families.Its a big business. A vial of sperm can cost almost $1,000. But for the men, its probably not the quickest route to beer money. And its not simple. Your odds of getting into Harvard or Stanford are higher than your chances of being accepted as a donor at the major sperm banks.California Cryobank and Fairfax Cryobank, the nations two largest sperm banks, take only about one in 100 applicants. Some deal-breakers: a low sperm count, an iffy health history or sperm that dont do well after freezing. If youre short, forget about it.Most sperm banks arent interested in white donors who arent at least 5 feet 9 inches, because most of their clients dont want them. But the bar is lower for members of ethnic groups that tend to be shorter. And given a perpetual lack of African-American donors, height may not be a disqualifier for black donors. Your love life may take a hit.Keeping your sperm count high enough to make the grade means at least two more often three days of abstinence before each donation. And donors are expected to produce a good specimen once or twice a week, leaving not much time for sex between visits. You wont get a quick paycheck.To prevent the spread of HIV and other diseases, the Food and Drug Administration requires that sperm be frozen for six months, and the donor retested, before it can be used.Sperm banks wont pay until your sperm is ready for sale and you are added to the donor catalog. Youll fill out lots of forms and have lots of tests.There will be many questions about your sexual history, drug use, goals, hobbies, talents and recent travel (to rule out Zika exposure). You will undergo physical, psychological, personality and S.T.D. screening, and give blood, urine and (uncompensated) semen samples.Your every physical feature will be scrutinized, and you may be asked to provide a childhood or adult photo and write an essay, or tape an interview, to be shared with potential buyers.There will also be genetic testing, the extent of which depends on your ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jews are tested for by far the greatest number of genetic diseases. Some sperm banks tout all that free testing as a benefit of becoming a donor.Your pay will depend on how often you donate, and how many vials usually two or three the sperm bank can fill from each donation.Compensation varies, but an active donor who produces specimens twice a week might make $1,500 a month. (For buyers, the price per vial ranges from $500 to $900 if the sperm is to be used for intrauterine or intracervical insemination.If the bank also sells sperm for in vitro fertilization, which requires less processing but has a lower success rate, the price is lower.).You cant wait for the mood to strike you.Being a sperm donor is not a weekend hobby. Donations generally have to be made during business hours at some sperm banks, shortened business hours Monday through Friday. And of course, you have to live near one of the sperm banks offices.Between them, California Cryobank and Fairfax Cryobank have offices in 10 cities, and there are dozens of smaller operations across the country. You have to make a long-term commitment.Because they invest about $2,000 per donor for recruitment and screening, most sperm banks ask for an agreement that you will donate at least once a week for six months to a year a lot of sessions in a small room with a modest supply of pornography. And you can expect periodic health checkups.Youll never know how many children you have fathered.Theres no legal limit, but the biggest sperm banks have policies that one donors sperm will not be allowed to sire children for more than 25 to 30 family units. But some families may have two or three children with the donors sperm, and others may not report a birth, so they would not be counted in that limit. Some men who have joined the Donor Sibling Registry, a site where donors and their children can connect, have been surprised and disturbed to discover that they have dozens of offspring. You may or may not get to meet them.Sperm donors usually have the option to remain anonymous, or to agree that the children can get in touch when they turn 18. There has been a growing recognition of childrens rights to know their genetic parents and recently a trend toward donor willingness to be identified. Even anonymous donors are increasingly being identified by curious children as genetic testing becomes cheaper and more common.",2
"Credit...Amir Cohen/ReutersNov. 13, 2018An eruption of hostilities between Israel and Hamas militants, once again, raised the specter of war in the Gaza Strip in recent days.But by sundown Tuesday, Israel and Hamas the Islamic militant group that controls the impoverished enclave signaled a willingness to end clashes in a deal brokered by international parties. The tensions threatened a tenuous dtente in the slow-burning conflict.While the deal allowed a fragile calm to take hold, the violence was the worst since the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas. And it raised questions about how the two sides got here again and what the implications might be for any potential peace process. Here are some key things to know about the conflict. Why did tensions rise?The latest clashes started after a botched intelligence mission by undercover Israeli commandos over the weekend. The covert operation ended in a firefight that left one Israeli soldier and seven Palestinian fighters dead. Hamas and other armed groups responded with force, launching rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel. One Palestinian civilian was killed inside Israel on Monday and Israeli airstrikes killed at least seven Palestinians in Gaza on Monday and Tuesday.Since March, tensions have run high as large-scale Palestinian protests against Israel at the Gaza border fence erupted into violence. At least 170 Palestinians were killed over the months of clashes, mostly as Israel fired live bullets at protesters who approached, or tried to damage or breach, the border fence. Palestinian demonstrators torched Israeli farmland. But in the months since the border clashes, multilateral talks aimed at resolving the standoff have eased the tension. Days before the latest clashes, Israel had shifted its tactics, alleviating a blockade of Gaza and allowing aid, food and cash to flow into Gaza. A narrow strip of land five miles wide and 25 miles long, Gaza is home to nearly two million Palestinians who live largely cut off from the world behind a border fence strictly controlled by Israel and Egypt.How did Gaza get here?Gazas borders were drawn up as part of the 1949 armistice agreement between Egypt and Israel that halted a conflict over the creation of the state of Israel a year earlier. Egypt occupied Gaza until the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, when Israel seized the territory, sent in troops and established Jewish settlements. In 1994, after the Oslo Accords which aimed to end the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, the first Gaza-Israel fence went up. In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza, removing its soldiers and vacating settlements. But it maintained tight control over the border. The border fence, which critics say virtually turns Gaza into an open-air prison, has been a source of friction ever since. So have the blockades imposed by both Israel and Egypt since Hamas seized power 11 years ago. Conditions for Palestinians living in the territory have steadily worsened. The area is home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled there after Israels founding. The 2014 Israel-Hamas war ravaged the territory further and left more than 2,000 Palestinians dead. The humanitarian situation was already disastrous, said Christopher Gunness, the chief spokesman for Unrwa, the United Nations agency responsible for the welfare of Palestinian refugees. Theres more than a decade of an illegal blockade. Its collective punishment.For those living in Gaza, the threat of war and isolation are near constants. War between Hamas and Israel has broken out three times since 2008.How could this impact a potential bid for long-term peace?ImageCredit...Mohammed Saber/EPA, via ShutterstockIn the current climate, a solution that leads to broader Israeli-Palestinian peace appears to be out of reach, experts say. Long-term, internationally supported peace negotiations have been stalled since 2014, said David Makovsky, an expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Youve had kind of an utter impasse, Mr. Makovsky said, describing any attempt at peace as a multilayer chess game that would have to involve the Palestinian Authority and its leader, Mahmoud Abbas. A Trump administration plan for peace, which the White House has pledged repeatedly to release, is believed to rely heavily on Mr. Abbas. He is the political leader of the second Palestinian territory, the West Bank, and the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the main representative of the Palestinian people. He is seen as an important participant in peace in the region. After Hamas won election in 2006 and seized control of Gaza a year later, the two Palestinian territories have operated under different administrations. Any attempts at reconciliation so far, seen by many as a prerequisite for any comprehensive peace, have failed.Somehow, Gaza would have to become part of that Palestinian Authority orbit. But right now, they are completely two different systems, Mr. Makovsky said. Meanwhile, monthslong multilateral talks aimed at calming the more immediate issue have had some short-term success. There were good efforts here to have what I would call calm for calm, where the Palestinians would get more electricity and more fuel and in return, the protests that are going on at the Gaza fence would abate, at least somewhat, Mr. Makovsky said. With what happened in the past 48 hours, it all seems to be up in smoke now.Could this lead to another war?Leaders on both sides have indicated they are ready for the latest flare-up to end. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said he was doing everything he could in order to avoid an unnecessary war.Ismail Haniya, the political leader of Hamas, said Tuesday that if Israel stops its aggression, it would be possible to return to the cease-fire understanding of before. The parties involved in brokering the latest truce were Egypt, the United Nations Middle East peace envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, and diplomats from Qatar and Norway. Some say the willingness of Israel to allow aid into Gaza recently could indicate a new effort to resolve the conflict peacefully.The Israeli security establishment is kind of an interesting player here because they have fought three wars with Hamas and Gaza, Mr. Makovsky said. Their view is they are not looking for a fourth one.Isabel Kershner contributed reporting.",6
"Labor Unions Decided June 27, 2018 5-4 Sotomayor Ginsburg Kagan Breyer Kennedy Roberts Gorsuch Alito Thomas The court ruled that government workers who choose not to join unions may not be required to help pay for collective bargaining. Pregnancy Centers and Abortion Decided June 26, 2018 5-4 Sotomayor Ginsburg Kagan Breyer Kennedy Roberts Gorsuch Alito Thomas The court blocked a California law that required crisis pregnancy centers to provide information about abortion. Digital Privacy Decided June 22, 2018 5-4 Sotomayor Ginsburg Kagan Breyer Kennedy Roberts Gorsuch Alito Thomas The court ruled that the government generally needs a warrant to collect troves of location data about the customers of cellphone companies. Internet Sales Taxes Decided June 21, 2018 5-4 Sotomayor Ginsburg Kagan Breyer Kennedy Roberts Gorsuch Alito Thomas Partisan Gerrymandering June 18, 2018 Sotomayor Ginsburg Kagan Breyer Kennedy Roberts Gorsuch Alito Thomas Voting Rights Decided June 11, 2018 5-4 Sotomayor Ginsburg Kagan Breyer Kennedy Roberts Gorsuch Alito Thomas The court upheld Ohios aggressive program to purge its voting rolls. Gay Rights and Religion Decided June 4, 2018 7-2 Sotomayor Ginsburg Kagan Breyer Kennedy Roberts Gorsuch Alito Thomas The court ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to create a wedding cake for a gay couple. The court said the baker had been mistreated by a state civil rights commission based on remarks of one of its members indicating hostility to religion. Workplace Arbitration Decided May 21, 2018 5-4 Sotomayor Ginsburg Kagan Breyer Kennedy Roberts Gorsuch Alito Thomas The court ruled that employers can require workers to pursue claims for wage theft and other workplace issues in individual arbitrations. Sports Betting Decided May 14, 2018 7-2 Sotomayor Ginsburg Kagan Breyer Kennedy Roberts Gorsuch Alito Thomas The court struck down a federal law that effectively banned commercial sports betting in most states, clearing the way for legal wagering. Human Rights Violations Jesner v. Arab Bank Decided April 24, 2018 5-4 Sotomayor Ginsburg Kagan Breyer Kennedy Roberts Gorsuch Alito Thomas The court ruled that foreign corporations may not be sued in American courts for complicity in human rights abuses abroad. Immigration Decided Feb. 27, 2018 5-4 Sotomayor Ginsburg Kagan Breyer Kennedy Roberts Gorsuch Alito Thomas The court struck down a law that allowed the government to deport some immigrants who commit serious crimes, saying it was unconstitutionally vague. Justice Gorsuch joined the courts four more liberal members to form a bare majority, which was a first. More on NYTimes.com",3
"TrilobitesResearchers wanted to improve the fruit yields for small farmers in Indonesia, and hope their findings will encourage protections for bats. Credit...Sheherazade/Wildlife Conservation SocietyDec. 4, 2019Known as the worlds smelliest fruit, durians are also essential to the farming economy of Indonesia. Although repulsive to many Western noses some compare the smell to rotting trash durians command the highest unit price of any fruit in Indonesia, with an export value of more than $250 million in 2013.Hoping to help improve the yield of small-scale farmers, three researchers decided to figure out what kind of creatures pollinate the durians in Sulawesi, a large island at the center of Indonesia. In a three-step process, the team first tested the plants to figure out what time of day pollination usually occurred. Evenings, they discovered, were prime time, as each flower opens for a single night and produces pollen only that one night.Then the researchers put bags on some of the flowers. Some bags had holes big enough for bugs but not larger creatures, and some had no holes at all. The bagged plants did not yield fruit, suggesting that something bigger than a bug was responsible for pollination.Finally, the researchers set up nighttime cameras to figure out which species of birds or bats was most responsible for the pollination. They reported Nov. 19 in the journal Biotropica that they caught three species of bats in the act, including a cave nectar bat and two types of flying foxes.The last two were a surprise, said Holly Ober, an associate professor and extension specialist at the University of Florida in Quincy. Flying foxes are known to eat fruit smaller than durians and are often killed by farmers trying to protect their mango crop.ImageCredit...Diego Azubel/EPA, via ShutterstockShowing that the flying foxes are crucial for durian pollination suggests farmers would be better off finding another way to protect their mangoes, Dr. Ober said. Some people also kill bats to sell as bush meat. Now that we know that these bats are important to helping farmers produce more durians, we can start getting the message out that folks should not be causing harm to these bats, she said.One of the co-authors, a local scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, who goes by the single name Sheherazade, conducted the actual experiments. Dr. Ober, who visited at the beginning of the study to help guide the research, said she hoped Sheherazade would use the findings to have a very strong voice to help persuade policymakers to add new protections for bats.Joseph Walston, senior vice president for global programs at the Wildlife Conservation Society and Sheherazades boss, said that bats were often overlooked as key contributors to an ecosystem.There is probably not a group of species in the world where the gap between how important they are and how much theyre cared for is so great, said Mr. Walston, who describes himself as a bat guy.Bats come out at night and inspire horror stories, but they are so utterly fundamental to our ecosystems, to our economies and to our health, Mr. Walston said. And yet, they are rarely offered support and protection, he said. This study really is trying to provide empirical evidence for why we as a community should do more for bats, he said.",7
"TrilobitesJune 9, 2017European eels are born and die in the North Atlantic Ocean, but spend most of their lives in rivers or estuaries across Europe and North Africa.In between, they traverse thousands of miles of ocean, where its often unclear which way is up or down. Scientists have therefore long suspected that these critically endangered fish use magnetism to help guide them.A study published Friday in Science Advances shows, for the first time, that European eels might link magnetic cues with the tides to navigate. Studying juveniles during the crucial stage when they move toward land from open ocean, the authors found that eels faced different directions based on whether the tide was flowing in (flood tide) or out (ebb tide).Changing orientation might help eels take advantage of tides to travel from the ocean to the coast, and into fresh water, more efficiently, said Alessandro Cresci, a graduate student at the University of Miami and lead author of the study.Previous studies have shown that eels can detect magnetic fields, but how they use this sixth sense has remained a matter of speculation until now, said Michael J. Miller, an eel biologist at Nihon University in Japan who was not involved in the study.When transitioning from sea to coast, European eels are in a stage of their lives where they are about the size of a finger and transparent along their bodies, thus the name glass eels.Mr. Crescis group studied glass eels from the coast of Norway, observing the animals in the field by putting 54 slippery, see-through eels, one by one, in a drifting chamber equipped with cameras and compasses. When the tide ebbed, these animals generally faced south, but when it flowed in, they showed no consistent orientation.The researchers then studied 49 of the same eels in laboratory tanks. They subjected some of the eels to reoriented magnetic fields, rotating magnetic north to the east, south or west.During the time of day corresponding to ebb tide, eels still tended to face whichever direction meant south to them under their assigned magnetic field, even though there was no change in the water around them suggesting they paired a biological compass with an internal tide clock to maintain a consistent behavior. During flood tide, they tended to face magnetic north.Changing direction between tides fits with a strategy commonly observed in marine animals: Many try to catch free rides upstream as the tide flows in, but then dart down to the sea bottom so as not to get swept back to sea as the tide ebbs.Its unknown whether facing south during ebb tide is a universal behavior, or whether glass eels in different regions orient differently, said Caroline Durif, a senior researcher at the Institute of Marine Research in Norway and an author of the study.If the latter is the case, she added, that might have implications for restoration programs that relocate glass eels from heavily to sparsely populated areas. Its possible relocating them could disturb their orientation system, Dr. Durif said.This study deepens scientific understanding of glass eels, an important and historically overfished life stage, said David Righton, an eel expert at the Center for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science in Britain who was not involved in the study.It remains unclear, however, how eels use magnetism in other life stages. They behave almost like several different species in their lifetime, Dr. Righton said. The mystery of eel migration is not going to be solved with one study.",7
"From the meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, to the release of a report highly critical of the former director of the F.B.I., a lot happened this week. Here are five of the biggest stories in American politics and some additional links if you want to read further.June 15, 2018President Trump and Kim Jong-un met face-to-face for nuclear talks, but its unclear what concrete steps were taken to denuclearize the North. ImageCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesImageCredit...Justin Tang/Canadian Press, via Associated PressThe Justice Departments inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, harshly criticized James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, as insubordinate in the investigation into Hillary Clintons use of a private email server in handling classified information. But while Mr. Horowitz faulted the culture in the law enforcement agency during the 2016 presidential election including new texts in which the F.B.I. agent overseeing the inquiry into the Trump campaign pledged to stop the candidate from becoming president he did not challenge the outcome of the Clinton investigation. The report offered a condemnation bound to shape Mr. Comeys legacy, vindication for Democrats angry with Mr. Comeys decision and for Mr. Trump, apparent proof of the F.B.I.s bias. ImageCredit...Ross Mantle for The New York TimesImageCredit...Tom Brenner/The New York TimesImageCredit...Tom Brenner/The New York Times",3
"DealBook|AstraZeneca Exploring Strategic Options With Acerta Pharmahttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/business/dealbook/astrazeneca-acerta-pharma-talks.htmlDec. 14, 2015Credit...Phil Noble/ReutersLONDON The British drug maker AstraZeneca said on Monday that it was exploring potential strategic options with Acerta Pharma, a privately held cancer-drug developer with operations in the Netherlands and California.An acquisition would be the latest such deal by AstraZeneca as it seeks to bolster its pipeline of cancer treatments.The company fought off a $119 billion takeover bid by Pfizer last year, which would have created the worlds largest pharmaceutical company.There can be no certainty that any transaction will ultimately be entered into, or as to the terms of any transaction, AstraZeneca said on Monday in a news release. The company said it would make a further announcement if and when appropriate.The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that AstraZeneca was in advanced talks to buy Acerta Pharma for more than $5 billion.Since fighting off the Pfizer bid, AstraZeneca, which has an attractive portfolio of cancer drugs, has trumpeted the strength of its own drugs in development and has said it would be willing to pursue small to midsize deals to bolster its pipeline.In November, it agreed to acquire ZS Pharma, a California-based biopharmaceutical company, for $2.7 billion in cash. AstraZeneca also cut a deal in November with Sanofi to exchange their proprietary chemical compounds.",0
"Credit...Jason Henry for The New York TimesJune 20, 2018For the past five years, the hottest thing in artificial intelligence has been a branch known as deep learning. The grandly named statistical technique, put simply, gives computers a way to learn by processing vast amounts of data. Thanks to deep learning, computers can easily identify faces and recognize spoken words, making other forms of humanlike intelligence suddenly seem within reach.Companies like Google, Facebook and Microsoft have poured money into deep learning. Start-ups pursuing everything from cancer cures to back-office automation trumpet their deep learning expertise. And the technologys perception and pattern-matching abilities are being applied to improve progress in fields such as drug discovery and self-driving cars.But now some scientists are asking whether deep learning is really so deep after all.In recent conversations, online comments and a few lengthy essays, a growing number of A.I. experts are warning that the infatuation with deep learning may well breed myopia and overinvestment now and disillusionment later.There is no real intelligence there, said Michael I. Jordan, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of an essay published in April intended to temper the lofty expectations surrounding A.I. And I think that trusting these brute force algorithms too much is a faith misplaced.The danger, some experts warn, is that A.I. will run into a technical wall and eventually face a popular backlash a familiar pattern in artificial intelligence since that term was coined in the 1950s. With deep learning in particular, researchers said, the concerns are being fueled by the technologys limits.Deep learning algorithms train on a batch of related data like pictures of human faces and are then fed more and more data, which steadily improve the softwares pattern-matching accuracy. Although the technique has spawned successes, the results are largely confined to fields where those huge data sets are available and the tasks are well defined, like labeling images or translating speech to text.ImageCredit...Jason Henry for The New York TimesThe technology struggles in the more open terrains of intelligence that is, meaning, reasoning and common-sense knowledge. While deep learning software can instantly identify millions of words, it has no understanding of a concept like justice, democracy or meddling.Researchers have shown that deep learning can be easily fooled. Scramble a relative handful of pixels, and the technology can mistake a turtle for a rifle or a parking sign for a refrigerator.In a widely read article published early this year on arXiv.org, a site for scientific papers, Gary Marcus, a professor at New York University, posed the question: Is deep learning approaching a wall? He wrote, As is so often the case, the patterns extracted by deep learning are more superficial than they initially appear.If the reach of deep learning is limited, too much money and too many fine minds may now be devoted to it, said Oren Etzioni, chief executive of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence. We run the risk of missing other important concepts and paths to advancing A.I., he said.Amid the debate, some research groups, start-ups and computer scientists are showing more interest in approaches to artificial intelligence that address some of deep learnings weaknesses. For one, the Allen Institute, a nonprofit lab in Seattle, announced in February that it would invest $125 million over the next three years largely in research to teach machines to generate common-sense knowledge an initiative called Project Alexandria.While that program and other efforts vary, their common goal is a broader and more flexible intelligence than deep learning. And they are typically far less data hungry. They often use deep learning as one ingredient among others in their recipe.Were not anti-deep learning, said Yejin Choi, a researcher at the Allen Institute and a computer scientist at the University of Washington. Were trying to raise the sights of A.I., not criticize tools.Those other, non-deep learning tools are often old techniques employed in new ways. At Kyndi, a Silicon Valley start-up, computer scientists are writing code in Prolog, a programming language that dates to the 1970s. It was designed for the reasoning and knowledge representation side of A.I., which processes facts and concepts, and tries to complete tasks that are not always well defined. Deep learning comes from the statistical side of A.I. known as machine learning.Benjamin Grosof, an A.I. researcher for three decades, joined Kyndi in May as its chief scientist. Mr. Grosof said he was impressed by Kyndis work on new ways of bringing together the two branches of A.I.Kyndi has been able to use very little training data to automate the generation of facts, concepts and inferences, said Ryan Welsh, the start-ups chief executive.The Kyndi system, he said, can train on 10 to 30 scientific documents of 10 to 50 pages each. Once trained, Kyndis software can identify concepts and not just words.In work for three large government agencies that it declined to disclose, Kyndi has been asking its system to answer this typical question: Has a technology been demonstrated in a laboratory setting? The Kyndi program, Mr. Welsh said, can accurately infer the answer, even when that phrase does not appear in a document.ImageCredit...Jason Henry for The New York TimesAnd Kyndis reading and scoring software is fast. A human analyst, Mr. Welsh said, might take two hours on average to read a lengthy scientific document, and perhaps read 1,000 in a year. Kyndis technology can read those 1,000 documents in seven hours, he said.Kyndi serves as a tireless digital assistant, identifying the documents and passages that require human judgment. The goal is increasing the productivity of the human analysts, Mr. Welsh said.Kyndi and others are betting that the time is finally right to take on some of the more daunting challenges in A.I. That echoes the trajectory of deep learning, which made little progress for decades before the recent explosion of digital data and ever-faster computers fueled leaps in performance of its so-called neural networks. Those networks are digital layers loosely analogous to biological neurons. The deep refers to many layers.There are other hopeful signs in the beyond-deep-learning camp. Vicarious, a start-up developing robots that can quickly switch from task to task like humans, published promising research in the journal Science last fall. Its A.I. technology learned from relatively few examples to mimic human visual intelligence, using data 300 times more efficiently than deep learning models. The system also broke through the defenses of captchas, the squiggly letter identification tests on websites meant to foil software intruders.Vicarious, whose investors include Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, is a prominent example of the entrepreneurial pursuit of new paths in A.I.Deep learning has given us a glimpse of the promised land, but we need to invest in other approaches, said Dileep George, an A.I. expert and co-founder of Vicarious, which is based in Union City, Calif.The Pentagons research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has proposed a program to seed university research and provide a noncommercial network for sharing ideas on technology to emulate human common-sense reasoning, where deep learning falls short. If approved, the program, Machine Common Sense, would start this fall and most likely run for five years, with total funding of about $60 million.This is a high-risk project, and the problem is bigger than any one company or research group, said David Gunning, who managed Darpas personal assistant program, which ended a decade ago and produced the technology that became Apples Siri.",5
"Credit...Jason Henry for The New York TimesJune 28, 2018SAN FRANCISCO California has passed a digital privacy law granting consumers more control over and insight into the spread of their personal information online, creating one of the most significant regulations overseeing the data-collection practices of technology companies in the United States.The bill raced through the State Legislature without opposition on Thursday and was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, just hours before a deadline to pull from the November ballot an initiative seeking even tougher oversight over technology companies.The new law grants consumers the right to know what information companies are collecting about them, why they are collecting that data and with whom they are sharing it. It gives consumers the right to tell companies to delete their information as well as to not sell or share their data. Businesses must still give consumers who opt out the same quality of service.It also makes it more difficult to share or sell data on children younger than 16.The legislation, which goes into effect in January 2020, makes it easier for consumers to sue companies after a data breach. And it gives the states attorney general more authority to fine companies that dont adhere to the new regulations.The California law is not as expansive as Europes General Data Protection Regulation, or G.D.P.R., a new set of laws restricting how tech companies collect, store and use personal data.But Aleecia M. McDonald, an incoming assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University who specializes in privacy policy, said Californias privacy measure was one of the most comprehensive in the United States, since most existing laws and there are not many do little to limit what companies can do with consumer information.Its a step forward, and it should be appreciated as a step forward when its been a long time since there were any steps, Ms. McDonald said.The legislation is modeled closely on the ballot initiative, which a real estate developer, Alastair Mactaggart, spent $3 million and secured more than 600,000 signatures to get certified. With the ballot proposal hanging over legislators heads, the push for an alternative gained grudging support.If the bill had failed to pass before the deadline, the proponents of the ballot initiative would have taken their case straight to voters in November, they said.The states technology and business lobbies were opposed to the measure that was passed on Thursday, but they didnt try to derail it because they thought the ballot initiative was worse.Even legislators who voted for the bill complained that they had little choice because a ballot measure would provide less flexibility to make changes in the future. And some privacy advocates said the bill did not go as far as the ballot initiative in allowing individuals to sue for not complying.ImageCredit...Jason Henry for The New York TimesMr. Mactaggart said he wanted a sensible privacy law, whether through a ballot measure or the legislative process. He said that the Legislature was the right place to debate such a policy, but that it had been hard to get legislators to address privacy.If we didnt have the initiative process in California, we wouldnt be here today, Mr. Mactaggart said in an interview.One of the authors of the new law, Assemblyman Ed Chau, a Democrat, tried last year to pass a bill that would have required internet service providers to seek permission from customers before accessing, selling or sharing their browser activity. The bill never made it out of committee an example of the influence of telecommunications and technology companies in California.But with the ballot measure looming and a growing awareness of how technology companies are gobbling up user information highlighted by revelations that the voter profiling firm Cambridge Analytica gained access to the personal data of millions of Facebook users the legislation went from draft to law in one week.This is a huge step forward to people all across the country dealing with this very challenging issue, State Senator Bob Hertzberg, a Democrat and a co-author of the bill, said at a news conference after it was signed.The ballot initiative, which would have made it easier for private individuals to sue companies for not adhering to its privacy requirements, had drawn vocal opposition from industry groups that worried about the potential liability risk.The measure included a provision that would have required a 70 percent majority in both houses of the Legislature to approve any changes after it became law.Google, Facebook, Verizon, Comcast and AT&T each contributed $200,000 to a committee opposing the proposed ballot measure, and lobbyists had estimated that businesses would spend $100 million to campaign against it before the November election.Robert Callahan, a vice president of state government affairs for the Internet Association, an industry group that includes Google, Facebook and Amazon, said in a statement that the new law contained many problematic provisions. But the group did not try to obstruct it, he added, because it prevents the even worse ballot initiative from becoming law in California.Mr. Callahan said the group would work to correct the inevitable, negative policy and compliance ramifications this last-minute deal will create.Legislators said they expected to pass cleanup bills to make any fixes to the law in the 18 months before it takes effect. Some privacy advocates are worried that lobbyists for business and technology groups will use that time to water it down.Mr. Mactaggart said those concerns are overblown.Having gotten this right, itll be very hard to take it away, he said, noting that the ballot measure had been polling at around 80 percent approval. They cant rewrite the law.",5
"A team of researchers say that rather than occupying their own branch in the history of life on Earth, horseshoe crabs are in the same group as spiders and scorpions.Credit...Zack Wittman for The New York TimesFeb. 18, 2022Horseshoe crabs are little armored vehicles with bright blue blood. For hundreds of millions of years, theyve been trundling along the ocean floor. In all that time, other mighty creatures have come and gone: dinosaurs, mammoths, terror birds, Neanderthals. The humble horseshoe crab has lived on, looking not that different these days from their forebears in the Mesozoic Era.I find their fossil record amazing, fantastic and brilliant, said Russell Bicknell, a paleontologist at the University of New England in Australia who studies the crabs evolution and development. I just love that with, realistically, such a tiny tool kit, theyve managed to do so much.But while the horseshoe crab may seem eternal, it has been pulled into the middle of a scientific controversy.In a paper published last week in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, Prashant Sharma, a professor of biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his colleagues are challenging the idea that horseshoe crabs are on their own very particular and individual branch on the tree of life. Rather, they claim that the animals belong right in the middle of the family tree of the arachnids, the group that includes spiders and scorpions. If their analysis is correct, it throws the roots of the arachnids tree into question, and suggests arachnids have a stranger, more complicated evolutionary history than scientists realized.The new paper is the latest salvo in a debate about the emergence of arachnids. Scientists have traditionally relied on detailed analysis of living and extinct creatures bodies to understand evolution. They examined the tips of arachnids mandibles, the placement of legs and other features, tracing traits through evolutionary time. The tree they sketched showed a common ancestor of the whole group that crawled ashore more than 600 million years ago. Since that time, almost all arachnids have lived on land (although they might ascend your door frame to catch flying bugs in a web).But its difficult to know what really happened 600 million years ago on the shores of a younger Earth. Arachnids ancestors broke into a bevy of new species very suddenly, and discerning which groups diverged first, making their own branches of the tree of life, has always been difficult, said Antonis Rokas, a professor of evolutionary biology at Vanderbilt University.In recent years, with the rise of genome sequencing, another way to build family trees has become possible. If comparing anatomies was like poring over passenger manifests at Ellis Island to create a genealogy, then this new technique is like evolutionary 23andMe, sorting organisms according to the similarities in their genetics. It can provide a way to verify what earlier methods have found and even make new discoveries.But, and heres where the debate comes in, the new trees do not always agree with the old ones. Dr. Sharma and his colleagues failed to find consistent evidence of that shared common ancestor the root of the traditional arachnid tree when they built a genome-based tree for a 2014 paper.ImageCredit...Science Photo Library/Getty ImagesInstead, the tree suggested it was more likely that arachnids diverged from one another even further back in the past. And they were not a single, closely related group, but separate clusters of species that had been grouped together by scientists. If that were the case, then the horseshoe crabs, which were thought to be mere neighbors of the arachnids, were actually members of the clan.Dr. Sharma and his colleagues 2014 study was small, but in the new study, they drew on genetic data from more than 500 species as well as anatomical data. The results were the same: Arachnids did not cluster together tightly. Horseshoe crabs, as a result, nestled among them.In the end we just had to speak that heresy out loud, Dr. Sharma said.If arachnids common ancestor is actually much deeper in evolutionary history, then their forebears may have crawled on to land more than once. There may have been multiple waves of that startling transition, with gills transforming into lungs and limbs taking on new roles.We used to think that particular morphological characteristics or ecological transitions, from land to sea or from sea to land, were very rare, said Dr. Rokas, who is not an author of the paper. But we really dont know for any given lineage how difficult these transitions are.Maybe radical change, in other words, is less difficult than we suppose. In this alternate telling of the early days of the arachnids, horseshoe crabs remained comfortably in the water while their relations took their chances on shore, at least two and perhaps three or four separate times over the eons. And if their bodies look similar, Dr. Sharma and his co-authors suggest, perhaps this is because evolution gave them similar solutions to the problem of getting on dry land, ruthlessly honing them into forms that worked.The teams 2014 paper was met critically by researchers who disagree with their interpretation. A group of paleontologists and molecular biologists followed up with a paper proposing ways that genetic information could build a tree that brought arachnids back together.The latest results, still based primarily on genetic data, are difficult to reconcile with what is written in the fossil record, some paleontologists say. They imply a much more convoluted evolutionary path for the arachnids than fossils suggest, Dr. Bicknell said.Others describe this paper as a way station in sciences slow progression toward the truth.Personally, I think it is an interesting finding, said Jeffrey Shultz, a professor of entomology at the University of Maryland who studies arachnid evolution, but experience shows that results can change when the same data are analyzed by different workers, when new data are added to the mix or when new insights into genomic evolution come to light.The new results will certainly lead to debate, said Hannah Wood, a curator and research entomologist at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.But this is how this stuff works, she said, adding that another group can challenge their hypothesis. I think eventually well have an answer.Where does this leave the horseshoe crab? For now, Dr. Bicknell said, this latest idea of their history is another quirk among many.Theyre already weird enough as it is just chuck more fuel on that fire, he said. Its just a case of really, in the family tree, when their weird branch popped off the main stem. When did it happen? And why did it happen? It continues that discussion.",7
"Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesFeb. 19, 2014KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia Lauryn Williams is not certain where her Olympic track medals are she thinks the silver from the 2004 Olympics may be at her mothers house so it was not hard to believe her on Wednesday night when she said that missing history by a measly tenth of a second was not especially disappointing.Williams could have become the first woman to win gold medals in both the Summer and Winter Games. Instead, Williams, the United States track star turned bobsled brakeman, settled for silver as she and the pilot Elana Meyers lost their first-day lead with a few ill-timed bobbles that allowed the Canadians Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse to zip past. Jamie Greubel and Aja Evans, in another United States sled, finished third and claimed the bronze.Afterward, Williams smiled. She laughed. She held her hands up high on the medal podium and smelled the flowers that were presented to her. She came to bobsled only last summer, after another track athlete, the hurdler Lolo Jones, told her about her own transition to the winter sport in a casual chat in the Rome airport.The part that attracted Williams most? She said you could eat, Williams recalled, laughing. In track, I was always trying to keep my weight down. So run as fast as you can and eat, too? Sounded good to me.History was never on Williamss mind, she said, and even on Wednesday she was not sure exactly what milestone she was chasing.I knew there was history to be made, I guess, she said. But I didnt really know what it was until afterward.She furrowed her brow. I think I did something anyway, right? she asked.She did. Although Williams failed to match Eddie Eagan who won gold in boxing at the 1920 Summer Games and gold in bobsled at the 1932 Winter Games she did join a tiny club of athletes who have won medals in both versions of the Olympics.Williams, who won gold as part of the 4x100-meter relay team at the 2012 London Games, is one of only five athletes to reach the podium in both the Summer and Winter Games.Shes like a Jesse Owens, Jones said. This was her destiny.Jones, who received plenty of attention in the buildup to the Games, praised her teammates afterward. She and the pilot Jazmine Fenlator were in the USA-3 sled and never recovered after falling a full second off the lead in their first run. They finished 11th.They watched, then, along with the rest of the fans at Sanki Sliding Center as Meyers and Williams were last down the track in the fourth and final heat. The United States top pair had built a strong lead of 0.23 seconds after the two runs on Tuesday, but gave more than half of that advantage back in a bumpy third run.On the final trip, Williams had a strong push start that was the fastest in the field among fourth runs, but Meyers struggled to find a consistent line with her driving. An early bump of the wall all but erased the Americans margin, and by the time they made the final turns they were in second place for the first time.They finished with a total time of 3 minutes 50.71 seconds one-tenth of a second short of Canadas winning mark.It slipped away, Meyers said, adding that she knew people will say its a disappointment, but Im not disappointed; I couldnt be prouder. She added: Im glad for silver. I didnt deserve the gold medal today.Standing next to her, Williams nodded and rubbed Meyerss shoulder. After a track career that included an individual silver medal and a relay gold, as well as two disastrous baton exchanges that led to American disqualifications in other relays, Williams happily embraced the camaraderie of the United States bobsled program.Williams, 30, does not plan to continue as a winter athlete; financial planning is her next job, she said, and she hopes to sit for the certification exam in July. For Williams, the Sochi Games were about an experience. History would have been lovely, of course. But a gold medal was hardly necessary.Im going to remember all this, she said, waving her hand toward the icy track that wound its way down the mountain. Its about that. Its not about the thing I get to hold in my hand.",4
"It also will create a $100 million fund to pay them. A judges decision in a higher-profile fight with Epic Games, a leading video game maker, is still pending.Credit...Brooks Kraft/Apple, via ShutterstockPublished Aug. 26, 2021Updated Oct. 8, 2021Apple, in a legal settlement announced on Thursday with a group of app developers, said it would allow developers to urge customers to pay them outside their iPhone apps.The move would allow app makers to avoid paying Apple a commission on their sales and could appease developers and regulators concerned with its control over mobile apps, including strict policies designed to force developers to pay it a cut of their sales.The settlement appears to be a small price to pay for the worlds richest company to avoid another extended legal fight that could have posed major risks to its business by targeting the iPhone App Store. In practice, some major companies, such as Spotify, already push their customers to evade Apples commissions.Apple is still awaiting a decision from a federal judge in a separate lawsuit that was filed by Epic Games, the maker of the popular game Fortnite, and that seeks to force Apple to allow app developers to avoid App Store commissions altogether. Consumers, too, have sued Apple over its app commissions, in a case that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed to go forward in federal court and that is seeking class-action status.Under the new settlement, Apple also said it would create a $100 million fund for payouts to small app developers and agreed to not raise the commission rate for small developers, which it reduced last year to 15 percent from 30 percent, for at least three years.In a briefing with reporters, an Apple executive said it was a major concession for Apple to allow developers to tell customers, via email and other channels, about alternative payment methods. Apple will still bar developers from telling customers inside their iPhone apps about other ways to pay.The Apple executive added that Thursdays settlement showed that small app developers were mostly fine with maintaining the current App Store policies, including the reduced commission. Larger developers, which pay the higher rate, continue to complain, however.Apple restricted reporters from naming the Apple executive or quoting her directly.Some companies already push customers toward other ways to pay. Spotify, for example, has long blocked customers from signing up for subscriptions to its music service in its app and it has at times advertised this. Apples decision on Thursday appears to remove a rule that it was already selectively enforcing.Steve Berman, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in the suit, which sought class-action status, said, We truly are proud that a case brought by two developers, standing in the shoes of tens of thousands of U.S. iOS developers, could help to bring about so much important change.The Coalition for App Fairness, a group of companies that are fighting to change Apples App Store policies, said in a statement that the agreement was a sham settlement designed to appease courts, regulators and lawmakers.This offer does nothing to address the structural, foundational problems facing all developers, large and small, undermining innovation and competition in the app ecosystem, said the group, which includes Epic Games, Spotify and Match Group. Allowing developers to communicate with their customers about lower prices outside of their apps is not a concession and further highlights Apples total control over the app marketplace.In the settlement, Apple also agreed to publish an annual report on the number of apps it rejects or removes from its App Store, as well as data on its search results. The New York Times reported in 2019 that Apple had been favoring its own apps over rivals in search results. Apple agreed in the settlement to ensure that its search results will continue to be based on objective characteristics for at least three more years.The settlement is subject to approval by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the same judge who is presiding over the Epic Games and consumer suits against Apple.Developers who made less than $1 million a year in the App Store from June 2015 through April 2021 are eligible for payouts between $250 to $30,000 each from Apples proposed $100 million fund, according to the plaintiffs lawyers.Separately on Thursday, Apple said it would also allow news organizations to pay the reduced 15 percent commission on subscriptions sold through their iPhone apps, but only if they participated in Apples news service, Apple News. The Times and some other news organizations have pulled out of Apple News in recent years because, they said, it took control of their relationship with readers and potential subscribers.",5
"Politics|Republicans splinter over whether to make a full break from Trump.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/us/politics/republicans-splinter-over-whether-to-make-a-full-break-from-trump.htmlCredit...Jason Andrew for The New York TimesJan. 8, 2021President Trump not only inspired a mob to storm the Capitol on Wednesday he also brought the Republican Party close to a breaking point.Having lost the presidency, the House and now the Senate on Mr. Trumps watch, Republicans are so deeply divided that many are insisting that they must fully break from the president to rebound.Those divisions were in especially sharp relief this week when scores of House Republicans sided with Mr. Trump in voting to block certification of the election in a tally taken after the mob rampaged through the Capitol.Republicans who spent years putting off a reckoning with Mr. Trump over his dangerous behavior are now confronting a disturbing prospect: that Wednesdays episode of violence, incited by Mr. Trumps remarks, could linger for decades as a stain on the party much as the Watergate break-in and the Great Depression shadowed earlier generations of Republicans.His conduct over the last eight weeks has been injurious to the country and incredibly harmful to the party, said Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey who was the first major Republican to endorse Mr. Trump.Mr. Christie said Republicans must separate message from messenger, because I dont think the messenger can recover from yesterday.",3
"PrototypeCredit...Nicole Bengiveno/The New York TimesDec. 26, 2015One afternoon in early 2014, an employee of the Manhattan co-working space Coworkrs got behind the handlebars of a large tricycle and began pedaling it through the Flatiron district. The tricycle was outfitted with a small desk; the employee seemed to be sitting at her desk while cycling around the city.A company called Peddler Pop-Ups had designed the display and rented out the tricycle for use as a rolling advertisement. (The tricycles can also be used as pop-up stores.) Peddler Pop-Ups is one of six companies founded and operated by a 27-year-old entrepreneur named Danielle Baskin. She does not have any employees, and until this month, Ms. Baskins businesses had their headquarters in a 160-square-foot live-work space in the East Village.She credits a variety of relatively new, inexpensive e-commerce platforms and services with enabling her to test new concepts and quickly start new businesses.Ms. Baskin started her first venture, Inkwell Helmets, in her New York University dorm room in 2008, when e-commerce was much more difficult, and expensive, to break into. As an art student interested in optical illusions, she hand-painted a scene of a blue sky and white clouds on her bike helmet and varnished it to a high gloss. When she wore the helmet on bike excursions around the city, people frequently stopped her to ask where she had gotten it.I didnt intend to turn it into a company, she said. I just thought it was a cool object. But then, once I made a few designs, I thought, There are so many possibilities.She began painting helmets with different images: a brain, an apple, a phrenology chart, a honeycomb. Initially, she tried to persuade boutiques and bike shops to carry her helmets. But although her products were unique, she struggled to break in to the bricks-and-mortar retail industry. So she decided to sell the helmets online.Ms. Baskin couldnt afford to invest in a sophisticated website, so she built what she describes as a really scrappy-looking one. Customers could look at photographs of the helmets on the site but couldnt order or pay for them there. Instead, they ordered them via email and paid with PayPal.After her graduation in 2010, she bounced between apartments and live-work spaces. At one point, her studio was a 20-square-foot area in a loft. Later, she rented a 42-square-foot room in a co-working space; she kept such late hours that she often slept there at night.As Ms. Baskins helmet business began to flourish, she came up with ideas for more products and services. Most stemmed from efforts to solve problems she was facing.While looking for a way to display and sell her helmets at Citi Bike stations, she bought an old tricycle from a friend and turned it into a pop-up store. She realized she could rent out the tricycle when she wasnt using it, and Peddler Pop-Ups was born.When she wanted to safely search for locations of Citi Bike stations while riding a Citi Bike, she designed a smartphone case that attaches to the rectangular handlebars of the bike. Now she sells the cases, which can be used on other bikes, through Trillobox. She also runs a sign-making business called Signmaker.nyc that serves clients in Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan. And she sells her own artwork and other products through two other companies.By the time Ms. Baskin was ready to test these other ideas to see if they had business potential, technology was available that allowed her to easily create professional-quality websites that accepted credit card payments.These days, more tech firms are catering to small-business owners like Ms. Baskin. There are a lot of plug-and-play elements and services you can access to put it all together, says Leah Edwards, director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.Now when Ms. Baskin comes up with a new product or business idea, she gauges whether theres a market for it by quickly setting up a website using the content-management system Squarespace, which links to a payment processor called Stripe. She then relies on digital analytics tools, including Google Analytics and Inspectlet, to see if an idea is catching on. If so, she begins selling the products right away.She can also instantly see if a product is striking out. If no one is going to a certain site or if no ones responding to an email from a certain account, she said, maybe that thing isnt a good idea.ImageCredit...Nicole Bengiveno/The New York TimesUntil a few months ago, Ms. Baskin handled her own shipping boxing her products and ferrying them by tricycle to the post office every few days. Now she saves time by mailing them via Shyp, an on-demand shipping service that sends a messenger to her studio to collect the items, wrap them and ship them out.But building an e-commerce business isnt as simple as putting up a website. The problem is that having a little tiny site, say on Shopify an e-commerce service doesnt get you anywhere unless you put in a lot of work to direct people to it, Ms. Edwards said. You have to actually use Facebook or do email campaigns with your friends and create awareness that it exists.To that end, Ms. Baskin has Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter accounts for most of her companies. So far, she has not felt the need to abandon any of her businesses after the early testing period.Inkwell Helmets is her most successful venture. This year, she said, she has sold 20 to 75 helmets a month, an increase of about 200 percent over 2014. The helmets cost $85 to $300 apiece, depending on their intricacy.Still, Ms. Baskin says, despite the help from technological innovations, her workload makes it difficult for her to expand her businesses. Several start-ups have tried to place 200-unit orders for bike helmets painted with their logos, for instance, but she doesnt have the capacity to fulfill the orders because she is solely responsible for product design, fabrication, fulfillment and customer service for all six companies.To churn out products more quickly, she plans to automate aspects of her production processes. Doing that requires a larger studio space with better ventilation, which Ms. Baskin said would be easier to find in California. So this month, she relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she plans to start a fabrication lab next year.Moving forward, the items will be micro-mass-produced, but wont look like they came out of a factory, she said. I want the quality of a handmade aesthetic.Ms. Baskin says she plans to design even more products and start even more companies. Shell also finally staff up, not with just one or two employees, she says, but an entire small team.Despite her move to car-centric California, Ms. Baskin doesnt intend to abandon the two- and three-wheeled modes of transportation that have stoked her entrepreneurial creativity so far. Shes planning to buy a folding bike to bring on trains and buses fodder, perhaps, for her next big business idea.",0
"Dec. 10, 2015A large mutual fund specializing in risky, high-yielding bonds has blocked investors from getting their money back, citing difficult trading conditions for its securities.The move, announced Thursday by Third Avenue Management funds, was a troubling sign of the recent deterioration in junk bonds, a category that has been hurt in particular by the debt of energy companies struggling with the slump in oil and gas prices. Energy debt accounts for roughly a sixth of the market. More important, the action by Third Avenue highlights a longstanding fear among regulators and economists that too many investors have piled into risky areas of the bond market, like leveraged loans and emerging-market debt, as well as junk bonds.As funds in these areas have grown in size, the ability of portfolio managers to buy and sell these securities in a reasonable amount of time has been curtailed as investment banks have stopped making a market in these areas because of regulatory constraints.This is what apparently happened to Third Avenues Focused Credit Fund, which not long ago was about $2.5 billion in size and had recently shrunk to $788 million as investors rushed to redeem their shares because of weakness in the junk bond market.High-yield bonds have had some of the worst returns among bonds this year. A benchmark Merrill Lynch index is down 3.7 percent for the year and a basket of higher-risk junk bonds has lost 13 percent.Trouble in the junk bond market can be a harbinger of tougher times to come in terms of the broader economy.With no sign that selling pressures were abating, Third Avenue, which manages a total of $8 billion in customer assets, has decided to stop fulfilling investor sell orders and liquidate the fund.The remaining assets in the fund will be put into a liquidating trust and sold off gradually, the company said, the idea being to not drive down prices too sharply. This process could last more than a year, which means current investors in the fund may have to wait at least that long to get their money back.In a statement explaining the decision, Third Avenues chief executive, David M. Barse, said that investor requests for redemptions, along with a general reduction of liquidity in the fixed-income markets made it impracticable for the fund to create sufficient cash to pay anticipated redemptions without resorting to sales at prices that would unfairly disadvantage the remaining shareholders.The interest rates on junk bonds, riskier bonds that companies with higher debt loads are able to sell to yield-hungry investors, have spiked over the past month in the face of concerns that a slowing economy would push many of these companies into default.ImageCredit...Scott Olson/Getty ImagesMoodys Investors Service, the credit rating agency, expects corporate defaults to increase to 3.8 percent next year from 2.8 percent this year. While that may not seem like a large figure, it is the upward trend that worries investors, and the fact that such a large amount of investor money has poured into these funds since central banks began aggressively purchasing fixed-income assets in 2009.This confirms many of the fears we have had about high levels of corporate debt and the lack of liquidity in the marketplace, said Hung Tran, a senior executive at the Institute of International Finance, which has been warning about this issue. It should also be seen as a powerful motivation for mutual funds to review their liquidity management strategies.What is surprising about the funds failure, analysts say, is that it had not taken more precautions to have cash on hand in case this type of situation arose. Of late, many funds investing in these less-than-liquid niches of the market have increased cash levels and even taken out credit lines from banks in order to be prepared for a selling wave.Third Avenue, founded in 1986 by Martin J. Whitman, a vocal proponent of investing in value stocks, seems to have been caught short in this regard.In addition to mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, or E.T.F.s, which trade like securities on an exchange and track a wide array of bond, equity and commodity baskets, have drawn many billions of dollars into their junk bond funds.To date though, these funds which promise instant liquidity to investors have not experienced major problems despite a tremendous pickup in buying and selling activity.By definition, a high-yield fund will invest in companies that are more at risk of going bust than a fund that buys the bonds of blue-chip companies like General Electric or JPMorgan Chase. But the Third Avenue fund seemed to have a particularly large share of companies that were either bankrupt or on the verge.Among its top holdings were Clear Channel Communications, the highly indebted radio broadcaster; Energy Future Holdings, a Texas electricity provider now in bankruptcy; and Liberty Tire Recycling, which is in talks to restructure its debts.But while the yields on these securities may have been appealing, their liquidity was not.Even in good times, these types of securities are hard to buy and sell, meaning a seller has to search out a buyer before he can dispose of his position.Before the financial crisis, large investment banks were the primary market-makers of these kinds of securities. Since 2009, however, they have slashed their inventories of corporate debt to $1.5 trillion from $9 trillion.At the same time, there has been an explosion of bonds issued by companies, with the result being more bonds than ever in issuance and an increasingly limited number of firms to trade them.In a May interview with Barrons, one of the funds managers, Thomas Lapointe, said that the fund had been focusing on the beaten-down bonds of oil companies. Explaining why the investor panic in this area was appealing, he said, Theres nothing better than people running out of a building with their hair on fire.",0
"Scientists working with the solar diving mission have released the spacecrafts first batch of findings.VideoThe energetic particle instruments on NASAs Parker Solar Probe have measured several never-before-seen events so small that all trace of them is lost before they reach Earth. Video by NASA/GoddardCreditCredit...NASA/GoddardPublished Dec. 4, 2019Updated Feb. 9, 2020Since it launched last year, NASAs Parker Solar Probe has made three dives toward the sun as it reached the fastest speed ever clocked by a human-built vehicle. Scientists released the missions first batch of findings on Wednesday, revealing that the dynamics of our star are even weirder than once imagined.Four papers published in the journal Nature describe what the spacecraft observed during its first two flybys, as it passed within about 15 million miles of the surface of the sun. That is about half the distance that the planet Mercury orbits the sun.All of this brand-new information about how the way our star works is going to help us understand how the sun drives change in the space environment throughout our solar system, said Nicola Fox, director of the heliophysics division at NASA, during a telephone news conference on Wednesday.The information could help scientists develop ways to provide advance warning of solar storms that could knock out satellites and electrical grids or endanger the health of astronauts in orbit.Blazing Hot BubbleThe sun is essentially a big ball of hydrogen and helium, and for something that we see every day, it remains a complex ball of mystery.One puzzle that scientists have been pondering for decades: Why is the solar atmosphere superhot?The surface of the sun what we see as a yellow disk in the sky is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That is toasty, but cool compared with what lies above, in the thin atmosphere known as the corona.There, the temperatures jump by a factor of 300 or more, to millions of degrees. The corona also accelerates the solar wind the million-miles-per-hour stream of particles that fly outward from the sun.Justin C. Kasper, a professor of space sciences and engineering at the University of Michigan and the principal investigator of one of the solar probes four instruments, said scientists said they had a hunch that the vibrating of the suns magnetic fields like the plucking of a guitar string was critical to heating the corona. So they were curious about what the vibrations would look like closer to the sun.As expected, the vibrations did get stronger. But the instrument also picked up additional, powerful waves. Kind of like rogue waves in the ocean, Dr. Kasper said. As one of the big waves swept the spacecraft, the speed of the solar wind would, within seconds, rise by 300,000 miles per hour. Each wave would last seconds to minutes. Just as quickly, in seconds, it goes past us, and were back in the normal solar wind, Dr. Kasper said.The waves were so strong that they could flip the direction of the magnetic field, producing S-shape twists that the scientists called switchbacks, like the twisty paths carved in the side of a steep mountain.These are very large and energetic events, Dr. Kasper said. Were really excited about this, because we think it tells us a possible path to understanding how energy is getting from the sun into the atmosphere and heating it.Where the Wind BlowsWith the closer view of the sun, scientists also now have a better idea of where the solar wind originates. VideoThe WISPR instrument on NASAs Parker Solar Probe captured imagery of the constant outflow of material from the Sun during its close approach to the Sun in April 2019. Video by NASA/NRL/APLCreditCredit...NASA/NRL/APLMost of the solar wind measurements to date have been in the neighborhood of Earth, more than 90 million miles from the sun.Stuart Bale, a physicist at the University of California, Berkeley, who leads an instrument that measures the electric and magnetic fields in the solar wind, said trying to study solar winds from Earth is like observing the waterfall halfway down.The water is always flowing past us, he said. It is very turbulent, chaotic, unstructured. And we want to know what is the source of the waterfall, whats at the top. Is there an iceberg melting up there? Is there a sprinkler system? A lake?By the time the solar wind reaches Earth, clues about its origin have been jumbled and become difficult to discern.We want to know the source of the water, whats at the top, Dr. Bale said.He said that data from the Parker Solar Probe now shows that the so-called slow solar wind, moving at relatively slow speeds of less than a million miles per hour, emerges from what are known as coronal holes locations associated with sunspots and where hydrogen and helium are colder and less dense near the suns Equator. (Faster solar winds traveling more than a million miles per hour were known to originate from coronal holes near the poles.)VideotranscripttranscriptTouching the SunFrom Aug. 2018: NASAs Parker Solar Probe is flying through the punishing heat of the suns outer atmosphere.Set the controls for the heart of the sun. In the summer of 2018, the Parker Solar Probe will lift off from Earth. It will spend the next seven years spiraling inward to the center of the solar system. The Parker probe will be the first spacecraft to touch our star. Or any star. It will brush through the halo of hot gases that form the suns outer atmosphere: the corona. The surface of the sun looks placid to our eyes, but it is pierced and roiled by strong magnetic fields. The fields trap gas blowing off the Sun and lift it into glowing arcs and streamers. Scientists dont understand how the corona works, or why its hundreds of times hotter than the surface of the sun. The Parker probe will pass closer to the Sun than any mission before it. To get that close, the spacecraft will make seven flybys of Venus over seven years, gradually tightening its elliptical orbit and shifting it closer and closer to the sun. A high-tech heat shield will protect the probe from the punishing radiation and heat of the corona. Within the shields shadow, the spacecraft instruments will operate at a comfortable room temperature. As the probe passes close to the sun, it will briefly become the fastest machine ever built by humans, zipping along at a brisk 430,000 miles per hour. The Parker probe is the first NASA spacecraft to be named after a living person. Eugene Parker is an astrophysicist at the University of Chicago. In 1958, he suggested that the sun radiates a constant and intense stream of charged particles. He called it the solar wind. This wind pushes out comet tails and makes the long streamers seen in solar eclipses. With the Parker Solar Probe, scientists hope to learn more about the suns turbulent corona. How it accelerates particles, and how it flings huge clouds of fiery gas outward across space. Huge waves of magnetized gas are called coronal mass ejections. If Earth gets in the way of one of these storms, it could be bad news. Our planet is protected by its own magnetic field, but a direct hit from one of these galloping clouds of particles and radiation could disrupt satellites and force astronauts in the space station to take shelter. In 1859, a powerful storm called the Carrington Event produced auroras as far south as Cuba. A solar storm of that size today could cripple satellites and power grids around the world. If successful, the Parker probes mission to touch the sun may explain how solar storms form. Scientists hope it might teach us how to predict coronal outbursts more accurately and learn how to endure them. Weve always depended on the kindness of a star, here on a planet riding the gentle fringe of barely calculable forces. Living with a star is not easy. But were learning.From Aug. 2018: NASAs Parker Solar Probe is flying through the punishing heat of the suns outer atmosphere.Star DustThe spacecraft has also been putting together a picture of the cloud of dust surrounding the sun and the corona bits shed from comets and asteroids that have passed. The dust was thinner closer to the sun, matching the expectations for a long-theorized dust-free zone around the star. As the Parker Solar Probe gets closer repeated flybys of Venus in the coming years will eventually nudge it to a trajectory that will take it within four million miles of the sun it is likely to confirm that observation and reveal new mysteries.Its a bit early to say whether these discoveries actually overturn existing models, Daniel Verscharen, a space scientist at University College London who wrote a commentary accompanying the Nature papers, said in an email. They definitely show that there is a lot more happening close to the sun and that its absolutely worth going there to explore further.A European Space Agency mission, Solar Orbiter, is set to launch in February. While it will not get as close to the sun as the Parker Solar Probe, it will carry instruments that will provide different views and provide more clues on solving the mystery of the solar wind.Eugene N. Parker, a retired University of Chicago astrophysicist whom the spacecraft is named after, predicted the existence of the solar wind in 1958. It was humbling to see the probes launch and watch it disappear into the night sky, Dr. Parker, now 92, said in a statement provided by the university. But now that data is finally coming in and being analyzed, things are getting really exciting.",7
"Moncef Slaoui, a former pharmaceutical executive, is now overseeing the U.S. initiative to develop coronavirus treatments and vaccines. His financial interests and corporate roles have come under scrutiny.Credit...Samuel Corum for The New York TimesMay 20, 2020The chief scientist brought on to lead the Trump administrations vaccine efforts has spent the last several days trying to disentangle pieces of his stock portfolio and his intricate ties to big pharmaceutical interests, as critics point to the potential for significant conflicts of interest.The scientist, Moncef Slaoui, is a venture capitalist and a former longtime executive at GlaxoSmithKline. Most recently, he sat on the board of Moderna, a Cambridge, Mass., biotechnology firm with a $30 billion valuation that is pursuing a coronavirus vaccine. He resigned when President Trump named him last Thursday to the new post as chief adviser for Operation Warp Speed, the federal drive for coronavirus vaccines and treatments.Just days into his job, the extent of Dr. Slaouis financial interests in drug companies has begun to emerge: The value of his stock holdings in Moderna jumped nearly $2.4 million, to $12.4 million when the company released preliminary, partial data from an early phase of its candidate vaccine trial that helped send the markets soaring on Monday.Dr. Slaoui sold his shares on Tuesday, and the administration said he would donate the increased value to cancer research.But the Moderna stock is just one piece of his pharmaceutical portfolio, much of which is not public. And some ethics and financial securities experts have voiced concerns about the arrangement Dr. Slaoui struck with the administration.In agreeing to accept the position, Dr. Slaoui did not come on board as a government employee. Instead, he is on a contract, receiving $1 for his service. That leaves him exempt from federal disclosure rules that would require him to list his outside positions, stock holdings and other potential conflicts. And the contract position is not subject to the same conflict-of-interest laws and regulations that executive branch employees must follow.Dr. Slaoui, an expert in molecular biology and immunology, is not the first Trump administration official with close relationships to drug and health care companies. His immediate boss, Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary, is a former Eli Lilly executive. And the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, has moved in and out of government twice, and divested of his interests immediately upon assuming the F.D.A. job in 2017.Dr. Slaoui, 60, has spent his career developing vaccines and biotechnology businesses, and he has the investments and board seats to prove it. He still holds just under $10 million in GlaxoSmithKline stock and remains a partner in Medicxi, a venture capital firm that specializes in investing in biotech concerns, with several companies engaged in the global race to develop treatments or vaccines to stanch the coronavirus pandemic. GSK and Sanofi have become partners in creating a vaccine candidate against the coronavirus.The administration has reviewed Dr. Slaouis affiliations with several companies and concluded in several instances that there were no conflicts because his advisory roles were unrelated to coronavirus research or treatments, and in some cases the corporations had no products against the virus in production, according to a senior official with the Department of Health and Human Services.The new group of which Dr. Slaoui is lead scientist will vet candidates for vaccines and treatments, to decide whether they should receive federal financial backing and additional support.In an interview, Dr. Slaoui said he was determined to avoid conflicts and would re-evaluate any remaining associations if his financial interests stood to gain more from his new post overseeing the governments push to encourage speedy development of treatments or vaccines.He did not say how much his GSK shares were worth. When he left the company in 2017, he held about 240,000 shares and share equivalents, according to the drug companys annual report and an analysis by the executive compensation firm Equilar.He said he told administration officials that he did not want to sell his company stock.I have worked for 29 years for GSK, Dr. Slaoui said. I have never sold a single share of any company in my life. This is my retirement. What I said regarding the GSK shares, I said I cannot take the job if I have to sell them. Advanced Decision Vectors, which regularly contracts with the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies, will pay Dr. Slaouis living expenses when he stays in Washington away from his home in the Philadelphia area.Without public disclosure, some ethics experts called his contract an end-run around the rules.This is basically absurd, said Virginia Canter, who is chief ethics counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. It allows for no public scrutiny of his conflicts of interest.Ms. Canter also said federal law barred government contractors from supervising government employees.But others noted the lengths to which Dr. Slaoui was already distancing himself. Joseph Grundfest, a Stanford law professor and a former commissioner on the Securities and Exchange Commission, said conflicts of interest involving scientific experts were hardly rare.The challenge is to manage them appropriately, because if you try to avoid them altogether you often wont be able to get the best people for the job, Mr. Grundfest said.And obviously there will be appropriate recusals on a situational, going-forward basis, as is common, he added. What more do you want the guy to do?Dr. Slaoui has stepped away from other commitments: He resigned last week from Lonza, which will manufacture Modernas vaccine if it goes into production. And he said he left his position as an adviser to a company that works with Chinese businesses to develop therapies against the virus.ImageCredit...Tony Luong for The New York TimesDr. Slaoui also said that if the value of GlaxoSmithKline accrues higher than that of the pharmaceutical sector of the S&P 500 Index by the time he leaves the job, and if GSK has received any investment from the government for the Covid-19 program, he will donate the difference in his stock value to the National Institutes of Health, for research.Michael R. Caputo, assistant secretary for public affairs at H.H.S., said that the agencys ethics office had cleared Dr. Slaoui to hold onto his GSK investment and that he had agreed not to trade other coronavirus-related stocks. He added that Dr. Slaouis contract now included an ethics addendum, but could not provide details.Mr. Caputo said Dr. Slaouis role would be to recommend decisions that would be considered by government officials, including the chief operating officer Gen. Gustave Perna and others supervising the project.Ms. Canter, a former ethics lawyer in the Obama and Clinton administrations, the Securities and Exchange Commission and other agencies, pointed out that GSKs vaccine candidate with Sanofi could wind up competing with other manufacturers vying for government approval and support.If he retains stock in companies that are investing in the development of a vaccine, and hes involved in overseeing this process to select the safest vaccine to combat Covid-19, regardless of how wonderful a person he is, we cant be confident of the integrity of any process in which he is involved, Ms. Canter said.In addition, his affiliation with Medicxi could complicate matters: Two of its investors are GSK and a division of Johnson & Johnson, which is also developing a potential vaccine.Moderna has already received nearly $500 million from the government to help scale up production.In stepping down from Modernas board, Dr. Slaoui also gave up the potential for future stock gains. Equilar estimated that he stood to forfeit 73,000 options to buy shares valued at $4.2 million.In the past, he also worked for a company with extensive dealings in China, which has become a target of the presidents criticism during the pandemic. Mr. Trump and others have questioned whether China did enough to contain the coronavirus and assist other countries in controlling its spread.The company, Brii Biosciences, where Dr. Slaoui was an adviser until Friday, has ties to Chinas top business leadership.The companys high-profile list of investors includes Boyu Capital, the private equity firm where Jiang Zhicheng, the grandson of the former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, was a partner until January of this year, according to corporate filings. Sequoia Capital and Yunfeng Capital, the private equity fund of Jack Ma, the co-founder of Alibaba, are also investors.In April, Brii, which has offices in Durham, N.C., announced a partnership and licensing deal over its Covid antibody research with Tsinghua University and the 3rd Peoples Hospital of Shenzhen.In a statement, Brii said Dr. Slaoui received compensation consistent with his service and left with a small amount of stock options. The company added that Dr. Slaoui was not involved in Briis coronavirus work in China.Dr. Slaoui said he would resign from the boards of Clasado and Artizan Biosciences, both companies that work on treatments for intestinal problems. He said he would remain on the board of SutroVax, which recently raised $110 million from investors and is developing vaccines for pneumonia. He will also continue on the boards of Divide & Conquer, and Monopteros, which work on cancer treatments.At his first appearance in the White House Rose Garden, Dr. Slaoui divulged that he had recently seen early data from a clinical trial with a coronavirus vaccine, and these data made me feel even more confident that we will be able to deliver a few hundred million doses of vaccine enough to inoculate much of the United States by the end of 2020.While he did not mention Moderna specifically, the company did release partial data the following Monday morning, saying that its vaccine candidate appeared safe and had provoked an immune response in eight of 45 people.Some researchers and ethicists criticized the companys decision to publicize only a piece of a study that had not been published in a peer-reviewed journal. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the agency led by Dr. Anthony Fauci and Modernas partner on the vaccine, has not commented.Moderna has yet to produce any successful vaccine and has a lot riding on its Covid-19 project. Its technology, which uses genetic material from the virus called mRNA, is relatively new and unproven. And many vaccine candidates fail after showing preliminary promise, or cause serious side effects in later human trials.By late Monday, Moderna kicked off a big stock offering in which it hopes to raise $1.34 billion with the sale of 17.6 million shares. The company, which expected to close the offering on Thursday, is looking to raise capital to help bankroll vaccine development.The company went public in 2018 with a $600 million initial public offering, the biggest to date for a biotech company. Its board includes several members of venture capital firms Flagship Pioneering and General Catalyst. Flagship was one of the early backers of Moderna and owns 17 percent of its stock. Another large shareholder is the pharma company AstraZeneca. Until late last year, the big hedge fund Viking Global was a sizable investor in Moderna, but it slashed its holdings at the end of 2019, according to regulatory filings.Modernas chief executive, Stphane Bancel, owns 8.7 percent of outstanding stock and last year received a compensation package worth $8.9 million.The company has approval to begin a second-phase trial involving 600 people, and said it was moving on an accelerated timetable to begin the third phase in July with thousands of people.Many public health experts continue to say it is unlikely that a vaccine will be ready for mass production before next year.Cao Li contributed research.",2
"Credit...Geraldine Hope Ghelli for The New York TimesMany patients with cognitive impairment have anxiety or depression, but standard treatments are difficult for people with memory issues. Anne Firmender received treatment for depression through a program called Problem Adaptation Therapy, which is specially suited to people with memory issues.Credit...Geraldine Hope Ghelli for The New York TimesDec. 8, 2019Anne Firmender, 74, was working with her psychologist to come up with a list of her positive attributes.I cook for others, said Ms. Firmender.Its giving, encouraged the psychologist, Dimitris Kiosses. Good kids, continued Ms. Firmender, who has four grown children and four grandchildren.And great mother, added Dr. Kiosses. Ms. Firmender smiled. Dr. Kiosses typed up the list and handed a printout to Ms. Firmender to take home. When youre feeling down and hard on yourself, you can remind yourself of your strengths, he told her.Ms. Firmender, who has a history of mental health problems, was in therapy for depression. But she also has mild cognitive impairment and can have trouble remembering what day it is. So Dr. Kiosses was treating her with a novel approach called Problem Adaptation Therapy, or PATH. The therapy, developed at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City and White Plains, N.Y., focuses on solving tangible problems that fuel feelings of sadness and hopelessness. It incorporates tools, like checklists, calendars, signs and videos, to make it accessible for people with memory issues. A caregiver is often involved.The approach is one of several new psychotherapies to treat anxiety and depression in people with cognitive impairments, including early to moderate dementia. Another, the Peaceful Mind program, developed by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and elsewhere for patients with anxiety and dementia, simplifies traditional cognitive behavioral therapy and focuses on scheduling pleasurable activities and skills, like deep breathing. Therapy sessions are short and take place in patients homes. A program designed by researchers at University College London gives cards to patients to take home to remind them of key strategies. One that says Stop and Think prompts them to pause when they have panicky and unhelpful thoughts to help keep those thoughts from spiraling and creating more anxiety.Early research on the new approaches is encouraging, but longer and larger studies will be needed to fully assess the effectiveness. In a study published in JAMA Psychiatry involving 74 people with major depression and mild cognitive impairment or mild to moderate dementia, patients who had 12 sessions of PATH had a 43 percent greater reduction in their scores on a measure of depression symptoms compared with those in the control group who received 12 sessions of supportive therapy. (In the control treatment, therapists focused on conveying empathy and helping patients express their emotions.) At the end of treatment, 38 percent of patients who had PATH were in remission from their depression, compared with about 14 percent in the control group. In this study, both treatments were given at home.A small pilot study of the Peaceful Mind program, published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, found that clinicians rated patients who had received three months of weekly sessions as less anxious, compared with a control group. Peaceful Mind participants also rated themselves as having a higher quality of life. But the differences were not evident at six months. Brent P. Forester, chief of the division of geriatric psychiatry at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts who was not involved in the research on the programs, said the approaches were promising and could fulfill a crucial need since current treatments for depression generally dont work well in people with cognitive impairments. Finding new interventions could be extraordinarily helpful in terms of quality of life, he said. Depression and anxiety are very common among people with mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Research shows that about a third of people with dementia also have depression, and that anxiety symptoms afflict roughly a quarter to half of patients with Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia. At the same time, a history of major depression increases the risk of developing Alzheimers later in life. Scientists arent sure exactly why that is, but one theory is that high levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which can occur with depression, is toxic to the hippocampus, a part of the brain that is critical for storing long-term memories.ImageCredit...Geraldine Hope Ghelli for The New York TimesEspecially in dementias early stages, people may feel a lack of motivation, apathy, social isolation and fear, Dr. Forester said. People are very often aware of losing their memory and they are very scared, he said. Depression and anxiety can make dementia symptoms worse. People with a diagnosis of dementia can become very anxious about getting things wrong. They might struggle to find what they want at the store and worry about how to pay for things, said Aimee Spector, a professor of old age clinical psychology at University College London, and a creator of their cognitive behavioral therapy program for people with anxiety and dementia. These fears can lead patients to curtail normal activities, causing more cognitive problems. We know the brain needs to stay active and people need to remain cognitively challenged. There can be a negative spiral in dementia symptoms, Professor Spector said.Indeed, people with dementia who also have depression are more functionally impaired and are more likely to be placed in a nursing home, according to a study published in 2005 in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. Still, depression is woefully undiagnosed and undertreated in dementia patients. The same study found that only 35 percent of dementia patients with depression were accurately diagnosed and adequately treated for their depression.While the science is mixed, research has generally found that antidepressant drugs dont work well in older adults with cognitive impairments. Still, many people with anxiety and depression and dementia are prescribed psychiatric drugs. The medications are given out almost automatically, said Lon Schneider, professor of psychiatry, neurology and gerontology at the University of Southern California. Many psychiatric drugs come with serious risks and side effects for older people. SSRI antidepressants like Zoloft and Prozac are associated with fractures and falls in seniors. Antipsychotic medications like haloperidol and risperidone, which are often given for anxiety and agitation, can increase the risk of death in people with dementia. Benzodiazepines like Klonopin and Xanax, often used for anxiety, can cause falls and confusion.Effective psychotherapy could be a safer alternative. The goal of PATH is to reduce negative emotions the patient has and increase positive emotions, said Dr. Kiosses, who is also an associate professor of psychology in clinical psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College. Patients are taught to identify the situations that trigger negative emotions like sadness, anxiety, guilt, helplessness and hopelessness. They are also taught to shift their attention away from those situations and emotions. That is part of the thinking behind the list of positive attributes that Dr. Kiosses worked up with Ms. Firmender.PATH is based on problem-solving therapy, a treatment that focuses on helping people solve everyday problems that are causing distress. At the end of each session, therapists give patients a written summary to help them remember skills. They may also send patients home with tools to jog their memory. For an 84-year-old patient who struggled with feelings of loneliness, the therapist and patient put signs in the patients living room that said, Going to church will make me feel better and Staying home makes me sad. A caregiver is often enlisted to help patients use the skills theyve learned.Micky, 75, had no history of depression before he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle in 2013, resulting in a head injury that left him with short-term memory problems. He forgets conversations and sometimes gets lost while driving. In the years after the accident, he became lethargic and deeply missed cycling, said his wife, Lorry. The couple asked to be identified by only their first names for privacy reasons.Micky did the PATH program at Weill Cornell, before moving recently to North Carolina. His wife accompanied him to every session. To address his difficulty falling asleep, his therapist suggested that he think good thoughts before you go to sleep, Lorry said. So, as the couple got ready for bed each night, she would remind her husband of that suggestion. He said, Im doing it. Im doing it, Lorry said. Thinking about our granddaughter, he said it was helpful.ImageCredit...Geraldine Hope Ghelli for The New York TimesIn her therapy session with Dr. Kiosses, Ms. Firmender, a black cane resting against her chair, answered a question the therapist asks her every week: What pleasurable activities had she done in the past week and what were her plans for the upcoming week? Scheduling pleasurable activities what is known as behavioral activation is a technique that has been found to boost mood. Ms. Firmender told him she volunteered at the thrift shop at church. I always enjoy that, she said. The upcoming week she was planning to make corned beef and cabbage for her fellow volunteers.Laura Gitlin, dean of the College of Nursing and Health Professions at Drexel University, said that adding meaningful activities to the day is particularly crucial for people with dementia, who often face blank calendars as their cognitive problems grow. Boredom and having nothing to do contributes to having an array of behavioral symptoms, agitation, aggressiveness, apathy, rejection of care, she said. Dr. Gitlin and colleagues have developed the Tailored Activity Program that identifies activities that are meaningful to people with dementia it could be woodworking or making a salad adapts them to their abilities and regularly schedules them into the patients days. Activity is part of what makes us human, Dr. Gitlin said.Patients being treated with PATH include those who are having their first episode of depression, and those, like Ms. Firmender, who have long struggled with mental health issues. She has seen a therapist for 20 years and has been on various psychiatric medications. Over the years, the depressive thoughts have waxed and waned. About three years ago, Ms. Firmender was hospitalized for suicidal thoughts and underwent a course of electroconvulsive therapy. After another brief hospitalization, she did PATH in early 2018 as a participant in a Weill Cornell study looking at the treatment for suicidal ideation. After her depression symptoms surged again recently, Dr. Kiosses started her on another course of PATH, this one focused on depression.When Ms. Firmender slides into depression, she turns to writing poetry. During one therapy session, she took out a yellow notebook and read a verse she wrote:I cant find my happy placeIt was never easy to find but now it seems forever goneIts in my mind in some deep dark places.Ms. Firmender said the program was helping her get a handle on such feelings. What she really likes is that it focuses on solving problems. It isnt, oh, poor Anne, because then you do nothing about it and you feel worse, you feel really sorry for yourself, she said. Its like, O.K., Anne, what are you going to do about it?",2
"The New Old AgeA new training tool helps to assess whether some seniors can make informed choices about their own care and well-being.Credit...Lindsey Wasson/ReutersMay 9, 2022During a recent Zoom conference call, four Adult Protective Services workers from California, using a tool called the Interview for Decisional Abilities, or IDA, were trying to figure out whether something fishy was going on with an 82-year-old woman they knew as Ms. K.Adult Protective Services agencies in every state receive reports of possible neglect, self-neglect, abuse or exploitation of older people and other vulnerable adults. But agency workers consistently face a bedeviling question: Does the adult in question have the capacity to make a decision about their medical care, living conditions or finances even if its not the decision that the family, doctor or financial adviser thinks should be made?IDA was developed by two geriatricians to help train Adult Protective Services workers in how to handle that issue. The program helps them learn to use a structured interview procedure to gather information about a clients decision-making ability. The two dozen California staff members taking the course had already completed 10 hours of individual online instruction; now they were practicing their new interviewing skills in small groups, role-playing with facilitators.Ms. K, a fictional character, was being played by Bess White, a special projects administrator at Weill Cornell Medicine. In the scenario, a bank manager had reported certain suspicions: Ms. K had $60,000 in a savings account but her withdrawals had increased sharply, from $600 a month to $600 a week. A younger man her nephew, she said had begun accompanying her to the bank, where a teller thought the man had seemed controlling and intimidating. An investigator who visited Ms. K at home learned that her only credit card had expired and that she had little cash.But Ms. K denied being financially exploited; her nephew lived with her, she said, and helped with chores and rides to doctors appointments. He used the bank withdrawals to buy their groceries.In the exercise, one of the A.P.S. trainees had ascertained that Ms. K grasped the basic concept of financial exploitation. Ms. K had heard about scams from the news, she said. And yes, she understood that a friend or relative might similarly take advantage.So the interviewer continued: What do you think could happen if someone took another persons money without their permission?Ms. White, in the role of Ms. K, replied: I guess the person could take it and take it until theres nothing left. But when the interviewer probed further to see if Ms. K understood that she herself might be facing this risk, she balked. She relied on her nephew, Ms. K said; she didnt want to upset him.IDA was developed by Dr. Mark Lachs, co-chief of geriatrics and palliative medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, and his colleagues, and by Dr. Jason Karlawish, a geriatrician and co-director of the Penn Memory Center. People have the right to make bad decisions, Dr. Lachs said in an interview. But, he added, the decision makers must be able to understand the risks they face and the potential consequences.ImageCredit...Weill Cornell MedicineHow can you walk into a brokerage office at 90 years old and say, Ive had Treasury bills for 50 years but now I want to put my last $200,000 in Bitcoin and nobody raises an eyebrow? Dr. Lachs said. Were going to look back at this and say, What were we thinking?Along with applying IDA to cases of financial neglect or abuse, the California A.P.S. workers were using it to assess a range of issues including self-neglect, health and safety questions, refusal of physical care or medical treatment, and physical or psychological or sexual abuse.Its not meant to replace a psychiatrist, but it tells you when to contact a psychiatrist, Dr. Lachs said. Clients whose IDA interviews reveal an inability to grasp risks or consequences should receive a full professional assessment, he added.To date, about 500 A.P.S. workers in New York City, Massachusetts and two California regions have taken the course and received certification. Kansas A.P.S. workers will undergo training this summer.But Drs. Lachs and Karlawish think IDA could have broader uses. Trust and estate lawyers and financial firms are already asking them about it.Hospital discharge planners might use IDA to assess whether a patient has the capacity to insist on going home instead of to rehab. A chain of assisted-living facilities contacted Dr. Lachs, wondering if IDA could help ensure that new residents understood the complicated contracts they were signing.The IDA interview attempts to answer three fundamental questions about a particular problem or risk, Dr. Karlawish said: Do you recognize that this happens? Do you think that this could be happening to you? Can you come up with a plan to address it, reasoning through and weighing the upsides and downsides?Depending on a problems complexity, people with diagnosed cognitive impairment or even dementia may still possess sufficient understanding to handle it.Someone who demonstrates that three-part understanding during the IDA interview probably has the ability to make a decision including a decision not to address the problem. Someone without that understanding needs a more comprehensive evaluation, perhaps including consultation with family members or social service agencies. In extreme cases, it might lead to eventual guardianship or conservatorship.Trouble handling finances often serves as an early warning of incapacity, said Dr. Daniel Marson, a neuropsychologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who has studied the subject for 25 years.Financial capacity is probably the first higher-order functional ability affected by neurodegenerative disorders and by normal aging, he said. Using money proficiently requires complex thought, from something basic like using an A.T.M. to things that are more complicated, like How should I handle this call from a telemarketer? The consequences of diminishing financial capacity unsafe living conditions, impoverishment, homelessness, institutionalization can be devastating.Although the incidence of dementia has been declining in the United States and Europe, the aging of these populations means that more individuals will develop it.Moreover, in a six-year study, Dr. Marson and colleagues found that older adults who were given a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment often a precursor condition to dementia also struggled increasingly. There were diminished financial skills over time, he said.Other institutions have attempted to tackle the issue of diminishing decisional ability. The American Bar Association last year updated its Assessment of Older Adults with Diminished Capacities: A Handbook for Lawyers. The Bar Association and the American Psychological Association have also published handbooks for judges and psychologists.The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, has posted online courses on financial exploitation of older adults and other vulnerable investors. Its rules allow a member firm to put a temporary hold on transactions and disbursements when it believes exploitation is involved. It also allows member firms to ask investors for a trusted contact person to consult in the event of suspected exploitation.The IDA program is focusing on A.P.S. workers for now because the typical agency is understaffed, underresourced and struggling, Dr. Karlawish said. California A.P.S. agencies handle about 30,000 cases involving seniors each month, according to state data, and are being asked to make decisions about capacity that a chair of a psychiatry department might have difficulty with, Dr. Lachs saidThe California staff on the Zoom training session, gently asking Ms. White as Ms. K how she might respond to the bank managers suspicions, eventually concluded that she did not need a professional work-up. It appeared that she understood her options.Giving her nephew access to her savings account might not have been the wisest move. But the decision was hers to make.",2
"Its the first study of individualized brain stimulation to treat severe depression. Sarahs case raises the possibility the method may help people who dont respond to other therapies.Credit...Ruth Fremson/The New York TimesPublished Oct. 4, 2021Updated Oct. 5, 2021Listen to This ArticleDriving home from work in Northern California five years ago, a young woman was so overwhelmed with depression that all she could think about was ending her life.I couldnt stop crying, recalled Sarah, now 38. The thought that consumed me the entire way on that road was just driving my car into the marshland so I can drown.She made it home, but soon after, moved in with her parents because doctors considered it unsafe for her to live alone. No longer able to function at work, she quit her health technology job.She tried nearly every treatment: roughly 20 different medications, months in a hospital day program, electroconvulsive therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation. But as with nearly a third of the more than 250 million people with depression worldwide, her symptoms persisted. Then Sarah became the first participant in an unusual study of an experimental therapy. Now, her depression is so manageable that shes taking data analysis classes, has moved to her own place and helps care for her mother, who suffered a fall.Within a few weeks, the suicidal thoughts just disappeared, said Sarah, who asked to be identified by only her first name to protect her privacy. Then it was just a gradual process where it was like my lens on the world changed.Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco surgically implanted a battery-operated, matchbook-sized device in Sarahs brain a pacemaker for the brain some call it calibrated to detect the neural activity pattern that occurs when she is becoming depressed. It then delivers pulses of electrical stimulation to stave off depression.Twelve days after Sarahs device was fully operational in August 2020, her score on a standard depression scale dropped to 14 from 33, and several months later, it fell below 10, essentially signaling remission, the researchers reported.The device has kept my depression at bay, allowing me to return to my best self and rebuild a life worth living, Sarah said.Sarahs is the first documented case of personalizing a technique called deep brain stimulation to successfully treat depression. Much more research is needed before its clear how effective the approach could be and for how many patients. But several teams of scientists are now working on ways to essentially match the electrical stimulation to what happens in an individual patients brain.Deep brain stimulation is used to treat Parkinsons disease and several other disorders, but isnt approved by federal regulators for depression because results have been inconsistent. While some previous studies suggested benefits, two trials sponsored by U.S. device companies were stopped in the last decade because stimulation seemed no better than the placebo effect of a sham implant that provided no stimulation.But those studies didnt target individualized locations or patterns of electrical activity in peoples brains. It was one size fits all, said Dr. Darin Dougherty, director of neurotherapeutics at Massachusetts General Hospital, who worked on one of the halted trials. He called the personalized approach with Sarah, which he wasnt involved in, very exciting.One persons depression might look very different from another persons depression, said Dr. Katherine Scangos, an assistant professor of psychiatry at U.C.S.F. and an author of a report about Sarahs case, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine. The senior authors were Dr. Andrew Krystal, an expert in neuro-modulation and mood disorders, and Dr. Edward Chang, whose work includes brain implants for paralyzed patients who cannot speak.To identify the specific brain activity pattern linked to Sarahs depression, researchers conducted an intensive 10-day exploration of Sarahs brain, placing multiple electrodes in it and asking about her feelings when they applied stimulation to different locations in varying doses.ImageCredit...Mike Kai Chen for The New York TimesSarah remembers an aha moment when she felt like the Pillsbury Doughboy, emitting a giant belly laugh, which she said was the first time I spontaneously laughed and smiled in five years. Another feeling resembled being in front of a warm fire and reading a comforting book, while a negative sensation felt like nails on a chalkboard.Eventually, the team identified a specific pattern of electrical activity that coincided with Sarah becoming depressed.The exploratory phase guided the researchers to place the stimulation device in Sarahs right brain hemisphere linked to electrodes in two regions. One was the ventral striatum, involved in emotion, motivation and reward, where stimulation consistently eliminated her feelings of depression, and the other the amygdala, where changes could predict when her symptoms were most severe, Dr. Scangos said.While deep brain stimulation is typically delivered continuously, Sarahs device is set to supply only a six-second burst when it recognizes her depression-linked brain activity pattern. The goal, said Dr. Dougherty, is that stimulation will disrupt or shift the neural activity to produce a healthier pattern that will ease depressive symptoms.Sarah has continued taking psychiatric medications, and the stimulation hasnt eliminated depression-causing activity in her brain. But she can manage her illness much better, she said, instead of being unable to make even the smallest decisions, like what to eat.Now, youre experiencing that whole negative, depressive, whatever the triggering thing is, and then its like suddenly the ultra-rational side of you comes on and those emotions can be separated, she said in an interview, wearing a T-shirt that said Take it easy lemon squeezy.That separation helps her productively use tools from talk therapy, like staying calm and maintaining perspective.About 30 percent of people with depression dont respond to standard treatments or find the side effects intolerable. Deep brain stimulation wouldnt be appropriate for all because it costs tens of thousands of dollars and brain surgery to implant the device carries risks like infection. But if the new attempts work, it might help a significant number, experts said. Dr. Chang said the research may also lead to noninvasive approaches that would help more people.Our job now is really to figure out what is it that identifies who needs this kind of intervention, said Dr. Helen Mayberg, director of the Center for Advanced Circuit Therapeutics at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York City, who pioneered the concept of deep brain stimulation for depression nearly 20 years ago.Dr. Mayberg uses a different method of individualization. With imaging, she finds the location in each persons brain where four white matter bundles intersect near a key depression-related region. After implanting electrodes and a stimulation device, we pretty much set it and forget it, delivering stimulation continuously, while also helping patients with conventional therapy.ImageCredit...Mike Kai Chen for The New York TimesNeural activity is monitored to learn the brain signature that heralds an impending depressive relapse or need for a dose adjustment or just indicates that the person is just having a bad week, Dr. Mayberg said. She led one of the halted trials, but her work has also allowed patients to experience improvements that continue for years if stimulation is sustained.In another approach, Dr. Sameer Sheth, an associate professor of neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine, and colleagues study a patients specific brain activity pattern to identify which of billions of combinations of stimulation characteristics, like frequency and amplitude, improve that patients depression.He then tunes electrodes in two regions and applies that specific combination as continuous stimulation.Dr. Sheth said the first patient, given the device in March 2020, is remarkably well now, maintaining a relationship and becoming a father. To test for a placebo effect, researchers gradually stopped stimulation to one brain region without the patient knowing when. His depression got worse and worse said Dr. Sheth, until he needed rescue. After stimulation restarted, he improved, suggesting the effect is definitely stimulation-related.Several months ago, Sarah needed a rescue too. Shortly after she entered a study phase where the device is either turned off or left on for six weeks without the participant knowing which, the suicidal thoughts were back, Sarah said. Her family tried to get her hospitalized, but the hospitals were full. Things were really bad, Sarah said.She did have a very severe worsening of her depression, said Dr. Scangos. She said she couldnt disclose whether stimulation had been off or on, but said a device company technician was sent to Sarahs home to make a rescue change.Afterward, Sarah said, she improved again.Over the year, the number of times a day that Sarahs device has detected depression-linked brain activity and delivered stimulation has decreased somewhat, but is still substantial, Dr. Scangos said. Still, some days Sarah doesnt need the maximum amount the device is set to provide: 300 times or 30 total minutes daily. (It automatically stops around 6 p.m. because evening stimulation made her too alert to sleep.)Longer-term and more detailed data on Sarah will be published later, said the researchers, who have two other participants so far. The device is intentionally tuned so Sarah cannot feel the stimulation, but she believes she knows that its occurred because she subsequently develops a sense of emotional distance that keeps negative feelings compartmentalized, she said.Also, I feel alert, she said. I feel present. Thats a really good sign, said Dr. Dougherty, who is considering using a similar approach for depression and possibly addiction. The emotions are still there, but instead of sticking like mud, its running off like water.To help researchers correlate brain activity with emotional states, two or three times a day, Sarah holds a doughnut-shaped magnet to her head, triggering the device to save the next 90 seconds of neural activity, and she completes a mental health survey. Shes been encouraged to pick moments when shes in a very good mood or a bad mood, Dr. Scangos said. Also, twice daily, 12 minutes of neural data are automatically relayed to the device company and researchers.One question, experts said, is whether Sarahs results support the theory that stimulating briefly whenever depression begins works because it keeps the brain from becoming accustomed to the treatment. Or, Dr. Sheth asked, does Sarahs need for many daily doses after a year suggest continuous stimulation would be as or more effective?Another question is whether the therapy can prompt lasting brain changes to eventually avert depression with little or no continuing stimulation.ImageCredit...Ruth Fremson/The New York TimesResearchers, several of whom consult for device companies or have patents related to deep brain stimulation, expect it will take years to learn if individualized approaches are effective enough to be approved. Different methods might work for different peoples depression, and individualized stimulation might eventually help other psychiatric disorders, researcher say. The most elemental things have improved for Sarah, who said shes started to relearn my life and that hobbies I used to distract myself from suicidal thoughts suddenly became pleasurable again. When depressed, Sarah, a passionate cook and foodie, had such slow reflexes and trouble functioning that shed cut or burn herself in the kitchen and doctors told her it wasnt safe to cook anymore. Foods had little flavor. But after receiving the device, she ate Vietnamese pho in the hospital cafeteria and was thrilled she could taste the brightness and the herbs, she said. While being driven home from the hospital, she saw the marshes and exclaimed: God, the color differentiation is gorgeous. Now, she said, shes seeing things that are beautiful in the world, and when I was in the depths of depression, all I saw was what was ugly.If you are having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.",2
"Personal Tech|How to Add Hollywood Special Effects to Your Videoshttps://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/15/technology/personaltech/make-green-screen-video.htmlTech TipWith your smartphone, inexpensive software and a bit of cloth or paper, you can make your own green screen movies.May 15, 2019No matter what you call it chroma key, green screen or blue screen its the film and video technique that gives your local TV weatherperson something in common with the Avengers movies: artificial backgrounds inserted behind the action. You simply record your subject in front of a solid green or blue screen, and then add a touch of software magic to change the background.Dozens of free or inexpensive apps allow you to use the technique on your own clips. Its a great way to jazz up your presentations and other videos or to keep children busy with a weekend project filming their own toys in action scenes. Heres how to get started.Step 1: Set Up Your StudioFirst, you need a big piece of solid green or blue cloth or paper to use as a background when recording. Youll also need a place to hang it and strong lighting aimed at the screen to keep shadows and fabric wrinkles from showing up as blotches in your video. ImageCredit...J. D. Biersdorfer/The New York TimesYou can get a few yards of cloth at a fabric store for less than $20, or buy a professional chroma-key backdrop, starting around $30, at a specialty store like B&H Photo Video. If you have a major project, you can also find complete green-screen studio kits (including the backdrop, a frame to hang it on and studio lights) for less than $100 on Amazon and other sites.Chroma key typically uses green or blue backgrounds because those hues are farthest from human skin tones, making sure that the software doesnt mistake a human for the background. But make sure your subject isnt wearing clothes in the same backdrop color, because otherwise the clothes will disappear and become part of the background in the final video. Step 2: Get Your SoftwareIf you plan to do all your recording and editing work on your phone or tablet, pop into your app store and search for a green screen or chroma key app that suits your tastes and budget. Android Film FXs Green Screen Video app ($2) and Do Inks Green Screen for iOS ($3) are two inexpensive options. KineMaster for Android and iOS ($5 a month for the full version) can make green-screen videos and do all sorts of other moviemaking tasks.If you prefer to import the clips and edit on a desktop computer, Movavi Video Editor and Wondershare Filmora9 are both $40, and the industry standard, Adobe Premiere Pro ($21 a month), can also handle green-screen work. All three of those programs work on Windows and Mac systems and include a free trial period and they have more features than most mobile apps with support for more precise editing, special effects and different types of media. On a budget? Software like VSDC Free Video Editor for Windows or Apples iMovie for macOS is free. (The iMovie for iOS app does not include green- or blue-screen controls.)Step 3: Record the ActionOnce you hang your backdrop, make sure its as smooth as possible. Tape and clips can be used to stretch it tight against a wall or counter. Position your subject a few feet in front of the screen to avoid shadows, and begin recording. You may have to do a few takes to get the action the way you want it, especially when recording with unpredictable pets. If you want to be in the scene yourself, stick the phone or camera on a tripod, which also steadies the recording.Step 4: Select a New BackgroundIf your app does not offer alternative backgrounds to use during your initial recording, you can insert a different scene later. Most programs allow you to choose another video, a photograph or an animation to replace the green or blue screen in the background of your first video.You can also download green-screen clips and backgrounds online. Sites like Pexels, Pixabay and Videvo offer free or inexpensive content if you just want to play around or add unexpected elements into your video as you edit it together.Step 5: Fine-Tune the SceneChroma key works the same way in most programs, but check your apps help guide for specific instructions for deleting the green or blue backdrop. If youre using a full video-editing program (instead of a dedicated green-screen app for quick clips), you typically have more control and may even be able to compensate for uneven lighting by removing multiple shades of color. In addition to the chroma-key tool, programs like iMovie and VSDC Free Video Editor let you arrange your clips in different layers on a timeline, trim out the boring parts and add music to your project before you output the project and show off your Hollywood special-effects skills to the world.",5
"Business|The Week in Business: Dont Say You Werent Warnedhttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/28/business/the-week-in-business-coronavirus-states-economy.htmlwith interestJune 28, 2020Have a safe and socially distanced July Fourth. You know the rules, annoying as they are. And fresh outbreaks in many states prove the dangers of wishful thinking. Heres what else you need to know for the week ahead in business and tech. ImageCredit...Giacomo BagnaraWhats Up? (June 21-27)Too Much, Too SoonThat terrifying resurgence of coronavirus infections that health officials warned us about? Its here. The United States reported its largest one-day total of new cases last week, more than two months after the previous high. This time, its ravaging states in the South and West that lifted their business restrictions aggressively. Several states, including North Carolina, Louisiana and Kansas, hit pause on reopening plans, and Texas and Florida shut down bars again. Markets fell as investors realized that the virus is far from contained, and the International Monetary Fund warned that the global economy is looking even worse than it previously thought it would, as businesses around the world continue to reel from the pandemic.Access DeniedBack in April, President Trump ordered a 60-day ban on new green card holders coming to the United States. Last week, he extended the restriction through the end of the year, and expanded it to include many temporary work visas. (Green card holders who are already in the United States can stay.) The point of the freeze is for American workers to be first in line for jobs as the economy recovers from the pandemic. But some business groups say this will hurt them more than help. The order will keep out foreign researchers and academics, and will also affect highly skilled workers in tech and medicine and at multinational corporations.Facebook on the DefensiveThe social media giant lost a big antitrust case on Tuesday, when Germanys highest court ruled that the platform had abused its dominance by harvesting users personal data. Its a big victory for proponents of tougher tech-company regulation and may embolden other European countries to follow suit. Back in the United States, Facebook faced a boycott by advertisers over its refusal to moderate inflammatory content and misinformation. Until now, the company has taken a hands-off stance, but on Friday, it introduced new measures to label political content and posts about voting, as well as crack down on hateful language.ImageCredit...Giacomo BagnaraWhats Next? (June 28-July 4)Hold the MeatPlant-based meat is starting to sound less weird as companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods expand their partnerships with restaurants and fast-food chains. And the pandemic hasnt hurt sales: Impossible Foods chief executive said that business has been bolstered by the recent virus-related meat shortages. Burger King added the Impossible Croissanwich to its menu this month (it already sells an Impossible Whopper), and Starbucks began serving a breakfast sandwich made with Impossible sausage at its American locations last week. Starbucks also serves products made by Beyond Meat at its stores in China and Canada so the vegan meat race is on.Out of the WeedsThe pharmaceutical giant Bayer will pay one of the largest settlements in the history of American civil litigation $10 billion to plaintiffs who claim that one of its products, the weedkiller Roundup, causes cancer. Bayer consistently maintains that Roundup is safe to use and will continue to sell it without warning labels. The settlement also includes funds for potential future claims. It may seem a risky bet, but Roundup is such a big seller that Bayer is willing to take on the liability.Your Apps Are Watching for NowApple is introducing new privacy features that will make it harder for apps to track your behavior. As you may already know (or suspect), many apps on your phone stalk your location and digital activities, and theres not much you can do about it besides delete them. But Apple is promising to make your phone a little less creepy with its new operating system, iOS 14, which comes out this fall and will require third-party apps to ask your permission to monitor you.What Else?The Treasury Department failed to check death records before sending out stimulus funds. As a result, $1.4 billion in aid went to dead people. Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay $2.1 billion in damages to women who claim they got ovarian cancer from the companys talcum products, including its widely used baby powder. And the struggling airline industry may take another hit if the European Union bars American travelers this summer, a decision that Europe is considering in light of the United States failure to contain the coronavirus.Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here.",0
"Knicks 117, Nuggets 90Credit...Michelle V. Agins/The New York TimesFeb. 7, 2014Late in the first quarter, Coach Mike Woodson left his seat on the bench and stood with his arms folded as he surveyed a familiar scene: missed box-outs, errant passes, poor defensive rotations. What made the situation unusual was that Woodson seemed to delight in the mistakes, largely because the Denver Nuggets were making most of them.With the Knicks lurching toward the All-Star break, they finally unearthed some fluid play in a 117-90 victory Friday night at Madison Square Garden. The win ended a three-game losing streak and provided Woodson with a reprieve for a few hours, at least from questions about his future.Carmelo Anthony scored 31 points to lead the Knicks (20-30), who shot 56.5 percent from the field and outrebounded the Nuggets by 43-34. Amare Stoudemire finished with 17 points and 8 rebounds, and Jeremy Tyler added 12 points and 11 rebounds.We took a stand, J. R. Smith said. The communication level was extremely high.The Nuggets (24-24), on the other hand, looked as if they were wading through a vat of mud. They committed 24 turnovers and shot just 42.1 percent.I was surprised that we slowed them down as much as we did, Anthony said.It took the Knicks 50 games to crack the 20-win mark, but they somehow remain a viable contender for a playoff spot. This has less to do with them, of course, than with the failings of the Eastern Conference. Many teams besides the Knicks have been dreadful. The quest at this point is to see who can be less so.Consistency has been a major problem for the Knicks. Woodson has referred to the roller coaster, which looked like this ahead of Fridays game: win five, lose five, win four, lose three. As a result, Woodson recently downgraded the teams most pressing goal to merely making the playoffs. Once upon a time, he had hoped to win the Atlantic Division. Thats somewhat slipping away from us right now, he said before Fridays game.Amid all the struggles, Woodson has seldom lost his composure in public. He came close after Wednesdays loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, when he berated one of the referees as they left the court together. Then, in a radio appearance Thursday, Woodson assessed the season as kind of a disaster from a coaching standpoint, citing his inability to get his players to perform at a high level.We have to help him, too, Anthony said. At the end of the day, he is the coach. We have to go out there and execute that. Sometimes our inconsistency comes from us not playing hard and not doing the little things to win.Woodsons lengthy preamble to Fridays game included his usual appearance with the news media, and while he seldom looks comfortable in this sort of setting planted on a dais, under the lights, a table providing his only protection from the notebook-toting masses his most recent sessions have moved into a redundant theater of the absurd.On Friday, the question-and-answer period lasted 6 minutes 48 seconds, which was more than enough time for Woodson to address the teams playoff prospects (We still got to push), his job status (Thats not my call) and his general fitness for the position. At least Woodson was familiar with the questions. He began fielding similar ones in December.Im still the head coach of the Knicks, and I proudly say that, Woodson said as he gently tapped at the table. And I still have a job to do. Do I think Im the guy for the job? Absolutely, I do. Thats not going to ever change, as long as Im the head coach of the Knicks.Those interested in parsing his words were probably intrigued by his repeated use of the word still, which implied an understanding that nothing lasts forever. He could be gone tomorrow, or next week, or several seasons from now a fate to be determined by the Knicks owner, James L. Dolan, who observed Fridays game from his seat along the baseline.Dolan was treated to another strong effort by Anthony, who made four of his first five shots. (Anthony played down a report of a recent meeting with Dolan, describing it as an informal chat. I had tea, Anthony said.)Tyler came off the bench to spark the Knicks in the second quarter, racing to the rim for an open-court dunk. Raymond Felton and Anthony later drained consecutive 3-pointers as the Knicks scored the final 9 points of the half for a 50-44 lead. Woodson credited an energetic practice on Thursday.We went after it, Anthony said. We got some things out of that practice.The Knicks continued to build on their advantage in the third quarter, with Anthony at the center of it all. He buried a midrange jumper, connected on one of his four 3-pointers and later worked his way past a series of defenders for a 3-point play and an 83-66 cushion.Anthony started the fourth quarter on the bench and remained there. Like Woodson, he could enjoy the view.",4
"Credit...Daniel Leal-Olivas/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMarch 13, 2017LONDON New battle lines were drawn over Britains future on Monday, when the government secured unrestricted authority to negotiate withdrawal from the European Union while confronting the possibility that in doing so, it may bring about an independent Scotland.In a day of Ping-Pong, as the back and forth between the House of Commons and the House of Lords is known, Prime Minister Theresa May finally won her parliamentary battle to start talks on Britains exit from the European Union, unhindered by any legislative constraints.But the votes in Parliament came hours after the first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, raised the stakes by demanding a new referendum on Scottish independence. While acknowledging that the Scots had rejected independence in a referendum just three years ago, she said the country found itself at a hugely important crossroads because of the withdrawal, known as Brexit.After Monday nights votes, David Davis, the cabinet minister responsible for negotiating Brexit, said Parliament had supported the government in its determination to get on with the job of leaving the E.U. and negotiating a positive new partnership with its remaining member states.We are now on the threshold of the most important negotiation for our country in a generation, Mr. Davis added in a statement.The House of Commons last month gave the prime minister and her government the approval the High Court said they needed to proceed with negotiations on Brexit. But the unelected House of Lords then approved two amendments calling for guarantees that European Union residents of Britain have the right to remain and giving Parliament more say in the final deal on leaving the union.The government argued that it should guarantee the rights of European Union nationals only when Britain received reciprocal assurances about its citizens in continental Europe. It also said that giving Parliament more say over a Brexit deal would impede Mrs. Mays negotiating freedom.On Monday night, elected lawmakers in the House of Commons overturned both amendments, and the House of Lords yielded by a significant majority, in line with parliamentary protocol, handing Mrs. May her wish of unimpeded authority. She is now in a position to fulfill her promise to send formal notification, by the end of the month, of the start of withdrawal talks under Article 50 of the European Unions treaty.Ms. Sturgeons call for a new referendum underscores the mood of uncertainty within one of Europes most durable political systems, after the divisive referendum in June in which 52 percent of Britons voted to leave the European Union.Scotland voted 62 to 38 percent to remain in the bloc, however, illustrating the divergence between Scottish and English politics. Since then, Mrs. May has rejected calls from Ms. Sturgeon for a so-called soft Brexit that would keep Scotland, at least, inside the European Unions single market and its tariff-free customs union.With opinion polls showing Scots almost equally divided over the merits of independence, the threat of another referendum that could break the United Kingdom apart complicates what was already a highly complex Brexit negotiation for Mrs. May.Speaking in Edinburgh on Monday morning, Ms. Sturgeon said she would seek permission from the Scottish Parliament to hold a second referendum, which she said should be staged between fall 2018 and spring 2019 before Britain quits the European Union.While that should be straightforward, given the dominance of her pro-independence Scottish National Party in the Edinburgh Parliament, the approval of Mrs. May could prove more complicated. Politically, it may be hard for Mrs. May to refuse, though she may try to delay any new vote in Scotland until after the withdrawal, calculating that this would make it harder for the independence campaign to prevail.Ms. Sturgeon said that unless Mrs. May made further concessions, Scots should be able to choose whether to follow other Britons into a hard Brexit, or to become an independent country able to secure a real partnership of equals with the rest of the U.K. and our own relationship with Europe.She also argued that, in its current, weakened state, and trailing in opinion polls, Britains opposition Labour Party stands little chance of winning a general election, and that independence was the only way for Scots to prevent themselves from being governed possibly for a decade by Mrs. Mays Conservative Party, which has limited support in Scotland.In response, Mrs. May said a referendum would set Scotland on course for uncertainty and division, arguing that most Scottish voters did not want another vote on independence.During the previous referendum, the economic case against Scottish independence seemed to prove decisive and that argument may have gotten stronger since, because of the global decline in the price of oil, a bulwark of the Scottish economy. In 2014, however, opponents of independence argued that an independent Scotland would lose its membership of the European Union.",6
"Science|A New Formula to Help Tame Chinas Yellow Riverhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/02/science/china-yellow-river-xiaolangdi-dam.htmlTrilobitesCredit...Getty ImagesJune 2, 2017Each year thousands of tourists flock to a reservoir along the Yellow River in China to witness a ritual cleansing so violent that it can look as if the earth just exploded. At the end of June and the start of July, for as long as two weeks before the flood season, Chinese officials open large portals along the walls of the Xiaolangdi Dam, releasing clear and muddy water simultaneously from the reservoir above to the river below. It gushes out, and in some years clouds the color of doom ascend beyond the dams walls.The Yellow River is considered the cradle of Chinas civilization but also its sorrow. Its vast floodplains coaxed people in for agriculture. Yet its violent floods have killed millions.The precautionary purging at the Xiaolangdi Dam, which has occurred annually since 2002, is the latest high-tech attempt to prevent flooding and tame the Yellow River, which today threatens more than 80 million people. It carries sediment more concentrated than in any other river in the world so much that tiny particles of sand and silt clog reservoirs, raise riverbeds, break levees and cause potentially catastrophic floods. During what is called the Water and Sediment Regulation Discharge Project at Xiaolangdi Dam, muddy water evacuates sediment from the reservoir, and clear water washes sand out from the channel below to reduce flood risk.The annual purge can lower the riverbed by about six feet a year on average, but a surprising discovery about the rivers bottom, as well as its unusual capacity to carry high loads of sediment, could one day mean that the purge may not be as effective at preventing floods. In a study published last month in the journal Science Advances, researchers suggest new considerations to take into account when conducting this yearly event.Previous models couldnt explain how the Yellow River transports about a billion tons of sediment thousands of miles to the sea each year. Compared with the Mississippi River, it holds three times as much sediment and just a tenth of the water. But Hongbo Ma and Jeffrey A. Nittrouer, both geologists at Rice University and lead authors of the study, examined historical data and scanned the bed of the river with 3-D sonar.ImageCredit...Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesIt was very striking to see that the Yellow River bottom is basically flat, Dr. Ma said.It was assumed that the rivers flow produced relatively tall, closely spaced dunes that slowed the water and sucked up energy that might otherwise be available for sediment transport. But the Yellow River, with its fine sediment particles, had low dunes spaced far apart, freeing more energy to move the sediment.With this discovery, the researchers and their colleagues developed a universal formula that could be used on all kinds of rivers to predict the exact sediment amounts traveling in the fluid. They can better predict where and when floods will occur or new land will be formed.We want to make the Yellow River the poster child of rivers and deltas around the world, Dr. Nittrouer said.At the Xiaolangdi Dam, competing systems may simultaneously lower the riverbed as clear water flushes away sediment and raise it as sandy water forms dunes that slow the sediment flow. Combining the new formula with the old model could help operators prevent more floods by achieving a better balance between the systems.Last year, officials unexpectedly canceled the release because there wasnt enough water or muck to need flushing, possibly because of lighter rainfall.To not disappoint tourists, they released clear water from the dam for just 15 minutes.Its unclear what to expect this year. It would have to be the end of June or July, Dr. Ma said, but honestly were not aware of whether this event will happen or not.",7
"Nearly everything in your home including air-conditioners, thermostats, lights and garage doors can be connected to the internet and be remotely controlled with a mobile device or smart speaker. But setting up a so-called smart home can be mind-boggling: There is a plethora of different accessories that work only with certain products, and some work better than others. Here's a guide to help you sort through the jumble and become acclimated to your first voice-controlled smart home.First, Choose Your AssistantAmazon's AlexaPros: If you want to quickly get started with a smart home, buying an Echo product is your best bet. Amazons Echo products are easy to set up and plug in anywhere that you need to summon Alexa. At $50, Echo Dot, the smaller speaker, is one of the cheapest smart home controllers in the market. Alexa has more than 10,000 Skills, or third-party capabilities, making it the most broadly supported smart home hub. The smartphone apps for setting up Echo products work with Apple and Android devices. Cons: Amazons Alexa app for iPhones and Android phones, required for setting up some smart home products, can be clunky. Alexa sometimes has difficulty responding to what you are asking it to do. The speakers on Echo products are generally mediocre. You cant trigger Alexa by speaking to a smartphone; you have to talk to the speaker itself. In its privacy policy, Amazon says it takes no responsibility for third-party products that work with Alexa. In other words, the onus is on you to find out what third-party home accessory companies can do with the data they collect from you. Google's AssistantPros: Googles Home speaker and smartphones running newer versions of Android include Assistant. At $130, Google Home costs $50 less than Amazons standard Echo speaker. In terms of artificial intelligence, Assistant is generally smarter than Alexa and Siri because it is powered by the brains of Google search, meaning you can ask a broader array of questions and are more likely get a correct response. Cons: You summon Assistant by saying O.K., Google, which gets annoying. There are far more smart home products supporting Alexa than Googles Assistant. Google Homes audio quality is just mediocre. While Assistant is slightly smarter than other virtual assistants, it is still flawed and has trouble responding to some requests appropriately. Googles privacy policy on the data it collects with Google Home is vague. It says: Google collects data thats meant to make our services faster, smarter, more relevant and more useful to you. Apple's SiriPros: With privacy in mind, Apple worked directly with home accessory makers to ensure that the data transferred between accessories and Apple devices is secure and encrypted. The integration of Apples HomeKit into its mobile devices makes it much easier to set up Siri with home accessories. Cons: Partly because of Apples stringent privacy requirements, it has taken longer for smart home accessories supporting Siri to reach the market, meaning there are fewer available. Siri sometimes has trouble understanding what you are asking it to do. Siri is exclusive to Apple products. Choose Your HardwareAfter you pick your virtual assistant, youll be able to choose a piece of hardware that will become your primary smart home controller. Amazons Alexa: Echo Dot, Echo and Echo Show Googles Assistant: Google Home, Newer Android Smartphones Apples Siri: iPhones, iPads and Apple Watch The related reading below will help to guide your decision, but cost will likely play a factor, along with your need for a solid set of speakers or desire to have an additional device in your home in the first place.Then, the fun begins. With your virtual assistant you can set up your home a number of ways to make it smarter. Heres a rundown of the different assistants and some products that work well with them.More About Personal AssistantsMore About Personal AssistantsPutting Your Assistant to Work: AlexaControlling Your LightsA wide variety of smart lighting is on the market. While some systems require a so-called bridge, a device that connects with a Wi-Fi router and talks to the smart light, there are also smart light bulbs with a built-in Wi-Fi connection. Lifx is one of these that dont require a bridge so its setup is relatively simple. The bulbs are multi-colored and dimmable, but because they rely on Wi-Fi, their reliability will depend on your Wi-Fi router. To use your Alexa to control a Lifx bulb, you will need: An Amazon Echo product A Lifx bulb like the A19 An Apple or Android smartphone for setting up Alexa to talk to the bulb How to control the lights with Alexa using a Lifx smart bulb: Screw the Lifx bulb into the socket and flip on the light switch. On your smartphone, download the Lifx app from the Apple or Android app store. Open the Lifx app. On the screen, tap the + or Add Bulbs button and follow the setup instructions to connect the bulb to your Wi-Fi network. Give the bulb a friendly name like Lamp. Open the Amazon Alexa app. Tap the menu icon and select Skills. Search for the Lifx skill and enable it. Tap the menu icon and select Smart Home. Tap Devices, then tap Discover. The app will scan for devices and discover the smart bulb named Lamp. Test the light. Make sure the light switch is on. With your Echo nearby, say Alexa, turn off the lamp. Then say, Alexa, turn on the lamp. Then try things like Alexa, dim the lamp and Alexa, brighten the lamp. Read more about the best smart lightbulbs on The Wirecutter.Controlling a FanThere are many plug-in appliances, like fans, electric water kettles and coffee makers, that you probably wish were a little bit smarter. By plugging them into a smart plug, you use a personal assistant to do things like set a specific time for the kettle to heat water in the morning or switch the power on or off remotely. These rely on Wi-Fi to work, so their reliability will only be as good as your signal where they are located. For this hypothetical example, we will set up a fan to work with Alexa and a smart plug from TP-Link. You will need: An Amazon Echo product A TP-Link smart plug A plug-in fan with a physical power switch that can stay in the on position An Apple or Android smartphone for setting up Alexa to talk to the smart plug How to control an electric fan with Alexa using a TP-Link smart plug: On your smartphone, download the Kasa app from the Apple or Android app store. Open the Kasa app and register for an account. Once logged in, tap the Smart Plug icon. Plug the Smart Plug into a power outlet. Plug your electric fan into the Smart Plug. The light on the plug will turn amber. In the Kasa app, follow the instructions to connect your smartphone to the plug. In the Kasa app, give the Smart Plug a friendly name like Fan. Turn on the Remote Control option and follow the instructions to connect the plug to your Wi-Fi network. Open the Amazon Alexa app. Tap the menu icon and select Skills. Search for the TP-Link Kasa skill and enable it. In the Amazon Alexa app, tap the menu icon and select Smart Home. Tap Devices, then tap Discover. The Alexa app will scan for devices and discover the smart plug labeled Fan. Now test the fan. Make sure the fans power switch is in the on position. With your Echo nearby, say Alexa, turn on the fan. Then say, Alexa, turn off the fan. Read more about the best smart switches from The Wirecutter.Controlling the HeatSmart thermostats, like Nest, connect to the internet via Wi-Fi so they can be controlled with a smartphone or virtual assistant. The main benefit of a smart thermostat is that it can detect when you arent home and determine when to shut off the heat or air-conditioning to preserve energy. Setting up a smart thermostat with a virtual assistant gives you the extra perk of being able to set the temperature just by speaking a voice command. For this example, we will set up a Nest thermostat to work with Alexa. You will need: An Amazon Echo product, A Nest thermostat, An Apple or Android smartphone for setting up Alexa to talk to the thermostat. How to control a Nest smart thermostat with Alexa: After installing your Nest thermostat, open the Amazon Alexa app on your smartphone. Tap the menu icon and select Skills. Search for the Nest Thermostat skill and enable it. In the Amazon Alexa app, tap the menu icon and tap Smart Home. Tap Devices, then tap Discover. The app will scan for devices and discover the thermostat. Now test the thermostat. If you gave it a friendly name like Nest, try saying Alexa, change the Nest to 70 degrees. Or say Alexa, what temperature is my Nest set to? Learn more about the best smart thermostats from The Wirecutter.More About Amazon's AlexaPutting Your Assistant to Work: Apple's SiriControlling the LightsAdding a set of smart light bulbs is an easy way to get started building a smart-home system. Some of these systems require a so-called bridge, a device that connects with a Wi-Fi router and transmits data to a receiver on the smart light. But the bridge on the Philips Hue bulb can be used to operate up to 50 bulbs in one home, making it an investment that you can use to slowly increase the number of smart bulbs you use. Here are steps for using Siri to control a Philips Hue bulb. You will need: An iPhone or iPad A Philips Hue lighting kit that works with HomeKit How to control a lamp with Siri using a Philips Hue smart bulb: Follow the instructions to connect a Philips Hue bridge with a Philips Hue light bulb. Open the Home app on your iPhone. Tap the + symbol in the upper-right hand corner and then tap Add Accessory. Wait for the accessory to be discovered. If asked to Add Accessory to Network, tap allow. Use the camera to scan the accessory setup code on the bottom of the Philips Hue Bridge. Follow the instructions in the app to finish setting up your light and give it a friendly name like Lamp. Now test the light. With your iPhone nearby, say Hey, Siri, turn on my lamp. Then say Hey, Siri, turn off my lamp. Read more about the best smart lightbulbs on The Wirecutter.Controlling a FanBeyond lights, there are likely many plug-in appliances, like fans, electric water kettles and coffee makers, in your home that you probably wish were a little bit smarter. A smart plug and a virtual assistant can allow you to do things like set a timer to turn on your kettle to heat water or turn on your fan remotely to cool off your dog when you are away from home. For this hypothetical example, we will set up a fan to work with Siri and a smart plug iHome. You will need: An iPhone or iPad An iHome smart plug A plug-in fan How to control an electric fan with Siri using iHomes SmartPlug: Plug the SmartPlug into a power outlet. The green light will blink. On your iPhone, open the Home app. Tap the + symbol in the upper-right hand corner and then tap Add Accessory. Wait for the accessory to be discovered. If asked to Add Accessory to Network, tap allow. Use the camera to scan the accessory setup code on the bottom of the SmartPlug. Give the plug a friendly name like Fan. Now test the fan. Make sure the fans power switch is in the on position. With your iPhone nearby, say Hey, Siri, turn on the fan. Then say, Hey, Siri, turn off the fan. Read more about the best smart switches from The Wirecutter.Controlling the HeatSmart thermostats connect to the internet via Wi-Fi so they can be controlled with a smartphone or virtual assistant. They are beneficial because they can determine when to shut the heat or air-conditioning to save energy. Setting up a smart thermostat with a virtual assistant gives you the extra perk of being able to control the temperature remotely just by speaking a voice command. For this example, we will set up an Emerson Sensi Touch Wi-Fi Thermostat to work with Siri. You will need: An iPhone An Emerson Sensi Touch Wi-Fi thermostat How to set a smart thermostat with Siri: Follow the instructions to install the Emerson thermostat hardware. On the thermostat, press the Menu button, then Wi-Fi and connect the thermostat to your Wi-Fi network. On your iPhone, open the Home app. Tap the + symbol in the upper-right hand corner and then tap Add Accessory. Wait for the accessory to be discovered. If asked to Add Accessory to Network, tap allow. Follow the steps to connect the thermostat with Apples HomeKit. Now test the thermostat. With your iPhone nearby, say Hey, Siri, set my thermostat to 70 degrees. Or say Hey, Siri, what is my homes temperature? Also try, Hey, Siri, lower my thermostat by 2 degrees. Learn more about the best smart thermostats from The Wirecutter.More About Apple's SiriGet the Personal Tech NewsletterEvery week, get the latest gadget news, reviews and videos.Putting Your Assistant to Work: Google's AssistantGoogle's AssistantGoogles Home smart speaker and some Android smartphones include Googles Assistant. To summon it, just say O.K., Google. To find compatible products, look for accessories that are labeled Works with the Google Assistant on the packaging or in the product description.Controlling the LightsSmart lights come in two varieties. Some systems require a so-called bridge, a device that connects with a Wi-Fi router and talks to the smart light. There are also smart light bulbs with a built-in Wi-Fi connection like Lifx, which dont require a bridge a simpler setup. These bulbs are multi-colored and dimmable, however their reliability they are will depend on your service provider. Here are steps for using Google Assistant to control a Lifx bulb. You will need: A Google Home speaker A Lifx bulb like the A19 An Apple or Android smartphone for setting up Google Home to talk to the bulb How to control Lifx lights with Google Home: Screw the Lifx bulb into the lamp socket and flip on the light switch. On your smartphone, download the Lifx app. Open the Lifx app. On the screen, tap the + or Add Bulbs button and follow the setup instructions to connect the bulb to your Wi-Fi network. With Google Home set up, you should have already installed the Google Home app on your smartphone. Open the app and tap the menu icon in the upper-left corner. Then tap Home Control. Tap the + sign to add a device. Tap LiFx and sign in to your Lifx account. Tap the Authorize button to let Google Assistant control the light. Assign the light to a room, such as the living room. This will make referring to the lights easier. Now test the lamp. With Google Home nearby, say O,K., Google, turn on the light in the living room. Then say O.K., Google, turn off the light in the living room. Read more about the best smart lightbulbs on The Wirecutter.Controlling A FanYou can use your assistant to control many free-standing appliances with the help of a smart plug. By plugging your fan or coffee maker into a smart plug, you can do things like set a specific time for the device to go on and control them remotely. For this hypothetical example, we will set up a fan to work with Google Assistant and a smart plug from iHome. You will need: A Google Home An iHome smart plug An Android device or iPhone to set up the Google Home to talk to the smart plug A fan How to control an electric fan with Google Home using iHomes SmartPlug: On your smartphone, download the iHome Control app and open it. Plug the smart plug into a power outlet. Plug the fans power cable into the smart plug. The green light on the SmartPlug will blink. In iHome Control app, tap the Devices tab, tap Add Device and follow the directions to finish the setup. Use the app to scan the accessory setup code on the bottom of the SmartPlug. Give the plug a friendly name like Fan. On your smartphone, open the Google Home app. Tap the menu button in the top-left corner. Tap Home control. In the devices tab, tap Add. Select iHome and log in to your iHome account to authorize Google Assistant to control the smart plug. Now test the fan. Make sure the fans power switch is in the on position. With your iPhone nearby, say O.K., Google, turn on the fan. Then say, O.K., Google, turn off the fan. Read more about the best smart switches from The Wirecutter.Controlling the HeatSmart thermostats like Nest connect to the internet via Wi-Fi so they can be controlled with a smartphone or virtual assistant. The main benefit of a smart thermostat like Nest is that it can detect when you arent home and determine when to shut off the heat or air-conditioning to save energy. Setting up a smart thermostat with a virtual assistant gives you the extra perk of being able to set the temperature just by speaking a voice command. For this example, we will set up a Nest thermostat to work with Google Home. You will need: A Google Home speaker A Nest thermostat An Apple or Android smartphone for setting up Google Home to talk to the thermostat How to set a Nest smart thermostat with Google Home: After installing and setting up your Nest thermostat, open the Google Home app on your smartphone. In the top left corner, tap the menu icon. Tap More settings, then tap Home control. In the Devices tab, tap Add. Select Nest. Follow the steps to authorize Google Home to access Nest. Now test the thermostat. With Google Home nearby, say O.K., Google, set the heat to 71. Or say O.K., Google, whats the temperature inside? Learn more about the best smart thermostats from The Wirecutter.More About Google's Assistant",5
"Middle East|Suicide Bombers Kill Dozens at Wedding Party in Iraqhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/09/world/middleeast/iraq-tikrit-isis-wedding-party.htmlMarch 9, 2017BAGHDAD Suicide bombers struck a village north of Baghdad as a wedding party gathered in the evening, killing at least 26 people and wounding scores, a government spokesman said on Thursday.The assault began late Wednesday when an assailant wearing an explosives-laden belt walked into the wedding party at an open area in Hajaj, near the city of Tikrit, about 120 miles north of Baghdad.After the bomber detonated his explosives and people scrambled to help the wounded, a second assailant blew himself up at the scene, Ali al-Hamdani, a provincial spokesman, told The Associated Press.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, which wounded an estimated 67 people, but suspicion has already fallen on the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL.ImageCredit...Zohra Bensemra/ReutersThe wedding party was being held for a family that had been displaced from Anbar Province, which is in western Iraq and is home to a tribe that opposes the Islamic State group.Islamic State militants captured Tikrit during its blitz across Iraq in the summer of 2014, when the group seized nearly a third of the country.Iraqi forces drove the militants from Tikrit in April 2015, but the Islamic State has continued to stage deadly attacks in and around the city.It uses such assaults to distract from its losses as government forces try to retake all of Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city, from militant control.",6
"Credit...Silvia Izquierdo/Associated PressNov. 1, 2018RIO DE JANEIRO The federal judge who doomed former President Luiz Incio Lula da Silvas bid to return to power by convicting him on corruption charges last year, agreed on Thursday to take a cabinet post in the government of the countrys new president, Jair Bolsonaro.The decision by the judge, Srgio Moro, to take the helm of the Justice Ministry was met with both outrage and jubilation, a reflection of how polarizing he has become.The position is newly reconfigured to oversee efforts to fight organized crime and corruption. Mr. Moro, the most visible law enforcement figure in a sweeping corruption inquiry that began in 2014, has been hailed at home and abroad as a crusading disrupter of a political class many saw as descending into kleptocracy.Yet some Brazilians also came to regard him as a political operator doing the bidding of conservative politicians, particularly as he oversaw the swift prosecution of Mr. da Silva on corruption and money laundering charges.The conviction, upheld by an appeals court early this year, rendered Mr. da Silva ineligible to run for office. Mr. da Silva, who served two terms as president and left office in 2010 with a record approval rating, was at one point the front-runner in this years presidential contest. Now, he is serving a 12-year sentence and considers himself a political prisoner.Fraud of the century! Senator Gleisi Hoffmann, the head of Mr. da Silvas Workers Party wrote on Twitter in response to Mr. Moros appointment. She charged that Mr. Bolsonaro, a far-right politician, only got elected because Lula was unfairly convicted and prevented from participating in the elections.Mr. Bolsonaro on Sunday handily defeated Fernando Haddad, the candidate the Workers Party put forward in the final weeks of the campaign after it became clear Mr. da Silva could not run.Mr. Moro and Mr. Bolsonaro discussed the terms of the job during a meeting at Mr. Bolsonaros home in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday morning.Mr. Moro said the job presented him with a unique opportunity to consolidate and broaden Brazils movement to stamp out corruption. He said his decision should not call into question the impartiality of the judiciary.As a judge, my rulings speak for themselves, and they are substantiated, he wrote in a text message. Almost all of them have been upheld on appeal. So its not just the work of one person. I think people will understand that.Joining Mr. Bolsonaros administration may enable Mr. Moro, 46, to sell reluctant lawmakers on a series of anti-corruption measures that members of the judiciary have sought over several years.ImageCredit...Leo Correa/Associated PressBut tying his lot to Mr. Bolsonaro, a deeply polarizing figure, could hurt Mr. Moros reputation and weaken confidence in the judiciary, analysts said.Mr. Bolsonaro has exalted the countrys military dictatorship and has endorsed a draconian approach to restoring security, which critics say amounts to an endorsement of extrajudicial killings.Mr. Moro took several actions during the final months of the campaign that stood to help Mr. Bolsonaro. They included making public last month the testimony of a former minister who had implicated Mr. da Silva in corruption.In the short term, the optics are not very positive, said Matthew Taylor, a professor at American University who has interviewed Mr. Moro as part of his research into corruption in Brazil. Referring to the Workers Party by its Portuguese initials, he added: It plays into the P.T.s narrative of a rigged playing field and a judiciary that is partisan.Still, Mr. Taylor and other analysts said the strategic smarts that made Mr. Moro a successful judge may bring about positive changes.Moro is more than qualified to be the minister of justice, said Roberta Braga, a Brazil expert at the Atlantic Council. It bodes well for passing structural anti-corruption reforms.Mr. Moros name had been floated as a presidential contender in recent years, but he said repeatedly and emphatically that he intended to steer clear of politics.Joice Hasselmann, a journalist who wrote a biography of Mr. Moro and was elected to Congress last month, said Mr. Moro overcame his reservations about entering politics because he felt the responsibility when he was called upon.Ms. Hasselmann, a staunch ally of Mr. Bolsonaro, said Mr. Moro was assured that he will have the freedom to pursue corruption without political interference. His arrival in the capital, Brasila, will be greeted with fear by much of the old guard, she predicted.Im sure several of the political chieftains are despairing, Ms. Hasselmann said in an interview. They will have someone very close who can cross the street and haul them to jail.Mr. Moro has written extensively about anti-corruption campaigns in other countries, including in Italy. In the text message, he drew a parallel between his career and that of the Italian judge Giovanni Falcone, who took on the Sicilian Mafia during the 1980s. Mr. Falcone was assassinated by mob leaders in 1992.The celebrated Italian jurist, who was far better than I, also left the bench and went to work at the justice ministry, having grasped the need for broader measures against the Mafia, Mr. Moro wrote.",6
"Credit...Adam Glanzman/Getty ImagesMay 26, 2019BOSTON At 42, Zdeno Chara is 14 years older than the next oldest Bruins defenseman, Torey Krug.Of the four other blue liners who will take the ice for Boston against the St. Louis Blues in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals on Monday night, the next oldest is a second-year defenseman, Matt Grzelcyk, 25, and the youngest is Charas defensive partner, Charlie McAvoy, 21. McAvoy was born 32 days after Chara made his N.H.L. debut for the Islanders on Nov. 19, 1997.Chara was 29 when he signed with the Bruins as a free agent from Ottawa in 2006 and was immediately named captain. He won the Norris Trophy as the leagues best defenseman in 2009 he has been a finalist four other times and was a bulwark in 2011 when Boston won its first Stanley Cup in 39 years. Yet his greatest and most lasting contribution may be the knowledge he has imparted to the current crop of Bruins defensemen.Connor Clifton, 24, a rookie, spent most of this season with Bostons American Hockey League affiliate in Providence, R.I., but was called up when the veterans John Moore and Kevan Miller went out with injuries. Clifton played a key role in the sweep of the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference finals, and he credits Chara with showing him what is required to excel in the N.H.L.Hes the ultimate professional, said Clifton, a New Jersey native who played four years at Quinnipiac University. The way he takes care of himself, the way he carries himself, the way he leads the group he rubs off a little on everyone, especially the younger guys.As a 20-year-old rookie with the Islanders, Chara was mentored by a 25-year-old Scott Lachance. Chara, a Slovak, spoke little English at the time and was far from a finished product, but as his game and language skills developed, he began taking a larger role with players who needed the kind of help he had received.ImageCredit...Robert Laberge/Allsport, via Getty ImagesTwo years ago, as a 20-year-old rookie, Brandon Carlo was paired with Chara on Bostons top defensive unit.Coming into the N.H.L. isnt easy, said Carlo, who was the No. 37 overall pick in the 2015 draft. There are a lot of mind-set things you go through, like, Am I going to stay up here or get sent down? Just from the way he does things, on and off the ice, by watching him you can understand a lot more about the game.Carlo sustained a concussion in Bostons last regular-season game that season and missed the 2017 playoffs. That created an opportunity for McAvoy, then 19 and just a couple of weeks removed from playing for Boston University. Summoned from Providence, McAvoy was paired with Chara and made his Boston debut in the first-round series against Ottawa. Boston lost in six games, but McAvoy acquitted himself well, and gave credit to Chara.Hes a pretty easy guy to read off, and hes so defensively sound, and steady, McAvoy said. You get the opportunity to just play when youre with him.Goalie Tuukka Rask was traded to the Bruins from Toronto in 2006, the same year Chara arrived in Boston, and he has seen Chara paired with many teammates over the years. Chara has had the same effect on Carlo and McAvoy, Rask said, as he did on Dougie Hamilton, a former Bruin who was the ninth overall draft pick in 2011 and who played alongside Chara as a 19-year-old rookie in the 2012-13 season.Z has done that for every defenseman hes played with, Rask said. Hes both a solid defenseman and a leader.Carlo said Chara had successfully navigated the fine line between friendship and mentorship: Hell get on you if he needs to, or hell be your good friend, if you need that.ImageCredit...Maddie Meyer/Getty ImagesEven a subtle gesture can have an impact. Clifton recalled what happened at practice the day before the series opener against Carolina.We were paired together that day, Clifton said, and I think it was a bad pass I made, or something like that, and he gave me a little tap on the back with his stick and said: Hey, lets go. Focus here. It was an awesome moment, and Ill probably look back on it someday and realize how much it helped me out.Claude Julien, the former Bruins coach, once described the 6-foot-9, 250-pound Chara as a freak of fitness. And after adopting a plant-based diet ahead of the 2017-18 season, Chara may be in better condition than he was a decade ago.Every day he comes to work, he doesnt seem tired, he doesnt seem groggy, Carlo said. He comes ready to battle.Chara is married with two children. Carlo marvels at his off-ice regimen.The way he eats, the way he trains, is amazing, he said. His focus 24/7 pretty much is on the hockey side of things. Why hes been in the league so long is because he is dedicated to that structure. Its pretty impressive to watch and learn from.The N.H.L.s longest-tenured captain, Chara signed a one-year contract extension in March, which will take him through his 43rd birthday, and he has indicated he hopes thats not the last one. McAvoy, hardly alone among his teammates, agrees.Everything he does is the perfect example for how everyone on our team should act, McAvoy said the day Chara re-upped with the Bruins. Hes helped me in so many ways on and off the ice. Im very lucky. I dont take it for granted to be able to play with a guy like that.",4
"Credit...Pool photo by Lintao ZhangMarch 19, 2017BEIJING Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson and President Xi Jinping of China cast aside their differences on Sunday with a public display of cooperation, sidestepping areas of disagreement even as North Korea made another defiant statement by showing off a new missile engine.In the highest-level face-to-face meeting between the United States and China since President Trump took office, the two sides made no mention of other contentious issues, including possible punitive trade measures against China and Washingtons unhappiness with Beijings assertiveness in the South China Sea.Greeting the new secretary of state in an ornate room in the Great Hall of the People, Mr. Xi thanked Mr. Tillerson for a smooth transition to the Trump administration and expressed his appreciation for the sentiment that the China-U.S. relationship can only be defined by cooperation and friendship.At least in public, Mr. Tillerson adopted a far different tone than that of his boss, who said in a Twitter post on Friday that China had done little to help on North Korea. Instead, Mr. Tillerson said the United States looked forward to stronger ties with China.China has been North Koreas biggest backer, but relations between the two countries have been strained as the North continues to pursue the development of nuclear weapons. Hours before the meeting between Mr. Tillerson and Mr. Xi, North Korea stuck its nose under the tent, announcing that it had tested a new high-thrust missile engine that analysts said could be used in an intercontinental missile.The test, apparently timed for Mr. Tillersons visit to Beijing, was another sign that North Korea was expanding its missile capabilities, with the state news media reporting that the countrys leader, Kim Jong-un, had presided over an event of historic significance.By testing the engine on Saturday, Mr. Kim appeared to be giving China an additional headache by goading Mr. Tillerson, who said in South Korea on Friday that if the North elevated its threat, a pre-emptive strike by the United States would be on the table.The missile engine created the perfect test of the red line drawn by Mr. Tillerson in Seoul, said Evans J. R. Revere, a former principal deputy assistant secretary of state specializing in North Korea.Mr. Kim said in January that North Korea was in the final stages of preparing to test an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM: a weapon that could reach the United States. Based on what just happened at the test site, he doesnt seem to have been kidding, Mr. Revere said.During his 24-hour stay in Beijing, Mr. Tillerson, who also visited Japan during his first trip to Asia as secretary of state, took the unusual step of repeating rosy Chinese language on the state of relations between the United States and China.The relationship is guided by nonconflict, nonconfrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, Mr. Tillerson said at a news conference with Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The Chinese state news media quoted Mr. Tillersons echo of the Chinese phrasing, noting it approvingly.But behind the scenes, diplomats and analysts said there was little doubt that Mr. Tillerson had pressed China to enforce sanctions against North Korea and raised the possibility that the United States would bolster its missile defense in Asia if China did not rein in Mr. Kim.China strongly objects to the installation of a missile defense system in South Korea, and the polite public words from Mr. Tillerson were designed to give China face, said a diplomat in Beijing who spoke on the condition of anonymity per diplomatic custom.Mr. Tillerson was almost certainly sterner in private, according to the diplomat. I believe Tillerson repeated in the meetings what he said publicly in South Korea and Japan, and backed up Trump in his tweet, he said.That meant some public warmth was necessary, the diplomat said, because aside from talking about North Korea, Mr. Tillerson also had the task of setting a broad agenda for a summit meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi that is expected to take place in Florida in early April.At the summit meeting, China is expected to seek a reaffirmation of the One China policy, under which the United States recognizes a single Chinese government in Beijing and does not maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan.Mr. Trump committed to that policy in a telephone conversation with Mr. Xi in early February, but Chinese leaders, on edge about the presidents unpredictability, are eager to further secure it. Mr. Trumps trade team is expected to be in place by the time Mr. Xi reaches Florida, and the Chinese will be looking to deter plans for tariffs and more stringent scrutiny of Chinese investment in the United States.Chinese analysts said Mr. Tillerson had probably encountered resistance to his arguments that the missile defense system known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad was of little danger to China, which firmly believes that the system erodes its nuclear deterrent.Tillerson will repeat many times this is no threat to China, but Xi wont believe it, said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University.The best chance for cooperation on North Korea might come if China decides to more dutifully enforce some economic sanctions, Mr. Shi said.That would be a relatively small price to pay the Americans for a smooth summit meeting in Florida, although it would further hurt Chinas already strained ties with North Korea, he said.Maybe Xi will broaden the punishment against North Korea somewhat, at the cost of further damaging relations with North Korea, Mr. Shi said. We have punished North Korea many times, and Kim Jong-un hates China more and more. Maybe China will take some small steps to shut down a few trading companies, but not all.China keeps the rudimentary North Korean economy running by supplying almost all its oil, and there is little chance Mr. Xi would consider shutting down the pipeline, even though China abruptly halted imports of North Koreas coal last month, ending a valuable source of foreign currency for Pyongyang.China wont turn the sanctions from targeting the North Korean nuclear program into a punishment for ordinary North Korean people, The Global Times, a state-run newspaper that often reflects official thinking, said Friday.But on the eve of Mr. Tillersons visit to Beijing, a Washington research organization specializing in nuclear matters released a study that it said showed that China was not enforcing the sanctions aimed at the nuclear program.China has allowed large quantities of materials used to make a component of hydrogen bombs to pass through its borders to the North, according to the research group, the Institute for Science and International Security.A newly operating plant in North Korea that produces a key ingredient for hydrogen bombs is a glaring example of Chinas ignoring sanctions, the group said.The study found that a plant producing lithium 6 used to manufacture hydrogen bombs that are more powerful than conventional nuclear weapons was located at a chemical complex on North Koreas east coast.The North purchased mercury and lithium hydroxide in China, and the items were transported across the border, the president of the institute, David Albright, said. The two commodities are needed for the production of lithium 6, he said.",6
"The Week AheadDec. 27, 2015Trade, Housing and Consumer ConfidenceThree new reports will land Tuesday morning, indicating how the United States economy performed in the final months of 2015. At 8:30 a.m., the Census Bureau will report the latest data on the trade balance in November, with economists expecting a slight widening in the trade deficit.Although exports are rising, led by demand for aircraft from overseas buyers, imports are forecast to rise more, a trend likely to continue because of the strong dollar. At 9 a.m., the Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller survey of home prices will most likely show that average prices in October were up 5.5 percent from a year ago, in line with the overall trend for 2015. Although existing-home sales unexpectedly dropped in November, according to another report released last week, most economists think that was a temporary dip that was related to new government regulations.Finally, at 10 a.m., the Conference Board is expected to release its reading on consumer confidence in December. Economists are looking for the index to rise to 93.8, up from 90.4 in November, lifted by stronger hiring and falling gasoline prices. Nelson D. SchwartzNew Unemployment Claims The Labor Department is scheduled on Thursday to release data on new claims for unemployment insurance for the week ending Dec. 26. The job market has been fairly strong this year, with the unemployment rate at 5 percent, and experts expect the number to be line with the four-week moving average of 272,500, a healthy level in terms of the long-term trend for new claims. Nelson D. SchwartzMarkets Wrap Up for 2015 Financial markets on Thursday will end a volatile year of trading in the United States that was dominated by concerns about the Chinese economy and the future policy decisions of the Federal Reserve.The benchmark Standard & Poors 500-stock index is on track to close the year at about the same place that it began, despite many significant moves at the end of the summer. This has been the worst year for American stocks since 2011, when the major indexes ended the year largely unchanged. Bond investors also struggled this year, as they prepared for the Feds decision, which came this month, to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006.European stocks were set to end a disappointing 2015 not far from where they started the year, after a spring rally fizzled on anxieties about the direction of the Federal Reserves interest-rate policy and concerns about global growth.In London, the FTSE 100 index was poised to start the last trading week of 2015 nearly 5 percent lower for the year. Dollar-based investors in Europe would have lost money as the falling British pound and euro weighed on the value of their returns. And in Asia, Chinas main Shanghai share index had a year to forget: A record rally ended in June with a sharp retreat. Despite a failed government attempt to prop up prices, stocks are down around 30 percent from their peak, even though they are still up about 12 percent this year. Nathaniel Popper, David Jolly and Neil GoughPuerto Rico Payments DueFinancially challenged Puerto Rico faces another deadline, on Jan. 1, for payments on some of its $72 billion of debt. This time the payments amount to about $902 million, according to the Center for a New Economy, a nonpartisan research institute in San Juan. About a third of that is for general obligation bonds, which are constitutionally guaranteed in Puerto Rico, a United States commonwealth.It would be unlawful for Puerto Rico to skip such a payment outside of bankruptcy proceedings. Puerto Rico is barred from Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, which would otherwise give it some flexibility to restructure its debts. So far, the island has managed to stay current on most of its obligations. But officials say they are running out of cash, and it is not clear that Puerto Rico will have enough money to pay what it owes on Jan. 1. The House of Representatives is expected to hold a hearing on Jan. 5 about the islands financial problems. Jane BornemeierManufacturing in ChinaThe slowdown in Chinas huge manufacturing sector is expected to have continued throughout December. On Friday, the result of an official purchasing managers index, one of the earliest monthly glimpses at the state of the economy, is expected by economists to show a reading of 49.8.A reading above 50 indicates rising output, while one below 50 signals a contraction. For China, a reading below 50 would represent the fifth month in a row of falling manufacturing output the longest such streak since the survey began in 2010. The results of a private-sector survey carried out by Markit, a financial data compiler, are due to be released on Jan. 4 and are expected to show that Chinas manufacturing sector lost steam for a 10th month in a row. Neil Gough",0
"DealBook|Related Companies Raises $1 Billion for Real Estate Fundhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/16/business/dealbook/related-companies-raises-1-billion-for-real-estate-fund.htmlDec. 15, 2015A few years after the recession, Related Companies the real estate firm behind New York landmarks like Time Warner Center and Hudson Yards started a fund to invest in distressed properties and refurbish them to sell at a higher price.Over the last three years, the real estate market has largely bounced back to record highs. Now, Related has raised the capital for a second so-called opportunistic fund, testing its renovate-and-flip model in the healthier environment.Related is expected to report on Tuesday that it had received equity commitments of more than $1 billion, surpassing a target of $850 million, for Related Real Estate Fund II. Included in the investment roster are sovereign wealth funds, public pension plans, endowments and family offices.Unlike some traditional real estate funds, which acquire assets and then pay other firms to develop them, Related does everything from start to finish. It mostly operates in bigger cities like Chicago, Miami and New York.Stephen M. Ross founded Related Companies more than four decades ago as a company that finances and develops affordable housing. Today, its assets are valued at more than $20 billion.The impetus for Relateds funds began in 2009 when the company hired Justin M. Metz, who was global head of real estate alternatives at Goldman Sachs. The first opportunistic fund, which raised $825 million in 2012, created assets like Chicagos 111 West Wacker and One Madison Park, a residential building in New York.Mr. Metz plans to follow a similar strategy with the second fund. He said there were always pockets of distressed assets for Related to turn around.We wanted to be able to do real estate in all times in the market, said Mr. Metz in an interview at Relateds office in New York.Greenhill served as the global placement agent for Related.",0
"VideoAfter 45 years of coaching basketball at Campus Magnet High School (formerly Andrew Jackson High School), Charles Granby, 79, is retiring.CreditCredit...Richard Perry/The New York TimesFeb. 8, 2014In the final game of his coaching career, Charles Granby of Campus Magnet High School watched as his Bulldogs were thumped by Cardozo, 76-33.Rather than dwell on 32 minutes of forgettable basketball, Granby, the coach with the most victories in the history of New Yorks Public Schools Athletic League, chose to remember the glory days that stretched across six decades.I coached here for 45 years, and I cant think of one bad memory, said Granby, looking younger than his 79 years in his trademark green and white Bulldogs track suit. Its always a better idea to leave later rather than earlier. This way there are no regrets.Saturdays final buzzer capped Granbys 45th season at Campus Magnet (4-11), a high school in the Cambria Heights section of Queens that was long known as Andrew Jackson, alma mater of the Boston Celtics great Bob Cousy. Through the years, Granbys teams have won 24 division titles and 7 borough titles. From 1972 to 1985, then known as the Hickories, they did not lose a home game. He won his only P.S.A.L. championship in 1985 with a team led by Boo Harvey, who went on to star at St. Johns. At the height of his run in the 1980s, Granby scored what he called a dream coaching job in the Empire State Games in Syracuse. The Games showcased some of New Yorks most talented players, and Granbys teams featured the collegiate stars Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson, Kenny Anderson and Pearl Washington, all of whom went on to the N.B.A.He was the king of Queens in those years, said the longtime Cardozo coach Ron Naclerio, whose team improved to 22-1 on Saturday.ImageCredit...Earl Wilson/The New York TimesDespite all the success, Granbys two greatest victories came off the court. Every day I wake up I consider myself blessed, said Granby, who survived kidney cancer in 1976 and prostate cancer in 1993. The good Lord kept me healthy enough to achieve some success, but I could not have accomplished anything without all of the great players I have coached. Granbys 722 career victories will cement his legacy on hallowed city ground. Jack Curran, who was the basketball coach at Archbishop Molloy in Queens for 55 years until his death last March, had the most victories (972, with 437 losses) in the Catholic High School Athletic Association.Coach Granby is my hero, said Bob Hurley Sr., the coach of St. Anthony in Jersey City, whose record stands at 1,099-115. Im 66 years old, and I hope that when Im in my late 70s, I still have that same passion and fire for coaching and teaching. Forget wins and losses for a minute and think about all the relationships that Coach Granby has been involved in over the years, all the kids whose lives he made better beyond basketball. Its a remarkable achievement, especially when you consider that it is so much more difficult to coach kids today as compared to when we started, and to have to deal with some parents who now ask less questions about academics than about their kids basketball careers.Harvey and his son Justin, who recently played for Granby, are among generations of players who have heard Granbys ugly life speech. Without a college degree, you will have an ugly life, he often told his players, including the once-troubled Lloyd Daniels, as well as Kyle OQuinn, now a member of the Orlando Magic, and Robert E. Cornegy Jr., a city councilman from Brooklyn. Your job will be ugly, Granby warned them. Your house will be ugly. Your car will be ugly. Your wife will be ugly. Hurley said that while Granbys fellow coaches will certainly miss him, we wont miss him half as much as the kids who will no longer have an opportunity to be coached by him.",4
"Baseball|Braves Reach Agreements With Freeman and Heywardhttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/sports/baseball/braves-reach-agreements-with-freeman-and-heyward.htmlSports Briefing | BaseballFeb. 4, 2014The Atlanta Braves agreed to an eight-year contract with first baseman Freddie Freeman that is worth about $125 million, the team confirmed Tuesday. Earlier in the day, outfielder Jason Heyward and the Braves agreed to a $13.3 million, two-year contract. Heyward and Freeman, both 24 and part of the Braves core of young stars, had filed for salary arbitration last month. Freeman was an All-Star last year when he hit .319, with 23 homers and 109 runs batted in. Heyward hit .254 last year, with 14 home runs and 38 R.B.I., in 104 games during an injury-filled season.",4
"Nov. 11, 2018BEIJING At least a dozen young activists who took part in a national campaign for workers rights in China are missing, friends said on Sunday, in what appeared to be an effort by the government to silence one of the most visible student protests in years.Unidentified men in at least five Chinese cities rounded up the activists, who are recent graduates of elite universities, over the past few days, according to friends of the activists. The men beat several activists before pushing them into cars and driving away, the friends said.The activists, describing themselves as ardent communists who fervently believe in the ideals of Marx and Mao, have waged an unusual campaign against inequality and corporate greed that has gained traction at some of Chinas top schools.The campaign has put the ruling Communist Party, which prides itself as a socialist guardian of workers rights, in an awkward position. Now, in line with President Xi Jinpings efforts to curtail dissent and political organizing, the party appears to be redoubling efforts to quash the movement.Patrick Poon, a researcher at Amnesty International in Hong Kong, said the crackdown would provide another bad image for Chinas leaders, noting that they once seemed more tolerant of labor activism.We call on the authorities to immediately release the students and supporters, and allow an independent investigation of what is happening to them, Mr. Poon said.It was unclear what happened to the activists, who were rounded up in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Wuhan. Calls to the police on Sunday were not immediately answered.In Beijing, students at Peking University said that unidentified men arrived on campus around 10 p.m. Friday in pursuit of Zhang Shengye, a recent graduate of the school who was a prominent voice in the activists campaign. Mr. Zhang had been organizing efforts to find activists who were previously detained by the authorities but whose locations are unknown, students said.Mr. Zhang was beaten and dragged into a car, said Yu Tianfu, 22, a history student at Peking University who was studying in a nearby cafe.Mr. Yu said in a social media post on Sunday that he was also hurt in the episode. He said that the men had thrown him to the ground, covered his mouth and kicked his head.Who are you? Why are you doing this? Mr. Yu said he asked the men.Ill beat you more if you dare shout again, one of the men responded, according to Mr. Yu.Reached by phone on Sunday, Mr. Yu said he stood by his account but declined to comment further. In his post, he said he was still in disbelief.What kind of privilege do they have to completely disregard the law and civil rights? Mr. Yu wrote. How dare they unscrupulously and arrogantly beat up students and kidnap one at Peking University.The disappearance of the activists is the latest flash point in a long-running battle between activists and the authorities.The campaign for workers rights began in the summer, when dozens of young people descended on Huizhou, a city in southern China, to organize demonstrations in support of factory workers who said they were being treated like slaves.After several weeks of protests and a vibrant social media campaign, the police detained dozens of workers and activists. More than two months later, several remain in detention.More recently, student activists have tried to organize protests on a variety of issues, including the alleged abuse of workers at a Chinese supplier for Apple, and miners grappling with black lung disease. But the authorities have tried to block them from organizing.At Nanjing University in eastern China, several students were assaulted and taken away this month after holding a protest to denounce university officials for blocking them from registering an official group for student Marxists.In Beijing, students at Renmin University say they were held under house arrest and monitored because of their participation in the protests over the summer in Huizhou.Cornell University announced last month that it was ending a collaboration with Renmin because of the crackdown on students.The protesters had hoped that the party might tolerate their calls for social justice if they embraced leftist ideals and Mr. Xi. The government has encouraged the study of Marx, Mao and Lenin, and the Communist Party has long had a reputation as a defender of the working class.But the party has moved quickly to stop the movement from spreading, seemingly worried that the protests might threaten its hold on civil society.Geoffrey Crothall, the communications director of China Labor Bulletin, a Hong Kong advocacy group, said that Chinese leaders were digging an even bigger hole for themselves by continuing to harass the activists. He said the outcry could have been avoided if the authorities had listened to the workers in Huizhou.There would have been no protests, no arrests and no acts of nationwide solidarity from students and Maoist groups across the country, Mr. Crothall said.On Sunday, students at Peking University handed out pamphlets in a campus cafeteria to spread word about the missing activists. Let those with strength contribute strength, for their safety, for their freedom and for illuminating the path to justice in society, the pamphlets said.Before long, security officers appeared and tried to stop their campaign. The students persisted, moving from table to table to make their pleas.",6
"The suit is the first antitrust action against the company to result from investigations by American regulators.Credit...Laura Morton for The New York TimesOct. 20, 2020The Justice Department sued Google on Tuesday, accusing the company of illegally abusing its dominance in internet search in ways that harm competitors and consumers.The suit is the first antitrust action against the company, owned by Alphabet, to result from investigations by the Justice Department, Congress, and 50 states and territories. State attorneys general and federal officials have also been investigating Googles behavior in the market for online advertising. And a group of states is exploring a broader search case against Google.Here is what you need to know about the suit.What is really happening here?This is one step against a single company. But it is also a response to the policy question of what measures, if any, should be taken to curb todays tech giants, which hold the power to shape markets, communication and even public opinion.Politics steered the timing and shape of this suit. Attorney General William P. Barr wanted to move quickly to take action before the election, making good on President Trumps pledge to take on Big Tech. Eleven states joined the suit.What is the Justice Department saying Google did illegally?This is a monopoly defense case. The government says Google is illegally protecting its dominant position in the market for search and search advertising with the deals it has struck with companies like Apple. Google pays Apple billions of dollars a year to have its search engine set as the default option on iPhones and other devices.The Justice Department is also challenging contracts Google has with smartphone makers that use Googles Android operating system, requiring them to install its search engine as the default. The Justice Department also investigated Googles behavior and acquisitions in the overall market for digital advertising, which includes search, web display and video ads. Online advertising was the source of virtually all of Alphabets $34 billion in profit last year.But the search case is more straightforward, giving the government its best chance to win. To prevail, the Justice Department has to show two things that Google is dominant in search, and that its deals with Apple and other companies hobble competition in the search market.What will be Googles defense?In short: Were not dominant, and competition on the internet is just one click away.That is the essence of recent testimony in Congress by Google executives. Googles share of the search market in the United States is about 80 percent. But looking only at the market for general search, the company says, is myopic. Nearly half of online shopping searches, it notes, begin on Amazon.Next, Google says the deals the Justice Department is citing are entirely legal. Such company-to-company deals violate antitrust law only if they can be shown to exclude competition. Users can freely switch to other search engines, like Microsofts Bing or Yahoo Search, anytime they want, Google insists. Its search service, Google says, is the runaway market leader because people prefer it.What is the consumer harm when Googles search service is free?Consumer harm, the government argues, can result in several ways. Less competition in a market means less innovation and less consumer choice in the long run. That, in theory, could close the market to rivals that collect less data for targeted advertising than Google. Enhanced privacy, for example, would be a consumer benefit.Goods that are free to consumers are not exempt from antitrust oversight. In the landmark Microsoft case of the late 1990s, the software giant bundled its web browser for free into its dominant Windows operating system. Microsoft lost because, using restrictive contracts, it bullied personal computer makers and others to try to prevent them from offering competing web browser software competition that could have undermined the Windows monopoly.What happens next?Unless the government and Google reach a settlement, theyre headed to court. Trials and appeals in such cases can take years.Whatever the outcome, one thing is certain: Google will face continued scrutiny for a long time.",5
"DealBook|Barclays to Sell Retail Banking Business in Italyhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/04/business/dealbook/barclays-chebanca-mediobanca.htmlDec. 3, 2015LONDON Barclays said on Thursday that it had agreed to sell its retail banking business in Italy to CheBanca, a unit of Mediobanca Group of Italy.It is the latest retail banking exit by Barclays in Continental Europe as the British bank seeks to reshape itself by selling underperforming businesses and focusing on what it considers its core operations.The restructuring began under Antony Jenkins, the lenders former chief executive who was ousted in July, and is continuing under its new top executive, James E. Staley, who officially joined Barclays on Tuesday.The sale includes a network of 89 branches in Italy with about 220,000 clients, Mediobanca said in a news release. It also includes a portfolio of 2.9 billion euros, or about $3.1 billion, in residential mortgages. The deal is expected to strengthen Mediobancas asset management operations.CheBanca, which began in 2008, would have about 146 branches in Italy and about 1,500 employees after the transaction, Mediobanca said.Barclays said it would continue to operate its investment banking and corporate banking businesses in Italy and manage its remaining retail mortgage portfolio.This transaction is further evidence of the reshaping of Barclays Group to focus on our core businesses, Mr. Staley said in a news release.Barclays said that it expected to book an after-tax loss of 200 million pounds, or about $300 million, on the sale in the fourth quarter.The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016.As part of its restructuring, Barclays is focused on four core businesses: its corporate and retail bank in Britain; its investment bank; its Barclaycard credit card operations; and its African banking businesses.Barclays sold its retail banking operations in Spain to CaixaBank last year and its retail bank and other noncore businesses in Portugal to Bankinter of Spain in September.Barclays and Lazard acted as advisers to Barclays on the transaction.",0
"Credit...Mandel Ngan/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesJune 21, 2018WASHINGTON President Trump appeared to take his battle with the news media to a new level on Thursday, apparently using the first ladys much-covered visit with detained immigrant children in a Texas border town as an opportunity to spell out his grievances with the press.As the temperature climbed to 80 degrees on Thursday at Joint Base Andrews near Washington, Melania Trump boarded her plane wearing an olive green coat that read, in white capital letters, I really dont care. Do U?Mrs. Trump did not wear it while visiting with the children, but she did wear it upon her return to the capital, in full view of the news photographers who had gathered to capture her arrival. As the images were beamed around the world, the message was also in full view of her husband, a vociferous viewer of cable news.I REALLY DONT CARE, DO U? written on the back of Melanias jacket, refers to the Fake News Media. Melania has learned how dishonest they are, and she truly no longer cares! he wrote on Twitter.The first ladys office did not back up the presidents explanation. Mrs. Trumps spokeswoman said it was just a jacket nothing to see here.[Read our fashion critics reaction to Melania Trumps coat.]For the second time since her husband took office and the second time on a trip to Texas Mrs. Trump had made an unusual choice. It was a move reminiscent of her decision last year to wear stilettos to a hurricane relief zone, which was also the subject of much deliberation about her fashion decisions.One common reaction to the jacket was bafflement: What was she thinking? No, really, what was she thinking? Mrs. Trump is a former model with a keen understanding of her own image. She rarely makes an accidental fashion choice.Fashion is not by accident with this woman, Bob Phibbs, the chief executive of the Retail Doctor, a consultancy in New York, said in an interview. Shes a former model. Every piece of clothing has statement and purpose. Shes all about image, and so is Trump. She knows the power.VideotranscripttranscriptMelania Trump Visits Facility Housing Children Near BorderThe first lady traveled to McAllen, Tex., as her husbands administration scrambled to execute his latest executive order aimed at ending the separation of families at the border.Let me begin to recognize each of you. And thanking you for all what you do. For your heroic work that you do every day and what you do for those children. We all know theyre having theyre here without their families. And I want to thank you for your hard work, your compassion, and your kindness youre giving them in these difficult times. Im here to learn about your facility, and which I know you house children on a long-term basis. And Id also like to ask you how I can help to these children to reunite with their families as quickly as possible. So thank you again for all what you do. And thank you as well. Thank you all for what you do thank you very much. And those children, how many times they speak with their relatives or families per week for example? Well, the children are allowed to communicate with their family twice a week. How long is the time, the max time, that somebody spends here that they are not reunited with their family? Right now, we are averaging currently 42 to 45 days.The first lady traveled to McAllen, Tex., as her husbands administration scrambled to execute his latest executive order aimed at ending the separation of families at the border.CreditCredit...Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesWhen asked about the garment a $39 jacket from the fast-fashion brand Zaras 2016 collection Mrs. Trumps office quickly responded.Its a jacket, the first ladys communications director, Stephanie Grisham, said Thursday in a statement to reporters. There was no hidden message. After todays important visit to Texas, I hope this isnt what the media is going to choose to focus on.(Its never just a jacket, Mr. Phibbs said.)Ms. Grisham followed up her statement with a tweet that reinforced what the East Wing said was an nonissue: #ItsJustAJacket. Asked whether her own explanation or the presidents was the truth, Ms. Grisham did not immediately respond.The first ladys appearance, which was kept secret until she touched down in Texas, came as the Trump administration, facing questions over the well-being and whereabouts of thousands of children, sought to put a more humane lens on its policies.What it ultimately got was a distraction from them: On Thursday, the Pentagon was assessing how and where to house as many as 20,000 immigrants on American military bases.During Mrs. Trumps 75-minute visit to the Upbring New Hope Childrens Shelter in McAllen, Tex., she met with dozens of children as well as the people who are educating them and supervising their care. She asked officials questions about childrens well-being. She told the children to value friendship over all else.Good luck, the first lady told them. The children applauded her as she left.It was a striking re-emergence for Mrs. Trump, who underwent a procedure in May to treat a benign kidney condition and spent several weeks out of the public eye. Her trip on Thursday was a headfirst dive into the roiling debate over the Trump administrations hard-line approach to immigration hours after her husband declared well send them the hell back at a campaign rally.She is the first member of the Trump family to visit the border with Mexico since a national debate broke out over the administrations separation policy. The outcry led the president to reverse course under political pressure and sign an executive order on Wednesday to end the policy. More than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents so far, and thousands of families are likely to remain fractured.Im here to learn about your facility, Mrs. Trump told a group of officials at the center. She added that she wanted to offer help to these children to reunite with their families as quickly as possible.The first lady interacted with dozens of the centers 55 children, visiting three classrooms, according to a small group of reporters who accompanied her on the trip.Mrs. Trump, who recently started Be Best, a platform centered around the betterment of childrens lives, asked her aides to organize the trip after seeing photographs and video of separated families, and hearing audio of children crying in the centers, Ms. Grisham said.Shes seen the images, Ms. Grisham told reporters. Shes heard the recordings. She was on top of the situation before any of that came out. She was concerned about it.Mrs. Trump, who traveled to Texas with Alex Azar, the health and human services secretary, was also scheduled to visit the Ursula Border Patrol Processing Center, which had became a particular subject of scrutiny this week after a government video emerged showing families sitting in cages clutching mylar blankets. But her visit had to be cut short because of bad weather.A senior administration official, who insisted on anonymity, told reporters on the first ladys plane that only six of the New Hope facilitys 55 children had been separated from their parents, and the rest arrived as unaccompanied minors. At the facility, officials told the first lady that the separated children could speak to their parents twice a week.Mrs. Trump also asked about the condition of the children when they arrived: So when the children come here, what kind of stage, you know, physical and the mental stage are they in when they come here?She was told by an official that children often arrive distraught, but soon settle in.Its a process, yes, Mrs. Trump replied. But Ive heard theyre very happy. They love to study. They love to go school.In recent days, according to her office, Mrs. Trump was upset by news reports about families being separated at the border and helped persuade President Trump to take action to stop it. Amid the din of voices who tried to persuade him to change his mind including members of Congress and his oldest daughter the first ladys concern seemed to stand out.My wife feels very strongly about it, Mr. Trump said as he signed an executive order on Wednesday to stop the separations. But Mr. Trump, who faced a growing outcry from the public and from Republicans and Democrats in Congress, did not say whether her urging had swayed his decision.In any case, Mrs. Trump had planned the trip before the president signed the order: I dont know what she knew about the timing, Ms. Grisham said. She knew what she wanted to do, and she told us.Ms. Grisham also emphasized that the first lady had her own opinions and would share them with the world and with her husband when warranted.",3
"VideotranscripttranscriptSyrian Refugee Discusses E.U. MeasuresA Syrian refugee, who said he did not know of the European Unions deal to turn back migrants landing in Greece, said that he and fellow refugees have suffered in Turkey, and did not want to return.I have not heard that they are sending Syrians back to Turkey. I heard that maybe Iranians, Persians, Afghanis but I didnt heard they are taking Syrians back to Turkey. // We just want to get here and we get rid of Turkey because we dont want to go to Turkey anymore. We have suffered there a lot. We dont want to go there anymore. Anywhere is better than Turkey. We are done of it.A Syrian refugee, who said he did not know of the European Unions deal to turn back migrants landing in Greece, said that he and fellow refugees have suffered in Turkey, and did not want to return.CreditCredit...Tyler Hicks/The New York TimesApril 4, 2016MYTILENE, Greece They had braved risks and hardships to get to Greece, having crossed the narrow strait from Turkey in flimsy rafts like nearly a million others last year with hundreds dying along the way.But on Monday, Greek and European Union officials sent them back 202 migrants beginning a central part of a deal worked out with Turkey last month to stem the flow of people making the perilous journey to European shores.In this port on the island of Lesbos, as the sun rose over the Aegean Sea, more than 100 officers from the European border agency, Frontex, marched 136 migrants onto two ferries bound for the Turkish town of Dikili. Once there, the migrants were taken into tents for processing and then loaded onto buses to where, Turkish officials would not say.An additional 66 migrants were deported from the island of Chios, where riots broke out last week among asylum seekers fearing deportation. In all, Greek officials said those deported were mostly Pakistanis and Afghans, though they also included two Syrians, who had not asked for asylum, the officials said.The deportations were a significant step for the European Union in its effort to curb the migrant crisis. The deal with Turkey means that those landing here illegally will now be returned to Turkey.Since the deal with Turkey was struck, the number of people attempting the crossing has slowed to a relative trickle though it has not ended.Even as the 202 migrants were landing in Turkey on Monday, others were taking off, despite the fact that the Turks had pledged to cut off the route in exchange for 6 billion euros, or about $6.8 billion, and other inducements.ImageCredit...Tyler Hicks/The New York TimesIn Greece, the deportations have perils of their own, enough to make it unclear whether they can be scaled up quickly and sharply.Though the deportations on Monday did not meet any resistance, they sent new waves of anxiety through the overcrowded military-style camp where migrants are detained in Moria, on Lesbos.Migrants in the camp shouted to journalists, complaining about their detention and the camps conditions from behind a chain-link fence topped with three rows of razor wire. Some yelled that they were being treated inhumanely and as criminals. Others defiantly said that they would not go home. Police officers then moved in and forced journalists to leave and broke up the crowd gathered at the fence.In the past week, riots have broken out in several places, especially between Afghans and Syrians, many of whom have little idea of how the asylum process works and have grown increasingly fearful that, having made it this far, they will be sent home.More than 800 migrants broke out of a camp in Chios on Friday to protest what humanitarian groups said were prisonlike conditions.Greece is still waiting for thousands of police officers and specialists on asylum from other European Union countries to arrive to help with the process of sifting who will stay and who will go from among those who had already arrived in Greece before March 20, when the deal with Turkey went into effect.Those who have arrived since March 20 have been put in holding centers, and will be deported. Turkey and the European Union agreed that the Syrians and Iraqis among them who are judged to be refugees fleeing war can then apply from Turkey for asylum in Europe.For each new person Turkey takes in, one Syrian refugee already in Turkey will be sent to Europe. Those returned to Turkey and judged by the authorities there to be non-refugees will sent back to their home countries, Turkish officials have said.The main objective is to stick a blow to the business model of human trafficking from the Turkish coasts to the Greek islands, said Giorgos Kyritsis, the Greek governments spokesman on migration.The deal aims to convince people that until now were victims of the smugglers, that it is against their interests to risk their lives and pay all this money in order to make it to the Greek islands, he said, and that the shortest and the only legal way to get to Europe is to be included in the resettlement program underway in Turkey.Yet even as the Turkish officials carried out a series of raids to crack down on smugglers in recent days, some migrants have been undeterred by or unaware of the new regulations.On Monday, dozens of migrants set off for Greece in rubber dinghies and were intercepted by the Greek and Turkish coast guards.Less than two hours after the ferries took the 202 migrants back from the Greek islands to Turkey, an additional 59 migrants from Syria were picked up by the Greek coast guard in a Zodiac rubber raft.The Greeks brought them to port in Lesbos, and later the police ushered the group to the migrant camp in Moria, where nearly 3,600 migrants who arrived after March 20 are detained.Inshallah, I will get to Germany, said one migrant, Mohamed Zaki, 22, after he was brought ashore. Were lucky we are in Europe, he said, adding that the smugglers did not inform them that deportations were now taking place.The processing of asylum applications on the Greek islands is expected to start on Thursday and could take weeks if not months, if migrants appeal a rejection.Mr. Kyritsis, the Greek migration official, said no one who applies for asylum would be sent back to Turkey before receiving a definite answer from the authorities.As the expulsions got underway on Monday, several European countries said they were working to fulfill their end of the bargain with Turkey.Germany announced that it was accepting 32 Syrians from Turkey in the state of Lower Saxony, and Finland said it would take in 11 Syrians. The numbers were still far shy of commitments to distribute about 160,000 asylum seekers among European Union countries.In Lesbos, two German tourists shouted messages of support to the migrants from outside the fence at the holding camp in Moria.We dont agree with these deportations, said Adrian Ils, a retiree from Cologne. I can assure you there are many people in Germany who dont agree with the policy of closed borders.Its a shame the E.U. cannot find a common policy to share the problem, he added. We need to show our solidarity with desperate people isnt that what Europe is about?",6
"Credit...JPL-Caltech/NASANov. 14, 2016Imagine if scientists discovered that an asteroid was hurtling toward Los Angeles.The possibility has existed on the pages of Hollywood scripts. But in what may be a case of life imitating art, NASA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other government agencies engaged last month in a planetary protection exercise to consider the potentially devastating consequences of a 330-foot asteroid hitting the Earth.The simulation projected a worst-case blast wave by an asteroid strike in 2020 that could level structures across 30 miles, require a mass evacuation of the Los Angeles area and cause tens of thousands of casualties.In 1998, the movie Armageddon dramatized an even greater fictional threat. In that blockbuster, a ragtag crew was sent on a mission to drill into an asteroid and set off a nuclear bomb to avert a global catastrophe. As the character Harry Stamper, portrayed by Bruce Willis, summed up to his crewmates: The United States government just asked us to save the world.Dont expect the need for such Hollywood heroics in real life, however. An asteroid that could cause such damage has no significant chance of striking Earth within the next century, Paul Chodas, manager of NASAs Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in an email.The center relies on several telescopes, such as the Catalina Sky Survey at the University of Arizona, to track potentially hazardous asteroids and comets. These objects, which are leftover matter from the formation of planets, can come dangerously close to Earth or cross its trajectory.The center lists 659 asteroids that have some probability of striking the planet, but none pose a significant threat over the next century, either because the probabilities are extraordinarily small, or the asteroids themselves are extremely small, Mr. Chodas said.ImageCredit...The Aerospace Corporation, via NASANevertheless, we must continue searching for asteroids in case there is one that is heading our way, he added.Thats where the planetary protection exercise, conducted on Oct. 25 in El Segundo, Calif., comes in. The simulation that projected a strike in 2020 involved representatives from NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Department of Energys National Laboratories, the Air Force and the California Governors Office of Emergency Services.While a warning of four years may seem like a lot of time, it would probably not be enough to deflect an asteroid of the size and orbit outlined in the simulation, Mr. Chodas said.Engineers think the simplest way to deflect an asteroid is to build a large spacecraft and simply ram it into the asteroid years before it is predicted to hit Earth, he said.It could take up to two years to build such a kinetic impactor spacecraft and another year or more to reach the asteroid, so in the case of this simulation, an evacuation, not a deflection mission, was necessary.For the organizers of Asteroid Day, a global movement that seeks to protect the world from dangerous asteroids, such planning is not out of this world.The group, which maintains that one million asteroids have the potential to strike Earth but that only 1 percent of them have been discovered, was set on Monday to release a letter signed by planetary scientists supporting missions to increase knowledge of asteroids. The group promotes the 100x Declaration, which calls for increasing the rate of asteroid discoveries to 100,000 per year in the next 10 years.The more we learn about asteroid impacts, the clearer it became that the human race has been living on borrowed time, Brian May, an astrophysicist and a founder and lead guitarist for the rock group Queen, said on the groups website.Asteroid Day is observed each year on June 30, the anniversary of what is believed to be the largest space-related explosion in human history: an asteroid strike in Tunguska, Siberia, in 1908.An asteroid, believed to be less than 100 feet in diameter, exploded at the altitude of an airliner and flattened tens of millions of trees across 800 square miles. Researchers estimated the explosion was as powerful as a medium-size hydrogen bomb and several hundred times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.While there were no official reports of human casualties, hundreds of reindeer were reduced to charred carcasses in the explosion, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported.In more recent times, an asteroid exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in 2013, shattering windows for miles and injuring more than 1,000 people.Scientists have suggested that the Earth is vulnerable to many more Chelyabinsk-size space rocks. In research published in 2013 by the journal Nature, they estimated that such strikes could occur as often as every decade or two instead of an average of once every 100 to 200 years as previously thought.Predictions of a catastrophic crash by a celestial object surface with some regularity. In September 2015, the last eclipse of the year fueled imaginative speculation on the internet that a giant asteroid would hit Earth.In a statement debunking the idea, NASA noted that similar forecasts were made in January and March of that year that two asteroids were on dangerous paths toward Earth.The agency noted that the asteroids flew by Earth without incident just as NASA said they would.",7
"Credit...Todd Heisler/The New York TimesJune 14, 2018Democrats have yearned for a moment of political exoneration ever since Hillary Clintons defeat in 2016. They have looked to Russian interference in the campaign, claims of bias in the media and allegations of Republican lawbreaking to explain an upset that few in the party foresaw.Perhaps most of all, Democrats have vented indignation at the F.B.I. and its former director, James B. Comey, for reviving the issue of Hillary Clintons private email server in the last days of the race.On Thursday, Clinton supporters won a powerful kind of validation from the unlikeliest source: President Trumps Department of Justice.The inspector generals report criticizing Mr. Comey for his flamboyant handling of the Clinton investigation sent an angry thrill through the ranks of Democrats and Mrs. Clintons allies. Michael E. Horowitz, an investigator not appointed by Mr. Trump, concluded that Mr. Comey had twice breached the bureaus traditional discretion: first by holding a July news conference to announce he would not charge Mrs. Clinton with mishandling classified information, and then later sending a letter to Congress disclosing that the agents were scrutinizing new evidence in the matter.[The report is 500 pages. Our experts broke it down.]In many respects, those findings mirrored Democrats own assessments of Mr. Comey save for the omission of certain four-letter words.But if the report appeared to validate their grievances against Mr. Comey, it offered scant relief to Clinton loyalists. For some of them, it intensified the agony of Mr. Trumps surprise win cementing Democratic suspicions about the fairness of his election, but leaving them without recourse to address them.ImageCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesReading this report clearly makes me sick, said Donna Brazile, who was chair of the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 general election. It confirms what we all believed at the time.The report, Ms. Brazile said, strengthened her view that 2016 will always be an election where theres an asterisk.Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers and a longtime Clinton ally, said the report showed there had been a double standard in the election, whereby the F.B.I. revealed information casting Mrs. Clinton in an unflattering light while concealing investigations into Mr. Trump.Its disappointing and infuriating, Ms. Weingarten said. There is a reason for these norms of not commenting, knowing full well that comments can sway public opinion.While Ms. Weingarten called the inspector generals report a service to the country, she said it brought no solace on a personal level. Theres no sense of vindication for one reason: look whos in the White House right now, she said.ImageCredit...Maddie McGarvey for The New York TimesAnd Robby Mook, Mrs. Clintons former campaign manager, said in an email that the report was concerning for reasons beyond Mr. Comeys bad judgment. It also documented the perception, within the bureau, that Mr. Comey sent his October letter in part because he feared word of the investigation would leak something that Mr. Mook said happened in other instances, to Mrs. Clintons detriment.There was a steady stream of leaks about the Clinton investigation for months but not a word about the counterintelligence probe into the Trump campaign, Mr. Mook said. This, too, gave voters a false impression. I hope this report is a source of introspection for the professionals at the F.B.I.Mr. Comeys status as a Democratic bte noire is nearly two years old, dating to his news conference on July 5, 2016, that the inspector general described as extraordinary and insubordinate. But it was his letter to Congress nearly two weeks before the 2016 election termed a serious error in judgment by the inspector general that transformed him, for Democrats, into a starring villain of the presidential campaign.Mrs. Clinton offered only a laconic public reaction Thursday to the inspector generals report, highlighting on Twitter a finding that Mr. Comey had at times used a personal email account to conduct official business. But my emails, she tweeted, invoking a phrase often used by her supporters to express exasperation about what they view as the mistreatment of Mrs. Clinton during the election.She has been more expressive about Mr. Comey at other times. Within days of her loss, she named the F.B.I. director as a key culprit: she told donors on a phone call that Mr. Comeys letter had stopped our momentum at the races end. At a public event in May 2017, she identified Mr. Comeys announcement as a turning point: If the election had been on Oct. 27, she said, I would be your president. (Mr. Comey sent his letter on Oct. 28, 2016.)Mrs. Clintons campaign strategists have long been convinced that the Comey letter changed the direction of the race, burying her closing message and helping Mr. Trump reverse the fracturing of his support on the right after the release of the Access Hollywood tape. In the absence of a furor like the one instigated by Mr. Comey, the publication of a recording that showed Mr. Trump boasting about grabbing womens genitalia could well have been the defining event of the campaign.Experts differ on whether public opinion data suggests Mr. Comeys letter tipped the election. An analysis by the American Association of Public Opinion Research found at best mixed evidence to support the claim that Mr. Comeys letter was decisive. The study found that Mr. Comeys letter had an immediate, negative impact for Mrs. Clinton but questioned whether that effect lasted through Election Day.But there is no question that Mr. Comeys choices had an effect on the campaign: His summer news conference and his missive to Congress plainly amplified the issue of Mrs. Clintons email server and her handling of classified information. Mr. Trump feasted on both events, citing the first in countless denunciations of the Obama administration which he accused of going easy on his Democratic opponent and wielding the second as a cudgel in the campaigns final days.In addition to chiding Mr. Comey for sending that letter, the Justice Department report also concluded that there was no evidence of political bias in the F.B.I.s treatment of Mrs. Clinton, puncturing Mr. Trumps claim of favoritism.Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic lobbyist who helped raise money for Mrs. Clintons campaign, said the inspector generals report reinforced Democrats view of how the F.B.I. handled the election. He said Mr. Comeys subsequent clashes with Mr. Trump and firing had complicated Democrats judgments of the former bureau director, but said nothing could forgive the original sin of impacting the election.And the report, Mr. Elmendorf added, was no salve for the wounds of 2016.People are so deep in all the other terrible things Trump has done, he said. There is no psychic relief from what happened, other than winning the next election.",3
"VideoSecretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, in a visit to South Korea, said if North Korea increased ""the threat of their weapons program to an unacceptable level, the Trump administration would consider action. ""The policy of strategic patience has ended,"" Mr. Tillerson said.CreditCredit...Pool photo by Lee Jin-manMarch 17, 2017SEOUL, South Korea Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson ruled out on Friday opening any negotiation with North Korea to freeze its nuclear and missile programs and said for the first time that the Trump administration might be forced to take pre-emptive action if they elevate the threat of their weapons program to an unacceptable level.Mr. Tillersons comments in Seoul, a day before he travels to Beijing to meet Chinese leaders, explicitly rejected any return to the bargaining table in an effort to buy time by halting North Koreas accelerating testing program. The countrys leader, Kim Jong-un, said on New Years Day that North Korea was in the final stage of preparation for the first launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach the United States.The secretary of states comments were the Trump administrations first public hint at the options being considered, and they made clear that none involved a negotiated settlement or waiting for the North Korean government to collapse.The policy of strategic patience has ended, Mr. Tillerson said, a reference to the term used by the Obama administration to describe a policy of waiting out the North Koreans, while gradually ratcheting up sanctions and covert action.Negotiations can only be achieved by denuclearizing, giving up their weapons of mass destruction, he said a step to which the North committed in 1992, and again in subsequent accords, but has always violated. Only then will we be prepared to engage them in talks.His warning on Friday about new ways to pressure the North was far more specific and martial sounding than during the first stop of his three-country tour, in Tokyo on Thursday. His inconsistency of tone may have been intended to signal a tougher line to the Chinese before he lands in Beijing on Saturday. It could also reflect an effort by Mr. Tillerson, the former chief executive of Exxon Mobil, to issue the right diplomatic signals in a region where American commitment is in doubt.Almost exactly a year ago, when Donald J. Trump was still a presidential candidate, he threatened in an interview with The New York Times to pull troops back from the Pacific region unless South Korea and Japan paid a greater share of the cost of keeping them there. During Mr. Tillersons stops in South Korea and Japan, there was no public talk of that demand.On Friday afternoon, after visiting the Demilitarized Zone and peering into North Korean territory in what has become a ritual for American officials making a first visit to the South, Mr. Tillerson explicitly rejected a Chinese proposal to get the North Koreans to freeze their testing in return for the United States and South Korea suspending all annual joint military exercises, which are now underway.Mr. Tillerson argued that a freeze would essentially enshrine a comprehensive set of capabilities North Korea possesses that already pose too great a threat to the United States and its allies, and he said there would be no negotiation until the North agreed to dismantle its programs.ImageCredit...Ahn Young-Joon/Associated PressInstead, Mr. Tillerson referred vaguely to a number of steps the United States could take a phrase that seemed to embrace much more vigorous enforcement of sanctions, ramping up missile defenses, cutting off North Koreas oil, intensifying the cyberwar program and striking the Norths known missile sites.The rejection of negotiations on a freeze would be consistent with the approach taken by Mr. Obama, who declined Chinese offers to restart the so-called six-party talks that stalled several years ago unless the North agreed at the outset that the goal of the negotiations was the complete, verifiable, irreversible dismantling of its program.But classified assessments of the North that the Obama administration left for its successors included a grim assessment by the intelligence community: that North Koreas leader, Mr. Kim, believes his nuclear weapons program is the only way to guarantee the survival of his regime and will never trade it away for economic or other benefits.The assessment said that the example of what happened to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the longtime leader of Libya, had played a critical role in North Korean thinking. Colonel Qaddafi gave up the components of Libyas nuclear program in late 2003 most of them were still in crates from Pakistan in hopes of economic integration with the West. Eight years later, when the Arab Spring broke out, the United States and its European allies joined forces to depose Colonel Qaddafi, who was eventually found hiding in a ditch and executed by Libyan rebels.Among many experts, the idea of a freeze has been favored as the least terrible of a series of bad options. Jon Wolfsthal, a nuclear expert who worked on Mr. Obamas National Security Council, and Toby Dalton wrote recently in Politico: A temporary freeze on missile and nuclear developments sounds better than an unconstrained and growing threat. It is also, possibly, the most logical and necessary first step toward an overall agreement between the U.S. and North Korea. But the risk that North Korea will cheat or hide facilities during a negotiated freeze is great.William J. Perry, who was secretary of defense under President Bill Clinton, argued on Friday that it was no longer realistic to expect North Korea to commit to dismantling or surrendering its nuclear arsenal. The Trump administration, he said, should instead focus on persuading the North to commit to a long-term freeze in which it suspends testing of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles and pledges not to sell or transfer any of its nuclear technology.I see very little prospect of a collapse, he added. For eight years in the Obama administration and eight years in the Bush administration, they were expecting that to happen. As a consequence, their policies were not very effective.In Asia, on his first major trip overseas as secretary of state, Mr. Tillerson has been heavily scripted in his few public comments, and he has gone out of his way to make sure he is not subject to questions beyond highly controlled news conferences, at which his staff chooses the questioners. In a breach of past practice, he traveled without the usual State Department press corps, which has flown on the secretarys plane for roughly half a century.That group of reporters, many of them veterans of foreign policy and national security coverage, use the plane rides to try to get the secretary and other top State Department officials to explain American policy. Mr. Tillersons aides first said their plane was too small to accommodate the press corps and later said they were experimenting with new forms of coverage; then they opened a seat for a reporter from the web-based Independent Journal Review, which is aimed at younger, conservative-leaning readers. The sites reporters have never traveled with the secretary before.That decision is a striking departure for the State Department. Last May, department officials protested when Egypts military leader, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, blocked pool reporters traveling with Secretary John Kerry from entering the presidential palace, and China frequently imposes similar restrictions to avoid unwanted questions to the Chinese leadership.Mr. Tillerson appears to be using similar tactics during his travels, though the two news conferences he held on the trip were his first since taking office at the beginning of February.",6
"Jeff Bezos and his fellow passengers are back on the ground after completing their short flight to space.VideotranscripttranscriptHighlights From Blue Origins SpaceflightBlue Origins first flight to space with humans onboard included the billionaire Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen. The team traveled more than 60 miles above Earth.Theres Oliver on the left, Jeff Bezos on the right. We are about to go to space, everybody. Command engine start two, one, ignition. We have liftoff. The Shepard has cleared the tower. And New Shepard has cleared the tower, on her way to space with our first human crew. And booster touchdown, welcome back New Shepard. First up, your booster has landed. Booster landed. Our rocket went over Mach 3. And now theyre coming, floating back down at just about 15 or 16 miles an hour. What a flight. Welcome back to Earth. Congratulations to all of you. All of you. [cheering] Welcome back, astronauts.Blue Origins first flight to space with humans onboard included the billionaire Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen. The team traveled more than 60 miles above Earth.CreditCredit...Tony Gutierrez/Associated PressJeff Bezos, the richest human in the world, went to space on Tuesday. It was a brief jaunt rising 60-some miles into the sky above West Texas in a spacecraft that was built by Mr. Bezos rocket company, Blue Origin.The flight, even though it did not enter orbit, was a milestone for the company that Mr. Bezos, the founder of Amazon, started more than 20 years ago, the first time a Blue Origin vehicle carried people to space.Best day ever, Mr. Bezos exclaimed once the capsule had settled in the dust near the launch site.That Mr. Bezos himself was seated in the capsule reflects his enthusiasm for the endeavor and perhaps signals his intent to give Blue Origin the focus and creative entrepreneurship that made Amazon one of the most powerful economic forces on the planet.Outside of short delays in the countdown, the launch proceeded smoothly.Just after 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, the four passengers arrived at a bridge atop the launch platform, with each ringing a bell hung at one end before crossing to the capsule. They then began boarding the capsule one at a time and strapped into their seats.The stubby rocket and capsule, named New Shepard after Alan Shepard, the first American in space, rose from the companys launch site in Van Horn at 9:11 a.m., a thin jet of fire and exhaust streaming from the rockets engine.Once the booster had used up its propellant, the capsule detached from the rocket at an altitude of about 47 miles. Both pieces continued to coast upward, passing the 62-mile boundary often considered to be the beginning of outer space.ImageCredit...Thom Baur/ReutersMr. Bezos and the passengers unbuckled and floated around the capsule, cheering in the capsule as they experienced about four minutes of free fall.You have a very happy crew up here, I want you to know, Mr. Bezos said as the capsule descended.The booster landed vertically, similar to the reusable Falcon 9 booster of the rival spaceflight company SpaceX. The capsule then descended until it gently set down in a puff of dust.At 9:21 a.m., 10 minutes and 10 seconds after launch, it was over.The four passengers exited the capsule just after 9:30 a.m., and embraced loved ones, friends and ground crew as they celebrated.What is the New Shepard rocket and what did it do?VideotranscripttranscriptVideo Shows Inside the Blue Origin Flight to SpaceThe Blue Origin crew included four passengers who had fun during the short flight, playing with Skittles and experimenting with gravity.You just have to wait for it. Who wants a Skittle? Oh yeah, throw me one. See if you can catch this in your mouth. Group: Yeah! Well done. Here, toss me one. Here, catch. Oh, yeah. Whoo hoo! Has it been everything you thought it would be? Fantastic! Here, look Oliver.The Blue Origin crew included four passengers who had fun during the short flight, playing with Skittles and experimenting with gravity.CreditCredit...Nick Cote for The New York TimesNew Shepard, the Blue Origin spacecraft, is named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space. It consists of a reusable booster and a capsule on top, where the passengers sit. Unlike Virgin Galactics space plane, New Shepard is more of a traditional rocket, taking off vertically. Once the booster has used up its propellant liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen the capsule detaches from the booster. During Tuesdays flight, both pieces continued to coast upward, above the 62-mile boundary often considered to be the beginning of outer space. During this part of the trajectory, the passengers unbuckled and floated around the capsule, experiencing about four minutes of free fall and seeing views of Earth and the blackness of space from the capsules large windows.The booster then landed first and vertically, similar to the touchdowns of SpaceXs Falcon 9 rockets. The capsule landed minutes after the booster, descending under a parachute and cushioned by the firing of a last-second jet of air. The whole flight lasted about 10 minutes.Is New Shepard safe?ImageCredit...Blue OriginBefore Tuesdays flight, Blue Origin had launched New Shepard 15 times all without anyone onboard and the capsule landed safely every time. (On the first launch, the booster crashed; on the next 14 launches, the booster landed intact.)During one flight in 2016, Blue Origin performed an in-flight test of the rockets escape system where thrusters whisked away the capsule from a malfunctioning booster. A solid-fuel rocket at the bottom of the crew capsule fired for 1.8 seconds, exerting 70,000 pounds of force to quickly separate the capsule and steer it out of the way of the booster. Its parachutes deployed, and the capsule landed softly.Not only did the capsule survive, the booster was able to right itself, continue to space, and then, firing its engine again, land a couple of miles north of the launchpad in West Texas, a bit charred but intact.Still, the federal government does not impose regulations for the safety of passengers on a spacecraft like New Shepard. Unlike commercial passenger jetliners, the rocket has not been certified by the Federal Aviation Administration. Indeed, the F.A.A. is prohibited by law from issuing any such requirements until 2023.The rationale is that emerging space companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic need a learning period to try out designs and procedures and that too much regulation, too soon would stifle innovation that would lead to better, more efficient designs.The passengers must sign forms acknowledging informed consent to the risks, similar to what you sign if you go skydiving or bungee jumping.What the F.A.A. does regulate is ensuring safety for people not on the plane that is, if anything does go wrong, that the risk to the uninvolved public on ground is minuscule.Who else was aboard the flight?Mr. Bezos brought his younger brother. Mark Bezos, 50, has lived a more private life. He is a co-founder and general partner at HighPost Capital, a private equity firm. Mark Bezos previously worked as head of communications at the Robin Hood Foundation, a charity that aids anti-poverty efforts in New York City.Blue Origin auctioned off one of the seats, with the proceeds going to Club for the Future, a space-focused charity founded by Mr. Bezos. The winning bidder paid $28 million and we still do not know who that was.ImageCredit...Daemen FamilyLast week, the company announced that the auction winner had decided to wait until a subsequent flight due to scheduling conflicts.Instead, Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old student from the Netherlands who was one of the runners-up in the auction, and who had purchased a ticket on the second New Shepard flight, was bumped up.The fourth passenger was Mary Wallace Funk she goes by Wally a pilot who in the 1960s was among a group of women who passed the same rigorous criteria that NASA used for selecting astronauts.Wally Funks long wait for a trip to space.At 82, Wally Funk has become the oldest person to ever have gone to space. But that is not what makes her so special.In 1961, three years before Jeff Bezos was born, Ms. Funk and 12 other women went through testing as part of the Woman in Space Program. The tests had been designed by Dr. William Lovelace for the Mercury astronauts. He wanted to put women through the same tests to see if they would be good candidates for space.Across the board, the women who passed that initial round of testing did as well or better than their male counterparts, and of that group, Ms. Funk excelled.When you hear about these women today, they are often called the Mercury 13, but they called themselves the FLATs: First Lady Astronaut Trainees.None of those women have gone into space. The U.S. government shut down the program just as the Cold War space race was heating up. Ms. Funk said that when she learned the program was canceled, she wasnt discouraged.I was young and I was happy. I just believed it would come, she said in the book Promised the Moon by Stephanie Nolen. If not today, then in a couple of months.ImageCredit...Mark Ralston/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesOver the years, she applied four times to be an astronaut and was turned down because she had never gotten an engineering degree. By contrast, when the astronaut John Glenn was selected for the Mercury program, he also did not have an engineering degree.Ms. Funk has spent the past 60 years trying to find another way into space.I was brought up that when things dont work out, you go to your alternative, she said.Cady Coleman, a NASA astronaut who served aboard the space shuttle and the space station, sees in the invitation a message to Ms. Funk and many more unsung women in space and aviation.Wally you matter. And what youve done matters. And I honor you, is what Dr. Coleman thinks Mr. Bezos is saying. She adds that When Wally flies, we all fly with her.But for many women and nonbinary people involved in space and astronomy, the moment is more nuanced.These individual stories and victories are important, but they are not justice, said Lucianne Walkowicz, an astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. Mary Robinette Kowal What will it cost to fly on New Shepard?ImageCredit...Blue Origin, via Associated PressFor the first flight, Blue Origin auctioned off one of the seats with the proceeds going to Mr. Bezos space-focused nonprofit, Club for the Future. The winning bid was $28 million, an amount that stunned even Blue Origin officials, far higher than they had hoped. Blue Origin announced it will distribute $19 million of that to 19 space-related organizations $1 million each.The 7,600 people who participated in the auction provided Blue Origin with a list of prospective paying customers, and the company has started selling tickets for subsequent flights.Blue Origin has declined to say what the price is or how many people have signed up, but representatives of the company say there is strong demand.Our early flights are going for a very good price, Bob Smith, the chief executive of Blue Origin, said during a news conference on Sunday.During the auction for the seat on Tuesdays flight, the company said that auction participants could buy a seat on subsequent flights. It has not publicly stated what it charged those who placed bids, or how many seats have been sold.Ariane Cornell, director of astronaut and orbital sales at Blue Origin, said that two additional flights are planned for this year. So we have already built a robust pipeline of customers that are interested, she said.Virgin Galactic, the other company offering suborbital flights, has about 600 people who have already bought tickets. The price was originally $200,000 and later raised to $250,000, but Virgin Galactic stopped sales in 2014 after a crash of its first space plane during a test flight. Virgin Galactic officials say they will resume sales later this year, and the price will likely be higher than $250,000.Bezos thanks Amazon workers and customers for his vast wealth, prompting backlash.ImageCredit...Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesFrom groceries and streaming subscriptions to web servers and Alexa, Amazon has become one of the most powerful economic forces in the world. And after Jeff Bezos returned from his brief flight to space on Tuesday in a rocket built by his private space company, Blue Origin, he made remarks that drew attention to the vast wealth the company had created for him.I also want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all of this, Mr. Bezos said during a news conference after his spaceflight.Mr. Bezos comment prompted swift critical reactions, including from a member of the House of Representatives who serves on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.Space travel isnt a tax-free holiday for the wealthy, said Representative Earl Blumenauer, Democrat of Oregon. We pay taxes on plane tickets. Billionaires flying into space producing no scientific value should do the same, and then some!Mr. Blumenauer expressed concerns about the environmental effects of such space tourist flights. He said he had introduced legislation he called the Securing Protections Against Carbon Emissions (SPACE) Tax Act, aiming to make passengers on such flights pay a tax to offset their pollution impact.He wasnt alone in connecting Mr. Bezos spaceflight with concerns about how Amazons business practices have affected his companys employees as well as small businesses.While Jeff Bezos is all over the news for paying to go to space, lets not forget the reality he has created here on Earth, Representative Nydia Velazquez, Democrat of New York, said on Twitter. She added the hashtag #WealthTaxNow on Tuesday morning and included a link to an article about how much Amazons employees had been paid.While those congressional Democrats offered criticism, the message from the White House was more welcoming.This is a moment of American exceptionalism, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said when asked about the flight during a Tuesday news conference.What Jeff Bezos and crew wore to space.ImageCredit...Blue Origin, via Associated PressWhen Jeff Bezos blasted into space on Tuesday, he wasnt channeling the Apollo astronauts in at least one respect: his sartorial choice.Mr. Bezos, the founder of Amazon, told NBCs Today show on Monday that he wouldnt need a traditional spacesuit for the more than 62-mile jaunt above the Earth.Mr. Bezos and the three other crew members aboard the New Shepard capsule wore light flight suits with a shiny sheen that resemble the jumpsuits worn by military pilots, or perhaps even a NASCAR drivers racing suit.The blue suits, revealed in pictures and videos published by Mr. Bezos and his fellow passengers before the flight, have a mission patch on the upper left chest that features Blue Origins rocket blasting into space.It feels good to be in the flight suit, Mr. Bezos said in a promotional video that he posted on Monday on Instagram.The crew members first initials and surnames are printed in white letters on the chest area of the suits, which have black trim and the Blue Origin name emblazoned on the left sleeve. On the right arm is a flag patch, similar to those worn by astronauts and fighter jet pilots the American flag for the Bezos brothers and Wally Funk, and the Dutch flag for Oliver Daemen.Blue Origin wasnt the only company to make distinctive fashion choices in the competition between billionaires in their attempted private conquest of space.When Richard Branson realized his dream of traveling to space last week in a Virgin Galactic rocket plane, he wore a darker blue jumpsuit made by the sports apparel giant Under Armour, complete with the companys ubiquitous logo.Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, enlisted a costume designer who worked on Batman v Superman, The Fantastic Four, The Avengers and X-Men II to create the prototype for the more functional spacesuit worn by astronauts flying in SpaceXs Crew Dragon capsule.Correction:July 20, 2021An earlier version of this article misstated the altitude of a Blue Origin flight. It went to space, not orbit.Why did Jeff Bezos take this risk?Jeff Bezos, a child during the Apollo era, grew up fascinated by space. Space is something that I have been in love with since I was 5 years old, he said in 2014. I watched Neil Armstrong step onto the surface of the moon, and I guess it imprinted me.But that passion long took a back seat to his early business ventures. Mr. Bezos, now 57, first worked on Wall Street, and then started Amazon in 1994. Six years later he founded Blue Origin, the company behind the spaceship he is flying in on Tuesday. But building Amazon his day job, as he once called it consumed the vast majority of his time, as he transformed it from an online bookseller into one of the most powerful and feared retail forces ever.In recent years he began to step back a bit from Amazon, handing more day-to-day responsibilities to deputies. He would typically spend a day a week usually Wednesdays focused on Blue Origin, and in 2017 he announced that he would sell $1 billion of Amazon stock a year to fund the space venture.ImageCredit...Nick Cote for The New York TimesAmazons success kept propelling Mr. Bezos fortune higher, and in 2018, he surpassed Bill Gates to become the wealthiest person in the world. Booking trips to space rose to the top of his spending list.The only way that I can see to deploy this much financial resource is by converting my Amazon winnings into space travel, he said, couching his investment as a form of philanthropy, after he had been criticized for not doing more to share his wealth. The solar system can easily support a trillion humans, he said. If we had a trillion humans, we would have a thousand Einsteins and a thousand Mozarts and unlimited, for all practical purposes, resources and solar power.Thats the world, he said, that I want my great-grandchildrens great-grandchildren to live in.He briefly re-engaged in Amazons daily operations at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. But in February, he announced plans to step down as Amazons chief executive. Andy Jassy, one of his top deputies, took over the role early this month.Mr. Bezos said he wanted to devote more focus on Blue Origin and his other ventures.Ive never had more energy, and this isnt about retiring, he told Amazon employees. Im super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have.Now, two weeks after officially stepping aside, he has flown to space.What else is Blue Origin building for spaceflight?ImageCredit...Mike Blake/ReutersBlue Origin is developing a larger rocket, New Glenn (named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth), to launch satellites and other payloads. The first launch of New Glenn is to occur no earlier than the latter part of next year, delayed by two years.The rocket engine that Blue Origin developed for New Glenn will also power a competing rocket, Vulcan, built by the United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The first launch of Vulcan is to occur early next year, and will carry a robotic lander to the moon paid for by NASA.The company also led a proposed design for a lander to take NASA astronauts back to the moon in the coming years. NASA had intended to select two lander designs, but because Congress did not provide as much money to the program as requested, NASA chose only one, from Elon Musks SpaceX.Blue Origin as well as Dynetics, the third company in the competition protested NASAs decision with the Government Accountability Office. A decision on the protests is due in early August.What will these suborbital flights mean for the space industry?When Jeff Bezos flew into space on Tuesday, Rick Tumlinson, founding partner of the venture capital firm SpaceFund, hoped to catch a glimpse of the launch.To see two flights in two weeks is truly the beginning of the tipping point, said Mr. Tumlinson, who owns property not far from Blue Origins launch site near Van Horn, Texas, and, like millions of other people, watched Richard Bransons flight on Virgin Galactics space plane last week.Mr. Tumlinson isnt alone in his excitement. Space start-up founders and investors see Mr. Bezos and Mr. Bransons suborbital flights driving additional interest to the space industry. They shrug off criticisms over Mr. Bezos, Mr. Branson and SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk pouring some of their billions into the private space race.And their high-profile launches come as investor funding pours into space start-ups, fueling companies that are working to make satellites smaller and launches more accessible. Space start-ups raised over $7 billion in 2020, twice as much as two years earlier, and are on track to continue that rise this year, according to the space analytics firm BryceTech.ImageCredit...Virgin Galactic, via ReutersThe news of the day is that theyre going to put people in space, said Charles Miller, chief executive of the satellite internet start-up Lynk. But he believes that successful private space companies will benefit humanity by making it easier to put people and satellites in orbit.Its going to have a profound impact on life on Earth, he added.Space technology is a relatively small, tight-knit field, investors and founders said, full of people who have spent decades working for the broader interest and attention the industry is currently enjoying. And for many of them, the appearance of rivalry between Mr. Bezos, Mr. Branson and Mr. Musk is a positive for the industry, not a chance to take sides.Everybody got up really early to watch Branson, and everyone will watch with bated breath what happens on Bezos flight, said Lisa Rich, a founder of the venture capital firm Hemisphere Ventures and the orbital mission company Xplore.Tim Ellis, the chief executive of the 3D-printed rocket start-up Relativity Space, added: We all cheer for each other. Erin Woo Did New Shepard really go to space?The United States Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration put the boundary of outer space at 50 miles. The F.A.A. has granted astronaut wings to anyone who flies above that altitude, including crew members of Virgin Galactics space planes that fly just over it.Internationally, however, the altitude that marks the start of space is usually set at 100 kilometers, or just over 62 miles, what is known as the Krmn line. The Blue Origin spacecraft exceeded this altitude during its flight. Blue Origin highlighted this fact, and several other features of New Shepard, in a tweet on July 9, that compared the spacecraft with Virgin Galactics SpaceShipTwo days before its fight with Mr. Branson aboard.From the beginning, New Shepard was designed to fly above the Krmn line so none of our astronauts have an asterisk next to their name. For 96% of the worlds population, space begins 100 km up at the internationally recognized Krmn line. pic.twitter.com/QRoufBIrUJ Blue Origin (@blueorigin) July 9, 2021 What else is going on in private spaceflight?TV and film projects in orbit are attracting the greatest attention so far. In the year ahead, the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, and a Russian broadcaster, Channel One, are behind an effort in the year ahead to send Yulia Peresild, an actress, and Klim Shipenko, a filmmaker, to the space station to make the movie Challenge. Ms. Peresild will play a surgeon sent to orbit to save the life of a Russian astronaut.They will fly on a Russian Soyuz rocket. So will a Japanese fashion entrepreneur, Yusaku Maezawa, and Yozo Hirano, a production assistant. Their 12-day trip, scheduled to launch in December, is a prelude for a more ambitious around-the-moon trip Mr. Maezawa hopes to embark on in a few years in the giant SpaceX Starship rocket that is currently in development. His trip to the space station is being arranged by Space Adventures, a company that arranged eight similar visits for private citizens between 2001 and 2009.The Discovery Channel has announced a reality TV show, Who Wants to Be an Astronaut? in which the winner gets to travel to the International Space Station. The eight-episode show, in development, is to run next year.SpaceX has a couple of missions in the next 12 months that are scheduled to take private citizens to orbit. One is scheduled to launch in September and will carry Jared Isaacman, the billionaire founder of Shift4 Payments, and three other amateur astronauts, on a trip to orbit. A second, booked by the company Axiom Space, will carry three wealthy individuals and an astronaut working for the company to the International Space Station.",7
"Credit...Leigh Vogel/Getty ImagesMarch 9, 2017WASHINGTON Jon M. Huntsman Jr. has accepted President Trumps offer to be ambassador to Russia, people with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday, taking on a diplomatic assignment that would be challenging in the best of times but is more so now, given the questions swirling around the Trump campaign and its links to Russia.Mr. Huntsman, a former Republican governor of Utah, served as former President Barack Obamas ambassador to China from 2009 to 2011. Experts said he will need his political dexterity to navigate Moscow at a time when Mr. Trump has called for better ties even as Russias role in the 2016 presidential election remains under intense scrutiny.Not only is there this mess with the investigation that will complicate his assignment, theres a lot of incoherence within the Trump administration regarding its policy toward Russia, said Michael A. McFaul, who was ambassador to Russia in the Obama administration.The F.B.I. is known to have examined possible contacts between Russia and Trump advisers. Congress also has opened an inquiry.While Mr. Trump vowed during the campaign to defrost the relationship with Moscow after the chill of the Obama years, senior officials in his cabinet have so far signaled less change than continuity. The administration, for example, has said it will not lift sanctions until Russia withdraws from Crimea and stops destabilizing Ukraine.The prospect of further investigations into Russia and the Trump campaign may make it politically impossible for Mr. Trump to pursue a new start. And any new disclosures could make Mr. Huntsmans life on the diplomatic circuit in Moscow awkward.Russias ambassador to Washington, Sergey I. Kislyak, was thrust into a media maelstrom in recent weeks after two of Mr. Trumps most senior advisers, Jeff Sessions and Michael T. Flynn, acknowledged previously undisclosed meetings with him during the campaign and the transition.Mr. Huntsman, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, had no ties to the Trump campaign.Although Mr. Huntsman endorsed Mr. Trump for president in April 2016, he later called on the Republican nominee to withdraw from the race after the release of a videotape from the Access Hollywood program, in which Mr. Trump made demeaning comments about women.But in December, Mr. Huntsman defended the president-elects decision to take a phone call from the president of Taiwan, which broke decades of diplomatic protocol and aggravated tensions with China.As a businessman, Donald Trump is used to looking for leverage in any relationship, Mr. Huntsman said. A President Trump is likely to see Taiwan as a useful leverage point.Though his family company has holdings in Russia and he made business trips there many years ago Mr. Huntsman has no special expertise in the country and spent his career honing an expertise in China. He is a fluent Mandarin Chinese speaker; he and his wife, Mary Kaye, adopted a girl from China. And he was ambassador to Singapore under former President George Bush.Still, some said Mr. Huntsmans experience dealing with autocrats in Beijing would translate to Moscow. He worked in another authoritarian country with which the United States also has a complex relationship, said Dimitri K. Simes, the president of the Center for the National Interest, a Washington research organization.Mr. Simes was in Moscow last week, as word of Mr. Huntsmans nomination circulated through the foreign policy establishment. Most Russian officials reacted favorably, he said, though some expressed concern about Mr. Huntsmans ties to the Atlantic Council, a think tank of which he is chairman of the board, because it is perceived in Moscow as anti-Russian.Russian officials would be a little worried about that part of Huntsmans background, Mr. Simes said. What they will like about him is that he was a former ambassador to China, he is independently wealthy, and he will have access to the president.Mr. McFaul said Mr. Huntsman would have one advantage he did not when posted to Moscow in January 2012 for what proved to be a turbulent two-year stint: President Vladimir V. Putin is not facing as much domestic political opposition, which eases tension with Washington and its emissary to Moscow.",6
"Business BriefingNov. 30, 2015Japans industrial output rose in October for a second straight month, and retail sales grew much faster than expected, according to data released on Monday. The latest numbers should ease concerns among policy makers after reports last week showed weakness in household spending and consumer inflation. Those areas have kept pressure on the Bank of Japan to increase its already huge stimulus efforts. The Trade Ministry said on Monday that factory output rose 1.4 percent in October from the previous month; economists had estimated 1.9 percent. Separate data showed retail sales rose 1.8 percent in the year ended October, more than the expected gain of 0.8 percent.",0
"The agency stressed that the disease was still very rare in children and that a cause had not been determined.Credit...Tami Chappell/ReutersMay 6, 2022The deaths of five children and what may be an unusual group of more than 100 hepatitis cases in young children in the United States are under investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency said on Friday.The C.D.C. said it was examining cases involving 109 children in 25 states and territories who had or have what the agency is calling hepatitis of unknown cause.Dr. Jay Butler, deputy director for infectious diseases at the C.D.C., said most of the children had fully recovered. But more than 90 percent were hospitalized, 14 percent received liver transplants and more than half had adenovirus infections, he said.The C.D.C. and experts overseas are exploring whether a type of adenovirus, a common virus that causes intestinal symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea, may be a factor in these cases. But the agency has not determined a cause for the cases or a common link among all of them, and it cautioned against drawing conclusions.Dr. Butler called it an evolving situation in a news briefing on Friday. Later, he added, Its important to remember that severe hepatitis in children is rare even with the potential increase in cases that were reporting today.Hepatitis and liver failure are unusual occurrences in young children, especially in otherwise healthy children, and so far the actual number of hepatitis cases in the United States is no more than the number usually seen.The agency did not provide details about the children who died or where those deaths occurred.The United Kingdom is investigating a far greater number more than 160 cases of young children reported to have or have had hepatitis recently.Hepatitis, a liver infection, typically occurs in adults and can be caused by viruses which respond to treatment with drugs or from alcoholism, from some medications, or from autoimmune conditions. Symptoms include yellowing skin and eyes, nausea, and abdominal pain.Dr. Butler also said there was no evidence so far that either a Covid-19 infection or the Covid vaccine was linked to the U.S. cases. The World Health Organization also said this week that the vast majority of children had not been vaccinated in the cases it had reviewed.The alarm began two weeks ago when the C.D.C. issued an alert, citing nine hepatitis cases among young children in Alabama that began last fall into this year. All had evidence of an adenovirus infection. Their median age was 2.The problem for the C.D.C. is to determine if the adenovirus is a cause or an innocent bystander, Dr. Butler said. Doctors do not normally test children for adenovirus infections it is not a reportable disease in the United States which makes it difficult to untangle causes and effects. He urged doctors to consider testing for adenovirus if children were ill with certain symptoms.It is not known how likely it would be for nine children tested at random to have had adenovirus infections. The virus also is seasonal and the fall and winter, when the Alabama children were ill, is adenovirus season.Complicating the situation further is that by the time the children were evaluated, the amount of virus, if it was found at all, was very low.We are working hard to determine the cause, Dr. Butler said. Because hepatitis in children remains a rare event, he said, the search is difficult.Other possibilities include environmental exposures, including exposures to animals or an immune reaction, with a reaction to an adenovirus at the top of the list, Dr. Butler said.We are casting a broad net, he said.",2
"Jay-Z I'm Taking Off with Paper Planes ... See Ya in Cyberspace! 1/31/2018 Jay-Z's trying to expand his aviation enterprise ... the one made of 'paper,' that is. Jay's company, S. Carter Enterprises, just filed legal docs to secure the rights to their clothing brand, Paper Planes, in a number of different sales-type vehicles. According to the trademark application, obtained by TMZ, the Carter operation is looking to expand the plane logo -- created by Jay's business partner, Emory Jones -- into more of a retail environment and beyond ... like department stores, an online shopping site and even into musical recordings. They're also looking to presumably hawk gear like athletic gym bags, tour books, jewelry as well as a cosmetic line ... all featuring the Paper Plane image. Prepare for takeoff, ya'll.",1
"Launched in 2007, the spacecraft discovered bright spots on Ceres and forbidding terrain on Vesta. Credit...NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDANov. 1, 2018NASAs Dawn spacecraft, in orbit around the asteroid Ceres, has died quietly, the space agency announced on Thursday. Dawn missed its appointed check-in on Wednesday. Mission managers concluded that the propellant for its thrusters had run dry, and Dawn could no longer control its orientation. Its antenna turned away from Earth, and its radio signal was lost forever.It was an expected end to the mission, although the spacecraft lasted two years longer than originally planned.Launched in 2007, Dawn has been sending home close-up views of Ceres and Vesta the largest asteroids in the belt between Mars and Jupiter as well as clues to the building blocks of the solar systems planets.These are time capsules from the very beginning of the solar system, said Carol Raymond, principal investigator of the mission, during a NASA preview last month of Dawns demise.Here are some of Dawns biggest discoveries.[Sign up to get reminders for space and astronomy events on your calendar.]The glints of CeresCeres is the largest object in the asteroid belt, although it is smaller than most of the solar systems larger moons. Giuseppe Piazzi, an Italian priest and astronomer, discovered it in 1801, and it was declared at first to be a planet. But then other astronomers kept finding more rocks in that region, and eventually they were all classified as asteroids. In the most recent reshuffling of planets, Ceres received a promotion, and it is now classified as a dwarf planet because it is large enough to be round.Among Dawns findings, the most unexpected were shiny splotches on Ceres some 300 of them. The discovery set off waves of scientific wondering. Was it frozen water? Other ices? How did they get there? What was going on below the surface? What we saw was completely mind-blowing, Dr. Raymond said.The white stuff turned out not to be snow or ice, but sodium carbonate, a type of salt. On Earth, sodium carbonate is often known as washing soda or soda ash. It is used in the manufacture of glass, in some detergents and as a water softener.Sodium carbonate is not common in the solar system, Dr. Raymond said. ImageCredit...NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDABut it does show up in a couple of intriguing places, she said: drying lake beds on Earth and in the plumes shooting out from Enceladus, a moon of Saturn known to have an ocean below its outer icy shell.On Ceres, what appears to be happening is that reservoirs of salty brine remnants of a subsurface ocean still occasionally well up to the surface to create the bright spots. That means Ceres, even though it is just 588 miles in diameter, is still geologically active, and spewing ice instead of lava what is known as cryovolcanism.The bright spots almost all lie in or near craters. That suggests meteor impacts created the spots, either by kicking up material below the surface or by cracking the outer crust, allowing subsurface brines to flow upward. At the surface, the water escaped to space, leaving deposits of sodium carbonate as well as ammonium chloride, another type of salt.The biggest, brightest of allThe most striking feature on Ceres are the bright regions within a 57-mile-wide, 2.5-mile-deep crater called Occator. In the crater, a central dome called Cerealia Facula is thought have been formed by icy lava sputtering up through fractures, possibly pushed by gases in the brine. Nearby is another bright region named Vinalia Faculae, which is more diffuse in shape and texture, and it appears to have been formed by a somewhat different process. Scientists hypothesize that gases dissolved in the liquid caused it to sputter through cracks onto the surface, like champagne spilling out of a just-opened bottle.One mountainAnother eye-catching feature is a 13,000-foot-high mountain near Ceress Equator. Named Ahuna Mons, it is indeed the only mountain on Ceres. Scientists described it as a result of an unusual type of volcanism involving salty water and mud: Thick molten material is squeezed up like toothpaste, without an explosive eruption, to create a dome shape.The volcano is not active today. Dr. Raymond said that over time Ahuna Mons, perhaps a few hundred million years old, would likely spread, flatten and eventually disappear, and that there were likely other volcanic mountains in the past.A (very) thin atmosphereCeres is too small and its gravity too weak to hold onto a significant atmosphere. Yet back in 2014, the European Space Agencys Herschel space telescope detected water vapor around the asteroid, later confirmed by Dawn.This transient atmosphere is generated by high-energy particles from the sun slamming into water molecules at or near Ceres surface and kicking them up. The same phenomenon happens at Mercury and on Earths moon.A tale of two asteroidsBefore Dawn orbited Ceres, it visited Vesta, another asteroid, from 2011 to 2013. Exploring this 330-mile-wide rock which looks like a cratered potato and its contrasts with the rounder and wider Ceres offered astronomers additional insights into how objects in the solar system formed.The differences go beyond size. Vesta is dry and heavily cratered, resembling the moon, while Ceres is full of water.This is almost like night and day, said James L. Green, NASAs chief scientist.Why are they so different? Planetary scientists now think that Ceres formed much farther out in the solar system and then was pushed inward by the jostling of giant planets like Jupiter. Vesta, on the other hand, probably formed close to where it is today, a region in which ice would have been heated away early in the history of the solar system.Even though Vesta is diminutive, it still exhibits some planetlike qualities. As it formed, it heated enough to melt, with the heavier elements sinking to the core.The Dawn findings also confirmed that certain meteorites found on Earth originated from Vesta. Transfer in the beltDawns trip from Vesta to Ceres made it the first spacecraft to enter into orbit around one world, and then leave to orbit a second world. That is possible because of the spacecrafts three ion engines. Unlike most propulsion systems for vessels in space, which produce thrust through chemical reactions, the electric fields of ion engines accelerate xenon atoms. The amount of thrust is tiny. Each engine generates up to 91 millinewtons, which is about the force you need to hold up a sheet a paper on Earth. But ion engines are much more efficient and can fire for long stretches of time, instead of the short bursts employed in chemical propulsion. BepiColombo, the European Space Agencys recently launched mission to Mercury, also uses ion propulsion, and NASA intends to develop a more powerful version to carry large amounts of cargo to Mars.Going back to Ceres?Spacecraft carry microbial hitchhikers from Earth that can contaminate the worlds where they land. NASA tries to minimize that risk when a mission ends; engineers flew the Cassini probe, for example, into Saturns atmosphere last year.For the last part of its mission, Dawn was sent on an elliptical orbit that swooped to within 22 miles of the surface, making one orbit every 27 hours. That provided the sharpest images yet of features like Occator crater.Though out of power, the spacecraft will continue in that orbit for at least 20 years, possibly decades longer, at which point it could crash into Ceres. That is not long enough for all of the Earth microbes on Dawn to die, but NASA officials hope that 20 years would be long enough for the space agency to make another visit there to study whether Ceres ever had conditions amenable for life before Dawn crashes and contaminates it.",7
"Scientists are exploring a theory suggesting that exposure to one respiratory virus helps the body fend off competing pathogens.Credit...Brittainy Newman for The New York TimesPublished April 8, 2022Updated April 10, 2022An intriguing theory may help explain why the flu and Covid-19 never gripped the nation simultaneously the so-called twindemic that many public health experts had feared.The idea is that it wasnt just masks, social distancing or other pandemic restrictions that caused flu and other respiratory viruses to fade while the coronavirus reigned, and to resurge as it receded.Rather, exposure to one respiratory virus may put the bodys immune defenses on high alert, barring other intruders from gaining entry into the airways. This biological phenomenon, called viral interference, may cap the amount of respiratory virus circulating in a region at any given time.My gut feeling, and my feeling based on our recent research, is that viral interference is real, said Dr. Ellen Foxman, an immunologist at the Yale School of Medicine. I dont think were going to see the flu and the coronavirus peak at the same time.At an individual level, she said, there may be some people who end up infected with two or even three viruses at the same time. But at a population level, according to this theory, one virus tends to edge out the others.Still, she cautioned, The health care system can become overburdened well before the upper limit of circulation is reached, as the Omicron wave has shown.Viral interference may help explain patterns of infection seen in large populations, including those that may arise as the coronavirus becomes endemic. But the research is in its early days, and scientists are still struggling to understand how it works.Before the coronavirus became a global threat, influenza was the among the most common severe respiratory infections each year. In the 2018-2019 season, for example, the flu was responsible for 13 million medical visits, 380,000 hospitalizations and 28,000 deaths.The 2019-2020 flu season was winding down before the coronavirus began to rage through the world, so it was unclear how the two viruses might be influencing each other. Many experts feared that the viruses would collide the next year in a twindemic, swamping hospitals.Those worries were not realized. Despite a weak effort to ramp up flu vaccinations, cases remained unusually low throughout the 2020-2021 flu season, as the coronavirus continued to circulate, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Only 0.2 percent of samples tested positive for influenza from September to May, compared with about 30 percent in recent seasons, and hospitalizations for flu were the lowest on record since the agency began collecting this data in 2005.Many experts attributed the flu-free season to masks, social distancing and restricted movement, especially of young children and older adults, both of whom are at the highest risk for severe flu. Flu numbers did tick upward a year later, in the 2021-2022 season, when many states had dispensed with restrictions, but the figures were still lower than the prepandemic average.So far this year, the nation has recorded about five million cases, two million medical visits, and fewer than 65,000 hospitalizations and 5,800 deaths related to the flu.Instead, the coronavirus has continued to dominate the winters, much more common than the flu, respiratory syncytial virus, rhinovirus and common cold viruses.ImageCredit...A. Barry Dowsett/Science SourceThe respiratory syncytial virus, or R.S.V., usually surfaces in September and peaks in late December to February, but the pandemic distorted its seasonal pattern. It lay low through all of 2020 and peaked in the summer of 2021 when the coronavirus had plummeted to its lowest levels since the pandemics beginning.The notion of that there is a sort of interplay between viruses first emerged in the 1960s, when vaccinations for polio, which contain weakened poliovirus, significantly cut the number of respiratory infections. The idea gained new ground in 2009: Europe seemed poised for a surge in swine flu cases late that summer, but when schools reopened, rhinovirus colds seemed somehow to interrupt the flu epidemic.That prompted a lot of people at that time to speculate about this idea of viral interference, Dr. Foxman said. Even in a typical year, the rhinovirus peaks in October or November and then again in March, on either end of the influenza season.Last year, one team of researchers set out to study the role of an existing immune response in fending off the flu virus. Because it would be unethical to deliberately infect children with the flu, they gave children in Gambia a vaccine with a weakened strain of the virus.Infection with viruses sets off a complex cascade of immune responses, but the very first defense comes from a set of nonspecific defenders called interferons. Children who already had high levels of interferon ended up with much less flu virus in their bodies than those with lower levels of interferon, the team found.The findings suggested that previous viral infections primed the childrens immune systems to fight the flu virus. Most of the viruses that we saw in these kids before giving the vaccine were rhinoviruses, said Dr. Thushan de Silva, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Sheffield in England, who led the study.This dynamic may partly explain why children, who tend to have more respiratory infections than adults, seem less likely to become infected with the coronavirus. The flu may also prevent coronavirus infections in adults, said Dr. Guy Boivin, a virologist and infectious disease specialist at Laval University in Canada.Recent studies have shown that co-infections of flu and the coronavirus are rare, and those with an active influenza infection were nearly 60 percent less likely to test positive for the coronavirus, he noted.Now we see a rise in flu activity in Europe and North America, and it will be interesting to see if it leads to a decrease in SARS-COV-2 circulation in the next few weeks, he said.Advances in technology over the past decade have made it feasible to show the biological basis of this interference. Dr. Foxmans team used a model of human airway tissue to show that rhinovirus infection stimulates interferons that can then fend off the coronavirus.The protection is transient for a certain period of time while you have that interferon response triggered by rhinovirus, said Pablo Murcia, a virologist at the MRC Center for Virus Research at the University of Glasgow, whose team found similar results. But Dr. Murcia also discovered a kink in the viral interference theory: A bout with the coronavirus did not seem to prevent infection with other viruses. That may have something to do with how adept the coronavirus is at evading the immune systems initial defenses, he said.Compared to influenza, it tends to activate these antiviral interferons less, Dr. de Silva said of the coronavirus. That finding suggests that in a given population, it may matter which virus appears first.Dr. de Silva and his colleagues have gathered additional data from Gambia which had no pandemic-related restrictions that might have affected the viral patterns they were observing indicating that rhinovirus, influenza and the coronavirus all peaked at different times between April 2020 and June 2021.That data has made me a bit more convinced that interference could play a role, he said.Still, the behavior of viruses can be greatly influenced by their rapid evolution, and by societal restrictions and vaccination patterns. So the potential impact of viral interference is unlikely to become apparent till the coronavirus settles into a predictable endemic pattern, experts said.R.S.V., rhinovirus and flu have coexisted for years, noted Dr. Nasia Safdar, an expert on health-care-associated infections at the University of WisconsinMadison.Eventually thats what will happen with this one, too it will become one of many that circulate, Dr. Safdar said of the coronavirus. Some viruses may attenuate the effects of others, she said, but the patterns may not be readily apparent.Looking at common-cold coronaviruses, some researchers have predicted that SARS-CoV-2 will become a seasonal winter infection that may well coincide the flu. But the pandemic coronavirus has already shown itself to be different from its cousins.For example, it is rarely seen in co-infections, while one of the four common-cold coronaviruses is frequently seen as a co-infection with the other three.Thats the kind of interesting example that makes one sort of hesitate to make generalizations across multiple viruses, said Jeffrey Townsend, a biostatistician at the Yale School of Public Health who has studied the coronavirus and its seasonality. It seems to be somewhat virus-specific how these things occur.",2
"Nick Diaz Smokes Fatty Joint Hours After USADA Suspension 6/30/2017 How did Nick Diaz respond Thursday after getting provisionally suspended by the UFC's drug-testing organization??? HE SMOKED WEEEEEEEEEED, SON! Diaz fired up a fat joint with some friends in Vegas and didn't seem to have a care in the world after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced Nick accumulated 3 whereabouts failures over the last 12 months. In other words, when USADA comes calling, you have to check in -- and Diaz didn't. Three times. No word yet on how long the ban's gonna last ... but it's not lookin' good for Diaz -- who was suspended 18 months after a third failed drug test in 2015 (all for weed). Diaz has 14 days to contest the violation ... if he wants to. The last time we spoke with Dana White, he didn't seem too confident that either Diaz brother would ever fight again. MAY 2017 TMZSports.com",1
"Europe|Northern Ireland Voters Give Sinn Fein Its Biggest Win Everhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/04/world/europe/northern-ireland-election-sinn-fein.htmlVideoIn the closest election results ever in Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein, the main Catholic nationalist party, won only one seat fewer than the Democratic Unionist party, throwing nearly two decades of peaceful power sharing into turmoil.CreditCredit...Clodagh Kilcoyne/ReutersMarch 4, 2017DUBLIN Sinn Fein, the main Catholic nationalist party in Northern Ireland, has won its greatest share of legislative seats ever after a snap election, creating a virtual tie with its Protestant rivals and throwing nearly two decades of peaceful power sharing into turmoil.The election comes at a time of increased polarization and fears that Britains planned exit from the European Union could lead to customs and security checks along the border with Ireland, economic strife and a return to sectarian conflict. Never before has the Protestant majority, which has used its status to shape social policy and block efforts to merge with Ireland, been so threatened politically.Sinn Fein won 27 of 90 available posts in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Its rival, the Democratic Unionist Party, made up of Protestants who support remaining a part of Britain, lost 10 seats and were left with 28. Voting took place on March 2.Under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which brought an end to the decades-long sectarian strife known as the Troubles, Catholics and Protestants share governance of the region, along with the British government. The two parties must now form a new government within the next three weeks or else return to a period of direct rule from Britain.Michelle ONeill, Sinn Feins new leader in Northern Ireland, called the outcome a great day for equality and said she wanted negotiations to begin as soon as possible.In addition to concerns over Britains decision to leave the European Union, known as Brexit which a majority of voters in Northern Ireland did not support many residents were angry about a botched incentive plan for green energy that was put in place by the unionists.So far that program is 490 million pounds, or nearly $600 million, over budget, and the shortfall will have to be paid out of the block grant allocated to Northern Ireland each year from Britain.The controversy led in January to the resignation of Martin McGuinness as the Sinn Fein leader in Northern Ireland, and calls for a snap election.The Democratic Unionist Party is allied with Britains Conservative Party, which is pursuing Brexit, while Sinn Fein wants Northern Ireland to stay in the European Union and eventually merge with Ireland.There is also growing indignation about a perceived lack of concern from London about Northern Ireland.The United Kingdom has been so preoccupied with matters elsewhere, even at this point of crisis, said Mick Fealty, the founding editor of Slugger OToole, an influential political discussion forum. Its been reflected in the British medias coverage of both Brexit in Northern Ireland, and the election. There just hasnt been any.The Democratic Unionist Party leader, Arlene Foster, is now under pressure to step down, but a statement from the party on Saturday said that she will be remaining as the leader.If the two leading parties do not reach agreement within the three-week time frame imposed by the British-appointed secretary of state for Northern Ireland, James Brokenshire, the government must either call another election or reimpose direct rule.",6
"The Covid Vaccine We Need Now May Not Be a ShotNasal vaccines under development around the world may make better boosters by stopping the coronavirus in the airways.Credit...Amarjeet Kumar Singh/Anadolu Agency, via Getty ImagesPublished Feb. 2, 2022Updated Feb. 3, 2022HYDERABAD, India On the outskirts of this centuries-old Indian city, a world away from its congested roads and cacophony, the gleaming modern laboratories of Bharat Biotech are churning out a Covid vaccine that would be sprayed into the nose rather than injected into the arm.Currently available vaccines produce powerful, long-lasting immunity against severe illness, as several studies have recently shown. But their protection against infection from the coronavirus is transient, and can falter as new variants of the virus emerge a failing that has prompted talk of regular booster shots.Nasal vaccines may be the best way to prevent infections long term, because they provide protection exactly where it is needed to fend off the virus: the mucosal linings of the airways, where the coronavirus first lands.Bharat Biotech is among the worlds leading vaccine manufacturers. Its best known product, Covaxin, is authorized to prevent Covid in India and many other countries. But its experimental nasal vaccine may prove to be the real game changer.Immunizing entire populations with a nasal or oral vaccine would be faster in the middle of a surge than injections, which require skill and time to administer. A nasal vaccine is likely to be more palatable to many (including children) than painful shots, and would circumvent shortages of needles, syringes and other materials.Intranasal vaccines can be administered easily in mass immunization campaigns and reduce transmission, said Krishna Ella, chairman and managing director of Bharat Biotech.There are at least a dozen other nasal vaccines in development worldwide, some of them now in Phase 3 trials. But Bharat Biotechs may be the first to become available. In January, the company won approval to begin a Phase 3 trial of the nasal spray in India as a booster for people who have already received two shots of a Covid vaccine.ImageCredit...Mikhail Tereshchenko\TASS, via Getty ImagesThe Omicron variant made it all too clear that even three doses of a vaccine, while they provide powerful protection against severe illness, may not prevent infection. Thats because injected vaccines produce antibodies in the blood, comparatively few of which make it to the nose, the entryway for the virus.So-called mucosal vaccines ideally would coat the mucosal surfaces of the nose, mouth and throat with long-lasting antibodies, and would be much better at preventing infection and spread of the virus. It is the difference between planting sentries at the gates to bar intruders and trying to oust them after they had already stormed the castle.Nasal vaccines are the only way to really circumvent person-to-person transmission, said Jennifer Gommerman, an immunologist at the University of Toronto. We cant live forever sheltering vulnerable people and boosting them so that their antibody levels stay artificially high.Nasal vaccines have been shown to protect mice, ferrets, hamsters and monkeys against the coronavirus. A new study last week offered powerful evidence in support of their use as a booster.An intranasal booster induced immune memory cells and antibodies in the nose and throat, and strengthened protection from the initial vaccination, the researchers reported. The study has not yet been published in a scientific journal.Our approach is to not use a nasal vaccine as a primary vaccination, but to boost with nasal vaccine, because then you can leverage the existing immunity thats already created, said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University who led the study.When she and her colleagues used a mix of proteins from the new coronavirus as well as the related SARS virus, their experimental nasal vaccine seemed capable of fending off a broad range of coronavirus variants.Theres some flexibility, and there might be more resilience against the virus, said Dr. Gommerman, who was not involved in the work. And because we dont know what the virus will do next, thats awfully appealing.The current Covid vaccines are injected into muscle, and excel at training immune cells to tackle the virus after it enters the body. They produce antibodies called IgG that circulate in the blood and can be marshaled when needed.But few of these antibodies travel to the nose and throat, and even those that do wane quickly.By contrast, nasal vaccines produce a special set of antibodies, called IgA, that thrive on mucosal surfaces like the nose and throat. And these antibodies may wane more slowly.A vaccine delivered with a nebulizer could coat the entire airway, including the lungs, with IgA antibodies. Its not just the tip of the nose thats protected, Dr. Iwasaki said.Mounting evidence supports IgA antibodies as the key to preventing infection. In one study, Dr. Gommerman and her colleagues found that only about 30 percent of people had detectable IgA antibodies after receiving a second dose of vaccine.Those who had lower levels of IgA within a month of the second dose were more likely to develop a breakthrough infection. IgG levels seemed to have no impact on the outcome.Location really matters, and mucosal immunity is really important for protection from infection, said Michal Tal, an immunologist at Stanford University who was involved in the work.ImageCredit...Pallava Bagla/Corbis, via Getty ImagesPeople who gain immunity because of an infection with the virus rather than from an injected vaccine tend to have strong mucosal immunity, at least for a while. That may help explain why they seemed to fare better against the Delta variant than those who had been vaccinated, Dr. Tal said.But she warned that trying to obtain mucosal immunity by getting infected was dangerous. The way to get people that kind of mucosal protection really, really, really should be with a nasal vaccine, she said.Injected vaccines are the right approach for generating the systemic immunity needed to prevent death and disease, the urgent goal at the start of the pandemic, Dr. Tal said. And the Trump administration ushered in several candidates through Operation Warp Speed.That was a good first step, but we needed to have intranasal vaccines ready for boosting for right after that, she added. What I really wish we had was a Warp Speed 2.0 for nasal vaccines.But developing nasal vaccines is complicated. Measuring mucosal antibodies is much more difficult than quantifying antibodies in the blood. The amounts are often low and can fluctuate wildly. For example, the aroma of a delicious meal may flood the mouth with saliva, diluting mucosal antibody levels.Its just like a stepchild for vaccine development, because its hard, Florian Krammer, an immunologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, said of mucosal vaccines.The only nasal vaccine approved in the United States for respiratory diseases is FluMist, and even that has been riddled with problems. FluMist relies on a weakened flu virus, so it works well in children who have never been exposed. But in many adults, existing immunity to flu killed the weakened virus and left the vaccine ineffective.Trying to enhance the vaccine with an extra ingredient, called an adjuvant, inflamed the nasal mucosa and led to Bells palsy in some people.But those problems would not plague a nasal vaccine that uses a viral protein, Dr. Iwasaki said: Our approach is so different, I dont think it suffers from that kind of limitation.Still, there has been little talk of nasal vaccines for Covid in the United States, which has embraced the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.A lot of these developments take place in other regions of the world, said Dr. Krammer, who is involved in an effort to create a nasal vaccine. The appetite for new vaccines in the U.S. is very low.One reason for the hesitation is that no one yet knows how powerful immunity might be from a mucosal Covid vaccine, and how long it might last, Dr. Gommerman said.But mRNA vaccines likewise were a gamble at the start of the pandemic, she noted: I dont think thats a good enough reason to not try.",2
"Business BriefingDec. 9, 2015Over 120 Boston College students have fallen ill and public health officials said Wednesday that norovirus was found at a Chipotle restaurant at the center of the outbreak. The Boston Public Health Commission said lab testing confirmed the presence of the gastrointestinal illness, which causes nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, at the Chipotle restaurant in the citys Cleveland Circle neighborhood, near the Boston College campus. The restaurant remains closed. A spokesman for Chipotle said the illnesses were most likely isolated and not related to the E. coli cases that have turned up in the companys restaurants in nine states.",0
"on techThe conviction of the journalist Maria Ressa shows that Facebooks harms cant be ignored.Credit...Adam MaidaJune 16, 2020This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it weekdays.Mark Zuckerberg likes to say that Facebook does more good than harm in the world. But Facebooks effect on the world is multifaceted and complicated, and the good cant simply make us forget the bad.Without Facebook or a digital hangout like it, we might never have seen the bystander video of George Floyd pinned under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, undermining the official account of Floyds death. Facebook gives everyone even a 17-year-old a printing press. Yes, that is often very good.But on the flip side I think about the Philippines, where Facebook has been weaponized by powerful people to vilify and harass their enemies, and where the social network has contributed to a poisoned atmosphere in which even basic facts are in doubt. It is in poorer countries without strong democratic institutions where the good but also the harm of Facebook has been magnified.Facebook has acknowledged that is has been slow to act in some countries and has more work to do to stop harmful abuses of its hangouts. But Zuckerbergs mathematical equation the good outweighs the bad is too simplistic. Every time I think something positive about Facebook, I also hold in my mind the profound damage the company has done and that too should be an indelible part of Zuckerbergs legacy.I am grappling with this again now because on Monday a court in Manila convicted a prominent journalist in the Philippines, Maria Ressa, and a former colleague of cyber libel.Ressa and her defenders have said the legal case was an effort to silence news publications like Rappler, which she co-founded, that have been critical of President Rodrigo Duterte and his war on drugs that has left thousands of people dead and disappeared.Davey Alba, my New York Times colleague, wrote a must-read article two years ago about the ways that Duterte and his allies employed Facebook to build a large base of supporters, smear opponents like Ressa and spread hoaxes.Davey explained to me that Facebook gave Duterte the means to disseminate his message quickly and broadly. And the companys computer-rigged system that is programmed to circulate the most engaging (and often divisive) material lined up perfectly with the fear, outrage and anger that fueled Dutertes political campaign and then his presidency.There were violent world leaders before Facebook, but as in other countries, the social network and an authoritarian were a match.Ressa used Facebook to build an audience for her fledgling news organization. But she and other Rappler staff were also targeted on Facebook, and the news outlet devoted its time and resources to combat false information there. As an official Facebook partner, Rappler was tasked by Facebook to protect the Philippines from the worst of Facebook.Alone, the Philippines shows the worst side of Facebook. But this is not an isolated case. In Myanmar, Sri Lanka and beyond, theres a repeated pattern of Facebooks system rewarding the most outrageous or fear-mongering messages with more distribution, to grave consequence. And Facebook fails to address warnings about the abuses happening under its nose.Yes, we want and need to bear witness to police brutality videos. But we shouldnt accept a genocide in Myanmar or the targeting of a journalist in the Philippines in exchange for it.Big tech accountability is too important to botchMembers of Congress have been trying to get Jeff Bezos, Amazons chief executive, to testify in an ongoing investigation into whether big technology companies wield their power fairly. Amazons lawyer said on Monday that Bezos was willing to appear at a House hearing alongside other C.E.O.s. (Youll notice that is hardly an unqualified yes.)Bezos is rarely in a position like this, facing questions that he is compelled to answer. Ill be watching eagerly, if it happens. But I can already tell you that it will be frustrating and pointless.What Ive learned from congressional fact-finding sessions like this is that they are theater on both sides.Too often, our elected officials use these moments to grandstand or catch executives in a lie, and corporate leaders just as powerful but unelected by the public say things that might be technically true but not all that revealing.Both lawmakers and tech companies share the blame here.Theres a false idea inside tech companies that members of Congress are too old or clueless to understand how tech companies work. But in one of the hearings last year of the House panel investigating competition in technology, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers asked important, probing questions. It was the executives from Facebook, Apple, Google and Amazon who mostly dodged those questions.Im not a congressional expert, but I wonder if the format of these legislative accountability sessions needs some tweaks. One critic of tech companies has suggested having congressional staff members tape interviews with witnesses so there would be no time limits and less inclination to show off. A Washington veteran suggested to me that investigative hearings need to happen more frequently because there is a cumulative impact.The power of big tech companies is an important matter of public policy. We should hold both our elected officials and the big companies we rely on accountable for what they do. The hearings as they exist now are unlikely to do this.Before we go Speaking of investigations into big tech power : European regulators are questioning whether Apple abuses its power by setting onerous terms for app makers who want to reach iPhone and iPad users, my colleague Adam Satariano writes. The regulators are also opening a separate investigation to see whether Apple is blocking alternatives to Apple Pay on the companys devices.Can a computer be your friend? Cade Metz, a New York Times tech reporter, has a nuanced look at virtual digital assistants that some people now turn to for companionship or to vent about their problems. Some researchers said leaning on chatbots prevents people from dealing with complex human relationships, but many psychologists and users say these digital helpers provide fulfilling emotional support.What. Is. Going. On. In an alarming display of corporate vigilantism, six eBay employees were charged with harassing a Massachusetts couple who wrote an e-commerce newsletter by sending them boxes of live cockroaches, a Halloween mask of a bloody pigs face and other disturbing material. My colleague Natasha Singer writes that none of the employees now work at eBay.Hugs to thisNo one loves carrots this much. (I recommend watching with the sound on for the full effect of webbed feet on pavement.)We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think of this newsletter and what else youd like us to explore. You can reach us at ontech@nytimes.com. Get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday; please sign up here.",5
"https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/07/sports/ncaabasketball/arizona-scrapes-past-oregon.htmlSports BriefingFeb. 7, 2014Nick Johnson scored 18 points as No. 2 Arizona (22-1, 9-1 Pacific 12), coming off its first loss of the season, ground out a 67-65 victory at home over Oregon (15-7, 3-7). Sean Kilpatrick scored 26 points, and No. 7 Cincinnati (22-2, 11-0 American Athletic Conference) rallied to its 15th straight win, a 63-58 home victory over No. 22 Connecticut (17-5, 5-4). Adreian Payne scored 12 points in his return from a foot injury, and No. 9 Michigan State (20-3, 9-1) kept pace atop the Big Ten with an 82-67 victory at home over Penn State (12-11, 3-7).",4
"Finland 3, Russia 1Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesFeb. 19, 2014SOCHI, Russia President Vladimir V. Putin and any other Russian who was asked made it plain that the Sochi Games success hinged on the Russian mens hockey team. Sure, Russia has a formidable delegation, winning medals in many events, from biathlon to bobsled. But it was the hockey team, representing the national sport, that would offer the world the most meaningful symbol of the countrys might. We all, and I personally, wish you all luck, Mr. Putin was quoted as saying in a visit to the Canadian Olympic teams headquarters last week. Of course, maybe not at all of the hockey matches.No one will ever know for sure the pressure the team faced in its role as Russias great hope, only the humiliating ending it encountered.Finland defeated Russia, 3-1, on Wednesday in front of a homeland audience that had all but demanded that its mens hockey team deliver Russias first Olympic gold medal in its national sport since 1992, when it competed along with other former Soviet republics as the Unified Team. The Russians won three of their five games but were eliminated before the medal round had even begun. For them, the Sochi Games might as well be over. If we had just won the gold medal in hockey, we could have forgotten about all the other medals everything else, said Salavat Fokin, 21, a law student from Moscow working as a volunteer at the Games.ImageCredit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesNo matter that Russia is near the top of the medal standings, with 22, or that its figure skaters are still in pursuit of medals. For an outsize portion of the host countrys populace, the only things left at the Sochi Games are blame and anguish.I have lost any desire to stay here any longer, said Dmitry Pechenik, 18, an Olympic volunteer from Moscow. There is no sense to stay. As for me, the Olympic flame can be put down as well.A team of immense talent was wobbly when it arrived on the sports biggest international stage, then quickly fell flat on its face. Russia, once the hockey wonderland, has only a silver and a bronze since the National Hockey League started sending players to the Olympics in 1998.The disappointment reverberated in the upper ranks of the Russian government. Mr. Putin, who attended Russias games over the weekend a loss to the United States on Saturday and a victory over Slovakia on Sunday did not immediately issue any reaction. Aleksei K. Pushkov, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Russian Parliament, voiced disappointment but not shock. We have a number of good players, Mr. Pushkov said. But we dont have a team. The Soviet Union won the Olympic gold in seven of nine appearances between 1956, when it made its ice hockey debut, and 1988, before the country broke up in 1991.The teams coach, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, bore the brunt of the harsh reaction after the game Wednesday, when he was challenged by the Russian news media.In the news conference featuring both head coaches, the first eight questions were directed at Mr. Bilyaletdinov, 58, a soft-spoken man whose voice rose above a murmur only once, when a reporter said in Russian: Can you address the overall result of the Russian team in the Olympics? It is a catastrophe.Mr. Bilyaletdinov blanched. Lets not play word games, he said. I said it was unsuccessful. We can call it whatever.Russia was holding its collective breath with this team and was prepared to keep holding it through the gold medal game on Sunday, the grand finale before the closing ceremony. The joy that Canada experienced four years ago triumph for its hockey team as a prelude to the farewell ceremony in Vancouver seemed attainable, if not assured. Instead, the players will scatter as if seized by an ill wind, returning to North America or their Russian league teams while the Games draw to their anticlimactic close for the host country.It is hard to say something now its just emptiness, said Sergei Bobrovsky, a goaltender who replaced the starter, Semyon Varlamov, in the second period after Finland took a 3-1 lead.The Russians were like a mosaic in which all the beautiful individual pieces, when put together, clash instead of connect. The roster featured 16 players from the N.H.L., and 9 from the Kontinental Hockey League, a league based in Russia.In the spotlights glare, the Russians came unglued. They whiffed on shots. They made the extra pass when they should have shot and shot when they should have made the extra pass. Alex Ovechkin, who leads the N.H.L. in goals this season, with 40, scored early in the first period of Russias first game, then did not score again.One did not have to be wearing Russian red to feel their stress. The Finnish forward Teemu Selanne, who scored the go-ahead goal in the first period and collected the first assist on the insurance goal in the second, said: In a way, I feel sorry for Ovi and the rest of his teammates. They had a big dream to win the gold medal in their home tournament.Where does the Russian team, and its millions of loyal followers, go from here? After a long preamble, the first Russian-speaking reporter in the news conference got to the point.Are you staying? he asked Mr. Bilyaletdinov, who did not blink.Well, I want to stay, he said, but that is probably a question to be answered by someone else.As Mr. Bilyaletdinov saw it, his fate had already been decided by one influential group. In a Russian-speaking scrum after the orderly news conference, a reporter again brought up the subject of Mr. Bilyaletdinovs future and noted that Vyacheslav Bykov, the Russian national team coach in 2010, was eaten alive after the Russians quarterfinal loss to Canada, and subsequent exit, at the Vancouver Games.Well, eat me now, Mr. Bilyaletdinov told reporters. Youll eat me, and Ill be gone.",4
"Credit...Rick Wilking/ReutersJune 21, 2018SAN FRANCISCO For decades, Intel was one of the most predictable players in the technology industry. On Thursday, the semiconductor maker blindsided Silicon Valley with the abrupt resignation of its chief executive over a relationship with a subordinate.The chip company said it was recently informed that Brian Krzanich had a past consensual relationship with an Intel employee. An investigation by internal and external counsel then found that Mr. Krzanich, 58, had violated a non-fraternization policy that applies to managers, the company said. So Intels board accepted his resignation.The disclosure about Mr. Krzanich, a soft-spoken chip manufacturing specialist who joined Intel in 1982 and has run it for five years, left many questions unanswered. The company declined to identify the employee involved, when the relationship took place or any additional details. It characterized its internal investigation as ongoing.Mr. Krzanichs relationship with the subordinate was not recent, said one person briefed on the situation, who declined to be identified because the company discussions over the matter were confidential. Intel found out about the relationship only a few days ago, this person added.Robert Swan, Intels chief financial officer, was appointed interim chief executive while the company conducts a search for a permanent new leader. Mr. Krzanich could not be reached for comment.We appreciate Brians many contributions to Intel, Andy Bryant, Intels chairman, said in a prepared statement. He added that he knew the company would continue to perform.Mr. Krzanichs resignation is the latest turmoil in executive suites since the #MeToo movement emerged in the wake of allegations against producer Harvey Weinstein. The heightened scrutiny of workplace behavior has led executives at Nike, Lululemon Athletica, Social Finance and many other companies to leave their jobs.Over the years, other chief executives have also been felled after violating workplace behavior standards, either because of affairs or through other incidents, including at Boeing, Hewlett-Packard and Priceline.Intel, which recently yielded the title of the worlds largest chip maker to Samsung, is approaching its 50th birthday. The company, known for microprocessor chips that carry out calculations in most personal computers and server systems, has prided itself as a standard-setter in corporate governance.An Intel spokesman said the companys most recent version of its strict non-fraternization policy, which prohibits managers from sexual or romantic relationships with employees who report directly or indirectly to them, has been in place since 2011.Even so, Intel, like many companies, has not been impervious to romance. Mr. Krzanich, who rose through the ranks at Intel, married a woman who once worked in the companys manufacturing operations. They have two daughters. The wife of Mr. Krzanichs predecessor, Paul Otellini, who died last year, also once worked at Intel.As chief executive, Mr. Krzanich has been changing Intels corporate culture. The company has undergone an exodus of longtime managers such as Renee James, who was Mr. Krzanichs No. 2 but later faded in prominence and left the company and the arrival of senior executives from other companies such as Qualcomm.Mr. Krzanich argued that Intel needed an infusion of fresh thinking to achieve his goal of reducing the companys dependence on the sluggish P.C. market. He also publicly committed the company to increasing the number of employees from groups underrepresented in some technical specialties, including minorities and women.Intel is a different place, and weve done this while growing the business, Mr. Krzanich said at the companys annual shareholder meeting in May.But five former Intel employees, who declined to be identified for fear of retaliation, said Mr. Krzanich at times exhibited an arrogant personal style and handled staff changes in ways that created enemies. Some of these people said the #MeToo movement most likely influenced how Intels board handled the matter.Mr. Krzanich also raised eyebrows by selling about $39 million in Intel shares last November, after the company learned of potential security flaws in its chips and before the issue was disclosed this year. The company said the sale was unrelated to the flaws, adding that Mr. Krzanich continued to hold shares in line with Intel guidelines.Mr. Krzanich sought to broaden Intels business, taking the company into fields such as drones and wearable devices. He also presided over major acquisitions such as Intels $15.3 billion acquisition of Mobileye, an Israeli company that makes chips and software used in driver-assistance systems and self-driving cars.Yet Intel has lately struggled to sustain Moores Law, the pace of chip miniaturization named for the companys co-founder, Gordon Moore, which expands the capabilities of its chips. It has announced repeated delays in perfecting its latest production process.During Mr. Krzanichs tenure, Intels market capitalization rose to above $240 billion, with a share price that is up 50 percent since the beginning of 2017. On Thursday, while the companys shares declined 2 percent on the announcement of the leadership change, Intel said it expected to report second-quarter results that exceed Wall Street estimates.Pierre Ferragu, an analyst with New Street Research, said the projection points to a monster quarter for the company. The resignation itself is in our view a completely idiosyncratic event, with no impact to the company, he wrote in a research note.Mr. Swan is a relative newcomer to Intel, joining the company as chief financial officer from General Atlantic in 2016. His past experience includes a stint at private equity firm General Atlantic and nine years as chief financial officer at eBay.Mr. Krzanichs total compensation last year was $21.5 million, according to the executive compensation firm Equilar. That put him at 60th place in an annual ranking of highest-paid chief executives in the United States that Equilar conducted for The New York Times.",5
"April 5, 2016KABUL, Afghanistan In a compromise bid to unite the ranks after months of infighting, the Talibans new leader has appointed the brother and son of Mullah Muhammad Omar, the movements deceased founder, to senior leadership posts, a spokesman for the insurgent group said on Tuesday.The appointments are the latest move by the supreme Taliban leader, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, to publicly consolidate his authority after a leadership struggle last summer.Facing criticism or outright rebellion from field commanders who distrusted his ties to Pakistan and his handling of the succession, Mullah Mansour brutally quashed breakaway groups and sought to buy the support of other skeptical commanders, all while maintaining a publicity campaign that has portrayed the Taliban as united under his command, according to interviews with Taliban members. They spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid angering Mullah Mansour. Now, the announcement that he had formally brought two of the most influential skeptics back into the fold Mullah Abdul Manan, the brother of Mullah Omar; and Mullah Muhammad Yaqoub, the founders son was expected to help bring other dissenters into line right as the Talibans annual offensive is expected to pick up momentum in Afghanistan.A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, said in a phone interview on Tuesday that Mullah Manan and Mullah Yaqoub would both take seats on the Talibans senior leadership council, widely known as the Quetta Shura, as well as other posts.In addition to having membership in the leadership council, the leadership appointed Manan as head of Preaching and Guidance Commission, and Yaqoub as military commander responsible for 15 provinces in Afghanistan, Mr. Ahmadi said.Both Mullah Manan and Mullah Yaqoub had been critical of what they saw as Mullah Mansours manipulation of his ascent to supreme Taliban leader last July, accusing him of rigging the selection process that made him the new Amir ul-Momineen, or commander of the faithful. Other Taliban leaders have accused Mullah Mansour of covering up Mullahs Omars death for at least two years as he consolidated his grip over the movement.After initial vocal opposition, Mullah Manan and Mullah Yaqoub remained quiet for months as Taliban leaders and religious clerics went back and forth trying to mediate between the camps.Threats, violence and resource-bullying have also come into play over the past year.Mullah Mansour Dadullah, a Taliban commander who insisted that he would not accept Mullah Mansours authority, was killed along with many of his men after heavy fighting in Zabul Province last year. Mullah Rasool, another leader of the splinter group, has reportedly been detained by the Pakistani military, elements of which are seen as having close ties to Mullah Mansours Taliban.More recently, Mullah Mansour has extended his crackdown on dissidents into several districts in Helmand Province, according to Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, a spokesman for Mullah Rasools breakaway faction.For the last three days, some of our people engaged with Mansours Taliban in Helmand and there were some casualties, Mullah Niazi said. Mansour is trying to eliminate every single person in his control area that he suspects.It has helped that Mullah Mansour has long cornered the insurgencys resources, controlling its overseas fund-raising and much of its profits from the opium trade. Some commanders described how Mullah Mansour has threatened to cut off resources to dissenters, bringing many in line.Last week, another powerful and disenchanted Taliban commander, Mullah Qayoum Zakir, was also reported to have finally pledged allegiance to the new leader. A former head of the insurgents military commission, Mullah Zakir was long seen as a rival to Mullah Mansour. For months after the leadership announcement, Mullah Zakir refused to pledge allegiance, though fighters loyal to him continued to fight alongside Mullah Mansours forces, according to Afghan officials and Taliban commanders.What probably pushed Mullah Zakirs hand was that in recent months several of his commanders in Helmand felt the scarcity of resources and switched to establishing direct channels to Mullah Mansour, Taliban commanders said.However, the handwritten letter of allegiance by Mullah Zakir that the Taliban published on their website was reserved in its tone, and suggested that his pledge was conditional and came only after an agreement to fix differences between him and Mullah Mansour that had Shariah basis a reference to Islamic law that seemed meant to slight Mullah Mansours religious credentials. In another internal letter, Mullah Zakir spelled things out a little more: While Mullah Omars word had carried unanimous authority, the new leadership needed to lay out clear guidelines for everything under Shariah law, seemingly opening the door for internal dissent on religious principle.Seeking to shore up his claim to religious leadership of the Taliban, Mullah Mansour has in recent months sent groups of preachers on a special mission to Helmand, according to one commander in Musa Qala district, Mullah Aziz Mutmain. In addition to regular sermons on the sanctity of jihad, Taliban fighters have also been reminded to obey their superiors and particularly the newly appointed Amir ul-Momineen, he said.Mullah Mansours continuing efforts to consolidate power are also being seen by some Afghan officials as another bad sign for the governments efforts to bring the Taliban to peace talks.The idea of immediate talks is keenly unpopular among many senior Taliban commanders, particularly given their recent success on the battlefield. Even with his recent success in gaining support, Mullah Mansour is unlikely to take a chance on talks anytime soon, Taliban officials said.Still, the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, had declared that new progress on peace talks over the winter was a crucial step to try to head off another disastrous year of fighting against a resurgent Taliban. At the heart of Mr. Ghanis effort was a quadrilateral process, also involving Pakistan, the United States and China, that hinged on persuading the Pakistani military to pressure the Taliban to come to talks. Elements of the military have long sheltered the Talibans senior leadership, and Mullah Mansours links to Pakistani military intelligence were seen as instrumental in his rise to power, according to Afghan and Taliban officials.After the March deadline for face-to-face talks was missed, Mr. Ghanis officials now say they doubt Pakistan took any practical steps.James B. Cunningham, a former United States ambassador to Afghanistan who is now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said it would be difficult to expect the Taliban at the table if they continue to have free movement in Pakistan.One has to ask what is the best way to convince the Taliban to get into a serious negotiation, to begin to have a discussion about the resolution to the conflict that is going to be much more difficult to achieve if the Taliban continue to enjoy refuge in Pakistan.",6
"Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesJune 17, 2018WASHINGTON Leading figures of both parties demanded on Sunday that President Trump halt his administrations practice of separating children from their parents when apprehended at the border, as the issue further polarized the already divisive immigration debate in Washington.Republican lawmakers, the former first lady Laura Bush, a conservative newspaper and a onetime adviser to Mr. Trump joined Democrats in condemning family separations that have removed nearly 2,000 children from their parents in just six weeks. The administration argued that it was just enforcing the law, a false assertion that Mr. Trump has made repeatedly.The issue took on special resonance on Fathers Day as Democratic lawmakers visited detention facilities in Texas and New Jersey to protest the separations and the House prepared to take up immigration legislation this week. Pictures of children warehoused without their parents in facilities, including a converted Walmart store, have inflamed passions and put the administration on the defensive.Mr. Trump did not directly address the family separations on Sunday, saying only that Democrats should work with Republicans on border security legislation. Dont wait until after the election because you are going to lose! he wrote on Twitter.But Melania Trump weighed in, saying she hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together. Mrs. Trump believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with a heart, the first ladys office said in a statement.By laying responsibility for the situation on both sides, Mrs. Trump effectively echoed her husbands assertion that it was the result of a law written by Democrats. In fact, the administration announced a zero tolerance approach this spring, leading to the separations.Mrs. Bush, the last Republican first lady, spoke out forcefully against the practice on Sunday in a rare foray into domestic politics, comparing it to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. I live in a border state, she wrote in a guest column in The Washington Post. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart.She attributed the situation entirely to the administration. The reason for these separations is a zero tolerance policy for their parents, who are accused of illegally crossing our borders, she wrote.Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, deplored separations on Sunday, except in cases where there is evidence of abuse or another good reason.What the administration has decided to do is to separate children from their parents to try to send a message that, if you cross the border with children, your children are going to be ripped away from you, she said on Face the Nation on CBS. That is traumatizing to the children, who are innocent victims. And it is contrary to our values in this country.Former President Bill Clinton likewise spoke out, suggesting that Mr. Trump was using the widely denounced practice to leverage Democrats into accepting immigration limits in legislation they would otherwise oppose.These children should not be a negotiating tool, he wrote on Twitter. And reuniting them with their families would reaffirm Americas belief in & support for all parents who love their children.Hillary Clinton retweeted that message, adding, YES!Contrary to the presidents public statements, no law requires families to necessarily be separated at the border. Attorney General Jeff Sessionss zero tolerance announcement this spring that the government will prosecute all unlawful immigrants as criminals set up a situation in which children are removed when their parents are taken into federal custody.Previous administrations made exceptions to such prosecutions for adults traveling with minor children, but the Trump administration has said it will not do so. While the president has blamed Democrats, his senior adviser, Stephen Miller, told The New York Times last week that it was a simple decision by the administration to have a zero tolerance policy for illegal entry, period.But Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security, rejected responsibility for the separations in a series of tweets on Sunday. We do not have a policy of separating families at the border, she wrote. Period.She distinguished between asylum seekers who try to enter the country at designated points of entry and those who arrive at other parts of the border. For those seeking asylum at ports of entry, we have continued the policy from previous Administrations and will only separate if the child is in danger, there is no custodial relationship between family members, or if the adult has broken a law, she wrote.But there have been reports of people arriving at the ports of entry asking for asylum and being taken into custody, and some of the designated ports are not accepting asylum claims. In those cases, migrants sometimes cross wherever they can and, because it is not an official border station, are detained even though they are making a claim of asylum. Many would-be asylum applicants do not know where official ports of entry are.The administration approach has drawn a cascade of criticism in recent days. Michael V. Hayden, who was C.I.A. director for President George W. Bush, posted a picture of a Nazi concentration camp on Saturday and wrote, Other governments have separated mothers and children. The Rev. Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham and a defender of Mr. Trump, called the family separations disgraceful.The furor over the separation policy seemed to grow even as the president planned to meet with House Republicans on Tuesday in advance of votes on immigration legislation that has divided his party. Two competing bills are headed to the floor, a hard-line immigration measure that is expected to go down, and a compromise version crafted by the House Republican leadership.Mr. Trump has confused his allies in the House with conflicting signals about his preferences. At one point on Friday, he said he would not sign the moderate bill embraced by the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, only to have the White House later contradict that by saying the president had been confused.With the fate of the legislation uncertain, Democrats are trying to focus attention on the separation policy as an example of what they call Mr. Trumps extremist approach to immigration. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California has collected 43 Democratic sponsors for legislation to limit family separations.Senators Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland led a group of Democratic lawmakers to a detention facility in Brownsville, Tex., on Sunday but were not allowed to talk with children held there. Seven House Democrats visited a detention facility in Elizabeth, N.J., and said they were blocked for nearly two hours before being allowed to see parents separated from their children.Some Republican lawmakers in recent days have pushed Mr. Trump to reverse or modify the family separation policy by giving new instructions to the Department of Homeland Security.President Trump could stop this policy with a phone call, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and often an ally and golfing partner of the presidents, said on CNN on Friday. Ill go tell him. If you dont like families being separated, you can tell D.H.S. stop doing it.Anthony Scaramucci, who served briefly as White House communications director last year, said separating children from their families is not the Christian way or the American way, and made clear he thinks Mr. Trump can end it on his own. The President can reverse it and I hope he does, he wrote on Twitter.The conservative editorial page of The New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdochs News Corporation, agreed on Sunday. Its not just that this looks terrible in the eyes of the world, it wrote. It is terrible.Mr. Trump has said in recent days that Democrats should agree to his panoply of immigration measures, including full financing for a border wall and revamping the system of legal entry to the country, in effect making clear that any legislation addressing family separation must also include his priorities.A top adviser to Mr. Trump said on Sunday that the president was not using the family separation as leverage to force Democrats to come to the table on other policy disputes, rebutting an unnamed White House official quoted by The Washington Post.As a mother, as a Catholic, as somebody who has got a conscience, and wouldnt say the junk that somebody said, apparently, allegedly, I will tell you that nobody likes this policy, Kellyanne Conway, the White House counselor, said on Meet the Press on NBC. You saw the president on camera that he wants this to end, but everybody has, Congress has to act.",3
"DealBook|Newell Rubbermaids Merger Machine Shows Stresshttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/business/dealbook/newell-rubbermaids-merger-machine-shows-stress.htmlBreakingviewsDec. 14, 2015Newell Rubbermaid is overworking its merger machine.The company, a serial acquirer that owns Sharpie markers and Graco baby gear, is buying Jardens motley collection of Coleman camping gear, Rawlings baseball gloves and more for $13 billion. The value of the proposed cost savings more than covers the premium being paid, but the scale and debt strain conglomerate logic.The strategy has worked for a while. Newells shares have more than doubled over the last five years, as the company generated more profit from its many and varied businesses while adding Elmers glue, baby joggers and refillable water bottles to its mix. Jarden has been an even more prolific accumulator under Martin E. Franklin since 2001. He has overseen a fortyfold increase in returns as the company squeezed efficiencies out of more than 120 brands.Combining the two companies is expected to save some $500 million annually in about four years. Taxed and put on a multiple of 10, these are worth about $3 billion today. Thats more than enough value to cover the 24 percent premium, worth about $2.5 billion, to Jardens undisturbed share price earlier in December. Newell is even promising revenue synergies, however hard to come by they typically are. Finally, Mr. Franklin should be a welcome addition to the combined companys board.Despite all this promise, Newells shares have fallen below where they were trading before media reports of a possible deal with Jarden were first reported. Taking over such a large and diverse company will not be easy for Newell. As conglomerates get bigger, it is harder to find enough suitable targets to satisfy growth expectations. And the deal will leave Newell with debt equal to 4.5 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, heaping extra pressure onto management.Finally, theres the broader backdrop of fear blanketing these sorts of companies. The drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals, the cable operator Altice and Mr. Franklins own chemical roll-up, Platform Specialty Products, have each lost about two-thirds of their market value this year. Investors increasingly worry about what may be hidden inside these perpetual buyers, especially as rising interest rates potentially threaten the business model. The decision by an aggressive deal maker like Mr. Franklin to sell may be an indicator unto itself.",0
"Dec. 9, 2015Senators from both parties on Wednesday denounced huge overnight price increases for decades-old drugs that have been made by some pharmaceutical companies lately, calling them unconscionable and detrimental to patients.These companies are to ethical pharmaceutical companies as a loan shark is to a bank, said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, quoting an unnamed industry specialist with whom she had spoken. She discussed the matter at a hearing of the Senates Special Committee on Aging, which she leads.The hearing focused on two companies in particular, Turing Pharmaceuticals, which acquired an old drug for a parasitic infection and raised the price to $750 a pill from $13.50, and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, which has sharply increased the prices of various drugs it has acquired, including two used by hospitals to treat serious heart conditions.The chief executives of these companies were not at the hearing, but that did not stop them from being criticized. Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, the ranking Democrat on the committee, mocked Martin Shkreli, the chief executive of Turing, by calling him Mr. Wu-Tang. That was a reference to the news that Mr. Shkreli, 32, a former hedge fund manager, was revealed as the mystery buyer of the only known copy of a new album by Wu-Tang Clan. Most of the hearing, which was described as the first in a series, was devoted to looking at the impact of the sudden price increases on doctors, patients and hospitals.Erin R. Fox, director of the drug information service at University of Utah Health Care, said that the price of Isuprel, a heart drug acquired by Valeant early this year, was now $2,700 a vial compared with $440 before the acquisition and $50 two years ago. The hospital system would have had to spend $1.6 million extra a year just on that drug, she said, unless it curtailed it use.So Isuprel was removed from the crash carts that are used in emergencies, Ms. Fox said, though it is still available from the pharmacy if doctors really need it. Our physicians are incredibly frustrated that they have to think twice about using the drug, she said.Dr. David Kimberlin, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, recounted a case in which a baby needed Daraprim, the drug acquired by Turing, which increased its price to $750 a pill. Daraprim, acquired in August, treats toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that can cause blindness and brain damage.Since Daraprim is a pill, it had to be turned into a liquid form that a baby could swallow. But the compounding pharmacy the hospital relied on to do that could not obtain the drug because of new restrictions Turing had placed on distribution. The huge price increase, which would bring the cost of a yearlong course of treatment for a baby to more than $69,000 from $1,200, was also a deterrent.Babies lives literally hang in the balance here, Dr. Kimberlin said. He said that infectious disease societies had surveyed members and found more than 30 cases in which people had trouble obtaining Daraprim promptly.In a statement, Turing said it was committed to developing innovative therapies and was making sure that no patient was denied access to Daraprim. Valeant said in a statement that broad conclusions about the companys pricing cannot be drawn from any one drug and that most hospitals use small amounts of Isuprel, limiting any impact of price increases. Ms. Fox and others who testified said that companies like Turing and Valeant were able to increase prices so rapidly because of a lack of competition in the market for generic drugs, which stemmed in part from consolidation in that industry. The lack of competition plus manufacturing problems have led to shortages and price increases for antibiotics, anesthetics and some other drugs that are more widely used than Daraprim and Isuprel.Various suggestions were made for dealing with the issue. Gerard Anderson, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said the Food and Drug Administration should expedite approval of generic drugs for economic reasons.Daraprim and Isuprel have no patent protection but there are no generic competitors either, because the market was small until the big price hikes. If a generic company wanted to enter now, it could take two to three years to get F.D.A. approval. But if that time could be reduced to six months, it would provide a deterrent to huge price hikes, he said.Express Scripts, the largest pharmacy benefit manager, is encouraging use of an alternative to Daraprim that is made by a compounding pharmacy and sells for about $1 a pill. But witnesses at the hearing were reluctant to recommend more use of compounding to save money because such drugs are not approved by the F.D.A. and have had safety issues in the past.Compounding should not be a blanket, one-size-fits-all solution, said Ms. Fox of the University of Utah.Mark Merritt, chief of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, which represents pharmacy benefit managers, called for a watch list of drugs with no generic competition that would be vulnerable to huge price increases. He said there were about 200 such drugs.The hedge funds have these lists, the government may as well too, he said.",0
"In British Columbia, researchers have undertaken a unique challenge: tracking orphan grizzly cubs, reared in a shelter, to see whether they can thrive back in the wild.A tranquilized and blindfolded grizzly bear named Arthur is prepared on a pallet for a helicopter flight to the wilderness near Bella Coola, British Columbia.Credit...Alanna MitchellPhotographs by Alana PatersonPublished July 23, 2021Updated Oct. 7, 2021One morning in mid-July, Lana M. Ciarniello, a bear biologist in British Columbia, caught a flight from Vancouver Island, where she lives, to a wildlife sanctuary in the northwestern part of the province to meet two baby grizzlies, the newest subjects in an unusual study she is conducting.The two cubs brothers, born this spring were orphaned when their mother was shot. Traditionally, grizzly mothers in North America tend their offspring for at least two years, teaching them to find food and keep out of trouble before nudging them to live on their own. These cubs were far too young to survive without her.Most grizzly cubs orphaned in North America say, in the lower 48 U.S. states where they are endangered, or in Alaska and Canada where they are more plentiful are shot on the spot, left to die in the wild or placed in a zoo.These two, however, ended up at Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter, near the town of Smithers, the only place in the Western Hemisphere that raises orphan grizzly bears until they are big enough to be released back to the wild. If all goes well, the cubs will live there until next spring, fattening up and learning life skills from their human caregiver.At that point, Dr. Ciarniello will meet them once again to fit them with battery-operated radio collars. Then, she will release them into the wilderness near where they were orphaned. Her goal is to track them for several years to see how they do, hoping that they can avoid the conflicts with humans that led to their mothers death.We want to give these bears the best chance for survival, Dr. Ciarniello said. We want to set them up for success.The plan is to release bears that steer clear of humans, unlike the grizzly that attacked and then terrorized a sleep-deprived man for several nights in a row at a mining camp near Nome, Alaska, earlier this week. The man was rescued by chance when a Coast Guard helicopter happened to fly past.Dr. Ciarniellos project, financed by the Vancouver-based Grizzly Bear Foundation, is the worlds first long-term scientific study to determine whether raising orphan grizzlies for return to the wild makes sense. Ideally, a rewilded cub thrives and eventually has offspring of its own. But a less rosy scenario is that it spends a year in captivity only to die in the wild before it can add to the gene pool.Are we doing it just because it makes us feel good? Dr. Ciarniello asked. She is co-chair of the human-bear conflicts expert team of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Or is it actually contributing to the population?Survival school for orphansImageCredit...Alana Paterson for The New York TimesEven as Dr. Ciarniello is receiving two more orphans into her study, she is assessing the destinies of the seven cubs she has already sent back into the bush: two last year and five in June.Raven, Isa and Arthur arrived at the Northern Lights sanctuary last October after their mother was killed in a collision with a truck near Bella Coola, a coastal village in the Great Bear Rainforest. Cedar and Muwin followed the next month after their mother was found eating human food near the same community and was shot. Even though the orphan cubs were from two different families, they soon became inseparable, even sharing a den. Dr. Ciarniello started calling them the Fab Five.A lot was riding on this batch of orphans. Not only were they the second years subjects of a closely watched scientific study, but four were female. Angelika Langen, who founded the shelter in 1990 with her husband, Peter Langen, cherished hopes that within a few years all four would be demonstrably producing cubs, proving the shelters success. The Langens trained as animal keepers in their native Germany before immigrating to Canada in 1982.Four of them, thats a huge boost for the program if we can keep collars on them and they survive, Mrs. Langen said.The five cubs spent much of their time at the shelter playing. Grizzlies are water hounds, Mrs. Langen said. They love to drink it, play in it and make mud with it to slather over their bodies to keep insects at bay.When I stand there and I watch them, how they get so excited over playing in the water pond or having this fresh branch that they can balance on their paw or shoving an ice cube around like theyre playing hockey, there is such an abundance of joy for life that I think we would all like to have, Mrs. Langen said.The shelter, set on 220 acres of aspen-quivering wilderness, began accepting orphan grizzlies in 2007 as a pilot project approved by the provincial government. It is one of just four grizzly rewilding programs in the world; the others are in Greece, Romania and Russia.Since the Canadian grizzly program began, it has reared 31 cubs, plus the two newcomers. It has had to turn away many more. Last year, three cubs from Montana and three from Alberta ended up at zoos because governments balked at transporting them across jurisdictions to the sanctuary. The shelter, which currently has two full-time employees in addition to Mrs. Langen, one part-timer and some volunteers, is also home to orphan black bears, moose and deer. Its yearly operational budget of $200,000 comes exclusively from donations.The shelters strategy is to teach the grizzlies how to survive in the wild. It is based on pioneering work conducted with black bears in the 1970s by John J. Beecham, an Idaho-based biologist. Dr. Beecham, who helped the Langens set up their program, is the other leader of the human-bear conflicts team at the International Union for Conservation of Nature. But the shelter has only spotty information about the fate of most of its orphan grizzlies, so the Grizzly Bear Foundation turned to Dr. Ciarniello, an independent scientist.If her study, which began two years ago, shows that rewilding grizzlies can be successful, it might spur American researchers to set one up, Dr. Beecham said. One possible site could be the Pacific Northwest.A key to that success is making sure the cubs do not come to see humans as friendly, so that they avoid humans and their settlements once they are back in the wild. To that end, each batch of orphans has a single caregiver rather than a nurturing team. Cubs receive only natural materials to play with; tires, balls and swings are forbidden. Protein from domesticated animals is off the menu.The cubs also need to be as big as possible when they return to the forest. So the shelters protocol is to keep the orphan grizzlies out of hibernation through the winter by feeding them. The Fab Five feasted on plants gathered in season from the wild skunk cabbage, saskatoon berries and dandelions plus fish, moose and deer. Grapes were a special treat.ImageCredit...Alana Paterson for The New York TimesBy June, as the moment approached when Dr. Ciarniello would release the five cubs, they were roughly twice the size of ones reared in the wild. The male, Arthur, was the biggest at 288 pounds. Each already had an identifying microchip inserted in its nose, a tattoo on the inner lip, tags in both ears and a radio collar fitted around the neck to track its movements by G.P.S.Dr. Ciarniello had been through the same process the year before as she prepared the first two subjects of her study for release, the brothers Max and Moritz. But she noticed a difference this year. Because of modifications she had recommended, the five were behaving much more like cubs in the wild. They had dragged boughs into their sleeping area; they dug in their pen.Its really exactly what I wanted to see, she said. I think these five have a pretty good chance.Whats the advantage of that?At last count, the United States had 1,913 grizzly bears outside of Alaska, in just four states: northern Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and a sliver of northeast Washington. That is a gain from the 700 to 800 in 1975, when the species was designated threatened under the Endangered Species Act. But it is a frail remnant of the 50,000 or so that prowled the western states in 1850, before Europeans took the land for farms, ranches and towns.Ursus arctos horribilis was a fierce foe to settlers. With its humped shoulders, vast girth and constitutional reluctance to back away from a fight, the species was seen as a threat to both humans and to livestock. Government bounties and outright dislike eliminated them from any landscape humans wanted, pushing the survivors into a handful of mountaintops and nature reserves.Grizzlies were eradicated from the Canadian prairies, too, and a separate subspecies in Mexico was killed off. The bears fared a little better in Europe, where three of 10 isolated European populations are now critically endangered.Globally, though, grizzlies, also known as brown bears, are not considered threatened. The I.U.C.N.s Red List of Threatened Species puts the total population at about 200,000, of which about half are in Russia. Alaska and parts of northwest Canada together have about 55,000, mainly in wilderness areas. In Canada, they are a species of special concern. British Columbia designates them as vulnerable and Alberta as threatened.Despite the grizzlys endangered status in the United States, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has never had a rearing program for orphan cubs and has not considered developing one, Hilary S. Cooley, the agencys grizzly bear recovery coordinator, said in an email. Instead, the service prefers to focus on programs to prevent orphanings. She said the number of orphans south of the Canadian border varies each year from zero to several.Placing orphan grizzlies in zoos is becoming more difficult, said Laurine A. Wolf, education bureau chief of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Grizzlies can live in captivity for decades and need a lot of care.I know that it is getting more challenging to me to find a permanent placement for grizzly bears, she said.Alaska does not have a rehab program either. About a dozen grizzlies are orphaned there each year, said J. Ryan Scott, a wildlife biologist in the states department of fish and game. He can occasionally find a zoo placement. Most perish, as do half the grizzly cubs born and raised in the wild, he noted.Its not intended to be cold, Mr. Scott said, but we think about the natural systems that happen in Alaska and you have to ask yourself: One cub, that may or may not ultimately survive if it goes through a rehab process, whats the advantage of that?The practice of rewilding grizzlies is controversial among biologists. Dr. Beecham said that orphans reared at shelters could eventually be used to re-establish vanished populations in Idahos Bitterroot mountains and possibly other areas. But Gordon B. Stenhouse, a research scientist who leads the grizzly bear program with fRI Research in Alberta, said his studies show that translocated bears often make poor decisions.It would be like taking me to New York City with a $5 Canadian bill and saying, Good luck. I hope it works out for you, he says.Back into the wildTuesday, June 1, 2021, the day the Fab Five were to be released, began perfectly. Dr. Ciarniello and her team had made the 16-hour drive with the cubs from Smithers back to Bella Coola the day before. All five grizzlies were in excellent health.It was utopic, Dr. Ciarniello said.Up in two helicopters went the triplets, Raven, Isa and Arthur, sedated and suspended in slings, like the offerings of storks. They were to be set down together on a far-off estuary in the forest. Next up, the twins, Cedar and Muwin, also sedated. The helicopter rose straight up, then flew to a second site near the first.But when the helicopter returned, it was still carrying a bear, Dr. Ciarniello recalled: I said, What the hell is going on? I didnt even know which bear it was until I got there and I plugged in their radio frequencies.Muwins frequency was missing. The helicopter load had shifted catastrophically while the twins were in transit. Cedar, the heavier of the two, lurched on top of her sister, killing her.It really puts a damper on the whole release when something like that happens, Dr. Ciarniello said.This type of field work carries no guarantee of success. Last year, just days after the release of Max and Moritz, the inaugural cubs of the study, Maxs transmitter failed. Dr. Ciarniello sent out a helicopter search party and later scoured the valleys herself but found no sign of him. She still checks for pings, but nothing so far.She learned Moritzs fate on Oct. 24, at 16 minutes to midnight, when her phone rang with an alert from his collar. She had programmed it to text her if he failed to move for 12 hours, a setting called mortality mode. She sent a team of colleagues to the spot to investigate.The first thing they found was Moritzs collar. Then a lower jaw, shards of leg bone and entrails. They were in a food cache, most likely made by a big male grizzly, near a site Moritz was preparing as a winter den. The salmon runs had failed, the consequence of climate disturbance or overfishing. Big grizzlies were hungry, and Moritz did not know enough to stay away.Adapting to the unknownIn Europe, so many of the fiercest grizzlies have been killed over the centuries that the species has become shy rather than confrontational, Dr. Beecham said. He calls them gun-chosen bears. He told an apocryphal story from Norway where, it is said, grizzlies have trained themselves to drop to their bellies and crawl across forest openings to avoid being seen.In North America, grizzlies are constricting their roaming range if they live near humans and shifting activity to nighttime, a study published last year discovered. Its either a survival technique to dodge humans or a sign that they are edging toward extirpation.But humans are changing too, said Peter S. Alagona, an environmental historian at University of California, Santa Barbara, and founder of the California Grizzly Research Network in 2016. The network explores the potential of returning grizzlies to the state where they were eradicated nearly a century ago and where the creature still graces the state flag and seal.These days, opinion polls consistently show deep disapproval of grizzly hunting, Dr. Alagona said.I think there is a lot to this idea that although we talk about these things in scientific and managerial terms, often whats just underneath is these emotions about what is right and what is wrong, what belongs and what doesnt, he said And a sense of justice that goes along with trying to right wrongs or fix losses.At the shelter, the two new cubs are adapting to their temporary home. The summer is still young; other orphaned grizzlies may end up there before the year is out.The four surviving cubs released last month seem to be making good choices, Dr. Ciarniello said. Data from their collars show that the triplets remain together in the lowlands of an estuary, close to their release area. Cedar is alone. She has found good grizzly habitat in the subalpine and alpine areas of the forest. She roams widely. It is possible, said Dr. Ciarniello, that she is looking for her lost sister.",7
"Credit...Hamad I Mohammed/ReutersNov. 4, 2018DUBAI, United Arab Emirates A Shiite cleric who was a central figure in Bahrains 2011 Arab Spring protests was sentenced on Sunday, along with two other senior opposition figures, to life in prison, overturning previous acquittals on charges of spying for Qatar.Amnesty International called the sentence a travesty of justice.The public prosecutor said the court had sentenced the cleric, Sheikh Ali Salman, secretary general of the opposition al-Wefaq group; and Sheikh Hassan Sultan and Ali Alaswad, members of the same group, for transferring confidential information to and receiving financial support from Qatar, according to Reuters.The prosecutor had appealed a court ruling that acquitted the three last June in a rare victory for opposition figures who say they have been targeted for their political views.Mr. Salman is already serving a four-year prison sentence on charges of inciting hatred, after he was arrested in 2015. Mr. Sultan and Mr. Alaswad were tried in absentia.This verdict is a travesty of justice that demonstrates the Bahraini authorities relentless and unlawful efforts to silence any form of dissent, Amnesty International said in a statement.Sheikh Ali Salman is a prisoner of conscience who is being held solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression.The verdict was issued just weeks before parliamentary elections are set to take place without al-Wefaq, which was the tiny Gulf nations largest Shiite opposition bloc.Courts in Bahrain, where the United States Navys Fifth Fleet is based, dissolved al-Wefaq and National Democratic Action Society (Waad) in 2016 as part of a crackdown on dissent in the kingdom, which has a Shiite majority but is ruled by a Sunni monarchy.The groups were accused of helping to foster violence and terrorism. Al-Wefaq, which has strong links to the countrys Shiite Muslim majority, and Waad, which is seen as a secular movement, have both campaigned for social and political reforms in the country, The Associated Press said.Bahrain has barred members of dissolved opposition groups from running in the parliamentary elections.The three faced charges of disclosing sensitive information to Qatar that could harm Bahrains security in exchange for financial compensation. The state-run news agency said prosecutors had presented recorded phone conversations as evidence.Last year, Bahrain state television broadcast the recorded calls between Mr. Salman and Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani, then Qatars prime minister, during the 2011 protests.Mr. Alaswad, who has lived in London since 2011, has told Reuters that the public prosecutor used secret witnesses and a video from a Bahraini television channel that experts described as edited and incomplete.Along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, Bahrain imposed a boycott on Qatar last year, accusing it of supporting terrorism and cozying up to Iran. Qatar denies the charges, saying they are an attempt to undermine its sovereignty.Since the Bahrain authorities crushed street protests in 2011, demonstrators have clashed frequently with security forces, who have been targeted by bomb attacks. Manama says Qatar supports the unrest, accusations denied by Doha.Mr. Salman, who is in his early 50s, has long been targeted by Bahrains government. In 1994, he was arrested, allegedly tortured and detained for months without trial before being deported and forced to live in exile for more than 15 years, according to the United Nations.He is currently serving out a four-year sentence on charges he insulted the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police; incited others to break the law; and incited hatred against naturalized Sunni citizens, many of whom serve in Bahrains security forces.Brian Dooley, a senior adviser at Human Rights First, said Sundays ruling confirms there is now no tolerance for any dissent in Bahrain, according to The A.P.",6
"Credit...Nick Cote for The New York TimesDec. 13, 2015AURORA, Colo. William Harris tapped his retirement savings to open A-Town Pizza, a Neapolitan pizzeria, in this Denver suburb three years ago. He borrowed $200,000 to open a second location this year and now employs 60 people. On a good Friday, his shops sell 1,200 pies.In such stories, the Federal Reserve finds evidence that its seven-year campaign to reboot the American economy is succeeding. So on Wednesday, the Fed, which has held short-term interest rates near zero since December 2008, will most likely announce that it will start nudging rates upward, slowly ending what has amounted to a once-in-a-lifetime sale on money.Mr. Harris, for one, is not ready. Its scary when you hear that the government is planning to slow things down, the wiry 39-year-old said as he folded menus. We live on peoples extra money. Thats the money they spend on pizza. And it still feels very fragile.Monetary policy is conducted in a language of bloodless abstraction, and most Americans pay little, if any, attention. But the Fed is about to make a big bet, and the decisions it makes in Washington have large consequences, here in Colorado and across the nation.Janet L. Yellen, the Feds chairwoman, and her colleagues have concluded that the economy is finally strong enough to grow with a little less help from the central bank. Indeed, they worry inflation will rise too quickly if they do not start raising interest rates. The first rate increase will be small, then the Fed expects to raise rates about one percentage point a year for the next few years.The Feds move is coming in the face of worries about the health of the stock market and falling commodities prices. Still, by itself, the increase probably will not matter much. The Fed is expected to set short-term rates in a range from 0.25 to 0.5 percent, a small jump from the current range of zero to 0.25 percent.It is what follows that will make the difference.Denver seems ready for higher rates. The areas economy has enjoyed one of the nations strongest rebounds from the recession. The local unemployment rate fell to 3.1 percent in October. There are new skyscrapers downtown and new subdivisions in every direction. The former oil town is now at the center of one of the nations largest booms of technology start-ups.Yet the local mood is fragile. Housing prices have climbed 24 percent above the precrisis peak, but whereas that once would have encouraged economic optimism, now people fret that home prices are due for a fall.Optimists say that the economic expansion is just gaining steam and that modestly higher rates will probably not slow the regions growth.Pessimists see evidence of fragility in the same facts. Josh Downey, president of the Denver Area Labor Federation, says the resurgence of development has created construction jobs for a new generation of workers. They need cars to reach their jobs, and jobs to pay for their cars. If those buildings stop going up in Denver, theyre going to be out of a job and a car, he said.ImageCredit...Nick Cote for The New York TimesMark McKissick, director of fixed-income research at Denver Investments, says he is waiting to see how quickly the Fed raises rates before he adjusts the firms investment holdings. The economy, he says, does not seem strong enough to handle higher rates, and he expects the Fed to reach the same conclusion. Otherwise, he worries it could push the economy back into recession.The Fed threw a bunch of money into the financial system, but it hasnt stimulated growth or inflation the way it might have in earlier periods, he said.Builders, for example, will start construction on about 9,000 single-family homes in the Denver metropolitan area this year, according to Metrostudy, a real estate research firm. That is up 14 percent from last year but less than half the 20,000 home starts in the Denver area at the peak of the bubble in 2005.Some workers will be getting raises. Bakery and deli clerks at King Soopers, a grocery chain, will earn a minimum wage of $10.50, an increase of as much as $2 an hour, under the terms of a new contract negotiated by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. The previous four-year deal held wages steady.Others, however, are still waiting for prosperity to affect them.Ethel Ayos landlord raised her rent this year by $400 a month, to $1,126. Ms. Ayo has a part-time job as a home-care worker and her son, a college student, works at Enterprise Rent-a-Car. Together they can barely afford the rent and then only because the landlord does not require full payment at the beginning of the month. And you didnt hear me talk about food, Ms. Ayo said. After I work two or three days, I buy $50 of food and make it last two or three weeks.Mr. Harris, the restaurateur, says Denvers growth feels nothing like the boom he lived through in Southern California a decade ago. He is struggling to repay his start-up costs, particularly during the holidays, when people eat less pizza. The Fed will most likely raise rates before his risks have paid off. If it has overestimated the recovery and moves too fast, people will have less money to spend, and Mr. Harris said he could lose his restaurants and his retirement savings.On South Broadway, a commercial strip south of downtown lined with dilapidated auto dealerships and freshly painted marijuana shops, those worries seem far away. Khalid Sarway, sales manager at Famous Motors, says he is selling about 25 used cars a month, and he does not think higher rates will bother his customers.The people, they dont care about the rate, said Mr. Sarway, who added that he was making more money now than in the best years before the recession. They just want a vehicle. They just want to be able to get back and forth between their jobs and school, or whatever their lifestyle is.North of downtown, Denvers tech entrepreneurs also see little immediate danger from higher rates.Steve Adams, the 62-year-old chief executive of Leo Technologies, runs a start-up, his sixth, in a former produce warehouse that has been renamed Industry, where the nearest thing to manual labor occurs when people play table tennis in the atrium.Uber has its Denver office in one corner of the sprawling building.Mr. Adams is trying to raise $500,000 to test a biometric device that uses blood pressure readings to measure hydration levels data that he says could help athletes as well as people with medical conditions, like those on dialysis.ImageCredit...Nick Cote for The New York TimesLike many of his peers, Mr. Adams thinks low rates have made it easier for young companies to raise money from investors seeking higher returns. Denver is also a technology frontier town, reliant on coastal capital, so it may be more vulnerable if the availability of funding begins to recede.But Mr. Adams said he expected the money to keep flowing even as rates on safer investments like corporate bonds start to rise. The people Im pitching want to get in early and make a big multiple, he said.Some in the real estate business similarly insist that the local market will probably remain hot. Greg Geller, the owner of Vision Real Estate, says builders are struggling to keep pace with population growth because it takes years to find land, obtain permits and train replacements for workers laid off during the recession.Others are less sanguine. Mitchell Goldman, the owner of Apex Homes, said customers rushed to buy houses in recent years because they worried prices would climb. Now people are holding back, wondering if prices will fall.Ive been getting asked the question a lot, Should we wait? he said.Mr. Goldman said he expected that higher rates would also push some buyers out of the market. The math, after all, is inexorable. If mortgage rates increase by one percentage point, the monthly cost of a $300,000 mortgage increases by $177.He added that he was looking for land to build a home for his own family. They have moved several times in recent years, but with higher interest rates on the horizon, he wants to build a more permanent forever home.Im a little more anxious, Mr. Goldman said. Interest rates are never going to be what they were when I was growing up, but every little bit makes a difference.",0
"https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/sports/ncaabasketball/kansas-st-defeats-kansas.htmlSports Briefing | College BasketballFeb. 10, 2014Marcus Foster scored 20 points, including two free throws in the closing seconds of overtime, and Kansas State held on to beat No. 7 Kansas, 85-82, in Manhattan, Kan.Will Spradling added 15 points for the Wildcats, who blew a nine-point lead with less than 2 minutes left in regulation. Remi Dibo scored a career-high 20 points to lead host West Virginia to a 102-77 victory over No. 11 Iowa State, the Cyclones most lopsided loss of the season.Juwan Staten added 19 points for the Mountaineers (15-10, 7-5 Big 12).Iowa State (18-5, 6-5) had five players in double figures, led by Georges Niangs 17 points. Diamond DeShields scored a season-high 30 points and No. 17 North Carolina defeated No. 3 Duke, 89-78, in Durham, N.C.Allisha Gray, also a freshman, added 24 points for the Tar Heels (18-6, 6-4 Atlantic Coast Conference).Elizabeth Williams had a career-high 28 points for Duke (22-3, 9-2). Meighan Simmons scored 22 points to help No. 8 Tennessee rout No. 16 Vanderbilt, 81-53, and win its sixth consecutive game, continuing the Commodores history of road futility in this series.Vanderbilt (17-6, 6-4 Southeastern Conference) has never beaten the Lady Vols (20-4, 9-2) at Knoxville in 29 attempts. (AP)",4
"Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs victory may be more one-off than wave, but her stunning win has raised hopes for other female candidates.Credit...Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune, via Associated PressJune 29, 2018Women like me arent supposed to run for office, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declared in the opening of her campaign video that went viral this spring. And women like her werent supposed to win primary challenges against incumbents, particularly powerful ones like Representative Joseph Crowley, who had been mentioned as a potential House speaker.But she did. So is this the year that women break the rules and win?This years midterm elections have produced a surge of women like her across the country: progressive candidates running outsider campaigns powered by strong personal narratives and womens activism that began with massive marches the day after President Trumps inauguration and has grown through protests against gun violence, the stripping away of the Affordable Care Act and immigration policies that divide families.But Ms. Ocasio-Cortezs win in New Yorks 14th Congressional District Tuesday may be more one-off than wave. The same night she won by 15 points, another woman of color, Saira Rao, lost her energetic bid from the left in a primary against Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado. Three weeks earlier, so did another, Tanzie Youngblood, in an open primary against a conservative Democrat in New Jersey. ImageCredit...Annie Tritt for The New York TimesWhether other women become overnight stars like Ms. Ocasio-Cortez or Stacey Abrams, whose win in the Democratic primary for governor in Georgia sparked similar excitement depends on the dynamics of each state or district.Yes, we are in this year where the rules seem to have gone out the door, but Im still quite cautious, said Wendy Smooth, a professor of gender and political science at Ohio State University. We can say that there are some unique stories that could resonate but whether or not they win, its politics is local.The conditions in New York were near perfect. The district had been redrawn so that its voters look more like Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, whose mother is Puerto Rican, than Mr. Crowley, who is white. The state divided its primary moving the more high-profile contest for governor to September allowing a strong turnout by activist groups to make a huge difference. Mr. Crowley, a 10-term congressman, didnt take the race seriously, sending a surrogate to stand in his place at a debate. And Ms. Ocasio-Cortez made a compelling pitch. Women Who Might WinMs. Ocasio-Cortezs win immediately raised comparisons with and hopes for Ayanna Pressley, running in a Democratic primary against another 10-term congressman, Michael Capuano, of Massachusetts. (Ms. Ocasio-Cortez shouted out to Ms. Pressley in her victory speech.) Massachusetts is a machine state and Mr. Capuano has strong labor support but then, people said the same in New York.ImageCredit...Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for Vanity FairOne district over from that race is Brianna Wu, challenging Rep. Stephen Lynch from the left. And before the Massachusetts primaries in September, there is Lucy McBath, who became an anti-gun activist after her sons murder, in a July 24 runoff to be the Democratic nominee in Georgias Sixth District. Other women to watch include Rashida Tlaib, bidding to be the first Muslim woman elected to Congress in Michigans 13th District, an opening created by the resignation of another longtime Democrat power broker, John Conyers Jr., in a sexual harassment scandal. ImageCredit...Tony Eggert, Three Lyons CreativeIlhan Omar, a Somali-American state legislator, is running in the Democratic primary on August 14 for Minnesotas Fifth District, an open seat that, like the ones Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and Ms. Tlaib are seeking to fill, is solidly Democratic. She has attracted progressive activism locally and national support from immigrant-rights groups newly mobilized against President Trumps travel ban, which blocks most travelers from Somalia.The bigger questions are about Democratic women running in places that are historically Republican and thats most Democratic women running this year. Stacey Abrams has created excitement around the possibility of electing the nations first black female governor in Georgia, no less. But yes, Georgia, where white voters have been stingy about supporting black candidates and voters have dashed the hopes of a string of promising Democrats for governor. New Jerseys 11th District has been solidly Republican for the last 20 years. But Donald Trump won it by only a small margin in 2016, and Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee, has amassed an impressive campaign war chest. A Monmouth University poll this week shows Democrats more excited than Republicans about the race, suggesting that Ms. Sherrill could win on the strength of newly energized resistance groups. (That energy helped push the incumbent, Rodney Frelinghuysen, into retirement.)Where Victory Might Be Harder Elsewhere the path to victory is steeper, because the races are against incumbents, who historically almost always win.ImageCredit...Nati Harnik/Associated PressKara Eastman, who won an outsider campaign against a former congressman in the Democratic primary in Nebraskas second district, is now running against a Republican incumbent protected by gerrymandering.Closer to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Liuba Grechen Shirley beat the Democratic Party establishment candidate by 16 points in the primary Tuesday for a seat on Long Island. But now she faces Representative Peter King, who has been in office for 25 years and routinely wins by double digits.Still, Ms. Grechen Shirley notes that Democrats have a slight edge in voter registration, and possibly in energy. I had a press conference outside of Kings office and a man came up to me and said, My wife voted for you. I am a Republican, so I couldnt vote in the primary but I am going to vote for you in November and Id like to give you a donation.People have had enough, Ms. Grechen Shirley said. Rebecca Katz, a senior strategist to Cynthia Nixon, who is hoping the Ocasio-Cortez victory foretells victory in her from-the-left challenge to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the September primary, predicted a wave big enough to beat many other presumably safe incumbents.I think there is something new about women challengers that is different this year, Ms. Katz said. There is a hunger for a different type of perspective. The cycle started being about womens health, then it was gun safety, then keeping families together. All along its been moms and women driving it. Debbie Walsh, the director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers, has been tempering hopes for a pink wave this year because so many women are running uphill. But she also points out that in last years elections for the Virginia House of Delegates, 30 women ran as challengers, and 30 percent of them won. Just three of the 24 male challengers, around 12 percent, did.Theres something percolating, she said.",3
"Tech FixCredit...Minh Uong/The New York TimesJune 20, 2018Do you ever feel that the web is breaking?When shopping online for a toaster oven, you can expect an ad for that oven to stalk you from site to site. If you have just a few web browser tabs open, your laptop battery drains rapidly. And dont get me started on those videos that automatically play when youre scrolling through a webpage.The web has reached a new low. It has become an annoying, often toxic and occasionally unsafe place to hang out. More important, it has become an unfair trade: You give up your privacy online, and what you get in return are somewhat convenient services and hyper-targeted ads.Thats why it may be time to try a different browser. Remember Firefox? The browser, made by the nonprofit Mozilla, emerged in the early 2000s as a faster, better designed vessel to surf the web. But it became irrelevant after Google in 2008 released Chrome, a faster, more secure and versatile browser.Mozilla recently hit the reset button on Firefox. About two years ago, six Mozilla employees were huddled around a bonfire one night in Santa Cruz, Calif., when they began discussing the state of web browsers. Eventually, they concluded there was a crisis of confidence in the web.If they dont trust the web, they wont use the web, Mark Mayo, Mozillas chief product officer, said in an interview. That just felt to us like that actually might be the direction were going. And so we started to think about tools and architectures and different approaches.Now Firefox is back. Mozilla released a new version late last year, code-named Quantum. It is sleekly designed and fast; Mozilla said the revamped Firefox consumes less memory than the competition, meaning you can fire up lots of tabs and browsing will still feel buttery smooth.Most notably, Firefox now offers privacy tools, like a built-in feature for blocking ad trackers and a container that can be installed to prevent Facebook from monitoring your activities across the web. Most other browsers dont include those features.After testing Firefox for the last three months, I found it to be on a par with Chrome in most categories. In the end, Firefoxs thoughtful privacy features persuaded me to make the switch and make it my primary browser.Heres why you should consider it, too.Privacy FeaturesBoth Chrome and Firefox support thousands of extensions, which are add-ons that modify your browsing experience. Chrome wins in terms of numbers, with hundreds of thousands of extensions compared with Firefoxs roughly 11,000.But in months of using Firefox, there wasnt anything I wanted to do on Chrome that I couldnt also do on Firefox. Both browsers support 1Password, the popular password-management program. Both support extensions that prevent videos from automatically playing when you visit websites. And both support uBlock Origin, the ad blocker recommended by many security experts.Mozilla also offers a Firefox extension called Facebook Container. Normally, Facebook can track your browsing activities even outside its social media site by using trackers planted on other websites like web cookies. With Mozillas extension, when you open Facebook in a browser tab, it isolates your Facebook identity into its own container, making it difficult for the social network to follow you outside its site.Firefox especially stood out for some privacy features that are baked into the browser. Inside the privacy settings, you can turn on tracking protection, which blocks online trackers from collecting your browser data across multiple websites. With Chrome, you can install a third-party extension to block trackers but the fewer add-ons you have to tack onto your browser, the better.Security experts applauded Mozilla for stepping up its efforts on privacy.Firefox does seem to have positioned itself as the privacy-friendly browser, and they have been doing a fantastic job improving security as well, said Cooper Quintin, a security researcher for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the digital rights nonprofit. On the other hand, Google is fundamentally an advertising company, so its unlikely that they will ever have a business interest in making Chrome more privacy friendly.Google said that privacy and security went hand in hand, and that it led the industry on both fronts. The search giant said it had the only browser with a method for reliably addressing Spectre, the security flaw that was revealed this year and that cannot be completely fixed. Spectre affects the microprocessors in nearly all of the worlds computers, and it can allow the theft of information from one application so that it can be shared with another. Chrome also includes a built-in filter that blocks inappropriate, malicious ads from loading.You cant have privacy without security on the web, said Parisa Tabriz, a director of engineering for Google who specializes in security.In fact, both Chrome and Firefox have tough security. Both include sandboxing, which isolates processes of the browser so a harmful website doesnt infect other parts of your machine. So if you loaded a website with malicious code, it would be contained within the webpage so it couldnt infect your files, webcam and microphone.Google said there was one thing it could do better on: the inclusion of privacy settings to block tracking technology, similar to the tools that Firefox includes.I think thats something that we can improve on, Ms. Tabriz said. Firefox has some settings that were also exploring.Speed and Battery TestsWhich browser is faster?Some benchmark websites, which determine the speed of a browser by measuring the responsiveness of different web elements, say Chrome is faster. But some other benchmark sites say Firefox is faster. In my anecdotal testing as someone who juggles more than a dozen web tabs at a time, both were very speedy. Lets call it a draw.Mozillas promise that Firefox consumes less computer memory raises hopes that it should also use less battery life. Yet in my tests on a laptop running a script that automatically reloaded the top 10 news sites, Firefox lasted only a few minutes longer than Chrome before the battery was depleted. On another test, which involved streaming a Netflix video on a loop on each browser, the battery lasted about 20 minutes longer when the Chrome browser was used.Resurrection Is Just BeginningFirefox is the No. 2 computer browser, with about 12 percent of the desktop browser market, lagging far behind Chrome, which has about 67 percent, according to StatCounter. Microsofts Internet Explorer and Apples Safari browsers are even farther behind in the desktop market, with Explorers share about 7 percent and Safaris about 5.5 percent. On Android phones, the Chrome browser is still far more popular than Firefoxs mobile browser. And only lightweight versions of Firefox are available for Apples iOS devices.Yet the path forward for Mozilla looks increasingly promising for consumers.In addition to the normal Firefox browser, Mozilla offers Firefox Focus, a privacy-centric mobile browser that blocks trackers by default and purges your web browsing history as soon as you close out of a page.These are privacy-conscious web products that Mozilla is in a position to expand on in the long term. The nonprofit has no direct relationship with advertisers; it gets a small sum from search providers like Google and Bing when a search is conducted through their sites using a Firefox product.For Mozilla, theres a plus side to being the underdog.The advantage of when you get beaten down is you kind of drop some of your own ego around your decisions, Mr. Mayo said. We had a lot less to lose.",5
"Credit...The New York TimesOutrageous lies destroyed Guy Babcocks online reputation. When he went hunting for their source, what he discovered was worse than he could have imagined.Guy Babcock discovered the power of a lone person to destroy countless reputations.Credit...The New York TimesPublished Jan. 30, 2021Updated Feb. 2, 2021Listen to This ArticleTo hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.Guy Babcock vividly remembers the chilly Saturday evening when he discovered the stain on his family. It was September 2018. He, his wife and their young son had just returned to their home in Beckley, an English village outside of Oxford. Mr. Babcock still had his coat on when he got a frantic call from his father.I dont want to upset you, but there is some bad stuff on the internet, Mr. Babcock recalled his father saying. Someone, somewhere, had written terrible things online about Guy Babcock and his brother, and members of their 86-year-old fathers social club had alerted him.Mr. Babcock, a software engineer, got off the phone and Googled himself. The results were full of posts on strange sites accusing him of being a thief, a fraudster and a pedophile. The posts listed Mr. Babcocks contact details and employer.The images were the worst: photos taken from his LinkedIn and Facebook pages that had pedophile written across them in red type. Someone had posted the doctored images on Pinterest, and Googles algorithms apparently liked things from Pinterest, and so the pictures were positioned at the very top of the Google results for Guy Babcock.Mr. Babcock, 59, was not a thief, a fraudster or a pedophile. I remember being in complete shock, he said. Why would someone do this? Who could it possibly be? Who would be so angry?Then he Googled his brothers name. The results were just as bad.He tried his wife.His sister.His brother-in-law.His teenage nephew.His cousin.His aunt.They had all been hit. The men were branded as child molesters and pedophiles, the women as thieves and scammers. Only his 8-year-old son had been spared.Guy Babcock was about to discover the power of a lone person to destroy countless reputations, aided by platforms like Google that rarely intervene. He was shocked when he discovered the identity of the assailant, the number of other victims and the duration of the digital violence.Uncensored VengeancePublic smears have been around for centuries. But they are far more effective in the internet age, gliding across platforms that are loath to crack down, said Peter W. Singer, co-author of LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media.The solution, he said, was to identify super-spreaders of slander, the people and the websites that wage the most vicious false attacks.The way to make the internet a less toxic place is setting limits on super-spreaders or even knocking them offline, Mr. Singer said. Instead of policing everyone, we should police those who affect the most people.The Babcock family had been targeted by a super-spreader, dragged into an internet cesspool where peoples reputations are held for ransom.Mr. Babcock was sure there was a way to have lies about him wiped from the internet. Many of the slanderous posts appeared on a website called Ripoff Report, which describes itself as a forum for exposing complaints, reviews, scams, lawsuits, frauds. (Its tagline: consumers educating consumers.)He started clicking around and eventually found a part of the site where Ripoff Report offered arbitration services, which cost up to $2,000, to get rid of substantially false information. That sounded like extortion; Mr. Babcock wasnt about to pay to have lies removed.Ripoff Report is one of hundreds of complaint sites others include Shes a Homewrecker, Cheaterbot and Deadbeats Exposed that let people anonymously expose an unreliable handyman, a cheating ex, a sexual predator.But there is no fact-checking. The sites often charge money to take down posts, even defamatory ones. And there is limited accountability. Ripoff Report, like the others, notes on its site that, thanks to Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, it isnt responsible for what its users post.If someone posts false information about you on the Ripoff Report, the CDA prohibits you from holding us liable for the statements which others have written. You can always sue the author if you want, but you cant sue Ripoff Report just because we provide a forum for speech.With that impunity, Ripoff Report and its ilk are willing to host pure, uncensored vengeance.A Familiar PortraitGoogle results are often the first impression a person makes. They help people decide whom to date, to hire, to rent a home to. Mr. Babcock worried that his familys terrible Google search profiles could have serious repercussions, particularly for his 19-year-old nephew and his 27-year-old cousin, both just starting out in life.Two weeks after Mr. Babcock discovered the pedophile posts, a friend called: Hed heard about the accusations from another village resident. Someone had spotted them while Googling an ice-cream parlor the Babcock family owned. Mr. Babcock soon installed a home security system; hed read about vigilantes going after accused child molesters.He and members of his extended family reported the online harassment to police in England and Canada, where most of them lived. Only the British authorities appeared to take the report seriously; a 1988 law prohibits communications that intentionally cause distress. An officer with the local Thames Valley police told Mr. Babcock to gather the evidence, so he and his brother-in-law, Luc Groleau, who lives outside of Montreal, started cataloging the posts in a Google document. It grew to more than 100 pages.In October 2018, while scrolling through items deep in his Google results, Mr. Babcock came across a blog where a commenter falsely called him a former janitor who was masquerading as an IT consultant. It was similar to attacks elsewhere, but this one had an author photo attached: a woman with long, reddish hair, wearing a black blazer and chunky earrings.ImageCredit...The New York TimesMr. Babcock stared at the photo in shock. He hadnt seen it in decades, but he recognized it instantly. The womans name was Nadire Atas; this was her official work portrait from 1990, when she worked in a Re/Max real estate office the Babcock family owned outside Toronto. She had initially been a star employee, but her performance deteriorated, and in 1993 Mr. Babcocks father had fired her. Afterward, she had threatened his father, according to an affidavit filed in a Canadian court.Mr. Babcock felt lightheaded. A memory came back to him: When his mother died in 1999, the family had received vulgar, anonymous letters celebrating her death. A neighbor received a typed letter stating that Mr. Babcocks father has been seen roaming the neighbourhood late at night and masturbating behind the bushes. The Babcocks had suspected Ms. Atas, who was the only person who had ever threatened them. (Ms. Atas denied making threats or writing the letters.)Decades later, it appeared that she was still harboring her grudge and had updated her methods for the digital age.A Trail of CluesImageCredit...The New York TimesMr. Babcock searched Ms. Atass name online and found a blog written by a Canadian lawyer, Christina Wallis. It was the first in a trail of clues that would eventually reveal the breadth of Ms. Atass online campaign.A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes, wrote Ms. Wallis, borrowing a quote often attributed to Mark Twain. She described how Ms. Atas had waged an online campaign against her, her colleagues and her family, including branding them pedophiles.Mr. Babcock got goose bumps.His brother-in-law, Mr. Groleau, contacted Ms. Wallis. She had represented a bank that foreclosed on two properties Ms. Atas owned in the early 2000s. Dozens of people had come under online attack: employees of the bank, lawyers who represented the bank, lawyers who represented those lawyers, relatives of those people and on and on. The attacks seemed engineered to perform well in search engines, and they included the victims names, addresses, contact information and employers. (Ms. Atas denies being the author of many of these posts.)For years, Ms. Wallis and her colleagues had been pursuing lawsuits and contacting the sites and technology platforms that hosted the material. Nothing had worked. The smears remained public, and the consequences became real.A relative of one lawyer said she spent months applying for jobs in 2019 without getting any offers. The woman, who asked not to be named because she feared Ms. Atas, said her bills piled up. She worried she might lose her home.Then she decided to apply for jobs using her maiden name, under which she hadnt been attacked. She quickly lined up three interviews and two offers.These situations where one angry person targets a large group of perceived enemies are not uncommon. Maanit Zemel, a lawyer who specializes in online defamation, represents a group of 53 people who have filed a lawsuit saying they were attacked online by Tanvir Farid after he failed to get jobs at their companies. (Mr. Farids lawyer declined to comment.)For victims, these sorts of attacks can literally end their life and their career and everything, Ms. Zemel said.The victims in the Atas case live in Canada, Britain and the United States. In June 2020, Matthew Hefler, 32, the brother-in-law of a colleague of Ms. Wallis, became one of the latest targets. Mr. Hefler, who lives in Nova Scotia, is a historian who recently completed his Ph.D. in war studies. He is trying to find a teaching job. But anyone who searches for him online will encounter posts and images tarring him as a pedophile and pervert freak.Until recently, Mr. Hefler had never heard of Ms. Atas. He had no clue why she was attacking him. You discover that someone youve never met, across the country, is running a one-man troll farm against you, Mr. Hefler said. Its a nightmare scenario.The GunshotImageCredit...The New York TimesIn October 2018, Mr. Babcock and his family sued Ms. Atas for defamation in a Toronto court, detailing hundreds of posts falsely accusing them of pedophilia and other lurid acts.Ms. Atas claims that she didnt write those posts and that her enemies fabricated the case against her. But the evidence suggests otherwise. For example, most of the attacks were posted anonymously, but like Mr. Babcock, I discovered a paedophile accusation against him on an old WordPress blog where she was listed as the author. When I asked her about it, Ms. Atas denied writing it. A few days later, the years-old comment had been deleted.During multiple interviews in recent months, Ms. Atas refused to divulge much about herself. She told me she was worried about the impact of a New York Times article. Anyone who Googles my name, this will come up, and I dont want this to come up, she said.But a portrait emerges from legal filings and evidence submitted in court cases, newspaper articles and people who have known her over the years.Ms. Atas, 60, grew up near Toronto. By the 90s, she had become a successful real estate agent. A colleague in the Babcocks Re/Max office described her as a producer who thrived in what was then a male-dominated field.In 1991, she had done well enough that she was able to buy a duplex. She later bought a building in Toronto, with four apartments that she rented out.But her life was beginning to fall apart. In October 1992, her brother, then 23, called the police saying that their mother was involved in a devil-worshipping cult, according to an article in a local newspaper, The Spectator. Days later, Ms. Atass brother shot his mother in the hand. (A judge ruled that Ms. Atass brother was not guilty by reason of insanity, The Spectator reported. I couldnt reach him for comment.)Obviously, it would take a toll on anyone, Ms. Atas told me.A few months after the shooting, the Babcocks fired Ms. Atas. She told me she chose to leave on her own.A Waterfall of MaggotsMs. Atas vanished from the public record for the next nine years. But around 2001, according to Ontario court filings, she was arrested and charged with assault and resisting arrest. The charges were ultimately withdrawn, but a peace bond, Canadas equivalent of a restraining order, was issued against her.Ms. Atas moved into one of the apartments in her Toronto building, which was the subject of complaints from tenants. One, who moved in during 2008, found their new apartment filthy. When they opened the refrigerator, the tenant said in an interview, a waterfall of maggots poured out.Ms. Atas made the buildings residents feel unsafe. She has harassed us repeatedly, forcing us to finally call the police on her, according to an email from a tenant that was filed in court. Ms. Atas was charged with assaulting another tenant. She said in a court filing that at the time she was suffering from severe mental illness that manifested itself in erratic behaviour that resulted in criminal charges. The charges were ultimately dropped.Ms. Atas stopped making mortgage payments on the building. In March 2008, her lender, Peoples Trust, represented by Ms. Wallis, began proceedings to repossess the property. She was evicted the next year.Ms. Atas allegedly resorted to revenge. In 2009, Matt Cameron, a junior lawyer working with Ms. Wallis on the Atas case, started getting calls and emails at the office from men interested in meeting for sex. Someone impersonating him had responded by email to raunchy Craigslist ads and given his contact information. (Metadata from those emails, filed in court, pointed to Ms. Atass involvement.)A relative of Ms. Atas told me that family members had repeatedly tried and failed to get her help for mental health problems. I have periodically suffered from depression, Ms. Atas wrote to me in an email. I have had treatment. I am healthy and fine.I described Ms. Atas to Todd Essig, a psychologist who writes about technology and mental health. He said someone like Ms. Atas could be forced into mental health treatment if she posed a physical danger. But when someone is a threat to themselves or others online, theres no way for the mental health system to legally intervene, he said.I also see her as a victim here, Dr. Essig added. Tech companies have given her the power to do something that has really taken apart her life.Im FranticMany lawsuits sprang from the wreckage of Ms. Atass homeownership. This is the only part of her life that she wanted to talk about with me: her legal cases, which are numerous. She sued the lawyers who opposed her, and she sued those who represented her, and she sued those who represented those lawyers.And then, around 2015, she came across a new weapon. She started attacking her perceived enemies online on the Ripoff Report and elsewhere. She called Ms. Wallis and her colleagues incompetent, fraudsters and jackasses. (Ms. Atas acknowledged she was behind these posts.) Someone created multiple WordPress blogs to attack the lawyers.Ms. Wallis had no doubt it was Ms. Atas. She blames me clearly that I have cost her her livelihood and that I made everything in her life go wrong, Ms. Wallis said. I would like her to be banned from the internet for life. She doesnt know how to use the internet without abusing everyone.Ms. Wallis, other lawyers and Peoples Trust employees filed a defamation lawsuit against Ms. Atas in 2016. The judge told Ms. Atas to stop posting about the lawyers. So she began writing about their family members. That was also when the attacks on the Babcocks began.ImageCredit...The New York TimesGary M. Caplan is the lawyer for Ms. Wallis, Mr. Babcock and 43 others who have sued Ms. Atas for defamation. One of those plaintiffs is Mr. Caplans brother, who came under attack after Mr. Caplan got involved in the case. There are another 100 or so people who have been targeted but arent plaintiffs. Over the last two years, there have been more than 12,000 defamatory posts, according to software that Mr. Babcocks brother-in-law created to track new posts.Many of the victims have tried to get tech companies to remove the abusive posts. Mr. Caplan said they have run headlong into American laws that protect American websites.There is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. It says that publishing platforms arent liable for what their users publish, even if they moderate some content. (Section 230 has become a touchstone in politicians fight against Big Tech. Conservatives argue it enables companies like Facebook and Twitter to censor them. Liberals argue it allows the companies to host harmful content with impunity.) And under U.S. law, a foreign court generally cant force an American website to remove content.The only site the victims had success with was Ripoff Report. It took a year of emails from their lawyer, but in December 2016, the site took down 14 posts.Ripoff Report believes in the First Amendment but is also cognizant of the fact that people can, and do, abuse online platforms, including ours, said Anette Beebe, Ripoff Reports general counsel. As resources allow, we certainly do try to address it if/when it comes to our attention.The next month, Ms. Atas began calling Ed Magedson, Ripoff Reports founder, who routinely records his calls.Im frantic right now. I had posted reports, Ms. Atas said in the first call. I just discovered that your company has removed some of the postings. Ripoff Report provided the victims lawyers with the recordings proof that she was behind the abuse.Aside from Ripoff Report, there were thousands of posts on more than 100 other complaint sites. Most of those sites dont reveal who runs them and dont respond to emails. Those posts remain online.Trailing Ms. AtasIn Toronto, the court battle in the defamation cases continued. In 2017, Judge David Corbett deemed Ms. Atas a vexatious litigant who was ungovernable and bent on a campaign of abuse and harassment, citing her digital assaults on lawyers. That meant Ms. Atas could no longer file lawsuits without the courts permission. At that point, her victims said, the attacks began increasing.The next year, Mr. Caplan hired a private investigator to trail Ms. Atas, because she refused to say where she lived or how she accessed the internet. Mr. Caplan wanted that information in order to obtain evidence for his lawsuit.One evening in June 2018, the investigator followed Ms. Atas as she left court, got on a subway and then boarded a bus.At 7:30 p.m., Ms. Atas entered a public library at the University of Toronto. She spent the next few hours at a computer, according to the investigators written report and photos that he took surreptitiously. Then she rode a bus to a homeless shelter. (Ms. Atas denied that she stayed in the shelter.)ImageCredit...The New York TimesIn response to subpoenas, Pinterest, Facebook and WordPress, the blogging site, had provided Mr. Caplan with metadata about the abusive posts. Some had originated from computers at the University of Toronto. Suddenly, that made sense.Early last year, Judge Corbett found Ms. Atas in contempt of court because she had written to another judge, violating the restrictions placed on her as a vexatious litigant. She was sentenced to 74 days in prison. While she was locked up, the online attacks slowed to a trickle. (The fact that they didnt cease altogether might have been because some complaint sites take content from one another, a pattern of mimicry that can keep attacks flowing.) When she was released in March, they resumed. Ms. Atas told me it wasnt her.During an interview with Ms. Atas in November, she grew angry that I planned to write this article. A week later, someone started writing posts about me and my husband on Cheaterbot, BadGirlReports and some of the other sites where Mr. Babcock and others had been targeted. The posts claimed that my husband was a drug addict and that I was a plagiarist who slept with my boss in order to get promoted. Ms. Atas said it wasnt her.Within a week, there were more than 100 posts about me.After Ms. Atas talked to my editor, posts appeared about her. Ms. Atas said she hadnt created those, either.In an email, she warned me, Any story in the New York Times will obviously bring out the trolls on the internet and could multiply the internet postings.Unlawful Acts of ReprisalOn Thursday, Judge Corbett issued a ruling in the defamation suits, finding that Ms. Atas was responsible for what he called unlawful acts of reprisal. Ms. Atas, he wrote, is apparently content to revel in ancient grievances, delighting in legal process and unending conflict because of the misery and expense it causes for her opponents. He ordered Ms. Atas to stop.But the judge left it up to the plaintiffs to try to get her slanderous posts taken down, even as he decried the free-for-all nature of online activity. A situation that allows someone like Atas to carry on as she has, effectively unchecked for years, shows a lack of effective regulation that imperils order and the marketplace of ideas, he wrote.For the last decade or so, cases like this have been written off as just what happens in the internet era. If you crossed paths with someone who tried to destroy you online, for whatever reason, you were deemed collateral damage of our modern age. People were told, basically, to shrug it off.Until recently, Google would remove a website from your results only if it could cause financial damage, such as by exposing your Social Security number. Now Google will remove other harmful content, including revenge porn and private medical information. At the end of 2019, it introduced a new category of information it will take out of your results: sites with exploitative removal practices. Google also started down-ranking some of the complaint sites, including Ripoff Report.For someone like me, with lots of pre-existing Google results, posts on sites like BadGirlReports barely show up. But for people with less of an online presence, like Mr. Babcock, the sites still dominate search results.Ms. Atass victims spent years begging Google, Pinterest and WordPress to take down the slanderous posts or at least make them harder to find. The companies rarely did so, until I contacted them to request comment for this article. Pinterest then removed photos linked to Ms. Atas. Automattic, which owns WordPress, deleted her blogs.Yet even that hasnt solved the problem. See for yourself: Do a Google search for Guy Babcock.",5
"Credit...Bas Czerwinski/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesJune 19, 2017Airborne drones carrying defibrillators could help revive people stricken by cardiac arrests far more quickly than ambulances can, a new study finds.Swedish researchers found that drones launched from a local fire station arrived within about five minutes at the homes of 18 people who had experienced cardiac arrests almost 17 minutes faster on average than ambulances.Heart attacks result from blockages in blood flow to the heart. Cardiac arrests are caused by disturbances in the hearts electrical rhythm, which impede blood flow or stop the heart altogether.In the United States, most cardiac arrests happen outside the hospital. The overwhelming majority of these patients do not survive. (A.P.)",2
"Credit...Gordon Welters for The New York TimesNov. 4, 2018KAUB, Germany Just after sunrise, Capt. Frank Sep turned to his ships radio for the defining news of his day: the water level in Kaub, the shallowest part of the middle section of the Rhine, Germanys most important shipping route.The news was bad, as it so often is these days.One of the longest dry spells on record has left parts of the Rhine at record-low levels for months, forcing freighters to reduce their cargo or stop plying the river altogether.ImageCredit...Gordon Welters for The New York TimesParts of the Danube and the Elbe Germanys other major rivers for transport are also drying up. Some inland ports are idle, and it is estimated that millions of tons of goods are having to be transported by rail or road.With castles and vineyards dominating the river banks near Kaub, just five miles from the Lorelei rock, named for a siren who was said to lure sailors to their deaths, it would be easy to forget how important the area is to German commerce. It is roughly halfway between the inland ports of Koblenz and Mainz, and virtually all freight shipped from seaports in the Netherlands and Belgium to the industrial southwest of Germany passes through here.On a day in late October, Captain Sep learned that the river was just 10 inches deep. That meant the water in the man-made shipping channel dredged near the center of the river was about five feet deep, down from an average of about 11 feet. Even with cargo at one-third of its usual weight, his 282-foot freighter Rex-Rheni the King Rhine would have only inches of water under its hull.ImageCredit...Gordon Welters for The New York TimesIve never experienced so little water here, said Captain Sep, who has been working on the river since 1982, the last 22 years on the Rex-Rheni. Its becoming so low that its very difficult for ships to pass.An exceptionally dry summer has caused havoc across Europe. A trade group in Germany put farmers losses at several billion dollars. The German chemical giant BASF had to decrease production at one of its plants over the summer because the Rhine, whose water it uses to cool production, was too low.Gas stations in the region that rely on tankers to deliver fuel from refineries in the Netherlands have run out. And the wreck of De Hoop, a Dutch freighter that sank after an explosion in 1895 and is normally submerged, now lies exposed on the Rhines banks.About half of Germanys river ferries have stopped running, according to the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration, and river cruise ships are having to transport their passengers by bus for parts of their journey. Thousands of fish in the Swiss section of the river died because of the heat and low oxygen levels.There are reasons to believe such weather will become more frequent with a warming climate.Our research shows an increase in instability, said Hagen Koch, who studies rivers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. The extremes are going to happen more often.Its difficult to overstate the importance of the Rhine to life and commerce in the region.Its simply the most important river in Germany, said Martin Mauermann, head of the hydrology and water management section of the federal body responsible for waterways. Its like the thick branch in the middle of the tree.ImageCredit...Gordon Welters for The New York TimesRoughly 80 percent of the 223 million tons of cargo transported by ship in Germany each year travels the Rhine, which links the countrys industrial heartland to Belgium, the Netherlands and the North Sea. An exact tally of how much is being diverted to rail and road is not yet available, but it is a significant number, said Martyn Douglas of the German Federal Environment Agency.While most freight can simply albeit often more expensively be put on rails or wheels, some cannot. A shipping company, Kbler Spedition, specializes in heavy and oversize freight that cannot be carried for more than a couple of miles on roads. Because ships carrying the heavy components of a wind farm can no longer reach the companys terminal in Mannheim, Kblers storage area lies empty.Its effectively stopped the building of the wind farm entirely, said Robert Mutlu, who runs the terminal.ImageCredit...Gordon Welters for The New York TimesJust before reaching Kaub, Captain Sep slowed his ship to a crawl. The forward thrust generated by a propeller drives a ship deeper, so a slower ship is slightly higher in water. The reduced speed would also make pulling the boat off rocks easier, if the worst were to happen.The number on the Rex-Rhenis digital depth meter dropped, and dropped some more, eventually showing only about 25 centimeters, or 10 inches, of water below the ship.It passed the Pfalzgrafenstein Castle, which resembles a large, stationary boat in the river. Built in the 14th century to collect tolls, it has a windowless foundation to withstand the Rhines high water levels. Today, the foot of the building is at least five feet above water.ImageCredit...Gordon Welters for The New York TimesThe Rhines flow relies not just on annual rainfall, but also on enormous long-term reserves of water in the Alps. Melting snow and glaciers, as well as Lake Constance, feed the upper parts of the river, but with climate change, those reserves are lower, Dr. Koch said.The shipping lane could be made deeper, but that would take years, if not decades, and would cost millions. And even if that were to succeed, it would remove only one bottleneck on a river that is just starting to show how many trouble spots it has.Low water events will be more frequent, said Mr. Douglas of the Federal Environment Agency, and at the same time the Rhine fleet is becoming bigger and heavier.ImageCredit...Gordon Welters for The New York TimesWhen the Rex-Rheni was built in 1966, it would have been considered a big ship. Today, at least under normal conditions, it would be one of the smaller ones on the Rhine, where it is not unusual to see a 600-foot freighter capable of hauling 6,000 tons when there is at least 12 feet of water.A clause in German shipping contracts that allows ships to set their own prices when the water level is below about 32 inches at Kaub makes such trips worthwhile for smaller boats, even if their holds arent full. But the clause cannot make the river deeper.We need the level in the Bodensee to rise, said Martin Deymann, using the German name for Lake Constance. His 35 ships stopped transporting goods along the middle section of the Rhine last month. We need rain, and hopefully it will come before it becomes cold and it comes down as snow.",6
"Six former employees were recently named in federal charges that were an indication of the lengths some companies will go to hit back at detractors.Credit...John G Mabanglo/EPA, via ShutterstockJune 27, 2020Last summer, members of eBays private security team sent live roaches and a bloody pig mask to the home of a suburban Boston couple who published a niche e-commerce newsletter.The harassment campaign, which also included physical surveillance, sending pornographic videos to the couples neighbors, posting ads inviting sexual partners to the couples home and an attempt to attach a tracking device to their car, was detailed earlier this month in a federal indictment against six former eBay employees.The lurid, 51-page indictment, describing how the employees of a multibillion-dollar company were loosed in what authorities described as an unhinged and illegal effort to intimidate critics, drew national attention to the stunning lengths some tech companies will go when responding to their critics.Silicon Valley companies have stacked what they often call their trust and safety teams with former police officers and national intelligence analysts. More often than not, their work is well within the law: protecting executives and intellectual property, fending off blackmail attempts and spotting theft. They conduct background checks on companies that could be acquisition targets and they ensure employees arent doing anything illegal.But the industrys intense focus on reputation can lead their security units astray. Those perils were laid bare when federal authorities revealed the charges against the eBay employees.Most companies, especially established high-tech companies, have units within them that do this kind of work, respond in as close to real time as they can to online criticism of the company, to take steps to protect the brand, Andrew Lelling, U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said. But, he added, I can tell you that at least internally, we have never seen a company that did something like this before.Prosecutors charged the six eBay employees with conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and witness tampering, but noted that eBays campaign against the husband-and-wife publishing duo was ordered up by senior executives.I want her DONE, Steven Wymer, eBays former communications chief, told James Baugh, the companys former senior director of safety and security. She is a biased troll who needs to get BURNED DOWN.In case there was any confusion, Mr. Wymer added, I want to see ashes.ImageCredit...Mike Coppola/Getty ImagesContacted this past week, Mr. Wymer, who was not one of the employees charged in the indictment, said, I would never condone or participate in any such activity. He added that he was constrained in what he could say beyond that. EBay said in a statement that neither the company nor any current eBay employee was indicted.Private security teams have long been part of corporate America, among them insurers fraud investigators and the seed police, as farmers call investigators for the agricultural giant Monsanto who secretly videotape farmers, infiltrate community meetings and recruit informants in their hunt for patent infringement.These private detective teams, which typically operate under fraud divisions, are projected to grow into a $23.3 billion global industry this year from a $17.3 billion industry in 2018, according to Grand View Research.Few industries have embraced the notion of private security as much as tech. One Silicon Valley investigator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of nondisclosure agreements, said a start-up executive had paid his firm $50,000 over one weekend to root out employees he believed were plotting his ouster. (They were.) The total tab for the work was as much as half a million dollars.ImageCredit...Cj Gunther/EPA, via ShutterstockBut as with the eBay team, these private security groups are sometimes accused of crossing legal lines.In 2006, for example, investigators hired by Hewlett-Packard were caught riffling through reporters trash cans and phone records. About a year ago, Tesla made headlines for its aggressive efforts to root out and punish an employee, Martin Tripp, who had tipped reporters off to waste at the carmakers Nevada factory.According to police reports and whistle-blower complaints filed by two Tesla security operators with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tesla was accused of hacking into Mr. Tripps phone, having him followed by private investigators and passing along an anonymous, false tip to the local authorities that Mr. Tripp planned to shoot up Teslas factory.Teslas investigators were tailing him, showing up at weird places, and completely spooked him, Robert Mitchell, Mr. Tripps lawyer, said in an interview. Mr. Tripp has since moved to Hungary out of fears for his familys safety.Tesla did not respond to requests for comment, but the company has sued Mr. Tripp for $167 million for what it has said was data theft. Mr. Tripp has filed a countersuit for defamation and unspecified damages. Both suits are ongoing.When working for tech companies, private investigators have advantages over traditional law enforcement: They have access to more data, deal with far less red tape, and they have the ability to quickly cross jurisdictions and borders.ImageCredit...Emma Howells for The New York TimesJustin Zeefe, a former intelligence officer who is now the president of Nisos, a security firm in Virginia, said his company has worked for tech companies on a wide range of cases. On one occasion, they learned that a companys overseas suppliers had ties to foreign intelligence agencies.Another client asked his firm to determine whether an acquisition target had been infiltrated by foreign hackers. Yet another hired Nisos to determine the source of multiple cyberattacks. It turned out to be the work of a competitor that had intercepted the companys Wi-Fi from an apartment rented across the street.Joe Sullivan, the chief information security officer at the internet company Cloudflare, still remembers the frantic call he received from a colleague while working as a security executive at Facebook several years ago.She had met a man on Match.com who claimed to work in construction in San Jose, Calif., and he had convinced her to send him a topless photo. He was threatening to email the photo to the entire company if she did not pay him $10,000.With her permission, Mr. Sullivans team took over her account and redirected her extortionist to a payment scheme that they knew would reveal his identity. They determined he was a former Google intern living in Nigeria.Mr. Sullivans team hired Nigerian contractors to confront him. He confessed and surrendered access to his computer and online accounts, which showed he was extorting female executives across Silicon Valley. Investigators were able to destroy the nude photos and warned his victims not to pay.It could have taken years, Mr. Sullivan said, for law enforcement to identify the extortionist and even longer for Nigerian authorities to do something about it.Mr. Sullivan learned that lesson as a security executive at eBay in 2006. Romanian fraudsters were running rampant on eBay, and Romanian authorities refused to address the problem. It was only after Mr. Sullivans team shut off eBay access to all of Romania with a message blaming eBays shuttering on Romanian law enforcements refusal to pursue online criminals that Romanian police took action.But Mr. Sullivans experience shows how easily techs aggressive security tactics can run into trouble. In 2016, two hackers approached Uber with security flaws that allowed them to obtain login credentials for more than 57 million riders and drivers, and the pair demanded a $100,000 payout in return.",5
"Credit...Jason Lee/ReutersMarch 20, 2017BEIJING Squalid conditions at a care center for vagrants in southern China ignited public outrage on Monday after reports that at least 21 people held there had died in just a few months, including an autistic boy who died after being given filthy food and water.The deaths at the facility in Shaoguan, Guangdong Province, came to light in an unusual expos published by a state-run newspaper. The case tapped into broad concerns in China over the governments treatment of the poor and disadvantaged, especially rural migrants vulnerable to discrimination and detention in Chinese cities.Past cases of abuse have put the Communist Party on the defensive, and the government moved quickly on Monday to address angry questions about the facility in Shaoguan. Such centers are intended to care for the destitute, the mentally impaired and older people who become separated from their families, but critics say the authorities use them to keep undesirables off city streets.The accounts of crowding and neglect at the center suggest that government efforts fell far short. The family of the 15-year-old boy who died, Lei Wenfeng, blamed officials who did not do enough to care for him or find his family after he wandered off from his father last year.Our wish is very simple, Lei Hongyong, the boys uncle, said in a brief telephone interview on Monday. We dont want things like this to happen in our country again. The safety and assistance systems must be improved, and we hope that the country will do a better job.Lei Wenfengs lonely death in December was reported by The Beijing News on Monday. The newspaper said at least 20 other people held at the same care center for the homeless had died so far this year, according to records from a nearby funeral home. On Monday, officials neither confirmed nor disputed that estimate.News organizations in China have faced tightening censorship under President Xi Jinping. But sometimes scandals move faster than officials, or the central government allows journalists to expose the misdeeds of local governments. In this case, the revelations left Shaoguan officials scrambling to head off public and news media anger.This is a trauma for humanity, said an editorial in The Beijing News. Just how many Lei Wenfengs died in this care center, and why they died, should be investigated.Later on Monday, local officials announced that they had shut the center in early March and had put four people in charge there under investigation after finding out about deaths in the center, according to official news reports. The announcement did not say how many people had died.Many people responded to the reports with demands for more information and for more to be done for homeless people who get lost.What problem does young Lei Wenfengs death highlight? said one comment on Weibo, a Twitter-like service. It shows that human life is worth less than money.Who could believe there could be such a high death rate if there werent abuses? another Weibo user said. These pitiable people cant be allowed to die for no reason.But the brutal conditions at the center might not have been exposed if Wenfengs father, Lei Hongjian, a factory worker, had not spent months looking for his son, recounting his grim journey in internet postings that drew journalists attention.Wenfeng died in a hospital on Dec. 3, after about six weeks at the center. By then he was an emaciated shadow of the gentle, quiet teenager who had slipped out of the dormitory room he shared with his father in August.His body was covered in scars, the older Mr. Lei wrote. The deaths of these vagrant mentally impaired people are treated like dust. Theyre the most disadvantaged of all.Mr. Lei comes from Hunan, a southern province, where his wife cares for their two younger children. In 2015, Wenfeng went to live with his father in Shenzhen, a frenetic city of factories and commerce in southern Guangdong.He would take Wenfeng to work in an electronics plant, where the boy would watch television in an office all day.On weekends, father and son went for outings. The weekend before Wenfeng disappeared, his father had taken him to a park and they had eaten pizza and durian fruit, one of Wenfengs favorites.That night, Wenfeng told his father, Lets do that again, one of the rare times he spoke his mind, according to The Beijing News. But days later, Mr. Lei woke up early and saw that his sons bed was empty.I was crazy with worry, Mr. Lei wrote. I organized over 20 relatives and work mates and they searched for over a week, but there were no clues.Mr. Lei persisted. He placed notices on the internet, on the radio and in a newspaper. He found video footage that showed Wenfeng had taken a subway train and then a bus before heading north.But the trail ran cold.Even as Mr. Lei and his family searched desperately, Wenfeng was in official hands. Less than a week after he disappeared, he was picked up by the police in Dongguan, an industrial district next to Shenzhen, after fainting at a bus station. His feet were torn up from so much walking, and the police took him to a hospital.Ten days later, the hospital sent Wenfeng to an assistance station in Dongguan for vagrants, and nearly two months after that the station sent him to the care center in Shaoguan, about 120 miles north. There, he was mixed in with hundreds of other homeless inmates, many of them elderly or mentally impaired.The problems at the care center in Shaoguan were just part of a chain of failings that led to Wenfengs death, according to the news report and Mr. Leis online account of the search for his son.Officials failed to register him in a missing person database, Mr. Lei said. Hundreds of thousands of people go missing in China every year, and the government has tried to build a firmer safety net to care for them and reunite them with kin especially children who may have been abducted.The holding center in Dongguan sent a notice and a photograph of Wenfeng to a local television station, where it appeared briefly over three days, Mr. Lei said. Vital time that might have saved Wenfengs life was lost while his father placed missing person notices online and in newspapers that officials never answered, he said.I checked online every day, and if they had registered him earlier, I could have found him earlier, Mr. Lei wrote. My son neednt have died so inexplicably.Mr. Lei and others have likened Wenfengs death to the notorious case of Sun Zhigang, who died in custody in Guangdong in 2003. Mr. Sun, a young designer, was beaten to death in a detention center for migrants without proper papers, igniting a controversy that led Wen Jiabao, then the premier, to shut those centers.The holding centers for vagrants helped fill a gap created by those closures, although the government has said they are a welfare measure, not a punishment.The care center in Shaoguan was run by contractors who took it over in 2010, and then began taking payments from local governments for admitting homeless people. Former staff members said the center appeared overwhelmed by the numbers, according to The Beijing News.The head of Xinfeng County, where the care center is, said on Monday night that officials still had no firm handle on how many people held there had died. But it was clear that conditions at the center were poor, including inadequate food and medical care, Ma Zhiming, the county head, said at a news conference.He also suggested there was evidence that government officials had colluded in operating, and apparently protecting, the center.Just how Wenfeng died is unclear. The center sent him to a hospital after he appeared exhausted. But he ate less and less, and days later he was dead. He was a week from turning 16.One doctors report said Wenfeng had a tumor in his digestive tract. Another medical report said he died of salmonella, according to news reports. On Monday, China Central Television reported that one of the causes of death was that he had consumed unclean food and water.Contacted Monday, Mr. Lei declined to answer questions about his sons death. But in his written account, he recalled the surge of relief when he found out the assistance station had taken in his son. After a friend helped check the stations internal records, he called, yearning to hear his sons voice after months of waiting.I was very happy, very excited, Mr. Lei said. I asked and they knew who he was, but then they told me: Your son is dead.",6
"Bengals' Pacman Jones Marvin Lewis 'Saved My Life' ... PUMPED He's Back! 1/22/2018 TMZSports.com Pacman Jones is going to bat for Marvin Lewis on the heels of his head-scratching contract extension ... telling TMZ Sports he couldn't be happier about the Bengals coach getting 2 more years. Pacman wasn't kidding -- saying the team's struggles are the players' fault, 100%, and calling Lewis ""one of the best coaches that's EVER been in the game."" Jones even claims Marvin ""saved my life"" ... probably 'cause he gave him a shot when no other NFL teams would touch him. Pacman also heaped a ton of praise on Joe Mixon and A.J. McCarron ... and generally seemed to be in great spirits even though his season ended early. New year, new #squadgoals, right??",1
"Credit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesNov. 21, 2018TIJUANA, Mexico One job opening was in a garment factory, another was with a cleaning company. Still, Mara Norma Lpez hesitated. When she left Honduras six weeks ago with a migrant caravan, she hoped to pass through Mexico, not to remain there.I want to go to the United States because I want to have a better life, Ms. Lpez, 39, said. And in Mexico I dont know.In a first step toward fashioning a long-term solution for caravan members, officials in this city of humming export plants got down to business: They set up a job fair complete with a mobile migration office.It was a practical response to the challenge of housing and feeding the migrants, an effort that is swamping Tijuanas resources. But even as Ms. Lpez and dozens of other migrants milled around the basement room filling out forms, it was clear much more was needed.The city government has said that it will take six months for all the migrants who decide to seek asylum in the United States to be called for a first interview with an asylum officer at the border. Having relied on collective action to reach the California border, the migrants must now navigate the next steps on their own.Tijuana officials prepared Wednesday for the caravan to double to more than 6,000 people, as migrants who had been waiting in rudimentary shelters two and a half hours to the east gradually found rides to Tijuana aboard buses and trailers.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesThe migrants, who have insisted on remaining together, are being dropped off at a rundown community sports center where officials set up a makeshift shelter last week. If the final population reaches 6,000 or so, as expected, the shelter will be packed with almost twice as many people as its estimated capacity.The head of Tijuanas social development agency, Mario Osuna, watched wearily Tuesday evening as hundreds of migrants, carrying rolled blankets and frayed backpacks, lined up to give their names and receive the orange bracelets that gave them access to the shelter.Were waiting for them because theyre already on their way, Mr. Osuna said of the migrants coming from the east. But we cant have people on top of one another.The new arrivals will raise tensions in Tijuana, where the United States following President Trumps portrayal of the caravan as an invasion has made a show of strengthening the border.Concertina wire spiraled over the American side of the border crossing leading from downtown Tijuana to San Ysidro, Calif. At the Otay Mesa crossing on the citys east side, United States Customs and Border Protection officers emerged in full anti-riot gear during the afternoon earlier this week to stand guard on either side of traffic inching over the border.United States Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen called the show of force a response to intelligence suggesting that a large number of migrants were going to rush the border, although Pueblo Sin Fronteras, a binational activist group accompanying the migrants, has said repeatedly that no such plan exists.United States officials also said, without providing evidence, that they had identified 500 criminals in the caravan, but could not explain why the Mexican police had not arrested them.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesFor the migrants, who had willed themselves to believe that Mr. Trump could somehow be softened by their presence at the border, the message was clear.Once we got here, we realized that they werent going to let us cross, Leticia Ramrez, 35, who said she worked on banana plantations in Honduras, complained as she walked out of the shelter one morning this week with two friends. She was on her way to look for any job in Tijuana.The president of the United States treats us like garbage, like some kind of animal, Ms. Ramrez said, her arms wrapped around her sleeping bag.American lawyers have held workshops to explain to the migrants here the intricacies of applying for asylum in the United States almost the only way most of them might qualify to enter legally.Chelsea Strautman, a lawyer from Oregon, stood on an overturned bucket before a crowd clustered on the sports centers baseball diamond on Tuesday night.Approval rates for Central American applicants were grim, she told them; currently, less than 20 percent win their asylum cases. Theyve put thousands of migrants in jails, she said. If you dont qualify for asylum, youre going to be detained for months and then deported.Some migrants refused to give up hope. Were only a few steps away from seeing what God will say, said Emerson Martnez Amador, 19, from Honduras, who arrived in Tijuana on Tuesday with the second half of the caravan.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesIf it takes time to reach my destiny, Ill wait, he declared. Even if it takes one month, or two. Weve got to wait, you understand?The wait has just begun and Tijuana is feeling the strain. With Mexicos new federal government preparing to take office on Dec. 1, the city has received the barest minimum of help and cannot set up a new shelter, said Csar Palencia Chvez, who is in charge of migrants affairs for the city of Tijuana.We would all like for them to have a dignified space for the children, the women, the men, but the reality is that what has been humanely possible up to now is this, he said, referring to the sports center. There are no resources.And since the migrants wont separate, he said, he cannot place some of them with the citys network of largely church-run shelters.Most of those shelters, he said, will take only women and children because publicity about the way the caravan pushed through Mexicos southern border with Guatemala a month ago and the arrests of nearly 60 men in Tijuana during the past week almost all for nonviolent misdemeanors have begun to rattle citizens.On Wednesday Mexican authorities detained a caravan of some 180 Central American migrants north of the Guatemalan border who were traveling without the proper documents, the National Migration Institute said. The migrants were given an opportunity to seek asylum in Mexico or be returned to their countries.At the sports center shelter, supplies were stretched even before the second half of the migrant caravan arrived, despite donations from volunteer and church groups, said Delia vila Surez, who heads Tijuanas family services agency. Toilet paper, diapers, sanitary pads and cough medicine often ran out before a new delivery arrived.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesIn general, Tijuana is a land of immigrants, to which the city has adapted, she said, but weve never seen anything like this.In 2016 and 2017, thousands of Haitians arrived after traveling all the way from Brazil. At one point, the city placed 6,000 Haitians in 32 different shelters, Mr. Palencia said.Since then, some 3,500 Haitians have settled in Tijuana, and migration officials have been quick to cite their integration as a model for the caravan.But some wonder how long it will be before the patience of the caravan migrants runs out and they try to cross the border illegally.Many people have stayed here for half a year, and they adapt to life in the community, but then theyve crossed over, said Jos Mara Garca Lara, the founder of the shelter Juventud 2000. Theyll end up going, because were on the border.Mexico provides a humanitarian visa that allows foreigners to work, as well as an opportunity to seek asylum in Mexico.We are going to be here for a good long time, said Hctor Rodrguez, 40, who fled his job as a bus driver in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula because of extortion threats. Waiting for his turn to speak to a Mexican immigration official at the job fair, he said he planned to earn enough money to send for his wife and two children.This is a good option, he said, rising from his chair. It was time to have his ID photo taken.",6
"Credit...Barton Silverman/The New York TimesFeb. 17, 2014TAMPA, Fla. Piece by piece, player by player, the 2014 Yankees are assembling here. Two days ahead of the official reporting date, Carlos Beltran, Brian Roberts and Kelly Johnson were the latest players to arrive at spring training Monday, working out together at the teams minor league complex in anticipation of what some of them say could be a special season, perhaps even ending in ultimate glory.I feel personally that our club has a good chance, Beltran said. I know its going to be hard because the American League East division is a strong division. But we feel we have a good team.Beltran was one of several players the Yankees signed to help erase the failure of last season, when they did not make the playoffs. The idea was to add a starting pitcher and make the lineup deeper. Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson left via free agency, but Beltran, Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann, Masahiro Tanaka, Roberts and Johnson were brought in for what the Yankees believe will be a net improvement. The Yankees committed more than $460 million to those players, with a mandate to more than just return to the playoffs.Of course we have to win, Beltran said in the minor league parking lot after his workout. I dont know how far we will go, but at least we have to do something positive better than what they did last year. They went out and they spent a lot of money and brought in players to improve the ball club. For me as a player, you want to be around an organization like that where every year they are trying to improve and get better.It has long been a dream of Beltrans to play for the Yankees, dating to when he was a youngster in Puerto Rico idolizing their center fielder, Bernie Williams. There were two other occasions when Beltran wanted to join the Yankees as a free agent. Instead, he went to the Mets in 2005 when Williams was still the Yankees center fielder, and then the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012 when the Yankees had Granderson, Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner in the outfield.Finally, this year the Yankees found room for Beltran, 36. On Dec. 6 he agreed to a three-year, $45 million contract to play right field, the same day Cano agreed to a 10-year, $240 million contract with the Seattle Mariners. Monday was Beltrans first day on the field as a Yankee, but he played down the idea that his dream was finally fulfilled. That feeling may not come until he puts on pinstripes for the home opener April 7.On Monday, he worked out with Roberts at second base a position he has never played as a professional even turning some double plays.But Beltran said he was spending time there only as a way to get to know Roberts, a fellow switch hitter. Roberts, 36, has played 1,213 games at second base, all for the Baltimore Orioles, his only team before joining the Yankees. If Beltran was signed to help recoup the loss of Canos offensive numbers, Roberts was given the unenviable task of replacing Cano at second base, where he often dazzled as a two-time Gold Glove fielder.Im not going to be Robbie and Im not going to try to be, Roberts said. Im going to be Brian Roberts and hopefully that is good enough.Roberts will be a bridge that connects two of the games greatest shortstops. His first season with the Orioles was Cal Ripkens final season; this year, he will play alongside Derek Jeter in his final year. Roberts said that it was Jeter who once instilled in him the confidence that he could become a good major league player.It was the 2004 season, Roberts recalled, and he had reached second base in a game against the Yankees.Between pitches, Roberts said, Jeter told him, You can be a .300 hitter in this league.I think he does it to everybody, Roberts said of Jeters encouragement. But for some reason, when he tells it to you, you think youre the most important person in the world. Beltran also noted the honor of playing alongside Jeter, who broke into the major leagues in 1995, the year Beltran was drafted by the Kansas City Royals. With five championships on Jeters rsum, Beltran is hoping some of that World Series magic will rub off on him.Im just looking forward to working with him and helping this team win a championship, he said. I know he has a lot of championships. But I dont have none, so hopefully I can win one.INSIDE PITCHMichael Pineda, who was acquired from Seattle two years ago in a trade for Jesus Montero, threw a bullpen session Monday and seemed to impress Manager Joe Girardi. Pineda, who is competing to become the No. 5 starter, is coming off 2012 shoulder surgery and said he thought he was throwing the way he did before the surgery.",4
"Business BriefingDec. 25, 2015Ferrari North America is recalling some 2016 California T vehicles because of the risk of a fuel leak in the engine compartment, according to a United States Department of Transportation notice on Friday. The recall, which began on Dec. 14, affects up to 185 vehicles manufactured between Sept. 8 and Nov. 11, 2015. The higher risk of a leak, which increases the chances of fire, was the result of a manufacturing defect in a part provided by a supplier, according to a filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The move comes after Ferrari, owned by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., recalled upward of 800 cars in the United States to fix a problem with its Takata airbags over the summer. Ferrari issued a stop sale notice to dealers of the 2016 model California T, which has a list price of just over $167,000 according to The Car Guide, on Nov. 23, filings show. Dealers will replace the line free of charge, the notice read.",0
"Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesJune 20, 2018WASHINGTON To anyone with even a cursory relationship to television or social media, a charged and emotional battle over the Trump administrations approach to immigration seems to have seeped into every dimension of American life.Just not quite the dimension containing the Trump International Hotel.President Trump zipped around the capital all day Tuesday, motorcade sirens blaring, as he forcefully defended a policy that includes separating families at the border. These are laws that have been broken for many years, he said as he departed Capitol Hill.At the hotel, he spoke for an hour to 150 supporters about half of whom were donors who paid $100,000 to $250,000 to attend a two-day summit meeting organized by America First Action, the super PAC formed to support Mr. Trump and allied candidates.VideotranscripttranscriptKirstjen Nielsen Heckled at Mexican RestaurantThe secretary of homeland security was confronted by protesters while she was trying to have dinner in Washington on Tuesday.Secretary Nielsen, how dare you spend your evening here eating dinner when youre complicit in the separation and deportation of over 10,000 children separated from their parents? How can you enjoy a Mexican dinner as youre deporting and imprisoning tens of thousands of people who come here seeking asylum in the United States? We call on you to end family separation and abolish ICE. Abolish ICE! Abolish ICE! Abolish ICE! Shame!The secretary of homeland security was confronted by protesters while she was trying to have dinner in Washington on Tuesday.CreditCredit...via ReutersBut inside, all was well.Does anybody here look stressed out? the conservative commentator Candace Owens asked as she surveyed the lobby.She had a point. The event drew grinning Trump loyalists, including Sean Spicer, the former White House press secretary, who recently agreed to serve as a spokesman and senior adviser to America First Action. It drew Donald Trump Jr., the presidents oldest son, who had two Secret Service agents in tow. And it drew the occasional pop culture figure, like the retired boxer Evander Holyfield.Attendees shook hands and greeted each other as fellow great American patriots. Others posted photographs to social media, with hashtags like #BlackLivesMAGA.Upstairs, in a restaurant, a boy blew out the candles on his birthday cake, pausing to bite the head off a miniature President Trump made of frosting. TVs at the bar tuned to Fox News analysts who rehashed the Justice Departments inspector general report.The event was part of a heightened fund-raising push by America First Action.That group and an affiliated nonprofit, America First Policies, want to raise $100 million to advance Mr. Trumps agenda and help congressional candidates allied with him before a midterm election season expected to be difficult for Republicans.But through mid-May, America First Action had raised $11.3 million, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. (The total for America First Policies remains shielded by tax laws, but the group said it had raised about $25 million through the end of last year.) Mr. Trump has attended a handful of events this spring, including gatherings at two Washington residences and at a home in Virginia.Sensitive to campaign finance rules barring federal officials from soliciting donations greater than $5,400, the White House has been careful to call these events gatherings with supporters, not fund-raisers, although they have a similar effect. The event this week felt like a conference, with several panels geared toward foreign policy, America First messaging and a healthy disdain for the news media.You guys are genuinely out of touch, said Ms. Owens, who also serves as a communications director for the conservative group Turning Point USA, after speaking on the media panel.I feel like Im talking to someone who actually thinks everyone else is an idiot, she said to this reporter.Panelists, including Ms. Owens, did not pay to attend.Beyond media criticism, what lessons could donors expect to glean?It was a question put to Mr. Spicer, who was passing out business cards in the lobby and inviting people to his book release party July 24! in between panels. His answer: proximity to the president.You want it to be intimate, Mr. Spicer said. Not a cattle call.And besides, Mr. Spicer reasoned: They paid a ton of money, he said, using a phrase that contained an expletive.Donors in attendance included the Oklahoma oilman Harold Hamm; the investor and former ambassador Ronald N. Weiser of Michigan; and the investors Roy W. Bailey and Tom Hicks Jr. of Texas.Mr. Hamm has donated $1 million to America First Action through personal and corporate accounts. Mr. Weiser, who has donated $200,000, said he suspected the event raised a lot of money.Yechezkel Moskowitz, 31, who attended on behalf of his grandmother, a donor, said that he felt as if he had gained a better understanding of the policies he should be supporting, including the administrations approach to rolling back environmental regulations and its hard-line stance on immigration.We have to give the impression that our laws matter, he said. I think conservatism is the new counterculture.Hoping to spread the message, the America First groups have been hosting events for donors and prospective donors featuring appearances by Mr. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. And some of America Firsts donors said they had heard that the president will headline one such event next week in Wisconsin, although an America First spokeswoman said no America First events are planned for next week with either Mr. Trump or Mr. Pence. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday evening.In recent weeks, fund-raisers for the groups began aggressively courting donors ahead of the summit meeting. Donors were told that, in addition to Mr. Trump, speakers would include the former governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee, and a host of Republican lawmakers, including Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Steve Daines of Montana, as well as Representatives Kevin Brady of Texas, Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Greg Walden of Oregon.Mr. Brady spoke Tuesday on a panel about the great things already happening in the economy as a direct result of the tax overhaul passed last year, said his spokeswoman, Allyson Manley.Part of it is, Mr. Spicer said, you buy into the philosophy.Bill White, a donor based in New York City also at the event, said that during his speech to the group, Mr. Trump had focused on drumming up support for his immigration policy and approach to foreign relations at one point, he again complained about being slighted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada among other issues.Im confident that Donald Trump is going to solve that problem of immigration, Mr. White said, with the help of the American people. He hates the fact that children are being taken away from their loved ones.Mr. White said that he and his husband have been so persuaded by the presidents policies that they have pledged $100,000 to America First and are organizing a fund-raiser this year.But the finances of America First and America First Policies have been a source of disappointment to some of Mr. Trumps close allies. They have complained that they are not raising as much as they should, given the presidents support, and have also grumbled about what they say are excessive payments to consultants, according to two people involved in the discussions.America First Action has made hefty payments to consultants with close ties to Mr. Trump, including $184,000 to the firm owned by Brad Parscale, who will have to distance himself from the group because he was tapped to run Mr. Trumps re-election campaign. America First Action also paid $75,000 to the firm of Mr. Trumps first campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, and $60,000 to the company of Katrina Pierson, a former campaign spokeswoman, according to Federal Election Commission filings.America First Action also paid more than $69,000 to a firm owned by David A. Clarke Jr., the former sheriff of Milwaukee County. On Tuesday, he roamed the hotel lobby, dressed in a white cowboy hat.The filings also show that the group has spent more than $160,000 at Trump Organization properties, the vast majority of which $154,000 went to the Trump International Hotel for facility rentals and catering. Nearly $2,000 was spent at the hotels steakhouse, BLT Prime by David Burke, with another $864 going to the hotels bar, Benjamin Bar and Lounge.Mr. White said he was comfortable with a large amount of money going toward the presidents hotel. He called it one of the greatest hotel properties in the world.",3
"Credit...Tom Brenner/The New York TimesJune 23, 2018LEESBURG, Va. Gina Anders knows the feeling well by now. President Trump says or does something that triggers a spasm of outrage. She doesnt necessarily agree with how he handled the situation. She gets why people are upset.But Ms. Anders, 46, a Republican from suburban Loudoun County, Va., with a law degree, a business career, and not a stitch of Make America Great Again gear in her wardrobe, is moved to defend him anyway.All nuance and all complexity and these are complex issues are completely lost, she said, describing overblown reactions from the presidents critics, some of whom equated the Trump administrations policy of separating migrant children and parents to historys greatest atrocities.It makes me angry at them, which causes me to want to defend him to them more, Ms. Anders said.In interviews across the country over the last few days, dozens of Trump voters, as well as pollsters and strategists, described something like a bonding experience with the president that happens each time Republicans have to answer a now-familiar question: How can you possibly still support this man? Their resilience suggests a level of unity among Republicans that could help mitigate Mr. Trumps low overall approval ratings and aid his partys chances of keeping control of the House of Representatives in November.Hes not a perfect guy; he does some stupid stuff, said Tony Schrantz, 50, of Lino Lakes, Minn., the owner of a water systems leak detection business. But when theyre hounding him all the time it just gets old. Give the guy a little.Republican voters repeatedly described an instinctive, protective response to the president, and their support has grown in recent months: Mr. Trumps approval rating among Republicans is now about 90 percent. And while polling has yet to capture the effect of the last weeks immigration controversy, the only modern Republican president more popular with his party than Mr. Trump at this point in his first term, according to Gallup, was George W. Bush after the country united in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.Mr. Trump has also retained support across a range of demographics other than the working-class voters who are most identified with him. This includes portions of the wealthy college-educated people in swing counties, like Virginias Loudoun, in the countrys most politically competitive states.Many of these voters say their lives and the country are improving under his presidency, and the endless stream of tough cable news coverage and bad headlines about Mr. Trump only galvanizes them further even though some displayed discomfort on their faces when asked about the child separation policy, and expressed misgivings about the presidents character.It bothers me that he doesnt tell the truth, but I guess I kind of expect that, and I expect that from the media, too not to always tell the truth or to slant it one way, said Julie Knight, 63, a retired personal injury case manager from Algona, Wash.The increasingly tribalized politics on the left and right have helped insulate Mr. Trump from the paroxysms that have jolted his party and eroded longstanding expectations of restraint, humility and honesty in American presidents. This era of tumult has left Democrats energized and determined to win back Congress and act as a check on Mr. Trump, and their intensity has been reflected by strong turnouts in the primaries so far. But still, in just the last year and a half, Mr. Trump has bounced back from crises that at the time seemed as if they might be too severe for him to recover politically.He tried to unilaterally bar visitors from several Muslim countries from the United States, angering U.S. allies and provoking clashes with Congress and the courts over the limits of executive power. He praised some very fine people at a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in remarks that shook some members of his cabinet so deeply that they considered resigning. He defended Roy S. Moore, a Senate candidate in Alabama who was accused of fondling teenage girls, by suggesting that the allegations were old and possibly made-up.And so as another immigration crisis of his own making smoldered this past week, critics inside and outside Mr. Trumps party predicted another devastating, irremediable low point in his presidency. Yet many Trump voters said that they no longer had the patience or interest to listen to what they see as another hysterical outburst by Democrats, Republican Never Trumpers and the media.ImageCredit...Alex Wroblewski for The New York TimesIts kind of like when you experience a sensation over and over and over again, said Daniel Arnold, 32, a warehouse manager from Leesburg, Va., about an hour outside Washington. A sensation is no longer a sensation. Its just, Oh, here we are again.For many Republicans, the audio of children sobbing at a migrant detention center barely registered, because these voters dont pay attention to the left-leaning and mainstream media that have covered the family separation crisis far more than their preferred channel, Fox News.I think its terrible about the kids getting split up from their parents. But the parents shouldnt have been here, said Lynn Dittbenner, 65, of Elk River, Minn., who took the day off from relaxing with her family at their lake cabin to hear the president speak at a rally in Duluth on Wednesday.Others said they saw a ploy by the presidents enemies to obscure news that was more favorable to him, like the internal Justice Department investigation that recently uncovered evidence of F.B.I. officials speaking disparagingly of Mr. Trump.Its just incredible what the nation is trying to do to disrupt this president and his agenda, said Jeff Butts, 58, an unemployed sales manager from Leesburg. We dont get to hear about that. We only get to hear about the crying babies on the border.Sometimes they seized on made-up or erroneous story lines that were mostly absent from the mainstream media.Those cages and those families that was actually filmed during the Obama administration, not the Trump administration, said Clayton Smith, 57, a commercial lending underwriter from Cary, Ill., a Chicago suburb.Mr. Smith was correct about one image. He was referring to a story that was covered widely in the conservative media over the last few weeks about one of President Obamas former speechwriters who tweeted a picture of immigrant children sleeping in a chain-link pen. This is happening right now, the tweet said, despite the fact that the picture was from 2014 when Mr. Obama was president. (He later deleted it and acknowledged the error.)As isolated as those examples are, they are validating for people who believe their political beliefs are constantly held under a microscope and vilified.I dont have friends anymore because Ive switched parties, said Judy Brana, 66, a retired music and art teacher from St. Cloud, Minn., who left home at 10:30 on Wednesday morning to make the two-and-a-half-hour drive up to Duluth for the presidents rally.Friends Ive had for 40 years, she added. Its insane, thats what Ill tell you.Another factor that seems to be driving up support is a sense that no one is acknowledging Mr. Trumps successes, which they see as manifold, historic and irrefutable.Lets see, said John Westling, 70, of Princeton, Minn., reciting a list of the presidents accomplishments that he said no one in the media wants to talk about. Economy booming, check. Unemployment down, check. Border security being addressed, check. Possible end to the Korean War that started when I was 3 years old, 68 years ago, check.I suspect that if Trump walked across Lake Mille Lacs, Mr. Westling added, the media would announce, Trump cant swim!As measured by the Gallup daily presidential approval tracking poll, Mr. Trump has averaged 87 percent job approval from fellow Republicans in his second year in office, up from 83 percent in his first year. And during the past two weeks, his approval rating hit 90 percent with Republicans.Yet some say their patience with Mr. Trumps divisive style is not limitless. Gary Winthorpe, a 17-year-old high school student who was on his way to see the president speak in Minnesota on Wednesday, said he hopes that the first vote he casts for president in 2020 is for Mr. Trump. But he acknowledged being wary at times, aware of protests against the president.Im not blindly for Donald Trump, he said. I have a fair bit of skepticism toward him. But I feel like he is trying his best.Mr. Trump fared much worse than prior Republican candidates among well-educated and affluent white voters, and became the first Republican to win the presidency while losing white college graduates. But he nonetheless won considerable support among college-educated and affluent voters. He retains much of that support today. According to a Pew Research survey this month, approximately 31 percent of Trump approvers are white men without a college degree, and 66 percent are either college graduates, women or nonwhite.According to Gallup, Mr. Trumps popularity with college-educated voters has remained about equal to his popularity with Americans overall this year.There is some evidence that Mr. Trumps base of support may have shrunk slightly, though. In recent polls from Gallup and Morning Consult, the numbers of people who identified as Republicans were about 2 percentage points smaller than they were in early 2017.Among Democrats, Mr. Trumps initial approval has been historically low, failing to reach 15 percent since he took office. Presidents have traditionally come in with at least a moderate amount of support from the opposing party.Just as Mr. Trump has changed the makeup of the Republican coalition, he also appears to have helped change the views of the people who support him.Republicans appear to have developed more forgiving views on morality and public service in recent years, for example. In 2011, one in three Republicans thought an elected official who commits immoral acts in private life could act ethically in public life, according to a Public Religion Research Institute/Brookings survey. By 2016, seven out of 10 did. The trend was especially pronounced among white evangelicals, who strongly supported Mr. Trump and went from being the least likely to the most likely to agree that a candidates personal immorality had nothing to do with public service.The percentage of Republicans who say they have a favorable view of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president for whom Mr. Trump has repeatedly expressed fondness, has doubled from 2015 to 2017 to 24 percent, according to Gallup. Among Democrats, Mr. Putins popularity has plummeted.Even if Mr. Trump wasnt at the center of the national conversation, Ms. Anders, the Loudoun County business executive, said she thinks that the country would still be polarized. But as long as he is, she said, people on the right and the left will probably continue to dig in based on what Mr. Trump does and how his opponents respond.It all coalesces around Trump, she said. Its either, Trump wants to put people in cages, in concentration camps. Or, on the other side, Oh the left just wants everybody to come into the country illegally so they can get voters.She concluded: We cant have a conversation.",3
"Credit...Tamir Kalifa for The New York TimesJune 18, 2018AUSTIN, Tex. Even in the close-knit circles of Texas liberals, Lupe Valdez, the Democratic nominee for governor, conjures up a disparate set of opinions far from the united front the candidate wants to evoke.Democratic Party officials often hail Ms. Valdez as a progressive godsend bound to inspire Latino voters: a former Dallas County sheriff who became the first Latina and open lesbian to top the partys ticket in Texas, at a time of controversy over the Trump administrations family separation practice for undocumented immigrants.She doesnt need a GPS to know where the grass roots are, said Jim Hightower, an Austin progressive who introduced Ms. Valdez, a spirited populist, at a recent party fund-raiser. She has lived the issues.But among some activists on the left, particularly those opposed to the immigration policies of President Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, there is anger over several high-profile incidents in which they deemed Ms. Valdez hostile to some progressive reforms to immigration and criminal justice policy.During her tenure as Dallas sheriff, Ms. Valdez drew significant criticism for allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to detain certain Dallas County prisoners for its deportation operation. The jail overseen by Ms. Valdez was accused of several civil rights violations in a Department of Justice lawsuit, and was the site of a 2015 homicide where a man died in the jails lobby after an interaction with officers.Ms. Valdez has also failed to secure endorsements from a statewide organization of young Latinos called JOLT and from the youth branch of Houstons Stonewall Democrats, an L.G.B.T. organization. Leaders of both groups say they shunned Ms. Valdez partly because she too often leans on her personal identity to sidestep policy questions.The Rev. Jeffrey Hood, a progressive pastor and political organizer in Dallas who criticized Ms. Valdez following the 2015 homicide at the jail, said that voting for either Mr. Abbott or Ms. Valdez in November was a non-starter.Just because shes lesbian doesnt mean shes progressive, and just because shes Latina doesnt mean shes progressive, Mr. Hood said.ImageCredit...Tamir Kalifa for The New York TimesThe tension around Ms. Valdezs candidacy reflects ongoing clashes over identity politics in the Democratic Party, as liberals try to harness the energy of minority groups that are demanding for their voices to be heard. It also points to the sometimes competing interests of party officials singularly focused on winning elections, and a morally rigid grass-roots base that is newly empowered in the current wave of anti-Trump activism.And while there is broad interest on the left in recruiting candidates from diverse backgrounds, activists are also increasingly pushing politicians to adopt the language and policy goals of their movements not just be more liberal than their Republican opponents. The Trump administrations practice of separating children from their parents when apprehended at the border, and the pain and turmoil it has caused, have only intensified the passions of immigration reform advocates.The situation in Texas has left some Lone Star progressives looking jealously to their Southern compatriots in Georgia and Arizona. In Georgia, Stacey Abrams has made history as the first black woman to be nominated by a major party for governor while also energizing grass-roots groups with progressive red meat, prioritizing causes like criminal justice reform and gun safety in her policy platform, which could help Democrats further their grass-roots network in the typically Republican state. Arizonas Democratic hopefuls have also shifted left ideologically, which has only intensified the backlash against Ms. Valdez.Ginny Goldman, a political strategist and the former head of another large progressive group called Texas Organizing Project, said that Ms. Valdez has a lot more she needs to do to in order to reflect the new energy and new politics that this state is moving toward.If this ambivalence and even opposition continue in November, it would surely doom Ms. Valdez, a daughter of migrant workers who rose through the heavily male ranks of law enforcement and spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Ms. Valdez already faces long odds in the historically deep red state, which last voted a Democrat into statewide office in 1994 and supported Mr. Trump in the 2016 election by almost 10 percentage points.The uphill climb would become an impossible one without the wholesale support of the Texas progressive community and immigration activists key forces in the Democrats decades-long efforts to increase turnout among the states Latinos.The Texas Senate candidate Beto ORourke, a Democrat who is challenging Republican incumbent Ted Cruz, has excited state party insiders with better-than-expected poll numbers and fund-raising, but several party officials privately acknowledged a muted energy surrounding the governors race partly because of the progressive criticism Ms. Valdez has faced during the primary.People want real change in their lives, they want someone whos going to fight and deliver for them and just having a D next to your name isnt enough, Ms. Goldman said.In an hourlong interview in Austin near the Texas Governors Mansion she seeks to soon inhabit, Ms. Valdez defended her progressive credentials and record as Dallas County sheriff. She cast herself as a compassionate cop and at one point listed what she considered accomplishments: lowering the inmate population at the jail, allegedly curbing abuse and harassment among her employees, rebuffing ICEs detention requests for individuals with nonviolent allegations, and reducing the number of inmate deaths at Dallas County jail to below the national average.ImageCredit...Nicholas Kamm/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesShe also cited her vocal opposition to S.B. 4 a divisive Texas law signed under Mr. Abbott that empowered police officers to question the immigration status of anyone they arrest or detain.Im the only one in this race whos fought against anti-immigrant bills, said Ms. Valdez, positioning the choice between herself and Mr. Abbott as a binary one for progressives.At other times she conceded that she was forced into imperfect choices during her time as sheriff. Ms. Valdez repeatedly mentioned how Mr. Abbott had threatened to pull funding from Dallas County if Ms. Valdez refused all cooperation with ICE at her Dallas County jail.I actually did a lot of good even on the immigration front, Ms. Valdez said. But I guess when you have it coming from both sides, youre doing the right thing.JOLT, the statewide political group working to organize young Latinos across Texas, spurned Ms. Valdez in the Democratic primary race for governor and backed her opponent a white man because members were troubled by Ms. Valdezs lack of depth in policy, said to the groups executive director, Cristina Tzintzn.During an April candidate forum hosted by JOLT, Ms. Valdez angered some progressives when she avoided a question about her immigration record that had been posed to her by a first-generation American high school student. Instead of explaining her decision to honor some ICE detainers while sheriff, Ms. Valdez began her answer by saying of course she would be an advocate for the immigrant community in Texas as governor.Look at me, she said.Ms. Valdez later issued an apology for not providing a more specific answer, but some of JOLTs young members remain righteously enraged.You were a Latina when you were helping deport people, so why should I trust you now? said Marco Mejia, a 19-year-old student at University of Texas at Austin who was in the audience that day.For our community, negotiating with ICE is not an option, said Esther Sarai Ramos, a 20-year-old JOLT member who also attends Southwestern University near Austin. Ms. Valdez said that she didnt take action out of fear of being defunded. But for us, its not a matter of you getting defunded or not, its a matter of will I ever see my uncles again.ImageCredit...Tamir Kalifa for The New York TimesPointing to her recent primary victory, some supporters of Ms. Valdez dismissed the progressive criticism of the candidate as nitpicky and overblown, a petulant critique from fringe groups more interested in political points than winning elections. Mr. Abbott gleefully signed the controversial S.B. 4 legislation, they point out, and is a staunch critic of liberal priorities like gay marriage and abortion rights.But other supporters, even ardent ones, acknowledged that more work needs to be done to win over those skeptical of her law enforcement past.The young activists expect a lot more but thats coming and its going to be addressed, said Frumencio Reyes, a lawyer and Democratic activist in Houston. He also offered the young activists some pragmatic advice.Its in their best interest to give in a little bit and let Lupe do what she needs to do, Mr. Reyes said. Work with her rather than step out of it and dont do anything because its not like Gov. Abbott is going to be anyway more accepting to them.More than 200 miles away from Houston, however, in the Dallas metro region where Ms. Valdez was once a high-ranking law enforcement official, some young progressives have already heard this advice and seemingly discarded it. This is the community where Mr. Mejia, Ms. Sarai Ramos, and two 18-year-olds named Karla Quiones and Melissa Mejia lead voter registration efforts targeting Latinos, but they have refused to extend their efforts toward helping Ms. Valdez.I refuse to be a political hostage to the Democratic Party, Mr. Mejia said, citing the former sheriffs history in Dallas CountyAfter attending the JOLT event in April where Ms. Valdez faced criticism, the young organizers said they are considering not voting for governor at all. Though they continue to politically organize in the area including one instance when they invited high school students to a fake house party, only to register the attendees to vote each has also urged family members and classmates to consider abstaining rather than back Ms. Valdez.Ms. Quiones, an incoming freshman at Texas Tech University, recalled that she once looked up to Ms. Valdez one of the first Latinas she ever saw hold public office.It feels like shes turned her back on her own community, she now says of her former role model.",3
"Psilocybin Spurs Brain Activity in Patients With Depression, Small Study ShowsThe chemical derived from psychedelic mushrooms helped alleviate symptoms of depression and generated detectable neural responses that lasted weeks.Credit...Alana Paterson for The New York TimesApril 11, 2022Psychedelic compounds like LSD, Ecstasy and psilocybin mushrooms have shown significant promise in treating a range of mental health disorders, with participants in clinical studies often describing tremendous progress taming the demons of post-traumatic stress disorder, or finding unexpected calm and clarity as they face a terminal illness.But exactly how psychedelics might therapeutically rewire the mind remains an enigma.A group of neuroscientists in London thought advanced neuroimaging technology that peered deep into the brain might provide some answers. They included 43 people with severe depression in a study sponsored by Imperial College London, and gave them either psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, or a conventional antidepressant; the participants were not told which one they would receive. Functional magnetic resonance imaging, which captures metabolic function, took two snapshots of their brain activity the day before receiving the first dose and then roughly three weeks after the final one.What they found, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, was illuminating, both figuratively and literally. Over the course of three weeks, participants who had been given the antidepressant escitalopram reported mild improvement in their symptoms, and the scans continued to suggest the stubborn, telltale signs of a mind hobbled by major depressive disorder. Neural activity was constrained within certain regions of the brain, a reflection of the rigid thought patterns that can trap those with depression in a negative feedback loop of pessimism and despair.By contrast, the participants given psilocybin therapy reported a rapid and sustained improvement in their depression, and the scans showed flourishes of neural activity across large swaths of the brain that persisted for the three weeks. That heightened connectivity, they said, resembled the cognitive agility of a healthy brain that, for example, can toggle between a morning bout of melancholia, a stressful day at work and an evening of unencumbered revelry with friends.Although the authors acknowledged the limitations of the study, including its small size and short time frame, they said psilocybin appeared to have a liberating effect on the brains of people with severe depression.Psilocybin, it would seem, allows you to see things in an entirely new light, particularly when you have a psychotherapist who can help guide you through that experience, said Richard Daws, a cognitive neuroscientist and a lead author of the study. You can unpack difficult experiences that might define how you see the world, which is interesting because thats exactly what traditional cognitive behavioral therapy is trying to do.Experts not involved with the study said that the results were not entirely surprising but that they provided a possible biologic explanation for the anecdotal accounts about therapeutic breakthroughs with psychedelic medicine.Patrick M. Fisher, a neuroscientist at the Neurobiology Research Unit in Copenhagen who studies psilocybins effects on the brain, said the findings could help explain why study subjects in psychedelic research often report long-term relief from psychological ailments. One or two doses of psychedelic drugs seem to impart lasting clinical benefits and changes in personality and mood, and thats an unusual characteristic of drugs, he said. Although these brain imaging data are important for resolving the brain mechanisms that support these lasting changes, this study leaves prominent questions unanswered.Other researchers agreed, saying the results highlighted the need for further study. Dr. Stephen Ross, associate director of the N.Y.U. Langone Center for Psychedelic Medicine, who has been studying the antidepressant effects of psilocybin on cancer patients, cautioned against drawing sweeping conclusions given the relatively brief monitoring period of participants brain activity. Its a little bit like looking out into the universe with a telescope and seeing interesting things and then starting to build theories based on that, he said. This is an important contribution though Im more interested in what happens in three months or six months.A separate, smaller experiment that was included in the Nature Medicine paper appeared to support the notion that psilocybin therapy could provide enduring benefits. In that trial, 16 patients were recruited with the knowledge that they would receive psilocybin for their treatment-resistant depression. Brain scans taken a day after the final doses were administered showed similar results to the other study. And when the researchers followed up six months later, many participants reported that the improvements to their depression had not subsided.These results are very promising, but obviously no one should go out and try and procure psychedelics without speaking to a doctor or a therapist, Dr. Daws said.The field of psychedelic medicine is still in its infancy following a decades-long gap in research, a direct result of antidrug policies that prevented most scientists in the United States from investigating mind-altering compounds. But as the stigma has faded and research funding has begun to flow more freely, a growing number of scientists have begun exploring whether such drugs can help patients suffering from a wide range of mental health conditions, including anorexia, substance abuse and obsessive-compulsive disorder.Along with psilocybin, MDMA, popularly known as Ecstasy, has been especially promising. A study last May in Nature Medicine found that the drug paired with talk therapy could significantly lessen or even eliminate symptoms of PTSD. Phase 3 clinical trials are now underway, and some experts believe the Food and Drug Administration could approve MDMA therapy for PTSD as soon as next year.Depression remains one of most common and intractable mental health challenges in the United States, with an estimated 21 million adults reporting a major depressive episode in 2020, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Although Prozac and other antidepressants known as S.S.R.I.s have been effective for many, they have significant side effects and the drugs do not work for everyone.For that reason, the handful of small studies on psilocybin and depression have electrified mental health experts and patients.Another author of the Nature Medicine article published on Monday, Robin Carhart-Harris, director of the Neuroscape Psychedelics Division at the University of California, San Francisco, said the functional magnetic resonance imaging scans offered intriguing clues about the way depression inhabits the brain. The resulting images, he suggested, might be best compared to an undulating pastoral landscape marked by hills and deep valleys. People with depression, he said, often get stuck in a valley. Although S.S.R.I.s can make them feel better, the drugs do not appear to change the overall landscape of their brain, as it were, suggesting that the drugs do little more than ease the symptoms of their depression.But the psilocybin treatments, he said, seemed to provide a way out of those metaphorical valleys by inducing what scientists call global increases in brain network integration essentially touching off activity across parts of the brain that were previously cut off from one another.Psilocybin therapy seems to flatten the landscape so you move out of the valley, Dr. Carhart-Harris said. It makes you freer to move on.Still, he acknowledged that the two trials raised a multitude of unanswered questions that he hoped researchers would explore. And he expressed caution against the headlong embrace of psychedelics without supervision, noting the acute vulnerability of patients experiencing a psychedelic journey.It might sound trite to say, but I think psilocybin therapy opens up the mind, and thats its strength, Dr. Carhart-Harris said. But thats also arguably where the risk comes in, which is why it needs to be managed and to happen alongside psychological support.",2
"Tom Brady Threatens Radio Station After Host Slams QB's Daughter 1/29/2018 ""Kirk and Callahan"" WEEI Tom Brady says he's considering ENDING his weekly appearance on WEEI radio in Boston after one of the station's hosts called his daughter an ""annoying little pissant."" WEEI has suspended the radio host ... but Brady's still pissed. Brady has been doing the weekly segment on ""Kirk & Callahan"" for years -- chopping it up about football and other light topics in his life. But Monday morning, Brady told the guys he's considering never coming back over comments another WEEI host, Alex Reimer, made on a different show on Thursday. Reimer was discussing Tom's new Facebook show, ""Tom vs. Time"" -- which is essentially a docuseries following Tom and his family -- and he put the crosshairs on Tom's 5-year-old daughter. WEEI suspended Reimer on Friday -- but when Brady appeared on ""Kirk & Callahan"" on Monday, he made it clear he's not over it. ""I've tried to come on this show for many years and showed you guys a lot of respect ... I've always tried to come on and do a good job for you guys. It's very disappointing when you hear that, certainly with my daughter, or any child. They certainly don't deserve that."" Brady says he's still deciding whether to end his relationship with the station for good.",1
"Health|Covid toes may be caused by a powerful immune response, a new study finds.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/06/health/covid-toes-cause.htmlCovid toes may be caused by a powerful immune response, a new study finds.Credit...Northwestern University, via Associated PressPublished Oct. 6, 2021Updated Oct. 13, 2021Shortly after the pandemic erupted last year, doctors were baffled by a surge of patients, mostly teenagers and young adults, who came in complaining of chilblains painful lesions on their toes, and sometimes also on their fingers.The condition came to be called Covid toes. They were seen, like the loss of smell and taste, as yet another strange telltale sign of the disease, even though most of the patients tested negative for coronavirus. Physicians were hard-pressed to explain the association.The lesions are red or purple in white people, and often purplish or brownish in people of color. They cause painful burning or itching sensations, and sometimes make it difficult for people to wear shoes or walk.Now a study from France, published in the British Journal of Dermatology, sheds some light on the causes of Covid toes. The research indicates that the lesions may be a side effect of the immune systems shift into high gear in response to exposure to the virus, which can damage cells and tissues in the process.ImageCredit... Stanford Dermatology/VisualDxThe French researchers analyzed blood samples and skin biopsies from 50 patients who had chilblainlike lesions for the first time in April 2020, and who were referred to St.-Louis Hospital in Paris. Slightly more than half of the patients had other symptoms suggestive of Covid-19, like coughing, shortness of breath and loss of smell, but all of them tested negative for the virus on PCR tests.The samples showed high levels of Type 1 interferon, a protein that activates the bodys immune system to fight viruses, but which may also cause damage. The researchers also found high levels of an antibody that can inadvertently attack the bodys own cells.Abnormal changes in the linings of the blood vessels may also play a role in the lesions, the study suggests.Although the relationship between coronavirus infection and chilblainlike lesions is still controversial, the authors wrote, the peaks of chilblainlike lesions concomitant with peaks of Covid-19 deaths in 2020 strongly suggest that this disorder is closely related to SARS-CoV-2 infection.The explanation for Covid toes is not entirely surprising; one of the hallmark features of the disease is an immune system overreaction called a cytokine storm, which may ultimately cause more illness than the virus itself.German scientists published a paper last year saying they had found a strong localized interferon-driven response in three young men who came in with chilblains. That paper suggested that the men, who tested negative for the coronavirus, may have developed chilblains several weeks after an initial infection caused mild or asymptomatic disease, and that the interferon-driven immune response may have led to early control of the virus and prevented respiratory disease.Dermatologists say that people with Covid toes generally do well and are unlikely to develop severe Covid, and that the symptoms reflect a healthy immune response to the virus.Dr. Esther E. Freeman, director of global health dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital, said the new study provides insight into the links between of Covid toes and mild infection.A lot of the studies around Covid have focused on severe Covid, and mild and moderate disease has often been overlooked, Dr. Freeman said. I tell my patients with Covid toes, Its almost like a side effect of your body doing a good job of controlling the virus.The new study suggested that treating Covid toes with local or systemic anti-inflammatory agents may be effective.",2
"Though some of its own senior officials said there was little evidence of benefit for patients, the F.D.A. nonetheless greenlighted Biogens Aduhelm, or aducanumab.Credit...Andrew Kelly/ReutersPublished July 19, 2021Updated Oct. 20, 2021Two months before the Food and Drug Administrations deadline to decide whether to approve Biogens controversial Alzheimers drug, aducanumab, a council of senior agency officials resoundingly agreed that there wasnt enough evidence it worked.The council, a group of 15 officials who review complex issues, concluded that another clinical trial was necessary before approving the drug. Otherwise, one council member noted, approval could result in millions of patients taking aducanumab without any indication of actually receiving any benefit, or worse, cause harm, according to minutes of the meeting, obtained by The New York Times.It is critical that the decision be made from a place of certainty, the minutes said.The session, whose details have not been reported before, represented at least the third time that proponents of approving aducanumab in the F.D.A. had received a clear message that the evidence did not convincingly show the drug could slow cognitive decline.On June 7, the F.D.A. greenlighted the drug anyway a decision that has been met with scathing rebuke from many Alzheimers experts and other scientists and calls for investigations into how the agency approved a treatment that has little evidence it helps patients.How and why the F.D.A. went ahead and approved the drug an intravenous infusion, marketed as Aduhelm, that the company has since priced at $56,000 a year has become the subject of intense scrutiny. Two congressional committees are investigating the approval and the price. Much is still unknown, but an examination by The Times has found that the process leading to approval took several unusual turns, including a decision for the F.D.A. to work far more closely with Biogen than is typical in a regulatory review.Allegations about the collaboration prompted the F.D.A. to conduct an internal inquiry after a consumer advocacy group called for an inspector generals investigation, according to documents reviewed by The Times. The agency has not disclosed the inquiry.Though the decision was considered one of the agencys most consequential and controversial in years, its leader, Dr. Janet Woodcock, the acting commissioner, was not involved in the deliberations and left the final ruling to the head of the center responsible for drug applications, the agency confirmed.ImageCredit...Al Drago/BloombergIn written responses to questions from The Times, the F.D.A. defended its decision to approve the drug the first for Alzheimers in 18 years.The agency did not lower its standards, the F.D.A. said, adding, and at no time considered doing so.The decision, the agency said, was informed by science, medicine, policy, and judgment, in accordance with applicable legal and regulatory standards.In written answers to questions, Biogen said, Biogen stands 100 percent behind Aduhelm and the clinical data that supported its approval.Facing mounting pressure, Dr. Woodcock recently called for an inspector general to investigate the agencys approval process. Dr. Woodcock has publicly acknowledged process problems, but has not described what those problems were.This incident has shaken F.D.A. integrity quite significantly, said Wayne Pines, a former F.D.A. senior official who has written histories about the agency. The F.D.A. is obligated to be sure that all stones are turned over, that every avenue is pursued to make sure that this was a decision that was made on the basis of scientific judgment and not on the basis of anything else.While some Alzheimers experts did support the drugs approval given the dearth of treatment choices for patients, many say it was a mistake to approve a medication with such unclear evidence of benefit and that trials showed can cause brain swelling or brain bleeding.Two nearly identical late-stage clinical trials of aducanumab were shut down in 2019 because an independent monitoring committee concluded that the drug did not appear to be helping patients. A later analysis by Biogen found that participants receiving the highest dose of aducanumab in one trial experienced a very slight slowing of cognitive decline, but participants in the other trial did not benefit at all.Analysts have predicted that the drug could bring Biogen billions of dollars. But since the approval, some major medical centers have decided not to offer it, and the American Neurological Associations executive committee told the doctors who are its members that based on the clinical evidence, Aduhelm should not have been approved at this time.Even some scientists who were involved in earlier phases of the companys aducanumab research said in interviews that they did not agree with the F.D.A.s decision.This approval shouldnt have happened, said Dr. Vissia Viglietta, a former Biogen senior medical director, who helped design the two late-stage clinical trials of the drug. It defeats everything I believe in scientifically and it lowers the rigor of regulatory bodies.Because of that, I felt really deflated personally, Dr. Viglietta said, adding, This was not the reason why my team and I did the work we did designing the study.In announcing its approval in June, the F.D.A. acknowledged there was not sufficient evidence that the drug would help patients. Instead, it said it was greenlighting Aduhelm under a program called accelerated approval, which allows the authorization of drugs without persuasive proof of benefit if they are for serious diseases with few treatment options and if the drug affects part of the diseases biology (known as a biomarker) in a way that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit.The reason the agency gave that the drug reduces a key protein that clumps into plaques in the brains of people with Alzheimers is one that the agency official leading the aducanumab review had said in an earlier public meeting would not be used. Many Alzheimers experts say there is not nearly enough evidence that reducing the protein, amyloid, slows memory and thinking problems.ImageCredit...CJ Gunther/EPA, via ShutterstockMany of the questions surrounding the approval of the drug have centered on the close working relationship the F.D.A. and Biogen seemed to have during the application process. That included meeting several times a week in the summer of 2019 to jointly assess the data and chart a path forward, as well as a joint Biogen-F.D.A. presentation to a committee of independent experts.After receiving letters in December and January from the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen calling for an inspector generals investigation of the collaboration, the F.D.A. began an internal review focusing on the issue.The inquiry took place during the spring, as the decision deadline on the drug loomed, and was conducted by an office in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. The center includes the office that led the aducanumab assessment. Public Citizen said it was not informed that the inquiry was taking place. Biogen said the F.D.A. had not contacted the company in the inquiry.It is unclear what the internal review concluded. Michael Felberbaum, a spokesman for the F.D.A., said the agency would have no comment while the issue of close collaboration is the subject of external investigations.The approval was the culmination of a roller-coaster journey for aducanumab, which seemed to be dead when the trials were aborted in March 2019. Less than two months later, Biogen decided that because its subsequent analysis had found a slight benefit for patients on the high dose in one trial, it would revive its effort to get the drug approved.That May, Dr. Al Sandrock, Biogens chief medical officer, scheduled an informal meeting with Dr. Billy Dunn, director of the F.D.A. office that reviews Alzheimers drugs, at a neurology conference they both attended. At the meeting, first reported by the medical news organization STAT and confirmed by The Times, Dr. Sandrock showed the regulator some data underlying the new analysis. The discussion led to a formal meeting several weeks later on the F.D.A. campus. There, according to minutes of the meeting, Biogen and Dr. Dunns team decided that it is imperative that extensive resources be brought to bear on achieving a maximum understanding of the existing data on aducanumab.Given the wholly unique situation that is the current state of the aducanumab development program, the minutes say, further analyses would best be conducted as part of a bilateral effort involving the agency and sponsor, i.e. through a workstream or working group collaboration.Biogen said the idea for collaboration was proposed by the F.D.A. and was carefully structured and documented, and in effect, allowed for an appropriate deep dive analysis by the F.D.A.The F.D.A. said it often works closely with industry, especially where there is a significant need for treatments for devastating diseases.When Biogen officials presented what had happened to the companys board of directors, people were just blown away that this would be the situation and that aducanumab actually might have a forward path, said a person familiar with the session.As the process unfolded, a former employee was surprised by the collaborative workstream, saying what I was shocked by was just how close the interaction was between the teams.While aducanumab was in trials, Dr. Dunn and Samantha Budd Haeberlein, who oversaw the drugs clinical development for Biogen, worked together on several other projects, interactions that some scientists, former F.D.A. officials and former Biogen employees said they thought blurred the expected boundary between a regulator and an official of a company in that regulators purview.The projects included a framework for understanding the biology of Alzheimers disease published in 2018 as part of a work group convened in part by Maria Carrillo, chief science officer of the Alzheimers Association, a patient advocacy group that later pushed for aducanumabs approval despite several of its scientific advisers saying the evidence wasnt good enough. That effort led to new F.D.A. guidance for reviewing Alzheimers drugs drafted by Dr. Dunns team.Dr. Dunn and Dr. Budd Haeberlein also made joint presentations or appeared together on conference panels several times during the aducanumab trials.William B. Schultz, who served as a deputy F.D.A. commissioner and general counsel for the Department of Health and Human Services, the F.D.A.s parent agency, said such interactions were ill-advised.It is not appropriate for F.D.A. officials to collaborate on publications and presentations with employees of companies with applications pending before those very officials, he said. It undermines the essential arms-length relationship between the regulator and the regulated industry and destroys the F.D.A.s credibility as the government agency entrusted with the critical responsibility of deciding the safety and efficacy of drugs.The F.D.A. said it is part of the agencys role to participate in the group developing the Alzheimers framework, but declined to comment about the joint presentations or say whether Dr. Dunns participation in them was cleared beforehand.Asked about Dr. Budd Haeberleins working relationship with the F.D.A. official, Dr. Priya Singhal, Biogens head of global safety and regulatory sciences, said: Relationships do not govern the regulatory process or its outcomes. There is no relationship that would override data gaps.Last November, Biogen and Dr. Dunns team presented a joint review to an advisory committee of independent experts outside the agency who were tasked with voting on whether aducanumab was ready for approval. Usually, a company and F.D.A. reviewers give separate presentations.The joint presentation asserted that there was substantial evidence of effectiveness to support approval and, in language that a former F.D.A. official said was unusually effusive for a scientific presentation, described the single positive trial which showed that the high dose slowed decline by 0.39 on an 18-point scale as exceptionally persuasive.That was not the conclusion of every F.D.A. division. The agencys biostatistical office had reached an opposite assessment, writing in a separate review presented to the committee that there is no compelling, substantial evidence of treatment effect or disease slowing.At the end of the daylong meeting, the advisory committee overwhelmingly agreed with the biostatistical assessment. To the question of whether there was enough evidence the drug would help patients, 10 members of the panel voted no and one was uncertain. There were no yes votes.To have a virtually unanimous vote against approval and then to have the F.D.A. turn around and approve thats never happened, said Mr. Pines, the former F.D.A. official, who now directs the health practice at APCO, a public relations firm.ImageCredit...Kayana Szymczak for The New York TimesFor months after the advisory committee meeting, Dr. Dunn and his team continued to work toward conventional approval of the drug.But when the case was presented to the agencys Medical Policy and Program Review Council, meeting on March 31 and April 7, the vast majority of the 15 members said the evidence did not meet the threshold for instilling public confidence in the usefulness of the drug, according to the minutes. Another trial was necessary, the council agreed, but could be a shorter and more efficient trial, countering the contention from approval advocates that another trial would take years.Although the council, which advises on but doesnt make approval decisions, recognized that some patients would accept the drug despite the uncertainties, the minutes say, the council, however, stressed that this should not influence the regulatory decision.The idea of accelerated approval came up briefly toward the end, raised by Dr. Rick Pazdur, head of F.D.A.s oncology center, who was not a council member. It was not discussed in detail, but after the meeting, given the councils rejection of standard approval, accelerated approval appeared to be the only way to make the drug available.On April 26, Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, Dr. Dunns boss and director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, led a smaller meeting about accelerated approval, which had never been used for Alzheimers drugs.In fact, the F.D.A.s most recent guidance for Alzheimers drugs, issued by Dr. Dunn in 2018, says the standard for accelerated approval had not yet been met for the disease, despite a great deal of research. The guidance says that is because there is unfortunately at present no sufficiently reliable evidence that attacking amyloid plaques or other biomarkers of Alzheimers would be reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit.And at the November advisory committee meeting, Dr. Dunn said that in considering whether to approve aducanumab, were not using the amyloid as a surrogate for efficacy. Under accelerated approval, while a drug is on the market, a company must conduct an additional trial, a costly undertaking. Biogen said its goal was standard approval, which it believed its data warranted. At the April 26 meeting, Dr. Cavazzoni invited two officials not involved with neurological drugs who had used accelerated approval frequently: Dr. Pazdur and Dr. Peter Marks, the top vaccine regulator. They and Dr. Cavazzoni voted to grant such approval to aducanumab, as did Dr. Issam Zineh, director of the Office of Pharmacology, and Dr. Jacqueline Corrigan-Curay, who led the internal review of the F.D.A-Biogen collaboration.The director of the office of translational sciences, Dr. ShaAvhre Buckman-Garner who supervises both the pharmacology and biostatistics offices did not vote yes or no, saying she understood both arguments. The only clear no vote, F.D.A. documents say, was the director of the office of biostatistics, Dr. Sylva Collins, stating her belief that there is insufficient evidence to support accelerated approval or any other type of approval.Mr. Felberbaum, the F.D.A. spokesman, said the agency concluded that the reduction in amyloid beta plaques was reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit, meeting the requirements for an accelerated approval.The 2018 guidance no longer reflects the current state of the science, he said, citing data from aducanumab and earlier-stage trials of other anti-amyloid drugs, evidence that many Alzheimers experts say is not strong enough to link reduction in amyloid to the likelihood of slowing cognitive decline.In its written responses to The Times, the agency added that its decision took into account that patients expressed their willingness to accept some uncertainty about clinical benefit to get earlier access to a potentially clinically valuable drug.On April 28, Biogen was told that aducanumab was now being considered for accelerated approval instead of standard approval, according to documents obtained by The Times.The documents also show that Biogen submitted draft language for a label stating which patients should be eligible for the treatment, a common step in the final stages of a drug review for possible approval. Up until about a week before approval was announced, the label listed contraindications medical conditions that should preclude patients from getting the drug. The final approval label, however, has only one word under contraindications: None.The F.D.A. said it does not comment on labeling negotiations. Biogen said that after thoughtful consideration, the conclusion was that it should be up to the treating physician in the real-world to decide which patients receive the drug.Another change was made to the proposed label. Before approval, it said the drugs purpose was to delay clinical decline in patients with Alzheimers disease.But after a comment was put in the margin, the language was changed to for the treatment of Alzheimers disease. The note said the F.D.A.s office of prescription drug promotion is concerned with the promotional implication of the phrase to delay clinical decline considering that this product is being approved under accelerated approval.In a promotional context, the note cautioned, the phrase suggests a guarantee of efficacy.",2
"Credit...Aref Karimi/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesDec. 13, 2015With the ink barely dry on a landmark climate accord, nations now face an even more daunting challenge: how to get their industries to go along.If nothing else, analysts and experts say, the accord is a signal to businesses and investors that the era of carbon reduction has arrived.It will spur banks and investment funds to shift their loan and stock portfolios from coal and oil to the growing industries of renewable energy like wind and solar. Utilities themselves will have to reduce their reliance on coal and more aggressively adopt renewable sources of energy. Energy and technology companies will be pushed to make breakthroughs to make better and cheaper batteries that can store energy for use when it is needed. And automakers will have to develop electric cars that win broader acceptance in the marketplace.Its very hard to go backward from something like this, said Nancy Pfund, managing partner of DBL Partners, a venture capital firm that focuses on social, environmental and economic development. People are boarding this train, and its time to hop on if you want to have a thriving, 21st-century economy.Wall Street is clearly paying attention.Top executives from Bank of America, Citibank and Goldman Sachs dropped by the Paris talks or related side events, as did philanthropist business leaders like Bill Gates and Richard Branson. Chief executives of blue-chip companies like Coca-Cola, DuPont, General Mills, HP and Unilever all expressed support for an ambitious deal.On Twitter on Saturday night, BP, the British oil giant, called the Paris agreement a landmark climate change deal and pledged to be a part of the solution. In June, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total called for a tax on carbon emissions, saying it would reduce uncertainty and help oil and gas companies figure out the future. The policy developed from these commitments will bring better market certainty to investors and open up significant opportunities, Jack Ehnes, chief executive of the California State Teachers Retirement System, said last week.But not all business representatives embraced the accord and resistance to new policies appears inevitable. The Paris climate conference delivered more of the same lots of promises and lots of issues still left unresolved, Stephen D. Eule of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a statement, noting that the agreement is not legally binding.By any measure, the world economy has a long way to go to break away from the use of coal and oil that fueled progress since the Industrial Revolution. Globally, renewable energy sources are growing fast but they still account for about only 10 percent of total energy supply, with most of that coming from hydroelectric power, according to a new report from the research firm Sanford C. Bernstein & Company. Solar and wind account for 1.6 percent of total energy.Some energy experts said that without a multinational carbon tax or other pricing of carbon, which was not specified in the agreement, the hopes of environmentalists for a true sea change that will curb climate change remain challenged.Still, there are examples of industries changing their practices.Automakers, under intense pressure to meet strict American fuel economy standards, have hastened the trend toward smaller engines, and have increased investments in hybrid and electric vehicles.Last week, Ford Motor said it would invest $4.5 billion on 13 new electric vehicle models by 2020 even though sales of alternative-fuel models are still a fraction of the market.Were doing it for two reasons, Mark Fields, Fords chief executive, said on Friday. One is that people love electric vehicles when they try them, and secondly the regulatory requirements are hard to meet.Globally, the focus on auto emissions has never been sharper. The cheating scandal at Volkswagen has galvanized regulators around the world to test more cars and increase scrutiny of harmful emissions both in conventional cars and diesel-burning heavy trucks.Beyond the auto industry, the money is flowing. According to a recent Goldman Sachs study, the combined market size of low-carbon technologies like wind and solar power and electric and hybrid vehicles exceeded $600 billion last year, nearly equivalent to the United States defense budget.On the flip side, coal investors have been heading for the exits. Major producers like Alpha Natural Resources, squeezed by low natural gas prices as well as stiffening regulations, have filed for bankruptcy as the industry endures a painful retrenchment.Capital markets react to logic, said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres, which seeks to focus investor attention on the financial risks of climate change.But the record of government and corporate actions so far remains mixed. Europe has tried to lower its carbon emissions with a cap-and-trade system that gives companies incentives to cut emissions. But special allowances, or credits, are worth far less than was hoped a decade ago, and Europe continues to depend on coal for power. Coal also remains a dominant fuel in India and across much of Southeast Asia, with little sign of change.Looming over the carbon pollution issue, though, is China. Just as it became the worlds biggest carbon emitter as its economy surged, it is moving aggressively to implement climate control measures, including plans for a national carbon trading market in 2017.The policy makers have given a very clear sign to the companies, that have already begun expanding investment in clean energy and energy efficiency, said Yu Qingchan, the climate change program coordinator at the Global Environmental Institute, a nonprofit in Beijing.Two provinces, Hubei and Guangdong, and five metropolitan areas Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Tianjin and Shenzhen already have their own pilot programs for carbon trading by large enterprises. Big companies in these areas have tended to be more positive about national limits on greenhouse gas emissions.One corporate leader in curbing emissions has been the Hubei Yihua Group, a large fertilizer producer in Hubei province, where a provincial carbon trading program has developed rapidly. Cai Zhong, the companys assistant general manager, welcomed the Paris accord.The fact that the Paris agreement on climate change was eventually agreed upon, Mr. Cai said, we believe is good news for the world and for China.Not surprisingly, among the most enthusiastic supporters have been executives of the renewable companies.Tom Werner, chief executive of SunPower, the large solar manufacturer and developer based in California, said the agreement would help open the investment taps for Africa and countries like India, where access to capital for large projects has been limited.There are so many countries participating that it opens up new markets to solar that werent that aggressive, he said. Michael Skelly, president of Clean Line Energy Partners, a Houston-based company that develops long-haul transmission lines for renewable energy, saw the accord as a pivot point for a changing industry.He pointed to the investments that the United States made during the last century in its power grid and hydroelectric power. Both have provided low-cost electricity in the ensuing decades, he said. In 2050, we will look back at the investments prompted by the Paris accords and see exactly the same phenomena.",0
"11 things wed Really like to knowFew drugs have been approved for treatment of this dementia, and none works very well. It has become one of the most intractable problems in medicine. Credit...Jens Mortensen for The New York TimesNov. 19, 2018Its a rare person in America who doesnt know of someone with Alzheimers disease. The most common type of dementia, it afflicts about 44 million people worldwide, including 5.5 million in the United States. Experts predict those numbers could triple by 2050 as the older population increases. So why is there still no effective treatment for it, and no proven way to prevent or delay its effects? Why is there still no comprehensive understanding of what causes the disease or who is destined to develop it?The answer, you could say, is: Its complicated. And that is certainly part of it.For nearly two decades, researchers, funding agencies and clinical trials have largely focused on one strategy: trying to clear the brain of the clumps of beta amyloid protein that form the plaques integrally linked to the disease. But while some drugs have reduced the accumulation of amyloid, none have yet succeeded in stopping or reversing dementia. And amyloid doesnt explain everything about Alzheimers not everyone with amyloid plaques has the disease.Its not that amyloid is not an important factor, said Dr. John Morris, director of the Knight Alzheimers Disease Research Center at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. On the other hand, weve had some 200-plus trials since 2001 that have been negative.Not all trials have targeted amyloid. Some have focused on tau, a protein that, in Alzheimers, forms threads that stick together in tangles inside neurons, sandbagging their communications with one another. [Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]Tau tangles seem to spread after amyloid accumulates into plaques between neurons. But so far, anti-tau drugs havent successfully attacked Alzheimers itself.Only five drugs have been approved to treat this dementia, but they address early symptoms and none have been shown to work very well for very long. Its been 15 years since the last one was approved. The field is desperate, and we all want something to work, said Dr. Reisa Sperling, director of the Center for Alzheimer Research and Treatment at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston.There was a glimpse of promise this summer, when researchers reported the results of the first large clinical trial of a drug that, in the highest of five doses tested, not only slashed amyloid levels but also seemed to slow the progression of memory and thinking problems in people in the early phases of cognitive decline.But while several experts said they were cautiously optimistic, much more testing of the drug, known as BAN2401, is needed. These results came from a Phase 2 trial, which is considered an intermediate step to the larger and more extensive Phase 3 trials usually required for Food and Drug Administration approval. Some issues with the study will need to be rectified in subsequent trials, including that people with a gene known to increase Alzheimers risk were, at the insistence of European regulators, taken out of the group that received the highest dose.Dr. Samuel Gandy, associate director of the Mount Sinai Alzheimers Disease Research Center in New York, noted that so far no drugs have managed even to modestly improve Alzheimers patients ability to function, which would allow them to remain independent longer. We need something to affect activities of daily living, like whether they need fewer caregiving hours and that sort of thing, he said. Nothing has been so dramatic.The reason Alzheimers research is littered with failed clinical trials lies beyond questions of amyloid and tau. For one thing, researchers have found it difficult to engineer animals with symptoms mimicking human dementia so they can effectively try drugs on them before testing on people. Another issue: increasingly sophisticated scanning technology has revealed that damage to the brain in people with Alzheimers can begin decades before dementia symptoms appear. Its possible that trials testing drugs on people with full-fledged dementia have failed because its too late, not necessarily because the theory is flawed.Because of this, in recent years many researchers began testing anti-amyloid drugs on people with very early dementia, or those who dont have dementia or other symptoms but because of genetic risk or amyloid levels in their spinal fluid are at high risk of developing Alzheimers. Such prevention trials will report results in the coming years, and some may provide the clearest answers yet about amyloids role.At the same time, the scientific establishment has become increasingly open to new theories about the underpinnings of Alzheimers. Some researchers are trying to restore lost synapses; others are focusing on microglia, scavenger cells involved in the brains immune system. Two teams of researchers, working separately, recently published studies suggesting that viruses, particularly two common types of herpes, could kick-start an immune response that might drive the accumulation of amyloid in the brain. Co-authors of one of the studies included longtime skeptics of a viral role in Alzheimers, such as Dr. Gandy and Dr. Eric Reiman, executive director of the Banner Alzheimers Institute in Phoenix.Whether or not the amyloid hypothesis is correct, we need to better understand Alzheimers disease mechanisms and risk factors and use this information to find the most effective ways to treat and prevent this disease, Dr. Reiman said.Two authors of the second virus study Rudolph Tanzi, a neuroscientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard, and a colleague, Robert Moir have pursued this line of research for years.We spent too long thinking about amyloid as plumbing how much do you produce, how much do you clear, Dr. Tanzi said. Then we came along and were saying infection is actually driving the amyloid hypothesis. Amyloids a match, the tangles are a brush fire being spread as they kill neurons, and the virus is lighting the match.He and others suggest that the therapeutic answer might ultimately be a cocktail of medications. Drugs to hit amyloid early on, drugs to hit tangles early on, drugs to hit inflammation, Dr. Tanzi said. And you might want to add antivirals.A Texas businessman with a family history of dementia recently announced he would award $4 million in prize money to researchers who search through published scientific studies and knit the findings together into a unified explanation of how Alzheimers works.An effective Alzheimers therapy cant come soon enough. Now, with no drugs for advanced Alzheimers and clinical trials mostly focusing on earlier stages, the troops on the front line of treatment are caregivers. Research on caregiving has found that helping stimulate positive emotions with activities, music, comfort food, and exercise can make patients feel better and experience less anxiety and frustration.But, of course, that is not the same as turning back the tide of the disease.",2
"NFL's Dwayne Bowe 'I'd Definitely Do The XFL' ... Just One Problem 1/30/2018 TMZSports.com Vince McMahon's XFL just got its first big name athlete to commit, with former NFL Pro Bowler Dwayne Bowe telling TMZ Sports he's ready to make a comeback when the league relaunches in 2020. Bowe is 33 and hasn't played in the NFL since the 2015 season -- but when we got him out at Bootsy Bellows in Hollywood, he said he could be ready for a comeback and the XFL is a real possibility. ""I'd definitely do the XFL ... if the money's right I'd definitely do it."" There's just one small problem with Bowe's XFL dream -- Vince McMahon stated he won't hire anyone with any sort of ""criminality associated with them whatsoever."" Bowe was arrested for possession of marijuana back in 2013 when cops found 2 small containers of weed in his car during a traffic stop. He later struck a deal with prosecutors in which he plead guilty to lesser charges of littering and defective equipment and paid $610 in fines and court costs. In exchange, the weed charge was thrown out. So, would Vince REALLY pass up the opportunity to sign a big star like Bowe over some littering?! We got 2 years to find out.",1
"Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesFeb. 13, 2014SOCHI, Russia As Evgeni Plushenko warmed up Thursday night, he stumbled where a few days ago he had been so sturdy and charismatic. After he withdrew from the mens short program before a stunned home crowd, and later retired, calamity seemed to spread as if it were contagious, like the flu.Jeremy Abbott, a four-time American champion, soon crashed on a four-revolution jump and lay on the ice, holding his side for what seemed to be 10 seconds. Then he got to his feet and continued, urged on by the crowd and the anesthesia of adrenaline.It was left to a teenager, Yuzuru Hanyu, 19, to remain composed and to jump with abandon in setting a world record of 101.45 points, positioning himself on Friday to become the first Japanese man to win a gold medal in figure skating.Just three years ago, Hanyu was training in his hometown, Sendai, when a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck nearby in March 2011, sending him running from the rink in his skates.Im over the moon, said Hanyu, the first skater to break 100 points in a short program, though he, too, felt the nervousness of the evening.ImageCredit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesMy legs were shaking, he said. I was certainly feeling the atmosphere of the Olympics. But its still like any other competition, and I tried not to forget that.Patrick Chan, the three-time world champion from Canada, whose jumping has grown uncertain, stepped clumsily out of a triple axel and fell out of sync with his music but maintained second with his skating skills at 97.52 points. Javier Fernndez, seeking to become Spains first Olympic skating medalist, was third with 86.98 points.As it is frequently said in admonition in skating, the ice is hard and slippery.Its called the Olympics, said Yuka Sato, a former world champion from Japan who coaches Abbott in Detroit. Its a scary place to be out there alone.On Sunday, Plushenko, 31, won a gold medal for Russia in the team figure skating competition. That was his fourth medal in four Olympic Games. He has been a towering jumper and showman. Only Gillis Grafstrom of Sweden the Olympic champion in 1920, 1924 and 1928 and the silver medalist in 1932 can match Plushenkos medal collection. Perhaps even fewer can match his magnetism.Plushenko won gold in 2006 and silver in 2002 and 2010. But a chance at a surpassing fifth medal seemed remote entering the Sochi Games. Plushenko has struggled with knee and back injuries in recent years and has competed infrequently. He said that screws remain in his back from an operation.In Thursdays warm-ups, he tried two triple axels and said he felt a sharp pain like a knife in his back. He stumbled out of the jumps and appeared pained. A look of resignation crossed his face.He bent over as he skated along the boards, then spoke with his coach, Alexei Mishin, saying, I cant skate.At practice Wednesday, Plushenko said he fell on a quadruple toe jump. When his turn came in the short program, he approached the referee and withdrew. He skated to center ice, patting his heart and taking a bow. After a long career of victory and injury four Olympic medals and 12 operations he had come to this awkward end.I think its God saying, Evgeni, enough with skating, said Plushenko, who announced his retirement.The expectant home crowd at Iceberg Skating Palace seemed so startled that it offered only polite applause.But some competitors were not surprised. It was widely predicted that Plushenko would withdraw after the team event.Hes a great athlete, but today it was more expected that he wouldnt be able to compete, said Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic. Its a shame he couldnt say: Guys, Im tired. Put someone else in the game instead of me. ImageCredit...James Hill for The New York TimesIn the same skating group, Abbott, who has long battled nerves, hesitated briefly as he entered a planned quadruple-toe-loop, triple-toe-loop combination to open his program.He had trained using the percussive beat supplied by a drummer to assist his rhythm entering the quad jump. But his confidence can be brittle in competition. This time, Abbott fell hard on his right hip.It seemed that he might follow Plushenko and withdraw. But once Abbott heard cheering, he got to his feet and finished all the required jumps and spins for 15th place. And the crowd applauded again for his perseverance.I was in shock there for a bit, Abbott said later, holding a bag of ice to his hip. I didnt know how to react. I didnt know how much pain I was really in, but I got up and they were cheering and I was like, Im finishing.Kevin Reynolds, a jumping specialist from Canada, fell twice in the short program.The ice is fine, Reynolds said. Quads are risky by nature. If youre just a second or an inch off, the result is what you saw.After the team competition, Plushenko complained of pain in his spine. But he said he remained determined to continue with mens singles, ending his career before his home fans.His head is that of a sportsman, said Ari Zakarian, Plushenkos agent. Unfortunately, his body did not cooperate with his head.Plushenkos withdrawal left Russia in the embarrassing position of having no skater in the mens competition, just after it had won gold in the team and pairs events. Maxim Kovtun, 18, defeated Plushenko to win the Russian national championship, but skating officials chose Plushenko for the Sochi Games because of his experience. Kovtun was not considered a medal candidate here.Skatings rules about replacing an injured skater are vague. In retrospect, a decision should have been made on Plushenko on Monday, after the team event, Mishin said.But at that time he was O.K., Mishin said. We didnt do anything that wasnt fair play.Immediately, Mishin began campaigning for Plushenkos skating reputation to remain secure.Dont kick him too much, Mishin said. He gave a lot to figure skating. He should get respect.Zakarian, the agent, said, Im sure the world will remember him as a controversial and technical and strong and coldblooded skater who delivered his legacy into this sport.Hanyu said he was disappointed not to find Plushenko, his idol, in first place on the scoreboard so he could have challenged him one final time.I took up skating because of him, Hanyu said. I respect and admire him dearly. Its just sad.",4
"Credit...Andrew Harnik/Associated PressJan. 6, 2021Governors across the country condemned angry mobs of President Trumps supporters who stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, and called on the president to publicly denounce their actions.Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio issued a statement reprimanding those who had incited the violence. This is an embarrassment to our country, Mr. DeWine, a Republican, said. This must stop immediately. The President should call for the demonstrators to leave our Capitol Building.He added: Lawlessness is not acceptable. This is an affront to our Constitution and everything we hold dear. Those who breached the Capitol breached the Constitution.Governors both Republicans and Democrats used similarly vehement language, issuing blistering statements denouncing the tumult and calling for a peaceful transition of power. In Michigan, leaders from both parties issued a single statement. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, and Rick Snyder, her Republican predecessor, urged the public to come together.While we come from different backgrounds and political parties, Governor Whitmer and I share a deep love for our country, Mr. Snyder said. We must always remember that we are Americans first, and we are not one anothers enemy. Thats why I join with Governor Whitmer in calling on people of goodwill across America to pray for peace, calm, and healing. In the statement, Ms. Whitmer said that now was the time to put this election behind us once and for all. Lets move forward together, as one United States of America, she said. Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona, a Republican, said on Twitter that the scene at the Capitol was wrong, and has no place in our form of government. All should denounce, and it should end now, he wrote. In West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, called the clashes absolutely unacceptable. Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, also a Republican, described the people invading the Capitol as reprehensible. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said, Violence or rioting of any kind is unacceptable and the perpetrators must face the full weight of the law.Governors of states near the Capitol sent law enforcement to help the local police regain control. At the request of Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington, Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia sent state troopers and members of the Virginia National Guard.Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, a Republican, sent 500 members of the Maryland National Guard and 200 Maryland State Police troopers to help restore order. All Americans should be outraged by this attack on our nations Capitol, Mr. Hogan wrote on Twitter. This is a heinous and violent assault on the heart of our democracy. I will not stand for this, and neither should any American.In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, canceled a news briefing on Covid-19 out of an abundance of caution to ensure the safety of his staff as demonstrations took places in several state capitals. What we are witnessing in our nations Capitol building is reprehensible and an outright assault to our democracy and Democratic institutions, Mr. Newsom said. Some governors, including Charlie Baker, a Republican from Massachusetts, pointedly blamed President Trump for the chaotic scene. Mr. Baker said that the situation was a sad but predictable outcome of the presidents attacks on the validity and outcome of the November election. These baseless challenges to President-elect Bidens victory must stop, he wrote on Twitter.Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, a Democrat, said: The president of the United States has stoked this anti-democracy sentiment. He has fanned flames of hatred and violence.",3
"The F.D.A. may authorize booster shots of vaccines different from the ones that Americans originally received. The science behind the move is promising.Credit...Jim Wilson/The New York TimesPublished Oct. 19, 2021Updated Oct. 20, 2021The Food and Drug Administration seems likely to allow Americans to switch vaccines when choosing a Covid-19 booster shot. That authorization, which could come this week, is the latest development in a long-running debate over whether a mix-and-match strategy helps protect people from the coronavirus.Here are answers to some common questions about mixing and matching booster shots.How is mix-and-match different?Immunizations typically consist of two or more doses of the same vaccine. The Moderna vaccine, for example, is administered in two identical shots of mRNA, separated by four weeks.A double dose can create much more protection against a disease than a single shot. The first dose causes the immune systems B cells to make antibodies against a pathogen. Other immune cells, called T cells, develop the ability to recognize and kill infected cells.The second shot amplifies that response. The B cells and T cells dedicated to fighting the virus multiply into much bigger numbers. They also develop more potent attackers against the enemy.In recent years, some vaccine researchers have experimented with a switch from one vaccine to another for the second dose. This strategy is technically known as a heterologous prime-boost.The pandemic spurred more research into this possibility. One of the first authorized heterologous prime-boost vaccines for any disease is the Sputnik V vaccine, developed last year by Russian researchers to prevent Covid-19. It uses two different adenoviruses to deliver coronavirus proteins, which the immune system then attacks. The first dose contains an adenovirus called Ad5, and the second contains another, called Ad26.Why might mix-and-match be better?Scientists have long suspected that heterologous prime-boosts sometimes work better than two identical doses. The designers of the Sputnik V vaccine were concerned that the first shot of Ad5 would create antibodies not just against the coronavirus proteins it delivered, but also against Ad5 itself. A second shot of Ad5 might be wiped out by peoples immune systems before it could boost protection against Covid-19.Studies of experimental H.I.V. vaccines also suggested that mixing vaccines could create a broader, more potent response than multiple doses of a single vaccine. Different types stimulate the immune system in different ways, and switching between two vaccines might give people the best of both worlds.The pandemic gave scientists new opportunities to test that idea. As the AstraZeneca vaccine was quickly rolled out in Europe, it became clear that younger recipients run a small but real risk of developing blood clots. Young people who had already received one dose of AstraZeneca were offered a second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech.ImageCredit...Alisha Jucevic for The New York TimesThe two vaccines are profoundly different. AstraZenecas formulation is based on a chimpanzee adenovirus. Pfizer and BioNTech make their vaccine with mRNA. When researchers looked at the immune response from this heterologous prime-boost, they found that it produced more antibodies than two shots of AstraZeneca alone.A larger trial with 830 volunteers took place in Britain. Researchers gave two doses of AstraZeneca vaccines to some of the volunteers, two shots of Pfizer-BioNTech to others, and a mix to the rest. They found no concerning evidence that a heterologous prime-boost caused dangerous side effects. (Still, in their report, published last month, the British scientists cautioned that their study was too small to detect rare problems.)The mix-and-match option could offer lifesaving flexibility in a world where Covid-19 vaccines remain in desperately short supply. If supplies were to run out before people got a second dose, they could switch to another vaccine and still get a strong immunity to the coronavirus.So what about Covid vaccine boosters?Vaccines against some diseases require more than two shots in a so-called primary series to reach the highest possible protection. In other cases, an additional booster shot, after the primary series, is needed to restore flagging immunity.Over the summer, both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines began showing some loss of effectiveness against infection, although they both remained strong against hospitalization. Nevertheless, the Biden administration began a push for boosters to restore peoples immune responses.Pfizer and BioNTech ran trials of boosters of their vaccine, while Moderna ran its own studies. Last month, the F.D.A. authorized a Pfizer-BioNTech booster for certain groups of people who received two doses earlier this year. It is expected to do the same for Moderna this week.Johnson & Johnson decided to use a single dose for its vaccine, which proved to be less effective in clinical trials than Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech. A study published last month found that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was 71 percent effective against hospitalization, compared with 88 percent for Pfizer-BioNTech and 93 percent for Moderna.On Friday, the F.D.A. advisers voted in favor of authorizing a second dose of Johnson & Johnsons vaccine as a booster, to strengthen immunity in Americans who had received the first dose. But Dr. Peter Marks, the F.D.A.s top vaccine regulator, said at the meeting that it was possible the agency would not require people to take the same vaccine as a booster.The agency is considering adjusting the language on the labels for all three authorized vaccines to indicate that providers can administer a different authorized vaccine at their discretion.How well do mix-and-match boosters work?The studies of heterologous prime-boosts in Europe earlier this year suggested that mixed vaccines can still deliver good protection against Covid-19. In June, the National Institutes of Health started its own variation on these trials, looking at what happens when fully vaccinated people switch to a new vaccine for a booster.Dr. Kirsten Lyke of the University of Maryland School of Medicine presented the first results of the trial at Fridays F.D.A. meeting. The researchers recruited people who had gotten one of the three vaccines authorized in the United States, and then gave them one of the three vaccines as a booster. All told, they compared nine groups of 50 volunteers each.ImageCredit...Alisha Jucevic for The New York TimesDr. Lyke and her colleagues found that switching boosters raised the level of coronavirus antibodies, no matter which combination people got. Maybe these things are going to play well together, she said in an interview. And switching to a new booster did not produce any notable side effects.The results for people who initially received a Johnson & Johnson vaccine were particularly striking. Those receiving a Johnson & Johnson booster saw antibodies go up just fourfold. Switching to a Pfizer-BioNTech booster raised antibody levels by a factor of 35. A Moderna booster raised them 76-fold.Dr. Lyke cautioned against drawing hasty conclusions from the results so far. The researchers hope that by next month theyll know how well the different boosters increase T cells, not just antibodies. Its possible that Johnson & Johnsons vaccine will shine in those results.Well get a more rounded picture, she said.Will there be other booster options?Its entirely possible. Over 100 Covid-19 vaccines are now in clinical trials, with even more being tested in animals. Adam Wheatley, an immunologist at the University of Melbourne in Australia, predicted that some of those new vaccines could prove to be superior boosters.Unlike vaccines made from mRNA or adenoviruses, those from companies like Sanofi-Pasteur and Novavax contain large amounts of viral proteins.I suspect the protein boosters will be really good, Dr. Wheatley said. When you come in with a relatively large dump of proteins to the body, it results in a quite robust recall of antibody responses.Nicolas Kressmann, a spokesman for Sanofi, said the company was far along in trials of its protein-based vaccine as a booster for people who have already received other vaccines. Our intention is also to develop our vaccine as a universal booster, able to boost immunity regardless of the vaccination first received, he said.Its not yet clear how many Covid-19 boosters we will need to gain long-lasting protection. Its conceivable that a single shot may be enough. But its also possible that Covid-19 vaccines will have to be given every year, much like a seasonal flu shot.If Covid-19 boosters become an annual event, then a mix-and-match strategy should help enable more people to get vaccinated. It will be far easier for people to get regularly immunized if they dont have to worry about receiving another shot of their original vaccine.The flu offers a precedent for this plan. Each year, vaccine makers produce new batches of seasonal flu shots. Some are inactivated influenza viruses. Some contain live viruses that are too weak to make people sick. Others are made just of proteins from influenza proteins. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has no preference for which age-appropriate flu vaccine people get.That sort of flexibility may also drive down the price of boosters.Cost considerations are definitely going to play a role, Dr. Wheatley said. When you rock up to your local CVS, they might not carry the Pfizer shot, and you might have to get the Sanofi product because thats whats more cost-effective.",2
"Kris Jenner Kissing My T-Bird Goodbye But for $57k!!! 1/20/2018 Kris Jenner's gonna have fun, fun, fun with the money her T-Bird just hauled in at auction. TMZ has learned Kris' 1956 Ford Thunderbird just sold for $57,000 at the famed Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale. The sweet ride -- with white exterior and red leather interior -- was actually a 2016 Christmas gift from her kids. Velocity Although she's unloading hers, there's still another vintage ride in the fam. Kris' mom, MJ, also got a '56 T-Bird as a gift ... but in bright cherry red. 'Barrett-Jackson LIVE' airs all weekend on Velocity.",1
"Robert Swan, who has held the job for two years, is leaving the Silicon Valley chip giant after an activist investor pressed for change.Credit...Vmware/Via ReutersJan. 13, 2021SAN FRANCISCO Intel, a semiconductor pioneer, on Wednesday ousted its chief executive, Robert Swan, as the company faces pressure from an activist investor and grapples with the loss of leadership in producing ultrafast chips.The Silicon Valley giant said Mr. Swan, a finance specialist who has been chief executive since January 2019, will be replaced in mid-February by Patrick Gelsinger, a former chip designer and 30-year Intel veteran who has led software maker VMware since 2012. Intels board moved to end Mr. Swans tenure as the company grapples with the fallout from manufacturing problems that have ceded its longtime technology lead to production services offered by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung Electronics. Factory innovations that pack more tiny transistors on each square of silicon allow computer chips to do more at a lower cost.Intel has since lost a series of technical leaders, and its stock price has stagnated. Those issues prompted the activist hedge fund Third Point to recently acquire a stake in Intel and press for big changes in its business. Third Point argued that Intels problems could force the United States to rely more heavily on a geopolitically unstable East Asia to power vital technology ranging from personal computers to data center hardware.Intel was built on the vision of engineering genius, and without the best talent, the current trajectory will not be reversed, wrote Daniel Loeb, Third Points chief executive, in a letter to Intels board last month.The leadership change is designed to address that issue, returning an engineer to the top post. Mr. Gelsinger, who is 59 and joined Intel when he was 18, got his college education with the companys help and swiftly rose in its technical ranks. He was the lead architect of the widely used 80486 microprocessor and managed development of 14 chip projects.Mr. Gelsinger became Intels first chief technology officer and for years hosted the companys annual conference for hardware and software developers. He learned management skills from Andrew Grove, Intels acclaimed former chief executive.Mr. Gelsinger has said he had turned down previous overtures about being chief executive. At one point, he went so far as to get a VMware tattoo. But he relented this time.To come back home to Intel in the role of C.E.O. during what is such a critical time for innovation, as we see the digitization of everything accelerating, will be the greatest honor of my career, Mr. Gelsinger wrote in a letter to Intel employees.Intel declined to make Mr. Swan and Mr. Gelsinger available for interviews.Many of Intels key leadership departures in recent years occurred under Brian Krzanich, the chief executive who was forced out in 2018 after a consensual affair with a subordinate. But Intel suffered a blow last year when Jim Keller, a celebrated engineer who was helping to overhaul development processes, left the company.Venkata Renduchintala, a former Qualcomm manager who had been trying to help Intel recover from its manufacturing problems, also departed in 2020 after Intel disclosed that its next production process would be delayed.Mr. Swan, 60, is credited with helping to ease internal squabbling at the company, and spearheaded changes aimed at taking Intel into other markets, such as gear for cellular base stations. He also shed ailing businesses, selling a unit that designed wireless chips to Apple and another making a variety of memory chips to SK Hynix.But analysts said he lacked the background to make tough technical decisions.Chip problems take years to address, and while Swan accomplished a lot, it wasnt enough, said Patrick Moorhead, an analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy. He added that he expected Mr. Gelsinger to focus on the companys engineering culture.Mr. Gelsinger faces daunting issues. One is how to respond to Intels manufacturing problems. Besides making engineering improvements, Mr. Swan signaled that Intel might take the radical step of turning beyond its own factories for some of its flagship chips. The company already uses TSMC to make some products, but outsourcing some of its most important processors would be a blow to Intels image. The issue is expected to be addressed along with Intels fourth quarter financial results on Jan. 21.Third Point has also raised the issue of whether Intel should continue to keep both design and manufacturing operations and whether it should spin off some unsuccessful acquisitions.At the same time, Intel must counter invigorated competition from the chip designers Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia. Both exploit the advanced manufacturing services in Asia, and their share prices have surged while Intels has languished.Yet another issue is the rapid rise of chips that use technology licensed by Arm, a British chip designer that SoftBank last year agreed to sell to Nvidia in a deal still pending. Arm technology, which powers most smartphones, is being used by companies like Apple and Amazon to design their own chips rather than use Intels. Some industry executives and analysts have said Intel should begin offering new Arm-based chips in addition to its own designs.The silver lining is strong demand for laptop and desktop PCs using Intel chips, as the pandemic has compelled more people to work from home. The company said on Wednesday that it expected to surpass its previous guidance for fourth-quarter 2020 revenue and earnings per share.But analysts said Intels market share losses were bound to accelerate, particularly for chips used in servers in cloud data centers.There is not much Pat is going to be able to do to change that, wrote Stacy Rasgon, an analyst with Bernstein Research.Still, the management shift was widely viewed as positive, driving Intels shares up about 8 percent. On Twitter on Wednesday, Mr. Loeb of Third Point called Mr. Swan a class act who did the right thing for all stakeholders stepping aside for Mr. Gelsinger.Don Clark reported from San Francisco, and Steve Lohr from New York.",5
"Jan. 31, 2014Donald S. Engel, a lawyer who helped pop stars like Olivia Newton-John, Donna Summer and the Dixie Chicks wrest greater control of their careers from their record companies, died on Jan. 15 in Redwood City, Calif. He was 84. The cause was complications of leukemia, his son Gregory said.A litigator specializing in contract disputes, Mr. Engel had an especially starry client list that also included nonmusicians, like the actors Robert Wagner and Farrah Fawcett, the potboiler author and sitcom creator Sidney Sheldon, the comic book creator Stan Lee and the estate of W. C. Fields. But his biggest footprint was in music.At various times he represented a whole record stores worth of musical performers, among them Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, Cher, Rod Stewart, Meat Loaf, Luther Vandross, Sammy Hagar, the Beach Boys and Don Henley. For more than 30 years he was so fearsomely litigious that he became known in the music business as a contract buster or, as one music magazine referred to him, Busta Kontract. His view was that record companies habitually and unethically underpaid their artists and that for the most part, through the 1970s, the lawyers who represented artists were too timid to challenge the status quo. When we came out here we found the caliber of attorney in the entertainment business to be far below what we were used to, Mr. Engel, who moved to Los Angeles from New York in the 1970s, said in a 1985 interview with The Los Angeles Daily Journal. Mr. Engel handled cases that helped shift the balance of power away from companies and toward the artists. In the early 1980s he engineered moves by Mr. Hagar, who had been recording for Capitol, and Ms. Summer, who was at Casablanca, to a new company, Geffen Records. In 1982, he helped Teena Marie disengage from Motown and sign with CBS. And in 1983, when the rock band Boston found itself in a breach-of-contract suit-countersuit imbroglio with CBS, Mr. Engel negotiated a new contract for the band with MCA. In 2001, in a suit against Sony, he represented the Dixie Chicks, who claimed the record company had cheated them on royalty payments; Sony settled the suit the following year.His most celebrated case involved Ms. Newton-John, who sued and was sued by MCA Records in the middle of a five-year contract she signed in 1975. The case reached a California Court of Appeal, where Ms. Newton-John and Mr. Engel won a partial but important victory. She was restrained from recording for any company but MCA for the five-year duration of the contract, but not beyond. The ruling undermined the previously assumed power given to record companies by a state statute, allowing them to control artists under contract for up to seven years. We were, all of us, working together Olivia, Don and myself able to do something not just for Olivia, but advantageous to all artists, John Mason, a lawyer who brought the case to Mr. Engel for litigation, said in an interview on Thursday.Donald Seymour Engel was born in the Bronx on Dec. 11, 1929. His mother, the former Peggy Sperling, was a milliner; his father, Irving, was a Broadway ticket broker. Donald graduated from City College and served in the Army in Germany during the Korean War. After graduating from New York University Law School, he worked in the antitrust division of the Justice Department. During the 1960s he was special counsel to Gov. Richard J. Hughes of New Jersey and taught at Rutgers and New York University. Mr. Engels first marriage ended in divorce. In 1970 he married Judy Edelman, who survives him. Also a lawyer, she had been his student at N.Y.U., and together they went into private practice in 1972, establishing the firm Engel & Engel, which they later moved to Los Angeles. In addition to his son Gregory and his wife, he is survived by another son, Stephen; two daughters, Jacqueline Leibsohn and Laura Engel; and seven grandchildren. Mr. Engel was not one to pull his punches, even on the record.This is not a gentlemans business; this is a cutthroat business where nobody gives you anything, he said in 1985, though he would go on to win the grudging respect of many of his adversaries in the music industry. He even jumped the fence to represent recording companies from time to time. And his attitude did soften a bit, sort of.If I couldnt sue my friends in this business, Mr. Engel told Los Angeles magazine in 2000, I wouldnt have a business.",0
"Credit...Kim Hong-Ji/ReutersMarch 5, 2017SEOUL, South Korea North Korea launched four ballistic missiles from its long-range rocket launch site on Monday morning, the South Korean military said. The launch prompted South Korean security officials to call for the early deployment of an advanced American missile defense system that has provoked China.The missiles took off from Tongchang-ri, in northwest North Korea, and flew an average of 620 miles before falling into the sea between North Korea and Japan, said Noh Jae-chon, a South Korean military spokesman. The type of missile fired was not immediately clear, but Mr. Noh said it was unlikely that they were intercontinental ballistic missiles, which the North had recently threatened to test launch.During a meeting of the National Security Council, Hwang Kyo-ahn, the acting president of South Korea, called for the early deployment of the American missile defense system known as Thaad, or Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense.The United States and South Korea have agreed to complete the Thaad deployment within the year. They say it is meant to protect South Korea and American military sites there from North Korean missiles. But China says Thaad would undermine its own nuclear deterrent and has hinted at economic retaliation against South Korea.Mr. Hwang also called on his government to look aggressively for ways to effectively strengthen the United States extended deterrence for South Korea, referring to Washingtons ability to deter attacks on its allies with the help of its nuclear forces. Mr. Hwang did not elaborate, but his comment came days after The New York Times reported that President Trumps national security deputies recently discussed various options against North Korea, including the possibility of reintroducing nuclear weapons to South Korea as a bold warning.If North Korea gets a hold of nuclear weapons, its consequences are too horrible to think about, Mr. Hwang said.In his New Years Day speech, the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, said his country was in the final stage of preparing for its first ICBM test. In February, the North launched a ballistic missile that the United States Strategic Command determined was not a threat to the United States, but North Korea has said it is ready to test launch an ICBM.The Norths missile launching came as the United States and South Korea were conducting their annual joint military exercise. North Korea calls such drills a rehearsal for invasion and has often responded by conducting missile tests.On Thursday, the North Korean military called the joint exercise a drill for nuclear war and vowed to take unspecified strong measures. The next day, the Norths main state-run newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, hinted at more missile tests, saying, New strategic weapons of our own style will soar into the sky.North Korea has boasted of an ability to strike the continental United States with a nuclear-tipped missile. It has never tested a missile capable of flying across the Pacific, although it has displayed what outside analysts said were ICBMs during military parades in recent years. Strong doubt also remains over the Norths claim that it can manufacture a nuclear warhead small enough to be fitted onto such a missile.But its test on Feb. 12 demonstrated its advancing ballistic missile technology. The test involved Pukguksong-2, a new intermediate-range ballistic missile that the North said can carry a nuclear warhead.The multiple missile launchings illustrated the frustration of the United Nations Security Council over its inability to halt or contain North Koreas nuclear ambitions with punitive economic sanctions.An investigative report released a week ago by a panel of experts concluded that the countrys leaders had developed an international smuggling network to foil the sanctions and outmaneuver enforcement measures. The report described a matrix of North Korean companies with bogus identities used to accrue cash, technologies and materials for the governments weapons development.In remarks to reporters on Monday morning, Yoshihide Suga, the chief cabinet secretary to Japans prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said the missiles appeared to have fallen into the sea in an exclusive economic zone around Japan. Mr. Suga called the missile launch a serious threat to our security as well as extremely problematic behavior from the viewpoint of security of aircraft and ships. He said the government had protested to North Korea.We just cannot accept such repeated provocations, he said.",6
"Credit...Brett Carlsen for The New York TimesFeb. 20, 2014PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. At an early age, Cory Vaughn was conditioned to act like a professional baseball player. His father, Greg Vaughn, who hit 50 homers for the San Diego Padres in 1998, would bring him to the ballpark, where he let him shag fly balls and take grounders. But there were rules. It was not a playground, his father said. He had to be respectful and carry himself seriously. He was about 5 years old.It did not take him long to become a very under-age, but aspiring, professional. One day, during batting practice, he caught a Tony Gwynn fly ball. Gwynn stopped hitting, called out to him and applauded. At the 1998 All-Star Game in Denver, Greg Maddux taught him how an outfielder keeps his hand on top of the ball as he transfers it from glove to hand. Now all grown up, Vaughn is an outfield prospect in the Mets organization, picked in the fourth round of the 2010 draft and trying to remain in the teams plans after a somewhat inconsistent climb through the minor league system.If he can make it, all those moments when he was a youngster among major leaguers will feel prophetic. There was the time at Dodger Stadium when Vaughn was taking grounders at shortstop, alternating with Cincinnatis Barry Larkin, when, on one throw from the catcher, his right hand went to his glove too soon. He ran to his father in the outfield, clearly in pain, and was told something along the lines of, Youre all right, rub some dirt on it.His hand was, in fact, broken. Still, that was how Vaughn was raised: If he was hurt or sick, get over it and get back on the field. But when he was about 11, he felt out of sort for months. His eating patterns were sporadic, his energy level not right. Eventually, he was found to have Type 1 diabetes. As a result, he has to watch what he eats and monitor his blood sugar level. During games, he pricks his finger and checks the level about five times. On the field, he stores an insulin pump in his back left pocket, because he slides on his right. Sometimes he keeps small candies or granola bars with him, too, just in case. But, he said, it almost never becomes an issue. At 24, Vaughn stands 6 feet 3 inches, weighs 230 pounds and, indeed, acts like the son of a major leaguer not pretentiously, but as if he belongs. Although he still has to prove that he does.Baseball America does not list Vaughn among the Mets top 10 prospects. The only outfielder listed is Brandon Nimmo, the Mets first-round pick in the 2011 draft. But if Nimmo makes it to the majors, it will not be as a slugger, whereas Vaughn has a shot to be that kind of increasingly rare player, at least until proven otherwise.It does not hurt Vaughns chances that he studied hitting at San Diego State under Gwynn, his fathers former teammate, who manages there. While there, Vaughn talked to Gwynn about everything, and his teammates came to call him Gwynns godson. Among other things, Gwynn taught Vaughn to hit to the opposite field, placing a tee across from Vaughns belly button and having him hit Wiffle balls to the right side.In his junior year at San Diego State, Vaughn hit .378 and led the team in doubles, home runs, runs batted in and stolen bases. Then came his selection by the Mets and his introduction to professional baseball. Ryan Ellis, who managed Vaughn at Class A Savannah in 2011 and at Class A St. Lucie in 2012, said Vaughns teammates gravitated toward him. He was confident and personable, a natural leader, quick to help anyone. Ellis trusted him. You root for guys like that, Ellis said.Paul DePodesta, the Mets vice president for player development and amateur scouting, called Vaughn a rare commodity, a power hitter who also plays good defense, and added that he has the skill and makeup to eventually bat in the middle of the order in the majors. Still, his best numbers to date have come in low A ball, which creates real uncertainty as to how far Vaughn can advance. His strikeout totals are high; his batting average could be higher.Last season, in 71 games at Class AA Binghamton, Vaughn hit .267, with 10 home runs, 50 R.B.I. and 9 stolen bases in 262 at-bats, missing time with a sprained ligament in his elbow. This year, he could possibly start at Class AAA Las Vegas.For now, he is in the Mets major league camp, trying to make an impression.His father talks to him a lot about the mental aspect of the game. He compares him to Matt Kemp, the Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder who, when healthy, can do everything well. If you have five tools, show them every day, his father tells him. Show the Mets what theyre getting, he said. The Mets are hoping he can. INSIDE PITCHDan Warthen, the Mets pitching coach, said Matt Harvey had been cleared to begin tossing a baseball. Harvey had Tommy John surgery four months ago and is unlikely to pitch again until the 2015 season.",4
"Asia Pacific|Malaysia to Show Beauty and the Beast With Gay Scene, Exhibitors Sayhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/21/world/asia/disney-malaysia-beauty-beast-gay.htmlCredit...Mohd Rasfan/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMarch 21, 2017BANGKOK The film Beauty and the Beast will open next week in Malaysia despite earlier objections from the countrys Film Censorship Board over a brief scene described as an exclusively gay moment, two major cinema companies said Tuesday.Walt Disney Studios had refused to cut the scene to appease Malaysian censors. The cinema companies announced they would begin showing the movie on March 30.Officials from the censorship board could be not reached late Tuesday to explain their apparent reversal.The boards decision had drawn condemnation internationally and in Malaysia. Among those objecting to it was Tourism Minister Nazri Aziz, who last week called the decision ridiculous.You dont ban a film because of a gay character, he said, according to The Malay Mail. All these years even without the gay character in the Beauty and the Beast, there are also gays in the world. I dont think it is going to influence anyone.The censorship board had ruled that a shot involving two male characters dancing in a ballroom must be cut from the movie, on the ground that it promoted homosexuality. The sequence is said to be 3 seconds long.Celeste Koay, head of marketing for TGV Cinemas, one of two major companies that will show the film in Malaysia, said the company was notified by Disney that it had permission to release the film.I can understand why they wanted it to remain intact, as cutting it compromises the experience, she said.The film, starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens and costing $300 million to make and market, is a live-action remake of Disneys 1991 animated blockbuster of the same name.Ms. Koay said the controversy had now spread to the new Power Rangers movie, a Lionsgate film that was set to open Thursday in Malaysia.The film had been approved by the censors. But after news reports suggested that the yellow ranger character might have a lesbian moment, the board delayed the opening so it could review the film once more.There was concern that was she was a lesbian, Ms. Koay said. Now they are watching it again.She said the cinema company hoped to learn in the next 24 hours whether it could show the film as scheduled.",6
"Health|Pfizer says new data show booster shots of its vaccine are highly protective against Covid.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/21/health/pfizer-booster-symptomatic-covid.htmlCredit...Alisha Jucevic for The New York TimesPublished Oct. 21, 2021Updated Nov. 9, 2021Booster shots in adults who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were highly effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 breakthrough infections, Pfizer announced on Thursday.The company said that out of more than 5,000 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine recipients enrolled in its study who received a booster shot, only five later developed symptomatic disease, compared with 109 people among a similar group that received a placebo instead of a booster dose.The news arrived as an advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention debates whether Americans should receive booster shots of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.The company claimed the findings came from the first randomized efficacy trial of booster shots. But the results, announced in a news release, have not been peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal.Last month, the Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer-BioNTech booster shots for people 65 and over, people who are at high risk of severe Covid-19, and those who are at elevated risk of exposure because of where they work or live. That decision was based on limited effectiveness data.The new findings appear to bolster proof that booster shots are highly effective, though the trial participants were only followed for a median period of two and a half months after receiving the booster.These important data add to the body of evidence suggesting that a booster dose of our vaccine can help protect a broad population of people from this virus and its variants, said Dr. Ugur Sahin, founder and chief executive of BioNTech.The results will be shared with the F.D.A. and its European equivalent, the European Medicines Agency, as well as other international regulatory agencies, according to Albert Bourla, Pfizers chief executive.The randomized controlled trial of the booster included more than 10,000 participants aged 16 and older, half of whom received a booster that contains the same amount of vaccine as each of the two primary doses, and half of whom received a placebo.The booster was given an average of 11 months after the initial regimen, and participants were monitored for symptoms of Covid that developed between a week and 2.5 months after the booster, on average.Stratified analyses showed the relative efficacy rate of 95.6 percent for the boosters was consistent regardless of age, sex, race, ethnicity or chronic medical conditions.Slightly more than half of the participants were between 16 and 55 years old, and just under one quarter were 65 or older. The companies said that they had not identified any new side effects or safety concerns during the trial.",2
"Colin Kaepernick Teams w/ Usher to Finish $1 Mil Pledge 1/31/2018 Colin Kaepernick just wrote his LAST check as part of his ""$1 Million Pledge"" campaign -- and teamed up with Usher to end it with a bang. Remember, Kaep first started the program back in 2016 ... vowing to donate $1 MIL of his own money to more than 40 charitable causes -- including Communities United for Police Reform and The Black Youth Project. Over the past 2 weeks, Colin enlisted some HUGE stars to match his final 10 donations -- including Steph Curry, Snoop Dogg, Serena Williams, Chris Brown, T.I. and Meek Mill (from prison). For his final $10k pledge, Colin and Usher chose H.O.M.E. -- an org. helping single mothers facing economic hardship. ""This was an opportunity to do something major and you did it,"" Usher told Kaep in a thank-you vid. ""This is a result of us helping each other. We all become stronger."" The former 49ers QB also issued a statement on social media, saying -- ""Thank you to everyone who has supported me, matched me and my pledge and most importantly the people."" ""I know that we still have a lot of work to do, however, by getting everyone involved, I truly believe that we can all achieve and move mountains towards our goals for social justice.""",1
"Credit...Gilles Sabrie for The New York TimesMarch 20, 2017BEIJING The toilet paper thieves of the Temple of Heaven Park were an elusive bunch.They looked like most park visitors, practicing tai chi, dancing in the courtyards and stopping to take in the scent of ancient cypress and juniper trees. But hidden in their oversize shopping bags and backpacks was a secret: sheet upon sheet of crumpled toilet paper, plucked surreptitiously from public restrooms.Now the authorities in Beijing are fighting back, going so far as to install high-tech toilet paper dispensers equipped with facial recognition software in several restrooms.Before entering restrooms in the park, visitors must now stare into a computer mounted on the wall for three seconds before a machine dispenses a sheet of toilet paper, precisely two feet in length. If visitors require more, they are out of luck. The machine will not dispense a second roll to the same person for nine minutes.At the Temple of Heaven Park, one of Beijings busiest tourist sites, many people said on Monday they were pleased by the new machines.The people who steal toilet paper are greedy, said He Zhiqiang, 19, a customer service worker from the northwestern region of Ningxia. Toilet paper is a public resource. We need to prevent waste.Qin Gang, 63, taking a stroll through the park with his wife, said Chinas history of crippling poverty had left some people eager to exploit public goods.ImageCredit...Javier C. Hernndez/The New York TimesIts a very bad habit, Mr. Qin said. Maybe we can use technology to change how people think.Not everyone was enthusiastic. Some people, frustrated by the new technology, banged their fists against the machines, which park employees said cost about $720 each.Other visitors had more exacting critiques.The sheets are too short, said Wang Jianquan, 63, a retired shopping mall manager.Chinese officials have worked for years to curb the excessive use of toilet paper in public facilities, in places like Qingdao, a coastal city, and Shanghai. Most public restrooms in China do not provide any toilet paper, while others provide a common roll for visitors to use.According to a China Radio International report, the Temple of Heaven Park has supplied toilet paper in its public toilets for the last 10 years, but found that supplies were quickly exhausted. A manager of the park said that most of the thieves were local residents, rather than tourists, taking advantage of the free supply for their daily use.Lei Zhenshan, marketing director for Shoulian Zhineng, the company in Tianjin that designed the device, said in an interview: We brainstormed many options: fingerprints, infrared and facial recognition. We went with facial recognition, because its the most hygienic way.Mr. Lei said an earlier version of the device was installed last year at the Birds Nest stadium in Beijing. An official at the Temple of Heaven, who would not give her name, said the facial recognition dispensers there were on trial, and if judged a success, would be placed in all the parks toilets.On social media, some users denounced the experiment as a waste of money. Others said a high-tech toilet paper-dispensing device did not befit the majesty of the Temple of Heaven, a Unesco World Heritage Site and an altar where generations of emperors came to perform sacrificial rites.Is there not a solution somewhere between put up a sign and install the sort of thing Bond villains use to secure their secret vaults? Jeremiah Jenne, an American historian and writer in Beijing who organizes tours of historic sites, asked by email.",6
"Credit...Michael Appleton for The New York TimesMarch 7, 2017Israels Parliament has struck back at the international boycott movement against the country and its settlements in the West Bank by passing a law barring entry to foreigners who have publicly supported the movement.The measure, passed on Monday night, received little notice in Israel, but by Tuesday it set off alarms in the United States, where Israels critics and some of its most loyal Jewish supporters alike warned that it would further isolate the country.Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish movement in North America, said in a telephone interview from Jerusalem: Its going to be a giant sign up by the door of the Jewish state: Dont come unless you agree with everything were doing here. I dont know what kind of democracy makes that statement.The vote came as the Israeli governments right flank has been emboldened by the election of President Trump and his warm welcome in Washington last month of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The bill passed the Parliament, or Knesset, 46 to 28, with proponents calling it a common-sense measure to exclude haters, and opponents warning that it would backfire and encourage further boycotts.With hopes for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians vastly diminished, Palestinians and their supporters have been advocating a strategy called B.D.S.: boycott, divestment and sanctions. The movement has been most active in Europe and the United States, and supporters have compared it to the campaign against apartheid in South Africa an analogy fiercely disputed by defenders of Israel.Academic groups, artists, churches and companies from many countries are boycotting or divesting from Israel, or from the occupied territories in the West Bank. The Israeli government and other critics say the boycott movement is anti-Semitic and aims to undermine Israels right to exist.Bezalel Smotrich, a member of the Knesset who is a co-sponsor of the bill to bar entry to boycott supporters, said: We will now stop turning the other cheek. Preventing B.D.S. supporters who come here to hurt us from the inside is the very least we should be doing against haters of Israel.Dov Hanin, who voted against the legislation, said that at a time when boycotts against settlements are being promoted around the world, the law is really a law to boycott the world.A country that boycotts the world is basically isolating and boycotting itself, he continued.Israel has already turned away some travelers for political reasons. Last December, Isabel Phiri, a theologian and an assistant general secretary of the World Council of Churches in Geneva, was refused entry after landing in Tel Aviv with a tourist visa. Last July, five Americans on a fact-finding trip were detained, questioned and deported, with Israeli officials citing security reasons.And in February, an American executive with the New Israel Fund, a liberal group, was detained and interrogated at the Tel Aviv airport by an interviewer holding a document that said BDS. The fund does not support the movement.The new law says it applies to any foreigner who knowingly issues a public call for boycotting Israel and is aware that this has a reasonable possibility of leading to the imposition of a boycott.Eytan Fuld, a spokesman for Mr. Smotrich, said there was no blacklist of individuals. He said the law would apply to known organizations and their main activists.Some American Jewish leaders were alarmed that the new law makes no distinction between groups that support boycotts of Israel proper and those that support boycotting products made in the settlements in the occupied West Bank.Its redefining as an enemy of Israel anyone who does not agree that the settlements are now and forever will be part of Israel, said Lara Friedman, the director of policy and government relations for Americans for Peace Now. Thats going to be problematic for a lot of American Jews who care about Israel. Its just heartbreaking.Rabbi Jacobs said the law would deter the kinds of people he often brings to Israel, those who have questions about its policies and should see the country for themselves.The Reform Jewish movement opposes the expansion of settlements, but is strongly opposed to the B.D.S. movement, and has tried to dissuade several American church groups from passing divestment resolutions.If its perceived that Israel doesnt want to engage in serious debates with diaspora Jews, he said, I think that really is a weakening of our relationship.But Naftali Bennett, the leader of the right-wing Jewish Home party and Israels education minister, said the new law was logical and expected and will allow Israel to defend itself against those who wish it harm.",6
"Opposition Forces in Ivory Coast Take Towns on 2 FrontsMarch 29, 2011DAKAR, Senegal Ivory Coast tipped further toward civil war on Tuesday as forces opposed to the nations strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, captured strategic towns on two fronts, diplomats in the countrys main city, Abidjan, said. Cities in both the cocoa-producing west, critical to the West African nations economy, and near the eastern frontier with Ghana, fell to soldiers loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the former prime minister and banker who was recognized outside Ivory Coast as the legitimate president after defeating Mr. Gbagbo in elections last year. About half a dozen towns have now been seized from Mr. Gbagbo, as pro-Ouattara forces continue a creeping advance from two sides of the country. In the south, Mr. Gbagbo continues to command most of the economic capital, Abidjan, as well as the loyalty of much of the countrys regular armed forces. He remains entrenched in the presidential palace, refusing to give up power and waging attacks on civilians in pro-Ouattara neighborhoods, despite what international observers and the United Nations say was his decisive defeat at the polls in November. But the balance of power may now be moving toward Mr. Ouattara, diplomats in Abidjan suggested Tuesday. The members of a 2002 rebellion, who have controlled the northern half of the country ever since from their capital of Bouak, have taken up arms on his behalf. They are now positioned to try to seize Ivory Coasts political capital, Yamoussoukro, where Mr. Gbagbos forces were said by diplomats to be massing for a counterattack on Tuesday. In fighting on Monday and Tuesday, the strategic western towns of Dukou and Daloa, a regional capital of about 20,000, were seized by forces loyal to Mr. Ouattara, as was the town of Bondoukou in the east. Then on Tuesday, the Ouattara forces, now known as the Forces Rpublicaines de Cte dIvoire, easily captured Abengourou, about 150 miles to the east of Abidjan. The gains in the west though, in the countrys productive cocoa region, were perhaps most strategically significant. From Daloa, the city of Yamoussoukro will be caught in a pincer, between Daloa and Bouak, a spokesman for Mr. Ouattara, Apollinaire Yapi, said Tuesday from Abidjan, where Mr. Ouattaras government remains blockaded in a hotel. This is all about putting pressure on Mr. Gbagbo, who doesnt understand diplomatic language, and who is, on the contrary, slaughtering the people, Mr. Yapi said. ImageCredit...Legnan Koula/European Pressphoto AgencyAmnesty International said up to 10,000 people had sought refuge in the Catholic mission at Dukou after the fighting there on Monday. As many as a million people have fled the fighting in Ivory Coast, according to the United Nations, which estimates that close to 500 have been killed since the beginning of the electoral standoff in November. Spokesmen for Mr. Gbagbos forces, regular and irregular, either refused to comment on the military situation Tuesday or could not be reached. Denis Maho Glofiei, an important pro-Gbagbo militia leader in the west, reached by telephone, declined to discuss his forces position on Tuesday. Diplomats in Abidjan said Tuesday there were signs that morale was declining on the Gbagbo side. The momentum seems to be with the Republican forces, said one diplomat, who was not authorized to speak publicly. The Gbagbo forces are demoralized, he said. His forces have not been holding up to the Republican forces.Another diplomat said that a substantial proportion of Mr. Gbagbos forces, perhaps as many as 30 percent, had disappeared. There are a lot of deserters, the diplomat said. That would explain, he said, the recruitment drive begun among the Young Patriots a militia loyal to Mr. Gbagbo over the last two weeks. The Gbagbo camp is trying to fill in the gaps, he said. Also Tuesday, the United Nations said Mr. Gbagbos forces had killed 10 civilians in the pro-Ouattara Abidjan neighborhood of Williamsville on Monday, and that pro-Gbagbo youths had burned alive a Ouattara supporter with a flaming tire in the Riviera neighborhood. Another gang had savagely attacked several United Nations employees, the United Nations Abidjan office said, condemning what it called these growing human rights violations and barbaric practices.",6
"Morgan Freeman I Stopped My SAG Speech ... 'Cause of Lily Tomlin 1/22/2018 TNT Morgan Freeman has revealed the person that caused him to stop his acceptance of the SAG Life Achievement Award mid-speech. Morgan says the person he stopped for was Lily Tomlin, who was nominated for ""Grace and Frankie."" Now here's the thing ... it appeared he was schooling her, possibly for talking during his speech. But Morgan said afterward, ""She's a wonder in herself and I've always loved her. I see her, I say hello."" That makes it sound like Lily didn't do anything but sit there in all her glory. We need more info.",1
"Credit...Clemens Bilan/EPA, via ShutterstockNov. 18, 2018BERLIN With three weeks until German conservatives vote on a new party leader, a race that has long been a back-room affair has been making headlines across Germany and beyond.As the Christian Democratic Union seeks to replace Angela Merkel, who is stepping down after 18 years, the party, and the country, is keenly aware that whoever succeeds her as party leader could well become the next chancellor of Germany.The three leading contenders started their campaigns in the northern Germany city of Lbeck on Thursday, the first of eight regional party conferences before delegates vote at a party congress on Dec. 7.At the moment, it is just about the party leader, said Ursula Mnch, director of the Academy for Political Education in Tutzing, but that person will potentially be the chancellor candidate, so it is actually about much more.Ms. Merkel has risen to become Europes most powerful leader over her 13 years as chancellor. She surprised Germany when she announced last month that she would step down as party chief in December and would not seek re-election as chancellor in 2021, when her term ends.Among the leading contenders are a traditionalist struggling to distance herself from the chancellor, a former rival of Ms. Merkels seeking to burnish his political credentials after a nine-year hiatus in finance, and a 38-year-old upstart who argues that the party needs to appeal to a new generation.The Christian Democrats bled support to the left and the far right in two state elections last month, and recent polls have shown them with the support of 26 percent of voters, down from nearly 33 percent in last years general election. Winning back disaffected voters and coming to terms with Ms. Merkels decision to allow more than one million migrants into the country in 2015 are among the major issues the partys next leader will have to face.ImageCredit...Wolfgang Kumm/DPA, via Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesPolitical analysts say the race will ultimately come down to two candidates, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Friedrich Merz. They earned the strongest applause at Thursdays meeting in Lbeck.Ms. Kramp-Karrenbauer, 56, has followed a traditional path among Christian Democrats, rising through the party ranks to win three state election campaigns on the way to a seven-year run as governor of Saarland. This year, she left regional politics for a stint as party general secretary in Berlin, a move Ms. Merkel had encouraged.But Ms. Kramp-Karrenbauers association with the chancellor may prove to be her biggest liability. She has been seeking to distance herself from Ms. Merkel recently, and on Thursday she called for increased domestic security and for a rejuvenation of conservative values.She also emphasized her history of winning difficult races in Saarland, Germanys smallest state, on the border with France. At the end of the day, what matters is whether you can win elections and in all honesty, I have made it through a lot of elections, against a lot of opposition, she told the public broadcaster ZDF last week. You can be rhetorically very gifted, but at the end of the day, you need something to show for it.That remark was clearly a jab aimed at Mr. Merz, 62, a charismatic speaker who is remembered for his approachability during a brief term as conservative floor leader that ended when Ms. Merkel ousted him in 2002.On Thursday, he laid out a five-point plan to attract more voters to the party, including winning back the roughly one million voters lost to the far-right party Alternative for Germany, or AfD, in the 2017 general election.Those are not nationalists or anti-Semites, those are voters who are disappointed with the conservatives, Mr. Merz said in an interview with the newspaper Bild that was published online on Wednesday. In the short term, we wont get rid of the AfD, but we can halve it.Yet in the same interview, he refused to answer a question about the size of the personal fortune he had amassed since leaving politics nine years ago, going on to lead the Germany office of BlackRock, considered the worlds largest private fund manager, and to become senior counsel at an international law firm.ImageCredit...Tobias Schwarz/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesPressed on whether he was a millionaire many Germans are skeptical of extreme wealth, believing that social equality helps to ensure public peace he said only that his net worth was not below that.The third candidate, Jens Spahn, the current minister of public health, is calling for more open debate in the party, and an effort to attract more younger voters, who are increasingly heading to the Greens.I am offering a generational change, Mr. Spahn told party delegates gathered in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia on Nov. 7. Though he comes from the more conservative wing of the Christian Democratic Union, as an openly gay man who married his partner months after Germany changed the law to allow same-sex marriage, he brings a socially progressive face to the party.Although the candidates appeared largely to agree with one another during the debate on Thursday, that it even took place is part of an unusually democratic process for the Christian Democratic Union.The party was born out of the chaos in the immediate aftermath of World War II, intent on binding together people from disparate social backgrounds under an umbrella of shared Christian values. For decades, party leaders there have been only seven since 1950 were largely decided behind closed doors, rendering congress votes little more than a formality.There is no official crown prince or princess the race is truly open, said Stefan Marschall, a professor of politics at the Heinrich-Heine-University of Dsseldorf. Its as if a window had been thrown open and stirred up discussions and debates, including about the direction of the party, that were previously not taking place.Whoever emerges as the winner after Dec. 7 may determine whether the country faces a snap election. While Ms. Merkel has shown in the past year that she can work with Ms. Kramp-Karrenbauer, it would be hard to see her upholding her promise to serve out her term until the end of 2021 if Mr. Merz becomes the next party leader.And the center-left Social Democrats, who make up the other part of Ms. Merkels government, have indicated that they view Mr. Merz as unacceptably right-leaning, making their departure from the governing coalition more likely.",6
"Sports Briefing | College BasketballFeb. 4, 2014Trevor Cooney scored 33 points, matching a team record with nine 3-pointers, and top-ranked Syracuse (22-0, 9-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) beat visiting Notre Dame, 61-55. Notre Dame (12-11, 3-7) has lost seven of nine. James Bell scored 27 points to lead No. 6 Villanova (20-2, 8-1 Big East) to an 81-58 win over visiting Xavier. Semaj Christon led Xavier (15-7, 5-4) with 17 points.",4
"Casey Affleck Bails on The Oscars Won't Present Best Actress Award 1/25/2018 Casey Affleck is backing out of presenting at the upcoming Academy Awards ... TMZ has learned. The Academy tells us ... Affleck notified them he won't be presenting the Best Actress award at the Oscars on March 4, which is traditionally always presented by the Best Actor winner from the previous year. According to our sources ... Casey has a lot of respect for the Oscars, and doesn't want the Best Actress category to be about him presenting. We're told he wants the attention to be focused on the nominees ... and doesn't want his presence to impact the winner's special moment. As you'll recall ... Casey won at the 2017 Oscars for his role in ""Manchester by the Sea,"" despite controversy surrounding past allegations of sexual harassment against him.",1
"DMX Here's What God Can Do for You And Here's a Shot, Too!!! 1/23/2018 TMZ.com DMX is in rehab for substance abuse, but apparently those substances don't include alcohol ... based on this video of the rapper preaching ... in a Chili's bar!! X was at the airport bar and grill Monday night in St. Louis when he started breaking down what the man upstairs has done for him in times of need. He'd been in town for a concert with E-40, but obviously still had some words of wisdom to share before leaving town. Eyewitnesses tell us the rapper was buying everyone shots, and had some booze himself. His lawyer, Murray Richman, tells TMZ he's surprised because X is supposed to be traveling with his sober coach. As we reported ... X has been given the green light to travel quite a bit as he completes his rehab. He's set to keep his shows going this week in NYC.",1
"The animal was buried in a lump of frozen mud in Russia, its fur, whiskers and body fully intact. Scientists are studying its DNA to understand whether it is a dog or a wolf. Credit...Sergei Fyodorov/The Yakutsk Mammoth Museum, via Associated PressDec. 2, 2019An 18,000-year-old puppy buried for centuries in a lump of frozen mud was unveiled on Monday by scientists who hope it can help bridge the connection between dogs and wolves.The puppy, which was male, was discovered 18 months ago, preserved in a layer of permafrost in Siberias Far Eastern reaches, according to Dave Stanton, a research fellow at the Center for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm and one of the scientists who examined its DNA. The fur, skeleton, teeth, head, lashes and whiskers of the pup, named Dogor, are still intact, he said. But scientists dont know whether it is a dog or wolf. Dr. Stanton said more DNA research would be conducted in the coming months.We need to put this information into context, he said in an interview.Many scientists say dogs evolved about 15,000 years ago from a species of extinct wolves. Others suggest it could have happened much earlier, perhaps 30,000 years ago or more. These wolves evolved after generations of exposure to humans, were domesticated and became the canine companions we know today.ImageCredit...Michil Yakovlev/EPA, via ShutterstockThe puppy, which was found by locals, is being studied at North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk, the capital of Yakutia, a sprawling region in eastern Siberia that constitutes 20 percent of Russia. (The puppy remains were found near Yakutsk.) Nikolai Androsov, director of the Northern World museum where the remains will be kept, presented the discovery on Monday, according to The Associated Press. Yakutia is known for its oil and gas reserves and abundance of diamond mines.Several extinct animals have been found in the thick permafrost, in part because of the melting of ice resulting from climate change. They include a male steppe bison, a woolly rhinoceros, a mummified pony and several mammoths. Dr. Stanton said treasure seekers sometimes used water cannons to break through the permafrost to extract mammoth ivory tusks, which are later sold.It must have frozen quickly before scavengers could get to it, Dr. Stanton said of the puppy. We also found a lot of samples that were not well preserved. There seems to be natural traps in the landscape where animals are frozen before they decomposed.ImageCredit...Alessandro Di Ciommo/NurPhoto, via Getty ImagesHe said the DNA used to date the puppy and figure out its gender was extracted from a rib bone. He said he was not sure if an autopsy was performed to see if its organs, including the heart and liver, were intact. The body is well preserved, which is rare, Dr. Stanton said. Its the best Ive seen.Modern dogs are not like modern wolves. Wolves are reluctant to eat in front of people, for example, while domesticated dogs beg for dinner table scraps. Their physiology is different, with dogs having shorter snouts and wider skulls. And male wolves participate in pup raising, while male dogs generally avoid it.Dr. Stanton said the dating of the dog was done at Oxford University, and he and his colleagues will continue to collaborate with scientists at North-Eastern Federal University.We need to look at more samples from that time period, he said. Then we will be able to understand if it was a dog or a wolf.",7
"Europe|In France, a Giant Spider and a Minotaur Roam, and Sleephttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/03/world/europe/france-la-machine-spider-minotaur.htmlCredit...Eric Cabanis/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 3, 2018PARIS Imagine looking out the window one morning and seeing a gigantic spider perched on the roof of a neighboring building its eight legs extending to the street below.Then you walk downtown and realize that a 50-foot-tall creature with the head of a bull and the body of a man was looming above you.Hallucinating? Not in Toulouse, France, where the city has given itself over to an immersive form of street theater, bringing to life creatures like the giant spider and the Minotaur, the mythical monster from Greek mythology that is half bull and half man and said to have lived in the center of a maze on the island of Crete.Both creatures are the conception of Franois Delarozire, the artistic director and leading creative force behind La Machine, a theater company that works with technicians and designers to fabricate mechanical creatures on a vast scale and creates public spectacles around them.The spider and Minotaur were part of a show, The Guardian of the Temple, which closed Sunday in Toulouse. The shows website says it aimed to reinterpret the myths of Ariane and the Minotaur.La Machine has displayed a dragon in Beijing, the spider had its debut in Liverpool, England, several years ago, and a dragon and spider visited Ottawa in 2017.ImageCredit...Eric Cabanis/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMr. Delarozire described his goal to local news outlets as making the city and its residents all part of a vast work of art by giving them a common topic to react to so that they would talk to each other and the whole city becomes a place of theater.The Toulouse Minotaur, who has been named Astrion, arrived on the evening of Nov. 1 and slowly made its way down the streets as people stood and gawked. It was transported to the vast square in front of the majestic building that houses the city administration.The Minotaur is made of unpainted lime tree wood and metal. It has been constructed to seem as real as possible and even makes the sound of breathing as it moves.Apparently asleep, he was pulled along by some of the 16 technicians who coordinate his movement, his peaceful but powerful breathing heard above the crowds chatter. His arrival, which constituted Act I of the drama, was accompanied by a cast of scores of actors, opera singers and musicians.On Friday morning came Act II.Toulouse residents and visitors found him the following morning still asleep in the middle of one of the main squares. But he soon roused and began to move through the streets.By evening, the spider, named Ariane, was awake as well, and was poised on the top of the Hotel Dieu.After the show, Ariane and Astrion will take their place in a newly opened exposition space in a neighborhood of the city that Toulouse is trying to revive.Some 350,000 to 400,000 people were expected to see some part of the production during its weekend.",6
"Politics|Just in Time for Hurricane Season, a New Leader at the Coast Guards Helmhttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/01/us/politics/coast-guard-commandant-schultz-.htmlCredit...Tom Brenner/The New York TimesJune 1, 2018WASHINGTON Adm. Karl L. Schultz was named the 26th commandant of the Coast Guard on Friday, taking over a military service that is in the midst of a fleet modernization as it juggles homeland security priorities like intercepting drugs and migrants and responding to disasters.President Trump attended Admiral Schultzs change of command ceremony, held on the first day of the annual hurricane season.I envision our heading remaining generally steady, Admiral Schultz said.It was a compliment to his predecessor Adm. Paul F. Zukunft, who had directed the fleet modernizing effort and steered the first budget increase in years to the Coast Guard, the 227-year-old military branch that is overseen by the Department of Homeland Security.Admiral Schultz had commanded the Coast Guards Atlantic area and last year oversaw the fleets response to Hurricanes Irma, Maria and Harvey. The service rescued nearly 12,000 people along the East Coast and in Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands during the deadly 2017 hurricane season.Admiral Schultz had also previously served as director of operations for United States Southern Command, where he directed joint military operations in the Caribbean and Central and South America. The Coast Guard plays a crucial role in protecting the southwest border by intercepting drugs and migrants before they can reach the United States.In 2017, the Coast Guard seized a record 455,000 pounds of cocaine, some by patrolling waters off the coasts of Colombia and Peru, worth over $7.2 billion wholesale. It also arrested more than 600 drug traffickers and captured nearly 3,500 people trying to enter the United States illegally.Mr. Trump praised Admiral Schultz and the Coast Guard for keeping drugs and criminals out of our country.I have complete confidence that Karl will carry out his new mission with the talents and devotion that has characterized his entire career, Mr. Trump said. The president also briefly boasted about a new Labor Department jobs report that showed record low unemployment.A number of cabinet members, including Vice President Mike Pence and Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, also attended the change of command ceremony.Admiral Zukunft, the Coast Guards top official since 2014, called Admiral Schultz a franchise player and said he would be able to build on the recent successes of the service.Admiral Zukunft had led the Coast Guard through a gradual modernization of its aging fleet of ships and its greater role in combating international drug trafficking. After years of cuts, the service received a budget increase.The Trump administration has requested nearly $11 billion in funding for the 2019 fiscal year for the Coast Guard, a 2 percent increase over last years request.Mr. Trump nominated Admiral Schultz, a 1983 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy, in March. He was confirmed by the Senate last month.",3
"Credit...Fazry Ismail/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 17, 2018SYDNEY, Australia President Xi Jinping of China and Vice President Mike Pence pushed back against criticism of each of their countries trade practices in speeches on Saturday at an Asia-Pacific trade summit meeting in Papua New Guinea, while seeking to assure allies of their commitment to the region.Mr. Xi and Mr. Pence spoke ahead of what is likely to be a tense meeting between President Trump and the Chinese leader at the Group of 20 conference in Argentina later this month, where they will attempt to defuse a trade war.Mr. Xi may also be looking to shore up ties with an important trading partner, North Korea. He told President Moon Jae-in of South Korea on the sidelines of the trade forum that he was considering visiting the North after its leader, Kim Jong-un, extended an invitation, according to a spokesman for Mr. Moon.The Trump administration has accused China of unfair trade practices, including restricting market access, pushing American companies to hand over valuable technology and engaging in cyberespionage and intellectual property theft. It has put tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods; China has retaliated with tariffs of its own.Mr. Pence, echoing warnings from Mr. Trump, said the United States could more than double the tariffs it had placed on $250 billion in Chinese goods.The United States, though, will not change course until China changes its ways, Mr. Pence said.China has offered a list of concessions in recent days, which Mr. Trump has called not acceptable.Mr. Pence and Mr. Xi spoke at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. The 21 Pacific Rim countries and territories participating in the APEC forum account for 60 percent of the global economy.Mr. Pence, appearing in Mr. Trumps place, reiterated recent criticism of Chinas geopolitical strategies and attacked the countrys belt and road initiative, an enormous infrastructure plan financed by China that spans some 70 countries.He urged Asian nations to avoid investment offers from China and to choose instead a better option working with the United States which, he said, would not saddle them with debt, a quandary some countries are facing as a result of their partnerships with Beijing.Let me say to all the nations across this wider region, and the world: Do not accept foreign debt that could compromise your sovereignty, Mr. Pence said.ImageCredit...Fazry Ismail/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesWe dont drown our partners in a sea of debt, he added. We dont coerce or compromise your independence. We do not offer a constricting belt or a one-way road. When you partner with us, we partner with you, and we all prosper.Mr. Xi, perhaps anticipating the criticism, spoke before Mr. Pence and disputed the notion that accepting Chinese investment as part of the initiative called One Belt, One Road would compromise a nations sovereignty.The initiative is not for geopolitical purposes; it will exclude no one; it will not close a door and create a small circle, Mr. Xi said. It is not the so-called trap, as some people say. It is the sunshine avenue where China shares opportunities with the world to seek common development.Mr. Xi sought to paint China as continually opening its markets to the world.China will continue to significantly relax market access, strengthen intellectual property protection and actively expand imports, he said. Since the beginning of this year, Mr. Xi said, China has significantly reduced import tariffs on 1,449 consumer goods, 1,585 industrial products and vehicles and components.He described the trade dispute as a choice between win-win progress or a zero sum game.Mankind has once again reached a crossroads, Mr. Xi said. Which direction should we choose? Cooperation or confrontation? Openness or closing doors?Mr. Pence and Mr. Xi may have been sending mixed messages with their speeches, said Brendan Taylor, an associate professor of strategic studies at the Australian National University.The extent to which Mr. Xi tried to reassure the region that he didnt have any geopolitical ambitions I dont think thats particularly convincing, Mr. Taylor said.He described Mr. Pences speech as having a very strong America First tone, adding, Theres quite a big gap between his rhetoric and whats actually happening in the region.Other nations in the region were hedging their bets, he said. The moves those countries are making relate to their uncertainties about the U.S. and the Trump strategy or lack thereof, Mr. Taylor said.On Friday, the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, met with Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia in the northern Australian port city of Darwin, the first time a Japanese leader has visited the city, which was pummeled by Japanese air raids in World War II.The two leaders discussed economic cooperation and the possibility of the Japanese military participating in training exercises in Darwin, where about 2,000 American Marines rotate through each year.ImageCredit...Pool photo by Rick RycroftIn his speech on Saturday, Mr. Pence lauded the economic and military cooperation between the United States and its Asia-Pacific allies, and he warned China that American ships and jets would sail and fly anywhere allowed by international law.Chinese military forces have confronted American and other foreign navies and aircraft that have entered waters in the South China Sea that China claims as its own.The United States of America will continue to uphold the freedom of the seas and the skies, which are so essential to our prosperity, Mr. Pence said.He said the United States would support efforts to adopt a meaningful and binding code of conduct that respects the rights of all nations, including the freedom of navigation, in the South China Sea.He also announced that the United States would participate in an Australian-Papua New Guinea initiative to develop a naval base on Manus Island in the Bismarck Sea, in northern Papua New Guinea.Australia and Papua New Guinea announced last month that they would upgrade a base in Lombrum, a port on Manus Island that has a strategically vital position overlooking key trade routes.The spokesman for Mr. Moon, Kim Eui-kyeom, said Mr. Xi was considering making his first state visit to Pyongyang next year.China is North Koreas largest trading partner, accounting for more than 90 percent of the Norths external trade. But Mr. Xi has never visited North Korea as Chinese leader, and a trip to Pyongyang would be an important nod to Kim Jong-uns leadership from North Koreas most important ally.Ties between the two countries had frayed recently as North Korea pressed ahead of with its nuclear weapons and missile tests, and Beijing joined American-led efforts to impose sanctions on the North. This year, however, Mr. Kim has sought to mend the relationship, meeting with Mr. Xi three times. For each of those meetings, Mr. Kim traveled to China.Washington has begun to worry that China may be less willing to enforce sanctions against the North, undermining the effort to economically isolate the country until it gives up its nuclear weapons. Mr. Pence said on Thursday that Mr. Trump had planned to bring up the issue of sanctions against North Korea when he talked with Mr. Xi at the G-20 conference in Argentina.Mr. Kim, the South Korean spokesman, said Mr. Xi and Mr. Moon had agreed at the APEC forum that if the Norths leader and Mr. Trump held a second summit meeting, as they have agreed to, it would be a watershed moment in international efforts to end Pyongyangs nuclear weapons program and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.",6
"Credit...Hilary Swift for The New York TimesJune 6, 2018LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. Democrats breathed sighs of relief on Wednesday as party candidates in Californias seven most competitive House races were set to advance to the general election and go on the offensive in those Republican-held districts, all of which Hillary Clinton carried in 2016.National Democratic groups spent more than $7 million this spring as part of an extraordinary intervention to avoid being locked out of Tuesdays top two California primary, in which the two leading vote-getters regardless of party move on to the general election this fall.Democrats were virtually certain to secure a slot in the general election against Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican, and in the Southern California districts held by Representatives Ed Royce and Darrell Issa, who are retiring.House Democrats had staged a rescue mission in all three districts, by propping up their own favored candidates, attacking Republicans or a mix of both.Democratic Party leaders were, however, caught by surprise in the Central Valley district of Representative Jeff Denham, a Republican who easily won a place on the general election ballot.In the competition for the second spot in November, a Democrat was leading a little-known Republican candidate by less than a thousand votes.While 100 percent of the precincts were reporting vote counts in each of the contested districts, The Associated Press had not yet declared the top two finishers in some races because absentee ballots are trickling in and the gap between second and third place was narrow.But in key races, Democrats had sufficient margins to be poised to advance to November.There may be no state more crucial to Democrats hopes for taking back control of the House than California. If Democrats were to win each of the seven Republican-held districts Mrs. Clinton carried, the gains would amount to nearly a third of the 23 seats they need over all to flip the House.Here is a look at the results in those seven districts:39th Congressional DistrictYoung Kim, a Republican assemblywoman in this Orange County-based district, secured a spot in the general election in November. She will face a Democrat, Gil Cisneros, a Navy veteran whom national Democrats spent heavily to help in a crowded primary race.Democrats have high hopes in this increasingly diverse district now that the veteran Representative Ed Royce is retiring. Republicans, though, are optimistic that their Korean-American nominee positions them well in a district that is filled with Asian and Hispanic voters.The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee endorsed Mr. Cisneros in April and spent $2 million promoting him and attacking Republicans to keep their vote share down.And last month, state and national Democrats brokered a dtente between Mr. Cisneros and another party candidate, Andy Thorburn, after weeks of increasingly negative attacks between the two, who spent at least $6 million of their own money on the race. In the end, though, Mr. Cisneros significantly outpaced the other Democrats in the field, winning about 9,000 more votes than his closest party rival, Mr. Thorburn.48th Congressional DistrictImageCredit...Jenna Schoenefeld for The New York TimesMr. Rohrabacher was the top vote-getter in his Orange County district, while Harley Rouda and Hans Keirstead, both Democrats, were locked in an extraordinarily close race for the second slot. As of Wednesday evening, Mr. Keirstead had only 45 more votes than Mr. Rouda, with all precincts reporting but some late ballots still being tabulated.Both Democrats had over 1,000 votes more than Scott Baugh, a Republican, who had aimed to deny Democrats a chance to take on Mr. Rohrabacher in November.National Democratic groups spent heavily on the race to avoid a shutout, unleashing a series of attacks on Mr. Baugh and promoting Mr. Rouda.With his vocal support for Russia and a trail of controversial comments, Mr. Rohrabacher could be among the most vulnerable House Republicans in California this fall. Democrats in his affluent, Seal Beach-to-Laguna Beach district have been organizing against him for over a year.49th Congressional DistrictDiane Harkey, a Republican, was the leading vote-getter in the seat currently held by Mr. Issa and appeared most likely to face a Democrat, Mike Levin, in the general election.Ms. Harkey, a former assemblywoman, ran far ahead of any other Republican in the field. Mr. Levin, an environmental attorney, had a lead of nearly 2,000 votes ahead of another Democrat, Sara Jacobs, in a seat that stretches from Camp Pendleton south to La Jolla.Democrats nearly captured this affluent district in 2016, when Mr. Issa won by fewer than 2,000 votes. With Mr. Issa retiring, the seat will be one of the Democratic Partys top targets in November.Mr. Levin, a former executive director of the Democratic Party of Orange County, raised less money than Ms. Jacobs, but he benefited from building a solid political organization after entering the race early in 2017, ahead of some of his rivals.National Democrats did not get behind any candidate in this race, but they did broadcast ads to drive down support for Assemblyman Rocky Chavez, a Republican. Mr. Chavez will most likely finish in a distant sixth place.But Ms. Jacobs was not ready to concede Wednesday morning, saying in a statement that its important that every vote be counted, and were going to allow that process to continue.10th Congressional DistrictImageCredit...Josh Haner/The New York TimesRepresentative Jeff Denham, a Republican, was the top vote-getter and will most likely face a Democrat, Josh Harder, a venture capitalist in this heavily agricultural district in the San Joaquin Valley.But for much of the night Tuesday, Democrats were alarmed that they might be locked out of the November general election. Mr. Harder was narrowly leading a Republican candidate, Ted Howze, by about 900 votes.Mr. Harder, raising close to $1.5 million, had more money to campaign with than all the other Democratic candidates in the primary combined. But Mr. Harder was at risk of being denied a slot on the November ballot because the other five Democrats in the race split more than 30 percent of the vote. National Democrats had spent little money attempting to ensure they advanced a candidate into the general election.The district encompasses a large portion of the San Joaquin Valley, dominated by almond farms, and has been represented in Congress since 2013 by Mr. Denham. But it is not just farms that dominate economic life in the district: There is a large industrial base and a sliver of populous areas that serve as bedroom communities to the Bay Area and could offer Democrats hope in November.21st Congressional DistrictWith no Republican challengers to Representative David Valadao and only one Democrat T.J. Cox, a businessman on the ballot, the outcome of this race in the Central Valley was not much in question.Mr. Valadao, a Republican, has represented this district in Californias Central Valley since 2013, and is seeking a fourth term. Mrs. Clinton carried seven California districts that are currently represented by Republicans, and in those districts, Mr. Valadao may be most difficult to beat.Even as Mrs. Clinton was carrying the district with more than 60 percent of the vote, Mr. Valadao easily won re-election.And while the district is over 70 percent Latino, Democrats have found it more difficult to turn out Hispanic voters in nonpresidential years.Mr. Cox, though, will have ample funding: He had more than $440,000 as of last month.25th Congressional DistrictImageCredit...Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call, via Associated PressRepresentative Steve Knight, a Republican in his second term, took the top spot in this Los Angeles County-based district, while Katie Hill, a Democrat, appeared poised to claim the second slot on the November ballot.Ms. Hill, who runs a nonprofit helping homeless people, was leading another Democratic candidate, Bryan Caforio, by more than 1,500 votes on Wednesday. She was lifted by Emilys List, the Democratic womens group, over Mr. Caforio, who ran against Mr. Knight in 2016.Mr. Knight is seen as one of the most at-risk House Republicans in California because of his changing district.A former Los Angeles police officer who served for years in the California Legislature before winning a seat in Congress, Mr. Knight represents a piece of northern Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. The area had been reliably conservative, but a growing Hispanic population has raised hopes among Democrats that it can be flipped.Mrs. Clinton won the district by nearly seven points, and Democrats outnumber Republicans among registered voters.45th Congressional DistrictRepresentative Mimi Walters, a Republican in her second term, was the top vote-getter in this Orange County district. She will face a Democrat, Katie Porter, who is a consumer advocate and law professor.A strong progressive candidate, Ms. Porter was propelled by key endorsements from Senators Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, as well as Emilys List.In her career in Californias Legislature and in Congress, Ms. Walters has proved resilient. And she has nearly $1.6 million on hand. But Ms. Porter is likely to draw deep support from her allies in the national party in a district Mrs. Clinton carried by more than five points and that is increasingly made up of Asian and Hispanic voters.",3
"Scientists have never before gotten such a clear view of moons in the making.Credit...ESO/A. Mller et al.July 23, 2021Our solar system is home to a magnificent menagerie of moons, from icy ones filled with turbulent oceans to volcanic ones decorated with pits of raging hellfire. To date, astronomers have discovered 4,438 worlds orbiting other stars, and there is no doubt that diverse moons dance around most of these exoplanets. But stargazers have yet to conclusively find any these exomoons have proven too small and too far-flung to be spotted.Now, after years of observations of a pair of Jupiter-like exoplanets nearly 400 light-years from Earth, astronomers have found the next best thing: a disk of debris orbiting one of these worlds, a ring of rock and gas gradually coalescing under its own gravity. In other words, astronomers have caught a circumplanetary foundry in the act of making moons.This is the first time such a feature has been unambiguously detected. And unlike many extrasolar discoveries, this object was not found through indirect methods the subtle wobbling of a star revealing the presence of an orbiting planet, for example. This disk was effectively photographed. This is a real image of a baby planet surrounded by its very own moon-making forge.Astronomers are unreservedly thrilled, and a little lost for words. I dont have coherent scientific thoughts. I just look at the image and say wow, every time I see it, said Bruce Macintosh, an astronomer at Stanford University not involved with the study.ImageCredit...ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Benisty et al.This discovery reported Thursday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters will help scientists address one of the most perplexing questions in astronomy: How do planets and their moons form? Possible answers invoke myriad world-making methods, from titanic impacts to the gluing together of spaceborne hail, where the conglomerating force of gravity may battle disruptions from magnetic whirlpools that nascent worlds are thought to encounter.We have all these theories that are beautiful, but if you cannot test them, they could be completely wrong, said Myriam Benisty, an astronomer at the University of Grenoble and the studys lead author. This extraordinary system she and her colleagues identified is a perfect place to review these ideas.The solar system, 4.6 billion years old, is somewhat middle-aged. This distant star system, in contrast, is in its childhood. Its star, PDS 70, came to life a mere six million years ago. The star-encircling disk of gas and dust that made its two Jupiter-like planets, PDS 70b and PDS 70c, is still present. As new planets are slowly pieced together, the two youths that already exist continue to siphon off this disks debris and fortify themselves with it.The Very Large Telescope in Chiles Atacama Desert found both exoplanets, with PDS 70bs discovery announced in 2018, and PDS 70cs in 2019. A month later, scientists using Chiles Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) reported that radio waves emitted by fine dust were emanating from around PDS 70c promising evidence that a moon-making debris disk surrounded it.The signal, though, was faint. Dr. Benisty and her colleagues used ALMA to conduct follow-up observations, demonstrating with little doubt that PDS 70c has its own disk of debris, one substantial enough to make three moons the size of Earths satellite.It wont be long before such discoveries become routine. In the coming months and years, increasingly powerful telescopes and space observatories will become operational. Soon, the first exomoons themselves will be captured on camera. One day, perhaps, we will capture an exo-Earth on camera a second pale blue dot. That is our dream, said Kate Follette, an astronomer at Amherst College not involved with the study.Astronomers are impatient to see it all. But their appetite for discovery has been temporarily satiated by the remarkable sight of alien moons preparing to make their debut. Its rare, especially in our field, that you see something this beautiful, Dr. Follette said.",7
"Science|Merck applies for emergency authorization for what would be the first pill to treat Covid.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/11/science/merck-antiviral-covid-pill.htmlMerck applies for emergency authorization for what would be the first pill to treat Covid.Credit...Mel Evans/Associated PressPublished Oct. 11, 2021Updated Nov. 4, 2021Merck said on Monday that it had submitted an application to the Food and Drug Administration to authorize what would be the first antiviral pill to treat Covid.Clearance for the drug, molnupiravir, would be a milestone in the fight against the coronavirus, experts said, because a convenient, relatively inexpensive treatment could reach many more high-risk people sick with Covid than the cumbersome antibody treatments currently being used.The Biden administration is preparing for an authorization that could come within weeks; the pill would likely to be allocated to states, as was the case with the vaccines. States could then distribute the pills how they wish, such as through pharmacies or doctors practices, senior administration officials said.If the pill wins authorization, tens of millions of Americans will most likely be eligible to take it if they get sick with Covid many more than the supply could cover, at least initially. The federal government has placed an advance order for enough pills for 1.7 million Americans, at a price of about $700 per patient. That is about one-third the price that the government is paying for the monoclonal antibody treatments, which are generally given via intravenous infusion.Merck, which is developing the pill with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics of Miami, expects to be able to produce enough pills for 10 million people by the end of this year. Governments have raced to lock up supplies since the strong clinical trial results were released this month; Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea have all announced agreements.An antiviral pill being developed by Pfizer and one from Atea Pharmaceuticals-Roche will report study results in the next months and, if effective, could expand supply.Mercks pill is meant to be taken at home as four capsules twice a day for five days, for a total of 40 pills. It halved hospitalizations and deaths in a clinical trial that enrolled unvaccinated adults who had begun showing Covid symptoms within the previous five days and were at high risk for bad outcomes from the disease.Merck said it was seeking authorization for its pill to be given only to high-risk adults, which in the clinical trial was most commonly people over 60 or younger people with obesity, diabetes or heart disease.It was not clear whether the treatment would be available to vaccinated people, who were not eligible for the clinical trial. A company spokeswoman said it would be up to the F.D.A. to decide.Originally tested for influenza, the drug works by stopping the coronavirus from replicating by inserting errors into its genetic code.That mechanism is likely to make one high-risk group, people who are pregnant, ineligible to receive the pills if they are authorized, because of fears that the drug might cause mutations that could result in birth defects. In the clinical trial, volunteers had to agree to abstain from unprotected sexual intercourse for four days after they finished taking the pills, and some women of childbearing age had to have a negative pregnancy test to enroll in the study.Sheryl Gay Stolberg contributed reporting.",7
"Cleveland Indians Finally Ditching Chief Wahoo Logo 1/29/2018 The Cleveland Indians are finally retiring their controversial Chief Wahoo logo -- saying it's ""no longer appropriate for on-field use."" The Indians have been using the logo since 1948 -- showing a grinning Native American sporting a feather in his hair. The image has been under fire by some groups who say it's a racist depiction of Native Americans. Now, it seems the Cleveland organization agrees ... and will put the logo out to pasture after the 2018 MLB season. The logo has already been scrubbed from all stadium signage -- but the team will continue to sell merchandise with the image until the end of the season. Story developing ...",1
"Doc Rivers I'd 'Absolutely' Hire Jason Kidd ... After Bucks Firing 1/23/2018 TMZSports.com Jason Kidd just got the boot in Milwaukee -- but he's already got a rebound offer from one of the most powerful head coaches in the NBA! Well, sorta ... we got Doc Rivers and Tom Thibodeau -- Doc's former Celtics assistant -- leaving Craig's after Thibodeau's T-Wolves edged Rivers' Clippers in L.A. Naturally, we had to bring up the shocking J-Kidd firing ... and Doc immediately went to bat for the NBA legend, saying he would ""absolutely"" add him to his coaching staff. One problem -- there ain't any vacancies on his bench at the moment ... and he's already got big-name assistants like Sam Cassell and Mike Woodson. Still ... pretty nice gesture. Maybe next season??",1
"June 12, 2018Five states are holding primaries on Tuesday: Nevada, Virginia, Maine, South Carolina and North Dakota. Heres what you need to know about key races in each state.NevadaImageCredit...Richard Brian/Las Vegas Review-Journal, via Associated PressThe Democratic race for governor has been bitterly fought, and a recent poll showed the top two candidates Christina Giunchigliani and Steve Sisolak, both Clark County commissioners separated by only three points. Their contest has been vicious at times: Mr. Sisolak claimed in a recent ad that Ms. Giunchigliani had single-handedly protected perverts by weakening a sex offender bill years ago, to which Ms. Giunchigliani responded by revealing that she was sexually abused as a child.Each hopes to be Nevadas first Democratic governor since 1999.Attorney General Adam Laxalt is widely expected to win the Republican nomination for governor. A son and grandson of former senators, Mr. Laxalt is a supporter of President Trump and has the backing of Sheldon Adelson and the Koch brothers.A House race worth watching is in the Third District. Representative Jacky Rosen, a Democrat, is vacating the seat to run for the Senate. Its a traditional swing district and has crowded primary fields on both sides. Among the Republican candidates is Danny Tarkanian, who agreed to run for the House instead of the Senate at the urging of Mr. Trump. That removed a primary challenge to Senator Dean Heller, who is among the most vulnerable Republicans this year. Mr. Heller is expected to face Ms. Rosen in November in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country.[Democratic women are running for governor. Men and money stand in their way.]VirginiaImageCredit...Steve Helber/Associated PressVirginia Republicans have an interesting Senate primary on Tuesday. Three Republicans are hoping to challenge the Democratic incumbent, Tim Kaine, in November: Corey Stewart, a Prince William County supervisor; Nick Freitas, a member of the Virginia House; and E.W. Jackson, a lawyer and minister.Mr. Stewart is the best known, having narrowly lost a bitter Republican primary for governor last year, and he is leading the polls. An outspoken supporter of Mr. Trump, he has a similarly bellicose style. But he has been tarnished by his past praise for the white nationalist Paul Nehlen, as well as appearances with the organizer of last years Unite the Right rally of white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville. (He has since distanced himself from both men.)Keep an eye, also, on the Second and 10th Districts. In the Second District, Representative Scott Taylor, a Republican, has a conservative primary challenger, and two Democrats are vying to face him as well. In the 10th District, six Democrats are seeking to challenge Representative Barbara Comstock, a two-term Republican who could be vulnerable in November.ImageCredit...Robert F. Bukaty/Associated PressFor almost eight years, Maine has been governed by Paul R. LePage, a famously controversial Republican. Now, four candidates are jostling to be his heir apparent. But the Republican nominee may face an uphill battle, both because it is shaping up to be a strong year for Democrats nationwide and because Maines governorship has traditionally swung back and forth.The Democratic field is led by Attorney General Janet Mills and Adam Cote, a lawyer and longtime National Guard member. Emilys List, the national group devoted to electing Democratic women, is backing Ms. Mills and has poured $300,000 into the race.For the first time, Maine voters will use an instant runoff, or ranked choice, system. Voters will rank the candidates in order of preference, and if no one receives a majority of the first-place votes, the last-place candidates votes will be redistributed to his or her voters next choices until someone breaks 50 percent. For good measure, voters will also be voting on whether to continue using ranked-choice voting.[Learn more about Maines instant runoff system here.]South CarolinaImageCredit...Michael Holahan/The Augusta Chronicle, via Associated PressGov. Henry McMaster, who took the job last year after Nikki Haley joined the Trump administration, is facing a competitive Republican primary as he seeks his first full term. His opponents include his own lieutenant governor, Kevin Bryant, as well as Catherine Templeton, a lawyer whose website calls her a conservative buzzsaw. While polls show Mr. McMaster ahead, it is not clear that he will break the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff.Tight races are also expected in the First and Fourth Districts. In the First District, Representative Mark Sanford, once expected to win re-election with little trouble, is in danger of losing to State Representative Katie Arrington, who has attacked Mr. Sanford for his criticism of Mr. Trump. The Republican primary in the Fourth District which is being vacated by Representative Trey Gowdy, perhaps best known for leading the House committee that investigated the Benghazi attack is tremendously crowded, with 13 candidates.The contest between Mr. Sanford and Ms. Arrington highlights a counterpoint to the dominant trend of the 2018 midterms. While Democrats hope to ride a wave of opposition to the president, an overwhelming majority of Republicans support him 90 percent, according to the most recent weekly average by Gallup and the partys anti-Trump members, like Mr. Sanford, could suffer for their stand.North DakotaImageCredit...J. Scott Applewhite/Associated PressSenator Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat in one of the nations most conservative states, is facing a tough re-election campaign, and her Republican challenger will be chosen on Tuesday. Representative Kevin Cramer, who holds North Dakotas only House seat, is running against Thomas ONeill, an anti-immigration Air Force veteran. The state Republican Party has endorsed Mr. Cramer.[For Heitkamp, a lift from an unlikely source: the Koch brothers.]Voters will also choose Mr. Cramers replacement in the House. State Senator Kelly Armstrong is seeking the Republican nomination against two candidates with little to no political experience: Tiffany Abentroth and Paul Schaffner. On the Democratic side, former State Senator Mac Schneider is running unopposed.",3
"This NASA Mission Listened to Mars Shake, but Soon It Will Go SilentThe InSight spacecraft, which carries a seismometer and studies the red planets insides, is expected to cease functioning by the end of the year.Credit...NASA/JPL-CaltechMay 17, 2022NASAs InSight spacecraft is not quite dead yet.But InSight, a stationary robotic probe on Mars, has been steadily growing weaker as dust accumulates on its solar panels. Mission managers predict that by late summer it will not have enough energy to continue operating its instruments and that by the end of the year it will fall silent.Thats just due to the lack of energy, Kathya Zamora Garcia, the missions deputy project scientist, said during a news conference on Tuesday.The spacecraft could prove lucky if a dust devil a miniature whirlwind swirling along the Martian landscape passes over and blows the dust off the solar panels. Although several thousand dust devils have been detected in the area, none has helpfully cleaned InSight.Were not too hopeful given that its been three and a half years and we havent seen one yet, said Bruce Banerdt, InSights principal investigator, but it could still happen.When InSight landed in November 2018, its pristine solar panels generated 5,000 watt-hours of energy each Martian day. Now, enshrouded in dust, they are producing one-tenth as much.The spacecraft fulfilled its main objectives during its two-year primary mission; NASA then approved a two-year extension through the end of 2022.As the energy dwindles, the managers will begin to shut down the spacecrafts instruments and stow its mechanical arm. They will try to keep the crafts main scientific tool, a sensitive seismometer, running as long as possible, although in a couple of weeks they will start to run it for only part of the day, or maybe even every other day, instead of continuously.Ms. Garcia said the seismometer would probably have to be shut off entirely sometime in July. After that, there will be just enough energy to check in with radio communications and perhaps snap an occasional photograph.Once InSight loses power, it will join an assortment of NASA missions marooned on the red planet after long, successful runs, including the two Viking landers that set down in 1976 and the Spirit and Opportunity rovers that arrived in 2004 for 90-day missions but lasted for years. NASA still has two other rovers and an experimental helicopter studying the Martian surface, and China has one rover in operation there.Most of NASAs missions to Mars over the past two decades have focused on the possibility that the suns fourth planet may have once been hospitable for life.InSight the name is a compression of the missions full name, Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport was a diversion, focusing instead on the mysteries of Marss deep interior. The $830 million mission aimed to answer questions about the planets structure, composition and geological history.ImageCredit...NASA/JPL-CaltechMars lacks plate tectonics, the sliding of pieces of the crust that shapes the surface of our planet. But marsquakes occur nonetheless, driven by other tectonic stresses like the shrinking and cracking of the crust as it cools.During its mission, InSight recorded more than 1,300 marsquakes. Just two weeks ago, it observed the largest marsquake so far: a magnitude of 5.0, modest by Earth standards but at the high end of what scientists expected for Mars.The epicenter of the magnitude-5.0 quake was located near a series of fissures known as Cerberus Fossae, where many marsquakes detected earlier had occurred, Dr. Banerdt said. But, he added, Its not actually in Cerberus Fossae, which is interesting. And we dont really understand that yet.He said the scientists have had only two weeks to analyze the data, but they could clearly see the seismic signals, and the quake might have been large enough that it could have made Mars start vibrating like a bell, although at frequencies too low to be heard.This quake is really going to be a treasure trove of scientific information when we get our teeth into it, Dr. Banerdt said.By listening to the echoes of the seismic waves bouncing around inside Mars, InSight produced data that could be turned into a three-dimensional map of the planet.The crust turned out to be thinner than expected and appears to consist of three sublayers. The seismic signals also measured the size of the core: about 2,300 miles in diameter.The seismometer revealed not just what was below but also the dynamics in the air above. Winds blowing between 10 and 15 miles per hour over InSights solar panels caused the spacecraft to vibrate, and spacecraft recorded the vibrations, which were transformed into sounds.The other main instrument on InSight, a heat probe that was to hammer itself about 16 feet into the Martian soil, failed to fully deploy.Despite two years of efforts, the instrument, nicknamed the mole, never got much more than an inch below the surface. The soil where it landed tended to clump, a property that was different from material encountered at other places on Mars. The clumping reduced the surface area of dirt pressed against the sides of the mole, and, with insufficient friction, it was unable to hammer itself downward.It turned out the particular soil that was underneath InSight, when we landed, had a consolidated layer of crusty soil at the very top, Dr. Banerdt said. And that crust, the soil sort of disintegrated as the mole tried to penetrate.Without the mole making it underground, the scientists did not obtain hoped-for measurements of heat flowing out of the planet, which would have revealed more precise data about the interior temperatures of Mars today and the energy driving geological processes.Thats what we lost, Dr. Banerdt said.Even after InSight falls silent, there will remain a possibility that a passing dust devil could sweep the solar panels and the spacecraft could revive.Well be listening, Ms. Garcia said. And once we get a few beeps, if that happens again, if theres a natural cleaning, then we will evaluate whether theres enough energy to have the lander operate again.",7
"March 3, 2017BEIJING FAKE NEWS, a Twitter post declared. Prejudice-based, another said. Cleverly orchestrated lies, a news article asserted.President Trumps harangues against the American news media appear to have inspired a new genre of commentary in Chinas state media, whose propagandists spiced up social media posts and news articles with Trumpian flourishes this week.Peoples Daily, the flagship newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, mimicked Mr. Trumps characteristic bluster and his fondness for capital letters on Friday in denouncing Western news coverage of a Chinese lawyer and human rights advocate who said he had been tortured.An article on the topic a day earlier by Xinhua, the state-run news agency, had accused the foreign news media of hype and suggested that legal activists were manipulating the press to smear the Chinese government.The stories were essentially fake news, Xinhua wrote, adopting a phrase that Mr. Trump has embraced.The Chinese government has long denounced Western news organizations as biased and dishonest and in Mr. Trump, Beijing has found an American president who often does the same.The irony in Chinas criticism is apparent, given Beijings history of obscuring facts and censoring stories that officials deem a threat to the party.Experts said on Friday that Mr. Trumps continuing attacks on the news media would help lend credibility to Chinese efforts to undermine Western ideals and foreign journalists.Trumps attacks on the media will offer a good excuse for Chinese officials to step up their criticism of Western democracy and press freedom, said Qiao Mu, a journalism professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University. China can turn to Trumps attacks to say Western democracy is hypocrisy.Some of Mr. Trumps remarks about the news media would not seem out of place in some of Chinas leading broadsheets, where commentators regularly denounce independent reporting by foreign news outlets on delicate subjects like Taiwan or religious persecution.Rights advocates said Mr. Trump had given China an opportunity to further distort the boundaries of journalism.If the Chinese version of journalism, which is really only propaganda, is considered mainstream, it will challenge the understanding of what real journalism should be, said Patrick Poon, a researcher for Amnesty International in Hong Kong.The heated commentary in the Chinese news media came in response to foreign coverage of a Chinese lawyer, Xie Yang, whose account of torture at the hands of interrogators was widely reported in January, including in The New York Times. The reports about Mr. Xie, who is still in custody, were based on transcripts of his interviews with his lawyers.Xinhuas report suggested that the account of the torture of Mr. Xie, who was formally arrested last year on a charge of inciting subversion of state power, was fabricated.Investigations by reporters and an investigative team have showed that the accusations were nothing but cleverly orchestrated lies, the report said.Xinhua said Jiang Tianyong, a prominent human rights lawyer, had invented the story and shared it with foreign activists.One of Mr. Xies lawyers, Chen Jiangang, denied that on Friday. In a statement, Mr. Chen reiterated that Mr. Xie had provided the account of his torture, describing in detail the meeting at which he had done so.Chinese officials routinely block efforts to report on topics that the government deems delicate. On Friday, the BBC reported that its journalists had been harassed by the authorities in a village in Hunan Province while trying to interview a woman who says her familys land was stolen. The BBC said that its journalists were assaulted during the encounter, and that a crowd in the village had smashed the crews cameras.",6
"Common SenseVideoThe New York Times columnist weighs in on news that Third Avenue is liquidating its junk bond fund and how JPMorgan Chase reacted to a whistle-blower.CreditCredit...CNBCDec. 10, 2015Whistle-blowers often face the difficult choice between telling the truth and the risk of committing career suicide, said a Senate report on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform act, which bars retaliation against whistle-blowers.At JPMorgan Chase, as at nearly all major companies, the law is enshrined in the banks code of conduct: We strictly prohibit intimidation or retaliation against anyone who makes a good faith report about a known or suspected violation of the code or any JPMorgan Chase policy or procedure, or any law or regulation.Then theres the case of Johnny Burris.Mr. Burris, 44, worked as a broker at JPMorgans Sun City West, Ariz., branch office beginning in 2010, where he was a top producing broker and earned glowing performance reviews, at least in his first few years. Most of his clients were retirees who were unsophisticated about the financial markets.So Mr. Burris avoided what he considered unsuitable, expensive and underperforming investment products, including some offered by JPMorgan, which drew criticism from his bosses. Troubled that he was being pressured to push JPMorgans products rather than act in his clients best interests, he went so far as to secretly record his colleagues. He complained repeatedly to his supervisors.None of this exactly endeared Mr. Burris to his employer or co-workers. In late 2012, Mr. Burris was suspended and then fired. The firm gave him no explanation or chance to defend himself, he said. But his entry in the broker database for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or Finra, states that he was dismissed because he failed to follow firm procedures in a matter that cost a client $635 and erroneously described an order as unsolicited rather than solicited.Mr. Burris claims those charges were trumped up by his superiors as an excuse to get rid of him, and he was actually fired for refusing to push JPMorgan investment products and then calling attention to the issue.He took his accusations and evidence, including the recordings, to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Burris also publicly raised the issue in an article in The New York Times in March 2013.He became, in other words, a whistle-blower. Which makes his subsequent treatment by JPMorgan all the more puzzling. Soon after The Times article appeared, JPMorgan lodged three customer complaints against Mr. Burris with Finra. The complaints and their resolutions Mr. Burris was exonerated in two, and wasnt given a chance to respond to the third are publicly available. They are the only customer complaints during his 25-year career.That he was the subject of three complaints is significant, because that is a threshold at which a broker may be subjected to heightened scrutiny by regulators. Most brokerage firms wont consider hiring a broker with three or more such complaints, no matter what the disposition, according to Douglas J. Schulz of Invest Securities Consulting. Its a very serious black mark, he said.After he was fired, Mr. Burris filed an arbitration claim against JPMorgan on wrongful dismissal grounds. Among the issues were whether customers had complained about Mr. Burris, including a complaint filed April 10 on his Finra record and another dated April 1 in his file at the brokerage office. Mr. Burris was suspicious, because the letters had identical typefaces and seemed to have come from the same printer.At the arbitration hearing, a crucial witness was Umbreen N. Kazmi, a JPMorgan vice president and supervisory manager who oversaw Mr. Burris. Testifying under oath, she denied that any of the complaints had been fabricated. Then Mr. Burriss lawyer asked twice whether someone at JPMorgan had written them. Ms. Kazmi testified, absolutely not.Ms. Kazmi also denied that she had played any role in instigating a separate May 14 complaint.On Aug. 12, 2014, the arbitration panel ruled in JPMorgans favor. Mr. Burriss lawyer had told him not to talk to potential witnesses such as his former clients, so he hadnt. But figuring he had nothing to lose, Mr. Burris contacted William Wiley, who filed the April 1 letter, and Carolyn Scott, who filed the one on April 10.As my colleague Nathaniel Popper reported last week, Mr. Wiley and Ms. Scott both denied they had had any problem with Mr. Burris and said the letters had been drafted not by them, but by Laya Gavin, the office manager and broker who took over Mr. Burriss accounts after he was fired.Despite the risk of going up against JPMorgan, both gave Mr. Burris sworn affidavits. To be absolutely clear, I did not draft that letter dated April 1, 2103, Mr. Wiley declared. Said Ms. Scott: I did not draft that letter. Both identified Ms. Gavin as the author. Added Ms. Scott: There should never have been a complaint against Mr. Burris at any time.ImageCredit...Joshua Lott for The New York TimesMr. Burris said he also met with the source of the May 14 complaint, Greg Rodvelt, who told him he filed a complaint only after Ms. Kazmi called him.To Mr. Burris, both his firing and what he sees as an attempt to smear his reputation after he went to the S.E.C. and the media, are clear-cut examples of retaliation against a whistle-blower. He said it made it difficult for him to find employment (he briefly worked at Oppenheimer and is now self-employed), but more importantly, sent a powerful warning to any other JPMorgan broker contemplating cooperating with the S.E.C. or speaking out about unethical behavior. He has turned over his findings to Finra, which is investigating the matter, and to the S.E.C.s whistle-blower office.JPMorgan sees the matter entirely differently. Mr. Burris was a rogue broker who was fired for legitimate reasons having nothing to do with his reluctance to sell JPMorgan products, a view backed by the arbitration panel. His story is utterly wrong. He was terminated because he broke serious compliance rules in important ways and on numerous occasions, said Patricia Wexler, a JPMorgan spokeswoman.The firm acknowledges that Ms. Gavin actually drafted the Wiley and Scott letters after the customers came into the branch with complaints, but said she was doing so simply as a courtesy.Even though the bank determined that neither complaint had merit, it was nonetheless obligated by law to file Mr. Scotts letter with Finra. And, with respect to Ms. Kazmis testimony that no one at JPMorgan had drafted the letters, she answered truthfully based on what she knew she did not realize that anyone had provided the customer with the courtesy of typing up a verbal complaint or issue, Ms. Wexler said. She said no one at JPMorgan had interviewed any of Mr. Burriss clients to get their version of events.At the center of these differing views is Ms. Gavin. On her website moneywisdomandfaith.com she describes growing up in a mobile home outside Chicago and putting herself through college and business school. She says her mission is to work with purpose-driven Christian women and help them understand and apply the biblical financial principles of stewardship, wealth building and legacy thinking.She was interviewed by JPMorgan lawyers and originally listed as a witness in the arbitration, but after Ms. Kazmis testimony and the questions about the letters origins, was never called to testify.Some questions: Did Ms. Gavin routinely write up complaints for other customers who came into the branch? Or were the sole instances those involving Mr. Burris? Was it Ms. Gavins idea to draft and file the letters, or did others encourage her to be on the lookout for evidence that could be used against Mr. Burris?Ms. Wexler declined to answer these questions and denied my request to interview Ms. Gavin.Mr. Schulz, the securities industry expert, said he was shocked by Ms. Gavins actions.Written customer complaints can only be written by a client, he said. Its a very serious document that triggers all kinds of regulatory requirements. No broker should be writing them.Its not so surprising that JPMorgan has circled the wagons, which is how institutions often respond to whistle-blowers. Its a disconcerting story, said Joe Badaracco, a professor of business ethics at Harvard Business School. It just reinforces the word on the street, which is, if youre a whistle-blower, youre going to have a hard time finding a job, and if theres anything in your file, it will be used against you.Those anti-retaliation policies are laughable, said Amy Block Joy, an emeritus professor at the University of California, Davis, and the author of two books about her exposing fraud at the University of California. Companies and institutions do retaliate. And then they stigmatize the whistle-blower.When all the evidence is in, and regulators complete their investigations, JPMorgan may be vindicated. It appears to be using every weapon in its vast legal and public relations arsenal to challenge Mr. Burriss claims.But in raising questions about how the bank was pressuring him and other brokers to sell its own mutual funds, Mr. Burris appears to have been onto something. JPMorgan is on the brink of paying as much as $200 million to resolve S.E.C. claims that it failed to make adequate disclosures when its brokers promoted its own products.That may mean a big payday for Mr. Burris. If the S.E.C. deems he gave it original information the leads to a successful enforcement action, he and any other whistle-blowers cooperating in this case would be entitled to a bounty of 10 to 30 percent of the sanction collected. On $200 million, that would mean an award of $20 million to $60 million.",0
"DealBook|The Tax Acrobatics in the Dow-DuPont Dealhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/16/business/dealbook/the-tax-acrobatics-in-the-dow-dupont-deal.htmlBreakingviewsDec. 15, 2015Credit...Tony Cenicola/The New York TimesInvestors cheering the planned merger of Dow Chemical and DuPont should raise a glass to the lawyers. Last weeks deal might never have come together without rarely exploited fine print in the United States tax code that should allow the companies to avoid any tax on capital gains.Dow and DuPont are planning a merger of equals followed by a breakup into three separate listed companies. Generally, the Internal Revenue Service discourages such multistep deals. When half or more of a units shares change hands in association with a spinoff, the parent company or shareholders can end up with a big tax bill. Dow shareholders taking a 50 percent stake in former DuPont assets as a result of the merger and split plan could generate a tax liability for DuPont or its owners, and vice versa.The relevant section of the tax code also gave the world the reverse Morris Trust, a convoluted structure that companies use to avoid taxes when planning a spinoff followed by a prearranged merger. Dow and DuPont, though, have carved out an even less common way to sidestep the I.R.S.The key is that investors who hold shares of both companies before the merger dont count toward the 50 percent threshold. With the merged business divided equally between the two groups of owners, all thats needed is overlapping shareholder registers and the same five institutions, led by Vanguard and State Street, appear in both companies top 10, according to Thomson Reuters data. This means Dow, DuPont and their owners should avoid paying tax, according to Robert Willens, a tax consultant.American companies engage in all manner of tax-saving contortions. Pfizer is expected to save billions of dollars by moving its tax domicile overseas as part of its $160 billion merger with the maker of Botox, Allergan, for example. Known as inversions, such deals have been criticized by politicians and the public.For Dow and DuPont, though, the strategic rationale of the whole plan is sound. And two United States industrial blue chips with essentially the same market value are bound to have common shareholders. The tax liability is also deferred until shares are sold, not removed altogether.Rather than being cagey, fitting the deal into byzantine tax rules looks like clever opportunism.",0
"The rare operation has implications for wounded soldiers, accident victims, cancer patients and those undergoing sex reassignment. Credit...Elise Amendola/Associated PressDec. 6, 2019A 36-year-old man born without testicles received one transplanted from his identical twin brother in a six-hour operation performed on Tuesday in Belgrade, Serbia, by an international team of surgeons.The surgery was intended to give the recipient more stable levels of the male hormone testosterone than injections could provide, to make his genitals more natural and more comfortable, and to enable him to father children, said Dr. Dicken Ko, a transplant surgeon and urology professor at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, who flew to Belgrade to help with the procedure.The operation was only the third known transplant of this type. The first two were performed 40 years ago in St. Louis, also for identical twins, each pair with a brother lacking testicles.The absence of testicles is an exceedingly rare condition, but doctors say that the surgery may have broader applications for transgender people, accident victims, wounded soldiers and cancer patients. But the procedure raises questions about the ethics of transplants that are not lifesaving, and about the possibility of recipients someday fathering children with sperm from donors who may not even be related to them.The surgery was performed at the University Childrens Clinic in Tirsova, a section of Belgrade. The Serbian brothers are doing well, doctors said. By Friday, the recipient already had normal testosterone levels. Hes good, he looks good, his brother looks good, Dr. Ko said in a telephone interview on Friday. The donor, who already has children, should remain as fertile as he was before, despite giving up a testicle.Dr. Ko said the brothers, who have been sharing a hospital room, were expected to go home this weekend. They preferred not to be identified or interviewed, the doctors said.Because the patients are identical twins with the same genetic makeup, there is no concern that the recipients body will reject the transplant, so he does not have to take the immune-suppressing drugs that most transplant patients need.[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]Surgeons operated on the brothers simultaneously, in adjoining rooms. The procedure was challenging because it required sewing together two arteries and two veins that were less than 2 millimeters wide.Once you remove the testicle from the donor, the clock starts ticking very fast, said Dr. Branko Bojovic, an expert in microsurgery at Harvard Medical School and part of the team in Belgrade.Within two to four hours, you have to have it re-perfused and working again, Dr. Bojovic said. Without a blood supply, a testicle is viable for only four to six hours.It can take 30 to 60 minutes to make each of the four blood-vessel connections. But the team managed to complete them all in less than two hours, he said.The team did not connect a structure called the vas deferens, which carries sperm out of the testicles. The surgeons could not find the tissue in the recipient needed for the connection, which means that for now, he cannot father children in the usual way. Another operation to make the connection may be possible. Otherwise, if the recipient wants children, he might undergo a procedure to extract sperm from the testicle for in vitro fertilization. Or his twin brothers sperm could be used.Dr. Ko and Dr. Bojovic were both part of the surgical team that performed the first penis transplant in the United States, in 2016, on a man whose penis had been removed because of cancer. Dr. Miroslav Djordjevic, who led the team in Belgrade, specializes in urologic reconstruction and sex reassignment surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and at the University of Belgrade. He said the brothers approached him after learning that he had performed a successful uterus transplant between twins sisters, which enabled the recipient to give birth. ImageCredit...Bill Greenblatt/UPI, via AlamyDr. Bojovic said that after the penis transplant, the surgical team received inquiries from people undergoing female-to-male sex reassignment who wondered if they might receive transplants instead of the usual surgery, which creates a penis from the patients own tissue. But a transplant from any donor other than an identical twin would require immune-suppressing drugs to prevent rejection. The drugs have side effects that lead some experts to argue that the bar for such transplants must be very high. Its becoming more of a popular topic for these patients, Dr. Bojovic said. They say, If immunosuppression is getting safer, I dont want to use a big piece of tissue from my forearm or thigh or back for something that looks like phallus but isnt. He added that in patients having male-to-female reassignment surgery, the penis and testicles that were surgically removed are discarded, but in theory could be used for transplants. The lead surgeon, Dr. Djordjevic, said that he had developed a surgical plan for transplanting a penis onto a body that is anatomically female, and that he hoped to begin performing that surgery within the next year or so. We have to do this as soon as possible, to stop putting healthy organs in the garbage, he said. But he would not transplant testicles as part of transgender surgery, he said. Doing so would open up the thorny possibility that the recipient could have children produced by the donors sperm. If the idea were extended to deceased organ donors, special permission would be required from them before death, or from their families. Then the offspring is technically whose child? asked Dr. Ko, who is also chief medical officer at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Boston. It raises much debate in the literature of medical ethics.Last year, when surgeons at Johns Hopkins Hospital transplanted a penis, scrotum and other tissue to a young soldier who had been maimed in combat, they deliberately left out the testicles. The idea that he might father children who were genetically someone elses was considered unacceptable.The first report of a testicle transplant, by Dr. Sherman J. Silber, a fertility specialist in St. Louis, was published in a medical journal in 1978. In that case, the twin brothers were 30 when they consulted Dr. Silber. The brother without testicles had not reached puberty until he was given testosterone at age 18, which caused a growth spurt that left him four inches taller than his brother. He needed regular testosterone injections to maintain his masculine characteristics, but the hormone levels fluctuated and sometimes caused mood swings. He spent five years searching for a doctor who could perform a testicle transplant before he found Dr. Silber, after reading a New York Times article about his work published in 1975.Dr. Silber said that he had performed more than 2,000 kidney transplants in rats, which required microsurgical techniques to sew together minute blood vessels the same size as those in human testicles.So doing a testicle transplant was not a big deal, he recalled in an interview on Thursday. It was like just another kidney transplant in a rat. He said the operation took two hours. Dr. Silber said that the donor was gay and the recipient straight, and that the brothers told him they wondered if the transplanted testicle might somehow alter the recipients sexual orientation. There is no scientific reason for such an effect, and none occurred.The transplant was a success, and the recipient eventually had five children, Dr. Silber said. A year or so later, he performed the surgery again for another pair of identical twin brothers, though he did not write up their case in a journal.Regarding the operation in Belgrade, Dr. Silber said, I imagine these surgeons must be pretty good, because most people wouldnt dare to try this.",2
"AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySports Briefing | BaseballBy The Associated PressFeb. 11, 2014Roy Oswalt, who has had a series of injuries in recent years, is retiring after 13 seasons, his agent, Bob Garber, said. Oswalt, 36, had a 163-102 career record with a 3.36 earned run average but went 0-6 with an 8.63 E.R.A. for Colorado last year. AdvertisementContinue reading the main story",4
"Credit...Tom Brenner/The New York TimesJune 22, 2018WASHINGTON The gulf between President Trumps rhetoric and a thorny geopolitical reality widened a bit further on Friday, when the White House said it would extend a decade-old executive order declaring a national emergency over the nuclear threat from North Korea.The announcement came days after Mr. Trump declared to the world that everybody can now feel much safer after his meeting with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un: There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea, Mr. Trump said on Twitter.Apparently, there still is.The existence and risk of proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material on the Korean Peninsula and the actions and policies of the government of North Korea continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States, read the notice, delivered through the press secretary on Friday.The national emergency regarding North Korea has been in place since 2008, spanning three presidencies. Now it is a measure that will effectively help keep in place what Mr. Trump has referred to as maximum pressure on North Korea and Mr. Kim, who has said he will take steps to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula but has not begun to dismantle his arsenal of nuclear weapons. Analysts who study the country say it would be premature to declare that progress on denuclearization until that happens.Pointing this out can incur the wrath of the president. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, said that the summit meeting with Mr. Kim had been flimsy.The summit was more show than substance, what the Texans call all cattle, no hat, Schumer said, confusing the expression.The crack earned Mr. Schumer a public rebuke from the presidential Twitter account.Thank you Chuck, but are you sure you got that right? Mr. Trump wrote. No more nuclear testing or rockets flying all over the place, blew up launch sites. Hostages already back, hero remains coming home & much more!The White Houses notice of the national emergency undercut the president, Mr. Schumer said on Friday.We have to treat these negotiations far more seriously than just as a photo op, he said in a statement. Saying the North Korea problem is solved doesnt make it so.The reality might not matter to the president or his supporters, who have been inundated with messaging from Mr. Trump and his campaign about his diplomatic achievements. At a rally in Duluth, Minn., on Wednesday, a broadcast featuring the presidents daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, and labeled real news was beamed down from the arenas jumbotrons.They said that by talking with Kim Jong-un, Donald Trump was going to start World War III, Ms. Trump said. And yet here we are on the cusp of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula, she said, adding, They wont try and stop a loser, but they will try and stop a winner.In a rambling speech, the president also ran down a list of victories: The North Koreans had stopped all nuclear research. The bodies of the Korean Wars fallen soldiers would be returned to American soil. And, Mr. Trump said, they stopped all nuclear testing.It is premature to declare any of those victories as complete, experts said.To supporters like Lori Larson, a 36-year-old who traveled from Los Angeles to attend the rally, the particulars of the developments were irrelevant.She blamed the Democrats and the news media for deflecting from the presidents accomplishments. He stopped the war with North Korea, Ms. Larson said, referring imprecisely to Mr. Trumps efforts. And the Democrats came back saying there are children missing their families at the border.",3
"News AnalysisVideotranscripttranscriptFrom Gay Rights to Bush v. Gore: Anthony Kennedys LegacyThe Timess Supreme Court correspondent, Adam Liptak, looks at many of Justice Anthony Kennedys most consequential votes.Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, effective July 31. Justice Kennedys greatest judicial legacy was his championship of gay rights. He wrote every major gay rights decision, including one called Obergefell, which established a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, and it will be what he is most remembered for. Justice Kennedy was a moderate conservative; voted more often with the courts conservative wing; was the author of Citizens United, which amplified the role of money in politics; cast a vote with the five-justice majority in Bush v. Gore in 2000, which handed the presidency to President George W. Bush I George Walker Bush, do solemnly swear. joined the five-justice majority in District of Columbia against Heller, which revolutionized Second Amendment law and established a personal right to keep and bear arms. He was often prepared to cut back on the death penalty, whether it involved people with intellectual disabilities, people who committed crimes when they were younger than 18 or people who committed crimes other than murder. He joined the controlling opinion and in a 1992 decision, Planned Parenthood against Casey, which re-established and saved Roe v. Wade, the decision that guarantees a constitutional right to abortion. And in recent years, he has joined the courts liberals in cases on affirmative action and abortion. And those cases in which Justice Kennedy joined the courts four more liberal members are almost certainly at risk if President Trump appoints a conservative to the court.The Timess Supreme Court correspondent, Adam Liptak, looks at many of Justice Anthony Kennedys most consequential votes.CreditCredit...Eric Thayer/Getty ImagesJune 27, 2018WASHINGTON Justice Anthony M. Kennedy has served for more than 30 years under two chief justices: William H. Rehnquist and John G. Roberts Jr. Courts are by tradition named for the chief justice. Since 2005, it has been the Roberts court.But if influence were the deciding factor, it would be more accurate to speak of the period since 1988 as the Kennedy court.Justice Kennedy has occupied a place at the courts ideological center for his entire tenure, though he shared the middle ground with Justice Sandra Day OConnor for most of his first two decades. On her retirement in 2006, his vote became the undisputed crucial one in most of the courts closely divided cases.There have been about 51 decisions in which Justice Kennedy joined a liberal majority in a closely divided case, while Chief Justice Roberts dissented. All of those precedents could be in jeopardy, said Lee Epstein, a law professor and political scientist at Washington University in St. Louis.To be sure, Justice Kennedy often voted with the courts conservatives. He wrote the majority opinion in Citizens United, which allowed unlimited campaign spending by corporations and unions, and he joined the majority in Bush v. Gore, which handed the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush. Justice Kennedy also voted with the courts conservatives in cases on the Second Amendment and voting rights.Not infrequently, though, he joined the courts liberal wing in important cases on contested social issues, including liberal decisions on gay rights, abortion, affirmative action and the death penalty. A court containing two Trump appointees could chip away at those rulings.Mr. Trump has vowed, for instance, to appoint justices committed to overruling Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion. That would not happen overnight if another Trump appointee joined the court, but aggressive restrictions on access to abortion would very likely be sustained.The vote count in the courts most recent abortion case is telling. In 2016, when the court was short-handed after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Kennedy joined the courts four-member liberal wing to strike down a restrictive Texas abortion law. That ruling would almost certainly have come out differently from a court without Justice Kennedy and with two Trump appointees.The right to same-sex marriage seems more secure, and Mr. Trump has said he considers the issue settled. But a court including a second Trump appointee would be quite unlikely to expand gay rights and would instead be receptive to arguments from religious groups that object to same-sex marriage.According to a court spokeswoman, Justice Kennedy told his colleagues on Wednesday of his decision to step down, effective July 31.It has been the greatest honor and privilege to serve our nation in the federal judiciary for 43 years, 30 of those years on the Supreme Court, Justice Kennedy said in a statement.In a letter to Mr. Trump, Justice Kennedy, 81, expressed profound gratitude for having had the privilege to seek in each case how best to know, interpret and defend the Constitution and the laws that must always conform to its mandates and promises.That language earnest, flowery, a little mystical was characteristic of his judicial writing, which was not to everyones taste.Justice Kennedys opinions were studded with vague and soaring language.At the heart of liberty, he said in a 1992 decision upholding the constitutional right to abortion, is the right to define ones own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe and of the mystery of human life.Phrases like that infuriated his critics, notably Justice Scalia. In a 2003 dissent, Justice Scalia mocked its famed sweet-mystery-of-life passage, calling it the passage that ate the rule of law.Justice Kennedys final opinions on the court had a valedictory quality. He wrote an inconclusive decision in a clash between a baker and a gay couple, and he joined a pair of decisions ducking the question of whether the Constitution prohibits partisan gerrymandering.Justice Kennedy valued civility and dignity, and the Trump years seemed to take a toll. In Tuesdays decision upholding Mr. Trumps travel ban, he seemed to chide the president for incivility even as he said the courts could do nothing to force him to behave with the decorum Justice Kennedy prized.There are numerous instances in which the statements and actions of government officials are not subject to judicial scrutiny or intervention, he wrote. That does not mean those officials are free to disregard the Constitution and the rights it proclaims and protects.The oath that all officials take to adhere to the Constitution is not confined to those spheres in which the judiciary can correct or even comment upon what those officials say or do, he wrote. Indeed, the very fact that an official may have broad discretion, discretion free from judicial scrutiny, makes it all the more imperative for him or her to adhere to the Constitution and to its meaning and its promise.A new Trump appointee would almost certainly vote with the courts most conservative members, thrusting Chief Justice Roberts into the courts ideological center. The chief justice has drifted slightly to the left in recent years, but aside from two votes sustaining President Barack Obamas health care law, it is hard to point to a major decision in which he disappointed political conservatives.Should Roberts become the median, the court could move well to the right, taking its place as the most conservative court in modern history, Professor Epstein said.In the Supreme Court term that just concluded, Chief Justice Roberts already seemed to be moving to the courts center, voting with the majority in divided cases more often than any other justice. The term yielded an extraordinary run of conservative rulings, including blockbusters upholding Mr. Trumps travel ban and dealing a sharp blow to public unions.This term gave us a preview of what the Supreme Court would be like if Chief Justice Roberts were to become the swing vote, said Leah Litman, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine. Progressives will lose, and they will lose a lot, except in a few criminal cases.Legal experts struggled to recall a recent example of a chief justice who was also the swing justice.Justice Kennedy himself did not like to be called the swing justice. The cases swing, he said in 2015 at Harvard Law School. I dont.That was correct. His jurisprudence contained an idiosyncratic mix of commitments, but they were fixed and strong, and they yielded vigorous opinions, very often speaking for the majority.Every day youre not in the majority you think is a dark day, he told C-Span in 2009. By that standard, Justice Kennedy had very few dark days.",3
"Credit...Jessica Chou for The New York TimesMay 15, 2019SAN FRANCISCO As San Franciscos Board of Supervisors prepared to vote Tuesday on an ordinance forbidding city agencies to use facial recognition technology, some proponents of the measure were uncertain if they had the necessary support. Two of the legislators who were for it had called in sick.But Brian Hofer, a paralegal who had drafted the ordinance, seemed unfazed. Sitting in the back of a chamber in City Hall, he wrote and rewrote a draft of a post for Twitter in which he would proclaim victory after the ban passed.Mr. Hofer, 41, had reason to feel confident. Over the past five years, he has drafted 26 privacy laws for cities and counties in California. All were approved, 23 unanimously. And he had seen enough of the machinations of decision-making to be certain that this one would go through.[Facial recognition technology has stoked controversy over the years. Heres a look back.]Hes just omnipresent and very effective, said Lee Hepner, a legislative aide to Aaron Peskin, the city supervisor who sponsored the facial recognition ban. Hes great at bringing down the volume and making it a level-headed conversation.Mr. Hofer is little known outside California, but his anti-surveillance measures have been making waves in the state.He successfully pressed the Northern California cities of Richmond and Berkeley, which have sanctuary policies, to end their contracts with tech companies like Amazon and Vigilant Solutions that do business with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In Santa Clara County, in Oakland and elsewhere, he has secured transparency laws around surveillance technology.His campaigns are just beginning. In Berkeley and Oakland, Mr. Hofer is pushing for more facial recognition bans. He has two additional privacy proposals winding their way through the states legislative process, focused on reining in surveillance technology. And he is establishing a nonprofit, Secure Justice, that will grapple with technology issues.My primary concern is when the state abuses its power, and because of the age we live in, its probably going to occur through technology and data mining, Mr. Hofer said. Thats where I see the most potential harm occurring. So I just wanted to jump right in.[Get the Bits newsletter for the latest from Silicon Valley and the technology industry.]From his earliest days, Mr. Hofer displayed his gadfly tendencies. He was raised in Weed, a small Northern California town where the politics lean libertarian and where the Jefferson movement, which proposes breaking off the northernmost bit of California and a slice of southern Oregon to form a new state, has long held sway.Mr. Hofer moved to the Bay Area in the late 1990s and studied economics at the University of California, Berkeley, and law at the University of San Francisco, though he delayed taking the bar exam when he began focusing on anti-surveillance activism. He supported himself by working as a paralegal and now lives in Oakland with his younger brother, who is completing a degree at Berkeley.Mr. Hofer started to hold technology accountable in 2014 when he heard about a new surveillance system in Oakland. The system, the Domain Awareness Center, was designed to aggregate data from security cameras, license plate readers, gunshot detectors and other technology.ImageCredit...Robyn Beck/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesI had never walked into City Hall for any reason, he recalled. But Mr. Hofer soon joined a group of privacy advocates and started attending City Council meetings to voice his objections to the intrusiveness of the system.The Oakland project was scaled back after protests and Mr. Hofer was hooked. He began seeking out other ways to oppose surveillance initiatives.Its forcing transparency into the conversation, he said.Mr. Hofer took on a range of anti-surveillance initiatives. He began drafting legislation that would force cities to be transparent about the surveillance systems they deployed, or to cut technological ties with ICE. He said he did not consider himself anti-tech and was just trying to prevent the authorities from abusing the power of technology.The facial recognition bans are Mr. Hofers latest cause, partly because he sees an opportunity to cut off the technology before it becomes widespread and entrenched, he said.On balance, its such a dramatic shift in power that for the first time, aggressively, I want to say this is where we draw the line, said Mr. Hofer, who worked with the American Civil Liberties Union and others to push the San Francisco ordinance through.Last Thanksgiving, Mr. Hofer experienced the surveillance technology he has been examining firsthand. Police officers in Contra Costa County, using an automated license plate reader tool, pulled him over and accused him of stealing the rental car he was driving. Mr. Hofer said he had recognized the tool it was made by Vigilant Solutions, a target of his sanctuary city ordinances.It showed me the real-world consequences of these sometimes speculative, hypothetical arguments that Ive been making, he said.Eventually, the officers realized that the car had been stolen months earlier and that, when it was recovered, its plates were not removed from a list of stolen vehicles, Mr. Hofer said. He was released and is suing the Contra Costa County sheriffs department, claiming civil rights violations.On Tuesday, Catherine Stefani was the lone supervisor to vote against the ban, which passed 8 to 1. The legislation was well intentioned but required more work before it could be put into effect, she said. She worried that city departments would need to hire new staff to manage the transparency requirements and that the ordinance would create budget problems.After the vote, Mr. Hofer and other supporters huddled in the hallway to debrief. He sent his victory tweet, crediting Mr. Peskin for championing the ban and noting that it was the first of its kind.Matt Cagle, an attorney with the A.C.L.U. who worked with Mr. Hofer on the ordinance, said he had already received phone calls from regulators across the country who were curious about it.The desire not to be tracked when you walk down the street or watch-listed by a secret algorithm, these are shared values across the United States, Mr. Cagle said. We fully expect this vote and this ordinance to inspire other communities to take control of these important decisions.A few hours after the vote, Mr. Hofer was in Oakland. There, the City Councils public safety committee was expected to debate one of his sanctuary ordinances, which would prohibit the city from contracting with tech companies that do business or share data with ICE.",5
"Credit...Pierre Terdjman for The New York TimesNov. 11, 2018SAINT-SEINE-SUR-VINGEANNE, France As mayor of this postage-stamp village deep in Burgundy, France, Louis Gentilhomme presided over a small but seemingly idyllic patch. The loudest noise on a recent day was the autumn breeze whistling in the trees. There were a few streets of stone houses, a 13th-century church, one baker and not much else.So it may come as a surprise that late last year, Mr. Gentilhomme wrote a letter to President Emmanuel Macron telling him that the stress was too much and that he was quitting. He could not stand watching his village of 400 wither anymore.After 30 years, Ive had enough, wrote Mr. Gentilhomme, a vigorous 77-year-old former French Navy SEAL diver. The compromises, the unkept promises and the states withdrawal have used me up, morally and physically.His letter speaks to a broader anxiety in Frances heartland. This year, like him, more than 150 of the countrys mayors, mostly rural, have quit. The number of mayors quitting their posts may be at an all-time high, up anywhere from 32 percent to 50 percent over the previous electoral cycle, according to the French news media.The resignations provide an echo of the larger clash taking place in France today between Mr. Macrons drive to shake up the countrys sometimes archaic institutions, untouched for centuries, and a way of life that may no longer be sustainable.[Read about Mr. Macron warning this past week of the dangers of nationalism as he hosted world leaders to commemorate the end of World War I 100 years ago on Sunday.]It is in villages where the presidents ambition to pare back the government most squarely runs up against French traditions and expectations one of which is that the state provides services and should make its authority felt in even the quietest corners.That has long been the role of the village mayor, as much a French specialty as the 17th-century castle that graces Mr. Gentilhommes tiny territory, and almost as anachronistic.Mayors have been a mainstay of French life since the revolutionaries of 1789 decreed that wherever a church steeple arises even if only a few houses are clustered around it there should be a mayor.It has remained this way ever since. No country on the Continent surpasses Frances 35,502 mayors, who make up 40 percent of all the mayors in the European Union. Twenty thousand of these towns have fewer than 500 inhabitants.But even before Mr. Macron came to office in May 2017, France was confronting the question of whether it could still afford so many little fiefs, which were already straining under cost cutting and administrative regroupings.Under a 2015 law, small towns were ordered to combine into administrative units of at least 15,000 people, where 5,000 had been the previous benchmark. Real power to handle economic development, to manage water, even to raise taxes passed to the new clusters.ImageCredit...Pierre Terdjman for The New York TimesNow the young president has accelerated that drive toward even more administrative efficiency.In the era of the internet, fast transport and cuts in local funding, it makes sense for these towns to group themselves together to confront these new challenges, said Jean-Ren Cazeneuve, a Macron deputy in the French Parliament who is studying why so many mayors are resigning.Its Emmanuel Macron who wants to speed things up, who wants to reform, Mr. Cazeneuve said. And that could make local officials feel uneasy about their future.No doubt it has. More mayors are shedding the sash that denotes their authority, as the appeal of presiding over the tricolor flag that flutters outside every mairie, or town hall, is not what it used to be.Theres something going on, said Christian Le Bart, an expert in local government at Sciences Po university in Rennes. They have the impression of being abandoned by the state, and of being more and more criticized by their citizens.The departures a small fraction of the total, to be sure reflect the struggle of villages in rural France to remain alive while trapped in a spiral of shrinking revenues and declining populations.But the cure, the mayors say, has steadily left them with less money and less authority, but with no fewer burdens. We do everything, said Jean-Claude Bellini, who recently quit as mayor of nearby Chaux. Its always, call the mayor, call the mayor.Indeed, experts say, even with the regroupings and the cuts, there is a logic a very French logic in keeping the mayor in city hall. Their reason for being is proximity, said Matthieu Leprince, an economics professor and expert on local finance at the University of Western Brittany in Brest. They know the turf.That has made the quiet revolt among Frances mayors whose ears are closest to the citizens mouth an important measure of grass-roots resistance to Mr. Macrons reform drive.The resistance comes at a time where Mr. Macron is looking to position himself as the leader of Europe and the chief defender of its liberal values, as Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany prepares to exit the stage.National polls show his support dwindling, most strikingly in the deep France of the provinces. Mr. Macron is considered the president of Frances thriving big cities, not its left-behind periphery.But money has its own logic, too, and funds from Paris have dropped sharply over the last two years, Mr. Gentilhomme said. Overall, the states contribution to Frances towns has dropped to 30 billion euros, or about $34 billion, in 2017, when Mr. Macron was elected, from 42 billion euros in 2014.At the same time, Mr. Macron has vowed to cut a main source of local revenue, the lodging tax, which brings in a total of 22 billion euros annually, or about $25 billion, and makes up 10 percent of the average villages budget.The tax is paid by anyone who owns, rents or lives in a home or apartment just about everyone in France and Mr. Macrons pledge to get rid of it was one of his most popular campaign promises.ImageCredit...Pierre Terdjman for The New York TimesWhile that promises to lighten the tax load on local residents, it has made the mayors who booed Mr. Macron at their meeting last year particularly furious.The president has said he will make up the shortfall, but mayors are distrustful that he will. Theres a real threat to the financial autonomy of these towns, said Ludovic Rochette, who heads the mayors association in the Cte dOr department in Burgundy. The mayors, he said, had long felt disrespected by the authorities in Paris, but they had hoped for a change with Mr. Macron.We thought that with him, finally, there would be dialogue between Paris and the territories, Mr. Rochette said. But cutting out the lodging tax was the last straw. And weve all cut and cut, and now were down to the bone.Aware of the frustration, Mr. Macron last month beefed up his local affairs ministry, vowing more attentiveness. But that was too late for mayors like Mr. Gentilhomme.Where he lives in the Cte dOr, the heart of Burgundys legendary wine country, the local mayors association says resignations have increased 52 percent over the period from 2008 to 2014.My struggle for the survival of our countryside was misunderstood, and barely supported, Mr. Gentilhomme wrote the president.The short letter back from Mr. Macron was signed, but that was the only human touch. It spoke dryly of institutional stability and promised to simplify the administrative regroupings.But that consolidation was exactly what Mr. Gentilhomme had fought against, as he was pushed from a regrouping of 11 villages into one of 26.Mr. Cazeneuve, the parliamentary deputy, thinks the consolidations could be a prime reason behind the resignation wave an end to the distinctive French dream of being king of ones own small domain.Its better to be first in the village than second in Rome, he said.But second, even in the village, is another thing entirely.I walked to the mairie every day, Mr. Gentilhomme said. And they didnt hesitate to call out to me, or even to come to the house. They think the mayor can do everything.Theres no water, theres no electricity, so, its got be the mayor, he said, mimicking the complaints that came piling down.On your own turf, people think you are the good Lord, Mr. Gentilhomme said. But in reality, you cant do much of anything.",6
"Business|Janet Yellen still supports making banks give the I.R.S. new customer data.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/30/business/irs-tax-gap-yellen.htmlI think its important that the I.R.S. have visibility into opaque income streams, the Treasury secretary said.Credit...Sarahbeth Maney/The New York TimesNov. 30, 2021WASHINGTON Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said on Tuesday that she still supported an embattled proposal that would require banks to turn over additional information about their customers accounts to the Internal Revenue Service, arguing that the proposal would help ensure that the wealthy were not dodging taxes.The bank reporting idea had been central to the Biden administrations plan to shrink the $7 trillion tax gap the shortfall in taxes that are owed but not collected and help pay for the $2.2 trillion social policy and climate legislation that Democrats are trying to pass this year. After fierce backlash from banks and Republicans, who derided the idea as an invasion of privacy, it was dropped from the bill that House Democrats passed this month.The Biden administration has been hoping that a more modest version of the proposal could make it into the Senates version of the bill. Ms. Yellen said she still backed the concept of having banks share data for accounts with total annual deposits or withdrawals of more than $10,000, with exceptions for wage earners or people who receive federal benefits like Social Security.I do support it, Ms. Yellen said at a Senate Banking Committee hearing. I think its important that the I.R.S. have visibility into opaque income streams and thats an important way of improving tax compliance.Republicans insisted that the I.R.S. could not be trusted with additional data because of recent leaks of taxpayer information and the agencys history of targeting political groups.Certainly my constituents cant condone this aspect of the Build Back Better plan that would give even more authority and a tenfold increase in the budget to snoop on more Americans, audit more Americans and invade our privacy, Senator Bill Hagerty, Republican of Tennessee, said.Ms. Yellen said the plan was not an attempt to snoop on taxpayers or collect detailed information about their banking activity.The burden on financial institutions was minimal, and there was no attempt to target income earners whose actual incomes are below $400,000, Ms. Yellen said.Although the chances of the bank reporting requirements making it into the final legislation appear slim, Democrats are counting on an investment of $80 billion to expand the enforcement capacity of the I.R.S. to generate $400 billion of additional tax revenue over a decade. That estimate, which is more optimistic than the projections of the Congressional Budget Office, allows the Biden administration to claim that the new spending will not add to the national debt.These are very important resources that are needed to make sure that the wealthiest individuals, and corporations particularly, comply with the tax laws and pay their fair share, whats due, Ms. Yellen said.",0
"March 17, 2017WASHINGTON Near the end of his meticulously formal, utterly impersonal news conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Trump finally sought a sliver of common ground with his guest: They both, he said, had been wiretapped by former President Barack Obama.Ms. Merkel did a barely perceptible double take, busying herself by shuffling her notes. She smiled thinly and said nothing, as if she had resolved not to get drawn into Mr. Trumps political dramas.It was like that throughout Mr. Trumps first meeting with Ms. Merkel on Friday, an awkward encounter that was the most closely watched of his young presidency and took on an outsize symbolism: the great disrupter confronts the last defender of the liberal world order.Worlds apart in style and policy, Mr. Trump and Ms. Merkel made a show of working together, as they stood side by side in the East Room of the White House. But they could not disguise the gulf that separates them on trade, immigration and a host of other thorny issues.Well, people are different, Ms. Merkel said, when asked to comment on Mr. Trumps style. Sometimes its difficult to find compromises, but thats what weve been elected for. If everything just went like that without a problem, well, you dont need politicians to do these jobs.Mr. Trump, who ran for office as the antithesis of a conventional politician, smiled at that line. It was one of his only smiles during a news conference in which he demanded that Americas NATO allies pay back vast sums of money from past years and vowed that the United States would no longer be out-negotiated on trade deals by Germany.VideoPresident Trump held his first meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany at the White House on Friday. At a subsequent press briefing, he was asked about recent wiretapping claims and made a joke that seemingly referred to reports that the United States had bugged Ms. Merkel's phone during the Obama administration.CreditCredit...Stephen Crowley/The New York TimesRight now, I would say that the negotiators for Germany have done a far better job than the negotiators for the United States, Mr. Trump said. But hopefully we can even it out.Ms. Merkel pointed out that Germany does not actually negotiate its own trade deals with the United States. As a member of the European Union, it delegates that authority to Brussels. As for NATO, she said Germany had committed to increasing its military spending, but noted that the alliance had other vital missions, like security and development in Africa.Ms. Merkel has consciously avoided becoming Mr. Trumps adversary. She dismissed efforts in Germany to portray her as a bulwark against his populist movement. Mr. Trump was harshly critical of Ms. Merkel during the campaign for allowing refugees into Germany, but he has moderated his words since taking office. He welcomed the chancellor to the White House for a full schedule of events that included an Oval Office meeting, lunch and a round-table discussion with German and American chief executives.Still, both leaders advocated unapologetically for their worldviews. Mr. Trump appeared to go further than he has in the past on the need for burden-sharing in NATO. He demanded not just that members increase their military spending as a percentage of gross domestic product, but also that they make reparations for past American contributions.Many nations owe vast sums of money from past years, and it is very unfair to the United States, he said. These nations must pay what they owe.Mr. Trump also said he believed that Germany, like China and other trading partners, had taken advantage of the United States. Its not exactly good for our workers, he said, adding that they had been screwed. The president said his America First approach had begun reversing that trend, luring factories back to Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and other states that had lost manufacturing jobs to foreign countries.Though Mr. Trump did not mention his executive order banning travel from six predominantly Muslim countries, he did say that immigration is a privilege, not a right, and the safety of our citizens must always come first, without question.Ms. Merkel offered a vision of what she called open-minded globalization. Refugees, she said, needed opportunities to improve their lives, in part to stabilize their countries and prevent them from sliding into civil war. She extolled freedom of movement as one of the great strengths of the European Union. Germanys success, she said, was inextricably tied to the success of the European Union.VideoAngela Merkel and Donald Trump couldn't be more different. They disagree on immigration, NATO, the European Union and trade. As they meet for the first time as world leaders, here are the factors that may shape their relationship.CreditCredit...Sean Gallup/Getty ImagesThats something of which Im deeply convinced, Ms. Merkel said. And Im not only saying this back home. Im saying it in the United States and also here in Washington, in my talks with the president.Mr. Trump has rooted openly for the dissolution of the European Union. His meeting in January with Prime Minister Theresa May, who is leading Britains exit from the union, was considerably warmer than the one with Ms. Merkel, though that came before the diplomatic rupture between the United States and Britain over Mr. Trumps claims that British intelligence was involved in wiretapping Trump Tower.An intellectual who shuns emotional displays, Ms. Merkel would never be comfortable holding hands with Mr. Trump, as Ms. May did (the chancellor recoiled when President George W. Bush gave her an impromptu shoulder massage at a summit meeting in 2006). But Ms. Merkel, who has been in power for 11 years, has experience dealing with a long line of impulsive strongmen, from Silvio Berlusconi of Italy to Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. She prepared for this meeting by reading Mr. Trumps speeches and watching videos of him. And she seemed at ease, even as the president veered wildly off script.To drive home the point that trade with Germany benefits American workers, Ms. Merkel brought a delegation of chief executives from BMW, Siemens and other German companies with extensive American operations.Mr. Trump, buttressed by his own contingent of chief executives from Dow Chemical, IBM and Salesforce.com, used the round table to promote apprenticeships, a job-training philosophy that is highly successful in Germany and that German companies are trying to transplant here.Whatever their differences, both leaders reaffirmed that Germany and the United States must find a way to continue talking. Alluding to Mr. Trumps gibes about her, and the presumption that she must feel equally chilly toward him, Ms. Merkel said, Ive always said its much, much better to talk to one another, and not about one another.Still, she could not resist one last jab at her host. Historically, she noted, Germans were more hostile to trans-Atlantic trade agreements than Americans. With the election of Mr. Trump and his anti-free-trade views, however, German sentiment had swung in favor of these deals.Gazing at Mr. Trump, she said, I am very glad to note that apparently the perspective on that has changed a little bit at least in Germany, too.",6
"Credit...Zach Gibson for The New York TimesJune 4, 2018WASHINGTON The Supreme Court on Monday ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who had refused to create a wedding cake for a gay couple. The courts decision was narrow, and it left open the larger question of whether a business can discriminate against gay men and lesbians based on rights protected by the First Amendment.The court passed on an opportunity to either bolster the right to same-sex marriage or explain how far the government can go in regulating businesses run on religious principles. Instead, Justice Anthony M. Kennedys majority opinion turned on the argument that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which originally ruled against the baker, had been shown to be hostile to religion because of the remarks of one of its members.At the same time, Justice Kennedy strongly reaffirmed protections for gay rights.The outcome of cases like this in other circumstances must await further elaboration in the courts, he wrote, all in the context of recognizing that these disputes must be resolved with tolerance, without undue disrespect to sincere religious beliefs, and without subjecting gay persons to indignities when they seek goods and services in an open market.Justice Kennedy often casts the deciding vote in closely divided cases on major social issues. When the court agreed to hear the Colorado case last June, it seemed to present him with a stark choice between two of his core commitments. On the one hand, Justice Kennedy has written every major Supreme Court decision protecting gay men and lesbians. On the other, he is the courts most ardent defender of free speech.On Monday, Justice Kennedy chose a third path, one that seemed to apply only to the case before the court.Writing for the majority in the 7-to-2 decision, he said the Civil Rights Commissions ruling against the baker, Jack Phillips, had been infected by religious animus. He cited what he said were inappropriate and dismissive comments from one commissioner in saying that the panel had acted inappropriately and that its decision should be overturned.The neutral and respectful consideration to which Phillips was entitled was compromised here, Justice Kennedy wrote. The Civil Rights Commissions treatment of his case has some elements of a clear and impermissible hostility toward the sincere religious beliefs that motivated his objection.That passage echoed his plea for tolerance in his majority opinion in 2015 in Obergefell v. Hodges, which recognized a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. In that decision, he called for an open and searching debate between those who opposed same-sex marriage on religious grounds and those who considered such unions proper or indeed essential.When the Colorado case was argued in December, Justice Kennedy seemed frustrated with the main choices available to him and hinted that he was looking for an off ramp. His questions suggested that his vote had not been among the four that had been needed to add the case to the courts docket.VideotranscripttranscriptA Clash of Cake and FaithJack Phillips explains his reasons for refusing to make a cake for a same-sex wedding. In June 2018, the Supreme Court sided with Mr. Phillips in a lawsuit tied to the episode.We do a variety of cakes. Birthdays, showers, people who just come in, we have cakes for dessert. I like the entire aspect of it. I like putting the sugar and the flour in the mixing bowl. I like making the frosting. Comes out of the oven and its you baked it just right. And its just what you want it to be and its just a lot of fun. It began when two gentlemen came into my bakery and asked me to decorate a cake for them. And so I replied that Ill make you your birthday cakes your shower cakes or your cookies and brownies. I just dont do cakes for same-sex weddings. We dont do Halloween cakes. We dont do adult-themed cakes. Weve actually turned down probably at that time that may have been the fifth or sixth same-sex wedding cake. For the most part, they all just said, Oh, OK, and went somewhere else. One case they called up later, and they at the end of the conversation thought that it was OK. That that was my right. I believe that the Bible teaches that homosexuality is wrong and to participate in in a sin is wrong for me. I believe that the First Amendment protects my freedom of religion. Taking part in in a speech, its making a statement. These people are getting married. Thats part of our culture. For me to take part in it against my will is compelling me to make a statement that I dont want to make. When I wake up in the morning, I want to, you know, do my best job to honor my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ in everything that I do. Its no different now. I think this is an important issue thats being raised and if Gods chosen to do it here, then so be it.Jack Phillips explains his reasons for refusing to make a cake for a same-sex wedding. In June 2018, the Supreme Court sided with Mr. Phillips in a lawsuit tied to the episode.CreditCredit...Matthew Staver for The New York TimesThe breadth of the courts majority was a testament to the narrowness of the decisions reasoning. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Elena Kagan and Neil M. Gorsuch joined Justice Kennedys majority opinion. Justice Clarence Thomas voted with the majority but would have adopted broader reasons.Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, dissented.The case, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, No. 16-111, arose from a brief encounter in 2012, when David Mullins and Charlie Craig visited Mr. Phillipss bakery, Masterpiece Cakeshop, in Lakewood, Colo. The two men were going to be married in Massachusetts, and they were looking for a wedding cake for a reception in Colorado.Mr. Phillips turned them down, saying he would not use his talents to convey a message of support for same-sex marriage at odds with his religious faith. Mr. Mullins and Mr. Craig said they were humiliated by Mr. Phillipss refusal to serve them, and they filed a complaint with Colorados Civil Rights Commission, saying that Mr. Phillips had violated a state law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation.Mr. Mullins and Mr. Craig won before the commission and in the state courts.The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that Mr. Phillipss free speech rights had not been violated, noting that the couple had not discussed the cakes design before Mr. Phillips turned them down. The court added that people seeing the cake would not understand Mr. Phillips to be making a statement and that he remained free to say what he liked about same-sex marriage in other settings.Though the case was mostly litigated on free speech grounds, Justice Kennedys opinion barely discussed the issue. Instead, he focused on what he said were flaws in the proceedings before the commission. Members of the panel, he wrote, had acted with clear and impermissible hostility to sincerely held religious beliefs.One commissioner in particular, Justice Kennedy wrote, had crossed the line in saying that freedom of religion and religion has been used to justify all kinds of discrimination throughout history, whether it be slavery, whether it be the Holocaust.Justice Kennedy wrote that this sentiment is inappropriate for a commission charged with the solemn responsibility of fair and neutral enforcement of Colorados anti-discrimination law.In dissent, Justice Ginsburg said that a few stray remarks were not enough to justify a ruling in Mr. Phillipss favor.What prejudice infected the determinations of the adjudicators in the case before and after the commission? Justice Ginsburg asked. The court does not say.Justice Kennedy wrote that the commission had also acted inconsistently in cases involving an opponent of same-sex marriage, concluding on at least three occasions that a baker acted lawfully in declining to create cakes with decorations that demeaned gay persons or gay marriages.ImageCredit...Tom Brenner/The New York TimesIn dueling concurring opinions, two sets of justices debated how central that last observation was to the courts decision. Justice Kagan, joined by Justice Breyer, said such differing treatment could be justified. Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justice Alito, disagreed, saying that the two cases share all legally salient features.In another concurring opinion, Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Gorsuch, said he would have ruled in favor of Mr. Phillips on free speech grounds. Mr. Phillipss cakes are artistic expression worthy of First Amendment protection, Justice Thomas wrote, and requiring him to endorse marriages at odds with his faith violated his constitutional rights.In dissent, Justice Ginsburg disagreed with that analysis and noted that the majority had not adopted it. She wrote that there was no reason to think that people seeing a wedding cake made by Mr. Phillips would understand it to be conveying his views on same-sex marriage.Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented Mr. Phillips, said the ruling was a victory for religious liberty.Government hostility toward people of faith has no place in our society, yet the State of Colorado was openly antagonistic toward Jacks religious beliefs about marriage, said Kristen Waggoner, a lawyer with the group. The court was right to condemn that. Tolerance and respect for good-faith differences of opinion are essential in a society like ours.The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Mr. Mullins and Mr. Craig, said it welcomed the parts of the majority opinion that reaffirmed legal protections for gay men and lesbians.The court reversed the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision based on concerns unique to the case but reaffirmed its longstanding rule that states can prevent the harms of discrimination in the marketplace, including against L.G.B.T. people, said Louise Melling, the groups deputy legal director.Some gay rights groups took a darker view of the decision. The court today has offered dangerous encouragement to those who would deny civil rights to L.G.B.T. people, said Rachel B. Tiven, the chief executive of Lambda Legal. We will fiercely resist the coming effort that will seek to turn this ruling into a broad license to discriminate.Even as she dissented, Justice Ginsburg wrote that there is much in the courts opinion with which I agree, quoting several passages reaffirming gay rights protections.Colorado law, Justice Kennedy wrote in one, can protect gay persons, just as it can protect other classes of individuals, in acquiring whatever products and services they choose on the same terms and conditions as are offered to other members of the public.",3
"Science|NASA Reschedules Mars InSight Mission for May 2018https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/10/science/nasa-reschedules-mars-insight-mission-for-may-2018.htmlCredit...NASAMarch 9, 2016If all goes to plan, a postponed mission to probe beneath the surface of Mars will launch in two years, NASA announced Wednesday.The InSight spacecraft was to head to space this month, but in December, NASA delayed the mission when it realized that there was not enough time to fix stubborn leaks in a vacuum enclosure housing a key instrument.NASA is now aiming to launch InSight in May 2018, the next time that Earth and Mars are close enough to allow a quick six-month trip. (Because Mars is farther from the Sun than Earth and orbits more slowly, the two planets line up just once every 26 months.)Im thrilled, said W. Bruce Banerdt, a planetary geophysicist at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., who is the missions principal investigator. We were hoping we would get the opportunity to give this another try.InSight a shortening of Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport would land on Mars on Nov. 26, 2018.However, the space agency does not yet know exactly how much the delay will add to the missions $675 million cost. Dr. Banerdt said his team had given officials at NASA headquarters a rough estimate on the order of $150 million, more or less.CNES, the French space agency, is in charge of the seismic instrument that turned troublesome.InSight is designed to listen to what is going on in the deep interior of the planet including the shaking of tiny quakes. Measuring the change of velocity of seismic waves as they pass through the planet could also offer clues about Marss crust, mantle and core.The three seismometers in the instrument, sensitive enough to detect movements as small as half the radius of a hydrogen atom, require a near-perfect vacuum to operate with precision. Tests in August revealed a small leak in the enclosure, a flattened sphere about nine inches wide. Engineers attempted to patch it, but the leak persisted.NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managing the mission, is to redesign and build a new enclosure.Dr. Banerdt will travel to NASA headquarters in Washington in about six months to present a more detailed cost estimate and report on the fixes. Theyll be watching that very closely and making sure were making good progress, he said.NASA officials could still cancel the mission, but Dr. Banerdt said he was extremely optimistic that InSight would get off the ground.Last month, Lockheed Martin, which built InSight, shipped the spacecraft back from the launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to Denver, where it is now being prepared for storage.",7
"In a landmark antitrust complaint, the Justice Department is targeting a secretive partnership that is worth billions of dollars to both companies.Credit...Tony Avelar/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesOct. 25, 2020OAKLAND, Calif. When Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai, the chief executives of Apple and Google, were photographed eating dinner together in 2017 at an upscale Vietnamese restaurant called Tamarine, the picture set off a tabloid-worthy frenzy about the relationship between the two most powerful companies in Silicon Valley.As the two men sipped red wine at a window table inside the restaurant in Palo Alto, their companies were in tense negotiations to renew one of the most lucrative business deals in history: an agreement to feature Googles search engine as the preselected choice on Apples iPhone and other devices. The updated deal was worth billions of dollars to both companies and cemented their status at the top of the tech industrys pecking order.Now, the partnership is in jeopardy. Last Tuesday, the Justice Department filed a landmark lawsuit against Google the U.S. governments biggest antitrust case in two decades and homed in on the alliance as a prime example of what prosecutors say are the companys illegal tactics to protect its monopoly and choke off competition in web search.The scrutiny of the pact, which was first inked 15 years ago and has rarely been discussed by either company, has highlighted the special relationship between Silicon Valleys two most valuable companies an unlikely union of rivals that regulators say is unfairly preventing smaller companies from flourishing.We have this sort of strange term in Silicon Valley: co-opetition, said Bruce Sewell, Apples general counsel from 2009 to 2017. You have brutal competition, but at the same time, you have necessary cooperation.Apple and Google are joined at the hip even though Mr. Cook has said internet advertising, Googles bread and butter, engages in surveillance of consumers and even though Steve Jobs, Apples co-founder, once promised thermonuclear war on his Silicon Valley neighbor when he learned it was working on a rival to the iPhone.Apple and Googles parent company, Alphabet, worth more than $3 trillion combined, do compete on plenty of fronts, like smartphones, digital maps and laptops. But they also know how to make nice when it suits their interests. And few deals have been nicer to both sides of the table than the iPhone search deal.Nearly half of Googles search traffic now comes from Apple devices, according to the Justice Department, and the prospect of losing the Apple deal has been described as a code red scenario inside the company. When iPhone users search on Google, they see the search ads that drive Googles business. They can also find their way to other Google products, like YouTube.A former Google executive, who asked not to be identified because he was not permitted to talk about the deal, said the prospect of losing Apples traffic was terrifying to the company.The Justice Department, which is asking for a court injunction preventing Google from entering into deals like the one it made with Apple, argues that the arrangement has unfairly helped make Google, which handles 92 percent of the worlds internet searches, the center of consumers online lives.Online businesses like Yelp and Expedia, as well as companies ranging from noodle shops to news organizations, often complain that Googles search domination enables it to charge advertising fees when people simply look up their names, as well as to steer consumers toward its own products, like Google Maps. Microsoft, which had its own antitrust battle two decades ago, has told British regulators that if it were the default option on iPhones and iPads, it would make more advertising money for every search on its rival search engine, Bing.Whats more, competitors like DuckDuckGo, a small search engine that sells itself as a privacy-focused alternative to Google, could never match Googles tab with Apple.Apple now receives an estimated $8 billion to $12 billion in annual payments up from $1 billion a year in 2014 in exchange for building Googles search engine into its products. It is probably the single biggest payment that Google makes to anyone and accounts for 14 to 21 percent of Apples annual profits. Thats not money Apple would be eager to walk away from.In fact, Mr. Cook and Mr. Pichai met again in 2018 to discuss how they could increase revenue from search. After the meeting, a senior Apple employee wrote to a Google counterpart that our vision is that we work as if we are one company, according to the Justice Departments complaint.A forced breakup could mean the loss of easy money to Apple. But it would be a more significant threat to Google, which would have no obvious way to replace the lost traffic. It could also push Apple to acquire or build its own search engine. Within Google, people believe that Apple is one of the few companies in the world that could offer a formidable alternative, according to one former executive. Google has also worried that without the agreement, Apple could make it more difficult for iPhone users to get to the Google search engine.A spokesman for Apple declined to comment on the partnership, while a Google spokesman pointed to a blog post in which the company defended the relationship.Even though its bill with Apple keeps going up, Google has said again and again that it dominates internet search because consumers prefer it, not because it is buying customers. The company argues that the Justice Department is painting an incomplete picture; its partnership with Apple, it says, is no different than Coca-Cola paying a supermarket for prominent shelf space.Other search engines like Microsofts Bing also have revenue-sharing agreements with Apple to appear as secondary search options on iPhones, Google says in its defense. It adds that Apple allows people to change their default search engine from Google though few probably do because people typically dont tinker with such settings and many prefer Google anyway.Apple has rarely, if ever, publicly acknowledged its deal with Google, and according to Bernstein Research, has mentioned its so-called licensing revenue in an earnings call for the first time this year.According to a former senior executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of confidentiality contracts, Apples leaders have made the same calculation about Google as much of the general public: The utility of its search engine is worth the cost of its invasive practices.Their search engine is the best, Mr. Cook said when asked by Axios in late 2018 why he partnered with a company he also implicitly criticized. He added that Apple had also created ways to blunt Googles collection of data, such as a private-browsing mode on Apples internet browser.The deal is not limited to searches in Apples Safari browser; it extends to virtually all searches done on Apple devices, including with Apples virtual assistant, Siri, and on Googles iPhone app and Chrome browser.The relationship between the companies has swung from friendly to contentious to todays co-opetition. In the early years of Google, the companys co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, saw Mr. Jobs as a mentor, and they would take long walks with him to discuss the future of technology.In 2005, Apple and Google inked what at the time seemed like a modest deal: Google would be the default search engine on Apples Safari browser on Mac computers.Quickly, Mr. Cook, then still a deputy to Mr. Jobs, saw the arrangements lucrative potential, according to another former senior Apple executive who asked not to be named. Googles payments were pure profit, and all Apple had to do was feature a search engine its users already wanted.Apple expanded the deal for its big upcoming product: the iPhone. When Mr. Jobs unveiled the iPhone in 2007, he invited Eric Schmidt, Googles then chief executive, to join him onstage for the first of Apples many famous iPhone events.If we just sort of merged the two companies, we could just call them AppleGoo, joked Mr. Schmidt, who was also on Apples board of directors. With Google search on the iPhone, he added, you can actually merge without merging.Then the relationship soured. Google had quietly been developing a competitor to the iPhone: smartphone software called Android that any phone maker could use. Mr. Jobs was furious. In 2010, Apple sued a phone maker that used Android. Im going to destroy Android, Mr. Jobs told his biographer, Walter Isaacson. I will spend my last dying breath if I need to.A year later, Apple introduced Siri. Instead of Google underpinning the virtual assistant, it was Microsofts Bing.Yet the companies partnership on iPhones continued too lucrative for either side to blow it up. Apple had arranged the deal to require periodic renegotiations, according to a former senior executive, and each time, it extracted more money from Google.You have to be able to maintain those relationships and not burn a bridge, said Mr. Sewell, Apples former general counsel, who declined to discuss specifics of the deal. At the same time, when youre negotiating on behalf of your company and youre trying to get the best deal, then, you know, the gloves come off.Around 2017, the deal was up for renewal. Google was facing a squeeze, with clicks on its mobile ads not growing fast enough. Apple was not satisfied with Bings performance for Siri. And Mr. Cook had just announced that Apple aimed to double its services revenue to $50 billion by 2020, an ambitious goal that would be possible only with Googles payments.By the fall of 2017, Apple announced that Google was now helping Siri answer questions, and Google disclosed that its payments for search traffic had jumped. The company offered an anodyne explanation to part of the reason it was suddenly paying some unnamed company hundreds of millions of dollars more: changes in partner agreements.",5
"The presidents demand for action to overturn the result of the election in the state raised questions about whether he violated election fraud statutes, lawyers said, though a charge is unlikely.Credit...Anna Moneymaker for The New York TimesJan. 3, 2021The call by President Trump on Saturday to Georgias secretary of state raised the prospect that Mr. Trump may have violated laws that prohibit interference in federal or state elections, but lawyers said on Sunday that it would be difficult to pursue such a charge.The recording of the conversation between Mr. Trump and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of Georgia, first reported by The Washington Post, led a number of election and criminal defense lawyers to conclude that by pressuring Mr. Raffensperger to find the votes he would need to reverse the election outcome in the state, Mr. Trump either broke the law or came close to it.It seems to me like what he did clearly violates Georgia statutes, said Leigh Ann Webster, an Atlanta criminal defense lawyer, citing a state law that makes it illegal for anyone who solicits, requests, commands, importunes or otherwise attempts to cause the other person to engage in election fraud.At the federal level, anyone who knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds or attempts to deprive or defraud the residents of a state of a fair and impartially conducted election process is breaking the law.Matthew T. Sanderson, a Republican election lawyer who has worked on several presidential campaigns including those of Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Rick Perry, the former Texas governor said that while it did appear that Mr. Trump was trying to intimidate Mr. Raffensperger, it was not clear that he violated the law.That is because while Mr. Trump clearly implied that Mr. Raffensperger might suffer legal consequences if he did not find additional votes for the president in Georgia, Mr. Trump stopped short of saying he would deliver on the threat himself against Mr. Raffensperger and his legal counsel, Ryan Germany, Mr. Sanderson said. You know what they did and youre not reporting it, the president said during the call, referring to his baseless assertions of widespread election fraud. Thats a criminal thats a criminal offense. And you cant let that happen. Thats a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer. And thats a big risk.Lacking additional clear evidence of Mr. Trumps intent to follow up on any apparent threat, including the potential criminal charges he suggested Mr. Raffensperger or his office might face, Mr. Sanderson said, Ultimately, I doubt this is behavior that would be prosecuted.Michael R. Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general and lawyer who represented clients that have been critical of Mr. Trump, said he believed Mr. Trump violated federal law.But the meandering nature of the phone call and the fact that the president made no apparent attempt to conceal his actions as other call participants listened could allow Mr. Trump to argue that he did not intend to break the law or to argue that he did not know that a federal law existed apparently prohibiting his actions.The federal law would also most likely require that Mr. Trump knew that he was pushing Mr. Raffensperger to fraudulently change the vote count, meaning prosecutors would have to prove that Mr. Trump knew he was lying in asserting that he was confident he had won the election in Georgia.It is unlikely federal prosecutors would bring such a case, Mr. Bromwich said. But it certainly was god awful and unbelievable. But prosecuting a federal crime is obviously a very different thing.David Worley, a Democrat and a supporter of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. who is a member of the State Election Board in Georgia, wrote Sunday evening to Mr. Raffensperger and other members of the board asking the secretary of state, who is the board chairman, to open an investigation into the phone call to see if it violated state law, including a provision prohibiting conspiracy to commit election fraud.If the board concludes a law has been broken, Mr. Worley said, it could ask state law enforcement authorities to consider filing criminal charges or a civil case against Mr. Trump.To say that I am troubled by President Trumps attempt to manipulate the votes of Georgians would be an understatement, Mr. Worley, who is the sole Democrat on the five-member board, wrote in the email. Once we have received your investigative report, it will be the boards duty to determine whether probable cause exists to refer this matter.State officials in Georgia might also face a challenge in bringing a case against a federal official, or even a former federal official, said Ms. Webster and Ryan C. Locke, a second Atlanta criminal defense lawyer.Trevor Potter, a Republican former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, said the question would largely be up to the Justice Department in the Biden administration.There is a good argument that Trump is seeking to procure a fraudulent vote count by stating that he needs exactly 11,780 votes and is threatening the secretary of state if he does not produce them, Mr. Potter said. But even if the Biden Justice Department thinks they have a good case, is that how they want to start off the Biden presidency? That is a policy decision.Congressional Democrats suggested they would examine the legal implications of the call. Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the call raised new legal questions for Mr. Trump even if it was not a clear violation of the law.In threatening these officials with vague criminal consequences, and in encouraging them to find additional votes and hire investigators who want to find answers, the president may have also subjected himself to additional criminal liability, Mr. Nadler said in a statement.",3
"Business BriefingDec. 23, 2015Breckenridge Brewery, one of Colorados largest and oldest craft breweries, is promising beer drinkers that nothing will change even though it is being bought by Anheuser-Busch InBev. The beer giant said it was acquiring Breckenridge for an undisclosed amount and would add it to its craft and import brand unit, the High End. In an open letter to supporters, the president of Breckenridge, J. Todd Usry, said the brewery would continue to make its own decisions about the beers it creates. I hope you will give us the chance to prove to you over time that we will continue to be Breckenridge Brewery, he said. The sale was a surprise to many in Colorado, with people accusing Breckenridge, the states sixth largest craft brewer, of being more interested in money than craft. Kyle Leingang, a lawyer for Dorsey & Whitney who works on craft brewing mergers and acquisitions, said Anheuser-Busch seemed to be pursuing a strategy of acquiring successful, regionally focused brewers. InBev is banking on the real definition of craft being higher quality and not who the owner is, and well see how that plays out, he said.",0
"Economic SceneCredit...Mark Wilson/Getty ImagesDec. 15, 2015This is going to sound like anathema to all those economists who lived through the inflation of the 1970s, but theres a good case for trying to double the inflation rate.Remember Japans lost decade? Around the turn of the century, as the Japanese government failed to reinvigorate economic growth watching haplessly as the economy slid into deflation and stagnation despite lowering its short-term interest rate to nearly zero many macroeconomists dismissed this as some idiosyncratic Japanese thing.Maybe other countries might briefly suffer from the zero lower bound in which interest rates could not be lowered any further to stimulate a stagnant economy because they had already hit the floor but these episodes would be infrequent and quick to fix, the experts thought.Well, oops.Today, much of the industrial world is stuck at this zero bound. Japan has still not emerged from the doldrums. Europe is barely treading water. In the United States, the Federal Reserves benchmark interest rate target has been hovering just above zero for seven years. Yet inflation has consistently undershot the Feds stated goal of 2 percent in the face of persistently weak economic growth.Weve realized that the zero lower bound on the funds rate is a bigger deal than we thought a decade ago, said Douglas W. Elmendorf, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office who is now at the Brookings Institution in Washington.John C. Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, put it more gingerly. Reality, he said, has called into question some of the assumptions that went into previous research.And that calls into question what the Fed is almost universally expected to do this week: raise interest rates for the first time since 2008, and then keep on raising them at a pace of about a percentage point per year.True, at this stage, it would probably be a mistake for the Fed not to lift its federal funds rate by 0.25 percentage points this week. Its officials have been proclaiming for months that the time was nigh. Not to do so would confuse markets and raise doubts about its messaging and strategy.Still, the urgency to head off alleged inflationary pressures seems premature, especially given that the Fed and many economists on and off Wall Street have been crying wolf about inflation for years.Experience with the zero lower bound raises questions that some are now asking Janet L. Yellen, the chairwoman of the Fed. Why not keep interest rates at rock bottom until inflation actually picks up? Indeed, why not aim for higher inflation?I dont see anything magical about targeting 2 percent inflation, Ben S. Bernanke, former Fed chairman, wrote on his blog a few months ago.For that matter, why not 3? Or, as Laurence M. Ball of Johns Hopkins University suggests, why not even 4? There is no question that if you had a higher inflation target, you would be in a situation that hit the zero lower bound less often, said Frederic Mishkin, a former Fed board member now at Columbia University.Why does that matter? Because if the economy falls into a recession when inflation is very low, it might be nearly impossible for the Fed to engineer the negative real interest rates after accounting for inflation needed to jolt the economy back to life.Some central banks are experimenting with truly negative interest rates requiring banks to charge people for holding their money. But in most circumstances, nominal interest rates cant easily go below zero.Say you need a real interest rate of minus 3 percent, Professor Mishkin explained. If your target inflation is 2 percent, youre toast because the lowest real interest rate you can achieve when you are at the zero lower bound is minus 2 percent, but if you have 4 percent inflation, you can achieve minus 3 percent with a 1 percent federal funds rate.There are other tools at the governments disposal to reinvigorate the economy. Notably fiscal stimulus, but with todays Congress, thats doubtful. The Fed could resort again to quantitative easing: immense purchases of government bonds to depress long-term rates. But that, too, could prove problematic.At the zero bound, it turned out that the Fed has less leverage than some thought, Mr. Elmendorf said. All the trillions in quantitative easing amounted to the equivalent of a small reduction of the funds rate.The risk of hitting the zero bound has risen, as slow population growth, strong inflows of capital from overseas and other market forces outside the Feds control have conspired to push interest rates down. That leaves less space to lower rates in response to a recession.The previous consensus among economists that we would rarely, if ever, reach this floor was based on analysis of the American economy after World War II, a period of mostly robust, stable growth. Extrapolating from that track, Mr. Williams calculated, a nearly two-year contraction like the Great Recession, which shaved 5 percent off economic activity, could be expected only once every 570 years.The postwar golden age, though, turned out to be atypical. Basing the analysis on broader historical data the experience of 17 developed countries since 1870 raises the odds to once every 23 years.Based on these metrics, recent events would scarcely be considered rare or unprecedented, Mr. Williams wrote. History teaches us that very large downturns are not only possible they are probable.The question is more important than ever. Five years ago, Olivier Blanchard, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, and his colleagues pointed out that the costs of higher inflation must be weighed against the alternative.The question remains, they wrote, whether these costs are outweighed by the potential benefits in terms of avoiding the zero interest rate bound.So what are the odds the Fed decides higher inflation is the way to escape this quandary? Probably close to zero.A critical problem with aiming for higher inflation is how to get from here to there. The Fed has spent enormous effort anchoring peoples expectations to 2 percent. Even economists sympathetic to a higher target are wary of what such a shift might do to its credibility.A perfect world, where you could commit to 4 percent and everybody believed it, would be great, Mr. Mishkin told me. We are not in a perfect world. Moving much higher than 2 percent raises the risk that expectations become unanchored.So here is an alternative proposal. If the Fed is too cautious to risk unhinging inflationary expectations, how about just delivering what it has promised? Among economists and investors, the problem with the Feds 2 percent target is that just about everybody believes it is really a ceiling. That makes it even harder for inflation to rise to that level. The market expects the Fed to act pre-emptively to ensure it never goes over that line which is what it seems to be doing now.If the Fed is not going to aim for higher inflation, the least it could do is re-anchor expectations to the goal it established, allowing inflation to fluctuate above and below a 2 percent average. That alone might help deal with the next economic crisis.We havent fully tested whether we can deal with this kind of crisis with a 2 percent inflation target, said David H. Romer of the University of California, Berkeley. Central banks have lots of tools. If they say they are willing to keep using them until they get where they want, they can eventually do it.",0
"Elizabeth Warren Men Can't Work Without Women ... Relax, Soderbergh 1/23/2018 TMZ.com Sen. Elizabeth Warren says director Steven Soderbergh's got nothing to worry about when it comes to a potential #MeToo backlash against women in the workplace. We got Senator Warren Tuesday on Capitol Hill where she addressed Soderbergh's concern that men might just stop hiring women, instead of changing their own behavior. She's super confident women will persist -- much like herself -- and lays out exactly what they have to offer. As the Senator put it to us ... ""women been gettin' it done for a long time.""",1
"World BriefingMarch 31, 2016 Brazils highest court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal, ruled Thursday that a federal investigation into the finances of former President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva should be removed from a crusading anticorruption judge. The interim decision, which is not the courts final ruling and can still be amended by the justices, transfers the jurisdiction for the inquiry to the high court from Judge Srgio Moro, who has overseen the investigation into the graft scandal at Petrobras, the national oil company. The ruling established that intercepts of Mr. da Silvas phone calls should be reviewed by the court because some of the calls included conversations with senior officials who enjoy special judicial standing. The court has still not ruled on whether President Dilma Rousseffs nomination of Mr. da Silva to her cabinet, a move suspended in March by Justice Gilmar Mendes, should be allowed.",6
"She fought for a more compassionate health care system, bringing an extensive knowledge of policy and even more extensive firsthand experience as a patient.Credit...Christopher KernJuly 17, 2021Erin Gilmer, a lawyer and disability rights activist who fought for medical privacy, lower drug prices and a more compassionate health care system as she confronted a cascade of illnesses that left her unable to work or even get out of bed for long stretches, died on July 7 in Centennial, Colo. She was 38.Anne Marie Mercurio, a friend whom Ms. Gilmer had given power of attorney, said the cause was suicide.First in Texas and later in Colorado, where she had her own law practice, Ms. Gilmer pushed for legislation that would make health care more responsive to patients needs, including a state law, passed in 2019, that allows pharmacists in Colorado to provide certain medications without a current prescription if a patients doctor cannot be reached.She was a frequent consultant to hospitals, universities and pharmaceutical companies, bringing an extensive knowledge of health care policy and even more extensive firsthand experience as a patient.At conferences and on social media, she used her own life to illustrate the degradations and difficulties that she said were inherent in the modern medical system, in which she believed patients and doctors alike were treated as cogs in a machine.Her conditions included rheumatoid arthritis, Type 1 diabetes, borderline personality disorder and occipital neuralgia, which produces intensely painful headaches. Her lengthy medical file presented a challenge to doctors used to addressing patients in 15-minute visits, and she said she often found herself dismissed as difficult simply because she tried to advocate for herself.Too often patients have to wonder: Will they believe me? she wrote on Twitter in May. Will they help me? Will they cause more trauma? Will they listen and understand?She spoke often about her financial difficulties; despite her law degree, she said, she had to rely on food stamps. But she acknowledged that her race gave her the privilege to cut corners.In the months when I couldnt figure out how to make ends meet, I would disguise myself in my nice white-girl clothes and go to the salad bar and ask for a new plate as if I had already paid, she said in a 2014 speech to a medical conference at Stanford University.Im not proud of it, but Im desperate, she added. Its survival of the fittest. Some patients die trying to get food, medicine, housing and medical care. If you dont die along the way, you honestly wish you could, because its all so exhausting and frustrating and degrading.She could be fierce, especially when people presumed to explain her problems to her or offer a quick-fix solution. But she also developed a following among people with similarly complicated health conditions, who saw her as both an ally and an inspiration, showing them how to make the system work for them.Before, I thought I didnt have a choice, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, who became a disability rights activist after meeting Ms. Gilmer in 2018, said by phone. She was the first to show me how to address the institution of medicine and not be written off as a difficult patient.Ms. Gilmer highlighted the need for trauma-informed care, calling on the medical system to recognize not only that many patients enter the intimate space of a doctors office already traumatized but also that the health care experience can itself be traumatizing. Last year she wrote a handbook, A Preface to Advocacy: What You Should Know as an Advocate, which she shared online, for free.She expected the system to fail her, said Dr. Victor Montori, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic and a founder of the Patient Revolution, an organization that supports patient-centered care. But she tried to make it so the system didnt fail other people.Erin Michelle Gilmer was born on Sept. 27, 1982, in Wheat Ridge, Colo., a Denver suburb, and grew up in nearby Aurora. Her father, Thomas S. Gilmer, a physician, and her mother, Carol Yvonne Troyer, a pharmacist, divorced when she was 19, and she became estranged from them.In addition to her parents, Ms. Gilmer is survived by her brother, Christopher.Ms. Gilmer, a competitive swimmer as a child, began to develop health problems in high school. She had surgery on her jaw and a rotator cuff, her father said in an interview, and she also developed signs of depression.A star student, she graduated with enough advanced placement credits to skip a year of college at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She studied psychology and economics, and she graduated summa cum laude in 2005.She decided to continue her education, at the University of Colorados law school, to keep her student health insurance a cruel joke, she said in a 2020 interview with Dr. Montori. She focused on health law and human rights, training herself to be both a policy expert and an activist; she later called her blog Health as a Human Right.She received her degree in 2008 and moved to Texas, where she worked for the state government and a number of health care nonprofits. She returned to Denver in 2012 to open her own practice.By then her health was beginning to decline. Her existing conditions worsened and new ones appeared, exacerbated by a 2010 accident in which she was hit by a car. She found it hard to work a full day, and eventually most of her advocacy was virtual, including via social media.For all her mastery of the intricacies of health care policy, Ms. Gilmer said what the system needed most was more compassion.We can do that at the big grand levels of instituting trauma-informed care as the way to practice, she said in the interview with Dr. Montori. And we can do that at the small micro levels of just saying: How are you today? Im here to listen. Im glad youre here.If you are having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). You can find a list of additional resources at SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.",2
"Credit...Don Emmert/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesJune 19, 2018WASHINGTON The United States withdrew on Tuesday from the worlds most important human rights body in protest of its frequent criticism of Israels treatment of Palestinians. It was the latest effort by the Trump administration to pull away from international organizations and agreements that it finds objectionable.It was the first time a member has voluntarily left the United Nations Human Rights Council. The United States now joins Iran, North Korea and Eritrea as the only countries that refuse to participate in the councils meetings and deliberations.Earlier this year, as it has in previous years, the Human Rights Council passed five resolutions against Israel more than the number passed against North Korea, Iran and Syria combined, Nikki R. Haley, the American ambassador to the United Nations, said in a speech on Tuesday. This disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel is clear proof that the council is motivated by political bias, not by human rights.If the Human Rights Council is going to attack countries that uphold human rights and shield countries that abuse human rights, then America should not provide it with any credibility, Ms. Haley said.Human rights advocates denounced the decision.All this administration seems to care about when it comes to the council is defending Israel, said John Sifton, an advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, a nonprofit organization. If the Trump administrations complaint is that the council is biased and flawed, theyve just made it more so.In a series of posts on Twitter, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel welcomed the decision. The U.S. decision to leave this prejudiced body is an unequivocal statement that enough is enough, he wrote on Tuesday.But Antonio Guterres, the United Nations secretary general, said through a spokeswoman that he would have preferred that the United States remained in the council. He noted that the United Nations human rights architecture plays an important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide.Conservatives have been complaining about the council since its inception in 2006, and the administration of President George W. Bush refused to join the body, citing concerns of bias. Ms. Haley has been a fierce critic of the council since joining the Trump administration and is known to have pushed for a withdrawal.Elliott Abrams, a former Republican diplomat and now a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said that the Human Rights Councils bias against Israel was too much to ignore.There is always an argument for staying, which is that the United States will be in a better position to help defend Israel, Mr. Abrams said. But this council is hopelessly compromised, so leaving is the right choice.The withdrawal comes as the Trump administration faces condemnation by rights groups and governments worldwide for its decision to separate children from their families at the border. On Monday, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the United Nations High Commissioner for human rights, called for an immediate end to the practice, describing such a tactic as inflicting abuse on children and unconscionable.Mr. Trump has turned decades of American foreign policy on its head by attacking or undermining much of the rules-based order that the United States established after World War II. Previous administrations viewed the interlocking network of alliances, trade rules and international organizations as beneficial to the United States.But Mr. Trump has ripped up the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal both of which were negotiated under the strong influence of world powers. He has also imposed tariffs on the United States closest allies and left the Group of 7 summit meeting this month in chaos and recriminations after he denounced Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada as very dishonest & weak.The Trump administration has made clear that it will not countenance the level of criticism and what it describes as slanted resolutions by the Human Rights Council that have historically been directed at the United States and Israel. On her first day as ambassador, Ms. Haley warned that for those who dont have our back, were taking names.Rob Berschinski, a senior vice president at Human Rights First, another nonprofit organization, conceded that no one believed the human rights council was perfect. But, he said, leaving it is a mistake.Countries like China, Russia and Venezuela will applaud this decision because we are freely giving up leverage over them that we previously had, Mr. Berschinski said.Ms. Haley has castigated the 47-member Human Rights Council, calling it a haven for hypocrisy and an outlet for isolating Israel, the United States main ally in the Middle East.A year ago, she addressed the council at its opening session in Geneva with a sharply critical speech, questioning whether it even supports human rights or is merely a showcase for dictatorships that use their membership to whitewash their brutality.At the time, Ms. Haley asserted that the United States did not seek to leave the council but wanted to re-establish the councils legitimacy.Among her demands was to change the way seats are won on the council so that countries with histories of rights abuses cannot occupy them. But she said on Tuesday that Russia, China, Cuba and Egypt resisted those overhaul efforts, and others were unwilling to challenge the status quo.In his own brief remarks on Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the Human Rights Council an obstacle to the progress of human rights and a threat to the United States.When organizations undermine our national interests and our allies, we will not be complicit, he said. When they seek to infringe on our national sovereignty, we will not be silent.",3
"A House report on how to limit the reach of Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook has been delayed as Democrats and Republicans split on remedies.Credit...Justin T. Gellerson for The New York TimesOct. 6, 2020WASHINGTON For all the divisions in Washington, one issue that had united Republicans and Democrats in recent years was their animus toward the power of the biggest tech companies.That bipartisanship was supposed to come together this week in a landmark House report that caps a 15-month investigation into the practices of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. The report was set to feature recommendations from lawmakers to rein in the companies, including the most sweeping changes to U.S. antitrust laws in half a century.But over the past few days, support for the recommendations has split largely along party lines, said five people familiar with the talks, who were not authorized to speak publicly because the discussions are private.On Monday, the Democratic staff on the House Judiciary Committee delayed the reports release because they were unable to gain Republican support. Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the top Republican on the committee, has asked his colleagues not to endorse the Democratic-led report, said two people with knowledge of the discussions. And Representative Ken Buck, a Republican of Colorado, has circulated a separate report titled The Third Way that pushes back against some of the Democrats legislative recommendations, according to a copy obtained by The New York Times.The Republicans chief objections to the report are that some of the legislative proposals against the tech giants could hamper other businesses and impede economic growth, said four people with knowledge of the situation. Several Republicans were also frustrated that the report didnt address claims of anti-conservative bias from the tech platforms. Mr. Buck said in The Third Way that some of the recommendations were a nonstarter for conservatives.The partisan bickering has cast a cloud over what would be Congresss most aggressive act to curtail the power of technology companies since Microsoft stood trial on antitrust claims two decades ago. And while the House report may still be released this week, it is likely to lose some of its force if Democrats, led by Representative David Cicilline of Rhode Island, the chairman of the antitrust subcommittee, are unable to gain many signatures from Republican members.The turmoil gives Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google a reprieve, even if only temporarily. The House committee was expected to accuse them of rising to the top of the global economy by gobbling up nascent rivals, bullying businesses that needed them to reach users and reducing competition across the economy, said three people familiar with the report.The report was also expected to kick off other actions against the tech giants. The Justice Department has been working to file an antitrust complaint against Google, followed by separate suits against the internet search giant from state attorneys general.Mr. Cicilline declined to comment. Russell Dye, a spokesman for Mr. Jordan, also declined to comment.I agree with Chairman Cicilline that big tech has acted anti-competitively, Mr. Buck said in a statement. But, he added, with a problem this significant, Im not surprised that theres a variety of legislative options.The House Judiciary Committee began its investigation into the four tech giants in June 2019 with bipartisan support. The committee interviewed hundreds of rivals and business clients of the platforms, such as third-party sellers on Amazon and developers who distribute their apps through Apples App Store.In July, the chief executives of the tech behemoths Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tim Cook of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Sundar Pichai of Google testified in a hearing with the committee to defend their companies. Republican and Democratic lawmakers directed sharp questions at the chief executives, repeatedly interrupting and talking over them.But the bipartisanship has eroded. Mr. Jordan, who became the committees top Republican this year, has been publicly skeptical of the investigation. He spent much of his time in the July hearing attacking the chief executives for their platforms alleged bias against conservatives, straying from the sessions stated focus of antitrust laws and Silicon Valleys market power.Last week, the committees Democratic staff made its draft report available to all members of the committee who wanted to review it, said a person with knowledge of the proceedings. The lawmakers were not allowed to take a copy of the draft with them, the person said.On Friday, staff received new evidence about Facebooks 2012 acquisition of Instagram to include in the report, which also delayed it, according to a person familiar with the investigation.Mr. Jordan now has no plans to sign on to the Democrats report, one person said. His reluctance to endorse the report may cause other Republicans on the committee to withhold their signatures.Mr. Buck shared his separate report, The Third Way, in recent days. It supports several recommendations made by the committees Democrats, including giving more resources to federal antitrust agencies and making limited legislative changes to empower enforcement of antitrust laws. But it pushes back against other proposals, like not allowing companies online to compete on platforms they operate, calling it a thinly veiled call to break up Big Tech firms, according to the draft obtained by The Times.Mr. Jordans office was not involved in the drafting process for Mr. Bucks Third Way, said a person familiar with the matter. The document was reported earlier by Politico.Antitrust laws last underwent a major alteration nearly 50 years ago, when new rules were enacted around merger reviews. The Hart-Scott-Rodino Act of 1976 required companies to notify the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department the main antitrust enforcement agencies of large mergers. Those laws are now regarded by techs critics as insufficient in accounting for the companies power to quickly expand across new markets and kill off young competitors.William Kovacic, former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, said the House Judiciary Committees antitrust report has the potential to be the most influential study of its kind since the 1970s. He added, It could lead to really big changes, but any changes would come slowly.",5
"Business|General Electric to Sell Units to Crdit Mutuel of Francehttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/04/business/ge-finance-credit-mutuel.htmlDec. 3, 2015LONDON General Electric said on Thursday that it had signed a memorandum of understanding to sell its equipment finance and receivable finance businesses in France and Germany to Banque Fdrative du Crdit Mutuel, a unit of Crdit Mutuel of France.The deal represents the latest move in G.E.s effort to retreat from banking and refocus on its industrial roots. The conglomerate said in April that it planned to sell the bulk of GE Capital within two years.GE Capitals commercial lending and leasing platforms in France and Germany provide so-called factoring services, or financing related to the sale of accounts receivable, and leasing products to a broad range of commercial customers.As we continue to execute on our strategy to significantly reduce the size of GE Capital, we are excited that our longtime partner for French factoring would take forward our C.L.L. business in France and Germany, Keith S. Sherin, the GE Capital chairman and chief executive, said in a news release, referring to commercial lending and leasing.The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.General Electric has agreed to a variety of asset sales this year as it pulls back from banking and financing that is not directly related to its industrial businesses.In June, G.E. agreed to sell the bulk of a division that finances leveraged buyouts to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in a $12 billion deal. That same month, it sold its fleet-financing businesses in the United States, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand to Element Financial Corporation of Canada for $6.9 billion.In September, BMO Financial Group agreed to acquire G.E.s transport finance business in the United States and Canada.After its various asset sales, G.E. said that it had targeted a return of about $35 billion in capital to shareholders through dividends.The sale of the equipment finance and receivable finance businesses in France and Germany is expected to contribute about $1.3 billion to that amount, G.E. said.",0
"Dec. 16, 2015LOS ANGELES Steven Spielberg said on Wednesday that he and his DreamWorks Studios would join Participant Media, Reliance Entertainment and Entertainment One to form an entertainment company called Amblin Partners to produce movies, television shows and digital content.At the same time, Universal Pictures said it would distribute films from the new company, beginning with The Girl on the Train, to be directed by Tate Taylor with Emily Blunt in a lead role, in October 2016.The new venture, which will be based on the Universal lot, appears poised to absorb and redirect the creative output of DreamWorks Studios, which has distributed its films under a deal with the Walt Disney Company since 2009. That distribution arrangement was set to expire next August.Amblin Partners also will become an exclusive vehicle for Mr. Spielbergs Amblin Entertainment, including a television division that is already making 13 episodes of the series American Gothic to air on CBS next summer. Further, the new company will produce many, though not all, of the films, television shows and other projects developed by Participant Media, an issues-oriented media company owned by the entrepreneur Jeff Skoll. In an interview, Mr. Spielberg said much of his output as a director and producer would be placed under the umbrella of Amblin Partners, which will continue to use the DreamWorks, Amblin Entertainment and Participant brands on its various projects.Its given me more bases, to get to home plate, said Mr. Spielberg, explaining that the arrangement would expand his opportunities. Mr. Skoll, who joined the interview, said Participant would continue to develop, produce and finance issues-based projects apart from the Amblin venture.Michael Wright, the chief executive of DreamWorks, will become the chief executive of Amblin Partners. David Linde, a former Universal executive recently hired as chief executive of Participant, will keep that role.In their statement, the companies said the new venture was supported by $500 million in debt from a syndicate of lenders structured by JPMorgan Chase, with Comerica Bank as the other lead lender. Mr. Skoll said Participant, Reliance and Entertainment One also would contribute a significant amount of equity to the new venture.Reliance, based in India, had previously provided financing for DreamWorks. Entertainment One, a Toronto-based conglomerate, had been a distributor of films by DreamWorks.For Mr. Spielberg, 68, the new company adds to a string of ventures that has included Amblin Entertainment, an original DreamWorks SKG studio, a truncated DreamWorks that was briefly owned by Paramount Pictures, and the independent DreamWorks Studios separate from the publicly traded DreamWorks Animation that had distributed films through Disney. It also extends what he said was a relationship of more than 50 years with Universal, where he started as an unpaid intern and later based his Amblin production company, even when making films for others.Mr. Skolls Participant Media had frequently been a partner to the latest DreamWorks incarnation, with credits on some of its biggest hits, including Mr. Taylors The Help, released in 2011, and several more modest performers. Those have included Mr. Spielbergs Bridge of Spies, which has about $70 million in domestic box-office receipts since Disney released it in October. For at least a year, Mr. Spielberg said, Participant and DreamWorks had been working to expand their partnership with a new venture.In September, Mr. Skoll in an interview during the Toronto International Film Festival said he believed the new company might eventually distribute its own films, though he expected to work with an outside distributor. One person briefed on the Universal deal, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of confidentiality strictures, said it was a five-year arrangement.Universal said it expected to distribute four to seven films annually for Amblin Partners.Mr. Wright, who joined Mr. Spielberg, Mr. Skoll and Amblin Partners chief operating officer, Jeff Small, in the interview Wednesday, said he expected those films to have broad range, matching the varied sensibilities that have attached to Participant, with its focus on social issues; Amblin, with its family entertainment; and DreamWorks, with its varied, studio-style fare.Brands are vitally important, Mr. Wright said.",0
"TrilobitesScientists dig into the diet, health and history of Danish hunter-gatherers in a new study.Credit...Theis JensenDec. 17, 2019When hunter-gatherers living in what is now southern Denmark broke down pieces of birch bark into sticky, black tar about 5,700 years ago, they almost certainly didnt realize that they were leaving future scientists their entire DNA.Ancient people used the gooey birch pitch to fix arrowheads onto arrows and to repair a variety of stone tools. When it started to solidify, they rolled the pitch in their mouths and chewed on it, like some sort of primitive bubble gum. Chewing on birch pitch would have made it pliable again for using on tools. It might have also relieved toothaches because of the antiseptic oils in the gum. Its possible that children also used it recreationally, much like modern humans do today. When they spat the gum out, the same antiseptic properties helped preserve the DNA in their saliva.The ancient DNA, described in a paper published Tuesday in Nature Communications, is especially valuable because few human bones from the Mesolithic and Neolithic Stone Ages have been found in Scandinavia. DNA from the chewed-up gum provides clues about the people who settled in the area, the kind of food they ate and even the type of bacteria they carried on their teeth.It is very exciting to be able to extract a full human genome from anything other than bone, said Hannes Schroeder, an archaeologist at the University of Copenhagen, who led the research. This sample had lots of microbial DNA preserved as well.Researchers uncovered the wad of gum last year from the site of the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link tunnel. Planned construction of the underwater tunnel, which will connect the Danish island of Lolland with the German island of Fehrman, has forced archaeologists to rush to collect artifacts and fossil evidence before they are lost forever.Findings from the site suggest that people living in the area relied heavily on fishing, hunting and the gathering of wild nuts and berries for their survival, even as other Scandinavian populations started farming and domesticating animals, Dr. Schroeder said.When researchers analyzed human DNA preserved in the 5,700-year-old birch pitch, they found that the individual who chewed on it was a female, who was more closely related to hunter-gatherers from continental Europe than those from central Scandinavia. They named her Lola.Her genes suggest she likely had a striking combination of dark skin, dark hair and blue eyes. She also probably couldnt digest milk. But these characteristics are not surprising. They have been noted in reconstructions of a 10,000-year-old British skeleton called the Cheddar Man, as well as other European hunter-gatherers. (Experts believe Northern Europeans evolved lighter skin and hair to adapt to the lower light conditions in regions where they lived much later on, and the genetic mutation for digesting milk came around once they became more dependent on livestock for food.)Lola, however, had been eating duck and hazelnuts before she started chewing on birch pitch, based on additional DNA found in the birch sample.This is a snapshot of a real person in real time, said Natalija Kashuba, an archaeologist at Uppsala University in Sweden, who also studies birch pitch samples but was not involved in the latest research. Its as close as well ever come to standing face to face with an individual from the Stone Age of Scandinavia.Researchers also detected DNA from bacteria and viruses in the birch resin, providing a snapshot of the ancient oral microbiome that scientists had never seen before. That changes the game, Dr. Kashuba said.Studying ancient oral microbiomes could reveal larger truths about how bacteria interact with one another, how they change over time or with the type food a person eats, as well as how they may be implicated in health and disease questions that also interest scientists studying the modern microbiome.The Danish team identified several species of bacteria that were similar to those hiding in peoples plaque and on the tips of their tongues today. Some included bacteria known to cause gum disease, such as Porphyromonas gingivalis. The birch pitch sample also had traces of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria and Epstein-Barr virus, which provide clues to Lolas health.For the wealth of information the small piece of pitch provides, it raises just as many questions, Dr. Kashuba said. Scientists are unable to glean an individuals age from the DNA stored in the sample. Theyre also unsure exactly why some individuals chewed it. But because people chewed gums made of pitch and other substances all around the world, we could be left with a trove of already-been-chewed treasure for tracing people, activities and bacteria of the past.",7
"Credit...Christophe Ena/Associated PressNov. 13, 2018PARIS Three years to the day after he lived through the worst terrorist attack in Frances modern history, Fred Dewilde and other survivors, neighbors and families of victims gathered on Tuesday for a subdued commemoration in the area of Paris hardest hit by the violence.We dont really know each other, but we do understand each other and were here for one another, said Mr. Dewilde, 51, who was at the Bataclan concert hall on Nov. 13, 2015, and attended the memorial held in a square nearby, where the crowd released balloons into the sky. Were all citizens of the 13th.That day, like Tuesday, dawned clear and warm for November, but after night fell, suicide bombers attacked Frances largest stadium, armed men shot randomly at busy sidewalk bars and cafes, and three gunmen attacked the crowded Bataclan with Kalashnikov rifles; all told, they killed 130 people and wounded nearly 500.For France, especially for the Paris area, the initial sense of horror gave way to an outpouring of grief, then public defiance. But enough time has passed that many of those who lived through the attacks like Mr. Dewilde, a medical illustrator turned graphic novelist have moved on to processing the trauma through writing, film and the arts.A spate of books, graphic novels, documentaries and exhibitions has emerged, as artists and their audiences try to capture and understand that terrible day.ImageCredit...Christophe Ena/Associated PressIt is the media, the history books, the artistic works, the graphic novels that circulate widely that are going to help in the construction of a collective memory, said Denis Peschanski, a historian at the National Center for Scientific Research in France. He is a co-leader of a project that uses the events of Nov. 13 to study how the memory of trauma changes over time.Memory is a puzzle, Mr. Peschanski said. After a traumatic event, whether people were in immediate danger or just watching on television, they instinctively want to find the pieces of a puzzle, he said.Creative works are now filling in some of those gaps.They are personal, but also trace aspects of the attacks that many people will recognize a body of art that also serves as shared testimony. In addition to the therapeutic value they have for victims and witnesses, the artistic endeavors, many of them open to interpretation, can help others understand what they and their society are going through.The documentary film November 13: Attack on Paris, which was released on Netflix in June, immerses the viewer in the overwhelming event, showing the trauma to individuals, to a neighborhood and to Paris, but it also shows how ordinary people could and did survive it.Catherine Bertrand, who returned to the Bataclan on Tuesday for a ceremony for survivors and families, is one of those who lived through the massacre and was moved to express her experience artistically. Her graphic novel Chronicles of a Survivor tells of her struggle with post-traumatic stress, depicting it as a crushing black ball, far larger than she is, that waits for her when she wakes up in the morning and weighs her down, day after day.ImageCredit...Stephane De Sakutin/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesThe ball brings nightmares, erases her memory of how to do her work and makes her cry easily. She feels distant from friends and family.She learns about her condition and accepts that she needs help, and gradually, the immense ball shrinks. By the books end, she can hold it in her hand and says: One day I will manage to throw that ball away and free myself.Even people who experienced traumas unrelated to the Paris attacks have told her they found solace in her work, she said.A father told me that he had lost his son and that after that he had cut himself off from those close to him because they did not understand, said Ms. Bertrand, 38. When he read my book it made him feel so good that he wrote to thank me. This is my most beautiful success.ImageCredit...Clockwise from top left: Flammarion; La Martinire; Heliopoles; Seuil.With my book, I wanted to lay one little brick that I thought may help rebuild the wall destroyed by this tragedy, said Aristide Barraud, 29, the author of But Dont Sink, one of several memoirs written by survivors.Mr. Barraud, a former professional rugby player, was shot three times as he shielded his sister with his body. He nearly died, suffering injuries so severe that he was forced to end his playing career.For him, writing the book was a way to cope with the trauma, and to fill the void left by his sport.Like Ms. Bertrand, Mr. Dewilde, 51, was moved to use illustration to express his struggles. One of his two graphic novels about the attack, The Bite, illustrated with finely drawn pen-and-ink sketches, is as much a parable of transcending fear and hatred as it is a memoir.He depicts his emotions in The Bite as a black stain on his arm that spreads and morphs into a serpent, and portrays the Bataclan killers as skeletons. The stain feeds on each of the successive terrorist attacks that touched France over the following year, including the killing of a priest and the use of a truck to mow down scores of pedestrians in Nice on Bastille Day 2016.ImageCredit...Pierre Terdjman for The New York TimesAt the books end, Mr. Dewildes character vanquishes the dark stain and malevolent serpent, finding that he has the strength to leave them behind.While no one work can contain an event as vast as the Paris attacks, the documentary November 13: Attack on Paris by the award-winning filmmakers Jules and Gdon Naudet manages to capture the day in its alternating normality, horror and heroism.As Paris natives who had made a documentary about the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, they were drawn to do the same for Paris.Their Nov. 13 documentary relies on eyewitnesses victims who survived, firefighters, police officers and government officials, including the president at the time, Franois Hollande. They obtained contemporary footage from a television crew traveling with some of the firefighters who responded, and from the offices of the emergency dispatchers.The result is a remarkable three-part account that opens with the kind of postcard images of sunrise over Paris that are beloved by morning news shows, and moves through the day and night, intersplicing interviews with 42 people who were there.ImageCredit...Bertrand Guay/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesThe main point is not to forget either the good or the bad, or to become too emotionally distant from what happened, Gdon Naudet said.In New York, firefighters, family, friends, the people who survived, they are extraordinary, their basic response was positive in the sense that they did not want to let what happened to them destroy them, he said. It was the same spirit in Paris.The Naudet brothers were in Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001, so their cameras captured the disaster as it unfolded.In 9/11 you were there because we were there, said Jules Naudet. They did not witness the Paris attacks, but wanted the same immediacy, so they asked those they interviewed to speak in the first person and in the present tense.Here we wanted to recreate the same thing but without the images, with only being in the peoples heads, Jules Naudet said.The Naudet brothers decided to show not only the horror and destruction of terrorism, but also the resilience they discovered in those who are touched by terrorism.None of the survivors talk about hatred, revenge and killing, Gdon Naudet said. You have a choice: You go the dark way or you go the way with light.",6
"Credit...Duane Howell/The Denver Post, via Getty ImagesJune 22, 2017Frdrick Leboyer, a French physician whose natural birth methods were adopted in delivery rooms around the world, died on May 25 at his home in Vens, Switzerland. He was 98.His death was confirmed by his nephew, Antoine Leboyer.Mr. Leboyers pointed criticism of the modern medical establishment was not to be found in peer-reviewed articles, in large-scale studies and trials, or in mountains of data. Rather, in his seminal work, Birth Without Violence, it appeared, unusually, in a form of prose poetry.In the book, published in 1974, Mr. Leboyer argued that the modern delivery room bowed to the needs of doctors, women and procedures while often overlooking those of a primary player in the birth: the baby.Could childbirth be as distressing for the child as for the mother? he wrote in the first part of Birth Without Violence. And if so, does anyone care? It doesnt seem so, judging by the way we treat the new arrival.Mr. Leboyer (he thought people made too much of their education and preferred Mr. to Dr.) argued that babies feel pain, anxiety and suffering, and that the manner in which they come into the world shapes the adults they will become. While he was not the first to advocate natural methods in childbirth, like eschewing unnecessary drugs and medical procedures, Mr. Leboyer set himself apart by focusing primarily on minimizing the babys suffering.In the Leboyer method, the delivery room is kept quiet and dimly lit, to spare the baby from sensory overload. The newborn is not held upside down and spanked, and is not whisked away to be examined directly after birth.Instead, the baby is gently placed on the mothers stomach and lightly massaged. The umbilical cord is cut only when it stops pulsating. After a few moments with the mother, the baby is given a warm bath.Mr. Leboyer drew scorn from the medical establishment. His ideas, his critics said, could endanger the baby and leave doctors open to accusations of malpractice. Doctors needed plenty of light to see the newborns color, they said, and as one skeptical doctor told The New York Times in 1974, a good hearty scream was important in checking the infants breathing. Some accused him of shamanism or quackery.But he also drew converts. Shortly after Birth Without Violence was published, mothers in delivery rooms across the United States, Britain and France began requesting the Leboyer method.His book was not understood by doctors; it was understood by mothers, Michel Odent, another leading French obstetrician, told The New York Times in 1989.ImageCredit...Alfred Knopf, NewYorkDr. Odent expanded on Mr. Leboyers methods and became a primary proponent of water birth, something Mr. Leboyer had rejected.Mr. Leboyer was born Alfred Lazare Levy in Paris on Nov. 1, 1918, to Rene Levy, a businessman, and the former Judith Weiler, a painter. He graduated from the University of Paris School of Medicine.During World War II, his family moved to Megve, a French village near Switzerland, where he and his older brother, Maurice, changed their name to Leboyer to avoid detection as Jews by the occupying Nazis.After the war, Mr. Leboyer moved back to Paris, where he worked in a hospital and then opened a private practice. He claimed to have delivered more than 9,000 babies using standard techniques, and more than 1,000 using his natural methods.He began questioning modern obstetrics in the late 1950s, when, through a mix of psychotherapy in France and spiritual guidance from a swami in India, he was able, he said, to relive the trauma of his birth, in which he was pulled out of his mother with forceps as she was pinned down.His re-experiencing of the trauma, he said, left him viewing the entire medical establishment with fresh eyes those of an infant.He often wrote from the babys perspective in Birth Without Violence, as he did in these lines of prose poetry:Mother, oh my mother, where are you?Without you, where am I?If you are goneI no longer exist.Come back, come back to me,Hold me! Crush me!So that I may be!After Birth Without Violence was published, Mr. Leboyer stopped practicing medicine in part to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, he said, and in part out of protest.Our society has come to an absurd point, he told People magazine in 1976. We are living in an aberration. I had to separate myself from it to save myself to save my sanity.After giving up his practice, he dedicated himself to photography and film and wrote a number of books, including, Loving Hands, a how-to on baby massage, and Inner Beauty, Inner Light, a guide to yoga for pregnant women.Mr. Leboyer continued to criticize conventional childbirth into his 90s, telling The Guardian in 2011 that cesarean sections were a form of chickening out on the mothers part and that babies were still not receiving the proper attention in the delivery room.Mr. Leboyer is survived by his wife, Mieko Yoshimura, whom he met in London in the late 1990s while she was working at a bank. They married in 2005 in what was the first marriage for both of them. In addition to her and his nephew, he is survived by a niece, Marion Leboyer.Not having children was one of his greatest regrets, he told The Guardian in 2011.To have children, he said, it is one of the greatest privileges that life holds.",7
"The Indian space agency has been tight-lipped about the fate of Vikram, but crowdsourcing and NASAs openness led to its discovery.Credit...Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesDec. 6, 2019On Nov. 19, Mark S. Robinson opened an email with the subject line, Vikram Landers final resting place (Images with Proof).Dr. Robinson is the principal investigator for the sharp-eyed camera aboard Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a NASA spacecraft that has been mapping the moon for a decade, and he had received a lot of these emails since an Indian robotic spacecraft disappeared in September as it attempted to land on the moon. But this one turned out to be the crucial clue in finding the missing lander, and on Monday NASA announced the location of the crash site, with photographs showing the scar on the moonscape.The accomplishment was a triumph of crowdsourcing in modern space research, and pointed to the value of NASAs openness with its data and operations. Most of the data from American civilian space missions is freely available to both academics and curious amateurs, who were able to scour pictures from a NASA orbiter for signs of the Indian spacecraft.By contrast, the Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, the agency that runs Indias space program, has been parsimonious in revealing what it knew about the fate of Vikram, which was part of Chandrayaan-2, a mission that launched in July. An accompanying orbiter continues to operate around the moon. If Vikram had successfully made it to the surface, India would have become only the fourth nation to accomplish that feat. But as it descended, something went awry about a mile above the surface. Vikram shifted off course, then went quiet.A day later, the Indian space agency posted on its website that it had already found the lander: Vikram lander has been located by the orbiter of Chandrayaan-2, but no communication with it yet.This week, K. Sivan, ISROs director, dismissed the NASA announcement, repeating the claim that Vikrams location had been identified back in September.However, the Indian space agency never released images or other data to corroborate the statement, nor did it share the coordinates of where Vikram supposedly sat on the moons surface. Only last month did the Indian government admit failure.Thus, NASA and others looked for Vikram without ISROs help.The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been methodically mapping the lunar surface for a decade, happened to pass over the Vikram landing site 10 days after its crash. Dr. Robinson and other camera scientists examined the images, but there were no obvious signs of Vikram. The high-resolution images encompassed about a billion pixels, and the small lander, if it were not hidden in the shadows, would be only a few pixels wide.There was a huge search area, said Dr. Robinson, a professor of earth and space exploration at Arizona State University. There were five or six people who pitched in and spent a day. They then returned to their more scientific tasks. It was interesting to do, Dr. Robinson said. There wasnt a lot of scientific value in it.ImageCredit...ISRO/EPA, via ShutterstockThe orbiter made additional flyovers of the site on Oct. 14, Oct. 15 and Nov. 11, adding more pictures to analyze. The direction the spacecraft was pointing during the Nov. 11 flyover provided better lighting and sharper resolution in the images.Amateur enthusiasts continued to examine the NASA images, and many claims of Vikram sightings landed in Dr. Robinsons inbox. For most, a quick before-and-after comparison with older photographs showed that the purported impact crater was already a feature of the lunar surface.While NASAs openness has enabled many more eyes to look over the scientific data, the space agency, with management of its missions spread around the country, is not always diligent in following up on tips.The November email came from Shanmuga Subramanian, a computer programmer and mechanical engineer living in the south Indian city of Chennai, who had already tried for a month to tell NASA what he thought he had found. On Oct. 3, Mr. Shanmuga posted on Twitter a tiny white speck that was not visible in an older image, which he said he thought could be Vikram.Two weeks later, he emailed Noah E. Petro, the project scientist for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Five days later he followed up with Dr. Petro and John W. Keller, the deputy project scientist. But it was only on the third email that he added Dr. Robinson, who forwarded the email to other scientists on the camera team, and they quickly found the crash site.VideoBefore and after images show the Vikram impact point. NASA/Goddard/Arizona State UniversityCreditCredit...NASA/Goddard/Arizona State UniversityFirst, they confirmed that the speck Mr. Shanmuga identified was not there before September but was also visible in the October and November flybys. That ruled out the possibility that the speck was unlucky camera noise.They then found changes in the brightness of nearby soil caused by bits of the moon flying upward and outward after the impact. The pattern looked like a splash of water and pointed to where Vikram had slammed into the moon, about 2,500 feet to the southeast of the speck Mr. Shanmuga had seen. The speck turned out to be a piece of Vikram thrown out by the impact, and the scientists spotted other bits of wreckage.The debris is spread out over a wide area, Dr. Robinson said. While Indian authorities had initially suggested that the spacecraft could still be operational after a harder-than-designed landing, the images showed Vikram had disintegrated.It wasnt a hard landing, Dr. Robinson said. It was a crash.Dr. Robinson said it took a few days to carefully check the analysis before he informed Dr. Petro and Dr. Keller, who in turn told agency officials before Thanksgiving.A NASA spokesman said that the release of the findings was coordinated with the Indian space agency. But the spokesman said ISRO did not share with NASA the coordinates of where it thought Vikram had ended up. ImageCredit...Manjunath Kiran/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesISRO did not respond to questions about the claim that the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter had already located the lander in September.Vikrams inadvertent strike of the moon reveals properties of the soil in the area that scientists would not have seen otherwise. At the impact point, the surface became darker. That material is not itself necessarily darker, but rather chunkier and thus casting more shadows, making it appear darker.That tells something about the cratering mechanics, Dr. Robinson said. Farther away, lighter-colored material emanates outward. The lighter streaks are not a coating of material thrown out by the impact but rather, the surface was smoothed out, making it more reflective and brighter, Dr. Robinson said. Seeing that could aid future studies of the moons surface._____Hari Kumar contributed reporting from New Delhi.",7
"Credit...Olivier Hoslet/European Pressphoto AgencyMarch 11, 2017BRUSSELS Belgiums Parliament has quietly passed legislation giving the government extraordinary powers to deport legal residents on the mere suspicion of engagement in terrorist activities, or for presenting a risk to public order or national security, without a criminal conviction or the involvement of a judge.The law applies only to foreign residents, not to Belgian nationals or refugees, part of a toughening of domestic security laws that has begun to worry human rights groups and ordinary citizens as a threat to civil liberties. Besides counterterrorism concerns, supporters of this law have been motivated by anti-immigrant sentiments, which they feel are widely shared not only in their country but across the European Union and even in the United States.Amid fears of terrorism, some other European countries have also introduced stricter immigration policies, and Hungary, Austria and the Netherlands have lowered their threshold for deportation in recent years.But the Belgian legislation stands out for its vague language, which grants unprecedented powers to the government to interpret and enforce the law as it sees fit, critics said.Last week, about 70 groups representing civil rights advocates, minorities, labor and the arts signed an open letter in protest of the new law. At least two rights groups are preparing to fight the law in the Constitutional Court, the nations highest court for constitutional matters.The law was first presented by Belgiums secretary for asylum and migration, Theo Francken, a Flemish nationalist and a member of the center-right government, in July in the wake of the Brussels terrorist attacks that killed 32 people and wounded 340.On Feb. 9, Mr. Francken managed to slip an amendment to the countrys Foreigners Law before Parliament without much of a public debate, let alone opposition. Although the law was discussed in a parliamentary committee and during a plenary session, most real discussion was limited to closed-door cabinet meetings, experts said.Since then, Mr. Francken has been increasingly on the defensive over the measure.I am not going to put someone out of the country, who has lived here all of his life and has children here and so forth, just because he got two speeding tickets. Thats absurd, Mr. Francken said in a telephone interview. That is not my intention at all.Let me be very clear. This is about 20 cases of terrorism and 50 cases of heavy criminality, he said. Its about simplifying the procedures of orders for leaving the territory.But a month after the law passed, some members of Parliament and civil society groups are growing worried about the powers that it granted to the executive branch.Were turning the clock back 10 years, said Jos Vander Velpen, president of the Belgian Human Rights League. We have six months to appeal it, and were already intensively preparing our arguments.Last year, a 56-page report by Human Rights Watch on Belgiums counterterrorism measures criticized a raft of problematic laws and policies.In particular, the report warned that a 2015 law allowing the authorities to revoke Belgian citizenship from dual nationals convicted of terrorism could create perceptions of a tier of second class citizens based on their ethnicity and religion.Belgium has worked hard this past year to prevent further attacks, but its law and policy responses have been undermined by their overbroad and sometimes abusive nature, said Letta Tayler, a senior terrorism researcher at Human Rights Watch and the reports author.Belgium, a country of 11 million people, received 107,000 requests for asylum over the last four years and granted it in over half of cases. During the same period, Belgium became the biggest per-capita exporter of foreign terrorist fighters in Western Europe about 500 joined the Islamic State in Syria.The country also served as a base for most of the terrorists who carried out the attacks in Paris in November 2015 and in Brussels in March 2016. All of them had immigrant backgrounds, and only some were Belgian nationals.The new law asks officials to weigh the possible threat a foreigner poses against the links that person has with Belgian society. It will be tougher to expel someone with strong links, who has a family and a job, but easier to do so with someone who barely visits the country.In its previous form, the Foreigners Law, which dates to 1980, allowed the deportation of foreigners only after they were convicted of serious crimes, including terrorism, and with the oversight of a magistrate. People who were born in Belgium or moved there under the age of 12 were exempt from deportation.All of those restrictions have been eliminated.An amendment in 2005 built in most of these protections, the result of a decades-long battle, said Mr. Vander Velpen, the human rights lawyer.His organization is building a case against the new law, based on the argument that it violates the separation of powers and denies a foreign resident the right to appeal.The Immigration Office can immediately, without interference of a judge, put someone out of the country based on indications that he or she could pose a threat to the public order, he said.Afterward, that person can appeal the administrations decision in front of a judge, but that does not suspend the immediate deportation, Mr. Vander Velpen explained.Government officials have offered assurances that there are exceptions in case of extraordinary emergencies when deportation poses an imminent danger to a persons life, for example.People representing groups that defend the interests of minorities said they worried that the law would deepen the divide between residents who hold a Belgian passport and those who dont. They fear the law gives the Immigration Office too much power to arbitrarily interpret the meaning of public order and national security.Those who might be affected have been vocal in their opposition. They include Belgiums 1.3 million legal residents who do not have Belgian nationality some 10 percent of the total population, according to government statistics.Aya Sabi, a 21-year-old columnist for two Belgian newspapers, sent Mr. Francken a Twitter message last month saying that as a Dutch national with Moroccan ancestry living in Belgium for eight years, she had become deportable since recently.A heated and public exchange ensued, with Mr. Francken accusing her of lying and trying to draw attention to herself.Youve always been deportable, he responded. By the law voted by the left in 2005. Why didnt I hear from you back then?Ms. Sabi replied that in 2005 she was 10 years old.In an interview this month, she said that removing terrorists from Belgian soil isnt going to solve anything; theyll just continue abroad.Thats the same logic the government applied when foreign terrorist fighters started to leave for Syria, she added, and that didnt turn out well, did it?Confronted with the argument, Mr. Francken said the new law lets him withdraw the Belgian residency permits of about 20 fighters in Syria who are about to return. He will move to do so on the first day the law takes effect, which is in about 10 days, he said.If I can keep a Syria fighter in Syria, then Ill definitely do that, thats for sure, he said. Were already taking back all the Belgian nationals. And to be honest, we dont know what to do with them anymore, and in fact, the whole of Europe doesnt know what to do with these people anymore.",6
"https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/22/business/energy-environment/oil-prices-opec.htmlCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York TimesDec. 21, 2015LONDON Oil prices hit 11-year lows in Asia and Europe on Monday, as a glut of crude on world markets and the recent global climate accord continue to depress fossil-fuel prices.Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, settled at $36.51 a barrel on Monday in Europe.Analysts say there is little to restrain continued price declines in the near term. Prices are down about 15 percent so far in December, after an OPEC meeting failed to produce measures to restrain record-high production. That meeting was quickly followed by the United Nations climate accord in Paris, which aims to reduce the worlds reliance on oil and other carbon-emitting fuels.The latest factor weighing on prices has been unusually warm weather in the United States and Europe, which is reducing winter demand for heating oil and leading to rising stockpiles of oil products. The expectation that the American government may soon lift a decades-old ban on exports of crude from the United States may also be affecting prices.We are probably going to see the weakness run at least through January, said Richard Mallinson, an analyst at Energy Aspects, a London-based market research firm.Analysts say that crude oil prices are likely to remain under pressure in the spring, when refineries typically shut down for maintenance, weakening demand.While few analysts had expected OPEC to decide to cut production when the group met in Vienna this month, the signals from the meeting appeared to show that the cartel, which accounts for about 30 percent of world oil production, was not even close to coming up with a plan to try to manage the market.Even compared to the low expectations, the meeting sent out negative signals, Mr. Mallinson said. There was no unity and nothing that looked like the basis for more coherence next year.While disgruntled OPEC members like Venezuela muttered about the catastrophe caused by rock-bottom oil revenues, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and other gulf countries are expected to continue to produce at or near record levels, and new supplies are expected from Iran, assuming international sanctions are lifted next year.Analysts say that Saudi Arabias strategy of keeping production high to maintain market share and weaken higher-cost producers is showing some signs of working. For instance, the International Energy Agency, the Paris-based monitoring organization, forecasts that supplies from outside of OPEC will decline next year.Still, those prospects have not been enough to shore up prices. Production in the United States remains strong, as higher production from projects in the Gulf of Mexico offsets declines in shale oil production on shore, where low prices have discouraged some energy companies from investing in new drilling. Russia, meanwhile, is essentially shrugging off the impact of Western sanctions over Ukraine and is still producing at high levels.In a recent report, the International Energy Agency said it expected global inventories to keep growing at least until late 2016, although at a much slower pace than this year. As inventories continue to swell into 2016, there will still be a lot of oil weighing on the market, the agency said.",0
"BitsCredit...Drew Anthony Smith for The New York TimesJune 29, 2018Each week, technology reporters and columnists from The New York Times review the weeks news, offering analysis and maybe a joke or two about the most important developments in the tech industry. Want this newsletter in your inbox? Sign up here.Greetings, nerds and Luddites. Im Brian X. Chen, your personal tech columnist, and Im here to guide you through the weeks tech news.Let me get this off my chest: Does anyone else feel that Amazon is slowly taking over the world?Riding on the success of Amazon Prime, the company is offering incentives for Whole Foods shoppers to sign up for Prime. This week, Prime members started getting an extra 10 percent off items that are marked on sale (with a yellow tag) at all Whole Foods stores across the United States. To redeem the discount at the checkout counter, you open the Whole Foods app on your smartphone and scan a bar code.Amazon seems well aware that people are so unaccustomed to getting discounts at Whole Foods that they will exchange data about their grocery shopping habits for a few cents. The other day, I scanned the bar code at Whole Foods and shaved a dollar off my $56 grocery bill. Maybe in a few months, Ill save up enough to get a free bottle of kale juice.Beyond groceries, Amazon is starting to invade our lives through the world of pharmaceuticals. This week, the company said it had acquired PillPack, an online pharmacy, in a deal that could immediately make it a big player in the drug business. The acquisition helps Amazon overcome the bureaucratic hurdle of securing pharmacy licenses, since PillPack is already licensed to ship prescriptions in 50 states.The purchase is expected to close in the second half of 2018. So pretty soon, when youre restocking your home with diapers, dog food and trash bags on Amazon, you may also be able to refill your drug prescriptions.In other Amazon news this week yes, there really is more! the company said it planned to expand its army of delivery workers, announcing a program that helps people start businesses delivering packages for the e-commerce giant. Heres the pitch: If you invest at least $10,000, you can operate a fleet of Amazon-branded vehicles and manage people who wear Amazon uniforms. Amazon estimates an owner could earn as much as $300,000 a year in profit operating a fleet of up to 40 vehicles.Its another effort by Amazon to build out its own delivery logistics. The company already runs Amazon Flex, a program that pays people $18 to $25 an hour to deliver packages from their own cars.So can Amazon do a better job at delivering packages than services like FedEx, United Parcel Service or the United States Postal Service? I guess well find out.Other stuff: Apple and Samsung Electronics finally ended their smartphone patent wars. It only took seven years. Law professors said the whole legal battle was pretty pointless. Because we cant get enough Amazon: A writer for The Atlantic, Alana Semuels, documented her experience delivering packages for Amazon Flex in San Francisco. She found that after expenses were accounted for, she earned less than minimum wage. Facebook said it was giving up on producing a fleet of solar-powered drones that would beam internet access to people around the world. The company said it would rely on other companies to build aircraft. Apples funky-looking wireless earphones, AirPods, may get an upgrade next year. Bloomberg says to expect higher-end AirPods with features like noise cancellation and water resistance. And finally, our tech columnist, Farhad Manjoo, says we have reached Peak Screen, with Americans spending three to four hours a day looking at their phones and about 11 hours a day looking at screens of any kind. As we look ahead, the question is how can we move toward a less tech-immersed future.Brian X. Chen writes the Tech Fix column, a research-driven feature aimed at solving your everyday tech problems. You can follow him on Twitter here: @bxchen.",5
"Credit...Hrant Khachatryan/PAN, via ReutersApril 5, 2016JABRAYIL, Azerbaijan Armenians and Azerbaijanis agreed on Tuesday to a cease-fire after four days of fighting along the border of a disputed region, putting to rest, at least for now, fears that the outbreak of ethnic strife might spiral into a wider war.With almost palpable relief, mediators, including the United States, France and Russia, issued statements commending the halt in clashes along the line of contact of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, an ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan.By Tuesday evening, the truce seemed to hold, though the Karabakh military reported isolated instances of mortar and tank fire from the Azerbaijani side.In a statement, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry said that on the basis of mutual agreement, the military actions on the contact line between Armenia and Azerbaijan are halted.Russias president, Vladimir V. Putin, called President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia to urge both to fully adhere to the truce, a Kremlin statement said.Expressing serious concern in connection with the wide-scale military clashes that led to multiple victims, Putin called on both sides to immediately support a full halt in combat actions, the statement said, the Interfax news agency reported.With the cease-fire in place, this latest bloody flare-up in the quarter-century Nagorno-Karabakh conflict appeared to end as it had begun, with the adversaries at or close to their previous positions but no nearer to a final settlement.After four days of battle, Azerbaijans military said 16 of its soldiers had been killed, while the Karabakh army said it had lost 29 soldiers. In addition, 101 were reported wounded, and 28 were missing in action.A war between the two former Soviet States over Nagorno-Karabakh, a highland region of mountains, alpine meadows and small villages, halted in 1994 with an earlier cease-fire but no political resolution. That war killed more than 20,000 people and displaced thousands of others. The majority ethnic Armenian population declared an independent state that Azerbaijan rejects.The weekend fighting seemed pregnant with the risk of a wider war. Russia has backed mostly Christian Armenia, while Turkey, at odds with Russia as the two countries back opposite sides in the Syrian civil war, has supported Azerbaijan.A mediating organization known as the Minsk Group, led by Russia, the United States and France and operating under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, issued a statement praising the cease-fire. It said it welcomed diplomats plans to undertake direct consultation with the sides as soon as possible.The European Unions foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, issued a statement calling for observance of the cease-fire and saying that a large-scale conflict is in the interest of no one.Characteristic of the fighting of the past days, and its risks in an unsteady region, Iran reported stray shells had landed on its territory near the south of the disputed region, which borders Iran.In this region, the mountains taper into an area of rolling, grassy hills eerily dotted with the ruins of Azerbaijani villages, their inhabitants long ago dead or driven away as refugees from the last war.Some of the clashes seesawed over these same ruins this time, however little there seemed left to fight over; all that remained were heaps of brick and tipped-over stones of Muslim graveyards, overgrown with thistles.The Karabakh military escorted reporters to the area to see an impact from a stray rocket, a large so-called Smerch ground-to-ground rocket that had landed in one such ruined village, about a mile from the border with Iran.The policy of our country is aimed at a peaceful settlement, Col. David Davidsyan, with the Karabakh military, said in an announcement of the cease-fire. But the Karabakh army is ready to solve this question by force if needed.Any truce is temporary, one soldier, Pvt. Never Grigoryan, said in an interview at a Karabakh artillery position outside a ruined village, Marjalu. He stood amid a heap of empty, green wooden boxes that had held artillery shells.We will be ready, he said.",6
"Credit...Kim Shiflett/NASAApril 4, 2016KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. The concrete block perches absurdly atop a piling, elevated about 10 feet above the beach sand. Is it art? A bulky milepost?Carlton Hall pointed to the puzzling object and explained that it was once a tie-down block for securing structures like antenna towers. Dr. Hall, the chief scientist for the space centers ecological program, said that when he started working here a few decades ago, the block had been buried. Now the sand that enveloped it is gone, swept away by the forces of coastal erosion and storms.He gestured toward the waves rolling in nearby and said, The beach used to be at least 50 yards out.On the other side of the dunes, a quarter mile away, sit two artificial hills some 50 feet high. Those are NASAs two biggest launchpads. And to the south sit several smaller ones.ImageCredit...Melissa Lyttle for The New York TimesThis is Americas busiest spaceport, and the water is coming.Like so much of Florida, the Space Coast a 72-mile stretch along the Atlantic is feeling the threat of climate change. Some of the erosion is caused by the churning energy of ocean currents along the coastline. Hurricane Sandy, whose power was almost certainly strengthened by climate change, took a big bite in 2012, flattening an already damaged dune line that provided protection from the Atlantics battering.A rising sea level will bring even greater risk over time and perhaps sooner than most researchers expected. According to a study published last week, warming pressure on the Antarctic ice sheet could help push sea levels higher by as much as five or six feet by the end of this century.NASA isnt just a victim of climate change. It contributes to climate science in many ways, and not only in the data from the many satellites that orbit the planet after leaving Earth from here.Its astronauts also help build awareness of the growing urgency of climate change. Astronaut Scott Kelly, who recently returned from nearly a year in space, took hundreds of photographs that could seem like abstract art or a dire warning; in an email interview just before his descent, he said that he had seen changes in the planet even since his previous mission in 2010.ImageCredit...Melissa Lyttle for The New York TimesIt seems to me there is more pollution in India and China than what I saw last time, he said. Definitely noticed the fires this summer in the U.S.A.; sometimes, could see the smoke all the way to Chicago.Weather systems where they are not supposed to be obvious, he added. The fragility of the atmosphere always apparent.Pondering the ProblemNASA, which has at least $32 billion worth of structures and facilities around the country, has been considering the possible effects of climate change for nearly a decade, said Kim W. Toufectis, a strategist who leads the master planning program for the space agency.NASA, after all, is in the business of risk management. By 2007, we had to acknowledge that we should recognize climate change and extreme weather as a formal risk that we should be actually managing, Mr. Toufectis said.ImageCredit...Melissa Lyttle for The New York TimesWith all of its expertise and its ability to make forecasts based on data, Mr. Toufectis added, shame on us if we are not capitalizing on that.In fact, NASAs climate risk extends far beyond Florida. About two-thirds of the land that NASA manages is within 16 feet of mean sea level, and much of it is near the coasts. We are tremendously linked to the drink, Mr. Toufectis said.Johnson Space Center in Texas sits by Clear Lake, an inlet of Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. The surge from Hurricane Ike in 2008 caused power failures and debris pileup that shut down the center for a week.The Michoud Assembly Plant, which built the enormous orange tanks used by the space shuttle, sits at the eastern end of New Orleans, and narrowly missed being inundated in Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Ames Research Center is near San Francisco Bay.The agencys Climate Adaptation Science Investigators working group, which evaluates risks for all federal agencies, has predicted that sea level rise of five inches to more than two feet by 2050 could cause widespread problems for the five coastal NASA sites.Coastal floods that might now occur once every 10 years could happen twice as often at Johnson, twice to three times as often at Kennedy and 10 times more often at Ames.NASA coastal centers that are already at risk of flooding are virtually certain to become more vulnerable in the future, the working group wrote in a 2014 report.The agency brought together the managers for each center to learn directly from NASA scientists about climate change risks. They took field trips to the vulnerable areas in 2009.ImageCredit...Melissa Lyttle for The New York TimesIt became very real, said Cynthia E. Rosenzweig, senior research scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, and an author of the 2014 report.At Kennedy Space Center, of course, the elements are always a challenge. The air off the sea attacks delicate equipment and rusts structures. Hurricanes occasionally come through, as well. In 2004, Hurricane Frances tore hundreds of siding panels off the gargantuan Vehicle Assembly Building, requiring extensive repairs. Storms in 2007 and 2008 battered the shore.Then in 2012, Hurricane Sandy sent a surge that hit the coast like a scouring pad, leveling about a mile of dune protection and leaving the landscape stretching toward the launchpads covered with sand.Already, NASA has spent much of a $3 million appropriation to rebuild a long dune to replace protective sands that have been washed away.NASA sits in the middle of a vast wildlife refuge, so replacing the dunes was a more delicate job than simply sending in bulldozers and piling up dirt.Those doing the work had to be considerate of the wildlife, like the endangered gopher tortoise, with its high-domed shell.The sand that NASA brought in had to resemble the sand that had been washed away, so the tortoises would be comfortable rebuilding burrows and sea turtles would be able to return to the site to nest. Workers took cuttings of plants from the old dunes, grew them and put in 180,000 individual plants to secure the new dunes. Now they are growing thick with grasses, sea oats, purple-flowered railroad vine and palmetto.The Storms to ComeNo one doubts, however, that more storms will come, and the warmer air and water brought by climate change are likely to lead to more destructive storms.As climate change threatens, NASA has options that include hardening facilities against the rising seas with barriers and structures adapted to storms and flooding, or if adaptation is not possible, to strategically retreat. Any such strategies will be expensive though how expensive at this early stage is anyones guess.Retreat, however, is hardly an option any time soon for an agency that would need billions of dollars for new buildings and equipment alone not to mention the need to relocate staff with extensive expertise.One thing is certain: Pads will still be needed. Kennedy Space Center will be the home to NASAs next-generation human spaceflight vehicles, and its pads are being used by private space companies like SpaceX and United Launch Alliance.In fact, the Space Coast is enjoying a revival since the dire years after the space shuttle program was mothballed in 2011.Christopher J. Ferguson, a former astronaut who now heads Boeings efforts to develop a new crew capsule for future launches, said he was excited to see the renewed activity. Communities along the Space Coast, he said, went through very trying times. Housing values plummeted and commerce ebbed. Even Shuttles, the space-themed restaurant and bar nearby on Merritt Island, shut down. Now the cold beer and cheeseburgers are back.The question is, for how long?Why the Coast?Which leads to another obvious question: Why build billions of dollars worth of launch infrastructure on a risky coast in the first place?Safety and physics tell the tale. Launching over water is safer than over land and people. Also, rockets are best launched from sites closer to the Earths fat Equator, where the greater diameter of the planet provides a slingshot effect that gives each rocket more bang for the propulsion buck. The Air Force was already firing missiles from Cape Canaveral when NASA showed up.The idea of firing from Florida preceded space travel by nearly 100 years. In 1865, Jules Verne foresaw launches from Tampa in From the Earth to the Moon.Verne, in fact, even envisioned a competition for the launch site between Florida and the Gulf Coast of Texas, with a pitched political battle for the plum program. In real life, Florida got the launches, and coastal Texas got the Johnson Space Center, home to mission control and astronaut training. Special barges from Michoud carried the oversize shuttle fuel tanks too big for easy passage on rails or roads via the Intracoastal Waterway to Kennedy Space Center.And that is the conundrum for NASA. Water, once the solution to many of the space agencys problems, is becoming its biggest threat.",7
"Kim & Kanye Home Buyer Drops $2 Mil On Historic Beatles Recording Console 1/24/2018 The woman who plunked down $17.8 million on Kim and Kanye's Bel-Air mansion just shelled out another $2 million for some Beatles music history. Sources tell us Marina Acton -- a Ukrainian billionaire -- just bought the Abbey Road REDD .37 recording console. If the Abbey Road part of that stands out to you, it should -- the recording console is the same one used by The Beatles and Oasis, and was most recently owned by Lenny Kravitz. The device didn't come cheap ... Acton paid $1.9 million for it. As for why, sources tell us Acton -- an aspiring singer -- plans to launch a single in March ... and the console will be used to record future songs. Talk about some creative inspiration.",1
"Credit...Bridget Bennett for The New York TimesJune 23, 2018HENDERSON, Nev. The clash began Saturday morning with a populist denunciation of President Trumps policies, delivered in Reno, Nev., by a Democratic senator who is one of his most ferocious critics.It intensified within hours, with a sarcastic, racially incendiary jibe Pocahontas lobbed by Mr. Trump himself during a visit to Las Vegas.And it reached its third, climactic act in yet another arena in this sun-scorched swing state, as Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts redoubled her criticism and volleyed the presidents taunt.Look, he thinks hes going to shut me up? Ms. Warren said, as laughter echoed from her audience in a crowded brewery in this southern Nevada suburb. Thats not going to happen, baby!The fast-burning, eight-hour exchange between political rivals came about as an accident of Nevada political scheduling, but it played out far more suggestively as the most direct confrontation yet between Mr. Trump and one of his leading potential opponents in the 2020 election. And it unfolded on a portentous stage, in the cities and suburbs of a state that is likely to be crucial both in the Democratic presidential primaries and in the general election.Mr. Trump came to Las Vegas not to needle Ms. Warren, but to raise money for an embattled Republican senator, Dean Heller, seeking re-election in a state where Hillary Clinton beat Mr. Trump in 2016 by a little more than two percentage points. Ms. Warren mapped her own Nevada visit a swing through Reno and the Las Vegas suburbs in part to help Mr. Hellers challenger, Representative Jacky Rosen, and had planned it well before Mr. Trump revealed that he would be in town.Yet 2020 hung over the day from the outset: Ms. Warren, addressing a convention of the Nevada Democratic Party in Reno, thundered against Mr. Trumps administration, bringing a crowd to its feet with exhortations to take on corporate special interests and drive Donald Trump and his enablers out of power. In a call to elect more women to high office, Ms. Warren tucked in an oratorical wink to the crowd: One of those offices, she said, was that really nice, oval-shaped room at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.The current occupant of the Oval Office, sweeping into an event of his own in Las Vegas, could have easily ignored the presence of a combative critic some 400 miles away. But Mr. Trump did not, instead looking away from the ostensible subjects of his visit Mr. Heller and the tax cuts he helped pass to swing repeatedly at Ms. Warren.He labeled her, not for the first time, as Pocahontas, a biting reference to Ms. Warrens description of herself as having Native American ancestry. Mr. Trump and other Republicans have questioned that claim, sometimes drawing criticism from Native American tribes for their mocking language.Wacky Jacky is campaigning with Pocahontas, Mr. Trump announced, tagging Ms. Rosen with a derisive nickname of her own. You believe this? In your state?His audience laughed along and erupted in boos aimed at Ms. Warren and Ms. Rosen, seemingly encouraging Mr. Trump. The president, who drew a backlash in November for calling Ms. Warren Pocahontas during an event with Navajo military veterans, noted that he had faced calls to apologize for the epithet.I did apologize, Mr. Trump said. To the memory of Pocahontas, I apologized.The side-by-side contrast, of Ms. Warrens event in Reno and Mr. Trumps in Las Vegas, conjured an image of a presidential matchup defined on one side by unrelenting liberal criticism of Mr. Trumps policies and ethics, and on the other side by unrestrained personal attacks on a Massachusetts progressive that are aimed at delighting conservatives. While Mr. Trump often speaks in harshly derogatory terms about his political adversaries, Ms. Warren appears to inspire distinctive scorn among his likeliest Democratic challengers for re-election. None of more than a dozen other Democrats known to be eyeing 2020 has drawn such a contemptuous label from the president, or faced as much early pressure to answer his swipes as Ms. Warren.It was in her final public event of the day a question-and-answer session with voters hosted by Nevadas Democratic senator, Catherine Cortez Masto that Ms. Warren did just that. In a tone that mingled defiance with disdain, Ms. Warren accused Mr. Trump of seeking to distract from what she cast as a popular revolt against his agenda, most recently his zero tolerance policy on the border that separated migrant children from their parents.How does he do that? He attacks Jacky Rosen and he throws out a racial slur at me, Ms. Warren said, retorting that she would not be shut up and noting as long as Native American heritage was under discussion that the National Congress of American Indians had condemned the family separation policy.And again, without explicitly stating her own plans, Ms. Warren said the effort to stop Mr. Trump and his cohort would have to extend beyond 2018 and into 2020. Blasting the tax-cut law that Mr. Trump visited Nevada to tout, Ms. Warren suggested she was just getting started.I am in this fight, she said. And I am in this fight all the way.",3
"MMA Fighter Sergio Da Silva Pleads Not Guilty To Robbing Bank 1/29/2018 MMA Fighter Sergio da Silva just pled not guilty to robbing a NYC bank over the summer ... TMZ Sports has learned. Officials say Silva -- who fought at Bellator 180 -- busted into a CitiBank in Queens on August 24 claiming to have a gun, and threatening to shoot whoever didn't cooperate. Cops say Silva got away with around $50k in cash. Silva was arrested, and charged with 2 felony robbery charges ... including 1st degree robbery while displaying a firearm. SdS's attorney, David Fish, tells us, ""We intend to show at trial that hes not guilty of what hes alleged to have committed. The allegations are very serious. I think Sergio has a lot of confidence in that the truth will come out at trial."" Silva, who was present in the NYC court, pled not guilty to both charges. He's due back in court in April.",1
"Rangers 4, Islanders 1Credit...Frank Franklin Ii/Associated PressJan. 31, 2014After the exhilaration of two victories at Yankee Stadium, it was back to reality, and a foreboding one at that, for Rangers fans on Friday. As they sat in Madison Square Garden and watched the Rangers beat the Islanders, 4-1, the fans knew they might be watching Ryan Callahans last game with the team.All day and into the evening, Rangers fans on social media expressed their anxiety as rumors mounted that Callahan, the team captain and one of their favorite players, might be traded for salary reasons. General Manager Glen Sather gave multiple teams permission to talk with Callahans agent, Steve Bartlett, after months of negotiations failed to produce a new contract. At this point I can only say that we certainly have not closed the door to ongoing discussions with the Rangers, Bartlett said in an email on Friday. I also understand and expect that the team would naturally explore other options between now and the trade deadline in the event we are unable to reach an agreement.After the game, as reporters surrounded his dressing-room stall, Callahan said, I havent heard the rumors tonight. He said reports that teams had been given permission to speak to his agent were news to me. Asked if he had stepped on the ice thinking this might be his last game as a Ranger, Callahan said: My hearts here. I want to be here. Thats all I think about on the ice. All right, guys? Callahan, 28, drafted by the Rangers in 2004 and the captain since September 2011, is a decent scorer and a fixture on the second line. But for seven and a half seasons he has been an inspirational on-ice presence, sacrificing his body as one of the N.H.L.s premier shot-blocking and body-checking forwards, and the personification of the Rangers hard-working, scrappy approach. His play earned him a trip to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics with the United States team, and he is set to be in the Americans lineup again at Sochi. But Callahans contract with the Rangers expires at the end of the season. Bartlett is believed to be asking for a seven-year deal for $42 million perhaps too much for the Rangers under the salary cap.Sather would want to get something in return for Callahan rather than see him walk away as a free agent in July. That is why Callahan might be moved by the March 5 trade deadline, or perhaps by the N.H.L.s pre-Olympic roster freeze on Feb. 7. One frequently reported rumor had Callahan being sent to St. Louis in exchange for Chris Stewart, another right wing, who scores at a similar pace but does not have the same reputation for checking prowess or leadership. Another had Callahan going to the Columbus Blue Jackets. That was buttressed by the presence of John Davidson, the Blue Jackets president, who was at the game to help the Rangers salute Sam Rosen for his 30 years as the teams television play-by-play man. Davidson was Rosens partner in the booth for 20 of those years, but his current job fueled trade talk.Other teams had a presence Friday. Scouts from Detroit, Tampa Bay, Montreal and San Jose were on the press-row seating chart. Two Rangers scouts were at the Boston-Montreal game Thursday night.The Rangers were the designated visitors for their two outdoor games in the Bronx to preserve the Madison Square Garden Companys tax exemption, which stipulates that the Garden must be their only home rink. Unlike the Yankee Stadium ice, which was choppy for the Rangers 7-3 win over the Devils on Sunday afternoon and their 2-1 victory over the Islanders on Wednesday night, the Garden ice was smooth. Marc Staal, who had two assists, summed up the difference between the Garden on Friday and the Stadium on Wednesday. It felt like a sauna in the first period, he said.Derick Brassard broke a 1-1 tie at 12 minutes 14 seconds in the third. Brad Richards helped assure the victory with a goal at 14:59, after being put in the clear by a pass from Callahan. Ryan McDonagh added an empty-netter with a second left. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist finished with 38 saves.It was the Rangers second straight victory over the Islanders, and it gave them the season series, 3-2. They are 9-3 in their last 12 games and are in second place in the Metropolitan Division, 4 points ahead of Carolina. The Rangers are hot and improving as the season nears its home stretch. Yet they may trade their captain.Im a big fan of Ryan Callahan, Coach Alain Vigneault said after the game. I know he wants to be here. Contracts have nothing to do with me. Im hoping that both parties can come to agreement.",4
"Health|U.S. Malaria Donations Saved Almost 2 Million African Childrenhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/26/health/us-foreign-aid-malaria.htmlGlobal HealthCredit...John Wessels/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesJune 26, 2017Over the last decade, American donations to fight malaria in Africa have saved the lives of nearly two million children, according to a new analysis of mortality rates in 32 countries there.The study, published by PLOS Medicine this month, looked at the long-term effects of the Presidents Malaria Initiative, a program started by President George W. Bush in 2005 that has spent over $500 million a year since 2010.The results debunk one of the persistent myths of foreign aid: that it has no effect because more children survive each year anyway as economies improve.The researchers economists from the University of North Carolina and Harvard looked at death rates for children under 5, contrasting the 19 countries that get American malaria aid (mostly in the form of mosquito nets, house spraying and malaria pills) with 13 countries that do not.They adjusted the data to filter out neonatal deaths and lives saved by other medical interventions, such as childhood vaccines supplied by donors or H.I.V. drugs paid for by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, or by the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which was also initiated by Mr. Bush.They found that countries helped by the malaria initiative had 16 percent fewer deaths in that age group, which amounts to about 1.7 million lives of babies and toddlers saved since the program began, said Harsha Thirumurthy, a health economist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the lead author.The study was not commissioned or paid for by the malaria agency, Dr. Thirumurthy added.We thought it was essential to evaluate how P.M.I. was working, he said, referring to the Presidents Malaria Initiative. We gave them a heads-up that we were doing the analysis, but we didnt share the results with them till they were in print.I welcome this independent external analysis, said Rear Adm. R Timothy Ziemer, coordinator of the initiative from its inception until early this year. P.M.I.s effective approach demonstrates to all what can be accomplished in fighting malaria with U.S. leadership.In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Eran Bendavid, a health-policy specialist at Stanford University, called the studys conclusions striking.Health-related foreign aid, he noted, amounts to less than a penny of every taxpayer dollar spent but pays dividends in two ways: Relatively small contributions save many lives, and countries that receive such aid have overwhelmingly favorable views of the United States. In the Pew Research Centers Global Attitudes & Trends surveys over the last 15 years, Dr. Bendavid said in an email, 75 percent or more of residents of Ghana, Kenya, Ivory Coast and Senegal usually said they regard the United States favorably.",2
"On Politics With Lisa LererAfter years of excusing or ignoring President Trumps most inflammatory rhetoric, many Republicans are backing away at the last minute.Jan. 9, 2021Hi. Welcome to On Politics, your wrap-up of the week in national politics. Im Lisa Lerer, your host.Sign up here to get On Politics in your inbox every weekday.ImageCredit...Jonathan Ernst/ReutersFirst came the mobs deadly rioting. Then the G.O.P.s reputation laundering.With less than two weeks left in the Trump administration, a number of Republicans are experiencing some last-minute revelations about the presidents character, inflammatory rhetoric and polarizing leadership of the country.All I can say is, count me out. Enough is enough. Ive tried to be helpful, said Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of President Trumps strongest allies, who once promised earth-shattering revelations of voter fraud that he falsely argued had cost Mr. Trump the election. Now, after the violent breach of the Capitol this past week, Mr. Graham is refusing to rule out using the 25th Amendment to strip his former friend of his presidential powers.Mr. Graham is far from alone in scurrying away from all the praise hes lavished on the president over the past four years. As a shaken Washington recovered from the violent attack on the Capitol, Republicans embraced the traditional tools of political self-preservation, offering resignations and strongly worded letters, anonymously sourced accounts of shouting matches and after-the-fact public condemnations.Administration officials anonymously spread the word, through Axios, that they would defy any requests from Mr. Trump that they believe would put the nation at risk or break the law, raising the obvious question of whether they would have carried out illegal or dangerous orders over the past four years.Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos quit their posts, saying they were deeply troubled by the presidents handling of the riot. Ms. Chao, its worth noting, stood next to Mr. Trump at the 2017 news conference where he insisted that both sides deserved blame after white supremacists incited deadly violence in Charlottesville, Va.At least seven lower-ranking members of the Trump administration also resigned, while many more fretted that they would be unemployable.Now it will always be, Oh yeah, you work for the guy who tried to overtake the government, said Mick Mulvaney, the presidents former acting chief of staff who resigned Wednesday as special envoy to Northern Ireland.Mr. Mulvaney told CNBC that the president was not the same as he was eight months ago, when they spoke more frequently. Left unstated was whether Mr. Trump was the same as he was four years ago, when Mr. Mulvaney called him a terrible human being ahead of the 2016 election.Mr. Mulvaneys journey with the president highlights one of the most striking features of the ongoing Republican revisionism. Many in the G.O.P. warned publicly during the 2016 campaign that Mr. Trump was fomenting exactly the kind of violence that the country witnessed on Wednesday concerns that were quickly set aside once he took office.Of course, some Republican officials may be truly horrified by Mr. Trumps egging on of his supporters on Wednesday and his refusal to take immediate action to stop a violent takeover of the Capitol. Many of those same Republicans frequently offered private condemnations of his actions throughout his presidency objections they studiously kept off the record.But with less than 275 hours left in the Trump presidency, its hard not to see the political posturing embedded in their now-public condemnations.Many inside and outside Washington are setting their sights on the new political reality to come with a Democratic-controlled government. After years of declining to police Mr. Trumps falsehood-filled and threatening social media posts, Twitter on Friday permanently suspended his @realDonaldTrump account due to the risk of further incitement of violence. Mark Zuckerberg had earlier barred the president from Facebook and Instagram through at least the end of his term.Many of Mr. Zuckerbergs employees noted that Democrats had secured control of the Senate before he took the action.But at this point, its an open question whether any powerful Republicans will pay a serious price for their implicit or explicit support of Mr. Trumps inflammatory rhetoric and dalliances with violence. So far, the penalties seem to be measured mostly in bad media coverage.Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, who championed efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election, was publicly disowned by his political mentor, disavowed by some of his donors and dropped by his book publisher a move he blamed on a woke mob. Other elected Republicans were condemned by their hometown newspapers in scathing editorials. Cracks even emerged in Rupert Murdochs media empire as The Wall Street Journals editorial page, which has been a regular Trump cheerleader for years, called on the president to resign.Meanwhile, Democrats are pressing for resignations and permanent bans from the public sector for Trump aides, supporters and allies. Many would like to see criminal prosecutions once President-elect Joe Biden takes office. Some are even pushing to rid the federal government of all political appointees and civil servants who supported Mr. Trump.Its unclear whether Mr. Biden will back such efforts. Tough investigations into the previous administration could complicate his campaign promise to unite the country and his ability to get Republican support for his legislative goals. On Friday, he avoided expressing views on specific punitive actions, saying that hed leave those judgments to his Justice Department and that voters should determine the future of politicians like Mr. Hawley and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, another Trump ally who backed the effort to overturn the election results.For all the Republicans attempting to distance themselves from the president, 147 of them still voted to reject the results even after the siege of the Capitol. Since then, a segment of the party has embarked upon an effort to reshape reality, downplaying the violence and suggesting that far-left activists had infiltrated the crowd and posed as fans of the president.This is obviously ridiculous: The rioters discussed plans to invade the Capitol for weeks in public social media posts. And Mr. Trump didnt blame antifa for the rampage instead, he told the mob, We love you. Still, those claims will echo through right-wing media, major news sources for the large number of activists and voters who remain loyal to Mr. Trump.Some Republicans may be trying to jump off the Trump train at the final station. But theyve already spent years helping fuel the engine.Were you forwarded this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.Thanks for reading. On Politics is your guide to the political news cycle, delivering clarity from the chaos.Is there anything you think were missing? Anything you want to see more of? Wed love to hear from you. Email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com.",3
"Asia Pacific|Pompeo Meeting With North Korean Diplomat Postponedhttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/07/world/asia/pompeo-meeting-kim-yong-chol.htmlCredit...Pool photo by Andrew HarnikNov. 7, 2018HONG KONG A meeting in New York this week between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Koreas leading nuclear weapons negotiator has been called off, the State Department said Wednesday.The meeting, which had been scheduled for Thursday, will now take place at a later date, Heather Nauert, a State Department spokeswoman, said in a written statement. We will reconvene when our respective schedules permit.No reason was given for the decision, and the statement did not indicate which side requested it. The postponement of the meeting threw another wrench in Washingtons efforts to get North Korea to denuclearize.The State Department had said earlier that Mr. Pompeo planned to meet with Kim Yong-chol, North Koreas former intelligence chief and top diplomat. They were expected to discuss the goals established at the June summit meeting in Singapore between President Trump and Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, including achieving the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea, Ms. Nauert said.Mr. Pompeo traveled to North Korea last month and met with the North Korean leader, who said he would allow outside inspectors to visit a nuclear testing site the North said it had destroyed.The two men also discussed a potential second summit meeting with Mr. Trump. But the abrupt postponement of the Thursday meeting has raised questions about the potential for progress on negotiations over North Koreas nuclear and missile programs.Pyongyang has said it wants a declaration of a formal end to the Korean War, which was only halted under an armistice. It has also called for an easing of sanctions in exchange for steps toward denuclearization.The United States, however, wants North Korea to provide a full accounting of its nuclear program as a start to the process, and has resisted any easing of sanctions.South Korean officials said that negotiations were moving ahead and cautioned against placing too much significance on the delayed meeting.I dont think the North Korea-U.S. talks have been canceled or dialogue has lost steam, said Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, the Yonhap News Agency reported.Canceled meetings have been a regular feature of interactions between the United States and North Korea over the last year. But talks have thus far eventually proceeded after delays.Mr. Trump called off the summit meeting with Kim Jong-un in May, but then announced it was back on after he met in early June with Kim Yong-chol. The president also abruptly canceled Mr. Pompeos trip to North Korea in August, citing a lack of progress in talks. But Mr. Pompeo traveled to Pyongyang in October, his fourth trip in less than a year.",6
"New, international standards for handling ancient genetic material draw support from many scientists, criticism from others.Credit...Gabriella Marks for The New York TimesPublished Oct. 20, 2021Updated Oct. 25, 2021In 2017, a team of scientists successfully extracted the DNA of members of a Pueblo community who were buried starting around 1,300 years ago in what is now Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. The DNA suggested that these people had lived in a matrilineal society, with power passed down through generations of mothers.The paper was a powerful example of how ancient DNA could illuminate the lives of people who died long ago.It was also a case study in poor ethics, some researchers contended at the time. They alleged that the scientists had failed to consult with local tribes and used culturally insensitive terms, such as referring to a tribal ancestor as cranium 14.Such criticisms have grown more numerous in the past decade as the practice of extracting DNA from ancient human remains has become more widespread, thanks to advances in genetic-sequencing technologies.On Wednesday, an international group of researchers who work on ancient DNA articulated a set of ethics guidelines to ensure that their work does no harm, either to the once-living people they study or to the modern communities who have a stake in the matter. Their perspective, published in the journal Nature and translated into more than 20 languages, listed 64 authors from 31 countries, and represented every continent except for Antarctica.The group met virtually starting in November 2020 to hash out the guidelines.This paper sets the steps toward new policies in aDNA research, Hiba Babiker, a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Pln, Germany, and an author on the paper, wrote in a message.The researchers hope the guidelines will be taken up by the wider community engaged in ancient DNA research, Rodrigo Nores, a researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina and an author on the paper, wrote in an email.The paper specifies five general guidelines for ancient DNA researchers: that they follow local regulations, prepare a detailed plan before any study, minimize damage to human bones, make data available for re-examination and, to ensure respect and sensitivity, engage with all stakeholders before starting any study.Many scientists who were not involved in the virtual meeting expressed support for the guidelines.I will say that its encouraging to see a group of scientists like this say we have talked about this standard of behavior and were willing to agree to it, said John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was not involved with the paper. Its a step forward for them to say at least were going to follow the law.But some researchers criticized the past actions of some authors of the guidelines, including several who worked on the Chaco Canyon paper.If I look at the five principles theyve come up with, said Maui Hudson, an associate professor at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, they seem like theyre stating what they should be doing anyway and not really pushing toward the place where Indigenous communities would like them to be.Some outside researchers found the guidelines vague. We need to be as sophisticated in our applications and understandings of bioethics and decolonial practice as we are with ancient DNA, said Rick W.A. Smith, a biocultural anthropologist at George Mason University, who was not involved with the research.Still other scientists, many of them Indigenous, who have written extensively about ethics in ancient DNA research, wondered why they were not asked to be involved.ImageCredit...Kayana Szymczak for The New York TimesI was a bit surprised that a meeting like this happened and that I was not invited, said Nanibaa Garrison, a bioethicist and geneticist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who works on the project aDNA Ethics, which is focused on the ethics of studying North American ancient DNA. They talk about community engagement but fail to engage the community of researchers who have been involved in that space, too.Krystal Tsosie, a genetics researcher at Vanderbilt University, wrote in an email, I feel like this entire paper is really geared toward excusing paleogenomicists extraction of data without the consent of communities.The authors of the new paper intentionally chose to invite only active practitioners of ancient DNA research, according to Kendra Sirak, a paleogeneticist at Harvard Medical School and one of the authors. They also emphasize that these guidelines come from a particular group of scholars in the ancient DNA community.We realized that whats lacking in this field is a statement from a group of practitioners from all over the world, so thats what we wanted to contribute here, said Dr. Sirak, who works in the lab of David Reich, one of the leading experts in ancient DNA.The new paper is not the first published set of ethics guidelines on the issue. In 2018, a group of scientists based in North America published guidelines for ancient DNA research the first recommendations approved by a professional organization, the American Society of Human Genetics.But concerns arose during the virtual workshop that the guidelines of that paper could not be extended worldwide, the authors said. Our lab is global, and we heard from a lot of our collaborators who said those guidelines are good steppingstones but not universally applicable, said Jakob Sedig, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Reichs lab.The task of creating globally applicable guidelines for ancient DNA research is daunting, as historical and cultural context and regulations vary widely across the world, the authors noted in the new paper. In the United States and Hawaii, where Indigenous peoples were historically displaced by white settlers, it is critical to center Indigenous perspectives, said Nathan Nakatsuka, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School and an author on the paper. Elsewhere in the world, the authors contend that consulting with communities who live in the vicinity of a site or profess ties to it does not always make sense.The fourth recommendation in the new paper, on making data available after publication to check the scientific findings, garnered much debate. The guidelines call making data fully open a best practice, but would require only that other researchers be allowed to confirm the accuracy of the original study.Many authors made the case for fully open data, Dr. Sirak said; restricted data access could tilt the availability of such data to larger, well-funded labs, they argued. But we saw instances where we could possibly justify limiting data if there were concerns, Dr. Sirak said.If any researcher can gain access to ancient DNA for new purposes, Mr. Hudson said, related communities would lose the opportunity to determine how the data is used.Dr. Hawks suggested that ancient DNA could offer an unethical shortcut to modern DNA. If youre working on skeletal remains from a region of the world that we know historically was occupied by ancestors or relatives of an Indigenous group today, thats an avenue to capitalize on information from an Indigenous group while circumventing these research ethics, Dr. Hawks said.The final guideline asks that researchers engage with stakeholders to ensure the research is conducted with respect and sensitivity to all people involved, living and dead.Some outside researchers felt these guidelines siloed researchers and stakeholders. Most of these guidelines seem to be about ancient DNA researchers working in isolation of communities and not with communities, said Ripan Malhi, a genetic anthropologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who was not involved with the paper.The authors on the new paper say they hope to continue the conversation around the ethics of ancient DNA. I think every single one of us is open to having discussions now with a wider group of people, Dr. Sirak said.Dr. Malhi said: I do like the conversation. But I guess I would want to see the conversation not erasing guidelines and topics and people that have been talking about ethics for a long time on genetics in the past.",7
"Politics|Betsy DeVos, education secretary, is the second cabinet member to resign.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/us/politics/betsy-devos-resigns.htmlCredit...Nicholas Kamm/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesJan. 7, 2021Education Secretary Betsy DeVos submitted her resignation in a letter to President Trump on Thursday, saying she would step down the next day over the rampage at the Capitol by his supporters.Ms. DeVos joins a growing exodus of administration officials in the final days of the Trump administration. She is the second cabinet-level official to step down; Elaine Chao, the transportation secretary, also resigned on Thursday.We should be highlighting and celebrating your administrations many accomplishments on behalf of the American people, Ms. DeVos wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The New York Times. Instead, we are left to clean up the mess caused by violent protesters overrunning the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to undermine the peoples business.That behavior was unconscionable for our country, she added. There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me.Ms. DeVos was one of the first cabinet secretaries to condemn the violent mob on Capitol Hill.The peaceful transfer of power is what separates American representative democracy from banana republics, Ms. DeVos said in a statement posted to Twitter on Wednesday evening, hours after the storming of the Capitol. The work of the people must go on.Ms. DeVos was one of the most effective, polarizing and longest-serving Cabinet members in the Trump administration. She was seen as fiercely loyal to the president, at least publicly.In her resignation letter, Ms. DeVos praised President Trump for championing her school choice agenda, in which she sought to bolster voucher programs that allow students to seek alternatives to public schools. She also saluted one aspect of his coronavirus response, saying that she believed history will show we were correct in our repeated urging of and support for schools reopening this year. But it was loyalty to her constitutional oath, Ms. DeVos said, that had prompted her to resign. Impressionable children are watching all of this, and they are learning from us, she said. They must know from us that America is greater than what transpired yesterday. Ms. DeVoss resignation drew cheers from her opponents, particularly teachers unions and groups that had forcefully opposed her rollbacks of civil rights protections for children of color and transgender students.Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, issued a two-word statement: Good Riddance. But other critics praised her for protesting the presidents actions. This doesnt make up for all of her bad decisions, and the harm she has done to education reform, but still, she deserves kudos for this one, tweeted Michael J. Petrilli, the president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative research organization.",3
"Credit...Doris Tsao/CalTechJune 1, 2017The brain has an amazing capacity for recognizing faces. It can identify a face in a few thousandths of a second, form a first impression of its owner and retain the memory for decades.Central to these abilities is a longstanding puzzle: how the image of a face is encoded by the brain. Two Caltech biologists, Le Chang and Doris Y. Tsao, reported in Thursdays issue of Cell that they have deciphered the code of how faces are recognized.Their experiments were based on electrical recordings from face cells, the name given to neurons that respond with a burst of electric signals when an image of a face is presented to the retina.By noting how face cells in macaque monkeys responded to manipulated photos of some 2,000 human faces, the Caltech team figured out exactly what aspects of the faces triggered the cells and how the features of the face were being encoded. The monkey face recognition system seems to be very similar to that of humans.Just 200 face cells are required to identify a face, the biologists say. After discovering how its features are encoded, the biologists were able to reconstruct the faces a monkey was looking at just by monitoring the pattern in which its face cells were firing.The finding needs to be confirmed in other laboratories. But, if correct, it could help understand how the brain encodes all seen objects, as well as suggesting new approaches to artificial vision.Cracking the code for faces would definitely be a big deal, said Brad Duchaine, an expert on face recognition at Dartmouth.It is a remarkable advance to have identified the dimensions used by the primate brain to decode faces, he added and impressive that the researchers were able to reconstruct from neural signals the face a monkey is looking at.Human and monkey brains have evolved dedicated systems for recognizing faces, presumably because, as social animals, survival depends on identifying members of ones own social group and distinguishing them from strangers.In both species, the face recognition system consists of face cells that are grouped into patches of at least 10,000 each. There are six of these patches on each side of the brain, situated on the cortex, or surface, just behind the ear.When the image of a face hits the retina of the eye, it is converted into electric signals. These pass through five or six sets of neurons and are processed at each stage before they reach the face cells. As a result, these cells receive high-level information about the shape and features of a face.One way in which the brain might identify faces is simply to dedicate a cell to each face. Indeed, there are cells in another part of the brain that do respond to images of specific people.They are known to neuroscientists as Jennifer Aniston cells, after one such cell in an epilepsy patient undergoing surgery in 2005 responded when the patient was shown images of the actress. The cell ignored all other images, including one of her with Brad Pitt.But this cant be the way the brain identifies faces, because we can perceive a face we have never seen before. Instead, the Caltech team has found, the brains face cells respond to the dimensions and features of a face in an elegantly simple, though abstract, way.In their experiments, the biologists first identified groups of face cells in a macaque monkeys brain by magnetic resonance imaging, and then probed individual face cells with a fine electrode that records their signals.The monkeys were shown photos of human faces that were systematically manipulated to show differences in the size and appearance of facial features.Cells at a high level in the brain often respond to a medley of things, making it hard to figure out what the cell is meant to do. The Caltech team was able to create faces that showed exactly what each face cell was tuned to.The tuning of each face cell is to a combination of facial dimensions, a holistic system that explains why when someone shaves off his mustache, his friends may not notice for a while. Some 50 such dimensions are required to identify a face, the Caltech team reports.These dimensions create a mental face space in which an infinite number of faces can be recognized. There is probably an average face, or something like it, at the origin, and the brain measures the deviation from this base.A newly encountered face might lie five units away from the average face in one dimension, seven units in another, and so forth. Each face cell reads the combined vector of about six of these dimensions. The signals from 200 face cells altogether serve to uniquely identify a face.Dr. Tsao said she was particularly impressed to find she could design a whole series of faces that a given face cell would not respond to, because they lacked its preferred combination of dimensions. This ruled out a possible alternative method of face identification: that the face cells were comparing incoming images with a set of standard reference faces and looking for differences.Nancy Kanwisher, a neuroscientist at M.I.T., said it was a major advance to describe what a face cell does and predict how it will respond to a new stimulus. But she suggested that more than 50 dimensions might be needed to capture the full richness of human perception and the idiosyncrasies of particular faces.Do we need a dimension for Jack Nicholsons eyebrows? she asked.Dr. Tsao has been working on face cells for 15 years and views her new report, with Dr. Chang, as the capstone of all these efforts. She said she hoped her new finding will restore a sense of optimism to neuroscience.Advances in machine learning have been made by training a computerized mimic of a neural network on a given task. Though the networks are successful, they are also a black box because it is hard to reconstruct how they achieve their result.This has given neuroscience a sense of pessimism that the brain is similarly a black box, she said. Our paper provides a counterexample. Were recording from neurons at the highest stage of the visual system and can see that theres no black box. My bet is that that will be true throughout the brain.",7
"In an important book, he challenged the widely held Freudian notion that same-sex attraction was curable, finding it instead rooted in biology.Credit...via Sue MatorinMay 4, 2020In the 1980s, when marriage and adopting children seemed impossible dreams for gay men, the psychoanalyst Richard C. Friedman became their champion.His 1988 book, Male Homosexuality: A Contemporary Psychoanalytic Perspective, showed that sexual orientation was largely biological and presented a case that helped undermine the belief held by most Freudian analysts at the time that homosexuality was a pathology that could somehow be cured.I felt an ethical obligation to find the reasons for anti-homosexual prejudice, he once told an interviewer. His wife, Susan Matorin, a clinical social worker at the Weill Medical College of Cornell, put it more plainly: Straight people had the same personality issues, and they got away with murder, but gay people were stigmatized, and he didnt think that was right.Dr. Friedmans motivation wasnt political. He very much felt like you followed the science, and it didnt matter what the political backdrop was, his son, Jeremiah, a screenwriter in Los Angeles, said in a phone interview.Although the American Psychiatric Association, the dominant mental health organization in the United States, changed its diagnostic manual in 1973 and stopped classifying homosexuality as an illness, psychoanalysts continued to describe homosexuality as a perversion, and many believed it could be cured.Dr. Friedman, using studies of identical twins and theories of developmental psychology, made a scholarly rather than ideological case that biology rather than upbringing played a significant role in sexual orientation.It was a direct challenge to popular Freudian theories and thrust him into the center of debates among the more established heavyweights of psychoanalysis. It led to a model in which analyst and patient simply assumed that homosexuality was intrinsic, said Jack Drescher, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University who knew Dr. Friedman and would later offer his own critiques of Dr. Friedmans theory as new approaches to working with gay and lesbian patients emerged.Given that he was a younger colleague, it was brave of him to take older experts on, Professor Drescher said. But it was in keeping with who he was. He had an edge and wasnt afraid of anybody, he said.Dr. Friedman died on March 31 at his home in Manhattan. Though the specific cause was not clear, Ms. Matorin said, he had for years been grappling with a number of health problems, including cardiac and metabolic conditions. He was 79.Richard C. Friedman was born on Jan. 20, 1941, in the Bronx, the oldest of three sons of William Friedman and Henrietta Fuerstein. His father was a food inspector for the city; his mother a teacher.His parents instilled in their sons a deep love of learning all three would go on to become doctors and of music, insisting on violin and piano lessons. Dr. Friedman would help pay for medical school by playing the accordion at events, and he remained an excellent pianist.At the time, a child could still get beaten on the streets of the Bronx for being, like Richard, Jewish, and his family was deeply affected by genocide in Europe during World War II.While he was at the Bronx High School of Science, he received a National Merit Scholarship and used it to attend Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., graduating in 1961. Five years later he graduated from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and became a psychiatric resident at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, both in Manhattan.Although he was best known for his work on human sexuality, Dr. Friedman was equally proud of a study he did at the medical center that showed that medical interns performed poorly when they were sleep-deprived. The work helped change how medical schools trained up-and-coming doctors.After enlisting in the United States Army Medical Corps, he became chief of inpatient psychiatry at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, where he treated traumatized young men returning from the Vietnam War. It was there, his son said, that his suspicion of ingrained authority deepened.Dr. Friedman would go on to become a clinical professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and a faculty member at Columbia University. He published more books and numerous articles on human sexuality, working with Dr. Jennifer Downey, a Manhattan psychiatrist and Columbia professor. He was also the longtime editor of the journal Psychodynamic Psychiatry.Intellectually restless, Dr. Friedman was a civic-minded student of history who was well-versed in Shakespeare, a devoted reader of biographies and a fan of opera, not to mention the New York Knicks.He was also a methodical man with distinct tastes, his family said. He always carried a copy of the United States Constitution, and without fail he would slip on gaberdine pants, an oxford shirt, a tie and a blue blazer when he went to his office on Manhattans Upper West Side. Saturdays were more casual. He left off the tie.In addition to his wife and son, he is survived by two daughters from a previous marriage, Heidi Friedman and Carla Greene; two brothers, Daniel and Joseph; and two grandchildren.Although his critics found him to be unyielding in his views, coming off as if he thought he was the smartest person in the room (and often he was), he had a thriving private practice and devoted patients.One was the author Andrew Solomon, whose book The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression won the National Book Award for nonfiction in 2001. He was Dr. Friedmans patient for 25 years. Without him, Mr. Solomon said, he might never have understood that as a gay man he could be married and have a family, or that he was capable of professional accomplishment.What was most striking was just his confidence and clarity, Mr. Solomon said.",7
"VideotranscripttranscriptIceland Official on Leaders DepartureSigurdur Ingi Johannsson, a government minister, announced Tuesday that Icelands embattled prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, offered his resignation amid a controversy over his offshore holdings.AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY Reykjavik - 5 April 2016 1. Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson walking out of the meeting UPSOUND (Icelandic): There have been some fun and interesting things that have gone on in the meeting. And you have reasons to be excited (Reporters asking when to expect an announcement); Gunnlaugsson continues walking down steps // SOUNDBITE (Icelandic) Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, Iceland Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture: Johannsson: It was the Prime Ministers idea to do this (to resign). (Reporter asks question) Johannsson: He has mentioned it to the head of the Independence Party, and I will meet with him later today to discuss it. 5. SOUNDBITE (Icelandic) Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, Iceland Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture: Reporter: Will the coalition continue? Johannsson: Thats what the party wants. Reporter: So its in the hands of the Independence Party now? Johannsson: It always takes two to tango. Reporter: Will there be early elections or will the government continue? Johannsson: We havent discussed it with the Independence Party. Reporter: What do you want? Johannsson: The most natural would be for it to continue 6. Johannsson walking awaySigurdur Ingi Johannsson, a government minister, announced Tuesday that Icelands embattled prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, offered his resignation amid a controversy over his offshore holdings.CreditCredit...Birgir Por Hardarson/European Pressphoto AgencyApril 5, 2016LONDON The revelation of vast wealth hidden by politicians and powerful figures across the globe set off criminal investigations on at least two continents on Tuesday, forced leaders from Europe to Asia to beat back calls for their removal and claimed its first political casualty pressuring the prime minister of Iceland to step down.Public outrage over millions of documents leaked from a boutique Panamanian law firm now known as the Panama Papers wrenched attention away from wars and humanitarian crises, as harsh new light was shed on the elaborate ways wealthy people hide money in secretive shell companies and offshore tax shelters.The repercussions have come quickly. In Iceland, Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, confronted by demands for his resignation after documents revealing that he and his wealthy wife had set up a company in the British Virgin Islands led to accusations of a conflict of interest, asked his deputy to take over on Tuesday.In Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron faced calls for a government inquiry and accusations of bald hypocrisy by championing financial transparency when the leaks showed that his family held undisclosed wealth in tax havens offshore.In Pakistan, where roughly 20 percent of the population live on less than $1.25 a day, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif angrily rebuffed opposition calls to resign, defended his riches as legally acquired, and demanded that his opponents back up their allegations of wrongdoing. His daughter said on Twitter to critics: prove or apologize.Officials in France, Germany, Austria and South Korea said they were beginning investigations into possible malfeasance, from money laundering to tax evasion. Frances finance minister, Michel Sapin, told Parliament the government was putting Panama back on a blacklist of havens for tax evaders.The leaked papers cover nearly 215,000 companies and 14,153 clients of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. Shared with reporters at 100 news media outlets working in 25 languages, the documents include politicians, celebrities, sports figures and close associates of some of the worlds most powerful people, like President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and members of Chinas ruling Politburo.In China, where the figures identified in the leaked papers include a brother-in-law of President Xi Jinping, the government denounced reports about them as a groundless attack. Its media censors purged mentions of Panama and blocked Internet search inquiries with that word.And in Russia, where officials also dismissed the leaked documents as a baseless political attack on Mr. Putin, the prosecutor generals office said Tuesday it would look into the reports that high-profile Russian individuals were beneficiaries of offshore companies.The ripple effects from the documents extended across continents, from a West African diamond mogul to relatives of a former South Korean president and soccer celebrities in Latin America. Even the Chilean head of Transparency International, a prominent anticorruption advocacy group, was forced to step down after his name appeared in the leaked papers as an agent for offshore companies in the Bahamas.VideotranscripttranscriptIceland Leader Walks Out of InterviewBefore stepping down as Icelands prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson walked out of an interview when the topic turned to his name in the leaked Panama Papers.Gunnlaugsson gets up and walks away as Kristjansson continues to ask questions UPSOUND (Icelandic and English) Kristjansson: What assets does the company have? Gunnlaugsson: You dont ask for.. Kristjansson: We know that Wintris held and holds claims in the collapsed banks. Gunnlaugsson: Youre asking me about things I havent acquainted myself with. Kristjansson: You sold your share in the company for one (US) dollar in 2009. Gunnlaugsson: No, no, no. Youre asking me nonsense. You trick me into an interview under false pretenses. Kristjansson: I have your signature here, do you want to see it? Gunnlaugsson: Yes I mean, this is just.. Bergman: With all due respect, Mr Prime Minister, it must be okay to ask those questions.Before stepping down as Icelands prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson walked out of an interview when the topic turned to his name in the leaked Panama Papers.CreditCredit...Swedish Public Service Broadcaster, via Associated PressNone of the published leaks have identified American officials so far. Nor do they necessarily show evidence of crimes. But anger and reproach about the revelations have started to swell nonetheless.Corruption, whether private or public, is enabled by secrecy, said John Marti, a former federal prosecutor who is a partner at the international law firm Dorsey and Whitney, based in New York. The revelations, he said, are kind of pulling back the curtain on the secrecy that exists.President Obama, while not commenting directly on the leaked documents, said money shielded by tax avoidance is a huge problem and could be in the trillions of dollars.A lot of this stuff is legal, not illegal, Mr. Obama said. And unless the United States and other countries lead by example in closing some of these loopholes and provisions, then in many cases you can trace whats taking place but you cant stop it.Gabriel Zucman, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of The Hidden Wealth of Nations, said in an interview with National Public Radio that the Panamanian law firm represents a fraction of the total in riches obscured from public scrutiny.You know, its just one firm in one tax haven, and there is much more going on, Mr. Zucman said, calculating that about 8 percent of the worlds financial wealth is held in tax havens. So thats about $7.6 trillion today, a huge amount of wealth.It was not immediately clear how Mr. Gunnlaugssons decision to step aside would affect Iceland, a tiny island nation of 323,000 that is still recovering from the global financial crisis eight years ago.In a reflection of the political turmoil and maneuvering that the Panama Papers have created, the prime ministers office issued a statement on Tuesday night saying that he had proposed stepping down in favor of his deputy for an unspecified amount of time as a sort of indefinite leave of absence and not a formal resignation. It was unclear whether Mr. Gunnlaugsson, who would remain leader of his party, would succeed in his effort to avoid a formal resignation in the face of significant public anger.Mr. Gunnlaugsson had insisted on staying in office after the leaked documents revealed that he and his wealthy partner, who is now his wife, had set up the company in the British Virgin Islands in 2007 through Mossack Fonseca. The documents suggested that he sold his half of the company to her for $1 on the last day of 2009, just before a new law took effect that would have required him as a member of Parliament to declare his ownership as a conflict of interest.Mr. Gunnlaugsson had said that the leak contained no news, adding that he and his wife, Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir, had not hidden their assets or avoided paying taxes.But the company, Wintris Inc., lost millions of dollars as a result of the 2008 financial crash, which crippled Iceland, and the company is claiming about $4.2 million from three failed Icelandic banks. As prime minister since 2013, Mr. Gunnlaugsson was involved in reaching a deal for the banks claimants, so he was accused of a conflict of interest.The controversy of the leaks was also loud in Britain, in part because it illustrated the outsize role of British-governed territories as tax havens.The leader of Britains opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, called for an independent investigation into the tax affairs of all Britons linked to the Panama revelations including Mr. Camerons family and for Britain to impose direct rule on its overseas territories and dependencies, if necessary, to get them to comply with British tax law.The government needs to stop pussyfooting around on tax dodging, Mr. Corbyn said.The focus of anger in Britain centered on Mr. Camerons late father, Ian, a stockbroker and investment manager, who was among those named as having used the Panamanian law firm to set up a company based in the British Virgin Islands, a British territory.While there was no suggestion of illegal activity, the overseas investment fund paid no British tax. The Labour Party wants to know if the prime minister retained any interest in the offshore fund, which Mr. Cameron denies, and wants him to publicize his tax returns.With economic inequality a growing political issue in Britain, Mr. Camerons privileged upbringing and personal wealth make him vulnerable to such attacks, particularly at a time when his government is reducing spending on welfare payments to the poor.In a further embarrassment to Mr. Cameron, who has claimed leadership in the global fight to crack down on tax havens, the documents also reveal that Britains self-governing overseas territories, especially the British Virgin Islands, proved a favored location for companies handled by Mossack Fonseca.The political temperature over the leaked documents has been rising in Britain since Monday, when, asked whether Mr. Camerons family still had money offshore, his official spokeswoman, Helen Bower, described this as a private matter. Mr. Camerons denial came only on Tuesday.Holding money offshore would not be illegal, providing interest earned was declared to the authorities. Despite saying that he is very relaxed about calls to publish his tax returns, Mr. Cameron has not done so.Reports about the Cameron familys Panamanian connections first surfaced in 2012 when it emerged that Ian Cameron was a director of a fund established in Panama in 1982 called Blairmore Holdings, named after a family mansion in Scotland.The leaks have shown how the company used bearer shares, which do not identify owners by name, to conceal who was investing in Blairmore Holdings.Mr. Cameron said: I own no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that. His office said later that neither he, his wife nor his children benefit from any offshore funds.",6
"For the first time in many years, the government reported that spending on health care last year grew more slowly than the economy overall.Credit...Joshua Lott for The New York TimesDec. 5, 2019WASHINGTON The burdensome costs of medical care, prescription drugs and health insurance have become dominant issues in the 2020 presidential campaign. But a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services shows the nation remains in a period of relatively slow growth in health spending.Health spending in the United States rose by 4.6 percent to $3.6 trillion in 2018 accounting for 17.7 percent of the economy compared to a growth rate of 4.2 percent in 2017. Federal officials said the slight acceleration was largely the result of reinstating a tax on health insurers that the Affordable Care Act imposed but Congress had suspended for a year in 2017. Faster growth in medical prices and prescription drug spending were also factors, they said, but comparatively minor.For decades, national health spending galloped ahead of spending in the overall economy, lowering wages and stressing household budgets. But over the last decade, the pattern has shifted somewhat. Although the country consistently spends more on health care each year than it did the year before, the overall rate of growth has stayed below historical averages. In 2018, health spending grew more slowly than the economy overall, a rare occurrence.The factors leading to the slowdown are not fully understood. For years, economists thought they were the result of lagging effects of the recession. But as the pattern has continued far into the economic recovery, they increasingly point to changes in the delivery of health care itself.Spending has to slow down when it gets so big, said Paul Hughes-Cromwick, the co-director of sustainable health spending strategies at the research group Altarum. Theres no question that there are efforts all across the environment to try to control this beast. Theres no question about that, and some of them are working.The slower growth may feel at odds with the experience of many Americans, who increasingly report financial duress from health costs. A recent study from the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit health research organization, found that from 2009 through 2018 individuals who got insurance through their employers have been asked to shoulder an ever-higher share of their health bills through premium payments and rising deductibles. A typical employer plan for an individual now comes with a $1,400 deductible, up $900 from 2009. The new report found that overall growth in household health care spending, including out-of-pocket expenses, premium payments and contributions to Medicare through payroll taxes, remained flat, at 4.4 percent.Public opinion surveys show that health care particularly the cost of it remains a top voter concern, reflected by the Democratic presidential candidates focus on Medicare for all and other proposals for expanding coverage to more people with a promise of lower direct costs. Congress is considering bills to help lower prescription drug costs and to eliminate the practice of surprise medical billing, though it is unclear whether either will pass this year.The Trump administration is pursuing regulatory actions aimed at lowering health costs, including an ambitious rule that would require insurers and health care providers to disclose the prices they negotiate for a wide range of medical procedures and services. That rule, finalized last month, is being challenged in court by hospitals.In the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, some candidates have been pushing far broader plans to tackle the issue. Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have proposed establishing a single-payer health care system, where the government would provide generous taxpayer-funded insurance coverage for every American. Others, including former Vice President Joseph R. Biden and Mayor Pete Buttigieg, of South Bend, Ind., want to offer an optional government plan and more generous government subsidies for Americans who buy their own insurance. However modestly it is growing, health spending in the United States is far higher than most other countries. The 2018 estimate of $3.6 trillion comes to more than $11,000 for every person in the country, with 33 percent going to hospital care, 20 percent to doctors and clinical services and 9 percent to retail prescription drugs. Measured as a percentage of gross domestic product, it is nearly double the average of health spending in other developed countries, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Most of those countries achieve lower health costs with universal coverage. In the United States, an estimated 28 million people are uninsured. Given the public outrage over prescription drug prices, many people may be surprised to find that prices of prescription drugs bought at a pharmacy actually fell by one percent in 2018 for the first time since 1973, economists with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a telephone briefing about the new report. President Trump has seized on the slight drop, mentioning it in his rallies and speeches, although some experts warn the method the federal government uses for tracking drug price trends is imperfect.Overall averages obscure a volatile mix of prices, with some drugs commanding escalating price tags, even as more common generic medications became less expensive.The report also found that the share of the American population with health insurance fell for a second consecutive year in 2018, with most of the enrollment decline 1.3 million people coming in private coverage purchased directly, instead of through a job or the Affordable Care Act marketplace. The Trump administration has repeatedly highlighted this population as victims of rising premium costs under the Affordable Care Act; they generally earn too much to qualify for its premium subsidies.There was also a slight drop in the number of people with employer-sponsored insurance and slower growth in Medicaid enrollment, although growth in Medicare enrollment remained steady.Spending for people with private health insurance was $6,199 a person, an increase of 6.7 percent over 2017, the highest per-person growth rate since 2004. That number does not include out of pocket costs.",2
"Credit...Ko Sasaki for The New York TimesFeb. 4, 2014NAYORO, Japan The sound of cicadas and the smell of pine trees in the thick summer air were interrupted by the whoosh of ski jumpers in bodysuits hurling themselves off the 90-meter hill here in the northern reaches of Japan.Snowfall was months away, but several of Japans top ski jumpers were training for a chance to go to the Olympic Games in Sochi. The youngest of the group, and the only woman, Yuki Ito, had the best chance to make history, by taking part in the Olympic debut of the womens ski jump.Growing up, I was shocked to learn that it wasnt an Olympic sport, and I wanted to be the best in the world, said Ito, 19, who was born in a nearby town that has produced several male Olympian jumpers. It was my dream to go to the Olympics.Ito, Japans second-best female ski jumper, will realize her dream. Last month, she won a spot on Japans Olympic team, where she will be a kind of understudy to her teammate Sara Takanashi, the worlds top female jumper.Jumpers like Ito are the key to rebuilding Japans once-heralded ski jumping program, which had a burst of success in the 1990s, partly because the Japanese jumpers took advantage of their smaller size to fly farther. But the introduction of new equipment and rule changes a decade ago designed to prevent unhealthy weight loss in jumpers took away some of that edge. Japanese jumpers have started to adapt, and the addition of women to the Olympics should help the program because Takanashi and Ito have jumped well.ImageCredit...Ko Sasaki for The New York TimesTakanashi, 17, has the best chance of winning a medal in Sochi. But Ito has a shot, too. After a string of top-10 finishes this season, she is ranked fifth in the world. She finished 18th last year. A medal or two in Sochi would help promote ski jumping in Japan, one of the few countries with corporate teams, by attracting more sponsors and more financial aid from sports federations.Winning a medal is everything, said Munehiko Harada, a professor of sports management at Waseda University in Tokyo. If they get a medal, the Japanese Olympic Committee will support their training. So it depends how well they do.If they continue their success, the female ski jumpers in particular have a bright future in Japan, Harada said, because they are telegenic. Many Japanese women also have compact and light bodies that help them glide through the air, and like Japanese athletes in general, they take well to training that emphasizes repetition and form.The country has very good potential for ski jumpers, said Janne Vaatainen, the Finnish-born coach of the Tsuchiya Home Ski Team, the Japanese corporate sponsor that employs Ito. The body type of the Japanese and the system of professional teams in Japan, this is kind of unique.The Japanese have participated in all but two Winter Olympics, but it was not until they hosted the Games in 1972 in Sapporo that they won their first ski jump medals. All three of Japans medals that year came in the mens 70-meter event.The stadium where that event took place towers over the city and stands as a beacon for Japanese ski jumpers, many of whom come from near Sapporo and elsewhere on the northern island of Hokkaido. Over all, Japan has won nine Olympic ski jump medals, the fourth most, after Norway, Austria and Finland.Takanashi and Ito were raised about 90 minutes apart in towns in a mountainous region several hours north of Sapporo. The area is dotted with lumber mills and dairy farms, and children grow up skiing during the long winters more than playing soccer or baseball.Like Takanashi, Ito grew up surrounded by ski jumpers. She started jumping at 4 years old, and her father, who also jumped, was her coach. Her mother was an Alpine skier. Several other Olympians, including Noriaki Kasai, known as Kamikaze, who will be competing in Sochi in his seventh Winter Games, came from the same town, where Ito was often the only woman jumping.I didnt really think much about being the only girl, Ito said, adding, When I was young, there were no women role models, so I looked up to Kasai.Ito started jumping competitively in junior high school and soon made trips to Europe, where her horizons opened. Though her English is limited, she made an impression on other jumpers as friendly and hardworking.I go out running every day at 6 or 7 in the morning and think Im the first one out, but I end up seeing her, said Lindsey Van, the American jumper.Van recalled a news conference after an event she had won. Ito, who came in second, asked Van and the third-place finisher how they had handled the pressure.The pressure is on Takanashi, who has become a household name in Japan and helped promote Tokyos bid to host the 2020 Summer Games. Her publicity agent declined to make her available for an interview.ImageCredit...Ko Sasaki for The New York TimesWith the intense focus on Takanashi, Ito has blossomed. There is no pressure coming from outside, so she can concentrate on herself and just jump, said Stefan Diaz, the editor of Ladies-Skijumping.com. Sara is very, very shy.Diaz added: Yuki is different. Although she is also a quiet person, she talks openly to TV and press and seems to enjoy giving interviews. Yuki is in the comfortable position. She can enjoy being famous but does not feel the negative effects, such as pressure or public expectations. In a sport like ski jumping, where the mind plays a very big role, this can make a huge difference.The first woman on the Tsuchiya Home team, Ito goes about her business confidently but remains modest. After she won a gold medal on a mixed doubles team with Takanashi and two Japanese men, she cried because she felt she had let her teammates down.During the summer, Ito trained five days a week, jumping 10 times in the morning and 10 times in the afternoon. Before heading to the hill, she worked with a trainer, Yasutaka Nakanishi, by crouching on a crate and lunging forward into his arms to mimic her takeoff.Her 5-foot-4-inch frame seemed buried in her sky-blue bodysuit, and her seven-and-a-half-foot-long skis looked impossibly difficult to carry. But she made it up the ski lift and marched to the top of the hill with little trouble. There, she joked with several male jumpers, who appeared to treat her like a sister.She is very serious, said Kasai, who is also on the Tsuchiya Home team. But, he added, she is the kind of person who makes jokes.Ito yelled, Hai, to alert Vaatainen, who was halfway down the hill and holding an iPad to record her jump. He later reviewed the video with her, with a special focus on her form during takeoff.Technically, shes doing better than many guys, Vaatainen said. Of course, I can see shes not as strong. But the best ladies are really good jumpers, and shes a top-10 jumper.",4
"Credit...John Amis/Associated PressJune 14, 2018ATLANTA The leading Republican candidate in Georgias high-profile governors race, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, bought a condominium in downtown Atlanta 10 years ago from a State Capitol lobbyist, seemingly at a discount, a New York Times investigation has found.Real estate records show that Mr. Cagle, who faces a runoff for the Republican nomination on July 24, purchased the one-bedroom apartment at 24 percent less than its appraised value below comparable sales prices and sold it last year at a 29 percent profit. He was preparing for his first run for governor when, without an agent, he negotiated the deal with Terry E. Hobbs, a longtime lobbyist who represents the natural gas marketer Scana.As lieutenant governor, Mr. Cagle presides over the Senate and controls the flow of legislation there. The direct financial transaction between him and a lobbyist with business before the government raises ethical questions comparable to those afflicting Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator. News reports in April revealed that Mr. Pruitt last year rented a Washington condo at a bargain rate from the wife of a lobbyist with clients seeking audiences with E.P.A. officials. The arrangement is being investigated by the agencys inspector general.Sara Henderson, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, a government watchdog group, said that such cozy relationships raised suspicions of pay-to-play.Lobbyists and elected officials should never be involved in business deals together, she said. It gives the impression that the lobbyist and their interests will find favor with that official when it comes to awarding contracts and determining public policy that might financially benefit them.In a telephone interview on Tuesday night, Mr. Cagle said that the deal did not show bad judgment, and that Mr. Hobbs had not lobbied him on any issue near the time of the sale.Let me just be very clear, he said. This was a legitimate transaction, a purchase of real estate that was a willing buyer and a willing seller that had nothing to do with anything other than a willing buyer and a willing seller.Mr. Cagle noted that the sale took place in an era of high volatility for real estate valuations, and disputed that his purchase price was out of line. He also argued that if it posed an ethical problem to enter a business transaction with a lobbyist, the same ridiculous logic could extend to consuming products sold by industries with state interests. So I can no longer purchase a car from someone who has representation at the gold dome, right? he asked, referring to Georgias gilded Capitol.Mr. Cagle, who has been lieutenant governor for nearly 12 years, finished first in a crowded Republican primary last month but now faces a worrisome challenge from Georgias secretary of state, Brian Kemp. The winner advances to a November general election against Stacey Abrams, a Democratic state representative who is drawing national attention and money as the first African-American woman to win a major partys nomination for governor.The contest is seen as an important gauge of how quickly states like Georgia, with growing minority and immigrant voting strength, could shift from red toward blue. It may also provide clues about the cohesion of President Trumps coalition in a Southern state that is both urban and rural, and about whether Democrats can win in the region by tacking left to energize their base.The Cagle campaign suffered an embarrassment last week when one of the lieutenant governors vanquished opponents released secretly recorded audio of their private meeting to discuss a possible endorsement. In the recording, Mr. Cagle explains a recent dispute over tax credits for private school scholarships in brazen political terms, acknowledging that he had supported legislation he considered bad public policy purely to undercut the fund-raising of a former rival.Mr. Cagles leads in polling and fund-raising have made him the candidate to beat in this race. At 52, he is running as a steady conservative with long experience in state government he first was elected to the Senate in 1994 at age 28 and as a small-business owner, entrepreneur and investor.After leaving Georgia Southern University when an injury ended his football career, he returned to Hall County, an hours drive northeast of Atlanta, where his family has lived for seven generations. He managed and then bought a tuxedo rental shop, founded a small bank (quadrupling his initial $50,000 stake when it was acquired by a larger bank five years later) and invested in rental property and other real estate.Mr. Cagle aborted his first race for governor in 2009 after announcing he had a degenerative spinal condition that required surgery. His withdrawal left an opening for another Hall County resident, Nathan Deal, to run and become the states current two-term governor.Mr. Kemp, 54, who has served two terms as secretary of state, separated himself from the Republican primary pack with lighthearted ads that emphasized his political incorrectness. He has some momentum but is vulnerable to Mr. Cagles attacks on competence. In 2015, Mr. Kemp, whose office oversees state elections, took responsibility for a data breach that resulted in the release of the Social Security numbers and birth dates of six million Georgia voters.Mr. Kemp has also been named in two lawsuits by lenders who claim that he and other investors defaulted on $700,000 in loans for a canola-crushing business. Kentucky officials suspended the companys license to buy grain directly from farmers because it owed them millions of dollars. The Kemp campaign has responded that he is a minority shareholder of the firm, Hart AgStrong, and does not control its operations; financial disclosure forms show that Mr. Kemp owned 16 percent of the company last year and 24 percent in 2009.Although both men promote their business acumen, they are each worth less than when they took statewide office. Mr. Kemp, who has interests in agriculture and real estate, reported a net worth of $5.2 million on his financial disclosure last year, down from $6.3 million in 2009. Mr. Cagle, who earns about $91,000 as lieutenant governor, reported a worth of $1.58 million, down from $1.74 million in 2005.The Timess examination of Mr. Cagles real estate holdings suggests he has consistently overstated their value in his disclosure filings.For instance, he bought Mr. Hobbss condominium, on the 12th floor of a 55-year-old high-rise called the Landmark, for $97,000 in 2008. But in both his 2009 and 2013 disclosures he valued it at $175,000, well above its county appraisal. By 2011, with Atlantas real estate market in a deep slump, Fulton County assessors had dropped their appraisal as low as $44,900 before it started to rebound. Mr. Cagle sold the unit last year for $125,000.ImageCredit...Melissa Golden for The New York TimesHe bought a second Atlanta apartment in 2008 for $65,500 but valued it at $130,000 on his 2009 disclosure report. He sold it four years later to a family friend for $40,000, roughly its appraised value at the time.In four quadrennial disclosure reports starting in 2005, the increase in Mr. Cagles self-valuations relative to actual purchase prices had the effect of inflating his stated net worth by between 26 percent and 91 percent.Mr. Cagle said that improvements made to each of his real estate investments accounted for the increased valuations on his disclosure reports. But he could not explain why, in the case of the Landmark condo, his valuations remained high even after its appraised value plummeted.The lieutenant governor said he bought the apartment to house his three sons as they attended nearby Georgia State University. He said he liked the Landmarks location, posted a notice in the lobby and got a response from Mr. Hobbs. He said he had a unit, take a look at it, Mr. Cagle said. I did and I said, Whats your price? He said, 97,000, and I said, Ill take it.The apartment had been appraised for four years at $127,800 by the Fulton County Board of Tax Assessors, according to county records. It remained at that level in 2009 even as the recession battered Georgia real estate.There were not many sales in the building during the period, but Mr. Cagle paid less per square foot than other buyers $95.57 versus an average of $139.60 for the four other qualified sales between 2007 and 2009. The Board of Assessors labeled his purchase unqualified for appraisal purposes, meaning the price suggested it may have been influenced by factors other than market value.Mr. Cagle pointed to other one-bedroom apartments that had sold for $2,000 less and $11,500 more than his. I am well within the range of what the value was, he said. But property records reveal those units are much smaller.Campaign finance records show that Mr. Hobbs has donated about $240,000 to Georgia candidates, including nearly $12,000 to Mr. Cagle and $1,700 to Mr. Kemp. In 2008, shortly before selling the Landmark condo to Mr. Cagle, he reported spending $1,500 during the three-month legislative session to stock a hospitality room there for legislators.Lobbyists and corporate interests have given generously to the lieutenant governors political committees, and an outside nonprofit group supporting his campaign, Citizens for Georgias Future, is led by two longtime Capitol lobbyists.Reached by telephone, Mr. Hobbs, who has been a registered lobbyist in Georgia at least since 2006, acknowledged selling the property to Mr. Cagle but declined further comment.You have all the records there, and I have no interest in talking to the press about anything, thank you, he said before hanging up.",3
"Credit...Christopher Gregory for The New York TimesDec. 4, 2015WASHINGTON The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide whether Puerto Rico, which is in the midst of a financial crisis, may allow public utilities there to restructure $20 billion in debt.Puerto Ricos lawyers had urged the court to take immediate action in light of the overall magnitude of the commonwealths debts, around $72 billion, which it says it cannot pay.Anyone who has even glanced at the headlines in recent months knows that the commonwealth is in the midst of a financial meltdown that threatens the islands future, the lawyers wrote in their petition seeking review of an appeals court decision that struck down a 2014 Puerto Rico law allowing the restructurings.Because that decision leaves Puerto Ricos public utilities, and the 3.5 million American citizens who depend on them, at the mercy of their creditors, the commonwealths lawyers wrote, this courts review is warranted and soon.The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in Boston, said the 2014 law, the Recovery Act, was at odds with the federal Bankruptcy Code, which bars states and lower units of government from enacting their own versions of bankruptcy law.Puerto Rican officials countered that the Recovery Act addressed a gap in the way its debts are treated. Under the Bankruptcy Code, states may authorize their cities, counties, public utilities and other branches of government to restructure their debts under Chapter 9 of the code. But that law excludes all branches of Puerto Ricos government, including its public utilities. The Recovery Act, Puerto Rican officials said, merely filled the gap in the overall legal structure.Creditors of the utilities sued, arguing that the Bankruptcy Code displaced, or pre-empted, the local law. So far, the courts have agreed.Puerto Rico is also seeking help in Congress, calling for an amendment that would give it access to bankruptcy court. Its problems are worsening, and some now argue that restructuring just $20 billion of public utility debt will not be enough. The Obama administration has proposed a much broader form of bankruptcy, to allow the island to restructure all $72 billion of its bond debt. The Republicans who control both houses have so far shown little support. They have said that such a super bankruptcy regime could blaze a trail for distressed states, like Illinois, to follow, profoundly disrupting the credit markets where states and cities now raise their money.But that is not a reason for the Supreme Court to deny review, the islands lawyers told the justices.Precisely because the crisis facing Puerto Ricos public utilities is so acute, they said, it would be irresponsible for the commonwealth to respond to the vacuum left by the lower courts invalidation of the Recovery Act by simply kicking back and crossing its fingers pending this courts consideration of this petition. Instead, the commonwealth and its public utilities have explored every potential avenue to fill that gap, including federal legislation and consensual deals with creditors.Justice Samuel Alito recused himself from the decision, although court documents did not disclose the reason. So the vote will include eight justices, rather than nine.The cases, Puerto Rico v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust, No. 15-233, and Acosta-Febo v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust, No. 15-255, will probably be argued in the spring and decided by the end of June.",0
"Credit...Kyle MakrauerDec. 4, 2015In 1992, two debut novelists gave a joint reading at a Manhattan bookstore. One of them was Ken Siman, whose novel, Pizza Face, sold decently, but was hardly a blockbuster. He eventually went on to pursue a career in publishing.The other novelist was Wally Lamb. His first novel, Shes Come Undone, was selected for Oprah Winfreys book club, and went on to sell more than three million copies.Nearly 25 years later, the two have reunited to collaborate on Mr. Lambs sixth novel, Ill Take You There, which is being released next year exclusively as a digital app by Metabook, a new e-book publishing company for which Mr. Siman is the co-founder and publisher.Landing a new work from Mr. Lamb is a major coup for Metabook, which was founded last year and specializes in multimedia, interactive storytelling. With an original novel by Mr. Lamb, author of best sellers like I Know This Much Is True and We Are Water, Metabook is establishing itself as a serious player in the growing marketplace for book apps.ImageCredit...Kyle MakrauerWe said, Our first original title has to be by someone huge, Mr. Siman said.Ill Take You There centers on a film professor who runs a Monday night film club in an old theater that turns out to be haunted by the ghost of Lois Weber, a trailblazing actress, producer and director from the silent film era. Loiss ghost becomes a guiding spirit of sorts for the narrator, Felix. In addition to the written narrative, which makes up the core of the story, the app weaves in other features, including an original soundtrack, a full cast audio drama narrating the story, and a documentary about Mr. Lamb, shot in the movie theater that inspired the novel.There are obvious downsides to releasing a book exclusively as an app. Ill Take You There wont be available in bookstores or even from e-book retailers like Amazon or Barnes & Noble when it comes out next spring. Instead, Mr. Lambs fans will have to buy it from the iTunes app store, and it will work only on Apple devices.Mr. Lamb said that as a music and film lover, he was excited by the prospect of enhancing a narrative with music, film clips and video.Im thinking to myself, wow, this is really cool, its something a little bit different, he said.Mr. Lamb is the latest fiction writer to venture into the realm of interactive, multimedia book apps, an area that is still relatively new terrain for novelists. When the first wave of enhanced e-books arrived a few years ago, most stuck to areas like nonfiction, science, history and current affairs, where add-ons like interactive graphics, audio and video clips and enlargeable maps and photographs could help deepen readers understanding of the topic. Interactive childrens books have become another booming genre, with everything from Dr. Seuss to an app based on Rick Riordans Percy Jackson & The Olympians series. But when it came to adult fiction, interactive bells and whistles often seemed like noisy distractions that pulled users out of the immersive experience of reading a story.That attitude is slowly starting to change. Some writers have created apps that allow readers to play a role in the plot or become a character. Others have developed apps that deliver tailored content depending on the readers geographic location.A few months ago, the British novelist Iain Pears released his genre-bending novel Arcadia as an experimental app that allows readers to toggle through 10 different characters story lines. It has been downloaded more than 20,000 times, outselling the hardcover edition of the novel.Eli Horowitz, a former editor and publisher at McSweeneys, has also found an avid audience for his interactive digital novels. His serialized app The Silent History, which he co-created, has been bought and downloaded more than 30,000 times. This fall, Mr. Horowitz published an app version of The Pickle Index, his farcical, dystopian novel about a circus troupe. The Pickle Index app, which Mr. Horowitz designed with the programmer Russell Quinn, is a serialized story that releases chunks of the narrative over 10 days, and includes pickle recipes, mini-games and dynamic maps. The novel was simultaneously released as a lavishly designed paperback and a two-volume hardcover that told two separate story lines, but the app generated the most enthusiastic responses from readers and reviewers.At its core, its all about finding fresh ways to engage the reader, Mr. Horowitz said in an email. The challenge here is to make sure any flexibility or interaction is strategically designed substantial enough to feel relevant, but limited enough to preserve the larger narrative.Mr. Lamb said he was sold on the Metabook concept as soon as Mr. Siman showed him a prototype for the companys first title. It was an interactive app based on John Berendts 1994 true crime book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The app, which came out this March, pairs the text of the book with an audio dramatization, crime scene photos with commentary by Mr. Berendt, original music and audio recordings of Jim Williams, a central figure in the drama.After the release of Ill Take You There, Metabook will publish another original work of fiction, Kathleen R. Sands short-story collection The Face Phantom, with tales that were inspired by exhibits in the Mutter Museum, a medical museum in Philadelphia. The company, which has about 15 employees, is offering authors advances of six figures or higher. Eventually, Metabook aims to publish six to 12 Metabooks a year, in a range of genres, said Benjamin Alfonsi, the companys creative director and co-founder. The whole concept is very new, in terms of how its reimagining the way to experience a book, Mr. Alfonsi said.For all the tantalizing creative promises that technology holds, many novelists and publishers are still wary of the expense and risk involved in creating a fictional app. The retail opportunities are narrow, and the concept of a multimedia book is still foreign, or unappealing, to readers who would rather be immersed in a single narrative.But Mr. Horowitz and other novelists say there is an appetite for new forms of fictional narrative.I think plenty of writers are interested and capable of exploring these areas, but there isnt yet much of a network to support the projects, Mr. Horowitz said. But I do feel theres already a real audience of eager readers, curious to see more experimentation.",0
"Credit...Yuri Gripas/ReutersJune 28, 2018WASHINGTON The State Department warned in a report on Thursday that separating children from their parents can cause lasting psychological damage that leaves them vulnerable to trafficking, a cautionary tale that comes amid an uproar over a Trump administration immigration policy that has temporarily broken up migrant families as they enter the United States.Children in institutional care, including government-run facilities, can be easy targets for traffickers, the departments annual Trafficking in Persons report concluded.It added: Even at their best, residential institutions are unable to meet a childs need for emotional support that is typically received from family members or consistent caretakers with whom the child can develop an attachment.Since May, the Trump administration has separated more than 2,300 migrant children from families crossing the southwestern border. The children are placed in shelters and other temporary housing for up to 20 days while their adult parents or other relatives are held in federal custody during their immigration proceedings.President Trump has demanded that Congress reverse the policy, but did so himself last week with an executive order. He initially defended the shelters for young migrants as a safeguard against what he called a massive child smuggling trade.Can you believe this? In this day and age, were talking about child smuggling, Mr. Trump said last week in a speech to the National Federation of Independent Businesses. Were talking about women smuggling in this day and age. The worst its been in history because the internet has led to this.The conclusions in the State Departments trafficking report, one of the worlds most comprehensive, did not specifically address the Trump administrations zero tolerance policy on the southwestern border. It also gave no indication that trafficking is peaking, or that an enormous child smuggling ring is responsible for thousands of children attempting to enter the United States from Mexico.In a briefing for reporters, a top department official referred questions about childrens treatment on the southwestern border to the health officials who have responsibility for their care. The official also sought to draw a distinction between child smuggling and trafficking. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity under the terms of the briefing.John Sifton, an advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, called the report an indictment of the Trump administrations own policies, with respect to asylum seekers and others seeking entry into the United States.At a ceremony on Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Ivanka Trump, the presidents eldest daughter and senior adviser, handed out awards to advocates who fight human trafficking. Mr. Pompeo did not mention the controversy over the administrations border policies, focusing instead on how countries have improved, worsened or stayed the same in their efforts to fight trafficking over the past year.Among the countries he praised were Estonia, Argentina, Bahrain and Cyprus. Those he criticized included Libya, Myanmar, North Korea and Iran.The world should know that we will not stop until human trafficking is a thing of the past, Mr. Pompeo said.At a similar event last year, former Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson criticized North Korea for forcing 50,000 to 80,000 of its citizens to work overseas and then using their wages to fund weapons programs.This year, Mr. Pompeo mentioned North Korea only briefly. The administration has in recent weeks played down Pyongyangs poor human rights record as it seeks an agreement for North Korea to surrender its nuclear and missile programs.Generally, human rights have not been viewed as a high priority for the Trump administration. Mr. Tillerson had cautioned while in office over distractions to national security or economic interests.But human trafficking issues have been a notable exception, which is why the reports release is part of an elaborate ceremony. Ms. Trump did not offer remarks; her shoe brand came under criticism for its use of Chinese labor and the disappearance last year of three labor activists investigating conditions at the plants manufacturing her products. China ranks among the worst offenders on human rights and trafficking.Thursdays report is the latest in a series of State Department efforts that have starkly contrasted with White House messaging. Last week, the departments consular affairs unit held a question-and-answer session via Facebook on tips for traveling with children, which led to a cascade of derisive questions about the advisability of caging children.The next day, Mr. Pompeo issued a statement on World Refugee Day commemorating the strength, courage and resilience of millions of refugees worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes due to persecution and conflict. Many of the families caught on the southwestern border are escaping violence and persecution, only to be imprisoned and charged as criminals for illegally entering the United States.",3
"Sports BriefingFeb. 17, 2014Linebacker Terrell Suggs signed a four-year extension with the Ravens on Monday that saves them salary-cap room and puts him in a position to finish his career in Baltimore. Suggs, 31, had a six-year deal that would have expired after the 2014 season. Now he is signed through 2018. Ravens running back Ray Rice was arrested in an Atlantic City casino early Saturday after an argument with his fiance turned physical. The police said Rice, 27, and Janay Palmer were arrested on simple assault charges. The University of Connecticut said that the running backs coach Ernest Jones, who told The Hartford Courant last month that he and others would make sure UConns players understood that Jesus Christ should be in the center of our huddle, had resigned.",4
"The push by Democrats to impeach the president for his role in inciting the attack on the Capitol underscores how American politics has been profoundly shaken in ways still hard to measure.Credit...Anna Moneymaker for The New York TimesJan. 9, 2021WASHINGTON Barely 11 months after President Trump was acquitted in a momentous Senate trial, the nation now confronts the possibility of yet another impeachment battle in the twilight of his presidency, a final showdown that will test the boundaries of politics, accountability and the Constitution.No president has ever been impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors twice. But Speaker Nancy Pelosi was weighing bringing a new article of impeachment to the House floor charging Mr. Trump with incitement of insurrection for encouraging the mob that ransacked the Capitol to disrupt the solemn process finishing his own election defeat.If Ms. Pelosi proceeds, the House could approve the article in days, this time with the support of even some disaffected Republicans, sending it to the Senate for a trial unlike any of the previous three in American history. While it seemed unlikely that 17 Senate Republicans would join Democrats for the two-thirds necessary for conviction, the anger at Mr. Trump was so palpable that party leaders said privately it was not out of the question.The fresh bid to remove Mr. Trump from office and strip him of his power without waiting until his term expires on Jan. 20 capped a traumatic week that rattled Washington more than any since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as National Guard troops stood watch over the Capitol and downtown businesses remained boarded up.Emotions were raw. The White House was in meltdown. The military was on edge. The cabinet was in revolt. The Republican Party was in civil war. And an unrepentant president was in hiding, stripped of his social media bullhorn, ostracized by many allies and at odds even with his staff and loyal vice president.The storming of the Capitol by Mr. Trumps supporters that left five people dead, among them a police officer, transformed the politics of the city in ways that were still hard to measure. A new impeachment would be more than a do-over of the drive that failed last year because this time the offense was not a phone call to a foreign leader captured on the dry pages of a transcript but the siege of American democracy played out live on television for all to see.Insurrectionists incited by Mr. Trump attacked our nations Capitol to stop Congress from accepting the Electoral College results, said Representative Ted Lieu of California, who began drafting the article of impeachment with Representative David Cicilline of Rhode Island while sheltering during the Capitol takeover and was later joined by Jamie Raskin of Maryland. People died. We cannot just issue sternly worded press releases as a response. Unless Trump resigns, Congress must impeach to hold him accountable.ImageCredit...Jason Andrew for The New York TimesWith Mr. Lieu and his co-partners planning to introduce their article on Monday with more than 190 co-sponsors, Ms. Pelosi spent Saturday consulting fellow Democrats and told them in a letter to be prepared to return to Washington within days for possible action. She did not say explicitly that she would pursue impeachment but vowed to hold Mr. Trump accountable. There must be a recognition that this desecration was instigated by the president, she wrote.Yet the timing of such an effort, with just 11 days until Mr. Trump is to leave office, scrambled the equation. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, indicated that under Senate rules a trial could not begin until Jan. 19, the day before President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.s inauguration, meaning the process would not advance quickly enough to avert any feared dangerous moves in Mr. Trumps last days in power.That raised the prospect of conducting a trial after Mr. Trump vacates the White House, overshadowing the opening days of Mr. Bidens administration at a time when he would like to turn the page and confront crises like the coronavirus pandemic, which has grown even deadlier while attention has focused on Washingtons political wars. A nationally televised trial could dominate discussion and would prevent other business in the Senate.If the House does send articles of impeachment over, they really get the Biden administration off to a bad start, Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, said in an interview on Saturday. Whether thats the first 10 days or the first 20 days of the Biden administration, its certainly not how youd want to start your presidency off.Some of Mr. Trumps critics argued that it would be important to hold a trial even if he is already out of power in order to bar him from ever seeking office again, a penalty envisioned by the Constitution and perhaps more important, to render a verdict condemning his actions for the sake of history.Weve never had to consider even the possibility of impeaching a president twice, or in the final days of his presidency, said Michael J. Gerhardt, a constitutional scholar at the University of North Carolina who testified in Mr. Trumps first impeachment and favors another trial. But weve never had a president before whos encouraging sedition as Trump has done in his last few days in office.Yet even some of the presidents harshest critics worried that a last-minute impeachment and an overtime trial could help him rally supporters by presenting himself as a victim not a villain, allowing him to turn the focus from his own actions to those of his opponents.It historically will be important, said Andrew Weissmann, who was a deputy to the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and recently published a book, Where Law Ends, expressing frustration that the president was not held fully accountable for his actions during the Russia investigation. But the danger is he is acquitted and the momentum of condemnation now is lost. Plus, until we change the mentality of his base, we have not gotten at the underlying issue.At the moment, a strong majority of Americans holds Mr. Trump responsible for the attack, with 63 percent saying he has a good amount or even a great deal of blame, according to a PBS Newshour-Marist poll. But when asked whether steps should be taken to remove him from office as a result, Americans retreated to their partisan corners, with 48 percent saying yes and 49 percent saying no.A Reuters-Ipsos survey found that 57 percent of Americans want Mr. Trump to leave office right away. But most of them favored removal by Vice President Mike Pence and the cabinet through the disability clause of the 25th Amendment, with just 14 percent calling for another impeachment.Mr. Trump has few defenders among Republican officeholders for exhorting the crowd before it marched on the Capitol and even some in the conservative news media turned on him, most notably The Wall Street Journal editorial page, which called his actions impeachable and urged him to resign. Senator Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania, told Fox News on Saturday that the president committed impeachable offenses, joining at least three other Senate Republicans who have called on Mr. Trump to resign, expressed openness to impeachment or voted for conviction last year.But in the face of impeachment threats, some Republicans began taking up the fight against his opponents again. They may not like Mr. Trump or believe it is politically viable to be seen as excusing his behavior but many are still energized by battling his enemies on the left.On Sean Hannitys Fox News program on Friday night, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who was accosted by Trump supporters at an airport for opposing the presidents efforts to overturn the election, was suddenly back to castigating Mr. Trumps rivals and talking about Hunter Biden.ImageCredit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesMr. Graham focused on Mr. Trumps video message Thursday calling for healing and reconciliation, a video the president privately expressed regret for making. Instead of trying to match what President Trump has done, the radical Democrats are talking about another impeachment that will destroy the country even further, Mr. Graham said.Still, Mr. Trump might have a challenge finding lawyers to defend him in any trial. Jay Sekulow, who was a leader of the defense team in the impeachment trial last year, called the idea of a second impeachment a gigantic mistake by Democrats during a radio show, but has not participated in Mr. Trumps legal efforts to overturn Mr. Bidens election and did not respond to a message asking if he would represent the president again. Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel who teamed up with Mr. Sekulow, has been so upset about the Capitol attack that he has considered resigning.One of the few members of his defense team who said he would stick with the president was Alan M. Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School emeritus professor who had a secondary role last time. In an email on Saturday, he said he would defend Mr. Trump on free expression grounds.Trumps speech, whatever one may think of it on the merits, is clearly protected by the First Amendment, he said. To impeach him for a constitutionally protected speech would violate both the First Amendment and the constitutional criteria for impeachment and would do enduring damage to the Constitution.Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor who testified in the House against Mr. Trumps first impeachment, said the latest drive was a rush to judgment out of partisan anger. The fact that Mr. Trumps critics have called for him to be removed either by impeachment or the 25th Amendment, he said, showed that they are interested only in the outcome, not the legitimacy of the method.This opportunistic use of impeachment would do to the Constitution what the rioters did to the Capitol: leave it in tatters, Mr. Turley said. The Democrats, he added, should not repeat one impulsive, destructive act in the Capitol with another in such an impeachment. The House voted almost entirely on party lines to impeach Mr. Trump in December 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in connection with his effort to pressure Ukraine to incriminate Mr. Biden in wrongdoing while withholding vital security aid. But the Senate acquitted him last February also on a nearly party-line vote.A second impeachment would in some ways revise how that first one looks in history. Some have argued that focusing on the Ukraine episode was too narrow given Mr. Trumps many actions violating norms in Washington. Others have said it served as a warning that the president would use his power to cheat in an election, a forecast now borne out.While there is scholarly debate about whether an official can be impeached or tried after leaving office, there is precedent. When William Belknap, the war secretary under President Ulysses S. Grant, was accused of corruption, he rushed to the White House to submit his resignation minutes before the House impeached him. Lawmakers proceeded anyway and the Senate went ahead and put him on trial, although it acquitted him.The Constitution specifically provides for the Senate to bar anyone convicted from holding federal office in the future, a secondary penalty that can be approved in a separate vote but requires only a simple majority of 51 senators rather than two-thirds. The Senate has applied this penalty to impeached judges in the past.At some point, democracies have to be able to defend themselves, said Corey Brettschneider, an impeachment expert at Brown University. The framers probably didnt give us enough to protect us against a president, but disqualification is one thing they rightly did give us.",3
"May 9, 2019SAN FRANCISCO The Justice Department unsealed an indictment of two Chinese nationals on Thursday, charging them with the 2014 hack of the insurance company Anthem and attacks on three other, unnamed American businesses the next year.The charges were the latest in a string of aggressive moves by American officials who say they are trying to crack down on theft of trade secrets and personal data by China.A federal grand jury in Indianapolis, where Anthem is based, charged Fujie Wang, 32, of Shenzhen, China, and an individual indicted as John Doe with conspiring to commit fraud, wire fraud and intentional damage to a protected computer.The indictment says the two targeted employees of an Anthem subsidiary and at least three other companies with so-called spear-phishing emails beginning on Feb. 18, 2014. Less than a month later, the indictment says, the hackers got inside Anthems network and searched through troves of personal data.By January 2015, the indictment says, the hackers had obtained nearly 80 million records, including Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, email, and employment and income information for Anthem customers and employees, including Anthems chief executive.The attack, which the company disclosed in February 2015, and a hack of the federal Office of Personnel Management, which disclosed a significant breach four months later, marked a turning point in Chinese cyberespionage.Previously, Chinese hackers had been largely focused on stealing American trade secrets everything from Benjamin Moores formula for paint to blueprints of stealth bombers. But with the attacks on Anthem and the Office of Personnel Management, Chinese hackers demonstrated new interest in the personal data of Americans, particularly government employees.After those two breaches, other American businesses that hold large collections of personal data began reporting that they had been targeted. The list included other major insurers; Equifax, the giant credit reporting bureau; hospitality companies like Marriott; and airlines.The stolen data never appeared on the so-called dark web, where criminals trade it for identity theft and other schemes suggesting that the attackers had a motive other than profit.Security researchers and government officials said they believed that the stolen data was being stockpiled. It could be used for a number of purposes, including rooting out spies and their collaborators.The Chinese authorities could, for example, look at hotel reservations to see if people they suspected of espionage stayed in the same city at the same time. They could also use sensitive health and financial data for blackmail.The hacks, security researchers said, were an extension of Chinas evolving algorithmic surveillance system, which has greatly expanded over the past few years.The Justice Departments indictment said Mr. Wang and the John Doe who goes by the online handles Deniel Jack, Kim Young and Zhou Zhihong were members of a brazen China-based computer hacking group that committed one of the worst data breaches in history.The indictment did not directly link the hackers to a Chinese state sponsor. Security firms hired to investigate the breach at Anthem also were unable to connect the hackers directly to a state agency or a military unit inside China.The cyberattack of Anthem not only caused harm to Anthem but also impacted tens of millions of Americans, said Josh Minkler, the United States attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, in a statement.",5
"T.I. Arrest 911 Call from Guard Shack 5/17/2018 TMZ.com The security guard who called cops on T.I. felt threatened and frantically called 911 as T.I. walked back to his guard shack. TMZ's obtained the 911 call ... where you can hear the guard telling the operator, ""A resident is walking back here at the guard shack where I'm at."" The guard continued describing the scene, ""I've been threatened by a resident and he's here now knocking on the door."" You can hear T.I. in the background telling him to step outside the guard shack because he wants his name. The guard refused to give him that information. T.I. also reminded the man he owns a home there and pays for his services. T.I. got heated and repeatedly said, ""You're making it worse for yourself, man"" and warned that at some point ""you're gonna have to deal with me."" He does calm down and asks the guard to step outside to talk. 5/16/18 TMZ.com TMZ also obtained police video back at the station after T.I. was arrested for public drunkenness, simple assault and disorderly conduct. An officer told him he was ""acting a fool"" for going back to the guard shack. As you'd imagine ... T.I. strongly disagreed.",1
"Credit...Associated PressFeb. 15, 2014The timing could have been better for the French pole-vaulter Renaud Lavillenie.If you are going to break one of the great records in sports, it is probably best not to break it when much of the sports world is preoccupied with the Winter Olympics.France has been closely following the exploits of its biathlete Martin Fourcade, the winner of two gold medals so far in Sochi. But Lavillenie stole the spotlight Saturday night by breaking Sergei Bubkas nearly 21-year-old world record at an indoor meet in Donetsk, Ukraine, with Bubka watching and applauding from the stands.Lavillenie, 27, did it by clearing 6.16 meters (20 feet 2.5 inches) without so much as grazing the bar on his first attempt, his eyes and mouth wide with the implications of it all even before he had gotten all his limbs over the horizontal bar.Its going to take me some time to come back down, Lavillenie said in French in an interview with BFM TV. It was a world record that was so mythical. To do it on the first attempt, without touching, all you can do is just savor it.Bubkas world records of 6.14 meters outdoors (20-1 ) and 6.15 meters indoors (20-2), the latter set in Donetsk on Feb. 21, 1993, had long been considered impregnable. A Ukrainian who spent much of his career representing the Soviet Union, Bubka was ahead of and above his time.He largely dominated the pole vault for a decade, from the early 1980s to the early 1990s, and he set 18 world records indoors and 17 outdoors, usually in one-centimeter increments to maximize his earning power and increase the number of world-record bonuses he was able to collect.No one had seriously challenged him until Saturday; Bubka had the best six indoor marks in history. (He still has the best nine marks outdoors.) Lavillenie, the 2012 Olympic champion, gradually transformed himself into a threat, clearing 6 meters indoors and outdoors. Still, few could have imagined he would strike so quickly.In December, the French sports daily Lquipe published a holiday dream edition in which it reported on imaginary sports stories as if they were fact. On the front page, Lavillenie was clearing a bar with the number 6,16. The article was dated Aug. 24, 2015, and the dateline was Beijing, where the next world outdoor championships will take place.In the article, the real Lavillenie played along by answering questions as if he had indeed broken the record, and on Saturday night, Lquipe republished that interview in a hurry on its website.From fiction to reality, the website read.Lavillenies best mark until this year was 6.03 meters indoors. But he cleared 6.04 meters in Rouen, France, on Jan. 25 and then 6.08 meters in Bydgoszcz, Poland, on Jan. 31. On Saturday, he went eight centimeters higher, a huge improvement for a veteran pole-vaulter.Lavillenie told reporters that, having not competed since the Poland meet, he felt fresh when he arrived in Donetsk, the city where Bubka grew up, where Bubka set the now-former world record and where there is now a statue of Bubka, pole in hand.I knew I had the potential to attack it, Lavillenie said of the record. But from that point, to beat it so quickly is a whole other story.After he landed, Lavillenie spread his arms wide and then ran off the mat and back up the runway. In the stands, Bubka, now 50, was smiling and applauding.A new era in the sport has arrived, Bubka told reporters in Donetsk after congratulating Lavillenie. Today the winner is an Olympic champion, someone who already has tasted success several times.Lavillenie, at 5 feet 9 inches, is short for a world-class pole-vaulter. But he is a dynamic, explosive presence down the runway, and he has told Lquipe that he first believed a world record was possible when he cleared 6.01 meters at the 2013 European indoor championships with nearly 15 centimeters to spare.But this time the bar was in the right place, the record-breaking place, and unlike Bubka, who would have happily taken his pole and his bonus and called it a night, Lavillenie tried again at 6.21 meters.He was unsuccessful, but that is surely not what the French or anyone else will remember about Saturday night in Donetsk.",4
"https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/04/sports/baseball/mets-sign-farnsworth.htmlSports Briefing | BaseballFeb. 4, 2014The Mets continued to fill out their bullpen, announcing that they had signed Kyle Farnsworth to a minor league deal, with an invitation to spring training. Farnsworth, 37, had a 4.70 earned run average in 48 games last season, which he split between Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay. At 6 feet 4 inches and 230 pounds, Farnsworth is an intimidating figure on the mound, with a fastball to match and a fiery attitude. Bobby Parnell is expected to be the Mets closer, but Farnsworth and the young right-hander Vic Black could vie for the setup role. The Arizona Diamondbacks avoided arbitration with the two-time Gold Glove outfielder Gerardo Parra by agreeing to a one-year, $4.85 million contract. The team also extended the contracts of Manager Kirk Gibson and General Manager Kevin Towers. Their deals had been set to expire after the coming season. (AP) The Tampa Bay Rays right-hander Jeremy Hellickson had surgery on his pitching elbow. He is expected to miss the first six to eight weeks of the season. (AP)",4
"Health|Vaccine Makers Ranked on Pricing and Researchhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/13/health/vaccine-makers-ranked-on-pricing-and-research.htmlGlobal HealthCredit...Jacquelyn Martin/Associated PressMarch 13, 2017The pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi sell many doses of vaccines at high prices and do a lot of research with the profits, while the Serum Institute of India makes more doses than any other manufacturer and sells them at low prices, according to the first Access to Vaccines Index, which was released last week.The new index is produced by the Dutch foundation that issues the biennial Access to Medicines Index, which ranks drug manufacturers according to how easy it is for people in poor countries to get the companies lifesaving medications. GSK has led that list since it was first published in 2008.The vaccines index does not rank companies from one to 20, as the medicines index does. There are so few large vaccine companies, and their product portfolios are so diverse, that giving each an overall ranking seemed unfair, said Jayasree K. Iyer, executive director of the Access to Medicines Foundation.So the foundation ranked each vaccine manufacturer on three criteria: research, pricing and supply. Generally, GSK led Sanofi, Johnson & Johnson and Merck, while Pfizer lagged behind.Despite providing vaccines at low cost, the Serum Institute scored poorly on pricing because it does not explain how it sets fees. The institute concentrates on vaccines recommended by the World Health Organization and sells 1.4 billion doses a year around the world.The vaccine industry has changed rapidly in the past two decades, the report found. The market grew to $33 billion from $6 billion between 2000 and 2014.Generous donor support has gotten vaccines for diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles and hepatitis B to more than 80 percent of the worlds poorest children. But the rest are still missed or do not get the booster doses they need.Also, children in rich countries get protection against certain diseases like chickenpox, German measles, rotavirus, pneumonia, flu and papillomavirus that poor children do not.There is a world to be won by increasing access to vaccines, Dr. Iyer said.The report lists 32 diseases for which vaccines are urgently needed but none exist. A consortium led by donors recently pledged $500 million toward developing vaccines against three of them: Lassa, Nipah and MERS viruses.",2
"Credit...Paulo Nunes dos Santos for The New York TimesMarch 3, 2017DUBLIN The local historian had been telling the authorities for years that dead infants might have been buried in an old sewage system on the grounds of a former home for unmarried mothers and their children in the west of Ireland.Little attention was paid to her claims at first, but the questions eventually led to the establishment of a state-financed investigation. And on Friday, the investigators said that the remains of babies, small children and fetuses had been found where she said they would.The discovery, in the County Galway town of Tuam, was announced on the website of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes. The commission is shocked by this discovery and is continuing its investigation into who was responsible for the disposal of human remains in this way, the agency said in a statement.From 1925 to 1961, the St. Marys home was run by the Sisters of Bon Secours, a Roman Catholic order, but was financed by the Irish government. Tests showed that most of the remains were likely to date from the 1950s, according to the statement, which added that further examinations were being conducted.This is very sad and disturbing news, Katherine Zappone, the minister for Children and Youth Affairs, said in a statement. It was not unexpected as there were claims about human remains on the site over the last number of years. Up to now we had rumors.The historian, Catherine Corless, said in an interview that she welcomed the commissions report but thought the deaths should have been investigated decades earlier.Nobody was listening locally or in authority, from the church or the state. They said, Whats the point? And that I shouldnt view the past from todays lenses.The remains are of some of the 796 children who died at the home over more than three decades. According to death certificates that Ms. Corless hunted down, the causes included malnutrition, measles, tuberculosis, gastroenteritis and pneumonia.The commission that was established in 2015 to investigate allegations of abuse in the institutions, which are known in Ireland as mother and baby homes, said its inquiry in Tuam focused on two structures on the grounds of St. Marys.The first of these structures appeared to be a large sewage containment system or septic tank that had been decommissioned and filled with rubble and debris and then covered with topsoil, while the second was a long structure which is divided into 20 chambers and appears to be related to the treatment/containment of sewage and/or waste water.It was within this second structure that the commission reported that significant quantities of human remains had been found in at least 17 of the 20 underground chambers.According to the statement, the remains included those of 35-week-old fetuses to children up to 3 years old.Further tests are now being conducted and the commission has asked that the relevant state authorities take responsibility for the appropriate treatment of the remains. A coroner had also been informed, the statement added.Although there is no official state religion in Ireland, the Catholic Church has long had a profound influence over the countrys culture and government. Bearing a child outside of marriage was considered both sinful and shameful, and unmarried mothers and their children often suffered discrimination and abuse.Ms. Corless, who lives outside Tuam, went to school with children from the St. Marys home and remembered how they were kept to one side of the classroom and had to arrive and leave at different times so there would be no interaction with children of parents who were married.She said the home babies, as they were known, looked vulnerable and malnourished to her. When her own children were more grown up, she began to look into conditions at the home, and learned of the 796 deaths. None of the bodies were buried in any of the local cemeteries.She also concluded that the children lived in substandard conditions. After the home finally closed, the buildings were demolished, and now a housing development sits adjacent to the site.In 2012, Ms. Corless published an article in a local history journal. The article concluded that some of the children had been buried in an unofficial graveyard in the back of the home. But after studying a map of the grounds, she thought that other bodies might have been interred in the sewage treatment facilities.A sewage tank had been replaced by a public water system in 1937, but she said there was sufficient evidence to show that some babies and small children had been buried there while it was still in operation.Ms. Corless wanted to erect a plaque with the names of all of the children who had died, and she helped up set a committee in 2013 to finance it. The committee was unable to raise enough money.She also approached journalists with her work. In 2014, Alison OReilly, a reporter for the Irish edition of The Mail on Sunday, a London newspaper, wrote an article.But as it spread and was picked up by other news organizations, headlines shouted that 800 bodies had been thrown into the septic tank. That led to criticism, and some said they found discrepancies in Ms. Corlesss work.She said on Friday that that had been difficult but that she had known she was right. I never made a statement unless I could back it with facts. I only presented the truth.On Friday, the Bon Secours order issued a statement that promised its continued cooperation with and support for the work of the commission in seeking the truth about the home.The order declined further comment.For years, there had been accounts of abuse at many mother and baby homes and the government agreed to begin an inquiry. The homes attracted international attention after the release of the film Philomena, which told the story of a womans search for the boy who was taken from her and was adopted by a couple in the United States.The commission has been examining allegations of abuse at 14 mother and baby homes, and four similar institutions between 1922 and 1998. But it has no power to award compensation or bring criminal charges.Ms. Corless added that it was important now that the investigation continued its work, and that it needs to go further inside.The commissions announcement marked another development in a series of scandals involving church and state in Irish life.The director of Amnesty International Ireland, Colm OGorman, who himself experienced clerical abuse, said it was time for the government to join the dots.There is a direct line between the industrial schools, the mother and baby homes and the abuse committed and covered up by priests, he said. The state never really accepted that it had accountability or responsibility when it came to their own citizens, so it outsourced all of that to the church.In the interview on Friday, Ms. Corless said that Ms. Zappone, the minister for children, had telephoned her earlier in the day and thanked her for her work and perseverance.",6
"SAG Awards 2018 Ladies Ditch the Black Outfits ... Still Boast 'Time's Up' 1/21/2018 Early arrivals for the 24th annual SAG Awards were quite telling ... 'cause a lot of the women appear to have abandoned the blackout for ""Time's Up."" It was obvious Sunday as celebs made their way to the Shrine Auditorium that many of the ladies decided against wearing black in support of the movement -- unlike the Golden Globes a few weeks ago, when the blackout was practically unanimous. Some of the stars who avoided black wardrobe so far include Alison Brie, Erin Lim, Renee Bargh, Giuliana Rancic, Lilliana Vazquez, and Keltie Knight. What's interesting ... a lot of red carpet personalities are talking ""Time's Up"" and speculating it'll be a major conversation piece throughout the night. No major speeches on the subject just yet ... but it's probably only a matter of time.",1
"Comedian Steve Brown Onstage Attacker Arrested 1/24/2018 Tumika LaSha The man who viciously attacked comedian Steve Brown onstage has been arrested ... TMZ has learned. Marvin Toatley was arrested Wednesday in Columbia, South Carolina and booked on 3 counts of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, as well as one count of third degree assault and battery ... and one count of malicious injury to property. Cops say their fugitive task force found Toatley at an apartment complex. He's still in custody. TMZ.com As we reported ... Toatley hopped onstage in the middle of Steve's set Sunday and started swinging a mic stand like a sword. Cops say 4 people in total were injured from his outburst. Steve told us the guy was laughing it up before coming after him, seemingly out of nowhere.",1
"Many beachside hotels along the states Space Coast were already at capacity before Wednesdays scheduled launch, a local tourism executive said.Credit...Charlie Riedel/Associated PressMay 27, 2020NASA has urged spectators to stay away from the Kennedy Space Center for Wednesdays SpaceX launch to limit the spread of the coronavirus. But officials from cities and counties around the launch site, an area known as Floridas Space Coast, are expecting large crowds to gather to watch the countrys first astronaut launch in nine years.The size of the crowds could still be affected by the weather, local officials said. People would be less likely to make the trip if it looked like the forecast might delay the launch. But local news outlets reported launch viewers were already gathering along the beaches and roadways in prime viewing areas on Wednesday morning.Last month, Jim Bridenstine, the NASA administrator, asked people to watch the launch from their homes.When we launch to space from the Kennedy Space Center, it draws huge, huge crowds and that is not right now what were trying to do, he said at a news conference.The visitor center at Kennedy, usually a prime spot for spectators, will remain closed to the public. The launch of SpaceXs Crew Dragon capsule, carrying two NASA astronauts, Douglas G. Hurley and Robert L. Behnken, is scheduled for 4:33 p.m.But outside Kennedy Space Center, NASA has little control over crowds.Peter Cranis, executive director of the Space Coast Office of Tourism, said he expected a couple hundred thousand people to flock to the beaches and parks, noting that launches in NASAs glory days had drawn as many as half a million spectators. Mr. Cranis said he anticipated that the coronavirus might deter some, but that many would still come to witness the historic launch. More than a dozen beachside hotels each with several thousand rooms reported that they were fully booked before the launch, he said.Judging from the crowds on Memorial Day weekend, I would say that people are ready to get out, Mr. Cranis said. They seem to be very happy to be able to be out.Law enforcement officials did not provide their own projections of expected crowd sizes.Don Walker, the communications director of Brevard County Emergency Management, said that he was also anticipating big crowds on beaches and roadways, and that departmental staff would ask spectators to keep at least six feet of distance. Kennedy Space Center is in Brevard County.Obviously, we cannot be everywhere at once, Mr. Walker said. But where we can and where we see groups in proximity and in violation of C.D.C. recommendations, the plan is to simply remind people to take heed.At a May 1 news conference, Brevard Countys sheriff, Wayne Ivey, encouraged people to come watch the launch in person.We are not going to keep the great Americans that want to come watch that from coming here, Sheriff Ivey said. If NASA is telling people to not come here and watch the launch, thats on them. Im telling people what I believe as an American. And so NASA has got their guidelines, and I got mine.Officer Tod Goodyear, a spokesman for the Brevard County Sheriffs Office, said that concerns about the coronavirus prompted the department to seek law enforcement officers from several jurisdictions to be on the ground to help monitor crowds.Officer Goodyear said he expected some people would wear masks and most would be mindful of keeping distance. The sheriffs office will also be distributing up to 20,000 masks to those who request them.With around 400 recorded cases, Brevard County hasnt been hit hard by the virus. And since Gov. Ron DeSantis began reopening the state on May 4, Officer Goodyear said he had noticed more people out and about.Ben Malik, the mayor of Cocoa Beach, about a 40-minute drive south from the space center, said he was expecting several thousand people to visit its beach, which is about six miles long.Its physically impossible to manage, Mr. Malik said. We dont have the police resources to go out there and keep everyone apart. The best we can do is try to manage the traffic and crowd control.Lt. Kim Montes, a spokeswoman for the Florida Highway Patrol in Orlando, said the agency was focused on monitoring traffic and making sure people wouldnt stop their cars on bridges. In addition to the couple dozen officers normally on duty, an additional 30 troopers from other parts of the state will assist during the day, she said.With the pandemic, we really dont know what kinds of crowds we are going to have, Lieutenant Montes said. The weather is going to play a lot into it. Are people going to stay home? Is it going to rain?",2
"Credit...Beck Diefenbach/ReutersDec. 17, 2015Apples chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, is continuing to make over the companys executive ranks.On Thursday, Apple made several shifts in its senior management team, including the promotion of a longtime executive, Jeff Williams, to the job of chief operating officer, a position that had gone unfilled since 2011.Apple also expanded the role of Philip W. Schiller, its senior vice president of worldwide marketing, to include oversight of the App Store. The store had been overseen by Eddy Cue, Apples senior vice president of Internet software and services.Were recognizing the contributions already being made by two key executives, Mr. Cook said in a statement.The changes, which include new leadership in the companys hardware and marketing divisions, are the latest executive moves by Mr. Cook, who became chief of Apple in 2011. Early in his tenure, Mr. Cook shook up the management team that had been put in place by his predecessor, Steven P. Jobs, by pushing out Scott Forstall, the mobile software head.Last year, Mr. Cook hired a new retail chief, Angela Ahrendts, the former head of the British luxury fashion company Burberry, to revitalize Apples retail stores. He also promoted Luca Maestri, who joined Apple in 2013 as vice president of finance and corporate controller, to chief financial officer, after the retirement of Peter Oppenheimer, then C.F.O.The changes announced on Thursday reflect what Mr. Williams and Mr. Schiller had already been doing and are not seen as large shifts in strategy.The chief operating officer position at Apple was once held by Mr. Cook, who ran operations at the Cupertino, Calif.-based company for many years under Mr. Jobs. Mr. Cook was elevated to chief executive shortly before Mr. Jobs died from pancreatic cancer.Mr. Williams, 52, joined Apple in 1998 as head of worldwide procurement and became vice president of operations in 2004. Six years later, he was put in charge of Apples supply chain, a large global operation that secures components and parts for products such as the iPhone and iPad. Apples supply chain is one of the companys great strengths. Its army of contract workers can be mobilized quickly to produce huge volumes of the companys best-selling products.The supply chain has also been scrutinized for worker rights violations. Apple has pressured suppliers to change their practices, and Mr. Williams has overseen Apples social responsibility initiatives to protect more than one million employees worldwide.Jeff is hands-down the best operations executive Ive ever worked with, Mr. Cook said in the statement. Mr. Williams is also supervising the development of the Apple Watch, which Apple started selling in April.Mr. Schiller has already been one of Apples main liaisons with the app developer community. Mr. Cue, who oversees software and services, helped create the App Store in 2008 and has added responsibilities over time, including the addition of Apple Pay, Apples new streaming music service and efforts to start a television service.The moves give executives the freedom to pursue other important tasks that they face in their roles, said Jan Dawson, an analyst at Jackdaw Research. It seems like Eddy Cue could have a pretty full plate with trying to negotiate TV rights at the moment, for example, Mr. Dawson said.Apple also said that Johny Srouji, who led the development of Apples A4 chip, had joined the executive team as senior vice president for hardware technologies.Tor Myhren will join as vice president of marketing communications early next year, reporting to Mr. Cook. Mr. Myhren, who will oversee Apples advertising efforts, was previously chief creative officer and president of Grey New York, a part of the Grey Group.",0
"Dec. 8, 2015The pain among energy and mining producers worsened again on Tuesday, as one of the industrys largest players cut its work force by nearly two-thirds and Chinese trade data amplified concerns about the countrys appetite for commodities.The full extent of the shakeout will depend on whether commodities prices have further to fall. And the outlook is shaky, with a swirl of forces battering the markets.The worlds biggest buyer of commodities, China, has pulled back sharply during its economic slowdown. But the world is dealing with gluts in oil, gas, copper and even some grains.The world of commodities has been turned upside down, said Daniel Yergin, the energy historian and vice chairman of IHS, a consultant firm. Instead of tight supply and strong demand, we have tepid demand and oversupply and overcapacity for commodity production. Its the end of an era that is not going to come back soon.The pressure on prices has been significant.Prices for iron ore, the crucial steelmaking ingredient, have fallen by about 40 percent this year. The Brent crude oil benchmark is now hovering around $40 a barrel, down from more than a $110 since the summer of 2014.Companies are caught in the downdraft.A number of commodity-related businesses have either declared bankruptcy or fallen behind in their debt payments. Even more common are the cutbacks. Nearly 1,200 oil rigs, or two-thirds of the American total, have been decommissioned since late last year. More than 250,000 workers in the oil and gas industry worldwide have been laid off, with more than a third coming in the United States.The international mining company Anglo American is pulling back broadly, with a goal to reduce the companys size by 60 percent. Along with the layoffs announced on Tuesday, the company is suspending its dividend, halving its business units, as well as unloading mines and smelters.ImageCredit...Ivan Alvarado/ReutersThe situation has darkened in recent months.In July, the company outlined plans to cut 53,000 jobs after reporting a loss of $3 billion for the first half of the year. Now, Anglo American plans to reduce its current work force of 135,000, to 50,000 employees.Quite frankly we didnt expect the commodity price rout to be so dramatic and in all likelihood the next six months are going to be even tougher, Mark Cutifani, the companys chief executive, said at an investors conference on Tuesday. We have pulled costs out of the business, but we need to do more because prices continue to deteriorate.China looms large in the commodities equation.Between 2000 and last year, companies invested hundreds of billions of dollars to expand their production capacity to satisfy China in a period of rapid economic expansion. Much of the corporate growth was fueled by debt.But the situation has proved unsustainable as demand has waned. Chinese copper imports are down nearly 3 percent from last year, while imports of steel products are down by more than 12 percent. The countrys crude oil and iron ore imports are still up, but by rates that are slowing from previous years.The economys slowing growth rate is adding to the uncertainty. China reported on Tuesday that exports, the countrys engine of growth, slipped 6.8 percent in November, compared with the same month a year ago. Imports were also weak, although the rate of decline was lower than in the previous month.The weakening Chinese demand is hurting prices while production is overwhelming markets.Even with prices falling rapidly, American oil production has only declined to 9.2 million barrels a day, from a record high of 9.6 million barrels a day in June. Momentum in drilling and production have been building over the last three years. Gulf of Mexico offshore production has been steadily increasing since the federal drilling moratorium that followed the 2010 BP oil spill.Many international oil projects have been canceled and production should fall more rapidly next year. But it probably wont be quickly enough to stabilize prices. That is because companies are getting more production out of their investments as efficiency has improved. And some need to keep producing to keep up with their debt payments.The commodity fallout has been global.The Swiss company Glencore is scrambling to reduce its $30 billion debt by a third before the end of 2016 by slashing its copper-mining operations in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo and selling much of its agricultural business. Kinder Morgan, the North American pipeline company, cut its dividend on Tuesday afternoon, prompting a sell-off in the stock after hours.There have already been about 40 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings by North American oil and gas producers this year, accounting for roughly $15 billion in secured and unsecured debt. And energy experts predict more bankruptcies in 2016 if oil prices remain below $40 a barrel, or even below $50 a barrel.When one company topples, it reverberates broadly.On Monday, Energy & Exploration Partners, a Fort Worth oil and gas driller, filed for Chapter 11 protection. In the bankruptcy, it listed debt of more than $1 billion owed to several service companies, including units of Schlumberger and Baker Hughes.For some players, the mess creates opportunity. Scott Sheffield, chief executive of Pioneer Natural Resources, a major Texas oil company, predicts a wave of consolidations and corporate shake-ups because of financial strain from the commodity price collapse.There is about $150 billion of private equity out there looking for deals in the U.S., he said. Others are facing a period of prolonged problems.Some energy experts are even beginning to express concerns that sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia and other wealthy Persian Gulf and oil-producing countries will redeem their money from investment firms in the coming year to shore up their balance sheets. If they do, the moves could initiate more instability in global equity and debt markets.Anglo American is drastically shrinking to remain viable.Since he became chief executive in 2013, Mr. Cutifani said, not a single month has passed during which any of the products that Anglo American mines has risen in price. When he took the job, Mr. Cutifani signaled that the free-spending ways of the commodity price supercycle had ended by selling the corporate jet.Now, everything is getting a second look. Anglo American will close its London head office and share space in the city with the headquarters of De Beers, its diamond mining unit. Over all, Anglo American plans to reduce operating costs over the coming year by $1.1 billion and cut capital spending by an additional $1 billion in the same period.The company intends to focus operation in three areas: the diamond operations of De Beers; industrial metals like copper; and bulk commodities like coal. Details about the job cuts will not be announced until February, but it appears that they will probably focus on the firms bulk commodities operations.Mr. Cutifani said that Anglo American would simply shut money-losing mines rather than sell them at heavily discounted prices, although he did not entirely rule out asset sales. The nickel, coal and iron ore mines, he said, will have to show that they can reduce costs sufficiently to generate cash.If not, they wont be in the portfolio, its as simple as that, he said. In this sort of environment, nothing can be considered business as usual.",0
"Credit...Timothy A. Clary/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesApril 5, 2016Air France moved to defuse a clash with part of its work force after the airline demanded that female employees wear veils on a new service to Iran, leading a union to accuse the company of an attack on women.The company circulated a memo on March 18 that outlined the dress standards, including a requirement that women wear a head scarf and a wide and long garment to conceal their forms on their arrival in the country, according to the National Union of Flights Attendants.The union responded with outrage, calling the instructions an attack on freedom of conscience and demanding that Air France allow female employees to refuse to work on the route to Tehran, which is scheduled to start on April 17.On Monday, the company relented, saying the assignment would be voluntary.The firestorm over Air Frances memo highlighted long-running anxieties in France over the role of Islam in public life, concerns that have grown more acute in the wake of Islamic State terror attacks in Paris and in Brussels. Some accused the company of disrespecting womens rights, while others said it was surrendering to radical Islam.But the airline pushed back, characterizing its memo simply as a reminder that the Iranian legal system strictly regulates how women can dress in public.The law of Iran imposes the wearing of a veil covering the hair in public places to all women on its territory, the airline said in a statement to Le Monde, the French newspaper. This obligation, which therefore does not apply during the flight, is respected by all international airlines serving the Republic of Iran.The airline told Le Monde that it has previously instructed female employees to wear conservative clothes, including veils, while in Saudi Arabia on its service. Female employees working on its earlier service to Iran, which ended in 2008, also followed Iranian laws on womens attire while in the country.Employees are obliged, like all foreign visitors, to respect the laws of the countries they visit, the airline said.The wearing of the veil is an emotionally charged issue in France, where a form of state secularism known as lacit is held as a bedrock of the republic. It is illegal to wear a full face veil in public, and religious garments like Muslim head scarves, large Christian crosses and Jewish skullcaps are banned from public schools. Some have depicted Islam as a threat to secular tradition.Elayne Oliphant, a professor of religious studies at New York University, said larger anxieties over terrorism and the cultural assimilation of Frances Muslim minority have led some people see a threat in reasonable suggestions, such as dressing in ways that accord with the local laws of a country.The controversy provided grist for Frances right-wing politicians, who have made a regular practice of capitalizing on the countrys fears over radical Islam.Florian Philippot, a politician from the right-wing National Front, wrote on Twitter, Air France will never be Air Burka: Support the stewardesses!The airlines Facebook page became a target for expressions of public anger. Air France, you represent the capitulation of Europe. You should be ashamed. one person wrote. Another called it a forced hijab stunt.But other reactions were more muted. Bruno Le Maire, a center-right politician, gave the equivalent of a gallic shrug in an interview with the right-leaning newspaper Le Figaro. His wife wore a veil on a trip to Iran a few years before, Mr. Le Maire noted.In Iran, whether all of us involved in the issue like it or not, the veil is worn, he said. That is just how it is, it is part of the tradition of Tehran and the Iranians.",6
"Credit...Fabrizio Costantini for The New York TimesDec. 29, 2015LEAMINGTON, Ontario Heinz has left a deep mark on this town, the self-proclaimed tomato capital of Canada that sits on the shore of Lake Erie.There is the tourist booth shaped like a giant tomato that was partly funded by Heinz in 1961. The annual tomato festival that was originally a company picnic. Most everyone has a family member who has worked at the century-old Heinz plant here.Residents feared the worst when a group of investors bought Heinz in 2013. The investors, 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway, Warren E. Buffetts company, announced plans to close the plant and gave layoff notices to its 740 workers.But Leamington and the plant got a reprieve because, in part, of a quirk of Canadian law. A 54-year-old regulation bans using tomato paste to make tomato juice.Although the plant has changed hands, Heinz is its biggest customer. Along with tomato juice, the plant now makes soups, sauces and SpongeBob SquarePants canned pasta. The air around downtown is still filled with the scent of cooked tomatoes.ImageCredit...Fabrizio Costantini for The New York TimesIts really quite unusual, this whole story, said David Dick, a tomato seedling grower whose familys dealings with Heinz date from 1936. Im really dumbfounded by it all. This really rose from the ashes.Sam Diab, who is one of three partners in the plants new owner, Highbury Canco, is steeped in Heinz history.His immigrant grandfather was a caretaker at Heinz. His parents handpicked tomatoes as children. His mother eventually held a senior financial position in the plant.In 2012, Mr. Diab left a management job at Heinz headquarters in Pittsburgh to run the factory here, where he had first worked for the company. The move was partly out of fondness for his hometown and partly to return to a job thats close to the product.It was the past that Mr. Diab, now the president and chief executive of Highbury Canco, fought to preserve.In October 2013, Mr. Diab got a warning that Heinz would announce the plant shutdown the next month. As he kept the secret, Mr. Diab worked on a plan to save the factory.ImageCredit...Fabrizio Costantini for The New York TimesYou know, it was difficult when you have hundreds of people around you, said Mr. Diab, 33. But obviously, I saw a different future for the place.He tried unsuccessfully to dissuade 3G and Berkshire Hathaway from closing the plant with a plan that included cost-cutting.The disruption went far beyond the factory. Heinz bought about half of Ontarios tomato crop, worth roughly $50 million a year.A few miles north of the plant, Wayne Palichuk moved to save costs on the farming operation his grandfather founded 87 years ago. Growing tomatoes for Heinz generated about half of his farms income.He laid off a hired hand who had worked on the farm for years. He put some equipment up for sale.Is there crops that we could grow that we could survive on? Mr. Palichuk said. Sure there is. Is there other crops with the same per-acre value? No.As Mr. Diab showed prospective buyers around the plant, he proposed that new owners focus on landing Heinz as a customer.ImageCredit...Fabrizio Costantini for The New York TimesBut many of the visitors were simply looking to tear it down and redevelop the land. He similarly figured that Pradeep Sood and Surjit Babra, two investors from the Toronto area, did not have much interest.Neither had any extensive experience in the food industry. Mr. Soods main holding, XactScribe, is a transcription company. Mr. Babras business, SkyLink Canada, has aviation-related holdings.My heart wasnt in the tour, Mr. Diab said. I didnt actually think it was going to to go anywhere because they didnt have the background in food.But the two investors called back the next day. Mr. Sood said they were particularly impressed that the plant came with a trained, ready-made work force. Within weeks, Mr. Diab formally entered a partnership with them to make a bid for the plant, its equipment and, critically, contracts to continue using them to make Heinz products.The Canadian rules concerning tomato juice helped win over Heinz.Tomato juice in the United States is often made from tomato paste, but Canadian regulations require fresh tomatoes. If Leamington closed, Heinz would have to find another place to produce tomato juice for Canada, where it dominates the market for the beverage.The companys control of the Canadian market meant there was little tomato juice production capacity elsewhere in the country. Keeping tomato juice production in Leamington also meant that custom machinery did not have to be duplicated.ImageCredit...Fabrizio Costantini for The New York TimesAlong with the plant sale, Heinz signed a five-year agreement with Highbury to produce about 120 products. The warehouse will also continue to serve as the distribution center for all Heinz products sold in Canada, regardless of where they are made.Highbury Cano was identified as the ideal partner that would benefit both the Leamington community and Kraft Heinz, said Michael Mullen, a spokesman for Kraft Heinz, as the company is now known. We continue to have a strong relationship with Highbury Canco.At first, employment was cut to 250, from 740. Under a new union contract, the basic rate for unskilled plant workers fell to 16 Canadian dollars, or about $11.55, an hour, from about 25 Canadian dollars, although Highbury maintained similar benefits. The number of seedling growers and tomato farmers supplying the plant declined.Since then, local tomato farmers have secured additional contracts with other canning and paste companies in the area. This years harvest was back to about where it stood before the shutdown announcement.Sam came through, said Mr. Palichuk, who remains a supplier, as does Mr. Dick. He was a knight in shining armor.It is a common sentiment, but bitterness lingers toward 3G and Mr. Buffett.Finishing lunch at the Gingerbread House Family Restaurant, Joanne Siddall, a former plant worker, said she boycotts Tim Hortons, the national coffee and doughnut chain that was bought by the 3G-owned Burger King Worldwide using financing from Berkshire Hathaway.ImageCredit...Fabrizio Costantini for The New York TimesThe cuts have led to small-town rumors and speculation. Ms. Siddall subscribes to a common conspiracy theory in which the sale of the plant was a sham to force lower wages.Theyve got another four years, and theyll be done, and then Heinz will take back over, she said.Mr. Buffett denies such a plan. This is the first Ive heard of the conspiracy theory, he wrote in an email in which he also noted that 3G was responsible for the operation of Heinz. I am on the board of Kraft Heinz and can state unequivocally that I know of no arrangement of any kind to buy back the property. A spokesman for 3G declined to comment.Mr. Diabs focus is expansion. This year, Highbury landed a contract to produce industrial tomato paste for a local canning company, allowing Mr. Diab to raise employment to 325. Sales in 2015 will be roughly 75 million to 120 million Canadian dollars, according to Mr. Diab.Part of Mr. Diabs plan is to start exporting industrial paste to food companies in nearby Ohio and Michigan. That hinges, in part, on persuading the tomato growers marketing board to create a lower price category for paste tomatoes.Mr. Diab is also pitching the product development laboratory, inherited from Heinz, to smaller food companies as a way to scale up new products for test runs. The company is investing about 20 million Canadian dollars into outfitting empty sections of the plant to allow new kinds of packaging.Now, its all about securing new products, and thats new for us, Mr. Diab said.",0
"Joel McHale Aziz Ansari's Date Sounds Consensual to Me 1/22/2018 TMZ.com Joel McHale is a staunch supporter of the #MeToo movement, but has big issues with allegations like the one leveled against Aziz Ansari. We got Joel Sunday at the Sundance Film Festival when our photog asked about Aziz, who was a no-show Sunday night at the SAG Awards. He's on the Ashleigh Banfield train ... saying it sounds like a bad date rather than sexual assault. Joel seems to be saying a good number of the allegations against various Hollywood types are true, but not all, and he warns people not to jump to conclusions.",1
"Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesJan. 6, 2021While Democrats celebrated the election of the Rev. Raphael Warnock to the Senate, Georgias second Senate runoff race which will determine which party will control the Senate remained too close to call on Wednesday. The Democratic candidate, Jon Ossoff, was leading his Republican challenger, David Perdue, by thousands of votes with thousands more that still need to be counted, many of them from Democratic-leaning areas.After trading leads earlier in the evening, Mr. Ossoff pulled ahead of Mr. Perdue overnight, but by just 0.4 percent within the range that could trigger a recount. By 4 a.m. Wednesday, an estimated 98 percent of votes had been counted. Georgia elections officials said they expected to complete the count by noon on Wednesday.Even so, Mr. Ossoff, a 33-year-old documentary film executive, declared himself the winner Wednesday morning in a video posted on Twitter. The Associated Press has not yet called the race. The news organization called Mr. Warnocks victory over the Republican incumbent, Kelly Loeffler, early Wednesday.Listen to The Daily: A Historic Night in GeorgiaAs the results from two highly anticipated runoff elections roll in, control of the Senate appears to be within reach for the Democrats.transcripttranscriptListen to The Daily: A Historic Night in GeorgiaHosted by Michael Barbaro; produced by Luke Vander Ploeg and Daniel Guillemette; and edited by Lisa Chow and M.J. Davis Lin.As the results from two highly anticipated runoff elections roll in, control of the Senate appears to be within reach for the Democrats.michael barbaroFrom The New York Times, Im Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily.[music]Today: In the closely watched Georgia runoffs, the Democrats win one race and are heavily favored in the second, putting Democratic control of the Senate within reach. My colleague, Nate Cohn, on a historic night in Georgia. Its Wednesday, January 6.Well, Nate, good morning.nate cohnGood morning.michael barbaroI have to say, this was not a telephone call or a election call that we were expecting to have tonight.nate cohnYou know, Im surprised to hear that. Does that mean there was worse planning on your end than I typically expect from you guys?michael barbaroI mean, we had it on really good journalistic authority that the Georgia Senate runoffs were going to take days to count. And here we are, I guess, seven hours after the polls closed. And we have real news from this race.nate cohnIts true. We have a projection.michael barbaroSo, Nate, tell us exactly where things stand at 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning in these runoffs.nate cohnWell, there are two contests. In one of them, we have a projected winner. The Democrat Raphael Warnock has defeated Kelly Loeffler in the Senate special election. And in the regular Senate election between John Ossoff and David Perdue, the Democrat, John Ossoff, has a slight lead of a few thousand votes, with nearly all of the vote in and counted.michael barbaroSo help us understand how we can have one Senate race called, the other not called. Because Im having a little bit of trouble imagining in a race, where two Democrats are on the ballot and two Republicans are on the ballot, understanding how one Democratic Senate candidate gets ahead of the other. I had long imagined that any Democratic voter who cast a ballot was going to cast a ballot for both.nate cohnThats certainly a reasonable expectation. You know, I think that there are a lot of people who vote based on personality, based on how much they like somebody. And as far back as the November election, it was clear that the Democrats were better positioned in the special election than they were in the regularly scheduled election. And I think there are a couple of explanations. One is that the Republicans had a pretty brutal primary in the run-up to the November special election. And Kelly Loeffler ran pretty far to the right in that primary. You may recall that she ran a television advertisement claiming that she was further to the right than Attila the Hun. In contrast, there was not a fierce interparty battle on the right for the regularly scheduled election. David Perdue is a well-established incumbent, and who, despite being very conservative, still has a little bit of appeal to a traditionally Republican voter that maybe has swung over to the Democrats in recent cycles. And were talking about a very small number of voters. To be clear, at the moment, theres only about a percentage point that separates the two candidates. So it doesnt take much to create this sort of seemingly significant difference.michael barbaroWell, what is the fact that the race has been called for Raphael Warnock, but not for John Ossoff? Tell us about exactly who showed up for this election.nate cohnI dont think it tells us anything. I think that basically, under any plausible turnout scenario, we expected Warnock to be in the stronger position in this race. That wasnt inevitable, of course, but that was the expectation. We do know from the results that we see at the precinct level and by county that the Democrats enjoyed a really strong turnout in this election. A higher proportion of voters appeared to return to the polls for this runoff election in Democratic-leaning precincts and counties and in particular in majority Black precincts and counties than did in counties that voted for the president or were majority whites without a degree.michael barbaroThat feels significant. We do not understand special elections, runoff elections, to ever draw the same kind of turnout that presidential elections draw. So this feels very unique.nate cohnYeah, this is a huge turnout. I mean, there were a lot of truly terrible turnout predictions over the last few months. And at the moment, I think the turnout is close to 90 percent of the general election. More people voted in this election than voted in Georgia in the 2016 presidential election. Now, granted, theres been population growth in Georgia since then. And Georgia has become a more competitive state at the presidential level since then. And this was a race for control of the Senate. But I think that indicates that this was I mean, this was basically a presidential electorate that we had, when typically a runoff election might be expected to look like, at best, a midterm, but often even a lower turnout election than that something more like a primary election than a midterm election.michael barbaroNow, you started to mention the turnout of Black voters in Georgia. And I wonder how significant that was and how central you think that is to Warnocks projected victory and Ossoffs lead so far.nate cohnIts a huge part of it. Georgia has the second or third-largest Black population in the country. In the general election, it was probably something just short of 30 percent of the vote. And so thats a majority of the Democratic voters in the state. All indications that we have right now suggest that the Black share of the electorate was higher in these runoff elections than it was in the general election in November. Its still too early to pin that down with precision. And well get authoritative data on that in the weeks ahead. But all the data that we have at this point suggests that the increase in Black turnout or maybe put more precisely, the decrease in Black turnout compared to the general election was smaller than the decrease in white turnout or Latino turnout or particularly white working-class turnout.michael barbaroSo all the mobilization that we have been hearing about and talking about on The Daily of the Black Georgia electorate for this runoff and really, I guess, starting with the presidential election that has truly potentially made the difference here in at least one and possibly both of these Senate runoffs.nate cohnYeah. I think that that extra mobilization, that relative increase in the Black share of the electorate, could easily prove to be the decisive factor in Democrats taking back the Senate when we have all the data in to say for sure.michael barbaroSo based on the current vote-counting, should we assume that John Ossoff stands a reasonably good chance of pulling out a victory of his own, like Warnock? I mean, just how connected are these two races? Is it possible to imagine that the Democrats win one seat, the Warnock seat, and the Republicans win the other seat, the Purdue seat?nate cohnI dont think thats realistic at this point. Theres not going to be a call for a little bit. If you remember from the general election, the news organizations are reluctant to call these races until a candidate leads by more than the margin of a recount. But John Ossoff has essentially won this race. I mean, at the moment, hes up by 3/10 of a point 13,000 votes or so. Thats a larger lead than Joe Bidens lead was in the final account in Georgia, in terms of both percentage points and vote margins. And, I mean, all of the remaining vote left is Democratic voters 50,000 absentee ballots that are going to break for Ossoff by a 2-to-1 margin or more the provisional ballots that are going to break for Ossoff. Its just theres not a path for David Perdue, even if the networks may not call the race in the immediate future. Its not there for the Republicans.michael barbaroNate, I think a lot of people listening to you talk the way that you are is going to be among the first times its dawned on them that Democrats are very much on the cusp of retaking control of the Senate. And that has a lot of implications.nate cohnYeah, I mean, youre right. We cant make the call. But the Democrats, for all intents and purposes at this point, will control the Senate. And the consequences of that for the Biden presidency are enormous. It will allow them to confirm nominees with considerably greater ease. Itll let them pass budget reconciliation packages that let them do all sorts of things with a mere majority of the vote. Itll give them control of the committees. I mean, it will completely transform the first two years of Bidens presidency.[music]michael barbaroWell be right back.So, Nate, turning to the Republican side and to Loeffler and Perdue, there were a lot of questions ahead of these runoffs about the presidents message that the November election had been stolen. His really forceful criticism of election officials in Georgia whether that was going to depress the Republican vote does that seem to have happened?nate cohnYeah, I think thats tough to say. I mean, the Republican turnout was really healthy by any measure other than the final result. I mean, the turnout in overwhelmingly Trump precincts was 88 percent of the general election. You know, you dont have this sort of stupendous turnout only from one side. Clearly, the Democratic turnout was superior to the Republican turnout in this election. I think thats pretty obvious when you look at the precinct results, at least if youre comparing to the general election and taking that as your baseline. Whether you want to think about that as the president motivated Democratic Biden voters by thumbing his nose in the face of their victory, and basically not hearing the message they were trying to send, or you want to say that he deflated Republican voters by saying their votes wouldnt count, thats very hard for me to untangle. And maybe its some combination of both of them.michael barbaroI think a lot of people are wondering if what happened tonight in Georgia starts to tell us something about President Trump and about Trumpism, and whether or not the party can win elections when Donald Trump is not on the ballot. And so what are we learning from the results so far?nate cohnI mean, to me, this election was very much dominated by the president. Back in November, these two candidates ran ahead of President Trump in Georgia. Over the last two months, I would argue that theyre more tied to the president than ever before, and arguably in a way that makes it harder and harder for them to win over the sliver of Biden-Perdue voters that they won in November.michael barbaroAnd when you refer to a Biden-Perdue voter, I guess what you mean is someone whos a moderate Republican in Georgia who might favor Senator Perdue, who was up for election tonight, and Joe Biden, but might have reservations about Donald Trump.nate cohnYeah, a rich Republican. And there were a lot of these voters on the North side of Atlanta in the most affluent areas of North Fulton and DeKalb counties. And so the president has continuously makes it harder for Republicans to distinguish themselves from him. At the same time, the president does a lot to mobilize and motivate Democrats to come out against him. And I think that the last two months have done plenty to convince people that they ought to come out and vote if theyre a Democrat in Georgia after the way the presidents acted over the last two months.michael barbaroDo you suspect that the results here, and given what you just said, means that the Republican Party is going to want to start untethering itself from Trumpism and from Trump? Because regardless of the strength of his base, this legendary group of voters that will come out when he asks them to, what happened in Georgia suggests that he is starting to be seen as much as a problem for Republicans as a solution going forward.nate cohnYeah. The president has put the Republican Party in a tough spot. I mean, the fundamental dynamic that the Republicans face right now, which the president is just a little bit less popular than theyd like him to be nationwide and in the critical battleground states and in Georgia, a traditionally Republican state. And as a result, for them to win, they need to win over a few voters not that many, but a few voters who dont like the president and who maybe used to vote Republican before the president came to dominate American politics. But he just makes it too hard for them to be able to do that because hes such a dominant force in American life.michael barbaroSo in summary, the president looms so large over Republican politics, but hes not popular enough to win the crucial moderate votes required to win something like the presidency in Georgia or a Senate race. And so the party is stuck so long as he remains the most powerful emblem of the Republican brand.nate cohnYep, thats right.michael barbaroSo, Nate, as you know, in a few hours, Congress is going to convene. And its job will be to certify President-elect Joe Bidens victory in the Electoral College. Many Republicans intend to object. It is expected to be chaotic and polarized and ugly. And I wonder what Warnocks projected win and Ossoffs lead mean for that process potentially?nate cohnI think it has the potential to change the dynamic a bit. I mean, if you step back for a moment, the Republicans came out of the November election feeling pretty good. In the scheme of having lost a presidential election, they won a lot of the Senate races they wanted to win. The president did better than they expected. And they didnt have too many reasons to think after that they needed to go and distance themselves from him. And as a result, many Republicans have been inclined to follow him down an increasingly perilous path toward contesting this presidential election. And now, Republicans are going to look at a very different set of results. Theyre going to look at two Republicans who have lost. And they will have also, as a result of losing, cost the party control of the Senate.michael barbaroPotentially, yes.nate cohnIn all likelihood, will cost the party control of the Senate. And I would think that being on the verge of losing control of the Senate would make them at least reconsider the idea there are no political costs to following the president down this pretty reckless path of challenging legitimate Democratic election results in a half dozen states.michael barbaroIncluding, I believe, Georgia?nate cohnIncluding Georgia.michael barbaroWell, Nate, thank you. Get some rest. We appreciate your time.nate cohnNo problem. Thanks for having me.[music]archived recording (raphael warnock)We were told that we couldnt win this election. But tonight, we proved that with hope, hard work and the people by our side, anything is possible.michael barbaroOn Wednesday morning, Raphael Warnock spoke to his supporters, recalling his journey from a public housing project in Savannah to becoming the first Black Senator from Georgia.archived recording (raphael warnock)And my mother, who as a teenager growing up in Waycross, Georgia used to pick somebody elses cotton. But the other day, because this is America, the 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody elses cotton went to the polls and picked her youngest son to be a United States Senator. So I come before you tonight as a man who knows that the improbable journey that led me to this place in this historic moment in America could only happen here.[music]michael barbaroWell be right back.Heres what else you need to know today.archived recording (michael graveley)Today were going to talk in great detail about the events that happened here in Kenosha on August 23, 2020.michael barbaroThe district attorney in Kenosha, Wisconsin has declined to bring charges against the white police officer who repeatedly shot a Black man, Jacob Blake, in the back outside of his apartment in August a shooting that sparked protests and rioting.archived recording (michael graveley)And in this situation, an exhaustive investigation was done. Theres more than 40 hours of squad video. Theres hundreds of pages of electronic information. There are michael barbaroThe district attorney, Michael Gravely, said that there was insufficient evidence to bring a charge against the officer, who shot Blake after he had resisted arrest, avoided a taser and opened the door to a car, where police found a knife. The shooting severed Blakes spinal cord, leaving him partially paralyzed and unlikely to ever walk.Todays episode was produced by Luke Vander Ploeg and Daniel Guillemette. It was edited by Lisa Chow and M.J. Davis Lin, and engineered by Chris Wood.Thats it for The Daily. Im Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Wednesday congratulated Mr. Warnock and said he was hopeful that Mr. Ossoff would prevail when the vote count is complete. Georgias voters delivered a resounding message yesterday: They want action on the crises we face and they want it right now, Mr. Biden said in a statement release Wednesday morning. I congratulate the people of Georgia, who turned out in record numbers once again, just as they did in November.By Wednesday morning, the largest bloc of uncounted ballots in the state was the in-person vote in DeKalb County, a heavily Democratic area that includes part of Atlanta.Mr. Ossoffs campaign manager Ellen Foster said in a statement on Wednesday that she expected Mr. Ossoff to win. The outstanding vote is squarely in parts of the state where Jons performance has been dominant, she said.Mr. Perdues campaign officials said in an early Wednesday statement that the race was exceptionally close, but said they believed Mr. Perdue would win and would use every available resource and exhaust every recourse to ensure all legally cast ballots are properly counted.It could be some time before there is a call in the race, with thousands of late absentee and provisional ballots still to be counted. Under Georgia law, a candidate can request a recount if the margin of victory is less than half a percentage point.Democrats benefited from a strong turnout among Black voters. According to data compiled by georgiavotes.com, Black voters made up a larger share of early voters for the runoff nearly 31 percent than they did in the general election, when it was closer to 28 percent.Mr. Warnock, who is the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the spiritual home of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was the first Black Democrat elected to the Senate from the South. He and Mr. Ossoff ran in tandem throughout the runoffs.Mr. Perdue, the former chief executive of Dollar General, and Ms. Loeffler, who was appointed to the Senate a year ago and was seeking a full term, had cast the race as a necessary check on Democratic power in Washington in 2021, though these efforts have been complicated by President Trumps continued insistence, without evidence, that he won re-election.",3
"Middle East|Fighting in Libyas Capital as One Government Seizes Anothers Compoundhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/world/middleeast/libya-tripoli-fighting.htmlCredit...Hani Amara/ReutersMarch 15, 2017TRIPOLI, Libya Armed groups aligned with a Libyan government in Tripoli that is backed by the United Nations took over a compound occupied by the leader of a rival government on Wednesday after heavy fighting that spread to several parts of the city.The offices of a television station sympathetic to the self-declared government opposed to the one backed by the United Nations were burned down in the clashes, and the channel went off air. A hospital was also hit.The fighting apparently was set off on Monday by a dispute over control of a bank in the Hay al-Andalus neighborhood. It then escalated into power struggles between militias loyal to the rival governments: the Government of National Accord, which is backed by the United Nations, and the self-declared National Salvation Government.Tripoli, Libyas capital, is controlled by a patchwork of armed groups that have built local fiefs and vied for power since Libyas 2011 uprising.Gunfights continued for much of Tuesday in western Tripoli before spreading to southern neighborhoods after sunset. Gunfire and explosions could be heard late into the night, with tanks and other heavy weapons deployed on the streets.By Wednesday, the Government of National Accord had posted guards outside the Rixos hotel complex, where the leader of the National Salvation Government, Khalifa al-Ghwell, had established a base.Mr. Ghwell suffered a minor injury as he tried to leave the Rixos at dawn on Wednesday, one of his aides told a local website, Afrigatenews.He was quoted by the website as saying, Our National Salvation Government withdrew from its offices in Tripoli to stop the bloodshed.No details about casualties were available, but a 14-year-old girl was killed when a residential building in central Tripoli was hit, according to her relatives.Offices and hotels near Tripolis western seafront were also hit by missiles or shelling, and a hospital in the Abu Salim district caught fire when it was hit during the fighting.Classes at schools in central Tripoli were canceled on Wednesday because of the violence. Sporadic gunfire could be heard across the city.The offices of the television station that was taken off air, Al Nabaa, were still smoldering on Wednesday morning. It was not clear who had carried out the attack.Al Nabaa was also taken off air for several weeks at the end of last March when its building was attacked as the unity governments leadership arrived in Tripoli.Subsequently, the National Salvation Government and its armed supporters resurfaced as the unity government struggled to impose its authority. Several rounds of heavier clashes have broken out between groups that support the unity government and those that oppose it.",6
"Credit...Florilegius, via Getty ImagesMarch 20, 2017With enough determination, money and smarts, scientists just might revive the woolly mammoth, or some version of it, by splicing genes from ancient mammoths into Asian elephant DNA. The ultimate dream is to generate a sustainable population of mammoths that can once again roam the tundra.But heres a sad irony to ponder: What if that dream came at the expense of todays Asian and African elephants, whose numbers are quickly dwindling because of habitat loss and poaching?In 50 years, we might not have those elephants, said Joseph Bennett, an assistant professor and conservation researcher at Carleton University in Ontario. Dr. Bennett has spent his career asking hard questions about conservation priorities. With only so much funding to go around, deciding which species to save can be a game of triage.Recently, he and a team of colleagues confronted a new question: If molecular biologists can potentially reconstruct extinct species, such as the woolly mammoth, should society devote its limited resources to reversing past wrongs, or on preventing future extinctions?ImageCredit...Rob Stothard/Getty ImagesIn a paper published in Nature Ecology & Evolution this month, the researchers concluded that the biodiversity costs and benefits almost never come out in favor of de-extinction.If you have the millions of dollars it would take to resurrect a species and choose to do that, you are making an ethical decision to bring one species back and let several others go extinct, Dr. Bennett said. It would be one step forward, and three to eight steps back.But his teams findings do not fully resonate with all scientists. Some who are engaged in de-extinction efforts say that Dr. Bennetts analysis, and others like it, are too far removed from actual developments in the field.One leading group in the field is Revive & Restore, a nonprofit initiative to rescue extinct and endangered species through genetic engineering and biotechnology. The San Francisco-based group is working to bring back the passenger pigeon, woolly mammoth and heath hen.ImageCredit...Ethan Miller/Getty ImagesConservation is central to Revive & Restores mission, said Ben Novak, the organizations lead researcher and science consultant, and there could be ecological benefits to restoring lost species. In some cases, he said, living species are endangered partly because of the lack of an ecological partner or some link in the food web.Any de-extinction effort must have long-term benefits that outweigh the costs, Mr. Novak said.He added that it is not accurate to assume, as Dr. Bennett does, that funding for de-extinction and conservation is a zero-sum game, noting that all of the funding for Revive & Rescues biotechnologies comes from private donors or institutional grants outside the realm of conservation efforts.De-extinction may certainly have long-term gains, Dr. Bennett acknowledged, but he fears they are a luxury the world cannot currently afford. By some estimates, 20 percent of species on Earth now face extinction, and that may rise to 50 percent by the end of the century.In their study, Dr. Bennett and his collaborators tried to approximate the costs of re-establishing and maintaining 16 species that went extinct in the last millennium, including the Lord Howe pigeon and Eastern rat-kangaroo from Australia, and the laughing owl and Waitomo frog from New Zealand. The researchers selected these animals because they could estimate what it would cost to conserve them based on proposed government expenditures to save similar living species that are endangered.Based on the price of conserving the endangered Chatham Island warbler from New Zealand, for instance, they determined that managing a new population of the extinct Chatham bellbird would cost $360,000 in the first year.Because the price of genetically reconstructing extinct species is still unknown (although it could cost tens of millions of dollars), the scientists focused on how much it would cost just to reintroduce and maintain these particular species in the wild once they had already been engineered.In New Zealand, the researchers calculated, the funds required to conserve 11 extinct species would protect three times as many living species. In New South Wales, reviving five extinct species was similar to saving more than eight times as many living species.The problem with this analysis, said Stewart Brand, co-founder of Revive & Restore, is that these are all species that would never be considered seriously for de-extinction in the first place, either because their ecological roles can be approximated by another living species or because the benefits of restoring them are not great enough to warrant the costs.ImageCredit...Encyclopaedia Britannica, via Getty ImagesHe argued that Revive & Restore strictly assesses its de-extinction projects, through its own criteria and international guidelines, to ensure that they are worth doing and consistent with preserving existing biodiversity.The passenger pigeon, for instance, was a keystone species that helped regenerate Eastern deciduous forests by landing on trees in giant flocks, breaking down their branches and excreting layers of rich fertilizer that allowed new trees to grow a role that other birds likely cannot fill. On top of that, Mr. Brand said, the passenger pigeon has unique symbolic value as one of the great stories of extinction.But other scientists agree with Dr. Bennett that spending money on de-extinction is wasteful, even for a case like the passenger pigeon. Paul Ehrlich, president of the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford University, and author of the controversial book The Population Bomb, said that conservation is vastly underfunded and there is no guarantee that restoring extinct species will work.To restore the passenger pigeon, Dr. Ehrlich said, you would need a large breeding population with possibly more genetic diversity than can be gleaned from the 1,500 or so pigeons preserved in museum collections and even then there may not be enough habitat left for them anyway.Dr. Bennett said he wouldnt want to close the door on de-extinction forever. There may be some instances where it is worthwhile, he acknowledged, and pursuing it will advance research on genetic technologies.If someone wants to work on de-extinction because its technically fascinating, thats fine, he said. But if the person is couching de-extinction in terms of conservation, then she or he needs to have a very sober look at what one could do with those millions of dollars with living species theres already plenty to do.",7
"Even as the Justice Department sued Google, some antitrust experts wondered whether a different government response would be more effective.Credit...Tom Brenner/The New York TimesOct. 22, 2020For decades, Americas antitrust laws originally designed to curb the power of 19th-century corporate giants in railroads, oil and steel have been hailed as the Magna Carta of free enterprise and have proved remarkably durable and adaptable.But even as the Justice Department filed an antitrust suit against Google on Tuesday for unlawfully maintaining a monopoly in search and search advertising, a growing number of legal experts and economists have started questioning whether traditional antitrust is up to the task of addressing the competitive concerns raised by todays digital behemoths. Further help, they said, is needed.Antitrust cases typically proceed at the stately pace of the courts, with trials and appeals that can drag on for years. Those delays, the legal experts and economists said, would give Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple a free hand to become even more entrenched in the markets they dominate.A more rapid-response approach is required, they said. One solution: a specialist regulator that would focus on the major tech companies. It would establish and enforce a set of basic rules of conduct, which would include not allowing the companies to favor their own services, exclude competitors or acquire emerging rivals and require them to permit competitors access to their platforms and data on reasonable terms.The British government has already said it would create a digital markets unit, with calls for a Big Tech regulator to also be introduced in the European Union and in Australia. In the United States, recommendations for a digital markets regulator have also been made in expert reports and in congressional testimony. It could be a separate agency or perhaps a digital division inside the Federal Trade Commission.Significantly, the leading proponents of this path in the United States are mainstream antitrust experts and economists rather than break-em-up firebrands. Jason Furman, a professor at Harvard University and chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Obama administration, led an advisory group to the British government that recommended the creation of a digital markets unit in 2019.ImageCredit...Zach Gibson/Getty ImagesBreaking up the big tech companies, Mr. Furman said, is a bad idea because that would risk losing some of the consumer benefits these digital utilities undeniably deliver. A regulator is necessary to police digital markets and the behavior of the tech giants, he said.Im a small c conservative, and Im not a fan of regulation generally, Mr. Furman said. But its needed in this space.Regulators that focus on specific sectors of the economy are common in the United States. For financial markets, there is the Securities and Exchange Commission; for airlines, the Federal Aviation Administration; for pharmaceuticals, the Food and Drug Administration; for telecommunications, the Federal Communications Commission; and so on.There is also precedent for picking out a handful of big companies for special treatment. In banking, the biggest banks with the most customers and loans are classified as systemically important financial institutions and subject to more stringent scrutiny.Several supporters of a new tech regulator were officials in the Obama administration, which was known for being friendly to Silicon Valley. But the advocates said that experience as well as the conservative, pro-big business drift of court rulings in recent years left them frustrated with antitrust law as the only way to restrain the growing market power and conduct of the big tech companies.The mechanism of antitrust is not working to protect competition, said Fiona Scott Morton, an official in the Justice Departments antitrust division in the Obama administration, who is an economist at the Yale University School of Management. So lets do something else use a different tool.Ms. Scott Morton led an expert panel on antitrust in a report last year on digital platforms by the Stigler Center at the University of Chicagos Booth School of Business. The report recommended the creation of a regulatory authority. (Ms. Scott Morton has been a forceful critic of Google, but also a consultant to Apple and Amazon.)Such a regulatory approach carries the risk of governments meddling in a fast-moving industry that could hobble innovation, some antitrust experts warned. While antitrust law reacts to alleged anticompetitive behavior and can thus be slow, that shortcoming is preferable to prescriptive government rules and regulations, they said.Im very uncomfortable with the regulatory path, especially if it means things like getting government approval for product changes, said Herbert Hovenkamp, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. The history of regulation shows that it is an innovation killer.A. Douglas Melamed, a former general counsel of Intel and a former antitrust official in the Justice Department, shared that concern. But Mr. Melamed, a member of the expert panel for the Stigler Center report, said the tech giants did pose a competition problem.I think regulation might make sense if it is narrowly focused, not running the industry, said Mr. Melamed, who is a professor at Stanford Law School.The last major antitrust action against a big technology company was the landmark Microsoft case in the 1990s. The case began with a suit filed in 1994 by the Federal Trade Commission and a simultaneous consent decree.The Justice Department and several states later picked up the pursuit, investigated anew, filed suit and conducted an exhaustive trial. Microsoft was found to have repeatedly violated the nations antitrust laws, and the company then reached a settlement with the government, which a federal court approved in 2002.In the Microsoft case, the antitrust legal process worked, in its way. Yet its impact is still debated. Without the suit and years of scrutiny, some observers said, Microsoft could have throttled the rise of Google.ImageCredit...Stephen Crowley/The New York TimesBut others said the technological shift toward the internet and away from the personal computer meant that Microsoft had lost the gatekeeper power it once held. Technology, not antitrust, they insisted, opened the door to competition.Triumph or not, the Microsoft case was two decades ago. Proponents of a new regulator said antitrust law was ill suited by itself to restraining todays faster-moving digital giants. In the internet economy, they said, the forces that reinforce and expand the power of a market leader called network effects are stronger and more rapid than in the personal computer era.Antitrust is not a fully adequate tool to deal with the companies that dominate these markets, said Gene Kimmelman, who was on the Stigler Center panel and a co-author of a recent report by the Shorenstein Center at Harvard that called for the creation of a digital platform agency in America.Another argument for the regulatory option is that competition concerns now span four companies, not just one. Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google are in different markets, including search, online advertising, e-commerce and social networks. Bringing separate antitrust cases against them would most likely be beyond the resources of the government.When the competition issues are larger than a single firm, regulation might be the better tool to use, said Andrew I. Gavil, a law professor at Howard University.",5
"Credit...Jung Yeon-Je/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMarch 8, 2017SEOUL, South Korea The son of Kim Jong-nam the slain half brother of North Koreas leader appears to have emerged in a YouTube clip indicating that his family has gone into hiding after his fathers killing last month.My father has been killed a few days ago, the young man, who called himself Kim Han-sol, said in the video posted on Tuesday. Im currently with my mother and my sister.In the 39-second video, the man shows what appears to be his North Korean passport as proof of his identity, but the particulars are blacked out.We hope this gets better soon, he says before signing off.The man was indeed Kim Han-sol, said Do Hee-youn, head of the Citizens Coalition for the Human Rights of Abductees and North Korean Refugees, based in Seoul, who added that he had been monitoring Mr. Kims whereabouts for years.Jeong Joon-hee, a spokesman of the Souths Unification Ministry, said the government was trying to identify the man but noted, its clear to everyone that the person closely resembles Kim Han-sol. He declined to comment on Mr. Kims location.The emergence of the video added an intriguing twist to the killing of Kim Jong-nam on Feb. 13. The Malaysian police have arrested two women who are accused of smearing Mr. Kims face with the nerve agent VX. Malaysia said the women were most likely recruited by several North Korean suspects.North Korea has repeatedly denied involvement. On Tuesday, it said it was barring all Malaysians from leaving the country until there was a fair settlement of the dispute. Malaysia responded in kind, preventing all North Koreans from leaving Malaysia until the safety of Malaysians in North Korea could be assured.Shortly after Mr. Kim was killed, South Korean intelligence officials said they believed that his family, which has lived in Macau in recent years, was under Chinese government protection. But Kim Han-sol did not show up in Kuala Lumpur after the Malaysian authorities looked for the next of kin to formally identify his fathers body.The video was posted by a group called Cheollima Civil Defense, which said it focused on rescuing North Korean defectors and refugees.On its website, the group said it had responded last month to an emergency request by survivors of the family of Kim Jong-nam for extraction and protection.The three family members were met quickly and relocated to safety, the group said. This will be the first and last statement on this particular matter, and the present whereabouts of this family will not be addressed.Mr. Jeong and Mr. Do said they had not previously heard of the group.This video means that Kim Han-sols family is in safety and working together with this group, whoever they are, to attack the North Korean government, said Mr. Do, an activist who has helped North Korean refugees for years.The group thanked the countries that it said had provided emergency humanitarian assistance in its efforts to protect the Kim family: China, the Netherlands, the United States and another nation it did not identify. In particular, it thanked A.J.A. Embrechts, the Dutch ambassador to South Korea, for his timely and strong response to our sudden request for assistance.The Dutch Embassy did not immediately comment. The United States Embassy also did not comment.Kim Han-sol was born in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, in 1995 but has spent most of his life abroad, living with his father in Macau, the Chinese gambling enclave, and attending schools in Bosnia and France.Speaking to a European broadcaster in 2012, Kim Han-sol said he had never met his uncle Kim Jong-un, the current leader of North Korea, or his grandfather Kim Jong-il, who ruled the North until his death in 2011. In the same interview, Kim Han-sol said he did not know how his uncle had become a dictator.His father, Kim Jong-nam, had been sidelined from the center of power in North Korea for years as his influential stepmother, Ko Young-hee, the mother of Kim Jong-un, saw him as a potential threat.Analysts say that Kim Jong-un may have ordered the assassination of his half brother for fear that China might try to install Kim Jong-nam as a figurehead in Pyongyang should his own regime implode.North Korea remains in a standoff with Malaysia over the handling of the killing and the tit-for-tat bans on Tuesday that prohibit the departure of Malaysians from North Korea and North Koreans from Malaysia.In Kuala Lumpur, Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia said on Wednesday that he did not intend to break off diplomatic relations with North Korea despite its decision on Tuesday to bar Malaysians from leaving.ImageCredit...Vincent Thian/Associated PressMr. Najib said that it was important to maintain communication with the North and that he was trying to determine what the reclusive country wanted in exchange for the release of Malaysians in North Korea.You need to have a channel to talk to them, to negotiate with them, he said, according to the Malaysian news site The Star Online. In the meantime, we need to examine what is the need of the North Korean government. That is what we have to be sure of.Officials in Malaysia have said 11 of its citizens, including embassy staff, family members and United Nations workers, are in North Korea.About 1,000 North Koreans are now in Malaysia.Mr. Najib said in remarks to Parliament that the Malaysians who were stuck in North Korea did not face any threat and were allowed to go about their daily lives.North Korea has denied that Mr. Kim was killed by VX and demanded that his body be turned over to its representatives. It has also accused Malaysia of colluding with the Norths enemies to blame Pyongyang for the killing.We didnt pick a quarrel with them, but when a crime has been committed, especially when chemical weapons have been used in Malaysia, we are duty bound to protect the interest of Malaysians, Mr. Najib told Parliament, according to Reuters.He noted that Malaysia had in the past been on good terms with North Korea, which has been shunned by many other nations for its development of nuclear weapons and the brutal mistreatment of its people. Until Monday, North Koreans could enter Malaysia without a visa.We are a country thats friendly to them, Mr. Najib said.A top official at the State Department in Washington praised Malaysias handling of the investigation into the Kim killing on Tuesday. The official, Daniel R. Russel, the departing assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said that the police had conducted an impressive investigation and worked from the facts in a quick and professional and sophisticated manner.Speaking to reporters during a conference call, Mr. Russel said that he understood the need for Malaysia to expel North Koreas ambassador, Kang Chol, after the diplomat questioned the finding that Mr. Kim had been poisoned with VX.The hijacking of the territory of a country by a foreign power for the purpose of murder, for the purpose of political assassination, is reprehensible, Mr. Russel said, and my sympathies go to Malaysia on that account.",6
"Kylie Jenner Construction of Mega Mansion At Site of Baby Bump Pic 1/27/2018 Kylie Jenner's full-on baby bump pic this week wasn't taken while she was on a casual stroll on a random dirt lot ... she was out with her eyes on another lavish home. Kylie was at a construction site in Hidden Hills Wednesday, and according to building permits obtained by TMZ ... a mansion is in the offing. The building permit was issued in December, and here's what it calls for: -- 9,187 sq. ft. first floor -- 5,304 sq. ft. second floor -- 2 huge garages (1,200 sq. ft and 1,468 sq. ft) -- 1,836 sq. ft. of covered porches -- A cabana for the pool There's also an older permit for a retaining wall and one for the foundation. All in all, the permits value the job at more than $2.37 million ... but if she moves on it, Kylie's likely to drop way more loot. 1/25/18 TMZ.com We broke the story ... Kylie was with her mom and BFF this week scoping out the lot -- the first time pregnant Kylie had been spotted out in months.",1
"Many caveats apply, and the results involve radio frequencies long out of routine use.Credit...Michael Nagle/BloombergNov. 1, 2018For decades, health experts have struggled to determine whether or not cellphones can cause cancer. On Thursday, a federal agency released the final results of what experts call the worlds largest and most costly experiment to look into the question. The study originated in the Clinton administration, cost $30 million and involved some 3,000 rodents.The experiment, by the National Toxicology Program, found positive but relatively modest evidence that radio waves from some types of cellphones could raise the risk that male rats develop brain cancer.We believe that the link between radio-frequency radiation and tumors in male rats is real, John Bucher, a senior scientist at the National Toxicology Program, said in a statement.But he cautioned that the exposure levels and durations were far greater than what people typically encounter, and thus cannot be compared directly to the exposure that humans experience. Moreover, the rat study examined the effects of a radio frequency associated with an early generation of cellphone technology, one that fell out of routine use years ago. Any concerns arising from the study thus would seem to apply mainly to early adopters who used those bygone devices, not to users of current models.Still, experts argue, even a small demonstrated rise in cancer risk could have wide implications, given that billions of people now use cellphones.The lowest level of radiation in the federal study was equal to the maximum exposure that federal regulations allow for cellphone users. That level of exposure rarely occurs in typical cellphone use, the toxicology agency said. The highest level was four times higher than the permitted maximum.The toxicology program released a preliminary draft of the study findings in May 2016, saying the radiation had likely caused the brain tumors. This February, in a draft report, it backed away from that relatively firm conclusion.[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]In March, however, a peer-review panel of 11 experts from industry and academia voted to advise the agency that it should raise the confidence level from equivocal evidence to some evidence of a link between cellphone radiation and brain tumors in male rats. (The female rats did not show evidence of a link between the radiation and such tumors.) Two panel members, Lydia Andrews-Jones of Allergan and Susan Felter of Procter & Gamble, proposed the risk upgrade.Experts say it is not unusual for cancer patterns to vary between sexes in both people and animals, including the studys mice and rats.The rodents in the studies were exposed to radiation nine hours a day for two years far longer even than heavy users of cellphones. For the rats, the exposures started before birth and continued until they were about 2 years old.Some 2 to 3 percent of the male rats exposed to the radiation developed malignant gliomas, a deadly brain cancer, compared to none in a control group that received no radiation. Many epidemiologists see no overall rise in the incidence of gliomas in the human population.The study also found that about 5 to 7 percent of the male rats exposed to the highest level of radiation developed certain heart tumors, called malignant schwannomas, compared to none in the control group. Malignant schwannomas are similar to acoustic neuromas, benign tumors that can develop in people, in the nerve that connects the ear to the brain.The rats were exposed to radiation at a frequency of 900 megahertz typical of the second generation of cellphones that prevailed in the 1990s, when the study was first conceived.Current cellphones represent a fourth generation, known as 4G, and 5G phones are expected to debut around 2020. They employ much higher frequencies, and these radio waves are far less successful at penetrating the bodies of humans and rats, scientists say.In June, at a meeting of scientific counselors to the toxicology agency, Donald Stump, one of the members, worried that the study will be vulnerable to criticism that it was conducted using outdated technology. The challenge, he added, is how to move forward with experiments that are large enough to be significant yet nimble enough to keep pace with the rapidly evolving devices.The toxicology agency is building smaller exposure chambers that will let it evaluate newer technologies in weeks or months, instead of years. These future studies are to focus on measurable physical signs, or biomarkers, of potential effects from radio-frequency radiation, including DNA damage, which can be detected much sooner than cancer.During a telephone news briefing on Wednesday, Dr. Bucher, the senior scientist at the toxicology agency, said evidence of DNA damage from the current study needed further examination.He said the overall findings of the study 384 pages devoted to rats, 260 to mice had been conveyed to the Federal Communications Commission and the Food and Drug Administration, which regulate cellphones and gauge any risks to human health. Dr. Bucher declined repeatedly to assess the hazard.In a statement, the director of the F.D.A.s Center for Devices and Radiological Health said it disagreed with agencys finding of clear evidence for heart schwannomas, but raised no questions about its citing some evidence for the brain tumors.Asked about his own cellphone use, Dr. Bucher said he had never been a heavy user but, in light of the study, was now a little more aware of his usage. On long calls, he said, he tried to use earbuds or find other ways of increasing the distance between the cellphone and his body, in keeping with advice issued to consumers about how to lower their exposure.",2
"Credit...Luke Walker/Getty ImagesNov. 4, 2018LONDON A British man who spent five months at sea is believed to be the first person to swim around the island of Great Britain, making his way back to land in Margate, a coastal town in southeastern England, on Sunday.The swimmer, Ross Edgley, 33, had not been ashore since June 1, when he set off on his 1,780-mile aquatic journey.Sunday morning, he was welcomed ashore by loud, enthusiastic cheers.It still doesnt feel real, Mr. Edgley told the BBC.For more than 150 days, Mr. Edgley swam six to 12 hours a day. He spent the rest of his time eating and sleeping on his support boat, from where he documented his quest in episodes streamed online.Mr. Edgley, the author of a fitness guide, created the #GreatBritishSwim hashtag for his feat, and regularly posted on Instagram to his 268,000 followers. His audience saw his struggles with strong tides, soreness, cold water, and jellyfish.Almost two weeks after he entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest staged sea swim, Mr. Edgley posted an unflattering photograph of the impact the swim was having on his body specifically his heavily bruised, swollen feet, which looked as flat as fins.The harsh reality of spending hours, days & months at sea swimming, he captioned the Sept. 2 photograph.Swimming day in and day out in saltwater also turned his tongue dry and sore, making it hard for him to eat, swallow or talk. The solution? Coconut oil and yogurt, which helped him to overcome the soreness and keep going.Mr. Edgley said that even though he had not enjoyed every single moment of the swim, discipline kept him going.There are times when there are milky ways, or seals that it is amazing; its a real privilege, he said. But other times its less about enjoyment, and more just about discipline.In 2013, Sean Conway became the first man to swim the length of Britain when he swam from Lands End in western Cornwall to John OGroats in northern Scotland, according to the BBC. No one other than Mr. Edgley is known to have completed a circumnavigation of Britain.Why he did it is not entirely clear. But Mr. Edgley is no stranger to extreme tasks; this was the third exercise involving mental and physical strength that he has completed this year.In January, he accomplished the worlds longest rope climb in less than 24 hours by repeatedly pulling himself up and down a 10-meter rope until he had climbed 8,848 meters, or 29,029 feet the height of Mount Everest.In June, he attempted to swim almost 25 miles from Martinique to St. Lucia while tied to a tree. Because of strong currents, he didnt make it to the shore, he said, which prompted him to take on an even more demanding aquatic challenge.The adventurer in me had unfinished business, he said after the Caribbean exercise.After he returned to Britain, he asked the Royal Marines if he could be allowed to swim for 48 hours straight, just to see what Ive got in the locker, he said. One of the marines mentioned the idea of swimming around the entirety of Britain something thats never been done before, And I thought, Why not?Whats next after five months of swimming?Mr. Edgley said that his plans involved something much more practical.Ive got to learn to walk again, he said.",6
Miss BumBum 2018 First Transgender Gets in the Mix 1/26/2018 Meet Paula Oliveira ... the first transgender trying to win Miss BumBum 2018. Paula -- who was born Vinicius Oliveira before her sex reassignment surgery 6 years ago -- says she waited 2 years for her paperwork as Paula to finally come through. She's 27 and taking a pretty damn bold stand given Brazil's known for being prejudice against gay and transgender people. BTW ... the Miss BumBum competition is in its final year of existence. We've definitely had our fun here. Enjoy it while it lasts. See also Hotties & Bodies Hot Bodies Photo Galleries Exclusive Models,1
"Business|FedEx Is Hit With Delays After Storms Across Southhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/26/business/fedex-is-hit-with-delays-after-storms-across-south.htmlCredit...Andrew Burton/Getty ImagesDec. 25, 2015Heavy demand and bad storms delayed some holiday deliveries at FedEx, forcing the carrier to add extra staffing on Christmas Day.FedEx Express continues to run limited delivery operations in some markets to deliver shipments that could not be delivered before Christmas due to unforeseen volume and severe weather in some areas of the country, Jim Masilak, a spokesman for the company, based in Memphis, said via email.Weather is frequently a problem around the holidays.United Parcel Service missed Christmas delivery deadlines in 2013 after bad weather and unexpectedly large demand. Walmart and Amazon responded that year by giving gift cards to customers who did not get their packages in time.The carriers performance this year has been mixed.The carriers are generally taking fewer days to deliver packages, according to StellaService, which measures online retail performance. FedEx averaged 2.9 days to deliver a package this holiday season, compared with 3.4 days in 2013 and 2.8 days last year, StellaService said.But during a tough competition for holiday dollars this year, online retailers have offered ever later cutoff dates for Christmas deliveries, straining carriers.In recent days, strong storms have hit FedExs hub in Memphis. The storm system, across the South, has killed at least 14 people.FedEx declined to say which markets were most affected by the delays. But the spokesman said that regional managers were given discretion to continue picking up and delivering packages on Friday as long as they think they are being productive.",0
"Credit...Al Messerschmidt/Getty ImagesFeb. 3, 2014One of the Red Bulls new players has a familiarity with the teams second-year coach, Mike Petke, that comes more from dynamic interchanges on the soccer field than from pedestrian chalk-talks after training.Bobby Convey has spent nearly half his life playing in Major League Soccer. At 30, he is one of the leagues young veterans, a midfielder/defender who has been in the league since 2000.Along with some of his career milestones the youngest player, at 17, in M.L.S. when he joined D.C. United; a solid career in England playing for Reading; and appearances in all three first-round games for the United States in the 2006 World Cup Convey owns an odd distinction. He has been a teammate of two of his coaches in M.L.S.: Ryan Nelsen in Toronto and now Petke with the Red Bulls. All three played, at various times, for D.C. United.Yeah, its pretty weird, Convey said recently in Harrison, N.J., before the club departed for its preseason training camp in Florida. Its pretty strange.In a relatively quiet off-season, the Red Bulls acquired Convey from Toronto for future draft picks. Convey, who is left-footed, is normally a midfielder, though in recent seasons he has seen time in defense, both on the right and on the left sides. It will be up to Petke to find a spot for Convey in a mix that includes Jonny Steele in the midfield and Roy Miller on the back line. Miller, however, is likely to miss extended time when he joins Costa Rica for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.When I played with Ryan and Mike with D.C., I was really young and it was tough, Convey said. Its come full circle and now its good that Mike is my coach. He knows me and knows how Ive changed. Im married, were going to have a baby so I think Im a completely different person from the one who was making mistakes as teenager.He added: I think when I was young I was more selfish, mostly because you want your career to take off. But at this point, after playing so long, I know more what to expect.Though he said he was comfortable in Canada, Convey said he welcomed the trade to the Red Bulls, mostly because it took him closer to his family and to Philadelphia, his hometown. It was a bit bittersweet, especially after Toronto spent millions of dollars to acquire the United States international midfielder Michael Bradley and the English star Jermain Defoe as the club struggles to make the M.L.S. postseason for the first time.We really liked it there, but I couldnt turn down the opportunity to come here, Convey said at Red Bull Arena. Im thankful to Toronto, Nelly and Tim for trading me here, getting me to where I want to be. Of course, its a little bit frustrating because we did struggle last year, now this year I just wish them the best, just not against us. He was referring to Nelsen and to Tim Leiweke, the president and chief executive of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which operated the soccer club, the Maple Leafs of the N.H.L. and the Raptors of the N.B.A.Convey, who made $215,000 in guaranteed compensation last season, said Toronto had offered him a new contract. But an opportunity to play for a winning team closer to home was enough for him to accept a cut in pay.Asked where he would prefer to play in Petkes lineup, Convey said: Wherever Im needed. Im excited to be here, to win games and to be on a good team.And there are no illusions that a long professional relationship with his new coach will count for much.Is it weird? Convey said. Well find out over the next six months. Whoever the manager is, you respect him. As much as I have a friendship with him, his job is to choose the best players to play and I think thats what hell do.NOTES The midfielders Eric Alexander and Dax McCarty joined the Red Bulls training camp in Florida after spending most of January with the United States national team, training in Florida and in Brazil before returning to California. Alexander played eight minutes in Saturdays 1-0 victory over South Korea in Carson, Calif., while McCarty did not get into the match. ... The club has three guest players in camp: Ambroise Oyongo Bitolo, 23, a left-side defender from Cameroon; Miguel Ibarra, 23, a midfielder who last year played for Minnesota United in the N.A.S.L.; and Tyler Polak, 21, a defender who spent most of last season with Rochester of U.S.L. Pro.",4
"Donald Glover Bows Down to Jamie Foxx ... For Now, At Least 1/30/2018 TMZ.com Donald Glover admits Jamie Foxx has a leg up on him in the talent department, but adds it's just a matter of time ... Father Time. We got the ""Atlanta"" star wearing a mask (the flu's no joke, folks) at LAX Monday and straight-up asked ... who's better? Fair question. Donald's hauled in multiple Emmys, a Golden Globe and a Grammy. Jamie, of course, has an Oscar, Golden Globe and a Grammy. Donald breaks down the comparison and basically says it all comes down to 2 numbers -- 34 and 50, their respective ages. Still, Donald admits there IS one thing at which he sucks.",1
"Credit...Josh Haner/The New York TimesFeb. 16, 2014KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia Again, there was nothing in front of Lindsey Jacobellis but open snow, a finish line and a mountain of possibility. She was in the lead, a pack of women chasing with little hope of catching the most accomplished female snowboard-cross rider in history.In 2006, at the Turin Olympics, Jacobellis had a similarly wide gap in the final when, after launching off the second-to-last jump, she grabbed her board with her hand and twisted sideways, trying to punctuate her run with panache. She crash landed and was passed, turning gold into silver, the most heartbreaking feat of Olympic metallurgy.This time, it was the semifinals, and it was not a showy midair move that brought Jacobellis to earth. It was a couple of rollers, gentle but devious little humps near the bottom of the course, just above the final jump. Jacobellis came around a tight corner, rose off one roller, landed awkwardly on another and spun to the ground.She never reached the finish line, which meant she did not realize the elusive dream of turning her dominating career into Olympic gold. Four years ago at Vancouver, when she was again the gold medal favorite, Jacobellis lost in the semifinals, too. That time, in a crowd, she nearly landed on another competitors snowboard, wobbled off balance and went out of bounds.I dont think it has to do with the Olympics, Jacobellis said. Its just on a fluke of when things work out for me and when they dont. An eight-time winner of the event at the Winter X Games, Jacobellis, 28, was placed in the small final, a consolation run. She won that six-person contest, officially giving her a seventh-place finish at the Olympics.ImageCredit...Josh Haner/The New York TimesI was really happy with how the course was coming together for me, Jacobellis said glumly but without obvious signs of heartache. I wasnt scared. There were a lot of girls who were scared and not really putting it together. It just didnt work out. I dont know how else to say it.It was Eva Samkova of the Czech Republic who dominated the event, from timed qualifications to the final race, to win the gold medal. Dominique Maltais of Canada earned silver and Chlo Trespeuch of France captured bronze. As they crossed the finish in a line, each raised her arms triumphantly, pleased with the result, if not simply happy to survive standing up.I couldnt imagine this, said Samkova, who had painted a handlebar mustache above her lip in the national colors of red, white and blue.Faye Gulini of the United States finished fourth, an outcome charged with mixed emotions.Im happy with fourth, she said, pleasantly. But it is the Olympics. Being on the podium would have been nice.The topic turned to Jacobellis, and Gulini quickly came to the defense of her fallen teammate.People dont understand how much pressure is put on her, she said. It breaks my heart, because I think it takes the fun out of it for her. Just this event. She loves the sport. Shes a phenomenal snowboarder. But its in her head. With that much pressure on you Ive never had that kind of pressure on me but I know that it just breaks her, as an athlete.She added: Maybe it was just a fluke mistake. But its a bummer. She deserves more.The course of big jumps, knee-bending rollers and banked corners took its toll on the athletes from the beginning. Two of the first six women to take the course in timed qualifiers, the medal contender Helene Olafsen of Norway and Jacqueline Hernandez of the United States, were hauled down the course on sleds after nasty falls.Olafsen, who finished fourth at the 2010 Vancouver Games, hurt her knee. Hernandez flew off a jump and landed sideways on her board, toppling onto her back and hitting her head. She sustained a concussion and was released in time to watch the end of the event.The womens snowboard cross arrived ripe in story lines. Torah Bright of Australia competed in her third snowboard event, after slopestyle and halfpipe, in which she won a silver medal. In snowboard cross, though, she was quietly ousted in the quarterfinals.And in August, in the aftermath of news about Russian legislation considered antigay, another Australian, Belle Brockhoff, announced that she was gay. One of seven known gay athletes at the Games (all women), Brockhoff said she would have some words for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.After I compete, Im willing to rip on his backside, she said. Im not happy, and theres a bunch of other Olympians who are not happy, either.Brockhoff missed out on the final, and finished behind Jacobellis in the small final, coming in eighth. Afterward, she offered few words on the subject of gay rights, suggesting that social media might be a better format for her views.That kept most of the attention on Samkova, the winner, and Jacobellis, the upended favorite. Samkova dominated her races the way Jacobellis, in a different semifinal, was dominating hers.Jacobellis carried more speed around a hard left-hand bend in the semifinal than she had in the quarterfinal. She hit the first roller of a short straightaway and flew past where she intended to land. She came down awkwardly on an uphill slope that faced the midday sun kind of like landing in mashed potatoes, Jacobellis said and slid into the courses final turn, a right-hander that led to a drop-off and the final jump.As it was eight years ago, it was a self-inflicted mistake in an unpredictable sport of collisions and wipeouts. As she was eight years ago, Jacobellis was philosophical about the result.Theres worse things in life than not winning, she said. A lot worse. Of course, its very unfortunate that this didnt work out for me, and I trained very hard for this moment. It doesnt come together, for who knows what reasons.",4
"Sports of The TimesFeb. 12, 2014The relationship between those who consume sports and those who play them is changing, and probably not for the best. Fans are now part of the action as never before. Stadium sound systems exhort them to be as vocal as possible, and social media allow them to have an unfiltered dialogue with athletes in ways that sometimes uncover a raw ambivalence. Two volatile interactions in recent weeks suggest that the longstanding covenant between fans and players needs revision. Last month, Richard Sherman, a Seattle Seahawks defensive back, absorbed two weeks of criticism a good portion of it laced with racist invective for loudly proclaiming his greatness while denigrating the skills of an opponent. On Saturday, Marcus Smart, a talented Oklahoma State basketball player, made headlines by shoving a white Texas Tech fan whom Smart, at least initially, accused of calling him a racial slur. There was not much sympathy for Sherman and even less for Smart, who violated the No. 1 tenetof the arena gladiators do not confront the spectators and was suspended. But the reaction to Sherman and the circumstances that led to Smarts altercation suggest an eroding civility between fans and players. In a statement released a day after Saturdays incident, the Texas Tech fan involved in the altercation with Smartdenied that he had used a racial slur but acknowledged uttering a phrase that was just as personal, and just as unacceptable.And thats the point. The underlying premise of fan boisterousness is that sticks and stones will break an athletes bones, but words will never hurt. The existing covenant allows fans who are so inclined to scream back at Sherman or shout insults at Smart. Their offensive comments, like those of the fan at Texas Tech, fall in the range ofacceptable and in many instances typical fan behavior. The right to verbally abuse players and coaches, to distract the opponents, is a sport within the sport, and that sense of entitlement has long been allowed and even encouraged, as if its included in the price of a ticket.Now into this arena, and into this dynamic, strides Michael Sam, an all-American football player at Missouri who on Sunday made public what his teammates and friends already knew: that he is gay.Heaven only knows what fans will have in store for him.One can make the argument that the publics anger with Sherman and Smart was over their in-your-face-delivery. Sam delivered the news about his sexuality calmly and thoughtfully, and so he has been bathed in the relative light of compassion.But its only February. Fan attention has been divided among the Winter Olympics and college and professional basketball, and we still have a major league baseball season to contemplate before football returns. The true test for Sam will come later, after he is drafted and after he arrives in his new city.How will his teammates react?Some will grumble and growl; some may go out of their way to test and challenge. Linebacker Jonathan Vilma, in an interview with NFL Networklast week, said of the possibility of having a gay teammate:I think he would not be accepted as much as we think he would be accepted. I dont want people to just naturally assume, oh, were all homophobic. Thats really not the case. Imagine if hes the guy next to me, and you know, I get dressed, naked, taking a shower, the whole nine, and it just so happens he looks at me. How am I supposed to respond?Vilmas will become the minority view. (After Sam went public, Vilma went on CNN to clarify his comments, calling his shower remark a poor illustration.) After an embarrassing bullying scandal in Miami last season, the N.F.L. has put every team and every player on notice that it will have zero tolerance for harassment.The N.F.L. surely will not tolerate publicly expressed closed-mindedness around the subject of sexual orientation, just as the N.B.A. has fined star players like Roy Hibbert and Kobe Bryant for using homophobic slurs.Many of us find it easier to convene at the universal intersection ofsexual orientation than to negotiate the complicated streets ofrace. During football and basketball season, gigantic home entertainment systems blast race and ethnicity into Americas living rooms, from Compton-born, dreadlock-wearing, Stanford-educated Richard Sherman to a young star player like Marcus Smart who has had previous blowups. Will the reaction to Sam be different? The early reviews have offered hope. In the wake of Sams announcement, many fans, players and commentators urged the N.F.L. to draft and embrace him. Now that his cards are on the table, team owners, general managers and players will have to put theirs on the table as well. A layer of the onion has been peeled back by a talented player who has shouted: Im proudly gay. Now draft me. Some team will. And many fans will cheer.But others will remind us that there remain dark corners in need of light.",4
"Credit...Liselotte Sabroe/EPA, via ShutterstockNov. 1, 2018COPENHAGEN Iran tried to assassinate an Arab separatist leader living in Denmark, the Danish authorities claim, adding that a suspect in the unusual and very serious plot was in custody.The accusations have set off anger and concern in Denmark, a nation that has experienced little political violence in recent years. Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen called the plot totally unacceptable, Denmark recalled its ambassador to Iran, and potential joint European action is on the agenda for a meeting of European Union foreign ministers on Nov. 19.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo congratulated the Danish government on Twitter on its arrest of an Iranian regime assassin.There is sufficient basis to conclude that an Iranian intelligence service has been planning the assassination, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service said in a statement released on Tuesday.The Iranian Foreign Ministry denied the allegations, saying they are in line with the conspiracies and plots of the enemies of Iran.With the United States withdrawing from the nuclear agreement with Iran and resuming economic sanctions, Irans government should be trying to shore up relations with Europe, not worsen them, said Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington.On paper this looks beyond reckless, he said. This atmosphere and lack of trust is not a good sign for the future critical dialogue with Iran.It is possible, Mr. Vatanka said, that one arm of Irans security apparatus attempted an assassination in Denmark without the knowledge or consent of President Hassan Rouhani and his government.The target of the plot was the leader of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz, the Danish security agency said. The group, which the Iranian government classifies as terrorist, aims to create an independent state in Irans oil-rich province of Khuzestan, home to much of the countrys ethnic Arab minority.Danish officials did not name the man; his group identified him as Habib Jabor, but that is an alias. He lives in Ringsted, a town southwest of Copenhagen, and has been under police protection since the spring because of a threat to his safety.The Danish investigators received crucial assistance from the Mossad, which passed along information that it obtained in the course of its normal surveillance efforts, according to a high-ranking Israeli official, who asked not to be named when discussing sensitive matters.Some Iranian officials initially blamed Arab separatists for the Sept. 22 attack on a military parade in the Iranian city of Ahvaz, which killed 25 people and wounded many more, while other officials blamed the Islamic State. When Iran fired missiles into Syria days later, in what it said was retaliation for the massacre, it identified the target as an Islamic State base.An Arab separatist group, the Ahvaz National Resistance, took responsibility for Ahvaz attack, but Mr. Jabors group insisted that it was not involved. The two organizations have links, but the relationship between them is murky.The Danish and Swedish police said that a Norwegian man of Iranian decent was arrested on Oct. 21 in Sweden and remains in solitary confinement, but has denied all charges.In late September, the authorities noticed the man taking photographs of Mr. Jabors residence and intended to pass on the information to an Iranian intelligence service with a view to the information forming part of the plans to assassinate the leader the security service said.A year ago another member of Mr. Jabors separatist group was gunned down outside his home in Amsterdam, and last month Belgium charged an Iranian diplomat over alleged plans to bomb a meeting of Iranian exiles.The Arab separatist movement in Khuzestan has gone on for decades, sometimes carrying out shootings and bombings. Its presence in Denmark went largely unnoticed until a spokesman for Mr. Jabors group who lives in Denmark praised the Ahvaz attack in a television interview.This week, the spokesman, who also uses an alias, said of the alleged assassination plot, we werent completely surprised, but we are angry and saddened, just like all other Danes, that they could come to Denmark.",6
"Helmets Alpine Skiing Ski helmets are designed to be lightweight and low-profile. Biathlon A hat comes in handy. Biathlon races are canceled for cold only when temperatures reach minus 20 degrees Celsius. Luge Sliders fight G-forces as they round turns. When athletes say they lost their head during a run, it means they were struggling to keep their neck aligned under the pressure. AP Photo They Arent From France At the 1976 Innsbruck Games, the West German team arrived with innovative conehead helmets. The aerodynamic headgear helped the team win three medals. Similar helmets were outlawed in subsequent Olympics. Skeleton Sliders descend face-first at speeds that can exceed 85 m.p.h. Short-Track Speedskating Helmets are required for short-track speedskating, an event that is sometimes compared to roller derby. In long-track, skaters move in lanes, and there is less risk of injury; athletes wear an aerodynamic hood. Hockey Goalies often customize their masks, but advertising and propaganda is prohibited on Olympic equipment. Text from the United States Constitution had to be removed from the mask of the American goalie Jessie Vetter in order to comply with I.O.C. rules. Snowboarding At the womens slopestyle final in Sochi, the Czech snowboarder Sarka Pancochova crashed so violently that her helmet split apart. She was not seriously injured. Bobsled The driver wears a visor, but the other sledders often remove it theres no need to see with your head tucked down. Boots Bobsled The sprint at the start determines the speed of the sled. (Former track and field stars often make good pushers.) Spikes on the toes give traction on the ice. Biathlon Only the toe of the boot attaches to the ski. The free heel allows athletes to take full strides across the snow. Luge Sliders lead with their feet. The streamlined shape forces the toes into proper position. AP Photo/David Longstreath Booties Make the Man At the 1998 Nagano Games, the United States and Canadian teams lodged a complaint against Georg Hackl, a German luger known as the speeding weisswurst (white sausage). Hackl, the favorite and winner of two previous gold medals, was wearing a pair of new aerodynamic boots designed to improve his time. Officials rejected the teams protest, and Hackl won a third gold. Curling Curlers glide behind the stones they send across the ice. The bottom of one shoe is covered with teflon to help them slide. Figure Skating Athletes have been undone by even the simplest technology. At the 1994 Olympics, Tonya Harding interrupted her free skate program in order to fix a shoelace. She was granted a reskate, but placed eighth. Hockey The padding inside a hockey boot may take a long time to break in. To speed up the process, new skates are baked in an oven and the warm boot is molded to the players foot. Short-Track Speedskating Skaters lean deeply into their turns. The skates blades are set off from the center of the sole in order to compensate for the angle of the body. Long-Track Speedskating Long-track racers use a clap skate. The mechanism allows athletes to push through the toe, gaining more leverage from each stride. Ski Jumping A jumpers body is nearly horizontal in midflight. Boots are flexible in front to allow for a big lean forward. The high back helps the jumper stick the difficult landing. Snowboarding Hard boots help racers maintain control while carving down a slope. Snowboarding Softer boots, with a flexible ankle, allow freestylers to grab the board. Boards AlpineStiffer and narrower than the halfpipe board built like a ski for speed. HalfpipeUnlike an alpine board, this board moves both forward and backward. SlopestyleAthletes slide down skate-park-style rails. A flexible board helps with balance. The Snurfer In 1966, Sherman Poppen filed a patent for a device that combined popular features of seashore surfing, skate boarding, and slalom water skiing into a new winter sport. The Snurfer was born. The early surf-type snow ski was essentially a childs toy a sled designed for standing. Foot treads and a long tether at the front helped the rider keep balance. Skis Stiff skis with straight edges facilitate speed good for jumpers. Flexible, curved skis are better for turns. The light, narrow blades of cross-country skis allow racers to glide over the snow. Ski Jumping Super-G Giant Slalom Freestyle Aerial Freestyle Mogul Cross-Country Sticks In cross-country events, skiers propel themselves forward with long, straight poles. In super-G, the poles curve to wrap around a skiers tucked body. In slalom, shorter poles are used to initiate turns. Biathlon Cross-Country Super-G Giant Slalom Slalom Curling Sweepers vigorously brush the ice in an attempt to modify the stones curl its distance and trajectory. International Olympic Committee Out of the Kitchen At the first Winter Olympics, in 1924, many of the sweepers used corn brooms, similar to ordinary household brooms. Gloves Short-Track Speedskating As skaters turn, their fingers touch down for balance. Bulbous tips, added to the glove, help the hand glide smoothly. Curling Stopwatches are used to gauge the stones speed. As the match progresses, the time also helps indicate the changing condition of the ice. Hockey A blocker helps the goalie deflect the puck. Luge Athletes use their fingers to launch themselves into a run. The spikes help grip the ice. Accessories Short-Track Speedskating The razor-sharp blades of a skate can cause serious injury. Athletes protect themselves with full-body, cut-resistant suits. Figure Skating At the first Winter Games, in 1924, modest, calf-length skirts were not uncommon. Shorter hemlines have freed skaters to execute more complex moves. AP Photo But Not Too Short At Calgary in 1988, Katarina Witts high-cut costume became cause for complaint. (A rival coach compared it to a G-string.) Witt won the gold, but a dress code the so-called Katarina rule was established for subsequent Olympics. Ski Jumping The size of the suit is regulated; a baggier suit would help the jumper stay aloft longer. Hockey A goalies protection may reflect his or her style of play. Stiffer pads send the puck farther away on rebound. Softer pads absorb the impact, keeping the puck closer to the goalie for better control. Melchior DiGiacomo/Getty Images The Butterfly Hockey great Vladislav Tretiak was a pioneer of the butterfly style of goaltending. Rather than standing up straight, he used his knees to create a horizontal wall of coverage. Tretiak, who led the Soviet team to gold in 1972, 76 and 84, was chosen to help light the caldron at the opening ceremonies in Sochi. Slalom Skiers often hit the gates with their shins as they seek the optimal line down the slope. Curling Most of the curling stones in the world are quarried from a single source: Ailsa Craig, in Scotland. The rare form of granite found on the island is water-resistant and does not crack or pit easily. Some stones last decades. Biathlon Biathletes bring ammunition specially designed to remain accurate in cold weather. The wind alone may blow bullets off course. Vehicles Skeleton This sled has no brakes. Sliders steer with their knees, shoulders and feet alone. Luge The temperature of the runners is measured before a race. In 1968, the defending gold medalist was disqualified when it was found that her runners had been heated to increase her speed. Bobsled Like skeleton, bobsled is a gravity sport: the heavier the sled, the faster the team. To keep competition fair, a maximum weight is set for the sled plus its riders. Lighter teams add metal plates in order to compensate. Bobsled, unlike luge or skeleton, was among the original events contested at Chamonix in 1924. 1924Chamonix, France 1932Lake Placid, N.Y. 1948St. Moritz, Switzerland 1956Cortina dAmpezzo, Italy 1976Innsbruck, Austria 1994Lillehammer, Norway Getty Images (1924); AP Photo More on NYTimes.com",4
"Nets 105, Jazz 99Feb. 19, 2014SALT LAKE CITY Before the resumption of a wilting title chase came a minor retooling.As they readiedon Wednesdayto take on the Utah Jazz at Energy Solutions Arena, the Nets acquired guard Marcus Thornton from the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Jason Terry and Reggie Evans. And while the Nets eked out a 105-99 win to kick off a six-game trip, a vague feeling lingered that more changes were possible before the N.B.A.s trade deadlineon Thursday afternoon.Our owner is about trying to get the team going in the right direction with different pieces, and hes probably not done, Coach Jason Kidd said before the game of Mikhail D. Prokhorov, whose lofty aspirations have driven the teams payroll and luxury-tax payments far above those of any competitors.Thornton will make about $8 million this season and $8.5 million next season. His arrival pushed the Nets payroll to about $190 million, including a luxury-tax bill of about $88 million. The Nets were also reportedly trying to use their disabled-player exception to acquire Los Angeles Lakers forward Jordan Hill, which would trigger another $17 million or so in taxes.Well see what happens, Kidd said.Thornton, 26, built a reputation over his first four seasons as a proficient scorer, which has made this season particularly disappointing. Over those four seasons, he averaged 19.4 points per 36 minutes and shot 43.8 percent from the field. This season, he is scoring 12.3 points per 36 minutes and shooting 38.1 percent.The Nets (25-27) overcame a slow start against Utah, outscoring the Jazz by 27-18 in the third quarter to take a 1-point lead into the fourth. Shaun Livingstons behind-the-back assist on a Joe Johnson 3-pointer with just over four minutes left silenced the fans, and many headed to the exits once Deron Williams drilled a 3-pointer two minutes later.I thought defensively they were the aggressive team in the second half, Jazz Coach Tyrone Corbin said of the Nets, who forced 18 turnovers while committing only 7 of their own. They got our hands on us a little bit and got us out of our offense. We lost our rhythm there.Johnson led all scorers with 27 points. Andray Blatche scored 25, matching his career high, to help buoy the Nets, who were left momentarily short-handed after the trade. Williams had 19 points and 7 assists and, in his third try, earned his first win over his former club.It felt good to get one, said Williams, who had a scare in the fourth quarter when he took an elbow to the right side of his face, near his jaw. I thought it was broken, because Ive broken my jaw, and it felt about the same at first.Thornton is expected to join the Nets sometime before they play the Golden State Warriorson Saturdaynight. The trade, then, left the Nets short-handed on Wednesday.Terry, 36, was acquired from Boston in the trade that sent Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to Brooklyn. This season, his 15th in the N.B.A., has been his worst. He was averaging 4.5 points per game and shooting 36.2 percent enteringWednesday.Evans, 33, carved out a role as an inside scrapper with the Nets last season, averaging 11.1 rebounds a game. But this season, with his playing time cut almost in half, his average fell to 5.0.Garnett, who considers Terry a close friend and was a fan of Evans before ever playing with him, said he was saddened to see the two players leave. And he acknowledged that it would be a challenge, at this advanced stage of the season, to lose two players and try to incorporate a new face.Its very hard, especially when youre trying to integrate chemistry, Garnett said. In the second half, this is when you want to make your push. But the organization makes changes for the better. So, its what it is.",4
"Feb. 5, 2014KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia Shaun White does not finish in second place often. Anything less than victory has little meaning for someone who has dominated snowboarding for so many years.At a December halfpipe competition in Breckenridge, Colo., White was dealt one of the few losses of his career. He dutifully stood on the second-place step of the medals podium, his ankle sore and a mask pulled over his face. When excused, he walked away and handed the trophy to a boy in the crowd. White had no use for it.On Wednesday, White provided little explanation for pulling out of the Olympic slopestyle competition, which is making its debut at the Sochi Games. Slopestyle used to be Whites preferred event, before the Olympics added halfpipe and enticed him to give it his full attention. He used to dominate slopestyle at major events like the Winter X Games the way he now dominates the pipe wherever he goes.White had been training tirelessly for both competitions for a year, all of his work built for the coming days. White said, again and again, that his goal at the Olympics was to win two gold medals.And then, the day before Thursdays qualifying rounds of slopestyle, he abruptly ended that ambition. It was not because of injuries. It was not because of conflicting schedules.Between the carefully chosen words in a statement White released, the message was clear: He did not want less than first place in slopestyle or the halfpipe.After much deliberation with my team, I have made the decision to focus solely on trying to bring home the third straight gold medal in halfpipe for Team USA, White said in the statement, given to NBCs Today. The difficult decision to forgo slopestyle is not one I take lightly as I know how much effort everyone has put into holding the slopestyle event for the first time in Olympic history, a history I had planned on being a part of.White remains the prohibitive favorite in the halfpipe, scheduled for Tuesday. He was considered a strong medal contender in slopestyle, too, but not the favorite. His decision to quit slopestyle came after a few days on the Sochi course, which has been criticized by many top riders for its difficulty and the size of its jumps.White fell in a practice run earlier in the week and injured his wrist, though he played down that injury at a news conference shortly before his statement was released. Another medal contender, Torstein Horgmo of Norway, broke his collarbone on one of the courses rails and is out of the competition.With the practice runs I have taken, even after course modifications and watching fellow athletes get hurt, the potential risk of injury is a bit too much for me to gamble my other Olympics goals on, White said in his statement.For White, it was a sporting version of having a bird nearly in hand versus two in the bush. The possibility of hurting himself in an event he dominated for years, and in which he has regained enough of his form to make himself a gold medal contender, was too great to risk the near certainty of winning a third consecutive gold in the Olympic halfpipe.Certainly, the worst-case scenario for him would have been to be injured in slopestyle and left unable to compete in the halfpipe. But would he have dropped out of slopestyle if he were not worried about injuries? What if he competed in the event and won, say, a bronze medal, or no medal at all? Anything less than winning is failure to White. And it did not take long for his competitors to take aim.ImageCredit...Mike Ehrmann/Getty ImagesMax Parrot of Canada, a gold medal favorite in slopestyle, wrote on Twitter: Shaun knows he wont be able to win the slopes, thats why he pulled out. Hes scared! (The post was later deleted.)Other top athletes echoed Whites concern about the slopestyle course, a series of obstacles and rails followed by three jumps off which athletes fly and spin. The Canadian freeskier Kaya Turski, a four-time X Games gold medalist and the favorite to win the inaugural Olympic womens slopestyle event here, called it unnecessarily risky.She worried that images of injured athletes would overshadow the artistry and athleticism of the competition. It is not the type of first impression, or lasting impression, the sport wants for its Olympic debut.To put on a good show, we dont need a course as risky as this, Turski said. She added, The vibe on the course is definitely more intense, and people are more on edge.The course, Turski said, is similar to the ones built for the annual X Games, previously slopestyles biggest competition. But the X Games feature a small field of the worlds best. The Olympics have larger fields, including athletes who may be the best in their countries but are far from the top in world rankings.I feel for girls from a bunch of countries, Turski said. These girls probably havent seen a course half this size.The jumps each have two ramps one bigger than the other and some competitors have been training solely on the smaller ramps, Turski said.As is typical with slopestyle, organizers built the course with the expectation of making adjustments after snowboarders and skiers had begun training and providing feedback. In this case, the tinkering has largely involved the size of the jumps, which have all been scaled back.You can always make a course smaller, but you cannot make a course bigger, said Mike Jankowski, the United States snowboarding and freeskiing coach.This course was bigger than most athletes had expected, though few knew what to expect from a venue where they had never competed. An event scheduled here last February was canceled because of warm temperatures and a lack of snow.We were actually pleasantly surprised to see that it was big, Jankowski said. It gives everybody enough time in the air to do the tricks they want to do.Turski said the main problem was not the size of jump, but the type of jump: step-down jumps, with the takeoff ramps higher than the landing zone. That means athletes are dropping through the air farther and landing harder than on some other courses.White usually has some of the most daring, innovative tricks at competitions. After a year of practicing to regain his once-dominant slopestyle form, including a difficult winter trying to be the only American athlete to earn a spot on both the halfpipe and slopestyle teams, he suddenly excused himself from the biggest slopestyle competition of all.He has no chance at that alluring double gold. But the way he sees it, the decision reduces the chance that he will lose.",4
"Credit...Burhan Ozbilici/Associated PressNov. 10, 2018WASHINGTON Turkey said on Saturday that it had turned over an audio recording of the killing of a Saudi dissident to the United States and other Western countries, intensifying the pressure on President Trump to take stronger punitive measures against his allies in Saudi Arabia.The disclosure, made by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was his first public acknowledgment of the recording of the killing of the dissident, Jamal Khashoggi, in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last month. Saudi Arabia has admitted that its operatives killed Mr. Khashoggi but denied that the attack was ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdoms de facto ruler and a close ally of Mr. Trump.We gave them the tapes, Mr. Erdogan said at a news conference in Ankara before flying to Paris to join Mr. Trump and other leaders at an international gathering. Theyve also listened to the conversations, they know it. There is no need to distort this.The White House declined to say whether it had a copy of the recording, which Mr. Erdogan said Turkey had also provided to Britain, France, Germany and Saudi Arabia. But Mr. Erdogans claim puts Mr. Trump in an awkward position, suggesting he possesses vivid evidence of Mr. Khashoggis premeditated killing, even as he has resisted tough sanctions against the Saudis and refused to say exactly who he believes was responsible for the crime.The Trump administration has taken modest steps against the Saudi government, suspending air-refueling flights for its military campaign in Yemen and drafting human rights sanctions against Saudis who have been linked to the killing of Mr. Khashoggi, a resident of Virginia who wrote columns for The Washington Post.But the White House has declined to accuse Prince Mohammed, who has cultivated particularly close ties with Mr. Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, emerging as a linchpin of the administrations Middle East strategy.Intelligence officials and senior diplomats have said that any operation like Mr. Khashoggis assassination almost certainly must be approved by Prince Mohammed, but Turkish officials have said the audio does not itself directly implicate the prince.The administrations limited actions against the Saudis seem calculated in part to head off a tougher response in Congress, where lawmakers from both parties have expressed outrage over the killing of a dissident inside a diplomatic compound and Saudi Arabias shifting explanations for it.VideotranscripttranscriptKilling Khashoggi: How a Brutal Saudi Hit Job UnfoldedAn autopsy expert. A lookalike. A black van. Our video investigation follows the movements of the 15-man Saudi hit team that killed and dismembered the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.There were 15 of them. Most arrived in the dead of night, laid their trap and waited for the target to arrive. That target was Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi critic of his countrys government and its young crown prince. Since his killing in Istanbul, Turkish media has released a steady drip feed of evidence implicating Saudi officials. Weeks of investigation by The Times builds on that evidence and reconstructs what unfolded, hour-by-hour. Our timeline shows the ruthless efficiency of a hit team of experts that seemed specially chosen from Saudi government ministries. Some had links to the crown prince himself. After a series of shifting explanations, Saudi Arabia now denies that this brazen hit job was premeditated. But this reconstruction of the killing, and the botched cover-up, calls their story into serious question. Its Friday morning, Sept. 28. Khashoggi and his fiance, Hatice Cengiz, are at the local marriage office in Istanbul. In order to marry, hes told that he needs Saudi paperwork and goes straight to the consulate to arrange it. They tell him to return in a week. It all seems routine, but its not. Inside theres a Saudi spy, Ahmed al-Muzaini, whos working under diplomatic cover. That very day, he flies off to Riyadh and helps concoct a plan to intercept Khashoggi when he returns to the consulate. Fast-forward to Monday night into Tuesday morning. Saudi agents converge in Istanbul aboard separate flights. Muzaini, the spy, flies back from Riyadh. A commercial flight carries a three-man team that we believe flew from Cairo. Two of the men are security officers and theyve previously traveled with the crown prince. A private jet flying from Riyadh lands around 3:30 a.m. That plane is often used by the Saudi government, and its carrying nine Saudi officials, some who played key roles in Khashoggis death. Well get to Team 3 later on, and for now focus on these men from Team 2. This is Salah al-Tubaigy, a high-ranking forensics and autopsy expert in the Saudi interior ministry. Turkish officials will later say his role was to dismember Khashoggis body. Another is Mustafa al-Madani, a 57-year-old engineer. As well see, its no accident that he looks like Khashoggi. And this is Maher Mutreb, the leader of the operation. Our investigation into his past reveals a direct link between Mutreb and the Saudi crown prince. When bin Salman toured a Houston neighborhood earlier this year, we discovered that Mutreb was with him, a glowering figure in the background. We found him again in Boston, at a U.N. meeting in New York, in Madrid and Paris, too. This global tour was all part of a charm offensive by the prince to paint himself as a moderate reformer. Back then, Mutreb was in the royal guard. Now, he would orchestrate Khashoggis killing. And his close ties to the crown prince beg the question, just how high up the Saudi chain of command did the plot to kill go? Early Tuesday morning, Khashoggi flies back from a weekend trip to London. He and the Saudis nearly cross paths at the airport. The Saudi teams check into two hotels, which give quick access to the consulate. Khashoggi heads home with his fiance. Hed just bought an apartment for their new life together. By mid-morning, the Saudis are on the move. Mutreb leaves his hotel three hours before Khashoggi is due at the consulate. The rest of the team isnt far behind. The building is only a few minutes away on foot, and soon, theyre spotted at this entrance. Mutreb arrives first. Next, we see al-Tubaigy, the autopsy expert. And now al-Madani, the lookalike. The stage is almost set. A diplomatic car pulls out of the consulate driveway and switches places with a van, which backs in. Turkish officials say this van would eventually carry away Khashoggis remains. From above, we can see the driveway is covered, hiding any activity around the van from public view. Meanwhile, Khashoggi and his fiance set out for the consulate, walking hand-in-hand. In their final hour together, they chat about dinner plans and new furniture for their home. At 1:13 p.m., they arrive at the consulate. Khashoggi gives her his cellphones before he enters. He walks into the consulate. Its the last time we see him. Inside, Khashoggi is brought to the consul generals office on the second floor. The hit team is waiting in a nearby room. Sources briefed on the evidence, told us Khashoggi quickly comes under attack. Hes dragged to another room and is killed within minutes. Then al-Tubaigy, the autopsy expert, dismembers his body while listening to music. Maher Mutreb makes a phone call to a superior. He says, Tell your boss, and The deed was done. Outside, the van reportedly carrying Khashoggis body pulls out of the side entrance and drives away. At the same time, the Saudis begin trying to cover their tracks. While Khashoggis fiance waits here where she left him, two figures leave from the opposite side. One of them is wearing his clothes. Later, the Saudis would claim that this was Khashoggi. But its al-Madani, the engineer, now a body double pretending that the missing journalist left the consulate alive. Yet theres one glaring flaw: The clothes are the same, but hes wearing his own sneakers, the ones he walked in with. Meanwhile, the van thats allegedly carrying Khashoggis body makes the two-minute drive from the consulate to the Saudi consuls residence. Theres several minutes of deliberations but the van eventually pulls into the buildings driveway. Again, its hidden from public view. Its now three hours since Khashoggi was last seen. The body double hails this taxi and continues weaving a false trail through the city. He heads to a popular tourist area and then changes back into his own clothes. Later, we see him joking around in surveillance footage. Over at the airport, more Saudi officials arrive on another flight from Riyadh. They spend just five hours in Istanbul, but were not sure where they go. Now we pick up Maher Mutreb again, exiting from the consuls house. Its time for them to go. Mutreb and others check out of their hotel and move through airport security. Al-Muzaini, the spy, heads to the airport too. But as theyre leaving Istanbul, Khashoggis fiance is still outside the consulate, pacing in circles. Shell soon raise the alarm that Khashoggi is missing and shell wait for him until midnight. The alarm spreads around the world. Nine days later, the Saudis send another team to Istanbul. They say its to investigate what happened. But among them are a toxicologist and a chemist, who also has ties to the hit team. He and Tubaigy attended a forensics graduation days before Khashoggi was killed. Turkish officials later say that this teams mission was not to investigate, but to cover up the killing. Now the Saudi story has changed, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for several suspects in Khashoggis killing. But that doesnt include Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who many Western government officials are convinced authorized the killing. Khashoggis remains still havent been found.An autopsy expert. A lookalike. A black van. Our video investigation follows the movements of the 15-man Saudi hit team that killed and dismembered the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.While Mr. Trump said he believes that the Saudis tried to cover up the killing, he has steadfastly reserved judgment on who is to blame until the Saudi government provides a definitive public accounting of the episode, based on its own investigation. That is expected this coming week.Ill have a much stronger opinion on that subject over the next week, Mr. Trump said at a news conference on Tuesday. Were working with Congress, were working with Turkey, and were working with Saudi Arabia.Mr. Trump was likely to see Mr. Erdogan in Paris, where dozens of world leaders gathered at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.Turkish and Western officials have previously discussed the existence of the audio recording only on the condition of anonymity. But Turkish officials have said the audio includes clear evidence of a premeditated killing, in which a team of Saudi agents moved quickly and methodically to dismember Mr. Khashoggis body with a bone saw. It does not include evidence of the reported torture of Mr. Khashoggi, these officials said.The director of the C.I.A., Gina Haspel, met with Turkish intelligence officials in Ankara last month, and Turkish and American officials said she was allowed to listen to the recording, but not take a copy with her. It is unclear when or how the Turks shared the recording with the other governments.Mr. Erdogans wording suggested that he may regard the sharing of the audio with Ms. Haspel as the equivalent of handing it over to the United States.For the C.I.A., possessing a physical copy of the tape would be important to verify its authenticity, determine how it was made and analyze its contents independently.We dont comment on intelligence matters, said the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.ImageCredit...Emrah Gurel/Associated PressWhile the timing and form of the Turkish disclosures are uncertain, Turkeys motivation for doing so is not. In the weeks since the killing, Mr. Erdogan has abandoned his effort to avoid a rupture in Turkeys relations with Riyadh, and has instead entered into an all-out campaign to damage or even topple Prince Mohammed from power.At the same time, Mr. Erdogan has been careful to praise King Salman, the crown princes aging father, in an apparent attempt to appeal to the others in the Saudi royal family who already resent his son.Turkish officials have said Washington is the primary focus of Mr. Erdogans effort, in part because he believes that only the United States has enough influence in Saudi Arabia and the region to punish Prince Mohammed.On Saturday, Mr. Erdogan accused the Saudis of dragging their feet in the investigation. Saudi Arabia must respond to our good will, and be just, and clear themselves of this stain, he said.The hostility between Mr. Erdogan and Prince Mohammed is rooted in their diverging ambitions. Mr. Erdogan has presented himself as a champion of the Arab Spring uprisings and the Islamist political parties that once appeared poised to ride those revolts to power; Prince Mohammed is the anchor of an alliance of Arab authoritarians who have sought to stamp out those uprisings.Mr. Erdogan was also a personal friend of Mr. Khashoggis from the writers years as a commentator on regional affairs in the Saudi-owned news media.Still, for weeks after the killing, Mr. Erdogan was circumspect, mainly limiting himself to provocative questions. Despite their tensions, the two leaders had kept up the appearance of cordial relations for years because of their shared interests in the region.Mr. Erdogan was also reluctant to acknowledge possession of the audio recording because it appeared to have been obtained through intelligence surveillance inside the Saudi diplomatic compound something that is routine but also a violation of international diplomatic covenants.ImageCredit...Andrew Harnik/Associated PressYet as Saudi Arabia has bungled its response to the killing denying it for weeks, then calling it an accident, and later acknowledging evidence of premeditation Mr. Erdogans posture has hardened.With criticism mounting, he has evidently calculated that he can deal a serious enough blow to Prince Mohammed to permanently cripple him. When other news in the West threatened to push Mr. Khashoggi from the headlines, Turkish allies of Mr. Erdogan reached out to Western journalists, pressing for ways to keep it alive.In Washington, where the midterm elections have eclipsed news of the case for the last two weeks, the Trump administration is expected to announce economic sanctions against Saudi officials linked to the killing, according to current and former officials.At the White House, as well as the State Department and the Treasury Department, officials have discussed imposing the sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act, which gives the executive branch the power to punish foreign officials involved in human rights abuses. The announcement could come in days.The administration has also shown growing impatience with Saudi Arabias handling of the war in Yemen. Last week, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on all sides to end hostilities and take part in United Nations-led negotiations. But Saudi leaders did not immediately move to limit their airstrikes, angering officials the Trump administration, according to former officials.The Saudis have escalated, said Bruce O. Riedel, an expert on Saudi Arabia at the Brookings Institution. The administration has not said anything about that. But curtailing air refueling would be their response.The American support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen has been deeply controversial, especially as civilian casualties have mounted many children are among the victims and a famine resulting from the war has gripped the country.The White House has faced growing bipartisan criticism over the American militarys support for the Saudi campaign.After years of bloodshed and suffering, there is no military solution in sight, Representative Ed Royce, Republican of California and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Saturday. The status quo is not in the interests of the United States or Saudi Arabia.",6
"Barely 10 percent of doctoral degrees in the geosciences go to recipients of color. The lack of diversity limits the quality of research, many scientists say.Credit...Nemanja Spoljaric/Getty ImagesDec. 23, 2019When Arianna Varuolo-Clarke was growing up, her favorite evenings were spent watching the Weather Channel with her grandfather. She wanted to chase thunderstorms and understand where tornadoes came from, she said. She decided to become an atmospheric scientist. In 2014, she landed an internship at the National Center for Atmospheric Research as a college sophomore, and quickly realized that her path as a woman of color would not be easy.Youd walk through the halls and its a lot of old white men, Ms. Varuolo-Clarke said. Still, she pushed forward and began her Ph.D. in atmospheric science at Columbia University last year.The fields lack of diversity gained new urgency in May when her graduate student cohort was targeted with a series of racist emails. The messages, sent to affiliates of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia by a person outside the community, said that black people were genetically inferior and did not belong in academia. It was hurtful and invalidating to be told that she didnt belong in the world that had drawn her in since childhood, Ms. Varuolo-Clarke said. It was an isolated incident. But it brought to the surface what still needs to be done in the field. In a commentary last week in Nature Geoscience, Kuheli Dutt, Lamont-Dohertys assistant director for academic affairs and diversity, wrote that a lack of diversity and inclusion is the single largest cultural problem facing the geosciences today.The geosciences which include the study of planet Earth, its oceans, its atmosphere and its interactions with human society are among the least diverse across all fields of science. Nearly 90 percent of doctoral-degree recipients are white. In the countrys top 100 geoscience departments, people of color hold under 4 percent of tenured or tenure-track positions. A 2016 survey from the National Science Foundation showed that representation of people of color in geosciences has barely budged in the past four decades, although significant gains have been made in terms of gender balance.Asian-Americans are better represented than other people of color, according to Dr. Dutt, accounting for 6 percent of those earning geoscience doctorates in 2016. Between 1973 and 2016, just 20 Native American women, 69 black women and 241 Hispanic women earned Ph.D.s in the field, of some 22,600 total.The fields lack of diversity begins with a pipeline problem, geoscientists say. National surveys have shown that black people are less likely than white people to participate in outdoor activities. One survey, conducted in 2009, queried 4,103 respondents and found that African-Americans accounted for just 7 percent of national park visitors, and another survey found that they were more likely to report receiving poor service by park employees. Robert Stanton, the first black director of the National Park Service, has said that the idea that black folks dont like parks has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.Lisa White, a micropaleontologist at University of California, Berkeley, said most public high schools, especially those in urban environments, did not have the resources to organize outdoor field trips introducing students to the earth sciences. As the assistant director of education and outreach at the U.C. Museum of Paleontology, Dr. White has noticed that students of color tend to be more familiar with medicine, engineering, computer science and other STEM fields that lead directly to job opportunities.Compounding the pipeline problem is one of stereotypes. The typical earth scientist is often seen as a rugged white male. You think of a bearded guy on top of a mountain wearing flannel and hiking boots, said Jonathan Nichols, an associate research professor at Lamont-Doherty. We just had our big fall conference and there were 20,000-plus geologists, and you look around and its all old bearded guys.That stereotype, Dr. Nichols said, can make the field feel unwelcoming to people of color, who dont see themselves represented at conferences and among faculty members. Dr. White concurred that the geosciences had an image problem that prevents young people of color from applying for research opportunities.That lack of representation in turn affects the quality and focus of earth science research, especially on climate change.Its not rich white people who will be impacted first and most by climate change, Dr. Nichols said. Its the people in marginalized communities. And if you forget that this work isnt just an academic pursuit, then why are you even doing it? You have to keep in mind the real impact.Lorelei Curtin, a fifth-year Ph.D. student at Columbia University, said her earth science classes could be enriched by a greater focus on nonwhite and Indigenous histories and voices, given that Indigenous people have a unique connection to the land. Ms. Curtin helped start a book club at Lamont-Doherty called Race Talk, which brings together geoscientists for discussions on race and white privilege. The group has read Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence, by Derald Wing Sue, as well as Home, by Toni Morrison. Ms. Curtin said that scientists were not accustomed to conversations that center on individual stories and experiences rather than data, so sensitive discussion of racism presented a challenge.Dr. Dutt, Lamont-Dohertys diversity director, joined the Observatory 11 years ago as its only person of color in a leadership role. Since then she has led trainings for geoscientists on recognizing their implicit biases to foster a more racially inclusive environment. Her article in Nature Geoscience last week, titled Race and Racism in the Geosciences, was so popular that the journals editors removed its pay wall. The article called on geoscientists to take personal responsibility for ridding their field of prejudice.I wanted to write the piece to address the disconnect between the way white people and people of color view topics of racism, Dr. Dutt said. Most of the people Ive worked with in my role as diversity officer are nice people and well-intentioned people. But privilege tends to be invisible to the person who has it. After the discriminatory email messages in May, Dr. Dutt organized a forum to discuss diversity, and the lack of it, in geoscience; the event was standing room only. Ms. Varuolo-Clarke was moved by how many of her classmates attended, realizing that the emails had brought to the surface racial challenges that the earth scientist community must confront.Sometimes its an elephant in the room that Im a woman of color, Ms. Varuolo-Clarke said. Id rather we talk about it versus tiptoeing around it.",7
"A recent visit to Nauru revealed the effects of Australias offshore detention policy and its impact on mental health. Credit...Mridula AminNov. 5, 2018TOPSIDE, Nauru She was 3 years old when she arrived on Nauru, a child fleeing war in Sri Lanka. Now, Sajeenthana is 8.Her gaze is vacant. Sometimes she punches adults. And she talks about dying with ease.Yesterday I cut my hand, she said in an interview here on the remote Pacific island where she was sent by the Australian government after being caught at sea. She pointed to a scar on her arm. One day I will kill myself, she said. Wait and see, when I find the knife. I dont care about my body. Her father tried to calm her, but she twisted away. It is the same as if I was in war, or here, he said.Sajeenthana is one of more than 3,000 refugees and asylum seekers who have been sent to Australias offshore detention centers since 2013. No other Australian policy has been so widely condemned by the worlds human rights activists nor so strongly defended by the countrys leaders, who have long argued it saves lives by deterring smugglers and migrants.Now, though, the desperation has reached a new level in part because of the United States.Sajeenthana and her father are among the dozens of refugees on Nauru who had been expecting to be moved as part of an Obama-era deal that President Trump reluctantly agreed to honor, allowing resettlement for up to 1,250 refugees from Australias offshore camps.So far, according to American officials, about 430 refugees from the camps have been resettled in the United States but at least 70 people were rejected over the past few months.That includes Sajeenthana and her father, Tamil refugees who fled violence at home after the Sri Lankan government crushed a Tamil insurgency.ImageCredit...Mridula Amin and Lachie HintonA State Department spokeswoman did not respond to questions about the rejections, arguing the Nauru refugees are subject to the same vetting procedures as other refugees worldwide. Australias Department of Home Affairs said in a statement that Nauru has appropriate mental health assessment and treatment in place. But whats clear, according to doctors and asylum seekers, is that the situation has been deteriorating for months. On Nauru, signs of suicidal children have been emerging since August. Dozens of organizations, including Doctors Without Borders (which was ejected from Nauru on Oct. 5) have been sounding the alarm. And with the hope of American resettlement diminishing, the Australian government has been forced to relent: Last week officials said they would work toward moving all children off Nauru for treatment by Christmas. At least 92 children have been moved since August Sajeenthana was evacuated soon after our interview but as of Tuesday there were still 27 children on Nauru, hundreds of adults, and no long-term solution. ImageCredit...Pool photo by Jason OxenhamThe families sent to Australia for care are waiting to hear if they will be sent back to Nauru. Some parents, left behind as their children are being treated, fear they will never see each other again if they apply for American resettlement, while asylum seekers from countries banned by the United States like Iran, Syria and Somalia lack even that possibility.For all the asylum seekers who have called Nauru home, the psychological effects linger.I Saw the Blood It Was EverywhereNauru is a small island nation of about 11,000 people that takes 30 minutes by car to loop. A line of dilapidated mansions along the coast signal the islands wealthy past; in the 1970s, it was a phosphate-rich nation with per capita income second only to Saudi Arabia.Now, those phosphate reserves are virtually exhausted, and the country relies heavily on Australian aid. It accounted for 25 percent of Naurus gross domestic product last year alone.ImageCredit...Mridula AminMathew Batsiua, a former Nauruan lawmaker who helped orchestrate the offshore arrangement, said it was meant to be a short-term deal. But the habit has been hard to break. Our mainstay income is purely controlled by the foreign policy of another country, he said.In Topside, an area of old cars and dusty brush, sits one of the two processing centers that house about 160 detainees. Hundreds of others live in community camps of modular housing. They were moved from shared tents in August, ahead of the Pacific Islands Forum, an intergovernmental meeting that Nauru hosted this year.Sukirtha Krishnalingam, 15, said the days are a boring loop as she and her family of five certified refugees from Sri Lanka wait to hear if the United States will accept them. She worries about her heart condition. And she has nightmares.At night, she screams, said her brother Mahinthan, 14.In the past year, talk of suicide on the island has become more common. Young men like Abdullah Khoder, a 24-year-old Lebanese refugee, says exhaustion and hopelessness have taken a toll. I cut my hands with razors because I am tired, he said. ImageCredit...Mridula AminEven more alarming: Children now allude to suicide as if it were just another thunderstorm. Since 2014, 12 people have died after being detained in Australias offshore detention centers on Nauru and Manus Island, part of Papua New Guinea. Christina Sivalingam, a 10-year-old Tamil girl on Nauru spoke matter-of-factly in an interview about seeing the aftermath of one death that of an Iranian man, Fariborz Karami, who killed himself in June. We came off the school bus and I saw the blood it was everywhere, she said calmly. It took two days to clean up. She said her father also attempted suicide after treatment for his thyroid condition was delayed.Seeing some of her friends being settled in the United States while she waits on her third appeal for asylum has only made her lonelier. She said she doesnt feel like eating anymore. Why am I the only one here? she said. I want to go somewhere else and be happy.Some observers, even on Nauru, wonder if the children are refusing to eat in a bid to leave. But medical professionals who have worked on the island said the rejections by the Americans have contributed to a rapid deterioration of peoples mental states. Dr. Beth OConnor, a psychiatrist working with Doctors Without Borders, said that when she arrived last year, people clung to the hope of resettlement in the United States. In May, a batch of rejections plunged the camp into despair. ImageCredit...Mridula AminMr. Karamis death further sapped morale.People that just had a bit of spark in their eye still just went dull, Dr. OConnor said. They felt more abandoned and left behind.Many of the detainees no longer hope to settle in Australia. New Zealand has offered to take in 150 refugees annually from Nauru but Scott Morrison, the Australian prime minister, has said that he will only consider the proposal if a bill is passed banning those on Nauru from ever entering Australia. Opposition lawmakers say they are open to discussion.In the meantime, Nauru continues to draw scrutiny.Im Not Going Back to NauruFor months, doctors say, many children on Nauru have been exhibiting symptoms of resignation syndrome a mental condition in response to trauma that involves extreme withdrawal from reality. They stopped eating, drinking and talking. Theyd look right through you when you tried to talk to them, Dr. OConnor said. We watched their weights decline and we worried that one of them would die before they got out.Lawyers with the National Justice Project, a nonprofit legal service, have been mobilizing. They have successfully argued for the medical evacuation of around 127 people from Nauru this year, including 44 children. In a quarter of the cases, the government has resisted these demands in court, said George Newhouse, the groups principal lawyer. Weve never lost, he said. It is gut-wrenching to see childrens lives destroyed for political gain.ImageCredit...Peter Parks/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesA broad coalition that includes doctors, clergy, lawyers and nonprofit organizations, working under the banner #kidsoffnauru, is now calling for all asylum seekers to be evacuated. Public opinion in Australia is turning: In one recent poll, about 80 percent of respondents supported the removal of families and children from Nauru.Australias conservative government, with an election looming, is starting to shift.Weve been going about this quietly, Mr. Morrison said last week. We havent been showboating. But there are still questions about what happens next. Last month, Sajeenthana stopped eating. After she had spent 10 days on a saline drip in a Nauruan hospital, her father was told he had two hours to pack for Australia.Speaking by video from Brisbane last week (we are not using her full name because of her age and the severity of her condition), Sajeenthana beamed. I feel better now that I am in Australia, she said. Im not going back to Nauru.But her father is less certain. The United States rejected his application for resettlement in September. There are security guards posted outside their Brisbane hotel room, he said, and though food arrives daily, they are not allowed to leave. He wonders if they have swapped one kind of limbo for another, or if they will be forced back to Nauru. Australias Home Affairs minister has said the Nauru children will not be allowed to stay. Anyone who is brought here is still classified as a transitory person, said Jana Favero, director of advocacy and campaigns at the Asylum Seeker Resource Center. Life certainly isnt completely rosy and cheery once they arrive in Australia.On Monday, 25 more people, including eight children, left the island in six family units, she said. Those left behind on Nauru pass the days, worrying and waiting. ImageCredit...Mridula AminChristina often dreams of what life would be like somewhere else, where being 10 does not mean being trapped. A single Iranian woman who asked not to be identified because she feared for her safety said that short of attempting suicide or changing nationality, there was no way off Nauru. She has been waiting two years for an answer to her application for resettlement in the United States one that now seems hopeless given the Trump administrations policies. Each night, often after the power goes out on Nauru, she and her sister talk about life and death, and whether to harm themselves to seek freedom.If you or someone you know needs help, support can be found in your area by clicking here: the International Association for Suicide Prevention. In Australia, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.Mridula Amin reported from Nauru, and Isabella Kwai from Sydney. Lachie Hinton contributed reporting from Nauru, and Damien Cave from Sydney. Want more Australia coverage and discussion? Sign up for the weekly Australia Letter, start your day with your local Morning Briefing and join us in our Facebook group.",6
"Beware the Fine PrintCredit...Matt Roth for The New York TimesDec. 22, 2015Clifford Cain Jr., a retired electrician in Baltimore, was used to living on a tight budget, carefully apportioning his Social Security and pension benefits to cover his rent and medication for multiple sclerosis.So Mr. Cain was puzzled when he suddenly could not make ends meet. Months later, he discovered why: A debt collector had garnished his bank account after suing him for about $4,500 the company said he owed on an old debt.Mr. Cain said he never knew the lawsuit had been brought against him until the money was gone. Neither did other Baltimore residents who were among the hundreds of people sued by the collector, Midland Funding, a unit of the Encore Capital Group, in Maryland State Court. Some of them said they did not even owe any money, or their debt had long expired and was not legally collectible, according to a review of court records.In any case, the Encore subsidiary was not licensed to collect debt in Maryland.Yet when Mr. Cain brought a class action in 2013 against Midland Funding, the company successfully fought to have the lawsuit dismissed.If the plaintiffs wanted to try to recover their money, they would have to do so in private arbitration. And because class actions are banned in arbitration, Mr. Cain and the others would have to fight the unit of Encore one of the largest debt buyers in the country with vast legal resources one by one.I cant for the life of me understand how this is allowed to happen, said Mr. Cain, who could not afford to pursue his case alone in arbitration.In short, Encore and rival debt buyers are using the courts to sue consumers and collect debt, then preventing those same consumers from using the courts to challenge the companies tactics. Consumer lawyers said this strategy was the legal equivalent of debt collectors having their cake and eating it, too.The use of arbitration by the companies is the latest frontier in a legal strategy orchestrated by corporations in recent years. By inserting arbitration clauses into the fine print of consumer contracts, they have found a way to block access to the courts and ban class-action lawsuits, the only realistic way to bring a case against a deep-pocketed corporation.Their strategy traces to a pair of Supreme Court decisions in 2011 and 2013 that enshrined the use of class-action bans in arbitration clauses.The result, The New York Times found in an investigation last month, is that banks, car dealers, online retailers, cellphone service providers and scores of other companies have insulated themselves from challenges to illegal or deceptive business practices. Once a class action was dismantled, court and arbitration records showed, few if any of the individual plaintiffs pursued arbitration.In the last few years, debt collectors have pushed the parameters of that legal strategy into audacious new territory. Perhaps more than any other industry, debt collectors use the courts while invoking arbitration to deny court access to others. The companies file lawsuits seeking to force borrowers to pay debts. Because borrowers seldom show up to challenge the lawsuits, the collectors win almost every case, transforming debts that banks had given up on into big profits.Other industries have tested the boundaries of arbitration in different ways. Auto dealers, for example, successfully lobbied Congress in 2000 to make sure that they could go to court when they had a dispute with their manufacturers. Today, though, dealers regularly require their customers to go to arbitration, while they can still sue manufacturers in court.In the case of debt collectors, the arbitration clauses that companies are invoking are often in contracts that borrowers presumably agreed to with their original lenders not with the debt collector. Additionally, debt collectors often cannot produce a copy of the agreement in court, according to records and interviews.Consumer advocates argue it is not fair for debt collectors to enforce an arbitration agreement a consumer signed with a different company. Debt collectors counter that they are buying loan contracts, and the terms come with them.Because the tactic is still in its early stages, there is no data tracking the cases. But The Times, examining thousands of state and federal court records, and interviewing hundreds of lawyers, plaintiffs, industry consultants and judges, found that debt collection companies have already used the strategy to great success.In the cases that The Times examined, judges routinely sided with debt collectors on forcing the disputes into arbitration.In Mr. Cains case, Midland Funding, the unit of Encore Capital, persevered despite originally lacking a copy of a Citibank arbitration agreement they said he signed in 2003. Instead, the debt collector presented as evidence a Citibank contract that one of Encores lawyers signed when he opened an account.In Mississippi, Midland Funding won a court judgment to compel Wanda Thompson to pay more than $4,700 on a debt that was too old to be collected under state law, court records show.When Ms. Thompson filed a class-action suit on behalf of other state residents, Encore invoked an arbitration clause to have the lawsuit dismissed. Ms. Thompsons lawyers argued that the company had clearly chosen court over arbitration when it sued her to collect the debt. By going to court, the lawyers said, Encore waived its right to compel arbitration.Unpersuaded, the judge ruled that Encores lawsuit to collect the debt was separate from Ms. Thompsons case accusing the company of violating the law.Its beyond hypocritical that the companies can use arbitration to avoid being held accountable in court, all the while using the courts to collect from consumers, said Peter A. Holland, a lawyer who ran the Consumer Protection Clinic at the University of Marylands law school.In a statement, Greg Call, Encores general counsel, said the company has a longstanding commitment to operating ethically and treating consumers with respect. Responding to the specific cases, he said the judges carefully reviewed the parties evidence regarding whether the creditor and consumer had agreed to arbitrate and whether arbitration was the appropriate forum to resolve a dispute, and followed federal law and Supreme Court direction when ordering the matter to arbitration.In the consumer credit ecosystem, debt collectors are at the bottom rung. They buy huge bundles of delinquent debt from banks for pennies on the dollar.The Federal Trade Commission, which examined 5,000 portfolios of debt purchased by the nations largest debt buyers, found that only 12 percent included documentation.The debt collectors do not just use the courts to collect on the money, they flood them. In 2014, the industry filed roughly 20,000 lawsuits in Maryland and more than 67,000 in New York, according to court records.Philip S. Straniere, a civil court judge in Staten Island, called some of the cases that crossed his desk garbage. Some debt collectors, Judge Straniere said, have sought to recoup payments from the wrong person.Little of that matters, because many defendants do not show up to defend themselves. Some never read nondescript legal notices informing them of the lawsuits. Others who do are too intimidated or ill-equipped to go to court.Once it begins, the litigation machine is virtually impossible to stop. When defendants are absent, judges have little choice but to find in favor of the debt collectors, according to interviews. Industry consultants estimated that collectors win 95 percent of the lawsuits.Their practices have attracted state and federal scrutiny. In September, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined Encore and a second debt collector, the PRA Group, for trying to collect on debts they should have known were inaccurate.Mr. Call, Encores general counsel, said that litigation was always a last resort and was used only to collect on less than 5 percent of the debts the company owned. He added that, like the C.F.P.B., Encore wanted to ensure that consumers are treated fairly. A spokeswoman for the PRA Group declined to comment.But even when borrowers bring class-action lawsuits over practices that regulators have determined to be illegal, the cases are being thrown out because of arbitration clauses, court records show. In Maryland, Midland Funding reached a $1.2 million settlement with the states financial regulator, which found that the company had engaged in unlicensed collection, the very issue that Mr. Cain could not bring to court. In Kansas, borrowers did not fare any better when they sued Midland Funding, accusing the company of not being properly licensed. Mr. Call said Midland was appropriately licensed. A judge granted the companys motion to compel arbitration.Once their class actions were dismissed, few plaintiffs pursued arbitration, data analyzed by The Times shows. Encore and its subsidiaries faced 38 arbitration cases from 2010 to 2015 and the PRA Group faced 15, the data shows.Fred W. Schwinn, a consumer lawyer in San Jose, Calif., thought he had a winner when he brought a class action on behalf of a woman who said she had been improperly sued to collect an old credit card debt. Predictably, Mr. Schwinn said, the debt collector, a unit of SquareTwo Financial, asked the judge to order the case into arbitration.But Mr. Schwinn discovered an agreement that the SquareTwo unit had entered with the credit card company from which it bought his clients debt. The agreement stated that the debt collector shall not use arbitration for collection of debt.A judge in the case still ruled in the debt collectors favor, saying the agreement did not prevent the SquareTwo unit from using arbitration clauses when facing lawsuits from consumers, as opposed to when it was trying to collect those consumers debts.Such decisions are leading lawyers to believe they may have found, in the words of one law firm, the silver bullet for killing off legal challenges. In an industry podcast, two lawyers discussed the benefits of using arbitration to quash consumers lawsuits. The tactic, they said, is emerging at an opportune time, given that debt collectors are being sued for violating federal law.The beauty of the clauses, the lawyers said, is that often the lawsuit simply goes away.",0
"https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/14/sports/baseball/mets-name-radio-team.htmlSports BriefingFeb. 14, 2014Howie Rose and Josh Lewin will return as the Mets radio team as the games shift to WOR-AM from WFAN-AM and FM. The announcement that they will still call the Mets took a while; the team revealed its move to WOR in November. The Yankees moved to WFAN from WCBS-AM. Seattle signed Fernando Rodney, who had 37 saves for the Tampa Bay Rays last season, to a two-year, $14 million deal. Rodney, 36, ranked second in the American League in saves (85) over the past two seasons.Outfielder Franklin Gutierrez, a Gold Glove winner in 2010, told the Mariners he would not play this season because of a recurrence of the gastrointestinal problem that slowed him last season. (AP) Jim Fregosi, the former All-Star infielder and manager of the Angels, the White Sox, the Phillies and the Blue Jays, was hospitalized in Miami after apparently having a stroke while on a cruise to the Cayman Islands for baseball fans. Fregosi, 71, is an executive for the Braves. (AP)",4
"2018 AVN Awards Photos Don't Bare All ... But They Bare Most 1/28/2018 The 35th annual AVN Awards went down in Vegas Saturday night, and the nominees and other showed what they got. 75 awards were handed out, including Best Boy/Girl Sex Scene, Best 3-Way Sex Scene, Best Big Butt Movie, Best Male Newcomer, Best Taboo Relations, Best Group Sex Scene, Best Orgy Gang Bang Movie, BBW Performer of the Year, Best Anal Series, Best Older Woman/Younger Girl Move, Best Polyamory Movie, Best Transsexual Movie, Best Virtual Reality Sex Scene and Best Fetish Manufacturer. Take that, Clive Davis!",1
"Feb. 11, 2014SOCHI, Russia Figure skating is the only Winter Olympic sport in which a competitor is so alone for so many minutes, so isolated in a contained space, accompanied only by thoughts that can be as quivery as tired legs.There is a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other side, said Patrick Chan, 23, the reigning three-time world champion from Canada and an Olympic favorite who has struggled with self-assurance. Its a constant battle between positive and negative thoughts.During the 2 minutes 50 seconds of the mens short program Thursday, Chan will take the ice as the worlds most complete skater. His four-revolution jumps are airy. He seems to reach top speed with two whispery crosscut strokes of his blades. His edging and skating skills are precise and exquisite.Hes the most consistent at everything, Johnny Weir of the United States, who finished sixth at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, said of Chan. He jumps as well as he spins as well as he skates.And yet Chan has appeared insecure at times in his recent performances and interviews. He has developed a reputation for falling in major competitions and still receiving high scores, which his critics call Chanflation. And he bears the weight of historical disappointment: No male skater from Canada has won an individual Olympic gold medal.Chan finished second to mens skatings hottest competitor, Yuzuru Hanyu, 19, of Japan, in December at the Grand Prix Final, an Olympic tuneup. At the Canadian national championships in January, Chan easily won but veered into sloppiness.Last week, he finished third in the short program of the Olympic team competition behind Hanyu and the charismatic Evgeni Plushenko of Russia, reducing a planned quadruple-toe, triple-toe combination jump and stepping out of a triple axel.ImageCredit...Tatyana Zenkovich/European Pressphoto AgencyThe decisive question in the mens individual competition, which will conclude with a long program of four and a half minutes Friday, is, Who will wilt? said Dick Button, the two-time Olympic champion.The issue of composure faces not only Chan, but every male skater. Even Plushenko, 31, a four-time Olympic medalist, admitted feeling slightly dizzy before a loud, adoring home audience in the team competition.All of the work has been done physically, said Jeremy Abbott, a four-time American champion who trains with Chan at Detroit Skating Club and succumbed to nerves in the Olympic team short program. Once youre out there, its all about the mental game.Each skater has his own method to try to calm himself and prevent a self-destructive inner voice from intruding. Jason Brown of the United States skates without his glasses, leaving him unable to see the eyes of the spectators.Its all a bit of a blur, Brown said. It helps me perform and emote to the audience better.Skaters often recite key words to themselves to trigger a particular spin, jump or piece of footwork. Abbott has trained using percussive sounds of a drummer who helps golfers with their swings. The sound provides a certain rhythm for counting to six as he launches into a quadruple jump.Abbott has also brought an inflatable bed to Sochi to help him sleep, consulted his sports psychologist during Skype sessions and moved to a hotel because he became distracted in the Olympic Village, where life seemed more like summer camp than the Olympic Games.Its probably the same for every athlete, Abbott said. Its really the doubt that drives us to succeed, because if we were all confident, we would all be complacent.At Skate Canada in October in St. John, New Brunswick, Chan said in an interview that his biggest goal for this season was landing on my feet.Given the completeness of his routines, Chan said, he believed that a clean short and long program at the Olympics would make for an unbeatable program and skater.ImageCredit...Adrian Dennis/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesStaying on his feet was a mental thing, not a technical thing at all, Chan said. I can do all my jumps in practice, three in a row, five out of five, four out of five.At competitions like the Olympics, though, he said: Its being able to manage the pressure, being on the ice on your own. All eyes are on you. All you hear is your music and nobody else. Theres not a word in the crowd. Its a very different feeling to perform under those situations.As a teenager, Chan finished fifth at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Skating before a home crowd, he has said he felt like a puppy in puppy day care. But he has become a multiple world champion since then. And with his success has come pressure and expectation.During the past year and a half, Chan has tried to take more responsibility in his personal and professional lives. He moved his training from Colorado Springs to Detroit and began living apart from his mother, Karen, cooking his own meals, doing his own chores.I can go to a competition on my own and not feel like a lost puppy, Chan said. I really feel in control of what I need to do.Yet, in the Olympic team competition, while Plushenko strutted as the consummate showman, Chan stumbled through his short program. Russia took the gold medal, while Canada settled for silver.Patrick is the favorite and hes also made himself the favorite, which I find refreshing, said Tara Lipinski, the 1998 womens Olympic champion. People are here to win gold medals. When you say you just want to skate your best, that obviously isnt the real truth. Its refreshing to hear him say this is his time, this is his medal. At the same time, if you are going to talk the talk, youve got to walk the walk.Chan said he was trying to relax, to avoid becoming stressed over every element of his routines. Yet he has been asking himself questions filled with doubt. Is he as well-trained as the others? Are his quadruple jumps as worthy as Hanyus?And, most unsettling, Am I going to beat them, even if I skate my best?",4
"Economy|Hiring Increased in October, Report Sayshttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/business/economy/hiring-increased-in-october-report-says.htmlDec. 8, 2015United States employers advertised fewer jobs in October, though overall hiring picked up and people quitting rose slightly, adding to evidence that the job market is slowly improving.The number of job postings fell 2.7 percent to a still-healthy 5.4 million in October compared with the previous month, the Labor Department said Tuesday in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey. That figure is not far from Julys record high of 5.7 million.Hiring increased to 5.1 million, the most since June. And the number of people quitting their jobs, a sign of confidence in the job market, rose to 2.78 million. Still, that figure has been mostly flat this year.Even with the drop in job openings, the data suggests companies are still seeking more workers. The number of available jobs has increased 11 percent in the last year. That suggests businesses are still confident enough in future demand to increase their staffs, despite drags from slower overseas growth.The report is broadly consistent with our view that the labor market will continue to improve but that the rate of job growth will moderate somewhat in the coming quarters, said Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan Chase.Janet L. Yellen, the chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, is said to closely monitor the openings, hiring and quits figures as the Fed moves closer to raising short-term interest rates. Most analysts expect the Fed to move at its meeting next week.Other surveys indicate that companies intend to keep hiring at a solid clip early next year. The staffing agency ManpowerGroup said in a separate report Tuesday that 20 percent of 11,000 employers it surveyed expected to add workers in the first quarter of 2016.The companys hiring index reached the highest level for a first quarter since the beginning of 2007 just before the recession, the ManpowerGroup said.Rising quits can also help broadly lift wages. That is because most people quit their jobs when they have another one lined up, usually at higher pay. More quitting also forces companies to provide raises for their existing workers to keep them from leaving.Quits plummeted to just 1.6 million in August 2009, two months after the recession ended as Americans clung to the jobs they had. The figure has rebounded since then but remains below the prerecession level of about 2.9 million.The data comes after last Fridays robust jobs report, which showed that employers added 211,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5 percent.Those figures are a net total: Jobs gained minus jobs lost. The data reported Tuesday is more detailed, calculating total hires as well as quits and layoffs.",0
"June 2, 2015Instagram is cranking up its money machine, and that means a lot more ads in your photo feed.Facebook, which bought Instagram in 2012, has kept the mobile photo-sharing service mostly free of advertising, allowing only a handful of big brands to put a few carefully drafted commercial messages on the service.But on Tuesday, the company announced plans to open the Instagram feed to all advertisers, from the local tattoo parlor to global food makers, later this year. Marketers will be able to target ads to the services 300 million users by interest, age, gender and other factors, just as they can on Facebook.Instagram will also begin testing a type of ad that allows viewers to click on a link to buy a product or install an app that is advertised.The commercialization of Instagram, while sure to disappoint some users, was probably inevitable. Major social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest have committed to keep their services free to users, and they have turned to advertising to pay the bills.Instagram offered its first ads in November 2013, but since it has been subsidized by Facebook, it has had time to develop an ad strategy.The advertising expansion has long been anticipated by marketers and investors, who see big money for Facebook and the brands in ads shown to Instagrams users a generally young, passionate group who share, like, click and comment on posts at a much higher rate than users of other services, including Facebook.One Wall Street firm, RBC Capital Markets, has estimated that Instagram ads could bring in $1.3 billion to $2.1 billion in additional revenue to Facebook this year alone, depending on how quickly its new ad offerings are introduced.Consumer brands and retailers have been particularly eager for an easy way to lead people who, for instance, like an Instagram photo of a pair of ballet flats, to a place where they could buy the shoes.Right now, that experience is clumsy, especially on mobile phones, when users are forced to cut and paste a link into their browsers or search for the shoes on a retailers site.Its not fun as a user and hard to track as a brand, said Kfir Gavrieli, chief executive and co-founder of Tieks, a Los Angeles maker of foldable ballet flats that sells its wares entirely online. Mr. Gavrieli, whose company has about 400,000 Instagram followers, was briefed by Facebook on the coming changes and said he was eager to try the companys new targeting and click-to-buy options.Nevertheless, increased advertising could also turn off Instagram users. The services founder, Kevin Systrom, who still runs the service within Facebook, built it to be a place to relax and appreciate beautiful photos and videos posted by people and companies that users have chosen to follow. When Facebook bought Mr. Systroms company for $1 billion, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive, said he wanted to preserve that experience.Filling the feed with unexpected ads from random companies could alter that.Its not necessarily going to be the beautiful imagery that fans are used to, said Debra Aho Williamson, a principal analyst at eMarketer, who was briefed in advance about the companys plans. She cited the infamous Facebook ads promoting belly-fat reduction as an example of ugly ads that could soon show up in Instagram feeds.Instagram insists that it is treading carefully to balance the desires of its advertisers and its users and does not want to appreciably change the user experience.Visual storytelling for brands has more resonance. People remember it more, said James Quarles, Instagrams global head of business and brand development. But we want to make sure the ads they see are for things that matter to them.Instagram has roughly the same number of users as Twitter. But Instagram has been much slower than Twitter and its own sister network, Facebook, in allowing ads on the service and building sophisticated targeting tools to help marketers reach potential customers.Google has also been creative. Last week, for example, it began public testing of a tool that allows people to buy products from within a YouTube video. And Pinterest, another growing social network, said Tuesday that it would allow sellers to add buy buttons on items they post to the site.Instagram has taken it in a very gradual way to maintain as much of the purity of the environment as they can, said Brian Wieser, a media analyst with Pivotal Research.Collectively, the expanded advertising options signal that Facebook is becoming serious about making money from Instagram, which has a younger audience than the main Facebook social network, whose core users are middle-age mothers.Who are brands obsessed with? High-income teens and people in their 20s, said Scott Galloway, a New York University marketing professor and chairman of L2, a research firm that studies how consumer brands use social media. Those people are leaving Facebook. Where are they going? Instagram. Facebook has shored up its rear flank with this important cohort with Instagram.There is little doubt that Instagram is a powerful storytelling platform for marketers. But so far, most of them have not advertised on the service but instead have used it for more subtle forms of marketing.The Oreo cookie brand, for example, just finished Tiny Tasty World, a campaign on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter that turns Oreos into miniature life scenes. In one, tiny people lounge on beach towels that rest on top of a golden Oreo in the sand. That post drew nearly 25,000 likes and more than 200 comments on Instagram.The visual style really resonates with people, said Kerri McCarthy, a brand manager for Oreo North America.So far, Oreo has only posted images on its Instagram account and has not paid for advertising, Ms. McCarthy said. While that has been successful since December, the size of Oreos audience has doubled to roughly half a million followers paid advertising could further increase the brands reach.That opportunity to reach people who are not yet fans but have the demographic traits that make them likely customers is part of Facebooks appeal to advertisers.And over the coming months, the company says, it will bring that targeting to Instagram, which could appeal even to brands with large numbers of followers.GMC, the truck brand of General Motors, for example, uses such targeting to advertise on Facebook to potential truck buyers, a group it has identified through outside marketing data as well as Facebooks data about its users.By contrast, the automakers first Instagram ad, a panoramic experiment that made its debut last week, was sent to all American Instagram users ages 25 to 54.Instagram, at this point, doesnt have the level of sophistication that Facebook has, said Janet Keller, GMCs marketing director. Ideally, down the road we would have access to a lot more targeting and filtering.Mr. Quarles of Instagram was much more cautious about promising the other feature that advertisers really want: the ability to embed a link in a post so that interested viewers can click to buy a product or learn more.Instagram will begin testing such call to action buttons soon, but only in ads and only in Spain, Mr. Quarles said.Our sense is that the time from being inspired to making that purchase is probably a longer one than a single session on Instagram, he said.Retailers would beg to differ.Many of them already use third-party workarounds, such as Curalates Like2Buy tool, to allow fans to shop their Instagram feeds. Visitors to the Instagram pages of Target, Nordstrom, Forever 21, Williams-Sonoma and other retailers can click on a special link that the store posts in its account description that leads to a mirror image of its Instagram feed but one where photos are clickable and link to product pages where a shopper can buy the items.We have a lot of marketers who post beautiful photographs, and its inspiring, and it causes people to want those products, said Apu Gupta, chief executive of Curalate.Instagrams lack of product links has not only frustrated marketers, he said, its frustrated consumers, too.",5
"Science|Back on Earth, Shatner and Bezos have a Kirk-Spock moment.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/13/science/bezos-shatner-star-trek.htmlBack on Earth, Shatner and Bezos have a Kirk-Spock moment.Oct. 13, 2021, 1:44 p.m. ETOct. 13, 2021, 1:44 p.m. ETVideotranscripttranscriptWilliam Shatner Is Brought to Tears Describing His Trip to SpaceThe actor who played Captain Kirk in Star Trek told Jeff Bezos his visit to the edge of space in the Blue Origin rocket was the most profound experience he could imagine.Just unbelievable, unbelievable. I mean, you know, the little things but to see the blue color whip by, and now youre staring into blackness, thats the thing. The covering of blue is this sheet, this blanket, this comforter, this comforter of blue that we have around, we think, Oh, its blue sky. And then suddenly, you shoot through it all of the sudden as though youre whipping a sheet off you when youre asleep. And youre looking into blackness, into black ugliness and you look down, theres the blue down there and the black up there. And its just there is Mother Earth, comfort. And there is is there, death? I dont know was that death, is that the way death is? Whoop, and its gone. Jesus. It was so moving to me. What you have given me is the most profound experience I can imagine. Im so filled with emotion about what just happened. I just its extraordinary, extraordinary. I hope I never recover from this. I hope that I can maintain what I feel now. I dont want to lose it. Its so so much larger than me and life. And this is now the commercial, everybody it would be so important for everybody to have that experience.The actor who played Captain Kirk in Star Trek told Jeff Bezos his visit to the edge of space in the Blue Origin rocket was the most profound experience he could imagine.CreditCredit...Blue Origin, via EPA, via ShutterstockA half-century ago, a television show told young people that space travel would be the coolest thing ever. Some of them were even inspired to work toward that goal. Science fiction met reality on Wednesday as one of those fans, now one of the richest people in the world, gave the shows leading actor a brief ride up into the ether.The mission went according to plan. The aftermath appeared unscripted, and all the better for it.William Shatner, eternally famous as Captain James T. Kirk on the original Star Trek, returned to Earth apparently moved by the experience beyond measure. His trip aboard Jeff Bezos rocket might have been conceived as a publicity stunt, but brushing the edge of the sky left the actor full of wonder mixed with unease:It was unbelievable To see the blue cover go whoop by. And now youre staring into blackness. Thats the thing. The covering of blue, this sheet, this blanket, this comforter of blue that we have around us. We say, Oh thats blue sky. And then suddenly you shoot through it and all of a sudden, like you whip the sheet off you when youre asleep, youre looking into blackness.Mr. Shatner was talking to Mr. Bezos immediately after exiting the capsule with the three other passengers. The others greeted their family and friends. Champagne corks popped. There was lots of laughter, high-spirited relief. But Mr. Shatner, a hale 90 standing in the West Texas dust, talked about space as the final frontier:You look down, theres the blue down there, and the black up there. There is Mother and Earth and comfort and there is Is there death? I dont know. Was that death? Is that the way death is? Whoop and its gone. Jesus. It was so moving to me.Mr. Bezos listened, still as a statue. Maybe he was just giving Mr. Shatner some space, but it was a sharp contrast to his appearance after his own brief spaceflight in July when he flew the same spacecraft as Mr. Shatner. Then, he held forth from a stage, rousing condemnation from critics of the vast company he founded as he thanked Amazons employees and customers for making it possible for him to finance his private space venture.Or maybe Mr. Bezos was just acting naturally. His role model has always been the cool, passionless Mr. Spock rather than the emotional, impulsive Captain Kirk. Amazon, which prizes efficiency above all, was conceived and runs on this notion.When he played at Star Trek as a boy, Mr. Bezos has said, he would sometimes take the role of the ships computer. Amazons voice-activated speaker Alexa was designed as a household version of the Star Trek computer, which always had the answer to every question.The word death, repeatedly mentioned by Mr. Shatner in his post-flight monologue, is rarely thought of as a selling word for space tourism, which is after all what Blue Origin is promoting. But the actor did supply a positive endorsement.Everybody in the world needs to do this, he said.",7
"TrilobitesWhy were Bolivian river dolphins swimming around with a large predatory snake in their mouths? There are so many questions, one researcher said.Credit...Omar M. Entiauspe Neto, Steffen Reichle, Alejandro dos RiosMay 2, 2022In August 2021, a research team was documenting biodiversity near the Tijamuchi River in Bolivia when they saw some animals that are typically difficult to observe: Bolivian river dolphins.Just seeing them with their heads above the river was extraordinary, said Steffen Reichle, a biologist at the Noel Kempff Mercado Museum of Natural History in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, and a member of the team. They knew something was up and started snapping photos.Only after scrolling through the images the team captured did the researchers realize the dolphins were dangling an anaconda around as they swam.The researchers described what they saw in the journal Ecology last month. While dolphins in captivity and the wild are known for being playful, the surprising behavior of the Bolivian cetaceans seems like a new frontier in frolicking among the aquatic mammals, and some scientists still arent sure what to think about what the team observed.Dr. Reichle says Bolivian river dolphins usually swim below the surface, and sightings often catch only a fin or a tail. But some of the six animals they saw kept their heads above the turbid water for an unusually long time.At one point, two male dolphins seemingly swam in sync, a snake held by the animals mouths. Anacondas are semiaquatic and can hold their breaths for some time. But because the snake was handled for at least seven minutes, much of this submerged, it probably perished.I dont think that the snake had a very good time, Dr. Reichle said.Because of how long this interaction went on, the team suspects play not predation. Bolivias native Beni anacondas are apex predators. Other than a single case of cannibalism, researchers havent documented the serpents being eaten. In this case, the team did not see where the snake ended up.With how lively dolphins are, playing seems like a pretty good answer, said Omar Entiauspe-Neto, one of the papers authors and a taxonomist at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil.Some of the dolphins gathered were juveniles, which could suggest another dimension of the interaction: The adults may have been teaching the youngsters about anacondas or showing them a hunting technique.But Sonja Wild, a behavioral ecologist at Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany, who was not part of the study, was skeptical that the interaction was purposely instructive. Its more plausible the juveniles were observing because they were curious, she says.And because anacondas are strong, Dr. Wild wonders if the snake was injured or dead before the dolphins got to it. Of all the things one could pick up, this seems a little extraordinary, she said.This is the first time Ive heard of dolphins playing with a large snake, added Dr. Wild, who has observed bottlenose dolphins using shells as tools.Something else from the photos was notable the male dolphins erect penises.It could have been sexually stimulating for them, said Diana Reiss, a marine mammal scientist and cognitive psychologist at Hunter College in New York who was not involved with the study. It could have been something to rub on.The aroused males could have been having a sexual romp with each other before the snake became entangled.Researchers who study dolphins are well aware of the animals sexual proclivities, such as rubbing their genitals on toys or inserting their penises into objects, animate and inanimate. They often use their penises for tactile interactions, Dr. Reiss says. She has even observed male bottlenose dolphins trying to penetrate the blowhole of a rescued pilot whale in an aquarium. Its possible, she added, that the males tried to insert their penises into the snake.There are so many questions, Mr. Entiauspe-Neto says.A lot more is known about ocean-dwelling dolphins than riverine ones, in part because its harder to see whats going on when river water is muddy. Even though theyre limited in nature, these observations are always valuable, Dr. Reiss says. Its giving us another glimpse of the lives of these animals, particularly in the wild.Whatever happened in this animal encounter, its not the stuff of childrens storybooks.",7
"Health|Want to Help Those Coping With Zika?https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/11/health/want-to-help-those-coping-with-zika.htmlMarch 11, 2017The following organizations direct donations to help cope with Zika in Latin America. Depending on the organization, the funding may be used to help provide services to affected families, educate people about preventing Zika infection, contribute to efforts to improve diagnosis, or other functions.CuraZika Center at the University of Pittsburgh: Collaborates with several clinics in Brazil, including the Altino Ventura Foundation and the Association for the Assistance of Disabled Children, supporting efforts like treatment, therapy and legal assistance.Unicef Zika Global Response: Helps efforts throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, focusing on prevention, diagnosis, vaccine development and other goals.Save the Children: Contributes to prevention education.",2
"Credit...Shawn Thew/EPA, via ShutterstockJune 8, 2018WASHINGTON After months of oblique references to an unnamed Russian associate of Paul Manafort, President Trumps former campaign chairman, the special counsel identified the associate on Friday and charged both men with obstruction of justice.The associate, Konstantin V. Kilimnik, is a Russian Army-trained linguist prosecutors have accused of having ties to Russian intelligence.The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has not publicly sought to connect Mr. Kilimnik or Mr. Manafort to Russian meddling in the 2016 election, but Fridays indictment of Mr. Kilimnik could carry symbolic significance nonetheless.The charges are the first in Mr. Manaforts case against someone accused of having ties to Russian intelligence. And they come as Mr. Manaforts lawyers and Mr. Trump and his allies are arguing that Mr. Mueller has ventured beyond his remit of investigating Russian election interference.Mr. Kilimnik, 48, served as Mr. Manaforts right-hand man in Ukraine for more than a decade, working on behalf of the countrys Russia-aligned former president, Viktor F. Yanukovych, his party and its wealthy supporters.Starting in 2005 as a translator for Mr. Manafort, who spoke neither Russian nor Ukrainian, Mr. Kilimnik assumed progressively more responsibility in Mr. Manaforts business, eventually becoming the director of its Kiev operation. He also played an integral role in the creation and execution of a global lobbying and public relations campaign intended to defend Mr. Yanukovych against mounting international criticism for corruption, abuse of power and pivoting toward Russia.The special counsel claims that the work yielded tens of millions of dollars in payments to Mr. Manafort, on which he avoided paying taxes through a scheme using offshore accounts. He is free on a $10 million bond while awaiting trial on charges of violating financial, tax and federal lobbying disclosure laws. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.On Friday, the special counsels team added to the list of charges Mr. Manafort faces, accusing him and Mr. Kilimnik of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice for trying to coach witnesses from whom the special counsel has sought information about the Ukraine lobbying work.Mr. Kilimnik may never stand trial on the charges. He is a Russian citizen who associates say has been living in his home country, which has given little indication it intends to extradite 13 Russians charged by Mr. Mueller in February with meddling in the election to help Mr. Trump.Mr. Muellers team had referenced Mr. Kilimnik in previous court filings, though not by name, as well as his close connection to Mr. Manafort and the claim that he has ties to a Russian intelligence service.Mr. Kilimnik was formally investigated in Ukraine in 2016 on suspicion of ties to Russian spy agencies, but no charges were filed, according to Ukrainian government documents.And in an interview last year with The New York Times, Mr. Kilimnik vehemently denied having ties to Russian intelligence, and characterized himself as a random casualty because of my proximity to Paul, referring to Mr. Manafort.Mr. Manafort remained in contact with Mr. Kilimnik throughout the presidential campaign, when Mr. Kilimnik traveled to the United States to meet with Mr. Manafort. The men also traded emails in which they appeared to discuss ways to use Mr. Manaforts position on the campaign for financial gain.VideotranscripttranscriptPaul Manaforts Trail of ScandalsPresident Trumps former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, has now been accused by the special counsel of violating his plea deal by repeatedly lying to federal prosecutors. But this wasnt Mr. Manaforts first scandal.Paul Manafort was once President Trumps campaign manager. By the fall of 2018, he was expected to face at least a decade in prison for 10 felony counts. Those counts included financial fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Mr. Manafort is disappointed of not getting acquittals all the way through. He is evaluating all of his options at this point. In the hopes of getting a more lenient punishment, Manafort agreed to fully cooperate with the special counsel, Robert Mueller. Now, federal prosecutors are saying he violated his plea deal by repeatedly lying during their investigation. Manaforts lawyer also allegedly passed information to President Trumps legal team. But this isnt Manaforts first scandal. Controversy has trailed the veteran Republican adviser since his earliest work as an international lobbyist and consultant. In the 1980s, Manafort testified before Congress and admitted to using his political influence to win millions of dollars in contracts from federal low-income housing programs. The technical term for what we do and what law firms, associations and professional groups do is lobbying. For purposes of today, I will admit that in a narrow sense some people might term it influence peddling. That same decade, Manafort advised the Philippine dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, on improving his image in the U.S. Manafort allegedly received $10 million in cash from a Marcos confidante. It was apparently money intended for Ronald Reagans presidential campaign. But the campaign said it never received that money. Foreign contributions to U.S. presidential elections are illegal. Also in the 1980s, Manafort was linked to the prime minister of the Bahamas at a time when the island nation had alleged ties to drug traffickers. Manaforts company said that the goal of its work was to help the Bahamas obtain more U.S. aid to help curb the drug smuggling. Decades later, Manafort would run Trumps presidential campaign. We want America to understand who Donald Trump the man is. Not just Donald Trump the candidate. The composite of his career. Not just from a business standpoint or a political standpoint, from a human standpoint as well. But he resigned five months into the job in August 2016, in the wake of reports that he received more than $12 million from Viktor Yanukovich, the former Ukrainian president and pro-Russia politician. Yanukovich and his political party relied on advice from Manafort and his firm, which helped them win several elections. The Times uncovered that Manafort and others close to Trump met with the Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer in June 2016. That lawyer claimed to have damaging political information about Hillary Clinton. As for this latest brush with controversy, Manaforts lawyers insist that their client has been truthful. But they acknowledge that Manafort and Muellers team are at an impasse.President Trumps former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, has now been accused by the special counsel of violating his plea deal by repeatedly lying to federal prosecutors. But this wasnt Mr. Manaforts first scandal.CreditCredit...Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesEven after Mr. Manafort was first indicted by the special counsel in October 2017, he continued communicating with Mr. Kilimnik, working with him on an op-ed defending Mr. Manaforts work in Ukraine. The special counsel argued that the op-ed flouted a judges admonition against trying to use the news media to influence the case.And court filings by the special counsel this week accused Mr. Manafort and Mr. Kilimnik of teaming up again starting in February to try to persuade two former associates to lie about the scope of a project on which they worked with Mr. Manafort and Mr. Kilimnik.The project, which they referred to as the Hapsburg Group, ran from 2011 through 2014, and was funded with $2.4 million steered by Mr. Manafort from overseas bank accounts, according to prosecutors. It sought to recruit European politicians, such as Romano Prodi, the former prime minister of Italy and the former president of the European Commission, to vouch for Mr. Yanukovych in commentaries and meetings with government officials around the world.The two former associates, for instance, helped arrange for Mr. Prodi to visit Washington in March 2013 to meet with key members of Congress, and they helped him draft and place an Op-Ed in The Times in February 2014, according to prosecutors. Mr. Prodi has repeatedly said he was not aware of the involvement of Mr. Manafort or the existence of the Hapsburg Group.But prosecutors say that Mr. Manafort and Mr. Kilimnik reached out to the two former associates to urge them to tell the special counsels team that the Hapsburg Groups efforts consisted only of outreach in Europe and not in the United States.The question of the geographic target of the Hapsburg Groups activities is significant because any lobbying or public relations in the United States on behalf of foreign politicians, governments or companies would require disclosure with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.Mr. Manafort did not initially register under the act, and he is charged with lying to the Justice Department about his activities.Instead of engaging with Mr. Manafort or Mr. Kilimnik to coordinate their stories about the Hapsburg Groups work, the two former associates turned on their former colleagues. The associates who are not named by the special counsel, but whom three people familiar with the project identified as Alan Friedman and Eckart Sager informed the special counsel of the outreach, leading to allegations of witness tampering and Fridays obstruction charges.In a court filing on Friday night, Mr. Manaforts lawyers called the accusation of witness tampering very specious, and said it was a not-too-subtle attempt to poison the potential jury pool against Mr. Manafort. They argued that Mr. Manafort could not set out to tamper with witnesses because he is not aware of who the special counsel may call as witnesses.Mr. Manaforts allies said they had urged him to stop communicating with Mr. Kilimnik, who is known to associates as K.K., because they fear that his communications are being monitored and that he is neither discreet, nor tactful.K.K. is one of the best interpreter and translators, said Philip M. Griffin, a onetime employee of Mr. Manaforts in Ukraine who hired Mr. Kilimnik in 1995 to work in the Moscow office of the International Republican Institute, a nonprofit based in Washington. On everything else, he is a dumbass.Mr. Kilimnik did not respond to an email seeking comment. He had told associates in recent months that he was working with Sam Patten, a former official in the International Republican Institutes Moscow office, on business in Kazakhstan.Mr. Patten did not respond to a question about the work. He said that he did not believe that Mr. Kilimnik was working with a lawyer in relation to the special counsels investigation.Lobbying records filed last year by Mr. Manaforts firm show that it paid $531,000 to Mr. Kilimnik in 2013 and 2014 for professional services and overhead for running the Kiev operation, but that covers only a fraction of the time that he worked for Mr. Manafort.The men continued to work together for a successor party to Mr. Yanukovychs after he fled Ukraine in February 2014 amid protests of his governments corruption and pivot toward Moscow, eventually arriving in Russia and effectively ending his presidency.",3
"A new, large study found that in the year after getting Covid, people were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with psychiatric disorders they hadnt had than people who didnt get infected.Credit...Shannon Stapleton/ReutersFeb. 16, 2022Social isolation, economic stress, loss of loved ones and other struggles during the pandemic have contributed to rising mental health issues like anxiety and depression.But can having Covid itself increase the risk of developing mental health problems? A large new study suggests it can.The study, published Wednesday in the journal The BMJ, analyzed records of nearly 154,000 Covid patients in the Veterans Health Administration system and compared their experience in the year after they recovered from their initial infection with that of a similar group of people who did not contract the virus.The study included only patients who had no mental health diagnoses or treatment for at least two years before becoming infected with the coronavirus, allowing researchers to focus on psychiatric diagnoses and treatment that occurred after coronavirus infection.People who had Covid were 39 percent more likely to be diagnosed with depression and 35 percent more likely to be diagnosed with anxiety over the months following infection than people without Covid during the same period, the study found. Covid patients were 38 percent more likely to be diagnosed with stress and adjustment disorders and 41 percent more likely to be diagnosed with sleep disorders than uninfected people.There appears to be a clear excess of mental health diagnoses in the months after Covid, said Dr. Paul Harrison, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Oxford, who was not involved in the study. He said the results echoed the emerging picture from other research, including a 2021 study on which he was an author, and it strengthens the case that there is something about Covid that is leaving people at greater risk of common mental health conditions.The data does not suggest that most Covid patients will develop mental health symptoms. Only between 4.4 percent and 5.6 percent of those in the study received diagnoses of depression, anxiety or stress and adjustment disorders.Its not an epidemic of anxiety and depression, fortunately, Dr. Harrison said. But its not trivial.Researchers also found that Covid patients were 80 percent more likely to develop cognitive problems like brain fog, confusion and forgetfulness than those who didnt have Covid. They were 34 percent more likely to develop opioid use disorders, possibly from drugs prescribed for pain, and 20 percent more likely to develop non-opioid substance use disorders including alcoholism, the study reported.After having Covid, people were 55 percent more likely to be taking prescribed antidepressants and 65 percent more likely to be taking prescribed anti-anxiety medications than contemporaries without Covid, the study found.Overall, more than 18 percent of the Covid patients received a diagnosis of or prescription for a neuropsychiatric issue in the following year, compared with less than 12 percent of the non-Covid group. Covid patients were 60 percent more likely to fall into those categories than people who didnt have Covid, the study found.The study found that patients hospitalized for Covid were more likely to be diagnosed with mental health issues than those with less serious coronavirus infections. But people with mild initial infections were still at greater risk than people without Covid.Some people always argue that Oh, well, maybe people are depressed because they needed to go to the hospital and they spent like a week in the I.C.U., said the senior author of the study, Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at the V.A. St. Louis Health Care System and a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis. In people who werent hospitalized for Covid-19, the risk was lower but certainly significant. And most people dont need to be hospitalized, so that is really the group thats representative of most people with Covid-19.The team also compared mental health diagnoses for people hospitalized for Covid with those hospitalized for any other reason. Whether people were hospitalized for heart attacks or chemotherapy or whatever other conditions, the Covid-19 group exhibited a higher risk, Dr. Al-Aly said.The study involved electronic medical records of 153,848 adults who tested positive for the coronavirus between March 1, 2020, and Jan. 15, 2021, and survived for at least 30 days. Because it was early in the pandemic, very few were vaccinated before infection. The patients were followed until Nov. 30, 2021. Dr. Al-Aly said his team was planning to analyze whether subsequent vaccination modified peoples mental health symptoms, as well as other post-Covid medical issues the group has studied.The Covid patients were compared with more than 5.6 million patients in the Veterans system who did not test positive for the coronavirus and more than 5.8 million patients from before the pandemic, in the period spanning March 2018 through January 2019. To try to gauge the mental health impact of Covid-19 against that of another virus, the patients were also compared with about 72,000 patients who had the flu during the two and a half years before the pandemic. (Dr. Al-Aly said there were too few flu cases during the pandemic to provide a contemporaneous comparison.)The researchers tried to minimize differences between groups by adjusting for many demographic characteristics, pre-Covid health conditions, residence in nursing homes and other variables.In the year after their infection, the Covid patients had higher rates of mental health diagnoses than the other groups.Its not really surprising to me because weve been seeing this, said Dr. Maura Boldrini, an associate professor of psychiatry at NewYork-Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center. Its striking to me how many times weve seen people with these new symptoms with no previous psychiatric history.Most veterans in the study were men, three-quarters were white and their average age was 63, so the findings may not apply to all Americans. Still, the study included over 1.3 million women and 2.1 million Black patients, and Dr. Al-Aly said we found evidence of increased risk regardless of age, race or gender.There are several possible reasons for the increase in mental health diagnoses, Dr. Al-Aly and outside experts said. Dr. Boldrini said she believed the symptoms were most likely influenced by both biological factors and the psychological stresses associated with having an illness.In psychiatry, it almost always is an interplay, she said.Research, including brain autopsies of patients who died of Covid-19, has found evidence that Covid infection can generate inflammation or tiny blood clots in the brain, and can cause small and large strokes, said Dr. Boldrini, who has conducted some of these studies. In some people, the immune response that is activated to fight against a coronavirus infection may not shut down effectively once the infection is gone, which can fuel inflammation, she said.Inflammatory markers can disrupt the ability of the brain to function in many ways, including the ability of the brain to make serotonin, which is fundamental for mood and sleep, Dr. Boldrini said.By themselves, such brain changes may or may not cause psychological problems. But, if someone is experiencing stress from having felt physically ill or because having Covid disrupted their lives and routines, she said, you may be more prone to not being able to cope because your brain is not functioning 100 percent.Dr. Harrison, who has conducted other studies with large electronic medical databases, noted that such analyses can miss more granular information about patients. He also said that some people in the comparison groups might have had Covid and not been tested to confirm it, and that some Covid patients might have been more likely to receive diagnoses because they were more worried about their health after Covid or because doctors were quicker to identify psychological symptoms.Theres no one analysis that tells you the whole story, Dr. Al-Aly said. Maybe all of us or most of us experienced some sort of an emotional distress or mental health stress or some sleep problem, he added. But people with Covid did worse.",2
"Credit...Richard Perry/The New York TimesDec. 3, 2015When Ron Boire was growing up on a dairy farm in upstate New York, helping out around the property for $2 an hour, he saw new books as an out-of-reach luxury.We didnt have any money, and my mother was a voracious reader, he said. I remember telling a friend, when I grow up, I want to be able to afford hardcover books.Mr. Boire, who took the helm as chief executive of Barnes & Noble in September, still seems to have a soft spot for physical books. Walking through the first floor of a Barnes & Noble store in Union Square in Manhattan recently, Mr. Boire couldnt help himself from reflexively straightening the jagged piles of books on the display tables so that the spines lined up neatly.Now Mr. Boire, 54, the former chief executive of Sears Canada and a retail veteran who has worked at Brookstone, Best Buy and Toys R Us, is under pressure to reverse the fortunes of the beleaguered bookstore chain, which has been stung in recent years by the rise of Amazon, steep losses from its Nook e-reader division and a string of store closings.To that end, Mr. Boire is leading a push to rebrand Barnes & Noble as more than just a bookstore by expanding its offerings of toys, games, gadgets and other gifts and reshaping the nations largest bookstore chain into a lifestyle brand.Everything we do around learning, personal growth and development fits our brand, Mr. Boire said. Theres a lot of opportunity.Facing spiraling losses from store closings, Barnes & Noble is searching for ways to increase foot traffic and drive sales. Last month, the chain held a coloring event at stores around the country, where it doled out sample sheets from coloring books and art supplies. It also recently held a national Mini Maker Faire promoting technology literacy at its stores, with coding and 3-D printing workshops.Near the front of the Union Square store, a large display table was dedicated to vinyl records and turntables, and another area showcased tech gadgets. Near the registers, a table was covered with adult coloring books, one of the fastest-growing book categories, and art supplies.The macro trend is about physical interaction with things, Mr. Boire said. I think its here for the long haul.That philosophy could be tested as Barnes & Noble enters the critical holiday shopping period and faces new questions about its financial health after another disappointing fiscal quarter.On Thursday afternoon, Barnes & Noble reported that during its second fiscal quarter of 2016, which ended on Oct. 31, sales fell 4.5 percent, to $895 million, compared with the previous year. The company posted a net loss of $27.2 million, or 36 cents a share, compared with the previous years losses of $5.1 million, or 16 cents a share. By midday Friday, its stock was down almost 20 percent.Earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization fell to $20.5 million, a drop that the company attributed in part to a $10.5 million severance charge for its former chief executive, Michael P. Huseby, who became the executive chairman of Barnes & Noble Education, the companys college bookstore business.Toys and games, a small but increasingly critical part of the business, provided a bright spot, growing nearly 15 percent in the last quarter. In a conference call with investors, Mr. Boire underscored this point by singling out coloring books and strong sales of Adeles new album 25 among the companys recent successes.Some analysts said there were reasons to be hopeful about the companys future. Through Black Friday weekend, comparable store sales were up 1.1 percent, providing an encouraging forecast for the chains holiday sales.The only number that counts is Christmas, said John Tinker, a media analyst at Gabelli & Company.Barnes & Noble stands to benefit from falling e-book sales and the stability of print, an unexpected reversal that could help drive customers back to brick-and-mortar bookstores. Paperback sales were up 13 percent in the first seven months of 2015, while e-books were down 11 percent, according to the Association of American Publishers.As a retail bookseller, its in decent shape, considering the direction the company was heading with so many store closings and so much visible bleeding in terms of the Nook business, said James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research. Theres solid leadership, whereas before, there was infighting about what the strategy would be.Still, the companys struggles are probably far from over. Barnes & Noble has been battered by Amazon, its powerful online rival, and has incurred big financial losses from its largely failed attempt to carve out territory in the e-book space with the Nook. While the company posted lower losses in its Nook division in the most recent quarter, sales were still disappointing, as the Nook segment tumbled 31.9 percent to $43.5 million, primarily because of lower digital content sales.The chain has closed more than 70 stores around the country in the last five years, and plans to close 10 more in the coming year.Analysts and investors have taken Mr. Boires appointment as a sign that the company will continue to expand and emphasize its nonbook merchandise. Mr. Boire got his start in sales at Sony in the 1980s, and from there went on to positions at Best Buy, Brookstone, Toys R Us and Sears before he was brought in to succeed Mr. Huseby at Barnes & Noble this fall.Some warn that Barnes & Noble needs to tread carefully to avoid alienating longtime customers who worry that books might become an afterthought.The real question is whether they can do it in an organic, integrated fashion, so that theyre not offering random merchandise, but its connected to a broader philosophy, said Lorraine Shanley, president of Market Partners International, a publishing consultant firm.At the same time, Barnes & Noble has made a push to make its thousands of books more enticing and searchable. Categories like parenting and Christian publishing that were once haphazardly organized alphabetically by author are now broken out into logical subcategories, so that parenting books are stocked according to the age of the child, and Christian books are arranged into categories like relationships or health and wellness. The sales results were instantaneous, said Mary Amicucci, who oversees the adult consumer and childrens book business.The company has doubled the amount of floor space devoted to graphic novels and manga, and has expanded its stock of collectible figurines.Such efforts might not be enough to restore investors confidence in the booksellers uncertain future, particularly as Amazon continues to expand. Amazon recently opened its first physical retail store in Seattle and indicated that it might open more stores around the country.Theres still another round of disruptive innovation to come, Mr. McQuivey said. Its unclear whether Barnes & Noble is in any better position to deal with it than it was during the last round of disruptive innovation.",0
"DealBook|Uber Valuation Put at $62.5 Billion After a New Investment Roundhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/04/business/dealbook/uber-nears-investment-at-a-62-5-billion-valuation.htmlDec. 3, 2015Ubers fund-raising efforts are showing no signs of slowing down.The company, based in San Francisco, is close to completing the raising of a $2.1 billion round of venture capital, according to people briefed on the companys plans, the companys single largest round to date.Once completed, the investment will value the company at $62.5 billion, according to three people briefed on the plans, securing Ubers place as the worlds most valuable private start-up.Tiger Global Management participated in the newest round, led by its partner Lee Fixel, as did T. Rowe Price, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the terms are still private.ImageCredit...Jeff Chiu/Associated PressUber declined to comment on any fund-raising talks, as did T. Rowe Price. A Tiger Global spokeswoman declined to comment.Competition is intensifying in the global ride-hailing market, as rivals like Lyft, Didi Kuaidi and other companies raise billions of dollars in to expand as quickly as possible. Lyft, another ride-hailing start-up, is in talks to raise a further $500 million in funding, according to four people briefed on the round, which could value the company at roughly $4 billion. Didi Kuaidi, to date, has raised more than $4 billion in private investment.The participation of Tiger Global, however, is particularly interesting. Tiger Global is an investor in Ola and GrabTaxi, two of Ubers largest competitors in India and Southeast Asia. It is perhaps the first time a major institutional investor participated in the rounds of both Uber and its major competitors. And on Thursday, Ola and GrabTaxi announced a strategic partnership with Lyft, which is also based in San Francisco and is Ubers major competitor in the United States.Uber, meanwhile, has earmarked at least $1 billion toward its growth efforts in China, and continues to spend heavily to establish itself against its Asian competitors.",0
"N.F.L.|Title for the Seahawks Is a Triumph for the Profile of Yogahttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/sports/football/title-for-the-seahawks-is-a-triumph-for-the-profile-of-yoga.htmlFeb. 4, 2014The Seahawks Super Bowl victory sent happy repercussions through the expected constituencies namely, Seahawks fans, the anti-Manning crowd, proponents of the color green but it also lit up a community not usually excited about football: yogis.Immediately after the game, the yoga community did the Internet equivalent of back flips when the Seahawks won rushing to Twitter and Facebook to celebrate the accomplishment because ever since a prominent article in ESPN The Magazine revealed that the Seahawks practiced yoga together and had meditation sessions, Seattle became yogas football team. The articles illustration of quarterback Russell Wilson in lotus pose became catnip to a yoga crowd eager to shed the image of candles and incense and stretchy people bent into pretzel shapes.I think its really exciting, said Jennilyn Carson, a yoga teacher who writes the blog YogaDork. When you hear that football players do yoga, it changes the image, helps make it more accessible. Yoga isnt just for girls, or for the thin and flexible. In fact, its just the opposite. It helps people who arent thin or flexible.Carson wrote a YogaDork post on the ESPN article last August that was shared widely on the Internet. It received another big lift when the Seahawks made the Super Bowl. The Seahawks success suddenly seemed inextricably tied to Coach Pete Carrolls new-age approach to his team, which includes an extensive support team for his players well-being, led by a sports psychologist, Mike Gervais. When the Seahawks beat the Broncos in dominating fashion, the image of the browbeating dictatorial coach took a wallop. In its place, meditation might become the new black.Men and athletes doing yoga is not new. Basketballs Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was an early proponent, as was the tennis star John McEnroe. Most recently, Andy Murray credited part of his recent tennis success to Bikram yoga. Stanfords football team has incorporated yoga into its training program.When we first opened, you were lucky to have one or two men in a class, but now, there might be more men in a class than women, said Donna Rubin, a co-owner of Bikram Yoga NYC. And they are men of all different shapes and sizes. Weve seen a lot of athletes, too, who have come to understand its a very challenging workout. Rubin counts the Nets Joe Johnson as a studio regular and said, laughing, Wed like to take credit for how well hes playing, too.Perhaps it is fitting the Broncos were on the losing end in the Super Bowl. They too have a yoga program, but one of their star players made a point of declaring his aversion to it. Im trying to get away from the Gumby stuff, he said last off-season. I dont want to rely on that. I just want that to be like second nature. I want to play football.That player? Defensive end Von Miller, who sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament in December and did not play in Sundays game.It might not convince more men to do yoga, but maybe they wont dismiss it immediately, Carson said of the Seahawks. Football players are macho guys. I think the Seahawks can make a big difference.",4
"Leer en ingls (Read in English) Un perro espera por sobras de pescado cerca del Ro Brahmaputra en Gauhati, India. Credit Anupam Nath/Associated Press Muchos perros en todas partes del mundo no tienen dueo. Pero lo que s tienen es una infinidad de nombres: perros callejeros, perros urbanos, perros de basurero o perros de barrio. No son perros que se escaparon de un hogar. Viven y se reproducen al margen de la sociedad pero siempre hay alguien que termina por darle forma a su historia. Quizs alguien como t. Cuntanos la historia del perro, o los perros, que hacen parte de tu vida pero que no le pertenecen a nadie. Ya sea que te topes con ellos todos los das por tu barrio, o que hayas tenido una experiencia memorable con un perro callejero en un viaje, nos gustara escucharte. Recopilaremos algunas de nuestras ancdotas y fotos favoritas para sumarlas a una historia que pronto se publicar en The New York Times en Espaol. Los campos obligatorios estn marcados con un asterisco. Lo sentimos, pero este formato ya se encuentra cerrado. Mira aqu nuestras historias favoritos sobre perros sin dueo. More on NYTimes.com",7
"Credit...Bianca BagnarelliViral evolution is a long game. Heres where scientists think we could be headed.Credit...Bianca BagnarelliPublished Oct. 12, 2021Updated Nov. 3, 2021Listen to This ArticleTo hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.On Jan. 9, 2020, about a week after the world first learned of a mysterious cluster of pneumonia cases in central China, authorities announced that scientists had found the culprit: a novel coronavirus.It was a sobering announcement, and an unnervingly familiar one. Nearly two decades earlier, a different coronavirus had hurdled over the species barrier and sped around the world, causing a lethal new disease called severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. The virus, which became known as SARS-CoV, killed 774 people before health officials contained it.But even as scientists worried that history might be repeating itself, there was one glimmer of hope. Although all viruses evolve, coronaviruses are known to be relatively stable, changing more slowly than the common flu.There was, I think, a sense that would work in our favor, and that the nightmare scenario of it being like influenza constantly changing and needing updated vaccines all the time would probably not be the case, said Dr. Adam Lauring, a virologist and infectious disease physician at the University of Michigan. What many scientists had not counted on was unchecked global spread. Over the following weeks, the new virus, SARS-CoV-2, skipped from Wuhan, China, to a cruise ship in Japan, a small town in northern Italy and a biotechnology conference in Boston. Country by country, global coronavirus trackers turned red.To date, more than 237 million people have been infected with the virus, and 4.8 million have died 700,000 in the United States alone.With every infection come new opportunities for the virus to mutate. Now, nearly two years into the pandemic, we are working our way through an alphabet of new viral variants: fast-spreading Alpha, immune-evading Beta, and on through Gamma, Delta, Lambda and, most recently, Mu.We just have uncontrolled infections in much of the world, and thats going to lead to more chances for the virus to evolve, Dr. Lauring said.Even for a virus, evolution is a long game, and our relationship with SARS-CoV-2 is still in its infancy. We are extremely unlikely to eradicate the virus, scientists say, and what the next few years and decades hold is difficult to predict.But the legacy of past epidemics, as well as some basic biological principles, provides clues to where we could be headed.The genetic lotteryViruses are replication machines, hijacking our cells to make copies of their own genomes. Sometimes they make small mistakes, akin to typos, as they replicate.Most of the time, these errors have no benefit for the virus; many are harmful and quickly disappear. But occasionally, a virus hits the genetic lottery: a mutation that confers an advantage. This fitter version of the virus can then outcompete its peers, giving rise to a new variant.The coronavirus could shift in countless ways, but there are three concerning possibilities: It could become more transmissible, it could become better at evading our immune system or it could become more virulent, causing more serious disease.SARS-CoV-2 has already become more transmissible. The virus is just better at transmitting from one person to another than it was in January of 2020, said Jesse Bloom, an expert in viral evolution at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. And this is due to a variety of mutations that the virus has acquired, some of which we understand and some of which we dont.One of the first of these mutations had already emerged by late January 2020. The mutation, D614G, likely stabilized the spike protein that the virus uses to latch onto human cells, making the virus more infectious. It quickly became widespread, displacing the original version of the virus.As the virus spread, more mutations sprang up, giving rise to even more transmissible variants. First came Alpha, which was about 50 percent more infectious than the original virus, and soon Delta, which was, in turn, roughly 50 percent more infectious than Alpha.Now were basically in a Delta pandemic, said Robert Garry, a virologist at Tulane University. So another surge, another spread of a slightly better variant.Although some experts were surprised to see the hyperinfectious variant, which has more than a dozen notable mutations, emerge so quickly, the appearance of more transmissible variants is textbook viral evolution.Its hard to imagine that the virus is going to pop into a new species perfectly formed for that species, said Andrew Read, an evolutionary microbiologist at Penn State University. Its bound to do some adaptation.But scientists dont expect this process to continue forever.There are likely to be some basic biological limits on just how infectious a particular virus can become, based on its intrinsic properties. Viruses that are well adapted to humans, such as measles and the seasonal influenza, are not constantly becoming more infectious, Dr. Bloom noted.It is not entirely clear what the constraints on transmissibility are, he added, but at the very least, the new coronavirus cannot replicate infinitely fast or travel infinitely far.Transmission requires one person to somehow exhale or cough or breathe out the virus, and it to land in someone elses airway and infect them, Dr. Bloom said. There are just limits to that process. Its never going to be the case that Im sitting here in my office, and Im giving it to someone on the other side of Seattle, right?He added: Whether the Delta variant is already at that plateau, or whether theres going to be further increases before it gets to that plateau, I cant say. But I do think that plateau exists.ImageCredit...Bianca BagnarelliDodging immunityIn addition to becoming more transmissible, some variants have also acquired the ability to dodge some of our antibodies. Antibodies, which can prevent the virus from entering our cells, are engineered to latch onto specific molecules on the surface of the virus, snapping into place like puzzle pieces. But genetic mutations in the virus can change the shape of those binding sites.If you change that shape, you can make it impossible for an antibody to do its job, said Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine.Delta appears to evade some antibodies, but there are other variants, particularly Beta, that are even better at dodging these defenses. For now, Delta is so infectious that it has managed to outcompete, and thus limit the spread of, these stealthier variants.But as more people acquire antibodies against the virus, mutations that allow the virus to slip past these antibodies will become even more advantageous. The landscape of selection has changed, said Jessica Metcalf, an evolutionary biologist at Princeton University. From the point of view of the virus, its no longer, I just bop around, and theres a free host.The good news is that there are many different kinds of antibodies, and a variant with a few new mutations is unlikely to escape them all, experts said.The immune system has also evolved to have plenty of tricks up its sleeve to counteract the evolution of the virus, Dr. Pepper said. Knowing that there is this complex level of diversity in the immune system allows me to sleep better at night.Certain T cells, for instance, destroy virus-infected cells, helping to reduce the severity of disease. Together, our assortment of T cells can recognize at least 30 to 40 different pieces of SARS-CoV-2, researchers have found.Its a lot harder to evade T cell responses than antibody responses, said Dr. Celine Gounder an infectious disease specialist at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine.And then there are B cells, which generate our army of antibodies. Even after we clear the infection, the body keeps churning out B cells for a while, deliberately introducing small genetic mutations. The result is an enormously diverse collection of B cells producing an array of antibodies, some of which might be a good match for the next variant that comes along.Theyre actually a library of guesses that the immune system makes about what variants might look like in the future, said Shane Crotty, a virologist at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology.So far, studies suggest that our antibody, T cell and B cell responses are all working as expected when it comes to SARS-CoV-2. This virus is mostly playing by immunological rules we understand, Dr. Crotty said.No interest in killing usWhether the virus will become more virulent that is, whether it will cause more serious disease is the hardest to predict, scientists said. Unlike transmissibility or immune evasion, virulence has no inherent evolutionary advantage.The virus has no interest in killing us, Dr. Metcalf said. Virulence only matters for the virus if it works for transmission.Because people who are hospitalized may be less likely to spread the virus than those who are walking around with the sniffles, some have theorized that new viruses become milder over time.One commonly cited example is the myxoma virus, which Australian scientists released in 1950 in an attempt to reduce the population of invasive European rabbits.Initially, the myxoma virus proved to be fantastically virulent, one scientist wrote, killing more than 99 percent of the rabbits it infected. After just a few years, however, several somewhat milder strains of the virus emerged and became dominant.But myxoma is not a simple story of a virus gradually becoming less virulent.Early variants that were too nice were also discovered in the mid-1950s, said Dr. Read, who has studied the virus. They caused little disease but transmitted poorly, so never came to dominate.The rabbits also evolved new immune defenses that allowed them to fight off infection more easily, and then the virus fired back, acquiring new tricks for depressing the rabbits immune systems.Seventy years its still going gangbusters, Dr. Read said.It is too early to say whether SARS-CoV-2 will change in virulence over the long-term. There could certainly be trade-offs between virulence and transmission; variants that make people too sick too quickly may not spread very far.Then again, this virus spreads before people become severely ill. As long as that remains true, the virus could become more virulent without sacrificing transmissibility.Moreover, the same thing that makes the virus more infectious faster replication or tighter binding to our cells could also make it more virulent. Indeed, some evidence suggests that Delta is more likely to result in hospitalization than other variants.I could actually keep this game of imagining going on for a long time, Dr. Read said. On my good days, Im optimistic that the disease severity will go down through time. Because clearly, people being isolated does affect transmission. On my bad days, I worry about it going the other direction.Uneasy equilibriumAlthough many possible paths remain open to us, what is certain is that SARS-CoV-2 will not stop evolving and that the arms race between the virus and us is just beginning.We lost the first few rounds, by allowing the virus to spread unchecked, but we still have powerful weapons to bring to the fight. The most notable are highly effective vaccines, developed at record speed. I think there is hope in the fact that the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines at this point are more effective than flu vaccines have probably ever been, Dr. Bloom said.Even the first generation vaccines provide substantial protection against disease, and there is plenty of room to improve them by tinkering with the dosing and timing, tailoring them to new variants or developing new approaches, such as nasal sprays that may be better at halting transmission.I have great faith that we can sort any detrimental evolutionary trajectories out by improving our current or next generation vaccines, Dr. Read said.The occasional breakthrough infection or booster could help top up our flagging immunity and teach our bodies to recognize new mutations, ultimately making us less vulnerable to the next variant that comes along.Maybe you have a re-infection, but its relatively mild, which also boosts your immunity, Dr. Gounder said.Meanwhile, as the number of completely vulnerable hosts dwindles, and transmission slows, the virus will have fewer opportunities to mutate. One recent paper, which has not yet been reviewed by experts, suggests that rising vaccination rates may already be suppressing new mutations.And the evolution rate could also slow down as the virus becomes better adapted to humans.Theres low-hanging fruit, Dr. Lauring said. So there are certain ways it can evolve and make big improvements, but after a while there arent areas to improve its figured out all the easy ways to improve.Eventually, as viral evolution slows down and our immune systems catch up, we will reach an uneasy equilibrium with the virus, scientists predict. We will never extinguish it, but it will smolder rather than rage.What that equilibrium point looks like exactly how much transmission there is and how much disease it causes is uncertain. Some scientists predict that the virus will ultimately be much like the flu, which can still cause serious illness and death, especially during seasonal surges.Others are more optimistic. My guess is that one day this is going to be another cause of the common cold, said Jennie Lavine, who explored that possibility as an infectious disease researcher at Emory University.There are four other coronaviruses that have become endemic in human populations. We are exposed to them early and often, and all four mostly cause run-of-the-mill colds.Covid-19 might just be what it looks like when a novel coronavirus spreads through a population without any pre-existing immunity. This may not be such a different beast than everything else that were accustomed to, Dr. Lavine said. Its just a bad moment.Of course, plenty of uncertainties remain, scientists said, including how long it will take to reach equilibrium. With infections beginning to decline again in the United States, hopes are again rising that the worst of the pandemic is behind us.But much of the world remains unvaccinated, and this virus has already proved capable of surprising us. We should be somewhat cautious and humble about trying to predict what it is capable of doing in the future, Dr. Crotty said.While we cant guard against every eventuality, we can tip the odds in our favor by expanding viral surveillance, speeding up global vaccine distribution and tamping down transmission until more people can be vaccinated, scientists said.The actions we take now will help determine what the coming years look like, said Dr. Jonathan Quick, a global health expert at Duke University and the author of The End of Epidemics.The future, he said, depends much, much more on what humans do than on what the virus does.",2
"China DispatchCredit...Yan Cong for The New York TimesNov. 22, 2018BEIJING They flocked together in silky, flowing gowns, arms draped in billowing sleeves, with many wearing high black hats or intricate floral headpieces as a flourish.If they resembled time travelers teleported from a Chinese imperial ritual of a thousand years ago, that was just the desired effect.These hundreds of retro-style dressers, gathered on a university campus in Beijing this past weekend, are devotees of the Hanfu movement. They are dedicated to reviving the clothes they believe Chinas Han ethnic majority wore before their country succumbed to centuries of foreign domination and to taking pride in the past they evoke.Hanfu is a social scene, and thats why Im into it, but it also has deeper levels of national feeling too, said Yin Zhuo, 29, a computer programmer, who joined the day of activities in a long blue gown and red cape with a fake fur fringe.While the Chinese government bans countless social activities, the nationalist leader, Xi Jinping, has promoted reviving traditional virtues, making this a golden time for fans of Hanfu which means Han clothing and giving it official cachet and permission to grow.ImageCredit...Yan Cong for The New York TimesHundreds of groups across China now practice Hanfu, especially on college campuses. Proponents say it has up to a million followers, mostly female, and mostly in their teens and 20s.Internet commerce has spread the trend, making it easy for shops to reach devotees even in small towns.Numbers are certainly growing, and fast, said Wang Jiawen, who under the pen name Jia Lin has been a prolific promoter and researcher of Hanfu in southern China.The Hanfu enthusiasts who met this past Saturday were celebrating the 15 years since Wang Letian, a power utility worker, strolled through Zhengzhou, a city in central China, wearing old-style robes, an event recorded on the countrys then-emerging internet. The movement claims, with some poetic exaggeration, that Mr. Wangs walk was a milestone in its modern rebirth.Reviving Hanfu had great significance for raising Han ethnic identity and pride, Mr. Wang said by telephone.Chinese officials have embraced Hanfu costumes as part of the Communist Partys idea of tradition. Schools now often parade students in traditional scholar gowns for fancifully reimagined versions of coming-of-age ceremonies.When Mr. Xi hosted President Trump in Beijing last year, they watched traditional Chinese musicians dressed in Hanfu.Hanfu is maturing, and the country and government are giving more support, said Jiang Xue, a manager at a mobile app company in Beijing, who was wearing a pink gown modeled on Ming dynasty dresses of centuries ago. The hand embroidered rabbits and flowers were her own touch.Xi has always promoted reviving traditional culture, and naturally that includes clothing, she said.ImageCredit...Yan Cong for The New York TimesHanfu draws on the idea that Chinas ethnic Han majority who make up more than 90 percent of the countrys population should show their pride by wearing clothes like those worn before Manchu armies from the north occupied China and ruled it as the Qing dynasty from 1644.The Manchu emperors, and then waves of Western and Japanese imperialists, imposed their own styles and Han culture fell into eclipse, according to Hanfu proponents.Most people in the Hanfu movement that I met were nationalists looking for the thrill of wearing traditional clothing, said Kevin Carrico, a lecturer in Chinese studies at Macquarie University in Australia who has written a book on the movement.Despite the movements growing popularity and official acceptance, walking down a Chinese street in a traditional gown requires a dash of boldness. Most Hanfu followers step out in their outfits only on special occasions. A few of the most committed wear their Hanfu clothes almost every day, including at work.In a Hanfu store in east Beijing on a recent weekend, newcomers and longtime customers fingered through racks of gowns, scarves, sashes and headdresses. When a man in his 20s pulled on a long black gown and a gold-colored belt, the store broke out in admiring oohs and ahs.ImageCredit...Yan Cong for The New York TimesWhen we first opened, people would often ask if we were filming a show or holding a costume party, said Yue Huaiyu, the owner of the store, who said she has sold Hanfu clothes for over a decade. They didnt get it.Yet as Hanfu has spread, it has also become more fractious. Hanfu websites are loud with debate about what counts as authentic clothing.Much of the history and traditions that the movement cites are invented, said Mr. Carrico, the author. They are creating this history for themselves.People also fight about how much modification to fit modern tastes is acceptable. Gu Meng, a financial manager in Beijing, who sometimes wears Hanfu to work, said he was disgruntled with Hanfu fundamentalists who resisted altering their clothes to suit modern needs.Ive asked the store many times why cant they add a pocket at the back for my phone and cigarettes, he said, referring to a Hanfu boutique he frequents. They think Im a heretic.ImageCredit...Yan Cong for The New York TimesAbove all, followers differ over whether Hanfu is primarily about ethnic assertion, instilling ancient values, or simply making a bold fashion statement in a gown embroidered with dragons or flowers.There are nationalists, then there are people purely into the look and aesthetics, and theres another group drawn to ancient traditions, said Fu Renjun, an editor of a website that promotes reviving traditional Chinese culture. In practice, people can be a bit of each of these.Like many wearers of Hanfu, Mr. Gu, the financial manager, described the moment when he discovered the movement on the internet as a revelation. China was entering an era of confident national pride, and here was a look to match, Mr. Gu recalled feeling.Han became an oppressed ethnic grouping, Mr. Gu said, wearing a powder-blue silk gown. For me, now, I feel that maybe this is a kind of pushback.Hanfu followers dedication to celebrating Han identity can spill into chauvinism and patronizing attitudes toward Chinas ethnic minorities, like Uighurs and Tibetans.Chinese policies toward these minorities have come under international criticism, but many Han Chinese see themselves as generous protectors of minorities.Our nationalism is a positive energy, said Mr. Wang, the Hanfu researcher. In ethnic policy, the Han should, to put it simply, be the big brother, and only then can we properly guide and protect the little brother and sister ethnic minorities.ImageCredit...Yan Cong for The New York TimesFor many Hanfu followers, building up an impressive wardrobe ultimately seems more important than building a nationalist movement. And Chinas long history allows for plenty of fashion creativity across all body types.Zheng Qi, a 39-year-old garment designer from southwest China, said she had given up wearing Hanfu gowns after she become a mother a few years ago and found that few were designed for fuller-bodied women.But she turned into an internet sensation this year after posting photos of herself wearing ornate gowns and makeup inspired by pictures from the Tang dynasty, whose rule of China ended over 1,100 years ago.I thought of the Tang dynasty look because that was maybe the only dynasty in Chinese history that was relatively accepting of a plump or fuller look, she said.For her, being a Hanfu devotee was something of a paradox.On the one hand, we love our own culture, but our personalities are very modern, Ms. Zheng said. If our personalities were very traditional, I dont think we would hit the street wearing Hanfu because its nonconformist.ImageCredit...Yan Cong for The New York Times",6