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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 | Entertainment |
Credit...Megan Mendenhall/Duke PhotographyMarch 16, 2016Elwyn L. Simons, an intrepid scientist known as the father of modern primate paleontology for his discovery of some of humankinds earliest antecedents, died on March 6 in Peoria, Ariz. He was 85.His death was announced by Duke University, where he was an emeritus professor of evolutionary anthropology.Though Dr. Simonss career took in myriad fossils, including whales feet (in the distant past in which his professional life was lived, the footed whale was no oxymoron), he was concerned in particular with the earliest primates.Elwyn made an enormous and really incomparable contribution to the science of human origins, particularly at the very early end of the scale the background out of which our hominid lineage emerged, Ian Tattersall, an emeritus curator in the division of anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.Dr. Simons was equal parts scientist and adventurer: In leading more than 90 expeditions to Egypt, India, Iran, Libya, Madagascar, Wyoming and elsewhere he braved badlands, weathered sandstorms, dodged unexploded World War II land mines and crawled through limestone caves in pursuit of his venerable quarry.He was an indefatigable fossil-finder, Dr. Tattersall said. He probably has found, in his career, more fossils bearing on primate evolution than anybody of his generation.Dr. Simons did not so much dig as divine.He had the golden touch for finding fossils, Dr. Tattersall said. In the kind of paleontology that Elwyn did, you dont really dig. What you do is you scour the landscape to see what is eroding up from below or being carried down along the slope from above. He added:He would go to the places where the fossils were and that is an extraordinary thing, because you dont know where the fossils are to begin with. But he had an unerring sense of where the fossils ought to be.Dr. Simons carried out much of his work in the Fayum region of Egypt, some 60 miles southwest of Cairo. Today a desert, it was, many millions of years ago, a forested swamp teeming with early primates.Tracing human ancestry is sort of like tracing your family tree, Dr. Simons told United Press International in 1990. Once you find out who your great-grandfather was, then you want to know who his father was.His most seminal find, made in the Fayum in the mid-1960s, was the skull of a cat-size, tree-dwelling primate he called Aegyptopithecus. The creature about 33 million years old was, on its discovery, the earliest known common forebear of apes, monkeys and man.As David R. Pilbeam, the Henry Ford II professor of human evolution at Harvard, said on Tuesday: Aegyptopithecus is probably the best-known example of a fossil primate that predates the split between the hominoids thats that group containing the living apes and humans and the cercopithecoids: the Old World monkeys. Its not clear at the moment exactly when those two groups split, but probably about 25 to 30 million years ago.Dr. Simons and his team later turned up more Aegyptopithecus skulls finds that suggested the creature was no towering intellectual.What was astonishing is how small this brain is, Dr. Simons told a consortium of Australian newspapers in 2007. You can also see its a pretty darn primitive brain. It would be small for a monkey or an ape. So its telling us that the speed of achievement of brain enlargement in primates was a little slower than perhaps we thought.ImageCredit...Patricia Wright/Stony Brook UniversityDr. Simons was equally concerned with living primates, serving for many years as the director of the Duke University Primate Center, as it was then known. The center, now the Duke Lemur Center, studies and breeds rare and endangered primates which over the years have included lemurs, tarsiers and lorises and has reintroduced some of its lemurs to the wild in Madagascar.He was thinking of a very broad picture for understanding the origins of primates by looking at the ones that are alive today that are the most ancient, Patricia Wright, a distinguished professor of anthropology at Stony Brook University, said on Tuesday. Tarsiers are very ancient primates; lemurs are very ancient primates.Dr. Simons helped establish Parc Ivoloina, a conservation center in eastern Madagascar for lemurs and other native species. In recognition of his work there, he was made a knight of the National Order of the Republic of Madagascar.While it is atypical for a paleontologist to have a second career in wildlife conservation, for Dr. Simons the two trades dovetailed seamlessly.He wanted to see those fossils alive! Dr. Wright, who did postdoctoral work with him at the Duke center, explained. And so he wanted to know everything about them. Those bones can be frustrating: They can teach you a lot, but they cant always teach you what you want to know.Elwyn LaVerne Simons, whose most immediate lineal forebears were Verne Simons and the former Verna Cuddeback, was born on July 14, 1930, in Lawrence, Kan., and reared in Houston.Visiting an exhibition as a young child, he saw a reconstituted dinosaur and promptly burst into tears. But fascination soon overcame fright, and the tears turned to howls of protest when his father tried to lead him away.After receiving a bachelors degree from Rice University, the young Mr. Simons earned masters and doctoral degrees from Princeton and a second doctorate from Oxford.Dr. Simons taught at Yale, where his students included the future Dr. Tattersall and Dr. Pilbeam, before joining the Duke faculty in 1977. After retiring from Duke in 2011, he lived in Peoria.Other finds on expeditions led by Dr. Simons include Catopithecus, a primate somewhat older than Aegyptopithecus. He was a member of a joint expedition by Duke and the University of Michigan that in 1989 turned up the fossil remains of whales hind feet and legs in the Egyptian desert for where else would one hunt whales but in the desert? (It had once been a sea.)The discovery showed that even after whales quit the land for a life at sea some 50 million years ago, they retained vestigial, but still functional, lower limbs for a good 10 million years more.Dr. Simonss first marriage, to Mary Hoyt Fitch, ended in divorce. His survivors include his second wife, Friderun Ankel-Simons, a physical anthropologist and frequent collaborator; their two children, Cornelia Seiffert and Verne Simons; a son from his first marriage, D. Brenton Simons, a genealogist concerned with human ancestors of more recent vintage; a brother, Herbert; and five grandchildren. A daughter from his first marriage, Katherine Egan, died in 2009.Amid the forbidding conditions in which he sometimes worked, Dr. Simons was sustained by his constitutional puckish humor.I remember him telling me that he discovered a very important tool in paleontology, and this is what he should be known for, Dr. Wright said on Tuesday. To her astonishment, she recalled, he opened a closet and emerged with an ordinary household broom.I sweep the desert, he declared.And, indeed, whenever Dr. Simons scoured the sands for his ancestors, he brought his broom along. | science |
Golf|A First for Cheyenne Woodshttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/10/sports/golf/a-first-for-cheyenne-woods.htmlSports Briefing | GolfFeb. 9, 2014Cheyenne Woods won the Australian Ladies Masters for her first major professional tour victory, holding off the 17-year-old Australian amateur Minjee Lee by two strokes.Woods, 23, who is Tiger Woodss niece, closed with a 4-under-par 69 at Royal Pines in Gold Coast, Australia, to finish 16 under, at 276. Lee also shot 69 in the event, which was sanctioned by the European and Australian tours.Woods birdied the par-5 15th to open a two-stroke lead, hitting a wedge from about 120 yards to 4 feet. On the par-5 18th, she matched Lee with a birdie, holing out from one and a half feet. | Sports |
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. | Tech |
Alter do Cho JournalMarch 20, 2017ImageCredit...Bryan Denton for The New York TimesALTER DO CHO, Brazil Even though it is far removed from the sea in a remote corner of the Amazon jungle, Alter do Cho must rank among the worlds most alluring beach towns.White-sand beaches along the Tapajs River beckon visitors who drive from as far as Cuiab, a landlocked city nearly 1,000 miles to the south. The clear, warm waters lure snorkelers and practitioners of standup paddle boarding.Just want to chill? Sit in a cafe, sip an ice-cold bottle of Tijuca beer and gaze at the sun setting over forest-shrouded ridges teeming with wildlife like sloths and howler monkeys.ImageCredit...Bryan Denton for The New York TimesWhile on a reporting trip this year in the Amazon Basin, I escaped to Alter do Cho for a few days after hearing tales of its rugged beauty. In a country with more than 4,600 miles of coastline, I wondered if one of Brazils best beaches could really be situated deep in the untamed interior of the worlds largest rain forest.If you want to experience the real Alter, youll have to eat the ants, Pit, 55, a Cumaruara Indian who guides visitors on treks through the jungle, explained to me. He plucked a sava ant out of the jungle floor and dared me to eat it. Crunchy like popcorn, it was delicious, with hints of lemongrass.ImageCredit...Bryan Denton for The New York TimesI couldnt have asked for a better guide than Pit, whose full name is Raimundo Gilmar Faria da Costa. In the space of a few hours, he showed me how to hunt with a bow, navigate a canoe, fish with a harpoon, tap a rubber tree even speak a few words of Nheengat, the indigenous lingua franca that has persisted for centuries around the Amazon.ImageCredit...Bryan Denton for The New York TimesIll bet you dont get this stuff in Ipanema, Pit said, joking about the legendary beach in Rio de Janeiro, the coastal city where Ive lived for six years.Of course, Pit was right. For a singular Brazilian beach experience, one must travel all the way to Alter, which feels like a slow-paced oasis of tranquillity in a country on edge over a protracted economic crisis, colossal corruption scandals and rising political polarization.Alter wasnt always viewed as a rain forest beach town. Pedro Teixeira, a Portuguese explorer who led expeditions into the Amazon with the aim of enslaving indigenous peoples, established a colonial outpost here in 1626.But for centuries, Alter remained a backwater, save for luring residents from the nearby city of Santarm and the occasional adventurer.ImageCredit...Bryan Denton for The New York TimesThe British naturalist Henry Walter Bates made it here in the 1850s, calling Alter a neglected, poverty-stricken place.The houses in the village swarmed with vermin; bats in the thatch; fire ants (formiga de fogo) under the floors; cockroaches and spiders on the walls, he wrote.Despite such misgivings, this place grew on Bates, who would let his mind wander on Alters beaches after conducting research in the surrounding forest into animal mimicry that supported Charles Darwins theory of evolution.The soft pale light, Bates wrote in The Naturalist on the River Amazons, resting on broad sandy beaches and palm-thatched huts, reproduced the effect of a midwinter scene in the cold north when a coating of snow lies on the landscape.Winter wasnt the first thing that popped into my mind when I explored sun-drenched Alter on foot.In the heat, people wore the same beach fashions, from bikinis to boardshorts, that prevailed in Rio. The leafy plaza had a mellow vibe with vendors offering bowls of the deep-purple aa fruit sprinkled with tapioca. In cafes, visitors savored plates of Amazonian fish like pirarucu and tucunar.This place is peaceful and magical, unlike where we came from, said Alexis lvarez, 29, a tattoo artist from Venezuela who moved here recently with his wife, a schoolteacher, and their 1-year-old daughter, seeking refuge in Brazil after enduring scarcities of food and medicine during Venezuelas economic upheaval.We feel at home in Alter, said Mr. lvarez, explaining that he and his wife were supporting themselves by selling the jewelry they make. I think were here to stay.ImageCredit...Bryan Denton for The New York TimesThe writer and explorer Alex Shoumatoff was enthralled with Alter when he visited in 1977, describing it as the first place I would head for when I finally gave up trying to fit into the modern world.But things change fast in the Amazon. With the completion of a highway cutting across the river basin, Mr. Shoumatoff returned in 1984 and found Alter unrecognizable, with teenagers drinking Coke, water-skiing, bombing around in open Jeeps with roll bars, moonwalking to Michael Jackson tapes.Alter still swells with rowdy visitors from Santarm on weekends. Some in the town complain about rising tension between locals and outsiders. I heard warnings about hiking on a path overlooking Alters beaches, after the brutal murders a few years ago of two people on the route.ImageCredit...Bryan Denton for The New York TimesThe day I arrived here I felt some very special energy, and I wasnt able to leave, said Marcelo Freitas Gananca, 49, who moved to Alter in 1998 from So Paulo. He owns Ararib, a store selling an astonishing collection of indigenous folk art, including ceremonial masks, war clubs, drums and 20-foot-long blow guns.But now the town is at a critical turning point where it could go in one direction or another, Mr. Gananca said, citing challenges like the lack of a sewage system, tensions with newcomers and the construction of garish new lodgings that reflect little of Alters origins.ImageCredit...Bryan Denton for The New York TimesIn the face of such tests, I wondered what Alter would look like a few years from now. Along with the grumbling about so-called soybean barons from neighboring Mato Grosso State building villas here, some in Alter also insisted that they could forge a balance between tourism and sustainability.Maybe Alter is a meeting point where we can learn from each other, said Pit, the Cumaruara guide. Doesnt the world need a place where people can slow down, put their hand in the water and feel the rivers flow?ImageCredit...Bryan Denton for The New York Times | World |
Von Miller Tells Joe Theismann ... I Wants Kirk Cousins In Denver! 1/31/2018 TMZSports.com Add "TMZ Sports reporter" to Joe Theismann's legendary resume -- 'cause the NFL icon just locked up an exclusive with Von Miller!!! So, we were talking to ex-Washington Redskins QB about the big trade for Alex Smith and where he thinks his pal, Kirk Cousins, should end up next. That's when Von crashed the interview -- and told Joe he'd be ALL ABOUT getting Cousins in Denver! It's a great moment. The good news for Von ... the Broncos are "poised to make a run" for Cousins, according to Ian Rapoport. | Entertainment |
the new old ageStigma often prevents patients from acknowledging an Alzheimers diagnosis. A series of high-profile disclosures may help change that. Credit...T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty ImagesNov. 9, 2018The spouses arriving for the Wednesday afternoon caregivers class at the Penn Memory Center in Philadelphia had something on their minds even before Alison Lynn, the social worker leading the session, could start the conversation.A few days before, retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day OConnor had released a letter announcing that shed been diagnosed with dementia, probably Alzheimers disease.As this condition has progressed, I am no longer able to participate in public life, she wrote. I want to be open about these changes, and while I am still able, share some personal thoughts.It meant something to Ms. Lynns participants that the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court would acknowledge, at 88, that she had the same relentless disease that was claiming their husbands and wives (and that killed Justice OConnors husband, too, in 2009).Theres so much stigma, Ms. Lynn said. Caregivers feel so isolated and lonely. They were happy that she would bring light and public attention to this disease.Justice OConnor had joined a growing but still tiny group: public figures who choose to share a dementia diagnosis.The breakthrough came in 1994, when Ronald and Nancy Reagan released a handwritten letter disclosing his Alzheimers disease.In opening our hearts, we hope this might promote greater awareness of this condition, the former president wrote. Perhaps it will encourage a clearer understanding of the individuals and families who are affected by it.Musician Glen Campbell and his family reached a similar decision in 2011, announcing his Alzheimers diagnosis, and several farewell concerts, in a magazine interview. The concerts became a 15-month tour and an intimate, unflinching documentary.Pat Summitt, who coached championship womens basketball teams at the University of Tennessee, went public in 2012 with her early-onset Alzheimers disease, an uncommon variant.Actor Gene Wilders family waited until his death in 2016, explaining that they feared children might be disturbed by an ailing Willy Wonka.[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]One might question what such actions actually accomplish for the people coping with dementia and those who shoulder their care.Its hardly an obscure condition. About 5.7 million Americans have Alzheimers disease, the Alzheimers Association estimates. That represents just 60 to 80 percent of people with dementia, which takes multiple forms. Though dementia rate seems to be declining, possibly because of rising education levels and better treatment for conditions like hypertension, both of which seem to help prevent dementia. But the number of Americans affected will continue to grow as the population grows and ages.Already, Alzheimers has become the fifth leading cause of death for those aged 65 and older and the only one for which medicine cant yet offer prevention or treatment.One promising drug after another has proved ineffective in clinical trials. How can raising awareness make any difference?But researchers and advocates argue that Justice OConnors forthright statement does serve a positive purpose.Among her Penn patients, a strong majority are hesitant to share the information with other people, Ms. Lynn said. They worry that others will treat them with pity or condescension, that their friends will drop away and their social lives shrivel all justifiable fears. People often do withdraw as their neighbors and friends grow progressively more demented.But patients also think, If someone very well known can say she has this, it might be O.K. for me to say it, too, Ms. Lynn said.Openness about dementia, instead of hiding it, could lead to earlier diagnoses, said Shana Stites, a clinical psychologist and researcher at the Penn Memory Center. She ticked off several ways that can help.A diagnosis explains whats happening, why youre not remembering, why youre behaving this way, Dr. Stites said. As dreaded as that news may be, patients and those around them sometimes feel relieved when their problems acquire a name and a medical label. Moreover, when people avoid knowing, it takes away the opportunity for the family to get prepared, for the person and the family to educate themselves, said Beth Kallmyer, vice president of care and support at the Alzheimers Association.ImageCredit...Mark Makela for The New York TimesDementia care is a long haul. Understanding the disease and its prognosis allows time to assemble a health care team, to mobilize family, to seek legal and financial advice.Early diagnosis can benefit research, too, which increasingly focuses on people in the beginning stages of disease. That requires diagnosed participants willing to enroll in clinical trials.Finally, public figures who come forward do a lot to normalize the condition, Dr. Stites said. Yes, this happens. Its reality.Lets not prettify that reality. True, people may have several years after diagnosis in which to enjoy their lives, to remain productive and engaged, before symptoms intensify.But dementia is a terminal disease, one whose burdens can overwhelm family caregivers. It robs patients of their identities in a way few other illnesses do, sometimes causing loved ones to mourn them while theyre still living.That shouldnt make it a source of shame, a whispered-about disease, as cancer was 60 years ago or AIDS was 30 years ago.Yet even many physicians evade the disease, Ms. Kallmyer pointed out. In a 2015 analysis of Medicare data, commissioned by the Alzheimers Association, doctors delivered a diagnosis of the condition to fewer than half of Alzheimers patients or their caregivers. And then for those patients and their families, disclosing it to others can prove difficult, Dr. Stites said: It comes with a sense of vulnerability. It takes courage.Jeffrey Draine and his wife Debora Dunbar mustered their courage in 2016.Dr. Draine, a professor of social work at Temple University, had developed puzzling behavior leaving the front door to their house ajar, neglecting the bills, driving uncertainly.It took several years to get a diagnosis: first mild cognitive impairment, then early-onset Alzheimers disease.Dr. Draine, now 55, was still teaching. I wanted to be able to leave when I decided it was time, not when someone else thought it was time, he said.He sought accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act; the university provided an assistant to help him stay organized.Then, because I wanted to be the one who made the announcement, he faced his colleagues at a faculty meeting and explained his illness.I got really positive responses, Dr. Draine recalled. People acknowledged what I was doing and expressed respect and empathy.He continued teaching until May, when he retired on disability. Neither he nor Ms. Dunbar, 56, a nurse-practitioner, regrets their disclosure to their children, to colleagues and friends, to a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer (where, coincidentally, retired sports columnist Bill Lyon also has been writing about his Alzheimers diagnosis).Its been beneficial to us as a family, Ms. Dunbar added. Its made us feel encircled by a community that understands.Researchers, including Dr. Stites, have been exploring the stigma of dementia, hoping to identify contributing factors and to change the way the public regards the disease.In the meantime, having people around us, famous or not, talk frankly about dementia may render the supposedly unspeakable a more everyday occurrence. Because it is one.The benefits, what this does for others living with the disease, the example it sets for the general public its crucial, Dr. Stites said. | Health |
News AnalysisThere are almost as many reasons for vaccine hesitancy and refusal as there are unvaccinated Americans. But this problem, not the variant, lies at the root of rising infection rates.Credit...David Dee Delgado/Getty ImagesPublished July 25, 2021Updated Aug. 2, 2021After an all too brief respite, the United States is again at a crossroads in the pandemic. The number of infections has ticked up slowly at first, then swiftly to 51,000 cases per day, on average, more than four times the rate a month ago. The country may again see overflowing hospitals, exhausted health care workers and thousands of needless deaths.The more contagious Delta variant may be getting the blame, but fueling its rise is an older, more familiar foe: vaccine hesitancy and refusal, long pervasive in the United States. Were a wider swath of the population vaccinated, there would be no resurgence of the Delta variant, or Alpha variant, or any other version of the coronavirus.While mild breakthrough infections may be more common than once thought, the vaccines effectively prevent severe illness and death. Yet nearly half of the population remains unvaccinated and unprotected. About 30 percent of adults have not received even a single dose, and the percentage is much higher in some parts of the country.America is one of the few countries with enough vaccines at its disposal to protect every resident and yet it has the highest rates of vaccine hesitance or refusal of any nation except Russia.Public health experts have fruitlessly warned for months that the virus any version of it would resurge if the country did not vaccinate enough of the population quickly enough. Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, predicted in January that Florida might have a rough summer. Now one in five new infections nationwide is in Florida.True, the speed and ferocity with which the Delta variant is tearing through Asia, Europe, Africa and now North America has taken many experts by surprise. It now accounts for about 83 percent of the infections in the United States.But Delta is by no means the wickedest variant out there. Gamma and Lambda are waiting in the wings, and who knows what frightful versions are already flourishing undetected in the far corners of the world, perhaps even here in America.Every infected person, anywhere in the world, offers the coronavirus another opportunity to morph into a new variant. The more infections there are globally, the more likely new variants will arise.The United States will be vulnerable to every one of them until it can immunize millions of people who now refuse to get the vaccine, are still persuadable but hesitant, or have not yet gained access. The unvaccinated will set the country on fire over and over again.And they will not be the only ones who are singed. Vaccinated people will be protected from severe illness and death, but there may be other consequences. Already in some communities, they are being asked to wear masks indoors. If the numbers continue to soar, the restrictions that divided the country before may return. Workplaces may need to close again, and schools, too.And some number of vaccinated people will become infected. Breakthrough infections were expected to be vanishingly rare with the original virus, but recent data suggest they may be less so with the Delta variant. It is roughly twice as contagious as the original coronavirus, and some early evidence hints that people infected with the variant carry the virus in much higher amounts.The larger the force of infection that comes from the pandemic in unvaccinated populations, the more breakthrough infections there will be, Dr. Hanage said.Most breakthrough infections produce few to no symptoms, but some may prompt illness in vaccinated people serious enough to lay them up in bed, miss work and put their children or older relatives at risk. Some cases may lead to long Covid, scientists now fear a poorly defined syndrome in which symptoms seem to persist for months.This grim redux has a glaringly obvious solution: shots in arms. But short of a federal mandate or a patchwork of mandates by municipalities, hospitals, colleges and businesses it is hard to see how enough Americans will be immunized to form a buttress against the virus.After a brisk vaccination campaign in the spring, the pace has slowed to about 537,000 doses per day, according to data gathered by The New York Times. Some responsibility for the lag lies with the frank refusal of conservative leaders often Republicans to champion the vaccines.But misinformation, an epidemic all its own on social media, emanates from all parts of the cultural spectrum, and there is no single reason so many Americans remain unvaccinated. It is a Hydra-headed problem.Of the 39 percent of adults who are unvaccinated, about half say they are completely unwilling. But even within that group, some say they would comply if required to do so.Some are hesitant and may come around with the right persuasion from people they trust, while still others plan to be inoculated but say they have just not had the chance.Politics is a driver for only some of these people, noted Dr. Richard Besser, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In New Jersey, where he lives, the rates vary drastically because of socioeconomic factors. In mostly white Princeton, 75 percent of adults are immunized, versus 45 percent in Trenton, just 14 miles away, which is heavily Black and Latino.Both are strong Democratic areas, so its really important to break things down and to address the issues that are impeding vaccination progress in each segment of the unvaccinated population, Dr. Besser said.Still, there is no doubt that the political divide is playing a role in rising infection rates. From the start, vaccinations in counties that voted for Donald J. Trump lagged those in counties that voted for Joseph R. Biden, and the gap has only widened from two percentage points in April to nearly 12 points now, according to one recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation.Nationwide, 86 percent of Democrats have had at least one shot, compared with 52 percent of Republicans, according to another poll. Even the national goal of having 70 percent of adults at least partially vaccinated by July 4 somehow became Bidens goal, said Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Policy and Research at Boston University.All of a sudden, even getting out of the pandemic became a left versus right issue.Fewer than half of House Republicans acknowledged being vaccinated in a CNN survey in May, compared with 100 percent of House Democrats. For months, some Republican lawmakers including Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky, and conservative news commentators like Tucker Carlson, have voiced their skepticism of vaccines, loudly and insistently.Lately, as infections rise in conservative precincts, a few Republican leaders have begun championing vaccination. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, who survived polio as a child, has worn masks and has urged that everyone be immunized. Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, said in an interview on Wednesday that the politicization of vaccination is an outrage and frankly moronic.All of these leaders, and many more, will need to repeat vaccine affirmations often enough to persuade millions of people to overcome their hesitation. The Delta variant is thriving amid American discord. The vaccines are the remedy not just for this variant, but all those yet to come. | Health |
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. | Entertainment |
Credit...Delil Souleiman/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 6, 2018AMMAN, Jordan An American-backed military offensive has stalled against the Islamic States last vestige in eastern Syria.Booby traps, land mines and a militant counterstrike during a fierce sandstorm after the campaign began in September have knocked the coalition back on its heels.And last week, the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish-led militia that is fighting the Islamic State with American help, suspended operations after Kurdish positions farther north were shelled by Turkey not far from United States advisers.American diplomats and generals rushed to ease tensions with the Turks, who consider Kurdish fighters terrorists despite their partnership with the United States.But the episode underscores the shifting nature of the fight against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, a still-potent threat as it pivots from its battlefield losses in Iraq and Syria to directing guerrilla insurgencies in the Middle East and beyond.Although ISISs safe haven in Iraq and Syria has largely collapsed, its global enterprise of almost two dozen branches and networks, each numbering in the hundreds to thousands of members, remains robust, Russell Travers, the acting head of the National Counterterrorism Center, told senators in Washington last month.Last week, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack on buses carrying Coptic Christians to a monastery in Egypt, which killed seven people and wounded 19 others. Dutch officials said in late September that they foiled a large, multisite terrorist Islamic State attack there.In Jordan, state intelligence officials said they had worked closely with the C.I.A. to thwart more than a dozen terrorist plots in the past several months in the Middle East and Europe.A classified American military program in Jordan, called Operation Gallant Phoenix, is scooping up data collected in commando raids in Syria and Iraq and funneling it to law enforcement agencies in Europe and Southeast Asia, according to United States military and intelligence officials who described details of the initiative on condition of anonymity because of its secretive nature.In Afghanistan, the Islamic States local branch has conducted a spate of high-profile attacks against civilian and government targets in Kabul while carving out a sanctuary in the countrys east, Mr. Travers said. Other Islamic State affiliates in Egypts Sinai Peninsula, Libya, Yemen and western Africa continue to mobilize fighters and execute attacks against local governments and group rivals, fomenting and leveraging instability in these already beleaguered areas.ISIS remains an adaptive and dangerous adversary, and is already tailoring its strategy to sustain operations amid mounting losses, he said.ImageCredit...Mohamed El-Shahed/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesOther networks that are less formally aligned with the Islamic State, including extremists in other parts of Africa, Southeast Asia and the Philippines, continue to conduct attacks that showcase the groups reach.To be sure, thousands of Islamic State members including senior leaders, veteran field commanders and foreign fighters have been killed in United States airstrikes and partner actions. The extremist group now holds less than 1 percent of the territory it seized in Iraq and Syria in 2014, or about half the area of Manhattan.But ISIS has reverted to its insurgent roots an atomized, clandestine network of cells with a decentralized chain of command, Western and Middle Eastern counterterrorism officials said.The move follows plans that the extremist network drew up in the months before its main strongholds in Mosul, Iraq, and Raqqa, Syria, fell to coalition forces last year.Weve expected that as the physical caliphate went away, the remnants of this would attempt to revive themselves and revive their networks, and take on these insurgent, guerrilla-like tactics, Gen. Joseph L. Votel, the head of the militarys Central Command, said in an interview in Bahrain last week.Were well prepared for that, said General Votel, who oversees the American military in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. These organizations never go away in one fell swoop.The number of foreign terrorist fighters, once pouring into Iraq and Syria at about 1,500 a month, has dropped sharply. But the Islamic State still attracts about 100 new foreign fighters to the region each month, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a meeting of military chiefs in October.On its current trajectory, ISIS could regain sufficient strength to mount a renewed insurgency that once again threatens to overmatch local security forces in both Iraq and Syria, the Institute for the Study of War in Washington concluded in a recent analysis.In Iraq, Islamic State sleeper cells in recent months have carried out raids and ambushes against Iraqi security forces and civilians, particularly in Anbar, Kirkuk and Salahuddin provinces.And as the Islamic State hunkers down in Syria, including in caves and fortified tunnels in Hajin and a few surrounding villages in the Euphrates River Valley, it wields a diminished but still formidable social media prowess to rally its followers on the ground and on the internet.It is displaying its wins on its official online channels, including the alleged capture of enemy fighters and the killing and wounding of many others, said Laith Alkhouri, a senior director at Flashpoint, a business risk intelligence company in New York that assesses the global terrorist threat.Mr. Travers, the American counterterrorism official, agreed.Its propaganda fronts still produce a range of high-quality content, including foreign language products that promote its evolving narrative of enduring resistance and vitality, he said.ImageCredit...Delil Souleiman/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesThe fighting in Hajin and nearby villages, where militants hide amid some 60,000 residents, is some of the most intense since the coalition pushed the Islamic State out of Raqqa and Mosul, allied officials said.The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has lost 327 fighters since the beginning of the military operation in September, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group based in Britain that monitors the war through contacts on the ground.The Islamic State has been avoiding direct clashes with our forces, relying on targeting with artillery and heavy weapons the obvious routes our fighters are forced to take in order to advance, said Mustafa Bali, a militia spokesman.In the last several days, hardened Islamic State fighters using small arms and mortars, and relying on a sandstorm as cover, counterattacked. They killed several militia troops and regained territory the extremist group had lost to the American-backed coalition a few days earlier.The storm had grounded American and allied warplanes that support the militia on the battlefield a vulnerability United States officials said ISIS fighters were keenly aware of and exploited. The militia rushed 1,000 more troops from northern Syria to the combat zone, joining the several thousand already there, a senior American official said.Now, American and coalition officials said, the military offensive that was planned to be wrapped up by December looks like it will drag into early next year. And that was before Turkey, a NATO ally, attacked Kurdish positions in northern Syria, prompting Kurdish commanders to suspend its offensive against the Islamic State.Mr. Bali said the pause would continue until the United States and its allies stop the Turkish hostility and remove its threat.The offensive against the Islamic State in Syria has sputtered before.Earlier this year, thousands of Kurdish fighters and commanders who make up the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces diverted to defend Afrin, in Syrias northwest, where other Kurdish militia forces were facing sharp attacks from Turkish troops.Last Friday, top Pentagon and State Department officials spoke to Turkish officials to defuse the latest tensions. After meeting with his Turkish counterpart in Washington, David Hale, the under secretary of state for political affairs, called for a halt of exchanges of fire in the area, and underscored the need for stability in northeast Syria to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS, according to a State Department statement.On Sunday, United States troops patrolled northeastern Syria near the Turkish border in three armored vehicles, officials said, the second show of force aimed at easing tensions since Friday.Allied warplanes, using a break in the weather over the weekend and noting that ISIS let their guard down, carried out a flurry of airstrikes against militant command centers over the weekend, Col. Sean Ryan, a spokesman for the American-led command in Iraq, said in an email.American officials said they were taking the long view of the fight against the Islamic State.We still are putting great pressure on them, General Dunford said last month. Were denying them sanctuary from which to plan attacks. | World |
Credit...Mark Ralston/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 15, 2016SCOTT BASE, Antarctica A group of hikers in red parkas approached a half-dozen seals resting on floating sea ice. The leader of the entourage Secretary of State John Kerry raised his arms and ordered everyone to halt.As an ethereal silence descended, Mr. Kerry cocked his head in the stillness of one of the worlds last truly wild places.In that moment, the frozen landscape seemed timeless, but it is actually in grave peril, as Mr. Kerry had been told by scientists only minutes before. The ice across large parts of West Antarctica may be starting to disintegrate because of global warming, and if it goes, the worlds coastal cities face destruction, too.The presence of Mr. Kerry, the highest-ranking United States government official ever to visit Antarctica, lifted the morale of scientists working to understand the icebound continent. Yet the visit, at the end of last week, was shadowed by anxiety.In his nearly four years as secretary of state, Mr. Kerry has hurled himself into conservation issues, making them a central focus of American diplomacy and winning a string of ambitious deals to limit global warming and protect the oceans.But with last weeks election results, the prospect looms that Donald J. Trump will rip up the Obama administrations work and throw global efforts against climate change into confusion.VideoDuring Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to Antarctica, he - in the white cap in the following video - and members of his delegation were enthralled by the wildlife, including an Adlie penguin.Mr. Kerry and the aides traveling with him to Antarctica, many of them young liberal Democrats, were not expecting Mr. Trump to win. The trip began a day before the election, and Mr. Kerry had confidently predicted a Hillary Clinton victory.He was flying over the South Pacific toward New Zealand the next day when the results began to come in. His aides rushed around the plane, shocked at some of the states Mrs. Clinton was losing.The results were not definitive until he was in his hotel room that night in Christchurch. In an interview the next evening, and in a series of chats on the trip, Mr. Kerry trod carefully, declining to offer any direct criticism of Mr. Trump.He and his aides plan to welcome the Trump appointees who will soon run the State Department, hoping to build relationships with them and, possibly, persuade them to keep some of Mr. Kerrys diplomatic deals.But Mr. Kerry also made clear that when he leaves office Jan. 20, he will rejoin the political struggle over climate change, speaking publicly on the issue and perhaps campaigning against members of Congress who dispute the validity of climate science.Im ready to continue to fight, Mr. Kerry said. Weve made too much progress.On Wednesday, in Marrakesh, Morocco, Mr. Kerry is expected to urge delegates at a United Nations climate conference to redouble their efforts to limit emissions.But the worlds climate diplomats are intensely worried that under Mr. Trump, the United States will renege on its commitments, potentially leading to a collapse of the global political will to tackle the problem. Mr. Kerry can make no promises that will bind the Trump administration.After a campaign in which Mr. Trump made little more than broad-brush pronouncements on climate and energy, the details of the president-elects policies remain largely unknown. But he has described climate science as a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese to undermine the American economy, and his electoral coalition includes climate change denialists who are likely to press him to abandon American commitments on the issue.Myron Ebell, a libertarian who is Mr. Trumps choice to lead the transition at the Environmental Protection Agency which the president-elect has vowed to dismantle has long dismissed concerns about global warming and has called prominent climate scientists alarmists. Mr. Ebell has said that the E.P.A.s Clean Power Plan, one of the Obama administrations signature climate efforts, is illegal.Mr. Kerrys tenure as secretary of state has been the capstone of a career working on environmental protection. In 1970, as a veteran just back from the Vietnam War, he helped organize Massachusetts events for the first Earth Day, a mobilization that sent 20 million people into the streets across the country.In decades as a senator from Massachusetts, he urged the United States government to tackle global warming, but won only a handful of legislative goals, including tougher efficiency standards for cars.His State Department tenure, by contrast, has featured diplomatic achievements including a deal in Paris last year to limit emissions from fossil-fuel burning and forest destruction, and separate pacts to reduce certain other greenhouse gases, limit emissions from airplanes and protect enormous swaths of the ocean.If global climate change keeps moving at the pace it is, there are going to be climate refugees, there are going to be climate conflicts, there are going to be food conflicts, Mr. Kerry said.In his years as secretary of state, Mr. Kerry turned up at obscure negotiating sessions where he was by far the most senior diplomat in the room. He cajoled the leaders of Russia, China, India and other countries.He won cooperation from China, helping to spur the Paris deal. The meeting in Marrakesh is supposed to be a major step toward putting it into practice.As he approached Antarctica on Friday, Mr. Kerry, an experienced pilot, rode in the cockpit of the C-17 Globemaster cargo plane transporting his entourage, one of the regular flights from New Zealand to Antarctica run by the United States Air Force.In the cockpit, he recounted lobbying President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to help win protection, just weeks ago, for 600,000 square miles of the Ross Sea, off the Antarctic coast.As the plane steered toward the American logistics base at McMurdo Station, Mr. Kerry looked down at the stretch of ocean he had helped to preserve.Over two days, he hiked for hours, listening to scientists explain evidence that the Antarctic landscape is undergoing profound change.He lingered to discuss a project led by John Stone of the University of Washington, who was at McMurdo Station preparing for a journey to haul drilling apparatus into the frozen wilderness.Whats been observed in the West Antarctic ice sheet thats so alarming now? Mr. Kerry asked.Dr. Stone showed him maps of glaciers that are being weakened by warmer ocean water, possibly indicating an incipient destabilization of the ice sheet, which scientists believe is vulnerable to collapse in a slightly warmer climate.Dr. Stone plans to drill through the ice into rock to establish the last time much of West Antarctica melted, a potential clue to the amount of global warming it will take to cause another collapse, which could raise the global sea level by 10 or 15 feet.We know that sea level has been higher in the past, Dr. Stone said as they gazed at the maps. But sea level doesnt tell you where the ice sheets were melting and what melted, and it doesnt so easily tell you how fast it all happened.Mr. Kerry was also fascinated by Antarctic wildlife. On his first day, flying by helicopter to see the spectacular geology of an ice-free region called the McMurdo Dry Valleys, his group was accosted by a lone Adlie penguin. The secretary of state whipped out his phone and filmed the creature.Come on, walk up here, buddy! Mr. Kerry said. The penguin hesitated, then did exactly that.Lumbering Weddell seals lolling about on the sea ice near Scott Base, the New Zealand governments research facility showed less interest. They barely lifted their heads to sniff the air as Mr. Kerrys group approached.Flying back to New Zealand, Mr. Kerry seemed invigorated. The task now for people worried about climate change is to create a widespread movement that politicians cannot ignore, he said. While the first Earth Day is remembered for those millions of marchers, he noted that many legislative victories did not come until the newly energized environmental movement targeted recalcitrant senators for defeat in the 1972 election.It was the losing of seats that moved people, Mr. Kerry said. You have to translate it into political fear. | science |
Science|Quotation of the Day: Trump Ally in Nebraska Opens Feuds in G.O.P.https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/08/science/quotation-of-the-day-trump-ally-in-nebraska-opens-feuds-in-gop.htmlMay 8, 2022This is a proxy war between the entire Republican establishment in America against President Donald J. Trump.CHARLES W. HERBSTER, a Trump ally whose candidacy for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Nebraska has shaken the party. | science |
Credit...Meghan Dhaliwal for The New York TimesBolivia DispatchSome of the most celebrated chefs in the Andes ventured deep into the Amazon on a quest for exotic ingredients. If the river turtle is too gooey, try the caiman.Alex Cartegena Mano, a Tacana caiman hunter, carrying his prey after a night spent hunting along the Beni River in the Bolivian Amazon.Credit...Meghan Dhaliwal for The New York TimesNov. 4, 2018CACHICHIRA, Bolivia The hunt began at nightfall under a crescent moon and with a chorus of frogs, which suddenly went silent when the rifles fired and the thrashing erupted. The bodies were dragged onto the deck of three boats: Six crocodilians were landed one night and 14 the next. Some were nearly eight feet long, head to tail.As gastronomy leaps from one trend to the next, the search for the next new thing has become a quest without end for many chic restaurants. And the role of the chef is changing, too: The greatest cooks these days are also the greatest storytellers, not just serving up meals, but also long yarns about the who, what and where of the origins of their ingredients.Which is why I was with some of the finest chefs in the Andes at Lake Colorada in northwestern Bolivia, home of the spectacled caiman a relative of the alligator.Once every few years, a group of cooks and owners from acclaimed restaurants in Bolivia, Argentina and Peru hire a river boat to take them to places unlisted in the Michelin Guide and where no food critic has likely ever dared to tread.Here, at the lake and along the Beni River in the Bolivian Amazon basin, the restaurateurs were hunting for something new to cook.They said I could join them on this adventure, and on an October day I went ashore with the chefs at an indigenous village of the Tacana people, whose caiman-hunting season had just begun.The Tacanas had sent a delegation ahead to greet their visitors: A notary who takes caiman measurements, the village mayor who cuts fillets and two sharpshooters chewing huge wads of coca leaf which keeps them up at night as they spot the caimans eyes with flashlights from a canoe.ImageCredit...Meghan Dhaliwal for The New York TimesImageCredit...Meghan Dhaliwal for The New York TimesThe caiman hunt would not be the only tale for the chefs on this trip for exotic new foods.Consider the big fish story to be told about the paiche, a freshwater monster that looks like a carp, but far larger and prehistoric-looking.Or the tale of cacao beans picked in the fall from trees that grow wild around the village of Carmen del Emero and which are composted in an undergrowth of strangler figs and jaguar droppings.Or the story of tuyo tuyo, the larvae of a beetle that lives in an Amazonian palm tree, long a delicacy in these parts and more recently served as an appetizer at Gustu, a famed restaurant in Bolivias capital, La Paz.We are seeing things hanging in your kitchens, foods you might not think people in cities would be interested in, Marsia Taha, the head chef at Gustu, said one night to the elders in the village. These are the things we are looking to buy.The food stories flow both ways, and sometimes, its the outsiders who teach the locals about whats edible in this jungle.Callampa, said Mauricio Barbn, the head chef at Amaz, a Lima, Peru, restaurant that specializes in using Amazonian ingredients. He was pointing to a fallen log with shelves of a flesh-colored fungus growing on it.Weve never tried it before, said an intrigued Javier Duri Matias, a young Tacana leader who was showing us through the forest.The fungus looked almost exactly like an ear. Mr. Barbn explained that his recipe calls for blanching the fungus in water before it is served. He tore off a piece, and we chewed away, savoring the spicy aftertaste while also hoping the chef was correct in the identification of his mushroom.ImageCredit...Meghan Dhaliwal for The New York TimesImageCredit...Meghan Dhaliwal for The New York TimesAs for the caimans in the lake, they are as much an experiment for conservationists as the chefs. A management program sets strict limits on how many may be hunted, of what size and when during the year. The Tacanas have learned they can earn far more selling certified pelts for export than they made when the hunting was uncontrolled.Now, the clan is also selling the flesh to these enterprising chefs.Meat was always, if you will, on the table as another resource that would allow them to get more out of every animal, said Rob Wallace, a director at the Wildlife Conservation Society in Bolivia, a nongovernmental group that helped the Tacanas develop the conservation plan for the caiman.The hunt, which goes on for several weeks in October, was a family affair. Mothers helped skin the meat as a baby swung in a hammock nearby. Others in the village played games with a large, luckless river turtle that lay on its backside, glum and unable to right itself.In the village, caiman was not the only meat on the menu.At one meal, the chefs discovered a giant tapir a plant-eating mammal about the size of a pig with a short trunk roasting on a grill and helped themselves to the ribs.I have never seen one dismembered this way, said Mr. Barbn, licking his fingers. It is truly delicious.Bernardo Resnikowski, a restaurant manager who wears luxurious sleeve tattoos and moonlights as a D.J., later arrived with two Tacana men carrying machetes and a bowl of red, slightly fermenting fruit, called kecho, which he shared with Ms. Taha and Mr. Barbn.Not enough flesh to eat, but you might blend them in a cocktail was Ms. Tahas verdict as she threw a handful into her mouth.By the time the party next saw the firepit, there were no signs of the tapir. Instead, the giant river turtle had taken its place, doomed to the grill with its shell cracked open and stuffed with potatoes and chili peppers.An old Tacana recipe book contains a litany of ways to make peta, their name for the creature, but the chefs seemed doubtful about the taste of the gooey innards, chewy skin and orphaned paws sitting atop rice.This kind of meat wouldnt be legal to sell anyway, though the Tacanas are allowed to serve it in their villages, Ms. Taha explained, saying the measure was to protect turtle populations.Who said we would sell it to you if it were legal? barked Eduardo Cartagena, one of the village leaders, evidently enjoying his share of the turtle.ImageCredit...Meghan Dhaliwal for The New York TimesImageCredit...Meghan Dhaliwal for The New York TimesAs night settled, the Tacanas were back on Lake Colorada. I sat in the back of a leaky canoe as Rene Rubn Lurici Aguilara, a sharpshooter, stood at the bow, a flashlight wedged between his chin and his shoulder, his rifle scanning the surface of the water.A pair of caiman eyes surfaced, glowing gold in the light of the torch. The hunter took aim. Not quick enough. The caiman submerged, submarine-like.It was the lucky one.By 1 a.m., our boat was heavy with the weight of the bodies of five large reptiles.While Gustu has been selling the caiman meat for some time, Amaz, in Lima, has had trouble getting a license to import the meat into Peru.But over breakfast Mr. Barbn, the Amaz chef, couldnt help but daydream about how he might serve up caiman meat one day for his customers, who have included the celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain.We would try to fry it, he said. Frying is something everyone knows. What would you all do with it?We try to use everything, down to the tail, said Gabriela Lafuente, the owner of El Baqueano in Buenos Aires, who purchases meat from a crocodile farm in Argentina.The chefs turned to Marcelo Saenz, a colleague of theirs at Jardn de Asia in La Paz.He paused for a moment and thought.Caiman sushi, he said.ImageCredit...Meghan Dhaliwal for The New York Times | World |
Science|2016 Likely to Top 2015 as Hottest Year on Record, Scientists Sayhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/15/science/2016-hottest-year-on-record.htmlVideotranscripttranscript2016 Expected to Be Hottest Year on RecordThe previous hottest year on record was 2015, according to the World Meteorological Organization.N/AThe previous hottest year on record was 2015, according to the World Meteorological Organization.CreditCredit...Roberto Schmidt/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 14, 2016This year will be very likely the hottest on record, with global temperatures breaking the previous record, set in 2015, scientists with the World Meteorological Organization announced on Monday.The announcement is no surprise to climate scientists experts at NASA had already projected that 2016 would be a third year of record heat and the record will not be definitive until early next year.But the latest estimate of record-shattering heat comes as world leaders gather in Marrakesh, Morocco, for the annual United Nations talks on limiting the impact of climate change. The meeting is taking place in an atmosphere of alarm. President-elect Donald J. Trump has called human-caused climate change a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese; has vowed to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency in almost every form; and has named Myron Ebell of the business-backed Competitive Enterprise Institute, who has deep oil industry ties, to head his E.P.A. transition team.Preliminary data shows that 2016s global temperatures are approximately 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.16 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. The landmark climate deal reached by 195 nations near Paris last December commits them to holding the increase in temperature to 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the point at which the world would be locked into irreversible and potentially devastating environmental changes.Mr. Trump has vowed to withdraw from the Paris climate deal. It has entered into legal force meaning that countries like the United States cannot legally withdraw for four years but there are many actions the Trump administration could take to limit the execution of the agreement. That prospect has already stirred alarm among the worlds largest countries, and even a warning from China.The meteorological organization found that global temperatures from January to September were about 0.88 degrees Celsius (1.58 degrees Fahrenheit) above the average for the years from 1961 to 1990, a period the organization uses as a baseline. Temperatures spiked early this year because of the weather phenomenon known as El Nio, which exacerbated coral reef bleaching, which is caused by water that is too warm, and a rise in sea levels.Preliminary data for October indicate that they are at a sufficiently high level for 2016 to remain on track for the title of hottest year on record, the organization said. That would mean that 16 of the 17 hottest years on record have been in the 21st century. The other one was 1998.The organization also found that concentrations of major greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continue to increase to record levels; that Arctic sea ice remained at very low levels; and that there was significant, earlier-than-usual melting of the Greenland ice sheet.Petteri Taalas, the secretary general of the organization, noted temperatures above the long-term average of 6 to 7 degrees Celsius (10.8 to 12.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and at least 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) above the long-term average in many parts of Russia, Alaska and northwest Canada.We are used to measuring temperature records in fractions of a degree, and so this is different, he said. Because of climate change, the occurrence and impact of extreme events has risen. Once in a generation heat waves and flooding are becoming more regular. Sea level rise has increased exposure to storm surges associated with tropical cyclones.The organizations statement did not mention Mr. Trump or the United States except to note that Hurricane Matthew, in October, was the deadliest weather event this year, claiming at least 546 lives and injuring 438 people, mostly in the Caribbean. | science |
Credit...Delcan & CompanyMay 6, 2019LONDON In Spain, activists were convicted for social media posts that violated an expanded antiterrorism law. The Twitter accounts of German citizens were blocked because of rules enacted last year that prohibit hate speech. And a Dutch court determined Google must remove search results about a doctor punished for poor performance, in compliance with a privacy law.Heralded as the worlds toughest watchdog of Silicon Valley technology giants, Europe has clamped down on violent content, hate speech and misinformation online through a thicket of new laws and regulations over the past five years. Now there are questions about whether the region is going too far, with the rules leading to accusations of censorship and potentially providing cover to some governments to stifle dissent.The unintended consequences may be compounded as European governments pursue more laws and policies to restrict what communication can be shared online. Last month, Britain proposed appointing an internet regulator who would be empowered to block websites it considers harmful. The European Union is separately debating a law that would require tech companies to quickly remove terrorist-related content online.With the growing body of European legislation, there will be a lower standard for protection of freedom of expression, said David Kaye, a University of California, Irvine, law professor whom the United Nations appointed to spotlight government efforts to restrict free speech. He added that Europes rules erode what had been a shared belief among the United States and other Western democracies to avoid censoring social media posts, YouTube videos, discussion forums and other internet content.The debate in Europe illustrates the difficulties that governments face as they try to regulate the most corrosive material on the internet without choking off individual expression. That is set to flare up elsewhere as other countries also move to pass new laws or impose restrictions on online material.In Sri Lanka, authorities shut off access to social media sites after coordinated terrorist attacks last month left hundreds dead. New Zealand and Australia have put forward restrictions on tech companies after the March massacre of 50 people at two mosques in New Zealand, where the accused gunman used social media to amplify his message. Singapore has also proposed a law to curtail false or misleading information, which critics warned could be used to silence dissent. And India is considering giving itself new powers to suppress digital content.Tech companies themselves are asking for more regulation, rather than delegating enforcement responsibility to their platforms. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive officer, invited Congress in March to set rules for the social network, adding it would be useful to spell out clearly what the responsibilities that we want companies and people and governments to have. On Thursday, Facebook added to the censorship debate when it proactively barred several extremists, including the Infowars founder Alex Jones, from its platform.Dimitris Avramopoulos, a European Commissioner pushing for stricter oversight of the internet, said government intervention was an appropriate response to how social media was being used to glorify terrorism, manipulate elections and spread hateful ideologies. The new battleground is the internet, he said.Ian Russell, who has criticized Instagram and other internet companies for not doing enough to remove self-harm material that he says contributed to his teenage daughters 2017 suicide, said most people will accept reasonable restrictions of the internet if it means cleaning up whats most toxic.We would not consider ourselves to be living in a dictatorship and happily abide by rules and laws, said Mr. Russell, a Briton who now runs the suicide prevention charity, Molly Rose Foundation.But some Europeans are grappling with the fallout.Jrg Rupp, 53, a social worker and political activist in the western German town of Malsch, said he was swept up in Europes new laws. In January 2018, he posted a tweet with altered lyrics to a German song called The Anarchist Pig, adding derisive words about asylum seekers and Chancellor Angela Merkel.Within three hours, his Twitter account was banned. Germany has one of the worlds strictest hate-speech laws, the Network Enforcement Act, which had recently taken effect when Mr. Rupp tweeted. The law mandates that internet companies remove offensive material within 24 hours or face fines of up to 50 million euros, or about $56 million.ImageCredit...Felix Schmitt for The New York TimesMr. Rupp said the tweet was satire, an attempt to use the language of right-wing groups to show their cruelty. Its dangerous at the moment to be ironic, he said. Thats not good for free speech.Mr. Rupp, who has more than 2,000 followers on Twitter, said he sent several emails to Twitters help line and pointed to his other tweets in which he voiced support for immigrants. The company rejected his pleas, he said. He then spent 450 euros, about $500, to hire a lawyer to reactivate his account. Now, he said, he is careful about what he shares online.Twitter said Mr. Rupps account was blocked for violating its terms of service. After a post like Mr. Rupps is flagged by a user, Twitter considers whether it violates internal policies before going through the procedures of the Network Enforcement Act. Last year, the company received more than 500,000 complaints about posts under the German law. It took down about 10 percent; it doesnt specify how many of the removals were classified as violating Twitters policies versus breaking the law.Wolfgang Schulz, the research director at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society in Berlin, said the German law hasnt led to widespread blocking of online content as some initially feared. But it raises questions about requiring internet companies to moderate speech, rather than courts or other public institutions. In the face of political pressure to clean up their platforms, the easier option is to take content down, he said.In a statement, Twitter said freedom of expression is our fundamental guiding principle. It added, regulation needs to strike an appropriate balance between keeping people safe online and preserving their inalienable human rights, and protecting the nature of a free, open internet. Google and Facebook declined to comment.Mr. Rupps experience has been echoed elsewhere, according to watchdog groups. Amnesty International said more than 60 people had been convicted in Spain for what they posted online under an antiterrorism law that was expanded in 2015 to include social media content.One was Cassandra Vera. She was 21 when she was convicted by the Spanish authorities in 2017 over tweets in which she said she was joking about the assassination of a member of Francisco Francos dictatorship. I hadnt done anything bad and yet I was still detained when I was an innocent person, said Ms. Vera, whose one-year sentence was ultimately suspended after her case became a flash point in Spains free speech debateA European privacy standard from 2014, known as the Right to Be Forgotten and which lets people petition Google to remove search results about themselves, has also been criticized for blocking legitimate material. Since 2016, newspapers in Belgium and Italy have removed articles from their archives under the law. Google was also ordered last year to stop listing some search results, including information from 2014 about a Dutch doctor who The Guardian reported was suspended for poor care of a patient.ImageCredit...Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty ImagesJimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, said the incidents represented a warning. Europes regulatory efforts may Balkanize the internet, in which the content available online changes based on where a person is, he said.Unlike a global resource where were sharing information and knowledge, we end up with something severely crippled, he said.The move to regulate internet platforms in Europe has been gathering momentum. Last month, the European Parliament passed a law requiring companies to remove terrorist-related content within one hour or risk fines of up to 4 percent of global revenue. The measure must go through several more legislative steps before being enacted.Critics said the proposed law doesnt clearly define what constitutes objectionable content and delegates too much responsibility to tech companies. In December, United Nations representatives warned the proposed rule may lead to infringements to the right to access to information, freedom of opinion, expression, and association, and impact interlinked political and public interest processes.And in Britain, the government last month proposed sweeping new powers to remove harmful content from the internet, including material supporting terrorism, inciting violence, encouraging suicide, disinformation, cyberbullying and inappropriate material accessible to children.Human rights groups warn the public backlash against tech companies is being used as a pretext to censor speech. At least 17 countries including Malaysia, Egypt and Kenya have cited the spread of fake news when adopting or proposing new internet restrictions, according to Freedom House, a pro-democracy group tracking government internet policies.Julie Owono, executive director of Internet Without Borders, a group tracking internet freedom globally, said Europes activities normalize the removal of content.Freedom of expression, she said, relies solely on the possibility your content wont be suppressed arbitrarily. | Tech |
Credit...Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press, via Associated PressNov. 7, 2018OTTAWA Canadians will closely watch the fate of a newly negotiated trade pact, analysts said, after the American midterm elections brought Democrats to power in the House and injected a new element of uncertainty in trade relations.Polls show that President Trump is widely unpopular among Canadians, experts noted, so the results may have given a measure of satisfaction to some.Theyre going to be happy that this is a bit of a slap in the face of this president, said Dane Rowlands, director of the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa.But while many Canadians didnt like Mr. Trumps negotiating tactics and some aspects of the new trade accord, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, there is a broad consensus that it is better than not having a deal at all with the United States, Canadas largest export market.Just the possibility that the Democrats may stall its ratification in Congress could discourage potential investors in Canada, some fear.Were going to see a reintroduction of uncertainty surrounding trade, said Kim Richard Nossal, the director of the Center for International and Defense Policy at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario.Professor Nossal is among those who expect that the Democrats will take every opportunity to thwart Mr. Trumps agenda, an effort he believes will include stalling or blocking the new trade deal.Professor Rowlands doesnt share that view. While he believes that House Democrats will do their best to block the president, Professor Rowlands said he does not anticipate that the trade pact will become part of that effort.Its not clear that the Democrats would want to die on that hill partly because approving it avoids the difficult question of what else to do, Professor Rowlands said.Colin Robertson, a former Canadian diplomat based in Washington who is now vice president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said that because American unions are pleased with several parts of the U.S.M.C.A., the Democrats are not likely to block the agreement.[Want more Canadian coverage in your inbox? Subscribe to our weekly Canada Letter newsletter.]Canadians will also closely watch the tariffs that Mr. Trump imposed this year on steel and aluminum exports to the United States.Many Canadians were offended Mr. Trump had argued that the Canadian products were a threat to Americans national security. And while Mr. Trump made comments suggesting that the tariffs would be lifted once the previous trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement, was renegotiated, that has not happened.Congress does not have direct control over tariffs, so it is unclear whether the Democrats could influence them.But the change in congressional power could effect climate change policy and environmental law.When Mr. Trudeau came to office in 2015, he made climate change one of his top priorities and swiftly moved to work with the Obama administration on the subject. Mr. Trump has since unwound many of those measures.Mr. Trudeau is now working to keep Canadas national carbon pricing program intact after some provinces refused to participate or withdrew from it. Critics argue that taxes on emissions from Canadian industries put them at a competitive disadvantage with their American counterparts, though Mr. Trudeaus system makes allowances to prevent that.Its likely, Professor Rowlands said, that the House will fight any further environmental rollbacks by the Trump administration. Still, he said, he doubted it would be able to reverse the many significant changes it has made to date.The view here is that the House will be able to contain some of the things the administration has done that, from a Canadian perspective, have been a disaster, he said. | World |
Facebook, Fearing Public Outcry, Shelved Earlier Report on Popular PostsThe company praised itself this week for being the most transparent platform on the internet.Credit...Jeff Chiu/Associated PressPublished Aug. 20, 2021Updated Oct. 25, 2021When Facebook this week released its first quarterly report about the most viewed posts in the United States, Guy Rosen, its vice president of integrity, said the social network had undertaken a long journey to be by far the most transparent platform on the internet. The list showed that the posts with the most reach tended to be innocuous content like recipes and cute animals.Facebook had prepared a similar report for the first three months of the year, but executives never shared it with the public because of concerns that it would look bad for the company, according to internal emails sent by executives and shared with The New York Times.In that report, a copy of which was provided to The Times, the most-viewed link was a news article with a headline suggesting that the coronavirus vaccine was at fault for the death of a Florida doctor. The report also showed that a Facebook page for The Epoch Times, an anti-China newspaper that spreads right-wing conspiracy theories, was the 19th-most-popular page on the platform for the first three months of 2021.The report was nearing public release when some executives, including Alex Schultz, Facebooks vice president of analytics and chief marketing officer, debated whether it would cause a public relations problem, according to the internal emails. The company decided to shelve it.We considered making the report public earlier, said Andy Stone, a Facebook spokesman, but since we knew the attention it would garner, exactly as we saw this week, there were fixes to the system we wanted to make.Mr. Stone said Mr. Schultz had advocated releasing the original report but eventually agreed with the recommendation to hold off. Facebook released the report on Saturday after the publication of this article.Facebook did not say why it decided to produce a popularity report, but it has faced increasing scrutiny over the data it shares with the government and the public, particularly over misinformation about the virus and vaccines. The criticism has escalated as cases from the Delta variant of the coronavirus surged. The White House has called on the company to share more information about false and misleading information on the site, and to do a better job of stopping its spread. Last month, President Biden accused the company of killing people by allowing false information to circulate widely, a statement the White House later softened. Other federal agencies have accused Facebook of withholding key data.Facebook has pushed back, publicly accusing the White House of scapegoating the company for the administrations failure to reach its vaccination goals. Executives at Facebook, including Mark Zuckerberg, its chief executive, have said the platform has been aggressively removing Covid-19 misinformation since the start of the pandemic. The company said it had removed over 18 million pieces of misinformation in that period.But Brian Boland, a former vice president of product marketing at Facebook, said there was plenty of reason to be skeptical about data collected and released by a company that has had a history of protecting its own interests.You cant trust a report that is curated by a company and designed to combat a press narrative rather than real meaningful transparency, Mr. Boland said. Its up to regulators and government officials to bring us that transparency.ImageCredit...Christian Sorensen Hansen for The New York TimesIn this weeks report, which covered public content viewed in Facebooks News Feed from April 1 to June 30, popular links included local news stories, a cat GIF and a Green Bay Packers alumni website. Popular posts, which were seen by tens of millions of accounts, included viral question-and-answer prompts and memes.Most of the companys draft report, like the one Facebook released on Wednesday, showed that the 20 most-viewed links on Facebook in the United States were to nonpolitical content, like recipe sites and stories about the United Nations Childrens Fund.But the rejected report also included the article about the doctors death in Florida. The headline of the article, from The South Florida Sun Sentinel and republished by The Chicago Tribune: A healthy doctor died two weeks after getting a COVID-19 vaccine; CDC is investigating why.This link was viewed by nearly 54 million Facebook accounts in the United States. Many commenters on the post raised questions about the vaccines safety. Six of the top 20 sharers came from public Facebook pages that regularly post anti-vaccination content on Facebook, according to data from CrowdTangle, a social media analytics firm owned by Facebook. Other top sharers of the story included Filipino Facebook pages supporting President Rodrigo Duterte, a pro-Israel Facebook group and a page called Just the Facts, which described itself as putting out the Truth even when the media wont.Months later, the medical examiners report said there wasnt enough evidence to say whether the vaccine contributed to the doctors death. Far fewer people on Facebook saw that update.The 19th-most-popular page on the social network in the earlier report was Trending World by the Epoch Times, a publication that has promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory and spread misleading claims about voter fraud before the 2020 presidential election. The Epoch Times is barred from advertising on Facebook because of its repeated violations of the platforms political advertising policy.Trending World, according to the report, was viewed by 81.4 million accounts, slightly fewer than the 18th-most-popular page, Fox News, which had 81.7 million content viewers for the first three months of 2021.Facebooks transparency report released on Wednesday also showed that an Epoch Times subscription link was among the most viewed in the United States. With some 44.2 million accounts seeing the link in April, May and June, it was about half as popular as Trending World in the shelved report.Sheera Frenkel and Mike Isaac contributed reporting. Jacob Silver and Ben Decker contributed research. | Tech |
Credit...Joe Castro/European Pressphoto AgencyMay 3, 2019SYDNEY, Australia Taxi drivers in Australia are suing Uber over lost income, just days before the ride-sharing giants stock begins trading publicly in the United States.In a class-action lawsuit filed on Friday, more than 6,000 taxi, limousine and other types of drivers claim that they were hurt financially by Ubers 2012 arrival in the country, their lawyers said.The drivers contend that Uber is operating illegally in Australia because it started its business before receiving regulatory approval.While other ride-hailing companies waited for legislative approval before setting up business, said Rod Barton, a former driver and one of the lead plaintiffs in the suit, Uber just jumped in, boots and all, ignoring the law and eroding the value of a multibillion-dollar national industry.The drivers are seeking to recover income they say they lost as a result of Ubers entry into the market and an accompanying loss in the value of their commercial driving licenses. Mr. Barton estimated the amount at hundreds of millions of Australian dollars.It is not acceptable for a business to place itself above the law and operate illegally to the disadvantage of others, Andrew Watson, a lawyer with the firm Maurice Blackburn, which is representing the drivers, said in a statement.Weve got a strong case, a strong team and substantial support from thousands of drivers, operators and license owners nationwide, he added.An Uber spokeswoman said the company had not been served with a claim and denied operating illegally in Australia. Any claim making that assertion, she said, would be vigorously defended.Uber shares are expected to begin trading publicly next week, and the company expects to be worth as much as $91 billion when the selling begins, making its initial public offering one of the largest in the history of the technology industry.Uber recently settled a long-running legal battle with drivers in California and Massachusetts, who wanted it to recognize them as employees. The company agreed to pay the drivers $20 million without changing their status as independent contractors. In 2016, Uber agreed to pay $28.5 million to settle a class-action suit in the United States that challenged the companys claims that its background checks for drivers were industry leading.Maurice Blackburn, the law firm, said it had filed the suit as a class action in the Supreme Court in the state of Victoria. Plaintiffs in Australia do not have to be certified as a class by a court before a class action can proceed, as they do in the United States. A court can still decide whether a class-action suit makes sense for the parties involved, and the defendant can challenge class-action status in court.Mr. Barton, a former driver for hire and now a representative to the Victorian Legislative Council as a member of the Transport Matters political party, told reporters that he and one other driver had begun planning for the legal battle three years ago.People have lost their jobs, their incomes, their businesses, and they have faced extreme financial hardship, he said in a statement. The pressure on taxi and hire car operators and their families has been immense.Sadly, in some cases the pressure has been too much, and weve lost lives, he added.More than 3.8 million people regularly use Uber in Australia for rides or food delivery, and more than 80,000 drivers and delivery partners are associated with its platforms, the company said.In the past, various state governments in Australia have sought to deregulate the taxi industry and provide traditional taxi drivers some sort of compensation. New South Wales offered a $250 million industry adjustment package to compensate drivers. In Western Australia, a new tax was introduced to finance a taxi plate buyback program. In Victoria, taxi drivers staged protests in 2017 that caused peak-hour chaos as the government moved to abolish taxi licenses. | Tech |
Credit...Photonews, via Getty ImagesNov. 5, 2018BRUSSELS Delphine Bol grew up certain that she should be a princess. Now a court ruling and a DNA test could make it true.Ms. Bol, 50, is a Belgian visual artist who claims that she was conceived during an extramarital affair between King Albert II of Belgium and Ms. Bols mother, Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps.The court ruling, published Monday, gave credence to her claim and ordered Albert to submit DNA evidence to determine whether he is Ms. Bols biological father.Like some countries in Europe, Belgium still has a king who is theoretically above the law, and cannot be arrested, prosecuted or convicted. Protocol stipulates that no one can even ask him a question in public. But the court ruling shows that even a king can be held accountable once he relinquishes the throne which Albert did in 2013.Ms. Bol filed her lawsuit after the kings abdication, seeking recognition as his biological daughter. If successful, the suit could eventually make her legally part of the royal family and potentially the 16th in line of succession to the throne.During the late 1960s, at the time of the alleged affair, Albert was Prince Albert of Lige and was married to Paola Ruffo di Calabria, an Italian princess with whom he had three children. But he did not expect to become king, as his brother was first in line.He was known for roaming the coasts of southern France as part of the jeunesse dore, a high society of dazzlingly rich and morally casual youths in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s.It was during this time that Albert had a long lasting love affair with Baroness Sybille, who then gave birth to Ms. Bol, according to Ms. Bols lawyer, Marc Uyttendaele.ImageCredit...Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Associated PressFor quite a long time this girl was hidden by her mother, Mr. Uyttendaele said, referring to Ms. Bol, even though Albert regularly visited her and was present in her life.In 1993, Albert unexpectedly became king after his brother, King Baudouin, died of heart failure at age 62, leaving no children. At that point, Alberts connection with Baroness Sybille ended, and the existence of Ms. Bol became a state secret, Mr. Uyttendaele said. Ms. Bol felt rejected, he added.In 1999, a journalist, Mario Danneels, published a book about Queen Paola, called Paola: From La Dolce Vita to Queen, revealing Ms. Bols existence to the general public.Albert never explicitly denied the allegation and even seemed to allude to it during his Christmas speech that year, saying that the royal couple had experienced a crisis about 30 years earlier, which it had overcome, adding that "this period has been recalled to us a short while ago.An outpouring of public criticism of the king and support for Ms. Bol ensued. This convinced her to speak out and, after Albert abdicated the throne and became a regular citizen again, sue.In its decision on Monday, the court in Brussels gave the king until February 2019 to provide a DNA sample.A lawyer for Albert, Guy Hiernaux, said that Albert would think about the appropriate reaction to todays decision, which is not in his favor.Either His Majesty accepts the decision and delivers the DNA within three months, or he refuses a DNA test which is fully his right, but would plead against him or he appeals the decision in Belgiums highest court, Mr. Hiernaux said. In any case, bringing a king or a former king to justice is unheard-of in Belgian history, he said.Asked whether Ms. Bol could claim a succession to the Belgian throne, Mr. Hiernaux said that if shes proven to be his biological daughter, she could hypothetically take his aristocratic name, which is Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.But to become a member of the royal family and claim succession to the throne, she would first need the agreement of the Belgian government and were not quite there yet, he said. | World |
College Basketball RoundupCredit...Andy Manis/Associated PressFeb. 9, 2014DAngelo Harrison had 19 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2 minutes 8 seconds to play, and St. Johns beat No. 12 Creighton, 70-65, at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.Chris Obekpa tied his career high with 11 points for the Red Storm (15-9, 5-6 Big East), who avenged their only loss in a seven-game stretch.Doug McDermott matched his nation-leading average with 25 points for the Bluejays (19-4, 9-2), who had won 14 of 15 and had been tied for the conference lead with Villanova. McDermott, who had 39 points when the teams met two weeks ago, did not score over the final 8:40 on Sunday.WISCONSIN 60, MICHIGAN ST. 58 Traevon Jackson hit a pull-up jumper for host Wisconsin with 2.1 seconds left, after Michigan States Adreian Payne had tied the game with a 3-pointer, and the Badgers beat the ninth-ranked Spartans.Wisconsin (19-5, 6-5 Big Ten) finished the first half on an 11-0 run for a 30-22 lead at the break and then withstood a late rally by Michigan State (20-4, 9-2).SYRACUSE 57, CLEMSON 44 C. J. Fair had 19 points to lead No. 1 Syracuse past visiting Clemson.Syracuse (23-0, 10-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) extended its team record for wins to start a season and matched its mark for consecutive wins. The game was the 10th time Clemson (15-7, 6-4) faced the No. 1 team in the nation, and the Tigers have yet to win. ARIZONA 76, OREGON STATE 54 Aaron Gordon scored 17 points, and No. 2 Arizona rediscovered its shooting touch in a win over visiting Oregon State.After two weeks of struggles on offense, Arizona (23-1, 10-1 Pacific-12) finally found some answers in its second game without the injured forward Brandon Ashley. Oregon State (13-10, 5-6) could not spring Roberto Nelson, the conferences leading scorer, who was held to 10 points.UCONN 75, CENTRAL FLORIDA 55 Lasan Kromah and Shabazz Napier each had 17 points and 7 rebounds to lead No. 22 Connecticut over host Central Florida.The Huskies (18-5, 6-4 American Athletic Conference) also got 16 points from DeAndre Daniels.Isaiah Sykes led the Knights (9-12, 1-9) with 17 points.MANHATTAN 78, NIAGARA 77 Rhamel Brown scored 22 points and blocked six shots, including a potential game-winning layup at the buzzer, as Manhattan (17-6, 10-4 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) edged host Niagara (6-19, 3-11).IONA 101, CANISIUS 91 A. J. English scored a career-high 32 points, and visiting Iona (15-8, 12-2 MAAC) defeated Canisius (16-9, 10-4) and remained atop the conference.WOMENNOTRE DAME 101, SYRACUSE 64 Jewell Loyd scored 23 points, and second-ranked Notre Dame opened a 33-point halftime en route to overwhelming visiting Syracuse, as Coach Muffet McGraw (737-258) tied Kay Yow of North Carolina State for 11th place in career wins.The Irish (23-0, 10-0 A.C.C.) matched the best start in program history. Notre Dame also began 23-0 in 2000-1 before winning the national championship.Brittney Sykes led Syracuse (17-7, 6-5) with 14 points.WASHINGTON 87, STANFORD 82 Kelsey Plum had 23 points, and host Washington held off No. 3 Stanford for an upset victory. It was the highest-ranked opponent the Huskies have beaten since they topped Stanford in 1990 when it was ranked second.The loss ended a 62-game road conference winning streak for Stanford (22-2, 11-1 Pac-12) and a 14-game run against Washington (13-10, 6-6). Stanfords only other loss this season came at No. 1 Connecticut. S. CAROLINA 67, ARKANSAS 49 Aleighsa Welch scored 16 points and had a career-high five blocks to lead No. 6 South Carolina over visiting Arkansas.The Gamecocks (22-2, 10-1) maintained their hold on first place in the Southeastern Conference with their sixth straight win. Arkansas (16-8, 3-8) finished the half with just six field goals.BAYLOR 81, OKLAHOMA ST. 64 Odyssey Sims scored 33 points, and No. 7 Baylor clinched its 14th consecutive 20-win season with a home victory over No. 12 Oklahoma State. The Lady Bears (20-3, 10-1 Big 12) have won 33 consecutive conference home games. Liz Donohoe had 22 points for Oklahoma State (19-4, 8-4).PENN STATE 74, OHIO STATE 54 Maggie Lucas had 23 points, including 12 during a 21-3 run, to lead No. 9 Penn State (18-5, 9-2 Big Ten) past visiting Ohio State (14-13, 4-7).MARYLAND 95, CLEMSON 43 Alyssa Thomas scored 22 points as No. 10 Maryland (19-4, 7-3 A.C.C.) breezed past visiting Clemson (11-14, 3-8). | Sports |
Credit...Lefteris Pitarakis/Associated PressNov. 6, 2018GENEVA China faced calls on Tuesday from Western government to end its mass detention of Uighur Muslims, but brusquely rebuffed the concerns as not factual and politically driven.China is here to seek cooperation, said its vice foreign minister, Le Yucheng, at the opening of a review by the United Nations Human Rights Council. He pointed to Chinas achievements in lifting millions of people from poverty, largely skirting its treatment of ethnic minorities.The focus and tone changed after North American and European diplomats expressed concern over deteriorating human rights and a crackdown in the western region of Xinjiang that has swept upwards of a million people into indefinite detention in re-education camps. The Muslim detainees are told that they are infected with an ideological virus, and are indoctrinated in devotion to the state and the Communist Party.Representatives of the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Australia and other countries called for an end to the detention of Uighurs and members of other minority groups, and urged respect for freedom of religion, expression and association.The issue has emerged as a point of tension in Chinese-American relations, with tough statements by Nikki R. Haley, the outgoing ambassador to the United Nations, and more recently by Vice President Mike Pence. Congress increased the pressure last month by threatening sanctions against those involved in the program.Mr. Le said called Chinas re-education camps a preventive measure to deter people from terrorism and enable them to fit into society. Courses offered by European schools had even provided some of the inspiration for Chinas approach, he added.Mr. Le, heading a delegation of more than 60 officials, brushed aside concerns about Chinas crackdown on human rights activists under President Xi Jinping. Everybody is equal before the law, he maintained. Why are these criminals being praised as good people or human rights defenders?In August, a United Nations panel reported that China had turned Xinjiang into a massive internment camp and questioned the fate of Uighur students who disappeared after returning from abroad.In the ensuing weeks, China launched a sophisticated propaganda campaign, including a television documentary presenting images of classroom studies far removed from the harsh conditions in re-education camps. In an interview published by the official Xinhua news agency, Shohrat Zakir, chairman of Xinjiangs government and the countrys highest-ranking Uighur, said the camps had won widespread acceptance and wholehearted support of the public in Xinjiang.Independent reports have shown that China continues to expand the internment centers in Xinjiang.The countrys stance at Tuesdays hearing, which came ahead of a visit to China this month by representatives of the Security Council, signaled an evolution from the blanket denials offered in August in reponse to questions about the internment camps.The threat of terrorism was quite serious, said Yasheng Sidike, a member of the Chinese delegation at the hearing and the mayor of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. With these measures, the space for terrorism has been reduced.There have been no violent episodes in Xinjiang for 22 consecutive months, he said, and the people he described as attendees of the camps never thought life could be so colorful and meaningful.But Sophie Richardson, China director for Human Rights Watch, said in a telephone interview that China did not earn itself a shred of credibility today.China has failed utterly to respond to factual questions about why people are being held against their will in huge numbers and how long they are being held for, she said.Criticism of China on Tuesday came almost exclusively from Western governments, while those from Africa and the Middle East praised Chinas economic progress a split that some analysts said would give China some satisfaction.China is trying to develop a response that can at least keep allies at the U.N. comfortable or deflect international criticism, James Leibold, a China expert at La Trobe University in Australia. What they probably fear the most is if this was to become one which Muslim countries start to think this is unacceptable. That would be far more damaging. | World |
Credit...Office of the Iranian Presidency, via Associated PressNov. 5, 2018The Trump administration called it the biggest sanctions action the United States had ever undertaken against Iran. Irans president called it an act of economic war and said his country would win.The package of severe economic penalties imposed against Iran on Monday by the United States is the most significant part of President Trumps decision last May to abandon the Iranian nuclear agreement of 2015, which he has described as a disaster.The penalties include some gaping exceptions that could undermine their impact, among them: Irans biggest petroleum customers, like China and India, will not be penalized, at least for six months.Nonetheless, Irans oil, shipping and banking industries could take a significant hit and its weakened currency could plunge further under the sanctions, which Mr. Trump has said are intended to stop what he considers Irans unacceptable actions in the Middle East.President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, emboldened by widespread criticism of Mr. Trumps sanctions policy, including from Americas closest allies, responded defiantly on Monday. He said his country would not bend to the language of force, pressure and threats, and vowed to break the sanctions.While the outcome of the confrontation is unclear, experts on Iran and sanctions said Irans already struggling economy will definitely feel more pain.This will make everything substantially more difficult if not impossible in some areas for Iran, said Farhad R. Alavi, managing partner of the Akrivis Law Group, a Washington firm that specializes in sanctions and export law. Revenues are coming down and costs are going up.Here are the basics of the administrations latest Iran sanctions, Irans response, and what could happen next:What did the United States do Monday?The Trump administration made good on its pledge to reimpose the most economically onerous penalties on Iran that had been eased or lifted under the nuclear agreement negotiated by the United States and other world powers three years ago.The administration threatened to penalize buyers of Iranian oil as part of its stated goal to reduce Irans petroleum exports to zero. It blacklisted 50 Iranian banks and subsidiaries, more than 200 people and ships, Irans national airline and more than 65 Iranian aircraft.Under such sanctions, the United States can seize assets under its jurisdiction that are owned by blacklisted people and entities. The sanctions also forbid commercial relations with those people or entities.What does Mr. Trump want from Iran?The president contends that the nuclear agreement did nothing to deter Iran from eventually obtaining nuclear weapons, and wants the restrictions imposed by the accord to be permanent. He also wants Iran to abandon its ballistic missile development and to stop supporting militant groups in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere that the United States regards as terrorist organizations.What does Iran say?The Iranians have accused the United States of duplicity and of violating international law for reneging on an agreement it reached not just with Iran but five other major powers: Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany. All of them still support the accord, and its validity was reaffirmed by a United Nations Security Council resolution.President Rouhani said that his country would proudly break the reimposed sanctions and that Iran was engaged in an economic war with the United States.Punctuating the message of defiance, Irans military tested new missiles as part of its air defense system in a large exercise hours after the sanctions resumed.Irans foreign minister, Mohammed Javad Zarif, an outspoken critic of Mr. Trumps, said the sanctions reinforced what he called the growing isolation of the United States.VideotranscripttranscriptWere Stuck in the Middle: How Young Iranians Feel About U.S. SanctionsThe United States was the only country to leave the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran. The Trump administration quickly moved to snap back crippling sanctions on Iran. We spoke with the countrys top diplomat and young Iranians to see how these moves have affected their lives.Arash is one of the many Iranians I spoke with on Telegram to see how theyre dealing with U.S. sanctions. He says hes having trouble buying the bare essentials his family needs. The U.S. was the only country to leave the multilateral nuclear deal, and quickly moved to put pressure on Iran. We will be instituting the highest level of economic sanction. Economic pressure is nothing new for Iranians, but many say this is the most hopeless theyve ever felt. Many Iranians I spoke with seemed exhausted by this back-and-forth with the West and frustrated by the gridlock. One person was against the Iranian government altogether and saw Trumps exit from the nuclear deal as a blessing. And it could get worse: The U.S. imposed a second round of sanctions on Iran on Nov. 5. This round is focused on stopping the sales of Iranian oil and petrochemical products. It could be a big hit to Irans economy because oil generated $50 billion in revenue last year. Irans foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, isnt backing down despite sanctions and tough talk from the U.S. We have, in fact, survived in spite of the U.S. pressure for 40 years. If they try to put pressure on Iran, if they try to threaten Iran, Iranians respond very negatively to pressure and threats. And it will further strengthen the resolve of the Iranian people to resist. International companies started to cut ties with Iran after Trump left the nuclear agreement in May. In the face of U.S. sanctions, many companies got cold feet and got out of the Iranian market. But some countries, like India, China and Turkey, say they are committed to buying Iranian oil despite the threat of U.S. sanctions. And Zarif says the U.S. posturing impacts how Iranians want to interact with the West. Well, the Iranians have lost some hope in engagement. But the international community has failed. So, that has long-term consequences for Irans foreign policy behavior. For now, both countries are steadfast in their positions and people are continuing to be caught in the middle.The United States was the only country to leave the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran. The Trump administration quickly moved to snap back crippling sanctions on Iran. We spoke with the countrys top diplomat and young Iranians to see how these moves have affected their lives.CreditCredit...Arash Khamooshi for The New York TimesWhy did the U.S. grant exceptions on Irans oil exports?The Trump administration says it wants to deny Iran the revenue it gets from oil, the countrys most important export, but to do so in a way that will not destabilize the world market. A total ban on Iranian oil exports could constrict the supply and spike prices an outcome Mr. Trump regards as politically dangerous.On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that as part of the reimposed sanctions, eight important oil importers China, India, South Korea, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Japan and Taiwan would receive 180-day exceptions, or waivers, letting them buy Iranian oil as long as they show reductions in the amounts.More than 20 countries already have cut their imports of Iranian oil, shrinking Irans exports by about one million barrels a day, Mr. Pompeo said.American officials would need great leverage to induce China and India, Irans biggest customers, to cut off all their imports; the two nations have enormous energy needs. Chinese leaders are incensed over the intensifying trade war begun by Mr. Trump, and they are wary about the diplomacy Mr. Trump is conducting with North Korea over that countrys nuclear program.Given all that, experts say, it is unlikely that China and India will end all imports of Iranian oil even after the 180-day waivers expire.I think the U.S. made the calculation that market stability and geopolitical relationships superseded interests in trying to bring down Iranian exports, said Henry Rome, an Iran analyst at the Eurasia Group, a Washington-based political risk consultancy.Have the oil sanctions affected prices?The global petroleum market, having anticipated that the Trump administration would grant some exceptions, had no significant reaction to the announcement. Prices of Brent crude, an international benchmark, were little changed Monday, and in the range of $73 to $74 a barrel.Ellen R. Wald, a senior fellow at the Global Energy Center of the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based research group, said in a telephone news briefing about the sanctions that any price increases could be further blunted by the additional supplies anticipated next year from other exporters, including the United States.If that happens, she said, the administration can push countries to cut Iranian imports even more and not see much effect on American consumers.Why are European allies angry?Despite Mr. Trumps complaints about the nuclear agreement, Britain, France and Germany regard it as a success. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the proliferation monitor of the United Nations, has repeatedly said Iran is in compliance with the deals terms.So the Europeans are angry the United States is using its enormous economic leverage to threaten European companies that wish to do business with Iran. Many of them have abandoned the country.More broadly, the Europeans fear instability in Iran, which could bring security problems and migrants, and they worry the United States is taking steps that could destabilize the country.The Europeans have sought to establish an alternative payment system with Iran that would bypass American sanctions, enabling them to conduct business without risking penalties from the United States. But the system has yet to be completed, and the Americans have essentially ridiculed the idea, warning that they could sabotage the system by simply adding it to their sanctions blacklist.Despite Irans bluster, are its leaders worried?Some speeches from Iranian officials have reflected concern. Farhad Dajpesand, Irans minister of economy, said this was probably the most sensitive period for the country since the governments founding after the Islamic revolution in 1979.The minister of interior, Abdul Raza Rahmani Fazli, suggested that the recent wave of economic protests in Iran was a serious challenge. The protests were driven in part by the failure of the nuclear agreement to bring the economic benefits Mr. Rouhani had promised, although corruption and mismanagement also were regarded as underlying causes.Is Irans economy at risk of collapse?Irans biggest critics may say it is, pointing to a severe drop in the value of Irans currency since Mr. Trump first took office. But many Iran analysts say the impact of the reimposed sanctions is far from clear.Theres a big difference between crisis and collapse, Mr. Rome said. I think theyre on the verge of a crisis. They will have a very difficult time ensuring sufficient food supplies and medicine. But Iran has been through severe challenges in the past. Theres nothing weve seen that theyre somehow on the verge of just giving up. | World |
Rams Coach Sean McVay Insanely Hot GF Hits Maui In Bikini ... You're Welcome 1/27/2018 Sean McVay had a GREAT first season with the Rams. He's having an even better off-season. The 32-year-old wonder coach flew to Hawaii for a little R&R with his insanely smokin' hot girlfriend Veronika Khomyn ... and the vacation photos are excellent. Seems the two are just blowing off some steam in Maui after a long NFL season -- and it's well deserved. McVay led the Rams to an 11-5 record, 1st in the NFC West. As for Veronika ... she's 28, she's from Ukraine and she met McVay when he was just a lowly tight end coach for the Washington Redskins back in the day. Good move ... on both their parts! | Entertainment |
Credit...Lam Yik Fei for The New York TimesNov. 5, 2018SHENZHEN, China Shortly after taking over as Chinas leader, Xi Jinping made a pilgrimage to lay a wreath at a large bronze monument to one of his predecessors, the man credited with ushering in the countrys new era of capitalist prosperity 40 years ago, Deng Xiaoping.Mr. Xis gesture here in the southern city of Shenzhen was hardly remarkable. Deng is second only to Mao in the pantheon of Communist Chinas founding fathers, and his influence and popularity lingered long after his death in 1997. Every Chinese leader since has sought to position himself as heir to Dengs legacy.Mr. Xi, though, now appears to be taking a different approach.A large painting of his visit to the monument is touring museums across China ahead of the December anniversary of the Communist Party leadership meeting that Deng used to inaugurate the countrys reform and opening up. In it, Mr. Xi stands front and center, while Dengs statue is a distant image receding into a golden sunset.It is the latest example of what some observers see as a concerted effort to elevate Mr. Xis role in the partys official history, largely at Dengs expense a propaganda shift that could have a profound impact on Chinese politics and policymaking.ImageCredit...Aly Song/ReutersMr. Xi has not sought to erase Deng entirely. He traveled to southern China last month on a visit with deliberate echoes of Dengs famous 1992 tour of the region, for example. Dengs stature has been diminished, however, as Mr. Xi has centralized power and enhanced his own image with a lavish, highly choreographed multimedia campaign that critics have derided as a throwback to Maos cult of personality.Xi certainly isnt content to operate in Dengs shadow, said Julian B. Gewirtz, a scholar at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard, adding that Mr. Xi wanted to establish a distinctive political system with himself at the center.Mr. Gewirtz noted that Mr. Xis predecessors, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, owed their positions and political legitimacy to Deng. Mr. Xi, by contrast, rose to national prominence only after Dengs death and is the first Chinese leader to take power without having been elevated by Deng into the partys top ranks.Still, Dengs legacy represents both a challenge to and a potential constraint on Mr. Xi a historical yardstick by which he is being measured, and a source of tradition that others in the party can use to limit Mr. Xis options.In many ways, Mr. Xi has favored policies that depart from Dengs agenda. In addition to self-aggrandizing propaganda, which Deng eschewed, Mr. Xi has pressed a more assertive foreign policy that openly challenges the United States, worked to limit Western influence on Chinese society and sought to shield Chinese companies from foreign competition.ImageCredit...Lintao Zhang/Getty ImagesMr. Xi has also removed constitutional term limits on the presidency, prompting many Chinese to quote Dengs warning from 1980 that tenure for life could only corrupt party leaders a dig at Mr. Xi that was censored as quickly as it appeared online.More recently, a speech by Dengs influential son, Deng Pufang, at the annual congress of the China Disabled Persons Federation in September has attracted attention because portions of it were viewed as an oblique critique of Mr. Xis far-reaching ambitions.We must always maintain a pragmatic attitude and a clear mind, said Mr. Deng, who was paralyzed in an attack during the Cultural Revolution and serves as chairman of the federation. We should be neither overconfident nor belittle ourselves.Mr. Xi has consolidated his position as Chinas supreme leader and appears to face no significant political rival. After a summer of discontent over the threat of a protracted trade war with the United States and pushback against the infrastructure investments at the heart of his Belt and Road Initiative, Mr. Xi has reasserted his place atop the political system.The coming anniversary of the reforms associated with Deng remains fraught for Mr. Xi, however, because the nations direction under his leadership continues to draw unfavorable comparisons to Dengs hide your strength, bide your time approach at least among some liberal-minded analysts and officials.ImageCredit...Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesThe party celebrated the 30th anniversary with great fanfare in 2008, but official plans to commemorate the 40th anniversary this year have been scaled back considerably, according to a veteran journalist with a state news outlet. Once you dredge up these matters, its very easy to lose control and set off new debate, the journalist said, speaking on condition of anonymity.During Mr. Xis visit to southern China last month, he noted the coming anniversary, attended an exhibition devoted to it and vowed to continue the economic transition that Deng began, but did not mention Deng at least in the remarks chronicled by the state news media.Inevitably, many compared the trip to the famous southern tour in 1992 that Deng used to steer the nation back toward market-oriented policies and out of the diplomatic isolation and economic retrenchment that followed the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.Xi Jinping has been pickpocketing policies from the Deng era, Geremie R. Barm, an Australian scholar of China, wrote this summer. He does so while diminishing the man hailed for decades as the Architect of Reform and the Opening Door Policies. At the same, he crucially overrides aspects of Dengs legacy that might limit his afflatus and sense of mission.Mr. Barm, in an interview, said Mr. Xi was eager to position himself as the greater unifier after Mao, relegating Deng and the leaders who followed him to an era of economic transition leading to a new era of strength that only he can achieve. Tellingly, Mr. Xis trip included a visit to Chinas southern military command, where he urged commanders to strengthen the mission and focus on preparations for fighting a war.ImageCredit...Lam Yik Fei for The New York TimesThe painting of Mr. Xi visiting the monument to Deng is part of an exhibition that first appeared in Beijing and then in the southern province of Guangdong. It covers the 40 years of reform and opening up, but Deng appears clearly in only one painting seated, smoking a cigarette and listening to a lecture by the party secretary of Guangdong, Mr. Xis father, Xi Zhongxun.We all know that Deng Xiaoping is, of course, the helmsman, a very great figure, but many people dont know that Comrade Xi Zhongxun is also being studied by a lot of people nowadays, said Fan Bo, an artist who was commissioned to create a portrait of the elder Xi for the exhibition.It shows Mr. Xis father, his pants rolled up, bathed in a ray of light through the clouds, speaking with workers on the site of Shenzhens first special economic zone. Mr. Fan titled the painting First Steps.Its an objective restoration of the historical fact, he said.Others are pushing back against efforts to diminish Dengs legacy.Chinese society today is a result of Dengs reform and opening up, wrote Sheng Hong, the director of the Unirule Institute of Economics, in a recent essay. There is a countercurrent at the moment. However, it should not be very difficult to resist the countercurrent and maintain Dengs vision for further reform and opening up.On Monday, Mr. Sheng said on Twitter that he was told not to attend a conference at Harvard devoted to the anniversary and Dengs legacy on the grounds that it would endanger national security. | World |
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/11/technology/ebay-survival-lesson.htmlon techEBay is not reimagining space travel, and thats totally fine.VideoCreditCredit...Kiel MutschelknausAug. 11, 2021This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it.I want it to be OK for a company to be just OK. Thats why I want to talk about eBay.Some of you might vaguely remember shopping on eBay in the peak Beanie Babies era, or maybe you never think about eBay at all. The value of stuff sold on Amazon is about six times what eBay sells each year.But eBay may have found a groove. Its premature to call it a success, but shoppers have been buying more there and the company has made peace with not being an everything store. Instead, eBay is trying to focus on what it does best. (On Wednesday, the company said the total value of purchases made on eBay declined in the past three months compared with the same stretch of 2020, when pandemic online shopping was at its peak.)EBays former chief executive aspired to make a bigger difference around the world. The new eBay is mostly trying to keep its loyal shoppers and merchants happy.I know that Im making eBay sound like a college graduate who would rather chill out than stress over success. But what if relatively modest ambitions were good enough? Its not always a good thing for people and companies to have the most grand dreams imaginable.Let me rewind to eBays dark period before 2019, when it was both surprisingly successful and underwhelming.EBay for years occupied a distant second place to Amazon among shopping websites in the United States, but it was losing ground even as Americans bought far more online. EBay was outfoxed by both Walmart and Amazon and by smaller online specialists like Etsy. The company went through drama, including noisy investors who wanted eBay to dramatically change and a chief executive who disagreed with their ideas and quit two years ago.Slowly and incompletely since then, eBay has remodeled itself. It ditched some businesses and directed its attention to selling in areas that are reminiscent of eBays 1990s roots: used items, slightly past-their-peak products such as last years popular toys, and collectibles including sneakers, luxury watches and trading cards.No, building a better digital forum for these items is not a pulse-racing innovation. But sales have been going up again. Colin Sebastian, a stock analyst with the investment firm Baird, told me that eBay still needs time to prove that its recent improvements arent solely because people have shopped everywhere online throughout the pandemic. Well see if eBay has landed on a formula for a solid and sustainable shopping site for years to come.Its also possible that eBay may be missing a chance to be a little more reckless to grab for our loyalty at a moment when peoples shopping habits are more in flux than theyve been for a long time.But I want to appreciate what some of eBays boring fixes and humility about its mission have done so far. Along with Shopify, the largely unseen powerhouse behind many local business websites, eBay may be showing that there is a third path in technology between the beyond-Earth riches of titans like Amazon and Google and the industrys craters of failure.One of the lessons of Big Tech is we all may be better off if we didnt rely so much on a handful of major powers. Once theyre so big, companies can dictate access to information, habits around personal data and business models in ways that should make us a little uncomfortable. Its healthy if we have more alternatives both pie-in-the-sky ones and modest ones like eBay to keep the big guys on their toes.Before we go Soccer stars asked for Facebooks help: My colleagues Ryan Mac and Tariq Panja trace the internal deliberations at Facebook over what to do about racist online abuse of Black soccer players in Britain. Ultimately players were left largely on their own to try to filter out hateful language directed at them online.Clawing back control over the cloud: Brian X. Chen reminds us that the content we access on our smartphones doesnt really belong to us, but instead to the companies that save the material on their computer systems. Brian explains the benefits and the drawbacks of the cloud, and the steps he took to regain some independent ownership of his data.A meditation on grief and technology: A BuzzFeed News editor writes about how smartphone photos, text messages and other digital artifacts of her dead mother sometimes were joyful and other times brought unwelcome memories over which she had little control.Hugs to thisThis kitty cat is an adorable but possibly ineffective fly swatter. (Beware the salty language, and thanks to my colleague Davey Alba for tweeting this one.) | Tech |
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. | World |
Credit...T.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York TimesDec. 8, 2015WASHINGTON The federal government will make significant changes to strengthen a rating system for cars that has for years awarded high marks to almost all vehicles, even those that have been the subjects of multiple safety recalls.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced on Tuesday that its five-star rating system would be revised to consider new crash avoidance technologies and pedestrian protections that have become more prevalent in vehicles in recent years.The agency also said it would revise the rating system to include additional crash tests and new advanced crash-test dummies with more sensors.Were going to raise the bar for protecting vehicle occupants, Anthony Foxx, the transportation secretary, said during a news conference at the Department of Transportation. He was flanked by two crashed vehicles and four of the new, more humanlike dummies.We ultimately want to eliminate crashes altogether, he said.The rating system, with origins that date from 1978, allows the agency to award as many as five stars to vehicles based on crash protection and rollover safety. Ratings can be a powerful government seal of approval for automakers, which have used them in advertising.The system came under fire last year after a New York Times investigation revealed that in recent years nearly all vehicles were awarded four or five stars.The investigation found that, for models from 2011 through 2015, 92 percent of the overall safety ratings were four or five stars. And notably, the percentage of four- and five-star overall ratings increased each year, from 83 percent for 2011 models to 96 percent for 2015 models, even though the standards had ostensibly been toughened in 2011.In the case of Chevrolet, six of the eight cars it had trumpeted as having five stars in early 2014 more than any other brand, it said would later be recalled for various safety defects, some more than once.The day after The Times article was published, lawmakers criticized the agency and its acting administrator at the time, David J. Friedman, over the rating program at a hearing held by a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. You see five stars. You think that is the Good Housekeeping seal of approval, Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, said at the hearing. The consumer is misled.During the hearing, Mr. Friedman defended the five-star system and objected to the article, but acknowledged that officials at the agency had talked internally about how to make it clearer to consumers that vehicles rated under the program could be recalled.Now, safety regulators are taking a different view.Mark R. Rosekind, the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said that achieving a five-star rating would be tougher than ever.The agency said it had been considering changes to the program for nearly a year. Mr. Rosekind took over as the agencys administrator last December.The agency will also add half-star ratings to give consumers more discriminating information about vehicle performance.Recalls on cars would not affect their ratings under the new plan, but the agency noted that consumers who search for ratings on safercar.gov can already see recalls, consumer complaints, investigations and technical bulletins for each model.The agency said that it would add a new crash test to measure how well vehicles protect passengers in an angled crash from the front. In its 195-page plan detailing the changes, the agency said this crash type continues to result in deaths and serious injuries despite the use of seatbelts, airbags, and the crash-worthy structures of late-model vehicles.A pedestrian rating will be based on tests that determine how well cars minimize injuries and fatalities to pedestrians. In 2013, the most recent year for which complete information is available, 4,735 pedestrians were killed in traffic-related crashes, according to the agency.A rating for crash avoidance will be based on whether a car has one or more technological systems, including, for example, systems to prevent rear-end crashes, improve night visibility and detect blind spots. In September, 10 automakers pledged to make automated braking systems, which use sensors to detect potential collisions, standard equipment on vehicles, though they did not say when.Congress recently passed a transportation bill requiring crash avoidance information to be included on new vehicle window stickers just as the government fuel economy ratings are. The measures won broad support from lawmakers, safety specialists and automakers.Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, applauded the regulators move to include crash avoidance technology in its rating system.This update is a win both for consumers and innovators highlighting a vehicles advanced safety systems will allow consumers to make informed purchasing decisions, and in turn spur greater use of these potentially lifesaving technologies, he said in a statement.John ODell, a senior editor and vehicle safety specialist at Edmunds.com, a car shopping and research website, said the new measures were overdue.This is a big step and it is a needed step, he said, adding that the changes indicated auto safety regulation was being taken more seriously than in the past.Mr. ODell said that automakers had over the years become savvy about the safety regulators requirements and had learned to design their cars to do well in the ratings. He added that this would still happen, but it would take a while for car manufacturers to adapt. And, in the meantime, vehicles may become safer in the areas where the agency bolsters the tests.The Auto Alliance, a trade group representing automakers, said it welcomed the agencys embrace of new safety technologies. We will provide constructive comments on the agencys proposal as more evaluations and data become available, it said in a statement. | Business |
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. | Sports |
Naya Rivera Police Photos of Husband's Alleged Injuries 1/19/2018 Naya Rivera doesn't pack a punch ... at least that's the way it seems from police pics of her estranged husband. As we reported, Naya was arrested Thanksgiving weekend after allegedly attacking Ryan Dorsey in West Virginia ... over an argument involving their child. Ryan told cops Naya struck him in the middle of his lower lip and the back right side of his head, but the pics don't show any real injuries. Naya, who has since filed for divorce, told cops she had been emotional because of her menstrual cycle. Charges against Naya were dropped this week after Dorsey said he did not want to press charges. | Entertainment |
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. | Sports |
Senate Approves Extending Small-Business ProgramThe Senate granted five additional weeks for the remaining money left in the program to be spent.Credit...Bryan Denton for The New York TimesJune 30, 2020WASHINGTON The Senate voted Tuesday evening to extend a federal loan program by five additional weeks, a surprise move that would allow small businesses weathering the pandemic to continue receiving aid.Less than four hours before the Paycheck Protection Program was scheduled to end with more than $130 billion in loan money unspent, the Senate approved extending the application period until Aug. 8.The legislation now heads to the House, which had finished voting before the bill cleared the Senate, and will require President Trumps signature for the program to continue. Members of both chambers are expected to leave Washington for the Fourth of July and are not set to fully return for two weeks.The resources are there, said Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Democrat of Maryland and one of the architects of the program, which offers low-interest loans to help small businesses maintain their payrolls. The need is there. We just need to change the date.The unexpected approval of the extension, which required agreement from all 100 senators, came as lawmakers began to debate the contours of another coronavirus relief package. With multiple parts of the $2.2 trillion stimulus law set to expire at the end of July and new outbreaks forcing many states to slow efforts to reopen their economies, lawmakers widely recognize that another measure will be necessary.I came here thinking that we would not be able to get agreement, said Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, who joined Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, and other senators involved in the programs creation on the Senate floor on Tuesday evening.Of the initiatives created by the stimulus law, the Paycheck Protection Program has emerged as a bipartisan centerpiece despite a chaotic start. Facing a deluge of requests for assistance, the program ran out of money, and Congress moved in April to inject an additional $320 billion into it. Already, the program, administered by the Small Business Administration, has allocated $520 billion in loans to nearly five million businesses nationwide.Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, told lawmakers on Tuesday that he had been discussing the possibility of repurposing the funds left in the program, extending it to businesses that are most hard hit, that had a requirement that their revenues have dropped significantly, things like restaurants and hotels and others where it is critical they get people back to work.The bipartisan group of lawmakers who helped draft the program have already started debating how to address it in future legislation. Senator Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, raised the prospect on Tuesday of requiring any new loans to be directed only toward businesses whose revenues have fallen, though he approved passage of the extension without that concern being addressed.Obviously, well have to be more targeted at truly small businesses and, in addition to that, Im also developing a program to provide financing for businesses in underserved communities or opportunity zones and other ZIP codes that would fall in that category, Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida and the chairman of the Small Business Committee, said before the extension on Tuesday.Were talking to the White House about it, he added. Theyve expressed to us that they have no intent of repurposing that money for something else, but our hope is that we can use that as the sort of foundation for building a second round of assistance in a more targeted way. | Politics |
Credit...Peter DaSilva for The New York TimesFeb. 20, 2014LONDON Facebook is already the worlds biggest social network. Now it wants to be the biggest player in a new global field by buying WhatsApp, the global leader in mobile messaging.WhatsApp is the biggest guy in town, said Bertrand Schmitt, chief executive of App Annie, an analytics company that monitors app rankings worldwide. Facebook is buying into that. Its about global scale.Facebooks $16 billion deal to buy WhatsApp, announced on Wednesday, extends a deep reach in countries like Mexico, Germany and India, where the inexpensive messaging application has a big share of the markets.And it gives Facebook a chance to compete elsewhere against other messaging start-ups, like Line in Japan and WeChat in China. About 45 percent of mobile Internet messaging users rely on WhatsApp, according to the research firm Analysys Mason.The acquisition, the largest ever by Facebook, is part of its effort to create a series of applications on a users mobile device instead of relying on its core social network alone. It also aims to seize on the trend of more people using their mobile phones to communicate one-on-one or with very small groups, rather than sharing information more widely.WhatsApps growth has been explosive. The company, founded in 2009, says that about a fifth of its users, or 100 million of its 450 million subscribers, have joined in the last four months. More than 55 percent of its users are from Western Europe, Mexico, India, Brazil and the United States, according to App Annie.But while the deal gives Facebook an opportunity to reach people in different ways, it could also lead to increased competition and tension with some of the worlds largest telecommunications operators, like AT&T and Deutsche Telekom of Germany. For years, the telecommunications companies have drawn the ire of consumers who were charged high fees to send text messages. But apps like WhatsApp offer consumers a cheap or free way to send messages. WhatsApp, for example, charges $1 a year, and the first year is free.Over the last decade, companies like Telefnica of Spain and Vodafone of Britain have relied on high margins from text message services as an important source of revenue. Global carriers lost a combined $32 billion in revenue last year as consumers shifted from costly text messages to cheap Internet messaging services, according to the research firm Ovum.Some operators have tried to ban Internet messaging rivals. That includes the Dutch telecom company KPN, which blamed WhatsApp for a major downturn in its revenue in 2011. Local lawmakers later ruled that KPN could not discriminate against data traffic from rival messaging services.Other telecom companies like Orange of France and Vodafone have tried to compete by offering their own Internet messaging offerings. Yet these services, which generate little revenue compared with traditional text messages, have been limited to users on the carriers own networks and have therefore failed to reach a global audience.Telecoms companies have struggled to react to the growth of services like WhatsApp, said Steven Hartley, who runs the industry, communications and broadband team at Ovum in London. By the time they responded, Internet messaging start-ups already had sewn up the market.Analysts say Facebook remains in a strong position when competing with these cellphone operators. Even though it has approximately 1.2 billion global users, Facebook is still one of the most downloaded applications for smartphones worldwide. And few carriers would be willing to block Facebooks services in fear of angering their customers.WhatsApp has been wildly popular with European customers. The company recently said that it had more than 30 million active users in Germany, and the app is now downloaded more often by European users than rivals like Skype and competing offerings from local telecom companies like Orange. And it has outpaced local rivals like Viber Media of Cyprus, which was acquired by the Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten for $900 million last week.ImageCredit...Gabriel Bouys/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesBut its popularity in Europe is eclipsed by larger growth in emerging markets like Brazil and India, analysts said. As a growing number of users in developing economies, including Indonesia, have upgraded to smartphones, these customers have turned to online applications like messaging services that were previously not available on low-cost handsets.Facebook and WhatsApp will work together to get into more emerging markets, said Pamela Clark-Dickson, senior messaging analyst at the research firm Informa Telecoms and Media. Its an area where both companies want to focus on in the future.Not every market will be easy to crack. Several well-established rivals in crucial Asian countries have so far kept both Facebook and WhatsApp at bay.In China, where Facebook is banned, the local social messaging application WeChat is the market leader for messaging, while regional rival Line dominates in Japan and Kakao is the most download Internet messenger in South Korea. WhatsApp, which is allowed in China, does not rank in the top five most-downloaded mobile social networking applications in any of these Asian countries, according to statistics from App Annie.Analysts say these Asian tech companies have built entrenched operations that Facebook and WhatsApp will find difficult to dislodge. The competitors are now expanding across the region and farther afield, including in Europe and the United States, which could hurt Facebooks own future plans for WhatsApp.The rival messaging companies have successfully developed mobile games and other services inside their messaging services that users are willing to pay for. That contrasts with WhatsApp, where the co-founders have vehemently opposed adding advertising to generate much-needed revenue.In countries like China and Japan, Facebook Messenger is not a leader, said Siim Teller, a mobile analyst at the consultant firm On Device Research in London. Facebook has a problem with innovating beyond its core social networking application. | Tech |
Public health experts agree that school mask mandates should not last forever, but differ on whether the time has come to remove them.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesFeb. 8, 2022As the Omicron surge begins to recede in many regions of the country, the governors of New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware have announced that they will lift school mask mandates in the coming weeks.But the move to loosen these politically charged restrictions has divided scientists and public health experts. Some cheered the change.I think its entirely appropriate that we start lifting school mask mandates now, said Joseph Allen, a Harvard University researcher who studies indoor environmental quality, including in schools. Were in a much better place than we were before, and its time to update our strategies to reflect the moment.Others noted that the virus was still exacting a significant toll on the country, with cases as high as during last winters peak and more than 2,500 Americans dying each day. Lifting school mask mandates too early could jeopardize the progress that the country has made over the last few weeks, some health experts said.Were just starting to get it back under control, said Seema Lakdawala, a respiratory virus researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, noting that many young children remain unvaccinated. I dont think we should be abandoning the interventions we have that are still helpful.Experts agreed that mask mandates should not last forever and that officials needed to clearly explain what criteria would be used in deciding when to lift them. But there is still debate over what those metrics should be and whether certain places in the country had met them.I think were moving to a place where it will make complete sense to remove mask mandates, said Justin Lessler, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Maybe well be there in two to three weeks. Personally, I would like to see people wait until cases are low rather than anticipating that they will be low at some future date.School mask mandates have been among the most contentious public health measures implemented in response to the pandemic. Opponents of mask mandates have often pointed to the lack of randomized, controlled trials on the effects of masking in schools and have highlighted flaws with specific studies that have documented benefits of masking.They have noted, for instance, that schools that require universal masking may differ in many ways from those that dont, and that in a world brimming with confounding factors, it is difficult to conclusively prove that mask-wearing reduces viral transmission in schools.But a growing body of evidence from laboratory experiments to real world studies conducted around the world suggests that masking provides benefits in a variety of settings, including schools, scientists agreed.You can pick apart any one study, said Linsey Marr, an aerosol scientist at Virginia Tech. But, she noted, theres overwhelming evidence that masking has a beneficial and small effect on reducing transmission in schools. (Although the effect is small on average, individual students and teachers can gain more personal protection by wearing high-quality, well-fitting masks, she noted.)ImageCredit...Sarah Blesener for The New York TimesEven the experts who believe that it is time to lift school mask mandates said that such policies have been an important strategy at certain phases of the pandemic. But, they note, the country is no longer in the same position it was in 2020 during the first waves of the pandemic in the United States.Vaccines are now widely available for all adults and for children 5 or older. And although Omicron can evade some of the bodys immune defenses, making breakthrough cases more likely, the vaccines continue to provide protection against hospitalization and death.In communities where vaccination rates are high and the Omicron wave is receding, it makes sense for officials to begin thinking about lifting mask mandates, including in schools, some scientists said.Once you dont have a lot of virus, and you have a highly vaccinated community, you move from masking required to masking optional, said Dr. Carlos del Rio, an infectious disease specialist at Emory University.Dr. del Rio recommended that communities also pay close attention to local hospitalization rates and capacity when making decisions about masking policies. If local hospitalization rates are below 10 new Covid admissions per 100,000 residents per day and I.C.U.s are less than 80 percent full, it makes sense to remove mask mandates, he said.Dr. Allen, the Harvard researcher, noted that hospitalization rates, which were already low for children, have fallen in the Northeast, with 0.4 admissions per 100,000, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is lower than the hospitalization rate for vaccinated adults, who are now typically able to dine out mask-free.But for kids with the same risk, even unvaccinated kids with the same risk, were keeping more strict policies in place, he said.Keeping mask mandates in place beyond when they are necessary risks undermining the publics trust in health officials, Dr. Allen said. In the event of future surges, officials may need to renew school mask mandates, but they should lift them when conditions are better, he said.Kids can tolerate this, and when its necessary to do so, its fine for them to mask, Dr. Allen said. But we shouldnt do it for one second longer than necessary.Ideally, local officials should be prepared to lift and reimpose school mask mandates as conditions change, experts said.Ze McLaren, a health policy expert at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, recommended that school officials do regular surveillance testing to monitor whether the virus is prevalent within the school population and be prepared to adjust their mask policies accordingly.If schools are well-ventilated and theres low transmission in the schools, then theyll have few cases, she said. Then lifting a mask mandate in that school would make more sense.But officials tend to be reluctant to make these kinds of frequent shifts, she noted.States that lift school mask mandates now may find it difficult to reimpose them in the future, said Julia Raifman, a health policy expert at Boston University who leads the Covid-19 U.S. State Policy database.Dozens of states had mask policies in 2020, she said; now, few of them do. So that shows you how hard it is for anywhere to turn back on mask policies after theyve turned them off, she said.And while the absolute risk to children may be small, child hospitalization rates have increased during the Omicron surge, she noted.Moreover, school mask mandates are not simply about protecting children, some scientists said.People will say, I am sure, that it is a mild disease in kids, so why are we concerned? Dr. Lakdawala said. The concern is that it can then continue to spread in our communities.Children who catch the virus at school could also pass it on to more vulnerable adults, said Mercedes Carnethon, an epidemiologist at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Winter was the wrong time to ease up on masking in schools, she added.To take away masks now during the winter months, when most interactions are indoors, is a mistake that will lead to school outbreaks, she wrote in an email.She added that while it would be ideal if the mask mandates remained in place until children under 5 were eligible for vaccination, that may not be feasible, given how long the authorization of vaccines for young children was taking.I am cognizant that there is an urgency to identifying an off-ramp, she said.The lifting of school mask mandates means that many parents will have to make these risk-benefit calculations on their own, deciding whether to have their children continue wearing masks in the classroom.The things that youd want to think about is, is your kid vaccinated? Dr. Marr said. Does your kid have underlying health conditions that might put them at higher risk? Is your kid in an especially crowded classroom that has poor ventilation? All of those factors would increase the risk.Studies suggest that masks, especially high-quality, well-fitted ones, can protect the wearer.If youre looking for a good mask, focus on filtration and fit, the two Fs, Dr. Allen said.Although N95 masks are not designed for children, there are other respirators, such as KF94s, that come in childrens sizes. But even a well-fitting surgical mask or multilayered cloth mask can help provide protection, scientists said.Masks are most effective when everybody wears them, Dr. Lessler said. But they are still effective individually when only you wear them. | Health |
Politics|The power of life and death is in the tongue, Senate chaplain says in a powerful prayer calling for unity.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/us/politics/senate-chaplain-prayer-capitol.htmlThe power of life and death is in the tongue, Senate chaplain says in a powerful prayer calling for unity.VideotranscripttranscriptThe power of life and death is in the tongue, Barry C. Black, the Senate chaplain, said in a prayer ending a joint session of Congress hours after a violent crowd of rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol.Lord of our lives, and sovereign of our beloved nation, we deplore the desecration of the United States Capitol building, the shedding of innocent blood, the loss of life and the quagmire of dysfunction that threaten our democracy. These tragedies have reminded us that words matter, and that the power of life and death is in the tongue. We have been warned that eternal vigilance continues to be freedoms price. Lord, you have helped us remember that we need to see in each other a common humanity that reflects your image. You have strengthened our resolve to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, domestic as well as foreign.The power of life and death is in the tongue, Barry C. Black, the Senate chaplain, said in a prayer ending a joint session of Congress hours after a violent crowd of rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol.CreditCredit...House TV, via ReutersJan. 7, 2021We deplore the desecration of the United States Capitol building, the shedding of innocent blood, the loss of life, and the quagmire of dysfunction that threaten our democracy.Those words, spoken by Barry C. Black, the Senate chaplain, resounded through the government chamber in the early hours of Thursday, as he declaratively closed a joint session of Congress marred by violence with a prayer.Delivered moments after President-elect Joseph R. Bidens victory was certified by lawmakers who had worked through the night, and hours after a violent crowd of rioters urged on by President Trump had threatened to derail the process, Mr. Blacks prayer cut through the chamber with force.He condemned the violence of the day, acknowledged divisions in the nation and called for healing and unity.A Seventh-day Adventist minister and former Navy rear admiral known for his penchant for brightly colored bow ties, Mr. Black has been the Senates official clergyman for nearly two decades. His prayers in the chambers have long been laced with rebukes for the infighting of the lawmakers surrounding him, and his words have often served as a conscience check for those on both sides of the aisle.That was never more true than on Thursday morning, as he warned lawmakers that their words could have great consequences.These tragedies have reminded us that words matter, and that the power of life and death is in the tongue, he said. We have been warned that eternal vigilance continues to be freedoms price.His prayer also urged new unity in the face of the deep divisions among lawmakers and within the country, driving home a need to see in each other a common humanity. He sought to move both the lawmakers and the nation forward, saying that God had strengthened our resolve to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies domestic as well as foreign.Use us to bring healing and unity to our hurting and divided nation and world, he said. Thank you for what you have blessed our lawmakers to accomplish in spite of threats to liberty. | Politics |
Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesFeb. 15, 2014SOCHI, Russia Hockey is a team game, and this one was so big that it pitted country against country. But by the end, it turned into a simple contest of one-on-one.The United States and Russia were tied through regulation, tied through overtime, and still tied through three rounds of a shootout.Like his counterpart on the Russian side, the United States coach, Dan Bylsma, had to decide which player to appoint to shoot the fourth attempt. He chose T. J. Oshie. And when that did not end the game, Bylsma was given a chance to choose again, and again, and again, and again. He picked Oshie, Oshie, Oshie and Oshie allowed by the rules of the Olympics, but not in the N.H.L., where Bylsma coaches the Pittsburgh Penguins and his players play. I kept looking back, seeing if anyone else was going to go, Oshie said. I told some of the boys on the last couple, Im running out of moves out here. VideoT. J. Oshie, who took six of the Americans eight shots, scoring on four of them to lift the team to a victory over Russia, spoke to the media after the game.It was Oshie, 27, who stayed on the ice while the rest of the American skaters sat on the bench, helpless witnesses to the outcome of a wild match that could not be decided through 65 minutes of play and three rounds of a shootout a point in the game that the Olympics charmingly call game winning shots.Oshie made four of six attempts, matching his big-name Russian counterparts goal for goal, miss for miss: Evgeni Malkin in the first round, then Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk alternating in the others. Finally, in the eighth round, after American goaltender Jonathan Quick stopped a Kovalchuk attempt, Oshie flicked a shot past Russias goaltender, Sergei Bobrovsky. The Bolshoi Ice Dome fell mostly silent, as if suddenly unplugged. Oshie and the United States had a 3-2 victory in a much-anticipated preliminary-round game.The first question Bylsma faced afterward was why he had stuck with Oshie, a forward who plays for the St. Louis Blues. T. J. has been exceptional on the shootout, and in his career hes been outstanding, Bylsma said. By far the best number on our team, this year in particular. Once we got to the fourth shooter, and the quality moves he had, even when he missed, we were going to ride him out.Oshie has made 25 of 46 shootout attempts in his N.H.L career. This season, interrupted by the Olympic tournament, he has made 7 of 10 attempts, plus the one penalty shot he has tried. No one in the league has made more.But in the N.H.L., Oshie would have had only one chance on Saturday. If a shootout extends beyond three rounds, each subsequent shot must be taken by someone from the bench, until all available shooters are used. Only then can a player be called upon again.Patrick Kane of the United States taking control of the puck in a game the Americans won, 3-2, over Russia in a shootout. T.J. Oshie scored four times in the shootout.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesSlide 1 of 17 Patrick Kane of the United States taking control of the puck in a game the Americans won, 3-2, over Russia in a shootout. T.J. Oshie scored four times in the shootout.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesBut rules at the Olympics allow teams to use players as often as they want after the first three rounds. For Bylsma, it took some of the guesswork out of each decision. Simply go with your best, win or lose. Oshie opened the shootout with a goal on a low shot. Malkins shot was deflected by Quick. In the second round, the American James van Riemsdyk missed, but so did Datsyuk. Joe Pavelski could have ended it for the United States, but Bobrovsky stopped him. Kovalchuk, in a tie-or-lose situation, cruised toward Quick and casually flipped the puck past his left hip. Rules dictated that the teams switch order. The Russians opened the rest of the rounds, and the Americans had the final say. Kovalchuk and Oshie missed, and then Datsyuk and Oshie scored. Kovalchuk and Oshie scored, and Datsyuk and Oshie missed. Each shot ratcheted the tension tighter. I aged a couple of years in that shootout, Bylsma said.In the eighth round, Kovalchuk surged toward Quick with speed and confidence. Quick tipped the shot away with his glove. It was Oshies turn again. He came at Bobrovsky and slid the puck between his legs. It hit the back of the net and the water bottle atop the goal popped into the air. I was just thinking of something else I could do, trying to keep him guessing, Oshie said. I had to go back to the same move a couple times. I was glad it ended when it did. | Sports |
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. | Business |
Apple has repeatedly denied Facebooks new Gaming app from appearing in its App Store, citing its own rules.Credit...Mike Blake/ReutersJune 18, 2020Executives and engineers from Facebooks games division submitted their new app, Facebook Gaming, to Apple last month for approval to offer it in the iPhone makers App Store.Apple considered Facebooks application for a few weeks. This month, it delivered its verdict: denied.The Facebook team was not surprised. It wasnt the first time Apple had said no to the Facebook Gaming app. Or the second. Or even the third.Since February, Apple has rejected at least five versions of Facebook Gaming, according to three people with knowledge of the companies, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the details are confidential. Each time, the people said, Apple cited its rules that prohibit apps with the main purpose of distributing casual games.Facebook Gaming may also have been hurt by appearing to compete with Apples own sales of games, two of the people said. Games are by far the most lucrative category of mobile apps worldwide. Apples App Store, the only officially approved place for iPhone and iPad users to find new games and other programs, generated about $15 billion in revenue last year.Apples rejections of the app from Facebook, a fellow Silicon Valley powerhouse, illustrate the control it exerts over the mobile software and entertainment ecosystem clout that regulators are increasingly examining. On Tuesday, the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, said it had opened a formal antitrust investigation into Apple to determine if the terms that the company imposes on app developers violate competition rules.We need to ensure that Apples rules do not distort competition in markets where Apple is competing with other app developers, said Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission executive vice president in charge of competition policy.This week, Basecamp publicly complained that its new email app, Hey, had been denied from the App Store because it charged customers outside Apples payment system, keeping the giant company from collecting its 30 percent cut.We keep trying to find logic, consistency in Apples App Store decisions, David Hansson, Basecamps co-founder and chief technology officer, wrote on Twitter. The answer is much more basic: power. Apple can do what they want, when they want, so they do.Mr. Hansson added that the Justice Departments antitrust division had contacted him earlier to talk about Apple.Apple, which will hold its annual developer conference next week, said the App Store has many apps that offer casual games and that follow its rules, including the main Facebook app. Facebook said it would release Facebook Gaming when Apple approved it.Apple has long taken a walled garden approach to its mobile devices while its main mobile competitor, Google and its Android operating system, has adopted a more laissez-faire philosophy. Both companies take 30 percent of most purchases on their app stores, leaving 70 percent to app developers.Apple and Google Play have always pursued different strategies for their app stores, which align with the closed ecosystem Apple versus open ecosystem Google company attributes, said Candice Mudrick, head of market analysis at Newzoo, a game industry research firm.Apple has said it monitors its App Store ecosystem closely to ensure the highest standards of quality and security. According to its App Store principles: When you download an app, it should work as promised. We carefully review each app and require developers to follow strict guidelines on privacy, design and business models.But over time, that has increasingly grated on some app developers. The European Union investigation into Apple was spurred by a complaint last year from Spotify, whose music-streaming service competes with Apple Music. Spotify and others have criticized Apple for charging a fee of up to 30 percent on digital services sold through its App Store, arguing that it amounts to a tax that violates competition laws.Facebook announced its Gaming app in April as people were sheltering in place from the coronavirus pandemic and playing more video games. For the social network, the new app was a way to more deeply engage its users.The free app has three main components: watching live streams of other people playing games; socially networking with other gamers; and playing simple games like Words With Friends and Thug Life. On both Apple and Android devices, those simple games can be delivered within Facebook Gamings app using software called HTML5.Google quickly approved Facebook Gaming for its Google Play app store and began offering the app worldwide on April 20. In the Android version of Facebook Gaming, a catalog of simple games is presented by category and with colorful icons. Some of those games allow players to spend real money for in-game purchases.Facebook initially submitted its Gaming app to Apple for approval in late February, said the people with knowledge of the situation. Apple rejected that version, they said, citing Section 4.7 of its app rules, which state that HTML5 games are allowed as long as code distribution isnt the main purpose of the app and the code is not offered in a store or store-like interface, among other restrictions.But the initial version of the Gaming app that Facebook showed to Apple was similar to the Android version, listing games by category in a manner that could be interpreted as store-like. Trying to get the Gaming app through Apples review process, Facebook then changed the design of the presentation of games in several ways, the people said. The colorful icons were removed in favor of a bland listing. The different games categories were removed to list all games at once. The ability to sort games was also taken away.Facebook also included a version that looked almost exactly like how such games are presented already within the main Facebook app on Apple devices, which is a single unalphabetized, unsortable list, the people said.Apple said no to each of them, pointing to the same rule, they said.In Facebooks most recent submission, the Gaming app did not include a separate tab for playable games and included no way for the user to choose from a wide selection of games to play, the people said. Instead, that version suggested certain games within the users news and activity feed.Apple denied it.Since then, Facebook has been weighing its next move. The company is considering releasing Facebook Gaming on Apple devices without playable games at all, the people with knowledge of the social network said. Another option, they said, is continuing to make playable games even more difficult for users to find within the app. | Tech |
Credit...Peter Prato for The New York TimesFacebook has heralded artificial intelligence as a solution to its toxic content problems. Mike Schroepfer, its chief technology officer, says it wont solve everything.Mike Schroepfer, Facebooks chief technology officer, is leading the social networks efforts to build the automated tools to sort through and erase the millions of posts with toxic content.Credit...Peter Prato for The New York TimesMay 17, 2019MENLO PARK, Calif. Mike Schroepfer, Facebooks chief technology officer, was tearing up.For half an hour, we had been sitting in a conference room at Facebooks headquarters, surrounded by whiteboards covered in blue and red marker, discussing the technical difficulties of removing toxic content from the social network. Then we brought up an episode where the challenges had proved insurmountable: the shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand.In March, a gunman had killed 51 people in two mosques there and live streamed it on Facebook. It took the company roughly an hour to remove the video from its site. By then, the bloody footage had spread across social media.Mr. Schroepfer went quiet. His eyes began to glisten.Were working on this right now, he said after a minute, trying to remain composed. It wont be fixed tomorrow. But I do not want to have this conversation again six months from now. We can do a much, much better job of catching this.The question is whether that is really true or if Facebook is kidding itself.For the past three years, the social network has been under scrutiny for the proliferation of false, misleading and inappropriate content that people publish on its site. In response, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive, has invoked a technology that he says will help eliminate the problematic posts: artificial intelligence.Before Congress last year, Mr. Zuckerberg testified that Facebook was developing machine-based systems to identify certain classes of bad activity and declared that over a five- to 10-year period, we will have A.I. tools that can detect and remove hate speech. He has since blithely repeated these claims with the media, on conference calls with Wall Street and at Facebooks own events.Mr. Schroepfer or Schrep, as he is known internally is the person at Facebook leading the efforts to build the automated tools to sort through and erase the millions of such posts. But the task is Sisyphean, he acknowledged over the course of three interviews recently.Thats because every time Mr. Schroepfer and his more than 150 engineering specialists create A.I. solutions that flag and squelch noxious material, new and dubious posts that the A.I. systems have never seen before pop up and are thus not caught. The task is made more difficult because bad activity is often in the eye of the beholder and humans, let alone machines, cannot agree on what that is.In one interview, Mr. Schroepfer acknowledged after some prodding that A.I. alone could not cure Facebooks ills. I do think theres an endgame here, he said. But I dont think its everythings solved, and we all pack up and go home.The pressure is on, however. This past week, after widespread criticism over the Christchurch video, Facebook changed its policies to restrict the use of its live streaming service. At a summit in Paris with President Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand on Wednesday, the company also signed a pledge to re-examine the tools it uses to identify violent content.Mr. Schroepfer, 44, is in a position he never wanted to be in. For years, his job was to help the social network build a top-flight A.I. lab, where the brightest minds could tackle technological challenges like using machines to pick out peoples faces in photos. He and Mr. Zuckerberg wanted an A.I. operation to rival Googles, which was widely seen as having the deepest stable of A.I. researchers. He recruited Ph.D.s from New York University, the University of London and the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris.But along the way, his role evolved into one of threat removal and toxic content eliminator. Now he and his recruits spend much of their time applying A.I. to spotting and deleting death threats, videos of suicides, misinformation and outright lies.None of us have ever seen anything like this, said John Lilly, a former chief executive of Mozilla and now a venture capitalist at Greylock Partners, who studied computer science with Mr. Schroepfer at Stanford University in the mid-1990s. There is no one else to ask about how to solve these problems.Facebook allowed us to talk to Mr. Schroepfer because it wanted to show how A.I. is catching troublesome content and, presumably, because it was interested in humanizing its executives. The chief technology officer often shows his feelings, according to many who know him.I dont think Im speaking out of turn to say that Ive seen Schrep cry at work, said Jocelyn Goldfein, a venture capitalist at Zetta Venture Partners who worked with him at Facebook.ImageCredit...David Paul Morris/BloombergBut few could have predicted how Mr. Schroepfer would react to our questions. In two of the interviews, he started with an optimistic message that A.I. could be the solution, before becoming emotional. At one point, he said coming to work had sometimes become a struggle. Each time, he choked up when discussing the scale of the issues that Facebook was confronting and his responsibilities in changing them.Its never going to go to zero, he said of the problematic posts.What a burden. What a responsibility.One Sunday in December 2013, Clment Farabet walked into the penthouse suite at the Harrahs hotel and casino in Lake Tahoe, Nev. Inside, he was greeted by Mr. Schroepfer and Mr. Zuckerberg.Mr. Zuckerberg was shoeless. Over the next 30 minutes, the C.E.O. paced back and forth in his socks while keeping up a conversation with Dr. Farabet, an A.I. researcher at New York University. Mr. Zuckerberg described A.I. as the next big thing and the next step for Facebook. Mr. Schroepfer, seated on the couch, occasionally piped up to reinforce a point.They were in town to recruit A.I. talent. Lake Tahoe was the venue that year for NIPS, an academic conference dedicated to A.I. that attracts the worlds top researchers. The Facebook brass had brought along Yann LeCun, an N.Y.U. academic who is regarded as a founding father of the modern artificial intelligence movement, and whom they had just hired to build an A.I. lab. Dr. Farabet, who regards Dr. LeCun as a mentor, was also on their shortlist.He basically wanted to hire everybody, Dr. Farabet said of Mr. Zuckerberg. He knew the names of every single researcher in the space.Those were heady days for Facebook, before its trajectory turned and the mission of its A.I. work changed.At the time, Silicon Valleys biggest tech companies from Google to Twitter were racing to become forces in A.I. The technology had been dismissed by the internet firms for years. But at universities, researchers like Dr. LeCun had quietly nurtured A.I. systems called neural networks, complex mathematical systems that can learn tasks on their own by analyzing vast amounts of data. To the surprise of many in Silicon Valley, these arcane and somewhat mysterious systems had finally started to work.Mr. Schroepfer and Mr. Zuckerberg wanted to push Facebook into that contest, seeing the rapidly improving technology as something the company needed to jump on. A.I. could help the social network recognize faces in photos and videos posted to its site, Mr. Schroepfer said, and could aid it in better targeting ads, organizing its News Feed and translating between languages. A.I. could also be applied to deliver digital widgets like chatbots, which are conversational systems that let businesses interact with customers.We were going to hire some of the best people in the world, Mr. Schroepfer said. We were going to build a new kind of research lab.Starting in 2013, Mr. Schroepfer began hiring researchers who specialized in neural networks, at a time when the stars of the field were paid millions or tens of millions of dollars over four or five years. On that Sunday in 2013 in Lake Tahoe, they did not succeed in hiring Dr. Farabet, who went on to create an A.I. start-up that Twitter later acquired. But Mr. Schroepfer brought in dozens of top researchers from places like Google, N.Y.U. and the University of Montreal.Mr. Schroepfer also built a second organization, the Applied Machine Learning team, which was asked to apply the Facebook A.I. labs technologies to real-world applications, like facial recognition, language translation and augmented reality tools.In late 2015, some of the A.I. work started to shift. The catalyst was the Paris terrorist attack, in which Islamic militants killed 130 people and wounded nearly 500 during coordinated attacks in and around the French capital. Afterward, Mr. Zuckerberg asked the Applied Machine Learning team what it might do to combat terrorism on Facebook, according to a person with knowledge of the company who was not authorized to speak publicly.In response, the team used technology developed inside the new Facebook A.I. lab to build a system to identify terrorist propaganda on the social network. The tool analyzed Facebook posts that mentioned the Islamic State or Al Qaeda and flagged those that most likely violated the companys counterterrorism policies. Human curators then reviewed the posts.It was a turning point in Facebooks effort to use A.I. to weed through posts and eliminate the problematic ones.ImageCredit...Simon Dawson/BloombergThat work soon gathered momentum. In November 2016, when Donald J. Trump was elected president, Facebook faced a backlash for fostering misinformation on its site that may have influenced voters and laid the groundwork for Mr. Trumps win.Though the company initially dismissed its role in misinformation and the election, it started shifting technical resources in early 2017 to automatically identify a wide range of unwanted content, from nudity to fake accounts. It also created dozens of integrity positions dedicated to fighting unwanted content on subsections of its site.By mid-2017, the detection of toxic content accounted for more of the work at the Applied Machine Learning team than any other task. The clear No. 1 priority for our content understanding work was integrity, Mr. Schroepfer said.Then in March 2018, The New York Times and others reported that the British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica had harvested the information of millions of Facebook users without their consent, to build voter profiles for the Trump campaign. The outcry against the social network mushroomed.Mr. Schroepfer was soon called to help deal with the controversy. In April 2018, he flew to London to be the designated executive to face questions from a British parliamentary committee about the Cambridge Analytica scandal. He was grilled for more than four hours as one parliamentary member after another heaped criticism on Facebook.Mr. Schroepfer, you have a head of integrity? Ian Lucas, a Labour Party politician, said to the grim-faced executive during the hearing, which was live streamed around the world. I remain unconvinced that your company has integrity.It was too hard for me to watch, said Forest Key, chief executive of a Seattle virtual reality start-up called Pixvana, who has known Mr. Schroepfer since they worked together at a movie effects technology start-up in the late 1990s. What a burden. What a responsibility.The challenge of using A.I. to contain Facebooks content issues was on and Mr. Schroepfer was in the hot seat.Talking engineers off the ledge of quittingFrom his earliest days at Facebook, Mr. Schroepfer was viewed as a problem solver.Raised in Delray Beach, Fla., where his parents ran a 1,000-watt AM radio station that played rock n roll oldies before switching to R&B, Mr. Schroepfer moved to California in 1993 to attend Stanford. There, he majored in computer science for his undergraduate and graduate degrees, mingling with fellow technologists like Mr. Lilly and Adam Nash, who is now a top executive at the file-sharing company Dropbox.After graduating, Mr. Schroepfer stayed in Silicon Valley and went after thorny technical undertakings. He cut his teeth at a movie effects start-up and later founded a company that built software for massive computer data centers, which was acquired by Sun Microsystems. In 2005, he joined Mozilla as vice president for engineering. The San Francisco nonprofit had built a web browser to challenge the monopoly of Microsoft and its Internet Explorer browser. At the time, few technical tasks were as large.Browsers are complex products, and the competitive landscape is weird, said Mike Shaver, a founder of Mozilla, who worked alongside Mr. Schroepfer for several years. Even early on in his career, I was never worried about his ability to handle it all.In 2008, Dustin Moskovitz, a co-founder of Facebook, stepped down as its head of engineering. Enter Mr. Schroepfer, who came to the company to take that role. Facebook served about two million people at the time, and his mandate was to keep the site up and running as its numbers of users exploded. The job involved managing thousands of engineers and tens of thousands of computer servers across the globe.Most of the job was like a bus rolling downhill on fire with four flat tires. Like: How do we keep it going? Mr. Schroepfer said. A big part of his day was talking engineers off the ledge of quitting because they were dealing with issues at all hours, he said.Over the next few years, his team built a range of new technologies for running a service so large. (Facebook has more than two billion users today.) It rolled out new programming tools to help the company deliver Facebook to laptops and phones more quickly and reliably. It introduced custom server computers in data centers to streamline the operation of the enormous computer network. In the end, Facebook significantly reduced service interruptions.ImageCredit...Tom Brenner/The New York TimesI cant remember the last time I talked to an engineer whos burned out because of scaling issues, Mr. Schroepfer said.For his efforts, Mr. Schroepfer gained more responsibility. In 2013, he was promoted to chief technology officer. His mandate was to home in on brand-new areas of technology that the company should explore, with an eye on the future. As a sign of his roles importance, he uses a desk beside Mr. Zuckerbergs at Facebook headquarters and sits between the chief executive and Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer.Hes a good representation of how a lot of people at the company think and operate, Mr. Zuckerberg said of Mr. Schroepfer. Schreps superpower is being able to coach and build teams across very diverse problem areas. Ive never worked really with anyone else who can do that like him.So it was no surprise when Mr. Zuckerberg turned to Mr. Schroepfer to deal with all the toxicity streaming onto Facebook.Broccoli versus marijuanaInside a Facebook conference room on a recent afternoon, Mr. Schroepfer pulled up two images on his Apple laptop computer. One was of broccoli, the other of clumped-up buds of marijuana. Everyone in the room stared at the images. Some of us were not quite sure which was which.Mr. Schroepfer had showed the pictures to make a point. Even though some of us were having trouble distinguishing between the two, Facebooks A.I. systems were now able to pinpoint patterns in thousands of images so that it could recognize marijuana buds on their own. Once the A.I. flagged the pot images, many of which were attached to Facebook ads that used the photos to sell marijuana over the social network, the company could remove them.We can now catch this sort of thing proactively, Mr. Schroepfer said.The problem was that the marijuana-versus-broccoli exercise was not just a sign of progress, but also of the limits that Facebook was hitting. Mr. Schroepfers team has built A.I systems that the company now uses to identify and remove pot images, nudity and terrorist-related content. But the systems are not catching all of those pictures, as there is always unexpected content, which means millions of nude, marijuana-related and terrorist-related posts continue reaching the eyes of Facebook users.Identifying rogue images is also one of the easier tasks for A.I. It is harder to build systems to identify false news stories or hate speech. False news stories can easily be fashioned to appear real. And hate speech is problematic because it is so difficult for machines to recognize linguistic nuances. Many nuances differ from language to language, while context around conversations rapidly evolves as they occur, making it difficult for the machines to keep up.Delip Rao, head of research at A.I. Foundation, a nonprofit that explores how artificial intelligence can fight disinformation, described the challenge as an arms race. A.I. is built from what has come before. But so often, there is nothing to learn from. Behavior changes. Attackers create new techniques. By definition, it becomes a game of cat and mouse.Sometimes you are ahead of the people causing harm, Mr. Rao said. Sometimes they are ahead of you.On that afternoon, Mr. Schroepfer tried to answer our questions about the cat-and-mouse game with data and numbers. He said Facebook now automatically removed 96 percent of all nudity from the social network. Hate speech was tougher, he said the company catches 51 percent of that on the site. (Facebook later said this had risen to 65 percent.)Mr. Schroepfer acknowledged the arms race element. Facebook, which can automatically detect and remove problematic live video streams, did not identify the New Zealand video in March, he said, because it did not really resemble anything uploaded to the social network in the past. The video gave a first-person viewpoint, like a computer game.In designing systems that identify graphic violence, Facebook typically works backward from existing images images of people kicking cats, dogs attacking people, cars hitting pedestrians, one person swinging a baseball bat at another. But, he said, none of those look a lot like this video.The novelty of that shooting video was why it was so shocking, Mr. Schroepfer said. This is also the reason it did not immediately get flagged, he said, adding that he had watched the video several times to understand how Facebook could identify the next one.I wish I could unsee it, he said. | Tech |
Credit...Southern Illinois University/Science SourceMarch 21, 2017A rare cancer first linked to breast implants in 2011 has now been associated with nine deaths, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday.As of Feb. 1, the agency had received a total of 359 reports of the cancer associated with the implants. The deaths were not caused by breast cancer, the agency said, but by a rare malignancy in the immune system, anaplastic large-cell lymphoma. In cases linked to implants, this rare form of cancer grows in the breast, usually in the capsule of scar tissue that forms around an implant. It is usually treatable and not often fatal.The problem is more likely to occur with textured implants, which have a pebbly surface, than with smooth implants, the agency said. Of the 359 reported cases, 231 included information about the implant surface: 203 were textured, and 28 smooth.The contents of the implants appeared much less important: Of 312 cases where the contents were known, 186 were filled with silicone gel, and 126 with saline.Cases generally come to light when symptoms develop, like lumps, pain, fluid buildup and swelling.The agency said it was impossible to say how many cases exist, because of limited reporting of problems and a lack of worldwide sales data on implants.About 290,000 women in the United States had implants for breast enlargement in 2016, and 109,000 received them for reconstruction after breast cancer, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.In many cases when the lymphoma occurs, just removing the implant and the tissue around it eliminates the disease. But some women may need chemotherapy and radiation.Why there is a difference in risk related to the surfaces is not known, but the bodys reaction to textured implants is different from its reaction to smooth ones, according to Dr. Alex K. Wong, a plastic surgeon and researcher at the University of Southern Californias Keck School of Medicine. Tissue grows into microscopic grooves in the textured implants.When we take these out, you can hear a peeling sound, Dr. Wong said. Whereas with a smooth implant, its like Jell-O. You can spin it around. It moves really easily.Studies in rats in his laboratory show different levels of genetic activity in the animals tissues in response to smooth versus textured implants.Were still trying to find out why the surface matters, he said, adding that in some cases the cancer seems also to be associated with a certain bacterial infection.Surgeons use textured implants if they want the implant to stick in place and not move, which is important for newer, anatomically shaped implants that would look bad if they were to shift or turn upside down.The F.D.A. says doctors should consider the possibility of lymphoma in women who start having breast problems a long time after implant surgery.If a woman with implants has no problems, there is no reason to remove them, the F.D.A. says, emphasizing that the lymphoma seems to be very rare.But women receiving implants should be aware of the potential problem and the increased risk with textured implants, the agency says.A spokeswoman for the F.D.A., Stephanie Caccomo, said Tuesdays announcement was made because in 2016, there were several advances in the description of the disease and treatment recommendations, including recognition of the disease by the World Health Organization and publication of diagnosis and treatment guidelines by the Plastic Surgery Foundation and National Comprehensive Cancer Network. | Health |
Credit...Poras Chaudhary for The New York TimesMarch 9, 2017NEW DELHI The United States and India were at loggerheads on Thursday over Compassion International, a Colorado-based Christian charity that was forced to shut its Indian operations after 48 years over accusations that it had converted Indians to Christianity.Leaders of the charity complained this week that they were being forced out of India without an opportunity to review the evidence or respond to the accusations.Mark Toner, a spokesman for the State Department, said that Washington would raise the issue with India, and he urged New Delhi to work transparently and cooperatively in enforcing laws regulating foreign aid.Unfortunately, weve seen over the past couple of years a number of foreign-funded NGOs in India that have encountered significant challenges in continuing their operations, he said.These NGOs do valuable work, he added. Certainly, these countries and governments have their own reasons for the laws they pass, but we believe it should be transparent and clear why theyre shutting down these organizations.Gopal Baglay, a spokesman for Indias Ministry of External Affairs, responded hours later, calling the decision a matter of law enforcement, a matter pertaining to following the laid-down laws of the country.Mr. Baglay also dismissed an account by the charitys executives saying that they had been approached in the United States by a representative of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a right-wing Hindu organization associated with the party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and had been offered leniency on the condition that they distribute donations through non-Christian service groups.As far as the alleged role of the R.S.S., he said, I will mention for the benefit of the audience here that any such suppositions are completely extraneous to the matter.Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh also took the rare step of rebutting Compassion Internationals account of a back-channel negotiation with a representative in the United States, describing it as unfair and totally false.The Hindu organization works only in India and has no representative in any foreign country, including U.S.A., said the statement, which was signed by a spokesman, Manmohan Vaidya.The statement went on to condemn a recent New York Times article as an attempt by N.Y.T. to malign the image of R.S.S.Indian officials say the charitys partners in the country had violated the law by engaging in religious activities despite being registered as a social, cultural, economic and cultural organization.They also say Compassion International had declined a government offer to re-register as a religious organization, which would have allowed it to continue its work in India.India has long had a law regulating the use of foreign aid, but Mr. Modis government has applied it more stringently than in the past, refusing to renew the registrations of more than 11,000 nongovernmental groups, most of them small operations.The Foreign Contribution Regulation Act prohibits foreign donations for activities detrimental to the national interest, including those that disturb religious harmony. Charities with religious affiliations, of which Compassion International is the largest, make up more than half of the top 15 donors to India. | World |
The app, which allows people to record their symptoms, was remarkably effective in predicting infections. The most reliable indicators, researchers found, were loss of smell and taste.Credit...Zoe GlobalPublished May 11, 2020Updated May 13, 2020In the absence of widespread on-demand testing, public health officials across the world have been struggling to track the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in real time. A team of scientists in the United States and the United Kingdom says a crowdsourcing smartphone app may be the answer to that quandary.In a study published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, researchers found that an app that allows people to check off symptoms they are experiencing was remarkably effective in predicting coronavirus infections among the 2.5 million people who were using it between March 24 and April 21.The study, which tracked people in the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden, found that the loss of taste and smell was the No. 1 predictor of whether a person was going to get sick with Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, followed by extreme fatigue and acute muscle pain.Using a mathematical model, the researchers were able to predict with nearly 80 percent accuracy whether a person was likely to have Covid-19 based on their age, sex and a combination of four symptoms: loss of taste or smell, persistent cough, fatigue and loss of appetite.Two-thirds of those who later tested positive for the virus about 15,000 people had self-reported the loss of taste and smell, the study found. Fever and cough symptoms that have been considered the most reliable indicators of infection ranked fourth and fifth on the list.Its just such a weird symptom that doesnt occur with most other diseases so its rarely wrong, said Dr. Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at Kings College London and a lead author of the study.Because loss of smell and taste is often associated with mild cases of Covid-19, Dr. Spector said health officials could act on information provided by a surveillance app to encourage participants to isolate themselves until they were able to get tested.The more we collect this stuff and the more we document it properly, the better we can deal with new outbreaks, he said.The researchers said they hoped the findings might persuade the World Health Organization and other health agencies to modify guidelines that currently rank fever and cough well above loss of taste and smell as symptoms for determining who to screen for Covid-19.Dr. Andrew T. Chan, a professor at Harvard Medical School and the lead investigator on the study, said a surveillance app could help health authorities identify people at the early stage of the disease who are unknowingly spreading the virus to others.At the moment, were mostly gathering data on the tip of the iceberg from those who are really sick and show up at the hospital. But there is a huge iceberg below of people with mild symptoms who we know are major culprits for community spread, said Dr. Chan, who is also chief of clinical and translational epidemiology at Massachusetts General Hospital. We have no ability to track these people at home and thats a real problem.If more widely adopted, the app could provide public health authorities an inexpensive tool for detecting outbreaks in cities, states and even individual neighborhoods. Given that the loss of taste and smell appears to be an early indicator of Covid-19, the information, the researchers said, would allow health officials to prepare for a spike of infections and help guide the allocation of scarce resources like ventilators for the most seriously ill, and the personal protective gear needed by medical workers.As local outbreaks subside, the app can also guide decisions about the easing of lockdowns and social distancing measures.The researchers said the app did not prompt significant privacy concerns because participants are not required to provide their names and any other personal information, only their ZIP codes.John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Childrens Hospital, said the study added to the growing body of evidence that highlights the value of smartphone apps as real-time disease surveillance tools. Dr. Brownstein, who was not involved in the coronavirus app study, has a decade of experience using crowdsource symptom apps, starting with an influenza app called Flu Near You, and more recently, Covid Near You, an app that has already drawn more than 600,000 users in the United States.Surveillance apps, he said, can detect an outbreak well before people begin showing up at hospitals. Because we have such a lack of testing, this kind of data is going to give us insights into symptomatology, hot spots and the impact of social distancing, he said. Without this information, how are communities supposed to know were on the other side of this pandemic and whether we can reopen?But crowdsourcing apps do not provide a complete snapshot of the coronavirus pandemic. Because users tend to be younger, they are less than ideal for charting its progression among the elderly.And they are also not a replacement for testing, which is the most effective means for tracking the spread of the disease. The data can also be muddled by people who report symptoms shared by other illnesses.Its a sort of real-time experiment done on a massive scale that couldnt have been done a couple of years ago, Dr. Spector said.The app he helped develop piggybacks on technology that Kings College London has been using to track health outcomes among 14,000 twins in the United Kingdom. When the coronavirus outbreak temporarily idled the project, Dr. Spector realized their app could be easily repurposed to track the pandemic.It was a crazy idea, but four days later we launched the app and it went viral, he said. Within three days, more than a million people had downloaded the app, a number that has since grown to 3.3 million.Dr. Cristina Menni, a research fellow at Kings College and another lead author of the study, said the researchers continued to refine the app. Among their goals is finding a way to gauge whether pre-existing conditions or genetic factors might magnify the health risks for people infected with the virus.But for now, she said, crowdsourcing apps may be a useful public health tool to help contain the pandemic.Because there hasnt been widespread testing, monitoring for symptoms of the coronavirus is a very cheap and simple way of doing it, she said. At the very least, anyone who reports a loss of taste and smell should self-isolate until they can get tested. | Health |
Joe McKnight's Family: Killer Deserves Life In Prison 1/29/2018 TMZSports.com The mother of Joe McKnight's 8-year-old son tells TMZ Sports ... the man who shot the ex-NFL running back is a cold-blooded killer and is begging the court to keep him locked up for LIFE. We spoke with Michelle Quick -- who dated Joe back in the day and stayed on close, good terms with him over the years as they co-parented their son, Jaiden. In fact, Michelle attended Ronald Gasser's trial every day and strongly believes he should have been convicted of 2nd degree murder instead of the lesser charge of manslaughter. Gasser is facing up to 40 years in prison for shooting and killing McKnight in Dec. 2016. The sentencing phase of the case is set for March 15. "He never needs to walk the streets ever again," Quick tells us ... "I think the proper sentence is life in prison. He never needs to be out in society." Gasser is 56-years-old -- so the maximum 40-year sentence would essentially serve a life sentence. McKnight's son Jaiden -- with the permission of his mother -- told us he loves and misses his father tremendously and in our video he explains why his dad was the best ever. | Entertainment |
Credit...Francois Mori/Associated PressMay 23, 2019SAN FRANCISCO Facebook, facing withering criticism from governments around the world, said Thursday that it had been more aggressive in recent months about scrubbing its platform of hate speech.In a report the company releases biannually, Facebook also said its automated detection software that scrubs illicit content was improving: It now automatically detects and removes more than half of the hate speech on the platform.Regulators have expressed renewed interest in cracking down on Facebook after a gunman in Christchurch, New Zealand, live-streamed his mass killings on his Facebook account. The video was viewed just 4,000 times before Facebook removed it, but it spread rapidly across the internet and was reposted millions of times.The quick distribution of the video and the apparent inability of Facebook and other tech companies to stop it from spreading led to calls from regulators who said the company must do a better job of policing the content posted on its platform.The video prompted government leaders from around the world to sign on to the Christchurch Call, an agreement to limit violent and extremist content online. Facebook said it would introduce stricter policies for live-streamed videos.Mark Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive, said in a call with reporters that he had recently discussed regulation with President Emmanuel Macron of France and that governments around the world should take a more proactive role in the regulation of online speech.If the rules for the internet were being written from scratch today, I dont think people would want private companies to be making so many decisions about speech themselves, Mr. Zuckerberg said.Facebook said it had removed four million hate-speech posts during the first three months of the year, and detected 65 percent of them with artificial intelligence, up from 24 percent the year before. Its automated systems for detecting violence also improved, Facebook said. It caught 98 percent of the violent content posted on its platform before users reported it.[Get the Bits newsletter for the latest from Silicon Valley and the technology industry.]We estimated for every 10,000 times people viewed content on Facebook, 25 views contained content that violated our violence and graphic content policy, Guy Rosen, Facebooks vice president of integrity, wrote in a blog post.Facebook is also beginning to use artificial intelligence to detect and remove the sale of guns and drugs from its platform. Gun sales have thrived on Facebook for years, and the company has struggled to prevent them.In the first quarter of 2019, Facebook removed 670,000 posts about firearm sales from its platform and detected almost 70 percent of them without relying on user reports, the company said.By catching more violating posts proactively, this technology lets our team focus on spotting the next trends in how bad actors try to skirt our detection, Mr. Rosen said.But Facebooks automated detection systems are not foolproof. Mr. Rosen said its numbers for monitoring child exploitation posts were lower this quarter, in part because of a bug that prevented new videos from being added to a database of content that Facebook blocks from being posted.And Facebook sometimes mistakenly removes content that does not violate its policies. Mr. Zuckerberg said Facebook would establish an independent review board that would double-check its removal decisions.This independent oversight board will look at some of our hardest cases, and the decisions it makes will be binding, Mr. Zuckerberg said, adding that he and other Facebook executives would not have the power to overrule the oversight board.The social media company also reported a spike in the number of fake accounts, which it said had been caused by large groups of malicious users trying to register for accounts. The company disabled 2.19 billion fake accounts in the first quarter of 2019, up from 1.2 billion in the final quarter of 2018. | Tech |
Political EconomyHugo Dixon | Reuters BreakingviewsDec. 20, 2015Brussels knee-jerk reaction to crises is to ask for more power. Its latest series of problems has fueled right-wing populism, which feeds off the idea that the European Union already has too much influence. Unless the bloc adopts more decentralized solutions, it could unravel.As the European Union grapples with an influx of refugees, terrorism and the lingering euro crisis, some prominent people are outlining apocalyptic visions. Niall Ferguson, a history professor at Harvard University, has compared the European Unions current position to the decline of the Roman Empire, arguing that it has let its defenses crumble. Brendan Simms, a history professor at Cambridge University, has drawn parallels with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, saying these were all unsuccessful attempts to create supranational entities.Meanwhile, Marine Le Pen, leader of Frances far-right Front National, speaks gleefully about the possibility that Britain could leave the European Union, saying this would be like the fall of the Berlin Wall. One senior European Union official agreed, though he was morose rather than gleeful about the prospect. If Britain leaves after its referendum on the topic, he said, voters in other countries might ask for plebiscites of their own.The European Union is doing a poor job of managing its multiple crises. One million refugees and economic migrants have entered the bloc illegally this year, most taking advantage of Greeces lack of effective border controls. A few of the jihadists responsible for the Paris attacks last month have exploited the weakness. As if this was not bad enough, the eurozone economy is growing only slowly and flirting with deflation.All these topics, as well as the threat of a British exit from the European Union, were on the agenda when leaders met on Dec. 17 and 18. They reached few firm conclusions.The two big crises over the euro and migration have common features. The European Union was overly ambitious in creating both the single currency and the border-free Schengen Area. It didnt have the tools to manage either effectively. Nor was the European Commission strong enough to police the rules that had been agreed on. The commissions response has been to push for more centralization. Part of its answer to the euro crisis is to establish the post of eurozone finance minister. Its solution to the migration problem includes creating a coast and border guard that could, in extremis, intervene in a Schengen country against its own governments wishes.From a technocratic perspective, these ideas make some sense. But they both would involve significant and symbolically important losses of national sovereignty.If the European Union were seen as an effective and legitimate institution, it might be able to get away with such a power shift. But, with euro-skepticism rife not just in Britain, these proposals are a godsend for the populist right.The European Commission is determined to push the ideas because it sees no other way of keeping the show on the road. This betrays a lack of imagination. With the euro crisis, there is a decentralized alternative based on using the discipline of markets rather than rules. The key is to make investors pay when either governments or banks borrow too much.To be fair, the eurozone has already made some strides to ensure that bank investors share the financial burden of rescues via bail-ins. But it has done little to stop lenders from being infected by overindebted governments.One solution is to tell banks they must limit their financial exposure to any particular state. Such a change could cause trouble for countries like Italy, pushing up their borrowing costs. But now is the perfect time to start the transition, given that the European Central Bank is buying so many government bonds and keeping a lid on yields.Similarly, there is an alternative to a border guard that can swoop into a country against its governments wishes. This is to suspend from Schengen any country that isnt doing an adequate job of policing its frontiers and doesnt call on the proposed European border and coast guard for help.The advantage of such decentralized solutions is that they push back responsibility onto nation-states and dont require transfers of sovereignty that are politically unfeasible.Something like this is needed because, otherwise, there is a risk that the European Union could disintegrate. That would not only cause economic damage; it would make Europe weak at a time when its neighborhood has become increasingly dangerous. Hugo Dixon writes a weekly column for Reuters Breakingviews. For more financial commentary, visit breakingviews.com. | Business |
Credit...Illustration by Lizzie Gill; photos by the U.S. Department of JusticeThe Great ReadA Fire in Minnesota. An Arrest in Mexico. Cameras Everywhere.One night in the Twin Cities, shortly after the killing of George Floyd, someone set a fire in a Goodwill. That led to an international search for the culprits and it exposed a growing system of global surveillance.Credit...Illustration by Lizzie Gill; photos by the U.S. Department of JusticePublished Aug. 1, 2021Updated Sept. 28, 2021Listen to This ArticleMena Yousif wore dark clothing to the protest, with white sneakers and a blue hijab that she could pull over her face, perfect gear during a pandemic. Jose Felan, stocky and tall, wore a baseball cap and a gray T-shirt that showed off a distinctive tattoo on his forearm: Mena, with a crown above the a.The couple had driven an hour north from Rochester to Minneapolis to join a crowd down the street from the State Capitol. It was three days after George Floyd had been killed by a white police officer; the couple was part of a growing protest movement that would send people into the streets across America to express their anger, frustration and pain over Mr. Floyds death.Ms. Yousif, 22, had moved to Minnesota as a child, after her parents fled war-torn Iraq. She worked a series of retail jobs, including a stint at Chipotle, and was earning a business degree at a community college. Mr. Felan, 34, had bounced between Texas and Minnesota for most of his life, and had run afoul of the law in both places.The unrest in Minneapolis had started to get destructive that night, the National Guard would be called in and the authorities would later allege in court filings that Mr. Felan was one of those to blame. He was carrying a thin white bag, sheer enough that, according to a criminal complaint, three canisters of diesel fuel were visible inside after he walked into a Napa Auto Parts store on University Avenue in St. Paul. Around 6 p.m., as captured on surveillance footage, he and Ms. Yousif entered a Goodwill next door and made their way into a back storage room where Mr. Felan allegedly took one of the diesel fuel canisters out of his bag, poured its contents onto a stack of cardboard boxes, and set them on fire.Federal authorities assert that Mr. Felan also helped set fires at a school across the street and at a gas station, which were among over 1,500 buildings damaged that week. The surveillance footage from that day set off a nearly yearlong, international manhunt for the couple, involving multiple federal agencies and Mexican police. The pursuit also involved a facial recognition system made by a Chinese company that has been blacklisted by the U.S. government.Ms. Yousif gave birth while on the run, and was separated from her baby for four months by the authorities. To prosecutors, the pursuit of Mr. Felan, who was charged with arson, and Ms. Yousif, who was charged with helping him flee, was a routine response to a case of property destruction. To fellow protesters, its part of an extreme crackdown on those who most fervently demonstrated against Americas criminal justice system.But beyond the prosecutorial aftermath of the racial justice protests, the eight-month saga of a young Minnesota couple exposed an emerging global surveillance system that might one day find anyone, anywhere, the technology traveling easily over borders while civil liberties struggle to keep pace.The PursuitImageCredit...Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, St. Paul Field DivisionAs the political and corporate worlds wrestled with addressing racial injustice in America, and the events in Minneapolis overtook the Covid-19 crisis and the presidential campaign, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or A.T.F., got to work trying to find the people who set fires.The A.T.F., which is tasked with investigating arson cases, released photos of suspects, offering $5,000 for helpful tips from the public. A video of Mr. Felan went viral, leading to several tips, including from individuals who wish to remain anonymous, an A.T.F. agent said in a court document. (The A.T.F. has also used facial recognition technology, including the app Clearview AI, to identify unknown people, according to reporting from the Government Accountability Office and BuzzFeed.)Mr. Felan and Ms. Yousif could not be reached for comment. Mr. Felans lawyer declined to comment as the case is pending, and Ms. Yousifs lawyer did not respond to multiple attempts to reach him. This report is largely drawn from government documents and sources, and based on the account of their lives there, they were likely panicked. Mr. Felan had previous legal troubles.And Ms. Yousif was approximately seven months pregnant.So they drove, heading south on Interstate 35, a highway that runs down the middle of the country, stretching from Duluth, Minn., on Lake Superior, to Laredo, Texas, on the Mexican border. They had made their way through Iowa and just hit the northern part of Missouri, 300 miles from Rochester, when police first caught up with them.A warrant had been issued for Mr. Felans arrest, allowing the authorities to ping his cellphone to locate him. According to a court document, late on a Monday night, more than a week after the events in St. Paul, local police in rural western Missouri, who were asked to go where the phone was pinging, stopped a black S.U.V. registered to Mr. Felan. Ms. Yousif was driving, and said she didnt know where Mr. Felan was. The police let her go.Ms. Yousif was then charged with helping Mr. Felan flee, and the A.T.F. put out a new request for help, setting the reward at $10,000: Were asking the public to be on the lookout for the couple along the Interstate 35 corridor.Over the next week, police kept pinging the location of Mr. Felans phone but kept missing him. According to a court document, he sent a message to his brother in Texas saying he was turning it off between messages, worried about being tracked; the couple eventually bought new phones.They bore west, through Kansas and Oklahoma, making their way toward Mr. Felans family. His mother and brothers had heard about the manhunt and were sending one another worried Facebook messages. At some point, the couple exchanged cars with Mr. Felans mother.Ms. Yousifs family declined to speak in detail about what this experience has been like, and her life before she and Mr. Felan met in Minnesota and fell in love. Those who encountered Ms. Yousif as a college sophomore find the events of the past 14 months difficult to reconcile with the young woman they met in 2019. She had earned a scholarship from the American Business Womens Association of Rochester and the woman who administered it remembered Ms. Yousif as mature and ambitious, wearing funky high heels, and chatting about her work as a bookkeeper for her father.ImageCredit...Brooke BurchMs. Yousif had dreams of starting her own business. She was on the deans list at Rochester Community and Technical College.And then she was on the run.On a Friday night in mid-June 2020, a surveillance camera at a Holiday Inn outside San Antonio captured Ms. Yousif and Mr. Felan driving his mothers brown Toyota Camry into the hotels parking lot. They got out of the car, walked outside the view of the camera and then disappeared.The A.T.F. increased its reward to $20,000 $10,000 each for Mr. Felan, describing him as a felon with multiple convictions, and for Ms. Yousif, his accomplice. Mr. Felan faced a drug possession charge when he was 18 that led to an almost seven year prison sentence, and more recently, convictions for assault and for transporting undocumented immigrants near the Mexican border, for which he also spent time in prison.The agency also released more images of them, including what appear to be their wedding photos, and warned that Ms. Yousif, who appears to be noticeably pregnant, is known to have worn disguises while on the run, including wigs, hair extensions, hats and the absence of a hijab.Michael German, a former F.B.I. agent who is now a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, said the Justice Department under Attorney General William P. Barr was very aggressively seeking to make prosecutions from the George Floyd protests. It wouldnt surprise me that this case would have been a high-priority one, he said.Two weeks after officials lost track of the couple, a deputy U.S. marshal told a Texas news station that the authorities suspected they were trying to get to Mexico.Mena is, we believe to be, between six to eight months pregnant. Were also taking that into consideration in our investigation, he said. The fact that there is an unborn child, an innocent child here involved, as well, at this point, the quicker all of this ends, for everybodys sake, the better.That innocent child would later be separated from his parents or any family member for more than four months.Blacklisted TechnologyImageCredit...Illustration by Lizzie Gill; photos by the U.S. Department of JusticeThe photo projected on the screen in the conference room leapt out at him, of a woman against a pale blue background, wearing bright red lipstick and a beige hijab. Her name was next to the photo: Mena Yousif. Federico Prez Villoro, an investigative journalist and artist based in Mexico City, wrote the name down so he could figure out who she was.Mr. Prez Villoro was meeting with law enforcement officials in Coahuila, Mexico last year; they were demonstrating their new equipment: facial recognition software and nearly 1,300 cameras from a Chinese company called Dahua Technology.A group of police officers and a government employee in charge of Mexicos first large-scale facial recognition system, Luis Campos, were explaining how the new $30 million system could flag a face so that police would get an alert in real-time if a camera spotted that person.The authorities in Coahuila, a state that borders Texas, had bought the system in 2019; in the months since it was installed, they had searched for only about 100 people, said Mr. Campos, and he projected a few of their faces on the screen, including those of Ms. Yousif and Mr. Felan.Mr. Campos told Mr. Prez Villoro that the F.B.I. had learned about Coahuilas system and asked for help finding people accused of terrorism. Mr. Prez Villoro did his own research after the meeting.They were anti-racist protesters and not being searched for terrorism in the U.S. but for acts of vandalism, Mr. Prez Villoro said. He was disturbed to see the technology being used that way, and mentioned it in an article he wrote with Paloma Robles. They just said that the F.B.I. had called Sonia Villarreal, Coahuilas secretary of public security, with the request, a sort of informal favor, it seemed.Mr. German, the former F.B.I. agent who now studies civil liberty issues, said that the F.B.I. had a long history of categorizing civil disobedience as terrorism, and that the agency would likely view arson during a protest as a terrorism case. Lighting any kind of fire at a protest is not something thats going to be helpful to you in the eyes of the law, he said. Mr. German also said it would not be unusual for the agency to seek help from Mexican authorities to find the couple. There is a tremendous amount of cooperation with Mexican law enforcement on a host of law enforcement issues, he said.Part of what bothered Mr. Prez Villoro was that the company that made the surveillance system, Dahua, had been blacklisted by the U.S. government in 2019. Dahua, based in Hangzhou, is one of the largest video surveillance companies in the world; it is partly state-owned, but also publicly traded, with revenues of $27 billion last year. Under the Trump administration, both the Commerce and Defense departments put Dahua on blacklists as the trade war with China escalated, and as scrutiny increased on human rights abuses against Muslims in Chinas Xinjiang region.According to a notice in the Federal Register, Dahuas products were used in Chinas campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups. As a result, the U.S. government cannot use its products and Dahua cannot buy American goods. (American individuals and businesses still can though; Amazon bought its thermal cameras last year to help detect Covid-19 symptoms at its warehouses.)Dahua Technology flatly denies the allegations, the company said in a statement about the blacklist. Ultimately, no security solutions company can fully control how its technologies are used by end users.Federal authorities declined to comment on the use of facial recognition technology in the pursuit of Mr. Felan and Ms. Yousif. We ask for assistance with fugitive investigations from other countries every day and cannot direct which sources and methodologies they may employ to assist in fugitive investigations, said Lynzey Donahue, spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshals.I have not heard of a story like this before where our government asked another government to do face recognition for it, said Adam Schwartz, a surveillance lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Its very upsetting.The cutting-edge system was in use, searching for signs of the couple in Mexico, but it does not appear to be what led authorities to them. A spokeswoman for the ATF said the agency paid the $20,000 to someone who had information on the couple. That was then used to locate Felan and Yousif while in Mexico, directly leading to their apprehension, said Ashlee J. L. Sherrill, the spokeswoman. In his article, Mr. Prez Villoro deemed the real-time facial recognition system both an abuse of civil liberties and a technological failure that hadnt lived up to its promise. But the technology is spreading globally, in part because China is aggressively marketing it abroad as part of the countrys Belt and Road initiative, said Marc Rotenberg, president of the Center for A.I. and Digital Policy, a nonprofit in Washington.China is marketing mass surveillance technology to its trading partners in Africa, Asia and South America, he explained, pitching it as a way to minimize crime and promote public order in major metropolitan areas.I dont think they particularly see it as evil, Mr. Rotenberg said.In the United States, facial recognition technology is widely used by law enforcement officials, though poorly regulated. During a congressional hearing in July, lawmakers expressed surprise that 20 federal agencies were using it without having fully assessed the risks of misuse or bias some algorithms have been found to work less accurately on women and people of color, and it has led to mistaken arrests. The technology can be a powerful and effective crime-solving tool, though, placing it, for now, at a tipping point.At the start of the hearing, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat of Texas, highlighted the challenge for Congress or anyone in determining the benefits and downsides to using facial recognition: Its not clear how well it works or how widely its used. As Ms. Jackson Lee said, Information on how law enforcement agencies have adopted facial recognition technology remains underreported or nonexistent.The ArrestAfter crossing into Mexico last summer, Mr. Felan and Ms. Yousif evaded capture for months, long enough for their son to be born there.This February, however, the day after Valentines Day, they were arrested in Puerto Vallarta, a tourist destination on the Pacific coast, 800 miles south of the U.S. border.Thanks to the skilled investigative work of the A.T.F. and the tireless apprehension efforts of the U.S. Marshals Service, these two defendants, who have been on the run for more than eight months, will be returned to Minnesota to face justice, U.S. Attorney Erica H. MacDonald said in a statement.Mr. Felan and Mr. Yousif were transported to San Diego, where they were charged in federal court three counts of arson for Mr. Felan, which carries a possible prison sentence of 20 years, and two counts of accessory after the fact for Ms. Yousif, with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.They are now back in Minnesota, forbidden from talking to each other while they await federal prosecution.But their six-month-old son did not travel to the United States with them; he was taken into custody by Mexican authorities when the couple was arrested and placed in an international orphanage, according to Youser Yousif, Menas sister, because he was not considered a U.S. citizen. When a child is born abroad, the birth has to be registered with a U.S. embassy or consulate, but that is hard to do when on the run from the law. Youser Yousif said her sister had been filling out paperwork for months trying to secure the return of her son.In June, four months after the child was taken from his parents, Mena Yousifs family traveled to Mexico to try to retrieve him. Ms. Yousifs lawyer filed a request for the release of her passport, which had been seized by the authorities, so it could be sent to her parents in Mexico to prove that the mother of the child is a U.S. citizen.The judge agreed to the request and ordered Ms. Yousifs probation officer to mail the passport to Mexico.The U.S. Marshals went to great lengths to ensure that the apprehension of this couple was handled in such a way that the child could be placed in the custody of family members, said Ms. Donahue, spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshals.The FalloutImageCredit...Mike Blake/ReutersSurveillance footage and smartphone cameras provided the evidence that investigators needed to look into over 100 cases of arson from the three days of unrest in Minneapolis. A handful of people who have been convicted so far face up to four years in prison, and have been ordered to pay millions of dollars in restitution.Video evidence was crucial, too, in the event that set off the unrest, the murder of George Floyd. Its how the world knew what had happened to Mr. Floyd, and why Derek Chauvin, the officer who knelt on his neck, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for killing him.We are living in a world where tracking technologies, from surveillance cameras to our smartphones, are recording more and more of our lives, raising urgent questions about the extent to which those recordings should feed into surveillance systems, and how easy we want it to be for governments and companies to track us in real time.In a 2019 report on video analytics, the American Civil Liberties Union argued that millions of surveillance cameras installed in recent decades are waking up thanks to automation, such as facial recognition technology, which allows them to not just record, but to analyze what is happening and flag what they see: That will usher in something entirely new in the history of humanity: a society where everyones public movements and behavior are subject to constant and comprehensive evaluation and judgment by agents of authority in short, a society where everyone is watched.In this case, U.S. citizens were subject to a real-time tracking system that the U.S. government itself had deemed abusive in China.Real-time face recognition systems are dangerous now and threaten to become even more pervasive and all-encompassing, said Ashley Gorski, a lawyer at the A.C.L.U. The claimed benefits to law enforcement should not obscure the privacy harms for millions of people subject to these proliferating systems and government monitoring of their everyday movements.Mr. Felan is awaiting trial in Sherburne County jail on the outskirts of Minneapolis, while Ms. Yousif is on house arrest at her parents home in Rochester. A community group assisting people arrested as a result of the protests posted a message from Mr. Felan on its Facebook page: This is the most difficult time Ive ever had to go through in my entire life.Natalie Kitroeff, Oscar Lopez and Paul Mozur contributed reporting. Susan C. Beachy contributed research. | Tech |
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. | Tech |
The vaccines are effective at preventing serious illness and death, but they are not a golden shield against the coronavirus.Credit...Mario Tama/Getty ImagesPublished July 22, 2021Updated Aug. 17, 2021A wedding in Oklahoma leads to 15 vaccinated guests becoming infected with the coronavirus. Raucous Fourth of July celebrations disperse the virus from Provincetown, Mass., to dozens of places across the country, sometimes carried by fully vaccinated celebrants.As the Delta variant surges across the nation, reports of infections in vaccinated people have become increasingly frequent including, most recently, among at least six Texas Democrats, a White House aide and an aide to Speaker Nancy Pelosi.The highly contagious variant, combined with a lagging vaccination campaign and the near absence of preventive restrictions, is fueling a rapid rise in cases in all states, and hospitalizations in nearly all of them. It now accounts for about 83 percent of infections diagnosed in the United States.But as worrying as the trend may seem, breakthrough infections those occurring in vaccinated people are still relatively uncommon, experts said, and those that cause serious illness, hospitalization or death even more so. More than 97 percent of people hospitalized for Covid-19 are unvaccinated.The takeaway message remains, if youre vaccinated, you are protected, said Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York. You are not going to end up with severe disease, hospitalization or death.Reports of breakthrough infections should not be taken to mean that the vaccines do not work, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Biden administrations top pandemic adviser, said on Thursday at a news briefing.By no means does that mean that youre dealing with an unsuccessful vaccine, he said. The success of the vaccine is based on the prevention of illness.Still, vaccinated people can come down with infections, overwhelmingly asymptomatic or mild. That may come as a surprise to many vaccinated Americans, who often assume that they are completely shielded from the virus. And breakthrough infections raise the possibility, as yet unresolved, that vaccinated people may spread the virus to others.ImageCredit...James Estrin/The New York TimesGiven the upwelling of virus across much of the country, some scientists say it is time for vaccinated people to consider wearing masks indoors and in crowded spaces like shopping malls or concert halls a recommendation that goes beyond current guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends masking only for unvaccinated people.The agency does not plan to change its guidelines unless there is a significant change in the science, said a federal official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter.The agencys guidance already gives local leaders latitude to adjust their policies based on rates of transmission in their communities, he added. Citing the rise of the Delta variant, health officials in several California jurisdictions are already urging a return to indoor masking; Los Angeles County is requiring it.Seatbelts reduce risk, but we still need to drive carefully, said Dr. Scott Dryden-Peterson, an infectious disease physician and epidemiologist at Brigham & Womens Hospital in Boston. Were still trying to figure out what is drive carefully in the Delta era, and what we should be doing.The uncertainty about Delta results in part from how it differs from previous versions of the coronavirus. Although its mode of transmission is the same it is inhaled, usually in indoor spaces Delta is thought to be about twice as contagious as the original virus.Significantly, early evidence also suggests that people infected with the Delta variant may carry roughly a thousandfold more virus than those infected with the original virus. While that does not seem to mean that they get sicker, it does probably mean that they are more contagious and for longer.Dose also matters: A vaccinated person exposed to a low dose of the coronavirus may never become infected, or not noticeably so. A vaccinated person exposed to extremely high viral loads of the Delta variant is more likely to find his or her immune defenses overwhelmed.The problem grows worse as community transmission rates rise, because exposures in dose and number will increase. Vaccination rates in the country have stalled, with less than half of Americans fully immunized, giving the virus plenty of room to spread.Unvaccinated people are not, for the most part, taking precautions, and thats whats driving it for everybody, said Dr. Eric J. Rubin, the editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine. Were all susceptible to whatever anyones behavior is in this epidemic.Dr. Gounder likened the amount of protection offered by the vaccines to a golf umbrella that keeps people dry in a rainstorm. But if youre out in a hurricane, youre still going to get wet, she said. Thats kind of the situation that the Delta variant has created, where theres still a lot of community spread.For the average vaccinated person, a breakthrough infection is likely to be inconsequential, causing few to no symptoms. But there is concern among scientists that a few vaccinated people who become infected may go on to develop long Covid, a poorly understood constellation of symptoms that persists after the active infection is resolved.ImageCredit...Mario Tama/Getty ImagesMuch has been made of Deltas ability to sidestep immune defenses. In fact, all of the existing vaccines seem able to prevent serious illness and death from the variant. In laboratory studies, Delta actually has proved to be a milder threat than Beta, the variant first identified in South Africa.Whether a vaccinated person ever becomes infected may depend on how high antibodies spiked after vaccination, how potent those antibodies are against the variant, and whether the level of antibodies in the persons blood has waned since immunization.In any case, immune defenses primed by the vaccines should recognize the virus soon after infection and destroy it before significant damage occurs.That is what explains why people do get infected and why people dont get seriously ill, said Michel C. Nussenzweig, an immunologist at Rockefeller University in New York. Its nearly unavoidable, unless youre going to give people very frequent boosters.There is limited evidence beyond anecdotal reports to indicate whether breakthrough infections with the Delta variant are more common or more likely to fan out to other people. The C.D.C. has recorded about 5,500 hospitalizations and deaths in vaccinated people, but it is not tracking milder breakthrough infections.Additional data is emerging from the Covid-19 Sports and Society Workgroup, a coalition of professional sports leagues that is working closely with the C.D.C. Sports teams in the group are testing more than 10,000 people at least daily and sequencing all infections, according to Dr. Robby Sikka, a physician who worked with the N.B.A.s Minnesota Timberwolves.Breakthrough infections in the leagues seem to be more common with the Delta variant than with Alpha, the variant first identified in Britain, he said. As would be predicted, the vaccines cut down the severity and duration of illness significantly, with players returning less than two weeks after becoming infected, compared with nearly three weeks earlier in the pandemic.But while they are infected, the players carry very high amounts of virus for seven to 10 days, compared with two or three days in those infected with Alpha, Dr. Sikka said. Infected players are required to quarantine, so the project has not been able to track whether they spread the virus to others but its likely that they would, he added.If theyre put just willy-nilly back into society, I think youre going to have spread from vaccinated individuals, he added. They dont even recognize they have Covid because they think theyre vaccinated.Elyse Freitas was shocked to discover that 15 vaccinated people became infected at her wedding. Dr. Freitas, 34, a biologist at the University of Oklahoma, said she had been very cautious throughout the pandemic, and had already postponed her wedding once. But after much deliberation, she celebrated the wedding indoors on July 10. Based on the symptoms, Dr. Freitas believes that the initial infection was at a bachelorette party two days before the wedding, when a dozen vaccinated people went unmasked to bars in downtown Oklahoma City; seven of them later tested positive. Eventually, 17 guests at the wedding became infected, nearly all with mild symptoms.In hindsight, I should have paid more attention to the vaccination rates in Oklahoma and the emergence of the Delta variant and adjusted my plans accordingly, she said.ImageCredit...Nathan Papes/The Springfield News-Leader, via Associated PressAn outbreak in Provincetown, Mass., illustrates how quickly a cluster can grow, given the right conditions. During its famed Fourth of July celebrations, the small town hosted more than 60,000 unmasked revelers, dancing and mingling in crowded bars and house parties.The crowds this year were much larger than usual, said Adam Hunt, 55, an advertising executive who has lived in Provincetown part time for about 20 years. But the bars and clubs didnt open until they were allowed to, Mr. Hunt noted: We thought we were doing the right thing. We thought we were OK.Mr. Hunt did not become infected with the virus, but several of his vaccinated friends who had flown in from places as far as Hawaii and Alabama tested positive after their return. In all, the cluster has grown to at least 256 cases including 66 visitors from other states about two-thirds in vaccinated people.I did not expect that people who were vaccinated would be becoming positive at the rate that they were, said Steve Katsurinis, chair of the Provincetown Board of Health. Provincetown has moved swiftly to contain the outbreak, reinstating a mask advisory and stepping up testing. It is conducting 250 tests a day, compared with about eight a day before July 1, Mr. Katsurinis said.Health officials should also help the public understand that vaccines are doing what they are supposed to preventing people from getting seriously ill, said Kristen Panthagani, a geneticist at Baylor College of Medicine who runs a blog explaining complex scientific concepts.Vaccine efficacy isnt 100 percent it never is, she said. We shouldnt expect Covid vaccines to be perfect, either. Thats too high an expectation. | Health |
Credit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesNov. 23, 2018ROME When Hillary Clinton warned in an interview this week that Europes centrist leadership needed to get a handle on migration, or risk further fanning the flames of populism, some wondered where she had been the last few years.We already did this, said Italys former center-left interior minister, Marco Minniti, when asked about the comments. She is talking about another era.Unauthorized migration to Europe has already fallen by around 90 percent since the height of the Continents refugee crisis in 2015, when more than a million asylum seekers, mainly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, crossed into Greece and Italy. That precipitous drop is due in large part to Europes centrist leadership.On Friday, facing some backlash for her remarks, Mrs. Clinton said in a series of tweets that it was precisely a centrist approach that she was advocating.I have always been and remain a staunch advocate of comprehensive immigration reform thats true to our values and treats every person with dignity, she wrote.She criticized President Trumps detention of immigrant children at the southern border of the United States, and she added: On both sides of the Atlantic, we need reform. Not open borders, but immigration laws enforced with fairness and respect for human rights.Right-wing populists on both sides of the Atlantic continue to use the immigration issue and to misrepresent it hoping to deepen their political inroads. With elections for the European Parliament looming next May, the lingering fears about migration on the Continent are likely to be exploited all the more, analysts warn.The story populists sell is very loosely related to facts, said Gerald Knaus, a migration expert who is the founding chairman of the European Stability Initiative, a Berlin-based research group.While Europes mainstream leadership is perceived in many quarters to have been lax on migration, it has in fact quietly outsourced border management to countries with shady human rights records, curbing migration flows.As early as November 2015, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany was spearheading efforts to persuade the autocratic Turkish government to do more to stem migration from Turkey toward Greece, then the main gateway to Europe. By March 2016, a deal had been reached that slashed migration flows almost overnight.In July 2017, Mr. Minniti himself cut flows to Italy by 70 percent by negotiating with the Libyan militias that control the migration business in the southern Mediterranean.And it was the center-left Federica Mogherini, the European Unions chief diplomat, who led efforts throughout this period to stop migration flows through Saharan countries, by forging contested deals with Sudan and Niger.ImageCredit...Felipe Dana/Associated PressBehind the scenes, the Obama administration encouraged Europes hard-line approach, in meetings with Ms. Merkel and her counterpart in Rome, Matteo Renzi, Italys prime minister at the time.After Ms. Merkel initially extended a warm welcome to the newcomers, Mr. Obama told her in late 2015 that if she didnt take a tougher, but necessary, stance, she and the European Union would be through.Angela, youve got to get real or its over, Mr. Obama said, according to a person with knowledge of the conversation, who added that Ms. Merkel responded, Barack, I cant believe Im agreeing with you.In October 2016, Mr. Obama had a similar message for Mr. Renzi, who had become a liberal model in Europe for his humanitarian approach to migrants.During a meeting at the White House in October 2016, Mr. Obama told him you must put a limit, on the numbers he took in, according to a person who was present at the meeting.A spokesman for Mr. Obama declined to comment.Yet in practice, Ms. Merkel and Mr. Renzi and their centrist counterparts needed little encouragement.If anything, Mr. Minniti and other people with knowledge of meetings between Mr. Obama and European leaders at the height of the migrant crisis said that the United States was late in understanding the enormous political catalyst that mass migration from Libya posed to Europe.Mr. Renzi, for example, had constantly appealed to Mr. Obama and other leaders to pay more attention to Libya as a potential launching point for migrants. But he was ignored.Back then, Mr. Minniti said, in Europe and the United States there was an underestimation of the problem.Starting in 2017, Italy put in place a strategy that acknowledged that a large nation with an enormous coastline could not eliminate migration, but govern it.The Italian government did so by combating human traffickers, striking deals with powerful militias in Libya, creating humanitarian corridors for asylum seekers and offering financial incentives to economic migrants to return home.Given this context, Mrs. Clintons comments are a bit surprising, said Matteo Villa, a migration specialist at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies, a Rome-based research group. Europe has already got tough.But centrist leaders have failed to communicate the effectiveness of their approach. Mr. Minniti said that the challenge facing the left was to take credit for their achievements.ImageCredit...Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York TimesBut that is easier said than done. Politicians still risk appearing both too weak for the far-right and, conversely, too hard-line for those on the left who are horrified by their leaders lack of support for migrants trapped in dangerous conditions in Libya and in Greece.The absence of clear and credible policies on the part of centrists policies that publics can understand and that combine control and empathy for people in need of protection makes the job of demagogues too easy, Mr. Knaus said.Yet hard-line migration policy and rhetoric in Europe has so far had a mixed impact at the ballot box. Recent Continentwide polling suggests concern about immigration among Europeans has fallen back to pre-crisis levels.In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has partly maintained his popularity by successfully creating the impression that his party alone can defend Hungarians from the threat of migration even as migration to his country has been reduced to a relative trickle.Conversely in Italy, Mr. Minnitis effective counter-migration measures were not enough to save his center-left party from losing office in a general election earlier this year.We arrived too late, Mr. Minniti said.By the time of elections last March, populist parties had been able to sustain the impression of an ongoing crisis, despite the marked fall in arrivals.Mr. Minniti has been replaced in the interior ministry by the far-right Matteo Salvini, who has consistently made headlines for obstructing the work of charity rescue ships in the Mediterranean, but whose stated goal of ending migration to Italy had already been largely accomplished by the time Mr. Minniti left office.In Germany, migration has had a similarly mixed effect on electoral results.Frustration with Ms. Merkels perceived generosity to migrants initially helped drive support for the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD).Yet when Ms. Merkels Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party tacked to the right on migration in two local elections this fall, the center-right party ended up losing more votes as a result to the pro-refugee Green Party than to the AfD. And in Berlin, polling data released this week suggest that the Greens are now the capitals most popular party.In Greece and Spain, the two European countries currently facing the highest migration flows, far-right parties are currently polling below 10 percent.Yet in Poland, which was almost untouched by the migration flows of 2015, a far-right party won office two years ago by capitalizing on a different set of anxieties.Against this complex backdrop, Mrs. Clintons comments have not attracted the same interest in Europe as they have in America.Few politicians of any stripe reacted to Mrs. Clintons remarks with much vigor, even in Hungary where the government has historically leapt upon similar statements from centrist figures as a vindication of their policies.It doesnt make much difference, said Gyorgy Schopflin, a member of the European Parliament from Mr. Orbans Fidesz party, in a telephone interview. Whether her conversion is sincere or tactical, I dont know. Im skeptical. | World |
Credit...Lam Yik Fei for The New York TimesMay 20, 2019LONDON The Chinese technology giant Huawei on Monday began to feel the painful ripple effects of a Trump administration order that effectively bars American firms from selling components and software to the company, ramping up a cold war between the two countries over technology and trade.The fallout began when Google cut off support to Huawei in recent days for many Android hardware and software services, according to the companies. The move, a response to the Trump administrations order last week, could hamstring Huawei by restricting its access to future versions of the Android operating system. Google will also limit access to popular applications like Maps, Gmail and the Google Play store in new handsets made by Huawei, the worlds second-largest smartphone maker, behind Samsung.But Huawei was given a temporary reprieve from Googles abrupt pullback by the Commerce Department, which last week had added Huawei to a list of companies deemed a national security risk, effectively preventing it from buying or licensing American parts and technology without special permission from Washington. Late Monday afternoon, the department said in a notice posted to the Federal Register that it would grant 90-day permissions for transactions necessary to maintain and support existing cellular networks and handsets.Google said that it would work with Huawei during the 90 days to provide security updates to its Android operating system, but that it planned to abide by the Commerce Departments orders when the period expired.Chip makers have also started stepping back from dealings with the Chinese firm. The German supplier Infineon said on Monday that it would restrict its business with Huawei. And Intel and Qualcomm, two of the worlds largest chip makers, have told employees to cease working with the Chinese company until further notice, according to Bloomberg.The mass flight of American technology companies from Huawei, one of Chinas proudest corporate champions, is a stark escalation in the high-tech battle that has simmered between the two powers for years.China has long prevented many American internet giants from providing services within its borders, and it has placed tight strictures on how other American technology firms can operate. The enormous commercial potential of the Chinese market made it hard for the companies to put up much of a fight as Beijing declared, in effect, that their business interests were subservient to Chinas national security interests.Now, the United States government is showing that it, too, has ways of getting foreign companies to play by its rules in the name of upholding national security. Its asset is not a giant, untapped market for technology products, but the technology itself the know-how and capabilities without which Huawei would not have achieved so much of its success.We have made substantial contributions to the development and growth of Android around the world, Huawei said in a statement about Googles pullback. As one of Androids key global partners, we have worked closely with their open-source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefited both users and the industry.The companys decision to halt work with Huawei was earlier reported by Reuters. Intel declined to comment, and Qualcomm did not respond to requests for comment.Major American wireless companies have effectively been blocked from buying Huaweis telecommunications equipment for years, but the companys business has grown rapidly in Africa, Asia and Europe, where its affordable prices have been embraced by consumers and by phone companies that use its antennas, base stations and other hardware to make wireless networks.In recent months, the United States has stepped up its campaign against Huawei, which it has said poses a national security risk. American authorities have worked to persuade allies like Britain and Germany to block the use of Huawei telecommunications equipment. But the efforts have had limited success, as many countries rely on Huawei gear in the race to build up fifth generation, or 5G, wireless communication networks.Last week, President Trump issued a ban prohibiting American telecommunications firms from installing foreign-made equipment that could threaten national security. The order instructed the commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, to stop transactions posing an unacceptable risk. Although the order did not single out specific companies, it was widely believed to be directed at Huawei and others in Chinas tech sector.The actions put pressure on American allies that have so far resisted urging from the Trump administration to issue complete bans against Huawei. James Lewis, a senior vice president and the director of the technology policy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that most European countries would prefer a softer approach.I dont think Europeans realize the extent of the strength of feelings in the U.S. that we need to block Huawei, Mr. Lewis, a former official at the State and Commerce Departments, said.China has not said whether it plans to retaliate against the United States in response to Mr. Trumps move. On Monday, shares in Qualcomm, Infineon, Intel and Alphabet, Googles parent, all fell. Apple, which depends on the Chinese market for a large portion of its revenue, also dropped amid concerns that the tech battle between the two powers made it a potential target.The Chinese government also suggested the possibility of a legal challenge against the Trump administration order on Monday. Asked about Googles decision at a regularly scheduled news briefing on Monday, Lu Kang, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, China encourages Chinese companies to take up legal weapons to defend their own legitimate rights.For now, the flight of tech suppliers will test the durability of Huaweis business, which has long depended on access to products from American companies. It is now on the verge of reliving a run-in that another Chinese tech company, ZTE, had with Washington not long ago. To Chinese leaders and business executives, that episode remains a vivid cautionary tale of the United States governments ability to weaponize American companies technological superiority for political ends.That incident also began with a listing by the Commerce Department. ZTE, which competes with Huawei in telecom equipment, was determined to have sold American-origin goods to Iran. The department added the company to the entity list in 2016, putting a cloud over its future.In time, ZTE negotiated a lighter sentence with the department, and its business with American suppliers was allowed to continue unrestricted. But last spring, commerce officials said the company had not disciplined the employees responsible for the transactions that had violated American export controls and that the company had lied to American authorities about it.Washington cut ZTE off from all purchases of American components and technology. Within weeks, the company was at deaths door. Production stopped. Workers idled in their dorms.Huawei is a much larger company than ZTE, with a bigger global footprint. If it is brought to its knees as ZTE was last year, then the consequences could be devastating for smartphone users and mobile networks across a far wider stretch of the planet.If the Commerce Departments order goes into full effect as currently stipulated, Googles change will apply to new Huawei devices and future versions of the Android operating system. Security and feature updates will still be available for Huawei users with Google apps already loaded on their devices.By adhering to the Commerce Departments order, Google would undercut ties with an important and fast-growing partner. Huaweis smartphone sales in the years first quarter grew 50 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, even as the broader handset market stagnated, according to the market research firm IDC. Google gets revenue from ads that are shown with the apps carried on Huawei devices. | Tech |
Soccer|Liverpool and Manchester City Will Play at Yankee Stadiumhttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/sports/soccer/liverpool-and-manchester-city-will-play-at-yankee-stadium.htmlFeb. 20, 2014Liverpool and Manchester City will play at Yankee Stadium on July 30 as part of a multicity preseason tournament featuring some of Europes top soccer clubs.The eight-team tournament, the International Champions Cup, will take place from July 26 to Aug. 4 and include games in nearly a dozen American cities: Denver, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Washington, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Charlotte and Miami.Liverpool and Manchester City will be joined in the field by their Premier League rival Manchester United, as well as the Italian giants A.C. Milan, Internazionale and Roma. Real Madrid, which won the tournament last year, will return, and Olympiakos of Greece will complete the field.In every case, the teams rosters could be affected by this years World Cup, which ends July 13 and might preclude some top players from taking part. Spain, England, Italy and Greece have all qualified for the World Cup, and most of the clubs also employ players from various countries that could make deep runs in the tournament.Still, the commitments from so many top clubs indicate a continued willingness to market themselves to a growing and increasingly knowledgable American soccer audience. The tournament will mark Citys second straight summer tour of the United States and the second year in a row the club has played at Yankee Stadium. Liverpool last played in North America in 2012, when it visited Boston, Toronto and Baltimore. United is embarking on its first American tour since 2011.Milan and Inter, like Real Madrid, played in the I.C.C. tournament last year. Roma has spent its past two preseason in the United States; last year, it served as the opponent in the M.L.S. All-Star game.Its really all about branding, the former Manchester City forward Mike Summerbee said. Everybody wants to come and play in America.A second game in the New York metropolitan area will pit Milan against Olympiakos at Citi Field on July 24.The clubs are divided into two groups for the tournament. Group A consists of Manchester United, Real Madrid, Inter and Roma, with Group B made up of Liverpool, City, Olympiakos and Milan. Each team will play the other clubs in its group once, and the group winners will meet in the final at SunLife Stadium outside Miami on Aug. 4. | Sports |
Credit...Tasneem Alsultan for The New York TimesNov. 14, 2018BEIRUT, Lebanon When Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia convened an outdoor banquet this spring for his fellow Arab rulers, seated among the kings, princes and presidents were two friends with few qualifications other than their closeness to the young prince himself: a poet who has become known for orchestrating ferocious social media campaigns, and a former security guard who runs the Saudi sports commission.The two men had each played pivotal roles in many of the brazen power plays that have marked Prince Mohammeds sprint to dominance of the kingdom the ouster of the previous crown prince, the detentions of royals and businessmen in the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton, the kidnapping of the Lebanese prime minister, and the kingdoms diplomatic spats with Qatar and Canada. Even Saudi royals have come to fear the princes two friends Saud el-Qahtani, 40, and Turki al-Sheikh, 37 and the Arab potentates around the table could scarcely object to their presence.Now the killing of the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents has focused attention on their roles as enablers of the crown princes impulsiveness and aggression, and Saudi watchers consider the mens fate a bellwether of the royal courts direction as it grapples with the international outrage over the killing.They are the closest people to the crown prince, said Kristin Smith Diwan, senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. They are his political enforcers and the face of the brash new Saudi first posture at home and abroad, and those opposed to the hypernationalist, thuggish direction in Saudi foreign policy would be happy to see them cut down to size.Neither man is among the 18 people Saudi Arabia says it has arrested in the course of its investigation into Mr. Khashoggis killing.But the kingdom has already assigned some blame for the killing to Mr. Qahtani, the social-media czar. He lost his title as an adviser to the royal court because he contributed to the vitriolic rhetoric toward the kingdoms critics that led to Mr. Khashoggis death, a Saudi official said. It is unclear which of his many duties Mr. Qahtani has relinquished.Mr. Sheikh, the sports commissioner, was in New York for medical treatment during the killing, according to Saudis who know him, and has since avoided the spotlight.Mr. Khashoggi, who was a Saudi insider before fleeing the kingdom last year to live in Virginia and write columns for The Washington Post, had said the two men exemplified what was dangerous about Prince Mohammed.The crown prince does not have political advisers except Turki al-Sheikh and Saud al-Qahtani, Mr. Khashoggi said in private comments published by Newsweek after his death. They are very thuggish. People fear them. You challenge them, you might end up in prison.ImageCredit...Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA, via ShutterstockMr. Qahtani did not respond to messages seeking comment. Mr. Sheikh did not respond to a request for comment sent to the sports commission.Both men run portfolios social media and sports that resonate with the large population of young Saudis whom Prince Mohammed has courted as his base. Both have sought to fire up the fierce nationalism that the prince has encouraged by pouring money into battles against rivals in stadiums or on the internet.Although neither portfolio relates to foreign affairs, foreign envoys often seek out the two men because of their influence, said Dennis Horak, the former Canadian ambassador to Riyadh who was expelled in August after other Canadian diplomats called for the release of detained rights activists.Mr. Sheikh was approachable while Mr. Qahtani had a much fiercer reputation, Mr. Horak said. The pair, he said, was not so much good cop-bad cop, more bad cop and lesser-bad cop.Like Prince Mohammed, neither was well known before the princes father, King Salman, ascended the throne in 2015. Both were educated inside the kingdom with scant experience abroad.Critics in the kingdom say that they sometimes failed to understand the dynamics of Western politics and culture, like when Mr. Qahtani orchestrated the plastering of billboards and trucks in London with his bosss photo during the crown princes visit there last spring to the derision of Londoners unaccustomed to foreign personality cults.But each man had skills the prince treasured.Mr. Qahtani, who held an undergraduate law degree and wrote poetry, had been recruited to work in the royal court more than a decade ago. He gained a deep understanding of the royal familys secrets that members and associates of the royal family say he later exploited to help Prince Mohammed plot his rise and eliminate his rivals.He also appears to have developed an interest in hacking. As early as 2009, someone using credentials associated with Mr. Qahtani was trawling amateur hacking forums to learn about surveillance software, according to images of the posts captured by other forum members.In 2012, someone using Mr. Qahtanis government email address solicited services from the Italian spyware company Hacking Team, according emails later released by WikiLeaks. In one email, the writer sought a visit by people with high technical knowledge to explain the solutions you offer and training and costs.Will bear all the costs of the trip from A-Z, the author of the email added.Mr. Qahtani has become Prince Mohammeds chief propagandist. With a Twitter following of 1.36 million users, he solicited names for a blacklist of enemies of the kingdom and then marshaled mass social media attacks against them, commanding followers his critics have called electronic flies. His work has earned him the nicknames Lord of the Flies, Mr. Hashtag and Saudi Arabias Steve Bannon.Mr. Sheikh was a bodyguard in Prince Mohammeds security detail who charmed the prince with his sense of humor and intense loyalty, said associates of the royal family who know both men. Roughly the same age, they developed a personal rapport, and the prince rewarded Mr. Sheikh with a seemingly limitless budget to make the kingdom an international contender in tennis, boxing, soccer and other sports. He has welcomed wrestling legend Hulk Hogan to Riyadh and last April, he joked in the ring about keeping for himself the championship belt for the WWEs Greatest Royal Rumble.ImageCredit...Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty ImagesIn an extension of his royally financed campaign to build a sports empire, Mr. Sheikh became the honorary president of one of the most successful and popular soccer teams in Egypt, an honor widely believed to reflect heavy investments of money from the crown prince. But Mr. Sheikh resigned in a dispute with the board after just a few months and instead bankrolled his own rival franchise, Pyramid. He recruited three star Brazilian players and launched a sports channel dedicated to his team, reportedly pouring in as much as $33 million.But he complained publicly that Egyptian referees, fans and commentators were failing to appreciate his investments, and said he had asked Egypts president to intervene. In September, a stadium of Egyptian soccer fans broke out in vulgar chants denouncing Mr. Sheikh and the Saudis, and he responded by abandoning the team.Strange attacks from everywhere, and a new story every day, he wrote on Facebook. Why the headache?Mr. Sheikh also splurged last September on a $4.8 million limited edition Bugatti Chiron sports car, according to a sales contract obtained by The New York Times. The seller, the Emirati businessman Saeed Mohammed Butti Alqubaisi, declined to comment.When an entertainment program on the Saudi-owned satellite network MBC last year seemed to hint at a rumored affair between Mr. Sheikh and an Egyptian singer, Mr. Sheikh ordered the network to fire the production team, according to industry executives familiar with the case. The show remains off the air.Both men played signal roles in Prince Mohammeds rise. In June 2017, Mr. Sheikh and Mr. Qahtani were among a handful of Prince Mohammeds loyalists who forcibly detained the previous crown prince and interior minister, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, holding him overnight and threatening him until he agreed to give up his claim to the throne, according to members and associates of the royal family.In a video made the next day, Mr. Sheikh can be seen hovering behind the ousted prince as he pledges allegiance to Mohammed bin Salman. A social media campaign spread rumors that a cocaine addiction had made the ousted prince unfit to rule, and people close to the royal family said Mr. Qahtani fueled the rumors.Both men sprang into action again when Saudi Arabia led a blockade of its tiny neighbor Qatar in June 2017, over its support for political Islam. They unleashed insults and promoted hashtags bashing Qatar, and Mr. Qahtani forced MBC to stop airing Turkish soap operas because of Turkeys support for Qatar, costing the network millions in losses, according to industry executives.He also persuaded Prince Mohammed to spend more than $100,000 on American television commercials denouncing Qatar, evidently unaware of how few Americans were following the Gulf dispute.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.A Qatari-owned network, BeIN Sports, had acquired the exclusive rights to broadcast this years World Cup in the Arab world. So Mr. Qahtani helped promote BeoutQ, a bootleg operation beamed from Riyadh-based Arabsat. BeoutQ ripped live events from BeINs feed and broadcast the games without paying for rights, spurring international lawsuits. The Saudi government has denied any relationship to the pirate network.Both men also played key roles again last fall when Crown Prince Mohammed arbitrarily detained hundreds of the kingdoms richest businessmen and several of his royal cousins in a Ritz-Carlton hotel in what was billed as a crackdown on corruption just a few weeks after Mr. Sheikh had picked up his $4.8 million Bugatti.Both men acted as interrogators, demanding that the captives confess to corrupt self-enrichment and pledge to surrender vast sums, according to relatives and close associates of several detainees. Although blindfolded during some interrogations, detainees told relatives that they saw the two men or recognized their voices from broadcast interviews. Others said that through hotel room windows, they saw Mr. Sheikh coming and going surrounded by armed guards.Several former detainees have reported physical mistreatment during the interrogations, including beatings, electrical shocks and suspension upside down for long periods.Some have shown their family members lasting scars from the beatings and shocks, and in one case photographs of the bruises and scars have been shared with The New York Times; some of the pictures included the electronic monitoring bracelet that the government has forced released detainees to wear to track their movements. One was forced to make his consent to a forced confession with only a thumb print because he was too incapacitated to write out his signature, according to a relative informed by the detainee.Although no evidence has emerged that either man directly abused the captives, both questioned detainees who had been abused.The government of Saudi Arabia has called the allegations of physical abuse absolutely untrue.A few weeks after his release from the Ritz, Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, once the kingdoms wealthiest investor, made a donation of more than a half-million dollars to a Saudi soccer club, writing on Twitter that he was responding to the invitation of my brother Turki al-Sheikh.Neither Mr. Qahtani nor Mr. Sheikh have commented publicly on the killing of Mr. Khashoggi. But Mr. Qahtani, who lost his title as a royal court adviser, appears to believe his days of serving the prince are not over.After his dismissal, he tweeted his thanks to the king and crown prince for this great opportunity to have the honor to serve the homeland.I will remain a loyal servant of my country forever, he added. | World |
Credit...Sam Hodgson for The New York TimesMarch 20, 2017KIEV, Ukraine After his name surfaced last August in a secret ledger listing millions of dollars in payments from a pro-Russian party in Ukraine, Paul Manafort not only lost his job running Donald J. Trumps presidential campaign but also assumed center stage in a bizarre internecine struggle among Ukrainian political forces.On Monday, the intrigue took another turn, when a member of Parliament in Ukraine released documents that he said showed that Mr. Manafort took steps to hide the payments, which were tied to Mr. Manaforts work for former President Viktor F. Yanukovych. The documents included an invoice that appeared to show $750,000 funneled through an offshore account and disguised as payment for computers.Mr. Manafort, who denied the latest allegations, has asserted that the ledger is a forgery and that the member of Parliament, Serhiy A. Leshchenko, was involved in a scheme to blackmail him. Mr. Leshchenko insists that a letter appearing to show him threatening Mr. Manafort with the release of damaging information was itself a fake, and he denies any involvement in blackmail.The latest development unfolded against the backdrop of a congressional hearing on Monday in which the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, was asked about Mr. Manaforts work in Ukraine. Mr. Comey declined to talk specifically about Mr. Manafort or any other individuals under scrutiny in the bureaus investigation of ties between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence.Mr. Manafort worked for more than a decade for Russian-leaning political organizations in Ukraine before taking the helm of the Trump campaign over the summer. But he was pushed out after anticorruption authorities in Ukraine disclosed that Mr. Manafort may have been paid $12.7 million from an illegal slush fund maintained by his client, the Party of Regions.A handwritten accounting document for the fund, known in Ukraine as the Black Ledger, showed entries for Mr. Manaforts advisory work. Mr. Manafort has dismissed the ledger as fraudulent.On Monday, Mr. Leshchenko released an invoice that he said was recovered from a safe in Mr. Manaforts former office in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, that seems to corroborate one of the 22 entries in the ledger from 2009. The invoice billed a shell company in Belize, Neocom Systems Limited, for $750,000 for the sale of 501 computers.Mr. Leshchenko said the invoice, along with computer disks and debit cards belonging to former employees of Mr. Manafort, was found by a tenant who rented the space last year. A signature appearing to match Mr. Manaforts as it appears in open sources can be seen on the four-page invoice printed on Davis Manafort letterhead, with an address in Alexandria, Va.The invoice bills Neocom Systems Limited for the computers. The invoice listed detailed specifications, for example, one as coming equipped with Intel Core 2 Duo E6300. The contract specifies, Payment under the contract is performed by means of bank transfer to the account of the seller.This was not the first time Neocom Systems had surfaced in a corruption probe. In a 2012 money laundering and stock fraud case in Kyrgyzstan, the Central Bank listed it as a shell company used for payments by AsiaUniversalBank, a lender seized by Kyrgyzstans Central Bank amid money laundering allegations.Ukrainian money laundering through AsiaUniversalBank and its affiliated shell companies was extensive and very well known in Kyrgyzstan, Edil Baisalov, a former presidential chief of staff, said in a telephone interview. Our country was a laundry machine.To Mr. Leshchenko, the payment through Neocom Systems Limited, shows how corruption schemes work and why they should be exposed. This was corruption linked to Ukraine, and American law enforcement should investigate.In a statement, a spokesman for Mr. Manafort, referring to the National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine, dismissed Mr. Leshchenkos allegations as baseless, as reflected by the numerous statements from NABU officials who have questioned the validity of the so-called ledger evidence against Mr. Manafort.The statement continued, Any new allegations by Serhiy Leshchenko should be seen in that light and summarily dismissed.Officials of NABU say they have never questioned the validity of the ledger evidence against Mr. Manafort. In fact, one corruption case has gone to court in Ukraine based on such evidence. The officials have said that their mandate is to prosecute only Ukrainian government officials.American federal investigators are already scrutinizing Mr. Manaforts compensation for his consulting work in Ukraine, which followed a four-decade career that included work in the United States for Republican politicians, starting with President Gerald R. Ford, and abroad for dictators, including Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines and Mobutu Sese Seko of the Democratic Republic of Congo.Mr. Manafort is also one of a number of people associated with the Trump campaign whose contacts with Russians are under investigation by the F.B.I. and congressional committees into Russian meddling in the American presidential election.Mr. Manafort has acknowledged remaining in close touch with a former office manager of his business, Konstantin V. Kilimnik, a Russian military interpreter who was investigated in Ukraine last fall over possible ties to Russian intelligence. That investigation closed without any charges. Mr. Manafort has denied knowingly contacting Russian intelligence officials during the campaign.The ledger and the circumstances surrounding its discovery appear to factor into a bizarre incident last month when a website used by Ukrainian computer hackers released some 280,000 text messages hacked from the cellphone of one of Mr. Manaforts daughters, Andrea.Among those was one asking her to relay to her father a message that appeared to be from Mr. Leshchenko. The message addressed Mr. Manafort as Honorable Count! a reference to an old nickname and the writer claimed to have bulletproof facts regarding illicit payments to Mr. Manafort in Ukraine.The note threatened to turn the information over to American and Ukrainian law enforcement unless Mr. Manafort found a way to work things out.Mr. Manafort has said that he believes Mr. Leshchenko sent the message and was trying to blackmail him. Mr. Leshchenko has denied ever having contacted Mr. Manafort or members of his family, or seeking payments to withhold information.With the congressional and F.B.I. investigations moving ahead, President Trump has defended Mr. Manaforts work in Ukraine as a legitimate pursuit for a campaign adviser.People knew that he represented various countries, but I dont think he represented Russia, but represented various countries, Mr. Trump said at a news conference in February. Thats what he does. People know that. Thats Mr. Manafort, by the way, a respected man, a respected man, but I think he represented the Ukraine or Ukraine government or somebody, but everybody knew that. | World |
White Collar WatchCredit...Mike Segar/ReutersDec. 14, 2015When someone asks how you are doing, the reflexive answer is often good even if it has been a horrible day. The questioner is being polite, and hardly expects a disquisition on the status of your life.Nor would we consider someone a liar if they did not disclose the travails suffered since waking up because the response is largely meaningless. In other words, it is immaterial because it has no real context.For securities fraud, the government must prove that a misstatement or omission was material, meaning that it concerned information a reasonable investor would consider important in making a decision regarding how to proceed in the market.Two decisions last week from federal appeals courts could make life more difficult for the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission in pursuing cases by giving ammunition to defendants claiming that there is not enough evidence to prove the materiality of their misstatements.In the first case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan overturned the securities fraud conviction of Jesse C. Litvak, a former Jefferies & Company trader, because the trial judge wrongly excluded evidence showing that his misstatements would not have been important to purchasers of residential mortgage-backed securities, or R.M.B.S., that lost significant value during the financial crisis.The appeals court also dismissed convictions for making false statements to the government about the trades, finding that any falsehoods would not have affected a decision by the Treasury Department overseeing sales of mortgage-backed securities as part of the bank bailout.Mr. Litvak was convicted in the Federal District Court in New Haven for lying about the prices that Jefferies paid for the residential mortgage-backed securities that he sold, generating about $2 million in revenue for the firm. Representatives from the counterparties to the trades, all from sophisticated investment firms, testified at trial that if they had been told the actual prices, it would have been important to their decision whether to proceed with the transactions.Mr. Litvak admitted he was dishonest in what he told them, but his lawyer argued that the misstatements were not material to the investment decisions. In other words, even if he lied, it was a bit like answering good when asked how the day is going because the purchasers did their own assessment about the value of the bonds before making the deal.The appeals court first found that the government had introduced enough evidence to show that Mr. Litvaks misstatements were material, based on the testimony of the purchasers. When the actual buyer says that price is important, it is difficult to find that a misstatement could have no impact.But Mr. Litvaks convictions were overturned because the trial judge improperly excluded evidence from an expert who would have testified that institutional investors like those involved in the trades care little about what Jefferies paid to acquire the bonds because they did their own analysis of the securities. The appeals court stated that if the experts testimony had been presented, then the jury could reasonably have found that misrepresentations by a dealer as to the price paid for certain R.M.B.S. would be immaterial to a counterparty that relies not on a market price or the price at which prior trades took place, but instead on its own sophisticated valuation methods and computer model.This analysis means that materiality depends at least in part on what those in the particular market for the securities would consider important in deciding whether to engage in a transaction, not just what any ordinary investor might want to know. The appeals court did not sanction all forms of lying, but did conclude that evidence related to the market in which the misstatement occurred could show the certain information did not play a meaningful role in the transaction.The case was sent back to the Federal District Court for a retrial. If the government proceeds, the appeals court also found that the trial judge improperly prevented Mr. Litvak from presenting additional expert testimony that he was not acting as an agent of the purchasers. That evidence helps support his claim that any misstatement about the price of the securities should not be considered material because he need not act in the best interests of the purchasers, a type of caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) defense.The second case involved S.E.C. administrative charges against two former officers at State Street Bank, James D. Hopkins and John P. Flannery, for statements they made about the asset-backed securities bonds held by the banks Limited Duration Bond Funds during the meltdown of the subprime mortgage market in the summer of 2007. In a divided 3-to-2 vote, the commissioners overturned the decision of one of the agencys in-house judges, concluding there were no violations.The securities fraud charges against Mr. Hopkins came down to a single slide in a PowerPoint presentation he made to institutional investors with the title Typical Portfolio Exposures and Characteristics of the bond fund. One box on the slide gave information about the allocation of the bonds in different sectors, indicating that 55 percent were asset-backed securities when in fact that number ranged from 80 to 100 percent at the time.The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston overturned the S.E.C.s finding that this statement constituted fraud, stating that the evidence supporting the commissions finding of materiality was marginal. The appeals court noted that the slide portrayed only the typical status of the fund, and that Mr. Hopkins had information available about the actual allocation of the bonds if an investor had asked for it.In a statement that is sure to be widely quoted in future cases, the appeals court pointed out that context makes a difference when analyzing materiality. The slide was one of 20 provided to institutional investors, and the sector allocation went unmentioned during the presentation.Unlike Mr. Litvaks case, the S.E.C. administrative judge permitted Mr. Hopkins to introduced expert testimony that the presentation was not intended to give a complete picture of the bond fund, but instead was only a starting point for an institutional investor to begin its own due diligence. In other words, this was a sales pitch to an investor that could be expected to look further into this issue if it was considered important.In reversing the S.E.C., the appeals court rejected the focus on just one box in a longer PowerPoint presentation that might not have been complete as sufficient to establish the necessary intent to defraud when the information would hardly be considered material.The decisions of the federal appeals courts may have a significant impact because they endorse using experts to testify that even if there were falsehoods, they were immaterial to sophisticated investors. Thus, the cases can be expected to make future securities fraud charges involving sophisticated parties more difficult to prove by bolstering the argument that the type of client receiving the information can be critical to determining whether any misstatements were actually material.Perhaps if asked about how things went last week, the Justice Department and the S.E.C. should not be too quick to answer good. | Business |
Malai JournalCredit...Omar Havana for The New York TimesMarch 22, 2017MALAI, Cambodia For years, Tep Khunnal was the devoted personal secretary of Pol Pot, staying loyal to the charismatic ultracommunist leader even as the Khmer Rouge movement collapsed around them in the late 1990s.Forced to reinvent himself after Pol Pots death, he fled to this outpost on the Thai border and began following a different sort of guru: the Austrian-American management theorist and business consultant Peter Drucker.I realized that some other countries, in South America, in Japan, they studied Drucker, and they used Druckers ideas and made the countries prosperous, he said.The residents of this dusty but bustling town are almost all former Khmer Rouge soldiers or cadres and their families, but they have come to embrace capitalism with almost as much vigor as they once fought to destroy class distinctions, free trade and even money itself.Mr. Tep Khunnal helped lead the way, as a founder of an agricultural export company and a small microfinance bank for farmers before rising to become the district governor. From that position, he encouraged his constituents to follow suit.ImageCredit...Omar Havana for The New York TimesThe local market, fronted by a bright green sign featuring flying United States dollar bills an advertisement for a telecommunications firm is run by a joint-stock company owned by a group of ex-Khmer Rouge officials. Inspired by Mr. Tep Khunnals original farmers bank, there are now six such organizations in Malai.The success of his agricultural venture has spawned about a dozen cassava export firms, most headed by former Khmer Rouge soldiers or followers. Every weekday afternoon, the towns main road is choked by a queue of brightly painted trucks carrying cassava to the border.We joined the communists, and now we have joined the capitalists, which is much better, said Dim Sok, a local official.Mr. Dim Sok, 65, was a nearly illiterate farmer when he became a revolutionary in 1970, fighting in the jungles with the Khmer Rouge for five years before they seized power. In an effort to remake the country into an agrarian utopia, the Khmer Rouge government swept the urban population into the countryside to live like peasants and smashed up banks and schools. At least 1.7 million people died under their nearly four-year rule.When they were ousted in 1979, they retreated to strongholds like Malai on the western fringes of Cambodia along with thousands of soldiers and supporters. While Pol Pot continued to restrict free enterprise in areas under his control, residents of Malai were allowed to conduct some trade and amass personal property starting in the 1990s.The area broke away from the Khmer Rouge in 1996, in part to avoid Pol Pots attempts to recollectivize property, and soon after a few thousand ex-communists raised capital to build the market by issuing shares in a joint-stock company.ImageCredit...Omar Havana for The New York TimesEach shareholder is entitled to quarterly dividends based on rents paid by vendors. The rate of return is high: Mr. Dim Sok said he reaps $10 every three months from an initial investment of around $50.It is like a stock market, he said, beaming.Mr. Dim Sok said he saw no contradiction between his current life and the years he spent enforcing an unstinting brand of communism.In communist ideology they accuse capitalism of exploiting people, he said. But now we are in capitalist society, and there are actually two things that can happen: You can be exploited, but you can also prevent others from exploiting you.Many here seem to have managed that nimbly.Nget Saroeun, 62, spent over two decades as a soldier, much of it waging guerrilla war in the hills around Malai. Today, he is a prosperous farmer who hobbles around his fields vigorously despite having lost a leg to a land mine. He is a fan of the English soccer team Arsenal and likes to check commodity prices and read about new agricultural techniques on his smartphone.Previously, it was very difficult here, he said. It was full of forest. Now it is full of concrete houses.He praised Mr. Tep Khunnal for teaching farmers to meet the demands of the market by growing new crops like cassava, a tuber that can be processed into starch or animal feed.ImageCredit...Omar Havana for The New York TimesMalai was still a malaria-infested jungle stronghold when Mr. Tep Khunnal moved here in 1998, bringing with him Pol Pots widow, whom he married shortly after his bosss death.Along with a barely educated but savvy ex-soldier, Soom Yin, he took out a bank loan to test some of his ideas. Their company bought the areas first corn-drying machine, imported a new breed of sun-resistant corn from Thailand and set up a quality-control system for the corn and cassava that moved through their warehouse.Today, Mr. Soom Yin owns the largest export firm in the area and can talk for hours about the minutiae of the cassava trade, from moisture levels to price fluctuations. In his spare time, he said, he reads books on management.The Khmer Rouge ways are very old now, he said. Even me, I dont even dream about that anymore. We just do business.Mr. Tep Khunnal, 67, retired from government and business a few years ago and now devotes his time to spreading Druckers ideas across the country. He teaches at a university in a neighboring province and is translating the theorists work into Khmer. He has even compiled his favorite bits of Druckers wisdom into a small handbook.Im sure that if Cambodia embraces this idea, Cambodia will walk in the right way, he said.He declined to discuss his finances, but he lives in a large gated compound surrounded by lush gardens. When his stepdaughter, Pol Pots only child, got married in 2014, he threw her a lavish reception featuring French liqueur and glass chandeliers hanging from pink-and-white tents.ImageCredit...Omar Havana for The New York TimesHe said he began reading about economics while serving as a Khmer Rouge envoy to the United Nations in the 1980s. Although he liked Milton Friedman, the free-market economist, and Frederick Taylor, who pioneered scientific management, he was most drawn to Druckers insistence that employees were central to an enterprises success.What I find interesting for me is that he talks about individuals, he gives power to individuals, not to collectivism, he said of Drucker. Frederick Taylor in the early 20th century, he talked about efficiency, but Drucker talked about effectiveness.During a recent lecture, Mr. Tep Khunnal exhorted his students to remember that good management was just as important as good ideas.In-no-vation, he said, using the English word, means a new idea, but to be successful you need strategy.Some of his talking points might have been useful for the Khmer Rouge in its final days, when the movement disintegrated into multiple warring factions.Asked whether Pol Pot had been a good manager, his former aide demurred.I dont want to make any judgment on that, he said. Let history do it. I think about the future. | World |
Politics|Lawyer on Trump Election Call Quits Firm After Uproarhttps://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/us/politics/cleta-mitchell-foley-lardner-trump.htmlThe law firm, Foley & Lardner, had distanced itself from Cleta Mitchell after a recording of the call revealed she helped the president pressure Georgia elections officials.Credit...Travis Dove for The New York TimesJan. 5, 2021A lawyer advising President Trump in recent weeks has resigned from her law firm after it was revealed that she participated in the call where Mr. Trump pressured Georgia officials to help him reverse the states election results, the firm said in a statement on Tuesday.The lawyer, Cleta Mitchell, has been advising Mr. Trump despite a policy at her firm, Foley & Lardner, that none of its lawyers should represent clients involved in relitigating the presidential election.Cleta Mitchell has informed firm management of her decision to resign from Foley & Lardner effective immediately, the firm said in its statement. Ms. Mitchell concluded that her departure was in the firms best interests, as well as in her own personal best interests. We thank her for her contributions to the firm and wish her well.Ms. Mitchells resignation was the latest evidence of the problems Mr. Trump has created for law firms throughout his time in office, as their employees and clients object to ties with the president.In an email to her clients and friends, Ms. Mitchell blamed her departure on a massive pressure campaign in the last several days mounted by leftist groups via social media and other means against me, my law firm and clients of the law firm. She vowed to redouble her efforts on what she called election integrity.The firm had begun to distance itself from her shortly after the call was first reported by The Washington Post on Sunday. As Mr. Trump has made increasingly specious claims about the election, he has been unable to attract high-profile, establishment lawyers to back his cause.Ms. Mitchell was among several Trump aides who joined him on the call on Saturday, in which Mr. Trump vaguely threatened Georgias secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, with a criminal offense as he pressured him to find enough votes to change the states presidential results.Ms. Mitchell has represented far-right groups and conservatives for many years. She served on the board of the National Rifle Association and represented Tea Party groups that claimed they were illegally targeted by the Internal Revenue Service.On Sunday, in the hours after Ms. Mitchells participation on the call, the anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project questioned on Twitter why clients like Major League Baseball would be associated with a firm that employed someone seeking to overturn the election.In Ms. Mitchells email to her clients and friends, she thanked Foley & Lardner for supporting her political practice all these years despite ongoing assaults through the years against me, my clients and my work.With the ever more brazen attacks on conservatives and, most especially, anyone who supports and wants to help President Trump, she wrote, I realize that a large national law firm is no longer the right platform for me or my law practice.She repeated her baseless claims of voter fraud.Election integrity is something I have been quite passionate about for many, many years, she added. That was and remains my goal in trying to get to the truth about the Georgia election results. Those who deny the existence of voter and election fraud are not in touch with facts and reality.Since the first year of Mr. Trumps administration, his disregard for norms, the law and ethics have made it difficult for him to attract top legal talent from established firms. During the special counsels investigation of the Trump campaigns ties to Russian election interference, several firms told their top white-collar lawyers that if they wanted to represent the president, they would have to quit. | Politics |
Business BriefingDec. 16, 2015New cars and trucks averaged a record 24.3 miles a gallon last year, but falling gas prices and Americas rekindled love affair with S.U.V.s could endanger gains. The Environmental Protection Agency said on Wednesday that fuel economy rose in 2014 by 0.2 m.p.g., from 24.1 m.p.g. in 2013, as the benefits of technical improvements were nearly offset by resurgent consumer demand for larger vehicles. That is a second straight year of modest gains after efficiency improved a more robust 1.2 m.p.g. from 2011 to 2012. Still, automakers exceeded overall federal targets by a wide margin. Chris Grundler, director of the agencys Office of Air Quality and Transportation, predicted slow growth again for 2015. | Business |
Jen Selter Drink it All In ... Not Just the Glass 1/25/2018 Jen Selter brings out the thirst in all of us -- which is fitting ... 'cause it looks like she's a little thirsty herself. The famous fitness model was seen poolside in Miami drinking from what appears to be some sort of fancy drink from a giant wine glass -- with lots of straws to suck from. BTW -- she's known for her great assets. As far as we can tell, though, she's also got some solid slurping skills to display. Drink up, fellas! | Entertainment |
Olympics|Felix Loch Keeps Hold on Luge, Winning Second Straight Goldhttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/10/sports/olympics/felix-loch-keeps-hold-on-luge-winning-second-straight-gold.htmlCredit...Josh Haner/The New York TimesFeb. 9, 2014KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia There was little drama at the Sanki Sliding Center here Sunday night as Felix Loch of Germany continued his domination of the mens luge event at the Sochi Games and won a second consecutive Olympic gold medal.Many of the other lugers all but conceded to Loch after Saturdays two runs; he was the only rider to record a trip time faster than 52 seconds. Loch then extended his lead in the third run, on Sunday, before officially claiming his prize with a solid final trip that gave him a cumulative time of 3 minutes 27.526 seconds.Its really crazy; its unbelievable, Loch said. Im really overwhelmed.Loch, 24, is the clear future of the sport. It was fitting, then, that he beat two legends with a remarkably consistent performance. Albert Demchenko of Russia, 42, finished 0.476 seconds behind Loch, becoming the oldest man to earn a medal in luge. Armin Zggeler of Italy, 40, was 1.271 seconds slower than Loch and earned bronze. Zggelers medal was his sixth, a total that includes two golds; he became the first man to earn a medal in six different Olympics.I have no words, Zggeler said afterward. It has been good for me to represent Italy. Over all, it has been good for me and good for Italy.The Americans in the event struggled to keep pace with the top riders. Christopher Mazdzer finished 13th, Tucker West 22nd and Aidan Kelly 24th.A bunch of emotions happening right now, Mazdzer, 25, said. Its an experience-based sport, and Im not quite old enough to hang with the big dogs yet. | Sports |
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. | science |
The C.D.C. urges flu shots to ease strain on pandemic-stretched hospitals.VideotranscripttranscriptC.D.C. Urges Vaccines Ahead of Flu SeasonDr. Rochelle P. Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that because flu infections were low last year, immunity was likely to be diminished, making it doubly important to get inoculated.I get my flu vaccine each year to protect myself. Ive had flu, and I dont want it again. Ive always gotten the vaccine to protect the patients Ive cared for in the hospital, and I want to protect my family. I certainly wouldnt want to bring disease into our home. The low level of flu activity last season could set us up for severe season this year. Why? Well, because of so little disease last year, population immunity is likely lower, putting us all at increased risk for disease this year, especially among those most vulnerable, including our children. This is why it is doubly important this year that we build up community immunity with flu vaccination as we head into the fall and winter.Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that because flu infections were low last year, immunity was likely to be diminished, making it doubly important to get inoculated.CreditCredit...Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesPublished Oct. 7, 2021Updated Oct. 9, 2021Lockdowns helped keep last years flu season historically mild in both the United States and around the world, but U.S. officials fear a more serious season this fall and winter, with unmasked people out and about far more, and nearly half of adults in a new survey saying they are unlikely to get a flu shot.At a news briefing to release the survey data on Thursday morning, top health experts said they were particularly concerned that, with the coronavirus still coursing around the country, nearly one in four people at higher risk for flu-related complications indicated they did not intend to get the flu vaccine.Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, noted that while experts did not yet know how severely the flu would hit the United States this fall, other respiratory infections had already returned, including RSV, a common cause of pneumonia and bronchitis in babies and a serious threat to older adults. The C.D.C.s latest weekly flu report shows that only one state, Wyoming, had reached a moderate level of flu cases.Because the flu was almost nonexistent last year, Dr. Walensky noted, people do not have the protective immunity they might have acquired if they had gotten sick, and she urged that everyone age 6 months and older be vaccinated. The Covid-19 pandemic is not over, and the risk of both flu and Covid-19 circulating could put additional strain on hospitals and frontline health care professionals, she said.The survey was commissioned by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, a nonprofit organization. Its medical director, Dr. William Schaffner, said that overall vulnerability to flu could be higher this year, with relaxed Covid-19 mitigation strategies, increased travel and the reopening of schools.For the survey, more than 1,110 respondents 18 and older from all 50 states and the District of Columbia answered questions in mid-August that explored attitudes about the flu; Covid-19; pneumococcal disease, which can cause pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis; and vaccination intentions.The answers revealed a tension between beliefs about the value of the flu vaccination and the intention to get one: 61 percent of respondents agreed that a shot was the best protection against the flu, but 44 percent said they were either unsure whether they would get one or did not intend to do so.The coronavirus pandemic, however, has had a positive effect on behaviors that could help lessen the impact of the flu. Nearly half of those surveyed said that because of the pandemic, they were more likely to stay home from work or school if they were sick, and 54 percent said they would wear a mask at least sometimes during the flu season.But there were racial disparities: 73 percent of Black respondents and 62 percent of Latinos said they would wear a mask during flu season, compared with only 46 percent of white respondents. Black and Latino respondents were also more likely to be worried about being infected with Covid and the flu simultaneously than white respondents.Dr. Walensky said that the flu vaccination rate nationally had held steady over the year before, at about 52 percent, but criticized what she called a disparity gap in flu vaccination: 56 percent for white people versus 43 percent among Black people. Patsy Stinchfield, a nurse practitioner at Childrens Minnesota, a pediatric health care system, and the president-elect of the infectious disease foundation, said that it was safe for people to get flu and Covid shots including boosters at the same time. Dr. Walensky also raised alarms about a decline in the flu vaccination rates among young children, to 59 percent from 64 percent the year before. In the 2019-2020 season, she said, 199 children died from the flu, about 80 percent of whom were not vaccinated. | Health |
Credit...Jessica Hill/Associated PressFeb. 9, 2014STORRS, Conn. The unbeaten Connecticut womens basketball team is not scare-proof, but danger these days is apparently defined more by the threat of bodily damage than by potential defeat.In their 25th game, against Louisville, their most formidable league opponent, the moment of deepest concern for Geno Auriemmas defending national champion Huskies came when the junior forward Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis took a backdoor bounce pass from center Stefanie Dolson and drove along the right baseline for a layup in the final seconds of the first half.At the height of her leap, Mosqueda-Lewis was blocked cleanly by Louisvilles Asia Taylor. She went down on her back, hitting the floor with her left elbow.We said, Not again, said Bria Hartley, a Huskies senior guard.Mosqueda-Lewis sustained an elbow contusion and returned to play in the second half of Sundays 81-64 victory over fourth-ranked Louisville at Gampel Pavilion in a rematch of last Aprils N.C.A.A. title game.The ever deadpan Auriemma decided, Shes got to learn how to fall.In a November home game against Stanford, Mosqueda-Lewis fell similarly on her right elbow, and her anguished screams made for painful viewing. She missed eight games with a contusion and minor nerve damage.As big a favorite as they are to repeat and go unbeaten in the process, the Huskies are not a deep team. They have already lost the sophomore forward Morgan Tuck to a knee injury. On Sunday, they were also without the junior guard Brianna Banks and were down to seven scholarship players.Weve got to put bubbles around our guys; we cant afford to let anyone else get hurt, Auriemma said. I dont know that anybodys going to hold a telethon for us, but this isnt going to be easy the next two months.Louisville Coach Jeff Walz, who enjoyed what were typically good-natured exchanges at the Final Four last spring, asked in so many words that the acerbic Auriemma cry him a river.It must just be awful to have to play Breanna Stewart 37 minutes I dont know how he sleeps at night, Walz said after the loss, his first after 11 victories in the unwieldy association known as American Athletic Conference, which Louisville will depart next season. I mean, look at who youre playing. Its not like youre playing two walk-ons.Stewart, a 6-foot-4 sophomore, may already be the best player in the country and may eventually go down as the best player Auriemma has had in his storied run in Storrs. Walz described her as more difficult to handle than Maya Moore, the last great Connecticut player, who graduated in 2011, because shes 6-4 and can play inside-out.With her height, long arms and deep shooting range, Stewart can punish the defense from anyplace on the offensive end. After mainly being a perimeter player last season, she has learned to move without the ball and play in the post, allowing the 6-5 Dolson to make better use of her passing skills from out high.But like Dirk Nowitzki or Kevin Durant, Stewart is most lethal from behind the 3-point line.If youre guarding her two feet away with your hands down, shell just turn and shoot it, Walz said, lamenting consecutive 3-point looks the Cardinals allowed Stewart late in the first half that helped Connecticut turn a 5-point game into an 11-point halftime lead. Without doing much once the Huskies were comfortably ahead in the second half, Stewart finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. With 983 career points, she is poised to reach 1,000 faster than any Connecticut player other than Moore.Our last big game at home was, what, Stanford? she said afterward. To have another big game at this point in the season will prepare us.She meant for tournament play to come, which may or may not present the kind of challenge where, as Walz said, the shots in the last 10 to 12 minutes really matter.To this point, Sundays game was for Connecticut a relatively close one. The Huskies have played eight top-25 teams this season and have beaten them by an average of 19.7 points. Conference games have been figurative train wrecks, with Central Florida and South Florida coming closest while losing by 28.Before the Louisville game, Connecticut had beaten Cincinnati by 57 and Southern Methodist by 61. Next season, when Louisville and Rutgers are gone from the A.A.C., Auriemma may have to schedule nonconference games against traditional powers if he can to keep his team from becoming stale down the stretch.That is for later. For now, he worries about keeping his players healthy and upright. For what its worth, there will be a rematch with Louisville on March 3 and possibly again in the conference tournament. Walz said he would look forward to the challenge, again and again. His Sunday strategy was in part to double the low post and make Moriah Jefferson, a 5-7 sophomore guard and least-imposing Husky, beat Louisville from outside. Jefferson responded with 18 points, making six of nine shots, including two 3-pointers, to go with five assists.You have to play the perfect game, Walz said.And hope to stay close. | Sports |
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. | Sports |
Credit...T Mughal/EPA, via ShutterstockNov. 8, 2018ISLAMABAD, Pakistan A Pakistani Christian woman who was cleared last week of blasphemy charges after spending eight years on death row has been released from prison but remains under government protection because of threats to her life, officials said Thursday.The woman, Asia Bibi, was released from a prison in central Pakistan and flown to the capital, Islamabad, late Wednesday night, a senior government official said Thursday on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the matter.One official, however, denied news reports that Ms. Bibi had already flown out of the country. She is in Pakistan, said Mohammad Faisal, the spokesman for Pakistans foreign office.Ms. Bibis family has appealed for asylum, saying she is in grave danger as hard-line Islamists call for her execution. Her lawyer, Saiful Malook, has already left Pakistan, citing threats to his own life.The Dutch foreign minister, Stef Blok, on Thursday offered Mr. Malook a place in the Netherlands Shelter City program, under which human rights advocates facing danger are allowed to stay temporarily in a Dutch city. The situation of Asia Bibi has our full attention, Mr. Blok said on Twitter.The Supreme Court acquitted Ms. Bibi on Oct. 31 in an exceptionally rare ruling against a blasphemy verdict. The three-member bench concluded that there was little evidence that Ms. Bibi, a farmworker and mother of three, had spoken against the Prophet Muhammad during a heated argument with Muslim women in 2009.She was convicted and sentenced to death in 2010, a verdict that drew worldwide condemnation and focused attention on Pakistans blasphemy law, which critics say has been used to persecute religious minorities.The Supreme Courts ruling last week clearing Ms. Bibi set off violent protests across the country that were spearheaded by Khadim Hussian Rizvi, a fiery religious cleric. Mr. Rizvis supporters paralyzed large parts of the country for two days, blocked highways and damaged several dozen vehicles.Religious leaders called for the three Supreme Court judges on the panel that acquitted Ms. Bibi to be killed, and they urged generals to revolt against the army chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, who they accused of acquiescing to Ms. Bibis release.The protests were called off only after the government agreed to allow a review of the verdict and initiate legal proceedings to bar Ms. Bibi from leaving the country.The government has been walking a tightrope as it tries to calm religious sentiments while also standing by Ms. Bibi after her acquittal. Officials have warned that Islamist leaders will be put under house arrest if they plan more street protests over Ms. Bibis fate.But hard-line religious leaders have traditionally paid little heed to such warnings, and in recent years they have organized large, crippling protests. Blasphemy is an incendiary subject in Pakistan, and the authorities have often been unable to control the violence and riots that have sometimes erupted over mere accusations.In 2011, Salmaan Taseer, an outspoken, secular governor of Punjab Province who had campaigned for Ms. Bibis release and for changes in the blasphemy laws, was shot and killed by his own police bodyguard, who was subsequently hailed by many as a hero.Last November, thousands of supporters of Mr. Rizvis religious party, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, paralyzed Islamabad for days with protests over a proposed new oath for lawmakers, angry because the wording did not mention the Prophet Muhammad. The law minister was forced to resign over the omission, which the protesters considered blasphemy.The Supreme Court is expected to take up the review of Ms. Bibis acquittal next week.Mr. Malook, Ms. Bibis lawyer, said the military had assured him that his client was safe.The Pakistani Army assured me that she remains safe, that nobody shall hurt her, and that she should be allowed to leave provided that she is safe, he said. | World |
North Carolina 74, Duke 66Feb. 21, 2014CHAPEL HILL, N.C. Inside the Dean Smith Dome, fans clad in Carolina blue lusted for an upset. They roared for it, demanded it and urged the underdog Tar Heels to complete their mission against No. 5 Duke.The crowds desire was understandable. In North Carolina, a teams season is defined in two ways: how well the team plays in March and whether the team beats its in-state rivals.In the final minutes Thursday, North Carolina point guard Marcus Paige slithered between defenders to score the games biggest baskets. When the final buzzer sounded, the Tar Heels had defeated the Blue Devils, 74-66, and North Carolina students rushed onto the court to celebrate. It was the first time an unranked North Carolina team had beaten a top-five Duke team since March 1990.The biggest thought I had when I came out was the crowd was in it so much, Tar Heels Coach Roy Williams said. Our crowd was sensational the whole game.Guard Leslie McDonald made a midrange jump shot to give the Tar Heels (19-7, 9-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) their first lead of the second half, 62-60, with less than four minutes left.Paige sank another midrange jumper two minutes later. And he gave the Tar Heels a 4-point lead when he made an acrobatic layup between two Blue Devils. I think hes a marvelous basketball player, Williams said. Hes the kind of kid you feel like you dont have to coach.Paige finished with 13 points and 4 assists, while McDonald led all scorers with 21 points, his season high.I was bad in the first half, Paige said, later adding, I just stepped up, got aggressive and decided that I was going to be a participant in the game in the second half.The Tar Heels mounted their comeback thanks largely to a 43-30 edge in rebounding. They struggled at the free-throw line for much of the second half, but they made their final six foul shots to secure the victory.The crowd, the team, the intensity we just couldnt match it, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. Thats why they won.Duke guard Rodney Hood dominated the first half. Hood shot from the behind the 3-point arc, from inside the paint and a few times from midrange to help Duke (21-6, 10-4) take a 37-30 lead at halftime. Its biggest lead was 11 points early in the second half.But in the second half, Hood did not score until six minutes were left. At one point, he tried a deep 3-pointer that touched nothing but the baseline.We looked tired, Krzyzewski said. We didnt have life. We just didnt have that spark, that anger, the emotion, the thing that you have to have to match their crowd and their team. For the past week, the players for both teams, much like their fans, had to temper their anticipation, eagerness and excitement for Thursdays rescheduled game, the first of two regular-season meetings between the longtime rivals.The teams were supposed to play here Feb. 12, but Duke never made the short drive to the North Carolina campus as the game was postponed because of a winter storm. Paige said that before the postponement, he had been looking forward to playing in a student-dominated atmosphere that would have felt more like a high school game.There was a bunch of buzz of that possibly happening, Paige, a sophomore, said before North Carolinas practice Wednesday. I felt like it would have been cool, but obviously it didnt happen.Once the game was postponed, Paige said, he went outside with a few of his teammates, and they and other students threw snowballs at one another.I didnt think it could snow that much down here, said Paige, who is from Marion, Iowa.The postponement meant that both teams would have to play four games in eight days almost an N.B.A.-like schedule. Paige said he did not mind the change. In the A.C.C. tournament, you have to win x amount of games in a short window, he said. In the N.C.A.A., you have to play back to back on consecutive weekends. These kinds of things will only help us for those situations down the road. And they do kind of test your toughness. Are you going to let fatigue be a factor, or are you going be able to push through that and grow as a team?Duke has been steady all season long, with Hood and forward Jabari Parker leading the Blue Devils powerful offense. North Carolina began its season hobbled by the ineligibility of P. J. Hairston, perhaps its best player, who left the team for good in December.Since late January, however, the Tar Heels have become a confident group. North Carolina has now won eight straight games. Less than an hour before Thursdays game, a young couple were looking to find their seats. Heath Dills, 24, from Gibsonville, N.C., was one of the few Duke fans and wore a royal blue T-shirt. His girlfriend, Kelsey Simpson, a 20-year-old student at North Carolina, wore a Carolina blue T-shirt. Despite their different allegiances, the couple agreed that the teams should have played last week.I mean, it was just a little bit of snow, and they are only eight miles apart, Simpson said. They definitely could have played.Dills came to his teams defense. Duke obviously wasnt scared, he said. Duke is going to win, because we go to the 3 ball.As it turned out, Duke went 5 of 22 from behind the arc, a big reason North Carolina won its biggest game of the season. | Sports |
Credit...Paulo Whitaker/ReutersDec. 23, 2015RIO DE JANEIRO How does an aspiring entrepreneur navigate the economic and political crises dogging Brazil? Build a growing taxi-app start-up, naturally. The financing will come.Thats the approach being taken by 99Taxis, based in So Paulo and one of Ubers main competitors in Brazil. It has begun a new financing round, seeking about $100 million, according to two people familiar with the companys plans. That would be one of the largest fund-raising efforts for a Brazilian Internet start-up in the last decade, including the boom years.The details, including which investment firm will lead the round, have not yet been completed, the individuals said, because the company is still deciding whether to bring on new investors or stay with its current ones.However, the New York-based investment firm Tiger Global Management, which led two prior rounds for 99Taxis this year, is expected to put in more money, one of the individuals said.Even though Tiger led Ubers latest financing round, it is expected to invest in this round. It also backed its main competitors in other large emerging markets: Didi Kuaidi in China, GrabTaxi in Indonesia, and Ola in India.So far Uber has not been able to win any of those markets and faces long odds in doing so. That is most likely true in Brazil as well.In the next few weeks, 99Taxis expects to complete the new rounds structure, with the formal close expected to take place during the first quarter of next year, according to one of the individuals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the plan.The new financing would allow 99Taxis, which was founded in 2012 and whose current largest outside shareholder is Tiger Global, to continue to stay ahead of Uber here.Brazil has two main taxi-app incumbents, 99Taxis and Easy Taxi, which is backed by Rocket Internet. Since February, Easy Taxis market share has steadily declined, based on the percentage of mobile users who have installed the app, according to data provided by the research firm 7Park Data. Easy Taxis share peaked at 18.9 percent in February but fell to 14.8 percent by mid-November. And 99Taxis has been on a steady ascent, the firm said, growing to 15.6 percent from 9 percent this year; it has been the market leader since October. Uber was No. 3 at 6.5 percent.Uber, the Silicon Valley company, started operating in Brazil only last year during the World Cup and ran into many problems as it sought to expand in this country, Latin Americas largest economy.ImageCredit...Miguel Schincariol/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesIt has drawn the ire of hundreds of politicians and been banned in the cities of So Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. It has angered taxi drivers and labor leaders here. Uber has sought to portray those critics as old-school, anti-innovation protectionists.Yet many of those taxi drivers use 99Taxis, whose earlier investors include Qualcomm Ventures and the So Paulo-based Monashees Capital, whose limited partners include Cisco Systems and Silicon Valley Banks fund of funds group SVB Capital, hardly opponents of innovation or free-market economics.Uber caught a break here recently. After the company filed a complaint with Brazils antitrust watchdog, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense, or CADE, the agency said it would investigate taxi unions for what it argued was their anti-competitive behavior against Uber. Yet that investigation is expected to take months and does not target the taxi-app start-ups.The economic research unit of CADE published a study this month concluding that for now, Uber was not taking business away from taxi drivers or 99Taxis and Easy Taxi.On the contrary, the report said of Uber that, rather than absorbing a significant portion of rides made by taxis, in truth, in a majority of cases, it obtained new clients who do not use taxis. It contended that the company was generating a new demand. Still, it acknowledged that that could change once Uber became more aggressive as it had in other markets.The taxi start-ups new capital, if the deal closes, would pair with good news from the So Paulo city government. This month, in a new program, it awarded 5,000 new licenses to taxi drivers who want to operate a so-called black-car service. In order to participate, they are required to use a mobile app.The initiative has since been temporarily suspended by So Paulos Court of Accounts, which said it did not receive required documents from the mayors office in sufficient time, but most expect this to be resolved soon and that the program will move forward early next year.The program grew out of the aftermath of the City Councils recent passage of a bill banning unauthorized ride-sharing services, like Uber. Although the mayor, Fernando Haddad, signed it into law, he has made urban mobility a focus, and so sought a third way, acknowledging the citys taxi fleet needed upgrades.This new initiative is likely to benefit local companies like 99Taxis, which since its founding only works with licensed drivers. That allows it to go head-to-head with Uber in the premium ride service category, which it had not been able to do previously. It is calling its new service 99Top.Drivers will have to buy the black cars themselves, but will receive discounted financing from the public bank Banco do Brasil, said Rodrigo Piraj, executive director of SP Negocios, which is running the program for the city.Uber declined a chance to participate in this, he said.Yet Ubers fate here is hardly sealed. One result of CADEs current investigation is that So Paulo is looking again for a way to incorporate Uber. Mr. Piraj said he and So Paulos mayors office were examining alternative ways to normalize Uber. It is under analysis, he said. A decision is expected next month.Uber through a spokeswoman declined to make anyone available for comment. A Tiger Global Management spokeswoman declined to comment. An email to 99Taxis press official requesting information on fund-raising was not answered. | Business |
Credit...Todd Heisler/The New York TimesFeb. 3, 2014Bowl season has a completely different meaning to Dawn Gugliaro.In her eighth year as the coach of St. Francis of Brooklyns bowling team, Gugliaro leads one of a growing number of N.C.A.A. womens bowling programs. That does not mean she wanted the distinction.I didnt want to be the bowling coach, said Gugliaro, a Brooklyn native who coached the colleges softball team until the program was dropped in 2006. I just wanted my softball team back.But bowling has since captured Gugliaros affections, and those of dozens of colleges in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. All seven bowling teams in the Northeast Conference were ranked in the top 20 in the latest National Tenpin Coaches Association poll.Sixty N.C.A.A. universities sponsored varsity bowling teams last season, up from 42 in 2003, the first year bowling was a championship sport. And 570 women bowled in the N.C.A.A. last season, the highest figure ever.The sport has come a long way in the 25 years since Gugliaro won two city high school championships. She had two bowling balls back then; each of her six bowlers has 12 balls, ranging from about $85 to $300 apiece, that last about a year each.ImageCredit...Todd Heisler/The New York TimesThis isnt bowling that comes with beer and pretzels. This is bowling that comes with 7 a.m. strength workouts and a lot of concentration.If youre not into physics, its hard to grasp this game, Gugliaro said during a recent team practice at the Brooklyn alley where she won a high school title. People dont give the sport enough respect. I didnt either, to be honest.Bowlers tend to be good students, coaches and others said. The academic strength has made the sport more attractive to some universities.It attracts a very different student-athlete, very different, said Marilyn McNeil, athletic director at Monmouth, whose bowling team was ranked 18th in the latest poll. Theyre kind of the nerds of student-athletes.The college sport is complicated by an additional factor not found in recreational bowling. The N.C.A.A. uses an approved set of oil patterns that are spread on each lane before a match, each of which causes the ball to move differently.In the St. Francis teams office, hidden down a secluded hallway of the Brooklyn alley, a stack of charts illustrates each oil pattern and provides data indecipherable to the untrained eye.ImageCredit...Todd Heisler/The New York TimesNerdy or not, bowling can be an intense sport. Tournaments are three-day affairs in which lunch breaks or bathroom breaks are rare.At last years national championships in Michigan, even the top bowlers were intimidated by the atmosphere.Every time anyone took a shot, it was just pure silence, said Beth Hedley, a 19-year-old member of the University of Nebraskas 2013 championship team and the British national team. It was so scary. You kind of had to make some noise in your head so it wasnt so intense.College teams usually have 5 to 10 bowlers. Although smaller than most college sports, the bowling teams help universities avoid running afoul of gender-equity rules that require proportionate numbers of male and female athletes.For colleges looking for womens sports, bowling offers a relatively cheap option. The universities generally do not have their own alleys to maintain, and travel times especially for the programs in the Northeast are relatively short.Those strengths were attractive enough to Caldwell College in New Jersey that it is starting a bowling program in the fall. It is already bringing new fans to the sport there.ImageCredit...Todd Heisler/The New York TimesIn all honesty, I bowl occasionally, but do I watch it at home? No, said Mark Corino, Caldwells athletic director. Im not really an expert, but obviously, Im a sports fan. Im excited about it.For many women from the Northeast, college bowling is an obvious choice. Hundreds of high schools in the region have bowling teams, and community alleys host thriving club leagues.Several players said they had been bowling since they were 5.My mom actually worked in a bowling alley, said Kayla Jones, a former standout at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania who now coaches Long Island University Brooklyns 19th-ranked team. I pretty much grew up in a bowling alley.It can be difficult for Jones and other enthusiasts to spread their love of bowling to the masses, though. Unlike in sports like basketball and football, bowling tournaments are never held on campus, so students rarely wander in on a whim.And the countrys professional womens bowling league vanished around the time the N.C.A.A. named bowling an official sport.Nevertheless, female bowlers keep showing up on college campuses. Some started bowling later than others and for different reasons.It was something my friend and I did to get varsity jackets, said Jamie Kelly, an 18-year-old St. Francis freshman from Howell, N.J., who started bowling in high school. By the end of my freshman year, I knew I wanted to bowl in college. | Sports |
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. | Business |
Private Astronauts Launching to Space Station Dont Want to Be TouristsAxiom Space bought seats on a SpaceX rocket to be NASAs guests in orbit as the agency extends efforts to commercialize spaceflight.VideoThe mission, called Axiom-1, launched three paying customers and a retired NASA astronaut to the International Space Station. Seats for the 10-day trip were $55 million each.CreditCredit...Thom Baur/ReutersApril 8, 2022On Friday, a retired NASA astronaut and three paying customers set off on a journey to the International Space Station.The mission is the first to go to the space station on which all of the passengers are private citizens, and it is the first time that NASA has collaborated in arranging a space tourism visit. The flight marked a pivotal moment in efforts to spur space travel by commercial enterprises, NASA officials said.This is a really, really big milestone for us in our overall campaign to try to help foster a commercial low-Earth-orbit economy, Dana Weigel, the deputy program manager for the space station at NASA, said during a news conference after the launch.But the mission also highlighted that most of the customers for trips to orbit will be the very wealthy in the near-term. Axiom Space of Houston acted as the tour operator, selling seats for the 10-day trip, including eight days aboard the station, for $55 million each. Axiom hired SpaceX to provide the transportation a Falcon 9 rocket with a Crew Dragon capsule, the same system that takes NASA astronauts to and from the station.At 11:17 a.m. Eastern time, the mission, called Axiom-1, lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida into clear blue skies following a smooth countdown.Welcome to space, a SpaceX official said to the Axiom-1 crew soon after the capsule detached from the second stage of the rocket. Thanks for flying Falcon 9. You guys enjoy your trip to that wonderful space station in the sky.The customers on the Axiom-1 mission 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.They will be led to the space station by Michael Lpez-Alegra, a former NASA astronaut who is now a vice president at Axiom and the Ax-1 missions commander.What a ride! Mr. Lpez-Alegra reported on Twitter from orbit.They are scheduled to dock at the space station early Saturday.Although the Kennedy Space Center is part of NASA, NASA had almost no role in the launch or the orbital ride. The agencys officials were happy about that as they look to a future when they can simply buy services like room aboard a space station from commercial vendors.ImageCredit...SpaceXThe International Space Station, about as long as a football field, is a technological marvel, but one that costs NASA about $1.3 billion a year to operate. Although NASA wants to extend the lifetime of the current station to 2030, it hopes that much less expensive commercial space stations are in orbit by then.For NASA, that means learning how to collaborate with private enterprise in orbit including hosting space tourists, while Axiom and other companies have to figure out how to build a profitable off-planet business.Axiom is planning four or five such missions to the space station, and then it has an agreement with NASA to attach several modules it is building to the space station. When the International Space Station is finally retired, those modules are to be detached to form the core of an Axiom station.This is the first mission really in our effort to build a commercial space station, said Michael T. Suffredini, the president and chief executive of Axiom who previously worked at NASA managing the I.S.S.Space tourism surged last year. Blue Origin, the company founded by Jeff Bezos of Amazon, started carrying paying customers on brief suborbital trips to the edge of space. Virgin Galactic flew its founder, Richard Branson, on a short flight and began selling tickets for future flights.In September, a SpaceX Crew Dragon launch chartered by Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur, was the first trip to orbit on which none of the passengers was a professional astronaut. For that mission, named Inspiration4, Mr. Isaacman decided to give opportunities to three people who would never have been able to afford the trip themselves. That trip did not go to the space station, and the four spent three days floating in orbit before returning to Earth.By contrast, each of Axioms space travelers is paying his own way, and the experience is different. Earlier private travelers to the space station most recently Yusaku Maezwa, a Japanese billionaire traveled on Russian Soyuz rockets and were accompanied by professional Russian astronauts. For this flight, Axiom and SpaceX are in charge of the mission from launch until the capsule enters the vicinity of the space station.During a news conference last month, 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.At least in theory, this is the future that NASA has been working toward for decades.In 1984, during the Reagan administration, the law that established NASA was amended to encourage private enterprise off Earth. But 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 ahead of NASA in selling access to space. When the International Space Station opened up, Dennis Tito, an American entrepreneur, was the first Russian-hosted tourist to visit, in 2001. Russia stopped taking private travelers after 2009; with the impending retirement of the space shuttles, NASA needed to buy available seats on Russian rockets for its astronauts to get and from the space station.In the last few years, NASA has opened up to the idea of space tourism. 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.For now, the most promising market is wealthy people who pay to visit space themselves.While Axiom Space now declines to comment when asked how much it is charging to take people to the International Space Station, the company did provide a ticket price a few years ago: $55 million per passenger.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, NASA said it was raising the prices for future trips to the station.ImageCredit...Axiom SpaceIn some areas, the Axiom-1 crew members underwent much of the same training as NASA astronauts, especially for safety procedures and everyday living in orbit. 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 for how to repair the toilet if it malfunctioned.When they board the space station, the Axiom visitors will receive an orientation of what to do in various emergencies and how to use facilities. That actually looks pretty similar to what our crews do for the first day and a half, Ms. Weigel said.After that, the Axiom astronauts will go off and do their own activities, which include 25 scientific experiments they plan to conduct during the eight days on the space station. The experiments include medical work planned with institutions like the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic and Montreal Childrens Hospital. The Axiom astronauts will also conduct some technology demonstrations like self-assembling robots that could be used to build future spacecraft in space.The activities of the Axiom visitors are coordinated with those of the other crew members on the space station so that people are not trying to use the same facility at the same time.Its more than a 1,000-piece puzzle, Ill put it that way, to fit all that together, Ms. Weigel said.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.But the Axiom passengers said they will be careful not to get in the way of other crew members.Were very cognizant that we will be guests aboard the I.S.S., Mr. Lpez-Alegra said last month. | science |
Credit...Gareth Copley/Press Association, via Associated PressFeb. 20, 2014Robbie Fowler's 330 games and 171 goals for Liverpool, the club he joined as a boy three decades ago, earned him the affectionate nickname of God in his hometown. He was a local boy made good, a so-called Scouse scally from a rough side of town who endeared himself to the clubs rabid fans at Anfield stadium for 11 seasons during his heyday in the 1990s.But how can anyone, any soccer player, never mind one called god, deal with the prayers, expectations and exaltations of the Reds faithful?Again, I must stress I never went around calling myself god, Fowler joked. To be honest, Ive been called a lot worse, but in my eyes it just shows you Ive done something right in my career. To get labeled with a nickname as god, for me its probably the mother of all nicknames. Its, again, it was actually my teammates who started calling me that in the locker room. It just stuck.Im sure you can imagine, everyone gets nicknames, some of them not printable. Its the same in football. Theres so much friendly banter. When youve got a nickname it generally sticks in football. And when the players started calling me that it just went out to the fans. It is an unbelievable nickname. I think back to myself after you finishing playing football, yeah, I have done something good in my life. Simple fact youve been called god by what I think are the best and most passionate and cleverest fans in Liverpool fans, for me it was a phenomenal experience.Fowler, one of Liverpools ambassadors (even though he began life as a fan of its crosstown rival Everton), was in New York this week ahead of Thursdays announcement of the details of Liverpools summer tour of the United States as part of the eight-team Guinness International Challenge Cup. Liverpool will first play Olympiakos of Greece in Chicago on July 27, then face Manchester City at Yankee Stadium on July 30, and complete the first round against A.C. Milan in Charlotte, N.C., on Aug. 2.After leaving Liverpool in 2007 and then playing for Cardiff City and Blackburn, Fowler departed the country and the continent to ply his trade in Australia, signing with the North Queensland Fury in the nascent A-League. One has to wonder why (if?) Fowler ever considered trying his hand in M.L.S.Well, there were two teams interested actually, he said. The New England Revolution and Columbus Crew were very interested. I had a few discussions with both, nothing ever materialized. At the time the Revolution were coached by the former Liverpool player Steve Nicol.I went to Australia because it was a new team and a new challenge, he said, though he now acknowledges, I think I did make a bit of a mistake.Fowler praised the growth, the expansion and the infrastructure in M.L.S., and in hindsight said he wished he had been part of it.It looks to be the place to be at the moment, he said. In hindsight, if we could change some things, it would have been brilliant, but at the time Australia just fell into my path. Nothing here was ever concrete and something materialized in Australia. I was interested in M.L.S., and dont get me wrong, I loved it in Australia. But to be fair I could have loved it over here.Its definitely on the up this game over here, it is the place, maybe I should get my boots back on.Fowler, who is working toward his A international coaching license, added: Maybe I should start looking for a job over here.A few years ago, Fowler was stunned, but pleasantly surprised, when he discovered unexpectedly that his aura, and his reputation, followed him to New York.Fowler was enlisted by Steve Nash (the N.B.A. star and part-owner of the Vancouver Whitecaps of M.L.S.) to play in the Showdown in Chinatown, an annual benefit game in Lower Manhattan for Nashs foundation. The game has drawn stars from soccer and basketball to Sara D. Roosevelt Park in recent years. Even in the heat of summer in America, Fowler could not escape that nickname from Liverpool.It was more Steve Nash, a Tottenham fan, but well forgive him for that, Fowler said of how he came to be involved in the event. I got him tickets for the World Cup in South Korea, I met him and we kept in touch. Then this game came about. It was a phenomenal experience. All the basketball players. And its just a park and there were thousands of people there, on top of the fences. It was a great day. Jason Kidd was there, Baron Davis. At the time massive players. It was big.When we got off the bus, it was like the guard of honor. I remember coming off the bus, there were masses of people we had to walk past and someone recognized me. I didnt think football was that big over here, but I got recognized by a few American fellows and they were calling me god and I couldnt believe they knew me. It was brilliant. I love it. | Sports |
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 | Business |
Credit...Boston Childrens HospitalMarch 23, 2016Anterior cruciate ligaments often tear on the sports field, and after a complete rupture, they are notoriously hard to get to heal.On Wednesday, doctors at Boston Childrens Hospital announced that they have succeeded in reconnecting A.C.L.s in 10 patients using a novel technique.Their preliminary results at three months suggest that healing an original A.C.L. without the usual grafts may be a viable option in the future.Experts were intrigued but cautious.This is definitely an advance, said Dr. Jo Hannafin, a senior attending orthopedic surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, who was not involved in the experiment.But, she added, I dont think we will know for three to five years whether this technique is really effective or not.Each year, roughly 200,000 people injure the A.C.L., which runs diagonally through the middle of the knee and provides stability.In a standard surgical treatment performed 100,000 times a year the ligament is reconstructed with a graft from the patients hamstring or patella.In a preliminary study to assess safety, Dr. Martha Murray and her team at Boston Childrens Hospital performed standard reconstructions on 10 patients with A.C.L. tears and the experimental procedure, called bridge-enhanced A.C.L. repair, on 10 others.In the experimental technique, the surgeons placed a blood-soaked sponge between the ligaments severed ends; the sponge acted as a bridge, helping the ligament grow back together over the next six to eight weeks.It was the first time the technique had been tried in humans.No participants in either group had ligaments that failed to reconnect, got an infection or had stiff knees.Only the first patient Corey Peak, 26 has passed the one-year mark since the experimental procedure. The other patients had it done a roughly six months.Three months after the operation, Mr. Peak, a doctoral candidate at Harvard School of Public Health, was back to running on the treadmill. This spring he will play ultimate Frisbee and soccer.The real beauty of it is you are getting the native A.C.L. to heal without having a graft, said Dr. Rick Wright, professor of orthopedic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, who was not involved in the experimental treatment.Over time, surgeons hope a healed original ligament may perform better than a grafted one. And if the A.C.L. could be saved, they could avoid harvesting a tendon from the hamstring.However, repaired A.C.L.s have failed in the past. In the 1980s, surgeons tried stitching torn A.C.L.s back together. The initial results were good, but five years later, less than half of those knees remained stable, Dr. Hannafin said.Soon, Dr. Murray of Boston Childrens Hospital plans to start enrolling participants for a randomized trial that will compare the experimental surgery to the standard reconstruction. | Health |
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. | World |
Alexi Lalas Ronaldo Proved He's a Gangsta ... by Getting Bloody 1/28/2018 TMZSports.com Cristiano Ronaldo is a certified G -- so says Alexi Lalas ... who's slamming the soccer superstar's "pretty boy" rep after witnessing his badassery this past weekend. "Anytime there's an athlete that bleeds and plays through it ... they get a little street cred," Alexi told TMZ Sports. You remember the carnage -- Ronaldo dove in for the header in Real Madrid's match against Deportivo ... scoring a goal, but taking a cleat to the dome in the process. The collision left Cristiano a bloody mess ... and scrambling for a mirror to check on his moneymaker. A lot of fans were poking fun at Ronaldo for the mirror-check, but Lalas says CR7 completing the header says way more about him than anything else. Not to say he isn't pretty -- Alexi definitely ain't denying that! | Entertainment |
Credit...Sarah Blesener for The New York TimesStuart Coppermans medical license was revoked after women on Long Island said he sexually abused them as girls. Prosecutors said victims didnt report the abuse in time. But one did. A 17-year-old filed a police report in 2000 accusing her Long Island pediatrician of sexual abuse. The district attorneys office closed the case five months later without contacting her.Credit...Sarah Blesener for The New York TimesDec. 18, 2019A prominent pediatrician on Long Island lost his medical license after allegations emerged that he had sexually abused girls in his care for decades. But he never spent a day in court.The doctor, Stuart Copperman, was never charged with a crime by local authorities. According to the Nassau County district attorneys office, not one victim came forward within the statute of limitations for the crime.A police report obtained by The New York Times, however, shows that on Dec. 21, 2000, a 17-year-old formally accused Mr. Copperman of sexually abusing her on several occasions. She appears to have been well within the statute of limitations; at the time, state law allowed child abuse victims to press felony charges until their 23rd birthday, and until age 20 to press misdemeanor charges.But the district attorneys office closed the case five months later without contacting the accuser or her family again.Nothing came of it, her mother recalled in a recent interview. They told me they would keep in contact with me, and nobody did.The mother later called the police to ask for updates on the investigation. They said it was pending and they couldnt talk about it, she said. The accuser and her mother have not publicly identified themselves in connection with the case.The handling of Mr. Coppermans case has received new scrutiny after the passage of a state law called the Child Victims Act. It extends the statute of limitations for filing criminal sexual abuse charges, and gives victims more time to file civil lawsuits. More than 50 women who claim they were abused as girls by Mr. Copperman during doctor visits have contacted Kristen Gibbons Feden, of the firm Stradley Ronon in Philadelphia, who is investigating a possible civil suit against Mr. Copperman under the new law. (Ms. Feden prosecuted Bill Cosby for sexual assault.)Mr. Copperman declined to comment on the allegations. In the past, he has said that he examined the girls in accordance with standard medical practice. The state medical board, which received repeated complaints over at least 15 years, investigated and revoked his medical license on Dec. 1, 2000. By then, Mr. Copperman was 65 and about to retire.His accusers see the case as an example of a prominent professional evading accountability despite multiple accusations of sexual abuse.Copperman learned he could go on living his life, that the medical degree on his wall outweighed everything we said about what he did, said Dana Marcus, 56, an administrator of the Victims of Stuart Copperman page on Facebook. The woman who made the 2000 complaint, now 36, went to the local police precinct with her mother and her sister to file the report.Her mother had read news reports about the revocation of Mr. Coppermans license over complaints of sexual abuse by former patients. She told her two daughters, who had also been Mr. Coppermans patients.Her younger daughter said that when she went for doctors visits, Mr. Copperman frequently touched and rubbed her genitals. I knew it felt weird and not right, she said in an interview. The older one said, Oh my God, I thought that was part of the examination, the mother recalled. Thinking about it now, Im so upset.Police detectives trained in investigating sexual abuse crimes recorded the complaints from both of her daughters, the mother said. But the older daughter was already past the statute of limitations. A few days later, on Dec. 26, 2000, detectives faxed the 17-year-olds police report to Toby Kurtz, chief of the sex offense and domestic violence bureau of the Nassau County district attorneys office, according to a notation on the report. The investigation was assigned to an assistant district attorney identified as ADA Rose, a reference to Kyle Rose, who now goes by her married name, Kyle Rose-Louder.[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]But the office decided not to prosecute on May 10, 2001, according to another note in the report. There is no further explanation and no indication that an investigation was ever conducted. Reached at her home in Texas, Ms. Kurtz, who is now retired, first said she had no recollection of Mr. Copperman's case and later declined to discuss it.In an interview, Ms. Rose-Louder, now the deputy county executive for health and human services in Nassau County, said she also did not recall the allegations against Mr. Copperman.County officials aggressively prosecuted sexual predators who abused children, she said. The practice of the Nassau County district attorneys office was to take the familys wishes into account when deciding whether to prosecute sexual abuse cases, she added.Prominence didnt make us say yea or nay, Ms. Rose-Louder said. It was the evidence in front of us, or the feelings of the people at the time. A spokesman for the office, Brendan Brosh, said an exhaustive search for files related to Mr. Copperman had come up empty. Floods at a storage building had destroyed thousands of old paper records, he said, and records at the office were not digitized in 2000.By the time the 17-year-old, her sister and her mother appeared at the police station that year, local prosecutors were already aware of the allegations against Mr. Copperman. Not only had the case been covered extensively in the news media, but the state medical board had also worked closely with Ms. Kurtz of the county district attorneys office, according to Silvia Finkelstein, who was a lawyer at the state Office of Professional Medical Conduct at the time. She brought the charges that led to the revocation of Mr. Coppermans medical license. The state boards investigation turned up a number disturbing accusations, but it was not a criminal proceeding.At hearings before the board during summer and fall 2000, six former patients recalled that Mr. Copperman had told them they were dirty and needed a genital cleaning. He had them lie on their backs while he rubbed and scraped their genitals with his ungloved hands or finger, according to the womens testimony. The state and county jointly interviewed women during the medical boards investigation, according to Ms. Finkelstein, who now works for the Nassau County district attorneys office as director of immigrant affairs.Still, local prosecutors did not file charges. The women were all in their 30s by the time they provided testimony to the state Office of Professional Medical Conduct, beyond the statute of limitations for criminal charges. (The medical conduct office does not have a statute of limitations.) In any case, county prosecutors could have filed only misdemeanor charges against Mr. Copperman, because of the way sex crimes were defined under state law at the time, Ms. Finkelstein said.I cant tell you how many women we contacted who didnt want to cooperate, who didnt want to be involved in a criminal case or their parents didnt want them to be involved, when the maximum charges available were misdemeanors, Ms. Finkelstein said.The 17-year-olds allegations of sexual abuse, however, appear to have met the legal requirements for prosecution. Even a misdemeanor conviction would have placed Mr. Copperman on the sex offender registry, requiring him to list his address on a public database.Marci Hamilton, the chief executive of Child U.S.A., an advocacy group based at the University of Pennsylvania that is focused on child protection, said the failure to criminally prosecute prominent men who faced allegations of sexual abuse was all too frequent. If a man lost his livelihood, they think thats the worst thing that could ever happen to him, she said of local authorities. But theres absolutely no evidence that taking someones professional license away means they will quit preying on children they just find children in other environments.ImageCredit...Sarah Blesener for The New York Times | Health |
Credit...Stephen Crowley/The New York TimesMarch 2, 2017WASHINGTON The White House is considering giving the Pentagon more independent authority to conduct counterterrorism raids as part of an effort to accelerate the fight against the Islamic State and other militant organizations, administration officials said on Thursday.Such a step would allow military commanders to move more swiftly against terrorism suspects, streamlining a decision-making process that often dragged on under the Obama administration, frustrating Pentagon officials.The White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, called the proposal a philosophy more than a change in policy. He said that the protocol is not changing in terms of what has to be signed off, but added that Mr. Trump believed these are the experts in the field.Critics say that giving the military more authority could lead to more problematic outcomes like the Special Operations raid in January in Yemen, which left a member of the Navys SEAL Team 6 dead, as well as about two dozen civilians.It could also leave the Pentagon to take the blame when things go wrong. But one Defense Department official pointed to comments by President Trump about the Yemen raid as a sign that military commanders would be held responsible for botched operations whether the president signed off on them or not.Mr. Trump and Defense Department officials have maintained that the January raid the first such operation approved by the new president was successful, saying that valuable intelligence was collected. Military officials have been advocating an increase in raids in Yemen in particular.On Thursday, the United States resumed its air attacks on targets in Yemen, conducting strikes against several suspected Qaeda sites across the south-central part of the country.The coordinated series of attacks occurred in three Yemeni provinces Abyan, Shabwa and Baydha that have been linked to terrorist activity, according to the Pentagon. The strikes were conducted against targets that had been developed before the January raid, a senior official said.On Monday, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis presented the White House, under Mr. Trumps directive, with a series of options for accelerating the fight against the Islamic State. Pentagon officials say that while much of the proposal would continue what the United States was doing under President Barack Obama, Mr. Mattis and senior military commanders want to target not just the Islamic State, but also Al Qaeda and other extremist organizations in the Middle East.The proposal on counterterrorism raids, first reported by the Daily Beast, is the latest step in Mr. Trumps increased reliance on military commanders to run American national security policy. Mr. Trump has become increasingly reliant on Mr. Mattis, a retired Marine general, upon whom he consistently lavishes praise. He has also appointed Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as his national security adviser, to replace a retired general, Michael T. Flynn. His Homeland Security secretary is yet another retired general, John F. Kelly.Were at a point now in our nation where general officers have an outsize role in the direction of the country, said Andrew Exum, a retired Army Ranger and a Defense Department official in the Obama administration.ImageCredit...Kevin Lamarque/ReutersStill, Mr. Trump has already shown himself willing to blame the generals when things go wrong. On Tuesday, he told Fox News that the Jan. 29 Yemen mission that led to the death of the Navy SEAL team member, Senior Chief Petty Officer William Owens, known as Ryan, was a mission that was started before I got here. He added that my generals are the most respected that weve had in many decades, I believe, and they lost Ryan.Jon B. Alterman, the director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that the administration faced a delicate calculation over how much authority to cede to the generals.One extreme, he said, is giving 20-somethings in the White House veto power over generals in the field. That should be avoided, he said. At the same time, he added, if youre going to target and kill someone, there needs to be some kind of process to ensure that it serves a strategic purpose. We shouldnt be comfortable with the other extreme, essentially handing out death sentences without much deliberation.Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said that the strikes on Thursday in Yemen, which numbered more than 20, were conducted in partnership with the government of Yemen and were coordinated with President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Captain Davis said the attacks had targeted Qaeda militants, equipment and infrastructure.After the January raid, Mr. Hadis government had withdrawn permission for the United States to conduct Special Operations ground missions, a decision prompted by anger at the civilian casualties incurred in the raid.Computers and cellphones seized during that raid offered clues about attacks that Al Qaeda might be planning, including insights into new types of hidden explosives that the group is making and new training tactics, American officials said.But it is still unclear how much the information advances the militarys knowledge of the plans of Al Qaedas branch in Yemen, and some intelligence and congressional officials have questioned how significant the information analyzed so far really is.There are obvious contradictions about the relative value of intelligence, said Senator Kamala D. Harris, a California Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, who added in an interview this week that she would be seeking more explanations from intelligence officials.According to a Yemeni military official, the airstrikes on Thursday in the Abyan mountains began around 3:30 a.m. local time.The local news media reported that at least three people suspected of being Qaeda members were killed in Shabwa Province. Residents near the scene in the Saeid region said an airstrike had destroyed a house used by Qaeda operatives.The death of Chief Owens came after a chain of miscues and misjudgments that plunged the elite forces into a ferocious 50-minute firefight with Qaeda militants in a mountainous village in central Yemen. Three other Americans were wounded, and a $75 million aircraft was deliberately destroyed.A month later, the mission remains under intense scrutiny, with questions unabated over the casualties, how Mr. Trump and his aides approved the raid over a dinner meeting at the White House five days into his presidency, and the value of the information collected from the raid.It is reasonable for the White House to determine which decisions they need to be part of and which ones they are comfortable deferring to the Pentagon, said Derek Chollet, an assistant secretary of defense in the Obama administration. But a president has to think very carefully about this, because he may choose to delegate authority, but he cannot absolve himself of responsibility. | World |
News AnalysisCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesJune 22, 2018WASHINGTON President Trump likes nothing more than presenting himself as the ultimate deal maker, the master negotiator who can translate his success in business into the worlds of politics, policy and diplomacy. Thats what I do, is deals, he said one day last month.Except that so far he has not. As he threw in the towel on immigration legislation on Friday, saying that Republicans should give up even trying until after the fall midterm elections, Mr. Trump once again fell short of his promise to make beautiful deals that no other president could make.His 17 months in office have in fact been an exercise in futility for the art-of-the-deal president. No deal on immigration. No deal on health care. No deal on gun control. No deal on spending cuts. No deal on Nafta. No deal on China trade. No deal on steel and aluminum imports. No deal on Middle East peace. No deal on the Qatar blockade. No deal on Syria. No deal on Russia. No deal on Iran. No deal on climate change. No deal on Pacific trade.Even routine deals sometimes elude Mr. Trump, or he chooses to blow them up. After a Group of 7 summit meeting this month with the worlds leading economic powers, Mr. Trump, expressing pique at Canadas prime minister, refused to sign the carefully negotiated communiqu that his own team had agreed to. It was the sort of boilerplate agreement that every previous president had made over four decades.Trump is an anarchist, said Jack ODonnell, a former president of the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, who became a sharp critic. It was his approach in business, it is his approach as president. It does not take good negotiating skills to cause chaos. Will this ever lead to concessions? Maybe, but concessions to what? Not anything that resembles a deal. I just do not see him getting much done.Ultimately, his advisers said, his hard-line positions that for now have left him at an impasse with negotiating partners should pay off in ways that did not for presidents like Barack Obama and George W. Bush. I dont think its that counterintuitive to say that playing hardball will lead to better trade deals eventually, said Andy Surabian, a Republican strategist and former aide to Mr. Trump.We werent even talking about these under Obama or Bush, he added. There was no talking about renegotiating better trade deals. You couldnt even get China to the table before Trump came along. Well see what the final outcome is, but its already a success just to get them to the table.Mr. Trump points to a few deals, notably the major tax-cutting package that passed late last year. But even that was negotiated mainly by Republican lawmakers, who said Mr. Trump did not seem engaged in the details. Nor did he secure the bipartisan support he had hoped for. And as legislative challenges go, handing out tax cuts without paying for them is not exactly the hardest thing that politicians do.As for foreign policy, Mr. Trump has taken great pride in his recent meeting with North Koreas leader, Kim Jong-un, asserting that I have solved that problem after a decades-long nuclear standoff and even musing that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. But there is no deal, at least not yet. There is a vague 391-word statement essentially agreeing to agree, an expression of a goal with no details.In effect, the agreement with Mr. Kim is like a deal to sell parts of Trump Tower without settling on a price, date, inspection or financing. It is not nearly as advanced as agreements that President Bill Clinton and Mr. Bush made with North Korea, both of which ultimately collapsed.Mr. Trump did secure the release of three Americans held prisoner by North Korea, much as President Barack Obama did with prisoners during his tenure. And he did win a promise by Mr. Kim to help repatriate the remains of American soldiers killed during the Korean War.To be sure, these issues can be enormously complex and forging consensus can take time. Negotiations over such matters have frustrated more seasoned presidents with more bipartisan or internationalist instincts. Any judgment before the end of his four-year term may be premature.But no modern president has sold himself on the promise of negotiating skills more than Mr. Trump has. He regularly boasts that deals will be easy and quick and the best ever.Just this month, he predicted that well probably very easily make a deal with Mexico and Canada to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement, but later made blistering attacks on both countries. He has pulled out of Mr. Obamas Iran nuclear deal, Paris climate accord and Trans-Pacific Partnership, but promises to negotiate better versions of those deal have gone nowhere.When he took office, Mr. Trump set his sights on what he called the ultimate deal, meaning peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. He said it was frankly maybe not as difficult as people have thought. A year later, his team is only now preparing to release a plan. But after Mr. Trumps decision to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, the Palestinian Authority is no longer on speaking terms with the White House.What the president seemingly fails to understand is that in foreign policy and in trade policy unlike in real estate transactions the parties are all repeat players, said Daniel M. Price, who advised Mr. Bush on trade negotiations. The country you insult or seek undue advantage over today you will have to work with again tomorrow.Mr. Trumps approach so far has been to make expansive demands and apply as much pressure as he can. He argues that crushing sanctions he imposed on North Korea forced Mr. Kim to meet. He now hopes to extract concessions from China, Canada and Europe after slapping punishing tariffs on them.Trump is a bilateral player, in part because thats what he is used to from his building days, but also because he keeps himself the king, the decider, the strongman, said Wendy Sherman, who was Mr. Obamas lead negotiator on the Iran nuclear deal. In the case of North Korea, however, he wouldnt have gotten this far which isnt all that far without the South Koreans or the Chinese.When it comes to Congress, other presidents have run into walls of resistance by the opposition what both Mr. Obama and Mr. Trump have called obstructionism. Some had hoped Mr. Trump might be able to bridge that divide because at different points he has been a Democrat and Republican.But with the exception of a short-term spending and debt deal that simply postponed difficult decisions, Mr. Trump has made no more progress with Democrats than Mr. Obama did with Republicans. When he gave up on immigration on Friday, he blamed it on Senate Democrats, even though the immediate impasse was among House Republicans who do not need the other party to pass a bill.Republicans should stop wasting their time on Immigration until after we elect more Senators and Congressmen/women in November, he wrote on Twitter. Dems are just playing games, have no intention of doing anything to solves this decades old problem. We can pass great legislation after the Red Wave!It was in effect an acknowledgment by Mr. Trump that he cannot reach across the aisle and can only govern with Republicans. Mr. Trump is right that Republicans, who currently have 51 seats in the Senate, need Democrats to muster the 60 votes needed to overcome any filibuster. But no major political strategist is projecting that Republicans could actually win nine more seats this fall, meaning that Mr. Trump's party would still need Democrats even after the election.Mr. Surabian, the former Trump aide, said the challenge on immigration is that the president has to grapple not just with Democrats but also with Republicans who do not share his philosophy on the issue. Were not just talking about a normal negotiation, he said. Its a lot more complicated.Mr. ODonnell, the former casino president, said Mr. Trump has always oversold his deal-making skills. The casino he managed, Mr. ODonnell noted, brought in $100 million a year yet still went bankrupt. The fact is, Trump casinos should have been one of the greatest success stories in the history of casino gambling, but bad deal making caused him to lose all three properties, he said.Now the consequences are much higher. Deal making as president, Ms. Sherman said, is a multidimensional proposition where the stakes are war and peace, prosperity and depression. | Politics |
Credit...Michael Friberg for The New York TimesFeb. 12, 2014PARK CITY, Utah Ted Ligety was losing races by seven seconds. And that was just to the other 11-year-olds in his towns ski club.When he tried out for the local developmental racing program they sent him home without a spot.His parents recall that Ted would tell his youth coaches that, one day, he was going to race in the Olympics.They would say, No, Ted, you have to have a realistic goal, his mother, Cyndi Sharp, said.Everyone in this close-knit ski mecca 40 minutes from Salt Lake City knew who the racing prodigies were. Ted Ligety was not among them.Things didnt look too encouraging, Ligety said in August, sitting on the wooden balcony of his Park City home, overlooking the ski lifts he rode as a child. I was just too stubborn to let it bother me.High school came and went with many of his friends named to the United States ski team. Ted was not on any coachs list. He kept racing, but his next step was college, where he would study to be an engineer.Ted asked his parents, who had never raced, if he could delay college for one more winter, as a last chance to reach the elite level.Our tolerance for this idea was about six months and no more, his father, Bill Ligety, said.But Ted, who had matured physically and filled out in the latter stages of adolescence, suddenly had the best season of his young life, coming home from races with medals. A few months before his 19th birthday, in 2003, Ligety was invited to join the United States ski teams developmental squad, a big accomplishment even if it was a rung so low on the organizational ladder that his parents had to pay $10,000 so that Ted could compete.Top ski racers have a corporate sponsors name or logo displayed across the brim of their helmet. That year, Ligety affixed duct tape across his helmet with these words: Mom and Dad.Then a funny thing happened. Although his initial world ranking was in the 300s, he steadily gained ground. Just before the 2006 Olympics, Ligety made the contingent for the Turin Games, though seemingly in a minor role on a United States team with Bode Miller and the three-time world champion Daron Rahlves.On one of the last days of the Turin Olympics after Miller and Rahlves had prominently flopped Ligety was the shock winner of the combined event.When I won the gold medal, my dad laughed and said, I guess this skiing thing might work out, Ligety said this summer, beaming at the thought.Bill Ligety said: We are dumbfounded. It was all his determination.It would be a winsome story of perseverance if it ended there. But since then, Ligety has become a four-time world champion, an outspoken, magnetic personality on the World Cup circuit and one of the best ski racers in American history.And he has done it, not surprisingly, with an outsiders mentality ready to defy the status quo as the kid who was never supposed to make it anyway. The United States has a history of producing idiosyncratic, uncompromising Olympic ski champions see Miller, Bill Johnson and Tommy Moe.Here comes the once disregarded Ligety, the favorite in the Olympic giant slalom and a gold medal candidate in two other events. He could be the most ballyhooed American Alpine athlete during the Sochi Games.But Ligety, whose nickname is Shred, will not be easily typecast because his success has been the product of his own brand of rebellion, a thinking mans tenacity and analytical doggedness that does not always endear him to the authorities.ImageCredit...Michael Friberg for The New York TimesLast year, for example, Ligety ripped the international ski federation in a scathing online treatise protesting a new rule that significantly changed the permissible shape of giant slalom skis. Then Ligety jumped on the new skis and used them to trounce his competition anyway, taking his fourth season-long World Cup title in giant slalom. He followed that with three gold medals at the 2013 World Championships something that no male skier had done in 45 years.Im fine with being a little bit of an instigator, Ligety said.It was not the first time that he had played the provocateur.For many winters, Ligety goaded Europes elite racers for how easy they had it compared to American skiers.Its like we compete at two completely different sports, Ligety said this summer, sitting at home beneath a large poster of Sestriere, Italy, where he won his Olympic gold medal. The Europeans race on the weekend, then go home to their families on weekdays, sometimes with a training slope right next to their house.They get home cooking, sleep in their own beds, see their girlfriends and then come back for the next race on the weekend. The American racers leave home in November and other than four days at Christmas we arent home until March. The food, language and culture is unfamiliar and were stuck in hotels as we arrange for our own training. Obviously, the playing field is lopsided in their favor. To win, we not only have to ski faster, we have to have a huge reservoir of mental fortitude.Fortunately for Ligety, that is one of his developed strengths. When he sees a deficiency of any kind, he works to overcome it.Eight years ago, he thought the snowboarding and free riding ethos had stolen some of what he called the cool factor from traditional skiing.There was a big disconnect, and skiers were seen as old school, Ligety said. I knew that didnt apply to me, so I wanted to show that we could merge the two worlds. I wanted kids to know that its cool to be in a ski race in the morning and to go play in the terrain park in the afternoon. Its not one or the other.ImageCredit...Michael Friberg for The New York TimesTo add a little style, Ligety started wearing brightly colored outfits and ended his races with a signature trick move in the snow. In the off-season, he made extreme skiing films in remote parts of the world, emerging from helicopters in exotic locales where he might jump off cliffs or descend radically steep pitches. With a European business partner, he started a company called Shred in 2006 and aggressively marketed what were then radically designed helmets, goggles and other goods in florescent pink and orange, and electric blue. Shred has flourished, and with the help of the free skiing/twin-tip ski movement, ski participation has made a comeback as the percentage of snowboarders on the slopes has ebbed.Ligety recognizes the trend but is practical about his business as well.I did it to make money, too, he said with a chortle. Im very involved in Shred, constantly checking in on something. It takes a lot of time. But it has let me leverage who I am as an athlete into a product.The company could well be the focus of Ligetys postracing career. As he said: Ive never liked the idea of working for other people.But at 29, Ligety does not appear to be in too much of a rush to work behind a desk. Still the daredevil, he and his United States ski teammates were known for buying broken-down cars while training in New Zealand so they could launch them at high speeds off a ramp in an empty lot. They also used the cars for bumper car competitions.That was the daylight pastime. At night, Ligety is more likely to be reading about finance and the stock market.Im certainly not worried what Ted will do with himself when he stops racing, said Mia Pascoe, his longtime girlfriend who lives with Ligety in Park City. He doesnt sit still. Hes always got a project going.When Pascoe, a former University of Colorado soccer player who met Ligety at a college party of ski racers, mentioned recently that she wanted a new headboard for their bed, Ligety decided to design one and make it himself. He has reconstructed or remodeled other parts of the house as well.Thats Ted, said his mother, Cyndi. When he was young, he went to Home Depot so he could build his own slalom shin guards. He was raised to be very independent.ImageCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesBoth parents were real estate brokers in Park City, which was growing exponentially.We worked a lot and I wasnt home to cook, Cyndi said. So Ted taught himself.The meals were sometimes for the entire family, which included his younger brother Charlie, who became a racer in college. Ted has remained an enthusiastic cook, especially when it comes to barbecuing and baking cookies.The independent spirit led a young Ligety to tinker with his skis and boots, something he does to this day. He pores over slow-motion videos of his races and the tactics of his rivals, as well as those of skiers from previous generations. That is how he discovered the best use of the new, straighter giant slalom skis that he initially hated so much.Ligety had always forcefully pressured and created an arc in his skis sooner on turns than other racers had. Technically, it was a faster method but it was riskier and took superior strength and balance something Ligety had honed in hours of solitary practice as a teen. Before the 2012 rules change, skis were more hourglass-shaped and easier to turn so his opponents could get away with applying pressure later in the turn and sometimes catch up to Ligety although Ted was still the giant slalom World Cup champ.On the new, straighter skis, Ligety found through trial and error that his aggressive, early pressure still produced extra speed. But the technique his opponents had used for years with the older skis was much slower as the skis slid through turns.It accentuated the advantage I already had, Ligety said, who began winning races by such hefty margins that Pascoe, who was back in Utah, thought she was misreading the results online.Ligety added: I saw pretty early that the new rule wasnt going to hurt me.So why rail against it and jeopardize his standing with the sports hierarchy?Because it was bad for the future of the sport, said Ligety, who launched his assault on the new skis through a blog post. Young kids coming up werent going to be able to turn those new straight skis. I didnt want a whole bunch of 16-year-olds to get discouraged and quit racing.VideoThe American skier talked about growing up in Park City, Utah, and about how he first learned to ski.Somebody had to speak up about it and oppose it.The International Ski Federation threatened to sanction athletes for social media outbursts. Ligety was undeterred.I wasnt worried; Im glad to be somewhat of a leader, he said. I mean, they never even asked for the athletes input before making the change.Ligety considers it a victory that there is now athlete involvement on a council that advises the ski federation leaders. And the giant slalom ski rule may be repealed, which he considers another triumph, even though it might be to his detriment.Ill just try to figure another way to be faster, he said with a laugh. Its all part of the learning process.And Ligety insists he never stops learning. Heading into his third Olympics, it will be the lessons gained from his past experiences at the Games that will shape his approach to the competition. Ligety disappointed himself when he skied too cautiously at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, like a favorite just trying to do what came naturally. He ended up not winning any medals. Now he is determined to attack his races with an intensity that always has him on the verge of crashing.The 2010 Olympics were a tipping point, and after that I decided to go all-out every time, Ligety said. There are always two or three sections of a race where you have to be smart but otherwise Im going to hammer it. At the last Olympics, I tried to be too smart and I blew it. Im never going to let that happen again.Just attacking has made me a more consistent winner. I want to go hard and be happy with my approach.Bode Miller had the same attitude at the Olympics and flamed out in 2006. Under the radar in 2010, Miller won three Olympic medals.ImageCredit...Michael Friberg for The New York TimesLigety had a front-row seat to both performances.First of all, Bode made his own bed in a lot of ways, Ligety said, speaking of the 2006 Turin Games. He played into the medias hands.Ligety talked about how Miller, in an interview on 60 Minutes, admitted to racing while badly hung over.But that came out as racing while drunk, Ligety said, which is not what he meant. But you do have to be careful with what you say.Ligety also said Miller seriously injured his ankle days before the 2006 Olympics and never revealed it publicly.He rolled it playing basketball while we were there in Italy, Ligety said. His ankle was the size of a grapefruit and he could barely get his ski boot on. He could have used it as an excuse, but he owned up to the results instead.At the 2010 Olympics, Ligety saw in Miller a more peaceful attitude confident but not keyed up.I think thats the way to approach the Olympics, Ligety said. Id call it optimistic nonchalance. I really want to win as much as I can, but you cant let that get into your head. Ive always been a better racer than trainer and most of the other guys on the World Cup ski worse in racing than they do in training.They freeze up. You watch guys in training and theyre crazy fast. Then theyre different when the actual race is on.Ligetys ability to execute a race plan, even one that changes on the fly, may be his greatest attribute, said the United States head coach, Sasha Rearick.ImageCredit...Olivier Morin/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesIn a super combined victory in Wengen, Switzerland, on Jan. 17, Rearick advised Ligety to make some changes to his intended line on the downhill portion of the race just seconds before Ligety pushed out the start gate. Rearick was acting on advice from Miller, who had run through the course moments before Ligety.They were changes on many sections where he could trim the line and pick up some time, Rearick said. Right there, youre altering the original plan, which is not always the easiest thing to do. But Ted executed every one of them beautifully and aggressively.That was impressive.Ligety shrugs his shoulders when asked about what allows him to adjust so seamlessly, whether it is his race tactics or his equipment.Ive been working at this my whole life, he said.At his parents home in Park City, across town from where he now lives, Ligetys boyhood bedroom is filled with racing bibs from around the world and pictures of Ted and his brother in racing garb as children. There are not a lot of trophies from those early years or pictures of Ted celebrating from a medal podium as a boy or preteen.But in every photo from a ski hill, Ted Ligety is smiling.He was very shy when he was young, but not on skis, Cyndi Sharp said, standing in the bedroom. And even though he wasnt getting top results he just remained so incredibly driven. It was almost like he knew he was going to prove everyone wrong.Next up: backing up his shocking upset at the 2006 Turin Games with more Olympic hardware. A second, or third, Olympic gold medal would look good next to Ligetys four World Championship golds.If that were to happen, those closest to Ligety are certain it would not change him.When Im at a race in Europe, hell be getting mobbed by fans and people will come up to me and say, Oh my God, youre Ted Ligetys girlfriend. Whats that like? Pascoe said. And I laugh because, you know, hes just Ted. We go back to Utah and he hangs out with the same old friends he had from years ago.Ligety calls it a key to his success.Im nobody special at home, he said, walking unnoticed through the Park City streets. They know me from way back. Im just the kid who learned to ski faster. | Sports |
Russell Simmons Sued for Millions Over Alleged Rape 1/24/2018 A woman wants more than $5 million from Russell Simmons for allegedly sexually assaulting her. Jennifer Jarosik claims in a new lawsuit Simmons invited her to his house in 2016 and propositioned her for sex, which she refused. She says Simmons became aggressive, pushed her onto his bed and as she fought back, he allegedly knocked her off the bed, hit her in the head and pounced on her. She says she was in "shock and fear" and he proceeded to rape her. Jarosik says she met Simmons in 2006 and they became friends, sharing a passion for meditation, yoga and a vegan diet. Jarosik says she was rendered "sick, sore, lame, disabled and disordered, both internally and externally and suffered from extreme emotional distress." The lawsuit, filed by Perry Wander, seeks $5 mil in punitive damages and unspecified actual damages. More than a dozen women have accused Simmons of various forms of sexual misconduct, including rape. We reached out to Simmons ... so far, no word back. | Entertainment |
Credit...Adam Dean for The New York TimesNov. 15, 2018PHNOM PENH, Cambodia Many of the foot soldiers for the Khmer Rouge remain in Cambodias remote reaches, each with a chronicle of the horror-soaked years in which Pol Pot and his Communist disciples turned the country into a deadly laboratory for agrarian totalitarianism.Mea Chrun, a former bodyguard in the Khmer Rouge, lives in the jungle-choked hills of northern Cambodia, in Anlong Veng. He is matter-of-fact about the weight of the slaughter. I think that one million people were killed, he said. Dont say three million.On Friday morning four decades after a total of at least 1.7 million people, a fifth of Cambodias population, were culled by execution, overwork, disease and famine an international tribunal for the first time declared that the Khmer Rouge committed genocide against the Muslim Cham minority and Vietnamese.The panel also issued guilty verdicts against the two most senior surviving members of the regime, Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, now 92 and 87 respectively.ImageCredit...Adam Dean for The New York TimesMr. Nuon Chea was found guilty of genocide against both the Cham and Vietnamese, and Mr. Khieu Samphan against just the Vietnamese. The pair were found guilty of various crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. And they were sentenced to life imprisonment, the same sentence they had received in an earlier trial.In dry legal prose that did not camouflage the violent class struggle waged by the Khmer Rouge, the verdict repeated certain words: murder, extermination, enslavement, imprisonment, torture, persecution on political grounds and other inhumane acts against human dignity.Detailed instances of forced labor, such as the building of dams and dikes at the threat of death, were enumerated, along with forms of torture ranging from suffocation by plastic bags to the extraction of toenails and fingernails.Muslims were forced to eat pork. Civil servants were executed by electrocution with telephone cables.As the lengthy verdict was read out, Mr. Nuon Chea, his eyes shielded by oversized dark glasses and his lips collapsing into a mouth missing teeth, asked to be allowed to listen to the proceedings in a holding cell rather than in the glass-enclosed courtroom.ImageCredit...Adam Dean for The New York TimesFor some, the verdict felt like a marginal footnote to a murderous history that has made Cambodia a byword for genocidal mania.It may be finished, said Iam Yen, 52, who gave testimony to the tribunal of her years imprisoned in a child camp under the Khmer Rouge. But I wont ever have peace.Still, a verdict of genocide in Cambodia, no matter how delayed or limited in scope, carries implications for future prosecutions of crimes against humanity, such as in the cases of Sudan or Myanmar.ImageCredit...Samrang Pring/ReutersWe need to show the world that even if it takes a long time, we can deliver justice, said Ly Sok Kheang, the director of the Anlong Veng Peace Center and a researcher in peace and reconciliation efforts.For more than a decade, the United Nations-backed tribunal, called the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, has sifted through hundreds of thousands of pages of documents, called hundreds of witnesses and heard in exhaustive detail how the Khmer Rouge ran its killing fields.The entire effort has cost more than $300 million.Yet the court has convicted just three senior Khmer Rouge leaders of crimes against humanity: Mr. Nuon Chea, Mr. Khieu Samphan and Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, who commanded a prison camp where at least 12,000 people were tortured and ordered to their deaths.Only five top Khmer Rouge leaders have been arrested and put on trial. But as the courts deliberations dragged on, the other two elderly defendants died.ImageCredit...Adam Dean for The New York TimesWith Fridays judgment, Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia has made clear he would prefer the tribunal to cease its high-profile work. But others would like trials to extend to many lower-ranking officials who are believed to have carried out some of the Khmer Rouges most horrific crimes.Mr. Hun Sen, a onetime Khmer Rouge cadre who has ruled Cambodia for more than three decades, had opposed the formation of the tribunal in the first place. Rather than put Mr. Khieu Samphan and Mr. Nuon Chea on trial, he said in 1998, they should be greeted with bouquets of flowers, not with prisons and handcuffs.This trial has frequently been a disgrace and a farce, said Sophal Ear, a professor of diplomacy and world affairs at Occidental College in Los Angeles, whose family fled the Khmer Rouge. The message is that you can be held to account, if you live long enough.Mr. Khieu Samphan, head of state during most of the Khmer Rouge years, and Mr. Nuon Chea, Pol Pots aide-de-camp and chief political strategist, were arrested in 2007, after having spent years living freely in the countrys north.ImageCredit...Adam Dean for The New York TimesWhen handed life sentences in 2014 at an earlier trial for other crimes against humanity, both men denied responsibility for the regimes brutality, even though they were among its highest leaders.Do you really think that that was what I wanted to happen to my people? Mr. Khieu Samphan asked after the verdict four years ago. The reality was that I did not have any power.Khieu Udom, his son, who runs a gas station in Anlong Veng, dismissed the charges against his father. My father was targeted so they can do whatever they like with him, he said.Mr. Khieu Samphans daughter-in-law, Bun Ratana, called him a good man who would never beat a dog or a cat.ImageCredit...Adam Dean for The New York TimesNearby, her 6-year-old son sat hunched over a notebook writing the word teacher in English. Both the word and the language it was written in could have doomed him when his grandfather was head of state of Kampuchea, as Cambodia was known during the Khmer Rouge era.Fridays genocide conviction comes more than 40 years after the Khmer Rouge imposed its reign of terror on Cambodia. In 1975, Pol Pot and his Communist forces marched into Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, and declared it Year Zero.The aim was a classless agrarian society. People were executed for the slightest of crimes: wearing glasses, speaking French or liking ballet.Many of the Khmer Rouges most fervent ideologues were foreign-educated. Mr. Khieu Samphan studied political science at the Sorbonne, while Mr. Nuon Chea went to college in Thailand. The support they garnered, however, came from Cambodias young, rural base, which had suffered from years of civil war and American bombardment as the Vietnam War spilled over the border.ImageCredit...Adam Dean for The New York TimesCambodia today is again a young country. Most of the population was born long after the Khmer Rouge was removed from power by the invading Vietnamese in 1979. Even if many families lost relatives during the rise and fall of the Khmer Rouge, little national introspection has occurred.Mr. Hun Sen has muzzled the media, thrown opposition leaders in jail and warned that Western-style democracy may be a plot to foil Cambodias autonomy. The Khmer Rouge trials are not his priority.Yun Bin, 63, said he was taken to one of the Khmer Rouges killing fields, hacked with an ax and dumped in a well with others. To ensure no one lived, the soldiers threw grenades in the well, he said. Mr. Yun Bin alone survived. To honor those who died in the well, he added his name as a civil party in the Khmer Rouge trials.I dont want people to forget what happened, he said. Today, people care about business and money, and they want to look forward.ImageCredit...Adam Dean for The New York TimesEven in Anlong Veng, which remained a Khmer Rouge stronghold for years as the ultra-Communists created a fiefdom near the Thai border, a flashy capitalism has arrived.The shabby grave of Pol Pot, who died in 1998, only receives a few visitors a day. But across the street from the grave site, a massive casino with fountains and statuary draws Thai and local customers, even if gambling is illegal for Cambodians.The most consistent visitors to Pol Pots burial grounds are casino staff, who come to burn fake money to ensure continued good luck for the gambling hall, the graves caretaker said.Many ex-Khmer Rouge in Anlong Veng said they had no idea that a genocide verdict was imminent in Phnom Penh. Dividing the Cambodian population into binary good and bad halves is impossible, they said.We are all victims, said Panh Sam Onn, who hid his background as a teacher to avoid being persecuted by the Khmer Rouge. He was soon drafted into the Khmer Rouge and rose from foot soldier to district chief.Mr. Panh Sam Onn acknowledged the excesses that occurred under his watch: the forced labor, the separation of children from their families, the starvation that could have been prevented by sound agricultural policies.The Khmer Rouge trials, in a custom-built courthouse on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, were a good idea, he said, because justice was needed.But sitting on his veranda in a village full of former Khmer Rouge in Anlong Veng, Mr. Panh Sam Onn waved away the idea that more prosecutions should follow.They should only try the top leaders and stop there, he said. Otherwise, it will be too fragile for society. Where will it end? | World |
Todd Gurley On Brady's Daughter Diss: 'He's Heard Worse Than That' 1/30/2018 TMZSports.com Don't think for a second that Tom Brady's gonna be distracted by that radio guy calling his daughter an "annoying little pissant" ... 'cause TB12's heard a lot worse in his career -- so says Todd Gurley. Don't get it twisted -- Gurley told TMZ Sports the WEEI radio personality was outta line for blasting Tom's 5-year-old girl ... but at the same time, he doesn't think the QB's losing much sleep over it. "Pretty sure he's heard worse than that," the Rams RB told us at LAX. "Words can't kill you." FYI, Brady clarified he doesn't want the radio personality, Alex Reimer, to get canned over his comments ... but still no word on whether he's gonna keep choppin' it up on WEEI's "Kirk & Callahan" every Monday. | Entertainment |
DealBook|Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Still Strong After 10 Years as Chiefhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/31/business/dealbook/jamie-dimon-of-jpmorgan-still-strong-after-10-years-as-chief.htmlBreakingviewsDec. 30, 2015Jamie Dimon has generated his fair share of controversy as the boss of JPMorgan Chase. But he marks 10 years running the New York bank on Thursday having fashioned an institution with some of the leading results in the business and in a strong position to outperform competitors for another decade.Avoiding the worst of the financial crisis was Mr. Dimons key achievement. By ditching the banks structured investment vehicle in 2004 and reducing its presence in subprime mortgages and collateralized debt obligations, Mr. Dimon sidestepped the messes that required bailouts for Citigroup and Bank of America.Consequently, JPMorgan was able to invest in new branches and technology, including the introduction of new payments systems. It also has taken stakes in emerging platforms like OnDeck in lending, and Square in payments.The crisis elevated Mr. Dimon as an unofficial spokesman to complain about its aftermath. He called the 2008 bank bailout the TARP baby and hounded Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve at that time, and his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney, now governor of the Bank of England, about the effects of new regulations. Virtually nobody else had the authority to do so.That changed in 2012 when a $6 billion trading loss called into question the banks risk-management skills. Within two years, JPMorgan submitted to a $13 billion settlement with state and federal agencies in the United States over bad precrisis mortgages many sold by Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual, which Mr. Dimon snagged in 2008.Shareholders stuck by him, twice voting against stripping him of the chairman title. It helped that JPMorgans underlying business remained solid, unlike at Citigroup and Bank of America: Years after the crisis, neither is covering its cost of capital.JPMorgan, legal costs aside, has routinely bested that since the crisis. Of its larger rivals, only Wells Fargo does better. Wells Fargo, based in San Francisco, is now the largest bank by market value and has also given shareholders a slightly better total return over Mr. Dimons tenure at JPMorgan 130 percent to JPMorgans 117 percent.JPMorgan and Mr. Dimon, who also battled cancer a year ago, still face challenges. An 11 percent return on equity is hardly stellar. Slow economic growth often comes with low margins. And regulation shows no signs of loosening. Yet as bank bosses go, 10 years on, Mr. Dimon is hard to beat. | Business |
Credit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesNo empobrecido Nordeste do Brasil, dedicados e amorosos pais e mes vivem em funo das necessidades dos filhos cujas graves deficincias esto somente comeando a ser compreendidas.Vera Lcia e Ronaldo da Silva em casa, em Escada, no Nordeste do Brasil, com seu filho, Richarlisson, e sua filha, Sophia, que sofre as aflies causadas pela zika.Credit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesMarch 14, 2017ESCADA, Brasil No se avistava viva alma na rua estreita e empoeirada, a no ser um gato que se esgueirava sob uma lua quarto minguante.Eram s duas e meia da madrugada e, em uma pequena casa cor-de-rosa, localizada no topo de um terreno no alto de 29 degraus irregulares esculpidos em um talude de barro vermelho, Vera Lcia da Silva arrumava sua beb para irem para Recife, a duas horas e meia de distncia dali. Embalando Sophia Valentina, ela caminhou por 40 minutos pela cidade adormecida antes de subir na van do governo para mais uma viagem nada confortvel num percurso repleto de sacolejos, chegando no destino logo aps o nascer do sol. Me e filha percorrem esse rduo trajeto vrias vezes por semana. Essa a nica maneira de obter o tratamento mdico e receber as terapias que a Sophia necessita para uma srie de problemas graves causados pelo zika vrus.ImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesHoje a Sophia tem pouco mais de um ano de idade, portanto, ela nasceu durante a epidemia de zika. Ela faz parte de um grupo de quase 2.500 bebs nascidos de mes infectadas pelo vrus no Brasil, com danos cerebrais to profundos que suas consequncias apenas comeam a ser compreendidas.Treze meses aps a declarao de emergncia de sade pblica internacional de zika pela Organizao Mundial da Sade, o nvel de alarme pblico sobre o vrus transmitido por mosquitos que se espalhou pela Amrica Latina est se reduzindo. Em novembro passado, a OMS suspendeu o status de emergncia, entretanto no possvel dizer que o zika vrus est desaparecendo. Milhares de novas infeces por zika continuam sendo relatadas em toda a Amrica Latina, e funcionrios da OMS dizem que a ao da entidade meramente aponta que, como a malria ou a febre amarela, a zika uma ameaa de longo prazo na regio, ao invs de uma pandemia urgente.Porm, para as famlias brasileiras dos bebs com zika, os efeitos terrveis da infeco pelo vrus esto apenas se intensificando. Essa realidade principalmente vivida nas cidades e vilarejos pobres do Nordeste do pas, regio na qual foi detectada, pela primeira vez, a conexo entre o vrus misterioso e os bebs nascidos com cabeas disformes e de tamanho reduzido e l centenas de famlias esto lutando para dar a essas crianas a melhor vida possvel.ImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesRelaes familiares foram destrudas e meios de subsistncia, antes precrios, foram devastados. Alguns pais e mes tiveram que deixar de trabalhar para se dedicarem aos cuidados do filho. Ao mesmo tempo, os altos ndices de gravidez na adolescncia no Brasil acrescentam mais um nvel de dificuldades, uma vez que, muitas adolescentes com aparelhos nos dentes e tarefas escolares por fazer, acabam sendo mes de bebs afetados pela doena.Mdicos e pesquisadores esto apenas comeando a entender a zika e suas consequncias mdicas. Muitos bebs nasceram com cabeas dramaticamente pequenas, caracterstica da microcefalia, mas seus problemas aumentaram e diversificaram-se, o que levou os especialistas a rebatizar sua condio como sndrome congnita do zika vrus. Esses bebs podem ter convulses; problemas respiratrios; dificuldades para engolir; fraqueza e rigidez nos msculos e articulaes que os impede de levantar a cabea; p-torto congnito, problemas de viso e audio, e crises de choro que so extremamente difceis de cessar.Essas crianas passaram do seu primeiro ano de vida, mas, segundo os mdicos, tm desenvolvimento neurolgico similar ao de bebs de 3 meses de idade. Alguns quadros de microcefalia so to extremos que os especialistas chegam a compar-los a uma variante chamada de sequncia de disrupo cerebral fetal, uma variante anterior to rara que era vista somente em um grupo reduzido de casos. Alm disso, novas dificuldades continuam se acumulando e a Sophia recentemente passou por cirurgia para resolver mais um problema: hidrocefalia, o excesso de lquido no crebro.ImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesAtualmente, esto sendo identificados casos de crianas com deficincias que pareciam normais ao nascer. Em algumas delas, a microcefalia e outros sintomas esto surgindo meses mais tarde, quando seus crebros; com clulas enfraquecidas ou destrudas, reas com ms-formaes e acmulos de lquido; no conseguem se desenvolver o suficiente para corresponder ao crescimento fsico. Os especialistas preveem que mais crianas, que at o momento parecem no haver sido afetadas pelo zika vrus, possam vir a apresentar problemas antes dos 3 anos ou na idade escolar.Os mdicos ainda no conhecem a extenso total da doena, disse a Dra. Vanessa Van der Linden, neuropediatra de Recife que ajudou a descobrir a ligao entre zika e microcefalia. S sabemos o que fcil de se ver.A Dra. Vanessa e muitos outros mdicos e terapeutas dedicam-se a ajudar famlias em hospitais pblicos e sem fins lucrativos e clnicas. O governo brasileiro utiliza parte de seus recursos no fornecimento de um modesto auxlio para deficientes populao carente.ImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesCentenas de famlias esto em listas de espera para receber atendimento mdico. Alguns programas de terapia deixam de ser proporcionados s crianas sob a alegao de que o desenvolvimento delas est to afetado que a terapia no pode conseguir mais nada. No caso dos bebs mais velhos que ainda no conseguem fazer contato visual ou interagir, a Dra. Vanessa disse: fazer fisioterapia todos os dias no significa que eles vo melhorar.Para as famlias do zika, as dificuldades esto apenas comeando. As crianas ainda so pequenas o suficiente para serem carregadas no colo, alimentadas e levadas de um lado para outro. No entanto, eventualmente, muitas delas podero no ser capazes de andar, frequentar escolas regulares ou mesmo viver sozinhas quando adultas.Esses bebs, a maioria deles ou todos eles, vo viver vidas muito longas. Voc pode mant-los vivos por muito tempo e eles vo precisar da ajuda de algum 24 horas por dia, disse o Dr. Ernesto Marques, especialista em doenas infecciosas da Universidade de Pittsburgh e da Fundao Oswaldo Cruz em Recife. As consequncias para a sociedade so enormes, conclui ele.Aqui esto as histrias de trs famlias: um casal que se manteve obstinado na sua criatividade e coragem, apesar das frequentes complicaes mdicas da sua filha; uma adolescente que se tornou me de uma beb com zika aos 14 anos e foi forada a amadurecer muito alm da sua idade; e uns recm-casados cuja relao no pde suportar as presses de cuidar de sua criana com deficincia.SophiaImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesGrave risco de aspirao, era o que se lia no pedao de papel perto da cama onde Vera Lcia cobria Sophia com uma espcie de casaco de beb com capuz cor-de-rosa para sua caminhada no meio da madrugada para subir na van.Um mdico j havia explicado o que aquele diagnstico significava: Ela vai se sufocar, disse Vera Lcia, torcendo os dedos ansiosamente, a comida est indo para os pulmes dela.Sophia tinha disfagia severa, problemas de deglutio que afligem bebs com zika mais velhos cujos crebros no podem coordenar a habilidade de comer. Os mdicos aconselharam a adio de espessante frmula infantil, mas avisaram que, caso isso no desse certo, ela precisaria de uma sonda de alimentao nasogstrica. Uma sonda anterior j havia feito Sophia vomitar sangue preto.Estou pedindo a Deus para que ela no precise usar a sonda de alimentao de novo, suplicou Vera Lcia, de 30 anos, enquanto, l fora, se ouviam galos cantando na escurido e cachorros latindo como pregoeiros.Seu marido, Ronaldo, 34, tentou tranquiliz-la. Deus, disse ele, nunca nos daria 100 quilos se ns s pudssemos carregar 50.Mas o peso que o casal carrega continua acumulando.ImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesDepois de mais uma viagem para Recife na calada da noite e horas de espera em duras cadeiras de plstico na clnica da Fundao Altino Ventura, Sophia, com um vestido com barra de babado com pequenos coraes rosa e a palavra Love coberta de strass, foi colocada sobre uma maca.Cinco terapeutas a examinaram. Um sacudiu um chocalho amarelo perto de sua orelha. Outro tirou os minsculos culos lils da Sophia, agitou um pompom prateado e piscou uma lanterna, mas os olhos dela mal pareciam capazes de seguir os estmulos.Sophia uma criana com habilidades visuais, auditivas e motoras muito comprometidas, concluiu Kyrla Melo, fisioterapeuta. Ela no tem controle da cabea, no rola e no se senta.Anteriormente, outra clnica j havia retirado a Sophia do grupo de fisioterapia. A mdica falou que Sophia no estava se desenvolvendo, contou Vera Lcia. As crianas que no esto se desenvolvendo esto sendo retiradas das terapias.Ela estava chateada. Acho que isso est muito errado. O dever deles trabalhar para que nossos bebs se desenvolvam.Os pais de Sophia do a ela todo o apoio possvel. Eles confeccionaram verses caseiras dos equipamentos de fisioterapia usados pelas clnicas: fizeram chocalhos com garrafas de Coca-Cola cheias de feijo, colocaram bolas coloridas de plstico em uma pequena piscina inflvel, encheram uma cala jeans de Ronaldo com isopor para dar suporte ao corpo de Sophia para mant-la sentada.Um mdico disse ao casal que cores brilhantes poderiam estimular a viso de Sophia. Ento, eles pintaram a porta da casa, que era cinza, e as janelas de laranja abbora, mudaram as cortinas e as capas do sof para um vermelho cereja, e colocaram cortinas amarelo ouro na cozinha.A criatividade a segunda natureza do casal. Antes de se casar com Vera Lcia, Ronaldo, que trabalha pintando tubos de refinaria de petrleo, passou todas as noites, durante um ano, cavando e nivelando um pedao de terra coberto de mato, localizado no alto de um penhasco, preparando o terreno para construir a casa deles com telhado ondulado de telhas vermelhas e varais de roupa nas laterais.O penhasco forma uma parede em um dos lados de uma estreita rua de paraleleppedos. Do outro lado da rua h casas com telhados no nvel da calada ou abaixo, e com janelas gradeadas para intimidar os ladres e os traficantes de drogas.ImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesDepois do nascimento do seu primeiro filho, Richarlisson, Vera Lcia, uma ex-professora, tentou engravidar por cinco anos e teve um aborto espontneo. Aos trs meses da gestao de Sophia, o brao de Vera Lcia foi picado por um mosquito quando ela estava perto do poo de uma vizinha. Ela teve diarreia, alm de manchas vermelhas no brao, rosto e barriga.Um mdico disse que poderia ser chikungunya, uma doena transmitida por picada de mosquito que raramente tem efeitos duradouros e no transmitida ao feto. Naquele tempo, a zika, causada pelo mesmo mosquito, no era conhecida no Brasil.Tudo parecia estar bem at um ultrassom ser realizado aos seis meses.Sua filha tem microcefalia, disse um mdico Vera Lcia. A cabea menor do que o normal e o crebro da criana no se desenvolveu.Vera Lcia desesperou-se. Ainda assim, duas semanas depois, quando um mdico comentou: se voc no quer uma criana com microcefalia, voc no obrigada a t-la. Ela rejeitou a ideia de um aborto. No. Mesmo se ela tiver microcefalia, vou am-la do jeito que ela vier, disse ela.Ao nascer, a perna esquerda de Sophia estava presa ao corpo e uma mdica afirmou: Sophia Valentina no vai andar. Vera Lcia ficou enfurecida.Voc acha que sabe mais do que Deus, hein?, ela repreendeu a mdica. Minha filha nem tem 24 horas de vida.Dando banhos para relaxar a perna, manipulando-a delicadamente com uma tipoia de fraldas de pano, aos poucos, Vera Lcia e sua irm conseguiram trazer a perna da beb para a posio normal.Quando outro mdico disse que as mos de Sophia no iriam segurar nada. Vera Lcia e Ronaldo treinaram os dedos da filha para segurar pirulitos e sacudir chocalhos.ImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesQuando os vizinhos fizeram comentrios maldosos, dizendo que Sophia tinha a cabea deformada e uma perna aleijada, Ronaldo convenceu sua esposa de no os enfrentar. Algumas pessoas so gentis, disse ele, como seu chefe, que mesmo quando as dificuldades econmicas foraram a empresa a demitir todos seus funcionrios, deixando apenas sete dos 300 trabalhadores, manteve o Ronaldo no emprego.A pesar desta recomendao, Vera Lcia passou cinco meses discutindo com autoridades municipais que continuavam negando a ela uma vaga nos veculos do governo para viagens a hospitais de Recife. Ela chamou um funcionrio de Satans e, finalmente, conseguiu um assento depois de ameaar chamar a reportagem de um jornal e envergonhar o prefeito em ano de eleies.Mesmo assim, sempre que os mdicos de Sophia marcam novas consultas, Vera Lcia tem que caminhar 40 minutos at o posto de sade, que atende em horrios especficos, para reservar pessoalmente um assento na van. s vezes, elas perdem horas marcadas para poder reservar uma vaga no transporte para outra consulta.Uma manh, Sophia deixou de se mexer. Ela estava respirando, seus olhos estavam abertos, mas seu corpo parecia congelado.Vera Lcia chorou, com medo de perder a minha bonequinha, disse ela. Sophia estava fraca e malnutrida porque no havia se adaptado sonda de alimentao nasal colocada duas semanas antes. Os mdicos disseram que ela precisaria de uma nova sonda a cada 15 dias.ImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesNo ms seguinte, em novembro, Sophia foi hospitalizada por 10 dias por causa de uma pneumonia. Em dezembro, uma derivao foi colocada em seu crebro, que tinha um acmulo excessivo de lquido, o que chegou a causar 32 convulses em um mesmo dia. Em janeiro houve mais uma hospitalizao por pneumonia. Sophia est agora em uma lista de espera para uma sonda de alimentao abdominal.Minha filha uma guerreira, disse Ronaldo.No sof vermelho por trs das persianas laranjas, Vera Lcia olhou angustiada e perplexa para a sua filha. Sophia Valentina, murmurou ela. Ela vai me surpreender.AlciaImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesAlcia Isabela do Nascimento Martins nasceu prematura de sete meses, em parto cesreo de emergncia. Ela ficou hospitalizada por 70 dias at que seus pulmes pudessem respirar por conta prpria, seu corao batesse constantemente e seu corpo j no precisasse de uma sonda de alimentao. Mas os mdicos no conseguiram reparar os danos cerebrais que ela sofreu quando sua me foi infectada pelo vrus zika durante a gravidez.Alcia, atualmente com quase 18 meses de idade, tem microcefalia, rigidez muscular, convulses e problemas de viso, respirao e deglutio. Criar um beb com todos esses problemas seria um desafio para qualquer pessoa, mas ris, me de Alcia, tambm praticamente uma criana. Ela deu luz aos 14 anos.Cerca de 450 adolescentes tiveram bebs com microcefalia na epidemia de zika no Brasil, de acordo com autoridades do Ministrio da Sade. Algumas jovens fazem malabarismos entre a escola o cuidado desses bebs. Outras dependem de seus pais.Nunca imaginei uma situao assim, disse ris, enquanto o aparelho dos seus dentes brilhava e ela tentava acalmar Alcia com um de seus nicos mtodos bem-sucedidos: tocar repetidamente um desenho animado musical no seu celular. Esse sentimento, essa realidade, disse ela, com voz tensa. Foi devastador.ImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesSua gravidez irritou a me de ris, que, apesar disso, correu com a filha para o hospital aos sete meses de gestao, ao invs de deix-la perder o beb.Desde o incio, ris suportou um trauma aps o outro. Uma vez o corao da Alcia parou diante de mim, disse ela. Ela chorou quando viu que a beb tinha uma cabea to pequena, mas os mdicos esperaram um ms para dizer me que a filha tinha microcefalia e calcificaes cerebrais, diagnstico confirmado por uma tomografia cerebral.Quando Alcia foi finalmente teve alta do hospital, ris mergulhou em uma depresso profunda, envolvida, disse ela, por um sentimento de rejeio em relao sua beb. Eu no tinha esse amor de filha, ela confessou.Elas se mudaram com o pai de Alcia e namorado de ris de 19 anos, Tlio Martins de Cristo, para a casa onde a me dele morava. Ele e a me alimentaram, trocaram fraldas e fizeram quase tudo para a criana.ris dormia, disse sua me, Enilsa Jos do Nascimento, 45, enfermeira tcnica. E a beb ficava ao lado de sua cama, chorando, gritando.ris nem mesmo foi ao hospital quando, por duas vezes, Alcia parou de respirar por apneia. ris estava apagada para a vida, relembrou a me. Sem o namorado e a me dele, eu acho que a beb teria morrido, comentou ela.A me trazia saladas e sucos para ris para convenc-la a comer. Voc tem um beb que depende de voc, dizia ela para a filha. Olha, ela no feia. Sua beb to linda.ImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesFinalmente, a me de Tlio sugeriu que ris fosse a uma reunio da Unio de Mes de Anjos (U.M.A.), um grupo com mais de 300 mes de bebs com problemas relacionados ao zika vrus. Foi uma experincia esclarecedora.Ela viu mes com situaes piores que a sua.De repente, ris foi tomada por uma urgncia em melhorar as chances de desenvolvimento de Alcia, segundo ela mesma.Poxa, levanta, ris!, ela falou pra si mesma. Meu Deus, eu estou perdendo tempo!.Ela falou para a me: Eu tenho que fazer minha filha andar. Se ela no andar, ela vai enxergar.Tudo mudou. Atravs de testes rigorosos, ris se qualificou para um colgio competitivo, mas acabou mudando para uma noturna. Atualmente, ela leva Alcia para, pelo menos, duas sesses de terapia e consultas mdicas diariamente, geralmente em Recife, a duas horas de distncia e pelo menos duas viagens de nibus de Paulista, sua cidade natal. Ela voltou a morar com a me e com a irm de 17 anos, que toma conta de Alcia enquanto ris assiste aulas, das 7 s 10 da noite. Depois de voltar do colgio, ris faz o dever de casa, dorme por algumas horas, levantando-se quando Alcia acorda, s vezes, s 4 da manh.No dia do primeiro aniversrio de Alcia, ris planejou visitas a trs clnicas para tratamentos de viso, estmulo motor e fisioterapia. Me e filha visitaram tambm a Dra. Cristiane Marcela Santos, especialista em otorrinolaringologia do Hospital Agamenon Magalhes.Quinze?, exclamou a Dra. Cristiane, voc tem quinze anos?Ela ficou surpresa com o fato de ris ser to jovem e estar to bem informada.Em todo lugar, disse ris, Eu fao um monte de perguntas.ImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesVestida com short cor-de-rosa e blusinha cor lavanda, o corpo de Alcia se assemelha ao de um beb de um ano, mas sua cabea tem 36 centmetros de circunferncia, bem abaixo do normal. Ela tem boa audio. A diminuio da irritabilidade uma evoluo positiva, mas ela apresenta outros sintomas, como rigidez muscular. Para evitar os punhos cerrados, os dedos de Alcia so mantidos abertos atravs do uso de uma fita adesiva rosa brilhante que, s vezes tambm aplicada para relaxar os msculos das costas e do queixo.A Dra. Santos perguntou sobre os primeiros exames cerebrais de Alcia.Calcificao em quase todo o crebro dela, respondeu ris.Alguma alterao no seu crtex cerebral?, perguntou a doutora.Teve alguns pontos brancos.Ela j ficou alguma vez to sufocada que ficou roxinha e voc teve que bater nas costas dela?Isso acontece muito, disse ris.Muito srio, comentou a Dra. Santos.A dedicao materna de ris parece muito segura e madura, disse a Dra. Santos. A vida a fez assim. Elas param as suas prprias vidas para que possam viver a vida de seus filhos.Agora, pouco depois de completar 16 anos, ris no tem tempo para se angustiar.Eu mudei minha vida por Alcia, disse ela. Sou eu por ela e ela por mim.DanielImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesOs bancos estavam se enchendo de mes de crianas com zika do lado de fora da Associao de Assistncia a Crianas com Deficincia (AACD), em Recife, quando Jaqueline Vieira chegou embalando seu filho Daniel, que tinha a cabea pequena demais para o corpo de um ano e as mo fechadas.Os culos azuis estavam presos cabea, e as rteses azuis, decoradas com fotos de Mickey Mouse, estavam presas s pernas. Jaqueline sabe que as rteses devem ser usadas todos os dias para consertar os ps de bailarina virados para fora de Daniel. Mas o metal da rtese arranha a me e torna desconfortvel segurar Daniel nos braos, ento, ela a coloca principalmente para sair.Esse era o tipo de ato de equilbrio ao qual ela havia se acostumado. Criar bebs com zika difcil o suficiente para homens e mulheres com casamentos e rendas estveis, mas nem sempre a situao essa. A zika no s destruiu casamentos como tambm afetou a situao econmica de muitas pessoas. Desde o nascimento de Daniel, h 16 meses, Jaqueline separou-se de seu marido, perdeu sua assistncia governamental mensal, desistiu de um emprego e agora consegue se manter somente com outro benefcio do governo.ImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesNaquela segunda-feira, Jaqueline mal registrou que era seu 26 aniversrio. Durante o fim de semana anterior em Olinda, sua cidade natal, na costa, mais ao norte de Recife, Daniel havia convulsionado por trs horas seguidas, at seus lbios ficarem roxos. Jaqueline temia que ele deixasse de respirar, mas no conseguiria chegar a um hospital com mdicos de planto saindo do bairro carente onde mora de madrugada, horrio em que os ratos correm pelas estradas rsticas de terra, mas nenhum nibus circula.No mesmo dia, Jaqueline e as outras mes comearam a comparar suas anotaes. Uma disse que no conseguia encontrar o beb naquela manh e, da, notou que ele tinha rolado e cado da cama. Isso bom, disse outra. Ele se mexeu. Eu queria ter um beb assim.De repente, chegou a van que iria levar todas as mes a um salo de beleza, onde receberiam alguns mimos pagos por uma cantora local. Ao chegar no Velvet Salon, com um ambiente cheio de spray de cabelo, as mes deitaram seus bebs sobre os sofs vermelhos.Jaqueline deixou Daniel com uma prima porque ele fica agitado quando passa muito tempo em lugares fechados. Ela escolheu esmaltes cor prola para a manicure: She Said Yes como cor base e uma camada de Kitty White por cima. Uma estilista deixou seu cabelo de rebeldes cachos escuros liso e brilhante. Olhando para um espelho, ela tirou uma selfie. Olhem para mim!, ela se vangloriou.ImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesO flego durou pouco. Naquela tarde, o remdio de Daniel acabou e ela no tinha dinheiro para comprar mais.A prpria concepo de Daniel desafiou todas as probabilidades. Jaqueline desenvolveu cncer uterino quando seu outro filho ainda era pouco mais que um beb. Ela se ops aos aconselhamentos mdicos de ter seu tero removido, embora os mdicos tenham dito que suas chances de ter outro filho eram mnimas.Enquanto ainda passava por sesses de quimioterapia, ela comeou a namorar Dalton Douglas de Oliveira, de 19 anos e cinco anos mais novo. Ambos faziam parte da mesma igreja evanglica. Eles apressaram o matrimnio para que a igreja no soubesse que haviam tido relaes ntimas antes do casamento, contou Douglas.Um ms aps a unio, ela ficou sabendo que estava grvida de trs meses. Foi a maior alegria da minha vida, disse Jaqueline. Seu marido tambm ficou feliz. Ns queramos ter um filho nosso, afirmou ele.Ainda assim, a barriga nos condenou, complementou Douglas, causando estresse, porque o que claramente tinha sido uma concepo pr-matrimonial levou a igreja a impedir a comunho do casal por meses.Aos cinco meses de gravidez, Jaqueline ficou perturbada quando um mdico disse a ela que o ultrassom mostrava que o seu beb tinha hidrocefalia, acmulo de lquido no crebro, e que ele poderia morrer, lembrou ela.Mas, aos sete meses de gestao, outro mdico discordou, dizendo: Olha, seu filho especial, ele tem um pequeno problema, mas o que ele tem microcefalia, contou Jaqueline. Foi uma boa notcia.O alvio dela desapareceu logo aps o nascimento de Daniel. Eu pensei que era castigo de Deus porque eu engravidei quando no devia ter engravidado, confessou ela.ImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesOs cuidados especiais que Daniel exigia criaram tenses no relacionamento do casal. Daniel chorava to inconsoladamente, disse Jaqueline, que eu achei que minha vida ia acabar. Douglas disse que a esposa no pedia ajuda a ele e admitiu que ele estava muito irritado com Jaqueline para oferecer qualquer ajuda a ela. Meu problema era diretamente com ela e no com o beb, garantiu ele.Aos dois meses de idade, Daniel acordou com dificuldades para respirar. No hospital, lembrou Jaqueline, os mdicos suspeitaram que mofo ou poeira em casa estavam afetando os pulmes dele e recomendaram melhorar a qualidade do ar da casa ou mudar para outro lugar.Douglas achava que sua esposa, envergonhada h tempo pela simplicidade da casa, propriedade da igreja sem exigncia de aluguel, estava exagerando. Jaqueline encontrou outra casa e ele recusou-se a se mudar com ela. Depois disso, o problema detonou. Jaqueline deu entrevistas para canais de TV alegando que seu marido no dava ateno ao menino e acrescentou que a exposio na mdia gerou algumas doaes do exterior. Ele retaliou postando um vdeo no qual a insultava. Ela comeou a namorar e disse a ele: Tu no vai ver o teu filho, alegou Douglas. Depois de disputas tcnicas sobre a penso alimentcia do filho, ele parou de pagar. E quando Douglas ignorou Jaqueline na rua, ela disse que ele estava realmente afastando-se da doena do Daniel.ImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesJaqueline, ex-ajudante de padaria de uma rede de supermercados recebia assistncia do governo para pessoas com cncer e passava por dificuldades para comprar Sabril, o remdio para convulso de Daniel que custa cerca de 300 reais por ms. Para ajud-la, um grupo de policiais comeou a comprar o medicamento, e ela e outras mes, s vezes, compartilhavam alguns comprimidos.Mas as crises de Daniel pioraram, aparentemente enfraquecendo sua capacidade de sustentar a cabea. Ela mostrou um vdeo que tinha feito no documentando um desses episdios para o neurologista. Consegue ver os seus pezinhos tremendo?, perguntou.Jaqueline passou a dar mais Sabril para o filho; meio comprimido trs vezes por dia em vez de duas. Aps uma crise convulsiva que durou trs horas, ela aumentou a dose para quatro vezes. Eventualmente, Daniel ficou sem o medicamento.Eu tive uma sensao horrvel, disse ela. Ele tinha que tomar o medicamento de todo jeito.Jaqueline ligou para os policiais, mas eles no conseguiram dinheiro suficiente. Ela mandou mensagens para 319 mes do grupo U.M.A. no WhatsApp. As horas passavam. Ningum tinha um comprimido extra de Sabril.Desesperada, ela telefonou para o ex-marido no negcio de gesso dele, exigindo a penso alimentcia que devia.Se eu tivesse o dinheiro, j tinha dado pra voc, ele falou.Douglas pegou o carto de crdito da me emprestado e foi a cinco farmcias antes de encontrar o Sabril. Jaqueline, vestindo uma camiseta cor turquesa da U.M.A. que dizia Microcefalia, no o fim, fez com que ele passasse o remdio atravs das grades da janela da sua casa verde.ImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesPouco tempo depois, o governo, concluindo que Jaqueline estava apta para trabalhar, suspendeu o benefcio aos portadores de cncer que ela recebia. Mas ela se sentiu incapaz de lidar com um emprego. Atualmente, ela recebe o seguro-desemprego e vai solicitar a ajuda do governo para crianas com zika.O pai de Daniel retomou o pagamento da penso alimentcia e aumentou o valor. Jaqueline agora permite que ele veja o filho.Eu ainda peo a Deus para que ele possa ser uma criana saudvel e perfeita, disse ele. Eu continuo pedindo, pedindo, pedindo.Na tarde seguinte crise da falta de medicamento, enquanto examinava os ultrassons da gravidez que mostravam o crnio subdesenvolvido de Daniel, Jaqueline encontrou uma foto dele sorrindo. Adoro esse sorriso, comentou ela. Por causa de Daniel, eu sou um ser humano melhor, ela disse, acrescentando que se eu tivesse um beb normal, eu no teria dado tanta ateno.Ela preocupa-se por no se concentrar o suficiente no seu filho de 5 anos, Joo Pedro. Mesmo quando caminha com ele da casa para a escola, ela carrega Daniel, protegendo-o do sol com uma sombrinha turquesa. Um dia, Joo Pedro cobriu o rosto de Daniel com a mo, e repetiu vrias cantando: Voc est sorrindo? Como Daniel no respondeu, Joo Pedro correu para um parquinho com brinquedos enferrujados e pendurou-se nas barras.Em outra ocasio, quando sua neurologista, Dra. Maria Durce Costa Gomes Carvalho, encaixou uma consulta para Daniel em sua agenda lotada, o sorriso raro dele ainda estava ausente. Ele chorou e chorou. Olhe para essa malcriao, Daniel! Oh, meu Deus!, exclamou a Dra. Durce.Ele no costumava ser assim, disse Jaqueline.Dra. Durce perguntou se Daniel olhava para as coisas.No muito, respondeu Jaqueline.Mesmo com os culos?No.A dosagem da medicao de Daniel foi ajustada, o que reduziu as convulses. A Dra. Durce no pde prever se ele iria andar ou falar. O que importa, n, Jaqueline?, cada conquista dele.Jaqueline suspirou. Eu no posso esperar, disse ela, at que ele caia da cama.ImageCredit...Adriana Zehbrauskas para The New York TimesNuvens macias pairavam sobre a Praia Maria Farinha. Era um domingo de manh e vendedores passavam entre os coqueiros vendendo ovos de codorna.Jaqueline passou a mo de Daniel na areia macia e cor de argila, numa tentativa de estimular seu tato. Ela apoiava o torso rgido do filho enquanto a cabecinha dele se inclinava para frente. Menos de uma semana aps a ida ao salo de beleza, os cabelos da me tinham retomado os cachos. Ela parecia cansada.Jaqueline levou o filho para a gua cheia de crianas brincando. Ela o submergiu no oceano, o levantou sobre uma onda, balanou Daniel para o alto e o mergulhou outra vez. | Health |
The Times said Apple News did not align with its strategy of building direct relationships with paying readers.Credit...Jeenah Moon for The New York TimesJune 29, 2020The New York Times said on Monday that it was exiting its partnership with Apple News, as news organizations struggle to compete with large tech companies for readers attention and dollars.Starting on Monday, Times articles were no longer appearing alongside those from other publications in the curated Apple News feed available on Apple devices.The Times is one of the first media organizations to pull out of Apple News. The Times, which has made adding new subscribers a key business goal, said Apple had given it little in the way of direct relationships with readers and little control over the business. It said it hoped to instead drive readers directly to its own website and mobile app so that it could fund quality journalism.Core to a healthy model between The Times and the platforms is a direct path for sending those readers back into our environments, where we control the presentation of our report, the relationships with our readers and the nature of our business rules, Meredith Kopit Levien, chief operating officer, wrote in a memo to employees. Our relationship with Apple News does not fit within these parameters.An Apple spokesman said that The Times only offered Apple News a few stories a day, and that the company would continue to provide readers with trusted information from thousands of publishers.We are also committed to supporting quality journalism through the proven business models of advertising, subscriptions and commerce, he said.The news business has had a complicated relationship with Silicon Valley for decades. Companies like Google and Facebook have decimated newspaper advertising sales and disintermediated news sites by positioning their own platforms as one of the main ways that people can consume news.Yet when Apple created a news app in late 2015, promising to work with publishers to help them build a business, many news executives were cautiously optimistic.Unlike other tech companies, Apple didnt compete with news sites for ad dollars. And Apple adopted an approach that was antithetical to how its Silicon Valley peers handled the headlines: It allowed only mainstream news organizations in the app, and humans, not algorithms, ranked the top stories.Apples aggressive promotion of Apple News on iPhones has given it an audience of roughly 125 million monthly readers, making the app one of the worlds most widely read news sources. But advertising in the app has generated little revenue for news organizations. For any subscriptions sold in the app, Apple also takes a 30 percent cut.Last year, Apple introduced a new way for publishers to make money: Apple News Plus, a subscription service inside its news app that offers access to hundreds of publications, which typically have digital paywalls, for $9.99 a month.Apple told publishers that the service would deliver customers they wouldnt otherwise get. But many publications would be undercutting their own prices, and they would have to share half of the Apple News Plus revenues with dozens of other news organizations. Apple took the other half for itself.Still, many publishers took the gamble, including The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times and Cond Nast, which publishes The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Wired. Months after its debut, many publishers were underwhelmed by the sales, according to Digiday, a digital media news site.Executives at The Times passed on Apple News Plus and later reduced the number of articles it supplied to Apple News. In an interview with Reuters last year, Mark Thompson, The Timess chief executive, warned other news organizations about the risks of teaming up with Apple.We tend to be quite leery about the idea of almost habituating people to find our journalism somewhere else, he said.The Times said last month that its total subscribers had topped six million. Revenue has been rising from digital subscriptions, even as the company grapples with an advertising downturn brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.The Times has long had a complex relationship with the large tech companies. It has experimented with working with Facebook, including on an effort called Instant Articles several years ago.But The Times stopped producing Instant Articles for the social network in 2017, saying it wasnt getting enough revenue. Now Facebook pays The Times to feature its articles in the news tab on Facebooks app, the companys latest effort to work with the news industry. Times articles also appear in Google News, which sends readers to publishers websites, unlike Apple News, which generally keeps readers on Apples app.In her note to employees, Ms. Levien said that exiting the partnership with Apple News was not expected to have a material impact to The Timess business and that the company would work with Apple in other ways, including on apps, podcasts and hardware. | Tech |
Virginia Republicans voted for Corey Stewart. South Carolina decided it was done with Mark Sanford. And Democrats spurned insurgents from the activist left.June 13, 2018ImageCredit...Tom Brenner/The New York TimesIts a new G.O.P.For many years, Republican voters in Virginias affluent and highly educated Washington suburbs tended to reward mainstream candidates who could be competitive in the general election. But on Tuesday, it was Fairfax County, the population hub of the region, that delivered victory for Corey Stewart, the flame-throwing Trump acolyte who has won national attention with his paeans to Confederate emblems.Mr. Stewart narrowly defeated Nick Freitas, a state lawmaker, thanks to a decisive win in Fairfax County. And a third candidate who has also made his name as a provocateur, E.W. Jackson, carried 14 percent in the county with the third-highest median income in America.So what is happening in Fairfax?As the county has, like other high-income suburbs around the country, become more Democratic-leaning, the Republican Party has thinned out. The moderate wing of the party has dissipated, leaving a smaller and firmly conservative activist bedrock. And such voters care little about appeals to pragmatism they are drawn to candidates who echo the president they embrace.ImageCredit...Erin Schaff for The New York TimesDemocrats love the party establishmentAcross four states with contested primary elections, Democratic voters embraced the candidates favored and in some cases handpicked by party leaders in Washington and the states, spurning insurgents who tried to align themselves with the activist left.In a crucial House primary in Northern Virginia, it was Jennifer Wexton, a state senator endorsed by Gov. Ralph Northam, who emerged from a throng of candidates looking to challenge Representative Barbara Comstock, a gravely vulnerable Republican. In two Nevada House races, Democrats nominated Steven Horsford, a former member of Congress, and Susie Lee, a wealthy philanthropist and party donor, by resounding margins after Democratic leaders lined up behind them.That deferential attitude defined voting in races for governor, too: In South Carolina, Democrats picked James Smith, a state legislator and military veteran close to Joseph R. Biden Jr., to run for governor, giving him more than 60 percent of the vote against two rivals. In Nevada, Steve Sisolak, a Clark County commissioner forcefully backed by Harry Reid, the former Senate Democratic leader, repelled an opponent on the left, Chris Giunchigliani. (In a third gubernatorial primary, in Maine, Janet Mills, the state attorney general, held a modest lead over her Democratic rivals, but the race was too close to call.)ImageCredit...Joe Buglewicz for The New York TimesThe night of triumph for the Democratic establishment was no aberration. Upstart liberals have won a few important primary elections in recent months, but for the most part Democratic voters and Democratic leaders have worked in concert rather than conflict. There is little sign of a Democratic version of the Tea Party rebellion that rocked the Republican Party in 2010, when G.O.P. activists revolted against a president they loathed and also against officials atop their own party.ImageCredit...Hunter McRae for The New York TimesIt is the Trump partyRepresentative Mark Sanford carried the sort of conservative credentials that once were all but certain to inoculate a Republican against a primary challenger. He was a member of the House class of 1994, won an insurgent bid for governor in 2002 and earned acclaim on the right for being such an unswerving fiscal hawk he once brought squealing pigs into the state capitol to make a point about pork-barrel spending. Then he returned to Congress and became a member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus.But none of that matters much in the era of Trump.Mr. Sanford on Tuesday saw his career extinguished, at least for the moment, because he refused to curb his criticism of Mr. Trump and complaints that the G.O.P. had become a cult of personality.The South Carolinian, once seen as a candidate for president, was able to mount a comeback after his well-publicized extramarital affair nearly a decade ago. But his infidelity to Mr. Trump proved fatal. Sign up to get the latest news and analysis on the midterm elections from the First Draft newsletter. | Politics |
Credit...Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York TimesDec. 16, 2015Tushar Bajaj, 35, and his wife, Leena, 42, have casually bought and sold stocks for years. Until last month, they had never been able to buy shares in an initial public offering.Then came the Square I.P.O.Over the last five years, the couple have used Squares payment processing technology to run their own business a makeup and henna tattoo service for brides and their families, based in Austin, Tex.When Mr. and Mrs. Bajaj saw that Square was allowing merchants like them to buy shares in its November I.P.O. they bought about $2,500 worth of stock at $9 a share. Some 28 days later, those shares are worth about $3,500, up 40 percent.The Bajaj family was among 14,000 Square sellers that bought into the companys I.P.O. through a platform known as Loyal3, the company is expected to announce on Wednesday. Loyal3 allocates stock to individual investors as opposed to large, professional money managers. The platform was responsible for allocating 5 percent of Squares $243 million I.P.O.The allocation has also appeared to win Square some faithful investors. Even though Squares shares popped 45 percent on its first day of trading, on Nov. 19, only 3 percent of the investors who came in via the Loyal3 platform chose to sell. That retention rate is among the highest in offerings that had similar allocations.In most I.P.O.s, investment banks sell shares to the best clients mostly big institutional investors leaving individual, retail investors largely on the sidelines.To cater more to its merchants, Square tapped the efforts of Loyal3, a financial start-up that contends that a businesss most loyal customers can be loyal shareholders as well. Since its founding in 2008, Loyal3 has participated in 15 deals, including the I.P.O.s of the movie theater chain AMC Entertainment and the pet food manufacturer Blue Buffalo.The firm selects merchants to allocate shares to on a first-come-first-serve basis. Merchants can purchase $100 to $2,500 worth of shares.In the spirit of leveling the playing field, we want to share our public offering with our sellers, Jack Dorsey, Squares chief executive, said in a video presentation to merchants considering buying stock in the I.P.O.During Squares first day of trading on Nov. 19, an additional 6,000 individuals purchased shares through Loyal3.Squares first-day trading surge led to some second-guessing over the pricing. The company decided to price shares at $9 in the offering. The low price had prompted a so-called ratchet, giving more shares to later investors at the expense of earlier ones, such as employees. If the company had been able to price higher, therefore taking a smaller first-day gain, that dilution would have been less severe.But Square and its advisers had underestimated the amount of retail interest, people briefed on the pricing discussions said at the time. Pricing is typically shaped by the big institutional investors, who tell issuers the price per share that they would be willing to pay. Bankers collect that information before setting the final price in the I.P.O. to ensure that they have the demand they need to fulfill the offering.In Squares case, the institutional demand was lower than the range they had been marketing. That forced Square to push the price down $2 per share, to $9.On the first day of trading, Square executives were surprised to see such a strong pop in the stock, which closed at a high of $13.07. Insiders attributed the surge to the interest from retail investors, like the millions of merchants that Square serves. Since the I.P.O., Squares stock has slipped a little more than 4 percent.Mr. Bajaj said he had held onto all the shares he acquired through the I.P.O., with an eye to doing so for the next few quarters, depending on the market. Hes still grateful he got in on the deal early.We are a small mom-and-pop shop, Mr. Bajaj said. We dont typically have opportunities like folks on Wall Street have to participate in an I.P.O. | Business |
EntrepreneurshipCredit...Nancy Borowick for The New York TimesDec. 2, 2015Samantha Martins small-business nightmare typically stalks her on Gchat.It will be a Wednesday, and an employee messages, Can we talk today? said Ms. Martin, who owns Media Maison, a boutique public relations firm in Manhattan. Theyll tell me they werent looking, but someone approached them, she said. In this industry, if another company dangles $5,000 and an opportunity to work on a fashion show, your loyal employee can be out the door.Since any departure leaves her 14-person team short-handed for weeks, Ms. Martin tries to be proactive. She meets frequently with individual staff members, helps new employees pay first and last months rent, is generous with titles and promotions and offers benefits ranging from educational assistance to a free trip anywhere in the world after three years of employment. Last years recipient went to Paris.We dont have a 401(k) and cant always offer a big salary, she said. So Im forced all the time to think about how to keep key people.With a tightening labor market, more entrepreneurs are facing similar challenges. A record number of job openings, with worsening skill shortages and a tendency among young adults toward briefer tenures, is forcing small-business owners to find increasingly creative ways to hold onto their best and brightest.After rising in recent years, quit rates in private businesses held steady at just less than prerecession levels in 2015. But survey data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which looks at job openings and labor turnover by size of establishment, suggest that the number of employees voluntarily leaving small companies remains on the rise.At businesses with fewer than 10 employees, for example, 1.8 million people quit in the five months through May, a 34 percent increase from the same period in 2014, the bureaus data shows. In companies with 10 to 49 employees, resignations rose by 12 percent year over year, and, in those with 50 to 249 employees, the increase was 9 percent.In a June 2015 survey by the National Federation of Independent Business, 80 percent of employers reported they had difficulty finding, or could not find, the talent they needed. Even when they do find it, said Holly Wade, director of research for the organization, issues come into play when small businesses cant afford some of the bells and whistles bigger employers can.Colin Darretta, a former investment banker, knew when he founded WellPath Solutions in New York last year that he could not compete with a Google or Uber on pay. So in seeking engineering talent for his company, which makes customized nutritional products, he bypassed the Ivy League and hired a local developer from App Academy, in New York.The fact that the candidate had taken a less traditional path, he added, may have made him better suited to a start-up. Here was a guy who had developed an interest at a later stage and was willing to take a personal risk to pursue it, Mr. Darretta said. The key is looking where those big companies arent.He has also made a point of spending one-on-one time with all 10 staff members and likes to capitalize on their interests. After a recent busy period, he took a star performer and a newly hired engineer, both big video game players, to a League of Legends event at Spring Studios.Another company can still try to steal employees by offering more money, Mr. Darretta said. But the employee wouldnt be getting the flexibility and the other stuff, he added. A lot of the time, the other stuff is what matters to people, and it doesnt cost that much.Most people who leave a company do not do so for more money. In a 2015 survey of 11,000 employees by the staffing company Randstad USA, the main reason cited for quitting was a lack of a career path or growth opportunities. Nearly half of respondents said work-life balance was the biggest factor motivating them to stay.For any incentives to work over the long term, employees must be invested in a company and its mission.Dr. Amy Baxter, an Atlanta physician who founded MMJ Labs in 2006, has six employees with advanced degrees on a shoestring budget. Her company developed Buzzy, a hand-held device that uses cold and vibration to relieve pain from causes as varied as hypodermic needles, carpal tunnel syndrome and plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of the band of tissue that connects the heel bone to the toes.We didnt even get F.D.A. clearance until last year, which makes it all the more amazing that people have stuck with me with no promise of equity, Dr. Baxter said.She said flexibility and transparency helped. MMJ Labs manufacturing manager spent early years fitting her work hours around an infant daughters heart treatment. If Buzzy loses a customer, everyone is involved in figuring out what happened and helping to fix it. Outings like the companys regular staff dinners and the all-expenses-paid Caribbean cruise that employees and their families took to celebrate selling the first 25,000 units do not hurt either.But Dr. Baxter says she believes the main reason her original hires are still with her is their belief in the product and the ethics of the company, including the fact that the device is reusable and in keeping with the companys concern for the environment. If I made Buzzy disposable, some employees wouldnt stay with me, she said.Knowing what really matters to employees, personally and professionally, can be critical to retention, human resources specialists say, and easy to learn in a small business.When Brandon Baker and his wife, Carmela, founded Loveletter Cakeshop on Fifth Avenue two years ago, they knew they would be making wedding cakes for a affluent clientele where there is little room for error. So as soon as they realize they have an exceptional employee, Mr. Baker sits down with him or her to discuss career aspirations and creative interests so he can assign responsibilities accordingly.Sometimes just the act of asking is enough, Mr. Baker said. When you find talent you have to nurture it.This can be challenging as an organization grows. Proxibid, which bills itself as the largest online marketplace for high-value items (like tractor-trailers and classic cars), has expanded to 167 employees since its start in 2001. Ryan Downs, the chief executive, also faces the dual challenge of finding young talent and luring it to Omaha, where the company is based. To do that, he says he has worked hard to maintain an open culture that offers opportunities for advancement.He credits this with helping him retain the companys top engineers when software developers have never been more in demand, or recruiters more aggressive. Youre not going to stop recruiters coming around, he said. But if you give a technical person cutting-edge stuff to work on, weve found you can overcome other companies irrational prices.Michael Mulligan, a senior software engineer, who has been at Proxibid four and a half years, agrees. He says that although he hears from one or two recruiters every week, it would be difficult to match the opportunities of his current position, or the voice he has in the direction of the company. Proxibid, he added, also gets the culture right, with outings, support and companywide recognition of individual success.For me, thats the biggest thing, he said. At other places, it was like I was just a number. I know it sounds cheesy, but this is the first company Ive come to that truly seems to care if their employees are happy.Unfortunately, in the rush to serve customers and clients, communication can quickly fall by the wayside even when small-business owners know better.David Niu, a serial entrepreneur, learned this the hard way when he was running BuddyTV. In 2012, a top employee quit, seemingly out of the blue. Frustrated and burned out, Mr. Niu took a break from the company. It caught me off guard, he said. I kept thinking, if I had better tools maybe I could have prevented it.That led Mr. Niu to create Tinypulse to help other employers get a grip on retention issues. Tinypulse, which is based in Seattle, and similar companies like Culture Amp and BlackbookHR allow managers to solicit anonymous feedback from employees. This often provides an early warning that workers are unhappy. Today more than 500 companies use Tinypulse alone, the company said.Other small-business owners still rely on the old-fashioned way of keeping tabs. At her public relations firm, Ms. Martin says she talks to her employees constantly and has them keep her cellphone number on speed dial. Most recently, she gave the people who have been with her the longest a share in her business.How many under-30-year-olds get to say they own something? Ms. Martin asked. But when you do find someone who is amazing and treats your business like their own you want to reward that.Her approach seems to be working. Ross Garner, the senior account executive she sent on a 10-day vacation to Paris last year, said he still could not get over the gesture. Stuff like that, he said, makes you want to work at 110 percent for somebody. | Business |
Credit...Tyrone Siu/ReutersJuly 25, 2019HONG KONG When Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese control in 1997, one of the biggest worries was how the Chinese military would behave.Images of the Peoples Liberation Army killing civilians on the streets of Beijing eight years earlier were still fresh in the minds of Hong Kong residents, who had marched in huge numbers to support the pro-democracy Tiananmen protests, and who had begun marking the anniversary of the 1989 crackdown with a yearly vigil.As troop trucks and armored personnel carriers rolled into Hong Kong after its handover from Britain, residents wondered what the soldiers would do next. But in the 22 years since then, the Peoples Liberation Army has had a very limited role in the city.This summer, however, after weeks of antigovernment demonstrations and some incidents of violence, questions about the military have been revived. Chinese officials and state media have reacted with increasing vitriol to the protesters, particularly after some painted slogans on the central governments liaison office in Hong Kong on Sunday night and splashed ink on the national crest.On Wednesday, a spokesman for Chinas Ministry of National Defense warned that the behavior of some radical protesters challenges the central governments authority, something that absolutely cannot be tolerated, hinting that China was prepared to use military force if necessary.ImageCredit...Chan Long Hei/EPA, via ShutterstockHere is a look at the Peoples Liberation Army garrison in Hong Kong, what it does and whether it might be called to the streets:How many Chinese soldiers are in Hong Kong?The exact number of troops stationed in the territory is not formally announced, but estimates range between 6,000 and 10,000. Many soldiers spend time in Shenzhen, the mainland Chinese city across the border, where it is cheaper to house them and easier to carry out exercises. So only part of the garrison is in Hong Kong at any given time.The Peoples Liberation Army manages 19 sites in Hong Kong, including 12 barracks. The most prominent sites are a helicopter regiment at Shek Kong Air Base, a naval base with a handful of smaller warships at Stonecutters Island and the headquarters of the Hong Kong garrison along Victoria Harbor on Hong Kong Island.The headquarters, in a building that was once the British military command center, is across a street from the Hong Kong legislature and the main local government offices. So the protests that have roiled the city for weeks often take place a short distance from army headquarters.The protesters generally ignore it, and the soldiers appear to ignore the protesters. But during mass pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong five years ago, people on higher floors of the building could sometimes be seen monitoring protesters on the streets below.What is the garrisons role?The one country, two systems model, under which Hong Kong exists as a semiautonomous part of China, lets the city operate its own local institutions. But foreign relations and national defense fall under the responsibility of the central government in Beijing.So the Hong Kong police and courts are responsible for law and order, while soldiers stationed in the city shall not interfere in local affairs, according to the garrison law for Hong Kong and the Basic Law, the local constitution. But the local government may ask Beijing for assistance from the garrison in the maintenance of public order and in disaster relief.ImageCredit...Kin Cheung/Associated PressThe military has never been called in to help with public order, but last year, hundreds of soldiers did help clear trees after a typhoon hit the city. The garrison often has days when it invites the public to see weaponry and watch drills, but it is rare to see a soldier in Hong Kong outside the military facilities.Still, the military did publicize soldiers participation in drills in Hong Kong last month, as the protest movement was growing. Photos carried by the official military newspaper showed soldiers on board a navy vessel backed by the Hong Kong skyline.What are the chances that the military will step in?When Senior Col. Wu Qian, the Chinese Ministry of Defense spokesman, warned Wednesday about the possibility of military involvement, he pointed out that the law would permit such action. But thus far, there is no indication that the Hong Kong government wants troops to step in. Twice in the last month, the local authorities have denied reports of plans to use the Chinese military for security purposes in Hong Kong.The law states that any such action must be initiated by the Hong Kong government, although another provision of the Basic Law allows the standing committee of the National Peoples Congress to declare a state of emergency in Hong Kong if turmoil endangers national unity or security.In practice, any such decision would be made by Chinas leader, Xi Jinping, with the likely involvement of the Politburo Standing Committee, the highest level of political power in China, said Willy Lam, adjunct professor at the Center for China Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.Such a decision does not appear to be imminent, and at this point, the discussion of military force is probably a tactic to put pressure on the protesters to back down, Mr. Lam said. One key obstacle to using soldiers is that it would deeply stain the Chinese leaderships reputation, he said.China would lose a lot of face, said Mr. Lam. Sending in troops would mean that 22 years after the resumption of sovereignty, Beijing has dismally failed to win hearts and minds in Hong Kong and needs to rely on brute force. | World |
March 10, 2017Last month we looked at migrants entering Canada through sometimes risky, illegal border crossings from the perspective of the Canadian side of the border. This week, Rick Rojas went to the part of New York State known as the North Country to provide the reverse border perspective through an article about how people are making their way to the border. Here are his thoughts on the experience:ImageCredit...Todd Heisler/The New York TimesThe New York Times had already covered the surge in migrants, many of them going to great lengths to cross the border. I was interested in doing something much narrower: one country road, how it was playing a role in this and how nearby residents were responding to it.The first time I traveled this far north, to the uppermost parts of upstate New York, two convicted murderers had broken out of a maximum-security prison and fled into the dense and brutal wilderness just below the Canadian border. To look at the migrants escape to Canada from the United States, I went to Champlain, N.Y., and, specifically Roxham Road. It dead-ends at the border and had become a popular point of exit.I reached out to local officials in Champlain and called the number for the taxi service listed on the side of the car that appeared in a local television news clip about the illegal crossings. Based on that, I decided that I should drive to Roxham Road, park and watch life unfold. While waiting, I walked up and down the quiet rural street and talked to its residents. When cabs pulled up, I tried to talk to the migrants, largely to no avail. But I cannot blame them for not wanting to stop and unload their thoughts and fears to a reporter in that moment. And I talked to the cabdrivers before they drove off.The answers I got back were thoughtful and nuanced and, I think, said a lot about the conflicting ideas surrounding politics and American identity that some people on this side of the border are grappling with. Despite its proximity to the border, Roxham Road is a remote place, where, I think, people appreciate having a little distance from the rest of the world. But the current situation has brought the issues of the world right to their doors.In its own way, Champlain also has an international feel. The exit signs on the major highway, Interstate 87, are partly translated into French: Sortie. Residents listen to radio stations from Montreal, and Canadians regularly come over to shop.But for some, Canada can seem like a world away, even when the distance from the border is best measured in yards.Ive never even been to Canada, one resident of Roxham Road, Matthew Turner, told me on his front porch, maybe a tenth of the mile from the border. But I want to go.Stacking Up Canada took second place after Switzerland in a ranking of the best countries in the world. The United States slid three spots compared with a year earlier and ranked seventh. Canada also placed high in separate rankings for the best countries in the world for women, children and retirees.Resigned The handling of sexual assault cases attracted an exceptional amount of attention this past week. In an unusual move, Justice Robin Camp quit the Federal Court of Canada on Friday after a panel, through a scathing report, recommended he be fired. He was brought down by his behavior as a provincial court judge in Alberta during a 2014 trial. Among other things, he asked the complainant in that case why she hadnt just kept her knees together. And separately, prosecutors in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and St. Johns, Newfoundland, said they would appeal cases in which young women said they had been attacked while drunk. Those attacks took place in a taxi and a police car. And next week, the conviction in a highly publicized Toronto case will be appealed.ImageCredit...Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesWhite Way Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Grgoire Trudeau, will travel to New York on March 15 to see the Broadway production of Come From Away, a musical about how Gander, Newfoundland, took in stranded American air travelers after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Michael Paulson reports that it is among the very few productions to reach Broadway that are both by and about Canadians.Negotiator The free-trade agreement between Canada and the United States that was signed in 1988 reshaped Canadas economy and provided the framework for the North American Free Trade Agreement. The often fractious talks that created the agreement took over my reporting life for a couple of years. While articles in Canada focused on Simon Reisman, Canadas sometimes bombastic chief negotiator, Clayton Yeutter, the United States top trade official, was also no wallflower in my experience. Mr. Yeutter died last week at the age of 86. In an obituary, Daniel E. Slotnik reported that The Times once aptly described Mr. Yeutter as a burly, back-thumping, 58-year-old official with the voice of a hog caller.Harm Reduction The Timess Daily 360 video group visited safe drug-injection sites in Vancouver, British Columbia, and posted its results this week.Sent Home John F. Kelly, the new secretary of homeland security, flew up to Ottawa to meet with cabinet ministers on Friday. While little in the way of an announcement emerged, Mr. Kelly offered no apologies to Canadians who have said they have been turned back at the American border for no apparent reason.Here are some articles from The Times over the past week, not necessarily related to Canada and perhaps overlooked, that I found interesting: Paul Shaffer, the bandleader, musician and native son of Thunder Bay, Ontario, found himself at loose ends after David Letterman stepped down as host of the Late Show in May 2015. Now Mr. Shaffer is back with a self-titled album. Living full time on cruise ships during retirement seems wildly extravagant. But at least one study found that it actually isnt all that more costly than life in an assisted living center with similar amenities. A new running shoe puts a spring into its users steps, but some worry that its use in races may provide an unfair advantage. 3G Capital, the Brazilian company with holdings that include Tim Hortons and Labatt, is known for maximizing profits through ruthless cost cutting. Its less clear, however, if the company can build long-term value once the slashing is over. | World |
Credit...Al Drago for The New York TimesJune 23, 2017President Trump and the Republicans have promised that their plan to overhaul the federal health care law will make medical coverage much more affordable.Premiums and deductibles will be much lower, Mr. Trump tweeted in April. He also assured Americans that the plan to replace the Affordable Care Act would protect people with potentially expensive medical conditions.As Senate Republicans unveiled their draft legislation this week, they reiterated the goal of making it easier and cheaper for consumers to buy coverage than under the current law.This plan will improve the affordability of health insurance, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, wrote in an opinion piece on Friday.But millions of Americans will pay more for an insurance policy that comes with a much steeper deductible under the new Senate plan, according to some health economists and insurance experts. It could also make it much harder to find a comprehensive plan covering various conditions ranging from heart disease to depression that would not be prohibitively expensive.This is going to be a very unstable market where only the very sickest people resort to buying coverage on the federal exchanges at much higher prices, said Paul B. Ginsburg, a health economist and the director of the Center for Health Policy at the Brookings Institution.Those likely to suffer the most under the Senate plan are people who would not be eligible for any remaining subsidies, he said, because they could be priced out of the market. Most worrisome to those opposing the Senate bill is that states could give insurers leeway to offer skimpy plans that cover a lot less and exclude people with certain illnesses.Insurers have been largely quiet since the Senate Republicans released their version of the bill on Thursday morning. But some did criticize the legislation for not doing more to help people pay for insurance.The draft bill does not expand coverage; it does not do enough to protect people in need of care; nor does it provide enough assistance to those who need help in paying for health care and coverage, said Bernard J. Tyson, the chief executive of Kaiser Permanente, a California insurer that offers plans on the exchanges in eight states and in Washington.If the Senate version becomes law, insurers could increase premiums for individual coverage by at least 20 percent more than the double-digit increases already under consideration. By 2020, other changes are likely to result in plans with much higher deductibles. People now getting tax credits that allow them to purchase a policy with a deductible of $3,500 would get subsidies for a plan where the deductible would nearly double, without any funding to pay their out-of-pocket costs.Many people will face a Hobsons choice, said Craig Garthwaite, a health economist at Northwesterns Kellogg School of Management. They will have to choose between a plan with a premium they cannot afford or a plan with a deductible they cannot afford.While lower premiums touted by Republicans could attract healthier people to buy coverage on the exchanges, other changes could still drive up prices, said Mr. Garthwaite, who is a registered Republican. It could turn out to be higher premiums and higher deductibles, he said.One stark difference between the Senate bill and the Affordable Care Act is the decision to drop the mandate requiring insurance. That could inadvertently discourage the youngest and healthiest people from buying insurance, leaving a higher percentage of sicker people with expensive treatments on the exchanges, driving up insurers costs.When Congress debated the Affordable Care Act under President Barack Obama, a major objective was to tackle soaring premiums and steep deductibles that Americans faced in their employer-based plans and when they bought coverage on their own.On Thursday, Health Secretary Tom Price argued that Republicans needed to pass a replacement for the same reasons. Weve got prices going up, weve got deductibles going up, premiums going up, he said in a television interview on Thursday. Weve got people that have an insurance card but they dont have any care because they cant afford the deductible.Some Republican policy experts are not convinced that this bills provisions would solve those problems. Republicans are taking it and going in the opposite direction, said Rodney L. Whitlock, a former aide to Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa. Mr. Whitlock thinks the bills changes in 2020 to allow insurers to offer plans with less generous coverage could lead to policies with almost assuredly five digit deductibles $10,000 or more.Insurers are assuaged that the bill provides temporary funding for the so-called cost-sharing reductions, federal money they receive to sell plans that cover out-of-pocket costs for people earning low incomes.But those subsidies end after 2019, meaning that when people buy plans with much higher deductibles, they would be exposed to paying thousands of dollars in medical bills. It is difficult to see how someone making $40,000 a year will pay for health insurance that forces them to come up with $10,000, Mr. Whitlock said, meaning only the very sickest may be willing to try to pay for a plan to offset some medical expenses. This is where Republicans are in a direction they are going to regret, he said.There are provisions aimed at reducing premiums, including federal funding to states to stabilize the market. High-deductible plans tend to carry lower premiums. Younger individuals would also pay much lower prices under the proposed bill; people over 40 could be charged a lot more.Without a requirement to buy insurance, the Senate bill provides no reason to sign up for insurance before coverage is needed.There needs to be provisions to discourage people from waiting until they get sick to buy insurance, said Karen Ignagni, the chief executive of EmblemHealth and the former head of Americas Health Insurance Plans, a trade group. The absence of any penalty for not having insurance could cause some markets to fall into a death spiral as prices rise and drive out the healthy.We dont have to speculate about it, Ms. Ignagni said, pointing to a number of states, like New York, where insurance was virtually unavailable because of the high costs before the Affordable Care Act.In Pennsylvania, the state insurance regulator, Teresa D. Miller, warned that insurance rates could be at least 23 percent higher without the individual mandate. While the proposed bill could lower rates by funding the cost-sharing reductions for the next year or so, other provisions have the opposite effect. With everything else going on in this bill, I dont think its going to be that stabilizing force people might want it to be, she said.The changes are likely to result in fewer people being covered, and those people could be much sicker, said Dr. Stephen Ondra, a former insurance executive who worked under the Obama administration. The insurance company has no choice but to set rates based on the risk pool they have, not the one they like, he said.Insurers were beginning to get a handle on the market, he said, but the uncertainty and the changes under the Senate bill could lead to more companies deciding to leave. This is a crisis that has been created by uncertainty and proposed legislation, not a failure of the A.C.A. markets, Dr. Ondra said. | Health |
Credit...Roni Lehti/Lehtikuva, via Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 18, 2018President Trump has repeatedly blamed Californias forest management for the huge wildfires burning there, one of which has left at least 76 dead and become the most destructive in state history.And even though experts called his criticism unjustified, this weekend he continued in that vein, suggesting that California should take lessons from Finland, a country with 57 million acres of forests but comparatively few forest fires.VideotranscripttranscriptTrump Says to Look at Other Countries for How to Prevent FiresPresident Trump visited Paradise, Calif., on Saturday to survey destruction from the worst fire in the states history. He blamed Californias forest management.We are all committed Im committed to make sure that we get all of this cleaned out and protected. Get it take care of the floors. You know, the floors of the forest its very important. You look at other countries where they do it differently, and its a whole different story. I was with the president of Finland and he said, We have much different we are a forest nation. He called it a forest nation. And they spend a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things and they dont have any problem. And when it is, its a very small problem. So, I know everybodys looking at that, to that end and its going to work out, its going to work out well.President Trump visited Paradise, Calif., on Saturday to survey destruction from the worst fire in the states history. He blamed Californias forest management.CreditCredit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesYou look at other countries where they do it differently and its a whole different story, Mr. Trump said at a news conference in Paradise, Calif., on Saturday. I was with the president of Finland and he said: We have a much different were a forest nation. He called it a forest nation, and they spent a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things. And they dont have any problem.Mr. Trump added that when Finland does have forest fires, they are a very small problem.But as with his earlier comments about forest management in California, experts said the presidents remarks were misleading.The Finns dont rake.Raking for leaves and needles is not a normal feature of Finnish fire prevention, according to Rami Ruuska, a forest fires expert at the Finnish Interior Ministry. Instead, Finns focus on removing dead trees from the forest floor where possible.Of course, we have a big country and we cant do it everywhere, Mr. Ruuska said.President Sauli Niinisto of Finland said, in an interview published Sunday in a Finnish newspaper, that in a brief conversation in Paris on Nov. 11, he had explained the virtues of Finnish forest management to Mr. Trump. But he didnt recall mentioning raking.The secret to the Finns forest management system lies instead in its early warning system, aerial surveillance system and network of forest roads, said Professor Henrik Lindberg, a forest fires researcher at the Hme University of Applied Sciences, a college in southern Finland.At times of high incendiary risk, the Finnish authorities are highly effective at delivering warnings across most forms of media, Mr. Lindberg said.Local aviation clubs are paid to fly over the most threatened areas of forest, increasing the likelihood fires will be spotted before they spiral out of control. The ignition probability is about the same as in Sweden, but theyre caught quicker, Mr. Lindberg said.And timber and paper companies have built an extensive network of roads through Finlands forests. Built primarily to make the landscape more accessible for logging, they also slow down the path of a fire and allow fire brigades to reach the flames faster.Almost all Finland is covered by this forest road network, so of course its easier to get nearer to the forest fires using fire trucks, Mr. Ruuska said.Finland is much colder than California.Temperatures in Finland, part of which lies within the Arctic Circle, can drop below minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Even in August, the temperature is usually in the mid-60s.The incendiary risk is therefore much lower for most of the year in Finland than in California, where high temperatures, dry air and frequent wind make wildfires far more likely.Its not a good comparison, Mr. Ruuska said. We have a half-meter of snow during winter, so its quite natural that we dont have any fires over the winter, and our autumn is quite wet.The trees arent the same.Finnish forests are mainly filled with tall boreal trees pine, spruce and birch whereas much of Californian vegetation consists of lower-lying chaparral shrub land and small trees, which are more prone to catching fire.The whole comparison is a bit wild, said Mr. Lindberg, who suggested that it would be better to study methods in Mediterranean Europe, where forests are more like those in California.Finland is not fire-free.Despite its effective fire-prevention system, Finland still experiences forest fires: Around 2,500 acres of trees have burned down this year, the highest annual total since 2006, Mr. Lindberg said.But the damage was still much less severe than in neighboring Sweden, where 62,000 acres were affected.Were doing something right, Mr. Ruuska said. But we also have good luck. | World |
Credit...Suzy Allman for The New York TimesDec. 14, 2015Lillian Vernon, who created a sprawling catalog business that specialized in personalized gifts and ingenious gadgets and made her an American household name, died on Monday in Manhattan. She was 88.Her death was confirmed by her son Fred P. Hochberg, the president and chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States.Ms. Vernon, who had come to the United States as a Jewish immigrant from Germany fleeing the Nazis, began her mail-order business in 1951, and it rapidly flourished. At one time it had nine catalogs, 15 outlet stores, two websites, a business-to-business division and yearly revenue close to $300 million.In 1987, Lillian Vernon was the first company owned by a woman to be listed on the American Stock Exchange. In 1995, President Bill Clinton appointed her chairwoman of the National Womens Business Council.She was a phenomenal merchandiser, the direct marketing consultant Katie Muldoon said. When she started, there were only huge books like Sears and Montgomery Ward that had every kind of merchandise, like a department store. Lillian Vernon created a new retail market, catalogs with a theme: personalized products that you couldnt find anywhere else.Her niche was whimsical, low-cost items that could be monogrammed at no charge in days rather than weeks. To find them, she traveled the world looking for distinct products and sources long before the global marketplace opened up.Her catalogs always began with a letter describing where she was traveling and what she had found, accompanied by a photograph showing a smiling Ms. Vernon in a Chanel suit with the latest hairstyle.Lillian was not just selling merchandise, Mr. Hochberg said in an interview for this obituary in 2009. She was personally sharing her discoveries with her customers.ImageCredit...Lillian VernonA middle-class homemaker herself, Ms. Vernon had what she called a golden gut for knowing what women wanted often even before they knew. Her products were as diverse as rescued shards of Ming vases, fashioned into pendants and bracelets, and the all-pink Lady Tool Kit, complete with hammer, screwdrivers, wrenches and sometimes a power drill.Her catalogs attracted celebrity customers, among them Frank Sinatra (monogrammed lint removers), Arnold Schwarzenegger (plastic shoulder shields for suits), Princess Caroline of Monaco (a Wild West costume for her daughter) and Steven Spielberg (a tool caddy).Ms. Vernon was credited as the first to create seasonal catalogs for Easter and Halloween. She was also an innovator of the gift-with-purchase concept, offering, for example, one potholder for each season for every $10 purchase; that meant spending $40 to get the whole set.I know my customer because I am my customer, she said. But she also attributed her success to her intestinal fortitude.I never gave up, she said, and I never let anyone get in my way.Lillian Vernon was born Lilli Menasche in Leipzig, Germany, on March 18, 1927, the daughter of Herman Menasche and the former Erna Feiner. Her father was a lingerie merchant.In 1933, the year Hitler became chancellor of Germany, her family fled to Amsterdam; they moved to New York City in 1937. Her brother, Fred, later enlisted in the United States Army and was killed in World War II.She attended New York University for two years but left to marry Sam Hochberg, whose family owned a dry goods store in Mount Vernon, N.Y. In 1951, newly married and pregnant, she took $2,000 of her wedding money and part of the name of her town to start a mail-order business on her yellow Formica kitchen table.With the help of her father, who by then was in the leather goods business, she advertised a personalized leather handbag for $2.99 plus tax and a matching belt for $1.99 in the September issue of Seventeen magazine. The ad generated $32,000 in orders, and the Lillian Vernon brand was born.Business was so good that she began expanding in 1954, renting a storefront for a warehouse, a building next door for her in-house monogramming operation and a store across the street for her shipping department. Well-known companies like Max Factor, Elizabeth Arden, Avon and Revlon were soon using her to manufacture custom-designed products.ImageCredit...Richard Harbus/Associated PressMs. Vernon mailed her first 16-page black-and-white catalog of inexpensive gifts, knickknacks and household organizers in 1956. Her company incorporated in 1965, and by 1970 the Lillian Vernon Corporation had its first million-dollar sales year.The company later expanded its catalogs to include overstocked merchandise (1982), home organization products (1984), Lillys Kids (1990), and kitchenware, luggage and travel accessories (1995). In 1996, the company put 200 of its best-selling items into its first online catalog, and in 2000 it purchased the dcor catalog Rue de France.But overexpansion and competition from home and gift retailers led to slowing sales, and in 2003 Ms. Vernon sold her business for $60.5 million to Ripplewood Holdings, which took it private. She remained as honorary chairwoman until November 2006, when the company was sold to Sun Capital Partners. Since 2008, the Lillian Vernon Corporation has been owned by Current USA, a division of the Taylor Corporation.Ms. Vernon was a role model for many women in business. She had started her company at a time when working mothers were often criticized at first, she said, I never told anyone I worked and as a female entrepreneur she had overcome obstacles in getting credit from skeptical banks.Although she did not call herself a feminist, she said her idea of helping women was to hire an hourly worker and then strive to make her a supervisor. She also instituted family-friendly work hours for her female employees who had children in school.A self-described workaholic, Ms. Vernon wrote of the challenges of balancing business, personal and family relationships. In her autobiography, An Eye for Winners: How I Built One of Americas Greatest Direct-Mail Businesses (1996), she candidly discussed her lifelong attempts to win her mothers approval.In balancing home and business, she thought of herself as a good parent, she said, though she once acknowledged to The New York Times, I just did not learn that loving quality, that touchy-feely thing so important to children.Her company remained a family affair for most of its history, with Ms. Vernon as chairwoman and chief executive and her son David C. Hochberg as vice president for public affairs. Her older son, Fred, was president and chief operating officer until 1992, when he left over a disagreement about his ascension to the top.Ms. Vernon, who died in a hospital, lived in Manhattan. In addition to her sons, she is survived by her husband, Paolo Martino, whom she married in 1998. Her marriage to Sam Hochberg ended in divorce, as did her second marriage, to Robert Katz.Her marital history may have influenced what she once called her worst-selling catalog item: a pillow that saucily read, A woman who is looking for a husband has never had one. | Business |
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! | Entertainment |
Pacers 97, Nets 96Credit...Michael Conroy/Associated PressFeb. 1, 2014INDIANAPOLIS The uncertainty, Deron Williams said, has been the most maddening thing. The Nets coaching staff determined Saturday that it was time for Williams, who had been moonlighting as a reserve while working his way back from injuries to both ankles, to re-establish his rhythm with the starting unit. But Williams could never quite pick up the beat, and the Nets tumbled to a 97-96 loss against the Indiana Pacers.Williams afterward could not mask his angst. The constant unsettledness, he said, was taxing. He said he felt no comfort in knowing that he went through an almost identical process last season. That he was doing it all again actually made it worse. I thought this was behind me, he said.Williams received cortisone and platelet-rich plasma injections in his ankles on Jan. 6 and sat out five games. He came off the bench in his first six games back. On Saturday, Williams made his first start since Jan. 4 and finished with 6 assists and 13 points, shooting 3 of 12 from the field, as the Nets slumped to their third straight defeat. Asked after the game about his confidence level, he said, Its not my highest. Williams said it was tough to find a rhythm, to develop chemistry, while battling ailment after ailment. The same, he and his teammates said, could be applied to the Nets chemistry, which has also been slow to develop because of injuries. On Saturday, for instance, the Nets played without forward Andrei Kirilenko, whose sore right calf forced him to miss a second straight game, and the big man Andray Blatche, who sat out after sustaining a bruised left hip during the Nets loss Friday at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder. If there was any consolation, then, it was that the Nets hung around and played a competitive game against the Pacers, the Eastern Conferences top team. Indiana held a 1-point lead at halftime and went on a 12-2 run to start the third quarter. The Nets absorbed the blow, though, and trailed by 72-70 entering the fourth. Joe Johnson made a 3-pointer from the corner with 8.5 seconds remaining to cut the Pacers lead to 94-93. David West then made two free throws, leaving 7.6 seconds on the clock. But when the Nets next went down the floor, Paul Pierce missed the rim altogether on his own 3-point attempt, effectively sealing the result.Shaun Livingston spurred the Nets offense, scoring a season-high 24 points. Paul George and Roy Hibbert each scored 20 for the Pacers. It was totally valid, Kevin Garnett said about the Nets effort. Weve got to continue to play like this.Garnett, who finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, said the Nets did well in managing the hostile environment inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse. There was a less-than-cordial tone on Saturday, extending from the upper stands to the playing floor.Lance Stephenson, a talented and volatile Pacers guard, has been open about feeling angry and snubbed since he was not selected as a reserve for the All-Star Game. Stephenson, 23, a Brooklyn native, vowed to go hard against players like Johnson, whom coaches did select as an All-Star.Stephenson seemed even more impassioned than usual Saturday, barreling around the court, barely under control. The Nets bench players heckled him every time he came into their proximity, trying to rile him up. Stephenson delivered some trash talk right back, to go along with his 14 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Johnson was Stephensons stylistic opposite, going coolly about his business, scoring 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting. When he made his first trip to the foul line, fans inside the arena chanted, Not an All-Star! The serenade re-emerged periodically through the game. Johnson was asked if he sensed that Stephenson had a vendetta against him. I could care less if its personal, Johnson said. He needs to talk it over with the coaches. Ive got nothing to do with it.If only Williams could be so detached. When asked if he was putting too much pressure on himself, he said: Thats what Ive got to stop doing. Thats just me. Thats how I am.Having Williams come off the bench was an arrangement that seemed at times to work quite well for the Nets. The starting lineup maintained plenty of firepower without him, and Coach Jason Kidds ability to bring a three-time All-Star off the bench to lead the second unit represented a huge luxury.But it made sense for only so long. Kidd often refers to Williams as the teams best player. Even if he was playing big minutes as a reserve, Williams belonged in the starting lineup.I talked with the coaches, and we thought this would be a good time to get him back in a rhythm with that first group, Kidd said.But the rhythm never materialized Saturday. For Williams, it will be another frustrating task to fulfill. | Sports |
Credit...Alana Paterson for The New York TimesThe Amazon Critic Who Saw Its Power From the InsideTim Bray was a celebrated engineer at Amazon. Now, he is its highest-profile defector.Tim Bray, who resigned as a vice president at Amazon in May, on his boat in Vancouver, British Columbia.Credit...Alana Paterson for The New York TimesJuly 22, 2020SEATTLE Tim Bray, an internet pioneer and a former vice president at Amazon, sent shock waves through the tech giant in early May when he resigned for what he called a vein of toxicity running through its culture.Within a few hours, his blog post about the resignation drew hundreds of thousands of views, and his inbox filled up with requests from journalists, recruiters and techies. Soon, lawmakers on Capitol Hill cited the post. It all made Mr. Bray, 65, Amazons highest-profile defector.But there was more he wanted to say.In the weeks since, he has aimed his brain power not at fixing a coding problem but at framing a broader critique of the company. In talks and blog posts that have drawn attention inside the company, he has called for unionization and antitrust regulation. Amid the beating of the antitrust drums, Mr. Bray wrote in one post, he would like to see Amazon separate its retail business from its lucrative cloud computing unit.And Im pretty sure Im not alone, he said.Facing growing antitrust scrutiny at the same time that the coronavirus crisis has strained the companys operations, Amazon is increasingly forced to defend its record as an employer and its relationship with consumers. On Monday, Jeff Bezos, the companys chief executive, will testify for the first time before Congress, which is investigating the power of Amazon and other tech titans.Mr. Bray stands out because while much of the criticism of Amazon has been from the outside labor groups, lawmakers and rivals he spent more than five years in the top echelons of the company.Amazon declined to comment about Mr. Bray.In a series of video interviews from a gently rocking small boat, docked in Vancouver, British Columbia, that has been his office during the pandemic, Mr. Bray straightforwardly presented his ideas as a matter of logic.I am not in some radical fringe because I think the wealth and power in the 21st century is overly concentrated, he said. The tech industry is a leading candidate for what could be broken up.Tech Feats and ActivismImageCredit...D.W. (Bill) BrayMr. Bray may have been uniquely predisposed to think about more than engineering problems. Born in Canada, he grew up largely in Beirut, where his father worked as a professor. As political and religious conflict made Lebanon unstable, it just wasnt a good place to live, Mr. Bray said.His time in Beirut stayed with him after he returned to Canada, making him unable to ignore politics. Politics there takes the very rare form of riots in the streets and incoming Israeli missiles, he said.While a student at University of Guelph, near Toronto, Mr. Bray found joy and skill in computer science. He used it during the early days of the consumer internet, digitizing the Oxford English Dictionary and founding two start-ups. But he is best known among technologists for helping invent XML, a critical standard for storing and sharing data on the internet.By 2014, after several years at Google, Mr. Bray had joined Amazon. He became a rare distinguished engineer, part of an elite group whose clout comes not from managing large teams but from demonstrating engineering brilliance.Paul Hoffman, who met Mr. Bray in the 2000s while writing technical standards for blogs, said Mr. Bray was one of those people you really want to hate but cant, a polymath who was highly functional on just a few hours of sleep.Mr. Bray is definitely a geeky geek, Mr. Hoffman said, but what is atypical is that he also has a lot of other interests.In conversation and his writing, Mr. Bray readily cites the economist Thomas Piketty (whose book on inequality he has read end to end), admits a love of heavy metal (which he calls sort of, well, ridiculous, because the volume is much louder than can be sanely necessary) and talks in detail about the climate crisis (which he finds alarming as a person who has a high respect for quantitative science and understands what mathematical modeling is about).He turned some of those interests into activism. In 2018, he was arrested while protesting a proposed pipeline in Canada that would export tar sands oil to Asian markets. And last year, when he saw that thousands of corporate Amazon employees had signed a letter urging Amazon to address the climate crisis more forcefully, he added his name. He was the most senior person to join.ImageCredit...Lindsey Wasson/ReutersHis involvement thrilled organizers. To have a V.P. just confirmed how strongly Amazon employees felt about Amazon taking significant leadership on climate, said Emily Cunningham, an Amazon designer at the time who helped organize the letter.His public dissent angered some leaders at Amazon, Mr. Bray said. He said he had been told to remember the Amazon leadership principle known as disagree and commit, the idea that people should vigorously debate internally but that once a formal decision on an issue is made, everyone should fall in line and support it.As a V.P., youre not supposed to go off the rails with conflicting messaging, which is not an unreasonable position, Mr. Bray said. But that idea would eventually lead to his resignation.In April, Amazon fired Ms. Cunningham and several other workers who had raised concerns about safety in Amazons warehouses. The company said each employee had repeatedly violated various policies. To Mr. Bray, it looked like an explicit policy of firing anybody who put up their hand.We support every employees right to criticize their employers working conditions, but that does not come with blanket immunity against any and all internal policies, Jaci Anderson, an Amazon spokeswoman, said in a statement.For Mr. Bray, the firings crossed a line. He said he had raised concerns internally but could not disagree and commit, as Amazon wanted. He stayed for a few weeks to wrap up a project and resigned, leaving $1 million in compensation behind.He turned to his blog to explain the resignation publicly. Mr. Bray stayed up until 2 a.m., preparing his server to withstand greater-than-usual traffic, should Reddit and Hacker News pick up his post, as he hoped. The plan worked even better than he had expected.I was aiming at a soft target, it turned out, he said.A Deep, Societal ProblemImageCredit...Alana Paterson for The New York TimesIn the days that followed, Mr. Brays critique resonated in Washington, D.C. He spoke with Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat whose district includes Amazons headquarters in Seattle. And a group of senators mentioned his resignation blog post when they wrote to Mr. Bezos about the firings.He initially tried to keep a low profile, responding only by email to press requests. But he kept blogging and eventually talked publicly, making even more aggressive criticisms of the company.On a live video in early June with National Observer, a Canadian investigative news site, Mr. Bray said Amazon was a symptom of concentrated capitalism. We dont really have an Amazon problem, he said. What we have is a deep, societal problem with an unacceptable imbalance of power and wealth.Its not obvious to me why the retail company, the manufacturing company, the voice recognition company, the cloud computing company and the Prime video company should be the same company, he said at the event. Theyre not particularly related to each other, and I think its actively distorting and harmful.A week later, Mr. Bray spoke at a virtual conference convened by global unions critical of Amazon. He said that unions should be easier to form in the United States and that one of the most powerful political programs we could run with the aim of correcting the power imbalances that concern us is antimonopoly. He also said the sheer size of Amazon and other large corporations gave them inordinate power over politics, policies and labor conditions.The goodness Amazon espouses for customers low prices, endless selection, quick delivery isnt free, he said. Right now, the downside of all this goodness is overwhelmingly being experienced by the warehouse workers.Amazon has strongly defended its labor conditions, saying that it has spent billions of dollars to make its warehouses safe and that its workers are paid at least $15 an hour, plus benefits.ImageCredit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesMr. Bray soon turned to formulating a business case for breaking up the company. He wrote it in a standard Amazon format, known as a PRFAQ, envisioning how the company would announce the proposal once it was fully enacted. With antitrust pressures growing, Amazon might prefer to proactively spin off its cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services, he wrote, as opposed to under hostile pressure from Washington.He posted the document on GitHub, a coding collaboration tool, asking for help improving the pitch. By spinning AWS off, he argued, companies like Walmart that compete with Amazon would be more comfortable using the cloud computing service, opening up more potential customers.Organizations who compete with Amazon want to take advantage of AWSs industry-leading offerings without having to worry that they are strengthening a competitor, he wrote.His post did not go viral like his resignation. But looking at logs on his blogs server, he could tell that it got attention somewhere critical: inside Amazon.His suspicion was confirmed when a former colleague told him that Amazon was worried a Wall Street analyst might think the document was a true Amazon document. Could he add a disclaimer?Mr. Bray updated the proposal. This document is not an Amazon production, he wrote. It describes a hypothetical process that could take place. | Tech |
Olympics|Polish Ski Jumper Sweeps Individual Eventshttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/sports/olympics/polish-ski-jumper-sweeps-individual-events.htmlCredit...John Macdougall/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesFeb. 15, 2014KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia Kamil Stoch of Poland and Noriaki Kasai of Japan seemed to wait forever as they watched the scoreboard to see who would get the gold medal and who would settle for the silver in the large-hill ski jump on Saturday.As it turned out, Stoch won his second gold medal, making him only the third person to win two individual ski jump events in the same Winter Games.He and Kasai, 15 years apart, hugged and were mobbed by their teammates after the final results were posted, showing the jumpers finished only 1.3 points apart.I have weird thoughts at this moment, Stoch said. Im thinking, Is it happening for real, or is it a dream?Second place was a feat for the 41-year-old Kasai, who is competing in a record-tying seventh Winter Games. His only other Olympic medal also a silver, in the team event came two decades ago in Lillehammer, Norway.All these years I was disappointed by the Olympic Games, said Kasai, who leapt on the podium and pumped his arms during the award ceremony. Today I just had to do it. I wanted gold, but you know, it is what it is.Peter Prevc of Slovenia won the bronze medal. Prevc finished second to Stoch in the normal hill here and second to Stoch in the large hill event in the world championships last year.Stoch, 26, recovered from illness to win the normal hill last week. It was Polands first Olympic ski jumping gold medal since Wojciech Fortuna won the large hill at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo, Japan.Stoch, who described the normal hill as a mean girl, fell during training here and left with a bloody nose and his left arm in a sling. He called the large hill a nicer older sister.He joined Matti Nykanen of Finland (1988) and Simon Ammann of Switzerland (2002 and 2010) as the only jumpers to sweep the individual events.Kasai, who like Stoch will compete in the four-man team event next week, said he wanted to take part in the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.The three Americans entered in the large hill did not fare well. Anders Johnson was disqualified, and Nick Alexander and Nick Fairall failed to qualify for the final round. | Sports |
Mark Salling Dead From Suicide by Hanging 1/30/2018 TMZ.com -- Law enforcement sources tell us Salling's body was found hanging from a tree. -- We're told police received a call to do a "welfare check" on Salling and somehow that led them to the baseball field where his body was found. We're told Salling had been dead for some time. Our sources say a family member came to the LAPD station at 3 AM Tuesday to report Salling as a missing person. We're told homicide detectives are on scene to rule out foul play, but they say all signs point to suicide by hanging. Mark Salling committed suicide by hanging, according to law enforcement ... TMZ has learned. We're told his body was found near a riverbed in Sunland ... the area where he lived. Law enforcement tells us Salling was hanging from a tree. We've learned the address where Salling was found dead near a little league field adjacent to a creek. The former "Glee" star was awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography involving prepubescent minors. Prosecutors say he had 50,000 images of underage children. DECEMBER 2017 TMZ.com Sentencing in the case was set for March. He was expected to get 4 to 7 years in prison as part of a plea deal. TMZ broke the story ... Salling had cut his wrists back in August and it appeared to be a suicide attempt, although his lawyer denied it. Salling was 35. | Entertainment |
Credit...Erica Canepa for The New York TimesNov. 18, 2018MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina A day after Argentina announced that the wreckage of a Navy submarine that vanished a year ago with 44 sailors on board had been found, several relatives of the crew members demanded on Sunday the authorities spare no effort to bring the remains to the surface quickly.Their pleas raised the stakes of success for a task that government officials and experts described as herculean.Navy officials asked relatives to be patient as they try to come up with the next steps.The government also worked to tamp down expectations that retrieving the wreckage and the human remains from deep on the ocean floor could be done at all.Argentina does not have the technical means to surface the submarine and, there is unlikely to be anything in the world to bring from 900 meters deep a mass that weighs 2,300 tons, Defense Minister Oscar Aguad told Radio Mitre.If the endeavor is attempted, officials and experts say, it will require meticulous planning to avoid doing further damage to the vessel, the San Juan. That might undermine the investigation into what had doomed the sub and its crew.For the families gathered in Mar Del Plata, the beachside city that was the base for the San Juan, the demand for a return of the bodies has become the latest rallying cry in their often-tense relationship with naval officials.Relatives have accused the military of not doing enough to find their loved ones. And in the period after the sub disappeared, they also faulted it for offering incomplete or misleading information about the accident.Many believe the submarine was finally discovered only because relatives set up a makeshift camp outside the presidential palace for 52 days earlier this year. That prompted the government to hire a Houston-based company, Ocean Infinity, which located the submarine Friday after an earlier, unfruitful international search.Now the families want the remains.Its not something I want its something I need, said Yolanda Susana Mendiola, 55, the mother of Leandro Cisneros, 28. I need to have something of my sons to be able to mourn him.Ms. Mendiola spoke outside the hotel where some 70 family members were staying Sunday. Many had arrived for a ceremony Thursday to mark the one-year anniversary of the subs disappearance, and then decided to stay after news of the discovery.ImageCredit...Erica Canepa for The New York TimesOn Sunday, Vice Adm. Jos Luis Villn, the head of the Argentine navy, went to the hotel to talk to the family members. He said that the next steps would be slow and that any decision on trying to recover the vessel would have to be made by the judiciary that is investigating the accident.He didnt quite say it, but he implied that we should start thinking about leaving the hotel and going back home, said Daniel Esteban Polo, 56, the father of one of the crew members, Daniel Alejandro Polo. Im going back tomorrow. I need to start living my life again.Other family members appeared less ready to move on, and said the discovery of the submarine did not give them the closure many had hoped for in their push for answers.Juan Alberto Aramayo, 60, whose son was on the submarine, has been staying at the hotel since he arrived here a year ago when the sub disappeared. He said he was not ready to leave.Im not going anywhere until they bring the submarine to shore, Mr. Aramayo said. We know it can be done, but its up to the government to decide it wants to do it.As convinced as many family members are that lifting the submarine and bringing it to shore is possible, experts are much less certain.There arent many precedents in the world of carrying out a feat of this magnitude, said Fernando Morales, a navy expert and vice president of the Argentine Navy League. It presupposes a feat of engineering that, even if possible, could demand one to two years of preparation, and even then may prove to be prohibitively expensive.Although some cited the example of a sunken Russian submarine, the Kursk, which was successfully raised from the seabed in 2001, that vessel was only 380 feet deep. The San Juan is almost 3,000 feet deep.For Oliver Plunkett, chief executive of Ocean Infinity, there are other issues. Even if the submarine can be brought to shore, he said, when it got there, the vessel might not be in the condition that family members imagine. And it might not offer information helpful to the investigation.It may be technically impossible to lift it so that it comes on land looking exactly the same as it does on the seabed, Mr. Plunkett said, emphasizing that it was still far too early to have a definitive answer.Capt. Richard Bryant, a retired American Navy submarine commander, said recovery efforts at such depths are complex and rely mainly on vehicles operated remotely. Because of the age and condition of much of Argentinas Navy fleet, its government is likely to seek international help.We have significant salvage capabilities, Captain Bryant said, referring to the United States Navy. We recover everything from downed airplanes to downed ships.ImageCredit...Erica Canepa for The New York TimesWhile unmanned vessels are unlikely to be able to bring to the surface heavy parts of the submarine, they can be used to attach cables that can be hoisted up by large ships or barges, he added.The federal judge who is in charge of investigating the disappearance, Marta Yez, told local media that she expected to receive 67,000 images of the wreckage from Ocean Infinity. Those images along with a final report are unlikely to arrive before the end of the month, Mr. Plunkett said.For some family members, bringing the San Juan to shore would be the only way to put a final end to numerous conspiracy theories that have made the rounds since it disappeared including one tale that the crew members were taken prisoner.How do I know the submarine isnt empty inside? Ms. Mendiola said. I know some people will say Im crazy, but I really just dont know who to believe anymore.Forensic experts said that as long as there are some remains, identification might be possible. But the state of the bodies themselves would depend on several factors that so far remain unknown.Even without the bodies, many family members say the discovery of the wreckage was what they needed to accept that their loved ones are not coming back.Margarita Ventcola, Mr. Polos wife, for example, got angry when she heard earlier this month that a family member had included a picture of their son in an altar set up for All Souls Day. She demanded that his picture be removed because, she insisted, he was not dead.Next year, though, the family says, it will include a photo of their son in the altar along with, as is tradition, his favorite food peanut soup and meat and potato pie.I also want my son to be taken out of the water, but at least I finally know where he is, Mr. Polo said.Late Sunday afternoon, a group of family members sporadically blocked traffic outside the Mar del Plata Naval Base as part of a protest. They read the names of the crew members aloud.Among them was Andrea Mereles, 38, whose husband, Ricardo Gabriel Alfaro Rodrguez, was aboard the submarine, and who spoke of the daunting task that lies ahead of her: telling her 8-year-old son, Tiziano, that his father had died.Tiziano has spent the past year convinced he would eventually come home.He calls his father his best friend, she said, her voice breaking, and I have to tell him his best friend isnt coming back. | World |
Credit...Hunter McRae for The New York TimesJune 12, 2018Republican voters lashed out against traditional party leaders Tuesday, ousting Representative Mark Sanford of South Carolina and nominating a conservative firebrand for Senate in Virginia, the latest illustration that fealty to President Trump and his hard-line politics is paramount on the right.Mr. Sanford, a former governor once seen as a possible candidate for president, lost to Katie Arrington, a state lawmaker, in a closely contested primary, The Associated Press reported. Ms. Arrington had made the incumbents frequent criticism of Mr. Trump the centerpiece of her campaign. And the president endorsed her in an unexpected, and deeply personal, broadside against Mr. Sanford just three hours before the polls closed.In Virginia, Republicans dismissed the concerns of mainstream party leaders to nominate Corey Stewart, a local official who has made his name attacking illegal immigrants and embracing emblems of the Confederacy, The A.P. reported. He will challenge Senator Tim Kaine, the former Democratic vice-presidential candidate.[Read more about Corey Stewart, Republicans and the fringe right.]Party leaders fear that Mr. Stewart, a fervent Trump supporter who has mimicked his slashing style, could drag down other Republicans in a state that is key to control of the House.In a Wednesday morning Twitter post, Mr. Trump congratulated Mr. Stewart on his great victory and called Mr. Kaine a total stiff.ImageCredit...Kathryn Ziesig/The Post and Courier, via Associated PressRepublican primary voters appeared more eager to punish Mr. Trumps enemies than to reward his allies: Even as they seemed poised to turn out Mr. Sanford, South Carolina Republicans forced Gov. Henry McMaster, one of Mr. Trumps earliest supporters, into a runoff election against a 39-year-old political newcomer.[Three takeaways from Tuesday nights primaries.]It was the upset in Mr. Sanfords Charleston-area House district, however, that represented the starkest reminder that many Republican voters now demand total fidelity to the president: Mr. Sanford, who resurrected his career in the House after conducting a much-publicized extramarital affair as governor, has repeatedly taken aim at Mr. Trump.Mr. Sanford had demanded Mr. Trump release his tax returns while bemoaning what he calls the cult of personality gripping the G.O.P. Ms. Arringtons surprise victory seemed to vindicate Mr. Sanfords assessment of the party at his own expense.Mr. Sanford remained defiant in the face of defeat, telling supporters in Mount Pleasant, S.C., that he did not regret clashing with Mr. Trump.It may have cost me an election in this case, but I stand by every one of those decisions to disagree with the president, Mr. Sanford said Tuesday night as his chances appeared to grow more bleak.ImageCredit...Tom Brenner/The New York TimesTaking the stage at her election night party, Ms. Arrington affirmed Mr. Sanfords assessment: We are the party of Donald J. Trump, she said in North Charleston, S.C.The presidents popularity with conservative activists did seem to do in Mr. Sanford: Ms. Arrington focused relentlessly on his apostasies, assailing Mr. Sanford for bashing our captain, President Trump, as she put it in a debate this month.Mr. Trump, catching up on Tuesday with a campaign waged for months in his shadow, echoed those attacks. He invoked the affair Mr. Sanford conducted with an Argentine woman, effectively firing a warning shot at those Republicans who dare speak out against him.[Mark Sanfords political career fades in the age of Donald Trump.]Mark Sanford has been very unhelpful to me in my campaign to MAGA, Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter, referencing his Make America Great Again slogan as he flew back from Singapore. He is MIA and nothing but trouble. He is better off in Argentina. I fully endorse Katie Arrington for Congress in SC, a state I love.Early on Wednesday, Mr. Trump said he was cautioned not to insert himself into the race, but, he said, I had to give it a shot.ImageCredit...Erin Schaff for The New York TimesWhile Mr. Trump has repeatedly savaged less-pliant Republicans in the Senate, including Jeff Flake of Arizona and Bob Corker of Tennessee, his surprise attack on Mr. Sanford was his first comparable effort to make an example of a critic in the House.Mr. Sanford is the second House Republican to tumble in a primary election against a challenger displaying disloyalty to the president. Representative Martha Roby of Alabama, who withdrew her endorsement from Mr. Trump in 2016 after the publication of a recording in which he bragged about sexual assault, failed to garner a majority in a primary earlier this month and was forced into a runoff.Mr. Trumps blast appeared to be unplanned. Some White House officials were not aware his tweet was coming, pointing out that the president sent the message while he was on Air Force One returning from the summit with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, in Singapore. And about 40 minutes after he took aim at Mr. Sanford, Mr. Trump appeared to confirm he was catching up on news back home when he also swiped at the actor Robert DeNiro, who recently used the Tony Awards ceremony to aim a four-letter attack at the president.Yet on the same night that Mr. Sanford struggled, Mr. McMaster, a staunch Trump ally, was forced into a runoff a vivid illustration that the Republican bases thirst for insurgency does not necessarily spare Mr. Trumps supporters. Mr. McMaster, 71, who has been buffeted by a continuing corruption investigation in the state capital, garnered just 44 percent of the vote and will face John Warren in the June 26 runoff.After Mr. Trump traveled to the state earlier this year to raise money for Mr. McMaster, the governor used footage from the trip to make a television ad. Over the weekend, the president tweeted his support for Mr. McMaster, calling him a special guy.ImageCredit...Parker Michels-Boyce for The New York TimesThe question now is whether Mr. Trump will campaign for Mr. McMaster in the runoff election, putting his own political capital on the line for a governor who was one of the first elected officials to endorse him and assumed his office when Nikki R. Haley became ambassador to the United Nations.South Carolina Democrats, who have not won a governors race in two decades, nominated James Smith, a state legislator and Afghanistan veteran for the states top job.In Virginia, Republicans braced for the possibility of protracted turmoil: Mr. Stewart, who nearly seized the nomination for governor last year, has savaged G.O.P. leaders in the state and faced intense scrutiny for his associations with multiple white nationalist figures.Republicans fear having Mr. Stewart as their nominee against Mr. Kaine, the former vice-presidential nominee, will spur moderate voters and women to desert the party in droves, imperiling several contested House seats in the state. Republican candidates across the state may now find themselves captive to Mr. Stewarts every utterance over the next five months an unwelcome burden for lawmakers like Representatives Barbara Comstock and Scott Taylor, who were already endangered.In an emphatic display of the energy behind Democratic women in congressional races this year, Virginia Democrats nominated three women Tuesday night for the three most contested House seats in the state. They selected Abigail Spanberger, a former C.I.A. officer, to oppose Representative Dave Brat outside of Richmond, and Elaine Luria, a Navy veteran, to challenge Representative Scott Taylor in his Hampton Roads-based seat.ImageCredit...Joe Buglewicz for The New York TimesAnd in the states most vulnerable Republican-held district, Democrats selected State Senator Jennifer Wexton to oppose Ms. Comstock. Her district, which stretches from Northern Virginia to the Shenandoah Valley, voted strongly against Mr. Trump in 2016 and rejected Republican candidates for the legislature and statewide offices last fall.Primaries were also held Tuesday in North Dakota, Maine and Nevada, with the latter two featuring Democratic contests where long-serving women faced off against male opponents. Democratic women have fared well in many congressional primaries this year, but the Maine and Nevada races marked the starting line for a long season of more difficult primaries for female candidates for governor.In Nevada, Steve Sisolak, a Clark County commissioner, easily defeated his fellow commissioner Chris Giunchigliani in a race that evolved into a proxy battle between former Senator Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton.Mr. Sisolak entered the race with the blessing of Mr. Reid, the former Senate majority leader who remains the de facto head of the Nevada Democratic Party, and he raised significantly more money than the progressive Ms. Giunchigliani. She won an infusion of money from outside groups, most notably Emilys List, the group that backs Democratic women who support abortion rights, and a late endorsement from Mrs. Clinton. But it was not enough to threaten Mr. Sisolak.He will face Adam Laxalt, the 39-year-old state attorney general and grandson of former senator Paul Laxalt, who easily won the Republican primary.In Maine, where Democrats and Republicans were selecting their nominees for governor, a new system of voting promised to provide an atmosphere of uncertainty that could last for several days. Voters in the state were ranking primary candidates in order of preference, and using second- and third-place preferences to settle races in which no first-choice candidate achieves majority support. There is a crowded field of governors candidates in both parties and it is unlikely anyone will win based on the first round of preferences.While races in most of the country have been defined by a candidates stance toward Mr. Trump, the race for governor in Maine has largely unfolded in the shadow of Gov. Paul R. LePage, an unpopular and deeply divisive Republican who has aligned himself with the White House.On the Democratic side, the strongest candidates appeared to be Janet Mills, the state attorney general, and Adam Cote, a businessman and military veteran. But the race is unsettled enough that other candidates, like Mark Eves, a former speaker of the State House of Representatives, may have a chance to win. Shawn Moody, a wealthy businessman, prevailed on the Republican side. | Politics |
Erykah Badu I See Good in Everyone ... Hell, Even Hitler!! 1/24/2018 Erykah Badu wants you to rethink your views on Adolf Hitler, 'cause she says there was a lot of good in the man ... who ordered the deaths of 6 million people. Try to bear with us. The singer launched her defense of the Nazi during an interview with Vulture, saying, "I see good in everybody. I saw something good in Hitler." For instance, she says, "Hitler was a wonderful painter." Vulture gave her a chance to rephrase, but Erykah stuck to her guns, and claimed Hitler's "terrible childhood" might be the only reason he became a monster. To be clear, Erykah says she's not an anti-Semite, just a humanist. In her words, "I dont care if the whole group says something, Im going to be honest. I know I dont have the most popular opinion sometimes." We can all agree on that last part, at least. | Entertainment |
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. | Business |