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ny0222051 | [
"us",
"politics"
] | 2010/11/04 | Boehner in Spotlight After Elections | WASHINGTON — The first sign of the new pecking order on Capitol Hill was the pack of cameramen jammed inside Representative John A. Boehner ’s suite early Wednesday morning. As the Republican leader in a House run firmly by Democrats, Mr. Boehner had sometimes had trouble making his voice heard. Not anymore. On Wednesday, Mr. Boehner, the House speaker in waiting, took center stage, looking natty in a gray suit and orange tie as he accepted congratulations and declared himself “humbled.” But the woman who actually still holds the speaker’s title — Representative Nancy Pelosi of California — was, uncharacteristically, holed up in her office, out of sight. The sudden role reversal took place against the backdrop of an eerie quiet inside the Capitol. Most lawmakers were still back home in their districts, absorbing the election results. Even tourists were scarce; the cavernous new Capitol visitor’s center was mostly empty. For Democrats, especially, it was a day for reflection — and, in some cases, recriminations. Ms. Pelosi spent the morning working the phones, consulting Democratic colleagues about whether she should stay on as minority leader. (She did not watch President Obama’s news conference, aides said.) She surrounded herself with family members; her daughter Alexandra and grandson, soon to turn 4, came from New York. When she rose to power, Ms. Pelosi liked to command attention by telling reporters that she was using her “mother-of-five voice.” On Wednesday, that voice was silent, save for one interview, with Diane Sawyer of ABC News. In it, she said she had “no regrets, because we believe we did the right thing and worked very hard in our campaigns to convey that to the American people.” Ms. Pelosi took a circuitous route to the taping session to avoid getting corralled by members of the news media. When it was over, she slipped quickly into a Capitol elevator, clutching her grandson’s hand. Lips pursed, she deflected questions about her future. “We’ll let you know,” the speaker said tersely, as the elevator doors closed. The few other Democrats in the Capitol walked around looking shell-shocked. Representative George Miller, the California Democrat and a member of Ms. Pelosi’s inner circle, could be found in a basement hallway of the Rayburn House Office Building, plastic foam coffee cup in hand, on the way from the cafeteria to his office to watch Mr. Obama address the nation. Mr. Miller has been in Congress for 35 years. He made his displeasure with the president clear. “I’m not good at all,” the congressman said, shaking his head. “I think we did some very important things. What we did on health care, what we did on financial reform, what we did on student loans — big and important, as was the recovery act.” So what happened? “Well,” he said, “I think the president never started selling it soon enough. He didn’t sell what he inherited, and he didn’t sell what he was doing until almost 18, 19 months later.” Upstairs on the Rayburn Building’s second floor, the big heavy wooden doors leading to the office of Representative Ike Skelton, the Missouri Democrat who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee, were closed. Mr. Skelton was thrown out by voters after 17 terms. A handful of aides, dressed casually in sweaters, milled around their cubicles, trying to make sense of the night before. Many, if not all, will be out of work come January. Mr. Skelton’s press secretary, at his desk eating leftovers for lunch, was not in a mood to talk. The congressman will be back Thursday, he said. Whenever the balance of power is upset in Washington, it takes time for things to settle out. So it was on Wednesday, as aides to Ms. Pelosi said they did not know when she would announce her plans, and Mr. Boehner made clear that, despite his party’s historic gains, he was not yet certain of how he intended to proceed. “We’ll make a lot of decisions over the coming months about what’ll happen in January,” Mr. Boehner said, as reporters peppered him with queries about how quickly he would move to repeal Mr. Obama’s health care legislation, and what federal programs would be on the chopping block now that Republicans are vowing to make cuts. And Mr. Boehner seemed momentarily flummoxed over a question on raising the debt limit — a move the House will have to take next year to avoid throwing the government into default, but one that Tea Party candidates will almost certainly oppose. “We’ll be working that out,” the speaker in waiting said, “over the next couple of months.” | Boehner John A;United States Politics and Government;Elections;House of Representatives;Pelosi Nancy |
ny0194989 | [
"us"
] | 2009/11/23 | Kennedy Discouraged From Communion by Bishop | WASHINGTON — Representative Patrick J. Kennedy of Rhode Island said on Sunday that the Roman Catholic bishop of Providence had instructed him to refrain from receiving communion because of his stance on abortion. Mr. Kennedy said Bishop Thomas J. Tobin “instructed me not to take communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me communion,” according to The Providence Journal, which first reported the incident. But Michael K. Guilfoyle, a spokesman for the diocese, said Sunday that the bishop had “never addressed matters relative to public officials receiving holy communion with pastors of the Diocese of Providence.” In a statement released on Sunday, Bishop Tobin added that his instructions to Mr. Kennedy had come more than two years ago, in a private letter on Feb. 21, 2007. “In light of the church’s clear teaching, and your consistent actions,” the letter said, “I believe it is inappropriate for you to be receiving holy communion and I now ask respectfully that you refrain from doing so.” The bishop said he was surprised that Mr. Kennedy had chosen to reopen the public discussion of the faith just two weeks after he told reporters he would no longer discuss these matters publicly. The announcement by Mr. Kennedy, a Democrat in his eighth term, is the most recent escalation in an unusually personal dispute between the men that became public after Mr. Kennedy criticized the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops for threatening to oppose an overhaul of the health care system unless it tightened restrictions on publicly-financed abortion. Mr. Kennedy’s office did not reply to requests for comment on Sunday. In an interview with Cybercast News Service on Oct. 21, Mr. Kennedy said he could not understand “how the Catholic Church could be against the biggest social justice issue of our time,” a reference to expanding health insurance, adding that its stance was fanning “flames of dissent and discord.” In response, Bishop Tobin accused Mr. Kennedy of “false advertising” for describing himself as a Catholic. ”If you freely choose to be a Catholic, it means you believe certain things, you do certain things,” Bishop Tobin said at the time. “If you cannot do all that in conscience, then you should perhaps feel free to go somewhere else.” The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has lobbied strenuously against including federal financing for abortion in the health care legislation, and Bishop Tobin, who has led the Diocese of Providence since 2005, has been a vocal participant. Mr. Kennedy opposed the strengthening of anti-abortion language in the House health care bill. But ultimately he supported the final bill, which included tough language on the use of federal money for abortions. On Sunday, Bishop Tobin said that he had “no desire to continue the discussion of Congressman Kennedy’s spiritual life in public.” “At the same time,” he added, “I will absolutely respond publicly and strongly whenever he attacks the Catholic Church, misrepresents the teachings of the church or issues inaccurate statements about my pastoral ministry.” | Kennedy Patrick J;Roman Catholic Church;Abortion;Christians and Christianity |
ny0044919 | [
"business"
] | 2014/02/16 | Defeat of Auto Union in Tennessee Casts Its Strategy Into Doubt | CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Bob King has pursued one goal above all as president of the United Automobile Workers — to unionize several foreign-owned auto plants in the South. He said he viewed that as pivotal if his once-mighty union was to gain numbers and strength after decades of decline. The first step was to unionize the Volkswagen plant here, but Mr. King was stunned by the results of the unionization vote announced late Friday. In one of the most closely watched unionization elections in decades, the U.A.W. lost, with workers voting, 712 to 626, against joining the union. This will slow and perhaps derail Mr. King’s ambitious plans to unionize other plants in the South. For months, U.A.W. organizers have been contacting workers at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Ala., with the hope that it might soon follow VW into the union fold. In a news conference, Mr. King conveyed anger and bafflement at the results. He and his union thought they would win partly because Volkswagen, unlike most American companies, vowed to remain neutral and not oppose unionization. Mr. King blamed Republican lawmakers for the loss. They made numerous anti-union arguments — and a few threats — to discourage workers from unionizing. Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, contended that auto parts suppliers would not come to the Chattanooga area if that meant being located near a unionized VW plant. Senator Bob Corker, a former mayor of Chattanooga, said VW executives had told him the plant would add a second production line, making sport utility vehicles, if workers rejected the U.A.W. Mr. Corker and some outside conservative groups told workers that the U.A.W. had contributed to the struggles of Detroit’s automakers and would make VW less competitive — a view echoed by some workers. Adding to the anti-union pressure, Bo Watson, a state senator who represents a Chattanooga suburb, said the Republican-controlled Legislature was unlikely to approve further subsidies to Volkswagen if the plant unionized. Some workers feared that his threat would cause Chattanooga to lose the planned S.U.V. line to a VW plant in Mexico. “We are outraged that people in the political arena decided that they were going to threaten workers and that they were going to threaten the company,” Mr. King said. “The threats against the workers were what shifted things.” Last September, his union said, a majority of VW workers signed cards saying they wanted the U.A.W. to represent them. Mr. King said his union was weighing legal action against what some union officials said was improper anti-union intimidation of VW’s workers. Mr. King, 67, has said he hoped that unionizing a string of foreign-owned factories, referred to as transplants, would be his legacy; he is retiring when his four-year term ends in June. Image The Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga. Credit Billy Weeks/Reuters Sean McAlinden, the chief economist at the Center for Automotive Research, said, “Bob King has been very open that if they don’t organize the transplants, their future as a large automotive union is in jeopardy.” The transplants account for 30 percent of auto sales in the United States, he said, while Detroit’s automakers account for 45 percent and imports the rest. The South’s anti-union traditions clearly hurt the U.A.W. Edward Hunter, a pro-union employee, said many workers were “hereditarily anti-union,” with such sentiments passed down between generations. He noted that Chattanooga used to have scores of textile mills and metal foundries, many of them unionized. When they closed in recent decades — the textile mills because of foreign competition, the foundries because of pollution problems — many townspeople blamed labor unions, he said. After the votes were counted, Mike Burton and Mike Jarvis stood outside the VW plant wearing T-shirts with a line struck through the letters U.A.W. Mr. Jarvis said most workers had voted against the U.A.W. because they were convinced it had hurt Detroit’s automakers. Mr. Burton, leader of the anti-union employees, said, “A lot of us came to work here because it didn’t have a union.” Mr. Jarvis said he did not think the pressures from Republican lawmakers had an effect, but Justin King, a pro-union worker, said, “I would hope that they didn’t make a difference, but they may well have.” Several U.A.W. supporters noted that if just 44 votes had flipped, the union would have prevailed. Assessing the U.A.W.’s defeat, Daniel B. Cornfield, a labor relations expert at Vanderbilt University, said: “It will reaffirm the region’s approach to economic development, which is to operate on a nonunion basis. It will create an even more uphill battle for labor unions when they seek to organize in the South.” One reason the U.A.W. lost was that many VW workers said they already felt that they were paid well and treated well, leading them to question why they needed a union and to pay union dues. The VW workers average about $19.50 an hour, about the same as the newer workers in the Detroit automakers’ lower tier, but about $9 an hour less than workers in Detroit’s upper tier. The VW workers earn several dollars less an hour than employees at most other transplants. For many workers, the main reason to unionize was to help VW achieve its goal of creating a German-style works council, a committee of white-collar and blue-collar workers who develop policies on work rules, plant hours and other issues. Volkswagen, which has unions and works councils at virtually all of its 105 other plants, views these councils as vital for improving morale, cooperation and productivity. Many legal experts say it would be illegal to have a works council unless workers first voted to have a union. After the vote, Frank Fischer, the chief executive of Volkswagen Chattanooga, said he remained intent on finding a way to create a works council, saying the workers had not decided against one. “Throughout this process, we found great enthusiasm for the idea of an American-style works council,” he said. “Our goal continues to be to determine the best method for establishing a works council in accordance with the requirements of U.S. labor law.” Mr. King said his union, long known for contentiousness and strikes, was turning a new leaf and supporting cooperation to help automakers succeed. But many anti-union workers said they still saw the U.A.W. as a force that would inevitably lead to confrontations. Mr. King insisted that the defeat would not lead the U.A.W. to abandon its organizing efforts. “One great thing about the U.A.W., one great thing about workers, is we don’t quit,” he said. “We face setbacks and we get up to fight another day to make sure workers have a voice.” | Labor Unions;UAW;Chattanooga Tennessee;Cars;Bob King;Manufacturing;Southern US |
ny0203414 | [
"sports",
"golf"
] | 2009/08/31 | Slocum, Seeded 124th, Holds Off Tour’s Stars to Win Barclays | JERSEY CITY — Golf’s latest giant slayer, Heath Slocum, stood victorious on the final green at Liberty National on Sunday. Once again, it was a big underdog with his hands raised over his head after sinking a huge putt to send Tiger Woods — and three other big-name pros — down to defeat. Holding the Barclays trophy after the first event in the PGA Tour playoffs for the FedEx Cup was Slocum, the 124th player in a field of 125, one of the Tour’s shorter hitters and, at 5 feet 8 inches and 150 pounds, one of its smallest. Slocum came up big on the 7,419-yard course with a round featuring three birdies, an eagle, one bogey and a hard-earned par at the final hole, where he sealed his victory with a 21-footer for a 67 and a 72-hole score of nine-under-par 275. That defining moment lifted Slocum, 35, winless on tour since 2005, to a one-stroke win over a world-class foursome that tied for second at eight-under: Woods, who missed a 7-footer for birdie at No. 18 and shot 67; Ernie Els, who shot a bogey-free 66; Padraig Harrington, who birdied the last hole for a 67; and Steve Stricker, who just missed a 10-footer at No. 18 and settled for a 69. Slocum vaulted into third in the FedEx Cup standings, collected $1.35 million and now has a good chance to compete for the $10 million bonus at the FedEx Cup finale, the Tour Championship in Atlanta, beginning Sept. 24. “Unbelievable,” he said. “Just that quick. It really was. That’s what’s unbelievable about this system. “I was sweating it out late last week and I didn’t even know if was going to be here,” Slocum said. “I came in with the attitude that I’ve got nothing to lose and I’m just going to go let it all hang out and play the best I can. I got off to a great start and it just carried over all week.” In a sun-drenched drama played out against the New York City skyline, with the Statue of Liberty towering over it all, Slocum never looked perturbed, unsettled or anything at all like the 197th ranked player in the world. Behind his wraparound shades and implacable expression, he said he was “a bit more nervous than I anticipated” but it never showed. He was the best putter in the field from 4 to 8 feet, and at a 50 percent success rate, he was tied for second from 20 to 25 feet. But on the one that counted from that distance, the 21-footer on the last hole, he was perfect. To get to that position, he shut out all the white noise that fights for any golfer’s attention during the course of a round — thoughts about the stature of the players he was chasing, those who were chasing him, how much money was at stake and how he looked on television. He has worked with a sports psychologist, Gio Valiante, on staying in the moment and tuning out everything and just playing golf. “If I get caught up in that, there’s no telling,” he said. “I had enough going on with myself just trying to hit fairways. It’s tough out there. I just kept telling myself, ‘Hit this fairway, try to hit this green in the best spot possible, try to make the putt.’ ” He added, “As corny as it sounds, that’s what I try to do every week.” As strange as it seems, there is very little that separates one’s inability to do it each week — and going winless for four seasons — with being able to do it and beating a foursome that included Woods, the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world; Stricker, No. 2 on the FedEx points list; Harrington, the winner of consecutive major championships; and Els, who has won two United States Opens and one British Open. This week, everything broke right for Slocum. He came in with two career wins and 27 career top-10s, but outputted one of the game’s best putters, Stricker, on the last green, a man who has two wins this year and won the Barclays in 2007 since Slocum last won on Tour. “I think Heath and I play about the same game,” Stricker said. “You know, he got off to a start that he needed to get off to. He birdied the second hole and then holed it from the fairway at No. 5 for eagle.” The eagle from 158 yards with a 7-iron sent shockwaves through the galleries and put Slocum in a tie for the lead at eight under with Steve Marino, who slipped to a 77 and tied for 15th. Slocum also chipped in once this week and holed the putts he needed to hole. He followed the eagle with a birdie at the par-5 sixth hole, and his only stumble was a bogey at the seventh. As Woods pursued Stricker and Slocum on the back nine, he had a key 15-footer for a par save at the 15th hole after a birdie on the par-3 14th from 11 feet. A great bounce off the side slope of a bunker at the short par-4 16th gave Woods a break he took advantage of with a birdie to reach eight under par, but his chance to get to nine under at the final hole went past the cup on the left side of the hole. “It was a week that, man, to miss as many putts as I did this week, to still have a chance at the last green with a putt, it goes to show you how good I am hitting it,” Woods said, slightly encouraged and slightly frustrated. While he tries to forget the ones that got away, Slocum will recall that he made all he needed, and the one that made the difference. “I mean, that putt at the 18th hole, that’s something I’ll remember the rest of my life,” he said. | PGA Championship;Golf;Slocum Heath;Woods Tiger |
ny0292030 | [
"sports",
"soccer"
] | 2016/01/14 | Former FIFA Vice President Arrives in Brooklyn to Face Charges | The 21st of 41 defendants in the United States’ sprawling corruption case focusing on world soccer was brought to Brooklyn on Wednesday to face charges. The defendant, Alfredo Hawit of Honduras, a former global soccer official, flew to New York from Zurich, the Swiss authorities said. He then pleaded not guilty in United States District Court in Brooklyn to the charges against him, including wire fraud, money laundering and racketeering conspiracy. Mr. Hawit, who was arrested last month, was president of Concacaf, soccer’s ruling body for North America, Central America and the Caribbean, and a vice president of FIFA, the sport’s global ruling body. After his indictment, Concacaf provisionally barred him from the sport until the resolution of the charges against him. Mr. Hawit, also a lawyer, is accused of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from media and marketing executives in exchange for steering lucrative contracts to them, according to the United States indictment. He is also accused of conspiring to mislead federal investigators and create “sham contracts” to conceal bribe payments in the wake of the first round of charges in the case in May. In court on Wednesday, Mr. Hawit, 64, appeared thin and drawn. His lawyer, Justin Weddle, said that Mr. Hawit had pancreatitis and diabetes and that he had experienced health problems from the diet of cornflakes and honey he was fed in a Swiss jail. Mr. Weddle argued that Mr. Hawit should be released on a $1 million bail package to live under house arrest in the Miami area with his daughter, a schoolteacher, and grandson. His daughter’s former husband, a real estate investor also from South Florida, had agreed to act as one of five people guaranteeing the bail package, although none were present in court. Calling the risk of Mr. Hawit’s fleeing to his native Honduras “substantial,” prosecutors requested a bail amount of $4 million. His lawyer called that amount “unattainable,” adding that his client and his family did not have high net worths. Properties in Honduras owned by Mr. Hawit, his lawyer said, had mortgages on them, and the house in which he lives is in his wife’s name. Some of the bribe money that prosecutors say was paid to Mr. Hawit was wired to a Panamanian bank account also in the name of Mr. Hawit’s wife. Mr. Hawit was the fifth defendant to be extradited to the United States from Zurich, where FIFA is headquartered and where several top officials were arrested in May and December while gathered for meetings. Three defendants in the case remain in a Swiss jail, resisting American efforts to bring them to Brooklyn. Switzerland chose to extradite another defendant, Eugenio Figueredo, to his home country, Uruguay, rather than the United States. In Switzerland, FIFA announced Wednesday that it had formally dismissed Jérôme Valcke, the organization’s former secretary general and top deputy to Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s longtime president until last year. Mr. Valcke, who, like Mr. Blatter, has not been charged in the United States’ case, was suspended from FIFA in September amid allegations of corruption involving the black-market sale of World Cup tickets. In a statement Wednesday, FIFA said that its ethics committee was continuing to investigate Mr. Valcke’s behavior. That investigation could result in a multiyear ban from world soccer for Mr. Valcke, as was recently imposed on Mr. Blatter . A lawyer for Mr. Valcke, Barry H. Berke, said in a statement that Mr. Valcke was proud to have been involved with the sport during “two of the most successful World Cups in history, in South Africa and Brazil.” The 2014 World Cup in Brazil brought in record revenue, exceeding $4 billion. “He remains confident that he will be fully vindicated,” Mr. Berke wrote in an email, “and history will recognize all of his contributions to the sport he loves.” The United States’ investigation is continuing, with additional criminal charges possible against individuals and corporations. So far, 39 people and two corporations have been charged in bribery and kickback schemes that the United States has said date back more than two decades. A third of them have pleaded guilty. Switzerland is conducting its own investigation while assisting with inquiries from the United States. At the request of the Justice Department, it has frozen roughly $80 million in assets associated with 13 bank accounts, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice said late last month. | Soccer;Alfredo Hawit;FIFA;Bribery and Kickbacks;Fraud;Money laundering |
ny0032784 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2013/12/27 | Russian Inquiry Finds No Radiation Link to Arafat’s Death | MOSCOW — A Russian investigation into the death of the former Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat has concluded that his death was not caused by radiation, the lead investigator said on Thursday. The finding comes after a French inquiry found traces of a radioactive isotope of polonium, and a Swiss investigation said the time frame of Mr. Arafat’s illness and death was consistent with that of polonium poisoning. Vladimir Uiba, director of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency, said that Mr. Arafat died of natural causes and that the agency had no plans to conduct further tests. Teams of scientists from France, Switzerland and Russia had been asked to determine whether polonium, a rare and extremely lethal substance, played a role in Arafat’s death, in a French military hospital in 2004. French experts found traces of polonium but said it was “of natural environmental origin,” according to Mr. Arafat’s widow, Suha Arafat. Swiss scientists, however, said that they found elevated traces of polonium-210 and lead, and that the time frame of Arafat’s illness and death was consistent with poisoning from ingesting polonium. “It was a natural death; there was no impact of radiation,” Mr. Uiba said, according to Russian news agencies. In October, he was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that Mr. Arafat “could not have been poisoned by polonium” and that “traces of such a substance were not found.” There was no immediate explanation as to how the three investigations could have come to such different conclusions. Mr. Arafat died Nov. 11, 2004, a month after falling ill at his West Bank headquarters. At the time, French doctors said he died of a stroke and had a blood-clotting problem, but records were inconclusive about what caused that condition. Palestinians have long suspected Israel of poisoning Mr. Arafat, an allegation that Israel denies. Russia, meanwhile, has had strong ties with Palestinian authorities since Soviet times when Moscow supported their struggle. Dr. Abdullah Bashir, who leads the Palestinian medical committee investigating Mr. Arafat’s death, said the committee was studying the Russian and Swiss reports. “When we finish, we are going to announce the results,” Dr. Bashir said in a telephone interview from Amman, Jordan. He would not say when that might be. Mr. Arafat’s widow filed a legal complaint in France seeking an investigation into whether he was murdered after a 2012 report that said traces of polonium were found on his clothes. As part of that inquiry, French investigators had Mr. Arafat’s remains exhumed and ordered a series of tests on them. Polonium occurs naturally in very low concentrations in the Earth’s crust and also is produced artificially in nuclear reactors. There are also tiny, generally undetectable amounts of polonium in human beings. On Thursday, the Palestinian ambassador to Russia, Fayed Mustafa, was quoted by the state RIA Novosti news agency as saying that the Palestinian authorities respected the Russian experts’ conclusions but considered it necessary to continue research into Mr. Arafat’s death. | Yasir Arafat;Palestinians;Radiation;Poison;Russia;France;Switzerland |
ny0232262 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2010/08/18 | John Sampson’s Use of Aide Raises Ethics Questions | ALBANY — For John L. Sampson , the leader of the State Senate, representing Edul Ahmad as a legal client has brought nothing but trouble. Mr. Ahmad, a Queens real estate broker, has been the subject of five investigations by the New York Department of State involving accusations of fraud and predatory lending. The agency has referred its findings to the Queens district attorney. In addition, Mr. Ahmad paid nearly $69,000 in restitution to the State Banking Department to settle claims of mortgage fraud. And he is a central figure in a loan scandal involving Representative Gregory W. Meeks of Queens. Mr. Sampson’s involvement with Mr. Ahmad, who has donated to his campaigns, became known last month , when documents released by the Department of State disclosed that Mr. Sampson was Mr. Ahmad’s lawyer. The documents also revealed that Mr. Sampson, a Brooklyn Democrat, was disciplined by the Department of State last year for notarizing a statement by one of Mr. Ahmad’s employees, even though his notary license had expired. Now it appears that Mr. Sampson also used a Senate staff member on at least one occasion to aid in his representation of Mr. Ahmad, potentially running afoul of state ethics laws. In a fax on Senate letterhead obtained by The New York Times through a Freedom of Information Law request, Michelle Trotman, the chief of staff in Mr. Sampson’s Albany office, gave instructions to one of Mr. Sampson’s law partners regarding a hearing before the Department of State involving Mr. Ahmad. In the note, sent from Mr. Sampson’s office on March 5, 2008, Ms. Trotman instructed an assistant of Gail A. Adams, Mr. Sampson’s partner, on what to include in a letter seeking postponement of the hearing. Ms. Trotman said in the fax that the letter should include the date of the hearing, the case number and the reason the adjournment was being sought — that “counsel has to attend another hearing.” Ms. Adams, in a letter sent later that day to the administrative law judge handling the case, asked for the adjournment, though she cited a car accident on March 1 as the reason. Austin Shafran, a spokesman for Mr. Sampson, said that the note was sent on Senate letterhead in error, and that the senator was simply helping a constituent. Mr. Shafran said that Ms. Adams had contacted Mr. Sampson after her accident because she needed to find out how to reschedule a hearing and was unable to get a prompt answer from the Department of State. “Faced with an emergency, she called her law partner seeking advice on how to get an immediate adjournment,” Mr. Shafran said. “Rather than reach out personally, Senator Sampson asked a member of his staff to find out what the procedure for requesting an adjournment would be and sent that information to Ms. Adams, as he would do with any other constituent seeking information on how to deal with a state agency.” “In the haste to meet the time constraints of an emergency situation,” he added, “the senator’s staff mistakenly transmitted the requested information on Senate letterhead.” Ms. Adams did not return calls for comment, and the Department of State declined to comment because an investigation of Mr. Ahmad was still open. Mr. Sampson’s involvement in a case before state regulators has raised concerns among government watchdogs, though the case took place in 2008, before he held the Senate’s top job. Mr. Shafran said that Mr. Sampson had acted as a lawyer for Mr. Ahmad only on commercial transactions and while the Department of State was conducting its investigation, and that Ms. Adams had handled any administrative proceedings before state officials. During the investigation, Mr. Sampson said that Ms. Trotman had applied for a renewal of his notary license, according to the documents obtained by The Times. Mr. Shafran said that Mr. Sampson sometimes notarized documents for constituents, outside his legal work. Blair Horner, the legislative director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, said that the involvement of a Senate staff member in the Ahmad case raised concerns, especially in light of the recent federal corruption conviction of Joseph L. Bruno, the former Senate majority leader. During Mr. Bruno’s trial, it was revealed that he had used state employees to perform private business on his behalf. “Legislative employees should not be doing private work for legislators,” Mr. Horner said, adding, “In the wake of the Bruno scandals, they should have clear bright-line standards.” State ethics laws prohibit lawmakers from using their office to “secure unwarranted privileges.” But it was only this year that the Legislature passed a law explicitly barring state officials from using public employees to do their private business. The law, passed after the Bruno conviction, was co-sponsored by Mr. Sampson. | Sampson John L;Ahmad Edul;Ethics;State Legislatures;Politics and Government;New York State |
ny0227922 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
] | 2010/07/18 | Steinbrenner Is Talk of Old-Timers’ Day, and Berra Is Missing | A few months after George Steinbrenner took over as the Yankees ’ principal owner in January 1973, Ron Blomberg met his new boss for the first time. Blomberg knew nothing about Steinbrenner, but he thought he did. “I thought he was Jewish,” Blomberg said. “Steinbrenner. I said, ‘I got this thing made.’ I mean, this is great. Jewish ownership. New York. He’ll let me do anything.” A slight pause. “Then I found out he wasn’t Jewish.” Blomberg liked him anyway, and always has, even if back then he had little sense how the next 37 years of Steinbrenner’s ownership would unfold. The guest list at Old-Timers’ Day spanned the length of Steinbrenner’s reign, as players from his first game in charge ( April 6, 1973, in Boston ) to coaches from his last ( July 11 in Seattle ) and all points in between returned to Yankee Stadium on a 93-degree afternoon Saturday to share memories of a man they saw at his blustery best and his most beneficent. The recent deaths of Steinbrenner and Bob Sheppard, the team’s longtime public-address announcer, added resonance to this Old-Timers’ Day, which was held before a 10-5 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays without perhaps their most beloved living icon. Yogi Berra , 85, missed the celebration after sustaining some bruising during a fall Friday night at his home in Montclair, N.J. The Yankees responded by posting a “We Miss You Yogi” message on the video scoreboard. Another scheduled participant, Luis Arroyo, 83, had a mild heart attack Friday night and was resting at a local hospital, the team said. Even without Berra and Arroyo, there was Rick Cerone, the catcher who blasted Steinbrenner during the 1981 playoffs after Steinbrenner blasted the players in the clubhouse. There was Oscar Gamble, who before the 1976 World Series offhandedly mentioned the team’s need for new suits and returned to the clubhouse to find $500 gift certificates to a local formal-wear shop in front of every player’s locker. There was Reggie Jackson, who remained so overcome by grief that he almost did not attend Saturday’s festivities. “I have to be here,” Jackson said. So he came, as much for Steinbrenner, who was buried Saturday in a private funeral in Trinity, Fla., as for another friend, Sheppard, who died last Sunday. Clips of Sheppard played while the old-timers took batting practice, eliciting remembrances from those whose names he enunciated with precision. “No one ever spoke the English word like Bob Sheppard,” said Jerry Coleman, a member of the Yankees’ 1950 title team. Or ordered a haircut like Steinbrenner. Fresh off an off-season trade with Cleveland, Gamble arrived at the Yankees’ complex in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in 1976 with a 12-inch Afro and without a uniform in his locker. Aware of Steinbrenner’s ban on long hair, Gamble was hoping to be pardoned until the season started so he could appear in an Afro Sheen commercial. Steinbrenner did not budge. Elston Howard, then a Yankees coach, drove Gamble to a local barbershop. The trim knocked off about 8 inches, Gamble said, and Steinbrenner paid for it. Gamble said he remained in sporadic contact with Steinbrenner over the years. In January, when he was in Tampa, Fla., for the team’s fantasy camp, Gamble, Mickey Rivers and Blomberg visited him in his office. “I said, ‘Remember when you made me get that haircut,’ ” Gamble said. “He goes, ‘Yeah,’ and I said, ‘Well, look at what you did to it.’ ” Gamble took off his cap to show his bald pate. Before Brian Doyle’s first game at Yankee Stadium in 1978, the trainer Gene Monahan told him that someone was on the telephone wishing to speak with him. Doyle, then 23, thought it was one of his brothers, Blake or Denny, congratulating him. “All I did was say hello,” Doyle said, “and he goes: ‘Doyle, this is Steinbrenner. I want you to go out there and bust your butt and I mean bust your butt and you better not disappoint me.’ Then he hung up the phone. Welcome to the big leagues.” Doyle had an unremarkable regular season, but he went on to hit .438 in the World Series while filling in at second base for the injured Willie Randolph. After the Yankees clinched in Los Angeles, Doyle said Steinbrenner hugged him and said, “I knew you could do it, that’s why I got you.” Steinbrenner was decidedly less happy a month earlier, when the Yankees lost the regular-season finale to Cleveland in the Bronx to force a one-game playoff with the Red Sox the next day at Fenway Park. That night, after the team arrived in Boston, Bucky Dent was riding the hotel elevator when Steinbrenner walked in. “The doors opened, and he got in the elevator, and I went, ‘Oh boy, this is going to be a cold ride down,’ ” Dent said. “He mumbled something about tomorrow’s going to be your day or something like that.” The next day, Dent beat the Red Sox with a three-run homer. The Yankees went another 18 years without winning a championship, a tumultuous time of on-field failures (two postseason appearances) and managerial instability. As Ron Guidry recalled, “One day, you leave the park and you say good night to your manager, and the next day, another guy comes in. That happened about 17 times when I was here.” Steinbrenner made his penultimate managerial change before the 1996 season, hiring Joe Torre. Under Torre’s leadership, the Yankees won the division title and overcame a two-games-to-none deficit to defeat the Atlanta Braves in the World Series. The Yankees lost in the division series in 1997 but won titles the next three years, and then, of course, No. 27 last season. For Blomberg, the franchise’s success called to mind something Steinbrenner told him during their initial meeting 37 years ago. “Whatever y’all need, whatever we can do for y’all, whatever we can do for New York, we will bring this team back,” Blomberg said. “It’s going to be a dynasty. That’s what he did. That’s why he was the king.” | New York Yankees;Steinbrenner George M 3d;Old Timers' Game;Baseball;Berra Yogi |
ny0220063 | [
"science",
"earth"
] | 2010/02/04 | Researcher on Climate Is Cleared in Inquiry | WASHINGTON — An academic board of inquiry has largely cleared a noted Pennsylvania State University climatologist of scientific misconduct, but a second panel will convene to determine whether his behavior undermined public faith in the science of climate change , the university said Wednesday. The scientist, Dr. Michael E. Mann , has been at the center of a dispute arising from the unauthorized release of more than 1,000 e-mail messages from the servers of the University of East Anglia in England, home to one of the world’s premier climate research units. While the Pennsylvania State inquiry, conducted by three senior faculty members and administrators, absolved Dr. Mann of the most serious charges against him, it is not likely to silence the controversy over climate science. New questions about the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , to which Dr. Mann was a significant contributor, have arisen since the hacked e-mail messages surfaced last November. That faculty board did not look into the science of climate change itself, the university said in announcing its results. That, it said, is “a matter more appropriately left to the profession.” Dr. Mann was named in 377 of the e-mail messages, including several that critics took to suggest that he had manipulated or destroyed data to strengthen his case that human activity was changing the global climate. In the best-known message, Phil Jones, a climatologist of the University of East Anglia, refers to a “trick” in a graph produced a decade ago showing 1,000 years of essentially steady global surface temperatures followed by a sharp upward spike in the 20th century, seemingly corresponding to increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The so-called hockey stick graph has become an icon for environmentalists. It was prominently displayed in a 2001 United Nations report concluding that greenhouse gases from human activities had probably caused most of the warming measured since 1950. In some of the e-mail messages, Dr. Mann refers to his assembly of data from a number of different sources, including ancient tree rings and earth core samples, as a “trick.” Critics pounced on the term and said it was evidence that Dr. Mann and other scientists had manipulated temperature data to support their conclusions. But the Pennsylvania State inquiry board said the term “trick” was used by scientists and mathematicians to refer to an insight that solves a problem. “The so-called trick was nothing more than a statistical method used to bring two or more different kinds of data sets together in a legitimate fashion by a technique that has been reviewed by a broad array of peers in the field,” the panel said. The e-mail messages also contained suggestions that Dr. Mann had hidden or destroyed e-mail messages and other information relating to a United Nations climate change report to prevent other scientists from reviewing them. Dr. Mann produced the material in question, and the Pennsylvania State board cleared him of the charge. There were also questions about whether Dr. Mann misused confidential data and engaged in a conspiracy with like-minded scientists to withhold information from competing scholars. The board found nothing to support the charge. Dr. Mann, in an e-mail response to a request for comment, said he was pleased that the panel had found “no evidence of any of the allegations against me.” “Three of the four allegations have been dismissed completely,” he wrote. “Even though no evidence to substantiate the fourth allegation was found, the University administrators thought it best to convene a separate committee of distinguished scientists to resolve any remaining questions about academic procedures. This is very much the vindication I expected since I am confident I have done nothing wrong.” Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, a skeptic of climate change called for an independent investigation. “We need to reassure the American people that their tax dollars are supporting objective scientific research rather than political agendas,” he said. | Mann Michael E.;Pennsylvania State University;University of East Anglia;Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change;Global Warming;Research |
ny0001778 | [
"sports",
"ncaabasketball"
] | 2013/03/31 | N.C.A.A. Tournament — Wichita State Beats Ohio State to Emerge From West | LOS ANGELES — Gregg Marshall sat atop a stage, squinted at the bright lights that reflected off his glasses and tried to make sense of all that had occurred the past two weeks. He needed a few more hours, both to process and to explain. Let’s see. The N.F.L. quarterback Tim Tebow addressed Marshall’s Wichita State Shockers on their team plane. His forward, Carl Hall, cut off his dreadlocks and mailed them home to his mother. His glasses, the ones with the bright yellow frames, were analyzed on social media. At the end of all that, his team, the one that lost its top five scorers from last season, the one with a mascot called WuShock, dispatched Ohio State in a 70-66 thriller on Saturday at Staples Center to advance to the Final Four. There stood the Shockers (30-8) atop a ladder late Saturday, scissors in hand, snipping at the nets. Back on stage, Marshall took one final question, “West Regional Champion” spelled out on the banner behind him. He was asked, as he is often asked, whether he considered this a lucky N.C.A.A. tournament run, a confluence of favorable factors, whether he considered Wichita State a Cinderella. “If you get to this point, you can win the whole thing,” Marshall said. “I think Cinderella just found one glass slipper. I don’t think she found four.” In two weeks, Wichita State managed to introduce its basketball team to the casual sports fan, advance to the N.C.A.A. tournament national semifinals for the first time since 1965 and somehow redefine its nickname. From upset to upset to upset, the Shockers became less about wheat and more about, well, shock. Perhaps it should have been less shocking. On Saturday, the Shockers faced another team favored to end their season. There was Ohio State, the second seed in the West Region, the Big Ten bully, its roster stocked with prized recruits, its athletics’ budget among the country’s largest. In comparison, Wichita State was smaller. It did play in a less prominent conference. But the term midmajor also provided an inaccurate description. The Shockers flew to away games on private planes, same as the major schools. Marshall’s salary reportedly went over $1 million. Marshall knew his team could rebound, knew it could play defense. Beyond that, he told the Shockers to play angry, which became their mantra, which meant tough and physical, football without pads. Then his team began to shoot well, or better, which made the Shockers dangerous, served three ways. They did not, it should be noted, luck into a national semifinal into Atlanta. They battered four opponents, beat each soundly, beat two by double digits. Along the way, three higher seeds fell: first Pittsburgh (No. 8), then Gonzaga (No. 1), then the Buckeyes. “I understand they’re shooting off fireworks back in Wichita,” Marshall said. After upsets became the new normal, of course the West Region of the N.C.A.A. tournament ended this way, with the No. 9 seed left standing. A team with a nickname sure to inspire puns from coast to coast until the Final Four tips off. Ohio State had taken the improbable route to this point, behind back-to-back buzzer-beaters, a pair of shots hoisted in the final seconds to snatch consecutive victories over Iowa State and Arizona. Aaron Craft made the first and assisted on the second, and the Internet nearly exploded. Someone even said Chuck Norris planned to shave his head to look more like Craft, after Craft battered him in a fistfight. So there was that. Wichita State entered this game with its usual underdog status and a more impressive tournament résumé. The Shockers won their first three tournament games by a combined 38 points. Fans filed into the Staples Center early, the majority clad in red. Supporters of the Shockers filled the section behind the team bench, a spot of yellow in a sea of red, and the assembled refused to sit until the halftime buzzer sounded. Wichita State made its run over the final 11 minutes of the first half. The score was 19-15, advantage Shockers, when guard Tekele Cotton made a 3-pointer. Guard Demetric Williams followed with another 3 from almost the same spot. As Ohio State called a timeout, Williams danced back to the sideline, full of swagger, as WuShock implored the crowd to stand. They were already standing. Ohio State (29-8) trailed by 20 points with 12 minutes 39 seconds left. As the second half continued, that 20-point lead dwindled.Deshaun Thomas, so cold in the first half he nearly froze solid, called for the ball, fought into double teams, scored and rebounded as if possessed. At the end of a 28-11 run, Ohio State trailed, 62-59. Here was the same Wichita State team that lost at home against Evansville in late February, that lost twice to Creighton in early March. Another Buckeyes comeback seemed inevitable. In the stands, a fan waved a sign that read “100 percent Cotton.” Indeed. Indicative of a team that lacks a true superstar but makes up for it with balance, Cotton, quiet for much of Saturday, made a series of key plays down the stretch. This included the 3-pointer that made it 65-59 and an offensive rebound that extended the next possession. “We just did what we’ve been doing all year,” guard Fred VanVleet said. Afterward, Ohio State could only lament its missed shots, 42 of them, to be exact. The Shockers had wanted to stop Craft from driving, to force the Buckeyes outside. That game plan worked well. Ohio State took 25 3-point attempts. It made five. Asked for his assessment of why the Buckeyes lost, Coach Thad Matta clenched his teeth and started back at his questioner. “Were you in there?” Matta said, then added, referring to the team’s field goal percentage: “Thirty-one percent.” When the final horn sounded, the Shockers’ fans were standing, clad in yellow, as they waved their signs. Coaches fist-bumped other coaches. WuShock signed autographs and posed for photographs. Forward Cleanthony Early made a beeline for Marshall, nearly knocked him over, nearly knocked off those yellow glasses. Early screamed, “Here we go, baby!” Next stop: Atlanta for the national semifinals. | NCAA Men's Basketball,March Madness;College basketball;Ohio State;Wichita State University |
ny0189715 | [
"nyregion",
"connecticut"
] | 2009/05/17 | Asian Fare to Fill Your Cart | In Vietnamese, A Dong means “Asian community,” and at 32,000 square feet, the store that caters to this particular community is a colossal one. The sprawling fresh produce section holds many familiar items, like scallions, bean sprouts and guavas, as well as some unusual pear hybrids, called yali and nashi. Alongside napa cabbage and bok choy are several less commonplace cabbages and unusual squashes like long and fuzzy. Produce prices are more than reasonable. Three bunches of scallions, for instance, are 99 cents. The array of meats and fish is just as exotic and reasonably priced. Crispy, well-roasted ducks go for $15.50 apiece, with heads. An especially diverse selection of pork pieces was on sale recently, featuring parts like stomach, heart, kidneys, intestines (both large and small), tongue and spleen (from $1.35 to $2.79 a pound). Also available were live blue crabs, king mackerel and whole skate ($2.50, $5.50 and $1.75 a pound, respectively). Moving briskly through the rest of the clean, well-lighted store is all but impossible. Radish, taro, and turnip cakes ($3.09) are among many refrigerated items, along with tofu and jars of kimchi ($3.09 for 16 ounces). A freezer showcases chicken gyoza, mini pork buns and most everything else you would find on a dim sum cart. Nearly an entire aisle is devoted to a huge selection of teas. And once you’ve added dried mushrooms, Thai curries, Japanese nori, jars of pickled fish and quail eggs to your cart, check out the far end of A Dong for its assortment of ceramic bowls and plates, bamboo steamer baskets and miscellaneous cookware. A Dong Supermarket, 160 Shield Street, West Hartford, (860) 953-8903. Open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week. CHRISTOPHER BROOKS | Vietnam;Shopping and Retail;Connecticut |
ny0121838 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2012/09/20 | In New York, Poor Smokers Spend 25% of Income on Cigarettes, Study Says | ALBANY — Low-income smokers in New York spend 25 percent of their income on cigarettes, according to a new study, which led advocates for smokers’ rights to say it proved high taxes were regressive and ineffective. The American Cancer Society said that the study, using state data, showed a need to help more poor New Yorkers quit smoking or never start. The study was conducted by the Public Health and Policy Research program of RTI, a nonprofit institute. In New York, which has the nation’s highest cigarette taxes, a pack of cigarettes can cost $12, though many smokers have turned to buying cheaper cigarettes online or to using roll-your-own devices. Wealthier smokers — those earning $60,000 or more — spend 2 percent on cigarettes, according to the study. “The poor pay $600 million in cigarette taxes and get little help in quitting,” Russ Sciandra of the American Cancer Society said. Mr. Sciandra said state statistics showed that smokers earning less than $30,000 a year paid 39 percent of state and city taxes on cigarettes. He added that more of the cigarette tax revenue should be used to finance smoking-cessation programs. Mr. Sciandra said other studies showed that lower-income smokers had less success at quitting. He said low-income smokers trying to quit were hampered by being around many smokers and having less cash to buy smoking-cessation aids. Audrey Silk of Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment, an advocacy group, said the study showed that cigarette taxes were punitive and “undeniably regressive.” “It busts their theory that high taxes equal submission to their coercive measure,” Ms. Silk said. She criticized those in government who opposed smoking and increased related taxes. Peter Constantakes of the State Health Department argued that tax increases and other programs were helping more people to quit. “New York is promoting a number of antismoking initiatives, including targeted media campaigns, that are designed to reduce the smoking rate among lower-income groups and prevent young people from becoming smokers,” he said. | Smoking and Tobacco;New York State;Sales and Excise Taxes;RTI International |
ny0207623 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2009/06/07 | High-Value Prisoners Killed in Pakistan | ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Militants ambushed a military convoy that was carrying two high-value prisoners on Saturday, killing the two prisoners and a soldier, highlighting the reach the militants still have north of the capital, a month after a military campaign against them began. The prisoners, captured during the military’s campaign in the Swat Valley, were important part of the leadership of the area. They were deputies of Sufi Muhammed, the spiritual leader whose son-in-law Fazlullah, leads the Taliban there. Mr. Muhammed leads a banned group called Tehrik-i-Nafaz-i-Shariah-Muhammadi, or TNSM, which was closely linked to the Taliban. He was the leader who concluded a controversial peace deal with the Pakistanis government in February, seen as a capitulation to militants. His deputies were Muhammed Alam and the group’s spokesman, Amir Izat Khan, the military and locals said. A spokesman for Pakistan’s military, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, said by telephone that the attack happened at 5 a.m. near a village called Sakha Kot just north of Peshawar, the regional capital. A convoy of about six military vehicles was stopped when it hit a bomb in the road, General Abbas said. General Abbas said it was still unclear what the reason for the ambush was, and why the prisoners themselves were killed during the course of it. Five soldiers were also wounded. “I would say that it’s premature to conjecture that they were out to rescue them or to kill the security forces,” he said. The attack seemed to underscore the continued vulnerability of Pakistan’s security forces, as they continue to fight a campaign against the Taliban. Military commanders have said the fight would be over within days, but since that announcement, a suicide bomber has struck and the ambush took place. The United States has been pressing Pakistan to take action against its spreading Islamic insurgency, and strongly supports the military campaign. On a three-day visit to Pakistan, Richard C. Holbrooke, the Obama administration’s top envoy to Pakistan, praised the military’s efforts, as a fresh start in the fight. The military has conducted two previous campaigns against militants in the area, but neither were successful, in part because it pulled back before completing the job. “I am personally quite convinced that they are utterly serious about this issue,” Mr. Holbrooke said at a news conference in Islamabad on Friday. | Defense and Military Forces;Pakistan;Taliban;Civil War and Guerrilla Warfare |
ny0133911 | [
"business"
] | 2008/03/01 | Aloof From Recession | IN a scene from the fourth season of the HBO mob saga “The Sopranos,” the crime boss Tony Soprano gathers his crew chiefs together for a dressing-down. The 2002 recession is in full swing, but that is no excuse, he tells them. They are not earning enough for the family. He asks his consigliere, Silvio Dante, to name the two industries that are known to be recession-proof. “Certain aspects of the entertainment business,” Mr. Dante says. “And our thing.” With all due respect, Mr. Dante was wrong. Some economists argue that no industry is really recession-proof, or at least it depends on the characteristics of a given recession. Organized crime, in part because it meets much of the demand for vices, can be recession-resistant, as can “certain aspects of the entertainment business.” But while the cable television business, for instance, has historically done well during downturns, the situation gets complicated when it comes to premium and pay-per-view services, as Gary Kim noted this week at TMCNet. There are plenty of other industries, though, that have historically done well in recessions — particularly those that serve basic needs like food, energy and health care. This, Daniel Gross wrote this week in Slate, explains why Wal-Mart is doing so well lately, while many other retailers are struggling. “In a pinched economy, consumers are embracing their inner skinflint,” he wrote. “And Wal-Mart is a penny pincher’s paradise.” The Wal-Mart example shows how recession resistance is a function of what economists would describe as a low income elasticity of demand — meaning that people will buy certain goods and services even as money gets tight. What, then, explains the recent success of World Wrestling Entertainment, whose revenue depends on perhaps the most discretionary of discretionary spending? Terence Kennelly of SeekingAlpha, a blog about stocks, says it is all about strategy. After a series of major setbacks, the company overhauled its marketing and operations, he notes, and so far, the results are good. Does that mean that wrestling is recession-proof? The “next few quarters will be the true test,” he writes. VICTOR’S SPOILS Blu-ray has won the format wars, pushing the competing HD-DVD out of the market for high-definition DVDs. But it is a hollow victory, according to Lucas Mearian of Computerworld, because, he argues, Blu-ray “will tank.” He cites four reasons. First, prices for Blu-ray DVD players will fall, but not by enough. Second, regular DVD players are nearly as good and much less expensive. Third, renting movies — either by mail or pay-per-view — is easier and cheaper than it used to be, and Blu-ray’s main market is sales, not rentals. And finally, downloading movies from the Internet and zapping them to set-top boxes, while a small part of the market, is poised to take off. NUTTY CLAIMS Nutella, a hazelnut spread that is popular in Europe but has never really taken off in the United States, is part of a healthy breakfast, the product’s maker claimed in a television spot in Britain. The advertisement depicted mothers feeding the sweet, gooey stuff to their children while an announcer said that “surprisingly, each jar contains 52 hazelnuts, the equivalent of a glass of skimmed milk and some cocoa.” The Advertising Standards Authority in Britain concluded that the ad was misleading and ordered it withdrawn. Eating a whole jar of Nutella to get the equivalent nutritional value of a glass of skim milk would also mean ingesting more than 100 grams of sugar, one nutrition watchdog noted . | Computers and the Internet;Television;Cable Television;Advertising and Marketing |
ny0273744 | [
"us"
] | 2016/05/14 | Homicide Rates Jump in Many Major U.S. Cities, New Data Shows | WASHINGTON — Experts cannot agree on what to call a recent rise in homicides, much less its cause, but new data on Friday that showed a sharp spike in homicide rates in more than 20 cities rekindled debate over whether it was time for alarm. The data showed particularly significant increases in homicides in six cities in the first three months of the year compared with the same period last year — Chicago, Dallas, Jacksonville, Fla., Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Memphis. But almost as many cities reported a notable decline in recent months. New York saw a 25 percent drop, while Las Vegas’s homicide total nearly doubled. Law enforcement officials struggled to explain the numbers and differed over their significance. The heroin epidemic, a resurgence in gang violence and economic factors in some cities were all offered as explanations, but the most contentious theory came from an agency that usually does not worry much about local crime: the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The agency’s director, James Comey, has linked rising crime to less aggressive policing — the “viral video effect,” he called it this week, rejecting the more racially charged “Ferguson effect.” His theory, however, found little support from the White House, law enforcement groups, criminologists or even the group that gave him the new data on Friday. Mr. Comey said that a string of videos that went viral on the Internet had led some officers to become reluctant to confront suspects. He conceded that he was operating off anecdotal evidence, but such reluctance, he said, could be contributing to the increase in homicides in some cities — an increase that he said left him deeply worried. “Something is happening,” he said on Wednesday. But the White House pushed back again on Friday. The White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, said that the increase in homicides in some cities was a concern and that the administration had already taken steps to address it, including a roundup by the Marshals Service last year of some 8,000 fugitives. But he said that “this is not a widespread phenomenon, at least based on what we know now.” Regarding Mr. Comey’s theory, Mr. Earnest said: “This administration makes policy decisions that are rooted in evidence, that are rooted in science. We can’t make broad, sweeping policy decisions, or draw conclusions based on anecdotal evidence. That’s irresponsible and ultimately counterproductive.” Murders and most other types of crime have dropped since an alarming peak in the early 1990s and are now near historic lows. Criminologists said that while a rise in homicides in some cities in 2015 and early this year was potentially worrisome, it was far too early to draw any conclusions. “A lot of observers are winning Olympic medals for jumping to conclusions,” said Franklin E. Zimring, a criminologist at the University of California, Berkeley. James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University, said the uptick represented essentially a blip in so short a time, and he said it was a reflection of how low the crime rates had dropped. “What’s basically happening is these cities are becoming victims of their own success,” said Professor Fox. The crime rate “can’t go to zero, and when you hit really low numbers, it can only go up.” Mr. Fox said Mr. Comey’s idea of a “viral video effect” was contradicted by the many cities that had decreases in homicides, even as police videos continued to emerge. “A statement like that from the director doesn’t help,” he said. “It takes a very hot issue and pours even more fuel on it, and it takes a politically charged issue and ramps up the debate. I think calmer heads should prevail.” The idea of a “Ferguson effect” — named for the Missouri city where the police shooting of an unarmed black man, Michael Brown, in 2014 prompted widespread protests — was first cited by the police chief in St. Louis, D. Samuel Dotson III. It took hold in the popular lexicon after a Wall Street Journal column a year ago blamed the phenomenon for the spike in crime. U.S. Homicide Rates Rise in Early 2016 Data released Friday by the Major Cities Chiefs Police Association, based on reports from more than 60 cities, showed notable increases in murders in about two dozen cities in the first three months of the year compared to last year and a 9 percent increase nationwide. But nearly 40 cities showed a decline or remained essentially flat. Some proponents of the theory said the string of police confrontations and widely seen videos that followed the Ferguson shooting had made some officers reluctant to aggressively police their districts. But the name itself generated a backlash from critics who saw it as blaming the protesters in Ferguson for the rising crime and justifying police misconduct in officers’ confrontations with the public. New labels for the theory — descriptions less tied to the Ferguson controversy — began to replace it. New York’s police commissioner, William J. Bratton, took to calling it the “YouTube effect.” Asked what he would call it, Mr. Fox of Northeastern did not hide his skepticism. “The Chicken Little response to Ferguson,” he said. Richard Rosenfeld, a criminologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, who had studied claims of a police stand-down, found that an increase in homicides in St. Louis had actually begun before Mr. Brown’s death, suggesting that other factors were driving the rise. But he said homicide rates last year indicated that the public focus on police use-of-force incidents might have had some role in the increase in homicides, whether it is because of “de-policing” — a slowdown by officers — or soured police relations with residents. More information, he said, is needed to know for sure. Darrel W. Stephens, executive director of the Major Cities Chiefs Police Association, which released the data on Friday, said that the rising homicide rate in some cities was cause for concern but that “it’s not something people should be overly alarmed about.” As for Mr. Comey’s suggestion of a “viral video effect,” he said: “I’m not there yet. I don’t believe so. You may have some who do that, but police officers don’t get into the business to not do the work they’ve been hired to do. They do it well.” In Chicago, the rise in shootings and homicides — homicides were up 56 percent from last year as of early May — has become an urgent matter. The homicide rate has slowed since earlier in the year, and police officials over the last month say they have seen hopeful signs, with upticks in gun recoveries, investigative stops and murder arrests. Still, more than 50 people were shot in Chicago last weekend , making it among the most violent weekends in months. At the other end of the spectrum was New York City, where homicides fell in the first three months of the year to 68 from 85 in the same period last year. Dermot Shea, the city’s deputy police commissioner of operations, said the force had blended several strategies, including the use of data, technology and collaborating with the community. “We believe that we are not at the end, we are closer to the beginning,” he said this month. “It is exciting to see, really, how low we can push this crime down.” Perhaps the brightest trend, however, came in Milwaukee, where homicides were down about 35 percent as of this week, after surging 70 percent last year. “It’s far too soon to claim grand success,” the city’s police chief, Edward A. Flynn, said, noting that nonfatal shootings were about where they were a year ago. “We’re guarded. We believe we’re having an impact.” Chief Flynn said the bad publicity for the police nationwide had certainly put his officers “on the defensive” in dealing with the public. But he said that dynamic had changed. “They’re back in the game right now,” he said. | Murders and Homicides;Crime;Police;Video Recordings; Downloads and Streaming;James B Comey;FBI;Urban area |
ny0216012 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2010/04/17 | Spitzer Antagonist Advises Ex-Madam’s Bid for Governor | Roger J. Stone Jr. has more than a bit of a thing for Eliot Spitzer . In 2008, he reveled in the disclosure of the governor’s dalliance with prostitutes from a pricey escort service called Emperor’s Club V.I.P. He delighted in Mr. Spitzer’s downfall — and continues to do so. He even claimed credit for bringing Mr. Spitzer’s penchant to the attention of the federal authorities, however unconvincingly. So it has been little surprise that the self-proclaimed Dark Prince of political dirty tricks has placed himself squarely behind the unorthodox campaign for governor — and grand décolletage — of one Kristin Davis, an erstwhile madam for another escort service. Ms. Davis’s unproven claim to have also served as Mr. Spitzer’s procurer is so often repeated in her news releases that one might mistake it for a central plank of her platform, which includes legalizing, regulating and taxing prostitution and marijuana, and legalizing same-sex marriage . Thus it is perhaps no coincidence that nearly every reference to her run for the office that Mr. Spitzer once held brings with it, for better or worse, an echo of his disgrace. Though Mr. Stone’s name does not appear on the State Board of Elections forms filed by the committee set up by Ms. Davis, the Friends of Kristin Davis, the three-page document nonetheless reveal traces of Mr. Stone, a longtime Republican consultant who has referred to politics as “performance art” and cultivates in a cloak-and-dagger sensibility. For example, the home telephone number for the campaign’s treasurer, Andrew Miller, is in fact linked to Mr. Stone; the cellphone for Mr. Miller is associated with Mr. Stone’s Florida public relations company, Drake Ventures. Indeed, Mr. Miller, a fresh-faced young man in his 20s, is the stepson of Mr. Stone’s assistant of 18 years, Diane Thorne, Mr. Stone said in an e-mail message. And then there is the matter of the address the young treasurer listed on the Board of Elections committee registration form — 55 West 25th Street in Manhattan. It appears that it is from Apartment 25L in that building that the campaign is run. It was in the same stylish building that Ashley Dupré , the Emperor’s Club prostitute whose tryst with Mr. Spitzer was detailed in federal court papers, lived at the time of their assignation and its disclosure. Mr. Stone, who also acknowledged by e-mail that the apartment there is his, said he chose the address for another reason. “I moved to the building from Central Park South because a friend and his wife live in a two-bedroom apartment on a high floor and love the building,” he wrote. He said in an interview that he did not learn that Ms. Dupré had lived in the same building until after he moved in, calling it “happenstance.” A visit to the address resulted in the doorman ringing the apartment to see if Mr. Miller was home, and an invitation. Mr. Miller, with a wool hat pulled down over his ears, was waiting at the elevator. He said it was no secret who was running things. “This is not our first rodeo,” he said, adding that if there had been any intention to mask Mr. Stone’s central role in the committee, a post office box would have been listed on the committee registration instead of Ms. Dupré’s old building on West 25th Street. (In fact, the Board of Elections form explicitly prohibits that, requiring a residential address.) The preliminary filings contain no information about the committee’s financial support, which Ms. Davis’s campaign is not required by law to disclose until July 15. The relationship between Mr. Stone and Mr. Spitzer is, to say the least, complex. Mr. Stone was fired as a consultant to New York State Senate Republicans in summer 2007 after accusations surfaced that he had left a threatening voice mail message for Mr. Spitzer’s father, Bernard. Mr. Stone has denied making the call, a tirade laced with invective that threatened to force the elder Mr. Spitzer to explain under oath what the caller characterized as “shady campaign loans” Mr. Spitzer made to his son during the former governor’s unsuccessful 1994 bid for attorney general. For his part, Mr. Stone denied in the interview that Ms. Davis’s run for office, which he called “a guerrilla campaign,” was in any way a vendetta against Mr. Spitzer. Asked to describe his role, he said, “I guess I’m the campaign strategist.” Ms. Davis served a three-month jail sentence on Rikers Island in 2008 after pleading guilty to promoting prostitution. Mr. Stone said she had been the victim of a great injustice — “screwed by the system,” as he put it. Her case, he said, and her bail had been handled differently from those of men who had been facing the same charges. Mr. Stone said that she would be able to secure the 50,000 signatures she needed to get on the Libertarian Party ballot line and that her views on legalizing prostitution, marijuana and same-sex marriage left her well positioned to raise money. “It’s not about Eliot Spitzer at this point; it’s about moving beyond that,” he said in the interview. “She makes a compelling case as to why legalizing prostitution would both protect the public safety and promote the public health, and pay part of the public deficit. And the same thing with marijuana, which is now on the ballot in California, so not so far-fetched. And the fact that the Senate Democrats have not passed gay marriage, she and I both believe, is a disgrace.” For her part, Ms. Davis said in an interview that she agreed with her strategist — that the focus on Mr. Spitzer did not stem from any vendetta. But she said she thought her jail term, and the fact that Mr. Spitzer faced no criminal charges, underscored a fundamental unfairness in the system. “I’m not a particularly bitter person,” she said. “I committed a crime, I took responsibility for that crime and I served time for it. And I hope to be viewed as someone who took responsibility for their actions.” But, she added, “I do believe that any public official, especially someone who is a chief executive of a state, should not be allowed to betray the public trust.” In addition to the jail term Ms. Davis received in the unrelated case, she noted that one of the Emperor’s Club defendants is still sitting in federal prison for his crimes, while Mr. Spitzer is considering a political comeback. “I think that does set a bad precedent,” she said, noting the number of state political figures, like Gov. David A. Paterson and a former State Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, who have been convicted of crimes or are under investigation. “There are different standards for the political class and the average person,” she said. “We mention Spitzer a lot and that refreshes people on what’s going on in the political world.” | Stone Roger J Jr;Politics and Government;Prostitution;Board of Elections (NYS);Dupre Ashley Alexandra;New York State;Davis Kristin;Spitzer Eliot L |
ny0257614 | [
"technology"
] | 2011/01/11 | Dirk Meyer, Chief Executive of A.M.D., Is Ousted | The chip maker Advanced Micro Devices on Monday pushed out its 49-year-old chief executive, Dirk Meyer, in a move that took industry analysts by surprise. In its announcement , released after the markets closed, the company sought to reassure Wall Street by reporting in advance a few details of fourth-quarter results. It said revenue for the quarter would be about $1.65 billion, slightly head of the analysts’ estimates of $1.62 billion, as compiled by Thomson Reuters. A.M.D. said its guidance for 2011 results remained unchanged. The company named its chief financial officer, Thomas Seifert, 47, as interim chief executive, and said the search for a new chief would begin immediately. In a statement, Bruce Claflin, the A.M.D. chairman, did not address the timing of the surprise move or its reason, beyond generalities. He thanked Mr. Meyer, an engineer and former chip designer who became chief executive in July 2008, for guiding A.M.D. through a revamping of its product lines, a spinoff of its manufacturing plants and settling its long-running antitrust suit against its far-larger rival, Intel. But with those tasks accomplished, Mr. Claflin said, A.M.D. now needed to improve its market position, growth and financial returns. “We believe a change in leadership,” Mr. Claflin said, “will accelerate the company’s ability to accomplish these objectives.” Still, analysts were puzzled by the move and its timing. “The snake isn’t moving fast enough, so you cut off its head?” said Stacy Rasgon, an analyst at Bernstein Research. “The timing is extremely odd, and it’s only going to fuel uncertainty in the stock.” A.M.D. shares dropped more than 4 percent in after-hours trading, down 37 cents to $8.82 a share. In the regular session, shares had risen 36 cents to $9.19 a share. In its statement, the company said that its product plans for graphics chips and new microprocessor designs remained on track. A.M.D. has long had a roller-coaster trajectory, living in the shadow of Intel, the producer of the microprocessors used in most personal computers. At times, A.M.D. moved ahead of Intel in cutting-edge designs, while in other cases, it suffered heavy losses. Today, A.M.D. holds about a 12 percent share of the personal computer microprocessor market, analysts say. In 2009, A.M.D. freed itself from debt and the cost of constantly investing in new factories, spinning them off into a separate company called GlobalFoundries. The investment arm of the Persian Gulf emirate Abu Dhabi took the majority stake. A.M.D. still owns about 30 percent of GlobalFoundries. A.M.D. holds a strong position in specialized graphics processing chips, with about a 50 percent share, as video performance becomes increasingly important in computing. | Advanced Micro Devices Inc;Suspensions Dismissals and Resignations;Appointments and Executive Changes |
ny0058955 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2014/08/11 | Rivals for Governor Court Voters as Connecticut G.O.P. Primary Nears | BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Thomas C. Foley and John McKinney would love to focus on the Democratic incumbent in the campaign for governor. But first, one must eliminate the other in the Republican primary on Tuesday, making their different styles and policy prescriptions all that matter for the time being. Mr. Foley, 62, a self-made businessman who was George W. Bush’s ambassador to Ireland, has been trying to connect better with voters than he did in 2010, when he was endorsed for governor by the state party but lost the election by a slim 6,500 votes. Walking around parts of Bridgeport that have seen better days, he greets voters these days with an open-ended, “So what can the state do to help you?” and lets others do the talking. Mr. McKinney, 50, the minority leader of the State Senate, is a son of Stewart B. McKinney, who long represented Fairfield County in Congress, and has 15 years of his own experience in the State Legislature. He has been at train stations by 5:30 every morning, pressed and caffeinated, looking for voters. Many cannot help but note his mastery of policy making at a granular level, bolstering an impression that he would be someone who would hit the ground running. Bleary-eyed commuters who brush him off with the excuse that they do not bother voting get his standard response. “I tell them, if you don’t vote, you can’t complain,” he said, as he refueled the other day over bacon and eggs at the Glory Days Diner in Greenwich. Watching a reporter eye the items on his plate, Kristin Fox, his fiancée and frequent companion on the predawn campaign stops, said, “This might be his only meal of the day, so he needs his protein.” Michael Del Valle, the waiter who brought the plates, had never met Mr. McKinney before, but said he had been telling his friends to put all issues aside because “if he’s anything like his father, he’s a great man.” Thirty years ago, when Mr. Del Valle was living paycheck to paycheck in Stamford, he said he was badly injured by an assailant. He said no one in local government would help him find ways to stay afloat until he could resume work, so he called Representative Stewart McKinney’s office in Washington. “He called me back personally and made connections, and then I got the help I needed,” Mr. Del Valle recalled. (Representative McKinney died in 1987.) Last week, while John McKinney was campaigning in Greenwich, where Mr. Foley lives, Mr. Foley was in Bridgeport, a city that may have cost him the 2010 election and is next to Mr. McKinney’s political base in Fairfield. Image Thomas C. Foley, left, a Republican candidate for governor of Connecticut, campaigning in the Hollow neighborhood of Bridgeport. Credit Christopher Gregory for The New York Times Looking crisp in a white shirt and gray pants, Mr. Foley leaned in close to the small knot of people who took a seat outside the Red Rooster deli and salted the conversation with a hefty dose of asides like “Glad you asked” and “Call me Tom.” Democrats outnumber Republicans 10 to 1 in Bridgeport, and few of those present are even eligible to vote on Tuesday. Yet, Mr. Foley was not writing off anyone, and walked away with the support of Maria Pereira, a former prominent member of the local Working Families Party, should he make it to November. He also impressed two members of a newly organized Peace and Progress Party. “We don’t believe in labels,” one member, Angel Reyes, said. “We believe in people.” Another voter wondered where the candidate stood on the difficulties that families face when children become too old to receive free government mental health services. Mr. Foley told her that he understood all too well the cost of ignoring mental health issues as someone who has a sister who has struggled with such issues for 40 years. “She’s at a hospital in Bridgeport now,” he shared with the group. “So you get it,” murmured Marta Reyes, a family advocate for a local nonprofit. “I do,” he replied. Viewers who watched a final candidates’ forum on Sunday would have heard just a few policy differences separating the would-be governors. (The winner will take on the Democratic incumbent, Dannel P. Malloy). Mr. McKinney voted for a ban on large-capacity gun magazines that Connecticut passed after the school shooting in Newtown — an act of allegiance, he said, to his constituents from that town. Mr. Foley insisted, without specifics, that the bill would have been different had he been in office and would have done more to tackle mental health issues. Mr. McKinney favors eliminating state income taxes for filers making $75,000 or less a year, while Mr. Foley prefers trimming the state’s regressive sales tax. Mr. McKinney opposes reinstalling tolls on Connecticut highways to make up a shortfall from the state’s gas tax now that cars are more fuel-efficient. He called tolls just another “new tax on already overburdened taxpayers.” Mr. Foley said he was somewhat open to the idea “if it can be shown that tolls can be used to reduce congestion.” Stylistic differences between the two were more pronounced. Mr. Foley sought to paint Mr. McKinney as a “career politician” while holding himself out as someone who is “outside the bubble.” Mr. McKinney kept hammering away at what he said was Mr. Foley’s unwillingness during much of the campaign to roll up his sleeves and immerse himself in the specifics of various bills. Polls have tended to give Mr. Foley the edge, but with turnout expected to be light, the outcome is very much up in the air. | Tom Foley;John McKinney;Connecticut;Primaries;Dannel P Malloy;Republicans;Gubernatorial races |
ny0179944 | [
"business"
] | 2007/08/07 | Security Crosses the Line: Confiscating Chocolate | Running a business that trains professionals who work in the oil, natural gas, power and green energy markets requires an energy reserve of one’s own. I founded this business back in 1991, and travel at least twice a month, mostly internationally. Early in my career, I was the only woman in a group of five colleagues. It was my first business trip to visit a petroleum client in Caracas, Venezuela. I had checked in two pieces of luggage: a suitcase and a cosmetics bag. Sure enough, while everyone else’s luggage arrived at baggage claim, my luggage was in parts unknown. After filing my claim at the airport, I had to make a detour and shop for clothes right before the meeting. All I could find were spike-heeled sandals and a flowery dress. Because I am fair-skinned, the local cosmetics palette was just a bit too dark for me. It was also too flashy. Orange lipstick and glittery eye makeup were my only choices. For a woman trying to impress a client, my worst nightmares had come true. I looked as if I were headed off to a nightclub instead of a meeting with an important oil executive. Fortunately, everyone was too polite to stare at me more than once. Two days later, the security detail showed up at the hotel with a big garbage bag. In my best Spanish, I asked what had happened. They said it had been found on the tarmac. My bags had fallen off the cart, and they claimed they had been run over by an airplane. Since then, things have gotten slightly better. But then there was the chocolate caper. I fly quite a bit between our Oxford, Princeton and Singapore regional offices. Last December, I carried 25 pounds of handmade chocolates to our Oxford employees. Unfortunately, airline security turned into the Grinch. They wanted to confiscate the sweets, saying the jelly content in the load of chocolate I was carrying exceeded my liquids limit. Just as security was about to grab my confections, I saw a woman who had checked me in and flagged her for help. She simply said she would take them and when I returned to the States I could collect them. When I returned to the United States, I began my search. However, the airline I flew operated only a few flights each day. And the person I gave the chocolates to wasn’t working. An official told me I’d have to return to the airport two days later. Only then could someone retrieve my sweets. I did come back. And amazingly someone did find my boxes, all of which were intact. Needless to say, I didn’t share the bounty with anyone at the airport. I consider myself a seasoned traveler. Few things bother me. But we all have a line that shouldn’t be crossed. For me, it’s quite simple. Don’t separate me from my cosmetics. And don’t take my chocolates. Next year, I’ll even do my part. No more jelly-filled chocolates. I’ll buy the solids. But who knows? Maybe they will be too heavy. | Airlines and Airplanes;Luggage;Security and Warning Systems;Venezuela |
ny0250233 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
] | 2011/02/11 | Prosecutors Reduce Charges Against Barry Bonds | Federal prosecutors reduced on Thursday the number of perjury charges against Barry Bonds , cutting the overall charges against him to 5 from 11. In a new indictment filed in federal court in San Francisco, the government retained only four charges that Bonds made false statements to a federal grand jury in December 2003 when he testified in connection with the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative steroids case. The previous indictment included one count of obstruction of justice, which remains in the current indictment, and 10 perjury counts. The new indictment appears to be a result of a previous ruling by Judge Susan Illston of United States District Court to exclude some evidence. That evidence includes doping calendars and log books that prosecutors say link Bonds to his former trainer, Greg Anderson, who spent more than a year in jail for refusing to testify in the case. Without Anderson’s testimony, the judge ruled, that evidence could not be authenticated and had to be excluded from the trial. Anderson will appear in court on March 1 to tell the judge whether he will testify. He is expected to continue to refuse. “In this case, I’d say that the government’s hand was forced to make this decision because the bottom line is that this is a response to the judge’s prior rulings,” said Mathew Rosengart, a partner at the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips law firm and a former federal prosecutor, who is not involved in the case. “But in a way, narrowing the indictment makes the government’s job easier because now it only needs to focus on those five counts,” Rosengart said. “It’s strategic, it’s customary and, frankly, I think it’s smart.” The modified indictment — the third in the case — does not appear to hurt the government’s case any more than it already had been by the judge’s previous rulings. It still includes the heart of the government’s argument: that Bonds lied when he testified that he never knowingly used steroids while chasing baseball’s career home run record. Still remaining is a charge that Bonds lied when he was asked before the grand jury if he ever took steroids that Anderson gave him. “Not that I know of,” Bonds answered, according to the indictment. Also remaining are charges that Bonds lied when he said Anderson never gave him human growth hormone and when he said he never let anyone but a doctor inject him. Each of the remaining counts has a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, according to the latest indictment. Sentencing guidelines for a first offense call for much less than that. Prosecutors and several of Bonds’s lawyers declined to comment Thursday on how the most recent indictment would affect the trial, which is set to begin March 21. On Friday, both sides will present additional arguments to the judge about what evidence should be included in the trial. Already, Illston has excluded several positive drug tests and other evidence relating to Anderson. But the government has won some arguments. Last month, the judge ruled that several athletes would be allowed to testify. Those athletes — several former and current major league baseball players, including Jason Giambi, and one former N.F.L. player — will be called to discuss their connection to Balco and to Anderson. | Bonds Barry;Perjury;Steroids;Doping (Sports);Decisions and Verdicts |
ny0158329 | [
"nyregion",
"long-island"
] | 2008/12/28 | ‘It’s Not Solving People’s Problems, but It’s a Little Help’ | ROOSEVELT ONCE a week, every week, Connee Smith pulls her Nissan Murano into the lot behind Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Church here. She opens the trunk and for the next two hours gives away clothes, free to anyone who needs them. In summer, she lays the clothing on tarps spread under a pussy willow tree. In winter, she leaves the trunk open and runs indoors every so often to warm up while people help themselves. Her supply is donated, gently used. Some weeks it is mostly baby clothes, other weeks it can be men’s shirts. It comes in — from family, parishioners, colleagues, friends of friends — and it goes out with quiet dispatch, which is how Mrs. Smith, 64, works in her ministry of one. “You just see what’s got to get done and you do it,” said Mrs. Smith, a retired office manager. “It’s not solving people’s problems, but it’s a little help.” She had the idea five years ago, she says, when she began volunteering with the church’s outreach program, registering clients at the food bank, which is run with the St. Vincent de Paul conference. “I noticed that people would also want to know where they could get clothing,” she said. So she asked her grown daughters (she has seven) to look through their closets and to put out the word to friends and co-workers. Soon, bagfuls of clothing began arriving at her home in Baldwin. At first, Mrs. Smith set up shop once a month. But a steady supply — and unfailing demand — made her pick up the pace. Her numbers are not huge, and she doesn’t track them — she figures 20 people may shop through her offerings each week — but she sees her work as chipping away at need in Roosevelt, which is among the poorest communities on Long Island. Early on a chilly Tuesday this month, the parish administrator for the first time gave Mrs. Smith a spot inside the parish outreach center, in a bright hallway just off the dark, crowded space where people wait to be summoned one by one for groceries. In a cheery red sweater decorated with snowmen, Mrs. Smith and a neighbor, Maureen Lane, set out their wares. “You try to make it like a little store,” Mrs. Smith says. Within minutes, a light hum of action is under way. People wander back, bantering as they push hangers around a circular rack hung with blouses and blazers. A table is piled with folded shirts and jeans; overflow is stacked on the floor — a turtleneck and jumper for a little girl, embroidered table linens, black pumps, sandals. Tamara Copeland of Freeport looks for clothes for herself and her children. “The church helps us out; they’re very nice people,” she says as she sizes a red, short-sleeved top against her slight frame. Eventually, she scoops the top and a pair of loafers into a plastic grocery bag and hustles back to the line for the food bank. Nearby, Renelus Maxime surveys the shoes, hoping to find something for a 12-year-old daughter growing like a weed. (“Size 9 feet!”) Laid off after 12 years with AT&T, he recently started driving a bus for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, he says, but is struggling to catch up from the months of unemployment. He leaves the clothing area empty-handed. “If I’m not sure that I can use it, I don’t want to waste it,” he says with a smile. This is the way people are, Mrs. Smith explains. “It is absolutely amazing how good the people in Roosevelt are to one another,” she says. “All the bad things people hear are not what we see. People fall on hard times through no fault of their own.” She has known her own hardship. Two and a half years ago her husband of 39 years, Norbert, died of heart failure. Last July, she was found to have peritoneal cancer. After a hysterectomy and months of chemotherapy, she says she is now cancer free. During treatment, doctors advised Mrs. Smith to minimize contact with people because of her weakened immune system, so she stuck to working in the food pantry. But she came back, setting up her Murano in the lot as before. “You get back so much more than you give,” she says. After two hours, about half of her stock is gone. She will go through the rest to determine what to keep and what to toss into donation bins at the local supermarket. Then she will wait to see if anything arrives. It does a few hours later. “When I got home tonight,” she says later on the phone, “one of my friends said a girl just dropped a whole bunch of clothes at her office for me. I always say God is my supplier.” | Christians and Christianity;Apparel;Philanthropy;Long Island (NY) |
ny0224140 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2010/11/23 | Israel Enacts Bill to Bar Ceding Land Before Vote | JERUSALEM — Israel ’s right-leaning Parliament approved legislation late Monday that could hamper the leadership’s ability to seal future peace deals with the Palestinians or Syria. The measure requires that any peace deal involving the ceding of territory annexed by Israel — namely East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights — must be put to a national referendum. The West Bank, which Israel never annexed, does not fall within the scope of the legislation, but it would include other pieces of sovereign Israeli territory that might be ceded in the context of land swaps in a peace agreement. The bill was introduced by a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s conservative Likud Party, and Mr. Netanyahu supported it. It passed, after a long debate, with 65 votes in the 120-seat Parliament. Thirty-three members voted against, and the rest were absent. Politicians from the center and left who opposed the legislation, and some rightists who supported it, said it was intended to impede potential land-for-peace deals. It comes at a time when Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are stalled over Israeli construction in the settlements . Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, denounced the measure, saying, “The Israeli leadership, yet again, is making a mockery of international law, which is not subject to the whims of Israeli public opinion.” Mr. Erekat said that under international law, Israel was required to withdraw from all of the territory that it occupied in 1967. “Ending the occupation of our land is not and cannot be dependent on any sort of referendum,” he added. Tzipi Livni, the leader of the centrist Kadima Party, and Mr. Netanyahu’s leading rival in the elections last year, voted against the legislation. She said it was “not about who wants and who does not want to cede parts of land.” “It is about decisions that should be taken by the leadership that understands the scale of the problems and is privy to all their aspects,” she said. “The people are not a substitute for such leadership.” She described Mr. Netanyahu as “a weak prime minister,” who found it convenient to be hobbled. The prime minister’s office responded with a brief statement in which it said, “A referendum would prevent an irresponsible agreement, as well as ratifying any agreement that would meet Israel’s national interests with a strong public backing.” Politicians from the far right National Union Party said the goal of the bill was to prevent the destruction of the State of Israel by means of a peace agreement foisted on the nation by outside forces. Two senior members of the center-left Labor Party, which is a partner in Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition, voted for the legislation. Other Labor members opposed it or were absent. Einat Wilf, a Labor member of Parliament who voted against the bill, said it presented “a serious blow to Israel’s political system.” “The referendum is a dangerous tool for a country with no tradition of using it,” she said. The legislation was an amendment to a 1999 law that broadly outlined a requirement for a referendum on any territorial concessions involving Jerusalem or the Golan Heights. The new law details the procedures for such a referendum, turning it into a practical possibility for the first time. It would require a referendum if a peace deal reached by the government were to win the support of at least 60 members of Parliament. If a deal were to win the support of two-thirds of the Parliament, or 80 members, there would be no need for a referendum, according to the law. Israel annexed East Jerusalem shortly after capturing it and the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 war. Israel claims sovereignty over East Jerusalem, describing it as an indivisible part of its capital. The annexation was never recognized internationally, and the Palestinians demand East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and extended Israeli law to the area in 1981. Any peace deal with Syria would necessitate its return. | Israeli Settlements;Palestinians;Referendums;Law and Legislation;Likud Party;Netanyahu Benjamin;Israel;East Jerusalem |
ny0264377 | [
"science"
] | 2011/12/06 | George Dyson: Looking Backward to Put New Technology in Focus | BELLINGHAM, Wash. — More than most of us, the science historian George Dyson spends his days thinking about technologies, old and very new. His 1986 book “Baidarka” was a meditation on an ancient Aleut kayak. Eleven years later, in “Darwin Among the Machines,” he wrote of the history of artificial intelligence. “Project Orion,” in 2002, focused on an abortive NASA project to use nuclear bombs to power space rockets. “Turing’s Cathedral,” his reconstruction of the early moments of modern digital computing, will be published in March. Though this 58-year-old author’s works are centered on technology, they often have an autobiographical subtext. Freeman Dyson, the physicist and mathematician who was a protagonist of Project Orion, is his father. Esther Dyson, the Internet philosopher and high-tech investor, is his sister. We spoke for three hours at his cottage here, and later by telephone. A condensed and edited version of the conversations follows. Why did you spend 10 years researching “Turing’s Cathedral”? It’s an important story. And a good one! I don’t know a single person who is not immersed in the digital universe. Even people who are strongly anti-technology are probably voicing that view on a Web site somewhere. Third-world villagers without electricity have cellphones. So we are all living in this digital world that started from zero. With many forms, we have no idea how they began. But the digital world actually goes back to a single point — the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The story I tell in my book is of how at the end of World War II, John von Neumann and his team of mathematicians and engineers began building the very machine that Alan Turing had envisioned in his 1936 paper, “On Computable Numbers.” This was a machine that could answer any question asked of it. Now, there’d been computing machines before von Neumann’s. They were extremely slow. The I.A.S. machine was the first to have an absolutely modern form of memory where you could go to any location at any time. On von Neumann’s machine, you put in a 10-bit address and you got back a 40-bit string of code. Once that was possible, numbers ceased being symbols and began doing things. The numbers have been proliferating ever since. Almost all computers we use today — from our iPads to laptops — are essentially copies of this one. Aside from its speed, why did von Neumann’s computer become the prototype for all others? Von Neumann was tremendously interested in self-reproducing machines, and he set up the conditions where that was likely to happen. Everything his team did was clearly documented and publicized right away. The machine was not patented. The intention was for it to be copied, which it was, in about 10 different places. It’s why copies were made of the copies and are still being made of the copies. The computer was built to aid in the development of the hydrogen bomb. Why was it needed for that? There’s no way to partially test a hydrogen bomb. A computing machine was needed to model the explosion before the actual test was done. Of course, von Neumann had many interests beyond the bomb. Once the machine was up and running, he used it for weather prediction and to model biological and stellar evolution. Von Neumann certainly supported the idea of building an H-bomb — indeed, he advocated preventive nuclear war against Russia — but he also viewed the bomb as a chance to get a computer built. Did you ever meet von Neumann? I don’t think I did. He died when I was 4. Nonetheless, I grew up with his computer. It was on campus when I was a child, and it fascinated me. In 1958 — for reasons I explain in the book — the computer was completely shut down, never to run again. After that, the computer building seemed a bit like a morgue with a dead body in it. Something interesting was there. But what was it? Writing this book finally got me behind those closed doors. The I.A.S. sounds like a remarkable place to grow up. Was it? In many ways, it was. Wherever you grow up, you think of it as normal. I happened to grow up in a place where people were designing a hydrogen bomb and inventing the digital universe. My sister, Esther, who is older, remembers more of the great scientists who were there. I have memories of Kurt Gödel, who was a friend of our mother’s. Some of the physicists were not particularly child-friendly. When they came to the house, we were not part of the conversation. Edward Teller, he liked children. Hans Bethe did, too. Whenever my sister and I went to Fuld Hall, the main building, you could see doors quickly shut. At one point, someone complained about us. Robert Oppenheimer, who was the director, thereafter ruled that no children could come into the building unescorted. Einstein’s secretary, Helen Dukas, was our baby sitter. I remember once being jumpy. “Why don’t you read a book?” she said. “There are no books to read,” I snapped. And she went to the shelf and pulled down Thor Hyderdahl’s “Kon Tiki.” This was the first adult book I’d ever been given. It would shape me. You left the cocoon of Princeton when you were 16. Why? I was a rebellious adolescent. It was the ’60s. Everyone was rebellious. I hated high school. When they wouldn’t let me graduate early because I hadn’t taken gym, I quit altogether and went off to British Columbia. It was a time when a lot of kids ran away from home. My father didn’t stop me. At first, I worked with this guy who’d built his own boat, and we ran around the Northwest delivering things. I loved it. Canada had real wilderness. British Columbia was like Yosemite in the ocean. Being there was so liberating — getting my own food, making my own living. I built myself a boat in the style of the Aleut-Russian kayak, the baidarka. I’d work on tugboats and fishing boats for a while, and then I’d take my baidarka and explore. I did this for about 20 years. And today you make your living as a historian of science and technology. How does a high school dropout get to do that? Hey, this is America. You can do what you want! I love this idea that someone who didn’t finish high school can write books that get taken seriously. History is one of the only fields where contributions by amateurs are taken seriously, providing you follow the rules and document your sources. In history, it’s what you write, not what your credentials are. If von Neumann were alive today, what would he be doing? His greatest interest, at the end, was in biology and neurology. I think he would be studying the brain. And of course, he’d now have the tools to do that. These fantastic new technologies like functional M.R.I. are exactly what he envisioned. Here was someone who used his brain so much. He was interested in how it worked. I also think von Neumann would probably be doing very different kinds of computing from what he did at the institute. As Darwin wasn’t a Darwinist, Johnnie von Neumann would not belong to the school named after him. What we call the Von Neumann architecture is just a very crude approximation of the right way to do computation. In the contemporary computer, 99 percent of the parts are idle most of the time. They just sit there waiting for instruction. The machine does only one thing at a time. However, the computers are so powerful and so cheap that it doesn’t really matter — although it would, to him. He’d probably be annoyed that this primitive stuff is named after him. And what about Alan Turing? Well, he’d be almost 100. And he died at 41. He gave us this one revolution, and we really don’t know what the next one might have been because he was just getting started. He died being interested in biology, though we can’t guess too much about this because he didn’t leave many papers. I’m sure he’d be working on something that would surprise. It would be something that we just cannot imagine. | Dyson George;Turing Alan M;Computers and the Internet;Books and Literature;Science and Technology;Future of Computing;Turing's Cathedral (Book) |
ny0291923 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2016/01/14 | Tunnel Repairs Could Disrupt L Train in Coming Years | The chatter stunned riders of the L train on Wednesday: The tunnel that carries the subway line between Manhattan and Brooklyn could be shut down for more than a year. As panic spread at the prospect of such a seemingly apocalyptic disruption, which was reported by the website Gothamist , officials at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said that shutting the tunnel was one option the agency was considering to fix damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The tunnel, which runs under the East River and is known officially as the Canarsie Tube, was one of several damaged by the storm. The authority could shut down the tunnel and do the repairs all at once, as it did over about 13 months in the Montague tunnel . Or it could limit the work to weekend closings over a longer period of time, said Adam Lisberg, a spokesman for the agency. “The work has to get done,” Mr. Lisberg said. “There is no way around it. Unfortunately, the L is unique in that there is such heavy ridership in an area that has so little redundancy from other subway lines.” Whatever the authority opts to do, Mr. Lisberg said it was safe to assume that closing the tunnel would not only keep trains from traversing the East River, but would also affect service elsewhere on the line, which runs between First and Eighth Avenues in Manhattan and between Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg and Rockaway Parkway in Canarsie. Officials at the authority are still weighing their options for the project, Mr. Lisberg said. The work was not expected to begin until next year at the earliest. “We are obviously looking for ways to minimize the duration of the work and the inconvenience,” he said, “and we do not want work that would drag on for years.” The possibility of an extended shutdown alarmed many L train riders, who have already grown exasperated over increasingly packed trains and frequent delays. As Brooklyn neighborhoods like Greenpoint and Williamsburg have seen an influx of residents, L train ridership has grown to more than 300,000 people on average each weekday. For many riders who live in Brooklyn, it is the only subway line to Manhattan that serves their neighborhoods. In the years since the hurricane, the authority has been working to fix the tunnels that were flooded in the storm. The Montague tunnel reopened in September 2014 after its lengthy shutdown, but riders on the lines that run through that tunnel had more transit options than those who live along the L line. The authority has taken a different approach with the Cranberry tunnel, which connects the A and C lines between Manhattan and Brooklyn. It has been shut down recently on weekends, which creates closings that are expected to continue through the summer . Workers have also made repairs to the tunnels that carry the G and 7 lines. Richard Barone, the director of transportation programs at the Regional Plan Association, said it was not clear which option would be the best for repairing the Canarsie tunnel, but riders of the L should be prepared for major inconveniences. The authority, he said, could add trains on the J and M lines, which run south of the L line, and give buses into Manhattan a special route to cope with a tunnel shutdown. “It’s a huge challenge,” Mr. Barone said. “This is going to be the most complicated of all the work they have had to do post-Sandy in terms of the disruptiveness.” City Councilman Antonio Reynoso, a Democrat who represents part of Williamsburg, said he was “extremely concerned” about the impact on the neighborhood, envisioning traffic-clogged streets and plenty of shuttle buses. He urged officials to consider creating an express bus lane on the Williamsburg Bridge to help move people in and out of Brooklyn. “Getting it done is the most important thing,” he said of the repair work, “and getting it done as soon as possible.” | Subway;NYC;Hurricane Sandy;Brooklyn;MTA;Williamsburg Brooklyn |
ny0018876 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2013/07/10 | National Arts Club Ex-President Settles Suit and Agrees to Pay $950,000 | The embattled former head of the National Arts Club, whose 25-year tenure was marked by operatic charges of bullying, animal cruelty, compulsive hoarding and gross financial self-dealing, agreed on Tuesday to pay $950,000, settling a lawsuit brought by the state attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman. The former club president, O. Aldon James Jr., along with his twin brother, John, and a family friend, Steven U. Leitner, who maintained multiple apartments in the club’s residence tower, agreed to move out by the end of July, and never again to serve as officers or directors of a nonprofit organization in New York. The settlement ends two years of suits and counterclaims among Mr. James, his associates and the club, whose legal fees long ago passed the $1 million mark. Gerald L. Shargel, a lawyer for the James group, stressed that his clients admitted no wrongdoing. Mr. James declined to comment. Of the settlement money, $900,000 will go to the club, and the remaining $50,000 to the attorney general’s office. The battles between Mr. James and his adversaries, waged in the club’s elegant mansion on Gramercy Park, were often brutal and highly personal, with Mr. James comparing members to parasites, and his critics using equally unflattering language for Mr. James, his brother and Mr. Leitner. Cherry Provost, a former board member who brought complaints of financial impropriety, including misuse of club apartments and credit cards, to the attorney general’s office, said on Tuesday night that she was relieved that the James era was over. She said, however, that she would have preferred sterner punishment: “Booked, arrested, mug shots, humiliation.” For the club, the settlement completes the transition to a new era: under a previous stipulation by the attorney general’s office imposing term limits, all of the officers and board of governors who forced Mr. James out have since stepped down. | Nonprofit;National Arts Club;O Aldon James Jr;Eric T Schneiderman;Lawsuits |
ny0056759 | [
"us"
] | 2014/09/19 | Global Heat Records Set for Month and Season | The globe smashed more heat records last month, including earth’s hottest August and summer, federal meteorologists said on Thursday. May, June and August all set global heat records this year. Meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the average world temperature in August was 61.36 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking a record set in 1998. Scientists at NASA, who calculate global temperature in a slightly different way, also found that August was the hottest on record. The month was especially hot in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and Africa, but cooler in parts of the United States, Europe and Australia. For the United States, it was the coolest August and summer since 2009. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records go back to 1880. But it is more than just one month. It was the warmest meteorological summer — June, July and August — on record for the globe, again beating out 1998. This year so far is the globe’s third warmest on record. “It’s not a done deal, but we are increasingly moving” toward breaking the hottest year record set in 2010, said Derek Arndt, NOAA’s climate monitoring chief. “This is the outcome of warming over the long term.” (AP) | Temperature;Climate Change;Global Warming;National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
ny0226625 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2010/10/01 | Manhattan Real Estate Market on Path to Stability | After two years of unpredictable sales trends, the Manhattan real estate market seems to have settled into a more typical and seasonal pattern, with prices rising slightly and sales volume dipping in the recent summer months, third-quarter market reports to be released on Friday indicate. Prices increased for the fifth straight quarter, with the average sales price hovering around $1.43 million and the median price around $910,000, according to data provided by the city’s four largest brokerage firms. But prices are still well below the market’s height a couple of years ago, when the average was higher than $1.7 million and the median was close to $1 million. “We have hit bottom, and we’re probably improving ahead of schedule,” said Diane M. Ramirez, the president of Halstead Property. “But that just means we’re into a more normal market. We’ve moved out of critical care, and we’re stabilized now.” After six unusually busy months at the beginning of the year, caused in part by pent-up demand from 2009 and by the federal home-buyer tax credit, the Corcoran Group’s report indicated that sales volume dropped 19 percent from the second quarter to about 3,000 deals. “I think it’s a sign that the wild ride is over and real estate is back to its basics,” said Pamela Liebman, the chief executive of the Corcoran Group. Sales numbers for Prudential Douglas Elliman showed similar trends, with the average price of its sales up 3.8 percent from the second quarter to $1.48 million and the median price up 1.7 percent to $914,000. But Jonathan J. Miller, the president of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel and the author of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s report, cautioned against reading too much into the increase. “The average is up,” he said, “but prices did not really rise, because it’s all about the mix of apartments that actually sold.” Mr. Miller’s numbers studios and one-bedroom apartments priced below $1 million dominated the market a year ago, but this year many more people were buying two-bedroom apartments with prices much closer to $1.25 million. “The only reason the average and median prices are up,” he said, “is because the two-bedroom market is returning from being depressed to a more consistent, normal level.” Dottie Herman, the chief executive of Prudential Douglas Elliman, said that in early 2009, when very little was being sold, nearly 70 percent of her company’s deals were under $1 million. “The market came back from the bottom up,” Ms. Herman said. “Now the bigger units are selling again, and the market is basically flat, but it’s healthy.” Hall F. Willkie, the president of Brown Harris Stevens, said the high end of the market “was really the hardest hit, and now we’re finally seeing an increase there.” “With the steady growth we’ve seen,” Mr. Willkie added, “I think we can be optimistic looking ahead.” The same trend was seen at Corcoran, where brokers have closed more deals over $5 million so far in 2010 than in the first nine months of 2007, at the height of the market, Ms. Liebman said. “After Lehman Brothers collapsed, it wasn’t very chic or acceptable to go out and spend big bucks, but now that seems to be O.K. again,” she said. But Mr. Miller said that with unemployment still high and with the credit market still tight, “the best-case scenario for the market in general is we continue to move sideways, and we’re more likely going to see a little more erosion in prices before we really rebound.” Data released by the real estate Web site Streeteasy.com showed that the level of sales activity had already started to slow. Streeteasy counted 1,832 listings that went into contract in the third quarter, a 37 percent drop from the previous quarter and 30 percent lower than the same time last year. | Housing and Real Estate;Manhattan (NYC);Sales;Apartments;Condominiums;Cooperatives |
ny0015960 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2013/10/19 | Long Island Man Faces Terrorism Charges After Failed Trip to Yemen | A Long Island man who the authorities say tried to fly to Yemen to join a branch of Al Qaeda was charged on Friday with conspiring to commit murder overseas and other terrorism counts. The man, Marcos Alonso Zea, 25, an American citizen and a convert to Islam who is from Brentwood, Long Island, was stopped by British customs officials in London on his way to the Middle East in January 2012 because he did not have a passport to enter Yemen. The authorities there sent him back to the United States, and New York’s Joint Terrorism Task Force opened an investigation and found that Mr. Zea had continued to participate in a terrorist conspiracy even after returning home, court documents said. Over the next year, an undercover agent secretly recorded Mr. Zea bragging about lies he had told British officials and about how he had helped another man make plans to join Al Qaeda, according to court documents. At a court appearance on Friday in Federal District Court in Central Islip, Mr. Zea appeared calm, dressed in the jeans and light brown polo shirt that he was wearing when he was arrested that morning. His black wiry hair was drawn back in a ponytail. He pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail. In addition to the murder conspiracy charges, Mr. Zea faces charges of trying to provide material support to terrorists and obstruction of justice. If convicted, he would face 30 years to life in prison under the federal sentencing guidelines. Mr. Zea is the latest example of an American who, the authorities say, tried to join the Qaeda ranks overseas only to face prosecution in the Eastern District of New York. Others include Najibullah Zazi, Adis Medunjanin and Ahmed Zarein, three men from Queens who trained overseas with Al Qaeda before returning to New York and plotting to bomb subways. Image Marcos Alonso Zea, arrested Friday, tried to join a Qaeda branch, the authorities said. Credit WNBC, via Reuters Mr. Zea’s family said it was unaware of his alleged interests in violent jihad. His brother has been in the United States Air Force for three years and was scheduled to be deployed to Saudi Arabia on Saturday, said Mr. Zea’s father, Albaro, outside of the courtroom. His mother, Sandra, said: “This is all a lie. I know how I raised my son.” Mr. Zea’s case is closely connected to the case of Justin Kaliebe, 18, of Babylon and Bay Shore, Long Island, who pleaded guilty this year to providing material support to terrorists. Like Mr. Zea, Mr. Kaliebe tried to travel to Yemen, in January of this year; investigators arrested Mr. Kaliebe at Kennedy International Airport before he boarded a flight. In the year between Mr. Zea’s return from London and Mr. Kaliebe’s arrest, the authorities said, Mr. Zea helped Mr. Kaliebe make arrangements to join Al Qaeda, including giving him money for his trip to Yemen and advice about how to avoid electronic surveillance. But both men were already under surveillance by an undercover agent, court documents said. The agent met with the two men in the days before Mr. Kaliebe planned to leave the country. During the meeting, which was secretly recorded, Mr. Zea said of his own failed bid: “I just hope, my story, my, the event that happened to me will help you guys move forward, inspire you,” according to a transcript of the conversation included in court documents. In April, after Mr. Kaliebe’s arrest and guilty plea, Mr. Zea learned that he was under investigation and told an associate to erase several hard drives that he had used, according to court documents. But investigators obtained the hard drives and discovered several issues of Inspire magazine, a Qaeda publication that promotes violent jihad. Investigators also found a video showing the detonation of a bomb on a vehicle carrying Western military personnel. In interviews outside the courtroom on Friday, Mr. Zea’s parents said that their son, who lived at home and was last employed as a stock boy at Home Depot, knew that he was under surveillance. They said that federal agents watched their home around the clock and followed all of their visitors. “When the Jehovah’s Witnesses would come to the house,” Ms. Zea said, “I would see the F.B.I. cars and I would shake out the pamphlets that I was given to show them that I wasn’t being passed anything.” | Terrorism;Al Qaeda;Long Island;Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula;Yemen |
ny0178665 | [
"nyregion",
"nyregionspecial2"
] | 2007/08/05 | Group Reduces Number of Patients With Bedsores | A GROUP of 150 hospitals, nursing homes and health care agencies in New Jersey say they have reduced the number of patients who developed bedsores by 70 percent, thanks mostly to low-tech interventions. “It was amazing,” said Aline Holmes, senior vice president of clinical affairs for the New Jersey Hospital Association, which planned and directed the initiative. “We just need to get back to basics.” Bedsores are caused by unrelieved pressure or friction on the skin of a patient’s body, usually in bony areas. They can be minor irritants or major wounds that can even lead to fatal infections, the hospital group said. When the group began its study in September 2005, 18 percent of the patients in the various centers had a bedsore, or pressure ulcer. By May, that number had dropped to 5 percent, according to the findings announced July 17. In the first quarter of this year, 48 institutions reported that none of their patients developed a bedsore. One key to the effort was to perform a skin evaluation on each patient within eight hours of admission. Because poor nutrition and lack of hydration can lead to bedsores and make them worse, dietitians were also involved, Ms. Holmes said. Another step was a specialized record-keeping system so nurses could tell immediately if a patient’s skin condition was deteriorating and they could respond with different bed padding or positions, Ms. Holmes said. Communication among the agencies was also improved so the staff at one institution would know about a patient’s skin condition if he or she was transferred from another. “I think that people didn’t always realize how important it was to do these things,” Ms. Holmes said. At Chilton Memorial Hospital in Pompton Plains, “turning clocks” were placed in each room to ensure that nurses and aides remembered to change a patient’s position. The hospital spent $1.36 million on 152 new beds designed to help prevent pressure ulcers, said Mary Rich, its chief nurse executive. When the hospital joined the collaborative, about 4 percent of patients in the three critical care wards had a bedsore, she said. Chilton was one of the centers that reported no incidents of pressure ulcers in the first quarter of the year, Mrs. Rich said. “This is very nurse driven,” she said. Officials at Morristown Memorial Hospital noticed that patients were emerging from hip surgery with pressure ulcers that most likely developed because they were on their side for several hours in a cold operating room, Ms. Holmes said. So the staff changed the way they pad operating room beds. Normally an emergency room is not thought to be a place where patients develop bedsores because stays are usually brief. At Overlook Hospital in Summit, nurses now check emergency room patients’ skin every two hours, and if a stay exceeds eight hours, patients are evaluated for bedsores with the same rigor as those on traditional floors, Ms. Holmes said. About a dozen of the 300 residents at the Daughters of Israel nursing home in West Orange had bedsores at the start of the effort but were bedsore-free by the start of this year, said Susan Grosser, its associate executive director. While the steps needed to prevent bedsores were basic, Ms. Holmes said there were many reasons institutions were not taking them. Patients are going to hospitals in greater numbers and with more serious and complicated problems, she said. Hospital stays are shorter, providing less time for evaluations, and staffing remains tight. When the bedsore-prevention effort began, nurses and administrators said they were making routine skin care checks, Ms. Holmes said. Only after they checked their records did they realize that those measures were not in place. “It just kind of fell off the radar screen,” she said. A common misconception about bedsores is that they are inevitable for some patients, Mrs. Grosser said. “We have proven that nothing could be further from the truth,” she said. | New Jersey;Medicine and Health |
ny0292365 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2016/06/04 | With Views From the Inside, an Activist Challenges Vietnam’s Rulers | HANOI, Vietnam — As Nguyen Quang A dressed the morning last week when he was to meet with President Obama, he was pretty confident he would never make the session. The president, who had agreed earlier to a contentious weapons deal with the country’s leaders, wanted to speak with leading Vietnamese democracy advocates, among them Mr. Quang A. Mr. Quang A went ahead anyway, choosing his best suit and a fresh shirt. He uploaded a photo of himself in his smart attire to Facebook. Then he stepped outside onto a narrow street in the Vietnamese capital. “I went out at 6:22 a.m. At 6:25 I was arrested,” he said. A phalanx of security men shoved him into a car and slammed the doors. Mr. Quang A was isolated inside with two plainclothes police officers and a driver. The windows were tinted dark, and the license plate was covered. It was, Mr. Quang A said later, a “moving prison.” They drove for the next seven hours, first to Hung Yen, a city of historic temples east of the capital, and then back to his home, just as President Obama’s plane was lifting off for the next stop. “I told them: ‘I don’t blame you. I blame your bosses,’ ” Mr. Quang A said, describing his conversation with his temporary jailers. Two other dissidents were similarly blocked by the government from attending the session arranged by the American Embassy. Mr. Quang A, 69, a computer scientist, a former businessman and, for a decade since his retirement, a full-time critic of the Communist government, takes the long view on how to open up Vietnam’s repressive political system. American human rights activists criticized Mr. Obama for agreeing to sell Vietnam lethal weapons without winning any concessions, particularly the release of political prisoners. But Mr. Quang A said he believed the president did the right thing. “If you transform human beings into a commodity for barter, I oppose it,” Mr. Quang A said. He made that argument when he met the assistant secretary for democracy, human rights and labor, Tom Malinowski, just before Mr. Obama’s arrival. (He arrived late to the meeting with Mr. Malinowski because the police threw a cordon around his house for several hours beforehand.) Mr. Quang A said it was like negotiating with hostage takers. “You create incentives for the Vietnamese authorities to arrest more and more to create access for future barter.” It was more important, he said, to force the government to adhere to the international conventions it has agreed to. For example, Vietnam recently signed and ratified the United Nations convention against torture and should be encouraged to meet those obligations. “I support that way of approaching the problem, not the buying and selling of prisoners, because that doesn’t change the situation.” Mr. Quang A is not the classic outsider. He was a member of the Communist Party, though never an official, and left the party 23 years ago. From his experience studying telecommunications in Hungary before the Communists there began to soften a bit in the late 1970s and early 1980s, then becoming the chairman of the IT association of Vietnam in the 1990s and, later, as a businessman dealing with the Vietnamese government, he has an almost innate understanding of how party functionaries think. Sometimes they need coaxing, he said, other times confrontation. In 2013, in response to Decree 72 , a party document that limits what citizens can post online, he and a group of like-minded friends founded the Civil Society Forum. Some of the members, while intellectuals, writers and scholars, retained ties to the government and kept track of what was going on inside. The forum has since taken on wider interests, organizing protests against environmental damage and running independent candidates for Parliament. “Among our members about 60 percent were party members,” he said. “They still have party connections and know a lot of people in the establishment. We use that information channel.” In some ways, the political environment in Vietnam is more repressive than it was a decade ago, he said. It seems particularly so now that Myanmar , once ruled by the military with an iron hand, has opened up, with debate in Parliament and a freer news media universe. In 2014, Freedom House listed Vietnam’s news media as the least free in Southeast Asia after tiny, Communist-ruled Laos . The chapter on Vietnam in last year’s State Department Human Rights Report is littered with accounts of security officials attacking or threatening journalists. In March, a friend of Mr. Quang A’s, Nguyen Huu Vinh , a former police officer, was jailed for five years for posting antistate writings on the internet. “His website is like Reader’s Digest; he got five years for running a website,” he said, with a tone of incredulity. His latest approach to bring change is to mobilize popular outrage against huge fish kills in the sea off central Vietnam. The fish appear to have been killed by the untreated effluent from a new steel plant owned by a company in Taiwan. “We take the fish crisis as an opportunity,” he said, chatting at a cafe near his house, and not far from a military post. Security forces have brutally put down protests against the plant, beating some protesters and hauling many into detention. On two consecutive Sundays last month, the police outside his house stopped him from showing up at the weekly protests. “If you have influence, they crack down,” he said. “But if the authorities were smart, they would know that the protesters don’t want to overthrow them, but want to negotiate to change the policies.” By studying in Hungary in the late ’60s and early ’70s, Mr. Quang A, a warm personality who is easily accessible at all hours by email, phone or his popular Facebook account, stayed out of the Vietnam War . When he came home he was assigned to a military research institute working on computer science and became an army officer. He returned to Budapest in 1982 as a research fellow at the Academy of Sciences, and on his flight back to Hanoi in 1987, he ran into Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap , the legendary leader of the Vietnamese military and an old friend. That turned out to be a big break. “General Giap helped me escape from the army,” he said. He was assigned to a civilian job at an informatics branch of the government, but he stayed only briefly. It was the period of a slight opening in the economy, and Mr. Quang A started a joint venture selling Vietnamese-assembled computers to Russia. It was while dealing with the government as a businessman, he said, that he became disenchanted with the Communist Party and decided to try to undermine its power. As he assumed the role of activist, he first translated books by the Hungarian economist Janos Kornai and the Austrian philosopher Karl Popper, both critics of Communist rule. By the time he retired in 2005, he began to concentrate his studies on successful political transitions: South Korea , South Africa , even the 1989 transition of his old redoubt, Hungary. He has used China , Vietnam’s much bigger neighbor, and centuries-old foe, as a way to foster fresh thinking among young people. During a recent border dispute with China, Mr. Quang A promoted a slogan — “No to U Line, Yes to UNCLOS” — that was emblazoned on T-shirts and worn by soccer clubs. What appears like hieroglyphics to outsiders was easily interpreted in Vietnam as a criticism of China’s U-shaped claims over most of the South China Sea and support for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. On relations with China, Mr. Quang A has some sympathy with the government. “It is in a very difficult position. I would not want to be there,” he said. “We have to be a good neighbor with China, but not a good friend.” | Nguyen Quang A;Vietnam;Communist Party of Vietnam;Human Rights;Law of the Sea |
ny0053220 | [
"business"
] | 2014/07/11 | Despite Earlier Loss, U.A.W. Creates Union at VW Plant | In an unorthodox move, the United Automobile Workers announced on Thursday that it was forming a union local in Chattanooga, Tenn., to represent workers at the Volkswagen plant there even though a majority of the plant’s workers voted in February against joining the union. U.A.W. officials said the new local — which will have voluntary membership and not be recognized by the automaker — would serve as a collective voice for its members and would also facilitate Volkswagen’s efforts to form a German-style works council made up of workers and management. After losing a unionization vote, unions usually walk away and do not seek to represent the workers who supported the union. But the U.A.W. is taking the unusual step of forming the new local, which will not charge any dues, partly because it remains eager to gain some traction at foreign-owned auto plants in the South, none of which is unionized. U.A.W. officials had been confident that they would win the unionization vote in February — VW did not oppose the organizing drive — but the plant’s workers nonetheless voted narrowly — 712 to 626 — against joining the union. Republican lawmakers and conservative groups campaigned vigorously against the U.A.W., warning workers that a union victory could jeopardize the plant’s hopes of receiving the state aid needed to attract a second product line — a planned sport utility vehicle — to the plant. “Earlier this year, the U.A.W. was gratified to earn the confidence and support of many Volkswagen team members,” said Dennis Williams, the U.A.W. president. “At that time, we said we would not give up on these committed and hard-working employees. We’re keeping our promise.” Before the vote, U.A.W. officials argued that federal law barred the plant from having a works council unless it had an official union selected by majority support. But on Thursday, the union eased that view, saying it hoped its new Local 42 would serve as a voice for workers in the planned works council. Gary Casteel, the U.A.W.’s secretary-treasurer and previously its Southern director, said the union had arrived at a “consensus with the company.” Under that consensus, he said, once the new local signs up “a meaningful portion” of the plant’s work force, “we’re confident the company will recognize Local 42 by dealing with it as a members’ union that represents those employees who join the local.” VW responded to the U.A.W.’s announcement, saying, “Just like any other markets around the world, the establishment of a local organization is a matter for the trade union concerned.” The company denied that there was any “contract or other formal agreement with the U.A.W. on this matter.” Harry C. Katz, the dean of the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, said that with its new union local, the U.A.W. was apparently hoping to win more support from the plant’s workers so it could win a new unionization election there. “With 47 percent of the workers voting for a union, these people deserve some form of collective representation,” he said. “This move lays the groundwork for the union to launch another organizing effort in the not-too-distant future.” | Jobs;Labor Unions;UAW;Volkswagen;Cars;Gary Casteel;Chattanooga Tennessee;Tennessee;Manufacturing;Dennis Williams |
ny0055295 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2014/07/25 | Audit Says New York City Housing Authority Failed to Meet Hiring Goals | In awarding millions of dollars in building contracts each year, the New York City Housing Authority is supposed to look out for its own: A certain percentage of workers hired must be public housing residents or low-income New Yorkers. But in a stinging audit released on Thursday, Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, charged that the housing authority had repeatedly broken that agreement. Shoddy bookkeeping and casual oversight, he said, allowed contractors to flout federal and city guidelines and lie about their hiring efforts. The report, based on 29 of 224 contracts awarded from 2010 to 2012, documented lost wages of at least $184,000 to residents of the city’s public housing units and other low-income New Yorkers. “The mandate couldn’t be more clear,” Mr. Stringer said at a news conference outside the R. V. Ingersoll Houses in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. “But our audit revealed a huge gap between Nycha’s obligations and its performance.” The report offered a narrow portrait of the housing authority’s record on jobs, which authority officials said was more reflective of the last administration’s priorities than this one’s. But the audit reflects Mr. Stringer’s longtime push to spend more city money on jobs for more minority workers and low-income residents. He announced in March that his office would begin grading city agencies on how much they spend with businesses owned by minority and female contractors, and he also plans to proceed with additional audits of the housing authority. Federal guidelines require the authority to ensure that 30 percent of new jobs on projects over $100,000 go to public housing tenants or low-income New Yorkers. While Mr. Stringer said the housing authority failed to meet that target, he said that figures on the actual percentages that were awarded properly were unobtainable because of bad record keeping. The housing authority also failed to comply with a city statute that mandates that at least 15 percent of labor costs on contracts exceeding $500,000 go to people in the same two categories, the audit said. Many of the elected officials at the news conference focused on the housing authority’s forgiving treatment of delinquent contractors, and the agency’s perceived resistance to the audit’s findings. Many of the hiring summaries required under federal and city guidelines were left blank. The housing authority did not demand full staffing information from contractors, according to the audit, nor did it always refer residents for job interviews. And the agency did not discipline contractors who failed to comply. After the audit, Mr. Stringer said, the housing authority “rejected the notion that they needed to improve,” and agreed to only one of the report’s recommendations, a measure dealing with improved bookkeeping. Housing authority officials on Thursday disputed the figures that Mr. Stringer’s office used, saying that the agency and its contractors generated 1,600 jobs for housing authority residents from October 2012 through September 2013. “We’re actually proud of our job development efforts,” said Joan Lebow, an authority spokeswoman, adding that on projects like the installation of new security cameras, the authority exceeded federal requirements on low-income hiring. But members of the City Council and tenant leaders on Thursday cast the authority’s negligence as one symptom of a broader inequality in a city plagued by high unemployment, especially in housing projects. “It’s so important that we make sure that these systematic decisions that have caused us to fail end today,” said Laurie Cumbo, a councilwoman from Brooklyn. Assembled public housing residents whooped, demanding that the housing authority “put the money back.” | Scott M Stringer;Housing Authority NYC;Job Recruiting and Hiring;Public Housing;NYC;Jobs;Income Inequality |
ny0179777 | [
"business",
"yourmoney"
] | 2007/08/26 | Young Workers: U Nd 2 Improve Ur Writing Skills | A generation ago, employers were still lamenting the poor technical abilities of their entry-level workers. Well, that’s not much of an issue anymore, thanks to the omnipresence of computers, cellphones and the Internet. In a survey of 100 human resources executives, only 5 percent said that recent college graduates lacked computer or technology skills, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the outplacement firm. The problem now is more basic. Nearly half the executives said that entry-level workers lacked writing skills, and 27 percent said that they were deficient in critical thinking. It seems that some young employees are now guilty of the technological equivalent of wearing flip-flops: they are writing company e-mail as if they were texting cellphone messages with their thumbs. In response, employers are sending a message of their own: When you’re in the office, put on those dress shoes and start spelling your words correctly, and in full. | Labor;Reading and Writing Skills |
ny0242926 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2011/03/09 | Scottish Police Arrest Man Tied to Stockholm Bombing | The Scottish police said Tuesday that they had arrested a man in Glasgow on terrorism charges related to a suicide bomber who killed himself and wounded two others in Sweden in December. The arrest came as part of an investigation across Sweden and Britain into the bomber, Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly , 28, who had lived in both countries and who detonated bombs in Stockholm on Dec. 11, 2010. The arrested man was described only as a “foreign national.” | Terrorism;Police;Abdaly Taimour Abdulwahab al-;Great Britain;Stockholm (Sweden) |
ny0226835 | [
"business"
] | 2010/10/24 | Letters: That Wide Income Gap | To the Editor: Income inequality is more than a problem of abstract social justice, or even widespread emotional distress ( “Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore,” Economic View, Oct. 17) . Robust and rising middle-class income is necessary for the whole economy to grow. Long ago, Henry Ford, hardly a socialist, paid his workers twice the going wage. He believed that his workers should be able to buy the cars they built. For a time after the New Deal, when capitalists forgot this insight, unions made corporations share profits with workers. The Federal Reserve has now reduced interest rates to near zero. Corporations are sitting on tons of cash. But they will not invest until they see a steady stream of customers. To grow, a capitalist economy depends upon steady aggregate demand. And aggregate demand ultimately depends on long-term rising consumer income, not on short-term credit. Caroline Poplin, J.D., M.D. Bethesda, Md., Oct. 19 To the Editor: Our current economic culture, encouraged by laws and policies, has created our country’s most dominant special-interest group: secure individuals with power and wealth. When the United States became a world leader, however, its economic culture was more inclusive and dynamic. It supported the creation of wealth and a broad-based infrastructure, allowing a majority of Americans to participate. It created a hard-working, optimistic, ingenious population. It encouraged capitalism for the many, not for the few. By returning to that culture, we could regenerate inclusive opportunity and dynamic growth, the combination that propelled America to the top. Eric C. Williams Chicago, Oct. 18 | Income Inequality;United States Economy |
ny0180242 | [
"sports",
"ncaafootball"
] | 2007/08/30 | For Rutgers and Schiano, the Future Is Now | What was once unimaginable will be a reality tonight when Rutgers kicks off its season at home against Buffalo. The Scarlet Knights are a ranked team (No. 16) and a double-digit favorite, they have a Heisman Trophy contender and will be playing before a packed stadium that will be sold out for every game this season. There are few reminders of an era when Rutgers could lose to anyone, even Buffalo. It was only five years ago that Buffalo routed Rutgers, 34-11, dropping the Scarlet Knights to 0-2. “I’m just so caught up in what we’re doing now and looking forward that I don’t really think about that,” Rutgers Coach Greg Schiano said earlier this week when asked if he ever thought about how far the program had come since that defeat to Buffalo. “I always try to look immediately after the year and do a recap of what we can learn and then use it in the next season. Certainly, though, I realize that we’ve come some ways from then in a lot of different things.” Coming off an 11-2 season that included a 37-10 victory against Kansas State in the Texas Bowl, Rutgers figures to continue to build on the groundwork laid last season and the season before, when the Scarlet Knights made their first bowl appearance in 27 years. The core of last season’s team, including 14 starters, is back and will again be led on offense by the junior running back Ray Rice, who is considered among the leading Heisman candidates. Rice rushed for 1,794 yards and 20 touchdowns last season. Mike Teel, who improved throughout last season, will be back at quarterback. Teel was at his best toward the end of last season and seems ready to develop into a reliable and steady offensive threat. The all-American tackle Eric Foster will lead the defense. A senior, he had 51 tackles last season. As many as 10 true freshmen might play tonight — a bigger statement about the incoming talent than an indictment of the upperclassmen. One of the few holes Rutgers has to fill is at fullback. Brian Leonard, the leading receiver in Rutgers history and a second-round draft pick by the St. Louis Rams, will be tough to replace. His many roles included acting as a lead blocker for Rice. Schiano, though, is optimistic that he has enough talented players at that position to minimize the void. “I think Jack Corcoran has established himself as our fullback, without a doubt,” Schiano said. “I think Andres Morales has really accelerated his progress and Jean Beljour plays a lot of special teams. He also has some things we’ll do with him at the fullback spot. Jourdan Brooks is a really talented guy, and when he gets up to speed he has a chance to be something really special. I think we’re sitting O.K. at fullback right now.” Rutgers will play its first five games at home before traveling to Syracuse on Oct. 13. That will be followed by another home game, against South Florida. It is conceivable that Rutgers will be 7-0 entering the Oct. 27 home game against West Virginia. Since its 2002 victory over Rutgers, not much has gone right for Buffalo. The Bulls were was 2-10 last season and were picked to finish last in their division of the Mid-American Conference in this year’s preseason polls. But in another twist that once seemed impossible, Buffalo is using Rutgers as an inspiration. “Rutgers has risen up,” Buffalo Coach Turner Gill said. “We look at it from the standpoint that it can be done, and it will be done here at U.B.” The Bulls will be looking for more productivity from quarterback Drew Willy, who is a New Jersey native. He threw for just 1,391 yards and six touchdowns in eight games last season. | Rutgers The State University of New Jersey;Football;College Athletics;Heisman Trophy |
ny0214392 | [
"business",
"media"
] | 2010/03/31 | Marketers Start Warm-Ups for the World Cup | ALTHOUGH March Madness still has a weekend to go, advertisers are already gearing up for June and July Jubilation. The 2010 World Cup, to be held in South Africa from June 11 to July 11, has attracted a lengthy list of blue-chip sponsors seeking to capitalize on the global passion for soccer — or, as they say outside the United States, football. Marketers are starting to disclose details of their ads or, in some instances, introducing elements of their soccer-centric campaigns. Among those marketers are Adidas, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Nike and Visa. The ardor for the World Cup is another example of how advertisers are stepping up support for marquee televised events, known as big event TV. Programs like the Grammy Awards , the Super Bowl , the Winter Olympics and the Oscars have set ratings records or attracted significantly more viewers than in recent years. The strategy is “big voices in big places,” said Christopher J. Perry, interim head of marketing at Hyundai Motor America in Fountain Valley, Calif., and “we feel we’re reaping a lot of benefits from it.” Hyundai, which sponsored the broadcasts of the Super Bowl, on CBS, and the Academy Awards, on ABC, has a deal to be the exclusive automotive sponsor of the ABC and ESPN coverage of the World Cup, Mr. Perry said, which will be extended into print, online and radio. This dovetails with a deal for the Hyundai Motor America parent in South Korea, the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, to become the exclusive automotive global sponsor of the event, which was struck with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA. • Powerade, sold by the Coca-Cola Company, is focusing its first worldwide integrated marketing campaign — for TV, print, online and outdoors — on the brand’s status as the official sports drink of the 2010 World Cup. The ads will even include a phrase proclaiming that Powerade was “chosen by FIFA to hydrate the 2010 FIFA World Cup players.” The campaign is to run in countries that account for more than 95 percent of Powerade’s sales volume, which include Brazil, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, South Korea and the United States. The campaign will also promote Powerade’s scheduled presence on the pitch — as they say in soccer — in the form of new squeeze bottles for the players at the 10 stadiums. And signs bearing the Powerade logo are to be posted around the stadiums. “Major sporting events, big-event television, are a wonderful platform,” said Mark Greatrex, senior vice president for global still beverages at Coca-Cola in Atlanta. They also can help “drive global scale for our big brands” as part of an initiative, called 2020 Vision, to more than double systemwide revenue, Mr. Greatrex said. “As we look at the sports-drink category out over the next 10 years,” he added, “there’s a lot of untapped potential” among dedicated athletes. “Part of the strategy is to build up the sports credentials of Powerade,” he said, which is where the FIFA relationship comes in. “We are making a big deal of the FIFA endorsement in every touch point,” he added, whether it is a sign in a convenience store, a Powerade channel on YouTube ( youtube.com/powerade ), a commercial or a poster. The campaign, which carries the theme “Keep playing,” is the first work for Powerade from the SapientNitro unit of the Sapient Corporation, which was recently named the worldwide digital agency for the brand. SapientNitro is also creating the nondigital elements of the campaign like the TV, print and outdoor ads. The ads present soccer as a game enjoyed around the clock and around the world by a gorgeous mosaic of players. “It doesn’t matter whether you have tons of money or play on a dirt pitch,” said Gaston Legorburu, worldwide creative officer at the Miami office of SapientNitro. “It’s kind of the neverending game.”The campaign aims to invoke the days “when you asked your mom to give you another 10 minutes to play outside,” he added. “There’s almost no light, but you still want to play.” Indeed, some scenes in the commercial and the video clips on the YouTube channel show games being played in the dark. • The Powerade push by Coca-Cola is coming as the brand’s far larger rival, Gatorade, sold by a unit of PepsiCo, is struggling with an unusual sales slump. Volume for Gatorade in the United States fell 15.5 percent last year compared with 2008, according to data from the Beverage Marketing Corporation. By comparison, volume for Powerade declined 1 percent, the data showed, and the sports-drink category fell 12.3 percent. Mr. Greatrex declined to discuss Powerade’s competitors. He did, however, contrast the Gatorade strategy of offering separate beverages to drink before, during and after athletic activity with the Powerade platform of providing consumers “one simple choice, to reach for one sports drink.” | Advertising and Marketing;Television;World Cup (Soccer);Soccer |
ny0202368 | [
"business"
] | 2009/08/02 | A Smart Shower May Even Know Your Song | IN these digital times, even the venerable bathroom faucet is getting an update. Companies like Moen and Hansgrohe are now replacing faucet handles in tubs and showers with touch screens and other electronic controls that are smart enough to store all the details of time and temperature of a favorite shower or bath — and produce them at a touch. With the RainBrain shower from Hansgrohe, the mix of hot and cold water, its volume and flow, and even music from a favorite MP3 playlist can be retrieved by tapping a small screen, said Nicolas Grohe, director of marketing and product development for the American branch of the company in Alpharetta, Ga. (Hansgrohe is based in Schiltach, Germany.) The RainBrain will be offered in the United States beginning in March, he said, and cost about $4,500. Even amid a deluge of water, users can easily tell the system to regulate the showerheads, which pour water from overhead and both sides, as well as a handheld sprayer, Mr. Grohe said. “The dials and controls are big,” he said. “It’s difficult to miss them.” A bar marked with a plus sign, for instance, makes the water hotter, a minus cools it. If users prefers a quick alternative, there’s also a rotary dial. The menu button on the touch screen offers a program called Scottish shower that varies the water temperature, automatically switching from hot to cold. “You can tell it how hot and cold you want it,” Mr. Grohe said, and to set how long each cycle lasts. Another Hansgrohe program, Cascade, turns different showerheads on and off in rhythmic, pulsing jets. The company has posted a simulation of the control panel on its Web site. Another electronic system, ioDigital, was introduced in May by Moen, a company based in North Olmsted, Ohio, that is known for its faucets. The system is available for a standard single-head shower (about $1,200), for Roman or whirlpool tubs (about $1,300) and for a shower with multiple heads, called a vertical spa (about $2,500), said Mark Knurek, senior product manager. The price includes the showerheads, water spouts for tubs, and related fixtures, as well as the electronic controls. The control panel for the ioDigital shower or bath can be mounted in the shower, on the rim of a bathtub or outside the shower on a wall, he said. A cable connects the interface to the valve assembly that regulates the flow of hot and cold water. The assembly can be placed in the wall behind the shower, for example, or farther away, so long as the location is an interior wall insulated from the outside. “We’ve put the assemblies into crawl spaces, in vanities and even in basements,” Mr. Knurek said. In May, Debbie Brown, a chemist who lives with her husband and two children in Bath, Ohio, decided to use ioDigital to retrofit a shower and whirlpool tub in the master bathroom. She liked the option of electronic controls to replace the old, defective faucet handles, in part because there would be minimal damage to the bathroom. “We didn’t have to tear up the ceramics,” she said. Most of the work was done on the wall near the bathroom, she said, where the plumber placed the valve assembly. The electronic control panel for the bath is on the wall above the tub, as is the shower control. A fiberglass specialist filled in the holes in the tub where the faucet handles once were. “You can’t tell anything was there,” she said. Installing the new shower controls was straightforward, too, she said. Mrs. Brown saved a few pieces of tile from the original installation that could be used to cover up the holes from the faucet handles. Mrs. Brown likes the new, streamlined look of the bath and shower. “And you don’t have all of the handles to clean,” she said. She also enjoys being able to program the water temperature. Each family member has chosen a different setting, saved with a number from 1 to 4. “I’m No. 1,” she said. “I set the temperature I want, hit the button and the water is right where I want it all of the time, instead of never quite right.” A remote control ($135) can be used to start the shower from another room, or to top off water in the bath. There is, of course, one big drawback to electronic controls: when there’s no power, there’s no shower. Unlike the humble faucets, those touch screens and panels won’t work without electricity. | Interior Design;Bathrooms and Toilets;Computers and the Internet;Water |
ny0185341 | [
"business",
"worldbusiness"
] | 2009/03/26 | I.M.F. Announces Rescue Plan for Romania | PARIS — Several lenders led by the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday they had agreed to provide $27 billion in emergency loans to Romania to help it deal with the financial crisis . The loans include a two-year standby loan of 12.95 billion euros, $17.6 billion, from the monetary fund and 7 billion euros, $9.5 billion, from the European Union, the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The monetary fund says that Romania will be able to draw 5 billion euros within a few months. Romania joins Iceland, Ukraine, Serbia, Belarus, Hungary and Latvia among European countries that have sought help since the global economy slowed last year. The economic crisis led investors to sell the currencies of smaller countries in a flight to dollars, euros and the Japanese yen. International institutions have sought to plug the hole in the countries’ finances with about $60 billion of emergency lending. “The objective of the policy package is to cushion the effects of the sharp drop in private capital inflows,” Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the fund, said in a statement announcing the package. The Romanian economy has been weakened by a sharp decline in foreign investment, even as the government’s finances and the banking sector have been overwhelmed. The economy is expected to contract by as much as 4 percent in 2009, as domestic demand shrinks and exports slump. Romania, with 22 million people, had a gross domestic product last year of about $214 billion, the monetary fund said. Its external debt at the end of January was 50.6 billion euros, the central bank said. Romania, one of Europe’s poorest countries, must reduce government spending as a condition of the emergency loans. European Union officials said that “a key element” of the bloc’s assistance, in the form of a balance-of-payments loan, would be “an immediate and sustained fiscal consolidation to limit the budget deficit” to 5.1 percent of gross domestic product this year and to less than 3 percent in 2011. Unemployment in Romania rose to a two-year high of 5.3 percent in February, from 3.8 percent in July, prompting the Economist Intelligence Unit, a British research firm, to warn last week that unemployment could make Romania a “flashpoint for political destabilization.” The fund said the Romanian bailout program contains “explicit provisions to increase allocations for social programs, as well as protection under the reforms for the most vulnerable pensioners and public sector employees at the lower end of the wage scale.” | Romania;International Monetary Fund;Economic Conditions and Trends;Subprime Mortgage Crisis;International Trade and World Market |
ny0138863 | [
"business",
"media"
] | 2008/02/04 | Private Schools Cry ‘Unfair’ Over a Grade | Report cards are in, and the grades are not good: New York City private schools have given The New York Sun an F. The Sun, a conservative newspaper, published a front-page article on Thursday in which it assigned letter grades to the city’s elite private schools, from one A+ (for Brearley, an all-girls school) to five D’s. The paper said that its sole criteria were “the school’s net assets and the number of students it sends to Harvard.” (For the statistically rigorous, the numbers were adjusted for student body size.) The project, the paper said, was an effort to mimic Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s controversial move to give public and charter schools grades last year. But the private schools — which have already been clutching their collective heads over the TV send-up “Gossip Girl” — complained loudly, saying that The Sun was just trying to drum up readership with a journalistic shortcut. “This is just facile — it’s mean-spirited because these are all excellent schools,” said George P. Davison, president of the Guild of Independent Schools, an association of city private schools. “To try to use something that really was about wealth more than anything else does a huge disservice to the whole community.” (Mr. Davison is also the head of the Grace Church School, which was not rated because it does not have a high school.) “I think many of the schools, even the schools that got the high grades, were very disappointed by the reporting,” said Linda MacMurray Gibbs, the head of the Hewitt School on the Upper East Side, which received a D. She criticized “the fallaciousness of trying to rank and give rank to schools based upon admission to one university and their assets.” Ms. Gibbs, who said that no one from The Sun had contacted her in reporting the article, also pointed to a factual error: Hewitt’s Web site mentions that its 2007 graduates matriculated at schools including Harvard, but the article, which said that it had used “The Harvard Freshman Register” as its source for tallying each school’s total, said that “all of the ‘D’ schools had no graduates listed” in the annual book. “We try to teach our students that you have to be factually accurate, and this was not,” said Ms. Gibbs. The 1,300-word item was written by Elizabeth Green, who referred a query to The Sun’s managing editor, Ira Stoll. He declined to comment. Ms. Gibbs said she had not heard from any concerned parents; Mr. Davison said it was “mean-spirited” of The Sun to publish the survey two weeks before many students find out what high schools they have been admitted to. But he added that he did not think the article would have much impact. “Probably what it did more than anything else was reduce The Sun’s access to leaders of independent schools,” he said. MARIA ASPAN | Education and Schools;New York Sun;New York City;Newspapers;Ratings and Rating Systems |
ny0185852 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2009/03/01 | In a Life of Hard Knocks, a Mother With an Iron Will | Gloria Garcia should not have made it this far. She said she was told by her first foster family that construction workers found her as a toddler, eating paint chips off the walls at an abandoned building where her mother had left her. At 18, when she became pregnant, her final foster family threw her out. She then endured four years of brutality at the hands of a boyfriend whom Ms. Garcia described as a crack addict, before she fled with her daughter, Tatiana. They spent the next three years hiding from him in a domestic violence shelter. And the first apartment she found after finally leaving the shelter system went up in flames months after she moved in. But Ms. Garcia, 32, has emerged from all of this remarkably well adjusted, with a soft-spoken manner that masks an iron will. Asked how she managed to avoid the pitfalls of shelter existence — violence, drugs, apathy — she has a theory. “I’m a product of my environment, but I didn’t become my environment,” she said. She lived with four foster families in all, none of whom she retained much fondness for. As Ms. Garcia tells it, “One family sat me down and said, ‘You shouldn’t even be here, nobody wants you; your mom left you in the trash. You’re lucky we want you,’ and I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, you want me for the check.’ I didn’t hold a grudge, I just got out as soon as I could.” She had planned to attend City College, where, she said, she had earned an academic scholarship, but changed her mind when she got pregnant. “I gave it up because I had something that belonged to me,” she said. “My daughter was the first thing that belonged to me.” Becoming a mother, she said, also eased the persistent feeling of rejection that had haunted her. Ms. Garcia single-handedly raised Tatiana in a series of rented rooms in Manhattan, sustaining them on public assistance supplanted with various temp jobs, a hair-braiding job, and a stint selling cigars. She later applied to a technical school but said she was laughed out of the interview; she received the same treatment when she sought a job at a company that installs air-conditioners, she said. “I’ve never seen a woman apply for this job,” she said the interviewer told her. She got involved with a man who, she said, hid his drug addiction for the first year they were together. He brought his three children to live with Ms. Garcia in the apartment she and Tatiana shared across the street from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It was a reign of terror, she says, and yet she stayed with him four years. “I guess you can’t want anything better for yourself until you really want it,” she said. “I didn’t think I was worth better.” During the three years that she and Tatiana, now 12, spent in a domestic violence shelter, she said of her former partner, “I thought I saw him everywhere.” Mother and daughter found a two-bedroom apartment in a private house in the Morrisania section of the Bronx. She found a job as a receptionist at the Carmel Car and Limousine Service in Manhattan, where she now works, at more than $300 a week. One afternoon last summer, a few months after she had finally settled into a home of her own, she saw fire trucks racing up her street. The fire, which had begun in the apartment of a downstairs neighbor, spread. “I was really destroyed,” Ms. Garcia said. Household objects could be replaced, but not mementos of her daughter’s early life, and that was especially hard to take because of the gaps in her own past. “I don’t have a picture of me from when I was younger. I gave Tatiana everything I wish my mom had given to me.” Tatiana also lost her prized collection of Disney bears. But even more upsetting was that they had to return to a shelter, this one in Brooklyn. It meant a complicated commute for Tatiana, who attends school in the Bronx. The Red Cross gave them bedsheets, and a parent coordinator at Tatiana’s school referred Ms. Garcia to the Children’s Aid Society for more substantial help. Ruth Cruz, the office manager at the society, one of the seven beneficiary agencies of The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund , immediately took a liking to Ms. Garcia. Even though Ms. Cruz is not technically a social worker, she secured $800 so the Garcias could begin anew. Ms. Garcia received $600 in gift cards redeemable at clothing stores, as well as $200 in cash. But their time at the shelter did not last three years this time: Ms. Garcia recently moved into a two-bedroom apartment in a house in Morris Park in the Bronx. “It’s quiet, and this time I made sure the house is brick,” she said. The rent is $1,320, of which she pays $420; her Section 8 subsidy pays the rest. Now that her situation is more secure, she wants to augment her family by adopting a child from the foster care system. Knowing from experience that older children often have the hardest time getting adopted, she says she wants a child “5 or 6 years old, not a baby.” | New York Times Neediest Cases Fund;Families and Family Life;Domestic Violence |
ny0001850 | [
"business",
"global"
] | 2013/03/30 | EADS’s Newfound Freedom May Lead to Clash With Berlin | OTTOBRUNN, GERMANY — Like the farmers tilling the fields that surround its sprawling German offices south of Munich, European Aeronautic Defense & Space, the parent company of Airbus, is making preparations for new beginnings. This past week, its shareholders approved a new board of directors and formally dissolved a complex agreement that, for more than a decade, had given the governments of France and Germany an effective veto over company strategy. “It’s a huge change for us,” Thomas Enders, the group’s chief executive, said in an interview this month. The failure of a proposed merger last year with BAE Systems of Britain because of opposition from Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany showed that “when push came to shove, it was the shareholder pact that could outvote the board’s independent directors.” The board’s new independence is likely to be put to the test quickly, as EADS prepares to disclose a new strategic plan that could put management on a fresh collision course with Berlin. The broad outlines of the new strategy, which Mr. Enders expects to reveal this summer, are likely to involve a re-evaluation of the company’s previous goal — formulated before the financial crisis — of increasing its military business to 50 percent of revenue by 2020. That, analysts said, would mean a new approach to the lucrative U.S. market in the aftermath of the failed BAE merger. It would also require casting a close eye over its underperforming — and heavily German — defense division, Cassidian. “The biggest single weakness that EADS at least needs to acknowledge is that its defense business, on its own, is subscale,” said Sash Tusa, an aerospace and military industry analyst at Echelon Research & Advisory in London. Cassidian, he noted, owns significant, but not controlling, stakes in some of Europe’s biggest military joint ventures, including Eurofighter, the producer of the Typhoon combat jet, and MBDA, a missile manufacturer, as well as niche activities in military electronics and security. “It’s very fragmented,” Mr. Tusa said. “Some of those areas have synergies, but with most it’s hard to see how they really fit together into a coherent whole.” It has also not been hugely profitable. Like most military contractors in recent years, Cassidian, which contributed about half of EADS’s €12 billion, or $15 billion, in defense revenue last year, has seen its growth stalled by sharp budget cutbacks in Europe and the United States. Stagnant earnings have prompted two restructurings of the unit since 2011, resulting in the loss of about 1,500 jobs. Cassidian’s operating profit plunged 57 percent last year, to €142 million. That contrasts sharply with EADS’s booming commercial jet division, Airbus, which last year increased its sales 19 percent, representing 68 percent of the company’s revenue. Operating profit more than doubled, to €1.1 billion from €543 million in 2011. Airbus’s order backlog stands at more than 4,700 planes, enough to keep its assembly lines humming for nearly eight years. Hence the temptation, some analysts say, to spin off EADS’s military business entirely and either sell or merge its various activities with those of rival companies based mainly in France, Britain or Italy. “It looks increasingly like an adjunct to a much bigger body,” said Nick Cunningham, an aerospace analyst at Agency Partners in London. “Even management refers to it as the ‘non-Airbus’ business.” A spinoff is likely to be easier said than done. Cassidian employs about 23,000 people, of which a little more than half are based in Germany — and in particular in Bavaria, a traditional bastion of support for the Christian Democratic Union party of Ms. Merkel, who is seeking re-election this autumn. The prospect of further high-technology job losses or the transfer of valuable intellectual property to foreign competitors would undoubtedly raise hackles in Berlin. It was precisely those kinds of concerns that ultimately drove Ms. Merkel to reject a merger of EADS with BAE, a deal that would have created a $45 billion European aerospace behemoth to rival Boeing of the United States. “The German government would go ballistic,” said Mr. Tusa of Echelon. “One of the big arguments being made by the economic ministry is, ‘We give you lots of defense business, so you have got to provide a lot of high-tech jobs in Germany.’ I can’t think of a better way to alienate one of your best government customers for little or no financial gain.” It is a challenge that is not lost on Mr. Enders, a 54-year-old German whose rise began in government. He acknowledged Cassidian’s woes, which he said included a heavy dependence on older products like the Eurofighter Typhoon, whose German final assembly lines are in nearby Manching. The Typhoon generates more than €1 billion in annual revenue for EADS, but it is likely to cease production by around 2017. “We have a very mature business, very much driven by Eurofighter and the businesses around combat aircraft,” Mr. Enders said. “Of course we have to look beyond that.” Mr. Enders said he had “no doubt” that Cassidian’s profitability could be improved, but he added that he would not rule out the sale of unprofitable assets in Germany or elsewhere. “We’ve done that in the past,” he said. “It’s part of the business of any company to do a bit of portfolio management.” The success of Airbus, he added, would give EADS time to carefully weigh its strategic options for the military side of the business. Yet Mr. Enders insisted that domestic political concerns, in Germany or elsewhere, would not play a part in the decision-making. “We are not timing our strategic review or any other important projects according to whether somebody has an election year or not,” Mr. Enders said. Under the new governance structure, he added, any divestments — or acquisitions, for that matter — were now “fully in the scope of the new board of directors and not of shareholders or governments.” EADS’s future in the United States, meanwhile, poses different challenges. The European group has made several attempts in recent years to significantly expand its footprint in the United States, the world’s biggest spender on military hardware, with an annual budget of $500 billion. Those attempts have included an ultimately unsuccessful bid for a $35 billion aerial refueling tanker contract with the U.S. Air Force as well as the failed attempt last year to merge with BAE, one of the Pentagon’s top 10 contractors. In the current environment, however, that “big bang” focus on the U.S. market looks increasingly difficult to realize. “The market reality is quite stark,” said Richard L. Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst at Teal Group in Fairfax, Virginia. “To a certain extent, EADS is a prisoner of that. ” With few if any major U.S. procurement programs on the horizon, “EADS might have to fall back to the acquisition approach,” said Mr. Cunningham of Agency Partners. But with major U.S. players like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman almost certainly out of reach for national security reasons, he suggested that EADS “could look at less-sensitive, less-sizable deals that over time aggregate into a significant business.” Mr. Enders confirmed that the study of U.S. acquisition targets would figure prominently in the EADS strategy review. But he rejected the need to rush — or to think small. “I am not a believer in small acquisitions,” he said. “I think that a string-of-pearls approach is, in many cases, value-destroying. For a group like ours, it’s easier to integrate and to acquire larger companies than smaller ones.” That said, Mr. Enders said he was less focused on elbowing out U.S. rivals on their home turf. “I have no illusions about how difficult it is to sell non-American products on the American market,” he said. “We should not even dream about trying to sell a product to a U.S. defense customer if it is not really superior to what our American peers are offering.” Analysts tend to agree. “The strategy should not be to get a percentage of U.S. exposure for the sake of it, but to manage defense as a nearly integrated business and make acquisitions when and where they fit,” said Mr. Tusa of Echelon. “They’ve got cash, they’ve got earnings. They can afford to sit on their hands for two years.” | Airbus;EADS;Boeing;Defense contractor;Board of directors;US Air Force;Germany |
ny0055901 | [
"sports",
"autoracing"
] | 2014/09/20 | Has Formula One Become Too Easy? | Few, if any, Formula One drivers would contest that the Singapore Grand Prix, which runs through the streets of the Southeast Asian city-state this weekend, is not only one of the season’s longest, but is also among the most physically draining and exhausting races. The tight, narrow and bumpy temporary track, which has been part of the series since 2008, when it became the first night race, is part of the challenge. The spotlights, extreme heat, humidity and occasional rain also make it unique. “This is a race where good fitness preparation really pays off,” said Jenson Button, a driver at the McLaren team. “The race is usually close to the two-hour limit, so it’s the longest physical challenge on the calendar.” So in Singapore this weekend, one of the season’s biggest subjects of debate will be given a particular focus: Has Formula One, the pinnacle of auto racing, become too easy? For much of Grand Prix racing’s early period, it was common to see large, muscular, oversized and daring drivers in their 30s and 40s, grappling with the nearly vertical banking on race tracks, as well as several kilometers of straights and blind corners. The cars had huge, powerful engines that in the later years of the 20th century developed more than a thousand horsepower and there was aerodynamic downforce that created heavy G-forces, which meant drivers needed to have particularly muscular necks and shoulders. It often took years for the drivers to build up experience racing in lower categories to make it to the top level, where danger was not just the name of the game, but, for some, the object: taming the beast, defying death. Fast-forward to the 2014 season and the introduction of downsized turbo engines with electric energy-recuperating generators, the car’s typical roar muffled almost to silence and aerodynamic downforce significantly reduced. The cars, some drivers complained, had become less physically demanding to drive. And there were murmurs that the series had lost some of its machismo. Then the announcement last month that a 16-year-old in his first season of racing would join the series with the Toro Rosso team next year, making him, at 17 when he takes the wheel, the youngest driver ever, further fanned the flames: Formula One, the critics said, had become too easy. The teenage driver, Max Verstappen of the Netherlands, the son of a former Formula One driver, Jos Verstappen, did not help calm the controversy with his public comments. “The cars are really safe: I think it’s more dangerous to bike through a big city than race in an F1 car,” he told the BBC shortly after the announcement. The fact is that a number of measures have indeed made elite racing safer than ever. No driver has died in a Formula One race since Ayrton Senna was killed in a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994. While that is mostly considered an improvement, it may also imply that the series is a more natural playground for boys than for men. “You must never forget the risk aspect of it, which we completely eliminated after Ayrton’s accident — although we must be careful because sometimes there is a large element of luck,” said Alain Prost, a four-time world champion and Senna’s great rival. “But the perception that people can have is that we are no longer about ‘the hero of modern times,’ that the driver can die at any moment. We have the impression that we eliminated this part — that what they do is incredible, the driver going into the corner and we don’t know if he will come out alive.” Verstappen’s future teammate at the Toro Rosso team, Daniel Kvyat, a Russian, is the youngest driver to have scored a point in the series: He finished in ninth position this year at the Australian Grand Prix in March, his first race in the series, when he was 19. Kvyat offered a response to critics of a 17-year-old driving in the series after only one season in car racing, to those who would like to see only the oldest, strongest and most experienced drivers. “I think any driver can come to Formula One, can adapt, can get up to speed,” the Russian said. “I think everybody is coming to Formula One for some reason — because he has talent, because he has been successful somewhere. There is always a reason why someone comes to Formula One but then there are many different things that make the difference, so it’s as simple as that.” Image Max Verstappen. Credit Olivier Hoslet/European Pressphoto Agency When asked whether they thought a 17-year-old could handle the cars, many of the other Formula One drivers on the grid tended to agree that he could. But when asked if they themselves would have been ready when they were 17, none said that they would have been. “I was not ready at 17,” said Jules Bianchi, 25, a driver at the Marussia team. “It was my first year in Formula Renault 2.0, so I cannot say I was ready. I was doing mistakes there. So if you still do mistakes in the previous categories, you cannot be ready for Formula One.” It is primarily the differences between the cars of 2014 and those of the past that make today’s Grand Prix racing so unlike its earlier versions. “I tested an F1 car at 17,” said Nico Rosberg, 29, who drives for the Mercedes team and is fighting for the title this year against his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, who is also 29. “Driving-wise I would have been ready, I feel, but the limitation at the time was physical. That was a big limitation because at the time it was still V10, big downforce — I’m not sure if there was more downforce than now, but the tire grip was higher. That was the big limitation at the time for me as a 17-year-old. But nowadays it is a little bit easier physically, definitely, so that will help.” James Allison, a technical director at the Ferrari team, was positive about today’s cars. “I think it’s important that Formula One cars are fast, it’s important that they look dramatic on the track, that the best drivers in the world find them exciting and challenging to drive,” he said. “I think all those things are true. It’s easy to design a set of regulations that would allow them to be massively faster, but I think what we have at the moment is fast. I think it looks dramatic, I think it requires skill from the drivers and I think it’s producing fairly good races. So I don’t really see any big problems in that regard.” Adrian Newey, the designer at the Red Bull team, Toro Rosso’s sister team, defended the arrival of young drivers like Verstappen. “I don’t think age per se is particularly important,” he said. “Over the years we’ve seen a huge spread in driver ages: Fernando [Alonso] is still one of the very top drivers but has been in it for many seasons. I think Nigel Mansell was 40 years old when he won. So Formula One is a sport where drivers, providing their motivation remains, can have a very long career. So you could argue that when they enter is not that important.” But Jacques Villeneuve, who won the world driving title in 1997 at the age of 26, is among the most critical about ever-younger drivers. “There is something that is flawed there,” Villeneuve said. “It is the wrong way round. Caesar and Napoleon were good from the beginning, but it takes time before you become an emperor. You build it. It does not mean that you are more talented, it doesn’t mean that you are faster, but you build, it’s something you learn, and you become a man also.” And yet, there are facts and figures that belie the various complaints. An example is overtaking: This season, the new cars and regulations have led to hundreds of overtaking maneuvers, whereas in all of the 1996 season, for instance, there were only about 100 such moves. The skill, stamina and judgment needed to overtake means that a younger driver, with a more nimble physique and mind, perhaps less wary of the danger, is often at an advantage. Of course, some might say that these statistics indicate exactly the opposite: that overtaking has become too easy. The high frequency of failed overtaking moves, however, would tend to discount that view. There are other indications — including from current and former drivers — that, far from being easier to drive, the new cars are more difficult to tame than those of the recent past, given the extra torque from the turbo engine and the reduced downforce. It is, some say, a different kind of difficult. So the series is perhaps undergoing a different kind of revolution: Future Formula One racing may still require racing skill, but eventually perhaps only the younger and most fit drivers will be hired. The highly dangerous MotoGP series may offer an example, with the 20-year-old motorcyclist Marc Márquez of Spain winning the world title recently. Prost suggested that there were potential changes ahead long before the 2014 Formula One season began. “Each generation of driver is asked for something different, and this one will be about managing energy,” Prost said. “I think the driver who is intelligent, curious and interested will make a difference.” And that driver, he might have added, may be younger. | Formula One;Car Racing;Singapore |
ny0080760 | [
"us",
"politics"
] | 2015/02/13 | G.O.P. Consultant Pleads Guilty in PAC Case | A Virginia-based Republican political consultant pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges that he illegally coordinated spending between a 2012 congressional campaign and a “super PAC,” federal prosecutors said. The consultant, Tyler E. Harber, was accused of managing a congressional campaign while helping create and direct a super PAC that spent $325,000 attacking a rival candidate, according to the Justice Department. The case appears to be the first of its kind brought by federal prosecutors since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010 , which allowed for the creation of political action committees that can raise and spend unlimited money, including from corporations, so long as they do not coordinate the spending with candidates. The Federal Election Commission has been slow to pursue coordination cases, in part because of a deadlock between its Republican and Democratic commissioners over how aggressive to be in policing the new world of outside spending. The case could shine a light into the rapidly growing world of independent spending, dominated by outside groups that raise unlimited money from businesses, unions and the wealthy. “With today’s groundbreaking criminal prosecution, the Justice Department has sent a clear and compelling warning that presidential and congressional candidates who engage in illegal coordination activities are no longer risk free and can face criminal prosecution for their campaign finance violations,” said Fred Wertheimer, the president of Democracy 21, which has urged the election commission to enforce the coordination rules. While a statement announcing Mr. Harber’s guilty plea did not name the candidate or the super PAC, Mr. Harber worked that year for Chris Perkins, a retired Army officer who mounted a challenge in 2012 against Representative Gerald Connolly, Democrat of Virginia. According to federal election records, a super PAC called the National Republican Victory Fund spent $325,000 against Mr. Connolly during the election. Efforts to contact Mr. Harber and Mr. Perkins were unsuccessful. Under federal law, Mr. Harber’s involvement in directing the group’s spending effectively made those expenditures the equivalent of illegal campaign contributions to Mr. Perkins, the candidate whose campaign he was managing. Candidates for federal office in 2012 could accept maximum contributions of $5,000. Court documents filed with the plea provided a stark illustration of the often hidden flow of money, commissions and fees among consultants, donors and political firms. The super PAC’s advertising consultant, called Vendor Z in court documents, appears to be Jamestown Associates , a Republican firm that has worked closely in recent years with conservative and Tea Party-oriented groups. As part of a contract for $300,000 in business from the National Republican Victory Fund, the vendor paid Mr. Harber a commission of more than $9,000. The bulk of the contributions received by the super PAC came from Cary Fields, a 71-year-old New York real estate developer who gave Mr. Perkins’s campaign the maximum allowable contribution in March 2012. According to court papers, Mr. Harber persuaded Mr. Fields to contribute another $300,000 to the National Republican Victory Fund that October. The indictment suggests Mr. Harber told Mr. Fields that virtually all the money would be spent assisting federal candidates. In fact, the super PAC directed nearly a quarter of the money, about $138,000, back to Mr. Harber and his family. Prosecutors said that Mr. Harber’s actions had come under scrutiny from an unnamed Republican official, and that he had used an alias to conceal his involvement with the super PAC. Mr. Harber also admitted to lying to F.B.I. agents during a 2013 interview about whether he had been Mr. Perkins’s campaign manager. The National Republican Victory Fund and similar low-profile super PACs are often set up late in a campaign and shut down soon after. Such groups are often conduits for contributions by industries or businesses to help one candidate without anyone knowing until after Election Day. Mr. Harber was also a spokesman for the Now or Never PAC, which during the 2012 election spent $7.6 million against Democratic Senate and House candidates, including now-Representative Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio. Much of that money was funneled through Americans for Limited Government, a nonprofit group that does not publicly reveal its donors. | Tyler E Harber;PACs;Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission;Campaign finance;Chris Perkins;House races;Congressional elections;US Politics;FEC;Justice Department |
ny0277950 | [
"us"
] | 2016/11/19 | Battle Lines Over Trump’s Lands Policy Stretch Across 640 Million Acres | DENVER — Uranium mines around the Grand Canyon. Oil drilling rigs studding the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. New coal and timber leases in the national forests. States divvying up millions of acres of federal land to dispose of as they wish. To environmental groups, it would be a nightmare. To miners, loggers, ranchers and conservative politicians in resource-dependent areas, it would be about time. Either way, Donald J. Trump’s election presages huge potential change on America’s 640 million acres of federal public lands, from the deep seas east of Maine to the volcanic coasts of Hawaii. “Into a new world,” said Bruce Babbitt, who ran the Interior Department under President Bill Clinton. In Western states, where about half of all land is controlled by federal agencies , Mr. Trump’s supporters hope the pendulum swings back from what they say are overbearing Obama administration regulations that put sage grouse and owls ahead of economic growth. Environmental groups are urging President Obama to push through last-minute preservation projects, such as naming a new national monument in the Bears Ears area of southern Utah. And they are already preparing for battles over Mr. Trump’s campaign promise to “unleash” coal, oil and gas production — much of it on public land. But the unknowns and political variables are huge, too. Mr. Trump himself, while promising to push resource extraction, has also at times spoken about preserving public lands for future generations. History also suggests that changing lands policy is not so easy. President George W. Bush, a Republican, tried to change direction with new agency rules, only to be blocked by federal appeals court decisions. Automation in the timber industry means that even an expanded license to cut trees in the national forests might not restore old mill towns to their blue-collar glory. And the cost of managing federal lands, especially in fighting wildfires — $2.1 billion last year , a record total, matched by the most acres burned in at least 30 years — continues to soar, threatening communities even as many of them look for new direction from the White House in how those lands are managed. Image A lumber yard outside Sweet Home, Ore. Logging industry officials said that employment could grow under a Trump administration, but that changes at the federal level would have to be profound to make a difference. Credit Ruth Fremson/The New York Times “We have a huge and growing inventory of timber in the forests, and they’re going to decompose or burn, and nobody has addressed that,” said Robert H. Nelson, a professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland and a former economic analyst for the Interior Department. “ There’s bipartisan consensus that the federal lands system is dysfunctional,” he said. But the hopes, and the fears, about how that system might now change are boundless. “My big hope is that people would be able to go back to work in San Juan County and these rural areas,” said Phil Lyman, a county commissioner in southern Utah, where antigovernment feelings run as deep as the slot canyons. “You just feel like everything has been stifled with regulations.” At the Western Watersheds Project, a conservation group focusing on the Rocky Mountain region, legal teams are on deck and ready to fight back. “We’re getting ready for an onslaught of anti-environmental policy, and we’re arming up to litigate,” said Erik Molvar, the group’s executive director. “The Trump administration is going to find it very difficult to take away all of the federal laws which have been adopted over the past 40 years.” In the decades-long struggle for control of America’s public lands, the Obama years were a flush time for conservation groups. The administration imposed moratoriums on uranium drilling near the Grand Canyon and blocked new coal leases. Public lands were also adapted for new uses on Mr. Obama’s watch, notably a wave of national monuments based around cultural or historical significance, and a big expansion of solar energy on federal lands in Nevada. Conservatives who loathed those regulations — or new uses — are now hoping Mr. Trump shifts the balance decisively in their favor. Republicans in Congress have proposed bills weakening federal laws that protect wilderness, water quality, endangered species or that allow presidents to unilaterally name new national monuments. Some conservatives hope Mr. Trump will support their efforts to hand federal land over to states, which could sell it off or speed up drilling approvals. To see where change may come the quickest, look to the edges of Glacier National Park in Montana, at a quilt of rocky peaks and wetlands held sacred by the Blackfeet tribe. In March, the Obama administration capped a three-decade fight over oil and gas drilling in the area, called the Badger-Two Medicine, by canceling a Louisiana energy company’s lease on 6,000 acres. The company, Solenex, sued. A lawyer for the company, William Perry Pendley of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, said the incoming Trump administration could simply decide that canceling the lease had been wrong. “All it would take,” he said, “is for the Justice Department to enter the case and say, ‘We’ve re-evaluated. We will lift the suspension and we’ll permit the drilling to go forward.’” This week, the Interior Department announced that a separate energy company with oil and gas leases on 32,000 acres in the same area had voluntarily canceled them. Blackfeet tribal leaders called it a victory for cooperation among industry, conservation activists and the government. Image Conservationists have been urging President Obama to name the Bears Ears area in southern Utah a national monument before he leaves office. Credit Mark Holm for The New York Times Proponents of two major oil pipeline projects are also optimistic. Mr. Trump has said he would move quickly to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which Mr. Obama blocked. The chief executive of the Texas company building the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota said he believed that now-delayed project would sail through under Mr. Trump. To see where things get more tangled, head into the damp woods of the Cascade Range in central Oregon, and the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State, where a long economic decline began in the late 1980s as international trade shifted timber markets to places like Canada, and automated mills eliminated tens of thousands of jobs. Those computer-run mills are not going away even if more logs start arriving. “We really don’t have a clear and easy path to go back to the good old days when natural resource extraction was driving our economy,” said Sean Stevens, the executive director of Oregon Wild, a conservation group. “It is not as easy as just logging more,” he said. Logging industry officials said that employment could grow, but that changes at the federal level would have to be profound to make a difference. The first step, they said, would be to increase the budgets of federal land agencies like the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, something that conservative congressional representatives — many of them bent on budget cuts — might not want to hear. “Yes it’s going to cost us money, but in the long term it will save us money because we face a federal forest crisis, with millions of acres that are diseased, fire-prone, and overstocked,” said Travis Joseph, the president of the American Forest Resource Council, which represents wood product companies from the Northern Rockies to California. “We have got to educate Congress and inform them that this is about an investment.” Davis Filfred, a Navajo Nation council delegate, said he felt that time was running out for the stretches of piñon pine and red sandstone known as the Bears Ears area in southern Utah. It is rich with Native American artifacts, and tribal groups and conservationists have been urging Mr. Obama to name it as a new, perhaps final, national monument before he leaves office. Mr. Filfred drove up to Bears Ears from his home in Aneth, Utah, over Veterans Day weekend with his two sons and other members of Western tribes, and reflected on how much had already been lost there to irresponsible visitors. “They’re taking bones, they’re taking pottery,” he said. “They’re desecrating and damaging the writing on the walls. They’re tearing up the ground with their ATVs and motorcycles. It’s heartbreaking to me when I see that. That’s why I want it protected.” | Donald Trump;Federal lands;Land use;BLM;Interior Department;Standing Rock Sioux Reservation;Arctic National Wildlife Refuge;US Politics;Environment |
ny0180147 | [
"sports",
"tennis"
] | 2007/08/31 | For McEnroe, Mellowing From Superbratty to Cuddly | John McEnroe will always be trailed by his youthful image as the spoiled superbrat in need of long-term therapy. But that’s O.K., it really is, he said, because he is capitalizing on tantrums of yore in films (“Mr. Deeds” and “Anger Management”), on TV (“CSI: NY” and “30 Rock”) and in a new American Express commercial in which he apologizes to a fictional chair umpire, hugs him and says, “You’re not evil!” And during the new season of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” he and Larry David will match dyspeptic wits. “I’m really pumped for that,” McEnroe said yesterday at the United States Open as he prepared to go on the air for USA Network, which shares him with CBS Sports. “It’s going to propel me. I’m in it for a good 10 minutes. It’s a good part. It’s the Mac you’d expect.” The “Mac you’d expect” is the old one, nurtured by rages like the one in 1981 against Ted James, the Wimbledon chair umpire, whom he called “the pits of the world” and to whom he uttered what should be his Bartlett’s entry: “You cannot be serious,” which later became the title of his memoir. Without that past, he would not have been asked to lead Adam Sandler’s Longfellow Deeds into a night of egg-throwing debauchery or to flunk anger management group therapy after a shouting bout with Jack Nicholson, in a scene that was deleted from “Anger Management.” In their confrontation, McEnroe rails that Nicholson says he needs more work on his anger. “I’m changing the call,” Nicholson says. “What kind of a stupid call is that?” McEnroe says, shouting. “This isn’t the Davis Cup, John, this is group therapy,” Nicholson says. • McEnroe is at ease with occasional requests to play off his choleric past. “I don’t take myself as seriously as I did when I was playing, and it works, and I think people see the self-deprecation in my commentary,” he said. His mellowing was ideal for American Express as it looked to push its dispute-resolution service. The ad is running heavily during the tournament, which concerns McEnroe. “I’m in danger of being overexposed,” he said. In the commercial, McEnroe, no longer fulminating, visits a “German” umpire (the scene was shot in Forest Hills Gardens, not in Germany) to offer his regrets for his behavior in disputing a line call at the 1985 United States Open (a year when McEnroe did not recall having any memorable dust-ups). The notion of telling an umpire that he is sorry — like fulfilling one of the 12 steps of addiction recovery — resonates with his angry past and more agreeable present. He said he had apologized to some umpires but had never made his peace with James, whose name he said he didn’t recall. “The perception is I didn’t get along with umpires, obviously, and I didn’t, on the court,” he said. “But off the court, we had a good vibe.” He confessed to some anger at having his best work cut out of “Anger Management” (which survives on the DVD). After all, he said, “it came off my work in ‘Deeds.’ ” He knew from his son that the scene had been deleted when Sandler called. “I was at a restaurant with friends, my energy was up, and Adam said, ‘Johnny, it’s Adam’ ” — and here he said he uttered words familiar to chair umpires. Sandler told him, “It didn’t kill.” His scene was at least as good as Bob Knight’s, McEnroe insisted, but that one stayed in. “CSI: NY” gave McEnroe a dual role, as himself, and a look-alike who murders a man, leading detectives to question McEnroe. “I think I played the other guy better than I played himself,” he said. He wore a prosthetic that made his nose look bigger and gave himself a wimpy high-pitched, more New Yorky voice (at the suggestion of his wife, the rocker Patty Smyth). When asked by detectives for his alibi and a DNA sample, McEnroe, playing himself rather effectively, says, “I know I may have threatened a few line judges, but I never killed anybody.” Later, he watches the interrogation of his doppelgänger, who says he didn’t know who McEnroe was until McEnroe won the 1979 Open and fans thought he was the tennis star. “First Grand Slam at age 20,” McEnroe says, “and the guy doesn’t know me. Are you kidding me?” Mary Carillo, his longtime friend and TV colleague at CBS and NBC, is a leading McEnroe interpreter. “There were times when it probably wasn’t easy being him, when he was raging against the machine, but he’s so much more comfortable in his skin now,” she said. “He’s mellowed. It’s not that he’s tired, but he’s genuinely relaxed. “I used to think of him as someone who would spray paint graffiti over masterpieces, but the way he’s parlayed his past reputation, he’s become cuddly. He’s become a real grown-up.” | McEnroe John;United States Open (Tennis);Tennis;David Larry |
ny0260014 | [
"sports"
] | 2011/06/05 | Semenya Is Second in Oregon | Caster Semenya placed second in the 800 meters in her American track debut, at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore. Semenya was timed in 1 minute 58.88 seconds and finished 0.59 behind Kenia Sinclair of Jamaica. | Semenya Caster;Track and Field |
ny0213183 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2010/03/02 | Tajikistan: Observer Says Vote Fell Short of Standards | Parliamentary elections over the weekend fell short of democratic standards because of “a high prevalence” of ballot box stuffing and other problems, the main Western observer mission to the election, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe , said Monday. A political party supporting President Emomali Rahmon, who has ruled since 1992, won about 72 percent of the vote, suggesting continued stability if not democratic progress. An Islamic opposition party also won seats in the new Parliament. | Tajikistan;Politics and Government;Elections;Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe |
ny0147863 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2008/07/13 | A Boy Jockey’s Last Ride in Mongolia | KHUI DOLOON KHUDAG, Mongolia — The boy and his uncle sat on their horses on the rolling grasslands here on Saturday and watched the jockeys ride their steeds to the starting line. They said there were so many ways the jockeys, almost all boys, might cheat. For instance, a registered jockey could secretly switch with a better rider at the last minute by handing over his green bib. “Who knows what the riders might do to win,” said the boy, Munkherdene, 13, who had raced the previous day and was happy to be just a spectator Saturday. It was the final day of the annual Naadam Festival, a raucous two-day event that draws horse riders, wrestlers and archers from all over Mongolia to compete in what people here call the “three manly sports.” It is one of the most vivid athletic spectacles in the world, and its roots can be traced back to competitions of martial prowess that took place among Genghis Khan’s warriors. On Saturday morning, as Munkherdene and thousands of others watched, more than 600 stubby 5-year-old horses were set to sprint across this wide expanse of steppe west of Ulan Bator, the Mongolian capital. The day before, Munkherdene, who has never won a medal, raced one of his father’s stallions here in what was his final chance to ride in Naadam. (There would be no more races among stallions in this year’s festival, and he would be too heavy next year.) His horse had finished 78th out of more than 200. That was respectable, but not what the boy had hoped for. “I’m not happy,” he said. “I’m very unhappy. I wanted my horse to be among the top five.” Munkherdene and his father, a businessman by trade and horse breeder by hobby, are among a growing number of urban, affluent Mongolians trying to rediscover their nomadic roots by hitting the summer horse-racing circuit in this starkly beautiful land. They were the subject of an article in The New York Times that was published before the boy raced Friday. “The trainer didn’t train the horse well,” Munkherdene said. “The horse was good, but the trainer didn’t do a good job.” The boy said he started the horse at a sprint. “I galloped as fast as possible, then reduced speed, then went fast again, then reduced speed,” he said. The length of the course was about 15 miles. “It was very hard because the distance was so long,” said Munkherdene, who had raced in at least three previous Naadams. In the days leading to the race, the boy and his parents left their apartment in Ulan Bator to live on these grounds in a round felt tent called a ger. Families from all over Mongolia arrived here last week, bringing gers and racehorses with them and transforming this lush green field into a fairground. The boy’s father, Enkhbayar, had eight racehorses that he and a half-dozen hired horsemen were training. The races this weekend were divided by age of horse. Each category had several hundred entrants. Most of the father’s horses that had raced by Saturday morning had placed in the 70s, Munkherdene said. “Our 3-year-old horse could run very fast, but there were so many 3-year-olds that took part this year,” he said. “There were more than 500. Our horse finished 100th, and we consider that a success.” The events at Naadam drew every kind of spectator, from camel herders to the country’s top politicians. On the grasslands here, a few dozen gers had been built to house Mongolian leaders and their families. The nation is in political turmoil: After a riot in the capital early this month, official results of a disputed parliamentary election have yet to be announced. But those tensions were put on hold during this most festive of Mongolian holidays. For two days, everyone watched boys like Munkherdene. “It’s a pity I won’t get to ride in Naadam again,” he said. “Next year, I’ll come to Naadam, but I won’t come as a jockey. I’ll come as a horse trainer. From now on, each year I’ll come as a trainer.” Munkherdene said he would race this summer in smaller competitions. Then he will go home to Ulan Bator to his school friends and his PlayStation. | Horse Racing;Mongolia;Genghis Khan;Horses;Families and Family Life;Children and Youth |
ny0111636 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2012/02/28 | Germany Backs Aid Plan for Greece, at a Cost to Chancellor Merkel | BERLIN — In the face of mounting public opposition, Germany ’s Parliament approved by an overwhelming margin the latest European rescue package for Greece , though the vote could prove politically costly for Chancellor Angela Merkel . Even as doubts continued to grow here that Greece’s finances can be stabilized in the long run, 496 members of the Bundestag voted to sign off on the $175 billion Greek rescue package while just 90 voted against and 5 members abstained. With the vote in hand, Mrs. Merkel can now travel to Brussels for a summit meeting of European leaders on Thursday and Friday with the parliamentary approval necessary to agree to a deal European finance ministers reached last week to keep Greece from a disorderly default. Yet, what at first looked like a blowout victory turned instead into a seeming political embarrassment. With the conviction taking hold that Greece is beyond saving, so many members of Mrs. Merkel’s coalition defected that the bailout passed only with the support of the more left-leaning opposition parties, the Greens and the Social Democrats. “No one can give a 100 percent guarantee of success,” Mrs. Merkel said, acknowledging the growing doubts about Greece’s prospects. But there would be “incalculable risks,” she said, if help were cut off. The failure to reach the symbolic threshold known as the “chancellor’s majority,” or a simple majority in the Bundestag from the ranks of the governing coalition, prompted immediate speculation about how firm Mrs. Merkel’s grip on power was. If it was not a shockwave, it was definitely a tremor. Mrs. Merkel’s government rests on an alliance of her own conservative Christian Democratic Union with the sister party for the state of Bavaria, the Christian Social Union, and the liberal pro-business Free Democrats. The two smaller parties often try to raise their profile by criticizing the government but are supposed to fall into line for important votes. Last week the Free Democrats, who have languished in the polls, broke with Mrs. Merkel and said the party would side with the opposition Social Democrats and the Greens to support Joachim Gauck, the former pastor and East German activist, as Germany’s next president. Mrs. Merkel went along with the smaller party, suffering a blow to her authority in the process. In coalition politics, the symbolic has a way of becoming real all too quickly. Doubts breed weakness, and out of weakness spring new doubts. Uwe Jun, a professor of political science at the University of Trier, said he did not expect Mrs. Merkel to do anything drastic like call for a snap election. “Her pragmatic response will be to wait and see how it will work in the next month and whether this liberal party is still a reliable partner,” Mr. Jun said. “We can’t yet talk about the possible last days of her chancellorship, but it is a difficult situation.” Many Germans oppose bailing out the Greeks on principle, and a growing number are saying it is a fool’s proposition. The Greek economy, they say, keeps shrinking faster than anticipated, cutting tax revenues and making it harder for Athens to meet its fiscal goals, and there are few signs of recovery. The news that some Greek lawmakers had been shifting personal assets out of the troubled country has only added to the sense of pessimism and gloom. “I still don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel,” said Philip Whyte, a senior research fellow at the Center for European Reform. “It’s not clear to me when Greece returns to growth under this policy mix. The fiscal policy is excessively tight, and Greece is being pushed down a totally self-defeating path.” Over the weekend, Germany’s interior minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich, became the first member of Mrs. Merkel’s cabinet to say publicly that Greece should be encouraged to leave the euro, though many others have said so in private. “Greece’s chances to regenerate itself and become competitive are surely greater outside the monetary union than if it remains in the euro area,” Mr. Friedrich told the weekly newsmagazine Der Spiegel. The daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and Economy Minister Philipp Rösler have both expressed doubts about the prospects for Greece’s remaining in the euro, but have not said so publicly. Public opposition is widespread. In a survey by the Emnid polling institute for the newspaper Bild am Sonntag, 62 percent of Germans said they opposed the bailout while only 33 percent were in favor. “The people want to have a clear line, and the clear line is that we raised the pressure on Greece,” said Philipp Missfelder, a member of Parliament and a leading member of Mrs. Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats. Although Mrs. Merkel hushed her critics long enough to pass the measure, the growing chorus of domestic opposition throws increasing doubt on her ability to win support for additional measures to stem the European debt crisis . The debate has already begun to shift toward calls from the International Monetary Fund and others to expand the size of the European Union’s planned rescue fund to combat global financial turmoil. Aware of growing public resistance to helping Greece, a group of Greek business leaders began an ad campaign on the eve of the Bundestag vote that aimed to dispel the impression that Greece was dragging its feet on reforms. “Our European partners have stood by us,” the ads say, noting that tax boosts along with pension and wage cuts had reduced the primary budget deficit to $9 billion from $44 billion in just two years. “But we need continued support and the breathing space to get out of this vicious cycle.” The efforts to polish Greece’s image vied with last week’s news that some members of Parliament were busy moving their money out of Greek bank accounts. The head of a watchdog agency was first to note that at least one member of Parliament had moved a million euros, or $1.3 million, out of the country. That member has not been identified, and guessing who it is has become a popular pastime here. On Saturday, the Greek finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, told Parliament that a significant number of lawmakers had moved sums in excess of $130,000. More important than this parlor game, many said, was whether the politicians could withstand pressure from a public fed up with belt-tightening. “The political situation in Greece remains unstable with regard to the ability of this Greek government or future Greek governments to deliver on the assurances given the euro zone partners,” said Thomas Klau, the head of the Paris office of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “There is a serious question mark over the economic and political viability of the policies which the Greek government and Parliament are now being forced to adopt,” he said. | European Sovereign Debt Crisis (2010- );Merkel Angela;Germany;Greece;Economic Conditions and Trends;Credit and Debt;Social Democratic Party (Germany) |
ny0264497 | [
"world",
"africa"
] | 2011/12/24 | Nigeria: 24 Killed in Northeast | Clashes between a violent Islamist sect and security forces in the northeastern city of Damaturu have killed at least 24 people, the police said Friday. A sustained gun battle broke out between security forces and Islamist militants in Damaturu on Thursday, the police said. On Friday, sect members fired on a group of police officers shortly after Friday Prayer, killing four, local police officials said. | Nigeria;Police;Deaths (Fatalities) |
ny0058964 | [
"us"
] | 2014/08/11 | A Mother Lifts Her Son, Slowly, From Heroin’s Abyss | SPARTA, N.J. — When Gail Morris came home late one night after taking her daughter to college, she saw her teenage son, Alex, asleep on the sofa in the family room. Nothing seemed amiss. An unfinished glass of apple juice sat on the table. She tucked him in under a blanket and went to bed. The next morning, he would not wake up. He was stiff and was hardly breathing. Over the next several hours, Ms. Morris was shocked to learn that her son had overdosed on heroin. She was told he would not survive. He did survive, but barely. He was in a coma for six weeks. He went blind and had no function in his arms or legs. He could not speak or swallow. Hospitalized for 14 months, Alex, who is 6-foot-1, dropped to 90 pounds. One of his doctors said that Alex had come as close to dying as anyone he knew who had not actually died. Most people who overdose on heroin either die or fully recover. But Alex plunged into a state that was neither dead nor functional. There are no national statistics on how often opioid overdose leads to cases like Alex’s, but doctors say they worry that with the dramatic increase in heroin abuse and overdoses, they will see more such outcomes. “I would expect that we will,” said Dr. Nora Volkow , director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse . “They are starting to report isolated cases like this. And I would not be surprised if you have more intermediate cases with more subtle impairment.” More than 660,000 Americans used heroin in 2012, the federal government says, double the number of five years earlier. Officials attribute much of the increase to a crackdown on prescription painkillers, prompting many users to turn to heroin, which is cheaper and easier to get than other opioids. Heroin deaths across the country have soared: From 2011 to 2012, they rose 200 percent in Louisiana , 60 percent in Ohio and 300 percent in Maine . On Long Island , east of New York City, more than 220 people died from heroin in 2012 and 2013, the most ever. “Everyone focuses on death because it’s so dramatic,” Dr. Volkow said. “And so attention hasn’t been paid to the follow-up consequences that may emerge when someone actually survives.” Alex overdosed in 2001, when he was just 17. Today, after 13 difficult years, he has regained some cognition, but still cannot get out of bed, bathe or dress without help. His mother, who is divorced, has become his full-time caretaker. And her life — she was an executive for Citibank and traveled the world — has become circumscribed by his needs. Still, one of the doctors who treated Alex early said he was lucky. “The ones who survive that I have taken care of — many are in a minimally conscious state or a vegetative state,” said Dr. Caroline O. McCagg, who is associate medical director of rehabilitation medicine at the JFK Medical Center in Edison, N.J., and oversees patients with brain trauma. “Some get better, but cognitively they are so impaired that their communication is limited and their ability to live in the community is unlikely.” Image Ms. Morris cares for her son, Alex, with the help of Bruce Bonauto, a home health care aide. Credit Ruth Fremson/The New York Times She calls their condition “a living death.” “They don’t always come back all the way,” she said. “I’ve had patients for 10 or 15 years who are just in limbo. But the family can’t let them go. Death would be kind, in some instances.” Alex has made more progress than anyone predicted. While he still cannot stand on his own and must use a wheelchair, he no longer requires a specialized chair with restraints. His left hand works. He has regained some vision. He can swallow and even speak; in fact his cognitive functioning is fairly high, considering what he has been through, and he communicates well enough to reveal a quick intelligence and flashes of humor. But the promise of his young life — he excelled at math and loved to play guitar — appears dashed. He once dreamed of playing in a band; he now dreams of being able to walk. Alex had learned his multiplication tables when he was three and scored 700 on his math SATs. Today he can hardly add, though he occasionally recalls his calculus and watches television programs on topics like string theory. “His brain is Swiss cheese,” his mother said. “It is full of holes.” One of those holes is the time immediately before he overdosed, in April 2001, at his home here. Alex has no recollection of it. His mother said she thought this must have been his first time. He had an after-school job that required him to take a drug test, and only three months before the overdose, his drug test had been clean. But after his overdose, the police found heroin packs hidden under a false bottom in his bedroom dresser, along with packets of marijuana and pills. They found no needles, leading police to surmise he had snorted the powder. Ms. Morris and Alex no longer ask why he turned to drugs. She offers theories that he cannot corroborate: He was an introvert and had been bullied at school; he was moody and wanted to ease the pain; he thought heroin would expand his music appreciation. In the emergency room, he received two rounds of an antidote, probably naloxone, which can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. It is now being widely distributed to emergency medical workers and even family members, and has saved thousands of lives. In Alex’s case, he received it too late and it did not work. He ended up in the same intensive care unit at the local community hospital as Karen Ann Quinlan , the young woman at the center of one of the nation’s first major right-to-die debates in the mid-1970s. Ms. Quinlan had fallen into a coma after a night of drugs and alcohol. After a year in which her doctors said she suffered from irreversible brain damage and was in a “persistent vegetative state,” she was taken off her respirator. She lived for nine years before dying of natural causes. Julia Quinlan, Karen Ann’s mother, heard about Alex’s overdose and called Ms. Morris. “She was very helpful,” Ms. Morris recalled. Mrs. Quinlan helped her think about her options and what might lie ahead. But mostly, Ms. Morris sat by her comatose son in the hospital, willing him to live by softly chanting what she calls the parent’s prayer: “Take from me and give to him.” After emerging from his coma, Alex was transferred to the acute brain trauma unit at JFK Medical Center, where he stayed for three months, and then he spent 10 months in the medical center’s extended brain trauma unit. At the age when Alex had been expected to follow his sister into an Ivy League college, he instead could do little but breathe. Instead of becoming independent, he became completely dependent. He is now 30, and his mother is 66. They are an inseparable pair, their lives intertwined in every way. She tends to the minutiae of his every waking moment. Image Alex turns over dominoes, an activity that improves his fine motor skills. He has made more progress than predicted, but cannot stand on his own. Credit Ruth Fremson/The New York Times Their symbiosis is reflected in their pas de deux when Ms. Morris helps Alex transfer from bed to wheelchair, from wheelchair to toilet, from wheelchair to sitting chair. Her legs straddle his while she pulls him up and he grasps her arms. She is careful to position herself so that if his legs go into a spasm, they will not clutch her in a vise. When she has him up, they stand for a moment as if in an embrace before she turns him to another chair. And they seem to have a kind of mind meld. Ms. Morris was saying that introverts like her son often felt in high school like they were being “policed.” But as she spoke, she knew that “policed” was not quite the word she wanted, and Alex, who was listening intently, sensed it too. “Monitored?” he offered. That was the word she was looking for. “Brain-injured people can’t always find the right word,” she said. “But sometimes, I feel like we’ve flipped, and Alex fills in the blanks for me.” He is also funny. At one point, Ms. Morris said she had despaired of researchers who like to note that more people die from smoking cigarettes than from using heroin. This prompted Alex to laugh and paraphrase the comedian George Burns, who constantly smoked a cigar: “My doctors who told me that smoking would kill me are all dead now.” In between exercises, therapies and trips to the doctor, Ms. Morris and Alex find time for a few activities that do not relate to his condition. They traveled recently to Baltimore to see an exhibit on Archimedes, the Greek mathematician. They attend classes together at the Apple Store. They also go to a local Toastmasters club, where people learn public speaking and are critiqued by other members; Ms. Morris said it was “good therapy” for Alex “to see Mom get critiqued for a change.” In recent months, they developed a cooking project called “Helping Hands Chefs ” to help people like Alex with dexterity issues. Over the years, Ms. Morris has perfected many techniques, from putting peas in mashed potatoes so that they do not roll off a fork, to grinding cinnamon sugar onto bananas, making the pieces less slippery so Alex can pick them up. Now, she is sharing those techniques through a blog, videos, a cookbook and by giving cooking lessons to others who take care of people who have difficulty feeding themselves. Ms. Morris hopes the project will provide some financial security for Alex’s future, which is constantly on her mind. He receives disability income now through his father’s retirement. Ms. Morris is healthy and strong but knows she will not live forever. Her immediate goal is for her son to be able to move from chair to chair by himself, and someday to walk with a cane. “I hope that I hold out long enough that we can get him to be independent, and he’s trying as hard as he can,” she said. If he does not learn to walk, she said, he could end up in a nursing home. She is still searching for a way that he might become self-supporting. Asked how he envisioned his future, Alex said quietly: “I don’t have an answer for that.” People often think of taking heroin as like Russian roulette, Ms. Morris said, because you never know what you are going to get. But to her mind, taking heroin is more like being a suicide bomber. “Not only are you affecting your own life, but the shrapnel that is produced goes to the people you love the most,” she said. “When you’re thinking of getting high, you really should be thinking that you’re taking a hot coal and putting it in your loved one’s body,” she said. “If you die, that pain will be with your loved one forever. But these other outcomes can also be incredibly painful and arduous for whoever has to deal with it.” | Heroin;Drug Abuse;Disability;Alex Morris;Gail Morris |
ny0212360 | [
"sports",
"basketball"
] | 2017/01/24 | Steve Kerr, All-Star Coach, Rips Players for ‘Mockery’ in Voting | MIAMI — Golden State Coach Steve Kerr said he wished players had taken their voting for the N.B.A. All-Star Game more seriously, calling it a “mockery” that nearly 300 players in the league wound up on at least one ballot. Players had a say in deciding starters for next month’s game in New Orleans, with their selections accounting for 25 percent of a given player’s total score in the balloting. Fan and media votes were also part of the process of selecting starters, and N.B.A. coaches vote this week for the reserves to be revealed Thursday. “I am very disappointed in the players,” Kerr, who will coach the Western Conference in the game, said before the Warriors’ 105-102 loss at Miami on Monday night. “They’ve asked for a vote and a lot of them just made a mockery of it. I don’t know what the point is.” Nearly 100 players got only one vote from either themselves or N.B.A. peers in the All-Star balloting, including Mo Williams — who hasn’t played a single second this season. The N.B.A. said 324 players participated in the voting. Kerr was asked why he would use the word “mockery.” “I saw the list,” Kerr said. “I saw all the guys who got votes.” He added: “There were 50 guys on there who had no business getting votes. Although a lot of people wrote in their buddies in the presidential vote as well. So maybe that’s just their own way of making a statement. I think if you’re going to give the players a vote, I think they should take it seriously.” In past years, starters have been picked entirely by fan vote. This year, those whose All-Star hopes now hinge on the coaches’ vote include Dwyane Wade, Zaza Pachulia, Joel Embiid, the two-time All-Star most valuable player Russell Westbrook and the perennial All-Star selection Carmelo Anthony. Wade, Pachulia and Embiid would have started under the old formula. Kerr said the change to the way starters were picked this year did not affect the way he voted for reserves. He sent his vote in Sunday. “Didn’t alter anything,” said Kerr, whose spot as the West coach was clinched when Houston lost to Milwaukee on Monday. Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said he called a staff meeting to solicit opinions on the ballot he’ll send to the league. “How is Russell Westbrook not in the starting lineup?” Spoelstra asked. “I know how it’s important to players and especially guys that are giving their heart and soul and emotions into the game and should be rewarded for it. I do have to admit, in some years past, I would just give it to my assistants. Not anymore.” Spoelstra said he told Heat center Hassan Whiteside, another All-Star reserve hopeful, that to be picked as an All-Star backup would be not a consolation prize but rather a sign of respect. “Players, they’re not all voting; fans you have no idea where that’s coming from,” Spoelstra said. But the coaches, he said, are “paid to figure out who helps teams win, and I think that’s the ultimate compliment if you get voted in by coaches.” “So I’m taking that responsibility a lot more seriously than I have in the past,” Spoelstra said. | Basketball;Coaches;All-star game;Golden State Warriors;Steve Kerr |
ny0230911 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2010/09/07 | Germany Extends Nuclear Plants’ Life | BERLIN — The German government has decided to extend the life spans of the country’s 17 nuclear plants while alternative energy sources are developed, a move that is also likely to create windfalls for both power companies and strained government coffers. The decision comes at a time when several European countries, including Italy and Sweden, are reconsidering long-held policies against nuclear power, not only to develop new sources of energy but also to combat climate change . New taxes levied on utility companies as part of the deal will be used in part to help develop renewable energy sources, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday. But she said Germany could not afford to get rid of nuclear power as planned because the amount of renewable energy available would not be sufficient to fill the gap. “ Nuclear energy is a bridge,” she said. Under a German law, passed by a previous government in 2002, the last nuclear power plant was to be shut by 2022. That decision, bitterly resented by the nuclear energy companies, was largely supported by the German public, which has a deep aversion to anything nuclear, a sentiment that intensified after the nuclear accident at Chernobyl. Recent polls have shown attitudes shifting, however. A survey by Forsa, an independent polling institute, in July found that 81 percent of Germans said the country could not do entirely without nuclear power, up from 59 percent five years ago. The new accord, reached late Sunday night after months of wrangling inside Mrs. Merkel’s coalition of conservatives and the business-friendly Free Democrats, will prolong the life of the nuclear facilities an average of 12 years. The oldest plants, built before 1980, will remain open for a further eight years. Newer ones will be allowed to operate for up to 14 additional years. Mrs. Merkel, who was an environment minister in the 1990s, called the decision “a revolution for energy supplies,” and said Germany’s energy sector would be “one of the most environmentally friendly and efficient throughout the world.” Shares in Germany’s big energy companies jumped Monday on the news of the extension. Shares in renewable energy companies also rose, signaling market acceptance of the government’s pledge to increase the share of renewable energy as a source of electricity to 20 percent by 2020, from 15.6 percent now. Nuclear energy now accounts for 22.6 percent of Germany’s net electricity consumption. Compared with coal or natural gas plants, nuclear plants are hugely expensive to build. But once up and running, they have been relatively inexpensive to operate. According to a report published by the DIW, the German Institute for Economic Research, combined profits of the nuclear energy companies could grow by €6.4 billion, or $8.2 billion, for each year of additional life span. As a result, the German government will impose a new tax starting next year on the four German nuclear companies — E.ON, RWE, EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg and Vattenfall. Estimates are it will bring in €2.3 billion a year until at least 2016, money that will go to the general budget. The companies also will also pay €300 million in 2011 and 2012 and €200 million in subsequent years through 2016 into an investment fund for renewable energy projects. But at news conferences on Monday, German officials sidestepped questions about the cost of bringing alternative energy to the level needed. It was also unclear how the funds will be invested. Alternative energy lobbies and analysts said it was essential that the electricity grids be expanded or new ones built to deliver renewable energy to the consumer. “If the government is committed to renewable energy, then the energy companies have to build more grids to meet growing consumer demand,” said Claudia Kemfert, professor of environment at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. Even if that were to be agreed, it takes several years to obtain permission to build new grids because of administrative procedures, she added. Dietmar Schütz, president of the German Renewable Energy Federation, was pessimistic that this would happen. He also accused Mrs. Merkel of caving into pressure from the nuclear lobby. “By extending the life of the nuclear power plants, she has placed obstacles to the expansion of renewable energy,” he said in a statement. “The cat is now out of the bag.” The nuclear energy companies had spent months lobbying the government to reverse the closure decision that was made by the former Social Democratic-Green coalition, which governed from 1998 to 2005. The companies also took out full-page advertisements in the main newspapers to convince a skeptical public that a prolongation of the nuclear power industry was needed for Germany’s energy security. Complicating the debate, a recent government-commissioned report said that without nuclear power, Germany could not hope to reach its target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050. A recent Forsa poll found Germans still split on the issue, with 56 percent favoring sticking to the phase-out schedule and 37 percent in favor of extending it. In 2007, the split was 47 percent to 31 percent, with 17 percent either undecided or in favor of immediate closure. Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the opposition Social Democrats, called the new extension a “black day for energy policy.” Along with the opposition Greens, the Social Democrats have vowed to annul it if the party returns to power in the next election, which is not due until 2013. When Mrs. Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party and the Free Democrats were elected last September, they made no secret that they wanted to extend the life span of the nuclear industry; it was part of their election program. Her coalition, as it turned out, was far from united on the issue. Norbert Röttgen, the Christian Democratic environment minister, had opposed extending the deadline while Rainer Brüderle, the Free Democrat economy minister, wanted the maximum extension possible. It is not certain the government can implement the accord without going to the Bundesrat, the parliamentary upper house where the 16 states are represented. The government no longer has a majority in the Bundesrat. Mrs. Merkel believes she will be able to bypass the Bundesrat because the accord prolongs the phase-out period, but does not overturn the 2002 law. Several states, however, have threatened to take the issue to the Constitutional Court, the country’s highest. | Nuclear Energy;Germany;Alternative and Renewable Energy;Politics and Government;Global Warming;Merkel Angela;Taxation |
ny0260139 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2011/06/20 | Police Arrest Mother in Death of 5-Year-Old Bronx Boy | A Bronx woman was arrested on Sunday in the death of her 5-year-old son, who was struck in the abdomen with such force that he suffered internal injuries, the police said. The woman, Kim Crawford, 21, was charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter two days after officers were called to her apartment in the Edenwald neighborhood and discovered that the boy, Jamar Johnson, was unconscious and not breathing, according to the police. Ms. Crawford and her children — she also has a daughter, a neighbor says — moved into a subsidized apartment on East 227th Street on June 10, a neighbor said. The neighbor, Evelyn Phifer, 30, said that when the family was moving in, she saw no furniture, only large, clear plastic bags filled with belongings. Ms. Crawford’s landlord, Edgar Parker, said in a telephone interview that when he went to the apartment on the day Ms. Crawford moved in, to install an air-conditioner and help her with a television, Jamar did not appear neglected or in pain. “He went to the fridge to get a Popsicle,” Mr. Parker said. “He looked happy.” When Mr. Parker stopped by the apartment on Thursday, the day before Jamar died, he did not see the boy. “She looked nervous,” he said, recalling that it was some time before Ms. Crawford answered the door. Ms. Phifer said a detective told her that Jamar had been “lying in pain for days.” Ms. Phifer said she saw emergency medical technicians arrive Friday afternoon. The boy was taken outside on a stretcher, and attempts were made to revive him in front of the building. “For 15 or 20 minutes, they tried to bring that baby back,” she said. The police said the boy had been struck several times in the torso, and the city medical examiner’s office said an autopsy had revealed internal abdominal injuries. Ms. Phifer said Ms. Crawford and her daughter had followed Jamar to the hospital, Montefiore Medical Center, in a separate ambulance. A spokesman for the city’s Administration for Children’s Services wrote in an e-mail: “We are investigating this death. The other sibling has been taken into our care.” The spokesman would not confirm the sex of the sibling or say whether the family had had any previous contact with the child welfare agency. The police said that from 2006 to 2010, officers were summoned on at least nine occasions to sort out domestic disturbances involving Ms. Crawford and Jamar’s father, who was not implicated in the boy’s death. Separately, Ms. Crawford has also had at least two previous arrests, one for assault and another for drug possession. The disposition of those cases was not immediately known. Ms. Crawford was awaiting arraignment Sunday evening. In a separate case, the city medical examiner’s office ruled Sunday that the death of another child in the Bronx over the weekend was a homicide. The office identified the child as Enidaliz Ortiz-Encarnacion, 3 (the police previously identified her as Anita Ortiz), and said she died of blunt-impact trauma to the torso and compression of the neck, or strangling. The girl was in cardiac arrest when medics arrived at her family’s apartment on East 140th Street early Saturday morning, the authorities said. She was pronounced dead at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center. The police said her mother’s companion, whose name was not released, was the only person with Enidaliz when the ambulance arrived. The child welfare spokesman said a sibling had been removed from that home on Saturday. He would not say whether the girl’s family had had any previous contact with the agency. No arrests had been made in the Ortiz case as of Sunday evening. | Child Abuse and Neglect;Bronx (NYC);Kim Crawford;Murders and Attempted Murders |
ny0211602 | [
"us",
"politics"
] | 2017/01/10 | Republicans, Facing Pressure, Delay Hearings for 4 Trump Cabinet Nominees | WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans, under increasing pressure to ensure that President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nominees are fully vetted by federal authorities, have delayed the hearings of four potential cabinet members, three of whom have not been cleared by the agency charged with unraveling potential conflicts of interest. As frustrations over confirmations grow, a group that supports Republicans accused the ethics office and its leader — in a highly unusual attack on the nonpartisan agency — of politicizing a process long viewed by both parties as arduous but essential for anyone serving in government. Hearings for Betsy DeVos, Mr. Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Education; Andrew Puzder, his labor secretary nominee; and Representative Mike Pompeo, Republican of Kansas, Mr. Trump’s pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, have all been pushed back as Democrats clamor for more time to collect and review the standard background checks that nominees traditionally undergo before their hearings commence. Wilbur Ross, Mr. Trump’s pick for secretary of commerce, will also be delayed several days because his ethics agreement is not complete, according to the chairman and ranking Democrat of the commerce committee. The delays represent a stumble for the incoming Trump administration, which has vowed to run government with a businesslike efficiency, and highlights how in several respects its preparation to take office is behind that of predecessors. In the case of Ms. DeVos, a billionaire, a complex web of financial holdings may be slowing down the Office of Government Ethics , which helps federal officials address conflict of interest matters, while Mr. Puzder’s background documents are also not in order. Image Andrew Puzder, Mr. Trump’s labor secretary nominee, and two others had their confirmation hearings delayed. Credit Drew Angerer/Getty Images Walter M. Shaub Jr., the director of the ethics office, said in a letter to Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, that he did not know when Ms. DeVos would be cleared by his agency as this was “dependent on the nominee to provide needed information, respond to questions and accept the terms of an ethics agreement.” Republicans have vowed hearings for as many nominees as possible before Mr. Trump’s inauguration, so that they can be cleared to served immediately, particularly those posts associated with national security. “We will be in a position to confirm a significant number of the president’s nominees on day one,” said the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, said Tuesday on the Senate floor, “This new hearing schedule is a very good first step, but we still have a ways to go.” Mr. Trump’s aides have been pressuring the ethics office to expedite its processes, even though it did not get the necessary paperwork from most of his nominees until recently, putting Republicans in a difficult position of either pushing forward with hearings without proper vetting — something most of the chairmen are loath to do — or delaying them in some cases indefinitely. “Trump is the latest president-elect to begin the process in contemporary history,” said Paul C. Light, a professor of Public Service at New York University who worked on Capitol Hill as an adviser on transitions. “This puts the Republicans under pressure and sets up possible problems down the road. Mr. Trump is asking the Senate to make up for his own failures here.” The conservative organization America Rising PAC took aim at Mr. Shaub on Monday, highlighting his “history as a Democrat and the double standard he employed as head” of the agency, highlighting his political donations to President Obama as well as his office’s “utter incompetence” in policing financial matters related to Hillary and Bill Clinton. The PAC chided Mr. Shaub for wading into the politics of the transitions, saying his public comments and criticisms had become fodder for “Congressional Democrats to try and score points.” The PAC noted an informal — and ill-advised — series of postings on Twitter from the office’s official account congratulating Mr. Trump on divesting from his real estate business — a move he had not made. “The head of President Obama’s ethics department has absolutely zero credibility to criticize others,” Scott Sloofman, a spokesman for America Rising PAC, said in an email, adding that Mr. Shaub’s “outburst over the weekend reeks of partisan politics from an embittered Democrat still reeling from November’s election result.” Donald Trump’s Cabinet Is Complete. Here’s the Full List. A list of appointees and nominees for top posts in the new administration. In messages posted to Twitter on Tuesday, the office wrote that it is “Moving quickly!” — noting that it had pre-cleared 54 percent of the nominees it has received from the Trump transition team, compared with 29 percent at the same point in 2009. “OGE is expediting reviews of the financial disclosure reports of the President-elect’s nominees, without sacrificing quality,” the agency said on Twitter. An employment lawyer by trade, Mr. Shaub joined the Office of Government Ethics in 2006, during the administration of George W. Bush, working as a supervisory lawyer. In 2008, he became a deputy general counsel, and then President Obama in 2013 nominated Mr. Shaub as director of the office. Ethics experts who have worked closely with the office and Mr. Shaub said the criticisms of him seemed unfair. “For simply doing his job, director Shaub is now being unfairly attacked,” Norman L. Eisen, a former special counsel for ethics and government reform under Mr. Obama, and Richard W. Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer to Mr. Bush, said in a joint statement. “It seems that it is open season on ethics in Washington, D.C. Last week the nonpartisan, independent Office of Congressional Ethics was attacked, and now the nonpartisan, independent Office of Government Ethics and its director are being targeted.” They added, “This attempt to bully and intimidate a hardworking, understaffed agency like O.G.E. must not go unchecked.” The compliance office work on the transition got off to a cordial and even enthusiastic start during the final months of the campaign, and continued after the election, according to a series of emails between ethics officials and Mr. Trump’s representatives obtained through public records requests by MSNBC and the James Madison Project. “Congratulations on the campaign’s victory,” Mr. Shaub wrote members of Mr. Trump’s transition team on the morning after Election Day, just hours after his victory, adding, “We’re really looking forward to getting down to work on this presidential transition — which we’re going to make one of the best in history!” | Betsy Devos;Andrew F Puzder;Mike Pompeo;Wilbur L Ross Jr;Republicans;Donald Trump;US Politics;Appointments and Executive Changes;Office of Government Ethics |
ny0010606 | [
"business",
"global"
] | 2013/02/09 | Chinese Imports and Exports Soar in January | HONG KONG — January trade data from China on Friday showed a surge in exports and imports from the levels of a year earlier — a phenomenon largely due to the timing of the Lunar New Year holiday but also supporting the view that the Chinese economy is firming up. Economic data from China are often severely distorted by the holiday, when many factories shut down for a week or more. The holiday this year takes place in February — the first day of the Lunar New Year is Sunday. Last year it fell squarely in January, cutting down on the number of working days during that month. The trade data released Friday reflected this with a large increase, compared with the year before, as analysts had expected. Exports climbed 25 percent from January 2012, according to the General Administration of Customs, and imports rose 28.8 percent. The increases were much lower when adjusted for the holiday-induced differences in the number of working days, with exports up 12.4 percent and imports just 3.4 percent higher. Still, the data beat expectations by a wide margin, supporting the view that healthier domestic and overseas demand also had been significant. “This strong export number cannot be fully explained by the Chinese New Year effect alone,” Zhiwei Zhang, chief China economist at Nomura in Hong Kong, said in a research note. “These data suggest that external and domestic demand are both strong, which supports our view that the economy is on track for a cyclical recovery” in the first half of this year, he added. Dariusz Kowalczyk, an economist at Crédit Agricole in Hong Kong, said, “We need to wait for February results to have the full picture of trade at the start of 2013.” However, he added, “one trend is clear: exports have been doing very well recently. This may be a sign of improved external demand but is also a testimony to the resilience of Chinese exporters and to their competitiveness.” Improved overseas demand and a string of government-mandated stimulus measures have gradually propped up growth and dispelled fears of a hard landing in China. While the Chinese economy expanded just 7.8 percent last year — down from 9.3 percent in 2011 and 10.4 percent in 2010 — many analysts expect growth to top 8 percent again in 2013. Central bank data Friday that showed ample money had continued to flood into the economy also supported this view. Banks extended 1.07 trillion renminbi, or $172 billion, in new loans during January, more than analysts had expected. Total “social financing aggregate” in the economy, a broad measure of liquidity, or the ease of trading assets, more than doubled from a year earlier, to 2.54 trillion renminbi. That figure, Mr. Kowalczyk commented, was a “blowout number.” Like other data released Friday, the financing figure was lifted by the Lunar New Year effects, but even without these, Mr. Kowalczyk said, it was a “huge amount of funding” and would sustain solid economic growth in the near term at least. Longer term, he cautioned, it would also “stoke inflationary pressures,” and could lead the central bank to tighten monetary policy further down the line as it seeks to stave off inflationary pressures. For now, inflation remains benign. Consumer prices rose just 2 percent in January from a year earlier, a moderation from the 2.5 percent year-on-year increase in December. The low inflation number, released Friday, was in line with forecasts, but analysts widely expect a rebound in February. | China;Economy;International trade;Lunar New Year |
ny0065089 | [
"business",
"international"
] | 2014/06/17 | Airbus and Safran to Form Satellite Venture | PARIS — The Airbus Group and Safran of France plan to merge their satellite launching activities into a new company that aims to better compete against lower-cost rivals from Russia and the United States. The two companies said on Monday that they expected their 50-50 joint venture to be up and running before the end of this year, combining Airbus’s expertise in launcher systems with Safran’s rocket engine technology. The move, which was earlier presented to President François Hollande of France, is the first concrete step toward streamlining Europe’s fragmented space business. It comes in response to mounting pressure from the region’s biggest commercial satellite companies for more affordable launches by European companies. Mr. Hollande hailed the agreement as “a major step toward the consolidation of the European space program.” Airbus’s space division is leading the early stages of development for a successor to Europe’s highly successful Ariane 5 rocket, called the Ariane 6. The 20 member states of the European Space Agency are expected to decide by December whether to proceed with the project, which is budgeted at 3 billion euros, or $4.1 billion, and is expected to take to the heavens in 2021. Satellite companies have warned that costs must come down if Europe hopes to remain competitive with the likes of Russia and SpaceX, the American space launch company set up by the billionaire Elon Musk, as well as dozens of smaller would-be competitors. SpaceX charges around $60 million to carry a satellite to orbit aboard one of its Falcon rockets, nearly half the cost of the Ariane 5 and competitors like Russia’s Proton-M. The Ariane 6 is expected to eventually cost around $100 million for each launch. In an April letter to the European Space Agency, the chief executives of seven leading European satellite operators, including Inmarsat , Intelsat and Eutelsat, warned that “considerable efforts to restore competitiveness in price of the existing European launcher need to be undertaken if Europe is to maintain its market situation.” Financial details of the Airbus-Safran venture were not disclosed. But the companies pledged to work together to further develop the Ariane 6 launcher as well as an intermediate version of the Ariane 5 called the Ariane 5ME, which is scheduled to enter service in 2018. “Our agreement with Safran is the starting point of an exciting journey towards a more integrated, more efficient and hence more profitable launcher business in Europe,” Thomas Enders, the Airbus group chief executive, said in a statement. Analysts said the odds were good that the new Airbus-Safran venture would be able to bring European space launch prices down enough to be competitive with SpaceX within a few years. “The technology is there,” said Michael Blades, an analyst for the research firm Frost & Sullivan, who studies the commercial space launch industry. “It’s just going to take time for them to figure out how to offer that technology in a more cost-effective way.” One reason that European launchers have been able to charge a premium until now is their 30-year track record of reliability, Mr. Blades said. But that gap is closing. “SpaceX is gaining ground in that area quickly,” he said. The $6.5 billion global satellite launch business is dominated by Russian vehicles, which have been used to carry 42 percent of commercial satellites into orbit over the past decade, according to figures from the United States Department of Transportation. Europe’s share of that market is just under 25 percent, followed by the United States with 16 percent. Russia’s strong position was highlighted recently when Western tensions with Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine raised questions of whether a number of planned commercial satellite launches using Russian technology might be derailed by the threat of tightening trade restrictions. In April, COM DEV International, a Canadian satellite manufacturer, canceled a June launch from Kazakhstan of a maritime-tracking satellite aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. Other pending launches aboard Russian rockets this year include a $1.6 billion fleet of mobile broadband satellites operated by Inmarsat of Britain. Inmarsat has said it does not currently expect its launch plans to be affected by sanctions. | Satellite;Mergers and Acquisitions;European Space Agency;Safran |
ny0121391 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2012/07/25 | City Acquires Final Segment of High Line From CSX | New York City has acquired the third and final section of the High Line, the old elevated railroad structure on the West Side of Manhattan, from CSX Transportation, clearing the way for completion of the park. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and High Line officials announced on Tuesday that CSX had donated the remaining section, just as it had previously donated the segments south of West 30th Street. The new half-mile segment, which hugs the West Side railyards , runs west from 30th Street and 10th Avenue to 12th Avenue and then continues north to 34th Street. Design of the new portion of the High Line is already under way. Construction is expected to begin later this year. “In the three short years since the first section opened as a park, the High Line has become a treasured neighborhood oasis, a significant generator of economic activity for the entire city and a celebrated icon for planners, designers and leaders around the world,” Mr. Bloomberg said. The new section of the park will offer visitors “sweeping views of New York City’s skyline and the Hudson River,” said Adrian Benepe, the commissioner of the parks department. The new portion borders the 26-acre Hudson Yards mixed-use neighborhood that is now being developed by Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group. When completed, that project will include more than 12 million square feet of new office, residential, retail and cultural space. Last fall, the city announced that Coach Inc. would buy more than 600,000 square feet in the first tower on the Hudson Yards site, at 30th Street and 10th Avenue, the current terminus of the High Line park. The High Line is owned by the city but maintained and operated by Friends of the High Line, the nonprofit group that had rallied to save it from demolition after it fell into disuse as a freight rail line. | High Line (NYC);Bloomberg Michael R;Parks and Other Recreation Areas;New York City;CSX Corporation |
ny0073811 | [
"world",
"americas"
] | 2015/04/29 | Fewer Children Are Entering U.S. Illegally as Mexico Cracks Down, Analysis Finds | MEXICO CITY — A significant drop in the number of children apprehended at the United States-Mexico border in recent months sprang from Mexico’s record number of deportations of minors traveling without a guardian, according to an analysis released Tuesday. The analysis, by the Pew Research Center in Washington, noted that the flow of children not authorized to enter the United States had dropped precipitously, to 12,509, from October to February. The vast majority of the children were Central American. That was down from 21,402 in the same period a year ago, amid a wave of children fleeing violence in their home countries and drawn by false promises of amnesty in the United States. That surge eventually prompted President Obama to declare an emergency. Mexico, pushed by the United States and other countries, stepped up law enforcement in its southern border region in ways not seen in years, with raids on freight trains that migrants sneak aboard to travel north and more frequent immigration checks on hotels and vehicles. Officials returned 3,819 minors to their home countries in the period studied, a 56 percent increase over the previous year. Children making their way from Honduras, where crime, violence and the rumors of amnesty were strongest, slowed to the point that Guatemala now accounts for the largest share of children apprehended in Mexico, according to the study. “The broad conclusion is that the increase in deportations in Mexico is having an effect on the flow of unaccompanied minors,” said Ana Gonzalez-Barrera, the Pew research associate who prepared the analysis using data from the Mexican and American governments. The period studied tends to be one of the slower ones for migrants trying to reach the United States. But Ms. Gonzalez-Barrera said that the significant drop in the same period year to year indicated that the flow had slowed and that the change had coincided with Mexico’s crackdown. Mexico’s get-tough approach has led to complaints from advocates for migrants. They say that the police have been heavy-handed and have detained many migrants unable or unwilling to pay bribes to pass through, and that the government has made it difficult for people to apply for asylum. At the same time, workers at migrant shelters have said that many people are simply finding new routes north, evading the authorities’ focus on traditional routes and jeopardizing their lives by crossing treacherous terrain. The Washington Office on Latin America, an advocacy group in Washington, said in its own report this month questioning the crackdown, “The humanitarian consequences could be severe.” | Illegal Immigration;Children;Mexico;Central America;Pew Research Center;US |
ny0146645 | [
"us"
] | 2008/07/17 | Seattle to Remove Automated Toilets | SEATTLE — After spending $5 million on its five automated public toilets, Seattle is calling it quits. In the end, the restrooms, installed in early 2004, had become so filthy, so overrun with drug abusers and prostitutes, that although use was free of charge, even some of the city’s most destitute people refused to step inside them. The units were put up for sale Wednesday afternoon on eBay, with a starting bid set by the city at $89,000 apiece. The dismal outcome coincides with plans by New York, Los Angeles and Boston, among other cities, to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for expansion this fall in their installation of automated toilets — stand-alone structures with metal doors that open at the press of a button and stay closed for up to 20 minutes. The units clean themselves after each use, disinfecting the seats and power-washing the floors. Seattle officials say the project here failed because the toilets, which are to close on Aug. 1, were placed in neighborhoods that already had many drug users and transients. Then there was the matter of cost: $1 million apiece over five years, which because of a local ordinance had to be borne entirely by taxpayers instead of advertisers. In the typical arrangement involving cities that want to try automated toilets, an outdoor advertising company like JCDecaux provides, operates and maintains them for the municipality in exchange for a right to place ads on public property like bus stops and kiosks. Revenue from the advertisers flows to both the company and the city. But a strict advertising law here barred officials from such an arrangement, meaning Seattle had to pick up the entire $5 million cost. “That’s a lot of money, a whole lot,” said Ray Hoffman, director of corporate policy for Seattle Public Utilities, the municipal water and sewage agency that ran the project. Richard McIver, a Seattle city councilman, agrees. “Other cities around the world seem to be able to handle toilets civilly,” Mr. McIver said. “But we were unable to control the street population, and without the benefit of advertising, our costs were awfully high.” Automated toilets have been common fixtures on European sidewalks for decades. But they have been less popular in American cities, where concerns including their appearance, cleanliness and tendency to attract illegal activity have slowed their installation. In Seattle, problems arose almost immediately. Users left so much trash behind that the automated floor scrubbers had to be disabled, and prostitutes and drug users found privacy behind the toilets’ locked doors. “I’m not going to lie: I used to smoke crack in there,” said one homeless woman, Veronyka Cordner, nodding toward the toilet behind Pike Place Market. “But I won’t even go inside that thing now. It’s disgusting.” In May, the City Council decided to close the toilets. It agreed to pay an additional $540,000 fee to end, five years early, its maintenance contract with the operator, Northwest Cascade, a local company with no prior experience in the field that was chosen when established operators like JCDecaux and Cemusa declined to bid because the project lacked advertising revenue. Seattle’s automated toilets, 12 feet in circumference and 9 feet high, are round and shiny like steel cans. New York’s design is a modernist box of steel and frosted glass, while the toilets in Los Angeles and San Francisco resemble ornate trolley cars without wheels. All have mechanisms that control the doors and clean the floors. Nowhere was the controversy over public toilets more bitter or longer than in New York, where it lasted 18 years and vexed three mayoral administrations. “At this point, I’m glad it’s happening at all,” said Fran Reiter, a deputy mayor in the Giuliani administration who led a failed effort to build toilets in the city in the mid-1990s. In 2005, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed an agreement giving Cemusa, a Spanish company, a 20-year franchise to sell advertisements on bus stops, newsstands and kiosks. In return, the city will receive $1.4 billion in cash and 20 automated toilets. The first, in Madison Square Park, opened in January. Four more are to be installed in Brooklyn and Queens this fall. In Boston, a similar advertising contract has paid for six automated toilets, said Dot Joyce, a spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino , and the city plans two more this fall. “It works very well for us,” Ms. Joyce said. But opposition to advertising is hampering the effort in Los Angeles. In 2002, the city gave CBS Outdoor and JCDecaux a contract to sell advertisements on bus shelters, kiosks and newsstands in exchange for 150 automated toilets. Thirteen are operational so far, with two more coming this fall, said Lance Oishi, who leads the project for the city. Six of the units are downtown near Skid Row, but others sit near transit stations or shopping areas, Mr. Oishi said, and, contrary to Seattle’s experience, all 13 have remained clean and largely crime free. Neighborhood groups are blocking construction of new structures on which to place advertising, however, and that means there is not enough revenue to support additional toilets, Mr. Oishi said. “I do feel some frustration that things are not moving as fast as I’d like,” he said. Some cities have had problems with maintenance. The 25 automated toilets in San Francisco require constant fiddling, officials there say. “You need a dedicated crew taking care of them every day,” said J. François Nion, executive vice president of JCDecaux North America, whose French parent company maintains 3,229 automated toilets worldwide. Rather than automated toilets, some cities are looking for cheaper alternatives that would be cleaned by human attendants. One prototype, to be installed next month in Portland, Ore., would cost $50,000 each, compared with some $300,000 for an automated unit. Randy Leonard, a Portland city commissioner, helped design that toilet, which in addition has open gaps at the top and bottom of the door, a feature discouraging drug abuse , prostitution and the like. But given that lesser privacy, it is unclear how popular such a toilet might be, as Mr. Leonard acknowledges. “We in the U.S. have yet to shed our puritanical roots,” he said. “We are uptight about toilets.” | Bathrooms and Toilets;Seattle (Wash);Bloomberg Michael R;Menino Thomas M |
ny0184773 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2009/03/11 | As U.S. Weighs Taliban Negotiations, Afghans Are Already Talking | KABUL, Afghanistan — Even as President Obama floated the idea of negotiating with moderate elements of the Taliban , Afghan and foreign officials here said that preliminary discussions with the Taliban leadership were already under way and could be developed into more formal talks with the support of the United States. The Afghan government has been exploring the potential for negotiations with the Taliban leadership council of Mullah Muhammad Omar and with a renegade mujahedeen leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, after receiving overtures from them last year, the officials said. The proposal for talks gained additional momentum from an endorsement by Saudi Arabia and the change to a civilian government in Pakistan, both of which increased political pressure on the Taliban to compromise. Afghan government officials and Western diplomats said the peace process might have already made greater progress if the Afghan government and the United States had pushed it more forcefully. They also said that negotiations should be expanded to a broad spectrum of Taliban leaders and that a policy of talking only to moderates was doomed to failure. Officials with contacts within the Taliban said that the current discussions had been productive, with the government asking the Taliban to clearly reject Al Qaeda and end their attacks on schools, roads, teachers and engineers, said Arsallah Rahmani, an Afghan senator involved in the negotiations. In return, the Taliban are demanding, among other things, an end to house searches and arrests, and the release of Taliban detainees from Afghan jails and the United States detention centers at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and Bagram Air Base. Larger issues, like the system of government and the Constitution, would come later, Mr. Rahmani said in a recent interview. “We are trying to create an atmosphere of trust so we can then meet somewhere in Afghanistan,” he said. There has been some limited progress to date, Mr. Rahmani said, with the government releasing some detainees and the Taliban agreeing not to attack certain places. He and another member of Parliament involved in the talks, Mullah Abdul Salam Rocketi, said that they were waiting for President Hamid Karzai to secure guarantees of support for the process from foreign governments, in particular the United States, before they could go further. The current discussions represent a step beyond the government’s established policy, which is supported by NATO and Afghanistan’s foreign allies, of fighting the irreconcilable elements of the Taliban while leaving the door open for those ready to accept the Constitution, disarm and return to peaceful civilian life. Toward that end, the government has conducted a reconciliation effort that is widely regarded as corrupt and ineffective. While it has brought more than 6,000 former Taliban members to the government’s side over the years, it has failed to win the defection of any senior figures or to make a serious dent in the ranks of the Taliban. The Taliban leadership council first approached the government about peace talks last year, a senior security adviser said, after suffering heavy battlefield casualties and seeing the election of a civilian, antimilitant government in Pakistan. The adviser spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Mr. Hekmatyar, who is allied to the Taliban but not part of the movement, sent two conciliatory letters to Mr. Karzai around the same time, according to a prominent opposition leader in Parliament, Burhanuddin Rabbani, who saw the letters and gave his support to the negotiations. Mullah Omar’s whereabouts are unknown, but Mullah Bradar, a powerful commander and deputy to Mullah Omar, is in contact with the government and is said to reside in the Pakistan port city of Karachi, where many members of the Quetta shura have taken refuge, according to Afghan officials. Mr. Hekmatyar, a ruthless, hard-line fundamentalist known for reneging on past agreements, is widely rumored to reside in Pakistan, near the frontier city of Peshawar. His son-in-law, Ghairat Baheer, a charismatic figure in his own right, was recently released after six years of detention in Bagram, in what is seen here as a concession. Since his communication with the government, Mr. Hekmatyar has notably softened his initial demands, asking only that foreign troops depart from the capital, Kabul, not that they leave the country entirely before negotiations start. The Afghan government is not alone in engaging the Taliban. Over the last year, organizations like the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross have become increasingly open about their contacts with the Taliban leadership and other insurgent groups. American officials would not comment on negotiations with the Taliban or with Mr. Hekmatyar, except to say that they supported the five-year-old government reconciliation process. Western diplomats in Kabul said that even under the Bush administration, the United States had grown more receptive to the idea of talking to the Taliban. Nevertheless, it remains the major obstacle to full-blown peace talks, they added. Several Western diplomats and officials in Afghanistan, including those already in contact with the Taliban, are calling for a far broader political engagement with the Taliban. They say that trying to engage moderate Taliban factions and splitting commanders or groups away from the Taliban leadership also would not work. They say that negotiations have to be conducted with broad consultation among the Taliban leadership and through Pashtun tribal leaders and elders, since the Taliban are all ethnic Pashtun and ultimately answerable to their tribes. The problem with the reconciliation process, officials say, is that it demanded that the Taliban lay down their arms in return for security guarantees, which they did not trust either the government to enforce or the Americans to honor. “We make reconciliation sound like surrender; where has that ever worked?” said one Western official with long experience in Afghanistan, who did not want to be identified because of the political nature of his comments. “What is required is structured engagement with all Afghan communities, including the Pashtun and therefore representatives of the Taliban, around a new political project.” One powerful voice supporting a broad consultation with the Afghan tribal leaders, in order to engage even the top Taliban leaders, is a presidential hopeful, Gul Agha Shirzai, the governor of Nangarhar Province. In an interview last week, Mr. Shirzai, who has worked closely with United States forces in fighting Al Qaeda and the Taliban, said the Afghan people were desperate for new leadership and above all peace. “Peace is the priority,” he said. “We have capable people who are patriotic, who can work on this and persuade the Taliban to come to talk.” A leader of the powerful Barakzai tribe, Mr. Shirzai said a strong military stance must be accompanied by a determined effort to unite the Pashtun tribes in the interests of peace. “The most important thing is tribal unity, and when we make that, we will be the most powerful. We will have an army of 10 million with us.” | Afghanistan War (2001- );Taliban;Afghanistan |
ny0065593 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2014/06/07 | Plan to Build Ice Center in the Bronx Stalls Amid a Feud | An ambitious effort to convert the Kingsbridge Armory into a national ice sports center has stalled in recent weeks amid a bitter feud and two lawsuits over future profits and control of the development group behind the project. The group, which was founded by Kevin E. Parker, a former executive of Deutsche Bank, brought together the former New York Rangers star Mark Messier and financial and real estate experts, among others, to redevelop the city-owned armory in the Bronx with more than $300 million in private money. The Kingsbridge National Ice Center was approved by the City Council in December after months of negotiations between the group, known as KNIC Partners, and city officials and community leaders. The ice center, which the group said it hoped to open by 2017, would have nine rinks. Backers said it would provide living-wage jobs and other benefits . But this winter, there was a falling out between Mr. Parker and KNIC’s president, Jonathan Richter, a financial executive. Mr. Richter and two others, Marcus Wignell and Jeff Spiritos, either left KNIC or were ousted by Mr. Parker, according to conflicting accounts in legal papers. Mr. Parker contends that the city’s Economic Development Corporation canceled a key meeting in March after receiving a letter from the men saying that Mr. Parker had no authority to act on behalf of KNIC. According to Mr. Parker, the agency is undertaking a review that has resulted in a delay in signing a lease for the project. But Kate Blumm, a spokeswoman for the agency, said on Friday that “we are advancing contract negotiations” and “there are no significant delays from the original timeline.” Image The Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx would become the Kingsbridge National Ice Center under a plan endorsed by the city but seemingly being delayed by disputes among the executives who proposed it. Credit Robert Stolarik for The New York Times Ruben Diaz Jr., the Bronx borough president, also reaffirmed support for the ice center, saying, “My office is confident that this greatly anticipated project will continue to move forward.” Mr. Richter and the other men sued Mr. Parker in state court last month, seeking to be named controlling equity partners of KNIC. They contend that Mr. Parker “wrongfully excluded” them from a partnership stake and any profits after they had “contributed their experience, expertise, business connections, skills” and thousands of unpaid hours to the project. “My clients did all the work and Parker pushed them out,” said Ernest E. Badway, a lawyer representing them. Mr. Parker and KNIC filed a lawsuit against the three men this week, accusing them of trying to “extort money.” Mr. Parker, who said he had financed the group with nearly $6 million, said Mr. Richter had quit over demands for compensation and the other two subsequently resigned. William A. Brewer III, a lawyer for Mr. Parker, said his client believed that the men were “attempting to interfere with this project for one reason — to gain financial benefits to which they are not entitled.” Mr. Messier, who in 1994 led the Rangers to their only National Hockey League championship since 1940, also issued a statement. “There is little question among hockey fans, community leaders and KNIC investors that Mr. Parker and I are committed to this project,” he said. Mr. Badway said his clients had acted as partners of KNIC, represented the group publicly and incurred thousands of dollars in expenses that were not reimbursed. | Mark Messier;Lawsuits;Bill de Blasio;KNIC Partners;Ice hockey;Stadiums Arenas;NYC |
ny0159783 | [
"sports",
"golf"
] | 2008/12/22 | Vijay Singh Wins Chevron World Challenge | THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — If what Vijay Singh did during the 2008 season — three victories, the FedEx Cup championship and the money title — was not proof enough that experience and persistence could still trump youth and power in professional golf, he provided some more Sunday at Sherwood Country Club. With the stage set for a final-round duel of the 20-somethings in the Chevron World Challenge, the 45-year-old Singh birdied the final hole for a closing five-under-par 67 and a one-stroke victory over Steve Stricker in the $5.75 million event. The overnight leader, Anthony Kim, 24, fell into a tie for third place after shooting 73. The 26-year-old Camilo Villegas also shot 73 and tied for fifth. Because the event, which benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation, is not an official PGA Tour tournament, the win does not add to Singh’s astounding total of 22 tournament victories since turning 40. But it further proves his ability to compete at the highest level at an age once considered too advanced to do so. “Anthony, Camilo and Adam Scott, there’s quite a few young guys, and they’re not going to stop,” said Singh, whose score of 11-under-par 277 was tied for the highest winning total in the event’s 10-year history. “The new wave of players will be stronger and better. “I don’t know if I can keep doing this for another four, five, six years, but I’m going to try.” Kim, who had the largest contingent of fans, might have been trying too hard to entertain them. On the final 10 holes, he had more highs and lows than a weather map. He holed a lob wedge shot for birdie at the ninth to tie for the lead, saved par at the 10th after his second shot airmailed the green, then killed his chances with back-to-back double bogeys at the 14th and 15th after moving a stroke from the lead. His consecutive birdies at the 16th and 17th were too late. “You know, my swing felt off and I’m just happy that I kept it under 80 out there,” Kim said. “I could have shot 100, and I shot one over. I’m going to try to take away the positives, how good my short game was.” Singh will take away another validation that his workout regimen and ball-beating practice sessions — though not as lengthy as they once were — are keeping him and his considerable game tuned up enough to take on players half his age. “There’s no age limit, I don’t think,” Singh said. “Winning this many tournaments doesn’t mean it’s a miracle. “I think there will be guys out there who are going to do the same thing. It’s just how many they’re going to win. Right now, I’m the leader, and I’m not quitting yet.” | Singh Vijay;Golf;Age Chronological;Stricker Steve;Kim Anthony;Villegas Camilo;Woods Tiger |
ny0042749 | [
"world",
"africa"
] | 2014/05/21 | 2 Explosions Kill Scores at Central Nigeria Market | ABUJA, Nigeria — Two powerful explosions killed scores of people, many of them female vendors, in the central Nigerian city of Jos on Tuesday afternoon, officials and witnesses said. While no one claimed responsibility for the bombing, it occurred as international attention has focused on the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram following the abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls last month and may have been a bloody act of defiance. The blasts shattered a bustling market area as working people were doing afternoon grocery shopping. With rescue operations still underway in a chaotic, smoky tangle of blasted stalls and body parts, the police commissioner confirmed that at least 46 were killed and 45 wounded in the explosions. Other news reports put the death toll at more than 100. “That place is a commercial nerve center,” said Salis Muhammad Abdul Salam, who saw the blasts from his office nearby. “There were more women casualties.” “There are many hawkers,” added Mr. Salam, who runs a nongovernmental organization dedicated to women in the city. “So many people, selling vegetables, selling clothes, plastic materials,” he said. Image Nigerians waited on Tuesday for fires to subside after two deadly blasts ripped through a marketplace filled with afternoon shoppers in Jos. Credit Stefanos Foundation, via Associated Press The bombs, exploding in two vehicles within minutes of each other, sent up thick clouds of smoke, and the second may have been timed to kill rescuers. The explosions in Jos, which is 170 miles from the capital here and has a Christian majority, came only two days after another car bomb detonated in a Christian neighborhood in the northern city of Kano, killing at least five people. “I think they are trying to make a statement, to let people know that despite international cooperation, they are not weakening,” said Shamaki Gad Peter, who works in the Jos office of the Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Program, an activist group. “It’s a wake-up call. They are trying to make the country ungovernable,” he said of Boko Haram. Mr. Peter was near the blast site on Tuesday. “It’s a business area, but it’s for the very poor,” he said. “There are women selling tomatoes. It’s not where you have the rich and mighty people doing their shopping,” he said. Mr. Salam said he witnessed the ball of fire from the first blast, from a vehicle packed with sacks of grain. Afterward, grain was scattered everywhere. “I saw women carried away in wheelbarrows,” he said. Neither Jos nor Kano has been the focus of recent attacks by Boko Haram. But the deadly blasts occurred amid unprecedented international attention and growing pressure on the group, and could be a signal to the world that it is not backing down. Last Saturday, a summit meeting in Paris brought together Nigeria and neighboring nations to discuss the Boko Haram threat and culminated with a vow of military cooperation. Earlier, spurred by international outrage over the girls, who were taken from their remote rural school in mid-April by the Islamist extremist group, the United States, Britain, France and Israel pledged to provide military aid — including personnel, intelligence-gathering and aircraft overflights — to assist Nigeria in rescuing them. An Islamist militant attack on Jos could have particularly dire consequences as it has been a flash point of Christian-Muslim tensions for years. The sprawling city lies at the edge of the Muslim-majority northern half of the country. Already on Tuesday evening, there were reports of reprisal attacks in Jos. Apart from a defiant and mocking video message from Boko Haram’s presumed leader last week, the bomb blasts — if indeed they are the work of the group — seem designed to demonstrate to the Nigerian government and its allies that the Islamist rebel group was unimpressed by the condemnations and vows to strike it down. By continuing to seek out targets like markets, city centers, schools and bus stations, the group seemed keen on showing that it could sow terror among civilians wherever and whenever it wants. A deadly blast here the day before the girls were abducted killed at least 75; 300 people were also killed in a village near the border of Cameroon two weeks ago. | Jos;Bombs;Fatalities,casualties;Nigeria |
ny0088141 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2015/09/03 | New York to Settle Suit Over Rikers Inmate Whom Guards Attacked | New York City has agreed to pay $450,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit filed by a former Rikers Island inmate who was hogtied by correction officers and then, while his hands were still cuffed, brutally beaten, the man’s lawyer said on Wednesday. The correction commissioner, Joseph Ponte, earlier this year fired a captain and five officers involved in the April 2012 beating, in which an administrative law judge found that correction employees had also lied about the force used. The former inmate, Robert Hinton, who was being held in a solitary confinement unit for men with mental illness, suffered a broken nose, a fractured vertebra and bleeding from his mouth, the judge, Tynia D. Richard, found in September 2014. Imposing “the most severe sanction,” Judge Richard wrote, would hopefully deter such conduct in the future and “help break the vise grip that silence and collusion played in this incident.” The settlement comes after the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio agreed in June to carry out far-reaching reforms, including the appointment of a federal monitor, to settle a long-running class-action lawsuit filed by the Legal Aid Society and private law firms, and joined by the office of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, over violence and other abuses at Rikers. Image Robert Hinton, a former Rikers Island inmate, was brutally beaten by correction officers in 2012. Credit Chang W. Lee/The New York Times Mr. Hinton has since been released and has largely resumed his daily activities, his lawyer, Nicole Bellina, said on Wednesday. “I think what’s so important about this is the city taking inmate abuse seriously and understanding that inmates do tell the truth,” she said. Ms. Bellina noted that video surveillance “supported everything Robert had to say.” She added, “We hope that the city takes other cases where inmates report abuse seriously, even when there isn’t surveillance.” A Law Department spokesman, Nick Paolucci, said, “Resolving this litigation was in the city’s best interest.” He added that the city did not admit any wrongdoing in the deal and expected “contributions from all of the employees who have been terminated.” He declined to break down the amounts that they would be asked to pay. Mr. Ponte, in a statement, said, “My decision to terminate the captain and officers in this case made clear that there is zero tolerance for mistreatment of inmates” in the correction agency. Julie Ortiz, a lawyer for the fired officers, declined to comment. The officers were Geronimo Almanzar, Paul Bunton, Ramon Cabrera, Raul Marquez and Vincent Siederman. A lawyer for the captain, Budnarine Behari, did not respond to a request for comment. Terry Raskyn, a spokeswoman for the Bronx district attorney’s office, which has jurisdiction over criminal matters at Rikers, said the office was “still looking into the case.” | Robert Hinton;Rikers;Civil Rights;Prison Guards,Corrections Officers;NYC;Correction Department NYC;Prison;Joseph Ponte;Preet Bharara |
ny0067274 | [
"science"
] | 2014/12/05 | Thousands of Einstein Documents Are Now a Click Away | They have been called the Dead Sea Scrolls of physics. Since 1986, the Princeton University Press and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, to whom Albert Einstein bequeathed his copyright, have been engaged in a mammoth effort to study some 80,000 documents he left behind. Starting on Friday, when Digital Einstein is introduced, anyone with an Internet connection will be able to share in the letters, papers, postcards, notebooks and diaries that Einstein left scattered in Princeton and in other archives, attics and shoeboxes around the world when he died in 1955. The Einstein Papers Project, currently edited by Diana Kormos-Buchwald, a professor of physics and the history of science at the California Institute of Technology, has already published 13 volumes in print out of a projected 30. The published volumes contain about 5,000 documents that bring Einstein’s story up to 1923, when he turned 44, in ever-thicker, black-jacketed, hard-bound books, dense with essays, footnotes and annotations detailing the political, personal and cultural life of the day. A separate set of white paperback volumes contains English translations. Digitized versions of many of Einstein’s papers and letters have been available on the Einstein Archives of the Hebrew University. Visitors to the new Digital Einstein website, Dr. Kormos-Buchwald said in an email, will be able to toggle between the English and German versions of the texts. They can dance among Einstein’s love letters, his divorce file, his high school transcript, the notebook in which he worked out his general theory of relativity and letters to his lifelong best friend, Michele Besso, among many other possibilities. Einstein, who like many other 20-year-old college students did not lack for a sense of self-dramatization, once wrote to his sister, Maja, “If everybody lived a life like mine, there would be no need for novels.” As it would turn out, he did not know the half of it. The 14th volume, with more than 1,000 documents, is due in January. The digital versions are available at einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu . | Archive;Albert Einstein;Princeton University Press;Hebrew University;College;Physics |
ny0075120 | [
"sports"
] | 2015/04/12 | After Winning Finale, Rangers Shift Focus to Playoffs and Penguins | WASHINGTON — The Rangers had already clinched the Presidents’ Trophy and earned home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs, so their regular-season finale with the Capitals on Saturday meant little. The only real suspense remaining was whether the Rangers could gain a victory and the corresponding 2 points to set franchise records in both categories. While they were again without some key players, the Rangers played solid hockey and earned a 4-2 victory that helps them go into the postseason on a hot streak: They won six of their final seven regular-season games, finishing with a record of 53-22-7 and 113 points. Saturday’s game held much more meaning for the Capitals, who finished at 45-26-11. They knew they would face the Islanders in the first round of the playoffs regardless of the outcome, but a victory could have clinched home-ice advantage for Washington in that series. The Capitals eventually received that advantage when the Islanders lost to Columbus later Saturday. The Rangers did not play well in a 3-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday and “wanted to play the right way” on Saturday, Coach Alain Vigneault said. “It was a hard game,” he added, “but we were able to get it done.” Vigneault said the focus would now shift to the playoffs, and that was the main theme in the team’s locker room after the game. The Rangers will face the Penguins in the first round, starting this week. Forward Derick Brassard, one of four Rangers who scored, said life changed for the Rangers the moment the final buzzer sounded. “Everything we’ve done, the Presidents’ Trophy and everything, that’s gone,” Brassard said. “Everything’s gone now. We have to look forward to the playoffs, and we’re a No. 1 seed, and everyone’s going to try to come really hard at us and try to beat us.” Defenseman Ryan McDonagh said the Rangers understood what the playoffs were about and did not need to make any major changes. “Obviously, we understand now that it’s a little bit of a different animal,” McDonagh said. “We understand that you’ve got to raise your level. We don’t need to flip the switch on the style that we play.” The Rangers will need postseason help from goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who reached a personal goal of 30 victories with Saturday’s win despite having missed nearly two months with a neck injury. He finished the regular season 30-13-3. Lundqvist is 5-2-0 in seven games since returning and likes how the Rangers look as postseason play begins this week. “Personally, I feel like you kind of start over,” Lundqvist said. “You need to believe in what you have in this room. “We definitely believe in our system and in the players we have here.” The Rangers’ leading scorer, Rick Nash, and defenseman Marc Staal sat out the game, their second straight, with undisclosed injuries. Mats Zuccarello, who had missed two games with soreness, returned to the lineup. Still, the Rangers found plenty of offense as Brassard, Kevin Hayes, Dominic Moore and Jesper Fast scored. Martin St. Louis had two assists, and Moore had one for the Rangers, who never trailed. Neither team created much offense until Hayes and Brassard scored 3 minutes 14 seconds apart in the first period, giving the Rangers a 2-0 lead. Hayes scored his goal, his second in three games, by swatting a puck out of the air with a backhand motion, knocking it past Capitals goalie Braden Holtby 12:36 into the period. Brassard added a power-play goal at 15:50, ripping a slap shot past Holtby from just inside the blue line. The goal, the 100th of Brassard’s career, set off the Rangers fans in the upper part of Verizon Center. Moore stretched the lead to 3-0 in the second period with some help from St. Louis, who poked the puck loose near the blue line, sliding it toward the right circle. Moore then grabbed it and beat Holtby with a backhand shot from a tight angle 2:30 into the period. Alex Ovechkin scored a power-play goal at 6:31, firing a one-timer past Lundqvist from the left circle. The goal extended Ovechkin’s N.H.L.-leading total to 53 — putting him 10 ahead of Steven Stamkos, who was to play later Saturday — and Nicklas Backstrom took the lead in assists on the play, with his 60th. Fast added an empty-net goal late in the third period for some insurance for the Rangers. Stanislav Galiev scored the Capitals’ final goal about a minute and a half later, but the Rangers still ended the regular season with a good victory. “We are confident,” Brassard said. “We know how good of a team we have, and we know what we have to do to be successful in the playoffs.” | Ice hockey;NHL;Henrik Lundqvist;Washington Capitals;Rangers |
ny0261631 | [
"business"
] | 2011/06/01 | Housing Prices, Still Falling, May Be Nearing Bottom | How low can the market go? For real estate, some economists say, an end to the seemingly endless decline in housing values might be in sight. Not immediately. At the moment, prices are still dropping. In 20 large cities, prices fell 0.8 percent in March from the previous month, according to the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index released Tuesday . That pushed the closely watched index below its level of two years ago to a new post-bubble low, and put it 33.1 percent under its July 2006 peak. Few analysts expect housing prices to rebound anytime soon. But quite a few are predicting that the market is close to the moment when things will stop getting worse, which will be a major improvement all by itself. “By far the bulk of the downturn of housing prices is beyond us,” said Paul Dales of Capital Economics. He expects the market to slip 5 percent further, slightly more than he was expecting a few months ago. “There are some amazingly favorable signs. Housing is the most undervalued it’s been in 35 years,” Mr. Dales said. “At some point, it’s going to do very well.” Peter Muoio, senior principal of Maximus Advisors, says he thinks the market has already bottomed, although he expects it to bounce around in a narrow range for a few years rather than recovering. And James F. Smith, chief economist for the investment firm Parsec Financial and a rare housing bull, is predicting a 25 percent climb from here by mid-decade. “There’s a lot of pent-up demand for housing and someday it will be unleashed,” Mr. Smith said, adding: “Your guess is as good as mine when it will come.” The new Case-Shiller data did not offer much room for short-term optimism. The national housing index, which is reported quarterly, fell 4.2 percent in the first quarter after a drop of 3.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010. This, too, is a new recession low. Twelve of the 20 cities in the index hit a post-bubble low in March. Washington , D.C., was the only city where prices rose both in March and over the last year. In a double-digit drop that echoed the worst era of the crash, Minneapolis fell by 10 percent over the year. “Home prices continue on their downward spiral with no relief in sight,” David M. Blitzer, the S.& P. Index Committee chairman, said in a statement. Housing prices are now back to where they were in mid-2002 even before taking inflation into account. Such a decline was unimaginable to the boosters and many of the analysts in the middle of the boom, who were fond of saying that house prices never fell on a national basis. But as credit dried up and the easy refinances disappeared, the foreclosures began. Prices fell sharply in late 2006, 2007 and 2008. The market turned around in 2009, prompting hopes that the worst was over. A government tax credit proved wildly popular, but the declines resumed after its expiration a year ago. Some economists think there are still relatively large drops to come. Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, expects a 6 to 8 percent fall during the rest of the year. “There are a lot of forces pushing prices downward,” he said. One of them is the excess number of houses. Builders built too much during the boom, and the mania for second and third homes has sharply diminished. New household formation will soak up the supply, but that will take years. The financial blog Calculated Risk estimated the excess housing supply this week using 2010 Census data, which it compared to 1990 and 2000. The blog concluded that the excess in April 2010 was about 1.8 million units, but probably several hundred thousand fewer now. The wild card in all of this is consumer sentiment, otherwise known as confidence. The United States Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index unexpectedly fell to 60.8 in May from a revised 66 in April. Analysts had forecast a one-point rise, but the mood turned hesitant. The May level is the lowest since the fall. People without confidence in the economy and their own prospects tend to put off major purchases. “People are still scared,” Douglas C. Yearley Jr., chief executive of the high-end builder Toll Brothers , said in a recent interview. “If they look in the paper and see that Robert Shiller says prices have another 20 percent to go, it has to keep them at home.” Mr. Shiller, one of the developers of the Case-Shiller index and a housing bear, did not respond to requests for his latest forecast, a development that no doubt made Mr. Yearley’s day. | Case Shiller Home Price Index;null;US Economy |
ny0269510 | [
"us",
"politics"
] | 2016/04/19 | When a Senator Passes Judgment on a Chief Justice | WASHINGTON — The other day, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee , decided to lecture Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. Senate Republicans, Mr. Grassley said, were not to blame for the partisan deadlock over President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee . The real culprits? The chief justice and his colleagues. Mr. Grassley’s tongue-lashing, delivered on the Senate floor, was in response to an analysis in this column last month of the chief justice’s stance as Senate Republicans refuse to consider the nomination. Chief Justice Roberts has said, for instance, that partisan confirmation hearings feed a false public perception that justices cast their votes “as Democrats and Republicans,” rather than as neutral arbiters of the law. Mr. Grassley offered a different take. “The chief justice has it exactly backwards,” he said. “The confirmation process doesn’t make the justices appear political. The confirmation process has gotten political precisely because the court has drifted from the constitutional text and rendered decisions based instead on policy preferences.” “Physician, heal thyself,” Mr. Grassley told the chief justice . Mr. Grassley did not list the decisions that troubled him. But he did say that only two members of the court, presumably Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr., “stick to the constitutional text and vote in a consistently conservative way.” Mr. Grassley’s logic, if that is the right word, was that conservative decisions are apolitical but that liberal ones are partisan. As for Chief Justice Roberts, Mr. Grassley said, “a number of his votes have reflected political considerations, not legal ones.” Again, the senator did not say which votes he was talking about, but they probably included ones rejecting challenges to the Affordable Care Act. Chief Justice Roberts has said that the president’s two previous nominees, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, were “extremely well qualified for the court.” Yet they were confirmed almost strictly along party lines, he said in remarks in Boston 10 days before Justice Antonin Scalia died on Feb. 13 . “That doesn’t make any sense,” Chief Justice Roberts said. “That suggests to me that the process is being used for something other than ensuring the qualifications of the nominees.” There is truth on both sides, said Lee Epstein , a law professor and political scientist at Washington University in St. Louis. Scalia’s Supreme Court Seat Has Been Vacant For More Than 400 Days Since 1900, the Senate has voted on eight Supreme Court nominees during an election year. Six were confirmed. “I think Grassley may be right,” she said, “to blame the court for the increasing role of ideology, as opposed to qualifications and other factors, in Senate confirmation proceedings.” She added that politics had played a significant role in Supreme Court decisions since at least the 1950s. “But Chief Justice Roberts is also right,” Professor Epstein said. “Political science research shows that Americans are less likely to support the court when it is portrayed as a political body — as it is during confirmation proceedings — and not a legal body.” Chief Justice Roberts has said nothing in public about the confirmation process since Justice Scalia died. He has been silent on the nomination of Judge Merrick B. Garland. Mr. Grassley’s remarks, made on April 5, seemed calculated to make sure that Chief Justice Roberts stays quiet notwithstanding exhortations from constitutional scholars that he speak up. “That’s a political temptation that the chief justice should resist,” Mr. Grassley said. But there is precedent for measured intervention by a chief justice in a clash over the nature and future of the Supreme Court. Consider another chief justice’s response to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s court-packing plan. In 1937, unhappy with Supreme Court decisions striking down New Deal programs, Roosevelt announced a plan to add justices, saying the current ones were overworked. The plan was defeated after a letter from Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes to the Senate rebutted Roosevelt’s charges in mild language backed by detailed figures. “The present number of justices,” Chief Justice Hughes wrote, “is thought to be large enough so far as the prompt, adequate and efficient conduct of the work of the court is concerned.” Chief Justice Roberts may also have views about whether the present number of justices on his court — eight — is adequate. He certainly admires Chief Justice Hughes, as he made plain in remarks in November at New York University’s law school. “One of the greatest crises facing the Supreme Court since Marbury v. Madison was F.D.R.’s court-packing plan,” Chief Justice Roberts said, “and it fell to Hughes to guide a very unpopular Supreme Court through that high-noon showdown against America’s most popular president since George Washington.” “There are things to learn from it,” Chief Justice Roberts said. James F. Simon , the author of “F.D.R. and Chief Justice Hughes,” said he saw parallels between the two historical moments. “I think Hughes would have been frustrated and annoyed by the present Senate Republicans’ vow to ignore their constitutional obligation to consider Garland’s nomination,” Mr. Simon said. “I suspect that Roberts shares those feelings. Both Hughes and Roberts put great value in protecting the court’s integrity.” The key difference, Mr. Simon said, is that senators had asked for Chief Justice Hughes’s views. “Should the Senate Judiciary Committee make a similar request to Roberts, I think he would probably respond, giving a carefully worded nudge to the committee to consider Garland,” Mr. Simon said. “But I don’t see Grassley reaching out to the chief justice.” | Charles E Grassley;Justice Roberts;Merrick B Garland;Supreme Court,SCOTUS;US;US Politics;Senate Committee on the Judiciary;Appointments and Executive Changes |
ny0083581 | [
"sports",
"golf"
] | 2015/10/07 | In Presidents Cup, No. 1 vs. No. 2 Would Add Drama | Americans and Internationals mixing it up in the Presidents Cup has been a bad recipe for suspense. The Americans have lost only once in the 10 editions of golf’s other biennial team event. The major tension in team play has usually been reserved for the Ryder Cup, which pits Americans against Europeans. But this edition of the Presidents Cup, which begins Thursday in Incheon, South Korea, could provide at least one matchup full of sizzle and uncertainty: a duel between the top players of the moment, No. 1 Jordan Spieth of the United States and No. 2 Jason Day of Australia. “We could probably make it happen; we’ll just have to see,” said Jay Haas, the United States Presidents Cup captain. “But yes, I think it would be cool.” Spieth, 22, has won five tournaments this year, including the Masters and the United States Open . Day, 27, has also won five tournaments, including his first major, the P.G.A. Championship , where he got the better of Spieth in the final pairing in the last round. They were also paired frequently down the final stretch of the PGA Tour season that just concluded, with Spieth winning the FedEx Cup . But a Presidents Cup mano a mano would add another dimension to this fast-emerging rivalry and give the 2015 edition what it lacked in 2013, when the captains did not match Tiger Woods, then No. 1, and Adam Scott, then No. 2, in singles. “You look at the past greats of the game, Arnie and Jack, they were the first two who really kind of battled it out throughout the course of time,” Haas said. “It’s always nice to see the best players go at each other.” The Arnie and Jack in question — Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus — were American teammates when it came to international play, however. Neither played in the Presidents Cup, which was not created until 1994. But Nicklaus has played a major role as a four-time captain and as the leader of the company that designed the two most recent courses used for the event: Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, in 2013 and the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Incheon this year. Image Jason Day of Australia, right, who is ranked second. He has also won five tournaments, including his first major. Credit Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters Nicklaus, who will travel to South Korea for the event, likes the idea of Spieth versus Day in the singles. (They could also face off in the foursomes or fourball competitions, which will be contested in the first three days.) “I certainly have a history of doing that as a captain, going back to my first opportunity in 1998, when I paired Tiger against Greg Norman,” Nicklaus said in an interview last week. “When the Presidents Cup went to South Africa in 2003, I put Tiger against Ernie Els. In 2005 in Washington, we had Fred Couples against Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson against Ángel Cabrera. Then, in my last opportunity, in 2007, when we went to Canada, I was able to pair Tiger and the host country’s hero, Mike Weir.” He added: “When I was captain, I asked the guys who they would like to play, and if I could get the matchup for them, I did. I think that adds to the Presidents Cup. It’s something they don’t have in the Ryder Cup. I think it makes for something unique, something exciting and something appealing to the fans.” Spieth and Day have also expressed enthusiasm about facing off in match play. “I think a lot of people around the world are interested to see if that will happen,” Day told reporters in Incheon on Tuesday. “It would be a lot of fun playing against Jordan, but then again I’m not too sure what the strategy is with that.” The Presidents Cup is largely the brainchild of the PGA Tour commissioner, Tim Finchem. It was designed to provide a forum for the growing number of stars not from the United States or Europe and thus not eligible to compete in the Ryder Cup. In competitive terms, the Presidents Cup has been a flop. The Americans have now won five in a row, all by 3 points or more. Their depth has been superior, and so has their sense of team identity, despite earnest efforts by the Internationals to bond a group of 12 players who come not only from different countries but different continents. Consider this year’s team, which has representatives from Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea and, for the first time in a Presidents Cup, Thailand and India. “I think if you look at us, we’re not used to having South Korea or Japan or China pushed together with Australia or South Africa,” said Frank Nobilo, a former assistant captain and a member of the only International team to win the Cup, in 1998. “We’re natural rivals, too. Look at rugby with New Zealand and Australia or New Zealand and South Africa. “So the biggest problem for us is trying to get that team chemistry. The players want to do it. It’s just getting them to be comfortable in an environment they are not normally used to. It’s just the geographical issue we have. It’s not the players’ fault, just the way it is.” The commercial upside is that the Presidents Cup — now in Asia for the first time — continues to showcase the game in areas that are never going to host a Ryder Cup or a major. “The game in the Asian region has grown leaps and bounds over the last 20 years or so,” Nicklaus said. “We certainly have seen it just in our design company. We have more than 90 courses opened in the Asia-Pacific region, and that is spread over 15 countries. We have some 26 courses open in Japan and the same number in China. We just opened our first course in Vietnam, with several more under construction.” The Americans’ success in the competition continues to provide a stark contrast with their struggles in the Ryder Cup, even though the cast of players has often been the same. “It’s a lot of little things, but no one glaring thing to me,” Haas said of the disparity between the results in the two competitions. “I think the more time goes on, the more the American players maybe press to win the Ryder Cup and to quiet the critics.” Format changes to the Presidents Cup this year have made the two events more similar, though. After a long lobbying effort, Nick Price and the International team succeeded in persuading Finchem to reduce the number of matches to increase the Internationals’ chances. There will be 30 points at stake this time instead of 34. Previously, every member of a Presidents Cup team was guaranteed to play on each of the four days, which removed some of the angst and intrasquad competition. Now, all 12 players on each team will still play in the Sunday singles, but as in the Ryder Cup, the captains will have to choose who will sit on the opening days of team play. “One of the great things about the Presidents Cup, I thought, was more guys getting to play and showcasing their talents,” Haas said. “But it was something that the International team was very adamant about, and Tim listened to them and made the change.” A Spieth-Day duel would presumably require Price’s approval. Price is captain of the International team again after serving in that role in 2013, when Woods-versus-Scott failed to materialize. “I did my pairings this morning to try to win the Cup, not to put 1 and 2 together,” Price said after the Americans had wrapped up an 18½-15½ victory in 2013 at Muirfield Village. He later added: “You can’t go to your opposing captain and say, ‘Let’s put Adam and Tiger together.’ Maybe the commissioner could do that, but I’m not going to do it.” But with a more open draw and a less cutthroat vibe than at the Ryder Cup, the possibility is certainly there for the captains to make such a joint call. “We’d have to have some kind of agreement or some kind of wink-wink to make this happen,” Haas said. “But I think the world — the golf world — would want to see it, and they’ve been kind of back and forth all year, so you never know.” He added: “I have not spoken to Nick about it. I know the players would love it. Neither one of them is scared of the other one, and I don’t think either one of them would say, ‘Aw, why did you do that?’ ” | Golf;Jason Day;Jordan Spieth;Jack Nicklaus;Jay Haas;Nick Price;Presidents Cup |
ny0256962 | [
"sports",
"baseball"
] | 2011/08/25 | Parnell Gets Save as Mets Beat Phillies | PHILADELPHIA — Bobby Parnell paced to the rear edge of the pitcher’s mound. He placed his glove on the ground, took a couple of breaths and wiped his palms across the front of his pants. Then he stepped on the rubber and threw a 97-mile-per-hour, two-seam fastball that capped his first save of the year and helped the Mets earn an unlikely 7-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies . The win provided the Mets a small, positive coda to an excruciating stretch of games in which they had looked overmatched, at times wildly so. The Mets were swept by the Milwaukee Brewers last weekend in New York. They then came to Philadelphia and lost two games by a combined score of 19-4. So when Manager Terry Collins was asked if the win, which snapped a five-game losing streak, felt good, his answer was swift: “It sure does.” “Wins are the only reason why you play,” he added. “They all feel good.” For all the good feelings produced, the Mets remained 22 ½ games behind the Phillies in the division. Collins conceded long ago that his priorities lay in observing his team making strides for next year. Watching Parnell pitch a scoreless ninth inning, then, fit squarely into that category. When Francisco Rodriguez was traded in July, the Mets indicated that Parnell would be given the chance to prove he could become the team’s closer. Instead, he sat and waited, allowing Jason Isringhausen to earn his 300th career save. Isringhausen reached the milestone on Aug. 15, but the Mets proceeded to lose six of their next seven games — and their only win was a blowout. On Wednesday afternoon, in front of a crowd of 45,689 at Citizens Bank Park, Parnell finally received his opportunity. He got off to a shaky start, walking Chase Utley on four straight fastballs, irking Collins. “He can’t hit a three-run homer in that spot,” Collins said of Utley. “But those guys behind him can, if you walk him.” Then Parnell showed the raw ability that has drawn high expectations from the Mets and their fans. He struck out Ryan Howard with a 99-m.p.h. fastball and caught Hunter Pence looking at a 90-m.p.h. slider. The crowd stirred when Parnell walked John Mayberry Jr., which brought the potential tying run to the plate and sent Parnell toward the grass to gather himself. But on the next pitch, Parnell got Carlos Ruiz to chop a grounder to shortstop Ruben Tejada, ending the game. Parnell’s only other save came in 2009, when he pitched the last three innings of a win over the St. Louis Cardinals. This one, he said, was “more exciting,” and he blamed his walks for that excitement. “Ever since Frankie got traded, I’ve been hoping for an opportunity to do this,” Parnell said. “I’ve kind of been putting pressure on myself and it just accumulated today. Luckily everything went good.” Collins was also pleased to see other players seizing opportunities presented by the team’s struggles. First baseman Nick Evans’s inclusion in the lineup the last two games was mostly a byproduct of Collins’s desire to give Lucas Duda more playing time in right field. But Evans continued to impress his manager. He doubled and tripled on Tuesday, and on Wednesday he collected three hits, including a home run, and drove in four runs. “It’s definitely easier to get into a rhythm, the more you get to play,” Evans said. “So you just go out there and hope you get on a little hot streak.” Even longtime veterans were able to prove something. With the bullpen taxed after five straight losses, Mike Pelfrey (7-10) battled through a 125-pitch outing over six innings to earn the win. “I think beyond this year, I’m not guaranteed anything, so these next six or seven starts are big,” said Pelfrey, who has trudged through a disappointing season. “I want to go out there and I want to do well, and we’ll see what happens.” INSIDE PITCH Pitcher Jon Niese was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right intercostal muscle, which is near the rib cage. ... Right fielder Scott Hairston remained active but was sent to New York for tests after he felt a sharp pain in his left oblique muscle Tuesday. | Philadelphia Phillies;New York Mets;Baseball;Evans Nick;Parnell Bobby |
ny0201505 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2009/09/06 | Events in Westchester | Film IRVINGTON Irvington Town Hall “Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Live in Barcelona,” concert film. Friday at 9 p.m. $25. “Aida,” opera by Verdi, performed at Teatro alla Scala under the direction of Franco Zeffirelli. Film directed by Patrizia Carmine. Sept. 20 at 1 p.m. Free. Irvington Town Hall, 85 Main Street. irvingtontheater.com ; (914) 591-6602. PEEKSKILL Paramount Center for the Arts “Moon,” starring Sam Rockwell. Through Thursday. $7 to $9. Paramount Center for the Arts, 1008 Brown Street. (914)739-2333; paramountcenter.org . PLEASANTVILLE Jacob Burns Film Center “Sidney Lumet Retrospective Series.” Friday through Sept. 30. $6 to $10. “The Burning Plain,” directed by Guillermo Arriaga, featuring a talk with Janet Maslin and the director. Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m. $9 and $13. Jacob Burns Film Center, 364 Manville Road. (914) 747-5555; burnsfilmcenter.org . For Children CROTON-ON-HUDSON Croton Free Library Stacy Labriola, children’s songbook and original rock. Ages 5 and under. Sept. 12 at 11 a.m. Free. Croton Free Library, 171 Cleveland Drive. (914) 271-6612; crotonfreelibrary.org . CROTON-ON-HUDSON Croton Point Nature Center “Archaeology Fun for Kids.” Visit an ancient Native American oyster shell midden. Be prepared to get dirty. Ages 5 and up. Sept. 12 at 1 p.m. Free. Croton Point Nature Center, Croton Point Park. westchestergov.com/parks ; (914)862-5927. PEEKSKILL Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art “Double Dutch: Family Activity Day,” make tulips, participate in the production of a giant mural and enter a jump rope competition. All ages. Sept. 12, noon to 5 p.m. Free. Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, 1701 Main Street. (914) 788-0100; hvcca.com . PLEASANTVILLE Jacob Burns Film Center “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh,” directed by Wolfgang Reitherman and John Lounsbery. All ages. Through Sept. 13. $6 to $10. Jacob Burns Film Center, 364 Manville Road. (914) 747-5555; burnsfilmcenter.org. SOMERS Muscoot Farm “Grandparents Day.” Visit the Once Upon a Farm Museum, sip lemonade, sample cookies and make a keepsake craft. All ages. Sept. 13, 1 to 3 p.m. Free. Muscoot Farm, Route 100. westchestergov.com/parks; (914) 864-7282. Museums and Galleries BEACON Fovea Exhibitions Beacon Gallery “American Youth,” photographs. Through Nov. 8. Fridays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fovea Exhibitions Beacon Gallery, 143 Main Street. foveaeditions.org ; (845) 765-2199. BEACON RiverWinds Gallery “Air-Fire-Water,” paintings by Ellen A. Lewis. Through Monday. Wednesdays through Mondays, noon to 6 p.m. RiverWinds Gallery, 172 Main Street. riverwindsgallery.com ; (845) 838-2880. GARRISON Boscobel House and Garden “Home on the Hudson: Women and Men Painting Landscapes: 1825-1875.” Through Monday. Wednesdays through Mondays, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Boscobel House and Garden, 1601 Route 9D. boscobel.org ; (845) 265-3638. GARRISON Garrison Art Center “Current Without,” outdoor sculpture. Through Tuesday. Daily, noon to 5 p.m. Garrison Art Center, 23 Garrison’s Landing. (845) 424-3960; garrisonartcenter.org . GARRISON Saunders Farm “Collaborative Concepts Farm Project 2009,” installations by more than 60 artists on a working farm. Through Oct. 31. Daily, 10 a.m. to dusk. Saunders Farm, 853 Old Albany Post Road. (845) 528-1797. HARRISON Harrison Public Library “Yellowstone 2 x 2: Two Seasons, Two Photographers,” works by Stanley Benerofe and Linda Tommasulo. Through Oct. 2. Mondays and Wednesdays, 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Harrison Public Library, Bruce Avenue. (914) 835-0324; harrisonpl.org . IRVINGTON Irvington Public Library “Mia de Bethune: New Paintings and Collage.” Through Sept. 27. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Irvington Public Library, 12 South Astor Street. (914) 591-7840; irvingtonlibrary.org . KATONAH Katonah Museum of Art “Roy Lichtenstein: Brushstroke Nude.” “Chakaia Booker: Cross Over Effects.” “Dress Codes: Clothing as Metaphor,” costumes. All through Oct. 4. $3 and $5; members and children, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Katonah Museum of Art, 134 Jay Street. (914)232-9555; katonahmuseum.org . LARCHMONT Larchmont Public Library “Through the Lens: A Retrospective,” photographs by Helene Hoffecker. “A Patchwork of Places,” acrylic paintings by Jane Land. Both run through Sept. 29. Mondays and Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Larchmont Public Library, 121 Larchmont Avenue. (914) 834-2281; larchmontlibrary.org . LARCHMONT Pgartventure Gallery “Blueprint: Spaces Between Spaces,” site specific installation by Merav Ezer and Adi Shniderman. Wednesday through Sept. 23. Hours: By appointment only. Pgartventure Gallery, 2130A Boston Post Road. pgartventure.com ; (914) 834-5100. MONTROSE Hendrick Hudson Free Library Harold Zabitz, paintings. Friday through Sept. 29. Mondays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Hendrick Hudson Free Library, 185 Kings Ferry Road. henhudfreelibrary.org ; (914) 739-5654. MOUNT KISCO Lot84 “Sequential Beauty,” photographs by Simo Neri. Sept. 20 through Dec. 6. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Lot84, 84 Lexington Avenue. (914) 244-8535; lot84.com . MOUNT VERNON St. Paul’s Church National Historic Site “Chief Executives on the Village Green: St. Paul’s and the Presidents,” prints, documents, artifacts, sounds and texts explore connections between five presidents and St. Paul’s. Through Jan. 1. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. St. Paul’s Church National Historic Site, 897 South Columbus Avenue. nps.gov/sapa ; (914)667-4116. NEW PALTZ Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, at SUNY New Paltz “Hudson Valley Artists: Ecotones and Transition Zones.” Through Sept. 6. “The Hudson River to Niagara Falls: 19th-Century American Landscape Paintings From the New-York Historical Society.” Through Dec. 13. “Panorama of the Hudson River: Greg Miller.” Through Dec. 13. Wednesdays through Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz. newpaltz.edu/museum ; (845) 257-3844. NEW ROCHELLE Brother Kenneth Chapman Gallery, Iona College Arts Center “The Image Makers: Views of N.Y.C.,” photographs by members of the Westchester Photographic Society. Through Oct. 1. Mondays through Wednesdays, noon to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, noon to 5 p.m., and 6:30 to 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 to 5 p.m. Brother Kenneth Chapman Gallery, Iona College Arts Center, Iona College. iona.edu/artscouncil ; (914) 637-7796. NORTH SALEM Hammond Museum and Japanese Stroll Garden “Zen Stitches,” quilts. “Where a Buddha Walked,” photographs from India, China and Japan. “Akio Ohmori’s World,” sculptures. All through Sept. 19. $5; seniors, $4; members and children under 12, free. Wednesdays through Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m. Hammond Museum and Japanese Stroll Garden, 28 Deveau Road. (914) 669-5033; hammondmuseum.org . PEEKSKILL Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art “Double Dutch,” showcasing contemporary Dutch sculpture and installation and video art. Artists include Job Koelewijn, Alon Levin, Erik van Lieshout, Lara Schnitger, Jennifer Tee, Rob Voerman, Guido van der Werve, Daan Padmos and Serge Onnen. Sept. 12 through July 26. $2 to $5; members, free. Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 6 p.m., and by appointment. Opening reception Sept. 13, 4 to 7 p.m.; free admission Sept. 12 and 13. Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, 1701 Main Street. (914) 788-0100; hvcca.com. PEEKSKILL Maxwell Fine Arts “Wet!” and “Immersion,” site-specific video installation by Gene Panczenko. Friday, 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. Free. Maxwell Fine Arts, 1204 Main Street. (914) 737-8622; maxwellfinearts.com . PEEKSKILL Paramount Center for the Arts “Undertow: Thinking Water,” photography exhibition presented by Maxwell Fine Arts. Through Oct. 24. Paramount Center for the Arts, 1008 Brown Street. (914) 739-2333; paramountcenter.org. PHOENICIA Arts Upstairs Gallery “Peace * Love * Music,” group show. Through Sept. 12. Hours: Fridays, 3 to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Arts Upstairs Gallery, 60 Main Street. artsupstairs.com ; (845) 688-2142. PLEASANTVILLE Choate House Gallery “Three Artists in Residence: Asha Canalos, Swati Khurana and Ryan Roa,” mixed media. Through Sept. 24. Mondays through Wednesdays and Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m.; Thursdays, noon to 6 p.m. Choate House Gallery, 861 Bedford Road, Entrance 3. (914) 773-3473. PORT CHESTER Clay Art Center “Bryan Hopkins: Containers for the Intangible.” Through Sept. 26. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Clay Art Center, 40 Beech Street. (914) 937-2047; clayartcenter.org . POUGHKEEPSIE Vassar College, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center “Drawn by New York: Six Centuries of Watercolors and Drawings at the New-York Historical Society.” Through Nov. 1. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Vassar College, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, 124 Raymond Avenue. fllac.vassar.edu ; (845) 437-5632. PURCHASE Neuberger Museum of Art “British Subjects: Identity and Self-Fashioning 1967-2009,” multimedia group show. Sept. 13 through Dec. 13. “Reframing American Art,” group exhibition featuring works from the 1940s and ‘50s. Through Dec. 31. “Outdoor Sculpture From the Permanent Collection,” modern and contemporary art throughout the Purchase College campus. Through Dec. 31. “African Art and Culture: Selections From the Collection.” Ongoing. All exhibitions $3 and $5. Tuesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Neuberger Museum of Art, 735 Anderson Hill Road. (914) 251-6100; neuberger.org . RHINEBECK Montgomery Row Second Level “Recent Works by Jim Stevenson and Bill Ayton.” Through Oct. 30. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Wednesdays and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Montgomery Row Second Level, 6423 Montgomery Street (Route 9). montgomeryrow.com ; (845) 876-6670. RYE Jay Heritage Center “A Legacy of Sailing: Residents of the Jay Estate and Yachting in New York, 1843-1966,” historical artifacts exhibition, part of the Hudson quadricentennial celebration. Through Sept. 21. Jay Heritage Center, 210 Boston Post Road. (914) 698-9275. RYE Rye Arts Center “A Plein Air Paint-Out and Live Auction,” featuring 46 professional artists from the region. Auction Sept. 26 at 6:15 p.m. Sept. 13 through Sept. 26. Free; suggested $10 bidding paddle. Tuesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rye Arts Center, 51 Milton Road. (914) 967-0700; ryeartscenter.org . RYE Rye Historical Society “The Birth of Rye Town Park,” archival newspapers, postcards, photographs and murals. Through Nov. 30. Tuesdays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Rye Historical Society, 1 Purchase Street. ryehistoricalsociety.org ; (914) 967-7588. SOMERS Muscoot Farm “Visions,” group show. Through Sept. 27. Muscoot Farm, Route 100. (914) 864-7282; westchestergov.com/parks . SOMERS Somers Library “Autumn Art Show,” paintings. Through Sept. 30. Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m.; Mondays, to 8 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, to 5 p.m. Somers Library, Route 139. somerslibrary.org ; (914) 232-5717. TIVOLI Tivoli Artists Co-op “Personalities Plus,” group show. “Solo Artist’s Show: A Studio Visit,” works by Janet Jappen. Both through Sept. 20. Fridays, 5 to 9 p.m.; Saturdays, 1 to 9 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Tivoli Artists Co-op, 60 Broadway. tivoliartistsco-op.com ; (845) 757-2667. WHITE PLAINS “David Hayes in White Plains,” 30-year retrospective with 62 sculptures in public and private spaces throughout the city. Through Dec. 1. White Plains. davidhayes.com . WOODSTOCK Galerie B.M.G. “Children,” photographs by William Ropp. Through Monday. Free. Fridays through Mondays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and by appointment. Galerie B.M.G., 12 Tannery Brook Road. galeriebmg.com ; (845) 679-0027. WOODSTOCK Photosensualis “Katia Chausheva: Anima,” photographs. Through Sept. 6. Thursdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m., and by appointment. Photosensualis, 15 Rock City Road. (845) 679-5333; photosensualis.com . YONKERS Hudson River Museum “Dutch New York: The Roots of Hudson Valley Culture,” more than 250 historical objects and images from the museum and other major collections. Through Jan. 1. $3 and $5; members, free. Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m.; Fridays, noon to 8 p.m. Hudson River Museum, 511 Warburton Avenue. (914) 963-4550; hrm.org . YONKERS Yonkers Public Library, Grinton I. Will Branch “Whimsical Room Box Display,” works by Janet Potter. Through Sept. 30. Yonkers Public Library, Grinton I. Will Branch, 1500 Central Park Avenue. (914) 337-1500; ypl.org . Music and Dance ELMSFORD Westchester Broadway Theater “The Roy Orbison Story,” tribute concert starring Bernie Jessome. Sept. 15 at 6:15 p.m. $75 for dinner and show. Westchester Broadway Theater, 75 Clearbrook Road. (914) 592-2222; broadwaytheatre.com . KENT Arts on the Lake Michelle LeBlanc Quintet, jazz. Friday at 8 p.m. $10. Arts on the Lake, 640 Route 52. michelleleblanc.com ; (845) 228-2685. NEW ROCHELLE Iona College “Love and Laughter in Opera,” arias, duets and ensembles. Presented by New Rochelle Opera. Sept. 13 at 3 p.m. $18; $15, seniors and students; free to the Iona College community. Iona College, 715 North Avenue. (914) 637-7796; iona.edu/artscouncil. OSSINING Ossining Eagles Hall Lil’ Malcolm and the House Rockers, zydeco. Sept. 12, 7 to 11:30 p.m. $20. Ossining Eagles Hall, 7 Old Albany Post Road. (914) 960-9057; somebodyscreamny.org . PEEKSKILL Paramount Center for the Arts Los Lobos, rockabilly, jazz and Latin. Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. $25 to $45. Paramount Center for the Arts, 1008 Brown Street. (914) 739-2333; paramountcenter.org. PELHAM Pelham Art Center “Korean Folk Arts Day,” traditional music and dance, featuring performances by Minji Kim and Jung Hee Oh. Sept. 19, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Free. Pelham Art Center, 155 Fifth Avenue. pelhamartcenter.org ; (914) 738-2525. TARRYTOWN Tarrytown Music Hall Hot Tuna, rock. Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. $40 to $60. Dar Williams, Guy Davis, Sarah Lee Guthrie, Johnny Irion and Joe D’Urso, folk and blues. Proceeds benefit Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. Friday at 8 p.m. $35 to $125. Hammer of the Gods, Led Zeppelin tribute concert. Sept. 12 at 8 p.m. $30 to $50. “Broadway Tonight with Alan Menken,” cabaret. Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. $50 to $125. Tarrytown Music Hall, 13 Main Street. (877) 840-0457; tarrytownmusichall.org . WOODSTOCK Woodstock Playhouse Orleans, pop and rock. Through Sept. 6. $29. Woodstock Playhouse, Routes 212 and 375. (845) 679-4101; woodstockplayhouse.org . Outdoors KATONAH Lasdon Park and Arboretum “ Labor Day Antiques Fair,” featuring 70 dealers, entertainment and food. Monday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. $7. Lasdon Park and Arboretum, 2610 Amawalk Road (Route 35). (914) 273-4667; cordshows.com . PEEKSKILL Downtown Peekskill “Peekskill Quadricentennial Celebration,” music, family entertainment, fireworks and dragon boat races. Sept. 6 through Sept. 13. Downtown Peekskill, Central Avenue and North Division Street. (914) 734-7275; downtownpeekskill.com . RYE Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary “Fall Hawk Watch.” Watch the fall migration of some hawks as they follow the songbirds south in search of food. Binoculars provided. Sept. 12 at 10 a.m. Free. Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary, Playland Parkway. westchestergov.com/parks; (914) 967-8720. SLEEPY HOLLOW Philipsburg Manor “Green Corn Festival,” features storytelling, Native American dance, cooking demonstrations, games, and music. Through Monday. $6 to $12; members and children under 5, free. Philipsburg Manor, 381 North Broadway (Route 9). (914) 631-3992; hudsonvalley.org . WHITE PLAINS Westchester County Center “Bicycle Sundays.” A portion of the Bronx River Parkway is closed to cars for exclusive use by of bicyclists, joggers, walkers and those with scooters and strollers. Over 13 miles round trip with several points of entry and exit. Parking available for $4. Sept. 13 through Sept. 27. Westchester County Center, 198 Central Avenue. (914) 995-4050; countycenter.biz . YONKERS Downtown Yonkers “Riverfest 2009,” music, arts, performances and children’s events throughout the day. Downtown Yonkers. (914) 969-6660; yonkersriverfest.com . Spoken Word BREWSTER Southeast Museum “The Language of Crisis: Documenting the Great Depression .” Michael Jacobs discusses how the Depression-era writers combined poetry and prose with journalism to document and represent the social reality of a nation in crisis. Sept. 12 at 1 p.m. Free. Southeast Museum, 67 Main Street. southeastmuseum.org ; (845) 279-7500. MOUNT VERNON St. Paul’s Church National Historic Site “General Charles Lee: Enigma of the American Revolution,” lecture by Phil Papas. Sept. 12 at 1 p.m. Free. St. Paul’s Church National Historic Site, 897 South Columbus Avenue. nps.gov/sapa; (914) 667-4116. PURCHASE Neuberger Museum of Art “York/New York: A Talk,” featuring British and New York-based performance writers on the subject of British identity. Sept. 17, 3 to 5 p.m. Free. Neuberger Museum of Art, 735 Anderson Hill Road. (914) 251-6100; neuberger.org. SHRUB OAK John C. Hart Memorial Library “Walkable Westchester,” Jane and Walt Daniels discuss the more than 180 parks, preserves, sanctuaries and protected open space in Westchester County that contain about 600 miles of trails. Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Free. John C. Hart Memorial Library, 1130 East Main Street. yorktownlibrary.org ; (914) 245-5262. YONKERS Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site “Native American Day,” crafts, storytelling and artifacts. Sept. 12, noon to 3 p.m. Free. Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site, 29 Warburton Avenue. (914) 965-4027; philipsemanorhall.blogspot.com . Theater ELLENVILLE Shadowland Theater “Accomplice,” comedic mystery by Rupert Holmes. Through Sept. 6. $24 and $26. “American Buffalo,” comedy by David Mamet. Friday through Sept. 27. $24 and $26. Shadowland Theater, 157 Canal Street. shadowlandtheatre.org ; (845) 647-5511. ELMSFORD Westchester Broadway Theater “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” musical comedy by Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts. Through Sept. 19. $60 to $73. Westchester Broadway Theater, 75 Clearbrook Road. broadwaytheatre.com; (914) 592-2222. GARRISON Boscobel House and Garden “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged),” comedy by the Reduced Shakespeare Company. Through Sept. 6. All are $29 to $46 and presented by the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. Boscobel House and Garden, 1601 Route 9D. hvshakespeare.org ; (845) 265-9575. SOMERS Somers Library “The Short Stories of Saki,” dramatic readings by Alan Sklar. Wednesday at 2 p.m. Free. Somers Library, Route 139. (914) 232-5717; somerslibrary.org. | Art;Culture;Westchester County (NY);Theater |
ny0176903 | [
"sports",
"ncaafootball"
] | 2007/09/02 | At Virginia Tech, Unity Through Cheers | BLACKSBURG, Va., Sept. 1 (AP) — They came throughout the day — some bearing flowers, others wiping away tears. They moved slowly on the gently curving path in front of Burruss Hall, pausing to look at the names engraved on 32 distinctive chunks of what is called Hokie Stone. Nicole Regina White. Daniel Patrick O’Neil. Matthew Gregory Gwaltney. Ross A. Alameddine. “To me, this is like the first day in the beginning of a healing process,” Charles Bray said Friday after strolling past the memorial at his alma mater with his wife, Becky. On Saturday, there was a commemoration of a different sort. More than 66,000 people — most adorned in the school colors, maroon and orange — crammed Lane Stadium to see the Hokies take on East Carolina in the first game of a new college football season four and a half months after a gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 students and himself. “When you talk about ‘We will prevail and get on with our lives,’ sometimes it’s sort of hard,” Bray said. “When is it appropriate to not cry, to not mourn. When is it appropriate to cheer? I think football will make that evident.” Reema Joseph Samaha. Caitlin Millar Hammaren. Rachael Elizabeth Hill. Waleed Mohamed Shaalan. Anyone can see the victims’ names carved in stone. But now it is time for football. The survivors are eager to show that the Hokie Nation is getting along fine, even though they will never forget that April day. Matthew Joseph La Porte. Jocelyne Couture-Nowak. Leslie Geraldine Sherman. Juan Ramon Ortiz-Ortiz. Three sides of Lane Stadium are enclosed by towering stands, taller than anything else on a campus up against the Blue Ridge Mountains. A giant scoreboard looms over the fourth side. But this game served a higher purpose, to honor the 32 students who could not be here. “As much as we want to keep it in our minds and in our hearts, we have to move on,” Blake Belcher, a junior, said on Friday. “This is definitely going to be one thing that helps us move on.” Kevin P. Granata. Jarrett Lee Lane. Christopher James Bishop. Maxine Shelly Turner. There were many chances to mourn before the game. The schedule included a moment of silence, an Air Force jet flyover, a minute-long video honoring the victims and survivors. East Carolina presented a $100,000 check to a memorial fund. Minal Hiralal Panchal. Ryan Christopher Clark. Emily Jane Hilscher. G. V. Loganathan. “I don’t think there’s any question that our people just want to be together,” Frank Beamer, the Virginia Tech coach, said Friday. “This gives an opportunity for 60-something-thousand to be together and show how much we care about each other, and show the nation on national TV that we’re stronger than ever. And I do believe we are.” Mary Karen Read. Jeremy Michael Herbstritt. Partahi Mamora Halomoan Lumbantoruan. Daniel Alejandro Perez Cueva. Beamer knows how important this game is. The Hokies start the season ranked No. 9 and a contender for the Atlantic Coast Conference title. Maybe even the national title. “People are relying on us to give them something to be unified about,” Beamer said. “They want to rally around this football team. What we’ve got to keep in mind is that as big as that is, as big as what you’re playing for, it all gets down to taking care of that next play.” The campus appears largely back to normal, but linebacker Vince Hall says he has noticed a subtle change. Before, there seemed to be a wall between athletes and the other students, he said. No more. “When you walk around, they’re always saying something to you,” Hall said. Before the shooting, “sometimes they’d be scared to talk to you because you were an athlete. But now, we’re all Hokies.” Julia Kathleen Pryde. Erin Nicole Peterson. Austin Michelle Cloyd. Liviu Librescu. The new monument was built in the same order as an impromptu memorial that went up shortly after the shootings. The names are not alphabetical. There is no way to tell who was a student and who was a professor unless you knew the victims. And each name was engraved in Hokie Stone, the dominant building material on campus. “It’s like a precious jewel,” Bray, the returning graduate, said. “Every jewel naturally looks different. Look at those stones. Each one is different, like each one of those children and professors were different.” Henry J. Lee. Michael Steven Pohle Jr. Lauren Ashley McCain. Brian Roy Bluhm. | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University;Football |
ny0115115 | [
"us",
"politics"
] | 2012/11/24 | With Stickers, a Petition and Even a Middle Name, Secession Fever Hits Texas | HOUSTON — In the weeks since President Obama’s re-election, Republicans around the country have been wondering how to proceed. Some conservatives in Texas have been asking a far more pointed question: how to secede. Secession fever has struck parts of Texas, which Mitt Romney won by nearly 1.3 million votes. Sales of bumper stickers reading “Secede” — one for $2, or three for $5 — have increased at TexasSecede.com . In East Texas, a Republican official sent out an e-mail newsletter saying it was time for Texas and Vermont to each “go her own way in peace” and sign a free-trade agreement among the states. A petition calling for secession that was filed by a Texas man on a White House Web site has received tens of thousands of signatures, and the Obama administration must now issue a response. And Larry Scott Kilgore, a perennial Republican candidate from Arlington, a Dallas suburb, announced that he was running for governor in 2014 and would legally change his name to Larry Secede Kilgore, with Secede in capital letters. As his Web page, secedekilgore.com , puts it: “Secession! All other issues can be dealt with later.” In Texas, talk of secession in recent years has steadily shifted to the center from the fringe right. It has emerged as an echo of the state Republican leadership’s anti-Washington, pro-Texas-sovereignty mantra on a variety of issues, including health care and environmental regulations. For some Texans, the renewed interest in the subject serves simply as comic relief after a crushing election defeat. But for other proponents of secession and its sister ideology, Texas nationalism — a focus of the Texas Nationalist Movement and other groups that want the state to become an independent nation, as it was in the 1830s and 1840s — it is a far more serious matter. The official in East Texas, Peter Morrison, the treasurer of the Hardin County Republican Party, said in a statement that he had received overwhelming support from conservative Texans and overwhelming opposition from liberals outside the state in response to his comments in his newsletter. He said that it may take time for “people to appreciate that the fundamental cultural differences between Texas and other parts of the United States may be best addressed by an amicable divorce, a peaceful separation.” The online petitions — created on the We the People platform at petitions.whitehouse.gov — are required to receive 25,000 signatures in 30 days for the White House to respond. The Texas petition, created Nov. 9 by a man identified as Micah H. of Arlington, had received more than 116,000 signatures by Friday. It asks the Obama administration to “peacefully grant” the withdrawal of Texas, and describes doing so as “practically feasible,” given the state’s large economy. Residents in other states, including Alabama, Florida, Colorado, Louisiana and Oklahoma, have submitted similar petitions, though none have received as many signatures as the one from Texas. A White House official said every petition that crossed the signature threshold would be reviewed and would receive a response, though it was unclear precisely when Micah H. would receive his answer. Gov. Rick Perry, who twice made public remarks in 2009 suggesting that he was sympathetic to the secessionist cause, will not be signing the petition. “Governor Perry believes in the greatness of our union, and nothing should be done to change it,” a spokeswoman, Catherine Frazier, said in a statement. “But he also shares the frustrations many Americans have with our federal government.” The secession movement in Texas is divergent, with differences in goals and tactics. One group, the Republic of Texas, says that secession is unnecessary because, it claims, Texas is an independent nation that was illegally annexed by the United States in 1845. (The group’s leader and other followers waged a weeklong standoff with the Texas Rangers in 1997 that left one of its members dead.) Mr. Kilgore, the candidate who is changing his middle name, said he had not signed the White House petition because he did not believe that Texans needed to ask Washington for permission to leave. “Our economy is about 30 percent larger than that of Australia,” said Mr. Kilgore, 48, a telecommunications contractor. “Australia can survive on their own, and I don’t think we’ll have any problem at all surviving on our own in Texas.” Few of the public calls for secession have addressed the messy details, like what would happen to the state’s many federal courthouses, prisons, military bases and parklands. No one has said what would become of Kevin Patteson, the director of the state’s Office of State-Federal Relations, and no one has asked the Texas residents who received tens of millions of dollars in federal aid after destructive wildfires last year for their thoughts on the subject. But all the secession talk has intrigued liberals as well. Caleb M. of Austin started his own petition on the White House Web site. He asked the federal government to allow Austin to withdraw from Texas and remain part of the United States, “in the event that Texas is successful in the current bid to secede.” It had more than 8,000 signatures as of Friday. | Texas;Kilgore Larry Scott;States (US);Presidential Election of 2012;United States Politics and Government |
ny0047892 | [
"sports",
"olympics"
] | 2014/11/26 | I.O.C. Corrects Record on 1964 American Skating Pair | A little more than 50 years after they skated in the 1964 Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria, the American figure skaters Vivian and Ronald Joseph can finally call themselves Olympic bronze medalists — and, unlike in years past, they now have the International Olympic Committee to back up their claim. The sister-brother pairs skating team placed fourth in those Games, but they were awarded bronze medals a couple of years later when it was determined that the German team had signed a professional contract with Holiday on Ice before the Games. At that time, amateur status was taken seriously, and the Germans were stripped of their silver medal. The Americans accepted their bronze medals at a ceremony at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago, and the Canadian team of Debbi Wilkes and Guy Revell was honored with silver medals at the 1967 Canadian national championships. But in 1987, at an I.O.C. executive board meeting in Istanbul, the Germans were deemed “rehabilitated” and quietly re-awarded their silver medals. The official Olympic results have never reflected the Josephs as the bronze medalists or the Canadians as the silver medalists. Until Tuesday. After an inquiry by The New York Times, which resulted in an article on Dec. 13, 2013 , the I.O.C. confirmed that the Soviet Union remained the gold medal winner, Canada and West Germany shared the silver, and the Josephs had the bronze. In an email, the I.O.C. said that despite the information on its website over the years, this was intended to be the official result since 1987. After much effort by U.S. Figure Skating, the United States Olympic Committee, Skate Canada and the Canadian Olympic Association, the I.O.C. updated its website on Tuesday. With the Josephs recognized by the I.O.C. as bronze medalists, the United States now has 48 Olympic figure skating medals — the most won by a single nation in the Winter Games. “I am ecstatic,” said Vivian Joseph, who lives in suburban Chicago. “I am sorry it wasn’t done sooner, but I am happy it is finally done.” The Josephs lamented that their coach, Peter Dunfield , who died at age 82 last May 25, and their parents were not able to witness the change. Dunfield had engaged in much effort trying to rectify the results. The Josephs have been invited to award the championship pairs medals at the national championships in January in Greensboro, N.C. “After more than two decades of confusion, we are pleased to see Vivian and Ronald Joseph as the rightful Olympic bronze medalists,” David Raith, the executive director of U.S. Figure Skating, said in a statement. “We respect the way the Josephs have handled the issue, knowing that this confusion has caused them much heartache and frustration.” Wilkes believed her cause was one that “had faded into the past long ago.” Over the years, she would be identified as a silver and bronze medalist, and always felt awkward discussing the matter publicly. She worked for Skate Canada before retiring this year and called the I.O.C.’s website update a “tremendous retirement gift.” | 1964 Olympics;Figure skating;Ronald Joseph;Vivian Joseph;International Olympic Committee;United States Figure Skating Assn |
ny0151055 | [
"us",
"politics"
] | 2008/08/11 | Grueling Schedule and Hard Discipline for John McCain | LAS VEGAS — As Senator Barack Obama headed off for a vacation in Hawaii last week, Senator John McCain was left in the continental United States with the Iowa State Fair to himself. Mr. McCain’s campaign promised to take full advantage this week of Mr. Obama’s absence — for starters, Mr. McCain was scathing about his rival in his weekend radio address — but up close and personal, Mr. McCain sounded as though he would not mind some August beach time himself. “I think if you were going to take a week off, this is probably an intelligent time to do it,” Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, told a small group of reporters on his campaign plane in a brief session on Friday night. As for himself, “what we do is try to take a day or two down, but it seems when I do that they fill it up with briefings and prep and issues and meetings.” What makes the difference, Mr. McCain said, is getting enough rest. “If I can sleep in until about 7:30 or 8, then it really helps me,” he said. “I think when I get up real early, like 5:30 or 6, and don’t go to bed until 10, 10:30 or 11, it seems to help me get up a little later in the morning.” Mr. McCain has made a number of verbal gaffes in recent months, including referring three times to Czechoslovakia, a country that has not existed since 1993. In his comments on the plane, Mr. McCain did not address whether his gaffes had anything to do with fatigue, but he seemed to suggest that they might have. “If I put in three or four 18-hour, 20-hour days in a row, then I’m not sharp,” Mr. McCain said. “It’s just a fact.” The issue is sensitive for Mr. McCain, 71, who would be the oldest person elected to a first term if he wins. Although Mr. McCain sometimes looks tired on the campaign trail, his aides say he has more energy than they do as they run the grueling marathon of this long presidential campaign. On Friday, Mr. McCain started at 8:30 a.m. in Cincinnati, made campaign stops in Iowa and Arkansas, and ended more than 16 hours later in Las Vegas. Reins on a Campaign Mr. McCain’s life on the road has changed markedly in recent weeks as Steve Schmidt, a Karl Rove protégé from the Bush White House, has moved into a central role at the campaign headquarters and tried to impose some focus on the candidate. Mr. McCain no longer spends hours in the back of his campaign bus in talkathons with national reporters, instead reserving the sessions for short bursts with the local news media. An area in the front of his plane that was reconfigured to re-create the reporter-friendly seating in his campaign bus has been taken over by his daughter Meghan and her fellow Blogettes, who keep a cheery online diary of the candidate’s travels. Last week Mr. McCain had only one news conference, in Rogers, Ark., at a politically dead time, 5:30 p.m. on a Friday, that seemed designed to bury anything troublesome he might say. The idea is to keep the candidate on point and not expose him to situations like one that occurred last month in Ohio in which he was asked whether he thought it fair that some health insurance companies covered Viagra but not birth control. (Mr. McCain told reporters he would get back to them on that.) Mr. McCain has dutifully embraced the new discipline, up to a point. He said on Friday that his message should not be “cluttered up,” but the onetime scrappy candidate appeared almost bored by his news conference that day, when he answered all questions with talking points. From there he headed for two nights at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Mr. McCain, who likes to gamble, avoided the sprawling lobby casino for a series of private meetings, topic undisclosed. Was he satisfied with how his vice-presidential selection process was going? “You’re never satisfied,” Mr. McCain told reporters. “I’d like to have selected yesterday.” At the Fair Iowa has never been in love with Mr. McCain, who came in fourth in the state’s caucuses this year and remains something of an unknown quantity to voters there. But last week Mr. McCain made a stop at the state fair in Des Moines, where he accepted a pork chop on a stick and viewed the biggest boar, Freight Train, which weighed in at 1,259 pounds and remained sound asleep through the commotion of the candidate’s visit. Fairgoers generally reacted to Mr. McCain with excitement and offered backhanded compliments about him to reporters. Many were on the theme that he was not as bad as they had thought. “Better speaker in public than on TV,” said Vester Crutchfield, 83, a Republican who operates the fair’s giant slide. “I didn’t think that much of him until today.” | McCain John;Aged;Travel and Vacations;Sleep;Presidential Election of 2008;Obama Barack |
ny0140335 | [
"us",
"politics"
] | 2008/02/01 | Women Weigh Use of Clout in Primary | In the garden-level kitchen of a Harlem brownstone last Sunday, five women sat around a long wooden table, overshadowed by a large leafy plant in the window, sipping hazelnut coffee and excitedly finishing one another’s sentences as they talked about the presidential candidates as if they were on intimate terms, calling them Hillary and Barack. All of them had grown up in middle-class black enclaves of America — in Chicago, Virginia, Alabama, Brooklyn, Harlem — several attending private schools. All of them said they were moved by Senator Barack Obama ’s candidacy and would vote for him enthusiastically in the New York Democratic primary on Tuesday. On the other side of the city, in Laurelton, Queens, a retired bank operations specialist, married and with grandchildren, said she was strongly attracted to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton ’s résumé, and saw her as a seasoned voice of experience with a proven record in national and international affairs. And in a comfortably cluttered, bohemian living room in an Upper West Side apartment, another woman, a doctor, confessed that she was slightly panicked at the thought, just days before the primary, of not having made up her mind between two candidates she viewed as equally competent and compelling path-breakers. Women are a crucial bloc in the primary in New York, where they constitute 55 percent of registered Democrats statewide and 60 percent in the city. A statewide WNBC/Marist poll released last week showed Mrs. Clinton ahead among all women, though black women strongly favored Mr. Obama. But black women were also more likely to be undecided than most other groups. In New York, many women are bringing an intense, almost visceral connection to the election, interviews with dozens of women over the past week show. For some it is a personal, even painful decision. They talk about children and grandchildren, war and education. Many women worry that embracing Mr. Obama would be a repudiation of the first woman to have come as far as she has in seeking the presidency. But some black women wonder: If they reject the first serious black candidate in favor of Mrs. Clinton, how will they look themselves in the mirror the next day? Lisa Faith Phillips, 51, who is white and supports Mrs. Clinton, expressed her quandary this way: “I would love Barack if he wasn’t running against a woman who I think would do a good job.” To the women in Harlem, though, there was little uncertainty. Mrs. Clinton was not a feisty female role model, they said, but someone who had stayed too long in her husband’s shadow and whose time had passed. “She’s not a feminist, No. 1, not a woman who made it on her own, not an Ann Richards or a Pelosi,” said Carolyn A. Brown, 63, a professor of African history at Rutgers University. “Not Barbara Jordan,” added her friend, Evelyn Neal, 69, who was active in Harlem arts and politics in the ’60s and ’70s. “I don’t like the way her husband is running her campaign,” Ms. Neal said. “You realize he’s still going to be called President Clinton, and she’ll be President Clinton?” Mr. Obama, they said, transcended race and gender. “Barack Obama is becoming not only a black man, he is a symbol across race, across class,” Ms. Brown said. “You don’t have to be only black or white.” But at the Upper West Side gathering, four white, liberal, baby-boomer women defended Mrs. Clinton’s feminist credentials as they sipped red wine and talked politics with a gusto more often reserved for topics like sex, husbands, children and real estate. “Having worked in corporate America for 20 years, I find, as much as women have had some movement up, the glass ceiling is still very strong,” said Ms. Phillips, the performance artist. “Even in publishing where most of the workaday jobs are done by women, most of the executives are men,” she said. “It’s frustrating. You do feel a sense of a boys’ club that keeps women out.” Ms. Phillips, currently starring in the one-woman show “Seven and a Half Habits of Highly Effective Mistresses,” was vice president and general manager of Random House Direct for nine years. Unmarried, with two cats and degrees from Wellesley and the London School of Economics, she unabashedly supports Mrs. Clinton, saying a woman in the White House would break barriers in society. She read Senator Obama’s books and was impressed, she said, adding, “I just feel like he hasn’t been out in a bigger arena, proving himself.” Yet for all their support for Mrs. Clinton’s credentials as a feminist, two of the four women were not sure they would vote for her. Paula Ettelbrick, 52, a human rights lawyer and lesbian mother of a son and a daughter, started a sentence. “I never would have thought, given a chance to vote for a woman —— ” Barrie Raik, the doctor, finished it: “ —— that I might not.” Dr. Raik, 60, said she liked Senator Obama’s transformational appeal, and the message that Americans electing a black president might send “to the rest of the world.” Yet she wondered whether Mrs. Clinton might be more effective. “Who is more likely to accomplish the goals?” she asked. She felt she needed more facts to resolve her indecision. “Maybe between now and then I can just get online,” Dr. Raik said, plaintively. For all the women at the Upper West Side gathering, the primary season had been an emotional roller coaster. Ms. Ettelbrick said she had choked up on the subway as she read about the endorsements of Mr. Obama by Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy. The Kennedy mystique, and her 10-year-old son’s entreaties, moved her from undecided to Mr. Obama on Tuesday morning, she said. Their hostess, Leslie Creutzfeldt, 51, objected. “Why does it have to be a fantasy of regaining Camelot?” she asked. “Why can’t it be —— ” “ —— Getting the job done,” Ms. Phillips finished the thought. Feminism has become a dirty word, Ms. Creutzfeldt said. “The minute you say, ‘I’m for her’ you are somewhat similar to her,” she said. After listening, Ms. Ettelbrick said she had started to wonder if she was allowing herself to be overly influenced by her son, who had argued that Mr. Obama was the hope of the next generation. “Maybe I need to talk to my daughter,” she said, half-joking. Ms. Creutzfeldt, a public relations executive, said Mr. Obama’s turning away from Mrs. Clinton before the State of the Union address , which she interpreted as a snub, had engaged her sexism radar. “It was as if he said, ‘Who’s that girl?’ ” Ms. Creutzfeldt said. “His macho side has never been explored, but why should he be different from anybody else?” As a woman, Mrs. Clinton was in uncharted territory, Ms. Phillips said. “She can’t win — if she’s sensitive, she’s too feminine.” But the Harlem women doubted that Mrs. Clinton’s sensitive side — the emotional expression in New Hampshire — was genuine. “Her natural personality is more like Rudy Giuliani’s,” said Hope Harley-Todman, 57, a retired director of external affairs for Verizon. In any case, argued Jean Carey Bond, 70, a writer and editor, racism was more of a hurdle than sexism. “White womanhood usually trumps black man,” Ms. Bond said. Some women who were old enough to remember the Clinton presidency said they would be happy to have a reprise with Mrs. Clinton. And some women pointed to Mrs. Clinton’s Senate tenure and policy positions as major reasons to vote for her. “She’s going to pull us out of the war and address medical care in this country,” said Marie Tzesir, 65, of Laurelton. Ms. Tzesir, who is black, said that she liked Mr. Obama, but that it was not “his turn.” Some other women, who were too young to vote during the Clinton era and are now yearning for something new, preferred Mr. Obama. Gwen Stanley, 24, a white waitress living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, said she considered Mr. Obama more principled. “I just think he is the most liberal,” Ms. Stanley said. “He’s taken a clear stance on the war and torture, not switching back and forth like other candidates.” Among the women in Harlem, Mr. Obama scored higher on the liberal scale as well. “Hillary Clinton was a Goldwater girl,” Ms. Bond said. Ms. Neal predicted that the primary election would be close. She described going to the Harlem senior center where she volunteers and hearing the old people say, “ ‘Where this ’Bama boy come from?’ ” and, “ ‘You know, I heard he was a Muslim.’ ” “The Clinton name carries a lot of weight,” said Ms. Harley-Todman. “You know how older people have pictures of John Kennedy, Bobby and Martin in their homes.” “And Jesus,” Kay W. Logan, 62, a retired Y.W.C.A. management trainer, piped up. “And then somewhere off in the corner a little picture of Clinton,” Ms. Harley-Todman finished. | Women;Presidential Election of 2008;Primaries;Elections;Obama Barack;Clinton Hillary Rodham |
ny0201896 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2009/09/13 | A Gadfly Blogger Is Released From Police Custody in Vietnam | HANOI, Vietnam (Reuters) — The Vietnamese police released a gadfly blogger on Saturday after holding her more than a week on the grounds of state security, her mother said by telephone from the beach town of Nha Trang. The release of the blogger, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, came a week after the police freed two others, Bui Thanh Hieu and Pham Doan Trang , who were detained in late August. “This afternoon they told me to go to the police, and I saw my daughter was out already,” said Ms. Quynh’s mother, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Lan. “After nine days in detention they decided my daughter’s actions were not serious enough, so they let her free.” Ms. Quynh, who blogged under the name Me Nam, or Mother Mushroom, had written critically of a government plan to exploit bauxite reserves with the help of a state-owned Chinese company and of China’s claims to sovereignty over islands in the South China Sea. Mr. Hieu and Ms. Quynh were also involved in plans to print and distribute T-shirts to major Vietnamese cities with slogans against the bauxite plan and in support of Vietnam’s claims to the Spratly and Paracel Islands. A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Nguyen Phuong Nga, said Thursday that the two bloggers and Ms. Trang had been detained for investigations into possible violations of national security, although she did not elaborate. Mr. Hieu and Ms. Trang were released on the eve of a visit to Australia and New Zealand by the Vietnamese Communist Party chief, Nong Duc Manh . Vietnam’s relationship with China is overshadowed by a history of conflict, and the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party performs a balancing act between the need to stay on good terms with Beijing and with a public that is increasingly voicing suspicions about China’s motives and actions. | Vietnam;Blogs and Blogging (Internet) |
ny0099503 | [
"technology",
"personaltech"
] | 2015/06/13 | Recording a Phone’s Screen on a Mac | Q. Is there an easy way to show my iPhone’s screen on my MacBook and then record a video of the demonstration on the phone? A. Software for the Mac that lets you mirror and record the phone’s display on the computer screen is available, but you may not have to download a separate program to do the job. If you are running OS X Yosemite on the MacBook and have iOS 8 on a newer iPhone, you can record videos of the iPhone’s screen actions with the QuickTime Player program that comes with the Mac. The iPhone (or iPad or iPod Touch) needs to be one of the more recent models, one that uses the small Lightning connector and cable that Apple began to include on new iOS hardware in late 2012 . If you have all the hardware and software in place, connect the iPhone to the MacBook with the Lightning cable. If you do not have an icon for the QuickTime Player in the Dock, open the MacBook’s Applications folder on the hard drive and open the program there. (As a shortcut to the Applications folder from the Mac’s Finder, press the Shift, Command and A keys.) When the QuickTime program opens, go to the File menu and select New Movie Recording. A new window appears, most likely showing you in front of the MacBook’s webcam. Next to the red Record button, click the menu arrow and change the Camera input from FaceTime HD Camera to iPhone. If you want to record the audio from the phone, as from a game or app, select the iPhone for the microphone input as well. Once you have selected the iPhone, click the Record button in the QuickTime window and then perform the tasks on the iPhone you wish to capture as a video. After you finish and click the Stop button to have QuickTime finish recording, you can save the newly recorded clip to your Mac’s hard drive. Image If the Mac is running OS X Yosemite and you have an iPhone 5 or later model running iOS 8, you can connect the two with a Lightning cable and record the action with Apple's QuickTime Player software. If you are not using OS X Yosemite or have older iPhone hardware and software, a third-party program may still work. The AirSquirrels Reflector 2 program is one of the options. It works with Macs running OS X 10.7.5 or later and phone models as far back as the iPhone 4s running iOS 7. Reflector 2 uses Apple’s AirPlay streaming technology to wirelessly link the two so the iPhone’s display appears on the Mac’s screen for viewing and recording. You can try before you buy to see if the software suits your needs — although it adds a watermark to your files, a free seven-day trial version of the program is available to download from the AirSquirrels site . The full, unwatermarked edition for the Mac is $15; a Windows version of Reflector 2 is also available. Along with iOS devices, the Reflector 2 desktop program can mirror and record the action from the screens of certain Android devices using the “Cast screen” feature . Getting Notifications from Gmail Q. I use the office email program at work, but I like to check my personal Gmail account through my web browser. Is there a way to get alerts to new Gmail messages as they come in as my regular mail program does, in case my browser is buried under other windows? A. If you are checking your Gmail in the Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Apple Safari browsers, you can turn on the desktop notifications option in your Gmail account settings. To see the notifications on your screen, you need to be logged into your account with Gmail open in a tab or window and you should make sure your browser’s preferences are also set to allow desktop notifications. To turn on desktop notifications, go to your Gmail window, click the gear-shaped menu icon on the right side of the window and select Settings. Make sure you are on the General tab of the Settings screen and scroll down to Desktop Notifications. Here, you can turn on alerts for new messages. If you use Google’s Inbox category tabs , you will be notified when new mail arrives in your Primary Inbox. Should you prefer, you can also limit the notifications so they appear only when you receive new messages from senders you or Google have designated as Important ; these are the messages tagged with a little yellow icon next to the sender’s name. When you have turned on the notification level you want to use, click the Save Changes button in the Settings window. | Apple;Google;Computers and the Internet;Tech Industry |
ny0243215 | [
"science"
] | 2011/03/08 | Invasive Amphibian Species Upend a Darwin Idea | Charles Darwin has had a remarkable record over the past century, not only in the affirmation of evolution by natural selection, but in the number of his more specific ideas that have been proved correct. He may, however, have been wrong about invasive species , at least where amphibians are concerned. Darwin believed that when an invasive species entered a region where a closely related species already existed, it would most likely be unsuccessful because of a competition for resources. “Instead, we found the opposite pattern with amphibians,” said Reid Tingley , a biologist at the University of Sydney. “When frogs and toads and salamanders invade an area where a similar species exists, they are more, not less, likely to establish themselves.” He and his colleagues report their findings in the March issue of The American Naturalist. This is the first study that contradicts Darwin’s invasive species hypothesis using animals. The researchers analyzed a large database containing information on amphibians that had been introduced outside of their native ranges. They studied 521 successful introductions that took place from 1696 to 2006. About 55 percent of the introductions occurred after 1900, when travel and trade began to increase. One explanation as to why the amphibians seem to thrive when introduced in locations with related species is that there is a natural suitability. When close relatives are already doing well, it’s a positive sign, Mr. Tingley said. The amphibians studied were primarily in North America and Europe, but included species in Asia, Africa and Australia as well. The findings could help conservationists predict the risk levels of introducing specific alien species into a region. | Invasive Species;Frogs;Evolution;Darwin Charles Robert;Science and Technology |
ny0248467 | [
"sports",
"tennis"
] | 2011/05/31 | French Open: Nadal Keeps Laboring but Keeps Winning | PARIS — It has often looked like work this year for Rafael Nadal at his favorite playground. He needed five sets in the first round of the French Open to disarm the unconventional weapons of the towering John Isner, and although Nadal has yet to lose another set on his well-worn path to the quarterfinals, there has been grinding and grumbling in unusual quantities. It is as if Nadal is facing two opponents: the one across the net and the one who surely keeps crossing his mind’s eye. Novak Djokovic is one victory away from supplanting Nadal as No. 1. Nadal has already lost to Djokovic four times this year, twice on clay, and if he is dissatisfied with his level of play here, it is because he suspects what level will be required if he and Djokovic, 41-0 this year, play in the French Open final on Sunday. Lesser opponents can sense the doubts, too, including Ivan Ljubicic, an outspoken Croatian veteran with a huge serve who was stamping his feet at his own errors in the first set Monday, believing he was on the verge of generating a genuine threat after erasing an early break. “First set, I had chances,” Ljubicic said. “I felt like he felt the pressure.” But Nadal scrapped and gesticulated through another rough patch — sometimes practicing his swings between points — and gathered strength from there. His 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 victory earned him a quarterfinal match with Robin Soderling, a Swede with a thunderous serve and ground strokes, who is the only man to have beaten Nadal at Roland Garros. “It’s true I am not playing that well, but I am in quarterfinals another time and I’m going to fight to play a better match next time,” Nadal said in a remarkable news conference that was full of either candor or calculation. Nadal, a five-time French Open champion, has been talking down his form here for years to good effect, but he has never arrived at his tournament in a situation quite like this. That gave his comments Monday a confessional air. Asked if he was confident he could win again and thus tie Bjorn Borg’s modern record for men’s titles, Nadal answered that he was not. “I am not playing enough well to win this tournament at the end of today,” he said. “That’s the true. The thing is you have to be realist, and today, I’m not playing enough well to win this tournament. We will see after tomorrow if I am ready to play at this level. I am going to try. But I won four times already here, five times already here. I don’t have an obligation to win six. I going to try for sure, but. ...” Nadal, ever-more expansive in English, let the matter drop there. Djokovic had the day off and will have plenty more days off before he plays again. Fabio Fognini, the unseeded Italian he was supposed to meet in the quarterfinals, withdrew Monday because of a torn thigh muscle. Despite hobbling and taking outrageous risks, Fognini managed to save five match points Sunday and defeat Albert Montañés of Spain. “This is a very big decision for me, but both doctors have confirmed that it would be very difficult,” said Fognini, who had never advanced this far in a Grand Slam event. Andy Murray, the fourth-seeded British star who twisted his right ankle in the third round, did decide to play his fourth-round match, and although he lost the first two sets to Viktor Troicki of Croatia, Murray rallied to win the next two before play was suspended because of darkness. In the women’s tournament, Li Na became the first Chinese player to reach the quarterfinals in singles by defeating Petra Kvitova , a dangerous Czech left-hander, in three sets. Li, who reached the Australian Open final this year, will face Victoria Azarenka, at No. 4 the highest women’s seed remaining in this upset-riddled Open. The other quarterfinal in the bottom half of the draw will be the latest duel between Maria Sharapova and Andrea Petkovic, the rising German who drubbed Sharapova in the Australian Open this year but was drubbed herself in Miami. Sharapova shrugged off five set points in the second set Monday to beat Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, 7-6 (4), 7-5. Petkovic held off Maria Kirilenko of Russia in three sets. There have been surprises in the men’s draw, too. None was bigger than Juan Ignacio Chela, a 31-year-old Argentine who reached the quarterfinals for the first time since 2004. Chela advanced with a 4-6, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory over Alejandro Falla, a Colombian qualifier, on the Suzanne Lenglen court. Gaël Monfils, the unpredictable Frenchman seeded ninth, was soon celebrating in the same place after prevailing over David Ferrer of Spain, 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, 1-6, 8-6 , in the fourth round in an often spectacular match that stretched over two days. Ferrer, the seventh seed, has yet to get past the quarterfinals in nine appearances in Paris. It will be interesting to see if Monfils can keep his sang-froid against Roger Federer, who has been in classic form. Federer is 5-1 against Monfils and has beaten him in both of their French Open matches but lost to him last year at the Paris indoor tournament. It will also be interesting to see if the French fans, deeply supportive of the French-speaking Federer, will throw themselves wholeheartedly behind Monfils. “It’s going to be another tough match and perhaps even a tougher match than in the past with him,” Monfils said. “Because I think the media is not talking much about him, but I had the chance to talk to him at the start of the tournament and to see his matches, and he’s in great form. And I think he’s got lots of things to prove.” Even at his healthiest, Fognini would have struggled to prove much to Djokovic, who has won 43 straight matches stretching back to 2010. Fognini’s withdrawal does muddle the record-keeping, however. As a walkover, it does not count in Djokovic’s victory streak. Now, even if Djokovic wins the tournament, he will not tie Guillermo Vilas’s men’s Open-era record of 46 consecutive victories, at least not yet. But Djokovic still has a chance in Paris to surpass John McEnroe’s 42-0 start in 1984. Much more important to him, he can become No. 1 by winning his next match, a semifinal against Federer or Monfils. He will play it after a four-day break, which Ljubicic, who knows him well, says could be a problem for Djokovic’s timing. Nadal, who clearly believes he has bigger problems of his own, was not buying that line of reasoning. Asked how he would feel if he had a four-day break, he answered: “Fantastic, no? Tell me what’s the worst part of that?” “No rhythm,” answered his questioner, referring to Djokovic. Nadal raised an eyebrow and said, “After don’t lose a match during all the year with, I don’t know, 40-something straight victories, you think he’s out of rhythm now?” | French Open (Tennis);Tennis;Nadal Rafael;Djokovic Novak;Ljubicic Ivan;Sharapova Maria;Radwanska Agnieszka |
ny0170476 | [
"business"
] | 2007/02/20 | Truck Maker Acquired | TOKYO, Tuesday, Feb. 20 (Reuters) — The Swedish truck maker Volvo said on Tuesday it would take over the Nissan Diesel Motor Company for $1.1 billion. Volvo, which currently owns 19 percent of Nissan Diesel, said it would acquire the rest of the stock for 540 yen a share ($4.51), a premium of 22 percent over Monday’s closing price. Volvo said it would benefit from Nissan Diesel’s expertise in medium-heavy trucks and hybrid technology. Joint studies showed the firms would benefit from combined procurement and working together on engines, it said. | Volvo Car Corp;Nissan Diesel Motor Co;Trucks and Trucking |
ny0096568 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2015/01/14 | Residents Get a Chance to Put Their Own Stamp on a Bronx Park | Troy Faux, 36, wanted brighter lights and longer benches around the basketball courts. Jose Rodriguez dreamed of new and improved sprinklers to entertain his 2-year-old daughter on hot summer days. And Jahiem Mewborn-Dozier, 9, longed for a roof over the basketball courts, as well as cellphone charging stations and barbecues. They were among dozens of residents who turned out to help brainstorm ideas for the renovation of Lyons Square Playground in the South Bronx. Lyons Square is one of 35 small, neglected parks and playgrounds across the city that will be sharing $130 million for improvements as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio ’s plan to address inequities in the park system. The meeting, held on Monday night in a community center a few blocks from the park, was itself part of the city’s parks equity platform. The sessions are being offered in each of the communities where the parks are being refurbished. “We are looking at equity as empowerment,” said Jennifer Gardner, a senior project planner for the parks department. “That’s one of the reasons we’re here — to gather your ideas.” At 1.3 acres, Lyons Square Playground has a little more space than the other chosen parks. (Some of the 35 parks are less than a half acre.) But there are still constraints: noise from the nearby Bruckner Expressway, steeply sloping sides and an unusual shape. The plan calls for everything now there — the cracked basketball courts, dated play equipment and clogged sprinklers — to be ripped out. “We’re going to start from scratch,” said Alison Shipley, a partner with Quennell Rothschild & Partners , the landscape architects overseeing the redesign. For local residents, the meeting, technically called a scoping session, was a rare invitation into the urban planning process, a chance to put their visions of recreation and community on paper. For some, it was a long overdue opportunity to fix what they saw as a historic slight. “We’re the forgotten borough,” said Mabel Gonzalez, a parent coordinator at nearby Public School 75, an elementary school. “I would like to see trees, flowers, fellowship, safety, humanity.” Ms. Gonzalez, 53, pointed out that Lyons Square, like many small parks in the boroughs outside Manhattan, was devoid of greenery. “We like grass,” she said. “Puerto Ricans and Latinos like trees and grass, too.” In opening remarks, Mitchell J. Silver, the parks commissioner, addressed the issue of equity head on. Lyons Square Playground, he said, was one of 215 parks in low-income neighborhoods that had less than $250,000 in capital improvements over 20 years. Image Alison Shipley, right foreground, of Quennell Rothschild & Partners, and residents discussed designs for the refurbished Lyons Square Playground in the South Bronx on Monday. Credit Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times In choosing the parks for Mr. de Blasio’s effort, department staff members narrowed the list, based on site visits and metrics like population density and growth. “You will have the chance to create a legacy for this park for the next 20 years,” he told the groups who were arrayed around satellite photos and maps of Lyons Square. For all the lofty goals, however, much of the night was devoted to the nuts and bolts of open spaces and play areas. What makes them appealing to users of all ages and interests? How can you engineer a park so that dog walkers and aspiring basketball stars, senior citizens and toddlers want to spend time there? Jose and Katya Rodriguez were there for their three children, ages 2, 5 and 17. Mr. Rodriguez, who works in construction, said that he would like to see multiuse courts that can segue from soccer, for his 5-year-old son, Josue, to basketball, for his 17-year-old son, Jorm. For the whole family, he pressed for bathrooms, something the parks department said will be added for the first time to the park, which is slated to receive $4.5 million of the $130 million dedicated to the Community Parks Initiative. By the end of the session, Josue was sound asleep with his head on the table. Some of the tables had conflicting wish lists, and Ms. Gardner, the parks official, acknowledged those divergent visions after the tables’ moderators presented the ideas. “We are hearing some potential conflicts and harmonies,” she said at the meeting, adding that the “concept plan” would have to balance various needs. Basketball, a passion of many teenagers and young men who live near the park, emerged as a flash point. One group, for instance, lobbied for fewer basketball courts — there are now two regulation-size courts and three half courts — and more areas for passive recreation like chess tables, a performance area, lawns and seating. A nearby table was all about basketball, wanting to maximize the space for daytime and nighttime play. Some residents bemoaned the fact that the sport often seemed like the only activity offered to young people in disadvantaged neighborhoods. “What people want isn’t necessarily what’s good for them,” said Antony Montero, a graduate student at Lehman College in the Bronx and a crisis worker in a public elementary school. “I used to play basketball there, and I’ve seen a lot of injuries and a lot of fights.” Mr. Montero envisioned a park free of basketball courts and instead filled with grass, flowers, tables for socializing and perhaps a track for a different athletic activity. Not everyone was ready to abandon basketball. Josh Rodriguez, himself an avid basketball player at the playground, thought the parks department should shrink the footprint of the basketball area in order to add a skate park. “There are a bunch of kids who skate by the Hunts Point subway station,” he said. “They almost run people over.” | Parks;Playground;South Bronx;NYC Parks and Recreation;NYC;Restoration and Renovation;Bronx;Mitchell J Silver;Bill de Blasio |
ny0223196 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2010/11/19 | Bloomberg Plans to Cut 10,000 City Jobs by 2012 | Acknowledging the bleak financial future the city faces, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced plans on Thursday to eliminate the jobs of thousands of teachers and other city workers in the next two years. The plans, part of a required quarterly budget modification, would lower the city’s 2012 fiscal-year deficit to $2.4 billion from $3.3 billion by cutting $600 million from the current budget and $1 billion from the next one. The deficit would also be shaved through increases in some revenue. But the plan’s centerpiece projects the elimination of 2,100 jobs through attrition or layoffs before June 30, the end of the 2011 fiscal year, and 8,200 more in the following fiscal year. No police officers would lose their jobs. The city employs roughly 300,000 people in total. Most city agencies would be permitted to hire only one employee for every two who leave, officials said. Although the plan was created to cut spending, city financing will be increased for the Department of Education, to replace $853 million in expiring federal stimulus money. Still, the largest projected layoff numbers for 2012 involved the city’s teachers; Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith said that several thousand teachers could lose their jobs if the city did not receive sufficient funding from the state government. However, the president of the teachers’ union, Michael Mulgrew, issued a statement that included a note of optimism. “This is serious news,” he said. “But last year we had a similar problem and by working together we solved it without layoffs.” Some of the most severe cuts in the immediate future will occur at the Administration for Children’s Services , where 188 employees are scheduled to lose their jobs by then. Layoffs before the end of the 2011 fiscal year are also expected at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, public libraries in Brooklyn and Queens, the Department of Finance and other agencies. A decrease in financing to the Department of Cultural Affairs will result in an estimated 193 layoffs at museums and other institutions that receive money from the agency. The plan also includes provisions that could affect city residents’ pocketbooks. Prices at parking meters and city parking lots are scheduled to rise, for instance, and 9,000 potholes could go unfilled because of one-week furloughs planned for more than 600 Department of Transportation workers. During a briefing at City Hall, Mr. Goldsmith said the goal was “to continue to try to shrink the city’s costs to fit the revenues and make room for the almost $8 billion in pension payments that we have to make.” He added, “The really difficult thing is, this is just preparation for a much, much more difficult situation in 2012.” Shortly after the mayor’s announcement, the City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, said that the Council would begin hearings next month to discuss the plan’s specifics. She said that council members were concerned about some provisions, including those to cut the staff at the Administration of Children’s Services and to reduce the number of firefighters on duty in the city at night. “We are going to have a voice in what happens,” she said. “And where we disagree and we’re going to fight to prevent cuts, we will come forward with alternative cuts, because we recognize we cannot just keep spending at the same rate.” Lillian Roberts, the executive director of District Council 37 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — the city’s largest municipal employees’ union — said in a statement that she had not yet fully analyzed the budget modifications, but suggested that Mr. Bloomberg “focus on enhancing the city’s revenue before slashing services, laying off workers and placing the burden of balancing the budget on public employees and millions of New Yorkers.” | Layoffs and Job Reductions;Teachers and School Employees;Budgets and Budgeting;Government Employees;City Council (NYC);Bloomberg Michael R;New York City |
ny0249818 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2011/02/02 | Pakistan: Boy, 17, Is Accused of Writing Blasphemous Remark | The police have arrested a 17-year-old boy accused of writing a blasphemous remark in an examination paper, an officer said Tuesday. Pakistan ’s blasphemy laws have come under scrutiny since the killing last month of a prominent politician who had campaigned to change them. They allow for the death penalty for anyone found guilty of insulting Islam. The school authorities lodged a complaint against the boy, identified as Sami Ullah, in January after reading a paper he wrote for an exam in Karachi, said the officer, Qudrat Shah Lodhi. Officer Lodhi said he could not repeat what Sami, who is a Muslim, had written because he would be committing blasphemy. He said the boy told the police that he had written the remark out of frustration when he was not able to answer the exam question. The boy was arrested Saturday. | Pakistan;Islam;Blasphemy |
ny0030408 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2013/06/10 | North and South Korea to Discuss Restoring Economic and Other Ties | SEOUL, South Korea — North and South Korea agreed Monday to hold high-level government talks later this week to discuss reversing not only the recent suspension of their joint operation of an industrial complex in a Northern border town, but also other economic and humanitarian projects that faltered years ago amid tensions built by North Korean nuclear tests, international sanctions and threats of war. The agreement was struck between delegates from the two Koreas after 17 hours of negotiations at the “truce village” of Panmunjom straddling the inter-Korean border, where the 1953 armistice ending the three-year Korean War was signed. The high-level dialogue, which the two sides agreed to hold in Seoul on Wednesday and Thursday, will be the first senior government talks on the divided Korean Peninsula in six years. The agreement was a clear sign that North and South Korea were easing tensions and moving toward a thaw after years of recriminations that hit a peak earlier this year, after the North’s third nuclear test prompted broad international sanctions. The North responded with a frenzy of threats against the South and its ally, the United States. Last week, North Korea made a surprise overture proposing government-to-government dialogue with the South. South Korea quickly accepted, offering to hold cabinet minister-level talks in Seoul on Wednesday. Their delegates met at Panmunjom on Sunday in a meeting that stretched into early Monday as they haggled over the agenda. They eventually agreed that the talks should include the possibility of reopening the industrial park at Kaesong, and restarting cross-border tours and Red Cross programs that arrange reunions of families separated by the Korean War. All three projects, introduced during a period of inter-Korean rapprochement between 1998 and 2008, were suspended as relations deteriorated in the past few years. Image North and South Korea held 17 hours of talks at Panmunjom. Credit The New York Times Cross-border tours were canceled in 2008 after North Korean soldiers shot and killed a South Korean tourist and the North then rejected South Korean demands for a joint investigation and measures to prevent similar episodes. The two Koreas held their last reunion of separated families in 2010. The joint industrial zone in Kaesong, a North Korean border town, had been the last symbol of cooperation until the North suddenly pulled out its 53,000 workers, blaming military tensions, and left South Korean factory owners at a loss to meet orders. In the coming high-level talks, the most contentious question will be the conditions imposed on any of the suspended projects before they can be reopened. President Park Geun-hye of South Korea has repeatedly said her government is determined to end a “vicious cycle” in which the South appeases the North after its provocations. And her aides have said that the South would not revive the projects “as if nothing had happened” and that the North must take steps to ensure that it would not sacrifice economic projects for political ends. They have also said that South Korean efforts to engage the North would be limited until the stalemate is broken over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Before starting the talks on Sunday, Chun Hae-sung, the chief South Korean delegate, reiterated that the North and South could move toward greater economic cooperation and political reconciliation when they “start building trust on small things first.” But during the border talks, North Korea called for more expansive exchanges with the South, causing a prolonged haggling over the agenda of the talks in Seoul. In the end, they agreed not to nail down the agenda. The South announced that the Seoul meeting would discuss only the reopening of the three economic and humanitarian projects. But in its own announcement, North Korea said that the agenda would also include discussions on increasing civilian exchanges and other cooperative projects between the two Koreas. It also wanted to discuss a possible joint celebration of the anniversary of the 2000 inter-Korean summit meeting agreement that called for large South Korean investments in the North. That deal has been suspended since 2008, when conservatives came to power in Seoul and insisted that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons first if it wanted South Korean largess to continue. | South Korea;North Korea;International relations |
ny0144941 | [
"nyregion",
"new-jersey"
] | 2008/10/30 | Bad Year to Face a Democratic Incumbent | TENAFLY, N.J. In an effort to drum up interest in his largely off-the-radar United States Senate race against the Democratic incumbent, Frank R. Lautenberg , Richard Zimmer, the Republican former congressman, embarked last month on a tour of New Jersey diners to see if patrons had seen or heard from Mr. Lautenberg. Had he come to the Tenafly Classic Diner on Wednesday — paper Halloween pumpkins hanging merrily from lamps, a picture of Gov. Jon S. Corzine with the two owners taped next to the register from the time he campaigned there — Mr. Zimmer would have received some good news and bad news. The good news is that, in keeping with his charge that the incumbent is distant and out of touch, none of the patrons had heard much from Senator Lautenberg. Many didn’t even know he was running again. The bad news was that out of a dozen or so diners interviewed — a doctor, a lawyer, a real estate developer, two bookkeepers and various others — not a single one could identify Mr. Zimmer as the challenger. (The doctor, who declined to give his name, couldn’t identify either candidate.) Lazaro Robles, the lawyer, scored above the curve. “I know there’s an old guy, Lautenberg, and there’s a younger one running against him,” he said. “To tell you the truth, I haven’t really been following it.” There are plenty of reasons the Senate race in New Jersey has not set souls afire. Like everything else, it’s been obliterated by the presidential race. With New Jersey all but certain to go for Barack Obama, it’s an awfully difficult year in which to mount a credible race against a well-known Democratic incumbent, especially with imperiled Republican senators sucking up all available campaign cash. If the challenger needs another boat anchor to lug around, remember, no Republican has won a statewide election in New Jersey since Christie Whitman was re-elected governor in 1997. And in a year that’s allegedly all about change, this one pits an 84-year-old incumbent running for a fifth term against a 64-year-old challenger who was first elected to Congress in 1990, lost a Senate race to Robert G. Torricelli in 1996, and then, running against Rush D. Holt Jr., lost his bid in 2000 to regain a seat in the House. If it were a movie, it would be “The Replacements.” Mr. Lautenberg came out of retirement to replace the embattled Mr. Torricelli in 2002. Mr. Zimmer was a substitute in the Republican primary when the former Goya Foods executive Andrew Unanue dropped out after three weeks amid questions about whether he was a New Jersey resident. If it were a political parlor game, you could map out the various degrees of separation in which Mr. Torricelli defeated Mr. Zimmer, then Mr. Lautenberg replaced Mr. Torricelli, and now Mr. Zimmer gets a second shot at the same seat against a different Democrat. Nor has Mr. Zimmer done much to inoculate himself against anti-Republican vapors. For starters, he hailed John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate as “brilliant,” a sentiment that probably plays better in Texas than in New Jersey. Still, there is something unseemly about a United States Senate race at a — take your pick: momentous? unnerving? terrifying? — moment in American history getting all the attention of an Assembly race in Ho-Ho-Kus. The races for three contested House seats, in the Seventh, Fifth and Third Congressional Districts, have received a good deal more. One of the diner’s owners, Dimitri Kontolios, asks, not unreasonably: Where are the media? “There’s not enough coverage,” he said. “I watch the news, and I don’t see anything about it.” The New York Times recently lamented in an editorial the “nearly invisible” contest — only to be taken to task in a column on the Web site Politicker NJ for making such a case while the newspaper published no news articles about the race between Mr. Lautenberg and Mr. Zimmer. The column contrasted that with the 11 articles by the reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer covering the contest. In some ways, coverage of New Jersey races is a perennial problem: The races often get second-tier coverage from news outlets based in New York and Philadelphia. It is now more of a worry than ever because The Star-Ledger, the state’s leading newspaper, has announced that it will lose more than 40 percent of its newsroom staff, and The Times has reduced its coverage of New Jersey. Indeed, the first of two low-profile end-of-election debates Wednesday, this one on radio station WKXW-FM, was a reminder of how poorly the state’s voters have been served. It featured a confident, aggressive Mr. Zimmer and a halting, stumbling Mr. Lautenberg, who was on the defensive for nearly the entire hour. Mr. Zimmer began the debate by complaining that Mr. Lautenberg had rebuffed his efforts to have more prominent debates, and more of them. Still, some say that no matter what the coverage, this was destined to be a rough race for the Republicans. “All the planets have been aligned in favor of Lautenberg,” said Ross K. Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers. “It’s a national Democratic year. He has name recognition that Zimmer doesn’t, and he has the dollar advantages of incumbency. Maybe a more unorthodox candidate may have given him more of a run. In this case, I think even the most enterprising newspaper with the biggest bankroll behind it would find it very difficult to find any embers to coax into a flame.” | New Jersey;Elections;Politics and Government;Senate;Democratic Party;Lautenberg Frank R;Zimmer Richard A |
ny0223041 | [
"business",
"media"
] | 2010/11/17 | Brian P. Tierney, Former Newspaper Publisher, Returning to P.R. | BRIAN P. Tierney is leaving the world of media to return to his roots in marketing communications. Mr. Tierney’s four years in charge of a group that owned two newspapers ended in April when lenders won an auction to take control of a bankrupt company that owned The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News. Mr. Tierney, who became a publisher after a career in public relations and advertising, is headed back in that direction as he starts a company named the Brian Communications Group. Brian Communications, based in the Philadelphia suburb of King of Prussia, will be a holding company, initially composed of a public relations agency, Brian Public Relations, and a company, Realtime Media, specializing in digital marketing services for brands that include CNN, L’Oréal, Toys “R” Us and Unilever. Mr. Tierney is starting Brian Public Relations from scratch. He is buying Realtime Media from its current owners with the help of a venture firm, NewSpring Capital; the purchase price is not being disclosed. “I spent time this summer deciding what I wanted to do next,” Mr. Tierney, who is 53, said in a phone interview, and chose to “go back into marketing because it’s something I really love.” He also wanted, he said, to “do something entrepreneurial again” rather than join forces with a large advertising holding company. The agencies that Mr. Tierney previously founded include Tierney Communications and the T2 Group. Why do the new holding company and the new public relations agency bear Mr. Tierney’s given name rather than his surname? The Interpublic Group of Companies owns the rights to Tierney through its ownership of Tierney Communications, an agency in Philadelphia it acquired as part of a takeover of True North Communications in 2001. “There are millions and millions of reasons why I can’t” use the surname, Mr. Tierney said, laughing. Despite that, he added, “I think most people will know where Brian Tierney will be found.” (There are precedents for using only given names for agencies, among them Jerry Inc., founded by Jerry Della Femina after he left Della Femina, McNamee in a dispute with its French parent and the settlement between them stipulated he could not use his surname for subsequent agencies.) Joining Mr. Tierney at Brian Public Relations and Realtime Media will be three executives who worked with him at the Philadelphia newspapers and their Web site , philly.com . They are Ryan Davis, 33, president of philly.com, who becomes president at Realtime Media; Ed Mahlman, 63, chief marketing officer for the newspapers and the Web site, who becomes executive vice president at Realtime Media; and Matt Broscious, 35, vice president for public relations at Tierney Communications, who becomes senior vice president at Brian Public Relations. “I love working with Brian; look at his track record,” said Mr. Davis, who joined Mr. Tierney for the phone interview. “He’s a winner.” When it was suggested that bankruptcy was not typically part of a winning record, Mr. Tierney replied that “it was a bad time” for media companies, particularly those that, like his, had paid large sums to buy newspapers before the recession. Although it became clear “two years ago that was what was going to happen,” Mr. Tierney said, referring to the bankruptcy filing, at the bankruptcy auction “the guys who won it bid 15 times this year’s earnings.” (The lenders, who included Credit Suisse, paid close to $140 million; the group led by Mr. Tierney paid more than $560 million in 2006.) NewSpring Capital, based in Radnor, Pa., was an investor in Realtime Media, which had been owned by private investors. As those investors sell their stakes to Brian Communications, NewSpring will, separately, buy a stake in Brian Communications. “We were very intrigued by Brian and what he plans next,” said Marc R. Lederman, a partner at NewSpring Capital, particularly his interest in pursuing “a digital strategy” by making Realtime Media the first acquisition. Realtime Media was founded in 1993 and has worked on online promotions, contests, sweepstakes, games and other campaigns with agencies like Digitas, Empower MediaMarketing, Ketchum, JWT, Marc USA and Porter Novelli. About a quarter of the company’s revenue comes from agencies, Mr. Tierney estimated. The digital aspects of Realtime Media, and its efforts to help advertisers build relationships with consumers, places the company “kind of at the corner of Main and Main,” Mr. Tierney said, “and we see more opportunities” in areas like social and mobile media. For example, Mr. Tierney described a coming “scavenger hunt” promotion that Realtime Media is developing for Toys “R” Us, which consumers can play by e-mail or text messages . The employees and executives of Realtime Media will stay on after the company becomes part of Brian Communications, he added, with the exception of William J. Reilly, chief executive. Mr. Reilly is retiring, Mr. Tierney said, and will serve as a consultant. Mr. Tierney will become chief executive at Realtime Media and also take that post at Brian Public Relations and Brian Communications. Brian Communications is “open” to additional acquisitions, Mr. Tierney said, which could be made easier by the participation of NewSpring as an investor. | Tierney Brian P;Public Relations and Publicity;Advertising and Marketing;Brian Public Relations;Realtime Media Inc |
ny0255774 | [
"us"
] | 2011/09/14 | Percentage of Americans Living in Poverty Rises to Highest Level Since 1993 | WASHINGTON — Another 2.6 million people slipped into poverty in the United States last year, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday, and the number of Americans living below the official poverty line, 46.2 million people, was the highest number in the 52 years the bureau has been publishing figures on it. And in new signs of distress among the middle class, median household incomes fell last year to levels last seen in 1996. Economists pointed to a telling statistic: It was the first time since the Great Depression that median household income, adjusted for inflation, had not risen over such a long period, said Lawrence Katz, an economics professor at Harvard. “This is truly a lost decade,” Mr. Katz said. “We think of America as a place where every generation is doing better, but we’re looking at a period when the median family is in worse shape than it was in the late 1990s.” The bureau’s findings were worse than many economists expected, and brought into sharp relief the toll the past decade — including the painful declines of the financial crisis and recession —had taken on Americans at the middle and lower parts of the income ladder. It is also fresh evidence that the disappointing economic recovery has done nothing for the country’s poorest citizens. The report said the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line last year, 15.1 percent, was the highest level since 1993. (The poverty line in 2010 for a family of four was $22,314.) The report comes as President Obama gears up to try to pass a jobs bill, and analysts said the bleak numbers could help him make his case for urgency. But they could also be used against him by Republican opponents seeking to highlight economic shortcomings on his watch. “This is one more piece of bad news on the economy,” said Ron Haskins, a director of the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution . “This will be another cross to bear by the administration.” The past decade was also marked by a growing gap between the very top and very bottom of the income ladder. Median household income for the bottom tenth of the income spectrum fell by 12 percent from a peak in 1999, while the top 90th percentile dropped by just 1.5 percent. Overall, median household income adjusted for inflation declined by 2.3 percent in 2010 from the previous year, to $49,445. That was 7 percent less than the peak of $53,252 in 1999. Part of the income decline over time is because of the smaller size of the American family. This year is not likely to be any better, economists said. Stimulus money has largely ended, and state and local governments have made deep cuts to staff and to budgets for social programs, both likely to move economically fragile families closer to poverty. Minorities were hit hardest. Blacks experienced the highest poverty rate, at 27 percent, up from 25 percent in 2009, and Hispanics rose to 26 percent from 25 percent. For whites, 9.9 percent lived in poverty, up from 9.4 percent in 2009. Asians were unchanged at 12.1 percent. An analysis by the Brookings Institution estimated that at the current rate, the recession will have added nearly 10 million people to the ranks of the poor by the middle of the decade. Joblessness was the main culprit pushing more Americans into poverty, economists said. Last year, about 48 million people ages 18 to 64 did not work even one week out of the year, up from 45 million in 2009, said Trudi Renwick, a Census official. “Once you’ve been out of work for a long time, it’s a very difficult road to get back,” Mr. Katz said. Median income fell across all working-age categories, but was sharpest drop was among the young working Americans, ages 15 to 24, who experienced a decline of 9 percent. According to the Census figures, the median annual income for a male full-time, year-round worker in 2010 — $47,715 — was virtually unchanged, in 2010 dollars, from its level in 1973, when it was $49,065, said Sheldon Danziger, professor of public policy at the University of Michigan . Those who do not have college degrees were particularly hard hit, he said. “The median, full-time male worker has made no progress on average,” Mr. Danziger said. The recession has continued pushing 25-to-34-year-olds to move in with family and friends to save money. Of that group, nearly half were living below the poverty line, when their parents’ incomes were excluded. The poverty level for a single person under the age of 65 was $11,344. “We’re risking a new underclass,” said Timothy Smeeding, director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin , Madison . “Young, less-educated adults, mainly men, can’t support their children and form stable families because they are jobless,” he added. But even the period of economic growth that came before the recession did little for the middle and bottom wage earners. Arloc Sherman, a senior researcher at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said that the period from 2001 to 2007 was the first recovery on record where the level of poverty was deeper, and median income of working-age people was lower, at the end than at the beginning. “Even before the recession hit, a lot of people were falling behind,” he said. “This may be adding to people’s sense of urgency about the economy.” The suburban poverty rate, at 11.8 percent, appears to be the highest since 1967, Mr. Sherman added. Last year more Americans fell into deep poverty, defined as less than half the official poverty line, or about $11,000, with the ranks of that group increasing to 20.5 million, or about 6.7 percent of the population. Poverty has also swallowed more children, with about 16.4 million in its ranks last year, the highest numbers since 1962, according to William Frey, senior demographer at Brookings. That means 22 percent of children are in poverty, the highest percentage since 1993. The census figures do not count noncash assistance, like food stamps and the earned-income tax credit , and economists say that as a result they tend to overstate poverty numbers for certain groups, like children. But rises in the cost of housing, medical care and energy are not taken into account, either. The report also said the number of uninsured Americans increased by 900,000 to 49.9 million. Those covered by employer-based insurance continued to decline in 2010, to about 55 percent, while those with government-provided coverage continued to increase, up slightly to 31 percent. Employer-based coverage was down from 65 percent in 2000, the report said. | Census;Poverty;US Economy;Census Bureau;Recession and Depression |
ny0296453 | [
"us",
"politics"
] | 2016/12/23 | Trump Says U.S. Would ‘Outmatch’ Rivals in a New Nuclear Arms Race | WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President-elect Donald J. Trump on Friday intensified his threat to “expand” America’s nuclear arsenal, saying he was willing to restart a nuclear arms race even as he released a letter from President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia that pointed toward the possibility of a “pragmatic” set of understandings between Washington and Moscow. Echoing the conciliatory approach toward Mr. Putin that he exhibited throughout the campaign, Mr. Trump praised the Russian leader for sending a private holiday greeting that called for the two men to act in a “constructive and pragmatic manner.” In a statement as he made Mr. Putin’s letter public, Mr. Trump said the Russian leader’s “thoughts are so correct.” But earlier in the day, the president-elect also made clear that he meant what he said in a Twitter post on Thursday when he bluntly threatened to expand America’s nuclear arsenal after more than three decades in which the number of American and Russian weapons has shrunk. Sweeping aside efforts by his aides to temper his comments, or to suggest that he was merely talking about curbing the spread of nuclear technology, especially to terrorists, Mr. Trump told a talk-show host, Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC: “Let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all.” Through a combination of militaristic bravado and diplomatic outreach four weeks before moving into the Oval Office, Mr. Trump appeared eager to employ his self-described skills as a successful business negotiator, threatening new nuclear deployments as potential leverage against Mr. Putin and other nuclear powers. Mr. Trump could choose to continue, or even expand, President Obama’s vigorous nuclear modernization plan, already underway, and decide over the next few years whether it is worth spending close to one trillion dollars to replace America’s aging fleets of bombers, submarines and long-range ballistic missiles. Russia and China are in the midst of their own major nuclear modernization efforts. While previous presidents have spent as long as a year conducting nuclear posture reviews, Mr. Trump once again demonstrated that he has little patience with such traditional niceties and is not holding back his conduct of foreign policy before taking office next month. Trump’s Nuclear Weapons Tweet, Translated and Explained Mr. Trump, in a Twitter post on Thursday, appeared to announce his new nuclear strategy. Here is what he might have meant. “I think it’s putting every nation on notice that the United States is going to reassert its position in the globe,” Sean Spicer, who will be Mr. Trump’s spokesman in the White House, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program on Friday. Mr. Trump appears to be open to a new relationship with Russia even as he makes threats about what could happen if Mr. Putin crossed him. In response to Mr. Putin’s letter, Mr. Trump said that a failure by either side to “live up to these thoughts” would require the United States to “travel an alternate path.” That apparently includes Mr. Trump’s belief that his administration would win the upper hand in a renewed, expensive competition over the size and effectiveness of the countries’ nuclear arsenals. It is unclear what prompted Mr. Trump’s focus on nuclear issues two days before Christmas; senior aides refused repeated requests for an explanation about the roots of his statements. It is also hard to know how much of Mr. Trump’s claim that he could outspend and outpace any adversary amounts to strategy, and how much is simply a negotiating stand. Activists who have been fighting for years to reduce nuclear stockpiles reacted with alarm at the prospect that the president-elect might engage in a new nuclear competition with Russia. “The statements made by President-elect Trump undermine decades of work the United States and its allies have been involved in to reduce nuclear weapons stockpiles and to prevent the additional proliferation of nuclear weapons,” said Byron L. Dorgan, a former senator from North Dakota and a board member at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. “A nuclear arms race puts everyone on this planet in greater danger.” Mr. Trump’s warning on nuclear weapons came after Mr. Putin vowed to continue modernizing his nation’s nuclear weapons and asserted Russia’s military superiority over the United States. “Of course the U.S. has more missiles, submarines and aircraft carriers, but what we say is that we are stronger than any aggressor, and this is the case,” Mr. Putin said at an end-of-year news conference in Moscow on Friday. Which Countries Have Nuclear Weapons and How Big Their Arsenals Are Nine countries are thought to possess nuclear weapons. Mr. Putin said Russia was not seeking a new nuclear arms race with the United States that his country could ill afford, and he reacted dismissively to Mr. Trump’s Twitter post about strengthening and expanding the American arsenal, noting that it was similar to what the president-elect had promised on the campaign trail. “So there is nothing unusual here,” Mr. Putin said. As far back as 1987, Mr. Trump talked about his desire to negotiate nuclear arms control agreements with a declining but aggressive Soviet Union. In recent weeks, he has met with some of the most savvy survivors of the Cold War — notably Henry Kissinger, the former secretary of state, and Robert M. Gates, the former defense secretary — at a moment when American relations with Russia are clearly at a turning point. Republicans who have spoken to Mr. Trump say he seems to realize that his opening gestures to Moscow will be closely observed at home, in Europe and among other allies. Republicans have split with him on Russia’s meddling in the American election, promising congressional inquiries after intelligence agencies concluded that Russia had used a combination of hacking and information warfare techniques to help elect Mr. Trump as president. At the heart of the question about Mr. Trump’s nuclear plans is what he meant by the phrase “greatly strengthen and expand America’s nuclear capability.” Had he used the word “modernize,” he would have been echoing the phrase used by the Obama administration. But the idea, Mr. Obama has said, is to shrink the arsenal, not increase it. The modernization effort began in earnest after the passage of the New Start treaty in 2010, an arms control treaty that Mr. Obama pushed through with Dmitri A. Medvedev, then the Russian president. But in the name of improving safety and reliability, some experts — and prominent arms strategists — argued that Mr. Obama was setting the stage for a new president to expand the arsenal. Mr. Obama acknowledged that danger in the spring, warning of the potential for “ramping up new and more deadly and more effective systems that end up leading to a whole new escalation of the arms race.” It was a startling admission for a president who had come to office more than seven years earlier talking about eventually ridding the world of nuclear weapons. China, for its part, has been modernizing a fleet of several hundred nuclear missiles and embarked on an aggressive space-weapons program to blind United States satellites in a conflict. But Mr. Obama’s Pentagon is also leaving a number of projects that Mr. Trump could embrace, including an ultra-high-speed warhead that can travel up to 17,000 miles per hour. The Chinese are working on a similar weapon that is designed to avoid American missile defenses, prompting a warning to a congressional commission last year that an arms race was in its opening moments, long before Mr. Trump was elected. | Nuclear weapon;Donald Trump;US Politics;Vladimir Putin;US Military;US Foreign Policy;Russia |
ny0198014 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2009/07/20 | American Marine Is Killed in Western Iraq | BAGHDAD — An American Marine was killed in western Iraq on Sunday, the United States military said. The military provided few details about the death, saying only in a statement that it was a “combat-related incident as a result of enemy action” in Anbar Province. Anbar Province was for years considered the seat of the insurgency and among Iraq’s most violent areas. But after former insurgents, lured by steady paychecks and disenchanted with Sunni extremist groups, joined the government-allied Awakening Councils there two years ago, the province became significantly more peaceful. In recent months however, violence has increased in Falluja, one of Anbar’s main cities and once a center of insurgent activity. The American military did not identify the Marine or disclose where in Anbar he had died. Also Sunday, two Katyusha rockets hit Camp Echo, a United States base in Diwaniya Province in southern Iraq, according to Iraqi security officials. The United States military did not immediately confirm the attack late Sunday evening, and it was not clear whether there were any injuries. The rocket attack comes three days after Katyusha rockets killed three American soldiers at another military base in southern Iraq. Last week, two men arrested by Iraqi security forces said they had been among a group of people recently trained in Iran to fire Katyusha rockets and to plant homemade bombs. The men, who possessed several rockets and a rocket launcher, also had a list of targets and maps, according to an Iraqi security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the case. In the northern city of Mosul, two Iraqi policemen were shot dead by snipers on Sunday, and in Baghdad, an Iraqi Army soldier was also killed by a sniper, according to the Iraqi police. In Abu Ghraib, a western suburb of Baghdad, a roadside bomb struck an Iraqi Army patrol, killing one soldier and wounding three others. Two Iraqi policemen were also wounded in the attack, which occurred near a security checkpoint. In Madaen, about 20 miles southeast of Baghdad, Mahmoud Abdullah, an Awakening Council leader, was killed and at least one of his bodyguards was wounded after a bomb attached to his vehicle was detonated, security officials said. | Iraq War (2003- );United States Defense and Military Forces |
ny0066861 | [
"sports",
"golf"
] | 2014/06/22 | With Lucy Li Done, Attention Shifts to Another Young Star at U.S. Women’s Open | PINEHURST, N.C. — With the spotlight fixed on 11-year-old Lucy Li during the first two rounds of the United States Women’s Open, Andrea Lee, 15, was largely ignored as she made the 36-hole cut in her first appearance at the event. After Li missed the cut Friday, Lee became the youngest player remaining in the field. “My goal this week was to make the cut,” said Lee, a high school junior from Hermosa Beach, Calif. “I’m so happy and blessed that I can play all four rounds at the U.S. Women’s Open.” Lee is at 16-over-par 226 after rounds of 79, 70 and 77 on the challenging Pinehurst No. 2 course. In danger of missing the cut Friday, she birdied three of her final five holes to squeak into the weekend field. “I didn’t play that well on my front nine holes, but when I made the cut after making those birdies, it was pretty crazy,” she said. Ashley Knoll, a professional from Texas who was paired with Lee for three rounds, said she was impressed by Lee’s composure under pressure. “Andrea kept her emotions level the whole time, and you never knew what she was shooting, which is what you need on this kind of golf course,” Knoll said. “She’s solid and very mature for her age.” Lee’s credentials are quickly growing. She was a member of the United States team at the 2013 Ping Junior Solheim Cup and was a 2013 Rolex junior all-American. She is also the American Junior Golf Association’s top-ranked female player. In 2012, Lee, then 12, advanced to the Round of 32 at the United States Women’s Amateur. She defeated Alison Lee, a high school junior, by 1-up in the first round before losing to the eventual runner-up, Jaye Marie Green, in the second. Now a professional, Green missed the cut in this week’s Open; Alison Lee is a sophomore all-American at U.C.L.A. Andrea Lee considered the golf programs at U.C.L.A. and Southern California but verbally committed to play at Stanford, the alma mater of the player she most admires, Michelle Wie. Lee played a practice round with Wie and said she got her autograph. “I have always looked up to Michelle since I was little, and when I got to play a practice round, I was nervous around her and only talked to her a little bit,” said Lee, who abruptly stopped an interview as she noticed Wie walking in her direction. Giggling, Lee said, “Oh, my gosh, there she is.” Wie, the tournament leader after the second round, walked past Lee into the clubhouse several yards away as she prepared to start her third round. Her youthful adoration of Wie aside, Lee rarely appears to lose her composure on the course. “I have nothing to lose here this week,” she said. “I’ve definitely learned a lot, and I’ll take away a whole bunch of experience.” She added, “I don’t feel any pressure.” When asked if she felt overlooked when much of the attention was on Li, Lee shook her head. “Lucy’s really good,” she said. “Some of her shots were just mind-blowing, and she’s a great player for her age.” Knoll said the same of Lee, adding, “For her to come out here and make the cut in the Women’s Open like she did on Friday, I’d say she’s going to have a good and long career in golf.” | US Women's Open Golf;Golf;Andrea Lee;Lucy Li;Michelle Wie |
ny0109025 | [
"sports"
] | 2012/05/17 | Pacquiao Faces Criticism Over Stance | The boxing champion Manny Pacquiao and his associates on Wednesday tried to quell an uproar incited by an article on a Web site that addressed his opposition to same-sex marriage . In the article, on Examiner.com , Pacquiao said he opposed President Obama’s support of same-sex marriage. The article included a biblical verse from Leviticus: “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” As other publications picked up the story, the verse was attributed as something Pacquiao, who is also a congressman in the Philippines, believed. He said Wednesday in a telephone interview that he had not quoted from, nor had ever read, Leviticus. “I don’t agree with, and I’m against, gay marriage,” Pacquiao said. “But that’s all. I’m not saying I condemn gay people, or gay marriage. I have relatives who are gay. I have friends who are gay. “All I did was answer a question.” The author of the original article, Granville Ampong, did not respond to messages seeking comment. On Examiner.com, he is identified under his byline as Conservative Examiner. He wrote a follow-up article Wednesday in which he clarified that Pacquiao had not quoted the verse from Leviticus. The criticism of Pacquiao, though, was intense and swift. The Grove shopping mall in Los Angeles, perhaps acting on earlier reports, canceled an event that Pacquiao was scheduled to attend Wednesday and said it was “not a place for intolerance.” (Pacquiao’s publicist said the Grove rescinded its ban late Wednesday.) Pacquiao, who has won titles in several weight classes, has endorsement contracts with several companies — Hewlett-Packard and Hennessy, among others. They conveyed concern over his comments to Top Rank Boxing, which promotes Pacquiao. Lucia McKelvey, Top Rank’s executive vice president for business development and marketing, flew to New York late Wednesday in part to meet with Hennessy representatives about Pacquiao’s comments. McKelvey said Hennessy was “extremely upset” Tuesday because negative comments — which might have been prompted by inaccurate information — flooded the company’s Facebook page. Representatives for Hewlett-Packard and Hennessy did not respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday. McKelvey said she did not expect Pacquiao to lose any endorsements “at this time,” although she added that the controversy could hurt two “major deals” currently in negotiation. “His sponsors know what Manny stands for,” she said. “He’s not a gay hater, by any means. He simply doesn’t believe gays should be married.” Still, in regard to his stance on gay marriage, she added: “In my dream world, mum would be the word. Even though I believe he is entitled to his beliefs.” Pacquiao has long described himself as being religious. He regularly prayed before sparring sessions and thanked God after victories. After his last fight, against Juan Manuel Marquez in November, Pacquiao received 28 stitches in his locker room. While they were sown, he and his wife, Jinkee, held hands and they recited some of the Ten Commandments. After rumors swirled in recent years about his various vices, Pacquiao said in February that he had turned back to God. He said he would sell his cockfighting operation and stop gambling. Pacquiao’s associates on Wednesday rebutted reports that Jinkee had served him with divorce papers before his third fight with Marquez. But Bob Arum, chairman of Top Rank, said, “I believe there was a discussion of divorce, yes.” Now, Arum said, Pacquiao holds Bible study every night and recites quotes from the Bible during training. “There are no more runs to Commerce Casino or the carousing like he was doing,” Arum said. “He looks so much healthier now than he did before Marquez. He’s sleeping more. He’s not out all night.” It was this revived interest in biblical study, Arum said, that led Pacquiao to express his views on same-sex marriage, which Arum said he does not share. Arum noted that Pacquiao is Catholic and conservative and from a country where most people hold similar beliefs. Pacquiao is also an elected official, Arum said, and thus should be allowed to take a stance on social issues, even an unpopular one. Last year, Pacquiao reportedly said he would oppose legislation that would make condoms and counselors for family planning more available in his jurisdiction. He was quoted as saying it was sinful to use condoms and have abortions. The current controversy, Arum said, reminded him of when he promoted Muhammad Ali, who often mixed politics and religion. Arum said Pacquiao asked Arum to take him to Israel later this year. Still, Pacquiao maintained Wednesday that same-sex marriage conflicted with the law and word of God. “It’s O.K.,” he said of the controversy that ensued. “I have the words of God in my mouth, and I have God in me. I feel the truth and no lies, so I’m happy.” | Pacquiao Manny;Same-Sex Marriage Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships;Philippines;Boxing |
ny0204993 | [
"business",
"worldbusiness"
] | 2009/01/28 | European Court Refuses to Delay Intel Inquiry | BRUSSELS — A top European Union court rejected on Tuesday a request by Intel , the chip maker, to delay an investigation into whether the company broke antitrust laws. Regulators at the European Commission have been investigating Intel’s business practices since the start of the decade, after a complaint by a rival, Advanced Micro Devices , also of the United States. The commission suspects Intel of abusing its dominant position in computer chips by giving large rebates to computer makers, by paying computer makers to delay or cancel product lines and by offering chips for powerful server computers at prices that are below actual cost. Intel, which denies wrongdoing, argued before the European Court of First Instance in October that the investigation was being mishandled. The company also said it needed more time to prepare its defense. On Tuesday, Marc Jaeger, the president of the court, dismissed that claim. The Court of First Instance is the European Union’s second-highest tribunal. Intel “was in no way prevented,” according to Mr. Jaeger, “from preparing and submitting, in good time, its reply” to the accusations brought against the company by regulators. Robert Manetta, a spokesman for Intel, said the company was disappointed at the outcome. “We are still very concerned about the lack of certain documents in the case file that would help us conduct an effective defense,” Mr. Manetta said. Jonathan Todd, a spokesman for the commission, said on Tuesday that Intel had still had not replied to European Union accusations after a deadline to do so expired on Oct. 17. | Intel Corp;Advanced Micro Devices Inc;Antitrust Actions and Laws;Computer Chips;Suits and Litigation;European Commission |
ny0087722 | [
"world",
"asia"
] | 2015/07/12 | Mass Evacuation in China as Typhoon Chan-Hom Hits Coast | HONG KONG — A typhoon swept along the coast of eastern China on Saturday, whipping up high waves, intense winds and rain that forced the crowded commercial region to suspend flights and evacuate hundreds of thousands of residents. Typhoon Chan-hom struck Zhejiang Province on Saturday afternoon after plowing past Japan’s Okinawa islands and Taiwan. The typhoon made landfall near Zhoushan, a city of 1.1 million in Zhejiang, with wind speeds of about 100 miles an hour. “So far, no casualties have been reported,” Xinhua, the main state news agency, reported after the typhoon struck. “A number of villages were flooded, and power and road access has been cut off.” Photos on a Zhoushan city news website showed a large billboard buckled by the winds, as well as flooded roads, uprooted trees and residents protecting buildings with sandbags. According to an initial estimate from the Zhejiang government, the typhoon damaged or destroyed 94 homes, the China News Service reported. Officials had warned residents on Friday to prepare for a super typhoon. Almost 29,000 boats were ordered to return to port, and a million people in Zhejiang Province were evacuated from vulnerable towns and villages, Xinhua reported, although the reports gave few details of where or how far people were sent. Airports in Hangzhou, and other cities canceled more than 600 flights. Hundreds of international flights from Shanghai were also delayed or canceled, the China News Service said. But by the time the typhoon landed, it appeared that China would be spared widespread devastation. | China;Zhejiang China;Typhoon |
ny0265764 | [
"nyregion"
] | 2016/03/27 | The Nuns of Harlem | “Sometimes, people who do not know our life feel that we are magic people,” said Sister Precilla Takuh. “We are just normal people, like any other person, but because we have that call, we responded to it and became who we are.” Sister Takuh is a nun in the Order of the Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary , based in a brick house in Harlem, one of only three predominantly black orders in the country. Once, there were more than 80 Handmaids. Now there are just 14, seven of whom are retired. The order almost closed in 2014, but decided instead to recruit more actively and now has seven new women going through the “formation” process. On Tuesday, the Handmaids will celebrate the order’s 100th anniversary . This winter, Teresa Mathew set out to photograph the rhythms of a Handmaid’s life.“One thing that really interested me about nuns,” said Ms. Mathew, 23, herself the niece of a nun in India, “is that we tend to see them as a relic and as something from a bygone age — and to see them in a subservient role, where women aren’t empowered. Just from knowing my aunt and knowing the work that the nuns do, I know that’s not true.” The Handmaids were founded in Georgia in 1916 , after a state law was proposed to bar whites from teaching black children. The sisters were intended to be an order of teachers. (The bill did not pass.) In 1924, the Handmaids moved to New York City, at the invitation of Cardinal Patrick Hayes, who wanted to open a day nursery for working families in Harlem. The Handmaids continue to run St. Benedict’s Day Nursery on West 124th Street, near the mother house. Two of the nuns operate a pantry on Staten Island. The order includes a doctor, who left her medical practice in Nigeria when she felt that God was calling her, and a widowed grandmother from the Bronx. Sister Takuh, who is in her early 40s, is from Cameroon. The Handmaids, Ms. Mathew said, radiate “a sense of levity, and a warmth.” She added: “I think that’s tied to the idea of helping others, and realizing that the best way to do that is to live out the love of the teachings they live by.” | Photography;Catholic Church;Nun;Harlem;Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary |
ny0290869 | [
"world",
"europe"
] | 2016/01/09 | 18 Asylum Seekers Are Tied to Attacks on Women in Germany | BERLIN — The German authorities on Friday tied asylum seekers for the first time to the wave of violent assaults on women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve as debate intensified over whether the country had made a mistake in opening its doors last year to more than a million migrants. The Interior Ministry said 18 of the 31 people identified so far as suspects in the violence in Cologne had applied for asylum in Germany . The disclosure further stoked fears about security and culture clashes between the newcomers, mostly from Muslim countries, and Germans who are confronting the costs of assimilating them. It also turned up the pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel , whose welcome last summer to refugees from Syria and other countries in turmoil helped encourage migrants, and whose political standing increasingly rests on how she handles the challenge of absorbing them. Sensing the souring of the public mood, Ms. Merkel shifted tone this week from her usual credo about integrating migrants — “We can do it” — to stiff condemnation, and even contemplation of expulsions or deportation for newly arrived offenders. The sterner note was embraced by an increasing number of German politicians and officials. The assaults, Ms. Merkel said on Thursday, were “repugnant” and would never simply be accepted by Germany. “Everything that happened here must be put on the table,” she said. The Interior Ministry identified the 31 suspects as nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, four Syrians, five Iranians, an Iraqi, a Serb, an American and two Germans. Most of the crimes they were accused of involved theft and violence, said a ministry spokesman, Tobias Plate, but at least three acts were considered sexual assaults. The Cologne police chief resigned under pressure on Friday after days in which the authorities struggled to explain why they had not been able to control the violence and why they had been slow to make public the scale and nature of the assaults. “It is all still incomprehensible,” said Ulrich Karpen, a professor of constitutional and administrative law at the University of Hamburg. “And the effect is that, in the general public, people no longer feel safe.” It was not clear exactly when the migrants who may have been involved arrived in Germany. But the disclosure added to worries over acculturating hundreds of thousands of people from conservative Muslim societies — many of them young men — who have little experience with open European mores, particularly regarding women. The challenge of assimilation, while most pronounced for Germany, which has accepted more migrants than any other European country, is not limited to it. Some European countries have begun experimenting with sex education classes to help men adjust to their new cultures. Reports of sexual assaults, including the case of a woman who narrowly escaped an attack on a Paris-area train by three Afghan refugees, were now proliferating in Germany and other European countries, though it was not clear whether that was because of an increase in attacks or the surge of attention being given to the events in Cologne. Right-wing politicians have been accused of using the episodes to play on fears of the migrants and to limit their arrivals; liberal-leaning news media and left-wing politicians have been accused of ignoring or playing down a real problem for fear of stigmatizing the new arrivals. The atmosphere of uncertainty in Germany has only grown, as it has taken the authorities more than a week to begin to unravel events in Cologne amid accusations that they tried to cover up the backgrounds of the perpetrators. About 100 investigators have been assigned to look into the case, and they are combing through roughly 350 hours of video footage and 250 other items of evidence, a police spokesman said. Image A member of a German-Tunisian association handed out flowers on Thursday in Cologne, scene of the New Year’s Eve attacks. Credit Maja Hitij/European Pressphoto Agency A report by a senior federal police official leaked to some German news media graphically depicted the chaos on Dec. 31 in Cologne, one of Germany’s most mixed cities, saying that police were unable to control the crowds, largely comprising men of Arab or North African appearance. “At times, it wasn’t even possible to record all of the complaints being lodged,” the report said, as quoted by the online edition of Der Spiegel. The police were “bombarded with fireworks and pelted with glass bottles.” According to Der Spiegel, the report quoted one man in the crowd telling police: “I’m a Syrian! You have to treat me kindly! Ms. Merkel invited me.” The unidentified official who wrote the report — it was confirmed as genuine by the Interior Ministry, which declined to comment on its detail — said crowds showed a level of disrespect that “I have never experienced in my 29 years of service.” The reports underscored the rising political risks for Ms. Merkel, who nevertheless still had a 58 percent approval rating in the latest polls. After a decade in office, she has effectively staked her career on integrating the newcomers and repeatedly refused to cap the influx of immigrants. But the reported assaults, even she conceded, pose “some very serious questions, which go beyond Cologne.” Among them, whether they were organized, or perpetrated by men with a pronounced contempt for women. “We must act against this with all decisiveness, because I do not think that these are just isolated cases,” she told reporters in Berlin on Thursday. Ms. Merkel reiterated that “we must continually re-examine whether we really have done everything, as far as expulsion orders and actual expulsions from Germany are concerned.” She has so far convinced voters and critics from her own conservative ranks that the “welcome culture,” as it is known here, should triumph over fears of assimilating the new arrivals fleeing war and repression or just seeking a better life. Mr. Karpen, a Cologne native who has long experience of law enforcement in the city-state of Hamburg, said he believed that “the welcome culture is still stronger than those who say, ‘These newcomers are not our people.”’ But, he added, strong signals are needed from Berlin that Ms. Merkel and other leaders are prepared to expel anyone who commits crimes. The government should not hide behind the complexity of German law in this area, he said. In the wake of the assaults, Ms. Merkel said it was time to ask, “When do you lose your right to stay with us?” Discussing migrants’ rights to stay in Germany, she added, “We should ask ourselves whether it might be necessary to take this away earlier” than current law allows. “I have to say that, for me, we must take it away sooner.” “We must do this for us, and for the many refugees who were not present during the events in Cologne,” the chancellor told officials of her party meeting in the southwestern city of Mainz. Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, the leader of the Social Democratic Party, which governs the country as part of a “grand coalition” with Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, joined calls for expelling migrants convicted of crimes. “Why should German taxpayers pay to have foreign criminals jailed?” Bild Zeitung quoted Mr. Gabriel as saying. “The threat of having to spend time behind bars in their home country is far more of a deterrent than a prison sentence in Germany.” But in another example of the complexities of serving justice on foreigners, Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said, in an interview on Friday, that Germany would not want to deport all convicted criminals to homelands where they might easily avoid detention and “cock their nose” at German justice. | Middle East and Africa Migrant Crisis,European Migrant Crisis;Rape;Cologne;Germany;Immigration;Refugees,Internally Displaced People;Police;Angela Merkel;Women and Girls |
ny0243601 | [
"world",
"middleeast"
] | 2011/03/23 | As Cairo Police Protest, Fire Engulfs Ministry Building | CAIRO — Flames engulfed the upper floors of a building in Egypt ’s Interior Ministry compound on Tuesday, after a protest by thousands of police officers demanding higher wages and the resignation of the newly installed interior minister. It was the second time in a month that a police protest at the ministry ended with the building ablaze. The seven-story building houses the ministry’s communications center and is topped by a towering radio antenna. Ambulances and fire engines raced to the scene under a thick plume of black smoke that hung over downtown Cairo. More than a thousand onlookers — most uniformed police officers — stared up at the flames as paramedics and firefighters pushed through the throngs. At least eight people were injured, security sources said, and 12 protesters were arrested on suspicion of arson. The police officers had spent the day demonstrating for higher wages, health care benefits and the return of Mahmoud Wagdy as interior minister. Mr. Wagdy had been replaced by Mansour el-Essawy after a cabinet shake-up on March 3 removed the last officials from the era of former President Hosni Mubarak. The police are little loved in Egypt; their reputation for violence and corruption helped fuel the popular uprising that forced Mr. Mubarak from power on Feb. 11. The country’s more widely respected military took the reins of state after his ouster. Police officers fled their posts even before that, leaving the military to struggle to rein in waves of labor protest and return law and order to the streets. On Tuesday, many gawkers attributed the fire to conspirators inside the ministry or to agents of the country’s feared state security service, which was officially dissolved March 15. “They lit it from inside, people from the ministry,” said a uniformed policeman smiling quietly on the sidewalk under the blaze. Like many police officers who have taken to street protests, he refused to provide his name. Others in the crowd were more animated. “State security did this! The ministry did this!” screamed an older woman selling packets of tissues emblazoned with the Egyptian flag. “Not a single protester went inside and lit that fire!” The previous fire was Feb. 23. When firefighters tried to respond, security sources said the protesters pelted them with a shower of stones. Only the army was allowed to extinguish the fire; the lower floors remained heavily scarred. | Egypt;Fires and Firefighters;Demonstrations Protests and Riots;Police |
ny0269997 | [
"sports",
"football"
] | 2016/04/09 | Jury Finds for Brandon Marshall | A jury in a civil trial found that a California woman failed to prove that she had been punched by Jets receiver Brandon Marshall outside a Manhattan nightclub four years ago. A federal jury in New York deliberated less than two hours about the March 2012 encounter. | Football;Brandon Marshall;Assault;Jets;Lawsuits |
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