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Credit...Martin Meissner/Associated PressFeb. 17, 2014Jrme Boateng, a disciplined central defender for the German powerhouse Bayern Munich, is bound for London this week and the first leg of a knockout home-and-away series against Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League.Bayern Munich is the defending champion in both the top club competition in the world and in Germanys Bundesliga. In June, Boateng is likely to be part of Germanys national team at the World Cup in Brazil, where for the second time he will play a first-round game against Ghana and his brother, Kevin-Prince (it has been said in Germany that the children of immigrants have two hearts beating in their chests). The two professional soccer players were born in Germany to a German mother and an African father. One chose to play for Germany, one for his fathers homeland. Germany will also face Portugal and the United States in the first round of the World Cup.Boateng, 25, spoke by telephone from Germany Friday night with Jack Bell of The Times, knowing he would be on the substitutes bench for Saturdays 4-0 win over Freiburg. It was Bayern Munichs 46th consecutive game in the Bundesliga without a loss and 11th league match this season without allowing a goal.Q: How much of a challenge is facing Arsenal in the Champions League?A: Obviously, I am very excited. I think its a big game, the hardest game we can get at this stage. We have to be focused. I have to say that I love the Champions League because it is a special atmosphere.The last result for them in the Premier League was not so good, but everyone knows when it comes to the Champions League they will play different. And we know that everyone wants to beat us. Arsenal is dangerous. We are playing away and we must prepare intensively.Q: What most worries you about Arsenal and its players?A: We must keep their strikers away from us. We cant let them play like they want to play, we cant give them time. We need to attack them because they are so good at passing the ball, very dangerous, and we need to keep it up for 90 minutes, concentrate and play our game.Q: You said you are concerned about their strikers, but who worries you the most?A: They have a few good players. [Mesut] zil is my best friend on their team, he can make the game on his own. We also have to worry about Jack Wilshere, also [Olivier] Giroud is very dangerous and [Santi] Cazorla is always dangerous and plays very quick.Q: Bundesliga teams recently returned to play after a long break in the winter. As you know from playing at Manchester City, the Premier League in England doesnt take a break. And especially for zil, who had a strong start to the season, it seems that he has been having a harder time lately. Do you think a winter break is important, especially looking ahead to the World Cup?A: It makes a big difference, especially when youre not used to it. zil has played all the games and it can be very hard. Maybe he didnt know that before going to Arsenal. He had a break in Spain with Real Madrid, but now he needs to get used it.For me, personally, I think it makes a huge difference. I had only one year in England and had not such a good time. Two times I was out eight weeks with injuries. And for me it is better to have a break. For two weeks you have your time to yourself, then start again. Yes, the teams in England play a lot of games, but they also have big squads, but when youre new to the league and playing in every game, sometimes you have tired games. You have some days that you feel it, some days that you dont. But I dont think on Wednesday zil or anyone else will be tired. O.K., you dont plan to be tired, but some games maybe lately he has not been as fresh like he is normally.Q: Last season Bayern Munich won three titles: the Bundesliga, the German Cup and the Champions League. Is it possible to surpass that?A: It was an amazing thing. We hadnt really so much time to realize what was happening last year. Sometimes you wake up in the morning and then you think about it, but maybe not so often now. We are the team on top and everyone wants to beat us.ImageCredit...Karim Jaafar/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesQ: How much of a shock, if it was a shock, was it for you when you realized you would have a new manager, Pep Guardiola, this season after last seasons success?A: I dont know. It really hasnt been difficult with the new manager. Hes made it really easy. We see every day his passion for the game, that he wants to make us better. We changed a lot of things, tactical stuff. He makes it interesting every day in training and we can learn every day new things from him. You can see we change in the way we play we have more of the ball and win the ball back quickly. Everyone has a good feeling.On defense, we challenge higher and there is more trust in the guy next to you keeping the line.Q: Against Arsenal, youll be playing without Franck Ribry. How much of a handicap will that be?A: Hes one player, but yes, hes very important for us now. We know we must play without him but we have enough class. Hes one of the most important players in our team, but we must be able to handle this. Theres no excuse.Q: How much of an adjustment has it been for you with a new coach?A: We were all excited to meet and work with him after his success with Barcelona, especially with the way they play. Everyone was excited. Hes so passionate and wants to do it better every day and every game. We learn every day from him.He has a mind that training is going to change and how we prepare before the game. Of course every manager has a different mentality, different philosophy. Everyone is happy with his style, training is good and interesting. We do a lot with the ball, in our game its important to have the ball a lot. To me, this is a great moment for the club.Q: For the second straight World Cup, Germany is in a first-round group with Ghana, which means you will again be playing against your brother, Kevin-Prince. What was it like for you to walk onto the field in South Africa in 2010 and to see your brother playing for the other team?A: That first time in 2010 I was very nervous before the game. It is not a normal game when you play against your brother. Im younger and Im always nervous before games and it was a really big game for us and for me. I just tried to concentrate on the game.Q: Did he say anything to you before the game?A: He said good luck, but we were in our own world. I dont think he meant it.Q: Like your brother, you had a choice of playing for Germany or Ghana, your fathers homeland. He chose Ghana, you Germany. Why?A: For me, it was from Day 1 Germany. It is where I grew up, played for the youth teams. I do feel my African side, but Ive always wanted to play for Germany. Ghana did contact me, but I told them and my dad that I was sure I wanted to play for Germany.Q: Brazil will be your second World Cup and the second time you play Ghana in the tournament. Are you looking forward to it?A: Now I think I have more experience, I have played in two big tournaments: the World Cup in 2010 and Euro in 2012. Im very excited to play in Brazil. Its one of the homes of football and to play again against Ghana. My brother and I did wish that it comes again, that we have another chance to play against each other.Q: And of course one of the other teams in your group is the United States. Have you thought much about that yet?ImageCredit...Gerry Penny/European Pressphoto AgencyA: I have friends on the U.S. team. I have played with Fabian Johnson on the youth team and spent time with him on my winter holidays. I also know Jermaine Jones. I like them as friends. I like to play against the U.S., they are coming better every year and Im excited for this game. I think the U.S. has grown up now.I think they play more together now, more as a team. Maybe in the past they had come together and just played. Now Im not sure what they did, but I do think that Jurgen [Klinsmann] has done a great job and is motivating them. Thats what I see, and of course they are playing better together.Q: Like you and your brother with Ghana and Germany, there are a group of players in Germany with American roots who have decided to play for the U.S. What do you think of their decisions?A: Its their choice. I played with Fabian when we won the under-21 championship in Sweden. At the end it is his choice. I cant speak for the other players, but if hes comfortable with the U.S. that is up to him. Maybe part of it is that he had not a good chance with Germany.Q: So is it a matter of opportunity?A: Its a mix. Every player must know for himself, you cant look in their heads. Some maybe have more feelings for the country where they were born or where theyre more comfortable, like me. It only made sense to play for Germany. Fabian didnt speak with me about his decision, but when he decided for the U.S. I wished him good luck.Q: Leading up to the World Cup, Germany is always seen as a contender. Is it hard for you and the other players to deal with those expectations?A: No, its not hard because I see we have a great team with potential and young players, I think the fans and people in Germany expect only the title. We all know its not going to be easy. There are great teams in Brazil, Argentina, also Spain. But we go to win the title, and I think the pressure is good for us. Of course we want to show we can take the title. If you are afraid or not confident you cant play good. If you cant stand the pressure you cramp on the pitch and cant play freely. We know we can go far so lets show the world what we can do.Q: On a personal note, it seems that so many European players come to the U.S. on vacation. Have you?A: Yes, Ive been to L.A. and Miami. One week ago my sister moved to New York for six months. After the World Cup I will go to visit her. Shes taking singing and dancing classes, she wants to have a different experience in New York where show business is so big. Shes only 22.Q: After the World Cup, the entire club is also coming to the U.S. to play against the M.L.S. all-stars and perhaps in other games. Its been a long, long time since Bayern came to the States.A: Im very happy that finally we go with Bayern to America. I love to be in America.I asked why it took so long for us to tour America and was told there is so much traveling that it makes us tired. But look at other teams. When we go to Asia sometimes the travel is too much. Now its O.K. Its important for our fans to get to see the club, also for the club to become more popular in America.Q: Do you have a favorite city, or cities, in the U. S.?A: Right now L.A. and Miami. Ive never before been to New York, but everyone has said its the best.Q: Off the field, what are some of your interests?A: I watch a lot of movies, especially ones from the U.S. because you have much bigger films and actors than in Germany. I love to watch the N.B.A., but sometimes it is hard because the games are on TV late at night here and I cant stay up all night. The Miami Heat is my favorite team because of Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. I havent met them, though Id like to.This Q.& A. has been edited and condensed.

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Courts have blocked other states from putting in place their work rules for recipients.Credit...Al Drago/BloombergDec. 12, 2019WASHINGTON Although the courts have so far blocked President Trumps attempts to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients, his administration announced on Thursday that it would allow a 10th state, South Carolina, to condition Medicaid eligibility for many poor adults on proving that they work or engage in other activities, like volunteering.It is the first time the Trump administration has approved such rules in a state whose working-age Medicaid population consists almost entirely of poor mothers. Unlike most of the other states that have won approval for work requirements, South Carolina chose not to expand Medicaid to most of its low-income adult population, as the Affordable Care Act had encouraged.The approval was issued in a week when tensions between Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, and Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary, became so public and bitter that the pair was summoned to the White House to meet with Vice President Pence and warned to reconcile. Ms. Verma traveled to Greenville, S.C., on Thursday to announce the decision with Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican. In a statement, she predicted that the work requirements will lift South Carolinians out of poverty by encouraging as many as possible to participate in the booming Trump economy.Governor McMaster echoed that sentiment: In this economy, he said in a statement, there is no excuse for the able-bodied not to be working.Under the new South Carolina system, the state will change its Medicaid eligibility rules to allow roughly 32,000 parents with slightly higher incomes up to the federal poverty level, which is $24,540 for a family of three to qualify for coverage, along with roughly 80,000 parents who already do. But first they will have to prove that they meet the 80-hour a month work requirement. As in other states, exemptions will be granted to certain people, including those who can prove that they are the primary caregiver of a child or disabled adult and those identified as medically frail.Youre going to have to raise your hand and report and prove you are the primary caregiver, said Joan Alker, the executive director of the Georgetown Center for Children and Families. So this is creating a mountain of paperwork that we know will result in huge coverage losses.Ms. Alker added that her organizations research found the population subject to the new requirements is disproportionately black.A coalition of groups opposed to work requirements criticized South Carolina on Thursday for becoming the first state in the nation to exclusively impose the harmful policy of work requirements on low-income parents with children.The coalition, which includes the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Childrens Defense Fund, the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families and the March of Dimes, said in a statement that the requirement adds red tape burdens that will fall squarely on parents shoulders.Children rely on healthy parents and caregivers to help them meet their health and developmental needs, the statement went on, and this waiver will make it harder for parents to be there for their children.A federal judge struck down work requirements in three of the nine other states that introduced them Arkansas, Kentucky and New Hampshire. Only Arkansas had already put them into effect. All three states have appealed, although Kentuckys new Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, who was sworn in this week, has said he will rescind the work rules.Many of the six other states Arizona, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Utah and Wisconsin have voluntarily put their work requirements on hold; Indiana and Michigan have also been sued over them. The Arkansas work rule led to more than 18,000 people there losing coverage before Judge James E. Boasberg of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, blocked it in March. Even many who did work had not kept up with or even learned about the reporting requirements. There, as in Kentucky and New Hampshire, Judge Boasberg ruled that federal health officials had failed to adequately consider the impact of the rules on people with Medicaid coverage.The rules require able-bodied adults to report to the state every month that they have worked, searched or trained for a job, taken classes or volunteered in order to keep receiving Medicaid health coverage, which is largely free. Ms. Verma has said such activities can improve peoples health and help them rise out of poverty and government dependence.The South Carolina plan will also expand Medicaid to an estimated 14,000 adults who are chronically homeless, in need of substance abuse treatment or in the criminal justice system. But they, too, must meet the work requirement or qualify for an exemption. With the modest coverage expansions, the state and the Trump administration may be trying to insulate themselves from an eventual adverse court ruling; Judge Boasberg pointed to the coverage losses in Arkansas, and anticipated coverage losses in Kentucky, as reasons for blocking those states work rules. Eight additional states have requested but not yet received approval to impose Medicaid work requirements. They are Alabama, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee and Virginia. Virginia, however, put its request on hold after Democrats took full control of the state legislature last month. [Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]

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AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySports Briefing | BaseballBy The Associated PressFeb. 11, 2014Roy Oswalt, who has had a series of injuries in recent years, is retiring after 13 seasons, his agent, Bob Garber, said. Oswalt, 36, had a 163-102 career record with a 3.36 earned run average but went 0-6 with an 8.63 E.R.A. for Colorado last year. AdvertisementContinue reading the main story

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Business BriefingDec. 22, 2015United States consumer spending rose in November by 0.3 percent, according to data inadvertently released late Tuesday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, about 12 hours ahead of schedule. Personal consumption expenditures rose to $12.43 trillion in November, according to data published on the bureaus website, up from a revised $12.39 trillion in October. The agency said it would take steps to ensure that this does not happen again and will take all appropriate action to safeguard economic data.

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The United States has stockpiled millions of doses of two smallpox vaccines, also effective against monkeypox. But the outbreaks so far are clustered in other countries.Credit...Andrea Maennel/Robert Koch Institute, via Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMay 23, 2022As more than a dozen countries grapple with outbreaks of monkeypox, health officials worldwide are rushing to assess reserves of vaccines and treatments that may be needed to contain the spread.The U.S. emergency stockpile holds two vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration that could be used to contain monkeypox, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters on Monday.The stockpile contains more than 100 million doses of the original smallpox vaccine. But that vaccine is associated with side effects and shouldnt be given to certain patients, including those who are immuno-compromised.A newer vaccine, called Jynneos, was approved in 2019 for prevention of both smallpox and monkeypox. More than 1,000 doses are held in the stockpile, Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, a deputy director at the C.D.C., said.We expect that level to ramp up very quickly in the coming weeks, as the company provides more doses to us, she said. Doses have already been requested from the stockpile for inoculation of some high-risk contacts, she added.Still, the dimensions of the problem in the United States are not yet clear. As of Monday, officials had confirmed just one case, in Massachusetts, and were evaluating four other patients.The situation overseas is more concerning. As of Monday, there were more than 100 confirmed cases in 14 countries outside Africa, and dozens more under investigation. That day, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control urged health officials in Europe to assess the availability of smallpox vaccines, antivirals and personal protective equipment.The World Health Organization is holding stockpiles of about 31 million smallpox vaccine doses, but they may have lost some potency in the decades since they were made.The largest monkeypox clusters have been reported in Europe, particularly in Spain, prompting some experts to hypothesize that the outbreaks originated in that country. Spanish officials are investigating two potential sources: a Gay Pride event held in the Canary Islands beginning on May 5 that drew about 80,000 revelers, as well as a sauna in Madrid.Although many of the initial infections in Europe were reported among men who have sex with men, other segments of the population are clearly vulnerable. Officials must keep a broad definition, so as not to leave out other groups which may emerge as being important, said Dr. Boghuma Titanji, an infectious diseases physician at Emory University in Atlanta.Britain reported its first cases of monkeypox in patients with no known links to West Africa just over a week after the event in the Canary Islands. But some experts said the pattern of infections suggested that the virus might have been circulating outside Africa for several months.The monkeypox virus is endemic to West and Central Africa, and continuing community transmission elsewhere is highly unusual. We do not usually see this level of apparently sustained spread in outbreaks occurring outside of endemic regions and not associated to travel or animal exposure, Dr. Titanji said.President Biden warned on Sunday that everybody should be concerned, but added the next day that the United States had enough doses of vaccine to protect Americans. In any event, mass immunization campaigns are unlikely in any country, including the United States, several experts said. And the outbreaks are unlikely to warrant such a campaign.Instead, officials may recommend immunizing a circle of close contacts around those found to be infected an approach called ring vaccination that has been used to suppress other outbreaks of rare diseases.ImageCredit...Kim Kulish/Corbis via Getty ImagesMass immunization campaigns are not recommended because the older smallpox vaccine can have rare but severe side effects, such as inflammation of the heart muscle. That vaccine also may be risky for immuno-suppressed people, including those with undetected H.I.V. infection. It can be fatal even in people with eczema, which affects an estimated 30 percent of Americans.After the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States considered immunizing the entire population to protect against a terrorist attack using smallpox. In the end, it was decided no, because of the negative consequences of vaccinating lots of people, said Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.Vaccine side effects are rare, he added. But once you start giving it to millions of people, then they will start to add up.Newer generation vaccines like Jynneos are likely to be safer for large groups, and ring vaccination may be enough to contain the virus. Hopefully, presumably, monkeypox is still relatively rare right now, and a ring vaccination strategy may well be able to keep it completely at bay, Dr. Hanage said.In addition to vaccines for prevention, the United States has procured more than two million doses of an antiviral pill called tecovirimat, which is approved to treat smallpox in those who become infected, according to the C.D.C. The agency is also working with the drugs manufacturer to develop an intravenous form.Human monkeypox was first identified in 1970 in a 9-year-old boy in a region of the Democratic Republic of Congo where smallpox had been eliminated. Monkeypox cases in the country have significantly increased in the decades since smallpox mass vaccination ended.In 2003, the United States recorded dozens of monkeypox cases that were traced to infected pets. Although the virus was first discovered in 1958 in monkeys kept for research purposes, it is spread by rodents.A week to two weeks after exposure, infected people may begin to experience fever, sore throat, cough, fatigue and body aches. They also develop a distinct rash, first on the face, then on the palms of the hand and soles of the feet, and then all over the body. The lesions blister, grow and fill with a white puslike substance.The pustules, reminiscent of smallpoxs most distinguishing feature, last for about a week before they scab over and heal. Monkeypox patients may also have swollen lymph nodes in the neck, the armpit and the groin.In some cases, the rash may not be visible because it may be limited to the genital area. The virus can still spread through physical contact or contaminated bed linens, clothes or other materials.Infected people should remain isolated at home and abstain from sexual activity until their scabs dry and fall off. These are basic strategies that we use in responding to outbreaks all around the world, and they work, Dr. McQuiston, the C.D.C. official, said.Infected people should also avoid close contact with immuno-suppressed people, pregnant women and children, all of whom are at high risk of complications if they acquire the virus. Health officials in Belgium are now asking close contacts of infected people to quarantine.Its another reason why if youre a person who may be at risk due to a weakened immune system to be particularly careful about seeking out early care and evaluation, Dr. John Brooks, a medical epidemiologist at the C.D.C., said.On Monday, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control also cautioned infected people against close contact with pets and not just because of the animals health.If human-to-animal transmission occurs, and the virus spreads in an animal population, there is a risk that the disease could become endemic in Europe, the agency warned.Some experts have feared for years that there might be a resurgence of monkeypox.The last known cases of smallpox occurred in 1977, and it was declared eradicated in 1980. With the end of immunization programs for smallpox, the number of people who are susceptible to this family of viruses has risen each year.Scientists in Portugal sequenced the monkeypox virus in skin lesion samples collected from a male patient on May 4, but that sequence is incomplete. So far, the current strain appears to be closely related to versions exported from Nigeria to Britain, Israel and Singapore in 2018 and 2019, researchers have concluded.The United States sequenced a sample from the first confirmed case, in Massachusetts, within 48 hours and has shared the sequence publicly. The samples from Massachusetts and Portugal seem closely related, Dr. McQuiston said.All signs point to this being an outbreak associated with person-to-person spread, she added.The West African version of the virus is thought to cause milder symptoms. It does not spread easily among people and has a fatality rate of about 4 percent, compared with a mortality rate of about 11 percent with the Central African version and 30 percent for smallpox. No deaths have been reported in the current outbreaks.There is no indication that the virus has changed significantly in virulence or mode of transmission. Unlike the rapidly mutating RNA-based coronavirus, monkeypox is a large DNA virus that is capable of correcting its genetic errors.These are particularly stable viruses, so monkeypox is less prone to mutations, said Dr. Raina MacIntyre, an epidemiologist at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and a member of the W.H.O.s working group on monkeypox.Id be very surprised and very puzzled if there was some dramatic mutation that makes it much more transmissible, she said.And this is not the coronavirus. There really isnt at this point any mass population risk, she added. The virus, as far as we know, is still not very contagious.

Health

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/sports/basketball/pacers-edge-hawks.htmlSports Briefing | Pro BasketballFeb. 4, 2014David West scored 22 points and the N.B.A.-leading Indiana Pacers beat the host Atlanta Hawks, 89-85. The Pacers snapped a 12-game regular-season losing streak in Atlanta while improving the leagues best record to 38-10. Bulls center Joakim Noah was fined $15,000 by the N.B.A. for yelling at officials after he was ejected Monday from Chicagos 99-70 loss at Sacramento.

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Credit...Jason Henry for The New York TimesMarch 13, 2017Amid an opioid epidemic, the rise of deadly synthetic drugs and the widening legalization of marijuana, a curious bright spot has emerged in the youth drug culture: American teenagers are growing less likely to try or regularly use drugs, including alcohol.With minor fits and starts, the trend has been building for a decade, with no clear understanding as to why. Some experts theorize that falling cigarette-smoking rates are cutting into a key gateway to drugs, or that antidrug education campaigns, long a largely failed enterprise, have finally taken hold.But researchers are starting to ponder an intriguing question: Are teenagers using drugs less in part because they are constantly stimulated and entertained by their computers and phones?The possibility is worth exploring, they say, because use of smartphones and tablets has exploded over the same period that drug use has declined. This correlation does not mean that one phenomenon is causing the other, but scientists say interactive media appears to play to similar impulses as drug experimentation, including sensation-seeking and the desire for independence.Or it might be that gadgets simply absorb a lot of time that could be used for other pursuits, including partying.Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, says she plans to begin research on the topic in the next few months, and will convene a group of scholars in April to discuss it. The possibility that smartphones were contributing to a decline in drug use by teenagers, Dr. Volkow said, was the first question she asked when she saw the agencys most recent survey results. The survey, Monitoring the Future, an annual government-funded report measuring drug use by teenagers, found that past-year use of illicit drugs other than marijuana was at the lowest level in the 40-year history of the project for eighth, 10th and 12th graders.Use of marijuana is down over the past decade for eighth and 10th graders even as social acceptability is up, the study found. Though marijuana use has risen among 12th graders, the use of cocaine, hallucinogens, ecstasy and crack are all down, too, while LSD use has remained steady.Even as heroin use has become an epidemic among adults in some communities, it has fallen among high schoolers over the past decade, the study found.Those findings are consistent with other studies showing steady declines over the past decade in drug use by teenagers after years of ebbs and flows. Dr. Volkow said this period was also notable because declining use patterns were cutting across groups boys and girls, public and private school, not driven by one particular demographic, she said.Something is going on, Dr. Volkow added.With experts in the field exploring reasons for what they describe as a clear trend, the novel notion that ever-growing phone use may be more than coincidental is gaining some traction.Dr. Volkow described interactive media as an alternative reinforcer to drugs, adding that teens can get literally high when playing these games.Dr. Silvia Martins, a substance abuse expert at Columbia University who has already been exploring how to study the relationship of internet and drug use among teenagers, called the theory highly plausible.Playing video games, using social media, that fulfills the necessity of sensation seeking, their need to seek novel activity, Dr. Martins said, but added of the theory: It still needs to be proved.Indeed, there are competing theories and some confounding data. While drug use has fallen among youths ages 12 to 17, it hasnt declined among college students, said Dr. Sion Kim Harris, co-director of the Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research at Boston Childrens Hospital.ImageCredit...Kayana Szymczak for The New York TimesDr. Harris said she had not considered technologys role and would not rule it out given the appeal of the devices, but said she was hopeful drug use by teenagers had decreased because public-education and prevention campaigns were working. Dr. Joseph Lee, a psychiatrist in Minneapolis who treats teenage addicts at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, said he suspected that drug use and experimentation had changed because the opioid epidemic had exposed many more people and communities to the deadly risks of drugs, creating a broader deterrent.Explanations aside, researchers unanimously expressed hope that the trends would persist. They noted it was crucial to continue efforts to understand the reasons for the decline, as well as to discourage drug use.Though smartphones seem ubiquitous in daily life, they are actually so new that researchers are just beginning to understand what the devices may do to the brain. Researchers say phones and social media not only serve a primitive need for connection but can also create powerful feedback loops.People are carrying around a portable dopamine pump, and kids have basically been carrying it around for the last 10 years, said David Greenfield, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and founder of The Center for Internet and Technology Addiction.Alexandra Elliott, 17, a senior at George Washington High School in San Francisco, said using her phone for social media really feels good in a way consistent with a chemical release. A heavy phone user who smokes marijuana occasionally, Alexandra said she didnt think the two were mutually exclusive.However, she said, the phone provides a valuable tool for people at parties who dont want to do drugs because you can sit around and look like youre doing something, even if youre not doing something, like just surfing the web.Ive done that before, she explained, with a group sitting around a circle passing a bong or a joint. And Ill sit away from the circle texting someone.Melanie Clarke, an 18-year-old taking a gap year and working in a Starbucks in Cape Cod, Mass., said she had virtually no interest in drugs, despite having been around her. Personally, I think it is a substitution, Ms. Clarke said of her phone, which she said she was rarely without. Ms. Clarke also said she thought the habits depended on the person. When Im home alone, my first instinct is to go for the phone. Some kids will break out the bowls, referring to a marijuana-smoking device.There is very little hard, definitive evidence on the subject, said James Anthony, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Michigan State University and an expert on drug-use behavior. Still, he said, he has begun wondering about the role of technology on youth drug use: Youd have to be an idiot not to think about it.To see declines in drug use, Mr. Anthony said, it would not take much in the way of displacement of adolescent time and experience in the direction of nondrug reinforcers that have become increasingly available.The statistics about drug and technology use depict a decade of changing habits.In 2015, 4.2 percent of teenagers ages 12 to 17 reported smoking a cigarette in the last month, down from 10.8 percent in 2005, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Its survey also found that past-month alcohol use among 12- to 17-year-olds had fallen to 9.6 percent from 16.5 percent, while rising slightly for young adults ages 18 to 25.The survey found smaller but still statistically significant decreases in cocaine use by youths ages 12 to 17. Marijuana use was flat over the same decade: In 2015, 7 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds said they had smoked the drug, roughly the same number in 2005. But that was down from 8.2 percent in 2002 and it contrasted with the trend for the population as a whole such use was up to 8.3 percent in 2015, compared with 6 percent a decade ago.At the same time, gadgets are consuming a growing portion of young peoples time. A 2015 survey published by Common Sense Media, a childrens advocacy and media ratings group in San Francisco, found that American teenagers ages 13 to 18 averaged six and a half hours of screen media time per day on social media and other activities like video games.A 2015 report from the Pew Research Center found that 24 percent of teenagers ages 13 to 17 reported being online almost constantly, and that 73 percent had a smartphone or access to one. In 2004, a similar Pew study found that 45 percent of teenagers had a cellphone. (The first iPhone, which fueled smartphone adoption, was introduced in 2007.)Smartphones and computers are a growing source of concern, said Eric Elliott, Alexandras father, who is a psychologist at her school. Mr. Elliott, who has counseled young people for 19 years, said he had seen a decrease in drug and alcohol use among students in recent years. He said he was more likely to have a challenge with a student who has a video game addiction than I am a student who is addicted to drugs; I cant say that for the beginning of my career.In the case of his own daughter, he worried more about the device than the drugs.I see her at this point and time as not being a person who is controlled in any way by smoking pot, he said. But her phone is something she sleeps with.

Health

Credit...Mark Makela for The New York TimesNov. 1, 2016WASHINGTON A decade after electronic cigarettes were introduced in the United States, use has flattened, sales have slowed and, this fall, NJoy, once one of the countrys biggest e-cigarette manufacturers, filed for bankruptcy.It is quite a reversal for an invention once billed as the biggest chance to end smoking as we know it and take aim at the countrys largest cause of preventable death. Use of the devices is slumping because they are not as good as cigarettes at giving a hit of nicotine. Dealing another strike against them, the countrys top public health authorities have sent an unwavering message: Vaping is dangerous.The warning is meant to stop people who have never smoked particularly children from starting to vape. But a growing number of scientists and policy makers say the relentless portrayal of e-cigarettes as a public health menace, however well intentioned, is a profound disservice to the 40 million American smokers who could benefit from the devices. Smoking kills more than 480,000 Americans a year.We may well have missed, or are missing, the greatest opportunity in a century, said David B. Abrams, senior scientist at the Truth Initiative, an antismoking group. The unintended consequence is more lives are going to be lost.American public health experts, led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have long been suspicious of e-cigarettes. The possible risks of vaping are vast, officials warn, including the potential to open a dangerous new door to addiction for youth. Scientists will not know the full effect for years, so for now, they caution, be wary.But mounting evidence suggests vaping is far less dangerous than smoking, a fact that is rarely pointed out to the American public. Britain, a country with about the same share of smokers, has come to the opposite conclusion from the United States. This year, a prestigious doctors organization told the public that e-cigarettes were 95 percent less harmful than cigarettes. British health officials are encouraging smokers to switch.The American approach is the same as asking, What are the relative risks of jumping out a fourth story window versus taking the stairs? said David Sweanor, a lawyer with the Center for Health Law, Policy and Ethics at the University of Ottawa. These guys are saying: Look, these stairs, people could slip, they could get mugged. We just dont know yet.E-cigarettes are much less harmful because they do not have the deadly tar found in regular cigarettes. They instead provide the nicotine fix smokers crave through a liquid that is heated into vapor and inhaled. There is no long-term data yet, but evidence does not show the vapor to be particularly harmful in the short term.That e-cigarettes are less harmful is a message American smokers rarely hear, partly because American regulation prevents it. Companies are banned from making such claims unless they go through a long process to prove it, and so far, no e-cigarette maker has done so. More states are also passing laws that lump e-cigarettes in with traditional cigarettes, levying taxes on them and banning their use as part of local smoke-free rules.When they are regulated just like tobacco, people draw the conclusion that they are just as dangerous, said Daniel I. Wikler, an ethicist at the Harvard School of Public Health. You didnt say it, but you didnt have to. People make that assumption and you dont try to disabuse them of it.Last week, Georgia State University published a report finding that the percentage of Americans who thought e-cigarettes were as bad as cigarettes or worse than them had tripled, to 40 percent in 2015 from 13 percent in 2012.ImageCredit...Mark Makela for The New York TimesIf smokers have tried everything else, and use an e-cigarette to quit completely, thats a good thing, said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the director of the C.D.C. He has heard anecdotes about that happening, he added.But the plural of anecdote is not data, he said. And counterbalancing that good trend, there are at least three negative things that might be happening, like people who have never smoked using them, children picking them up as a path to smoking, or smokers using them to perpetuate their habit.But smoking has been declining. The 2015 adult smoking rate dropped by more than 10 percent from the previous year, the biggest decline since the government began tracking the measure in 1965, said Kenneth E. Warner, a professor of public health at the University of Michigan, citing the governments National Health Interview Survey. Past dips have always been linked to some event, he said, like a tax. But there was no single event to explain this one, and some suspect e-cigarettes may have played a role.Terry F. Pechacek, a professor of public health at Georgia State University, estimated that in 2015, more than four million Americans reported that e-cigarettes had helped them quit smoking over the past five years, up from about 2.4 million in 2014.Youth cigarette smoking has gone down, too by about half since 2007, around the time e-cigarettes started to be sold in the United States. In fact, youth smoking had its biggest-ever drop in 2015, Professor Warner said, citing Monitoring the Future, a federally funded survey. The rate is now 7 percent, a historical low. (Dr. Frieden noted that hookah use had been rising, as had the share of young people using e-cigarettes.)Science is filling in the blanks, said Dr. Thomas Glynn, a consulting professor at Stanford University and the former director of cancer science and trends at the American Cancer Society. Weve been wringing our hands for years, saying we dont have enough research, but were getting to the point where we cant say that anymore, he said.ImageCredit...Mark Makela for The New York TimesBritish policy makers say that they were also skeptical of the devices at first, but that they have become more convinced of their benefit as data has accumulated. Rates of successful quitting are up. The smoking rate is down. Surveys by Action on Smoking and Health, a British antismoking group, have found that half of Britains 2.8 million e-cigarette users no longer smoke real cigarettes. Among people who are trying to quit smoking, e-cigarette users are 60 percent more likely to succeed than those who use over-the-counter nicotine therapies like gum and patches, a British study found.Americans tend to value abstinence above all else, an all-or-nothing approach that British advocates see as rooted in the United States Puritan culture, said Deborah Arnott, the chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health.Its a bit fundamentalist in the U.S., Ms. Arnott said, adding that the intense focus on children missed the potential utility of e-cigarettes for current smokers, often some of the poorest and least educated members of society. What about the smokers? What about the people who are dying now as a result of this habit?Dr. Glynn said the American approach was well meaning, and had in the past achieved spectacular success. But it comes with a deep suspicion of the tobacco industry that goes back decades, he added.We know theres a big, bad tobacco industry, and thats the enemy, he said. But e-cigarettes do not fit that narrative. We are fighting a 2016 insurgency with nuclear weapons from the 1980s.Some researchers think they cannot speak openly, and in many organizations, advocacy is leading the charge, as opposed to science, Dr. Glynn said. Public health is suffering as a result.Professor Wikler said, You want to be married to the science, but in this case, I think theres been a kind of unmooring, and thats a somewhat dangerous game.

Health

Data from overseas, particularly Britain, suggest the spread of the virus will set vaccinated and unvaccinated communities on very different paths.Credit...Saul Martinez for The New York TimesPublished July 14, 2021Updated Aug. 7, 2021Even as many Americans celebrate the apparent waning of the pandemic, the thrum of concern over the so-called Delta variant grows steadily louder.The variant, the most contagious version yet of the coronavirus, accounts for more than half of new infections in the United States, federal health officials reported this month. The spread of the variant has prompted a vigorous new vaccination push from the Biden administration, and federal officials are planning to send medical teams to communities facing outbreaks that now seem inevitable.Infections, hospitalizations and deaths are rising swiftly in some states with low vaccination rates like Arkansas, Missouri, Texas and Nevada, and are beginning to show small upticks in all of the others. The curves have also begun shifting upward in New York City, and the percentage of positive tests in the city has doubled in the past few weeks to just over 1 percent. New reported cases by day 7day average 109,997 These are days with a reporting anomaly. Source: State and local health agencies. Daily cases are the number of new cases reported each day. The seven-day average is the average of the most recent seven days of data. Nationwide, the numbers remain at some of the lowest levels since the beginning of the pandemic, but are once again slowly trending upward, prompting a debate about when booster shots might be needed to protect Americans.The virus has also set off large outbreaks across the globe, from Japan and Australia to Indonesia and South Africa, forcing many countries to reimpose stringent restrictions on social activity. Even in places like Britain, where wide swaths of the population are immunized, the Delta variant has outpaced vaccination efforts, pushing the goal of herd immunity further out of reach and postponing an end to the pandemic.But scientists say that even if the numbers continue to rise through the fall, Americans are unlikely to revisit the horrors of last winter, or to require booster shots in the foreseeable future.If Britains experience is a harbinger of whats to come, the overall number of infections may rise as the Delta variant spreads through the United States. But hospitalizations and deaths are likely to be much lower than they were following the arrival of previous variants, because the average age of those infected has shifted downward and young people tend to have mild symptoms.As important, vaccines are effective against the Delta variant and already provide a bulwark against its spread.I think the United States has vaccinated itself out of a national coordinated surge, even though we do expect cases pretty much everywhere, said Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.Delta is creating a huge amount of noise, but I dont think that its right to be ringing a huge alarm bell.Still, there are likely to be isolated outbreaks in pockets of low vaccination, he and other scientists predicted. The reason is simple: The pattern of the protection against the coronavirus in the United States is wildly uneven.ImageCredit...Pool photo by Kirsty WigglesworthImageCredit...Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York TimesBroadly speaking, the West and Northeast have relatively high rates of vaccination, while the South has the least. The vaccinated and unvaccinated two Americas as Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the administrations leading adviser on the pandemic, has called them also are divided along political lines.Counties that voted for Mr. Biden average higher vaccination levels than those that voted for Donald Trump. Conservatives tend to decline vaccination far more often than Democrats.I dont expect that we will get close to the kind of mayhem we saw earlier, said Kristian Andersen, a virologist at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego. There are going to be clusters, and theyre going to be in states where you have low vaccination rates.In a country that should be able to end its pandemic in short order with widespread vaccination, the Delta variant is well designed to take advantage of the cultural divide. The virus seems to combine the worst features of previous variants, Dr. Andersen noted.The variant was first identified in India, where it is credited with causing an overwhelming surge that brought the countrys tally to nearly 30 million infections and at least 400,000 deaths. The virus quickly spread to Britain, where it is now the source of 99 percent of cases. It has since turned up in 104 countries and all 50 American states.Data collected by Public Health England indicates that the Delta variant is up to 60 percent more contagious than the Alpha variant, which was itself at least 50 percent more contagious than the original form of the virus. Delta also seems able to partly dodge the immune system, like the Beta variant first identified in South Africa, although to a lesser degree. And some reports have suggested that Delta may cause more severe infections.But the contagiousness is what makes the Delta variant a formidable threat, Dr. Hanage said. The fact that Delta has arrived and done so well, so quickly, in these unvaccinated parts in the middle of the country suggests to me that the lions share of its advantage comes from this enhanced transmissibility, he said.That means that the strategies that worked against previous versions of the virus may be less effective in curtailing Deltas spread, opening the door to sporadic outbreaks in the United States for the foreseeable future.Those who have been inoculated against the coronavirus have little to worry about. Reports of infections with the Delta variant among fully immunized people in Israel may have alarmed people, but virtually all of the available data indicate that the vaccines are powerfully protective against severe illness, hospitalization and death from all existing variants of the coronavirus.Even a single dose of vaccines that require two shots seems to prevent the most severe symptoms, although it is a flimsier barrier against symptomatic illness making it an urgent priority to give people second doses in places like Britain that opted to prioritize first doses.Like Israel, Britain has seen Delta infections in vaccinated people, but they have mostly been among people exposed to large amounts of the virus health care workers, taxi and bus drivers, for example and in those who may have mounted weak immune responses because of their age or health conditions, said Dr. Muge Cevik, an infectious disease expert at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and a scientific adviser to the British government.In countries with low vaccination rates, however, the Delta variant has found fertile ground. In Africa, where only about 1 percent of the population is fully immunized, the variants prevalence has been doubling roughly every three weeks. The number of cases across the continent rose by 25 percent and deaths by 15 percent in the week ending June 27, compared with the previous week.ImageCredit...Brian Inganga/Associated PressImageCredit...Altaf Qadri/Associated PressThe situation is much less dire in the United States, where nearly 60 percent of adults are fully vaccinated. Even Mississippi, the state with the lowest vaccination rate, has protected 43 percent of adults. Nationwide, Covid-19 has dropped from being the leading cause of death in January to now the seventh, averaging 330 deaths per day.But cases are rising rapidly in counties where less than 30 percent of residents have been fully vaccinated. And the trend is likely to accelerate as the weather cools and people head indoors, where the virus thrives.If the prevalence in those communities spikes high enough, even vaccinated people there will be at risk of infection, though not of serious illness. Moreover, the variant may find opportunities to keep circulating.One recent study linked 47 cases of infection with the Delta variant to an indoor gymnasium, among them three people who had received one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines and four people who were fully immunized.When you have populations of unvaccinated individuals, then the vaccines really cant do their jobs, said Stacia Wyman, an expert in computational genomics at the University of California, Berkeley. And thats where Delta is really a concern.Britains experience with the Delta variant has highlighted the importance not just of vaccination, but the strategy underlying it. The country ordered inoculations strictly by age, starting with the oldest and carving out few exceptions for younger essential workers, outside of the medical profession. New reported cases by day 7day average 905 These are days with a reporting anomaly. Source: Data for the United Kingdom comes from the Department for Health and Social Care, Public Health England, Public Health Scotland, Public Health Wales, Public Health Agency of Northern Ireland and the Chief Medical Officer Directorate. Population data from U.K. Data Service Census Support. The Office for National Statistics also produces a weekly report on the number of deaths that mention Covid-19 on a death certificate. This figure, which includes deaths outside of hospitals, is many thousands of deaths higher than the reported daily death toll. The daily average is calculated with data that was reported in the last seven days. That meant the most vulnerable were protected first, while the most socially active part of the population younger people was until recently largely unprotected. Younger people were instrumental in the spread of the virus.In England, everyone in their late teens and 20s became eligible for shots only in mid-June, two months later than in the United States, and many are still waiting for second doses. Those second doses have become all the more crucial as Delta spreads, as the variant overwhelms the first doses in some cases.In one study published in the journal Nature last week, only about 10 percent of blood samples from people who received one dose of either the AstraZeneca or the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccines were able to neutralize the Delta variant, compared with 95 percent of those who got both doses. (Other studies suggest that a single dose is at least enough to prevent serious illness and death, however.)More than 90 percent of people older than 55 are fully vaccinated in Britain. That has not entirely blunted the toll on hospitals following the spread of the Delta variant: Patient admissions have begun climbing as quickly as cases in recent days, a reminder that some infections still inevitably lead to severe illness. But the proportion of cases leading to hospitalizations is lower than it was in previous waves.The actual transmission pattern is really strongly concentrated in the unvaccinated population, which in the U.K. is almost all young people, said Jeffrey Barrett, who directs the coronavirus sequencing initiative at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. You get cases, but they dont usually get very sick.In the United States, some states are already seeing a rise in hospitalizations. Even if those numbers remain small compared with last winters, they will strain hospitals in states like Oregon, already at maximum capacity as a result of other factors, like the heat wave.We dont really have a huge margin for error, said Brian ORoak, a geneticist at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. If we do see a sharp rise in hospitalizations, were going to be back where we were during the last surge.ImageCredit...Atul Loke for The New York TimesImageCredit...Brittany Hosea-Small/ReutersIn previous waves, there was a neat, linear relationship between the number of infections, hospitalizations and deaths in the United States. Fortunately, those patterns do not hold for the Delta variant, because a large proportion of people at the highest risk now have been inoculated.The country also opened vaccinations up to all adults, and even to 12- to 17-year-olds, which may break chains of transmission more effectively than in Britain.The AstraZeneca vaccine dispensed in Britain appears to be less effective at preventing infections with Delta than the mRNA vaccines in wider use in the United States. That, too, could give the United States an advantage over the variant.Because of Deltas partial ability to undermine the immune system, the rate of breakthrough infections cases that occur despite vaccination with the variant appears to be greater than with previous forms of the virus, except for Beta.Many experts have worried that even mild infections raise the risk of so-called long Covid, the constellation of symptoms that can persist months after an active infection is resolved. That raised a horrifying prospect: a surge in long-term illness throughout unvaccinated regions.But many scientists now believe that breakthrough infections are unlikely to cause the syndrome. When a vaccinated person is infected, the virus may go through a few rounds of replication, but the immune response is so quick and so robust that it basically stops the infection in its tracks, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.The coronavirus pandemic began as a patchwork in the United States, and the Delta variant seems likely to restore the pattern, many experts believe. And the virus is unlikely to be the last serious threat. Already the gamma variant, identified in Brazil, has found a foothold in Washington State, and a more recent variant, Lambda, is on the march in South America.People are positive-minded, but this is just the beginning, said Ravindra Gupta, a virologist at the University of Cambridge. This is going to be a slow burn.

Health

Wind River' Star Kelsey Asbille Said Chow to Last Name Because ... Hollywood's a Tricky Place!!! 1/19/2018 TMZ.com "Wind River" star Kelsey Asbille straight-up blames Hollywood for having to change her last name from Chow ... it was the only way to survive in this town. We got Kelsey at LAX Thursday and asked her why she changed her last name. Kelsey's pretty straight forward -- "Chow" woulda pigeonholed her to limited roles ... AKA playing the Chinese woman role. Kelsey changed her last name in 2017 to Kelsey Asbille and landed "Wind River" ... in which she plays a Native American. She says that ain't problematic at all ... and explains why.

Entertainment

Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesJune 19, 2018WASHINGTON President Trumps personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani was questioned this year in an inquiry into whether he was told about the F.B.I.s reopening of the Hillary Clinton email investigation before it was disclosed to Congress and the public, he confirmed on Tuesday.During an hourlong interview in Washington in February, Mr. Giuliani said, he told investigators for the Justice Departments inspector general that he had not learned anything before the public did.Mr. Giuliani, a Trump campaign supporter, made statements in late October 2016 on Fox News hinting that a surprise was coming about Mrs. Clinton before Election Day. The inspector general is examining leaks from the F.B.I. during the presidential campaign, including what prompted Mr. Giulianis statement, but he said it was about another subject entirely.I was talking about a possible speech Trump would give the Friday before the election on national television in which he would outline all the reasons that he should be elected and crooked Hillary should go to jail, Mr. Giuliani said.He said he told investigators that he had only spoken with retired F.B.I. agents during the campaign about how Mr. Comey had handled the email investigation but that they did not share with him any sensitive information about the inquiry.He said that a friend, the New York lawyer Marc L. Mukasey, accompanied him for the interview at the offices of his former law firm, Greenberg Traurig, which parted ways last month with Mr. Giuliani. He had told HuffPost, which first reported his interview with investigators, that he was questioned at the Trump Hotel in Washington, but Mr. Giuliani said he had misspoken.The F.B.I.s investigation into whether Mrs. Clinton mishandled classified information shadowed her throughout the campaign. The F.B.I. director at the time, James B. Comey, was criticized in a new inspector general report for flouting Justice Department policy to announce at a news conference in July that the bureau was not recommending she be charged. The investigation was closed soon after.In late September, F.B.I. agents in New York discovered possible new evidence in the case when they found relevant emails on the laptop of Anthony Weiner, the now-estranged husband of Huma Abedin, a top aide to Mrs. Clinton.About a month later, Mr. Comey wrote to Congress, informing members that the F.B.I. had found the emails. The revelation upended the campaign in its final days, and Democrats have said he cost Mrs. Clinton the election.But it was the timing of Mr. Giulianis remarks to Fox News that stirred suspicions that he had inside knowledge of the F.B.I.s Clinton email investigation.Two days before Mr. Comeys letter to lawmakers, he told Fox News: I do think that all of these revelations about Hillary Clinton finally are beginning to have an impact. Hes got a surprise or two that youre going to hear about in the next two days.Mr. Comey later ordered an investigation into whether F.B.I. agents had tipped off Mr. Giuliani. Former and current F.B.I. agents have privately lamented that Mr. Giulianis grandstanding has hurt the reputation of the New York office.At a congressional hearing on Monday, Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, declined to discuss the leak investigation. Michael E. Horowitz, the Justice Departments inspector general, said his office continued to examine possible leaks as part of another investigation.Last week, Mr. Horowitz released a lengthy report that looked at the F.B.I.s actions in 2016. As part of the report, the inspector general reviewed more than 1.2 million documents and interviewed more than 100 people, including Loretta E. Lynch, the former attorney general.As part of the review, Ms. Lynch recounted how she had complained to Mr. Comey in late October 2016 about the F.B.I. office in New York. According to Ms. Lynch, Mr. Comey told her that there was a cadre of senior people in New York who have a deep and visceral hatred of Secretary Clinton.Mr. Comey agreed with Ms. Lynch that leaks from the New York office had become a problem.

Politics

Now closed again, a Brooklyn site set up for models didnt appear to qualify as an essential business under state pandemic rules.Credit...John Taggart for The New York TimesPublished June 12, 2020Updated Aug. 12, 2020A large Amazon fashion photo studio in Brooklyn, where models pose in clothing sold on the companys site, sat shuttered for more than two months as the coronavirus spread in New York.Then, on May 18, Amazon reopened the studio and later began taking photos with models. It told employees on conference calls that the studio, in the Williamsburg neighborhood, could open under state rules that allowed warehouses and fulfillment operations to operate as essential businesses.We are a key part of the supply chain, a senior manager said, according to one of several recordings of the calls obtained by The New York Times.There was just one problem: It appears that Amazon was playing fast and loose with the rules.A few days after The Times asked the state about the open studio, Amazon closed it. A manager told employees that someone in state government had given the company a heads-up that it may need to comply with an unspecified new policy. The studio remains closed.Photo studios, even those related to e-commerce, were not considered essential and should not be open for business in New York City, said Jack Sterne, a spokesman for the state.Local governments can fine businesses up to $10,000 for violating the states executive order.An Amazon spokeswoman, Rachael Lighty, said that health and safety were our top concern. She said the company continued to work closely with local health authorities and the city and state of New York to ensure that all of our businesses are operating under state regulations and health guidelines.But when pressed, she did not provide more details on whom specifically Amazon had consulted about whether it could open.Reopening the studio shows how Amazon has pressed ahead during the pandemic, looking to right its operations quickly after the virus initially caught it on its heels. The push to take advantage of its warehousing operations, when physical retailers were closed, was particularly evident in areas where it has long struggled, like high-end fashion.Sales across the clothing industry fell when the pandemic arrived in the United States, but the open studio gave Amazon access to new products and let it demonstrate its abilities as the demand for fashion returned.Other fashion photo studios in New York, including that of Moda Operandi, the luxury e-tailer, remained closed last month; its photographers took images of products in their homes. Fashion magazines like Vogue and Elle resorted to Zoom shoots and selfies. A remote runway show held to raise money for the amfAR Fund to Fight Covid-19, a research initiative, featured models filming themselves while strutting down their home hallways.In its calls with employees, the senior manager, Tara Jacobson, rationalized the reopening by arguing that it was helping the fashion industry at a time of need.The Brooklyn studio largely takes photos for Amazons private-label brands and the other clothes that Amazon sells directly to shoppers, said a person involved with the operation, who would speak only anonymously out of fear of retribution by the company. Custom photos help give Amazon credibility with a sector that has long viewed it with suspicion.Before Covid-19, the studio had about 20 rooms, called bays, partitioned with black curtains. Each had its own setup for lighting, makeup, backdrops and other things necessary to take photos of different models wearing different clothes.ImageCredit...Calla Kessler/The New York TimesBefore Amazon opened the studio in 2013, it shot its fashion images in a warehouse in Kentucky. The new studio, in a former glass factory near the Wythe Hotel, a magnet for Williamsburgs cool creatives, was part of Amazons efforts to woo the fashion industry. The previous year, Jeff Bezos, Amazons chief executive, stood next to Anna Wintour, the fashion editor, as one of the co-hosts of the Met Gala. In 2015, the company became the marquee sponsor of New York Fashion Week: Mens. (It is no longer involved with the event.)Still, Amazon continued to struggle to build momentum in fashion. The global luxury conglomerate LVMH Mot Hennessy Louis Vuitton has repeatedly said it does not see Amazon as the right partner for its brands, an attitude widely shared by peers, which see Amazons everything store ethos as the antithesis of the exclusivity they represent.The health crisis gave Amazon an opening. Last month, Amazon introduced an online storefront with Vogue and the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Known as Common Threads, the initiative has been framed as an economic lifeline for small, independent designers without the resources or infrastructure to get their own collections to market during the coronavirus shutdown. For 20 brands, Amazon is providing much-needed fulfillment services, digital storefronts and other services, all of it fee free.In return, Amazon gets a cut of sales, as well as the allegiance of the designer fashion world.Amazon is clearly hoping that by demonstrating it can sell expensive designer products such as the $2,244 ruched-bodice silk spaghetti-strap dress in a Watteau-esque floral print by Brock Collection or the $1,595 top-handle lizard skin handbag by Hunting Season, both offered on the Common Threads store, it can change the minds of reluctant brands.The first two weeks we were seeing multiple sales a day, said Jonathan Cohen, one of the designers in the Common Threads store. While sales have slowed, its been helpful, he said. We were left with so much inventory from Covid, and in general from stores that were not paying from before.After the studio closed in March, Amazon ended contracts with the freelancers and long-term contractors who worked there, Ms. Jacobson told employees in the calls. As inventory mounted, Amazon scrambled to get images safely produced at other studios, without models.Ms. Jacobson explained to employees that a team of executives, safety experts and lawyers were involved in the decision to reopen the Brooklyn studio, and that the company had made many adjustments to enable social distancing, including deciding to have models do their own hair and makeup. She said the studio had also gotten special internal approval to give employees Uber rides, an option not available to the thousands of workers at Amazons Staten Island warehouse who cram into city buses.Employees kept asking on the calls how their work taking fashion photography was allowed, given that they heard officials on the news say New Yorkers should stay home for all but the most essential work, to limit community transmission of the virus.I know this question keeps coming up, Ms. Jacobson told her team before the reopening. I am not going to ask you all to agree that we are an essential business.She said that employees had a right to disagree and that she understood their concerns, but from a business perspective, the answer has been made: We are essential.For essential work, historically we have defined it as products that humans need to avoid Covid, Ms. Jacobson said. What we are saying is, this is just as important. It is essential to the world economy.In a statement provided by Amazon, Ms. Jacobson said, I am proud of our team for the creative ways in which they implemented process changes for our studios and employees. She added, While our studio in Brooklyn is currently closed, I am hopeful and excited to share our learnings with our industry as we all work to reopen.Ms. Jacobson told her team on one of the calls that it was heartbreaking how many fashion brands had been shuttered. Amazon, she said, was in a unique situation because its warehouse operations were considered essential. Many brands had asked Amazon for help, she said. They need us now more than ever.Company executives, including Christine Beauchamp, who runs Amazon Fashion, supported the extensive safety measures in place, Ms. Jacobson told her team. They were chomping at the bit, she said, to get photos on models back up and running.

Tech

DealBook|How Deal Between Dow and DuPont Could Create Valuehttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/11/business/dealbook/how-deal-between-dow-and-dupont-could-create-value.htmlBreakingviewsDec. 10, 2015Combining two chemical giants, Dow Chemical and DuPont, which are each worth nearly $60 billion, would be complicated. A three-way split thereafter might not unlock much value, either.The biggest benefit might be that asset rejiggering would allow costs to be slashed. That may be what investors who pushed up both companies shares by more than 10 percent on Wednesday are counting on.Merging two sprawling companies seems counterintuitive, especially given the involvement of activist investors like Daniel S. Loeb at Dow and Nelson Peltz at DuPont. Such agitators typically detest conglomerates, partly because they often suffer from a valuation discount.But the appeal of the deal is not creating one supersize agglomeration out of two old-school blue chip companies. Its what could come next: The two companies collection of assets would be separated into three entities focused on agriculture, materials and specialty chemicals.Such a divvying up is consistent with recent activist thinking. Companies with more clearly defined businesses can be an easier sell with investors. They are often easier to manage. The agricultural spinoff, for example, could focus on the biology needed to create new seeds. The specialty chemical offshoot would be more about chemistry. And the materials business would worry about securing the cheap gas it needs to make plastics and other products.There might be financial benefits from all of that, but in this case, it does not look as if there is a big conglomerate discount that would evaporate. The sum of the parts of the two companies, based on peers valuation multiples, is not far from where their stocks trade.But combining related pieces of Dow and DuPont would allow hefty cost savings. CNBC reported that the two companies might find $3 billion of annual synergies. At roughly 3 percent of combined sales, that sounds plausible. The present value of these, taxed and capitalized on a multiple of 10, would be $20 billion or more.Investors added about $12 billion to the combined market value of the two firms on Wednesday. That leaves room for upside, but caution is appropriate. No deal has been announced, and a merger of two big companies followed by a split into three could easily run into trouble. One early challenge would be to make the chemistry work.

Business

Feb. 4, 2014SEATTLE Microsoft on Tuesday announced that Satya Nadella was its next leader, betting on a longtime engineering executive to help the company keep better pace with changes in technology.The selection of Mr. Nadella to replace Steven A. Ballmer, which was widely expected, was accompanied by news that Bill Gates, a company founder, had stepped down from his role as chairman and become a technology adviser to Mr. Nadella.John W. Thompson, 64, a member of the Microsoft board who oversaw its search for a new chief executive, became the companys chairman, replacing Mr. Gates.During this time of transformation, there is no better person to lead Microsoft than Satya Nadella, said Mr. Gates, who remains a member of Microsofts board. Satya is a proven leader with hard-core engineering skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together.In a statement, Mr. Nadella said, Microsoft is one of those rare companies to have truly revolutionized the world through technology, and I couldnt be more honored to have been chosen to lead the company.In Mr. Nadella, Microsofts directors selected both a company insider and an engineer, suggesting that they viewed technical skill and intimacy with Microsofts sprawling businesses as critical for its next leader. It has often been noted that Microsoft was more successful under the leadership of Mr. Gates, a programmer and its first chief executive, than it was under Mr. Ballmer, who had a background in sales. Mr. Ballmer, 57, said in August that he was stepping down.Mr. Nadella, 46, from Hyderabad, India, is only the third chief executive of Microsoft, an icon of American business that has struggled for position in big growth markets like mobile and Internet search. The company has correctly anticipated many of the biggest changes in technology the rise of smartphones and tablet computers, to use two examples but it has often fumbled the execution of products developed to capitalize on those changes.It remains to be seen whether Mr. Nadellas technical background, along with the closer involvement of Mr. Gates in product decisions, will give the company an edge it lacked during the Ballmer years. Microsoft said in a statement that Mr. Gates will devote more time to the company, supporting Nadella in shaping technology and product direction.Relinquishing his role as chairman will allow Mr. Gates to spend over a third of his time with product groups at Microsoft, substantially increasing my time at the company, he said in a video made for the news of Mr. Nadellas selection. Mr. Gates said that Mr. Nadella asked him to make the change in his duties at Microsoft.I think hes the right person for the company right now, Frank Artale, a former Microsoft manager who works with Ignition Partners, a venture capital firm in the Seattle area, said of the selection of Mr. Nadella. A strong technical leader is truly needed there.Mr. Nadella is a contrast to Mr. Ballmer in other ways. Most recently the executive vice president of Microsofts cloud and enterprise businesses, Mr. Nadella peppers his conversations and speeches with technical buzzwords that people outside the industry would most likely find impenetrable.Mr. Nadella, who has been married for 22 years and has three children, counts cricket and poetry among his hobbies. In an email to Microsoft employees on Tuesday morning, he wrote that he is defined by my curiosity and thirst for learning.I buy more books than I can finish, he wrote. I sign up for more online courses than I can complete. I fundamentally believe that if you are not learning new things, you stop doing great and useful things.Mr. Nadella showed ambition early in his career. He received degrees in engineering and computer science, then earned a masters degree in business administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business while working full time at Microsoft. He flew to Chicago from Seattle to attend classes on the weekend, according to Steven Kaplan, a professor at the school who taught Mr. Nadella in a course on entrepreneurial finance and private equity.He is take charge, smart, but in a likable way, Mr. Kaplan said, adding that Mr. Nadella received an A in the course.Now, Mr. Nadella is known as a cerebral, collaborative leader with a low-key style that differs from Mr. Ballmers bombastic manner. While many executives within Microsoft tend to be polarizing figures, Mr. Nadella appears to be well liked in much of the company. Still, those who know Satya Nadella say that he is not a pushover as a boss.Managers have to keep proving themselves every day, Mr. Artale said.Mr. Nadellas star at Microsoft rose considerably in the past several years as he took charge of the companys cloud computing efforts, a business considered vital as more business customers choose to rent applications and other programs in far-off data centers rather than run software themselves.For years, Microsoft did not pay enough attention to how the cloud primarily through services offered by Amazon, its crosstown rival was attracting the creativity of a new generation of developers. When he got control of the division that included Microsofts cloud initiatives, Mr. Nadella changed that. He began meeting with start-ups to hear more about what Microsoft needed to do to become more responsive to their needs.When you look at the most exciting things happening in tech, all the platform shifts happening and disruption social, mobile, cloud Microsoft has not even been part of the conversation until recently, said Brad Silverberg, a Seattle-area investor and a former Microsoft executive. With Satyas leadership, Microsoft is doing interesting things in cloud.As chief executive of the entire 100,000-person company, Mr. Nadella has to grapple with a much broader set of challenges in markets in which he has little experience, like mobile devices. He inherits a deal to acquire Nokias mobile handset business, along with 33,000 employees, and a wide-ranging reorganization plan devised by Mr. Ballmer and still in progress.In an interview in July, Mr. Nadella was supportive of the reorganization plan, which he predicted would allow Microsoft to adapt to changes in the market more quickly than in the past. Its not like our old structure didnt allow us to do some of this, he said. The question is whether you can amplify.When Mr. Nadella joined Microsoft in 1992, it was still a scrappy, relatively small software company led by Mr. Gates that was just beginning its greatest years of growth. His familiarity with the companys history and culture was said to have been an important factor in Mr. Gatess comfort with Mr. Nadella as chief executive, according to someone briefed on the search for a new leader who asked for anonymity because the process was private.But in an interview in April, he said the most important factor in Microsofts ability to remain a growing business in the future was its ability to become a player in what he called new paradigms in computing, like cloud computing.That is, you could say, the existential issue for us, Mr. Nadella said.I think that with any new paradigm there will always be a couple of new players who come at it, he continued. But to me the thing that is perhaps more interesting and challenging, and gets me excited, is, hey, how can we renew ourselves?In his statement Tuesday, Mr. Nadella said: The opportunity ahead for Microsoft is vast, but to seize it, we must focus clearly, move faster and continue to transform. A big part of my job is to accelerate our ability to bring innovative products to our customers more quickly.

Tech

Genevieve Bell, as a cultural anthropologist at Intel Labs, runs a team of about 100 researchers. The team studies how consumers interact with electronics and develops new technology experiences for them.Credit...Leah Nash for The New York TimesSlide 1 of 6 Genevieve Bell, as a cultural anthropologist at Intel Labs, runs a team of about 100 researchers. The team studies how consumers interact with electronics and develops new technology experiences for them.Credit...Leah Nash for The New York TimesFeb. 15, 2014Behind the gray, noise-absorbing cubicle walls at the Intel Corporation in Hillsboro, Ore., researchers who forecast the future of computing can sense her arrival.Reverberating down the hall comes an emphatic Australian voice and the rhythmic thwack-thwack of pointy-heeled boots on carpet. And then, Genevieve Bell, an anthropologist who is Intels resident tech intellectual, materializes auburn-haired, big-ringed, trailing clouds of Chlo perfume.She may still see herself as just a feral kid from Australia. But for Intel, she personifies something grander: the companys aspirations to be regarded as more than just a chip maker.Dr. Bells title at Intel, the worlds largest producer of semiconductors, is director of user experience research at Intel Labs, the companys research arm. She runs a skunk works of some 100 social scientists and designers who travel the globe, observing how people use technology in their homes and in public. The teams findings help inform the companys product development process, and are also often shared with the laptop makers, automakers and other companies that embed Intel processors in their goods.Some years ago, for instance, Dr. Bells team interviewed parents in China who regarded home computers as distractions from their childrens school work. Intel developed a prototype China Home Learning PC, eventually manufactured by an Intel customer, with a key that parents could activate to prevent their children from playing online games during homework time.My mandate at Intel has always been to bring the stories of everyone outside the building inside the building and make them count, says Dr. Bell, who considers herself among the outsiders. You have to understand people to build the next generation of technology.By outside, she isnt referring only to consumers outside of the United States. Dr. Bell and her team are responsible for sussing out the attributes that people everywhere love, or wish they could have, in their PCs, televisions and so on. Over the last few years, they have been concentrating on consumers appetites for hyper-personal technology, like voice-recognition systems and fitness trackers. In essence, they are pushing Intel toward a more people-centric era of personal computing.Lately, that work has become all the more important to the company. That is because Intel, which has long dominated the laptop processor field, was surprisingly slow to acknowledge the burgeoning market for smartphone chips. In fact, Dr. Bell and her team, among others, had forecast the mobile trend early on, says Diane M. Bryant, the general manager of Intels data center group, but Intel didnt prioritize it at the time. Although the company recently introduced new chips for mobile devices, PC makers are still Intels largest customer base, accounting for $33 billion of its $52.7 billion in revenue last year.Now, attributable in part to the efforts of Dr. Bell and her team, Intel is trying to catch up, forging into realms like wearable gadgets that could showcase its new, lower-powered ultrasmall chips. Futurists on Dr. Bells team are also developing a customizable personal robot, about the size of a big teddy bear, based on the new mini-chips. Where even a decade ago Intel still focused largely on turning out increasingly efficient technology for its industrial customers, its executives say, the company now looks to consumer happiness as a starting point of product development.What Genevieve and her organization have done is to shift our mind-set, Ms. Bryant says. It takes a very different skill set, a unique domain experience, to sense the market and identify the emerging signals and what is going to matter to the end user.Unpacking the CarA few years ago, Dr. Bell was thinking about one particular end user: the car owner. If the marketing is to be believed, cars are no longer just transportation devices, but mobile entertainment systems. Ford promotes its Sync in-car infotainment system with slogans like Drive Connected, Drive Personally and Drive Entertained. Audi bills its latest built-in wireless system as the connected car future, with smoother digital maps, faster downloads and, someday soon, the ability to exchange data with parking garages and other connected cars.Dr. Bell has never been much impressed by such idealized visions of technology. So when those notions start to settle into conventional wisdom like the car as a superconnected entertainment-and-communication bubble she wants to kick the tires, so to speak. This urge is not just contrarianism. If Intel wanted to innovate for its automaker clients, Dr. Bell believed, the company would need to better understand how real people shifted back and forth between built-in technologies and the personal devices they carried into their cars.So Dr. Bell and Alexandra Zafiroglu, a fellow Intel anthropologist, set off on an expedition. They traveled around the world, examining, logging and photographing the contents of peoples cars.In a typical encounter, the pair found themselves in an underground parking lot in Singapore, where a man named Frank had agreed to let them scour his new white Volvo S.U.V. They searched his car methodically from the glove compartment to the trunk, removing each object they found and placing it on a beige shower curtain that they had spread out next to his car.Soon, the plastic curtain was covered with all manner of tech gear: iPods, calculators, a Bluetooth headset, a collection of CDs and DVDs, remote controls for the cars DVD players, wireless headphones and a detachable GPS system, plus manuals for all of the electronics. There were also personal items: umbrellas, golf clubs, credit cards, toys, candy, hand sanitizer, a small Buddha given to Frank by his mother, and an anti-slip pad on which the Buddha rested. When they had finished the car excavation, Dr. Bell climbed up a stepladder and photographed the spread.As they traveled from country to country, asking drivers about how they used every object in their cars, the pair developed a messier counternarrative to the tech-idealized version. Although carmakers have embedded voice-command systems and the like in their vehicles with the idea of reducing distracted driving, the researchers found that when drivers were bored in traffic, they often picked up their hand-held personal devices anyway.What became clear was a couple of things: how much technology people bring to cars, how much they were ignoring the technology that was built in, and how much that technology was failing them, Dr. Bell says.This more grounded, nuanced view of driver behavior served as a reality check for Intel and its clients. Last fall, Intel announced a collaboration with Jaguar Land Rover to develop, among other things, better ways for consumers to sync their personal devices with their cars. Intel has a similar effort with Toyota, to develop user-interaction systems involving voice, gesture and touch.The goal is to make built-in technology more seamless and supersede a drivers reflex to reach for a hand-held device.Irritant in the Industrial OysterDr. Bell was teaching in the Stanford anthropology department in 1998 when a technology entrepreneur she met in a Palo Alto bar suggested that she apply for a job at Intel.At the time, the company already had a handful of social scientists on staff. But executives had been looking for an anthropologist to conduct research into how people used technology in their homes. (Today, companies like IBM, Microsoft and Google also employ social scientists, in-house or as consultants, who specialize in applied anthropology.)During her job interview, Dr. Bell apprised her would-be bosses that she couldnt see herself fitting in at Intel. After all, she wasnt a technologist, she didnt do PowerPoint, she used a Mac and she was, she told them, a radical feminist and an unreconstructed neo-Marxist. She was hired.On her first day at work, Dr. Bell recounts, her new boss told her that the company wanted her help with two realms: women and R.O.W. for rest of world outside the United States.Dr. Bell was well-suited to the task. She spent much of her childhood on aboriginal settlements in the north and west of Australia, where her mother, an anthropologist, was doing field work. Young Genevieve learned aboriginal survival skills such as how to squeeze a drink out of Australian water-holding frogs. (Its a one-way ticket for the frog to nonfrogness, Dr. Bell notes.) It was an education in both feeling like an outsider herself and empathizing with outsider groups.At Intel, Dr. Bell started taking research trips around the world to see how consumers used technology in their kitchens and living rooms, at sports events and religious observances. After she and her colleagues returned, they printed posters with the photographs and comments of people they had interviewed, posting them around Intels offices. Employees were so interested in the images, she recalls, that there were bottlenecks in the hallways.She also discovered that Intel engineers were more welcoming of naysayers than many professors she had encountered.At Stanford, they didnt like it when you told the faculty they were dead wrong, whereas here, that was a cultural value, Dr. Bell explains. Here I would say, You are dead wrong and here are 17 reasons why and six data sources, and they would say, Thats very interesting; tell me more. Even her appearance is a self-conscious provocation. In a corporate culture engendered by male engineers, and still dominated by them, Dr. Bell sees flaunting her otherness as part of the job description.Some things I do quite deliberately, she told me. I wear French perfume. I wear heels. I dress like I am actually female.Sixteen years after Dr. Bell, now 46, arrived at Intel, she continues to nudge, contradict and challenge perceptions. But now she leads her own research enterprise. Still, it can be hard to describe precisely what Dr. Bell herself does, because she tends to favor open-ended research questions that dont have an immediately obvious practical payoff. Newspaper articles with headlines like Technologys Foremost Fortune Teller have portrayed her as an oracle with magical predictive powers.But over several months of conversations, I came to think of her more as Intels in-house foil, the company contrarian, an irritant in an industrial oyster shell.She is not afraid to voice her opinion thoughtfully and forcefully; shes not afraid to tell you how wrong you are, says Tad Hirsch, an assistant professor of interaction design at the University of Washington in Seattle who used to work with her. She credits it to being Australian, which is partially true. But part of it is just Genevieve.Celebrating PresenceImageA man and a woman sat at different tables in a mock coffee shop set up on a San Francisco stage for a recent talk by Dr. Bell.Before each was an open dual-screen laptop one screen facing toward the user in the usual way, the other facing outward for public viewing. An audience of Intel developers watched as the pair, two actors hired for the occasion, demonstrated some technology-enabled flirtation.On the exterior surface of his laptop, the man posted a message in big white letters: What are you drinking?The woman typed a reply: Are you hitting on me?Yep, he posted.Intels business remains heavily rooted in the laptop market. Last year, in a bid to make laptops more relevant, Dr. Bells lab designed prototype software on a TaiChi, a dual-screen notebook computer made by Asus, an Intel customer. The program lets people post photos and text messages of up to 140 characters on the exterior laptop screens. The goal was to encourage real-time communication between people who are in the same place at the same time, offering a physical complement to virtual networks like Facebook and Twitter.What would it be to have technology that celebrated presence, not absence, that grounded you in being in that place, not being somewhere else? Dr. Bell says of the impetus for the project.Members of her team tested the program, called Personal Billboard, in cafes around Portland and Seattle. They discovered that passers-by were initially wary; they would glance quickly at the screens, then look away. But if researchers posted a question like What did you read today? or, Do you think Nordstrom has good customer service? strangers would start talking to one another.The researchers also tested it on a group of 14-year-old girls, who used it for hours to trash-talk with one another across a table. Eventually, the girls asked if they could have a sleepover at the testing facility because they wanted to keep playing with the second-screen messaging.We keep talking about how technology is destroying social activity, says Dr. Bell, sitting in her office. It was reassuring that, when you give people technology that reinforces presentness, they embrace it.Right now, however, Personal Billboard is experimental a demonstration to computer makers that the company is exploring ways to reposition the laptop as a social interaction device. But, with so many people now more compelled by mobile devices, the software may never appear in consumer laptops. Or it could recur in a different incarnation: on dual-screen smartphones.VideoDuring a lecture at Stanford University, Ms. Bell, an anthropologist at Intel Labs, compared the Furby toy with Siri, Apples personal assistant.On the way to a restaurant near her office on a cold day, Dr. Bell slipped on a pink, knitted, conical hat with feathers erupting from the top.I dont just have a hat. I have an award-winning aboriginal beanie, she said, explaining that the hat won a design competition in Alice Springs, in central Australia. And those are emu feathers, she said, pointing to the top of the hat.In a corporation that venerates high-tech engineering, Dr. Bell often expresses her affinity for tactile, low-tech objects. And she makes a concerted effort to inhabit tech-free zones. She loves swimming because, she says, nobody can call me.Dr. Bell tends to be indifferent to the blinking lights of the latest gadgetry. What fascinates her is a pattern, which has repeated itself over the centuries, of societys initial embrace of a new invention, often followed by what she terms moral panic and then, eventually, by widespread adoption. That was the trajectory of home electrification and of passenger cars. Even the 1950s introduction of the Princess rotary phone, marketed to teenage girls for use in their bedrooms, Dr. Bell says, prompted concerns like Would it lead to licentious phone calls?Lately, she has been reflecting on a more contemporary issue: anxiety over the possibility of intelligent, sensate computers that might take on a life of their own. In 1818, she notes, the publication of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, stoked fears that inventions might come to life and kill us a theme that later recurred in films like The Terminator.Its relevant again now, she says. With the advent of the Internet of Things, an increasing number of objects, like thermostats and traffic lights, are being outfitted with sensor chips that can collect and transmit information about their environments. Dr. Bell sees these connected objects as harbingers of devices that will have relationships, rather than mere interactions, with people.As in the past, fiction often precedes fact. Consider the movie Her, in which a computer operating system named Samantha becomes the caretaker, companion and, eventually, the virtual paramour of Theodore, a human lonely heart.Maybe the Internet of Things will be about delighting us or taking care of us, not traffic lights, Dr. Bell mused over lunch with Brian David Johnson, a futurist in her lab.Mr. Johnson is leading a project to develop a personal robot, named Jimmy, that would relate to people as individuals. White and curvaceous, Jimmy is a knee-high customizable system like a mobile phone on legs onto which consumers could download apps. Jimmy is a computational platform that can walk around, Mr. Johnson explained. Theres enough computational power to sense what your mood is, where you are, an understanding that is relationship-based.Jimmy is meant to show Intels corporate customers what its design thinking and chips can accomplish. But it is also rooted in Dr. Bells belief that the future of computing is in personalized, people-centric devices. In fact, Intel plans to make the software public this spring so that people with access to 3-D printers can create their own Jimmys. Ultimately, it will be about people stuff, Dr. Bell says, and Jimmy makes the people stuff readily apparent.Even so, Dr. Bell is the first to say that she is no tech oracle:Ten years from now, do we think people will still want to talk to each other? Yes. Will they still want to share cat pictures? Yes. Will they still want to tell bad jokes? Yes. Will people want a camera on their person? Probably, she conjectures. What will that look like? She shrugs.Dr. Bell was hurrying home to pack for a trip to Australia. Before she decamped, she donned a down coat and the award-winning aboriginal beanie and picked up that near-extinct mobile device, a BlackBerry. I am firmly in the present, she said as she headed toward the exit. But, sometimes, I want to drag the future here and see if we want it.

Tech

Credit...Dibyangshu Sarkar/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesApril 3, 2016KOLKATA, India When Sonali Mehrotra realized that a hulking overpass would come within arms length of her third-floor balcony, she took refuge in black humor, telling relatives to look at the bright side: Instead of lugging suitcases up the stairs when they came to visit, they could toss them into a bedroom as they drove in from the airport.Anyway, work on the overpass occurred so sporadically generally, when elections were coming that a project originally promised in 18 months was unfinished after seven years. At this rate, she joked, the project might not be completed in her natural life.After Thursday, though, when a 330-foot slab of steel and concrete slammed down on a street coursing with midday traffic, Ms. Mehrotras sense of humor was gone. Irritation with the faltering project has turned, for the people who live beneath it, into a sort of focused hatred. On Saturday, as the remains of a 26th victim were cut free of the metal that had crushed him in the collapse, a group of residents marched down the street demanding that the structure be dismantled.This thing has made our lives hell for the last nine years, said Meena Devi Purohit, 55, a five-term member of the municipal council from the area. Opposition to the project predated the start of construction, in 2009.It is rare for dysfunctional building projects to get much attention in India, in part because people are so accustomed to them. A local newspaper described Kolkata as the city of unfinished flyovers, but the phrase could be used for any number of Indias largest cities, littered with projects that were begun with fanfare but then proceeded haltingly, or halted entirely.Some of the reasons emerged last week in Kolkata, formerly Calcutta. Public works projects are initiated by politicians for pre-election boosts and lose their urgency once voting is over. Building contracts are often awarded to relatives or associates of political leaders, who can acquire necessary permissions but may not be competent builders. Planning is piecemeal. On-site supervision is weak. Safety measures are haphazard.Work on the Kolkata overpass picked up in November, when West Bengals chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, whose party is competing in legislative elections this month, promised a cheering crowd that the road would be open by February.VideotranscripttranscriptOverpass Collapses on Crowd in IndiaClosed circuit TV footage shows an overpass that was under construction collapsing on a crowd of people in Kolkata, India.CCTV footage shows the moment a flyover under construction collapses in the bustling Indian city of Kolkata. SHOWS: KOLKATA, INDIA (MARCH 31, 2016) (ANI - ACCESS ALL) 1. CCTV FOOTAGE OF FLYOVER COLLAPSING REPEATED THREE TIMES SEPARATED BY BLACK FLASH STORY: A flyover under construction in the bustling Indian city of Kolkata collapsed on Thursday (March 31) on to vehicles and street vendors below, killing at least 14 people with more than 100 people feared trapped. Residents used their bare hands to try to rescue people pinned under a 100-metre (110-yard) length of metal and cement that snapped off at one end and came crashing down in a teeming commercial district near Girish Park. Video footage aired on TV channels showed a street scene with two auto rickshaws and a crowd of people suddenly obliterated by a mass of falling concrete that narrowly missed cars crawling in a traffic jam.Closed circuit TV footage shows an overpass that was under construction collapsing on a crowd of people in Kolkata, India.CreditCredit...Swapan Mahapatra/PTI, via Associated PressVivekananda Road runs like a narrow canyon between rows of crumbling, elegant apartment buildings built in the last years of the British Raj. Below courses dense, ceaseless street life tailors with hand-crank sewing machines, barbers in closet-size alcoves and beggars stretched out on the sidewalk, fast asleep. Above hulks the overpass, casting the street in shadow, so that residents of third-floor apartments are at eye level with the edge of the highway.On Thursday morning, Indu Sethia, 44, watched from her bedroom as a crew of workers poured concrete on a difficult section of the highway, extending at an angle across a busy intersection. Later, she was alarmed to see cracks appear in the concrete slab. Then, the cantilevered, T-shape steel pylon supporting the new section folded, and massive steel girders and concrete slabs slammed onto the busy street with a sound that witnesses compared to the detonation of a bomb.Among the developments to emerge after the disaster was news that the team that had just laid the concrete on the fallen section worked under Rajat Bakshi, a cousin of the neighborhoods political kingpin. That man, the former legislator Sanjay Bakshi, has been working closely with Ms. Banerjee since the early 1990s, he said in an interview. Sanjay Bakshis wife, Smita, is a legislator in Ms. Banerjees party, Trinamool Congress.The police have arrested four officials from the contractor in charge of the project, a corporation called IVRCL, which is based in Hyderabad, and on Sunday the Kolkata police said they were seeking to question Rajat Bakshi. Firhad Hakim, the states urban development minister, did not respond to requests for comment.Rajat Bakshi hurriedly shuttered his business after the highway collapse and left Kolkata with his family. He told The Telegraph, a daily newspaper, that until he received a contract for work on the overpass the same year his cousins party came into power his business had been limited to supplying labor for simple jobs like road repairs or unloading dirt from construction sites.On Saturday, residents of the neighborhood expressed surprise that the work was being carried out by a firm connected to the political family.We dont know how they got involved, but they are not known as big construction people, said Biswajit Basak, 48, a shopkeeper. He added that he did not wish to comment about the politician Mr. Bakshi, whose campaign headquarters are beside his shop.We also do not talk very openly here, he said. Elections are going on, it is not a good time to make comments about politics.VideotranscripttranscriptResidents Describe Collapse of OverpassA bridge under construction in Kolkata, India, collapsed on a busy thoroughfare, trapping dozens of people.There were numerous people standing under the bridge. Rickshaws, taxis, everything was buried. There was a loud sound which scared us. The concrete had been laid last night at this part of the bridge. I am lucky. I was planning to go downstairs to have juice and when I was considering it, I saw that the bridge had collapsed. Scores of people have been killed.A bridge under construction in Kolkata, India, collapsed on a busy thoroughfare, trapping dozens of people.CreditCredit...Rupak De Chowdhuri/ReutersIn an interview, Sanjay Bakshi distanced himself from the subcontractor, whom he identified as his second cousin. He said that he had played no role in the process that resulted in what he described as a small contract for his cousins company, and that the two men had not seen each other for eight to 10 months.I do not want to talk about Rajat. Who is Rajat? I do not have his telephone number, Sanjay Bakshi said. What work is he doing? If he is only supplying labor, what is my role? What is my function? Where is my guilt?He added, I am willing to leave Kolkata and West Bengal if someone can prove my involvement.By the weekend, news of the fallen overpass had dropped off the television news, replaced by reports on a coming cricket match and the prime ministers overseas travel. But many residents of Vivekananda Road said fear of another collapse made it impossible to return to their ordinary routines.We are so shocked, our lives are so disrupted, that we do not know when to eat, when to sleep, when to bathe, said Nirmala Sethia, 66.Ms. Mehrotra, 42, who lives several houses away, said that if the project was completed and opened for traffic, her family might sell the building where they have lived for 90 years and move elsewhere.When any government project comes up, we are mentally prepared for corruption and bribery, but we were never worried about its stability, she said. We do not trust the people here with our money, but we trust them with our safety. How can you think that the government would be so careless?

World

Guess Who This Puppy Lovin' Kid Turned Into! 1/24/2018 Before this red-headed pup was getting snubbed at this year's Academy Awards, she was just another puppet-playing kid growing up in Sacramento, CA. Can you guess who she is? Share on Facebook TWEET This See also celebrity kids Photo Galleries

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Health|A second booster helped protect older people from Omicron infection, but waned quickly, an Israeli study says.https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/05/health/a-second-booster-helped-protect-older-people-from-omicron-infection-but-waned-quickly-an-israeli-study-says.htmlCredit...Jack Guez/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesApril 5, 2022A second booster shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine provides additional short-term protection against Omicron infections and severe illness among older adults, according to a large new study from Israel.But the boosters effectiveness against infection in particular wanes after just four weeks and almost disappears after eight weeks. Protection against severe illness did not ebb in the six weeks after the extra dose, but the follow-up period was too short to determine whether a second booster provided better long-term protection against severe disease than a single booster.The study focused on adults ages 60 and older, and did not provide data on the effectiveness of a second booster in younger populations.The findings, published on Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggest that additional boosters are likely to provide fleeting protection against Omicron infections in older recipients, and are consistent with evidence that vaccine effectiveness against infection wanes faster than against severe disease.For confirmed infection, a fourth dose appeared to provide only short-term protection and a modest absolute benefit, the researchers wrote.The results come in the midst of a debate over whether and when Americans might need additional boosters. The Food and Drug Administration is convening a panel of outside advisers on Wednesday for discussion on the broader U.S. booster strategy.The rapid spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, which can evade some of the bodys immune defenses, has intensified the discussion of whether second boosters are broadly necessary.Last month, the F.D.A. authorized second booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for adults ages 50 and older, as well as immunocompromised people ages 12 and older. The agency also authorized an mRNA booster for adults who have already received two doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.Its likely to be a tough sell: While 66 percent of Americans have been vaccinated, just 30 percent have received a booster shot.It is clear that the Omicron variant has blunted the effectiveness of Covid vaccines, but data on the benefits of a second booster remains limited. A previous study from Israel, which has not yet been published in a scientific journal, found that older adults who received a second booster were 78 percent less likely to die of Covid-19 than those who had received just one booster shot.But scientists criticized the studys methodology, and the benefits of a second booster for young, healthy adults are less clear. Some experts note that most adults who have been vaccinated and boosted once are already likely to be protected from severe illness and death.On Jan. 2, Israel authorized a fourth dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for adults ages 60 and older and members of other high-risk populations who had received their third shots at least four months earlier. Israels vaccination campaign has relied heavily on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.The new study is based on records from the Israeli Ministry of Health on more than 1.2 million older adults who were eligible for the fourth shot between Jan. 10 and March 2, when Omicron was the dominant variant in the country.The researchers compared the rate of confirmed virus infections and cases of severe Covid-19 among those who had received a fourth dose to those who had received just three doses.Protection against infection appeared to peak four weeks after the fourth shot: the rate of confirmed infections was twice as high in the three-dose group as in the four-dose group. By eight weeks after the fourth shot, however, the additional protection against infection had almost disappeared, the researchers found.Rates of severe disease were 3.5 times higher in the three-dose group than the four-dose group four weeks after the booster shot, the researchers found. That protection did not appear to wane and actually ticked up slightly by the sixth week after the shot, when rates of severe disease were 4.3 times higher in the three-dose group.But the study covered a relatively short period, and whether the benefits against illness hold up over the longer term remains unknown. The study did not report data on deaths.

Health

Credit...Brendan McDermid/Reuters; Eduardo Munoz/ReutersDec. 28, 2015When David Einhorn, the founder of Greenlight Capital, plays host to his investors at the American Museum of Natural History in January, his guests will sip cocktails and dine under a 94-foot blue whale in the Milstein Hall.William A. Ackman will hold court one week later, at the New York Public Library at Bryant Park, where investors in his Pershing Square Capital Management will mingle in the historic halls of marble, wood and gold.The lavish settings will be the same as in years past, but the circumstances will be strikingly different: Both billionaire hedge fund managers, and many of their peers, will be under pressure to explain to their investors how they lost so much money this year.As the final performance figures for the industry come in, one thing is clear: 2015 could not have ended soon enough for many managers and their investors. Hedge fund managers like Mr. Einhorn, Mr. Ackman and Larry Robbins have stunned investors with the depth of their losses in the double digits for some of their investment portfolios through early December.Pressure from investors to perform better will be intense for hedge fund managers heading into 2016. Few bank analysts expect stocks to perform much better next year than they did this year, when the Standard & Poors 500-stock index was set to end the year largely unchanged from where it began trading. The prospect that the Federal Reserve will continue raising interest rates a step it took in December for the first time in nearly a decade may also weigh on the markets and complicate the odds of a strong bounce-back in the new year.Steep losses this year come at a difficult time for the nearly $3 trillion industry; some pension funds have openly questioned what value hedge funds add to a portfolio in light of their hefty fee structure. Hedge funds typically charge 2 percent of assets under management and 20 percent of performance, which means that managers can still haul home multimillion-dollar paydays even when they lose money for their investors.Hedge funds were hurt, in part, because they piled into many of the same companies often known as hedge fund hotels because of their popularity among hedge fund managers that suffered sharp declines in shares later in the year. Among them were SunEdison, Williams Companies, Cheniere Energy and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, which drew negative publicity for steep increases in some drug prices.Any hedge fund that went into 2015 bullish on energy stocks was hurt; oil is now trading below $40 a barrel.Other losses were set off by a domino effect of macroeconomic events including surprise currency moves by central banks in China, Switzerland and elsewhere, as well as plunging oil prices, the collapse of commodity prices and turmoil in emerging markets.ImageCredit...Sunedison, via PR NewswireFor many firms, it was a whipsaw year, where strong gains were made in the first half of 2015 only to be reversed over the last six months. Investors in Mr. Ackmans Pershing Square will be familiar with the queasy feeling those wild swings produce. A year ago, Pershing Square posted one of its best years, generating a nearly 40 percent return. As late as the first week of August, the firms main fund was up about 11 percent for the year. Since then, it has been on a downward trajectory, and big, concentrated bets on Valeant and Platform Specialty Products have tumbled.As of Dec. 22, Pershing Squares main public portfolio was down 19.5 percent for the year.Other big losers in 2015 include Mr. Einhorns Greenlight Capital, which is down 20 percent, and Mr. Robbinss Glenview Capital Management, which has lost 17 percent. The performance figures, through the end of November, were included in an HSBC report. And John A. Paulson, who made billions and a name for himself betting against the housing bubble, lost investors money in three funds through October.Even with the dismal numbers, there were some rising stars. The average hedge fund, as measured by the Hedge Fund Research Composite Index, was up less than 1 percent. A small group outperformed against the backdrop of a disappointing year in equity and bond markets, with the S.&.P 500 down slightly heading into the final days of 2015.Gabriel Plotkin, a former SAC Capital Advisors manager, and his hedge fund Melvin Capital was the industry outlier. Melvin Capital, a stock-focused hedge fund that started last year, had gained almost 40 percent by the middle of November, according to a person briefed on the funds performance who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Mr. Plotkin was one of the top consumer stock traders at SAC Capital Advisors, the former hedge fund founded by Steven A. Cohen.Other notable hedge funds that look poised to make the top performing list this year include Israel Englanders Millennium Management, which gained 11 percent through November, and Sahm Adrangis Kerrisdale Capital, which was up 18 percent in the same period, said people briefed on those firms performance numbers. Renaissance Technologies, founded by James H. Simons, and its two main funds were up more than 16 percent, according to a person with knowledge of the performance who spoke on the condition of anonymity.A broad swath of firms also posted more modest gains in 2015, including Aaron Cowens Suvretta Capital Management, which was up 7 percent at the end of November, and Saba Capital Management, founded by Boaz Weinstein, which gained 6 percent through mid-December, according to people knowledgeable about those firms numbers.Although most of the attention has been on the losers of 2015, it was not just poor performance that plagued the industry. The year also included a number of prominent closures and redemptions at some brand-name firms. And the pace quickened over the third quarter.Three major investment firms Bain Capital, Fortress Investment Group and BlackRock were all forced to shut down hedge funds. Michael Platt also chose to throw in the towel at BlueCrest Capital Management as investor demands grew.Claren Road Asset Management, which is majority-owned by the private equity firm Carlyle Group, incurred nearly $3 billion in investor redemptions this year, a person briefed on the matter said. The firms performance was buffeted this year by investments in energy, financials and Greece. The redemptions were expected to reduce the firms assets under management to just over $1 billion, compared with $8 billion it once managed.Still, the overall number of hedge fund closures this year is running below last years total of 731, according to Preqin data.But Wall Street is famous for producing traders who make lots of money, then fall hard but still return for second and even third acts. That is no doubt something many hedge fund investors are banking on for 2016.

Business

Science|Explaining the Other Side of Autumn Leaveshttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/science/explaining-the-other-side-of-autumn-leaves.htmlQ&ANov. 21, 2016Credit...Victoria RobertsQ. As the autumn leaves change color, why is the top of a leaf the most colorful, sometimes bright red, while the underside is comparatively drab?A. Within the complex layered structure of a thin leaf, the largest share of the pigments involved in the color change is found in a type of cell near the top surface called palisade cells, or the palisade parenchyma.Inside the palisade cells, in structures called chloroplasts, most of the leafs business of photosynthesis is carried on using the familiar green pigment called chlorophyll. The cells are near the top of the leaf, allowing the chlorophyll to absorb light energy to power the process.The cells of the underside, with far fewer chloroplasts, carry out other functions that do not rely on sunlight. For example, guard cells control pores for moisture, oxygen and carbon dioxide balance.Responding to signals from the changing light, the aging leaf shuts down the water supply to its chlorophyll factories in the fall, often revealing yellow to orange pigments, called xanthophylls and carotenoids, that are already present.The leaf also increases production of the predominantly red pigments called anthocyanins, which are deposited in the palisade cells. Recent research has suggested that the anthocyanins have a protective role, keeping the leaf from suffering too much damage from sunlight and oxidation as its function tapers off. They, too, may show bright red as chlorophyll fades away.Eventually, all these bright pigments fade, leaving only the drab brown tannins. [email protected]

science

RoundupFeb. 2, 2014Kevin Stadler won the Phoenix Open on Sunday for his first PGA Tour title when his playing partner, Bubba Watson, missed a 5-foot par putt on the final hole at T.P.C. Scottsdale.Stadler, the 33-year-old son of Craig Stadler, a 13-time PGA Tour winner with nine Champions Tour victories, closed with a three-under-par 68 for a total of 16-under 268 and a one-stroke victory over Watson and the Canadian Graham DeLaet.Kevin Stadler, making his 239th PGA Tour start, earned a spot in the Masters, a tournament his father won in 1982. The Stadlers are the tours ninth father-son winners and will be the first to play in the same Masters.Its going to be great for me because its really my last one, Craig Stadler said. I kept saying, When he gets in, thats my last one. He added: Im proud of him. Its awesome.Watson, the leader after the third round, finished with a 71 and remained winless since the 2012 Masters. DeLaet shot a 65.Stadler tied Watson for the lead with a par 3 on the 16th. Watson hit into the front left bunker on No. 16, and his 6-footer for par slid left of the hole. On the par-4 18th, Stadlers 110-yard approach put him 10 feet from the pin. Watson drove into the right rough and hammered his second shot over the green.Watson sent his third shot into the bank next to the green, and it went 5 feet past the hole. After Stadler missed his birdie try and tapped in for par, Watsons par putt missed to the left, ending the tournament.It was a little weird way to win a golf tournament, Stadler said. I fully expected him to make the putt. I would have rather made mine to win it.Phil Mickelson, a three-time winner of the event, closed with a 71 to tie for 42nd at three under. He showed no signs of the back pain that forced him to withdraw the previous weekend at Torrey Pines, and he plans to play this week at Pebble Beach.BACK-TO-BACK DUBAI TITLES Stephen Gallacher of Scotland became the first player to successfully defend the Dubai Desert Classic title, shooting a final-round 72 to defeat Emiliano Grillo of Argentina by one stroke in the United Arab Emirates.Gallacher, leading by two shots heading into the final round, bogeyed four of his opening eight holes. But he fought back with birdies on the 13th, 16th and 17th, finishing at par and winning the 25-year-old Dubai tournament with an overall 16-under 272. Rory McIlroy struggled with a 74 to finish tied for ninth, four shots behind, and top-ranked Tiger Woods (71) birdied his closing three holes for a share of 41st with a six-under 282. SOUTH KOREAN SURGES TO WIN Mi Hyang Lee of South Korea shot a nine-under 63, a course record, and edged the defending champion Lydia Ko by one stroke to win the Womens New Zealand Golf Open in Christchurch.Lee, ranked 256th, had an eagle and seven birdies as she leapt 20 places in the final round. Playing in her home country, Ko, ranked fourth, carded a two-under 70.

Sports

A low-profile group, financed by the pharmaceutical industry, has hired former union officials to oppose drug-price proposals around the country.Credit...Anna Moneymaker/The New York TimesDec. 3, 2019House Speaker Nancy Pelosis bill to lower drug prices has the backing of many of the nations biggest labor groups, including the United Auto Workers, the A.F.L.-C.I.O., and unions representing teachers and other government workers.But a wave of Facebook ads that ran this fall appeared to suggest otherwise. The ads, featuring a dejected-looking man in a hard hat, warned that the bill threatens thousands of good-paying jobs and restricts access to lifesaving medication.The ads were paid for by a little-known group, the Pharmaceutical Industry Labor-Management Association, that is trying to defeat drug-pricing proposals around the country, from statehouses in Nevada, Maryland and Oregon to Congress. The Facebook ads targeted 15 recently elected Democrats in Congress, including Harley Rouda of California and Andy Kim of New Jersey. The group, a coalition that includes major drugmakers like Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson as well as large construction-industry unions whose members help build pharmaceutical plants and research labs, has been buying print advertisements in local newspapers, mailing fliers to voters in vulnerable Democratic districts, and hiring former labor officials and well-known union lobbyists to deliver their message. It aligns closely with the talking points of drug companies, which claim that Ms. Pelosis bill would stifle innovation and damage a vital American industry.Even in the nations capital, where coalitions and dark-money groups are routinely used to repackage corporate interests in a more sympathetic light, the pairing of the drug industry and unions is an unusual one. Many unions, including some who are members of Pilma, help oversee their workers health plans and have an interest in lowering drug costs. And out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs are a financial strain on many Americans, including union members.Its really odd, said Representative Rob Nosse, a Democratic Oregon lawmaker who helped pass a drug-pricing transparency bill in 2018. Pilma, which opposes transparency bills, contending they expose proprietary information, hired the former political director of the regional chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to lobby for the group. Mr. Nosse said that he was surprised the unions health care experts didnt tell them, you know whats killing our health insurance? The cost of medications.The drug companies who are members either did not respond, or declined to comment.Tim Dickson, the executive director of Pilma, said the groups position was aimed at creating jobs for union workers. We place a premium on the partnership that yields jobs, he said. And we have a longstanding position that weve held for quite some time that certain policies, such as price controls, will have a negative effect on union construction jobs.Ms. Pelosis bill would require the federal government to negotiate the prices of insulin and as many as 250 other high-priced drugs on behalf of Medicare, and impose financial penalties if companies failed to comply.Although the bill is seen as unlikely to become law in its current form Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, has come out against it, as has the Trump administration the drug industry has fought hard against it. Its main lobbying group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, has called the bill devastating, and said it would lead to fewer new drugs coming to market.Some of the bills biggest backers are labor groups, including the national A.F.L.-C.I.O., some of whose members are part of Pilma. A spokesman for the federation declined to comment beyond pointing a reporter to its position supporting Ms. Pelosis bill.Other unions that support efforts to lower drug costs avoided criticizing labor groups, either declining to comment or choosing their words carefully. National Nurses United is really focused on the real culprits behind these outrageous drug prices, which is the pharmaceutical industry specifically, said Amirah Sequeira, the lead legislative advocate for the nurses union, which has not yet supported Ms. Pelosis bill because it believes it does not go far enough in lowering costs.In addition to Facebook ads, Pilma also mailed fliers to voters in swing districts like Mr. Kims in New Jersey, a state where the pharmaceutical industry plays a major role in the economy. The mailing warned that Ms. Pelosis bill would jeopardize 54,000 jobs in the state and would risk access to critical medicines. Mr. Kims office declined to comment.Among Pilmas members are unions that represent a range of building trades involved in manufacturing plants for pharmaceuticals, like sheet metal and iron workers, electrical workers, and plumbers and pipe-fitters. The International Union of Police Associations and the International Association of Fire Fighters are also members. According to Pilma, the pharmaceutical industry is responsible for 4.7 million jobs in the United States, including many highly skilled union jobs.A spokesman for the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, whose president, Joseph Sellers, Jr., is chair of Pilma, said that while the union supported expanding access to prescription drugs, it also relied on companies like drug makers to provide good-paying jobs. Without jobs to fund them, there are no health care plans in the first place, said the spokesman, Paul Pimentel.One of Pilmas members, the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, has been outspoken about its struggle to contain high drug prices one family covered by its health plan requires a drug that costs about $1.5 million a year per person.John T. Fultz, the international vice president for the Northeast States Section of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, declined to comment on the unions membership in Pilma but said that drug prices were a major concern. He is also the secretary of the boilermakers health and welfare fund, which oversees benefits along with the workers employers.Our concern is drug pricing, so we can afford the medications that our members need, Mr. Fultz said. If the cost of high-priced specialty drugs is not reined in, it will eventually break many plans.ImageCredit...Christopher Smith for The New York TimesAlexander Hertel-Fernandez, an assistant professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, said unions that form corporate alliances can wield considerable influence. Others said groups like Pilma can contribute to a broader sense that taking sides on a thorny issue like drug prices carries political risks.Union-management coalitions have been successful in the past in pressuring Democrats to moderate their policy agenda, especially on climate and environmental legislation, Mr. Hertel-Fernandez said in an email. When Democrats are hearing from powerful corporate interests and labor interests, its harder for them to resist.Pilma has had federal tax-exempt status since 2004 as a business association and is run out of the offices of a public relations firm, Groundswell Communications. Its executive director, Mr. Dickson, is the owner of Groundswell and a longtime grass-roots organizer for Democrats. Pilma had revenues of about $2.3 million in 2018, according to federal tax documents. Mr. Dickson said the pharmaceutical industry supplied the groups revenues, which he said was standard practice for coalitions between industry and unions.Union activists are the groups public face. Pilma has spent $465,000 on federal lobbying in the first three quarters of this year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and most of its lobbyists are former labor officials or have clients that include other unions. Pilmas positions hew closely to the views of the pharmaceutical industry. Pilma also opposes more moderate, bipartisan proposals like the one put forward this year by Senators Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, and Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon. It has also come out against a Trump administration proposal that would allow more importation of drugs from Canada and other countries.Mr. Dickson noted that the group had also supported laws favored by unions, such as one recently signed into law in Nevada, strengthening prevailing wage requirements for public construction projects.In 2017, when Nevada lawmakers were working on a bill to require drug makers to disclose insulin prices, Pilma hired Danny Thompson, who had just retired as head of the state A.F.L.-C.I.O., to work on its behalf. The groups presence generated some tension in the local labor world. The Nevada A.F.L.-C.I.O. wrote in a tweet that Pilma doesnt speak for NV labor, we do!I was very surprised, said Yvanna D. Cancela, a state senator. Ms. Cancela, who is the former political director of the states largest union, the Culinary Workers Union, said her insulin bill had the support of most of the states biggest unions and ultimately became law. Still, she said, it was an unexpected alliance. Mr. Thompson did not return calls for comment.In Maryland, Pilma neutralized some of the union support for a bill which has since become law that created a board that can limit payments for drugs on behalf of public sector employees. The states A.F.L.-C.I.O. did not take a position on the bill because Pilma and some individual unions opposed it, said Donna S. Edwards, the federations state president. If we have one union that is not on board with a decision, then were neutral, she said.We had hopes that A.F.L.-C.I.O. would endorse this right away, as other unions did, said Vincent DeMarco, the president of the Maryland Citizens Health Initiative. And then we saw that they were getting pushback from this Pilma group.[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]

Health

When the original video game was transcendental, can a sequel top it? Two Times reporters debate the answer.Credit...SonyJune 19, 2020Hardcore gamers and post-apocalyptica enthusiasts have waited years for a sequel to The Last of Us, an immersive video game set in a dark, dismal future after a fungus ravaged Earth and zombies have become the ruling class. The game unspooled through the lens of two unlikely companions: a hardened, Texan smuggler named Joel and a 14-year-old, streetwise girl named Ellie.The Last of Us Part II hits stores on Friday, when the studio Naughty Dog releases what is a winding, punishing follow-up that explores even more complex ideas and a richer character universe.Mike Isaac and Conor Dougherty, two New York Times reporters, spent weeks playing the game in the run up to release. They discussed their first impressions of the game.Mike: Let me start with something simple. Im a huge fan of the first game, which I thought was perfect as a stand-alone piece. The story was compelling, and the depth of the characters and their evolving relationships really felt about as powerful to me as any other part of the game. I enjoyed the narrative far beyond the shoot em up zombie killing.So I was a bit worried when I saw the sequel was coming, and that the game studio might be messing up a good thing. But after what felt like dozens of emotional, gut-wrenching hours playing Part II, Im glad they followed up.Character relationships have become richer, the games universe has expanded, and more complicated questions around morality, tribalism and vengeance are being asked of the characters and of ourselves.I left the game wiped, emotionally. But I do feel like it enriched my idea of what video games should be. I read your review and really dug it. But would you consider this game fun?Conor: If you find this fun in the traditional sense, youre twisted. But sad movies arent fun either, and I found the game interesting and worthwhile in that it told an effective story and expanded my sense of what big-budget games can do.Mike: Yeah, thats fair. I wont go too heavily into spoilers, but I appreciated some of the risks the studio decided to take here right from the get-go.The way they are willing to kill off characters made me feel a sense of, I dont know, unease? Like the world they inhabit is actually dangerous, and that no one is really safe. Kind of like what an actual zombie apocalypse might look like.I know you loved the first one. What struck you as the most novel thing about the sequel?Conor: How emotional it made me. At the end I was scared to finish because I was so worried what Ellie might do, and thats a feeling Ive never had in a game. It left me sad and exhausted, as you say, but you have to marvel at the storytelling.Mike: Agreed. It was a feeling few games really give me, which is why it felt like more than a game? I made the allusion to an interactive film, given the numerous cut-scenes and story development cinematics.One thing that really stuck with me was the level of detail and care they put into hammering home the points they were trying to make. In most games, for instance, murder costs nothing, and is often largely the point of playing. Take Call of Duty or some other shooter game where your goal is to just ratchet up the highest body count.Im not saying killing in this game isnt part of it. But each death takes an emotional toll on the character and, I would argue, on the player. They do this thing where when you kill a random enemy, one of their allies might cry out Steve! or Jill! or whatever. Its subtle, but gives an entire back story to someone that in other games might just be any old NPC (non-player character). And all it took was a name.Conor: That dog, man. That dog.Mike: Ugh. That tore me up. And you know how I am with dogs.Conor: Thats the riskiest thing this game does it makes you feel gross playing it.In the first game you kill things in defense of a child, which made me feel OK about all the gore. With this new one again, no spoilers its less about working toward a satisfying ending than it is seeing how someone else reacts to an event whose outcome you already know.The surprises are surprises of character and perspective, and I thought that was deep. Did you find yourself changing your feelings toward the Abby character, who youre supposed to hate at the beginning and feel more mixed about at the end?Mike: Yeah, totally. I was impressed with the way they were able to flip my feelings on their head, from the starting point of the story to the ending.My one big criticism of the game is its length; at points it felt interminable, and I almost found myself wanting the game to end precisely because it was a long slog of brutal violence and gore.ImageCredit...Brian Finke for The New York TimesBut the flip side of that is what they were able to accomplish with character development. We had already spent an entire game with the Ellie character in Part 1. I think, to some degree, we needed just as much time with Abby to really connect with her. And I think we did.Conor: And thats what makes these games so amazing: You spend so much time with these characters and unlike movies get to inhabit them, so the story unfolds in a way that feels really authentic, assuming you can handle the zombie killing. (BTW: We havent even talked about zombies.) Every medium has its pluses and minuses but the thing about games is they are immersive, and this one really got into me.Mike: Indeed. Well, heres to hoping that the next big-budget, highly anticipated game release can make us equally sad in the future.Thanks for the chat, my fellow gamer. Now go get to replaying TLOU2 again! You know you want to.Conor: Ill never forget it, but Im not sure I can do it again.

Tech

Credit...Lajos Soos/EPA, via ShutterstockNov. 20, 2018SKOPJE, Macedonia A former Macedonian prime minister who fled the country while facing a prison sentence on corruption charges claimed on Tuesday that he had been granted political asylum in Hungary.The former leader, Nikola Gruevski who ran the country as a strongman for a decade before being forced out of office in 2016 after nationwide protests had been sentenced to two years in prison for abusing the power of his office to purchase a luxury vehicle.He also faces several more serious charges, some stemming from a vast scandal involving hundreds of thousands of secretly recorded conversations in which top government officials were heard discussing crimes like rigging votes and covering up killings.American diplomats and European officials viewed his trial and conviction as a step forward in a region plagued by corruption and ethnic divisions. Macedonia aspires to join the European Union, and his trial was widely seen as sending a clear message that even the most powerful politicians could not act with impunity.The Hungarian government, which initially took nearly two days to confirm that Mr. Gruevski was in Budapest, did not respond to requests for comment on his claim of asylum. But a pro-government newspaper, Magyar Idk, reported that the Hungarian Immigration and Asylum Office had established that the legal conditions to grant him asylum had been met.The paper said that his case was heard on Nov. 12 by the authorities, who found there was a legitimate threat to Mr. Gruevskis life if he stayed in Macedonia, and that the local authorities could not provide the protection he required.Mr. Gruevski, in a lengthy post on Facebook, sought to portray himself as a victim.I have not fled from justice, but I have used internationally regulated methods to continue my quest for justice, he wrote. I have decided not to grant their wish to see me in prison, where, from what I have learned, I was to be eliminated, while they are taking the country apart.Macedonian government officials who were caught by surprise when Mr. Gruevski managed to flee the country and shocked that he would seek asylum in a European Union nation were aghast at reports that his bid had been accepted. They said there was no truth to his allegations.ImageCredit...Dimitar Dilkoff/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesThe Macedonian government had submitted a request on Monday that Mr. Gruevski be returned to the country. In public statements, American and European diplomats said that the trial had been fair and that he should face justice in Macedonia.Renata Deskoska, Macedonias justice minister, pointed out that asylum procedures usually take a considerable amount of time. If he really got an asylum, she said, it must have been done quite expediently for some reason.The government said in a statement that Mr. Gruevski had been convicted in a fair and transparent procedure and that he had never reported any threats for his life.The only reason why he escaped is to avoid justice, it said.Mr. Gruevskis choice of Hungary was not without irony: Under Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the country has instituted draconian measures to keep out refugees fleeing war and starvation.Mr. Orban also frequently says that no nation should interfere in other countries internal affairs, noted Edit Zgut, a foreign-policy analyst in Warsaw. But this is exactly what they have just done by giving asylum for a convicted politician, she said.While Mr. Orban has battled with Brussels on what it means to be a member of the European Union notably around immigration policy and rule-of-law issues his decision to grant asylum to a former political ally still came as a surprise to many.Macedonia is in the midst of one of the most trying times in its young existence as a nation. The government recently reached an agreement with Greece that would allow it to chart a course to join NATO. But to win Greek approval, it agreed to change its name, a highly divisive issue that stirs deep passions in both countries.Mr. Gruevskis escape spurred a host of conspiracy theories about how he was able to leave Macedonia on the eve of going to prison, including speculation that he had dressed as a woman to flee across the border, that he had the assistance of the secret services of foreign countries, and even that he had been kidnapped.In the end, it appears that his escape was less dramatic, if still complex.According to the authorities in Macedonia, Hungary and other neighboring countries, it appears that he was able to escape into neighboring Albania and despite his passport being confiscated travel with his own identification card with the help of the Hungarian diplomatic network to Montenegro, Serbia and, finally, Hungary.

World

Health|American Medical Association Opposes Republican Health Planhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/health/american-medical-association-opposes-republican-health-plan.htmlCredit...Tristan Spinski for The New York TimesMarch 8, 2017The American Medical Association, a powerful lobbying group representing the nations doctors, announced on Wednesday that it opposed the House Republicans proposed legislation to replace the federal health care law, saying it was concerned the bill would result in millions of Americans losing coverage and benefits.The group, which provided crucial support for the Obama administrations contentious health care legislation before it was enacted in 2010, also sent a letter to the two House committees responsible for drafting the Republicans bill, called the American Health Care Act. The groups concerns echoed some others raised this week among industry organizations like hospital groups worried about the possible losses of coverage that could result from the proposed legislation that was released on Monday.All of the major hospital groups, including the American Hospital Association, also came out against the bill. We are very concerned that the draft legislative proposal being considered by the House committees could lead to tremendous instability for those seeking affordable coverage, the hospitals said in a letter to Congress. The hospitals also raised concerns about Republicans plans to significantly alter Medicaid, which they said could result in a loss of coverage and cuts to health care services.The doctors main concern focused on the Republicans replacement of the subsidies now available to millions of low-income Americans with a flat tax credit for low- and middle-income people that is adjusted by a persons age. The A.M.A. emphasized the need for the credits to be sufficient to enable one to afford quality coverage, but it also emphasized that the credits should be closely tied to an individuals income as a way of covering more people and being a better use of taxpayer money. The doctors also voiced their opposition to the proposed rollback of Medicaid.Even as the Republicans seemingly rush to pass a bill that would undo much of the current law, the doctors and hospitals urged them to be careful about whatever changes they made. The Congressional Budget Office has not yet weighed in with estimates of how many people the new legislation will cover and what the cost of the plan might be.As you consider this legislation over the coming days and weeks, we hope that you will keep upmost in your mind the potentially life altering impact your decisions will have on millions of Americans who may see their public, individual or even employer-provided health care coverage changed or eliminated, wrote Dr. James L. Madara, the associations chief executive.The A.M.A. had earlier endorsed Dr. Tom Price as President Trumps choice to head the Department of Health and Human Services, provoking a split with rank-and-file doctors and nurses who opposed his nomination.

Health

Credit...David Rubinger/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMarch 2, 2017JERUSALEM His first camera, an Argus, was a parting gift from a French girlfriend he met while serving with the British Army in Europe in 1945. She gave it to him as he boarded a train on his way back to his adopted home in Palestine. That, he said later, was when his lifelong love affair with photography began.For more than six decades, David Rubinger, an Austrian-born photojournalist, chronicled the birth of the modern state of Israel, its leaders, its triumphs, its tragedies and its people. He died overnight at his home in Jerusalem, his family said on Thursday. He was 92.David eternalized history as it will be forever etched in our memories, Reuven Rivlin, the president of Israel and a friend of Mr. Rubingers, said in a statement.After freelancing and working for local Israeli publications, Mr. Rubinger got his break as an international photographer in the 1950s, when he was asked to shoot photos for an article that was published in Life magazine. He later shot mostly for Time, an association that lasted more than 50 years.Mr. Rubinger is best known for what he called his signature image of Israeli paratroopers gazing up at the Western Wall in Jerusalems Old City on June 7, 1967, just minutes after it had been captured from Jordan during the Arab-Israeli War. Mr. Rubinger recalled that he had to lie down in the narrow space between the wall and some houses to shoot it, then rushed home to develop the film.In a rash moment of generosity amid the euphoria of victory, he snipped off a negative and gave it to an army spokesman, who promptly handed it to the Israeli Government Press Office. In his 2007 autobiography, Israel Through My Lens, written with Ruth Corman, Mr. Rubinger recalled that the press office in turn made prints and started distributing them to all and sundry for a dollar apiece.ImageCredit...Jim Hollander/European Pressphoto AgencyIn retrospect, Mr. Rubinger said, he did not think it was a great photograph. He preferred one he took of the military chief rabbi, Shlomo Goren, blowing the shofar by the wall while being held aloft on the shoulders of troops.He wrote of the Western Wall picture, What made it significant were the circumstances under which it was taken, and it was this that caused it to emerge as the symbol with which so many people identify.A courteous man, Mr. Rubinger could nevertheless be fierce in fighting to protect his copyright of the image, having practically given it away to the press office. He said, however, that without the photos wide distribution, his international reputation might not have spread so rapidly.He was also known for his intimate portraits of Israels leaders, some in tender moments with their spouses or in their homes. He later revealed one trick of the trade: He always made sure to take a few extra photos of the leaders with their security guards in the frame, then sent the guards copies, ensuring good access the next time.David Rubinger was born in Vienna on June 29, 1924, the only child of the former Anna Kahane and Kalman Rubinger. His father was a scrap metal dealer, his mother a housekeeper.After Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938, Kalman Rubinger was picked up off the street and sent to the Dachau concentration camp and later to another, Buchenwald. He was released in early 1939 and made his way to England, with a permit obtained by a sister there. David and his mother remained in Vienna.As a teenager, David became active in Hashomer Hatzair, a Zionist socialist youth movement. In 1939 he was chosen under a youth quota system to immigrate to what was then British-controlled Palestine, which he called Eretz, Hebrew for Land. There he joined a kibbutz. Three years after he left Austria, his mother was deported by the Nazis to a camp in Belarus and perished there.ImageCredit...David Rubinger/The LIFE Images Collection, via Getty ImagesAt 18, with World War II underway, Mr. Rubinger enlisted in the British Army. He went on to serve in North Africa and Europe. As part of a newly formed Jewish Brigade, he also helped smuggle Jews to Palestine.During those years he met Claudette Vadrot, the Frenchwoman who gave him the Argus. He bought his next camera, a Leica, in 1946, in postwar Germany paying for it, he said, with 200 cigarettes and a kilo of coffee.That same year, in Germany, he married his first cousin, Anni Reisler. It was supposed to be a fictitious marriage of convenience, to get Ms. Reisler out of Germany and into Palestine. It soon turned into a real marriage, if a tempestuous one. The couple moved to Jerusalem and had two children, Tamar and Amnon. Anni Rubinger died in 2000.Mr. Rubinger is survived by his two children, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.He fought in Jerusalem in the 1948 war over Israels creation, then put down his gun and joined the Israeli Armys maps and photography services unit, which was supposed to help provide intelligence.Developing his first photographs in a makeshift darkroom in the bathroom of his tiny apartment, he got his first job as a photojournalist with Haolam Hazeh (This World), an anti-establishment Israeli publication.In 1997, Mr. Rubinger was awarded the Israel Prize, his countrys highest honor.Meticulous about recording and cataloging his thousands of images, Mr. Rubinger eventually sold his personal archive to Yediot Aharonot, a leading Israeli newspaper, where he was also briefly employed in the 1950s.Yet he continued to photograph, taking his camera everywhere. Even in old age he rarely put it down.

World

Middle East|Suicide Bombers Kill Dozens at Wedding Party in Iraqhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/09/world/middleeast/iraq-tikrit-isis-wedding-party.htmlMarch 9, 2017BAGHDAD Suicide bombers struck a village north of Baghdad as a wedding party gathered in the evening, killing at least 26 people and wounding scores, a government spokesman said on Thursday.The assault began late Wednesday when an assailant wearing an explosives-laden belt walked into the wedding party at an open area in Hajaj, near the city of Tikrit, about 120 miles north of Baghdad.After the bomber detonated his explosives and people scrambled to help the wounded, a second assailant blew himself up at the scene, Ali al-Hamdani, a provincial spokesman, told The Associated Press.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, which wounded an estimated 67 people, but suspicion has already fallen on the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL.ImageCredit...Zohra Bensemra/ReutersThe wedding party was being held for a family that had been displaced from Anbar Province, which is in western Iraq and is home to a tribe that opposes the Islamic State group.Islamic State militants captured Tikrit during its blitz across Iraq in the summer of 2014, when the group seized nearly a third of the country.Iraqi forces drove the militants from Tikrit in April 2015, but the Islamic State has continued to stage deadly attacks in and around the city.It uses such assaults to distract from its losses as government forces try to retake all of Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city, from militant control.

World

DealBook|Morgan Stanley to Pay $225 Million Settlement Over Mortgage Securitieshttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/11/business/dealbook/morgan-stanley-to-pay-225-million-settlement-over-mortgage-securities.htmlDec. 10, 2015Morgan Stanley will pay $225 million to settle lawsuits related to its sale of faulty mortgage-backed securities to five now-defunct corporate credit unions.The bank reached the settlement with the National Credit Union Administration without admitting fault, the N.C.U.A. said in a statement Thursday.The N.C.U.A. filed the suits in 2013, going after several of Wall Streets biggest banks to recover after the collapse of the credit unions, which it said at the time created the biggest crisis in the credit union industrys history. The suits targeted 10 banks over their sale of $2.4 billion in mortgage bonds to the credit unions. It has settled several cases since then.In October, Barclays agreed to pay $325 million and Wachovia, which is now a part of Wells Fargo & Company, $53 million. In September, the Royal Bank of Scotland agreed to pay $129 million.The credition union administration still has suits over the sale of mortgage products against Goldman Sachs, UBS and Credit Suisse.The actions promote accountability and ensure consumers remain protected, said Debbie Matz, chairwoman of the N.C.U.A.A Morgan Stanley spokesman declined to comment.

Business

Credit...Gilles Sabri for The New York TimesMarch 17, 2017BEIJING Last year, Indian yoga made Unescos list. In 2011, South Koreas taekkyeon became the first martial art so honored.So why cant Chinese tai chi win similar international recognition?That is the question on Yan Shuangjuns mind as the annual deadline approaches for nominations to Unescos Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list, established by the United Nations agency to celebrate and protect the worlds cultural diversity. For the past decade, Mr. Yan has lobbied for the inclusion of tai chi, a centuries-old martial art that combines flowing movements with deep breathing and meditation.Through tai chi, one can understand Chinese culture, from medicine to literature, from philosophy to art, said Mr. Yan, who heads the Tai Chi Unesco Heritage Application Group in Wen County, Henan Province, widely thought to be the martial arts birthplace.As much as tai chi advocates and fans insist that it embodies unique aspects of Chinese culture, they fear that if China does not secure it a Unesco listing, other countries might move ahead with their own variants. It would not be the first time, they say.Although tai chi may have its roots in self-defense, in recent years it has gained broad popularity as a therapeutic exercise, promoting physical fitness while reducing stress. Across China and beyond, its practitioners can be seen gathered in parks and other public spaces, moving slowing in unison through prescribed routines.But that very popularity is adding to its advocates concerns. During the recently concluded session of the National Peoples Congress, a delegate from Henan, Zhang Liyong, stressed the urgency of the matter.Both South Korea and Japan are competing with us to get tai chi registered, Mr. Zhang told reporters. Especially South Korea. Some people there are claiming tai chi was invented by Koreans. And since South Korea has already registered the Dragon Boat Festival as theirs, we should be alarmed.Chinas Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the ancient poet Qu Yuan with boat races and a public holiday. When Unesco added South Koreas Gangneung Danoje Festival to its list in 2008, some Chinese objected that it was derived from the Dragon Boat Festival and accused the United Nations of endorsing Koreans appropriation of Chinese culture. The Chinese festival was accepted in 2009.Recognition confers prestige rather than a monetary prize. But that prestige means a lot to Mr. Yan. So far, he has not heard whether the Chinese government will nominate tai chi, and he says he is getting anxious. The deadline is March 31.No news is bad news, he said.When China drew up its own national intangible cultural heritage list in 2006, tai chi was on it. And in 2008, tai chi was among Chinas 35 nominations to Unesco. But Mr. Yan and his associates were told that Unesco found the application too vague. They were asked to revise and resubmit it.They withdrew it, hoping to offer it for consideration the next year. But then the rules changed. No country could submit more than two candidates. Tai chi was shut out when China nominated Peking opera and acupuncture, both of which won Unesco recognition.Since then, Mr. Yan lamented, tai chi has never stood out on the long list of Chinese heritage items waiting for inclusion.Among the items that have won Unesco recognition for China in recent years are shadow puppetry and mathematical calculations based on the abacus.The nominations are submitted to Unesco by the Ministry of Cultures intangible cultural heritage center. Reached by telephone, a researcher at the center, who declined to give her name, said it would not be convenient to discuss which candidates would be put forward this year.Zhang Jian, a 57-year-old tai chi master in Beijing, said it would be a shame if tai chi failed again to be nominated.When people talk about kung fu, they usually think of the Shaolin Temple, Mr. Zhang said, referring to the temple and its monks in Dengfeng County, Henan Province, popularized in martial arts movies. But Shaolin kung fu is more about performance. Tai chi is different. Its all about personal practice and deserves more attention.Mr. Yan said he would keep up the campaign to win wider global recognition for Chinese tai chi.Compared with many other aspects of Chinese culture, tai chi is relatively practical and could help China expand its soft power, he said. Even our astronauts practiced tai chi, so weve already made it into outer space!

World

Credit...Yana Paskova for The New York TimesMarch 20, 2017After learning he had early stage prostate cancer, Paul Kolnik knew he wanted that cancer destroyed immediately and with as little disruption as possible to his busy life as the New York City Ballets photographer.So Mr. Kolnik, 65, chose a type of radiation treatment that is raising some eyebrows in the prostate cancer field. It is more intense than standard radiation and takes much less time five sessions over two weeks instead of 40 sessions over about two months or 28 sessions over five to six weeks.The newer therapy is surging in popularity, but no one knows whether it is as effective in curing prostate cancer, or how its side effects compare.The rise of short-course radiation is an example of the evidentiary blind spots that bedevil the treatment of prostate cancer. It is second only to lung cancer in men, striking 180,000 patients a year. But treatments for lung cancer, and for other common cancers like those of the breast and colon, have been evaluated in randomized clinical trials more often than those for prostate cancer.The number of men getting the short, intense treatment, called stereotactic body radiation therapy, or S.B.R.T., more than doubled to 1,886 in 2013 from 716 in 2007, according to the most recent Medicare data. The number of men getting standard radiation therapy fell over that same time period, according to Medicare, to 47,512 from 66,549.The National Cancer Institute has just agreed to fund a clinical trial that researchers hope will settle which treatment is better. It will randomly assign 538 men to have either a short course of five intense radiation sessions over two weeks or 28 treatments over five and a half weeks, comparing outcomes for quality of life as well as disease-free survival.But it will be at least eight years before the answers are in. In the meantime, men and their doctors are left with uncertainty.Ideally, we want to show five treatments is better, said Dr. Rodney J. Ellis, a radiation oncologist at Case Comprehensive Cancer Center in Cleveland and the principal investigator for the trial.One reason for the dearth of data is that prostate cancer usually grows slowly, if at all, so it can take many years to see if a treatment saved lives. It is expensive and difficult to follow patients for such a long time, and the treatments given to the men often change over a decade, making doctors wonder if the results are relevant.Also, researchers who have tried to conduct studies comparing treatments often failed because specialists were already convinced that the method they used was best and were reluctant to assign men to other treatments. Dr. Ian Thompson of the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, said he was involved with several clinical trials that withered for that reason.When clinical trials succeed, though, they can provide important information. For example, a recent one showed that hormone-blocking drugs can prolong life for men whose prostate cancer recurs after surgery to remove the prostate.The researchers on the new study think recruitment will not be a major problem because they are comparing different courses of radiation, rather than entirely different approaches for example, surgical removal of the prostate versus implantation of radioactive seeds in the prostate. A study to investigate those two approaches closed because investigators were able to enroll only 20 patients, Dr. Thompson said.For men, quality of life is often pivotal in choosing a treatment, weighing which possible side effects sound worse: with surgery, urinary incontinence and impotence; or, with radiation, bowel problems including diarrhea and rectal leakage, and impotence. With the shorter radiation treatment, there is also a possibility that scarring can block the urethra, an effect that might not emerge until years after the treatment.In the absence of a broad base of solid evidence, men often make decisions based on personal preferences or on the advice of a trusted doctor. Like Mr. Kolnik, some want as short a recuperation as possible and find the newer kind of radiation treatment appealing.But prostate cancer specialists worry about the lack of data.Dr. James Yu, a radiation oncologist at Yale, who will lead the quality of life assessment for the new clinical trial, says crucial unanswered questions are, How fast can you give it and how fast is too fast?Very high dose radiation was studied in the treatment of lung cancer, said Dr. Anthony V. DAmico, a radiation oncologist at Brigham and Womens Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. For lung cancer patients with small tumors that are not near sensitive structures, like large blood vessels, it appears to be just as curative as surgery.But lung cancer is easier to treat because, with properly selected patients, doctors can avoid sensitive tissues all the oncologist has to worry about is hitting the cancer.Not so with prostate cancer.The urethra is within the prostate and the bladder neck is literally touching to top of the prostate, Dr. DAmico said. Also, the rectum is directly behind the prostate. Radiation can damage those other tissues, he said.Injuries to the urethra and bladder neck might not show up until five or 10 years after the treatment, Dr. DAmico noted. Those structures can scar and close, limiting the flow of urine. It also can take years before rectal scarring produces symptoms like bleeding.A few years ago, Dr. Yu and his colleagues looked at Medicare data and reported that men who had more intense radiation therapy were more likely to have urinary problems after two years than those who had the longer-course therapy.Dr. Yu noted that his study was not a randomized trial, the gold standard, but he said the results were not reassuring. Now, though, he is not so sure the intense therapy is worse.In my own experience, these men have done really well, he said. That tells us that techniques improved, or the medical claims we evaluated were not indicative of major toxicity, or the way we and others at high-volume centers deliver radiotherapy is different.The lack of solid data bothers Dr. Daniel W. Lin, chief of urologic oncology at the University of Washington. When men ask him about the shorter radiation course, he tells them, It probably can work but it doesnt have long-term results and it hasnt been tested against standard radiation.At centers like Sloan Kettering, doctors are relying on their own experience.Dr. Michael J. Zelefsky, a radiation oncologist who treated Mr. Kolnik there, said that several years ago, 90 percent of his patients had the standard course of treatment. Now 90 percent choose the shorter course. On the basis of Sloan Ketterings experience with several hundred men who had the intense radiation therapy over the past three years, the treatment, he said, is emerging as a very exciting form of therapy.Mr. Kolnik is more than satisfied.During his treatment, he said, I totally kept up with my schedule. He did not even tell anyone other than a few close friends that he was having radiation therapy.The treatment begins and it finishes before you even realize it, Mr. Kolnik said.

Health

Kim Kardashian Peek-a-Boob!!! 1/29/2018 The only thing coming between Kim Kardashian and her fur coat is ... absolutely nothing. Kim fully exposed her right breast while posing in the fur, partially anyway. She applied the blur, don't blame us. Not sure what her endgame is here -- she didn't caption the pic -- but it might have something to do with her hair. She debuted her Bo Derek-esque braids over the weekend, and got some flak for cultural appropriation. If you're Kim, and you wanna distract people ... this is a great way to do it. What braids?? Boobs!!

Entertainment

Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesJune 17, 2018WASHINGTON Leading figures of both parties demanded on Sunday that President Trump halt his administrations practice of separating children from their parents when apprehended at the border, as the issue further polarized the already divisive immigration debate in Washington.Republican lawmakers, the former first lady Laura Bush, a conservative newspaper and a onetime adviser to Mr. Trump joined Democrats in condemning family separations that have removed nearly 2,000 children from their parents in just six weeks. The administration argued that it was just enforcing the law, a false assertion that Mr. Trump has made repeatedly.The issue took on special resonance on Fathers Day as Democratic lawmakers visited detention facilities in Texas and New Jersey to protest the separations and the House prepared to take up immigration legislation this week. Pictures of children warehoused without their parents in facilities, including a converted Walmart store, have inflamed passions and put the administration on the defensive.Mr. Trump did not directly address the family separations on Sunday, saying only that Democrats should work with Republicans on border security legislation. Dont wait until after the election because you are going to lose! he wrote on Twitter.But Melania Trump weighed in, saying she hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together. Mrs. Trump believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with a heart, the first ladys office said in a statement.By laying responsibility for the situation on both sides, Mrs. Trump effectively echoed her husbands assertion that it was the result of a law written by Democrats. In fact, the administration announced a zero tolerance approach this spring, leading to the separations.Mrs. Bush, the last Republican first lady, spoke out forcefully against the practice on Sunday in a rare foray into domestic politics, comparing it to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. I live in a border state, she wrote in a guest column in The Washington Post. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart.She attributed the situation entirely to the administration. The reason for these separations is a zero tolerance policy for their parents, who are accused of illegally crossing our borders, she wrote.Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, deplored separations on Sunday, except in cases where there is evidence of abuse or another good reason.What the administration has decided to do is to separate children from their parents to try to send a message that, if you cross the border with children, your children are going to be ripped away from you, she said on Face the Nation on CBS. That is traumatizing to the children, who are innocent victims. And it is contrary to our values in this country.Former President Bill Clinton likewise spoke out, suggesting that Mr. Trump was using the widely denounced practice to leverage Democrats into accepting immigration limits in legislation they would otherwise oppose.These children should not be a negotiating tool, he wrote on Twitter. And reuniting them with their families would reaffirm Americas belief in & support for all parents who love their children.Hillary Clinton retweeted that message, adding, YES!Contrary to the presidents public statements, no law requires families to necessarily be separated at the border. Attorney General Jeff Sessionss zero tolerance announcement this spring that the government will prosecute all unlawful immigrants as criminals set up a situation in which children are removed when their parents are taken into federal custody.Previous administrations made exceptions to such prosecutions for adults traveling with minor children, but the Trump administration has said it will not do so. While the president has blamed Democrats, his senior adviser, Stephen Miller, told The New York Times last week that it was a simple decision by the administration to have a zero tolerance policy for illegal entry, period.But Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security, rejected responsibility for the separations in a series of tweets on Sunday. We do not have a policy of separating families at the border, she wrote. Period.She distinguished between asylum seekers who try to enter the country at designated points of entry and those who arrive at other parts of the border. For those seeking asylum at ports of entry, we have continued the policy from previous Administrations and will only separate if the child is in danger, there is no custodial relationship between family members, or if the adult has broken a law, she wrote.But there have been reports of people arriving at the ports of entry asking for asylum and being taken into custody, and some of the designated ports are not accepting asylum claims. In those cases, migrants sometimes cross wherever they can and, because it is not an official border station, are detained even though they are making a claim of asylum. Many would-be asylum applicants do not know where official ports of entry are.The administration approach has drawn a cascade of criticism in recent days. Michael V. Hayden, who was C.I.A. director for President George W. Bush, posted a picture of a Nazi concentration camp on Saturday and wrote, Other governments have separated mothers and children. The Rev. Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham and a defender of Mr. Trump, called the family separations disgraceful.The furor over the separation policy seemed to grow even as the president planned to meet with House Republicans on Tuesday in advance of votes on immigration legislation that has divided his party. Two competing bills are headed to the floor, a hard-line immigration measure that is expected to go down, and a compromise version crafted by the House Republican leadership.Mr. Trump has confused his allies in the House with conflicting signals about his preferences. At one point on Friday, he said he would not sign the moderate bill embraced by the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, only to have the White House later contradict that by saying the president had been confused.With the fate of the legislation uncertain, Democrats are trying to focus attention on the separation policy as an example of what they call Mr. Trumps extremist approach to immigration. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California has collected 43 Democratic sponsors for legislation to limit family separations.Senators Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland led a group of Democratic lawmakers to a detention facility in Brownsville, Tex., on Sunday but were not allowed to talk with children held there. Seven House Democrats visited a detention facility in Elizabeth, N.J., and said they were blocked for nearly two hours before being allowed to see parents separated from their children.Some Republican lawmakers in recent days have pushed Mr. Trump to reverse or modify the family separation policy by giving new instructions to the Department of Homeland Security.President Trump could stop this policy with a phone call, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and often an ally and golfing partner of the presidents, said on CNN on Friday. Ill go tell him. If you dont like families being separated, you can tell D.H.S. stop doing it.Anthony Scaramucci, who served briefly as White House communications director last year, said separating children from their families is not the Christian way or the American way, and made clear he thinks Mr. Trump can end it on his own. The President can reverse it and I hope he does, he wrote on Twitter.The conservative editorial page of The New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdochs News Corporation, agreed on Sunday. Its not just that this looks terrible in the eyes of the world, it wrote. It is terrible.Mr. Trump has said in recent days that Democrats should agree to his panoply of immigration measures, including full financing for a border wall and revamping the system of legal entry to the country, in effect making clear that any legislation addressing family separation must also include his priorities.A top adviser to Mr. Trump said on Sunday that the president was not using the family separation as leverage to force Democrats to come to the table on other policy disputes, rebutting an unnamed White House official quoted by The Washington Post.As a mother, as a Catholic, as somebody who has got a conscience, and wouldnt say the junk that somebody said, apparently, allegedly, I will tell you that nobody likes this policy, Kellyanne Conway, the White House counselor, said on Meet the Press on NBC. You saw the president on camera that he wants this to end, but everybody has, Congress has to act.

Politics

It also will create a $100 million fund to pay them. A judges decision in a higher-profile fight with Epic Games, a leading video game maker, is still pending.Credit...Brooks Kraft/Apple, via ShutterstockPublished Aug. 26, 2021Updated Oct. 8, 2021Apple, in a legal settlement announced on Thursday with a group of app developers, said it would allow developers to urge customers to pay them outside their iPhone apps.The move would allow app makers to avoid paying Apple a commission on their sales and could appease developers and regulators concerned with its control over mobile apps, including strict policies designed to force developers to pay it a cut of their sales.The settlement appears to be a small price to pay for the worlds richest company to avoid another extended legal fight that could have posed major risks to its business by targeting the iPhone App Store. In practice, some major companies, such as Spotify, already push their customers to evade Apples commissions.Apple is still awaiting a decision from a federal judge in a separate lawsuit that was filed by Epic Games, the maker of the popular game Fortnite, and that seeks to force Apple to allow app developers to avoid App Store commissions altogether. Consumers, too, have sued Apple over its app commissions, in a case that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed to go forward in federal court and that is seeking class-action status.Under the new settlement, Apple also said it would create a $100 million fund for payouts to small app developers and agreed to not raise the commission rate for small developers, which it reduced last year to 15 percent from 30 percent, for at least three years.In a briefing with reporters, an Apple executive said it was a major concession for Apple to allow developers to tell customers, via email and other channels, about alternative payment methods. Apple will still bar developers from telling customers inside their iPhone apps about other ways to pay.The Apple executive added that Thursdays settlement showed that small app developers were mostly fine with maintaining the current App Store policies, including the reduced commission. Larger developers, which pay the higher rate, continue to complain, however.Apple restricted reporters from naming the Apple executive or quoting her directly.Some companies already push customers toward other ways to pay. Spotify, for example, has long blocked customers from signing up for subscriptions to its music service in its app and it has at times advertised this. Apples decision on Thursday appears to remove a rule that it was already selectively enforcing.Steve Berman, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in the suit, which sought class-action status, said, We truly are proud that a case brought by two developers, standing in the shoes of tens of thousands of U.S. iOS developers, could help to bring about so much important change.The Coalition for App Fairness, a group of companies that are fighting to change Apples App Store policies, said in a statement that the agreement was a sham settlement designed to appease courts, regulators and lawmakers.This offer does nothing to address the structural, foundational problems facing all developers, large and small, undermining innovation and competition in the app ecosystem, said the group, which includes Epic Games, Spotify and Match Group. Allowing developers to communicate with their customers about lower prices outside of their apps is not a concession and further highlights Apples total control over the app marketplace.In the settlement, Apple also agreed to publish an annual report on the number of apps it rejects or removes from its App Store, as well as data on its search results. The New York Times reported in 2019 that Apple had been favoring its own apps over rivals in search results. Apple agreed in the settlement to ensure that its search results will continue to be based on objective characteristics for at least three more years.The settlement is subject to approval by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the same judge who is presiding over the Epic Games and consumer suits against Apple.Developers who made less than $1 million a year in the App Store from June 2015 through April 2021 are eligible for payouts between $250 to $30,000 each from Apples proposed $100 million fund, according to the plaintiffs lawyers.Separately on Thursday, Apple said it would also allow news organizations to pay the reduced 15 percent commission on subscriptions sold through their iPhone apps, but only if they participated in Apples news service, Apple News. The Times and some other news organizations have pulled out of Apple News in recent years because, they said, it took control of their relationship with readers and potential subscribers.

Tech

Credit...Tyrone Siu/ReutersMarch 7, 2017BANGKOK North Korea said Tuesday that it was barring all Malaysians from leaving the country until there was a fair settlement of a dispute over the assassination in Kuala Lumpur of Kim Jong-nam, the half brother of North Koreas leader.Malaysia responded in kind, with Prime Minister Najib Razak instructing the police to prevent all North Koreans from leaving Malaysia until he was assured of the safety of Malaysians in North Korea.The developments were a drastic escalation in the diplomatic dispute over Mr. Kims killing. The Malaysian police have said that several North Koreans are suspects.This abhorrent act, effectively holding our citizens hostage, is in total disregard of all international law and diplomatic norms, Mr. Najib said of North Koreas action.Mr. Najib convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council in the evening.In its statement on Tuesday, North Korea said it would temporarily ban the exit of Malaysian citizens until the safety of North Korean diplomats and citizens in Malaysia is fully guaranteed through the fair settlement of the case that occurred in Malaysia, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.It was unclear what resolution to the Kim case North Korea was seeking. But it has rejected the findings of the Malaysian police that Mr. Kim was poisoned by VX nerve agent at the Malaysian capitals international airport on Feb. 13, and it has demanded that his body be handed over to the North Korean Embassy.The Malaysian police want to question several North Koreans in the case, including a diplomat.Malaysian officials said there were 11 Malaysians in the North who could be affected by the North Korean ban, including embassy staff members, their family and two workers for the United Nations.After the security council meeting, Mr. Najib posted on his Twitter account: I know that the family and friends of our fellow Malaysians detained in North Korea are anxiously anticipating news of their loved ones. He added in a second posting: You can rest assured that we are doing our very best to secure their safe return.About 1,000 North Koreans are believed to live and work in Malaysia; until Monday, they had been allowed to enter the country without a visa.As a peace-loving nation, Malaysia is committed to maintaining friendly relations with all countries, Mr. Najib said on Tuesday. However, protecting our citizens is my first priority, and we will not hesitate to take all measures necessary when they are threatened.Mr. Kim, the elder half brother of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, was killed when two women rubbed poison on his face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the Malaysian police said. The women, one from Vietnam and one from Indonesia, have been arrested and charged with murder.The Malaysian police, who conducted an autopsy of Mr. Kims body over North Koreas objections, concluded that he had been poisoned by VX nerve agent, a banned chemical weapon known to be in North Koreas arsenal. North Korea has suggested that he died of heart failure and accused Malaysia of working with other countries to defame North Korea.Once it denied responsibility for the assassination, North Korea had no option but to push back in a tit-for-tat escalation, Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, South Korea, said on Tuesday. Offense is the best defense for the North.Preventing the Malaysians from leaving North Korea would also give the government continuing leverage over Malaysia. If the Malaysians had been free to leave, Malaysia could have broken off diplomatic relations without any significant political cost.That would have led to the closing of the North Korean Embassy, with at least one suspect who has taken refuge there no longer safe from arrest.The suspect, Kim Uk-il, an employee of the state-owned North Korean airline, Air Koryo, could be arrested if the embassy were closed. A second suspect who the police say may be hiding at the embassy, Ri Ji-u, also known as James, would also be subject to arrest.A third suspect, Hyon Kwang-song, a second secretary at the embassy, has diplomatic immunity and could not be arrested.If we break diplomatic ties, then all the embassy staff have to leave Malaysia, but the staff with diplomatic immunity at the time of the offense is still safe and must be allowed to leave, said Sivananthan Nithyanantham, a Malaysian lawyer who has served as counsel at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The airline worker then loses his sanctuary and will be liable to arrest.The police are seeking seven North Korean men in connection with Mr. Kims killing. The other four are believed to have returned to North Korea.Khalid Abu Bakar, Malaysias top police official, confirmed at a news conference on Tuesday that at least two suspects had taken refuge at the North Korean Embassy and that North Korea had refused a request to hand them over.The North Korean authorities are not cooperating with us in this investigation, he said.He said the police would wait as long as necessary to arrest Mr. Kim, the airline employee, and Mr. Ri, if he is there.If it takes five years, we will wait outside, he said. Definitely somebody will come out.North Korea has denied responsibility for the killing and has not acknowledged that the victim was Kim Jong-nam.Lim Kit Siang, a leader of Malaysias opposition Democratic Action Party, called on Parliament to adopt an emergency motion condemning what he called North Koreas hostage terrorism and urging the North Koreans to let the Malaysians leave.North Koreas statement on Tuesday described the exit ban as temporary. But the North Korean government has been accused of playing hostage politics before, partly to complicate negotiations over its nuclear arms and missile development. In 2014, North Korea said it would reopen an investigation into Japanese citizens it was accused of abducting during the Cold War, but it halted that inquiry last year in retaliation for sanctions imposed by Japan over a rocket launch.Duyeon Kim, a Seoul-based nonresident fellow at Georgetown Universitys Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, said on Tuesday that North Korea was playing dirty and not diplomatically, apparently hoping this might force Malaysia to reverse its findings about Mr. Kims killing.Malaysia, however, showed every intention of pressing ahead with its contention that VX nerve agent had been used in the Kim assassination.On Tuesday, the Malaysians presented their formal report about their findings to the executive council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the group based in The Hague that monitors compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Malaysia has signed.In a statement to the executive council, Malaysia noted that it did not produce, stockpile, import, export or use VX or any other such chemical weapon.Malaysia strongly condemns the use of such a chemical by anyone, anywhere and under any circumstances, the statement said. Its use at a public place could have endangered the general public.North Korea, which has not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention, is believed to have a large stockpile of VX despite its denials.Tuesdays developments follow the tit-for-tat expulsion of ambassadors between the two countries. Kang Chol, North Koreas ambassador to Malaysia, was expelled on Monday over what Malaysia considered to be insulting comments. North Korea responded by formally expelling Malaysias ambassador, Mohamad Nizan Mohamad, though he had already been recalled to Malaysia for consultations.

World

Africa|Jacob Zuma Beats Back Impeachment Drive in South Africahttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/06/world/africa/jacob-zuma-impeachment-south-africa.htmlVideotranscripttranscriptSouth African Impeachment Trial DelayedSouth African lawmakers on Tuesday questioned who should lead the debate over impeaching President Jacob G. Zuma. A court ruled that he had misused state funds for his private home.4. (SOUNDBITE)(English) DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, JOHN STEENHUISEN, SAYING (PART OVER SHOTS OF PARLIAMENT MEMBERS): I submit, madame Speaker, that you were the first respondent in the matter that served before the Constitutional Court last week, you are therefore, if I may use the term, party to the crime that took place and I would, I would ask you, madame Speaker, in the interest of restoring the credibility of this parliament, that you make the decision to invoke rule 15 and ask the deputy speaker to preside over this debate today. // 6. (SOUNDBITE)(English) ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS LEADER, JULIUS MALEMA, (PART OVER SHOTS OF PARLIAMENT MEMBERS): No, no, Baleka, listen to me. No, Baleka, listen to me. You are not a Speaker here, you dont have a right to sit where you are sitting. You are sitting there illegally. You have violated the constitution of the Republic of South Africa, you dont qualify to sit where you are and it was you, in protection of Zuma - we are discussing Zuma now, we cannot discuss Zuma with you presiding over this matter. You were there, you messed up this case, you want to continue messing it up. So the best thing you can do to yourself, were not asking you to do anything - let the deputy speaker sit there. 7. (SOUNDBITE)(English) AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS MP, NOSIVIWE MAPISA-NQAKULA, SAYING: I think just put the matter, put the question to the House whether people want you to chair this session or not and we put this matter to a vote and we proceed with the work of parliament.South African lawmakers on Tuesday questioned who should lead the debate over impeaching President Jacob G. Zuma. A court ruled that he had misused state funds for his private home.CreditCredit...Schalk Van Zuydam/Associated PressApril 5, 2016JOHANNESBURG South Africas governing African National Congress handily defeated an opposition effort to impeach President Jacob G. Zuma on Tuesday, five days after the nations highest court ruled that he had violated the Constitution in his handling of a long-running corruption case.Lawmakers from the party rallied behind Mr. Zuma, who maintained that he had acted illegally only because of bad legal advice.The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, put forward the impeachment motion with an eye toward important local elections later this year. Opposition lawmakers said the A.N.C., the party of Nelson Mandela, had become a corrupt organization interested only in self-preservation.Today it will be recorded that A.N.C. members of this Parliament chose to defend a crooked, broken president instead of the Constitution and the rule of law, said Mmusi Maimane, the leader of the Democratic Alliance. Today will signal once and for all that the A.N.C. has lost its way, and that there is no way back.The Constitutional Court ruled last Thursday that Mr. Zuma had acted against the Constitution by ignoring a 2014 order by the Office of the Public Protector, a national watchdog agency. The office had directed Mr. Zuma to reimburse the state for millions of dollars in nonsecurity-related improvements to his private home in Nkandla, in southeastern South Africa.For years, Mr. Zuma dismissed calls by critics to pay for the work himself. His party attacked the public protector, and party lawmakers issued a report exonerating the president.The courts ruling left open the possibility that Mr. Zuma might have been following wrong legal advice and therefore acting in good faith when he failed to comply with the public protectors order.ImageCredit...David Harrison/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMr. Zuma seized on that part of the ruling in a televised address the day after the court acted. He apologized for causing a lot of frustration and confusion, but defended his actions and said the violation happened because of a different approach and different legal advice.The ruling party stuck to that line on Tuesday in the impeachment debate in the Assembly, where Mr. Zuma was not present.The president acted in good faith in the justified belief that he was entitled to do so, in terms of the Constitution, said the deputy justice minister, John Jeffery.In recent days, as opposition parties and a few high-ranking A.N.C. members called for Mr. Zuma to resign, the ruling partys top leaders and power brokers from its rural strongholds closed ranks behind him.The impeachment motion required a two-thirds majority vote to pass, but the ruling party has a comfortable majority in the Assembly, with 249 of the 400 seats. The vote on the impeachment motion was 143 in favor and 233 against.Mr. Maimane, the Democratic Alliance leader, conceded before the vote was taken that the motion would fail, but he said he hoped that voters would remember the conduct of Mr. Zuma and his party when they cast ballots in municipal elections later this year.Julius Malema, the leader of the second-largest opposition party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, urged A.N.C. members to turn against Mr. Zuma.Stop thinking for your stomach, Mr. Malema said. Vote with your brains.

World

DealBook|Standard Chartered Hires HSBC Veteran to Run Corporate Bankhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/18/business/dealbook/standard-chartered-hires-hsbc-veteran-to-run-corporate-bank.htmlDec. 17, 2015LONDON Standard Chartered, an Asia-focused bank based in London, announced on Thursday that it had hired Simon Cooper, a veteran banker at HSBC, to lead its corporate and institutional banking division.Mr. Cooper, the chief executive of HSBCs commercial banking business, is expected to join Standard Chartered in April following regulatory approval. He will serve as chief executive of the corporate and institutional banking unit, the lenders largest division.The hire is the latest move by William T. Winters to put his stamp on Standard Chartered after joining the bank as chief executive this year.In November, Standard Chartered said it would raise up to $5.1 billion in new capital and would cut 15,000 jobs as part of a widespread reshaping.Simon is at the top of his game as a world-class banker with unrivaled experience across our markets and our businesses, Mr. Winters said in a news release.He will join the group at a crucial time for the C.I.B. business as we focus on delivering higher returns and selectively growing our client base, boosting investment in core products and services, Mr. Winters added.Mr. Cooper, 48, has been with HSBC since 1989 and has served in several senior roles, including deputy chairman and chief executive of its Middle East and North Africa operation; president of its Korean business; and head of corporate and investment banking in Singapore.

Business

on techSelling 5G capability is a huge opportunity for phone companies. Be careful.VideoCreditCredit...By James MarshallPublished Oct. 22, 2020Updated Sept. 24, 2021This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it weekdays.I find it helpful to look for the profit motives behind whats happening in our shopping lives.So why does it feel as if every other commercial you see on TV or online is a phone company blaring 5G! 5G! 5G! into your ear holes? Because each once-in-a-decade changeover in wireless technology is a shot for companies like Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile to pad our cellphone bills without us going nuts and to steal customers from one another.Thats not necessarily bad for us, but it does mean that the next time youre buying a new phone or staring at a marketing message from a phone company, you should watch your wallet. You want to make sure youre making a purchase that is good for you, and not just good for the phone companys bottom line.I wrote last week that Americas phone companies are overselling the current abilities of 5G, the next generation of wireless technology. My colleague Brian X. Chen has detailed how the reality of 5G coverage differs from the hype: Most of what exists now is not much of an advancement.Yes, 5G will eventually make our phones zippier and usher in new technologies we couldnt have imagined. Just not now. This means you do not necessarily need it right now.(Readers outside the United States: This advice may not apply to you. Some other countries 5G networks are further along or less of a mess. Ill discuss places where 5G is working well in an upcoming newsletter.)But right now is a very real opportunity for phone companies. Americans who are buying new, 5G-ready smartphones like the latest crop of iPhone models are often directed to the phone companies pricier service plans.Those plans including those with unlimited use of internet data are great for many households, but theyre expensive and inflexible for others. (Its more accurate to call them unlimited with the air quotes because they dont exactly provide unlimited use of phone data.)To be fair, the phone companies are spending a fortune to upgrade the countrys wireless networks to 5G. And its understandable that theyre trying to recoup their costs.But thats not the only thing happening here. What Americans pay for their smartphone service plans hasnt budged for awhile, and the phone companies are trying to reverse that by giving us a reason to pay more.The most important factors in a phone company making money on smartphone service are getting customers to stick with the company for a long time, and getting them to pay more each month. The shift to 5G is a shot to do both.Phone companies profit motives can help us get a good deal. But I find it helpful to repeat a line from Brian in a column last year. Telecommunications is one of the worlds most lucrative industries, and wireless carriers will turn a profit no matter what, he wrote. You cant beat the house.Your leadRead this before buying a new smartphoneIn last weeks newsletter about why 5G is still the pits in the United States, a number of readers asked: If theyre buying a new smartphone in any case, should they go for one that is capable of operating on 5G cellphone networks? (Phones must have specialized parts to connect to 5G phone networks, so older phones arent capable of getting 5G.)Short answer: Even if youre getting a new smartphone now, it probably makes sense to go for a slightly older model that doesnt support 5G. Save your money. Buy more cookies instead.One of the questions came from Elizabeth Schultz in Manchester, N.J. She has a seven-year-old iPhone, and is debating buying a new $400 iPhone SE or one of the just released iPhone 12 models at $700 and up.The iPhone SE isnt capable of connecting to 5G cellphone networks, and Elizabeth is worried that AT&T, her current phone company, might make 4G networks obsolete in a few years if she goes for that one.Rob Pegoraro, who writes about cellphone service for The New York Timess product review site, Wirecutter, tackled this question:Between the iPhone 12 mini and the iPhone SE, I would go with the SE. AT&T barely has the ultrafast type of 5G known as millimeter wave, and youll get a modest or no speed benefit with AT&Ts current 5G in your area based on its coverage map. And I cant think of any scenario in which AT&T shuts down 4G service over the life of a smartphone purchased today. Current phones with 5G parts also tend to be larger and drain the phone battery more than many people expect.My other suggestion is to consider changing your cellphone plan. Service has generally gotten far cheaper at the major carriers since you last bought a smartphone, but you cant count on the companies to tell you that youre paying too much.Before we go My colleagues have been busy bees on Google and antitrust! In an interview with our reporter Cecilia Kang, the governments lead lawyer in the case against Google said that when AT&T was split apart in the 1980s because of an antitrust lawsuit, consumers wound up much better off. Im sure he wasnt making an analogy to Google at all, nope!Steve Lohr spoke to legal brainiacs who proposed the creation of a specialist government regulator to police major U.S. tech companies, similar to how the Federal Aviation Administration is a watchdog for airlines.An unlikely and well-funded collection of professional tech skeptics who have urged more aggressive uses of U.S. antitrust laws helped set the stage for the Google lawsuit, Adam Satariano and David McCabe write.Greg Bensinger, a member of The New York Timess editorial board, wrote that the governments case against Google is both too narrow and too long coming to dethrone the company. And the last word here goes to Googles former chief executive, who told The Wall Street Journal that its bad policy to use antitrust laws to regulate companies like Google.The deeper meaning behind a vote on contract work: A California ballot measure over whether Uber and other app companies should reclassify workers as employees is just the beginning of a national debate over regulating gig work, my colleague Kate Conger said in our California Today newsletter.How to take better photos of your pets: Try a sheet as a backdrop, be patient and consider a shutter timer. Here are more tips from my colleague J.D. Biersdorfer.Hugs to thisDogo Argentino is not the corny name of a fictional pet detective but a real and adorable dog breed that will start competing in the Westminster Dog Show.We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think of this newsletter and what else youd like us to explore. You can reach us at [email protected]. If you dont already get this newsletter in your inbox, please sign up here.

Tech

Golf|McGirt Leads Northern Trusthttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/sports/golf/mcgirt-leads-northern-trust.htmlAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySports Briefing | GolfBy The Associated PressFeb. 15, 2014William McGirt made eight birdies in 13 holes to gain a two-shot lead over George McNeill and Charlie Beljan in the Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles. AdvertisementContinue reading the main story

Sports

Dec. 20, 2015Credit...Phil Coale/Associated PressThose who fret about the cost of holiday gift-giving can take some comfort this year that the prices of the fanciful presents, starting with a partridge in a pear tree, tracked annually as a humorous gauge of inflation have risen a scant 0.6 percent from last year.The increase, just a bit over the governments 0.5 percent Consumer Price Index, is the smallest in six years, according to PNC Wealth Management, which has been compiling the costs of the gifts in the carol The 12 Days of Christmas since 1983 as a tongue-in-cheek way to highlight current economic trends.The percentages in both cases reflect the all items C.P.I. including volatile energy and food prices in the federal version and, in the PNC version, the swans, prices of which have been subject to wild swings in some years. Excluding those categories results in the so-called core C.P.I. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week that the core C.P.I. increased 2 percent over the last year, compared with 1 percent for the PNCs Christmas gift index.Despite the modest run-up for the gifts, the price tag would still be a hefty $34,131, an increase of $198 from last year.Low commodity prices and a decline in energy prices this year are keeping consumer prices down, said James P. Dunigan, managing executive for investments at PNC.While the cost of the partridges perch, the famous pear tree, increased only 1.2 percent, to $190 this year, checking the partridge off the gift list would be significantly more expensive than last year. At $25, it would cost 25 percent more than in 2014, because the game birds are becoming popular among foodies, according to PNCs research. Higher grain prices pushed up the cost of the two turtle doves in the English Christmas carol by 11.5 percent, to $290.Underscoring the negligible evidence of inflation, this was the second year that the prices of the gifts and services, perhaps whimsical and extravagant by todays standards, did not rise much, most likely because of the slow economic recovery. Last year, the outlay for the gift extravaganza rose only 0.8 percent from 2013.Flat prices, Mr. Dunigan said, mean true loves can have their goose and better afford the gas to roast it, too.ImageCredit...Bishop Nash/The Herald-Dispatch, via Associated PressAmong the fowl, the trumpeter swans, celebrated in the carol as seven swans-a-swimming remained stable at $1,875 apiece, after wide swings in demand over the decades prompted volatile prices.The price of the five gold rings listed in the song stayed constant, at $750 total, the same as the last two years even though gold commodity prices have fluctuated, keeping the gift an affordable option for last-minute shoppers.Services, and there are many in the verses of this song from an era of cheap workers, also did not get a lift this year. The costs of nine ladies dancing, at $7,553; 11 pipers piping, at $2,635; and 12 drummers drumming, at $2,855, have not budged in the last two years, in keeping with slow economic growth.The only unskilled labor, the eight maids-a-milking, also costs the same, $58, because there has been no wage increase since the federal minimum wage was raised in 2009.The only workers to catch a break were the 10 lords-a-leaping, whose cost was up 3 percent, to $5,509, from $5,348, according to information supplied by the Pennsylvania Ballet and the modern dance group Philadanco.To catch the fancy of people who may not be interested in the economys more prosaic machinations, PNC began collecting the data annually from sources as varied as bird hatcheries, jewelers and dance troupes. Over the decades, PNC has added educational materials for teachers to promote interest among students in factors like labor costs and inflation that affect the current economy.Putting a more modern twist on acquiring the 12 goods and services, the index also tracks how much it would cost to skip shopping in retail stores, and instead order the birds and other items online. Shipping swans and other unruly fowl is not cheap. Relying on e-commerce to assemble and deliver gifts would drive up the price by an additional $9,496 this year, for a grand total of $43,627.But those with mansions equipped with aviaries, barnyards and accommodations for entertainers can shell out much more for the full complement of gifts in the repeated verses of the song 364 in all.That total would be $155,407, not far off the $150,000 that the Neiman Marcus 2015 holiday catalog of fantasy gifts charges for a 121-horsepower motorcycle designed by the actor Keanu Reeves (and a two-day chopper ride along the California coast).Either way, it would be a memorable gift package for the loved one who has everything.

Business

Philadelphia Eagles Fan Slamming into Pole, Subway ... ... NEW Hilarious Angle!!! 1/22/2018 That Philadelphia Eagles fan who ran smack into a pole and bounced off a subway train is in even more pain than you thought ... as this new angle of his asinine celebration reveals. Waiting for your permission to load the Facebook Video. The guy was all pumped up underground Sunday on his way to see his Eagles in the NFC Championship. He and some pals were standing around yelling, "Whooooo," and not really making much of an effort to board a waiting subway train. Of course, once the train started moving, the guy decided to drunkenly chase it down the platform. The chase was over pretty quickly ... courtesy of a giant pole he never saw for some reason. #Booze

Entertainment

Scientists and federal health officials are debating plans to pair coronavirus and flu vaccinations in the fall.Credit...Taylor Glascock for The New York TimesPublished May 18, 2022Updated May 21, 2022As the coronavirus morphs into a stubborn and unpredictable facet of everyday life, scientists and federal health officials are converging on a new strategy for immunizing Americans: a vaccination campaign this fall, perhaps with doses that are finely tuned to combat the version of the virus expected to be in circulation.The plan would borrow heavily from the playbook for distributing annual flu shots, and may become the template for arming Americans against the coronavirus in the years to come.But some experts question how well a renewed vaccination push would be received by a pandemic-weary public, whether the doses can be rolled out quickly enough to reach the people who need them most and whether most Americans need additional shots at all.On June 28, scientific advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will meet to identify the coronavirus variant most likely to be percolating in the United States as temperatures cool. That should leave manufacturers time to decide whether the vaccines composition needs to be revised and to ramp up production, hopefully enough to churn out hundreds of millions of doses by October.Scientific advisers to the F.D.A. have said they would favor switching to a new version of the vaccines only if there were compelling evidence that the current ones were no longer effective and a modified version proved to be better.The idea is that eligible Americans would be urged to seek immunization against the coronavirus and the flu at the same time this fall, and in the same places: drugstores, doctors offices, walk-in clinics and the like. Some important details like who would be eligible will be sorted out next month at meetings of scientific advisers to the F.D.A. and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The plan would mark a departure from the current sequential authorizations of booster shots for various age groups. But the shortcomings of the annual approach have been apparent to flu researchers for years.Scientists and federal health officials usually decide on the formulation of the flu vaccine in the spring, six months before the flu season. They guess at which version of the flu virus will arrive in the United States by looking at what is already circulating in the Southern Hemisphere, among other factors.But in some years, by the time the vaccine is manufactured, the strains have changed, and then you might not have good matching, Dr. Ofer Levy, director of the precision vaccines program at Boston Childrens Hospital and an adviser to the F.D.A., said.Among the candidates for a fall Covid shot is a booster designed for Omicron, the odd new avatar of the coronavirus, and combinations that include it. Modernas lead booster candidate contains 25 micrograms each of its original vaccine and one tailored to Omicron, Dr. Paul Burton, the companys chief medical officer, said.Pfizer is also testing an Omicron-specific vaccine, but will not make a decision on its fall candidate until June, according to Jerica Pitts, a spokeswoman for the company.Even if the vaccine match isnt perfect, the boost to immunity should offer some protection against any new variant in the fall, as the flu vaccine does.ImageCredit...Stephen Speranza for The New York TimesThe number of Americans who have opted to get booster doses has dwindled with each newly recommended shot. While 90 percent of American adults have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine, 76 percent opted for a second dose and just 50 percent for a third.Considering additional doses for a smaller and smaller return is creating an impression that we dont have a very effective vaccination program, Dr. Matthew Daley, a senior investigator at Kaiser Permanente Colorado who heads the C.D.C.s vaccine working group, said in an interview. That concern also was articulated by Dr. Beth Bell, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, at a meeting of the committee last month. Further, a nationwide campaign for another vaccination might stretch supplies, and exhaust pharmacists, providers and public health staff, some advisers warned. And the experts worry that a push for extra doses this fall, when the risks of severe illness and death are likely to be low for most Americans, might cut into the collective willingness to be immunized later if a new variant surfaces and the public urgently requires it.Repeated immunizations may even blunt a vaccines effectiveness. For example, people who are vaccinated against the flu in a single year develop stronger immunity than those who are vaccinated two years in a row, noted Florian Krammer, an immunologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.Despite the misgivings, federal officials are gearing up for a fall campaign. Pairing the Covid vaccine with flu every year is the simplest way to convince Americans to line up for the vaccines, Peter Marks, director of the F.D.A.s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said.It saves people time, Dr. Marks said. And it may mean that more people get both vaccines, which would be a good thing.Agency scientists are actively debating the best composition for a fall vaccine with the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Health, and the vaccine manufacturers, Dr. Marks said.The F.D.A. favors offering roughly the same formulations of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, in order to avoid befuddling people. Otherwise, I worry that could actually paralyze a vaccine campaign, when the most important thing is that people get boosted at all, Dr. Marks said.If the flu vaccine is any indication, however, many Americans will forgo another Covid shot. The Omicron variant has made it clear that preventing all infections is an unattainable goal, and many consider themselves at only a low risk of severe illness or death.Still, Dr. Marks noted that influenza campaigns also aim to prevent loss of productivity, not just medical consequences.Before the Omicron variants arrival, administration officials said the Covid vaccines were intended to prevent all symptomatic infections, but they have since backed off that stance.While the Covid vaccines blunted the spread of earlier variants by up to 70 percent, thats clearly not true with Omicron, he said. It would be nice to have something that did a better job.Some experts said that instead of another round of injections, the best candidate for limiting infections would have been a nasal spray that would coat the nose and throat with antibodies to block the virus right at its entryway. But those sprays will not be available in the United States for two or three years at least.Until Omicron came around, the F.D.A.s scientists were so excited about mRNA vaccines that they didnt consider alternative boosters, Dr. Marks added: We may have been temporarily blinded by the light.ImageCredit...Tamir Kalifa for The New York TimesStill, minimizing the number of infections whenever possible is obviously a very, very important secondary goal, Dr. Sara Oliver, who represents the C.D.C. on the Covid-19 vaccine working group, said.Apart from curtailing the spread of the virus and societal disruption, reduced infections should reduce cases of long Covid, the constellation of symptoms that can persist for months, she said.The new plan may revive some longstanding tensions. Disagreements about who should recommend vaccines, and for whom, have roiled these agencies for months.Generally, the F.D.A.s scientific advisers review the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, and recommend authorization or approval. Experts who advise the C.D.C. then issue guidelines on who should get the vaccines and when.During the pandemic, the lines between the White House, the F.D.A. and the C.D.C. have often been blurred. Right now, one of the challenges is that we have a lot of voices who are speaking immunization policy, and historically weve just had one voice, Dr. Daley said.When the F.D.A. authorized a second booster, for example, it did so only for adults 50 and older a distinction that would normally have come from the C.D.C.s vaccine advisers. The C.D.C. also made a subtle distinction that was lost on many Americans: It recommended that adults older than 50 may get a booster if they wished to, not that they should do so. But the White Houses new Covid czar, Dr. Ashish Jha, endorsed the second booster shots.Its not entirely clear that the White House is in the position of making vaccine recommendations per se, but nonetheless, he said that he recommended it, Dr. Camille Kotton, an infectious disease physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and a scientific adviser to the C.D.C., said of Dr. Jha.Its unclear who would pay for a fall vaccination campaign. The stalemate in Congress over Covid-19 funding jeopardizes the governments ability to purchase and provide the vaccines to the people who are most in need.Without urgent additional funding, we are unable to secure enough booster shots for every American who wants one if they are needed in the fall, and we are unable to secure newer, more effective vaccines that protect against new variants, Sarah Lovenheim, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, said.

Health

NBA's Jayson Tatum DENIED at Hollywood Club ... Gets Rookie Treatment 1/25/2018 TMZSports.com Here's Celtics rookie stud Jayson Tatum learning the hard way that he hasn't completely made it yet, getting rejected -- more than once -- at one of the hottest clubs in Tinseltown. It went down Wednesday night when the 19-year-old -- who's a Rookie of the Year contender -- tried to get his turn up on at Warwick in Hollywood, a 21 and over joint. Warwick is known for sticking to its guns when it comes to the age requirement ... after all, D'Angelo Russell got denied in 2016 when he was just months from turning 21. TMZSports.com We're told J.T.'s teammate Kyrie Irving got through the door without a hitch ... which makes sense 'cause he's 25. Oh BTW, Celtics did beat the Clippers earlier that night ... so at least there's that. Try again in 2020, bro.

Entertainment

Feb. 12, 2014Credit...Chris O'Meara/Associated PressTAMPA, Fla. Days at the Yankees minor league training complex are never normal. At the guarded gateway to the players parking lot, professional autograph seekers pay homeless people to sleep overnight on the sidewalk, saving them a spot in line.At the other side of the entrance, those in the news media congregate, waiting to see if a player interview can be snagged through a rolled-down car window.It is an undignified way of doing things, but it has become the Yankee way.Wednesday morning arrived with a bit more abnormality than most days because of the possibility of a Masahiro Tanaka sighting. After arriving in the United States from Japan on Sunday via a chartered Boeing 787 that carried only him, his wife, three other people and a toy poodle to New York, Tanaka, the Japanese pitching sensation, had flown to Tampa after his introductory news conference on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium on a more modest private plane.Would the Yankees most intriguing off-season signing show at their minor league complex for a workout?About 25 Japanese members of the news media and another 15 or so from the United States waited to find out, as the morning dragged into early afternoon.Coming and going during this time was someone who was an afterthought on this particular day Derek Jeter.Jeter had rolled into the complex at 9:45 a.m., arriving in his gray Mercedes for another typical Jeter day. If there is anything normal about what goes on before pitchers and catchers report, it is Jeters pre-spring training routine. He hit in a cage, took batting practice, fielded grounders and then, at 12:30 p.m., got into his Mercedes and left without stopping.Nothing unusual until an hour later.The thunderclap came via an MLB.com reporters Twitter feed with MLB_PR.com:Jeter had announced that he would retire after the 2014 season, doing so through his official Facebook page. Soon came confirmation from his agent, Casey Close, which immediately sent a small squadron of reporters to George M. Steinbrenner Field to see if Hal Steinbrenner was there or anyone else of significance in the Yankees front office.Turns out that not only was Steinbrenner there, but so was Tanaka. The pitcher had skirted the news media horde by arriving in a white Nissan Murano at the main complex for some catch and long toss. When the Yankees pitching coach, Larry Rothschild, was leaving through the employee entrance at Steinbrenner Field, he confirmed through a rolled-down car window that Tanaka was there and added some complimentary words about Jeter.Shortly afterward, Tanaka hopped into the back seat of the white Murano and was driven away, the vehicle never so much as slowing down.Then Steinbrenner emerged and got into his black Chevrolet Tahoe. As he passed through the entrance from the stadium that bears his fathers name, he slowed to a crawl, long enough to shout to the handful of reporters seeking a comment: Relax! Just wait! Were going to release a statement in an hour! Just relax!He was not smiling.Then, being the amateur meteorologist that he is, Steinbrenner added as he drove away, Its going to rain in about an hour.Sure enough, an hour later and three hours after Derek Jeter announced the beginning of the end of his career it began to pour.

Sports

Credit...Stuart Isett for The New York TimesFeb. 17, 2014Chad Kellogg, an elite climber known for his speed ascents of large mountains, died on Friday after being struck on the head by a falling rock while descending the Patagonian peak Fitz Roy. He was 42.His death was confirmed by his father, Ric, who was notified by a climbing partner. It was first reported by the climbing website SuperTopo.com.Kellogg was one of a small but growing number of climbers who had begun to make speed as much a priority as establishing a first ascent or a new route up a familiar peak. He had attempted a speed record on Mount Everest three times.Its not that Im a great climber, he said in 2011, as he prepared to make his second attempt on Mount Everest without the supplemental oxygen used by many climbers to ascend the nearly 30,000-foot mountain. (Climbing without oxygen was, he thought, a greater challenge.) Its that I want it more than anyone else does, and Im willing to go out there and put in the work, put in the days, to achieve what I think is important.His death reverberated among climbing enthusiasts in the Northwest.Its like the loss of a family member, said Christian Folk, the marketing manager for Outdoor Research, a Seattle equipment manufacturer that sponsored Kellogg on his climbs.Kellogg, who did his climbing all over the world, won the Khan Tengri mountaineering race in Kazakhstan in 2003 and held a variety of unofficial records for speed ascents of Mount Rainier, the 14,410-foot mountain that looms over the national park of the same name in Washington State. One of those records, now broken, included the first sub-five-hour ascent and descent, a trip that can take some climbers two days.He was competitive, said Mike Gauthier, the chief of staff at Yosemite National Park, who hired Kellogg as a climbing ranger on Mount Rainier in 1997, but Chad really never spoke about it; he just did it.Behind Kelloggs prowess on rock and ice lay a crevasse of loss. His wife, Lara-Karena Kellogg, died while descending an Alaskan climb in 2007. Shortly after, he learned he had colon cancer. (It later went into remission.) A brother died, as did other family members and a close climbing partner. He continued to find solace in the mountains.Chad Kellogg was born on Sept. 22, 1971, in Omak, Wash. The son of missionaries, he grew up in Kenya and later in Seattle. He trained with the Olympic luge team in Lake Placid, N.Y., before turning his attention to climbing.In recent years, Kellogg gained recognition and more sponsors for his climbs, including first ascents, and had received grant money to ascend two unclimbed peaks in Nepal this fall.He was a cardiovascular machine, said Brent Bishop, a friend and fellow climber who helped document his Everest attempts. He was really able to suffer. He just kept getting stronger. I think we were really robbed of seeing what this climber was going to do.In addition to his father, Kellogg is survived by his mother, Peggy. His partner on the Fitz Roy climb, Jens Holsten, survived the rock fall.

Sports

Economy|Jobless Claims Near 42-Year Low as Labor Market Tightenshttps://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/12/24/business/24reuters-usa-economy.htmlDec. 24, 2015WASHINGTON The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, nearing a 42-year low as labor market conditions continued to tighten in a boost to the economy.Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 267,000 for the week ended Dec. 19, the Labor Department said on Thursday.Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims falling to 270,000 in the latest week. Claims have been below 300,000, a threshold associated with a buoyant labor market, for 42 consecutive weeks. That is the longest stretch since the early 1970s.Some of the decline in claims last week could be attributed to difficulties adjusting the figures during the holidays.Still, labor market strength is helping to underpin consumer spending, supporting the economy as it deals with the headwinds of a strong dollar, slowing global growth, spending cuts by energy firms and an inventory overhang.The four-week moving average of claims considered a better measure of labor market trends as it strips out week-to-week volatility rose 1,750 to 272,500 last week.A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing the data and that no states had been estimated.The claims report showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid declined 47,000 to 2.2 million in the week ended Dec. 12. The four-week moving average of the so-called continuing claims rose 10,000 to 2.21 million.The continuing claims data covered the period during which the government surveyed households for December's unemployment rate. Continuing claims rose 42,250 between the November and December survey periods, suggesting little change in the jobless rate, which was at a seven-and-a-half-year low of 5 percent last month.The unemployment rate is in a range many Federal Reserve officials see as full employment. It has dropped seven-tenths of a percentage point this year.

Business

Katharine McPhee My Hawaii Trip Is Bumpin' 1/19/2018 Katharine McPhee's idle time looks just as good as her 'Idol' time -- in fact it looks hotter, due to her butt-hugging swimwear in Hawaii. Kat's on vacation and Thursday she was ready to swing into the weekend ... courtesy of some chill time in a hammock. Her bf, David Foster, wasn't around, but she seemed to be in a deep FaceTime convo with someone. Based on the Blue Steel looks she was flashing ... it could've been David. Looks like Katherine knows how to work her angles. All of them.

Entertainment

Credit...Capucine Granier-Deferre for The New York TimesMarch 3, 2017BRUSSELS The European Parliament has passed a nonbinding resolution calling for the reintroduction of visa requirements for American citizens, raising the stakes in a long-running battle over the United States refusal to grant visa-free access to citizens of five European Union countries.In the vote on Thursday, European lawmakers played tit-for-tat in their dispute with the United States, demanding restrictions on American travelers unless the Trump administration lifts travel requirements for citizens of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania.Youre talking about citizens from countries, like Poland, with a major diaspora in the United States, Claude Moraes, the British lawmaker who leads the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs in the European Parliament, said in a telephone interview on Friday. Youre really seeing frustration and anger, and without any timetable, this is becoming increasingly seen as second-class treatment.The resolution, while nonbinding, was an important political signal, and it increases pressure on the European Commission, the blocs executive body, to confront the new administration in Washington, even though it may prove to be as intransigent on the matter as the Obama administration, if not more.The European Parliament also warned that it could take the further step of bringing the European Commission to court if it continues not to stand up to Washington.Only when the U.S. fully gets that the European Commission is going to act are we going to get any kind of timetable from the United States, Mr. Moraes said. At the moment, the U.S. just believes the commission is not going to act but stick with the pragmatic argument that doing so would create damage thats just too great.He continued, referring to Washington, Theres no denying heightened concern about the current administration, but thats more about uncertainty about whos in charge and how the State Department is working.Mr. Moraes said the civil liberties committee could still recommend within two months that a case against the commissions failure to act be brought to the blocs highest tribunal, the Court of Justice of the European Union.Its a question of using what options are open to us, he said, explaining the possible resort to litigation.In the vote on Thursday, the Parliament gave the European Commission two months to take legal measures to impose visas for American travelers to the European Union unless the Americans offered reciprocity to all citizens from the bloc.European officials in Brussels have balked at making travel to Europe more difficult for Americans, saying doing so would have an economic cost and would most likely not even resolve the hurdles facing citizens of the five affected countries.The Parliaments measure was approved in a show of hands and was not expected to worsen the standoff with the United States. But in the event that the court in Luxembourg were to rule in favor of Parliament, the commission might be forced to impose visa requirements on Americans.The Trump administration, finding itself in a tit-for-tat battle over access, would then almost certainly do the same for travelers from the European Union.In 2014, the European Commission was notified that the United States and four other countries Australia, Brunei, Canada and Japan were failing to provide reciprocal, visa-free travel to citizens of some European Union countries.Australia, Brunei and Japan have resolved differences with the European Union, and an agreement with Canada is expected to take effect in December for all citizens of Bulgaria and Romania, according to a statement from the European Parliament.Margaritis Schinas, the chief spokesman for the commission, appeared to tamp down any expectations that it would impose visa requirements on Americans within two months, as outlined in the Parliament resolution. Instead, he said he advocated continued engagement and patient diplomatic contacts with Washington.The commission will issue a progress report on discussions with the United States, he added, but not before the end of June.

World

Amazon Pauses Police Use of Its Facial Recognition SoftwareThe company said it hoped the moratorium might give Congress enough time to put in place appropriate rules for the technology.Credit...Elaine Thompson/Associated PressJune 10, 2020SEATTLE Amazon said on Wednesday that it was putting a one-year pause on letting the police use its facial recognition tool, in a major sign of the growing concerns that the technology may lead to unfair treatment of African-Americans.The technology giant did not explain its reasoning in its brief blog post about the change, but the move came amid the nationwide protests over racism and biased policing. Amazons technology had been criticized in the past for misidentifying people of color.In its blog post, the company said it hoped the moratorium on its service, Rekognition, might give Congress enough time to put in place appropriate rules for the ethical use of facial recognition.The announcement was a striking change for Amazon, a prominent supplier of facial recognition software to law enforcement. More than other big technology companies, Amazon has resisted calls to slow its deployment. In the past, Amazon had said its tools were accurate but were improperly used by researchers.On Monday, IBM said it would stop selling facial recognition products, and last year, the leading maker of police body cameras banned the use of facial recognition on its products at the recommendation of its independent ethics board, which said the technology is not currently reliable enough to ethically justify its use. Google has advocated a temporary ban on the technology.The American Civil Liberties Union applauded Amazon in a statement for finally recognizing the dangers face recognition poses to Black and Brown communities and civil rights more broadly. But it said that the company should extend the moratorium on law enforcement use of its system until Congress passed a law regulating the technology.Face recognition technology gives governments the unprecedented power to spy on us wherever we go, Nicole Ozer, technology and civil liberties director for the A.C.L.U. of Northern California, said in the statement. It fuels police abuse. This surveillance technology must be stopped.Law enforcement agencies use facial recognition technology to identify suspects and missing children. The systems work by trying to match facial pattern data extracted from photos or video with those in databases like drivers license records. The authorities used the technology to help identify the suspect in the mass shooting at a newspaper last year in Annapolis, Md.But civil liberties groups have warned that the technology can be used at a distance to secretly identify individuals such as protesters attending demonstrations potentially chilling Americans right to free speech or simply limiting their ability to go about their business anonymously in public. Some cities, including San Francisco, and Cambridge, Mass., have passed bans on the technology.This week, Democrats in the House introduced a police reform law that would ban the use of facial recognition technology with police recording equipment. Some lawmakers have long worried about the technology, questioning manufacturers and the public agencies that use their products on how it affects civil rights and privacy.Civil liberties advocates began a campaign to ban the use of facial recognition by law enforcement in 2018, after a report by academic researchers found racial bias in the systems. The report found that facial technologies made by IBM and Microsoft were able to correctly identify the gender of white men in photographs about 100 percent of the time. But the systems were much less accurate in their ability to identify the gender of darker-skinned women.IBM and Microsoft quickly improved their systems. Amazon found itself under heightened scrutiny.For the past two years, the A.C.L.U. has led a campaign to push Amazon to stop selling the technology to law enforcement agencies. The group obtained documents, using open information laws, from police departments that showed how Amazon was aggressively marketing its technology to law enforcement.The A.C.L.U. also tested Amazons technology using the head shots of members of Congress and comparing them against a database of publicly available mug shots. The group reported that the Amazon technology incorrectly matched 28 members of Congress with people who had been arrested, amounting to a 5 percent error rate among legislators. At the time, Amazon disputed the findings, saying that the group had used its system differently than law enforcement customers did.Rep. Jimmy Gomez, a California Democrat and one of the lawmakers misidentified in the A.C.L.U. test, said he met with Amazon about the issue almost a dozen times. He said Amazon was less open to criticism than its tech peers.They were avoiding taking any responsibility for their technology in my opinion, Mr. Gomez said on Wednesday after the companys announcement. They always had some excuse.Mr. Gomez, who is vice chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, said he was glad to see Amazon halt police sales.Amazon can sense that the American people dont want platitudes when it comes to dealing with disparities right now, he said. They want concrete action.Amazon introduced Rekognition in 2016 as a low-cost, highly scalable way to identify images, including people, in vast databases. Soon after, it began pitching the police on the tool to help investigations, and law enforcement agencies began adopting the technology.In an interview on the PBS show Frontline earlier this year, Andy Jassy, the chief executive of Amazon Web Services, said he did not think the company knew how many police departments were deploying the technology.Last fall, Jeff Bezos, Amazons chief executive, said the company was drafting privacy legislation for facial recognition. But he indicated that Amazon would continue selling the tools in the meantime.Its a perfect example of something that has really positive uses, so you dont want to put the brakes on it, Mr. Bezos said. At the same time, there is lots of potential for abuses with that kind of technology, so you want regulations.He said he would welcome good regulations on the issue. That kind of stability I think would be healthy for the whole industry, he said.Mr. Bezos did not provide details for what the companys proposed legislation would entail.Mr. Gomez said he had not seen any model legislation proposed by Amazon, adding, That would have been news to me.Karen Weise reported from Seattle, and Natasha Singer from New York. David McCabe contributed reporting from Washington.

Tech

Dec. 26, 2015STOCKHOLM Parishioners text tithes to their churches. Homeless street vendors carry mobile credit-card readers. Even the Abba Museum, despite being a shrine to the 1970s pop group that wrote Money, Money, Money, considers cash so last-century that it does not accept bills and coins.Few places are tilting toward a cashless future as quickly as Sweden, which has become hooked on the convenience of paying by app and plastic.This tech-forward country, home to the music streaming service Spotify and the maker of the Candy Crush mobile games, has been lured by the innovations that make digital payments easier. It is also a practical matter, as many of the countrys banks no longer accept or dispense cash.At the Abba Museum, we dont want to be behind the times by taking cash while cash is dying out, said Bjorn Ulvaeus, a former Abba member who has leveraged the bands legacy into a sprawling business empire, including the museum.Not everyone is cheering. Swedens embrace of electronic payments has alarmed consumer organizations and critics who warn of a rising threat to privacy and increased vulnerability to sophisticated Internet crimes. Last year, the number of electronic fraud cases surged to 140,000, more than double the amount a decade ago, according to Swedens Ministry of Justice.Older adults and refugees in Sweden who use cash may be marginalized, critics say. And young people who use apps to pay for everything or take out loans via their mobile phones risk falling into debt.It might be trendy, said Bjorn Eriksson, a former director of the Swedish police force and former president of Interpol. But there are all sorts of risks when a society starts to go cashless.But advocates like Mr. Ulvaeus cite personal safety as a reason that countries should go cash-free. He switched to using only card and electronic payments after his sons Stockholm apartment was burglarized twice several years ago.There was such a feeling of insecurity, said Mr. Ulvaeus, who carries no cash at all. It made me think: What would happen if this was a cashless society, and the robbers couldnt sell what they stole?ImageCredit...Linus Sundahl-Djerf for The New York TimesBills and coins now represent just 2 percent of Swedens economy, compared with 7.7 percent in the United States and 10 percent in the euro area. This year, only about 20 percent of all consumer payments in Sweden have been made in cash, compared with an average of 75 percent in the rest of the world, according to Euromonitor International.Cards are still king in Sweden with nearly 2.4 billion credit and debit transactions in 2013, compared with 213 million 15 years earlier. But even plastic is facing competition, as a rising number of Swedes use apps for everyday commerce.At more than half of the branches of the countrys biggest banks, including SEB, Swedbank, Nordea Bank and others, no cash is kept on hand, nor are cash deposits accepted. They say they are saving a significant amount on security by removing the incentive for bank robberies.Last year, Swedish bank vaults held around 3.6 billion kronor in notes and coins, down from 8.7 billion in 2010, according to the Bank for International Settlements. Cash machines, which are controlled by a Swedish bank consortium, are being dismantled by the hundreds, especially in rural areas.Mr. Eriksson, who now heads the Association of Swedish Private Security Companies, a lobbying group for firms providing security for cash transfers, accuses banks and credit card companies of trying to price cash out of the market to make way for cards and electronic payments, which generate fee income.I dont think thats something they should decide on their own, he said. Should they really be able to use their market force to turn Sweden into a cashless society?The government has not sought to stem the cashless tide. If anything, it has benefited from more efficient tax collection, because electronic transactions leave a trail; in countries like Greece and Italy, where cash is still heavily used, tax evasion remains a big problem. Leif Trogen, an official at the Swedish Bankers Association, acknowledged that banks were earning substantial fee income from the cashless revolution. But because it costs money for banks and businesses to conduct commerce in cash, reducing its use makes financial sense, Mr. Trogen said. Cash is certainly not dead. The Swedish central bank, the Riksbank, predicts it will decline fast but still be circulating in 20 years. Recently, the Riksbank issued newly redesigned coins and notes.But for an increasing number of consumers, cash is no longer a habit.At the University of Gothenburg, students said they almost exclusively used cards and electronic payments. No one uses cash, said Hannah Ek, 23. I think our generation can live without it.ImageCredit...Linus Sundahl-Djerf for The New York TimesThe downside, she conceded, was that it was easy to spend without thinking. I do spend more, Ms. Ek said. But if I had a 500 krona bill, Id think twice about spending it all. (Five hundred kronor is about $58.)The shift has rippled through even the most unlikely corners of the Swedish economy.Stefan Wikberg, 65, was homeless for four years after losing his job as an I.T. technician. He has a place to live now and sells magazines for Situation Stockholm, a charitable organization, and began using a mobile card reader to take payments, after noticing that almost no one carried cash.Now people cant get away, said Mr. Wikberg, who carries a sign saying he accepts Visa, MasterCard and American Express. When they say, I dont have change, I tell them they can pay with card or even by SMS, he said, referring to text messages. His sales have grown by 30 percent since he adopted the card reader two years ago.At the Filadelfia Stockholm church, so few of the 1,000 parishioners now carry cash that the church had to adapt, said Soren Eskilsson, the executive pastor.During a recent Sunday service, the churchs bank account number was projected onto a large screen. Worshipers pulled out cellphones and tithed through an app called Swish, a payment system set up by Swedens biggest banks that is fast becoming a rival to cards.Other congregants lined up at a special Kollektomat card machine, where they could transfer funds to various church operations. Last year, out of 20 million kronor in tithes collected, more than 85 percent came in by card or digital payment.People give more money to the church now because its electronic and easy, said Mr. Eskilsson, adding that the church saved on security costs by handling less cash.Despite the convenience, even some who stand to gain from a cashless society see drawbacks.Sweden has always been at the forefront of technology, so its easy to embrace this, said Jacob de Geer, a founder of iZettle, which makes a mobile-powered card reader.But Big Brother can watch exactly what youre doing if you purchase things only electronically, he said. But for Mr. Ulvaeus, the music magnate, such concerns are overblown.Everything speaks in favor of a cashless society, he said as he strolled past the Abba Museum to retrieve his car. Its a utopian thought, but were very close to it.He paused at a hot-dog stand for a snack. But when he was ready to pay, the card reader was broken.Sorry, the vendor said. Youll have to use cash.

Business

Credit...Edgar Su/ReutersMay 12, 2019WELLINGTON, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand will attempt this week to use the terrorist attack that killed 51 Muslim worshipers in Christchurch mosques in March to demand that the biggest internet platforms do more to stamp out violent and extremist content.Ms. Ardern will be in France with President Emmanuel Macron to sign an agreement they crafted called the Christchurch Call that asks the social media giants to examine the software that directs people to violent content, and to share more data with government authorities and each other to help eradicate toxic online material, according to officials from New Zealand and France involved in drafting the proposal.The accused gunmans use of social media to live stream his rampage in New Zealand and to share a hate-filled manifesto crystallized the vulnerability of internet platforms to extremist and violent views.Ms. Arderns effort adds momentum to a global push to curb the power of the worlds largest internet platforms.But even as policymakers agree that something needs to be done, theres little consensus on what to do. From London to New Delhi, governments are drafting laws with differing approaches to regulating the internet, raising concerns in some quarters that the rules may, in some cases, go too far and hinder free expression.Ms. Ardern has argued that a coordinated global approach is needed. The signing of the Christchurch Call was organized around a meeting of digital ministers from the Group of 7 nations this week in Paris.Representatives from Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter are among those scheduled to attend the summit on Wednesday hosted by Mr. Macron and Ms. Ardern. Facebook, Google and Microsoft said they would sign the pledge. Twitter declined to comment.A number of nations are expected to sign on to the nonbinding pledge, including Britain, Canada, Jordan, Senegal, Indonesia, Australia, Norway and Ireland, according to officials involved in drafting the accord. The United States, which has been reticent to regulate the internet out of concerns it will harm free speech, is not among the expected signers.The pledge does not contain enforcement or regulatory measures. It will be up to each country and company to decide how to carry out the commitments, according to two senior New Zealand officials involved in the drafting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the exact wording of the pledge was still being finalized.Social media companies will be left with the thorny task of deciding what constitutes violent extremist content, since it is not defined in the accord.ImageCredit...Adam Dean for The New York TimesWe share the commitment of world leaders to curb the spread of terrorism and extremism online, Nick Clegg, Facebooks vice president for global affairs, said in a statement. These are complex issues and we are committed to working with world leaders, governments, industry and safety experts at next weeks meeting and beyond on a clear framework of rules to help keep people safe from harm.Mark Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive officer, was in France last week to meet with Mr. Macron to discuss internet regulation. France has proposed laws that would appoint a new government regulator to oversee internet platforms and punish companies for hosting hate speech and violent content.Ms. Ardern has been attempting to build a global consensus on reining in violence and extremism social media since the March 15 attacks, in which the Australian man accused of the shooting who faces dozens of murder and attempted murder charges broadcast part of the massacre live on Facebook.Earlier this month, she said she wanted action that went beyond takedown policies that are enforced through government regulation.So much of what were trying to do is about preventing these platforms being used in that way at all, Ms. Ardern said.While the pledge isnt enforceable, Ms. Ardern and Mr. Macron hope an accord tied to the Christchurch massacre will prod the internet companies into action. If improvements arent made, the officials said, tougher mandatory regulations loom.The pledge asks for several commitments from technology companies, including robust enforcement of their terms of service, reducing the risks of live streaming and sharing research about the software that flags objectionable content. Versions of the gunmans video have remained on Facebook and Instagram since the attacks.The social giants must also promise to re-evaluate their algorithms that direct users to extremist content, and commit to redirecting people looking for extremist material. Instagram has deployed that measure to help users searching images of self-harm.Under the agreement, governments must make a range of promises, including adopting and enforcing laws that ban objectionable content as New Zealand did in the wake of the attacks by making the possession or sharing of the gunmans video a crime and setting guidelines on how traditional media outlets can report terrorism without amplifying it.New Zealand officials visited the United States for meetings at the White House and the State Department to urge the administration to join the pact. Officials also visited the headquarters of technology companies, said a senior New Zealand official who attended the meetings.Concerns from American officials included how the pledge would affect First Amendment rights to free speech, several officials said. Ms. Ardern has said she was deliberately avoiding a broader debate about hate speech to focus the pledge narrowly on violent content.This isnt about freedom of expression; this is about preventing violent extremism and terrorism online, she said last month. I dont think anyone would argue that the terrorist had a right to live stream the murder of 50 people.

Tech

Sports Briefing | CyclingFeb. 10, 2014A second person was sentenced for sending a threatening email to Travis Tygart, the chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, over its sanctions against Lance Armstrong. The person, Robert Hutchins, 60, of Sandy, Utah, was sentenced in federal court in Denver to one year of probation with mental health treatment and 50 hours of community service. Last month, Gerrit Keats of Clearwater, Fla., was sentenced to probation and 540 hours of community service.

Sports

Middle East|Israel Begins Murder Investigation of Soldier Who Shot Palestinianhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/26/world/middleeast/israel-begins-murder-investigation-of-soldier-who-shot-palestinian.htmlMarch 25, 2016JERUSALEM The Israeli military said on Friday that a soldier who shot a Palestinian assailant in the head as he lay motionless on the ground was being investigated on suspicion of murder. The announcement was highly unusual and underscored the seriousness of the case, which was filmed and quickly spread over social media.An additional three officers a company commander and two platoon commanders were reprimanded because they did not treat the wounded man,Yusri al-Sharif, 21, after the confrontation on Thursday, said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an army spokesman.Palestinians said the episode was unusual only because it had been filmed and had generated outrage. They said that since a surge of attacks began in October, there had been several similar episodes in which assailants were shot dead even after they did not pose a threat, and in which wounded Palestinians were left untreated.Palestinians have killed about 30 Israelis, two Americans and a Palestinian bystander since the near-daily stabbings, shootings and vehicular attacks began last fall. Israeli forces or civilians have shot dead 180 Palestinians during the same period. Most were either attempting attacks or were suspected of doing so.Thursdays clash began when two Palestinian men stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint near a Jewish settlement enclave in the West Bank city of Hebron. Both were shot.Video then emerged showing a soldier cocking his rifle and shooting Mr. Sharif for a second time as he lay on the road, as other soldiers and an Israeli ambulance crew milled about. The Israeli military swiftly condemned the episode as a grave breach of its values, and detained the soldier.The soldiers lawyers say he acted appropriately, because Mr. Sharif still had the intention and ability to harm soldiers.The announcement that the soldier was being investigated on suspicion of murder came after a court hearing on Friday to extend his detention by four days. The court barred the publication of the soldiers identity.It is unusual, Colonel Lerner said of the case. It goes to show the severity of the issue from the outset.Colonel Lerner said he could not recall the last time a soldier had been investigated on suspicion of murder, nor the last time a soldier had been charged with murder.Sarit Michaeli, a spokeswoman for BTselem, a human rights organization based in Israel, noted an investigation would not necessarily lead to a murder charge, which in Israel must cross a high threshold. Ms. Michaeli said a murder charge would be even more unlikely in a system that Israeli rights groups say is lenient on soldiers.As an example, another Israeli rights group, Yesh Din, reported that of 33 investigations the military opened in the West Bank into the deaths of Palestinians in 2014, only one indictment was issued, for manslaughter. Neither Yesh Din nor Colonel Lerner could say if a murder charge was considered in any of those 33 cases.

World

VideotranscripttranscriptProtesters Want Iceland Leader to ResignThousands of demonstrators descended on Reykjavik, Iceland, on Monday, calling for Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson to resign after the Panama Papers revealed his ties to a company in the British Virgin Islands.REYKJAVIK, ICELAND (SOUNDBITE)(English) PROTESTER SIGURDUR MAGNUSSON, SAYING: Im just protesting like the rest of the nation, it appears. (Reporter asking: What are you protesting?) Ah, I would like the prime minister to resign // (SOUNDBITE)(English) PROTESTER GUDRUN ERLINGSDOTTIR, SAYING: Of course we knew something was happening, the extent of the situation was a total surprise, so thats why Im here. // (SOUNDBITE)(English) PROTESTER EINAR BERGMUNDUR, SAYING: Im just protesting the corruption of the government, eh, the prime minister has been hiding his money in Tortola and lying about it. The financial minister has also been lying about his participation in secret companies, and everybody is just fed up with this.Thousands of demonstrators descended on Reykjavik, Iceland, on Monday, calling for Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson to resign after the Panama Papers revealed his ties to a company in the British Virgin Islands.CreditCredit...Stigtryggur Johannsson/ReutersApril 4, 2016LONDON Icelands prime minister faced calls for his resignation and a large demonstration outside Parliament on Monday in one of the first repercussions of an enormous leak of documents about offshore shell companies and tax shelters from a secretive Panamanian law firm.The prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, insisted he would not resign after documents revealed that he and his wealthy partner, now wife, had set up a company in 2007 in the British Virgin Islands through the law firm. The documents also suggest that he sold his half of the company to her, for $1, on the last day of 2009, just before a new law took effect that would have required him as a member of Parliament to declare his ownership as a conflict of interest.Mr. Gunnlaugsson said the leak contained no news, adding that he and his wife, Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir, had not hidden their assets or avoided paying tax.But the company, Wintris Inc., lost millions of dollars as a result of the 2008 financial crash that crippled Iceland, and the company is claiming some $4.2 million from three failed Icelandic banks. As prime minister since 2013, Mr. Gunnlaugsson was involved in reaching a deal for the banks claimants, so he is now being accused of a conflict of interest.When asked by Swedish television journalists about Wintris before the publication of the leaks, Mr. Gunnlaugsson stormed out, saying that the journalists had obtained the interview under false pretenses. He and his wife then issued statements about journalist encroachment in their private lives and said they had done nothing wrong.The leaks from the Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, involve more than 11.5 million documents, nearly 215,000 companies and 14,153 clients of the firm, according to the German newspaper Sddeutsche Zeitung, which got the information and shared it with some other media outlets and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a nonprofit group.VideotranscripttranscriptOfficials React to Panama PapersMany international officials who were listed in papers revealing the offshore accounts of wealthy individuals, including associates of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, defended themselves on Monday.SHOWS: ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (APRIL 4, 2016) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) PAKISTAN INFORMATION MINISTER, PERVAIZ RASHEED, SAYING: They have not done anything illegal. Every asset of theirs is according to law and has been established from white (clean) money, its growth is from white money. Both the children pay their taxes. Hence, there is no crime in this in the law. // SHOWS: REYKJAVIK, ICELAND (SOUNDBITE) (English) ICELANDS PRIME MINISTER, SIGMUNDUR GUNNLAUGSSON, SAYING: This is on my tax return publicly. Youre just trying to make something look suspicious, something Ive always been open about. // Moscow, Russia - 4 April, 2016 1. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putins spokesman: Its obvious that the intention, the main target, of this attack, was in the first place against our country, and against (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin himself. // NEWSHUB - NO ACCESS NEW ZEALAND 2. SOUNDBITE (English) John Key, New Zealands Prime Minister: New Zealand has had the same tax laws when it comes to trust since 1988. New Zealand also had a review undertaken by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) in 2013 and they gave New Zealand a clean bill of health. // Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley New Delhi, India ...the world is going to be a far more transparent institution and therefore, this kind of an adventurism will prove to be extremely costly for those who have indulged in it.Many international officials who were listed in papers revealing the offshore accounts of wealthy individuals, including associates of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, defended themselves on Monday.CreditCredit...Brynjar Gunnasrson/Associated PressThey began reporting Sunday on the leaks, now known as the Panama Papers, which have implicated a range of politicians, celebrities and sports figures, including close associates of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan, current and former members of Chinas ruling Politburo and FIFA, the worldwide association for soccer. A barrage of angry responses and denials of wrongdoing have followed.The leaked documents drew immediate attention Monday from officials in Washington, who could be interested in using them as a road map of diplomatic, financial and even criminal dealings around the globe that are connected to the United States and its financial system.We are aware of the reports and are reviewing them, said Peter Carr, a spokesman for the Justice Department in Washington. Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, declined to comment specifically on the documents, but said the United States remained a leading advocate for increased transparency in the international financial system, and in working against illicit financial transactions and in fighting corruption.The leaks come at a time of populist anger against business and political elites and sharpening income inequality in Europe and the United States. The information could intensify that anger by suggesting that government officials are lining their pockets in secret and avoiding transparency and taxes on their assets.The anger is particularly acute in Iceland, a tiny country of 330,000 people that was hammered by the financial crisis. When the bubble burst, its three private banks, which had become bloated, could not cover their short-term debts and repay depositors. Iceland suffered a deep economic depression, a stock market collapse and huge losses, requiring emergency loans from the International Monetary Fund and capital controls.Iceland is recovering well but the anger persists, and Mr. Gunnlaugsson, of the center-right Progressive Party, may not survive the political turmoil.Protests erupted on Monday evening in front of the Parliament building. A former prime minister, Johanna Sigurdardottir, said Mr. Gunnlaugsson would have to resign if he could not quickly regain the publics trust. A former finance minister, Steingrimur Sigfusson, told The Guardian newspaper: We cant permit this. Iceland would simply look like a banana republic. No one is saying he used his position as prime minister to help this offshore company, but the fact is you shouldnt leave yourself open to a conflict of interest, and nor should you keep it secret.Having at first denied ownership in Wintris, Mr. Gunnlaugsson said his joint ownership with his wife was an oversight and was corrected when it was pointed out to him in 2009. He also said Wintris was a holding company to invest his wifes assets from a company sale, a distinction that made it legally unnecessary for him to declare it in any case.Ramon Fonseca, the director of Mossack Fonseca, defended the firm and the legality of offshore companies, telling Reuters in a telephone interview that the firm had suffered a successful but limited hacking intrusion. Mr. Fonseca, the firms co-founder and until March a senior government official in Panama, said his firm had formed more than 240,000 companies, adding that the vast majority had been used for legitimate purposes.In Moscow, which had warned previously of an investigation aimed at Mr. Putin, his spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said the reports were intended to smear Russia before elections there and were an outgrowth of Putinophobia. He suggested that the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, based in Washington, had links to the United States government and other special services and said the documents showed nothing concrete and nothing new about Putin.The documents do not mention Mr. Putin but indicate that numerous close associates, including a cellist, Sergei Roldugin, a childhood friend of Mr. Putin, had assets of up to $2 billion stashed abroad.British newspapers highlighted leaked information that showed Prime Minister David Camerons late father, Ian, had an offshore investment fund for his wealthy clients that avoided paying tax in Britain, in part by getting numerous residents of the Bahamas, including a part-time bishop, to sign its paperwork.Asked if there was still any family money invested in the fund, a spokesman for Prime Minister Cameron, Helen Bower, said, That is a private matter. Mr. Cameron has been outspoken about what he has called the need to shut down offshore tax havens and is scheduled to host a summit meeting on the issue in May.The repercussions extended to Argentinas president, Mauricio Macri. Leaked documents showed he was a director of an offshore company, Fleg Trading Ltd., incorporated in the Bahamas in 1998 and dissolved in 2009. Mr. Macri, who was mayor of Buenos Aires before his election as president last November, did not disclose his connection to the company in asset declarations in 2007 or 2008. Mr. Macris office said in a statement that the disclosure had not been required because the president had no stake in the company.

World

Credit...Francois Lenoir/ReutersFeb. 5, 2014Google has agreed to a settlement with European competition regulators that leaves the company with a few bruises, yet victorious over all and would end half a decade of wrangles with antitrust authorities across the globe. Under the settlement, which awaits formal approval by the European Commission, Google agreed to the harshest penalties it has yet received in an antitrust inquiry anywhere. But it escaped a fine and a finding of wrongdoing. And it protected its crown jewel its secret algorithm from oversight by regulators, and avoided a court battle or potential consequences like a $5 billion fine or a ruling to make major changes to its company structure or its products. The changes Google agreed to did little to satisfy the competitors whose formal complaints prompted the inquiry by European antitrust regulators. The investigation focused on whether Google abused its dominant position in the European search market, where it has about 90 percent market share, versus two-thirds in the United States.The basic pronouncement is Googles not an illegal business, said Tim Wu, a professor of antitrust law at Columbia who worked on the United States Federal Trade Commissions antitrust case against Google, which concluded that Google had not violated antitrust law. Their main business goes full speed ahead. Obviously what some of Googles competitors would have liked was much more aggressive. The deals limited scope, however, did not stop Joaqun Almunia, the European Unions competition commissioner, from hailing it as a major success. No other antitrust body has secured such concessions from Google, Mr. Almunia, a Spanish policy maker, told reporters on Wednesday. The agreement is far-reaching and creates a level playing field across Europe. ImageCredit...European CommissionThe decision would force Google to give its rivals more prominence in specialized search results, like those for shopping, travel and local business reviews. The result would be a search engine that looks significantly different in Europe than it does in the United States. It is the latest effort by European officials to police the activities of the American tech giants that have come to dominate the digital world, including stepped-up scrutiny after revelations from Edward J. Snowden about United States government surveillance. We will be making significant changes to the way Google operates in Europe, Kent Walker, Googles general counsel, said in a statement. We have been working with the European Commission to address issues they raised and look forward to resolving this matter. Most noticeably, Google said it would display results from at least three competitors each time it shows its own results for specialized searches related to things like shopping, restaurants and travel. In some cases, competitors will pay when people click on these results. The deal would last for five years and apply to any new search products Google introduces in Europe. Google also said it would make two changes similar to those requested by the F.T.C. It would allow rivals like Yelp to forbid Google from using their content in its specialized search services, yet avoid being penalized for that in Googles normal search rankings. And it would eliminate some restrictions that have prevented advertisers from moving their ads to other companies services. Since the investigation began in 2010, Google has expanded well beyond web search to new businesses including wearable computing and mobile software. All those other activities are beyond the reach of Wednesdays settlement, illustrating how difficult it is to create effective rules of engagement for regulating Internet businesses. Google is no longer just a search company, said Daniel Knapp, director of advertising research at the advisory firm IHS in London. These concessions wont have a material impact on Google.The changes, however, could be a boon for small companies that do specialized search, antitrust experts said. The importance of the decision is it gives some oxygen to companies that want to be in markets adjacent to Google, so they dont live under this umbrella of being at any time suffocated by Google, Mr. Wu said. The European Commission has gone further than the F.T.C. in extracting concessions from Google in large part because European antitrust law gives more priority to protecting competing companies. United States antitrust doctrine gives dominant companies more freedom if they can prove they are creating a better product for consumers, which was a central factor in the F.T.C.s decision to close its case without charges. It underscores how if you want to complain about a dominant firms behavior, you go to Brussels, not Washington, said an international antitrust specialist who would speak only on the condition of anonymity.Still, Google competitors said they felt the proposed remedies hardly provided them protection. Almunia risks having the wool pulled over his eyes by Google, said David Wood, legal counsel for Icomp, a trade group representing Microsoft and other Internet companies. We do not believe Google has any intention of holding themselves to account on these proposals. Rivals complained that Mr. Almunia said he would not offer another formal period for rivals to weigh in on the plan, known as market testing. He rejected two previous proposals from Google after feedback from opponents. Market testing of Googles last two proposals identified serious and widespread concerns about the damage they would have done, Bradford L. Smith, Microsofts general counsel, said in a statement. If these new proposals are materially better than those that have already been rejected, then they should be broadly market tested. That leaves Googles opponents with one option, which is to take the European Commission to court. If I receive strong arguments that oblige changes to my decision, I am always ready. I am flexible, Mr. Almunia said. I dont see why, from now on, I would change my mind based on the proposals Google has put forward. Regulators for the European Union and some member countries are still scrutinizing several of Googles other business practices. They include privacy complaints about Googles mapping services, tax disputes related to the companys European operations and an antitrust investigation by the European Commission into the Android operating system. While Google initially balked at giving rivals more prominence in promoted search results, it was eager to avoid the protracted legal troubles that plagued Microsoft after European antitrust officials opened a competition investigation into its practices in the early 1990s. Mr. Almunia, who will step down from his post this year, had given Google until the end of January to submit a more satisfactory proposal, which it did, or face regulatory proceedings. He met regularly with Googles senior executives, including having a discussion with the firms chairman, Eric E. Schmidt, at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to work out the final deal. On Tuesday, Google awarded Mr. Schmidt, who is handling governmental relations like the antitrust investigations, a $106 million bonus.

Tech

Oscar De La Hoya Floyd Wouldn't Last 10 Seconds ... in UFC Fight 1/29/2018 1/29/18 TMZSports.com Oscar De La Hoya has set the over/under for how long Floyd Mayweather would last in a UFC fight ... and Floyd's not gonna like it. We got Oscar heading into Staples Center for a Lakers game the other day and asked him how his former boxing rival would fare in MMA. De La Hoya's prediction -- "Tapped out in 10 seconds." Ouch. FYI, Floyd says he probably ain't gonna test his skills inside the Octagon ... but money talks, so don't rule it out. Speaking of money fights, Oscar updated us on his quest to do business with Dana White ... a couple weeks after TMZ Sports got his initial pitch. 1/6/18 TMZSports.com

Entertainment

Credit...Julie Jacobson/Associated PressFeb. 21, 2014KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia When the coach of the Canadian womens snowboarding team gathers his belongings each morning, he makes sure he has his hat, his sunglasses, his cellphone and 100 Swiss francs.The coach, Marcel Mathieu, works for Canada and is currently in Russia, but like many people in his line of work, he needs Swiss currency. The reason that Mathieu and many other coaches across most Olympic sports make certain they always have a specific amount of cash on hand is that if they want to protest an official decision during competition, they need more than just a strong opinion and an angry yell.They also need money.Unlike major professional sports like soccer, baseball or football, protests are relatively common in Olympic sports, and each sports governing body has strict rules about the protocol. There are time restrictions. There are guidelines on whether the protest can be oral or must be in writing. And there is, ultimately, the bill. And dont try to pull out a credit card at the protest table.It has to be cash, said Ivor Lehotan, the vice president for information for the International Biathlon Union. He added, dryly: Its like a processing fee.Depending on the sport, the fee varies: for luge, it is 50 euros (about $67). Cross-country skiing, like snowboard and Alpine skiing, demands 100 Swiss francs (about $112) but stipulates that all protests must be submitted in English. Bobsled and skeleton are among the most expensive: they require a deposit of 100 euros before any protest will even be considered. If multiple countries want to make a similar protest, sharing the tab is allowed. There are rules, too, about what can be protested, and coaches have to be well versed on all the nuances. In luge, for example, athletes can protest to a jury if something happens during their run that they feel was unfair. The only exception listed in the rulebook? Being distracted by a camera flash is not grounds for a protest.Sometimes at races you will see coaches walking around carrying rulebooks, said Peter Van Wees, who is an executive board member of the F.I.B.T., which oversees bobsled and skeleton. Then if you look close, you will see that they have 100 euros sticking out the top of the rulebook. They are showing everyone that they are ready.The reasoning behind the francs-for-fairness plan is not complicated. In an effort to weed out the athletes and associations who were the most frequent protesters, most governing bodies opted to make the most egregious complainers pay literally for the time that officials had to spend investigating and issuing a ruling.ImageCredit...Julie Jacobson/Associated PressNot surprisingly, the majority of protests do not succeed. Most recently, the Australians known in the sliding world as all-too-regular grousers protested the results of Thursdays womens skeleton race, claiming that the Russians had unfair access to a practice area. Most other competitors, and the jury, found the protest unreasonable. The Australians fee, however, was gladly accepted. (In most instances, the protest money goes into the governing bodys development fund.)It might not seem like a lot of money, said Darrin Steele, who is the chief executive of the United States bobsled and skeleton federation and an F.I.B.T. executive board member. But for a lot of the countries there are tiny, tiny budgets, so the fee makes them think whether this is something they really want to do.Olympic history is littered with stories of controversial protests. David Wallechinsky, an Olympic historian, cited one from the 1936 Berlin Games in which Arie van Vliet, a Dutch cyclist, was clearly blocked by the German Toni Merkens during the first race of the best-two-out-of-three sprint final. Van Vliet immediately held up his hand to appeal, but the race jury deliberated for so long that the second race had begun before a decision was reached. Merkens won that one, too, claiming the gold medal. The Dutch team then filed a more formal protest, but the governing body did not disqualify Merkens for his blatant foul, choosing instead to simply fine him 100 German marks while allowing him to keep his medal. That was one of the most bizarre decisions, Wallechinsky said.At the 2012 London Games, there were several protests in gymnastics a sport notorious for them including one, from Japan on a scoring question, that was upheld and bumped Ukraines mens team off the medals stand. The Japanese got their money back; while gymnastics requires a $300 deposit to file a protest, that money is refunded if the protest is upheld.American Olympic fans also remember the drawn-out saga from the 2004 Games, when Paul Hamm won the gold medal in the gymnastics all-around only to endure a protest from the South Koreans, who contended that their athlete, Yang Tae-young, had been given an incorrect starting value on the parallel bars. If the value had been calculated correctly, the South Koreans said, Yang would have won instead of Hamm.That dispute ultimately went to the Court for Arbitration in Sport, which ruled that it did not have jurisdiction but also noted that it appeared the South Koreans had not followed procedure in their protest because they did not file it in a timely manner.Rulings like that are why coaches and officials are often fanatical about making sure they always find an A.T.M. before heading to the competition venue. Mathieu said he often handed his money to a colleague I sometimes have spent it on food, he admitted and Steele, the United States bobsled and skeleton executive, said most teams have a designated person who is responsible for holding the money. We put it in an envelope, he said.Of course, not all sports require their participants to ante up before protesting. Curling the rare sport that does not use referees (the players largely police themselves) takes a more egalitarian approach to dispute resolution.Our game, said Daniel Parker, an executive with the World Curling Federation, is played within the spirit of curling.Accordingly, Parker added, curlings protest fee is in line with its reputation as the worlds friendliest sport: there is none.

Sports

Credit...Andrew Harnik/Associated PressJune 21, 2018WASHINGTON The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that in-house judges at the Securities and Exchange Commission had been deciding cases without constitutional authorization.The in-house judges, known as administrative law judges, were appointed by staff members rather than by the five-member commission itself. That ran afoul of the Constitutions appointments clause, Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the majority in the 7-to-2 decision.The clause requires inferior officers to be appointed by the president, the courts or heads of departments. The commission itself is a head of department, while its staff members are not.Since the judges exercised significant authority in hearing and ruling on disputes, Justice Kagan wrote, they were officers rather than mere employees. It did not matter, she wrote, that the judges decisions were subject to review by the commission.The Justice Department, which had long contended that the in-house judges were employees and not officers, switched positions in the Supreme Court in the last year. In an unusual move, it urged the justices to grant review in the case, Lucia v. Securities and Exchange Commission, No. 17-130, even though it had won in the appeals court.Since the two sides agreed that the judges had not been properly appointed, the court invited Anton Metlitsky, a New York lawyer who had served as a law clerk to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., to argue the opposite position.The day after the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to hear the case, the commission appeared to cure the constitutional problem. It issued an order ratifying the appointments of the in-house judges. And it instructed judges to give fresh consideration to pending matters.The case arose from charges that Raymond J. Lucia and his firm had made misleading presentations to prospective clients about a retirement strategy they called Buckets of Money.Mr. Lucia lost before an administrative law judge and the S.E.C., and a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected a challenge to the judges authority. The full appeals court agreed to rehear the case, but its judges deadlocked 5 to 5.Justice Kagan wrote that the administrative law judge, Judge Cameron Elliot, had not been properly appointed. That meant, she wrote, that Mr. Lucia was entitled to new hearing.And we add today one thing more, Justice Kagan wrote. That official cannot be Judge Elliot, even if he has by now received (or receives sometime in the future) a constitutional appointment. Judge Elliot has already both heard Lucias case and issued an initial decision on the merits. He cannot be expected to consider the matter as though he had not adjudicated it before.Justice Stephen G. Breyer, joined on this point by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, disagreed. The reversal here is based on a technical constitutional question, he wrote, and the reversal implies no criticism at all of the original judge or his ability to conduct the new proceedings.Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ginsburg, dissented from the decisions central holding. The judges, she wrote, are not officers since they do not exercise significant authority because they do not, and cannot, enter final, binding decisions against the government or third parties.David M. Zornow, who brought one of the first legal challenges to the S.E.C.s appointment practices, said his reading of the decision permits any litigant with a pending administrative case who has challenged the constitutionality of an administrative law judge to demand a new hearing.Mr. Zornow, who is a partner with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, said it is less certain how the ruling will affect settled cases, even ones in which a defendant had challenged the constitutionality of an administrative judge to preside over the matter.Richard J. Holwell, a former federal judge, said the ruling should not affect hundreds of completed cases. The decision is pretty carefully crafted to limit its impact, he said, adding that the Supreme Court left open the question of whether it would apply to administrative judges at other agenciesWhen the case was argued in April, a lawyer for the administration asked the court to consider the separate issue of whether statutory restrictions on removing the judges from office are permissible.On Thursday, Justice Kagan rejected that request. No court has addressed that question, and we ordinarily await thorough lower court opinions to guide our analysis of the merits, she wrote, quoting an earlier decision.Justice Breyer, writing only for himself on this point, said the issue was important and warranted the courts attention.

Politics

Waka Flocka Flame Vegans Too Crazy for Me ... But My New Diet's Still Woke!!! 1/25/2018 TMZ.com Waka Flocka Flame's days as a poster child for veganism are as done as a rack of baby back ribs on Super Bowl Sunday -- but that doesn't mean he'll be scarfing down a rib eye steak anytime soon. We got Waka at LAX Wednesday and he explained why he recently bailed on being a strict vegan. He told us he's still down with healthy diet choices -- but hates that vegans are so militaristic, he can't put on a jacket without them losing it. The rapper says he's still choosing wisely for his meals. In his words, he's keeping it "conscious."

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Fact Check of the DayFollowing his summit meeting with Kim Jong-un, President Trump claimed on Tuesday that North Korea took billions of dollars during the Clinton administration for nothing. Neither is true. June 12, 2018what was said In one case, they took billions of dollars during the Clinton regime took billions of dollars and nothing happened. Mr. Trump, speaking to reporters in Singapore on Tuesday. the factsThis is misleading. The highly anticipated meeting in Singapore ended with a joint statement in which Mr. Kim committed to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Later, at a news conference, Mr. Trump recounted how Mr. Kim had contrasted the continuing negotiations with a 1994 nuclear deal that was struck with North Korea during the administration of President Bill Clinton. Under the 1994 deal, North Korea was to be provided with $4 billion in energy aid for heavy oil shipments and two light-water nuclear reactors. In exchange, North Korea agreed to freeze and dismantle its nuclear weapons program. By the time the deal broke down years later, during the presidency of George W. Bush, the aid the United States had provided amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars not billions of dollars. From 1994 to 2003, the United States contributed over $400 million in financial support to the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, or K.E.D.O., the international consortium tasked with overseeing the project. Most of that money went toward fuel shipments. The amount provided during the Clinton administration was about $250 million, said Jeffrey Lewis, an analyst at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. In November 2002, the Bush administration announced it would stop financing fuel shipments after American intelligence concluded that North Korea had been conducting a weapons program using highly enriched uranium. In 2003, K.E.D.O. halted construction on the nuclear reactors after spending about $1.6 billion, largely funded by South Korea and Japan. The project was officially terminated in 2005; at the time, only about one-third of it had been completed. More than two dozen countries, including the United States, contributed about $2 billion toward the construction of the reactors and fuel shipments. However, according to the former government analyst Robert L. Carlin, almost every penny of those billions went to South Korean and Japanese firms building the reactors.This billions of dollars to North Korea is pernicious myth, said Mr. Carlin, a retired C.I.A. and State Department analyst of North Korea and former adviser to K.E.D.O. There is absolutely no truth to the charge that the North took large sums of money from the U.S. and then proceeded to break agreements once the check had cleared.Analysts said it was also not the case that nothing happened as a result of the so-called 1994 Agreed Framework between the United States and North Korea. While Pyongyang ultimately did not give up its pursuit of weapons, the agreement did produce some results. Kelsey Davenport, the director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, said the 1994 agreement froze North Koreas plutonium production and installed inspectors in nuclear facilities for nearly a decade. It also averted North Koreas threat to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, she said.Without the agreed framework, North Korea would have a far larger stockpile of nuclear material for weapons, Ms. Davenport said, calling Mr. Trumps comments on Tuesday a blatant mischaracterization of the agreements accomplishments. Had the 1994 deal not occurred, according to diplomats who served under Mr. Clinton and Mr. Bush, North Korea would have amassed a stockpile of 100 nuclear weapons. Its current arsenal is estimated at 20 to 60 weapons.Source: Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, Congressional Research Service, The New York Times, Kelsey Davenport, Jeffrey Lewis, PBS

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Aziz Ansari Bails on SAG Awards 2018 ... Despite Best Actor Nom 1/21/2018 TNT Aziz Ansari bailed on the Screen Actors Guild Awards Sunday amid an allegation of sexual misconduct ... this despite the fact he was nominated and the tide of public opinion seemed to be swinging his way. Aziz was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series along with Larry David, Anthony Anderson, Sean Hayes, Marc Maron and William H. Macy. Aziz was not in the crowd as the camera panned to the nominees. Macy won the award. As we reported ... Aziz was accused of sexual assault by an anonymous woman who said he pressured her into sex acts during a date last year. His case has been interesting -- lots of women have come out against his accuser and the publication that first reported the accusation, including HLN's host Ashleigh Banfield. Looks like the situation was just too much for Aziz. The same can't be said for James Franco -- who's also been accused of sexual misconduct ... he's there tonight.

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Credit...Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe Great ReadMany dog fanciers like to trace their favorite breed to antiquity, but the researchers who study the modern and ancient DNA of dogs have a different perspective.Musette, a Maltese immortalized in porcelain by the French artist Jean-Baptiste Gille, after a model by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, circa 1855 to 1868.Credit...Metropolitan Museum of ArtOct. 4, 2021The tiny Maltese, the American Kennel Club tells us, has been sitting in the lap of luxury since the Bible was a work in progress.This is also the opinion of my friend the Maltese owner (the dog is also my friend), who recently invoked the Greeks and the Romans as early admirers of the breed.I have these conversations on occasion with people who are devoted to one breed or another and I usually nod and say, well, maybe, sort of. True, Aristotle did praise the proportions of a kind of lap dog described as a Melitaean dog. Scholars debate whether this meant the dog came from Malta, or another island called Melite or Miljet, or maybe a town in Sicily. It was a long time ago, after all. Aristotle also compared the dog to a marten, a member of the weasel family, perhaps because of its size. And yes, the Romans absolutely loved these dogs.So there is little doubt that there were little white lap dogs 2,000 years ago. The question is whether the modern Maltese breed is directly descended from the pets Romans scratched behind the ears.I have not mentioned this to the dog herself, who would prefer to remain anonymous because the internet can be vicious. And I doubt she would pay much attention to genealogical intrigue. Her interests, from what I can see, run more toward treats, arrogant and intolerable chipmunks and smelly places to roll around in.Its not just Maltese fanciers who are interested in their breeds ancient roots. Basenjis, Pomeranians, Samoyeds, Salukis, terriers and others have supporters who want to trace the breeds back to ancient times. But the Maltese seemed a good dog to discuss because the historical record is so rich. Obviously the Maltese is an ancient breed. Right?I brought this question to several of the scientists I turn to when I have dog DNA questions. Is the modern Maltese breed, in fact, ancient? The scientists, you will be shocked to learn, said no. But, as with anything involving dogs and science, its complicated.ImageCredit...Art Collection/AlamyImageCredit...Jerilea ZempelA couple of points to set the stage. All dogs are descended from the first dogs, just as all humans can trace their ancestry to the first Homo sapiens. None of us, or our dogs, have a more ancient ancestry than any other. What people seem to want to know is whether those ancestors were mutts or nobles, William the Conqueror or one of the conquered, a dog on a lap who got into a portrait, or a dog on the street who got into trouble.Im not looking at this from the outside, by the way. Ive been there myself, digging as deep as I could into the long and honorable history of my cairn terriers and Pomeranians. Ive also tried to trace my familys OConnors and OLearys and Fallons and Goritzes. (I havent found any conquerors yet.) But the idea of valuing genetic purity feels creepy sometimes, even if it is in animals who like to roll in cow pies when they get the chance.Elaine Ostrander, a dog genomics specialist at the National Institutes of Health, has gone as deep into breed differences and history as any scientist. She said the hunger for old breed ancestry is similar to the desire to reach back to the Mayflower for human antecedents. We think that way about ourselves. So we think that way about our dogs.The Pharaoh hound people were the first to approach me and ask that question, she recalled.Do our dogs really date back to the time of the Pharaoh? the breeders asked. Unfortunately not. That breed, Dr. Ostrander said, was totally recreated by mixing and matching existing breeds after World War II.Other breeds were established by picking an existing group of dogs in the Victorian era and classifying them as a breed with a definition that meant only dogs whose names were in a registry or whose ancestors could be identified as being in that registry, fit the breed. And 2,000 years ago, she said, the concept of a breed did not exist.ImageCredit...Karsten Moran for The New York TimesNor does DNA show any direct line from ancient to modern Maltese. To understand what dog DNA research is all about, its worth taking a step back. The genetic markers that Dr. Ostrander and other researchers use in genome comparisons to identify breeds are mostly not the genes that contain the recipe for floppy ears or bent legs or a certain color coat.They are not seeking a genetic recipe for a Basset hound or beagle, but a way to see how closely related one is to the other. Most DNA in humans and dogs has no known function. Only a portion of a genome makes up actual genes. And repetitive stretches of DNA of unknown purpose, if any, have proven to be useful in comparing groups and individuals. They change more from generation to generation and so offer more variation for scientists to work with in comparing breeds. What researchers develop is a breed fingerprint, but not a blueprint.Neither Dr. Ostrander nor Heidi Parker, a colleague and collaborator at N.I.H., gave a firm answer on how far back a breed could be traced, but they agreed that it basically depended on how long a breed club had been keeping records, not on whats in a dogs DNA. Before that time, breeding was not so regulated.The genomes of the Maltese, the havanese, the bichon and the Bolognese (the dog not the sauce) are all related, Dr. Parker said. The breeds may have split from a common ancestor a few hundred years ago and that common ancestor may no longer exist, or it might have been closer to one of the breeds than the others. But theres no DNA line to be traced to the time of Aristotle.When I asked Greger Larson, of the University of Oxford, who studies ancient and modern DNA of dogs and other animals, whether any breeds date to antiquity, he looked, as best I could tell from his Zoom image, like I had asked him if the Earth might really be flat.Breeds have closed breeding lines, he said. Thats the idea. Once they get established, youre not allowed to bring anything into it. And that concept of breeding toward an aesthetic and closing the breeding line that whole thing is only mid-19th century U.K.I dont care whether youre talking about a pug or a New Guinea singing dog or a basenji, he said. Breeds, by definition, are recent.ImageCredit...ART Collection/AlamyImageCredit...Chronicle/AlamyThere have, however, been lineages of dogs bred to the chase, or the lap, or to herd the sheep, for a long, long time. One such lineage, call it Maltese-adjacent, might be defined as really small dogs with short legs and they require a lot of attention and people are in love with them, Dr. Larson said. That lineage was certainly around in ancient Rome.My friend the Maltese partisan sent me images of old paintings. Mary Queen of Scots has some kind of little dog in a portrait from around 1580, but I have to say it looks more like the ghost of a Papillon than a living Maltese. Queen Elizabeth also has a small dog in a portrait from around the same time, which looks like a little white dog, more or less.There are lots of others, but I doubt they would qualify for the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. And none of this means that the modern Maltese or any other modern breed is the same as the dogs of antiquity.We want to say that our dog is very old in its current form, that it hasnt been changed, Dr. Larson said. Like the Maltese is the Maltese for the last 2,000 years. And thats just clearly not true. Although not true was not the expression he used.People have not been breeding dogs in the way that we do now for very long, at all, he said. What we lack in our vocabulary is a word for dogs that mostly look the same, doing the same kind of a job.But, setting words aside, I asked, what about the DNA. Does the DNA tell us how close a dog that looks like a Maltese now is to a Maltese then? He said that dog breeding in the past was never done to physical type, that dogs moved as people moved, from Rome to Britain, and back to Spain and Rome, and that nobody kept track of pedigrees. In addition, when breeds were established, they were based on a limited number of dogs admitted to the breed at that time. That is known in genetics as an extreme bottleneck. And all modern dogs are descended from just a few, unless there is interbreeding and mixing to change the look of the breed, which can happen.ImageCredit...Andrew White for The New York TimesYou can now find out if your Maltese is really a Maltese by checking its pedigree or, if you want to dig into its genome, by sending some saliva (the dogs) off to a company like Embark, with more than 100 employees chasing the secrets of dog DNA, or an academic venture like Darwins Dogs, part of the Darwins Ark project at the University of Massachusetts. (The ark, no judgment here, includes cats.) The scientists involved in this work also get pulled into the question of breed antiquity by curious dog owners and journalists.Adam Boyko, the co-founder of Embark, and a geneticist at the Cornell University School of Veterinary Medicine, agreed that modern breeds, with their closed populations are about 200 years old.He said theres no question that little white lap dogs have a long history. They were very popular in Roman times. They may or may not have come from Malta or some other Greek island. But he said, its an open question what kind of genetic continuity there may be with modern little white lap dogs.ImageCredit...The British MuseumImageCredit...incamerastock/AlamyEven in human genealogy, where one can trace the human equivalent of a pedigree back 1,000 years, the idea of genetic continuity is divorced from the reality of genes.Over the ages, each time a man and woman produce offspring, they take half the DNA from each parent. The genetic deck is shuffled and half the cards discarded. This shuffling occurs over and over. In each generation, it is as if two decks of 52 cards are shuffled to come up with a new deck that still numbers 52.When you go back 10 generations, Dr. Boyko said, most of those ancestors, 10 generations back actually didnt contribute any DNA to you. It got shuffled out. Its the same with a Maltese. Even if there were a documented direct line, which there is not, the descendants wouldnt have much of the ancestors specific genetic variation.In the end, of course, explained Elinor Karlsson, a genomics researcher at the University of Massachusetts Medical School who runs Darwins Ark, we cannot reach complete clarity on dog breeds because breed is used to mean different things by different people.Speaking of dogs in art, she said: It could be either that the dog in the painting simply looks like a Maltese and is entirely unrelated to the Maltese around today. It could be that that dog actually has exactly the same genetic variant that causes a Maltese to be small or causes a Maltese to be white. But, she added, I dont know whether that makes them the same breed or not. Thats kind of a cultural concept.So does that mean that your Maltese is ancient because there was an ancient Maltese that had that same mutation? I mean, it kind of depends on your perspective, Dr. Karlsson said.

science

Credit...Mark Reinstein/Corbis, via Getty ImagesJune 27, 2018WASHINGTON Justice Anthony M. Kennedys decision to retire, giving President Trump another opportunity to carry out his vow to select Supreme Court nominees who would automatically overturn Roe v. Wade, threatens to imperil the 1973 decision that established the constitutional right to have an abortion.The move also promised to reshuffle the landscape for reproductive rights in the United States, setting the stage for a bitter political and legal struggle that could affect generations of women.For decades, Justice Kennedy has been seen by supporters and opponents of abortion rights as a crucial swing vote, the deciding force on a profoundly polarized court who weighed in at key moments to preserve the core of Roe.Kennedy was the firewall for abortion rights for as long as he was there, said Mary Ziegler, a professor at the Florida State University College of Law who has written extensively on Roe and its aftermath. He has been the defining force in American abortion law since the 90s, so his absence means that Roe will be much more in peril.A decision overturning Roe is way more likely, Ms. Ziegler said. A series of decisions hollowing out Roe without formally announcing thats whats going on is pretty likely, too.Activist groups on both sides of the issue agreed on one thing: that Justice Kennedys impending departure and Mr. Trumps likely selection to succeed him would redraw the well-established legal battle lines over abortion rights, making it more probable that the court would move to uphold new restrictions and, potentially, abandon Roe altogether.Progressive organizations that support abortion rights swiftly slid into panic mode, publicly wringing their hands about the future of Roe, while conservative groups that oppose abortion rights exulted in the prospect of rolling it back.Ilyse Hogue, the president of Naral Pro-Choice America, said that with Justice Kennedys retirement announcement, a womans constitutional right to access legal abortion is in dire, immediate danger.Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the Susan B. Anthony List, which opposes abortion rights, said that Justice Kennedys decision to step down marks a pivotal moment for the fight to ensure every unborn child is welcomed and protected under the law.Tony Perkins, who leads the Family Research Council, said religious conservatives who had put aside their misgivings about Mr. Trump and backed him because of his promise to name a pro-life justice had been vindicated. They took a risk, and now the reward, Mr. Perkins said. Youll have a solid five votes for life.VideotranscripttranscriptFrom Gay Rights to Bush v. Gore: Anthony Kennedys LegacyThe Timess Supreme Court correspondent, Adam Liptak, looks at many of Justice Anthony Kennedys most consequential votes.Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, effective July 31. Justice Kennedys greatest judicial legacy was his championship of gay rights. He wrote every major gay rights decision, including one called Obergefell, which established a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, and it will be what he is most remembered for. Justice Kennedy was a moderate conservative; voted more often with the courts conservative wing; was the author of Citizens United, which amplified the role of money in politics; cast a vote with the five-justice majority in Bush v. Gore in 2000, which handed the presidency to President George W. Bush I George Walker Bush, do solemnly swear. joined the five-justice majority in District of Columbia against Heller, which revolutionized Second Amendment law and established a personal right to keep and bear arms. He was often prepared to cut back on the death penalty, whether it involved people with intellectual disabilities, people who committed crimes when they were younger than 18 or people who committed crimes other than murder. He joined the controlling opinion and in a 1992 decision, Planned Parenthood against Casey, which re-established and saved Roe v. Wade, the decision that guarantees a constitutional right to abortion. And in recent years, he has joined the courts liberals in cases on affirmative action and abortion. And those cases in which Justice Kennedy joined the courts four more liberal members are almost certainly at risk if President Trump appoints a conservative to the court.The Timess Supreme Court correspondent, Adam Liptak, looks at many of Justice Anthony Kennedys most consequential votes.CreditCredit...Eric Thayer/Getty ImagesJustice Kennedys importance in the legal wrangling over abortion rights complicated the politics of the coming confirmation battle for his successor, shining a spotlight on Republican senators who support abortion rights: Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. If all 49 Democrats opposed Mr. Trumps nominee, both womens votes would be needed to push the presidents choice through the Senate, giving them outsize influence over the process. They could condition their votes on a pledge from Mr. Trumps nominee to uphold Roe, an issue on which prospective Supreme Court justices are often grilled and rarely weigh in definitively.Both have backed judges who oppose abortion rights in the past. Ms. Collins issued a noncommital statement, saying: I view Roe v. Wade as being settled law. Its clearly precedent, and I always look for judges who respect precedent.Ms. Murkowski said abortion rights would be one element of her decision about whether to back Mr. Trumps nominee.Roe is one of those factors that I will weigh, just as I weighed it with the other nominations that came before us, she said. Is it the only factor that I weigh? No.Justice Kennedy, a Republican appointee with a moderately conservative bent, had a mixed record on abortion rights, rarely voting to strike down laws restricting them; he wrote a 2007 majority opinion upholding the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. But in crucial cases, he joined the courts liberals in reaffirming the principles undergirding Roe, effectively serving as a bulwark for preserving it.In 1992, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, he joined Justices Sandra Day OConnor and David H. Souter in a joint opinion that upheld Roe, saying that states could not enact laws that placed an undue burden on womens access to an abortion. In 2016, he voted with the courts liberal justices to strike down a Texas regulation that made it more difficult for doctors and clinics to provide abortions.Kennedy was not a reliable vote for abortion rights he only voted to strike down a couple of abortion restriction laws but he was reliably in favor of treating abortion differently, as a protected right under the Constitution, said David S. Cohen, a law professor at Drexel University.A newly conservative Supreme Court with a replacement for Kennedy could say in any one of a number of cases that are pending right now that the standard has changed, we are now evaluating these laws just like any other, with a rational basis test, and it would mean that states could go ahead and regulate abortion however they want, Mr. Cohen said.More than anything, said Maya Manian, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law, Justice Kennedy was seen as a holdout against a wholesale evisceration of Roe, and a rare conservative voice on the court for narrowly tailoring restrictions to reproductive health access, including access to contraception.With Kennedy gone, we could see the broad scope of reproductive access through various means sharply scaled back, Ms. Manian said. A lot of civil rights are now at grave risk.Beyond individual cases, Justice Kennedys absence will fundamentally redefine the calculus of abortion cases for lawyers on both sides, Ms. Ziegler said. In the past, they would tailor their arguments to the sole justice whom they viewed as a deciding factor in such cases.As long as Kennedy was the swing vote, there wasnt even really much of a point in asking the court to overturn Roe; now, were kind of in a brave new world, she said. The question now is: Who are you talking to? Whos the swing vote? Who do you need to win over? Its a complete game-changer.

Politics

Grammy Awards 2018 It Was All About Kendrick and Jay-Z ... Behind the Scenes 1/28/2018 James Corden might've owned the spotlight on camera during the 2018 Grammy Awards ... but it was Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar who were the real stars behind the scenes. Tons of A-listers were seen paired off with the two hip-hop mega stars -- including Lady Gaga, Lorde, Jerry Seinfeld, Rihanna and even Cardi B. Makes sense ... these dudes were up for a lot of the biggest awards of the night -- who wouldn't wanna be in their company? They weren't the only ones muggin' for the camera, though. Other musicians seen backstage and down in the seats were Nick Jonas, Sting, Luis Fonsi, Tony Bennett, Jamie Foxx and tons more. Take a peek for yourself to check out the Jay and K.Dot showcase.

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Kylie Jenner First Full-On Baby Bump Pic and Video 1/25/2018 STOP THE PRESSES ... a pregnant Kylie Jenner's been spotted out in the real world for the first time since September!!! TMZ's obtained a shot of Kylie walking with her best friend, Jordyn Woods, and Kris Jenner following closely behind. The trio went to a construction site in Hidden Hills around noon Wednesday. Check out the video ... it looks like she labors a bit as she gets into her SUV to leave. 1/25/18 TMZ.com As we reported ... Kylie showed her face this week for the first time in months in a Calvin Klein ad with her sisters, but kept her baby bump under wraps. Sources close to her say she's due soon and, as we reported, baby daddy Travis Scott revealed to friends they're having a girl.

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Credit...Peter W. Cross for The New York TimesNov. 15, 2016If there is one thing decades of studies with tens of thousands of heart disease patients have revealed, it is that lowering cholesterol can reduce the risk of heart attacks and deaths. Now, with new drugs on the market that can plunge cholesterol levels lower than ever thought possible, researchers are eagerly waiting for an answer to the next question: Is there a limit to the benefits in high-risk patients? After a certain point, do benefits level off or even reverse?A new study suggests there is no leveling off. But that good news comes in the context of unexpected problems with the new drugs, known as PCSK9 inhibitors.On Nov. 1, Pfizer, one of three companies developing such drugs, announced that it was stopping the project after spending years and huge sums on the drugs development and after clinical trials with 27,000 patients were well underway. Patients developed antibodies to the drug, which canceled its effects.And while two other PCSK9 inhibitors approved for sale last year do not have such a problem, they have another issue. With their high price Amgens list price for its drug is $14,000 a year insurers are refusing to pay for them.For now, the PCSK9 inhibitors, heralded as a triumph of basic research, are turning into expensive headaches.The new 18-month study involved 968 heart patients. They were randomly assigned to take a statin or a statin plus the Amgen PCSK9 inhibitor, evolocumab. It, like the PCSK9 drug developed by Sanofi and Regeneron, can drive levels of LDL cholesterol, the dangerous kind, to what Dr. Peter Libby of Harvard calls subterranean levels. (Dr. Libby was not associated with the new study.)Researchers used ultrasound to measure the size of patients plaques. When those pimple-like growths on the walls of coronary arteries rupture, people can have heart attacks. Research has shown that the smaller the plaques, the lower the heart attack risk.Patients taking a statin had LDL levels averaging 93, which is considered excellent. Those taking a statin plus evolocumab had levels averaging 36, and some got their levels down to 10.A level of 30, said Dr. Elliott M. Antman, a cardiologist at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston and a past president of the American Heart Association, is like that of a 6-month-old baby. In a sense you are turning back the cardiovascular clock, he said. Dr. Antman was not associated with the new study.Plaques got smaller in two-thirds of those taking evolocumab but in fewer than half of those taking a statin alone. And the lower the LDL level for the evolocumab patients went, the more likely it was that plaques would shrink. At the lowest LDL levels around 24 81 percent of patients plaques shrank.The study was published online Tuesday in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, to coincide with a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association.The results are not proof of benefit, cautioned Dr. Steven Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic, who directed the study. Its a signal, he said. It suggests these drugs will show benefit.What is needed and will come within months are the outcomes of large clinical trials investigating whether PCSK9 inhibitors are safe and prevent deaths from heart disease. Maybe then, said Dr. Sean Harper, Amgens executive vice president for research and development, insurance companies will more readily approve the drugs.I hope it will make a difference, he said.Amgens drugs are discounted about 35 percent, Dr. Harper said. Medicaid and the Department of Veterans Affairs get bigger discounts. But even with discounts it remains an expensive drug.Yet even when patients meet all the criteria for a PCSK9 inhibitor, insurers deny 80 to 90 percent of claims at first. In the end, only one in three or one in four qualified patients gets the drug, Dr. Harper said.Insurers generally require prior authorization before they will pay for the drugs, and their decisions usually depend on whether patients meet specific criteria, said Kristine Grow, a spokeswoman for Americas Health Insurance Plans, which represents private insurers. But, she added, plans also have robust appeals processes. And part of the companies hesitation is their wish to see evidence that the drugs actually prevent heart attacks and deaths from heart disease.In the meantime, insurers have been forcing doctors to send in extensive documentation about a patients need for the drug and then denying appeal after appeal, Dr. Harper said.What theyve done is make it so administratively onerous for doctors offices that they hit fatigue, Dr. Harper said. Some physicians feel so passionately that they are willing to work full time, but sometimes after doing all that their patients face a very high co-pay and abandon the scrip, he added.Dr. Seth Baum, a cardiologist and heart researcher in private practice in Boca Raton, Fla., and the president of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology, has numerous stories of frustrating dealings with insurers over PCSK9s.One of his patients, Mahendra Mahabir, 41, of Margate, Fla., said he had his first heart attack at age 17, another at 23 and two more since. He had stents implanted to prop his arteries open and had a bypass operation in 2004. His father, uncles and aunts all died of heart disease at young ages.He takes the maximum doses of a statin and two other less effective cholesterol-lowering drugs, but even so, he and Dr. Baum said, his LDL level bounces around in the 200s, sometimes reaching 300. Without the drugs his LDL is 500.So when the PCSK9 inhibitors were approved, Dr. Baum was sure Mr. Mahabir would get them. It should be a slam dunk, he said.He said he applied in June to Mr. Mahabirs insurer, but the request was denied. He appealed, and it was denied again. Dr. Baum submitted three appeals, he said, but every time there was another reason for the denial.Contacted by The New York Times, the insurer, United Healthcare, said it would review the case but could not comment immediately.Finally, on a call with a doctor at the insurance company, Dr. Baum was encouraged. But the next day, he found out that his appeal had been denied again. The insurer wanted the man to have a 12-week trial of a statin.Hes been taking a statin for 25 years, Dr. Baum said.Dr. Baum appealed again. Mr. Mahabir was finally approved on Monday.He does not yet have the drug it has to come from a special pharmacy. When I can pick up the medicine, then I will believe it, Mr. Mahabir said.

Health

DealBook|Julius Baer Reaches Preliminary Tax Deal With U.S. Authoritieshttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/31/business/dealbook/julius-baer-reaches-preliminary-tax-deal-with-us-authorities.htmlCredit...Steffen Schmidt/KEYSTONE, via Associated PressDec. 30, 2015Julius Baer said on Wednesday that it had reached a preliminary agreement with the United States Justice Department over an investigation into whether it had helped wealthy American clients evade United States taxes.The Swiss bank also said that it had set aside an additional $200 million to cover potential financial penalties. In total, the Swiss bank has now earmarked almost $550 million for the expected financial charges related to the inquiry.The prospective settlement with American officials is the latest in a number of investigations targeting Swiss financial institutions after UBS agreed to pay $780 million in fines in 2009. That settlement related to federal claims that UBS had helped wealthy Americans evade taxes, while the bank also agreed to disclose the names of 19,000 of its clients.In a statement on Wednesday, Julius Baer said that it expected to reach a deal with the United States attorneys office for the Southern District of New York by March, though any agreement was still subject to the final approval of American authorities. The office declined to comment on Wednesday.Shares in the Swiss bank rose 1.5 percent in early afternoon trading in Zurich on Wednesday.While analysts said the potential settlement might end the issue for Julius Baer, it remained unclear whether the bank would be forced to plead guilty to criminal charges related to suspected conspiring to aid tax evasion.Two Swiss banks Credit Suisse and Wegelin & Company, the countrys oldest private bank have pleaded guilty to violating American tax laws, and they have paid almost a combined $3 billion in financial penalties. Wegelin & Company closed down shortly after agreeing to the tax evasion deal with the United States authorities.The charges were also particularly severe for Credit Suisse, which along with its guilty plea agreed to pay $2.6 billion in penalties in 2014 and hire an independent monitor for up to two years.Credit Suisse became the most prominent bank to plead guilty in the United States since Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1989, and the largest to do so since the Bankers Trust in 1999, a bank a fraction the size of the Swiss financial giant.

Business

Credit...Yuyang Liu for The New York TimesTech Were UsingIts important to preserve snapshots of Chinas internet before they vanish without a trace, says Raymond Zhong, a Times tech reporter in Beijing.Full Page Screen Capture, a one-click Google Chrome extension, is invaluable for internet research in China, Raymond Zhong said.Credit...Yuyang Liu for The New York TimesMay 8, 2019How do New York Times journalists use technology in their jobs and in their personal lives? Raymond Zhong, a technology reporter based in Beijing, discussed the tech hes using.What are your most important tech tools for reporting in China?The Chinese internet is like the small-town setting of a crime novel: Things are mysteriously disappearing from it all the time.Social media posts vanish. News and blog articles are taken down. Sensitive bits are excised from videos. You cant always predict what will be removed, either by censors or by a regular person starting to have second thoughts about his or her own unfiltered utterance. Even pages on the websites of government agencies and major corporations have a way of quietly falling into black holes.Thats why a Google Chrome extension called Full Page Screen Capture is invaluable for internet research in China. With one click, I get a screen shot of an entire page, top to bottom. An embarrassingly large share of the files on my laptop are PDFs generated this way. I only wish a similar function were built into my iPhone, as it is on Huawei handsets.Google sometimes caches past versions of web pages, as does the Internet Archives Wayback Machine. These crawlers dont preserve everything. But when you manage to discover in the archives the exact page youve been hunting for, frozen for posterity at exactly the right moment, its an incredible endorphin rush.For capturing streaming videos before they are taken down, I use QuickTime Player to take a recording of my screen. There are also sites that convert videos from YouTube and other platforms into downloadable files. I wont name these services. The video sites dont like them, so theyre constantly being shut down.Reporting in an authoritarian country is a struggle of memory against forgetting. These tools help.ImageCredit...Yuyang Liu for The New York TimesHow does online consumerism like shopping and ordering food delivery differ there? How do you personally use these apps?I spent most of my adult life not buying much online except books. But, oh Lordy, have I fallen for e-commerce since moving to Beijing last year.To scroll through Taobao, Alibabas largest shopping platform, is to be awed by the sheer amount of our physical world that is being produced in China. Normal stuff like dustpans and kitchen timers. Weird stuff like latte cups shaped like skulls, wine glasses with a built-in straw and Barbie dolls that serve as racks for slices of raw meat before they go into a hot pot. Detailed knockoffs of Lego sets and whatever latest abominable thing Justin Bieber has been photographed wearing.Do you know how many vendors are out there selling giant pillows printed to look like pieces of grilled meat? I bet that you do not.My head swims with grandiose thoughts when Im on Taobao. Thoughts like: Factories are making this stuff because people buy it. Who are these people? How do the factories even find out about them? What if shopping apps, and not social media, are the real mirror that mobile technology is holding up to our society?Come to think of it, I still dont buy that much online. I just like to look and ponder.Many people in China have stopped using cash. They conduct their entire lives on a single app, WeChat. Electric cars are everywhere. Is China The Jetsons?No, though I do often see people on hoverboards barreling down city streets while talking on their cellphones.China is rightly recognized for having made big leaps in the digital realm. But there are many unglamorous reasons behind Chinese tech companies success.Labor is cheap, and cities are densely populated perfect for e-commerce, ride-hailing, and food and grocery delivery. People also tend to adopt new technologies with gusto because in a country that was quite poor not long ago, its not easy to get misty eyed about life before the internet.The offline world in China is still rough in some ways. The skies are polluted. The traffic is bad. Staffs in shops and restaurants are surly. Most people will happily use technology to avoid all this if they can.A few months ago, I had a broken water pipe at home, and for some reason I decided to call a plumber who had left his number on a sticker in my building. He ripped me off, big time. Next time Im trying an app.Even dealing with the Chinese bureaucracy is getting less torturous, sort of. This year, the tax authorities want more people to use their app. Which sounds good, except I still had to go across town and show my passport to get the six-digit code needed to activate the app.Hoverboards aside, what gadget trends are emerging?In a country as gadget crazy as China, its interesting that smart speakers arent taking off as they are in the United States. A lot of people I know are buying hand-held voice translation devices, usually for older relatives. They dont work so well, Im told. But at least they try to solve a real problem.Recently, I watched a waiter in a hotel restaurant communicate with foreign guests using a voice translation app. China needs to get better at English to become stronger in the world, the waiter said, and the app read out his words in English.It was all very poignant until one guest barked at the waiter about a broken juice machine, and the app dutifully translated his insults into Chinese.ImageCredit...Yuyang Liu for The New York TimesOutside of your job, what tech product are you personally obsessed with? Whats so great about it, and what could be better?China is a glorious place to be a karaoke lover, and Exhibit No. 1 is the nations ubiquitous karaoke booths. For a couple of bucks, you and a friend can squeeze into a soundproof glass box and sing your hearts out for 15 minutes before going back to your normal lives.The booths are everywhere in Chinese cities. In malls, in movie theaters. Ive even seen them outside factories, so workers can nip out for a rousing round of My Way before returning to the assembly line. One time, I saw people singing in booths at the Beijing airport at 6:30 in the morning.I must say I like the idea of karaoke booths more than the actual experience. The ventilation isnt great. You have to wear headphones, and theres something about karaoke that is diminished when you experience it through headphones. Or maybe I just dont sound as good singing Try a Little Tenderness as I think I do.In the end, karaoke might be another thing that was probably best left undisrupted by technology.

Tech

Middle East|Bahrain Moves to Dissolve Major Opposition Grouphttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/06/world/middleeast/bahrain-opposition-crackdown-shiite-sunni.htmlMarch 6, 2017DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Bahrains justice ministry has filed a lawsuit intended to dissolve a major opposition group that it accuses of supporting terrorism, the state-run Bahrain News Agency reported on Monday.The group, the National Democratic Action Society, or Waad, was accused by the ministry of serious violations targeting the principle of respecting the rule of law, supporting terrorism and sanctioning violence. The secular organization called the move an attempt to stamp out dissent and vowed to fight the ministry in court.Bahrain, where the American Navys Fifth Fleet is based, has been a political flash point since the Arab Spring protests of 2011 led by the nations Shiite majority were put down by the Sunni-led government with the help of other Persian Gulf Arab states.The crackdown entered a new phase last year when the authorities banned the main Shiite Muslim opposition group, Al Wefaq, and revoked the citizenship of the countrys top Shiite cleric.Radhi al-Moosawi, a leader of the group, expressed shock, saying that Waad was committed to peaceful political work and rejected violence. This is another step to undermine political work by the opposition in Bahrain, he told Reuters.Mr. Moosawi said Waad would use all its resources to fight the order in court. The Arabic daily Al Ayam, which is close to the government, said the first hearing was expected to be held on March 20.Al Wefaq won 18 out of 40 seats in elections in 2010, but pulled out of Parliament a year later during the Arab Spring crackdown. Both Al Wefaq and Waad boycotted elections in November 2014 that were swept by pro-government and independent candidates.Terrorist attacks have jumped this year after the authorities executed three men convicted of a deadly bombing in 2014. Bahrain accuses Iran, a Shiite power, of fomenting violence in the kingdom, a charge Tehran denies.A government advisory body passed a constitutional amendment on Sunday authorizing military trials of civilians suspected of attacking security forces.

World

VideoThe New York Yankees Derek Jeter held a news conference Wednesday to discuss his retirement at the end of the 2014 season.CreditCredit...Barton Silverman/The New York TimesFeb. 19, 2014TAMPA, Fla. All but one person expected it to be a grand show, a well-attended farewell announcement for a revered sports figure, perhaps even ending in tears. But that one person was sitting behind the microphone, answering questions as if he were discussing just another Wednesday game in Cleveland or Chicago.Derek Jeter betrayed no emotions when he sat on a dais for 26 minutes, elaborating on last weeks announcement that he planned to retire after the 2014 season. There were no dramatic pauses, no tears, not even a hint that he was holding them back. He played down the news conference itself, saying it was merely his annual news media session at the opening of camp, albeit with the intrigue that this would be the final spring training address.He also urged his teammates, manager and coaches, who had come to show their support and respect, just as they had for Mariano Rivera in 2013, to get back to work. After all, Jeter had not retired yet, and there was still a chance to win one more World Series ring.I have feelings, he insisted. Im not emotionally stunted. Theres feelings there. I think I was just pretty good at hiding my emotions throughout the years. I try to have the same demeanor each and every day. But its different. Its not the end of the season yet. We still have a long way to go.Dressed in workout shorts, a warm-up top and a Yankees cap, Jeter said he did not want to focus on the end. But others, including the managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner, General Manager Brian Cashman and many teammates, were taken aback by Jeters well-crafted statement on his Facebook page on Feb. 12. They all wanted to know why his 20th season would be his last, especially if he was as physically fit as he said he was.ImageCredit...Barton Silverman/The New York TimesBecause I feel as though the time is right, Jeter said. Theres other things I want to do. I look forward to doing other things.He said he wanted to start a family, among other pursuits, but he did not elaborate on his future. Jeter said he made his decision a couple of months ago and posted the announcement only hours after he had informed Steinbrenner by phone. Jeter said that he planned to tell Steinbrenner the night before but that Steinbrenner did not return his call.I didnt recognize the area code, Steinbrenner said. My bad. But its surreal. Its strange to think about the Yankees lineup without Derek in it.The Facebook message was the result of dedicated labor, Jeter said, and it was clear he took pride in the result. Each and every word, I wrote, he said. I was sitting down at home and I had a few questions I wanted to answer, so I started taking notes. I wish I brought the notebook to show you, but it was a lot of pages. I could have written another three or four pages, but I thought people would lose interest. For most of the last two decades, since Jeter won the rookie of the year award and helped the Yankees to the World Series title in 1996, it has been hard for people to lose interest in anything he does. He has won five World Series and has been the either the catalyst or the leader in each one, putting him in the category of other Yankees stars like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.In 19 seasons, Jeter has amassed more hits (3,316) and played in more games (2,602) than any other Yankee. He is known for the flip play in the 2001 division series in Oakland, for diving headfirst into the stands after a foul ball against Boston, for being Mr. November and Captain Clutch. ImageCredit...Barton Silverman/The New York TimesMost of all, he is known for winning. Along with the five titles and seven American League pennants, Jeter has the distinction of playing in only one game in which the Yankees were eliminated from playoff contention. So when he was asked for his favorite baseball memory, the answer was not surprising.Every time we win, he said, as several of his teammates nodded in agreement. And Im not just saying that. You work out the entire year, and the ultimate goal is to win. Thats the bottom line. When we win, those are the memories that stand out for me. Ive done a lot of things personally in my career that I appreciated and mean a lot. But if you ask me what stands out the most, its winning.Last year, which he called a nightmare, Jeter was able to play only 17 games because of an injured left ankle, which he fractured in October 2012 and again in spring training last year. On Wednesday he declared his ankle completely healed and said that with a full off-season of conditioning, he was prepared to play every day. The injury, he said, is not the reason he is retiring.This has nothing to do with how I feel physically, he said. Jeter said he planned to play as much as he did in 2012, when he appeared in 159 games and collected a league-high 216 hits. Manager Joe Girardi said he hoped to use Jeter as much as possible in his final season and liked what he heard about Jeters focus on the coming season.I thought it was vintage Derek, Girardi said, where the focus should be. Hes not thinking about retirement. Hes thinking about winning another championship, and he told us all to go back to work.Jeter did not spend much time reflecting on his career. He conceded that he had largely hidden his feelings and personal life because thats just how I felt Id be able to make it this long in New York.But he noted the way he would like to be remembered not necessarily alongside Ruth, DiMaggio or Mantle, and not as a member of the 3,000-hit club.It was a line that could go on his Hall of Fame plaque in 2020.Being a Yankee, he said, is good enough for me.

Sports

Credit...Mike Coppola/FilmMagicMarch 25, 2016In a decision that has dredged up the widely debunked link between vaccines and autism, the Tribeca Film Festival plans to screen a film by a discredited former doctor whose research caused widespread alarm about the issue.The film, Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, is directed and co-written by Andrew Wakefield, an anti-vaccination activist and an author of a study published in the British medical journal The Lancet, in 1998 that was retracted in 2010. In addition to the retraction of the study, which involved 12 children, Britains General Medical Council, citing ethical violations and a failure to disclose financial conflicts of interest, revoked Mr. Wakefields medical license.On the festivals website, the biographical material about Mr. Wakefield does not mention that he was stripped of his license or that his Lancet study was retracted. Rather, it says that the Lancet study would catapult Wakefield into becoming one of the most controversial figures in the history of medicine.On Friday, Robert De Niro, one of the festivals founders, said in a statement issued through the festivals publicists that he supported the plan to show the movie next month, although he said he was not personally endorsing the film, nor was he against vaccination. Mr. De Niros statement seemed to suggest that this was the first time he has expressed a preference that a particular film be shown at the festival.Grace and I have a child with autism, he wrote, referring to his wife, Grace Hightower De Niro, and we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined. In the 15 years since the Tribeca Film Festival was founded, I have never asked for a film to be screened or gotten involved in the programming. However this is very personal to me and my family and I want there to be a discussion, which is why we will be screening VAXXED.Within hours his statement, posted on Facebook, generated hundreds of comments.The trailer for the film, filled with dramatic music, opens with the words Are Our Children Safe? on a black screen with billowing smoke that appears to be coming from a syringe. The trailer includes the suggestion that a whistle-blower from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would say that the organization had committed fraud and that they knew that vaccines were actually causing autism. Mr. Wakefield appears in the trailer saying, Wow, the C.D.C. had known all along there was this M.M.R. autism risk.M.M.R. stands for the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella that children 12 to 15 months old are supposed to receive. Scientific evidence has repeatedly shown the vaccine to be safe, highly effective and having no connection to autism. In recent years, serious outbreaks of measles have erupted, including one at Disneyland, partly because many parents have refused to vaccinate their children.The plan to show the film has unnerved and angered doctors, infectious disease experts and even other filmmakers.Unless the Tribeca Film Festival plans to definitively unmask Andrew Wakefield, it will be yet another disheartening chapter where a scientific fraud continues to occupy a spotlight and overshadows the damage he has left behind in the important story of vaccine safety and success, Dr. Mary Anne Jackson, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said in an email.The documentary filmmaker Penny Lane (Our Nixon) published on Thursday an open letter to the festivals organizers in Filmmaker Magazine, suggesting that including Vaxxed in the documentary section threatens the credibility of not just the other filmmakers in your doc slate, but the field in general.She added that while the subject of ethics and truthfulness in a documentary can be uncomfortable, this film is not some sort of disinterested investigation into the vaccines cause autism hoax; this film is directed by the person who perpetuated the hoax.Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical School, called the decision to show the film particularly sad because the Tribeca festival receives attention far beyond New York.The people who put on the Tribeca Film Festival are very prestigious and they draw a very thoughtful audience, and its implicit that if they have suggested this film they think that theres some merit in it, and more importantly, merit to Wakefields message, Dr. Schaffner said. All of us are out talking about it reassuring parents, children, anyone who wants to pay attention to this issue that vaccines are safe and effective, and they certainly do not cause autism, and that Dr. Wakefield was a fraud and had his license removed over this very event.According to the festivals website, Vaxxed will be screened only once, on April 24, the festivals closing day. A talk with the director and the films subjects will follow.

Health

April 6, 2016LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan Afghans have an expression: Well, whatever has happened, we are still skinny. In other words, they have not gotten rich yet, try as they might.It is an expression heard often here in Helmand Province, the southwestern region that is the world capital of opium and heroin production. Afghanistan accounts for 90 percent of the worlds heroin; more than two-thirds of that comes from Helmands opium poppies, according to United Nations figures.Sometimes, the expression is uttered enviously how did we miss out? Other times, it is delivered with greedy sarcasm how much more can we get before the feeding frenzy is over?This years first poppy harvest season has just begun, and the bright red flowers are garish splotches across the heavily irrigated landscape. But unlike in previous years, there will be no serious efforts to eradicate the opium crop in Helmand, because of a combination of Taliban advances and out-of-control corruption, with both sides battling over the drug trade.Helmand is also the deadliest province in Afghanistan, with more than half of all the countrys combat fatalities in the last year, Afghan officials have confirmed.President Ashraf Ghanis envoy for Helmand, Maj. Gen. Abdul Jabar Qahraman, has been given the task of fixing the situation. He says that a big part of the reason Helmand has become so difficult is that so many of its combatants have a financial stake in the continuation of the drug trade and of the war itself something he hopes to undo by getting all sides talking to one another.ImageCredit...Bryan Denton for The New York TimesHe calls the problem fourth-wife syndrome. The fourth wife four is the most allowed under Islam is often several decades younger than the husband, so her father can demand a high price for the bride. The implication is that big players on both sides are hungry for money. But in some prominent cases in Helmand, there really are four wives in the picture.The Taliban shadow governor for the province, Mullah Manan, is from a poor family, yet recently he took a young girl as his fourth wife. Where did he get this money? General Qahraman said. He had to pay a lot for such a marriage, and his father didnt even own a donkey. As a counterpoint, he mentioned that the Afghan National Police commander in Nad Ali district, Hajji Marjan Haqmal, had also just paid 3 million afghanis for a young, fourth wife around $42,000, or more than three years salary for a district commander.There is a big game going on, and Helmand is at the center of it, General Qahraman said. The war and the fighting in Helmand is a tool for everybody theyre making millions off it.Whoever controls opium territory controls a rich income stream. The Taliban directly impose taxes on the crop; some government officials do, too, or more often solicit bribes to look the other way.The war effort is another rich target for corruption, General Qahraman said.Theres a firefight, and the government side fires three rounds, but they say its 50, and the other side, they fire a few back, and say its 100, and then each side goes and sells the extra rounds, he said. The guys fighting are just tools; their commanders make the money.In the last 11 months, 3,000 Afghan government soldiers and policemen have been killed in Helmand, according to General Qahramans figures. That is half or more of the estimated 6,000 Afghan security forces, police officers and soldiers killed in the countrys 34 provinces over the last 12 months a sharp rise from last year, according to a senior Afghan official, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to discuss the figures publicly.If I say its not that bad, Id be lying, General Qahraman said. But if I say its overwhelmingly bad, thatd be lying, too. The situation is fragile. When were strong, were going to gain. When theyre strong, theyre going to gain.Civilian casualties are rising, too. At Lashkar Gahs Emergency Hospital, run by an aid group based in Italy, casualties increased 10 percent in January and February, to 405, compared with the same period a year earlier.You cant go anywhere in Helmand now safely, said Maj. Gen. Esmatullah Dawlatzai, who was recently put in charge of all the police forces in Helmand. You cant step outside of Lashkar Gah safely, and thats a fact, he added, referring to the provincial capital city.Its not going to change until we do something about the political corruption, which is being carried out from Kabul, and involves everyone: elders, parliament members, politicians, all of them, General Dawlatzai continued. The police, especially, are not a national police. They are not fighting for the benefit of their country, but for their patrons.Mullah Majid Akhonzada, the deputy provincial chairman, said that all that Helmand got from Kabul was empty promises, as the Taliban gain more and more territory. The fact is, nothing has been done except filling their own pockets, he said. Thats all they do.Corruption does not just fatten up the skinny, it also undermines security.Hajji Ahmad is a provincial councilman from Gereshk District, the center of some of the fiercest fighting. This is how it works, he said. The police chief buys his post, then he has to make his money back by selling other positions to other commanders, in the districts and subdistricts, and then those guys are selling to each checkpoint.So Ill give you an example, a recent example of what happens, Hajji Ahmad said. In Margir area, at a police checkpost in Gereshk District, theres 24 hours of fighting going on and at night the commander runs out of ammo. So he goes to his district commander and says, We need ammo, and the commander says, Well, give me money so I can give you ammo. And he doesnt have any money, so the Taliban overrun the checkpost and nine policemen are killed. Thats what happens. He was referring to an attack that took place last month.The men appointed to reform the police and military in Helmand, General Dawlatzai and General Qahraman, are finding it hard going, and many of the obstacles are internal.ImageCredit...Adam Ferguson for The New York TimesFrom 2014 to 2015, opium eradication in Helmand nearly doubled, to great acclaim in drug enforcement circles. This year, however, the new security chief for the Ministry of Counternarcotics, Maj. Rahmatullah Alokozai, whose main duty is opium eradication, has declared there will be none in 2016. With the Taliban in full control of five of Helmand Provinces 14 districts, and more than half of its territory, it would not be possible, Major Alokozai insisted.This year is totally out of control, the major said in an interview. Last year was not like this. Now that we dont have security, we cant do anything. Its obvious.But Major Alokozais critics say he is clearly not interested in trying, complaining that he is not only unqualified for such a crucial position, but that the large amount of money he paid for his job suggests there is money to be made by canceling eradication.When an official letter from Afghanistans Interior Ministry proposing Major Alokozai as the eradication czar in Helmand reached the desk of police General Dawlatzai, the general said he scrawled a note across it saying, He shouldnt even be in the police force, let alone in counternarcotics.That guy bought his rank hes not even really a major and his position for $100,000, and he cant even read and write, the general said of Major Alokozai. (Literacy is an official requirement of the post.) His account was confirmed by the new representative of the attorney generals office in Helmand, Fazal Sultan Safi.Major Alokozai confirmed that his only previous experience was working as a guard for contractors moving goods in and out of Helmand work that has dried up because it is too dangerous. But he insisted he could read and write, and said he had gone to school until 10th or 11th grade.As General Dawlatzai put it: Saying things are getting better in Helmand is like trying to blot out the sun with two fingers. I dont do that. What Im telling you is the honest picture of the way things are.

World

Researchers identified a protein in the fluid that could boost the cognition of aging animals and might lead to future treatments for people.Credit...Jeff Roberson/Associated PressMay 11, 2022Five years ago, Tal Iram, a young neuroscientist at Stanford University, approached her supervisor with a daring proposal: She wanted to extract fluid from the brain cavities of young mice and to infuse it into the brains of older mice, testing whether the transfers could rejuvenate the aging rodents.Her supervisor, Tony Wyss-Coray, famously had shown that giving old animals blood from younger ones could counteract and even reverse some of the effects of aging. But the idea of testing that principle with cerebrospinal fluid, the hard-to-reach liquid that bathes the brain and spinal cord, struck him as such a daunting technical feat that trying it bordered on foolhardy.When we discussed this initially, I said, This is so difficult that Im not sure this is going to work, Dr. Wyss-Coray said.Dr. Iram persevered, working for a year just to figure out how to collect the colorless liquid from mice. On Wednesday, she reported the tantalizing results in the journal Nature: A week of infusions of young cerebrospinal fluid improved the memories of older mice.The finding was the latest indication that making brains resistant to the unrelenting changes of older age might depend less on interfering with specific disease processes and more on trying to restore the brains environment to something closer to its youthful state.It highlights this notion that cerebrospinal fluid could be used as a medium to manipulate the brain, Dr. Iram said.Turning that insight into a treatment for humans, though, is a more formidable challenge, the authors of the study said. The earlier studies about how young blood can reverse some signs of aging have led to recent clinical trials in which blood donations from younger people were filtered and given to patients with Alzheimers or Parkinsons disease.But exactly how successful those treatments might be, much less how widely they can be used, remains unclear, scientists said. And the difficulties of working with cerebrospinal fluid are steeper than those involved with blood. Infusing the fluid of a young human into an older patient is probably not possible; extracting the liquid generally requires a spinal tap, and scientists say that there are ethical questions about how to collect enough cerebrospinal fluid for infusions.While there are theoretically other ways of achieving similar benefits such as delivering a critical protein in the fluid that the researchers identified or making a small molecule that mimics that protein those approaches face their own challenges.Jeffery Haines, a biochemist who has studied cerebrospinal fluid and multiple sclerosis at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, said that the study had elegantly identified how certain ingredients in the fluid might promote memory. But he said the general publics appetite for anti-aging drugs was outpacing the science.In general, people are looking for the Holy Grail of aging, and they think there is going to be a magical factor thats being secreted thats just going to reverse this thing, he said. I dont think its that simple.Cerebrospinal fluid made for a logical target for researchers interested in aging. It nourishes brain cells, and its composition changes with age. Unlike blood, the fluid sits close to the brain.But for years, scientists saw the fluid largely as a way of recording changes associated with aging, rather than countering its effects. Tests of cerebrospinal fluid, for example, have helped to identify levels of abnormal proteins in patients with significant memory loss who went on to develop Alzheimers disease. Scientists knew that there were also health-promoting proteins in cerebrospinal fluid, but identifying their locations and precise effects seemed out of reach.For one thing, scientists said, it was difficult to track changes in the fluid, which the body continuously replenished. And collecting it from mice while avoiding contaminating the fluid with even trace amounts of their blood was extremely challenging.The field has lagged decades behind other areas of neuroscience, said Maria Lehtinen, who studies cerebrospinal fluid at Boston Childrens Hospital and is the co-author of a commentary in Nature about the new mouse study. Largely this is because of the technical limitations in studying a fluid thats deep inside the brain, and that turns over continuously.Dr. Iram was undaunted. She set about taking the liquid from 10-week-old mice, cutting above their necks and drawing out fluid from a tiny cavity near the back of the brain while trying not to puncture any blood vessels or poke the brain itself.When she was successful, Dr. Iram said, the result was about 10 microliters of cerebrospinal fluid roughly one-fifth of the size of a drop of water. To collect enough for infusions, she had to do the procedure on many hundreds of mice, taming the technical challenges that Dr. Wyss-Coray had warned of by sheer force of repetition.I like doing these types of studies that require a lot of perseverance, Dr. Iram said. I just set on a goal, and I dont stop.To infuse the young cerebrospinal fluid into old mice, Dr. Iram drilled a tiny hole in their skulls and implanted a pump below the skin on their upper backs. For comparison, a separate group of old mice was infused with artificial cerebrospinal fluid.A few weeks later, the mice were exposed to cues a tone and a flashing light that they had earlier learned to associate with shocks to their feet. The animals that had received the young cerebrospinal fluid infusion tended to freeze for longer, suggesting that they had preserved stronger memories of the original foot shocks.This is a very cool study that looks scientifically solid to me, said Matt Kaeberlein, a biologist who studies aging at the University of Washington and was not involved in the research. This adds to the growing body of evidence that its possible, perhaps surprisingly easy, to restore function in aged tissues by targeting the mechanisms of biological aging.Dr. Iram tried to determine how the young cerebrospinal fluid was helping to preserve memory by analyzing the hippocampus, a portion of the brain dedicated to memory formation and storage. Treating the old mice with the fluid, she found, had a strong effect on cells that act as precursors to oligodendrocytes, which produce layers of fat known as myelin that insulate nerve fibers and ensure strong signal connections between neurons.The authors of the study homed in on a particular protein in the young cerebrospinal fluid that appeared involved in setting off the chain of events that led to stronger nerve insulation. Known as fibroblast growth factor 17, or FGF17, the protein could be infused into older cerebrospinal fluid and could partially replicate the effects of young fluid, the study found.Even more strikingly, blocking the protein in young mice appeared to impair their brain function, offering stronger evidence that FGF17 affects cognition and changes with age.The study strengthened the case that breakdowns in myelin formation were related to age-associated memory loss. That is something of a departure from the longstanding focus on the fatty insulation in the context of diseases like multiple sclerosis.Some scientists said that knowing one of the proteins responsible for the effects of young spinal fluid could open the door to potential treatments based on that protein. At the same time, recent technological advances have brought scientists closer to observing changes in cerebrospinal fluid in real time, helping them peel back the layers of complexity and mystery surrounding this fluid, Dr. Lehtinen said.Still, scientists cautioned that those treatments would not materialize anytime soon. Among the difficulties are understanding what other proteins might be involved and figuring out how to harness their effects without causing separate problems.But Dr. Wyss-Coray said that the study filled a critical gap in the understanding of how the brains environment changes as people age.The question is, How can you maintain cognitive health until you die? How can you make the brain resilient to this relentless degeneration of the body? he said, and what a growing number of studies show is that as we learn more about the aging process itself, maybe we can slow down aspects of aging and maintain tissue integrity or even rejuvenate tissues.

science

Credit...MattelDec. 27, 2015As Gerry Cody, a senior design manager at Mattel, cheerfully loaded a live cricket into the drivers seat of a new toy car, the cricket probably did not have time to wonder how it had gotten to this point.Mr. Cody explained how the company had consulted an entomologist for the first time in its history to develop a battery-operated racecar with a compartment for a cricket, whose movements drive the car sometimes into walls and chairs.Mattel may be more closely associated with Barbies than bugs, but the racecar fits into Mattels efforts to prove that it can be as nimble and tech-focused as its competitors. After years of sagging sales, executives trot out the Bug Racer as one of the quirkier signs that the 70-year-old company is no longer your grandmothers toymaker.Thats a really good example of something that you feel like youre taking a little bit of a risk, said Susie Lecker, the executive vice president and chief brand officer of Toy Box, a new division of Mattel that developed the Bug Racer as part of its mandate to fast-track promising, experimental products. Thats where Im most comfortable, where its not the sure thing.Toy Boxs 400-some employees represent just a fraction of Mattels 31,000-person work force, but the manufacturer is relying on the unit for some of the most technologically ambitious projects, including two of its more prominent items this holiday season: the interactive talking Hello Barbie doll and View-Master, a decades-old 3-D brand that Mattel reimagined as virtual reality goggles.It may be a bit smaller, but its the engine that were counting on, Christopher A. Sinclair, Mattels chief executive, said in an interview at the companys headquarters in El Segundo, Calif.Mr. Sinclair took over after the abrupt resignation of his predecessor, Bryan G. Stockton, in January. He quickly started mending fences, importantly, with Disney, which had dropped Mattel as a partner for its Disney Princess dolls, one of its most lucrative licensing deals. And he built bridges to outside toy inventors in search of fresh ideas because, Mr. Sinclair said, the company had become too insular.Disney was obviously, you know, a huge blow a year ago, but in many respects, we did it to ourselves, Mr. Sinclair said, blaming Mattel for, in part, offering toys that competed with Disney Princess products. But it wasnt just Disney, he said. We had to go back to Universal and Warner and all the other folks we do business with and reboot, if you will, the Mattel way of doing things.Disney, Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures issued statements praising their relationship with Mattel.Toys tied to movies and television shows are a huge part of Toy Boxs mandate, as Mattel looks to rev up its licensing business. That includes coming toys for well-known characters like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and new shows like Netflixs Dinotrux.Although the hole left by Disney Princess may be enormous, Mattel has the rights to a number of other lucrative entertainment properties: Disneys next Toy Story film, several of DC Comics female superheroes and the coming Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice movie. Mr. Sinclair is also confident in Mattels chances of winning the rights to Disneys third installment of Cars.Investors have nevertheless expressed concerns about the companys core business.That business includes Barbie and Fisher-Price, staples that have struggled in recent years to find a mainstream following. Last year, sales of Barbie to retailers declined 16 percent and Fisher-Price fell 13 percent. This year, though, there were some positive signs, including an increase in consumer sales in stores.The task of revamping Barbie has largely fallen to Richard Dickson, who returned to Mattel last year after spending several years as a top clothing company executive and now serves as Mattels president and chief operating officer.ImageCredit...Cole Wilson for The New York TimesMore apt to wear a vintage watch than a Timex, Mr. Dickson a native New Yorker whose parents worked in retailing and fashion has long straddled the worlds of consumer products and style. His office has a row of Barbies wearing what look like colorful fur coats, as if they are gearing up for a catwalk in the arctic. A framed black T-shirt that reads The Same is Lame leans against a wall.Demonstrating Barbies relevance in 2015 has meant balancing goals that seem at odds with one another: remain true to the dolls roots, while avoiding the impression that she stands for a particular brand of beach-blond body dysmorphia. Barbie, as Mr. Dickson puts it, is really about imaginative play, and not about body image.Barbies makeover has meant new products a Fashionistas line with a broad assortment of skin tones, eye color and facial structures and a Zendaya doll in the image of the African-American Disney Channel star Zendaya Coleman but also a more streamlined marketing operation that plays up Barbies progressive side. A commercial for Moschino Barbie, for example, featured a boy playing with a Barbie probably for the first time in the companys history. Another ad features little girls who Imagine the Possibilities after playing with Barbie veterinarian, teacher, businesswoman and has garnered nearly 20 million views online.The ads are a 180-degree turn from some of the less-empowering messages of Barbies past, like the talking Barbie who complained how Math class is tough that may be forever etched into the collective consciousness.But Mr. Dickson understands that making Barbie relevant does not just mean making her talk, she must also be part of the conversation.Pop culturally, were getting Barbie back on the right track, Mr. Dickson said.Ad spending has declined in dollar value this year, but it has increased sharply as a percentage of overall sales, according to Sean McGowan, an analyst with Oppenheimer and Company. I think the message from this is that they went through a period where they thought they could get away with cutting the advertising, Mr. McGowan said.Then theres the $75 Hello Barbie, the WiFi-connected doll Mattel is promoting as one of the brands most innovative products in years. Hello Barbies speech recognition technology allows her to discuss potential career ambitions (Scuba instructor? Journalist?), ask for advice or have other interactive conversations using her more than 8,000 phrases. It hit store shelves in time for the Christmas season, but Mattel is still relying on a number of more traditional Barbie dolls and play sets, like the Barbie Dreamhouse and the Rock n Royals line.Hello Barbie is their prototype car, said Jim Silver, the editor of TTPM, a toy review website. Hello Barbie, Mr. Silver said, is more about proving what Mattel is capable of. Its to show that theyre doing cool things with the brand.Produced in collaboration with the San Francisco-based company ToyTalk, Hello Barbie is also an example of how Mattel wants to revive its relationships with outside inventors. Toy Boxs options exclusive agreements to develop products for a specified period have about doubled since the division started in 2014.Within a month, we had an option on the Bug Racer, which is very fast, said Robert Schwartzman, the president of Pace Development Group, who created the idea with his business partner, Peter Williams.The pair did not even think of bringing their idea to Mattel when they met with the company last year. But after members of Toy Box described how they were looking to speed up the production of edgier products, Mr. Schwartzman pulled out a video on his iPad, and explained how sensors could steer the car based on an insects movements.We were thinking, Mattel doesnt make cool toys, Mr. Schwartzman said. They make beautiful toys and fun toys, but they dont make edgy toys.The Bug Racer was on shelves within the year.Still, there were concerns that consumers would find the bug racer creepy, Ms. Lecker recalled. This is connecting dots that you wouldnt really think are connected: a bug driving a car, she said.There were practical issues too: Even though crickets have a life span of only a few weeks and are often sold as iguana food, they had to be able to survive inside the Bug Racer. Weve done a ton of bug, insect research, Mr. Cody said, pointing out the separate chamber for food. We havent lost a cricket behind the wheel yet.

Business

SinosphereCredit...Feng Li/Getty ImagesApril 5, 2016HONG KONG The release of the Panama Papers is setting off a political firestorm the world over, prompting protests calling for the resignation of Icelands prime minister and drawing stern replies from the Kremlin.But in China, where the names of relatives of several top leaders have been found in the leak of millions of pages of documents from a Panamanian law firm that expose the murky world of offshore companies, most citizens will never hear of the news, which the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released on Sunday.Censors have been working hard to ensure that news of the leaks does not penetrate Chinas Great Firewall of Internet controls. Searches using the Chinese characters for Panama early on Tuesday on Weibo, Chinas equivalent to Twitter, turned up information on regulations for importing fruit, including some from Panama. But by the afternoon in Beijing, queries resulted in the following terse message: Sorry, searches for Panama came up with no relevant results.A censorship notice sent by a Chinese provincial Internet office told editors to delete reports on the leaks, according to China Digital Times, a website affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley, that monitors the Chinese Internet.If material from foreign media attacking China is found on any website, it will be dealt with severely, the notice said. China Digital Times said it did not name the body issuing the notice to protect its source.The top censored phrases monitored on Monday on Weibo by the University of Hong Kongs Weiboscope all appeared to be related to the Panama Papers: tax evasion, file, leaked, Putin and company.The leaks, from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, show that relatives or business partners of several current and former members of Chinas ruling Politburo were tied to offshore companies that had the effect of obscuring their ownership interests.Surely the most politically sensitive leak, for Chinas censors, was the revelation that Deng Jiagui, the brother-in-law of President Xi Jinping, had set up two British Virgin Islands-registered companies through Mossack Fonseca in 2009, when Mr. Xi was vice president but already marked as the heir apparent for the countrys top position.The consortium did not find what the two companies Best Effect Enterprises and Wealth Ming International were used for, and by the time Mr. Xi became Chinas top leader in late 2012, the companies were dormant, reported the group, based in Washington.The new revelations add to previous exposs of Mr. Deng, who is married to Mr. Xis older sister, Qi Qiaoqiao. In 2012, Bloomberg News reported on the vast business empire built by Mr. Deng and Ms. Qi both inside China and through offshore companies that amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars. In early 2014, the consortiums first report from leaked offshore accounts also turned up information on an offshore company where Mr. Deng was an owner.Another politically powerful Chinese couple that had been the subject of previous revelations by the consortium was Li Xiaolin, the daughter of the former premier Li Peng, and Ms. Lis husband, Liu Zhiyuan. The Panama Papers leaks showed that Ms. Li and Mr. Liu were the owners of a foundation based in Liechtenstein that in turn owned a company in the British Virgin Islands, Cofic Investments. A lawyer for Cofic told Mossack Fonseca that the companys profits came from helping the law firms other clients export heavy machinery from Europe to China, the consortium reported.Ms. Lis name has turned up in each of the three exposs by the consortium on leaked offshore accounts and Swiss bank accounts that have been published in the past two years. Last year, she and Mr. Liu were listed as the owners of a Swiss bank account that held as much as $2.5 million.Another relative of a top leader revealed to have offshore accounts is Jasmine Li Zidan, the granddaughter of Jia Qinglin, a former member of the Politburo Standing Committee. Ms. Lis father, Li Botan, was a central figure in a report last year by The New York Times on the political ties of the Dalian Wanda Group chairman, Wang Jianlin. Companies linked to Mr. Li made hundreds of millions of dollars in capital gains from their holdings in Wanda property and entertainment enterprises.One of the few mainland news outlets to mention the Panama Papers was Global Times, a newspaper run by the Chinese Communist Party.In a commentary published on Tuesday, the newspaper questioned the lack of a named source for the documents, and the Chinese version of the article suggested that Western intelligence agencies could easily slip fake information into such a large trove of records.The article accused the Western news media of using the leaks for ideological purposes by attacking President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. It said that Icelands prime minister, who is under fire after the leaks disclosed that he and the woman who is now his wife set up a British Virgin Islands company in 2007, was an insignificant figure by comparison.The Western media has taken control of the interpretation each time there has been such a document dump, and Washington has demonstrated particular influence in it, Global Times wrote. Information that is negative to the U.S. can always be minimized, while exposure of non-Western leaders, such as Putin, can get extra spin.The Global Times article omitted any information about the leaks pertaining to Chinese leaders.

World

Australia|Australian Police Stopped a Car for Unpaid Fuel. They Found a Nightmare.https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/world/australia/british-woman-raped-australia.htmlMarch 7, 2017When the police pulled over a car in the small Australian town of Mitchell, it was for what they believed was a straightforward matter: The driver was accused of filling the vehicles tank with gasoline and then leaving the station without paying for it.What they found, however, was by no means routine. Behind the wheel on Sunday was a 22-year-old woman from Britain in a distressed state with visible facial injuries. In the back of the sport utility vehicle was a man hiding under clothes and other items.The police said that the man, identified only as a 22-year-old from Cairns, in northeastern Australia, had kept the woman captive for two months, raping and assaulting her as they traveled for hundreds of miles across the state of Queensland.Detective Inspector Paul Hart of the Queensland Police said on Tuesday that the woman, a British citizen who reportedly came to Australia in 2015 but who has not been publicly identified, had been held against her will after a brief relationship with the suspect soured.What she has experienced is no doubt horrific and terrifying, Inspector Hart said, adding that the woman was being treated for facial fractures, scratches and bruises after being rescued on the Warrego Highway, about 350 miles from Brisbane, on the eastern coast of Australia.ImageCredit...Dave Hunt/European Pressphoto AgencyThe pair met at a party in Cairns in January, the police said, and appeared to be living in the vehicle.He had basically deprived her of her liberty, committed a number of offenses against her as they traveled around the state culminating in their location in Mitchell, Inspector Hart said at a news conference in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane.The man has been charged with several crimes, including rape, assault, strangulation, deprivation of liberty and drug offenses, that would have been quite traumatic, Inspector Hart said. The suspect was denied bail after appearing in court in Roma on Monday, the BBC reported.We have potentially saved this young girls life, Inspector Hart said. It has taken great courage for our victim in this instance to provide the details she has.The circumstances the woman was in would likely have made it difficult for her to escape. She was frequently traveling in a remote area, and the BBC, citing the Queensland Police, reported that the suspect had damaged and invalidated her passport.The woman has made contact with her family in Britain, the BBC reported, although it was not clear when she would be able to return home. The British Foreign Office said it was supporting a British woman following an incident in Queensland, news reports said.

World

A Battle for Gold and PosterityCredit...Jung Yeon-Je/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesFeb. 17, 2014SOCHI, Russia Kim Yu-na had arrived on a long flight from South Korea to defend her Olympic figure skating title. This was her first practice, near dusk on Thursday, and dozens of reporters and photographers recorded every jump and spin and mop of the brow. The whir of cameras made a hushed, clattering sound like cards in the spokes of a bicycle tire.Afterward, Kim was asked about her presumed top challenger, 15-year-old Yulia Lipnitskaya, whose poise, youthful jumping, blurring spins and gymnastic flexibility helped lift Russia to a team gold medal and made her an international sensation.Womens skating does not begin until Wednesday, but expectation has been growing since last month when an emergent Lipnitskaya won the European championship. This is probably the most eagerly awaited competition of the Winter Games.Yes, Kim said through an interpreter, she watched Lipnitskaya compete in the team event on television before leaving Seoul. But Kim, 23, would not compare herself to anyone, except to say that this would be her second and final Olympics, while it would be Lipnitskayas first.The meaning is different, Kim said.Kim could become only the third woman after Sonja Henie of Norway (1928, 1932, 1936) and Katarina Witt of East Germany (1984, 1988) to win consecutive gold medals. Lipnitskaya would be the youngest gold medalist since Tara Lipinski, who was also 15 when she defeated Michelle Kwan at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.To knock an Olympic champion off the top spot of the podium is going to take a lot, said Kristi Yamaguchi, the 1992 Olympic champion.Yu-na will have to make mistakes for Lipnitskaya to beat her, but its possible.Each skater has her strengths and vulnerabilities. Kim is both a champion and a mystery. At the 2010 Vancouver Games, she gave one of the greatest Olympic performances ever delivered. At her best, Kim has an ethereal command on the ice, whispery speed, helicoptering height and graceful flow on her jumps. Last March, after seldom competing during the season, she won the world championship decisively.She can do a simple move, and it has you on the edge of your seat, Yamaguchi said.Yet, Kim missed weeks of training and the entire international Grand Prix circuit in the fall while recovering from a metatarsal injury in her right foot. She has competed only at a less visible event in Zagreb, Croatia, and at the South Korean national championship.VideoThe American figure skater spoke about Yulia Lipnitskaya, the Russian skater who is one of the favorites to win gold.Her practices here have been impressive, but there will be no day of rest between the short and long program, no time to recover physically and emotionally, which left the conclusion of the Olympic mens competition drained and messy.Who knows what Yu-na Kim is going to show up? said Paul Wylie, the 1992 Olympic silver medalist. She could just take all the air out of the room, but I think shes going to struggle against a perfect performance from Lipnitskaya.There is a diffidence about Kim, a sense that these Games are as much about a closing of a career as an opening to history. She said she was focused more on taking part than winning. When asked about Henie and Witt, Kim said, A lot of time has passed and our abilities are different.Kim does have at least two potential advantages over Lipnitskaya: maturity and experience. She breezily handled the pressure of the Olympics in Vancouver and has grown accustomed to dealing with widespread celebrity, which can pin a person like a butterfly to a spreading board.She is one of South Koreas most popular athletes, featured on billboards and in television commercials for products like cosmetics, fine jewelry, air-conditioners and fabric softener. Some popular South Korean actors and boy-band members have said they would love to date her.There is a gravity about Kim, too. As a good-will ambassador for Unicef, she has donated money to earthquake victims in Haiti, typhoon victims in the Philippines and children displaced by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.She can handle whatevers thrown at her, Lipinski said. Her lifestyle is probably so different than any of these other skaters. Thats an advantage. Shes had to learn to deal with so many things and still stay calm.Composure is also one of the most impressive aspects of Lipnitskayas skating. Contrary to what many people believe, Lipinski said from personal experience, young skaters are not fearless and immune to pressure.If anything, I think the young ones have it harder, Lipinski said.They dont have the experience to put things into perspective. When youre young, its your entire life. When you step on the ice, its not like, Oh, Im here for a party. Its intimidating.ImageCredit...David Gray/ReutersLipnitskayas intense, blinkered drive has led to a reputation for haughtiness. In Moscow, where she returned to train after the team competition, her mother, Daniela, told The Associated Press: Im almost afraid shes going to mouth off to someone. Shes a girl with character; shes capable of that.She is said to be devastated if she misses even a few minutes of practice time, a teenage obsession that Lipinski said she found familiar. Yet there is also something adult about Lipnitskaya, a depth of emotion and an actors sense of drama.It was evident in the way Lipnitskaya put on a baseball cap to celebrate Russias team victory before an adoring crowd at Iceberg Skating Palace. And it was especially so in her gestures of grim endurance and failed hope in portraying an ultimately doomed Jewish girl in a red coat from the Holocaust movie Schindlers List.Shes kind of got that old soul in her for 15, Yamaguchi said.Lipnitskaya also has a snowballing momentum and the backing of a voluble home crowd, which, in a subjective sport, can influence perception and judges marks. And she is a mesmerizing performer with her exceptional pliability, seeming to raise and stretch her leg beyond 180 degrees in her layback spin.She has no spine, but she has iron in her bones, said Gracie Gold, the American champion.Still, Lipnitskaya is a teenager in an event designated as ladies skating. Her double axel is not fully developed and some question whether she correctly launches her lutz from a back outside edge of her skate. A number of skaters jump from the inside edge, a move called a flutz.There is also some debate about whether Lipnitskaya receives overly generous artistic marks for skating skills, transitions, performance, choreography and musical interpretation.I do think shes wonderful, but shes a little girl, said Frank Carroll, who coaches Gold. Should we call it the little girl Olympics or is it the Olympic ladies champion?And lest anyone forget, also competing is Mao Asada of Japan, the reigning Olympic silver medalist, who has struggled with her triple axel but who is an engagingly lyrical skater.If she skates well, Yamaguchi said, I think she has all the necessary things to be Olympic champion.

Sports

Credit...Tobias Schwarz/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 20, 2018BERLIN Prosecutors have begun an investigation into a leader and three members of the far-right Alternative for Germany Party for accepting dubious donations worth $145,000 from a Swiss company in the heat of last years election campaign, which saw the party surge to the third-strongest in the country.The main target of the investigation is Alice Weidel, who was a leading candidate in last years national election and has since served as its floor leader in Parliament. The investigation could undermine the party, known by its German initials AfD, which has become the main opposition force in Parliament.So far AfD has stood behind Ms. Weidel, who has denied the campaign finance violations, which were first uncovered last week by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and the public broadcasters NDR and WDR. Prosecutors in the southern city of Konstanz then started the investigation, but had to wait for Ms. Weidels parliamentary immunity to be lifted.Under German law, political parties are banned from accepting donations of more than 1,000 euros, about $1,100, from anyone living in a country that is not a member of the European Union, unless the donor is a German national. The full identity of the individual donor must also be stated, not just the name of an entity like a company or foundation.At a party congress over the weekend, Ms. Weidel sought to blame the journalists who had uncovered the donations, whose reports she said lack any basis and represent an attempt to discredit me personally and politically.Questionable donations are not unknown to German political parties, but the AfD, best known for hostility toward immigrants, has claimed to be more transparent than the leading parties. Prosecutors did not identify the three other party members under investigation in connection with the donation, but said all were from Ms. Weidels regional party chapter.The AfD has confirmed that the $145,000, which came from a Zurich-based pharmaceutical firm, was deposited in the account of the partys Bodensee branch, of which Ms. Weidel is a co-leader. It was earmarked Election Donation Alice Weidel. Although the party repaid the donation, which arrived in 18 installments of around $9,000 each, it did not do so until this spring, long after the campaign.The party later said it also received $170,000 from a Belgian foundation, which was later revealed to be Dutch. The AfD also returned that money after concerns were raised about a lack of clarity regarding the exact donor, party officials told German media.The investigation will force the party to defend itself as its popularity, which had grown sharply, appears to have hit a plateau. Recent polls have shown the party hovering around 15 percent support nationwide, only slightly above the 12.6 percent of the vote it won in last years parliamentary election.But the wave of anti-refugee sentiment that carried the AfD following the arrival in Germany of more than 1 million people seeking asylum in 2015 failed to galvanize large numbers of voters in two regional votes, in the western states of Bavaria and Hesse.Although the party won representation in both regional legislatures earning seats in all 16 German states it was the environmentalist, pro-immigrant Greens, who made the biggest gains in both states.

World

Credit...Pool photo by Alexander HassensteinOn SoccerWhen the Bundesliga resumed its season without fans, it became a valuable laboratory. Other leagues should take note of what it learned.Home teams were less likely to win without fans in the stands, an analysis of Bundesliga matches showed.Credit...Pool photo by Alexander HassensteinJuly 1, 2020Germanys privilege was also its risk. On May 16, the Bundesliga became the first major league in any sport in the world to tread gingerly into the light of the post-coronavirus world and attempt to play on. To some, it was a purely financial decision, evidence of soccers lost soul. To others, it was existential pragmatism, the only way to ensure survival.Either way, the Bundesliga became a trailblazer, a reference point for all the other leagues trying to find their way out of lockdown. Englands Premier League has credited its German rival with accelerating its own return, and Bundesliga executives reported fielding calls from their counterparts in major North American sports who were eager to pick their brains.But more than that, the Bundesligas comeback turned into a grand experiment, one that could answer some of soccers, and to some extent sports, biggest questions.For decades, studies have examined the role fans play in the worlds most popular game: How much do they contribute to home advantage? Does their presence affect the way teams play? Would their absence materially alter the nature of the game?The Bundesligas data offers the first glimmer of an answer to some of those questions, and an unwelcome glimpse into some of the games mechanics.Fans Are the Home-Field AdvantageImageCredit...Matthias Balk/DPA, via Associated PressIf the last six weeks proved anything, it was that players thanking fans for their support after a game is more than a platitude. Home-field advantage has long been far more significant in soccer than in most other sports. The great, unwelcome experiment running in Germany since May has demonstrated that what constitutes that advantage is not mere familiarity but, largely, the fans.The performances of home teams in the Bundesliga have, for all intents and purposes, collapsed in front of empty stands. The number of home victories slipped by 10 percentage points, to 33 percent of matches in empty stadiums from 43 percent in full ones. The change has been so extreme, in fact, that Lukas Keppler, a managing director of the data and analytics firm Impect, noted a sort of negative home advantage. For the first time in soccer history, he said, it has appeared, at times, to be easier to be playing on the road. According to data provided by another analysis firm, Gracenote, home teams scored fewer goals than they had in full stadiums (1.74 to 1.43 per game), leading to a decline in goal scoring over all.They also took fewer shots (a decrease of 10 percent), and those that they did take were worse. (The probability of any given shot ending up as a goal dropped more than a point, to 11.11 percent.) Home teams, the research found, also attempted fewer crosses, won fewer corners and tried fewer dribbles.By almost every attacking metric, Bundesliga teams were worse while playing in an empty home stadium. Most curiously, goalkeepers performed better away from home than they did on their own turf: The percentage of shots saved dropped noticeably for goalkeepers on familiar territory, but increased for those on visiting teams.Its a particularly odd finding, said Simon Gleave, Gracenotes head of sports analysis, because its the same goalkeepers, playing home and away.The Referee Is No Longer a HomerImageCredit...Pool photo by Kai PfaffenbachAnother aspect of home-field advantage that has been exposed in Germany is the impact a crowd can have on a referee. A considerable body of academic research, in fact, has long suggested that all or part of home advantage is down to refereeing decisions being subconsciously in favor of the home team, Gleave pointed out.That idea now can step out off the page and into real life. In the 83 matches Gracenote analyzed, home teams were penalized more for fouls in empty stadiums than they generally were when the stands were full. They also had seen, perhaps not surprisingly, an increase in the number of yellow cards they were awarded.Both teams committed more fouls in empty stadiums than they had in full ones perhaps a sign that referees, without a crowd to consider, have felt empowered to enforce the rules more rigidly. But there has been a significant shift in culpability: After the restart, hosts committed more fouls than their guests.The increase in yellow cards and fouls by the home team in matches behind closed doors appears to confirm the hypothesis, Gleave said. Indeed, in empty stadiums, visiting players no longer need to feel they are playing against 12 opponents. The corollary of that, of course, is perhaps more significant: In normal times, perhaps the field was not quite as even as it should have been.(Lack of) Intensity Is in the MindImageCredit...Ina Fassbender/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesThat first weekend, the players felt it. There was no wall of sound to greet them as they entered the field, no roar to urge them on after a setback, no delirium to greet a goal.Empty stands seemed to sap games of their urgency and intimidating stadiums of their hostility. At least one player noted motivation to strain that final sinew, to make that last burst was more elusive in the silence. Many fans, watching on, seemed to detect the same lack of intensity.The data, though, does not bear that out. According to the Bundesliga which tracks and records its own analytics, and then feeds the numbers back to its clubs players sprinted a little more, and teams made marginally more high-intensity runs, in games held in empty stadiums than they had previously this season.The game does not appear to be any less intense at all without fans, Keppler said. Though most teams performance varied only a little, he noted that Bayern Munich, the team that had the most sprints before the coronavirus break, could even increase their rate afterward.Bayern on its way to recording an eighth consecutive championship was not as impressive as Hertha Berlin, though. Inspired by a new coach, Bruno Labbadia, Hertha went from producing 211 sprints in a game to 238 (bettered only by Bayern and Augsburg), and managed almost 100 more high-intensity runs per game.Dortmund, meanwhile, slumped, enduring the largest drop in those two metrics of any team in Germany. The lesson, perhaps, is that the presence of fans is not as significant to a teams intensity as having something to play for. Where Herthas players had a new coach to impress and a season to save, Dortmund was drifting to yet another year in Bayerns shadow. That, rather than the empty stands, drew its sting.The End of EntertainmentImageCredit...Friedemann Vogel/EPA, via ShutterstockWhile industry and effort might have remained unchanged, Gleave saw in his figures fewer shots, fewer dribbles, fewer home wins proof that something was missing.His conclusion, one that many fans watching might instinctively uphold, is that the urge to entertain diminishes if there is nobody to respond. Games since the restart have featured, on average, 16 more passes than normal, a signal to Gleave that players, subconsciously or not, are choosing to pass the ball rather than attempt plays which would normally get fans on their feet.And yet similar data sets can give rise to different conclusions. Impects signature statistic is a metric called packing: a way of measuring how many opponents are bypassed by each and every action whether a pass or a dribble a player makes. It measures the effectiveness of a teams buildup, Keppler said, and it has been, essentially, unchanged since the restart. The overall quality of the game remained the same.That finding is not necessarily contrary to Gleaves data, and it is not a riposte to Arsne Wengers assertion that soccer would lose some of its magic if it endured a prolonged period without fans. Teams run just as much as they did. They are no less talented than they were in March.But the absence of fans the cavernous stadiums, the oppressive silence, the sense of unreality changed, somehow, the way the players expressed that talent, the way they approached the game. It created a more cautious, more mechanical approach, focused on the end result more than the process.The Bundesligas return in May was confirmation that soccer was, first and foremost, a business, more than a game. What the experiment of the last six weeks has shown is that is precisely what it became.

Sports

China DispatchCredit...Yan Cong for The New York TimesNov. 22, 2018BEIJING They flocked together in silky, flowing gowns, arms draped in billowing sleeves, with many wearing high black hats or intricate floral headpieces as a flourish.If they resembled time travelers teleported from a Chinese imperial ritual of a thousand years ago, that was just the desired effect.These hundreds of retro-style dressers, gathered on a university campus in Beijing this past weekend, are devotees of the Hanfu movement. They are dedicated to reviving the clothes they believe Chinas Han ethnic majority wore before their country succumbed to centuries of foreign domination and to taking pride in the past they evoke.Hanfu is a social scene, and thats why Im into it, but it also has deeper levels of national feeling too, said Yin Zhuo, 29, a computer programmer, who joined the day of activities in a long blue gown and red cape with a fake fur fringe.While the Chinese government bans countless social activities, the nationalist leader, Xi Jinping, has promoted reviving traditional virtues, making this a golden time for fans of Hanfu which means Han clothing and giving it official cachet and permission to grow.ImageCredit...Yan Cong for The New York TimesHundreds of groups across China now practice Hanfu, especially on college campuses. Proponents say it has up to a million followers, mostly female, and mostly in their teens and 20s.Internet commerce has spread the trend, making it easy for shops to reach devotees even in small towns.Numbers are certainly growing, and fast, said Wang Jiawen, who under the pen name Jia Lin has been a prolific promoter and researcher of Hanfu in southern China.The Hanfu enthusiasts who met this past Saturday were celebrating the 15 years since Wang Letian, a power utility worker, strolled through Zhengzhou, a city in central China, wearing old-style robes, an event recorded on the countrys then-emerging internet. The movement claims, with some poetic exaggeration, that Mr. Wangs walk was a milestone in its modern rebirth.Reviving Hanfu had great significance for raising Han ethnic identity and pride, Mr. Wang said by telephone.Chinese officials have embraced Hanfu costumes as part of the Communist Partys idea of tradition. Schools now often parade students in traditional scholar gowns for fancifully reimagined versions of coming-of-age ceremonies.When Mr. Xi hosted President Trump in Beijing last year, they watched traditional Chinese musicians dressed in Hanfu.Hanfu is maturing, and the country and government are giving more support, said Jiang Xue, a manager at a mobile app company in Beijing, who was wearing a pink gown modeled on Ming dynasty dresses of centuries ago. The hand embroidered rabbits and flowers were her own touch.Xi has always promoted reviving traditional culture, and naturally that includes clothing, she said.ImageCredit...Yan Cong for The New York TimesHanfu draws on the idea that Chinas ethnic Han majority who make up more than 90 percent of the countrys population should show their pride by wearing clothes like those worn before Manchu armies from the north occupied China and ruled it as the Qing dynasty from 1644.The Manchu emperors, and then waves of Western and Japanese imperialists, imposed their own styles and Han culture fell into eclipse, according to Hanfu proponents.Most people in the Hanfu movement that I met were nationalists looking for the thrill of wearing traditional clothing, said Kevin Carrico, a lecturer in Chinese studies at Macquarie University in Australia who has written a book on the movement.Despite the movements growing popularity and official acceptance, walking down a Chinese street in a traditional gown requires a dash of boldness. Most Hanfu followers step out in their outfits only on special occasions. A few of the most committed wear their Hanfu clothes almost every day, including at work.In a Hanfu store in east Beijing on a recent weekend, newcomers and longtime customers fingered through racks of gowns, scarves, sashes and headdresses. When a man in his 20s pulled on a long black gown and a gold-colored belt, the store broke out in admiring oohs and ahs.ImageCredit...Yan Cong for The New York TimesWhen we first opened, people would often ask if we were filming a show or holding a costume party, said Yue Huaiyu, the owner of the store, who said she has sold Hanfu clothes for over a decade. They didnt get it.Yet as Hanfu has spread, it has also become more fractious. Hanfu websites are loud with debate about what counts as authentic clothing.Much of the history and traditions that the movement cites are invented, said Mr. Carrico, the author. They are creating this history for themselves.People also fight about how much modification to fit modern tastes is acceptable. Gu Meng, a financial manager in Beijing, who sometimes wears Hanfu to work, said he was disgruntled with Hanfu fundamentalists who resisted altering their clothes to suit modern needs.Ive asked the store many times why cant they add a pocket at the back for my phone and cigarettes, he said, referring to a Hanfu boutique he frequents. They think Im a heretic.ImageCredit...Yan Cong for The New York TimesAbove all, followers differ over whether Hanfu is primarily about ethnic assertion, instilling ancient values, or simply making a bold fashion statement in a gown embroidered with dragons or flowers.There are nationalists, then there are people purely into the look and aesthetics, and theres another group drawn to ancient traditions, said Fu Renjun, an editor of a website that promotes reviving traditional Chinese culture. In practice, people can be a bit of each of these.Like many wearers of Hanfu, Mr. Gu, the financial manager, described the moment when he discovered the movement on the internet as a revelation. China was entering an era of confident national pride, and here was a look to match, Mr. Gu recalled feeling.Han became an oppressed ethnic grouping, Mr. Gu said, wearing a powder-blue silk gown. For me, now, I feel that maybe this is a kind of pushback.Hanfu followers dedication to celebrating Han identity can spill into chauvinism and patronizing attitudes toward Chinas ethnic minorities, like Uighurs and Tibetans.Chinese policies toward these minorities have come under international criticism, but many Han Chinese see themselves as generous protectors of minorities.Our nationalism is a positive energy, said Mr. Wang, the Hanfu researcher. In ethnic policy, the Han should, to put it simply, be the big brother, and only then can we properly guide and protect the little brother and sister ethnic minorities.ImageCredit...Yan Cong for The New York TimesFor many Hanfu followers, building up an impressive wardrobe ultimately seems more important than building a nationalist movement. And Chinas long history allows for plenty of fashion creativity across all body types.Zheng Qi, a 39-year-old garment designer from southwest China, said she had given up wearing Hanfu gowns after she become a mother a few years ago and found that few were designed for fuller-bodied women.But she turned into an internet sensation this year after posting photos of herself wearing ornate gowns and makeup inspired by pictures from the Tang dynasty, whose rule of China ended over 1,100 years ago.I thought of the Tang dynasty look because that was maybe the only dynasty in Chinese history that was relatively accepting of a plump or fuller look, she said.For her, being a Hanfu devotee was something of a paradox.On the one hand, we love our own culture, but our personalities are very modern, Ms. Zheng said. If our personalities were very traditional, I dont think we would hit the street wearing Hanfu because its nonconformist.ImageCredit...Yan Cong for The New York Times

World

Credit...Mark Lennihan/Associated PressMay 2, 2019The share price of Beyond Meat surged 163 percent on Thursday in the companys first day of trading on Wall Street, signaling surprising interest in a new generation of companies that are creating plant-based alternatives to meat.Beyond Meat, which makes vegetarian burgers and sausages, began trading at $25 a share on the Nasdaq stock exchange and ended the day at $65.75.The stocks first-day pop is one of the biggest in recent I.P.O. history. In the last decade, only two other companies both of them biotech start-ups had bigger increases on their first days of trading on major American stock markets, according to data from the University of Florida professor Jay Ritter. Beyond Meat is the first plant-based, meat-alternative company to go public, but it is part of a growing industry of start-ups looking to replace animal agriculture. And recent weeks have provided several indications that the business is gaining traction.Beyond Meats biggest competitor, Impossible Foods, teamed up with Burger King to roll out a meatless version of the Whopper sandwich last month. Burger King announced this week that it would offer the sandwich at all of its restaurants in the United States, after a trial in the companys St. Louis restaurants exceeded expectations.A day after Burger Kings announcement, McDonalds chief executive, Steve Easterbrook, told analysts that his company was paying close attention to the trend and considering whether it will develop a meatless alternative to its hamburgers.In the lead-up to the Beyond Meat I.P.O., the poultry company Tyson Foods said it sold its early stake in Beyond Meat, in part because the food conglomerate is developing its own plant-based protein.Like many high-tech companies that are debuting on Wall Street this year, Beyond Meat is losing money $30 million last year. But revenue grew faster than losses, increasing 170 percent to $88 million.ImageCredit...Emily Berl for The New York TimesAnd like its competitors, Beyond Meat pitched investors on the idea that its plant-based burgers and sausages can appeal to traditional meat eaters and break out of the niche market that vegetarian alternatives have traditionally occupied.The start-up, based in the Los Angeles area, has tried to mimic the texture and taste of meat with ingredients like pea protein and beet juice. But it has also argued for the environmental and health benefits of moving away from meat.I see it as a movement, Beyond Meats chief executive, Ethan Brown, said in an interview on Thursday. Were tapping into something within consumers within the human race that is important.Beyond Meats products are now available in 15,000 supermarkets and several fast-food chains.Leading up to the I.P.O., Beyond Meat steadily increased the number of shares it planned to sell, and the price where it projected the shares to begin trading.The company ended up raising around $240 million in the public offering, which is more than it had raised in private markets. When it last raised money from investors last fall, the company was valued at $1.35 billion, according to Pitchbook.Beyond Meat finished Thursday worth $3.8 billion. The holdings of Beyond Meats founder, Mr. Brown, are now worth more than $200 million.The debut surge has a tinge of disappointment for Beyond Meat because it suggests that the company could have raised much more money from investors.During an initial public offering, companies take home only what they sell at the initial offering price $25 in the case of Beyond Meat. So all the gains made after that went to investors, rather than the company.Maybe we could have brought more money in, but it is gratifying to see the response of the market, Mr. Brown said.

Tech

Health|What to Look For in an Eating Disorder Treatment Centerhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/health/what-to-look-for-in-an-eating-disorder-treatment-center.htmlMarch 14, 2016Choosing a residential treatment program for eating disorders can be challenging. Websites may show scenic landscapes and comfortable interiors, but there is an absence of industry standards and research indicating which types of programs are effective.Specialists who treat eating disorders illnesses that affect an estimated 30 million Americans at some point advise looking for centers that: Place a priority on therapies that focus on behavior, rather than on identifying the roots of the eating disorder.Unless you can change the behavior, no amount of insight-oriented therapy is helpful, said Dr. Angela Guarda, the director of the eating disorders center at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Provide information about the average weight gain per week for anorexic patients at the center and the percent of adult patients discharged with a body mass index of 19 or above, indicating a normal weight. Include evidence-based treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, for bulimia. Have the resources available for emergencies and to treat patients who have coexisting medical or psychiatric problems. Are accredited by the Joint Commission, an independent company that accredits health care facilities, which recently adopted new requirements for such centers.Many programs include what they call outcome data on their websites. But eating disorder experts say that data often excludes patients who drop out of treatment. Many also rely on telephone surveys to reach patients after discharge. The other half of the people who didnt answer your phone call are most likely not doing so well, said Dr. Evelyn Attia, a psychiatry professor at Columbia University.Outcomes data that includes only scores on tests of depression and anxiety should also be viewed skeptically, the experts said, because any treatment would probably have some beneficial effect on mood.

Health

Credit...Emily Kask for The New York TimesRecent research highlights the power of the canine nose to uncover buried remains from ancient human history.Shiraz, a cadaver dog enlisted to hunt for archaeological remains in February at a suspected Native American burial site in Gulf Breeze, Fla.Credit...Emily Kask for The New York TimesPublished May 19, 2020Updated May 25, 2020On a sunny summer day in Croatia several years ago, an archaeologist and two dog handlers watched as two dogs, one after another, slowly worked their way across the rocky top of a wind-scoured ridge overlooking the Adriatic Sea.Bodies had lain in beehive-shape tombs on this necropolis, part of the prehistoric hill fort of Drviica, since the Iron Age. The two dogs, trained to detect human remains, were searching for scents that were thousands of years old.Panda, a Belgian Malinois with a sensitive nose, according to her handler, Andrea Pintar, had begun exploring the circular leftovers of a tomb when she suddenly froze, her nose pointed toward a stone burial chest. This was her signal that she had located the scent of human remains.Ms. Pintar said the hair on her arms rose. I was skeptical, and I was like, She is kidding me, she recalled thinking about her dog that day.Archaeologists had found fragments of human bone and teeth in the chest, but these had been removed months earlier for analysis and radiocarbon dating. All that was left was a bit of dirt, the stone slabs of the tomb and the cracked limestone of the ridge.Human-remains detection dogs, or cadaver dogs, are used worldwide on land and water. Well-trained dogs help find the missing and dead in disasters, accidents, murders and suicides. But the experiment in Croatia marked the start of one of the most careful inquiries yet carried out of an unusual archaeological method. If such dogs could successfully locate the burial sites of mass executions, dating from World War II through the conflicts in the Balkans in the 1990s, might they be effective in helping archaeologists find truly ancient burials?On the scent of new tombsPanda wasnt kidding. Neither was Mali, the other Belgian Malinois trained by Ms. Pintar and her husband, Christian Nikoli. Each dog gave her final indications that day by either sitting or lying inside the flattened circle of the tombs, their noses pointing toward the burial chests within. In some cases they leapt into the small burial chests before offering an alert.The dogs archaeological expedition had been initiated by Vedrana Glava, an archaeologist at Croatias University of Zadar. She already knew a great deal about the necropolis at Drviica, having fully excavated and analyzed the contents of three tombs there. Inside each were rough limestone burial chests. She and her team recovered amber beads, belt buckles, bronze pins, teeth and phalanges. Each chest once held at least two bodies, which radiocarbon dating confirmed were 2,700 years old. The skeletal material was highly fragmented, however, and is still being analyzed.But were there other tombs on the site, and could the dogs help locate them?After that first preliminary search and its surprising result, Dr. Glava had beers at a local pub with the dogs handlers. They decided to hold off any discussion for a few weeks.We needed to think a little bit about what just happened, Dr. Glava said.ImageCredit...Zlatko Bala;ImageCredit...Vedrana GlavaImageCredit...Vedrana GlavaThat test run was the beginning of a careful study on whether human-remains detection dogs could be an asset to archaeologists. Setting up a controlled study was difficult. Dr. Glava had to learn the scientific literature, such as scent theory, far outside the standard confines of archaeology; the same was true for Ms. Pintar and the field of archaeology.The training challenges were also difficult. Ancient human remains probably present a different and fainter scent profile than more recently deceased cadavers, especially as decades turn into centuries and then millenniums. False negatives seemed likely to occur.I think dogs are really capable of this, but I think its a logistical challenge, said Adee Schoon, a scent-detection-animal expert from the Netherlands who was not involved in the study. Its not something you can replicate again and again. Its hard to train.And, as Dr. Schoon noted, dogs are great anomaly detectors. Something as subtle as recently disturbed soil can elicit a false alert from a dog that is not rigorously trained.Nonetheless, the team returned to the necropolis for the first controlled tests in September 2015, and again a full year later. Both times, they used all four of Ms. Pintar and Mr. Nikolis cadaver dogs: Panda, Mali, a third Belgian Malinois and a German shepherd. They worked them on both known and double-blind searches, in areas where nobody knew if tombs were located.The dogs located four tombs new to the archaeologists. Dr. Glava had suspected that a fifth site might hold a burial chest, and the dogs alerts, combined with excavation, proved her suspicion correct.In September 2019, the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory published the results of their study: This research has demonstrated that HRD dogs are able to detect very small amounts of specific human decomposition odor as well as to indicate to considerably older burials than previously assumed, Dr. Glava and Ms. Pintar wrote.Dr. Schoon, who researches and helps create protocols to train scent-detection animals worldwide, said the Iron Age necropolis study was nicely designed and really controlled.Archaeological cold casesPanda and Mali arent the only dogs in the world that have helped locate human archaeological remains. In the United States, human remains detection dogs have aided discoveries at a variety of Native American sites, some badly damaged by looters and earlier generations of archaeologists with less ethical approaches to excavation, as well as by development and agriculture.Paul Martin, a dog handler and trainer in Tennessee who is finishing his doctorate in earth sciences and geoarchaeology at the University of Memphis, has studied using dogs to find older remains for nearly two decades, demonstrating their capabilities at some of the large earthen mounds across the eastern United States that were once surrounded by flourishing Native American cities and villages.His curiosity was piqued in 2002. Mr. Martin and his trained search dog were helping look for a murder victim in a Mississippi county where an informant said the victim was buried on an old Indian mound. The dog started showing intense interest at the mound, and Mr. Martin suspected that it wasnt the more recent murder that held the dogs attention.He spoke with John Sullivan, then a state archaeologist at Winterville Mounds near Greenville, Miss. Mr. Sullivan was curious, too: Paul asked me if dogs would pick up old stuff and I said, Only one way to find out.Mr. Martin started inviting experienced cadaver dogs and handlers to train on and near intact mounds. For years, they recorded dogs alerts on mounds in two areas of Mississippi, and even in fields nearby, where earlier mounds were probably flattened.ImageCredit...Emily Kask for The New York TimesImageCredit...Emily Kask for The New York TimesImageCredit...Emily Kask for The New York TimesBut getting funding and permission to do excavations is difficult. The alerts remained unconfirmed. Nonetheless, nature sometimes kicks out some free clues. Thats what happened on Mound H in Winterville, Miss., in 2006.Rodents provided ground-truthing, or confirming evidence, free of charge by digging new burrows and displacing what had been hidden for centuries. Just downhill from where a number of human remains detection dogs had alerted during earlier training, we actually saw a trail of bone coming down the side of the mound, Mr. Martin said.A forensic anthropologist confirmed the bones were human, including a childs scapula. Mr. Sullivan believes they come from the last burials at the site, and date to around 1450 A.D.Cadaver dogs are also helping archaeologists at some especially challenging sites. Mike Russo and Jeff Shanks, archaeologists with the National Park Services Southeast Archeological Center, had created at least 14 test holes near a promising site in northwest Florida that had been flattened during an earlier era of less diligent archaeology. They found nothing.We knew where it should be, but when we went there, there was absolutely no mound, Mr. Russo said.They then asked Suzi Goodhope, a longtime cadaver-dog handler in Florida, to bring her experienced detection dog, Shiraz, a Belgian Malinois, to the site in 2013. Shiraz and Ms. Goodhope worked the flat, brushy area for a long time. Then, Shiraz sat. Once.I was pretty skeptical, Mr. Shanks said.Nonetheless, the archaeologists dug. And dug. They went down nearly three feet and there they found a human toe bone more than 1,300 years old.Passing sniff testsWhat is the future of using human-remains detection dogs as a noninvasive tool in archaeology?Some archaeologists, forensic anthropologists, geologists, scientists and even H.R.D. dog handlers who know how challenging the work is say they have great potential. But challenges abound.Although researchers are learning ever more about the canine olfactory system, they are still trying to pinpoint what volatile organic compounds in human remains are significant to trained dogs.Its also unclear what concentration of human remains a trained dog can detect, and which aspects of a given environment help retain the scent.ImageCredit...Emily Kask for The New York TimesImageCredit...Emily Kask for The New York TimesImageCredit...Emily Kask for The New York TimesMs. Pintar and Dr. Glava speculate that at the site in Croatia used in their study, the porous and cracked limestone on the ridge might play a role in the longevity of the scent there. Perhaps the mountain itself used as the base of each burial chest held on to the scent for thousands of years. But more research will need to be completed to confirm these findings.Detection dogs also must be trained for archaeology with more consistency. Often humans are the limiting factor. Sometimes, Dr. Schoon said, she can almost see a dog thinking, Is that all you want me to do? I can do much more!And dogs are only a complement to more standard archaeological tools, Mr. Martin noted. The best results come when good human-remains detection dog teams are combined with ground-penetrating radar, geophysical surveys and historical information, and when feasible or desirable confirmed with soil tests or excavation.But more archaeologists around the world are taking note of detection dogs potential. Ms. Goodhope has continued working with park service archaeologists on lost slave cemeteries, Civil War sites and other early Native American sites. And Mr. Sullivan, now with the federal Bureau of Land Management, continues to work with dogs and handlers to locate, and avoid the destruction of, Native American sites.Since Ms. Pintar and Dr. Glavas Croatia study was published last year, several European and Croatian archaeologists have asked them for help in identifying sites, too.As for the Iron Age necropolis high on the rocky ridge at Drviica? Dr. Glava said she doesnt intend to return to excavate there.Something has to be left for future archaeologists.

science

Hospital staff members looked the other way while Ricardo Cruciani addicted vulnerable women to pain medications and assaulted them, according to a new lawsuit.Credit...Colleen Long/Associated PressOct. 11, 2021All Tanisha Johnson wanted was for the pain to go away.Doctors had offered little hope for her intractable migraines. But at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, Ricardo Cruciani, who had a reputation as a brilliant pain physician, was warm and charming and prescribed powerful opioids, Ms. Johnson recalled in an interview.When he put his arm around her, she thought, Finally, a doctor who cares.Over the next few months, the doctor increased the doses and added medications. As Ms. Johnson became dependent on the drugs, he became more aggressive, groping her and masturbating in front of her, she said. Then he forced her to perform oral sex.When she resisted, he withheld refills of her prescriptions. The first week of opioid withdrawal feels like death, Ms. Johnson said.She was not Mr. Crucianis only victim. But even as complaints from patients mounted, the doctor was able to move from job to job, securing positions at hospitals in three states over the course of a decade. He was finally charged with sexual assault in Pennsylvania, registering as a sex offender and surrendering his medical license in a plea agreement in 2017.He still faces criminal charges in New York and New Jersey. At the moment, Mr. Cruciani is free on $1 million bail.His case illustrates failures that permeate oversight of the medical profession, in which physicians wield enormous power within hospitals, misconduct is underreported and often glossed over, and institutional employers are seldom held to account.At least 150 young women have said they were abused over the course of nearly two decades by Lawrence Nassar, the doctor for the U.S. womens gymnastics team. Gynecologists like Robert Hadden, the former Columbia University physician, and George Tyndall of the University of Southern California are accused of abusing women under the guise of physical exams.Dr. Robert Anderson, a physician at the University of Michigan for almost four decades, sexually assaulted numerous patients and frequently conducted unnecessary rectal, breast and pelvic exams, according to a report in May 13 years after Dr. Andersons death.One of the biggest scandals is just how often a person who offends, offends repeatedly, said James DuBois, a bioethicist at Washington University in St. Louis who helped develop recommendations for improving physician training and oversight.In many cases, physicians manage to continue practicing, Dr. DuBois said. Sometimes they move states to keep their license. Sometimes they just move institutions.Some of the problems, in my opinion, are peers who have suspicions but dont speak up, he added.Mr. Crucianis former patients say he used his prescription pad to manipulate women in pain, pave the way to addiction and exploit their dependency for sex.Some of his patients took such high doses of narcotics that other pain doctors refused to see them. At one point, Ms. Johnson said, she was prescribed a concoction of more than 1,300 pain pills a month.Now a lawsuit filed in New Jersey on behalf of Ms. Johnson and six other former patients, along with civil suits in New York and Pennsylvania, seeks to hold liable both the former physician and the hospitals that employed him.The suits claim that hospital administrators and staff members ignored reports that Mr. Cruciani was sexually assaulting patients until they could no longer look the other way. They allowed him to quietly change jobs never warning other hospitals, state authorities or the police about the allegations and enabled him to continue his predatory behavior, the plaintiffs claim.There is a web of protections in place within the profession and within the law so that this type of behavior can be detected and acted upon, and we allege that they have failed in every regard, said Jeffrey Fritz, a lawyer who represents dozens of former patients who are suing Mr. Cruciani.Mr. Crucianis lawyer, Robert E. Lytle, declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Mount Sinai Health System, which includes Beth Israel, said the hospital does not comment on pending litigation.A statement issued by Drexel University said that Mr. Cruciani was terminated in March 2017, after complaints from patients prompted an internal investigation that substantiated their claims. The university notified licensing authorities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, and cooperated with police investigations, the statement said.But Drexel officials pointed the finger at other hospitals for failing to take action or to warn them. Drexel hired Cruciani after conducting a thorough background check, as is done with all potential employees, that did not reveal any improper or illegal conduct, the statement said.Mr. Cruciani had practiced medicine for more than 35 years at several other hospitals, the statement continued. None of these hospitals ever notified Drexel about Crucianis conduct.ImageCredit...Brittainy Newman for The New York TimesSexual contact between a physician and a patient is expressly prohibited by the American Medical Association. Its code of ethics requires all licensed medical professionals and nurses, as well as physicians, to report unethical behavior.Throughout Mr. Crucianis tenures at Beth Israel, Capital Health System in New Jersey and Drexel University in Pennsylvania, there were red flags, according to several civil lawsuits and interviews with six former patients who are suing him.Mr. Cruciani did not have a chaperone in the room when he saw female patients, and he resisted their entreaties to have a nurse or companion present. At times, he would take the patient into the room with him and lock the door, former patients claim.The one-on-one visits could stretch for an hour or more. Patients said their appointments were often scheduled at the end of the day, when there were few other people in the office.Several patients said they repeatedly asked nurses or other staff members to stay in the room with them during consultations, but the requests were usually turned down.If a nurse knocked on the door, hed open the door and peek around it, one former patient said in an interview. I felt like they had to know.A number of patients informed other staff members at hospitals where Mr. Cruciani worked about his sexual assaults, according to the lawsuits. Several patients said they dropped complaint letters in hospital comments boxes in an effort to alert the administrators.The husband of one patient, identified as Jane Doe 8 in lawsuits, said in an interview that he called the patient advocates office at Capital Health and described the assaults, but he never got a response.Representatives of Capital Health denied that numerous members of its staff were alerted to the abuse, and said that the hospital received no complaints from patients about Mr. Cruciani while he worked there.We were shocked and saddened when these allegations came to light, a statement issued by Capital Healths press office said.One of the earliest reports was made in 2005 by a longtime patient, Hillary Tullin, who had been treated by Mr. Cruciani for three years at that time.ImageCredit...Brittainy Newman for The New York TimesLike many of the women treated by Mr. Cruciani at Beth Israel Medical Center (now Mount Sinai Beth Israel), Ms. Tullin experienced severe, chronic pain, and her condition baffled other doctors.I had been to 15 or 18 different doctors who had no idea what was wrong with me and dismissed me as crazy, Ms. Tullin said in an interview. Mr. Cruciani diagnosed her with full-body complex regional pain syndrome, which is poorly understood.The doctor prescribed opioids, but Ms. Tullin did not respond to them, and he tried other treatments.He also started calling her at home on nearly a daily basis, telling her about his personal and family life, that she was beautiful and that he was thinking of her. Brief embraces during office visits turned into extended hugs and eventually into assaults, she said.Ms. Tullin told a Beth Israel psychologist that Mr. Cruciani had forcibly kissed her, according to the latest lawsuit. The psychologist asked Ms. Tullin if she had wanted the doctor to kiss her and then asked what she wanted her to do about it.I told her, I want you to report it, Ms. Tullin recalled. The psychologist did not.It was a culture of silence, Ms. Tullin said. I never spoke about it again.Like Mr. Crucianis other patients, Ms. Tullin was unable to find another physician who would treat her, and she continued seeing Mr. Cruciani for medical care. Though she tried to stop the assaults, they intensified.On Jan. 8, 2013, a patient named Nella Vince told New York City police officers that Mr. Cruciani had sexually assaulted her several times over the years, and offered evidence: a shirt with his semen on it.The police report, which has been reviewed by The New York Times, said that Ms. Vince was taking multiple medications, including methadone, and that she had discussed with police officers the possibility of her wearing a wire to her next doctors appointment.What happened after that is unclear. The police report said Ms. Vince stopped responding to their calls, and officers closed the case in June, saying that the complainant was uncooperative.Ms. Vince said in an interview that the police did not take her seriously because, they said, the doctor had no criminal record.ImageCredit...Jackie Molloy for The New York TimesLater in 2013, Mr. Cruciani abruptly resigned from the hospital and went to work at Capital Institute for Neurosciences in Hopewell Township, N.J. Unable to find other physicians to take over their care, many of Mr. Crucianis patients followed him to Capital, where, they said, he became even more aggressive.Several patients said they told nurses at Capital about the abuse. On at least one occasion, Ms. Johnson said she begged a nurse to stay in the room with her, but the nurse refused.In November 2015, Mr. Cruciani announced he was resigning to take a position in Philadelphia at Drexel University, as chair of the neurology department.Mr. Cruciani began working at Drexel in February 2016, where plaintiffs in one civil suit claim he continued to prescribe large doses of narcotics and to sexually assault patients.Little action was taken after the first complaints were made in August 2016. But by Feb. 1, 2017, at least five patients and at least three staff members had come forward, and Drexel initiated an investigation into the doctors behavior, according to the lawsuits filed in Philadelphia.A month later, Mr. Cruciani left Drexel. Additional former patients, alerted to the investigation, reported his assaults to the police in Pennsylvania.In September 2017, Mr. Cruciani was arrested on charges of multiple counts of indecent assault and a single count of indecent exposure. But he reached a plea agreement that allowed him to serve no jail time as long as he gave up his medical license and registered as a low-level sex offender.The coronavirus pandemic has delayed the other criminal and civil cases. A trial on charges including predatory sexual assault had been scheduled for next month in Manhattan, but it has been postponed because of the pandemic.Consumer advocates say that Mr. Crucianis ability to continue seeing patients despite a long trail of misconduct and complaints is not unusual.Weve been calling for zero tolerance for sexual abuse by health care providers against patients, said Azza AbuDagga, a researcher with Public Citizens Health Research Group. If that standard isnt adopted, were not going to be anywhere close to solving the problem.

Health

Credit...Monica Almeida/The New York TimesDec. 1, 2015The dean of Columbias Graduate School of Journalism published a letter on Tuesday strongly disputing accusations by Exxon Mobil that journalists from the school had produced inaccurate and misleading articles about the companys knowledge of the risks of climate change.The school had collaborated with The Los Angeles Times and foundations including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund on two articles published in October that examined the gap between Exxon Mobils public position and its internal planning on the issue of climate change. The articles had helped add momentum to an investigation by the New York attorney general into the matter. And in the days and weeks following publication, the company was subject to criticism from politicians like John Kerry and Hillary Clinton.Late last month, the company wrote a detailed, six-page letter to Columbias president, Lee C. Bollinger, calling the two lengthy investigative reports inaccurate and deliberately misleading.In his response, Steve Coll, the dean of the journalism school, said that he had carefully examined the detailed allegations made by Exxon Mobil.Your letter disputes the substance of the two articles in a number of respects, but consists largely of attacks on the projects journalists, Mr. Coll wrote. I have concluded that your allegations are unsupported by evidence.Underlying the exchange of letters are complex connections among the people, institutions and companies involved in the pair of articles. The dispute also highlights the possibility that some of the new ways that expensive accountability reporting is being funded can, in terms of perception at least, be called into question.Exxon Mobil contended in its letter, written by Kenneth P. Cohen, a vice president for public and governmental affairs, that some of the foundations that supported the reporting of the articles, including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, had a stated position and bias against the oil and gas industry.The letter also accuses one of the journalists, Susanne Rust, of ignoring information favorable to the company or not giving it proper emphasis, of misrepresenting certain materials and of not giving the company access to documents she cited or adequate time to provide a substantive response. It also accused another reporter of misrepresenting herself in interviews.The articles themselves, Mr. Cohen wrote, bear no resemblance to the source materials they cite. And in the final paragraph of his letter, he refers to the numerous and productive relationships that Exxon Mobil has with Columbia. (In 2014, according to Exxon Mobils own figures, the company donated nearly $220,000 to Columbia University.) Some read that as a subtle hint that Exxon Mobil might review its relationship with the university. The company said on Tuesday that there was no threat intended.In his response, Mr. Coll said he had been troubled to discover that Mr. Cohen had made serious allegations of professional misconduct even though you or your media relations colleagues possess email records showing that your allegations are false. He went on to rebut many of the detailed points in Exxon Mobils letter, writing that Ms. Rust gave the company plenty of time to respond to her questions and that the reporters had clearly identified themselves as journalists.The article was indeed funded, in part, by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Mr. Coll wrote, but that fact was disclosed and the fund had no impact on the articles that were ultimately published. Though the accusations are presented as factual errors, he wrote, in fact what you dispute is the emphasis of the articles. You have dressed up this rather commonplace criticism of investigative reporting in academic clothing.What your letter advocates really is that the factual information accurately reported in the article, and unchallenged by you, be interpreted differently, Mr. Coll wrote.Alan T. Jeffers, a spokesman for Exxon Mobil, said on Tuesday that the company felt the articles still fundamentally misrepresented the source documents. When it has tried to engage with The Los Angeles Times it has consistently been referred to Columbia, he said, and the company has asked for an opportunity to meet with university representatives to discuss what possible actions remain available, he said.The Los Angeles Times said that its editors had carefully reviewed Exxon Mobils complaints and concluded that the articles we published in collaboration with Susanne Rust and her team at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism were accurate, fair and balanced. We will continue working with the Columbia reporting team to publish journalism on this very important subject.

Business

Africa|U.N. Officials Among 6 to Disappear in Democratic Republic of Congohttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/world/africa/congo-kidnapping-un-american-official.htmlCredit...Pablo Porciuncula/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesMarch 15, 2017KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo Two United Nations officials and four Congolese citizens have disappeared in a conflict-ridden region of the Democratic Republic of Congo where army soldiers have been accused of murdering civilians, the United Nations mission there has said.The officials Michael Sharp, an American, and Zahida Katalan, a Swede were traveling in the Kasai region on Sunday with three Congolese drivers and a translator when they disappeared, the United Nations mission said on Monday. It added that it was doing everything possible to locate them.The officials, who are in Congo as part of a peacekeeping mission, had traveled to Kasai to investigate possible human rights violations after reports that government soldiers there had killed at least a dozen unarmed civilians, including children.Videos recently emerged on social networks showing what appeared to be Congolese government soldiers walking down a country road and shooting people.VideoFootage shared by human rights activists appeared to show soldiers killing unarmed civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo.The European Union, the United Nations and the United States have called on the Congolese government to investigate the footage, which rights activists say is evidence of war crimes committed during a counterinsurgency operation. After initially ridiculing the video as fake, the government abruptly changed course and said in February that it had opened an investigation.The Congolese government said in a statement on Monday that the United Nations officials had traveled to the province of Kasai-Central by motorcycle and were thought to have been abducted by unidentified forces near the village of Ngombe, in the Bukonde area.Lambert Mende, a spokesman for the government, said that the judicial authorities in the area were investigating the disappearance and trying to identity the perpetrators. He suggested that the United Nations officials had acted recklessly in traveling without informing the government.Its not normal for people to come here and start moving around like this, Mr. Mende said on Tuesday. If the government had been informed of the activities of these officials, perhaps they would have had an escort for their safety.He said he would raise the issue with the United Nations.Provinces in the Kasai region, in south-central Congo, have been the site of several days of fighting between the police and a local tribal militia called Kamwena Nsapu. Violence in the area has claimed more than 400 lives since November.Congo has been struck by civil war and local conflicts since 1997, when its longtime dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, was overthrown.

World

Kim & Kanye Home Buyer Drops $2 Mil On Historic Beatles Recording Console 1/24/2018 The woman who plunked down $17.8 million on Kim and Kanye's Bel-Air mansion just shelled out another $2 million for some Beatles music history. Sources tell us Marina Acton -- a Ukrainian billionaire -- just bought the Abbey Road REDD .37 recording console. If the Abbey Road part of that stands out to you, it should -- the recording console is the same one used by The Beatles and Oasis, and was most recently owned by Lenny Kravitz. The device didn't come cheap ... Acton paid $1.9 million for it. As for why, sources tell us Acton -- an aspiring singer -- plans to launch a single in March ... and the console will be used to record future songs. Talk about some creative inspiration.

Entertainment

Credit...Nacho Doce/ReutersDec. 17, 2015SO PAULO, Brazil Brazils Supreme Court released Andr Esteves, former chief executive of the Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual, from jail on Thursday, but the fallen banking star is far from a free man.Mr. Esteves was first arrested along with a leading senator in November after a cellphone recorded the senator discussing plans to pay, with Mr. Estevess help, a key witness, Nestor Cerver, in a corruption investigation to flee the country.The police subsequently found documents that may indicate BTG Pactual paid legislators in return for favors. The countrys prosecutor general has asked that criminal charges be brought against Mr. Esteves.Mr. Esteves and BTG Pactual have protested their innocence, and Mr. Estevess lawyers have argued that there is no evidence linking him to the plot to pay off the witness, noting that his voice is not on the incriminating recording.The court on Thursday accepted the latter argument in its opinion, freeing Mr. Esteves from a communal cell in one of Brazils most notorious prisons, the giant Bangu complex in Rio de Janeiro.But the court also imposed 24-hour house arrest on Mr. Esteves until he proves he has legal employment.This employment cannot be at his former bank, which he is forbidden to enter, or at any business involved in the police investigations.After he has found employment, Mr. Esteves will have to go directly home after work and stay there, including on weekends and holidays. He is forbidden from leaving the country and will have to appear before a local court every two weeks to give a report of his behavior.Mr. Estevess lawyer, Antnio Carlos de Almeida Castro, said that Thursdays decision restored justice and that he had no plans to challenge the house arrest order for now.The important thing is that hes out of prison, he can spend Christmas with his family, and we can calmly prepare his defense, which will prove him innocent, he said.The police investigations into Mr. Esteves and BTG Pactual continue. Mr. Cerver recently accused BTG of paying bribes in several dealings that the bank had with Petrobras.BTG Pactual is Brazils largest independent investment bank, and since Mr. Estevess arrest it has suffered greatly.Although the bank quickly removed Mr. Esteves from control, its share and bond prices have plunged, its asset management business has seen heavy redemptions, and the company has been selling off prize assets to ensure it has sufficient liquidity to survive the scandal.The companys shares were up over 7 percent in late afternoon trading Thursday in So Paulo, but they have still lost more than half their value since Mr. Estevess arrest.Right now, I think BTG Pactual will survive, but will be much smaller than it was, said Joo Augusto Salles, financial sector analyst for the Rio de Janeiro investment consulting firm Lopes Filho.But its still possible that investigations will show that the bank itself was involved in illegal activity, and then the risks would rise greatly.

Business

Business|Chipotle Stock Tumbles After E. Coli Outbreakhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/05/business/chipotle-stock-tumbles-after-e-coli-outbreak.htmlCredit...Elaine Thompson/Associated PressDec. 4, 2015Chipotle Mexican Grills stock took a hit on Friday, falling about 8 percent in after-hours trading, when the company rescinded its 2016 forecast after an E. coli outbreak that has sickened dozens of people across the United States.In a regulatory filing, the company said its sales fell by about 20 percent in the days after it announced in early November that it had voluntarily closed 43 restaurants in Washington State and Oregon because of the outbreak. It expects its comparable-restaurant sales to fall 8 to 11 percent in the fourth quarter.Future sales trends may be significantly influenced by further developments, including potential additional announcements from federal and state health authorities, the company said in the filing. Sales trends during the quarter so far have been extremely volatile.On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said seven more people had fallen ill in October and November, bringing the total to 52 cases across nine states. Forty-seven of the people reported eating at Chipotle in the week before they became sick. The C.D.C. said an investigation had not yet identified what food was tied to the E. coli outbreak.Chris Arnold, a spokesman for Chipotle, said the company did not comment on day-to-day stock movements. Regarding the new cases reported on Friday, he said: Its important to note that, while these cases are newly reported, they arent really new in that the illnesses occurred during a period between mid-October and early-November, and are just now making their way through the reporting process.E. coli bacteria typically live in the intestines of animals and people, but some strains can cause illness or even death if they are transmitted through contaminated water or food, according to the C.D.C. The strain of bacteria identified in the Chipotle outbreak is Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O26.It is different from the virulent strain linked to chicken salad from Costco that sickened people in November. That strain, STEC O157:H7, can cause hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure, and can be fatal, particularly among children. Also on Friday, Chipotle introduced a new food safety program, including testing the quality of fresh produce before it is sent to restaurants. The company also said it was improving internal training to ensure that all employees thoroughly understand the companys high standards for food safety and food handling.

Business

Jerusalem JournalCredit...Gali Tibbon/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesApril 6, 2016JERUSALEM It was a typical day at the shrine around what many believe is the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalems Old City. A Greek Orthodox choir sang inside a room facing the baroque structure. But the voices were drowned out when chanting Armenian priests and monks circling the shrine raised theirs.Sometimes they punch each other, Farah Atallah, a church guard wearing a fez, observed with a shrug.Mr. Atallah is a seasoned witness to the rivalries among the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Roman Catholic communities that jealously share and sometimes spar over what they consider Christianitys holiest site, inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.Amid the rivalry, the unsteady 206-year-old structure, held together by a 69-year-old iron cage, is an uncomfortable, often embarrassing symbol of Christian divisions, which have periodically erupted into tensions. In 2008, monks and priests brawled near the shrine, throwing punches and pulling one anothers hair not far from the tomb where Christians believe Jesus was resurrected.But in recent weeks, scaffolding has gone up a few feet from the shrine in the gloomy shadows of the Arches of the Virgin, the first step in a rare agreement by the various Christian communities to save the dilapidated shrine, also called the Aedicule, from falling down.The March 22 agreement calls for a $3.4 million renovation to begin next month, after Orthodox Easter celebrations. Each religious group will contribute one-third of the costs, and a Greek bank contributed 50,000 euros, or $57,000, for the scaffolding, in return for having its name emblazoned across the machinery.The idea is to peel away hundreds of years of the shrines history, clean it and put it back together. Simple enough, but delayed for decades because of the complicated, centuries-old rules and minute traditions called the status quo that define the way Jerusalems holy sites are governed, in which the very act of repairing something can imply ownership.One of the serious issues in the church is that the status quo takes place over every other consideration, and its not a good thing, said the Rev. Athanasius Macora, a Franciscan friar. Unity is more important than a turf war.ImageCredit...Uriel Sinai for The New York TimesThe inspiration for this unity was the threat of losing the shrine altogether. Alarmed by reports that the shrine was at risk of collapse, the Israeli police barricaded it for several hours on Feb. 17, 2015, throwing out the monks who guard it and preventing hundreds of pilgrims from entering.The message was clear: Fix it, or else.So after a year of much study and negotiation, monument conservation experts plan to first remove the iron cage that Jerusalems colonial British rulers built in 1947 in a prior effort to keep the Aedicule from collapsing, after a 1927 earthquake and rain left the structure cracked, its marble slabs flaking.They will take apart, slab by slab, the ornate marble shell built in 1810, during Ottoman rule of Jerusalem. The conservationists will then tackle the remains of the 12th-century Crusader shrine that lies underneath. That was erected after the Shiite ruler of Egypt, al-Hakim, destroyed the first Aedicule in 1009. The original was built by Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, the Christian Roman emperor who did much to elevate the status of Christianity through the empire.Finally, the workers will repair cracks in the remains of the rock-hewed tomb underneath, where most Christians believe Jesus was placed after he was crucified. (There is a rival Tomb of Christ just outside the Old City walls, patronized mainly by Protestants. But that is another story.)Antonia Moropoulou, the conservation expert heading the project, said the shrine would remain open to visitors during most of the painstaking process.Hundreds of pilgrims waited to enter one recent day as Catholics said Mass near the Aedicule, blocking the entry with wooden pews. The shrine is topped with a large gray cupola, and it is decorated with gold, icons, pillars, candles, heavy bronze lamps, inscriptions and a large painting of Christ.This is a very super experience of my spirit, said Anil Macwan, 30, a lay Catholic preacher from India. The world cannot give me the feeling I get from this tomb, this place. It is a very sacred place.Two women from the Eternal Sacred Order of the Cherubim and Seraphim, in Nigeria, wearing matching blue dresses and head scarves, walked shoeless into the Aedicule, crossing the Chapel of the Angel, with its walls of elaborately carved marble and proclamations in Greek. They bent through the low door into the Chapel of the Holy Sepulcher, where, under oil lamps, two white marble slabs denote the location of Jesus rock tomb.The two women fell to their knees, raised their arms in supplication and fervently whispered prayers. They wiped their hands and photographs of children on the slabs.ImageCredit...Uriel Sinai for The New York TimesAnother day, a line of Indian Muslims squished against South Korean tourists, Indian nuns and Arab-American Christians stretched past the Chapel of the Copts, a room attached to the back of the Aedicule, where a monk guarding the site was engrossed in his smartphone.The three Christian communities vigilantly guard the property they already control to an extent that can feel baffling to outsiders coming to the Holy Sepulcher, a cavernous jumble of Byzantine and Crusader architecture, with soaring domes, sunken rooms, gloomy light, heavy bronze lamps, squat buttresses and elegant arches.In the church entryway is a gaudy gold mosaic on a wall, owned by members of the Greek Orthodox Church, that distracts from the nearby Stone of Unction, the marble slab covering the site where Jesus was anointed.Beside the mosaic is a ladder owned by Catholics, who will not move it. It is next to an Armenian-controlled walkway of a few feet leading to the Aedicule, where non-Armenian priests in vestments may pass, but not stand, because that would suggest they are challenging Armenian control.The last significant renovation began in the 1950s, when the Jordanian authorities who controlled East Jerusalem at the time pushed Christian representatives into forming a technical bureau to address the 1927 quake damage. But the process broke down more than a decade later, according to Father Macora.After the last embarrassing dust-up, in 2008, which was captured on YouTube, the rival communities began trying to fix their relations in earnest, repairing the toilets as a good-will measure. In 2014, Pope Francis met the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians, at the Aedicule, to promote unity.Still, somebody had to push us, said the Rev. Samuel Aghoyan, the Armenian Patriarchates representative at the Holy Sepulcher, who took to fisticuffs with a previous Greek Orthodox patriarch, Irineos I, inside the Aedicule on Holy Saturday, before Easter, in 2002. If the Israeli government didnt get involved, nobody would have done anything.Ms. Moropoulou, the conservationist leading the renovation, said she hoped it would maintain the intangible spirit of a living monument.This tomb is the most alive place, Ms. Moropoulou said. More so, she added, than anything I have seen in my life.She continued, The greatest challenge is to preserve that.

World

Credit...James Hill for The New York TimesFeb. 17, 2014KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia Few sports that take place on skis have less to do with skiing than aerials. Think of aerialists more like divers who got lost on the way to the swimming pool, gymnasts who spent too much time at a winter clothing clearance sale. Their heart-stopping routines of flips, twists, spins, somersaults and tucks are more like cold weather inversions of diving and gymnastic meets than they are skiing competitions. That is not to take anything away from the 12 aerialists who competed Monday night these were very brave men. For example, the least ambitious jump of the final round was a triple backward somersault with several twists. That counted as playing it safe.Anton Kushnir of Belarus won the gold medal for successfully landing the most ambitious routine, called a back double full-full-double full, which translates as several somersaults with five twists. The routine looked like science fiction and drew oohs even among seasoned aerialists.ImageCredit...Franck Fife/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNevertheless, for a winter sport, aerials do not involve a lot of winter. You just need to ski straight and brake, said Renato Ulrich of Switzerland who finished 12th in the final round. Its actually pretty simple. At least, the skiing portion of it is relatively simple. Nothing else is. The aerial competition works like this: You start halfway down a very steep slope. (Presumably if you started at the top, you would fly over the bleachers.) Then you speed up a ramp and soar into the air, pulling off an incredible combination of tricks while you are flying. Then, hopefully, you land in one piece and ski to the bottom of the steep slope. You commit your routine to memory and submit it to the judges beforehand first back flip this way, then back flip that way; flip clockwise, flip clockwise, flip clockwise; and land. You are scored on how well you execute your plan.With all that to keep track of, skiing is generally an afterthought aerialists do not even bother with poles. Just keep your skis pointed down and let gravity take care of the rest. Theres more of an acrobatic element and less of a skiing element, said Jeff Bean, a Canadian aerialist who competed in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 Games.Because of that, aerials feels different from other sports on the mountain. If there is a single clich of the Winter Olympics, it is that the competitor from pick-your-cold-country learned to ski before he or she learned to walk. That is not the case in aerials. Many aerialists have backgrounds in acrobatics, gymnastics, diving, trampolining sports where snow and ski boots are conspicuously absent. Mac Bohonnon, an 18-year-old American prodigy who came in fifth place Monday night, grew up on skis but said most of his competitors from around the world did not. And in aerials, spending your formative years far away from snow can actually have distinct advantages. Those guys who came from a gymnastic background are very acrobatic, Bohonnon said as his competitors who defeated him twirled through the night sky.But putting gymnasts on skis also carries serious risks. Brazil planned to send Lais da Silva Souza, a former Olympic gymnast, to Sochi to compete in aerials even though she had never been on skis before last July. While training in Salt Lake City in January, she crashed into a tree and sustained a serious spinal injury. Few countries have embraced the acrobatic side of aerials more heartily than China, which had three men among the final 12 on Monday. Only Jia Zongyang, who does not have a background in skiing, won a medal, finishing third. China took acrobats and gymnastics and turned them into aerialists, said Bean, the former Olympian who now works as a television commentator for aerials.Even experienced aerialists will say there is something fundamentally insane about their sport. No one goes out and says I want to drop out of a third-story balcony at 35 m.p.h., Bean said. But its the coolest feeling to be in complete control of whats going on while youre flying through the air.The feeling of incomplete control is another story, however, and a painfully common one. Bean is probably most famous for a jump in the Turin Olympics in 2006 where his skis popped off as soon as he soared into the air. Somehow, he was not badly hurt. There were some fairly dramatic crashes on Monday as well. The elaborate routines were so hard to land that nearly everyone in the finals bobbled or fell at least once. On his final run, Zongyang did a face-in-the-snow somersault upon landing and still finished third. Although aerialists may perform as if they are without conscience or fretting mothers, many struggle to keep the fear of grave injury at bay. It usually does not work.ImageCredit...Franck Fife/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesFear is present all the time, said Travis Gerrits of Canada, who finished seventh. We deal with fear on a daily basis. Its definitely a big aspect of our sport.Indeed, nearly every aerialist who landed his routine without breaking a limb celebrated as if he had just won the Super Bowl. The fist pumps and shouts seemed to have little to do with the judges the scorecards were not in yet so they were not cheering for high marks. The quick celebrations seemed colored with the basic animal relief of still being alive.I think its a big accomplishment to drop 60 feet out of the sky and be happy when you land, said Gerrits. No one celebrated his jumps more heartily than David Morris of Australia, the silver medal winner. After his final routine, but before the judges weighed in, he cheered and screamed and even took a bow. I do the jumps and I win the medal and I get to keep it, he said afterward. Yeah.

Sports

To placate European regulators, the company started giving Android phone users a choice in search engines when they set up their devices.Credit...Patricia De Melo Moreira/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesJune 4, 2020OAKLAND, Calif. For the last few months, some people who bought a new smartphone in Europe with Googles Android software were presented with an extra option while setting up the device: choosing a search engine other than Google.This so-called choice menu started appearing on new smartphones and tablet computers running Google software after March, part of an effort by the internet giant to address a 2018 ruling from European authorities that the company had abused its dominance in smartphone software to unfairly give an advantage to its search engine.The move to provide users with an easy choice in search has now caught the attention of the Justice Department lawyers who are preparing to bring antitrust charges against the internet giant as early as this summer, according to an executive who has interacted with antitrust investigators. A case would be one of the biggest monopoly actions taken by the United States in decades, and department officials are looking at whether what Google has done for its European customers could make sense for customers in the United States.Over the last year, the Justice Department and state attorneys general have been investigating the companys business practices around web search and online advertising technology. Google controls about 90 percent of web searches globally and it captures about one-third of every dollar spent on online advertising.Gabriel Weinberg, chief executive of DuckDuckGo, a privacy-focused search engine, said Justice Department officials investigating Googles search business have asked the company on several occasions in the last month for details about the preference menu and the impact it could make in leveling the playing field.They had a lot of very pointed questions, said Mr. Weinberg, who made similar remarks in an article published earlier by Bloomberg. He did not discuss specific questions.As the Justice Department prepares its case against Google, the keen interest in the Android phones preference menu offers insight into the focus of the investigation and one potential approach that would not require the U.S. government to pursue the most extreme and legally challenging path of trying to break up the company.It doesnt seem like too much of an imposition on Googles business model, while opening the floodgates to competition a bit, said Michael Carrier, a law professor at Rutgers University Law School. The fact that Europe has gone first gives the D.O.J. a benefit to see how its working.Google started presenting the search preference menu as a way to comply with Europes record 4.34 billion euro fine in 2018, worth about $4.9 billion today, and demand that the company alter its anti-competitive practices. Google is appealing the ruling.The search preference menu seeks to address one of the enduring forces in technology the power of defaults, or predetermined choices, to guide peoples decisions in what internet services they use. The idea is that if people were presented with a convenient way to use a search engine other than Google, they may actually do so.Google is the default search engine on nearly all of the worlds smartphones. Google is the predetermined option for most handsets with its Android software, which accounts for about 80 percent of smartphones. For non-Google software phones, the company pays Apple billions of dollars a year to be the default choice on iPhones.DuckDuckGo said it has also held discussions with nearly every governmental investigator, including Australia and the United Kingdom, looking into Google about its views on the search preference menu. It has also spoken to state attorneys general who are investigating Googles online advertising technology and web search businesses.In a statement, Julie Tarallo McAlister, a Google spokeswoman, said the company continues to engage with the ongoing investigations led by the Department of Justice and state attorneys general. Our focus is firmly on providing services that help consumers, support thousands of businesses, and enable increased choice and competition.ImageCredit...Michelle Gustafson for The New York TimesA spokeswoman for Microsoft, which owns Bing, declined to comment, as did a spokesman for Yahoo owner Verizon. Brianna Herlihy, a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, also declined to comment.There is precedent for this sort of solution to an antitrust problem. The 2001 settlement that ended the long-running antitrust battle between Microsoft and the federal government included a requirement that users be able to change some of their default software from the companys own applications, like Internet Explorer, to those designed by competitors.In 2006, Google told antitrust officials that Microsoft should have to give Internet Explorer users a choice of default search engines when starting the browser.Bill Baer, a former assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Departments antitrust division, said the agency has in recent years expressed a preference for outcomes in cases or settlements that fundamentally alter a business, like requiring a company to divest aspects of its business.But when it recently approved the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, it complemented that kind of structural solution with additional restrictions on the companys behavior.Mr. Baer said prosecutors often have settlement discussions even as they prepare for trial, and that he would expect something similar to occur in the Google probe.It is often done in parallel, said Mr. Baer, who is now a fellow at the Brookings Institution. At some point I think there will be at least a discussion about whether there is a way to remedy this without war.Google has agreed to choice menus in other cases, too. In a 2017 settlement with the Russia Federal Antimonopoly Service, Google agreed to update its Chrome browser on Android phones in Russia so that a choice menu would appear, giving users the choice of selecting a default search engine other than Google.But rivals have taken issue with how Google has implemented the choice menu in Europe. It is limiting the number of non-Google search engine options to three in any country. It is also forcing companies interested in appearing as one of the choices to participate in an auction every three months to bid for how much they are willing to pay each time they are selected as the default option. The three highest bidders appear alongside Google on the menu.DuckDuckGo said appearing on the menu should be free and that more than four providers should be presented. The company said the current format is not working as it should and will only serve to cement Googles dominance and line its pockets.So far, the bidders have not had to pay much since only a limited number of handsets with the menu installed have come out in Europe since March. In fact, DuckDuckGo said it did not pay anything in March or April. Google said the preference menu has appeared in front of new users, but declined to specify any figures.So far, Googles biggest competitors are not showing up in the choice menu. Microsofts Bing, the worlds second most-used search engine, will not appear on the choice menu in any of the 31 countries in the European Economic Area from July to September, because it was not among the three highest bidders. Microsoft declined to say whether it placed bids for the auction and Google said it was not its place to say.DuckDuckGo said it saw preference menus as a good way to increase competition, if implemented properly. But it said the auction drives up prices, putting smaller companies like it at a disadvantage, and it warned that it may not be able to afford to participate in future auctions.A pay-to-play auction is bad for consumers (and competition), Mr. Weinberg said. Google knows how to work the system and consumers lose in the end.Daisuke Wakabayashi reported in Oakland and David McCabe reported in Washington. Cecilia Kang contributed reporting in Washington.

Tech

on techHow two apps created new kinds of commerce in China, and what a cashless future might look like.Credit...Dani ChoiPublished Oct. 27, 2020Updated Jan. 28, 2021This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it weekdays.Its hard for those of us who live outside of China to grasp how paying for everything has gone digital in the country.Most businesses there, from the fanciest hotels to roadside fruit stands, display a QR code a type of bar code that people scan with a smartphone camera to pay with Chinas dominant digital payment apps, Alipay and WeChat. Paying by app is so much the norm that taxi drivers might curse at you for handing them cash.My colleague Ray Zhong, who used to live in Beijing and wrote about Alipays parent company selling stock to the public for the first time, spoke with me about how Chinas digital payment apps created new kinds of commerce, and whether China offers a glimpse at a cashless future for the rest of us.Shira: How did Alipay and WeChat get so popular in China?Ray: Credit cards were never prevalent in China. The country skipped over a generation of finance and went straight to smartphone-based digital payments.And the apps are simple for businesses. If a business can get a printout of a QR code, it can get paid by app. They dont need special machines like businesses do to accept credit cards or many mobile payments like Apple Pay, which are essentially digital wallets of bank cards, while Alipay and WeChat are more pure digital payments.Whats useful about these payment apps?China has a stodgy, state-dominated banking system. These apps have allowed small businesses to connect to modern financial infrastructure easily.I know paying with a credit card isnt tremendously difficult, but making it a fraction easier to buy stuff has enabled different kinds of commerce. You probably wouldnt buy something on Instagram for 50 cents with your credit card, but people in China buy digital books one chapter at a time.What are the downsides?Imagine if powerful tech companies like Google knew everything youve purchased in your entire life. Thats one.There are also concerns that Alipay and WeChat are so dominant that no one can compete with them.How did Chinas government respond to these two apps creating a financial system outside its explicit control?The government has been attentive. It put a cap on fees that Alipay and WeChat can charge merchants. And where the apps make their real money in making loans and selling investments the government wants to make sure borrowers arent being gouged and investment funds arent taking on excessive risks. These apps initially portrayed themselves as alternatives to the conventional, government-backed banking system. But in response to the governments scrutiny, Alipay and WeChat deliberately now say they are partners to banks, not competitors. Several government-owned funds and institutions are investors in Ant Group, Alipays owner.(Our newsletter cousins at DealBook have more information on the initial public stock offering of Ant Group.)Is China a preview of digital payments taking hold in the rest of the world?Alipay and WeChat developed for Chinas specific needs. Im not convinced similar QR-code-based digital payment systems will catch on elsewhere. Maybe in India.Alipay and WeChat are hardly perfect. I think Apple Pay is much easier to use, for in-person checkout at least. But the Chinese apps have the edge for online payments. No typing a 16-digit credit card number into a tiny field on your computer.When you lived in China, did you use payment apps?Yes, for everything: my rent, phone bills, food, gym classes, train tickets, rides on Didi the Chinese equivalent of Uber.What do you miss about the payment apps?Cash and making change are super-annoying. And I hate coins. Actually, does anyone like coins?If you dont already get this newsletter in your inbox, please sign up here.Good information mattersThere are two ways to counter bad information: Tackle the misinformation, or blare the correct information so people dont encounter or believe the bogus stuff.The fights were watching unfold at the big internet companies have mostly focused on the first. Theres constant drama about what Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other big internet properties are doing about the spread of conspiracy theories and misleading information about the coronavirus and possible voter fraud, including from President Trump.Misinformation has a way of getting ingrained in peoples brains particularly if we see it often enough or it comes from people we trust. But repeated good information can be powerful and stick in our minds, too.Thats why Twitter on Monday said it would start putting messages in a prominent spot at the top of Americans feeds to highlight credible information that can head off commonly circulated misleading information about the election.My colleague Mike Isaac wrote that among the communications are messages stating that voting results may not come immediately on Election Day, and that voting by mail is safe and reliable. (Twitter also continues to apply warning labels to the presidents misleading information about voting, including as recently as Monday night.)The Election Integrity Partnership, a coalition of researchers who focus on election interference, has also emphasized the power of underscoring what is going right with voting.In its guide to the public and journalists, the coalition recommended highlighting positive experiences people have in voting and emphasizing that the vast majority of ballot casting and counting will go smoothly. Focusing on isolated problems in elections can be used as false evidence to support bogus claims of voter fraud, the researchers said.Look, the next few days and weeks around Election Day are going to be noisy and confusing, and were going to be bombarded with misleading information. Theres no easy fix, but the researchers are telling us that wallowing in credible information and focusing on whats going right can arm our brains against the toxicity.Its your turn: What do you want to know about how tech companies are handling election-related information and results? My Times colleagues and I will try to tackle a selection of your questions in the coming days. Email us at [email protected] and put VOTE in the subject line.Before we go Bogus information hyped by powerful people has a big impact: In the latest episode of the Stressed Election video series from The New York Times, my colleagues trace how partisans in Kentucky capitalized on a made-up tweet about voter fraud to spread doubts about the outcome of the 2019 governors race. (Nick Corasaniti of our politics team has more here.)Uhhh there were 700 people at an Airbnb party during a pandemic?! Airbnb has forever struggled with party houses rented homes where people throw ragers that sometimes spark violence or annoy the neighbors. Sources told my colleague Erin Griffith that Airbnb has long overlooked the problem to avoid turning away business.This is a direct result of how Facebook designs its computer systems: Research led by two information technology professors found that the more time people spend on Facebook, the more polarized their online news consumption becomes. And the polarizing effect is far more pronounced for conservatives than for liberals, the professors wrote in The Washington Post.Hugs to thisLook and listen to this orphaned baby buffalo whose deep guttural noises sound like shes saying hello. Or maybe its just me?! (Thanks to the Brass Ring Daily newsletter for bringing little Cheza to my attention.)We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think of this newsletter and what else youd like us to explore. You can reach us at [email protected]. If you dont already get this newsletter in your inbox, please sign up here.

Tech

Credit...Nigerian Presidential Office, via ReutersMarch 10, 2017LONDON President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria returned home on Friday after spending seven weeks in Britain on a vacation that turned into an extended medical leave, with questions about his health and about the stability of Africas most populous country remaining unanswered.Nigerians have been kept in the dark about the medical condition of the 74-year-old president. The government did little other than praise his return, say he needed additional tests and rest, and announce that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would continue to act as president.This is a day of joy, Mr. Buharis spokesman, Femi Adesina, said in a video posted on Friday. Its a splendid day. Its a day to give glory, honor, majesty to God in Nigeria. The president is back.Mr. Buhari flew into the northwestern city of Kaduna and then boarded a helicopter for Abuja, the capital. (The Abuja airport is closed for renovations.)Nigeria, a nation of 180 million, is in recession and battling challenges nearly everywhere: widespread malnutrition in the north, an area that has been ravaged by the Islamist group Boko Haram; a militant uprising in the south, where a group called the Niger Delta Avengers has sabotaged oil infrastructure; and a struggle for land between farmers and herders in the center.Mr. Osinbajo, the vice president, is a Christian from the south, and he acts a counterbalance to Mr. Buhari, a Muslim from the north. In recent weeks, Mr. Osinbajo has been working on an economic overhaul aimed at securing a World Bank loan to help the government cope with a deficit caused by the drop in oil revenue.Mr. Osinbajos position as acting president may reflect an effort by the government to avoid a repeat of the instability that consumed the country in 2010, when President Umaru YarAdua died after a prolonged illness, leaving a power vacuum and prompting a political crisis.Mr. Buhari left for Britain on Jan. 19, saying he was going on a short leave as part of my annual vacation. He said that he would return on Feb. 6. But that date came and went, and although officials said he had taken medical tests and received treatment, they would not provide details, prompting intense speculation and uncertainty.From London, Mr. Buhari was not much more forthcoming, though on Twitter he revealed that he had received visiting Nigerian lawmakers; offered birthday wishes to a former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, and to Mr. Osinbajo; and met with the Most Rev. Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury.Mr. Buharis office announced on Thursday that he would return home the next day but provided few details about his extended leave of absence. The president underwent routine medical checkups during his vacation, his office said, adding, The holiday was extended based on doctors recommendations for further tests and rest.Toyin Falola, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and the author of several books about African history, said that Mr. Buharis refusal to say more about his health reflected deep-seated cultural norms, including fears that disclosing illness would worsen it.You cannot look at it from the point of view of the West, where there is a culture of reporting, he said in a phone interview. Africans dont like to report their health, whether its a poor farmer or the president.The topic may be particularly taboo because several leaders have died in office, the professor said. The nations first prime minister after independence in 1960, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, was overthrown in a military coup in 1966 and died under murky circumstances.Two military rulers Maj. Gen. Johnson T. U. Aguiyi-Ironsi in 1966 and Gen. Murtala Muhammed in 1976 were killed. Gen. Sani Abacha died of a heart attack in 1998 during his leadership, and Mr. YarAdua died in 2010 of kidney and heart ailments.When you have less of a grip on the management of a nation, then you have bureaucrats and officers taking use of the opportunity for private gain, Professor Falola said, adding that the months during which Mr. YarAdua had been incapacitated were a maximum period of greed.Mr. Buhari, a former general, was Nigerias leader under military rule from 1983 to 1985.Three decades later, he made a political comeback, defeating President Goodluck Jonathan, who had succeeded Mr. YarAdua, in a 2015 election that was generally seen as free and fair. It was the first time an incumbent president in Nigeria had been ousted peacefully, via the ballot box.I think he should use this opportunity, as much as he can, to improve communication and transparency, Professor Falola said of Mr. Buhari. If his doctors have told him that he has a life-threatening illness, and that he cannot survive, he should ensure an effective transition of power. But maybe its a manageable disease. We just dont know.

World

on techRecent developments point to promise for driverless car technology, if we stay realistic.VideoCreditCredit...By Burton BoozOct. 26, 2020This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it weekdays.The dream of computer-driven cars taking over the roads remains a fantasy. But slowly, and maybe more modestly than tech idealists imagined, driverless vehicles are getting real.After a period of funk that included a pandemic-related freeze on road tests, driverless car developments have been coming thick and fast in the last few weeks.Waymo, which is part of the same company as Google, recently expanded its driverless taxi service in Phoenix and without a person in the drivers seat in case something goes wrong. General Motors driverless car company will also soon remove human minders from its self-driving test cars in San Francisco. Tesla has said it will soon turn on software features that shift many of its cars on the road into driverless test vehicles.For now, driverless cars operate in isolated cases. It will be many years before they are reliable, affordable and widespread in all road and weather conditions. And I continue to worry that optimism about driverless cars will make people and policymakers avoid hard choices on inefficient and road clogging transportation and hold out instead for computer-piloted vehicles to solve everything which they wont.But progress is progress. Recent developments point to promise for driverless car technology if we stay realistic about what it can and cant do.Oliver Cameron, the chief executive of the driverless car company Voyage, said one challenge facing this kind of technology is that people assuming they arent drunk or distracted, which happens too often are fairly adept at handling circumstances on the road theyve never seen before. Computers are not.One example Cameron mentioned is the apparently not uncommon problem of a driverless car encountering a flock of wild turkeys.A human driver might honk or inch forward to try to shoo away the birds, but Cameron says Voyages computer system doesnt know what to do besides freeze in place. It sounds really simple, but you have to reliably stop or navigate around any and all obstacles, he told me.There are a zillion other scenarios like this that are individually uncommon but collectively make reliable self-driving cars tricky. And there is little room for error when lives are at stake.So Voyage is starting humble, Cameron said. The company recently revamped its customized computer-piloted taxis to operate without a backup driver, and vehicles operate only in two retirement communities.Low speeds, relatively simple road conditions and a small geography that Voyage computer systems have mapped in advance remove some of the complications and risk. And for seniors, access to door-to-door car service can materially improve their lives.Even confined to fairly niche cases, Voyage deals with complexities that boggle the mind. The cars have backup systems to the backup systems. Settings prevent riders from grabbing the steering wheel or pressing the gas pedal while the car is in self-driving mode. (We all know people who would do this in a robot-piloted car.) Voyage also has people standing by who can take over cars remotely if theyre needed.I asked Cameron when driverless cars are going to hit the roads in large numbers everywhere. He was hopeful but guardedly so given how driverless car backers have misjudged the technologys difficulty.The optimist in me says things are only going to accelerate from here, Cameron said. Then he paused and said he couldnt give me a timeline. Its a non-answer, he said.If you dont already get this newsletter in your inbox, please sign up here.Tip of the WeekHow to block spam textsLast week, The New York Timess personal tech columnist, Brian X. Chen, went over how to stop robocallers from bombarding our phones. Now he tackles a related annoyance: unsolicited text messages from marketers, political groups and others.Heres what we can do:On iPhones, you can filter out messages from unknown senders. This doesnt stop the texts, but they wont make your phone vibrate or ding. The texts will show up in a list labeled unknown senders. That way, the unwanted texts dont distract you or clog the messages you want to see from people you care about. To do this, open the Settings app, tap Messages, scroll down and toggle on Filter Unknown Senders.You can also block a specific phone number from texting you. In the offending text message, tap the name and number at the top of the message and then tap the Info icon on the right. Tap the info button again and select Block this Caller.Android device owners can also block specific numbers from sending them texts. On Pixel phones, for example, open the text message and then tap the icon in the upper right hand corner that looks like three vertical dots. Select Details and then choose Block & report spam.There are also third-party apps that offer to prevent spammers from texting you, but I generally am not a fan of them. In my tests, those apps still let plenty of unwanted messages through plus they get expensive to use over time.We should continue pressing the mobile phone companies to fix this problem on a network level. Until then, were on our own with some imperfect tools.Before we go From blah to influential thanks to the worst of social media: My colleague Kevin Roose has an engrossing, disturbing article about how a struggling news organization affiliated with a Chinese spiritual movement became a force in right-wing media. The organization, Epoch Times, did this by capitalizing on the incentives of Facebook and then YouTube to push hyperpartisan messages and conspiracy theories that were rewarded on those websites with more circulation and engagement.Google is a verb. Alipay is the financial equivalent of a noun, verb, article, preposition and adjective: You want my colleague Ray Zhong to explain Ant Groups Alipay, one of two widely used digital payment apps in China that have made cash and other forms of payments nearly obsolete in that country, and offer loans, investments and insurance policies.How to talk to loved ones who share conspiracy theories: Charlie Warzel, an Opinion writer for The Times, encouraged talking to people about the mechanics of online information, walking them through a conspiracy to suss out its holes and not scolding or mocking loved ones for what they believe.Hugs to thisInstead of bank branches on every corner in America, can we have these amazing dancing bank mascots from Thailand?We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think of this newsletter and what else youd like us to explore. You can reach us at [email protected]. If you dont already get this newsletter in your inbox, please sign up here.

Tech

Seahawks 43, Broncos 8Credit...Barton Silverman/The New York TimesFeb. 2, 2014EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. As it turned out, the weather was not nearly as cold as Peyton Manning.On Sunday, the New York-New Jersey region concluded its big moment hosting the first outdoor Super Bowl in a Northern climate with a dominating 43-8 victory by the Seattle Seahawks over the Denver Broncos before an announced crowd of 82,529 at MetLife Stadium.The weather could not have been more cooperative for this secular holiday and the nations No. 1 sporting event, even if many again probably found the commercials more riveting than the game.While contingency plans were made to play on another day if the frigid winter became a snowmageddon, Sundays temperature at kickoff was a balmy 49 degrees, the same as for the first pitch of Game 6 of the World Series at Fenway Park in October.This was not even the coldest Super Bowl, which is usually played in warm-weather cities. Two held in New Orleans in the 1970s were chillier, though not as frigid as Mannings performance, which began with a Denver safety 12 seconds into the game and grew worse with an interception that was returned for a touchdown before halftime.Theoretically, the springlike weather should have worked in Mannings favor. He was 4-7 in games where the temperature was 32 degrees or below. But now he was the quarterback of the N.F.L.s highest-scoring offense. And on Sunday, there was no polar vortex or swirling wind to distract his passes, which are sometimes wobbly but more often soft and precise. VideoEvery so often, the Super Bowl turns into a rout, which is exactly what happened on Sunday night at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.CreditCredit...Carlo Allegri/ReutersYet it would be an odd night for famous quarterbacks. Joe Namath, the star of Super Bowl III for the Jets, arrived for the coin toss in a white fur coat that gave him an odd resemblance to a snowy owl, but this was only for decoration and remembrance of playboy days past.On the games first play, Manning appeared to be calling an audible when the ball was snapped unexpectedly. It bounced into the end zone for a safety.Twelve seconds had elapsed. This was the fastest score in any of the 48 Super Bowls. Crowd noise, perhaps, or a lack of communication between quarterback and center could be blamed for the startling mistake, but the weather could not. This delighted Seattle fans to no end.I didnt want Broncos fans to be able to say, It was too cold, and Peyton couldnt throw in the snow, said Brian Dalpez, 43, of Seattle.Three minutes 21 seconds before halftime, Mannings arm was hit and his pass was intercepted and returned 69 yards for a touchdown by Malcolm Smith to put the Seahawks ahead, 22-0.To finish this way is very disappointing, Manning said. Its not an easy pill to swallow.Manning is one of the games great quarterbacks an all-but-certain Hall of Famer who reached the title game again after a neck injury had threatened his career in Indianapolis but Manning is now 1-2 in the Super Bowl, with one fewer victory than his brother Eli of the Giants.As halftime neared, it sank in grimly with Denver fans that this would not be the Broncos night. Stunned disbelief continued with the second-half kickoff, which was returned 87 yards for a touchdown by Seattles Percy Harvin.I definitely didnt expect to be down this early, said Cole Tibbs, a junior from Colorado State University. In the beginning, it was just nerves. Now were just making mental errors.Seattles lead kept growing until it was 36-0. Finally, Manning threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to prevent Denver from becoming the first team to score zero points in the Super Bowl. He set a Super Bowl record with 34 completions, but this will hardly be a mark worth savoring on a night when he also threw two interceptions and never put his team in contention to win.For some Denver fans, the defeat was a hugely disappointing finish to what had been a trying day. Fans of both teams said beforehand that the party atmosphere was tempered by bottlenecks on the public rail network that left them in transit for as many as four hours from Manhattan to MetLife Stadium.It was an epic fail, said Joe Knittel, 32, of Seattle.Police presence was much more noticeable Sunday than at the average N.F.L. game. Bomb-sniffing dogs were used to check the bags of reporters and the cars of spectators as they reached the stadium. Police helicopters hovered. One fan reported seeing a police sniper on the roof of nearby Meadowlands Racetrack.Long lines also developed to get through security. Gary Gatchell, 56, who came with friends from Denver and stayed in a hotel near the stadium, said it took only about 10 minutes or so to reach the stadium, but an hour to get through security.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesSlide 1 of 35 Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesIts ridiculous, Gatchell said. They dont have enough slots going in.A sign that Sundays game would feature the unexpected occurred two hours before kickoff. There was no snow removal equipment on standby, just Pat McPherson, who coaches tight ends for Seattle, jogging around the field in shorts and a T-shirt.You couldnt have asked for better weather, said Elliot Mann, 47, a Denver fan who lives in Charlotte, N.C. Its a Chamber of Commerce day. I think it will help other cold-weather cities get the Super Bowl. If it had been bad here, I think the N.F.L. would have thought twice about it.Ninety minutes before the opening kickoff, the parking lot was a strange sight for an N.F.L. game, with plenty of open spaces and no barbecue grills or lounge chairs visible. Parking was severely limited as fans were encouraged to take public transportation. Still, a number of people improvised within the tailgating limits.We were told it wasnt going to happen, but my boss has been to several games and he said it always works out, said Dave Asbaugh, 62, of Seattle. We had our beverages.And while the game was hardly competitive, some fans came mainly to see Bruno Mars perform the halftime show, which might have been the most entertaining part of the night.Christine Terlizzi, 40, of Howell, N.J., a Jets fan disguised beneath a Denver jersey, said she was glad that Justin Bieber, the troubled teenager, would not be onstage. He needs to calm down, she said. Ive got five girls. Hes lost his touch. But Bruno Mars? Hello!

Sports

Its not going to be good. Fauci sounds alarm over low vaccination rates fueling Covid surge.With only about half of Americans vaccinated, Dr. Anthony Fauci and other current and former health officials vigorously pressed the case on Sunday that inoculations were the best way to stem a tide of new Covid cases.Credit...Stefani Reynolds for The New York TimesJuly 25, 2021Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, President Bidens chief medical adviser, warned on Sunday that the coronavirus pandemic is now going in the wrong direction in the United States because too many Americans are still choosing not to get vaccinated.Asked on CNNs State of the Union program about projections in recent statistical models that coronavirus cases and deaths could surge in the coming months if vaccination rates dont increase, Dr. Fauci said, Its not going to be good.With about half of Americans not yet vaccinated and the fast-spreading Delta variant of the virus circulating, Dr. Fauci and a range of current and former health officials expressed exasperation at the situation on Sunday and vigorously pressed the case that vaccination is the best and most effective way to stem the tide of virus cases.It is really a pandemic among the unvaccinated, Dr. Fauci said, adding, Its like you have two kinds of America. You have the very vulnerable unvaccinated part and you have the really relatively protected vaccinated part. If you are vaccinated, you are in a very different category than someone who is not vaccinated.The situation is so dire that in recent days, even some Republican governors in low-vaccination states have been pointedly exhorting people to get a Covid vaccine.On Sunday on CNN, Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas said that, with the new school year on the horizon, this is a pivotal moment in our race against the Covid virus, adding that whats holding us back is a low vaccination rate.Governor Hutchinson, a Republican, said he has been holding town halls recently, which he credited for a 40 percent increase in vaccination. Still he added that certainly the resistance has hardened among some people. Its simply false information, he said. It is myths.On CBSs Face the Nation, Dr. Jerome Adams, who was surgeon general in the Trump administration, also encouraged vaccination, casting the decision in patriotic terms. Get vaccinated because its going to help every single American enjoy the freedoms that we want to return to, he said.Dr. Adams said some people still have legitimate questions about getting vaccinated, including workers who worry post-vaccine side effects might cause them to miss a day of work or a paycheck. He predicted immunization rates would increase once the vaccines currently available under emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration become fully licensed. That is likely to prompt the military and some businesses to mandate vaccination for service members and employees, he said.In the meantime, Dr. Adams said the message should be it is your choice, but choices come with consequences to you and other people, including children not yet old enough for vaccination and people who are medically vulnerable.Several current and former officials discussed whether recommendations or mandates for wearing masks should be reinstated.Dr. Fauci said the Biden administration was considering reissuing stronger mask-wearing guidelines. In May, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed its guidance, saying that people who are fully vaccinated do not need to wear a mask in most indoor settings.Dr. Adams said that guidance, quite frankly, has confused citizens, its frustrated businesses and public health officials who I continue to hear from, and its been, by any qualification, a failure.He said the C.D.C. should state clearly that even people who are vaccinated should wear masks if they are in public, around people whose vaccination status is unclear or in a community where virus cases are increasing. The C.D.C. needs to give those businesses, those health officials a little bit of cover by clarifying the guidance that they have out there, Dr. Adams said.

Health

Science|Flamingo Mating Rules: 1. Learn the Funky Chickenhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/28/science/flamingos-dancing-sexual-display.htmlTrilobitesCredit...Jean E. Roche/Minden PicturesNov. 28, 2016Flamingos are very good dancers. They twist and preen, they scratch their heads, they march in unison. They poke a wing in one direction and a leg in another.They bend forward, sticking their tails up; they vigorously flap their wings in a flashy red and black display.Flamingos are serially monogamous. They mate for one year, get divorced, and find a new mate the next year. New mates are mutually agreed upon males and females both dance in search of a compatible partner.Now researchers have discovered that birds with the largest repertoire of dance moves, and the ability to switch quickly and often from one move to another, are the ones who most often succeed in finding mates.Scientists carefully watched and photographed 50 male and 50 female birds during the mating season in the Camargue, in southern France, recording the type, timing and frequency of their gyrations. The birds, all tagged since birth, ranged from 4 to 37 years old.During the average five-minute courtship sequence, the number of postures varied between two and eight, while the number of transitions between postures varied between two and 17.Combining the two numbers, the researchers created a sexual display complexity score for each bird. Then they tracked the dancers to see who succeeded in producing chicks.As the mating season progressed, all the flamingos improved their dancing with more varied moves and transitions, but both the youngest and the oldest birds received lower scores than the 20-year-olds.In the end, successful breeders averaged 61 in sexual display complexity, while those that remained single came in at 41. But pairs tended to have similar scores good dancers preferred similarly skilled partners.But why?Good motor function is necessary in reproduction, said the lead author, Charlotte Perrot, a doctoral candidate at the University of Montpellier.Breeding in a very dense colony where space is limited requires birds to be adroit, and foraging to feed a chick also requires good motor performance.

science

DealBook|PR Newswire Sold to Cision for $841 Millionhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/16/business/dealbook/pr-newswire-cision-sale.htmlDec. 15, 2015LONDON UBM, the British business-events organizer, said on Tuesday that it had agreed to sell the news-release distribution service PR Newswire to Cision, the owner of Gorkana Group, for $841 million.The deal came after UBM said in September that it was in highly preliminary discussions with several parties to sell PR Newswire.Under the terms of the deal, UBM would receive $810 million in cash and $31 million of preferred equity.Cision, based in Chicago, is a provider of public-relations software and analytics, and its brands include the Gorkana Group, PR Web and iContact. It is owned by GTCR Private Equity.We are serious about building a comprehensive platform to help our clients manage the entire life cycle of communications from influencer discovery and content distribution to engagement and campaign analysis, Peter Granat, the chief executive of Cision, said in a news release.The transaction is subject to approval by regulators and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year.PR Newswire, based in New York, distributes news releases and other marketing messages for companies, primarily in the United States and Canada. Its primary competitor is Business Wire, a similar service owned by Warren E. Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway.PR Newswire derives about half its revenue from distribution in the United States and had about $297 million in revenue last year, according to UBM.Deutsche Bank, Barclays and RBC Capital Markets would provide debt financing to Cision as part of the transaction.UBM, based in London, organizes trade shows and is focusing more of its business on those events after its acquisition last year of Advanstar, a marketer and trade show organizer based in California, for $972 million in cash. The events sector accounts for more than 80 percent of UBMs business.Todays announcement represents a significant step in the execution of UBMs Events First strategy, the objective of which is to become the worlds leading focused B2B events business, Tim Cobbold, the UBM chief executive, said in a news release. The board is confident that this transaction realizes excellent value for our shareholders.UBM said that after the transaction, it planned to return about 245 million pounds, or $371 million, to shareholders through a special dividend.Evercore and JPMorgan Chase advised UBM on the transaction.

Business

In a ceremony in Geneva, the World Health Organization presented an award to the family of Ms. Lacks, whose cancer cells led to world-changing advances in medical and scientific research.Credit...Steve Ruark/Associated PressPublished Oct. 13, 2021Updated Oct. 15, 2021In 1951, Henrietta Lacks, a Black mother of five who was dying of cervical cancer, went to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for treatment.Without her knowledge or consent, doctors removed a sample of cells from the tumor in her cervix. They gave the sample to a researcher at Johns Hopkins University who was trying to find cells that would survive indefinitely so researchers could experiment on them.The invasive procedure led to a world-changing discovery: The cells thrived and multiplied in the laboratory, something no human cells had done before. They were reproduced billions of times, contributed to nearly 75,000 studies and helped pave the way for the HPV vaccine, medications used to help patients with H.I.V. and AIDS and, recently, the development of Covid-19 vaccines.On Wednesday, 70 years after Ms. Lacks died in the colored ward at Johns Hopkins Hospital and was buried in an unmarked grave, the World Health Organization honored the contribution she unknowingly made to science and medicine.During a ceremony in Geneva, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the W.H.O., presented the Director General Award to Ms. Lackss son Lawrence Lacks, who was 16 when his mother died on Oct. 4, 1951.Victoria Baptiste, Ms. Lackss great-granddaughter, said the family was humbled by the presentation and the acknowledgment of the legacy of a Black woman from the tobacco fields of Clover, Virginia.Henriettas contributions, once hidden, are now being rightfully honored for their global impact, Ms. Baptiste, a registered nurse, said.Soumya Swaminathan, the chief scientist at the W.H.O., said about 50 million metric tons of the cells, known as HeLa cells, have been used by researchers and scientists around the world.This is just enormous, when you think about it, Dr. Swaminathan said. I cannot think of any other single cell line or lab reagent thats been used to this extent and has resulted in so many advances.Ms. Lacks moved from Virginia to Baltimore with her husband, David Lacks, during the 1940s, looking for better opportunities for her family, according to the Henrietta Lacks Initiative, an organization founded by her grandchildren.She went to Johns Hopkins for help after she experienced severe vaginal bleeding. The sample of cells were taken during a biopsy, according to Johns Hopkins. She was 31 when she died, eight months after she learned she had cervical cancer.Neither she nor her family were told that tissue samples from her tumor had been given to Dr. George Gey, a Johns Hopkins medical researcher.The cells derived from the sample were uniquely resilient, doubling every 24 hours and managing to grow successfully outside the human body for more than 36 hours, according to the Henrietta Lacks Initiative.The breakthrough thrilled scientists and researchers who used them to develop a polio vaccine and produce drugs for other diseases, including Parkinsons, leukemia and the flu.But Ms. Lackss identity remained hidden by researchers. Her family did not find out about the use of her cells until 1973, when scientists called them for blood samples so they could study their genes, according to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a best-selling book by Rebecca Skloot that was also turned into a movie with Oprah Winfrey.Ms. Lackss descendants have expressed pride in what her cells have gone on to achieve, but also fury over how she was treated by doctors. That fury has only been compounded by the commercialization of her cells.Dr. Gey, who studied Ms. Lackss tissue, did not profit off his research. But over the decades, biotech companies have commercialized the cells and sold them even as Ms. Lackss family never received any compensation.Fortunes have been made, Dr. Tedros said on Wednesday. Science has advanced. Nobel Prizes have been won and most importantly, many lives have been saved.No doubt Henrietta would have been pleased that her suffering has saved others, he continued. But the end doesnt justify the means.On Oct. 4, her descendants sued Thermo Fisher Scientific, a biotechnology company that they accused of making a conscious choice to sell and mass produce the living tissue of Henrietta Lacks, according to the federal lawsuit.The family said it was demanding that Thermo Fisher pay $9.9 million and disgorge the full amount of its net profits obtained by commercializing the HeLa cell line to Ms. Lackss estate.During a news conference, Christopher Seeger, a lawyer for the family, suggested that more biotech companies could be sued.Thermo Fisher shouldnt feel too alone, because theyre going to have a lot of company very soon, Mr. Seeger said.Thermo Fisher, which is based in Waltham, Mass., did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.Dr. Tedros said on Wednesday that the injustice that began with the removal of Ms. Lackss cells had continued. He noted, for example, that the vaccines that help prevent cervical cancer and guard against Covid-19 remain inaccessible to poor countries.Another speaker, Groesbeck Parham, a co-chair of the director generals expert group on cervical cancer elimination, said that the most effective way to recognize Ms. Lackss contribution would be to stop inequities in health and science.He said, It is in this way that we truly honor Mrs. Henrietta Lacks and immortalize her miracle.

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Credit...Jenn Ackerman for The New York TimesVisionaries | AgricultureBy restoring soil health, Donald Wyse hopes to transform farms, to the benefit of farmers and their customers.Donald Wyse in a greenhouse at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul. The state of Minnesota has 20 million acres of agricultural land. What percentage of that land has a cover crop on it?" he said. Two percent.Credit...Jenn Ackerman for The New York TimesPublished May 2, 2022Updated May 3, 2022Visionaries is a limited series that looks at figures who are trying to transform the way we live.If you havent heard the term regenerative agriculture, you probably will soon it could transform our approach to farming. Like organic farming in the 1960s, however, its a movement awash with grand promises. Then there are practical visionaries like Donald Wyse, who are putting roots in the ground literally.The concept behind regenerative agriculture essentially restoring soil health is not new, but in the last few years it has been adopted by eco-conscious farmers and experts, international NGOs and Fortune 500 corporations. The movement promises to rebuild the fertility of depleted topsoil, reduce carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, prevent fertilizers from polluting rivers and aquifers, and promote biodiversity. What might that look like, practically speaking? Dr. Wyse may be close to an answer.After growing up on his familys farm in Ohio and eventually earning his doctorate in plant physiology and biochemistry from the Michigan State University, Dr. Wyse, 74, became a professor at the University of Minnesota specializing in the management of perennial weeds in the grass-seed industry. The ryegrass varieties his team developed in the early 1990s are still a high-profit crop in Minnesotas northernmost counties.In 2012, Dr. Wyse co-founded the Forever Green Initiative, which is working to make regenerative agriculture a reality by convincing farmers to keep plants in the soil year-round, rather than leaving the soil bare. The benefits are myriad: Nitrates from fertilizer are less likely to leach into the water; corn and soybean farmers dont have to apply as much fertilizer or pesticides; and roots mean more organic matter, which makes the soil more fertile.Dr. Wyse now coordinates a team of 55 University of Minnesota researchers, as well as partners at universities and private companies across the region, who are developing 16 crops capable of thriving in the Upper Midwest. Some will be planted as cover crops after the main harvest, growing underneath Minnesotas thick snows until they can be harvested in the spring. Others are perennials such as Kernza, a wheatgrass variety that produces grains year after year without having to be tilled up and replanted.The university owns the crops, but releases them to private companies to produce and sell seeds, creating commercial markets, so farmers have an economic incentive to change generations-old practices. After 20 years of quiet effort, Dr. Wyse and his teams may be on the brink of success. In the next decade, if his vision holds true, the Upper Midwests Corn Belt could become the most forward-thinking agricultural region in the country. (This interview has been edited and condensed.)ImageCredit...Jenn Ackerman for The New York TimesHow did your research evolve from studying weeds and turf grass to regenerative agriculture?In 1974, my position was created by a group of farmers in Roseau and Lake of the Woods Counties. In the 1950s, the university had released a turf-type Kentucky bluegrass line called Park, which started the grass-seed industry in northern Minnesota.Why did those farmers want to plant perennial grasses? It was tough to get crops in that area to market. They wanted a crop that was in the ground for a number of years and that they could harvest during the middle of the summer. Those are the folks who taught me the value of having perennials on a landscape.How did the Forever Green Initiative come about?Well, if you really think about it, that happened in 1974. The philosophy has been there for a long time. One day, I was making a presentation, and I basically laid out a title for new resilient, agriculture systems: evergreen crops. Forever Green caught on.Whats the relationship between the university and the initiative?We have 16 [crop-development teams]. Each of those are coordinated from developing the basic science genomics, breeding agronomics through commercialization and building the supply chain. Thats what makes us unique in the world. We basically have 16 mini companies. What I do is make sure these teams are coordinated and funded across that entire platform.Every agronomic crop thats produced in the state of Minnesota, other than sugar beets, came from the University of Minnesotas department of agronomy and plant genetics. Hybrid corn was developed there, along with soybeans, wheat and perennial ryegrass. How did you settle on these 16 specific crops?If youre living in Minnesota, what do you think the biggest challenge would be if you wanted to plan for continuous living cover?Winter hardiness?Damn straight. You look across a wide range of potential crops that we know are extremely winter hardy. Then, you say, OK, this kind of pennycress or camelina can produce protein and oil. Whats the value of that in the marketplace? Perhaps biofuel.The state of Minnesota has 20 million acres of agricultural land. What percentage of that land has a cover crop on it? Two percent. In some parts of the Midwest, its four. The reason that Minnesota is low is because of the short length of our growing season. Youre not going to get any ecosystem services if you kill a cover crop in Minnesota in the first or second week in April. Youre just wasting your time, and every farmer knows it.So the value of these cover crops for corn-soybean farmers is that this new crop could benefit their land, benefit the environment and become a second source of income?Yes. These cropping systems actually increase yield per acre. Its up to us to make sure that these new crops also have the highest value possible.You have another set of organic farmers who are interested in planting perennial crops to avoid commodity crop markets altogether.We already have an elderberry co-op, a group of 30 farmers who are starting to make partnerships with the industry. Weve organized hazelnut farmers across Minnesota and Wisconsin. You can now go online and buy hazelnuts, oil and flour. In our program, were developing the germ plasm for consistent, uniform and larger nuts.Perennial wheatgrass gets all the attention, but its not going to be the big landscape changer. Itll be a long time before we have a million acres of Kernza. Within less than a decade, well have more than a million acres of pennycress and camelina on the landscape. Thats because the market for biodiesel is huge.How do you hope this will change agriculture in Minnesota, or perhaps the broader Midwest?Im hoping that we are able to give farmers new tools to protect our water, our land and other natural resources associated with it, in a way that the farmers will have the economic capacity to make that change.Some people complain about farmers and the way they operate. Why are they doing all of these things the way theyre doing them? Its because all the policy, all the infrastructure, all the inputs, everything has been dedicated to those commodity crops.What I worry about is developing an even playing field, making sure these new crops are treated the same way as commodity crops. So there is crop insurance, a safety net. We can build the germ plasm and build the markets, but those farmers have to be protected because the banker will demand it. What do you want to make sure people know about what you do?I hope that the work that weve done shows that there is a need for investing in people who can help organize the science, the policy, the supply chain and commercialization. Thats kind of the role I have played.

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