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Dont Write It Off: Advice From Brain Injury Experts After Bob Sagets DeathPeople who find themselves alone after a significant knock to the head are at higher risk of harm.Credit...Phillip Faraone/Getty ImagesFeb. 10, 2022It appeared to be an ordinary fall: Bob Saget, the actor and comedian, knocked his head on something and, perhaps thinking nothing of it, went to sleep, his family said on Wednesday.But the chilling consequences Mr. Saget, 65, died some hours later on Jan. 9 from blunt head trauma, a medical examiner ruled have underscored the dangers of traumatic brain injuries, even those that do not initially seem to be causes for alarm.Some 61,000 deaths in 2019 were related to traumatic brain injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and nearly half of head trauma-related hospitalizations result from falls.Brain injury experts said on Thursday that Mr. Sagets case was relatively uncommon: People with serious head trauma would be expected to have noticeable symptoms, like a headache, nausea or confusion. And they can generally be saved by surgeons opening up their skull and relieving pressure on the brain from bleeding.But certain situations put people at higher risk for the sort of deterioration that Mr. Saget experienced, doctors said.As serious a risk factor as any, doctors said, is simply being alone. Someone with a head injury can lose touch with their usual decision-making capacities and become confused, agitated or unusually sleepy. Those symptoms, in turn, can stand in the way of getting help.And while there was no indication that Mr. Saget was taking blood thinners, experts said the medications can greatly accelerate the type of bleeding after a head injury that forces the brain downward and compresses the centers that regulate breathing and other vital functions. More Americans are being prescribed these drugs as the population ages.Mr. Saget had been in an Orlando hotel room during a weekend of stand-up comedy acts when he was found unresponsive. The local medical examiners office announced on Wednesday that his death resulted from blunt head trauma, and said that his injuries were most likely incurred from an unwitnessed fall.There was no evidence of illegal drugs in his system, the medical examiner said.If you have a head injury, you never and I mean never be by yourself for the first 24 hours, said Dr. Gavin Britz, the chair in neurosurgery at Houston Methodist.Dr. Britz said that he would counsel people who get a significant knock to the head to see a doctor or, short of that, to ask someone to track their symptoms and even wake them up occasionally at night for monitoring.Brain injury experts also emphasized that the presence of symptoms usually indicated whether medical help was needed.Theres no need to call the doctor after a little bump, said Dr. Jeffrey Bazarian, an emergency physician and concussion expert at the University of Rochester Medical Center. On the other hand, he said, If you hit your head and have lingering symptoms, like a headache or confusion, that requires medical attention especially if youre on a blood thinner.The C.D.C. warns that traumatic brain injuries can be overlooked in older people when the symptoms overlap with those seen in other common ailments, like dementia.People 75 and older account for roughly one-third of head trauma-related hospitalizations, the agency said, though experts said they tend to apply extra caution to any patients who are at least 60 years old. C.D.C. data indicate that men are at higher risk than women.Neither Mr. Sagets family nor the medical examiner offered details on Wednesday about precisely how the head injury had killed him.The family specified that Mr. Saget had accidentally hit the back of his head. Injuries to the sides and back of the skull may be associated with significant brain bleeding, said Dr. Angela Lumba-Brown, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine.Still, she said, significant blows to any part of the head can cause problems.Doctors said that there were a number of possible scenarios for how Mr. Saget died. They also cautioned that crucial details of his case were missing, like whether or not he had underlying conditions and the precise nature of his injuries.In one scenario, they said, more common among younger patients, someone receives a blow to the head serious enough that their skull fractures, rupturing a blood vessel or artery between the skull and the thick lining covering the brain. The result is an epidural hematoma, and the bleeding can be deadly. In some such cases, there is an interval when patients feel fine.That was the injury that killed the actress Natasha Richardson in 2009 after what appeared to be a minor fall on a beginners ski slope.Maybe theres a bit of a headache, and you go to bed, and the blood clot expands, Dr. Britz said. Over time, it gets so big that you get brain stem compression.Another scenario is a fall that ruptures small veins between the membrane covering the brain and the brain itself, doctors said. That kind of injury is more common in older patients a result, in part, of brains shrinking as people age, doctors said, and the prevalence of blood thinners.In those cases, known as subdural hematomas, symptoms can develop quickly or over the course of weeks.Brain experts said that as Americans age and, in many cases, go on blood thinners after a heart attack or stroke, the risks of head injuries become more pronounced.As our population is aging, we have to be aware of the risks that come with being on blood thinners, said Dr. Neha Dangayach, the director of neuroemergencies management for Mount Sinai Health System. If you fall or hit your head, dont write it off.Still, doctors said, those head injuries were often easily treatable and deaths usually completely preventable.Dr. Jamshid Ghajar, a neurosurgeon at Stanford University School of Medicine who has worked on guidelines for treating brain injuries, said that he had operated on a 100-year-old with a serious head injury.I took the blood out, Dr. Ghajar said, and he was awake right away after.

Health

Business|KaloBios Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcyhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/31/business/kalobios-bankruptcy-martin-shkreli-chagas-disease.htmlCredit...Lucas Jackson/ReutersDec. 30, 2015KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, the troubled California biotechnology company that ousted Martin Shkreli this month, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday.The drug maker listed roughly $8.4 million in assets and close to $2 million in debt in filings with the United States Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.The drug maker had planned to go out of business before Mr. Shkreli took it over. Several of its experimental drugs had not worked, and the company did not have enough money to continue operating.But in late November, Mr. Shkreli led an investor group that bought 70 percent of KaloBioss stock on the open market for prices generally short of $2 a share. The stock briefly surged to more than $40 a share once his interest became known.Mr. Shkreli quickly drew attention after a plan surfaced to sharply increase the price of a decades-old drug that treats Chagas disease, a parasitic infection that can cause potentially lethal heart problems.Mr. Shkreli had already become infamous, as the head of Turing Pharmaceuticals, for raising the price of a lifesaving drug to treat toxoplasmosis, a rare parasitic infection, to $750 from $13.50 a pill.His ambitions for KaloBios proved short-lived. Mr. Shkreli was arrested on Dec. 17 on securities fraud and wire fraud charges. Federal prosecutors have accused Mr. Shkreli of something akin to a Ponzi scheme related to his first pharmaceutical company, Retrophin. They say he used the drug companys funds to pay off investors who lost money in his hedge fund, MSMB Capital Management.KaloBios fired Mr. Shkreli after his arrest. Two days later, Nasdaq informed KaloBios that it would be delisted from the exchange. KaloBios has appealed Nasdaqs decision. A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 25, the company said Tuesday.Trading in KaloBios has been halted since Mr. Shkreli was arrested. The last quoted price was $23.59 a share. On Monday, the company announced the resignation of two of its directors, Tom Fernandez and Marek Biestek.In its bankruptcy filings, the University of Miami and the accounting firm Ernst & Young are listed among KaloBioss largest unsecured creditors.Representatives for KaloBios could not immediately be reached for comment.

Business

Meek Mill Court Clerk Fired After Asking for Money During Trial 1/30/2018 The court clerk who slipped Meek Mill a note asking him for money during his probation violation hearing has been fired ... TMZ has learned. Court officials tell TMZ, Wanda Chavarria irretrievably crossed the line by writing in her note she needed college tuition money for her son, saying, "unfortunately with my bad credit, I am unable to secure a loan or co-sign a loan for my son. Anything that you can do is very much appreciated." Lawyers for Meek tell TMZ, the day Chavarria slipped the note to Meek she was serving as the clerk for Judge Genece Brinkley, who ultimately sentenced Meek to 2 to 4 years in prison. Chavarria says the judge did not know about the note, although Meek's lawyers say, before slipping Meek the note, she verbally asked for money in earshot of the judge. Court officials have not said if they are reviewing the sentence based on the transgressions of the clerk.

Entertainment

Politics|Viral Capitol mob figures arrested and charged for involvement in the siege.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/us/politics/adam-johnson-arrested-pelosi-lectern.htmlViral Capitol mob figures arrested and charged for involvement in the siege.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesJan. 9, 2021A man who was photographed carrying the lectern of Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the raid on the U.S. Capitol this week and another who roamed through the halls of Congress while wearing a horned fur headdress have been arrested and charged, the Justice Department said on Saturday.Adam Johnson, 36, of Parrish, Fla., was arrested by U.S. Marshals on Friday night after a widely circulated photograph showed him sporting a wide smile as he waved to the camera with one hand and hauled off Ms. Pelosis lectern with the other. On his head he wore a Trump knit hat, with the number 45 on the front.Jail booking records from the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office provide scant details about the arrest of Mr. Johnson but show that he was arrested on a federal warrant. He was charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, one count of theft of government property, and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.The office of Michael Sherwin, the top federal prosecutor in Washington, said on Saturday that it had also charged Jake Angeli, a well-known conspiracy theorist who was photographed in the Capitol on Wednesday.Mr. Angeli entered the building shirtless, with his face painted red, white and blue, and wearing a fur headdress with horns. He also carried a spear, about six feet long, with an American flag affixed just below the blade, according to Mr. Sherwins office.Nicknamed Q Shaman for his propagation of baseless QAnon conspiracy theories, Mr. Angeli was a fixture at pro-Trump rallies in Arizona after the 2016 election. He was arrested on Saturday.Early Saturday morning, the F.B.I. arrested Doug Jensen, who was captured on a video taken by Igor Bobic of HuffPost that showed him pushing far into the Capitol, ignoring the warnings of a law enforcement officer.On his Twitter account, Mr. Jensen posted a photo of himself during the raid with the captions You like my shirt? and Me .Mr. Jensen is in custody in Polk County, Iowa, and is facing charges including obstructing a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder, according to a spokesman for the Polk County Sheriffs Office.The authorities also arrested Richard Barnett, 60, on Friday, the man pictured with his feet kicked up on a desk in Ms. Pelosis office during the Capitol siege. Mr. Barnett, who was arrested in Bentonville, Ark., will appear in federal court on Tuesday and will ultimately be extradited to Washington, D.C.

Politics

Credit...Jochen Luebke/European Pressphoto AgencyDec. 13, 2015WOLFSBURG, Germany All cars at the headquarters should, according to the rules, be parked facing the same way. The firm is controlled by a tight-knit troika of a billionaire family (Ferdinand Porsches descendants), a German state government (Lower Saxony) and powerful labor unions. The corporate jet is not just any jet, but a full-size Airbus.Volkswagen, by any standards, has an unusual corporate culture.As the automotive giant struggles to explain a globe-spanning emissions-cheating scandal, its management culture confident, cutthroat and insular is coming under scrutiny as potentially enabling the lawbreaking behavior, according to current and former employees, analysts and academics who study the 78-year-old institution. They only know one way of management, said a high-ranking executive who has worked in several countries for the carmaker and who requested anonymity for fear of losing his job: Be aggressive at all times.On Thursday, Volkswagens chief executive, Matthias Mller, publicly acknowledged the problem and promised to make changes, including selling the Airbus. A company of our size, international reach and complexity cannot be managed with structures from the past, he said.During a historic public statement, Mr. Mller and Hans Dieter Ptsch, chairman of Volkswagens supervisory board, gave the first in-depth public accounting of VWs admission, made about three months ago, that it had installed special software in millions of cars in the United States and Europe designed to deceive emissions-testing procedures. Mr. Ptsch said that the evasion had begun earlier than previously thought, in 2005, and that nine executives so far, one more than disclosed earlier, had been suspended.VW has blamed a small group of engineers for the misconduct, and has said that members of its management board did not know of the decade-long deception.ImageCredit...Hoffmann/Getty ImagesSome critics say the scale of the problem suggests the involvement of separate engineering teams. VW said this month that 50 potential whistle-blowers had come forward, hinting at wider knowledge of the cheating. Its own investigation has disclosed that the illegal diesel software was installed in VW, Audi and Porsche models using several engine designs that went through numerous updates over 10 years.The idea that a few engineers are responsible just doesnt pass the laugh test, said John German, a former official at the Environmental Protection Agency and a senior fellow at the International Council on Clean Transportation, an environmental group that played a role in uncovering Volkswagens cheating.The company, briefly the worlds biggest carmaker before the emissions scandal struck, claims a unique history that has defined its leadership for generations. Founded by the Nazis with the help of Ferdinand Porsche, the inventor of the Beetle, today the company is 50 percent owned by his descendants. The state of Lower Saxony and Qatars sovereign wealth fund own most of the rest. Independent shareholders control just 12 percent.Volkswagens factory was built with money confiscated from trade unions, which after World War II were granted a say in management as compensation.Today, by law, labor holds half the 20 seats on VWs board, as with every major German company. But at Volkswagen, two more seats are occupied by Lower Saxony, which in practice cannot vote against labor. So the union effectively controls the board.The two men who have led Volkswagen and shaped its culture much of the past 20 years are Ferdinand Pich, the chief executive from 1993 until 2002, and Martin Winterkorn, the chief executive from 2007 until his resignation after the scandal became public.Mr. Pich, a grandson of Mr. Porsche, is an engineer who made his name shaping Audi to take on BMW and Mercedes-Benz. His tenure came to be defined by his toughness and willingness to demote or dismiss people who were not performing well. My need for harmony is limited, he wrote in his 2002 autobiography, titled Auto.Biographie.Mr. Pich, who fathered 12 children, including two with his cousins ex-wife, has acknowledged he was not a typical manager. Only when a company is in severe difficulty do they let in someone like me, he wrote. In normal, calm times I never would have gotten a chance.Some critics argue that after 20 years under Mr. Pich and Mr. Winterkorn, Volkswagen had become a place where subordinates were fearful of contradicting their superiors and were afraid to admit failure. There is a self-righteousness which led down this terrible path, said David Bach, a senior lecturer at the Yale School of Management who has followed the Volkswagen case.Bernd Osterloh, chairman of the Volkswagen workers council, wrote a letter to the staff suggesting flaws in company culture. We need in the future a climate in which problems arent hidden but can be openly communicated to superiors, he wrote.With Mr. Pichs rise, rivals noticed a more aggressive approach from Wolfsburg. In a VW scandal during his tenure, in 1993, Mr. Pich recruited Jos Igncio Lpez de Arriorta, a star purchasing manager from General Motors known for his ability to bargain with suppliers.Mr. Lpez was later accused of taking confidential G.M. documents with him. That led to a criminal investigation of accusations of corporate espionage and a legal dispute that was eventually settled. Volkswagen denied wrongdoing, and criminal charges against Mr. Lpez were dropped after he agreed to resign and give several hundred thousand dollars to charity.Some rivals view the episode as the emergence of the modern, hard-charging Volkswagen. VW set out to destroy Opel, said David J. Herman, who was chairman of General Motors Opel unit in the 1990s.Mr. Pich pursued growth and doubled the number of brands by bringing into the fold marques such as Bentley, Lamborghini, Bugatti and Porsche. Even critics of Mr. Pich, who remained chairman until this year, consider him an outstanding engineer. He could find product flaws that the designers themselves had missed, and was given credit for numerous innovations like the four-wheel-drive sedans that led to the Audi Quattro series.One of the technologies he promoted energetically was TDI, which stands for turbocharged direct injection, which remains Volkswagens trademark technology for diesel engines. It represented a leap in efficiency and acceleration that helped make diesel more practical for passenger cars.Under Mr. Pich, VW became Europes dominant carmaker, and Mr. Winterkorn who, like Mr. Pich, is an engineer rose to prominence. He held key positions under Mr. Pich including head of quality control, head of research and development, and chief executive of the Audi division.When Mr. Winterkorn took over as VWs chief executive in 2007, he adopted a similar leadership style. He carried a gauge in his jacket to measure the gaps between car doors and bodies, which he considered an indicator of quality. At auto shows, he was introduced as Professor Doctor Martin Winterkorn, reflecting a Volkswagen institutional preference for formal titles.According to four current and former Volkswagen executives who witnessed his management style, Mr. Winterkorn was known for publicly dressing down subordinates and occasionally banging car parts on tables to emphasize a point.Arndt Ellinghorst, a former Volkswagen management trainee, said he witnessed an episode where technicians were showing Mr. Winterkorn the infotainment system on a luxury Phaeton, which was in development at the time before going on sale in 2002. Mr. Winterkorn, he said, mistakenly thought the push-button console was a touch screen, and became critical when it did not respond. When the technicians explained, he said, Mr. Winterkorn accused them of treating him like he was stupid.Mr. Ellinghorst, now an automotive industry analyst at Evercore ISI, an investment advisory firm, said he decided not to stay at Volkswagen in part because of its management style. VW had this special culture, he said. It was like North Korea without labor camps, he added, quoting a well known description of the company by Der Spiegel magazine. You have to obey.ImageCredit...Kai Pfaffenbach/ReutersA lawyer for Mr. Winterkorn did not respond to a request for comment. Through a spokesman for the Porsche family company, Mr. Pich declined to comment.The emissions scandal has led to investigations in Germany, the United States and other countries, as well as dozens of lawsuits filed by customers, shareholders and car dealers. Volkswagen has set aside 6.7 billion euros, or $7.4 billion, to cover the cost of making the cars legal again. Its in-house investigation is being led by Wolfgang Porsche, another descendant of the founder.A central question of whether Volkswagens top management knew of the deception remains. Mr. Winterkorn has said that he did not know, and even some of his critics are not persuaded that he and other top executives were in the loop.In 2012, for instance, Greenpeace activists wearing T-shirts spelling out Das Problem a spoof of Volkswagens slogan Das Auto managed to unfurl a banner from the rafters at a VW shareholder meeting as Mr. Winterkorn spoke. Honest Climate Protection Now! it read, blocking a video screen of his speech.Afterward, Mr. Winterkorn and Mr. Pich seemed genuinely wounded, according to Jrg Bode, a German politician and board member at the time. They said, But were clean! recalled Mr. Bode, who is a critic of Mr. Winterkorns stewardship of Volkswagen. If they were just acting, he said, they did a pretty good job.In October, in a letter published in the Corriere della Sera newspaper in Italy, an engineer who works for Volkswagen offered her view of the work atmosphere. She did not know how the deception had happened, she wrote, and doubted her bosses knew.She described a hard-charging culture in which highly educated and motivated engineers competed for approval and promotion. The engineer, Emanuela Montefrancesco, said: Here at Volkswagen in the last few years, we have forgotten to say, I wont do this. I cannot. I am sorry.Mr. Mller, the new chief executive, has pledged to change Volkswagens culture, saying he does not want to be surrounded by yes men but rather by people who follow their instincts, and are not merely guided by the possible consequences of impending failure.Perhaps change is already happening. While it remains the rule in some areas of the factory that cars should be parked facing the same way (it protects the building from pollution, a VW official explained), on a recent visit it appeared that many employees were following their instincts and parking however they liked.

Business

Middle East|Moshe Katsav, Jailed Ex-President of Israel, Loses Bid for Early Releasehttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/07/world/middleeast/moshe-katsav-jailed-ex-president-of-israel-loses-bid-for-early-release.htmlCredit...Pool photo by Uriel SinaiApril 6, 2016JERUSALEM An Israeli prison parole board rejected a request on Wednesday by Moshe Katsav, the former president of Israel who is serving a seven-year term for rape, for a conditional early release from prison.Mr. Katsav, who entered prison in December 2011 after losing a Supreme Court appeal, had requested that his sentence be reduced by a third for good behavior.In its ruling, the parole committee said that Mr. Katsav, who has always professed his innocence, never expressed regret for his actions and had refused to participate in rehabilitation programs, factors that did not work in his favor.The committee noted what it described as Mr. Katsavs obsessive preoccupation with trying to prove his innocence, saying he could continue to offend his victims and possibly still pose a risk to women.From his appearance before the committee and from his words, the committee gained the impression that the prisoner considers himself as a victim, the parole committee wrote.Mr. Katsav, it said, is busy blaming external forces for his situation and still conducts himself in an aggressive manner, absorbed with himself, his own needs and losses, and only with the price that he and his family have paid.It added that Mr. Katsavs victims had expressed their opposition to his early release before the committee.Mr. Katsavs lawyers said they would appeal the decision.The main point of this decision is the question of the basic legal right of any person to continue to adhere to his belief in his innocence, Zion Amir, one of Mr. Katsavs lawyers, told reporters outside Maasiyahu Prison, southeast of Tel Aviv, where Mr. Katsav is being held.I am very sorry that our society and all the decision makers have become enslaved to a mood outside which leads to decisions such as this, Mr. Amir said, adding that Mr. Katsav responded with great pain and went back to his cell.Mr. Katsav was convicted in a district court in 2010 of raping an employee while he was minister of tourism in 1998, and of sexually abusing a second woman and harassing a third while he was head of state. He served in the distinguished, if mostly ceremonial, post of president from 2000 to 2007.Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister of Israel, entered Maasiyahu Prison in February to serve a 19-month term for bribery and obstruction of justice.

World

Credit...Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press, via Associated PressDec. 20, 2015When it comes to railroad consolidation, most opponents hark back to the mid-1990s, when a series of mergers at the time were blamed for lost cargo, derailments, death and billions of dollars lost by businesses and taxpayers.Over the three decades through 2001, the number of major railroad operators in North America shrank to seven from 56. The fallout from that consolidation spurred new rules in 2001 to make rail mergers harder by denying potential acquisitions that could cause a domino effect.Now, for the first time since they were passed, these rules are being tested.Canadian Pacific has made three attempts the latest one last week to acquire Norfolk Southern in what could be a $27 billion deal. Norfolk Southern has repeatedly repudiated the offer, largely out of concern that regulators would not approve a deal.Yet if Canadian Pacific succeeds, Matthew Rose, the executive chairman of BNSF Railway which is owned by Warren E. Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway has said that BNSF would need to do a deal as well.And Kansas City Southern, a Midwestern railroad operator, could loom as a potential target for railroad companies. With a market value of about $8 billion, it is attractive because it is exempt from the 2001 rules, making it a potentially easier target.Kansas City Southern has interviewed external and internal candidates who could take over for David L. Starling, its 66-year-old chief executive, who may decide to retire next year, people briefed on the interviews said.The company is leaning toward choosing Patrick J. Ottensmeyer, its current president, as the successor, these people said, but they said that decision could change. They asked not to be named because the process was private. While it is unclear whether Mr. Ottensmeyer or any other successor would be open to a takeover, a change in management could motivate potential acquirers to enter the fray.Yet there are plenty of doubts about whether consolidation is even possible in the United States railroad business.Chief executives like James A. Squires of Norfolk Southern, former regulators and those that use rails to ship goods argue that large mergers would be detrimental to the industry. About 71 percent of shippers surveyed by Cowen & Company, the New York brokerage firm, said they would not support the Canadian Pacific and Norfolk Southern deal.The domino effect will be a significant variable here, said Jeff Moreno, a partner at the law firm Thompson Hine who represented rail customers suing the operators during the 1990s. The shipping community is leery of any further mergers because of the service problems before.Hunter Harrison, the 71-year-old chief executive of Canadian Pacific, is pursuing an acquisition nonetheless, and shareholders are along for the ride especially the chief of Pershing Square Capital Management, William A. Ackman, who is Canadian Pacifics largest investor.Mr. Harrison and Mr. Ackman argue that railroads, especially Norfolk Southern, need to improve their operating efficiency and that the best way to do that is by combining.A big question is how current regulators see things.Its a pretty tough regulatory burden, given that this is all about whats in the publics best interest and the likelihood that commissioners see a whole lot more risk in this than reward, said Mark Levin, an analyst with BB&T Capital Markets. But I dont think you can extrapolate that just because mergers failed in the past means it will fail in the future.The railroads were partially deregulated in 1980, allowing them to compete more on price differences, forcing a wave of mergers, as documented by data from Dealogic.Burlington Northern announced in February 1995 that it would acquire Santa Fe Pacific Corporation for more than $5 billion. One month later, Union Pacific announced a $2 billion purchase of Chicago & North Western Transportation Company, followed by the August takeover of Southern Pacific Rail Corporation. In October 1996, CSX Corporation and Norfolk Southern jointly acquired Consolidated Rail Corporation, or Conrail, for about $12 billion and split it in two. Then, in February 1998, Canadian National acquired Illinois Central Corporation for $3.5 billion.When Union Pacific was integrating Southern Pacific, computer problems resulted in lost or delayed cargo. Crews were overworked, leading to at least one deadly accident and more than a dozen crashes and derailments. Researchers estimated that the crisis cost businesses and taxpayers, especially those in Texas, more than $2 billion in just six months.Similar travails occurred with Conrails deal as well. Trains were late on Norfolk Southern and CSX tracks, and some customers rail cars were lost, according to reports at the time.As a response, the Surface Transportation Board, the regulator within the Department of Transportation responsible for overseeing rail carriers, created rules in 2001 to govern major mergers. Focusing on railroads with at least $250 million in revenue, or so-called Class I railroads, the board said that any merger must show that it enhanced competition and was in the public interest. The rules also required the board to consider downstream effects or how a merger might serve as a catalyst for additional deals.Regulatory concern has not thwarted Mr. Harrison, however. On Wednesday, Canadian Pacific sought to sweeten the bid for Norfolk Southern, offering as much as $3.4 billion in additional value to Norfolk Southern shareholders through a contingent value right, or C.V.R.Canadian Pacific is offering $32.86 in cash per share in May, plus 0.451 shares in the new company, plus 0.451 of the C.V.R.Canadian Pacific argues that railroad consolidation could be in the public interest.Public benefits will result from improved operational efficiency, asset utilization, service, economic efficiency, fuel consumption and competition, said Paul A. Guthrie, the special counsel to Mr. Harrison at Canadian Pacific, on a conference call this month. These public interest benefits outweigh any risk that the transaction is not approved.If the deals enhance railroads stock prices, the companies might then pass on the benefits to their customers, said Josh Duitz, a portfolio manager at the Alpine Global Infrastructure Fund, noting that he did not think the argument was strong enough to persuade regulators.As a shareholder of C.P., I would love if they could consolidate, said Mr. Duitz, who manages more than $1.5 billion in assets, many of which are in railroad companies such as Canadian Pacific.If I were a customer of one of these rails, he continued, I would be very leery of it because it could potentially reduce competition.Hardly any merger arbitrage traders are trying to play the Canadian Pacific and Norfolk Southern deal because they do not see a path to completing the deal.Canadian Pacific, however, has shown a willingness to start a proxy fight at Norfolk Southern, which could elicit more participation from traders.I dont think we should count this merger out yet, Terry Whiteside, chairman of the Alliance for Rail Competition, said by phone from Billings, Mont. Hunter Harrison doesnt say no, he just keeps going.

Business

Credit...Erin Schaff for The New York TimesJune 22, 2018WASHINGTON It did not exactly make for riveting video this month when Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, was turned away from a converted Walmart at the Texas border that is housing hundreds of migrant children who have been taken away from their parents by the Trump administration.Shirt sleeves rolled up and cellphone in hand, Mr. Merkley spent the better part of half an hour waiting outside the shelters doors, talking calmly to the cameras until the police arrived, at which point the shelters supervisor emerged and asked him to leave. He politely complied.But when the social-media savvy senator streamed the encounter on Facebook Live, it promptly went viral, setting in motion a heated debate that ultimately forced President Trump to reverse himself, and issue an executive order that migrant families be kept together when they are apprehended at the border.Now the mild-mannered Mr. Merkley is having a breakout moment. A darling of the progressive movement, he has until now been an under-the-radar presence in Washington, overshadowed by his high-profile colleagues, Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Though a champion of same-sex rights and environmental causes, he has not been a legislative standout, and is known mostly as the only senator who endorsed Mr. Sanders over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries.He went to the border, he said in an interview on Thursday, because he thought reports of children being separated from their families might be fake news: I just couldnt envision that the administration would actually take asylum seekers, those fleeing persecution, and deliberately inflict trauma on their children.It is undoubtedly not lost on him that the ensuing publicity is good for his career; Mr. Merkley also acknowledged that he was exploring the possibility of a 2020 presidential bid. (He has previously said he was keeping the options open.) Asked whether he would stay out of the race should Ms. Warren or Mr. Sanders become candidates, he leaned back in his chair and said, Not necessarily.Mr. Merkleys unsuccessful foray to the shelter, in Brownsville, has not been without controversy. While in Texas, he also visited a processing center at the border station in McAllen, and came back describing hundreds of children locked up in cages there an assertion that helped earn him a Three Pinocchios rating in a fact-checking report by The Washington Post.That rating was later downgraded to Two Pinocchios after lawmakers and journalists corroborated Mr. Merkleys claim; the remaining Pinocchios involved his inaccurate assertion that outsiders are barred from visiting the shelter when visits are, in fact, allowed with two weeks notice. The White House, for its part, accused Mr. Merkley of irresponsibly spreading blatant lies.Mr. Merkley, who has never met the president, is steamed about that. I know I took a lot of heat for using that term, but thats what they look like, he said, referring to the cages comment.In the interview, he also challenged Mr. Trump whose wife, Melania, made an unannounced visit on Thursday to a childrens detention center in McAllen, while the administration made plans to house up to 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children on military bases to make his own border trip.I think if youre going to do a policy that injures people, Mr. Merkley said, you ought to have the guts to go see it firsthand.Tall and gray-haired at 61, Mr. Merkley is not, by his own admission, the kind of politician who makes audiences swoon.Im not the person who comes to battle with, if you will, extensive charisma, he said. Thats not me. But I am determined.Indeed, if there is one word his colleagues use to describe Mr. Merkley, it is persistent. In trying to win support for the Equality Act, a bill that would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, Mr. Merkley badgered fellow Democrats and the independents who caucus with them until all but one of them signed on. That persistence extends to his personal life; he has also completed two Ironman triathlons while serving in the Senate.Hes like a dog with a bone, said Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut. He will just not let go.But some find that quality irksome, and Mr. Merkleys border attention grab has clearly irritated at least one Republican. Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri at first grew quiet when asked about Mr. Merkley a telltale sign among senators that they do not have something nice to say.Well, Mr. Blunt finally allowed, other people went to the border when Obama was president on our side, and were never allowed in, and it was never any news.The son of a mill worker and a homemaker, Mr. Merkley proudly wears his blue-collar roots; he is the first person in his family to graduate from college. (Stanford for his undergraduate degree, Princeton for a masters in public policy.) He is a big do-it-yourselfer aides call him thrifty and has posted videos of himself on social media repairing his deck and fixing his lawn mower at home in Oregon.Hes a beer and burgers guy, said Stephanie Taylor, a co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal group that has raised money for Mr. Merkley.A one-time intern for Senator Mark O. Hatfield, a moderate Republican, Mr. Merkley came up in politics as a State House representative in Oregon. A close friend and adviser, Robert Stoll, remembers him as a very quiet, very studious sort of guy, and a little geeky. In 2007, after leading an effort to flip the House from Republican to Democratic control, he was elected speaker.That same year, he set out to take on Gordon Smith, a senator at the time and another popular moderate Republican. We said, You have a 20 percent chance of winning, Mr. Stoll recalled. He said, That good? Im running.Mr. Merkley won that race, swept in on Barack Obamas presidential coattails. Once in the Senate, he championed banking overhaul and led a successful push to change Senate rules so that Mr. Obamas judicial nominees could be more easily confirmed. More recently, he has endeared himself to the Trump resistance by hosting meetings every two weeks in his office where outside groups like Indivisible and Move On swap strategy with senators.On Sunday, Mr. Merkley again traveled to Texas, this time leading a delegation that included Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, and several House members. They made five stops; what he saw there haunts him.At a legal port of entry, Mr. Merkley said, he witnessed American border guards blocking people seeking asylum from getting to the U.S. At a detention center, he said, he met with 10 women whose children had been taken away at the border; they had no access to legal representation, he said.At a border patrol center, he met a woman from Honduras who told him she had fled, at eight months pregnant, after members of a drug cartel threatened to kill her if she did not pay a loan to a local bank. She gave birth during her journey north. Under new, more restrictive rules imposed by the Trump administration, Mr. Merkley said, the woman is likely not eligible for asylum in the United States.As Congress wrestles with whether to pass legislation addressing the border crisis, Mr. Merkley is skeptical; he says legislative debates in Congress are like stepping in quicksand it sucks you down and you cant move.He calls Mr. Trumps executive order a travesty, because it allows migrant families to be detained indefinitely a policy he has nicknamed handcuffs for all. His next step is to have Democrats convene a shadow hearing on the topic, perhaps as soon as next week. He is hoping to have migrant families testify.

Politics

Science|Magnifying the World of Beauty That Lives Under a Microscopehttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/05/science/carl-struwe-microscopic-photography.htmlTrilobitesCredit...Carl StrweApril 5, 2016In the 1920s, before matter could be magnified millions of times under electron microscopes, a German graphic designer was developing his own techniques for capturing the minute wonders of organic life.Carl Strwe never gained fame during his lifetime, but over the decades his stark images of diatoms, spermatozoa and other life under the microscope have gathered admirers for their distinctive artistry. A selection of his works will go on display at the Steven Kasher Gallery in New York starting April 14.ImageCredit...Carl StrweWhen Mr. Strwe began making photographs, he used microscopes that could only magnify items up to 2,000 times. The traditional scientific view under a microscope was rounded, so Mr. Strwe cut black pieces of paper into rectangular shapes and set them over the biological subject matter in his slides. He then pointed his camera into the eye of the microscope, capturing the scene he had composed under the microscope.The thoughtful way that he positioned his subjects in the microscope his canvases is what made his work so pioneering, said Gottfried Jger, a photographer in Bielefeld, Germany, who is the administrator of Mr. Strwes estate. Mr. Strwe saw great artistic potential, Mr. Jger said, where before him, many only saw the objectivity of science.ImageCredit...Carl StrweMr. Struwes work had little impact outside of Germany during his life because he lacked resources and did not speak languages other than German.He was a poor man, not very successful with his work during his own life, said Mr. Jger.Mr. Strwe did make some appearances in the United States, including a Brooklyn Museum show in 1949. A number of his photos were also used in scientific texts, including this biology textbook from 1957.ImageCredit...Gottfried JgerThe work of Carl Strwe may mean more to art history than to science. But Mr. Jger believes there is something to be learned from these photographs, even if they do not do much to further objective knowledge.They open a window in this fantastic, non-visible world, he wrote in an email. He visualizes its meaning and beauty as its own reality.

science

Jack McMorrow, 14, awoke in agony, with heart failure. His case may help doctors understand a frightening new affliction in children linked to the coronavirus.Credit...Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesPublished May 17, 2020Updated May 21, 2020Listen to The Daily: A Teenagers Medical MysteryHow the case of one 14-year-old could help doctors understand a frightening new illness linked to the coronavirus.transcripttranscriptListen to The Daily: A Teenagers Medical MysteryHosted by Michael Barbaro; produced by Clare Toeniskoetter and Jessica Cheung; with help from Rachel Quester; edited by Liz O. Baylen and Lisa TobinHow the case of one 14-year-old could help doctors understand a frightening new illness linked to the coronavirus.michael barbaroFrom The New York Times, Im Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily.[music]Today: From the earliest days of the coronavirus, health officials believed that it largely spared children and teenagers, but recently that belief has been challenged. My colleague Pam Belluck on the story of a 14-year-old boy whose case is being studied to better understand the impact of the virus on children.Its Thursday, May 21.Pam, when does this understanding that we all seem to have about the coronavirus and how it spares children, when does that start to change?pam belluckIn late April, there was this bulletin that was sent out by a pediatric health service in the United Kingdom. It just said were noticing some kids, not very many. They seem to have these symptoms of inflammation. We dont really know what this is about. Some have tested positive for coronavirus. Some havent. And it was just kind of saying we think were seeing something.So I talked to my editors about it, and we were trying to figure out whether we should explore it more at that point. And we decided, well, we dont really know a whole lot. It seems like a small number of cases. We cant even say for certain that its connected to coronavirus, and so we just kind of put it aside for a bit and watch it.And then I think a couple days later I got an email from a hospital in New York City. The person said weve got two cases of this syndrome that theyve been talking about in the UK. If you want to talk to somebody, let us know. And thats how I got to know Jack McMorrow and his family in their apartment in Queens.michael barbaroAnd tell me about this visit.pam belluckIts a very warm, kind of cozy apartment. There are all these welcome home banners and balloons for Jack. And the family, Jack and his father John and his mother Doris, they just immediately welcomed me and our photographer Gabriela in, and they all just start talking. I just know immediately I have to put on my tape recorder because theres no way Im going to capture all this writing things down.john mcmorrowHe sent him a letter.jack mcmorrowYes. Can I explain something john mcmorrowOh, come on. Im giving backdrop here. You can explain all you want.jack mcmorrowNo. First of all, I wanted to talk about how the virus was behaving like a bacteria.john mcmorrowOK, youre gonna, but I just want to say jack mcmorrowThat was way back when.john mcmorrow Randall jack mcmorrowThis things probably not picking up anything.doris stromanI hope you know shes taping all of you because john mcmorrowYeah, we barter like this all day long.doris stromanI got a bell from school jack mcmorrowStop with the bell.doris stroman because they bicker. And I have to do this john mcmorrowAnd its a timeout bell.doris stroman and tell them to both go to each corner.jack mcmorrowIm sorry about all this chaotic pam belluckIts wonderful. Its wonderful.[bell ringing]john mcmorrowAnd these cleaned arteries, they have to bring you right back.jack mcmorrowI was coherent at this time.john mcmorrowNo, I know. But I know youve been jumping things, and I know when youre excited.jack mcmorrowMe jumping things?pam belluckYoure doing great. Youre doing great.jack mcmorrowDad, you went from day one to me in the new I.C.U. Thats like a doris stromanDo I need to get my bell?jack mcmorrow huge jump. Dude, if speakerOh my God.michael barbaroAnd tell me about this family. Who are they?pam belluckSo Jacks father is John McMorrow.john mcmorrowI know its your story, son.pam belluckHe is a truck driver. He works as a Teamster for the film industry. He was recently laid off because of the pandemic. And his mother, Jacks mother, is Doris Stroman. She works at a lab school with five and six-year-old kids. She was wearing a mask that had The Rolling Stones tongue logo on it.doris stroman to figure out what was going on, starting with his pediatrician.pam belluckAnd Jack is 14. Hes a ninth grader. He goes to Catholic school in Queens.jack mcmorrowYeah, and I have a whole bunch of other prop replica stuff.pam belluckSo youre a Star Wars fan?jack mcmorrowI like Marvel a lot more than I do pam belluckOh, youre more of a Marvel person. OK.jack mcmorrowThis is the Infinity Gauntlet from Avengers: Infinity War. I really have to doris stromanThey dont have time for that, Jack.jack mcmorrowThis is why michael barbaroAnd, Pam, what is the story that Jack and his parents tell you about this mysterious condition that he has?pam belluckSo Jack was living the world of a New York City teenager in a pandemic.doris stromanHe never left the house.jack mcmorrowI havent left john mcmorrowSince March 13, hes been in the house.doris stromanYou never left the house. His school john mcmorrowIn his room, not even in here.doris stromanHis Catholic school was one of the first that were closed.pam belluckOh wow.doris stromanDidnt leave the house.pam belluckMarch 12 was his last day of school, and he was doing the online learning thing.doris stromanThe one time he left the house other than was to help me with the laundry and didnt want to touch anything.jack mcmorrowI took a shower after I came up from the laundry room.doris stromanYeah, the kid just jack mcmorrowIm a germophobe.pam belluckThey just kind of stayed in. He was playing video games. He was chatting with his friends and that kind of thing. That was Jacks world.[music] Then in mid-April, Jacks parents start to notice some unusual things.john mcmorrowThree weeks ago, he came out to me with a rash on the backside of his hands.jack mcmorrowYeah.john mcmorrowI thought it was jack mcmorrowIt was bad.john mcmorrow from the antibacterial soap. You know, Purell. Maybe hes doing it too much. Hes sensitive.jack mcmorrowYeah, for like we thought it was nothing more than eczema.john mcmorrowAnd then I think a day or two later he jack mcmorrowNo, it was like john mcmorrow your mother told you something about your eyes. She thought you were playing video games too much.jack mcmorrowYeah, the eyes definitely, but I dont know if that was pam belluckThey went on, and then the next week and this was April 21 jack mcmorrowI had got a normal fever, like 101, 102.pam belluck Jack gets a fever.jack mcmorrowI woke up one day with doris stromanSore throat.jack mcmorrow sore throat. That was the first inflammation symptom that we had, which was doris stromanOn his hands, on his feet jack mcmorrowOn my hands, on my feet doris stroman on his neck.jack mcmorrow and on my neck. That was the first pam belluckAnd then around Friday, April 24, things start to get more severe.jack mcmorrowThat ended up being a swollen lymph node that grew to about the size of a tennis ball that you could visibly see coming on the side of my neck.doris stromanThat was alarming.pam belluckBy the next day, Saturday morning, he wakes up and hes got a 104.7 fever.michael barbaroThat is a real fever.pam belluckThat is a serious fever. They call their pediatrician at 7:30 in the morning, and she says, you guys, you got to get to an urgent care clinic, and they do. And there he gets a coronavirus test, but its going to be a couple days before he gets the results.michael barbaroSo at this point they think it might perhaps be Covid-19.pam belluckIt doesnt look like Covid-19, but were living in a world of Covid-19, and so I think that they are just sort of saying, well, lets just test him. We dont really know what this is. They send him home. Things just keep getting worse and worse. And by Monday morning, Jack wakes up. He cannot move. He cant move.jack mcmorrowBecause I wake up, and to even sit up, I screamed for them. And I had 105 almost.pam belluckAnd hes lying on the couch.jack mcmorrowI was sleeping with my socks on, and he kind of saw red. And he takes off my socks to reveal my entire feet, right here, had just rashes on the insides and bottom.doris stromanAt that time jack mcmorrowAnd my hands.doris stroman we thought that was the apex.jack mcmorrowAnd my hands.doris stromanBut it wasnt until days later.jack mcmorrowYeah, they thought that was bad. My hands here on my palms, a little bit at the back, all rashes. So my skin to even touch my skin and feel pam belluckIts terribly, terribly frightening. And he says to me, I was very emotional.jack mcmorrowIm using the word emotional to try and cover up the fact I was crying like a baby. It was so bad.pam belluckThey happen to have a home blood pressure monitor, so they take his blood pressure. And this is where, as if all of these symptoms werent alarming enough and frightening enough, the blood pressure is very low. And so they know they had to take him to the hospital. They had to figure out how to get him out of the house. He cant move. So John and Jack kind of demonstrate this for me.jack mcmorrowI put my hands on his arms like this and, not kidding, shuffled my way.john mcmorrowAnd I had to then hold him up jack mcmorrowWith his arms.pam belluckJohn picks him up, puts Jacks feet on top of Johns feet, and then walks backward out the apartment door, sort of shuffling Jack along.doris stromanAnd when we got to the hospital john mcmorrowThey took a wheelchair.doris stroman they took a wheelchair.jack mcmorrowYeah, I took a wheelchair.doris stromanHe couldnt walk.john mcmorrowHe couldnt walk no more. He couldnt bend his legs.pam belluckSo he gets to the hospital. They are trying to figure out, again, whats going on. They dont know.john mcmorrow everything back and forth. You had a cardiologist department. You had the pulmonary specialist, infectious disease experts, and then you had the immunology all throwing numbers and prescriptions and how they count through each other to deal with him. And this is stuff that I its French to me. You might as well just tell me pam belluckAnd while hes there, they get the coronavirus test results back from the clinic that he went to on Saturday two days earlier.michael barbaroAnd what does it say?pam belluckTheyre negative. So theyre crossing that off the list. They say, we really should probably send you home because we dont really know what this is, and we think maybe you can just kind of watch it at home.doris stromanBecause they were riding the wave that he tested negative.pam belluckWell, Doris is not happy about that. She says doris stromanAnd I said, well, he needs to be tested again. And she said, we only test those who are admitted. And I said, well, then he needs to be admitted. We have nowhere to be pam belluckSo theres a communication around that. And they agree theres no harm in doing another coronavirus test. Why not? We dont really know whats happening. Why not? So they do another coronavirus test. And then while theyre there waiting, another symptom emerges.doris stromanWhen he woke up, his eyes were like this. And I was just like, what just jack mcmorrowYeah, they were rolling in the back of my head.doris stromanAnd they were red.pam belluckHis eyes turned bright red. As his mom is telling me about this, she is pointing to a red pillow on their couch, and she says, its like this. And his eyes are rolling back into his head, and theyre bright red.doris stromanHe was like, Im fine, Im fine, like this. Im fine. Im fine.john mcmorrowWhen was this?pam belluckThen the doctor comes in and tells them that, guess what? The new coronavirus test, the second one, it was positive.michael barbaroPam, how could that be that he has a negative test and just a few days later, suddenly a positive test?pam belluckWell, unfortunately this is kind of the reality of coronavirus testing right now that they are not 100 percent reliable. Its a little bit of a Wild West situation. So there are cases of false negatives, and thats obviously what was the case with Jack. So once they realize that he is Covid positive, they decide at that hospital that hes got to go to a childrens hospital. And Jack is not on board with this. He does not want to go.And the doctor says to him, If I send you home today, you will be dead by tomorrow.jack mcmorrowThat, I would say, had scared me to death. But it more scared me to life. It scared me to fight.pam belluckSo Jack gets to the childrens hospital in the ambulance. And the doctors take one look, and they realize, this is not what we thought coronavirus infection looks like. This is not the way it usually affects patients. And they know that by looking at Jack and figuring out whats going on with him, they are going to learn a lot more about what this virus can do to kids.[music]michael barbaroWell be right back.jack mcmorrowIm getting to the pain now. It was a throbbing, stinging rush of, like, you could feel it going through your veins.pam belluckSo when Jack gets to the hospital, he is just exhausted and in so much pain.jack mcmorrowYou could feel it was almost like someone injected you with straight up fire. Just fire.pam belluckThe major symptom thats going on with Jack is that he has very low blood pressure.jack mcmorrowYouve got to remember, my heart rate was at 165 while I was sleeping. Thats like a marathon runner.pam belluckAnd he has a very, very fast heart rate, because his heart is trying very hard to compensate for that low blood pressure that is preventing him from pumping oxygen and nutrients throughout his body to his critical organs. So thats what theyve got to treat. That is a condition that is called cardiogenic shock. It is heart failure. It is fatal if not treated. And he was telling me that he started to focus his energy. He started to feel like, I have got to understand what is going on with my body. Ive got to know, because if I dont know what Im fighting, then I cant fight it. So he starts to talk to the doctors.jack mcmorrowThey dont get a lot of kids that can actually talk to them since its pediatrics.pam belluckAnd hes a ninth-grade kid, and hes been taking biology, and he has some understanding about the heart and the lungs and how they all work. And so hes asking them lots of questions.jack mcmorrowWe were going back and forth with the whole especially the way my heart related to my cardiovascular and circulatory system, never mind my pam belluckAnd that made him feel much more in control, or at least it was a little bit less terrifying for him once he kind of realized what he could understand. But in that first day or two jack mcmorrowIt was scary.pam belluck he did feel like he wasnt going to come out of it.speakerIt didnt look like I was coming out of it the same, if at all.michael barbaroAnd how do the doctors try to treat Jack during this time?pam belluckSo the first thing that theyre trying to do is give him blood pressure medication to try to get his blood pressure up, but its just not working. Its been 48 hours. And they are so worried about his heart, which is not pumping enough oxygen to his body, that they think theyre going to need to put him on a ventilator.michael barbaroWow.john mcmorrowThey were going to intubate him. And I said, you know, that was breaking my heart.doris stromanIf they were to john mcmorrowAnd so did they. They didnt want it, because they know that they had to brace me on the realistic approach that only 20 percent come off.pam belluckSo they say, well, you know, why dont we try some steroids? Now, steroids are this widely used medication that works in a lot of different ways and works for some things, it doesnt work for other things, and its really hard to know whether its going to help him or not. But within a few hours, he starts to stabilize. They decide they dont need the ventilator, and jack mcmorrowThey were bringing me Icees and ginger ale john mcmorrowThey were bringing him everything, lollipops jack mcmorrow and I hadnt had water.john mcmorrowHe hadnt no water, nothing in his mouth for over 48 hours because they were jack mcmorrowFor 48 hours.john mcmorrow preparing him to do the tube.jack mcmorrowMy mouth was I felt like I was dying. And then they were throwing Icees my way. They were like, here you go, kid. They gave me lollipops. They gave me ginger ales. I was, like, living the life.pam belluckSo it seems like the steroids worked, but doctors actually dont know that 100 percent. And John, Jacks father, called the pediatrician, their longtime pediatrician, and said, what happened? I dont know what happened. And john mcmorrowHe laughed. And I said, why? Why? Why? How did this happen? What did he do? And he goes, I dont know. I said, you know my familys going to believe this was the power of prayer. And he goes, Ill go with that, because we dont know why. We dont know.pam belluckMy family is going to think that its a miracle. And the pediatrician says, well, that works for me because I dont really know either.michael barbaroAnd Pam, beyond the steroids and whether or not those worked, what did the doctors understand about what was going on here?pam belluckWell, theyre kind of mystified. I mean, theyve got this kid, and they know that he has a positive coronavirus test, but he doesnt have symptoms that kind of look like what theyve come to expect from coronavirus. And at the same time, just that very morning theyve had two or three other kids show up with the same symptoms, very similar symptoms. And those kids have tested negative for coronavirus. So they dont have a live coronavirus infection, but the doctors are wondering.And so they have another test in their toolkit. They have whats called an antibody test, which can tell you not whether you have the live infection right now, but it can tell you whether somebody has ever had coronavirus infection. And they think, lets just give these kids these other kids that test and see.And lo and behold, those kids end up being positive for coronavirus antibodies. And that means that all of these kids who are showing up with these mysterious symptoms that cannot be explained by anything else that doctors know have this one common denominator. They have all had coronavirus.michael barbaroPam, at this point, what do the doctors think that this is exactly? Because all of these kids have had coronavirus, but most of them dont still have it.pam belluckWhat they think is this may be a kind of second-stage effect of coronavirus that we didnt know was possible, that we didnt know was part of the way this virus worked. These kids didnt get the lung problems, the breathing problems, that kind of assault on the lungs that is the primary way that coronavirus works.And so what the doctors think is that at the time of their infection, their immune system did a really good job of just swatting the infection away, of battling it away thats why they didnt have any symptoms at the time. But that somehow in the course of that fight, their immune system got so revved up and so hyperactive that it generated this inflammatory response weeks later, and their bodies had this incredible overzealous reaction that went throughout their bodies and caused all sorts of havoc.michael barbaroSo this is not coronavirus for kids. Its some kind of later-down-the-line, affiliated set of horrible conditions that follows it.pam belluckExactly.michael barbaroI mean, what seems particularly scary about this is that theoretically any kid who has had the coronavirus and I have to imagine there are tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of these across the United States, people like Jack who probably showed no symptoms whatsoever from the original infection it now seems possible that they could develop these really awful new secondary symptoms.pam belluckThats exactly the risk here. Thats exactly the worry. We know that kids are just as likely to get infected as adults. They dont have any protection from infection. A whole lot of them end up showing no symptoms. And we wanted to think that that meant that they really werent getting that sick. But now we have this thing that shows up weeks later, and we dont have any idea who will end up with this inflammatory syndrome and when.michael barbaroI mean, what are the implications of that as we think about reopening schools, for example? I mean, one of the kind of saving graces, silver linings of this pandemic was that kids were supposed to be spared, and that understanding seems to have been the basis for plans to reopen schools. What does it mean that this second-stage set of symptoms is now starting to show up among children?pam belluckIt definitely puts a serious complication in those plans. Its something that governors, federal officials, they are already thinking about they are going to have to think about. Its not like you can test kids and say, OK, youre negative, or you have antibodies, youre going to be fine. Because you could have antibodies, and then you could end up with this. So it makes that issue much more tenuous and much more complicated, and I dont think anybody has a good answer for that right now.michael barbaroAnd Pam, how is Jack doing at this point?pam belluckHes doing OK. Hes home.jack mcmorrowAnd I came home to take the best shower Ive ever had in my entire life. Not even gassing it. It was like 30 minutes.doris stromanYou cant get him in, and then you cant get him out.jack mcmorrowNo, no, no. It was like doris stromanYou know. You have kids.jack mcmorrowIt was like 30 minutes, this one. And it felt fine, and then I was like, I got to stop running around because Im going to fall. Im going to get lightheaded and pass out. But completely ignoring my own self advice, just ran into my room, put on my headphones, talked to my friends, and I said, Im home! And they were all like, yeah!doris stromanAny time he runs around jack mcmorrowAnd it was the best.doris stroman and says Im alive, Im alive jack mcmorrowNo.doris stroman we go, Im a real boy!jack mcmorrowIm a real boy.doris stromanIm a real boy!jack mcmorrowNo, no, no, because I said that.doris stromanFrom Pinocchio.jack mcmorrowNo, because I was in the hospital, and I was like there are no strings on me because john mcmorrowBecause he did IVs pam belluckHe has some residual heart issues, but they think that his issues, because hes so young and otherwise healthy, that hell probably emerge from this with no real issues. They are going to be following him. Theyre going to be following these other kids, too, because this is still a mystery, and they dont really know whether its going to have any long-term effects.And since his case, since his successful treatment, doctors have been using the same playbook on other kids with his issue. So they think that the steroids were what helped him, and they are giving other kids steroids a lot earlier when they come into the hospital. So far, apparently the results have been pretty encouraging. They are writing up Jacks case, along with some of the other kids, in an article thats going to be published in a medical journal. Jack was very excited to learn about that. And he said to me jack mcmorrowIts been really good being back home, and I just want to do more with my life now, now that I have it back.pam belluckI really want to do something with my life, now that I have it back.jack mcmorrowIn any way that I can.pam belluckThat is awesome.jack mcmorrowYeah.pam belluckHe said this while holding his Captain America shield. So I thought [LAUGHTER]michael barbaroHe is, after all, a 14-year-old.pam belluckHe is, after all, a 14-year-old boy.jack mcmorrowI literally sent my biology teacher an email, saying thank you for educating me.pam belluckReally?john mcmorrowOh, that was the first thing he did.jack mcmorrowI can show you it if you want.john mcmorrowYes. You should actually pam belluckI would love to see it.john mcmorrow show it.doris stromanNo, no, not now. Not now. Let her have it so pam belluckYeah, why dont you email it to me.doris stromanIts long, so just let her read it when she gets a minute.pam belluck[READING JACKS EMAIL] OK, Ill try to make this email quick, because Im still in the hospital recovering. The complications of this virus have left me with pneumonia. And more serious than that, heart issues. A mild heart blockage, as explained by the doctors. This heart blockage is the main reason Im not at home recovering right now, but rather in a cardio-monitoring room.As hard as it is to keep up with all of this and understand many aspects of these complications, because of how little they know of Covid, I have to say, once it came around to them talking to me about my heart and my systems, Im confident that I was able to keep up with the conversation and understand what was wrong with me and what to do to keep fighting or rather, to keep my vitals in check.To summarize what Im trying to say and this is the honest truth I would like to thank you for educating me as you did and for providing me the educational support to understand my body when I need to most. Because based off of my knowledge on my heart and circulatory system, Im now able to work off of that knowledge and help myself understand the doctors and communicate to them.I dont want to drag this out, and I know I said that Id try to make this short, but I really do have to thank you for educating me enough to know what I needed to know. Im sorry for making this email so long, and I really feel bad for disturbing you on a Saturday night. But seriously, Im genuinely thanking you for educating me as you did, and I look forward to seeing you on Zoom or in class if we return this school year.I hope your family and yourself stay safe. Thank you.michael barbaroThats lovely.pam belluckIsnt that amazing?michael barbaroIs he back in school remotely?pam belluckHe is back. Jack is back in school remotely. Hes taking that biology class and hes seeing his friends. And he is he is being Jack.michael barbaroThank you, Pam. We really appreciate it.pam belluckThank you.[music]michael barbaroLast week, health officials gave Jacks condition a name: Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. So far, it has been found in about 200 children in the U.S. and Europe, and has killed several of them. Because the condition was just identified, its unclear how many cases have remained unreported. Well be right back.[music] Heres what else you need to know today.archived recording (andy beshear)Retail opened today. Big day, big step. And what we saw out there from everything that we could see is people trying really hard.michael barbaroOn Wednesday, two months after the pandemic began, all 50 states began reopening to varying degrees.archived recording (andy beshear)And thats important, because we have one shot at reopening the economy the right way.michael barbaroKentucky permitted retailers to let in customers. Connecticut allowed restaurants and malls to reopen with significant limits. And New York allowed religious gatherings of up to 10 people.archived recording (andrew cuomo)I understand their desire to get back to religious ceremonies as soon as possible. As a former altar boy, I get it. I think those religious ceremonies can be very comforting.michael barbaroBut there were signs on Wednesday that the reopenings would be slow and risky. Ford, which restarted its U.S. assembly lines earlier this week, said it would halt operations at plants in Illinois and Michigan after workers there tested positive for the virus.[music]Thats it for The Daily. Im Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.jack mcmorrowActually, Im trying to open my range and hang out more. Like, I want to fill my entire schedule. I dont want to ever be not doing something. Because I find myself I used to find myself oftentimes stuck in my own world, not letting anyone in.pam belluckYeah.jack mcmorrowYou know?pam belluckYeah.jack mcmorrowIm a very doors-closed type of guy. I need to go out and shoot my shot and do my thing and go out to parties and stuff.john mcmorrowFor what? What are you talking about?pam belluckI was asking jack mcmorrowAnd Im planning Im planning to do all that during the summer of quarantines, not in session. I have plans with friends, and we are going to go out and do stuff now. We are striving. Were going to go to the beach. Were going to go on vacation. Were going to go john mcmorrowRight now I have him back home. I dont know anything about his plans, but they will not be going overnight.pam belluck[LAUGHS]jack mcmorrowIts definitely not going to be overnight. Its going to be over a span of when this quarantine ends, me and my boys are going out.john mcmorrowWe go away a lot. We have a shore place.To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.When a sprinkling of a reddish rash appeared on Jack McMorrows hands in mid-April, his father figured the 14-year-old was overusing hand sanitizer not a bad thing during a global pandemic.When Jacks parents noticed that his eyes looked glossy, they attributed it to late nights of video games and TV.When he developed a stomachache and didnt want dinner, they thought it was because I ate too many cookies or whatever, said Jack, a ninth grader in Woodside, Queens, who loves Marvel Comics and has ambitions to teach himself Stairway to Heaven on the guitar.But over the next 10 days, Jack felt increasingly unwell. His parents consulted his pediatricians in video appointments and took him to a weekend urgent care clinic. Then, one morning, he awoke unable to move.He had a tennis-ball-size lymph node, raging fever, racing heartbeat and dangerously low blood pressure. Pain deluged his body in a throbbing, stinging rush, he said.You could feel it going through your veins and it was almost like someone injected you with straight-up fire, he said.Jack, who was previously healthy, was hospitalized with heart failure that day, in a stark example of the newly discovered severe inflammatory syndrome linked to the coronavirus that has already been identified in about 200 children in the United States and Europe and killed several.The condition, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are calling Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, has shaken widespread confidence that children were largely spared from the pandemic. Instead of targeting lungs as the primary coronavirus infection does, it causes inflammation throughout the body and can cripple the heart. It has been compared to a rare childhood inflammatory illness called Kawasaki disease, but doctors have learned that the new syndrome affects the heart differently and erupts mostly in school-age children, rather than infants and toddlers. The syndrome often appears weeks after infection in children who did not experience first-phase coronavirus symptoms.At a Senate hearing last week, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a leader of the governments coronavirus response, warned that because of the syndrome, weve got to be careful that we are not cavalier and thinking that children are completely immune to the deleterious effects.ImageCredit...Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesJacks recovery and the experience of other survivors are Rosetta stones for doctors, health officials and parents anxious to understand the mysterious condition.He could have definitely died, said Dr. Gheorghe Ganea, who, along with his wife, Dr. Camelia Ganea, has been Jacks primary doctor for years. When theres cardiovascular failure, other things can follow. Other organs can fail one after another, and survival becomes very difficult.New York State has reported three deaths and, as of Sunday, 137 cases were being investigated in the city alone. Last week, a C.D.C. alert urged doctors nationwide to report suspected cases.Everyone is doing everything they can to help look into this from all different angles just to get the answers that parents want, that we want, said Dr. Thomas Connors, a pediatric critical care physician who treated Jack at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Childrens Hospital.Neither Jack nor his parents, John McMorrow and Doris Stroman, know how he became infected with the coronavirus. After cleaning out his locker at Monsignor McClancy High School on March 18 to continue school online at home, he only left the apartment once, they said, to help his mother wash clothes in their high-rise buildings laundry room. His parents and 22-year-old sister also avoided going out and the tests they have had turned up negative. ImageCredit...Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesLast week, in their apartment festooned with welcome-home balloons, the family Jack wearing a blue bandanna as a mask, his mother in a mask with the Rolling Stones tongue logo on it recounted their story. His father, a recently laid-off truck driver for the film industry, briefly choked up and Jack bounded over to hug him.The week after his hand rash and stomachache, about a month after he had last set foot in school, Jack developed a 102-degree fever and a sore throat. Worried, his mother arranged a video visit with their pediatricians, who started him on an antibiotic for possible bacterial infection. For several days, he felt about the same, but then other symptoms rapidly emerged: swollen neck, nausea, dry cough, a metallic taste.On Saturday, April 25, his fever spiked to 104.7, his chest felt tight, and when he took deep breaths, it hurt down in the bottom, he said.ImageCredit...via McMorrow familyImageCredit...via McMorrow familyThat morning, Dr. Camelia Ganea video-conferenced with the family while still in her pajamas, discovering Jack could barely open his mouth. She prescribed steroids and suggested they visit an urgent care clinic. There, Jack was tested for the coronavirus, but it would be two days before results arrived.By Monday, pain was flowing through me like lightning, Jack said, and a rosy rash covered his feet.I was very very emotional, Jack said. He paused. Im using the word emotional to cover up the fact I was crying like a baby.Lying on the sofa, he could not move on his own and grasped for words to describe what was happening.Rooftop, he implored his parents, seeking a shorthand way to ask them to bend his leg like a peaked roof.I didnt know what I was trying to say, but I knew what I meant, he explained later.With a home monitor, they discovered his blood pressure was very low. Mr. McMorrow lifted him, placing Jacks feet on top of his own, and shuffled him to the car. At NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital, doctors gave Jack intravenous fluids and tried to diagnose his condition. He did not have the obvious respiratory distress of Covid-19. And then they got the results of his Saturday coronavirus test: negative.Suspecting he might have a condition like mononucleosis, they prepared to discharge him, thinking he could be safely watched at home with instructions to return if his blood pressure dropped again, his parents said.His mother was urging them to keep Jack longer when his eyes turned red with a raging case of pinkeye and rolled back in his head, she said. After a conversation with Jacks pediatrician, the hospital conducted its own coronavirus test. It was positive.The doctor decided Jack should be transferred to NewYork-Presbyterians pediatric affiliate, Morgan Stanley Childrens Hospital, which is treating many coronavirus cases. Jack begged to go home.The doctor responded bluntly, saying she knew that teenagers often think they are invincible.She told me if I go home now, by tomorrow, Ill be dead, Jack said. I would say that scared me to death, but it more scared me to life. It scared me to fight as hard as I could.ImageCredit...Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesJack arrived at the childrens hospital so feverish that his father was washing me down with ice-cold water and it only felt like a tingle, he said.His resting heart rate was 165 beats per minute, about twice as high as normal, as his heart struggled to compensate for his alarmingly low blood pressure, which was hampering its ability to circulate blood and supply his vital organs with oxygen and nutrients.This condition is a form of heart failure called cardiogenic shock, and Jacks was pretty severe, said Dr. Steven Kernie, chief of pediatric critical care medicine at the hospital and Columbia University. Over all, his heart wasnt working very well, he said. It wasnt pumping as strongly as normal.Doctors could not explain why Jacks heart function had suddenly become impaired. Its structure and rhythm were normal. But blood vessels throughout his body were inflamed, a condition called vasculitis, so the vessels muscles were not controlling blood flow as well as they should, Dr. Kernie said.Doctors also suspected that the heart was inflamed, known as myocarditis, which in untreated serious cases can cause lasting damage.Jacks condition was not only distressing, it reflected a frightening new pattern. I remember that morning having admitted multiple children with a similar syndrome, Dr. Connors said, and it was kind of like, Whats going on here?The inflammation seemed driven by a hyperactive immune response, and Jack received medication for bacterial infection until tests ruled that out. Whenever kids come in in shock you have to treat for everything, Dr. Kernie said.Jacks positive coronavirus test was a clue, but others with similar symptoms had negative diagnostic test results, Dr. Connors said. The doctors then decided to check the other children for evidence of the coronavirus with a different test, one for antibodies, which signal they had an earlier, no-longer-active infection. Most children ended up having either a positive diagnostic or antibody test result.By April 29, Jacks third day in the I.C.U., the blood pressure medication was not helping enough and doctors began planning to insert a central line through his groin to deliver additional medications. They also prepared to put Jack, who was receiving nasal oxygen, on a ventilator, something doctors deem necessary when your hearts not doing its job, Dr. Connors said. We didnt know which way this was going.The situation, especially the prospect of a ventilator, was terrifying to Mr. McMorrow, 51, who stayed in Jacks hospital room round-the-clock, and Ms. Stroman, 52, who was at home communicating by text and FaceTime because only one parent was allowed in the hospital.You had a cardiologist, a pulmonary specialist, infectious disease experts all throwing numbers and prescriptions to each other, and this is stuff thats French to me, Mr. McMorrow said.Jack mustered the energy to ask the doctors questions. I needed to know because how am I supposed to fight something I dont know Im fighting, he said.He concluded that his condition essentially boiled down to: Your coronary and pulmonary responses come back and bite you in the butt.But then doctors began giving Jack steroids, which can have anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant effects. At last, something seemed to work. Within hours, Jack needed less blood pressure medication. As the familys pediatrician, Dr. Ganea, who has training in infectious diseases and spoke to the hospital team, put it: Jack turned into a normal Jack.Doctors are not sure the steroids made the difference, but since then, they have administered them much earlier to children with the syndrome, with encouraging results, Dr. Kernie said.But Jack was not out of the woods even after moving to a regular hospital room. His heart rate was in the 30s, about half what it should be. The low heart rate might have been because of the steroids, doctors said, but they could not be sure, so they moved Jack to a unit with continual cardiac monitoring.Over the next week, Jack recovered. He emailed his biology teacher from his hospital bed: I would like to thank you for educating me as you did, and for providing me the educational support to understand my body when I need to most.His mother knew Jack was his old self when, on the phone, he asked to speak with his sister, quoting the familys favorite movie, Midnight Run: Is this moron No. 1? Put moron No. 2 on the phone.ImageCredit...Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesImageCredit...Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesOn May 7, 10 days after being hospitalized, Jack went home and traipsed around the apartment channeling Pinocchio: Im a boy! There are no strings on me!He will require follow-up cardiology appointments and will take steroids and blood thinners for a while. He may have some heart-valve tears and residual cardiac inflammation, but doctors expect those to heal on their own. Jack and his family have taken genetic tests as part of research into the syndrome, and he and other survivors will be followed as doctors strive to learn how to recognize and treat it.Pausing near a model of Darth Vaders castle on his desk, Jack said he once considered becoming an actor. He was even an extra on the TV show Gotham, playing a kidnapped orphan. But before getting sick, he was thinking about studying medicine. I was really into the heart, he said. Now, he is even more interested.I just want to do more with my life now that I have it back, he said, gesturing with his Captain America shield.

Health

More than 1 in 5 adult Covid survivors in the U.S. may develop long Covid, a C.D.C. study suggests.Researchers identified lasting health problems in many different organ systems, including the heart, lungs and kidneys.Credit...Joshua Bright for The New York TimesPublished May 24, 2022Updated May 26, 2022One in five adult Covid survivors under the age of 65 in the United States has experienced at least one health condition that could be considered long Covid, according to a large new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among patients 65 and older, the number is even higher: one in four.In an indication of how seriously the federal health agency views the problem of long Covid, the authors of the study members of the C.D.C.s Covid-19 Emergency Response Team recommended routine assessment for post-Covid conditions among persons who survive Covid-19.Long Covid is the term used to describe an array of symptoms that can last for months or longer after the initial coronavirus infection. The researchers identified post-Covid health problems in many different organ systems, including the heart, lungs and kidneys. Other issues involved blood circulation, the musculoskeletal system and the endocrine system; gastrointestinal conditions, neurological problems and psychiatric symptoms were also identified in the study.In both age groups, Covid patients had twice the risk of uninfected people of developing respiratory symptoms and lung problems, including pulmonary embolism, the study found. Post-Covid patients aged 65 and older were at greater risk than the younger group of developing kidney failure, neurological conditions and most mental health conditions.It is sobering to see the results of this study again confirming the breadth of organ dysfunction and the scale of the problem, said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at the V.A. St. Louis Health Care System and a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, who was not involved in the research.The study evaluated electronic medical records for nearly two million people comparing those who had been infected with the coronavirus with those who were not. The most common post-Covid conditions, regardless of age, were respiratory problems and musculoskeletal pain.The risk of post-Covid patients aged 65 and older developing the 26 health conditions the study evaluated was between 20 percent and 120 percent greater than people who didnt get Covid. Those aged 18 to 64 had a 10 percent to 110 percent greater risk than uninfected people of developing 22 of the health conditions. But in that age group, Covid survivors were no more likely than uninfected people to develop most mental health conditions, substance use disorders or strokes and similar cerebrovascular conditions.Dr. Al-Aly said the study results can potentially translate into millions of people with new diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, neurologic problems. These are lifelong conditions certainly manageable, but not curable conditions.The study analyzed records of 353,164 people who were diagnosed with Covid-19 in the first 18 months of the pandemic, beginning in March 2020. It compared them with the records of 1.64 million people who had a medical visit in the same month in which the Covid patients were diagnosed but did not become infected with the coronavirus during the study period, which ended on Oct. 31, 2021.People in both groups who had a history of one of the 26 health conditions in the previous year were excluded from the study an attempt by the researchers to consider medical issues that patients developed only after they had Covid.The study, which involved patients seen at health facilities that use a record system managed by Cerner Corp., a large medical data company, said the Covid patients included people admitted to hospitals, seen in emergency departments or diagnosed in an outpatient setting. The researchers did not indicate how many patients were in each group, one of several limitations of the studys findings.Between 30 days and 365 days after their coronavirus diagnosis, 38 percent of the patients experienced one or more new health problems, compared to 16 percent of the non-Covid patients, the study said. The younger age group, 18-to-64, was somewhat less likely to have those problems 35 percent developed long Covid issues, compared with 15 percent of uninfected people. In the 65-and-older group, 45 percent had new health conditions, compared with 19 percent of uninfected people.Based on those percentages, the study authors calculated that nearly 21 percent of the younger group and nearly 27 percent of the older group developed health problems that could be attributed to long Covid.The study did not look at the vaccination status of the patients and did not report characteristics like race, ethnicity, sex or geographic location. It also did not identify which coronavirus variants were linked to each case.The C.D.C. authors concluded that post-Covid conditions might affect a patients ability to contribute to the work force and might have economic consequences for survivors and their dependents. They added that care requirements might place a strain on health services in communities that experience heavy Covid-19 case surges.Dr. Al-Aly said he agreed that people who had Covid should be medically evaluated for potential new health problems.Now that we are in possession of knowledge that Covid-19 can lead to serious long-term consequences, he added, we need to develop additional tools to reduce the risk of long Covid.

Health

Credit...Jenna Schoenefeld for The New York TimesJune 8, 2018HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. California has dug in at the front lines of the resistance to President Trump, suing to overturn his environmental policies, passing legislation to hamstring his immigration enforcement and marching in mass demonstrations of defiance.Then there is Orange County, a stubborn redoubt of conservatism that keeps defying prognostications that 80 years of Republican dominance will come to an end.Democrats claimed gains in Tuesdays statewide primary, securing slots in the November election for three crucial House seats that represent Orange County.But Republicans also found some assurances. Their voters turned out in greater numbers. Republican House candidates, over all, garnered more votes than their Democratic counterparts, providing conservatives hope that the county will serve as a shore break to the blue wave many of them fear is coming in the general election.Conservative views, though fading, remain strong across this rectangle of Pacific beachfront and suburban sprawl southeast of Los Angeles.At least 10 Orange County cities have sided with the Trump administration in its fight with California over a law that forbids state and local law enforcement officials from cooperating with federal immigration agents in many deportation cases.The Orange County sheriff has flouted the state by posting the dates and times when inmates will be released, in effect creating a tip sheet for federal officials so they can more easily find undocumented immigrants they deem high-risk enough to deport.And in a show of solidarity that would be unthinkable in most other parts of the state, the county board of supervisors voted to join a Justice Department lawsuit against California and its so-called sanctuary laws.ImageCredit...Jenna Schoenefeld for The New York TimesMany Republicans in the county lack a passionate loyalty to Mr. Trump, even if they generally approve of his leadership. While they are satisfied with individual achievements like the tax cut, they say they could live without his histrionics and his constant use of social media.Yet they find themselves driven to defend the president because of what they see as an irrational and sometimes hysterical response from Democrats. As the response to the states immigration law has shown, many Orange County Republicans who are ambivalent about Mr. Trump believe that Democrats have crossed a line.Theres a very palpable sense that the left has overplayed their hand, said Lanhee Chen, a native of Southern California and a fellow at Stanfords Hoover Institution who, as a onetime adviser to Mitt Romney, the former presidential candidate, and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, is no Trump apologist.The sanctuary law debate, Mr. Chen said, along with the perception that places like San Francisco have become overrun with intractable problems like homelessness and housing affordability, are part of the broader critique of liberal governance having reached a tipping point.The vote to join the Justice Department suit, along with the spate of activity in city councils, suggest that Republicans are in the mood to make sure that the countys leadership doesnt end up like the state: entirely at the will of Democratic politicians.The undersheriff for Orange County, Don Barnes, said that Democrats were using localities like his as a social science experiment to work out their frustrations with the president.This is politics over public policy, he said.Mr. Barnes, a Republican who is running for sheriff, shared a story of his trip last fall to Sacramento to lobby against the sanctuary state law on the grounds that it would put arbitrary limits on the sheriffs office.He recalled one lawmaker telling him, I get it, and I agree with you. Then, Mr. Barnes said, the legislator explained why the law was going to pass anyway: We want to send a message to Trump.Democrats have been eyeing the county for years, betting that demographic shifts have made it far friendlier territory than when Ronald Reagan joked in 1984 it was the place where the good Republicans go before they die. It is definitely no longer that. In 2016, Hillary Clinton became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win it since the Great Depression.ImageCredit...Jenna Schoenefeld for The New York TimesCertainly the long-term prospects for Republicans in Orange County are challenging.No longer majority white it is 34 percent Hispanic and 20 percent Asian the county is full of potential voters that Democrats hope will be turned off by Mr. Trump.Orange Countys situation is, on one level, an example of how Mr. Trump inflames any issue he goes near and turns it into a referendum on his presidency, no matter how parochial.After the sheriff started publishing information about when inmates would be released, Mr. Trump praised the brave citizens who were defending themselves against illegal and unconstitutional state policies. He also hosted a group of officials from California last month at the White House who oppose the state law.The festering revolt on the question of sanctuary policies points to a broader dynamic that could shape elections across the country. To persuade voters to toss out Republican incumbents, many Democrats believe they need a more compelling reason than their hostility to the president.At some point, efforts to thwart the president risk becoming a smaller version of the debate over impeachment: It energizes the Democratic hard left but alienates many other voters.As Orange County shows, Democratic obstinacy can embolden Republicans. In Huntington Beach, a diverse town of upscale outdoor malls and million-dollar condos along the Pacific and, farther inland, middle-class neighborhoods of bungalow-style homes, the Republican-led city government is suing the state over the sanctuary law. Its lawsuit claims that the Legislature exceeded its authority by restricting what the city can and cannot do with its resources like law enforcement, which is now forbidden from communicating with federal authorities on immigration matters.The mayor, Mike Posey, says he is a fan of the president, but usually only wears his Make America Great Again gear around friends, not in public. After all, it is still California.Mr. Posey mentioned a familiar sentiment among Republicans in Orange County that is motivating them to push back against the Democrats: The sense that no one in state government has taken them seriously.We have a Democrat supermajority, he said. They dont even need to talk to Republicans anymore.South of Huntington Beach and a few miles inland, the Aliso Viejo City Council lodged its protest by voting to join an amicus brief in support of the Justice Department suit against California in the sanctuary law fight. The mayor, Dave Harrington, proudly introduced himself at a recent Tea Party forum as mayor of the anti-sanctuary city, Aliso Viejo, a classification that won him applause.ImageCredit...Jenna Schoenefeld for The New York TimesThe mostly white and older crowd, which arrived decked out in various American flag-themed fashions for Memorial Day, nodded in solidarity when Mr. Harrington told them that Democrats want us out of power completely and in every way.Were not at the table anymore, Mr. Harrington added, were on the menu.Aliso Viejo is one of several Orange County cities that have joined an amicus brief drafted by lawyers for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, an arm of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which wants to sharply reduce immigration. Other cities include Fountain Valley, Mission Viejo and Yorba Linda.Los Alamitos in northern Orange County, right on the Los Angeles County line, has gone a step further and voted to opt out of the law. Whether it can do that is a matter of legal dispute. The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the city, prompting the mayor to start a fund-raising drive online. So far the drive has raised about $26,000.The mayor, Troy Edgar, said he supported the president, but was quick to add, I dont play that up where I live. He was one of the local officials invited to the White House to discuss immigration policy.Mr. Edgars concern is not primarily immigration, but the blunt use of political power by a majority party. This is about checks and balances between state and local agencies, he said.Some of the cities that are part of the revolt are far whiter than the rest of the county, like Newport Beach (80 percent white) and Mission Viejo (67 percent). Critics of the sanctuary law backlash also point out that many of the cities are rather small.Los Alamitos has a population of about 12,000. Aliso Viejo has just over 51,000. The countys second-largest city, Santa Ana, went in the opposite direction and voted to file an amicus brief in support of the state in its dispute with the Justice Department.Sameer Ahmed, a lawyer with the A.C.L.U. of Southern California, said the anti-sanctuary movement was completely out of touch with the present Orange County and the future of Orange County.At the Tea Party forum in Huntington Beach last week, Eva Weisz, a Hungarian immigrant who came to the country 45 years ago, blamed the radical Democratic Party in Sacramento. They want to take absolute control, she said, wearing a red cap that had Make California Great Again stitched on it.We are fighting back, Ms. Weisz said, insisting that Orange Countys resistance was not the last gasp of a withering political movement.

Politics

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/06/sports/ncaabasketball/st-louis-sets-a-record.htmlSports Briefing | College BasketballFeb. 6, 2014Rob Loe scored 17 points and Jordair Jett had 10 points and 7 assists to help No. 13 St. Louis top host St. Josephs, 65-49, in Philadelphia for a team-record 15th straight victory. The Billikens (21-2, 8-0 Atlantic 10) surpassed 14-game winning streaks set in the 1958-59 and 1993-94 seasons. The Billikens last lost on Dec. 1 to Wichita State, 70-65. Malcolm Brogdon had 17 points, a career-best 11 rebounds and 7 assists as No. 20 Virginia used two big first-half runs to take command and beat visiting Boston College, 77-67. Anthony Gill and Justin Anderson added 13 points each for the Cavaliers (18-5, 9-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who have won six straight games.

Sports

Credit...Ahmad Yusni/European Pressphoto AgencyMarch 9, 2017BANGKOK Two Malaysian workers with the United Nations World Food Program were allowed to leave North Korea on Thursday, two days after the unpredictable Pyongyang government barred all Malaysians from leaving the country.With their departure, nine Malaysian embassy workers and family members remain in North Korea as the countries wrangle over the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the half brother of North Koreas ruler, who was killed last month in Malaysias largest airport.Prime Minister Najib Razak said that those nine remained safe and were continuing with their daily routines. The two countries will negotiate privately to end their diplomatic standoff over the killing, he said.Our strong focus on resolving this issue will not change, he said in a statement. I pledge that the government will do everything possible to ensure that our citizens continue to be safe and will be able to return to Malaysia.Mr. Kim was killed Feb. 13, when two women, one Indonesian and one Vietnamese, smeared toxic liquid on his face, the police say. The women have been arrested and charged with murder. An autopsy found that Mr. Kim was poisoned with VX nerve agent, a banned chemical weapon. The Malaysian police are seeking seven North Koreans, including a diplomat assigned to the embassy.North Korea, accusing Malaysia of collaborating with its enemies, has challenged the police findings and suggested that Mr. Kim, 46, died of heart failure. The countries have expelled each others ambassadors and barred each others citizens from leaving. There are about 1,000 North Koreans in Malaysia.Yiwen Zhang, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program in Beijing, said the two Malaysian workers arrived at the citys airport safely on Thursday. She would not discuss details of their detention but pointed out that they had been working in North Korea as international representatives, not for Malaysias government, and should not be bound by the Norths travel restrictions.The staff members are international civil servants and not representatives of their national government, she said.In a Twitter post, Mr. Najib welcomed their release and identified them as Stella Lim and Nyanaprakash Muniandy.Mr. Najib said in his statement that Malaysia would not sever diplomatic relations with North Korea, saying that the countries should continue to communicate directly.This is a sensitive issue, he said. Therefore, the government has decided that all negotiations and discussions will be conducted behind closed doors.He suggested that Malaysian officials were uncertain about what North Korea was hoping to accomplish by insulting Malaysia, criticizing its police investigation and detaining its citizens.As of now, I can only disclose that the government is in the process of establishing the reasons and motives behind the actions of North Korea, he said.Until Monday, Malaysia had allowed North Koreans to enter the country without a visa. For now, Mr. Najib said, Malaysia will continue to ban North Koreans from leaving.We will not relent from our firm approach, he said.Under the Vienna Convention of 1961, which governs the conduct of diplomatic relations, a host country cannot detain a foreign diplomat. Both Malaysia and North Korea are signatories to the pact. In 1979, in one of the most egregious violations of the convention, a group of Iranian students seized 52 Americans, most of them diplomats, at the Tehran embassy and held them for 444 days.

World

Europe|Marseille Buildings Collapse, and Rescuers Comb Ruinshttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/world/europe/marseille-building-collapse.htmlCredit...Claude Paris/Associated PressNov. 5, 2018MARSEILLE, France Two buildings collapsed into a pile of rubble and beams on Monday in Marseille, and the authorities said they were in a race against the clock to find anyone who might be trapped in the ruins.The buildings one condemned, the other inhabited gave way sometime after 9 a.m. In the spot where they had stood, a large gap appeared as the dust and debris settled.The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said Monday evening that it was unknown if anyone had been killed or trapped. But two people who were on the street when the buildings collapsed were treated for slight injuries, the Marseille fire services said.After the collapse, fire officials deliberately brought down most of a third building out of concern that the unstable structure might topple onto search crews and dogs sent in to comb the rubble of the other buildings.The authorities said one building had been condemned as substandard and was supposed to be unoccupied, but the other had apartments.The French housing minister, Julien Denormandie, was at the scene and said he could not rule out the possibility that people were trapped."Its a race against the clock, Mr. Denormandie said. The urgent task is to determine whether there are people we can save."Old images of the buildings, near Marseilles Old Port, showed that one had five floors and the other six. One of the buildings was clearly in poor repair, with boarded-up windows and large visible cracks on the facade.One local official, Sabine Bernasconi, said one of the buildings had been subject to an evacuation order, but she could not say for sure whether squatters might have been using it.Neighbors said they feared there were people inside the other building when it crashed down, Agence France-Presse reported.There was a Comorian lady every morning she took her two children to school and she got back just before the explosion, said Nacer Sellani, manager of a shop across the street.Djaffar Nour, who was grocery shopping down the street, said the collapse was a matter of seconds.

World

Health|New Zika Notice Says Higher-Altitude Areas Can Be Safe for Pregnant Womenhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/health/new-zika-notice-says-higher-altitude-areas-can-be-safe-for-pregnant-women.htmlMarch 14, 2016Federal health officials last week modified their travel notices related to the Zika virus to say that pregnant women can safely travel to areas at altitudes above 6,500 feet.The mosquitoes that transmit the virus are not normally found at high altitudes, and some important tourist and business destinations in Latin America, including, for example, Mexico City and Bogot, Colombia, are high above sea level and can safely be visited, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.In January, when the agency first issued travel advisories, it applied them to entire countries. Some countries, including Mexico, objected that some of their important cities were mosquito-free. Early last week, the World Health Organization suggested pregnant women avoid areas with Zika transmission, letting individual countries define which areas were risky.The C.D.C. also advises pregnant women to guard against mosquito bites if they do visit areas with Zika transmission and to avoid sex during their pregnancies with men who have traveled to such areas or to use condoms.

Health

DealBook|Against the Odds, Qihoo Gets Its Buyouthttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/19/business/dealbook/against-the-odds-qihoo-gets-its-buyout.htmlBreakingviewsDec. 18, 2015Qihoo 360 finally got its $9.3 billion buyout, against the odds.The biggest take-private of a Chinese company listed in the United States has been finalized despite financing challenges. Tapping retail investors may have helped raise the new equity needed. But others considering similar buyouts may find the journey harder.After a year of stock market volatility in China, raising the funds to take Qihoo, an antivirus and search group, private was no mean feat. Even after securing $3.4 billion in debt to fund the deal, the investor group led by its chief executive, Zhou Hongyi, still had to raise $5.9 billion in new equity.In June, when the management buyout offer was first announced, mainland stocks were hitting seven-year highs. Sourcing billions in funds to take foreign-listed companies private, with the idea of relisting them on Chinas own stock market, seemed much more straightforward. Since then, the Shanghai benchmark index has fallen 30 percent and regulators have only just loosened a ban on new listings.Mr. Zhou and his consortium, which includes Ping An Insurance and Sequoia Capital China, probably got much-needed help from Chinas retail investors. Wealth management products linked to Qihoos privatization were being advertised on the countrys most popular chat app. One, reviewed by Reuters Breakingviews, offered prospective investors returns of up to five times.For the two dozen or so United States-listed companies that have announced take-private plans, repeating Qihoos financing feat may not be as simple. Although a big deal, its also a big name, and it has the scale to attract investors even when the market is weak. As for the 20-plus peers waiting to follow Qihoo back home, they may not have the heft to defy such odds.

Business

Politics|Betsy DeVos, education secretary, is the second cabinet member to resign.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/us/politics/betsy-devos-resigns.htmlCredit...Nicholas Kamm/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesJan. 7, 2021Education Secretary Betsy DeVos submitted her resignation in a letter to President Trump on Thursday, saying she would step down the next day over the rampage at the Capitol by his supporters.Ms. DeVos joins a growing exodus of administration officials in the final days of the Trump administration. She is the second cabinet-level official to step down; Elaine Chao, the transportation secretary, also resigned on Thursday.We should be highlighting and celebrating your administrations many accomplishments on behalf of the American people, Ms. DeVos wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The New York Times. Instead, we are left to clean up the mess caused by violent protesters overrunning the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to undermine the peoples business.That behavior was unconscionable for our country, she added. There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me.Ms. DeVos was one of the first cabinet secretaries to condemn the violent mob on Capitol Hill.The peaceful transfer of power is what separates American representative democracy from banana republics, Ms. DeVos said in a statement posted to Twitter on Wednesday evening, hours after the storming of the Capitol. The work of the people must go on.Ms. DeVos was one of the most effective, polarizing and longest-serving Cabinet members in the Trump administration. She was seen as fiercely loyal to the president, at least publicly.In her resignation letter, Ms. DeVos praised President Trump for championing her school choice agenda, in which she sought to bolster voucher programs that allow students to seek alternatives to public schools. She also saluted one aspect of his coronavirus response, saying that she believed history will show we were correct in our repeated urging of and support for schools reopening this year. But it was loyalty to her constitutional oath, Ms. DeVos said, that had prompted her to resign. Impressionable children are watching all of this, and they are learning from us, she said. They must know from us that America is greater than what transpired yesterday. Ms. DeVoss resignation drew cheers from her opponents, particularly teachers unions and groups that had forcefully opposed her rollbacks of civil rights protections for children of color and transgender students.Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, issued a two-word statement: Good Riddance. But other critics praised her for protesting the presidents actions. This doesnt make up for all of her bad decisions, and the harm she has done to education reform, but still, she deserves kudos for this one, tweeted Michael J. Petrilli, the president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative research organization.

Politics

Olympics|In Moscow, Russians Protest Disallowed Hockey Goalhttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/18/sports/olympics/russians-protest-disallowed-hockey-goal-at-us-embassy-in-moscow.htmlCredit...Voroshirin Dmitriy/Young Guards of United Russia, via Associated PressFeb. 17, 2014MOSCOW It was the biggest demonstration so far concerning the Sochi Olympics, and it had nothing to do with gay rights, environmental damage or corruption.Dozens of Russian fans gathered Monday at the Moscow State Agroengineering University, some brandishing hockey sticks, to protest a disallowed goal scored by the Russian team in Saturdays Olympic hockey match against the United States in Sochi, a decision that they felt cost them the game against their Cold War rivals.A crowd of mainly students erected a large banner in front of the building reading, Turn the referee into soap!, a common Russian chant at sporting events, implying the referee is fit only to have his bones and body fat boiled down for soap.The object of their admittedly good-natured ire was Brad Meier, the American referee who overturned a goal late in the third period that could have meant a victory for the Russians in the close-fought game, which the United States went on to win, 3-2, in a shootout.Many Russians, including the teams coach, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, accused Meier afterward of making a mistake in disqualifying the shot from Fedor Tyutin, although the International Ice Hockey Federation has backed the referees decision.To emphasize their point, some demonstrators used kitchen graters to turn blocks of soap into powder, a video report from a pro-Kremlin news site, Life News, showed.Its a shame its not American soap, a young man in a jersey of the Russian national team told the Life News reporter, then laughed.Despite the many controversies concerning the Sochi Olympics, the hockey demonstration was the largest protest action since the Games began, attracting almost twice the number of demonstrators as a protest held over the weekend in Moscow that criticized the cost of the Games and supported gay rights.

Sports

TrilobitesCredit...Christina ZdenekJune 28, 2017Whales and songbirds produce sounds resembling human music, and chimpanzees and crows use tools. But only one nonhuman animal is known to marry these two skills.Palm cockatoos from northern Australia modify sticks and pods and use them to drum regular rhythms, according to new research published in Science Advances on Wednesday. In most cases, males drop beats in the presence of females, suggesting they perform the skill to show off to mates. The birds even have their own signature cadences, not unlike human musicians.VideoA male palm cockatoo drumming with a seedpod.This example is the closest we have so far to musical instrument use and rhythm in humans, said Robert Heinsohn, a professor of evolutionary and conservation biology at the Australian National University and an author of the paper.A palm cockatoo drumming performance starts with instrument fashioning an opportunity to show off beak strength and cleverness (the birds are incredibly intelligent). Often, as a female is watching, a male will ostentatiously break a hefty stick off a tree and trim it to about the length of a pencil.Holding the stick, or occasionally a hard seedpod, with his left foot (parrots are typically left-footed), the male taps a beat on his tree perch. Occasionally he mixes in a whistle or other sounds from an impressive repertoire of around 20 syllables. As he grows more aroused, the crest feathers on his head become erect. Spreading his wings, he pirouettes and bobs his head deeply, like an expressive pianist. He uncovers his red cheek patches the only swaths of color on his otherwise black body and they fill with blood, brightening like a blush.Over seven years, Dr. Heinsohn and his collaborators collected audio and video recordings of 18 male palm cockatoos exhibiting such behaviors in Australias Cape York Peninsula, where the birds are considered vulnerable because of aluminum ore mining.ImageCredit...Christina ZdenekThough palm cockatoos also live in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, they have been observed drumming only in Cape York Peninsula, which suggests the habit is cultural.Presumably some bright spark of a male stumbled across this behavior, females found it pleasing and it took off in the population, Dr. Heinsohn said.Because they are shy, palm cockatoos are difficult to study. Trekking to the rain forests edge, the researchers looked for palm cockatoos in hollow eucalyptus trees. They managed to catch a drumming event about once every 100 hours, said Christina Zdenek, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Queensland who led the fieldwork for the study.Analyzing 131 drumming sequences, the scientists found that the birds produced regular, predictable rhythms, rather than random thumps. Individual males differed significantly in percussive styles. One that the researchers named Ringo Starr (there was also a Phil Collins) liked to start with a rapid flourish, then settle into a consistent beat, occasionally going on for as long as 14 minutes.VideoDifferent male palm cockatoos exhibited unique percussive styles, like one researchers named for the drummer of the Beatles.Nearly 70 percent of the time, males drummed with a female present. Palm cockatoos are mostly monogamous, but males have to keep proving themselves to choosy females on average, palm cockatoo pairs successfully fledge a chick only once every decade, so the stakes are high.The researchers dont yet know whether females prefer certain rhythms over others. But if a male is delivering an effective performance, the female comes over and mirrors his movements. The birds sway together and gently preen each others feathers, an act of pair-bonding that helps them prepare for breeding.The findings make Dr. Heinsohn wonder whether human rhythm also originated as a courtship display. Maybe thats how it got started, and later on it evolved into our love for group-based dancing and music, he said.Other researchers arent convinced. I dont know if its such a direct comparison, said Michelle Spierings, a postdoctoral researcher who studies music perception in animals. There are many other hypotheses about the origin of human rhythm.Nevertheless, if scientists manage to identify and study other species that drum, the answer may loom closer, Dr. Spierings believes.This is a great first example, she said.

science

The Great ReadAround the country, the setting for adolescent mental health care looks ever more like this doctors office in Kentucky, the next patient arriving every 15 minutes.Dr. Melissa Dennison, a pediatrician in Glasgow, Ky. If Ive got this child and theyre cutting and saying theyre going to kill themselves, Ill say, Well, Ill see them today, she said. If I call a child psychiatrist, they say, Ill see them in a month.Credit...May 10, 2022GLASGOW, Ky. One crisp Monday morning in January, Dr. Melissa Dennison sat in a small, windowless exam room with a 14-year-old girl and her mother. Omicron was ripping through Kentucky, and the girl was among three dozen young patients two of them positive for the coronavirus that the pediatrician would see that day.But this girl was part of a different epidemic, one that has gripped the community and nation since long before Covid: She and her mother had come to discuss the girls declining mental health.The girl had dark hair and wore jeans and a T-shirt bearing the words Purple Rain. She was depressed, she told Dr. Dennison, and had been cutting her arm to relieve her emotional pain. Dr. Dennison suggested therapy, but the girl said she would not go.After the exam, Dr. Dennison stood in the hallway and described the case. You need to get off the phone and the computer, she had told the girl. When its pretty outside like this, put on a bunch of clothes and go for a walk.Dr. Dennison prescribed the antidepressant Zoloft, although she wasnt sure the girl was clinically depressed.Id rather they see a psychiatrist, she said. But if Ive got this child and theyre cutting and saying theyre going to kill themselves, Ill say, Well, Ill see them today. If I call a child psychiatrist, they say, Ill see them in a month.Over the last three decades, the major health risks facing U.S. adolescents have shifted drastically: Teen pregnancy and alcohol, cigarette and drug use have fallen while anxiety, depression, suicide and self-harm have soared. In 2019, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a report noting that mental health disorders have surpassed physical conditions as the most common issues causing impairment and limitation among adolescents. In December, the U.S. Surgeon General, in a rare public advisory, warned of a devastating mental health crisis among American teens.But the medical system has failed to keep up, and the transformation has increasingly put emergency rooms and pediatricians at the forefront of mental health care. Community doctors now routinely deal with complex psychiatric issues, making tough diagnoses after brief visits and prescribing powerful psychiatric medications for lack of better alternatives. Pediatricians need to take on a larger role in addressing mental health problems, the 2019 A.A.P. report concluded. Yet, the majority of pediatricians do not feel prepared to do so.Dr. Cori M. Green, a co-author of that report and a pediatrician at Weill Cornell Medicine, said medical training lagged behind. We need to overhaul the whole system, she said. We need to see mental health through a prevention lens and stop seeing physical health as different than mental health.ImageIn Glasgow, Ky., as elsewhere, there are counselors in the schools and therapists in town, including four at Dr. Dennisons clinic. But they are often booked months out. Psychiatrists are scarce, here and nationwide. Seventy percent of counties in the United States lack a psychiatrist specializing in children or adolescents and the psychiatrists who can be found are concentrated in wealthier areas, with many accepting only private payments.Theres a need and nowhere else to go, Dr. David Lohr, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the University of Louisville, said of the growing role of primary-care doctors in mental health.Dr. Dennison, 62, has adapted. Two decades ago, she routinely prescribed antibiotics and saw patients with strep throat, earaches and wheezing, she said. And no one heard of A.D.H.D., she said, referring to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. She estimated that, back then, 1 percent of her cases related to mental and behavioral health; now at least 50 percent do.The causes of this crisis are not fully understood. Experts point to many possible factors. Lifestyle changes have led to declines in sleep, physical activity and other healthful activities among adolescents. This generation professes to feeling particularly lonely, a major factor in depression and suicide. Social media is often blamed for these changes, but there is a shortage of data establishing it firmly as a cause.In Glasgow, a town of 14,000, the challenges are intensified by high rates of drug addiction and poverty and their effect on families.But the stigma around mental health issues, at least, has eased. Around the country, sites for mental health care look ever more like Glasgow Pediatric Associates: a bright hallway decorated with colorful images of animals, seats filled with adolescent patients, one entering Dr. Dennisons office every 15 minutes.Scars and medicationDr. Dennisons first patient the next morning was a 12-year-old girl in a black sweatshirt and ripped jeans who had arrived with her aunt. (The aunt and girl allowed a reporter into the exam room but asked that their names not be used, to protect their privacy.)Dr. Dennison took her usual spot behind a computer on a stand that she wheeled from room to room. She wore an orange blouse and black pants with tiger-print stripes. I like to dress up when I have the energy, she said.She began as a pediatrician in Glasgow in 1990, after completing medical school at the University of Louisville (her parents had preferred that she become a nurse) and a pediatric residency in Texas. Her practice today includes the children of patients whom she treated in Glasgow two decades ago.The girl in her office had first come to Dr. Dennison as a newborn. The parents were heavy users of various drugs, and at 6 months the girl was taken in by her grandmother and step-grandfather. At 7 years old, she was having trouble focusing in school, and Dr. Dennison prescribed Adderall for A.D.H.D.When the girl was 9, it emerged that her step-grandfather had raped her. (The man is in prison in Kentucky, serving a 10-year sentence after being convicted in 2019 for sexual abuse of the girl.) The girl was transferred to the custody of the aunt.At the time, Dr. Dennison prescribed Zoloft for depression. The girl took it for a brief period but worried about side effects and asked to stop. When the girl was 11, Dr. Dennison gave her a prescription for Trazodone to help with sleep.Late in 2021, the girl was expressing wild outbursts at home and repeatedly getting into trouble at school, the aunt recalled: I was getting a call once a week from the school. Dr. Dennison put her back on Zoloft.At the start of the recent visit, Dr. Dennison asked: You think the Zoloft is helping?Its hard to say, the aunt replied. We had another incident over Christmas break. She started cutting herself. She turned to the girl: Show her. She turned back to the doctor: They were bad, really bad.The girl pulled up her left sleeve to show Dr. Dennison eight scars, still red and tender, on her wrist. I thought it would take the stress away, the girl said. But it made everything 100 times worse.Dr. Dennison examined the scars. Youve got to help yourself right, Ding-Dong? she said. Youre such a cute girl. You have so much going for you. I wish we could make you see that.Dr. Dennison suggested switching the antidepressant to Prozac. One key aspect of her job that has changed is the availability of powerful prescription medications to address a range of mental health issues.Over two days, Dr. Dennison had 66 appointments, 20 of them related to mental and behavioral health. She dealt with patients taking a range of drugs, many of which she had prescribed and some of which were combined. The drugs included Abilify for mood disorders; Zoloft, Trazodone and Clonidine for sleep issues; Ritalin, Adderall, Qelbree and Vyvanse for A.D.H.D.; and Remeron for major depressive disorder.The growing use of psychiatric medications in youth is one metric of the adolescent mental health crisis. From 2015 to 2019, prescriptions for antidepressants rose 38 percent for teenagers compared with 15 percent for adults, according to Express Scripts, a major mail-order pharmacy.Some health experts have expressed alarm that, nationwide, major psychiatric drugs are so widely prescribed to children and adolescents even though many of these medications have not been studied for their combined or long-term effects. They also worry that some antidepressants have been shown to increase the risk of suicide among children and adolescents. Prozac carries a black box warning of such risks.Dr. Dennison conceded that prescribing so many drugs was not ideal. I dont want to do it, she conceded. I do a lot of medication, but there is no place for these people to go.She added, You want to do something, I guess, you know? Like the girl with Zoloft the 14-year-old who had come to her office in January. I said, This isnt going to fix you, maybe itll help you. If it takes a month to get into your system, see if it makes you feel better, makes your mood better, makes you happier. But you need to do other things to make you happier, too.Changing times, changing practiceIn May 2001, one of Glasgows biggest employers, R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company, announced a major expansion. The company, a printer of magazines, bibles and other materials, would add manufacturing space and another 100 employees to its staff of 1,100.But the rise of the internet spelled the decline of paper, and the plant closed for good in 2020; most other managerial and skilled manufacturing jobs had long since fled Glasgow.Dr. Dennison and her husband, a radiologist, raised three children in the town and watched the local economy evaporate. Today, Glasgow has a poverty rate of 27 percent and a median household income of $28,000, according to 24/7 Wall Street, a data company that in 2020 ranked Glasgow the poorest town in Kentucky.A handful of the businesses are shuttered in the aging downtown square, with the county seat, a red-brick Colonial-style building, in the middle. American flags hang outside other retailers and on light poles. Just a few blocks away, residents say, opiates and methamphetamine are easily acquired in the streets amid the single-story and ranch-style houses.Dr. Dennisons life changed, too. She grew up in nearby Scottsville, on a tobacco farm, where she developed strong beliefs about self-reliance and determination. Then, in 2017, she got divorced and grappled with bouts of anxiety. She took the antidepressant Wellbutrin, saw a counselor and prayed a lot, she said.I used to be a self-righteous little jerk, she said. I used to pooh-pooh all that anxiety stuff and think you can get through this. And then I went through the divorce.Around this time, she noticed a change in the health issues confronting her patients.She decided to shift the emphasis of her practice and spread word that she was available to help with issues like A.D.H.D., autism, depression and anxiety. That meant retraining herself, learning online through continuing-education courses. In 2018, she attended a conference focused on child and adolescent psychiatry in New York City.I picked up a lot, she said. She recalled asking psychiatrists about drugs not approved for use in children, like stimulants for A.D.H.D. One said, Dexedrine is approved for use down to 4 years of age. He was right. It was stuff like that.She noted that her current cases were rarely as clear-cut as the old ones. The easiest thing to treat is an abscess, she said. You pop it open, give antibiotics and they get better. With mental health cases, were not resolving, she said. Its like the old song: Youre putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound.Dr. Dennison provides advice in addition to medication. She readily shares with families her opinions about the need for their children to put down their devices, exercise and spend time outdoors.They have too much screen time, theyre not sleeping, on phones all the time, she said. Parents lack the will to make their children disconnect. Poverty, obesity and puberty, which is arriving earlier for many children, are factors, too, she said: Its hard to have the body of a 15-year-old and the mind of a 12-year-old.She noted the decline in local church attendance, and she regularly tells patients to get their God-walk right or it doesnt do a bit of good, she said. Thats free of charge.Courtney Benefield, a counselor for ninth and 10th graders at the high school, has a 6-year-old son who sees Dr. Dennison for his A.D.H.D. and anxiety. Shes going to tell you exactly how it is, Ms. Benefield said of the pediatrician. The family had discussed finding a psychiatrist for her son, Ms. Benefield added, but there wasnt one available.She said that her experience with her son helped her support the students she counseled at school: Theyre on all the same medicine my son is on. I tell them, Youve got a good home and parents who love you. But a mental health problem can strike anyone, she tells them: It doesnt discriminate.Looking for healthy outletsOther adults who work with adolescents in Glasgow have theories about why this generation is burdened with mental health issues. Mallie Boston, who grew up in town and is now the executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Glasgow-Barren County, said that todays teens were less physically active and spent less time just hanging out.If you come to Glasgow right now, Ms. Boston said, the options for what you can do are the movie theater, which is identical to when I was a child, or you have Ralphies, the bowling alley. A lot of time now is spent online, she said. TikTok is such dopamine fuel, she said. I worry it is their dopamine.At the Boys & Girls Club, she tries to encourage young people to be more physically engaged and expressive. I try to get them to play dodgeball, she said. If I can get them to be aggressive, maybe I can get to the root cause of whats happened to them.The club is in a building a couple of miles from Dr. Dennisons office; on a weekday afternoon, a couple hundred children and adolescents come to play basketball and volleyball or to hang out. Many are from families that are struggling economically; a few said that they didnt see a doctor at all.My mom refuses to take me to one, one 15-year-old girl said. She says theres nothing wrong with me. She and more than a dozen other adolescents from the club agreed to share their thoughts about mental health on the condition that their names not be published, to protect their privacy.Some described struggling with anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts or self-harm. The girl said that she sometimes cut herself with the blade from a pencil sharpener to counter her anxiety and sadness.It releases the pain, she said. She described a recent incident: I wanted to cut more and let myself bleed out, but I talked to my friends and they said theyd be mad at me.Like many in the group, she said she stayed up late on her phone and slept only a few hours each night. Another girl, 12, was often up until 1 or 2 a.m. looking at TikTok and Snapchat. Im overwhelmed a lot, by school, she said. A third girl, 13, described the previous night: I took a melatonin at 3 oclock and fell asleep at 3:15.Recent research found that teens with poor sleep habits were more likely to have mental health problems during the pandemic. And in general, adolescents have been getting less sleep, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: 25.4 percent of high school students got at least eight hours of sleep a night in 2017, down from 31.1 percent in 2007.Katrina Ayres, the mental health coordinator for the local school district, pointed to another change: Students were deeply focused on themselves, selfie-obsessed, which led them to think everybody is looking at me, she said. Were raising a generation that is very me focused.Ms. Ayres joined the school district in 2020 with support from a federal grant and other funds. Under a new program, the schools have surveyed students, and those who are found to be at risk receive counseling, regular check-ins from a teacher or referrals for treatment. As part of a separate program, some of the students distributed food to needy families at Thanksgiving and Christmas.They need to see theyre part of a bigger picture, Ms. Ayres said.The girl who wasnt thereAt 11 a.m. on that Tuesday, Dr. Dennison had scheduled a telehealth visit with a 13-year-old girl who may be the most depressed kid I have, she said.The girl first began seeing Dr. Dennison, along with a dietitian in the office, in 2020, for weight issues, but she grew increasingly anxious. In August of 2021, Dr. Dennison prescribed Prozac and referred her to a behavioral therapist who also works out of the pediatric offices. In November, the girl had refused to come to the phone for a telehealth visit.At the appointment, the mother revealed that her daughter had not been to school in months and that the nearest inpatient psychiatric hospital, Rivendell Behavioral Health Hospital, 35 miles away in Bowling Green, did not have an opening.The mother was begging me for inpatient services, Dr. Dennison recalled. She could not get her daughter out of her bedroom. She could not get her to go to school.Dr. Dennison called the hospital herself and, by her account, was told that the mother had reported that her daughter was not suicidal. Dr. Dennison replied, Were about to lose her if we dont do something.As the 11 a.m. appointment approached, Dr. Dennison stood in the hallway, waiting for the girl to check in online. The hour came and went. They didnt show up, Dr. Dennison said with a sigh. Her office tried calling the mother but got no answer.Im going to have to follow up with that one, Dr. Dennison said. Whatever were doing isnt working. How Matt Richtel spoke to adolescents and their parents for this series In mid-April, I was speaking to the mother of a suicidal teenager whose struggles Ive been closely following. I asked how her daughter was doing. Not well, the mother said: If we cant find something drastic to help this kid, this kid will not be here long term. She started to cry. Its out of our hands, its out of our control, she said. Were trying everything. She added: Its like waiting for the end. Over nearly 18 months of reporting, I got to know many adolescents and their families and interviewed dozens of doctors, therapists and experts in the science of adolescence. I heard wrenching stories of pain and uncertainty. From the outset, my editors and I discussed how best to handle the identities of people in crisis. The Times sets a high bar for granting sources anonymity; our stylebook calls it a last resort for situations where important information cant be published any other way. Often, the sources might face a threat to their career or even their safety, whether from a vindictive boss or a hostile government. In this case, the need for anonymity had a different imperative: to protect the privacy of young, vulnerable adolescents. They have harmed themselves and attempted suicide, and some have threatened to try again. In recounting their stories, we had to be mindful that our first duty was to their safety. If The Times published the names of these adolescents, they could be easily identified years later. Would that harm their employment opportunities? Would a teen a legal minor later regret having exposed his or her identity during a period of pain and struggle? Would seeing the story published amplify ongoing crises? As a result, some teenagers are identified by first initial only; some of their parents are identified by first name or initial. Over months, I got to know M, J and C, and in Kentucky, I came to know struggling adolescents I identified only by their ages, 12, 13 and 15. In some stories, we did not publish precisely where the families lived. Everyone I interviewed gave their own consent, and parents were typically present for the interviews with their adolescents. On a few occasions, a parent offered to leave the room, or an adolescent asked for privacy and the parent agreed. In these articles, I heard grief, confusion and a desperate search for answers. The voices of adolescents and their parents, while shielded by anonymity, deepen an understanding of this mental health crisis.

Health

May 31, 2015The evidence is compelling. The cartel of Asian electronics makers worked for more than five years to set the prices of liquid-crystal display screens used in computers and cellphones. They gathered for monthly meetings in private conference rooms at luxury hotels.They kept notes at these price-rigging meetings. A typical heading: Extremely confidential. Must not distribute. A telling summary: Must act together with the Korean makers in order to reap success.The details surfaced in a Justice Department criminal antitrust investigation, in which first Samsung and then LG Display, Sharp and other companies cooperated, pleaded guilty and paid hundreds of millions of dollars in fines. A large Taiwanese producer, AU Optronics, did not settle, and three years ago the company was convicted in a federal court in San Francisco and ordered to pay $500 million. Two of its executives were sentenced to three years in prison.Pointing to the same evidence, Motorola Mobility, one of the corporate victims of the price-fixing scheme, filed a follow-on civil antitrust suit, seeking damages from AU Optronics and other members of the cartel. But last November, a federal appeals court in Chicago tossed out Motorolas civil suit, saying the companys overseas subsidiaries could not reap the benefits of Americas antitrust laws.The Supreme Court will say this month if it will take up the issue. But already, the case has brought to light the challenges of applying decades-old antitrust laws to todays global corporations and their often complex and far-flung supply chains.To a degree that didnt exist before, things are made everywhere, said William E. Kovacic, an antitrust expert at George Washington University Law School.Mr. Kovacic, a former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, said there was a notable incoherence in the law and court rulings.Warning of the business impact of legal uncertainty, the National Association of Manufacturers wrote a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court to take the case. The group said it took no position on the criminal or civil cases. Instead, the trade association called for clarity.Companies, the brief states, need to know where the legal lines are drawn in order to structure their transactions for goods intended for eventual import into the United States.Richard A. Posner, a federal appeals court judge and a prominent legal theorist, wrote the opinion in the Motorola case. His opinions, law scholars note, are as much conceptual essays as legal documents often debated, and never boring. His ruling in a smartphone patent case in 2012, for example, was a sweeping critique of the patent system, describing it as a system in chaos.The Motorola case comes at time of change in the legal landscape, as many other countries are stepping up their antitrust enforcement programs and the Supreme Court generally seeks to restrain the reach of American antitrust laws abroad.Yet the United States remains the venue of choice for plaintiffs to bring civil antitrust suits mainly because the rewards can be so lucrative. Unlike most other countries, American courts offer triple damage awards for successful plaintiffs, even if companies are able to pass along the higher prices they pay for price-fixed goods to consumers.ImageCredit...Nathan Weber for The New York TimesOn that basis, Motorola is seeking a total award of $3.5 billion a claim that the defendants say is exorbitantly inflated.The problem for Motorola, according to Judge Posner, was how the company set up its corporate arrangements. Only 1 percent of the liquid-crystal display panels it bought from the cartel suppliers were shipped directly to Motorola in the United States for assembly in cellphones sold in the United States. Another 42 percent of the panels were shipped to Motorola foreign subsidiaries, mainly in China and Singapore, for cellphones assembled there and sold in the American market. The remaining 57 percent of the panels were bought by Motorolas foreign subsidiaries for cellphones assembled abroad and sold in markets outside the United States.Motorola asserts that it operates as a single enterprise, orchestrating its American and overseas operations to design and produce products globally. Judge Posner acknowledges that argument, but points out that corporations like Motorola, which are based in America but operate globally, rarely make the claim that their foreign subsidiaries are bound by all American laws.Judge Posner said the overseas subsidiaries of companies like Motorola need not conform to American workplace safety or labor laws and their subsidiaries could take advantage of low-tax regimes in foreign countries and avoid paying American corporate taxes. (In a court filing last year, Motorola said it repatriated the profits from its foreign subsidiaries in the five years covered by the cartel case.)No doubt, Judge Posner writes, Motorola thinks U.S. antitrust remedies more fearsome than those available to its foreign subsidiaries under foreign laws.But, he adds later, Motorola cant just ignore its corporate structure whenever its in its interests to do so. It cant pick and choose from the benefits and burdens of United States corporate citizenship.Motorola, Judge Posner writes, was an indirect purchaser of the panels its foreign subsidiaries bought and used to assemble cellphones. Thus, he concludes, Motorola cannot bring a civil antitrust suit in the United States even though many Motorola cellphones with price-fixed screens were sold in the American market and the Justice Department had a strong criminal case.The Motorola side disputes Judge Posners analysis. The judge, said Thomas C. Goldstein, counsel for Motorola, got it wrong, and this is a superimportant issue.Some antitrust experts question Judge Posners ruling. The law he cited, the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act of 1982, was passed to ensure American exporters that the United States antitrust law would generally not follow them abroad. But Motorola is an importer here, and the statute has been turned against them, which wasnt the intent of the law, said Harry First, a professor at the New York University School of Law. The ruling is bizarre in that sense.His colleague at the N.Y.U. law school, Eleanor M. Fox, said if the ruling in the civil case stands, it would be a retrogressive step for world antitrust enforcement, reducing deterrence and opening the door to more global cartels.Still, it is unclear how much the Judge Posner ruling might affect the operations of companies and their global trading behavior.Herbert Hovenkamp, an antitrust expert at the University of Iowa College of Law, says that while the underlying evidence in the criminal and civil cases is similar, the legal standards are different. And he sides with Justice Posners opinion. Both cases were rightly decided, in my view, he said.Antitrust law, Mr. Hovenkamp suggests, has to be renewed and reinterpreted for a modern global economy, just as corporations must adapt and change. For proof of the latter, look no further than Motorola itself. In 2006, at the end of the five-year period covered in the cartel case, the company was riding high on the success of its sleek flip-style cellphone, the Razr. But Motorola lost its leadership in the smartphone era, which began with Apples introduction of the iPhone in 2007. In 2012, Google bought the struggling company, and two years later sold it off to Lenovo of China.

Tech

Playboy Mansion Repairs Greenlit Ahead of Historic Monument Approval 1/29/2018 The Playboy Mansion desperately needs a fix up, and the work just got approved by the folks who will, most likely, designate Hef's old crib a city landmark ... TMZ has learned. The mansion's new owner, Daren Metropoulos, has been cleared to replace plumbing and to repair dry rot and termite damage. The city of Los Angeles issued permits for the work earlier this week, but Daren had an extra hurdle due to the push to make it an Historic-Cultural Monument. City officials tell us the Monument application is currently under consideration, which means renovations would normally be on hold. We're told the permits were approved in this case because the mansion's in a bad way, and it was critical for the work to be done ASAP. As we reported, Playboy sold the mansion to Metropoulos in 2016 for $100 million, and Hugh Hefner was allowed to live in the crib until he died in September 2017. We're told the Historic-Cultural Monument designation is almost a lock to be approved, and should be decided within the next 30 days.

Entertainment

Personal Tech|Get Gmail to Stop Archiving and Start Deletinghttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/15/technology/personaltech/gmail-archive-delete.htmlTech TipThe mobile app for Googles service may be set to automatically archive messages youve swiped past, but you can change the setting.June 15, 2018This article has been updated to reflect current technology. Q. When I swipe to get rid of a message I dont want in the Android Gmail app, it says Archived instead of Deleted. I dont want these messages around, so how do I delete them, and how do I get rid of anything that was archived?A. The Gmail app for Android gives its users two choices for discarding a new message: archive or delete.The Archive action removes the message from view in the inbox and puts it in the All Mail area, in case you ever need it again. You can find archived messages by using Gmails search function. Messages addressed to a group of people can return to your inbox if someone on the address list replies to the original.The Delete action moves the selected message to the Trash area, where it stays for 30 days before it is permanently deleted. If you do not want to wait that long to dump your mail trash, tap the three-lined menu icon in the top-left corner of the Gmail app, select the Trash icon on the left and tap the Empty Trash Now button at the top of the mailbox window.ImageCredit...The New York TimesTo make the Gmail app delete unwanted messages instead of archiving them when you swipe the screen, tap the Menu icon, scroll down the left pane of the window, select Settings and choose General Settings on the next screen. Tap Swipe actions and for Left swipe select Delete. If you want to be warned when deleting messages, select Confirm before deleting on the General Settings screen.The steps for changing the setting in the Gmail app for iOS are similar. On the Settings screen, scroll down to Swipe actions and for Left swipe, select Trash.As for messages that were archived instead of deleted, you can find them by opening the Menu icon and selecting All Mail. Here, you can swipe each message to delete it. If you want to dig up messages from certain people or on specific topics you no longer care about, you can use search operators to round up mail that matches very specific criteria. For example, the search string -in:inbox -has:userlabel seeks out messages that are not in your inbox and do not have any custom labels you may have used to sort your incoming mail.Personal Tech invites questions about computer-based technology to [email protected]. This column will answer questions of general interest, but letters cannot be answered individually.

Tech

Roy Halladay Autopsy Traces of Morphine In System at Time of Crash 1/19/2018 TMZ Sports has obtained Roy Halladay's autopsy report -- in which the coroner lists the cause of death as blunt trauma and drowning ... but points out the MLB star had morphine in his system. The 40-year-old died in a single passenger plane crash in the Gulf of Mexico back in November. As we previously reported, Halladay was flying in an erratic pattern shortly before the crash. The toxicology results show Halladay had zolpidem (the generic name for Ambien), as well as morphine in his system at the time of the crash. The tests also came back positive for amphetamines. One source familiar with the autopsy tells us the results are consistent with someone who uses Rx medication. One thing of note ... the FDA lists on its website that more than 50 ng/ml of zolpidem "appears capable of impairing driving to a degree that increases the risk of a motor vehicle accident." Halladay's blood tested positive for 72 ng/ml. The autopsy report notes that morphine can be found in the system as a result of heroin use -- however sources tell us there is no indication Halladay had been using heroin or any other "clandestine drug." The report also shows Hallday suffered a subdural hemorrhage in the crash -- along with multiple rib fractures and lung, liver and spleen injuries. He also had a leg fracture. 11/7/17 TMZSports.com The Pasco County Sheriff's Dept. reported at the time that Roy was the only person aboard the ICON A5 light-sport aircraft when it went down. The 8-time MLB All-Star was a pitcher for the Phillies and the Blue Jays and a two-time Cy Young Award winner during his 16-year career.. He's one of only 2 players in MLB history to throw a no-hitter in the playoffs. He also pitched a perfect game for the Phillies in 2010. TMZSports.com

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TrilobitesIt took recent excavations to finally prove that the headgear depicted in hieroglyphic scenes was real and not iconographic.Credit...A. Stevens et al., via The Amarna Project and Antiquity Publications, 2019Dec. 11, 2019Painted throughout ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics are scenes of people at boisterous banquets. On top of the dark, braided heads of some revelers sat peculiar white cones. Archaeologists have long puzzled over the purpose of the mysterious headgear, and whether they were real items worn by people, or just iconographic ornaments, like halos crowning saints in Christian artwork.Now, a team of archaeologists has uncovered for the first time two of the head cones in the ancient Egyptian city of Amarna, nearly 200 miles south of Cairo. The cones were made of wax and dated from 1347 to 1332 B.C.E. when Egypt was ruled by the pharaoh Akhenaten, husband to Queen Nefertiti and the supposed father of King Tutankhamen. The finding, which was published Tuesday in the journal Antiquity, provides the first evidence the cones were actual objects and indicates they served some funerary function.Corina Rogge, a conservation scientist from The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and an author on the study, said it was very satisfying to finally be able to say that the head cones are real.Salima Ikram, an Egyptologist at the American University in Cairo, who was not involved in the study, called it, an amazing discovery that has been archaeometrically confirmed.Dr. Rogges colleagues found the first cream-colored head cone in 2010 while excavating a grave. The second emerged in 2015 from a jumbled up skeleton in a grave that had been ravaged by tomb robbers. Both graves belonged to people who were not elites, and the first belonged to a woman. The cones were hollow, measured about 3 inches tall and just under 4 inches wide and were made of wax, presumably beeswax.Because the head cones were found within graves, the team said the findings provided insight into their funerary roles.The obvious suggestion here is that they helped the deceased to be reborn into the afterlife, or brought them benefit once there, said Anna Stevens, an archaeologist from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia and lead author of the study. But this doesnt mean that they always served this purpose they may have had multiple roles.Some archaeologists have argued that the main role of the cones, which have been featured on tomb walls from the Eighteenth Dynasty around 1550 B.C.E through the time of Cleopatra, was to act as perfumed unguents. Under the intense Egyptian heat, the scented wax cone would melt into the wearers hair or wig, providing a sweet aroma to the wearer. So far, the teams findings do not confirm that interpretation, and alas, hieroglyphics are not scratch and sniff.We couldnt detect any trace of perfume in these cones, said Dr. Stevens. But that doesnt indicate that perfume wasnt once present in these cones or others.Dora Goldsmith, a doctoral student at the Free University of Berlin, who researches the role of scents in ancient Egypt, said that even though the team did not detect smells on the wax head cones, there is clear iconographic evidence in hieroglyphics of zigzagged lines emanating from the cones as if depicting a scent coming from the object.It would be irrational to assume that unguent cones did not have a scent or that their function wasnt to perfume its wearer, she said.Robyn Price, a doctoral student at the University of California, Los Angeles, who also researches scents from ancient Egypt, agreed, adding that the two cones the team found might have also acted as the visible representation of scent in the afterlife, long after the smells dissipated.In doing so, they would preserve that deceased individuals connection to divinity, she said, because if you smell like a god then you will be accepted as one who belongs among them.

science

Science TimesPlus, fluorescent flying squirrels, aging golfers and more feats of athleticism in the Friday edition of the Science Times Newsletter.Credit...Peter Byrne/Press Association, via APPublished July 16, 2021Updated July 30, 2021Like many soccer fans around the world, Paolo Falco, a labor economist at the University of Copenhagen, was delighted by the outcome of the European Championship final last Sunday, which saw Italy defeat England in a climactic penalty shootout. And he was appalled in equal measure by the aftermath.In the hours following the match the three England players, all Black, who missed their penalty shots were heaped with racial abuse on social media. The abuse prompted outrage from Prince William and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and revived a too-familiar aphorism: When you win, youre English; when you lose, youre Black.In recent years, UEFA, the governing body of European soccer, has worked to combat racism against its players, both online and in stadiums. But the behavior persists; in Italy and elsewhere, world-class players of color have been subjected to racist chants and epithets, and to even have bananas thrown onto the field. I have experienced firsthand all sorts of terrible things being said and cursed and yelled at players, said Dr. Falco, who closely follows Serie A, Italys top league.In December, he and two colleagues Mauro Caselli and Gianpiero Mattera, economists at the University of Trento, in Italy, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, respectively posted one of the first studies seeking to measure the impact of in-stadium abuse on the game. Their working paper, which awaits publication in a peer-reviewed journal, compared the performances of roughly 500 Serie A players in the first half of the 2019-2020 season of the main Italian championship league before the Covid-19 pandemic, when stadiums were full and raucous to the second half, when ghost games were played in empty stadiums.Their results were stark: One subgroup of players, and one only, played noticeably better in the absence of crowds. We find that players from Africa, who are most commonly targeted by racial harassment, experience a significant improvement in performance when supporters are no longer at the stadium, the authors wrote.Dr. Falco spoke by phone from Copenhagen on Thursday. The following conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.What inspired your study?I was watching a football match after the lockdown began, and I was struck by how different an experience I was having, even on TV, by simply not hearing all the noises and all the chanting that typically goes on in the background of a football match.I'm from Napoli, and football fans in Napoli definitely are very loud. In that kind of stadium, you see emotions expressed at their best and at their worst. And you cannot help feeling that has an impact on whats happening on the ground in the stadium.I started wondering: Would it make a difference to all the players equally? Who are the players that are going to suffer more or less, or gain more or less, from having or not having the pressure of fans?ImageCredit...Pool photo by Matthew ChildsWhat was your working hypothesis?That players who are targeted because of their color will perform better when the pressure is removed independent of the general pressure of playing in a stadium, which is the same for all players.That question is incredibly difficult to address in normal circumstances, because you don't have the experiment that you would like to have: seeing how those players perform relative to themselves, before and after, with and without fans. Covid gave us precisely that natural experiment. From one day to the next, the players went from full stadiums to empty stadiums.We got curious, and we started analyzing the data. And we found that, indeed, players are affected differentially, with the ones that are most subject to abuse seemingly experiencing an improvement in their performance the moment that they don't have this pressure on them anymore. This effect survived even after we controlled for a host of potentially confounding factors weather, the time of day the match was played, the strength of the opposing team so we strongly believe it's there.What metric did you use as a measure of player performance?There are very detailed statistics, created by a publicly available algorithm, on the performance of every player after every match. Its much more than just goals scored, and is very objective: How far did the player run during the game? How many passes did they complete?These are statistics from a database commonly used for fantasy-team ratings and for betting purposes, is that right?Yes, thats correct.There is an interesting and growing literature on the effect that football fans have on teams as a whole. For instance, it has been shown that referees are not as favorable to the home team in the absence of spectators, and that the home advantage is not as pronounced in terms of who wins. What we wanted to do was look at the individual players, to see any differences in performance between those who are from certain ethnic backgrounds.I want to go back to the very end of that game between England and Italy. Imagine for a second what goes on in the mind of those players as they approach that penalty, knowing not only that they have the same pressure as every other football player in the field but also that theyre Black, that theyre in a minority, and they very likely are going to be treated exactly the way that they were treated the moment that they make a mistake.Think about the incredible pressure that is placed upon those players. It makes you almost shiver. Thats why I dont think it was too big a leap of imagination to think that we could find something of this kind in the data.What did your results show?We found that African players performed 3 percent better in the second part of the season compared to the first part. You may think, OK, 3 percent isnt such a big deal. But if you were talking about the productivity or profits of a firm and its workers, 3 percent would be huge. If you see football players as workers, which is ultimately what they are, and they are 3 percent less productive, that has repercussions for the team as a whole.ImageCredit...Pool photo by Carl RecineThese are economic costs, not just moral or ethical concerns. Players of African origin play worse in front of spectators, but nobody else performs better, so overall the quality of the game decreases. This is something that should bother club owners, because they are making investments in players.We also looked at players for teams that we know were particularly subject to abuse at the beginning of the season. The Italian authorities actually record episodes of abuse from fans in the stadium, so we know which teams were playing in matches before the lockdown where there was such racist behavior. And it was the players on those teams, including Napoli, that saw the biggest improvement in performance the most 10 percent better in the absence of spectators.Were talking about the elite of the elite athletes in the country. They are in the best of the best position in terms of social status and money earned. So the fact that these athletes are affected is extremely worrying; if one were to look at the lower leagues, there must be a lot more of this going on.Do you feel that your study group, with African players making up only 7 percent of the total, was sufficiently robust to provide meaningful results?Thats a good question. But the number of players only plays a role up to an extent, because these are players that we observe many times during the year every week, 38 observations for each player over the course of the season, roughly half before lockdown and half after. The statistical power of the analysis is very strong because we are comparing the exact same people, not just two random samples, before and after.As fans in the stadium, we all like to think that we are more than just spectators that our voices have a real impact on the game. Your research suggests that we actually do, and uncomfortably so.Sometimes I get a little bit worried about what we have done here, as we may inadvertently reassure people in their conviction that shouting racist things is going to help their team win. On the other hand, I firmly believe that research should aim to uncover facts and always be transparent about them. In this case, I hope that the people in charge of the economics of this game will understand that racism is costing them money and damaging their investments. When certain players cannot express their full potential, the game is simply not as beautiful and appealing as it could be.What were metabolizing latelyCara Giaimo talks glowing mammals and gets autotuned in the Hot Pink Flying Squirrels episode of the podcast Unexplainable.Remember those mysterious seed packets that so many Americans received (but didnt actually order) last year? Chris Heath unearths the truth about them.A reminder from The New Republic that those cute black bears seen bathing in Lake Tahoe were victims of climate change.And dont miss the deep-sea glass octopus, in full video splendor.Have a great weekend!Science in The Times, 67 years ago this weekThe inquiries arose because, in the recent shot-putting event, a national British record of 55 feet would have been established but for the fact that the 16-pound weight was found to have been half an ounce too light.More Newsletters You Might Like

science

FindingsCredit...Top: Eric Thayer for The New York Times; Justin Sellers/The Clarion-Ledger, via Associated Press; Dirck Halstead/The LIFE Images Collection, via Getty ImagesMarch 21, 2016Is empathy an essential virtue for a presidential candidate?The conventional wisdom is that a good candidate must be able to feel your pain. Bill Clinton was hailed by pundits as a virtuoso of empathy, supposedly riding that quality to triumph over George H.W. Bush, who was so often said to be short of empathy that he felt compelled to tell an audience, Message: I care.Al Gores defeat in 2000 was blamed, in part, on his emotional frigidity, and Mitt Romneys in 2012 on the empathy gap with Barack Obama.But there are a couple of problems with the conventional wisdom. To begin with, its not clear that empathy actually matters much to voters.In the Republican primaries, Donald J. Trump, who brags that hes so rich he feels no pain at all, has trounced Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who emphasized his familys financial struggles, and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, known for comforting rally attendees with hugs.Some political scientists say that empathy is not a crucial factor in presidential races, noting that personality traits dont correlate well with the results on Election Day. A candidate often wins despite an opponent who receives higher marks in polls asking how much each cares about the needs and problems of people like you.The voters indifference could reflect another problem with conventional wisdom: Empathy may not be such a great quality in a leader. Although the capacity to sympathize with others suffering is widely hailed as an essential virtue Mr. Obama has said the world is suffering from an empathy deficit theres a downside that has inspired a lively debate among social psychologists.The most prominent critic is Paul Bloom, a professor of psychology at Yale, who gave a talk at this years meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology titled Does Empathy Make Us Immoral? He readily acknowledges that empathy can inspire altruism that once you broaden your ambit of concern and empathize with the plight of others, in Mr. Obamas words, it becomes harder not to act, harder not to help.But whom do you end up helping? Often the wrong people, Dr. Bloom says, because empathy is biased and parochial. It favors vulnerable children and animals, and discriminates against unattractive people. Youre more likely to sympathize with someone in your social group rather than an outsider, especially one who looks different.Empathy is also innumerate, Dr. Bloom notes, which is why you may care more about one girl stuck in a well than thousands of war refugees or millions of people who will be affected by climate change.Moreover, empathy can be manipulated to inspire aggression. In one experiment, when people were induced to empathize with the personal problems of one player in a game, they became more willing to punish the players opponent, even though the opponent had nothing to do with those personal problems.In his current research, Dr. Bloom and a colleague are finding that the more empathic people feel toward victims of terrorism in the Middle East, the more they favor taking military action.If I want to do terrible things to a group, one tried-and-true way is to arouse empathy for victims of that group, Dr. Bloom said in an interview. Often the argument for war is rooted in empathy for victims of the enemy.Dr. Bloom concludes that empathy is overrated as a guide for personal morality or public leadership. Sob stories are not a good way to make public policy, he said. The best leaders have a certain enlightened aloofness.They recognize the suffering of victims of terrorists, but they also recognize that going to war will create future victims. They make policy by taking into account numbers and cost-benefit analyses. They use rational means to achieve good ends.Other researchers, though, argue that empathy isnt as irrational as it seems. They see it as not just a knee-jerk reflex but as something we can control. Our empathy declines as the number of victims increases, an effect called compassion collapse. But maybe thats because we realize we cant do anything meaningful to help the larger group.Empathy can often be costly, entailing outlay of material resources, emotional effort and physical risk, said Daryl Cameron, a psychologist at the University of Iowa. If people recognize these costs, either consciously or not, they may strategically regulate their empathy away to avoid the costs.To test this theory of motivated empathy, Dr. Cameron and a colleague compared peoples reactions to stories about children suffering in Darfur. When people didnt expect to be asked for a donation, they responded more strongly to a story about a group of children than to a story about a single child. But if they expected to be hit up for a donation, then their compassion for the larger group collapsed, apparently because theyd regulated their empathy to protect themselves.In other experiments, psychologists at Stanford have found that people can increase their empathy, too. When nudged to believe they can increase their empathy, they become more sympathetic toward people with different backgrounds and beliefs.This type of empathy doesnt always come naturally, said Jamil Zaki, a psychologist at Stanford. Its work. But choosing empathy affords us opportunities to build more diverse and powerful social connections, and take control of our emotional lives.Dr. Bloom, the empathy critic, agrees that this emotion can be goosed to some degree, but he says we are still better off relying on the less emotional strategy described in 1759 by Adam Smith in The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Smith noted that fellow-feeling, his term for empathy, was a powerful yet limited emotion: An Englishman, he suggested, would lose more sleep worrying about the loss of a finger than about the deaths of 100 million foreigners in an earthquake.How, Smith asked, could this selfish impulse be overridden?It is not that feeble spark of benevolence which Nature has lighted up in the human heart, that is thus capable of counteracting the strongest impulses of self-love, Smith wrote. It is a stronger power, a more forcible motive, which exerts itself upon such occasions.It is reason, principle, conscience, the inhabitant of the breast, the man within, the great judge and arbiter of our conduct.That may sound like an overly optimistic view of human nature, especially this election year. Reason hardly seems the arbiter of a presidential candidates conduct these days. But voters may ultimately prefer it to empathy.

science

Charles Manson Grandson Shut Down By Judge to Get Remains 1/29/2018 The alleged grandson of Charles Manson has just lost his bid to get the killer's remains. A judge just ruled Jason Freeman does not have a right -- at least not now -- to pick up the remains from the prison where Manson died. Freeman is one of 3 people who have tried to take possession of the remains and Manson's estate. It appears the reason the judge rejected the claim was because Freeman filed his case in Los Angeles and Manson died in Kern County ... in other words, the judge lacked jurisdiction. See also Charles Manson RIP Family Exclusive

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Diamond Dallas Page Let Hulk Hogan Back in WWE ... He's Not Racist! 1/24/2018 TMZSports.com Diamond Dallas Page says enough is enough when it comes to the WWE's Hulk Hogan ban ... telling TMZ Sports the Hulkster's done his time and deserves a chance to rejoin the company. "Hulk has to come back. I'm hoping that that gets seen on the WWE side," the pro wrestling legend told us at his yoga performance center in Georgia. Of course, WWE cut ties with Hogan after his sex-tape scandal in 2015 ... when he went on a racially offensive N-word rant. But DDP -- much like Roddy Piper (RIP), Virgil and Dennis Rodman -- says there isn't "any racist bone in his body" ... and is calling for the McMahon family to welcome Hulk back inside the ring. FYI, Hogan has repeatedly expressed interest in a WWE comeback ... but the company released a statement before its 'Raw 25' anniversary show saying it "remains committed to its decision."

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April 1, 2016CAIRO The leaders of Libyas fragile new unity government cautiously expanded their authority in Tripoli on Friday, venturing from their fortified base in the city port to make public appearances in a downtown mosque and square, while political factions from nearby towns pledged their allegiance.The unity government, which landed in Tripoli by boat on Wednesday in defiance of warnings and an air blockade imposed by hostile armed groups, is seeking to establish its own authority. Although formed under United Nations auspices in December, and enjoying strong backing from the United States and its European allies, it has faced bitter opposition from rival Libyan factions that, until this week, left it languishing in five-star hotels in neighboring Tunisia.Worries that the sudden arrival of Prime Minister Fayez Serraj and six others from the unity governments nine-member Presidency Council would plunge the capital into violence dissipated somewhat on Friday, amid signs that the unity government was gaining momentum.Key militias in Tripoli sided with the new administration and 10 coastal towns near Tripoli, including Sabratha, where American warplanes in February bombed an Islamic State training camp, pledged their fealty to the new administration.At lunchtime on Friday, Mr. Serraj, a businessman previously little-known in Libyan politics, ventured a few miles from his base at Tripolis naval base to attend prayers at a downtown mosque, and to shake hands with security officials and well-wishers in Martyrs Square, a central landmark where Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi gave defiant speeches before his ouster in 2011.Mr. Serrajs confident thrust appeared to soften the bellicosity of Tripolis self-declared government. In a statement on Thursday, the Tripoli leader, Khalifa al-Ghwail, who had earlier issued warnings against Mr. Serraj, pledged to offer peaceful resistance.Still, the situation remained deeply uncertain in a city awash with competing militias, and where alliances can shift easily. Things are going better than expected, said Mattia Toaldo, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. But the unity government still has to achieve a long checklist of things if it wants to survive, let alone thrive.Away from the cameras, negotiations continued to avert confrontation among rival militias. Ibrahim Ben Rijab, a mediator who is leading the talks, said he was cautiously optimistic.Steps are being taken, he said in a phone interview. But it is still too early to tell. The next two days will be decisive.Western countries see the unity government as their best bet for stabilizing Libya and mounting a concerted military drive against Islamic State, which has expanded far beyond its base in Colonel Qaddafis hometown, Surt. In recent days they have stepped up efforts to force rival groups to accept the new administration.On Friday the European Union imposed sanctions on three leaders from the countrys two other parliaments, one in Tripoli and the other in the eastern city of Tobruk. Mr. Ghwail, the prime minister of the unrecognized Tripoli government, was among those named.The United Nations Security Council, meanwhile, focused on the oil sector in a resolution on Thursday that called the unity government Libyas sole legitimate authority and condemned efforts by parallel institutions to export the countrys oil.That resolution appeared to have an effect on Friday, when the militia that guards many of the countrys oil terminals pledged loyalty to Mr. Serrajs government.Analysts and diplomats say the real test is likely to come in the days ahead, when Mr. Serrajs ministers are expected to try and establish control of key ministries across Tripoli. Mr. Serraj has already started talks with the Central Bank, which controls foreign reserves estimated at up to $85 billion, and the national oil company, which is the source of the countrys dwindling wealth.Officials at several ministries, contacted by phone, said there has been deep uncertainty in recent days, with little sense of who is in charge.Libyas complex civil conflict, which involves an array of militias organized by town, tribe or ideology, burns with less ferocity than others in the Middle East, such as Yemen or Syria. The United Nations documented 32 civilian casualties across the country during the month of March, mostly in the east. Yet the power vacuum greatly worries the West because it has emboldened the Islamic State in its expansion in Libya and helped increase the flow of migrant boats to Europe.For Mr. Serraj, much may depend in the days ahead on the stance taken by militias from nearby Misurata, which have controlled much of Tripoli in recent years. But even if his unity government can persuade, or at least neutralize, its opponents, it faces an even greater challenge in eastern Libya.Gen. Khalifa Hifter, a prominent military leader who controls most of the eastern city of Benghazi, has thus far been ambiguous about the United Nations-led political process. He has not publicly commented on this weeks events.Hifter is sitting on the fence, waiting to see if Serraj can control Tripoli, said Mr. Toaldo, the analyst. But he will want to show that hes still a man to be dealt with.

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Credit...Dr. Thomas AlbiniMarch 15, 2017Three women suffered severe, permanent eye damage after stem cells were injected into their eyes, in an unproven treatment at a loosely regulated clinic in Florida, doctors reported in an article published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine.One, 72, went completely blind from the injections, and the others, 78 and 88, lost much of their eyesight. Before the procedure, all had some visual impairment but could see well enough to drive.The cases expose gaps in the ability of government health agencies to protect consumers from unproven treatments offered by entrepreneurs who promote the supposed healing power of stem cells.The women had macular degeneration, an eye disease that causes vision loss, and they paid $5,000 each to receive stem-cell injections in 2015 at a private clinic in Sunrise, Fla. The clinic was part of a company then called Bioheart, now called U.S. Stem Cell. Staff members there used liposuction to suck fat out of the womens bellies, and then extracted stem cells from the fat to inject into the womens eyes.The disastrous results were described in detail in the journal article, by doctors who were not connected to U.S. Stem Cell and treated the patients within days of the injections. An accompanying article by scientists from the Food and Drug Administration warned that stem cells from fat are being used in practice on the basis of minimal clinical evidence of safety or efficacy, sometimes with the claims that they constitute revolutionary treatments for various conditions.Kristin C. Comella, the chief science officer of U.S. Stem Cell, said in an interview that the clinic did not need F.D.A. approval because it was treating patients with their own cells, which are not a drug. She said the stem-cell treatments were comparable to patients receiving grafts of their own skin a procedure not a drug.Two of the eye patients sued the clinic and settled, but it has faced no other penalties. Ms. Comella said it no longer treats eyes, but continues to treat five to 20 patients a week for other problems like torn knee cartilage and degenerating spinal discs.All three women found U.S. Stem Cell because it had listed a study on a government website, clinicaltrials.gov provided by the National Institutes of Health. Two later told doctors they thought they were participating in government-approved research. But no study ever took place, and the proposed study on the site had no government endorsement. Clinical trials do not need government approval to be listed on the website.Legitimate research rarely, if ever, charges patients to participate, scientists say, so the fees should have been a red flag. But many people do not know that.ImageCredit...Scott McIntyre for The New York TimesPromising stem-cell research in eye disease and other conditions is taking place. But researchers and health officials have been warning for years that patients are at risk from hundreds of private clinics that have sprung up around the United States and overseas, offering stem-cell treatments for all manner of ailments, like injured knees, damaged spinal discs, neurological diseases and heart failure. Businesses promising regenerative medicine have multiplied, with little or no regulation.Stem cells, which can develop into many different types of cells, are thought to have tremendous potential to repair or replace tissue damaged by disease, injury or aging. But so far, the F.D.A. has approved only a few stem-cell products to treat certain blood disorders.The women in Florida suffered detached retinas, in which the thin layer of light-sensing cells that send signals to the optic nerve pulls away from the back of the eye a condition that usually needs prompt surgery to prevent blindness. Doctors who examined the patients said they suspected that the stem cells had grown onto the retina and then contracted, pulling it off the eyeball.One woman had such high pressure inside her eyes about three times the normal level that it may have damaged her optic nerves. Doctors operated quickly to relieve the pressure, but she became blind.The really horrible thing about this is that you would never, nobody practicing good medicine would ever do an experimental procedure on a patient on both eyes on the same day, said Dr. Thomas A. Albini, an author of the article who saw two of the patients, at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.Standard practice, he said, is to treat one eye at a time, usually the worse eye first, so that if something goes wrong at least the patient still has one eye left with some vision.Dr. Albini said his team alerted the F.D.A. after the second patient showed up.They did send an investigator who took statements from us, he said. They apparently wrote up a report, which as far as I know is still not finished or available for public consumption.Andrea Fischer, a spokeswoman for the F.D.A. said the agency could not comment on whether an investigation had been conducted.Two of the women were not available for interviews because their lawsuit settlements in 2016 included nondisclosure agreements, according to their lawyer, Andrew B. Yaffa, of Coral Gables, Fla. He also was barred from discussing the case, but a publicly available complaint he filed in July 2016 details one patients story, and states that the injections were performed by a nurse practitioner who was introduced as a physician.The third patient did not sue, but did not respond to a request for an interview made through her doctor. (The patients were not named in the journal article.)Ms. Comella, from U.S. Stem Cell, said that an independent review board had approved the proposed eye study, including the plan to treat both eyes at once. She said a total of three patients ever received eye injections at the clinic, and were not part of a trial. She declined to confirm that they were the same three patients described in the journal article, but the article links the women to the clinic.ImageCredit...Riccardo Cassiani-Ingoni/Science SourceMs. Comella said a trial never did begin, because the first three cases ended the way they ended, so we decided not to go forward with any additional patients.She declined to discuss the cases further, citing the nondisclosure agreement. But she said that U.S. Stem Cell had successfully treated thousands of patients for other conditions, and that it was misleading to draw attention to a handful of adverse events.U.S. Stem Cell also makes money by training doctors to extract stem cells from fat. And in a blog post on Tuesday its chief executive, Mike Toms, said the company expected to open clinics throughout the Middle East, in Kuwait, Dubai and Qatar.But the company, which is a penny stock, is struggling financially, and as recently as last fall warned investors that its poor financial situation put it at risk of going out of business.Clinics like U.S. Stem Cell that extract stem cells from fat fall into a gray zone. Regulations say stem cells do not have to be F.D.A. approved if they are the patients own and are minimally manipulated but some clinics may stretch that term to suit their own purposes.The F.D.A. website has a page that warns the hope that patients have for cures not yet available may leave them vulnerable to unscrupulous providers of stem-cell treatments that are illegal and potentially harmful.The F.D.A. article in The New England Journal of Medicine suggested that adverse events from stem-cell treatments are probably much more common than is appreciated, because there is no reporting requirement when these therapies are administered outside clinical investigations.Like the Florida patients, people who consult clinicaltrials.gov may assume that the studies listed there have been approved by the F.D.A. or the National Institutes of Health, but that is not necessarily the case, Renate Myles, an N.I.H. spokeswoman, said.In an email, Ms. Myles said, The information on ClinicalTrials.gov is provided by the study sponsor or principal investigator and posting on ClinicalTrials.gov does not necessarily reflect endorsement by the N.I.H. ClinicalTrials.gov does not independently verify the scientific validity or relevance of the trial itself beyond a limited quality control review.Ms. Myles said that the site urges patients to consult their own doctors about joining studies and includes caveats in multiple places.However, we agree that such caveats need to be clearer to all users and will be adding a more prominent disclaimer in the near future, she added.

Health

Science|A Cloud Atlas Provides Clues to Life on Earthhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/05/science/a-cloud-atlas-provides-clues-to-life-on-earth.htmlTrilobitesCredit...Adam WilsonApril 4, 2016After countless years of daydreamers being told otherwise, theres now a good reason to keep your head in the clouds. Scientists combed through satellite photographs of cloud cover taken twice a day for 15 years from nearly every square kilometer of Earth to study the planets varied environments.By creating cloud atlases, the researchers were able to better predict the location of plants and animals on land with unprecedented spatial resolution, allowing them to study certain species, including those that are often in remote places. The results were published last week in PLOS Biology.ImageCredit...Adam WilsonClouds directly affect local climates, causing differences in soil moisture and available sunlight that drive photosynthesis and ecosystem productivity.The researchers demonstrated the potential for modeling species distribution by studying the Montane woodcreeper, a South American bird, and the King Protea, a South African shrub.In thinking about conserving biodiversity, one of the most important scientific questions is Where are the species? said Adam Wilson, an ecologist now at the University at Buffalo, who led the study. The maps also could help monitor ecosystem changes.ImageCredit...Adam Wilson

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Letter From EuropeCredit...Guillaume Horcajuelo/European Pressphoto AgencyApril 4, 2016PARIS It was published several years ago, but a cartoon on the front page of the French newspaper Le Monde roughly summed up the situation across the country last Thursday when several hundred thousand public employees and students went on strike.What if we went on strike for nothing, asks one demonstrator in the cartoon, which appeared in 2010 during one of Frances periodic strikes. Ah! Not a bad idea, another answers.The strike and mass demonstrations by air traffic controllers, train drivers, schoolteachers and cafeteria staff, hospital and museum workers were nominally in protest against President Franois Hollandes attempt to change French labor law.Like a similar but smaller show of force on March 9, the walkout had a crippling effect on Paris and cities across France. Parents had to stay home from work to take care of children, and nonstriking employees were forced to cram onto trains and subways with reduced service to reach their jobs.In fact, the strike had less to do with the intricacies of the labor law than with a deepening disaffection, particularly among young people, with Mr. Hollandes government, now heading into the last year of its five-year mandate.VideotranscripttranscriptStudents Clash with Police in ParisHundreds of students demonstrated in Paris on Monday as France prepares to overhaul its labor code. Riot police responded aggressively.(SOUNDBITE) (French) 17 YEAR-OLD HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT, ABDEL, SAYING: Im still at high school which means Im going to be working in a few years and the change needs to happen now, it means we have to change things now, we cant wait for tomorrow, because tomorrows generation is us. So that we dont regret it, we need change now and Im encouraging all high school students to protest. // SOUNDBITE) (French) 17 YEAR-OLD HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT, SIMON, SAYING: Were here because of our convictions. Were not just here to smash stuff up and beat up the police, were here because we want to be heard and well stay here.Hundreds of students demonstrated in Paris on Monday as France prepares to overhaul its labor code. Riot police responded aggressively.CreditCredit...Etienne Laurent/European Pressphoto AgencyThe young were not only demonstrating against the labor law, said Roland Cayrol, a researcher at Sciences Po, during a televised debate on TV5. They were demonstrating against the situation in general.With unemployment still about 10 percent 29.5 percent among those ages 15 to 24 the mood in France is grim, made worse by lingering fears after the terrorist attacks in Paris last November.Not all major unions joined the strike, and the effect was varied: Some schools were open, some were shut as a precaution, and some were blocked by garbage cans piled high by striking students; only five airports in France had to cancel flights; the Eiffel Tower was closed, as were many museums.Newspapers were no help on Thursday, since the strikes prevented distribution, although their editions were available online.Those who took to the streets, estimated at 400,000 across the country, were mostly public employees and students, two groups with the least to lose if the French Parliament adopts the proposed changes to the labor law this spring.Chief among these is a proposal to cap payouts to laid-off employees, a move that employers say would allow them to hire more freely.In what kind of country do public employees, whose jobs are not affected, take to the streets with high school students, who dont have jobs but are worried about their retirement? asked one viewer in a text message sent to the televised debate Thursday on TV5.ImageCredit...Christophe Ena/Associated PressThe answers could be found sort of on signs held by the 28,000 demonstrators in Paris on Thursday. Labor law = insecurity for life, or We dont want to lose our life in order to earn a living.Interviewed on television, students accused the Socialist government of turning its back on leftist principles, without any reduction in Frances high unemployment rate.The demonstrations hardly stack up against some of Pariss famous protests, which have drawn crowds of a million or more. But even if their message was confused, the show of force by Frances more militant unions and student associations does not augur well for Mr. Hollandes chances in the 2017 presidential election.And yet, he still believes, read the headline on Friday in the newspaper Le Parisien.Mr. Hollande suffered an embarrassing defeat last week when he had to withdraw a proposed change to the Constitution that would have stripped French citizenship from convicted terrorists who possess a second nationality.That idea, borrowed from Frances right-wing parties and challenged on principle by many of his fellow Socialists, was proposed after the deadly attacks in Paris as a unifying symbol in the fight against terrorism.Mr. Hollandes retreat was described in an editorial in Le Monde as a major political disaster, the worst fiasco of his presidency, a trap which he set himself.Already weakened, with his popularity sinking to historic lows for a sitting French president, he now has no choice but to see through the changes to the labor law seen as his last initiative no matter who comes out on the streets next time, or why.

World

Credit...Beawiharta/ReutersNov. 1, 2018Indonesia is protesting Saudi Arabias execution this week of one of its citizens, a domestic worker, saying the kingdom failed to notify her family or the Indonesian government beforehand.Tuti Tursilawati, a mother of one in her early 30s from Majalengka, Indonesia, was executed on Monday, seven years after she was convicted of murdering her employer in the Saudi city of Taif. A rights group, Migrant Care, has said she was defending herself from sexual assault.President Joko Widodo of Indonesia said Wednesday that he had contacted Saudi Arabias foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, to protest the kingdoms actions.During a visit by Mr. Jubeir last week to Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi lauded the Saudi governments commitment to better protecting the Indonesians living and working there, according to The Straits Times of Singapore.There are about 1.5 million documented and undocumented Indonesian workers in Saudi Arabia, Anis Hidayah, founder of Migrant Care, said in a phone interview from Ms. Tutis hometown, where officials were visiting her family to offer condolences.Ms. Hidayah said sexual abuse, long working hours, improper housing and other mistreatment were common for women like Ms. Tuti, working abroad in private homes that are difficult to monitor.Saudi Arabia has not commented on Ms. Tutis execution or Indonesias formal protest.Ms. Tuti was the fourth Indonesian executed in Saudi Arabia since 2015, including one, Zaini Misri, who was put to death in March. All of the executions were carried out without first notifying Indonesian officials; the two countries have no agreement requiring each other to do so. Other Indonesians in Saudi Arabia are still on death row.Many women from Indonesia work as maids in the Middle East and various Asian countries, often leaving their families behind for the promise of steady income. But safety concerns led Indonesia to temporarily bar domestic workers from going to the Middle East from 2011 to 2013.In 2015, it barred them from going to 21 countries, mostly in the Middle East, after Saudi Arabia executed two Indonesian domestic workers in one week on murder convictions. Many Indonesians have sought work in Saudi Arabia anyway.The two countries agreed last month to ease those restrictions, allowing a limited number of Indonesian workers to go to Saudi Arabia. On Wednesday, Hanif Dhakiri, the Indonesian manpower minister, said he was reviewing that decision, The Jakarta Post reported. Ms. Hidayah and other activists are urging him to cancel it.Last year, Indonesia also revised its law on protecting overseas workers to improve training for workers before they go abroad, streamline administrative services and increase coordination among different levels of government.Indonesian officials say they have repeatedly asked Saudi officials to notify them before executions are carried out. Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, the Indonesian Foreign Ministrys director for overseas citizen protection, said Ms. Tuti had spoken to her mother on a video call less than two weeks ago, saying she was healthy and not worried about being executed, according to The Post.In addition to facing physical abuse, migrant workers often struggle to adjust to the cultural differences in Saudi Arabia, whose strict interpretation of Islamic law forces foreigners to abandon many of their customs. Last week, 19 Filipina workers were arrested at a Halloween party in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. They were temporarily released to the custody of the Philippine Embassy on Wednesday, according to Rappler, a Philippine news site.

World

Credit...George Tames/The New York TimesMarch 11, 2016David M. Gates, an ecologist who sounded early warnings that fossil fuels, fertilizers and pesticides posed a potentially fatal threat to the global environment, died on March 4 in Ann Arbor, Mich. He was 94.The cause was heart failure, his daughter Heather Gates said.Echoing Silent Spring, Rachel Carsons galvanizing 1962 exhortation against pesticides and weedkillers, and presaging the creation of the federal Environmental Protection Agency by President Richard M. Nixon in 1970, Dr. Gates was in the vanguard of scientists who raised the alarm about an ecological crisis that would culminate in global warming from greenhouse gases.We will go down in history known as an elegant technological society which underwent biological disintegration for lack of ecological understanding, he said in 1968.As he grew more accustomed to playing Cassandra, Dr. Gates grimly predicted a planet half-starved, depressed billions gasping in air depleted of oxygen and laden with pollutants, thirsting for thickened, blighted water.He repeated that dire warning in testimony to congressional committees, in speeches and in publications, and as an adviser to the United States Public Health Service, which helped shaped provisions of the Clean Air Act.By 1977, he was warning that dependence on coal, oil, gas and other fossil fuels would mean warmer global climate, raise ocean levels.David Murray Gates was born in Manhattan, Kan., on May 27, 1921. He was adopted by Frank C. Gates, a plant ecologist at Kansas State University, and the former Margaret Thompson, a kindergarten teacher.An Eagle Scout, he graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor of science degree in physics in 1942 and earned his masters and doctorate there, too.During World War II, working at the University of Michigan and at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, he conducted research on a proximity fuse to improve targeting by antiaircraft guns. The fuse was an electronic device designed to detect its target and detonate if it flew within about 75 feet. He later studied radioactivity in the upper atmosphere.But he also had a passion for botany acquired in boyhood. Merging it with his expertise in physics, he was able to apply a precision to plant ecology that had been lacking in his fathers approach, leading him into a new science, biophysical ecology.As early as 1959, Dr. Gates propounded the revolutionary theory that a plant would be healthy as long as it maintained an equilibrium between the amount of energy it absorbed and the amount it gave off.I elected somewhat arbitrarily to work on plants first, he recalled, because they dont bite and run around.In 1965, he left a teaching post at the University of Colorado to become director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, a 70-acre oasis in St. Louis, and a professor at Washington University there. He joined the University of Michigan faculty in 1971 as a professor of botany and director of the biological station. He was named professor emeritus in 1991.His wife, the former Marian Penley, died in 2006. In addition to his daughter Heather, he is survived by two other daughters, Julie and Marilyn Gates; a son, Murray; and four grandchildren.Dr. Gates published six books, including the definitive Biophysical Ecology in 1980.He was immortalized several years ago when students on a field trip to Lake of the Clouds in Michigans Upper Peninsula discovered a new microscopic blue-green algal diatom species and named it Brachysira gatesii in his honor.

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News AnalysisCredit...Pool photo by Andrew HarnikNov. 7, 2018WASHINGTON The goal of a diplomatic meeting set for Thursday seemed simple: Nail down a plan for a second summit between President Trump and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.But finalizing the meeting itself between Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, and one of Mr. Kims top compatriots proved harder than expected. The State Department announced early Wednesday that it had been canceled.Ongoing conversations continue to take place, the statement said tersely.The cancellation leaves little doubt that the diplomatic process between the United States and North Korea is now mired in quicksand after peaking in Singapore with the initial summit between the two leaders. There are mismatched demands and expectations on both sides, and the pitfalls have only gotten more obvious in recent weeks.At the White House later Wednesday, Mr. Trump said the meeting would be rescheduled and insisted that were very happy with how its going with North Korea.Were in no rush, he said, adding that he expected to again sit down with Mr. Kim early next year. The sanctions are on. The missiles have stopped, the rockets have stopped. The hostages are home.Last Friday, North Korea veered toward hostility as its foreign ministry warned the country would return to a policy of strengthening its nuclear force if the Trump administration did not lift economic sanctions. That announcement did not bode well for prospects of a successful meeting between Mr. Pompeo and the North Korean party official, Kim Yong-chol, a hard-line general and former intelligence chief.North Korea suspended its nuclear tests in September 2017, but American experts believe Pyongyang continues to develop fissile material, has 30 to 60 nuclear warheads and might have a ballistic missile capable of hitting the continental United States. North Korea can produce enough fissile material for six to seven bombs annually, said Siegfried Hecker, a Stanford University nuclear scientist.Mr. Trump has said he and Kim Jong-un fell in love after meeting in Singapore and that North Korea was moving forward with promises to denuclearize, the reality is otherwise, according to findings by American intelligence officials. North Korea is still refusing to turn over an accounting of its nuclear assets to the United States and other nations, a demand that the Trump administration sees as an important step toward denuclearization.Instead, North Korean officials say the United States must agree first to formally declare the end of the Korean War, which halted with an armistice in 1953. The South Korean government, intent on improving relations with North Korea, has also pushed for this.I think Pompeo again is in a bit of pickle, said Jung H. Pak, an expert on North Korea at the Brookings Institution and a former C.I.A. analyst. North Korea has been clear about what theyre not willing to do.In a statement on Monday, Heather Nauert, the chief State Department spokeswoman, said Mr. Pompeo and Stephen Biegun, the special representative for North Korea, planned to discuss steps toward progress in the Thursday meeting with Kim Yong-chol, the envoy from Pyongyang.Among the four main points agreed to in Singapore, Ms. Nauert said, was the final, fully verified denuclearization of the DPRK, or the Democratic Peoples Republic of North Korea, the formal name of North Korea.But that is a notable change in wording from the agreement reached in June.The third of the four points in that agreement said North Korea commits to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, according to the White House statement from the summit. North Korea has interpreted this as meaning all sides agreeing to give up arms.North Korean officials also have stressed the two points ahead of denuclearization to argue that forging a formal declaration to the end of the Korean War happen first. Those points called on the United States and North Korea to establish a new relationship with the aim of peace and prosperity and try to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.Last month, Mr. Pompeo met with the North Korean leader in Pyongyang. The chief American diplomat described it as a good trip and announced a modest agreement by Mr. Kim to allow outside inspectors to enter Punggye-Ri, a network of underground tunnels where North Korea has conducted all its nuclear tests.Ms. Pak said North Koreas offers so far have been minor compared to what it is asking of the United States in return the formal end-of-war declaration and an easing of harsh economic sanctions.Because the North Korea nuclear program is so advanced, this is like North Korea offering to sell us Windows 97 at a price higher than it warrants, Ms. Pak said. She said Mr. Trump had already given away important leverage by agreeing to stop joint military exercises with South Korea.After Mr. Pompeos trip in October, Mr. Biegun was supposed to meet with Choe Son-hui, North Koreas vice foreign minister. But that never happened, marking another sign of lackluster diplomacy.While Mr. Trump has generally been effusive about the warming relations, there have been rough patches throughout.Mr. Pompeo was kept waiting when he met with Kim Yong-chol in July in Pyongyang. Afterward, the North Korean government said the Trump administration was pushing a unilateral and gangster-like demand for denuclearization. A month later, in August, Mr. Trump abruptly canceled a trip Mr. Pompeo was scheduled to make to North Korea.Talks between North Korea and the administration of President Moon Jae-in of South Korea have been going much more smoothly.Mr. Moon is trying to arrange a meeting by years end with Kim Jong-un in Seoul, following on the South Korean presidents landmark visit to North Korea in September. That would be their fourth meeting this year.On Nov. 3, a commentary in Rodong Sinmun, an official Workers Party newspaper in North Korea, encouraged the two Koreas to move forward with an end-of-war declaration. It described a vital demand of the Korean nation that the two governments ease the military tension on the Korean Peninsula and remove the danger of war.On the inter-Korean process, its been continued progress on all fronts, said John Delury, a professor at Yonsei University in Seoul. The Americans should catch up to the South Koreans.On Friday, the subject of North Korea will no doubt come up again when Mr. Pompeo meets in Washington with Yang Jiechi, a senior Chinese foreign policy official. Jim Mattis, the defense secretary, is expected to meet the same day with General Wei Fenghe, Chinas defense minister.The meetings are part of a regular dialogue that Mr. Trump and Xi Jinping, president of China, agreed to in 2017. Since then, relations between the two nations have worsened, mostly because of a trade war that Mr. Trump started.

World

Business BriefingNov. 30, 2015Japans industrial output rose in October for a second straight month, and retail sales grew much faster than expected, according to data released on Monday. The latest numbers should ease concerns among policy makers after reports last week showed weakness in household spending and consumer inflation. Those areas have kept pressure on the Bank of Japan to increase its already huge stimulus efforts. The Trade Ministry said on Monday that factory output rose 1.4 percent in October from the previous month; economists had estimated 1.9 percent. Separate data showed retail sales rose 1.8 percent in the year ended October, more than the expected gain of 0.8 percent.

Business

Credit...Andre Penner/Associated PressNov. 28, 2016A probable case of local transmission of the Zika virus has been reported in Texas, state health officials announced on Monday, making it the second state, after Florida, in which the infection is thought to have been carried from person to person by mosquitoes.The patient is a woman who is not pregnant and lives in Brownsville, on the Gulf Coast near the Mexican border. The states first case of chikungunya, a virus spread by the type of mosquito that carries Zika, was confirmed this year in Brownsville.Medical investigators must now determine whether the infection is spreading and, if so, how many people may have become infected. Officials have begun asking the womans neighbors for urine samples and trapping mosquitoes to test for the virus.State and county health officials are working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the case. The state medical operations center has been activated to help with contact tracing, mosquito surveillance and public education.The C.D.C. sent a training team to Texas this year but has not yet been asked to send an emergency response team, said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the agencys director.No travel alert suggesting that pregnant women avoid the area will be issued now, Dr. Frieden said, because a single case does not constitute evidence of continuing local transmission. Most local cases are isolated dead ends, he said.Confirmation of several cases within a roughly one-square-mile area for more than about two weeks, despite aggressive mosquito control, would prompt an alert from federal authorities.In Florida this year, the C.D.C. first advised pregnant women to avoid Wynwood, the neighborhood where the first cases in Miami were discovered, and later suggested they avoid all of Miami-Dade County.There have now been 4,444 confirmed cases of Zika infection in the continental United States, including 1,114 in pregnant women. Most of those infected had traveled to countries where the virus had been spreading, but 182 of the infections were contracted in Florida by people who had not visited such places.The Texas patient, who was not identified, told investigators that she had not traveled recently to anywhere the virus had been spreading. She had no other risk factors, such as having sex with someone who had visited an area with Zika transmission.We knew it was only a matter of time before we saw a Zika case spread by a mosquito in Texas, said Dr. John Hellerstedt, the state health commissioner.Residents of Brownsville, a city of 183,000, are concerned but not fearful, Mayor Tony Martinez said on Monday.I dont think its something that people need to be alarmed about, but by the same token, they need to be cautious about it and report anything that needs to be reported to our health department, Mr. Martinez said.On the coast, we kind of hoped that it wouldnt happen, he added, but the likelihood was pretty high.Dr. Carmen Rocco, a Brownsville pediatrician, said she had been checking her patients for Zika, but none so far had been infected. Most of her patients are poor enough to be on Medicaid, and she praised state health officials for reinstating a Medicaid benefit for mosquito repellent.Families were taking advantage of that, she said.While cold weather is arriving in other parts of the country, southern Texas has had an unusually hot autumn, making it more hospitable to the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that transmit Zika.Even in normal years, Aedes aegypti can persist in the Brownsville area well into December, so new cases may be confirmed in January or later.I predicted last April that we would see cases along the Texas Gulf Coast this summer, said Dr. Peter J. Hotez, the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. This is now the one case we know about, but we dont know if there are dozens or hundreds.Because of the lack of funds from Congress, there has been no active surveillance along the Gulf Coast, he added. Those cases in Florida were found by serendipity.Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the Department of State Health Services in Texas, said the new case was discovered because the woman fell ill and was tested for Zika infection by a local doctor, who alerted public health authorities. All such cases are investigated to see if a patient has a travel history or other risk factors that might explain the infection.Pregnant women should continue to protect themselves from mosquito bites there and elsewhere in Texas, Mr. Van Deusen said.Mosquito control measures will be stepped up, he said, but he did not know if they would involve aerial spraying of pesticides like Naled and larvicides like Bti.In the Wynwood section of Miami, mosquito swarms did not decrease enough to stop disease transmission until both types of aerial spraying were used.Thousands of Mexicans and Americans cross bridges over the Rio Grande each day in the Brownsville area; it is possible that the virus has been spreading in Matamoros, Mexico, just across the border.In 2002, when there was a small outbreak of dengue in Brownsville, Dr. Hotez said, there turned out to be a much larger one in Matamoros. Both cities have poor neighborhoods where residents lack air-conditioning and window screens, he said, but many more Matamoros residents live in poverty.We wont know how widespread the virus really was until babies with microcephaly begin being born, probably in the spring, Dr. Hotez said, referring to the Zika virus and its link to the birth defect. And I expect it to return next year.The C.D.C. regularly collaborates with Mexican health authorities, and Mexico has quite a strong mosquito control program, Dr. Frieden said.Exactly how much Zika infection there may be in nearby parts of Mexico is unknown. We know there is transmission in the border areas, Dr. Frieden said. But exactly where, we dont know.

Health

Credit...Andy Jacobsohn/The Dallas Morning News, via Associated PressJune 13, 2018WASHINGTON In the latest sign of the Trump administrations outreach to religious conservatives ahead of a critical midterm election, Vice President Mike Pence told a large gathering of pastors Wednesday that the White House would continue to fight for evangelical priorities. He appealed for the communitys continued support, even as his appearance led to complaints that a religious event was being used for political gain.This is a pivotal year in the life of our nation, Mr. Pence told the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, where nearly 10,000 evangelical pastors gathered in Dallas. Be assured of this, President Trump and I are going to continue to fight for what we know is right.Mr. Pence recited a list of Trump administration actions that appealed to the conservative evangelical community, which constitutes one of the presidents biggest blocs of supporters. Among the accomplishments he cited were the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court; advancing anti-abortion priorities across the government; opening an American embassy in Jerusalem; passing tax reform; and freeing Christian hostages from North Korea.This progress, Mr. Pence said, is the result of the support of men and women like so many of you, who supported our president not only in 2016 but every day since.The Southern Baptist Conventions annual gathering in June draws thousands of evangelical influencers from across the country, presenting a rich opportunity for the administration to reach one of its most supportive voter bases. More than 80 percent of white evangelicals voted for Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence in 2016, and Southern Baptist churches have more than 15 million members.While the convention has at times had Republican leaders speak, its stated purpose is to focus on evangelism and missionary work. But Mr. Pence mentioned the president more than three dozen times in his 30 minute speech.There is only one way you can sum up this administration, he said. It has been 500 days of promises made and promises kept.Mr. Pence was not originally on the conventions schedule, but his office reached out to the groups leadership to express interest in participating, and he was announced as a speaker earlier this week. A White House official said that his appearance was first discussed several weeks ago.Last week, Mr. Pence addressed the Faith and Freedom Coalitions Road to Majority conference, and he has addressed the March for Life twice since taking office. On Thursday morning, he is scheduled to speak to the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast and Conference in Washington.But the Trump presidency does not inspire lockstep allegiance among evangelicals, and that divide was evident this week in Dallas. On Tuesday, open protest over Mr. Pences participation broke out on the convention floor, when some pastors made several motions to prevent the vice president from addressing the group. Some were especially concerned about the administrations stance on immigration and race, and Mr. Pences allegiance to a president who has been accused of multiple instances of sexual misconduct.Garrett Kell, a pastor from Alexandria, Va., proposed using the time allotted to Mr. Pence for a prayer session, to avoid sending a signal that evangelical faith is aligned with the Trump administration. The measure failed to pass, but, significantly, a third of the attendees voted to support his proposal.Some pastors decided to not attend the vice presidents speech in protest, and said they would pray instead. Cam Triggs, a pastor in Orlando, Fla., who started the Grace Alive church last year and who supported a resolution at the convention on racial reconciliation, said several factors prompted him to skip the vice presidents speech.As a minority, I definitely feel hurt by this particular allowance for him to speak at the convention, by the insensitivity of remarks by the administration, Mr. Triggs, 30, said in an interview, alluding to topics like immigration. For some people, he added, It can appear as campaign mobilization.Dean Inserra, who leads City Church in Tallahassee, Fla., a 1,000-person congregation comprising mostly young people, said that much of the pushback on Mr. Pences appearance came from nonwhite pastors. Right now, the reputation we have is an organization of Trump supporters, he said in an interview. It shows the world that we are more of a voting bloc for the GOP, and that is really unfortunate.But the majority of attendees supported Mr. Pences participation. He received several standing ovations, and someone even called out, Four more years! as he started to speak. That says so much about this administration, that he would want to come and express his appreciation to us for all that we do, Brandon Park, who leads Connection Point Church in Raytown, Mo., said in an interview.Evangelicals hear what they want to about the Trump administration, he said, adding Its like Yanny versus Laurel.

Politics

Joey Fatone No 'NSYNC Reunion at the Super Bowl And Don't Bank on Janet 1/23/2018 1/22/18 TMZSports.com Joey Fatone is tearin' up the hearts of 'NSYNC fans across the country -- officially shutting down all hope of a Super Bowl 52 reunion with Justin Timberlake. "I'm here right now," Joey told TMZ Sports outside Delilah over the weekend. "If I was doing something, I'd be at rehearsals right now ... there's your proof." Remember ... we spoke to Fatone before JT signed on for the Big Game -- and at the time, he said an 'NSYNC halftime show could happen if a few things fell into place. OCTOBER 2017 TMZSports.com Joey insists those plans never materialized -- and JT will be rollin' solo next Sunday in Minnesota. Fatone also told us why he thinks Janet Jackson didn't get a Super Bowl call-back ... you're gonna wanna hear his explanation.

Entertainment

Sports of The TimesCredit...Josh Haner/The New York TimesFeb. 20, 2014SOCHI, Russia I ran to the first skating insider I could find: Kurt Browning, a four-time world champion who had been commentating for Canadian television. Could he explain what just happened?I dont know, guys, Browning said, just a few minutes after being oh-so-sure that Kim Yu-na was the winner of the womens figure skating competition at the Sochi Olympics, and that she easily had beaten Russias Adelina Sotnikova. I just couldnt see how Yu-na and Sotnikova were so close in the components, he said. I was shocked. What, suddenly, she just became a better skater overnight? I dont know what happened. Im still trying to figure it out.Browning and two of his colleagues continued to pore over the judging details, looking at sheets of dozens of numbers representing things like base values and GOEs (that would be grades of execution, of course) and each anonymous judges scores. ImageCredit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesI stepped back for a moment and realized that the whole situation could not be more ridiculous.If Browning, a former Olympic figure skater who remains involved with the sport, couldnt pinpoint why Sotnikova had just pulled off a major upset of the 2010 Olympic champion, how could fans and television viewers be expected to understand what happened? And that is the enduring problem with figure skating. Its why the sport has dropped in participation and why its popular among mainstream fans only every four years. Its scoring system is too convoluted and opaque. Its history, which includes the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics judging scandal, shows that it can be corrupted.One of the judges for Thursdays womens competition is married to the general director of the Russian figure skating federation. Another, from Ukraine, was at the center of a voting scandal in ice dancing at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. The skaters, their coaches and the public are not allowed to know how these or any of the other seven judges voted. The sports international governing body chooses to keep the individual votes a secret. So the conspiracy theories were immediate and fierce.Sotnikovas performance was excellent and electric, but many observers seemed to think Kim deserved another gold medal. Some people were just plain confused, and they cant be blamed.Yu-na Kim outskated her, but its not just a skating competition anymore its math, Browning said, explaining that Sotnikova racked up little points here and there to move ahead of Kim. The governing body, with its judging ranks tarnished by questionable officials and its scoring system favoring math whizzes over artists, is killing its own sport. But the athletes suffer the most. Ashley Wagner of the United States finished seventh. She said she believed the poor judging tainted the final outcome. In the long program Thursday, she was ranked behind fifth-place Yulia Lipnitskaya, the 15-year-old Russian who was a favorite to win the gold until she stumbled in her short program.In her long program, Lipnitskaya fell on one of her triple jumps. Wagner stayed on her feet, and later blamed the judges for their irregular, inexplicable scoring. Its confusing and we need to make it clear for people, Wagner said of the judging system, which has been in place for about a decade. Im speechless. This sport needs to be held accountable if it wants more people to believe in it. Adelina Sotnikova of Russia delivered a sophisticated performance to win the gold medal.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesSlide 1 of 15 Adelina Sotnikova of Russia delivered a sophisticated performance to win the gold medal.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesIts easy to feel sorry for both Kim and Sotnikova. Kim is one of the best skaters in history appearing graceful and effortless on the ice and has said this would be the last competition of her skating career. Sotnikova skated with a flair and charisma that rallied the raucous Russian crowd around her. At one point, as she glided across the rink, she raised her hands to egg on the fans, who responded with a roar.Paul Wylie, the 1992 Olympic silver medalist, said it was a brilliant move for her to realize how crucial it was to win over the crowd. The whole arena heard the cheers and felt the stands shaking as the spectators stamped their feet for her. Surely the judges heard it and felt it, too.You have human beings pushing the buttons, Wylie said of the judges, noting that human beings cant help but be swayed whether consciously or unconsciously by a biased audience.He said that figure skaters learn to live with that bias, and that they know they might win some but also might lose some.Will spectators live with it, or will they stop watching? Sotnikova scored 149.95 points in the free skate. It was a massive leap from her previous best, recorded last month, of 131.63. I asked Wylie how he would explain Sotnikovas sudden improvement to the casual fan. He paused, and couldnt come up with an answer. Its figure skating at its finest, right? he said.Everyone around him laughed.

Sports

Credit...Pool photo by Lintao ZhangMarch 19, 2017BEIJING Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson and President Xi Jinping of China cast aside their differences on Sunday with a public display of cooperation, sidestepping areas of disagreement even as North Korea made another defiant statement by showing off a new missile engine.In the highest-level face-to-face meeting between the United States and China since President Trump took office, the two sides made no mention of other contentious issues, including possible punitive trade measures against China and Washingtons unhappiness with Beijings assertiveness in the South China Sea.Greeting the new secretary of state in an ornate room in the Great Hall of the People, Mr. Xi thanked Mr. Tillerson for a smooth transition to the Trump administration and expressed his appreciation for the sentiment that the China-U.S. relationship can only be defined by cooperation and friendship.At least in public, Mr. Tillerson adopted a far different tone than that of his boss, who said in a Twitter post on Friday that China had done little to help on North Korea. Instead, Mr. Tillerson said the United States looked forward to stronger ties with China.China has been North Koreas biggest backer, but relations between the two countries have been strained as the North continues to pursue the development of nuclear weapons. Hours before the meeting between Mr. Tillerson and Mr. Xi, North Korea stuck its nose under the tent, announcing that it had tested a new high-thrust missile engine that analysts said could be used in an intercontinental missile.The test, apparently timed for Mr. Tillersons visit to Beijing, was another sign that North Korea was expanding its missile capabilities, with the state news media reporting that the countrys leader, Kim Jong-un, had presided over an event of historic significance.By testing the engine on Saturday, Mr. Kim appeared to be giving China an additional headache by goading Mr. Tillerson, who said in South Korea on Friday that if the North elevated its threat, a pre-emptive strike by the United States would be on the table.The missile engine created the perfect test of the red line drawn by Mr. Tillerson in Seoul, said Evans J. R. Revere, a former principal deputy assistant secretary of state specializing in North Korea.Mr. Kim said in January that North Korea was in the final stages of preparing to test an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM: a weapon that could reach the United States. Based on what just happened at the test site, he doesnt seem to have been kidding, Mr. Revere said.During his 24-hour stay in Beijing, Mr. Tillerson, who also visited Japan during his first trip to Asia as secretary of state, took the unusual step of repeating rosy Chinese language on the state of relations between the United States and China.The relationship is guided by nonconflict, nonconfrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, Mr. Tillerson said at a news conference with Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The Chinese state news media quoted Mr. Tillersons echo of the Chinese phrasing, noting it approvingly.But behind the scenes, diplomats and analysts said there was little doubt that Mr. Tillerson had pressed China to enforce sanctions against North Korea and raised the possibility that the United States would bolster its missile defense in Asia if China did not rein in Mr. Kim.China strongly objects to the installation of a missile defense system in South Korea, and the polite public words from Mr. Tillerson were designed to give China face, said a diplomat in Beijing who spoke on the condition of anonymity per diplomatic custom.Mr. Tillerson was almost certainly sterner in private, according to the diplomat. I believe Tillerson repeated in the meetings what he said publicly in South Korea and Japan, and backed up Trump in his tweet, he said.That meant some public warmth was necessary, the diplomat said, because aside from talking about North Korea, Mr. Tillerson also had the task of setting a broad agenda for a summit meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi that is expected to take place in Florida in early April.At the summit meeting, China is expected to seek a reaffirmation of the One China policy, under which the United States recognizes a single Chinese government in Beijing and does not maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan.Mr. Trump committed to that policy in a telephone conversation with Mr. Xi in early February, but Chinese leaders, on edge about the presidents unpredictability, are eager to further secure it. Mr. Trumps trade team is expected to be in place by the time Mr. Xi reaches Florida, and the Chinese will be looking to deter plans for tariffs and more stringent scrutiny of Chinese investment in the United States.Chinese analysts said Mr. Tillerson had probably encountered resistance to his arguments that the missile defense system known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad was of little danger to China, which firmly believes that the system erodes its nuclear deterrent.Tillerson will repeat many times this is no threat to China, but Xi wont believe it, said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University.The best chance for cooperation on North Korea might come if China decides to more dutifully enforce some economic sanctions, Mr. Shi said.That would be a relatively small price to pay the Americans for a smooth summit meeting in Florida, although it would further hurt Chinas already strained ties with North Korea, he said.Maybe Xi will broaden the punishment against North Korea somewhat, at the cost of further damaging relations with North Korea, Mr. Shi said. We have punished North Korea many times, and Kim Jong-un hates China more and more. Maybe China will take some small steps to shut down a few trading companies, but not all.China keeps the rudimentary North Korean economy running by supplying almost all its oil, and there is little chance Mr. Xi would consider shutting down the pipeline, even though China abruptly halted imports of North Koreas coal last month, ending a valuable source of foreign currency for Pyongyang.China wont turn the sanctions from targeting the North Korean nuclear program into a punishment for ordinary North Korean people, The Global Times, a state-run newspaper that often reflects official thinking, said Friday.But on the eve of Mr. Tillersons visit to Beijing, a Washington research organization specializing in nuclear matters released a study that it said showed that China was not enforcing the sanctions aimed at the nuclear program.China has allowed large quantities of materials used to make a component of hydrogen bombs to pass through its borders to the North, according to the research group, the Institute for Science and International Security.A newly operating plant in North Korea that produces a key ingredient for hydrogen bombs is a glaring example of Chinas ignoring sanctions, the group said.The study found that a plant producing lithium 6 used to manufacture hydrogen bombs that are more powerful than conventional nuclear weapons was located at a chemical complex on North Koreas east coast.The North purchased mercury and lithium hydroxide in China, and the items were transported across the border, the president of the institute, David Albright, said. The two commodities are needed for the production of lithium 6, he said.

World

Credit...Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressFeb. 14, 2014On the Miami Dolphins practice field, players simulated sexual acts as they taunted a teammate about his sister. In the teams hallways and meeting rooms, racist epithets and homophobic language flowed. One coach gave an offensive lineman an inflatable male doll as part of his Christmas stocking stuffer. Many of the Dolphins knew, but did not say or do anything.The players apparently considered this behavior part of the job. In the wake of it, a young player, Jonathan Martin, quit the team and debated giving up on his career, feeling such psychological duress that he said he twice considered committing suicide.In a 144-page report commissioned by the N.F.L. to explore allegations of bullying within the Dolphins, the life of players was depicted in extraordinary and often unseemly detail, evoking Lord of the Flies more than the highlight shows that saturate autumn Sundays. The report determined that three Miami offensive linemen Richie Incognito, John Jerry and Mike Pouncey engaged in a pattern of harassment toward Martin; another young offensive lineman; and an assistant trainer, including improper touching and sexual taunting.The verbal and physical abuse was widespread and even celebrated, according to Ted Wells, a defense lawyer who was hired by the N.F.L. in November to investigate the scandal that engulfed the Dolphins and tarnished the league, which has attained exceptional popularity while facing issues like spying, bounty programs and the long-term dangers of brain trauma. Wellss report, released Friday morning, was based largely on emails, text messages and more than 100 interviews conducted with Miami personnel, from players to coaches, management to support staff (the sensitive subject matter was included with permission of Martins family). It determined, at bottom, that the harassment of Martin resembled a classic case of bullying, where persons who are in a position of power harass the less powerful.But after presenting his findings, in often vulgar and explicit detail, Wellss conclusion was restrained: We encourage the creation of new workplace conduct rules and guidelines that will help ensure that players respect each other as professionals and people.At the end of a week when an N.F.L. draft prospects coming out revived the debate about whether the league was ready for an openly gay player, the reports descriptions of homophobic comments and bullying seem to suggest that the N.F.L. has a long way to go. The investigators seemed to accept the notion of locker-room behavior as boys being boys, writing that they recognize that the communications of young, brash, highly competitive football players often are vulgar and aggressive.Still, the investigators said that improvements must be made. With the recent announcement by Michael Sam, it is even more urgent a tolerant atmosphere exist throughout the league, the report said.ImageCredit...Credits from left: Lynne Sladky/Associated Press, Ronald Martinez/Getty Images, J Pat Carter/Associated PressAlthough the report also concluded that Martins teammates did not intend to drive him from the team or cause him lasting emotional injury, it is possible, even likely, that teams will enact stricter and more specific anti-harassment policies intended to prevent a recurrence of the ugliness that was made public in late October, when Martin left the Dolphins. The league, in a statement, said it would comment as appropriate after reviewing the report.The Dolphins owner, Stephen Ross, released a statement saying he had read the report and was disturbed by the language used and the behavior described.I have made it clear to everyone within our organization that this situation must never happen again, Ross said. We are committed to address this issue forcefully and to take a leadership role in establishing a standard that will be a benchmark in all of sports.Incognitos lawyer, Mark Schamel, took issue with the report and said it was replete with errors.It is disappointing that Mr. Wells would have gotten it so wrong, but not surprising, Schamel said in a statement. The truth, as reported by the Dolphins players and as shown by the evidence, is that Jonathan Martin was never bullied by Richie Incognito or any member of the Dolphins offensive line.Incognito was suspended indefinitely Nov. 3 amid allegations that he bullied Martin, with whom he shared a complicated relationship. He was as apt to help Martin, who is black, improve his blocking technique or ask about his evening plans as he was to demean him with racial insults or homophobic language. More than 1,000 of their text messages, from October 2012 to November 2013, were made public at the end of January, and their exchanges many containing lewd descriptions and profane language meandered from women to football to their social calendar. On the surface, the messages depict a friendship that seemed genuine.But inside Martin seethed, humiliated by the persistent abuse leveled by Incognito, who is white and was identified as the primary instigator of the taunting.The mistreatment began early in the 2012 season, when the intensity and frequency of the insults increased soon after Martin declined to fight back when Jerry, who is black, called him a bitch. Throughout the season, Martin often arrived at team headquarters repeating what became to him a mantra: Just get through the day. He did, but not without enduring shame. Sometimes, Incognito would make jokes about slavery in his presence, and Martin would be teased for not being black enough. At other times, Martin was subjected to crude sexual references often accompanied by obscene gestures about his sister, whom his three tormentors had never met. Martins sister was also mentioned during a string of five text messages, sent by Incognito on Jan. 6, 2013, that Martin found particularly revolting. Insulting him with homophobic language, Incognito also referred to Martins sister in sexually graphic terms. Martin did not express his anger to Incognito, but he told investigators he was extremely upset because that exchange reminded him how he had failed to defend his family on the many occasions that his teammates had denigrated them. While in Florida for off-season workouts that April, Martin sent his mother a lengthy text message detailing his anxieties and hesitancy for confrontation. Worried about his mental health, she flew to Florida, and it was there, at a team event in Fort Lauderdale, that several teammates made inappropriate comments about her. Jerry, for one, suggested that he could have sex with her and Martins sister at the same time. When Martin discussed his mental-health issues with team officials after failing to report to voluntary workouts for two straight days, he was referred to a psychiatrist, who placed him on antidepressant medication. The abuse continued into the summer, training camp and last season. On Oct. 28, Martin resolved he could tolerate no more.After being mocked throughout the day, debased with derogatory language, Martin vowed that he would leave if the linemen did one more thing to him. While Martin was waiting in the cafeteria line for dinner, Incognito called him a derogatory term and told him not to join them for dinner. When Martin tried to sit down at their table, they left, and he flung his tray on the floor and left the building. Martin checked himself into a hospital to receive psychiatric services. Martin ignored several text messages from Incognito for three days before engaging him on Oct. 31. Their exchange concluded with Incognito telling him: If u need anything hit me up. Im here for you my dude. A few hours later, in a text to Pouncey, who is biracial, Incognito called Martin a gay slur and said that Martin should never be allowed to return. Pouncey agreed and called Martin a coward for snitching. In addition to Martin, an unnamed young offensive lineman was said to have been taunted with homophobic insults and touched in a mockingly suggestive manner. Jim Turner, the teams offensive line coach, gave all of his linemen, except the unnamed one, inflatable female dolls before Christmas 2012. When interviewed, Turner said he could not remember giving a male doll to that lineman. Martin was said to have engaged in the teasing, but not the touching, of that player.The investigators also determined that the harassment extended to members of the staff. An unnamed assistant trainer, who was born in Japan, was targeted by Incognito, Jerry and Pouncey, the report said. In December 2012, on the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the three linemen wore Japanese headbands given to them by the trainer and jokingly threatened to harm the assistant trainer in retaliation for the Pearl Harbor attack.Martin told investigators that they had mocked the trainer by using an Asian accent and by making jokes about his mother and girlfriend. They also called him a dirty communist or North Korean, the report said. The trainer, who did not return messages seeking comment, was said to have confided in Martin that he was upset, but he denied in interviews that Incognito had offended him because he said he was worried about losing players trust.Herman Edwards, a former head coach who also played in the N.F.L., said what happened in the Dolphins locker room was far from normal. He found it surprising that the taunting continued as long as it did without a coach, staff member or team leader intervening. You have to have some kind of idea of what is going on in your own locker room, Edwards said. Coaches always have to have an eye on whats going on in there.

Sports

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/technology/personaltech/free-movies-public-domain.htmlTECH TIPLike books that have lost copyright protection, thousands of movies are in the public domain to watch on your computer or mobile device, or through a set-top TV box.June 26, 2018Q. Amazon and other e-bookstores have a free section of old books in the public domain. Is there a similar place to find old movies that have lost their copyright and that I can legally watch for free on my phone or computer?A. Thousands of films have either lost their copyright or been released into the public domain by their owners, and you can find them in several repositories around the web. Many of the available movies are from the mid-20th century and include works in a variety of genres, including the 1940 comedy His Girl Friday, with Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant; the 1946 Judy Garland musical Till the Clouds Roll By; and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, a 1964 science-fiction romp. ImageCredit...The New York TimesWikipedia has a long list of the major films in the public domain you can browse to get a better idea of whats out there. The visual quality of the digitized movies may vary, but free is free.With its colossal amount of content, YouTube is one place to browse. Some users have created channels devoted to public-domain films you can find by searching the site. In addition to its desktop website, YouTube has mobile apps for streaming video on the go; you can also lean back and watch at home through the YouTube app on many set-top TV boxes.Some websites devoted to collections of public-domain films may simply link to content on YouTube anyway, as the Public Domain Flix site does. Public Domain Movies also has an organized collection of free movies, along with links to download MP4 copies to watch or copy to a mobile device when you have no internet connection.The Internet Archive is another vast online vault of old movies to stream or download, including a large selection of feature films. The site also hosts thousands of short-format movies, video clips from NASA and the quirky Prelinger Archives of industrial and public service films among its extensive collection.Personal Tech invites questions about computer-based technology to [email protected]. This column will answer questions of general interest, but letters cannot be answered individually.

Tech

Nearly 15 million more people died during the first two years of the pandemic than would have been expected during normal times, the organization found. The previous count of virus deaths, from countries reporting, was six million.VideoThe World Health Organization estimated that nearly 15 million more people died in 2020 and 2021 than would have been expected during normal times.CreditCredit...Atul Loke for The New York TimesPublished May 5, 2022Updated May 6, 2022Nearly 15 million more people died during the pandemic than would have in normal times, the World Health Organization said on Thursday, a staggering measure of Covids true toll that laid bare how vastly country after country has undercounted victims.In Mexico, the excess death toll during the first two years of the pandemic was twice as high as the governments official tally of Covid deaths, the W.H.O. found.In Egypt, excess deaths were roughly 12 times as great as the official Covid toll.In Pakistan, the figure was eight times as high.Those estimates, calculated by a global panel of experts assembled by the W.H.O., represent what many scientists see as the most reliable gauge of the total impact of the pandemic. Faced with large gaps in global death data, the expert team set out to calculate excess mortality: the difference between the number of people who died in 2020 and 2021 and the number who would have been expected to die during that time if the pandemic had not happened.Their calculations combined national data on reported deaths with new information from localities and household surveys, and with statistical models that aimed to account for deaths that were missed.Most of the excess deaths were victims of Covid itself, the experts said, but some died because the pandemic made it more difficult to get medical care for ailments such as heart attacks. The previous toll, based solely on death counts reported by countries, was six million.Much of the loss of life from the pandemic was concentrated in 2021, when more contagious variants tore through even countries that had fended off earlier outbreaks. Overall deaths that year were roughly 18 percent higher an extra 10 million people than they would have been without the pandemic, the W.H.O.-assembled experts estimated.Developing nations bore the brunt of the devastation, with nearly eight million more people than expected dying in lower-middle-income nations during the pandemic.Its absolutely staggering what has happened with this pandemic, including our inability to accurately monitor it, said Dr. Prabhat Jha, an epidemiologist at St. Michaels Hospital and the University of Toronto, who was a member of the expert working group that made the calculations. It shouldnt happen in the 21st century.The figures had been ready since January, but their release was stalled by objections from India, which disputes the methodology for calculating how many of its citizens died.Nearly a third of the excess deaths globally 4.7 million took place in India, according to the W.H.O. estimates. The Indian governments own figure through the end of 2021 is 481,080 deaths.But India was far from the only country where deaths were substantially underreported. Where excess deaths far outstripped the number of reported Covid fatalities, experts said the gap could reflect countries struggles to collect mortality data or their efforts to intentionally obscure the toll of the pandemic.ImageCredit...Sergey Ponomarev for The New York TimesIn some countries, flaws in government reports were widely known. Russia, for example, had reported roughly 310,000 Covid deaths by the end of 2021, but the W.H.O. experts indicated that the excess death toll was nearly 1.1 million. That mirrored earlier estimates from a Russian national statistics agency that is fairly independent of the government.Aleksei Raksha, an independent demographer who quit the Russian state statistics service after complaining of the failure to count Covid deaths properly, said that informal orders had been given to local authorities to ensure that in many cases, Covid was not registered as the primary cause of death.Excess deaths have established the true picture, Mr. Raksha said. Russia demonstrated a dismal performance in fighting the pandemic.In other nations, W.H.O. experts used what limited data was available to arrive at estimates jarringly at odds with previous counts, though they cautioned that some of those calculations remained highly uncertain. In Indonesia, for example, the experts leaned heavily on monthly death data from Jakarta, the capital, to estimate that the country had experienced over a million more deaths than normal. That figure would be seven times as high as the reported Covid death toll.Siti Nadia Tarmizi, a spokeswoman for the governments Covid-19 vaccination program, acknowledged that Indonesia had suffered more deaths than the government had reported. She said the problem stemmed in part from people not reporting relatives deaths to avoid complying with government rules for Covid victims funerals. But she said that the W.H.O. estimates were far too high.In Pakistan, Dr. Faisal Sultan, a former health minister, defended the governments death reports, saying that studies of the number of graveyard burials in major cities did not reveal large numbers of uncounted victims of the pandemic.For still other countries that suffered grievously during the pandemic, the W.H.O. estimates illuminated even more startling figures hiding inside already devastating death counts. In Peru, for instance, the expert estimate of 290,000 excess deaths by the end of 2021 was only 1.4 times as high as the reported Covid death toll. But the W.H.O. estimate of 437 excess deaths for every 100,000 Peruvians left the country with among the worlds highest per capita tolls.When a health care system isnt prepared to receive patients who are seriously ill with pneumonia, when it cant provide the oxygen they need to live, or even provide beds for them to lay in so they can have some peace, you get what youve gotten, said Dr. Elmer Huerta, an oncologist and public health specialist who hosts a popular radio show in Peru.In the United States, the W.H.O. estimated that roughly 930,000 more people than expected had died by the end of 2021, compared with the 820,000 Covid deaths that had been officially recorded over the same period.In Mexico, the government has itself kept a tally of excess deaths during the pandemic that appears roughly in line with the W.H.O.s. Those estimates about double the countrys reported Covid death toll reflected what analysts there described as difficulties counting the dead.We responded badly, we reacted slowly. But I think the most serious of all was to not communicate the urgency, the wanting to minimize, minimize, said Xavier Tello, a public health analyst based in Mexico City. Because Mexico wasnt or isnt testing for Covid, a lot of people died and we dont know if they had Covid.The W.H.O.s calculations include people who died directly from Covid, from medical conditions complicated by Covid, or because they had ailments other than Covid but could not get needed treatment because of the pandemic. The excess death estimates also take into account expected deaths that did not occur because of Covid restrictions, such as reductions in traffic accidents or isolation that prevented deaths from the flu and other infectious diseases.Calculating excess deaths is complex, the W.H.O. experts said. About half of countries globally do not regularly report the number of deaths from all causes. Others supply only partial data. In the W.H.O.s African region, the experts said that they had data from only six of 47 countries.Scientists also noted that excess death rates were not necessarily indicative of a countrys pandemic response: Older and younger populations will fare differently in a pandemic, regardless of the response. And the W.H.O. experts said that they did not account for the effects of heat waves or conflicts.Where death figures were missing, the statisticians had to rely on modeling. In those cases, they made predictions based on country-specific information like containment measures, historical rates of disease, temperature and demographics to assemble national figures and, from there, regional and global estimates.W.H.O. officials used the release of their calculations to plead for greater investment in death reporting.When we underestimate, we may underinvest, said Dr. Samira Asma, the W.H.O.s assistant director general for data, analytics and delivery for impact. And when we undercount, we may miss targeting the interventions where they are needed most.ImageCredit...Kirsten Luce for The New York TimesW.H.O. officials cited Britain as an example of a country that had accurately recorded Covid deaths: Their analysis found that about 149,000 more people than normal had died during the pandemic, nearly identical to the number of Covid deaths Britain reported.The disagreement over Indias Covid deaths spilled into public this week when the Indian government on Tuesday abruptly released mortality data from 2020, reporting an 11 percent increase in registered deaths in 2020 compared with average annual deaths registered over the two prior years.Analysts saw the release as an attempt to force the W.H.O. to reconsider its calculations on the eve of publication. Indian health officials said their figures showed that the country had lost fewer people to Covid than outside estimates suggested.But scientists believe that most of the countrys excess mortality occurred in 2021, during a grievous wave caused by the Delta variant. And even Indias 2020 figures gave additional credence to the W.H.O. estimates, said Dr. Jha, who has also studied excess deaths in India.The Indian government wanted to deflect the news, he said, but theyre confirming, at least for 2020, the W.H.O. numbers.Other experts said that Indias refusal to cooperate with the W.H.O. analysis was rooted in the countrys history of ignoring how data can inform policymaking.Its natural to miss some of the Covid deaths, said Dr. Bhramar Mukherjee, a professor of biostatistics at the University of Michigan School of Public Health who has been working with the W.H.O. to review the data. But, she added, Nobodys been this resistant.The Ministry of Health in New Delhi did not respond to requests for comment. W.H.O. officials said that Indias 2020 death figures were released too late to be incorporated into their calculations but that they would carefully review the data.Nations that report Covid deaths more accurately have also been at the center of disputes over the reliability of excess death estimates. In Germany, for example, the W.H.O. experts estimated that 195,000 more people than normal had died during the pandemic, a significantly higher toll than the 112,000 Covid deaths recorded there.But Giacomo De Nicola, a statistician at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, who has studied excess deaths in Germany, said that the countrys rapidly aging population meant that the W.H.O. analysis might have underestimated the number of people who would have been expected to die in a normal year. That, in turn, could have produced overestimates of excess deaths.He said that the W.H.O.-assembled experts had accounted for trends in mortality, but not directly for changes in the age structure of the population. While Germany experienced excess deaths, he said, the W.H.O. estimate for the country seems very high.Overall, the W.H.O. calculations were more conservative than separate analyses released earlier by The Economist and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.Some experts said that the W.H.O. analysis benefited from relying more heavily than other estimates on actual data, even where it was incomplete, as opposed to statistical modeling.Oscar Lopez, Karan Deep Singh, Sofa Villamil, Christopher F. Schuetze, Ivan Nechepurenko, Richard C. Paddock, Muktita Suhartono, Mitra Taj, Julie Turkewitz, Merna Thomas and Salman Masood contributed reporting.

Health

Business BriefingDec. 7, 2015Airbus orders topped 1,000 aircraft from January to November, sending its shares higher as it looked all but certain to win its annual race against its American rival Boeing. Boeing, however, was in good shape to retain its title as the worlds largest jetliner producer as Airbus, a European company, continued to lag on deliveries. Airbus Group shares rose 2.9 percent; Boeing was virtually unchanged. On Monday, Airbus said it had sold 169 aircraft in November, bringing the gross 2015 total to 1,079. After cancellations and model conversions, the net was 1,007. That compares with Boeings 655 gross orders between Jan. 1 and Dec. 2, giving it 568 after cancellations. Airbus handed over 556 aircraft in the first 11 months, including 10 midsize A350s and 24 A380 superjumbos. Boeing remained ahead, with 709 deliveries. Despite the share bounce, analysts said the latest data brought few surprises. But it highlighted Airbuss stronger position for now in the race for orders of upgraded medium-haul jets, potentially casting a shadow over the unveiling this week of Boeings new 737 MAX.

Business

Credit...Daniel KramerFeb. 28, 2017Edward E. David Jr., a researcher who sought to make science more relevant and accessible to presidents and to the public, died on Feb. 13 at his home in Bedminster, N.J. He was 92.His death was confirmed by his wife, Ann.For 28 months, as director of the federal Office of Science and Technology under President Richard M. Nixon, Dr. David successfully lobbied for the first budget increases for grants for nongovernment applied research and development in more than a decade.He also helped draft the administrations proposals for pollution control and alternative energy that followed passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970. He struck partnership agreements with foreign governments and private industry, reorganized the federal scientific bureaucracy, and encouraged Nixon to deliver the first presidential message on science and technology.But elevating research to a higher government priority was problematic, as was getting the president to listen. An article in The Saturday Review of Science concluded in 1972 that Mr. David is politically chaste and Mr. Nixon is scientifically illiterate.After Nixon diluted Dr. Davids authority by appointing a separate technology adviser, and just three weeks before the president abolished the science and technology office altogether, Dr. David quit in frustration early in 1973. The president said the offices advisory and other functions could largely be assumed by the National Science Foundation, a congressionally chartered agency.During his tenure and afterward, when he served on professional and official panels (including some appointed by other presidents), Dr. David warned of the challenges that computers posed to personal privacy, advocated a federal communications network linking local emergency services to provide disaster warnings, expressed alarm at a national learning gap in mathematics, and supported ethical standards for research.While he pressed utility companies to impose pollution controls and explore alternative fuels, in 1972 he questioned the cost-benefit value of stringent auto emission rules and airbags.He favored development of a supersonic transport plane and criticized NASA for relying too heavily on space shuttles as launching vehicles instead of expendable rockets.By the new century, with nongovernment sources spending more on research, he suggested that the presidents science office, which was revived in 1976, become a window on the private sector rather than a more aggressive guiding force.He also vigorously challenged the prevailing view on climate change. He and 15 other scientists were listed as authors of an article in The Wall Street Journal in 2012 that said there is no compelling scientific argument for drastic action to decarbonize the worlds economy and that aggressive greenhouse-gas control policies are not justified economically.Unlike the presidential science advisers who preceded him, Dr. David was an industrial scientist. Before serving in government, he was executive director of the communications systems division of Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he worked from 1950 until his presidential appointment in 1970.He left government for Gould Inc., a technology company, and was president of the Exxon Research and Engineering Company from 1977 to 1986.He was also the United States representative to the NATO Science Committee, a president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the founder of a consulting company.Edward Emil David Jr. was born on Jan. 25, 1925, in Wilmington, N.C., to Edward Emil David and the former Beatrice Liebman.In addition to his wife, the former Ann Hirshberg, he is survived by their daughter, Nancy David Dillon.Mr. David served in the Navy at the end of World War II and earned a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1945. He received a masters degree and a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he specialized in microwaves and noise theory.At Bell Labs, he worked on fabricating an inexpensive artificial larynx to help restore speech after surgery and on technology to prevent airplane hijackings.He was the author of several books. With John G. Truxal of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, he created a laymans school curriculum titled Man Made World: A Course on Theories and Techniques That Contribute to Our Technological Civilization, published in 1968.We cant leave science and technology to the experts, Dr. David said in 1970.I look on science and scientists as the antidote to politics, he said. In all these arguments about pollution, energy, drugs, product safety, some group has to stand up for reality. Thats what science is all about.But, he cautioned, even after the great scientific strides of the 1960s among them landing a man on the moon science has its limits.I believe that by the end of the 1970s we will have solved most of the problems we perceive now: transportation, energy, pollution, Dr. David predicted as the decade began. Its just that we cant do everything.

science

People taking widely used medicines did not face higher rates of infection or more severe illness, new research indicates.Credit...Chris Gallagher/Science SourceMay 1, 2020Drugs that are widely prescribed to treat high blood pressure do not make patients more susceptible to coronavirus infection, or to severe illness if they do become infected, researchers reported on Friday.Their findings are good news for millions of people who take blood pressure drugs that belong to two classes: ACE inhibitors, which include lisinopril, captopril and other drugs with generic names ending in pril; and ARBs, which include losartan, valsartan and other generic drugs ending in sartan. Brand names for ACE inhibitors include Zestril and Prinivil; for ARBs, Cozaar and Atacand.Since the epidemic began, conflicting theories have circulated about whether those drugs could make the disease better or worse, or have any effect at all.The new research was published Friday by The New England Journal of Medicine, and similar findings from China were published last week in JAMA Cardiology.The U.S. study also found no risk linked to three other classes of commonly used blood pressure drugs beta blockers, calcium-channel blockers and thiazide diuretics.Both studies were based on reviewing patients records, which does not provide evidence as strong as the results of controlled clinical trials, where patients are picked at random to take one treatment or another.Concerns arose about the drugs early in the epidemic when reports from China indicated that people with hypertension seemed to fare poorly, and it seemed logical to investigate if the cause was the condition itself or if blood pressure drugs were somehow making patients more vulnerable.In addition, studies in animals had shown that ARBSs and ACE inhibitors could increase the levels in some tissue of a protein called ACE2, which happens to be the substance that the virus grabs onto as it invades cells. In theory, higher levels of that protein in the lungs might help the virus attack by acting as extra handholds, some scientists have warned. But it is not known whether the drugs actually raise ACE2 in human lungs.Confounding the matter was evidence from animal studies that suggested the opposite effect: The drugs might quell inflammation in the lungs and lower the risk of severe disease in coronavirus patients. A controlled trial is about to begin to find out if ACE inhibitors can help Covid-19 patients, the University of California San Diego School of Medicine announced on Thursday.Not surprisingly, patients have been confused and unsettled. Medical societies have urged calm, saying that people should stick with their medications because high blood pressure increases the risks of heart disease, strokes and kidney damage. But the societies also called for research into the issue, and the fears have lingered.I worry because Ive received calls from many patients asking if they should stop their medicine or switch to something else, and some even stopped their medications without asking me, Dr. Harmony Reynolds, the associate director of the cardiovascular research center at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine, said in an interview.Some who check their blood pressure at home tell her it is going up, and she is not sure whether the cause is stress from the pandemic, lack of exercise, changes in their eating habits or avoidance of the drugs.To address the problem, Dr. Reynolds led a team that analyzed the records of 12,594 people who were tested for the coronavirus, including 5,894 who were infected. Some also had high blood pressure. The goal was to determine whether coronavirus infection or severe illness were more common in people taking the blood pressure drugs.The researchers looked at the patients likelihood of being infected, the severity of the illness and the drugs that they were taking before being tested for the virus. They used statistical methods to rule out differences that might be due to age, sex, race, ethnicity, smoking history and other factors. If a blood pressure drug was associated with a difference of more than 10 percent in the risk of being infected or becoming severely ill, they considered that difference clinically meaningful.No meaningful differences emerged.The main message here is that there is no signal of increased risk, and that should be very reassuring, Dr. Reynolds said.

Health

Mark Salling Attempted Suicide Several Times Before Hanging 1/31/2018 Mark Salling tried to kill himself multiple times before he finally took his own life ... law enforcement sources tell TMZ. Sources involved in the investigation tell us their interviews with witnesses paint a dark picture of the actor, who was facing years in prison after pleading guilty to child porn charges. There were "several suicide attempts," according to our sources. TMZ broke the story .. Salling cut his wrists back in August. We got this pic 2 months after the attempt and he was wearing long sleeves in the middle of a heat wave ... presumably to hide the scars. As we first reported, Salling hanged himself on a tree near his home.

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On BaseballCredit...Gene J. Puskar/Associated PressFeb. 18, 2014LAKELAND, Fla. There are no Joba Rules here at the Detroit Tigers spring training base, other than those he has set for himself.Come in to work every day, do my job, Joba Chamberlain said. I learned so much in my seven years in New York a lot the hard way but the most important thing is that if you just do your work, everything else will take care of itself.That could be the case. But while Chamberlain helped to sabotage himself as a Yankee after his 2007 debut of the century, he also had to deal with organizational clumsiness, along with the fickle midges of fate.Remember how those tiny flying insects chose the eighth inning of Chamberlains first postseason game in Cleveland in 2007 to swarm him as he tried to protect a one-run lead? He might have known then and there that his Yankees days were going to be infested with strangeness.Obviously, I didnt do my job that night, he said. But it was also weird. After signing a one-year, $2.5 million deal with Detroit as a free agent, Chamberlain is trying to leave the weirdness behind with a team that won 93 games and made the American League Championship Series last year after losing in the 2012 World Series. The Tigers may be the better team, but they are not the attraction the Yankees are. A small fraction of the reporters who chase the Yankees in Tampa seek out the attention of the Tigers. Chamberlain would prefer to interact with his new teammates in the Tigers congested clubhouse, where he dresses directly across from the headlining starting pitchers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer (who in 2005 beat Chamberlain and his Nebraska Cornhuskers while pitching for Missouri).Down the row are the newly acquired closer, Joe Nathan, and an old Yankees acquaintance, Phil Coke, with whom Chamberlain will compete for innings in front of Nathan and the projected eighth-inning setup man, Bruce Rondon. Asked what role he expects to fill, Chamberlain said: Come in to get the ball to Joe in whatever facet they ask. Until they tell me different, I think and hope thats what its going to be.Hope springs eternal for Chamberlain, who experienced enough change and chagrin in New York to last a baseball lifetime. Few athletes have taken a city the way Chamberlain stormed New York in the late summer of 2007. He was a tornado of raw, unbridled energy, throwing 98-mile-per-hour fastballs while announcing himself as a likely heir to Mariano Rivera.Then came the teams rules regulating his innings; the switch to the starting rotation; an arrest for driving under the influence; an injured pitching shoulder; an unspectacular recovery; and a fall off a trampoline while enjoying a recreational outing with his young son.Instead of succeeding Rivera, Chamberlains final season with the Yankees was most noted for a public verbal confrontation he instigated with the retiring legend.Suffice it to say that Chamberlain was less enthusiastic to revisit that episode than to chalk it up as another hard lesson learned during his New York years.Obviously, it was a misunderstanding, he said. I really dont think it was a big deal between us two. But through the good and the bad, its taught me to be a better teammate. Never a wallflower, and already a playful voice in the Tigers clubhouse, Chamberlain does have a more contemplative side to go with his forever poignant personal story. Harlan Chamberlain, his polio-stricken father, who reared him through thick and thin, cried joyfully in his motorized wheelchair at the sight of his son on a major league mound.Thats what made this opportunity with the Tigers so inviting, a chance for Chamberlain to pitch more often in the Midwest, closer to home in Nebraska, where his father and son, Karter, live.Chamberlain agreed that being in the clubhouse at Joker Marchant Stadium feels like the resetting of a clock. He lost weight during the off-season by working out hard and hiring a chef. Chamberlain said, My arm feels awesome. He thinks he will throw consistently in the mid-90s, even if his time for stardom long ago surrendered to the pursuit of survival.Of that dated debut, Nathan said: There seems to be a guy like that every year, always a story like that. But its the guys that dont get caught up in that who are usually going to stick, the guys who realize that there are going to be tough times because the game is full of imperfection and failure.Added the 39-year-old Nathan, who has had at least 36 saves in eight of the past nine seasons, When things arent going well is when you find out what kind of player you are.This was no knock on Chamberlain; it was just Nathan telling it like it is, or has been for most of Chamberlains wild ride. Not all of it and perhaps not even the majority of it has been his fault. But that is not the point anymore.Im 28 years old and theres nothing you can present to me on the baseball field that I havent done, including the good things, like winning the World Series in 2009, he said. Now Ive got to use it all the good and the bad to my advantage.

Sports

Credit...Justin WoodAs the tech moguls disagree over the risks presented by something that doesnt exist yet, all of Silicon Valley is learning about unintended consequences of A.I.Credit...Justin WoodJune 9, 2018SAN FRANCISCO Mark Zuckerberg thought his fellow Silicon Valley billionaire Elon Musk was behaving like an alarmist.Mr. Musk, the entrepreneur behind SpaceX and the electric-car maker Tesla, had taken it upon himself to warn the world that artificial intelligence was potentially more dangerous than nukes in television interviews and on social media.So, on Nov. 19, 2014, Mr. Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive, invited Mr. Musk to dinner at his home in Palo Alto, Calif. Two top researchers from Facebooks new artificial intelligence lab and two other Facebook executives joined them.As they ate, the Facebook contingent tried to convince Mr. Musk that he was wrong. But he wasnt budging. I genuinely believe this is dangerous, Mr. Musk told the table, according to one of the dinners attendees, Yann LeCun, the researcher who led Facebooks A.I. lab.Mr. Musks fears of A.I., distilled to their essence, were simple: If we create machines that are smarter than humans, they could turn against us. (See: The Terminator, The Matrix, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.) Lets for once, he was saying to the rest of the tech industry, consider the unintended consequences of what we are creating before we unleash it on the world.Neither Mr. Musk nor Mr. Zuckerberg would talk in detail about the dinner, which has not been reported before, or their long-running A.I. debate.The creation of superintelligence the name for the supersmart technological breakthrough that takes A.I. to the next level and creates machines that not only perform narrow tasks that typically require human intelligence (like self-driving cars) but can actually outthink humans still feels like science fiction. But the fight over the future of A.I. has spread across the tech industry.More than 4,000 Google employees recently signed a petition protesting a $9 million A.I. contract the company had signed with the Pentagon a deal worth chicken feed to the internet giant, but deeply troubling to many artificial intelligence researchers at the company. Last week, Google executives, trying to head off a worker rebellion, said they wouldnt renew the contract when it expires next year.Artificial intelligence research has enormous potential and enormous implications, both as an economic engine and a source of military superiority. The Chinese government has said it is willing to spend billions in the coming years to make the country the worlds leader in A.I., while the Pentagon is aggressively courting the tech industry for help. A new breed of autonomous weapons cant be far away.All sorts of deep thinkers have joined the debate, from a gathering of philosophers and scientists held along the central California coast to an annual conference hosted in Palm Springs, Calif., by Amazons chief executive, Jeff Bezos.You can now talk about the risks of A.I. without seeming like you are lost in science fiction, said Allan Dafoe, a director of the governance of A.I. program at the Future of Humanity Institute, a research center at the University of Oxford that explores the risks and opportunities of advanced technology.And the public roasting of Facebook and other tech companies over the past few months has done plenty to raise the issue of the unintended consequences of the technology created by Silicon Valley. In April, Mr. Zuckerberg spent two days answering questions from members of Congress about data privacy and Facebooks role in the spread of misinformation before the 2016 election. He faced a similar grilling in Europe last month.Facebooks recognition that it was slow to understand what was going on has led to a rare moment of self-reflection in an industry that has long believed it is making the world a better place, whether the world likes it or not.Even such influential figures as the Microsoft founder Bill Gates and the late Stephen Hawking have expressed concern about creating machines that are more intelligent than we are. Even though superintelligence seems decades away, they and others have said, shouldnt we consider the consequences before its too late?ImageCredit...Tom Jamieson for The New York TimesThe kind of systems we are creating are very powerful, said Bart Selman, a Cornell University computer science professor and former Bell Labs researcher. And we cannot understand their impact.The Imperfect MessengerPacific Grove is a tiny town on the central coast of California. A group of geneticists gathered there, in the winter of 1975 to discuss whether their work gene editing would end up harming the world. In January 2017, the A.I. community held a similar discussion in the beachside grove.The private gathering at the Asilomar Hotel was organized by the Future of Life Institute, a think tank built to discuss the existential risks of A.I. and other technologies.The heavy hitters of A.I. were in the room among them Mr. LeCun, the Facebook A.I. lab boss who was at the dinner in Palo Alto, and who had helped develop a neural network, one of the most important tools in artificial intelligence today. Also in attendance was Nick Bostrom, whose 2014 book, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies had an outsized some would argue fear-mongering effect on the A.I. discussion; Oren Etzioni, a former computer science professor at the University of Washington who had taken over the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Seattle; and Demis Hassabis, who heads DeepMind, an influential Google-owned A.I. research lab in London.And so was Mr. Musk, who in 2015 had donated $10 million to the Cambridge, Mass., institute. That same year, he also helped create an independent artificial intelligence lab, OpenAI, with an explicit goal: create superintelligence with safeguards meant to ensure it wont get out of control. It was a message that clearly aligned him with Mr. Bostrom.On the second day of the retreat, Mr. Musk took part in a nine-person panel dedicated to the superintelligence question. Each panelist was asked if superintelligence was possible. As they passed the microphone down the line, each said Yes, until the microphone reached Mr. Musk. No, he said. The small auditorium rippled with knowing laughter. Everyone understood that Mr. Musk thought superintelligence was not only possible, but very dangerous.Mr. Musk later added: We are headed toward either superintelligence or civilization ending.At the end of the panel, Mr. Musk was asked how society can best live alongside superintelligence. What we needed, he said, was a direct connection between our brains and our machines. A few months later, he unveiled a start-up, called Neuralink, backed by $100 million that aimed to create that kind of so-called neural interface by merging computers with human brains.Warnings about the risks of artificial intelligence have been around for years, of course. But few of those Cassandras have the tech cred of Mr. Musk. Few, if any, have spent as much time and money on it. And perhaps none has had as complicated a history with the technology.Just a few weeks after Mr. Musk talked about his A.I. concerns at the dinner in Mr. Zuckerbergs house, Mr. Musk phoned Mr. LeCun, asking for the names of top A.I. researchers who could work on his self-driving car project at Tesla. (That autonomous technology was in use at the time of two fatal Tesla car crashes, one in Florida in May 2016 and the other in March of this year.)During a recent Tesla earnings call, Mr. Musk, who has struggled with questions about his companys financial losses and concerns about the quality of its vehicles, chastised the news media for not focusing on the deaths that autonomous technology could prevent a remarkable stance from someone who has repeatedly warned the world that A.I. is a danger to humanity.The tussle in Palm SpringsThere is a saying in Silicon Valley: We overestimate what can be done in three years and underestimate what can be done in 10.On Jan. 27, 2016, Googles DeepMind lab unveiled a machine that could beat a professional player at the ancient board game Go. In a match played a few months earlier, the machine, called AlphaGo, had defeated the European champion Fan Hui five games to none.Even top A.I. researchers had assumed it would be another decade before a machine could solve the game. Go is complex there are more possible board positions than atoms in the universe and the best players win not with sheer calculation, but through intuition. Two weeks before AlphaGo was revealed, Mr. LeCun said the existence of such a machine was unlikely.A few months later, AlphaGo beat Lee Sedol, the best Go player of the last decade. The machine made moves that baffled human experts but ultimately led to victory.Many researchers, including the leaders of DeepMind and OpenAI, believe the kind of self-learning technology that underpins AlphaGo provided a path to superintelligence. And they believe progress in this area will significantly accelerate in the coming years.OpenAI recently trained a system to play a boat racing video game, encouraging it to win as many game points as it could. It proceeded to win those points but did so while spinning in circles, colliding with stone walls and ramming other boats.Its the kind of unpredictability that raise grave concerns about the rise of A.I., including superintelligence.ImageCredit...Jack Nicas/The New York TimesBut the deep opposition to these concerns was on display in March at an exclusive conference organized by Amazon and Mr. Bezos in Palm Springs.One evening, Rodney Brooks, a roboticist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, debated the potential dangers of A.I. with the neuroscientist, philosopher and podcaster Sam Harris, a prominent voice of caution on the issue. The debate got personal, according to a recording obtained by The Times.Mr. Harris warned that because the world was in an arms race toward A.I., researchers may not have the time needed to ensure superintelligence is built in a safe way.This is something you have made up, Mr. Brooks responded. He implied that Mr. Harriss argument was based on unscientific reasoning. It couldnt be proven right or wrong a real insult among scientists.I would take this personally, if it actually made sense. Mr. Harris said.A moderator finally ended the tussle and asked for questions from the audience. Mr. Etzioni, the head of the Allen Institute, took the microphone. I am not going to grandstand, he said. But urged on by Mr. Brooks, he walked onto the stage and laid into Mr. Harris for three minutes, saying that todays A.I. systems are so limited, spending so much time worrying about superintelligence just doesnt make sense.The people who take Mr. Musks side are philosophers, social scientists, writers not the researchers who are working on A.I., he said. Among A.I. scientists, the notion that we should start worrying about superintelligence is very much a fringe argument.Mr. Zuckerberg goes to WashingtonSince their dinner three years ago, the debate between Mr. Zuckerberg and Mr. Musk has turned sour. Last summer, in a live Facebook video streamed from his backyard as he and his wife barbecued, Mr. Zuckerberg called Mr. Musks views on A.I. pretty irresponsible.Panicking about A.I. now, so early in its development, could threaten the many benefits that come from things like self-driving cars and A.I. health care, he said.With A.I. especially, Im really optimistic, Mr. Zuckerberg said. People who are naysayers and kind of try to drum up these doomsday scenarios I just, I dont understand it.In other words: Youre getting ahead of reality, Elon. Relax.Mr. Musk responded with a tweet . Ive talked to Mark about this, Mr. Musk wrote. His understanding of the subject is limited.In April, Mr. Zuckerberg testified before Congress, explaining how Facebook was going to fix the problems it had helped create.One way to do it? By leaning on artificial intelligence. But in his testimony, Mr. Zuckerberg acknowledged that scientists havent exactly figured out how some types of artificial intelligence are learning.This is going to be a very central question for how we think about A.I. systems over the next decade and beyond, he said. Right now, a lot of our A.I. systems make decisions in ways that people dont really understand.Tech bigwigs and scientists may mock Mr. Musk for his Chicken Little routine on A.I., but they seem to be moving toward his point of view. Inside Google, a group is exploring flaws in A.I. methods that can fool computer systems into seeing things that are not there. Researchers are warning that A.I. systems that automatically generate realistic images and video will soon make it even harder to trust what we see online. Both DeepMind and OpenAI now operate research groups dedicated to A.I safety.Mr. Hassabis, the founder of DeepMind, still thinks Mr. Musks views are extreme. But he said the same about the views of Mr. Zuckerberg. The threat is not here, he said. Not yet. But Facebooks problems are a warning.We need to use the downtime, when things are calm, to prepare for when things get serious in the decades to come, said Mr. Hassabis. The time we have now is valuable, and we need to make use of it.

Tech

Personal Tech|Battling Adware That Redirects Your Browserhttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/13/technology/personaltech/battling-adware-that-redirects-your-browser.htmlTECH TIPIf your browser is suddenly full of pop-up ads or taking you to sites you didnt request, you probably have a malware infection.June 13, 2018Q. I keep getting pop-ups in my browser search bar and sent to a site Ive never heard of. What is this, a scam?A. If you are experiencing constant pop-up ads, trips to websites you didnt intend to visit, a frequently changing home page, ads trying to sell you obscure security software or other odd browser behavior, your computer is probably infected with an aggressive adware program. These types of invasive programs which can affect Macs along with PCs often redirect your browser to certain pages so those sites can get revenue by showing advertisements to (unwilling) visitors.The adware program may have been bundled with other software you installed on the computer, like a free tool bar extension or game. Visiting a web page rigged with malicious code can also infect a computer.Using a malware-scanning app to locate and remove the adware hiding on your computer is probably the easiest way to get rid of the unwanted software. Wirecutter, a product review site owned by The New York Times, recommends the Malwarebytes program for both Windows and Mac computers; a free trial is available. HitmanPro is another anti-malware program for Windows that offers a free trial. Microsoft also has its own Malicious Software Removal Tool that can catch and delete some types of malware. Many security programs are available around the web, but be sure to read reviews of any products you are considering some apps may actually be of a dubious nature themselves. Manually removing the unwanted program is also possible, although this approach takes time and technical prowess. You can sometimes spot adware and spyware apps in your computers list of programs and uninstall them as you would any other software. You should also check your browsers settings for unfamiliar add-ons and extensions and remove any you find. In some cases, resetting your browser can also flush out unwanted software. ImageCredit...The New York TimesThe reset option restores the program to its default state, but it should preserve your bookmarks and passwords. You can find your reset controls in the Settings or Options for Google Chrome (which also includes a malware scanner for Windows), Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox. Apple has its own guide for troubleshooting the Safari browser.Personal Tech invites questions about computer-based technology to [email protected]. This column will answer questions of general interest, but letters cannot be answered individually.

Tech

She was part of a groundbreaking study that observed how very young children separated from their mothers. Late in life, she became a photographers muse.Credit...Sebastian Zimmermann Oct. 17, 2021Anni Bergman, an Austrian-born psychoanalyst who worked with autistic children and contributed to a landmark study of early childhood development, died on Oct. 2 at home in Manhattan. She was 102.Her son Tobi confirmed the death.Dr. Bergman was a 40-year-old mother and music teacher when she was hired by Margaret Mahler, a child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, to help with a study of mothers and babies at a therapeutic nursery in the West Village. (A friend had turned down the job Dr. Mahler was known to be difficult and Dr. Bergman, who was interested in the field, applied.)For more than a decade, starting in 1959, Dr. Bergman and others watched as the babies found their legs, as it were or didnt. They observed how many ventured out on their own, and the various ways their mothers supported, or inhibited, such explorations.Its that moving away and coming back thats very important, Dr. Bergman told an interviewer in 2012. We learned that separation isnt always difficult. It isnt always the baby that is left. Sometimes it is the baby that is leaving.The study was groundbreaking at the time. Freudian theory, which still dominated therapeutic practices, had long dictated that the proper setting for learning about what Dr. Bergman called the internal world was in the analysts office, and that in any case babies couldnt tell us much about that world until they began to talk.Pre-Oedipal development was seen as a prelude to the main Oedipal drama, she wrote in 2000 in her introduction to a reissue of The Psychological Birth of the Human Infant: Symbiosis and Individuation, written with Dr. Mahler and Fred Pine, another noted psychoanalyst, and first published in 1975. The book detailed the groups work, which came to be known as separation-individuation theory.The group's other big idea was to use observation and not theory to organize such a study observation without judgment, as Dr. Bergman liked to say. And Dr. Bergman turned out to be an extraordinary observer, able to interpret a babys behavior with uncanny skill.This made her especially adroit at understanding autistic children, which became her calling. In a separate study, she and her colleagues worked with mothers and their autistic or psychotic children. Tripartite treatment working together with parents and their children was a rare practice at the time.We felt like explorers in an obscure realm of preverbal and presymbolic development, Dr. Bergman wrote. A spirit of excitement prevailed.ImageCredit...Ann SteinerAnna Emilie Rink was born on Jan. 10, 1919, in Vienna. Her father, Ernst, owned a factory. Her mother, Marta (Haas) Rink, a homemaker, died of breast cancer when Anni was 10; two sisters died of influenza. Her father died when she 17. The family was well off, and Anni was cared for by a household staff that included a chauffeur, a cook and a nanny.She left Vienna in 1939, traveling by ship from Italy to Los Angeles.When she would tell of her escape from the Nazis, her son Tobi said, people would say how horrible and frightening it must have been to be torn from home and thrown as a young woman all alone into an unknown world. She always told people that on the contrary, she was leaving a sheltered and repressive world behind and embarking on a great adventure. She was going to America!In Los Angeles, Anni found work as an au pair and assistant to Christine Olden, a psychoanalyst who, like Anni, was from Austria, and attended the University of California, graduating with a bachelors degree in music. (She would later earn a masters degree at the Bank Street College of Education.) Among the group of European expatriates who made up Dr. Oldens circle was Peter Bergman, a Polish-born activist, publisher and writer who had worked to help people escape the Nazis. Anni and Peter fell in love and married soon after moving to New York in 1943.Anni worked as a music teacher at a progressive school in the East Village and co-wrote a childrens primer on playing the recorder. Peter opened a publishing company, the Polyglot Press, in a four-story brick townhouse in Chelsea. When he bought the building, the family moved in.Dr. Bergmans office was on the top floor, and she decorated it with zest and flair, with flower-patterned wallpaper, brightly colored textiles and shelves overflowing with books and other collections.With its riot of colors and objects, being in her office was like stepping into a magical world, said Sebastian Zimmerman, a psychiatrist and photographer who included Dr. Bergman in Fifty Shrinks, his 2014 book of portraiture showing therapists in, as he put it, their natural habitats. Dr. Bergman explained that she had designed her office to be a secluded world where the children have the complete freedom to express themselves and explore.In 1978, Dr. Bergman co-founded a therapeutic nursery for autistic and psychotic children at the City College of New York. She earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the City University in 1983. She was a faculty member and supervisor there and at New York University and the Contemporary Freudian Society. In the late 1990s, with Rita Reiswig, a psychoanalyst who also focused on mothers and babies, she founded a program for parent-infant studies that in 2006 was renamed the Anni Bergman Parent-Infant Training Program.Anni could put into words the experience of a child in a way that was extraordinary, said Sally Moskowitz, the programs co-director. She could reach any child and make a connection.Dr. Bergman was among a group of therapists directed by Beatrice Beebe, a researcher of mother-infant communication and a clinical professor of psychology at Columbia University Medical Center, who worked with pregnant mothers widowed by the Sept. 11 terror attacks. In 2005, she also began collaborating with Miriam Steele, director of the Center for Attachment Research at the New School, and Inga Blom, then a graduate student, on a follow-up study of the children who had been part of Dr. Mahlers study and were then in their mid-40s.You could see the aspects they carried forward, Dr. Steele said, noting that some of the anxious babies had developed into grown-ups avoidant in attachment context, while others, thanks to Dr. Bergmans early interventions, were secure adults.Colleagues described Dr. Bergman as fearless and said they were awed by her athleticism, which was unchecked by her advanced age. Until she was 92, she rode a bicycle through the chaotic Manhattan streets. She swam weekly until she was 97.Late in life, she became a muse to another photographer-therapist, Ann Steiner, who began taking photographs of Dr. Bergman in 2014, when she was 96, and continued until she was past her centennial. For years, Dr. Steiner photographed Dr. Bergman in her Chelsea townhouse and throughout the city, capturing her in a series of animated portraits.In addition to her son Tobi, Dr. Bergman is survived by another son, Kostia; a stepdaughter, Vera Buettner; five grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren, and six great-great-grandchildren. Mr. Bergman died in 1995.One of Dr. Bergmans innovations in the treatment of autistic children was to add a helper to the mix: a therapeutic companion, as she described it, who could help the child navigate his or her world. One oft-told example of how this relationship worked was that of a child who wanted to take down all the items from the shelves of a grocery store.Dr. Bergman persuaded the shops manager to allow the behavior, explaining that the companion would put everything back. She knew that behind the childs impulse was a need to establish her own sort of order on the world.

science

Credit...Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York TimesMadagascar DispatchThe sport of moraingy, a brutal mixed martial arts tradition in Madagascar, has become commercialized over the years, but at heart, it remains a reflection of local culture.A moraingy match in Madagascars northeastern Sava region. The sport, attracting legions of devoted fans, has a centuries-long tradition.Credit...Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York TimesNov. 5, 2018SAMBAVA, Madagascar The devoted fans make their way to dusty outdoor rings surrounded by grass huts and palm trees. They take their seats on makeshift wooden benches and through song and lots of cheering, glorify the gladiators of moraingy, Madagascars brutal bare-knuckle fighting tradition.Bouts are a blur of fists, elbows, knees and feet punctuated by the thud of vicious slugs and the smack of bodies hitting the ground. Whirling blows are exchanged for longer than seems possible to withstand.Haymakers, kicks and punches are landed, absorbed and countered with equal ferocity. The fighters, known as fagnorolahy, perform a violent dance until someone gives up or is knocked down, or the referee identifies a winner.I dont feel fear before a fight, said Rocky Ambanza, a local star of the game. If you feel fear, you have already lost. But you must not underestimate your adversary.Few opponents would underestimate Mr. Ambanza, 28, whose compact body is marked by scars and scratches. His power, speed and technique, combined with his confident swagger and aggression, made him a crowd favorite during a recent moraingy (pronounced more-AIN-gee) match in Sambava.The city, in the northeastern Sava region of Madagascar, is the world capital for vanilla production. The soaring global price for the flavor has boosted the local economy in recent years, and the infusion of money has added a commercial component to the centuries-old form of hand-to-hand combat.Winners of moraingy bouts earn cash as well as prizes that can include stereos, televisions, bikes and even cars.The traditional sport has changed in another way, too. Typically it was pursued by unmarried men between the ages of 10 to 35. Now, women are increasingly taking part, both as combatants and managers.My husband loves moraingy, so with the money were making from the vanilla trade, we put fighters on a monthly contract and host the events, said Maria Hadjee, whose family business sponsors a moraingy team in Sambava with a half a dozen male fighters and a coach.The team travels the region by minivan, drumming up attendance by driving around the dirt roads of the towns they visit and announcing over loud speakers the next days combat against rival clubs. The fighters sometimes set up the smaller venues themselves.ImageCredit...Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York TimesImageCredit...Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York TimesImageCredit...Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York TimesThe combat that follows becomes a marker not only of strength and courage, but also of character, especially in the face of a loss.Rules vary from region to region, but victory is not possible without maintaining certain critical social attitudes and principles, according to Ernest Ratsimbazafy, the author of Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia of History and Innovation.Premier among these is self-control, he wrote. Fear of punches must be overcome, calm must be maintained, and revengeful feelings must be avoided.In Madagascar, people often prefer indirect forms of confrontation through proverbs or through spreading rumors of witchcraft, for example, said Sarah Osterhoudt, a professor of anthropology at Indiana University.Harmony is very important, and theres this idea of collective action over individual action, so anything that allows people to confront things in a ritualized way softens that confrontation, Professor Osterhoudt said. Fighting could be a way of doing that within a predictable format.At a recent match in Sambava, ropes were suspended on posts over a patch of dirt in an empty lot, flanked by towering speakers thumping out Malagasy pop tunes, replacing the drums that provided the soundtrack to moraingy fights in former times. Female cheerleaders in short shorts and crop tops gyrated to the beat.Some 2,000 spectators, who paid about a dollar each, filtered through a narrow gate and filled seats or climbed walls, trees and nearby buildings to get a clear view. The crowd was well supplied with alcohol, and young mens cheeks bulged with khat, a leafy plant chewed for the mild high it provides.Once the arena was packed, the fagnorolahy entered and strutted around the ring, taunting their opponents with glares, clenched fists and menacing gestures. Despite this theatrical provocation and showboating, the atmosphere among fighters is one of camaraderie, reflecting moraingys role as a male bonding tradition.Soon, Mr. Ambanza entered the ring. A teammate tied a red rope amulet around his bulging right biceps, and his coach smeared Vaseline on his bruised cheekbones before he slipped under the ropes to face his adversary.On the referees signal, the two fighters circled one another, feinting and jabbing. Mr. Ambanza ducked under a sweeping right hook and unleashed a devastating uppercut that lifted his opponent off his feet and dropped the dazed fighter to the ground. The crowd roared. Mr. Ambanza raised his fists to the sky, eyes closed.ImageCredit...Finbarr OReilly for The New York TimesImageCredit...Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York TimesImageCredit...Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York TimesDespite the drubbing the bouts can deliver, moraingy fighters often take on three or four different opponents in an afternoon. Each contest consists of one to three rounds lasting less than a minute.Mr. Ambanzas knockdown was one of the days highlights. On his victory lap, he bumped fists with his coach and ventured into the crowd, where fans dropped bank notes into a plastic shopping bag he held out.Spectators snapped photos and recorded video clips on mobile phones to share on social media.Such modern trappings aside, moraingy remains rooted in its past as a corporeal expression of Malagasy society.It is about more than the fighting, said Aboudou Matchimoudini, the coach of Bote Noir de Diego, one of Madagascars more competitive clubs. Its our culture and our tradition, our history.That history dates back as far as the 15th century. The fighting tradition spread across the country and to other islands off the southeast coast of Africa, including the Comoro Islands, La Reunion, the Seychelles and Mauritius.While the fights are ferocious, the rituals around the sport encourage mutual respect. The winner bear hugs his opponent, briefly lifting him off the ground before the gesture is reciprocated. The victor is cheered, but so is the vanquished.ImageCredit...Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York TimesImageCredit...Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York TimesImageCredit...Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York TimesAs Mrs. Hadjees fighters gathered for an afternoon workout at a local soccer stadium, three goats nibbled on a lone patch of dry grass near midfield. After the workout, the players stopped for rice and soup at a roadside restaurant.The fighters may earn a few hundred dollars a month, which is enough for Mr. Ambanza, who first saw a moraingy match at age 15, and immediately began training.Ive been fighting for 10 years and Im earning enough to live on, he said. The only problem right now is that I have a broken rib.ImageCredit...Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times

World

Science|Japanese Monkeys Like to Socialize, Even With Nits to Pickhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/28/science/japanese-monkeys-like-to-socialize-even-with-nits-to-pick.htmlScienceTakeVideotranscripttranscriptScienceTake | Itching to Be PopularResearchers interested in the costs and benefits of social behavior studied Japanese macaques, looking for ties between social contacts and lice.xResearchers interested in the costs and benefits of social behavior studied Japanese macaques, looking for ties between social contacts and lice.CreditCredit...Alexandre BonnefoyMarch 28, 2016Social life is good for you, even when your friends have lice if youre a Japanese macaque.Whether the same is true for humans hasnt been tested directly, at least not the way researchers in Japan conducted their experiments with networks of female macaques.Julie Duboscq, a researcher at Kyoto Universitys Primate Research Institute in Japan, tracked louse infestation and grooming interactions in about 20 adult female macaques. As she, Andrew J.J. MacIntosh and their colleagues noted in describing their research in Scientific Reports, grooming is known to reduce lice, but such close physical contact can also make it easy for lice to pass from one animal to another.Dr. Duboscq is interested in the costs and benefits of social behavior. For animals that live in social groups, as macaques and people do, the benefits of social life are many, from defense against predators (for wild monkeys, and no doubt for humans at some point in their history) to emotional health and well-being (for humans, and probably monkeys, too).But there are negatives associated with sociality, like the transmission of parasites and diseases. We dont fully understand the costs and benefits, Dr. Duboscq said.In this study, she and her colleagues estimated the degree of louse infestation by the number of nits picked. The more nits, they calculated, the more lice-producing nits.They compared the degree of louse infestation with how central each female was in the social network, meaning how many other monkeys were her social contacts. The result was that the females with more social contacts, and who therefore received more grooming, had fewer lice, but only during the winter and summer.During the spring and fall, a females position in a social network didnt seem to make any difference.Dr. Duboscq said the reason for the seasonal difference wasnt yet clear, but it was possible that the monkeys biology affected that of the lice.Winter is the mating season for these macaques, and they give birth in the summer. Hormonal changes in the blood of the macaques that the lice feed on could affect louse reproduction and cause a jump in lice in winter and summer, which would make grooming more important.But that is only speculation so far. What is clear is that grooming works well to keep the louse population down. In this case, the benefits of sociality outweigh the risks.

science

Credit...Athit Perawongmetha/ReutersMarch 1, 2017KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia A North Korean diplomat suggested on Thursday that Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half brother of the countrys leader, died of heart failure despite Malaysias finding that he was killed by a banned nerve agent.The diplomat, Ri Tong-il, who is leading a delegation to Malaysia, made the surprising assertion in Kuala Lumpur, the capital, during a visit aimed at repairing a diplomatic breach over the death. He said Mr. Kim had a history of heart disease and high blood pressure for which he needed medication.But while asserting the cause of Mr. Kims death, without providing any evidence, he stood by his countrys refusal to acknowledge that the victim was the half brother of Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, instead calling him by the name Kim Chol, which South Korean officials have said is an alias.He also called on Malaysia to provide samples of the VX nerve agent that the police say they found on the body to the international organization charged with carrying out the global treaty that bans the use of chemical weapons.If it is true that it was used, he told reporters, then the samples should be sent to the office of the group, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, for examination.The Malaysian government said it has indeed reported the use of VX to the organization, which must now decide whether to bring the matter before the United Nations Security Council.The ministry is in close contact with the O.P.C.W. regarding the recent incident and the latter has provided the Malaysian authority with some technical materials that have been requested to assist in its investigation, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.But the organization has declined to say whether Malaysia had provided it with samples for independent testing. Malaysian officials have also declined to comment on that question.South Korea has accused the North of orchestrating the killing, and the Malaysian police have identified seven North Korean men they would like to question. North Korea has refused to allow the police to interview two of the suspects, who are said to have taken refuge at the embassy where Mr. Ri addressed reporters.Four others are believed to have returned to North Korea, and the location of the last one is unknown. An eighth, the only North Korean citizen in Malaysian custody, is expected to be released for lack of evidence and deported, according to news reports.Malaysia has not allowed North Korean officials to conduct their own examination of the body, despite their repeated demands that it be turned over to them.In a statement on Wednesday, North Korea argued that any conclusion on the use of chemical weapons should be made only on the basis of the identical results of analysis made by at least two specialist laboratories, warning that if some countries try to use it for other political purposes, the consequences will be beyond imagination.The latest assertions came as Malaysia moved on Thursday to punish North Korea for the airport assassination of Mr. Kim, saying that it would require visitors from that country to obtain visas, the government said.Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the deputy prime minister, imposed the restrictions effective this coming Monday, citing national security concerns. Until now, North Koreans have been able to enter Malaysia without a visa one of the few places in the world that allowed such easy access for citizens of a country that is widely viewed as a pariah.About 1,000 North Koreans live and work in Malaysia, where they have been able to establish international companies and have access to the global banking system. But relations between the two nations have rapidly deteriorated since the killing of Mr. Kim and accusations that North Korea was behind it.It was unclear whether the visa order would affect North Koreans who are already in Malaysia.Mr. Kim was poisoned on Feb. 13 as he prepared to board a plane at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the police say. Two women, one from Indonesia and one from Vietnam, were charged with murder in the case on Wednesday. The police say they smeared the poison on Mr. Kims face using their bare hands. The women have said they thought they were taking part in a harmless prank. They could receive the death penalty.Vietnams Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that it had been helping to provide legal support to the Vietnamese suspect, Doan Thi Huong, 28, whom Malaysian officials have described as an entertainment outlet employee recruited, trained and equipped by North Korean plotters.It was Vietnams most detailed statement about the suspect, who received a surge of domestic sympathy after she was shown in television news clips on Wednesday leaving a Malaysian court wearing a bulletproof vest.Vietnam was relatively slow to even acknowledge the nationality of Ms. Doan after she had been arrested. By contrast, her Indonesian co-defendant, Siti Aisyah, 25, received early and strong support from Indonesian officials.

World

RugbyCredit...Martin Bureau/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesFeb. 2, 2014CARDIFF, Wales Gal Fickou, a French teenager, struck the most important blow on an opening weekend of Six Nations competition that was full of memorable moments for young players.The 19-year-olds brilliant try was the last twist in a thrilling contest that saw France beat England, 26-24, at the Stade de France, just outside Paris.Earlier Saturday, Wales took a faltering first step toward the rare feat of a third consecutive Six Nations title by beating Italy, 23-15, at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Ireland completed the pattern of home victories by favored teams Sunday when it beat Scotland, 28-6, in Dublin.Fickous feat was a fitting conclusion to a day that saw two 20-year-old wingers, Angelo Esposito of Italy and Jack Nowell of England, fumble their first touches in international rugby, leading to scores by the opposition. Yet another 20-year-old, the Italian center Michele Campagnaro, scored twice in his first Six Nations appearance to spearhead a second-half comeback that shook the defending champion.This try was not the try from the end of the world, the France coach, Philippe Saint-Andr, said about Fickous score, referring to a famous try he initiated against New Zealand in 1994. But it was synonymous with hope for this group of young players who refused to quit.It was pretty synonymous with hope for Saint-Andr himself. Under pressure after a miserable 2013 that saw France win only three of 11 matches and finish last in the Six Nations for the first time since 1999, he might have struggled to survive as coach if his team lost.Losing to England would not have been terribly new or shameful for France. England had won six of their seven previous Six Nations meetings. But a loss Saturday would have involved the fresh humiliation of blowing a 13-point lead at home.England clawed its way back after France had dashed to a 16-3 lead with two scores from wing Yoann Huget, the first after only 32 seconds.Its star was yet another rookie, the back-row forward Billy Vunipola, who was making his Six Nations debut. Vunipola, 21, is a one-man rugby melting pot he is of Tongan descent but was born in Australia, and now plays for England while speaking with an accent picked up from a childhood spent in Wales.A huge factor in Englands physical domination of the middle passages, Vunipola gave scoring passes for tries by fullback Mike Brown and center Luther Burrell also making his debut as England scored 18 points in 20 minutes to lead, 21-16.An exchange of penalty goals meant that England still led 24-19 when Fickou replaced Mathieu Bastareaud with six minutes left. Within two minutes of entering, Fickou, playing his fourth game for France, looked more like a veteran as he deceived Englands last defender with a glorious fake, and then had the composure to run behind the posts to give Maxime Machenaud an easy kick for the decisive two-point conversion.Englands devastated coach, Stuart Lancaster, was left to bemoan a classic example of French flair, a rugby phenomenon more talked about than demonstrated in recent Six Nations campaigns.While Wales ultimately won in Cardiff, it looked very ordinary for long periods against an intriguing Italian team. The Italy coach, Jacques Brunel, fielded the most experienced group of forwards in rugby history the eight starters had a combined 587 international caps and a back division that included, in his words, four players who were basically beginning their international careers today.Italy gifted the champions a seven-point lead early when Esposito was fooled by a bouncing ball and Wales winger Alex Cuthbert scored. Wales was dull and lethargic, but it looked in firm control when a break by Jamie Roberts sent his partner at center, Scott Williams, in for the try and a 17-3 lead at halftime.The second half mostly belonged to Italy. Its captain, Sergio Parisse, produced a performance that under most circumstances would have made him Man of the Match. But that honor rightly went to Campagnaro, who caught attention before halftime with a crunching tackle on Williams and an elusive run in attack.After the break, he scored twice, first after an exchange of passes with the 21-year-old winger Leonardo Sarto and a well-placed kick ahead. Then, with 10 minutes left, he intercepted a loose Welsh pass and ran 50 meters unopposed. That cut Waless lead to 20-15, but a penalty from Leigh Halfpenny, who scored 13 in all, clinched the victory for the home team.We probably looked under more pressure than we felt on the park, said Waless captain, Alun-Wyn Jones.The Wales coach, Warren Gatland, said he felt plenty of pressure in the coaching box. Italy won a couple of games last year and I think theyll do it again, Gatland said.Wales goes on Saturday to meet an Irish team which saw off Scotland with something to spare. Here the key rookie was a 48-year-old Irelands first-year coach Joe Schmidt whose team produced some of the patterns of play and intensity associated with Schmidts successes as coach of Irish provincial team Leinster.It was very disappointing from Scotland, said the former Scottish team captain Andy Nicol on BBC television. In the first half there was build-up, but no cutting edge. In the second half there was not even any build-up play.Irelands cutting edge came from veterans. Wing Andrew Trimble and back rower Jamie Heaslip standing in as captain for Paul OConnell, ruled out by a stomach infection crossed in the space of eight minutes either side of half-time. Full-back Rob Kearney, playing his 50th match for Ireland, claimed their third try.We are under no illusions; it is a big challenge for us against Wales, Kearney told BBC television. While Saturdays match is in Dublin, no rivalry makes more of a nonsense of the idea of home advantage. Visiting teams team lead by 20 victories to 9, with one draw, in the last 30 championship matches between Ireland and Wales.

Sports

Credit...Kim Hong-Ji/ReutersJune 18, 2018WASHINGTON The Pentagon announced on Monday that it was suspending a major military exercise with South Korea that President Trump had criticized as a waste of money.The decision to cancel at least for now the large-scale, long-planned Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise set for August had been expected after Mr. Trumps surprise announcement in Singapore that he was ending joint military exercises as an inducement for North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.Consistent with President Trumps commitment and in concert with our Republic of Korea ally, the United States military has suspended all planning for this Augusts defensive war game, the Pentagon spokeswoman, Dana W. White, said in a statement released on Monday night.We are still coordinating additional actions, Ms. White added. No decisions on subsequent war games have been made.Defense Department officials had said on Friday that they expected the exercise to be canceled or scaled back, and that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his South Korean counterpart, Song Young-moo, discussed canceling the exercises during a telephone call on Thursday.The possibility was kicked around last week of shrinking the sprawling Ulchi Freedom Guardian down to a so-called tabletop exercise, which would be less visible but stop short of a cancellation. But Mr. Trumps assertion that he was canceling war games made it difficult to conduct the exercise in any form without the risk that North Koreas leader, Kim Jong-un, would accuse the United States of failing to keep its word.Mr. Mattis will meet at the Pentagon later this week with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the national security adviser, John R. Bolton, to discuss the issue, Ms. White said in the statement, adding that it will not affect exercises in the Pacific outside the Korean Peninsula.Last year the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise ran for 11 days and involved 17,500 American forces, including about 3,000 from outside the peninsula, and 50,000 South Korean troops. The exercise includes computer simulations carried out in a large bunker south of the capital, Seoul, intended to check the allies readiness to repel aggressions by North Korea.The announcement on Monday seemed to clear the way for routine training between American and South Korean troops that takes place throughout the year, culminating in major war games in the spring and summer.Current and former Pentagon officials and senior military officers have said the United States combat readiness would not suffer dramatically by skipping one major war game, but that could shift dramatically if several big exercises were canceled over time.Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., a former head of the Pentagons Pacific Command and the administrations nominee to be United States ambassador to South Korea, said at his Senate confirmation hearing last week that he supported suspending the war game in August.We should give exercises, major exercises, a pause to see if Kim Jong-un is in fact serious about his part of the negotiations, Admiral Harris said. Ive spoken in the past about the need to bring Kim Jong-un to his senses and not to his knees.After the summit meeting in Singapore last week, Mr. Trump characterized the annual exercises as very provocative a description that aligns with North Koreas views and sharply deviates from those of his own Defense Department. The Pentagon has long insisted that the exercises are not meant to provoke North Korea; rather, military officials said, they underline the United States commitment to its allies in the region and seek to ensure that South Korea, in particular, can defend itself.As of Monday, the Pentagon still did not have an answer to Mr. Trumps other big complaint: the cost of the war games.Officials said that was still under review.

Politics

Scott Baio to Nicole Eggert Stop Lying, Just Stop 1/31/2018 TMZ.com Scott Baio came out swinging against Nicole Eggert Wednesday, saying he never did a single inappropriate thing to her and, in fact, he wasn't even attracted to her. We got Scott leaving "Good Morning America" and he was still fired up, saying Eggert is incapable of telling a consistent story and points to other interviews where she has said nothing untoward ever happened between them. Scott doubled down that the only time he ever had sexual contact with Nicole was after she turned 18, and says he did it because she wanted experience so she could "be good for her boyfriend." ABC Scott says he has no worries if Nicole goes to cops, because he's done nothing wrong. And he says she's discrediting the #MeToo movement by smearing him with lies.

Entertainment

TrilobitesEvidence of the activities of early hominins found in the Saudi desert suggests that they found an area that once was similar to the East African savanna.Credit...Michael PetragliaNov. 2, 2018Buried in the Arabian deserts sand are clues to the peninsulas wetter, greener past. Fossils from long-extinct elephants, antelope and jaguars paint a prehistoric scene not of a barren wasteland, but of a flourishing savanna sprinkled with watering holes.Now, scientists have found what they think is evidence of the activities of early human relatives, who lived in this ancient landscape some 300,000 to 500,000 years ago. If the findings are confirmed, the stone flakes and butchered animal bones the researchers uncovered would be evidence that early hominins extinct members of the genus Homo, but most likely not of our species were present in the Arabian Peninsula at least 100,000 years earlier than previously known.The findings, which were published Monday in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, also suggest early hominins did not need any special evolutionary adaptations before they ventured out from the grasslands of Africa and into the wilds of Arabia.As the savanna expanded, so did humans of this period, said Michael Petraglia, an archaeologist from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany and an author on the paper.[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]Dr. Petraglia has searched the now-arid desert for evidence of a Green Arabia for the past decade. Though the Arabian Peninsula is a key connector between Africa and Eurasia, human migration through it has not been studied as well as in the Levant. And for a while, it was thought the area was too arid for travel by early hominins. But recent findings are changing that narrative, and indicating that the region may have gone through cycles of being dry and being lush. Earlier this year his team reported finding a nearly 90,000-year-old Homo sapiens finger bone in the desert, and his group has identified traces of about 10,000 ancient, dried-up lakes using satellite imagery.ImageCredit...Klint Janulis, left, and Ian R. Cartwright/Palaeodeserts ProjectA few years ago he and his colleagues recovered fossils of several extinct Arabian mammals from a site in Saudi Arabias Nefud Desert. Under a microscope, a rib bone was revealed to have cut marks from a sharp stone tool.I dont think I had realized the gravity of it yet, said Mathew Stewart, a doctoral student at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. I didnt realize this would be the oldest evidence of people in the peninsula to date and that no one had found anything like this before.Along with the marked fossils, the team had found stone flakes, the waste product from stone tool making, at the site.The stone tools add the nail in the coffin, said Mr. Stewart, providing evidence that hominins had butchered these bones.The team had also collected more than 20 fossilized teeth at the site from herbivores like antelope, elephants and ancient horses. Patrick Roberts, an archaeological scientist also from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and lead author on the study, analyzed the enamel of the teeth for carbon and oxygen isotope data.Tooth enamel grows incrementally, similar to tree rings, so it gives insight into changes over a period of time. The carbon isotope signatures provided data about the herbivores diets. The oxygen isotope reflects the source water for precipitation, humidity levels and temperature.Dr. Roberts analysis showed that the mammals had a diet of plants found in grasslands, suggesting that rainfall, where they lived, occurred during the warm season. And the oxygen isotopes indicated that conditions were much wetter in the region then.Right now the team says the sites fossils could be as much as 500,000 years old. Because the earliest known evidence of Homo sapiens dates to about 300,000 years ago in Morocco, the scientists do not think that the hominin that made these marks was Homo sapiens. That means that the early hominins who traveled out of Africa through Arabia did not need to be biologically equipped to face a harsher environment than the one they were leaving.These hominins were encountering things in Arabia that were quite similar to what we think of in the East African savanna today, said Dr. Roberts. They arent dispersing into a desert, we argue its just part of a range expansion.

science

Credit...Craig Ruttle/Associated PressDec. 17, 2015Martin Shkreli told investors that his hedge fund had an auditor, that it had posted a 36 percent return since its inception and that it had $35 million in assets under management.None of it was true, federal authorities say.Mr. Shkreli has gained nationwide notoriety for his bravado in spiking prices on pharmaceuticals, one of the biggest industries in the country. But his predawn arrest in Manhattan on Thursday was on charges of a small-time hedge fund fraud.An indictment unsealed by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and a related civil lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission assert that Mr. Shkreli was nothing like the stock market genius and savvy entrepreneur that he had portrayed.His former hedge fund, MSMB Capital Management, had recorded losses of at least 18 percent and was essentially broke by 2011, having less than $1,000 in its bank account, according to the indictment. The hedge fund had no auditor.The authorities described Mr. Shkreli, 32, as a failed trader with a habit of spreading falsehoods and running his businesses on fumes and misappropriated money. His Ponzi-like scheme, they said, involved looting Retrophin, a biopharmaceutical company he used to run, to pay back his disgruntled investors.At a certain point, when you lie, it catches up with you, said Robert L. Capers, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, at a news conference discussing the charges.The investigation of Mr. Shkreli was underway long before he became a target of criticism for raising the price of a drug sold by a company he acquired, Turing Pharmaceuticals, to $750 a pill from $13.50.It is not clear whether federal authorities had quickened the pace of their investigations in light of the defiant posture Mr. Shkreli struck in news media interviews and on Twitter since the drug-price gouging controversy first emerged. Recently, it became known that he was the buyer of the sole copy of a rare Wu-Tang Clan album at an auction for $2 million.The F.B.I.s New York office tweeted on Thursday that it had not seized the record, saying: no seizure warrant at the arrest of Martin Shkreli today, which means we didnt seize the Wu-Tang Clan album.The schemes outlined by both prosecutors and securities regulators were not especially sophisticated.The indictment charges Mr. Shkreli with two counts of securities fraud, saying that he deceived the fewer than two dozen investors in his former hedge fund about the firms viability and performance in persuading them to give him more capital. He also faces five conspiracy counts.Mr. Shkreli, the authorities said, quickly lost money at a small hedge fund he managed called Elea Capital Management from 2006 to 2007.At his next fund, MSMB, he did not disclose information about his prior losses and poor performance when raising money from investors.He also lied about MSMBs assets. He told an investor in December 2010 that the firm had $35 million in assets under management. In fact, it had $700.He then lost even more money some $7 million at MSMB when he bet wrong in 2011 that the shares of a small pharmaceutical company would fall in price. He owed Merrill Lynch, his brokerage firm, that amount, and settled with Merrill for $1.35 million. He used money from a new fund, MSMB Healthcare, to pay off the Merrill settlement.Again, he did not tell investors.Finally, at Retrophin, he once again used company money to cover up his failed investments.Mr. Shkreli received help, authorities said, from a corporate lawyer, Evan Greebel, 42, who at time was working for the law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman.Mr. Greebel, who lives in Scarsdale, N.Y., recently joined the Kaye Scholer firm as a partner. Prosecutors charged him with helping Mr. Shkreli engineer a series of fraudulent transactions that effectively took money from Retrophin so it could be given to some of Mr. Shkrelis former hedge fund investors.ImageCredit...Pearl Gabel for The New York TimesThe indictment mirrors some of the accusations contained in a civil lawsuit filed in August by Retrophin, which ousted Mr. Shkreli as chief executive in 2014. The company had accused him of using Retrophin as his personal piggy bank to help pay off upset investors in the hedge fund by hiring some of them for sham consulting jobs.The authorities contend that fraudulent transactions were devised to make it appear as if Mr. Shkrelis former hedge fund had invested in the pharmaceutical company when in fact it had not.In a scheme involving two other unnamed people, Mr. Shkreli and Mr. Greebel created a paper trail using backdated stock transfer agreements in response to an inquiry the S.E.C. had begun in early 2012.Mr. Shkreli and Mr. Greebel also used $3.4 million in Retrophin funds and stocks to settle claims with several MSMB investors who were threatening to sue in 2013. The money was transferred to the hedge fund investors, even though Retrophin had no responsibility for those claims.The indictment contends the lawyer was an active participant in the scheme.In some instances, Mr. Greebel removed the outside auditors from Retrophin from emails to hide what he and Mr. Shkreli were doing, the authorities said. The indictment includes portions of an email exchange between Mr. Shkreli and Mr. Greebel in which they discussed questions from Retrophins auditors in August 2013 about the appropriateness of the settlement agreements.In one email, Mr. Shkreli writes, There were serious faults with the agreements including lack of board approval.Mr. Greebel responds, That will open up some very big issues. The current thinking is let RTRX pay, referring to Retrophins trading symbol. It would be easier than the road you are referring to, he continued, adding that the auditor would get very spooked with what you are talking about.That works for me, Mr. Shkreli replied.It is not clear from the court filings what Mr. Greebels motivation might have been in helping Mr. Shkreli with the purported fraud. Mr. Greebel is charged with one count of conspiracy.Regulatory filings with the S.E.C. show that Retrophin was not Mr. Greebels only corporate client. In recent years, Mr. Greebel had built an expertise working with Bitcoin, the digital currency. He is listed on filings with the S.E.C. as one of the outside lawyers working on the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust, the publicly traded Bitcoin investment vehicle that Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss plan to introduce.On Mr. Greebels profile at Kaye Scholer, which he joined during the summer, it mentions that The Financial Times recognized him as an innovative lawyer in the United States.A spokeswoman for Kaye Scholer said in a statement: We are deeply concerned that these charges have been made against Mr. Greebel. He has been with us for a relatively short period of time, and all the alleged activities occurred before he joined the firm. We are conducting our own internal investigation, and based on our findings we will take appropriate action.Jacquelyn L. Heard, a spokeswoman for Katten Muchin Rosenman, said, It would be inappropriate for us to comment on an investigation into a former colleague.In a statement, a spokesman for Mr. Shkreli said, It is no coincidence that these charges, the result of investigations which have been languishing for considerable time, have been filed at the same time of Shkrelis high-profile, controversial and yet unrelated activities.Both Mr. Shkreli and Mr. Greebel entered not guilty pleas at their arraignment in the Federal District Court in Brooklyn on Thursday afternoon. The case is being prosecuted by assistant United States attorneys Winston Paes and Alixandra Smith.Mr. Shkreli, dressed in a short-sleeve, black T-shirt and dark jeans, was released on $5 million in bail, secured by a bank account and guaranteed by his father and his brother.Mr. Greebel was released on $1 million in bail, secured by his house, and guaranteed by his wife and his mother.Mr. Shkreli, who had shown a great deal of self-confidence in recent television appearances before his arrest, looked a little shaken during the arraignment, occasionally twisting his head to look at the packed courtroom.At one point, he questioned Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy after the judge mentioned a date, asking, Did you say 2016, your honor?He wore sunglasses as he exited the court in the pouring evening rain, declining to speak to journalists.

Business

TrilobitesCredit...Flip Nicklin/Minden PicturesNov. 9, 2016The narwhal is not an aquatic unicorn. Its not magical, or mythical. Its just a whale with two teeth, one of which happens to be really long on males. But its not just its snaggletooth which can be up to nine feet long that makes this Arctic sea creature unbelievable. The narwhal sees with sound and its exceptionally good at it too, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One.Like any whale, the narwhal needs to surface to breathe on average, every four to six minutes. But unlike most whales, narwhals spend all of their lives in extreme Arctic conditions, primarily in waters off Eastern Canada and Greenland, where theres more darkness than light, and more ice than open sea. Somehow, this blubbery bundle finds its way to cracks in the ice to breathe. Somehow, it can also hunt for squid and dive down more than a mile into pitch black water to capture fish and other prey.ImageCredit...Kristin LaidreYou dont see open water for miles and miles and suddenly theres a small crack, and youll see narwhals in it, said Kristin Laidre, an ecologist at the University of Washington who led the study. Ive always wondered how do these animals navigate under that, and how do they find these small openings to breathe?Wondering how climate change and the prospect of an ice-free Arctic might affect narwhal behavior in the future, scientists tracked these whales over the ice in helicopters. Knowing that whales use echolocation sending out clicks of sound that bounce off objects in the environment around them they placed microphones underwater and listened.They found that with clicks of sound, like a flashlight switching on and off, the narwhals scanned their underwater world to receive narrow snapshots and reconstructed them into a larger acoustic picture one with more resolution than any other animal on the planet, with the possible exception of beluga whales.The clicks, produced in organs known as phonic lips at rates of up to 1,000 clicks per second, are inaudible to the human ear, but detectable through special, underwater microphones. They exit through the narwhals head, which works like a glass lens, bundling the sound together and sending it out in a narrow beam that travels through the water, hitting anything in its path, said Jens Koblitz, a bioacoustician with the BioAcoustics Network in Germany who worked on the study. When echoes bounce back, the animal perceives them with fatty pads in its lower jaw.Dr. Koblitz thinks the narwhal can narrow its beam like an adjustable flashlight on open ice at the sea surface or prey deep in the ocean, and then widen it as it gets closer to track its prey, a skill that has been observed in other echolocating animals like bats.Other scientists who study whales have praised the work for managing tough conditions to reveal the importance of the narwhals navigation system. It is not like a singing humpback whale that spreads the sound widely and can be heard over long distances, Mads Peter Heide-Jrgensen, an ecologist at the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources who was not involved in the study, wrote in an email. Narwhals are living a secretive life in the Arctic, but this study has unveiled one of the secrets from the deep waters in the Arctic.Indeed, the narwhal has long evoked mystery since the Vikings brought their tusks back to Europe with stories of unicorns. But theres one thing you should know about the tusks, Dr. Laidre said: Males and tuskless females appear to be equally good echolocators. The tusk is likely just for sexual display, like a peacocks feathers or a lions mane. So its highly unlikely to be used as an antenna for sending and receiving.

science

A new C.D.C. study underscored the mental health issues facing teenagers in the past few years.Credit...Shannon Stapleton/ReutersFeb. 18, 2022During the pandemic, emergency rooms across the country reported an increase in visits from teenage girls dealing with eating and other disorders, including anxiety, depression and stress, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The report provides new detail about the kinds of mental health issues affecting a generation of adolescents.Mental health experts hypothesize that the pandemic prompted some youth to feel isolated, lonely and out-of-control. Some coped by seeking to have control over their own behavior, said Emily Pluhar, a pediatric psychologist at Boston Childrens Hospital and instructor at Harvard Medical School.You take a very vulnerable group and put on a global pandemic, she said. The eating disorders are out of control.In the C.D.C. study, the agency said that the proportion of eating disorder visits doubled among teenage girls, set off by pandemic-related risk factors, like the lack of structure in daily routine, emotional distress and changes in food availability.The agency said that the increase in tic disorders was atypical, as these disorders often present earlier, and are more common in boys. But the C.D.C., reinforcing speculation from other clinicians and researchers, said that some teenage girls may be developing tics after seeing the phenomenon spread widely on social media, notably on TikTok.Stress of the pandemic or exposure to severe tics, highlighted on social media platforms, might be associated with increases in visits with tics and tic-like behavior among adolescent females, the C.D.C. wrote.In a related report, the C.D.C. also said on Friday that the increase in visits for mental health issues occurred as emergency rooms reported sharp declines overall in visits during the pandemic. As compared with 2019, overall visits fell by 51 percent in 2020 and by 22 percent in 2021, declines that the agency attributed in part to families delaying care, and a drop in physical injuries from activities like swimming and running.There was a decline in overall emergency room visits for mental health conditions among all youths, up to age 17. Increases occurred for particular maladies, and particularly among teenage girls.More broadly, the surge in adolescent mental health distress appears to have intensified during the pandemic, but it began earlier. Emergency room visits among youths related to depression, anxiety and similar issues rose by 28 percent from 2007 to 2018, according to another report by the surgeon general.In its report on Friday, the C.D.C. said that mental health-related emergency room visits for teenage boys fell in both 2020 and 2021 as compared with 2019. But the C.D.C. also reported that the data was nuanced and that the visitation patterns for boys, as well as girls, depended on specific mental health condition and time period.These sex differences might represent differences in need, recognition and health care-seeking behavior, the C.D.C. wrote.For teenage girls, weekly emergency room visits rose for eating and tic disorders during 2020; and for those conditions and obsessive compulsive disorders in 2021. During January of 2022, the C.D.C. said there also was an increase in anxiety, trauma and stress-related issues.

Health

Health|Health Officials Urge Congress to Fund Zika Researchhttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/health/health-officials-urge-congress-to-fund-zika-research.htmlCredit...Alvin Baez/ReutersMarch 10, 2016The nations top health officials said Thursday that urgent action was needed to contain the Zika virus and appealed to Congress to allocate money to fighting the outbreak.President Obama has asked for $1.8 billion, but the request is stalled in Congress, with Republicans suggesting that money previously allotted to the Ebola virus be used instead.Health officials contend that most of those funds have already been committed to testing vaccines and to keeping up monitoring in Africa, because another Ebola outbreak could erupt at any time.Describing a recent trip to Puerto Rico to survey efforts there to contain the Zika virus, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the island is on the front lines and facing an uphill battle.The virus has been linked to microcephaly which often results in misshapen heads and brain damage and other birth defects in babies born to infected women. About 34,000 babies are born each year in Puerto Rico, and Dr. Frieden said he anticipated thousands of expectant mothers to become infected during the hot, rainy season, which is just beginning.We know we wont be able to protect 100 percent of the women, but for each case we prevent, we avoid a personal and family tragedy, he said.The lifetime cost of caring for a microcephalic child is $10 million or more, he added; 45 percent of Puerto Ricos population lives below the poverty line.Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the agency had a possible vaccine that might be ready to begin safety testing in humans by this fall. But it would still be a matter of years before any vaccine is approved by the Food and Drug Administration, he said.Better diagnostic tests and an antiviral treatment are also needed, he said. And many important questions remain, including whether asymptomatic infections in mothers are dangerous to babies.The more we learn, the worse things seem to get, he said, ticking off such consequences of infection as birth defects, adult paralysis and sexual transmission harms that until now no tropical disease specialist had seen in a mosquito-borne virus.We really need to stay ahead of this, and we cant do that without the resources, Dr. Fauci said.Teams working on the Zika vaccine are also working on vaccines against the flu, AIDS and respiratory infections and, without more money, may have to slow that research, he said.The government must team with private industry to manufacture large lots of vaccines, he said, but when funding runs out, it brands us as an unreliable partner.

Health

Some studies find higher rates of erectile dysfunction among men recovering from the illness. But other factors related to the pandemic, like heightened anxiety, may also be to blame.Credit...Amir Cohen/ReutersMay 5, 2022For a respiratory disease, Covid-19 causes some peculiar symptoms. It can diminish the senses of smell and taste, leave patients with discolored Covid toes, or even cause a swollen, bumpy Covid tongue.Now scientists are examining a possible link to an altogether unexpected consequence of Covid: erectile dysfunction. A connection has been reported in hundreds of papers by scientists in Europe and North America, as well as in Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Thailand.Estimates of the magnitude of the problem vary wildly. A paper by Dr. Ranjith Ramasamy, director of reproductive urology at the University of Miamis Desai Sethi Urology Institute, and his colleagues found that the risk of erectile dysfunction increased by 20 percent after a bout with Covid. Other investigators have reported substantially higher increases in that risk.When patients first started coming to Dr. Ramasamys clinic complaining of erection problems, We dismissed it, thinking it was all psychological or stress induced, he said.But over time, he and other physicians began to see a pattern, he said. Six months after the initial infection, patients had gotten better overall, but they continued to complain of these problems, including both erectile dysfunction and low sperm counts, Dr. Ramasamy, who has written several papers on the topic, said.At the outset of the pandemic, Dr. Emmanuele Jannini, a professor of endocrinology and medical sexology at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, reported a strong link between erectile dysfunction and Covid. When he compared men who had been ill with Covid with those who had not, he found that those who had been infected were nearly six times as likely to report impotence as those who had avoided the coronavirus.Communicating that the disease can affect your sexual life is a tremendously powerful message, especially for men who still resist vaccination, Dr. Jannini said in an interview. The evidence is very strong.Research from imaging scans and biopsies indicates that the coronavirus can infect tissue within the male genital tract, where it may linger long after the initial infection. Scientists say it is too early to be certain that the link to erectile dysfunction is causal, since so many factors psychological as well as physiological play a role in producing and maintaining an erection. The pandemic has led to social isolation and a surge in anxiety and depression, all of which may play a role.Mens erections are more complicated than people think, Dr. Justin Dubin, who co-wrote a paper about the adverse impact of Covid on mens health, said.You need good blood flow, you need the nerves to be firing, and you need good hormone levels, specifically testosterone, he said. But you also need to be in a good state of mind, and you also need to be aroused. If any of these things go wrong, you may have an issue getting an erection.In that sense, the pandemic is the perfect confluence of converging factors for causing erectile dysfunction, Dr. Joseph Katz, a professor at Florida College of Dentistry, said. Dr. Katz stumbled on the issue of erectile dysfunction while investigating Covids effects on oral health.Some researchers speculate that erectile dysfunction may be linked to the well-documented loss of the ability to taste and smell experienced by Covid patients, because these senses play an important role in sexual arousal. It is through smells that the arousal mechanism in the brain is ignited, three Italian urologists wrote last year in a letter responding to Dr. Janninis paper.ImageCredit...Everyday Images, via Alamy At the very least, men need healthy blood vessels and good blood flow in order to develop and sustain erections. The coronavirus may damage blood vessels and the lining of the vessels, called the endothelium, as it binds to the molecular receptors that are plentiful on endothelial cells.The vessels may not constrict and stretch as needed to allow for blood flow to the penis. Injury to the blood vessels may also contribute to more serious complications of Covid, like heart attacks, strokes and abnormal clotting.Our entire vascular system is connected its not an isolated penis problem, Dr. T. Mike Hsieh, director of the mens health center at University of California, San Diego, said.But vascular problems can manifest in the sexual organs first, because the vessels there are so small. (Dr. Jannini calls erectile dysfunction the canary in the coal mine for cardiovascular disease.) Erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular disease share risk factors such as being severely overweight, having metabolic diseases like diabetes, smoking and older age which also increase the odds of having severe Covid.The artery for the penis is one-tenth the size of a coronary artery, and when you have a narrower vessel, whether its a plumbing problem or a vascular problem, it will show up there first, even before you see it in a larger artery, Dr. Hsieh said.Erectile dysfunction can precede a heart attack by about five years, he said, and can be an early signal that there are other underlying risk factors.When I see a guy for erectile dysfunction, they dont just get a Viagra or Cialis prescription, Dr. Hsieh said. They get a referral to a primary care colleague or a cardiologist to make sure their cholesterol is in check, their diabetes is under control, to discuss weight management, lifestyle or dietary changes.Erectile dysfunction may point the way to better diagnosis of long Covid, Dr. Jannini said, or even deteriorating mental health.If you have a patient who survived Covid, and you want to know if he has long Covid or not, just ask him how its going in bed, Dr. Jannini said. If hes having a normal sex life, the possibility of him having serious long Covid is very, very low.Left untreated, erectile dysfunction can lead to further complications. Cases of Peyronies disease, a condition that causes curved, painful erections as a result of fibrous scar tissue built up in the penis, and orchitis, the inflammation of one or both of the testicles, have developed in men who have had Covid, according to published research.Men who dont have normal erections for several months at a time may develop scar tissue and fibrosis, which makes erectile dysfunction harder to treat and may even lead to shortening of the penis.Erectile dysfunction can resolve on its own, but Dr. Hsieh encouraged men with symptoms to see their physicians, and sooner rather than later.If youre having these problems, do not wait, he said. For the most part, we can get the guys sex lives back.

Health

SidebarCredit...Pool photo by Dan PowersJune 11, 2018WASHINGTON In 2015, millions of people watched Making a Murderer, a Netflix documentary series about the murder prosecutions of two Wisconsin men. Opinions varied on the guilt of the programs central figure, Steven Avery, who was convicted of killing Teresa Halbach, a 25-year-old photographer.But many people were made powerfully uneasy by the treatment of Mr. Averys nephew, Brendan Dassey, whose videotaped interrogation was among the most gripping parts of the series.Mr. Dassey, 16 at the time, was a study in pathos: hapless, lost, scared, painfully awkward, trusting, susceptible to suggestion and close to if not over the borderline of intellectual disability.Two investigators feigning fatherly concern fed Mr. Dassey crucial details and elicited a halting, mumbled and contradictory confession. On the strength of that confession and almost nothing else, Mr. Dassey was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for raping and murdering Ms. Halbach.On Thursday, the Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Mr. Dasseys appeal.The court has long said that the greatest care must be taken in making sure that confessions obtained from juveniles are voluntary. Mr. Dasseys case could allow the justices to assess whether that command was taken seriously by courts in Wisconsin, which refused to suppress his confession.It could also allow the justices to consider mounting evidence that false confessions from juveniles play a role in a disproportionate share of wrongful convictions. According to one study, 42 percent of exonerated juveniles had falsely confessed, compared to 8 percent of adults.Mr. Dassey was interviewed for hours without a lawyer, a parent or any other adult who might have been alert to his interests. But the investigators who questioned him assured him that he had nothing to fear from them.Yeah, were cops, were investigators and stuff like that, but not right now, said Tom Fassbender, a special agent with the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Im a father that has a kid your age, too. I want to be here for you. Theres nothing Id like more than to come over and give you a hug.The investigators teased out contradictory statements from Mr. Dassey, steering him toward their theory of the case.They knew, for instance, that Ms. Halbach had been shot in the head, though this fact had not yet been made public. What followed was like a game of 20 Questions.Something else was done, said Mark Wiegert, an investigator with the Calumet County Sheriffs Office. Something with the head.Mr. Dasseys first try: Mr. Avery had cut off Ms. Halbachs hair.His second try: Mr. Avery had punched her in the head.His third try: Mr. Avery had told him to cut Ms. Halbachs throat.At this point, Mr. Dassey gave up. Thats all I can remember, he said.But the investigators were not done. All right, Mr. Wiegert said. Im just going to come out and ask you. Who shot her in the head?Thus prompted, Mr. Dassey said that he did, referring to his uncle.Asked why he had not mentioned that shocking assertion earlier, Mr. Dassey said, Because I couldnt think of it.By the end of the interrogation, Mr. Dassey had confessed to gruesome crimes. Then he asked if he could return to school in time for a sixth-period class. He had a project due.When his mother asked him how he had been able to answer the investigators questions, he said he had guessed. Thats what I do with my homework, he added.Mr. Dassey and his family were completely overmatched by the criminal justice system. In a call to his mother from jail, for instance, Mr. Dassey said he had been told that some of his statements had been inconsistent. He did not know what the word meant, so he asked his mother. She did not know, either.A Wisconsin appeals court upheld Mr. Dasseys conviction. But a federal judge and a divided three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Chicago, ruled that Mr. Dasseys confession should have been suppressed. Without the confession, Judge Ilana Rovner wrote for the majority, the case against Mr. Dassey basically evaporated, as no one ever found a single hair, a drop of blood, a trace of DNA or a scintilla of physical evidence linking Dassey to this crime.The full Seventh Circuit reversed the trial judges decision by a 4-to-3 vote, saying that Mr. Dassey could not overcome barriers in a 1996 federal law that makes it hard for federal courts to grant relief to people convicted in state courts.In dissent, Chief Judge Diane P. Wood wrote that this was a travesty of justice.Mr. Dassey is represented by Seth P. Waxman, who served as United States solicitor general in the Clinton administration and later helped persuade the Supreme Court to abolish the death penalty for juvenile offenders.Put simply, Mr. Waxman wrote in his petition seeking review in the new case, Dassey v. Dittmann, No. 17-1172, the interrogators took advantage of Dasseys youth and mental limitations to convince him they were on his side, ignored his manifest inability to correctly answer many of their questions about the crimes, fed him facts so he could say what they wanted to hear, and promised that he would be set free if he did so. The resulting confession was more theirs than his.The Supreme Court seldom agrees to hear cases merely to correct errors in a single case, even ones with grave consequences. But a supporting brief filed by scores of current and former prosecutors urged the justices to hear Mr. Dasseys appeal in light of the attention Making a Murderer had drawn to his confession.It affected the way everyday Americans view our justice system, the prosecutors wrote.

Politics

Vikings vs. Eagles City of Hubba-Ly Love!!! NFC Championship WAGS Face Off in Philly 1/21/2018 No cold front expected when the Minnesota Vikings travel to play the Philadelphia Eagles for a shot at Super Bowl LII ... and you can blame these HOTTIES!!! Though the Vikings are led by a QB that went undrafted and the Eagles' man waited until Pick No. 88 to get off the board ... these smoke shows no doubt are No. 1 pick material. To the left is Ally Courtnall ... Vikings LB Eric Kendricks' girlfriend. To the right is Viviana Volpicelli who is dating Eagles WR Nelson Agholor. Doesn't end there ... we also have the WAGS of Adam Thielen, Andrew Sendejo and Patrick Elflein reppin' SKOL nation and also the ladies of Lane Johnson, Brandon Graham and Jordan Hicks for the Bleeding Green. Don't say we never did anything for ya ...

Entertainment

A group backed by undisclosed donors is targeting three Democratic prosecutors in Northern Virginia for recall campaigns in a test of what could be a national strategy in 2022.Credit...Eric Baradat/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesAug. 2, 2021WASHINGTON A Republican-linked group said on Monday that it was beginning a recall campaign backed by undisclosed donors to brand Democrats and their allies as soft on crime by targeting progressive prosecutors.The initial focus is three prosecutors who were elected in the affluent Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington in 2019 amid a national wave of pledges by Democrats to make law enforcement fairer and more humane.The group, Virginians for Safe Communities, said the targets of the recall effort were Buta Biberaj of Loudoun County, Parisa Dehghani-Tafti of Arlington County and Steve Descano of Fairfax County, all of whom hold the position of commonwealths attorney.The campaign faces uncertain prospects, starting with clearing signature-gathering requirements and legal hurdles.But the organizers described it as part of a broader national push to harness voters concerns about rising crime rates in cities and a backlash to anti-police sentiment.All things in politics have their time, and now is the moment that people who are for law enforcement have woken up, said Sean D. Kennedy, a Republican operative who is the president of Virginians for Safe Communities. He called the recall efforts in Northern Virginia a test case to launch nationwide.He said the group had raised more than $250,000, and had received pledges of nearly another $500,000. He would not reveal the identities of donors to the group, which is registered under a section of the tax code that allows nonprofit groups to shield their donors from public disclosure.Mr. Kennedy, who has worked for Republican campaigns and committees, is an official at the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, but he said the new group was independent from that one. Others involved in the new group include the former F.B.I. official Steven L. Pomerantz and Ian D. Prior, who was an appointee at the Justice Department during the Trump administration and before that worked for well-funded Republican political committees.Mr. Prior also is leading a petition drive to recall school board members in Loudoun County over critical race theory, another issue conservatives have made into a political flash point. (The school district had called for mandatory teacher training in systemic oppression and implicit bias, but its superintendent has denied that critical race theory was part of the curriculum or teacher training.)Mr. Kennedy cast Virginians for Safe Communities as something of an antidote to a political committee funded by the billionaire investor George Soros, a leading donor to Democratic causes. His group, Justice and Public Safety PAC, has spent millions of dollars in recent years backing candidates in local district attorney elections who supported decriminalizing marijuana, loosening bail rules and other changes favored by progressives.The spending upended many of the races, which had previously attracted relatively little funding and attention from major national interests.Mr. Soross representatives did not respond to a request for comment.His PAC spent hundreds of thousands of dollars each supporting the campaigns of Ms. Dehghani-Tafti, Mr. Descano and Ms. Biberaj in 2019, when they swept into office promising a new approach to criminal justice.Their victories came at a time when politicians from both parties were re-examining tough-on-crime policies that enacted harsh sentences for drug crimes and laid the groundwork for the mass incarceration that disproportionately affected Black communities. In late 2018, President Donald J. Trump signed into law the most consequential reduction of sentencing laws in a generation. The next month, Joseph R. Biden Jr., then preparing to run against Mr. Trump, apologized for portions of the anti-crime legislation he championed as a senator in the 1990s.The skepticism of law enforcement and the criminal justice system was further catalyzed by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, after which calls to defund law enforcement echoed from racial justice marches to the halls of Congress. Many Democrats, including President Biden, have rejected the defund the police movement.But, a year and a half after Mr. Floyds death, American cities are facing a surge in gun violence and homicides that began during the throes of the pandemic and has continued into this year.Republicans have sought to pin the blame on Democrats and their allies, and have tried to reclaim the law-and-order mantle that politicians of both parties had embraced in the 1980s and 1990s, but later downplayed amid concern about police misconduct and disparities in the criminal justice system.Conservatives have basically sat on the sidelines of this issue, Mr. Kennedy said. It has been dominated by one side, and our side had basically unilaterally disarmed.He accused the three Northern Virginia prosecutors of enacting dangerous policies that are undermining the publics faith in our justice system. He cited an increase in the homicide rate between the end of last month and the same time last year in Fairfax County.Ms. Dehghani-Tafti, the head prosecutor for Arlington County and the City of Falls Church, said in an email that she was doing exactly what I promised my community I would do what I was elected to do and doing it well: making the system more fair, more responsive and more rehabilitative, while keeping us safe.Some of the more progressive planks in her campaign platform and those of Ms. Biberaj and Mr. Descano ending prosecutions for marijuana possession and not seeking the death penalty were at least partially codified statewide this year. Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia signed legislation abolishing the death penalty and legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana.Ms. Dehghani-Tafti accused Mr. Kennedys group of using undisclosed dark money and relying on misinformation to overturn a valid election through a nondemocratic recall.Recalls are rare in Virginia, requiring the collection of signatures from a group of voters equal to 10 percent of the number who voted in the last election for the office in question, followed by a court trial in which it must be proved that the official acted in a way that constitutes incompetence, negligence or abuse of office. In the case of the prosecutors, the signature requirement would range from about 5,500 in Arlington to 29,000 in Fairfax.Mr. Kennedy said his group intended to pay people to gather signatures starting as soon as this week, with the goal of reaching the thresholds by Labor Day.Recent efforts to defeat or recall progressive prosecutors have so far not been successful in other jurisdictions, including Philadelphia and Los Angeles, and a pending grass-roots effort to recall the three Virginia prosecutors has not gained much apparent traction.

Politics

They surged to the polls in 2020 and could help swing the Georgia Senate runoffs. Activists and experts say it is long past time for both Democrats and Republicans to pursue them.Credit...Bridget Bennett for The New York TimesPublished Jan. 3, 2021Updated Jan. 7, 2021[Follow our live Capitol building lockdown reporter discussion here.]The message Asian-American voters sent in 2020 was clear: Seek us out, listen to what we tell you, and we can help you win.They turned out in record numbers. In Georgia, the increase in Asian-American voters was so significant in the general election that they could play a decisive role in the two Senate runoff races this week. And on the ballot itself, Asian-American candidates were more visible in national politics than ever, most notably with Kamala Harris, a woman of South Asian descent, becoming the Vice President-elect.But the election also offered some caution for Democrats who have long assumed that increasing racial diversity in the United States will benefit them at the ballot box: Demographics alone are not destiny. Asian-American voters and Latino voters made clear that while they generally support Democrats, they do not do so at the same rate as Black voters, and remain very much up for grabs by either party.At the presidential level, Asian-Americans cast a record number of ballots in battleground states where Joseph R. Biden Jr. notched narrow victories. But a New York Times analysis showed that in immigrant neighborhoods across the country, Asian-American and Latino voters shifted to the right. Nationwide, preliminary data suggests that about one in three Asian-Americans supported President Trump a slight uptick from his support in 2016.For many Democrats who still hope that greater Asian-American political involvement will benefit them, the election illustrated that the party must go after nonwhite voters with the same nuanced approach and level of urgency that has generally been reserved for white voters in swing states.There is a small but still significant bloc of voters that needs to be courted and that courting needs to be maintained because were going to have close elections, said Varun Nikore, the president of the AAPI Victory Fund, a super PAC focused on mobilizing Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders to vote for Democratic candidates.But, he added: Things can go backward. You cant take the Asian vote for granted.Now, as Mr. Biden forms his administration, Asian-American congressional leaders and many of their colleagues are already chafing at what could be a cabinet without a single Asian-American secretary for the first time in decades.Representative Grace Meng, Democrat of New York, who holds high-ranking positions in both the Democratic National Committee and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, sees the situation as an indication that the lessons of 2020 have yet to sink in.I dont think we as a party have appreciated sufficiently the contributions that A.A.P.I. voters have made in this Novembers election, she said.For years, Asian-Americans have been written off by both Democrats and Republicans as a small group of infrequent voters. Candidates often sought out prominent community members for donations, but with Asian-Americans making up less than 6 percent of the U.S. population, concentrated mostly in traditionally safe blue and red states like California, New York and Texas, they were seldom part of a presidential campaigns calculus.As a group that is mostly foreign born, however, Asian-Americans have become the countrys fastest-growing population of eligible voters as, year after year, Asian immigrants have naturalized fairly rapidly and then registered to vote. Over the last two decades, as their numbers grew, Asian-Americans as a whole moved left politically and slowly amassed enough power to help decide some tightly contested House races in districts where they had clustered.Their influence expanded to presidential politics this cycle, beginning in the Democratic primary race. For the first time, three Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders sought a major partys nomination for president. One, Ms. Harris, is set to be vice president; another, the entrepreneur Andrew Yang, has been privately telling New York City leaders that he intends to run for mayor this year.In the general election, early analysis of available data suggests that voting surged at a higher rate among Asian-Americans than among any other racial group. So, while Asian-Americans have generally been an afterthought for political campaigns, thats almost certain to change overnight, said Tom Bonier, the chief executive of TargetSmart, a Democratic data firm.Mr. Bonier found that in battleground states and nationally, the Asian-American early vote alone blew past the total Asian-American vote in 2016. When analysts get a complete picture of the 2020 electorate, he said, the data will probably show that the total number of ballots cast by Asian-Americans nearly doubled.ImageCredit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesDespite the modest increase in support for Mr. Trump, roughly two-thirds of Asian-American voters backed Mr. Biden a fact often cited by the Asian-American officials who have urged the president-elect to pick a cabinet secretary from their community.In addition to selecting Ms. Harris as his running mate months ago, Mr. Biden has chosen two Asian-Americans for cabinet-level positions: Neera Tanden to head the White House budget office and Katherine Tai to serve as U.S. trade representative. A transition spokesman said the picks were part of Mr. Bidens vision for the most diverse cabinet in history.With the Senate runoffs approaching on Tuesday, Asian-American political operatives from across the country have joined local groups in Georgia to try to ensure that the tens of thousands of Asian-Americans who voted for the first time in the general election will vote again this week.We got the victory that we wanted at the state level to to flip Georgia blue, Aisha Yaqoob, the head of the Asian American Advocacy Fund, said of Mr. Bidens win in November. But she added that turning out fatigued voters again for the Senate races would be a challenge.So thats going to be our big mission, she said. Explaining that and really breaking it down for people making it feel real to them that they could be the deciding vote.In the presidential election, many Asian-American voters said they were particularly energized by Ms. Harriss candidacy and repelled by Mr. Trumps insistence on blaming China for the coronavirus and labeling it the kung flu messaging that corresponded with an increase in reports of hate crimes toward Asian-Americans.Mr. Trumps rhetoric on the virus, among other things, made progressive organizers and Democratic candidates optimistic that Asian-American voters would flock to them. In some cases, it did motivate people.I really wanted to vote because I didnt want Donald Trump to be the president, said Jieying Chen, 24, a graduate student in South Philadelphia who became a naturalized citizen in 2017 and voted for the first time this fall.Aisha Zainab, 19, whose parents immigrated from Pakistan, felt that Mr. Trumps political viewpoint isnt what represents America. She voted for the first time in Michigan, a state Mr. Biden flipped.But the president had his own set of Asian-American supporters, some of whom he pulled over from the Democratic side.Timothy Paul, 47, of Cobb County, Ga., immigrated to the United States from India years ago on a work visa and voted for Barack Obama twice. But he said he voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 and 2020, motivated by the presidents positions on taxes and limiting undocumented immigration.Democrats just keep writing checks they will bankrupt the country, he said, noting that he intends to vote for the Republican incumbents in the Senate runoffs this week. Soon they will give you free Disney+ and Hulu.ImageCredit...Chris Carlson/Associated PressRoughly 30 percent of Asian-American voters do not identify as either Democrats or Republicans, and many are settling in the suburban swing districts that are the focus of both parties.It is a demographic and political reality that has been playing out in parts of Southern California for years. Randall Avila, the executive director of the Republican Party of Orange County, said he had found that many Asian-American voters and potential candidates he had worked to recruit approached Republican ideas with an open mind.Were not going to back down from any community, he said.That commitment paid off as two California Republicans, Young Kim and Michelle Steel, unseated Democratic incumbents to become among the first Korean-American women elected to Congress.Janice Lim, 51, of Yorba Linda, Calif., voted for both Ms. Kim and Mr. Trump, and said that the Republican Party shares many of the values that are most dear to her and her immigrant parents: family, education, free exercise of personal liberties and limited government.People go, Oh, yay, Young Kim, shes Asian-American and shes a woman. I always wonder why people say that, said Ms. Lim, who is a city parks and recreation commissioner. I always think it should be more about who she represents and what her ideals are.Leaders of progressive advocacy organizations, like Mr. Nikore of the AAPI Victory Fund, said down-ballot losses like the ones in California showed it was past time for Democrats to focus on shoring up support among voters of color.The real victory, experts on the Latino and Asian-American vote agreed, would be for voters of color to be pursued with the same vigor as white voters, who are routinely grouped into subcategories based on where they live, or their income or education level.Democrats need to stop obsessing about white rural voters and white suburban moms, said Janelle Wong, a professor of American studies at the University of Maryland.ImageCredit...Ryan Christopher Jones for The New York TimesLocal organizers like Ms. Yaqoob cited several reasons for the extraordinary A.A.P.I. voting spike in the general election. For instance, they said, grass-roots volunteers had built trust with voters months earlier while encouraging them to participate in the census or dropping off food during the early days of the pandemic. In Texas, two Democrats of Asian and South Asian heritage lost closely watched congressional races. One of them, Sri Preston Kulkarni, was defeated in a House race in the Houston suburbs by a significant margin, even after some polls suggested he would win the majority-minority district. The other, Gina Ortiz Jones, fell to Tony Gonzales in the predominantly Hispanic 23rd Congressional District.Mr. Kulkarni conceded in an interview that he was surprised by his loss, but heartened by the Asian-American turnout this cycle, the strongest evidence of these voters potential sway in American politics.One place they may demonstrate their growing political power is in Georgia this week. Neil Makhija leads an Indian-American political organization that is running a $2.5 million campaign to turn out A.A.P.I. voters in the states Senate runoffs. He sees the significant increase in Asian-American voter participation in November as a success and a lesson.What were going to try to do is take some of what weve learned, he said, and really go all in.

Politics

Credit...From left: Craig Ruttle/Associated Press; Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press; Adrees Latif/ReutersDec. 22, 2015It used to be that money managers and entrepreneurs charged with a crime or civil securities fraud would keep their mouths shut and routinely refer any questions to their lawyers.But in the age of social media, those days are gone. For some media-savvy defendants there is a new script: They jump on Twitter to tell the world they are innocent, even though lawyers think doing so is a terrible and legally risky idea.Two days after the pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli was arraigned on federal securities fraud charges, which accused him of defrauding investors in his former hedge funds and looting a drug company he once ran, he proclaimed his innocence in a Twitter post after pleading not guilty in court.I am confident I will prevail, Mr. Shkreli, 32, wrote to Twitter followers on Saturday. On Tuesday, he wrote, Im not a criminal, in response to a comment on Twitter. Mr. Shkreli, best known for raising the price of a decades-old drug by 5,000 percent and later paying $2 million to buy the only known copy of an album by the rap group Wu-Tang Clan, has tried to present a carefree attitude online since his arrest on Thursday. He has also posted streaming videos of himself on YouTube sitting at his computer combing his hair, playing chess and strumming a guitar and responding to comments from his supporters as if the possibility of going to prison were just a bump in the road.Last spring, Lynn Tilton, a private equity executive, embarked on a similar public relations strategy after federal securities regulators filed a civil lawsuit that charged her with defrauding investors in distressed-debt securities managed by her firm, Patriarch Partners. Ms. Tilton, 56, posted a video online defending herself and denying the charges and later used Twitter to attack the Securities and Exchange Commissions decision to bring her case before an administrative law judge, as opposed to filing the matter in federal court. And in a twist on the strategy, Charlie Shrem, an early proponent of the digital currency Bitcoin and chief of the money exchange service BitInstant, gave a speech via Skype to a Bitcoin conference while under house arrest before he pleaded guilty in 2014 to aiding and abetting the operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business. Mr. Shrem, 26, has continued to post on Twitter, with the assistance of some friends, from federal prison.His Twitter profile describes him as Bitcoin pioneer & first felon. In April, shortly after beginning to serve his two-year sentence, Mr. Shrem posted, Im in prison for a victimless crime and invited people to write to him.It is a kind of do-it-yourself defense strategy for those naturally disposed to a certain amount of vanity and self-absorption, experts say. And it is gaining favor even though defense lawyers have counseled against it and warned that the strategy could backfire because some things defendants say can be used against them at trial or sentencing. Dealing with outspoken clients has become increasingly normal, lawyers say, especially as many of these clients have cultivated online personas that extend beyond their day jobs.Gregory Morvillo, a lawyer who specializes in representing white-collar defendants, says having a client who posts on Twitter is a recipe for disaster.I am generally averse to my clients going out and speaking publicly, but the reality is there has been a seismic shift in how we communicate, said Mr. Morvillo, who represented Anthony Chiasson, a hedge fund manager whose conviction on insider trading charges was overturned by an appellate court.Joshua B. Newman, a New York entrepreneur charged in a criminal complaint by federal prosecutors with defrauding investors in a number of CrossFit training ventures, has referred on Twitter to having seen better days and quoted Abraham Lincoln saying, Folks with no vices have very few virtues. The case is still pending.Recently, Mr. Newman, 36, started a new online fitness training venture that makes no mention of the fraud charges against him but talks about the favorable media coverage he has received over the years.Priya Chaudhry, Mr. Newmans lawyer, said in a statement, We encourage our clients to right their ships quickly and permanently, so they can return to good, productive lives.This new era of defiance on social media has led to the unusual situation in which the person charged with wrongdoing is the one doing the talking, while the lawyer is often the one to say no comment. That has been the case with Mr. Shkrelis lawyers at the big law firm Arnold & Porter, which has repeatedly declined to comment on the charges against Mr. Shkreli.Marc A. Agnifilo, the lawyer who represented Mr. Shrem, said that for clients who take to social media to defend themselves it can feel good at the time, but it has the potential to undermine plea negotiations that might be taking place.We are in the age of oversharing, Mr. Agnifilo said.Mr. Agnifilo and Mr. Morvillo both said they could imagine a situation in which they might be forced to let go of a client who did not heed advice and said too much about a case on Twitter or other social media forums.Legal experts say they are less concerned about a person facing civil fraud charges, like Ms. Tilton, speaking out on Twitter since there is no risk of jail time.Denise Shull, a former trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and a coach to Wall Street money managers, said there was an element of narcissism behind the social media defense.If youve already displayed attention-seeking behavior, the chances are youre going to continue along that path if you can, Ms. Shull said. In the case of Ms. Tilton, being in the public eye is not new. She has cultivated an image that plays on her role as a powerful executive in the male-dominated private equity industry. Its only men I strip and flip, she said in the pilot for a reality television show about her life called The Diva of Distressed. Ms. Tilton has contested allegations by the S.E.C. that she breached her fiduciary duty to clients by failing to properly value the assets of distressed companies in some portfolios, allowing her to collect as much as $200 million in management fees. Ms. Tilton released a video called Fight Like a Girl soon after the S.E.C. brought its complaint.She filed a countersuit against the S.E.C., and the agencys case has been stayed by a federal appeals court while it considers the legality of regulators decision to proceed with the matter before an administrative law judge.In a statement, Ms. Tilton said social media gave her the best forum to speak directly to the public. Social media has provided me the medium to best reflect my ideas, my business and me in my own words and images, Ms. Tilton said.Other defendants, such as Mark Cuban, the billionaire businessman, reality TV show star and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, have frequently used social media to jab at the S.E.C. He has gone after the regulator on Twitter several times since a Dallas jury cleared him of federal insider trading charges in October 2013.As for Mr. Shkreli, the streaming videos appear to be one way for him to keep his relevance and the degree of fame he has found since defending the decision by Turing Pharmaceuticals, which he ran, to raise the price of a critical drug to $750 a pill from about $13. Turing fired Mr. Shkreli after his arrest, giving him more time to produce the videos from his Midtown Manhattan apartment.A small bit of it is, Im going to try to win this P.R. battle, Ms. Shull said of Mr. Shkrelis tactics. But to go on and on? That would suggest that he is petrified.In one video, Mr. Shkreli spends time removing some of the critical and profane comments viewers posted online about him. He also takes time out to answer a question about why he is making the videos, saying, I am doing this to mostly relax.

Business

Feb. 1, 2014Seahawks vs. Broncos6:25 p.m. Eastern, FoxLine: Broncos by 2The buildup to Super Bowl XLVIII for Seattle was largely defined by players the news media have scolded for talking too much (Richard Sherman) and for not talking enough (Marshawn Lynch). For Denver, the discussion centered on what a win or a loss would mean for the legacy of Peyton Manning. Any time left over was devoted to speculation about the weather at kickoff. Football rarely entered the conversation.On the field, the game will be a study in contrasts. For the first time since 1990, the Super Bowl will pit the N.F.L.s highest-scoring offense (Denver) against the defense that gave up the fewest points (Seattle). Matchups like this traditionally favor the dominant defense, and Mannings record-setting offense did not appear to intimidate the second-youngest team in the N.F.L.This is what we want, said Seattle free safety Earl Thomas, a contender for defensive player of the year. We want to face this kind of offense. We dont want to take the easy way. If its easy, you shouldnt do it.ImageCredit...Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated PressThat attitude is what makes the Seahawks secondary so imposing, and worthy of the nickname Legion of Boom. In the middle of the field, they have Thomas and Kam Chancellor, two of best safeties in the game, and in coverage they have Sherman, the N.F.L.s best cornerback. Even the loss of the starting cornerback Brandon Browner to an indefinite suspension did not slow a unit that allowed 14.4 points a game. The secondary was aggressive, leading the N.F.L. with 28 interceptions and allowing only 172 passing yards a game. Although Seattles front seven is also disruptive, many Seahawks players said the unit had been overshadowed.Our defensive line, theyre savages, Chancellor said. I can say that hands down. Theyre savages.Led by Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril, Seattle had 44 sacks this season, tied for eighth in the N.F.L. If they can find a way through Denvers offensive line, which has not allowed a sack during the playoffs, Manning may be forced to make unwise throws.But if ever there was an offense built to deal with the Seahawks, it would be Denvers. Manning, with a lightning-quick release, rarely contends with pressure, and the Broncos are so stocked at wide receiver and tight end that it is futile to try to cover them all. Demaryius Thomas is Mannings favorite receiver, leading the team with 92 catches for 1,430 yards and 14 touchdowns, but Eric Decker (87 for 1,288 and 11), Julius Thomas (65 for 788 and 12) and Wes Welker (73 for 778 and 10) are all capable of game-changing plays. Sherman & Company thrived on staying in the teams cover-three scheme regardless of the opponent, but they have not faced a team with as many reliable threats as Denver. Cornerbacks Byron Maxwell and Walter Thurmond will have to raise their games.But the Super Bowl will be decided when Seattle has the ball. Russell Wilson, the dynamic second-year quarterback, does not have the size or the background of an elite N.F.L. quarterback (he once left college to play professional baseball) although his ascent has been rapid. At 25, he is the fifth-youngest quarterback to start a Super Bowl, and his talent and demeanor have taken age out of the equation.Hes an incredible competitor in every way, Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll said. In preparation, in game day, hes the epitome of what you want in your competitor.ImageCredit...John Froschauer/Associated PressBehind Wilson is Lynch, who seemed to wear down during the season before rediscovering Beast Mode in the playoffs. In Seattles two postseason games, Lynch rumbled for 249 yards and 3 touchdowns, averaging 5 yards a carry while punishing defenders who got in his way. Although his reluctance to answer questions annoyed the news media, Lynch, 27, has remained remarkably popular among his teammates and Seahawks fans.He doesnt talk any more to us than he talks to you, really, Carroll told reporters. He is a live wire though at times, because he has a great energy about him; for the most part, it isnt with his words, its with his actions, and we respect the heck out of that.Denvers defense improved as the season went along, but the unit still appears overmatched by the youthful and exciting Seattle offense. With a little help from his friends on defense, Wilson could easily turn the discussion of Mannings legacy into one about his own.Pick: Seahawks

Sports

Credit...Aly Song/ReutersNov. 1, 2018BEIJING The young applicant is described as confident and courageous. His rsum, at 15 pages, is glittering, complete with performance reviews (full of energy), a map of his travels (trips to Tokyo and Bali) and a list of books he has read this year (408 in total).But the applicant is not a seasoned job seeker. He is a 5-year-old boy from southern China applying for a spot in first grade at a Shanghai private school.I hope I can outperform my parents, the boy is quoted as saying, between photos showing him playing the piano, swimming and driving a toy car.The rsum, which was leaked and shared widely online this week, has provoked a mix of fascination, indignation and debate about whether children in Chinas test-crazed education system are being raised as soulless strivers.Some called for the parents of the boy to be arrested. Others wondered whether todays children would know true happiness, given the intense pressure to perform well and land good jobs.Only 5 years old? one user wrote on Weibo, a Twitter-like site. So scary.Still, some defended the parents, saying they were trying to promote their childs best interests in a flawed system.By Thursday evening, tens of thousands of people had weighed in, and a hashtag about the boy had been viewed more than 38 million times.Yong Zhao, a professor of education at the University of Kansas, said the debate reflected widespread anxiety among Chinese parents about getting their children into top schools. In Chinas test-dominated system, exam scores determine where students go to college and what careers they can pursue.No matter how many good schools there are, people are always shooting for the best, he said. Where their children go to school represents an achievement, an accomplishment for parents. But many dont know what a good education is.It is unclear who prepared the rsum, which was addressed to the Shanghai Starriver Bilingual School but whose claims could not be independently verified. As in urban school districts in the United States and elsewhere, it is common for parents in Chinese cities to hire coaches to help their children gain admission to selective schools.A staff member at Shanghai Starriver declined to comment, except to say that the school did not accept rsums from parents as part of the admissions process. The boys father also declined to comment, saying he did not want to draw attention to his son.The competition for seats at top schools in China is notoriously cutthroat. In some cities, the wealthy and well connected pay large sums of money, sometimes described as donations, to secure placements in top programs.Xiong Bingqi, deputy head of the 21st Century Education Research Institute in Beijing, said China needed to distribute education resources more evenly and to begin evaluating students on more than just test scores.There is a competition to rank every student, he said. Under these circumstances, of course parents want their kids to rank in the top. Then it worsens this kind of anxious competition.The boys rsum reads like a PowerPoint presentation, complete with growth charts and stick-figure clip art. It includes discussion of his adversity quotient and his artistic talents. It also provides details of his schedule time for memory training, English diary class, sports and piano and samples of his artwork, including drawings of dogs and fish.I never cry when I get shots, the rsum says. Starting when I was a year and a half old, I would get up by myself when I fell down. Everyone praised me as brave.The rsum closes with a list of English books the boy has read, including The Hungry Squirrel and Bubbles in the Sky. It shows a picture of him with his head resting on his hand, a pensive look on his face.A caption alongside a photograph of the schools terra-cotta facade reads, When will Shanghai Starriver open its gates to me?

World

Credit...Max Reed for The New York TimesApril 1, 2016MIAMI One recent sunny morning, Chalmers Vasquez, Miami-Dade Countys mosquito control manager, peered into a rain-filled Miller High Life bottle in a weedy backyard.This is very dangerous, this situation here, he said, surveying a glistening pile of dozens more bottles at his feet.A few steps away, his fears were confirmed. There, in a junked toilet lying on its side, he found in a small pool of rainwater the squiggling larvae of an Aedes aegypti mosquito, the type that is spreading the Zika virus and fear of grave birth defects throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.Summer is coming, and the Aedes aegypti will soon be buzzing around its usual haunts in the United States mostly in the South and Southwest. But it is already here in South Florida, hatching from kiddie pools and rain-catching flowerpots, recycling containers and bottle caps. Scientists do not believe that the United States will have a Zika epidemic, but most agree that mosquitoes here will eventually acquire it and that they could start infecting people, leading to local flare-ups.ImageCredit...Max Reed for The New York TimesA woman could get bitten by a mosquito and have a child with a terrible malformation and that could happen in Florida or Texas or Arizona, or anywhere this mosquito is, said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We dont think the numbers will be large, he said, but the impact could be very large.Stopping Zikas spread, he and other public health experts say, will require vigorous mosquito control across a broad swath of the United States. But the quality of services varies wildly.Some of the weakest spots for mosquito control are in places where the Aedes aegypti mosquito regularly appears in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas, and along the Texas coast largely because they lack the tax base to pay for it, said Joseph Conlon, a retired Navy entomologist who is a technical adviser to the American Mosquito Control Association.If there were ever a place most at risk for homegrown Zika, it is Florida, the state with the largest number of imported Zika cases in the continental United States 74 reported at last count. And Miami-Dade the largest port of entry into the United States from the biggest countries in Latin America, according to federal statistics is the county in Florida with the most reported cases, 32.Despite its importance, Miami-Dade County, population 2.8 million, spends just $1.8 million on mosquito control, enough for a staff of 17, of whom 12 are inspectors. In contrast, Lee County, home to Fort Myers and 660,000 people, spends $16 million a year and has a staff of 88.It is odd that theres not more money, considering we are such a global entry point, said Whitney A. Qualls, a vector biologist at the University of Miami.Mosquito control in the United States is a crazy quilt of jurisdictions that includes powerful independent districts with their own taxing authority and threadbare county health, environment or public works departments.Scrambling to gauge mosquito control preparedness, the C.D.C. recently produced a map of mosquito districts known to have troubling blank spots. And some places that were colored in as having districts said district was too grand a word.ImageCredit...Max Reed for The New York TimesI had to kind of laugh, said Paul Ettestad of the New Mexico Department of Health, remarking on the fact that his state appeared to be completely covered. Most of what was colored in, he said, was a guy in the county who drives a snow plow in the winter and a sprayer in the summer.And with local public health budgets still shrunken since the recession of 2008 and President Obamas $1.8 billion Zika funding request stalled in Congress, health officials are starting to worry.That concern pervaded a Zika Action Plan Summit meeting of several hundred local health officials organized by the C.D.C. on Friday in Atlanta. Their problems were different, but all had one in common: too little money.There is a broad pattern of decline, and that kind of places us in a handicapped position to start this race, said E. Oscar Alleyne, the senior adviser for public health programs at the National Association of County and City Health Officials, which has calculated that local health departments where some mosquito control departments reside have lost about 12 percent of their staffs since 2008.Traditional spraying from trucks and planes is mostly useless against this mosquito, a stealthy urban dweller. Instead, beating it back will require a lot of mosquito workers like Mr. Vasquez dumping out a lot of water containers in a lot of backyards.Mr. Vasquez, a soft-spoken man with closely cropped hair and a fondness for bugs, set out with his small team of mosquito inspectors one recent morning, armed with chemical larvae killer and turkey basters to suck up larvae-infested water.The Aedes aegypti mosquito rarely flies more than a few blocks, so their mission was to destroy breeding grounds near the houses of people suspected to have been infected with the Zika virus. The team knows that as more Zika-infected travelers come to South Florida, the risk rises that a healthy mosquito will bite a sick person, pick up the virus and infect healthy people.The first house with a suspected Zika case was in a scruffy neighborhood in North Miami, canary yellow with a for-sale sign out front. Next door, a young man dressed in blue shorts and a striped T-shirt was arguing in Spanish with Pedro Castellanos, one of the inspectors. A white cat shot out of the front door. Mr. Castellanos marched over to a water-filled cat litter box in the front yard and poured it out.He handed the man a warning that said he had to clean up his yard or pay a fine. The department rarely enforces the fines, but Mr. Castellanos said he handed out warnings anyway, to scare them and improve the chances that they will comply.At the next house, a Haitian immigrant was raking palm tree trimmings, and Mr. Castellanos, who has a sixth sense for the unlikely places mosquitoes breed, was immediately on alert.Sir, do you collect rainwater? Mr. Castellanos asked politely. The man nodded yes and walked him around to his backyard, where a tall blue plastic container stood in the shade.I dont mind if you do this, Mr. Castellanos said, but put a screen on top.Risk lurks in rich neighborhoods, too, for example in bromeliad plants favored by landscapers. Their stiff fronds are perfect receptacles for rainwater.Look at that! Mr. Vasquez said, pointing to a cluster of the plants, their spiky stalks sticking up like rock-star hair in front of a cream-colored ranch house. Perfect Aedes aegypti habitat.When pressed, Mr. Vasquez acknowledged that handling a serious flare-up would require asking for additional funding.Dr. Qualls, of the University of Miami, put it more bluntly: Miami-Dade has great people, but their budget is not enough to handle a Zika crisis.If that happens, said Mr. Conlon, the adviser to the American Mosquito Control Association, the county, and others like it, would probably have to hire private contractors. (Mr. Vasquez said he was making such arrangements.) Dr. Frieden of the C.D.C. said the budget request to Congress included money for that.So far in Miami, resources have been enough. But summer is coming, and Mr. Vasquez is on high alert. He stopped at one house that looked abandoned only to have the homeowner, Robert Hoak, emerge, blinking into the sun. Mr. Hoak said he was so preoccupied caring for his terminally ill wife that his mostly empty swimming pool had turned into a mosquito breeding ground.Do whatever youve got to do, guys, he shouted as Mr. Vasquez climbed down into the pool to sprinkle some larvae killer in the green water.

Health

As a teen vaping and health crisis dominates public concerns, the Food and Drug Administration has been without a permanent commissioner since April. Credit...Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc., via Getty ImagesDec. 3, 2019A Senate committee on Tuesday advanced the nomination of Dr. Stephen Hahn, a noted oncologist and cancer researcher, to lead the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Hahn, chief medical executive at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, was nominated by President Trump last month to replace Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who left the job in April. Dr. Norman E. Sharpless, director of the National Cancer Institute, had served as acting commissioner from April to Nov. 1. Although Dr. Sharpless was endorsed by four former F.D.A. commissioners and dozens of patient advocacy groups, he had donated to Democrats, which seemed to weigh heavily against him. Dr. Hahn has donated to Republicans, but not to the presidents campaign. Since Dr. Sharpless returned to his post at the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary of health, has been running the F.D.A. Dr. Hahn is well qualified to lead the F.D.A. at this time, said Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee and chairman of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee. The panel voted 18 to 5 in favor of Dr. Hahn. Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the committees top Democrat, said on Tuesday that she opposed Dr. Hahns nomination because of his refusal to commit to adopting tough e-cigarette regulation. Republican Senator Mitt Romney, of Utah, also criticized Dr. Hahn for failing to take a strong stand against e-cigarettes, but voted for him. Dr. Hahn, 59, still must be confirmed by the Senate, although no vote has been scheduled. Senator Alexander said he hoped a full Senate vote might occur by the end of the year. He would be stepping into the job as the F.D.A. is confronting several crises, among them, the continuing outbreak of vaping-related lung diseases, the emergence of cannabis as an unapproved treatment for dozens of ailments, and safety problems with imported drugs. The agency is also waiting to learn whether the White House will actually ban flavored e-cigarettes. In September, Mr. Trump promised to do so, but since then has backed away from that plan. In late November, at a gathering of tobacco and vaping industry executives and public health advocates, he reopened the matter. A coalition of patient advocacy groups, including Friends of Cancer Research, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology, sent a letter endorsing Dr. Hahn to Senate leaders on Monday. The United States is at a pivotal moment in terms of public health, the group wrote. A confirmed commissioner is critical to ensure F.D.A. is best positioned to continue to carry out the agencys important mission for millions of Americans. [Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]

Health

Researchers are still figuring out how to enable athletes in the face-first Olympic sled race to go even faster.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesPublished Feb. 10, 2022Updated Feb. 14, 2022Many Winter Olympic sports have ancient origins, dating to times when humans invented new ways of getting around in the harsh, white wilderness. Skiing may have first emerged 10,000 years ago in Altay, China, and the Indigenous Smi word for skiing (uoigat) is estimated to be 6,000 to 8,000 years old. Thousands of years ago in Northern Europe, people strapped animal bones to their feet to skate around on ice. And the First Peoples in Canada used toboggans to transport goods.The sport called skeleton has no such hallowed origins in the practical transport of humans or goods, despite technically taking place on a sled. Life was hard enough without central heating; there was no reason to hurtle face-first down a frozen chute on a brakeless sled.Yet for all the modernity of skeleton it was reintroduced to the Winter Olympics lineup only in 2002 scientists are still deeply puzzled by it.The other sliding sports provide clearer paths to victory. Bobsled drivers steer by pulling on two pieces of rope attached to a steering bolt. Lugers steer by flexing their calf muscles and gripping the sleds handles. But skeleton racers can guide themselves with only the subtlest of shoulder shrugs or foot taps. The slightest twitch can help or hurt by altering the athletes aerodynamics in ways that athletes, coaches and researchers are still trying to decode.There are even times when I just use my eyes, Katie Tannenbaum, a skeleton athlete from the Virgin Islands, told The Times in 2018.Skeleton was invented on a bit of a whim, according to the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation. The sport started in the late 19th century on the Cresta Run, an icy outdoor track used for sledding in St. Moritz, Switzerland, when recreational sledders began careening down headfirst. And although the name skeleton fits a sport that would seem to invite death head-on, it has murky origins; it may have arisen from a poorly Anglicized Norwegian word or the steel sleds sparse, skeletal appearance. The sport appeared in the Olympics in 1928 and 1948, when the games were held in St. Moritz.The physics of the sliding sports skeleton, bobsled and luge are simple. Its gravity that pulls you down the track, said Timothy Wei, a mechanical engineer with expertise in fluid dynamics at Northwestern University, who works with skeleton athletes. And all the drag forces are slowing you down.Much of the sparse, nonproprietary research on skeleton concerns the sprinting phase of the sport, where athletes run to generate velocity while pushing their sled across a short distance before jumping aboard. Scientists have investigated the ideal number of steps, the ideal step length and frequency and even the ideal angles of the hips, knees, ankles and thighs during the running phase. But scientists know far less about the mechanics of the more terrifying phase of skeleton.There are many reasons.The sliding is physically brutal: Athletes endure four to five G-forces of pressure around turns and must withstand the rattling vibrations of the track. In luge, athletes wear a neck strap to hold up their head under high G-forces; bobsled athletes, seated, are enveloped by their vehicle. In skeleton, athletes experience the elements face-first, all while tucking their heads down to remain streamlined, chins hovering just inches above the hard ice and eyes straining upward to visualize the track.You cant do more than two to three runs per day, Dr. Wei said. And by the end of the season, for one or two months you just cant think clearly. So while a runner can practice running whenever they like, a skeleton athlete is able to skeleton for only a few cumulative hours per year, if that; with few opportunities for testing, skeleton runs are logistically difficult to study.ImageCredit...James Hill for The New York TimesIts not easy to get to a track for practice. The International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation lists just 17 tracks around the world, all located in the Northern Hemisphere. This exclusivity creates economic and environmental barriers for sliders from other countries hoping to train, let alone make it to the Olympics.And the tracks are often serpentine, winding like roller coasters, making it difficult to keep a continuous eye on an athlete as they barrel down the track. The track at the Yanqing National Sliding Center in Beijing, also called the Snow Dragon, has a 360-degree turn. From Dr. Weis experience, watching a race means you just watch these guys sprint and disappear into a tunnel and theyre gone. He added, Theres no way to know exactly what the athlete is doing along the entire track, and to get data off it.But in a race where victory margins are typically a few hundredths of a second, its crucial for athletes to understand the aerodynamic forces slowing their slide, in order to minimize them. With your face pointing toward the ice, it can be hard to know whether tweaking the position of your foot or sliding up or down on the sled actually shaves off precious time.Enter the humble wind tunnel. More than a decade ago, Dr. Wei built a system that simulated the drag resistance that athletes experience in an actual skeleton run. He constructed a mock section of a track at the exit of an open wind tunnel with sensors embedded in the floor, near which he mounted a mock sled. The sensors tracked the drag forces and weight distribution of the athletes.Athletes mounted a mock sled, braced themselves against the gusts of wind, and were able to view in real-time how slight adjustments of their body affected their speed through a plexiglass window on the floor of the tunnel.Dr. Wei also conducted tests using a theatrical fog machine and illuminated by a green sheet of laser light. He tracked the movement of the fog particles to reveal how air swirled over the athletes bodies and heads, in the hopes of gaining insight into further ways of reducing drag.ImageCredit...Timothy Wei andC. M. LeongMs. Tannenbaum, who is set to compete for the Virgin Islands this week, worked with Dr. Weis wind tunnel to prepare for Beijing. (There are no bobsled tracks in the U.S. Virgin Islands.) Where is the drag coming from? Dr. Wei wondered. How much of it is from the sled itself, and how much is from Katie?A wind tunnel cannot replicate the surprises of a real track, where certain elements the tiny bumps on the ice, the wind conditions, the outdoor temperature will always be out of the athletes control.Part of the beauty of skeleton, compared with the other sliding sports, may be that it asks athletes to relinquish total control over their destiny on the ice.Even though it looks completely insane, in many ways its the safest of the sliding sports paradoxically because you have so little steering control, Dr. Wei said. Oversteering in these sports can often lead to a crash. Luge, where speeds can top 90 miles per hour, is considered one of the most dangerous sports in the Olympic Games.The most aerodynamic skeleton racer would not be a fleshy human, but an actual skeleton the wind would whistle right through the rib-cage, Dr. Wei said, adding that an actual skeleton would not be able to steer.Until the Olympics opens to the undead, the sport of skeleton remains in the domain of the living. And though the athletes may look as still as corpses, there is nothing more resolutely alive than clinging to a steel plank, sliding 80 miles per hour toward the center of the Earth, over and over and over again. Men Christopher Grotheer Germany Women Hannah Neise Germany

science

Firle JournalCredit...Andrew Testa for The New York TimesMarch 9, 2017FIRLE, England With birdsong in the air and a weak winter sun shining on the walled garden of an elegant farmhouse in southern England, things are going well for the film crew of Countryfile, a British television show that focuses on rural issues.But as the host, John Craven, starts speaking, an airplane flies overhead and filming has to stop, a pattern repeated later when the proceedings would be disrupted by a delivery van, a chain saw, an electrical generator and gunshots.If the countryside is, as Mr. Craven says, sometimes a very noisy place, it is also one that is close to the hearts of Britons, millions of whom watch the show religiously every Sunday evening, 52 weeks a year, on BBC.Countryfile is regularly the most viewed factual broadcast in Britain, some achievement in a land where the battle for TV ratings last year produced a dating show in which participants appear naked.If there is anything raunchy about Countryfile, it is perhaps best described as pastoral porn: shots of bare, undulating hills and deep, grassy valleys.Almost more than in any other country I can think of, we Brits have this kind of proprietorial attitude to the countryside, said Mr. Craven, a veteran of Countryfile, during a break from filming.We dont own it or most of us dont own it but we behave as if we do, he added.Mr. Craven himself is an unlikely figure to represent one of Britains top-rated shows. He is 76 and began his career broadcasting in black and white. In 1989 he joined Countryfile after 17 years of John Cravens Newsround, a short news broadcast for children, which makes him instantly recognizable to generations of Britons.ImageCredit...Andrew Testa for The New York TimesThe other hosts for Countryfile, most of them in their 30s, grew up watching him, he says, adding that he has disproved the showbiz injunction to avoid working with children and animals.Ive done that all my life, he said, adding that he had no plans to retire.Like many, Mr. Craven was surprised by the success of a show once aimed primarily at farmers. In 2009, schedulers gambled by moving it from a Sunday pre-lunch backwater slot to prime time early evening.The day after the switch, Mr. Craven recalls, the controller phoned me up at about 11 oclock on Monday morning and said, You are not going to believe this, John, we got seven million. Everybody was jumping up and down in the office. And its been like that ever since.On one week in February it was viewed by 7.67 million people, compared with 7.25 million for the best rating achieved by the popular soap opera EastEnders and 5.29 million for the 6 oclock news on BBC.Shows about the natural world, like Planet Earth, can be blockbusters here, and affection for rural life is reflected in the bucolic setting of Britains longest-running radio soap opera, The Archers.The audience for Countryfile splits roughly 50-50 between urban and rural viewers, and includes (Mr. Craven has been assured) members of Britains royal family.Countryfile prides itself on both quality filmmaking and its tackling of difficult aspects of rural life, like dementia and domestic abuse, and it has its own distinct style and pace.ImageCredit...Andrew Testa for The New York TimesA lot of television may be made with ratings in mind, said Nick Small, one of the shows directors. That may be where they are getting it wrong, as far as I am concerned.The shows viewers rarely experience an adrenaline rush as they settle into their Sunday night on the sofa. Its slow, its comfortable, Mr. Small said. You never have somebody saying, Will John get out of this situation alive?The shoot I visited in February illustrated the diverse topics covered by the show. Mr. Craven was at Charleston House here in Firle, which became the country home of the artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant.The farmhouse, which is decorated with their work, offered an escape from London and from military service for Mr. Grant, who was a conscientious objector during World War I.Filming for each episode takes place about two weeks ahead of broadcast, and producers say, coyly, that the show is made at a fraction of the cost of other prime-time competitors.But exposure inevitably brings criticism. In 2015 The Daily Mail, a midmarket tabloid, published an article by the writer Christopher Booker claiming that Countryfile prettifies, sentimentalizes and sanitizes country life while lining up with the environmentalists and animal rights campaigners who run our powerful green lobby groups.By contrast, The Daily Express, another tabloid, frequently highlights occasions when viewers are upset by images of dead animals or anything else vaguely contentious. When a drawing, made recently by one host, Ellie Harrison, accidentally bore a slight resemblance to a phallus, the Express headline read: Fans in Turmoil as Ellie Harrison Draws Penis on Family Show.ImageCredit...Andrew Testa for The New York TimesMr. Bookers claims were rejected by the Countryfile executive editor, Bill Lyons. However, he does not want to be drawn into another big dispute that erupted when the show moved to prime time which was before he took up his current position.In 2011 a tribunal decided that the BBC discriminated against one female host, Miriam OReilly, on the basis of her age, when it dropped her from the show.Mr. Lyons takes pride in the fact that at a time when television is increasingly viewed on demand, Countryfile is a fixture in national life, drawing a wide and diverse viewership. Students confess on Twitter to having this guilty habit of watching Countryfile, Mr. Lyons said.Its success in Britain established, Countryfile is now more easily available to viewers in America as part of a subscription TV service called BritBox, a collaboration between the BBC and its commercial competitor, ITV.Mr. Lyons sees it, however, as a quintessentially British show. I know North America quite well, and its landscape is wonderful, but it doesnt half go on for a long time particularly when you are driving through the Midwest or Texas, he said, using a British turn of phrase that means it goes on and on.He added, Whereas in Britain it changes perceptibly sometimes every few hundred yards, certainly every couple of miles.Britons, he added, are not good at overt displays of patriotism, but what we do well is take quiet pride in the things that make Britain British, and the landscape is one of those things.Despite his many years as a TV frontman, or perhaps because of them, Mr. Craven agrees. I always say that its the countryside that is the star of the show, he said.Heaven forfend, he added, if you are not really interested in what Im saying, theres always a beautiful view behind me.

World

Credit...Sbusisiwe Magwaza/Government Communication & Info System, via European Pressphoto AgencyApril 6, 2016JOHANNESBURG In his first public appearance after South Africas highest court found that he had breached the Constitution, President Jacob G. Zuma visited one of his rural strongholds, where he received a heros welcome.Even as urban South Africans were calling for his resignation, thousands of supporters in Melmoth, a small town in the countrys southeast, many wearing T-shirts emblazoned with his face, cheered and chanted for him on Sunday.As your shepherd, let me lead you, Mr. Zuma told the crowd, according to news reports of his appearance.At the event, officially about the nations drought, organizers handed out food and Mr. Zuma spoke of the importance of black South Africans voting as a bloc. That was the only way, he said, to make gains, like the recovery of land seized from their ancestors.Mr. Zuma has defied South Africas political gravity for more than a decade, surviving scandals that would have long ago felled a lesser strategist: corruption charges related to arms purchases; accusations that he raped the daughter of a family friend; his acknowledgment that he fathered a child, his 20th, with the daughter of a close friend; and the use of millions of dollars in public funds to upgrade his home.He has succeeded thanks to the backing of rural communities like Melmoth, where his party, the African National Congress, has established a vast network of patronage that is expected to yield electoral victories for years, and perhaps decades. More than any of his predecessors, Mr. Zuma, himself a product of rural South Africa, has championed towns and villages.The A.N.C.s dependence on the rural vote helps explain why the party has continued to rally behind Mr. Zuma, most recently on Tuesday when it used its overwhelming majority in the National Assembly to quash an opposition motion to impeach the president. National and provincial officials, even those who have criticized Mr. Zumas conduct, have closed ranks behind the president.But behind this unified front, something is building within the A.N.C., said Somadoda Fikeni, a political analyst. The mood is far more fractured than what you hear in the partys public statements.On Thursday, the Constitutional Court ruled that Mr. Zuma had violated the Constitution in his handling of a long-running corruption scandal involving expensive upgrades to his home in Nkandla, a town in the southeast. For years, Mr. Zuma waved away criticism and then findings by the nations public protector that he had misused public money on the home improvements, totaling more than $16 million at current exchange rates.After failing to impeach the president, opposition leaders said they would use street protests and other means to keep the pressure on Mr. Zuma. On Wednesday, in a sign of widening popular discontent, an umbrella group of leaders from churches, unions, academia and other institutions said they would begin a campaign to press Mr. Zuma to step down.But within the A.N.C., there has been only a trickle of calls for Mr. Zumas resignation, coming from a few retired, though prominent, officials.In comments widely interpreted as being directed against Mr. Zuma, David Makhura, a party member and the premier of Gauteng, the province that includes Johannesburg and is the nations richest and most urban, said this week that loyalty to the country was more important than loyalty to the party. In November, Mr. Zuma said the A.N.C. was more important than South Africa, refusing to retract his statement after it elicited widespread criticism.When the A.N.C. was going to consider what next to do, we knew that the A.N.C. would act in the best interest of the people and the country, Mr. Makhura said at a memorial service for a party veteran. We should ask ourselves whether we can still say that today.The A.N.C. chapter in Gauteng Province has not backed Mr. Zuma as the partys presidential candidate in the past. Voters, especially in Johannesburg, the provincial capital and the countrys largest city, have gravitated to opposition parties in recent elections. For the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994, the A.N.C. is expected to face serious challenges in Johannesburg and some other cities in local elections scheduled for August.The split inside the A.N.C. reflects wider cleavages inside South Africa itself, said Steven Friedman, a political analyst at the University of Johannesburg.In urban pockets, a growing black middle class, participating in the formal economy, looks to politicians for good government, Mr. Friedman said. These include A.N.C. members who are opposed to Mr. Zuma and his politics.If you imagine the South Africa of 1994 as a country run by an exclusive club consisting of white people, what has happened over the last 21 years is that new members have been admitted to the club, Mr. Friedman said. Thats not trivial, but it still means its an exclusive club.The vast majority of South Africans are excluded from this club, with many living in rural areas like Melmoth, the town Mr. Zuma visited. In those areas, there is often little beyond the jobs and money provided by the A.N.C.For a lot of the A.N.C. members, supporters and even leaders there, outside the party government, there isnt really much they can do, said William Gumede, a political scientist at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and the executive chairman of the Democracy Works Foundation, a good-government group. Theyre not professionals who can go back to teaching or being medical doctors after being kicked out of power. The party and the party patronage system is the only place for them.For now, the partys rural and urban factions have united behind Mr. Zuma for the coming local elections, Mr. Friedman said. After the elections, the factional fighting is likely to emerge and intensify before a 2017 party conference when delegates will choose a successor to Mr. Zuma, who is limited to two terms as president.But until then, the A.N.C. could face growing popular discontent in the cities for continuing to stand behind Mr. Zuma. At a news conference announcing their anti-Zuma campaign on Wednesday, civil society leaders called on the president to step down.The formal political process has failed, said Prince Mashele, the executive director of the Center for Politics and Research, a private group participating in the campaign. The only thing that remains now is for ordinary South Africans to organize themselves under the banner of civil society to put pressure on the A.N.C. to make Jacob Zuma resign or to pressure Jacob Zuma himself to throw in the towel.

World

Credit...Daniel Leal-Olivas/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesNov. 10, 2018Im out of office until 2019.The automated email replies from working women were part of a campaign to mark Equal Pay Day in Britain on Saturday and to draw attention to the countrys gender pay gap. The Fawcett Society, a group that campaigns for gender equality and womens rights, set Nov. 10 as the date in Britain when women begin working effectively for free when compared to men, based on the disparity in pay annually. Mind the GapThere are many ways of looking at wage discrimination. But widely used definitions of the gender pay gap use the difference in median or average pay between men and women in full-time jobs in terms of gross salary without overtime. In Britain, the gap was 13.7 percent this year. Put another way, women earn on average 86.3 percent of what men do. In the United States, Equal Pay Day fell on April 10 to mark how far into the year women had to work to match the previous years wages of male counterparts. The European Commission, the European Unions executive arm, observes Equal Pay Day based on the average gap across the bloc. Based on 2016 figures, that difference was 16 percent.Slow Change It is illegal in most industrialized nations to pay women less than men for the same job, but men continue to earn significantly higher median salaries. A 2016 report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that the gender pay gap was 13.9 percent in member nations.If nothing is done, research in Britain has shown it could take nearly a century to bridge the gap at the current rate of change.This Equal Pay Day we are asking you to talk about pay at work, said Sam Smethers, the chief executive of the Fawcett Society. The group has started a fund to provide legal advice for low-paid women. Fawcett Society also launched a social media campaign encouraging women and men to show their solidarity by sharing photos with equal signs drawn on their hands or paper to call for change. Dozens shared their photos and calls to action.In France, the minister in charge of gender equality, Marlne Schiappa, sent out a tweet with the hashtag used by campaigners on the day to announce a plan to combat wage inequality in the next three years on Frances Equal Pay Day, Nov. 6.The Womens Equality Party, a feminist political party in Britain, asked women to set out of office replies in protest. The fight for equal pay often pits a lone woman against a very powerful employer, said Carrie Gracie, who quit her job as China editor of the BBC in January to protest unequal wages and donated backdated pay she received from the organization to the legal fund.Some Progress and a Shift in Attitudes on Equal Pay Dominique Meurs, an economist at Paris Nanterre University who specializes in gender inequalities in the workplace, said large corporations have become very sensitive to the issue even though the gap in France had not closed significantly since the 1990s. It has become an integral part of their corporate social strategy, she said. The inequalities that are easy to eliminate have been eliminated, Ms. Meurs said. But to resolve the pay gap, companies will have to look beyond that figure at career evolution. In Britain, the pay gap is the lowest since records began in 1997. The the gap in average pay was 20.7 percent then. A recent European Commission opinion poll found that attitudes are shifting: Most people in the European Union believe it is unacceptable for women to be paid less than men. But many dont know that equal pay is guaranteed by law. Equal pay legislation exists in all European Union member state. Many men and women also assume that they are paid equally, according to Allyson Zimmermann, the executive director of Catalyst Europe, a nonprofit consulting and research organization. What its highlighting year after year is that progress is incredibly slow, and its highlighting the need for change, Ms. Zimmermann said. It opens a much wider discussion of what is happening it goes even beyond the pay, it goes to inequity and it shows talent not being valued, she said. Elian Peltier contributed reporting from Paris.

World

Todd Gurley Hits Water Cooler Flip Challenge ... Players Go Crazy! 1/24/2018 Forget the water bottle flip challenge ... Todd Gurley just crushed the GATORADE COOLER FLIP CHALLENGE!!! The Rams superstar was hanging' out at the NFL Pro Bowl practice in Orlando on Wednesday when he saw the cooler on a table and decided he needed to flip that bitch!!! New Orleans Saints running back Mark Ingram caught the whole thing on video (not sure Gurley even knew he was being recorded) ... and when he hit the flip, everyone went nuts!!!! Gotta love Pro Bowl week. Bonus: Remember when LeBron James pulled the water bottle flip off during a game? Good times.

Entertainment

Feb. 10, 2014WASHINGTON The next hockey player to step onto the Verizon Center ice, on Feb. 23, will not be Alex Ovechkin or John Carlson or anyone else whom fans of the home team, the Washington Capitals, are used to seeing.The same day, the gold medal game at the Sochi Olympics could feature Ovechkins Russian team or Carlsons American team. But that afternoon, the players taking the ice here will be from the Hershey Bears, the Capitals American Hockey League affiliate, and the Syracuse Crunch, a Tampa Bay Lightning farm team.That game will conclude a two-week stretch, which began Saturday, of eight A.H.L. contests in seven N.H.L. arenas. The goal is to keep the fire burning among fans during the N.H.L.s Sochi-induced recess.Its so people can get their hockey fix, the Capitals assistant general manager, Don Fishman, said.For minor league players, the games also will provide a rare taste of N.H.L. atmosphere. For N.H.L. fans, it will be a chance to see more of their favorite teams talent pool.For the Adirondack Phantoms, a game against Bridgeport on Feb. 22 at Wells Fargo Center, home of the parent Philadelphia Flyers, will bring the team close to its new fan base in Allentown, Pa., where the Phantoms will move after this season. It will also be a homecoming for the team, which until 2009 played across the parking lot at the since-razed Spectrum.Chris Porreca, the Phantoms executive vice president, said he expected the game to sell out, just as the team did two years ago when it drew more than 45,000 fans to an outdoor game at the Phillies Citizens Bank Park in the same sports complex.The A.H.L. also is filling the N.H.L. vacuum with a pageant in St. Johns, Newfoundland, on Tuesday and Wednesday that includes A.H.L. All-Stars taking on Farjestad BK of Sweden. That contest will be televised across Canada on Sportsnet, in the United States on NHL Network and by the N.H.L. teams broadcast partners, said Dave Andrews, the A.H.L. commissioner.We play 1,140 games each season, so any special-event games that showcase the league in a different way we look forward to, Andrews said.Teams in other leagues and sports will also take advantage of the Olympic break. The Edmonton Oilers absence, for example, opened dates for the Western Hockey Leagues Edmonton Oil Kings, a junior team that, like the Oilers, is based at Rexall Place and will play five of its next six games at home. The Ottawa SkyHawks, of the National Basketball League of Canada, will play four home games in six days at Canadian Tire Centre, home of the N.H.L.s Senators. The A.H.L. games on N.H.L. ice are arranged by the teams rather than by the league offices. It is not a simple proposition.Scheduling is complicated because many N.H.L. arenas are home to N.B.A. teams and host scores of concerts, circuses and other events. (Disney on Ice is taking over the rinks in Washington; Boston; San Jose, Calif.; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Ottawa for several days during the Olympic break, which ends Feb. 25.) Taking an A.H.L. game on the road also means depriving season-ticket holders of one or more of the 38 home contests they had purchased. The Capitals paid Syracuse what amounts to an appearance fee to be the home team for the game against Hershey, which will nonetheless use the Capitals locker room.The hope is that A.H.L. fans will travel a reasonable distance to attend games in N.H.L. arenas. Eric Feldman, a season-ticket holder for the Charlotte Checkers, said he planned to make the two-and-a-half-hour drive to Raleigh, N.C., for one of two games this month against the Abbotsford Heat at PNC Arena, the Carolina Hurricanes home. Its fun to see your team play in a different venue, said Feldman, vice president of a health care company.At a Hurricanes game they attended this season, Feldmans eldest daughter, Jessica, 16, donned a replica Checkers jersey of the since-promoted defenseman Brett Bellemore. When Bellemore noticed during pregame warm-ups that she was wearing it, he tapped on the glass and gave a thumbs-up.That, Feldman said, exemplifies the bonds that can accompany prospects to the N.H.L. and that tie A.H.L. fans to the parent club.One of Bellemores former teammates, Checkers left wing Nicolas Blanchard, will be among those playing this weekend in Raleigh. Blanchard said he was excited to play under the brighter lights and hoped it heralded a permanent return for him.Itll give me energy to show the fans that I want to go back to the club, Blanchard said of the Hurricanes. During the Olympic break, many younger N.H.L. players are being temporarily sent to the A.H.L. to receive more playing time. A few of the Capitals are expected to play for the Bears in the Feb. 23 game at Verizon Center, Fishman said.Its a neat byproduct of hockey, he said, that, like in baseball, sometimes both future and near-term prospects can play for both the minor league affiliate and the big club in the same year and, for this unique game, in the same arena.

Sports

Jesse Williams Slammed With More Spousal Support 1/19/2018 Jesse Williams just got hit hard ... a judge just signed off on a huge hike in spousal support he'll have to pay his estranged wife -- going from $33k to $50k per month. Aryn Drake-Lee had gone to court to ask for the increase based on his ability to pay. She and Jesse hammered out the agreement, and the judge approved it earlier this month. The divorce has been incredibly acrimonious ... particularly after he was linked to Minka Kelly. The exact amount of the new spousal support obligation is $50,695 per month. Under the new order, Aryn is responsible for paying all mortgage obligations and various other expenses related to the family home. She's also getting half of Jesse's residuals from Sept., 2012, to April, 2017 for "Grey's Anatomy" and other projects. And Jesse is required to give her a $60k advance for lawyer's fees related to their divorce.

Entertainment

VideotranscripttranscriptSenate and House Vote to Certify Bidens VictoryThe Senate and House voted early Thursday to certify Joseph R. Biden Jr. as winner of the 2020 presidential election.To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today: You did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins, and this is still the peoples house. When I arrived in Washington this morning, I fully intended to object to the certification of the electoral votes. However, the events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider, and I cannot now in good conscience object to the certification of these electors. [hitting gavel] On this vote, the yeas are six, the nays are 93. The objection is not sustained. The secretary will notify the House of the action of the Senate, informing that body that the Senate is now ready to proceed to joint session with further counting of the electoral vote for president and vice president. For what reason does the gentleman from Pennsylvania rise? Mr. President, sadly but resolutely, I object to the electoral votes of my beloved Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on the grounds of multiple constitutional infractions that they were not under all of the known circumstances regularly given. And on this occasion, I have a written objection signed by a senator and 80 members of the House of Representatives. In the Senate of the United States ordered that the Senate, by a vote of seven ayes to 92 nays, rejects the objection to the electoral votes cast in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for Joseph R. Biden for president and Kamala D. Harris for vice president. Ordered that the House of Representatives rejects the objection to the electoral vote of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The votes for president of the United States are as follows: Joseph R. Biden Jr. of the state of Delaware has received 306 votes. Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 232 votes. The whole number of electors appointed to vote for vice president of the United States is 538. Within that whole number, a majority is 270. The votes for vice president of the United States are as follows: Kamala D. Harris of the state of California has received 306 votes. Michael R. Pence of the state of Indiana has received 232 votes. The announcement of the state of the vote by the president of the Senate shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected president and vice president of the United States, each for the term beginning on the 20th day of January 2021, and shall be entered together with the list of the votes on the journals of the Senate and the House of Representatives.The Senate and House voted early Thursday to certify Joseph R. Biden Jr. as winner of the 2020 presidential election.CreditCredit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesJan. 7, 2021Congress certified the election of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. early Thursday, hours after loyalists urged on by President Trump stormed and occupied the Capitol, disrupting the final electoral count in a shocking display of violence that shook the core of American democracy.Mr. Trump, who spent months stoking the anger of his supporters with false claims that the election was stolen and who refused to condemn the violent protests on Wednesday, said early Thursday that there would be an orderly presidential transition this month.Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th, he said in a statement.The statement, which had to be issued through surrogates since Mr. Trumps Twitter account was suspended, came moments after Vice President Mike Pence affirmed Mr. Biden as the winner of the presidential election shortly before 4 a.m. after the final electoral votes were tallied in a joint session of Congress.There was no parallel in modern American history, with insurgents acting in the presidents name vandalizing Speaker Nancy Pelosis office, smashing windows, looting art and briefly taking control of the Senate chamber, where they took turns posing for photographs with fists up on the dais where Mr. Pence had just been presiding.Mr. Biden, speaking as the scenes of destruction in the halls of Congress left lawmakers from both parties horrified, blamed Mr. Trump for fomenting the insurrection.At their best, the words of a president can inspire. At their worst, they can incite, Mr. Biden said.Allies around the world, accustomed to the chaos that has marked Mr. Trumps tenure, struggled to find words to describe what they were witnessing.These pictures made me angry and sad, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said.In Russia, by contrast, the violence fit neatly into the Kremlins narrative of a crumbling American democracy. The Kremlin released no official comment, but state television offered extensive late-night coverage of the attack on the Capitol, with the footage of the violence set to dramatic, orchestral music.The upheaval unfolded on a day when Democrats secured a stunning pair of victories in runoff elections in Georgia, winning effective control of the Senate and the levers of power in Washington.The siege at the Capitol was the climax of a weekslong campaign by Mr. Trump, filled with baseless claims of fraud and outright lies, to try to overturn a democratically decided election that he lost.By the time the Senate reconvened late Wednesday, hours after lawmakers had been evacuated from a Capitol overrun by a mob carrying pro-Trump paraphernalia, one of the nations most polarizing moments had yielded an unexpected window of solidarity. Republicans and Democrats locked arms to denounce the violence and express their determination to carry out what they called a constitutionally sacrosanct function.To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win, Mr. Pence said in a sharp break from Mr. Trump, who had posted messages condoning the mobs actions. Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the peoples house.Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, said the failed insurrection had only clarified Congresss purpose.They tried to disrupt our democracy, he said. They failed.After the vote was certified early Thursday, Barry C. Black, the Senate chaplain, said a prayer in the chamber in an emotional close to a chaotic day in which a woman was fatally shot inside the Capitol.These tragedies have reminded us that words matter and that the power of life and death is in the tongue, he said. We deplore the desecration of the United States Capitol building, the shedding of innocent blood, the loss of life, and the quagmire of dysfunction that threaten our democracy.

Politics

VideoSupporters of Narendra Modis Bharatiya Janata Party celebrated a landslide victory in Indias most populous state on Saturday, consolidating the prime ministers power and putting him in a strong position to win re-election in 2019.CreditCredit...Tsering Topgyal/Associated PressMarch 11, 2017NEW DELHI Prime Minister Narendra Modi led his party to a landslide victory in Indias largest state on Saturday, consolidating his power and putting him in a strong position to win re-election in 2019.The scale of the victory in Uttar Pradeshs legislative elections was all the more stunning because it followed Mr. Modis politically risky decision to eliminate most of Indias cash. The vote was seen as a referendum on the prime minister, who campaigned vigorously in recent days in Uttar Pradesh, which, with a population of more than 200 million, would be the worlds sixth largest country if it were independent.This is a stupendous achievement, said Ashok Malik, a fellow with the Observer Research Foundation, based in New Delhi. Here you had a prime minister making himself the face of the election in the absence of a local leader and stitching together a coalition across the state.The margin of victory in Uttar Pradesh was the largest seen by any party in more than 30 years. It gives Mr. Modi a significant advantage in the national elections in 2019, which in turn would bring him closer to his long-term goal of becoming a leader of historic significance, steering India away from its more socialist, secular past.Mr. Modis Bharatiya Janata Party, commonly called the B.J.P., also won at least one of four other state elections in which ballots were being counted on Saturday. The weakening India National Congress party, which once dominated the nations politics, won in Punjab, a powerful farming state, and remained in contention in two smaller states, showing that it was still a factor nationally, though less so than in years past.The Aam Aadmi Party, born of the anticorruption movement that has arisen in India in recent years, failed to win any state, suggesting that it was not yet ready to take over from the Congress party as the main opposition to Mr. Modi.Mr. Modi said on Twitter that his partys victories were humbling and overwhelming.In Uttar Pradesh, the Election Commission of India said the Bharatiya Janata Party had won or was leading in voting for 308 of the 403 seats in the state legislature, decimating the last-minute anti-Modi coalition cobbled together by Congress and the local governing party, the Samajwadi Party. By Saturday afternoon, that coalition had garnered only 57 seats.The coalition had appeared to be gaining steam after it was formed early this year, led by the dynamic, relatively young leader of the Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav, 43, whose father founded the party and presided over it for decades.That party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, commonly known as the B.S.P., have taken turns governing Uttar Pradesh in recent decades, in each case putting together coalitions that consisted mainly of the party leaders caste group along with Muslims. But on Saturday afternoon, the B.S.P., led by Kumari Mayawati, a leader of the Dalit caste, won or was leading in only 20 seats, the election commission said.The scale of the Bharatiya Janata Partys victory suggested that it had bridged such caste allegiances, some experts said, although it had yet to cross religious lines to attract large numbers of Muslims. While Mr. Modi has largely steered clear of divisive language on religion as prime minister, his party has a Hindu nationalist philosophy, and he was accused of complicity in anti-Muslim violence as the leader of his home state of Gujarat.This is the beginning of a new chapter in the history of India, Jitendra Singh, a minister of state in Mr. Modis office, told the television station Times Now. The Indian voter has learned to rise above caste and creed and vote for development and the future of India.In fact, although Mr. Modi won the 2014 national elections on a platform of jobs and development, his economic record is mixed. He has lured more foreign investment and is close to achieving a long-delayed tax overhaul, but new job creation has been slow and domestic private investment remains stagnant.The International Monetary Fund this year cut its projected growth rate for India by one percentage point, to 6.6 percent, in large part because of Mr. Modis sudden ban on the countrys largest currency notes in November.Saturdays results come less than four months after Mr. Modis Nov. 8 announcement that Indias largest notes, which made up 86 percent of the currency, would be banned starting the next day in a bid to fight corruption. A cash shortfall persisted for weeks as the government rushed to print enough new notes to replace the banned ones, slowing many of the countrys cash-based businesses and leaving many poor people struggling to make ends meet.As the cash crunch persisted, with millions waiting in line for notes, Mr. Modi faced criticism that his policy had hurt lower-income people, and many predicted that voters would punish him at the polls.But his big win in Uttar Pradesh coupled with victory in another state, Uttarakhand, and gains in the eastern state of Manipur, where his party had not been a contender in the recent past suggests that despite the pain the currency ban caused, voters believed Mr. Modi when he said it was needed to reduce corruption, some experts said.The narrative became less about whether it was right or wrong on economics, but more about the political narrative, the way Modi was able to shape it, said Harsh Pant, a professor of international relations specializing in India at Kings College in London.He said, I am a crusader against corruption, and you have to rise above your mundane economic realities and support me. And people did, Mr. Pant said.Votes were still being counted in the smaller states of Goa and Manipur on Saturday afternoon, and the margins were so close that it was not clear who would form the state governments.Experts said Mr. Modis win in Uttar Pradesh meant his party would be able to take control of the upper house of Indias Parliament next year. They expected him to have a freer hand in making the economic policy overhauls that he has long sought to spur development, including changes in the law to make it easier for companies to acquire farmland and to fire workers.But many experts cautioned that it was unlikely Mr. Modi would make major changes before the 2019 election. When he previously tried to ease land acquisition rules, he found himself pilloried as the suit boot prime minister, or guardian of the corporate class, the experts noted.Hell have the space, but hell also be concerned about re-election, Mr. Malik said. The prime minister may tinker with the laws, perhaps allowing states to change some labor laws to attract industry, but hes not suddenly going to shift gears in terms of policies, Mr. Malik said.

World

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs victory may be more one-off than wave, but her stunning win has raised hopes for other female candidates.Credit...Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune, via Associated PressJune 29, 2018Women like me arent supposed to run for office, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declared in the opening of her campaign video that went viral this spring. And women like her werent supposed to win primary challenges against incumbents, particularly powerful ones like Representative Joseph Crowley, who had been mentioned as a potential House speaker.But she did. So is this the year that women break the rules and win?This years midterm elections have produced a surge of women like her across the country: progressive candidates running outsider campaigns powered by strong personal narratives and womens activism that began with massive marches the day after President Trumps inauguration and has grown through protests against gun violence, the stripping away of the Affordable Care Act and immigration policies that divide families.But Ms. Ocasio-Cortezs win in New Yorks 14th Congressional District Tuesday may be more one-off than wave. The same night she won by 15 points, another woman of color, Saira Rao, lost her energetic bid from the left in a primary against Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado. Three weeks earlier, so did another, Tanzie Youngblood, in an open primary against a conservative Democrat in New Jersey. ImageCredit...Annie Tritt for The New York TimesWhether other women become overnight stars like Ms. Ocasio-Cortez or Stacey Abrams, whose win in the Democratic primary for governor in Georgia sparked similar excitement depends on the dynamics of each state or district.Yes, we are in this year where the rules seem to have gone out the door, but Im still quite cautious, said Wendy Smooth, a professor of gender and political science at Ohio State University. We can say that there are some unique stories that could resonate but whether or not they win, its politics is local.The conditions in New York were near perfect. The district had been redrawn so that its voters look more like Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, whose mother is Puerto Rican, than Mr. Crowley, who is white. The state divided its primary moving the more high-profile contest for governor to September allowing a strong turnout by activist groups to make a huge difference. Mr. Crowley, a 10-term congressman, didnt take the race seriously, sending a surrogate to stand in his place at a debate. And Ms. Ocasio-Cortez made a compelling pitch. Women Who Might WinMs. Ocasio-Cortezs win immediately raised comparisons with and hopes for Ayanna Pressley, running in a Democratic primary against another 10-term congressman, Michael Capuano, of Massachusetts. (Ms. Ocasio-Cortez shouted out to Ms. Pressley in her victory speech.) Massachusetts is a machine state and Mr. Capuano has strong labor support but then, people said the same in New York.ImageCredit...Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for Vanity FairOne district over from that race is Brianna Wu, challenging Rep. Stephen Lynch from the left. And before the Massachusetts primaries in September, there is Lucy McBath, who became an anti-gun activist after her sons murder, in a July 24 runoff to be the Democratic nominee in Georgias Sixth District. Other women to watch include Rashida Tlaib, bidding to be the first Muslim woman elected to Congress in Michigans 13th District, an opening created by the resignation of another longtime Democrat power broker, John Conyers Jr., in a sexual harassment scandal. ImageCredit...Tony Eggert, Three Lyons CreativeIlhan Omar, a Somali-American state legislator, is running in the Democratic primary on August 14 for Minnesotas Fifth District, an open seat that, like the ones Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and Ms. Tlaib are seeking to fill, is solidly Democratic. She has attracted progressive activism locally and national support from immigrant-rights groups newly mobilized against President Trumps travel ban, which blocks most travelers from Somalia.The bigger questions are about Democratic women running in places that are historically Republican and thats most Democratic women running this year. Stacey Abrams has created excitement around the possibility of electing the nations first black female governor in Georgia, no less. But yes, Georgia, where white voters have been stingy about supporting black candidates and voters have dashed the hopes of a string of promising Democrats for governor. New Jerseys 11th District has been solidly Republican for the last 20 years. But Donald Trump won it by only a small margin in 2016, and Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee, has amassed an impressive campaign war chest. A Monmouth University poll this week shows Democrats more excited than Republicans about the race, suggesting that Ms. Sherrill could win on the strength of newly energized resistance groups. (That energy helped push the incumbent, Rodney Frelinghuysen, into retirement.)Where Victory Might Be Harder Elsewhere the path to victory is steeper, because the races are against incumbents, who historically almost always win.ImageCredit...Nati Harnik/Associated PressKara Eastman, who won an outsider campaign against a former congressman in the Democratic primary in Nebraskas second district, is now running against a Republican incumbent protected by gerrymandering.Closer to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Liuba Grechen Shirley beat the Democratic Party establishment candidate by 16 points in the primary Tuesday for a seat on Long Island. But now she faces Representative Peter King, who has been in office for 25 years and routinely wins by double digits.Still, Ms. Grechen Shirley notes that Democrats have a slight edge in voter registration, and possibly in energy. I had a press conference outside of Kings office and a man came up to me and said, My wife voted for you. I am a Republican, so I couldnt vote in the primary but I am going to vote for you in November and Id like to give you a donation.People have had enough, Ms. Grechen Shirley said. Rebecca Katz, a senior strategist to Cynthia Nixon, who is hoping the Ocasio-Cortez victory foretells victory in her from-the-left challenge to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the September primary, predicted a wave big enough to beat many other presumably safe incumbents.I think there is something new about women challengers that is different this year, Ms. Katz said. There is a hunger for a different type of perspective. The cycle started being about womens health, then it was gun safety, then keeping families together. All along its been moms and women driving it. Debbie Walsh, the director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers, has been tempering hopes for a pink wave this year because so many women are running uphill. But she also points out that in last years elections for the Virginia House of Delegates, 30 women ran as challengers, and 30 percent of them won. Just three of the 24 male challengers, around 12 percent, did.Theres something percolating, she said.

Politics

Credit...Bryan Denton for The New York TimesNov. 3, 2018NEW DELHI A man-eating tiger that stalked the hills of central India for more than two years and repeatedly eluded capture was shot and killed by hunters after one of the most intensive tiger hunts in recent memory, officials said.The female tiger, given the name T-1 by forest rangers, was blamed for the deaths of at least 13 villagers before she was killed late Friday. The plan had been to tranquilize her. But according to the hunters who tried to capture her, she roared and charged after being hit by a tranquilizer dart at short range.Villagers in the area erupted in joy when they heard about her death, shooting off firecrackers, passing out sweets and pumping their fists in the air.Wildlife activists were outraged. This is a coldblooded murder, said Jerryl Banait, who had gone to Indias Supreme Court in an attempt to force the authorities to spare the tigers life and capture her instead.A man-eating tiger on the loose may sound like something out of a Kipling story. But its a very real and growing problem in India today.The countrys effort to protect tigers, in a way, is a victim of its own success. Indias critically endangered tiger population is soaring. Closer monitoring, new technology and stricter wildlife laws have led to a sharp increase in the tiger count, from 1,411 in 2006 to an estimated 2,500 today.Many tigers are running out of space, spilling out of their dedicated reserves, roaming along highways and skulking through crowded farmland.T-1 never lived in a dedicated tiger reserve; 30 percent of Indias tigers dont. She roamed a forested area of about 60 square miles just on the edge of busy farmland near the town of Pandharkawada. Even if she had lived, according to the authorities, the tiger could never have been reintroduced into the wild.For months, the noose had been tightening around her. Hundreds of forest rangers fanned out across the jungles of central Maharashtra State, combing the bush for tiger tracks, scat, stray hairs, long scratches on trees anything that might reveal where she was hiding.ImageCredit...Maharashtra Forestry DepartmentThe hunt grew into a sprawling, military-style operation, eventually encompassing a heat-seeking drone, hundreds of people, more than a hundred remote cameras and a team of specially trained Indian elephants with sharpshooters mounted on their backs.But three things complicated the effort. The tiger was a mother of two young cubs, and the authorities did not want to harm the young tigers. The grass was high and the bushes were overgrown because monsoon rains ended only recently. And this tiger was seen as unusually crafty.Tiger experts say she had benefited from past attempts to capture her and knew how to slink through the bush undetected, sometimes just a few steps ahead of the teams of rangers and police officers looking for her.She has learned from all these botched capture operations, said Nawab Shafath Ali Khan, a famous tiger hunter whom the authorities had called in to help. Weve made her very smart. Brilliant, actually.The break may have come from a surprise source: a bottle of Obsession cologne.Obsession (a popular mens fragrance in the 1990s) contains civetone, a compound originally derived from the scent glands of a civet. In areas where its been sprayed, cats take huge sniffs and roll around in it for several minutes.Last month, the Indian rangers squirted some Obsession on bushes here and there, hoping to draw the tiger out. On Friday afternoon, the rangers sprayed some Obsession and tiger urine in an area where she was believed to be hiding.A few hours later, villagers saw a female tiger trotting down the road. People began to panic. The authorities dispatched teams to evacuate nearby cotton fields.Mr. Khans son, Asghar, also a hunter, rushed out with a team of rangers, packed into a small open jeep. They spotted a female tiger for a few fleeting seconds moving through the bushes. Tiger stripes are like fingerprints; each pattern is unique. From the stripes they could tell that the tiger was T-1.One ranger fired a dart that struck its mark, forestry officials said. But tranquilizer darts can take up to 15 minutes to put an animal to sleep. According to the authorities, after she was darted, the tiger moved back, roared loudly and charged the open jeep. Asghar Khan then fired a bullet from a high-powered rifle. The authorities said it was in self-defense.We would have lost a few men had we tried to save her, said Mr. Khans father, Nawab.The bullet hit the tigers underside, and she died on the spot. Photos show her with a big red hole in her stomach.ImageCredit...Bryan Denton for The New York TimesAsghar Khan could not be reached for comment. But his father sent a short message from him to a reporter through WhatsApp.I am sad we couldnt save the man-eater, it read. Efforts to save her faded due to the hostile terrain and her aggressive behavior.Still, many people are questioning whether the tiger really needed to be killed. Sarita Subramaniam, another wildlife activist, who had also gone to court several times to try to save the tigers life, said on Saturday that she was in denial.She was doing what any mother would do, Ms. Subramaniam said. She was simply trying to defend her cubs and her territory.Few villagers in this area expressed anything but joy that she was gone.Now our lives will be back to normal, Hidayat Khan said. We can go to our fields and do our work.The tigers first known victim was killed in 2016 an older woman found facedown in a cotton field, huge claw marks dug in her back. The next was a farmer, his left leg torn off.The killings continued for more than two years, sowing panic. In August, the mauled body of Vaghuji Kanadhari Raut, a cattle herder, was found near a rural highway.What was especially frightening about that attack was that Mr. Raut had been standing in the middle of a ring of cattle when he was tugged down by the neck. None of his cows were touched. He was believed to have been the 12th victim.Based on DNA tests taken from tiger saliva collected from the corpses, images from remote camera traps, numerous spottings and tiger tracks, the authorities connected at least 13 killings to the tiger, which was believed to have been around 5 years old.The authorities have not said what will happen to the tigers cubs. On Saturday, villagers spotted one of the cubs climbing a hill, near where T-1 had died.

World

DealBook|Qihoo 360 Technology to Be Taken Private in $9.3 Billion Dealhttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/19/business/dealbook/qihoo-360-technology-company-deal.htmlDec. 18, 2015Credit...China Daily/ReutersHONG KONG The Qihoo 360 Technology Company, a Chinese Internet security firm, said on Friday that it had agreed to be taken private and bought by a consortium of investors for about $9.3 billion.The deal represents a premium of 16.6 percent to the closing price of the companys American depositary shares on June 16, the day before it proposed going private. It also represents a premium of 32.7 percent to the average closing price of the companys depositary shares in the 30 days before the proposal.Each class A and class B share in China will be exchanged for $1.33 in cash, and each American depositary share will be exchanged for $77. Depositary shares allow investors outside China to own a stake in Chinese businesses more easily.The investors include the Citic Guoan Group, Golden Brick Silk Road Capital, Sequoia Capital China, Taikang Life Insurance, the Ping An Insurance Group, Sunshine Insurance, New China Capital, Huatai Ruilian, and Huasheng Capital.The consortium plans to pay for the transaction with cash contributions from investors, a committed term loan of up to $3 billion and a bridge loan of $400 million.The Qihoo 360 board of directors has already approved the transaction, and it is expected to close in the first half of 2016.The company was advised by JPMorgan Securities; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Maples and Calder; Jun He Law Offices; and Latham & Watkins.The consortium of investors was advised by Huatai United Securities, Kirkland & Ellis, Fangda Partners and Conyers Dill & Pearman.

Business

Rep. Joe Kennedy III I'm Not a Drooler ... It Was Chapstick! 1/31/2018 Drool of thumb ... if you're gonna give a nationally televised speech, GO EASY ON THE CHAPSTICK ... or you'll be mocked endlessly like Rep. Joe Kennedy. JK3 learned the hard way after social media went HAM on him for his extra shiny mouth during the Democratic response to the State of the Union. In fact, someone even started a "Joe Kennedy's Lips" Twitter account. The Joe Kennedy III #SOTU preparation starter kit. pic.twitter.com/qGMVc7yZRb @JoeKennedyLips The good news for Joe ... he's taking the mockery in stride -- even joking about his over-chapstickeration on 'GMA' early Wednesday morning. "Oddly enough, I decided to go a little bit light on the chapstick this morning," Kennedy said ... "More on the coffee, light on the chapstick, which was probably a wise choice." True. Rep. Joe Kennedy speaks to @GStephanopoulos after giving the Democratic response to the State of the Union. https://t.co/Uhk1ekQPME pic.twitter.com/UKaGKnskEm @GMA

Entertainment

Credit...Mariana Parente/O POVOMarch 8, 2017RIO DE JANEIRO The killing of a transgender woman who was beaten, tortured, shot and then bashed on the head with a big stone has horrified and transfixed Brazil, training attention on the violence and discrimination suffered by transgender people in South Americas most populous nation.The victim, Dandara dos Santos, 42, was killed in Fortaleza, in the northeastern state of Cear, on Feb. 15, but the case has gained international attention as a cellphone video documenting her abuse has circulated on YouTube and other social media.The police in Brazil have arrested three teenagers and two men in connection with the torture and killing. Officers said that the video had helped them identify the suspects but that they were still looking for others.Every and any attack on life has my deepest repudiation, the governor of Cear, Camilo Santana, wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday.The grisly video shows Ms. dos Santos sitting on the ground, covered in dust and blood, being kicked in the face, beaten with a plank of wood and forced into a wheelbarrow. According to the authorities, she was later taken to a nearby street, shot twice in the face and then bludgeoned; the killing is not shown in the video.This was a very cruel crime and it shocked us, said Bruno Ronchi, a police officer who is leading the investigation.He said that the Bom Jardim district of Fortaleza, where the crime occurred, was a low-income neighborhood and that some of the suspects who had been arrested were involved in drug trafficking and other crimes.According to Rede Trans, a Brazilian website that monitors attacks on transgender people, a record 144 transgender people were murdered in 2016, compared with 57 in 2008, when the site began recording cases.The repercussions only came after the video was released. If not, it would have been another crime that would have been ignored, Sayonara Nogueira, a transgender woman and the sites coordinator, told the news outlet UOL.Maria da Silva, a transgender woman, lawyer and activist, said that Brazilian society marginalized transgender people.When you dont have respect for a segment of population, that ends up in violence, she said.Ms. da Silva works with Tem Local, a site that documents attacks on gay and transgender people in Brazil, in an attempt to make such hate crimes more visible.Before these things happened and were not seen, she said. Now we are starting to combat this.Ms. da Silva welcomed the arrests and the official condemnation of the attack, but said that the popularity of public figures like Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right lawmaker known for airing fiercely anti-gay views, illustrated Brazils growing conservatism and created an atmosphere that had legitimized violence.It is a part of the Brazilian population that was hidden, that was in the closet, and now it has a leader, it has a discourse to legitimize it, she said.Mr. Bolsonaro, who is said to be considering a run for the presidency next year, has excoriated immigrants and defended the torture of drug traffickers. He once told a fellow lawmaker that she was not worthy of being raped by him.

World

Credit...Ian Willms for The New York TimesNov. 2, 2016IONA, Nova Scotia A century ago, the flaming fall foliage in Nova Scotia would have long faded by early November. But today, some of the hills are still as nubbly with color as an aunts embroidered pillow.Climate change is responsible, scientists say. As the seasonal change creeps later into the year, not only here but all across the northern United States and Canada, the glorious colors will last longer, they predict a rare instance where global warming is giving us something to look forward to.If climate change makes eastern North America drier, then autumn colors will be spectacular, as they are on the Canadian Shield in dry summers, especially the red maples, said Root Gorelick, a biology professor at Carleton University in Ottawa. The Canadian Shield is a broad ring of forests and ancient bedrock that extends hundreds of miles from the shores of Hudson Bay.Over the very long term, the warming planet may have a negative effect on fall foliage, but even then any adverse impact is uncertain. It is not just an aesthetic question, but an economic one as well: The changing colors drive billions of dollars in leaf peeping tourism in Canada and the United States.From a peepers point of view, its good news, said Marco Archetti, the lead author of a 2013 paper at Harvard on predicting climate change impacts on autumn colors in New England.ImageCredit...Ian Willms for The New York TimesWe only have to read Henry David Thoreau to know that climate change is pushing the changing colors later into the year. He spent a lot of time tramping around his native Concord, Mass., making notes on how plants changed with the seasons.In his 1862 essay Autumnal Tints, the naturalist wrote: By the twenty-fifth of September, the Red Maples generally are beginning to be ripe. Some large ones have been conspicuously changing for a week, and some single trees are now very brilliant.He goes on to say that sugar maples, whose change generally follows red maples in short order, are most brilliant about the second of October.Anyone sensitive to the onset of autumn in New England these days knows that most trees, including the maples, are still bottle green on those dates.In general, peak leaf color in Concord and the surrounding Boston area for these maples is now more typically a week or two later than what Thoreau observed, said Richard Primack, a biology professor at Boston University. He has been using Thoreaus records and satellite images to track the effect of climate change on local plant cycles.The Harvard study, which looked at the percentage and duration of autumn color in Harvard Forest in central Massachusetts from 1993 to 2010, predicted that with current climate change forecasts, the duration of the fall display would increase about one day for every 10 years. Look at it this way: Children born this year could have an extra week to enjoy the colors by the time they are 70.The study further analyzed data for trees that turn red: red maple, sugar maple, black gum, white oak, red oak, black oak, black cherry and white ash. Only in white ash trees did the duration and full display of color decrease. In the others, the amount and duration of red leaves increased over the course of 18 years.The Harvard study used data collected by John OKeefe, the museum coordinator, now emeritus, at Harvard Forest, who made his observations by eye estimating the percentage of colored leaves for each species and the duration from when 10 percent of a trees leaves turned color to when 90 percent had turned.Those observations have been validated by Andrew Richardson, a professor of evolutionary biology at Harvard, who has since set up a network of 350 phenocams, cameras that quantify the duration and intensity of autumn colors in locations from Alaska to Hawaii, Arizona to Maine and up into Canada.Johns direct observations on the ground line up pretty well with the camera data, Professor Richardson said. In the shorter term, autumn colors may get better before they get worse.ImageCredit...Ian Willms for The New York TimesWorse? Scientists say that in the longer term the warming temperatures could threaten cold-weather hardwoods like the blazing maples, pushing their southern border north and narrowing the band in which they can survive between the temperate and circumpolar boreal forests.More southern and less colorful species like oaks and hickories may march north, eventually replacing the maples and other exhibitionists. Some scientists also say that the mechanism that makes leaves red may not work as efficiently in much warmer weather, eventually dulling those colors.The scientific term for the color change is leaf senescence, when deciduous trees pack up their summer clothes and prepare to sleep naked through the long frigid winter. The green chlorophyll in the leaves breaks down, disappearing to reveal the yellow carotenoid pigments underneath. Those pigments break down more slowly, until the leaves eventually turn brown.The real magic comes from the trees, maples among them, that produce a compound called anthocyanin as the chlorophyll disappears.Anthocyanin is the pigment that makes cranberries red and blueberries blue, among other things. Its role in autumn leaves is not well understood, but current theories suggest that some trees have evolved to produce it to protect their leaves from the damaging effects of intense sunlight while the chlorophyll breaks down the red pigment absorbs wavelengths in the green region of the spectrum that would otherwise be reflected by the disappearing chlorophyll.Leaves that contain roughly equal amounts of yellow carotenoids and red anthocyanin appear bright orange in the fall. The higher the proportion of anthocyanin, the brighter red the tree will be, to the point of scarlet, the curious color that excites us most.Sunlight, particularly in late summer and fall, sets off the production of anthocyanin. Cloudy weather dampens production and leads to less colorful displays. Many scientists argue that warming temperatures do not have much to do with the intensity of color, only with its timing: when it appears and how long it lasts.But Howard Neufeld, a professor of biology at Appalachian State University in North Carolina, said climate change could eventually affect the complex processes in leaf senescence and lower anthocyanin production, dulling the autumn reds.To produce anthocyanin, leaves need energy, which they get from the sun and from sugar in the leaves sugar that otherwise would be metabolized by the tree.Warmer temperatures, Professor Neufeld said, may speed up enzymes involved in nighttime respiration, when leaves exhale carbon dioxide and absorb oxygen, as humans do. Respiration requires sugar for fuel, and burning it faster would leave less available for anthocyanin production.The result: drearier leaves.So far, however, warmer temperatures do not seem to have had this effect. Mr. OKeefe noted that despite this years record warmth and one of the latest onsets of fall color that he had seen in 27 years, in his neck of the woods it had been a brilliant red year.Professor Neufeld, too, concedes that even though we thought colors might be dull, they are bright this year.For someone standing in a Nova Scotia dell amid the glowing golden light of the sun filtered through buttery beech leaves and a fiery orange sugar maple, the science seems less important than the simple, sublime beauty of the trees. As Thoreau wrote, I am more interested in the rosy cheek than I am to know what particular diet the maiden fed on.

science

Credit...Jim Wilson/The New York TimesJune 14, 2018When the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin wanted to address the issue of free speech on campus last fall, it adopted a three-strikes policy that is the strictest of its kind: Any student found to have disrupted the free expression of others is expelled after a third infraction.The goal was to foster an atmosphere of civility, respect and safety, and avoid the kind of violent, unruly disruptions that prevented conservatives from speaking at schools like the University of California, Berkeley, and Middlebury College. Those protests had focused national attention on the question of whether college campuses were shutting out politically unpopular points of view.Wisconsin is not alone. Republican-led state legislatures in Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina have imposed similar policies on public colleges and universities, and bills to establish campus speech guidelines are under consideration in at least seven other legislatures. These efforts, funded in part by big-money Republican donors, are part of a growing and well-organized campaign that has put academia squarely in the cross hairs of the American right.The spate of new policies shows how conservatives are successfully advancing one of their longstanding goals: to turn the tables in the debate over the First Amendment by casting the left as an enemy of open and free political expression on campuses. It was at schools like Berkeley, after all, that the free speech movement blossomed in the 1960s.The new efforts raise a question that has only grown more intractable since President Trump took office: When one persons beliefs sound like hate speech to another, how do you ensure a more civil political debate?What conservatives see as a necessary corrective to decades of political imbalance in higher education, liberals and some college administrators see as an overly paternalistic approach to a problem that is being used as ammunition in the culture wars.It has this strong motivating factor when it appeals to the politics of resentment, said Donald Moynihan, director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who opposed the regents policy.Mr. Moynihan added that conservatives are pushing these policies because of the sense that there are these elite institutions where your voice is not being heard, and where your beliefs are somehow being devalued.The campaign to address speech issues at colleges and universities is unfolding not just in state legislatures but in the courts and in Congress, where Republicans have convened hearings to explore how colleges and universities are addressing free speech concerns.ImageCredit...Lisa Rathke/Associated PressThe Trump administration has also picked up the baton. In March when the White House convened a discussion called Crisis on College Campus, it identified two coequal culprits: opioid abuse and suppression of free speech. This week the Justice Department formally filed a statement in support of a lawsuit challenging the University of Michigan for establishing bias response teams, which assist students who claim to have been victims of offensive conduct. The filing called the universitys policies chilling on free speech.The issue is a natural fit for President Trump, who has made fighting political correctness and pushing boundaries central to his identity.Increasingly, when conservatives make their points, they are told, whether directly or in a roundabout way, Shut up, youre a bad person, said Stanley Kurtz, co-author of model campus speech legislation being promoted by the Goldwater Institute, named for Barry Goldwater, the archconservative former senator.Several states have taken up the Goldwater model or adopted it in part. The Wisconsin regents, almost all of whom are appointed by the Republican governor, Scott Walker, borrowed from it. Lawmakers in North Carolina and Georgia did as well.Mr. Kurtz said that shoutdowns of conservatives at colleges are a far more serious problem than the left admits, calling them an open embodiment of a problem that runs more subtly through far too much of our political discourse.The Goldwater Institute has been funded by some of the biggest benefactors in Republican politics. They include the Mercer family of New York, whose foundation has given more than $1.1 million since 2012, tax filings show. Rebekah Mercer, who oversees much of her familys giving, has served on the institutes board.Another leading conservative policy group, the Alliance Defending Freedom, has sued schools in Georgia, Michigan and other states for restricting demonstrations to designated areas on campus, sometimes referred to as free speech zones. The group, which just successfully defended before the Supreme Court a Colorado baker who refused to make a cake for a gay wedding, has been able to force some colleges to revise their policies.The cause also has its own news service, a website called Campus Reform, which mocks liberalism taken to the extreme. One of its recurring segments, for example, shows interviews with students on questions like whether St. Patricks Day celebrations amount to cultural appropriation. The site is a project of the Leadership Institute, another big player in the conservative movement.Many liberals agree that universities should be extremely judicious in how they regulate political expression. They also say that Republican lawmakers are stifling free speech in the name of protecting it by forcing codes of conduct on universities.The big irony is that their solution is right-wing social engineering, said Michael Behrent, an associate professor of history at Appalachian State University in North Carolina and a co-author of a new report, for the American Association of University Professors, on speech legislation.ImageCredit...Jon Elswick/Associated PressTheyre supposedly against the idea of speech codes and authorities regulating what can and cannot be said, Mr. Behrent added. But they really are in fact advocating that.The Goldwater model makes several recommendations for colleges and universities: to create disciplinary sanctions, including expulsion, for students who have been found to have twice interfered with someones free expression; to prevent administrators from disinviting speakers, no matter how controversial; and to remain neutral on the controversies of the day.The model is not without disagreement on the right, however. Its mandatory punishment provisions drew a rebuke from the Charles Koch Institute, one of whose directors said conservatives were giving in to the same fragility of which they so freely accuse their liberal counterparts. Mr. Kochs foundation has been a contributor to the institute in the past.More broadly, some powerful Republicans are questioning whether affirmative action should be extended beyond race to students with less commonly held political views.You did it for underrepresented students, do it for underrepresented points of view, said Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee and the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. In his comments, which he made at a New York Times conference on higher education last month, Mr. Alexander said that if colleges did not prioritize political diversity, they risked graduating a generation of overly squeamish adults.We dont want a whole generation of students who have to go to a safe room when they read an offensive tweet, he said. They need to learn how to deal with that in our society.Lt. Gov. Dan Forest of North Carolina, who led the effort to pass the states Goldwater-modeled law, said, If you want to shut down the discussion, thats called communism.Conservatives say that one of their biggest concerns is a growing misunderstanding about what free speech means and how the principle is selectively enforced. They point to the slogan used by many liberals today, Hate Speech is Not Protected Speech, as an example of how distorted the debate has become. (The First Amendment protects speech regardless of how offensive it is.)Whatever the standard is for right-wing hate speech must be the standard for left-wing hate speech, said Alan Dershowitz, a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, who also spoke at The Timess higher education conference.The role that lawmakers have in setting those standards is what remains so divisive.Weve had students protesting forever and speech survives, Mr. Moynihan, the professor of public affairs, said. He pointed to the 2016 appearance at Wisconsin-Madison campus by Ben Shapiro, the conservative writer whose addresses have sparked outbursts on campuses across the country. Student protesters interrupted him and at one point tried to obstruct the stage. But they eventually left on their own, and Mr. Shapiro continued with his remarks.That was a year before the regents adopted the new code of conduct. Since its implementation, few controversial conservative headliners have come to campus. And according to the university, no student has been expelled.

Politics

Credit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesNov. 3, 2018ST.-OMER, France The players erupted in joy, dancing and shouting in Pashto, celebrating their second victory in a regional cricket tournament. It might have been a familiar scene in parts of Afghanistan or Pakistan, but it was far less so here in northern France.The St.-Omer Cricket Club Stars, known as Soccs, had just won a tournament on their home turf, a new cricket field next to a cow pasture. For their captain, Javed Ahmadzai, however, the sweetest triumph lay elsewhere.The best victory is off the pitch, said Mr. Ahmadzai, 32, a stonemason who arrived in France from Afghanistan in 2005. When we teach cricket to children in local schools and they wont let us go, or tell their parents: You see, Mom, migrants arent all mean. Bringing cricket to life in St.-Omer is about far more than sports for Mr. Ahmadzai and his teammates. It is an opportunity to be part of the community, to be thought of as local champions rather than just as foreigners.That hasnt always been easy.During the European migration crisis of 2015, refugees hoping to reach Britain gathered in squalid camps in northern France, living in treacherous conditions in places like the Jungle in Calais, less than 30 miles north of St.-Omer.Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right, anti-immigrant party in France and presidential candidate, argued that the country had been hurt by massive immigration, and often cited the camps in her attacks.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesHer message was well received in the region, and in the first round of the presidential election last year, more residents of St.-Omer voted for Ms. Le Pen than for any other candidate. (She won 39 percent of the towns vote in the second round compared with 33.9 percent nationally.)Yet two years after the government cleared the Jungle, in October 2016, there are still frequent police raids on migrant camps, and the lives of many seem stuck in limbo. The number of migrants in the Calais area has since dropped to 400 from 8,000. Many, including some who once lived in the Jungle and hoped to cross the English Channel, have decided to stay in St.-Omer.They study, work or seek jobs and, in the case of some Soccs players, hope that their sport will help them establish themselves in the town of 16,000 people. St.-Omer has sheltered more than 5,600 since 2015, most of them in a center for underage refugees.Whenever young Afghans arrive in St.-Omer, one of the first things they ask is where they can play cricket, said Jean-Franois Roger, the regional director of France Terre dAsile, a state-funded organization that helps refugees. Soccs gives them a framework. It helps them move forward and build something here.France is not exactly known for cricket, a sport played primarily in the former British Empire. It hardly figures in the national sports pantheon, with 1,800 cricket players in some 50 French clubs, compared with 2.2 million registered soccer players. Yet with the influx of migrants from Afghanistan, the number of cricket teams in northern France has grown to nine from two.The Soccs are among them. In summer 2016, Mr. Ahmadzai and other Afghans were playing cricket with a homemade ball in a public park in St.-Omer when a local businessman who was out running, Christophe Silvie, stopped to ask them about the game. A few months later, Mr. Silvie and Mr. Ahmadzai founded the club with another volunteer living nearby, Nicolas Rochas.The team practiced in a local gymnasium and won a first tournament. Then another.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesToday, some 30 players from St.-Omer and surrounding areas, ages 15 to 33, have helped turn the town into a center of cricket excellence. (In reality, there was little suspense in the recent final: The club has two teams, and both beat their rivals in the regular league and the playoffs. So the clubs first team played the second in that final match.)Cricket has helped the players gain priceless self-confidence and fight loneliness and isolation, said Mr. Rochas, the vice president of Soccs, who watched the final in September with his two young children. Its more than a club we are now like a family.For years, St.-Omer was the only town in the region with a France Terre dAsile center for underage refugees, most of whom came from Eritrea and Afghanistan. In 2017, Afghanistan was the second country of origin for asylum seekers in France, with 6,000 of a total 100,000 requests. The organization accommodated 2,230 migrants in the town in 2017, up from 300 in 2013. Many of the young Soccs players went through the center.I feel like Ive grown up so much here, and I know the people, so I want those titles to be like a gift for St.-Omer, Abdulwali Akulkhil, a 17-year-old Soccs player from Afghanistan who once lived in the center, said of the teams victories.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesWilliam Gasparini, a professor of sociology at the University of Strasbourg who specializes in sports, said that team activities could indeed be a springboard for integration, providing connections far beyond the field.Managers of amateur clubs are often local businessmen or people who are well connected in the area, so it gives the migrants some useful social capital, he said.Mr. Rochas, the team vice president who is known among the players as Big Brother, has helped several get into training programs in farm trucking and mechanics. He also helped another player, who speaks five languages and wants to become a diplomat, get an internship in the French Parliament.Yet, for all the progress on and off the field, Soccs players have faced resistance. Xenophobic messages popped up on social media when the towns mayor, Franois Decoster, said the club could build a cricket ground on an unused plot of land on the edge of the town. Some posts threatened to damage the site and others spread a rumor that a mosque would be built there.I had to explain again and again who these young men were and where they came from, said Mr. Decoster, a member of a centrist party. Integration can be a long, rocky process.The mayor says that efforts to help refugees settle at a local level and at the appropriate scale through initiatives like sports could help fight many preconceptions. If more cities and countries favored such activities, we wouldnt have the Salvinis, the Orbans and the Le Pens, he said, referring to the interior minister of Italy, the prime minister of Hungary, and the French far-right leader.ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York TimesComplaints about Soccs seem to have tapered, but Mr. Decosters optimism has yet to be followed by a strong showing of local support for the team. Only a few dozen people attended the final, many of them volunteers or acquaintances of the clubs managers.Hours later, when the victorious players honked horns and waved French flags as they circled the towns central plaza, most of those sitting outdoors stared at them, intrigued but unaware of what they were celebrating.Weve got prizes, compliments and promises, but many players wonder why, after a second title, there isnt more local enthusiasm, said Mr. Rochas, the clubs vice president.In 2017, the club received a European Citizens Prize, awarded each year by the European Parliament to citizens or organizations that promote cross-border cooperation and understanding. But it still lacks the resources and volunteers it would need to play in Frances national cricket league, as its victories at the regional level qualify it to do.Perhaps even more critical is the need to attract local players, some team members said. So far, a doctor living in St.-Omer is the only French-born player out of 30.We cant only play among foreigners. We need new French recruits, said Tazim Abbas, a 19-year-old player from Pakistan. Otherwise, who will keep the club running when I have a job and a life here?ImageCredit...Mauricio Lima for The New York Times

World

Canada LetterNov. 2, 2018This is Dan Bilefsky in Montreal, where the pungent smell of cannabis wafting from the long lines of people at government marijuana stores may soon compete with the more familiar street smells of poutine. I am filling in this week for Ian Austen on the Canada Letter.ImageCredit...Alana Paterson for The New York Times[Want to receive the Canada Letter in your inbox every week? Sign up here.]When I went to Vancouver a few weeks ago to report on Canadas national experiment to legalize marijuana and bring it out of the shadows, I didnt need to look far to find the black market.There were at least five illegal outlets within five minutes of my hotel downtown. Some were signposted with lurid lights outside. Others looked more like sterile drugstores or hipster cafes, only instead of cough syrup or lattes, they were selling cannabis-infused face creams, potent marijuana concentrates and jelly treats.When a senior City Hall official told me Vancouver had more black market marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks outlets, I was skeptical. But a marijuana dispensary crawl across the city and a call to Starbucks soon revealed that she was right.The coffee chain had 50 outlets in the city of Vancouver. There are roughly twice as many illegal pot retailers.Now, just a few weeks after legalization, the challenge of taming a $5.3 billion illegal trade is becoming all too apparent, not least because the legal market cant keep up with surging demand, pushing Canadian pot-smokers to once again go underground.[Read: Vancouver, Canadas Marijuana Capital, Struggles to Tame the Black Market]Before pot was legalized on Oct. 17, some observers feared that die-hard cannabis users would studiously avoid the government stores. Surely, smoking a joint rolled by the state was the ultimate buzz kill.But the opposite seems to have happened.In Quebec, where cannabis stores are run by a government agency, the province shut down its 12 shops for three days, unable to keep up with the crowds. The stores will remain shuttered every Monday through Wednesday until the shortages can be overcome.In Ontario, where brick-and-mortar government stores wont be up and running until April, the online Ontario Cannabis Store received more than 150,000 orders the first week after pot became legal. The unrelenting demand was exacerbated by a postal strike.And on the day legalization came into effect in British Columbia, there was only one legal government retailer in the province, in Kamloops, a city nearly a four-hour drive away. (The province has since licensed its first private cannabis retailer in Kimberly, B.C., roughly 10 hours from Vancouver by car).Shortages aside, the illegal trade remains as resilient as it is defiant.While I was in Vancouver, I met with Jodie Emery, a longtime leading cannabis advocate, who co-owns several black market Cannabis Culture outlets. Her shop on Davie Street, in a bustling area peppered by ramen joints, looks like an upmarket Starbucks. But it sells outlawed cannabis products like marijuana-infused maple syrup rather than Frappuccinos.ImageCredit...Alana Paterson for The New York TimesMs. Emery, who grew up in British Columbia and was convicted in 2017 of trafficking marijuana, told me the black market was here to stay, since there was neither political nor public will for a crackdown. Even if the authorities came to close down her stores, she said she would merely reopen them.As it is, she has already been served with an injunction, and said her criminal record made it all but impossible for her to get a legal license.Others marijuana retailers like Jessika Villano, owner of Buddha Barn in the bohemian neighborhood of Kitsilano, welcomed legalization, saying they were tired of living in fear of being shut down.Ms. Villano told me she opened her health store about five years ago after seeing how the cannabis cakes she baked for her mother helped her emphysema. She has paid $7,500 to apply for a provincial license and $30,000 for a municipal license, and has turned over three years of financial records to the government.ImageCredit...Alana Paterson for The New York TimesShe has also rebranded her shop, since operating a medical marijuana retail operation is officially illegal. But as of Friday, the provincial authorities had still not granted her license. She is determined to be part of the legal trade.I dont look good in an orange jumpsuit, she said, smiling.A Cannabis Conversation in VancouverWere holding our first Times subscriber event in Vancouver on Nov. 15. Ill be joined by The Timess San Francisco bureau chief, Thomas Fuller, as well as guests from within the industry to discuss the impact of marijuana legalization on Canadas economy and culture. Canada Letter readers can use the promo code CANADALETTER to get $5 off the ticket price. You can get your tickets and find out more here.______This weeks Trans Canada and Around the Times highlights were compiled by the Canada audience growth editor, Lindsey Wiebe.Trans CanadaMy job is to encourage hesitant lovers to take the risk. In this imagined fairy tale by the author Michael Cunningham, featured in the travel issue of T: The New York Times Style Magazine, a matchmaking sprite in Montreal remembers a now-iconic poet, a dancer, and the meeting that may or may not have inspired an unforgettable song.Ts travel issue also includes this guide to Montreal. On the agenda: vintage designer shopping, Cubist architecture, inspired cocktails and, of course, fresh bagels.Theres a lot of Calvin Klein underwear on display in the new music video by Carly Rae Jepsen, the B.C.-born pop star behind Call Me Maybe. But Calvin Klein says it had nothing to do with it.Every month, Netflix Canada introduces a new batch of programming. Novembers highlights include the prescient sci-fi thriller Children of Men, as well as Narcos: Mexico. The crime dramas third season leaves behind trafficking in Columbia and, with a new cast, follows the rise of the Guadalajara Cartel.In the latest edition of the Climate Fwd. newsletter, The Timess energy and environment policy reporter Coral Davenport brings readers up to speed on Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus political battle over taxing carbon emissions.Around the TimesIn the three years since Saudi Arabia unleashed a full-scale military campaign in Yemen, at least 10,000 civilians have been killed and 14 million face starvation. Robert F. Worth, the Timess former bureau chief in Beirut, explores how the bloody war began, and why it will be so hard to end, for The New York Times Magazine.Theres an image of homelessness etched in the public consciousness, writes Nikita Stewart, a Times reporter who covers social services. That picture wouldnt normally include baby Antonio, born homeless, and part of the largest single population in New York Citys shelter system: kids under the age of 6.A year ago, it was easy to be blissfully unaware of CBD, writes Alex Williams, reporter and feature writer for The Times. Now, judging by the hype, its as if everyone suddenly discovered yoga. Or penicillin. Or maybe oxygen.

World

Such an extensive head injury would likely have left the actor confused, if not unconscious, experts said.Credit...Richard Shotwell/Invision, via Associated PressFeb. 11, 2022Bob Saget, the comedian and actor, died after what appeared to be a significant blow to the head, one that fractured his skull in several places and caused bleeding across both sides of his brain, according to an autopsy report released on Friday.The findings complicated the picture of Mr. Sagets death that has emerged in recent days: Far from a head bump that might have been shrugged off, the autopsy described an unmistakably serious set of injuries that would at the very least have probably left someone confused, brain experts said.The report, prepared by Dr. Joshua Stephany, the chief medical examiner of Orange and Osceola counties in Florida, ascribed Mr. Sagets injuries to a fall.It is most probable that the decedent suffered an unwitnessed fall backwards and struck the posterior aspect of his head, Dr. Stephany wrote, referring to the back of the skull.Still, the autopsy left a number of unresolved questions about how exactly Mr. Saget, 65, was so badly hurt. He was found dead in a hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lake on Jan. 9 during a weekend of stand-up comedy acts. His family said this week that the authorities determined that he had hit his head, thought nothing of it and went to sleep.If the actor struck his head hard enough, and in just the wrong place, it is possible that fractures would have extended to other parts of his skull, brain injury experts said. Situations where someone cannot break their fall are even more dangerous.Its like an egg cracking, said Dr. Jeffrey Bazarian, an emergency physician and concussion expert at the University of Rochester Medical Center. You hit it in one spot, and it can crack from the back to the front.But experts said that with such an extensive injury, it was unlikely that Mr. Saget would have intentionally ignored it. The injury would likely have left him confused, if not unconscious.I doubt he was lucid, Dr. Bazarian said, and doubt he thought, Im just going to sleep this off.Some neurosurgeons said that it would be unusual for a typical fall to cause Mr. Sagets set of fractures to the back, the right side and the front of his skull. Those doctors said that the injuries appeared more reminiscent of ones suffered by people who fall from a considerable height or get thrown from their seat in a car crash.The autopsy, though, found no injuries to other parts of Mr. Sagets body, as would be expected in a lengthier fall. The medical examiner ruled that the death was accidental. The local sheriffs office had previously said there were no signs of foul play.This is significant trauma, said Dr. Gavin Britz, the chair in neurosurgery at Houston Methodist. This is something I find with someone with a baseball bat to the head, or who has fallen from 20 or 30 feet.Dr. Britz noted that the autopsy described fractures to particularly thick parts of the skull, as well as to bones in the roof of the eye socket. If you fracture your orbit, he said, referring to those eye bones, you have significant pain.The knock ruptured veins in the space between the membrane covering the brain and the brain itself, causing blood to pool, the autopsy indicated. The brain, secured in a hard skull, has nowhere to move, doctors said, and the result is a compression of brain centers critical for breathing and other vital functions.No alcohol or illegal drugs were detected in the actors system, according to the autopsy. But there were signs of Clonazepam, commonly known as Klonopin, a benzodiazepine that is used to prevent seizures and treat panic attacks. Tests also found Trazodone, an antidepressant, the report said.There was no indication in the autopsy findings that either of those drugs might have contributed to Mr. Sagets injuries. But doctors said that they could make people sleepy and contribute to a fall.Benzodiazepines are widely prescribed for older people, despite warnings about the side effects. People who take them face increased risks of falls and fractures, of auto accidents and of reduced cognition.Use of multiple drugs is a very dangerous cause of falls in the elderly, said Dr. Neha Dangayach, the director of neuro-emergencies management and transfers for the Mount Sinai Health System. She said that some combinations could cause drops in blood pressure or confusion.The report noted that Mr. Saget had an enlarged heart, but did not suggest any link to his death. It also found signs of the coronavirus on a PCR test, but did not suggest that the virus contributed to Mr. Sagets death. The actor said on a podcast in early January that he had contracted the virus, without specifying exactly when. PCR tests can show the presence of the virus days or even weeks after someone has recovered.Mr. Saget, best known for his role on the sitcom Full House and for hosting Americas Funniest Home Videos, thanked the appreciative audience of his stand-up comedy set in a Tweet early in the morning on Jan. 9, the day of his death.I had no idea I did a 2 hr set tonight, he said. Im happily addicted again to this.

Health

Credit...Viviana Gradinaru, Murtaza Mogri, John Carnett and Karl DeisserothMarch 23, 2016When people make risky decisions, like doubling down in blackjack or investing in volatile stocks, what happens in the brain?Scientists have long tried to understand what makes some people risk-averse and others risk-taking. Answers could have implications for how to treat, curb or prevent destructively risky behavior, like pathological gambling or drug addiction.Now, a study by Dr. Karl Deisseroth, a prominent Stanford neuroscientist and psychiatrist, and his colleagues gives some clues. The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, reports that a specific type of neuron or nerve cell, in a certain brain region helps galvanize whether or not a risky choice is made.The study was conducted in rats, but experts said it built on research suggesting the findings could be similar in humans. If so, they said, it could inform approaches to addiction, which involves some of the same neurons and brain areas, as well as treatments for Parkinsons disease because one class of Parkinsons medications turns some patients into problem gamblers.In a series of experiments led by Kelly Zalocusky, a doctoral student, researchers found that a risk-averse rat made decisions based on whether its previous choice involved a loss (in this case, of food). Rats whose previous decision netted them less food were prompted to behave conservatively next time by signals from certain receptors in a brain region called the nucleus accumbens, the scientists discovered. These receptors, which are proteins attached to neurons, are part of the dopamine system, a neurochemical important to emotion, movement and thinking.In risk-taking rats, however, those receptors sent a much fainter signal, so the rats kept making high-stakes choices even if they lost out. But by employing optogenetics, a technique that uses light to manipulate neurons, the scientists stimulated brain cells with those receptors, heightening the loss signal and turning risky rats into safer rats.We know from other work that this is all relevant to human addiction and gambling, said Trevor Robbins, the chairman of the psychology department at the University of Cambridge, who was not involved in the new research. This study has zeroed in on the area precisely where this occurs. Theyve tried to show that not having this signal biases you toward risky judgments in the future, and theyve done a lovely job on that.Step by step, the researchers built evidence that neurons with a dopamine receptor called D2 in the nucleus accumbens, a region integral to brain reward circuitry, play a critical role in risky-or-not decision-making. Strikingly, they found they could alter the message those neurons send.Rats were given a choice of two food levers. One released a consistent amount of sucrose each time; the other often delivered a tiny amount, but in 25 percent of presses, it unleashed a delicious sucrose flood. Over time, both levers gave the same quantity, so rats did not go hungry and their choices came down to whether or not they were gamblers.Risky rats gambled on the iffier lever more than half the time. Risk-averse rats were strongly influenced by their last choice; if they picked the risky lever and received a trickle, they picked the consistent lever next time.Some are very sensitive to losing, and if they take a risky option and lose, theyre very likely to not go back to it again, said Paul Phillips, a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at the University of Washington and a co-author of a commentary about the study. Thats very common in human behavior. An analogy is a slot machine in Vegas.To identify the brain location involved in these decisions, the researchers gave rats a drug used to treat Parkinsons disease, pramipexole, marketed as Mirapex, which acts on D2 receptors and seems to dampen some patients ability to restrain risk-seeking behavior. Risk-averse rats receiving pramipexole turned into risk-taking rats, but the drug had much greater effects when piped directly into the nucleus accumbens than when it was administered to another brain area researchers had thought might be involved.The scientists used a technique Dr. Deisseroth helped invent fiber photometry, which uses light particles to track activity of neurons tagged with certain proteins. They found that neurons in the nucleus accumbens with D2 receptors transmitted a signal when rats were making their decisions. That signal was much larger if the choice the rat had made had just had been a loser, yielding just a dribble of sucrose. The signal only spiked in non-risky rats, however; it was negligible in rats that always gambled for the sucrose windfall.So, what to do with those risky rats? Using optogenetics, which Dr. Deisseroth also helped develop, the team stimulated nucleus accumbens neurons with D2 receptors at the very moment of the fateful food-lever decision. That caused the receptors to send strong loss signals to the rats, apparently making them weigh recent losses more heavily, and prompting them to play it safe with their next lever choice.It turns out you can explain a large part of whether rats were risky or not by this particular signal at this particular time, Dr. Deisseroth said. We saw it happen, and then we were able to provide that signal, and then see that we could drive the behavior causally.Human brains are more complex, of course, and are not only affected by immediate recent losses, Dr. Deisseroth said, but your appetite for risk in many circumstances might be at least possibly reducible to what a particular set of cells in a particular brain area is doing.Dr. Robbins said that might yield insights for drug addiction, since it clearly involves the dopamine system and these areas of the brain, and in addicts, as in risky rats, the same receptors produce weaker signals.For Parkinsons patients, if versions of drugs like pramipexole could be developed to skip the nucleus accumbens and focus on brain areas responsible for movement, it would be a much more effective therapy, Dr. Phillips said. Its because it gets to the nucleus accumbens that it has this gambling effect.He added, Now, not only do we know the part of the brain, but we know the particular cells in the brain, and we know that if you manipulate them you can change the behavior.Dr. Deisseroth said optogenetic manipulation is too invasive to be done in humans, but findings from optogenetic studies in animals are now being used to identify brain areas to target with noninvasive brain stimulation for problems like cocaine addiction.Finding the roots of risk in the brain also helps us understand what might be making people different in terms of their risk appetites, he said. It may help us see them differently, maybe in a more tolerant way, to realize that theres a real biological basis for their behavior.

science

Health|U.S. minorities experienced high rates of Covid-related discrimination, a study finds.https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/25/health/covid-racial-ethnic-discrimination.htmlCredit...Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesFeb. 25, 2022People in the United States who belong to racial and ethnic minority groups reported experiencing Covid-related discrimination far more often than white people during the pandemic, and far more often than had been estimated, according to a new study that is one of the largest to date on the issue.The study, from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, a division of the National Institutes of Health, found that members of minority groups were more likely to report instances of being harassed or threatened and situations in which other people treated them as though they might be carrying the disease. People of Asian ethnicity, who have been victims of several high-profile bias crimes during the pandemic, reported the highest rates of being taunted by racist comments, insults, threats and name-calling related to Covid.But they werent alone: Members of other major racial and ethnic groups including American Indian/Alaska Natives, Black people, Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders, Latinos and multiracial people also said they had faced discrimination, and that they had seen people acting afraid of them.While we expected to see that discrimination was prevalent, it was way more prevalent than previously estimated and double the prior estimates for Asian Americans, said Paula D. Strassle, the papers lead author, who is a staff scientist at the institute.While other reports estimated that 20 percent of people of Asian ethnicity had experienced Covid-related bias, the new report found that 30 percent of that group had experienced such discrimination, while 44 percent had seen people act fearful around them. American Indian/Alaska Natives and Latinos reported similar rates of discrimination and fearful behavior, while multiracial survey participants as well as Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders reported similarly high rates of fearful behavior in others. Of all minority groups, Black and multiracial people reported the lowest rates of Covid-related discrimination, though many said they perceived fearfulness.Those who spoke little or no English and less educated people also reported facing more Covid-related discrimination. And survey participants in Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee reported relatively higher rates of discrimination than in other parts of the country.Overall, 22 percent of those surveyed reported experiencing Covid-related discriminatory behavior, and 43 percent said people had behaved as though they were afraid of them.The study, whose findings were published in the American Journal of Public Health on Wednesday, was based on the CURB (Covid-19s Unequal Racial Burden) survey, an extensive survey of a nationally representative sample of 5,500 adults. The survey was conducted online from December 2020 to February 2021.The results suggest the pandemic has worsened resentment of and bias toward members of minority communities, Dr. Strassle said, adding that future analyses would examine the effects discrimination has on mental health and on peoples willingness to seek health care.We need to be mindful of the additional effects that occur during a pandemic, beyond the infection and the health crisis, she said.

Health

Battlestar Galactica' Star Tricia Helfer Files for Divorce 1/26/2018 "Battlestar Galactica" star Tricia Helfer is pulling the plug on her marriage ... TMZ has learned. Helfer filed legal docs citing irreconcilable differences to end her marriage to Jonathan Marshall. The couple has been married for more than 13 years. They have no minor children, so custody is not an issue. According to the docs, they have a prenup separating their property, so it sounds like a pretty clean divorce. She wants the judge to reject any claim for spousal support Marshall might make. The docs say they separated back in May.

Entertainment

Comedian Steve Brown Onstage Attacker Arrested 1/24/2018 Tumika LaSha The man who viciously attacked comedian Steve Brown onstage has been arrested ... TMZ has learned. Marvin Toatley was arrested Wednesday in Columbia, South Carolina and booked on 3 counts of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, as well as one count of third degree assault and battery ... and one count of malicious injury to property. Cops say their fugitive task force found Toatley at an apartment complex. He's still in custody. TMZ.com As we reported ... Toatley hopped onstage in the middle of Steve's set Sunday and started swinging a mic stand like a sword. Cops say 4 people in total were injured from his outburst. Steve told us the guy was laughing it up before coming after him, seemingly out of nowhere.

Entertainment

Adakveo and Oxbryta could be revolutionary treatments, but each costs about $100,000 per year and must be taken for life. Credit...Omikron/Science SourcePublished Dec. 7, 2019Updated Dec. 9, 2019The Food and Drug Administration recently approved two transformative new treatments for sickle-cell disease, the first in 20 years. But the drugs are wildly expensive, renewing troubling questions about access to cutting-edge medicines. Adakveo, made by Novartis, can prevent episodes of nearly unbearable pain that occur when malformed blood cells get stuck in blood vessels. Approved only for patients aged 16 and over, it is delivered as an infusion once a month.Oxbryta, made by Global Blood Therapeutics, can prevent severe anemia from the disease that can lead to permanent damage to the brain and other organs. A daily pill, the drug is approved for patients ages 12 and older. Each treatment is priced at around $100,000 a year and must be taken for life. While it is not uncommon for a drug treating a rare disease to carry such a high price, there are 100,000 people with sickle-cell disease in the United States, and millions more around the world.Those prices are about double the median family income in the United States, highlighting a growing dysfunction in the pharmaceutical market, said Ameet Sarpatwari, assistant director of the Program on Regulation, Therapeutics and Law at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston.Questions of access worry sickle-cell specialists even as they welcome powerful new treatments expected in the next few years. About 30 more sickle-cell drugs are now in late-stage clinical trials.This is an extraordinary time, said Dr. Alexis Thompson, former president of the American Society of Hematology and a sickle-cell expert at Northwestern University. Novartis and Global Blood Therapeutics have been speaking to insurers about covering the new drugs, and both say they are optimistic that most insurers will pay for them. The companies argue that without drugs, management of sickle-cell disease itself is expensive. It costs an average of about $10,000 a year to treat children, and about $30,000 a year to treat adults, for complications like pain crises, organ damage and strokes. The medical costs do not begin to capture the economic burden. Many adults with sickle-cell disease are disabled to some degree, and many have brain damage, making it difficult for them to work. Family members often wind up as caregivers, and so the economic burden ripples outward.In sickle cell, we are not providing great care and we are paying a lot, said Dr. Ted Love, chief executive at Global Blood Therapeutics.A spokeswoman for Novartis said: Weve taken a thoughtful approach to the price of Adakveo, balancing the innovation it brings to the treatment of sickle cell disease, the benefits it can provide to patients, and the importance of ensuring that appropriate patients have access to it.But Dr. Sarpatwari is leery of companies cost-benefit analyses, which he said are based on limited evidence and assume that the drug makers ought to be able to extract a maximum price for the treatments, without regard to actual development costs or any taxpayer support that may have been involved.David Mitchell, founder of Patients for Affordable Drugs, an advocacy group, said patients and insurers should not agree to just any price for these medications. Drug companies want us to ask this question: What are we willing to pay to ease the pain and challenge of living with sickle cell? he said. When its your child facing the disease, or your friend in unbearable pain, the answer is anything.But thats the wrong way to approach pricing, he added, and the more appropriate question is: What amount should drug companies make on these drugs?Medicaid covers about 50 percent of patients with sickle-cell disease, and Medicare covers another 15 percent. Its not clear how these programs can afford to pay for all who might need the new drugs.ImageCredit...Novartis, via Associated PressAn older drug approved in 1998, hydroxyurea, is now generic and costs about $1,000 a year, and it is approved for children. Hydroxyurea can reduce the incidence of pain crises and strokes by half. Some patients on public insurance programs have no co-pays for it, noted Dr. J. Eric Russell of the University of Pennsylvania. Yet only about 30 percent of sickle-cell patients take it. So should sickle-cell patients be required to try hydroxyurea before moving on to one of the newer, pricier treatments?Insurers, said Dr. Enrico Novelli of the University of Pittsburgh, will want at least an attempt to treat with hydroxyurea. Why jump to a very expensive drug as front-line therapy?And there are concerns about whether patients will take the new drugs regularly if they are prescribed. Many adults with sickle-cell disease have subtle or overt brain damage, which can make it difficult for them to fully understand, plan or adhere to treatment, said Dr. Sujit Sheth, a sickle-cell expert at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.Primary care doctors handle most health care for patients without access to major medical centers. Even if the patients can afford Adakveo and are able to stick to the monthly regimen, Dr. Sheth said, those doctors may not be prepared to administer complicated infusions.Still, most experts agree that the new drugs are significant advances in molecular biology and show what may be achieved now that researchers have renewed interest in sickle-cell disease.For more than half a century, scientists have understood the cause. Patients with sickle-cell disease have two copies of a mutated gene that produces hemoglobin, the molecule that transports oxygen in the blood. The mutation makes the molecule warp into a rigid sickle shape. Blood cells like platelets and white blood cells clump together and stick to blood vessels, injuring the lining and blocking them.Adakveo can make patients blood cells less sticky. In clinical trials, Novartis found that the drug reduced episodes of pain by 45 percent, compared to placebo, whether patients also were taking hydroxyurea or not.But the study did not show an effect on the severe anemia that is a grave consequence of sickle-cell disease. Red cells carrying sickle hemoglobin molecules survive only one-fifth as long as normal cells. A lack of red blood cells injures organs, including the brain. What is killing patients is limited oxygen delivery, said Dr. Love, of Global Therapeutics. Oxbryta was developed to help red cells retain oxygen and prevent them from becoming misshapen. In trials sponsored by the company, patients who took the daily pill saw an increase in their hemoglobin levels within two weeks; some returned to levels near normal. Should the two new drugs be used together, one to prevent pain and the other to prevent organ damage? Dr. Thompson, of Northwestern University, advised against it, because the safety of taking both has not been studied. But other experts, like Dr. Novelli, would like to try giving both drugs to severely affected patients.It will come down to cost and what providers will pay for, Dr. Novelli said.

Health

Health|A Massachusetts Man Is Infected With Monkeypoxhttps://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/18/health/massachusetts-monkeypox.htmlThe case, the first in the U.S. this year, follows unusual clusters discovered in Europe and Canada.Credit...C.D.C., via Associated PressMay 18, 2022A man who had traveled to Canada has been diagnosed with the monkeypox virus, a rare and potentially fatal disease, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported on Wednesday.This is the first report of monkeypox this year in the United States. Officials in Texas and Maryland recorded one case each last year. But the new case follows a series of unusual clusters in other countries that have begun to alarm public health officials.In the past few weeks, Britain has identified nine monkeypox cases. Only one patient had recently traveled to Nigeria, where a strain of the monkeypox virus has been commonly seen while the remaining British patients, who did not travel, may have acquired the infection through community transmission. Three patients shared a household. Spain has 23 suspected cases. Portugal has confirmed five cases and is investigating another 15. Canadian health officials are investigating at least 15 possible cases in Montreal, according to an infectious disease specialist who was familiar with the effort but was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.The fact that its in the U.K. in multiple unrelated clusters, plus Spain, plus Portugal, is a surprise, said Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.Monkeypox is a more benign version of the smallpox virus and can be treated with an antiviral drug developed for smallpox. But unlike measles, Covid or influenza, monkeypox does not typically cause large outbreaks.Clinicians should become aware of the symptoms so that they can quickly detect new cases, Dr. Inglesby said.Monkeypox infection begins with fever and body aches. Its most recognizable feature is a characteristic rash that starts with flat red marks, then becomes raised and filled with pus.The pustules appear on the face, chest and on the palm, which is somewhat unusual, Dr. Inglesby said.The virus is endemic in parts of Central and West Africa and may be spread through bites or scratches from rodents and small mammals. Contact with live and dead animals through hunting and consumption of wild game or bush meat are known risk factors, according to the World Health Organization.The United States saw a monkeypox outbreak of dozens of cases in 2003. All were believed to have resulted from exposure to infected prairie dogs and other pets.The virus does not jump between people but can spread via body fluids, contaminated objects or through respiratory droplets expelled by an infected person. The cases reported in Britain and in Canada were mostly among men who have sex with men.These latest cases, together with reports of cases in countries across Europe, confirms our initial concerns that there could be spread of monkeypox within our communities, Dr. Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser to the U.K. Health Security Agency, said in a statement on Tuesday. This is rare and unusual.Men in those communities should watch for rashes or lesions on any part of their bodies, especially genitalia, experts said.Health officials in Massachusetts are working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the patients health care providers to identify individuals who may have been in contact while he was infectious, the officials said in a statement. The individual is hospitalized and in good condition, officials said.

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